It's just incredible - how does a man walk right into a cliche? In his press conference yesterday, President Musharraf was asked to comment on the soaring prices of pulses in the Pakistani market. He very jauntily proclaimed: "Agar daal nahin milti, log murghi khaaen!" [If they're not getting pulses, the people can eat chicken!]
Setting aside for a second the inherent ludicrousness of this statement - how can this man not be familiar with the infamous legend of the 18th-century aristocrat* who, upon being told that the peasants had no bread, simply responded, "S'ils n'ont pas de pain, qu'ils mangent de la brioche !" [If they don't have bread, let them eat cake!**] The quote is attributed to Marie Antoinette who was guillotined by furious French revolutionaries not long after.
What other cautionary tales is Mr. Musharraf completely and blissfully unaware of, I wonder?
* The quote originally comes from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's account of this incident involving an unnamed princess. The quote is commonly attributed to Marie Antoinette but the actual source is not known. Some historians think it could have been Maria Theresa of Spain.
** Brioche is not really cake, but just very very rich bread eaten in France. The popular English translation of this quote uses 'cake' instead.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The Incredible Rotten Luck of Youssef Nagui Assad
David Reynolds, in his book One World Divisible: A Global History Since 1945, has described Jimmy Carter's boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics as the one sanction that brought the end of détente to worldwide attention. He also explains that this was not the first time that international sports had been entangled in diplomacy. (Nor was it the last, clearly, as present-day observers of the controversy surrounding Beijing 2008 can see.) In fact, the Olympics have been fraught with politics ever since their revival in 1896.
In 1916, 1940 and 1944 the games had not been held at all because of world wars. In the postwar era, West Germany and Japan were excluded until 1952. There were long-running arguments about the status of the two Chinas and the two Germanies. East Germany had to wait until 1968 to enter a separate team. The September 1972 games in Munich were overshadowed by the shooting of eleven Israeli athletes by Palestinian kidnappers. Four years later, twenty-eight black African states boycotted Montréal to protest New Zealand's continued sporting links with South Africa. Despite these precedents, however, the Olympics were different in 1980. "No longer were they simply a sideshow of international politics but instead were elevated to the main event."
A cartoon by Herb Block that appeared in the Washington Post, July 19, 1978
Carter was successful in convincing a pretty large number of states to join the boycott. As a result, only 81 countries participated. The countries that did participate had a rollicking good time: 36 records were broken, and the Soviet and East German teams had a total of 127 gold medals between them.
Now, unlike your average dry old historian, Reynolds has devoted a paragraph here to things far more human than politics. While the boycott did little for Afghanistan or for Carter's reelection, says Reynolds, the main sufferers in all the Olympic boycott cases were the athletes, who had wasted years and years of training. He tells one man's story in particular, a story I found so insanely tragic that it reached comic proportions.
Spare a thought for Youssef Nagui Assad, a physical education teacher from Cairo, who was also a keen shot-putter. In 1968, aged twenty-three, he just missed qualifying for the Egyptian Olympic team - by two centimeters. In 1972, he went with the team to Munich, only to be withdrawn by his government in solidarity with the PLO. In 1976, Assad traveled to Montréal, only to be pulled out again as part of the antiapartheid boycott. And in 1980, when he was thirty-five and nearing retirement, his dreams of Olympic gold were dashed when Egypt shunned the Moscow Games.
Can you believe it? What phenomenal bad luck! And yet, the Wikipedia entry on Youssef Nagui Assad says nothing whatsoever about this series of misfortunes! Which is such a shame. I think this guy's story ought to be part of every human being's general knowledge base - just so we can remind ourselves of how little our plans and aspirations actually matter in the face of God's mysterious ways! And personally, I think it's remarkable that Assad kept on trying till the very end! What a fascinating story.
Books have been written on the unfairness of the boycott to US athletes. So really,
the very least Assad's misfortune deserves is a section on his Wikipedia page!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Ethnic Discrimination at QAU
Before starting my Masters degree at Quaid-e-Azam University, I had no idea people in Pakistan took ethnicity so seriously. But it's amazing how many people refer to other people in terms of Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, Pathan, Muhaajir, or whatever. For someone like me, who probably does not even have a clue about the ethnic origins of her best friends, this is absolutely mindboggling. I love nothing better than meeting people from different cultures, and my ideal society is one rich with ethnic diversity. But I am incapable of categorizing people according to ethnicities or races or nationalities or religion. What could be stupider?
So it was really disappointing when, merely days into my first semester, I started hearing gaggles of gossipmongers whispering among themselves about who belongs to what ethnic group and 'you know what those people are like.' I cannot begin to describe the outrage I feel whenever someone makes these comments, and I don’t hesitate to counter them as vehemently as possible. But it's amazing how deeply ingrained such notions are among the general student body.
My first really ugly encounter with racism on-campus came the second or third day of the semester, when I was in the process of making friends and didn't know anyone. I was sitting on a bench with another girl, sipping Mountain Dew and absorbing the culinary shock of the inimitable French fries they sell at the Chemistry Hut. As we meandered along various light-hearted topics of conversation, I remarked that one of the guys in our batch had an astonishingly uncanny resemblance to Robert Redford. Now, I expected lots of wholehearted agreement and girlish giggling upon making this observation. However, my companion made a face like I'd just placed a heap of cow-dung in her plate.
"He's from Hunza," she said, with a sniff. "People from Hunza are filthy - they never take baths."
I nearly spat out my drink.
"It's true," she assured me, as I stared at her in utter disbelief. I really couldn't stomach what she'd said.
"Oh come on," I said, trying to keep my cool with the help of a tiny fake laugh, "I'm sure you don't really believe that."
"I do. I've met them before, and they are the dirtiest people in the world."
"Well then, you need to meet more people from Hunza. You only happened to meet a few people who didn't care much about their hygiene and happened to be from Hunza."
"No. They're all filthy and disgusting. And you know what else?" She raised her eyebrows rather stupidly. "They're kaafirs."
"OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!"
"It's true."
"No they're not! And even if they were, why would that matter? They're still people!"
"They're kaafirs, that's why they're filthy," she continued.
I spared no words in telling her just what I thought of her and that sort of thinking, and launched into a passionate and rather long-winded speech on understanding and loving our fellow human beings, and the necessity of overcoming all these ridiculous prejudices. I was so emotional, I was in tears. But the blank eyes of my audience, and her enduring I-smell-cow-dung expression, were enough to convince me that whatever I said was futile. I mean, why was I wasting my breath on some hateful person whose logic for hating people was as firmly cemented as it was ludicrous?
This girl horrified me. How could she think the way she did? What had education done for her? How did she get into a Masters program at Quaid-e-Azam University? I was in anguish.
As you've probably already ascertained from our conversation, my companion of that day (whom I will henceforth refer to as Dungnose) is not the brightest person you'd run into at QAU. But the troubling thing is, there are so many other people who share her racist sentiments. The frequency of ethnic clashes and discrimination on campus is staggering. In the three months since I joined, there have been two huge fights between different ethnic groups. The excuses for the fights are pretty ridiculous - the last one, as far as I know, was over some Sindhi girls being teased by Punjabi boys. I can’t even understand how that escalated into an ethnic clash. Like every other female at QAU, I am subjected to ogling and catcalling from boys at the bus stop everyday – but I will eat my rucksack before I turn it into a matter of 'Punjabi honour'!
Similarly, preferential treatment on the basis of ethnicity is also commonplace - such as administrative officials 'assisting' students in exams, just because they happen to be from the same area. You can also see it in the simplest things: my good friend Ayesha, also a newcomer at the university, was looking for a room to pray in. She asked an elderly caretaker where she could find one, and he just said he didn't know. But when she asked him again in Pashto, he recognized her Waziri dialect and was absolutely ecstatic because, wouldn't you know it, he was from Waziristan too! So the old man immediately went and unlocked a big, spacy room for her, saying, "This is the best room to pray in, but I only let Pathan students use it!" When Ayesha told me about this, we couldn't stop laughing at how something so obviously wrong could seem so cute coming from a baba-ji.
For me, one of the highlights of being at QAU has been getting to know people from all over Pakistan. My acquaintance with fellow students from Sindh, Balochistan and the NWFP, especially, has been so enlightening – given I had never thought I could feel any affiliation with people from those parts of the country. Studying in such a delightfully multiethnic environment has really given me an appreciation of how diverse Pakistani society is, and the sheer beauty of that diversity. I’ve met some truly wonderful, inspirational people of all colours, shapes and sizes and with all sorts of accents.
In a place that provides such a great opportunity for different people to get to know one another and learn to coexist in harmony, it is exceedingly regrettable that some would seek to divide the student body into ethnic categories and incite violence and discord. It reflects a massive flaw in Pakistani society in general. People must be taught that ethnic discrimination, on any level, is morally and intellectually unacceptable. One of my most earnest hopes is that, at least in educational institutions, people will grow out of such absurd mindsets.
It just makes me so sad when people like Dungnose keep taking that earnest hope and dragging it across the dotted red line to wishful-thinking land.
Glossary for the Urduless
kaafir - infidel
baba-ji - respectful term for 'old man'
My first really ugly encounter with racism on-campus came the second or third day of the semester, when I was in the process of making friends and didn't know anyone. I was sitting on a bench with another girl, sipping Mountain Dew and absorbing the culinary shock of the inimitable French fries they sell at the Chemistry Hut. As we meandered along various light-hearted topics of conversation, I remarked that one of the guys in our batch had an astonishingly uncanny resemblance to Robert Redford. Now, I expected lots of wholehearted agreement and girlish giggling upon making this observation. However, my companion made a face like I'd just placed a heap of cow-dung in her plate.
"He's from Hunza," she said, with a sniff. "People from Hunza are filthy - they never take baths."
I nearly spat out my drink.
"It's true," she assured me, as I stared at her in utter disbelief. I really couldn't stomach what she'd said.
"Oh come on," I said, trying to keep my cool with the help of a tiny fake laugh, "I'm sure you don't really believe that."
"I do. I've met them before, and they are the dirtiest people in the world."
"Well then, you need to meet more people from Hunza. You only happened to meet a few people who didn't care much about their hygiene and happened to be from Hunza."
"No. They're all filthy and disgusting. And you know what else?" She raised her eyebrows rather stupidly. "They're kaafirs."
"OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!"
"It's true."
"No they're not! And even if they were, why would that matter? They're still people!"
"They're kaafirs, that's why they're filthy," she continued.
I spared no words in telling her just what I thought of her and that sort of thinking, and launched into a passionate and rather long-winded speech on understanding and loving our fellow human beings, and the necessity of overcoming all these ridiculous prejudices. I was so emotional, I was in tears. But the blank eyes of my audience, and her enduring I-smell-cow-dung expression, were enough to convince me that whatever I said was futile. I mean, why was I wasting my breath on some hateful person whose logic for hating people was as firmly cemented as it was ludicrous?
This girl horrified me. How could she think the way she did? What had education done for her? How did she get into a Masters program at Quaid-e-Azam University? I was in anguish.
As you've probably already ascertained from our conversation, my companion of that day (whom I will henceforth refer to as Dungnose) is not the brightest person you'd run into at QAU. But the troubling thing is, there are so many other people who share her racist sentiments. The frequency of ethnic clashes and discrimination on campus is staggering. In the three months since I joined, there have been two huge fights between different ethnic groups. The excuses for the fights are pretty ridiculous - the last one, as far as I know, was over some Sindhi girls being teased by Punjabi boys. I can’t even understand how that escalated into an ethnic clash. Like every other female at QAU, I am subjected to ogling and catcalling from boys at the bus stop everyday – but I will eat my rucksack before I turn it into a matter of 'Punjabi honour'!
Similarly, preferential treatment on the basis of ethnicity is also commonplace - such as administrative officials 'assisting' students in exams, just because they happen to be from the same area. You can also see it in the simplest things: my good friend Ayesha, also a newcomer at the university, was looking for a room to pray in. She asked an elderly caretaker where she could find one, and he just said he didn't know. But when she asked him again in Pashto, he recognized her Waziri dialect and was absolutely ecstatic because, wouldn't you know it, he was from Waziristan too! So the old man immediately went and unlocked a big, spacy room for her, saying, "This is the best room to pray in, but I only let Pathan students use it!" When Ayesha told me about this, we couldn't stop laughing at how something so obviously wrong could seem so cute coming from a baba-ji.
For me, one of the highlights of being at QAU has been getting to know people from all over Pakistan. My acquaintance with fellow students from Sindh, Balochistan and the NWFP, especially, has been so enlightening – given I had never thought I could feel any affiliation with people from those parts of the country. Studying in such a delightfully multiethnic environment has really given me an appreciation of how diverse Pakistani society is, and the sheer beauty of that diversity. I’ve met some truly wonderful, inspirational people of all colours, shapes and sizes and with all sorts of accents.
In a place that provides such a great opportunity for different people to get to know one another and learn to coexist in harmony, it is exceedingly regrettable that some would seek to divide the student body into ethnic categories and incite violence and discord. It reflects a massive flaw in Pakistani society in general. People must be taught that ethnic discrimination, on any level, is morally and intellectually unacceptable. One of my most earnest hopes is that, at least in educational institutions, people will grow out of such absurd mindsets.
It just makes me so sad when people like Dungnose keep taking that earnest hope and dragging it across the dotted red line to wishful-thinking land.
Glossary for the Urduless
kaafir - infidel
baba-ji - respectful term for 'old man'
Monday, April 21, 2008
"Marine Photography" - The Morbid Kind
It was a little funny - and a little sad - how excited I got today upon visiting the Fish section at Metro. Wide-eyed, tugging at the sleeves of family members, going on and on: "They have sharks here! SHARKS!" While other people had their noses pinched and were picking out what they'd like for dinner, I stood there with a gleeful expression on my face and took pictures. I was so excited that I think my blood cells have multiplied tenfold. The only time I'd seen sharks in real life before was at an underwater aquarium in Singapore.
A live crab in one of the tanks.
A group of lobsters in another.
Flotsam? Jetsam?
I didn't photograph all the fish of course, but there were many, many kinds. I kept thinking, if we can have sharks and eels and crabs in a store, we should so have live ones in an aquarium as well. Sharks.. real, whole SHARKS, right here in Islamabad!
Later it also occurred to me that not many people in Islamabad would actually buy these marine creatures, or even dream of eating them. It made me sad to think of them having been rendered lifeless for nothing.
I am seriously considering going back and buying one of the crabs to keep as a pet. I'll keep him with me for as long as I must, and the next time I visit a seaside town, I'll set him free.
I wonder how Mishka would react to this plan though.
Friday, March 28, 2008
End Times
In the opinion of Leonard Weinberg, whose textbook on terrorism I am forced to read nowadays, one of the things religiously-motivated terrorist groups have in common is 'the sense of living in a special time, when divine intervention in worldly affairs is imminent.'
He cites the example of the Zealots-Sicarii, a Jewish political movement in the first century A.D. which sought to provoke a Jewish uprising against Roman rule in Judea. 'Members saw themselves as living in the End Times, a messianic period before the coming of the Messiah. In order to accelerate the latter's appearance Jews had to bring the period of Roman rule in the Holy Land to end.'
There were also the Hashshashins (from whom is derived the word 'assassin') who were active in the Middle East from the 11th to 13th century. The Hashshashins 'hoped that by murdering corrupt or unjust prefects, governors, and caliphs, they would not only cleanse the world but also accelerate the arrival of the Mahdi or Holy One and the advent of a messianic era.'
Christian groups of similar nature were prevalent in Europe at the time of the Crusades, the Black Death during the thirteenth century, and then again during the Reformation. They were 'typically led by self-styled "prophets" or self-proclaimed "messiahs" who proclaimed the imminence of the Millennium. To accelerate this age, the world needed to be purged of sin and those deemed responsible for its commission.'
I found this information interesting because I've always thought it worth noting how people in general - not just terrorists - have assumed since the beginning of time that the world is on the verge of ending. I personally know so many people who are dead-certain that qiyaamat is just around the corner. And the evidence they cite always includes, or is limited to, the moral decadence of the world today. Now, I wouldn't have much to say if it was global warming or a gigantic meteor, but as for moral decadence: I remember my father once making the argument that if you take a cross-section of the world's population today and compare it with a cross-section of the world's population a million years ago, you'll see roughly the same patterns and levels of morality - and hence, not much has changed.
But I suppose everything we say here is hypothetical. The world could end any moment, really - as Douglas Adams will very colourfully tell you. So maybe we really are living in end times. And maybe we aren't. God only knows. But the whole world aside, our own individual lives are so finite. Once we die, this world will already have ended as far as we're concerned. So until then, we might as well live it up!
I just think it's nice for Weinberg that he's made a decent point for once.
He cites the example of the Zealots-Sicarii, a Jewish political movement in the first century A.D. which sought to provoke a Jewish uprising against Roman rule in Judea. 'Members saw themselves as living in the End Times, a messianic period before the coming of the Messiah. In order to accelerate the latter's appearance Jews had to bring the period of Roman rule in the Holy Land to end.'
There were also the Hashshashins (from whom is derived the word 'assassin') who were active in the Middle East from the 11th to 13th century. The Hashshashins 'hoped that by murdering corrupt or unjust prefects, governors, and caliphs, they would not only cleanse the world but also accelerate the arrival of the Mahdi or Holy One and the advent of a messianic era.'
Christian groups of similar nature were prevalent in Europe at the time of the Crusades, the Black Death during the thirteenth century, and then again during the Reformation. They were 'typically led by self-styled "prophets" or self-proclaimed "messiahs" who proclaimed the imminence of the Millennium. To accelerate this age, the world needed to be purged of sin and those deemed responsible for its commission.'
I found this information interesting because I've always thought it worth noting how people in general - not just terrorists - have assumed since the beginning of time that the world is on the verge of ending. I personally know so many people who are dead-certain that qiyaamat is just around the corner. And the evidence they cite always includes, or is limited to, the moral decadence of the world today. Now, I wouldn't have much to say if it was global warming or a gigantic meteor, but as for moral decadence: I remember my father once making the argument that if you take a cross-section of the world's population today and compare it with a cross-section of the world's population a million years ago, you'll see roughly the same patterns and levels of morality - and hence, not much has changed.
But I suppose everything we say here is hypothetical. The world could end any moment, really - as Douglas Adams will very colourfully tell you. So maybe we really are living in end times. And maybe we aren't. God only knows. But the whole world aside, our own individual lives are so finite. Once we die, this world will already have ended as far as we're concerned. So until then, we might as well live it up!
I just think it's nice for Weinberg that he's made a decent point for once.
Speaking of the end of the world, you may also be acquainted with the 16th-century French apothecary Michel de Nostredame, better known as Nostradamus. More on him some other time.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Ears Sealed
On the bus ride to university yesterday, I was listening to my new mp3 player for the first time. I like riding the bus because of all the interesting things I get to see everyday, and I was really enjoying the fact that I could now listen to music on the bus as well. And it made me think, yet again, about how much I love music. I really don't know what the world would be without it.
On the bus ride back home later in the day, I was listening to my mp3 player again - when I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder. It was the girl sitting next to me. She was wearing a nikaab, so I could only see her eyes staring at me rather imploringly.
I switched my music off and turned to listen to her. She said something, but I couldn't hear over the roar of the bus. So I loudly asked her to repeat what she was saying.
'Are you listening to music?' she enunciated.
'Yes,' I replied.
What she did next was so strange. She immediately cast her eyes down as though she was embarrassed on my behalf - for my immorality, perhaps. 'Inna lillaahi wa inna ilayhi raaje'un!' she said quickly.
I stared.
'Please turn it down,' she continued. 'The sound is reaching my ears.'
I nodded and put my earphones back in, turning the volume down. I kept it down until she got off the bus much later. I wasn't offended, or embarrassed.
It just made me really sad.
On the bus ride back home later in the day, I was listening to my mp3 player again - when I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder. It was the girl sitting next to me. She was wearing a nikaab, so I could only see her eyes staring at me rather imploringly.
I switched my music off and turned to listen to her. She said something, but I couldn't hear over the roar of the bus. So I loudly asked her to repeat what she was saying.
'Are you listening to music?' she enunciated.
'Yes,' I replied.
What she did next was so strange. She immediately cast her eyes down as though she was embarrassed on my behalf - for my immorality, perhaps. 'Inna lillaahi wa inna ilayhi raaje'un!' she said quickly.
I stared.
'Please turn it down,' she continued. 'The sound is reaching my ears.'
I nodded and put my earphones back in, turning the volume down. I kept it down until she got off the bus much later. I wasn't offended, or embarrassed.
It just made me really sad.
Monday, February 25, 2008
The Difference Between People and Footballs
My Theories of International Relations professor chose this funny but brilliant analogy today to explain why social sciences are imperfect and unpredictable, unlike the natural sciences. I thought it was so cute, I burst out laughing.
"Think of a football. If you kick a football, you can predict just where it will land. A physicist can tell you how far a football will go if you kick it with a certain magnitude of force. He will do his calculations and apply the laws of physics and he will tell you whether it will go 10 feet or 12 feet.. If you kick a football, you can very easily figure out what happens next.
*pause*
But what happens if you kick a human being?"
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