Dhol, Dhamal and Shah Jamal

Baba Shah Jamal was born in 1588 CE. His father, Maulana Abdul Wahid, was also a renowned religious scholar and belonged to the family of Qazi Jamalud Din Badshahi, a famous Kashmiri family. Shah Jamal belonged to the school of Qadiriyyah and Suhrawardiyya and came to Lahore in 1617 CE. He lived in Ichra (transliteration: Itch-Ra) at the time of Mughal emperor Akbar the Great. The saint died in 1671 CE and was buried near Ichra. The area has been named Shah Jamal in his honour. The Tomb of Shah Jamal is the tomb of Sufi Saint Baba Shah Jamal. There is a masjid built around the tomb which incorporates a graveyard.The tomb is more than a simple shrine, providing shelter, food and solace from the vagaries of everyday life.

At the foot of the stairs leading up to the tomb, there is a majlis - which is like a regular urs, every Friday morning (from midnight onwards) - a tradition that has been going on for hundreds of years. Dhol is played with devotees (dervish or fakir) dancing in a trance also known as 'dhamaal'. The famous Pappu Sain is the central attraction performs on the dhol.

This performance, every Thursday night/ Friday morning, is attended by people from all walks of life - students, government officials, musicians both domestic and international, models, common folk - in short everyone. The environment is very friendly and safe. It is encouraged that people wear simple and plain clothes and come well covered in respect for the shrine. Attendees usually smoke cigarettes or drink a special drink prepared from Hashish, as the tradition has been. Not all attendees smoke hash and neither are they expected or asked to. However it is tolerated. Many a times Pappu Sain has stopped his performance angry at the fact that people have forgotten the reason for coming to the shrine and instead concentrating on indulging in hashish, etc.

 Photography: Afzal Abbas

Love of Bulleh Shah: Shah Inayat Qadiri

Punjab is known as the land of Saints. The spiritual culture of Punjab gave birth to the many Saints and Sufi who spreaded the message of Love, Peace and Humanity. 


Shah Inayat Qadiri is also one of the Saints of this land. He was a Sufi saint of Qadari-Shatari Silsilah in Qasur, Punjab, present day Pakistan. Shah Inayat Qadiri is most well known for being the spiritual guide of the famous Punjabi poet Bulleh Shah. He belonged to the Arain community and earned a living through agriculture or gardening. He also lived in Kasur for some time, but due to the animosity from the ruler of Kasur, he shifted to Lahore, where he remained until the end of his life. 

In “Bang-i-Auliya-i-Hind” we find the following reference about Enayat Shah:

"From the tribe of gardeners was brother Shah Inayat,

He received honor from Shah Raza Wali Allah.

He earned his living in the small town of Qasur Pathana.

The ruler Husein Khan of this town was his arch enemy.

From there Inayat Shah came to the city of Lahore;

Two miles to the south of the city he made his habitation.

It is at this place that we find his tomb.

In 1141 he departed from this world."

Bulleh Shah says about his beloved teacher Enayat Shah:

“Bullah has fallen in love with the Lord. He has given his life and body as earnest. His Lord and Master is Shah Inayat who has captivated his heart.”

Shah Inayat Qadiri's mausoleum is situated at Queen's Road (Shahra-e-Fatima Jinnah). Lahore

Photography: Afzal Abbas

Mario Vargas Llosa: 2010 Nobel Laureate in Literature

Mario Vargas Llosa is the Peruvian novelist, playwright, essayist, journalist, literary critic, who received Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010. Mario Vargas Llosa is one of the central writers in the Hispanic world, but he began his literary career in Europe. Most of his novels are set in Peru. From his first works, Vargas Llosa has used a wide variety of avant-garde techniques to create an aesthetic "double of the real world." Although Vargas Llosa has followed the tradition of social protest of Peruvian fiction exposing political corruption, machismo, racial prejudices and violence, he has underlined that a writer should never preach or compromise artistic aims for ideological propaganda.

"His voice was persuasive; it reached a person's soul without passing by way of his head, and even to a being as addlebrained as Big João, it seemed like a balm that healed old and terrible wounds. João stood there listening to him, rooted on the spot, not even blinking, moved to his very bones by what he was hearing and by the music of the voice uttering those words. The figure of the saint was blurred at times by the tears that welled up in João's eyes. When the man went on his way, he began to follow him at a distance, like a timid animal." (from The War of the End of the World, 1981)

Mario Vargas Llosa was born in Arequipa, but from ages one to then he lived in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where he was brought up by his mother and maternal grandparents after his parents separated. However, Vargas Llosa once said, that "I feel very much an Arequipan". He also spent some time in Piura, northern Peru (1945-46), where his grandfather had been appointed as Prefect, and then in Lima. When he was about eight years old his parents reconciled.

Vargas Llosa attended Leoncio Prado Military Academy (1950-52), and Colegio Nacional San Miguel de Piura (1952). In 1955 he married Julia Urquidi; they divorced in 1964. From 1955 to 1957 Vargas Llosa studied literature and law at the University of San Marcos. He then attended graduate school at the University of Madrid, from where he received his Ph.D. in 1959. Vargas Llosa's doctoral dissertation about García Márquez (1971) was followed by several books on literary criticism, among them LA ORGÍA PERPETUA (1975), about Flaubert's masterpiece Madame Bovary. Decades later, in TRAVESURAS DE LA NIÑA MALA (2006), he drew on the character of Emma. With Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, and García Márquez, Vargas Llosa was among the most famous writers, whose aim was to revitalize the Latin American novel.

In the 1950s, while still a student, Vargas Llosa worked as a journalist for La Industria. He was a coeditor of the literary journals Cuadernos de Conversación and Literatura, and journalist for Radio Panamericana and La Crónica. His first collection of short stories, LOS JEFES, appeared in 1959. In the same year he moved to Paris because he felt that in Peru he could not earn his living as a serious writer. Although the boom of Latin American fiction in the 1960s opened doors to some authors for commercial success, the great majority of Peruvian writers suffered from the problems of the country's publishing industry.

In France Vargas Llosa worked as Spanish teacher, journalist for Agence-France-Presse, and broadcaster for Radio Télévision Française in early 1960s. From the late 1960s Vargas Llosa worked as a visiting professor at many American and European universities. In 1965 he married Patricia Llosa; they had two sons and one daughter. García Márquez became a godfather to his son, but after a brawl in a Mexican cinema in 1976, the friendship of two writers ended bitterly. However, in 2006 Vargas Llosa allowed an excerpt from his HISTORIA SECRETA DE UNA NOVELA (1971) to be published in the 40th anniversary edition of García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. In 1970 Vargas Llosa moved to Barcelona and five years later he settled back in Peru, ending his self-imposed exile. In 1977 he was elected President of PEN Club International. The military dictatorship, which started in 1968 when General Francisco Morales Bermudez took over the country, ended in 1980.

In 1990 Vargas Llosa was a conservative candidate (Fredemo, the Democratic Front) for the Peruvian presidency. The development of his political convictions, from a sympathizer of Cuban revolution to the liberal right, has astonished his critics and has made it impossible to approach his work from a single point of view. Sabine Koellmann has noted that the publication of Vargas Llosa's LA FIESTA DEL CHIVO (2000, The Feast of the Goat) confirmed, "that politics is one of the most persistent 'demons' which, according to his theory, provoke his creativity." (see Vargas Llosa's Fiction & the Demons of Politics, 2002) Vargas Llosa was defeated by Alberto Fujimori, an agricultural engineer of Japanese descent, also a political novice, but who had a more straightforward agenda to present to the voters. An unexpected twist in the plot of this political play occurerred in 2000, when President Fujimori escaped to his ancestral homeland Japan after a corruption scandal.

In 1991 Vargas Llosa worked as a visiting professor at Florida International University, Miami and Wissdenschaftskolleg, Berlin from 1991 to 1992. The author has received several prestigious literary awards, including Leopoldo Alas Prize (1959), Rómulo Gallegos Prize (1967), National Critics' Prize (1967), Peruvian National Prize (1967), Critics' Annual Prize for Theatre (1981), Prince of Asturias Prize (1986) and Miguel de Cervantes Prize (1994).

Vargas Llosa made his debut as a novelist with The Time of the Hero (1962), set in Leoncio Prado military Academy, where he had been a student. The book received an immediate international recognition. According to Vargas Llosa's theory, personal, social or historical daemon gives a meaning to a novel and in the writing process unconscious obsessions are transformed into a novelist's themes. Autobiography and art has been one of the themes in his criticism.

One of Vargas Llosa's own obsessions is the conflict between a father and son, which he has approached from the private level or from more universal or social levels. The Time of the Hero is a microcosm of Peruvian society. The murder of an informer is buried due to the codes of honor to protect the academy's reputation. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977) is a partly autobiographical story of a courtship and marriage, written with uninhibited humor. The tyrannical father threatens to shoot his son, a novelist named Marito Varguitas, in the middle of the street, because of his marriage to the sexy, sophisticated, older Aunt Julia. Marito is eighteen and the marriage is illegal. Eventually his father accepts the situation. The book started to live its own life when Aunt Julia, Vargas Llosa's first wife, wrote a reply to it.

In The Green House (1966) Vargas Llosa returned to formative experiences of his childhood and youth. The complicated novel has two major settings: the first, a provincial city, and the second, the jungle, a challenging, hostile and attractive environment, which the author has depicted in several works. In 1957 Varga Llosa travelled with a group of anthropologists into the jungle, and learned how Indian girls were being drafted into prostitution on the coast. The "Green House" of the story is a brothel, which is burned to the ground but rebuilt again. Another storyline follows the fate of the virginal Bonifacia from a jungle mission; she becomes a prostitute in Piura.

The War of the End of the World (1981) is a story of a revolt against the Brazilian government in the late 19th-century and the brutal response of the authorities. A religious fanatic, known as Conselheiro (Counselor), is followed by a huge band of disciples drawn from the fringes of society. Before the army of the Republic wins, the modern rational world suffers several humiliating defeats with the group of outcasts. Vargas Llosa uses Euclides da Cunha's account of the events, Os sertões (1902), as a source. One of the characters, a "nearsighted journalist", is loosely based on da Cunha.

The Real life of Alejandro Mayta (1984) moves on several narrative levels. It deals with a failed Marxist-Leninist insurrection in the Andes, led by an aging Trotskyist Alejandro Mayta. He is captured and his second lieutenant Vallejos executed. The novelist-narrator interviews a number of people who give a contradictory view of Mayta's personality and the events. Finally the reader realizes that in the process of creating a novel within a novel, the narrator has invented Mayta's life and undermined the concepts of writing and reading history.

Vargas Llosa's bitter memoir, EL PEZ EN EL AGUA (A Fish in the Water), appeared in 1993. It focused on his run for the presidency in 1990 - he was supposed to win the little-known Alberto Fujimori. The Feast of the Goat continued the author's political excursion into the recent history of South America. The story is set in the Dominican Republic in 1961, ruled by the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Urania Chabral has returned to the noisy Santo Domingo to visit her father, Agustin Chabral, who is ill. He is a former Dominican senator, a faithful servant of the dictator. "And how many times did you come home saddened because he did not call to you, fearful you were no longer in the circle of the elect, that you had fallen among the censured?" Eventually "Minister Cabral, Egghead Cabral" lost his favor. Urania left the country as a schoolgirl, three and a half decades ago, just before Trujillo's assassination in 1961. Urania wants revenge against father for everything he did not do, and has her own reasons to examine the Trujillo Era. "The most important thing that happened to us in five hundred years. You used to say that with so much conviction. It's true, Papa. During those thirty-one years, all the evil we had carried with us since the Conquest became crystallized."

Vargas Llosa portrays Trujillo as a superman intoxicated by his political and sexual powers, and worshipped by his demonic henchmen working in torture dungeons. "Oddly, Vargas Llosa's Trujillo sees himself as having gotten the short end of the bargain. He whipped his pathetic homeland into shape, modernized its attitudes and highways and in return he got -- old." (Walter Kirn in the New York Times, November 25, 2001) Vargas Llosa has structured the story like a thriller, leading the reader into the heart of the darkness. The Feast of the Goat is a highly topical book. The era of strong leaders is not totally over in Latin America, as one of the latest examples, Fujimori, sadly proved. In EL PARAÍSO EN LA OTRA ESQUINA (2002) two exceptional individuals, the socialist Flora Tristan, and her grandson, the painter Paul Gauguin, are inspired by great ideas. Flora devotes her life to serve the humanity, to create a worker's paradise. Gauguin leaves civilization behind and eventually rots alive in Atuana, Marguesas Island, in a tropical paradise.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llolsa

For further reading: Mario Vargas Llosa's Pursuit of the Total Novel by Luis A. Diez (1970); La narrativa de Vargas Llosa by J.L. Martin (1974); Mario Vargas Llosa by José Oviedo (1981); Vargas Llosa: La ciudad y los perros by Peter Standish (1982); Mario Vargas Llosa by Dick Gwerdes (1985);Mario Vargas Llosa by Raymond L. Williams (1986); Novel Lives by Rosemary Geisdorfer Feal (1986);Mario Vargas Llosa by Roy C. Boland (1988); My Life With Mario Vargas Llosa by Julia Urquidi Illanes, C.R. Perricone (1988); Sobre la vida y la política by A. Ricardo Sett (1989); El metateatro y la dramátice de Vargas Llosa by Oscar Rivera-Rodas (1992); Vargas Llosa among the Postmodernistsby M. Keith Booker (1994); Vargas Llosa's Fiction & the Demons of Politics by Sabine Koellmann (2002).

Selected works:

• LA HUIDA DEL INCA, 1952 (play)
• LOS JEFES, 1959 - The Cubs and Other Stories
• LA CIUDAD Y LOS PERROS, 1963 - The Time of the Hero (transl. by Lysander Kemp, 1966) - Kaupungin koirat (suom. Matti Rossi, 1966)
• LA CASA VERDE, 1966 - The Green House (transl. by Gregory Rabassa, 1968) - Vihreä talo (suom. Matti Brotherus, 1978)
• LOS CACHORROS, 1967 - The Cubs and Other Stories (transl. by Gregory Kolovakos and Ronald Christ, 1979)
• LA NOVELA EN AMÉRICA LATINA; DIÁLOGO, 1968 (in collaboration with Gabriel García Márquez)
• ed.: Seven Stories fro Spanish America, 1968 (with Gordon Brotherston)
• CONVERSACIÓN EN LA CATEDRAL, 1969 - Conversation in the Cathedral (transl. by Gregory Rabassa, 1975)
• LA LITERATURA EN LA REVOLUCIÓN Y LA RECOLUCIÓN EN LA LITERATURA, 1970 (with Julio Cortázar and Oscar Collazos)
• GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ, 1971
• HISTORIA SECRETA DE UNA NOVELA, 1971
• PANTELEÓN Y LAS VISITADORAS, 1973 - Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (transl. by Gregory Kolovakos and Ronald Christ, 1978) - film 1976, dir. by Vargas Llosa
• LA NOVELA Y EL PROBLEMA DE LA EXPRESIÓN LITERARIA EN PERÚ, 1974
• LA ORGÍA PERPETUA, 1975 - The Perpetual Orgy: Flaubert and Madame Bovary (transl. by Helen Lane, 1986)
• LA TÍA JULIA Y EL ESCRIBIDOR, 1977 - Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (transl. by Helen R. Lane, 1982) - Julia-täti ja käsikirjoittaja (suom. Sulamit Hirvas, 1992) - film 1990, dir. by Jon Amiel, starring Keanu Reeves, Barbara Hershey, Peter Falk
• LA UTOPÍA ARCAICA, 1978
• OBRAS ESCOGIDAS, 1978
• JOSÉ MARÍA ARGUEDAS, 1978
• ART, AUTHENTICITY AND LATIN AMERICAN CULTURE, 1981 (?)
• LA GUERRA DEL FIN DEL MUNDO, 1981 - The War of the End of the World (transl. by Helen R. Lane, 1984) - Maailmanlopun sota (suom. Jyrki Lappi-Seppälä, 1983)
• ENTRE SARTRE Y CAMUS, 1981
• LA SEÑORITA DE TACNA, 1981 - The Young Lady from Tacna (play)
• KATHIE Y EL HIPOPÓTAMO, 1983 - Kathie and the Hippopotamus (play)
• HISTORIA DE MAYTA, 1984 - The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta (transl. by Alfred Mac Adam, 1985) - Mayatan tarina (suom. Jyrki Lappi-Seppälä, 1988)
• LA CULTURA DE LA LIBERTAD, LA LIBERTAD DE LA CULTURA, 1985
• LA CHUNGA, 1986 - trans. (play)
• ¿QUIÉN MATÓ A PALOMINO MOLERO?, 1986 - Who Killed Palomino Molero? (transl. by Alfred Mac Adam, 1987)
• EL HABLADOR, 1987 - The Storyteller (transl. by Helen Lane, 1989) - Puhujamies (suom. Erkki Kirjalainen, 1990)
• DIÁLOGO SOBRE LA NOVELA LATINOAMERICANA, 1988
• ELEGIO DE LA MADRASTRA, 1988 - In Praise of the Stepmother (transl. by Helen Lane, 1990) - Äitipuolen ylistys (suom. Sulamit Hirvas, 1991)
• LA VERDAD DE LAS MENTIRAS, 1990 - A Writer's Reality (ed. by Myron I. Lichtblau, 1991)
• Three Plays, 1990 (transl. by David Graham-Young)
• CONTRA VIENTRO Y MAREA (1962-1982), 1983-90 (3 vols.)
• LETRA DE BATALLA POR TIRANT LO BLANC, 1991
• The Cubs and Other Stories, 1991
• LITUMA EN LOS ANDES, 1993 - Death in the Andes (transl. by Edith Grossman, 1996) - Andies mies (suom. Sulamit Hirvas, 1995)
• EL PEZ EN EL AGUA, 1993 - A Fish in the Water (transl. by Helen Lane, 1994)
• EL LOCO DE LOS BALCONES, 1993
• Georg Grosz and Mario Llosa, 1993
• DESAFÍOS A LA LIBERTAD, 1994
• Making Waves, 1996 (ed. by John King)
• CARTAS A UN NOVELISTA, 1997 - Letters to a Young Novelist (transl. Natasha Wimmer, 2003)
• LOS CUADERNOS DE DON RIGOBERTO, 1997 - The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto (transl. by Edith Grossman, 1998)
• LA FIESTA DEL CHIVO, 2000 - The Feast of the Goat (transl. by Edith Grossman, 2001) - Vuohen juhla (suom. Sulamit Hirvas, 2002)
• EL LENGUAJE DE LA PASIÓN, 2001 - The Language of Passion (translated by Natasha Wimmer, 2003)
• EL PARAÍSO EN LA OTRA ESQUINA, 2002 - The Way to Paradise (transl. by Natasha Wimmer, 2003) - Paratiisi on nurkan takana (suom. Sulamit Hirvas, 2005)
• DIARIO DE IRAK, 2003 (with Morgana Vargas Llosa)
• OBRAS COMPLETAS, 2004 (ed. Antoni Munné)
• LA TENTACIÓN DE LO IMPOSIBLE, 2004 - The Temptation of the Impossible (transl. by John King, 2007)
• PEZ EN EL AQUA, 2005
• TRAVESURAS DE LA NIÑA MALA, 2006 - The Bad Girl (transl. by Edith Grossman, 2007) - Tuhma tyttö (suom. Sulamit Hrvas, 2010)
• TEATRO: OBRA REUNIDA, 2006
• DICCIONARIO DEL AMANTE DE AMERICA LATINA, 2006
• ISRAEL, PALESTINA: PAZ O GUERRA SANTA, 2006 (with Morgana Vargas Llosa)
• ODISEO Y PENÉLOPE, 2007 (with Ros Ribas)
• Touchstones: Essays on Literature, Art and Politics, 2007 (translated and edited by John King)
• VIAJE A LA FICCÍON: EL MUNDO DE JUAN CARLOS ONETTI, 2008
• AL PIE DEL TÁMESIS, 2008 (with Morgana Vargas Llosa)
• SABLES Y UTOPÍAS, 2009 (ed. by Carlos Granés)
• LAS MIL NOCHES Y UNA NOCHE, 2009 (with Ros Ribas)
• EL SUEÑO DEL CELTA, 2010

Source: kirjasto & wiki 

10 Poems by Arthur Rimbaud

Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent movement, Rimbaud influenced modern literature, music and art. He was known to have been a libertine and a restless soul, traveling extensively on three continents before his death from cancer less than a month after his 37th birthday.

Rimbaud's poetry is often seen as influential to the Symbolist, Dadaist and Surrealist movements, not only for its various themes, but also for its inventive use of form and language. French poet Paul Valéry stated that "all known literature is written in the language of common sense—except Rimbaud's."

A Winter Dream

In winter we’ll travel in a little pink carriage

With cushions of blue.

We’ll be fine. A nest of mad kisses waits

In each corner too.

You’ll shut your eyes, not to see, through the glass,

Grimacing shadows of evening,

Those snarling monsters, a crowd going past

Of black wolves and black demons.

Then you’ll feel your cheek tickled quite hard…

A little kiss, like a maddened spider,

Will run over your neck…

And you’ll say: “Catch it!” bowing your head,

–        And we’ll take our time finding that creature

–        Who travels so far…?

Dawn

I kissed the dawn of summer.

 

Nothing stirred before the palace. 

Water was motionless. 

Shadow claimed the woodland road. 

I walked, lively and with warm breath, noticing precious stones along the way; 

and wings rose without a sound.

 

First, I encountered a form full of freshness and light--a flower who told me her name.

 

I laughed at the bright waterfall pounding trees into disarray: 

at the silver summit, I perceived the goddess.

 

I lifted her veils, one by one. 

My arms trembled with delight. 

But across the plain,I denounced her to the cock. In the city, she fled among steeples and domes,

and I chased after like a beggar on the banks of marble.

 

On a little road near the forest, I bound her with gathered veils,

and gathered my courage to touch her colossal body.

At once, both dawn and child fell down at the woodpile.

 

On waking, I found that it was noon.

Departure

All is seen...
The vision gleams in the air.
All is had...
The distant sound of cities at night,
In sunlight, always.
All is known...
Chaos! Disorder!
These are the stuff of life.
Departure while love yet lingers,
And bright sounds.

Eternity

It's revealed once more. 
What? Eternity.
It's the sea run off 
with the sun.

 

Sentinel soul, 
Whisper your confession 
Of the empty night 
And the burning day.

 

From human approval, 
From common urges 
You must free yourself, 
And make your own way.

 

For from you alone, 
Satiny embers, 
Duty breathes 
Without anyone saying: finally!

There's no hope, 
No enlightenment. 
In the quest for knowledge, 
Only pain is certain.

 

It's revealed once more.
What? Eternity. 
It is the sea run off 
With the sun.

 

The First Encounter

 

She was only half-dressed
And equally bare trees tossed
Their few leaves against the window pane
Playfully and with reckless abandon.

 

Sprawling half naked in my desk chair,
Hands pressed modestly against her pale breasts,
She tapped small, delicate feet on the floor
Betraying sweet anticipation.

 

Her body was the color of wax, and I watched
As an eager little ray of light
Fluttered across her laughing lips,
Across her peeking breast, like an insect on the rose-bush.

 

I knelt and kissed her little ankles.
She laughed softly and produced
A perfect string of clear trills,
A delightful crystal laugh.

 

Her delicate feet disappeared 
Underneath her: "Stop! You're so naughty!"
Yet the first act of daring permitted,
She pretended to punish me only with a laugh!

 

I rose and kissed her eyelids softly.
They trembled beneath my lips, poor things:
And she tossed her head back, eyes shining...
"You're not trying to take advantage of me ... are you?

 

"If you are, darling, you know I'll have to--"
But I silenced the protest, dipping my mouth to her breast,
Which caused an explosion of ringing laughter
And she opened herself willingly...

 

She was only half-dressed
And equally bare trees tossed
Their few leaves against the window pane
Playfully and with reckless abandon.

Being Beauteous

Against a fall of snow, a Being Beautiful, and very tall.
Whistlings of death and circles of faint music
Make this adored body, swelling and trembling
Like a specter, rise...
Black and scarlet gashes burst in the gleaming flesh.
The true colors of life grow dark, 
Shimmering and separate
In the scaffolding, around the Vision.

Shiverings mutter and rise, 
And the furious taste of these effects is charged
With deadly whistlings and the raucous music
That the world, far behind us, hurls at our mother of beauty...
She retreats, she rises up...
Oh! Our bones have put on new flesh, for love.

Oh ash-white face

Oh tousled hair

O crystal arms! 

On this cannot I mean to destroy myself
In a swirling of trees and soft air

Friends

Come, the Wines are off to the seaside,

and the waves by the million!

Look at wild bitter rolling from the mountain tops!

Let us reach, like good pilgrims, green-pillared Absinthe…

Myself: No more of these landscapes.

What is drunkenness, friends?

I had soon - rather, even - rot in the pond,

beneath the horrible scum, near the floating driftwood.

Romance

l

When you are seventeen you aren't really serious.
- One fine evening, you've had enough of beer and lemonade,
And the rowdy cafes with their dazzling lights!
- You go walking beneath the green lime trees of the promenade.

The lime trees smell good on fine evenings in June!
The air is so soft sometimes, you close your eyelids;
The wind, full of sounds, - the town's not far away -
Carries odors of vines, and odors of beer...

II

- Then you see a very tiny rag
Of dark blue, framed by a small branch,
Pierced by an unlucky star which is melting away
With soft little shivers, small, perfectly white...

June night! Seventeen! - You let yourself get drunk.
The sap is champagne and goes straight to your head...
You are wandering; you feel a kiss on your lips
Which quivers there like something small and alive...

III

Your mad heart goes Crusoeing through all the romances,
- When, under the light of a pale street lamp,
Passes a young girl with charming little airs,
In the shadow of her father's terrifying stiff collar...

And because you strike her as absurdly naif,
As she trots along in her little ankle boots,
She turns, wide awake, with a brisk movement...
And then cavatinas die on your lips...

IV

You're in love. Taken until the month of August.
You're in love - Your sonnets make Her laugh.
All your friends disappear; you are not quite the thing.
- Then your adored one, one evening, condescends to write to you...!

That evening,... - you go back again to the dazzling cafes,
You ask for beer or for lemonade...
- You are not really serious when you are seventeen
And there are green lime trees on the promenade...

Shame

So long as the blade has not 
Cut off that brain, 
That white, green and fatty parcel, 
Whose steam is never fresh, 
Ah ! He, should cut off his 
Nose, his lips, his ears, 
His belly! And abandon 
But no, truly, I believe that so long as 
The blade to his head, 
And the stone to his side, 
And the flame to his guts 
Have not done execution, the tiresome 
Child, the so stupid animal, 
Must never for an instant cease 
To cheat and betray 
And like a Rocky Mountain cat ; 
To make all places stink ! 
But still when he dies, 
O my God! 
May there rise up some prayer! 

Novel

I.

No one's serious at seventeen.
--On beautiful nights when beer and lemonade
And loud, blinding cafés are the last thing you need
--You stroll beneath green lindens on the promenade.

Lindens smell fine on fine June nights!
Sometimes the air is so sweet that you close your eyes;
The wind brings sounds--the town is near--
And carries scents of vineyards and beer. . .

II.

--Over there, framed by a branch
You can see a little patch of dark blue
Stung by a sinister star that fades
With faint quiverings, so small and white. . .

June nights! Seventeen!--Drink it in.
Sap is champagne; it goes to your head. . .
The mind wanders; you feel a kiss
On your lips, quivering like a living thing. . .

III.

The wild heart Crusoes through a thousand novels
--And when a young girl walks alluringly
Through a streetlamp's pale light, beneath the ominous shadow
Of her father's starched collar. . .

Because as she passes by, boot heels tapping,
She turns on a dime, eyes wide, 
Finding you too sweet to resist. . .
--And cavatinas die on your lips.

IV.

You're in love. Off the market till August.
You're in love.--Your sonnets make Her laugh.
Your friends are gone, you're bad news.
--Then, one night, your beloved, writes . . .!

That night . . . you return to the blinding cafés;
You order beer or lemonade. . .
--No one's serious at seventeen 
When lindens line the promenade

Karachi of British Era

The Empress Market ,Photograph of Empress Market in Karachi, taken by an unknown photographer, c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'. Karachi, the former capital of Pakistan, is the largest city and main commercial centre of the country and the capital of Sindh province in the lower Indus valley. Its history prior to the 19th century as a port on the Arabian Sea north-west of the mouth of the Indus is scant, but it is believed to be ancient. It has been identified as Krokala, the port visited by Alexander's fleet in 326 BC, is noted in a collection of 16th century Turkish sailing directions, and was transformed from a fishing village to a trading post under the Kalhora and Talpur rulers of Sindh in the 18th century. However, it remained modestly sized until the British conquest of Sindh in 1843. They proceeded to develop the harbour of Karachi and transform it into a major port. The Empress Market was constructed between 1884 and 1889 and was named to commemorate Queen Victoria, Empress of India. It was designed by James Strachan, the foundations were completed by the English firm of A.J. Attfield, and the building constructed by the local firm of 'Mahoomed Niwan and Dulloo Khejoo'. The building was arranged around a courtyard, 130 ft by 100 ft, with four galleries each 46 ft wide. The galleries provided accommodation for 280 shops and stall keepers; at the time of its construction it was one of seven markets in Karachi.

Christchurch,Karachi.Photograph of the exterior of Christchurch in Karachi from the 'Album of architectural and topographical views, mostly in India' by an unknown photographer in the 1870s. Christchurch, which is also known as the Church mission Society Church, dates from c.1856. The patron of the church was Henry Preedy, the Bazaar Master and first Collector of Karachi. The Church is situated in the same compound as the Church Mission School founded in 1846 and the Kutchery, a meeting place, built in 1855. This compound was passed onto the Church Mission Society in 1853.

Karachi, Harbor.This photograph of the harbour at Karachi was taken by an unknown photographer in the 1860s. Originally, Karachi was made up of a cluster of fishermen’s huts on the three islands of Manora, Bhit and Baba. The town started to develop when the British established relations with the rulers of Sind, first during the reign of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1635 and later during the rule of Ghulam Shah Kalhora in 1758, by setting up factories or Kothees. The British occupied Karachi during the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1839 and after annexation the city developed rapidly.

Passenger Landing Pier.Photograph of the Passenger Landing Pier at Karachi, taken by an unknown photographer,c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'. Karachi, now the capital of the Sindh province in the lower Indus valley, was once the capital of Pakistan and continues to be the country's commercial hub and largest city. Its history prior to the 19th century is largely unrecorded but it is believed to be the ancient port of Krokala on the Arabian Sea, visited by Alexander's admirals in 326 BC. Karachi is built around a bay which is a natural harbour and protected from storms by a group of small islands. The small fishing village of Karachi became a trading post when the Talpur Mirs of Sindh built a mud fort here in the 18th century, but the port remained small. It was completely transformed when its harbour was developed by the British after they conquered Sindh in the mid-19th century. The expansion of Karachi took place to facilitate the booming cotton export trade and movement of commodities such as wheat.

Trinity Church. Photograph of the interior of the Trinity Church in Karachi, looking along the choir towards the altar, taken by an unknown photographer, c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'. Karachi, once the capital of Pakistan, is now the capital of Sindh province and the major port and main commercial centre of the country. It was a strategically located small port (Kharak Bunder) at a protected natural harbour on the Arabian Sea north-west of the mouth of the Indus, and was developed and expanded by the British, when they took over Sindh in the mid-19th century, to serve the booming trade from the Punjab and the wheat and cotton regions of the sub-continent. Trinity churches were built by the Trinity Board along the coast of England from the mouth of the Thames to Portsmouth as well as in British India. The churches served as lighthouses by having beacons installed on their towers in return for which they were provided with funds. Trinity Church, constructed between 1852 and 1855,was the first major church in Karachi. It was designed by Captain John Hill of the Bombay Engineers. Its square tower rose to about 250 ft and so made a suitable lighthouse and landmark for vessels approaching Karachi harbour.

Govt. Garden Fountain,Photograph of the fountain constructed in 1883 in the Government Garden, Karachi, in memory of Bombay philanthropist Cowasjee Jehangir Readymoney, taken by an unknown photographer, c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'. The gardens were designed by Major Blenkins for supplying British troops stationed in Karachi with fresh vegetables. Many varieties of fruit and vegetables were grown here, there was also a large vineyard and a collection of animals started by Strachan and Ffinch, the director of the Indo-European Telegraph. Karachi, once the capital of Pakistan, is now the capital of Sindh province and the major port and main commercial centre of the country. It was a strategically located small port (Kharak Bunder) at a protected natural harbour on the Arabian Sea north-west of the mouth of the Indus, and was developed and expanded by the British, when they took over Sindh in the mid-19th century, to serve the booming trade from the Punjab and the wheat and cotton regions of the sub-continent

Photograph with a view looking across Karachi, taken by an unknown photographer, c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'. Views 21-32 from this album join together to form a 360 degree panorama of the city from the tower of Trinity Church. Karachi, one of the world's largest metropolises, was once the capital of Pakistan. It is now the capital of the Sindh province in the lower Indus valley, and is the financial and commercial centre of Pakistan. This huge city was however developed only in the mid-19th century after the British conquest of Sindh. Karachi is built around a bay which is a natural harbour protected from storms by a group of small islands. Its history prior to the 18th century is sketchy but it is believed to be the ancient port of Krokala on the Arabian Sea, visited by Alexander's admirals in 326 BC. The small fishing village was known as Kolachi-jo-Goth and became a trading post under the Kalhoras and the Talpur rulers of Sindh in the 18th century, but the port remained small. With the British development of its harbour it grew into a large city and an important centre of trade. The British established a cantonment here which was laid out separately to the 'Old Town' in a linear fashion. This area later became the basis of the 'New Town'.

Photograph of the D.J. Sind Arts College (now known as the D. J. Government Science College) of Karachi, taken by an unknown photographer, c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'. Designed by James Strachan and considered this architect's greatest achievement, the college was built between 1887 and 1893. Named after the Sindhi philanthropist Dayaram Jethmal, whose two family members contributed towards its cost, the building was constructed in the neoclassical, or ‘Italian architectural style’. A considerable amount of money was spent on the interior of the college; the floors comprised mosaic tiles imported from Belgium and the eight-foot wide main staircase was fitted with ornamental cast-iron work from McFarlane & Company of Glasgow

View from the tower of Trinity Church in Karachi, Pakistan, looking southwards towards the sea, with a large unidentified building in the foreground, taken by an unknown photographer, c. 1900. Karachi, the former capital of Pakistan, is the largest city and main commercial centre of the country, and the capital of Sindh province in the lower Indus valley. Its history prior to the 18th century as a port on the Arabian Sea north-west of the mouth of the Indus is scant, but it is believed to be ancient. It has been identified as Krokala, the port visited by Alexander's fleet in 326 BC, is noted in a collection of 16th century Turkish sailing directions, and was transformed from a fishing village known as Kolachi-jo-Goth to a trading post under the Kalhora and Talpur rulers of Sindh in the 18th century. However, it remained modestly sized until the British conquest of Sindh in 1843. They proceeded to develop the harbour of Karachi and transform it into a major port, an important centre of trade and industry. The city is well-endowed with colonial architecture in the form of residential bungalows, educational institutions, churches and railway stations, as part of its British legacy. This photograph is from an album of 91 prints apparently compiled by P. J. Corbett, a PWD engineer involved in irrigation work at the famine relief camp at Shetpal Tank in 1897, and in canal construction in Sindh in the early 1900s.

Photograph of the Gymkhana buildings at Karachi taken by an unknown photographer, c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'.

Photograph of potters at work, near Karachi in Sindh in Pakistan, taken by Michie and Company in c. 1873, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections. This scene is from the Vienna Universal Exhibition of 1873, and is described in John Forbes Watson's exhibition catalogue, as follows: "Photograph showing potters' yard, on the bank of the 'Lyaree' River, near Karachi, with potters at work. The man represented standing on the right of the picture is kneading the clay which has been previously prepared in the pit represented on the right. The centre figure is represented with a lump of unfinished clay on the wheel. The left-hand figure shows a drain pipe on the centre of the wheel which, on being removed, is cut so as to bisect it longitudinally, but not quite divided, and thus the pipe fashioned is easily formed into two pan-tiles. The background represents the kilns. Rubbish is used for burning the pottery

Photograph of the interior view of Christchurch from the 'Album of architectural and topographical views, mostly in South Asia' by an unknown photographer in the 1870s. Christchurch, which is also known as the Church mission Society Church, dates from c.1856. The patron of the church was Henry Preedy, the Bazaar Master and first Collector of Karachi. The Church is situated in the same compound as the Church Mission School founded in 1846 and the Kutchery, a meeting place, built in 1855. This compound was passed onto the Church Mission Society in 1853.

Photograph with a view looking northwards along Frere Street in Karachi, with the tower of the Empress Market partially visible in the right background, taken by an unknown photographer, c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'.Saddar Bazaars were permanent markets which existed all over the sub-continent, they were developed by British forces in the towns they occupied to facilitate the provision of supplies to the troops in the cantonments. The Saddar Bazaar at Karachi followed a typical gridiron plan; all the major north-south streets of the Bazaar were laid out at right angles to Bunder Road, Frere, Somerset and Elphinstone Streets which along with Victoria Road, linked the northern part of the cantonment to the southern part. The area soon developed into the most fashionable part of the city, supplying the needs of both civilians and military personnel.

Photograph of the lighthouse and fort at Manora, Karachi, taken by an unknown photographer, c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'.

Photograph of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Karachi from the 'Album of architectural and topographical views, mostly in South Asia' by an unknown photgrapher in the 1870s.  Completed in 1855, Holy Trinity was the first major church to be built in Karachi. Although it was designed by Captain John Hill, changes were made by John Brunton during its construction. The church is built in local, buff colour Gizri stone. This view of the exterior of the church shows the tower and roof in its original state. The tower has five storeys above the buttressed entranceway of the tower and the roof is pitched. Two stories of the tower were removed for safety in 1904 and a new barrel vaulted roof was was put in place in the 1970s.

Photograph with a view of Saddar Bazaar, Karachi, with the Empress Market in the right background, taken by an unknown photographer, c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'

Photograph with a view of Karachi looking in a northerly direction along Victoria Road, with St Andrew's Church visible in the distance, taken by an unknown photographer, c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'. Views 21-32 from this album join together to form a 360 degree panorama of the city from the tower of Trinity Church. In the centre of the print is the single storey range of hospital buildings, with the Roman Catholic Church and Convent directly behind.

Photograph with a view looking across the westernmost part of the Karachi cantonment, taken by an unknown photographer, c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'. Views 21-32 from this album join together to form a 360 degree panorama of the city from the tower of Trinity Church. 

Photograph of the Anglo-Vernacular School at Karachi in Sind, Pakistan from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections: India Office Series (Volume 46), taken by Michie and Company in c. 1873. This image, of the single storey stone building with a clocktower at corner, was probably shown at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873. In India vernacular education (in the local language) was considered a special obligation for the Government from 1854 when it was declared a concern by the Court of Directors. The vernacular course covered both primary and secondary education and was carried out in many different types of establishment depending on the resources of the area. In Bombay, for example, the complete course of vernacular education was delivered at primary school. The Imperial Gazetteer of India states, "The type of primary school varies from the primitive pathshala or maktab to the modern institutions in which the pupils are educated in accordance with approved European methods. The Bombay local rates schools are in general better built, equipped, and managed than the Bengal indigenous institutions...There are three classes of secondary schools - the vernacular and English middle schools, and the high schools. The vernacular middle school course is a prolongation of the primary course, and completes the instruction of those who do not aspire to an English education. In most Provinces the course lasts for three years, and should be completed at about the age of thirteen."

Bird's eye view (with Napier Barracks) Photograph with a view looking north-east towards the Cantonments and Napier Barracks at Karachi, with Elphinstone and Frere Streets in the foreground, taken by an unknown photographer, c.1900, from an album of 46 prints titled 'Karachi Views'. Views 21-32 from this album join together to form a 360 degree panorama of the city from the tower of Trinity Church. The barracks were built by Charles Napier, the first governor of Sindh (1843-1847). It is constructed of the local buff Gizri stone. The main building faced the prevailing breeze and the deep arcaded verandahs and high ceilings were intended to make the interior as cool as possible.

Source: British Library