January 2012 – Ayaz Ahmed Siddiqui

Its been a while since my last post. After the partying and great expectations of new year’s eve I was expecting my creative juices to go on a rampage but that did not happen. On the contrary I have gotten increasingly lethargic and have been putting on hold alot inside my head. Its not writers block (not to say that I am some prolific writer ,ahh such modesty!) but I think I have been deliberately avoiding visiting my blog. And I have realized the reason..

Since the past three months I was involved in the grueling task of preparing post-graduate applications for universities in Canada and New Zealand. Graduate applications are very unique, they expect you to demonstrate a level of maturity in all aspects and one has to be meticulous in their preparation. I had planned on completing and mailing my last and the most important application before 31st December so I could heave a sigh of relief and add this to the list of accomplished goals for 2011. It makes the new years eve more joyful you see. But this didn’t happen, the whole process became a drag albeit a very important one, I was not able to complete the damned process until January 18th (stay tuned for a blow by blow account of my journey to grad school in a future blog post)

Now however my mind is at a slight ease; the dossiers have reached their respective colleges so everything from my end is complete. Yippie! and now I can start writing again with a vengeance on things boiling inside me since the past month.

First issue, we will take is of a program on Saama Tv, where the host a middle aged menopausal women along with scarf clad college chicks, other menopausal aunties(Pakistani women in a midlife crisis) and other assorted cronies, going on a wild vigilante hunt with a camera crew for ‘couples’ sitting in parks. I along with my friends and family got mortified when we saw this coverage as I am sure any decent educated person would. I won’t go into the pros and cons and the endless series of arguments that somehow or the other always end up with the pious moslem arguing ‘do you believe in God?’ and the ‘Koran’ and I am not even skimming over gross invasion of privacy. I will talk a bit about ‘Physical and Emotional Attraction Towards the Opposite Sex’. But first lets have a look at the point of contention:

Between the age of 20 and 30 our hermones are on a rampage. We are in our prime, healthy, energetic, fresh with ideas, going for our dreams, starting our lives as complete individuals. Many of us get married in this time too so its only natural to have sexual desires, strong ones if I may add. In evolutionary terms it is a good thing because all animals on this planet have evolved to be sexually healthy at the stage of maturity to ensure the procreation of fittest offspring and ultimately survival of the species. Human beings aren’t any different, mentally we are more evolved then animals but in many physical functions, we share much in common. Further more the rigors and requirements of contemporary times, require nuclear families, small households more power to the individual self then the collective betterment which means marriages at an early age are simply impractical.

And all the moslem cleric have to say about this issue to the youth, as is their way of dealing with everything is that we should probably pray and fast more! Get married! and a personal favorite of mine, follow the examples the ‘pious’ prophets who through godly powers somehow managed to stay celebate all their lives. Well ..there is no civilized way of putting it but this is Bullshit as you would recall our last prophet had 10 wives or something (doesn’t matter for whatever reasons, everyone has reasons) as for the rest of our prophets, I would believe these tale of virtue had I seen and met them personally. Period. And even if by some ridiculous-practical-joke-miracle the great prophets (notice how they were always men) were born with no testicles and were celebate all their lives I really don’t wanna lead their example; restraining my natural health to the point of insanity and signing up for suicide bombings for a promise of an afterlife that may or may not be there.

Attraction towards the opposite sex has been their since time immemorial. It does not depend on race, education, social strata, it does not depend whether you live in Karachi or a village in Interior Sindh. It happens to us because we are human beings and there is nothing to be ashamed about it. Sexual education for our children is as important as any other. I am singing this petition for blocking this program on Saama Tv. I wish there was a petition to ban reporters like this crazy women from practicing at all. This is a blog I read about Tv anchors in Pakistan written by Wajahat Syed Khan, you might remember him from the series We Are Soldiers maybe it will give you an idea where this type of journalism is coming from.

Perhaps when I talk about these issues I myself project an extremist viewpoint and most of my ideas might seem uncanny, I need to control my emotions but when I see things like these my blood boils and sometimes I even think that it is incidents like these which are polarizing our opinion about social issues.

My advice to the menopausal host at Saama Tv is if you are really concerned about the fellow sisters of our society, please take active participation in the Women Rights Bill in the parliament, the suicide watch, the acid victims of Sariki belt or uncover the stories of the brave women who work daily at your house at peanut wages ten times harder then their husbands.

Not every journalist in the media scene is like this though and all is not lost, you guys have probably heard that Sharmeen-obaid Chinoy has become the first Pakistani to earn an Oscar nomination. She has been nominated under the category of documentaries for her work in Saving Faces a documentary about acid victims of Pakistan. Who knows she might even win the upcoming 2012 Oscars, can’t wait to see this film on March 8th on HBO good luck madam, you’v made us very proud!

As for Saama Tv, I am never switching it on again will in fact block it on my television.

All right so lets end this post with a nice track from an upcoming Taiwanese DJ Shogun, here’s Save Me:

So the New Year is here in all its splendid glory. “The year 2012”. It has has come with much promise and change regarding our fate as the Human species, the World, us Pakistanis and individuals there is something in it for everyone.

The importance of 2012 is emphasized by the amazing events that have happened in the preceding year 2011. Incredible events, revolutionary events.. mind boggling events so much so that I have been left in a state of utter bedazzlement and quandary under the shadows of times yet to come.

So let us begin: In 2011 the Kepler Space Telescope, which is arguably the most significant scientific experiment ever conducted in line with the Hubble Space Telescope, discovered several planets outside our solar system. Now although discovering planets outside our suns gravity is not a new feat, even though the technology to discover planets itself is a relatively new phenomenon with only a decade since the first exoplanet was discovered and since then close to 2000 of them have been identified, what makes the discoveries so vital is that the newly discovered exoplanets are just the right distance from the sun, with just right size for the conditions hospitable for life to exist.

The Implications therefor are staggering. In our quest to discover life outside our solar system 2011 have been the most productive so far. Scientist are quite optimistic here since in a very short span of time we have discovered Earth like planets and by rational will discover life soon. Alien life! Yes it is no longer a myth we might not be the Asrhaf-ul- Maklookat after all, although the religious community will argue it was already given in the

Quran and bla bla bla. I am sure when the first life forms are discovered the zealots will claim it as a further glory to God, I really do not understand what they mean by this since they were the ones declaring the superiority of the Human Species. Any way the study of Earth like planets will further verify or improve on the Theory of Evolution and put an end once and for all on the ‘teleportation’ of Adam and Eve from ‘Heaven’ to Earth.

In our friendly neighborhood Earth things haven’t been quite serene. 2011 was a tumultuous year of Natural and man made environmental disasters. Who can forget the Chilean miners, the Japanese Tsunami and nuclear disaster, Hurricanes in United States, Earth Quakes and oil spills in Christchurch New Zealand, more earthquakes in Spain the disastrous flooding in Pakistan, wild winter all across Europe and much much more.

Politically we all know about the wave of protest and revolutions all over the globe no continent has been spared this time. The epicenter of protest was astonishingly the Middle East and the civilized West (who would have thought ey). The Occupy Wallstreet Campaign which started in New York and spread all across Europe. Greece, Spain and United Kingdom. UK saw a week of the most fucked up violent protest in its history I daresay some of my own friends and family were at risk that week.

Middle East came out as a big shock for everyone but its rulers. The melting pot spilled over in a wave of anguish and anger over the status quo. The status quo is the key word for 2012. Rulers everywhere must be pissing in their pants now in dread of changing times and if they are not they should be.

My theory on the fall of ruling regimes in Egypt, Tunis, Libya and agitation in Bahrain, Saudia Arabia, Yemen and Syria following their lead is that the rulers haven’t done so bad for the people: they have developed good infrastructure, open their markets to free trade and provided free education to the masses. The people I believe in the Middle East however have evolved beyond the basic necessities of life that we in the subcontinent are still striving hard to get. They have moved up the ladder in the Maslow’s Hierarchy lets call it that and want a better more autonomous life and living standards which is why the oldies need to go.

PAKISTAN.. Pakistan hahah one word that can be substituted for all the ironies of this

world. Well, Imran Khan is the man of the moment in 2011 and hopefully will continue till the elections at least. The challenge to the Pakistani status quo which includes all Waderas and pseudo-feudal culture, the Ulema and the false prophets, the Generation X and their obsolete ideals. We have grown up with Imran Khan as our hero in ‘sports’ pun intended and although some might argue that Shoukat Khanam Hospital was a very humanitarian struggle so was the strive of Abdul Sattar Edhi, big hats off to you old man but not everyone is a public administrator or a progressive politician. I will still be skeptical and the reason I will vote for the PTI is for lack of a better option.

..For me personally, this year has been one of soul searching and epiphanies. I got a wonderful job with my own office, a very lavish office if I may add! That was a good learning experience meeting the Governor of State Bank of Pakistan, the President of National Bank, President of HBL and many other whos who of Pakistan. See the thing with my ex-boss is he only speaks to the ‘Man in Charge’ someone who can understand where he is coming from. I was always awed by his influence since the first day I joined when he showed me his pictures with Quaid-e-Azam sahib.

Moving on, 2011 was also the year I finally concluded my two years of research and locked on the programs I need to apply for post-graduate studies. It has taken every ounce of

patience and intellect to do this. It was very frustrating and the last few months were critical as I locked on respective colleges and started preparing my applications. But thankfully most of the thinking part has been done and I will hopefully get out of this place this year which, by the way is my number 1 new year resolution.

Something else happened in 2011 which has affected a profound impact on me and perhaps changed me as a person. One day I will get in to the nitty grittys of the whole affair I am still trying to understand some of the things that happened and that will take time.

In a few words.. I went to Turkey to meet someone, someone who I have been in touch with for the past 8 years but only as online buddies. She was an Eastern European (I do not want to name the exact country at the moment) a beautiful, free spirited , crazy person who shared my ideals. We had a strange time, much too strange. I don’t know how to classify this, I felt so many different things in a span of few days that I was with her.Things I have never felt before. It was incredible, it was exciting, it was tumultuous… This also happened to be my first time outside Pakistan… Wow, what an experience it was. I want to say alot more and a few lines is not giving this justice at all. Maybe I will write a book about this, I have a structure in mind but not the time or the wisdom yet. But soon. Will definitely let you guys know when I do.

In all 2011 was spectacular for me personally, I have never been aware of myself so completely and feel that I am ready for anything. We are, I mean my friends and I in our 20s; This is the time people live up to their dreams, this is the time we are in our prime, this is the time we are following our passions, facing immense challenges and making our mark in this world before slowly and gradually becoming more stable and settling down after 30s.

All I have to say now is, I have no regrets what so ever about the choices I have made in life and neither should you for it is our very choices so far that have shaped our personality and made us who we are. Do not apologize and do not be harsh on yourself if you are in your 20s. If there was ever a time to experiment, this is it :-)… Happy New Year and God bless you all!

Month: January 2012

Blocking Saama Tv

2012 and Gone