Category: Uncategorized

The Remains of the day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Audiobook

Running length around 7 hours

Genre- Fiction and Prose

Spoilers; None

Rating- 2/5 since I am not a big fan of such Murakami like novels!

This is one of those novels where the Journey is important rather than the story!
The vivid description of the events seen as mundane and normal to normal people like me is made into a novel which started so well!

Being a strong believer of closure, it is a very disappointing thing to me when there is none in the novel! The open ending is supposed to make the reader think and maybe re evaluate his or her life!

I mean, life is so unpredictable and the only place where we can predict or give an ending is a novel or a movie! When even that is taken away form us and left to our imaginations, it is really frustrating!

In one word you can tell the novel is a serious version of P G Wodehouse’s classic Jeeves! The work of a butler and the knowledge and seriousness involved has been told very well in the novel which probably is the saving grace!

So after stories and memories and narration of the life of a butler, you are presented with the ending which frankly makes me feel Murakamised! That is what I call when the ending is sudden and there is no closure!

People who are reading literature would love this one and may come behind me with pitchforks! But with all the stories and incidents told in the novel, there is not one story or instance which gets a proper closure! Be it his own life as a Butler, his job of explaining the Bird and bees!, his father and what happens with him and finally his associate.

Even thoughts about his masters is left for open interpretation! So the reader has to do most of the work!

Of course these are the novels which go on to win the Booker Prize and stuff while the average reader like me is left with thinking where to stuff that book…er!

Till the very end though, it was a simple enough story which does keep you giving some attention and you can get to know that the Butler is made of a heart of stone with no emotion and his whole life he wants to be the best butler as if that is the best job in the world! If what he did or does is right or not is up to you to read and suffer…I mean infer!

Pashtun a contested legacy by Tilak Devasher

Tilak was the security advisor and has written three other books about Pakistan and Baluchistan. Though this is not a series, it is highly recommended that you read this after the earlier books. Alternatively you can read my summary of those books before you read this one.

This is a very long review of the book which is non fiction so no spoilers!

In case you do read the book then it’s like a revision or preview and in case you don’t then it’s a summary with the essential points covered first hand.

A big 5/5 for the extensive analysis and research! In some places though it becomes repetitive so be patient! Its a long book but really interesting especially in the present situation.

So basically this is a book about Pashtuns who straddle an area of more than 100000 square miles! This Pashtunia is divided by British era Durand line into Afghanistan and Pakistan! So despite being the largest muslim tribal population in the world, they are without a state of their own!

So as the history goes, in 1975, Ghaffar Khan’s son, Wali Khan, the National Awami Party leader, was asked to clarify whether he was ‘a Mus-lim, a Pakistani or a Pashtun first. His famous reply was that he was ‘a six-thou-sand-year-old Pashtun, a thousand-year-old Muslim and a twenty-seven-year-old Pakistani!

What is in a name? Pakhtun vs Afghan vs Pathan vs Pashtun! The author explains the nomenclature in this! As far as the language goes, you have the language Pakhto in the north vs Pashto in the south!

Every major country has invaded this area including UK, Russia and America. They finally had to sit in the negotiation table since Pashtuns do not know defeat!
Then the author talks about the Khyber pass which can be crossed only with either lots of money or lots of force!

How Pashtuns who have migrated out have settled and made a great name for themselves like Khiljis, Lodhis and Suris is well described in the introduction.

All rulers in Afghanistan have more or less been Pashtuns! and many such leaders in Pakistan and India are Pasthuns!

The origin and the notority of Quetta and the Hindu Khush mountain pass is described as an introduction of the gloom to come!

The Origin of the pasthuns is then described with various theories of Indian and even as far as Jew origin! The belief of course if the direct link to the Holy Prophet and that has been described in detail. The author also described the original tribes of Abdali and Lodi and others.

The next chapter is the Characteristics of tribes and starts by saying that the Pasthuns are regarded as perhaps the most highly segmentary ethnic groups in the world! So each 350 tribes are composed of khels or clans who are in turn divided into family groups called Kahols! each Kahol is made up of nuclear family called Koranays!

The jirga, the assembly of adult male Pashtuns, is an indigenous institution to discuss, deliberate and mediate on specific questions and provide a mechanism for speedy conflict resolution in Pashtun so-ciety. Its decisions are based on a combination of the sharia and Pashtunwali. Key features of the jirga include people sitting in a large circle in the open to avoid even symbolic hierarchy, and hin which there is no place for the mullah; he sits on the side and prays for the success of the jirga; the mashars or spin giris (white-bearded elders), because of their knowledge and experience, play an important role in the deliberations; the jirga rules by consensus.

The term used in mediating disputes is teega that means a fixed date until which all hostilities between warring factions are to be suspended. The tribe holding the jirga then ensures the implementation of the teega. According to Akbar Ahmed, there is an interesting theory that this custom derives from a pre-Islamic Rajput practice of writing an agreement on a stone and placing it at a place selected by the tribe.

A jirga can often sanction the formation of lashkars (tribal militia) for maintenance of law and order, self-defence, along with the enforcement of the jirga’s deci-sions. The lashkar is thus the military arm of the jirga for the formation of which tribesmen are called to fight and each family contributes manpower and weapons. Lashkar, as used in the tribal sense can be employed as a crusade or a holy war!

Hope these terms can clarify so many groups which we listen in the news!

The concept of jirga has changed since the 1980s, when the emergence of the mujahideen created a new type of leadership in FATA, not based on lineage or official position.

During the anti-Soviet war, under the influence of the Arabs, a new institution came into use in Afghanistan: shura, that was an Arabic term referring to the first meetings of the Muslim ummah. There are several differences between jirga and shura. The shura is more representative in character, has a relatively permanent membership, and meets more regularly.
Jirgas, on the other hand, meet ad hoc when a problem arises.

One of the constants in Pashtun history is the abiding and intense rivalry between the Durranis and the Ghilzais. This division between these two confederacies has been at the root of centuries of conflict and intrigue in Afghanistan.

Pashtunwali; may God keep you away from the venom of the cobra the teeth of the tiger and the vengeance of the Afghans! An advice given to Alexander!
This is very important since they are born warriors!

The author talks about the unique and defining code of Pashtunwali or ‘the way of the Pashtun!’

Defending of honour with weapon!

An extreme example of this, according to Akbar Ahmed, involved a woman, the most sensitive subject where a man’s hon-our is concerned. It tells of a man who gave shelter to a couple escaping from a tribal feud and asked his oldest son to care of them. Before long, the son developed a relationship with the man’s wife. The man complained to the host, who responded by arranging a feast. At the end of it, the host asked everyone to say a prayer, then pulled out his revolver and shot six bullets into his son. After the forty days of Islamic mourning, the host called on the man to shoot his wife with the same revolver and uphold his honour. Upon her death, the host adopted the man as his own son and arranged a marriage between him and his dead son’s wife!

Giving hospitality to guest is one of the prime aspects of afghan honour! This is done without expecting anything from the guest. A recent example of this was Mullah Omar refusing to hand over Osama bin Ladin who was his guest the Americans. Or even to fellow Muslims! Here he prioritised his Pashtunwali over Islamic principle!

A whole chapter is dedicated to the struggle and backwardness of women and their oppression. Lack of opportunities and restrictions; many are known and some are elaborated by the author in detail including the role of Tablighi Jamaat and Taliban.

Language belongs to the indo-iranian branch of Indo- European family.

The history of Afghanistan from the kings to the leaders has been extensively described. He talks about Ahmed Shan Durani’s empire and his legacy

The role of British via East India Company and this area has been discussed in detail since for the British, the security of its colony in India was the primary objective and to achieve this they had to maintain peace along the North West frontier.

The various moves for primacy made by Britain and Russia in the nineteenth century in Central Asia and Pashtunistan was given the moniker of the Great Game!

The Durand Line named after Mortimer Durand in an agreement between Abdur Rahman Khan the Amir of Afghanistan and Durand who was the Foreign secretary of Indian demarcated spheres of influence between British India and Afghanistan.
The important thing to note is that NO Afghanistan government has every recognized this as the international political border. And several other controversies associated with this has been discussed in detail.

An interesting chapter on Non violence and that too much before Gandhi has been described! He talks about Ghaffar Khan or Frontier Gandhi or Badshah Khan or Baccha Khan! It was an eye opener for me especially when I read through the narration of principles of Non violence or Khudai Khidmatgar!

A complex myriad of problems in the NWFP or the province controlled by British where the muslim majority actually voted for Congress. Ghaffar Khan had the support and hope that this region will become a part of India. But a muslim majority region becoming a part of India was not comfortable to both Lord Mount Batten and Jhinnah and it was a losing battle from there.

The FATA or the federally administered tribal areas is the hinge that joins Pakistan and Afghanistan, geographically and strategically. The The author describes the division and the areas of this control. He also summarises the regions in the area. While It is possible to consider the FATA as a Single entity each of the seven agencies has its special tribal geographic socieconomic and religious characteristic.

Pakistan’s policy towards Afghanistan has been described and discussed in detail though two statements can give you an essence. One is made by Pakistan president Ayub Khan, “The Afghan are not Muslims nearly as much as they are opportunists!”
While another view from Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is, “The problem fundamentally is not about peace with Taliban. The problem is fundamentally peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan”!

A very interesting piece of history is mentioned here. When Zial Ul Haq was reeling in non cooperation from the world because of his hanging of president Bhutto; the invasion of Afghanistan by Russia was a godsend! Now the US and Saudi countries had to support Pakistan and Pakistan slowly made sure via Madrasas and other measures to increase the islamization of Afghanistan!

It was supposed to be a real Islamic state, part of a pan-Islamic revival that will one day win over the Moslems in the Soviet Union! Zia declared that Pakistan and Afghanistan would establish a confederation in which Pakistanis and Afghans could travel freely back and forth without passports! Zia’s goal was not limited to Afghanistan. But he spoke about expanding Pakistan’s sphere of influence to control Afghanistan, then Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and then Iran and Turkey!
Accordingly, Gen. Mohammed Aziz, who was involved in the Zia plan, was elevated to a key position by General Parvez Musharraf. The Taliban are not just recruits from “madrassas” but are on the payroll of the ISI!

Blowback from training Jihadis and Taliban fighters means that once the Jihad is over they will come back to Pakistan! Along with their ideology, drugs and weapons!

This gave birth to a ‘Kalashnikov culture’ in the country. Steve Coll estimates that by 1992, Afghanistan had more personal weapons per head than India and Pakistan com-bined: the Soviet Union pumped in military equipment worth between $36 billion and $48 billion, while the US, Saudis and Chinese supplied between $6 billion and $12 billion worth of aid.17 It is estimated that the US, between 2001 and 2021, supplied weapons worth $85 billion to Afghanistan, a large portion of which were left behind when they withdrew in August 2021. Many of these weapons have found their way or will find their way into Pakistan and especially into Kara-chi, where resultantly the law-and-order situation had deteriorated sharply in the 1990s. The apprehension was that a similar situation could arise again!

The whole fiasco of Afghanistan, America and Russia can be summarised in a very simple way. Initially Afghanistan wanted help from the US. But US did not want to antagonise Pakistan so they did not help!
They actually sent a hand delivered insulting note to the Afghanistan ambassador to reject and actually advise them to better the relations with Pakistan!
Afghanistan. Afghanistan took the help of Russia! Then Afghanistan thought that they could control Russia, while Russia thought they could control Afghanistan!

A whole chapter on the rise and hold of Mujahudeen has been described in detail. This is one of the best chapters in the book on the rise of groups based on personal agendas. And finally their fall!

Hekmatyar’s failure to establish himself in Kabul led Pakistan to realize the futility of continuing its support for his faction.
The ISI turned its eyes to the new force that emerged in Kandahar: the Taliban, drawn primarily from the ranks of Ghilzai Pashtuns and who had studied in Pak madrassas.

The role of US in the development and propagation of Mujahideen is very well elaborated. The US wanted to get back at Russia for their support to Vietnam against America so US in an operation code named Cyclone gave financial and technical assistance to any anti Russian fraction in Afghanistan! Along with Saudi Arabia matching the same dollar by dollar!

The creation and formation of Taliban right from a small meet of 50 people without a name as an answer to the corruption and atrocities done by the Mujahideen after the departure of Russia. To the phenomenon which it is today has been extensively discussed and is an amazing chapter.
Starting with the first major leader Mullah Omar who was initially a Mujahideen. The chief difference between Al Qaeda and Taliban was the issue of Sufi Shrines. While Al Qaeda held worship to be unislamic innovation and an insult to their Wahabi sensibilities while Mullah Omar had great regard to his Sufi teacher and his shrine.

In summary the author states concludes that Scholars have sought to make a distinction between ‘Old Taliban’, ‘Neo-Taliban’ and ‘Pakistani Taliban. The Old Taliban were Pashtuns who came to the fore out of the anarchy of the post-Soviet Afghanistan (1988-94) and established their rule in Afghanistan in 1996. They were removed in October 2001, in the post-9/11 US Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).
Neo-Taliban were those Taliban who came to the fore during the post-9/11 US attacks on Afghanistan. Their motivation was their anger at the corrupt governance of the post-9/11 Afghanistan and the high-handedness of the US and NATO forces. The Pakistani Taliban were those who were motivated by grievances against the state!

The formation of THE TEHRIK-I-TALIBAN PAKISTAN (TTP) in December 2007 and the role of Lal Mosque has been very well explained in the next chapter.

A whole chapter has been given on drone and the drones strikes which the US has been very successful in implementing. And the role of Pakistan has been told to be duplicitous! Openly they oppose the strike, but they give ground support! A very interesting war on terrorism indeed!

15 AUGUST 2021 WILL GO down as another seminal date in the history of Pash-tunistan, when the mainly Pashtun Taliban drove into Kabul to re-establish the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan! The resurgence of taliban 2.0 has been disused here.

The big review and the much bigger book has 20-30 percent of references! Shows the amount of research which has gone into this huge work!

Give it a go!

Done completely in pen in between OP!
Both the sketch and this blog are personal and dear to me.

Please go through it and let me know your honest opinions…

I remember the first time we had a class on the sex organs of the body in the 9th grade. My teacher took and easier route, she made me read the whole chapter in a straight flow while my classmates huddled together and listened with mildly suppressed smiles! No questions were allowed and no one lifted his or her head! The boys and girls sat separately and no one ever discussed this again! No questions were asked in the tests and no assignments were asked to be submitted!

That in a nutshell was the sex education we received in school when we were in the grade when most had just reached or attained puberty and had loads of questions which no one knew the answers to!
Discussions were done in hushed voices among your peers with giggles and half information and plenty of misinformation!

I am thus glad that after so many years, there comes a movie which is revolutionary!

After so many duds in the OTT and even otherwise, you get a fresh lease of life with Oh My God 2! The first movie was a masterpiece and had set a legacy which was difficult to follow, much like Munna Bhai. But the sequels in both these not only elevated the premise, but also made it better!

It is sad that the one thing which is common to each and every person in the world which is finding out about his or her own body, is the topic people get red faced to talk about!

The talks of ‘Private Parts’ are given in private and in hushed tones with caution!

So just like how Maha Kaal in the movie says, it is about your body so discuss it openly! and without fear and shame!

A mainstream commercial movie with such a big star cast talking about Masturbation and Sex organs and Good and Bad touch is a refreshing change indeed!
As Tripathi makes us realize in the movie, it is vulgar only if your thought is vulgar. It is an act which is natural and normal and there must be no shame in talking about it.

The very fact that he talks about how Sanathana Dharma has actually consistently and openly spoken about this topic shows how developed our culture was even before people in the world were waking up! How they point out books like Pancha tantra or Kama Sutra and tell about the statues in Ajantha Ellora caves shows the open mindedness of our ancient teachers and artists.

Of course the clever use of Religion in the movie along with the amazing Akshay as Maha Kaal and the symbolism is the heart and soul of the movie! But even if you think of the scenes with Maha Kaal as figment of the Tripathi’s imagination, the fact of the matter and the crux of the movie is the acceptance that sex education is a vital and necessary component of our education system. Yes, you have a ton of information on the web but that is simply too much scrambled data open to misinterpretation.

Of course the concept of sex education does not mean that you get a subscription to a porn site! It means that everyone must be taught the physiology and biology of sexual organs and how they work and what is the correct process. Just like any other subject. Tripathi also adds that only a person trained and knowledgeable in this can actually be clear on what he or she wants and he or she will have respect and understanding of the feelings of the opposite gender.

He also states how actually before the British added their dictum and modification, there was sex education teaching done in Bharat and was in fact a part of Gurukul. How they amended the education and now claim to be the modern educators of the world!

Now as shown in the movie Pankaj is a reflection of the mindset of the society and only Maha Kaal and the poor doctor (liked that part!) understand the boy! The movie then shows how first the parent and then the family and then finally the society accepts something which is the universal truth! Sex is natural and everyone must know about it. When you give titles like sin and wrong, then it becomes an issue.

Even in the movie, whether you believe in God or not, it is shown that God will only guide! The work has to be done by yourself (not withstanding couple of incidents which can be attributed to creative liberty!).
Like how the adage goes, God helps those who help themselves.

The fact of the matter though remains that it is a long road to go, but I am happy that the journey has begun!
A must watch movie with your kids especially if they are teens! Watch it with them, do not be embarrassed.

‘Tum bhi Rakho Viswas, kyu ki tum ho shiv ke paas!’
Har Har Mahadev!
Shubh Ratri…

“The Courage to Be Disliked” by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

Audiobook

Genre- Self help

Rating- 4/5 May need multiple listening to fully understand the essence of the book

Running length is around 5 hours or so

The whole book is like a Q and A between a Philosopher and a new Student. The author states that sometimes the student can be either him or anyone else.

The whole outlook of a dialogue and debate driven book is really interesting when you take into consideration that most discussion must be like a discussion and not like a sermon!

The book actually states how Socrates even though was much ahead of his time and wanted his point to be put across, he never wrote a thing and actually spent his time in discussion and open flow of ideas. In fact as mentioned in the book, it was finally his student who put the Socrates methods and teachings in a book!

Another chief genre of psychology introduced (or rather re-introduced!) is the the individual psychology of Alfred Adler, called the Adlerian Psychology! In fact the whole book is an introduction and extensions of this method.

The book goes into how it is different from Freudian methods of cause and affect and how it both Adler and Sigmund Freud were equal in terms of experience but they went their separate ways since the methodology was different.

The basic premise of separation is that while Freudian psychology puts too much importance on the situation and reasons why you performed a particular action like your childhood or financial situation. The Adlerian Psychology gives importance to the actions itself!

Like if you are getting angry, it is in fact completely in your control! You had decided to get angry and did it! What happened around you to make you angry is not relevant!

The student and the teacher go back and forth and the discussion moves on to a debate with the student not agreeing initially and later accepting it!

Apparently the most famous books like Dale Carnegie’s how to win friends and influence people and many others are based on this psychology and have in fact mentioned it!

It also mentions how you are not supposed to tell your child to do his or her work but simply tell her or him that you are there for him or her and he or she must do his role!

At one point the author says not to worry about the past and at another he tells not to think about the future much to the frustration of the student and the reader! The students asks the very questions which goes through the reader! So in that way it is an interesting ping pong match!

Some of the concepts went way over my head and it is understood that it needs another look!

All in all a very interesting and new concept and a must have self help book!

The core matter is that you must not wait for the validation of others. You cannot make everyone happy and if someone is not happy with you it is still ok!

The only way you can be happy is that at some point in spite of doing your actions or role in the society you will have the courage to be disliked and you are ok with it!

12 Rules for life; an antidote to Chaos by Jordan B Peterson

 

Self help non fiction book genre

Audiobook

Running length around 15 hours which can be reduced to around 9 hours or so by increasing the speed of narration. I would specially recommend that for this book since it becomes preachy in places and you will end up feeling, “Get to the point already”!

Overall rating is 1 out of 5 though the narration of his own problem with his daughter in the end deserves a rating of 5!

The introduction is really amazing which may be one of the reasons why my final rating is so low! It is a typical case of raised expectation!

There is a sequel to this apparently best selling novel and I am seriously thinking what the ### is wrong with the world!

So the author who is a psychologist by profession, starts by how one of his comments (answer) in the app QUORA got him lots of views and how a publisher reached out to him. Those points are the basis of his rules for life.

I will enumerate the rules which are more or less self explanatory.

Stand up straight with your shoulders back! Meaning you must be confident

Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping

Make friends with people who want the best for you

Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today

Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them

Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world

Pursue what is meaningful

Tell the truth or at least do not lie

Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t

Be precise in your speech

Do not bother children when they are skateboarding

Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street!

 

Now, most of these rules sound very good and are self explanatory and the author has made good in listing them! My opinion is that he should have left it at that and not explained too much! The reason is that unlike the amazing book 48 laws of power in which the author explains each law in detail and with examples and with counter, here the author just dives into sermon mode!

More than half the content of the book is sermons and narrations from the Bible! Every other passage a revelation from the Bible comes with a story and the author sounds like the father in the early morning church on a Sunday! Now, I have no objection in listening to the sermons from the Bible or any other holy book for that matter but if I have to listen to a sermon then I would prefer to listen to the original! I would prefer to go to the church or a temple! Why to listen to a second hand narration!?

The author tries to take examples from his personal life and practice and fails miserably! He tells the story about his friend who was lost and depressed and he could not save him! In fact he did not even try! Now why would he tell about such a depressing story in a book which is supposed to be self help?

A depressed person would become more depressed after reading the passages of this book!

And his beating around the bush to come to the point will actually increase your pressure when you have taken up self help book to calm your mind!

Many times the author is so confused that the passage is clear!

The only thing good about the whole book is the narration of his personal life and his daughter and what a great fighter she is! She is definitely an amazing girl! But the author there also injects his negativity and almost spoils it!

One of the most depressing self help book I have had the misfortune of listening to! You can torture yourself and that your rule and your life!

 

 

The Baluchistan Conundrum by Tilak Devasher

Tilak Devasher the author; retired from the cabinet secretariat, Government of India, as Special Secretary in 2014. During his professional career with the cabinet secretariat, he specialized in security issues pertaining to India’s neighborhood. Post retirement, he has continued to take a keen interest in India’s neighborhood with special focus on Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. He has written articles for The Economic Times, The Indian Express and many others.

This is the third book By Tilak Devasher and is almost like a series but this can be read independently since the previous two books are not directly related to this one.

This is a non fiction analysis which can be seen as an extension of a news report! The review is thus a summary of the chief points in the book to get a gist of the whole book. No spoilers and no reveals since the references are open and freely available. Those who do not read the book will get the summary while those who do read the book will get a preview!

The author starts with the introduction and the the placement of Baluchistan like how it sits astride the straits of Hormuz, one of the choke points of Indian Ocean! and finally the the division of Baluchistan

He then explains the huge assets in Balochistan and its economic importance

He mentions about the levies and police which were A areas and B areas

Statistical analysis reveals that Balochistan is 44 percent of the landmass of Pakistan! but it has the population of only 3.5 percent!

The authors tells about the hunting of Houbara Bustard which is a rare bird and is close to extinction is slated to be a foreign policy!

“A Baloch may be born without socks on his feet but when he grows up every step he takes is on gold!” is a saying in Balochistan! Which is of course a reference to the extremely rich mineral deposits in and around Balochistan!

The disparity is obvious in this single line. “Balochistan produces 45 percent of Pakistan’s natural gas but consumes only 17 percent of it”

History and origin of Baloch itself is controversial and the author tries to give information on this with an open conclusion.

Tribal system and Sardari system has been described which makes for an interesting read.

The collective character of the Baloch is manifested in what is called, ‘Balochmayar or the Baloch code of Honour’; A Baloch would be willing to sacrifice all including his life to protect it. How this code of a Baloch chief saved Humayun and how if not for that, the whole history of Mughal India would have altered!

Baloch-Pashtun divide; it is believed that the word Pashtun or Pathan is derived from the sanskrit word ‘Prathisthan’ or people who are established and command respect in society!

He talks about the Zikr (remember in Arabic) sect and how they are different from the orthodox Muslims

Hazaras are Shia Muslims migrated from Afghanistan after being persecuted. A sad saying is that a Hazara is born in Afghanistan, grows up in Pakistan and buried in Iran.

They were amused that the author knew that uru meant village, arisi meant rice and tanni meant water even to me from distant southern India.? Interestingly, Eelam (which means’independence’ in Tamil) was the name of a Brahvi-Urdu weekly that started publication in 1960 and had exhorted the government to promote both Brahvi and Ba-lochi.

Baloch-Brahvi differences? both cite a book called Koord Gal Namik written by Akhund Saleh Mohammed where it asserts that Baloch are Kurds while Brahvis are one of the tribes of Kurds.

The earliest signs of Baloch consolidation is to the confederacy of forty four tribes under Mir Jalal Khan in the twelfth century who is regarded as the founding father of Baloch Nation. Mir Chakar Rind was another ‘Great Baloch’ describing his rule as the golden age of Baloch. Mir Ahmad Khan as the khan of Kalat for establishing the first Kalat confederacy.

Kalat state of Baluchistan counted as a Princely state but wanted to deal with the Bristish directly like Nepal. In fact as late as June 1947 Jinnah assured Kalat of the continuance and safeguard of its independent status.
Treaty or communique dated 11 august 1947 in fact states that the government of Pakistan recognizes Kalat as an independent sovereign state.
Mountbatten though did not sign the treaty which made a feel of the declaration inoperative since it does not signal the recognition of the British.

A big issue was the erroneous reporting in AIR about a comment by V P Menon while no such comment was made! The premier Khan of Kalat then being extremely upset at this dismissive manner of treatment started the negotiations with Pakistan! India was anyway busy with Kashmir and Hyderabad that they were unable to evaluate the strategic significance of a sovereign Baluchistan. A big opportunity lost!

In the brief time when Kalat was independent, they even had an embassy in Pakistan with their own flag! Then the Pakistan army conquered Kalat and the Khan was forced to sign the instrument of ascension.

The chief role of British government was in question; initially they wanted an independent Balochistan. Later, Pakistan’s position during the rise of Russia, became very important (just like how US supports Pakistan now). So they later started proceeding in such a way that Balochistan will become a part of Pakistan! A strategic move because of vested interest.

Pakistan had signed a Standstill Agreement with Kalat on 11 August 1947. It had signed a similar Standstill Agreement with the Maharaja of Kashmir in August
1947. Pakistan broke both these agreements. Its subsequent history would show similar disdain for international commitments.

Insurgencies and revolts galore in the history of Baloch. Promises made even on holy Koran were broken by the pakistan army with impunity and several such incidents are enumerated by the author.

After the creation of Bangladesh; every move by the Baloch leadership was seen with suspect so much so that all major posts and leaders were either banned or arrested and a massive anti insurgence program was instituted.
Till Gen Zia Ul Haq came and ended the military insurgency. He returned properties, terminated cases and stopped military action! The effect was two and a half decade of peace! Most leaders of the insurgency either went underground or emigrated to neighboring Afghanistan. Of course the peace was deceptive since though the insurgency was ended, the Baloch conflict remained. The four year old long insurgency had politicized populace, aroused nationalist feelings and more bitterness and above all instilled in Baloch feelings of unprecedented resentment and widespread hinger for a chance to vindicate their national honor. The claim for regional autonomy gave rise to the claim for independence.

In topic of Bureaucratic under representation it has been stated that of the 830 civil posts in Baluchistan itself in 1979 only 181 were locals and that too in the junior posts. On top of this under the Domicile quota there were many non Baloch who were occupying the post by using forged documents.

Under representation of Baloch in Pakistan army is an under statement! There are a few hundred in the whole Pakistan army! While the famous Baloch regiment has no Baloch in it!
Baloch has 750 of the 1100 km coastline but there is not a single seaman in the Navy belonging to Baloch!

Education; Tilak talks about high illiteracy and low education and he tells about low female education and Ghost schools! Apparently there are schools only on paper! 15000 teachers and 900 schools get funds and salaries every month but they do not exist!

Huge mismatch between Balochistan Potential and the policies that have been followed by the successive governments.
Main issue is the Natural Gas! Till 1955-69 the share of Balochistan in the production of natural gas in Pakistan was over 91 percent but the share of consumption is over 2 percent though now it is close to 7 percent but still woefully inadequate!

Rich in resources such as Coal and copper but underutilised. Fisheries also suffering.

The issue of water also comes up since Baluchistan supplies over 81 percent of apples produced in Pakistan but now it is on the brink of a water crisis.

low poverty and Human development index have been enumerated with data and census along with low socio economic development.

Electricity- Balochistan contributes to 2280 MW of electricity to the national grid! Ironically the province gets less than what one power plant at Uch in Balochistan generates! So despite generating so much of surplus, Balochistan would not get more than 650MW unless the transmission capacity in the province is enhanced.

Balochistan has the poorest social indicators in the country. Less educated and less urbanized. MMR is the highest in Pakistan and only around 43 percent are immunized against a national average of 78! IMR is also high which is 158 out of 1000 children; a figure even worse than the 126 in Republic of Congo!

The author has given an extensive comparison with Punjab under expected lines for everyone to see! The rates follow the same pattern like one example; The annual growth rate in Punjab is around 9.1 while in Balochistan it is -3! A result of these indices, the author concludes that the consequent feeling among the Baloch being second class citizens is thus quite natural.

Gwadar; a topic discussed in length by the author about a potential tourist destination and a reference point for what could be the future. It became a part of Pakistan in 1958 after 174 years of Omani rule. There was plans to develop it as an alternative to Karachi! Then he talks about US interest, Russian interest and finally Chinese! Water crisis is a big issue here also. So much so that an advisor asked, ‘How can you build a major port or a city when there is no water?’ Then fishing crisis! Trawlers paying bribes and depleting fish stocks! and not to be far behind Land scam! Land has been sieged by state agencies, coast guards, the navy, the paramilitaries and apparently every general has a plot in Gwadar! Then seismic concern of safety and finally whether its is military of commercial project?
Then there is Chabahar which provides India access to Afghanistan via Arabian Sea by passing Pakistan! Taking the dependence of Afghanistan on Pakistan! So if Chabhar is developed then this land and sea connection would completely by pass Pakistan and open a flood gate of trade routes between India and Afghanistan!

The China Pakistan economic corridor is a big issue starting from the route to the execution to the economic outcomes. The routes have becomes politically controversial and has no lack of consensus.
Though Former chief minister Sardar Akhtar concluded that the CPEC will turn out to be another East India Company and all will make Pakistan look not like a country but China Town! It also poses security concerns as there are over 30000 Chinese working in Pakistan! There have been several attacks on the Chinese and some successful. How many groups have targeted Chinese nationals is being described in detail which can be read by the interested reader. It was too much Gore for me to digest!

Relentless prosecution; even the security agencies including army involved in highly under reported human rights violation. Some indulging in kill and dump operations.

Voice of Baloch missing person or VBMP formed by Abdul Qadeer Reki is an important organization getting these issues to the front. Qadeer’s son was abducted and his body turned up two days later after which Qadeer formed this initiative. He is also in the ECL or exit control list which is a list of people not allowed to leave the country. Most harrowing of Human rights violations are the enforced disappearances which has been described by the author including several other Human rights violations.

It is interesting to note that only ethnic Baloch were being targeted in incidents of enforced disappearance and none of the disappeared was a ‘settler’.
Information about Sabeen Mehmud, a prominent Palistani women’s right activist who had to pay with her life.

Media; the chapter starts with this harsh reality which sets the tone for the whole chapter. Not being dead is a victory in today’s Balochistan if you are a journalist. Worse there is little or no hope of prosecuting the killers let alone sentencing them! Most deaths of journalists go unpunished as a norm. This is the price our media has to pay for keeping the torch alive…

Lack of good governance or even a proper government with local leaders with the influence of Punjab is highlighted in many places in detail.

The Baloch issue is even now handled militarily rather than politically. Three factors are important here; one is that the people of Balochistan have not accepted Pakistan whole heartedly, then the Bangladesh hangover and finally army’s refusal to recognize the ground reality. The author then describes army tactic in self explanatory headings like use of excessive force, kill and dump and enforced disappearances, Downplaying insurgency, Islamization, counter nationalist and the foreign hand. They even target families. Then the role of frontier corps and their multiple check points which are a big bone of contention and bitterness.

A conclusion of the whole situation also compares Balochistan with Bangladesh but points out that Bangladesh had a good Bengali identity and middle class support and most importantly a backing by India! While Balochistan does not have a foreign Backer.

Final conclusion is that the key factor for the future development of Pakistan would be just a solution for the Balochistan conundrum, a solution that puts the Balochistan in the centre rather than the resources of the province. Failure to do so will slowly but inexorably exacerbate the crisis in Balochisthan till it explodes with dire consequences for Pakistan.

A very interesting and detailed analysis in the recent times of the conundrum which is Balochistan!

Those who love current affairs will be pleased!

A brain’s tale by Bhanav N S

Non fiction reference book for all ages! Written by a thirteen year old kid!

Rating- 5/5! No surprises there!

No spoilers of course since there is no murder mystery to solve though if I had not told you that this has been written by a 13 year old kid, you would have never guessed it!

The novel starts with an amazing introduction and forward of a child prodigy!

A Brainiac like Bhanav can only be impressed by another amazing thing! Our brain!

The first chapter is a brief introduction on the anatomy and parts of the Brain! As a Medical student would do, Bhanav first writes about the structure of brain throwing in some stories and trivia about Broca and Broadmann!

Then he talks about physiology and two brains! Similar to Daniel Karniege’s theory of thinking fast and slow; he gives examples in similar lines.

He then writes about Cognitive ease and Biases and I am wondering how a thirteen year old kid knows such complex stuff! In spite of being a medical student and a doctor in Goverment College later on; I am sure all these were beyond my cognition when I was 13!

In a typical word of a Prodigy; he starts with a sentence like, “As fancy as this term sounds, cognitive ease is simple!”. Only for a brilliant kid like Bhanav that much I am sure!

He tells about Dunning Kruger effect which is Bhanav’s way of telling that little knowledge is a dangerous thing! This was part of his discussion of Bias! My opinion now that this is brilliant is absolutely Unbiased since it is the truth!

Another chapter discusses about faces and brain and even this is loaded with trivia and scientific facts and pictures! Fun to read and loads to learn!

Like any other normal kid who reads a lot; the constant Harry Potter references show that he is a Potter enthusiast! Before you think, “nice, another normal kid!”; remember that he also quotes lines from those novels verbatim!

One chapter he talks about Colours which was my favorite chapter since though black and white sketching is my passion, colours are the best!

In another chapter the normal Bhanav tells about Placebo effect while the brilliant one tells about Noecebo effect!

Another chapter he tells about fear, phobia and amygdala! Just like that!
Of course with frequent Harry Potter references and as an exception he tells about Anabelle and the shining! Scary stuff even for me but a walk in the park for Bhanav!

Another chapter informs us about conformity and Bandwagon effect and finally the By stander effect! very interesting and informative to say the least!

In the chapter about time, Bhanav discusses about how vacation goes so quickly and about chronoception! and finally oddball effect! You must read these to enjoy and learn and how!

Chapter 10 is about how we read which is an extension of chapter 2. How its better to read in lower cases. Simply brilliant in any case!

The next chapter is on pain and phantom limb and Mirror box therapy and what not! Then he mentions about tickling and literally tickles your brain with his amazing one!

The chapter on Numbers like every other chapter in this amazing book is very well researched and thought provoking and intellectually stimulating!

The chapter on Brain starts like every other chapter with a quote which is mostly intellectual though he adds a Harry Potter quote once in a while! This chapter tells about the types of brain making me at least happy that I have one! and sad that its just normal and not a splendid one like the one which Bhanav has! The apt conclusion by him is, ‘if our brain was so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn’t’!

His chapter on memories give you deep insight and really make you think and hopefully remember!

Finally his list of references would give you a small idea of how well read this thirteen year old child is!

All in all a brilliant work by a brilliant mind! A bright future awaits this young scientist and am sure even a Nobel Prize!

Grab it with both hand and gain some knowledge on the way!

My brain is already wiser after reading this!

Neeyat the movie! Please do not watch!

This is actually a social service blog saving from the torture that is watching a movie such as Neeyat!

There was a time when there used to be one movie which used to come once a week in the only channel available! We all used to gather around the TV whether in black and white or color and the only remote used to be the youngest or the fastest or the closest to the TV kid!

Movies used to be seen between advertisements and sometimes these used to be so long and so many that we could finish the food and some homework in between!

My mother would then rush to the kitchen to clean and finish her work! Then you would get a warning that the movie is about to begin! Sometimes a kind technician would have rewind the movie a bit since we would have forgotten where it had reached!

And now the less than a minute ad and the skid ad button is the only thing we search for! The amount of options which are there is simply too much!

I can assure you that no human in the world even now can ever watch all the movies in the OTT available right now even if he or she watches them back to back!
Previously we would have waited for a week for the next episode to come of a soap or even a detective series!

And now we patiently wait for the whole series to release so that we can binge watch the whole thing or season without any wait! And since you have paid for the OTT, you are not riddled with the ad!

So when we did not have choice, even that old movie with absolutely no bankable or recognizable actor was so interesting and we used to watch glued to the TV provided the signal is clear!

While now, when the you tube plays a video in Standard definition and not high definition we cannot bear to watch it!
Previously since there was no social media or internet, we would love a movie so much without realizing that it is a remake of another movie! And now even if there is a vague similarity we find it! Now whether we like it better or not after that is dependent on how good the original movie is!

So in this day and age if you are going to remake a movie, the least you could do is select a good movie in the first place! Knives out first part was a good movie but the second part was so full of plot holes and a big mess! A murder mystery is watched by people only for closure! If you do not get closure then there is no point. The only thing Neeyat gets right is the closure! It tries to copy Knives out 2 Glass Onion and fails so miserably!

Vidya Balan has never looked so confused so much so that she is doing a better job with her reels! A recreation of a person like Vijay Mallya is the central theme of the movie!

Then they take the whole team to Scotland in a castle! I would have watched Gumnam again which is in fact a better copy of Agatha Christie’s ‘and then there were none’. Of course when we watched Gumnam, we did not know this and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Of course a big role is the role of expectation! Since we do not have any expectation it was amazing!

Then there is the son of the rich guy who looks and acts so bad that in real life he would not even have got the role of the cleaner (cleaners of course are more smart!). The other actors look like they have come on a holiday and this whole movie was a game they played! Badly and unprepared!
Dead bodies fall like the gnat to the flame and even then it is not clear what the hell is happening!

I have to add about Rahul Bose! That amazing actor in JHANKAR BEATS is made to be a fool! Every time he comes in a scene you feel like pulling out your hair and using those hairs to cover your ears and eyes! By the time Shefali has come to the scene it is a lost cause!

Then you have so many twists that at once you can know the director is really twisted!
The final twist is in the end but by that time your mind is so twisted that you just want it to get over and move on! Directors and story tellers must realise that the average viewer is spoilt for choice! Has low attention span and does not take non sense like he or she used to!

Watch it at your own peril, I don’t think the NEEYAT of the director is good!

ASTROPHYSICS FOR POEOPLE IN A HURRY BY NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON
Astrophysics for people in a hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Audiobook

Running length around 3-4 hours

Narrated by the author whose bold baritone voice make you stand up and notice the strength much like his name sake!

Long post which is a summary to save you from reading this book if you are the one who saw Barbie instead of Oppenheimer! Also it’s a refresher if you do plan to watch Oppenheimer again or read this book in the future!

Neil deGrasse is to astrophysics as Yuval Noah Harari is to History! After his stint with the series Big Bang theory and and his very famous pod casts called the star talk; Neil is a super star and a rock start as far as astrophysics is concerned! A star who talks about stars!

Rating 4/5 for the introduction and it is just that! A summary of the wide and vast universe!
5/5 for the zeal and enthusiasm in his voice! He will literally box you away!

After a brief introduction where he talks about how wave and thermodynamics and how the earth is a just a ‘pale blue dot!’ (that’s of course an ode and indication to the seminal work by Carl Sagan!)
In fact an interesting trivia is that The audiobook by Carl Sagan called the Cosmos was narrated by Neil deGrasse!
Small world indeed and in the words of Neil, ‘small universe indeed!’

He talks about how in spite of two different stream of physics, the one equation which joins then is the Einstein’s! Remarkably this was the same dialogue from the series big bang where Sheldon tries to explain dark matter!

In the beginning he starts with the origin of universe. How the big bang occurs and how matter is formed. All in a time line sequence of events.

He talks about the creation of Hedron and then quarks and then the creation of protons.

CERN descriptions largest machine in the world is described and how it is used recreate a similar situation! It is rightly called the Hedron Collider!

He then talks about the wave theory and the structure of nucleus.

He tells us the characters of quarks and their ‘quirks!’

In one chapter he tells how until Einstein mentioned the rules of gravity, no one really thought that the rules which govern the earth are the same rules which govern the universe!

First we thought Earth is special, then realised that it is the sun which is the centre! Then again we thought sun is special only to realise it is just an average star! Then we thought our milky way is pretty amazing only to realise there are more bigger and vast galaxies! Then the final is how we thought our universe is pretty awesome and a big deal only to get to know about the latest theory of multiverse!

Although this would generally deflate the ego of anyone who realises this amazing fact that he or she is not even a dust in the vast universe! (One researcher also wanted to study the effect of such a show on confidence levels!). Neil though tells how humbling it is and makes us special!

He tells about how the waves are found and discovered and talks about infra red and ultraviolet radiation and how they opened up a box of information which our previous scopes did not see since they were concentrating on the visible spectrum!

He tells about only earth and moon and Sun are in perfect sync in that because of the distance of the sun and the size of the sun cancel each other out! Which is the only reason why a tiny but close moon can actually eclipse the huge but far away sun!

Neil mentions how the amount of radio waves emitted from Earth surface may be picked up by an alien system or maybe not! Or they may not think of us as ‘intelligent’ enough! It’s like, even human kid in the third grade is much intelligent than the brightest and most intelligent chimpanzee!
How like our kids learn the numbers in primary school, the alien kid may start with complex algebra! All Neil speculation of course! No need to hit the panic button yet!

He also gives a brief summary of the elements and molecules like how they are arranged in the periodic table. Like how both oxygen and hydrogen are volatile elements but when they combine to form water, it is a fairly laid down and harmless molecule!

In between he also mentions the relative emptiness of the space but still how earth actually pushes through lots of space debris during it’s revolution!

How in spite of huge mountains and structures, from the sky, earth is a flat round sphere!

How the mighty jupiter and it’s gravity saves the earth and other planets from invasion by the space objects!

He tells us about the many asteroids and other space bodies (one of them is named after Neil! Though he tells in al humility that it’s not a great deal!).

How we don’t have to go all the way to the moon to sample the rock and surface there since the meteors and the space dusts get us delivery!

How the light and information from stars are actually timeline of what’s happened or happening!

How mars could have actually developed life first! (He even almost mentions like Ellis Silver that we may not be even from Earth!)

He concludes how his stream Astronomy is the most sublime! The final chapter steps out of the boundary of physics and gets philosophical on how people are starving or believe is creators and fight for their belief!

Of course in the end he states the futility of it all! How the air you are breathing today may have been passed out from Napoleon or Beethoven! How there are bacteria in a small space more than the number of humans in the planet!

The best line is, ‘we do not simply live in this universe, the universe lives within us!’

Kitne Ghazi aaye Kitne Ghazi gaye; My life story by Lt Gen K J S ‘Tiny’ Dhillon (Retd)

 

E-book

 

Non fictional auto biography of a celebrated army Lt General who was in charge of the security and peace keeping force in Kashmir during the crucial time of the abrogation of article 370 and 35A.

 

My interest in this book started when I saw an interview of this braveheart in which he states how two times he had been told or falsely informed to be dead by the news desk and he was in fact alive! Both the times though his wife took over her role as the wife of an army officer and how!

 

I immediatly got the book and it was a page turner!

 

Rating-4/5 for the content 5/5 for the emotion!

 

The best thing about the book is how a normal person who is just average can one day become an army general and do feats of super human capability!

 

How a great tragedy of losing his mother (How she was killed is an amazing story of bravery and it is her blood which runs in his body for sure!); he still overcame that and the loss of another close to him to slowly take control of his life and how!

 

His journey to the NDA and the struggles faced as a cadet would bring every army personnel sweet nostalgic memories! The trials and training they undergo and also the sweet wait for the one day thay can roam around the city or the vacation is pure nostalgia of anyone who has lived in a hostel but it is of course more difficult in the NDA!

 

The discipline and the camaraderie is shown with so many examples that it is a veritable guidebook for the army cadet!

 

The book would also serve as an inspiration for the youngsters who are keen to join the defense and serve the nation. Every single aspect of defense life including from a junior cadet to one of the senior most officer has been described with lots of tales and stories and with the typical ‘Humour in Uniform’

One serious notes he talks about his sojourn in Kashmir which is close to his heart and it shows! He gives a vivid description on the culture and temples and cuisines of Kashmir.

He talks about Rajputhana Rifles which is one of the chief units which protects our country from many insurgents and terrorist attack.

With sorrow and shock he talks about the Phulwama attack which is padded by pride when he talks about the come back of CRPF in spite of the tragedy and how it is actually not an intelligence failure but an accident. He tells about how intelligence is an amalgamation of complex information and it has helped thwart so many attacks but those ‘saves’ cannot be made public due to security reasons! Its is like you do not remember the hundreds of goals saved but you jump on one goal which is missed!

He gives us detailed analysis of situation in Kashmir with special emphasis on burhan Wahni, Zakir Musa and many other terrorists.

Being a doctor, I felt pride when he spoke about those doctors and nursing staff of the 92 base hospital who are providing yeomen services in spite of the stress and danger to the injured. So much so that they have been given a slogan that if you reach the 92 base hospital, rest assured you will be saved!

The amazing surgical strikes which we did and the incident of Aravindam and his return; Chief of army staff General Bajwa legs were shaking news brings immense pride to the average Indian like me!

If you pick up a gun you are dead was the slogan for anyone who decides to fight against the Indian army and become a terrorist in the Kashmir area!

He tells us the aftermath of Section 370; august 5 2019 the GOI abrogated articles 370 and 35A; The national security advisor Mr Ajith Doval arrived in Srinagar and stayed with the forces for two weeks. The author states that it was one of the best decisions to be taken and it will lead to the development of Kashmir in the long run.

The hue and cry over the internet being stopped was to prevent any propaganda like spreading the video of somewhere and causing trouble. Very soon 2g was restored and normalcy attained as soon as possible. And this and many such measures which were taken to ensure peace during those trying times have been described in detail.

 

Kashmiri Pundit exodus and its affect; he talks in passing of one of the greatest tragedies of Kashmir. He also mentions how this exodus made the intellectual Pundits leave Kashmir creating a void which cannot be filled. He also states how academia and education suffered after the exodus and Kashmir has still not recovered from this massive loss.

 

How as home minister Amit Shah with a personal meeting with Dhillon was in absolute control and fully conversant with the meeting agenda. He had done extensive research and homework before organizing the meeting and also had his ear to the ground.

 

Finally he commented that, “Bees yuvraj bhi mil kar iss bande ka muqabla nahin kar sakte!” meaning even twenty crown princes would not be able to match up to this person!

He mentions about the visit by Territorial Lieutenant Colonel M S Dhoni! and how a civilian is consoled by Tiny! All at the same time!

 

 

Operation Ma deserves special mention and is reproduced here verbatim; ‘our analysis of the situation over the last one and a half years highlighted the short shelf life of a local terrorist 7 per cent of the local youngsters who picked up a weapon were getting killed in the first ten days of their joining the terrorists’ tanzeems, and 9 per cent inclusive of this 7 per cent were getting killed in the first thirty days, 17 per cent in the first three months, 36 per cent in the first six months, and about 64 per cent were getting killed in the first one year. This implied that if three boys had joined the terrorists’ organizations, two of them or two-thirds of them were likely to get eliminated in the first one year alone. Further, 83 per cent of the boys who had joined terrorists’ organizations had a history of having indulged in stone-pelting!’

Taking the above factor in mind they instituted the Operation Ma which was very successful!

In the end he gives special dedications to many stalwarts and he does that in between too. The best and most honest dedication was for General Rawat and it was from the heart! Another dedication was to Tulla of zojila OR Anayatullah a differently abled Bulldozer driver!

 

The novel is full of stories of army, of NDA, and of Kashmir! All supplemented with amazing photos as it happened! Including photos of Bullt! (Bullet!); a sardarji’s passion and love!

He tells about the great sacrifices of the army wives and mothers and how army is one big family and how they take care of one another.

For anyone who is Indian this is a reminder that no matter what we do for the defense folks, it is just not enough! The reason why we can safely sit in our homes and comment and talk or even criticize about them is because of the security given by them by their bravery and supreme sacrifice! It has to be the love of the country which can make a person give up his family and his life and not for any money or facility.

For defense personnel and families of defense people, this is a sweet journey of nostalgia!

Go for it!

 

Jai Hind…