Recently, I completed reading this best seller written by a young writer named Ateesh Taseer. He is the same person who was engaged to Lady Gabriella Windsor (She is currently 33rd in the line of succession to the British Throne). This news had hit the newspaper headlines a while ago and most importantly, Ateesh Taseer is the son of famous Indian Journalist Tavleen Singh. I have seen many news items prepared/presented by Tavleen Singh before. The most interesting fact about this young writer is his paternity. He is the love child of Tavleen Singh and one Salman Taseer ( from Pakistan). Although the Pakistani gentleman had no roles to play in his upbringing(good riddance!!), but it is heartening to see how Mr. Taseer repeatedly attempted to reconcile with his father. I was just curious what would be there in this book, especially since it is compiled on the real experience, that the author had; post 9/11 in these Islamic countries.
Being an Indian, we never see Pakistan in any good light. The reason could be the continuous terror attacks, the problem it creates in Kashmir and its invasion on India 4 times. At the same time, my resentment is not that strong that I am not curious to know what people of that country think about India!! So, that was also part of the reason why I purchased this book from Amazon and started reading it.
This book brings a lot about the social, cultural, political scenarios in the Islamic countries such as Syria, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. In Syria, during his stay a violent streak broke out on the Danish cartoon fiasco. He saw a gradual Islamization in Turkey, that used to be a liberal, vibrant secular democracy. At the same time, he saw a reverse trend in countries like Iran, where there was this unexpressed suppressed anger against the government where the people have lost their freedom completely to the Islamic movement in 1979. In Iran large number of people are leaving Islam because they have realized what it is to loose freedom!! Every one is born free and would like to remain that way through out their life. But, the fanatics are trying to control lives of people. The scariest of all is everybody is under the antenna of the government. They know who is going where. If someone parties, if someone mingles with people and if someone has a pet. They even tap the conversations and calls made to people. This is a serious issue!!!
In Pakistan, the muslims those migrated to Pakistan post independence from India are called as "Mujaheddins". They have some kind of hidden tension with the aboriginal Sindhis. Situation is volatile all the time. In Sindh, most of the middle class community comprised of hindu business community commonly known as "sindhis" in India. These are the people that migrated to India post independence. So, there are no middle class population in Sindh. It is always "us" and "them" between the rich and the poor in that country. The major binding force he found among the muslims was the rejection of India. Whether, there was a real difference in climate, looks of the people or the life style, they were always in search of one. It appeared as though they are united in "looking for this difference" with India!!
Another very interesting feature he described among Pakistanis was about the "prayer mark". You would ask what it is. Typically muslims pray 5 times a day on a regular days and many more times during a spacial day. As a result of head banging, they have some sort of peculiar mark on their forehead called as the prayer mark!!
Another striking feature I would like to cite about Pakistan is total absence of women from the streets!! Having said that, Ateesh did not mean they are not there, but what he meant was unveiled single women were completely missing on the regular streets leave alone finding them going alone or eating alone or standing alone on a bus stop which is so very common in India. I found this quite amusing.
Another thing he described about attending a wedding ceremony. The government has ruled that weddings to be kept as unceremonious as possible. There should be no extra spendings and only one dish need to be served. This is particularly interesting when you think about one dish. Why on a lawless land do they bother about this rule? Ateesh looked closely and found that this has got something to do with Islamization of wedding. Wedding ceremonies and the festivities are borrowed from hindu culture and the government want people to shed that sooner...
Another interesting feature Ateesh noted in his book about the mention of caste in pakistan!! Although Islam is suppose to be caste less, most of the people call the other person as a "chooda"(low caste), "Rajput" etc. The Rajput muslims don't like to get married with Chooda caste and so on.
On the whole, I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend the book as a nice entertainer. It is certainly a very good engaging book.
-------------My ramblings-------------------
In the end, I don't understand why a journalist of the stature of Tavleen Singh ever got involved with a Pakistani married man in the first place? Although her decision to keep the baby was certainly a good one because Ateesh Taseer turned out to be a nice gentleman and a good writer. But I wonder why she kept the baby's last name as per the man who hurt her so much? Why did she circumcise her son even though the father had no role whatsoever to play in his upbringing? Why did she ever keep the photograph of that man besides the young boy? And most importantly why the boy while growing up, despite being subjected to his fathers extreme cold behavior, still continued his efforts on reconciling with him? I see people here in USA are least bothered about their paternity, I wish to see people grow in the same lines in India as well..
In the end I would like to quote Tom Robbins in Skinny legs and All
'Religion is nothing but institutionalised mysticism. The catch is, mysticism does not lend itself to institutionalisation. The moment we attempt to organise mysticism, we destroy its essence. Religion, then, is mysticism in which the mystical has been killed. Or, at least diminished... not only is religion divisive and oppressive, it is also a denial of all that is divine in people; it is a suffocation of the soul.'
Being an Indian, we never see Pakistan in any good light. The reason could be the continuous terror attacks, the problem it creates in Kashmir and its invasion on India 4 times. At the same time, my resentment is not that strong that I am not curious to know what people of that country think about India!! So, that was also part of the reason why I purchased this book from Amazon and started reading it.
This book brings a lot about the social, cultural, political scenarios in the Islamic countries such as Syria, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. In Syria, during his stay a violent streak broke out on the Danish cartoon fiasco. He saw a gradual Islamization in Turkey, that used to be a liberal, vibrant secular democracy. At the same time, he saw a reverse trend in countries like Iran, where there was this unexpressed suppressed anger against the government where the people have lost their freedom completely to the Islamic movement in 1979. In Iran large number of people are leaving Islam because they have realized what it is to loose freedom!! Every one is born free and would like to remain that way through out their life. But, the fanatics are trying to control lives of people. The scariest of all is everybody is under the antenna of the government. They know who is going where. If someone parties, if someone mingles with people and if someone has a pet. They even tap the conversations and calls made to people. This is a serious issue!!!
In Pakistan, the muslims those migrated to Pakistan post independence from India are called as "Mujaheddins". They have some kind of hidden tension with the aboriginal Sindhis. Situation is volatile all the time. In Sindh, most of the middle class community comprised of hindu business community commonly known as "sindhis" in India. These are the people that migrated to India post independence. So, there are no middle class population in Sindh. It is always "us" and "them" between the rich and the poor in that country. The major binding force he found among the muslims was the rejection of India. Whether, there was a real difference in climate, looks of the people or the life style, they were always in search of one. It appeared as though they are united in "looking for this difference" with India!!
Another very interesting feature he described among Pakistanis was about the "prayer mark". You would ask what it is. Typically muslims pray 5 times a day on a regular days and many more times during a spacial day. As a result of head banging, they have some sort of peculiar mark on their forehead called as the prayer mark!!
Another striking feature I would like to cite about Pakistan is total absence of women from the streets!! Having said that, Ateesh did not mean they are not there, but what he meant was unveiled single women were completely missing on the regular streets leave alone finding them going alone or eating alone or standing alone on a bus stop which is so very common in India. I found this quite amusing.
Another thing he described about attending a wedding ceremony. The government has ruled that weddings to be kept as unceremonious as possible. There should be no extra spendings and only one dish need to be served. This is particularly interesting when you think about one dish. Why on a lawless land do they bother about this rule? Ateesh looked closely and found that this has got something to do with Islamization of wedding. Wedding ceremonies and the festivities are borrowed from hindu culture and the government want people to shed that sooner...
Another interesting feature Ateesh noted in his book about the mention of caste in pakistan!! Although Islam is suppose to be caste less, most of the people call the other person as a "chooda"(low caste), "Rajput" etc. The Rajput muslims don't like to get married with Chooda caste and so on.
On the whole, I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend the book as a nice entertainer. It is certainly a very good engaging book.
-------------My ramblings-------------------
In the end, I don't understand why a journalist of the stature of Tavleen Singh ever got involved with a Pakistani married man in the first place? Although her decision to keep the baby was certainly a good one because Ateesh Taseer turned out to be a nice gentleman and a good writer. But I wonder why she kept the baby's last name as per the man who hurt her so much? Why did she circumcise her son even though the father had no role whatsoever to play in his upbringing? Why did she ever keep the photograph of that man besides the young boy? And most importantly why the boy while growing up, despite being subjected to his fathers extreme cold behavior, still continued his efforts on reconciling with him? I see people here in USA are least bothered about their paternity, I wish to see people grow in the same lines in India as well..
In the end I would like to quote Tom Robbins in Skinny legs and All
'Religion is nothing but institutionalised mysticism. The catch is, mysticism does not lend itself to institutionalisation. The moment we attempt to organise mysticism, we destroy its essence. Religion, then, is mysticism in which the mystical has been killed. Or, at least diminished... not only is religion divisive and oppressive, it is also a denial of all that is divine in people; it is a suffocation of the soul.'
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