A Brand New World!!!

Brands are becoming a new lingua franca for consumers all over the globe. One may like or dislike, brands are reality and no one can scape. Well, there are people around us including me prefer brands because it is all about quality. To an extent it is true, if more people buy brands better the quality becomes. Price equates quality and brand competition means continuous improvement. We are becoming so global, in spite of our likes or dislikes, it is a reality, falling trade barriers to regional trade integration, movement of people to telecom and internet boom. World is becoming truly a village, more we get connected more we become global citizen sharing common culture. Many people at Harvard University believe that "consumers look to global brands as symbols of cultural ideals. They use brands to create an imagined global identity that they share with like minded people. Global brands make us feel like citizens of the world and they somehow give us an identity". There are brand skeptics believing that brands are all about western culture but if we look at hundred of brands in terms of their value, Coke is number one "An American Brand" but Nokia, a Finish brand on no 5, Toyota a Japanese brand on no 8, Mercedes a German brand on no 12, Honda a Japanese brand on no 18, Samsung, H&M, Nescafe, SAP, IKEA, Sony, Canon, Nintendo, Reuters, Philips, L’Oreal, Siemens, Zara, VW, Nestle, Adidas, Blackberry, Rolex, UBS, Panasonic, Cartier, Allianz, BP, Nivea, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Lexus, Puma and Burberry all are non American brands.

Click here for best global brands list. We have to live in a global village and brands are reality, major question comes, it is fine brands are all about quality, they also create a global culture but the need of the hour is how much socially responsible organizations are?? To make world a better place, NGOs, consumers and human rights organizations' role has become more critical along with media. We have to collectively act as watchdog and consumers can use their buying power to punish socially irresponsible brands through product boycott. Let me share an interesting story about anti globalization and anti brand crowd, the other day I watched a video, most of the protesting guys were wearing branded shirts, Levis Trousers, Swiss Backpack, Apple iPods, Caterpillar Shoes, Police Glasses, Puma Shoes etc. Similarly anti west clerics in Pakistani helped KFCs Ramadan Iftar deal. It is need of the hour, we have to be more realistic and practical, on the one hand not ignoring our social responsibility and on the other hand saying no to mindless emotional outcry against brands.

Three Idiots, Caution; Jerks & Idiots Next 340403 Square Miles

An idiot produces bunch of idiots, contributing to the idiot population in villages, towns, cities, and successfully creating Idiotistan. Sounds familiar, isn’t it? At times I look at various academic institutions; only one thing comes in my mind “idiots manufacturing factories”. There may be exceptions but majority is producing parrots, good at remembering. I had been reading since childhood that our mind is a thinking device not a store room and I still believe it. Lately I came across an interesting movie “Three Idiots”, Aamir Khan is the lead cast, displayed diverse and humorous performance. Plot is borrowed from Five Point Someone-What not to do at IIT, written by Chetan Bhagat, one of the highest selling English novels published in India. Movie brilliantly depicts the family pressure, when it comes to a child’s career, forcing a kid to study Engineering vis a vis perusing his heart’s desire, be it photography, sports, music. It is so true, if one listens to heart, there won’t be any regret and career would be like hobby. In our society, even at brilliant universities, students are pressurized to memorize and live under the pressure of so called GPA. Even most of the teachers believe that they know everything, if someone challenges any thought or idea; it generally hurts teacher’s ego and end up taking revenge.  I still remember, at university I had always been one of the top students, asking questions and challenging was part of my academic pursuance, rarely cared for GPA, one of the teachers got offended with my challenging thoughts and he ended up failing me, first time ever in my life. I challenged it and got away with it. So called educated lot lacks basic social consciousness, esp. business graduates in my circle are like corporate zombies, hardly knows about Pakistani society, not much about indigenious people, history and geography . They prefer cramming books to graduate and earn a living, no need to have social consciousness, prefer having dinner with friends than buying a book. I seriously get disillusioned to see educated lot when they act uncivilized all around. Be it teachers, society or even parents, no one likes questions, challenging thoughts is considered rude behavior. You end up hearing sentences such as “How dare you challenge your parents’ ideas? “Tumhein abhi dunya ka pata hee kia hay??” How much have you seen the world? How many books have you read? At times I look back at colonial societies, I find, academic system in Colonial India was designed to produce low level clerks. Slaves or subjects had no right to challenge or question masters? Similarly such behaviors became part of family value system. Another interesting thing I came across was that in colonial societies, language was one of the tools always used for exploitation. Persian was the language of Kings & Queens & Darbar’s but common men used to speak native languages so was the case with English. Even today, language is used to exploit or keep majority under privileged, one may not deny the importance of English but it is used as entry barriers. Societies prosper and grow with the power of ideas and quality of thought, it is the mind that makes the difference and thoughts lead to prosperity. There is a famous saying “An idiot is a genius to another idiot”

Privacy is No Longer a 'Social Norm’ !!!

You must be wondering what the limits of privacy are, well, lately, Google COO Sheryl Sandberg publicly said that privacy is no longer a social norm. As student of social sciences I always come across the sentence that social norms change overtime. However it is also believed that core values hardly change over the period. On the one hand, when gadgets like IPod create social isolation, people end up saying ‘hey IPod stop causing social isolation’. On the other hand social networking mediums like Facebook and Twitter connect us, people end up saying “hey Facebook stop privacy invasion”.

There are people who are convinced that too much isolation and too little privacy are the biggest social problems of our time. Google COO believes that “People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people.”We have witnessed that our networking journey in cyber age, all the way started with basic chat site to video talk, personal information sharing on web to new phenomenon of blogging and social networking like Facebook & Twitter. These days people are asking questions "Is too much information available to public not an invasion of public privacy, enabling people to stalk and access all the information"? Well, on the one hand people believe that we have choice through privacy setting, what to put on the Facebook and what not? Who should be able to view and who should not!!! On the other hand people believe that Facebook makes people to make more personal information publicly available without realizing it.

There may be many views on privacy debate but one thing one should realize that as per Newyork Times, Google and Microsoft Bing has signed an agreement with Facebook, to allow people’s status updates to be indexed by both search engines in order to enable the search giants to provide real time results. Is human society redefining the social norms pertaining to privacy or we are going to face the maliase of no privacy, spread by social networking medium. Let us see, time will tell.

The Ghost of Mohd Bin Qasim in Pakistan!! Where are Balach & Chakar??

These days Whitechapel Gallery in London is exhibiting photographs from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. As per Guardian newspaper The Ghost of Mohd Bin Qasim “part of India, Pak and Bangladesh photo exhibit” photographs are getting visitor’s attention. When I heard the word Ghost, I got excited and read complete story. One may wonder what is the connection of Pakistan with Mohd Bin Qasim, well as per our history books he was the one who laid the foundation of Pakistan, later completed by Jinnah. Well he was an Umayyad Dynasty’s general who conquered Sindh and Punjab region along the Indus River at the age of 17. Historians believe that “Umayyad interest in the region stemmed from their desire to control the trade route down the Indus River valley to seaport of Sindh, an important link in the ancient Silk Road”. Apart from Mohd Bin Qasim, exhibition shows the most shameful period of Pakistani history “our history books are quiet” when we lost Eastern wing now known as Bangladesh. One of the famous Pakistani novelists, who visited the exhibition, described her feelings when she saw the atrocities of Pakistan Army, she writes” I turn to the Bangladeshi photographers in order to fix my gaze on that blood-soaked epoch. I don't even realise I'm doing this, at first. I think I'm looking at a man's head, cast in marble; the sculpture is cheek-down amid a cluster of stones, almost camouflaged by them. Then I read the caption: "Dismembered head of an intellectual killed 14 December 1971 by local collaborators of Pakistani army. Bangladesh." It is extraordinarily eerie, and sad”.

Guardian writes that “The Ghost of Mohammad Bin Qasim” shows the nation's attempt to create an official history, which focuses on Muslims in the subcontinent (rather than Pakistan's geographical boundaries), the Arab general Bin Qasim (712 AD) was lauded for being the first Muslim to successfully lead a military campaign in India – even though he did little to consolidate his position. In Abidi's photographs, a man in Arab dress is shot at different locations in Karachi, including the mausoleum of the nation's secular founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The man is clearly Photoshopped in, deliberately so: he represents the attempt to graft a false history on to Pakistan, linking it to the Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia. It is ironic; nations fail when they try to manufacture a country’s foundation on the basis of false history. As Baloch and Pakistani, I lament to mention that as kid I never came across my Baloch childhood heroes ‘my elders used to share the stories about’ such as Balach and Chakar . But we were forced to read about Muslim invaders from desert land of Arabia and Afghanistan. When I was in US, came across various books on history, I realized that anyone who defends the motherland is a Hero. For a while I went back to my childhood and started questioning myself about Mohd Bind Qasim, Mehmood Gaznavi and Ghauri. Also the stature of Raja Dahir and Bhagat Singh rose high in my mind I also got my long awaited answer, now I know why Pakistani nation is confused!! I truly get to see Ghosts of Mohammad Bin Qasim, Tipu Sultan and Lord Mountbatten on the streets of Pakistan.

Crazy New Year Celebrations in Pakistan!!!

New Year’s Eve is all about celebration, parties and social gatherings. Whole world welcomes it with breathtaking fire work. Pakistani’s celebrate it with indiscriminate and random aerial firing, creating harassment, fear and resulting in injuring over 50 to 100 people. Youngsters march towards beach, display careless biking skills, harasses families esp. when they see women creature.

The other day I saw it on TV, Sydney Municipal Corporation hosts over 2 million people for firework display that lasted from 15 to 25 minutes followed by music shows on several stages throughout the beach. Imagine over 2 million people, how much revenue and positive image Sydney gets.

Forget about first world countries, lets look at Brazil, Rio beach hosts performance of popular bands and samba school. Over 2 million people thronged to the beach, over 28,000 hotel rooms occupied. One could imagine the amount of revenue this event generates for the city; it is an ideal time to position RIO on world map before Olympic Game in Brazil.

Oh I forgot, Pakistan and our Muslim population has problem with Christian holidays our Mujahid on the roads have issues if people celebrate it. Well fine, if we look at Muslim holidays, the way we celebrate UGH let me read a news report it says Town Admn imposed complete ban on fire crackers to be used for fire works on Shab e Baraat, in order to safeguard public life and property and to maintain general peace. The way we celebrate without realizing how much our celebration may cause inconvenience for others. At times I think only socially illiterate societies are engulfed with Cheapness!!!! 

Burning Karachi !! Points to Ponder !!!

Ardeshir Cowasjee writes “To be noted! Bomb blast at 4:30 pm at Lighthouse intersection. Shops set on fire at 4:22 pm with chemicals by gangsters for a length of 2 km till Bolton Market. City Government Fire Brigade reached after 4 hours. All shops closed but by 4 am in morning thousands of banners hanging in the city.... Pattern of selective targets is evident. Who gains by removal of old buildings & markets?”

Think about it !!!

Please Don’t Let Democracy Down !!!!

Bomb blasts, blame game, irresponsible media, insecurity, uncertainty, chaos, hopelessness, pessimism, confusion and emotions define current state of Pakistani affairs. Every now and then media tells us that PPP government is going to fell down in three months, six months, eight months, one year, blaming that PPP is the culprit, anti Pakistan, responsible for putting clauses against Army in Kerry Lugar Bill. NRO is going to topple Zardari government; he is the worst guy and Pakistan must get rid off of him. Pakistan’s ailment linked with Zardari and PPP, remove him and peace would knock on the doors. Our middle class leaning towards right wing, chanting anti American slogans, ironically no one condemns Taliban. They consider whatever attacks are being carried out in the name of Taliban; they are either Indian or Jewish agent. It is believed that middle class is change agent but in Pakistan they are conservative apologetic. Security establishment along with their supporters in the form of right wing religious parties are busy enough to dent the democracy, so is enlightened media with their biases and hollow analysis. Do you think removing PPP government is going to solve Pakistan’s problems? Let us assume if PPP government is removed, is there any other force that enjoys public support from Karachi to Khyber? Does alternate force present any strategic plan to address economy, deal with US, and peace talks with India, to deal with US pressure esp. war on terror ‘be it Quetta Shura or North Waziristan’? Does anyone have plans to address Balochistan issue better than PPP government? We have already seen decades of Zia, Musharraf military rule but everyone knows what they delivered!! To conclude, eminent columnist Nadeem Paracha’s words speak volumes “Remember East Pakistan? No uniformed strong man or a mard-i-momin can save a country as diverse as ours. Stop getting lost in the middle-class fantasies of powerful men and glorious conquests. Vote, and then wait to vote out whom you do not like. Stop falling prey to fascist escapades dressed as patriotism, uprightness and worst of all, akhlaq. I would again urge…. Please Don’t Let Democracy Down!!!!

Cultural Heritage Lost in Chaotic Pakistan

Tragic 28th December incident in Karachi, death of over 40 people during Muharram procession and aftermath carnage reminds me of Taliban. These days I am forced to think about Bamiyan Statue of Buddha, known as wonders of ancient world, I remember the way Taliban destroyed it, forcing my heart to bleed out of anger, pain and helplessness. Great Indus Valley Civilization is lost in the dust of religious fundamentalism. Indus men smiles on modern day Pakistan, everyone is sad to see the way security establishment drags the green Indus land to get attached with extremist desertland of Arabia.  The road where carnage took place in Karachi has some of the finest historical buildings built during British rule, most of them burnt and destroyed. These buildings are just one and half kilometer away from historic KMC building and Merewether Tower. There are around 60 historical buildings, majority of them protected under the Sindh Cultural Heritage Protection Act. It seems there is no place for art, culture, history and heritage when it comes to modern day extremist Pakistan. Moen Jo Daro and Harrapa question us but we have no answer!! is anyone listening ???

Hmmmm, Golf is Real Sexy Game!!!

Golf always reminds me of one sentence “men and rats always find new holes”. When it comes to golf, it is all about holes, poles, wet, grass/bush, sticks and balls. Lately my cute friends dragged me into golf, for a moment I felt as if to me golf was an arranged marriage, when I got into it, LOVE HAPPENED!! Tiger woods reminds us of the best golf one could ever imagine, he was lately caught his pants down. So far, around 13 women revealed that they slept with Mr. Woods; no wonder 13 reminds us of 18 holes in golf. I am sure Mr. Wood must have been passionate about the game; poor guy, his brain is programmed to think about holes. At times I get scared because too much focus on different holes is not good for healthy relationship. For men, holes make golf sexy but for women it gets sexier because of the sticks and balls. Many women hate men esp. those men who are categorized as PIGS, while hitting balls women get pleasure to take out their anger. Few of my friends have gone to a level where they believe that golf is far better than sex because it is perfectly respectable to golf with a total stranger. If you are having trouble with golf, it is perfectly acceptable to pay a professional to show you how to improve your technique. Your golf partner won't keep asking questions about other partners you've golfed with. If your regular golf partner isn't available, he/she won't object if you golf with someone else. Nobody will ever tell you that you will go blind if you golf by yourself. There is no such thing as a "golf transmitted disease." Nobody expects you to give up golfing if your partner loses interest in the game. Your golf partner will never say, "What ? We just golfed last week ! Is that all you ever think about ?". When you see a really good golfer, you don't have to feel guilty about imagining the two of you golfing together Another interesting aspect of golf is even if the course is wet and bushy one can still play :p Lately I got to know that in golf, foursome is encouraged and another interesting aspect is you don’t have to cuddle with your partner when you are finished. Even if your equipment gets old and rusty, you can replace it. Isn’t it real sexy game??? :p

Bangladesh Victory Day Celebrations, Corrupt PPP & NRO!!!

I was sitting in the smoking room, National Reconciliation Ordinance discussion followed me, watching TV, listening to FM radio and at coffee house with friends, and again NRO followed me like my shadow. I tried to look beyond, was happy to see corrupt are made to face the judicial proceedings and people expect justice will prevail. On the one hand it made me happy but on the other hand made me think, why one party again and again faces all sort of corruption charges. Well, one may argue they may be the most corrupt so that’s why they face the music, but I fail to understand every time we have elections PPP comes out as victorious. Maybe our poor, illiterate masses with their stinky sweaty clothes do not have conscious mind as our so called educated middle class civil society living in Karachi or Lahore. NRO debate reminded me of history, unlike my middleclass educated urban friends I was not jubilant but storm of thoughts engulfed my mind. Firstly it reminded me, ugly episode of early 90s, recent revelation of Brig Imtiaz, the ugly story of Operation Midnight Jackal, indiscriminate use of billions of tax payers’ money to topple an elected civilian government of PPP by security establishment. It made me think, there is no justice and civil society is also dead, billions were used, misused and abused against the elected civilian government, is our justice only against PPP????? On 16th Dec it was 38th victory day celebration at Bangladesh Embassy Washington DC, a photo exhibit was held. Exhibit displayed the photos of killing field of East Pakistan, as per independent account over 100,000 people were killed and over 200,000 women were raped by MUSLIM ARMY of Pakistan along with Al Badar and Al Shams killing squad. It made me think, there was Hamood ur Rehman Commission, but NRO type all across pardon was issued, there was no war crime proceeding. It also made me think, is Supreme Court going to cancel the 1970s NRO and re open the criminal proceedings against those who killed innocents, raped poor women in East Pakistan????

Following poetry makes me feel ashamed .....

Bangladesh

Bangladesh, in the long nine months

Were you with child,

Like a pregnant woman

You felt nauseated at times.

You couldn't eat well

You could not toil hard as before,

You carefully covered your distended belly

Lest someone discover your condition.

Your co-wife -- the West Pakistan

Often laughed at you and was sarcastic and acrimonious,

You were disgraced, insulted and persecuted.

You'd cry out in pregnancy-related pain

And wish you were dead,

But the expectation of seeing your upcoming child

You would endure all with a smile.

Your child is born today

You've forgotten

All the past suffering, disgrace and shame.

As you had carried your child for nine months

So have you so much care, affection and attachment for him!

Nurture, tend and protect

Your adorable son 'Independence.'

Today you are separated,

Your co-wife will no longer be able to disgrace you.

Go forward with your head held high,

Your child will

Place you on a pedestal

Among the nations of the world.

Condoms for Climate Change!!

Copenhagen environment summit is the future of planet earth, rich countries raising their pledge on tackling climate change, reducing greenhouse emission by 25-45%. On the one side people are calling it a landmark summit on the other hand environmental activist are out there demanding more action from rich countries. This time an interesting idea discussed, it is not all about CO2 emission rather its about condoms for climate change!! Interesting reports says "As the growth of population, economies and consumption outpaces the Earth's capacity to adjust, climate change could become much more extreme and conceivably catastrophic”.The world's population will likely rise from the current 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion in 2050, with most of the growth in less developed regions, according to a 2006 report by the United Nations.The U.N. Population Fund acknowledged it had no proof of the effect that population control would have on climate change. "The linkages between population and climate change are in most cases complex and indirect," the report said.

Ironically poor countries are on the forefront when it comes to producing babies, I guess strong message is for Pakistani’s to use condom and help environment.

Come on help save environment !!

The Divine Love legend - Sheh Murid and Hani “Romeo & Juliet of Balochistan”

 By Shagufta & Bijjar Baloch Story of Sheh Murid & Hani is a symbol of pure and tragic love, it revolves around love, romance, miracle, mystery and human passion. Story depicts the life of baloch, their emotions and philosophical idea ‘Good, Evil’ The story dates back to the 15th century, which is considered to be the heroic age of Balochistan and the classical period of Baloch literature. Sheh Murid was the son of Sheh Mubarak, the chief of the Kahiri tribe. At that time when a man was known for his arts, Murid was famous as having mastered the art of swordsmanship, horsemanship, and archery. For his skills and braveness he was ranked the highest in the army of Mir Chakar Khan Rind, the chief of the Baloch army. Murid’s bow made of steel was so heavy & he was known as the “Lord of the Iron Bow”, because none but he alone could draw and shoot arrows from it. Hani was the daughter of the Rind noble Mir Mandaw; some say she was Murid’s cousin. She was a paragon of loyalty and devotion and everyone knew her for her good character and chastity. Hani was engaged to Sheh Murid and had been a childhood friend of Murid. Legend says that one day when Mir Chakar and Sheh Murid were returning from hunting, they stopped at the town where their fiancées lived. Since a Baloch woman never appears before her betrothed before the wedding. Mir Chakar and Sheh Murid decided to visit each others’ fiancées. Sheh Murid went to Mir Chakar’s fiancée, who brought him clean water in a silver bowl. Murid, dying of thirst, drank the entire bowl in a single gulp and became sick. However, when Mir Chakar went to Hani, Sheh Murid’s fiancée, she brought him clean water in a silver bowl in which she has placed dwarf palm leaf, properly washed. The chief was surprised by the pieces of straw, but he drank the water with care in order to avoid swallowing the straw. When he departed he found Murid vomiting and sick. Murid told him that the water had made him ill because he drank a lot of water on an empty stomach. Now Mir Chakar realized that Hani had acted wisely by putting pieces of straw into water. May be that palm leaf ironically touched Mir Chaka'rs heart. Some time later, Mir Chakar organized a gathering of poets where Baloch heroic poems were recited and chief from each tribe was invited. Mir Chakar wanted to test Balochi values in invitees, asked each to take a vow “make a solemn Balochi promise” and stick it rest of the life, one may end up sacrificing a lot. This was like, “the Balouch Honor” and for this they stand - their pride which eclipses the brightness of the Sun. A vow ‘solemn promise’ for which he will have to make the precious Sacrifice. One of the Chief ‘Mir Jado’ swore that he would chop off the head of anyone who touched his beard at the assembly of nobles. Mir Chakar tested Mir Jado’s word by asking his young son to touch his father's beard during an assembly of nobles. The young boy innocently did as he was told; Mir Jado turned his face and moved the boy hoping no one noticed. However Mir Chakar encouraged the boy to repeat the action the boy grabbed his father's beard once more. The entire assembly became silent and looked towards Mir Jado. Will he be true to his word? Full of wrath, Jado unsheathes his sword and smites the head of his innocent son in the presence of all the Rind nobles. Now it was time to test Sheh Murid and he hosted a festive gathering on his wedding and invited renowned poets to entertain the audience. And at the close of the festivities, Sheh Murid, was ready to depart with his possessions. Mir Chakar asked for Hani. Sheh Murid was shocked; he thought that he would have asked for his bow which was a unique bow and he was a brilliant marksman with a strong bow. He was known as The Lord of the Iron Bow. With a heavy heart and much sadness he told Mir Chakar to take Hani. The unexpected demand distressed him greatly, and Murid realized that he had lost Hani. If he did not keep his vow he would be mocked and future generations would have contempt for his name. Soon after the annulment of Murid’s engagement with Hani, she was soon married to Mir Chakar. Murid was so shaken by this turn of events that he abandoned his former life and passed the days and nights in worship of Allah. He also composed poems eulogizing Hani’s beauty and openly expressing his passionate love for her. Later the scandalous news of Murid’s love for Mir Chakar’s wife became the talk of Balochistan. His father Sheh Mubarak tried to advise him, he composed a poem in Baluchi in response to his father’s advice;

My Shai mubark says, Oh Mureed leave your aloofness,Aloofness without purpose direction(purpose), For Chakar’s beautiful wife, In the assemblies you are not amongst your friends, You are like a walking corpse, Hani's love has blinded you, How will you carry on in this way, I replied, I advised my elderly father, I advised my respected father, Oh most honored father, Oh most esteemed, If you were in my place likewise, You would have left all your friends, And stopped going to assemblies and noble gatherings, You would have lost your mind, And not be aware of how you dressed,You would have clapped your hands, On your lap and be, In your own world, At least i am sometimes with it And sometimes not with it. Then Sheh Murid decided to leave the country and run away to unknown lands across the seas. Sheh Murid remained in Arabia for 30 along time during that time he truly became a beggar and lived the life of an ascetic. After spending years away, he returned to Sibi in shabby clothes with his hair hanging down to his waist. In the company of a band of beggars he passed himself off as an anonymous mendicant begging for alms at the palace of Mir Chakar Khan Rind. The maidservant gave bowls filled with grain to each mendicant, but when she presented this food to Murid, she saw that Murid’s eyes were fixed upon Hani. Hani recognized him at once but held herself back to avoid any suspicions, but Chakar saw a sparkle in her eyes. How Hani felt I wonder the vows of a wife she has taken in one side and on the other side the part of her soul Murid. No body could recognize but Hani did, because they had played together as children. Hani recognized the mark on the upper left thigh, which her bracelet had made, and another one behind the eyebrow. When the Rinds checked the marks, they at last recognized Sheh Murid. Although Mir Chakar married Hani, however he was unable to consummate the marriage, whenever he approached Hani, he would freeze as if paralyzed. For years it was carried on this way and realized that Hani can never truly be his. When he found out that Sheh Murid had returned, he told Hani that Sheh Murid was a great man and deserved her, so he divorced her and told her she was free to go to Sheh Murid. Hani, who had not forgotten her first and only love, decided to go to him, she told him that Mir Chakar had realized his mistake and has now freed her so that they (i.e. Sheh Murid & Hani) could be together. But Sheh Murid told her that he had now reached a different level and cannot step down from that to be with her. To Sheh, Hani was a mean by which he had reached closer to Allah. He took left her and later he visited his father’s camel herd, chose a white camel, mounted her, and disappeared from mortal eyes. He has become the immortal saint of the Baloch, and the common belief among the Baloch is that: ta jahan ast, Sheh Murid ast (Until the living world, Sheh Murid remains immortal and their eternal love remains.) Love is such a blessing and it is Divine. Beyond any explanation or definition. Disclaimer “Original post is edited by Imran Baloch for concise reading”

Sindh is in Bolivia!!! Not in Pakistan!!!!

I just got to know that pseudo intellectuals on Pakistani junk Urdu channels believe that Sindh is not part of Pakistan but it is somewhere located in Bolivia, Nigeria or in Papua New Guinea. BBC Urdu bloggers are thought provoking; lately I came across an interesting blogpost written by Wusatullah Khan, he writes “President Zardari during his recent visit to President Karzai’s oath taking ceremony in Kabul, wore Sindhi cap, it is so sad that one local TV showed two pseudo intellectuals alleging Zardari for using Sindh card. They further discussed that representing country in regional dress is not at all acceptable”. Another interesting argument I came across, whenever an Army dictator ‘we had so many, we are a Generals producing nation’ visits abroad in Army uniform no body mentions it as Fauji “Army Card”. If Prime Minister visits in tie suit, nobody dare to say it is Western Card. If any leader lands in Riyadh in Kameez Shalwar, no one mentions, its a Punjabi, Pakhtun, Sindhi, Seraiki or Baloch Card but pseudo intellectual thinks if one wears Sindhi cap, it weakens the essence of federation!!!  Same mindset, labeled Bengalis traitors, even they were on the forefront in Pakistan movement, reason was, they refused to wear Kameez Shalwar and Jinnah Cap. Around 37 years ago, when Sindh province wanted Sindhi to be provincial language, same mindset chanted slogans “ Urdu Ka Janaza Hay, Zara Dhom Say Niklay” “ Death of Urdu Language”. It resulted in bloodbath, one would never forget. Wusatullah makes an interesting point, he mentions, “If we allow these pseudo intellectuals, they will remove Jinnah’s pictures in Lakhnavi Pajama citing that it was an Indian card, in Qurakali Cap citing it was Baloch card, in English hat citing it was an imperial card. They may burn Iqbal's picture in red Turkish cap, alleging him for playing Turkish Card. Lastly he mentions that these pseudo intellectuals do no know that in 1947 when Sindh Assembly passed resolution for joining Pakistan, Muslim parliamentarians were wearing Sindhi Cap. These people don’t know that Sindhi cap is also worn in Punjab, NWFP, and Balochistan and in Afghanistan. To conclude, how long we let these naïve pseudo intellectuals, who don’t know anything about history , culture and geography to come on TV and divide all of us ???