meethapani

  The Myth of Monolithic Societies The Pakistan Pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020 held in 2021, is a watershed in the presentation of Pakistan’s global image. Called Hidden Treasures, the two messages that stand out are Rashid Rana’s design of the pavilion, made up of 24,000 pieces, each slightly different from the other, celebrating diversity, and the exhibits and films that give prominence to the many religions practiced in a predominantly Muslim country. This may be the first time there has been a government policy to celebrate the religious and cultural diversity since the 60s when Aslam Azhar was commissioned   to make a series of documentaries called ‘Colours of a Culture’   that included the Kalash community and Sohail Rana composed Moonlight in the Sunderbans and the Indus Valley Cha Cha Cha. Today ministers attend Diwali and Christmas celebrations. And the government has constructed the Kartarpur corridor between India and Pakistan for Sikh devotees. This comes...

  The Future of Cities Today we think of cities as state or provincial capitals, although the modern state did not come into existence until the 19 th Century. Kingdoms and Empires had fluid boundaries centred around walled cities. Baghdad, Cordoba, Jerusalem, Constantinople, Venice, London.   Political scientists speculate that once again cities will take precedence over states. The World Congress of United Cities and Local Governments where mayors meet every three years, was established in Barcelona in 2004. It has over 240,000 members in over 140 States and advocates democratic self-government of cities of the world. More than half the world’s population lives in cities and is expected to rise to eighty percent by 2080. As Benjamin R. Barber writes in his book, If Mayors Ruled the World, city management has to focus on the necessities of everyday life- “Collecting garbage and collecting art rather than collecting votes or collecting allies. Putting up buildings and r...

  The Animal Kingdom Native Americans believe the animal world teaches man how to live close to the earth, respectful of and in harmony with the natural world. In the hierarchy of reincarnation, in both Hinduism and Buddhism, humans have the highest status. Being born an animal is the result of bad Karma in a previous life.    All three Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe man is the highest creation, which makes them responsible for the wellbeing of the earth and its creatures, and all prohibit cruelty to animals. Ecclesiastes 3:19 of the Old Testament says “man has no superiority over beast”. The Quran explains in Surah 6:38 that “all the creatures that crawl on the earth and those that fly with their wings are communities like yourselves.” All three believe animals have souls, and are to be valued as God’s creation.   Whether they believe themselves to be superior to animals or not, humans have been fascinated by the animal kingdom...

  ‘o Travelling Together or Going Our Separate Ways We live, and have lived for centuries, in a politically and economically divided world.   Unable to accept these differences, there is always one group that takes the further step of dominating another. The most direct way is for a stronger group to take over a weaker group by sheer force. Where the two forces are equally matched, subterfuge, divide et imperia – divide and rule, is effective. Sometimes all it takes is cultural seduction. Something as innocuous as blue jeans became an important symbol of the Free West during the Cold War. Bruce Springsteen told the East Berlin youth in a July 1988 concert “I’m not here for any government. I’ve come to play rock ‘n’ roll for you in the hope that one day all the barriers will be torn down.”   History books are filled with the constant constructing and dismantling of alliances, based on the perceived enemy of the moment. All the great wars in Europe, India and China ...

    Searching for Afghanistan 10 years of USSR occupation, 20 years of US occupation, and a dangerous interregnum of devastation caused by hidden landmines. A brutal 42 years. It is impossible for anyone to comprehend how Afghanistan resisted for so long. Since all three superpowers with vested interest, Britain in the 19th century and USSR and USA in the 20 th and 21 st centuries, failed to subdue Afghanistan, one hopes that the Afghanis will be left at last, to find their own equilibrium. The main actors of resistance during the two occupations – the Mujahidin and the Taliban – have come to represent the image of Afghanistan.   They are in effect armies, while it is civilians who determine society and culture. Tamin Ansary, author of “Games without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan” recognizes that there is a nostalgia for a past that can never be restored. However, he says, “That does not mean we should ignore what that nostalgia craves”. ...

  Taking Time to Make Time   When the thirty three year old Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Pope Julius II would impatiently ask him when it would be complete. The artist would reply “when I am satisfied". Rodin took 37 years to compete his Gates of Hell. The Taj Mahal took 22 years, two more that the Great Pyramid at Giza. The Great Wall of China took 2000 years! One could say that these were commissioned by the rich and powerful, but then there are the living root bridges of Indonesia and North East India made by villagers for their own use that can take at least 15 years to complete. The concept of time has changed very dramatically. Time was once measured by the movement of the sun. Daytime was for activity, night for rest. The sundial measured the hours of the day. Most people would just guess the time of day by looking up at the sky.   Hourglasses, measured candles, water clocks were some of the devices that measured time independently ...

  Independence We use the words freedom and independence interchangeably.   To be independent would mean to be able to direct one’s own affairs without the control of others. Freedom is a much more amorphous word. It can mean being unconstrained, but we also speak of academic freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of movement and of course the freedom movements of politics.   There is a causal relationship, as it was the freedom movement that led to Independence from British rule.   For Pakistan it was a double independence -   from British rule and from India.     It took 190 years of struggle, if we take the 1757 Battle of Plassey as the first resistance to foreign rule, and a huge loss of life, yet that struggle had definition, moral clarity and a clear objective.   The struggle for freedom and independence that continues to define Pakistan’s internal and external socio-political structures, has far less clarity. To give some structure t...

  Start a Huge Foolish Project Richard Branson sent his first commercial rocket to space in July this year. His philosophy is: “If people aren’t calling you crazy, you aren’t thinking big enough.” Certainly a crazy idea when the world is reeling from a pandemic and economic difficulties. However, the big idea was not the rocket ‘Unity’, hurtling into space, but the first person who imagined space travel. While many early civilizations speculated on what lies beyond the stars, modern space developments were inspired by a French fiction writer Jules Verne who wrote From the Earth to the Moon in 1865 and Around the Moon in 1869. Jules Verne, who wrote over 100 novels, was no stranger to huge ideas many would consider foolish, but which inspired engineers, inventors and technicians. ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea,’ suggested a prototype for submarines. “Around the World in Eighty Days” inspired adventure travelers and the Siberian Express train. “Journey to the Center of t...