That’s Life!!!
Architect-Poet-Calligrapher H. Masud Taj contemplates space-time via a chapati travelogue and memoir that enfolds his poetry and calligraphy. …[Read More]…
by H Masud Taj
That’s Life!!!
On World Children’s Day (November 20th) Calligrapher-Poet H Masud Taj dedicates three calligraphic quotes to the children dying in Gaza…[Read More]…
Bookshelf
Rashid Khalidi’s seminal work on a century of war on Palestine by Zionists provides a much needed context to the armed resistance of the besieged and the Israeli’s establishment’s backlash. H. Masud Taj reviews with words and calligraphy. …[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
H. Masud Taj has encircled the globe, giving talks. He recalls one in which he tried his best to fail. …[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
Architect-Poet-Calligrapher H Masud Taj celebrates World Wada Paav Day, which falls on August 23rd, with his poetry and calligraphy by ruminating on the architecture of the vada pav and most famous diagram in the world drawn by the vegetarian Leonardo da Vinci.…[Read More]…
Reading the Great Wave
by H Masud TajBetween The Lines
Poet-Calligrapher H Masud Taj contemplates the wave as a form and phenomenon in our lives via a woodblock print of the Japanese Master: Hokusai.…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
As Chandrayaan-3 heads for the moon, H. Masud Taj recalls as a 13-year-old wannabe poet twirling radio knobs tuning in to the moon landing in a medley ranging from moonrock to alternative rock and featuring Neil Armstrong, Ibn-e-Safi, R.E.M. and Andy Kaufman (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah).…[Read More]…
Between The Lines
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reports, “In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces killed as many as 8,000 Bosniak men and boys from the town of Srebrenica. It was the largest massacre in Europe since the Holocaust.” Calligrapher-Poet H Masud Taj recalls verses from Song for the Besieged that he composed while killings were in progress in 1992-1993 simultaneously in Mumbai and Sarajevo, along with a found poem, The Butcher of Bosnia, based on the subsequent ruling of UN: The International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague…[Read More]…
Personal Notes
At the Juma prayers, the khutba elaborated on a saying of the Prophet that the roof that covers the five pillars of Islam (kalma, prayers, zakat, fasting, hajj) is the tongue of the believer, i.e. care must be taken while addressing others. H. Masud Taj ponders over this…[Read More]…
Literary Trails
H Masud Taj contemplates love and poetry via a calligraphic tribute to Kaifi Azmi, who passed away on 10th May in 2002.…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
Calligraphy and Found Poem by H Masud Taj, based on the words of Osama Manzar, to coincide with ’20 Years of Digital Empowerment for All’ symposium that was held in Guwahati on December 16, 2022. Osama Manzar’s mission is to teach rural Indians the use of the Internet and create livelihoods.…[Read More]…
Personal Notes
H. Masud Taj takes a leaf out of The Matrix and swallows the red pill to delve into the unsettling truth about Partition and the unlearnt truth about Hindu-Muslim unity, embodied in the life and work of Maulana Azad.…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
H. Masud Taj reminds us through his art that language can become the vehicle of colonization and decolonization; but songs of resistance can also turn into dog-whistles. …[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
Architect, poet and calligrapher H. Masud Taj dreams of an India that might have been. His art evokes a South Asian culture that is. …[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
H. Masud Taj contemplates Gandhi’s last words with a Found Poem that draws an ironic and brutally honest take on our hypocrisies…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
H. Masud Taj ponders the verse “Kya pata hum mein hai kahani/Ya hain kahani mein hum?” The word “kahani” appears twice: which of the versions is true? Language is linear, one meaning follows another. Calligraphy like architecture, he holds, turns word-meanings spatial and simultaneous. …[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
H. Masud Taj, Toronto-based architect, poet –calligrapher, who grew up in Mumbai, India like Mayank Bhatt pays tribute through his art.…[Read More]…
Personal Notes
When Edward Said visited India in 1997 to deliver the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Lecture and receive honorary doctorates from JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia, H. Masud Taj, oral poet and calligrapher sought to meet the author of the foundational ‘Orientalism’ to recite his poem ‘Dragonfly.’ And did. …[Read More]…
Literary Trails
Poet Gavin Barrett chats up ‘oral’ poet and calligrapher H. Masud Taj. Both from Bombay/Mumbai, they meet for the first time in Toronto and talk poetry, life and memories-in verse.
…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
Calligrapher H. Masud Taj reflects on why a letter from the seventh century continues to offer solace in moments of grief and personal loss.…[Read More]…
Between The Lines
While celebrating the birth of their daughter Zahra, with jalebis, Architect-Poet-Calligrapher H Masud Taj had an epiphany… …[Read More]…
Literary Trails
Michel de Montaigne’s birthday, February 28 is celebrated as National Essay Day. Academician H. Masud Taj reflects on the essay’s tenacious tentativeness. …[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
When we pay homage to someone, is the real recipient someone else? H Masud Taj reflects on his choice of B V Doshi quotes.…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
Morocco’s Football team exceeded wildest expectations at the World Cup in Qatar. H Masud Taj celebrates with calligraphy and a Found Poem based on the words of their coach Walid Regragu…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
As Qatar, hosting the FIFA World Cup, is inviting the world to Islam, H Masud Taj reciprocates by inviting Qatar too.…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
H. Masud Taj celebrates the arrival (der aaye, durrust aaye) of Surya Kumar Yadav with poetry and calligraphy, and cautions the BCCI not to drop the ball.…[Read More]…
Visual Spaces
H. Masud Taj bases his Calligraphy and Found Poem on the letter of jailed rights activist Umar Khalid, in response to a letter of Rohit Kumar, author of “Tales from the Jail: Christmas in Tihar”…[Read More]…
Personal Notes
Rihard Eskow visits Bethlehem, birthplace of Jesus in the West Bank, now a ghost town after Israeli bombing and discovers a tragically moving nativity space amidst the rubble. …[Read More]…