Humpty Dumpty and The Third World

wo, where`s the article?

I am an avid reader of DAWN and just this week some websites were listed. One of them being www.chowk.com

Needless, to say that it caught my attention. Not only the layout, but the contributions made to it. I must say that I love the way you write, but you do go off in tangents. You wonder, make analogies, interlink but no solutions. My implication here is not to condemn you or throw you into a quagmire of depression, just an observation.

Just wanted to wish you luck and ask you to keep up the good work.

Fouad

P.S What is your vocation that you have/had to pass through PIB colony?

What is your obsession with chaat?

RE: Humpty Dumpty. Having moved here when I was a mere babe at the tender age of eight in 1960, I am not too much in
tune with the politics ``over there``. But I do keep in touch in a general way with the
``happenings``. I believe that we, the Pakistanis, are bright, smart and hard working
people. Our abilities shine when we are given the opportunity to shine. Too bad,
those opportunties are provided in a foreign land and not in our native land. So
what`s the solution? Good Golly Miss Molly, if someone had the answer, he or she
would have won the Nobel Prize for ``problem-solving. To gain insight from the
experience of other countries and nations, like South Korea or Singapore or
Turkey, I would have to say that ``industrialization`` is the key. That will take care
of ethnic divides, overpopulation, inlaw problems, poverty, corruption, arranged
marriages, moulvis, etc etc. United States was where Pakistan is at the turn of this
century. If Pakistanis are provided the right ``environment`` in which to grow, they
will perform miracles .... like many of us have proven ourselves in foreign lands.
In addition to industrialization, we need to forget about Kashmere. Let Kashmeris
fight for their own independence or whether they want to join India or Pakistan.
Not only it will gain goodwill worldwide, it will also free resources for
industrialization. And other countries will flock to Pakistan for investment into the
infrastructure. And fer sure, the leader who shows that kind of vision will be the
Times` Person of the Year, in addition to winning the Nobel Peace Prize. He or
she will also be a martyr but it will be for a good cause; a straight ticket to Heaven
with no questions asked by the Lord above. Similar to Anwar Sadaat and
Menachem Begin!!!! In my not so humble opinion, that`s the ticket for Pakistan to
flourish in the new millenium.

Sincerely,

Moe Chaudry

Broken, scattered bits of egg shells
``pick themselves up``? The odds of that
happening are frigheningly low. What is scarier still, in my mind,
is that the analogy is not an overstatement.

I always felt Humpty must have been a rather fertile-minded egg
to be loping atop walls. And when he crashed
there must have been, along with sterile bits of calcified shell,
fertile yolk all over the place. The shell is of no use now. But the yolk has young life. Even while exposed to the harsh outdoor world, if it
can somehow beget an embryo (that exists but as a few cells now), there could in time be a life form that would pick up the pieces
and put itself (Humpty) together again. Right about now though,
the sweltering pavement is coagulating the yolk and the King`s horses and men are inadvertently (or advertently) scrambling the egg.

We all seem to not mind much, though. We are smacking our lips in anticipation of breakfasting on ourselves.