Bangladesh! Day One

I think it will be best if I start jotting down my notes from a day to day basis of all I have seen in this fabulous country.

Day One:
Not much to say since most of the day was spent travelling but still...

After a not so long flight and a rather long wait at Immigration, we finally set foot in Dhaka! Of course, the moment we stepped out of the airport, what greeted us was a searing blast of humidity...but nonetheless, given the high levels of excitement of the group, we were all too preoccupied taking everything in to be even the slightest bit wilted by some trifling humidity. At first glance, Bangladesh is green and very very South Asian. The only thing that visually differentiates it from Pakistan are the cycle rickshaws and the Bangla writing everywhere. The buildings are plentiful and its much like any big city across the world, somewhat congested, somewhat poor, somewhat affluent etc etc

The people are very nice and thanks to Bollywood can follow Urdu quite a bit, something to be grateful for when you realise the scarcity of English language speakers in the area. I find myself quite impressed by how everything is written in the national language rather than English at all mainstream locations, it is to be wished that Pakistan would also step out of its colonial mindset on this front.

Anyway, that's really all for now. More exciting news as we proceed further into the actual exposure trip. Up next: travelling to Rangpur and seeing the BRAC head office

Gender, oh Gender

I'm always excited to see women running in elections. Not just the big positions, but also the smaller, lesser-known positions. I am a glass half-full kind of person when it comes to this. After all, not too long ago, the idea of suffrage was laughable and we've progressed [very rapidly] to the point that women everywhere, from all walks of life have the courage and the confidence to propel themselves to positions of power, positions of change. To me the change that is most striking is at the grassroots level--your local governance. Pakistan's provinces are divided into districts, into towns and into union councils. Each council has representation through a local. In the case of one of these, a colleague of my is the councillor for her neighbourhood. You may think that since this is a sort of side-job and not full time, it doesn't count for much but its there and she has the oppportunity to create change in her own home and among her peers in ways that women have been prevented from doing.

But its true that having women in greater positions of power, such as heads of state or presidents of large multinationals or even heads of universities is a big deal. Its the combination of both that will eventually grant women the sort of equality status [in terms of being recognised for having equal intellect and capability as men] that they seek. And we're not there yet, not even close.

I recently read an article from The Guardian by Madeline Bunting which had several key points which I think highlight particularly well how much further we have to go:

"...would President Ségolène Royal have got beyond being routinely referred to as a "glamorous mother of four"? Would President Hillary Clinton still be described as cold and calculating? Would Chancellor Merkel's leadership style still be characterised as one of "female modesty"? And would reporters be able to resist frequent comment on the clothing and hairstyles of these political leaders? Depressingly, the conventions that dominate political reporting seem to cling even more stubbornly to gender stereotypes than the political institutions themselves."

It is interesting, whats even more pointed here is the fact that the reasons why such issues still matter is because we let them matter. However, its not always true, there are pockets where leaders are simply leaders, not men not women, not black nor white, just someone who gets the job done. I think the president of Ireland, Mary McAleese is one such example or Helen Clark of New Zealand. Perhaps because they're not the leader of an all-powerful nation (e.g. America or even Germany) or of a Third World country (e.g. Liberia). And there's a long list of them, just check out Wikipedia under the headings of female heads of state or female heads of government--there's a long list.

I liked what Madeline Bunting went on to say, because it shows you how amazing women are and how savvy they are:

"But what makes the campaigns of both Royal, the socialist presidential candidate in France, and Clinton, bidding for the Democratic nomination in the US, so novel is how both these daughters of the feminist movement are deliberately using these stereotypes, pioneering a new way of women doing politics. Breaking away from a Thatcher model (adopted by Angela Merkel) of never explicitly drawing attention to the fact of one's sex, Royal and Clinton have put the fact that they are women and mothers at the centre of their campaigns. It is a fascinating experiment."

I like that rather than trying to completely ignore or, worse, trying to act in exactly an opposite manner, they have embraced the comments and taken ownership of them. Its a sign of maturity to accept what one is and work forwards from there.

At the end of the day, Bunting's summing up says it all:

"Being the first women to run for president offers a dramatic opportunity for a country to make a fresh start, a sharp break with the past. That is what thrust Michelle Bachelet into power as Chilean president a year ago. She was an icon of a new future for Chile, reconciled after its violent past and emerging from its entrenched social conservatism. Mary Robinson played something of a similar role when she became president of Ireland. Their elections transformed the image of their countries overnight. This is the big pitch of both Clinton and Royal, but there has to be a real hunger for that change - and in neither the US or France is that self-evident."

Now its just a time to wait and watch.

Music

I'm addicted to music. I listen to music all the time, literally. At work, my headphones are regularly plugged into my ears, I listen to the radio in the car and as I type right now, I am also listening. I find it soothing and it helps me focus. My taste in music varies according to mood, I confess I'm one of those people who can listen to the same song over and over again for hours (my roommate freshmen year will attest to that). Its so odd, I find when I reread/redo certain things, they have an accompanying soundtrack!

But what my blog today really ponders on is the quality that lyrics have and how they are a comment on us and on society.

I'm listening to a song which praises India. It is a typical patriotic tune, by this I mean the music has a soaring quality, makes you energised etc etc...I hope you get my drift. The lyrics are, however, what really get me. A professor of mine once talked about how Indians are patriotic to the idea of India, in the sense that they are not bound to the country because the leadership inspires loyalty but the idea that India represents (in a manner similar to Americans and the ideals of liberty, justice, etc.). This song is a perfect example of this quality. The first few lyrics read:

"Tere jaisa koi bhi nahin hai...mai gaya jahan bhi, bus teri yaad ki...sab se pyaari teri surat, pyaar hai bus tera, pyaar hi, ma tujhe salaam, ma tujhe salaam, amma tujhe salaam..."
[I apologise for the translation]: "there is no one comparable to you...wherever I sang, I always had you in my mind/memories...yours is the most beautiful countenance, I have love for only you, for you, mother greetings/peace to you, mother greetings/peace to you, Ma greetings/peace to you..."

Music is an integral part of society and it similar to art (!) reflects on the state of society in a way that is unique and very telling. Think of songs such as "God Bless America" I have to admit that patriotic songs and such like make for the most interesting study for me personally. For instance, the national anthem [we can safely say that national anthems are perhaps the most revealing about the image a country wishes to project] of Pakistan is in Farsi [Persian]? Explain that to me? What does that say about a nation that has never really identified with her Persian heritage? One that has carefully simulated an Arab/"Islamic" persona and a non-Indian one? Is it a throwback to the days when Persian was the court language before Urdu and Hindi? So many questions, rarely are there any answers on my part...and I apologize but this blog is a space for me to ponder my thoughts "out loud"

In truth, we have a sleuth of national songs, some of which aren't strictly patriotic [in the sense that they laud the country specifically] but have been ingrained into our minds as "Pakistani" songs. Perhaps the most well known and most beautiful songs is Iqbal's poem 'Lab pe Aati hai' [And here I really apologise to Dr. Iqbal for my butshering of his lyrics in translation]:

"Lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna meri
[My desires come to my lips as prayers]

Zindagi shamma ki surat ho Khudaya meri
[that my life may be as a shining/guiding light, O God]

Door duniya ka mere dam se andhera ho jaiye
[that my life may keep darkness away from this world]

Har jaga mere chamakne sai ujala ho jaiye
[May my brightness light up all dark corners]

Ho mere dum se yohe mere watan ki zeenat
[May my actions bring my country admiration]

Jistara phool se hoti hai chaman ki zeenat
[As a flower brings magnificence to a garden]

Zindagi ho meri parwaane ki soorat ya rab
[that my life may be like that of a moth that loves light and flies into it, O God]

Ilm ki shama se ho mujko mohabat ya rab
[that I may love the light of knowledge, O God]

Ho mera kaam ghareebon ki himayat karna
[that my work may be the care of the poor]

Dardmandon se, Zaeefon se muhabbat karna
[and the care of the weak and elderly]

Mere Allah! Buraee se bachana mujhko
[O god!, save me from my sins]

Naik jo raah ho us rah pe chalana mujhko."
[And help me stay on the right path]

This poem was written prior to the formation of Pakistan and quite frankly is meant to be a song about children who are the hope of the future and not just of Pakistan but for any place any where. Its a beautiful sentiment nonetheless.

As I think of more Pakistani songs that are patriotic, they make me think of the similar ideals that are espoused by the Indian song I quoted earlier:
"sohni dharti, Allah rakhe, qadm qadm abaad tujhe, tere har aik zara hum ko apni jaan se pyaari, tere dum se shaan hamaari, tjuh se naam humara, jub tuk he yeh duniya baqi, hum dekhe azad"
["O wonderful land, may God keep you vibrant at every footstep, every part of you is dear to us, our magnificence comes from you, you make our name, till the end of this world, we will be free"]

Despite Pakistan's [or more strictly the government's] somewhat desperate desire to be 'other' than India, it can be said that we haven't really succeeded, not just in trivialities like music but our general culture and the many remnants of it that have little to do with Islam but everything to do with the Subcontinent and it keeps popping out, whether we are refering to traditional superstitions (e.g. women wearing kaali poth) or whether we are referring to the celebration of spring (basant).

National identity is not formed according to new propoganda alone, it is an ever continuous process and one that cannot be deleted and changed easily. Think of Pakistan as a 59 year case study in the futility of such plans.