When was the last time you were embarrassed? How do you react to embarrassment?
Once in our college, our teacher Sr. Barbara Jeans was looking for students for Shakespeare’s play, The Twelfth night. I hoped she would not pick me, I was extremely shy and nervous. Suddenly she looked at me and said, “Chaman , are you interested?”
I told her I wasn’t. The teacher then looked for other girls who’d be interested. There was one part no one wanted, it was that of the priest. The teacher was frantic, she asked my friend Evie if she could suggest someone. Without batting an eyelash Evie said, “Make Chaman take the part, it’s only a short one.”
Sr. Barbara Jean announced ,”Yes Chaman you have to take the part.”
I couldn’t refuse I took the part. On the day of the play, I was extremely nervous, I felt even the few lines I had to repeat might be difficult.
I remember waiting on the right side of the stage waiting to come to the front , I walked two or three steps and prayed all that time I wouldn’t collapse, to my surprise the lines came out of my mouth like a parrot. I was relieved when I did my part. The audience clapped , one of them said : “The teacher should have given her the longer part.”
Little did they know how hard it was for me to deliver those lines. Was I embarrassed ? Certainly.
I always used to hide myself when the teacher looked for kids to play certain parts in the plays that were staged in our school.
When I taught in school I made it a point , to pick the shy kids in my class to play the important parts to overcome the shyness. 🙂
Waheed Murad Was born on October 2nd , 1938. He died in November 1983. He was a Pakistani actor,producer and script writer.
He was the only child of Mr. And Mrs. Nisar Murad.
He studied in Marie Colaco Grammar school in Karachi. He received his Masters Degree in English literature from Karachi university.
He married Salma on September 17 1964. They had three children one died in infancy and the other two were daughter Aaliya and son Aadil.
His father was a film distributor, at an early age he was exposed to film producers,actors and directors, which probably enabled him to choose his career when he grew up.
He produced a few films, one of them was Armaan. He had the main role in this movie. Armaan was a box office hit,it made him a super star overnight, so much so that he was compared with Bollywood greats e.g. Dilip Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand to name a few.
At heart he was a devoted citizen of his country, early on he felt the tension between East and West Pakistan. His movie Armaan, meaning hope was produced by him, his aim was to somehow stop the the split between East and West Pakistan, although he was not successful, through this movie he managed to make a lasting impression on the minds of people both in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
He believed in the message of Iqbal which he used in some of his movies.
Mr. Shafique the facilitator of Iqbal studies online courses explained to his participants in the courses, the importance of Waheed Murad.
I personally admire the work of Mr.Shafique. Our latest title of our online course is, “Action”.
In my prompt yesterday, I chose my guests of whom I know more than others, one of them was Waheed Murad. One of my good friends Sonya wanted to know about him and the song in the movie, “Armaan”(Hope).
This song I thought was the highlight of the movie. This is for you Sonya, if you hadn’t asked me I wouldn’t have written this so enjoy!
The song lyrics is in Urdu, posted and translated by Ranu
When I see two people in love
I wonder if they’d have the same fate as me
will their passionate love fail
I also had the occasion of someones head on my shoulder,
I remember the song she sang,
That song was my lifelong earning
Now in my confused state of love
I’m looking hard for that song
Those of you looking for shade you’ll beat your head
against the wall
Like me you’ll also be called crazy in the city streets and lanes
I went out to look for happiness
I received only heartache and sighs!
The lyrics of this song is not the story of love as is normally defined, it is about two states that were united with love once but were split by misunderstanding and push from outside source. The end result they now have a more firm bond of spiritual love which is what Iqbal had defined. It makes the two parts a whole,we learned this from Iqbal Studies how the parts become whole.
Thank you Mr. Shafique for your hard work. I finally understand you ,Iqbal and Waheed Murad how a part becomes a whole.
The sky and the air free of the piteous groans of the oppressed
Only when the battle fields are cleared of jingling bloody sabres
Shall I, weary of struggles,rest in quiet,
I,the great rebel.”
This is a part of the poem of Kazi Nazrul Islam. He was imprisoned, tortured,poisoned slowly, still he did not give up fighting for the country he loved. This is one of the characteristics of an individual that makes him immortal. His name will remain in the hearts of people for generations to come.
He was born on the 25th May 1899 in a small village named Churulia near Asansol,Burdwan district of undivided Bengal, in India.His father was Kazi Faqeer Ahmad.He was the Imam and caretaker of the local mosque and mausoleum. He had two brothers and a sister. He studied in a madrassah ‘It was run by the mosque. He learned to read the Quran at an early age. He was only ten years old, when his father died. He started working in his father’s place to support his family. In a short time he was able to take the job of the Muezzin in the mosque where he studied.
Despite his poverty,he continued to study. He worked with theatrical groups. He learned the art of writing poetry,drama and literature. He made strong verbal attacks against the British Raj in India. He preached revolution through his poetic works.’ Bidrohi,the Rebel’ was his most famous Bengali poem.It was collected in a volume titled,”Agnibeena” in 1924. The first anthology of his poems.
His poems depicted elements of romanticism,heroism and love.He called for rebellion against all forms of oppression including the oppressive acts of the British Raj in India. It is believed he got his inspiration from Walt Whitman’s ,’Song of Myself’.
His activism landed him in prison. He wrote ‘Deposition of a Political Prisoner’, while in prison. He worked for the freedom of the downtrodden masses in India.
He enrolled in schools whenever he was capable of paying the fees,he loved to study . He had an insatiable thirst for knowledge,which he acquired whenever he got the opportunity.
Throughout his career he wrote short stories,novels and essays.He was well-known for his poems. He wrote and composed music for nearly four thousand songs.
At age eighteen,he joined the Indian army. He enrolled in the British army for two reasons; his inclination to study the unknown,secondly the call of politics. He was posted in Karachi cantonment. He wrote his first prose and poetry in Karachi. He read extensively and was influenced by Tagore and Saratchandra Chattopadhay,also the Persian poets, such as Hafez,Rumi and Omar Khayyam. He learned Persian poetry from the regiments Punjabi Maulvi. He practiced music and pursued his literary interests.
At the age of forty three this vibrant poet lost his voice and was silenced forever,he also lost his memory. He died in Bangladesh in 1976 at the age of seventy-seven!
I grew up in a large family.My father was an assistant secretary in the ministry of defense,my mom was a housewife.I was a very curious child. My Dad or Mom or my siblings,always had to explain in detail, my why questions. My eldest brother was amused by my constant questions.More than once he reminded me that, “curiosity killed a cat”.It did not make any difference. I did not change.
I don’t know how old I was when I started going to school. I probably did okay in school. My Dad did not hire a tutor for me. He did hire one for my older siblings. I had to get up early to catch the school bus.It came to our gate at 6 a.m. My teachers gave me a lot of homework.One day I was unable to complete it. I did not know what the punishment will be,so I stayed home.That morning the bus driver kept on honking,I knew Dad will ask,’Ma Ranu ‘, aren’t you going to school?’I quickly said,”Dad I am cold”. My sister yelled,’it is not a reason to skip school’. I thought Dad doesn’t mind,who cares what Khuku thinks.
Dhaka (Photo credit: eGuide Travel) I had to think of an excuse fast. So I said, ‘Abba I am cold’. My big sister would yell out and say, ‘That’s no reason to skip school’. I did not reply. I thought as long as Dad has no problem with it,why should I care what Khuku thinks.
My Dad died suddenly,we had to move to our original homeland,Bangladesh. We were not thrilled with the move and no one cared what we thought. I finished school and took admission in a local college. I attended it for two years. I told my big Sister I want to study in Holy Cross College in Dhaka. Arrangements were made and I was there another two years and completed my Under Grad. degree.
My next move was to get admission to do masters degree.I wanted to study Economics,my sister thought I was not hardworking enough to pass the course. I took admission to study history. I did well and took admission for B.ed. course.After completing the course,I taught for three years. I then applied for a scholarship,fortunately I was successful. I studied in London,England for a year.
I got married and came to Canada.I am a Canadian citizen.I live in St. John’s, Newfoundland,Canada. Here ends my boring story.
Sabethville 