Yes, Marvi Mazhar, I did smoke!

This was at the end of 1953, when we lived in a flat at Nazareth Road. I had just become 13 a month earlier and was given a cigarette to smoke by a slightly older American friend. It was a Lucky Strike. I fell in love with it and started smoking those. (I really hated British cigarettes that a couple of friends offered me.)

Lucky Strike

Apart from that I occasionally smoked the following

Camel

Pall Mall

Gauloises

CharMinar

King Stork

Finally, when I was at sea, I even took to the above, a really strong brand from Pakistan. This was when I was in Chittagong. The other US/French/Indian brands were not easily available there and they rarely came Duty Free (except when I ordered a few packs on our European trips).

•

Just an aside.

Lucky Strike had L.S.M.F.T. on some advertisements

Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco

•

The joke that we all laughed at was

Q: "Who would you like your ultimate mate to be?"

A: "Oh, as long as they fit the 'L.S.M.F.T.' type!"

Q: "What does that mean?"

A: "Long, Short, Medium, Fat, or Thin!"

•

But I am getting ahead!

On 28th September that year I was in my room

(Obviously smoking a Lucky Strike).

Part of the flat where we lived looked like this:

As you can see, Ummi (my mother) came into my bedroom door to speak to me. I had the cigarette (my parents didn't know I smoked at all, naturally) so I hid the lighted cigarette behind my back. While talking to her, Abi (my father) arrived from the passage and saw the cigarette. He took it out of my hand and said to me to finish it and then enter their bedroom. Ummi was aghast. I went into my room and had a couple of quick puffs and then went to see them, fearing the worst.

All Abi said was that he gave me Rupees 2 Annas 8 (Rs 2.50 today) for my pocket money and he wanted to know why I spent such a lot of money on cigarettes. In any case, there was no Cigarette-to-Cancer scene at that time and Abi had, at one time smoked. He gave it up because, I think, we had little money to spend on 'luxuries' (though he always bought books if he ever had some money).

Abi said to me that I should not spend this much money and should give up smoking. If I could do that until I was 16, he'd let me smoke then. I agreed (partly because I was shit-scared at his 'coolness' and was not willing to go further into any discussion).

•

In another 3 years I never ever smoked but had actually completely forgotten about this incident. On my 16th birthday Abi asked me if I had ever smoked in these three years. I said to him I hadn't.

He was a doctor and had read in a medical magazine that there was a risk of paper in cigarettes that was being investigated these days. So he asked me to accompany him to Rodrigues & Co. on Elphinstone Street (now Zaibunnisa Street) and gifted me a set of two pipes and a box of Tobacco.

The Wooden Pipe was expensive as was the Tobacco.

The Corn Pipe was much cheaper.

He did ask me to stay away from Cigarettes, but I started smoking them when I was at sea, anyway. Life without cigarettes, specially when you were getting them Duty Free, was great. But pipes became my favorites on my Watch on the Ship's Bridge.

This was my ultimate favorite pipe!

•

Cigars became a favorite of mine after dinner. The one that I loved was made in Manila for me and I always had one every night, sitting with other friends at sea where we would have poetry sessions.

My personal cigar

You can see Z.A.K. on the cigar.

I also wanted to take my Hookah from home with me to the ship, but was told that it was not allowed on board because of the additional risk of fire. Why, I wondered. Cigarettes/Cigars could also cause fires. Any ideas? For those who might want to see what my Hookah looked like, here is a picture.

HookiePookie

•

In 1959 that I learnt to drive a car of a friend. I had an accident that left my left shoulder fractured. I had some pain and was told to stay in bed after Dr. Habib Patel (a close friend of my father from Bombay) plastered it. Abi decided to light a cigarette and helped me smoke it. Imagine this in '59. 

Sadly the shoulder joined crookedly (as D J Trump would say it!) and I had to again to Dr. Patel. He hit it (with a soft hammer) and re-fractured it and put it right. The shoulder was in plaster again but is now OK … but in a slightly bent shape.

•

In 1977 I was home when Ummi said to me that I had every habit my father had (books, music, poetry) but was not as good as he was. She said he gave up smoking and you continue to do so because you've no will power. 

I thought hard about that in my room and then went to her with all my pipe collection and a packet of cigarettes and two cigars and said you can give these to anyone you want. I will never smoke again. 

My Pipe Collection

I have never touched a cigarette since then.

•

As for my fondness of 'other things',

don't forget that I grew up in the 60s

and use them as they come.

No tobacco in it. Just dried Podeena.

•

Philip Pullman

Simon Mason put together some of Pullman's pieces in "Daemon Voices - On Stories and Storytelling". An absolutely lovely book. Get it if you are a Pullman Fan.

Pullman has been one of my favourite authors (Have you read "His Dark Materials"? The one I got was a gift from Maha Husain, a wonderful young woman whose father was a great friend of mineI miss him a lot.)

I always thought that if Pullman and I were actual twins, I'd be the poorer twin, unknown and unheard of, while he would be the world famous author. Why would I think that, you ask. 

Well, let me quote Simon about Pullman.

 

Sounds like everything that I love. And, to add to it, he loves Carpentry — something I used to do on the ship and at home. 

Of the many books that I read (from his 29 books so far  —including many children's books), one was "The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ", a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. A friend, Riffat Zarreen, bought it with me. So I hope she reads the longish article I am quoting below. It's about why Pullman wrote the piece, since many people were confused by it.

What a lovely article!

•

I would strongly suggest that you buy "His Dark Materials"
(and get a few children's books for your kids/siblings.)

•

Not fond of reading?
Pity!
However you can still enjoy it:
Audio Versions of the 3 volumes are available.
Also, they are out on film
(the last one coming out soon).

Beanz Meanderings 2007 (Continued)

Monday, March 19th, 2007

The Aurora Awards for Excellence in Advertising were held last night against a backdrop of the stunningly lit Mohatta Palace in Karachi. The DAWN Group went ALL OUT to honor the advertising industry by presenting 10 Lifetime Achievement Awards, an Institutional Award, and Awards in 4 categories.

Ranting and bitching is fun and finding faults is easy. The event was not without its hiccups but I am not going to mention any here. Planning and pulling off an elaborate event, tastefully, is a hideously difficult task. The stage was beautifully simple and effective, the hosts, Leon and Ayeshah did their thing without being cheesy, the sound system worked, and the gazillion musicians from all over the country came and went without dragging their feet. Being part of APMC, I know how painful it is to manage musicians. I am not a huge fan of folk; I like my eastern music shudh and challenging, but providing a platform to purveyors of a dying art is a noble act. The menu was beautifully designed as was the programme and the attention to detail was obvious and much appreciated. Abida Parveen’s sufi invocations and finale were a special treat. I do wish that those who were being honored had stayed on till the end because a number of people worked bloody hard to make this event possible.

Kudos to Hameed Haroon, my friends, Mariam Ali Baig, Mamun Adil and Leila Mahfooz, and the Great Marketing Department at DAWN

Monday, May 28th, 2007

Sometimes people ask me what my name means and, since I don’t know, I mumble something incoherent and change the subject. Today, my mother did a Google search and the first result that came up was this Urban Dictionary definition:

Sabeen

Sabeen is one of the nicest girls you will ever meet. She is cute, funny, smart and caring. Sabeen's are known to be great friends and they love their families too! The best thing about a Sabeen is probably her personality. They love animals and they love to smile and laugh!

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

T2F has turned my life upside down.

Have succumbed to Facebook but only because there were dozens of pending friend requests and I didn’t want to come across as snotty. Not too fond of Mark Zuckerberg and Kottke claims that Facebook is AOL 2.0. Ewww. Need to read up on the whole closed platform issue.

Just found out that Apple Asia may send me to Macworld 2008

Astounded at the level of discussion on Karachi Metblogs. Under duress, I’d rather troubleshoot Dot.Net code than read the profundities of KMB commenters.

Still trying to comprehend the Twitter phenomenon. What ARE you doing? WHAT are you doing? What are YOU doing? What are you DOING?

I wish I could make you understand ...

C’mon Steve, give us Leopard already. But before you do, kill that disgusting transparent menubar. Best zinger yet.

I still wonder about that Meatloaf song.

A virtual friend in Lahore has started developing for Mac OS X. If there are any indie devs out there who want to join our currently non-existent user group, shout out in the comments. Surely we can make a widget, if nothing else.

Competition is completely, totally, and utterly unhealthy.

Thursday, July 5th, 2007

Shikāyat kyā haé dardé dil ki, Fazli

Agar dil haé to dükhtā hee rahay gā

Friday, July 6th, 2007

The Wall is an interesting idea for social networking but bizarrely implemented. A “friend” writes on your wall and all your other “friends” can see what’s been written. You are meant to respond, not on your wall, but on your friend’s wall. So Facebook’s mechanism for interaction ends up creating a strange half-baked non-versation on your wall. How utterly odd.

I simply don’t get it. Well, I do actually. Techies don’t “get” human interface design and it takes time, money, and insane amounts of effort to fuss over details. And since it’s a Windows world, most people are used to tortuous interfaces and don’t even realize that they are living through a digital nightmare. So, if the users don’t care, why should the developers?

In other half-assedness, why is the primary navigation bar so sparse? Surely a number of default actions and applications could be incorporated there instead of a gazillion links being part of the content. The personalized home page and the profile page could also be better integrated. And what of the myriad hyperlink roll-over effects? Blue text that gets underlined, black text that becomes blue and underlined, blue text that turns into a block of blue with white text, black and gray text that stays black or gray but gets underlined.

Very strange information architecture decisions. Granted, Facebook is an online community with much complexity at its core but it does feel a bit like a mashup of gigantic proportions - Reader’s Digest on steroids - trying too hard to be all things to all people.

The Mini-Feed! Gosh, triviality kee bhee inteha hotee hae. Typical techie masturbation. Capture everything and then display every mundane syllable imaginable - just because you can. It’s in the database so shove it up everyone’s ass. Woke up, scratched left ball, picked nose, poked friend, and so it goes ...

LoL, Heehee, Yaay!

Of course, one can opt out. And I probably will, but for now, bitching is so much more fun.

Tuesday, July 24th, 2007

Hud hae! Got to Delhi in the morning yesterday and activated an AirTel cell phone connection at around 6:00 pm. First thing this morning, I received a call from ICICI Bank asking if I wanted a loan!!!! I thought the tele-marketing scene in Pakistan was intense but this is off the charts.

Wednesday, July 25th, 2007

It’s been a few weeks now and I have thought long and hard about the wall. I have attempted to understand, rationalize, justify even, the interface design decisions that power the wall. But all to no avail. I just don’t get it. Context is crucial and it’s completely missing. Content on your wall is on public display and people tend to read linearly. Responses from the owner are nowhere to be seen though, so the writing on the wall has little or no meaning. So, why is it publicly visible then? You can respond on your own wall, but I have been told that Facebook etiquette demands that when a friend writes on your wall, you write back on their wall. BAH. What stupidity.

I admit I have pedantic tendencies but how can everyone in this vast Facebook community be your "friend"? Back in the day, the word "friend" meant something a little more substantial than someone you met 7 years ago while working on a project. But I suppose if we can have a financial institution called MyBank, everyone can be your friend. This is not a valid gripe - am just being cranky.

Given that poking, defenestrating, throwing sheep, adding friends, responding to notifications, and checking whether your "friends" are looking out the window is of enormous significance in the Facebook world, shouldn’t your Facebook home page refresh automatically, every so often? Some Ajax(y) goodness would help.

Then, there’s the whole MySpace vs. Facebook debate. I don’t use MySpace but the notion of a user-defined/designed space is much more appealing to me than Facebook’s rather antiseptic template. It’s neat and clean for sure but completely lacks soul. My page looks exactly like my friend’s page. Actually, I lie. Some of my friends have SuperPoke and FunWall and Horoscope and a zillion emoticons, and I don’t. Just ain’t cool enough I guess. Of course, most MySpace pages are hideous but the potential to make them look pretty exists. This isn’t really a gripe but as a designer, I find my Facebook home page utterly bland and boring. Even my wireframes are more aesthetically pleasing!

If you aren’t someone’s "friend", you can only see a limited profile. Right? So, how come you can see their photos if you click a link from a legit friend’s page? Smells like a privacy breach.

Whilst tagging a person in a photo or a note, the search box returns live results. The regular search box in the global navigation bar has a little dropdown menu. It should have an option for "Find a Friend". Classmates and Co-workers should be a sub-group. Choosing Find a Friend should return live results like tagging. The functionality is there already so why not maximize its utility?

"Drag links [here] to hide them". When will they ever learn? Where is "Here" on a web page? It has no meaning. This text appears in a box with a border and a fill. One would imagine "here" means into the box. But it doesn’t. Whatever ...

The issue, I think, is that websites are morphing into applications and interface design and information architecture principles that worked for regular sites with some transactional components, don’t cut the mustard. I am not ready for a browser-only world. I love my client-side Mac apps, even those designed by the "delicious generation", and can’t abide browser-based apps for the most part.

Facebook isn’t totally horrific - I’m just mean and nasty, but it could be a whole lot better if someone from Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines team joined them.

And now, for something completely different!

What is Facebook’s business model?

YOU!

All this seemingly mundane drivel we "share" about our interests, activities, favorite music and movies, political affiliations, sexual orientation, how you are related to or know others, religious views, desires, schedules, needs, wants, etc. translates into SOLID GOLD that gets sold to "responsible third-parties that Facebook has relationships with". So, all your data is analyzed, collated, and presented to marketeers in the form of neat little charts that tell them which movies 18-25 year old girls like and how many 20 year old boys still don’t have Nintendo Wiis. Cool huh? And you thought Facebook was all about giving you an innocuous platform to connect with friends?

Did you know that "by posting Member Content to any part of the Web site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sub-license) to use, copy, perform, display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such information and content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.

Translation: Facebook and any third-parties they choose can fuck you over because they know everything about you. Third- parties include the Government and the agencies.

The more information we feed Facebook about ourselves, the more we ramp up Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth. Facebook will soon get get sold to the highest bidder for zillions of dollars heralding the death of the resurgence of the web. 3.0 will be a long time coming.

If this sounds melodramatic, it isn’t. Just be aware of what’s going on. Read the privacy policy and terms of service and know that what you tell Facebook does not stay within the cosy confines of what you think is a closed network for you and your buddies. Mark Zuckerberg is not your friend. He runs a corporation. Enough said.

Thursday, August 16th, 2007

Just heard yet another horror story about a Karachi school for the well-heeled.

It was parent orientation day.

The Urdu teacher was addressing parents.

In English.

She said, “You must speak to your children in Urdu when they are young, because it is easier for them to pick up FOREIGN languages in the early years.

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

Anita Roddick is dead!

She died of a brain hemorrhage last night.
Anita, how could you just drop dead? You were such an inspiration. Rest in Peace. :-(
http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2007/09/anita-roddick-obituary.html

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

The E-Crime Bill 2007, has been approved in principle by the Federal Cabinet and will be enacted soon, according to the Minister for IT & Telecom, Awais Leghari. The Bill is one of the most draconian laws yet to emanate from the Government. It conflicts with international treaties, usurps fundamental human rights, violates the Constitution and effectively lays the legal foundation for a police state. It also obstructs any international cooperation on cyber crime, terrorism and enforcement.

The legally and technically incorrect definitions in the E-Crime Bill 2007 ensure that rather than preventing cyber crimes, perpetrators will view Pakistan as a safe haven. The innocent will fall victim to its abuse, and for international and domestic businesses and investors, Pakistan will not be a destination of choice but a jurisdiction to stay away from.

T2F has hosted 2 awareness/activism sessions, DAWN TV has done a show, various print publications have written articles, and bloggers across the country have been blogging about the implications of the Bill. This is not enough. Please spread the word and help people understand that this Bill does not affect techies only. It adversely affects every Pakistani who uses a computer or mobile phone. Please watch the videos, read the blog posts, and join hands with us as we lobby for a redrafting of the E-Crime Bill 2007.

Google and YouTube Videos

Zahid Jamil’s Presentation:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
One-to-One Q/A with Civil Society Blog Posts

Another Draconian Law In The Offing Draconian Cyber Crime Law in Pakistan
I’m Scared
I Can’t Believe The Government Is Doing This Internet Freedom, Goodbye

The Activism Continues Be Really Scared

Recommended Reading:

Cyber Crime FAQ | Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act | Letter to Cabinet

Please send links to other blog posts and articles via comments.

Sunday, September 30th, 2007

Muneer Malik (Head of the Supreme Court Bar Association) has announced a nation-wide strike call for Monday 1st Oct to protest law-enforcement/police brutality against civil society, the lawyers, and the media.

Is this form of protest meaningful in the 21st century? If so, how do we participate? If not, what are the alternatives? How can we ignite a movement to reclaim our rights? This particular post is not about “If not Musharraf, then who?” This is about registering a strong protest, rather, expressing outrage against ongoing crimes inflicted upon civil society and the media.

Would really like to hear some sane voices with ideas about how to mobilize using technology, social networking tools, text messaging, design, and the energy of the young and not so jaded. And you know what? Being apathetic is so last century.

A friend's birthday … and he is not there :(

 Happy Birthday Asif Aslam Farrukhi

(Wish I could say this to you in person)

•

Spent quite a day listening to your brilliant and wonderful ta’reefs on everything you did, from a magazine that I loved, to your marvelous short stories, to your being a friend, and to the lovely adviser to T2F that you were. I miss the lovely national/international speeches and moderations that you carried out. I always thought highly of you and loved all your works … but, even more, your enthusiasm and untiring spirit that got you going. 

There were many people, from friends to colleagues to students, who were there to support you and talk about the wonderful times they had with you. Many spoke of the things you did for them all.

Attiya Dawood was there, telling people about what a close friend you were and how he helped her to write her autobiography. How close he was to Abro and the Suhaee. 

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Ghazal talk about you, One could see how difficult it is to talk about a loved father who is not there now. It is so difficult for a daughter to say things that must be in her mind. You were a good father and a great teacher. 

There was Ameena Saiyid there, speaking and ‘talking’ about how she ‘spoke to you about the first KLF’. Of course there were the wonderful things you did with her at KLF and Adab. People always admired what you added there in so far as Urdu was concerned. 

Wonder what would Sabeen would say about Ameena's talk with you and the first KLF! In any case, I won’t delve into that or share our emails for the public to read. Fortunately I never went to that Festival - but that’s a long story. Maybe someone should read Bina Shah on how the first KLF transpired. She has written about it. 

I miss you a lot, Asif: You were wonderful to talk to. You read an awful lot of books and discussed many with me. Your love of Qavvāli was another thing that brought us closer. And Poetry became an even closer bit to discuss.

•

There’s no one that I can think of who could really take your place ... for you were even more versatile than people can really imagine. 

•

Here are Asif Farrukhi's works

Keeping you updated on your birthday

On one of your previous birthdays many years ago

•

Soon after you were assassinated and left us, the Government here named a Road after you … but, as usual, the name started with a 'Seen' (س) instead of a 'Suad' (ص). The Road had been named after you by Nafisa Shah (and Nasreen Jalil helped, too).

I was most upset and wrote to both of them and to Farooq Sattar to please change the name. No response.

I wrote to Awab Alvi, since his father is the President, and Awab was a friend of ours — in fact those two were the first to arrive at JPMC when we took you there — to try and intervene via his Dad. No response. 

Sharif Awan said he'd get it done and tried and tried. Nothing happened.

Isa Daudpota's father's name on the road read Dr Daud Pota. He said he had tried but no one wants to change it. I should give this up.

I tried even going there and painting it but friends told me I could be arrested … so I gave up this idea. After all, who wants to be on the wrong side of the Police, or Rangers, or worse: Bhatta-khors.

This year I started again.

I wrote on FB and Twitter that this had happened and no one has helped.

Kasim K said I should paint it. Two others also said the same thing. I said I'd like this to happen officially. Their responses were really 'snickering' for my waiting for someone to do this.

•

Then I saw a message from Sen Murtaza Wahab of PPP asking me to send him the picture of the road. I sent it to him. He said he wanted a family member to write a letter and state the wrong name and say how the person was related. I spoke to Mimi and she spoke to Marvi who wrote a letter. Mimi signed it and added pictures and off it went.

Two days later we received a picture from Sen MW saying this was temporary but it had the name spelt right. The next morning he sent the final picture and the road was now with a 'Suad'. Wow! I have never seen anyone do anything good that fast in our Governments.

Marvi has worked with Sen MW so she set up a group on What's App with Mimi and him and me … and we reached a point where Mimi said she wanted to place a tree there. He agreed. I insisted that it be before your birthday. He agreed. And it was decided by Mimi that it would be today.

We all arrived there and you'll see details through Mimi's and Marvi's pictures. The one below is the tree that I planted just behind the board, with Nuzhat joining in. The others were planted by Mimi & Marvi. Think one was done by Seema, but she was not there when Nuzhat and I arrived. May have left earlier.

Here's the 4 of us 

•

Sadly Sen MW could not be there because this morning he got tested and was found to have Covid-19. We all really missed him. But a great deal of thanks, Sen MW for all your help and sending the right people to help us plant the tree. Get well soon.

•

Yeh Kyā Hüā

When I was in the Merchant Navy one of the things that I did on Pakistani ships was to start a library in our Smoke Room. There were books in English and Urdu that I purchased or was given by friends who waned people at sea to read. There were a couple of ships where I had Bengali officers, so they added Bengali books. 

One day, 40 years ago, a friend sent me some books for the ship and one of the books was of short stories from an author I had never heard of. I opened it at a random page … and was absolutely thrilled. I read other short stories in it and each one was brilliant. 

Since my ship was in Karachi I asked a young cousin of mine, Zulqarnain Shahid, to find out who this guy was ... and was told that he was a personal friend. So off we went that week to meet him. 

The book was ‘Atasfishañ Mayñ Khilay Gulāb’ ... The author was 21 year old Asif Aslam Farrukhi. He was the son of Dr. Aslam Farrukhi, one of our greatest critics, a writer who also wrote children's books, and a fabulous story-teller who had a remarkable memory. 

There were several stories that I asked Asif about, including a tremendous small SF piece. But the one that fascinated me most was about him and his brother traveling to India with their father. It seemed so real and it brought back my own memories of a similar trip. 

“But I have never travelled to India. Nor has my brother. The story is fictitious and it was written about things that my father and other family members said”, said Asif. 

Those who have read the book will understand the surprise I felt. It has remained a favourite take of mine ... and the book has many other pieces I adore. I had asked to read this at T2F, but Asif said it's an old tale, let me read something new instead. I insisted … and it would be done soon online. But ohhhh …

For many years we remained in contact, specially when he had a little mahfil where many young poets were invited, since he knew of my love of poetry. People like Fahmida Riaz, Attiya Dawood, Azra Abbas, and Zeeshan Sahil were at these sessions. 

(Some of you may know that Asif wrote poetry and had a collection published. But he said it wasn’t something he was proud of ... so he continued his prose writings.) 

When T2F opened we had  Zeeshan Sahil as our first poet. Asif was thrilled at my calling ZS and said it was a great move to call him in an area where people thought Urdu was hardly ever spoken. (T2F was packed!) Later on Sabeen invited him to be a T2F advisor ... and his love of Urdu plus his moderating skills made him a favourite person to anyone who saw him at a session. 

A Medical Doctor who didn’t practice at all, he worked with UNICEF. Asif had also worked at Aga Khan Foundation. And he was now teaching at Habib University.

His love of all forms of literature was astounding ... and he read everything he could read. And he certainly directed many others to read something he found interesting. I loved that.

Asif was a genius at everything he did and his magazine (Dunyazad), his marvellous and friendly teaching at HU where students felt so comfortable with him, his sessions at T2F, his festival organization, and his channel at YouTube are ample proofs of what he could do. 

•

Two days before his death a well-known poet (a bit of a crook, as well) phoned me. I was surprised. I have known him for years. But in the last two years he has refused to answer my calls. I wanted him to come for a session about him and his book at T2F. A few friends told me that he won’t come because he thinks he ought to be paid. 

He started of by saying to me: Your friend Asif is at HU and he has no business to be there. He is a Doctor and knows nothing about literature. He hardly writes well. Most of the things he says are things that he picks up from literature abroad and translates them into Urdu as if he has written it. He takes illegal money from people to invite them to the various festivals he is involved with and has a battle with his colleague who had found this out.

My feeling is that this poet applied for a job at HU and was rejected. Possibly Asif may have known of his crookedness and didn't want him linking with the students there. I have not named the poet because I don’t want his fans and supporters starting a war of words.

•

Two days later Asif left us.

We have lost a great person. Urdu lovers feel terribly at his leaving them at such a young age. 61 is no time to die. Students at HU are completely shaken. Friends in Pakistan, India, and in many countries abroad have mourned his death in articles and posts. 

The best thing we must do is to publish all his writings into a series of books. Can Scherezade - a publishing house that Asif set up - do this if someone is now handling it after him. And can HU help with the expense?

•

Asif really loved  Karachi

 and now Karachi seems empty without him. 

What's in a name? Plenty, I think.

Let's start with Urdu and my First Name

The number of times my first name, Zaheer, has been written as ظہیر instead of زہیر - which is my actual name - is not so strange. Zoé is pronounced the same as Zay in Urdu. Of course, in Arabic Zay is Zay, but Zoé is Doé … Think of Eed-ul-Ad'ha, folks.

When I was at sea and ever travelled to an Arab speaking country and was asked for my name at the gate for a Pass, I said Zaheer and they always wrote زہیر ...

My father's name was Azhar (ازہر) and was written by many as اظہر for the same reason as mine was. Haven't you heard of Jaméul Azhar (جامع الازہر)?

Azhar and Zaheer with a Zoé comes from Zāhir (= obvious or seen) ... Remember اظہر من ال شمس?

Azhar and Zaheer with a Zay comes from a word meaning Light (روشنی)! Zahrā, the planet (زہرا) means the lighted one.

Azhar means the one receiving the light.

Zaheer means the one giving the light.

•

Now to the English version of my Surname

Kidvai comes from a Turkish word and is derived as being the progeny of Kazi Kidva, a scholar and a judge who came to India with the Mughal king Babar.

Originally, of course, the names were written in the Arabic/Persian script, but Mustafa Kemal changed that and wanted the language to be written in the Latin Script (perhaps partly because it was easier to 'type' and partly because of his love for the West. I am not sure). 

This has led to many problems for a language that has to be written differently: many written pieces, prose and poems, will never get translated. Who has the time to do all this, after all. Imagine if we had to change Urdu into an English Script: Mir, Ghalib, Faiz and others of that ilk would get translated. Even many religious works would get translated. But what about the lesser writers and poets, who may have occasionally written a lovely piece? Will those ever be translated? Not at all.

As you notice, there's no Q (ق) but a K (Koran for قران is something many of you must have seen). Of course we even have Kasuri for قصوری but I don't know whether there's a Turkish connection or not.

Also the word W (و) has no mention. There is only a V. This is why we write Kidvai,

Many others write Qidwai, Quidwai, Kidwai, and even a Bengali friend who wrote Kidbhaee because he followed Pir whose surname was قدوایٗ. He translated that into Bengali and was then told by a Calcuttay-vāla that bh was not correct and he should use a w. 

Those who saw an Arabic version of the letters saw ق & و and used that. Those who felt that a Q cannot be by itself and must have a U after it, used that. And many Indians remember their Minster Rafi Ahmed Kidwai and automatically use that when writing my name and emailing me (when my email spells KIDVAI with a V). Some emails, I am sure, get lost in this process. Others have my email right and get to me :)

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Two funny tales:

1. When I was at sea and went to East Africa, I visited a Sindhi Doctor to check my health and gave him my name and home address. He wrote it down as Kidvani and thought I was a Sindhi, too. For years I kept getting letters from him about how Sindhis in Pakistan and India ought to get together and form a separate Sindhu Desh. After several letters I did write back and tell him I was a New Sindhi … and never got any mail after that. One of the top members from that group was Mumtaz Bhutto, a cousin of ZAB, who was also our Shipping Minister.

2. I once went to get a Notary Public Paper for myself and for my wife, Nuzhat. When the old Lucknowi man, with a tirchhi topi and a white kürta pyjāma asked me for my name I said Zaheer … with a Zay, please. He looked at me and then smiled and wrote it right. When he asked for my father's name I said Azhar … with a Zay, please. He smiled again and wrote that down right. Then he asked me my wife's name and I said Nuzhat. He looked up and said Shall I write this with a Zoād? 

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While I was in UK during my seafaring days I discovered this on a catalogue I was looking at and ordered it. It arrived and now hangs in my house. 

The Latin Script reads

Non Omnis Moriar

which means

I shall not altogether die

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I was told that it was placed in the catalogue by

Mubashir Husain Kidwai
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I am surprised that it reads Kidvai at the top

but he continued to write Kidwai with a w.

But that's up to him, I guess.

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