post on brain drain
Interesting post about brain drain in Pakistan...some of the comments are a little too cheesy though.
http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00001119&channel=civic%20center&threshold=1&layout=0&order=0&start=340&end=349&page=1
The New World
Earlier this year, Naomi Klien wrote about “Disaster Capitalism.” In her article she highlighted the corporate advantages behind reconstructing or deconstructing a country such as Iraq. It is like preparing a blank slate, which was one of the allures of colonization in the past. Imperialism repeats history in the same pattern. However, today we don’t witness the East India Company dividing and ruling but instead we see either reconstruction of a tyrannical regime or natural disasters. As Naomi Klien said, “Disaster, it seems is the new terra nullius.” Tsunami relief has little to do with recovering and rehabilitation. Hotels and industries have started construction on the coast of Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and India. Governments have passed laws inhibiting families from rebuilding their houses near the beach and thus, all these people will be relocated to make way for the tourism front. In January Condeleezza Rice described tsunami as “a wonderful opportunity” that “has paid great dividends for us.” Tsunami is probably an answer to the prayers of many businessmen as it washed away local communities who stood in the way of grand tourist resorts.
The story doesn’t end here, as we hear Rep. Richard Baker tell lobbyists, “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." (as quoted in the Wall Street Journal) We should learn optimism from our businessmen-politicians that see an opportunity in everything. Atleast their worries are being washed away. Let’s see what these optimists say about the South Asian earthquake and Guatemalan mudslides that have wiped off entire towns from the surface of the earth.
Disaster hit areas or the New World?
Stories
Now that I'm talking to more and more people who've been in the area, I think the human face behind the disastor is becoming more apparent. A friend who was in Balakot yesterday said, "It looks like a ghost city, its all destroyed."
As Eid-ul-Adha approaches here one can see the hustle and bustle increase in the markets. My mom was telling me yesterday that this is different from how it was during Eid-ul-Fitr. She said that a lot less people shopped for Eid-ul-Fitr, she said that it felt like the entire nation was depressed about what had happened. She also said that it was after 1965 that she had felt that the entire nation came together for a cause. (Pakistan was at war with India in 1965). She told me how for weeks there was nothing on Pakistani TV channels except up to date coverage on the earthquake and appeals for what was needed there. She said that many people rushed to the markets to buy warm clothes, blankets and medicine. Shopkeepers would sell stuff at no profit.
Contrast this with Katrina along with news of mobs of people queueing outside malls on Black Friday. This mass consumer culture sickens me. Its about stuff and just more stuff. More to come on the New World concept that has been building in my mind especially since Katrina.
I also keep hearing people bringing a religious tinge to the earthquakes. Calling it a curse of God, saying that some areas were destroyed more because there were more brothels there or some other jacked up stuff like that. That is depressing...though not surprising. Why make justifications like these?
Home sweet home
Got home yesterday and am pretty zoned out. Can't be more jet lagged than this. Will be doing a bunch of phone calls today to figure out...where I should head out to in the north. Looks like I'll be heading out next week. Still have a bunch of papers to write. Joy of us not finishing our semester before the break.
It rained the night before I landed so the weather in Karachi is pretty nice. I love walking around without 5 million layers on. Thats about it for now.
Coz I'm leeeaving on a jet plane....
Haven't been able to write for a couple of days because I was going crazy with all the things that had to be done before I leave for home. Yesterday my roommate took me to the airport and was telling me a story about coming back to college from her trip home and she said, "Ya, so when I was coming home from home." Its interesting how are two homes are so different and yet places that we feel like we belong to in some shape or form.
I'm in NYC and leaving for home in a couple of hours.
part of an e-mail...
Just wanted to share part of an e-mail that was written by someone while they were in Kashmir at the end of October...
Hello All,
I wanted to share my trip to Muzaffarabad with you all. The purpose is not to brag that I have been there and done that. The one and only purpose behind sharing my story is that you all get to know, from someone like you, what is happening at this very moment while we sit in our air-conditioned offices thinking how the time will pass till iftar, what we will have for iftar and what we will do afterwards.
I, as part of a group of 12 people went to Islamabad on Friday morning to volunteer in the relief efforts to help the earthquake victims. We all had a few concerns before we left for the trip. We were asking ourselves whether we
would be of any help, how possibly we could be of any help, how would we help, where would we help, which NGO should we volunteer to, so on and so forth. In the end we just decided to go there and find out for ourselves. We ended up at the HQ of Sungi, which we had heard was the most organized of all the NGOs and which was doing the best work. When we got to their office it was total chaos, no one was in charge and there was total utter lack of communication. We went and offered our services wherever needed, one person told us to go to Mansehra, the other told us that there was no need in Mansehra and that we should go to Balakot and yet another person came and told us that there were enough volunteers in Balakot and that we should go to Rawalakot. So in the end we had to talk to a dozen people to assess the situation and then
decide on our own where we should go to help. What we did was send an advance team to Abbotabad on Friday evening while we waited for the rest of the team to join us in Islamabad. When a part of our team reached Abbotabad we were told that a lot of help was needed in Muzaffarabad so we decided that that was where we should go.
From Islamabad to Abbotabad and from there to Muzaffarabad took us approximately 7 hours because we had to take a longer, safer route. Till Abbotabad the effects of the earthquake were not visible as such. In abbotabad we visited the Ayub Medical College complex which was our first glimpse of the tragedy unfolding even as I write this email. There was blood everywhere, screams coming from children who were being amputated, wounded sitting on the footpaths with nowhere to go. This was nothing compared to what we were about to see in Muzaffarabad. We started seeing the real destruction and chaos tha the earthquake has caused. Driving through villages that we had never heard of, Garhi Habibullah and Balakot etc., we could not see a single structure standing. All we could see were men, women and children waiting by the roadsides for help which was not coming fast enough. We did not see any relief efforts, any NGO camps, any government workers, any army workers till we reached the outskirts of Muzaffarabad. We had been told that we would need to wear surgical masks because the stench of death would be bad. Didn't believe them then but it turned out to be true. Shattered houses, the stench of death and the homeless everywhere is what greeted us in the capital of Azad Kashmir.
We drove around asking everyone where we should go to help out especially keeping in mind that we had two doctors with us and lots and lots of medicine. Finally we arrived at Neelum ground, which was being used as a helipad base by the army to carry out the relief efforts. It was a terrifying scene. There were wounded everywhere, helicopters landing and taking off every few minutes and people running all over the place. There were also people just sitting around watching the helicopters and doing nothing more. We went into the TCF camp and asked the in charge, Adnan, if any help was needed. He grabbed all of us and gave us a briefing right there on the spot, telling us what help was needed and how we could fit in. He told us that volunteers were needed by the hundreds and they were needed for at least 7 to 10 days. This freaked most of us out because
we had just planned to help out for a couple of days and then get back to our normal lives. After a lot of discussion it was decided that we would help out the best we could and some of us would stay while the rest went back. We started off by some of us putting up a medical tent, the others helping out in the operating theater, while others managed the patients in the Pre Op and Post Op. Patients were streaming in, not just into our camp but in every camp setup in Muzaffarabad. We saw close up, limbs being amputated, kids in shock, grown men and women crying for shelter and food. It was just really, really terrible. We helped out at the camp for two days the best we could and now some of us are back in Karachi to organize the relief that we think is most needed while some of us stayed back to help out for a few days more.
shocked again
The reason why I created this blog was to record my journey through Kashmir and then being abroad next semester. I think the complete devastation of the earthquake still hasn't hit me yet. And everytime I read or see something new its just shocks me more. Today I heard a presentation from a doctor who was in the region for a couple of weeks. The photgprahs he showed were painful to look at. There were places where it looked like the earth had split open. It was as if nature wanted to swallow entire villages in. The combination of both frustration and hope in the eyes of the people, was nothing I had ever seen before.
More to come on the earthquake region soon.
on definitions and functiions
This is inspired about a white person calling a person of color racist because they pointed out their white priveldge to them. See what I don't understand is that don't people (especially white people) see the difference between racial prejudice and racism?
Racial slurs and stuff like that is part of racial prejudice not racism. Racism is when this racial prejudice is institutionalized and then works as a system and cycle of opression for example the criminal justice system in the country I reside in.
I'm from
Being far from home one am always scared of what these distances can do. What is it about the piece of land that draws you to it? Always think about the tree analogy Mama always talks about.. I guess one can never forget the smell of the land one's roots are embedded in.
The beginning...
I'll keep this foundational like any beginning...this is about thought, journey and hope.
