Turning a page: yes or no I on June 14, 2013Since the May 11 elections and their outcome, there is a general feeling that Pakistani civil society and its politics are perhaps in a melting pot. And there is an air of expectation, coupled, of course, with a wave of cynicism that tends to neutralise it. Most of us have many expectations from the new […]
The evocative I word on June 11, 2013No, dear reader, this is not about the pronoun ‘I’ as in ‘self’ and certainly not about me. You might say it is about more than one billion people, over a millennium of history and one of the world’s great religions. Yes, it is about Islam and Muslims. More accurately, it is about what a […]
Charms and challenges of rainbow nation III on June 4, 2013As the plane descends over Cape Town, the view below takes one’s breath away, particularly if one is lucky enough, as I was, to have a window seat with a view of Table Mountain. At 1,085 meters, it is not much of a mountain, but it is a magnificent and unusual sight, as flat at […]
Charms and travails of rainbow nation II on May 28, 2013Leaving South Africa’s Kruger National Park, I drove through the Blyde River Canyon. It was a magnificent drive, if a little risky. With sheer drops on one side and rocky outcroppings from hillsides on the other, reckless driving very much the norm for mini-bus drivers, my FM radio constantly reporting deaths from road accidents and […]
Charms and challenges of rainbow nation I on May 21, 2013 I spent my first night in South Africa at the huge Johannesburg Airport, waiting to catch an early morning flight to Nelspruit. I had arrived in Johannesburg on a late night flight from Dares Salam in Tanzania (via Nairobi). The airport was all but closed, with only two coffee shops in the food court open. […]
Myth of Buddhist non-violence on May 7, 2013Buddhism is almost universally regarded as synonymous with peace, tolerance and non-violence. On the other hand, so strong and widespread is the perception of Muslims as the source of intolerance and violence in this world that people seem to overlook not just the past but also the present when it comes to judging all the […]
Strange borders, arbitrary frontiers on April 30, 2013We are supposed to be living in an age of nation-states. But most ‘nations’ are multi-ethnic and most ‘states’ are accidents of history, geo-politics and arbitrary mapping. In any case, it is easier to define a state than a nation, two of the main attributes of a state being recognised borders and the exercise of […]
Amidst friends in the American Midwest on July 3, 2012Our first stop after Denver was the unremarkable little town of Hays in Kansas, home to Fort Hays State University, where my very dear friend David teaches history. The visit was very short, but David wanted to show me a church in Victoria, a few short kilometres away. Named the ‘Cathedral of the Plains’, it […]
Our dubious distinction in the comity of nations on June 26, 2012“We have a sick man on our hands, a man gravely ill, it will be a great misfortune if one of these days he slips through our hands, especially before the necessary arrangements are made,” said Russian Tsar Nicholas I in 1853 to the British Ambassador, G H Seymour. To which the ambassador replied, “Your […]
Dual citizens and non-citizens on June 19, 2012Much has been said in the press and on TV on the issue of dual citizenship or dual nationality, following the Supreme Court’s suspension of membership of parliament by holders of dual citizenship. Like the learned judges, many commentators have also cast doubts on their loyalty to their country of origin. This is ironic, for […]