My Poetry : Teri Dunya, Meri Dunya

Eik tere nazar mae dunya hai,

Eik mere nazar mae dunya hai,

Eik tera jhoot ko apnana,

Eik mera haqaeq jhutlana,

Tere izzat kuch bamaqsad hai,

Mere zillat kuch bay maanay hai,

Tere hansi k pechay sau baten,

Mujhe aansu.on mae sawarna hai,

Teray aangan mae khudae hai,

Meray sehra mae tanhai hai,

Tera sach zuban.a aam per hai,

Mera jhoot chup chup k hai phirta,

Tere maslehat he teri rooshni,

Mere maslehat tareeki hai,

Tere Manzil tere baahun mae hai,

Tere Khoobian, Mere Khaamian,

Mere Khamian, Tere Khamian,

Mera safar meray aaghosh mae,

Tere subah suraj ka ubharna hai,

Mere raat sooraj ka na hona!

Eik tere nazar mae dunya hai,

Eik mere nazar mae dunya hai,

Eik tera jhoot ko apnana,

Eik mera haqaeq jhutlana!!

My Poetry : Qabool Nahen

Surkh banarsi joday mae,

Eik khoobro se dulhan thi,

Safeed reesh qazi tha,

Sawal-a-iqrar jab poocha,

khoobro se dulhan ne,

muskura ker hountun ko,

janbish de,

QABOOL NAHEN,

Qabool nahen mujhe kamtari,

Qabool nahen mujhe ab jhukna,

Qabool nahen yeh maashra,

Jahan tasveer hai mere aadhi se,

Jahan tabeer hai mere adna se,

Jahan tameer bhi mere hai mehdood..

Mera maskan tou sitare hain,

Kirne.n hain mere sedhian,

Mujhe phool samaj ker tumne yun,

Hai muthiun mae bheench dia,

Mae rang hun, mae khushbo hun,

Tere muthiun mae muqeed nahen!

....

Haeran hoker qazi nay,

Dholhay ki taraf jab moun moda,

Muthiun ko bheench ker, woh bola,

QABOOL NAHEN!

My Poetry : Fareb

Mae tou eik fareb hun, Asal mae Haewan hun,

Khudsaktha tareeqi mae, kehta khud ko insan hun,

Sahe wohe hai ghalat krnay mae k jis ki maharat hai,

shayad banun ga sahe mae eik din, abhi tou faqt nadan hun,

Khudsaktha tareeqi mae, kehta khud ko insan hun,

naraz kiun hotay ho, sift sirf likhta hun,

khud he se muhabbat krta hun, khud he pay meherban hun,

Khudsaktha tareeqi mae, kehta khud ko insan hun,

deen ka, riwaj ka, kia chadar mae bhi orh lun?

orhay hain log charun taraf, eik mae he kiun haeran hun?

Khudsaktha tareeqi mae, kehta khud ko insan hun,

do bol keh ker tou bhi, insan banne chala tou tha,

insaniyat yeh keh gae, mae faqt eik guman hun,

Khudsaktha tareeqi mae, kehta khud ko insan hun....

I can only make them think

“The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.”

These words of wisdom are by Khalil Jibran, a Lebanese- American writer, Actor and poet. Jibran is believed to the third best selling poet of all times. Mentioning about Khalil Jibran is just an attempt to increase the importance of what he said because our society has been pushed into the houses of wisdom and has left the path towards the thresholds of our own minds. If this statement sounds amusing that what I’ll ask you is to look around and examine our own lives and surroundings. We respect wisdom only if the person who has it is known as a wise person, we acknowledge theories and philosophies only if they are in “best selling” books, we consider the words to be knowledge if they are being said by an appointed person whom we know as a “teacher”. Student’s are often reminded of their holy responsibilities of respecting and obeying the teacher, with the word teacher here I refer to the people who are appointed to transfer their knowledge to the people who are sent to gain knowledge, whereas this very rarely is identified that respect and obedience do not come by force if the people appointed actually are “teachers”, if respect is being imposed than our common sense indicate that the person himself/herself is not worthy of being respected.

I might sound radical while expressing my views, but actually my views are something which every person would have if the person looks into the matter keeping aside the existing norms of the society. Norms are formed in society for the objective to make the society progressive, therefore norms which are not beneficial can always be replaced with better ones. This has been a function of societies from centuries.

The issue of forcefully making the pupils subservient to the appointed educators might not seem to be an issue for many readers, but if examine the effects it leave upon the minds of the subjects we realize that this has been a major contributor in weakening our society. Majority of the people have become users than becoming inventors, and a major reason behind that is they were never even given a chance to think by themselves. Acceptance of the theories told by the teachers is an attempt to undermine a person’s confidence on himself and his judgment and creates a sense of powerlessness, and actually the students can’t really do anything about it because they fear that consequent behavior would lead to social failure and economic collapse. In this parents too are responsible for eliminating the self confidence of their children, who if disagree with any prevalent theory are discouraged, because they too feel that if their child does not adopt the approved rules they too would face social failure. But this view has based on short term benefits, whereas if a change is brought in the benefits would be everlasting.

If we look into the matter than the person whom I would blame the most is the teacher, who due to the prevalent mindset of the society believes that he “knows it all”, rather than becoming a partner with the student in the learning process. This makes him ignorant with alternate views and disagreements, and the examination system then compliments the powers that the teacher has to push the students back who do not confirm with his ideas. Examination system is a complete topic in itself; let this piece focus on the roles of teachers alone. This in turn makes the teachers knowledge becoming stagnant, and the teacher remains inside the walls of his own cottage, which he wrongly believes to be the whole world.

To my observation, the positive teachers, students, school administrators should look into this matter to bring the society back on track, this elementary issue if addressed would be a step towards a progressive society. And this only be achieved by keeping aside the existing norm of being submissive to teachers and promoting freedom of speech and freedom of mind. A student may not confirm with what the educator says if he does not believe it to be right, whoever the educator might be, then only can we rebuilt the collapsed society of ours.

“I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” ~Socrates

Blowing the whistle

It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope. Niccolo Machiavelli

What Machiavelli said was intended to help “Princes” to elongate their ruler ship on their subjects, whereas what he didn’t knew was that there was a time coming up where educational institutions would use his political philosophies to control their students. I would not be able to comment on other institutions in the region, but the institution which I myself belong to would indicate the adversity of the educational institutions which this part of the world has. Where the administrators and professors tend to be more like the “Prince” which Machiavelli refers to, where the students are not learners rather are treated as subjects, subjects who do not have the right to question, subjects who are taught to bow their heads in front of the Princes (Authorities), subjects who are asked to believe in whatever they are taught, subjects who would be Jailed if they stand against the adversity of the institutions!

Wait a second, did I just wrote “Jailed”??

Certainly I did, and I may surprise the readers that Nazism has not limited itself to the government officials, the concept has now taken a step forward, now it lies with the Administrators and Teachers who are considered to be the more conscious part of the society.

As I commented earlier, I may not be able to judge other institutions but this claim turns true when it comes to the Institution I belong to, Iqra University. Recently the students of Iqra University (Defense View campus) received messages from the official Sms server of the University. It said

“As per electronic crime ordinance of 2009 section 13, harassing, defaming or threatening any person or organization through sms/ email is a crime. Penalty: seven years in Prison. Iqra University has started legal action through all concerned agencies against all those involved in sending emails, making online pages, or sending sms to defame I.U. If you receive any such message or email kindly give the number/address and contents to the controller of the Administration.”

I.U. SMS SERVER

Machiavelli in another instance said

“It is safer to be feared than to be loved”.

Well, this is the very case of the institution I belong to, the question which arises by the threats of the University to the students is that why would a student defame the institution which they themselves are a part of? There must be something very wrong if they are going for such measures. The tactics which the university is using to silence its “subjects”, reminds us very much of the colonies of the past, where the subjects were asked to forcefully admire the wrongs of the system. And the manipulating tactics which the teachers are asked to use in the classes is also worth mentioning, where they ask the students to not to criticize the university as this would adversely affect their careers, the “outer world” knowing the weaknesses of the institution would decrease the prestige of the graduates themselves.

The University reminding the students of laws has certainly forgotten basic human rights. Article 19 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights state:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

Whereas not only this, the educational institutions must also understand that fear might generate obedient subjects but freedom would produce bright students. And weaknesses can’t be dealt by suppression; they should be faced and addressed. The students themselves want to contribute as much for the progress of the institution as much as the administration does, presupposing their wickedness is not a solution. To reshape the society from being submissive to creative, we all have equal responsibilities. I would conclude with an extract from Paulo Friere’s book “Pedagogy of Oppressed”,

...our relationship with the learners demands that we respect them and demands equally that we be aware of the concrete conditions of their world, the conditions that shape them. To try to know the reality that our students live is a task that the educational practice imposes on us: Without this, we have no access ' to the way they think, so only with great difficulty can we perceive what and how they know.

... there are no themes or values of which one cannot speak, no areas in which one must be silent. We can talk about everything, and we can give testimony about everything.