Looking for good news

I tried, I looked at all the news to find something good, but failed miserably. I wanted to focus on the positive, as I felt that all my postings were about things that are going wrong. It was all in vain. Is it because there is nothing positive being reported in the local press, because when I go out of the house, all I find is chaos and disrepair? I don't know, you decide.

1. The good news
We have power and water, and the phone works. We should be thankful for little mercies. The weather is improving, as I sit and write this, it has rained and the air has a pleasant coolness about it. I am alive and well, all the bills are paid, my car runs well. Thats about it.

2. The not-so-good news
Where do I start and where do I end?

The first phase of the local elections has ended. It was "peaceful" since only a couple of dozen people were killed in poll related violence, I wonder how many killings it takes to make it otherwise. As expected, the ruling party backed, non-party candidates have won for the most part. Does anyone see the farce that we are enacting? I think its like the case of a man wearing a toupee, the only person who gets convinced that the hairpiece is for real is the wearer.

Pakistan to have 110 nuclear warheads by the end of the year. I suppose this must be good news for someone out there. I think its a shame. For a country that has the lowest literacy rate in the region, if not the whole world, we sure have our priorities sorted out.

Iran refuses to back down from its position, and goold old Dubya says that military action cannot be ruled out. I wonder where this will lead, more misery for the common man.

The new Murree plan will proceed, destroying prime forest and mountains, to create a "world class" mountain resort. I wonder who defines what world class is. I just wish that we had more sense, the reason why this is being built is because people will spend money and make money out of this. I think we can still create opportunities for people to make money without destroying nature, but will anyone listen? I will not spend my money on this. Will not visit the new Murree city, will not invest money in it.

This is another day, tried some more for good news, couldnt find any, so be it!

Independence Day

I can see that the commercialism of 14th August is a good thing, it allows some people to make a living, and for the fun starved masses of our land of the pure, it provides an excuse to break all kind of laws, hanging outside their car windows, lighting firecrackers, etc. I just don't get it, probably just me, who doesn't enjoy the cheap thrills associated with putting flags on cars (the flags by the way are usually made totally out of proportion and wrong placement of the crescent and star), So I will let it be.

What I am more interested in is the history of this so called independence from the colonial rule of the British Empire. Before the British came, we had been ruled over by successive dynasties of various invaders. If we look at the history of the Indian Sub-continent, we can see that people of central Asian states used to march down through the Khyber Pass, kick some serious butt and then take over for a while. And when the news of the riches of India reached Europe, they wanted part of it too and sailed in and took over what they could. And if you looked closely at the demographics, you would find that there were always people from different parts of the world, who were the rulers. I don't think the indigenous people of India had much of a chance. Like the American Indians, these people were almost wiped out. There are only a few places in the southern part of India that can boast having aboriginal origins.

So there we have it, the "Aryans" from somewhere arrive and become the Brahmins of society. Everyone else is below them, the locals the lowest caste possible. The Arabs come and want to Arabise everyone, and the Afghans want a piece for themselves. In all this confusion, the British arrive to milk the cash cow, and there are no Indians left. They are Mughals, or Pathans, or Brahmins and the Punjabis, but no one that can be called Indian.

The second world war is drawing to an end, the British Empire is tired, and knows its going to cost a lot more to keep the Indian colony than its worth. There really isn't much left, the jute is being replaced by artificial fiber, the people have been taxed to death, so the best option is to get out. Now they need somebody to hand over the country to, the National Congress has a lot of following, their non-violent movement has converted a lot of people and the British know they are on the losing side. The Muslim Zamindars and Princes aren't happy with this. Congress says they will enact and implement the Land Reform Act, which means the end of fiefdoms, so what can they do? And the Muslim League is formed, mostly made up of big land owners. The Pathans don't want part of this, the Balochis are too few, the Muslim Zamindars of Punjab know that if they are part of greater India, their lives of leisure are over. So give us a separate homeland, since the Hindus will eat us alive. I am not sure why the Bengalis fell for this ploy, my guess is that being a lot more sophisticated, they were passionate about a cause. Something which didn't work out eventually, and they went their seperate way.

So there we have it, the Muslims of a few provinces got their separate real estate, when the majority of Muslims still lived in the other India. They got to retain their fiefdoms, and still do. The rest is what we see today.

Independence day? I don't think so. A deal made with a weakening empire, based on the wrong motives for selfish reasons. But let these buggers rejoice, they don't know any better.

The Painted Veil

Title stolen from Maugham's book of the same name. No relevance whatsoever, by the way, it is a great book.

Here are the two perspectives on the veil

1. The veil stands for modesty. The reason why women should be hidden is because if a man sees them, he will want to fornicate with them, and that is why all women should be hidden from men.

2. Men will always want to fornicate with women, I thought the whole idea was to be able to control one's instinct of procreation, so the ideal we are pursuing meant that we could feel (until the time we became Vulcans a'la Mr. Spock) and yet, not act upon those feelings.

So African Affirmation, there are two types of people, people who think that we will never change, and thus the veil, and people like me, who think that pursuing higher ideals is what our goal should be. In our Utopia, there is a difference between humans and animals. The animals procreate because its a natural urge, and every time they see a member of the opposite sex who is ready at some stage of ovulation to reproduce, just go for it.

And the humans in our world will be able to control those primitive urges, and wine and dine the object of their desire, and no more club her on the head and drag her by the hair. Those were the good old days, but alas they are no more.

The problem is where these two worlds intersect, where there are evolved human beings and the other ones. Lets see who wins....

The beautiful hills that were

The beautiful hills that were

Last weekend, we decided to leave the city and get away from it all. Packed our bags, threw them into the car and set out. It had rained earlier, and the air was clean. As we climbed the winding roads and the smoke of the buses and trucks got thicker, and the honking and crazy driving was getting worse, we thought of what awaited us at the end and it kept us going.

I started thinking about my childhood, and then ten fifteen years ago, after a certain point, the air changed; it suddenly became cool and fresh and smelled of pine trees. Yes, the buses and trucks were still spewing diesel fumes, the road was much worse and drivers were still crazy but something has changed. The polythene bags that litter the landscape are far more than they used to be. There is mad construction everywhere, people are making buildings that stand out like eyesores. The apartment buildings, which although new, look dilapidated, and the filth, oh the filth. People throwing things out of moving cars and buses, bottles, empty bags of chips, juice cartons, cigarettes.

When we finally reached our destination, it was in a corner tucked away from the mad hassle. The view was magnificent, the sun was about to set and the air felt different. I sat out on the balcony and breathed in the hills. As the sun set, I could almost imagine myself back in time. Thats when the fun started.

The lights came on, everywhere. The hills were dotted with them, crazy chaotic lights, everywhere. The place we were staying had these huge yellow lights which I wanted to break.

Thats when I decided to go to sleep, which was nice, being able to sleep without air-conditioning. Woke up at dawn, the sun came out the wrong side, so didn’t see it, but it was still nice. Went out and enjoyed the fresh air.

That when we decided to explore, which turned out to be a big mistake, just a couple of kilometers down the road, it seemed like the slums of any large third world city. This wasn't the Murree I remembered from my childhood. The roads were littered with wrappers and empty bottles, the walls were painted with signs proclaiming the best rooms in town and lots of real estate news. I had to get out of there, and I did.

On my way back, I was wondering if I was the only person who wanted to preserve this, while others were busy cutting down trees and leveling hills to make more slums. Don’t they see that the very thing they are selling will be destroyed by this? The damned population is increasing at a rate which will destroy everything. Why can't we see this? The beautiful hills will not be, in a few decades, and we will have high-rise slums next to Saiful Mulook, I don't think I could bear that.

Let’s find a way to stop the destruction of nature, otherwise there will be nothing left. We come from Mother Nature, and without her, we will not survive.