To the Men in Green - with Love.

I made the mistake of posting a couple of Facebook statuses about the match and people went into a tirade about the failures of the team. It felt like it wasn't 11 men playing a sport but our soldiers going into war with India. Give me a freakin' break, guys.

I've often mentioned on my blog how Pakistanis get all worked up when it comes to religion - well, there's one more thing that makes them that emotional - cricket. Cricket is religion in Pakistan. Cricket is also what brings all Pakistanis together. Support for a certain player has nothing to do with what part of the country he's from, but how well he plays his sport. I started waiting for 2011 years ago because that was the year we were going to host the World Cup.

So yes, 180 million hearts were broken when we were denied hosting rights, when two of our top bowlers were banned, when we lost the semi-final. Yes, it would have been easy to console ourselves had our team played like it was actually playing a big game, just the way it had performed all through the tournament. The heartache could've been a little more bearable had we seen our team strategize, field better, not given Umar Gul those overs, taken the powerplay earlier. But in retrospect, there's more reasons to celebrate than to be sad about. It's true I didn't watch the group matches because I wasn't expecting much from this team. But look where we got? We ended Australia's unbeaten run to reach the semis. The young team played some great cricket. Afridi became the highest wicket taker of the tournament. It was after a long time we saw Pakistan playing positive - there was no politics and the team was united under one captain. The stark reality is that lady luck was smiling upon Tendulkar that day and ignoring poor Gul. The stark reality also is that the match gave us many sleepless nights and got us excited and gave us something to look forward to. It is heartening to see that people are praising the team even after the loss. This shows that we are not that fickle after all. This shows our love for this game and our patriotism for this country. This shows we are one nation, after all.

Like I've said before, Afridi need not apologize. We love this team and we are so proud.

Green for life.

The Vitruvian Pathan by Komail Naqvi

Reasons to Celebrate

What better way to celebrate the Lahore Resolution of 1940 than our team reaching the semis of the Cricket World Cup. It was a great match and the team did us so proud. Other than that, the love of my life isn't giving me many reasons to celebrate these days. Pardon my pessimism but I can't really be happy when my country's civilians and soldiers die everyday fighting America's war at our northwestern border or when dozens are gunned down as political parties battle it out in my city.

The Pakistan I grew up in celebrated Pakistan Day with an impressive military parade at Constitution Avenue. And those of us who didn't live in the capital would wake up early morning to watch it on t.v. Thanks to the volatile law and order situation, we’ve been skipping the display of our military might for the past few years. Cricket meant walking to National Stadium in our green and white shalwar kameezes to watch our heroes in front of our eyes. And although it's great that the country can come together to celebrate the team's awesome performances on foreign soils, it's been years since Pakistan's cricket stadiums echoed with screams of "Jeetayga bhayee jeetayga, Pakistan jeetayga!" I grew up playing badminton on the streets with the boys, riding my bike in shorts. The scars on my knees are proof of the bruises that Karachi's roads gave me. Getting front seats to a Junoon concert was the biggest achievement. Sonu Nigam and Bryan Adams would perform to a sold-out crowd. Eight people would cram in one car to go have ice-cream in Bahadurabad. There was no moral brigade issuing fatwas every other day.

I wonder when, on March 23rd 1940, the Muslims of India proclaimed to the world their determination to make the Muslim Statehood the goal of their struggle, they had this Pakistan in mind. Needless to say, the present circumstances do not lessen my love for this amazing country. Where, when I visit after two years, the aunty on my street is going to cook me my favorite food and send it over. Where the neighborhood fruit vendor will say salam and ask about everyone. Where the press is free and vibrant - a very rare occurrence for an Islamic State. Where we can end Australia's unbeaten 34-match World Cup run.

I have no doubt the days of a packed National Stadium, concerts, and the parade on March 23rd will return. Happy Pakistan Day everyone!

Speak Up!

We protested. We wrote blogs. We wrote in the papers. We demonstrated in rallies on the streets. But our voices fell on deaf ears. I guess our measly third-world cries mean nothing.

Shumaila Kanwal knew what would happen better than us. The wife of the man shot and killed by C.I.A. contractor Raymond Davis committed suicide by eating rat poison, explaining before she died that she was driven to act by fears the American would be freed without trial. She was right. But what's all the uproar for? I mean Davis killed two Pakistanis. A missile attack by a C.I.A. drone killed at least 40 people in North Waziristan on Thursday. The C.I.A. has carried out more than a hundred drone strikes against militant groups in Pakistan’s tribal territories over the past year in which scores of my country's civilians have been killed - women and children and old people - and entire villages have been wiped out. Civilians are callously targeted without any regard for human life. These attacks are nothing but counterproductive in the battle against terrorism.

But all that does not mean we can just sit with our arms crossed and become a part of the circus. We will continue protesting. U.S. drones will have to stop bombing my country's civilians and its spies will not get away with shooting my country's people. Faiz Ahmed Faiz says,

"Speak up, while your lips are free
Speak up, your tongue is still yours
Speak, for your strong body is your own
Speak, your soul is still yours
Look at the blacksmith's shop
Hot flames make the iron red hot
Opening the locks
Every chain opens up and begins to break
Speak, for this brief time is long enough
Before your body and words die
Speak, for the truth still prevails
Speak up, say what you must."

McCarthyism 2.0

Yes, I will go that far. I will call this another McCarthy era. Because if it isn't just that, then what is it? Here we are aggressively questioning a religion's patriotism, making poorly supported accusations, using accusations of disloyalty to pressure a religion's followers to adhere to conformist politics. If it isn't a witch hunt, then what is it? Is it not an attempt to cause moral panic?

How do you expect me to take these "Muslim radicalization" hearings seriously? The great champion of the threat is Republican Peter King. In the past, King supported a different kind of terrorist organization — the Irish Republican Army. He pledged to support the "brave men and women" of the IRA as they "struggle against British imperialism in the streets of Belfast and Derry." His explanation? Well, the IRA never attacked the U.S - only British civilians, a distinction which, in King’s moral universe, makes his support acceptable. I mean, it's true that the IRA never attacked the U.S., but neither have Hamas, Hezbollah or the Muslim Brotherhood. Does King have the same sentiment for them? I doubt it.


King's problem with the Muslim-Americans is that they are not doing enough to stop terrorism in the country. But really, what ethnic group in America is doing enough to safeguard the nation from terrorism? Once again the Republicans have bamboozled their gullible constituents, by claiming that jobs were going to be their priority - but the minute they get into office, they start chasing ghosts. They have yet to create a single job because they are too busy with creating Islamophobia and tax cuts for their corporate masters.

The Southern Poverty Law Center counted 1,002 active hate groups in the United States in 2010: Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi, white nationalist, racist skinhead, Christian identity and so on. These people are not members of the “Muslim community.” The more pertinent question to be asked and answered is: will King hold hearings to examine these groups' threats to America's security too?


[Totally worth watching is Jon Stewart's take on King . Also for your entertainment, a cartoon from THE WEEK.]

Remember our Raymond Davis, Washington?

In a new twist of events, Raymond Davis has been revealed to be a part of a covert, C.I.A.-led team collecting intelligence and conducting surveillance on militant groups deep inside Pakistan. He has worked for years as a C.I.A. contractor, including time at Blackwater, now Xe, that is viewed by many Pakistanis as symbolizing a culture of American gun-slinging overseas. 

Since the United States is not at war in Pakistan, the American military is largely restricted from operating in the country. So the C.I.A. has taken on an expanded role, operating armed drones that kill militants inside the country and running covert operations, sometimes without the knowledge of the Pakistanis.

Davis carried an American diplomatic passport and was listed as “administrative and technical staff,” a category that would grant him diplomatic immunity. But with Pakistan’s government trying to clamp down on the increasing flow of C.I.A. agents trying to gain entry into the country, more of these operatives have been granted “cover” as embassy employees and given diplomatic passports.

President Barack Obama has demanded the release of Raymond Davis, but the Pakistan government has insisted the matter will be decided by the courts.

In the absence of any deal, the Pakistan government reportedly sought a way out of the stand-off by offering to trade his release for that of Dr Aafiya Siddiqui, a US-trained neuro-scientist currently serving an 86 year sentence for the attempted murder of an American soldier in Afghanistan. Her supporters claim she was illegally detained by American intelligence agents in Pakistan and held in a number of secret jails in Afghanistan before the shooting incident. Her three children were taken into custody with her, when the youngest one was still an infant. Two of her children went missing for a longtime. Many believe 86 years in prison for attempted murder to be outrageous - especially with the lack of evidence in Siddiqui's case.

It's funny how the U.S. government is suddenly so pro-active in pressurizing the Pakistani administration to release an American who killed two Pakistanis in broad daylight. The scenario was totally opposite with a detained Pakistani a few months ago. Davis or Siddiqui, American or Pakistani. Justice needs to be served. Superpowers need  to stop bending the rules for themselves. No one can be allowed to take law into their hands.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

I love Charlie Harper. He is so badass. He is that uncle, with a beach-front Malibu house, I wish I had. That is probably why I have imagined Charlie Sheen to be a total badass too. It is highly likely that my judgment of him is a little hazy because of the character he portrays on a sitcom - it is actually Charlie Harper that I adore - but who cares? Sheen doesn't look like he gives two shits about anything. And that's what's awesome about him. 

The past week was a monumentally crazy week for Sheen. His long-running television program, Two and a Half Men, was canceled for the rest of the season because the things the eternally high or drunk actor said on a radio show. He was accused of including anti-Semitic slurs in his insane radio rant. He had referred to the show's creator, Chuck Lorre, by the Hebrew name, Chaim Levine. Sheen felt that he was personally attacked - that his integrity was called into question, so he called out the integrity of his so-called attacker by attacking Lorre's decision to change his name. It was a stupid move on Sheen's part because a change of name doesn't necessarily mean a lack of integrity. But his rant was hardly evidence for Jew-hatred.

For starters, Lorre's name at birth was in fact, Levine! And while I do not know his Hebrew name, or even if he has one, Chaim could well be the chosen Hebrew parallel for Charles or Chuck. So my suspicion is that the executives at CBS and Warner Brothers who labeled Sheen's remarks as anti-Semitic, just needed an excuse to finally pull the plug on the show. They were done with Sheen's antics and had to come up with an explanation for why Sheen's drunkenness or domestic violence wasn't enough to cancel the show before. It gave them a sense of being on moral high ground.

In other news, John Galliano was fired from Christian Dior on similar grounds. It's great that the world we live in takes charges like "anti-Semitic" and "racist" so seriously. But I'm afraid they can now be used too loosely. I'm afraid this seriousness will create a counter-trend where these charges will have very little value.

We all remember the Boy Who Cried Wolf from Aesop's Fables: when the sheep were actually confronted by a wolf, the villagers did not believe the shepherd boy and the flock was destroyed.

Winners & Losers

Mommy and Daddy say the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammad bin Zayed, recently toured the less prosperous parts of the United Arab Emirates to hold town-hall-style meetings. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia announced a $10 billion increase in welfare spending to help young people marry, buy homes, and open businesses. Trying to hold onto our thrones, aren't we now?

In the Middle East, two presidents have already tumbled: Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia. Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen is in an increasingly tenuous position. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya is desperately trying to resist rebellious forces too. Despite all this upheaval, it doesn't look like the region's monarchs are going anywhere. The presidents seem more likely to fall.

Bahrain's King Hamad and his security forces were pretty brutal in their treatment of the insurgents - almost shocking for the prosperous Bahrainis. King Abdullah of Jordan managed to handle the unrest too. Although the monarchs rule in a similar fashion to the presidents of the region, the presidents oversee more populous countries, without the oil wealth of the gulf monarchies. The much lesser unrest in countries like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait is mostly because all of them are regal welfare states - citizens pay no taxes and are looked after by the government. In the U.A.E, for example, when one citizen marries another, the government helps to pay for the wedding and even to buy a home. This gives the monarchies more legitimacy than the republics. The republics claim that the people have a voice - when they really don't have one. With the monarchies, no one's pretending to have a voice.

The turmoil in the Middle East is a time of change in history. As powerful and influential countries fail to play the role that they can during this time, we've come to a stark recognition: it's only the people of the Middle East that can pick the winners and the losers.

My Non-Existent Life Outside Studio

SaadM asked if he was properly subscribed to this blog. He is. As a matter of fact, I am the one who has been MIA from the blogging world. What can I do? I was imprisoned in Marvin 115. And this laptop was only being used for Pandora or Google SketchUp the past month. I was slowly being poisoned by a granite sanctuary. Other things gradually taking my life were chipboard, graphite, and cold-press crescent board. I started this blog telling myself I had a life outside studio, but whatever I say doesn't change the truth. I don't have a life outside studio. Truth hurts.

Architecture school is making me dorkier day by day. I have begun to develop a staring problem. I sit and gawk at windows and light fixtures. Whenever we are driving in our car, my brother makes fun of me because I'm ogling the houses. 

I find myself dressed in black from head to toe. Not because architects are notorious for dressing in all black. Just because I don't want black pastel, charcoal, and graphite all over my pretty stuff. I already have a yellow sweater with blobs of black on it.

My Mom got mad at me when I sent her pictures from a recent trip to California. She was upset that there was hardly any pictures of me, but a bazillion pictures of buildings. And a bazillion pictures of the same building. "How many pictures do you need of the same wall?" she screamed. Well, it wasn't just any building. It was the Getty Center. Like a total nerd, the first thing I did when I got to L.A. was to go to the Getty. Forget Hollywood. Forget Disneyland. Forget the beaches. Had to go pay Meier respects first.

The other day, my roommate thought I was out of town - when I wasn't - when I live in the same house as her. I come home Sunday night and this is how the conversation goes:

"You just got back?"

"Yeah."

"You went to Wichita right?"

"Nooo I was in studio."

"ALL WEEKEND?"

Oh dear roommate, how do I explain to you why it takes me all weekend to do what I do? It's a blessing I don't live with my Mom. Had she seen me coming home at 4 in the morning all week, I'm pretty sure I would've been forced to drop out of architecture school by now. It's so hard to explain to her on the phone as it is.

A revolution started in the Middle East, the cricket World Cup started, I missed a bunch of awesome basketball games, Two and a Half Men went off air. But there I was putting a band-aid on my thumb because my X-acto was being mean to me. There I was running purely on caffeine. What would I have done without coffee?

I exaggerate.

Studio's not all that bad, I mean. It is where I've seen the wackiest videos on YouTube and laughed my ass off with Lyssapoo and theMiltonsLover. It is also where we developed the head-bob dance. We also called 911 and were escorted out of our beloved studio by the cops. It is also where the "Cookie?" "Corn Nut?" conversation happened.

I guess I just had to vent about studio. Now that I've vented, I'll blog about more important stuff.