2032hrs:
Very smooth sailing today, except for a couple of minor shortcomings which had been overlooked by public agency....
Just before that a brief interview with a local channel:
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Here's advance notice of an upcoming programme on JKTV, to be hosted by 'Let Kashmir Decide':
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I had to make a note of the following video, for its quick witted humour as well as a short yet valuable history lesson:
The above is a screenshot, as alas I cannot embed it here. However, I can provide the link.
My immediate reaction upon watching this video was:
British arrogance or sharpness of mind needed to deal with geopolitics of 21st century?
I then decided to ask Portmir founder Reiss Haidar on what he made of it:
British humour is dry, and you need to live amongst Brits to appreciate what they're like - so I would say alacrity to assimilate information quickly.
I grew up amongst Brits, and this is why I don't feel threatened by them. I understand the humour, the banter, the joking at one's expense, they're just people, ordinary people - the clip you sent is Brits laughing at themselves.
I can put my hand on my heart and say I've experienced more humanity from Brits than I have members of my own ethnic community, and this is me being honest. They don't take liberties, Apne (our people) do, or at least, that's been my experience.
Tribal loyalties borne of deep seated grievances can blind a person, we need to take our intellectual cues from the West because they've become redemptive. We don't need to take sides anymore.
No Brit would have ever dragged you across the floor for removing the Union Jack from Parliament, they're just not like that (white supremacists excluded), but if you listen to people constantly conjuring up the past (Islamists, Marxists, Pan-Africans, Communists, Russians, etc etc) you'd be left with the residue of observations that no longer apply.
They've moved on massively from the days when people were chanting "rule Britannia..." Britain is a very different place today, it's not perfect, but compared to Pakistan and AJK it's a breath of fresh air.
However, I will say that there does seem to be a lot of envy against them, not least because they can lay claim to a heritage that they're still connected to - one that is respected across the world.
It doesn't erase all the bad things of colonialism, but we come from Zamindar backgrounds. How did our people view people lower in the social hierarchy? How do we treat women, children, even the elderly?
Old people's homes? The usual put-down. When I get older I would like to retire to an old people's home even though I took care of my dad before he passed away, because that was his culture, and I honoured his wishes. I know the difference between realities and sentiments.
So, yup geopolitics requires an understanding of raw realities, and not sentiments.
We need to keep these discussions going :).
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