meethapani

  The youth of the world has had enough. Yearning for change has turned into desperation for change. A heavy sense of despair drives the very young onto the streets to face arrest or worse.   Students have protested in the past. What is different this time is the organic spread of protests across the globe, each protest with its own focus, success made possible by phone apps such as snap map and ghost mode. Also new is how young the protestors are - some as young as ten years old.   Starting in Bangladesh in 2024, Nepal in 2025, by 2026 the protests have turned into an avalanche of youth protests from India to Europe, from South America to Indonesia. Today there are over 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10-24 facing an uncertain future. Hard work no longer guarantees success. They protest failing education structures, corruption and nepotism, irresponsible climate policies. and oppression by the powerful few. They are on the streets not by choice but with ...

  On March 29, 1857, Mangal Pandey, a sepoy in the British East India Company army, set in motion the great Indian Revolt. By the time the revolt was quelled, more than half of the 9000 strong British forces were dead or wounded and 5000   of the estimated 40,000 rebels. Members of the Mughal royal family and the elite were hunted down and killed, while others tried to blend in to the populace to escape. However, the reprisals of the 1857 revolt did not just result in the loss of life. There was a systematic effort to erase the memory of the Mughals altogether.   The crown of the last emperor, his throne, the royal hookah, wall panels, manuscripts, jewels and art work were looted and taken to Britain. What could not be transported was destroyed. Eighty percent of the walled city was razed to the ground – the magnificent palace, gardens, mosques, homes of elite residents, guards and servants. It was only stopped from complete erasure by the intervention of Sir John Law...

  When a society experiences rapid political, technological, or social change, historians need time to develop a language to describe the change. The Arts can immediately respond with poetry, music and visual images. Music is the most easily shared of the arts across a society. It becomes a historical record of its times from classical compositions to modern genres like punk, blues, and rap. Arnold Schoenberg's atonal music compositions reflect the intense anxiety and uncertainty of the pre WWI Europe. Songs, like "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child", perfectly embody the collective trauma experienced by enslaved African Americans.   The singer songwriter, Prince, expresses existential dread with his edgy music, ending one of his songs with a child asking, "Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb?" Lyari’s female rapper, Eva B, sings Gir Kay He Uthna Seekha Maine (only after falling did I learn to rise). The Last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, fac...

    While most of the world has been riveted to the latest war bulletins, rising costs of living, or planning protests, a few young men and women have been training all year for horseback archery, building up their body strength for tug of war, training falcons and producing beautiful crafts, to participate in the World Nomad Games in the rugged mountain valleys of Kyrgyzstan.    Although this is the 6 th World Nomad Games, the earlier games have not been on the sports radar the way the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, World Cup Football or Wimbledon are. This year thanks to the expanding reach of social media, “the spirit of people echoing across time” reached out to us from the scenic shores of Lake Issyk Kul. There are sports we never knew the names of like Tenge Ilu, Asyk Atu, Zhamby atu, with thrilling horseback archery by both male and female contestants, or Kushbegilik eagle hunting and some familiar games from bygone days like Kok Boru known to us as Bu...

  “Uncertain times” is a refrain that fills UNDP reports, discussions by climatologists, economists, political scientists and filters down to individuals anxious about the future of their children.   It is seen as a sign of our times – an anomaly of our making, of our neglect, suggesting urgent attention will redress and restore all to an even keel.    However, increasingly scientists propose that uncertainty is a fundamental feature of the universe. American mathematician John Allen Paulos concluded “Uncertainty is the only certainty there is", echoing the 1 st century Roman thinker, Pliny the Elder’s statement, "The only certainty is that nothing is certain." Seeking certainty is a modern construct whose roots can be traced to the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment.   It separated state and religion, promoted reason and scientific inquiry over ‘blind faith’. The truth was what could be experienced by the five senses, be scientifically examined and...

  Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, told Jawahar Lal Nehru that Pakistan was not economically viable and would come begging to rejoin India within six months. "Administratively it was the difference between putting up a permanent building, a Nissen hut or a tent. As far as Pakistan is concerned we are putting a tent.” There is a compelling logic to that conclusion. Pakistan was not an existing political entity, but a conceptually new country, an idea, two territories on either side of a hostile country, with extraordinary cultural diversity. It had a handful of industrial units, no military equipment, and no government structure. From a security perspective, as the British Commander in Chief, Claude Auchinleck noted, Pakistan lacked strategic depth, with no natural barriers with India. A skill vacuum was created by the exodus of Hindu and Sikh professionals after the partition. The coffers were empty. India did not release its portion of funds until Gandhi went on...

  “If architecture is how we move through space, furniture is how we pause inside it”. Furniture can be viewed as a cultural narrative – a mirror of personal identities, social interaction and the diverse societies and strata within them. The layout of interiors determines how we walk, gather and transition through a space. Furniture is said to be where architecture meets the body. Furniture can hold memories: a parent’s or grandparent’s favourite chair, an heirloom, a childhood memory. Rooms are spaces to welcome others and create new stories. The way furniture is arranged, and how comfortable it is, can determines how people interact. Japanese minimalist interiors are intentionally designed as quiet sanctuaries that reduce sensory noise reflecting the Samurai code and controlled elegance.   The Arab majlis rooms and the more elaborate Persian diwans traditionally feature wall-aligned floor or low seating around an open centre. Hand-woven carpets and cushions create a...

  In Search of Family There has been a surge in the number of people searching for their family ancestry, enabled by access to digitized records, DNA testing and genome mapping. While ancestry platforms are currently focused on Western societies, where migration data, birth and death registers have been maintained for centuries, other societies have long established written or oral traditions to honour family ancestry. Why does family history matter to so many?   A Canadian university asked the question ‘Why do we derive satisfaction from knowing who our ancestors were?’   The responses mostly focused on a search for identity and being part of larger histories. ‘We can find things down to the nano level, but we can't find ourselves today’. Some just want to make connections with someone famous, others want to recognise the sacrifices and struggles of ancestors.   Heritage tourism is a new phenomenon with visits to towns and villages of ancestors. The present 79...

  Peace treaties almost always fail or are short-lived, despite the hype surrounding them. There have been numerous efforts to redirect humanity towards peace. One of the earliest and most influential was philosopher Immanuel Kant's 1795 essay Perpetual Peace, which later influenced the League of Nations (1920) and the United Nations (1945). It included in its recommendations a coalition of independent nations and the gradual dismantling of standing armies. Instead we see a 41 percent rise in global military expenditure over the past decade, reaching a record US$2.9 trillion according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Ukraine tops the world, spending 40% of its GDP on military expenditure. Increasingly destructive weapons continue to be invented, along with the less visible funding of propaganda and espionage. The United States remains the world's largest arms exporter by a wide margin, accounting for roughly 42 percent of all global arms exports. T...

  The audience goes into raptures as Amir Khusro’s Chaap Tilak Sab Cheen Li fills the air. The qawwal Fareed Ayaz sings with great tenderness:   “My fair, delicate wrists with green bangles on them, You have held my wrists tightly with just a glance.” The audience, and the all-male qawwals find nothing strange about a man singing personified as a woman. The Sufi path to pure love and devotion to God is often symbolised as a woman yearning for the Beloved.   The feminine voice represents the journey from worldly or majazi love to Divine or haqiqi love expressed as yearning and surrender to God. Gender fluidity is a recurring theme in Pakistani cultural traditions. Few notice that the scriptwriters and song writers of early blockbuster Pakistani cinema were men, who seemed to understand the emotions, and desires of women.   A ghazal written by a male poet sounds equally natural if sung by a man or a woman. The power of the poem lies in its emotional authenticity ...

  The now famous song by the Bee Gees, Staying Alive, ushered in the disco era. It was actually written in response to the desperation in the wake of the brutal economic and social breakdown of New York in the 70s.  “Feel the city breakin’ and everybody shakin’ and we are staying alive, staying alive!” the song was a social statement, a plea - ”somebody help me !”. Composed for the iconic film Saturday Night Fever, itself carrying a dark message of survival, it inspired young men across the world to strut down the street in white suits. The message of the film – giving up was not an option. Medical first responders are trained to use the song to get the rhythm of CPR  to the 103 beats per minute, literally ensuring people stay alive.   The Karachi of today shares with the New York of the 70s a city unravelling. That mix of glamour and urban decay, a primarily working class city facing economic desperation, crime and drugs. To Karachi one can add ripped up roads, a ra...

  Knowledge and Knowing   "To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day." — Lao Tzu. Knowledge is information acquired from external sources. Knowing, on the other hand, emerges from within and determines how facts are comprehended. Knowledge has no value without knowing while knowing can exist without knowledge. A child knows how to recognise parents, communicate and play without any formal instructions. Village wisdom knows the right time to sow plants, or cure with herbs, without knowledge of botany or biology, relying on collective memory and connection to nature.   Most of us know how to change a light bulb or operate a computer without knowledge of how electricity if produced or how binary technology works. In Europe knowledge gained priority over knowing around the scientific revolution of the 17 th C establishing rational knowledge as superior to subjective experience. Other civilisations such as those of India or...

  In 1953, the artist Willem de Kooning agreed to give his fellow artist, Robert Rauschenberg, a drawing to erase. Rauschenberg worked on the drawing for over a month using a variety of erasers. Despite all efforts, traces of the original drawing remained. In 2010, digital imaging revealed much of the original drawing. This act of erasure symbolises attempts to erase histories, whether individual or collective. Neuroscientist, Charan Ranganath, finds that within 20 minutes people forget 40% of what they learn and after a few days only 20% is remembered.   Since the past is over, why should we remember? It helps in making sense of the present and making better choices for the future.   Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking Fast and Slow, says memories are all we get to keep from our experience of living. In reality memory is selective and may be far from accurate. Some memories are preserved in diaries and letters, or in autobiographies, but even the most meticulous ...

  Style is a refinement in behaviour and the cultivation of poise. Style is expressed in the way a person walks or converses, by the cadence of language, by the spaces we choose to live in. Style shows confidence, presence, personal power, often communicated without the need for words.  Unlike brute force, style cannot be fought with or overcome. It is a quiet challenge that does not seek a reaction. While it can be mocked, it cannot be destroyed. It is the result of a cultivated intentionality that becomes part of a personality. Style is like the softest notes of a piano or violin that the listener knows can build up to a powerful intensity that will make hearts tremble. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in February this year, and the  Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Abbas Araghchi, through all the warmongering rhetoric, impressed the world with their soft spoken manner with the slight smile of the wise dealing with the foolish. No angry fist shaking. Instead we witn...

  In Ireland a candle placed in the window signaled to travelling priests that the home was a safe haven for Catholics, persecuted in Britain from 1534 to the 1800s.The phrase became a symbol for hope, an incentive to keep going. As people search alternate news sources to make sense of the seismic changes that threaten to affect everyday lives, some sharing guidelines to survive a nuclear attack, others identifying DIY methods to generate electricity, they feel like sitting ducks in the crossfire of petulant, warring oligarchs. "Karayn tau kiya karaen" ( if we act what could we do?) is on everyone’s minds. Massive street protests, parliamentary debates, impassioned Security Council speeches, International Court of Justice rulings – all seem to fall on deaf ears.     And then we see images of Palestinian youths smiling as they are taken to the gallows, after Israeli parliament voted last month for the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners. Those smiles carry the ...

  Rumpelstiltskin, a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, tells the story of a poor miller’s daughter who was locked up each night to turn straw into gold until the King found her worthy of becoming his bride. The only way she achieved this was with the help of a dubious character, Rumpelstiltskin, but this help came at a price: first for her necklace, then her ring and then the promise of her first born child. It is tempting to see the King as the exploitative nations, the miller and his daughter as the exploited and enslaved, and Rumpelstiltskin as the international agencies that offer loans forcing countries into the trap of eternal debt servicing.   The miller’s daughter escapes from her debt to Rumpelstiltskin by identifying his hidden name. The world, too, is finally exposing the well-guarded truths, the identities of hidden forces, that have enslaved nations largely by controlling the narrative.   The lofty edifices that filled the world with awe and wonder, pro...