Dosti ka Paigham
The Jawadekar family from Maharashtra - Aalaap, Aarohee, Yogendra and Savita - has a long-standing dream: to compose and sing friendly songs for the people of Pakistan, a country they have been yearning to visit for some time, says Ektara India, a group of media and arts professionals -http://ektaramusic.com/dosti-ka-paigham.html.
"Urdu is not their primarily language and music not their profession, yet they learned to simply communicate their passionate feelings to their friends across the border. Their language and rendering may not be sophisticated, but it is their intention that is more important, especially
keeping in mind the place they hail from," says Ektara. The songs are written and composed by
Yogendra Jawadekar. He and his wife are medical practitioners at Badlapur, a distant suburb of
Mumbai, Maharashtra.
"People of different religions, languages, cultures from all over India have migrated to this town over the last decade," says Yogendra. "The nature of our profession allows us to interact with all of them on a daily basis. They mingle with each other, help each other in need, celebrate each other's festivals, and in fact, occasionally, even get married outside their caste, linguistic group or religion."
His motivation for these songs likes in the desire for positive change between India and Pakistan, for the border to remain for 'administrative convenience' only, and for the "the wall of hatred" between the people of India and Pakistan to be demolished. He says he has always dreamed of being
part of a movement to make this happen.
"I am proud to be an Indian," he says, but "I need not have animosity for any other country. I am
proud of my Hindu cultural heritage, but need not look down upon any other religion. I believe
that ordinary people think inclusively, are loving by nature, and prefer peace by default, unless
instigated by the political, religious or ethnic 'leaders' for their own vested interests! Why
would a common man in Pakistan want a common man in India harassed?"
"For that matter, why would any ordinary person want to trouble any ordinary person elsewhere?" he
asks. "I wanted to reassure my counterpart on the other side of the border that if s/he had no
enmity for me, I had no hostile feelings for her/him. In fact, not only can we live in peace and harmony, but could even compel our 'leaders' to find lasting political solutions for political
friendship. I wanted to convey this to the common man across the border. I knew that Urdu ghazal
could be an excellent medium of communication." Yogendra occasionally wrote lyrics for an amateur
Marathi group, but Urdu was not his language. He and his family sang as a hobby, not as
professional singers.
"Nevertheless I decided to utilize these skills. I attended a workshop on ghazal writing and tried to be technically as sound as possible. But my idea was clear - the message was more important than the language, the compositions or the recording." He is grateful to members of the group Ektara, particularly Yousuf Saeed, for publishing the CD against all odds, and for "taking the paigham to the people whom it is supposed to reach."
To listen to a sample from the audio CD go to http://ektaramusic.com/dosti1.mp3 and download the mp3 file with "Right-click" and "Save link as..." Tor order the CD, please write to
ektaraindia@email. com.
Thursday, July 05, 2012
A family from Maharashtra reaches out to the people of Pakistan with a message of friendship
The Jawadekar family from Maharashtra - Aalaap, Aarohee, Yogendra and Savita - has a long-standing dream: to compose and sing friendly songs for the people of Pakistan, a country they have been yearning to visit for some time, says Ektara India, a group of media and arts professionals -http://ektaramusic.com/dosti-ka-paigham.html.
"Urdu is not their primarily language and music not their profession, yet they learned to simply communicate their passionate feelings to their friends across the border. Their language and rendering may not be sophisticated, but it is their intention that is more important, especially
keeping in mind the place they hail from," says Ektara. The songs are written and composed by
Yogendra Jawadekar. He and his wife are medical practitioners at Badlapur, a distant suburb of
Mumbai, Maharashtra.
"People of different religions, languages, cultures from all over India have migrated to this town over the last decade," says Yogendra. "The nature of our profession allows us to interact with all of them on a daily basis. They mingle with each other, help each other in need, celebrate each other's festivals, and in fact, occasionally, even get married outside their caste, linguistic group or religion."
His motivation for these songs likes in the desire for positive change between India and Pakistan, for the border to remain for 'administrative convenience' only, and for the "the wall of hatred" between the people of India and Pakistan to be demolished. He says he has always dreamed of being
part of a movement to make this happen.
"I am proud to be an Indian," he says, but "I need not have animosity for any other country. I am proud of my Hindu cultural heritage, but need not look down upon any other religion. I believe
that ordinary people think inclusively, are loving by nature, and prefer peace by default, unless
instigated by the political, religious or ethnic 'leaders' for their own vested interests! Why
would a common man in Pakistan want a common man in India harassed?"
"For that matter, why would any ordinary person want to trouble any ordinary person elsewhere?" he
asks. "I wanted to reassure my counterpart on the other side of the border that if s/he had no
enmity for me, I had no hostile feelings for her/him. In fact, not only can we live in peace and harmony, but could even compel our 'leaders' to find lasting political solutions for political
friendship. I wanted to convey this to the common man across the border. I knew that Urdu ghazal
could be an excellent medium of communication." Yogendra occasionally wrote lyrics for an amateur
Marathi group, but Urdu was not his language. He and his family sang as a hobby, not as
professional singers.
"Nevertheless I decided to utilize these skills. I attended a workshop on ghazal writing and tried to be technically as sound as possible. But my idea was clear - the message was more important than the language, the compositions or the recording." He is grateful to members of the group Ektara, particularly Yousuf Saeed, for publishing the CD against all odds, and for "taking the paigham to the people whom it is supposed to reach."
To listen to a sample from the audio CD go to http://ektaramusic.com/dosti1.mp3 and download the mp3 file with "Right-click" and "Save link as..." Tor order the CD, please write to
ektaraindia@email. com.
Thursday, July 05, 2012
Aman ki Asha: Profit of peace
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Amritsar village celebrates Nawaz Sharif's win
By Yudhvir Rana
JATTI UMRA: As Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) emerged as the largest
party in the recently held elections in Pak .....more
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Testimonials
"Pakistan and India must focus on culture exchange initiatives, especially for the youth, who play an instrumen .....more
Imagine the heavenly smell of stable peace
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By Yudhvir Rana
A peace museum celebrating divided Punjab's shared architectural, cultural and culinary heritage is coming up at Attari near the India-Pakis .....more
By Yudhvir RanaA peace museum celebrating divided Punjab's shared architectural, cultural and culinary heritage is coming up at Attari near the India-Pakis .....more
Condemnable attack on unarmed prisoner (PART II)
The murderous attacks on an Indian prisoner in Pakistan and a Pakistani prisoner in India highlight the urgency of developing long term, humane policies to protect th .....more
RIP Ashfaq Fateh of Toba Tek Singh
By Beena Sarwar
On April 20, peace activist and educationist Ashfaq Fateh, 41, passed away in hospital after doctors unsuccessfully operated on a liver tumo .....more
By Beena SarwarOn April 20, peace activist and educationist Ashfaq Fateh, 41, passed away in hospital after doctors unsuccessfully operated on a liver tumo .....more
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We probably didn't need to do this Special Report. Newspaper stories don't matter when it comes to Indians in Pakistani jails and vice versa. In fact, 'vice versa' sums it up. We do to them what they do to us.
Except when the two countries decide to begin talking, yet again! This time a little before the foreign secretary level talks, some Pakistani prisoners were released by India (and vice versa must have happened) and some more were release....read more
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