The lobby of the Serena, when the tabla and sitar player aren't there, is filled with the soulless blowings of some anonymous smoove-jazz saxophonist playing bland muzak on an endless loop. I don't think it's changed at all since last year. Not sure what happened to the piano player from last year -- he of the three song repertoire.* In the scheme of things bland lobby music is a pretty tiny complaint.
Just got a shave at the spa, which was nice. Forty minutes and PKR 700 (including a 60% tip, about $7.50) well spent. The guy wasn't as chatty as my barber last year, mostly because his English wasn't great. Catholic, though, which is unusual.
Seems the jet lag is not gone: I woke up at 5:15 this morning and have been awake ever since. That'll teach me: sleep aids the first three nights at least when traveling this far east. Oh well, I feel fine anyway.
A lazy breakfast spent reading Dawn was, to borrow yesterday's adjective du jour, informative. Lots of talk about the budget that the PPP -- the current ruling party -- just presented, and the drama that ensued when members of the opposition PML-N rushed the stage during the Finance Minister's budget speech. I wish there were more fights in Congress. Britain and its former colonies seem to have much more fun with their legislative bodies. There was also a letter to the editor about Pakistan's need to incorporate disaster risk reduction into school curricula throughout the country, and an announcement of two new weather stations to monitor the glacial lakes in Gilgit-Baltistan. Things to keep track of that I'd never have heard about in the States.
The most arresting piece, though, was an op/ed by Irfan Husain entitled "How Low Can We Go?"
=== Brilliant segue! ===
It's 11:30. On the docket for the rest of the day: A bit of work, a trip to the gym, lunch, some time by the pool, and that's it.
*"Candle in the Wind," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and "My Heart Will Go On."
Just got a shave at the spa, which was nice. Forty minutes and PKR 700 (including a 60% tip, about $7.50) well spent. The guy wasn't as chatty as my barber last year, mostly because his English wasn't great. Catholic, though, which is unusual.
Seems the jet lag is not gone: I woke up at 5:15 this morning and have been awake ever since. That'll teach me: sleep aids the first three nights at least when traveling this far east. Oh well, I feel fine anyway.
A lazy breakfast spent reading Dawn was, to borrow yesterday's adjective du jour, informative. Lots of talk about the budget that the PPP -- the current ruling party -- just presented, and the drama that ensued when members of the opposition PML-N rushed the stage during the Finance Minister's budget speech. I wish there were more fights in Congress. Britain and its former colonies seem to have much more fun with their legislative bodies. There was also a letter to the editor about Pakistan's need to incorporate disaster risk reduction into school curricula throughout the country, and an announcement of two new weather stations to monitor the glacial lakes in Gilgit-Baltistan. Things to keep track of that I'd never have heard about in the States.
The most arresting piece, though, was an op/ed by Irfan Husain entitled "How Low Can We Go?"
For years, others and I have been writing about Pakistan's low standing in the community of nations.
Thanks to a recent BBC survey on how popular various countries are around the world, we now know just how low we have sunk.
According to this poll...Pakistan is joint last, together with Iran. One place above us is North Korea, and fourth from the bottom is Israel. This, then, is the company we are keeping in the eyes of the world.He goes on,
...The reality -- whatever the overheated fantasies of armchair warriors and studio supermen -- is that Pakistan is a wretchedly poor, violent and increasingly isolated country.
In short, we need all the help we can get to dig ourselves out of the hole we are in. To this end, we constantly hold a begging bowl in one hand. However, we also hold a gun in the other: occasionally it points at others, and the rest of the time it is held to our own head.
$18bn in aid later, Americans see us as not only helping hte Taliban, but also seeking to profit from the war in Afghanistan. Even friends of Pakistan such as John Kerry and Hillary Clinton are appalled by the hysterical level of anti-Americanism they see in our media, as well as in the actions and statements of supposedly responsible politicians and officials.Husain is angry and despairing about his own country. He's certainly right about Pakistani paranoia, which is something comes up again in Pakistan: A Hard Country, and which people talk about openly here and in the States. The piece is a very strong reminder that countries are never monolithic entities, that dissent exists everywhere. When we talk about "Pakistan", we're using the word as a kind of synecdoche for an extraordinarily complex entity. Not exactly a novel insight, that, but it's important to remember because it encourages subtlety and modesty when thinking about other countries and their people.
...From our support of Islamic extremism to our appalling treatment of women and minorities, the world has seen a country tearing itself apart in the name of religion...Worse, we are widely viewed as the epicentre of Islamic militancy, training and motivating foreigners to commit mayhem in their own countries.
Our paranoid worldview has convinced vast numbers of Pakistanis that the rest of the world is out to get us. But what most foreigners would really like to happen is for Pakistan to just somehow vanish, together with all the headaches it is causing in the world.
=== Brilliant segue! ===
It's 11:30. On the docket for the rest of the day: A bit of work, a trip to the gym, lunch, some time by the pool, and that's it.
*"Candle in the Wind," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and "My Heart Will Go On."
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