[Reader-list] protests & Basant Dilli Lahore

[Lehar ..]

yes. india protested too..5000 in dilli last basant
week. media sleeps as usual. so many 'white' folks
protested that they carried it on front
pages..regardless of the psuedo nationalist American
lobby in power. TImes of India bhi! uncle jee on road
side saying..80 lakh in Sydney bhaisahab! general
janta feeling a trifle abashed..what happened to us?..
land of Gandhi and Soul force yaar?? True.
Soul Force, Gandhi resurrected. stirring in his land.
despite the Lobby.
Basant may bridge gaps. Dilli Lahore wait.

--
Friends,
fyi..
Lehar.


From:Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com>  
To : Lehar sethi zaidi <leharz at hotmail.com>, 
Subject : Basant films available for screening  
Date:Thu, 20 Feb 2003 05:40:53 -0800 (PST 
 
Dear friends

You may remember our Basant festival that was held in
Delhi (between 6th and 9th Feb. 2003). As part of this
event, we showed two short  films about the
traditional Basant being observed in Delhi and in
Lahore. These two films portray some unique and
colourful traditions, and break a lot of stereotypes,
using simple visuals - the kind of material that
should be shown at more and more places and to a large
cross-section of people. At the moment, these films
are available with us in the form of a VCD or even on
miniDV tapes, which we can lend to anybody who wishes
to screen them. We can also be present at the
screening (in Delhi) to give an introduction or
participate in a discussion followed by the films.
Some details of the films are given below.

We (friends) incurred some cost in the acquiring of
the Lahore film and the making of VCDs of both these,
and are hoping that whoever plans to screen these
could make whatever little contribution is possible,
to recover the costs and for making more copies of the
films. We would even request those who have a video
projector (with sound amplification) to lend us, so
that we can hold more public screenings. The VCDs can
also be borrowed by people outside Delhi. I would
especiall request schools and colleges to consider
this. If the films are shown in this season of Basant
(preferably, before Holi) it would be more relevant.
Both films have Hindustani commentary. 

Basant – Dilli Lahore

Screening of Two Films on the Themes of Basant

Basant
Directed by Yousuf Saeed (Consortium for Educational
Communication)
13 minutes, New Delhi, Hindustani, 1997
A short film documenting a day in the life of Sufis
and Qawwals at the dargah of Nizamuddin, celebrating
Basant. The film traces the history behind the Sufi
Basant and why is it an important metaphor of the
Hindu-Muslim syncretic culture. This film has been
screened at the Mumbai International Film Festival
(MIFF'98), and also in the 6th International Short
Film Festival, Dhaka (Bangladesh) 1999, and at a
symposium in Harvard University in 2002, besides being
telecast on the Doordarshan.

Mela Basant Bahar
Directed by Samina Aslam (Eveready Pictures Pvt. Ltd.,
Karachi)
25 minutes, Karachi, Urdu and English
A colourful film about the popular culture associated
with the Basant celebration at Lahore, Pakistan,
focusing on the mammoth kite flying  and Basant events
in Lahore, involving more than 6 million people!!
Telecasted on PTV, and participated at Film South Asia
Festival, Kathmandu, Nepal, the film traces the story
of Basant and kite flying from the Mughal period to
the modern times. An Indian viewer of this film said:
"…even Diwali is not celebrated in India at the scale
Basant is held in Lahore…" 

Lahore and Delhi are just a couple of hundred
kilometers apart, but the Lahore film (when requested
by us from the Pakistani director last month), came to
Delhi via Dubai– a reflection of the times we are
living in. 

For more details about these films, please contact
Yousuf (9810379016) ysaeed7 at yahoo.com







------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
I have learned so much from God 
That I can no longer call myself a Christian, a Hindu,
a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew. 
The Truth has shared so much of Itself with me 
That I can no longer call myself a man, a woman, an
angel.. 
Love has befriended me. 
It has turned to ash and freed me 
Of every concept and image my mind has ever known. 

- Hafiz, Persian Sufi 

Organised religion is the prop of a man who has not
found his Self/ God within.
- Shaheed Bhagat Singh

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