Tale of Two Totem Poles or Sofa & Charpoy Totem Poles

One cannot easily match the toughness of Desis
and the accompanying invasion of their many burdensome and peculiar habits wherever they go.
Great ending.

Ras

afrasiyab and Rishi:

thanks

Saima:

Glad you observed the two rhythms. I have admired your writings since that beautiful Ajrak piece.

Wasiq:

Coming from you it means something!

Chotu:

Sounds like an interesting novel. When & where was it published?

Feroze:

I like that. Without mincing any words you get right into the debate without giving me your feedback on the poem.

Anita:

Glad you like it! Most evenings are warm in the company of my partner in crime----days are a different story---or should I say poem?

Thanks to you all.

Re: Saima Shah post # 14

Saima bibi, your tangent was appreciated and I was merely ranting on my favorite topic; love bashing! Besides, it is that time of the month and this love feast with Cupid is depressing me!

Keep on teasing me. It keeps me on toes!!!

Re: Afrasiyab

Good to see you too! Actually at heart I think most of us believe, like the belief in God, it seems to be psychologically healthy :)

Re: FerozK

The tangent was just a gentle leg-pull...ok?

Ikbal,

The idea of totem poles - with charpais and sofas as symbols of the class divide that we have carried with us, all the way to North America. Just brilliant!!

It must have been a particularly cold evening up north when you penned this, my pardesi friend.

Anita

Re: Saima Shah`s post # 10

Couple of things. First of all, it looks like we are reading from the same page vis a vis Pakistani state idenity and secondly, the things will have to change on a micro level, in the communities, before there is a marked marco change on a societal level.

It was encouraging to learn that there is a modicum of a trans religious cross overs and that some people in Pakistan have, in fact, walked over the verboten lines of Pakistani society. This is an heartening trend, because as Pakistanis we need to be inclusive and not exclusive as a society.

Like you, I am not waiting for the man on a horse back to come riding in and improve our lot in life. In reality, I am wary of the man, who rides on a white horse, and says that he has all the answers to our problems. As it says in the Bible, ``behold the pale white horse and that he who rode on him; his name was death``.

On a cynical note, you and afrasiyab need to calm down in your odes to the glory of love!:) Love is mean spirited, evil, emotional, confusing and makes you commit acts which come to haunt you when you run for elected office. Just give me some time. One of these days, I am going to corner love and kill it! :)

According to Saima:

Regarding the failure of love: There is no such thing.

Well, it`s nice to see that you are a believer. It was getting awfully lonely up here.

Re: FerozK(9)

Kind Sir,

Since you ask, I shall put forth my humble two pesos (since paisas are almost dead) worth:

The political vacuum cannot be tolerated in an environment where the middle class is aware of its political rights and duties. I strongly believe that the apathy of the middle class as well as the lethargy of its intellectuals ( that has its own reasons) has led to the creation of the political vaccum since the emergence of Pakistan.

Politics are a by-product of the culture and economics of a region. Cultural and economic change/development is bound to bring about a change in the method and rules of politics.

Pakistan is a fairly unique country where ideology vies with modern politics/democracy. The combination seems to have never worked before and I doubt if it ever will. Either we will go back to being some sort of dictatorial rule or progress to being a secularist state though we may call it by any other name i.e., Jinnah`s Islam or what have you. I think it is probable that the latter happens because of economic reasons; we do not have the wherewithal(petroleum) to withstand continued assault on our value structure and //have to// evolve to compete with the rest of the world. The other outcome of this tension can be that we pick a fight over Kashmir and become happily heathen in the process. With some reasonable support from the rest of the world, unless the IMF continues to make mistakes, we are in all probablity not going to become any worse than we are.

Does this mean that the famous political vacuum will be filled by some //nice// guy who is Muslim, Male, Mohajir, Pathan, Punjabi, a Sindhi Wadera and speaks English properly with a degree from Oxford and allows the freedom of speech yet never speaks a wrong word? Of-course is a five-time Muslim to boot yet looks like an Angrez? I am afraid my powers of prescience are limited and I see no hero on the horizon (not even Imran Khan). I guess the truth is that anybody with some honesty would perforce have to disband Islamism and frankly Ata Turk has died. We are left with hypocritical, macho men who play to religion while they loot the country. Or dimwitted, besotted plastic women.

I think the great job of cleaning up Pakistan is left to the likes of You and Me. Not politically at first, but at the community level, in the media, in our life-styles every day. A great reponsibility has to be borne by our intellectuals/critics/writers.

Regarding the failure of love: There is no such thing.

Across religions/sects? I know quite a few people who did just that. Across class barriers? happenin` all the time.

The above is a bit of a tangent, but I think it is important social change, which is not being highlighted enough because we have little research on social dynamics.

Re: Saima Shah`s post # 8

Danke schon mein frau!

If I am reading your reply correctly, you seem to be suggesting that a middle class exists in Pakistan through the infrastructures it is creating for its own consumption. The examples you cited, of schools, universities and newspapers, would seem to suggest the proliferation of such groups is indicative of an emerging middle class. Your other comments on the slowly evolving nature of Pakistani society under a gradual social metamorphism, and that there is an emergent seculrist disagreement with the state ideology, was encouraging to read.

My only disagreement with you, and what set the alarm bells ringing in my mind, was power of romance to change the ways of Pakistani society! Dear lady, I feel that you were being overly optimistic about the power of love. To draw a conclusion from afrasiyab`s comments about the social interaction of Muslims, Christians and Hindus in Pakistan would imply such an understanding, but how many Pakistani Muslims are willing to share a romance across the religious lines?

I am not denying the possibility of such an occurance, but I am merely questioning its durability to affect a societal change. The underlying problem which Pakistan faces today is to personify its own identity; is it a secular state or is it idealocratic state based on along the notions of religious axioms. In my opinion, that question needs to answered first before Pakistani society can carve a middle class niche for itself. In a way, the struggle for a middle class identity, in Pakistan, is rooted and inter-connected with this question.

Since the above issue is a political question, the inability of the middle classes in Pakistan to determine this implies that, though they might have an economic and social agenda, they still exist within a political vaccum.

Am I correct in infering this conlusion?

Re: Afrasiyab, Ferozk, all

Signs of a growing middle-class may not be exactly the way you want them to be, but here goes:

When I was growing up in Karachi in the mid eighties, there were very few really good schools in Karachi:

St. Patricks
St. Joseph`s
Grammar School
BVS
Mama Parsi
Jesus & Mary

As you can see most of these schools were legacies by `non-muslim` people either before or after partition. Now, in addition to the above there are:

Beaconhouse chain
City School chain
The Foundation chain
Bayview
Frobelle

And various others run by local people. There should be more.

When I was a student in University of Karachi, the country had ONE premier business school, now there
is LUMS, and several others-- trying to improve and compete. RUN by Pakistani people.

When I was a girl, there was ONE good newspaper The Dawn. Now there are many others and GROWING.

There are countless other examples, from packaged milk to easy availability of the internet, to the rising trend of women marrying from their own choice in defiance of their family/clan. Hey, if anything the country`s romantics will change the place! Also, the increasing number of NGO`s set up by locals for family planning, women`s rights etc. There are countless signs eg., the excellent quality of Jafferjee`s leather products, the fact that there are other shops getting better.

Not so long ago T.Durrani wrote a book, called `My Feudal Lord` and recently a book called `Blasphemy` and in between a book on Sattar Edhi. The fact that these were published and are easily available, show that Feudalism is a dying structure.

It is my opinion that there is a strong secularist section in Pakistan which is increasing with time, due to external influences as well as plain dissatisfaction with the ideological state. The fact that the ex-patriat community takes immense interest in the country also adds fuel. Because of the ease of travel/internet there is a lot that people outside the country do. A recent trend is the number of computer training insitutes opening up. Logically, there is no way Pakistan can remain stupid unless and until there is increased aggression on Kashmir. The K story is the most incendiary to all the good changes highlighted.

Before I forget, there is good news even in the financial sector. The demise of the Development Finance Institutions has meant that portfolio quality will be based on quality of credit rather than other factors. Local institutions will have to innovate, evolve and improve their products, because they are privately owned and need to compete.

The task ahead of all of us is to contribute to these positive changes. To write to think and to do. Just changes in mindset achieve so much: Realizing the class disparity and supporting charities for education can do much. Writing about the failure of religiosity can achieve some change and provide support to others who think like you. As Iqbal said, a word goes far when it comes from the heart. Pakistanis have to get used to using their democratic rights.

Sorry for the length of the post.

Regards

Saima

Like the commerical from Philips says,``I got to admit it is getting better it is getting better all the time...`` does not apply to Pakistan and its social class structures. There are only two classes in Pakistan; the ruled and the rulers and only the rulers matter.

This is my natural cynism speaking, but the last time I saw a middle class in Pakistan was....come to think of it, it was in a dream and then I woke up! My grandparents talked about a middle class and my parents talked about it, but I never saw one. The Pakistani middle class is a myth and then again, I could be wrong, but I am betting against it. It is like that couplet from the novella Scarlet Pimpernel; we search here, we search there, but where is that damn elusive middle class?

If anyone can prove the existence of this mythological creature I will, and I really should not be saying or making such promises, but if there is a middle class in Pakistan, I will repent my evil ways!

Maniza Naqvi`s novel Mass Transit also deals with the same subject and effectively captures the feeling of despair felt by many Karachiites. Definitely a good read.

Saima,

You mentioned that there is an indication of class structure being outdated in Pakistan. Could you elaborate. Maybe I am reading into your reply here. I am only curious because I have not been back home in a while and maybe you have or perhaps you are there right now. It would be such good news if that appears, yes merely appears to be the case atleast for starters.

I thought that the middle class, if anything, has been eliminated from Pakistan.

Do kindly take some time out to complete this picture.

Re:

Splendid. It defenitely has a certain rhythm set in it..

Rishi

Hi, AOA

I liked the poem. It catches two different rhythms and blends. I think I am getting more accilimitized to your style of two languages and rhythms finally..:)Keep writing.

The totem pole image is great. Primitive, heathen tribal. Very true and quite akin to my own experiences. But, I think it is getting better. There is less prejudice then we imagine. Real friendships accross the borders happen, unknowingly and spontaneously. Contrary to most you read..Pakistan is changing. A growing middle class is challenging the divinity of class structure. That is why you see so much about class difference in humour and in peoples writing. It is the symptom of the change and of the nascent forging of ties beyond class barriers. This is an international phenomena. Globalization will eventually bring the totem poles down. Please keep on talking/writing about it so change hastens and we usher a new world order!!

Regards

Saima

Interesting Title, ...oh and the poem was also well written.