Opinion Syeda Hameed writes | Row over Allama Iqbal song in Bareilly school: I hold this book, this poet, as my lodestar. Will you declare me anti-national?

Frankly, given this toxic mahaul (environment) in which we live, I don’t care.

The words speak for themselves. The title of the poem in question is “Bachche ki dua” (Child’s Prayer). And what does she pray for? She prays that her life should be like a luminous lamp. Then she prays that she should be given the task to help the poor and the needy, that she may soothe the pain of the aged, the sick. She prays that the world’s gloom be lifted by her endeavour. In every direction she spreads light. The prayer then asks that she become the grace of her country, just as the flower is the grace of the garden. She asks that her life be like the moth’s: Just as it circles around the candle, so should she circle around the lamp of knowledge. She prays to Allah to keep her away from all evil and that she be guided onto the path of goodness.

My translation cannot do justice to the elegant simplicity of the poem. Its recitation by children has led to punitive action against the principal and shiksha mitra. I challenge anyone in this country of almost 1.4 billion to place a hand on her/his heart and agree with the punitive action against the principal Nahid Siddiqui and shiksha mitra Wazeeruddin.

In my school where I spent the happiest days of my life, I was one of the very few Muslim children. Our morning prayer songs were “Mere prabhuvar meri tujh se yeh prarthana hai” and “Lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna meri” and “Abide with me fast falls the eventide” and “Nanak ne jis watan mein wahdat ke geet gaye/ mera watan wohi hai mera watan wohi hai”. These prayer songs were selected and taught by our beloved Hindi teacher and poet, Ved Vyas. We sang them in school and, at home, my brother and I sang them before our elders who smilingly encouraged us to keep singing.

This was my land, my eclectic culture, my Ganga Jamni tehzeeb.

This weekend, my friend and I attended a scintillating dance performance at Triveni Kala Sangam in Delhi by a beautiful Kashmiri artist, Tamanna Tiku. It was called “Maadhyam” and presented by the Guftugu Foundation in collaboration with the Alaknanda Dance Foundation. The medley of Kathak, Bharatanatyam, and Odissi, was beautifully introduced by the artist, Shammi Narang. The finale was Hazrat Amir Khusro’s sufiana salaam “Aaj rang hai ri maa rang hai ri”. Twenty dancers on the stage and two hundred in the hall became one with Nizamuddin Aulia’s aura. It was India at its pinnacle; Hindi, Hindvi, Farsi — all flowed with the music of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The presenter’s words became magical in dissolving differences of caste, class, religion.

This was the best Christmas Eve message. May there be many teachers in our schools like Naheed and Wazeeruddin to tell our innocent school children the real meaning of India.

The writer is former Member, Planning Commission