I admire Javed Akhtar‘s perspective, poem, and humour so much that I created this page to jot down his thoughts on what has impacted me so I can look at and understand life differently.
This page will be regularly updated with his views and poems, which I learned from his interviews, books, and articles.
On Religion, Pakistan and India as a Hindu Nation
Forming Pakistan was illogical and a blunder because religion cannot make a nation. Religion is not enough glue to hold the nation. Otherwise, the entire Middle East and Europe would be one country.
There are two attitudes in life—inclusions and exclusions. When you form a nation with one religion, you start exclusion. It becomes like an onion: you keep peeling the layers to find the onion and find nothing.
Everybody was Muslim when Pakistan was formed after the partition. However, they don’t consider Ahmadiyya or Shia as Muslims anymore. India is making the same mistake that Pakistan did 70 years ago when the BJP project to make India a Hindu Rashtra.
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Three Kinds of People Who Are Communal
- A kid whose father told him that all Muslims are bad or all Hindus are bad. That kid will grow up as a communist because he believes his father’s ideology; a child will never think his father is wrong. So, the idea is incepted deep in his mind.
- People who are frustrated with their lives are humiliated, unsuccessful, and have low self-esteem. They have so much venom but cannot find a secure place to express it. So, they join the communal gang, where they become faceless and spit out the poison for the wrong reason. The disturbing fact is they feel powerful and liberated about it.
- They are neither influenced by their father nor unsuccessful. They are cold-blooded opportunities. They become communal for the personal benefit and pleasure.
The above three kinds are not compartmental. No person will have just one or two of them. A communal person may have a proportion of all three.
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On A R Rahman
Life is like a time on a moving belt. It keeps moving in front of you. Most people come and go in front of the time belt. However, some people come on the time belt and will stay, and time moves. Rehman is one of them.
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On Feminism
Feminism should not be a debate topic. It’s the only thing we should take for granted. The simple definition of feminism is a gentle reminder that a woman is also a human being.
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On His Parents
I lost my mother to death. I lost my father to life.
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On Sense of Humour
- Sense of humour is not for a good time. It’s for a bad time.
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On Writing
- You can only connect with two types of characters as a writer. One you love and the other you hate.
- It’s easy to write in difficult language, but It’s difficult to write in simple language.
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One Liner
You exaggerate things when you try to project something that you are not.
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