I hate to generalise, but this time I may, if you don't mind. Here are excerpts from the stories that could never be told, something like what the cameraman chose not to see, the star reporter chose to let us not see but what the spot boy (or camera assistant) told me afterwards.



"I told you so". After the dignity of a low-key matter of fact working reception at the Technical Area of Palam Airport, what looked like a relieved General speeds off, on a route sanitised, but not sanitised enough for him to miss the fact that the rubber left behind by aircraft landing on the runways at Delhi International Airport will and is getting increasingly slippery. Shape of things to come. Our bumbling babus fawn over him at Neherwali Galli, and in an amazing act of stupidity, cover the walls with white shamianas while showing him a room full of photographs. Come back home again, General, preferably dressed in a simple shalwar kameez, and trawl the areas near Golcha for that real back-home feeling. If you haven't saluted the hookers working their pitch outside where Anaro fed you maalpuas when you were young, you ain't seen nothing. Coming back home in a borrowed Mercedes doesn't quite do the trick.



"Rajghat in the Rain", or, were the rose petals glued on to the samadhi? "Taj Palace in a Suit", or, did Shah Rukh Khan light the first post prandial fag as part of a pre-determined agreement? "Rashtrapati Bhavan without a parking ticket", or, how did they keep the resident monkeys away? "Cottage Emporium to buy 4 lakhs worth of carpets", or, didn't somebody tell the Begum that the better stuff is at the State Government emporia at the other end of Connaught Place? "Lunch at the Vazir Lounge", but then they didn't enter from the gate facing the Battle Honours Mess with the mint condition Patton Tanks parked there from my friend Changez Niazi's regiment?



Can't help it as the wise men and women dress up in their finest, in the midst of the media hype, with advertisement rates for 10-second spots now touching such a high that PTV has linked up with NDTV to beam joint programmes on the series of on-going One-Day matches being played variously at Delhi and Agra. Marouf Raza, ex of the Indian Army and Major, or was it Colonel, media expert on matters defence, said it best when he put forth a hypothesis on how the first day's affair at Delhi was more like a society do, see and be seen, like at the Kamani Auditorium, kind of thing. Time to air those pearls, daahling.



Overheard: "Hai nee, did you see what she was wearing, same jhumkaas for Queen Elizabeth, Bill Clinton and now the Mussharafs".



It never fails to amaze me when I observe how unable my Pakistani friends and enemies are to see the simple solution. Sure, years of being Pakistani, don't blame you, first you guys watch Bollywood and think, hey, THAT is India. It is not, Bollywood movies are actually about Southall. Then you take time out to watch cricketers gambling and think, hang on, THAT is India. It is not, gambling is actually about Melbourne. Then some of you read old books on wars fought by people using trucks running on sugarcane juice because their armies could not afford diesel, and think, watch my guns, THAT is India. It is not, wars are actually about Janes. Then along comes the real McKoy and starts talking about religion, especially Hindusim as shown on television, and they say, hey, THAT is India. It is not, religion is all about amassing property and then starting small commercial ventures like tyre-puncture repair and buy-sell narcotics or cottage industry weaponry.



So my friend the camera assistant told me about the simple solution being put forward to Musharaf right now, you read it first at chowk and the true results of this will be visible only after two generations.



The simple single solution is that Pakistan should declare itself to be a Vedic nation. India should declare itself to be another Vedic nation. People can then go home or to the temple or the mosque to practice whatever religion they want to.



Consider: here is a Nation. It has on one side the HinduKush mountain range. It has Harrappa, transalated as "The city protected by Lord Shiva", which if anything was the centre of Vedic civilisation. Before their Mughal rulers, their British idols, and their more recent Arab heritage, these people used to be known to refer to Mount Ilam as Ilam Parvat. Their literature centres around the Chenab, previously known at the Chandrabhaga River. Learning poured down the Hakra River, which was the Saraswati, the font of all human and other knowledge, for seekers as well as those already evolved. Pushpapur was the renowned centre for trade in peace before it became the existing Peshawar.



This nation was one of the oldest religions and cultures in the world, but thanks to colonial history books, got stuck with a myth that it was "invaded" by the Aryans from the Kazakhistan-Uzbekistan region. It used to practice a religion referred to as "Vedic Dharm", later on given the name "Hinduism" by foreigners. The main prayer of the Vedic Dharm, also known as the Gayatri Mantar, originated from this region, and was ""Aum bhu-bhva svah tat sevitr varay niyem bargoh de vas ya dhi ma hi diyeo yo na prachodayat"" or ""O Lord, Thou are the protector of life and of breath, dispeller of miseries and bestower of happiness. Thou are the creator and the most acceptable intelligence, possessing eternal qualities. May Thine qualities and Thy inspiration pass to us."" Brevity. Surprisingly similar sentiments are found in the Holy Koran, as in other holy books.



It has one of its main cities named after Bhagwan Ram's son, Lav, and the main fort there was constructed by the ancient Hindu Kingdom of Singhapura, by the way, after all, how many Singapores can we have? But can anybody deny the existence and spread of the Gandhara Empire, which spread Vedic culture to Central Asia? Nahrankot, Shalkot, Pushkalavati, were these Sanskrit names with Vedic histories?



But most of all this area has one of the world's oldest city which was designed and inhabited by their ancestors, provided it's residents with running water, a central market, granary as well as providing each resident with the world's best sewerage system. The United Nations has recognised the importance and significance of this city. Mohen-jo-Daro says something which no other city on our sub-continent says so far about water and sewerage surely!



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Does anything prevent Pakistan & India from being great Nations apart from their own selves? Would some or all of the Pakistanis here on this board like to comment on their Vedic heritage, which amply co-exists more with the more modern Islam than it does with some of the more "turbulent" aspects of current day Hinduism?



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Facts as stated above were gleaned from a variety of Pakistani sites.



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