MAY 22-28 2011
Reflections on Suicide 16
PORTFOLIO
REVIEWS
HATER
PEOPLE
FEATURE
MAY 22-28 2011
Cover Story 16 Embracing The Reaper Suicides are on the rise — a look at cases which highlight the problem’s prevalence in Pakistan
Interview 22 “Suicides Are Preventable” Worried for a loved ones’ mental health? Dr Murad Moosa answers questions about mental illness and suicide
Context 30 Goodbye, Cruel World In some cultures, suicide isn’t the taboo we think it is
Relationships
30
36 Love The Way He Lies A bad match can look better than it is — when you’re in a toxic relationship
Feature 40 Acting Out Political theatre picks up with a welcome new addition to the scene
44
Portfolio 44 Morning glory It is always sunrise somewhere
Up North & Personal 52 Name Your Poison Discover the joy of chemical-free farming
Regulars 6 People & Parties: Out and about with Pakistan’s beautiful people 48 Reviews: What’s new in film and books 54 Ten Things I Hate About: The gym
52
Editor: Zarrar Khuhro. Sub-Editors: Batool Zehra, Hamna Zubair Creative Team: Amna Iqbal, Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Anam Haleem, Tariq W Alvi, S Asif Ali, Samad Siddiqui, Mohsin Alam, Sukayna Sadik Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Executive Editor: Muhammad Ziauddin. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi. For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk 4
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Saima Raana and Ashiq Thobani launched a lifestyle gallery House21 in Karachi.
a Adnan Amir and Hum
Ayaz Anis and Raana
r and Safinaz Munee y Haq m m Ta ha es Ay
6 MAY 22-28 2011
r
Zeba Bakhtia
Saima Rana and Ashiq Thobani
PHOTOS COURTESY TAKEII
Natalie Dissel
PEOPLE & PARTIES
The wedding store Tehxeeb was launched in Lahore.
mbal with Amna and Su
a guest
Aaminah Haq and Bunty
Omer and Iffat
8 MAY 22-28 2011
Hamza Tarrar
Rachel, Shahzad and Mehreen
PHOTOS COURTESY TAKEII
Amber
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Propaganda was launched in Islamabad.
Leena, Zahra
and Nida
Fatima with a friend
raz
Momina and Fa
10 MAY 22-28 2011
g
Cristina Sperlin
Zainab and Rweeda
PHOTOS COURTESY VERVE
Beena and Leena
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Kiran, Tahira and Javeria
Rezz and Jenny
Sumayrah and Minal
Guests
12
Changez, Asad MAY 22-28 2011
and Anoushay
Asad, Ayesha and Anna
COVER STORY
embracing the
reaper Suicides — historically low in Muslim countries like Pakistan — are on the rise. And age, sex, profession and economic status are no bar when it comes to taking your own life. BY SALMAN SIDDIQUI
MAY 22-28 2011
At the entrance of Jinnah Hospital’s National Centre of Poison Control, the body of a woman wrapped in a white shroud lies on a stretcher. Two male relatives plead with a young female doctor to search for signs of life. “Maybe you can still save her,” they cry as a stray cat underneath the stretcher sharpens its claws on the metal bars, the shroud dangling over it. But the doctor dismisses their hopes, telling them nothing more can now be done. “There are so many cases of suicide these days,” she says. A ju-
nior doctor at JPMC, she estimates that, on any given day, at least 15 cases of attempted suicide arrive at the poison centre. According to her, thirty per cent of them die despite the best attempts of the doctors. “Like the case you just saw a few moments back, sometimes it really is too late to do anything to save the patient. They barely have a pulse when they arrive,” she says.
Most of the patients who land up at Jinnah Hospital come
from lower to middle income backgrounds. They attempt suicide mostly by consuming pesticides, rat poison, bleach or overdosing on drugs.
The young doctor — insisting that this Wednesday is an unusu-
ally slow day — shows me around the monitoring room where at least a dozen women are struggling for life. Their hands and feet
are tied to the steel rings of their beds with strips of cloth. “We
do that to keep the patient from taking their own lives or running away,” says Dr Mohammad Inam, a senior doctor at the centre.
The patients aren’t allowed to go to the bathroom during re-
cuperation, a period which lasts a minimum of one week. Uri-
nal bags hang by their beds and diapers are fixed around their buttocks, many of them heavy with faeces. Many of them refuse to eat and are force-fed through tubes going through their noses and mouths.
MAY 22-28 2011
COVER STORY
Under section 325 of the Pakistan Penal Code, attempted suicide is categorised as a criminal offence punishable with one year of imprisonment and/or a fine.
In some extreme cases, a sedative injection is given after every
fifteen minutes, says Inam. Many patients also end up hallucinating during the treatment period due to the combination of drugs, trauma and immobility.
In one corner of the room lies a young child, barely 12 years old.
According to his case file, he has consumed pesticides in an attempt to end his life. The child tells the doctor that he was upset at being scolded and beaten by his father.
Strangely, there are no attendants with any of the patients this
afternoon. “Attendants are not allowed because it would be very difficult for them to witness the recovery procedures adopted
here,” says Inam. Also there have been times when attendants
have attacked or threatened the doctors on duty when the patients die.
Dr Fauzia, who has been at the poison centre for more than a
year, has conducted a case study of over 1200 patients since 2008.
According to her, the numbers are increasing and most of the cases are women, many of them married with children. “But I
am more concerned about the number of teenagers and children who are arriving almost everyday,” she says.
Doctors say that most of the time the patient’s family prevari-
cates about the reasons why their loved ones attempted suicide.
Many say it was an accident or that the victim had consumed the poison by mistake.
According to the medico-legal officers at Jinnah hospital,
though attempting suicide is an offence under the law, almost none of the victims at the hospital are actually charged with a crime. “They and their families are already suffering. The last thing they need is a police-waala charging the victim.”
Doctors, however, allege that that is just one part of the story.
18 MAY 22-28 2011
The truth is that policemen and MLOs have their own arrangements for such cases and threaten families with dire consequences if they don’t pay bribes. “No matter how poor you are,
you pay the bribe to not be formally charged,” says a doctor, who has witnessed many such dealings.
In any case, all attempted suicides are recorded with the MLO.
This record becomes crucial when the patient expires. Many a
times, the families then come to the hospital to get the record and get a murder case registered. For example, if a married wom-
an dies, her parents usually accuse the husband of forcing her to take poison.
Doctors at the centre say some days are just freaky. “There have
been times when more than 25 patients have landed at the centre in a single day,” says Inam. This can be a huge problem since
the capacity in the monitoring room is for just around a dozen patients.
Although there are treatments for most of the pesticides and
rat poisons that are available in the market, according to a doctor
>>Call for help The non-profit organisation MIND took the initiative of setting up a suicide helpline in April this year but the ‘24 hour’ hotline is currently functional only from 9 am to 3 pm. Working for the welfare of people with mental illness in rural areas since 1991, MIND took this step in response to the increasing number of suicides. But with only two trained ‘psychologists’ manning the hotline, repeated phone calls went unanswered. One can only imagine how a clinically depressed person on the verge of suicide would react to this, but according to the organisation’s administrator, Mr Kashif, MIND’s main concern was the publicity of the number (042-3576-199) so that more people could call in and benefit from their services. <<
at the centre, there is one particular strain of pesticide that always kills the person no matter what you do. “Truth is nobody really knows much about this strain due to lack of research, so how
can a doctor expect to save a patient who has taken it,” he said.d
March 28 was a busy Monday for Salman Baloch, the principal of Dawood College of Engi-
neering and Technology (DCET). In the morning, Baloch had meetings with two different student action committees. In the afternoon, he went up to the third floor of the building. As the students and teachers went in and out of the university, absorbed in routine tasks, Baloch hurtled down, his head cracked on the ground and he died almost immediately.
At first there was some confusion about whether the professor may have slipped by accident
or was pushed off but investigation officer sub inspector Zia Hussain Shah said that his team
concluded that it was indeed a suicide. “All that needs to be established now are the exact circumstances surrounding the suicide,” says Shah.
The post mortem report concluded that the 58-year-old suffered multiple fractured bones in
the chest and legs. The principal also had diabetes, hypertension and heart problems and perhaps more significantly, he was not happy with the administrative issues and environment at
his college. Shah says that the principal was under a lot of pressure from the various student unions on campus. At one point, he had asked to be relieved of his duties as college principal.
College principals at public institutions like DCET come under enormous pressure from stu-
dent bodies and it is not uncommon for senior teachers to be threatened, harassed and in some
cases physically attacked by students affiliated with such bodies. In most cases, the pressure is to give passing grades to politically connected students even when their performance is poor.
“Baloch had two meetings with student action committees in the morning before he killed
himself. I’m still investigating what kind of pressures the principal was facing,” the officer said.
19 MAY 22-28 2011
When love beckons, answer its call, says Rumi.
When Beenish, a 21-year-old Kashmiri girl, fell in love with 22-year-old Kaleemullah, however, their families
decided that the match was inappropriate. The caste difference — Kaleem, an Awan from Sheikhupura — was unacceptable to the girl’s family.
Both came from educated and relatively well off families in Islamabad. She was pursuing her BBA, while he
appeared for his MBBS examinations. The two had an entire lifetime’s worth of happiness to look forward to.
But on January 19, after her tuition classes, Beenish headed to the airport instead of back home as usual. There
she met Kaleem and the two took the next flight to Karachi. This was the girl’s first visit to Karachi and Kaleem wanted to show her around: they visited the city’s landmarks and dined out, even stopping at Hotel Mehran be-
fore finally checking into the Beach Luxury hotel. But this was no ordinary lovers’ tryst.
The next morning, the couple didn’t pick up the hotel management’s continuous calls, neither did they re-
spond to the banging on the door of their room. Finally, the police was called in, and when the door was opened,
the couple was found unconscious in each others arms. Empty bottles of sleeping pills lay on the floor. According to Investigation Officer Mushtaq Ahmed, one could feel a faint pulse on Kaleem, but it was too late to save Beenish. She was gone.
The police transferred them to Civil Hospital immediately. The Medical Legal Officer Dr Karrar Abbasi says they
pumped the stomachs of the couple and while Kaleem began responding to the treatment, Beenish was declared dead on arrival.
“I didn’t have the heart to tell the young man that the love of his life was dead,” says Abbasi, who lied to Kaleem
once he regained consciousness, telling him that Beenish was still in the intensive care unit. “He kept on asking us how Beenish was, whether she was still alive? ‘If not, then please don’t let me live,’ he would say.”
The next day, Abbasi asked the young man why they did it. “He said they had no other option. Their families
would never give in and that was the only way.”
Beenish’s body was handed over to her family after postmortem. The police, on behalf of the state, filed a
charge of attempted suicide against Kaleem at Jackson police station in Karachi. Kaleem was at the police station
for 24 hours before being presented before a judicial magistrate and was granted bail after paying Rs 50,000. His family took him to Sheikhupura, where he recuperated.
However, the tragic tale does not end there. Investigators from Islamabad, where the case has been transferred
to the Sihala police station by the girl’s family, also came to Karachi and the police team has now arrested Kaleem and charged him with murder.
Sub Inspector Ahmed, while saying that family members from both sides admitted that they were bent against
the marriage, had no answer about why Kaleem would intentionally kill the only person he professed to love.
“Committing suicide for love is not new. But what’s rare is to find two individuals from educated backgrounds
deciding to end their lives together,” says Ahmed who has worked in this field for 30 years. On the other hand, he says, he has come across numerous cases when a man or woman has committed suicide after being rejected by the person they love.
Dr Abbasi agrees with Ahmed, noting the differences in the way people from different classes of society com-
mit suicide. “Usually the poor from rural areas die after consuming poison or hanging themselves. It is the educated middle and upper classes who use sleeping pills,” he says, recalling a case in Defence a few years when a young girl had committed suicide by injecting fatal doses of poison into a drip.
Despite the shroud of silence surrounding the issue of suicide, newspapers frequently report stories of spurned
lovers who end up committing suicide.
On April 10, another couple committed suicide in Faisalabad. Waqar married Shumaila a few months back and
the two lived in Sharif Pura, Peoples Colony No 2. However, since Waqar’s family didn’t approve of the match, the two were constantly threatened. Eventually, they both drank highly toxic pesticides to free themselves from their daily misery.
20 MAY 22-28 2011
What does religion say about suicide? Suicide is expressly forbidden in Islam, and suicides are condemned to torment, repeating the same action by which they killed themselves for all eternity. The relatively recent phenomenon of suicide bombings is considered unlawful by the majority of orthodox scholars and is considered quote separate from martyrdom.
According to the Catholic tradition, suicide is a mortal sin. A person who commits suicide, according to the Church, will go to hell unless there were mitigating circumstances such as mental illness. A suicide victim is traditionally refused a Christian burial by the Catholic Church. Some Protestant churches tend to view suicide as ‘self-murder’, equating the sin incurred by committing suicide to the sin incurred by committing murder
Most schools of Hindu thought consider suicide to be a setback in the soul’s journey towards spiritual progress and eventual enlightenment. In Hinduism, the act of suicide is tantamount to evading the responsibilities of life and may result in rebirth ion a lower form or being forced to suffer through the same. However, the practices of Sati and of Prayopravesa (non-violent fasting to death) are allowed under certain circumstances.
Sikh religious scholars reject suicide as constituting interference in God’s plan. Suffering is said to be part of the operation of karma, and human beings should not only accept it without complaint but act so as to make the best of the situation that karma has given them.
In Zoroastrian belief, suicide is a major sin, which will result in the soul being doomed to wander in a limbo state for all eternity, never reaching any destination.
21 MAY 22-28 2011
INTERVIEW
“the majority of suicides are
preventable”
Dr Murad Moosa Khan, Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at AKU, discusses the prevalence of suicide in Pakistan, and the best way to deal with this phenomenon. BY ZARRAR KHUHRO
take place yearly. We have 2,000-3,000 documented cases, and
you can safely double that number because most cases aren’t re-
ported. But the important thing to note is that for every suicide, there are at least 10 to 20 suicide attempts. So if you are looking for a safe figure, then we could say about 5,000 suicides yearly
along with anywhere between 50,000 and 100,000 suicide attempts.
In your experience, how do people in Pakistan deal with the
idea of suicide, and seeking help for suicidal thoughts?
Here suicide is condemned very strongly on religious grounds
and people feel they can’t verbalise something that is going against religious beliefs. Also, there is a huge stigma surrounding seeking help for emotional problems. We have very few crisis centres for these things and a dearth of hotlines. Many people could be saved if these facilities were available.
What are the stages that a person goes through before they contemplate suicide? There is a path that people follow leading up to the suicide attempt. People first become mentally disturbed, then they cross
a certain threshold and become hopeless. When they become hopeless they enter into depression, or clinical depression, and
then they may not see any way out of their predicament other than suicide.
What then are the warning signs? If you want to identify a person who may be suicidal — you want
What are the leading causes of suicide in Pakistan? The most glaring thing that has come up over the past few years
is that the number of suicides has gone up. This could be because no one has been tracking data properly in the past but, at least since the mid-90s, when we have been gathering information, we have seen cases of suicide increasing. The causes have not
changed as much. People commit suicide because of a disturbed mental state. The contributing factors or the triggers (which lead
to the actual suicide) can vary — I think in Pakistan economic and social factors play a big role.
In the media, it is often said that people commit suicide be-
cause of poverty, or unemployment, but research in Pakistan
come suicidal. People who start having suicidal thoughts may become withdrawn, they may stop taking care of themselves,
they may suffer at work, their grades will slip, or a person will not be as outgoing as they used to be. The person may stop eat-
ing and drinking normally, they may stop going out as much as they used to, their hygiene may suffer, and they may seem pre-
occupied. Then beyond that, a person may start dropping clues in conversation, saying things like, “I don’t feel like living” or “I wish I was dead.” There are stages, and anyone of us who is
sensitive enough to see this change in friends or family members should get the person to seek professional help.
and everywhere else shows that it is actually mental illness that causes suicide... the person may be clinically depressed. And if
What should concerned people do if a person displaying these tendencies refuses to get help? ?
you ask, ‘Isn’t poverty enough to make you clinically depressed?’ I would say, about 50% of Pakistan lives around the poverty line.
We are often approached by family members who tell us that the
Yet a very small percentage of these people will actually commit
person in question refuses to get counselling. We tell friends or
family members to continue talking to the person and to be there
suicide. People commit suicide because of biological, genetic and personal factors.
What are the numbers for suicides in Pakistan like? 22
to be looking at the symptoms that they exhibit before they be-
We estimate that in Pakistan today, about 5,000-7,000 suicides MAY 22-28 2011
for them. Ultimately, in 90-95 per cent of cases the person does
eventually accept the idea of getting professional help. Supporting a suicidal person is extremely important, to counter the feeling that the person has that “people don’t understand me and I’m all alone.”
So say that someone reading this is having suicidal thoughts, what should they do? The moment you share your problems, it shrinks by 50%. Talk to a friend, a confidante, a family member. And the responsibility
of the person he or she shares it with is to simply lend an ear. Beyond that, it is important to seek professional help if these feelings are not going away. That professional help may be to simply
style, entering into toxic relationships that are damaging or abusive. A person with such a history must also avoid taking on a
level of stress that would result in a breakdown. You should live within certain physical and emotional boundaries. When you go
beyond them, you are in danger zone. Just like if you have a family history of heart disease then you should certainly avoid fatty foods and obesity.
talk it over and assure the person that these are normal thoughts and that ‘this too shall pass’. Or the person may need more in-
We tend to view mind and body as separate — you’re saying that’s not the case?
tense counselling and if the person is entering into a state of
clinical depression, then treatment will be needed, which is not
Absolutely, mind and body work together. An unhealthy body will lead to an unhealthy mind - we have to achieve a balance.
necessarily medical treatment.
Do men and women react differently to the kind of emotional turmoil that leads to suicidal thoughts? Yes, women are much more willing to talk about their emotional
problems, which is why rates of suicide in women are less than the rates of suicide in men. Though more women attempt suicide than men, more men actually die as a result of suicide. Generally, women’s ability to withstand pain, physical and emotional,
How important is spirituality in this context? Very important. It is as important as staying physically healthy and
avoiding risky behaviour. Now to some, spirituality may mean praying namaz five times a days or going on multiple Hajjs. For others it
may mean meditation. Whatever your belief system is, you must practice it beyond the ritualistic aspect. Having a larger purpose in life lets you stay connected to life, whether it’s a cause or a hobby.
is much higher than men’s ability to withstand pain. Men definitely need to be more like woman in terms of sharing their emo-
Are there facilities in Pakistan where people with suicidal thoughts can seek help?
tions.
In how many cases are suicidal tendencies the result of a physi-
There are several institutions, mostly in urban areas. The prob-
cal or biological problem — like a chemical imbalance — and how
lem is accessibility and affordability for the general public. 90%
of healthcare costs are out of your pocket, so what can you do?
often is it external circumstance such as poverty or other issues?
In every case, you have to use something called the bio-psycho-
socio model. So every case, whether it is of depression, arthri-
The majority of suicides are preventable, so these are all preventable, needless deaths that are happening.
tis or heart disease, you have to look at the biological, social and
Legally, where does suicide stand in Pakistan?
who has a strong family history of depression and has a stable
it is based on religious edicts, but now if you look at the figures
psychological components. So for example if I’m seeing a person
Suicide needs to be decriminalised. This law was set up because
life otherwise, then I’ll look at biological factors more closely and
it is clear that the deterrence value has been lost. According to
so on. Some people, depending on this, may require some counselling but no medication, others may have different needs. The
main thing to remember is that the majority of people who commit suicide have a diagnosable mental illness at the time that
they take that step. And this is depression. Almost 90 per cent of people who commit suicide are suffering from clinical depression. So if you just address this disease — you will prevent a lot of people from committing suicide.
So if a person has a family history of depression should they be on guard against such tendencies?
data from across the world, suicide rates in Islamic countries
were traditionally less than suicide rates in other countries. But
now, suicide rates in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey are going up. The ‘deterrence factor’ of Islam is losing
its effect in these countries. Poverty, deprivation, lack of justice are all very important factors. Just look at Iran, which is a conser-
vative, theocratic society. The suicide rates are going up, and in
the rural areas women are burning themselves, one of the most common methods in that area. In Pakistan and Bangladesh the most common form of suicide is by consuming pesticides.
Yes, if you have a family history of depression, or a parent who
When someone commits suicide — what does this do to the rest of the family?
things that are risk factors for depression or suicide.
Psychologically and emotionally, people can be destroyed and it
Such as?
from anger to guilt and depression. And then there is a chance of
has committed suicide, you have to make sure you don’t do
Such as alcoholism, for example, or leading an unhealthy life-
takes years to recover. The family will feel all sorts of emotions, the cycle repeating itself. a
MAY 22-28 2011
23
COVER STORY CONTEXT
goodbye,
cruel world For some cultures and for more than a few cults, suicide isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the taboo we consider it to be. BY MAHVESH MURAD
The debate surrounding assisted suicides may be new but the idea of euthanasia, mercy killing or assisted suicide has been accepted in various cultures for centuries. Throughout antiquity there existed large support for voluntary death, with physicians providing long-suffering patients with the poisons they needed. This changed after the Middle Ages and with the rise of Christianity, and from then on, no organised religion supports the idea of euthanasia or assisted suicide. But what of other religions beyond the reach of the Abrahamic
religions? The Mayan worshipped a suicide goddess called Ixtab
(the rope woman), who was believed to accompany all suicides to heaven. The Inuits of the northern territories have reported cases of assisted suicide as late as 1939. In Inuit culture, those seeking
death would ask for assistance from their families thrice, with
family members attempting to dissuade them each time. At the third request, however, help was obligatory and the death occurred ritualistically, at a specific place and time, by either hang-
ing or stabbing. Oddly, the Inuit were more popularly known as a
30 MAY 22-28 2011
people who abandoned their old once they became ‘burdensome’
like seppuku, jigai was simply a cutting of the jugular for a quick
against ‘sacrificing’ those who are the keepers of knowledge in
mitted jigai would tie their knees together so that they would not
but this is less likely to be true, as Inuit cultural bears a taboo the oral tradition.
Perhaps the best known case of an assisted suicide prior to the
death. In order to be ‘dignified’, even in death, women who combe found having flailed about as they bled out.
Kamikaze pilots
start of the great debate was that of Sigmund Freud, possibly the
During the Pacific campaign of World War II, Japanese pilots
tember 1939, Freud, suffering from immense pain from cancer
bushido code once again and
most influential figure in the world of human psychology. In Sep-
manned suicide missions against the American, following the preferring death to dishonour.
of the mouth and jaw, asked a
Meaning ‘divine wind’, the bet-
friend and fellow doctor to help
ter known kamikaze attacks of
him die. He was given doses of
WWII were aerial, but the Japa-
morphine for two days until his
nese had a number of ‘special
death. In the last few decades,
attack’ units in place, includ-
the process has become legal in
ing suicide boats named ‘Sea
a number of Scandinavian coun-
Quake’; midget suicide sub-
tries, as well as in New Zealand.
marines named ‘Sea Dragon’;
The most recent champion of assisted suicide has been writer
suicide divers called ‘Crouching
Terry Pratchet who suffers from early-onset Alzheimer’s.
Dragons’ who would plant a mine underwater into the hull of an
Seppuku or Hara-kiri
called ‘Returning to the Heavens’, which were crafted to allow
Japan has an ancient culture
of suicide, one that stemmed largely from seppuku or harakiri, a method of ritual suicide
enemy ship but never make it back alive; and manned torpedoes pilots to escape. It is unknown whether they would successfully have escaped alive, but there is no record of any of the pilots (all aged between 18 and 20) having ever attempted an escape.
by means of ‘cutting the belly’
We won’t be taken alive
recorded act of seppuku was in
battle — history is full of incidents where defeated communities
or disembowelment. The first
But the Japanese weren’t the only nation to commit suicide in
1180, and it grew to become a
have chosen to commit mass suicide rather than become captive.
part of bushido — the samurai
honour code - as a way for captured samurai to avoid being
tortured before death or even at times to ‘restore’ their honour (which had been lost due to their defeat and capture).
By 1500,
In approximately 102 BC the women of a defeated Teutonic army chose to commit mass suicide rather than be captured by the Romans. In 73 AD, 960 members of a Jewish community at Masada
first killed their wives and children and then themselves rather than be captured.
Closer to home, the Rajputs had a tradition called Jauhar in
seppuku became an alternate
which, when defeat seemed imminent, the Rajput women
guilty of disloyalty to the emperor. Eventually, judicial seppuku
the battlefield. The latter prac-
to execution offered only to privileged samurai who were found was abolished in 1873, but records of voluntary seppuku exist as late as 1970, when writer and filmmaker Yukio Mishima committed seppuku after a failed coup d’etat. Today, internet-based ‘suicide clubs’ are considered a major social problem in Japan.
Jigai Never say the ancient Japanese did not provide gender equality.
Wives of the samurai committed jigai when under threat of captivity or rape, after the deaths of their husbands in battle. Un-
would self-immolate while their men marched to seek death on tice is known as Saka. There are several recorded incidents of Jauhar in
Similar to this was the Ba-
linese practice of Puputan, or
fight until death. In the Badung Puputan of 1906, when faced
with an overwhelming Dutch force, over a thousand Balinese
MAY 22-28 2011
31
CONTEXT
men women and children sought death from Dutch fire. When
the Dutch ran out of bullets the Balinese killed each other in a symbolic act of defiance.
More recently, nearly 1000 inhabitants of the German town of
Demmin committed mass suicide when faced with the advancing Red Army on May 1st 1945.
Sati Meanwhile back in the subcontinent, widows were immolating
themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands in a tradition the Mughals tried very hard to
abolish in India. Akbar insisted officials delay sati until the
widow had dealt with her im-
mediate grief and could make an informed decision, Shah Jehan
forbade it for widows with chil-
dren and Aurangzeb straight out banned the ritual. However, it is the British who had the greatest
success in quashing the prac-
tice. Still, a famous case of sati in 1987 caused considerable uproar in India. The practice was not limited to the subcontinent
and in Bali, Indonesia, sati was known as masatya, and was
practiced by aristocracy until it was banned under Dutch colonial rule in 1905.
Heavenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gate Say what you will about the Scientologists, they still havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t convinced members to kill themselves for a better life. The same
32 MAY 22-28 2011
In Inuit culture, those seeking death would ask for assistance from their families thrice, with family members attempting to dissuade them each time. At the third request, however, help was obligatory and the death occurred ritualistically, at a specific place and time, by either hanging or stabbing.
couldn’t be said about members of the Heaven’s Gate cult who
Jim Jones. The cult had been stocking up on arsenic while run-
of their bodies and allow them to travel to a better, genderless
son was mixed into a vat of Flavour Aid or Kool Aid, and although
believed that suicide would simply free them from the ‘vehicles’
ning rehearsals for a mass suicide. When the time came, the poia few members changed their minds and survived, most did not.
Parent poisoned their children — even infants and toddlers were
not spared. Leader Jim Jones was found with his head on a pillow, a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his temple. d
life aboard a spaceship in the tail of the Hale-Bopp comet. In the best known case of cult suicide in recent years, 39 members of
Heaven’s Gate committed suicide on a ranch in Santa Fe, Califor-
nia in March 1997. The two survivors of the mass cult suicide both killed themselves within the next year.
The Order of the Solar Temple Between 1994 and 1997, 74 members of the Order of the Solar Temple died in
a series of mass suicides.
Each left letters behind, explaining
that
their
death would result in a
move to the Sirius solar system.
Jonestown In 1978 in Guyana, 918 people, mostly American citizens, died
from what was labeled ‘revolutionary suicide’ by the cult’s leader
33 MAY 22-28 2011
RELATIONSHIPS
love the way he lies BY SABA KHALID
“At first it felt like I was a helpless toddler being picked up gently by the nicest man in the world. Coddled, caressed and loved, I forgot my entire life before him. But suddenly, without any explanation, the same man callously
dropped me and left me without any remorse whatsoever. Addicted to his attention, I wanted him back. When he finally did
pick me up again, I was so enraged by his previous behaviour that I treated him badly too, and once again, he’d break up with me.
And of course, I’d long to go back to him. Like two psychopaths, we carried on like this at least five hundred times in a two-yearlong relationship. Until, one day, he dropped me so hard that my head spun around and I finally had the courage to break the
cycle,” says Hanniya Siddique, a twenty-seven-year old copywrit-
er at a multinational advertising agency, sharing the highs and lows of a disturbed relationship she had with a man when she was in her early twenties.
Many people reading Hanniya’s account will blame her for be-
ing stupid enough to stay in a toxic relationship for so long. But
don’t we all wonder what really makes successful, smart and educated women like Hanniya stay in relationships like this? And why do they leave one toxic relationship only to find themselves in a similar situation with a different man later on in life?
Toxic relationships, like other addictions, only get worse with
time. Hanniya isn’t the only independent, successful woman
36
who has been caught in such a situation. We read about examMAY 22-28 2011
ples every day: Rihanna, the young singer-songwriter, broke out of a toxic relationship with Chris Brown only recently, after be-
ing repeatedly assaulted by him. Even our favourite F.r.i.e.n.d Jennifer Aniston has been caught up in dead-end relationships
ever since her divorce from Brad Pitt. From 2008 to 2009, she was in an on-again, off-again relationship with serial playboy John
Mayer. None of these women are lacking in common sense, low on self-esteem or desperately in need of a man to complete them. So how did they end up falling into these relationships?
Laying on the charm Sara Hussein, a former NYU student who works at her father’s business says: “It’s got to be the charm. Toxic men have an appeal about them that is undeniably strong. And they’re so unpredictable that they make your head spin. One moment they are writing a song about your beauty and the next minute, they could be sexting [a term used for sending explicit text messages/pictures] your best friend.”
Charm and unpredictability are a dangerous
combination. And what’s the real meaning of ‘charm’ anyway? It actually means to put a spell on someone or deceive them. For some reason, the word has a more positive
connotation
associated
with it today than its obvious
nega-
tive meaning. No one wants
to be de-
ceived, right? Don’t we
all
the truth as it is? At the same
dictability
time,
is
drug.
an
want
unpre-
addictive
Contextually speak-
ing,
unpredictability
is the complete and utter
loss of control. A psycholo-
gist tells me that most people
who have an obsessive control over
a certain area of life, let’s say their ca-
reer, may seek to completely lose this
sense of control in their romantic life.
This new-found freedom is so addictive
that many will ride this rollercoaster for sev-
eral years.
The negative or positive feelings resulting
from this addictive combination of charm and
unpredictability can be a source of brain stimula-
tion. To test this, researchers in the 1950s conducted an interesting, albeit evil, experiment on rats. Each time a group of rats pressed a lever, they received a treat in the form of
37
electrical stimulation of the brain. The rats
MAY 22-28 2011
RELATIONSHIPS
were so addicted to this stimulation that they would press the lever constantly, until they collapsed from fatigue. After a while,
this stimulation was changed to painful electric shocks. The rats were so addicted to the previous stimulation that they would
keep going back to the lever again and again, hoping that the shocks would be replaced with something sweeter eventually.
The shocks, unfortunately, were never replaced and all the rats died in this futile pursuit.
No scars to show Most of us generally think of abuse in terms of physical assault —
slapping, bruising, pushing and shoving someone around. How can a crime be worth reporting if there are no scars or bruises to show for it? And in fact, emotional abuse is often so impercep-
tible that we only realise that we were victimised when we have left the relationship altogether. The silent treatment, sudden
or temporary abandonment, the small put-downs, when combined, can wreak havoc on a person’s self-esteem. As opposed to victims of physical abuse, who can see and feel their pain, victims of emotional abuse have nothing to show for their suffering.
Gaslighting “He ate my heart, and then he ate my brain.” (“Monster” — Lady Gaga)
The best depiction of emotional abuse in popular culture can be
found in the film Gaslight. Ingrid Bergmen starred in the film, and won an Oscar for her portrayal of a woman, Paula, who is slowly manipulated by her husband into believing that she is insane.
This film became so popular that it gave birth to the term “gas-
lighting”, a form of psychological abuse often used on torture or
war victims. The abuser usually makes false information avail-
able to the victim in order for them to start doubting their own memory and perceptions. An interesting tactic employed is the
complete denial by an abuser that a previous abusive episode ever
took place. If the abuser is even smarter, they will stage certain bizarre events to completely disorient the victim. In the film Gaslight, the husband, Gregory, staged certain events such as hiding
a painting or item of jewelry and blamed his wife for losing it. He removed things such as letters from her family that she had seen
a while ago herself and most importantly, caused the gas light
to flicker, while dismissing it as a figment of her imagination when she aired her concerns.
38 MAY 22-28 2011
Solitary confinement When the abuser is trying to claw their way into a victim’s life,
Hussein continues.
cutting ties with loved ones is integral. If the victim has a strong
The need for closure
when their loved ones point out the abusive strategies employed
cause he or she never gives us true closure. As a society, we seek
support network, they are bound to break free from the abuser
A lot of times, we are unable to cut off contact with the abuser be-
by the abuser. If the victim is caught alone, and constant abu-
an explanation, a scientific reason or even a superficial justifica-
sive episodes take place, they are more likely to think that maybe they made a bigger deal of the abuse than it really was, they
might deny that it happened altogether or they may think they
tion for everything. Things that leave us dumbfounded intrigue us forever.
“Each time he left me without a reason or even a call, I would
deserve it.
try to get over it for a few months. Then, one day some small re-
their loved ones completely. Instead, they belittle the victim’s
tion for his horrid behavior. He would lay on the charm, I would
Most intelligent abusers do not tell the victim to cut ties with
family members or ridicule their gestures until the victim starts thinking that she doesn’t need their support at all.
Forgetting the good times “Even when I realised that the charm and unpredictability hid a monster inside, I still kept going back to him, hoping with all my
heart that we could somehow go back to the good old days,” says Hussein, with a heavy heart.
minder of him would make me go back for some sort of explanatry to forget what happened between us and we would be back in love again,” remembers Siddique.
True recovery only happens when one gives up the need for
closure. With a disordered or toxic person, one can never truly attain closure. This is difficult to do because they never want you to close the door on them forever. If you do, they can never come back into your life whenever they choose.
“One day, out of nowhere he came back on his own and asked
For most, it is difficult to admit to oneself that the entire ex-
for forgiveness. By this time, I had figured him all out and told
person to lure them out of their comfort zone. The hope that
there was no way I could be pulled back into his predatory cycle.
perience was an illusion which was carefully crafted by another things might change, or the denial that a problem exists can last
a lifetime. Even worse, some people may jump out of one toxic relationship into another. Imagine riding a rollercoaster your entire life — would you ever get used to standing on steady feet?
“After fighting so hard with my parents, who rightly pointed
him exactly how bad he had made me feel through the years and Instead of admitting he had been wrong, he went ballistic and
blamed me for everything that happened. I slammed the phone down on him and have never spoken to him since,” says Hussein.
out from the start that he was trouble, I couldn’t admit to my-
No contact
married Siddique.
abuser altogether. Walking out without saying a single word is
self that I was wrong about him all along,” says the now happily
The only way to recover from this abuse is to cut ties with the
Facing the truth means realising that you were played by an-
hard, but it is the only way to survive. One must remember that
other person, like an object or a lifeless piece in a chess game. Coming to terms with that is the most difficult part of recovery.
For others, normal relationships which do not feel like hostage situations are almost boring. Normalcy in relationships seems too easy and dull.
“Watching romantic films convinced me that love is never
easy. I thought you could never be in love with someone unless it is an all-consuming, self-destructive fire of passion. So when my
if the purpose of not being in touch with the abuser is to teach
the abuser a lesson or to get him or her to realise their mistake, then no real recovery will take place.
“Once I walked out, I met a wonderful loving man and re-
alised that loving someone is freeing; it doesn’t feel like a
painful obsession,” concludes Siddique. a
*The names of the victims have been altered to protect their privacy.
significant other acted selfishly and coldly towards me, I took it
in stride as one of the many challenges one has to face in love,”
39 MAY 22-28 2011
FEATURE
acting out Framji Minwalla’s experimentations with The Living Newspaper rekindle a long tradition of political theatre in Pakistan.
BY CHEREE FRANCO
On a balmy Tuesday, 20 third-year Szabist film students cluster in a small, dingy studio. The midday sun streams from the skylight, testing everyone’s patience as they
attempt to mark scenes in a series of fact-based plays highlighting human rights violations in Pakistan. Under Dr Framji Minwalla, Head of Media Science at Szabist University, these students and 50
of their peers researched, wrote and are currently staging a specific type of play — The Living Newspaper.
40
“Living Newspapers is a theatrical form that became popular dur-
MAY 22-28 2011
ing the Great Depression to tackle immediately relevant social and political issues that affected the lives of working and middle class
Americans,” says Minwalla, who seems at home in the studio, even in a crisp mint button down and khakis.
As one group finishes rehearsing a talk show scene where a 1970
cyclone victim and a 2010 flood victim discuss their respective governments’ responses, Minwalla straddles the back of a chair and addresses his students.
“Did it take everyone a while to figure out that they’re referenc-
ing the flood that happened in East Pakistan?” he asks.
“But he had the accent,” protests Maria Mumtaz, the writer/di-
rector of the flood play.
“He may have had the accent, but you need to make it clear,” Min-
walla says. “After the cyclone, aid came through Islamabad and
most of it didn’t filter down to the areas hardest hit. With this play, you may want to show that this situation was largely responsible for splitting the country in half!”
Begun as a means to spread propaganda in Bolshevik Russia, Liv-
ing Newspapers is more commonly associated with the US’s Federal Theatre Project of the 1930s, which the government designed to employ Depression-era actors in public service. The plays took
a journalistic approach to issues affecting US workers, rejecting conventions of realism and complicated set design and relying on
abrupt lighting choices, flexible use of space and a narrator or ‘loudspeaker’ to offer references and commentary.
Minwalla’s students are simply continuing a long tradition of
political theatre in Pakistan. The country has a history of promot-
ing change via the (often makeshift) stage. The Indian Peoples’
Theatre Association, a Communist theatre troupe, had offshoots in Pakistan, post-Partition and political theatre became localised and
“After the cyclone, aid came through Islamabad and most of it didn’t filter down to the areas hardest hit. With this play, you may want to show that this situation was largely responsible for splitting the country in half!”
41
Actor Fakhar and writer Mustafa engrossed in conversation MAY 22-28 2011
FEATURE focused when the late Mansoor Saeed founded the Karachi-based Dastak in 1982.
“During General Zia’s time, it was difficult to say anything
against the government, or really, anything at all,” says Mansoor Saeed’s daughter, Sania Saeed. “My father wanted to bring progres-
sive people together on one platform that could help them spread
Once, during a staging of Brecht’s “St. Joan of the Stockyards” in a factory compound, there was a blackout. Sania was a child at the time, but she remembers how all the truck-drivers turned on their headlights so the performance could continue.
42
their ideals. It showed female factory workers talking with university students and young doctors talking with union representatives.”
Dastak staged Urdu adaptations of famous Western plays, using
indirect approaches to comment on the political situation, often
performing at factories and union offices, shoving tables together for a stage. Once, during a staging of Brecht’s “St. Joan of the Stock-
yards” in a factory compound, there was a blackout. Sania was a child at the time, but she remembers how all the truck-drivers turned on their headlights so the performance could continue.
Other influential political theatre groups included Ajoka in Pun-
jab and Tehrik-e-Niswan in Karachi. Formed by Sheema Kermani in 1979, Tehrik-e-Niswan, or Woman’s Struggle, remains an active company today and has often produced what could be considered
Pakistan’s own version of Living Newspapers. The plays were scripted from interviews and case studies and performed in private spaces
in low-income communities in order to evade censorship. As with
Living Newspapers, they incorporated visual aids and song and dance to reach as broad an audience as possible.
Minwalla has specific reasons for turning to The Living Newspa-
per. “I took Living Newspapers as a model through which students could examine civil rights violations around topical issues,” says Minwalla.
In many ways, the students’ plays hew closely to experimental
concepts, eschewing — much like Dastak did 20 years ago — fancy
Director Gulzeb goes over a script with co-writer Rida Salman. MAY 22-28 2011
sets and costumes in favour of a strong message. Umair Bilal, the
Loudspeaker and light-tech for the flood play, is, at 26, is too young to remember the early Dastak days but he says, “An elaborate set is a barrier between the audience and the actors. If you take street the-
atre, they don’t have any sets at all. That’s far more appealing to the ordinary person than professional theatre with sets and props.” Minwalla’s class read international civil rights documents, such
as the Magna Carta, and various countries’ constitutions, before
brainstorming potential play topics — free speech, child labour, extra judicial violence against women, police corruption and lynch-
ing. Then students consulted newspapers and legislative texts and conducted personal interviews.
“They came up with smart outlines for their plays,” said Minwal-
la. “They thought about the issues and figured out how to tell the stories from relatively impartial perspectives.”
Among the dramatic texts from the historical canon the students
read and analysed was “Power”, a 1937 Living Newspaper production
about a government organisation’s struggle to make electricity available to millions of people in the poverty — stricken southern US. To
Minwalla, “Power” seemed especially poignant, since his students experience daily power lapses due to Karachi’s overburdened grid.
Zeeshan Haider and Rafay Mahmood are Minwalla’s assistants.
According to Rafay, who is also a reporter at The Express Tribune:
“There’s a difference between how a journalist looks at the story and how a lawyer looks at the story. A journalist is supposed to be
unbiased, but a lawyer has to speculate — ‘If someone has violated something, what mindset is he coming from?’ The students started
out thinking like journalists, and then began thinking like lawyers.”
Bilal hopes to become a filmmaker, but at one time, he contemplat-
ed becoming a journalist. His personal mission lines up directly with
the mission of the original Living Newspapers. “I want to work for the people,” he says. “Considering the literacy rate of Pakistan, the written word doesn’t have much value. If you write an article, an ordinary
worker’s not going to read it. But if he watches a film at a tea stall, he forgets his hunger, his worries and just concentrates on the movie for those few hours. He’s finding an escape in the form of entertainment,
so I thought why should I not use that as a platform? We should entertain, but there should be a cause behind it.”
In her play, Mumtaz-cum-Angelina Jolie sits among heads of
states and discusses post-flood foreign aid distribution. “I was in
Pakistan and I saw with my own eyes the kind of lavish life styles
“If you write an article, an ordinary worker’s not going to read it. But if he watches a film at a tea stall, he forgets his hunger, his worries and just concentrates on the movie for those few hours.”
these government officials enjoy,” she said. “The disparities in income in this country are unbelievable. They lead a lifestyle comparable to us Hollywood celebrities.”
Later, Mumtaz as Mumtaz says, “Pakistani people deserve ev-
erything. We deserve electricity, we deserve water, we deserve a healthy happy lifestyle, but we don’t get it. So we are trying to make the audience aware.” a
43 MAY 22-28 2011
PORTFOLIO
morning glory
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY SALEEMA HAMID
Vermilion riot
The morning sky changes from moment to moment, and the spectacle of sunrise is fleeting, at best. Being a morning person, I try to capture what I can of this glorious beginning. Every second counts in this mad pursuit... and then sometimes, I begin again at dusk. 44 MAY 22-28 2011
By a route obscure and lonely — Edgar Allan
So open your eyes to imaginings, for nothing’s ever as it seems at sunrise — Jane Van Doe
45 MAY 22-28 2011
PORTFOLIO
46
Somewhere between the spirit and consciousness MAY 22-28 2011
Not all who wander are lost â&#x20AC;&#x201D; JRR Tolkien
The groggy city twitches in its sleep
47 MAY 22-28 2011
REVIEW
featured review of the week
film speed demons BY ARSALAN FARUQI
A thrill ride is what fans hitting the theatres to watch the latest installment of the Fast and Furious franchise will be expecting, and Fast Five gives viewers exactly what they expect. Heartstopping action sequences, nerve-wracking suspense, signature car-racing scenes and a smattering of emotional appeal is what Fast Five is all about. Fast Five picks up exactly where the last Fast and Furious ended. To recap, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is busted out while he is being transferred to prison, and everyone goes their separate ways. Now, Dominic’s sister Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) and the love of her life, Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) drive off to Brazil in a Nissan Skyline classic and meet up with the hot-headed Vince (Matt Schulze) who has already established himself in the Brazilian underworld. Vince duly gets a ‘job’ lined up for Brian and Mia. But there’s many a slip ‘twixt cup and lip and the plans change while the job is in progress with our heroes getting in the bad books of Brazilian businessman Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). Reyes threatens Mia’s life and wakes up a pair of sleeping giants in the bargain. This is where the movie gets a bit Bollywoodistic, but then who cares? If the movie has to be described in one phrase, “sheer adrenalin” would be it. It is a 2hr, 10 min white-knuckle rollercoaster ride. Viewers are seated to witness the greatest and the most thrilling heist ever to hit the big screen. Soon we find that it’s not just two teams going at each other, there is a third team (the FBI) also added to the mix. FBI agent Hobbs (The Rock) and his men are also following our speedy heroes’ trail in an attempt to bring them to justice. The stunt choreography is in a league of its own; Director Justin Lin has simply outdone himself and set a new standard. The thrill48 ing scene of the heist of the cars from a train was unbelievable and MAY 22-28 2011
leader of the pack Fast Five leaves the previous installments in its dust.
Viewers are seated to witness the greatest and the most thrilling heist ever to hit the big screen. Soon we find that it’s not just two teams going at each other, there is a third team (the FBI) also added to the mix.
combined elements from XXX and Fast 5. After all, this franchise is about two things: cars and car chases. Actually, make that three things: cars, car chases and family. As for the first, car enthusiasts can ogle a fine selection of four-wheeled beauties, like the ‘63 Ford Galaxy, the ‘66 Ford GT40, the ‘66 Corvette Grand Sport, the Porsche GT3 and the ‘72 Nissan Skyline. The fifth installment brings back all the major players from the previous four movies: we have got the Bossman Toretto, Mia, Brian, Vince, Roman, Han, Tego, Don Santos, Tej and Gisele. Seeing them all in one warehouse planning to pull off the greatest heist ever highlights the way their friendship makes them feel like family members. And as opposed to the previous parts, this time Diesel meets his match in The Rock, who can give as good as he gets in a one-on-one fist fight. With a combination of wit, action, drama, love ands sheer adrenaline, Fast Five is easily the finest in the franchise.
49 MAY 22-28 2011
REVIEW
film still got it BY HAMNA ZUBAIR
Before I watched The Next Three Days, I could only think of two Russell Crowe movies in which the gruff Aussie actor appears genuinely likeable: that standby tearjerker, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind. Thankfully, Crowe’s portrayal of a bumbling yet devoted school teacher-turned escape artist in The Next Three Days redeems him, and he has become tolerable once again. The Next Three Days centres around John Brennan, played by Crowe, a simple suburban father whose life is dramatically overturned when his wife is falsely accused of murdering her boss. Fast forward a few years and John’s wife Lara (played by an exceptionally haunting yet picturesque-looking Elizabeth Banks) has been sentenced to life in prison. Faced with the prospect of going through life without ever seeing their three-year-old son again, Lara becomes depressed and tries, among other coping methods, attempting suicide. John, who is still helplessly in love with his wife despite having only seen her in stringy greasy hair and a red monkey suit for three years, decides he would rather be a fugitive than a single dad — and sets out to break her out of jail. What follows is a series of misadventures until John seemingly hits on a winning formula to break his wife out of prison and smuggle the whole family away to some Third World country where they can procreate in peace. The movie’s plot is laced with fairly predictable fillers — like John’s run-in with some mafia-type hooligans during his quest to get a fake passport, and his budding attachment with a pretty lady that provokes a moment of self-doubt. Yet, predictable as these moments are, they are never cheesy, thanks to Crowe’s skilled acting and the film’s breakneck pace. In fact, I would go so far as to say that nobody manages to steal the spotlight from Crowe during the entire film. At times vulnerable and in need of guidance, at other times steely and resolved, Crowe manages to evoke our sympathy even when he is doing 50 something absolutely ridiculous, like contemplating leaving his son MAY 22-28 2011
show me the story The Next Three Days proves that a movie with a good plot can still work better than a film starring an unknown hunk and a surgically enhanced beach babe.
behind as he tries to make his great escape. Of course, you could say the movie touches a chord because it is all about the importance of family, or the unassailable bond between mother and son. I disagree. The movie is a success because of its uncomplicated premise and quick succession of twists and turns. And since Crowe has of late become a bit pudgy round the middle, The Next Three Days also proves that a movie with a good plot can still work better than a film starring an unknown hunk and a surgically enhanced beach babe.
book dishing the dirt BY NEHA ANSARI
Former Indian prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral’s autobiography Matters of Discretion is more than just a memoir. It’s a kaleidoscope of Indian politics. India’s blackened emergency, the USSR’s covert interference and funding to the Communist Party of India, the country’s ‘sudden and unplanned’ friendship with Israel. It is a tale of the history of a democratic India — narrated by one of the country’s oldest politicians who, ironically, was prime minister for the shortest time. Matters of Discretion does justice to its title. It gives you all the ‘dirt’ you need on Indira Gandhi: her chameleonesque attitude, her haughty demeanour and backstabbing politics. Describing her as having a very complex personality, he writes, “One day she would write to me as ‘Dear IKG’ or ‘My dear Inder,’ and just a day later it would be ‘Dear Shri Gujral’[...] It was all a question of her moods.” He also talks at length about the time of the “Sanjay-led junta”— that is, how Indira Gandhi’s younger son marred her government with his bad-boy behaviour and parochial politicking. I never really quite understood the relationship between Mrs Gandhi and her son, but here it is clearly spelled out: “Where Sanjay was concerned, Indira Gandhi was not ready to listen to anyone. Yes, no one! Not even at the cost of the nation that she governed.” India’s skyrocketing corruption, the vengeful, squabbling politics and the tumultuous ‘80s and ‘90s are chronicled in the book, which has a ‘Dear Diary’ feel to it — in a positive way. More than anything, the book changed my opinion about IK Gujral as a statesman. I had always thought of him to be a weak politician, a people pleaser, a sycophant. This opinion was reinforced when I read the book’s opening chapters, with his eulogy of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and him being part of Mrs Gandhi’s “kitchen cabinet”. However, as I read on, I realised that he chose to eschew the ‘evils’ around him, which made him look weak. He chose tolerance instead of confrontation. Even in his key position as the Indian ambassador to the USSR, he worked honourably — he even tolerated
from the horse’s mouth Matters of Discretion is a window into the world of Indian politics.
the KGB’s incessant bugging and phonetaps! The best part: the autobiography exudes honesty. He writes of his embarrassing moments, how he tried to keep his chin up but sometimes failed, the rupee plunge that was unfortunately attributed to him and the factional politics of India that ultimately led to his resignation from office. More than just politics, Matters of Discretion is a revelation about IK Gujral , his parents and his wife’s fervent participation in the freedom struggle of 1947. More delightful is reading about his friendship with Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Krishan Chandar, his Urdu ‘red’ poetry; and him being a Bhagat Singh follower, rather than Gandhi’s. More than just a memoir, it’s a man’s evolution, from a firebrand young Communist to a democratic leader. a MAY 22-28 2011
51
UP NORTH AND PERSONAL
Permaculture in practice
name your poison TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS BY ZAHRAH NASIR
The underdeveloped world has become the new market for destructive chemical products.
To the uninitiated, my garden is a mess: the mixed bed of herbs and flowers is overflowing with self-seeded plants growing at random amongst unpruned roses and the parsley and Queen Anne’s lace have spilled beyond any discernible boundary. Blue and white flowered borage, rocket and garlic chives have
popped up all over the potato bed. Lettuce, larkspur, feverfew and masses of wild daisies flourish in between emerging pumpkin and courgette seedlings. There are sunflowers in the comfrey,
sweet William’s with the beans, Nigella in the asparagus, Ratibida in the thyme, aniseed in the sweet peas, parsnips in the strawberry bed. As if this wasn’t enough, the orchard encroaches
on the garden: apple, apricot, plum, persimmon, cherry, lemon, fig, orange, quince, almond, pomegranate, sloe, strawberry guava, damson and peach trees draped with grape vines, clematis and wisteria flourish. The mish-mash of vibrant new greens both delights and confounds.
People with preconceived notions of how a horticulturalist’s garden should be are shocked.
52 MAY 22-28 2011
Expecting straight lines, meticulously tended beds with neat
stupidly, have not.
frown in disdainful confusion, raise their eyebrows, look down
given approval for an expenditure of Rs 136 million on 10 proj-
explain what it is all about, leave in disgust to explain to their
rying include an allocation of Rs 12.988 million for the ‘Enhance-
rows of individual crops without a weed in sight, they usually their noses and, after I have tried — usually unsuccessfully — to
friends that “Zahrah Nasir’s garden is a hotchpotch.” They are right, of course!
This is not simply a garden: Here I have, over 15 years, thought-
fully put into practice what is known as ‘Permaculture’ to create
what might be the first highly-productive, naturally-balanced garden in the country in whose chemical-free atmosphere plants
and wildlife are encouraged to interact to the benefit of all concerned. As other gardeners reach for yet another chemical spray
to kill off the aphids infesting their roses, for example, I contentedly watch industrious ladybirds actively ‘farming’ the very few
The Punjab Agricultural Research Board, for instance, has just
ects in the agriculture and livestock sector. These projects worment of cost-effective mutton production through genetically enhanced prolificacy management’; Rs 15.199 million for ‘Improvement of Lentil Germplasm for high seed yield and disease
resistance’; and Rs 23.233 million for ‘Development of Transgenic cotton with multiple genes resistant to control Cotton Leaf Curl
Virus’. These projects will, in time, come with a very high price
tag as far as the long-term sustainability of the natural environment is concerned and will achieve little towards making the country self-sufficient.
Reliance on chemical interventions — including genetic engi-
aphids attempting to gain a foothold on the mustard mizuna
neering — is rapidly rendering the land sterile. This sterility is
planted with garlic chives, my roses are completely free from
chemicals in the form of fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides.
that has been left to form seed for next year’s crop . Being underaphids.
Having an understanding of the complicated relationships be-
tween different kinds of plants — some of which protect others
from pests, some which encourage others to flourish by nurturing them with necessary minerals, some which attract pollinators which, after feasting on the nectar, happily move onto a less
enticing plant growing right next to them — is one of the basics of this practice. Successful organic permaculture is all about
working with nature rather than against it as so many gardeners and agriculturalists do. It is also about creating harmony and mi-
cro-climates, health and happiness for the myriad life forms in
currently being fought with the applications of even more toxic Now this is going to be lethally combined with the introduction
of genetically engineered crops and livestock which are capable of surviving on the contaminated, chemical impregnated land
that has been created over the years, and which has allowed chemical-producing companies and voracious multinationals
to dominate the scene.If this trend continues unchecked, it will
result in an increase in global poverty and hunger as production shrinks and prices rise. All this should be enough to make the
benefits of natural farming — this includes the practice of permaculture — clear.
Permaculture is not applicable only to small areas of land such
which soil microbes are just as important as visiting or resident
as my garden. It is just as viable on a large-scale farm. Initially
suitable type.
should help with our high unemployment rate!), natural farm-
birds and which all contribute to bountiful crops of a climatically The incredibly productive gardens of Goa in India have long
been renowned in horticultural circles for the miraculous crops achieved with the fertile soil being widely acclaimed as the
reason. But this is not true. The majority of small farmers and growers in Goa, knowingly or unknowingly, have practiced or-
more labour intensive than mechanised chemical farming (this
ing, in which neither mono-cropping nor chemical intervention has a role, is being given serious consideration in many parts
of the ‘developed’ world. People have become aware of the po-
tential dangers of ignoring mankind’s negative impact on the planet and are actively engaged in seeking solutions and — it
ganic permaculture for centuries: the required knowledge and
has to be said — salvation. The flipside of the ‘developed’ world’s
next with inter-planting, under-planting and vertical gardening
toxic chemicals, genetic engineers and powerful multinationals
understanding being passed down from one generation to the
practices being the rule rather than the exception and the ‘no dig’
principle dominating the scene. Farmers in other parts of India, particularly during the years of the ‘Green Revolution’, switched
over to a heavy reliance on mono-cropping, using chemical interventions that poisoned the land and the crops. Now, they are
paying the price for this switch. While India does appear to have
learnt some lessons from that devastating experience we, quite
move towards natural sustainability is that manufacturers of
are turning to residents of the incorrectly labeled ‘un-developed’
world as gullible markets for expensive and destructive products that are no longer in demand elsewhere. The ‘developed’ world has, it appears, learnt that unnatural interventions in nature do
not pay off over the long term and now expect the ‘un-developed’ world to foot the bill whilst poisoning and bankrupting us in the process.a
53 MAY 22-28 2011
THE HATER
10 things I hate about ...the gym
1 2 3 4 5
BY KANZA NAHEED
People with zero body fat. I mean, how is it that all you do in the gym is sip water and gossip but you still have extremely toned muscles? Isn’t your life filled with pizza
cravings and doughnuts like the rest of us? And to top it off, you make it look effortless.
Weight training. Hello! I am a female — I’m not supposed to be doing weight-training. I’m supposed to be
sitting pretty while steroid-induced guys busy them-
selves with the military press. And besides it’s not like I actually want Hulk biceps… eww.
The lady on the treadmill next to me who has spent the
last 40 minutes running at a speed of 12 (a very high
speed, especially if you are at 5.6). You make me feel
bad. Hmm... maybe that treadmill is magical, let’s try it. Nope! MAYDAY, MAYDAY!
The thin, well-toned trainers who just keep pushing you to try harder. Granted it’s their job, but can’t you
just slack off once in a while like the rest of the na-
tion? “This is how you do an oblique sit up, breathe in, breath out, 12-15 times, each side. Stretch and repeat
twice!” Fine, I’ll try. 1...2...3...nope, can’t. Stitch in side!
The diet plan attached to the work out plan. I think it’s just there to make you feel bad. It’s not like anyone follows it, right? Please agree with me here...
54 MAY 22-28 2011
6 7 8 9 10
Squats. Squats make you look awkward, feel self-con-
scious and be uncomfortable all at the same time. Do I need to say more?
The horrors of learning that the ratio of sweat to weight
loss is directly proportional. Isn’t there any other way? I mean can’t I just donate an organ instead? I am sure my kidneys weigh a couple of pounds....
The guilt rationalisation. I just ate a big slice of
chocolate fudge cake. It’s okay, I’ll spend twenty minutes extra in the gym to burn it off. No really, it’s okay to treat yourself once in a while (read every third day).
The smell of human sweat. Use anti-perspirants and
deodorants before I spray the air-freshener on you! I mean it!
The “weighing” scale. It never changes — even if you
balance yourself on it with one foot. Believe me, I’ve tried. Besides it’s not like I let a stupid machine dictate
my self-worth. So anyone know where you can get self-
esteem points from? Just ran out...need to stock up on those again.a