Tuesday, November 30, 2010

What is and What should be?

by
Syed Hasan Abid

The act of renunciation is what leads to emancipation. If we are to be recognized as free men, we must abandon some of our desires which yield temporary satisfaction. Our lives must be purged from the notion of personal gratification; for, solely, in pursuit of personal gain one ends up being slavish, failing to contribute to the beauty of human thought. For an empiricist, observation is more or less, an impregnable building; a pedestal of further discovery and insight. As an empiricist, one shall observe life intimately; but with caution. Attempts should be made to disparage confounding variables; and even the most novel insights must be ennobled but never ignored. Logic, importantly, must be revered, which is its rightful share, if we are to obviate the difficulties surrounding our world of ideals.

'The inexhaustible mystery of existence', in Russell's words, is perhaps the greatest paradox man could ever confront. Man, as servile as ever, never found in himself anything as powerful as death or fate. Their omnipotence compelled him to worship the non-human forces. But even nature, being austere and invincible, could not prevent man to progress and reason, and to conclude that these laws simply did not suffice. Man's struggle against a universe which cared nothing for his aspirations is a story of courage and greatness.

We exist in a world, which could most accurately and precisely, be referred to as the turmoil of uncertainty. It is an onerous task to foster our own ideals against forces unaware of the futility of their actions. Indifferent to the vacillation embodied in our lives, we engage ourselves in daily strife, merely to overcome the possibility of failure. Failure, as I hold implies the inability to meet certain demands; a dispute ended in vain, but may have been won, had opportunities not been squandered. These are the notions which weave the fabric of our lives. Happiness, perhaps, is what each one of us craves for. It is the most significant strand of our existence. Aristotle believed that goodness in life is unavailing, if there is no room for happiness. It is with such an approach we should fashion ourselves and embrace the world with all its disparate laws.

But what is the inevitable conclusion of life? Betrayal. We must acknowledge that we, as a conscious entity, will at last cease to exist. All the knowledge gained, the decks stacked against others, all grudges and every faint memory shall fade away with death. Then why struggle, do the daily chores or face humiliation at the hands of those self-righteous donkeys? To be honest, we do not have many options. This mechanism is responsible for the passivity and submission of man before the omnipotence of nature. One of the most senile tricks is being used here; coerce the opponent into surrender by making sure that he runs out of options. Nature and the One who decides all the edicts, its ruler, is Whom we are ought to serve. It may be equivocal to regard that we deserve more; for, each one of us is liable to God, each one of us is a debtor.

In search of knowledge, wisdom and love we shall live and hope that some day a thousand splendid suns will resolve all the enigmas; that once men will realize that preference for dance over meditation, intellect over impulses is the cause of all sorrows. Finally, I would like to give the reader a personal insight into the meaning of life by furnishing the following lines:

'Meticulously, if one gazes into the eye of an impecunious, one would discover an array of ambience. There would be indescribable pain, fear and anxiety. One would find courage and hope too, obscured in a corner. Then perhaps we shall find all our answers, which are more important than all political debates and religious dogmas of the world.'

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

1984: A Commentary on the Present?

Title: 1984
Author: George Orwell
Year of Publication: 1949
Genre: Political fiction, Science fiction
Looking at an era of the past is always illuminating. One can learn from the mistakes one made or rejoice in one’s achievements. On the other side of the mirror it can also reflect a disturbing picture, especially if the reflection displays an apt representation of the present itself.
Let me make one thing clear at the outset. I do not intend to write a review of the famous book by Mr. Orwell. What I would simply like to do is discuss some of the themes in this book and how they do or do not bear a striking similarity to the present time.
It seems to me that Mr. Orwell was quite unaware of the fact that his book was years ahead of its time, and rather prophetic in nature. The 80s may not have turned out to be the way he imagined them to be in the 40s, but the 2000s definitely bear a remarkable resemblance to his imagination.
The lead character in 1984 is a skilful portrayal of today’s youth. The distrust and deceit experienced by Wilson throughout the book is common amongst us. Just like the concept of ‘Thought Police’ monitoring each and every aspect of life, today the same thing is happening. The use of Artificial Intelligence has enabled man to maintain tons of gigabytes of surveillance information on each and every individual who has at any point used an electronic device. 
In the book there are several instances when the protagonist realizes that however hard he tries to defy the authorities, someone, somewhere will eventually be able to apprehend him. A very similar thing is happening today. The Defense Departments of the world can frame anyone for anything. May it be terrorist attacks, helping fundamentalist organizations flourish, or even something as inconsequential as wearing a scarf. No one is safe. Just because you were friends with someone on “Facebook”, who was friends with someone else, who had an uncle living in Saudi Arabia, whose wife went to study the Quran, and whose teacher shared the same name with Osama, you would suddenly appear on their radar as a suspicious character.
The helplessness experienced by Wilson after being captured can be compared to the misery of several innocent Pakistani, Indian, Arabic men and women who were imprisoned for crimes so heinous that they are even difficult to imagine being performed. They were kept in extremely harrowing circumstances and treated as inhumanly as possible. Just like the prisoners of ‘Thought Police’ their voices were also hushed. No one came to their rescue.
If anyone is reading this, I would recommend you to go ahead and read the book. You may find it tragic, depressing, and troubling but one thing you will not be able to say is “There is no truth to it.”

Adil Majid
 
Source of Image: http://knowledgefiles.com/kfwp/wp-content/gallery/covers/1984.jpg

Friday, November 19, 2010

Aik Ahd Afreen Afsana


Source of Photo: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicRtOOMCkAJepMYIKfm7vGxQ_pdruw9FnPCp9DYdmwJ_I7yVp7FOOdIYe3m8oCAD6frFKosJjU6r1itlAm62ojbhyphenhyphenthPC_WdlGEVcZDVY4C66jPxbKQeJRdVz7hVbTdFkrLVugbzKUI86U/s1600/yakhuda.jpg

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

by
Robert Frost


Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. 


Robert Frost (1874 - 1963) was an American poet mostly known for his simple-worded short poems full of imagery.
A complete collection of his poems can be found here.

Friday, November 12, 2010

A Whale of a Venture

Title: Moby Dick
Author: Herman Melville
Year of Publication: 1851
Genre: Classic Adventure
Rating: 3.5/5
Available at the IBA Library? Yes
Available Online? Yes



Summer still had a few weeks to go and internship was going to be over in a week. To kill the many days I had ahead of me, I couldn’t have done better than pick up Moby Dick to read. Little did I know that this book about a whale would turn out to be a whale of a book, gargantuan – both in size and scope. It took me a month to read this 500 odd page novel, and the task was surely momentous. I challenge anybody brave enough to try finishing this book in less than 30 days. The winner gets a special mention on our blog, and a salute from me every time s/he passes by!
The reason reading this book seems such an uphill task is not just its length (which isn’t something out-of-this-world, especially compared to Tolstoy’s and other such classics), it is the tone and the descriptions that leave you with little motivation to continue with your perusal. However, you still cannot let go of the whale for very long, and the book you had put down swearing never to lift again would once more be in your hands, providing more joy and annoyance.

Moby Dick covers a wide range of themes, the principal theme being obsession. The narrator of the story is Ishmael, a merchant sailor out on his first whaling cruise on the ship the Pequod, the captain of which is on a cruise of retribution. Having had his leg eaten away by a ferocious white sperm whale on an earlier cruise, Captain Ahab is now hell-bent to chasing the whale, dubbed Moby Dick, all around the world to have his ultimate vendetta by killing it.

His obsession is not only unhealthy (keeping him up at nights) but also dangerous. He puts his entire crew and ship in peril and despite realizes the futility of his mania, he does not have the will power to forget. The solitary musings of the captain make for interesting reading and so do his dialogues with his chief mate, Starbuck. These show the inner conflict within the captain.

The human parts in the book are, however, sandwiched between lengthy descriptions of whales and the profession of whale-hunting. These dominate the story in dimension, and however much were necessary to familiarize the nineteenth century audience to the then only heard-of phenomena, they only end up making the book a drag for modern readers. The one good thing about these descriptive passages is the humour and ‘epic’ nature of Melville’s prose. Indeed, his philosophical musings are what will have the most impact with the readers.

"There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar."
- Moby Dick, Herman Melville

Melville can render even the most boring of descriptions amusing, for example, while noting that the whale does not have a nose, he writes:

“Sure it is, nevertheless, that the Sperm Whale has no proper olfactories. But what does he want of them? No roses, no violets, no Cologne-water in the sea.”

- Moby Dick, Herman Melville

The story is deep, the characters involving, the descriptions tedious (Ishmael spends countless chapters lamenting the lack of good whale depictions in art), and the prose melodic and heavy. However much you may hate the book, you cannot dare to hate the author. People just cannot write like that anymore.

Word of Caution – To be read only if you have lots of spare time and nothing else to do, otherwise you would never get to the end.

Azma Humayun

Source of Image:http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Rumour has it that a Treasure Chest has been uncovered from the depths of the sands of Karachi. It is said to contain the most valuable treasures ever known to man! More valuable than all the gold, jewels and money that ever were laid eyes on. What can this priceless treasure be? 
A parchment tied to the top of the chest reads as follows:


More priceless than all the coins of gold
 Are the vast lessons learned of old
 More profitting than silver grails
 Are the  timeless weaved yarns and tales
 What sparkles more than a ruby in the sun?
 Ah, what else but great pearls of wisdom?

Knowledge, indeed, is the greatest treasure of mankind, which this treasure chest has vowed to provide. But help is needed folks in order to distribute this knowledge of the ages to anyone and everyone. Your assistance will be appreciated deeply. So if you possess some article from the Treasure Chest do not hesitate to help us share it with the world. And if you want to add something to it that you deem worthy, the world would be most grateful to you!

 So long fellow treasure-hunters... We'll be waiting to hear from you soon! :)