Thursday, September 07, 2006

Sanity or ........

HE IS THE PRESIDENT OF A COUNTRY!







Is there something for us................?

posted by Arooj Riaz Sheikh @ 2:18 PM 3 comments

Sunday, August 20, 2006

MASS SLAUGHTER


Up a tree!
Ejaz Haider Sunday July 9, 2006
Source : DAILY TIMES

We had the PPP and the PMLN. Then the Great Leader came and felled them so we could have the current League and the brand-new PPP. Why should trees be any different?

XY is environmentally-bored husband;
XX is eco-friendly wife

XX: What’s wrong with saving trees?

XY: Nothing.

XX: Nothing! That’s all you have to say: ‘Nothing!’ If there’s nothing wrong with saving trees, why don’t you protest felling them?

XY: Because making an effort should be calculated on the basis of its chances of success. There is eff-all I can do to save these trees. If I strapped myself to one, I’d die with it; that’s more insane than being a suicide bomber. Besides, my boss thinks if the choice were between driving smoothly and saving trees, he would definitely take the first option.

XX: Your boss is nuts. He knows nothing about the issue. It’s not a choice between smooth traffic and cutting trees. There are other ways to streamline the traffic without killing trees.

XY: He may be nuts but he pays our bills.

XX: Well I’ll give you the low-down on this issue and maybe you could educate him.

XY: Maybe. But saving trees is not high on the agenda of our organisation or for that matter any organisation. Plus if one of your eco-friendly activists would become the chief minister of this province we could support your cause and say cutting trees is bad. Since none of you losers is ever going to be a CM, and the current CM says some trees must go for us to be in the fast lane, that settles the issue.

XX: It’s not just ‘my’ cause; it’s everyone’s cause. You can’t support the CM if his argument is flawed. That’s shameful.

XY: Lemme tell you the story about Mullah Do-Peazza. Shahanshah Akbar said bitter gourd was a good vegetable and Do-Peazza began praising bitter gourd. But then Akbar changed tack and said that bitter gourd was a horrible vegetable so Do-Peazza immediately agreed. Beerbal then taunted Do-Peazza and said he had shifted gears from praising the vegetable to condemning it, to which Do-Peazza calmly replied that he was Akbar’s servant, not the kareila’s. So yes, if you want us to save trees, get an environmentalist elected as CM. We have to live with the CM, not the trees and if the CM says fell the trees since we can grow more, my boss and I agree. What’s wrong with that?

XX: That’s opportunism; sheer poltroonery. You need to take a long-term view of these things.

XY: Call it what you will but while I can stand in front of a tree and say ‘go to hell’, I can’t stand in front of the CM and say that because he would have me arrested. I can’t say that to my boss either because he would fire me. After which, of course, I could hang myself to a tree and commit suicide.

XX: You could hang yourself to a tree and commit suicide only if there was one left!

XY: The CM has said so often that he wants to grow more trees. I think he wants the old trees felled so he can grow more. This is the way things work; old things have to go to make room for new ones. We had the PPP and the PMLN. And then the Great Leader came and felled them so we could have the current League and the brand-new PPP. Now we have good governance. Why should trees be any different?

XX: Because trees are different!

XY: Oh! And by the way, in case you haven’t noticed, the CM has the Chief Minister’s Green Punjab CNG four-stroke rickshaws so he is concerned about the environment. Here’s the logic: we need roads so some old trees have to be felled; but because some old trees have to go, we need to grow more to compensate for the ones that have been, or will be, cut. The CM has also banned vehicles that emit fumes so that some of the environmental damage caused by cutting trees can be balanced by less emissions. You have to give credit where it is due.

XX: You don’t need to cut trees to grow more; and environment is not a balancing act. It’s not like budget making where one cost can be offset by reducing allocations under another head. Gimme a break.

XY: You give me a break. Someone has to tell you environmentalists that the CM is going good work.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I found this piece to be quite interesting!!!! it surely takes one back to the whole development versus environment debate. Why could not the government take into consideration the views of independent urban planners and conservationists when it drew these plans? In this particular case, the heavens would not have fallen if the department concerned had invited the views of any concerned citizens or taken expert assistance from independent conservationists and urban planners. Much has been done to curtail the felling of at least 1873 trees lining both sides of the green belt of the Canal in order to extend the road some 18 feet and add two lanes to either side.


One view of this whole road-widening issue is that the poor and marginalised sections of society, for whom the trees provided welcome relief in terms of shade, have been totally sidelined since wider roads certainly are not needed when one's mode of transportation is one's own feet or, at best, a motorcycle. Leave alone the expense of fatal accidents between fast moving traffic and children playing in Pakistan’s largest public swimming pool.

Also, when one takes into consideration that there are four alternate routes to the Lahore Motorway on the North side of the Canal (Ravi and Saggian bridges, Chowk Yateem Khana and Multan Road), it would seem more expedient to develop these, especially because the traffic congestion issue in North Lahore is far more dire than in relatively less densely populated South Lahore.

The public have been informed that the Canal Road needs to be widened in order to facilitate the mushroom growth of automobile use in the past few years. Moreover, a national newspaper by the Forestry and Environmental Protection Department exhort citizens not to plant eucalyptus trees – the species which most conspicuously line the Canal Road – for this Monsoon trees planting campaign on the grounds that “[they] generate heat and [cause] fires” .Never in my life have I seen a tree on the Canal Road catch or be on fire.
By the way, the roots of these eucalyptus trees soak up the excess water that seeps through the canal, and prevents the excess moisture from damaging houses and buildings built on both sides of the canal.

Noise reduction” is a funny reason for preserving the trees. There are other more annoying noises that are needed to be paid attention to. The proposed four lane Canal Road will forever be bottle-necked every time high-density four lane traffic tries to cram into three lane underpasses. The estimated reduction in travel time between Dharampura and Thokar Niaz Beg on account of an additional lane (calculated on the basis that travel speed will increase from a current average of 45km/h to approximately 75 km/h) is no more than 7 minutes.

On an emotional level, one is reminded of an anecdote of when Queen Anne asked Prime Minister Robert Walpole how much it would be to include a portion of London’s Green Park into Buckingham Palace. He is reported to have told her it would cost “A Monarchy, Madam. A Monarchy.”

Unfortunately, residents of most urban centres in Pakistan are helpless in the face of haphazard and unplanned city development taking place in their midst. Paris and London even dont have such huge boulevards in places that matter for other reasons. The key is traffic management and not plain and simple road widening. Ten years down the line whats then keeping us from adding a 4th lane..or a 5th...whee does it stop?

posted by Arooj Riaz Sheikh @ 6:23 AM 2 comments

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

FLUTTERING THY WINGS



The conventional yet orthodox rule for the gate timings of the institute whereby none of the students are allowed to leave the college before a specific time without any logical explanation as to its obligation, has long been under a lot of scrutiny ever since I joined the college last year. What comes ahead is an attempt to reason with the authorities so as to persuade them to show some relaxation and leniency towards this age old rule existing since time immemorial.

Firstly, the fact that surprises me the most is the absurdity that students at university level, who are old enough to differentiate between right and wrong are still subjected to habituate against such measures. This is a time when ones personality has been groomed and has the capacity to know whats good for them and what is not. Likewise we do not have Parent Teacher Meetings at this level, as the faculty and admin completely agree on the fact that at this stage, the students fully realize their academic responsibility and the consequential repercussions of their particular behavior. Correspondingly the majors they choose for themselves ensures prosperity or downfall in years to come. Universities are based on freedom of knowledge and thought. By binding students to a certain timetable, we are taking the basic freedom of movement and choice from them. The BA/BSC students are surely mature and responsible adults practically prepared to face the world.

The Kinnaird College is an institution dedicated to providing education of the highest quality possible to undergraduate and graduate students. Achieving this goal is dependent upon the creation of campus environments that are both supportive and stimulating, and the provision of a range of experiences in which personal development thrives and learning flourishes.

Just as important as the subject matter of the disciplines we teach; just as important as the creative methodologies that we employ to facilitate learning; just as important as the cases and problems and projects we assign to promote critical thinking; just as important as the opportunities we create to facilitate creativity and enterprise – just as important as all of these things, the campus environment is formative for them and instrumental in their efforts to achieve academic success and personal fulfillment. But does the responsibility end with the provision of a competitive faculty for the college students and the insistence of a commitment by the student to their studies?

The answer to this question is decidedly, no! The authorities too must do more! The opportunities the admin creates and seizes during the four undergraduate years strengthens and enhances the student’s sense of enlightened and responsible human beings. However, in contemporary times, the disciplinary albeit inflexible rules for the gate timings simply hinder the productivity and performance of students. Not to mention the extreme weather conditions further adds to making conditions worse.

I am completely aware of my society’s values and that university students of all ages and backgrounds are engaged in the process of growth and change, these students do internships at firms, participate in different co-curricular activities and functions, invigilate examinations, some of them even support their families by doing part time jobs in call centers and NGOs and many other firms. The idea simply baffles me as how can such a restriction lead to harmony when the students are hardly provided with any alternate facilities on campus.

To start with, we do not even have a sick room incase any of the student require first aid assistance. That is to say, in a state of emergency we are required to call our parents to pick us up if we want to leave the premises, many of whome are at work unable to leave at certain times as the authorities forbid the students to leave with drivers. Adding to that, the corridors are off bounds for students during class times that is to say that they are fenced throughout the day. Likewise, the lawns should not be walked on, leaving the cafeteria as the sole shed to save us from the unbearable heat and rain. To make conditions worse, we are not allowed to sit in the classrooms either, but on second thought, being allowed to sit in the suffocating classrooms with age old fans would hardly help. In such intolerable conditions, maybe the library is the last resort we have, but frankly speaking how many of us can fit in the only library we have?

Do we seriously have no better alternative for students who come to college at eight in the morning for a single class and are restricted from leaving the college until one? Are we seriously led to believe that everyone and anyone who leaves the premises would indulge in a wrongful act of deceit. Then maybe the admin is not aware of the fact that people who have to act that way may do so after 1 p.m too. Neither are they aware of the fact that gate passes officially issued by the faculty members can be easily photocopied as well as forged copies produced due to the incapacity of the gate keepers to read. The authorities might make the implementation of this rule stricter after reading all this, they might even make a literate man sit at the gate, but I seriously have a better option.

Being an ardent believer of the notion that no one else can be a better jugde of ones character than his/her parents. The parents can be asked to issue permission letters to allow their daughters to leave once their classes are over or those students who get free may be given permission letters to leave the college before one like some of the senior student do. Another option can be to facilitate the students by making the time tables more practical especially in times of summer when the heat is totally unbearable. In summers most of the FA/FSC classes are on prep leaves, so it would be far more easier to make use of the abundant classrooms. Such discrimination seems unavoidable due to certain vitiating facilties not provided for by the authorities. This rule certainly has room for improvement.

University/college should show the path. Its upto the students to take that path or not. Our system needs to change. We need to start trusting our youth. This is the only way we can let them be independent. We baby-sit our youth a lot. As a result, when they enter the real-world, they are scared. Universities/College should be a platform where they learn to make decisions on their own, where they learn to pick right from wrong and learn to grow as independent minds. College should groom you for life and not just make you a nerd.


posted by Arooj Riaz Sheikh @ 7:07 AM 0 comments

Saturday, February 18, 2006

VIOLENT PROTESTS!!



"Mocked were many apostle before thee; But their scoffers were hemmed in by the thing thay they mocked " Al-Quran (21:41)


The mayhem in our own country since the past few days to me has been not surprising at all. Whereby some point towards the maulvis having insufficient vote-power yet possessing plenty of street power igniting public emotions, it should be brought to their kind selves that did the “rightly” condemned violent attitudes of the public not get the government into action? (That is not to say that the hostile behavior against our own fellow brothers was well justified.)

At a time when the whole world was protesting against the caricatures, our political parties for most of the bit were either engrossed in deciding on to the Hudood Ordinance bill being passed or the issuance of red notices. So much for having such an administration in an Islamic republic it was surely a wonder that the people did not riot before. Weeks after the publications of blasphemous cartoons in the Danish newspapers, Pakistan finally decided to recall its ambassador from Denmark and it wasn’t until the extreme protests that the leaders begin to state that such violation of muslim’s faith could lead to eroding of west’s goodwill! May I ask, wasn’t such a blow essential for the leaders who only stated that they condemned such perverse attitudes yet failed to show it by any sort of action at all? Clearly, it was so, due to the unchecked and unguided passionate intensity that lead to the undoing.

Moreover, if the west is startled by the emotional intensity of the muslims, let us bring to their knowledge that it was the Europeans who screamed the loudest over the screening of the movie “the last temptation of Christ”. Was it not faith that justified their actions? Howcome the muslims are supposed to be more tolerant and accustomed to the notion of freedom of expression and that of attack.


posted by Arooj Riaz Sheikh @ 11:15 AM 8 comments