The Sea Lies Ahead

by Intizar Husain

  1 Altaf Husain Hali (1837–1914), inspired largely by the reformist ideals of his mentor, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, wrote an epic poem called Musaddas: Madd-o-Jazr-e Islam (The Ebb and Flow of Islam). See Shackle and Majeed (Eds), Hali’s Musaddas: the Ebb and Flow of Islam, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1997. Making explicit the hortatory character of his poem, Hali wrote in the introduction to his Musaddas: ‘This poem has not … been composed in order to be enjoyed or with the aim of eliciting applause, but in order to make my friends and fellows feel a sense of outrage and shame.’

  2 Sadar is the central business district in Karachi.

  3 A cultural practice among some Muslims in South Asia where coins are wrapped in a piece of cloth and tied around the arm for safety and good luck during travel. Upon the successful completion of the journey, sweets would be bought and distributed as thanksgiving. There could also be embellished arm-bands with holy verses embroidered in zari on velvet. Both versions are called Imam Zamin. However, the Imam Zamin is usually tied before a long and perilous journey and not an outing in the city.

  4 A verse from the Surah al-Imran of the Quran, it is often quoted by the faithful; it means Allah honours those He is pleased with and disgraces those He is not happy with.

  5 The original has the word ‘abdali’ referring to the concept of ‘abdaal’ or ‘the substitutes or lieutenants’ or certain righteous persons of whom the world is never destitute, and by whom God rules the earth. The substitutes and successors of the prophets shall always remain. Intizar Husain uses the iconic image of the hans-hansni, the swan and his mate, which have been popular in folklore as well as the qissa-kahani tradition, to reinforce the idea of an eternal presence of goodness and happiness, which may be threatened by ‘storms’ and may be separated but is destined to be reunited.

  6 Baldev, also known as Balram, was the elder brother of Krishan and is regarded as an incarnation of Shesha, or the King of Serpents.

  Adaab

  a more secular greeting or salutation in comparison to Assalam alekum which means May God’s blessings be upon you; its full form is ‘Adaab arz hai’

  Aji/Ai/Arre/Ai wah

  exclamations to denote a range of feelings such as surprise, remorse or incredulity. Often, sentences begin with such an exclamation, eg. ‘Ai Majju Bhai’; they are particularly favoured by older women.

  Alam

  pennant or standard, a replica of the one carried by Husain (the younger son of Ali and the grandson of Prophet Muhammad) and his army in the Battle of Karbala; it is carried at the head of the Muharram procession

  Ama

  also an exclamation, but used exclusively among men; a bit like ‘mate’

  Aqiqa

  the Islamic practice of sacrificing an animal at the time of the ritual shaving of hair from a baby’s head shortly after birth; it is also the occasion to name a child

  Arbi

  colocasia; its root is cooked as a vegetable and its leaves are fried in a batter of ground gram flour and eaten as a snack during the rainy season. However, the leaves are considered hard to digest and are not advised for those with a weak stomach.

  Asr

  the third of the five daily prayers, it is offered in the early evening

  Atthanni

  short for eight annas or fifty paise, a coin of eight annas was called athhani

  Aza

  mourning; so azadari is the ritualistic remembrance and mourning in memory of the incidents of Karbala during Muharram; azakhana is a hall or room where alams are stored and where the majlis is held during Muharram

  Azaan

  the Muslim call to prayer given five times a day

  Beerbahuti

  a tiny insect that comes out during the rains, it is also called rain bug or red velvet mite

  Bhabhi

  a term for sister-in-law, brother’s wife, or brother-in-law’s wife; Badi Bhabhi means elder sister-in-law

  Bhai/Bhaiyya

  a form of address for brother; also used for one who is not really a brother but like a brother or where the relationship is such that one does not want to use ‘sahab’

  Bhadon

  the month of rains

  Bhatiyare

  those who run an oven or a roadside inn; belong to a low caste

  Bibi

  a form of address for a young(er) woman, especially an unmarried one

  Boriyat

  a coinage used as a slang by Urdu speakers to mean boredom, tedium, ennui and weariness

  Bua

  form of address for an older woman; could be a family retainer or distant relative; roughly equivalent to ‘aunt’. Though not to be mistaken for the Hindi ‘Bua’ meaning paternal aunt

  Burqa

  an all-encompassing outer covering, usually black, worn by women over their everyday clothes when going out in public

  Chacha/Chachi

  term for father’s younger brother and his wife

  Chaliswan

  also called chehlum, it is the ceremony on the fortieth day after someone’s death; it marks the end of mourning

  Chaprasi

  the peon or office boy; a colonial relic that continues to be found in most offices today

  Chavvanni

  a four anna or twenty-five paisa coin

  Chillum

  a clay pipe used to smoke tobacco

  Dada/Dada Miyan

  form of address for father’s father

  Dastaan

  story, fable, tale

  Dharamshala

  a lodge for Hindu travellers

  Doli

  a small covered palanquin for a single lady passenger, usually no more than a box hoisted on long poles that would be carried on the shoulders of two or more men

  Dulhan

  literally meaning bride, but often daughters-in-law would be addressed as Dulhan for years, even decades, after their wedding; as a result, they often acquired monikers such as Dulhan Chachi or Dulhan Khala by nephews and nieces.

  Ekka

  a horse-drawn carriage similar to a tanga

  Gazak

  a brittle made of gur and sesame or peanuts; like other gur-based sweets these are considered unsophisticated and rough when compared to milk-based preparations. While gazak is usually cut in long flat slabs, rewri comes in bite-sized pellets that can be popped several at a time

  Ghasiyare

  those who cut grass; a caste

  Gopi

  the maidens of Mathura who flocked around Lord Krishan

  Gujia

  a sweet comprising a pastry casing stuffed with dried fruit and condensed milk that is fried, dipped in syrup and dusted with powdered sugar and grated coconut

  Gur

  jaggery, a natural product of sugarcane and an unrefined version of sugar

  Hadith

  narration of sayings or actions of the Prophet Muhammad; many such narrations have been compiled

  Haveli

  a large house or mansion built in the old style; different, for instance, from the bungalow which was a colonial construct

  Huqqa

  a pipe for smoking tobacco through water

  Imam Bara

  a place where the taaziya is kept and where Shia Muslims congregate for majlis during the month of Muharram

  Insha Allah

  meaning ‘If Allah so wills’

  Jihad

  literal meaning in Arabic is ‘to strive’ or ‘to endeavour’; it is used to mean any ‘just’ war for a ‘just’ cause in the name of Allah

  Jinn/jinnat

  also a creation of Allah, a spirit-like creature; jinnat is plural for jinn

  Jogi

  mendicant, travelling ascetic

  Kabab-paratha/parathe

  a combination of minced meat roasted on skewers, eaten with a form of unleavened bread that is fried on a skillet

  Kalma

  the Muslim profession of faith La illaha illala Muhammad-ur Rasool Allah, meaning ‘There is no God save Allah and Mu
hammad is His Prophet’

  Khamira

  a form of medicine in the Unani system; it has a fermented base and is in a conserve or syrupy form

  Khala

  term for aunt, mother’s sister: Khalu is Khala’s husband

  Khand

  the powdery stage of the process in which sugar is made from jaggery

  Khandoi

  steamed dumplings made from besan (chick-pea flour) and put in a salan or curry

  Khatna

  the practice of male circumcision

  Kheer

  a sweet dish made from milk, pound rice and sugar

  Kos

  a measure of distance, equal to approximately two English miles

  Kotha

  a prostitute or courtesan’s place; it can be an elegantly appointed salon with musicians, etc. or dingy quarters in a red light district

  Kothi

  large, well-appointed mansion

  Kutcha

  crude or unformed, for roads it refers to dirt tracks without paving or tarmac; the opposite of kutcha for roads or houses would be pucca

  Laddu

  an immensely popular round ball of a sweet, it comes in a variety of ingredients: condensed milk, pound lentils (besan), nuts, jaggery, besan among others

  Lakshman rekha

  refers to the line Lakshman drew for Sita when Ram, Sita and Lakshman were living in the forest; it is used to mean a line beyond which one is not safe

  Maash

  a sort of lentil with small black grain

  Malai

  the thick layer of cream that forms on milk that has been boiled; its correct pronunciation is balai, meaning ‘topmost’

  Malfuzat

  dialogue, discourses and sayings of sufis, compiled by the disciples

  Marsiya

  elegiac poem describing the events and main characters associated with the Battle of Karbala

  Mashak

  skin of goats fashioned into a sack to carry water

  Mem

  used initially for anglicized non-native women, including native Christian women; now used for any westernized woman and not only an Englishwoman

  Misri

  crystallized sugar lumps

  Miyan

  tagged on to a name, as in Jawad Miyan, as a form of address for a younger man

  Mondha

  a somewhat rustic chair or stool fashioned out of reeds and twine

  Muhajir

  an Arabic word for immigrant; the Islamic calendar Hijra starts when Muhammad and his companions left Mecca for Medina. They were called muhajirun. The Arabic root word for immigration and emigration is hijrat. In Pakistan, the immigrants from India were called muhajir.

  Muharram

  the first month of the Islamic lunar calendar; the tenth day of Muharram is the day of Ashura when the decisive events of the Battle of Karbala, 10 October 680 AD, reached their tragic culmination. The battle was between a small group of supporters and relatives of Muhammad’s grandson Husain ibn Ali, and a much larger military detachment from the forces of Yazid I, the Umayyad caliph, to whom Husain had refused to give an oath of allegiance. Husain and all his supporters were killed, including Husain’s six-month-old infant son, Ali Asghar with the women and children taken as prisoners. The dead are regarded as martyrs by both Sunni and Shia Muslims, and the battle has a central place in Shia history and tradition, and has frequently been recounted in Shia Islamic literature.

  Muezzin

  person appointed in a mosque to recite the call to prayer, the azaan, to announce the time for prayer

  Mushaira

  a literary soiree where poets assemble to recite their poetry to an invited audience

  Musla

  pejorative word for a Muslim

  Naan

  a form of leavened bread that is made in an oven instead of a skillet

  Nikah

  marriage ceremony

  Paandan

  a container to keep all the ingredients of assembling a paan, such as catechu and lime paste, betel nuts, etc.

  Pakwan

  spicy crisp-fried savouries; usually eaten as a tea-time snack, especially during the rains

  Peda

  a disc-shaped sweet made from sweetened milk that has been cooked on slow fire and flavoured with cardamom

  Peepal

  a species of the fig tree native to the Indian subcontinent

  Pehelwan

  one who practises Indian free-style wrestling

  Phulka

  a smaller, lighter version of the roti

  Phulki

  a fried dumpling made of ground chick-peas, a smaller version of the pakoda

  Phuphi/Phuphi Amma

  a form of address for father’s sister

  Purdah

  literally meaning curtain or screen, refers to the form of gender segregation as well as the practice of wearing a burqa or chadar or some outer garment that covers a woman

  Qasba

  an administrative unit in the Awadh region, smaller than a town

  Qibla

  since a qibla is an object of veneration or reverence, this is a form of address for a king, a father or a senior or older man

  Qul

  literally meaning total or whole, the four qul or four verses of the Quran constitute four important prayers

  Rabrhi

  a street food made from sweetened milk

  Rakaat

  consists of the prescribed movements and words followed by Muslims while offering namaz; the five namaz have different number of rakaat or ‘unit’ of prayer

  Rishi

  Hindu sage or saint; and a sadhu is an ascetic or holy man who need not be versed in the Vedas as a rishi would be

  Saiyad

  those claiming descent from the Prophet

  Sawan

  fifth month of the Hindu lunar calendar, it coincides with July-August of the Gregorian calendar; it is traditionally the month of the rains, as is Bhadon, the next month

  Sawani

  songs sung during the rains

  Shurfa

  plural of sharif, the respectable well-born folk

  Subhan Allah

  literally meaning ‘All praise is for Allah’ or ‘Glorious is God’ but is used also to express admiration or assent, as in ‘Bravo’

  Surah Yaseen

  one of the most recited verses, called the ‘heart of the Quran, it is the 36th chapter of the Quran comprising 83 verses

  Tamboli

  those who sell paan; a caste

  Takht

  a rectangular, low settee or diwan, usually covered by a white cloth and edged with sausage-shaped bolster cushions called gau takhiya

  Tehmad

  a rectangular piece of cloth, much shorter than a sari, which is tied around the waist and worn by men; unlike the sari which is wrapped around a petticoat, the tehmad is wrapped loosely once and secured with a knot and remains open from the side

  Tehsildar

  an administrative officer in charge of an administrative unit called a tehsil whose job was primarily to collect tax

  Teli

  those who press oil; a caste

  Tesu

  In an Indian version of Halloween, on a day between the festivals of Dusshera and Diwali, children buy dolls; the ‘boy’ doll is called Tesu and the ‘girl’ doll is called Jhanji. Children would often collect money to arrange for a wedding between Tesu and Jhanji. While Tesu looks like a human face on a stick with large eyes and a prominent moustache, Jhanji is a decorated clay pot with perforations; when a lit diya (lamp) is placed inside the Jhanji, which can also twirl like a top, the light coming out of it makes a beautiful dancing pattern

  Til bugga

  a cruder and less refined version of gazak, it is a mixture of sesame seeds (til) and gur

  Tanga

  horse-drawn carriage used as public transport

  Ustad

  a colloquial form of address, a bit like ‘Boss’; litera
lly, it means master or teacher

  Wazifa

  prayers

  Yaar

  rough colloquial equivalent of ‘mate’ or ‘friend’

  Zuhr

  the second of the five daily prayers; this begins only after noon