Who is the Bakra Today?

Adil Najam

On Eid as people perform their qurbani and prices of sacrificial animals rise, the paid is not just for the animals. Both the cartoon and the qata below are from Jang (28 and 29 Decemeber, 2006, respectively). Both are about Eid; but both are about more than just Eid. Niether needs further comment. Eid Mubarak to all!

Hajj and Eid Greetings to All

Adil Najam

Congratulations for the over 2 million Muslims - including the nearly 200,000 Pakistanis - who performed Hajj yesterday.

To me, the Hajj is an amazing and powerful symbol of equality and unity in a world distraught with frictions and factions.

It is not just a symbol of 'Muslim brotherhood' but of human oneness. It is not simply a connection - in its rituals and its meanings - amongst the Abrahamic faiths; it is also a spiritually moving and visually powerful symbol of the unity of all humankind. There are those who wish to reduce the meaning of the message to merely one religion, or even one sect. I, at least, have always found it a more universal message and moved by the symbolism of unity and harmony of all.

On this day, even as one reads comments on blogs such as this, reads the newspaper, or simply tunes into television news, one finds conversations that highlight differences: between rich and poor, East and West, 'gooras' and 'kaalas', between shias and sunnis, between ethnicities, between sects, between races, between political parties, between 'liberals' and 'mullahs', between 'us' and 'them'.

It seems that everywhere and always we are not just divided but we take pride in our divisions. Our language, our vocabulary, our thought processes are geared to highlight our differences with others. We take a perverse pride in these differences, whether we consider ourselves to be 'superior' to others or we believe ourselves to be victims of differentiation.

Today, as I see pictures of Hajj I am moved - as I always am - by the sea of humanity and the oneness of that humanity. Today, on what is Eid day for me here in Boston, I pray that the message we take is one of humility; that the feeling we have are of universal humanity and fraternity, and the vows we make are of peace and goodwill for all and everywhere.

Cross-posted from All Things Pakistan

Change of Guards

Tags: Women, Pakistan, Pakistan Army

By Adil Najam

It has been a tradition for as long as I can recall that on the 25th of December a contingent of cadets from the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA), Kakul, takes over as the ceremonial honor guards at the mausoleum of the Quaid, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. This year, Jinnah's 130th birth anniversary, was special because the PMA honor guard contingent included eight female cadets and one Sikh cadet.

The two pictures here are from Dawn and Daily Times. Indicative of the importance is the fact that the two newspapers use the titles 'Winds of Change' and 'New Beginning' to headline the pictures, respectively.

According to an Associated Press report in the Daily Times (27 December, 2006):

Eight female cadets from the Pakistan Armys elite training academy on Monday became the first female honour guards at the mausoleum of Pakistan’s founder, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. State-run television showed the female contingent, clad in khaki cadet slacks, some wielding swords and others holding guns, marching to military tunes with their male colleagues in a ceremony at the mausoleum of Mr Jinnah, the Father of the Nation, in Karachi. In November, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, the Pakistan Military Academy Kakul opened its doors to women. In March, women also broke into the all-male air force when it inducted four women pilots.

Forty-one females joined the army academy to undergo a rigorous six months of military training along with men before being inducted as officers in various branches of the army. President Gen Pervez Musharraf, who attended ceremonies in Karachi marking the 130th birthday of Mr Jinnah, laid flowers at the mausoleum and praised the female cadets who are to graduate next April. I am really impressed by the girls, Musharraf said. This is the future of Pakistan. Previously, women had only served in the armys medical corps without being trained at the academy. But the 41 female cadets at PMA will join the army as non-combat officers in the communication, engineering, legal and education branches.

Earlier this year Aviation Cadet Saira Amin had won the coveted Sword of Honour for best all-round performance at the Air Force Academy in Risalpur and became the first woman pilot to have won the Sword of Honour in any defense academy of Pakistan. I should confess that a few days ago when I had contemplated naming an 'ATP Pakistani of the Year' she was one of the people I thought would make a great candidate as a symbol of women breaking into traditionally male-dominated professions.

Cross-posted from All Things Pakistan (Pakistaniat.com).

Pevious Post: Women at Their Best

Cyber Greetings

On Cyber Greetings, 'Ka writes this "Since not many people do that anymore, somehow those kinda cards/gifts that I cherish the most... I kept them very nicely," hence I am pulling this post up here.

I miss letters and greeting cards. A letter delivered by a postman, with its lines of handwriting, loops and angles that give a reflection of personality and, perhaps, secrets tucked inside the letters. Waiting for the postman to find a letter is old fashioned but many cherish still. Then opening letters, reading, and reading them again. There is a romance in writing and receiving letters that seems almost entirely lost to people particularly those who inhabit the cyberspace in this information era.

The switch to email and instant messaging has created an entirely new kind of language - of shorthand, emoticons (term coined by joining two words emotions and icons), graphics, and poor or nonexistent grammar, and missing punctuation, computer slang. It has also given birth to another kind of greetings: cyber greetings. This is about that.

Emails, instant messaging and text messaging (through cell phones) are quick and easy. Even person like me writes more of shorthand letters now than I ever did on paper. Granted, that they have increased contact with family, friends and colleagues than ever before. They provide eases and convenience. What would any day be like without a message window popping up mid-afternoon with a little emoticon sent by a dear and near one? Indeed, online communication is doing wonders for human relationship. A little goes a long way.

With rather longer prelude, the idea of cyber greetings is undeniably relevant to today, and it is intriguing. Information communication technologies provide an anonymity that allows people to reveal more than they ever would face to face. It also allows temptation to overcome good sense, and the results sometime can be overwhelming. Imagine two persons who came across each other after any one of them seeing online profile of the other and finding it "interesting" makes an endeavor and reaches out to the other online. Both are easily drawn to each other in online exchange of messages, too predictably, and without enough explanation as to why. The whole exchange takes in "real time". And before too long, the causal exchange turns into witty flirtation and may be into full-blown romance between those who have yet not met face to face. Clever combinations of e-mails, live chat lines, explicit emoticons and computer shortcuts, give way to the situation where 'the headstrong-girl-meets-self-sufficient-boy' and the urge to meet may becomes very strong.

So what is the point? Would you, like 'Ka, be more happy if the cards are written personally and directed to us the old way or are you prefer the cyber way of greetings?

How Old Are You?

By Rahat Hussain

When you were 8 years old, your dad handed you an ice cream. You thanked him by dripping it all over your lap.

When you were 9 years old, he paid for piano lessons. You thanked him by never even bothering to practice.

When you were 10 years old he drove you all day, from soccer to gymnastic to one birthday party after another. You thanked him by jumping out of the car and never looking back.

When you were 11 years old, he took you and your friends to the movies. You thanked him by asking to sit in a different row.

When you were 12 years old, he warned you not to watch certain TV shows. You thanked him by waiting until he left the house. When you were 13, he suggested a haircut that was becoming. You thanked him by telling him he had no taste.

When you were 14, he paid for a month away at summer camp. You thanked him by forgetting to write a single letter. When you were 15, he came home from work, looking for a hug. You thanked him by having your bedroom door locked.

When you were 16, he taught you how to drive his car. You thanked him by taking it every chance you could.

When you were 17, he was expecting an important call. You thanked him by being on the phone all night.

When you were 18, he cried at your high school graduation. You thanked him by staying out partying until dawn.

When you were 19, he paid for your college tuition, drove you to campus carried your bags. You thanked him by saying good-bye outside the dorm so you wouldn't be embarrassed in front of your friends.

When you were 25, he helped to pay for your wedding, and he cried and told you how deeply he loved you. You thanked him by moving halfway across the country. When you were 50, he fell ill and needed you to take care of him. You thanked him by reading about the burden parents become to their children. Mon papa merveilleux (my father is fabulous).

And then, one day, he quietly died. And everything you never did came crashing down like thunder on YOUR HEART.

Respect thy parents if you love them.

Bakras On-Line!

Tags: Eid, Qurbani, Pakistan

Adil Najam

Quite simply, this is a now-obvious and, therefore, brilliant entrepreneurial idea. The idea of Eid sacrifice going digital.

If you can sell books over the Internet, then why not sell meat, especially religious qurbani opportunities on Eid for those living outside Pakistan in places where the mechanics of the sacrificing animals as religious obligation is not easy to manage.

The ads for the fine looking cows (blue background) are NOT internet-based, but I suspect that they soon will be. Right now you will have to go to Sohrab Goth, Karachi to pick Billo up; unless, of course, you fancy Laila! Giving the cows these model-like names is cute; except when you realize that their ultimate destination is someone's plate. I guess goats are being given such names too, and can imagine a Fifty-Fifty skit that goes something like this:

"What do we have for dinner tonight?"
"Laila's kalaija. Or you can have Billo's raan."

I particularly like the 'Bio Data', and one day I hope to have one as impressive as this myself. I am especially intrigued by the 'Menu of the Day,' which can only be revealed to buyers; alas they do not mention the price, but I suspect it is in the range of Rs. 35,000+.

The website floating around in Pakistani circles right now is about ebakra.com, which is a service provided by Islamabad's famous Qureshi Frozen Foods (which traditionally serves expatriate customers and others willing to pay premium price for high-quality, cleanliness and variety in meat products). The prices on the website right now are quite exhorbitant (I am told by bakra connoisseurs better versed in the dynamics of the bakra market than myself that the price being asked on this website is more than twice what you would otherwise pay for the best bakras).

As of now, there is no service for overseas Pakistanis or for Eid Qurbani, but they say they are planning something. Right now their service is for delivery in Islamabad and their current product line is limited only to dunbas (goats):

Here you can find animals of your choice, order it online and get the free delivery right at your doorstep. Rest assured that the health and safety standards are not compromised at any cost and we take every possible measure to make sure that our customers are satisfied with our services and products.

However, according to a Reuters report the Eid qurbani (sacrifice) market has now gone digital:

Religious organizations in Pakistan are using the Internet to help Muslims in Western countries buy and sacrifice animals for an annual festival.

... "It is not easy for [Muslims in Western countries] to buy animals and carry out the sacrifice according to our religious rites in those countries," said Sohail Ahmed, an official at the Al-Khidmat trust Islamic welfare organization. "They are turning to the Internet to complete their religious obligations," said Ahmed, whose organization offers the service.

In Pakistan, thousands of cows, goats, sheep and camels are sacrificed to celebrate Eid al-Adha, which this years falls in the first week of January.

... Buying a sacrificial animal over the Internet is also becoming popular in Pakistan, said Farukh Sheikh of the Sahara trust for life. "It is a matter of convenience. People nowadays don't have time to go to the markets and haggle over prices," Sheikh said. "We are offering a service at competitive rates. People trust us to distribute the meat according to religious obligations among the poor and needy," Sheikh said.

The report says that "animals are available on the websites for between $100 (6,000 rupees) for a goat and $450 (27,000 rupees) for a cow." Oddly, I could not find the websites of the organizations mentioned here; maybe I did not try hard enough.

See last Eid's posts on ATP Eid Greetings, Eid cards, Eid cake, having multiple Eids, Eid in films, and the meaning of Eid.

Abridged version, based on original available at All Things Pakistan.

Political Activism - or the lack of it

Tags: Pakistan, Politics, Political Activism

Sixty years of our existence has established one disturbing habit in our national psyche. We, as a nation, may be politically vocal, we may love to voice our opinion on every national issue, but that is where we draw the line. For when it comes to taking real action and changing things, we have proved ourselves to be the most apolitical of nations. Political activism is a term that carries little value in Pakistan's socio-political discourse. Not only do we prefer not to participate in the mainstream political process, but more dangerously there is little that has been able to take us to the streets and made us register our voice.

And that is not for the dearth of contentious issues in our socio-political domain. In the popular political discourse of our country we constantly refer to the silent moderate majority. Let us agree that it is indeed a 'moderate' majority, the questions then that we need to address are: why is it a 'silent' majority, more importantly -- for how long can it afford to remain a silent majority, and of course, how do we remedy the situation?

Let us address the first question in this space. The lack of political activism in mainstream society can be attributed to a number of factors. Foremost, amongst them is the lack of social ownership that is found in our society -- we, as a nation, are hesitant to acknowledge the problems of our society as our own. We don't believe that we can make a difference and are always on the lookout for a messiah -- a messiah who will come and rid us of all the ills of our society. We don't 'own' our society strongly enough to stand up and take the first step towards change.

On the flip side of the argument, even if we are willing to do so, the space for political and civic participation has been drastically reduced through the years. The local government system introduced in 2000 could have been successful had it been truly disassociated from upper tier politics. The proceedings of the two tenures of local government have clearly illustrated that the scope of political participation for the common man has only decreased by the covert inclusion of mainstream parties in the process. This has resulted in a disassociation between the immediate political/civic structures and the constituents. Local governments have ceased to be a platform for redressing local problems and issues, but now they are used to launch wider political campaigns.

This leads us to the next problem. We have made it a habit to turn every issue that besets our society into a political feud of sorts. This ruthlessly strips the issue of its moral or social standing and turns it into a scoreboard for the warring political factions. The prime culprit here is not the politicisation of the issue per se, but rather the crude manner in which it is done. This alone acts as a deterrent preventing articulation of pertinent issues. Moreover politics, bereft of principles and ideological stands, is considered to be dirty business that no respectable person should venture into. The general tendency therefore is to take the backseat and leave it to others to do all 'dirty' work. Having said that, there will always be some rebels who will still want to keep fight on. They will look to put their weight behind a suitable representative. But what if no suitable representative is in sight? The crisis deepens when we continue waiting for a leader to emerge and do not deem it important enough to take the lead ourselves. The phenomenon of the lack of ownership comes to hit us hard again -- for we don't consider it our civic responsibility to lead towards change. We continue to wait for the messiah.

This is still not the end, for there is yet another puzzling piece to the story of political activism in Pakistan. A study of the history of political activism in Pakistan reveals one glaring fact: the religious right in our country has always been able to motivate and move people for change with considerably greater success than any other group. Main examples that spring to mind include the violent cartoon protests at the start of the year, the Jamaat-i-Islami's campaigning in the 1960s and 1970s against the secular politics of Ayub and the Ahmadiya community. The 1980s saw the rise of college level politics with the emergence of the student wings of the Jamaat and the PPP. Altaf Hussain is one such leader to have emerged through college politics. Two points that stand out here: a) all these uprisings involved some sort of religious issue and therefore it was easier gather support for action and b) in all of these examples there was an over-arching body [be it is the state or the parent political party] that patronised the activities of these student groups. The 1990s saw the banishment of politics from educational institutes and therefore, it can be argued, from mainstream society as well.

Therefore, the problem faced by political activism in Pakistan is two-fold: the lack of a platform and the lack of social ownership. The silent majority does not have the capability and the will to make itself heard. It is essential, for the establishment of a healthy political culture, that change is coerced and opinions are vocalised. We need to attack the factors that work towards subduing the voice of the silent majority and instill greater confidence in their ability to bring about change in society.

Rethinking Kashmir

Tags: Pakistan, India, Kashmir, South Asia

Two weeks ago, President Musharraf presented another "out of the box" proposal for the resolution of Kashmir in an interview to India's NDTV. Details of the proposal can be found here. Summarily, his solution was based on the following four points:

1. Kashmir will have the same borders but people will be allowed to move freely back and forth in the region.
2. The region will have self-governance or autonomy, but not independence.
3. Troops will be withdrawn from the region in a staggered manner.
4. A joint supervision mechanism will be set up, with India, Pakistan and Kashmir represented.Troops will be withdrawn from the region in a staggered manner.

He said that if the the solution was accepted by India, Pakistan would be willing to give up its claim on Kashmir. Needless to say, his words did ruffle quite a few conservative feathers in the country and the Foreign Ministry had to do some fire-fighting. The MoFA clarified:

Pakistan 's legal position on the Jammu and Kashmir disputes is based on the UN resolutions. Kashmir is a disputed territory. According to the UN Security Council's resolutions, Pakistan and India are parties to this dispute and Kashmiris have to essentially decide their future. It is about the aspirations of Kashmiri people. Pakistan does not claim Kashmir as an integral part. Kashmir is disputed. We however, hope that when Kashmiris are able to exercise their right to make a choice, they would opt for Pakistan.

The President did not talk about giving up Pakistan 's position on Kashmir . Azad Kashmir has its separate identity with a President and Prime Minister. It is not a province of Pakistan. If it were, there would have been a Governor and Chief Minister instead of President and Prime Minister.

The operative clause in the MoFA statement is that Pakistan's stance on J&K is based on UN resolutions. I want to tackle two things on this issue here. But first, let me present two critiques (1, 2) that I came across over the weekend. Both of them raise a couple of questions that I would like to address through this post. The first one is that how can a single man - military dictator - claim to speak for the nation of Pakistan? Number two, what becomes of our age old stance that Kashmir should be resolved on the basis of the various UNSC resolutions.

On the UNSC resolutions. We voluntarily gave up our moral authority to call for the imposition of those resolutions, when a) we reneged on the criteria set for a truce in J&K according to the August 13 UNSC resolution; b) fuelled the insurgency in J&K in 1990's and c) denied involvement behind Kargil. The last one totally eroded our credibility on all international fora and adversely impacted our stand for the rights of the Kashmiri people - for Kargil was more about attainment of territory than about fulfillment of the Kashmiri aspirations. Similarly, our refusal to withdraw troops from our part of Kashmir was guided by fear that the territory would be conquered by Indian troops and not by a genuine desire to let the Kashmiris decide their future. We need to shed the hypocrisy and define our exact stance on the issue.

On to the first question. Yes, I agree that Musharraf does not have the constitutional right to decide on the future of Kashmir. But one thing that weighs strongly in his favor is his vision for resolution of the dispute. I also will mince no words and state that I do believe his proposal is workable. Why you ask? Primarily because he is willing to compromise and seek a middle ground - sixty years of dialogue failed just because the two parties started out with positions so divergent that there was no room for reconciliation. The second reason I support him is because he has realised the futility of basing our stand on the UNSC resolutions.

The need of the hour is for Musharraf to work towards establishing a consensus on the issue. He does not need to woo the common man - for at the end of the day the Kashmir dispute is immaterial to the common man. The common man just seeks a respectful resolution so that the madness abates. The group that Musharraf truly needs to work hard on wooing constitutes the influential policy making circle: former foreign secretaries, academics, politicians and mediamen. These are the people who will come in handy when we actually do rethink our Kashmir policy - they are the ones who will help sell it. In this regard, Musharraf needs to do more than provide occasional proposal through the media to ready the public.

What we need is creative public rethinking on the issue. We need to change mindsets and move beyond the rhetoric of helping fellow Muslims and deal with the issue in its true strategic dynamics. Start public debates through the media - both print and electronic and vernacular and English with the motive to present the need for strategic rethinking in the simplest terms. Highlight the long term socio-economic impact of a resolution on the country - and therefore make it less of an issue about the ego of the Pakistani state and more about a real problem for the Kashmiri people.

Let me reiterate, that the idea is not to reach a consensus at the local level, but to prepare the public for a strategic rethink. So yes, while Musharraf does have his heart in the correct place over this issue he also needs to take the policy-making circle into confidence so that his decision is endorsed at the national level and its integrity is not forever doubted. We all need to collectively rethink Kashmir and not just the head honcho.

'pateeli' towers

Tags: Society, Culture, Owais Mughal

Owais Mughal

This photograph is from a pots and pans vendor shop in Jodia Bazar Karachi. Jodia Bazar is a whole sale market where one can buy anything imaginable under the sky. I however, could never imagine that a consumer today has so much choice of sizes available while selecting a pateeli (pot).

Photo copyrights Mr. Iqbal Khatri. Reproduced here with his permission. You can view more photos from Iqbal Khatri here.

Busy Times. . .

Yes, we all have them. No? Wish me best.

General Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif

General Pervez Musharraf is more popular in Pakistan than Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, according to the findings of the research wing of the US Republican Party.

The survey ranked Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif second and third, respectively, in terms of popularity after President Musharraf. The survey was ordered by the International Republican Institute (IRI) of the party and conducted in September.

Dawn has obtained the broad findings which are yet to be made public and many of which would make politicians sit up. IRI officials made a PowerPoint presentation -- second after the one in June -- to Benazir Bhutto in Dubai last week and Nawaz Sharif in London earlier.

Their reaction to the findings is not known but the two exiled leaders can take heart that more people now want them to be allowed to return home to contest the next general election -- 70 per cent against 66 per cent in June.

Benazir Bhutto should be happy that she beat President Musharraf in popularity in Sindh. She may have to rearrange her cards to deal with the most popular political personality in Pakistan, according to the survey.

The survey showed some changes in the voters perception of the political landscape since IRIs earlier survey conducted in June. The survey rated the PPP the most favoured party in Sindh and the NWFP while it comes No2 in Balochistan and No3 in Punjab.

According to the survey, MMA leads in Balochistan while the PML-Q is at the top in Punjab, followed by PML-N. Popular political personalities are rated on a scale from 1 to 5. Gen Pervez Musharraf emerges at the top with 3.47 points, Benazir trailing with 3.31 points, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz 3.18 and Nawaz Sharif 3.17.

However, Ms Bhutto is far ahead of Gen Musharraf in terms of popularity in Sindh, where she has been rated at 3.91, and Gen Musharraf at 3.1.

A finding of concern to the opposition will be that 37 per cent of the respondents said that PML-Q deserved to be re-elected. PML-Q was found to be a shade more popular than Ms Bhutto’s PPP at the national level, their respective ratings being 3.4 and 3.3.

However, in Sindh the PPP is at the top with a rating of 3.84, while the PML-Q scored only 2.8. The PML-N occupied third place in the country and in Sindh with respective scores of 3.09 and 2.45.

To the question which party they would vote for if the elections for National Assembly are held next week, 27.4 per cent respondents named PML-Q and 22 per cent the PPP. But in Sindh 46 per cent of the respondents said they would vote for PPP and 14 per cent for PML-Q.

Another surprising finding was that 22 per cent of the respondents thought Shaukat Aziz would be the best prime minister. On that count, Ms Bhutto scored a respectable 19 per cent and Nawaz Sharif only 11 per cent. A significant 16 per cent did not know who can be the best prime minister.

In the previous survey, Ms Bhutto was at the top of the best prime minister category. It appeared that somehow Mr Aziz improved his public standing in just three months.

Fifty-two per cent of the respondents believed that elections under a neutral caretaker government would be more transparent. Opposition parties have been saying that free and fair polls cannot be held under Gen Musharraf. But 36 per cent of the respondents disagreed with that notion.

It would also worry the opposition that 37 per cent of the people surveyed believed that the current ruling coalition has done its job well enough to deserve re-election with 36 per cent opposing the re-election of the regime on the basis of its performance.

The respondents were equally divided in response to the question whether things in Pakistan were moving in the ‘right direction’. As many as 44 per cent said that Pakistan was heading towards ‘wrong direction’ but 43 per cent believed that the rulers had put the country back on right track.

While 24 per cent of the people surveyed mentioned inflation and unemployment as the two most important problems confronting people, 34 per cent believed the economic situation would improve ‘next year’ with 28 per cent expecting the same economic conditions to prevail next year.

Similarly, 26 per cent people said their personal economic condition had improved since the 2002 general election. But for 35 per cent, it remained unchanged while for another 35 per cent the economic situation worsened over the past four years. (Via Dawn)

To ascertain the veracity of the survey, Light within is having its own poll. Please vote (at sidebar).

How Blogging Changed My Life

Tags: Aliza Sherman Risdahl, Books, Authors, Blogging

Guest Post Aliza Sherman Risdahl

I'm considered a bit of a latecomer to blogging, only starting to use an actual blog publishing tool Blogger.com in 2003. In reality, however, I was a very early blogger. Since the first blogs in the 1990s consisted of long lists of links on web sites that referred to other web sites with a little bit of commentary, I had been doing this since I published my first web site "The Web According to Cybergrrl" in 1995.

When I decided to finally blog, I wondered what I would blog about. I had read some political blogs but politics were not my thing. I had perused some technology blogs but I have always considered myself to be more of a writer than a techie.

The one thing I felt compelled to write about was about trying to get pregnant and being pregnant. That was something so new in my life, and while it certainly was not a unique experience, I felt that I needed an outlet to express what I was feeling about my experiences and hopefully reach out to other women going through similar things in the process. I set up Babyfruit at babyfruit.blogspot.com and began writing posts.

Looking back at my earliest posts, they were relatively short. I didn't post very frequently back then, and there were long gaps, months, between some posts. Then something unexpected happened. I had a miscarriage. The whole concept of miscarrying was completely foreign to me and clearly unspoken in most circles. Even the many pregnancy books I owned relegated a mere one or two pages to the topic.

It wasn't until my second pregnancy and miscarriage that I started to blog about what had happened to me. There is a huge gap of time between my first miscarriage in October 2003 and the next posts in January 2004 when I was pregnant for the second time and then miscarried again. At the time, my emotions were too raw, the experience too bewildering. By Miscarriage #2, I was ready to express myself and share my experience.

In my miscarriage blog, I began to chronicle the tests and the treatment I was receiving from healthcare practitioners who were not always helpful. As my anger mounted, pushing my grief aside, I blogged more and more voraciously and soon switched my blog from Blogger.com to Typepad.com.

The new and improved Babyfruit blog is where my blog posts became more and more intimate (http://babyfruit.typepad.com/)

Intimate blogging taught me several very important things:

1. I am not alone. There are dozens, hundreds, thousands of women out there who are experiencing and feeling similar things.
2. I am not the only one affected by my blogging. For example, my father often calls me when he is concerned about what he reads on my blog. I have to reassure him that I am okay despite what the blog post conveys.
3. When blogging gets personal, it can hurt. My blog posts have elicited some angry and painful comments from other women at times. I try not to take them too personally. I chose to blog and have to realize that the feedback comes with the territory.
4. Blogging can be hard. Trying to come up with interesting things to say on a very regular basis is a challenge for anyone, including a professional writer. I went from daily posts to near-daily (every 2-3 days or longer in between) just to save my sanity.
5. My blog is not me. My blog is only a sliver of my life's experience, only a glimpse of one tiny part of my overall life. Some people think that when I write about an obsessive thought or neurosis and turn it into an entire post, that it is really who I am and what I'm thinking about constantly. No, it is just a fleeting thought that I turned into something humorous or touching or scary. It is a piece of truth but not the whole picture.
   
   

I know that blogging will always be a part of my life. I am more expressive and more connected to my own feelings and to others because of blogging, and I'm grateful for that.

Previous Post by Aliza Sherman Risdahl: Will Blogging Replace Social Interaction?

Aliza Sherman Risdahl blogs @ abyfruit, aliza sherman rants and raves, travelgirl, Dogorama, Moonbow Productions, The Everything Blogging Book Blog, and contributes to Daily Eats.

On Nationalism

Pervaiz Munir Alvi

[I had written this post a while back but following the feedback to my previous post, I thought it would be interesting to share it here as well.]

We, Pakistanis, are a very patriotic and nationalistic lot. We tend to wear our nationality on our sleeve. Home and abroad we celebrate our sense of belonging to Pakistan. In fact we love to do so! At home, as the independence day draws closer, you witness a hike in the wave of patriotism streaking across the nation: road side stalls spring up that sell patriotic souvenirs of all sorts, the media begins to air patriotic programs and national songs grace the airwaves. Majority of this constitutes harmless display of nationalism, but there is also a dark dangerous streak of nationalism that is becoming evident now.

This particular form of nationalism breeds on self-glorification and the demonization of the enemy. A natural consequence of this behaviour is the cultivation of bigotry and xenophobia in our society. No, I don't think that I am exaggerating. Just go and question an average Pakistani youth: what does 14th August mean to you?. He will inevitably launch into a diatribe about deliverance from the "atrocious" Hindu raj, the evils that the Muslims could have faced in the "Hindu" Indian society and the emergence of a free society. The trouble is that even 59 years after the creation of our state we still identify ourselves in relation to our eastern neighbours.

Our whole identity, our sense of patriotism and nationalism seems to largely dictated relative to what happened 59 years. It does not derive its legitimacy from who we are and what we want for our country, but in contrast it is largely dictated by who we are not. The unfortunate consequence is that we are unable to look beyond that and develop the sense of nationalism and patriotism from within ourselves. A sad state of affairs it is.

This was just one aspect of it. There are numerous occasions, where this detrimental attitude of ours clouds our attitudes and mindsets. For example, consider the way we end up treating Jinnah. Yes, he is the father of the nation but our treatment of him nears worship! We cannot bear to hear anything that may cloud his perfect personality or his perfect ideals. He is but super-human to us and we struggle to accept that he may actually be human and have some flaws! What is worse in our near worship treatment of his personality, rarely do we care to take heed to his words of wisdom! Ironically enough, at the end of the day he is just a national leader - the father of the nation who every patriotic Pakistani must adore, but not think beyond to really understand what he stood for!

A more damning case for blind belief resulting from extreme doses of nationalistic ideology is the way we treat the entire history of partition of the sub-continent. It is painted in black and white - the innocent Muslims versus the evil and scheming Hindus. The two nation theory is presented as the bedrock of our country's existence that cannot be questioned in any case. We are duty-bound to honour and treat it as the Guiding Principle that defines our identity and our vision of the region. There are obvious flaws in this approach.

All of this makes fantastic material for the production of nationalistic and patriotic individuals, but it thoroughly limits their vision and the way they view the subcontinent - and the world beyond. Moreover, it does not allow them to adapt their ideologies according to the vicissitudes of time. They are not allowed to re-question and reassign their identities. It does not pay heed to simple fact that identities evolve over time and cannot remain stagnant. Since their identity is defined by the TNT, so any attempt to redefine their identity is tantamount to attacking the very basis of our country's ideology!

Furthermore, the trouble is that this sort of nationalism dictates that our identity and culture is defined not from within ourselves - but in relation to India and what we are not! This means that we are hesitant to embrace our own history and culture [read the Mohendejaro and the Kailaash connection] and thus we end up manufacturing an identity.

The consequence of all of this? Not only do we begin to develop a crisis of identity but we also develop collective sense of xenophobia. Our whole peripheral vision of the world is dictated through a polarised lens and we just refuse to embrace the very diversity that forms the life of a vibrant society. By no means, do I argue that nationalism and patriotism should be purged from society. But I do believe that a critical review of our conception of these entities is the need of the hour. I would just leave you with this quotation:

"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first." - General Charles De Gaulle

Ayesha Saeed - New Dimension

Ayesha Saeed is a graduate from Lahore University of Management Sciences. Although, she graduated with a degree in Computer Science she has drifted off to International Relations - a field that truly intrigues her. She now researches Inernational Relations for a living. She loves learning and believes that it is an ongoing process which should never stop.

Here, she is just another blogger on the burgeoning Pakistani blogsphere. Her interests lay in the socio-political issues of Pakistan and the Muslim world, at large. In the Pakistani context, she is determined to test the established norms and views of society, to poke people from their slumber and try to provoke reactions. Lately, that has become the objective of her blogpshere presence as well. At least, that's what she attempts to do.

Ayesha Saeed maintains a regular blog at Red, White and Black. Here she will contribute her thoughts on International Relations and will also rant.

Posts by Ayesha Saeed:

Pakistan's Taliban Quagmire

The Hajj Sermon

Political Activism - or the lack of it

Rethinking Kashmir

Shared Heritage and History

On Nationalism

Man versus Humanity

Tags: Society, Owais Mughal

Owais Mughal

I'll start with an Urdu couplet:

aadmiat se hai baala aadmi ka martaba
pust himmat ye na howay, pust qaamat ho to ho

(A man's destiny is much higher than humanity. He can be short in height but should not be short on courage)

The photo above appears in today's Dawn newspaper and shows a homeless man on Karachi roads. The poor guy has wrapped himself in a cloth banner of a political party to save himself from winter temperatures. I tried to read the urdu message on the banner. To me it seems like the words 'huqooq ke-khilaf' (against the rights) are written on the banner. The dawn caption says that old man is put on the streets by his irresponsible children and is left to fend for himself by seeking alms. Another couplet fit for this moment goes like this:

kia hai qed mujhay os jagah pe zalim ne
jahaaN se saaf mera ghar dikhai deta hai

(I've been imprisoned at such a place, that I can see from here my home clearly)

I was just touched by this photo and wanted to share with our readership. Imagine spending a winter night out in just 2 layers of clothing. lag pata jaaye ga! (You'll know the reality).

chal ae hawa-e-zamistaaN, chal aur zor se chal
tu sard-mohri-e-ehbaab se ziyada nahiN

(O cold breeze, blow even stronger. You are not cooler than my cold acquaintances)

Serendipity!

Do you see what she sees? Guess!

Will You Blog For Food?

Out of CTRL (Aoulad)