LEGSLIP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

Yes, its an expression that, “small is beautiful” but, “Big attracts more.”

There is a Latin expression, which I must have quoted a zillion times: “Obscurus fio” it means, “when I am struggling to be brief, I become unintelligible.” Hence expressing your views on twitter in that small window of 140 characters is next to impossible for me. Therefore, I am back to the blog to elaborate my point.

Expressing your feelings is not restricted in the form of writing alone but even in music, if you go back from the 17th to the 19th century, some of the most famous classical music composers forgot if they had ever known the principle called, “small is beautiful.” For example, Joseph Haydn the father of symphony followed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote several symphonies which are long musical composition for orchestra, usually in several movements and not only him but Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn et all followed the same pattern.

Shahid Afridi’s symphonies are short and brief and when he is on song, he is a treat to watch, it is like a “simple harmonic motion.”

A motion that is neither driven nor damped, it simply oscillates. The motion is periodic and repetitive without any standard intervals in a specific manner which goes on Boom-Boom with brute force and there is no damping.

In physics and engineering, “damping” is mathematically modeled as a force with magnitude proportional to that of the velocity of the object but opposite in direction to it. Thus, for a simple mechanical damper, the force F is related to the velocity “V” :

F = -CV

where “C” is the damping coefficient.

Similarly, the letter “F” in aFridi, stands for “Force.”

Most people on this blog know that I support Shahid Afridi. YES I do BUT, not blindly. I do righteously and forthrightly like a ‘straight-shooter.’

As a matter of fact, I am a very good ‘skeet-shooter’ (clay pigeon and trap shooting) and it is one of my favourite sports and I love it. I am fortunate enough to have inherited some of the best guns in the world, NOT a Holland & Holland but, John Rugby’s 28″ double barrel 12 gauge hammer-less shotgun from my father. Plus a Mauser .320 bolt action rifle and a .375 H&H Magnum Belted Rimless Nitro-Express which is a piece of art.

Don’t wanna boast much, but being a narcissist this is enough for me to stir a debate and to get some sarcastic comments from Afridi haters and my foes.  I would love to see their envious response and the venomous comments after they have read this blog.

Anyways, I am not going to shoot a partridge, pheasant, a sand grouse, a tiger here, or even a “duck” like Afridi lays too often which is the other side of his madness and that is kinda rejoicing for his haters and saddening his supporters, but today I am here to endorse the truth that Afridi is the Force!

I have been ranting since ages, that there is no player like Afridi in the whole world, especially in the ODI and T20 format. He is not just good playing on the subcontinent tracks, where he definitely has a very good track record. But, in SA and Australia too he has scored with brutal force, hitting monstrous sixes in Perth, Melbourne and Johannesburg.

Often his critics refer him as a flat track bully or a one trick pony! They have said: He is gone, he is finished, he is a spent force, he should not be in the team.

And, his biggest hater Waqar Younus said, “Afridi should not be in the squad.” What a personal grudge Waqar, shame on you.

Time and again Afridi has proved his critics wrong and some of them have to eat their words and “chew the cud” like a humble cow and admit that: “Yes, Afridi is one of the most talented cricketers in the world, he showed us his batting prowess. But, very soon they will forget about this achievement.

When Afridi is on the ground there is a buzz in the stadium, people are on their toes, holding their breath.

He is one of the most charismatic, enigmatic cricketer in the world. His bowling mesmerizes the opponents his 348 wickets in ODI’s speaks for him. His fielding is amazing and has held a few sensational catches, that catch of Styris:

On another occasion his catch of A.B. “Deliver”  that is how our Pra Waqqa pronounced his name as A.B. Delivers. I am sure Abraham or AB de Villiers … pronounced as “Dee-vie-li-A” would die of a heart attack if he hear Waqar Younus calling him a “Delivery Boy!

The only reason Afridi’s prominence is obvious now is because, he is not under someone’s shadow or at the mercy of the captain and the coach i.e., they have always played yo-yo with his batting order and team selection. Very often he was rested or dropped without any justification and that hampers anyone’s confidence. But, the tiger when he gets wounded gets more ferocious and comes back with more vengeance. ‘Vengeance is food that’s eaten cold.’

This time he is back in the team with so much pressure from everyone, including the media and I remember reading this: “This is a last chance for Shahid Khan Afridi to prove his worth, or he is dumped forever!”

Wow, this is how a hero is treated in Pakistan. Poor are the nations that do not have heroes, but beggared are those who have forgotten them. Afridi is not only alive but a playing member of the team with lots of cricket remaining under his belt unlike the spent force Misbah who fills in the gap with “a blank.”

Its an insult to Afridi to compare him with a nothing player like Misbah. One cannot even compare him with the little master Tendulkar because, they are in a different class. The way Afridi plays cricket makes him unique in his own way, there never was any player like him, there is no player like him and there will never be any player like him, ever!

IF Tendulkar has records for his consistency in scoring highest runs in ODIs, Afridi has records which are peerless, un-parallel, unmatchable and incomparable to anyone, his two fastest ODI centuries, 37/100 still a world record

His 308 sixes (still going) in ODIs, can never be achieved in the next 50 years, his 348 wickets and 7197 runs in the ODIs makes him the 3rd player in the world to achieve that feat and he is the ‘one and only’ Pakistani to do that, yet we have haters like Waqar Younus.

Unfortunately, there are so many Pakistanis who hate him from the bottom of their heart for no ‘bloody’ reason. Jealousy is at its best and we see this among our own people, because ‘we are like this only’.

Suddenly after this fantastic innings of Shahid Afridi in the 3rd ODI, his 88 in 48 balls with 7 Monstrous sixes and 5 fours at a strike rate of 183.33 has made the same senile media go ga-ga over his Boom-Boom batting prowess and now they are suggesting the coach and captain to promote his batting order.

Just leave the guy alone, let him play his natural game, he is a living legend and people must learn to respect their legends.

I am waiting to see the reactions of my fans! My fans from my hate club.

Ps The best time for planning a blog is: When I am cooking something very special i.e., because I enjoy cooking, the aroma of the spices and the sizzling of the cuisine creates new brain cells and I come up with new ideas hahaha… oui c’est vraiment.

I am a Ghazal critic, I may not be an expert “Urdu-DaaN” but, my Urdu is better than most people I have come across, its a shame that Urdu is disappearing slowly. There are a very few people and very few organizations who are promoting Urdu.

Urdu is Pakistan’s national language, only a few Urdu speaking sects mainly found in Karachi, the salees Urdu or the shusta zubaan that once used to be the main language in the courts of the noblemen in Delhi, Lucknow etc., is kinda rare now. What we see, hear and talk today in Urdu, is the aam bol chaal which is not the same Urdu as before.

Anyways, after reading this blog please don’t challenge me or, point out my mistakes, because to err is human. LOL, yet I am criticizing others and yes why not? We need to criticize each other rather than being complacent or shy or, say its not my business. It is our business to correct and to protect our language.

My intention here is not to ridicule anyone instead, I would like the Ghazal singers to take note of the basic ingredients when they are reciting or singing a Ghazal.

Ghazal is a Ghazal and it is not GAJAL

Mai Ghazal hoon, mujhe Raagaon se sajaya jai

Narm Awaz kay Jaadoo se Jagya jai

Mir aur Ghalib ne sanwara hai Ghazal kay fun ko

Mujh ko Nadaanaon kay hathaon se bachaya jai

Meray Gham jo aapko Miltay, tou aap apne hosh kho diyeh hotay

Yay tu mera dumm hai, jo muskurati hoon mai,

Garr aap hotay tu ro diyeh hotay

My advise is to my fellow non-Urdu speaking singers is, when you recite a Ghazal on stage or at a mehfil private or public, I am sure you must have practiced it, rehearsed it a few times or, even composed the music as in case of a few renowned singers, composers and music directors like A. R. Rahman etc., so my advise is:

1. Check out the pronunciation of ALL the words in that Ghazal, avoid Hindi version of J for Z. And, not just Gajal, but Jindagi, Firr etc., pls avoid Hindi words in Urdu Ghazal.

2. Check out the meaning of the words in that Ghazal and in what context it is used by the poet? For example the famous Ghazal, “Aaj Jaanay Ki Zidd na Karo…” almost all the famous singers have used it as a benchmark to prove they can sing it better (than others) to name a few: Habib Wali Mohammad, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Farida Khanam, A R Rahman, Richa Sharma, Gopa Chakarbarti etc.

I would rank Habib Wali Mohammad’s as the best from every perspective, the words, the accent, the emphasis on words, stretching the words in such a melodious way that has struck me as the best.

What is wrong with Shafqat Amanat Ali? aNo, nothing wrong he improvised it with classical music and ragas, its my personal view and my personal choice that he is after Habib Wali Mohammad. Earlier he used to say “wakt ki kaid may zindagi hai magar…” later he corrected it to, “waqt ki qaid may zindagi hai magar.:

Farida Khanam a great Ghazal singer but the same problem of “Qaaf” and “kay” its not Taaluk but Ta’aluq. I know a lot of ppl admire her, adore her worship her but, not my choice, and I’m restricting this only on this Ghazal, Aaj jaanay ki zidd na karo…

A R Rahman, great voice but he messed up this Ghazal aaj jaanay ki zidd na karo with a couple of blunders.  One, he started with “hai” murr jayenge, its not “hai” it is Haaayee murr jayenge. “Hai” means I have and “Haaayee” is a kinda Aaaah, a woe the feeling of melancholy, the feeling of pain and even the thought of the departure of my beloved. So, when he said “HAI” it changed the meaning of that verse.

The second mistake he made is, “Ruk lo” aaj ki raat ko. Whereas the correct word is “Roke lo” aaj ki raat ko. Now, Ruk lo means “you stay put” whereas, the poet is not asking the beloved to stay put, he is saying, hold the night, stop the time, roke lo aaj ki raat ko, meaning stop the time!

I mean how can you do that? Especially, a person like A R Rahman should have thought about it. Perhaps its due to the fact that Urdu is not his mother tongue.

Some common mistakes even among the Pakistani Punjabi Ghazal singers like, Ghulam Ali etc is: they keep repeating the words Tallak, Tallafazz, Kismet, Kaid etc., in stead of Ta’aluq, Talafuz, Qismet, Qaid.

The worst thing Ghulam Ali does is, he thinks the audience are idiots and fools, he starts explaining the meaning of difficult (in his view) words that he recites. Once in Dubai at a CitiBank sponsored concert, he was booed ‘coz he was explaining too much in between the Ghazal not just the meaning of words but, also on how to emphasize them, when and where? Come on Ghulam Ali that was a concert and not a teaching class for the novice students, people have paid money to listen to you. That was my one and only Ghulam Ali concert that I had attended.

Some other Indian notable singers like Gopa Chakarbarti, despite being a PhD in music cannot express the proper Urdu words, like the French ignores the letter or alphabet “H” or do not pronounce it especially where it is needed, she too has missed out the word “H” in her Ghazals, its neither Gajal nor, Guzal it is Ghazal. The Urdu alphabet “GHaiN” cannot be pronounced in Hindi. Surprisingly the letter R in French sometimes sounds like the Urdu letter “GHaiN” e.g., the car Renault is pronounced as “GHuNoo.”

You may challenge me for saying Renault is pronounced as GHuNoo but, its a fact that  a few years ago I met a French lady from France (not Quebec) and she introduced herself as Elisabeth GHuNoo, and I was kinda awwww??? (First of all the first name Elisabeth not Elizabeth never mind that, what was that noon GHuNoo? :b ? She said, like the car GHuNoo, I asked her you mean Renault? She replied, “Exactement” Exatly!

The Quebecois and the Latinos who speak French, they pronounce R as R and not as GH, lie our Urdu ka Ain, “GHAIN”. Whereas, when the Frenchmen or women from France, when they say France or Francais, they say “Frrnce” and “FrKHansay.” Its more like KHAN.  Anyways, I don’t want to drift from Ghazal to GHuNoo or how the correct French is spoken? Its an old story and not the subject here.

Richa Sharma: I have no clue about her background, she has impressed me with her singing skills and her improvisation abilities and the correct pronunciation of Urdu. She needs to be focusing more on classical than filmy songs and she should be conducting concerts all over the world including Pakistan.

Ps. I have made this blog longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter.

One foreign journalists wrote, “Pakistan is a country where nothing is permissible but, everything is possible.” Its true, it happens not only in the government, politics but in sports too. What is more surprising is everything is controlled in a dictatorial manner in the name of democracy.

The Pakistan Cricket Board or the PCB is one such organization which is supposed to be an independent and autonomous body is run by the President of the country who is the Patron in chief of the PCB. Reportedly he appoints the Chairman and the Chairman is not accountable to anyone but to himself. Because, the President of Pakistan has no time to look into the day to day affairs of the Board.

In the past we have seen so many Chairmen who have played cricket in Boardrooms like a Chessboard and that too in Poker face style. They have no experience of man management and no knowledge of the game. They came, they ruined, they got busted, booted and Butt-headed. The ultimate loser is the game of cricket in Pakistan. Yet, we have seen so much talent among the players that with all the odds they have been playing well internationally – they could have done better had there been better management and less politics in the PCB.

We have witnessed that in the event of a loss of series or a big tournament, there is always a change in the captaincy but, never at the Board level. The fault is not with the players but the fault lies in the management. The people working in the PCB are not bunch of jokers but, vultures. They are there to make money and they look after their own vested interest.

We have also seen cronyism is at its best in the PCB, the talented, the capable, the deserving is always ignored and the one who is selected is a friend of my friend or, he who has a political backing and a clout. The total team selection is based on regionalism and cronyism. Not only the team but the officials too are selected in the same manner.

We have seen corrupt players who have been banned from playing cricket for life by the Justice system of the country have been recruited as officials in the team. Example, Waqar Younus, Mushtaq Ahmad, Ejaz Ahmad and now there is a news in the market that Saleem Malik has been tipped as a batting coach for the national team?

Is there any morality left? How can they even think of appointing Saleem Malik as the batting coach for the Pakistan national team? I would like to quote here a link from the  Daily Tribune, our friend Umair Qazi has written the Malik Saga in detail i.e., how Malik used to toy with the opposition and with our own team. Here is the link:

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/14612/say-no-to-salim/#comment-159442

What is Saleem Malik going to give to the young players? Tips on how to fix a match? How to bet and how to get your partner runout? Some people are not aware of the fact that Salim Malik had an account in the defunct bank BCCI where he used to keep his “money” the bank was closed in the early nineties hence, easy come easy go.

Therefore, whoever knows Salim Malik besides his cricketing abilities and his talents should also remember that he brought a vulture culture in the dressing room where every player was affected from the cancer of betting and match fixing. Now that the dressing room is clean from all the ills, why is the PCB interested in bringing Saleem Malik back into the game? 

Therefore, YOU ALL should say NO to Saleem Malik’s appointment as a batting coach for the Pakistan National Team. PERIOD

Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money I write with a lot of passion whether it makes sense or not but I don’t care about that, but I convey my point to you, did I or did I NOT?  I write like others breathe. 

Yay, this is the 100th thread that I have written on this blog alone, and thousands and thousands of comments.