twenty seventh of december

Today has been an eventful day.

My sister's birthday. She turned 26 today. Sounds so cool. I had planned a surprise for her. A VIP tour in a cool winery. She loves wine and always wants to learn more about it, so this was perfect for her. And I'm glad the day went well and she had a really good time smelling and spitting out numerous wines. The wine-maker and his assistant gave us a lovely tour and shared all their knowledge about wine and the process of making it! The place was so beautiful despite it being winter. I was worried it won't look half as nice as it does during Fall. The weather was lovely and the whole trip was just perfect.

Benazir Bhutto dies. I hear this news in the morning when we were waiting for our Greyhound. I was shocked. It makes sense and I was expecting this news but was still very shocking. Another one bites the dust - Another one bites the dust - And another one gone and another one gone - Another one bites the dust...

My sister finds her favorite glove. She was wearing the gloves this morning and dropped one somewhere. We went back to look but couldn't see it anywhere. We gave up and went ahead to another bus ride out of town, took the wine tour, another bus ride back to town and while walking to take the bus home my sister remembers the glove. I tell her to forget about it. Just then she spots it on the side of the pavement! Unbelievable!

I commit a felony! The border police decide to carry out a random check in my greyhound bus. Thankfully my sister was carrying her passport with her tourist visa in it. I of course go around thinking I have a right to be here. I hardly think of myself as an alien anymore. Why then am I expected to produce my I-20 for no fault of mine?! Though I did feel insulted, I do realize that I commit a felony if I travel without my immigration documents. No matter how unfair it sounds and feels, I guess it is for our own good - for our own safety?!?! Here I go again - talking the language the rulers of the world want me to talk - "I am unsafe and I give up my rights willingly so that you can protect me"!

So it was a good day - and we're going out for dinner now - hopefully there won't be any more events to report for today..
Buenas noches amigas y amigos :)

demokratia

I had a most interesting meeting with some one from the other side. On the other side not just because she believes that Musharraf should be ousted, but also because for me she comes from the other side of the border, even though we are all far away from that border.

We had lunch and in the process I got a lot of food for thought. The fact that I still wasn't convinced by my own arguments in favor of Musharraf pushed me to probe deeper. What I am beginning to see now is very sad.

I think my disillusionment with the world's state over the past few years is causing me to lower my expectations from it. I am ready to give in to the lesser evil and forget the dream of creating a non-evil alternative. I am thinking of short-term goals! (but who can blame me if the threat of global warming/nuclear war/Bush is making us see the end of the world as we know it!) But I believe that is not right. My pessimism and pragmatism is taking me down the wrong path - the easier path.

To me it had become a question of one individual against the other - since that is how politics works in Pakistan. So for me it is a question of Musharraf against Benazir. The fact is that in both cases, when their power will begin to decline, they will show us their insecurities - their love and greed for personal power. But that is human nature. That is what Indira Gandhi did when the whole country turned against her - she got everyone with a voice arrested. She was vulnerable and did everything in her power to keep her power. India recovered from Indira. Pakistan will take time. The reason being the lack of a democratic set-up, no matter how rotten and decayed.

Democracy is a noble ideal - in practice it falls short. The question is - is a bad democracy better than a good dictatorship. An answer cannot be produced in isolation of the realities of this extremely varied and complicated society of Pakistan. Though I do not have the answer, I am glad that I'm not the one deciding :) So I have decided to wait and see Pakistan take a new turn in it's history - and hopefully this time there will be more than two individuals deciding the fate of the nation.

democracy shemocracy

I can't make up my mind about one issue that is extremely crucial - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf! Is he good or is he bad? Is he right or is he wrong? Should he stay or should he be removed?

Now I have too many pieces of information pushing me to think in favor of Musharraf. But the problem arises with the recent events in Pakistan wherein the people who had been supporting Musharraf till now took a U-turn.

Musharraf had now for eight years been proclaimed to be the most liberal of all military dictators that have ruled Pakistan. I understand that he was trying very hard, from day one, to please everyone. Coming from the highly heterogeneous society that is India, I understand his predicament.

The problem I have with the liberal citizens of Pakistan is that I think they are talking in the superficial language of President Bush. They are demanding democracy at the cost of anything. To me the idea of forcefully enforcing democracy just for the sake of having a "legitimate" government is absurd. Considering the political history of Pakistan, it seems like the long-existing pattern - a military dictator followed by a democratically elected government followed by a military dictator - is well on it's way once again.

I have some guilt about favoring a military dictator - but what one needs to remember is the context of Pakistan. Thanks to Bush and his missionary antics, we are creating rules which are disconnected from grassroot realities. The idea of spreading democracy as if that is the sole criteria of being civilized reminds me of the white man's burden! I refuse to think of democracy as an elixir to the world's problems just because someone tells me it is.

Though I have a lot more to say about this matter but seems like it is clear what I think about Musharraf. I think he is the best thing that happened to Pakistan since it's creation and in the absence of anyone better to take his place, I think he should stay.