Order and Anarchy

Dawn reported on November 23 that the Swis food giant Nestle has withdrawn some baby milk from the market in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, following fears about chemical contamination. It was also reported that the amount involved was 30 million litres.

Now nothing’s wrong with that. Infact, it was Nestle’s moral and social responsibility to do so. However, there was one thing that was shocking for me and this was the Nestle spokeswoman comment that:

“The market is not that large, we sell about two million litres…”

The Italian authorities confirmed that it was 30 million litres, and here this spokeswoman is claiming the market to be of just 2 million litres. Anyways, whatever the size of the market be, the fact is that humans consume the milk. Even if something happens to just one person who has consumed just one litre, it’s cause for concern. And there this spokeswoman tries to hush up the matter by claiming that the market is not large.

Such a callous attitude towards humanity!!

Atleast two teachers have been beaten up this week in educational institutions with some people telling that the number is not two; infact, the number is three.

A teacher of the department of geology in the University of Karachi got assaulted by a group of students. His fault? he did not let a student sit for the semester papers due to lack of attendence in class.

Prior to this event earlier in the week, atleast two teachers became the victims of political conflict in two colleges – S. M. Arts College and D. J. Sind Govt. Science College. Here, the teachers belonged to D. J. Science College’s Physics department, and I knew both of them as a student. Both are really good teachers and are famous in the college for their teaching.

Violence makes its round off and on in the city’s educational institutions and the authorities remain unable to curtail it. Another factor that furthers it is the inability of the managements of these institutions to do anything material in this regard. For example, the administration in the University has only setup an investigation committee to bring out the fact of the matter. Although all the facts are there in the open for all to see.

The fact is that teachers have lost respect in this highly materialistic society. The fact is that teachers don’t have security. The fact is that political outfits of all sorts have played havoc with the impressionable minds of young students, and continue to do so.

Why are managements so weak so as to hesitate in doing the needfull? Why didn’t they struck the names of the rogue students off the rolls immediately?

O God!! how wrong was I. How much unfounded and untrue my guess was regarding Eid.

I thought that I had lost my moment of Eid. But thankfully, I was wrong. I didn’t knew that my Eid moment wasn’t the whole day, but just a moment – a small fraction of a day. And it came yesterday. And it revisited me today with a bang. Although, literally getting bored, I revelled in my Eid moment. And today, now at the end of the day, I feel so contended and happy.

Now is the time when I can truly wish people a very happy Eid. This time not with a heavy heart, but with the real zest of Eid.

Eid Mubarak dear readers!

Ahhh!! another long day has begun. And my mood today is a bit better tan yesterday mainly because of the festive mood all around me (they say in Urdu, Kharbooza kharboozay ko dekh kar rung pakarta hai?).

Anyways, there is one thing that I’ve been noticing since a couple of previous Eids here in Karachi, that however festive and joyous mood one may have on Eid, the day tends to pass really slowly. It feels a long long day. Similar is the case today.

And dear Shoaib shares my feeling.

After saying the Eid prayers, we usually come and greet our family mambers before having a nice breakfast of diligently prepared halwa – puri, shami kebabs and sheer qorma. What is done after that? Collection and distribution of Eidi. All this takes merely a couple of hours and weariness starts to set in. After getting somewhat bored, a few phone calls are made to some friends and then most of the male family mambers go to catch on to their deer sleeps.

If one wants to visit someone, one has got to first call the host and ask if they are free. And no prizes for guessing what their reply is; that they have some prior commitments with the family or elsewhere.

And when one does get to visit someone, this visit is so mechanized and perfectly time bound that it feels like it’s just another job that has to be done. Such is the Eid that I’m seeing since quite some time here in Karachi. Alas!! Eid has also fallen victim to the faceless mechanized and fast – paced life of this place.

Tomorrow is Eid and I want to wish Eid Mubarak to all those for whom Eid has come, and also to all those for whom it has not, and also to all those who are my sort – feeling the way I’m feeling.

This is not the Eid that I expected.

Eid brings joy. A joy that is felt deep inside the heart. But not this time. Things have definitely changed and changed within a few days’ time. Just untill a couple of days before, I was in quite a joyous mood and was going out of my mind regarding my preparations for Eid. But not anymore. My expectations were reaching wild proportions. But not anymore. I was looking forward to having a really nice time. But not anymore.

This has taught me how important little things are in life. Because, I’ve been impliedly told that the way I’m feeling is the result of my own doings. Actions which I don’t know if I committed. Actions which I think are small and shouldn’t matter. But these are the same actions that have ruined my expectations. These are the same actions that have ruined some other’s expectations.

These are the same actions that have ruined the joy that is called Eid.

Eid Mubarak to everyone. I can wish because I know what a feeling and a moment Eid is. I know this because I miss it.

Courtesy: eMediaWire

This word “When” has lately started to amuse me. I paid heed to it just today in the morning when I was on my way to university. I started by thinking about when will trying times end. Trying times, not only for me, but for every human being. And as I was pondering over as to how to sort out different things, my thought drifted to this awesome word.

So many different connotations does this word harbours. It relates to a certain point of time, either in the past or in the future.

Yes – the future. I think that its most important significance is in the future. It may indicate optimism, it may indicate pessimism. But more than anything, it signifies “hope”.