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On Being Free (Part Two)

05 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by ramshaali286 in Amidst the Words

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Alfred North Whitehead, authors, autonomy, bandwagon, Bill Gates, black hole, Bol, canvas, career, cliche, cognitive, conformist, convention, conversation, country, Creative Nonfiction, crystal, darkness, degree, deontological, Dickens, diversity, education, Emerson, ethics, exam, existentialism, expectation, experiment, family, filmmaker, free, freedom, future, Gates, generation, global village, globalization, happiness, harsh, Hemmingway, history, humanities, ideology, immortalize, intellectual, intermediate, interview, intrinsic, job, jobless, judgmental, lecture, light, machine, Mathematical Association of England, MBBS, Mohammed Hanif, Mohsin Hamid, moral philosophy, nationwide, NGO, Nonfiction, paint, pakistan, Pakistani, person, philosophers, philosophy, photographer, political, Political Science, practical, pressure, principles, profession, project, prove, question, read, revolution, right, scientific, skill, snowfall, snowflakes, social sciences, societal, society, solution, standards, stereotype, stipend, story, strength, study, succeed, talent, teacher, think, topic, unadventurous, undergraduate, union, useless, victory, weapon, Whitehead, world, worth, write, writer, writing, Zuckerberg

The second (and final) of two parts of a paper written for a class on Creative Nonfiction. The first part can be found here.

A year ago, I met someone who was around twenty-two years old, and was just starting his intermediate education. He wasn’t unable to study further because of any constraints, but because he chose to do so. And no, I don’t mean he chose to slack off. What he chose to do was experiment. He told me that he didn’t believe in there being only a specific path to follow for his education, and so he was expanding his horizons by getting involved in different activities to assess his strengths. He ended up putting off studies to volunteer his time to NGOs and children’s charities that were in dire need of manpower. Time constraints did not allow me to get more details, but it did leave me thinking for days. Would anyone in a Pakistani society allow their children to put off their education, even if temporarily? This guy was one example of very faint hope, and it was incredible to see him be bold enough to take that risk. I concur with his actions though; education doesn’t have to be followed as religiously as our society expects us to. It is a good idea to try something different; it might actually end up being worthwhile.

In his Presidential address to the Mathematical Association of England, Alfred North Whitehead said that “in scientific training, the first thing to do with an idea is to prove it.” By using the word ‘prove’, he does not mean that scientific methods need to prove an idea by experimentation, but simply to prove an idea’s worth. The same applies to an education. Regardless of the subjects of study, it is a good idea to prove the worth of one’s education. This is fairly easy, because education itself has an intrinsic worth. Why, then, do we in Pakistan classify some education as ‘good’ and others as simply ‘useless’? What is interesting to note about Whitehead’s lecture is that he delivers it to a Mathematical Association, and yet he talks about the basic nature of education before moving on to its practical uses.

‘Practical uses’ is something that we Humanities majors often see as being used as a weapon against. “So you can write and understand History and can quote so many Philosophers. That’s good. But what is its practical use?” is a question that I have come across one too many times. The truth is, it has no practical use (unless I choose to become a teacher), or at least none that I can tangibly point at. My practical use of my education lies in the kind of person it is helping me become. Its practical use lies in making me capable of thinking out of the box. Its practical use lies in getting me acquainted with many intellectual topics that are easy to have a conversation on with anybody (such as, say, a person interviewing me for a job). Its practical use lies in teaching me how to work in groups for projects and how to write better papers. But of course, why would a Pakistani society consider any of these skills worthy if they don’t end in the words, “and will help me get a job”?

In one of my Philosophy classes, we were asked a question about who we would give a car ride to out of the three people: an old woman, an old friend who once saved your life, and the man/woman of your dreams? It was quite the unusual question, but the variety of answers heard from the class was quite interesting. Some of us actually put in a lot of thought in answering this question, analyzing it from all angles. However, more interesting than the different answers themselves was the instructor telling us that a year after she gave this question in an exam, one of her ex-students came back to tell her that a similar question was used in a job interview at an MNC. Guess who got the job? The guy who answered the questioned by analyzing it from a deontological and human nature ethics perspective, two branches of moral philosophy that a stereotypical Pakistani society will never let its offspring study about. How, then, can we say that Humanities is useless?

Existentialism is a topic in Philosophy that deals with the ‘I’. Existentialists believe that there is no right or wrong, good or bad. An act becomes good only after I choose to do it; an act gets value because someone chooses to perform a particular act. Perhaps if the Pakistani society gave up its clichés and embraced the existentialist viewpoint, it would react a lot differently towards people choosing to diversify their scope of education. Perhaps I chose to pursue an undergraduate degree in Humanities as opposed to an MBBS because this holds greater value for me. Why, then, should my society judge or berate me for it, when from an existentialist standpoint, I am not wrong in choosing something that holds greater worth for me? All the existentialists ask for is to not infringe upon anyone’s rights, and if a person is willing to break the norms and study something else, who is he hurting by doing so? Maybe my society is just looking out for me, but the way I see it, they are overstepping their boundaries. We talk about grand notions of freedom; why then should I not be free to choose my own path? I have a right to my own choice, and if my choice conflicts with the opinions of the masses, I’ll call it an experiment and go through with it. In fact, if the experiment doesn’t work out, then the only person I will have to blame will be myself; why, then, is it so hard for society to accept it? I spent many years of my life convinced that I would fade away into an abyss of rote learned texts and an avalanche of numbers – perhaps it is time now to get out before it’s too late.

Pakistanis teach their children to read a lot, but never to write. When we grow up, we read books written by Mohammed Hanif and Mohsin Hamid, but nobody around us would support us when we float the idea of becoming a writer. We watch movies such as Bol and debate over the many critical issues it touches upon, but people would be appalled if we ever expressed a desire to become a filmmaker. It is considered acceptable to study something that has been the model for Pakistani societies since ages, and stay jobless after that. But it is unacceptable to follow your own wishes and study something different, because Humanities then becomes synonymous with ‘useless’. My question is: why view everything in black and white? It’s not either a Doctor or an Engineer. As noble and renowned professions as they may be, they’re not the only ones. Why not let someone explore the grey area in between? Who knows, we may have an aspiring Gates or Zuckerberg amidst us, someone with the talent and the potential but being repressed by the standards that the Pakistani society has set for itself.

It is good to stick to a set of principles, but where the Pakistani society fails is that it goes deaf at the talk of a world other than those principles, blind at the mention of seeing anything that does not adhere to their set of rules. Anyone choosing to follow their own career path may be as good as ostracized. But like the albatross, those who follow their own ways are not something to be executed, because they may just be showing people the right path to follow. In the end it comes down to a question of happiness. Would we rather choose to follow a life of grind and make a decent living but live our lives like machines? Or would we want to give up these undue pressures and expectations and succeed at something we like? Like Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “To laugh often and much…This is to have succeeded.” How many laughs can we give ourselves if we turn our lives into a fixed routine, something along the lines of ‘Punch, type, click, enter’?

I am a writer. It is what I do best; it is the only thing I know how to do well. And I say it with such conviction after a long process of experimenting with various things, trying to find out where my strengths lie. I’m the happiest when I’m constructing a story; give me a writing assignment and I’m in my niche. My goals and dreams center heavily on my writing skills. I don’t see myself as the next Dickens or Hemmingway, but I definitely see myself trying to come up to those impeccable standards if given a little push. It is true that authors don’t earn so much, but the satisfaction I get from writing is something that I cannot place a price on. No amount of monthly stipend from a job will ever measure up to the pleasures of writing for an audience. It is where my creative juices flow, and in this moment of self-praise, I see myself improving with time. If I can ever gather even a small bunch of Pakistanis supportive to my cause, I will consider it a sign of good things to come. I will see it as a hopeful sign of freedom of choices for the next generations, finally free from the shackles of societal pressures and conventions. If I ever felt like I was fading away, then writing provides the perfect means to immortalize myself. What we say and do can be forgotten, what we put down on paper can be passed from person to person, read and respected duly.

Globalization may just be the solution to Pakistan’s educational woes. While it will be wrong to say that everyone is part of this bandwagon, it will also be wrong to say that only some are on it. Many are still opposed to the idea of a freedom of choice when it comes to careers, but people are finally starting to accept the need for change. An integrated global village is making us realize how far behind we’re lacking, and since we can’t beat the world, we can join it.

It makes me happy to interact with fellow Humanities majors, knowing that they, too, chose to do something new, something different. If I convince a person to opt for this major, I consider it a personal victory, not just for myself but for this underrepresented field of education in Pakistan. I am by no means here to bring about a revolution – I am not even close to it – but a person converted is a small step towards brighter prospects. Pakistan is trending under the banners of political revolutions this year, but the biggest hope we need for our country is in the field of education only. Start at the grassroots, and then move up. Let a student study Political Sciences to understand these political manifestos. We can produce a country of Mathematicians and Doctors and Economists, but what we can’t give them is the ability to think. And that is where I will always advocate for my major, which will, initially, force you to think but will eventually end up refining your cognitive skills to the highest degree.

It often makes me wonder whether I’m being harsh on conformist areas of study or am glorifying my choices beyond their worth in a self-obsessed move. Society, of course, presumes the latter and is equally harsh for that, but this isn’t a game of retribution. When snowflakes reach the ground, they integrate to form layers upon layers of ice. However, every snowflake is different from the other one, coming together to form a whole phenomenon, which we call snowfall. I like to think of an ideal society as snowfall – assimilated together, yet every person is an individual crystal; they mix to form a beautiful image, like a photographer’s best shot or an exquisite Christmas card. We retain our uniqueness, yet know how to live in harmony. But my perception of a Pakistani society will be a different snowy picture. Beautiful to look at, snow is a cold and slippery slope once you step on it. Indeed, we might also appear as a unified community from the outside, but there are layers upon layers of this union that one would not wish to navigate; layers that will fall upon the individual crystals and crush them in the process, reducing them to nothing but mere water in the end. Such seems to be the revulsion of this unadventurous Pakistani society to these new means of education. Am I being judgmental in my claims? I guess so. Is society really that harsh? Pretty much. Is it wrong of me to choose to be the snowflake that wants to stay on top of these layers? No.

I will admit that despite certain changes, looking for a massive nationwide change is something quite premature. Maybe by the time I have children, they will also be locked in this endless battle of angst against society. But in the year 2030, when the world will have moved forward and we would still be cemented to the same place by clinging to our precious ideologies, at least my children will have the option of choosing their own path for education. Perhaps they might be able to do then what I would’ve been unable to do now – just make people see that we aren’t useless. Just like things disappear in the black hole, so do Pakistani individuals. Our society engulfs us into this unending chasm of darkness without any hope for return to the light. Eras later, I do not wish for Pakistani students to still be stuck amidst thoughts of “Get me out of here!”

What better way to start than by giving the future generations the autonomy over their own education? One family at a time, and the cycle of stereotypes may finally end up getting broken. Humanities majors may still be the smallest and lightest stroke of paint on this canvas that our society is, but at least they will have their own place in the end.

Thoughts of a Humanities major in Pakistan

04 Monday Apr 2011

Posted by ramshaali286 in Amidst the Words

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biology, blog, career, colleges, company, convention, country, creativity, doctor, education, engineer, faculty, frustrated, generation, humanities, job, liberal arts, lums, major, monochrome, novel, pakistan, paycheck, philosophy, read, soaps, social sciences, stagnation, stereotype, student, study, talent, technical, thoughts, United States, useless, write, writers

Disclaimer: This post is only meant to portray the thoughts of a frustrated Humanities major in Pakistan. The thoughts represented may not necessarily portray to the general public.

Stagnation. That’s the word.

I am a reader, a blogger, a writer. Give me a novel and I’m in my happy place. I blog when I’m bored, when I have a sudden creative spark or simply because I want to. Put me up with a topic and a deadline and I will make sure I give everything to the piece I write.

I say stagnation’s the correct word because creativity seems to be dying out.

Pakistan is a country of stereotypes. If a student does not decide to become a Doctor or an Engineer, he or she is degraded to the category of useless students who can’t really do anything. I am not saying that the aforementioned two professions are derogatory in anyway – in fact, they are truly excellent careers to undertake – but they are not the only two choices we have. A student interested in studying Biology should have more options than the sole one of becoming a Doctor. This is where we fall into a stereotype – the stereotype of studying anything technical.

The single most question asked is, “What will you do with your major?” Being a Humanities major, I have the options of undertaking a wide variety of careers; anything that is people-oriented goes. But of course, since I can’t specifically point out a company that will hire a Humanities major, my education is considered useless.

At LUMS, I have come across a truly remarkable Social Sciences faculty. It truly makes one wonder why this creativity is not considered worthwhile. Take a look at our writers or our soaps and one can gain an insight into the creativity rampant in this country. We are by no means a monochrome nation, yet we will be if we keep on following the stereotype of a technical education. Education is not about getting into the best colleges and studying something that will guarantee a good paying job. It is about doing what you like and undertaking a career you enjoy, regardless of the number of zeroes on your first paycheck. The problem we face, in this country, is that we are often unable to make our best abilities our primary means of education because it does not fit into the conventions we are forced to follow.

Liberal arts is one of the most competitive majors in the United States, and when researching my major I came across an article that talked about how the number of Philosophy majors has been on a rise there. In Pakistan, despite the enormous budding talent and creativity we have, it is one of the most underrated and undervalued majors.

We need to move forward. We need to rid ourselves of our conventions and stereotypes. We need to allow the generations after us the options of choosing to study what they want to, rather than what they are forced to.

We need to stop ourselves from stagnating.

Spontaneous Thoughts on An Aircraft

19 Saturday Mar 2011

Posted by ramshaali286 in Amidst the Words, Through the Lens

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acting, airborne, aircraft, airport, Alcott, Ali Haider, annoying, baby, beach, beautiful, beech, best, bingo, boarded, bollywood, bored, casual, Chandni Raatein, chapter, ciao, college, continuous, conversation, crying, delayed, Dhaani, drama, emotions, experiment, favourite, feelings, flying, frequent, friend, hallelujah, handwriting, home, isolation, item, item number, karachi, Kishore, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, lahore, landing, lights, listen, loud, love, lums, meadow, miles, movie, munni, music, odd, pepsi, pet, photography, pictures, random, read, sandwich, scene, screaming, sea, seat, seatbelt, Shah Rukh Khan, sheila, shuffle, sign, singer, song, spontaneous, stop, Strings, takeoff, tea, thoughts, trapped, travelling, tree, tujhe yaad na meri ayi, turbulence, volume, weird, window, write, writers, writing

Below are a series of three images of something written on a flight from Lahore to Karachi. The text following the pictures is a copy of what is written in the images.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Thursday. March 17th. 8:05 pm. Airborne. En route to Karachi. Karachi – the city of lights, the city by the sea, home. Homeward bound after one hell of fourth semester at LUMS. And semester’s not even done yet. Oh well, must not focus on the weariness and the dreariness of the past few weeks at LUMS right now. Stupid exams.

Too much turbulence. My handwriting’s getting messed up.

I love writing while flying. You know how writers talk about how they love to write when in isolation or sitting under the beech tree in the meadow; everyone has their pet place where they like to write. Mine would be an airplane. Sounds odd, I know. Frequent travelling has made me experiment with this and I quite like it now. I usually read or listen to music or do both simultaneously. But then, there’s only so much you can read or listen to continuously.

Anyway. Did I mention I’m homeward bound? Of course I did. That’s like the first thing I mentioned. Just a few miles between me and Karachi now. Hallelujah!

I was reading Jo’s Boys when I boarded. Louisa May Alcott’s a really good writer albeit a bit outdated. I was on the last chapter because I finished most of the book at LUMS and then even more at the airport when my flight got delayed by a half hour. When I boarded I had one chapter left. I was done with the book even before takeoff.

Then I observed takeoff. I always pick the window seat when I travel. I love looking out the window during takeoff and landing. Sometimes, I even take pictures. My favourite is one that I took of Karachi from the plane. You can see both light (city of lights indeed) and dark (sea) area. That reminds me, I really want to go to the beach. I will go.

I’m currently listening to music and writing. Kishore Kumar is playing. That man is one amazing singer. You should listen to him. Bollywood has good music. Apart from their item numbers (the ‘Munnis’ and the ‘Sheilas’). But then item numbers aren’t about music.

I’ve eaten a sandwich and have had both Pepsi and tea. Weird, I know. I’m bored. A baby is screaming/crying. Loud. Annoying. Must turn volume up. Bingo! Drowned the noise with my music. I love my earphones.

I like my shuffle also. It’s playing such good songs. Right now I’m listening to ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai‘ from (duh) ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai‘. It’s like my favourite movie and song of all time. I love love love it. I’ve seen it so many times it’s not even funny. You should watch it. It’s beautiful. Especially that one scene after the song ‘Tujhe Yaad Na Meri Ayi‘. It’s an amazing scene and such amazing acting. Ever wonder how you would feel if your best friend suddenly decides to leave college and head home without telling you? You go after her to stop her but you get nothing more than casual conversation. WATCH THE MOVIE. Shah Rukh Khan puts all feelings and emotions in that scene in the best possible way.

‘Chandni Raatein‘ is now playing. Ali Haider sang this song well. This was a really really good drama. They don’t make them like those anymore.

Anyway, next song. Don’t feel like listening to ‘Chandni Raatein‘. ‘Dhaani‘ by Strings. Beautiful song.

They’ve turned on the seatbelt sign. I guess we’ll be landing soon. Good enough; I was getting really bored. I don’t like seat belts. They make me feel trapped.

My phone died. Battery empty. Guess no more music for me. I am sad. Oh well, back to looking out the window. I love landings. Ciao!

 

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