Blogging made commercial – ugh March 18, 2009

So one of the 1001 assignments that we are supposed to do this semester, includes making a blog. This is for some computer related course we’re doing which I am not exactly enjoying because I am not in any way interested in anything to do with computers. Except of course writing, blogging, facebooking and the usual random stuff.

So now that everyone has forced themselves to make blogs, they are marketing them. This is so degrading to the art of blogging. It’s making me angry. We should not have been FORCED to make blogs in the first place. Blogging is NOT something you can make someone do. Its like pee-ing. You do it because you WANT to do it. But whatever. Now that the assignment is given out, there’s not much one can do about it except do it. Because unlike me, people are not so enthusiastic about failing or dropping courses. Obviously no one is going to take a stand for the art of blogging and the prevention of making it into a commercial activity (where one has to MARKET their blogs to others) – including me. Because I honestly  cannot afford another F in a course. 

But I would request the rest of my classmates to atleast not propagate their blog as if its some candy they are selling. People will read your blog if they want to. Don’t make cheap deals where you promise to read and comment on someone’s blog just because they’ll comment on yours.

The GPA Dilemma January 11, 2009

The Grade Point Average to most IBA-eans (Students of IBA)is the God of all numbers. They kill their social lives to spend more time immersed within the grey and white world of pirated text books; steal every ounce of time to read that one extra chapter; drink those two extra cups of strong coffee to toothpick those eyelids awake; lose out on the best of day dreams, that I may add you can only get in a thoroughly boring math or psychology class; reduce themselves to Grade-begging fakeers to get that one little mark – I could swear upon something sacred, that the fakeer skills possessed by the multi-talented student body of IBA could outdo those of professional beggars outside Kaybees any day.

 However, to me the GPA is a thoroughly “irrational” number that for the past three semesters has failed to do justice to my intelligence. I REFUSE to admit that it has been MY fault that my GPA has consistently been in the lower “bounds” of my class’s collective GPAs. It is not my fault that studying fails to interest me and grades do not mean more than mere alphabets to me. It is not my fault that reading off books and copy pasting, the exact text book words, in test papers is not my best ability. I am not at fault when the spirited, uninhibited side of me takes over me in class and compels me, with its intense energy, to pass comments that may not always be appropriate in a setting where words that stray off the text book path are highly unappreciated. And it is CERTAINLY not my fault that the world of academics categorizes people and their intelligence by how close they are capable of getting to the number 4.0.

As an individual I am often found relating my GPA dilemma to classmates and I find that none of them are able to relate to me.

Only the other day I was telling a fellow classmate (who works for the local handkerchief industry) about how utterly impossible it is for me to concentrate in a class where the teacher is droning on endlessly about random theories and formulae, when I found him hyper ventilating and staring at me in absolute shock as if my words had been blasphemous to the concept of education.

“Kanwal!” Maaju said, his mouth hanging open, handkerchief against nose. “How can you not want to listen to the sacred words of our oh-so-knowledgeable teacher?”

“Maaju,” I said trying to reason and calm down his hyperventilation. “I’m not insulting the teachers. It’s me! I find it hard to concentrate in class when the teacher is reading off the text book and not adding the value of personal knowledge and hands-on skill to our class room experience.”

“You might have noticed that there is full usage of hands-on skill Kanwal,” said Maaju in his usual Miss-know-it-all way. “The teacher is using the white board AND her text book with her hands. No wonder your GPA is so low!”

I completely lost it at that point.

“I’m not even going to try explaining to you the meaning of hands-on, my handkerchief loving friend,” I said. “You are absolutely devoid of any knowledge beyond that of your rote learned Human behavior definitions. The only thing YOU’RE good at, is saying “Sir marks ki scaling kar dain”. No wonder your GPA is so abnormally high!”

 

Crisis in Pakistan February 14, 2008

Posted on Blogger on Friday, December 28, 2007

I have this tendency to vent my emotions, every time some incident occurs that affects others on a global, national, or societal level, by means of writing down every ounce of my thoughts. Today I write about an event, actually a series of events – triggered by what was visibly a mere gun-shot, but swiftly evolving into a number of shots, a couple of bomb blasts, unnumbered casualties and riots activated by frustration – that occurred last evening. It left my country, not only with the loss of a lot of treasured lives but unleashed on us the frustration of thousands of people across the country who took to the streets proclaiming their anger for the assassination of the politician who they were supposedly “religiously devoted” to.
But what sort of way is this, to prove one’s love and dedication? Burning up cars and trucks, breaking shops and people’s faces, terrorizing others around you – it all symbolises a nation submerged so far deep into frustration that it would take nothing less than a supernatural force to drag it out before it drowns. And what we do within the boundaries of our lavishly decorated homes, while watching this on TV is shake our heads with disappointment at the conditions of our country. Curse the politicians, curse the people, curse the country, then have dinner and plop down on our beds for a good night’s sleep. Oh and then when we cannot find the excuse for the occurrence of the event – cannot find enough witnesses to blame it on – we blame it on Islamic extremism. Yes of course, our brother by religion Osama sitting in some god forsaken cave of Afghanistan – the Director of world wide terrorism – is always ready to take the blame! Some video or the other miraculously appears out of no where just in time to prove to the world that it has INDEED been Al-Qaeda that blew up some random truck in a random part of the world. It is this kind of a supernatural force – one that conjures up videos on the nick of time and knows EXACTLY how to manoeuvre the media – that our country needs to steer itself towards sanity.
We are a nation, numb – devoid of any feeling whatsoever towards the agonies constantly being inflicted on our society as Pakistanis and as Muslims. Every time an incident occurs that could be classified as miles apart from humanitarianism, our television channels are bombarded with the most retarded of songs and video clippings to commemorate the loss of whatever it is that has been lost. Television channel logos go black and white to represent the supposed grief our nation feels. Three days later, it is back to the same old half clad girls prancing on television to sell the most unnecessary of products and worthless TV shows that make our lives miserable rather than easy. If we were not so numb, such events would have easily triggered an unstoppable revolution that would have reached far and wide affecting us positively and leading this nation-gone-astray closer to sensibility. I am not saying that we live forever inundated by the tears of grief for the destruction around us, keeping aside everything else. Life has to be taken as it comes, but at the same time what is happening should NEVER stop affecting us. Things need to be done individually and collectively. It is exactly events like these that caused the Third Estate in France to rebel and bring about a revolution, discarding the monarchy, corruption and uneven distribution of wealth that plagued the country. Burning and breaking what belongs to our country and people is not what will lead to the revolution. It is intelligently using our strength as an unstoppable mob to bring down the selfish, power-thirsty individuals that are constantly struggling to force us into a hypnosis of helplessness and poverty of money and free-thinking.

The REAL Rights of Women February 14, 2008

Written on March 15 2007

Posted on Blogger on Wednesday, April 11 2007

We should strive to become those who are actually worth being. Not those, whose exterior appearances please our immoral glances. Why can a teenage girl not flash the example of Hazrat Maryam in front of herself? She was a woman in the true sense of the word. One who bore not only a child, but the vile gossip and the gratuitous scandal that was created with the birth of her blessed son.
Only an hour ago as I flipped through a local magazine, my eyes were bombarded with vulgar images. Images of scantily dressed women, selling products that could be sold without plunging necklines and inappropriately short pants. I was disgusted, embarrassed. After all, if this was how beings of the same gender as me were portraying themselves to the world, this was how femininity would be generalized. We would – actually are – viewed by most, as entities only to be seen, used, and abused. Muslim women, who were granted unparalleled rights centuries ago, seem to have buried these privileges for selling their bodies and souls to attain the valueless status Women in the West are struggling to achieve.
It is quite hard to see how the “woman of the 21st century” enjoys some “random rights” which women were deprived of some decades ago (and further into history). If women actually had rights, the perverted ambiance we dwell in today would be cleansed – there would be no illegitimate pleasures derived off prostitution, no ruthless rapes of thirteen year old girls. No woman would actually be selling her dignity on television and on print. Clothing is made to be seen as inversely proportioned to the amount of rights. The less you wear the more “free/liberal” you are. It seems as if these women are devoid of brains. Do they not realize this is just an abominable propaganda of the western male dominated society? Yes, I do believe the west is dominated by the male. The female are helpless. Take the example of the women fighting in Iraq for the USA. They entered the army, with high hopes on working alongside with men, but returned teary eyed, raped of their dignity and were psychologically disturbed.
Let us now analyze how and why the west sees the Hijab as a threat. The Hijab doubtlessly conveys a message of a liberated woman, who refuses to bargain her body for her rights. It means she is capable of declaring her equality where every aspect of existence is concerned. It means that she is capable of climbing every step of success without having to sell her self esteem. It means that she can feel beautiful in every sense of the word without having to deface herself with sexy clothes and an outrageously made up face. And the west can not deal with confident, poised, liberated, self-assured women like these. It would mean a drastic decline in the number of sexually stimulating movies, brothels, bikinis and insecure women ready to exchange their chastity for a worthless promotion.
USA, regardless of how much it claims of its people to be liberated is the chief Western country that is psychologically depriving its country men of their fair share of world affairs. One can safely say that the average American lives in a bubble. Not all. Most. They barely even know what is actually going on in the world. For them the word Taliban/Afghanistan means terrorism. Iran means a stubborn nuclear “en-richer”. Muslim means suicide bomber. It would be my sincerest advice to these fellow dwellers of Planet Earth to somehow prick this opaque bubble built of hamburgers and Vodka and manage to find out more about the world and how it is being destructed by their terrorist of a leader.

The ruthless bloodbath in Iraq February 14, 2008

    

Written on March 15 2007

Posted on Blogger on Tuesday, April 10, 2007

It seems as if the cerebral hemispheres of the British and American rulers are highly underdeveloped. Their disability in deciphering the various aspects of peoples feelings vividly propagates that fact. Ten minutes ago, I was shocked beyond words as I watched British soldiers ruthlessly beating up Iraqi children (on BBC). The children were helpless – to intensify their defenselessness their hands were tied and they were made to lay face-ward on the roads as the soldiers whipped their backs.
Although this action signifies a lot of things, the two most prominent would be the fact that Iraqis do not like the American rule in their country. Why else would children stone soldiers – I ask you, to show their appreciation? No, my dense British/American friends, it merely highlights the fact that they are asking you to leave their country. They want you to leave them alone. Sorry, but they do not want your help in destroying the tyrannical (or whatever you call it) rule of Saddam Hussein in their country. I’m sorry if its hard for you to digest the fact that people do not need your help – because where helping people is concerned you have still not grasped the proper meaning of help. Yes, you discovered how to make atom bombs, you created Microsoft and yes you learned how to make hamburgers and fries, sadly you were not able to understand what help means. Allow me to assist you in this mission to discover the true meaning of help. Help (according to the oxford English Dictionary) refers to doing something useful for some one else. No, your bombing of innocent civilians’ residences can not be tendered as useful. Nor can this beating of inoffensive children be justified as functional. This, in fact, is referred to as brutality in a real man’s world. But what would people like George Bush know about a real man’s world. He is probably to busy playing golf and cracking lame jokes to pay even a speck of attention to it. If he is not busy with his golf clubs, he is planning to make a move on the oil-based Arab countries so that his country is sufficiently fuelled and he has the world under his little finger.
While I was watching this video that has been dug up after two years of its making, the spokesman also dropped the hint that the fact that British Soldiers were beating up the children, has nothing to do with the rest of the western world. The abuse of Iraqis cannot be classified as something which is acceptable by the rest of their society. Well, then why is the Taliban (who are actually not even guilty of any terrorist activities) always associated with the Muslim world. Why has the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) been caricatured as a terrorist in the Comic strips? If for once the Western world would step out of their silly shells, and bother to read the history of Islam they would realize that Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) was the most patient, humble, and peaceful man on earth. If you want to make fun about terrorists – make a caricature of President Bush himself, or USA. For a country who believes in eradicating terrorism, it is quite a joke itself. For it is the only one who has actually used the destructive power of Nuclear weapons on other countries. Hiroshima and Nagasaki for example. The Japanese are still suffering from the effects of radioactivity.
All I can say is, give yourself a thought, and visit a psychologist – not that it would make a difference. Your minds are perverted beyond repair.

The Problem with Pakistani Muslims February 14, 2008

Written on February 2nd 2007

Posted on Blogger on 10th April 2007

“O ye who believe!
If ye obey the Unbelievers,
They will drive you back
On your heels, and ye
Will turn back (from Faith)
To your own loss.”
(Surah 3, Ayah 149)
Why is it that Pakistanis allow themselves to be so intensely masked in Western Propaganda? Is it genuinely believed that following the Westerners is going to lead them into accepting us on the same parallel as other Western nations? Why is the example of Turkey not flagged on our faces – where despite its change of state religion to secularism it fails to be part of the European Union? Why is it that our private sectors have enough money to fund useless “model hunts” such as “Funk Asia”, but cannot scoop up sufficient wealth to finance university programs or “educational talent hunts” where the less privileged can be funded to acquire quality education? Yet, we refuse to engross ourselves in work more productive and strive only to represent ourselves by wasteful means such as music and leisure. We have sadly reduced ourselves to mere entertainers – our talented halves indulging time and energy into raising our fashion dogmas to a higher platform; rather than exerting the vigor into raising our religious creed to a much more accepted level. The more influential individuals of our society abuse multiple media – using it for purposes that are not any where near to beneficial – subconsciously moulding the more impressionable ones into sad clones of wannabe westerners.

More over, it is really disappointing to see that no quality institution has been established over the past fifty nine years of Pakistan’s existence – with the exception of a few notable ones. But they too only accommodate a very limited number of courses and have room for only a certain number of students. There are people deprived of their choice of curriculums in college – such as liberal arts – since decent colleges in Pakistan offer only traditional degrees such as Medicine, Engineering, and Business Administration etc. Financial and personal constraints disallow many of our students to go abroad for education and the disheartening series of conventional education we receive here produces duplicates of the same capabilities, refusing to enhance the exceptionally talented amongst us.
Feudal lords still dominate much of our political scene – we have no real leaders to represent us. None. We are constantly thrust with recurring succession of military dictators – who I may add, are instruments of the Western World. Our roads are bombarded with under-aged drivers, unlicensed drivers, deformed beggars, man holes, sewage water. Our sidewalks are lined with drug addicts, garbage, and scantily dressed models attempting to sell luxurious products in a country where more than half the population is deprived of even the most basic of commodities. And how does our youth respond to this injustice inflicted on them? For one thing, they do not even realize they are being deprived of cultured subsistence as they take into flow the ridiculous productions aired on “Pakistani, Dubai-based” channels. We attend social welfare societies and charitable associations just to score a few good words on college applications, while most of our energy is converged into organizing silly extravaganzas such as concerts and attempts to enter national television.
While I am not completely discrediting people who are working to make a difference, it is just extremely evident that they remain to be only a minor portion of society and most of them are influenced by the new secularism of the western world. If the west can institute convent schools, why can’t we fuse Islamic teachings with the normal curriculum? Why are such substandard books used for Islamiat while subjects such as Science and English Literature are grilled with the best of writers? No one ever gives a thought to issues like these, mainly because the people, in our community, blessed with the capability to think either reside abroad or are too busy scraping up a decent income to provide for their families.
Conclusively, why did the United States consider the Soviet Union and its communist self to be a hateful atheistic mist on the eastern half, when in reality Communism is not an ideology deprived of religion; and when today the United States itself is such an atheistic regime trying to liberate other countries of state religions. And while we can be considered America’s “Most favored nation”, we will never be preferred over India, so maybe it is about time we stopped feeling insecure about being “bombed back to the stone-age” and adhered to our own principles than scuttling after those of others

The Execution of Saddam Hussain February 14, 2008

Written on December 31st 2006

Rather than fretting over the decisiveness of an ordinary mind, the helplessness of a person’s life against the verdict and the reaction of millions of people affected by the judgment; George W. Bush, President of the current Super Power – which I may add is primarily accountable for the destruction of Iraq and its leader – was self-interestedly catching up on his beauty sleep.
The fact that George Bush did not just treat Saddam, as a “king would treat a king” is not as disappointing as is that Saddam Hussein was irrationally hanged, tried only by local Iraqi courts. The reality is far more than perceptible – the past two years the US’s attempts to uncover “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq remain unfruitful. Is it just my prejudiced mind or is everyone genuinely duped by the US’s tactics to obliterate the cosmic, excellently resourceful Muslim Empire?
Analyzing the history of Iraq, while considering the atrocities committed against the Shia’ites and the Kurds, by Saddam Hussein, the fact that it was the United States that had encouraged the rebels in the different sects to be brought to the fore, is also brought about. The United States has unmistakably pined for the bestowal of Iraq on their behalf, so that they can majestically rule over the exceptionally oil populated region, the other reason being their ardent love for the Jewish State of Israel and Iraq being a loathsome threat against its existence. Yet, that is not reason enough to justify the repugnant killing of thousands of Iraqi, the callous devastation of homes, and the bitter ignorance of a nation’s fate in a conservative court of justice. Why is that the country so obdurately fanatical about the ideologies of liberalism slipped this once – when it sentenced a leader to an undeserved orthodox death?
If the word terrorism is really derived from the word terror, then there are countries making weapons of mass destruction, countries making nuclear weapons, having Cluster bombs, Daisy Clutter Bombs to absorb Oxygen, they are terrorists; we Muslim States are not.
If leaders were to be ruthlessly insulted, and sentenced to death for the execution of unjust manslaughter then should not George Bush’s existence be condemned? If weapons of mass destruction owned by one country were meant to be a threat to the rest of the world, and countries owning them be brutally bombed to dust, the United Sates of America should probably be a wisp of sand on the western end of the globe.

Begum Nawazish Ali must die February 14, 2008

                                             It infuriated me to hear the she-man speak about how acceptable he was in the Muslim Society of Pakistan. Does no one realize men dressing as women and women dressed as men are a sign of the Day of Resurrection, as quoted by a significant Hadith? Associating people like Begum Nawazish Ali with society, let alone religion, is a disgrace to it. People like him/her are a form humiliation on the normality of human gender.

Begum Nawazish Ali is a being composed of a split personality – a male fraction accompanied by a female half. He stands with a clean shaven face; shoulder length dyed hair, polished nails and waxed hands representing a sector of society that is created by abnormal temptations and insecure mind frames. This in turn leads one to believing that he grew up in an unstable household, thoroughly neglected by his father. The man is characterized by outrageously mutilated emotions where he flirts with other men on his substandard show. Dressed to attract, in scantily pieced Saris he talks alluringly as if he is on a mission to make gay people acceptable in a Muslim Society. He wants to be the President of Pakistan – a thought that sickens me, petrifies me. For the worst replacement of the current dictator we are suffering through, is a She-man. Begum Nawazish Ali is so widely watched in households now that it is spoiling today’s children, inculcating in their minds the acceptability of being like the opposite gender on purpose.

Yesterday, on Al-Jazeera as Begum Nawazish Ali spoke as a guest on a particular show she spoke about how “free” the media in Pakistan was with the arrival of Pervaiz Musharraf. This shows that not only is this man/woman unsure about his own gender but also fails to understand the true meaning of freedom of speech. For him and people who control today’s media “freedom of speech” is closer to “freedom of sex” where they can air all kinds of trashy television shows but when it comes to talking against the government or USA, a newspaper fails to publish one’s articles and opinions. This is a blatant insult on the concept of “Freedom of Speech”. The press is not free, otherwise every time Dawn published my articles it would not have to edit them due to censorship policies. If the press was free I would not have to resort writing my true feelings about our government on a Blog. If the press was free the newspaper would not be piled with the same old opinions on every issue that manages to fit into the criteria of the censorship policies. If the government is so bent upon censoring our viewpoints maybe they should cut down more on the incorrectly (according to Islam) dressed girls that prance about on television and ban Begum Nawazish Ali’s cheap show.

I think that Begum Nawazish Ali urgently needs a tough psychological therapy. People like him should be engaged in challenging tasks that demand a lot of time so that they do not use their brains and time destroying our culture, spoiling our youth, defacing our society, and tarnishing our religious community as a whole.

Just a thought February 14, 2008

Posted on Blogger on Wednesday, April 11, 2007.

Just a thought: How come the British denounced the words of their sailors when they admitted to have entered Iranian waters, with respect to the fact that they were being pressurized to say so – when in fact the British sailors looked extremely well kept and happy and not under threat from any angle? Where as, the forced declarations of the poor Iraqis in Guantanamo Bay by the Americans, were not reproached by the Muslim world even though it was more than obvious that they had been ruthlessly tormented to admit that they were at fault for random acts of terrorism.
Has an Iron curtain descended upon the senses of the Muslim world, such that they are sightlessly absorbing all that is propagated by the powerful Western media through their sponges of brains? Is it not our responsibility, our right – even – to know all sides of the story, not just the CNN side and then act upon it accordingly? Maybe it is just because the Muslim World has been blessed with such capable leaders that we have reached such useless existence where we are harnessed into a four-walled ignorance. And will remain captives to our “emotionally-involved with the west, of a leader” till someone manages to cast a stone at his hypocrisy and wipe out Musharraf’s dictatorial regime before his line of fire becomes raging flames too violent to extinguish.

Introduction February 14, 2008

What I’m going to do is, copy paste the posts from my previous blog. Because its not everyday that I feel passionate enough to write about what’s going on around me. And when I do it all comes out at once. So I’m going to copy-paste stuff from times when I got intimate with my keyboard.