It was the editor’s office but looked more like a store room. During a job interview, I looked around. I saw everywhere books, magazines, newspapers, manuscripts, papers, unopened mail. There were piles on chairs, stools, windowsill, over the bookshelves. The editor’s table itself was cluttered, with only a small working place in front of him, like a clearing in a jungle.
I saw that office in the same condition over the decades, while many editors came and went. I always wondered why none of them could spare some time to clear the mess. Now I know better.
When I shifted to a new house, I had to face all that newspapers, magazines, clippings, papers, etc. that had been hidden conveniently at various places in the previous residence. Now I placed them all on the floor of my home office so that I could no longer ignore them.
I started with the magazines for which I had not found time to read, putting aside special issues and taking out clippings from others for reading in the next round. In the meantime, the piles rose higher as new magazines and papers started accumulating. My paper mail, that has always been substantial, kept coming. I was hard pressed for time, while doing my full-time job. In desperation, I cut daily newspapers from three to just one and cancelled most magazine subscriptions. It saved some time. Still, the progress was very slow, as I lumbered on.
Gradually, the backlog was reduced to a single large pile. It came down, millimeter by millimeter. At last, I cleared the last clipping last week. It was a long hard battle, taking me as much as four-and-a-half years to win. It was great to feel liberated from the shackles of the backlog.
However, that is not the end of the story. Now I have to start reading the books in my personal library. I have already given away more books than most people buy in a life time. Still, there are several thousands. The packed shelves lure me. I do realize that, being at the fag end of life, I shall never be able to read them all in the remaining time, even if I read one book every day. Nevertheless, it will be fun while it lasts.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Saturday, September 17, 2005
WEEKEND: Not a weekend of 2½ days, please
Saturday and Sunday must not be the weekly holidays if the Government does decide to add a day to the weekend or we will end up with a weekend of not two but 2½ days, the longest in the word.
Because of the Juma prayers, Friday has always been a half working day (when it was not a full holiday). The Government can never make it a full working day. This is the unavoidable starting point. That gives us three options.
a) We are already the only country in the world to break up our weekend by having a full working day (Saturday) between a half day (Friday) and a full holiday (Sunday). The ridiculous practice can be abolished by having Saturday as a full holiday, giving us a proper weekend of continuous of 1½ days. The combination of a full holiday on Saturday with a half holiday on Friday will give us not just a proper weekend but also save more energy. Sunday, in any case, has no religious sanctity for us.
b) If the bureaucrats in the federal government get too tired during the weekdays and are keen to have two holidays, a weekend of two full holidays on Fridays and Saturdays may be introduced as a trial but only in Islamabad. The savings in energy there, if any, may be reviewed after a year.
c) The rest of the country (including Provincial and Local Governments) must have the free option to have Friday as either a half day or a full holiday. We have to go a long way to develop our country economically and must use every minute for productive purposes. Two full weekly holidays for every organization will be too much loss of time.
If some large companies, both in the public and private sectors, want to have a two-day weekend, they can simply have the whole of Friday off. Thus, all weekends, both public and private, will be confined to Friday and Saturday, whether a week is of 5 or 5½ working days.
Why should we prefer Sunday over Saturday? If Saturday is the Sabbath of the Jews, Sunday is that of the Christians, neither being sacred for us. Saturday will give us the best possible arrangement that Sunday never can: half day for the Friday prayer combined with a full holiday for weekly rest and recreation.
That leaves the people who claim that they will be out of touch with the international business community if the weekly holiday is changed from Sunday to Saturday. They should realize that Saturday is also a holiday in many countries. Having it as a working day here does not help them at all. They should also learn something about time zones that make it difficult to call the other party even on working days. When they start their day at 10am here, it is not the same time everywhere in the world. In America, it is already night.
Because of the Juma prayers, Friday has always been a half working day (when it was not a full holiday). The Government can never make it a full working day. This is the unavoidable starting point. That gives us three options.
a) We are already the only country in the world to break up our weekend by having a full working day (Saturday) between a half day (Friday) and a full holiday (Sunday). The ridiculous practice can be abolished by having Saturday as a full holiday, giving us a proper weekend of continuous of 1½ days. The combination of a full holiday on Saturday with a half holiday on Friday will give us not just a proper weekend but also save more energy. Sunday, in any case, has no religious sanctity for us.
b) If the bureaucrats in the federal government get too tired during the weekdays and are keen to have two holidays, a weekend of two full holidays on Fridays and Saturdays may be introduced as a trial but only in Islamabad. The savings in energy there, if any, may be reviewed after a year.
c) The rest of the country (including Provincial and Local Governments) must have the free option to have Friday as either a half day or a full holiday. We have to go a long way to develop our country economically and must use every minute for productive purposes. Two full weekly holidays for every organization will be too much loss of time.
If some large companies, both in the public and private sectors, want to have a two-day weekend, they can simply have the whole of Friday off. Thus, all weekends, both public and private, will be confined to Friday and Saturday, whether a week is of 5 or 5½ working days.
Why should we prefer Sunday over Saturday? If Saturday is the Sabbath of the Jews, Sunday is that of the Christians, neither being sacred for us. Saturday will give us the best possible arrangement that Sunday never can: half day for the Friday prayer combined with a full holiday for weekly rest and recreation.
That leaves the people who claim that they will be out of touch with the international business community if the weekly holiday is changed from Sunday to Saturday. They should realize that Saturday is also a holiday in many countries. Having it as a working day here does not help them at all. They should also learn something about time zones that make it difficult to call the other party even on working days. When they start their day at 10am here, it is not the same time everywhere in the world. In America, it is already night.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
EDUCATION: Reduce BA/BSc students by 2/3
We should reduce the seats for B.A./B.Sc. students by two – thirds. That is the lesson of the results of the University of the Panjab for the examination this year.
Why so many students failed? They were most probably weak in English, as are students of all other classes. They did not give full attention to their studies. They might have chosen the wrong subjects. They were not keen to go to college in the first place but were pressurized into it by parents and others.
Whatever the reason, the failed students wasted two years of their life. They wasted the money that their parents spent on them. They wasted the resources that the country spent on their education. They are also unable to join any professional college or get a good job.
What should be done? Make it more difficult to join degree classes. However, entry tests will be difficult to administer because of the large number of students and colleges involved (unlike professional colleges).
An easier and more effective method will be to raise the bar. The merit for the students seeking admission to B.A./B.Sc. classes should be at least 50% marks in the Higher Secondary examination. The limit may be raised still higher (say to 55 or 60%) if it does not reduce the number of applications to the desired level. The target should be to enroll only the students that are certain to do well.
The higher entry requirement will not be against the poor students. In fact, it will favor them. If they work harder, they will be in a better position than rich students. Only higher fees and expenses go against them.
What should be done after a huge reduction in the number of failed degree students?
a) Provide more facilities to the students who do get admission.
b) Introduce postgraduate classes in more degree colleges.
c) Convert some government degree colleges in a district into technical institutions if enough degree students are no longer available for them.
Why so many students failed? They were most probably weak in English, as are students of all other classes. They did not give full attention to their studies. They might have chosen the wrong subjects. They were not keen to go to college in the first place but were pressurized into it by parents and others.
Whatever the reason, the failed students wasted two years of their life. They wasted the money that their parents spent on them. They wasted the resources that the country spent on their education. They are also unable to join any professional college or get a good job.
What should be done? Make it more difficult to join degree classes. However, entry tests will be difficult to administer because of the large number of students and colleges involved (unlike professional colleges).
An easier and more effective method will be to raise the bar. The merit for the students seeking admission to B.A./B.Sc. classes should be at least 50% marks in the Higher Secondary examination. The limit may be raised still higher (say to 55 or 60%) if it does not reduce the number of applications to the desired level. The target should be to enroll only the students that are certain to do well.
The higher entry requirement will not be against the poor students. In fact, it will favor them. If they work harder, they will be in a better position than rich students. Only higher fees and expenses go against them.
What should be done after a huge reduction in the number of failed degree students?
a) Provide more facilities to the students who do get admission.
b) Introduce postgraduate classes in more degree colleges.
c) Convert some government degree colleges in a district into technical institutions if enough degree students are no longer available for them.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
CRIME: A woman with awesome guile
It is amazing how Sonia Naz, co-accused with her clerk husband in a fraud case in Faisalabad, could deceive first the media and then the government and the judiciary at the highest levels. (She must have somehow learnt a great media secret: Wildest allegation makes biggest headlines, causes widest sensation and gets maximum sympathy.) Everybody assumed without a second thought that the accuser was right because she was a woman and the accused were guilty because they were policemen. (What happened to the oft-repeated maxim that everybody was innocent until proven guilty?)
Any sensible person, who watched Sonia’s interview on television, could see through her acting. A genuine rape victim does not speak so loudly, gives such graphic description and weeps so profusely. “The lady doth protest too much,” wrote Shakespeare in “Hamlet,” (Act III, Scene 2, line 242).
After appearing before the police inquiry team, Sonia refused to appear before the judicial tribunal, set up by the Punjab Government on the instructions of the Supreme Court. She probably realized that her tale was unraveling. (Calm questioning by policemen can establish facts more easily than shrill and convoluted cross examination by lawyers.) Apparently, her lawyers told her that she would go to jail if she made a statement under oath before the District Judge that later turned out to be not true. (Police inquiries are not under oath.) So, now she says that she will present evidence about her alleged rape only before the Supreme Court. (Can anybody assume the right to appear only before the highest court?)
And what evidence could she possibly have? Was she medically examined and tested for DNA that matched with those of the policemen? Did she have her own witnesses present? Did she arrange video recording of the whole thing? Rape is difficult to prove even under the best of circumstances.
With Sonia’s boycott of the judicial inquiry and no credible supporting evidence likely from any other source, ultimately the case will be quietly closed. Two questions will remain: a) Who will punish her for the baseless allegations against officers of law? b) Who will restore the honor of the policemen, who have already been devastated?
The Provincial Police Officer (IGP) may do that. He may register a case against Sonia under Section 211 of the Pakistan Penal Code and other legal provisions for making false accusations and, through the courts, get her punished and get his officers exonerated.
Don’t be surprised if some NGO adopts Sonia, parades her abroad as “an innocent victim of police brutality,” and starts collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars as donations (at the cost of the country’s prestige). Mukhtaran Mai, of Dera Ghazi Khan, has already set an example. She is reported to be a multimillionaire (along with her sponsoring NGO), while the High Court dismissed her case of gang rape for lack of evidence.
The bottom line? Sonia may have now got virtual immunity for herself (as well as her husband). No police officer will even come near her, not to speak of arresting her. Who would want to get into serious trouble at the hands of a blackmailer par excellence? As the Holy Qur’an says, while describing the false allegation of attempted rape against Hazrat Yusuf,“O womankind! Verily, awesome is your guile!” (Surat 12, Yusuf, ayat 28).
Any sensible person, who watched Sonia’s interview on television, could see through her acting. A genuine rape victim does not speak so loudly, gives such graphic description and weeps so profusely. “The lady doth protest too much,” wrote Shakespeare in “Hamlet,” (Act III, Scene 2, line 242).
After appearing before the police inquiry team, Sonia refused to appear before the judicial tribunal, set up by the Punjab Government on the instructions of the Supreme Court. She probably realized that her tale was unraveling. (Calm questioning by policemen can establish facts more easily than shrill and convoluted cross examination by lawyers.) Apparently, her lawyers told her that she would go to jail if she made a statement under oath before the District Judge that later turned out to be not true. (Police inquiries are not under oath.) So, now she says that she will present evidence about her alleged rape only before the Supreme Court. (Can anybody assume the right to appear only before the highest court?)
And what evidence could she possibly have? Was she medically examined and tested for DNA that matched with those of the policemen? Did she have her own witnesses present? Did she arrange video recording of the whole thing? Rape is difficult to prove even under the best of circumstances.
With Sonia’s boycott of the judicial inquiry and no credible supporting evidence likely from any other source, ultimately the case will be quietly closed. Two questions will remain: a) Who will punish her for the baseless allegations against officers of law? b) Who will restore the honor of the policemen, who have already been devastated?
The Provincial Police Officer (IGP) may do that. He may register a case against Sonia under Section 211 of the Pakistan Penal Code and other legal provisions for making false accusations and, through the courts, get her punished and get his officers exonerated.
Don’t be surprised if some NGO adopts Sonia, parades her abroad as “an innocent victim of police brutality,” and starts collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars as donations (at the cost of the country’s prestige). Mukhtaran Mai, of Dera Ghazi Khan, has already set an example. She is reported to be a multimillionaire (along with her sponsoring NGO), while the High Court dismissed her case of gang rape for lack of evidence.
The bottom line? Sonia may have now got virtual immunity for herself (as well as her husband). No police officer will even come near her, not to speak of arresting her. Who would want to get into serious trouble at the hands of a blackmailer par excellence? As the Holy Qur’an says, while describing the false allegation of attempted rape against Hazrat Yusuf,“O womankind! Verily, awesome is your guile!” (Surat 12, Yusuf, ayat 28).
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