Random Thoughts-
Zachary Latif
I've removed the date and time icon on the top left side of the web-log after being told by friends that the website doesn't load properly. Hopefully this will serve as a lasting solution otherwise I have no idea on how to reduce loading time for the website.
On other news I'm doing very well at my job since I'm nearly complete with my six week project and the pricing model I've created seems to yielding accurate figures. In fact I just had some drinks with fellow interns from work and it seems that though we're all in the same division, research, we could very well be in different companies with regards to the work that we're doing. Their divisions are dealmakers and active intermediaries whereas mine conforms to the more traditional mode of research, laced with academia and tempered by market updates & analysis. Now like any other budding banker I have the urge to go into a division with a gung-ho "winner take all" motto however I believe that it would serve me best to remain in my current position and continually shore up my knowledge base by applying pure analytics to market trends. I had a very interesting discussion with these colleagues since it touched on virtually every topic from investment banking to religion to the best way to attract the opposite sex and I feel that despite the age difference (18 vs 21) there is a similarity in our circumstances that allow for greater friendships. As the recent personality test (which I posted a couple of days) told me I'm quite the extrovert and I was certainly boisterous at tonight's drinks (it was though I had been the one who was the drunkard and them the teetotaller). There's a particularly interesting Indian lad, studying at Cambridge and fellow intern, who told me that after scanning my website he didn't find it interesting enough to continue reading. Of course that would be construed as rude but the fact is that our friendship is based on our extremely similar personalities in that we both like to be the centre of attention and are highly competitive individuals. He told me that he'd stop reading my website but I'm sure that he will continue to do so (this overt reference is a firebrand to test whether he's still reading it since he'll bring it up in conversation after he's read it) and thus the dynamics of this particular interaction is interesting.
On geopolitics it's good to know Indo-Pak relations are at a high point and all thanks to that brilliant man Laloo Prasad, low-caste chief Minster of Bihar. I get the distinct feeling that Indians don't appreciate his earthy and rustic approach to us Pakistanis as opposed to the dignified high-caste mannerisms of Vajpayee but I've got to say that Laloo has accurately taken the pulse of the Pakistani nation. Rather than harp on about nationalism he's talking about the relevant and daily issues of life that directly affects millions of Indians and Pakistanis (such as the price of onions) and his Hindustani quips go down very well in Pakistan (Laloo kai haat aloo hai or something to that effect). He represents the straight talking and hilarious self-deprecating South Asian with whom we Pakistanis can instinctively identify with as opposed to the stern admonishment of Advani and Vajpayee, who still can't seem to get over Partition. Laloo should be made the Indian ambassador to Pakistan especially now that normalisation seems inevitable with the successful conclusion of the Indian MP visit (Pakistani senators are going down to Lahore).
Hopefully with Indo-Pak relations normalised Pakistan's Hindu community will be able to repair the dilapidating temples and their human rights condition. Our minorities reflect our national state and unless we fully integrate them, Pakistan will never be able to claim her future.
When Pakistanis discriminate against Hindus in a way we are discriminating against ourselves because all people of the Sub-continent could be said to belong to the cultural fabric of Hinduism. The designation Hindu is Persian for "those who live by the Indus" and that applies particularly to Pakistanis. Indeed in Italy Hinduism is seen more as a cultural heritage that one is born into rather than a religion per se. I haven't thought it through but I don't think it would be contradictory for Pakistanis to accept being an Islamic state rooted in a Hindu cultural framework. In a world of increasingly complex identities we can't straitjacket our national roots to one confined by a particular identity but rather accept that it is a multi-layered fabric stitched with diverse patterns. We were created on an ethno-cultural basis, for the idealisation of Perso-Islamic Mughal culture, and to that ideal we will always remain committed to, thereby preserving our sovereignty and uniqueness, but at the same time we should expand on the territorial and historical definition on what it is to be a Pakistani.
Zachary Latif 22:04
latif.blogspot.com |
