TV THOUGHTS: Recalling 31st May 1935 Quetta earthquake; Delhi Bomb Blasts coverage via western news channels

We have all heard of the Quetta earthquake that hit the city on Friday, 31st May in 1935. That was sixty years ago. I have in hand a book titled "Thirty Seconds at Quetta. The story of an earthquake" by Robert Jackson. Keeping in mind the earthquake that hit Azad Kashmir, NWFP and Islamabad last month I am compelled to reproduce some extracts from it.
The Foreword begins like this "Twenty five years have passed, since, without warning, at three minutes past three on the, morning of the last day in May 1935, the ground the under the Indian city of Quetta heaved and pulverized itself to a rubble.
The earthquake, said the Viceroy, Lord Willingdon, caused a loss of life and property probably without parallel in the history of India. In the space of thirty second, 30,000 people died." "Visiting the remains of the city almost before the dust had settled, Alex Inglis, the correspondent of The Times, found he could not trace where the streets had been. "there is nothing to pick out", he wrote. "No mosque rises from the ruins to show where men had foregathered.
The market place where men met to barter cannot be distinguished today. There is nothing but a widespread mass of grey and tawny debris, tapering, off into the dun landscape beyond which in turn is a rim of forlorn and sad hills where no trees grow" "Heavy though the casualties were, they would have been still more severe but for one fact.
Quetta, the largest garrison town in India, contained 12000 soldiers and, except in a few cases, the shock did not to any considerable extent penetrate to the cantonment in which they lived. Led by their dynamic commander, Major General Henry Karslake, they performed miracles of rescue work".
The foreword further acknowledges Thus: I have consulted many records, private diaries, memoranda, journals, and letters. . . "I would now like to quote a small extract from the Prologue of this very absorbing, readable book. It says "Cities, unlike men, have not often died violent deaths except in war. Some have decayed and have been supplanted.
Sometimes they have shrunk slowly until, reduced to shadows, they have had to be content, to live on memories of a golden past. Few have suddenly and violently ceased to exist overnight. "Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan in the north west corner of India, with a summer population of perhaps sixty or seventy thousand, died a violent convulsive death early on the morning of Friday, May 31, 1935.
It had relapsed into sleep an hour or two before as peacefully as any uneasy Indian city can, leaving the chowkidars (watchmen) to keep their intermittent vigil under the stars and yellow street lights "The book's prologue says that "Three minutes after three O'clock, before the sleepers had had time to turn over in their beds, the ground on which the city was built began to shake and roar like a wounded beast.
Thirty seconds later, Quetta was a jagged lifeless ruin, its inhabitants either dead or buried under the rubble, its air polluted with choking cement and brick dust, its roads blocked by the landslides of collapsed buildings, its hopes blighted and with a single despairing wail, the city died."
One certainly wonders whether there will be, one day, a similar written account will be put together of the earthquake disaster that has hit us last month. And in this day and age of camera, film and video, there is this added dimension, and facility that is available.
Channel surfing enabled me to watch a repeat telecast on the Sony channel of Jaggit Singh's all time favourites, which perhaps was about five years old. It was not just an opportunity to hear his popular ghazals but also a chance to hear him talk about them. It was the presentation of the music that made a qualitative difference.
The programme was called Revival, Dil Ki Awaz, Timeless Hits. He spoke about his favourite ghazals, and of the context in which he had rendered them. He recalled of how he had met his wife Chitra, who used to sing with him, but does not do that any more. She may do so once again, he remarked. Jagjit Singh recalled that when he met Chitra, at a recording, it was he who took greater interest in her, and liked her.
She didn't like me, he said. But then after some time she agreed to marry him. Keeping in mind the pop and funky music that most channels are obsessed with, and taking into account the preference of the majority of viewers for that kind of music, it was rather surprising and welcome to see this generous allocation of time to Jagjit Singh.
Which reminds me that this was the evening when the local news channels, as well as the BBC and CNN were breaking news of the bomb blasts that had rocked New Delhi. As I was watching an Indian channel on music, thoughts obviously went out to the fact that the Pakistani viewer is still not able top watch Indian news channels. I wonder whether the Indian society is able to watch PTV news and current affairs.
Keeping in mind that the apparent improvement in the ties between the two countries and the fact there is more people movement between the neighbours, one wonders when would it be possible to see Indian news channels here. Which raises the next question: whether more information about each other, through each other's ness and current affairs would contribute positively towards the gradual and phased improvement in the ties.
It is necessary to mention here that after the bomb blasts in New Delhi one of the interpretations as to possible causes, that the Western channels focused on was the possibility of any Pakistani involvement, which was also echoed by some of the local channels.
Even as I write on Tuesday, Pakistan has denied any involvement, and in fact volunteered to help in the investigation, and condemned the terrorist attacks. But let us return to the subject of Jagjit and his ghazals that night. It was a welcome change for me as well to hear some of that poetry all over again. One of the hits from the early eighties was "Baat Nikle Gi Tau Bohat Door Talak Jaegi". It was one experience to have heard that 25 years ago, and it was altogether another thing to hear that in 2005.
The poetry remains the same, but it is the range and depth of one's experience that has changed. Some of the couplets that I jotted down quickly (an old habit that refuses to die) are reproduced here:
"Har Taraf Har Jagah Beshumaar Aadmi
Phir Bhi Tanhaiyon Ka Shikar Aadmi"
Or take another one couplet which evoked tremendous applause from an appreciative audience:
"Aakhri Hichki Terey Zanon Pay Aaeye"
And yet another couplet from another ghazal in that programme was:
"Who Merey Samney Hi Gaya Aur Mein
Rastey Ki Tarah Dekhta Hi Reh Gaya"
I was able to see a good bit of the Hum TV interview of Aftab Gul, a senior advocate, on Sunday. He spoke very candidly and made one reflect about some of the basic and elementary issues that Pakistani society is faced with, almost ever since Independence.
The interviewer was a needlessly enthusiastic and over talkative Naeem Bokhari who somehow out of place when he does serious interviews As most of us do not recognize Aftab Gul right away it was difficult to guess who being interviewed. This is a problem with other local channels also, and viewers wonder why such an essential bit of information is overlooked by producers.
The name of the person being interviewed can be shown on the screen with an intermittent regularity, which would enhance the interest in the interview. Aftab Gul talked about a range of themes, and one of them was about "people who migrate in terms of Time and others who migrate in space". He emphasized that people adjusted to repression, and they always want to break the iron chains they are forced to wear.
To other questions he said that there was a need for the army to return to its traditional role in Pakistani society, and that there was a need to let civil society develop in the country. He took a very dim view of the extent to which Pakistan was dependent on international agencies and western donor organizations, and said that these organizations would certainly try and exercise their influence on a broader and deeper scale.
It makes one think about the questions that people have had about NATO's role and presence in Pakistan in the context of the earthquake relief operations that have been initiated.
One writes this column three or four days before Eid-ul-Fitr, and in a world of such rapid and abrupt changes it is futile to try and imagine the kind of mood that will be available to the TV viewer when these lines are read. What kind of Eid-ul-Fitr will it be this time, in view of the havoc that the earthquake disaster has brought.
What is the kind of programming that has been done by the TV channels keeping this in mind? It will be interesting to see the tone and the content of local channels. Will hopefully talk about the Ramazan programmes next time.
The point to mention here is that even though mosques in the country have been colourfully decorated with illuminations, the TV channels like QTV in particular have played a major role in bringing into the home not just a Ramazan mood, but also the live telecast of prayers and discussions which do mirror some of the changes that appear to be taking place in Pakistani society.