tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4404603905096750592024-03-13T09:17:32.853+05:00Matters of the HeartHafza Majeedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14315005046442366577noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440460390509675059.post-22840700020780258232014-08-02T22:07:00.000+05:002014-08-02T22:13:07.721+05:00On life and loss<div class="MsoNormal">
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I’m writing after a long time, and as I write, I’m not sure
If I’ll be able to put in words how I feel, but right now, I feel the need to
write, perhaps more than ever .It’s like applying a soothing balm to the pain
felt by the heart, it wont heal the wound, but the pain might temporarily
subside. Sometimes, life can be harsh. Some
things, like the departure of a loved one leave a permanent void in our life
and there is absolutely nothing that we can do to overcome the loss. Last week,
my beloved grandmother passed away, leaving us with nothing but beautiful
memories. Throughout her life, my grandma has always been a courageous woman,
always ready to face any challenge that life threw at her, but after four long
months of suffering, and battling cancer, we eventually had to say our final
goodbyes to her as she breathed her last. It’s incredibly painful to see near
and dear ones in such agony and cancer is an utterly brutal disease, so we try
to find comfort by knowing that her suffering has finally come to an end. But that’s
an explanation which the heart doesn’t understand easily. Till the very last
minute, the heart quite naively, was still wishing for a miracle. </div>
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My grandmother was a kind,
caring and selfless woman, who was always a joy to be around. She understood that life is all about giving
rather than receiving love and poured her love out to everyone she met,
regardless of age or relationship. Even in her final days, I remember her warm
smile while lying down on the bed as soon as she saw me and my parents walk into
her immaculate, spotlessly clean room. Although, she had become too weak to even
speak to us, but that smile of hers had spoken volumes about the love and contentment
she felt upon seeing us. The smile spoke of peace and comfort, the kind of
emotions a lost child feels upon seeing the parents. A smile that silently said
“Now that all my children and grandchildren are with me , I’ll be alright.”</div>
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I’m very blessed to
have known her for 25 years and would love to be a copy-cat and grow up to be just
like her in personality and appearance. She was a very soft-spoken, polite and
gracious lady. I always admired that about her. When she spoke, she spoke with
the gentleness of a rose petal, a quality that seems too old-fashioned in today’s
rowdy and fast paced world. She taught me an important lesson, that it’s the little things in life that
actually matter, treating others with respect, forgiving the ones that hurt
you, being grateful for whatever you have, and never losing hope. </div>
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I’ll always miss you<i>
daadi</i>, the way you elegantly draped your <i>saaris</i> , your love for pearls, and the smell of Yardley powder you’d
leave on my shirt, after a tight, loving hug. </div>
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Hafza Majeedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14315005046442366577noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440460390509675059.post-72345335471585036162013-11-07T01:05:00.001+05:002013-11-10T17:46:24.835+05:00Facing the music<div class="MsoNormal">
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It’s quite surprising how empowering music can be, perhaps
the only worldly force that can touch the soul and mold hearts .Music, like any
other form of art, has the ability to evoke certain feelings and emotions in us
humans and perhaps that’s why it has a significant influence over our frame of
mind and subsequently over our thoughts.
In my life of 24 years , I’ve
always lived very passionately and boldly , going through various highs and
lows of life, but the one thing that has always been there with me in times of
joy and despair has been music – a friend to celebrate with and a shoulder to
cry on. </div>
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Back in my early years, I remember being part of the school
choir as a flutist, in Islamabad Convent School. That was my first experience
in learning any musical instrument. I distinctly remember the practice sessions
that we had in our music teacher Sister Felly’s office, and how challenging it
was at that time to get the<i> do re mi’s</i>
right. But even more importantly I
remember the glorious performances we had, playing ‘Amazing Grace’ in front of
large audiences, and hence, without even knowing it, I learnt two very
important skills in life – coordination and confidence. </div>
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In my teen years, I took guitar lessons for a little while,
which was yet another crucial learning experience for me. I realized that in
order to get better at anything in life, it’s important to be persistent and
the best example for me was my guitar practices, where I could feel myself get
better at it with every practice.
Moreover I learned that one song could be played through various chord
progressions, and there was no right or wrong way to play it. That’s when I
drew a parallel with real life, and came to appreciate other people’s opinions
instead of just imprudently imposing mine on others. </div>
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However, it’s quite disappointing that our society still
doesn’t appreciate the marvels that music brings and quite absurdly, music is
considered to be pure evil and sinful. In most Pakistani schools, there is no
concept of having a music class, not even at primary level and even if the
school does offer music, it is considered as an unimportant and useless
activity. What we don’t realize is, music and arts are just as important as
science and math. Through art subjects like music, we get to enhance our
creativity, and also learn to practice till perfect. Moreover we learn
teamwork, coordination, and patience - values which are crucial for being
successful in life. </div>
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Even if we look at it scientifically, music triggers the
release of dopamine and oxytocin– those feel good hormones which are
responsible for putting us in a happy and relaxed mood. No wonder I like to start my days with a
playlist of soft meaningful songs so I can feel its positive effects throughout
the day. Many may chose to deny, but the
wonders of music can even be heard in the pristine Mother Nature itself. If we
develop a ‘ear’, we’ll begin to notice there’s music all around us- in the
chirping of birds, in the soft whistling of rivers, in the clatter of the raindrops,
and If we stop to imagine how the world would be without this natural music,
maybe only then we would fully learn to appreciate how important it is to us.</div>
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Such ignorance and inability to understand the significance
of art and music by our society really does raise a serious question. Are we raising a generation of puppets,
rather than creative, gifted, and tolerant individuals? </div>
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<i><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Pyaar nahi hai sur se jisko voh murakh insaan nahi - Ammanat Ali</span></span></i></div>
<span 16.5pt="" imes="" line-height:="" new="" roman="" serif="" times="">(The fool who does not
love music is not a human being.)</span>Hafza Majeedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14315005046442366577noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440460390509675059.post-18450256454600051742013-10-27T22:09:00.000+05:002013-10-28T21:31:04.375+05:00Not quite modern after all<div class="MsoNormal">
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As humans, we love to criticize the politicians, criticize the relatives, criticize the neighbors and criticize every person whose part of our day to day lives. … So, lately (and quite predictably ) , the victim of our insatiable need for criticism has been our Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been facing serious flak for reading off pre-written notes at the joint statement with President Obama instead of speaking extempore . The twiterrati have been up in arms about it, accusing the Prime minister of being childish and under confident. But it’s not paper-reading, or not being articulate in English which measures the maturity of a person’s mind - it’s definitely more complicated than that.</div>
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The problem doesn’t lie with one person, but with our society in general, which is like a teenager going through puberty - very emotional, confused and gullible. We are a confused lot, not knowing whether to adopt the changing trends of the western world, or stick to our historical traditions and (<i>much glorified</i>) cultural values. We talk about big words like “revolution” and “change” (<i>Tsunami, cough cough</i>), but are we actually willing to take the giant leap?</div>
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In the urban cities of Pakistan, modernization is rapidly replacing social traditions. It is mostly the aftermath of globalization and ever-increasing technology that has enabled us to challenge our customs and take one step further in the march towards a modern Pakistan. But let’s not kid ourselves, dressing up in western attire, or drinking (illegal) booze at a local party proves nothing! This is just a false illusion of “being modern” we create for ourselves… But our little “Hollywood Dream” (as I like to call it) shatters into a million pieces the minute you actually get to know that these seemingly modern people are just a bunch of kids trying to act <i>cool! </i> Their minds are still too immature to understand and adopt new concepts, and once you pull of the masks of modernism that they proudly flaunt, one can expect the same century old viewpoints from them on contemporary issue.</div>
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What can you conclude when these same seemingly modern people go around justifying murder on the accounts of blasphemy, or when these same people hurl abuses at their female classmates and colleagues? What can you say about their maturity level, when these ‘advocates of modernism’ choose to remain silent spectators, as they watch cold blooded rape become endemic in the country? And yet they talk about “Change” and “Revolution” which themselves seem like big words coming from an infant’s mouth. And let’s not forget about their never-ending conspiracy theories! Everything that goes wrong is this country is either a “<i>bhaarti </i>or a <i>yahoodi saazish</i>” </div>
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The truth is, we need to pull our act together and grow up! We need to go into the depth and details of things before forming opinions about them. Grownups take responsibility of their mistakes, and learn from them, rather than pointing fingers and coming up with all sorts of nonsense conspiracies.<br />
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Just the other day I saw this meme, showing a girl with a positive pregnancy test having a huge smile on her face hugging her boyfriend who was far from amused, rather he looked as if he was struck by lightning. This was supposed to be humorous by the way. I dont get it!!!! Why engage in an adult activity, if you’re not ready to handle the consequences like adults? ……. But wait! Isn't that exactly the same mindset of our “Pakistani modernists” as well?<br />
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Hafza Majeedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14315005046442366577noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440460390509675059.post-17748824683481031652013-10-18T12:47:00.003+05:002013-11-07T18:56:56.383+05:00Happy Eid ! - Be healthy, not skinny !<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This Eid, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering about this
new obsession with being skinny. Like
all festivals, Eid is all about eating holiday food, dressing up and taking
loads of happy looking pictures (to put up on social media ironically). As I
filled up my plate with all the savory <i>chaats</i>
and traditional <i>seviyaan</i> (vermicelli)
, I was more than shocked to hear my teenage cousin lament over how fat those
extra calories will make her , as she put a slice of cake on her plate.</div>
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Geez! When I was that
young, I’d gobble up all the cake in the world without giving two hoots about
my weight! More shockingly, it’s quite
common for girls as young as ten to be self conscious about their bodies
instead of celebrating childhood and health. But the fact is that this fascination with
being model thin has taken over the minds over all women of all ages and it’s
been going on for quite some time now. </div>
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Just like our media promotes the idea that white skin is beautiful,
it also quite shamelessly promotes that the only people worthy of being
considered pretty should be thin. Now I
am by no means suggesting that one should be obese and unhealthy, but what I
find highly objectionable are the standards of beauty that the media, both
print media and TV have created for us. Being surrounded with anorexic models with
huge breast implants, airbrushed makeup and photo shopped images, our minds subconsciously
start to believe that is how a woman should look ideally, and let’s face it-
that is how we also aspire to look.</div>
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The media has spent years and years drumming it into our
minds, that skinny is sexy and everything else is downright hideous! The startling thing is that the skinniness
they project is not only unachievable but more importantly it’s all fake! But since
the general population has endorsed this twisted concept of beauty , as a
result we always remain unsatisfied with our appearance no matter how good we
look, because we cannot achieve the flawlessness that the media projects. We are always worrying about that little
extra flab, or a fuller looking face or slightly heavier arms. Here’s time for
a reality check-that is what REAL woman look like, and they ARE pretty despite the
slight imperfections! </div>
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It’s astonishing to see the extent to which women go in
order to achieve the look of the ‘perfect media woman’. Cosmetic surgery,
liposuction, breast implants, harmful medication and eating disorders are becoming
increasingly common. The situation is so bad that even teenage girls, who are
in their growing stages and need proper nutrition, have started to exchange
health with ‘beauty’ -the new name for being skinny!</div>
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What we need is courage - to refuse to be controlled by the
media and instead set our own standards of attractiveness. If Kate Winslet can
refuse to step on the skinny bandwagon and audaciously flaunt her curves on the
same television which promotes skinniness , than that should be a big
encouragement for us ‘ women of the world’ to be able to feel confident and pretty even
if we are not thin. The focus should be on being healthy and most importantly happy!
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So ladies, it’s time to
sit back, relax, and have a great time without worrying too much about the weight.
There are far better things in life to focus on.</div>
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……..And anyways , the
only thing that looks good skinny is a pair of skinny jeans !</div>
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Hafza Majeedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14315005046442366577noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440460390509675059.post-44848000763234907782013-10-15T18:07:00.001+05:002013-10-15T22:47:41.131+05:00Cricket- The glue that binds us together<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">We Pakistanis are already a fragmented society,
divided on the basis of religion, ethnicity, provinces, socio-economical
backgrounds and urban class/ rural class. Moreover the country is going through
tough times. Inflation, terrorism, corruption, increasing crime rates, and
political instability have brought about despair and hopelessness. But
the one thing that binds us together, despite all our differences and
dissimilarities is cricket!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I've inherited my interest in cricket from my dad, who
being a fifty-something busy doctor, still follows the the game
unfailingly and his passion for cricket is beyond measure.. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>I remember my childhood memories of
the entire extended family sitting together in my uncles Tv lounge and watching
the world cup , cheering and clapping at every <i>‘chakka’ (</i>six runs)
and exclaiming ‘<i>out hai out hai!’</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>whenever a player would get out,
scrutinizing and analyzing the batsman's every slightest move. Although I was
just a little kid at that time, I still remember the energy and thrill that
surrounded the room and it felt wonderful to see the entire family so deeply
involved in the sport, from my grandmother to my youngest cousins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Perhaps that’s why I like cricket so much, because it
seems to be the only secular thing about the country that everyone is
passionate about. It feels great to be able to sit in one room or one stadium
(as it used to be before the Srilankan Team was attacked in 2009) without
discriminating against caste, ethnicity or religion and just lose ourselves
into the game, cheering for a common cause. Soumya Bhattacharya in his
book<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>‘You must like Cricket’</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>has quite accurately called cricket
the ‘Anti-Religion’ for the subcontinent, and in fact that is the only thing that
glues us together and enables us to unite.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">The true beauty of cricket can be experienced whenever
there’s a cricket tournament going on. It feels good to see the whole country
taking an active part in the festivities and giant screens being set up where
friends and families can go to not only watch the sport but also socialize. The
sense of patriotism and oneness, the thrill and energy, the lively and
enthusiastic audience – where else does one see such fervor in Pakistan?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Even on an international level, it is cricket which
bonds us together with the other<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><i>desis<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>living abroad. All<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>desis<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>, Indians, Pakistanis and
Bangladeshis all are equally passionate about the sport which automatically
ties them together irrespective of their nationalities. As a
staunch critic of the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, this brotherhood
is like a dream come true! However it is quite shameful to see the hype that
the local news channels create whenever there’s a Pakistan – India match. They
forget the true essence of the game, and make it a matter of ego and prestige
which spoils all the fun. Of course us people of the subcontinent are known to
be a very emotional lot, but I think it’s very wrong of the media to turn the
one thing that brings joy and happiness to the country into another tension
filled drama! (As if we already don’t have so many things to be tensed about!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">So I’m glad that this Eid there are two remarkably
exciting series to keep us all entertained. There’s Pakistan vs South Africa
(ahem the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>chokers</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>! ) and India Vs Australia, and I’m
glad that I can spend my holidays watching the matches with my dad and sort of
reinvent my childhood memories . Sadly it’s just going to be the two of us this
time as most of my family has shifted abroad. But that doesn’t matter because
cricket is cricket. Full Stop. ……..<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Jeetay
ga bhaiii jeetay gaa !! </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image taken from <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/specialreports/worlds-biggest-sports-rivalries/2012/06/12/gJQAoaCpXV_gallery.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com</a></span></span></span></div>
Hafza Majeedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14315005046442366577noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440460390509675059.post-22725850781405772752013-10-11T20:47:00.001+05:002013-10-15T17:27:37.576+05:00Naya Pakistani - A Fight against Patriarchy and Double Standards<div class="MsoNormal">
Earlier this year, Pakistan was struck by the election fever
and there were chants and roars of “<i>Naya Pakistan</i>” (new Pakistan) echoing from every nook and cranny of
the whole country. I’m not too sure what
that whole campaign was promising, and I must admit that I was (and still am)
very skeptical about Imran Khan’s idea of “change”, but I do believe that in
order to progress, what this country desperately needs is a “<i>Naya Pakistani”.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TTTIuKHa36s/UlgipVfgK1I/AAAAAAAAApQ/gHTQ_7GPTGM/s1600/486904_280873268681709_1838392934_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TTTIuKHa36s/UlgipVfgK1I/AAAAAAAAApQ/gHTQ_7GPTGM/s320/486904_280873268681709_1838392934_n.jpg" width="320" /></a>Pakistan is strictly a patriarchal society, where the main
purpose of women is servitude. The women are looked upon as a secondary entity
that has to be controlled, either by the father, the brother or the husband.
The way we look at and treat our women is deplorable. Street crime, sexual
harassment, rape, honor killings and female infanticide, child marriages all
take place on a day to day basis, and our reaction –silence. This says a lot about our ethics as a society. Even in colleges and
workplaces, more than often women are quick to be categorized as “loose
charactered” , ( which is society’s terminology for being immoral and easy) and that too on the
basis of the way they dress and their independence. But of course the same doesn't go for men.<br />
From childhood onwards, there is a certain level of bias in most households
which is constantly brainwashing the minds of both boys and girls in the house making them realize their gender roles.The boys are allowed a lot more liberty than girls, encouraging them to believe
that they are superior to girls in a number of ways. The girls are forced to
dress in a way that is considered acceptable in the society, stripping them of
all rights to dress according to their own choice. Even when it comes to
marriage, a girl who dares to marry with her own will is shunned and labeled as
shameless but there are no such rules for the boys. Now we know that smoking is injurious to
health for both male and female. Find out your teenage son is smoking? Lecture
him a bit, scold him a bit, and that the end of the story. Find out your adult
daughter is smoking? Yell at her, start crying, start hiding face from the
society, curse her, hurl abuses at her and in short make life a living hell for
her! So are we not promoting the patriarchal mindset ourselves, every time we
define gender roles in our homes?<br />
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Even the aunties, who are hunting for a <i>bahu rani</i> will dismiss the thoughts of any girl who dares to go
against the society’s norms. If you’ve
ever been to the seemingly hifi<i> </i><i>desi </i>weddings there’s always a group of
four five ladies, all ready with their designer outfits, perfectly blow dried
hair and meticulously painted faces ready with all the latest family gossip. (I
can’t help but listen to their conversation wondering if their talking about
me!) Their typical conversation “That
girl seems sweet, but haiii no I saw a picture of her wearing sleeveless”, “That girl over there seems sweet too , but
oh my! I’ve heard she’s had an affair in the past, what shame she has brought
to her family<i>, uff Allah</i>! *makes that
frown face* , oh but wait that girl over there in yellow with a duppata on her
head seems like a good match…” then one of the other aunties will say, “oh
don’t even think about it, this head-covering <i>shovering</i> is all a clever act, I tell you on the inside she is of
….<i>loose character</i>!” …..So ironically,
even our own women promote this patriarchal “It’s a man’s world” mindset. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=440460390509675059" name="_GoBack"></a></div>
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What’s even more disgusting is that since a very early age
boys are given a free pass to disrespect women and pass judgments about them. Whistling, passing lewd comments, groping,
stalking and harassing are the norms, and instead of finding these acts
shameful, it is usually a matter of pride and a way to bond with other men. But
of course the men are never to be blamed and always get to hide behind the
security blanket society’s given to them. In a society like ours, all it takes to get away with this wretched behavior
is to blame it on the girl , the way she dresses, the way she walks, talks, and
if nothing else, then fabricate a story of her being <i>loose charachtered</i> and deserving of such treatment! </div>
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How can we even dream of
a better Pakistan with such pathetic morals and mentality, where the
females are the most vulnerable of all living things, where the male ego is so
large that even murder in the name of ‘family honour’ is accepted. It’s high
time we bring about a revolution from our own homes, and transform ourselves
into “Naya Pakistanis” where we rise above these societal pressures and treat
our women with the respect and dignity that they deserve. We need to break free from the chains of patriarchy
and give our woman their rights when it comes to education, property, power and
status. Only then can we hope for a Naya Pakistan!</div>
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Hafza Majeedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14315005046442366577noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-440460390509675059.post-22748982477655786542013-10-06T13:21:00.001+05:002013-10-09T16:52:04.736+05:00Rituals without Meaning<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Human beings rely on habit and rituals to an extent that
they form rituals for everything in life, either big or small. Cutting a
birthday cake is a classic example. Why cake and why not a boiled egg? Why does
a bride have to be dressed in an expensive outfit and look best on her wedding?
Why can't we just get married in normal everyday casual clothes? Rituals have
taken over our minds, because we've stopped thinking who we really are and what
we really want. </div>
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If we look closely, our lives are actually ruled by
rituals and tradition since the day we're born. The family introduces us to
religious rituals from the very next day, whether its saying the “Azaan” in the
baby's ear, or pouring holy water over the baby’s head. As the child grows
older, he notices more and more rituals and subconsciously believes that’s the
only way, or the right way and everyone else's way is unacceptable. And as
adults it’s hard to let go of the channel we grown up in, and so these
traditions we learn in childhood become a part of our everyday life without
even questioning them or finding out their importance and what they mean to us. Now in particular, I don't have any problem
with rituals, but what I do have a problem with is their significance and their
importance in our lives. It's hard for me to understand that why someone would
want to spend their lifetime's saving on their daughter's wedding when they
could do a lot of other useful things with that money. Why would someone who
doesn't even like cake want to cut cake on their birthday? Why doesn't a bride
ever wear black? Why should we get buried wrapped in white cloth and not red? I
came across this story which sort of answers some of my perplexities.</div>
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<i>As a little girl watches her mom prepare the Easter
ham, she wonders why her mother cuts off both ends of the ham before putting it
in the pot. So, she asks why, and her mom realizes that she doesn't know.
That's the way her mother prepared the Easter ham.</i></div>
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<i>So they call
grandmother and pose the question about cutting off the ends of the Easter ham.
Grandmother admits to not knowing either. She just prepared the ham the way her
mom did it. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Their next call is to
great-grandmother. When they ask her about her method of preparing the Easter
ham, she laughs. Then she says, "It was the only way I could get the
Easter ham to fit the small pot I had!" <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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So the point being, most of us have no clue as to why
we're following a certain custom anyways! And it gets worse. We start arguing
like little tots about why “our way” of doing things is better than everyone
else. I think that we get lay way too much importance in act of performing the
ritual that we forget the deeper meaning behind it. It’s often forgotten that
it’s far more important for the couple to
be happy on a wedding , then spend fortunes on the event and costumes. The idea
is celebration, and it doesn't necessarily have to be elaborate. Even when it comes to religious rituals, often
the meaning or significance behind the ritual is lost, and the ritual itself
becomes the main importance. Comes Eid and everyone here in Pakistan are all
set to slaughter their well decorated, ornament wearing, henna tattooed , goats but if you stop and
ask them “Why?”, then most of them would give you confused , half baked ,
incomplete answers . Hardly anyone
understands the central meaning behind it which is to sacrifice from what you
have in order to give to the poor, and also distribute among family friends
and neighbors in order to spread love and peace in the society. If we notice,
all religions teach these basic values of humanity, but differ in traditions
and rituals. So beneath the symbolism, the meaning is the same. So isn't that
the same as 2+2, or 1+1+1+1 or 1+1+2? </div>
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What it all boils down to is fear. Fear of what the
society will say, fear of displeasing the gods and perhaps fear of the much
popular ‘life after death’. So for most
people the driving force behind these practices is fear. That’s why they are
bound to become slave to the rituals without searching for a deeper meaning, or
a convincing reason. But that’s humans
for you in general, show them a picture of hell, and they’ll do anything to
avoid it, no matter how stupid or ridiculously senseless it may be.</div>
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Hafza Majeedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14315005046442366577noreply@blogger.com5