Pakistan women's cricket team confined to a stadium in Cuttack

So much for the Indian "hospitality"

With the women's cricket World Cup scheduled to take place in India this year, a rather unfortunate and sad story has unfolded. Recent border clashes on the Line of Control have sparked a feverish Indian response that extends beyond their regular media mouthpieces. So much so that the Pakistani women's cricket team has been confined to the stadium at Cuttack in India because all 5 star hotels refused to host them due to racist pressure on them from extremist Indian elements.

Dawn.com in it's reports asked four questions regarding the whole situation. Find the questions and my answers to all four of them below.

Q: Keeping in mind the situation the Pakistani team is faced with in India, should the ICC play a more decisive role?

The ICC should take an Indian banana and shove it up its you know what. The ICC is like the UN. Gutless, spineless, loser of a referee who realizes he really has no power and the only real source of its income is the Indian cricket board. So it dare not offend it. As far as its concerned, the world is round and there is nothing wrong with it.

Q: Are the ICC and the BCCI setting a precedent for all future matches that Pakistan may be involved in in India?

The BCCI set the precedent when it refused to allow Pakistani cricket players play in the Indian Premier League. So as far as its concerned, its just following its long set tradition. The ICC on the other hand has no real authority. So even if it wanted to do anything, it really can't. As far as precedents go, Pakistan is already shunned. Just going with the flow never hurt anyone.

Q: Being bound to the hotel (stadium in this case) has been cited by FICA and most international teams as a major concern when talk of touring Pakistan comes up. Will it affect the performance of Sana Mir’s team in any way?

Of course it will. You're bound to a stadium in a country that does not want you to be there. Why are you hell bent on staying there? Where's your self respect? If somebody had threatened any cricket team visiting Pakistan, all hell would've broken lose. They would've flown back to their homeland in a heartbeat. Meanwhile our brave gals are calling on their "supporters" to show up for their matches. How can they be so naive?

Q: If travelling around in India is not a safe option for the Pakistan women’s team, is it right for the World Cup to go ahead over there?

I don't know. All I know if the PCB wasn't even more spineless than the ICC they would've called our gals back home and told the ICC and the BCCI to fuck off.

This is Pakistan, dummy

When I first came to the USA, I expected certain stereotypes to be associated to me. I wasn't wrong. The only problem however was all the stereotypes being associated to me were factually incorrect! This then is an introductory lesson to Pakistan. Pakistan 101, if you will.

The biggest anomaly that a lot of Americans know as fact about Pakistan is that we're Arabs and Pakistan is located in the Middle East. Below is a map of the Middle East. See if you can spot Pakistan.

The Middle East

What's that? You couldn't find Pakistan in the Middle East? Oh no! But wait, oh yes. Pakistan is NOT in the Middle East. It never was, it never will be.

Once upon a time Pakistan and India were the same country. Then one fine morning in August 1947, the people of subcontinent decided we should have TWO countries in the same place where one existed. Guess what? Pakistan was born.

Map of Pakistan when it was part of India (left); map of Pakistan when it
was part of... well Pakistan. (Source: BBC)

But that's not all. You see not only are we NOT Arabs, we're also not from the Middle Ages. As one friend of mine so casually pointed out the fact that we shit in holes, and 9/10ths of our country is rural and overrun by the Taliban. If it wasn't for his ginger hair (being a rarity as it is), I might have actually taken affront to this blatant stereotyping of 200 million people.

As it turns out though, we do not shit in holes in the ground. Animals do that. Even in the USA. Now how about that? Also, please. We're much more dignified when it comes to wiping our bottoms. While the western world TP their asses raw (uncivilized. You're from the Middle Ages!), we have the luxury of using a Muslim shower which squirts soothing cold water onto our bottom.

Illustration of a Muslim shower

Then there's the problem of 90% of Pakistan being overrun by the Taliban. Uhh, no. You never believe what the TV tells you. Because the TV lies. This is Pakistan. The real Pakistan. See if you can spot a Taliban in the pictures below.

Islamabad

Old Lahore. That's the Badshahi Mosque in the background. Built in the 16th century.
In French, it is magnifique!

Port Grand Karachi

That's the highest elevation bridge in Asia located on the motorway
in the Pakistani salt range

Karachi again

The Harbor front building in Karachi

National University of Science and Technology - by the way, Pakistan's education system is in
English. Don't act all surprised when you find out we can converse in English.

Sher Shah Suri's tomb

Katas Raj temple near Chakwal. And right next to my village

Head Marala, Sialkot

Bridge connecting Rohri with Quetta in Balochistan

Sand dunes meet ocean on the Balochistan coast

Reko Diq. The land of gold and copper and hungry international vultures.

Basharat, Pakistan

Looks Photoshopped doesn't it? It's not. The Hindu Kush mountain
range in Pakistan

Lansdowne bridge, Rohri Pakistan

The Biafo glacier

The snow desert of Skardu

The Dudipatsar Lake 

Pakistan

This is Pakistan. A beautiful land with kind hospitable people. We're not overrun by Taliban. That's something you're fed so that pressure can be enforced on our government. We're not without faults. We're not without sins. But the faults of those in power should not associated with the people who live in that land. We're not what you make us out to be. We're awesome. You're surprised by us because you judge us too soon. You don't give us a chance. You stereotype us and for that shame on you.

TimeScapes

Sometimes when you feel you have the world's weight on your shoulders, its good to simply let go and realize how small your problems really are. The universe is vast. And it is stunningly beautiful. This is one video that tries to express that beauty. It's called TimeScapes by Tom Lowe. It's been shot in 4K UHD (Ultra Hi-Definition) format using Red Epic and Cannon RAW still cameras. And it is amazing.

Failure is for losers

They lie. They lie when they say failures make you stronger. No. Instead, failures are really good at knocking out the wind from you lungs, crushing your larynx and making you fall back into your non existent couch from the wafty level of the clouds you thought you were hovering at.

They lie to you when they say they are what they are because of the failures they had to endure. False. They are what they are because they were successful. They did not fail. They succeeded. And hence, now they can go cry in a BMW if they're angry or sad or miserable, but you still have to crouch under the toilet sink to moan over your misery.

They lie to you when they say they thrive on failures. No. Everybody thrives on successes. Failure does not motivate people. You know what motivates people? Success. Failing at every stage of your life and then succeeding is not happiness. It is RELIEF. Succeeding the first time, that's happiness.

Sometimes failure becomes too much. Sometimes it would be nice to be successful. Sometimes doing something right the first time would be helpful. Somebody congratulating you on being phenomenal will be the catalyst in producing the adrenaline that's needed to be even more successful. Just getting back up on your two feet after having been knocked out takes so much energy that any adrenaline you were producing would already have been used by the time you're ready for another try.

Life is hard. It takes a miracle to achieve success. Failure does not make you stronger. Failure just makes you used to the fact that you fail a lot. That's not being strong by any definition. Being successful is hard. It takes its toll.

Sometimes just letting it all out is good. Sometimes that's the only way. Being all macho about failure is stupid and dumb. You're allowed to feel sorry for yourself. And if you're not, then you should be allowed to feel sorry for yourself. Sometimes that's the only way to get out of the dark hole you're spiraling down into.

Tahir ul Qadri is not Pakistan's promised messiah

In Pakistan messiahs are promised every few minutes. It is said they will come and change the face of the country. But the messiahs we usually get are illiterate, or if they're not illiterate they're still incompetent, useless, backwards thinking, corrupt, compulsive liars, supporters of military rule, anarchists or they have vested interests.

The PPP were the promised messiahs in 2008 when they won the elections. They said they would fix the country, they would catch Benazir Bhutto's killers, they would rid the country of corruption, they would fix the rule of law, they would fix the power situation and so on and so forth. But they failed just like everybody else. Pakistan today has slid to a point where it is bleeding from a thousand cuts. Either it will survive to live another day, or it will go south the way it did in 1971.

Sometimes I actually feel pity for Pakistan. Not the people, not the politicians but for the land itself. Sometimes I wonder to myself that if we could hear the land it would be crying and asking its dwellers what have you done to it. Why have you done what you did?

Now we have another promised messiah  from the shining land of Canada. A man who came out of nowhere and stole the thunder. A demagogue if you will as predicted by Cyril Almeida in this amazing article he published in 2011. But Tahir ul Qadri is not Pakistan's promised. He is not the man to lead Pakistan out of trouble. His character is flawed, his logic skewed and his demands unreasonable and unconstitutional. On top of that he is a compulsive liar.

Last I heard the supreme court has ordered the arrest of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in the rental power plants corruption case. He is accused of having received kickbacks. Now that another Prime Minister has been removed from his position, it does indeed look like the forces of Qadri and the people funding and supporting him have won. Maybe the government will fail and the nation will rejoice. But that rejoice will be ironical, short lived and catastrophic.

People often ask me what's Pakistan like; is it chaotic, dangerous, serene or picturesque? That's the point where I scratch my head, look down at my feet and tell them I'll get back to them on that one.

I am sorry Shias. I am sorry for everything.

Shia Hazara community sits with 86 coffins in the freezing cold of Quetta

I am sorry Shias.
I am sorry for not listening.
I am sorry for not caring.
I am sorry for staying quiet.
I am sorry for not standing up.
I am sorry for not raising my voice.
I am sorry for letting you die.
I am sorry for cornering you in your own country.
I am sorry for burning down your homes.
I am sorry for being more concerned with madmen's crazy antics.
I am sorry for spilling your blood.
I am sorry for listening to trivial excuses to justify your death.
I am sorry for scaring you.
I am sorry for not letting you be a part of this country.
I am sorry for inflicting incompetent, drunk and incapable leaders on you.
I am sorry for being too engrossed in my own life to care for your plight.
I am sorry for not protesting.
I am sorry for not thinking.
I am sorry for being soulless.
I am sorry for being so heartless.
I am sorry for not expressing my remorse.
I am sorry for being weak when I should have been strong.
I am sorry for not letting you be a part of Pakistan.
I am sorry for symbolizing death and destruction in your life.
I am sorry Shias, for everything. 

This is Pakistan. The real Pakistan.

This is Pakistan. The real Pakistan. Live it, breathe it, dream it. Be proud of it.

2 years later we still don't deserve you Salman Taseer

Salman Taseer

On the day Salman Taseer was murdered, I was invited to a BBC World radio show called World Have Your Say. What I witnessed in the one hour I was part of it has shamed and scarred me forever. The guests on the show, learned Pakistanis belonging to the well-to-do diaspora spent the entire show regaling the baffled listeners with how Salman Taseer deserved to die. They announced to the world they were happy he had been killed. They announced to the world this is what Islam tells us to do. They announced to the world that given the choice, they would love for this to happen again.

I scratched my head and tried to understand what had hit me. Really? Forget Islam, forget Pakistan. Forget Quaid-e-Azam and forget Iqbal. As human beings, is this really what we've sunk to? Pumping 27 bullets into a man just because we disagree with him? But I should have known better. I should have known that this is Pakistan. Logic, debate and argument do not work here. Justice comes to die here. Corruption is rampant and the law of the land is 'might is right'.

I should have known better because in August 2010 two brothers, Mughees and Muneeb were butchered at the hands of a mob in Sialkot. For 7 hours they were beaten while hundreds looked and egged the perpetrators on. Sticks, stones, batons. Nothing was left behind. Their limbs broke. With no respite they passed on. Then their bodies were hung upside down in the town square until someone from their family came and begged the mob to let them be. To let them be. I should have know then that Pakistan had died.

I should have realized that even the self proclaimed saviors of my country are nothing more than a bunch of sorry losers who are incompetent and complicit in perpetrating heinous crimes. Less than two months after the Sialkot incident I was witness to a murder being perpetrated in the middle of a bazaar in Lahore with an army check point less than 700m away. I should have known then that it was hopeless. All this was so hopeless.

And then in January of 2011, we saw how Salman Taseer was gunned downed. The shooter shot him like a coward but he was garlanded and proclaimed a hero. Social scientists will most probably bang their heads together and proclaim what is the matter with these people? But I know what's the matter with them. I know that as a human race we Pakistanis have failed to evolve. Instead we're actually sliding back towards the Dark Age and if left unchecked we'll reach there pretty soon. Vestiges of that era have already begun to show up in our society.

I meant to write this blog as a tribute to the man known to the world as Salman Taseer. But as you've probably realized I simply could not stop thinking about the madness that has engulfed us all. I feel so frustrated and so helpless at my plight. I want to change everything but I know I cannot. Even if I could I wouldn't be allowed to do so. Might is right in Pakistan. Confusion, paranoia and an affinity to chop of any semblance of sanity are the characteristics of my country and my people. And then we ask the world what is wrong with it?

Pakistan did not deserve Salman Taseer because he tried to argue with common sense. He thought he would get away with it but he was wrong. Lack of common sense combined with madness and misguided zealotry caught up with him. I hope he's resting peacefully wherever he is now.

I wish I could wish the same for Pakistan; that it rest in peace too. But it continues to burn brighter and stronger everyday with no let up. I wish it'll stop. I wish a newer and stronger Pakistan will emerge. But that's what it all is. A wish. Nothing more. Nothing less. 

Departing Space Station Commander Provides Tour of Orbital Laboratory

Of late space and sciency stuff has been intriguing me quite a lot. So I took to YouTube and came across this video from NASA's official YouTube channel. It's a real life tour of the International Space Station (ISS). A couple of weeks ago I signed up for the NASA Spot the Station program which notifies you whenever the ISS is supposed to fly over your location and this video is interesting in that it shows that the ISS is quite a huge vehicle instead of the tiny speck you can see in the sky.