Live and let live!

2006-01-17T19:22:00.000+05:00

CRICKET WITHOUT PURPOSE

The 1st Test Match of the Allianz Pakistan vs India series 2006 would forever stand among the best examples of Cricket played without any purpose because any play which happened on the last two days achieved nothing but records, that too only for individual players, not either of the two teams.

Bad weather dominated the last 3 days of this Test Match, but how??
Well it proved most severe for the pitch (but It’s hard to believe weather was the sole contributor to have made the pitch so very pathetic) and somehow made it totally dead, where a batsman can only get out if he makes a mistake. There is not going to be any remarkably good or outstanding or swinging deliveries, bowlers must wait for the batsman to gift-wrap his wicket which the Pakistani batsmen did at least thrice as compared to only twice by the Indians and that too by the same batsman, no water cooler for guessing the batsman as Sehwag, because Dravid just isn’t prone to such mistakes once he gets "set". However the first mistake proved just too “difficult” a chance for Shoaib Malik, he ran in and very conveniently dropped the significant gift sent flying to him without any love from Sehwag. Why significant? Simply because it brought about the 2nd fastest double hundred by a player in a Test Match!

A little on VIRENDER SEHWAG here. He’s among those few players whose batting style is a bit of an enigma to me. Technically he’s not at all a correct batsman because a batsman should have at least some visible footwork, so what does Sehwag have there? Almost zero footwork! Then what makes him such an incredible entertainer? Probably his brilliant eye-sight, an even better hand-eye coordination and a high bat-lift. His strokes are heavenly, he never bores and on his day he can be a total nightmare for the bowlers. Talking of his day, this is now really clear that whenever he plays against Pakistan, almost every day is his day, every match his match! 2004 series - he scored that record-breaking 309 in Multan, last series - another two centuries and the 1st match of 2006 series and there he is already with a double hundred!

Sehwag’s second and the ultimately lethal mistake came on the 5th and final day when he sliced a Rana Naved delivery straight to Kamran Akmal, who honouring his reputation, didn’t drop or miss the chance, thus crushed Sehwag’s innings at 254 and Dravid’s wish of achieving the milestone of highest opening partnership. It seemed kind of a forced wicket for everyone on the field, as after a whole day dominated by bad light, the day’s game took off sometime late noon, especially on the batsmen’s, particularly Dravid’s requesting the Umpires to give it a chance (of course so we can achieve something for ourselves). This “speedy” start resulted in an equally speedy return of Sehwag (on which “obviously” Dravid looked to be suffering more than the victim himself). Laxman made an entry, but didn’t even get an opportunity to open his 2006 account against Pakistan before Dravid expectedly started “sensing” bad light and thus this Test Match mercifully came to a welcome end – A Draw!

Earlier Pakistan’s innings was livelier as batsmen got out and batsmen came in, 8 helmets, 5 great moods, one half century and four individual centuries among which two deserve special mention. First – Younis Khan’s brilliant and tragically terminated 199, which, ironically so, would be remembered for totally the wrong reason, as he became the first batsman to get out on 199. second – Kamran Akmal’s rock n roll 100 off 81 balls, the fastest 100 by a wicketkeeper in a test match.

Hopefully the pitch for the Faisalabad Test would come out better than this, though I have no high hopes, a good result oriented pitch, till now, looks most probable only for the last Test Match in Karachi.

2006-01-16T11:52:00.000+05:00

THE MYTH OF GANDHI

When he returned to India he did so to restore the traditionalism and social conservatism of status quo. He rejected British plans to distribute power evenly amongst all parties and interests, b/c it would severely undermine the Congress and it’s leading upper-caste Hindu interests. He also formulated a plan to ensure no power sharing deal with the Muslims and he broke the threat of a lower-caste Hindu and Muslim alliance by reinventing a religiously inspired revolution against the British. He claimed to ignore the lines of caste by verbally restoring the dignity to the lower-caste Hindus or Harijans as he called them, and calling them to unite with all Indians to fight for their Independence, through satyagraha, however he never forgot to spell out that their place belonged as servants to the Brahmins.

On numerous occasions he said that the peasant must serve his master at all costs, even if he “suffers in his person” and this usually meant exploitative labour rates. He prohibited inter-dining and inter-marriage across castes.

Now the writer starts quoting a Dr. Ambedkar, a popular and long-term champion of lower-caste Hindu rights who is also the principal author of the Indian constitution. Mushc to his distaste, Gnadhi continued to control the lower-caste into overriding any “realpolitik” plans to attain rights for themselves in the new independent India. Gandhi instead, marched them to salt fields, made facades of ashrams for them, coerced the British into imprisoning him and gained mass sympathies in the process.

Winston Churchill refused to give into Gandhi’s hunger strikes, and would rather that Gandhi starve to death but his associates feared that b/c he has asserted himself as India’s spiritual leader, his death would turn him into a martyr.

True to Dr. Ambedkar’s prediction, Gandhi’s over-flaunted “spiritual emancipation” of the lower-caste Hindus did not secure them a better future and even today, they reportedly stand as the most marginalized lot of India, a notch below the Muslims.
Having shattered any possibility of a collective vote bank of Muslims and lower-caste Hindus, Gandhi now shifted his focus to manufacturing an illusion of poverty. He successfully bought the Congress party a golden choice to back away from any power-sharing deal with the Muslims, rejecting the Lucknow Pact which secular politicians like Jinnah and Gokhale worked hard on to secure the co-existence of Hindu and Muslim communities.

When Gandhi split the movement with his clever plan of rallying majority into a religious fervour for independence, politicians like Mohammad Ali Jinnah, previously side-lined and shunned, realized that the only way they will not find themselves in the same trap shared by the lower-caste Hindus is by demanding as separate state. Used as a “bargaining chip”, historians such as Ayesha Jalal say that Jinnah till the very end tried to give the Indian Muslims the best constitutional protection they could get, but at the end, for Gandhi..it had to be all or nothing!

Under no circumstances was the Congress party negotiating, after all they didn’t see any need to, because the Birtish were hastily retreating and the Congress were turning out to be the one with the bigger pie and the more visible forces.

Seeing that the blame would fall on him for being unable to keep the country united, Gandhi made alliances with Islamic religious leadership, distracting Indian Muslims from interest based politics into a religious euphoria. This only widened the rift between the Hindus and Muslims. Most interestingly, his own orientation remained completely Hindu centric throught – “I am Hindu and therefore a true Indian”, he himself declared!

Jinnah was willing to go as far as accepting the Cabinet Mission plan 1946, favouring united India rather than partition. Pakistan came to be because Gandhi and the Congress party found it unacceptable for Muslims to have full autonomy in the majority provinces. Now this new perspective of the Partition of India is shared by at least two other comprehensive books :
1-) Gandhi: Behind the Mask of Divinity (2001)
2-) Ungandhian Gandhi (2004)

I think this perspective is not so new anymore, the only place where it’s new is in psyche of non-serious activists who would rather believe in the myth of Gandhi than read what he wrote and did. Will this myth persist or will a more honest understanding finally emerge that will give a fair perspective on the man held by millions as the very icon of non-violence and pluralism that Gandhi’s own actions negated?

Next tiem i get on i shall complete this with Jinnah's role in the Partition or what i have come to think of as the facts of it.

2006-01-16T11:11:00.000+05:00

THE MYTH OF GANDHI

Again this is a book under review, just finished double-verifying it’s text and believe me it made really fascinating reading. Incidentally the partition history I got to read in school gave me a very little idea of what kind of a person Gandhi was, I only remember that he got “negatively” portrayed whenever mentioned. But fortunately I had a few other sources from which all the text-book material got instantly verified, at least I could believe almost blindly in the first and the best one b/c that source was none other than my late grandfather (may he rest in peace-ameen). The things he told me about the sub-continent partition, never ever gave me anything, any quotes which even remotely made out Gandhi to have been a paragon at any instant in his life.

My secondary (and now a verified) source is this book, title is Gandhi and the Partition of India: A New Perspective, an excellent book if you want facts, have had it now for 7 yrs!! But only 2yrs after reading it I started using internet, consequently making “new friends”, fortunately quite a few of them are from India, only two of them from Gujrat though, one I consider extinct altogether in the internet world (at least in mine). Now that person became my first Indian source and sadly opposed all the opinions I had on Gandhi, it was really amazing what totally new and different angles she gave to “Mahatma” Gandhi’s personality, a divinely spiritual person who believed and struggled to keep India “united”! and of course she had her own negative opinions on Jinnah which left me speechlessly thinking if it’s another person she mistakenly thinks to be Jinnah :O, needless to say after such an experience I have till now refrained from broaching this subject with any other Indian lest they take me for a victim of some large-scale govt.propaganda. but recently I read a book which is full of partition personalities’ quotes and a little about their views, it only confirmed my views on Gandhi and the satisfying thing is, it’s compiled from reliable sources and by an Indian national so finally I am going to review my secondary authentic source.

Beginning with something I saw on BBC quite recently. In Gandhi’s hometown, Gujarat, three years after the religious violence, the Muslim community is still wasting away for justice and freedom from fear of Hindu retaliation. The incident that left 110,000 Muslims homeless and killed over 2000, according to the Human Rights Watch still have their violators roaming free. The BBC has also reported that mass graves were dug out to hide evidence of the depravity. Women and children, psychologists say, are unable to get over the trauma and violence they witnessed.

Despite this, the Dalits and other untouchables in Gujrat are “far worse than Muslims.” About eight decades back, it was this alliance of common interest between the Muslims and the untouchables that frightened Gandhi, fictiously known as Mahatma, into a series of political moves to protect not only his adherence to orthodox Hinduism, but also the Congress party’s capitalist interests. If the writer is to be believed, the alliance of the lower caste Hindus and Muslims (who were themselves converts from lower-caste Hindus, escaping the drudgery and humiliation of class), formed a majority of the Indian vote bank.

The British planned to leave the colonies and intended to implant the traditions of democracy in the Indian politics before they did. Recklessly abandoning his spiritual face to the world, Gandhi articulated his worst fears in reaction to the safeguards granted to Muslims and the untouchables granted by the British Communal Award of 1931, “the untouchable hooligans would make alliance with the Muslim hooligans and kill upper-caste Hindus.”

According to the writer, as a failed lawyer in South Africa, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had fought tooth and nail against perceived discrimination against Indians, but not as popularly believed, in the interest of equality. It was for the more privileged treatment of Indians in South Africa as compared to black Africans. He fought to separate and segregate the Indians from the subhuman “savage kafirs” who were not “equal to the Indians”. It is because of this fact, also outlined in his volumes of “Collected Works” and his own personal diaries that prompted countless South Africans to protest his statue in Johannesburg in 2002.

To be continued

2006-01-13T09:06:00.000+05:00

SOME POSITIVE CHANGES REQUIRED - II

Now if Pakistan cricket team hopes to reach the top, each player in the team has to earn his keep. The players must be selected purely on form and when they know that their place in the team depends only on their performance, each individual will be compelled to give his best. A player has to earn his keep – he has got to deliver to retain his place in the side. No place for batsmen who are not at all hungry for runs or for bowlers who are not hungry for wickets. We already have one shinning++ “historic case” in point in Pakistan of a quality bowler being dropped but who consequently made his way back into the team by “bowling his heart out” or so it seems till now at least, it is like you had to fix the twisted screw, got to work on it and that has done the job (we only have to hope it’s permanent). For two consecutive, Pakistan dropped Shoaib Akhtar and he has come back with a tremendous ability to “get wickets”. Seems a much better bowler than before , moreover seems to have transformed himself into a team player.

Younis khan took some valuable advice from Rahul Dravid, technically the most correct batsman in the world. That advice turned around Khan’s lousy career and for two consecutive series he was our star performer, though he is reverting back to his old ways now. He should have been the one to be put on notice for the Indian tour.

A major fault line with our batsmen (especially our’s yea) is that they tend to throw away their wickets which shouldn’t be allowed to happy x-( Batsman is there to guard his wicket and a bowler has to earn it the hard way but you learn something new everyday! And so it is for the Pakistan team! This tendency of throwing away wickets would cease when bastmen will realize that their Test place could be in jeopardy. Most of the batsmen nowadays need this disciplining. Shahid Afridi would probably be the only exception to this rule as he knows only one way of batting.

Anyway that seems to be all the work that needs to be done to attain more discipline, the first Test starts today and it's 6.50 AM and i think either this blog log is sleeping or my cable net is b/c i still can't see soemthing i have posted before starting this..how slow can it get : hopefully this one appears on before the match starts today!

2006-01-09T21:18:00.000+05:00

SOME POSITIVE CHANGES REQUIRED

The national cricket team has done extremely well to clinch the recently concluded Test and ODI series against England. The players really fell into a cohesive force or you can say unit and almost everybody played his part. When one particular bowler was not getting the wickets, the others chipped in to make their contribution and this sure is a sign of a team on the roll++!

With three consecutive successful series, the morale of the team is very high and there seems to be no reason why the team should not perform better in the coming series. The Indians must brace for a hard tour when they take on Pakistan on our soil in a few days.
While such a lot of praise is being heaped on the team, one must also really dwell on Inzi’s blunders in this recently concluded series. In the crucial 4th ODI at Pindi, the home team was precariously placed at 209/9 when the last man, Sami, came out to bat, Inzamam at that time was at 80. On the very first ball of the 48th over, the big burly captain took a single and exposed Sami who was dismissed on the next ball. The decision to take that single seems, even now, almost mind-boggling. Even a layman knows that the better batsman protects the tail from being exposed and that a single is taken either on the last or 2nd last ball of the over so that the better batsman retains the strike.

Now in this case it was exactly the reverse. The main and team’s best batsman had the strike, he took a meaningless single, exposed the tail and brought about a premature closure of the innings. Consequently the home team got bundled out for 210 which normally is a very sorry total to defend and did not even last out the 50 overs. As such we were short by precious 16 balls and missed out on a chance of adding another 30 runs. This blunder nearly cost Pakistan the match and England came twithin hitting distance of victory while chasing this sorry target. Had Pakistan lost the match, Inzi would have been swore at by all and sundry. Such elementary mistakes should be avoided++ and the Pakistan captain must go over the basics once again and keep his thinking cap (yea he really has it!) on at all times during the game.
In the 2nd innings of the Faisalabad test, the same blunder was made. The home team has lost 6 wickets for 183 and those were very very tense moments of the match. The captain was at the crease and he left the tail to fend for itself. Consequently Rana Naved fell for one, Shoaib (showboat no more??) for fourteen, and Sami for five. It was Inzi’s own good form that enabled him to reach that century and keep off the danger. Things cannot and should not be allowed to drift like this. There should be proper thinking and planning if the team is to be successful in the long run.

The fact that Pakistan won the series in spite of Daryl Hair was a major achievement. Hair’s umpiring was so biased that it probably would not have been conceived even by an Indian umpire in the by-gone days. He bullied Salman Butt about running on the pitch and after one such episode a petrified Salman fell LBW. Hair wanted the Pakistani batsmen to start running from the sides of the pitch and this was totally absurd.

Then he warned Danish Kaneria twice about running onto the pitch and a third warning would have disqualified the bowler from bowling any further in the innings (convenient++ huh?). all the bowlers in the world run onto the pitch in their follow-thru and what Hair was trying to do was completely unacceptable. In addition, 80% of the wrong decisions given by him were against Pakistan.The PCB should move on this issue and convey to the ICC that Hair is unacceptable as an umpire in any of the matches which involve Pakistan. The need for urgent action was all the more after the England series, as Pakistan have to play India this month and England in the coming summer. By doing so, PCB would have emulated what Srilanka and India have already done. The cricket boards of both the countries have blocked the entry of umpires biased against them from matches involving their teams by conveying to the ICC the names of those umpires not acceptable to them. Needless to mention Hair has already been selected to conduct the first Test of the Pak vs Ind series, all due PCB’s inability to think on it’s back let alone on it’s feet!

This is only part-1 of the changes that are required ,that is not given due thought would prove lethal in the upcoming series...part 2 i hope to put down before the series starts, have got two completely college-free days :D

2006-01-09T18:39:00.000+05:00

INTERESTING NEUROCHEMICALS!

App ki kashish! sarfarosh hai,

App ka nasha! yun madhosh hai,

Kia kahein tum se jaan-e-jaan,

Gum hua hosh hai~~~

Those are the theme lyrics best suited for what i am going to type below, makes a pleasant start at least..

For long we have been reading and hearing love stories and folk tales such as Heer Ranjha, Sassi Punnu and Sohni Mahival. All these characters we know reached the highest level of romanticism and sacrificed their lives in the name of love.

Poets and songwriters often say that love drives you crazy but you’ll be so pleased to know that now neuroscientists agree with this notion too. They have unveiled this fact that falling in love in some ways is an unclassified (as yet) form of severe pathology. Rather than calling it a mental disorder, they have given it a more precise term – the obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Neuroscientists have pointed out that the changes that occur in the brain when one is in love are similar to those resulting from drug addiction!

Now the question that crops up is: what is the OCD and how is it linked with the state of being in love?

The OCD actually is an anxiety disorder. Main feature is the recurrent thoughts that compel the patient to carry out certain tasks, which is also the chief characteristic of experiencing intense love. In the OCD, the afflicted person seeks refuge from anxiety by doing the same act repeatedly whereas the person in love gets immense pleasure in fantasizing and thinking again and again and again about his beloved.

Let us take some hypothetical examples haan! Jehangir gets diagnosed as an OCD patient and he is obsessed with cleanliness. All the time he keeps on thinking about germs and probabilities of being affected by them, which makes him spend long++ hrs in bathroom, washing his hands and clothes. Similarly, Zeeshan is another person, madly in love with Nousheen. Her charm constantly occupies his mind and compels him to wish to see her or be with her all the time. Now all this can give us this idea that in the OCD and when you are in love, the brain gets stuck on some particular thought.

Now let me tell you some background facts I came across regarding this matter :D
It began in 1990, when Donatella Marazziti, a psychiatrist at the University of Pisa in Italy started seeking biochemical explanations for the OCD. She amazed everyone by one interesting discovery. She found an astounding similarity b/w the people with the OCD and the love-struck ones. Most interestingly both of these groups knew that their thoughts were irrational, yet were unable to control them. While studying the OCD, Donatella Marazziti discovered the levels of serotonin are particularly low in the people having this disorder. She then tested the level of serotonin in the brains of love-struck people and found out that the level was also reduced to the same figure as in OCD (about 40% less than the normal).

In another study carried out by two neurologists, Andrea Bartlets and Semir Zeki of the university of London, was aimed at locating the areas of the brain that get activated by romance. The areas triggered by love turned out to be different from the areas aroused by other emotions such as fear or anger! Love stimulates those areas of brain, which generate feeling of elation; many drugs such as cocaine to induce euphoria also stimulate these areas. In other words, love uses the neural mechanisms that are activated during the process of addiction.

Now one may ask that if love makes the person so much addicted to some person then why do we get to hear about break-ups and divorces?? In fact majority of love marriages do not last. They start fighting after a while and complain that their spouses have changed after marriage. Whatever the circumstantial causes, neuroscientists describe that neurotransmitters play an important role in causing such behaviour. The initial phase of falling in love involves the increased secretion of b-Phenyl ethylamine (PEA- or the love chemical), which creates a euphoric high and distorts comprehension, meaning that it restraints the person from seeing the shortcomings of his/her mate. That is why it is often said, love is blind. :P

Now the feelings caused by PEA are very short-lived and when they subside, the patient comes to his/her senses and begins to see his/her loved one in totality. If they are truly a mismatch (victims of neurochemicals), a break-up is likely. On the other hand if they are genuinely compatible, the increased secretion of hormone oxytocin, which is said to sustain love, nourishes their relationship!Hmm so with all these discoveries about the brain, it is clear that all emotions like love, hate or anger are the result of changing levels of neurotransmitters (chemicals in the brain).

2005-12-27T00:58:00.000+05:00

ACID TEST

This post also concerns one of the two things that is on my mind right now. Another hint, it’s also to do with the very “damn” I have just highlighted in my previous post so the preliminary greetings are still the same..Happy reading!

Here only one person or personality or dignitary (or whatever) is under discussion! None other than Prime Minister Shoukat Aziz. What prompted me to put down such a thing is a 47yr old test match I had the good fortune of viewing on Ten Sports recently. As to How and why I’ll just explain in a min. In the life of a high profile player, sooner or later comes a time when he is compelled by circumstances to enter the arena of events for a particular Acid Test.
With due recognition to his expertise in finance, banking and monetary management, our PM is in for a nasty++ Acid Test and he has unknowingly asked for it too. He never had direct or indirect experience of politics, but still he willingly agreed to getting elected to the National Assembly. Seats were vacated for him. He was eventually elected from the constituencies, one of which in Sindh he had never even seen before! Thus such formalities that truly belong to a democratic setup were completed.

Mr. Shoukat Aziz thus became our elected PM! That makes him the Chief Executive of the country. He is the one who ought to be doing all the talking on Kalabagh Dam(n), but instead Gen. Pervez Musharraf does all the controversial talking on it. As if the devastated multitudes in the Northern part of this country have been rehabilitated, the President wants to give a “damn” to the thirsty masses of Pakistan, hah! He now finds himself at loggerheads with the people who have strong reservations against the Dam(n). now had he been in military outfit alone, he wouldn’t even have sought approval from the people for the construction of this dam(n), but now that he wears a sherwani as well, calls himself the architect of democratic norms in Pakistan, it has become necessary for him to seek people’s approval for the pending construction.

It is an interesting kind of dilemma for both the Prez and PM. It is obligatory for a General to salute the PM. Similarly a PM, as per protocol is required to salute the President of the country! As a General, Gen. Musharraf is subordinate to Prime Minister Shoukat Aziz. As President, Gen. Musharraf is his “Boss” who can instantly send him back home without shedding any fat tears. Now what else can be a more confusing and puzzling Acid Test for our PM..has he ever ever played Cricket???

This brings us to the match I saw last week! You know Acid Test is very similar to a freak test match. For Acid Test one is not required to have played Test cricket. If you have played 2nd-grade or 3rd-grade cricket, even then someday you might have to go thru this grueling Acid Test. At times it so happens that without playing any sensible game in life, you are subjected to the ultimate Acid Test and it almost always turns out to be sharp. So back to the Test match – Country: Westindies. Venue: Knesington Oval, Barbados. Occasion: First Test b/w Pak and WI and the date is 17-23, Jan,1958.

Now I’ll take you through it: Windies have put up a massive score of 579 runs in the first innings, Pakistan collapses and falls victim to the fiery pace of Gilchrist for mere 106 runs in the first innings. Force to follow on, Pakistan requires 476 runs to avoid an inning’s defeat. Imtiaz Ahmed and Hanif Mohammed open the innings with their backs to the ball.Imtiaz tears apart the fiery Gilchrist, the then fastest bowler in the world, and puts on 152 runs with Hanif Mohammed for the first wicket and scores a superb 91 runs before departing. Then begins the Acid Test for a 21yr old Hanif Mohammed.

He keeps his cool and doesn’t seem intimidated. He concentrates very hard, goes on playing and playing, frustrates the invincible Windies bowling attack. In compiling his mammoth score, he keeps moving from one milestone to another and it is the sixth and the LAST day! Hanif has been batting for over three days! And the test match is heading for a certain draw. Towards the end, exhausted Hanif stumbles in his concentration and is caught by the wickt-keeper Alexander, bowled Atkinson for 337 runs. Skipper A.H Kardar declares the innings at 657 for 8 wickets and the Match is drawn.

A very few batsmen lately, have scored more runs in a test innings; but Hanif’s two world records seem impregnable to say the least least :d Except for a couple of hrs he spent in the pavilion when he got out for 17 in the 1st innings, Hanif remained on the field for 6 days(!!!!), fielding for 3 days and batting for 3 days! His marathon innings of 337 lasted for more than 16 and 3 quarters of an hr! Thus Hanif emerged a legend in his life-time from the Acid Test. Though PM Aziz has not played Test cricket, still he seems due for this Test. Let’s see..he has advantage of the home ground. The pitch has been prepared to his liking, in fact it is tailor-made. In the first few overs, the ball is expected to swing noth ways. Watch out for out-swingers, you might be caught in the gully! Beware of the fast bowlers b/c they might unexpectedly unleash a volley of bouncers. Therefore you must put on a solid helmet before entering for this Acid Test. No harm if you duck and let the bouncers go to the keeper. Let the talking on the Dam come from him as after all he is the elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.

2005-12-26T16:22:00.000+05:00

THE BLACK GARDEN (KALABAGH) DAM -

This post concerns only a particular sphere of ppl so I thought I should put it down in the very first line! If you hail from the Pakistan province of Sindh then this post I am sure is just the thing for you (Y), if you belong to anyother province then it’s worth your reading too..it’ll make you understand newspapers better in the coming months, lastly if you aren’t even a Pakistani then reading this is recommended only if you are a current world- affairs freak!
Nowadays we are reading such a lot about the pending construction of Kalabagh Dam, hinderance is only 1 province out of the 5 Pakistan has and that is of course Sindh. The province which I think always makes the front page in relation with the oh-so-many in justices done to it. Now when the moment of decision has finally arrived, the protests and their frequency is touching new heights over here in Sindh. That’s what made me borrow this book from British council and now that I have gone thru it, I think it’s about time I reviewed it.

Sindh : State of environment and development is the book under review.
This book is the first and the most comprehensive account that I have come across on Sindh’s resources and it’s contribution to Pakistan’s economy. The data presented in this book dispels much of the myth surrounding the proportional allocation of federal resources to the various provinces vis-à-vis the majority province. Throught the book I also got to know how the deep misgivings in Sindh over, among other things, water sharing with Punjab might have come about.

Sindh’s major concern is that the availability of water in the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) has not been properly projected. For this, the people of Sindh are apprehensive that the construction of Kalabagh Dam and other reservoirs proposed in Wapda’s Vision-2005 will prove to be unsustainable and that these projects will most likely reduce the water share of the water share of the province.

Sindh is entirely dependent on the Indus River for its survival and development. Almost a 20yr data from 1980-88 to 1989-98 demostrates that about 95% of the farmland in Sindh obtain water from the irrigation system, while the rest is cultivated with the help of tube wells. The limited ground water in the province is avalaible in only 28% of the entire area. Rainfall is only in the range of 100-200mm/annum, while the evaporation rate is about 100-2,000mm, depending on the climate. Thus, the whole of Sindh is arid, with Indua being the primary freshwater source that gives life to the province.

Now with an increase in population, the average amount of renewable freshwater avalaible to each person declines. A country is considered to be under serious water stress if it falls below 200 cubic metres. It is classified as water deficient if per capita water avalaibility falls below 1,000 cubic metres. The per capita water avalaibility in Pakistan was 5,000 cubic metres in 1947 which decreased to about 1,200 cubic metres in 2002. In Sindh it falls below the national average, meaning that the province has entered a phase of water insecurity. This in turn calls for providing it with it’s legitimate share of water from the Indus River System.
The province of Sindh contains only 23% of Pakistan’s population, but it’s contribution to Pakistan’s economy is comparatively higher than other larger provinces. Sindh collects 70% of Pakistan’s income taxes and 62% of sales tax. Almost 70% of the national revenues are collected from Sindh but it’s share in the revenue transfer is only 23.28%.

Sindh contains 54% of the country’s textile units, 45% of its sugar mills, 20% of pulp and paper mills, 34% of total industrial capacity in large-scale manufacturing and 25% in small-scale manufacturing. In addition to all this, the province produces 35% of all manufactured edible oil in the country. Around 60% of the country’s oil fields and 44% gas fields are located in Sindh. 56% oil and 37% of Pakistan’s daily gas production comes from Sindh.

The book also contains a detailed account of the agricultural sector as well. Sindh is a major producer in this sector. Around 14% wheat, 43% rice, 30% sugar cane, 25% cotton and 30-50% vegetable crops grown in the country are from Sindh. Its coastline of approximately 350km is also a very productive resource as 48% of fish export from Pakistan is from Sindh. 71% of marine fish, 65% of freshwater fish, and 100% of brackish water fish resources are located here. In the context of livestock, 28% buffaloes, 27% cattle 24% sheep, 28% camels and 40% poultry in Pakistan are found in Sindh. The province also contains the only substantial large-scale mangrove forests in the country.

Now Sindh’s contribution to the energy sector is also worth noting. There were 18 exploratory wells drilled in the yr 2000-01 in Pakistan of which 14 were in Sindh. It is the largest fossil fuel producer in the country. In fact a graph from the Pakistan Energy Yearbook shows the production in Sindh is increasing whereas that in Punjab is decreasing. Sindh has also replaced Balochistan as a major producer of gas. This province ahs the largest deposits of coal in the country as well as one the largest deposits in the world in Thar.
The book goes on to give details about the industrial development, culture and heritage, education and environmental health and the NGO sector in Sindh. Almost 50% of Sindh is urban. As compared to rural areas, the indicators are much better but as compared to urban areas of Punjab, they are marginally poorer. Because of the ineffectiveness of industrialization, housing infrastructure and transport sectors, an informal sector has developed in these areas. Also in Karachi, there exists a strong civil society. This can be judged easily from the fact that there are over 800 registered NGOs operating in the katchi abadis. A number of these are also emerging in the smaller towns and rural areas of Sindh and are actively participating in the movements against the Kalabagh Dam, Thal canal and environmental pollution.

So, hopefully anyone who is reading this would be able to understand the reason behind the unrest and insecurity which is provoking the people of Sindh to take to the streets holding anti-kalabagh dam banners (not to mention appealing to the prez and prime minister’s better senses)..while Sindh offers so much to the country, one has to pause and think what it gets back in terms of investment and opportunities. The conditions of the cities and towns, and not to forget the rural areas, where civic facilities and infrastructure are in a dismal state, are witness to the fact that it does not get as much as it gives.

2005-12-22T15:07:00.000+05:00

G9 Markaz

Jinnah Super Market

Jinnah Super Market

Atleast the mini-buses look the same back home!

2005-12-22T14:45:00.000+05:00

PM's huge residence..waise Residence is too ordinary a word for this place!

Parliament House

The Mighty SUPREME Court!

Such greenery!a median strip along Constitution Avenue.

2005-12-22T14:15:00.000+05:00

Shah Faisal Mosque - Inside view

Rawal Lake

Sunset view from Daman-e-Koh

Lok Virsa

Islamabad Zoo

2005-12-22T13:38:00.000+05:00

Islamabad Airport

The Mosque at Isb Airport

Serena Hotel - Front

Hotel Dinning area

Shah Faisal Masjid

2005-12-22T08:52:00.000+05:00

ISLAMABAD (ISLOO calls!)

So finally am in Islamabad!!the only city in Pakistan, especially designed and planned in 1958, by some of the most distinguished architects, among them Edward Durrell and Ponti, to give it the status of the modern capital of Pakistan plus to reduce the overwhelming economic importance of the two big cities: Karachi and Lahore.

Being a Karachiite and here for the first time ever (yea really!:), I just can’t seem to digest that Islamabad belongs to the same continent as Khi let alone the same country!(I won’t say it’s due to it’s size, b/c I came prepared to encounter only a very tiny++ city)! Then guess why?? First and the foremost reason : it’s reallllllllyyy intensely chilly over here and to think I thought nowadays it’s winter back in Khi! the winter here is totally different or what you might call the “real deal” grrrrrrr! Second reason : it’s a neat+++ city, extremely and totally neat, so very spacious with neat parks, neat gardens, yet neater and finer tree-lined avenues…you might want to drop dead right here where it’s so distressingly and depressingly clean. The third reason (can be a sub reason) is the traffic here or lack of traffic AND pollution! have been through most of the town and the difference is completely obvious. The traffic back home is a nightmare to say the least! most of the time unorganized too thou it’s getting better lately, consequently pollution in Khi is high++ too for better part of the day.
MUST SEE : some of the “must see-s” I have seen so far :) listing them down in the order I liked them :

We (me and my two friends) are staying at the Serena Hotel (why? B/c this is recommended by papa..well chacha too!), it’s on Khayaban-e-Suhrawardy which is very near to the Shakarparian Park, the park’s been created on a low hill, and gives a view over Islamabad AND it’s twin city Rawalpindi too. To the east of this park is the Rawal Lake…now this seems to be a very popular place for a stroll especially in the evening when the lights of both the cities look so attractive++. One of the residents told me that if visited during the day, you can also see clearly across to the Margalla hills towards the north(exactly opposite) and Kahuta to the south..Kahuta is the center of Pakistan’s nuclear tech. research programme.

Shah Faisal Masjid – mm I have seen this mosque for real now at this advanced age, THE mosque which is so familiar even to a 7yr old Paki , well familiar only from it’s pictures..not as in real! The mosque is magnificient, one of the largest in the world, can hold 100,000 worshippers. It’s named after the old Saudi King and designed by some Turkish architect. the whole structure is quite unique of course but the minarets are it’s highlight actually, they so resemble rockets! The main prayer-chamber is a desert tent-like structure. Then there’s the courtyard of the mosque where the Islamic Research Center is situated..the IRC has a cool library, a restaurant, museum, a Press Center and a lecture hall.

Rawal Lake – it’s an artificial lake and a major source of water supply for Isb and Rawalpindi. Has a terraced garden, just one of the many picnic spots this city boasts of :o the lake is fun, suitable for boating plus fishing too (sad I have never tried my hand at it) though have to get a permit for it from the hut nearby. Very near it, is the Islamabad Club..excellent for sports freaks..has numerous updated facilities.. includes a decent Golf course, tennis and Squash courts (only members allowed thou) then there’s the riding complex which is open to non-members too.

Daman-e-Koh – it is kind of terraced garden in the Margalla Hills…there’s a viewpoint here which gives again an excellent view over the whole city. The garden seems like a popular picnic spot too for the evenings.. Complete with a restaurant and snack bar!

Lok Virsa Museum & Heritage Library – It’s one and the only institute of folk and traditional heritage in Pakistan! And has an impressive++ collection and chambers which I’ll list down here..it’s located very near Shakarparian Hills. There’s a large display of embroidered costumes, jewellery, woodwork, metalwork, block printing, bone and ivory work! Then there’s the traditional architecture models with skills such as mirror work, fresco, marble inlay, mosaic and stucco tracery on exhibition. It has a Reference Library as well..amazingly well-equipped with material on ethnography, anthropology, folk music, art and history. Wait!! There’s more here:O a Lok Virsa’s Sales Center where we can buy books on culture, heritage, audio/video cassettes of folk and classical and instrumental music too :D

The Rose and Jasmine Gardens behind Shakarparian Hill..it’s off the GT road…an extremlyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy beautiful, absolutely amazing colorful place (it’s a packed garden afterall)..holds flower shows only in the spring season..it has over 250 varieties of roses and a dozen or so jasmines.

Islamabad Museum – nice place, checked it out in a walk-thru style (in great hurry)..saw 20 miilion yrs old fossil remain, 2 million yrs old man-made stone tools, 7000yrs old human settlement remains (from the indus civilization), Gandhara garve culture and art, antiques from Mughal period..timings are 9.30 am – 4.30 pm.

The Mini-Zoo – it’s very near Daman-e-Koh, just below it in fact in the Marghzar..tell you what!..I’ll recommend walking through the better part of Islamabad esp if you are visiting for the first time! At least we did it..after Shakarparian, we took a pleasant walk from the north end of 7th avenue upto this Zoo(it’s less than an hr walk) then went onto Daman-e-Koh. Like a true Pakistani zoo, it has a small and inadequately cared-for collection of animals which includes monkeys, a bear, some birds and deer(obviously as Pak has lots of them!)…but wait there was more excitement yesterday and it was supposedly more crowded than usual! The reason turned out to be quite a fiery-looking tiger..acc. to zoo-ish sources the poor thing had escaped sometime ago and had been busy living on humans in the jungles..the day before he was caught and brought to this prison so in a way I got lucky :D.

Quite a few architecturally striking buildings worth seeing (it’s the “modern” capital afterall) :

The Prime Minister House
Parliament House
Secretariat Buildings
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Churches – 3 in all
And..umm I think that’s all of the ones I saw, that too only in passing..couldn’t have afforded to venture inside naa!
Last but not the least I went to the Jinnah super market which I had heard is the major shopper’s paradise for Islooites..it’s a little like Hyderi of Khi..recommended for shoes, had a flying tour of G9 markaz as well.

2005-12-07T12:05:00.000+05:00

About time to buy an Off-Roader!

yes…I am saving money to buy an offroader! Not because of the love of offroading and not because my mother wants to see me in one. Rather I am running out of roads to drive this lousy little car on. Almost every road has been dug up on the pretext of development. But folks! You also have to rebuild the road which you dig up. Ohh dont tell me, nobody told you about this!!
The City Government is out on a mission to destroy every reasonable road existing in Karachi. And when they are too tired to keep going on their destruction spree, they let sewage water overflow on the roads that remain!
Well, beleive me! i don’t want to be cynical before my old age, but guyzz! I can’t help it! This development is going nowhere and it seems we are going back in time. How can you justify digging up the entire one side of the road opposite Islamia College when the main road opposite Agha Khan hospital is still in its destructed state! And not to mention the pitiable state of the side lane near Quetta Sajji in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Thank God, that Rashid Minhas road has been carpeted after such a looooong time!I guess I would’nt be so cynical after I get my offroader, but until then, you will just have to bear with me I guess!

2005-12-07T11:34:00.000+05:00

Driving License plz?

Whenever the government comes up with some campaign to curb lawlessness, guess who is happy? Yes the ‘police wallas’ of course. The recent driving license checking campaign is an example. With noble intentions of course, this campaign was launched to check drivers without valid driver’s license. But like all other campaigns, this campaign has been hijacked by the bribery intentions of the traffic officials. On the pretext of checking the license, they are minting money from the drivers and the campaign has been rendered almost ineffective, not to say the least of the revenue loss to the government.
Day before yesterday, I was intercepted by a bearded traffic police-walla at the Rashid- Minhas signal. Since I did not have a license as usual, I was given a lecture on the government’s license checking campaign. On my insistence on dropping the matter (with my innocent look and my offer of chaey-paani), he immediately agreed! But my 100-rupee note was not acceptable and the least he was interested in was 200. On my refusal to give him 200 he pretended to start issuing me the ticket, hoping that I would panic and give him 200. Not seeing me interested, he said “Laein bibi app yahee de dein”. Next time I would offer only 50!

2005-12-07T11:28:00.000+05:00

Right of Fair Treatment??

This morning on my way to college, I saw a police-walla kicking some lower class people riding bicycles , trying to get on to Shahrah-e-Faisal. Had this been a developed country such an incident would have created an uproar in the media and the culprits put to task. No siree! not in Pakistan! Here you can get away with just about anything and the wrongfull treatment metted out to the common man is just another story which goes unnoticed and unmarked.
Had these people who were being kicked belonged to the upper class, the tulla would never have dared to even touch them. I believe the people have a right of Fair Treatment as well along with the other basic human rights. How can you expect to make better citizens out the mistreated individuals?
I dont blame the police-walla for his atrocious behaviour. Probably thats how he and his family has been treated and would be the normal thing for him to do. And I dont blame the poor bicycle rider either as this treatment metted out to him would be considered as fate by him. Being a lower- class individual he would have accepted it as routine, foregoing his rights of fair treatment, burying his ego in the rubble of the mainy injustices done to him.
But I do blame the literate class for turning a blind eye to these horrendous episodes of mistreatment. Even if some of the so called intellectual class start raising their voices to demand better treatment for poor and the entrecnched class, the situation would not be so bad!

2005-12-07T11:01:00.000+05:00

KARACHI

Here is something I received through email. I think it depicts what Karachi is all about, so
Here Goes!
A CITY where everything is possible Especially the impossible.
Where lovers first love and then marry, Where there is place for every Irfan,Fareed and Fahad.
Where telephone bills make a person ill, Where a person cannot sleep without a pill.
Where carbon dioxide is more than oxygen, Where the road is considered to be a dustbin,
Where college canteens are full and classes empty, Where Adam teasing is also making an entry,
Where a cycle reaches faster than a car, Where everyone thinks himself to be a star,
Where sky scrapers overlook the slum, Where houses collapse as the monsoon comes,
Where people first act and then think, Where there is more water in the pen than ink,
Where the roads see-saw in monsoon, Where the beggars become rich soon,
Where the roads are leveled when the minister arrives, Where college admission means hard cash, Where cement is frequently mixed with ash.
This is Karachi my dear!
But dont fear, just cheer
Come to KARACHI every year!!

2005-12-07T10:41:00.000+05:00

What makes Women better LEADERS than Men?

Are men really superior to women in anything other than in "The physical context"?? You'll be surprised to hear a loud++ "YES" from at least 2 directions (like i did with 3 of my male classmates sitting there) even in this "enlightened era" and so that makes quite a debate with a lot of high-volume mutters of "wishful feminist", "blind nutcase" etc etc from God's superior machoo-creations. The article which was then in discussion was by a critic who argued that the women should not be stereotyped as having a leadership style different from that of men. Do you agree? Do you think that women, on average, have a more interactive style of leadership than men? I do! so below is the logic behind my views, i hope it's read by at least a few more members of the species for whom all this is intended!

In this evolving era, women are increasingly coming out of their homes and are competing with men in every field of life, whether it is education, market place, service industry, banks or any imaginable profession. As women move into higher positions in organizations, it has been perceived that they often possess a different leadership style that is very effective in today’s turbulent corporate environment. The leadership style of most men can be described as transactional, and they are more likely to use position power in their dealings with subordinates.

Although women in leadership may also share these qualities, they tend to demonstrate and stress leadership behaviors that are interactive. An interactive leader is concerned with consensus building, inclusiveness, and participation and caring. Interactive leadership promotes the idea that striving to reach organizational goals enables employees to reach their personal goals.

Most women, while working in offices, also have to manage their homes. They are usually more aware of personal problem and insecurities of their employees. Also most men have properties like aggressiveness or assertiveness, taking initiative, and a “take charge” attitude. Men tend to be more competitive and individualistic and prefer working in vertical hierarchies. If something contrary to their expectations or liking occurs, most men are likely to respond with emotions ranging from anger to despondence. Women, being one of the more cool-minded creations of God, would try to solve that problem through discussion. Moreover, many women are generally in the habit of discussing their homes and the related problems, which are not too personal, in their offices and with colleagues. This is human nature that one feels more at ease with a person with whom he is used to discussing such things, as compared to with a person who just limits himself to work-related discussions. As a result, employee may interact with women leader more readily. Interaction also serves as a great weapon for these women. In most organizations, majority of the workforce comprises men. These men can have a very biased attitude regarding a female leader and they might dislike taking orders from her. Therefore, women leaders have got to develop trust and friendly relations with her subordinates from the very start, so that they could get to know and respect her as a person and as a leader, instead of just sidelining her and creating a gender-bias.

But then there is always another side of the picture. Consider the case of a woman who is happily married with kids, and is not only educated but due to hard work and efficient performance in her career, she has to been selected as a manager in her firm. It means that she has not only successfully managed her home and its environment, but has also taken leaps in her professional career due to her devotion and excellence. Now when this woman leader comes across a subordinate, who is showing inefficiencies in his/her work or is presenting excuses for not completing the given job on time, the leader might not be very compromising. She wouldn’t understand that if she can manage at two fronts in her life simultaneously and do it well, why not a man can complete his job or concentrate on his work. In fact, she may display properties of a perfectionist and may not be very understanding while dealing with subordinates’ inefficiencies. So generalizing all women as having similar and usually interactive style of leadership would be misleading and wrong.

The interactive leadership style too is not limited to women only. Many male managers are learning to adopt this style by developing their skills in attention to non-verbal behavior, empathy, cooperation, collaboration, and listening.

Some thought-provoking examples from history :
- In 1213 Delhi’s Sultan Altamash named his unmarried young daughter, Razia, as his heir to the throne of Delhi, in spite of having three sons. The reason he gave for this was that his sons were incompetent and were not fit to take over the reigns of the sultanate and that Razia was endowed with good education, was knowledgeable about statecraft and warfare and was just in her dealings.

- In 1581 Emperor Akbar appointed a woman from his family, Badrunnisa Begum, as governor of Kabul. You can also find mention that in all the ordinances issued in Kabul during this era, her seal and signature is present.