Book Review – The Sands of Time (A Novella by Mr. Faisal Kapadia)

I never really liked love stories. I always thought they were so distanced from life itself. Recently, though I had the chance to read a short story, the dedication for which warmed up the heart of this non-believer: – “…the strength of true love is in its endurance, not in its fiery fickleness”. The Sands of Time, written by Mr. Faisal Kapadia, a writer, blogger, and now an author of the captioned novella, from Karachi, Pakistan.

The book starts with an impressive preface by the author, whose patriotism glimmers through his words. Pakistan, in the current times is marred with blood and chaos – each day bringing one bad news to another. And yet, the author reminds us of the great potential of this land, which ‘speaks out’ to him, and this he says, is one of the stories from the land.

This tale starts near what seems to be the centerpiece of the whole story, the sea where one finds the main character, Saleh, in his adolescence. It is the story of this young crab seller that the writer weaves into the rich landscape that life is in and around the city of Karachi. The rise of this boy through his years marked by circumstance love and evil around him runs in parallel to the story of a girl called Laila belonging to part of the city’s posh class who grows up & finds the man of her dreams but along the way has just two encounters with Saleh which change her life forever.

The fact that the writer has the gift of transporting the reader into situations he narrates so well with his words is only elevated by his grasp of the local lingo and mannerisms which are part and parcel of this book rather than looking like forcefully inserted references which some use to make their books sound more rooted to the ground. This book lives and breathes the unending energy and darkness that can be found in Karachi and the people which go through its fast paced life before disappearing into it to emerge the next morning ready to run again with the waves that lap its shores.

You would find yourself chuckling in delight at Saleh’s clever humour and at times gaping in horror with a swift change and the shuffling of words which the author does so aptly. Every page is vibrant with action, and each character has a distinct personality and aura that speaks for itself. The story is sprinkled with all the right ingredients of a life of an ambitious man, the darkness glinting and interspersed well with the Saleh whose heart beholds the love of his childhood’s dream, – a love that withstood all the tests of time. The story is titled the Sands of Time because true love, is after all, eternal in its core.  Like the two connected vertical glass bulbs of an hour glass, the Sands of Time runs the story of Saleh and Laila in parallel and yet their story is deeply connected. It is with deliberate intention that I shall refrain from describing the plot of the story further. How else will you go online and buy it?

What also swelled my heart with pride was the recognition that a Pakistani writer was able to sell his book on the largest US online retailer ‘Amazon’ – http://www.amazon.com a ‘market place’ that offers many products including books in hard cover and the recent ‘Kindle Edition’ ebooks. Mr. Kapadia’s novella is available in the books section, you can search by author name, book title or simply click here. With the social media savy new face of Pakistan’s emerging readership, it should not take more than five minutes to download the ‘kindle version’ of this ebook in your desktop or your laptop – straight from the website.

The author writes in end to the preface, ‘…sometimes it is not the destination but what one witnesses along the way that matters…” an apt way to describe the brilliant, quick and profound journey this piece of writing takes you on, let us hope there are many more such stories to come from the writers quill in the near future.

Two Dynamos

This post was originally printed in The Friday Times on 23 July 2010

In 1988, a second-generation Chinese Philipino was elected Mayor of Naga City, the youngest city mayor of Philippines at the age of 29. By 1999, ten years down the road, Naga City is cited as one of the ‘Most Improved Cities in Asia’ by Asiaweek Magazine.  By 2010, he aims to make Naga City a ‘happy place with happy people’. It is the ‘principle of rising expectations’, he quips. ‘People seek a higher standard of living from the service providers and each time, a higher level of ‘happiness’, he says.

 Sitting in the conference hall, in Manila city, at the Capacity Development Learning Week, organized by the United Nations Development Programme regional center, I could not help but marvel at his commitment to his city, his vigour to have an informed constituency, and to empower his people.  “When you try to cultivate a culture of professionalism, people want to be a part of the government.” Is it any wonder that Naga city is the most awarded local government in the Philippines. Mayor Robredo himself has earned 14 major individual awards including the 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government service. In recognition of his skills and competence as a leader and development manager, his peers elected Robredo as President of the League of Cities of the Philippines in 1995, the national association of city mayors.

 Mayor Jesse M. Robredo, who walked in the hall in his Jeans and a shirt, without any formal protocol, atleast the one that we are used to seeing, was truly a leader of the masses.  On being questioned by one of my colleagues of what drives the Mayor in life, he answered humbly that no material or financial benefit can compare to the sense of satisfaction that comes with serving your city.  For a man who has won landslide victory in local government elections six times in a row, this hardly seemed like a pretence statement.  Mayor Robredo was vocal about allowing citizen’s voice as a process to support the outcome – improved performance, a sense of ownership for their city government and thereby a sense of citizenship.  

 As I sat there, awed by his personality, the hall numb with pin-drop silence and respect for the Mayor, I could not help but compare him to the only man I could think of, from Pakistan, who could match his loyalty to his city – Mustafa Kamal, former District City Nazim (mayor) of Karachi.

 I am reminded of what Helen Keller once said: ‘People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant’.

 Former Karachi District City Nazim Mustafa Kamal, generally agreed as Karachi’s most forward looking mayor and a ‘do-er’ also happens to be its youngest Mayor – ever. The fact remains that Mustafa Kamal is also generally seen as the face of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) in Pakistan, a party seen as rising from ethnic grounds in the face of Pakistani politics. Praising Mustafa Kamal is often seen as being a supporter of the MQM and blinded by our own prejudice or political alliances we are often silenced by our inner critic. 

 How many of us are aware that Mustafa Kamal has been nominated for World Mayor 2010 prize, ironically enough against the very Mayor of Naga city in the Asia region? Many say that the Mayor implemented the policies initiated by the Nazim who preceded him, but how many of us have seen ‘do-ers’ in this land of the pure who serve the people with true dedication? You can actually count them on your finger tips. I do not live in Karachi and so I have a bird’s eye view of the city and perhaps influenced by international media projecting former Karachi District City Nazim Mustafa Kamal. This is sad because the ‘true working class representative’ has remained shrouded in the mayhem that defines Pakistani mainstream media.  They would rather play a certain notorious video clip depicting Mustafa Kamal frustrated and angry with the red-tape of the bureaucracy rather than show a video clip showing him sitting by the roadside at 3 a.m., making sure that the ongoing work is expedited to ensure better service delivery to the citizens.  Have we ever thought about the personal life of the man who we expect to serve the city at the cost of his family time, serving his people in the wee hours of the night?

 Mayor Robredo and Mayor Kamal, to me are examples of Leadership in action.  For someone flying in from Islamabad to Karachi airport, the first sight of the airport itself is a reminder of dedication and work of a leader, who was backed by an entire system of the city district government in Karachi, and yes, the ‘ethnic’ party who actually brought him to the forefront.  Big budgets can help set up programmes but true success comes from proactive leadership and a commitment to work with the institutions allowing involvement of the people with forward looking planning.   I am not aligned to any political party and I strongly believe that in this era of negative publicity of our country in every part of the world, perhaps it is time we ‘own’ our star-performers who may have their own sets of faults and weaknesses, but as long as they serve the people, there is no reason why we should shy away from supporting them.  It is leaders like these who give a common man hope to make it to the corridors of power and perhaps the opportunity to be the change we wish to see?

I heart twitter no more…

Shaista Hussain, Islamabad…Tweeting since 30 June 2009 and now have lost track of why I joined twitter in the first place! Yes Sire, I too, have reached the tipping point that comes in the life of any new social networking site.  I am b-o-r-e-d and I heart twitter no more…

Twitter has increasingly become an I-can-rant-all-I-like place even if people are having a bad day and especially when people are having a bad day! There is far too much information stream and that’s primarily one’s own fault because hey, we can always ‘unfollow’ anybody we do not agree with.  I find this blogpost by Seth Simonds most amusing: Why I unfollowed 45,000 people on twitter!

In the Pakistani twitter space or atleast the people I am currently following, there is way too much people bashing and especially politician bashing for my taste.  Tweeples of Pakistan, what is the matter with us? Why can we not positively use having people like Imran Khan, Pervaiz Musharaf, Marvi Memon and other prominent politicians as an opportunity to engage with them in a healthy manner, bring out issues instead of verbal abuse? And here, I am not debating which ones operate their own twitter accounts! I think it is such a positive step that our politicians are increasingly becoming social media savvy and we should use it for positive change and healthy debates and bringing out the issues to the forefront instead of what I find a disgusting attention seeking behaviour – verbal abuse.  Let’s leave that to certain primetime mainstream media shows now shall we? With the increasing number of prominent politicians joining the new social order, imagine the possibilities of connecting a common citizen directly with the elected leaders!

A while ago, I was sharing my annoyance with twitter with fellow tweeples and friends, Awab, Sana and Faisal and we all agreed how much negative information stream can be such headache inducing! It is about time we review our list of people we follow, ‘clean out’ certain tweets from our lives for good and just follow like-minded people. And perhaps that was why I joined twitter in the first place.

Of Fakebook, hacking and other Demons

It was perhaps 2007 when I first registered for a facebook account.  I remember my sister sent me an invitation and out of plain curiosity, I joined what I later declared the ‘ultimate time waster’.  To be fair, facebook is great fun keeping up with your family and friends, checking out what fun your friend had in that family vacation to Dubai, wedding pictures and facebook groups serve to keep family members updated who are missing out on all the fun, that newly born adorable baby born to your cousin, keeping an eye on your colleagues and especially those working under your teams and last but not the least, keeping tabs on the life and adventures of your ex-flame! With the advent of social media in Pakistan and with the sudden explosion of the ‘most used social network’, you see your mom, khalas and phupos, cousins, nieces and nephews all joining the bandwagon.  I sometimes tease my brother and sister that with our blackberry savvy mother commenting on most of our facebook activity, maybe it is time to move to another social networking site.

Recently I have known two incidents, of stalking and hacking of facebook accounts, in cases where the girls whose IDs were hacked were put through the mental agony of their pictures shared with a wider audience, including their family members, causing not just panic and embarrassment but also severe stress.  I am concerned because they were young underage girls, and when you are immature and vulnerable, you tend to trust people who you think are your ‘friends’, not realizing that the big bad world of the internet is inhabited by an entire network of individuals who will stalk you and who will comprise your privacy.  Facebook is the new tool for a broken-heart-on-vengeance.  Hacking somebody’s account or faking their ID is the new trend and if you are not careful, you run the risk too! There is a good post here on one of my favourite blogs, Deadpanthoughts, by Faisal Kapadia, that provides some good advice on how not to get hacked.  Another blogger friend, Awab Alvi shared the link to report privacy violations on facebook as I sought his advice once to help out one of the younger victims of facebook stalking.  This link is useful for everyone to know, just in case you ever need it.

My father has been playing a lead role on combating Cyber Crimes and I was discussing this evening of the key issue of vulnerability and what can be done to prevent damage coming to one’s loved ones. His response shook me to the core: he asked me would you allow your son to go out unaccompanied? I said, ‘no, in these turbulent days, never!’ He then said, so why should any parent let their children loose in the cyberspace where each link can allure him/her to anywhere they should not be. In this day and age, when parents who monitor who their child meets and interacts with, must not ignore the new social media, where the internet is interactive, responsive, interfering and at times disturbing like a strange man peeking inside your house through the window.

The fact remains that you cannot stop children from what is available out there as that itself is not a viable solution.  It only raises curiosity and adds value to the allurement charm of the new and shiny tools of communicating with a world out there. What you can do however is to be more aware, know your way around the privacy settings of the new social media and be there to ‘share instantly’ what your growing child would like to discuss without being ‘judged’ by you.  Else, you must remember that there will be ‘others’ taking up the role of the keen listener in the big crowd of the innumerable possibilities of the social media out there.  The choice is ours.

I for instant – Our Next Generation

It struck me for the first time the day I was searching frantically for my missing handbag (read ‘stolen’) and my then 7-year old son’s reaction was to immediately sit down with my laptop and much to my annoyance, he actually googled, ‘pictures of people who steal purses’. Later that night, I took a picture of the screen that was still open and it actually made me smile (in a still-annoyed sort of way, yes). He literally thought that the internet was the answer to my dilemma. But then again, you cannot really blame him. He has seen me search for questions in cyberspace and sometimes we use the internet together to search for interesting concepts we come along. Since I run the risk of my brother reading this blog post as well, I would like to add that we have only recently started using Bing, the decision engine which is far more useful! But the fact remains that at age 7 my son thought that the internet or technology was invincible. Ouch.

There is a very interesting article that I recently read on the ‘children of cyberspace’ about today’s children and how the emerging technology is shaping their views of the world and how different their perceptions would be from not only their parents but also perhaps their own elder siblings, given the lightening speed with which technology is catching pace. Is it any wonder then that my 2-year old son is far more at easy with my cellphone (a blackberry) than I was six months back when I had just bought it. The same article also brings forward a very interesting opinion, that today’s iGeneration as it calls them, are so reliant on ‘instant messaging’ that they will grow up to expect an ‘instant response’ from anyone they communicate with and will not have the patience for anything else. The ability to multitask at a far greater extent than their elders is a definite trademark for this new generation but the question of ‘concentration’ and ability to ‘focus’ on the task at hand is a big question mark. The current generation that is growing up in a world of ‘real’ and ‘online friends’ and has somewhat ‘relaxed notions of privacy’ as compared to their predecessors does raise eye brows especially those amongst us who are still not social media savvy. While it is natural for one generation to denounce the others and only think of their time as ‘the best ever’ (we all have heard similar stories from our grandparents and parents of ‘their times’) but this issue definitely needs some food for thought.

This is a generation which is being brought up by learning to say the Alphabet from the Sesame Street DVDs to interactive digital books. If you happen to sit in a group of elementary school kids, especially boys, you will only hear them talk of their gadgets: game boys, play station, Nintendo, the PSP and a gazillion collection of their associated cartridges and DVDs! Parents often complain the lack of ‘physical exercise’ for their children and that ‘they are always stuck to the TV screens’. Our children have so many choices on the television, with each programme competing to be more ‘violent’ in content than the other. This generation has so many choices around them that they also get ‘bored’ easily! I was reading this article by a friend on her facebook profile of how those of us born in the 70s and 80s enjoyed a ‘non-digital’ childhood with lots of playing outside in the streets with no fears that are rampant in today’s security environment. While all of us enjoyed the article as a trip down the memory lane, it did make me think once of what our children would remember as their childhood activities … I say this because I see the children’s interest fast changing pace with the changing pace of a new face of a fancier gadget every six months. Would they remember their childhood with the same passion that we do ours? Would they cherish these memories with the same longing we do? And this is a question that I leave to you, my dear reader.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Ashura, the tenth of Moharram, is one day in the entire year when majority of Muslims all over the world remember the great martyrdom of Hussain Ibn Ali (AS) in the battle of Karbala and who stood up for Islam by laying down the lives of his family, companions and even children by refusing to bow down before injustice, tyranny and oppression of Yazid Ibn Mauwiya.  The day of Ashura stands for the patience Imam Hussain (AS) and his family held in the very testing times against the forces of evil. 

Today, during the annual procession marking the day in Karachi witnessed a horrifying bomb blast that ripped apart the mourning crowd, so far killing 30 innocent lives and injured as many as 80+ people.  Unfortunately, a suicide or otherwise bombing in Pakistan has become a regular feature of our news.  What was even worse were the chain of events following the bombing in Karachi today.  ‘Angry mobs’ were reported to have set ablaze ambulances, shops, banks, and police mobiles among others.  The twist in the story is that the miscreants and trouble makers that are also sadly part of our society actually leverage their plans in such situations and setting surrounding buildings on fire as was witnessed today is perhaps one way to add fuel to the raging sectarian fire.  Reason fails to believe that a normal, peace loving citizen who would set out from his home in the morning to mourn the cause of Hussain (AS) would cause further damage following an event that has already taken innocent lives.  Angry mobs and their outrage is not a phenomenon specific only to Pakistan, however one must keep in mind the vested interest of so many conflicting parties in this strange and entangled web that we have weaved in our country! The participants of an Ashura procession are average Pakistanis like you and me, who feel that the one day to show solidarity to the cause of Hussain is to come out on the road and show their support against the injustice Hussain (AS) stood up for.  They come on the road with their young children and old parents. I therefore fail to believe that an average peace loving citizen would cause damage to the business and property of his own city.  It is like a person breaking his own bricks and wall in his own house should a tragedy befall on him… tragedy upon tragedy…who would be at loss? Only the person himself…. Is the equation then so hard to understand?

While the question addressing who these miscreants possibly could be is beyond the scope of my blog, I just wanted to share the grief of the many families who would be either mourning the loss of their loved ones, or attending to the injured, on a day, which is ironically dedicated to the remembrance of the spirit of Islam.  Ironically enough, Islam is now synonymous with terrorism to the outside world.  But that too perhaps is a subject for another day. What we can do however on such occasions is to not get involved, not support or facilitate the blame game that usually follows such incidents and avoid speculating who the perpetrators were.  In an ideal world, the doctor would advise that you let the Government handle the situation. 

Ah! The Government….  In the golden words of Confucius: ‘The essentials of good government are: a sufficiency of food, a sufficiency of arms, and the confidence of the people. If forced to give up one of these, give up arms; and if forced to give up two, give up food. Death has been the portion of all men from of old; but without the people’s trust, nothing can endure.’ Need I say more….

One can only hope that we live to see the day when our gatekeepers and administrators of this Land of the Pure would take responsibility for their actions or lack thereof to stop such heinous crimes.  In a supposedly democratic set up, the least that can be done is to be accountable to the people who bring forth the elected leaders with their votes.  With great power comes great responsibility, reminds my son after watching Spiderman.  I wonder if anyone else is listening out there? Issuing statements of ‘condemning the violent act’ does not help the listener, or the grieving family – action does.  What does help is to show solidarity in these troubled times.  We are a nation at war.  The least we can do is to stand united and keep reminding ourselves we cannot give up on Pakistan – not yet… not now…not ever!

All in a Day’s Block

I am ‘informed’ through reliable sources that if I do not update my blog often enough, I might get labelled as the ‘one who has surrendered her pen’ and lose all my visitors (who currently consist of my generous family and cousins and friends only)! But hey, where are the advocates for work-life-blog balance?? Given that the year end is taking 90% of my energies at work, yearend is also taking up the remaining 10% of my energies left for family get togethers in the evenings… when and where do I find the time to blog? 

Shh…you are not supposed to say that, glares a friend.  Ah ok, so what should I write about? You are supposed to write a daily journal, of whatever you are up to, points another. Okay, but then who would be interested to know my work details, or the fact that I am remote controlling kids schedules and home through my trusted cell phone or that I shift gears as soon as I enter the home in the evening.  Why would anyone want to know that solving and teaching class 2 maths homework post 6 p.m. can at times be more challenging than working out peace and development initiatives in the north west frontier?

‘Write a blog about your observations from what you see around you’, suggests my wise li’l sister whose opinion I listen to, unfailingly.  ‘Walk around with a blogger’s eye’, suggests another.  Yes, I plan to do that, as soon as I take my mind off the million assignments that are running through my mind at the same time.  Fingers crossed. 

 I always wanted to write about my most amazing ability to get along with people, of all shapes and sizes, and in the worst of all situations.  I could give a diplomacy 101 to all the others out there, waiting to be beamed up into the big bad world out there.  But then I could be the future Under Secretary General of Ice-breaking, a post that would be sanctioned only for me to honour my abilities, and that perhaps would be a better time to write my memoirs. 

 A friend suggested this morning that I should simply put up a picture of my work table to state through a photo-blog why I have not been writing.  How cool is that for an idea, but then just before my son went to bed, he gave me a sketch that he made just before hopping onto bed and it totally melted my heart.  How can any picture be better than this one, he thinks I am a super mom.  Someone who is juggling to carry his baby brother (rather a baby brother who is dangling to her foot! Haha!), her laptop (inseparable) and cupcakes that me and my son make on certain saner weekends, all at the same time.  Aww.  I am warmed to the core.  The fact that he has misspelled my name can be taken up tomorrow during homework time! And that’s a story for another day….

When family chains are broken, they bring us even closer….

28th November started as just another Eid day, with the usual getting together at my cousin’s place where we all meet for lunch (while some look after the sacrifice). Sometime after noon, my father received a phone call and then somehow everything became vague, and pointless…a young cousin had passed away and all I could see was his mother’s face, a beautiful smiling face from what I always recall.

Life is strange and brings with it even stranger experiences – you are busy catching up with life, complaining there is so much to do in such little time, sharing and laughing together with your loved ones, and then you hear about death in a near quarter and life comes to a sudden halt. Something pinches you and reminds you that to God we all must return… but it is often the ‘untimely’ or young deaths that shake you to the core. You are just so not ready for them. And that reminds you that no matter how old a person is, when it is someone from the family, you just cannot bear to let them go. While young deaths are sad enough as they are, it is often the grieving family and especially the parents for whom your heart melts. How do you tell a mother you are sorry for her loss? Nobody in the world can ever sum up even an ounce of pain that she goes through as a part of her is taken away. How do you tell a sibling that you are sorry to hear the bad news? Nobody can ever match the years of being brought up together and nobody can ever feel the sense of loneliness siblings perhaps go through as a childhood partner is taken away – forever.

When family chains are broken, they also bring the family together. When I saw my parents and my father’s sisters cancel all the planned events and rush to Khanewal to be with their cousins, it got me thinking what a blessing it is to have a family who loves you and supports you, and will stand by you in all times. They probably will not make it to the funeral as the drive from Islamabad to Khanewal is about 9 hours, but that’s not the point. They wanted to be with their cousin and that’s whats important. It’s the love you inculcate in your children in the wonder years of bringing them up, the sense of ownership of being part of a larger family that holds them together as they grow up and scatter out in the world. They may not meet each other often, but their hearts remain connected. And that’s when we all realise the strength and magic of a bond called family. And that’s what makes you stronger, even in the worst of your times.

A very dear cousin put up this poem on her page today, and I wanted to share it with you all, with a request to please say a word of prayer for Minhal Hassan Jaffri.

“When Family Chains Are Broken”

It’s never quite the same

But God takes us one by one

And links the chains again

A tender moment that brings a tear

A silent wish that you were here

Without a goodbye you went to sleep

But precious memories are ours to keep

A loving smile, a heart of gold

No finer person this world could hold

No words we write could ever say

How much you’re missed everyday

If tears could build a stairway

And memories could build a lane

We would go right up to heaven

And bring you home again.

For my Baba, with Love

When I was a little girl, I used to write on my Dad’s birthday cards which I probably copied from somewhere, ‘A father is someone we can look up to, no matter how tall we get’.  Today, as I write a post dedicated to my dad on his 60^th birthday, I realize what it really meant….

All of us owe our existence to our parents, and it is the way they bring us up that defines not only our personalities but also a reflection of their own. A father is someone we always look up to, yes, no matter how tall we get and how old we feel, and how many children we have of our own.  Our parents are there to remind us that we are taken care of and that we will always be loved, unconditionally.  As my father turns 60 today (MashAllah, may he lives a long, happy and healthy life), I am thinking of all the truly wonder years spent with him, and all that I have learnt from him, and most importantly, how much I have always loved him. 

Actually, I wouldn’t be writing this blog if it were not for my father, because he was the one who encouraged me to write my first article for a newspaper and posted it himself.  He used to make me read editorials of newspapers and rewrite them during my summer holidays! He would even cross question me to know if I am keeping up with my newspaper reading! I now realize how that grilling actually helped me improve my writing and my interest in catching up with what’s happening around me. He used to take us to the library, every Sunday, unfailingly, and soon we were all able to graduate to the ‘grown-ups’ section because we had read all the books in the children’s section! He would guide us and taught us how to look for books, going through catalogues and looking for the information we needed.  It is always a very proud moment for me when I interact with professionals and they hold Baba in such high esteem for his knowledge and technical know-how. Baba, I owe my love for reading, writing and the quest for knowledge…all to you!

Baba always taught us to think, debate and reflect on issues and while it helped us immensely to interact with any group of people, we were almost always in ‘compliance’ with instructions passed by our dad.  The way we upheld our parents’ wishes and advice upon our own choices stands in strong contrast to when I see kids of today as I cannot relate to them and perhaps this is what is referred to widely as the ‘generation gap’.  But I can happily and very proudly declare to my dad that I have always remained in close compliance to everything he ever asked me to do.  I may not always have liked it, but I appreciate his wisdom and his unconditional love for me.  Specially now that I am a mother myself.

My father was the one who took me to the swimming pool when I was four and I have never been afraid of water since then. Now I show my son all the tricks Baba taught me, how to ‘stand upside down’ in water, how to ‘float’ on water, my son giggles and looks at me in awe.  I remember I used to be very scared of jumping in water. I would almost always use the steps.  One day, my dad called me at the deep end and before I knew it, I was ‘thrown in’ at the deep end of the pool! And that was my last day of being afraid of jumping in water.  I remember he had given me a task of doing 50 laps in a stretch and the incentive was ice-cream of my choice in the same hotel where we used to go for a swim.  Through our years of swimming in the same pool, I was learning the important lesson of fighting my fears, never giving up, and most importantly learning to ‘celebrate’ the achievements, even if it is only meeting the 50-lap milestone.

Baba is a people’s person, and loves his family and friends and is always there for them.  I can never emulate him enough and his dedication for reaching out to such a vast group of people with unmatched generosity at the same time is remarkable.  It is when you give of yourself that you truly give, as Khalil Gibran reminds us. I have learnt the importance of keeping strong bonds with extended family and friends and of helping out people in their hour of need.  He is perhaps the reason we are a very strong-knit family.  And lets not forget that behind every great father is an equally great mother and together they complete my world. 

So Baba, today on your 60^th birthday, I really wanted to tell you how much I admire your resilience, your sense of values for your family, friends and your country. I wish you many more years of health, happiness and may you continue to help others and bring smiles in their lives! Knowing you, I am sure you have more milestones to meet until the golden jubilee and here’s wishing more excitement and success, InshAllah!

Thank you Baba for everything and for just being you!

Alice in Blogger-Land

My first interaction with the fascinating world of blogging was through my friend and ex-colleague Raza Ahmad who had initiated his blog on wordpress and I used to get SO amazed at how he ever finds the time to work fulltime, manage his very active social life in addition to ‘writing articles’, my first take on his very regular blogging.  Little did I know that my orientation was to grow more with time and that the world of blogging and those of the bloggers is fascinating, addictive and a whole lot more! This post is just to give you an idea of what it is out there, from someone who has just stepped in this wonderland only recently.

So what is a blog in the first place? It’s a contraction of the term ‘weblog’ and is a type of ‘website’ that is either maintained by an individual, a group of like-minded people or even organizations.  Many blogs are ‘theme-specific’ and provide commentary and articles on related topics while others can just be online ‘diaries’ of individuals.  A typical blog would have narrative, images and might even have links to other related sites.  What makes a blog more interesting is the nature of interaction with its reader: you can leave a ‘comment’ to share with the author what you feel about their post. Some blogs provide help and advice to those in similar circumstances and serve as discussion boards for key topics such as parenting. According to an Economist article, quoting Mr. Bhatia who helped start hotmail, ‘Just as everybody has an e-mail account today, everybody will have a blog in five years’.  Need I say more…

Blogs come in all shapes and sizes.  The collective community of all blogs is known as the blogosphere! Yes, it has a life of its own indeed, with its own set of vocabulary, search engines and the networks that connect the proud citizens of the Blogger-Land. Blogging is also termed as the easiest, fastest and the cheapest ‘publishing’ tool ever. There are personal blogs that are maintained by individuals, and are perhaps the most common kind.  Then there are corporate blogs that are likely run by businesses, and then there are blogs by genre or types:  travel, fashion, musical and ofcourse the rather widely known photoblogs.  And then, lo and behold, there is even something called a moblog, a blog that is maintained via your mobile phone!!!! I even read a term ‘blooks’, books from blogs, and cheekily enough, there is a Blooker Prize for the popular books!!!

The west has experienced the strength of blogs in their political and public lives and there have been numerous studies and research to analyze how this medium is increasingly becoming popular with the masses.  International media such as the CNN uses stories from readers/users who can upload their stories on the IReport link.

Blogging in Pakistan has seen an upward surge in popularity with the educated elite, with mushroom growth of many blogs in the last couple of years.  Sites such as the wordpress have made it easier for upcoming bloggers to have their personal space only a click away.  The scribe is but a prime example of the same! Of late, DAWN group of newspapers in Pakistan has also initiated its own blog space and a recent article on a subject as popular and controversial as the blackwater can attract as many as 77 comments! Alternate media is definitely here to stay!  

Some skeptics might argue exercising caution in maintaining your own blog, as prospective employers might at some stage check your cyber content and may not accept your candidature as ‘appropriate’ based on your opinions cited freely and publicly earlier on.   Bloggers of the world, beware! Your blog is now officially the window to your soul! Others might even question how much of cyber footprint are we willing to leave behind anyways, as the cyber social networks experience an exponential growth and as users increasingly become wary of over populated social networks. 

There is increasing skepticism over the role of mainstream media and how our national media is increasingly resigning to promoting catfights among politicians and fuelling fights and grudges by highlighting pedantic issues with a potential to create disharmony among provinces (recent case of disagreement over citing of Eid moon is a case in point).  So while we ponder over the importance of responsible journalism, perhaps it is also prudent to start thinking about the importance of responsible blogging as well. News, especially in a medium which is one’s ‘personal space’ and therefore can encompass biased opinions, false or inaccurate information, can also spread like wildfire.  The domino effect of links and cross-links can be just as misleading on blogosphere as anywhere else. Granted that your blog is your personal space, but does that give an individual the right to air their opinion on any subject? In this age of information, and perhaps information overload, how does one go about ‘filtering’ the ‘right’ information?  What remains ‘right’ in such an information-clutter anyways?

In the current crisis it is all the more important to share the image of an enlightened Pakistan, while all the others hear about are Taliban, widespread corruption, disasters and the ongoing conflict in the country.  Our blogs must reflect our sense of responsibility towards building a better image for the country in these stressful times, highlight the earnest efforts of the few among us who still upload the sense of patriotism closer to their hearts. As Raza Rumi points out, ‘Fighting intolerance and forces of retrogression is of prime importance in these troubled times and nobody can do it for us. We will have to undertake this Jihad – albeit of another variety – ourselves!’. 

There are two blogs that I would refer to my readers, who are doing their bit towards a more aware Pakistan:  Dr Awab Alvi’s Teeth Maestro and Faisal Kapadia’s Deadpanthoughts.  They are prominent among Pakistani bloggers for their genuine writing style and candid disposition. The duo has recently launched a podcast, a web-based media production so to speak, with a tongue-in-cheek name, ‘The Laidback Show’.  I suggest you watch it on this link, as it opens new horizons to the alternate media in Pakistan.  A candid, casual, open discussion focusing on the online community in Pakistan, its informal style making it most watchable….Not a single dull moment indeed! Although they can definitely improve on the sound quality and perhaps even on the duration of the episode itself.  From what I can tell from the site they have received raving reviews already and there is great excitement on the second show, which is hopefully uploaded tonight! The Laidback Show only reinforces the belief that the social networks and interactions are only to grow, hopefully stronger and with a focus that gives a new gateway to the world into Pakistan: the land of promise.  The show, due to its online presence and the medium of language, has the potential to reach out to the world and perhaps play its role in changing global perspective about the country.

I hope this post has given a fair roundup of the blogging 101 for Pakistan…that is, if you have had the patience to make it all the way down here! I am remembering Star Trek’s opening lines as they seem very apt for the Blogger-Land in which I am still trying to find my way around…

 ….the final frontier….to explore strange new worlds…to seek out new life and new civilizations…to boldly go where no man has ever gone before.