I missed writing this column last week due to the death of an aunt in the family. She died on 29th December 2008 after battling for years with her illness. It made some of us aware of yet another death in the family in the last ten days of December - spread over some forty years. There is probably not a single day when a close family member has not passed away in the last ten days or so.
Whether it has something to do with the weather becoming either cheerfully cool or shrieking chilly is a matter of speculation. Philosophical speculation. So the year end also brings in a time for me to remember those family members, in a context of changing family values, one must concede.
And to bring in the rich variety and unpredictability of life I must also observe that there have also been quite a few marriages in the second fortnight of December, which is also a reflection of the wedding season that descends around this time of the Islamic calendar year.
So with this death if there was the streaming in of memories from the past with images of family occasions and bonds, there was the realistic reminder that finding a grave within a reasonable time frame is a formidable experience. No one of course talks of the shortage of space for graves in Karachi, and at funerals and related occasions to mourn and pray for the deceased, most people talk of everything but the person who has passed away.
I write this column on a Tuesday evening, which is the 8th of Moharram. Familiar questions trouble the mind. Heightened security measures reflect not only the traditional threats that come at this time; apparently there are reports that in some cities, including Karachi suicide bombers have warned that they will strike. Indeed, Pakistani society is being hit in a variety of ways, and fear is not an irrelevant thought here.
That brings in another grim factor which underlines and accentuates the mounting insecurity of our lives. The state of relations between India and Pakistan remind of the threat of war that exists, and it also exposes the somewhat futile exercises that have been undertaken to bring friendship between the two neighbours on a basis of equality - not subservience.
The statements and counter statements between the two neighbours also symbolises the animosity, distrust and suspicion that underlies the 61 year old history. India has evidently not accepted the existence of Pakistan, say what it will on multiple tracks of diplomacy (read deceit?) and cultural networks.
I have lived through the 1965 and the 1971 wars that Pakistan and India have had. Both are nuclear powers today. What will these threatening postures do following the Mumbai attack (26 November 2008)? India is conveying sustained negative messages - which have been spread over a long time.
The 1965 and 1971 wars were times when there was a complete ban on the Indian media in this country (newspapers and cinema from across) BBC radio was a source of information in a context of plenty of official information. 2009 is a completely changed context. There is so much of media and instant media available now.
How much of war is available on the small screen is a thought that makes it relevant to quote Margaret Mead who said "for the first time the young are seeing history being made before it is censored by their elders." But then what about the inherent bias, the ingrained prejudice of the media itself? Just a thought. Come to think of it, how much prejudice and subjectivity determines our lives.
Of course there is the new year-2009 thought that one is conscious of. Another new year. I have not come across a single forecast for 2009, which says that life will be any better. There is both pessimism, and disappointment that seem to await us. Load-shedding is not going anywhere in this year, and the outlook for the economy is cheerless for the common man. How much of tightening of the belt will be done, can be done remains to be seen.
It is impossible and cruel to overlook the poor and the hungry (men, women and children) as they wait outside assorted eating outlets. The number of these downtrodden people has risen steadily with time. What does it mean? What does it symbolise?
For that matter what is the deeper meaning of the kind of relationship that exists between the major political parties in the country? What is the meaning and the future of the relationship between the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz? And what are the short and long term implications of it for the country?
What is the relationship between the internal challenges and frustrations that Pakistan has, with the challenges and threats that have enlarged on the borders? These are the kind of questions that torment the citizen, as he goes about his daily grind. It is the first column of the year, and therefore it is befitting to wish readers a Happy New Year. ([email protected])
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