Came across this sometime back. It is somewhat kitschy but I'll have to agree, it does have a bit of soul in it. It also made me think, somewhat tangentially : What if the Partition of 1947 never happened ?
My interests in politics can at best be termed apathetic so I wouldn't like to dwell on the serious aspects of the question. The million people who got killed in the aftermath, the mass exodus on both sides of the border and the never-ending tensions for the past 60 years have all been and will be endlessly discussed and documented for a long long time. But this question, often bugs me. From a idle day-dreamer's point of view, that is. Here's why :
For starters, we could' ve had the absolute best cricket and hockey teams that would've beaten the crap out of most teams for most of the last 60 years. Imagine the number of World Cups and Olympic gold medals we missed.
Number two, two words, Pakistani women. Meera is scary, but then, so is Archana Puran Singh. Anyone with a half decent brain would accept that most Pakistani women are absolutely stunning. Imagine what it would've been like to see more of them on stage and screen, posters and adverts, newspapers and magazines.
We could've had the finest intermingling of literature, music and dance. And it's not just about bootleg videos of Pakistani plays and mujras that you can pick up at your friendly neighbourhood shack. Those are a bit like Boney M. We've all heard them and loved them but we would never accept that in public. Imagine Ghulam Ali, Mehndi Hassan, Jal, Fuzon, Strings...the list goes on. We could've called them all our own. We almost do it even now. Most of all, Nusrat sahab would've been ours as well. His qawwalis and live recordings are so difficult to get hold of in India. Even on the net, you have to really really search well and even after that, you still don't get all that you want. And you probably don't even know what more you are missing out on. That man can sing. I say "can" because he still lives. And rules.
Partition. Dammit.
My interests in politics can at best be termed apathetic so I wouldn't like to dwell on the serious aspects of the question. The million people who got killed in the aftermath, the mass exodus on both sides of the border and the never-ending tensions for the past 60 years have all been and will be endlessly discussed and documented for a long long time. But this question, often bugs me. From a idle day-dreamer's point of view, that is. Here's why :
For starters, we could' ve had the absolute best cricket and hockey teams that would've beaten the crap out of most teams for most of the last 60 years. Imagine the number of World Cups and Olympic gold medals we missed.
Number two, two words, Pakistani women. Meera is scary, but then, so is Archana Puran Singh. Anyone with a half decent brain would accept that most Pakistani women are absolutely stunning. Imagine what it would've been like to see more of them on stage and screen, posters and adverts, newspapers and magazines.
We could've had the finest intermingling of literature, music and dance. And it's not just about bootleg videos of Pakistani plays and mujras that you can pick up at your friendly neighbourhood shack. Those are a bit like Boney M. We've all heard them and loved them but we would never accept that in public. Imagine Ghulam Ali, Mehndi Hassan, Jal, Fuzon, Strings...the list goes on. We could've called them all our own. We almost do it even now. Most of all, Nusrat sahab would've been ours as well. His qawwalis and live recordings are so difficult to get hold of in India. Even on the net, you have to really really search well and even after that, you still don't get all that you want. And you probably don't even know what more you are missing out on. That man can sing. I say "can" because he still lives. And rules.
Partition. Dammit.
