The OBL phenomenon..can we ever get over it??

Osama Bin Laden..a name that has changed the world like never before. A prime 'suspect' on the war on terror was finally caught by USA on 1st May 2011in a country that has been a strong ally in this war for over a decade. He was earlier operating from the stony caves in Afghanistan and later took refuge in a serene city in Pakistan, living a very protected life within a short distance from the Pakistan capital- Islamabad. How do we know all this? The world's most powerful man, the president of USA announced this, so how can there be any doubts? Surely he has to be trusted...

The world media continues its testaments from the political bigwigs and keeps on churning controversy theories with each passing day. News and views are thrown at the masses for all those who care to believe or dis-believe. There is plenty for everyone to hold on to.

The OBL phenomenon has caught on as a viral epidemic, brainwashing us, provoking us to take sides and fuelling in the great divide between perceived rights and wrongs. What is all this leading to? Except for creating another thick smog of looming fear over the the ordinary citizens who are crippled with financial instability, the  continued war on terror serves to further de-humanise the world. It maintains a strong hold of the world's superpower on ordinary people blatantly shouting the message  "We don't care what you think. We are out there for vengeance for the 9/11 attack on our soil. We don't care how the ignorant masses in your countries feel. We are the saviours of humanity!! so we will hunt down the bad guys no matter where they are hiding, even if it means a few hundred thousand innocent lives are lost in the process. All is fair in Love and War!! So accept the fact that we are there to help you lead a peaceful life. There can be no peace in the world without this war on terror!!"

I don't know about you, but all this just makes me cringe. I really don't care about how the world's most wanted man was killed, buried or swept away in sea. I don't know what twists and turns the OBL story will take in future, but I am certainly concerned about what it is making us turn into. Normal, average citizens just want to have a normal happy life. I want straight forward answers in a world that is either black or white. However, the grey smog keeps thickening, suffocating the minds, making us cynical and even delusional. So OBL is gone, now its time for Mullah Omar and then...?? Who will be the next 'bad guy' the world will love to hate? Who will we now throw the blame at for all the vice in the world??

It's said that will power and discipline can help you cross any bridges, what do we do if the bridges we see are only a figment of our imagination. In this world of deception, is anything for real?? Can we ever get over this mania?

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY!

"Logic and critical thinking are the hallmarks of a free society, while rote memorization and repetition are the dictator's counterfeit." -- Michael Rivero

The cultural perspective of Burqa- 'veil' by Murtaza Shibli

The other side of purdah
Murtaza Shibli attempts to lift the much-maligned veil
Adjust Font Size  Purdah hai purdah Akbar (Rishi Kapoor) views obliquely his veiled beloved (Neetu Singh) in ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’ Mirza Ghalib, who played with the purdah motif A model on the Paris runway The romance of the veil Veiled protest Mirza Ghalib in one of his famous couplets admits to having had serial affairs with veiled women, and begs Allah not to look at his nama-e-a’amal or list of deeds. He invokes the Islamic ruling that forbids gazing at women as being an ignoble act, and leans on it to imply that the same applies to the gaze of the Almighty as well Rasul Mir, a 19th century romantic Koshur poet, is captivated by the contours of his beloved’s breasts. In one of his poems, while beckoning his beloved Kungi, he describes her ‘fiery breasts’ as inverted domes, rebelliously inverting the concept of holiness by locating it in the body of his beloved. Fittingly, Rasul Mir is buried inside the compound of a large mosque in Dooru, Islamabad, in Kashmir The veil has a romantic side too. For centuries, the burqa, hijab, niqab or purdah have inspired romantic poetry: ghazals and poems in Urdu, Farsi, and my mother tongue Koshur(Kashmiri), as well as many other languages that flourish in Muslim cultures from Sindh to Samarkand and Delhi to Dhaka, all are replete with references to the enchanting veil.The mystery of this romance is that the beloved is behind the veil, away from the pernicious gaze of society or ‘zamana’. Even the romances that incubate inside the burqa and the flaming passions that are generated and struggle for an outlet must remain hidden, adding to the intensity and charm of the romance. In classical Farsi and Urdu poetry, the beloved is always veiled, enhancing the pain of longing and love, and intensifying the desire for union. Even when the meeting finally takes place, desire remains un-satiated, and this provokes an even greater desire for a more complete unveiling. There is always a demand for more. A modern Urdu poet sums up the feeling: na ji bhar kay dekha na kutch baat ki badi arzoo thi mulaqat ki (I could not see or talk much; I longed so much for union) Mirza Ghalib in one of his famous couplets admits to having had serial affairs with veiled women, and begs Allah not to look at his nama-e-a’amal or list of deeds. He invokes the Islamic ruling that forbids gazing at women as being an ignoble act, and leans on it to imply that the same applies to the gaze of the Almighty as well. Ghalib’s stated intention, however, is to save the honour of those veiled beauties. In one of his ghazals he says: The shroud veiled the wound of the flaws of nakedness The veil becomes an object of beatification and respect, not for any religious reason, but because of what it holds inside – the most precious and priceless object that is the essence of the beloved. Because it is covering a precious object, the veil itself attains the status of that object. The burqa, which some have described as a shapeless tent, becomes an aastana or shrine. The respect it inspires resembles what Qays ibn al-Mulawwah (better known as Majnun of Layla-Majnun fame) felt for Layla’s house. In one of the poems Qays, the Majnun, says: I pass by these walls, the walls of Layla And I kiss this wall and that wall It’s not Love of the houses that has taken my heart But of the One who dwells in those houses But the need to unveil the beloved is a part of the very metaphor of veiling: in the classic Bollywood film Amar Akbar Anthony , Rishi Kapoor’s Akbar sings a qawwali in a theatre before his beloved, who is wearing a burqa. Cries Akbar (in a cheeky and playful demeanour): Veil o veil! Behind the veil Is the One And if I don’t unveil her beauty My name ain’t Akbar! There is also, of course, the veiled One’s rebuttal to every prudah-tearing Akbar. In the film Nikah (1982) there is a verbal duel between groups of men and women in the form of a sung aawwali. The men sing: Chehra chupa liya hai kisi nay hijab mein Ji chahata hai aag laga doon naqab mein (Someone has hidden her face beneath the hijab I wish I could set the niqab on fire) And the women’s reply is: Bijali thi ik jo hum ne chhupa li naqab mein Lag jaati varna aag tumhaare shabab mein (It is lightning that we have covered with our niqab Otherwise it would have set your youth on fire.) Others have not been so subtle in demanding a carnal encounter. One of the greatest modern Urdu poets, Ahmad Faraz (1931-2008), questions the wisdom of the veil by emphasizing the earthly (and therefore legitimate) nature of human desire: You are not God and my love is not angelic Being humans why should we meet under so many veils Muslim as well as non-Muslim politicians have described the veil as a limitation. But they seem unfamiliar with its other life as motif and metaphor for the preciousness of the human soul, not to mention its storied sexual role: Rasul Mir, a 19thcentury romantic Koshur poet, is captivated by the contours of his beloved’s breasts and venerates them, often employing religious symbols. In one of his poems he describes the breasts of his beloved as objects of desire for all those who are in love. These are rotund and sweet as pomegranates, and he prays for them during his nocturnal supplications. In one of his poems, while beckoning his beloved Kungi , he describes her ‘fiery breasts’ as inverted domes, rebelliously inverting the concept of holiness by locating it in the body of his beloved. Fittingly, Rasul Mir is buried inside the compound of a large mosque in Dooru, Islamabad, in Kashmir. When I visited his grave in 2006, it was decorated like a Sufi shrine, bedecked with flowers and burning incense. A small signboard there read: Aashiq Rasul Mir . Many people, including Islamic scholars, argue that the veil affords safety and security to women. This is most applicable to places like Afghanistan or the tribal areas of Pakistan, where women have been bartered to settle family or clan feuds, or raped and kidnapped by warlords because of their beauty. In many conservative Muslim cultures, the burqa offers a necessary anonymity to women to negotiate cultural taboos and frontiers without being noticed as ‘a particular woman’, and shields them from unwarranted male attention. In this way, the burqa becomes important and very convenient to go to the cinema or to meet your mahboob or lover, or simply to wander around without attracting male attention. (Also worth noting is the fact that under the safety and anonymity of the burqa, many women from once financially secure families can go out and beg for alms and food. In Kashmir, India, Iran and Turkey, I have seen women begging with their veils on as it protects their family’s reputation.) There are poetic references that place the veil as the main defence for women against the evils of society, particularly from the prying eyes of lascivious males. An Urdu couplet set in a mischievous idiom counsels women: Don’t let that scarf fall off your breast Or else even the old would pray for their youth to come back And now for a piece of my own experience: after last year’s news of arow between Saudi Princess SaraAl-Amoudi and her Swedish boyfriendPatrick Ribbsaeter, a photograph of her appeared in a black veil with only her eyes showing. It provoked an instant nostalgia for my college days, and I couldn’t help but mumble a Koshur song that addresses a burqa-clad beauty: Chi hai chak nara wuzmul Krehnis hai burqas tal (You are a bolt of lightning, flashing fire Under this black burqa) Murtaza Shibli is a London based writer and consultant on Muslim issues in Europe and South Asia. He is also the editor of '7/7: Muslim Perspectives', a book that explores the British Muslim reaction to the London bombings

Saira Khan's Pakistan Adventure

An excellent production led by Saira Khan, a British woman with roots in Kashmir. Saira Khan takes you through a journey that will certainly be an eye opener for many non-Pakistanis. This documentary beautifully captures the multidimensional nature of the Pakistani society which is an eclectic mix of rich tradition, culture, expressions of art, music, religious devotion all embedded in a land enriched with beautiful flowing rivers, serene desert and magnificent mountains.

Socrates-Triple Filter Test

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"
"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied..
"Before telling me anything, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right," Socrates continued.
"Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test."

"The first filter is TRUTH. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."

'All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of GOODNESS. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

"No, on the contrary...."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of USEFULNESS. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

Friends, use this triple filter each time you hear loose talk about any of your near & dear friends.

Day Dreaming is for FOOOLS!!!

Day dreaming is for fools...really?  I have started to think differently now .

Research has shown that children with a high imagination turn out to be more creative. Dreams make the impossible possible as they let your mind go where it wants to without any societal or physical barriers.

Dreams have always intrigued me. I often think of the common dreams I frequently have and have with time learnt to take them as symbolic. However, what I am talking about now is not the dreams we see while in a state of sleep when the subconscious mind conjures up images often reflecting our daily thoughts, the matters most affecting us.

Recently, I have come to realise the healing power of day dreams. Yes, really it’s a great therapy, as long as you don’t live in it all the time. It can act like a relaxing tonic.

 So many times in life we are faced with situations we have no control on. It makes us sad and depressed. But if you are able to switch on this side of you that lets you experience positive feelings of hope and you are able to just focus on the positivity of what you have rather on what you don’t have..it can be a real blessing.

Some of you may find this funny or even ridiculous. I don’t have any scientific explanation for this. Cynics will differ. They will say you are a fool to think like this. This is denial. You need to accept the realities and move on with life.

But hey, did you ever realise how much we practice this already. Especially what we are going through in  Pakistan. We are all aware of the harsh realities, the painful situation is enough to throw any sensitive creature in a state of perpetual shock,  but we are still alive, function  normally. Because we have created our own surreal world... we have to.. we can’t go on without it.

On a personal level, I have found this technique therapeautic. It helps me stay positive and gives me the time to heal internally. I am sure you must have your own take on the subject. Would love to hear what you think.

Travellers

The journey of life is filled with numerous fellow travellers we meet along the way. Familiar faces and  routine  become such an important fabric of life. As I think of my daily companions, I recall the quick hello with the elderly lady who walks her two dogs early every morning as I wait for the bus, there is the look of familiarity with the station master and the guards whom I see everyday and am able to recognise them even if I see them without their uniforms in another place, the exchange of regular emails from an old friend who shares her pains and struggles in life  as a single mom looking after her two kids while battling with the scars of an ugly divorce, the small talk with the fitness instructor at the gym where ladies of all shapes , sizes  and  ages are using physical exercise as a means to deal with their own separate issues....the exchange of witty updates on facebook between friends you have never met in life and probably will never meet...all these people though insignificant in their individual capacity make up a very important part of my life.

They add colour to the otherwise routine chores, the work, the complexity of relationships, the struggles and triumphs of life. How significant are all these fellow travellers, sometimes they provide the sanity that you need to get through the bad days. It takes just a familiar smile or the odd comment on facebook that lifts your spirits or diverts your thoughts to an angle you didn’t consider before.

This thought once again makes me realise that after all it’s the little things in life that really keep you together . The friendship you counted on for years can simply fade into a distant memory, the bonds that you make in love can suddenly fire up and die their own course, the people who share their stories with you can just move by when they find a new meaning to life. People come and go. Some like to just savour the companionship and stay in touch for whatever their need is at that time. Some exchange meaningful words under the cover of jest and silently watch for a response, while some people are persistent and loyal and can make you feel special..and with them all the other travellers fill in the gaps to help you stay grounded to real life.

As I further divulge into this thought, I realise it's not these nameless travellers who are providing me the sanity, its actually the fact that all these people actually make me count the numerous blessings I have come to take for granted. The exchange of pleasantries with strangers reminds me what a beautiful race God has created. We are human, we care for each other and feel connected even while silently standing in a queue. I am thankful for the blessing of health so I can travel independently, for my work that gives me confidence and provides me livelihood and for my family and friends who add value by making me a part of their lives.

If you have been too busy with work, family or any other matter...just take a few seconds to take in the environment around you. The very nature of life.. good or bad, happy or sad should be a reminder that you are alive and there is so much to be thankful for.

My fellow travellers I wish you a lovely jpurney....

A sad truth

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