"Something happening in Mohali today?"
Rocking to a cross-borker beat - 'tension lena ka nahi'
There was prolonged applause in the hall, packed with Indian and Pakistani students, when Salman Ahmad dedicated the popular, catchy Junoon number 'Yaro yahi dosti hai' to "the Pakistan and India cricket teams and the people of both countries".
The occasion was a fundraiser for the flood victims organised by students at Harvard University last Saturday, featuring Shahram Azhar of Laal, who is currently studying for his PhD at the University of Massachusetts, and Salman Ahmad of Junoon.
"Is something happening at Mohali in a few days?" joked the activist-singer, who is known for his pro-peace stand.
A keen cricket fan whose boyhood idol was the legendary Majid Khan (who happened to be in the audience that evening), Ahmad acknowledged the "deep feelings of aspiration and fear" that Indians and Pakistanis were feeling as the big day approached.
"Sunno, tension dene ka, leney ka nahin, okay?" he added, launching into an energetic rendition of 'Yaro.., echoed by the audience.
As the music gained momentum, Indians and Pakistanis in the audience - mostly from Delhi, Mumbai, Karachi and Lahore (with a couple of Bangalore students thrown in) - bonded over old Bollywood numbers like 'Chura liya hai tum ne jo dil ko' that Salman Ahmad sang along with Shahram Azhar.
Salman Ahmad punctuated his music with insights from his own experiences, including Junoon's eye-opening first trip to India in the late 1990s, "when so many people warned us that we would be tortured, imprisoned or deported." And yet, when the time came for them to leave for the airport, there were all the cousins and sisters seeing them off with autograph books - "not for us to sign, but for us to take to India and get signatures of Kajol and other Bollywood stars".
When they got there, and were in the dressing room after their performance, "a very tall security guard said some people were coming to see us - we thought now we're going to be arrested or tortured," laughed Salman Ahmad. But in walked Kajol, Juhi Chawla and Salman Khan. And before they could take out those autograph books and ask them to sign, the Indian stars held out autograph books that their nieces and nephews had given them to get Junoon to sign.
And that, he added, "sums up the strange mystical relationship of India and Pakistan, how we see each other only through our films, music, songs" - and sport, of course.
Salman Ahmad ended the evening with the lyrical 'Ghoom taana' that he originally sang with the powerful Shubha Mudgal for a music video starring Nandita Das - a moving cross-border team up of dedicated artists from both sides. "Whatever the outcome at Mohali, this song'sfor you!" - http://youtu.be/EO7zZ6-DIq4
- Beena Sarwar
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
There was prolonged applause in the hall, packed with Indian and Pakistani students, when Salman Ahmad dedicated the popular, catchy Junoon number 'Yaro yahi dosti hai' to "the Pakistan and India cricket teams and the people of both countries".
The occasion was a fundraiser for the flood victims organised by students at Harvard University last Saturday, featuring Shahram Azhar of Laal, who is currently studying for his PhD at the University of Massachusetts, and Salman Ahmad of Junoon.
"Is something happening at Mohali in a few days?" joked the activist-singer, who is known for his pro-peace stand.
A keen cricket fan whose boyhood idol was the legendary Majid Khan (who happened to be in the audience that evening), Ahmad acknowledged the "deep feelings of aspiration and fear" that Indians and Pakistanis were feeling as the big day approached.
"Sunno, tension dene ka, leney ka nahin, okay?" he added, launching into an energetic rendition of 'Yaro.., echoed by the audience.
As the music gained momentum, Indians and Pakistanis in the audience - mostly from Delhi, Mumbai, Karachi and Lahore (with a couple of Bangalore students thrown in) - bonded over old Bollywood numbers like 'Chura liya hai tum ne jo dil ko' that Salman Ahmad sang along with Shahram Azhar.
Salman Ahmad punctuated his music with insights from his own experiences, including Junoon's eye-opening first trip to India in the late 1990s, "when so many people warned us that we would be tortured, imprisoned or deported." And yet, when the time came for them to leave for the airport, there were all the cousins and sisters seeing them off with autograph books - "not for us to sign, but for us to take to India and get signatures of Kajol and other Bollywood stars".
When they got there, and were in the dressing room after their performance, "a very tall security guard said some people were coming to see us - we thought now we're going to be arrested or tortured," laughed Salman Ahmad. But in walked Kajol, Juhi Chawla and Salman Khan. And before they could take out those autograph books and ask them to sign, the Indian stars held out autograph books that their nieces and nephews had given them to get Junoon to sign.
And that, he added, "sums up the strange mystical relationship of India and Pakistan, how we see each other only through our films, music, songs" - and sport, of course.
Salman Ahmad ended the evening with the lyrical 'Ghoom taana' that he originally sang with the powerful Shubha Mudgal for a music video starring Nandita Das - a moving cross-border team up of dedicated artists from both sides. "Whatever the outcome at Mohali, this song'sfor you!" - http://youtu.be/EO7zZ6-DIq4
- Beena Sarwar
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
No hatred for pilot, the real villain is war
Farida Singh, daughter of the Indian pilot shot down by the Pakistani pilot who sent her
letter of condolence 46 years later, talks to
Srijana Mitra Das .....more
Farida Singh, daughter of the Indian pilot shot down by the Pakistani pilot who sent herletter of condolence 46 years later, talks to
Srijana Mitra Das .....more
War and grief
Shobhan Saxena pieces together the events that led up to the 'Beechcraft incident' of 1965, with inputs from former PAF pilot and others
September 19, 1965 Ahm .....more
Shobhan Saxena pieces together the events that led up to the 'Beechcraft incident' of 1965, with inputs from former PAF pilot and othersSeptember 19, 1965 Ahm .....more
India-Pakistan - How to move on
Tridivesh Singh Maini
As India and Pakistan celebrate another independence anniversary, there's plenty of introspection going on within both countries. In Indi .....more
As India and Pakistan celebrate another independence anniversary, there's plenty of introspection going on within both countries. In Indi .....more
Let people meet
There have been confrontations in Europe too, but the European Union countries are not making ordinary citizens pay for the past, argues Adeel Pathan
Two mo .....more
There have been confrontations in Europe too, but the European Union countries are not making ordinary citizens pay for the past, argues Adeel PathanTwo mo .....more
Some thoughts on Independence
A personal note: Sharon and I
Alina Mirza
August 14th and 15th, 2011, are the 64th Independence days for, respectively, Pakistan (part of which later bec .....more
A personal note: Sharon and IAlina Mirza
August 14th and 15th, 2011, are the 64th Independence days for, respectively, Pakistan (part of which later bec .....more
Courage and grace: moving response of Indian pilot's daughter to PAF pilot who shot down her father
Beena Sarwar
The gracious response by the daughter of an Indian Air Force pilot who was killed during the 1965 war has taken to a new level the moving saga ini .....more
Beena Sarwar The gracious response by the daughter of an Indian Air Force pilot who was killed during the 1965 war has taken to a new level the moving saga ini .....more
Page 91 of 175
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The News on Sunday Special Report: India Pakistan prisoners
We probably didn't need to do this Special Report. Newspaper stories don't matter when it comes to Indians in Pakistani jails and vice versa. In fact, 'vice versa' sums it up. We do to them what they do to us.
Except when the two countries decide to begin talking, yet again! This time a little before the foreign secretary level talks, some Pakistani prisoners were released by India (and vice versa must have happened) and some more were release....read more
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For the past 2 years the Jang Group and Geo have been working on a project of great national interest; one that we hope will help usher in an era of peace and prosperity in the country and indeed, in the region. And one that hopefully all Pakistanis can be proud of.
The Jang Group has entered into an agreement with the Times of India Group, the largest media group of India, to campaign for peace betw
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