The Good Guys

It has been a strange few days. All started with the earthquake on October 8, when the earth shook and trembled, and kept on shaking. Within a few minutes, after I had checked out the magnitude and location of the tremor, it was apparent that this was going to result in a lot of devastation. Unfortunately as the day progressed, and as the stories began pouring in, it seemed that it was going to be a lot worse than imagined.

Margalla Towers is located about a mile to the east of where we live, and became the focus of everyone's attention. It somehow became representative of the suffering and pain that the earthquake brought to our land of the pure.

I will not get into the obvious in this posting, it will definitely follow later, but here all I want to say is how overawed I am by the generosity shown by people. Within minutes of the earthquake, there were people out there, lending a helping hand to anyone and everyone. From trying to rescue people inside the collapsed building, to collecting things and putting them on trucks to send to effected areas.

I have been witness to acts of kindness, which have kindled hope in my most skeptical of hearts. Before the government machinery could move, there were people with supplies heading out to the mountains. There were people making human chains to remove debris from the collapsed building, to try and rescue the people trapped under. With their bare hands and most rudimentary of tools, these people, without giving their own safety a thought, dug through the rubble.

I don't know what drives these good guys. They called up their friends, collected money, food, clothing, bought things they thought were needed, arranged for transportation and went with the trucks to wherever they could find people to help.

I wish I could be more like them, all these good guys/gals, this kind of intrinsic goodness that is the epitome of humanity, this is where I wish all of us would get to. I am humbled. I have seen goodness from up close and I am in total awe.

Much Ado about Nothing

I solemnly swear that this is the last time I will write about it, so just bear with me.

I had the misfortune of hearing the audio version of FL's interview with the Washington Post. Must be the masochist in me that persists in doing things like this. Anyway, the interesting thing is that he denies he put MM on the ECL, which is a direct contradiction of what he had said earlier in Australia I think. Poor sod!! I almost feel sorry for him. Almost being the keyword here.

The holy month is here. I think the best thing to do would be to declare it a month of national holiday. You can tell as soon as you get on the road that the faithful are hungry and irritated. Everyone is doing a big favour to the rest of the world by starving themselves through the day, and please don't expect them to do anything constructive. This is an argument that the infidels might use as an excuse against the whole concept of fasting, the possibility that depriving one's self of food and water the whole day might not be such a great idea after all, the results of Islamic medicinal research notwithstanding. But lets not go there.

I thought the whole idea was to try and abstain while going about daily life. I was wrong. Its about using this state as a valid excuse for not working altogether. But then again, the Muslims have inherited this from the other religions of the world, so they are not to be solely blamed.

I am also going to write the obituary of Islamabad soon. The only good thing about this city was the fact that it was deprived of people, now since that has been taken care of, it will meet its demise. The reason traffic was better compared to other cities was because there were no vehicles on the roads. I give it a few years at most, then it will be at par with the rest of the country. And Islamabad will be part of the greater Islamic Republic of Pakistan, with electricity and water shortages, bad roads and traffic jams, pollution, etc. We are cutting down the trees without planting new ones, will kill the water supply thanks to the New Muree project, and the population growth rate shows no signs of abating. So its imminent and this is a terminal patient.

The only good news or news that I can put a positive spin on is the fact that the price is petroleum products is going up. This might discourage people from driving around too much. Maybe somebody will think of a clever way of transporting more people without spewing out greenhouse gases. There used to be a bus service here, but it was shut down because of political differences or something. This would be a good time to start thinking about a mass transit system for Islamabad. Maybe an overhead train, to bring in commuters from Pindi and surrounding areas, stopping at a few points on the way. I am dreaming.

The third and final phase of the local bodies elections will happen today. The usual suspects' fielded candidates will be elected. I must give credit to FL for one thing, he allows the media to say whatever they want. I wish he would listen as well. I saw a screaming match between some government flackeys and the out-of-favour opposition guys. It wasn't pretty. With representatives like these, its no surprise where we are.

Oh well, the show must go on!