Abhinandan Pandey

“Dedication” I wrote for my work. It was challenging to translate “farāmoshi” in the first couplet.

dārad dil-e-darvesh tamannā.e-nigāhe
zaañ chashm-e-siyah mast ba-yak ġhamza ravā kun

— HAFIZ

❤️

Also Professor, the University just issued a statement distancing itself from Prof Ali Khan. The whole pretence of being a private University not dependent on government funding has fallen. And this is not the first time.

RW across the world has realised that being brazen about it is the way to go. India is erasing history at a painfully fast pace and is devising new plans for it. The government is not only backing it unofficially but is also marking laws for erasure.

Authoritarianism is no longer just state driven top-down political framework. It has become successful in creating its “people”, and is now a part of the mainstream culture. People want dictatorial leaders/regimes. They are willing to give up rights, liberty and livelihood for it.

Haaanki isme koi shubaha nahin hai ki iske istemaal me bina ye farq kiye noon-gunna laga dena ghalat-ul aam hai.

Jahaan ye uncountable sense me hon…khaas taur par address karte huye tab gunna nahin lagta hai. Maslan: main aur mere dosto ne ye kaam kiya. Yaa phir kisi speech ya address ke shuruaat me: mere azeezo…mere dosto.

yahaan par noon gunna tab istemal me jaaiz hai jab aadaad o shumaar tay hon. Misaal ke liye “main aur mere 4 doston ne ye kaam kiya”. Yaani jahaan “countable entities hon”. Ya phir: mere teeno azeezon me koi baat hai. (1/n)

True indeed. The university has one of my favourite scholar though. That’s the only reason I was planning.

I was planning on applying to MESAAS. 😔

Bedil fascinates me to no end. Someday I will post my own intekhaab of his.

Few days ago, I finished reading Ernesto Laclau’s “On Populist Reason”. The text is one of the most dense that I have read. Phew!

On Twitter, they are consoling each other by saying that this will not hold in the US Supreme Court.

6. The Loss of Hindustan - Manan Ahmed Asif

7. A Field Guide to Post-Truth India - Meera Nanda

And a lot of poetry. 🙏🏻

I am a very slow reader. Following books I read in 2024 (a thread):

1. Violent Fraternity - Shruti Kapila

2. Perilous Intimacies - SherAli Tareen

3. The Invention of Private Life - Sudipta Kaviraj

4. Creative Pasts - Prachi Deshpande

5. History as a Site of Struggle - KN Pankker

Shouldering The Burden Of Interpreting The Past: Popular Histories And Academic Historians

Diving into the ongoing debate stirred by author William Dalrymple, around the roles and responsibilities of popular and academic historians, Conrad Barwa and I wrote our opinions in this piece. Have a read.

www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/sho...

āḳhir-e-shab huī āġhāz kahānī apnī
ham ne paayā bhī to ik umr gañvā kar us ko

— IRFAN SIDDIQI —

I have spent an ungodly amount of hours studying communalism. And now, at times, my tired eyes read communism as communalism. 😭

Congratulations! Are you planning on a South Asian edition? I want to read but it’s a little too pricey for me.

There is an audio recording of Jaun Eliya on YouTube. He was talking about how it is not in our culture to say “Allah Hafiz”. He emphasised that in our culture we say “Khuda Hafiz” and that should be used. Also, Habib Tanvir used to say “Allah Hafiz behar me.n nahi.n aata hai” 😄

ai police baiTh jā vahāñ jā kar
saarā fitna jahāñ se uThtā hai

chars kī bū tujhe batā degī
''ye dhuāñ sā kahāñ se uThtā hai''

— QATEEL SHIFAI

‏یکم جنوری ہے نیا سال ہے
‏دسمبر میں پوچھیں گے کیا حال ہے

‏यकुम जनवरी है नया साल है
‏दिसम्बर में पूछेंगे क्या हाल है

‏— AMEER QAZALBASH —

इक बरस और कट गया शारिक़
रोज़ साँसों की जंग लड़ते हुए
सबको अपने ख़िलाफ़ करते हुए
यार को भूलने से डरते हुए
अपनी नादानियों पे हँसते हुए
और सबसे बड़ा कमाल है ये
साँस लेने से दिल नहीं भरता
अब भी मरने को जी नहीं करता

- शारिक़ कैफ़ी

Vasyl Ivanchuk…the old warrior…absolutely heartbreaking 💔

‏چراغ بجھتے چلے جا رہے ہیں سلسلہ وار
‏میں خود کو دیکھ رہا ہوں فسانہ ہوتے ہوئے

‏चराग़ बुझते चले जा रहे हैं सिलसिला-वार
‏मैं ख़ुद को देख रहा हूँ फ़साना होते हुए

‏— JAMAL EHSANI —

A lot of people mourning the ex-PM’s demise are also doing it for the loss of a nostalgic association with a time that was flawed but communally more tolerant and relatively more free. He was, as appears to be, a memory link to a past that was, in some ways, better.

I really want to read it, however, the book costs more than 2000 Rs in India. Waiting for a South Asian version. 😔

“opaque language of academia is symptomatic of a moribund society”

Dear Irony,

I call upon you.

🤦🏻

Ustad Zakir Hussain 💔

The combination of Hindutva plus Welfarism is so deadly that no end seems to be in sight. BJP has cracked this code…they have found a perfect electoral strategy of communalism + welfare schemes.