This Martin Luther King Day over 150 protesters gathered at the San Jose City Hall to remember victims of terrorist attacks in Pakistan in general and of Quetta blasts of January 10 in particular. The twin blasts on Alamdar Road in Quetta targeted Hazara Shias and claimed more than 100 lives.
Speakers at
the vigil protested against routine Shia killings in Pakistan and spoke highly
of the Hazaras of Quetta who, after the January 10 blasts, sat in open, in sub-zero
temperatures, with the coffins of their family members and friends killed in
the blasts, to register their peaceful protest.
The candlelight vigil organized by SABA Youth was attended by members of SABA (Shia Association of Bay Area) and other concerned citizens.
Let me tell you about two Parsi friends.
They were in the wine trade.
Then came Pakistan.
And Rustom said, Let’s have whisky. You
bring yours, and I'll bring mine.
We will finish two bottles today.
At the end of the dinner they finished their bottles
Then one said, We are damn fools.
Fourteen hundred years ago we were thrown by these MFs, and now we are caught
again.
It is not a story.
We ran away 1400 years ago from these MFs, Chs, MCs, and then we are caught
again.
Yes, yes, difference of 1400 years.
Like what?
Who worries about the language?
There was a time when Jews were made to wear yellow badges.
I'll show you a picture of the Parsi community of Iran. All wearing yellow medals.
It was done to the Parsis, Anybody who is not a Musalman,
pay the jazia tax or whatever, and he will be wearing a yellow badge. So these chaps got together and said, If instead
of wearing a round thing, we make it look like a medal, and wear it as an
insignia, these Chs will be happy, and we will be able to live.
That's what they did.
They are all wearing yellow medals.
(In Urdu) Ask us to put red, and we will put red.
The thing to do is to survive.
What am I? Trying to
change them? I am trying to survive this
lot.
We had the largest empire. Cyrus had the largest empire.
He was a generous man.
But then he had something here.
Persepolis
He had something here.
I don’t want an empire.
People come and tell me, Parsi race is getting extinct. Yes,
So?
Parsis are getting extinct.
They will disappear from the face of the earth. Yeah. So?
What’s your problem?
You know these guys who write PhD thesis. They say, You are finishing.
Yes, So?
In Pakistan there are 2000 (Parsis).
This guy came from Multan. Visiting me. He runs the Cancer Society there. Because of his name and he is a Parsi, people
(trust him and) give money.
I gave him money. I
said, how many (Paris) are left now (in Multan)? He said, Just one.
I can worship in my shower.
I can worship sitting on the pot.
I don’t believe in temples.
I mean, all these gurus and priests.
Who said you cannot pray sitting on the pot?
How does your sitting on the pot make you impure?
You are still you.
I say ’thank you’ every night. That’s all.
When I go up I say goodbye to all these buggers (pointing to
the statues of his ancestors). Thank
you.
[On Pakistan’s direction.]
Do I look worried?
[Telling me why living in the US, Pakistan-Americans should
not worry about Pakistan.]
My son is in America. He is an architect. He said, “I would like to start my life
here" when he finished his architecture at Cornell and then he went to
Harvard. He is a Harvard graduate. Did
his masters. Master of (unintelligible)
design. Then for five years he was with
I.M. Pei. He said, “Why would I come to Karachi?” He says, “I would like to (unintelligible).” I said, “Go, do.” He was sharp enough, I mean good enough for
I.M. Pei to say, “Join us.” Joining I.M. Pei, you know who I.M. Pei is? American architect, of Chinese descent. He sent my son to China. He stayed there forever. (unintelligible) (unintelligible)
Business was gone. This
MC called Bhutto, he nationalized shipping.
Business is carrying on. (unintelligible)
It is still running (unintelligible), partners. My brothers are there, my daughter is
there. When it will die it will
die.
It ran for five generations.
It cannot go on forever.
[On telling him that some are upset on his support of
Musharraf.]
Why?
If you are a better person than the bloody lot I see, I…
System? You think we
have democracy? I mean these guys are
running a democracy?
Is this a democracy?
NO, these chaps, MQM fellows.
PPP, thieves?
Nawaz Sharif, thief?
Chaudhry (Shujaat Hussain), thief?
Mullah, MC.
So, who should one choose?
I said he (Musharraf) is the best of the worst lot, I say
that way.
One can say (unintelligible)
Am I a supporter of Musharraf? Yes.
Yes, yes. (unintelligible)
All I want is good governance.
In Urdu,
Be it the garbage collector, the cobbler, or MC thief, or
whoever. All I want is peace.
(unintelligible)
democracy all these years. Up till
Jinnah
[On asking him if there is any hope.]
(You keep asking me if) There is hope, there is hope. I say ‘No.’
And why do you waste the film?
You will get nowhere.
You follow? So keep the subject
off.
Why are you wasting your time, my time, and the bloody film.
(You keep repeating) Why did you say this, why did you say
this?
I just look at what’s available. And choose the best I think.
What has been the American policy?
It is to follow what George Washington said. That you can’t have permanent friends or
permanent enemies. (unintelligible)
They have not shifted from their original policy.
Who was Washington?
General. Who was
Eisenhower? A general. Who was MacArthur? A general.
Some were not, some were.
The fact that they were generals does not disqualify them.
(unintelligible) come
up (unintelligible) MacArthur.
If there had been another bloody general the (unintelligible)
No.
[On what is his opinion of Imran Khan.]
Who? Imran Khan?
Good f****er.
Good Cricketer.
He has lots of ideas.
That’s his (Hoodbhoy’s) opinion.
No.
He (Musharraf) is the best of the worst lot. I have written that he is the best of the
worst lot.
It is like saying if there are many CHs then he is the best CH.
Best of the five that I see.
You like Altaf Hussain?
You like Benazir?
You like Asif?
You like Mulla?
Mullas (unintelligible)
we are afraid (of them)
Scary, man!
[On Zil e Huma’s murder.]
Why (unintelligible)
poor woman (unintelligible)
Beautiful woman, at the prime of her life.
The bugger did not feel like appreciating (unintelligible)
Why is he alive today?
He should be locked up in seven days, but he won’t be locked
up.
[Introducing the visitors who came at that point.]
Zahoor, the artist was married to his sister.
A man came and shot Zahoor, and his daughter.
This is the mother, his mother, you’ll be mixed up.
You know that bugger is still free.
No, no, no. He is
sentenced to death.
He is on death row.
How many years ago was it?
Seven…Eight, nine years ago.
This bugger will stay on for another seven eight years. He’ll survive Musharraf.
If you ask me today, Who will die earlier, he or
Musharraf? I’ll say chances are Musharraf will go before
him.
In the initial period of
the second Iraq war when the phrase ‘embedded journalism’ gained currency, one
journalist in California wondered—quite loud-- how an embedded journalist can
remain neutral. If you spend your day
and night with a group of people, how can you possibly be critical of that
group? That writer called an embedded
journalist an in-bed journalist. Nine
years later, Paula Broadwell, an embedded journalist with General Petraeus in
Afghanistan, has proved the point. All
In, Petraeus’s biography written by Broadwell, should now be seen as an eulogy
written not by a neutral observer but by a lover. After the exposed Petreaus-Broadwell affair
you will be justified in guessing the context in which Boradwell used the
expression ‘All In.’
On October 28, around 500 people gathered to listen to Imran Khan, head of the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf, in San Jose. The most important part of Khan’s speech was when he described his views on the Taliban in response to a question about his party’s tepid condemnation of the Taliban atrocities. It helped people understand how Imran Khan views the situation even when many would disagree with Khan’s analysis.
It is always hard to tell how many attendees of these fundraisers genuinely agree with Imran Khan’s political views instead of only being interested in having a photo with the pretty boy. Imran Khan believes there are six types of Taliban. The ones who want to enforce their 'Shariyat' are a minority among the bigger umbrella of the 'Taliban.'
Imran Khan does not seem to like criticism. He is probably only used to people who get speechless in his presence. The Mick Jagger look alike Pakistani politician dyes his hair regularly and does daily workout to maintain his fashion-model appearance. And in Pakistan—in the Pakistani diaspora as well--you go a long way by just being pretty. In a fundraiser speech on October 28 in San Jose, California Khan lumped sectarian violence in Pakistan with the Taliban reaction to the drone attacks and got away with the ridiculous analysis.
Festivities at the eighth annual NED Alumni Convention held
in Washington DC started Friday night when NEDians coming from all over North
America were welcomed at a dinner and live music program.
On Saturday, October 13, this correspondent attended only
one morning session: a presentation of ‘NED Alef’, a program to create a large
endowment fund to benefit the NED University.
The presentation was made by Rashid Ali Baig.
According to the program brochure, the following two simultaneous
presentations took place in the morning:
“Setting up MBE / 8(a) Enterprise” and “Intelligent
Transportation Systems” [with Chris Francis, VDOT].
Project Indus was described as an “NEDians’ Initiative for
building a stronger Pakistan.” According
to the program brochure the following speakers made up the panel of ‘Project
Indus’: Touqir Hussain (Former
Ambassador), Walter Andersen, Ayesha Jalal, Hassan Abbas, and Moeed Yusuf.
After lunch, two buses hauled over 200 attendees of the
convention to various Washington DC monuments.
In the evening speeches and dinner were followed by a music
program that ended with NED alumni jamming the dance floor.
The
program held at the Stanford University was sponsored by Stanford’s ‘Center on Democracy, Development, and the
Rule of Law’ and the ‘Center for South Asia’; and by the ‘Friends of South
Asia.’
निखिल डे, अरुणा रॉय, मजदूर किसान शक्ति संगठन, स्तान्फोर्ड उनिवेर्सित्य , फ्रिएंड्स ऑफ़ साउथ एशिया
Around
fifty people gathered to listen to Aruna Roy & Nikhil Dey of the Mazdoor
Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) speak on “Beyond Jan Lokpal: Laws to Combat
Corruption and the Role of Social Movements in India's Democracy.”
Sunday, September 16, 2012
NED Alumni Association of the
Silicon Valley, an Introduction
The silicon content of the Silicon
Valley dirt is no higher than that of other dirt in other places. The Silicon Valley derives its name
from the fact that the area around the south San Francisco Bay—and especially
the south peninsula area with the Santa Cruz mountains to its west and the Bay
to its east—has for decades provided a lion’s share in pushing the world in the
modern age of fast communications and light speed computations; the semiconductor
industry—using silicon based wafers—being the backbone of this high-tech
revolution. The NED
graduates have been at the forefront of this technology revolution. With the oldest NED alumni in the San
Francisco Bay Area being a 1958 graduate and the young ones coming every year,
the Valley is estimated to have over two hundred NED graduates. The NED Alumni Association of the
Silicon Valley with a mission ‘to connect, serve, empower and support NEDians
and the NED University’ holds regular meetings on the third Wednesday of every
month. Join their Yahoo
group athttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDIANS-SV
Yes, the past should be
remembered, but there is no reason for one to celebrate their history of misery
imposed by others. The caste system had
its "merits", in antiquity. The caste
system made a society functional by designating specific professions to groups
of people. In societies where day to day
survival was the ultimate goal, social mobility made little difference, and the
majority of people acquiesced to class distinctions decided by those who chose
the best for themselves. But times have
changed. Human conscious has evolved to
a point where social justice matters, civil liberties matter, the freedom to
choose a profession matters. This
conscious in itself precludes the existence of a caste system that would lock
people in their places through generations.
When social structures in a place are too rigid to change in response to
the changing times, people indicate their disapproval of them by moving
out. Immigration to a new land is a way
to start anew, to completely reject the old social structures that one was
forced to accept. To escape to a new
place but still gloat over the old miserable life is nothing but masochism.
Congratulations to Shadab Rasool, But We Have A Few Questions, Please
These days, any news from Pakistan almost invariably involves body counts. In the current atmosphere of despair even the
tiniest of good news from that godforsaken country is celebrated and cherished. With that appetite for positive news from
Pakistan, the report of a Pakistani high-schooler from Khairpur, Shadab Rasool,
winning a silver medal in a science fair in New York, was received with
pride. As always, the Pakistani media
had some terrible reporting of the news and it was hard to tell what new
technology was invented by Shadab Rasool.
The best piece—with some explanation of Rasool’s technology—was written
by Mithal Khuhro and Sameer Mandhoro, for the Express Tribune.
But even Khuhro and Mandhoro’s report relied too much on the information
obtained from Shadab Rasool himself. So
we decided to do our own investigative journalism and get to further details. As it normally happens the investigation did
provide more details, but it also generated a few questions. Here are the questions and we hope someone would
be able to answer them for everyone’s benefit.
Is Shadab Rasool also known as Usama Khan?
[We find Usama Khan’s name announced here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXXaTMENJew--at 00:36,
at the Genius Olympiad award ceremony.]
Also, at http://www.geniusolympiad.org/images/stories/GENIUS2012/GENIUS%202012%20Finalist%20List.pdf,
which is a list of the finalist teams (248 out of 657 participating teams),
Team 609, for the project title ‘Get the
pollutants out: Removal of harmful pollutants from industrial waste water by
tea waste,’ lists Usama Khan and K. Baloch as the team members. [A second team from Pakistan, Team 174,
for the project title ‘Detoxification of heavy metal contaminated soils by using
a new phytoremediation method’, had Abdul Daim and Wajid Waheed as the two team
members. That team won the ‘Honorable
Mention’ award. See that team at 14:00,
in the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFr1B6y721I]
the reporter claims the ‘US
Government’ has given a scholarship of $250,000 to Shadab Rasool. First, Genius Olympiad, is organized by the
State University of New York at Oswego and the Terra Science and Education
Foundation, and NOT by the ‘US Government.’ Secondly, it does not appear any cash award
is given in this high school project competition. http://www.geniusolympiad.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11&Itemid=17
[In fact, contestants have to bear
their own travel expenses, to reach to the contest in New York.]
And lastly, we would like to
review Shadab Rasool’s project in further detail to understand the originality of
his technology. [The Internet seems to
be dripping with ‘tea waste’ technologies invented to fight industrial
pollution. For example, see this 2010 paper
From lofty to humble, Urdu poets have used creative noms de
plume to describe themselves, but it is not common for them to use body organs
as poetic names. Heart (dil), liver
(jigar), and gallbladder (pitta) have their uses in the Urdu language—for
example, good friends are known as jigri-doast (liver friends)—but Jigar
Muradabadi (born Shaikh Mohammad Ali Sikandar, in 1890) was the first one to
underscore the importance of a vital organ by using it as his pen name. A literary evening dubbed Soz-e-Jigar
arranged to remember the life and work of Jigar Muradabadi was held at the
India Community Center on July 15.
The program was presided over by Ms. Vijay Nigam, daughter
of Farhat Kanpuri (Gangadhar Nath Nigam), and emceed by Bay Area Urdu teacher
Hamida Banu Chopra. Several Urdu lovers
read Jigar’s poetry in the program.
Amjad Noorani an
advisor to The Citizens Foundation (TCF), USA, a non-profit organization
working for the education of underprivileged children in Pakistan, recited two
ghazals: ‘Kam Aakhir jazba e bay ikhtiyar aa hee gaya’ and ‘Ishq ko bay
naqab hona thaa.’
Anshuman
Chandra, an accomplished musician and one-half of the Bay Area band SaazMantra, sang Jigar’s ‘Jahle
khirad nay din wuh dikhay’ and ‘Ik lafz e muhabbat ka adna yeh fasa.’
Almas Hameed
Shabvani, a local singer, recited ‘Har su dikhai daitayN haiN who jalwah gar
mujhay.’
Alka
Hingorani, a former student of Hamida Chopra, read Jigar’s ghazal ‘Isee chaman main hee hamara bhee aik zamana thaa’ and
the poem ‘Tajdeed-e-Mulaqat.’
Hamida Chopra
read Jigar’s politically motivated poetry from her school days: Kabhi shakh o
sabz o barg per, kabhi guncha o gul o khar per//Mein chaman meiN chahay jahaN
rahooN, mera haq hai fasl e bahar per.
U.V.
Ravindra, a poet who uses Khurshid as his pseudonym,
read Jigar’s two ghazals: ‘Oas paray bahar per, aag lagay kinar meiN’ and
‘Dunya kay sitam yad na apnee hee wafa yad.’
Anil Chopra, professor of civil engineering at the UC, Berkeley,
read assorted couplets from Jigar’s poetry, including ‘Shikast-e-Tauba’ written
on the relapse of alcoholism.
Ashraf Habibullah, the main
sponsor of the program, is a connoisseur of art and poetry. As a speaker he is a wonderful
entertainer. Ashraf came to the
Soz-e-Jigar mehfil with his custom-made jacket studded with LED lights; he recited
Jigar’s ‘Shaer fitrat hooN meiN jab fikr
fermata hooN meiN.’
Bombay music composer of ghazals, Ravi Date, read Jigar’s ‘Fikr manzil hay
na hosh e jadeh e manzil mujhay’ and ‘Tum iss dila e wahshee kee wafaoN peh na
jana.’
Hamida Chopra
read a paper on Jigar Muradabadi recounting Jigar’s life and his association
with Asghar Gondvi. Chopra also
described Jigar’s alcoholism and said Jigar considered adding water or soda to
his alcohol, shirk (a sin in Islam involving the worship of another deity,
along with Allah).
Vijay Nigam remembered Jigar
Muradabadi as his father’s friend who considered her his own daughter and kept
paying her visits even after Nigam’s father passed away. Nigam described Jigar’s visits to be very
short, meant to assure her of his support to her—the tonga (horse-carriage) he
would ride to her home would wait outside, Jigar Sahib would just come in, ask Nigam’s
well-being, put his hand on her head and would leave right away. Nigam said Jigar’s kindness left a lasting
impression on her.
Anupama Chandratreya has that
rare quality in her voice that makes the poetry she sings, sink in your
head. The Soz-e-Jigar program
started and ended with Anupama Chandratreya’s
recitation of Jigar’s poetry (Jalwa baqdr e zarf e nazar dekhtay rahay
and Tabiyat inn dinoN baigana-e gham hotee jaatee hai).
Why do over one hundred people regularly convene at these
literary meetings, arranged every three to four months by Hamida Banu Chopra
and her group, even when no new literary work is presented in these
gatherings? The answer is simple: the
names are big, the poetry is familiar, and the regulars get a kick out of the
active participation in such literary events.
Listen to the audio recording of the
program here:
