Indeed it reminds me of the verses my "Urdu teacher" in Lahore
often used to sing, now nearly half a century ago:
"Sheikh-ji berahaman sey kiun aap jhigartey hain,
Gar Khuda Qaawey mey rahen to but-khaney mey koun?"
Having lived through two terrible ethno-religious conflicts in my life and
suffered losses in the immdiate family on both occasions, I feel more than
ever that we all need to absorb in our lives the universalist philosophies
of our Indian sages, be they sufis, be they rhishis, be they Hindus,
Muslims or just plain agnostics. Tagore, in a supremely beautiful poem
once compared India's peoples to a vast ocean and said:
"Here Arayans, non-Aryans, Dravidians, the Chinese
The Sakas, the Huns, Pathans and Moghuls have all
Incarnated into the same body".
("Hethay aarjo, hetha onaarjo, hethay drabir chin,
Shok hun dol pathan moghol, eek dehe holo lin")
I think this particular event brought to us the essence of that truth with
the intensity of divine music. Kiran and Arif and all the others who
worked to make this happen deserve not only our thanks but out deepest
appreciation.
Vive le sage Kabir, Jai-Kabir-Zindabad!
Twareque
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S. Twareque Ali, Professor
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Concordia University
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No words to describe last night's Mehfil-e-Samaa. An evening of pure ecstasy. Hard to descend from "that" high.
May your home be blessed with many more Mehfils
Cheers.
Harji Family
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kamaal kar diya. Dil khol kar hum logon ki khatir ki. Bahut bahut Shukriya. Sushma and I will like to thank Kiran Bahan and you again for a very memorable and beautiful evening. The music was superb and so as your hospitality
Biren
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It was a fabulous event last evening, followed by a most unlikely double-first today, the first time ever that Farid Ayaz Ensemble has sung in a Hindu temple and the first time that the Hindu Temple in West Island has ever had a Pakistani group (and devout Muslims) singing on their premises.
This later event was even more remarkable for the great appreciation from the audience at the temple, the money showered on the artists and the great fraternity displayed by the Sufi artists in all their singing and communication to the audience. Special thanks go to Arif Bhai and Kiran Behan for bringing the artists from Pakistan and bearing the brunt of all the logistics.
Please find an announcement for our next event on KCC website. It is a fascinating and tragi-comic film and seeing it will be time well-spent. I do hope I shall be in town to see it on big screen.
Raghu
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Looking at these images is sending chills up my spine. Can't wait to see the videos.
Deepak Khatnani, Canary Islands, Spain
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