One solitary April evening. As the sun prepared to dip down the elm and the streets remained eerily deserted, Fouzia Dastango rolled in on my Macbook. Dressed in white, her hair pulled in a loose coil, her eye lined with kohl, she was narrating an incident in the life of Hasan Jahan Begum - her gestures animated and her inflexions perfect in Begamati zuban, a dialect once specifically used by women in 19th century zenanas (women’s quarters) of Urdu-speaking cities. Accompanying Fouzia was Saneya, a professor of English literature who is writing her doctoral dissertation on Begamati. As the two storytellers dropped typical zenana proverbs and repeated anecdotes, viewers across five continents stayed glued to their flat screens to beat their quarantine blues through Rekhta Live —Unheard and Unplugged.
Fouzia and Saneya are not the only artistes coming live every evening between 8 and 9 pm on Rekhta Live, a virtual mehfil that is broadcast live across Rekhta’s social media channels – YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The evening line-up initiated by Rekhta Foundation started rolling on March 29 when Delhi-based Radhika Chopra sang Hakim Momin Khan’s (1800-1851) famous ghazal: Woh jo hum mein tum mein qaraar thaa… Just her inimitable voice and the strum of the tanpura. And an engrossed live audience.
Another day, singer Shilpa Rao (winner of 2020 Filmfare award for best playback singer) joined live from Mumbai to render Ahmed Faraz’s (1931-2008) Ranjish hi sahib, dil hi dukhane ke liye aa… British-born singer Tanya Wells connected from Geneva while noted actor and Dastango Danish Hussain narrated stories from his isolation in the United States. Writer Manoj Muntashir talked of Jaun Elia, Parveen Shakir, Mirza Ghalib and Bashir Badr while teenager Maithili Thakur brought back forgotten folk ballads. One quiet evening, Rekhta Live – Unheard and Unplugged also broadcast the first-ever virtual Mushaira onto its social platforms.
Every quarantined evening a new artiste, a new melody, a new colloquy. Rekhta’s 8-9 pm time for music and poetry has an impressive list of performers including sessions with Javed Ali, Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi, Ustad Rashid Khan, singer/composer Swanand Kirkire, Papon. As long as there is lockdown, Rekhta Live — Unheard and Unplugged will continue uninterrupted between 8 and 9 pm.
“Rekhta Live will go on as long as the lockdown continues and hopefully beyond. In Season 1 of Rekhta Live, we plan 100 days-100 artistes. Poetry, music and literature are food for the soul and can be uplifting in this difficult period. It is our endeavour to bring to cheer and a sense of solidarity and positivity to people who are confined to their homes,” says Sanjiv Saraf, Founder, Rekhta Foundation.
Using a third-party streaming app, Rekhta Live – Unheard and Unplugged has hit the right chord. Across its social media channels, so far it has garnered over 2 million unique viewership in five continents.
19 million digitised pages: Not only has Rekhta Foundation scheduled music and poetry for lockdown, it has also collated Urdu couplets on loneliness and social distancing; penned a poet’s perspective of the world after coronavirus, and pulled out of library the brilliant story on Plague & Quarantine by Rajinder Singh Bedi. And if these are not enough, one can rummage through 40,000 ghazals, 26,000 shers and 7,500 nazms spanning eight centuries available on rekhta.org. Or, leaf through 19 million pages of Urdu literature that Rekhta has digitised so far. If one were to read them the entire stack of 19 million pages without blinking and at a statistical 65 pages an hour rate - it would take 33 years and 36 days. Hopefully, the lockdown will not last that long!
Rekhta Foundation has reset the clock. 8 pm is no longer scheduled for dinner. 8 pm on the clock is for couplets of Mirza Ghalib, the honeyed lilt of Begum Akhtar, the soothing strain of the flute, the mirth of ancient tales and the tumult of modern poetry.
Rekhta’s reading resources
Curated couplets on loneliness and social distancing: https://www.rekhta.org/tags/social-distancing-shayari-19/couplets?ref=newsL&cid=11
Special Blog: The world after coronavirus: From a poet’s perspective https://blog.rekhta.org/
Short story on Plague and Quarantine by Rajinder Singh Bedi: https://www.rekhta.org/stories/quarantine-rajinder-singh-bedi-stories?lang=hi&?ref=newsL&cid=11
Rekhta on Alexa: Listen to ghazals and audio recordings on Alexa. Just ask: Alexa, open Rekhta
Poets on quarantine and handshakes
Bashir Badr:
koī haath bhī na milā.egā jo gale miloge tapāk se ye na.e mizāj kā shahr hai zarā fāsle se milā karo
(A warm hug will get you every handshake’s resistance.
It’s a city with a new air, meet, but from a distance)
Javed Saba:
ye jo milāte phirte ho tum har kisī se haath aisā na ho ki dhonā pade zindagī se haath
(This habit of shaking hands with everyone,
Lest it makes you breathe your last one!)
Anonymous:
dil to pahle hī judā the yahāñ bastī vaalo kyā qayāmat hai ki ab haath milāne se gae
(Our hearts were already detached, Oh fellow-dwellers!
How calamitous is it, that our hands too, have parted
Kashif Husain Ghair:
haal pūchhā na kare haath milāyā na kare maiñ isī dhuup meñ ḳhush huuñ koī saaya na kare
(No greetings, no hand-shakes and no keeping close.
This sunlight quite pleases me, so please, no shadows)
Shariq Kaifi:
ghar meñ ḳhud ko qaid to maiñ ne aaj kiyā hai tab bhī tanhā thā jab mahfil mahfil thā maiñ
So what If I’ve locked up myself in the house today?
For I was alone, even when I was everywhere.
(Source: www.rekhta.org)
Preeti Verma Lal is a Goa-based freelance writer/photographer.
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