Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Confessions
I hate being human. I wish I could be superwoman and somehow be everywhere for everyone. Was planning on dashing up to Mianwali to find out about the 5 women promised in marriage to 5 imbeciles by their even more imbecelic father /uncle/ whatever... but all plans come to a halt as mother duties call. Rachel has a school play.... then her first exams start...then..also between all of this have to work with the Karafilm fest people so can't budge.. and feeling so frustrated as there aren't enough of me to go around. know what i mean? on a day like today I hate being human.Unknown at 12:05 AM
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Democracy in Action
Call me an idealist but I really believe the time is right for people's movements to have effect. I think the whole earthquake scenario proved that as ordinary civillians moved together as one to a common goal. If we can continue to harness that unity to bring about changes I think it would be brilliant.lets start out small. Lets start out by changing a small law that shouldn't be too controversial to do.... and see if it works. If it does... we can carry on from there.
If anyone tuned in to my show a couple of days back, we talked about changing laws and how to go about it. A small example of one such law that I feel should be changed is the one about a person being brought into hospital with an injury associated with crime. If you have been shot, by law the doctors are not allowed to treat you unless an FIR has been filed with the police first. That precious time could mean life or death. No I am not being over dramatic...that's exactly what it could mean. I'm sure many of us have had atleast one such experience and know exactly what I am talking about.. Any takers on the campaign to change or update the law?
Unknown at 9:10 AM
Sunday, November 13, 2005
The Aftermath
The aftermath. Nadia Jamil said it perfectly when she sms’d me from Balakot. “Feels like the day of judgement” That kind of summed it up. I know some people are expecting graphic details. But I feel stunned into silence. A very old close friend of mine who is also a doctor left his practice with a group of like minded individuals to hike up and treat the victims. I get a call from him 3 days back very emotional and yelling at me. I know he’s upset because of what he has probably been through and what he’s seen so I ask him to calm down and tell me what’s wrong. A few days before he had helped identify a region that had not gotten any aid which I was able to announce and mobilize attention to. Our conversation went something like this.R: What is the use of me having f**king friend in the f**king media when you are all completely f**king useless!
A: Hi… glad to hear you’re ok… what’s wrong?
R: I have just reached Mandakhel.. its two weeks since the earthquake and I don’t see a single person here with aid. What the f**k is going on?
A: Ok thank you for identifying that area… now that you have informed I will make sure things get there
R: If you only knew what I have just been through you wouldn’t be so f**king calm. Do you know what I have just done?
At this point I am silent and I get chills as I can only imagine what he may be about to describe
R: I have just pulled a 5 year old little girl out of the rubble Ayeshah. Two weeks after the earthquake it’s a miracle she is still alive. The left side of her face is completely damaged. In order to save her life I had to amputate her left foot and left hand. How can you tell me aid is getting to the people? You are all f**king liars…
I am silent. This was just one of the calls. As you can imagine as more and more places were being identified and the information being relayed back to “home base” to send relief teams out.. our task seemed more and more gigantic. Where does one begin? Where does it end? The immediate relief force is just one angle.What about the rehabilitation process of homes, peoples minds and hearts and ruptured souls?
I am thankful to the team I went up north with. Luckily all of us were as insane as each other and managed to keep a good sense of humour about us to keep morale high. Wajahat Malik, Nighat Chaudhry, Nasir Shaikh, Pervez, Aaqib and Nils all of us made a great team. I suppose I wish I had a “group” photo but vacation pictures were the last things on our mind.
On the lighter side and yes believe it or not I do have a lighter tale to tell about the earthquake season … Mr. Delicious whose name I have now changed to Mr. Smart Ass made the most generous donation though without knowing it. It all started when Fakhr sms’d me about the PAF museum on Day 2 and so after my Hero Pakistani draw went down there with the tribe to pack medicines etc. It so happened that Mr. Smart Ass had given me some clothes to be dry cleaned. Yes I’m on dry cleaning duty these days. Not a problem. I had been to and fro at the museum all day dropping stuff but managed to save the bag filled with his designer pants. Gucci, Versace, Armani… you name it. Mr.Smart Ass only believes in clothes that carry an expensive price tag. All good so far right? Can you feel an Ayeshah Alam special coming up? Ah..good… later that evening Balochi Babu decides he wants to get some stuff from his place to give away. Blankets etc. So off we toddle to his place to pile everything into the car. When we get to the museum, him being chivalrous, he drops me off at the gate so I can walk in to Mr. Smart Ass who was calling up constantly to find out where we were. We were there till pretty late working and the next morning I hum my way to the dry cleaners to deliver the bag of clothes only to find my trunk empty. Oh my God! My heart sank. Mr. Smart Ass will hit the roof. How do I tell him that his Gucci Mucci’s are now sitting comfortably in Balakot somewhere? What’s worse is…if it didn’t mean that much to him… the situation is actually making me laugh. I can’t laugh… this is serious. He’ll kill me.
Needless to say, he didn’t speak to me for a few days. I think he’s still nursing his designer wounds. Oh well…danay danay pay likha hai khanay walay ka naam But it also makes me think what are our priorities and what do we put our values in. A good lesson I suppose though now is not the time to remind Mr. Smart Ass of that. Anyway, that’s it for now. For anyone who is reading this who is and has been working on the relief.. thank you .. please don’t lose heart despite the politics being played and carry on doing what you are doing in your sincerest efforts. You are the heroes of today. Thank you
Unknown at 6:52 PM