29 August 2008

The coalition and the promises

Lately, there've lots of developments in the political scenario. I wasn't going to write about them but since Mubi asked me about my views on the recent breakdown of the coalition of the ruling parties, i think i do want to write a bit about it.
Anyways, the first thing that comes to my mind is that this step was very much on the cards. I'm only surprised that PML(N) realised this so late that they wouldn't be able to work with the new PPP. I say the new PPP because right now PPP is all about mr. Asif zardari and his close aides rather than the close aides of BB. Last night, my dad and i were discussing the same thing. What we found disgustingly fascinating was that how easily zardari sidelined people close to BB, the true Jialas who were responsible for handling the affairs of the party e.g. Amin Faheem, Naheed Khan, aitazaz ahsan etc. Zardari himself was kept away from the political picture of PPP by BB for obvious reasons. Therefore, the people Zardari brought with him were surprisingly the people who he lured with the otherwise impossible stints of power (sherry rehman and co.).
Anyways coming back to the point, the day this coalition was formed on the basis of the restoration of the judges, and the Muree Declaration was signed, my intuition told me that this wont go on for long. And 2 agreements, many promises and months later the inevitable happened. First the ministers resigned and then the PML(N) publically announced their dissociation with the PPP. And everyone knows what this means. The old dirty politics has already started. The politics of 88-90 when two of the biggest parties of the country would leave no stone unturned in insulting and tarnishing eachother's image. Surprisingly, the apocalypse has already begun. A couple of days ago, ministers from PPP and PML(N) were engaged in a wordy showdown in a shitty masalay dar current affairs talk show, the likes of which are very much in demand these days. The host, Mubashar Lucman is one of the stupidest presenters i've seen and i've seen many. He was taking pleasure in instigating the two morons into blasting eachother out (though his inclination was much more towards the PPP guy and was supporting him). Anyways, what followed was a shameful discussion which a caller rightly pointed out seemed like "2 unparh khawateen jo bachon pe lar rai hon". This scenario is not limited to one programme or channel only, barring a few presenters and a few party representatives, everyone is busy these days shitting the other party. Very very naive very naive i must say. And that too after such experience in politics.
After this dissociation of the coalition, the only benefit to PML(N) is that they've come clean on only one account, and that is the promise they made. Simultaneously, it has given us another reason to doubt the fabulous mr. Zardari. Although i believe that the issue whether judges should be restored or not is very very debatable (i believe that if the judges are restored, it might be extremely difficult for them to be fair and impartial because of all the politicization), the key point to note is that mr. Zardari promised and made accords publically in all sorts of ways and later said "its not Quran or Hadis that it cannot be changed".
Well reality check mr. Zardari, a promise especially by a person who calls himself a statesman should be kept at all costs. True its not Quran or Hadis, but Quran and Hadis have repeatedly stressed on the extreme importance of fulfilling all your promises at all costs.
Enough of the rant, in the end i'd like to quote the Quaid on this very issue, he said:
"Statesmen should never eat their words!"

the rest we wait to unfold

26 August 2008

A question

Wat do you do when nothing in the world seems good to you?

To anyone who can answer that. I'm in that state of mind :( :(

23 August 2008

Little pleasures

I'm at a really boring engagement ceremony, dinner's over and there's nothing left to do so i'm devastatingly bored. Having nothing to do at all, i decided to blog.
Just about a couple of hours ago, i went to buy Mithai from the nearest gourmet bakery. I turned my radio on. On my way back, Call's "Sub Bhula K" was playing on one of the channels. I turned the radio volume to its maximum and was singing along.
I knew half of the lyrics the rest i made up, but it felt so good. With my windows closed i was singing it aloud. It felt so good. I just love driving and i love singing along the radio. Combine that and it was just refreshing.

Reminded me of the little pleasures of life i really need at this point of my life!

The well played dirty game

Before starting off,i'd like to pray for the country which is going to go under a man such as Mr. Ten percent!! Please God! Save us, there's still time.





There's so much speculation in the air surrounding the matter of who's gonna take the president's office. Well, i dont really have any names to suggest because the people who might be in contention for the office are according to me highly dishonest about everything they do, and highly apathetic to the people. But one name i'd like to mention and i'd just want to write a bit about is Mr. Asif Ali Zardari.
Mr Zardari is a well known figure in Pakistan, for many reasons. He was called Mr. Ten Percent a little while ago for obvious reasons and was considered one of the veterans in the game of corruption. Well obviously, Mr Mush thought theft of national wealth could be forgiven and hence the NRO, which obviously came to haunt Mush later on. Anyways, my uncle who's an ex army officer and i think watches the politics very closely tells me that before stepping into politics, Mr. Zardari had a cinema in karachi called Babitto or something which used to be the centre of drugs and alcohol and accompanying stuff. So this man really has a nice background i thought.
Anyways, people might say its a thing of the past, but then, he didn't leave the stuff entirely. We all know what havoc (read pranks) he played with the country and the people in BB's regime. We're still suffering. I'm not a big fan of BB but i know she was wise enough to keep him away from politics as much as possible. Atleast she wanted to keep him away. And Zardari wasn't even in the new political picture that BB had painted in her mind this time around.
Things changed after the assassination of BB. I'll come to that in the end, but what made me write this post was the facebook status of a friend,
"Well played Mr. Zardari. A clean game"
i'm in no mood of arguing with her about the game being clean but everyone knows its not. Mr. Zardari is so lucky to be sheltered by the NRO that he should thank Mush all his life for making the mistake. All the corruption, all the cases against him (and mind you, against wadairas etc, murder cases are not even registered) are given legal cover. Wat an oxymoron. But he really is a clever player, and certainly not a clean one.
The changing of names from Bilawal zardari to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was the political gimmick of the century. It got the sympathies of so may Bhutto supporters. The sorry face he'd put after the death of BB, and quoting her frequently was very very intentional and did its job fully. In that respect, well played truly Mr. Zardari. He's fooled so many including the very gullible Nawaz Sharif into believing so much that would never happen. Take the judges issue, i feel sorry for Nawaz Shareef in this case. I mean, he's being handled like a baby.
All said and done, zardari will finally and eventually go on to be the president, one of the stupidest things that would ever happen to this country. Who'd have imagined Mr. Ten Percent as the head of the state. Even BB would've been baffled to say the least. Damn, i cant believe we're going to make him the president!
In the end there's one thing someone told me Mush said in his final days. When asked about the assassins of BB he commented
"Look around you, who has been the biggest beneficiary of her death?" probably the only honest thing Mush said in 8 years!

21 August 2008

Sgt. Hassaan's Lonely Bloggers Club

Haha...just loved this name that popped into my mind, so appropriate, my own rendition of the name of the Beatles album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club"...
But like i said, the name's so appropriate. I've got only one reader! I had two but Mahru has been away for eternity even though she's back. Its just Mubi, and right now i think that i can actually start addressing mubi in my posts and begin each one like "Hey Mubi..." because in any case she's the only one who's gonna read it lol...even now i'm fighting the temptation to replace all the "She"s with "You"s..lol..

"awwww" i can hear Mahru say, SEE I EVEN HAVE TO WRITE HER COMMENTS MYSELF!!!

So here's the first notice or whatever from the Sgt. Hassaan's Lonely Bloggers Club:
"Hey there mubi! Watsup?"

Mahru: "lame lame lame"
Hassaan: "you got a bad sense of humor, you only crack good jokes when you dont mean to"
Mubi: "you're right Hassaan, but still, right now i'm the only one who reads your blog, other than yourself ofcourse, so stop commenting on behalf of Rukh!!!"

sigh, its 2 15 am, and i feel like its day...i dont wanna sleep, but if i dont, i'm gonna be writing bullboogie forever...

19 August 2008

A new dream!

There's something that irks me, something that i never understand. Why the hell are pakistanis behind everyone else in every sport? I mean these days its olympic mania, and it feels so good just to see so many people triumph. But look at our own athletes, they've been a disgrace. All them have been invited on wildcards, and are seriously lucky people, but they just consider attending the olympics as their victory, while its so not true.
I always thought maybe these extraordinary sportsmen have been playing their respective sports since they were born or something but i was wrong. I read the story of a woman today who has won medals in 2 different sports!
Britain's Rebecca Romero had won a silver medal in rowing in Athens 2004. She later had to leave the sport due to a back injury, and just 2 years back, she took up the sport of track cycling. And just imagine, she's won gold in track cycling! This story certainly got me thinking that the real reason for our failures probably is our lack of determination and perseverance and practice and desire and hunger for success. We aim for mediocre and settle for poor. Very few in our history have been able to dream high, for dreaming high has been the first step to achieving high.
Right now so many random thoughts are circulating in my mind. Accompanying them are adrenaline pumping images of Michael Phelps' 8 Gold medals and a combo of his 8 victory stand pictures, Usain Bolt's 9.69s for a 100m which won him the gold and which made him the fastest man ever and that chinese woman weight lifter who continued lifting even after winning, just to bring her country's name in the record books. From as far as we are, they look superhuman, all these people. But they're not, they certainly dreamt high and pursued their dreams. Even most of the people who didn't come first second or third atleast competed their hearts out. And by this i dont mean only on the day of the competition, but constant practice and hardwork showed in their eyes. Its a pity every such thing including pride was missing from our sportsmen, even our hockey team. And i'm not taking any bullshit that we're not capable of competing with them, oh well thats our own fault. We're so tainted with complacency in every field that its disgusting. I seriously feel disgusted looking at small, poverty stricken, troubled nations like ethiopia, zimbabwe, jamaica winning medals and we just wanna freakin compete! What a joke, what a prank to play on your national pride. What's more, our shooter, Siddique Umer finished an honourable 49th, out of...49 shooters!!! Well i must say it takes something to come last so cleanly.
I seriously dislike USA for all its materialistic society and all the havoc they've played with the world. But there's one thing that they've taught the modern world, that is dreaming high and following your dream. I dont know where they learnt that from because there was a time that muslims had this quality too but in the past 200 years, the americans have shown the world what the lost art of following your dream was about. The world is fast catching up (except us obviously). Even india is trying. But they call the USA the land of dreams, and thats right. Infact, someone once said, the United States of America is not a country, its an idea. I'm not pro america or anything, infact i'm the stark opposite, but i've learnt to accept the qualities of the enemy.
Maybe all that i wrote was just a prelude to what i wanted to write now. 2 days back i decided something, maybe it will sound a extremely impossible but right now i think it is possible. Its very much possible. All my closest friends laughed it off but i cant blame them. Its the so called age of practicality when i dont believe in such a monster. Anything can happen, Frank Ribery became a part of the french national team just about an year into football, Lance Armstrong fought cancer to topple records, then why cant we do it? Why cant i do it?
2 days ago i decided i wanna go under ten seconds for the 100m sprint inshaAllah. I've been competing with people but never in serious competitions. The reason maybe was my complacency and procrastination. Everytime i used to think i would do it next year. I think MashaALLAH, i'm pretty good at it. But under ten is something world class sprinters dream of! So thats hard. And then its gonna be London 2012 inshaAllah. My heart is holding back its laughter but it too is affected by the society. I'm gonna dream and i'm gonna go inshaAllah no matter how impossible it sounds. It just takes hardwork and prayers and determination, starting from today.

Maybe, people, my closest friends, my family members might say i'm being to naive. Maybe they'll say i'm aiming for the stars, which are out of our reach. But i think they're wrong. Nothing's out of reach. Man's reach exceeds his grasp! And even if i fail, i'll be able to atleast tell myself, i dreamt and i had the courage to follow my dream! I will inshaAllah!

17 August 2008

My diaries

I sat down last night in my room, opened my drawer and found 2 old diaries. I had a habit of writing a diary though i was pretty irregular. Anyways, i took the diaries out and decided to go through them.
The two diaries were from the years 2001 and 2002. I remember dad's patient Saeeda Auntie used to give us the Abn Amro diaries every year that were absolutely very cool. And every year i used to attack and capture them. I did that for many years and i think i'll have to look for the other diaries too.
Anyways, reading the old diaries was a bit of a mixed experience. The 2001 diary was strange. I think i was really immature back then in terms of writing diaries because i wrote stuff like "i woke up, went to school, had dinner blah blah" i mean very basic stuff that everyone knows we do even if we dont write. Lol. But there were days that were a bit sad, saying " i had a fight with mom and got scolded by dad too" and things like that. And there were days that ended real well. Mostly, it was about my days at school. And i just found out yesterday that i had a troubled O levels or atleast the first year. But all in all, the diary lacked much feeling other than related to school, i dont know why. Maybe because i didn't know at that time that you could vent out your feelings in the diary. Or maybe, a 13 year old boy was too entangled in getting settled in his new school that he didn't know what else to write about.
Anyways, the second diary was a beautiful thin one from GlaxoSmithKline (dad's a doctor buhuhaha). Although i wrote on very few pages of the diary but it was written in a much better way, even the handwriting was better. I was surprised one year could make such a difference. Anyways, as i noticed, school got much better, but still i couldn't believe i was reading my own diary! I swear, i used to be so different. Anyways, that diary had a bit of everything, fights with friends, family, teachers lol. And yeah, the sports day as well. But the strangest thing was about my crush on a cousin of mine. I wrote about the mails i sent and how happy i was to get the replies. Lol. That was kind of embarrassing. And then i somewhere wrote even about the anticipation of having a chat with her and planning for that! I dont remember which diary was it. Lol. But it was all cute. I never thought at that time i could talk about all that.
So a peek into my past was a very mixed experience. Although i found it a little entertaining, but i also found out how much i've changed. And i'm probably the exactly opposite person in a lot of ways. And i found out i always got into trouble with mom and dad lol i still do. And me and maheen (sis) always had fights we still do. But what i felt the most was the need to start writing the diary again. I think now's the correct time to start writing.

14 August 2008

Pakistan Paaindabad!

I was thinking about writing something sad about pakistan, about the situation the turmoil these days. To write about the pain my country is in, the pain my people are in. But i turned on the tv at 12, there was a parade ceremony going on at pma kakul. At exactly midnight, they hoisted the pakistani flag and after a beautiful medley of drumbeats, our national anthem was played and everyone at the pakistan military academy was singing it.
It reminded me of all the moments that i've felt proud of being a pakistani. Of all the moments that i've cherished my nationality. Of all the times when my national anthem has given me goosebumps, or brought me close to tears of pride. And this was one such moment. No country in the world has survived for so long the attack of both its enemies and the people living in it. We never think but we are all playing our part in taking pakistan down piece by piece. But it still remains by the grace of Allah. For Allah intends it to be.
What followed after the national anthem was quaid e azam's first speech that he gave after independence. Although the sound quality wasn't good, and you couldn't make out much, but there was one thing that resounded over everything he said
"...FOR PAKISTAN IS MEANT TO EXIST, AND IT WILL EXIST FOREVER..."

this felt like something i've been waiting for all these days, the determination in the great man's recorded voice was greater than any man that lives today. Maybe its because of his sincere prayers to Allah, that Allah has kept Pakistan standing. This country is to stay forever inshaAllah, with us or without us. We'll fade, it wont! InshaAllah

12 August 2008

Dancing in thandiani

The trip to abbotabad and beyond was so great so wild that i've got so much to tell people. But i've kept most rather to myself, for no special reason. Maybe the reason is that generally people aren't ready to listen to me when i'm narrating stuff like this, or maybe this is just my imagination. Whatever the case, there're are somethings that happened that need to be translated into words.
From abbotabad, we decided to go to thandiani, its the highest point near abbotabad and the second highest in all of the Galliat. We here means me, jaws, hamza, imran, asif, umair, bajwa and his friend ali, umar, zubi and faizi. We got up a little late and went to the bus stand. I'll leave out the details of getting on the Bolan Dabbas and getting to thandiani because that is a completely separate story. I'll leave out everything we did there, we did a lot. I just want to narrate one simple act we did, which seems so beautiful so memorable and funny to me.
While having a long long dinner at a small restaurant we came across 5 guys from Lahore. From the beginning they were joking around with us and the hotel owner and they wanted a room there. We weren't living in that particular hotel so we weren't really bothered. Anyways, it was pitch dark outside and everywhere else ( there's no electricity in thandiani, only generators, that too when they hotel owners wish) and while we were finishing dinner, we heard music blaring outside. We all knew wat it was, it was the sound system of these strangers' car. They seemed pretty fun loving people so i said to imran,
"why don't we have a party scene tonight?"
"yeah why not. Kehte hain insay" he seemed pretty serious. So after washing our hands and stuff, we went outside and they were smoking and listening to music. We said,
"sir koi dance wance ka mood hai?"
the guy was like
"kyun nae janab, chal bae koi acha gana lagaa"
then they put on the song "Jee Karda". I instantly fell in love with the song. The car was on parking lights and we started dancing. Reluctantly in the beginning of then wildly. It was great. It was really cold and this was what everyone needed. But not all of us danced. Jaws, umer, ali, umair and zubi preferred watching while me, imran, hamza, faizi, bajwa and asif got into action. I dont really know how to dance but i think i can manage a bit and i love dancing. It was bhangra and twist and break and whatever you could call it. The strangers were dancing with us. Then they changed songs, we danced on a couple more songs and then they offered to do a mujra. The two guys were so skilled they'd put the pros to shame. But it was kinda scary coz they went too close a couple of times. Anyways, dancing in the faint lights of the hotel and the car, under bright stars and with a view of the whole of mansehra and abbotabad in spine chilling cold with strangers, it was great. Beautiful. Even now, i can picture all that, and i can hear the song that i fell in love with...
"jee karda bai jee karda, jee karda bai jee karda tenu kol bithawan jee karda..."

i even have the song right now.

05 August 2008

"The songs of distant earth"

I've been wanting to write this for a long long time. I recently read a book by Arthur C. Clark, the books called "The songs of distant earth." actually, when i first saw the name, i thought it sounded a bit strange, anyways i had heard a lot about Clark, so i decided to buy it.
The book belongs to the science fiction genre but has so much more to it than just that. It tells the story of the universe in the 3500s, when the solar system has been destroyed. But man had known the exact date that earth and the rest of the solar system would be destroyed so the scientists developed different kinds of seed ships to seed and populate other planets outside our own solar system, in other planetary systems.
The story starts with the introduction of one such planet called Thalassa, that was seeded seven hundred years ago. The planet mostly consists of water but the small population that lives here is very happy. But then, they're visited by the last seed ship sent from the solar system The Megallan, which makes a stop over for some upgrade on the way to their own new world Sagan. From there the real story starts but i dont want to discuss that.
What made me think all through the book was the felt sorrow with which it was written. Like the writer really thought our home earth has been destroyed and he wants to mourn it silently. There was a strange sense of sorrow of despair in absolutely everything. The preparation of seedships firstly by people who knew they'd never hear from them again (each ship took centuries to reach the other planets and the people were put into artificial slumber mostly) and then in the last days, by people who knew they'd not be saved from their own doom by these very ships. They knew, they wouldn't be aboard the ship when the great exodus takes place, but still, they worked tirelessly to save the human race. And they just didn't want to save the race, they wanted it some chosen history as well. I say chosen because firstly they washed out the memories to eliminate the images of loved ones disappearing into to calamitous destruction of the solar system. They didn't leave a trace of religion, which in my opinion was really sad. Because that makes life totally pointless. But anyhow, what they did give to the new worlds was the art, music and literature from earth. They gave the glossary of all the important events and all the creatures that ever existed on earth. Despite being fascinating for a science lover like me ( the concept of quantum drive is just awesome ), it still managed to make me sad. It managed to make me mourn the death of our own world when i knew it never happened. Everything written in it sings a melancholy song of the death of the earth. And everything's about saving human race and what the last people thought was important to them. But when i imagined myself in the place of Megallanians or Lassans, it put me in an even deeper state of sorrow. Leaving everything, your family, friends and children to die just because you're important for the better survival of a new human society, is not an easy idea to reconcile with. And knowing so much about the world, and being put to artificial sleep for centuries, it all adds to the already bleak situation. And living in the last days when everyone knew the time they'd die with a bang wasn't easy. There was commotion and fearlessness all around and everything had gone berserk. On the other hand, living on Thalassa is sad too. They never saw earth, the planet where all life began. They just had images of it, and films ofcourse. They never saw the most beautiful of natural scenes, which existed before the last days. They had to start off the whole of the human society anew. And they still loved earth because they had marked the landing spot of their own mothership as holy. The talked and beamed signals to earth before the final destruction.
These were all feelings which i probably would never know, neither would anyone in this world. Because we never believed we'd go through all this. So all that was registered in my mind was a sense of sorrow. But there were some familiar feelings too. When it was time for the people of Megallan to continue their journey to their own new world, many goodbyes were said. Goodbyes to new best friends, to new colleagues to even new family members! Captain Lorenson even had to bid farewell to his unborn baby. He'd never hear from his wife or child ever again, because by the time Megallan reaches Sagan and Lorenson is roused from his artificial sleep again, atleast 3 generations would've passed! This humanly feeling of saying goodbye forever, is not only heartwrenching but also everyone can relate to. I hate goodbyes, but the book is full of them. But i still really like the book for all the feelings it conveys. And the realisation that leaving religion out of the seedships was a big big mistake.

04 August 2008

Guantanamo

To write this post, i had to fight two things. Firstly, my procrastinatic nature and secondly the fear that my battery will run out! But i have to do this, i really do. I wanna tell anyone who reads this (i doubt many people will), that i really am living in a Guantanamo Bay of sorts. I realised this first when after dinner imran said lets go back to the resthouse. Damn. This resthouse really is a prison. The realisation was strengthened just minutes ago. I went to the washroom for wuzu and "tip tip tip" the water in the tap ran out. I went to the next washroom and "tip tip tip". Another one and "tip tip tip" until there was nothing left anywhere in any tap. I thanked God that i was not in a compromising position like any of the other people who came out of toilets abashed. But i was so pissed off that i went upstairs, did tayammum and offered isha.
But this is not it. There is no freakin water to drink here! No water at all! Not now not never i think. We're here for a week, but even during a week, you need freakin water to drink na? And its called a rest house? Just mattresses thats freakin it! No food no water, buy everything from the market,. Even mospel! There are so many stupid mosquitoes that its almost like you're invading their residence and not the other way round. The fan doesn't work, 30 people in a hall! Stupid industrial trips! You cant even run away! And wats the worst, there're just five sockets in every hall! You cant even leave your cell there, coz the only people you can trust are out with you all the time! My cell is powered off most of the time! Wat the hell! And the stupid teacher is so stupid i hate him like anything. He's genuinely freakin stupid. Rude rude rude. Freakin rude. And is genuinely cheap and tharki. Its a freakin jail.