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Why is Kaali a gaali

Posted on July 20, 2011 // 3 Comments

A few days ago I was surprised to see an advertisement for under arm fairness cream on television. Now I know that the third world has a skin complex but I never thought we had fallen in our own minds to this extent.

I suppose it started with the English who may have colonized and ruled many parts of the world but have rarely entered the intellect of the locals in a way they did with us. The east India Company used to deal with the common man of Hindustan through their chosen local mouth pieces and they were showered with rewards and a lifestyle far above their peers. Those local mouthpieces/puppets were also bestowed with powers to deal with the population as they pleased backed by English swords. This is where I think the whole “wanna be English” thing started. The easiest way to distinguish the two races was, of course colour of skin. Sounds familiar to the current scene in our corridors of power doesn’t it?

The English left us divided in two countries and later we made it three but the fascination of being like them has prevailed to this day. This is perhaps why we see numerous advertisements toting magical skin whitening effects in 6-8 days and every kind of body part being promised fairness and thus beauty as we see it. Further proof of this insanity is found and reinforced by our pop culture which sings songs like “gori rang ka zamana” and our sports super stars like Umar gul, who are shown applying fairness creams and then taking lots of wickets in the field the next moment. Fair = success is the mantra and I’m afraid to break it to you dear readers, but all this is nonsense.

I am not going to launch into a spiel on inner beauty here as all of us know how much that counts in today’s cut throat environment. However I would like to beg the question “Has anyone noticed what the other half of the world feels?” While we are dying to get white, they are tanning in the sun till they get skin cancer, applying henna and all sorts of assortments to get any kind of brown in their skin tone and marveling at how radiant our olive and brown complexion looks.

The rest of the world considers our skin colour beautiful and if you are not satisfied with the above examples then perhaps you need to look at the results of the last few miss universes and miss world pageants (shallow as they are) to see what beauty is to them these days, newsflash its brown!

So the concept of universal beauty is therefore a sham. Its all grass is greener on the other side, all over this mud ball and companies promising fairness or tanning are making a fool out of all of us and minting gazillions. These same companies then back musical and sports superstars to reinforce their message – get the picture? It’s a vicious cycle and every time you believe that your skin tinge or colour is going to hold you back all you are actually doing is falling prey to your own insecurities which these companies live off.

Gibran once said “People of Orphalese beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing itself in the mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror.”

Bottom line: God created us in his own image, each one of us is equal and beautiful put down the mirror, it’s of no use.

Originally published on the Dawn Blog on July 4th 2011

Filed Under: Day To Day, Published Articles // Tagged: , , , ,

Playground for the middle aged

Posted on July 20, 2011 // 1 Comment

When Mark Zukerberg created Facebook with his pals in college, did he know that he was on the brink of something which would alter life to this extent around the world? Was he thinking of the possibilities this monster could have? Did he have any vision to how his so called coolest thing to do would go from a youth oriented interconnectivity paradise to a play ground of the middle aged, bored and charm less?

What? You heard me right. Facebook today is basically the tool of the balding and about to be socially sidelined to keep themselves feeling like they still matter and this was long before Google+ came along. Still think you are a social media expert because your status update is changed every 30 minutes? Well often the updated status is rather stolen from someone else who stole it from someone else to look better? Let me wake you up!

1. Youth has good memory

When you were young you remembered who your friends were. You didn’t need a social media tool like Facebook to find them and you certainly didn’t hungrily stare at a computer screen for days to find out if they would be your friends again, even after that lunacy you engaged in school with them. That was many, many years ago. Point to notice, the primary activity of “befriending” has been replaced by “finding old friends” Meaning you still haven’t moved on!

2. From hip to wanna be hip

This basically means all of us uncles and aunties who are spending most of their productive time ogling at younger, better looking people on Facebook. Well, sorry to disappoint you but the better looking lot are shrinking each day, replaced by people putting up pictures of activities they never got to do in high school because they were not cool enough. You can find them in the millions, the inebriated middle aged exhibitionists that populate face book now and are the chief source of its soon to come destruction.

3. Exclusive has become elusive

There was a time when you had to be invited by someone to join Facebook. That was the time this platform was exclusive, when belonging to it actually meant something. As of today there are 250 million people on Facebook. 250 million people who want to connect; did we not go virtual because we wanted to escape?? Well now there is no escape because all of us are virtual or getting there. The herd mentality strikes again!

 

4. Inbox replacing email?

Why do you think a private messaging service on a social network is trying to replace email as a means of communication? Is it the way forward or because most of the users of Facebook now fall in the 26-34 age bracket rather than the 18-25 age bracket? After guzzling so many diet coke cans in a middle aged life you really cannot remember that many email addresses can you? You cannot even remember names that well anymore? Hmm! So when you type in ‘Ani’ in your inbox and Facebook shows you three dozen Anitas, Anilas and Annies to help your ageing brain grasp its target, comprendo?

It’s a bitter pill to swallow but most parents know that the surest way to stop your kid from doing something is to join them in it. That is what has happened to Facebook and as the age of the average user gets higher and higher with each passing day, the services this platform offers are being tailor-made to that bracket as well. Honestly put, soon Facebook will be a world only populated by lusting uncles and match making aunties and that’s the kind of harassment people do not go to their friends valimas for, forget online.

Orignally published in Features – Dawn

Filed Under: Geek Speak, Published Articles // Tagged: ,

Killing Karachi

Posted on July 19, 2011 // 6 Comments

A few days ago, I was running for my life; something so many of us take in our stride now in the city of Karachi. The lanes behind my office at M.A. Jinnah road had exploded with violence and there was gun fire from building corners and roof tops as all of us closed down shops/offices and ran on foot wherever we could to escape. There was no time to think about what was going on and contemplate any outcomes. Not until we reached the safety of our homes.

Ordinarily, one would feel some amount of post-traumatic stress at having gone through such an experience. All I felt, however, was remorse. I have stopped watching TV for quite a few months now, trying to avoid the depression it causes but that day all I did was stare at the tube as numbers of the dying piled up.

The remorse I felt was because I now understood exactly what the people of Qasbah colony and other areas racked by violence felt. I was part of the helplessness they experience when they cannot function like ordinary human beings, when they cannot go out to get a loaf of bread lest they are killed by a passing bullet.

The power game being played with guns and violence in this city has been going on for some time now. Our security apparatus is heavily outnumbered and understaffed. The weaponry borne by attackers is state of the art and lethal; we, as citizens have nobody to appeal to, nowhere to go. Many among us are now talking of moving to Lahore or other areas of this country because there seems to be no solution at all to the security problem of this city. Those with more resources are fleeing, or in the process of fleeing to fairer shores.

To put it in short, Karachi has been bleeding for the past decade, first at the behest of forces trying to cause religiously charged violence between Shia and Sunni factions of the population that lives here, and now they are doing the same with Mohajirs and Pathans. Let us be open and say it, we are all brainwashed with ethnicity and rage channeled towards the same people who once made this city what it is. We, my friends, are killing Karachi.

Can Karachi exist without being a multicultural melting pot? Never, this is the very identity of this city. This is the reason why people from all over the country still flock to it to look for work. This city has welcomed and continues to welcome immigrants every single day. This is not a city which salutes a rising sun; this is a city which draws its identity from a rainbow of ethnicities which dwell here.

Instead of blaming the two most visible ethnic groups for all the violence that is taking place we need to realize that many other factions are taking advantage of this situation and settling scores. The two political parties of Karachi need to see that they are being used to create a situation which is not beneficial for either, but destructive for both on the soon-to-come Election Day.

We must learn to live together because we are this city. We must stand up and take ownership of this umbilical cord which feeds us all. We must realize that without Karachi we would be nowhere because there is no city like this anywhere in the world. Come together Karachites, because without each other we will just be nomads, come together and agree to disagree rather than kill in the name of race. Every person in this city will bleed red when cut; that should be enough reason for any of us to wake up to our own humanity.

 

Originally published on The Dawn blog on July 18th 2011

Filed Under: Karachi, Published Articles // Tagged: , , , ,

Book review – Sands of time

Posted on July 9, 2011 // 1 Comment

By Rabab Khan

“I can hear the waves tell me tales, this is just one of them.”

This is Mr. Faisal Kapadia’s preface to a book that kept me up reading until five in the morning. “Sands of Time” is a love story. There is no other way to describe it; a love story so steeped in the chaos, murder and debauchery surrounding it that the love itself sometimes seems dark. Having introduced the Sea as, perhaps, the most important character in his story, Mr. Kapadia goes on to weave a tale that not only raises many questions but also leaves the reader with a lot more raging in his mind.

The story is set beside the shores of the sea near the city ofKarachiinPakistan. It begins on the shores of the sea, runs through the lives of the protagonist, Saleh, his goddess of love, Laila, and flows right back to the shores of the same sea in an eternal cycle of suffering and love regained. Just like the sand in an hourglass, we watch with breathless anticipation as their lives take them further and further from each other.

Sands of Time is the tale of a poor, unwanted fisherman’s son. From the time when his ten year old eyes first see Laila, to the end of the story, Saleh is a quiet unassuming person. Sending the young boy to be employed in the city was perhaps the only kindness that his wretched father did for him. His travails during his slavery to the lord present an apt picture of the live style of the rich “Wadera” in any typicalKarachigrand mansion. It may feel to many of you, as if the author has exaggerated in his portrayal of the lives of these “rulers” of the poor people, but he has not. What he has presented is as close to reality as he could have been without breaking the veil of fiction. Laila’s life and that of her friends represents that of any typical teenage living a life of double values in the great city ofKarachi. Many of you may, if you are honest, perhaps even recognize yourself or your friends in Laila, Sumbreen and Zarrar.

While the story focuses on the lives of the two main characters – Saleh and Laila – the author has presented us with a brilliant and clear picture of the society they live in. The immorality and hypocrisy that has become our daily mask; the insecurity and fear that is part and parcel of every single moment in the life of a Pakistani. Sometimes, the language is dark; the images harsh and grating. I believe it could not have been any other way for these images and words assist in embedding the truth in the reader’s mind. A truth that may be difficult to digest, but it is as present and tangible as Laila is for Saleh.

Sands of Time is a rendition of the poetry that flows through the lives of all those who are caught up in the double-faced, hypocritical and cruel society that we all live in here in the Land of the Pure. What Mr. Kapadia has achieved here is a compelling story with not a moment of peace, perpetually fed by the passion and restlessness of its main characters.

This E book can be purchased here

Filed Under: Random reviews, Sands of time // Tagged: , ,

Book review – Sands of time

Posted on July 3, 2011 // 1 Comment

By Nausheen Manji

Faisal Kapadia’s book, The Sands of Time, is a story which captures the essence of the polarized city of Karachi with the tainted morals of its people in an age wrought with political instability and debauchery. In the midst of all this sprouts a love, not based on romance, wealth or affection, but mutual caring, respect and passion – a human feeling for one who is eventually a caretaker, the secret desire of most women.

Kapadia’s style is casual, at times humorous and whether it was deliberate or not, there is an element of fatalism underlining the novella. The historical and social contexts are evidently reflective of the political upheaval faced by the current Pakistani society and the protagonist reminiscent of the famous “dakaits” of Lyari. The imagery most stark and closest to reality are the reaction of the father at the beginning of the novella towards the young protagonist, the crabs, and the animalistic act of passion at the end.

The setting of the book is dual natured focusing on the seaside fishermen’s community which represents the lower social strata of society and the rich upper middle-class society of Clifton and Defence. The themes are evidently centering on passion, betrayal, social conflict, class conflict, violence and patriarchy. The book is very readable and a size ideal for a short airline flight or good entertainment when turning in at night. I would definitely buy more from this author.

This E book can be purchased here

 

Filed Under: Random reviews, Sands of time // Tagged: , , ,

Book review – Sands of time

Posted on July 3, 2011 // Leave a Comment

By – Zohaib muzaffar

@zohaibmuzaffar

The Sand of times, a short story by Faisal Kapadia, a blogger and a social media activist.

Although I am not an avid reader of fiction but this short story had all the ingredients to cast an impression on your mind of all the characters of this novella.

First astounding thing about the book is its dedication, in recent times I have not come across a more realistic and inspiring dedication of a book.

Set in the back of drop of a huge metropolis called Karachi the short story runs between two extremes, of society. One is of impoverished households of fisher’s family near the sea and the other is that of an affluent and influential sahib form the elite. The maintain character saleh, is both interesting and intriguing and manifests all the paradoxes of the society which inhabits the author as well. Saleh’s meteoric rise to power as henchmen for a Sahib and the abuses he suffered in his childhood shaped his dreams and plans for the future. He has been shown as some one who is kind hearted but don’t relent to do the necessary evil to achieve what he wants.

Another interesting part is the author observations of the mundane life of the elite of the society, that how contradictory their ways are. The use of language has been pretty awesome, that not only describes the emotions aptly but the background as well in which different characters are living their lives.

For me the ending was one of the best part of the short story, as it enchants ones to the maximum. I would strongly recommend you to read to grasp a rather different view of what true love is!

This Ebook can be purchased here

 

Filed Under: Random reviews, Sands of time // Tagged: , , , , ,

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