Passport woes: Does the world need to know we are Muslim?
Whenever I travel overseas I feel uncomfortable when the immigration officer opens my passport and looks through my personal details. It’s not because the colour of my passport is green; what annoys me is the fact that he knows my religion. Why should I tell the official that I am a Muslim? Is my nationality i.e. Pakistani, not enough? Does it matter if we are Muslims or non-Muslims? We are Pakistanis. Is that not enough for an identity? I, for one, do not understand the reason for having a religion category on one’s passport, especially seeing all the problems our country has faced because of ...
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Pakistan ka matlab kya…who cares?
Six odd decades after independence, we are still squabbling over the ideology of Pakistan, what it represents and what it means to be a Pakistani. With the rise of social media and greater access to information, the urban youth are starting to challenge the official narrative of history. And hence, today the battle of the ideology of Pakistan is in full swing. To me, Pakistan is an undeniable truth, much like Israel. Pakistan is a sovereign country – whether one agrees with the original ideology it is based upon is irrelevant. Like Israel, Pakistan is on the map and must ...
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Leave Veena Malik alone!
When Pakistani film and television personality Veena Malik went to India to participate in popular reality show “Big Boss 4″ she was doing a job – as an actress not an ambassador. According to Malik one of her tasks on the show was adding melodrama to the program – which she did. She was also, apparently requested to display a certain degree of intimacy with Indian model and actor Ashmit Patel. This was where it all went wrong. The Pakistani public’s moral barometer hit the roof at the sight of a “quom ki beti” cuddling in the arms of ...
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Ashamed of the truth on a London bus
London was bathed in sunlight and the sky was a beautiful combination of azure and orange hues this morning. As I stood at my window, staring out at the city, it seemed to stare back at me. I smiled but I felt London didn’t smile back. This morning I met a lady on the bus. A painfully prim and proper lady, the way most aged British women are. An Alice band was tucked in her hair, a basket of fruit was in her hands, a typically British floral dress peeked from beneath her typically tweed coat. As I sat down next ...
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I have not sold my soul to America
Many Pakistani Americans were impacted adversely when the twin towers of the World Trade Centre collapsed, on September 11, 2001. Many decided to head back home as they felt their American dream had turned into an American nightmare. There were even ill-founded fears that they would be dispatched to concentration camps. The reality turned out to be the contrary. Many who left for safe harbours in Pakistan or the Middle East ended up returning empty-handed to good old America. The horror they supposedly ran from in the US followed them in those countries. There was a common theme that each ...
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Sindh Culture Day: Balancing the past and the future
While it was heartening to see jubilant celebrations of Sindh Culture Day on December 4, a single decision by the Government of Sindh dented the celebrations in an irreparable manner. One would agree with the decision to officially celebrate the day, but announcing a public holiday thereafter seemed a step too far. It is a question we should at least ask ourselves. As far as Karachi is concerned, Sindh Culture Day will undoubtedly help foster closer ties between the different ethnic groups living in this economic powerhouse of a city. I do not think anyone who lives in Karachi will ...
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Why being hot really sucks
Are good looks a blessing or a curse? Studies have shown that good looking people succeed faster professionally – if two people have the exact same experience and qualifications, everything but different looks (average looking vs beautiful) – more often than not, the better looking one is selected. In all professional recruitment training, we are taught to dress formally and professionally for interviews. Appearance matters, looks matter even more. Good looking people succeed faster. Better looking girls are always sought after for marriage. Everywhere, there seems to be a certain bias in favour of good looks. The eye of the beholder It all ...
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What brand are you?
If you fell off the face of the earth tomorrow what would people around you say about you – once they got over the fact that you were gone? Would they remember any particular aspect of you? Would you be remembered as the guy that kept people entertained at the office? Would you be remembered as the girl who wouldn’t quit talking? How about the guy that kept taking too many pictures with his cell phone? Or just an annoying brat that asked too many questions? Or the guy that immediately adds you on Facebook after a brief meeting somewhere? Like ...
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Using literature as a window to the past
In all nation-states, history is distorted to create convenient narratives. Our country is suffering not only from the usual propagandisation of the past, but also because its fiction is being ignored as a source of both art and inquiry. The truth in the works of Faiz or Manto might be uncomfortable for us to face, but responsible education should be structured around seeking truth rather than obscuring it; understanding history rather than ignoring it. Remembering Jinnah Saadat Hasan Manto is one of the best-known fiction writers from the turbulent period during which the subcontinent gained independence and was partitioned. His stories ...
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Learning to realise we’re all OK
While perusing the best selling self-help book: I’M OK You’re OK by psychiatrist Thomas A Harris MD, one realizes how well the theory of the ‘not OK child’ can be applied to a number of Pakistanis (not only as individuals, but as representatives of the nation). Briefly, the book reveals that there are four life positions that each person can take: I’m not OK, you’re Ok 2.I’m not OK, you’re not OK, 3. I’m OK, you’re not OK, 4. I’m OK, you’re OK Most children initially take the position of” I’m not OK, you’re OK”. They see adults as strong and competent and themselves ...
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