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Hindustan Times
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Report: The Sacred Amritsar 2025
The city of Amritsar, which is named after the sacred pool surrounding the Golden Temple founded by Guru Ram Das in 1574, seems like the perfect location to host a festival that celebrates poetry, music, storytelling, history, and food. Its lanes and neighbourhoods are suffused with the aura of this spectacular shrine that attracts not only Sikh pilgrims but people of all faiths moved by Sikhism's inclusive spirit. This generosity particularly visible in the age-old institution of the langar that ensures no one goes hungry. The third edition of The Sacred Amritsar was held from February 21 to 23 at Hotel Sarovar (located on the site of a restored circuit house dating back to the British era), the Partition Museum housed in the Town Hall, and the 18th century Qila Gobindgarh. Kalapini Komkali at The Sacred Amritsar (Courtesy The Sacred Amritsar) Spoken word artist Priya Malik opened the festival with poems about childhood memories, the comfort of home and grandparents, and the simple joys of life. Her act titled 'Ishq Hai, Ishq Hai, Ishq Hai' focused on her fondness for chai. 'Chai is one of the most wonderful things in the world. It is also a love language between my parents. They don't say 'Sorry' and 'Thank You'. They just make a good cup of chai for each other, and that says it all,' she said. Malik was accompanied by singer Tanmay Maheshwari, who performed Luka Chhupi, a song written by Prasoon Joshi from the 2006 film Rang De Basanti, and Aaj Din Chadheya written by Irshad Kamil for Love Aaj Kal (2009). As evening turned to night, Rehmat-e-Nusrat, a talented qawwali group from Uttarakhand, led the audience into a deeper appreciation of Sufi poetry. They dedicated their performance to Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and sang Mann Kunto Maula by Amir Khusrau, and Anwar Farrukhabadi's Yeh Jo Halka Halka Suroor Hai. The yearning for a union with the divine, palpable in the group's music, continued into the following day with Swaransh Mishra, son and disciple of Pandit Sajan Mishra from the Banaras gharana — singing a Krishna bhajan called Chalo Mann Vrindavan Ki Or. He also presented an invigorating rendition of the Aghori Chalisa, honouring ascetics who are devotees of Lord Shiva and follow a spiritual path that challenges binaries and taboos. Hindustani classical vocalist Kalapini Komkali's tribute to her father and guru Kumar Gandharva was one of the festival's highlights. 'We keep the Guru Granth Sahib in our house,' she said, recalling her father's deep respect for the holy scripture of the Sikhs, which also includes the baani of poets such as Kabir, Ravidas, Baba Farid, Namdev, Ramanand and Surdas, among others, in addition to teachings by the Sikh gurus. Yatindra Mishra and Malini Awasthi at The Sacred Amritsar (Courtesy The Sacred Amritsar) Later, at the Partition Museum, former diplomats Navtej Sarna and Navdeep Suri were in conversation about the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre — a shocking moment in British Indian history. Sarna's novel Crimson Spring (2022) examined the worst excesses of colonialism through characters who witnessed the atrocities of Reginald Dyer, a British general who ordered troops to open fire on unarmed protestors gathered to demonstrate against the Rowlatt Act in 1919. Suri's grandfather, Nanak Singh, was at the massacre, and wrote a long Punjabi poem called Khooni Vaisakhi to bear witness. Suri's English translation was published in 2019. 'There was remarkable unity among the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs of Amritsar in those times,' said Suri. 'Naturally, the British felt quite threatened by this, so they wanted to destroy it.' It was chilling to hear this at the Partition Museum, which is filled with textual and visual evidence of how violence along religious lines killed millions in the subcontinent. Poet, storyteller and peace activist Amy Singh spoke about her 'Dak to Lahore' initiative that grew out of her desire to bridge the deepening divide between Indians and Pakistanis. Her passion to find common ground moved many in the audience. Many descendants of Partition survivors spoke about memories of migration, loss and trauma. That evening, at Qila Gobindgarh, Abhijit Pohankar moved the conversation from the longing for a homeland to the longing for a human beloved as he sang ghazals like Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na Karo and Ranjish Hi Sahi. Laksh Maheshwari had the audience hooked with stories about poet Amrita Pritam, her tumultuous love life and the men in it – Pritam Singh, Sahir Ludhianvi, and Inderjeet Singh aka Imroz. Anwar Khan Manganiyar lifted the evening several notches with his masterful rendition of the qawwali Chhap Tilak Sab Chheeni. Festival attendees at a heritage walk (Courtesy The Sacred Amritsar) The morning of the last day featured musicians Debapriya Adhikary, Samanwaya Sarkar and Sohon Ghosh. In the afternoon, oral historian and novelist Aanchal Malhotra spoke to cultural entrepreneur Sanjoy K Roy about her Partition-related research. Referring to WH Auden's poem Partition (1966), a scathing critique of Cyril Radcliffe's assignment to split up a land he had 'never set eyes on', Malhotra said, 'I have often wondered what I would do in Radcliffe's place. How is it possible to divide people from one soil who are so closely intermingled?' The grand finale had Gobindgarh Fort reverberating with Dastan-e-Akhtari: The Tale of Begum Akhtar, a collaboration between Yatindra Mishra and Malini Awasthi. Mishra, editor of Akhtari: The Life and Music of Begum Akhtar (2021), narrated key episodes from the life of the legendary singer of ghazal, dadra and thumri. Awasthi paid tribute to the Hindustani classical exponent by recreating on stage some of her most iconic songs including Hamri Atariya, which got a standing ovation. Neeraj Arya of Kabir Cafe. (Courtesy The Sacred Amritsar) The festival's last set had Neeraj Arya's band Kabir Café presenting popular Kabir bhajans like Mann Mast Bhaya Phir Kya Bole, Chadariya Jheeni Re Jheeni, Mann Laago Mero Yaar Faqiri Mein and Satguru Sahib Ne Mera Bharam Tod Diya. In between all this festival attendees were also taken on heritage walks to major historical sites like the Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, Gurudwara Santokhsar Sahib, Katra Ahluwalia, Dharam Singh Market, and Saragarhi Memorial Gurudwara. On the whole, Sacred Amritsar 2025 was a fun festival, made even more delicious with chhole kulche and creamy lassi. Chintan Girish Modi is a Mumbai-based journalist who writes about books, art and culture. He can be reached @chintanwriting on Instagram and X.
Express Tribune
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Think before you speak, Danish
Are you a misogynist lamenting that patriarchy is slowly falling out of fashion? Well, your moment of panic is over. Put away those smelling salts, because Danish Taimoor has arrived to save the day. Going on national television during a Ramazan transmission for maximum reach, Danish – also known as the husband of A-lister Ayeza Khan – reminded us all that, as a Muslim man, he is allowed to hoard up to four wives without anyone batting an eye. "The permission to men for four marriages has been granted, but I am not doing it 'filhal'," boasted the Ishq Hai actor. "That's a different story." Love and respect Perhaps you are a man with similar sentiments, or a woman surrounded by men with similar sentiments, and are bewildered about what is stopping Danish from filling the remaining three slots, what with the fact that he has full permission to do so and all. The answer, you misguided unromantic fools, is simple: Danish is a very modern man filled with utmost love and respect for his wife (who was observing the spectacle from a nearby sofa in the same transmission). We know Danish feels this way because he told us so, in almost those exact words. "I won't do it because I love and respect my wife, even though I still have the right," explained Danish, squeezing in that final reminder about his rights in this area. Whether these words are a publicity stunt carefully garnered to gain traction during a Ramazan transmission or whether these are Danish's actual beliefs is not what is up for debate here. What is incontestable is that, married as he is to one of the most successful women in Pakistani showbiz, there is no reason Danish should not be overflowing with all this love and respect. He and Ayeza, one of Pakistan's most-followed celebrities, have enjoyed an Insta-worthy picture-perfect relationship since 2014. They are parents to two children. They both have flourishing careers. Television shows like Noor Jahan spent a large chunk of 2024 demonstrating in painful detail all the niggling problems that arise with men acquiring multiple wives. And yet, for whatever purpose, Danish, who does not seem to have taken the teachings of Noor Jahan to heart, sees fit to point out that he does not need to limit himself to just Ayeza. Ayeza may be one of the country's most famous financially independent women, but even she has to be content with being relegated to 'filhal' status by her man. We know her man is not restraining himself for her dinner-making skills, because Ayeza has already told all her followers in an Instagram Story last month that she has no interest in cooking. In the same Story, however, she did tell us that what she lacks in the kitchen, she makes up for by knowing a thing or two about table decor. Still, Danish can rest at ease; the day Ayeza's table decor skills take a dip, or the moment her star power begins to dim, he is free to put her on the back burner and begin his search in earnest for his backup. Because lest we forget, as he has reminded us, "I still have the right." The option remains alive at the back of his mind, there for the taking should the moment arise. Is anyone impressed? In a move that may surprise Danish but almost nobody else (including, probably, the unfortunate Mrs Danish), social media users do not care for his Andrew Tate-like beliefs. "Why even mention this when your wife is sitting right there? This was uncomfortable to watch," said one commenter on Facebook. In an oft-repeated sentiment, another similarly unimpressed user pointed out, "Men always remember their right to marry four times, but they conveniently forget the conditions." This is certainly true. Danish is not alone in forgetting that the four-wives mandate came about to solve the very real social problem of an exponentially increasing number of women being left widowed as their husbands carelessly perished in battle. We can safely assume that rescuing widowed women from penury is not on Danish's agenda should he ever exercise his 'rights', because he would have wasted no time in letting us know if this was the case. At this juncture, we must note that not all social media users are so quick to censure Danish and his backup solution. Apologists, too, male and female alike, have come out to fill the comments section with their views. "What he said isn't wrong. There is no denying it. Nobody can stop him. To each their own," wrote one commenter. Well, of course no one can stop Danish from doing what he wants. Danish is not the first man to reduce his wife to 'filhal' status, and after his latest public musings, he certainly won't be the last. An undying patriarchy Danish's insistence on repeating that he has the right to obtain more wives at a whim – or rather, until the day the love and respect he holds for his existing wife reaches its expiration date – is mired in a patriarchy that continues to degrade women at the expense of boosting a man's already inflated ego. It is the same patriarchy that is reduced to either fits of hysteria or an irritable 'Come on Aunty' every time a woman attempts to parallel park in public – because in gender-assigned roles, manoeuvring a car is beyond a woman's remit. Conversely, no one would dream of tutting and muttering 'Come on Uncle' if a man attempts to fry samosas and produces a pale, soggy mess instead of uniformly golden triangles. Adorned with praise, perhaps, but never mocked for treading into these unchartered waters. To recap: when a man squeezes a car into a tiny space, he can cock an eyebrow and say, "Bet you could never do that", but when a woman boasts in similar fashion about her golden samosas, it doesn't carry quite the same sting. Why these double standards continue to thrive is no mystery. Double standards exist because our long-standing faithful friend, patriarchy, dictates it. But perhaps in 2025, is time for patriarchy to calm down – after all, men may have had neither the time nor the inclination to cook dinner in the days they carried heavy war gear on horseback, but the average modern man spends his working hours attending meetings on Teams in a chair with good lumbar support. Like the woman who also endures these meetings throughout her career, a man, too, should be perfectly capable of engaging in so-called 'women' tasks without expectation of praise. And while he is at it, he can also wave goodbye to his dreams about procuring more wives when he still hasn't quite figured out what to do with one. But as Danish proved with his public devotion to his fantasy four wives, that day continues to remain on hold. Filhal.
