Writer with a mission

Since 1947 till today, he has been on the wrong side of the government every time and has gone to prison five times. And he is quite explicit in stating that ``we have not been able to use freedom for changing the fate of our people, neither in India nor in Pakistan''.

Yet Lahore-based Mr.Raza Kazim is quite optimistic about the future of the sub-continent. ``In our times, political workers and the intelligentsia have been pre-occupied with two things -- disillusionment with Marxism and a commitment to a new variety of existentialism -- living for short-term agendas.''

A Marxist in his student days -- I led the strike in my college during the Quit India movement, he recalls -- Mr.Raza Kasim, an advocate by profession, has come to the conclusion that ``Marxism as a theory and philosophy has become outdated''. So, what do we have instead? ``I use the term composite rationality to describe the foundations of the 21st Century,'' he says.

To give shape to his philosophical ideas and to encourage research in composite rationality as opposed to rationalisation, Mr.Raza started the Sanjan Nagar Institute of Philosophy and Arts some years ago. ``The aim is to restore vision to its proper place, to remind people of their kartavya and encourage the intelligentsia to study micro-issues in the context of the macro entity,'' he points out.

Mr.Raza has written a large number of pamphlets and articles over the past four decades, sparing no effort to criticise the short-term pursuits of our leaders and intelligentia. And a prolific writer, Mr Raza is now putting his philosophical thoughts to paper. ``I look at the inter-connection between various phenomena and the diverse body of knowledge -- a study of the evolving man and where he is going.''

Pointing out that for five decades, people of the sub-continent have been in a ditch of history, Raza says ``the problem is no one took responsibility for the human condition''. A new revolution, he argues, is still to come. ``This revolution has to be discovered by us. But some people have to make a life-long commitment to it.''

Through his foundation, Mr.Raza has been trying to bring about a revolutionary change in a field which he feels has been the primary mode of emotional expression and communication in the sub-continent -- music. After studying the great musical traditions of the sub-continent, he came to the conclusion that the subjective effect of musical sounds were of great significance in our tradition.

``I felt the need for making a new musical instrument which could be a serious vehicle for communication and continuity. So, I made the Sagar Veena. My eldest daughter, Noor Zehra, plays it,'' Mr.Raza says. ``It is a radically new instrument in which the resonating chamber and the vibrating structure are totally separate.''

During the making of ``Sagar Veena'', Mr.Raza learnt a lot which he applied to introduce some changes in the design of the sitar. Another application he developed was the re-designing of Sur- Bahar, a vestigial musical instrument from the sub-continent. ``I even have my own studio in Lahore with indigenously developed loud-speakers and amplifiers. We have had such noted luminaries like Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Jasraj and Madhavi Mudgal visiting us,'' he says: ``We are striving towards a renaissance in music and dance.''

Mr.Raza has also been running a school for girl children in Kotlakhpat, an industrial suburb of Lahore, for the past seven years. ``We provide quality education to children belonging to the working class. The aim is to empower them through education,'' says the 78-year old philosopher-cum-musicologist.

By K. Kannan

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