Benazir Bhutto: Brave, Courageous, Daring

You will always be missed!

(1953-2007)

Previous parts: part I, part II, and part III.

Dear SD,

Well I hope the mental exercise is healthy.....

I really liked your analysis of evolution. I was a student of hostory and reading such a simple yet true description of the process of evolution was a treat for the mind. But again, there is something that i don't think I agree with, that is ur case history of Russia and China. Do u really think they emerged powerful after revolution? The Csars were thrown out and there was the hege revolution in USSR in 1917. What was the result??? Chaos and ultimately the disintegration. Try reading Alec Nove's works or for that matter the novel We the Living by Ayn Rand to understand the destruction that revolution brought along with it. Again, China, I believe is not a healthy example. I will again refer u to a book, Wild Swans written by Jung Chang. These countries may be powerful now but the price that they paid was something don't approve of. To become powerful we cannot destroy the lives of onwhole generation and sadly that was what happened in these two countries.

Yes evolution through education is what is the need of the day. But where is it happening? We are either too stuck up with the past or we don't want to come out of the traditional and archaic beliefs. We just don't want to progress. Even today we apply reason only when it suits our convenience. You will find educated people opposing love marriages, inter caste marriages. A woman smoking is still considered taboo in many parts of this country although situation is diff in the big cities although a man doing the same is quite ok. But thats not the point. What I am trying to convey is that inspite of education our archaic beliefs cloud our reasoning. We never tell a girl to not smoke because its bad for her health but because a girl shouldn't do so.

SD, I really wish that we get the education that opens our mind and liberates our spirit. Something which allows us to REASON. It is only then that we can reach the zenith.

As always,

Awaiting your reply,

Natasha.

My reply:

Hi Natasha,

You are right about the bloodshed that took place in China and the USSR. And if you read my earlier response, I agree with you that this sort of bloodshed is unnecessary if the evolution is taking place naturally. It is simple, if evolution is stopped, revolution would take place naturally and you can't prevent it. Post-revolution process should be evolution again and not faked or aritificial evolution - the case for USSR and partially China now. France, on the other hand, after the revolution started the natural evolution process. Like I said earlier, we should try to follow the evolution taking place in the U.S. and the U.K.

Sadly, in today's day of age, the education we get doesn't teach us to nurture REASON. We are expected to learn to make more money and be successful at job. Our reasoning is clouded by our beliefs, cultural values because we have not nurtured REASON enough. We feel that we are making the right decision based upon our reasoning, but it is not the true reason, I was talking about earlier.

Natasha, I was wondering if I could publish our email conversation on my blog. I would only publish it if you approve of this request.

Last thing, I am not a psychology or a world history expert. Whatever we have discussed is something what I feel about human psyche and world politics. You may or may not find all my arguments in any books.

S.D.

Please feel free to comment. Final part coming soon.

First two parts are available here: Part I and Part II.

Kindly, read the first two parts to understand the conversation presented below.

Dear SD,

First, I never asked for your name all I had asked was to whom should I address this mail to and I got my answer. Thanks. U're right. Our culture inspite of having so many similarities are very distinct. The kind of liberties I have here as a girl I would not enjoy there. And this I am not saying from mere presumption, my best friends have just come back from Pakistan and it was keenly observed by them. Our cultures have become very different. Our outlook towards life, society, religion, women.... everything is different. I dont know if we have been able to preserve culture in India. U know what we are doing??? We are preserving what is not necessary and sadly forgetting that what is necessary. As it is the advent of Victorian morality has made us a bunch of hypocrites.

To be friends what is needed is sharing the common bond and accepting and realising the changes that has come in 60 years. We should accept and respect ur culture and vice versa.

As with regard to religion, I always believe that it should be very personal. The moment religion is made public or it becomes ur sole identity there will be problems. At the end religion is just a means to do good and be a nice human being. Then why is it that we fight over it? Does fighting in the name of religion make us good humans? Does any one... Christ, Allah, Ram, Buddha teach us to fight over who is better. Sadly even the educated fail to realise this. Thankfully India being a secular country we don't face any torture as a minority community although there are communal strifes, which I as I said earlier just another perversion of human mind.

SD, I again ask you who decides what is right and what is wrong? What is right for you may be wrong for me.....

As always,

Awaiting your reply,

Natasha.

My Reply:

Natasha,
Your questions are good mental exercise :)

We all are aware of the process of evolution. This is not only true for living organisms but for situations as well. People, cultures, societies, situations adapt themselves to better suit the environments around them. Environments or conditions are generally the first instinct the mass has towards an incident. For example, in some cultures, having a homosexual relationship can cause some concerns, because that is what the instincts dictate. Human instincts, from the recorded time, has had two outcomes in general - FLIGHT or FIGHT. When we educate ourselves, we try to nurture a third instinct outcome - REASON, and this in turn leads to either NEGOTIATE or COMPROMISE. And it gets complicated now. Basically, how we react as a nation/community/group to an incident is what creates the situation, leading to our response of either FLIGHT or FIGHT and if we are lucky to be educated, then, hopefully, to REASON/NEGOTIATE/COMPROMISE. This is the evolution cycle.

Now the counter-part of evolution is, quite obviously, revolution. Revolutions take place when the evolution process has stopped and the progress is stagnant. Revolutions try to speed up the evolution process artificially at the expense of murders, civil wars, etc. Three out of the five permanent security council members have gone through a revolution in the past - i.e. China, Russia, and France. In recent history, Iran also had a revolution too. Revolutions cause a lot of bloodshed, but countries emerging from a revolution are more stronger, healthier and unified.

Two countries that didn't have a revolution from the security council are the U.S. and the U.K. Now they went through a healthy evolution process. And that is something we all should aim for - i.e. that is the healthy evolution process. We shouldn't start copying or following their footsteps. For evolution to take place, we would have to educate ourselves, rely on REASON, and learn to grow on our own, rather then copying.

I have tried my best to make it simpler for you and I hope this helps.

S.D.

Again, Part IV coming shortly.

If you have not read the first part, kindly do so here: Part I.

Now, lets begin with part II:

Hi,

To some extent I agree with you. Ours is a civilization which is 5000 years old and we were the most developed. We can boast of doctors like Susrut, Charaka, mathematicians like Aryabhatta, Ramanujan, architectural wonders like the Taj Mahal or badshahi mosque,etc. But do u know where did we lose all that? Our internal, factional, communal and religious strife. The sad part we never thought of ourselves as a nation and fought for it. There was a Punjab, a Maratha, A hindu kingdom or a Muslim Kingdom..... But there was no feeling of nationality... no pride in our achievement because we were too consumed by internal bickerings. And the British took advantage of this lack of unity and pushed us 5oo years back. It is sad that the two countries which have the same history, the same culture are sworn enemies today. But tell me honestly how many of us relate to this hatred. It is again a result of our internal strifes. Those who drew the lines went ahead and divided our thoughts and action.Do let me know if u agree or disagree..

And, yes. I agree that a fusion of culture is needed but whoo decides the degree of this fusion. Who decides what is got of the East and what is good of the West? It is again a matter of perception...

Awaiting a reply again,

Regards,

Natasha

PS. Was wondering whom should I address this mail to, I mean I dont know your name.

My reply:

Natasha,
I agree with you to a certain extent. Pakistan and India have been separate countries for almost 60 years now. During these sixty years, the animosity against one and another gave birth to a different culture and mind set. Now, we are, believe it or not, almost 60 years apart. I praise your country for taking the steps necessary to preserve your culture to a certain extent. We sadly lack that here. Now, the right thing to do is to preserve what we have now and then start building bridges with other cultures, countries and religions, rather than, jumping ships and instantly doing what we are told to do just to prove that we are good friends. This causes a huge side effect of loss of self-respect. Now, I am talking of Pakistan alone right now. I firmly believe that we can be two separate countries (India + Pakistan) with our own identity and values and still be good friends and we won't be the first ones in doing so. Take, for example, England and France or China and Japan. Similar, yet distinct cultures, but they are still friendly nations.

I have seen best outputs and results when people from different countries and religions work together. Diversity is indeed power. I am proud to be a Muslim, but that does not mean that I start blaming Hindus or Christians. Sadly, this exact thing is happening - that is, the use of blame game and division on the basis of diversity.

And for who is to decide about the fusion? It is up to us, the collective us, to make this fusion happen. We as people decide what goes in and what stays out. As educated folks, we should be able to make clear distinction between right or wrong - regardless of eastern or western culture.

I am extremely sorry, but I can't give you my real name. I have been in deep trouble before for expressing my feelings and beliefs, hence, the reason why I have started using a pseudonym. Although, I don't try very hard to hide my real identity, but it is one of my stupid rules, where I try not to give my real name out. I hope this won't disrupt our discussion over such important matters. You may address me as `S.D`. :)

Regards,

S.D.

Part III coming soon. Comments are welcome!

I recently was engaged in an email conversation with a (new) friend from the neighboring country - India. Her name is Natasha and she decided to contact me with few questions after going through my blog. I am posting our conversation below, in parts due to its length, without making any changes to the original content - except for correcting the typos (in red). As always, contact me for further clarification.

Hi,

i accidentally came across your blog and after reading it I felt that I had to ask you certain things. We are a world apart although we are hardly some hundred kms apart. So I believe our views will be very different.

I am actually mailing you because I was a little confused. First, why are you against foreign songs and movies (esp.Indian), what is un Islamic about liking Indian or any other foreign movies or songs. Second, why are you so judgmental? And third, why are you contradicting yourself? You talk with genuine hatred about people havin amreekan accent and english and western culture. But, you write ur blog in english and I must say good english, you actually have a post which has the lyrics of IRIS...... I am confused..... Would like to know what are actually your views??? And how many of these do you stick to....

Oh, Congrats on your wedding!!!!!

Awaiting a reply from your end.

--
Warm Regards,
Natasha

My reply:

Natasha,
I am glad to see that you took the time to contact me and understand
my point of view. Natasha, I have nothing against Indians, Americans,
or for that matter any other culture or religion. As a matter of fact,
I have friends from all over the world, including Jews, Christians,
Hindus, Muslims, Indians, Palestinians, Israelis, etc. You ask why am
I contradicting my own thought process and beliefs? May be, I am just
not good at writing this, but my problem is with people who just
blindly copy. Simply put, we have become a nation of followers then
leaders that we ought to be. Our civilizations (yours and mine) were
centuries ahead from the rest of the world. And rather than producing
scientists and mathematicians, now all we produce is dancers and
actors who lack creativity on all fronts.

You asked me that I write perfect English, yet I am sort of against
the use of it. Actually, I am not! Surprised. Well it's simple. I use
English, because I have command over the language unlike most folks
who are again just copying or just following what they are taught.
Even if I assume that the entire nation has gained command over the
language, still I believe that we should still try to protect our
cultural values. The fusion of both cultures, and I mean a true
fusion, where we also have to offer something, rather then just
copying, would only bring a great future.

I hope this clears things up. Please let me know if you don't feel
satisfied by my answer.

Sincerely,

Some Desi

Second part of this post coming soon but I would love to see your comments.

No, I am neither dead nor have I been kidnapped by Martians. I am still very much alive and kicking, AlhamduLilah - الحمد لله (Praise to God). Well the history of the past few months is:

1. I have become an openBSD user at a limited scale and I love openBSD.
2. I got married.
3. Unix rocks.
4. I am NOT activily involved in the OSX86 project anymore. Sorry folks, but can't help you with OSX86 problems anymore.
5. I am and have been saving money to get myself a new MacBook Pro. Donations are welcome ;)
6. I am STILL activily invovled with Asterisk and its implementation.
7. Got myself a DSL connection and a US landline number - DSL is paid for, US number is free.
8. BIND is cool.
9. Went for an Umrah with my family. Got married there, by the way.
10. If you have not guessed it by now, I love wikipedia.
11. I have collected a huge library of e-books and try to read them all at a consistent pace.
12. Vista is okay, but OS X is better. Obviously, Unix/Linux are the best.
13. My hard drive almost crashed on my Mac. Good thing, I take backups regularly. Got a new 100GB HDD - 20GB more than the last one.
14. I have had my current job for over two years now and that is the longest period I have worked for any employer. Got a promotion and a raise as well. Getting job offers, waiting for a good one.
15. I got myself two HTC Universals -- see pictures.
16. HTC Universal is a good device, now, only if I can put linux on it.
17. Someone stole my 1GB SD Card from one of my HTC Universal.

Please don't hate me. I will try to blog regularly.

Question: How difficult it is to use Apple products?

Answer: Not very difficult, because:

my Powerbook G4 has a wide screen, so I can watch movies when I am free.

and trust me, I really enjoy watching movies and doing work on it. Look, how focused I am.

I can listen to my iPod when relaxing.

With a few clicks, I am able to log into the most advanced and secure operating system.

Hmmm, may be it is time to get the new MacBook Pro, since, I am such an advanced user :)