The last PTV generation

We are the last of the PTV generation; the last ones from the days when even the news bulletins were all merry & tranquil. Our TV was all universal nothing PG about it. 8 to 9 really meant something. There was a ghost who use to wear a pair of spectacles and the best game show on TV was Neelaam Ghar. PTV was PTV because it never cared for what people wanted to see, it only produced the content that was fit for the people to see. Advertisements use to sell products not a certain lifestyle. Our identity was distinct not confused and fused like today. Like today even then there was a Pakistan that existed only in some drawing rooms or in some posh farm houses or on a private beach in Karachi but it was not imitated by the others like it is imitated today by the university going, middle class boys and girls. You and I can be anything. You and I can be everything. A plate full of fries shared by many but still it was enough to satisfy. Long before all the Mamas and Papas lived Um’aans & Babas. There was no thing called laid-back or tech parenting. They just never seized to be parents. It was a world, of humans, by humans and for humans. Real humans interacted real humans nothing virtual about it. One can touch and smell words and they meant something. Like any age it had its downsides, its dark corners but whatever good existed was valued and cheered. Junaid and Alamgir use to sing and Edhi was alive. Women were beautiful and real. They still have not discovered that the women empowerment is cannot be achieved through education and changing the perception of the society towards women but through baring midriff or by shunning dupata. Burqa cladded women and beard wearing men were not profiled. Happiness existed in its truest and rawest form- original not cosmetic. It was easier to be a kid; knowing less and wanting lesser. Those were simpler days and the lives were simpler too. Today when PTV is surviving on those Rupees 50 that it gets from the electricity bill and is dying a gradual and miserable death, we the last of its generation are like that helpless kid who has just lost his favorite toy, his best friend but he cannot do nothing about it as deep in his heart he knows that he is the one who broke it. I say my sorry and I accept it is I who has failed you, my dear PTV. It is I who wanted more and more, it is I who was not true to what he was taught, it is I who got selfish. It is I who killed everything that was good about my generation and my dear PTV you are the first casualty.     

All the Prime Minister’s men

The Panama Case’s verdict is out and starts with an extract from the Mario Puzo creation, “the Godfather”. This reference diverted my attention towards another book, which was just like The Godfather was turned into a brilliant and equally famous movie. The Book’s name is “All the President’s men”, the movie based on the book had the same name and upon its release in 1976, not only won critical appraise but it also managed to win 4 Academy awards.

“All the President’s men” is about the infamous Watergate scandal. It tells the story of two Washington Post journalists, who through thorough investigation turned a scoop into the breaking news of the century, at least for the Americans. The part of the book that astonishes the most is about the role of American civil machinery in attempting to sweep the scandal under the carpet, had it not been for the pursuance of the two journalists, they might have even succeeded in doing that. This is startling for some lay man, who thinks highly of the American system which is loaded with mechanisms of check and balance and accountability.

This brings us back to the Panama Case verdict, which asks for the formation of a joint investigation team (JIT). The JIT will comprise of representatives of several public institutions such as SECP, State bank, ISI, FIA and MI. I am writing these lines with a heavy heart, that even after 70 years of independence, we have failed to build even a single institution other than the armed forces, which enjoy some kind of credibility in the eyes of the general public. With the American precedent in my mind, I fear that there is a fair chance that the said JIT will be crippled by the heads of the institutions mentioned above especially by those who are directly appointed by the Prime Minister as they all are Prime minister’s men. Irony is that the Supreme Court has ordered the same institutions to be part of the said JIT, which according to their own verdict are crippled and inefficient. However, the point in which one can take respite is that the Supreme Court is monitoring all this and that the JIT will report to the Supreme Court. Otherwise there is a fair possibility that we might miss this golden opportunity to make the all-powerful, answerable, for once and also establish rule of law.

This opportunity is a blessing for the institutions too as they can break free from the reputation they enjoy and for once establish some credibility in the eyes of the general public and fulfill the purpose of their formation.

Justice does not mean to punish the powerful. Justice is to punish anyone who is responsible for the violation of law irrespective of his social and political standing. If a nation fails to establish justice amongst its ranks then nature establishes justice for them in its own ways. Nature maintains balance and it does not let anything go beyond a certain point whether it is injustice or power or even knowledge. Nature has set saturation point for everything. There is rule of law in natural justice and it is both blunt and straightforward in its manifestation. Hopefully, we will not reach such a point where we will be holding no cards. I hope that we will be able to establish rule of law before that and this JIT might turn out to be the beginning of it.    

Nipping the good in the bud

Something happened in Gujranwala some days ago that was not as impactful as the killing of Russian ambassador to Turkey and was not as delightful as Saif and Kareena having a baby boy. In Gujranwala, some sixth grade student attempted suicide in his school after facing repeated insult at the hands of his parents and teacher for his bad academic performance.

I can personally relate with this incident (not the suicide part) as I was also a weak student while growing up and especially in my matriculation and intermediate years. This is the time when a student needs his teacher the most as he is down on self-motivation and belief and there is no other person other than a teacher, who can revive this belief in the student. However, it is commonly observed that, that particular student becomes butt of all the jokes and humiliation. He is rebuked every time for a wrong answer and he ends-up hating himself and eventually isolating himself. I was lucky that I had a good bunch of friends, caring parents and few good teachers who were helpful and supportive but not everyone is that lucky. Had it not been for them I must have broken down or might have committed the same mistake that the boy in Gujranwala did.

Irony is that this unfortunate event took place at a private school. Usually the perception is that the public schools are chocked-up and the private schools are a better facility. However, the stats suggest that of all the children enrolled in primary school in Pakistan, 69% are retained until class 5 and only 28% until class 10[1]. Although usually it is perceived that the students drop out due to financial constraints however this reason is one of the many reasons. Nonetheless this calls for a change at multiple levels especially at the school and home level. Priority should be given to teacher training because they are not only there to give a simple lecture on a topic related to their subject. Their job is multi-dimensional; they have to look after their students and have to fill in the void where ever they find one. The student-teacher interaction plays a great role in shaping-up of the personality of the student. The parents too have to understand the capability of their child and should not burden him with the undue pressure of their expectations. It is for them to understand that each child is different from the other and has a different set of talent. If a student/child is not performing well academically or has been repeatedly careless and aggressive then he should not be sidelined as some retard but it is the joint responsibility of the parents and the teachers to identify the root cause of the turbulent behavior. To be a teacher or a parent is a big responsibility and demands a lot of attention and care. This job is so important because the parents and the teachers are nurturing their own future as it is these children who will replace them. Another fact that has to be given due consideration is that more 53% of Pakistan’s population is below the age of 24[2]. So, if we will continue to block the natural growth of our children and will continue to mold and burden them with the weight of our undue expectations, it is feared that we will raise a generation of emotionally inaccessible zombies that are dead from inside. As Hazrat Ali (R.A) once said, “Do not raise your children the way (your) parents raised you, they were born for a different time”.    

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[1] http://www.dawn.com/news/1241630

[2] http://www.indexmundi.com/pakistan/age_structure.html

Ignorance is bliss

The last king of the Mughal Empire died in exile, in obscurity. He who was once the king of an empire, famously remembered as the “golden bird” by the British, ended up in the garage of an English captain, when exiled to Yangon. I guess, it is kind of a bliss that we humans do not know that what is in store for us in the future. Had Bahadur Shah Zafar, knew about his fate earlier, he would have not even ascended the throne. Although many of us desire to know our future but if we really know what is going to happen, this world might come to a halt. Nobody will come out of their home, if they know that they are going to fail today. Nobody will travel by the train or a bus or an airplane that is meant to crash. Nobody will even taste those “naan cho’laas” that are to give dysentery. The little charms of life will be lost, most importantly the flavor of failure will be lost. What is life without failure in it as it are the failures that make us to appreciate success. Nobody will try. However those who are meant to succeed will still succeed without any competition, resultantly taking the charm of the success away as what is success without competition. Mind you the real life is in these little things that we collectively called “uncertainties”. Enjoy the life as it comes to you. Be thankful for what you have and do not worry for what you do not have. We know nothing, if some that is still very little. So, we should make our peace with it as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss.       

The Mannequin Challenge

So, this Mannequin challenge thing is the new rage in the town; from White house to commentary boxes, seems to be all are inspired by it. In the challenge, people remain frozen in action while a video is recorded, usually with music in the background. However, upon some research the writer has found that this challenge is not some recent phenomenon. The UN takes up the mannequin challenge every time when the subject of Kashmir and Palestine pops up. The US and the western world take up the challenge every time, Israel commits human atrocities or anything happens that is in the national interest of these powers but is against the general well-being of the people of this world. Even the international humanitarian agencies join in with the UN, US and the west, in the challenge every time.

On the home front the government is in a perpetual state of mannequin challenge in the matters of health, education and human development. The political forces want the Army to take the challenge while they themselves are in this state since eternity. The army wants to take the challenge on the matters of national security. Every time at the end of this tug of war, it is the democratic process in the country that ended up becoming a mannequin.  

Unfortunately for many of us, this challenge is not just some viral internet sensation but is a never ending condition. 

BE YOUR OWN SOLDIER

A soldier is the last person who would wish for a war but unfortunately, he is the first person to join it. Nobody knows what a war is like more than a soldier. He experiences war like nobody. A war is not just a race of body count, which it reduces to in the end, it involves real humans. Men who fight wars are made of real flesh and blood. Many loose friends, many loose fathers and many loose companions of life but it is the society who is at the bigger loss, it loses best of its men to war.

War is the defeat of human logic. War is some stupid man’s only chance for glory. However, how much bloodshed and gore these wars may give birth to, they are inevitable. Since the inception of human kind, there has been only two things that has remained consistent; one is change and the other is war. We kind of fancy a war that is why over the years humans have garnered their energies to develop ways through which more and more humans can be killed in a war, however a very little heed is given to the idea of stopping the war in the first place. The wars will continue until the point there are humans walking on the surface of earth. One can never single out a particular element or cause that triggers a war. Everyone has his own justification of war and how it was necessary to save all those who matter but then the irony of wars is that all those who matter eventually become the raw material of it. In an ideal world there are no wars but the one where we live, war is possible and war is a must.

Deep down in their heart, any war hero does not want to be a war hero. He envies the fame, the attention and the laurels because he knows that eventually he will be idolized and will be reduced to an instigating element to initiate another war. Frankly, nobody wants to be a role model for wars.  However, it is easier to fight a war, which involves humans killing humans. Why not fight a war that is the toughest of all, in which you are your own soldier. Fight a war against your own evils. Fight a war against the ills that prevail in your society. Fight a war against illiteracy. Fight a war against social emancipation. Fight a war for women empowerment. Fight a war against poverty, diseases and everything that is killing your fellow humans. These are your wars to fight, so fight them on your own and be your own soldier. Good Luck 

Oh, Nottingham!!

We have no talent and what happened in Nottingham has just proved that is totally wrong assumption to start with. Nottingham was on the cards; sooner or later, it was meant to happen. Mind you, it will happen again as the game has changed but not our approach towards it. Cricket now a day is not just a talent based game but it also asks for you to have the skills to play it. We survived the 90's and for the most part of the 2000's mainly because we had a bunch of talented guys, who on their own could win matches for Pakistan. In the 2015 world cup, it was clearly evident that Pakistan team especially our batting lacked the fire power or the required skill set to pace their innings. In the times when the batsmen were scoring individual double centuries, all of Pakistan’s batting was facing difficulties in posting a mere 200 on the score board. Cricket has changed and the process of change expedited with the advent of these T20 leagues. These leagues are competitive and pool international talent. Above all, these leagues provide the younger lot with a chance to have a taste of international cricket. Thus, resultantly, the gap between the domestic and the international cricket is bridged. This provided the teams with bench strength and players with playing experience in different conditions.

Pakistan has not always been the follower; it was Pakistan that laid the foundation of the modern day batting. If one remembers it was Pakistan that successfully introduced the late order baton charge in the 1992 world cup. The idea was to save wickets for the first 40 overs and then accelerate in the last 10 overs. To execute the plan, Pakistan had Inzimam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram and Moin Khan. The semifinal and the final of the 1992 world cup were the practical examples of the above mentioned strategy. Unfortunately, the game has evolved since then but not Pakistan. We are still playing the game with the mindset of the 90’s. It is like the world has reached moon and we are still finding our sleepers.

Although, Pakistan has introduced a league of their own, namely Pakistan Super League; whose first edition successfully took place in the UAE this year but still it will take some time for Pakistan to reap the fruits of the PSL. However it is not only the PSL that will elevate Pakistan’s performance in the shorter formats of the game. Some other steps are also required to be taken like the overhauling of the domestic structure. Not only the quality of the game has to be improved but also steps should be taken to improve the other aspects of the game such as quality of pitches and balls, coaching, and fitness of the players. Our domestic system fails to polish the players and turn them into a final product. So they have to play international cricket to bring themselves at par with the international players. Now a day’s cricket is so fast that you don’t get the time to do so. Now it is imperative for the players to be physically and mentally ready to play cricket at the international level from the start otherwise you do not stand a chance. Even if you get lucky once or twice, your opponents will work you out and upon failing again and again, you will be dropped so, you have to continuously evolve as a cricketer. Not only this, PCB should arrange more and more A tours so, that the players can get the exposure. The national team should visit England, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia more often as by playing cricket with these teams in alien conditions will surely improve the standard of our cricket team. Pakistan is now world Number One ranked side in test cricket, it will be easier for PCB to convince these boards. The top three batsmen, bowlers and fielders of the domestic circuit should be sent to Australia, South Africa and England, so that they have the experience of playing in those conditions. With no cricket at home, it is difficult for PCB to bear such expense but they can always find sponsors for it. Cricket is the hottest brand in Pakistan therefore hopefully PCB will not face much difficulty in finding sponsors. It is high time now that we invest in our regional cricket. Departmental cricket is good as it gives the all-important money to the players. The same departments can sponsor or adopt the regional teams. Now, local governments are in place in KPK and Sindh, PCB should collaborate with them in establishing grounds and basic cricketing facilities for youngsters. Reviving school, college and university cricket will also benefit.

It is for the PCB to understand that the buck stops at PCB. It is for them to understand that their job does not end with selecting or sending a team. There is more to their job description but regrettably they are not doing it. If all this will continue to happen then there are more Nottinghams for us in store.