Daily Times

Nicholas Carr observed in the Daily Telegraph in 2010 that since the last two decades, a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the Internet, with its constant distractions and interruptions, is turning us into scattered and superficial thinkers. People who read text studded with links, the studies show, comprehend less than those who read words printed on pages, like in books. People who watch busy multimedia presentations tend to remember less than those who take in information in a more sedated and focused manner. Somehow or the other, the use of teaching through multimedia presentations in the teaching institutions is gaining ground. People who are continually distracted by emails, updates and other messages understand less than those who are able to concentrate.

Also people who manipulate many tasks are often less creative and less productive than those who do one thing at a time.

Sensing this menace, Afzal Abbas living in Oslo, Norway has written poetry for the younger generation in the book Bandhan comprising of nazms and ghazals published by Shahid Shaidai of Kaghazi Paerehen Publishers. Afzal claims that his poetry is the reflection of the younger generation’s pains, sorrows, feelings and emotions. He questions as to whether any deliberate or emotional relation exists with his readers as this generation of modern Heer Ranjhas is only familiar with the Internet! The reading habit is gradually dying.

A typical attraction for the youngsters is the poem “Campus Zaadian” (the denizen of campus).Whenever the author passed by the campus, he missed the radiant girls at an institution where he once studied. He concludes, “Jab bhi hua guzar kabhi campus ki paas se, har baar le ke aya hu aahon k gatherian’ (Whenever I passed by the campus, I sobbed by remembering the good old days).

Despite having left his culture for the snow-clad country since long, Afzal seems to remember and miss his past. He misses the rituals of a girl leaving for her husband in a doli. A doli is a cot suspended by four corners from a bamboo pole. It is usually carried by four male relatives of the bride. Traditionally, a doli was decorated and covered by lavish cloth to hide the women inside from the view of outsiders. Today, doli refers to the actual ceremony of a bride departing the home of her parents and a decorated car is usually provided for this purpose. Afzal’s poem with the same name details rituals like girls singing vidhai (wedding) songs. These rituals have been superseded by cars and airplanes. Pairs are connected through the Internet rather than by parents. Engagements are held on the phone. Afzal concludes, “Ye naye samae ka culture hai, jo rasm-o-riwaj thi bhool hue, sab rishte naate dhool hue” (This is the culture of new times. All the rituals of wedding ceremonies have been laid aside. All relations have disappeared in the dust).

Afzal has seen the worlds, the traditional one and the modern one; his poems revolve around the menace of modernism. If on one hand he points out young boys going away with destroying innocent girls’ lives, he laments the misuse of emails and telephones in poems of the same titles respectively. In the poem “Intibah” (warning) he warns his beloved not to call him again. Despite hailing from Gujarat and now living in Oslo since long, he is fully aware of which direction his parent country is heading culturally. He is not aware that one outlet opened in a posh locality of Lahore has raised the cost of adjoining land to double overnight.

Afzal’s poetry is written in easy vocabulary. It is expressive of impact of modern life on the traditional one.