Beard Brotherhood

Now that I’ve grown a thick beard, I look more Muslim than ever. One thing I have noticed though is that more people now automatically greet me with ‘assalamu alaikum’. Previously, when I was clean shaven, people wouldn’t automatically greet me with this Muslim greeting. Quite clearly, even if not consciously, at least at a sub-conscious level, many people in this part of the world are ascertaining your religion at first glance.

boycott updates

It is in the Middle East that the backlash to the Danish cartoons was felt the most. Strong reactions to the cartoons came through in the boycott of Danish goods across the Islamic world, plenty of fiery articles in the newspapers and lots of propaganda e-mails and messages doing the rounds and government level statements calling for condemnation and apologies. The clerics of course had a field day.
As an interested but objective third party, I was witness to the entire sequence of events in a part of the world that was particularly affected by the entire controversy. When the controversy ‘came’ to the Middle East in the middle of January, I could see that the first reaction was incredulous disbelief and a feeling of genuine hurt in many of my Muslim friends. Incredulity because they could not believe that anyone would actually go out of the way to publish cartoons insulting the prophet of Islam and without provocation at that, and hurt because they are genuinely in awe of their prophet and it hurt them that someone has insulted such a figure of veneration for a billion + people. The initial response was instinctive and reactionary and I could feel an undercurrent of bitterness brewing. SMS’s and e-mails were sent around calling for the boycott of Danish goods, protest meetings were organized and for a few days, the newspapers were full of commentary on this issue. While the most virulent reactions came from the clerics and fundamentalists, the average Muslim was also riled enough to join in the general expression of anger and disgust towards the west. Already, Muslims all over the world feel like they are targeted, be it in Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sydney, Chechnya or the Western world in general. This controversy further reinforced the general feeling of apathy and disrespectfulness of the west and a lack of understanding of the ‘Islamic’ world. Around this time, I saw stickers on cars which went to the tune of, ‘each western product bought is a bullet through a Muslim’s heart’. Fortunately, this hysteria did not last long and saner messages soon replaced the more fundamentalist ones...messages like ‘know more about the beloved prophet Mohammed PBUH (this, followed by the URL of a website which provided details on Prophet Mohammed’s life)’.
The boycott of Danish products started in Saudi between the week of 20th and 27th of Jan. By the 10th of Feb, the boycott was almost complete and fully effective across the trade through the Middle East. Most shops had put up notices that they were not stocking any Danish products. Arlafoods (Dairy), Emborg (Frozen Foods), Lego (Toys), K.D.D. (Dairy), SADAFCO (Dairy) were the companies primarily hit by the boycott. Of these, Arlafoods, with its brands Puck (Processed Cheese, Labneh, Dairy Creams), Lurpak (Butter), Three Cows (Processed Cheese) and Power Cow (Processed Cheese) was the biggest hit, simply because it dominated the categories where it was present and it was the most recognizably Danish company. Companies like K.D.D. and SADAFCO were unfortunate because people associated them with Danish products, whereas their products had nothing to do with Denmark. K.D.D. and SADAFCO did at one time source material from Denmark but this was a very long time ago. Companies like Nestle (particularly Nido in baby food) and New Zealand Milk (Anchor in baby food) were even more unfortunate because they were targeted in the boycott even though they had nothing at all to do with Denmark.
There were calls for an apology from the Danish government and Jyllands Posten. After their initial intransigence, the Danish government came out with statements regretting the reaction that the cartoons had caused saying that they were meant as experimentation in free speech and not as an insult to Muslims (they didn’t apologize, which I think was brave of them). Jyllands Posten made similar placatory noises. Though never directly apologizing, they regretted that they had caused offence, which was never their intention. The Danish companies in the Middle East had more pressing economic concerns and they went all out in distancing themselves from the cartoons and generally said all the right things. For a time, Arlafoods considered going in for an all out media campaign expressing their respect for Islam and the Islamic world. However, their media agency told them not to, and very wisely so, I think. Any media exposure would have only provoked the community more. They chose eventually to lie low and ride out the storm; in my opinion, the best course of action...sometimes no action is the best action.
No government in the Middle East has officially called for a ban of Danish products. So after some of the hysteria had died down, people started wondering who would take the first step in calling off the ban. Eventually, we realized that the only ones who could call for the boycott to be lifted were the Saudi clerics at the Friday prayers. After all, it was at the Friday prayers that people were initially urged to boycott Danish goods. Al Othaim retailers in Saudi were the first to implement the boycott and the other retailers followed soon. Arla realized that the only way to get back onto the shelves was to mollify the clerical community and get Al Othaim to start stocking Arla products.
Most retailers in UAE have started stocking Danish goods now. There have been peaceful protests to this but on the whole, Danish goods have been moving off the shelves pretty quickly (though not as quickly as before). Saudi is posing much more of a challenge. Though some retailers have started stocking a limited assortment of Danish goods, there is still quite a lot of resentment there and people are not buying Danish products.
It seems (in UAE at least) that the one company that has benefited from the boycott is ‘Al Marai’, a local Dairy company. Its sales have boomed over the past couple of months and most of the share that Arla has lost has been taken over by Marai.

fair and handsome

Which is the one FMCG brand that has been creating waves in India over the past few months?? I admit I was a nonplussed when this question was put to me yesterday. Apparently, it is 'Fair and Handsome', a skin whitening cream that Emami has come out with for men.
Yesterday, I was in a meeting with one of the Directors of Emami Group and he told me that this brand has achieved phenomenal success in India and he has high hopes from 'Fair and Handsome' in the Middle Eastern markets as well. And he was talking about it like a proud father would talk about a prodigal son. I couldn't help thinking that a whitening cream isn't something over which one should feel such orgasmic delight as he clearly was feeling...after all, it's just a cream!

China Wall

While walking on the Sharjah corniche, I saw a few Chinese labourers working in an area of the corniche that is under renovation. The Sharjah govrnment normally puts up signboards near any 'work in progress' informing the public what the whole thing is about. This board said that construction was on for Project 294, i.e. constructing the new Corniche Wall. The contract was awarded to 'China Harbour Wall Company'. Well, I think the government has got it absolutely right. Who better than the Chinese to build a wall!!

Paki Music

I love Paki music.
Pakistan like India has a rich musical tradition. My first exposure to Paki music was way back in 1992 when 'Strings’ came out with their unforgettable original ‘Sar Ki Yeh Pahaar’ (part of the album, 'Strings 2). I loved it instantly. It was melodious and had a very other worldly feel about it. I am one of the most enthusiastic bathroom singers and ‘Sar Ki Yeh Pahaar’ was just such a great tune to hum while going about ones morning ablution (and I mean this in the most complimentary was). Besides, the video was really simple, shot entirely on the beach, but seemed to blend in very well with the melody. In 1992, ‘Strings’ was a popular band in Pakistan and was beginning to make their presence felt across the border as well. There were four of them then, Faisal Kapadia, Bilal Maqsood and two others. However, the passing years saw this very promising band go off track a bit. A couple of members left due to some personal differences and the rest devoted more time to studies and starting a family (starting a family!...obviously they had their priorities straight). In 2000, Faisal and Bilal from the original group came together to revive ‘Strings’. I for one did not expect them to repeat their successes of the early 90’s because it was just the two of them and however hard one tries, one can’t really get much diversity in music from a two man band (or so I thought). I am glad to say though that they proved me wrong. ‘Durr’ in 2000 was a big success and why wouldn’t it be; it had all the ingredients that had made ‘Strings’ so popular. The songs were melodious and the videos were well shot. Moreover, the duo were no longer fresh faced boys but good looking grown men and this reflected in the maturity of their lyrics as well. The remixed version of ‘Sar Ki Yeh Pahaar’, which was part of ‘Durr’ is one of those rare instances in music when the remixed version is better than the original, and the original in itself was great. ‘Durr’ was followed by 'Tu Hai Kahan', 'Hai Koi Hum Jaisa' and ‘Dhaani’,. 'Dhaani', in particuar, released in 2003 has some great music. Once relations thawed between India and Pakistan, it was but a matter of time that someone from the Indian film industry would pick these two to make some film songs, and Sanjay Dutt obliged with ‘Zinda’. But I think their most significant recognition so far has been the selection of 'Na Jaane Kyon' of ‘Dhaani’ as the title track for the Hindi version of ‘Spiderman’. They are going from strength to strength and I have enjoyed listening to their music, which has evolved to keep pace with the changing tastes in melody.
This whole ‘Paki music in Indian films’ trend was started way back in the 80’s when the dynamic but ill-fated siblings, Nazia and Zoheb Hassan lent their voices to ‘Star’, the only Kumar Gaurav film that did anything of note at the box office. ‘Boom’, ‘Star’, ‘ooie ooie’, 'Disco Deewane' were all super-hits and for a while it seemed that these two would take the Indian music scene by storm. A decidedly young Nazia lent her voice to 'Aap Jaisa Koi' in Feroz Khan's 'Qurbani'. Sadly, she passed away in 2000 of lung cancer.
Pakistan has a very rich Sufi musical tradition. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is one of the towering names in this genre. He single-handedly brought Sufi Quwalli music into the modern era by including modern beats and rhythms whilst keeping the main traditional aspects of Sufi music intact. He became one of biggest names in sub-continental music and his passing away in 1997 was mourned on both sides of the border. Currently, his nephew Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan has taken over the mantle from his illustrious uncle and so far has done a pretty good job. His ‘man ki lagaan’ is one of the best songs to come out of the Fateh Ali Khan stables, and there are many competing for this honor...dam mast qulandar, afreen afreen, mera piya ghar aaya are just three of a very long list. While I haven’t heard much of her music, I have heard that Abida Parveen has one of the best ‘Sufi’ voices and is right up there with Nustrat/Rahat.
One of the good things about Sufi music is that it lends itself very easily to experimentation. This has given rise to a strong Sufi-Rock musical tradition in Pakistan. Ahmed Jehanzeb, Atif Aslam (formerly part of Jal), Aaroh, Fuzon and Junoon are big names in this musical style. Junoon in particular in some of their songs includes big dollops of the harmonium and other ‘Sufi’ (for want of a better word) sounds. Their ‘Sayonee’ is one of the best sufi-rock songs I have heard for a while. Of late, Junoon seems to be transitioning towards hardcore rock and they are quite good at that too, but some of their songs still have hints of traditional music, and that’s when their songs go from good to great. Atif Aslam is another singer that I really admire. Blessed with a hypnotic nasal voice, his songs like ‘bheegi yaadein’, ‘jal pari’, ‘aadat’, ‘ehsaas’, ‘yakeen’, ‘dil haray’ and ‘mahi ve’ were part of my regular listening repertoire long before the Indian film industry discovered him and made a real hash of some of his best music. I particularly dislike the fact that his songs have been picturized on one Emraan Hashmi, an actor (that’s a joke) whom I can’t stand. Anyhow, can’t blame Atif for that though Mahesh Bhatt would do well to avoid me for the next few years (not that we socialize in the same circles). Coming back to Atif, he very nearly did not take up music. His overriding passion as a younger man was cricket and he was set to pursue it as a career. But as so often happens in this world, a lucky chance saw him get into music with his band, ‘Jal’ and the rest, as they say, is history. ‘Fuzon' is another fascinating band. I particularly like their ‘tere bina’, ‘aankhon ke sagar’ and ‘mora saiya mose bole na’. They are very much in the genuine sufi-rock mould and are better off for it, I think. Aaroh is another great band. Their ‘jeeyay’, a passionate ode dedicated to Pakistan, is stirring. Another great song they have is ‘sawaal’. If they have to be bracketed, they would go under sufi-rock as well.
Then there are the hardcore rockers. ‘EP’, ‘Mizraab’ and ‘Call’ fall under this category. Though not universally popular, I have liked a couple of their songs (‘Hamesha’ by ‘EP’ and ‘Pukaar’ by ‘Call’ and worth listening to). Indus Creed is a fairly old rock brand that I have heard quite a bit about, but I haven’t heard any of their songs as yet (I think, in terms of timelines, their career runs almost parallel to ‘Rock Machine’, the Indian group).
We finally come to a final group of bands that I will classify as ‘desi’ popular music bands (again, for want of a better word). ‘Junaid Jamshed’ (of Vital Signs), ‘Fakhir’, ‘Ali Zafar’, ‘Hassan Jahangir’ and ‘Ali Haider’ come under this heading. Ali Haider (Purani Jeans), Ali Zafar (Rangeen, Chal Dil merey, Huqa Pani) and Hassan Jahangir (Hawa Hawa) all have had limited success in India. Obviously, they are much more popular in Pakistan. Fakhir, with his simple but foot tapping ‘Mahi Ve’ came into radar view last year but has dropped off the map since. The only song I have heard of Junaid Jamshed and Vital Signs is ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ a jingoistic number that is quite hummable but will never be much popular outside Pakistan, for obvious reasons. Junaid was quite a heartthrob through the 90’s but has now gone the ‘Saeed Anwar’ way. He has quit singing and has gotten into Islam in a big way. He’s grown a beard and goes around preaching Islam to whoever cares to listen.
Boy, this post has turned out to be longer than I had expected and we haven’t even touched on the ‘quawaal’ traditions. Surely, it would be a travesty of sub-continental music if one did not write about Ghulam Ali and the other ‘quawalls’ of Pakistan. But I think that is a topic for another post.

Addendum: Just a quick note to acknowledge and thank Muhaffiz and Vikrant for setting me straight on a couple of bloopers I made in the post. Indus Creed is indeed an Indian band and NOT a Pakistani band. In fact, Indus Creed is Rock Machine re-christined.
And Ghulam Ali is not a 'quawall'. As everyone knows and I knew too, he is one of the greatest Ghazal singers, but in a blank moment, I put down quawall'.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes

Who shall guard the guardians --- Swaroop recently had an interesting experience with Bangalore traffic police. Many of us have had similar experiences but instead of silently fuming and cursing the system, he chose to accost the officer and take him to task. Please visit his blog and comment.
Hat tip: Gaurav