Roshan Malik and Adil Najam
Yeh Bacha Kis Ka Bacha hai (’whose child is this?’) is the title and the refrain line from a famous poem by Ibn-i-Insha. Most people know this Insha for things like ‘Insha ji utho, aab kooch karo’ or ‘kal chodhweiN ki raat thi’ or ‘yeh baataiN jhooti baataiN haiN’. In fact, most people would not think of ‘yeh bacha kis ka bacha hai’, with its characteristically Insha simplicity, the greatest work of the poet, columnist and humorist. It is, however, a moving piece that Insha ji had written upon seeing the photo of a starving Ethiopian child during the devastating famine of the seventies.
However, a new video rendition this poem just released by the advocacy group Actionaid Pakistan, and directed by Matteela, has not only done amazing justice to the poem but has uncovered layers upon layers of emotive meaning that may have been missed by too many readers.
Even if you read and see nothing else on this site, we urge you to view this short video rendition, and to think deep and hard about both the words and the images. Click on arrow at center, or view it directly here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVcbHoyC4gQ
There is some wonderful information about the song at Matteela’s website, including this:
Astafila is the name of the inimitable girl who opens the video and it is also her voice in the background… Younis a.k.a Kaka, is our angry balloon selling protagonist but the voice in the background is that of Waqas, a student at a madrasah in Lahore’s Samanabad area. Kaka’s casting was done much before any work had begun on the song or the video. He was spotted at the mini golf course in Lahore’s St. Mary’s Park where he works in the evenings… The plaintive taan of Malkauns in the background is that of Uruj Saami… The tinkly piano in the background is the handiwork of Riaz Hans who also plays the tabla. The beat which structures the song is from a Morcheeba song.
We hope you will remember the poem but this post is really about the subject of the poem and of this video. The subject of the state of children in Pakistan.
The disparity between haves and have nots is widening rapidly in urban areas of Pakistan. These vulnerable street children sometimes involve into the criminal activities and are destined to face the juvenile trial. In Pakistan, more than 4000 children under the age of 18 are facing juvenile trial in the courts.
The miseries of poor children in Pakistan are quite similar with other South Asian countries. UNICEF reports that more than 3.6 million children under the age of 14 are working under hazardous and exploitative conditions in Pakistan. It also says that child abuse cases reported in Pakistan during 2000-04 were more than 17000.
Pakistan is signatory of UN Convention on Rights of the Child (CRC) and other ILO Conventions and its national policies condemn child labor and forced labor, but the situation on ground is different. We have domestic child labor, child labor in informal settings like children working in workshops, washing cars in the streets, working on restaurants, begging, child trafficking and rural sector child labor etc.
Poor parents give child to clear hospital bill
http://dawn.com/2007/03/16/top17.htm
HYDERABAD, March 15: A poor couple has given away their new-born baby to a childless couple because they could not pay the hospital bill for the birth, the mother said on Thursday.
Mohammad Hanif and his wife Hakimzadi gave away their five-day-old son to the childless couple who paid Rs4,500 ($75) bill to the hospital.
“We already have six children while three others died because we could not care for them. At least this child will be taken care of,� Hakimzadi told Reuters at her home in Tando Adam.
“It is our child and we can do what we want with it,� she said.
DPO Zafar Iqbal said police were investigating but they had been told by the couple who took the child the baby had been adopted.
“The couple gave it to them for adoption as they don’t have any child after 20 years of marriage,� he said.
Hakimzadi said her husband was a labourer and a chronic tuberculosis patient who could not afford to feed their other children properly.�Reuters
[...] It would be unfair, however, if we totally ignored today what childhood really looks like for too many Pakistani children. I wanted, therefore, to repost the very heart-moving video and song based on Ibn-e-Insha’s wonderful poem, ‘yeh bacha kis ka bacha hai’, that was first sent to us by Roshan Malik. Let me urge people to read the entire post we had done on this video and the theme of child labor; also see Bilal Zuberi’s earlier post on the brick kiln workers. Enjoy. And even if you do not, please think and ponder on what this video tells us. WPvideo 1.02 [...]
The poem and its video is certainly moving. But the numbers you quote are even more despressing. And we only have to look around us everyday to know that they are correct.
This is very moving. I say it again and agin and this video really makes you think. I am glad you are highlighting these issues.
This video is very moving. I am in shock because we see these kids around us every day and get used to it. We can actually make a difference on this. Maybe we should collect ideas on whatis best ways to make a difference.
While watching the video and listening to Insha ji’s nazm, one could not but help feel that when one looks at the real hard issues- of child labour, environment, peasantry, the working people, women- that differences over religion and boundaries take a back seat, and almost become a caricature.
The ballon seller boy’s eys and resounding voice leaves a lasting impression and brings out the sub- text of the nazm that one has read many times but understood only now.