One Man's Meat

The media storm surrounding GEO and Hamid Mir made me realize that this world is ever-ready to exploit your misfortune to its own advantage! The beauty with which other news channels worked up a barrage of spiteful criticism was quite astounding! Not that I'm siding with GEO over its useless propaganda about Pakistani intelligence service nor am I a proponent of dancing on sacred qawalis. I'm so over the efforts of every channel to outdo each other with insane breaking news, talk shows and reports. GEO was going down fast like a leaky boat and the other channels pushed it down with gusto. I wonder how the GEO news team feels about landing in the grave it had dug for others?

Me, being an avid fan of conspiracy theories, thought about whether the downfall of GEO was a systematic chain of events planned by the "Unseen Hand" or was it all just a major coincidence? I have gotten so used to looking for clue and cues to the "bigger picture" in recent events that the most obvious facts don't entice me one bit :p Because they are usually dangled in front of our noses by the perpetrators of these events! When the Malala incident happened, I felt my heart break for the innocent little girl who had braved the harshness of her environment to raise a voice for female education. But as the incident unraveled further, all I could see was a carefully planned and executed media campaign that blatantly used Malala's tragedy to make Pakistan look like a place where no girl gets education because of the Taliban. If you closely observe the situation of educational institutions in the Taliban-struck areas, they are suffering from poor sanitary conditions, lack of teachers, absence of proper seating arrangement and damaged infrastructure. People refrain from sending their daughters to school in such pathetic conditions and on top of that primary education is not even free! Who wants to send their child - either male or female - to a useless school when they do not have enough money to feed the entire family? The impoverished and war-torn zone first needs serious rehabilitation measures before anyone can talk about education! But making Malala a martyr in the cause of education, suited the international media just fine, since it gave many stakeholders of the war against terror solid backing for promoting their agenda.

Sometimes the lines just blur and we can't even figure out who is benefiting more from this war against terror. Pakistan is right now a hub of external and internal influences, illegitimate funds, sordid schemes and unparalleled destruction. The people of Pakistan are caught in the crossfire and they are the ones losing everything - starting from their lives, loved ones, peace of mind and everything in between. On the other hand, the people orchestrating this war against terror have reaped countless geo-political and financial gains from all this. Who cares how many people lay down their lives, as long as it serves as media chowder that can be used for bigger purposes. It only goes to show that one man's meat is another man's poison.

As you sow shall you reap...

We have all grown up watching the Tom and Jerry cartoons. They are a part of our childhood memories and somehow I rather enjoy watching them again to refresh those memories and laugh for a while. My daughter also likes Tom and Jerry as much as I do but I'm beginning to view the cartoons in a different light ever since I became a parent. The cartoon makes us laugh on the different escapades of Jerry who manages to outwit Tom every time - save for a couple of times that Tom triumphs. In the process Tom usually gets beaten, bamboozled, and sometimes even broken to bits! The laughter value is pretty good but when you think about it, it actually means that it's okay to laugh at a person who is being hit for no obvious fault of his own and fighting is the only means of settling a score. This is against the norms that we wish to impart to our children but given that they watch such cartoons everyday, I'm sure it will stay somewhere in their heads. In a similar vein is another cartoon called Oggy and the Cockroaches. It is about a cat named Oggy being harassed by a trio of cockroaches and quite frankly that cartoon is more towards the disgusting side of entertainment - filled with acts that violate the basic etiquette that we teach our children. And the list of cartoons with objectionable content goes on and on....


I am a mother guilty of using the television as a nanny when needed but recently I have started cutting down the amount of time my daughter spends in front of the tube. I have watched most of the cartoons myself to ensure that they do not contain anything that is either alien to our culture or is sure to plant crazy ideas in my child's head. It is a difficult job to explain to a little girl why she can't watch the cartoons that make her laugh the most but I am trying to draw a line somewhere. I know a person who does not allow kids to watch television entirely but even that deprivation is not healthy for kids living in today's modern society. A kid cannot comprehend why everyone else can do a certain thing and he/she can't. I have always talked about the influence of media in our lives and now I worry about what it could do to our kids! The shows aired on kids channels are also devoid of any real positive purpose and portray the most vile characters as being the most popular. The subject matter of the different shows is rather artificial and promotes useless concepts that should not be the objectives of young minds, like: chasing after girls/boys via different tactics, using money and looks rather than brains to gain attention and above all giving cheeky answers to adults to show assertiveness. Sometimes I talk to my daughter about what she just saw on television and explain to her that the act was bad and the person doing it was being nasty. Thankfully she responds well and next time points out the same act and says she will not do it because it was not nice. It is a start to discovering the good and bad side of things.

A young and open mind will absorb whatever is coming at it, which is why not just television but also the home environment are key factors in deciding its orientation. A household, where everybody has the habit of shouting at each other and misbehaving, is sure to produce children who are prone to bad behavior. Not everything can be taught to kids, because they have a very keen observation and watch our every move with diligence and ultimately copy it. The wise old saying that children are merely a reflection of their parents is true 100%. Their shining eyes look up to us as a role model and it is not their fault that they feel good about behaving like their mom and dad. We are the ones around them since the day they were born and they dote on us! Life does change when you have children because at first you only think about yourself but now you have to think about the latest additions to the family, who are capable of leading you to Heaven or Hell. Allah does cater to the needs of every child that is born but He has left it up to the parents on how they raise that child. And it is scientifically proven that till the age of ten, a child's personality is developing and parents play a crucial role in shaping that persona. As parents, we have to try our best that our children are a worthy reflection of all the good that lies inside us. Because as you sow, shall you reap....

For a Few Dollars More

The political situation of Pakistan has recently started showing signs of complications. Be it the local scenario or the international happenings, we have seen many spikes in our country's strategic graph. Coming under speculations that somehow the lost Malaysian Airliner is in Pakistan was a little too much to digest though...I mean seriously, why does every half-baked story about terrorism have to circle around Pakistan these days? We get implicated for every act of extremism, fundamentalism and of course terrorism. Maybe it's because we hold the distinctive position of being everybody's favorite scapegoat...Because nobody seems to remember that our army is actually fighting all of the before mentioned curses and our civilians are targets rather than active members of terrorist groups. We have to clean out the gangs of Karachi, we have to tackle the terrorist attacks on different cities, we have to recover kidnapped people and we have to avert the security threat posed by Taliban. Do we have time to even think about wreaking havoc in another country when we ourselves are in such hot soup?

But there's a different side to our country's profile...We have a reputation for embracing the troubles of other countries just for a few dollars more. Bahrain has asked us to lend our army for crushing innocent Arabs, who are just crying out for democracy and the rewards will be hefty sums of money. The United Nations has commended our army for being very well-trained and hence our soldiers can easily be used as "mercenaries" anywhere around the globe. As long as the money keeps pouring in, the leadership has no issues with our country's tarnished image or lost lives. Rumor has it that Pakistan has almost agreed to send its army to assist Bahrain in thwarting the attempt of its people to rise against the Kingship. Has our establishment overlooked the fact that the people involved here are Muslims and killing them, is in no way justified by the promised monetary aid. I roughly quote a journalist, who said, " Is the financial situation of Pakistan so bad that we are ready to dip our bread in the blood of innocent Muslims now?" He was being kind about the intentions of our leaders but I don't think that national fiscal boosts have crossed  their minds. 

History stands witness to the fact that Pakistan's establishment can be bought very easily and can be lured into any honey trap, if the fringe benefits attached to the deal are sizable amounts of dollars. It is this greed to fill up their Swiss Bank accounts that makes our leaders overlook the far-reaching repercussions of their selfish decisions. None of them even pauses to think about how damaging such excursions are for national security and national pride. The pain and anguish experienced by Pakistanis, when they show their Green Passport anywhere around the world, is a result of these foreign policy mistakes. The leaders come, gather lots of dough for themselves, buy apartments and mansions abroad and then go off and cool their heels out there somewhere...What do they care if an average Pakistani has to bear the insult of being branded as a terrorist? Why should they lose sleep if some poor children die in Thar due to famine? Why be bothered if a rape victim burns herself to death for lack of justice? Why look back and feel sorry for all the people struggling with inflation, when they have everything they need? This hunger for personal gains and gathering as much money as possible, without any shame or guilt, has made me think that really our leaders have sold their souls to the Devil for a few dollars more.

Bad Romance

Having spent five beautiful years of my life married to the most amazing man on this planet...I am a strong proponent of love stories and classic romances :) But sadly, the definition of love is getting very grotesque these days :p Recently, I have noticed so many things going wrong with romance that it seems to be becoming a very shallow and extremely dramatized affair. Maybe it's the media projections that show everything to be either far too perfect or completely shattered. There's never any in-between scenario, where people are anything besides love-struck puppies or deranged tormentors. And it's either violent throes of passion or it's a violent battle of wits and money. I have rarely seen any love-related drama to show sensible people, who believe in cooperating and working on a healthy relationship that revolves around mutual trust. Most of the characters profess love based on silly presumptions and great expectations, which they keep hidden from the person they love, rather then keeping them in the loop. And then these presumptions and expectations lead to disastrous results for the poor couple :p Can't figure out why do people have to have such over-sized egoes and be such nitwits on television! The worst part is that I see all this happening in reality too......Real people very often indulge in such bad romances and do exactly what seems so unrealistic. 

I agree that dramas today are trying to highlight the menaces found in society, but they don't have to be so goddamn honest about things that plant far-fetched ideas in people's minds. If you keep on seeing something so socially obtuse day-in and day-out, then your mind actually accepts it and adapts to it. And it's not surprising that these twisted ideas of love and dating are making their way into our social system and gaining acceptance from everyone. Our norms about marriage have been shaken to their foundations and it is heartbreaking to note the high rate of divorces and separations these days. Gone are the days when people used to sit down and discuss their problems...now it's more like a debating competition where the two parties are hurling abuses and accusations at each other. Nobody is listening to the other's point of view, which makes it impossible to sort out what is happening!

I have always argued over the negative influence of media but seriously what's up with the writers these days, who write such crap for dramas?? Do they only believe in garnering maximum viewership for their channels or do they have any objectives behind their stories? Their profane ideas have seeped into the minds of most young people, who think of their love life as some romantic movie unravelling. Everybody dreams of the perfect partner and wants to spend a very perfect life, which has candlelight dinners, passionate expressions of love and unlimited glamour. It's ok to believe in such fairytales but you have to be realistic too. Real love takes compromises on both ends and needs plenty of hardwork and effort. You have to be supportive and understanding if you want to work miracles. Seeing beyond the imperfections of someone you love will in fact lead you to the perfect love. But if you just keep on doing what they show on television then you are bound to have a bad romance.

A Better Tomorrow

Justice...Peace....Law and Order....

These words sound like a lot of baloney to an ordinary Pakistani and quite frankly, they ring so empty within the current government framework. We, as a nation, have been left to brave the elements, whether they are social, economic or political. In the past, such a system led to anarchy and chaos around the world, and in some cases it even paved the way for rebellion. But somehow, we seem to be handling ourselves quite nicely. We have kept the act together and have been progressing on slowly. We have become so good at this that we even have the courage to look into the eye of the storm - that is terrorism. We have now a long list of heroes, who sacrificed themselves just to protect others. There are many examples of individual officers of the law, who believed in the greater good and gave up their last breath just so that this country could see a better tomorrow....

But I'm afraid I don't see a better tomorrow anywhere over the horizon and neither do I find any reason that can justify all the deaths of civilians and officers in the name of peace...I searched high and looked down low, and all I could come up with were just empty promises made by the Government to negotiate for peace...I feel humbled by the magnitude of the sacrifices of all the daredevils for something they believed in so strongly despite the failures of every political party that comes to power. How can anybody believe in the greater good, when the bad is so obviously in control of everything that is around us? I am not a pessimist but being realistic is not very helpful either :p

Eversince this year started, we have been losing officers and civilians hither thither but did that even raise an eyebrow in the higher offices? I don't think so.....The few good men that we do have are being targeted by God knows whom and for what nefarious conspiracies. The stakes are getting so high in our country because we seem to be having the interest of so many countries around the world. Somebody disappears and somebody reappears...we get aid and we get a kick in the nuts...somebody does good and somebody gets blown up...we have laurels bestowed upon one talented girl and we get ignored for hundreds of other talented girls...we really have no idea what's going on......

But then we go through this every day and we bear with all the crap just so that we get to see a better tomorrow that comes with the sunrise of fulfilled dreams, the open skies of justice, the songs of peace and the vistas of progress. Yup...tomorrow please be better than today.

Changing Hats

Every once in a while you are reminded of something you used to do when younger and then you stop to ponder why did you quit doing it. Did you grow out of the habit? Or did you just forget all about it? I have reached that juncture in my life when there are many things that make me nostalgic and it shocks me how much I have changed and adapted to the new happenings around me. I have taken on new roles and have become more of a shape-shifter to suit the situation...and in the process, I have lost focus of who I really am!

I'm sure you do go about changing hats too..you try to be a good parent, good sibling, good spouse and never have the opportunity to be the carefree person you were when you did not have to fit into either of these hats. Living for just yourself sounds so selfish but you do envy the people who do exactly that :p Bearing the brunt of all the added responsibilities is a tall order but one way or the other you have to summon all your strength to become the mature adult that you are expected to! That is the trouble of shifting into adulthood....

When you are a small child you dream of becoming as big as the adults around you and think that will be the true fun of life. You hate the books you have to study and despise the puny toys you get to play with. You think your big brother gets the best of everything just because he's older than you. Being taller seems to be the only way to compete with the adults. You wanna drive cars and enjoy all the big things. But then you do not know these things come with the heavy pricetag of responsibility. You never notice how your dad holds his head in frustration when he pays the bills. You never realize how hard your mother has to work the whole day to keep the household together. You never feel the pressure of your elder siblings at dealing with burdens of studying and adjusting within the society. That really is the time of your life, when everything is so simple and there's nothing to fret about besides a broken toy or hurt knee. There's always the hope of daddy getting you a new toy or getting mommy to kiss your tears away. But what do you do when mommy and daddy are no longer there to walk you through life...and when you have to step in their shoes and be the tower of strength that they used to be for you? Changing that hat is the toughest one....

The Good..The Bad...The Ugly...

Sometimes you give everything you got to please another person but somehow in the end all your efforts are for naught and you end up being the bad guy....does it mean you are pathetic at pleasing others? Or does it mean the other person is not worth all the effort? Seriously, over the years I have gained a treasure trove of experience in handling different sorts of people but still find it difficult to discern if the other person needs to be treated nicely or not. Some people don't need your goodness or your cooperation...what they really need is a piece of your mind :p

Some relations are a painful reminder of how vulnerable you are to manipulation and moral extortion because your social duty stipulates you to be good. If you quit that duty you are bad but if you keep on trying valiantly to fulfill it...you are definitely bad. The ugly side of affairs is unveiled when you observe a person least bothered with duties or social opinions. You realize that only those who blatantly refuse to be good are the ones who get the most respect and reverence. You will be shocked to know that those who are full of themselves are the ones who get pampered the most. There is no end to their tantrums but they still get their way in everything. Those who enjoy emotionally trampling others are the ones who get supported most often. You have been trying to be good all along...believing something worthwhile will come out of it and you see the bad guys getting all the good stuff...now isn't that ugly?

Then when you have run out of reasons to be good...you look up and feel Someone watching you...He knows how hard you have tried...He never forgets what you do because His memory does not fail Him like us humans...He tells you to keep on doing what you are doing because that is why He put you on this earth...then you want to be good for Him. To Him we will all return...either good or bad or ugly.