SHAH RUKH KHAN ,TALIBAN PAKISTAN AND I

I attended a seminar at the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C a couple of months ago .During the break I walked up to a table where an African American, and two young girls were sipping coke. One young girl began talking to me, wanting to know more about me .When I told her I was an Indian she turned to her African American friend and said
‘You know what, but for the British ,Ravi and I would belong to the same country.. By the way ‘ she said turning to me ‘I am from Pakistan. This girl is from Kerala’
I could not resist asking her if Shah Rukh Khan was popular in Pakistan.
At this point the African American asked who Khan was.
‘I suppose he is he Tom Cruise of Bollywood’ I clarified.
At this point something totally unexpected happened
The Pakistani girl came up to me, stood by my side and told the African American ‘Ravi is totally mistaken. Tom Cruise is the Shah Rukh Khan of Hollywood!’
I am fan of Talat Mahmood one of the great singers of Hindi cinema. I was listening to the Talat- Lata duet ‘Dil E nadaan Tujhe hua kyaa hai’ from the film DIL –E-NADAAN. This is a Mirza Ghalib ghazal which has been sung my many singers including some from Pakistan but in my opinion the Talat– Lata rendition is by far the best. If you doubt it you can view and listen to many versions on Youtube.
Yesterday I heard Pakistan singer Bushra Ansari sing that immortal Lata melody KUCH DIL NE KAHA from the film ‘’ANUPAMA’ .
I know I will stir an hornet’s nest but Bushra evoked more emotions with more intensity than Lata. Bushra has an added advantage –she is a stunning looker as I saw in her other uploads on Youtube .Some of the comments by viewers about her are evidence of her beauty. Good looks I agree, are not relevant when we are discussing singers.
I could see how many things were falling in place in my mind as I recalled these songs and contrasted these images with what is happening in Pakistan especially in WAZIRISTAN .
I saw on TV ordinary people in Pakistan asking if Taliban were really Muslims at all. One soldier who was very badly hurt by a Taliban suicide bombing attack told cameramen that once he is healed he will return to the battle filed and destroy the Taliban.
The prospect of over 250000 people having to leave their homes to avoid being killed in the battle between the Armed forces and the Taliban is deeply disturbing to anyone concerned with the human costs of the Pak offensive against the Taliban
I wonder if a tipping point has been reached in Pakistan and whether popular opinion is now finally and decisively against terrorism no matter what the grievance.
Soft power of the Lata,Talat, Bushra, kind can make a small but significant difference.
I am not one of those dreamy eyed people who yearn of Pakistan and India merging into one country—we have gone too far for that—but maybe we could try and reduce our differences and concentrate on common issues like poverty. If our two countries decided to cut our defence budgets by 25 % and divert the money saved to poverty alleviation, it would make a difference at a bread and butter level—the level that ought to matter most It makes logical sense but then who says logic is all that important ?
I wrote an article about such a theme long ago. I received brickbats from some Pakistani readers. One reader said that Indians tend to have a condescending attitude to Pakistan.
I wrote back
HUM HAI MUSHTAAQ
AUR WHO BEZAAR
YAA ILAHI YE MAAJRAA KYA HAI
DIL E NADAAN TUHE HUA KYAA HAI

One Pakistani reader who loved Talat more than I do dared me to upload my singing of a Talat song .He angrily wrote that he would dub me Galat Mahmood .On that point I agreed .
K..R.RAVI
U.S.A