7/14/2014

12:29 - ,,,,,, No comments

The Object of Power is Power: A 5 Star Review of 1984 by George Orwell




Freedom is freedom to say that two plus two makes four. If that is granted, everything else follows.

Winston Smith lives in post-World War II era, where there are three super powers in the world, Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia, and most of the land of the world belongs to them. Winston belongs to The Party, which rules Oceania but only as a member of the outer body and works in the Ministry of Truth, writing, rewriting and re-rewriting history as demanded by The Party. To be the member of The Party implies three things for him:

1.       Big Brother is always watching you.
2.       You have no power, thought, purpose or will as an individual.
3.       But if you consider yourself to be really a part of The Party so much so that you think you ARE The Party, you own everything in Oceania and you are as good as indestructible.

Unfortunately for Winston, he does not consider himself to be really a part of The Party. Instead, he considers himself to be an enemy of The Party. Consequently, he regularly takes part in all sorts of “thought crimes” including remembering the past as it was and not as The Party says it was, falling in love with a woman, Julia, and pursuing the possibility of courting her, planning to join a rebel underground group bent on destroying The Party and believing that indeed The Party can be destroyed. However, there is only one outcome of such crimes in Oceania: a trip to the Ministry of Love. 

1984 is by far the worst book I have ever read! Don’t get me wrong, this is still a 5-star review. What makes 1984 the worst book in the history of all my book reading is not that the book is terribly written. Instead, it is the exact opposite. George Orwell writes dystopia as it is meant to be written: haunting, disturbing and downright nightmarish. Reading Part III was especially difficult for me. I could not read more than a few pages at a time, because I was just so disturbed. The torture inflicted in the Ministry of Love does not make you cry out tears for Winston and it does not make you sad or distraught. Actually, you end up feeling nothing for Winston, but horrified at the possibility of such things happening to you. It the mother of all nightmares coming to life, where you are safe nowhere, not even inside your own head, because The Party, for its own safekeeping, will get inside it if need be. The Party will make you love who it wills and hate who it wills, it will make 2 + 2 = 5, even if you know in your head that there is no way that it can be anything other than 4. It will change the past because it owns the past. The Party doesn’t only have the power to change the past in the records, but it even has the power to change it in your memories, because it controls everything- the records and your memory.

Oceania is not just the epitome of totalitarianism, but it is a step ahead of it! By mastering doublethink, a process by which you can hold two contradictory things true in your mind, it has not only taken control of the land, the people and the resources but also has taken control of the course of history and the memories and emotions of the inhabitants of Oceania. The Party from time to time changes its allies from Eurasia to Eastasia and then back to Eurasia leaving the third its enemy in war. However, in the records of Oceania and in the minds of the people of Oceania The Party has only ever been at war with one of them. Whenever The Party changes its alliance from one to the other, it simply changes all the records to match the new enemy. Winston remembers that Oceania had been at war with Eurasia only about four years ago and had been in alliance with Eastasia, however, all “sane” party members know, remember and believe that, “No, Oceania is at war with Eastasia. It has always been at war with Eastasia.” If only yesterday, The Party again betrays Eurasia and declares war on Eurasia, all “sane” party members will remember that, “Oceania is at war with Eurasia. It has always been at war with Eurasia.” Only Winston’s “insanity” believes in a reality that is physically separated from the mind of The Party and that needs to “cured.”

One of the most intriguing parts of the novel is the three slogans that arise from The Party’s ideology, “Ingsoc.”


1.      WAR IS PEACE: The relevance of this slogan may be felt from the beginning of time to perhaps the end of time for the human race. War has been the only constant throughout history. Conflict has remained ingrained in societies no matter how much they try to curb it. As Plato once said quite wisely, “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” Mr. Orwell takes advantage of his dystopian world and looks deeper into the meaning of constant war. He insinuates that war is necessary to maintain peace. War is essential to ensure that all surplus production of a powerful country is not used to eradicate class structure in the world. War is essential to dump that surplus in the form of destruction and devastation. War is essential for constant power, whether it is for a class of people, a mindset, an organization or even an ideology. WAR IS PEACE.

As Orwell says, "A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war." Orwell understands that peace within a community can only remain when its people remain completely loyal to the ruling authority. To ensure that, there needs to be an enormous threat on the outside from whom the ruling authority is constantly protecting them through a never-ending war. Only in such a state of affairs will the people be focused too well on the external threat that they will not dream to rise up to become an internal one.

2.       FREEDOM IS SLAVERY: Nothing could explain this slogan better than O’Brien who says that the truth is that “Slavery is freedom. Alone – free – the human being is always defeated.” The individual can never be more than a body travelling towards its death. The individual is “doomed to die,” and O’Brien dubs that as “the greatest of all failures.” Orwell is bringing out the truth in human need for submission, whether it is to a promise beyond the grave, their work before the grave, an ideology, a hobby or even another human being. Alone, a human being is nothing more than a forgettable entity that as good as ceases to exist the moment it drops dead. However, “if he can make complete, utter submission, if he can escape from his identity,” he can become something more. Nevertheless, as everything has a price, this is priced at the individual’s freedom. O’Brien reiterates the meaning of being a party member by saying that “if he (an individual) can merge himself in the Party so that he is the Party, then he is all-powerful and immortal.” The Party believes its ideology to be eternal and everlasting. Any member of that ideology will consequently be eternal. However, they shall also be eternally enslaved.

3.       IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH: The simplest of the three, is perhaps also the most deep rooted of all the slogans of The Party. “The Book”, apparently written by Goldstein, begins with the ever-known fact that “Throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world, the High, the Middle and the Low.” Goldstein gives insight into the true nature of the three classes. He shows us that the High always want to remain where they are, the Middle want to overthrow the High and take their places and the Low, whenever they are not so caught up in trying to survive, being at the very bottom of the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, wish for equality. However, the Low are also the only ones who are “never even temporarily successful in achieving their aims.” They always end up being used by the Middle attracted to their so called slogans of “freedom, justice and fraternity,” only to be “thrust” back down “into their old position of servitude” after the Middle have achieved their aims.

This internal struggle ultimately leads to instability of power within a land and a never-ending cycle of power switching results. In order to counter this The Party realizes that it needs to freeze the classes. The Party does this by learning from the position of the Low. The Low never have enough resources, time, will or energy to think anything through. They are always caught up in the acts of survival. The Party induces a state of ignorance in all the three classes in Oceania by thrusting them to the basest level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. There is never enough of anything in the market, what is available is terrible to eat and almost always artificial, shelter has been transformed into a place of constant surveillance, sex has been made undesirable and forbidden, family lives have been poisoned with the children betraying their parents and parents afraid of their own little ones and security is a concept unknown to all.

In such state of affairs, who would dream of thinking of equality, liberty, justice or anything apart from survival? Only a few. The Party ensures that those few are also taken care of. In order for anyone to rise against their current condition of existence, they usually need something to compare it to. If the comparison is the Past, The Party controls it to no end, with its ideology of doublethink and constant “fixing” of “misquoted” facts. The Past does not exist in Oceania but as a confirmation of the Present. Therefore, there is no comparison in the past.

If it is a matter of comparison with another community then The Party ensures that the people of Oceania never lay eyes on any part or any person of either Eurasia or Eastasia. Lastly, if the comparison is in their heads, in their whims and their wishes, then The Party “cures” them in the Ministry of Love before annihilating their very existence! Ignorance is strength, because it ensures that no one knows any better than what is, because what is was always what was and what was is nothing more than what is.

Everything in Oceania is diseased but Winston still realized in the midst of all the disease a profound truth. “There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.” But with The Party you were not even safe inside of your own head. To get you to accept their untruth they would go to the lengths of ensuring you were mad. The Party would make you believe that their lies were truth. It would make you unknow what you know and know what you wish to unknow.

The Party’s disease plagues everything, not only the goodness of truth but also the sanctity of love. Winston tells Julia that betrayal would not be to confess, because everyone ends up confessing in the end to what they have done and more. He says that real betrayal would be that if The Party could somehow make him stop loving her. However, Julia naively states that they could not do that, “They can make you say anything - anything - but they can’t make you believe it. They can’t get inside you.” If only someone told her that not only could they do that, but they would do that. And so they both betray one another in the Ministry of Love and as that thought bleeds into Winston’s mind at the end of his story, a voice sings in his head,

“Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me-“

One might wonder the purpose of such extreme measures and they are simply this, “One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish a dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”


It is true that 1984 is one of the worst things that I have ever read but, in the true spirit of doublethink, that does not prevent it from being one of the best as well. If it were possible I would have given it 6 out of 5 stars! ;) 

10/21/2013

08:23 - ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 3 comments

Pindi's Roads- A tale of epic war, lust and other inappropriate things...


Disclaimer: No accidents were involved in the making of this blog post. ;-) Oh and I don't own any of the pictures... :P :P Internet rocks! :D

A/N: (Says in the calm voice of an air-hostess) Before we commence our journey, I would like for you to know that yes, this is indeed a rant post. I rant a lot, it’s a hobby, get over it… :P Oh and I do tend to exaggerate at times… Only sometimes… So get over that too… :P :P So fasten your seatbelts coz here goes… 


I always knew that traffic in Rawalpindi was crazy. I know that traffic in Lahore/Karachi/Faisalabad/InsertRandomCity is too (so please don’t give me all the ‘Abhee tou Lahore/Karachi/Faisalabad/InsertRandomCity ki traffic dekho, lag pata jayey gaa’ Lag gaya pata bhai, aur nai lagana, thank you)! But what I did not know was that no one gave a rat’s-ass (Sorry for the blatant use of profanity, but I don’t have any word that would describe the situation better. Actually this is the LEAST profane term I could find, HUH) about anyone else. They have a simple motto in life:

I GOTTA GET THERE AND I GOTTA GET THERE FAST AND OH DID I MENTION MY DAD OWNS ALL THE ROADS IN THE WORLD!! (In other words: Aye meray piyu dee sarak ay! Prablem?)

Aye meray piyu dee sarak ay Prablem? | Problem?

And do you know what is worse? It is not one person’s piyu (dad) who owns the sarak (road), it’s all of theirs!!! And when there are more than one owners of anything, they fight, and they fight dirty. So in simpler words, Pindi’s roads are a battlefield, and every driver (if they could even be called that) is waging a war for power, desperately attempting to get the upper hand. Every man for himself! Oh and every woman? Well, she is just crazy, who in the world let her loose on the road? SHE MUST BE OVER-TAKEN!!! Yeah... I. Ain’t. Kidding… :/

So, where does poor old me come into the picture? Well, you see, my new job is in Pindi-the horror! Oh, don’t get me wrong, love the job! Pindi, erm, not so much… :/ So yeah, poor innocent moi (me), doesn’t know any of that on the first trip there. Aaaaaaaaaannnnnddd, well it was not the best of days for me. Ya! No… I probably looked like a retard trying to drive in my lane in a land with no lanes, for starters. Everyone kept on intruding. A car from the left trying to get chummy with my car, a bike from the right trying to tell my car to back the hell off and the van driver behind was all HONK HONK HONKITY HONK! I was like: where the HELL HAVE I COME? And all the time I was thinking: Dude, I AM in the slow lane, where do I go from here? Overtake from the right, if you are in a hurry! STOP HONKING! Blurkh…

Then there are these rickshaws! Oh lord, the rickshaws… They are like rats, literally, they are. They stop, sniff, start, go right, go left, stop, sniff, start, right, left, right, left, stop, sniff… It goes on… And it drives you crazy! They. Don’t. Look. They. Don’t. Care. Just. Avoid. Them. Left, right, stop, sniff… AAAAAaaaaarghh! *Starts pulling out her hair*



And don’t even get me started on the LTVs (pick-ups, vans etc) and the HTVs (busses, trucks blah)! They are an abomination in the name of vehicles and their drivers have no eyes, no ears and well, they simply don’t give a damn. These light and heavy traffic vehicles think they have some sort of swag as they saunter closer and closer into your lane. Your poor car also, clumsily, tries to get away from them, insinuating that it is not interested in any of their advances. Yet they keep at it, clueless to any norms of decent social behavior. There is something known as personal space. But who cares, right? WELL, MY CAR DOES! It is very sensitive to matters like these. So please, huge intimidating things, STAY AWAY! Pleaaasseeeee... Of course, saying all of this is not really possible. As a result, I honk! And THAT is the worst thing in the history of worst things that I could have done. Yes. I. Am. Not. Kidding. You. :@ 


It is here that being a woman on the road has it’s disadvantages. You think you have equal rights and you believe that a woman can do anything a man can do, and better. But you are wrong! You cannot honk. You just CANNOT! Don’t! DON’T YOU DARE! (This does not apply if you are honking to another woman or some elderly uncle. Or you own a really BIG/posh car! In that case, go ahead, feel free. =P) If you are a woman, driving a teeny Suzuki and you press the horn annnnnnnnnnnnnnd the person you are honking at is not another woman or some elderly uncle, you are SCREWED! You wanna know why? Simple human nature. The big bad LTV/HTV loses its mind! You, being the sad lowly creature of God, have just hurt its godforsaken ego and you are going to PAY! After that it is a matter of survival. =(

The LTV/HTV, having lost its mind, will start behaving like a madman, speeding like mad to get ahead of you, honking away like there is no tomorrow, till at last, you give in and let it go, your ego and self-esteem bruised to no end, thinking: Go dude, you go, I’ll be alright (or Jaa bhai, tou lung jaa, sadi khair aye).

Then there are the traffic signals! Nobody cares about the traffic signals! No one! It’s a simple story of positioning. Imagine the traffic signal to be the teacher and the cars to be students (I know, so please don’t). The teacher says GO, but all the students in the front row are busy taking notes or asking the right questions at the wrong times and all the student in the back rows are alert, ready to ditch class. The back row students start complaining and screaming, let’s gooooo 0.5 seconds BEFORE the end of the class, but the front row students won’t budge till about 10 seconds AFTER the end of the class. The only catch is this: all the students have just 30 seconds to get up and leave. Also, only WHEN the students in front move can the students at the back imagine moving. Additionally, if the students do not leave within 30 seconds, they will have to STOP and take the next lesson with the newcomers. The irony is that the front row students, with all their lagging still manage to make it out of class, but the backbenchers, with all their vigilance, end up getting stuck for the next lecture. This causes frustration; so some backbenchers just lose it and decide to run out of the class screaming, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY, I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! In the process, slamming the door right in the teacher’s face: TAKE THAT! The rest of the backbenchers? Well, the moment they get upgraded to front row position, they automatically switch into lag mode… And the story continues…



Last but not the least, considering we are talking about Pindi, we CANNOT forget the Pindi boyzes, now can we? Especially, the bikers… :@ They are the lifeblood of Pindi’s roads. I don’t what it is that does this to them, but they have this amazing confidence! They continuously are under the impression that they are in some cool action flick and they are the stuntmen! YES. I know it is clichéd. NO. I do not care. YES. It is true. They would be driving just fine one second, and the next, zig zag zig zag zig zag. Zoooooooommm, look, I am a jumping jack… Zum Zum zummm… look at me, no hands… EEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee... Bhurum bhurum… look, one wheel… OH YEAH!




I will never understand the point of that atrocity. Whyyyy would you do that? If you like crazy rides, there is a place and a time for that… Go to a theme park, leave the roads alone. I beg you. It’s for your own good. Coz while you think, you’re being all coooool, the rest of world is shaking their head sadly, and murmuring in dejected tones: The poor kid, lost his mind… (Bichara, demaghi tawazun khoo bethaa hai)… 





A/N 2: That’s all for today, folks… I know I am not the best of drivers… Not even close. But I do know one thing… These traffic rules are there for a reason… My A-levels physics teacher once said, ‘They stop you from travelling at 180 km/h on the highway, not for the million times nothing happens, but for that one fatal instance when something could!’ So for your own sakes, stop playing with your lives and that of the others. Try sticking to at least some of the rules, just to be on the safe side. You never know which day might contain that one unlucky second for you… Stay safe, Live happy… :D 

7/03/2013

05:39 - ,,,,, 2 comments

INFERNO- A 4 star review


Reading Dan Brown’s “Inferno” was a true roller coaster! Where should I begin?

Robert Langdon wakes up in a hospital room thinking that it is Monday and that a few minutes ago he was in strolling down the corridors of Harvard. However, he soon discovers that it is indeed Saturday, he is not anywhere near Harvard, much less the United States, he has a strange looking bio-hazard device in his possession and a woman is out to kill him! What’s more, Langdon has no recollection of the events that may have led him into this situation!

There are Spoilers ahead, so be warned my friend, BE WARNED! =P =P

Dan Brown has finally managed to write a thriller which was not only unpredictable but completely and utterly baffling! There was only one aspect of the thriller that I was able to get a grasp on and that was that Sienna was somehow involved in all of the drama that was going on. However, the way that she was involved was way off from my guess. For this purpose alone I give Mr. Brown’s “Inferno” a rating higher than even his best work to date, “The Da Vinci Code”.

The most intriguing aspect of the thriller was that once again Dan Brown manages to weave his story with strands of fiction and reality so closely woven that sometimes you are unable to separate the two. Tidbits about literature, history, artwork and science not only provides a strong basis for making it possible to intricately merge reality with fiction, but also enables the reader to gain some general knowledge about these areas.

Another thing that really stands out is the commitment Dan Brown shows towards a pressing global issue: Overpopulation. It is true that the world’s population is completely out of control and no one seems to be really ‘DOING’ anything about it. This theme runs strong throughout the novel till the very end, when it is discovered that Zobrist’s solution to the problem was hardly dramatic. It is funny how no one seems to point out the obvious flaws in his real solution too:

1. It is like playing God: Randomly rendering 1/3rd of the population infertile hardly seems appropriate. What if the other 2/3rd of the population are not fit to be parents or do not have good genes to pass on? (I know crude but still I wondered =S)
2. It is just plain cruel: Dr. Sinskey’s argument that what if Nature’s solution to overpopulation this time was not to bring about floods, famine or plagues. Instead, Nature used evolution to result in the birth of Dr. Zobrist-a genius who would provide a solution to the problem and go on to take matters in his own hands. My answer to that is simply:



Blaming a man’s actions, whose genetics only defines 60% of his actions and lifestyle, on nature is hardly playing fair. She should have simply said:



this would have been more appropriate…

Nevertheless, one has to admit that Bertrand Zobrist DID provide a solution, A REAL SOLUTION to the overpopulation problem. =/

I swore that this was going to be my last Dan Brown novel in case I discovered even a single piece of the puzzle. I suppose, now, I’d have to read his upcoming books to regain my reputation of knowing before Dan Brown reveals… LOL… =D

6/29/2013

13:28 - ,,,,,,, No comments

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid

 

Mohsin Hamid’s third novel “How to get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia” can only be described as one thing: a pseudo self-help book designed to mock everything about getting rich in not so Rising Asia. Chronicling the life of an entrepreneur from his childhood to his death, this novel was more about life than about getting rich.

Mohsin Hamid’s previous novels were remarkable penned masterpieces. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for his third novel. Like “Moth Smoke” and “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, “How to get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia” also experiments with style and narration. To be very honest, this novel would have come out on top of its predecessors stylistically, if it weren’t for the overt and sometimes forced mentions of sex and sexuality after every two pages.

My feelings were somewhat like this:



and



Additionally, I felt there was a lack of emotional connectivity between the characters and reader. The storyline and the concept would have had a greater impact if the reader could connect with the characters; however, the author fails miserably to build such a connection.

Having said that, I will repeat that stylistically Hamid manages to impress as usual! The novel is fashioned as a self-help book which guides the readers on how to get filthy rich, except it doesn’t really guide anyone at all. In its own words, “This book, I must now concede, may not have been the very best of guides to getting filthy rich in rising Asia.” Composed of twelve chapters, the novel begins each chapter with a guideline and moves on to mock it. For example, Chapter two states “Get an education”, while the story within shows that education is nothing more than a morbid affair in so-called “Rising Asia”, focused on increasing conformism and decreasing creative thinking.



The book picks up a subject, which interests everyone in Pakistan: How to Get Richer than Richie Rich, and point out all the many reasons why one cannot hope to achieve this feat in the long run. It is remarkable how Hamid is able to develop a social commentary of this scale in such a brief novel. He questions Pakistan’s educational system, bureaucracy, business ethics, treatment of women, terrorist organisations, gangs and all sorts of mafia, exposing the grim state of affairs at the grass root level. In this respect, “How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia” can be truly considered a masterpiece!

All of Mohsin Hamid’s fans should definitely get their hands on a copy, because despite its flaws, this book still reeks of Mr. Hamid’s brilliance! =D

Some of my favourite quotes from the book were:

1. “The fruits of labor are delicious, but individually they’re not particularly fattening. So don’t share yours, and much on those of others whenever you can.”

2. “For wealth comes from capital, and capital comes from labor, and labor comes from equilibrium, from calories in chasing calories out, an inherent, in built leanness, the leanness of biological machines that must be bent to your will with some force if you are to loosen your own financial belt and, sighingly, expand.”

3. “No harnessing the state’s might for personal gain is a much more sensible approach. Two related categories of actor have long understood this. Bureaucrats, who wear state uniforms while secretly backing their private interests. And bankers, who wear private uniforms while secretly being backed by the state. You will need the help of both.”

4. “We are all refugees from our childhoods. And so we turn, among other things, to stories. To write a story, to read a story, is to be a refugee from the state of refugees. Writers and readers seek a solution to the problem that time passes, that those who have gone are gone and those who will go, which is to say every one of us, will go. For there was a moment when anything was possible. And there will be a moment when nothing is possible. But in between we can create.”

6/20/2013

12:48 - ,,,,,, 6 comments

A Brief History of 'Physics' by Stephan Hawking

A Brief History Of Time by Stephen Hawking

Stephan Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time” is exactly the sort of read it promises to be: Absolutely remarkable! To be fairly honest, Stephan Hawking’s ideas may be awesome but what is more awesome is the fact that he has converted
this
 into this
 “A Brief History of Time” is less than 200 pages long, yet it condenses most of the known classical and modern concepts of theoretical physics within its pages. The book is written in a style that is easy to comprehend, at least for those who have some basic knowledge and interest in the field of theoretical physics. Additionally, as promised this masterpiece is made to appear completely non-technical to ensure that the common person, who does not have a background in theoretical physics can also hope to understand it. There are no equations in the book and the language used is quite general considering the subject under discussion and the contents of the book.

The fundamental question at hand throughout the history of theoretical physics and astrophysics has always been the same: How to understand the universe we live in? Or What is the universe we live in? Stephan Hawking attempts to answer this question to some extent, by showing us the path to the Unification of Physics. He argues that if we combine all that is known about matter, energy and forces, we will have one equation that will predict the behavior of the whole universe: its beginning, its end and the time in between. Of course, this is not as easy as it sounds. From Laplace to Einstein to Hawking, himself, the idea of Unification of Physics has remained just that, an idea. However, scientists will continue their search for this equation, which they believe will answer the first of the two fundamental queries that plague the sanity of the human race:

1.       What is the universe?

2.       Why was it created?

Another interesting aspect of “A Brief History of Time” lies within its pursuance of the subject of time itself. Time is a concept that has eluded man since the dawn of human civilization. Ideas like eternity were pursued by our ancestors. However, human beings always believed that where nothing else was constant and eternal, time itself was. Nevertheless, Einstein proved them all wrong. His theory of relativity threw the concept of constant eternal time into the trash. He discovered that time, like space, was relative and that it began with the beginning of the Universe, like space did. He discovered that Space-Time was a relative concept and together constructs the 4-dimensional world we thrive in.

What is more interesting is that while discussing the concept of time Hawking ends up telling us four things:

1.       The History of Time

2.       The History of the Universe

3.       The History of Physics and

4.       The History of some Physicists (including the most intriguing description of Sir Isaac Newton beginning with: 'Isaac Newton was not a pleasant man.' ;-))

His book is a condensed encyclopedia concerning the evolution of Theoretical Physics and also pens a brief story of the evolution of Knowledge itself. Mr. Hawking says: ‘We have certainly come a long way since Aristotle and Ptolemy, when we thought that the Earth was the center of the Universe!’ and shows the truth of this statement throughout the course of his narrative (I say it is a narrative, because this book is more of a story about science rather than a book on science).
It really makes you wonder:

There was one note in the book that really touched a nerve. I suppose there has always been a huge clash between creationists and scientists as far as the truth about everything has been concerned. Of course, the reason being that the Catholic Church was not very kind to scientists in the past; take poor Galileo as an example. The man admitted that he was a Catholic himself and that he believed everything in the Bible which contradicts with science is merely allegorical, but he was still opposed to the extent of boycott by the Church and confinement in the form of house arrest. Nevertheless, that does not mean that one should go explore the universe with idea that there is no God.

For a scientist to make a proper judgment, it is necessary that they should remain objective and let the facts dictate their findings.

Interestingly, Islam has a slightly different perspective on the matter of science. And why wouldn’t it have? I am sure the original Biblical scripture also held a similar view. God has created this masterpiece of a Universe and He wants his creation to marvel at it, to discover its beauty and sing His praises. But for that His creation would actually have go out and ‘look’ at the Universe, ‘observe’ it. That is why God commands men and women to seek knowledge, to travel and to do ‘fiqr’ (contemplation) in the Quran. Additionally, God asks us to seek him through His creations, through the various signs that He is left in the Universe for us to find. He says: ‘And which of His blessings will you deny?’ in Surah Rahman.

What I believe is that it is not so wrong to wonder as Einstein did “How much choice did God have in constructing the universe?” Perhaps, God had infinite number of choices, perhaps, none at all. But that doesn’t disprove His existence. The week and strong anthropic principle itself speaks of this duality. If indeed there are infinite possibilities, why this one? Because, someone somewhere set it to be so. If this was the only possibility, which resulted in intelligent life forms like us, then also how come this one was selected? Because, someone somewhere ordered it to. We will keep on going round and round in this argument no matter where we begin from.

Therefore, Mr. Hawking found a way out. He proposed that we can remove singularities by assuming that the Universe did not really have a beginning and does not have an end in singularities. He claims that if the Universe was merely self-contained with no outside force affecting it. This, if proven, makes the concept of creation invalid. However, Mr. Hawking states that this is merely ‘a proposal’. Even if we say that yes it is true that the Universe is self-contained and that it is running according to a particular set of rules, we still cannot escape the God concept. Why? Because then the question arises, who set it this way? Who chose the equations? Who made it possible for the Universe to survive in this particular manner? And we are back to square one.

What struck me most comprises of two facts:

1.       Mr. Hawking claims that the Universe could have been created without really disturbing the first law of thermodynamics. He states that gravity is negative energy and the mass in the Universe is positive energy. As the amount of mass energy and gravity energy in the Universe are equal therefore, total energy in the Universe remains zero.

This kind of rings a bell for me. If indeed, it is true (not proven yet), it would prove that the Universe was created out of literally NOTHING. That is it came to be from Energy = O!!! (ASTOUNDING!)

2.       Mr. Hawking talks of the Uncertainty Principle, stating that as everything has a dual nature (wave + particle), its velocity and position both cannot be determined accurately. This means, there is a definite limit to the amount of knowledge we can gain about anything.  Intriguingly, that also creates a loophole for the idea of zero intervention by God.

Mr. Hawking grudgingly admits this by quickly stating that the results are so random that they are insignificant. However, there is a tiny fundamental loophole in the idea. So, according to Mr. Hawking himself, if one likes we can assume that this leaves room for God’s intervention in the running of the Universe, which He created according to a set of rules, that are so ordered (BTW the Universe’s order has been spoken off in Surah Ikhlaas long before any of these discoveries) that it is possible for someone who knows that ONE elusive equation to predict everything (ultimately making God, who probably knows the equation He created, All-Knowing and All-Seeing). Again for me this was absolutely REMARKABLE.

Mr. Hawking has written a masterpiece of a book about the Universe and its creation. The book is a must read for any fan of science, theoretical physics or anyone who might have the tiniest interest in the beginning of the Universe and Time itself! :D


4/01/2013

06:29 - 2 comments

Zindagi Gulzar Hai--A closer look

I am sitting here writing this review with a very heavy heart. Umera Ahmed is one of my favourite authors of all time and yet she has written something that falls just short of a complete waste of time. Yes this is a flame review, so beware Zaroon lovers, I am about to seriously bash him!

The only way I can begin to describe “Zindagi Gulzar Hai” is by saying that it is a sad excuse of a book that presents apologetic excuses for women to believe that their abuse by men is normal. It seems to suggest that it is okay for women to compromise in situations where they are being exploited by their spouses and they should thank God in such situations that at least, they are not left alone. Personally, I would prefer to live alone than be abused, but I guess that is just me: an idiot among so many wise women.

“Zindagi Gulzar Hai”, or as I believe it should be named “Zindagi Bohat Kharab Hai”, is a story of a girl named Kashaf Murtaza, who comes to Lahore from Gujrat to do her Masters. When she first comes to Lahore, she is innocent with an average exterior and yet an extraordinary inner self. She is confident in herself, but not in the world. She possesses a very negative perception of the world that she lives in, believing that morality is nothing in a world which is ruled by power, money and beauty. In college, she meets Zaroon Junaid: a guy who represents everything she despises in humanity. He appears to have everything and yet he seems to deserve none of it.

And so begins a clichéd love story where the guy pays no attention to the simple girl from a backward background until she challenges him. She has a way with words that Zaroon cannot ignore and he, like all guys, without realising falls for her spontaneity, passion and volcanic temperament. (What shocks me is that he later describes these things as her character. He says she has a flawless character that no woman of his class could ever have, but that is all based on his encounter with her in the library. And in the library she showed all these three characteristics in describing her high character and his lowly one.) As he tries to get her to become entangled in the web of love he is laying out for her, she discovers his true intentions of trying to defame her in front of the whole university. This leads to a moment of absolute low for Zaroon and a moment of absolute high for Kashaf, when she gives him a piece of her mind and he rewards her with a slap on the face!

When university ends, both Kashaf and Zaroon begin to climb their career ladders separately. They do not cross paths for 7 years, yet Kashaf still harbours hatred and resentment for Zaroon and Zaroon’s crazed love for her takes a toll on his senses. He does not wish to marry any girl that his mother suggests for him and all the while keeps on asking his friends about her whereabouts, consistently denying that he has any feelings for her. When he finally does encounter Kashaf after so many years, she does nothing but humiliate him, finally avenging the slap he had endowed her with in the library so many years prior to their reunion.

However, the more she plays impossible to get for Zaroon, the higher Zaroon gets in his state of crazed maddening love for her. All of this culminates into him finally asking her to marry him and convincing her with his utterly baseless premises. So they get married and then an age of tortured existence begins for Kashaf, disguised almost perfectly in a beautiful costume of romance. It is here that I lay down my argument as to why this book is exactly what I described it to be in my introduction.

1.      Zaroon is a complete nutcase and Kashaf turns a blind eye: If Zaroon was merely possessive and a bit of a control freak, I would say he was just being a regular guy. But no, he took it a step too far! So get this, Kashaf is a mature woman when Zaroon marries her. She has lived a career oriented life for 7 years and has made a respectable place for herself in society as a professional. She, like any other human being, has some likes and dislikes. What she wears is naturally one of them. However, Zaroon wants to change that. He wants her to live the way <i>he</i> wants her to live! And so what does he do? He tells her once, he tells her twice, he tells her thrice and then he loses it. Just because he does not like the colour of her sarri and she wants to wear it to a dinner, he actually psychologically assaults her! He expects her to listen, but when she doesn’t, instead of understanding that she wants to dress the way <i>she</i> wants to dress, he imposes his will on her by physically dragging her to the sink, grabbing her sarri and, literally burning it in front of her eyes! He tells her to wear something else and get ready in 15 mins, otherwise the consequences will be dire. She tries to say something, but she gets told that he will ‘cut her tongue out’ if she says a word!

Now the thing is, if it was me, I would have packed my stuff and walked out, but Kashaf, being the amazing woman she is, did exactly as she was told and this made the crackpot Zaroon sadistically happy. He believed he had broken her as if she was a horse that required breaking or a cat that needed fixing! It made me physically ill to read this passage. After that day, Kashaf stopped talking to Zaroon about her problems. Evidently, she stopped communicating with him. She listened to his problems, helped him with his issues but never shared hers with him. What sort of marriage would you call that? I would say it was an empty meaningless relationship. Not romantic, but torturous!

2.      Kashaf loses her identity: What is more, Kashaf begins to lose her own identity and starts living a robotic, ‘machine like’ life according to Zaroon’s own words. She starts to adopt his likes and forget her own. She ceases to be a feminist like before and ends up being a weakling with an identity that Zaroon assumes to be ideal for her. Her existence is defined by him, when it should be defined by her.

3.     Double standards anyone? Okay, so one of the things that really drove a knife through my poor little heart was the exculpatory attitude the author has towards the double standards in society. Zaroon says, ‘Yes it is right that I had many affairs in the past and I am a down right flirt, but that is fine, because I am a guy. My wife should not be like me. Even if there are one lakh girls in my life, there should be no guy in hers apart from me.’ The thing is Zaroon does not say this once, nor twice, but countless times! I agree that this is the way of our society, but that does not mean it is a correct notion to possess. A guy will be held just as accountable for his actions in front of God as any girl would. This is not portrayed anywhere in this story, and that is what kills me. I mean, the author wrote such a powerful novel in the form of “Peer-e-Kamil” in which she dealt with this idea in detail. Salaar was lost and he found his way back just as Amama was lost and she found hers, after losing almost everything. But in “Zindagi Gulzar Hai”, Kashaf is the only one learning these hard life lessons, Zaroon is not! He loses nothing for his flaws, whereas Kashaf ends up losing her very own identity for hers. She is punished severely for her negativity and Zaroon not at all for his god-like attitude towards life! What philosophy is this? What madness is Ms. Ahmed trying to depict?

4.      Apologetic attitude towards men’s flaws: As you can already guess I am going to possibly term this novel as a downright sexist approach to life, where women are not allowed any mistakes and men can do what ever the hell they want. But the funny thing is, one line made me feel for the guys too. The novel is even more sexist towards men than it is towards women. So, women are doomed to an existence of non-existence, so what? We have lived with that and we will continue to live with that. However, Ms. Ahmed dooms men to an existence of inhumanity! YUP! I am not kidding. I was seriously offended on behalf of the male population out there. She quite literally insinuates that a guy is not a guy if he is good, and a guy is not good if he is truly a guy. I mean WTF?

Kashaf writes in her diary that “He [Zaroon] was very good but he was a MAN, who had his own feelings and who could not bear them to be hurt.” I read this and wished to pull my hair out. I mean what is she trying to say? That a man may be VERY GOOD but because he is a MAN, he can only be as good as his feelings will allow him to be. The moment that they don’t, he will turn into a monster and that is okay, because that is out of his control? Is he that unintelligent and out of control? I mean WHAT? I would love to have ignored this as a character development line that was attributed to Kashaf’s negative attitude to life, universe and everything. However, this is a premise that is warranted by Zaroon’s actual character! He is as good as he is allowed to be by his “manly restrictions on character”. *Rolls Eyes* Zaroon is good to Kashaf but the moment some unknown idiot writes to him about her “ill character”, he accepts it immediately and ends up almost destroying their relationship! He does not think, he does not communicate, he just does. Why? Because, he is a guy and according to Kashaf, guys are inherently retards as far as emotional intelligence is concerned. Double *Rolls Eyes*. Again I am sorry to all the wise women out there, but I will remain an imbecile and keep on having more hope than them in the humanity of the human race.

5.      Zaroon has zero redeeming characteristics as a hero: The last and most important aspect of this novel’s deplorable state is the very fact that its hero has absolutely NO redeeming qualities! Zaroon marries Kashaf, because according to him she is superwoman. She is a career woman who manages her house, husband and children perfectly. She is a woman, whose character is flawless, even if her outward beauty is flawed. She is a woman, who deserves respect and awe! But what about Zaroon himself? What does he have apart from money, status, popularity and power? The answer is simple a marginal sense of humanity. Yes, a MARGINAL sense of humanity. Why, you might ask, am I saying this? Well, to tell you the truth, I did not claim any of this; this is merely an interpretation of Kashaf’s own words! When she is describing Zaroon’s “good” attributes, she enumerates a number of things. For instance,

a.       He does not taunt her about her family background.

I mean wow that is something really good, coz he tends towards an emotional idiot who would do the one thing that will send his wife spiralling back into the world of insecurities. This is something that is expected of him. I am not saying that it is not a good quality. IT IS, and I AM GLAD he does not taunt her, but it is NOT a redeeming quality. It is something that is expected of him. If he is unable to provide emotional security to his wife, he would be deemed as a terrible person. This quality merely makes him a NORMAL human being.

I understand why this would really appeal to Kashaf though, considering she believes men are unable to be NORMAL human beings, because of their horrible reaction to feelings... :@

b.      He allows her to do what ever she wants with her money.

As if that is even something one should be thinking of as redeeming… :S It is her money and she can do whatever she wants with it. She earns it and she has the right to spend it as she wishes. Again I am not saying it is not a good quality. It is, but it does not redeem him, because it is not something that takes him beyond himself. It is a given that he needs to do to be considered a NORMAL human being.  

c.       He marries her despite the status quo. 

I disagree with her that this can even be considered a good quality. He marries her, because of his own selfish desire to find the perfect woman as a life partner. He found it in her and he chose to marry her. Status was something hindering his goal in life and he bypassed it in order to get WHAT HE WANTED. It was not something he especially fought against to make her happy. Rather, she was the one who was going to have to fight against to make her life worth living. She would have to bear his family’s snide remarks and resentful attitude. He did nothing.

And the long passages describing Zaroon’s choice of a girl of character are all wrongly placed. I am not a guy and so I will not presume and state here what type of girls guys usually like. I suppose everyone is different, but generally women who are outspoken and assertive seem to attract a lot of attention. Kashaf was no different; she attracted Zaroon’s attention the same way. She just happened to be a girl of good character to top it off. Truth be told, I believe the library incident was where Zaroon fell for her (my warrant: he keeps on repeating the words she spoke during that incident) and what she did was very similar to what every unassuming girl does and gets attention. She was spontaneous and volcanic! Of course, this is a presumption, and if I am wrong, well then I am wrong… LOL

d.      He is not ashamed of her family background.

Well he better not be… 

The very fact that these qualities need to be laid down are the reason that one starts to wonder about Zaroon. These NORMAL things are something no one would expect of him to do, but he does. That makes it evident that he needs to strive to BE a marginally humane person towards his wife. How is that redeeming? Rather, it serves to prove quite the opposite!

There is nothing redeemable about him. He claims to have realised that money, status and power are nothing in front of love, family and happiness, but that is all talk. He does not practically implement it. He does not try to know her the way she strived to know him. He does not take care of her emotions as she has fought to care for his. He just remains busy in his work and his achievements. The only thing that comes an inch closer towards redemption for him is his attitude towards his kids. He aspires to show them his love in a way that was never shown to him. That is the only thing that he does, which is beyond his self and I am happy I was able to spot SOMETHING.

The funny thing about this story and its author is that, somewhere between the book and the drama serial, Ms. Ahmed realised that such a story CANNOT be sold on TV. A non-redeemable hero is a dramatic nightmare. So she changed the story, elaborating it to make Zaroon into a more redeemable character on screen. I just hope I have a changed view about him towards the end of the serial; otherwise, he is doomed as far as I am concerned.

I can see a pattern that Ms. Ahmed tries to lay in her work. She seems to be laughing at her audience and at her readers by portraying a character as flawed as Zaroon as a handsome, rich and accomplished man. She is playing her readers by the strings, making them love him for all the wrong reasons, only to bring him close to a girl, who appears to love him for the right ones. Pity is that for readers like me, she herself gets laughed at for she gets played by the strings she created to play on others. While women around Pakistan swoon over Zaroon like he is the perfect guy, I look at him and feel sad at his fate. He is doomed to NOT learn to respect women even after being blessed with a wife like Kashaf. He is doomed to have an emotional equivalence of a rock that gets erroded by the gushing river, ignoring the life it supports. He only sees himself and what he needs and wants. He ignores the desires of others and their right to them. For that he becomes the most selfish, insolent no body, lying on a spectrum too far from the perceived perfection that so many women bestow on his character.

I would like to end my long tirade by crediting Ms. Umera Ahmed where she truly deserves credit. The only thing that made the novel slightly worth reading was Kashaf’s spiritual journey. She goes from being angry at God to realising that He is the only constant in this world. Everything may be taken away from her. All sorts of love and support may be lost to her, but the one, which will remain forever by her side and in her heart is God’s love for her and God’s support towards her. She realises that the only being to truly love her forever and ever is her Creator and only He will give her what she needs. He is the only entity that can support her and it is on His sustenance that she survives her ordeals. Everything else is temporary and everything else is meaningless. Her realisation towards the end of the book is the only thing that brought some semblance of satisfaction to me. Nothing else.

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