HOME :: Our Mission is to educate, entertain and invoke critical thinking in creating a cohesive environment to work, socialize and function effectively through the medium of Poetry. Our purpose is to establish a new stream of Pluralism poetry in Urdu and Hindi languages - indeed, it is the 2nd most spoken language in the world. Mike Ghouse, Foundation for Pluralism, Studies in Pluralistic societies

Showing posts with label Mike Ghouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Ghouse. Show all posts

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Holocaust and Genocides 2020

15th Annual Holocaust and Genocides

PRESS RELEASE

Dr. Mike Ghouse
Center for Pluralism
email: MikeGhouse@gmail.com 
Office: (202) 290-3560
Cell: (214) 325-1916


15th Annual Reflections on the Holocaust and Genocides  

The purpose of this event is education, information, and activism. We hope to learn and acknowledge our failings and make a personal commitment to our share of saying, "Never Again."

15th Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides
5:30 PM - 8:30 PM Sunday, January 26, 2020
Arlington Central Library, 1015 N. Quincy Street
Arlington, VA 22201

Tickets are complimentary, but donations are accepted 




We hope you will walk out of the event with a genuine feeling of being a contributor towards building a cohesive world where no human has to live in apprehension or fear of the other. 

The Jewish community has been commemorating the Holocaust event since 1953, known as Yom HaShoah in Synagogues around the world. The general public learns it by visiting the Holocaust Museums and educational institutions.


At the Center for Pluralism, we are committed to spreading knowledge of the Holocaust and Genocide through interfaith and public events, including the Annual reflections. 



Speakers: 


Robert F. Teitel - Holocaust Story

Dr. Gregory Stanton - Signs of Genocides

Rushan Abbas & Omer Kanat - Uyghur Updates

Dr. Wakar Uddin - Rohingya Update

Muneer Baig - Kashmir Update

Dr. TO Shanavas - India Update

Dr. Rani Khan - Peace Pledge

Dr. Mike Ghouse - Genesis of this event

Rabia Baig - Mistress of Ceremony


Volunteers:


Nausheen Baig

Rabbi Alana Suskin

Jafer Imam

Dr. Zafar Iqbal

Charles Stevenson


Sponsors:


Would you like to be a sponsor?

Our budget is $2000, full or any part 


Co-Chairs:


Dr. Rani Khan

Dr. Mike Ghouse


Organized by:


Center for Pluralism


Our format consists of four parts; Interfaith prayers, Holocaust, Genocides, Massacred and the Pledge of Peace. Silently, we will acknowledge all suffering, but physically we are limited to a few Genocides each year. 


 This year, a Holocaust survivor will share his story, followed by updated Uyghur, Rohingya, and the signs of making of Genocide in India. I urge everyone to watch the Schindler's list and Civil War movies to grasp the signs.


I believe, when we acknowledge each other's grief and participate in each other's commemoration, we connect with the humanness within ourselves and seed the relationship of understanding and caring for each other. 


There is a shameless cruelty in us, either we shy away or refuse to acknowledge the sufferings of others, worrying that it will devalue our own, or amounts to infidelity to our pain, and every community and nation has suffered through this. To all those who have endured the Holocaust, Genocides, Massacres, Ethnic Cleansing, Land Mines, Hunger, Rape, Torture, Occupation, Expulsion, and inhuman brutality, we must say, you are not alone. The least we can do in the process of healing is to acknowledge every one's pain in one voice. 

 

I cannot be safe if the people around me are not, and I will not have peace if people around me don't. It is in my interest to seek a peaceful world for one and all.


This is a Muslim initiative to assure fellow humans who have endured the Holocaust, Genocide, ethnic cleansing, massacres, rapes, injustice and other atrocities that we are all in this together to create a better world. Tikkun Olam is our sacred duty. 

 


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List of Supporting Organizations (links embedded)

Published at 148 News Outlets
A few are listed below 

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Sunday, May 20, 2018

Urdu wala Chashma by Nupur Sharma



Dear Urdu-Hindi friends of DFW & DMV
Adaab, Salaam, Namaste, Satsriakal, and Jai Jinendra!
I have always appreciated the services of Anita Singhal, Nishi Bhatia and Dr. Amer Suleman in promoting Hindi and Urdu languages respectively.
I am pleased to share the following video clip from Nupur Sharma, enjoy it.
This edition is a treasure and should be a part of history, I like the way Nupur presented six theories and suggested to keep your mind open until a thoos suboot springs up for one or the other. The Multan theory is new to me.
Of course, Gulzaar Saheb is Gulzar of the Urdu poetry, but Atif Tauqeer's nazm was incredible. It resonates with my effort in writing similar poetry. Every sher is amazing - and this one stuck to me.
"Sab ka Gunah ek sahi, sab ka mufad ek hai." I will borrow this for my writings about Pluralism. Essence is same rituals are different.
Nadir Durrani has written similar thoughts.
Enjoy this video by Nupur Sharma - https://www.facebook.com/TheWireUrdu/videos/2008571839396075/

 I am glad she expressed similar thoughts that Urdu and Hindi is the same language in two different scripts. Let both languages grow and reintegrate. Urdu dictionary literally includes most of the Hindi words and vice-versa. One should be proud to know both languages well, and more languages the better.

Thanks
Mike Ghouse
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Thursday, May 7, 2015

Mother's day song and its translation in English by Rajiv Chakravarti

Mother's day Article is published at Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/mothers-day-interfaith-ce_b_7233900.html

Mother is the ultimate definition of selflessness! No matter what happens to the world or even her, she is there for you in your need; she recognizes your need much before you know it.  Of course every day is Mother’s day, and each one of us honors her in a variety of ways. From simple caring to doing things for her that makes her most happy. Mothers don't need a whole lot; they just need to know that you care.  Remember you were showered by her attention when you needed it? 

Every religious tradition has elevated mother to nearly the status of God, because she possess many a qualities of God; kind, merciful, beneficent and caring among thousand other qualities.  Mother is the reason for our existence; sustenance, nurturence and shaping who we are. I dedicate this write-up to my Mother, and all the Mothers out there.  There is a beautiful song in Urdu/Hindi language

Us ko nahin dekha hum ne kabhi, per us ki zaroorat kya hogi
Ai maa teri soorat say alag bhagwan ki soorat kya hogi.

I have not seen him (God) ever, but what is the need for it?
Dear Mother, your face cannot be different than God’s own face

Here is the song - http://youtu.be/3HbmbO0b-Sc
 


My friend Rajiv Chakravarti, a Urdu Poet of Dallas has translated it beautifully:

We have never seen HIM...,
but what is the need for this?
O Mother, O Mother, how different
can HIS face be from your own?

Why talk of mere humans, even Gods
have grown up in your bosom
Heaven is nowhere but on Earth,
right under the shadow of your feet!
The affection that emanates from your eyes,
Which Idol can take its place?
O Mother ...

Why would the heat of suffering burn me?
Why would storms of sorrow affect me?
These hands which raise to prayer of yours
Come and rest permanently on my head
When you are my guide in the dark roads of life,
What would I even need the Sun for?
O Mother ...

It is said that no words suffice
to describe your greatness
Even God does not have enough wealth
that constitutes your price
All I know is that, in this World
There is no fortune that exceeds YOU!
O Mother ...

---
MOTHER IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES


I called my mother, " Amma" and at times "Ammi" while addressing her it was Ma.

Languages Spoken in South Asia

Arabic - umm
Assamese - Aayi, mA, mAtri  Aayi, mA,
Baluchi - Ma
Bengali - Mata or jononi,
Bhojpuri – Mayee
English- Mother, Mama, Mom
French- Mère, Maman
German - Mutter
Gujurati - Ma
Hindi - Ma, Maji, Mata
Kannada -Amma
Konkani - Amma
Kashmiri - Muoj
Latin - Mater
Marathi - Aayi
Malyalam – Amma
Nepali - Aamaa
Oriya – Bou
Pashtu- Mor
Persian- Madr, Maman
Portugese- Mae
Punjabi - Mai, Mataji, Pabo
Sanskrit - Mata
Sindhi – Mau
Sinhalese- Amma
Tamil - Amma
Telegu- Amma
Urdu -Ammee, Maa, Amma

There are more languages out there… and listed in the Huffington post aricle at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/mothers-day-interfaith-ce_b_7233900.html 

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Mike Ghouse is a public speaker, thinker, writer and a commentator on Pluralism, Islam, India, Israel-Palestine, Politics and other issues of the day. He is a human rights activist, and his book standing up for others will be out soon | He is producing a full feature film " Sacred" to be released on 9/11 and a documentary "Americans together" for a July 4 release.  He is a frequent guest commentator on Fox News and syndicated Talk Radio shows and a writer at major news papers including Dallas Morning News and Huffington Post. All about him is listed in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at www.TheGhousediary.com - Mike is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. 
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Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Finding’ the ‘lost’ Urdu

www.UrduHindi.net | Shared by Dalibagh from Indian Express.

The greatest linguistic shames of the century that I know are endured by three languages; Maya, Bo and Urdu.  Perhaps there are more, if you do know others, please share in the comment section below http://urduhindinet.blogspot.com/2015/02/finding-lost-urdu.html


1. Speaking Mayan language in Belize is a crime; they are prevented from speaking the language. The tyrants in Mexico do the same.  I was in Mexico with the high priest of the Maya tribe – and took them up to the Chichen-itza temple, they were afraid of going up there and praying. I took them up and dared the Mexican authorities and for the first time in 30 years they prayed in their own temple. |
http://www.mikeghouse.net/InterfaithSpeaker_MikeGhouse.asp

2. The Bo Language - http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2010/02/press-release-in-behalf-of-indians-of.html


3.  Urdu Language – Not all, but enough of the crazies among right wing Hindus and right wing Muslims alike have forced it to become the language of Muslims. How dumb and stupid!  Even in India, the Muslim Bengalis, Malyalees, Guajarati, Tamilians… and neither the Arabs nor the Indonesians, the largest Muslim population in the world speak Urdu.  Whereas Hindus of North India do speak Urdu, it is their language.  Urdu is the language of India, born and bred in India; it is also the official language of Pakistan.

The writer of the article Irene made a point to show the so called Urdu words in Hindi language.  What she failed to share was that the Urdu dictionary has almost all the “Hindi” words listed as Urdu words which I have checked, however I have not checked the Hindi dictionary if it has all the words known as Urdu words.  That is the way to go forward to be inclusive of the other.

I have always called it Hindustani, the only language in the world with three scripts – Devanagiri, Farsi and Roman.  Indeed, our website is UrduHindi.net to reflect that Unity.

I have not made the time to watch “Hindi” movies in a long time – three hours is a lot of time. However, I have learned to watch a few with my wife – we just watched “2 States” a must watch movie – there it is the common Hindustani in it – a blend of Urdu and Hindi that most people can understand. Then we watched Babul with Amitabh, Salman and John Abraham – It’s beautiful Urdu in it laced with specific Hindi words to describe the Hindu tradition.  We also watched Namaste London….

There was a song which talked about, “ choro urdu hindi ka Jhagda” cannot think of the whole song but there is another one that speak about kids “ bhasha ki takrar nahin mazhab ki deewar nahin” from the song in Do Kaliyan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d95tEfX9pNE

My personal contribution to Urdu would be to make this a language free from Muslims and Hindus, and re-induction of words and similes that both people can relate. The references should not be merely Muslim history but Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Adivasis and Dalit heritage as well. 

In 2012 we introduced a new stream of Pluralism in the poetry to seed the idea of one language that reflects the larger culture of the subcontinent.  Thanks to so many poets of Dallas for beautifully re-blending the cultures in their poetry.

There are many poems, but here are the two that reflect inclusion of similes (references) from subcultures of the Subcontinent – Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jain, Jewish, Adivasis, Buddhist and others.


I propose that the Hindu and Urdu groups sit down with both the dictionaries and make random comparisons of 100 words and I hope someday both the Urdu and Hindi dictionaries will carry the same words.

I hope you like the following piece

Mike Ghouse
www.UrduHindi.net
www.MikeGhouse.net
------------------------------

Such uninterested, defeatist “Urdu-is-dead-who-cares” attitude among Muslims will ensure the language continues to be denied the credit it deserves. In such times, it is good news that social media, and Pakistani serials are doing their bit for the Urdu cause. But here too, it would be great to see if praise for Urdu is not limited to just its poetry, but also extends to its simple, humble words that we use in our everyday lives. Ummeed hai hamari khwahish poori ho.

The young generation of Muslims can not read Urdu script although they speak Urdu at home. They were educated in Hindi medium and are comfortable with it. Unless parents teach their children Urdu at home they will not be comfortable with Urdu script. Although state governments have given some help to urdu schools their standards are low. There are no science and mathematics books in Urdu hence the emphasis on learning Urdu is on language and poetry rather than science and mathematics.

‘Finding’ the ‘lost’ Urdu: But did the language ever really go away? http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/finding-the-lost-urdu/99/

A large number of mushairas and qawwalis are being held in metropolitan cities, thus further helping Urdu make a “comeback”. A large number of mushairas and qawwalis are being held in metropolitan cities, thus further helping Urdu make a “comeback”.

http://adserver.adtech.de/?adlink/1505/5584602/0/16/AdId=-3;BnId=0;itime=181816784;

A large number of mushairas and qawwalis are being held in metropolitan cities, thus further helping Urdu make a “comeback”.

Written by Irena Akbar | Posted: February 17, 2015 5:39 pm | Updated: February 17, 2015 5:47 pm

There is Faiz in the air. Urdu, the “lost” language of the poets, the hopeless romantics and the ardent idealists, is “re-emerging”. Several online Facebook groups are dedicated to varied Urdu poets, and Urdu learning websites such as Rekhta and Urduwallahs are becoming popular. Pakistani soap operas, broadcast on Zindagi channel, too are helping “revive” the language that “got lost due to Partition”. A large number of mushairas and qawwalis are being held in metropolitan cities, thus further helping Urdu make a “comeback”.

The question, however, is, did Urdu really go away? If anything, it has stayed on, through Bollywood songs, and since the 1990s, through Hindi news channels. Hindi news channels relay “khabrein”, not “samachar”, as was by Doordarshan. Reporters talk of a “shakhs”, not a “vyakti”, and use “adalat” instead of “nyayalaya”, for example. So, since the 1990s, the use of Urdu in popular media has gone beyond just Hindi cinema and extended to television news. Certainly, the language has not been “dying” as Urdu “revivalists” claim.

What has been dying is not the language, but the credit given to the language. Most people don’t know that many of the words spoken in Hindi films or news channels are Urdu. This is not a case of war between Hindi and Urdu. Both languages are closely linked to and depend on each other for their survival. After Partition, Urdu came to be identified with Muslims. “Muslim” Urdu became the state language of Pakistan and was imposed on native Punjabi, Sindhi and Pashtun speakers. In northern India, the land of Urdu and Hindi, the language lost its popularity among non-Muslim Hindi speakers because of its “Muslim” label. Publishers of Urdu books began focusing only on religious literature, further making it less attractive for the non-Muslim audience. In sad contrast, there was a time when Hindu poets like Firaq Gorakhpuri added so much to Urdu heritage.

After Partition, and even now, it is Hindi cinema and news that have ensured Urdu its space in popular culture. But let’s not get patronising here. Urdu writers such as Salim Khan, Javed Akhtar, Sahir Ludhianvi and Shakeel Badayuni have contributed immensely to Hindi cinema. In fact, many Hindi film titles are in Urdu, like Mohabbatein, Kurbaan, Dil, etc. Most Hindi film singers and actors take classes in Urdu diction. Had it not been for Urdu, would we ever have timeless Bollywood dialogues like “Mogambo khush hua” or “Kitne aadmi the” or “Main tumhara khoon pee jaaoonga”?

Yes, “khush”, “aadmi” and “khoon” are Urdu words. And here is the flipside to the Hindi-Urdu marriage. Urdu has so often been used in Hindi cinema — which is a good thing — that Urdu words are now mistaken as Hindi — which is a bad thing. Hindi has helped Urdu grow in popular culture, but in the process, it has stolen (for lack of a better word) many Urdu words and added to its lexicon. How many of us know that “paani”, “duniya”, “gussa” and “baad” are Urdu words? In Hindi, these words are translated as “jal”, “jag”, “krodh” and “pashchaat”. Some people, thankfully, call this mixed lexicon “Hindustani”, thus acknowledging the frequent use of Urdu in Hindi. In fact, even as the government goes overboard in promoting Sanskrit, its ministers use Urdu words like “Ram-zaade” or “Haraam-zaade” to put their messages across.

But it’s neither the fault of Hindi or Urdu for the dying acknowledgment of the use of Urdu. Languages are used by people, and it’s only people who can make them thrive, survive or perish. So, for the sake of acknowledgment of the the use of Urdu, Hindi and Urdu speakers need to put in their efforts. Sadly, that’s not how it is. Take Zindagi channel. Despite garnering critical appraise and TRPs not just for broadcasting better content but also for “bringing back Urdu to the living rooms”, it has adopted a new tag line: “India’s premium Hindi channel”. When everyone is loving the Urdu being spoken in its serials, why not call itself “India’s premium Urdu channel”? Some say it is a way to attract more viewers. But how will Urdu in its tag line repel viewers? My sad guess is the channel’s decision is probably because of the language’s “Muslim” association.

And here comes the responsibility of Urdu speakers, primarily Muslims of north India. I am not getting into how governments, Muslim political leaders or organisations need to go about Urdu’s cause. I am talking about ordinary Urdu speakers. Here’s a small but telling example. I follow a Facebook page called “Lucknow”. A year or so back, the page would share posts which would display a word, its origin and its use in a couplet. The word, and the couplet, would be displayed in Roman and Devnagri scripts. The origin of the word would invariably be mentioned as Persian or Arabic. It was clear the word belonged to the Urdu language. But why no mention of Urdu? I asked the administrator of the page if, alongside the Roman and Devngari scripts, the word could be written in Persian script, so that people know it’s Urdu. The administrator, a Lucknow-based Muslim, said he had a “space problem” and “nobody understands Urdu”. It’s when other followers of the page, mostly non-Muslim, started demanding that they would like to read the word in Persian script, that the administrator agreed to my suggestion.

At the launch of an Urdu daily in the capital about two years ago, prominent Muslim businessman Sirajuddin Qureshi had said that he had started an Urdu newspaper some time back but no Muslim family he knew subscribed to it and so he had to shut it down. Also, when the Census was being conducted sometime in 1999-2000, some of our Muslim neighbours had said their native language was Hindi, even though they spoke Urdu at home. Their explanation: “Who cares about Urdu now”.

Such uninterested, defeatist “Urdu-is-dead-who-cares” attitude among Muslims will ensure the language continues to be denied the credit it deserves. In such times, it is good news that social media, and Pakistani serials are doing their bit for the Urdu cause. But here too, it would be great to see if praise for Urdu is not limited to just its poetry, but also extends to its simple, humble words that we use in our everyday lives. Ummeed hai hamari khwahish poori ho.


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