Burning Down Skylines

The thing about Karachi is that it’s quite beautiful. That is, of course, if you squint really hard! I took the photo when I was driving home from the office a few days back, and the skyline amidst the setting sun just fascinated me. As the darkness fell, and the colorful busses lit themselves, the sky appeared as an ocean; where the waves crested and fell making patterns that seemed to mock the world. It was almost surreal, with the slow traffic cruising and the dust blowing, and the colorful busses ushering in the dusk. It got me thinking that there is so much about Karachi that would actually look brilliant… but unfortunately it’s the drab equity that seems to surround Karachi. It’s the negativity that seems to surround us, even though it’s justified.A good friend of mine, who actually adores the city, just came back from a visit abroad and was mortified over the things we put up with. But then that’s just that, we are used to the negativity and the façade.

But then here’s a thought. The grass always looks greener on the other side, right? What about the people who are on the other side? Do they think there grass is greener? I wouldn’t think so… because they wouldn’t know about the less green grass because they are so preoccupied with their own greenery which they take for granted. Comprende? We can never look at what we have and be happy over it. We can never be satisfied, because always, no matter what, there will be a grass that will be greener. We, on the other hand, will never look at our own grass. Why? Because it’s ours.

But going back to the Karachi skyline, the clouds finally gave a little respite from the heat, and they also helped make the evening look a little nicer. If you really want to see what God intended beauty to be, I suggest you take a look at the rising Sun from the Arabian Sea. Breathtaking it is. 

Funny thing is that the rising Sun would look more or less the same from everywhere, because it’s human eyes that see it. Humanity is one… not separate. The pain and the joy, even the suffering; it’s the same. Tragedy can strike anywhere; it won’t look to identify it’s victims, be they from a college in Montreal, or some Karachiite who is just trying to get home. We all suffer…

The Killers have a new song out, “When you were young”, there’s a line in it, which I think is brilliant: we’re burning down the highway skyline, on the back of a hurricane that started turning when you were young…

An Apparent Cartoon Evolution!

Hope the following answers most of Huma’s queries.

NTM was one of the earlier pioneers in terms of bringing quality cartoons to the country. PTV, the state owned broadcaster, presented plays and puppet shows and children’s programs in Urdu, but retained a low profile as far as the imported English cartoons were concerned. NTM eventually began to dub the cartoons in Urdu, and this proved to be ridiculous, mostly because of the poor quality of the dubbing. I distinctly recall Michelangelo from the Turtles commenting about his Pistachio in Urdu, while he actually was referring to Pepperoni in the original. 

Over time, NTM is now no more, and the current scenario sees a huge influx of Pakistani channels doing the rounds. Most of these new channels try to cater to the youth through music and plays, and very few children’s programs abound. Very few of the cartoons that these channels now show are dubbed in Urdu, but the game shows and other assorted programs, naturally are. Recently, Cartoon Network Pakistan has been launched, and thanks to Cable and DVDs, the viewers here have access to any and all American and British shows.

Now what I was pointing towards in the previous post, was using Cartoons as an educational medium. It’s all well and good watching Thunder Cats beat everyone else up, but really what did we learn from it? What needs to be put in place is a balance between entertainment and education for children. Something I’d like to call Informed Entertainment. For that to happen, the media has to realize how important it is to present children with quality facts along with their entertainment, whether it be in Urdu or English. Before that, they have to start considering the importance of children as their potential viewers.

It’s all about being responsible and taking ownership, and the media has to start doing that. 

Of Cartoons and Arrogance…

I was talking to a very good friend of mine (SR) about the story of Icarus and his Wax Wings, and how he fell because of his arrogance. Funnily enough, I remembered the story of Icarus, simply because I saw it as a cartoon in my younger years in Iran. That along with a number of other interesting and educational cartoons, which told the story of Alexander Fleming, Edison and Marie Curie (among others). That was my first exposure to these great personalities, as a little kid enjoying cartoons, and not surprisingly, I still remember them. Learning, I’ve felt, is always appealing through cartoons. There was this other very popular cartoon I remember, it was about a Japanese orphan boy called Ee-Ki-Yo, who’d solve the emperor’s dilemmas. Whatever the problem would be, the kid would sit, rotate his fingers on his head, and would enter into a trance of meditation. He would not come out till he had discovered a most ingenious method of solving the issue!

I guess in hindsight it taught the value of patience and of believing in the fact that there is always a way out of any bind. Every problem can be solved; God always leaves a window open. It’s another story whether we are able to be clever enough to take that window of opportunity or not.

Anyway, where I was going with the story was about targeting children with fun material that is educational as well. Iran has a superior educational system when compared to Pakistan, and I’m not going to go into the why, but one thing that helped was this policy of their media to broadcast dubbed cartoons taken from all over the world (England, Germany, Japan etc.) which had something concrete to offer, rather than just showing stupid meaningless cartoons all the time. It expanded upon the children’s minds, and showed them there is so much more out there. It told them the value of curiosity about how the world works. In fact, I remember a story in my grade 2 science book, again in Iran, which talked told the story of the little kid who would always ask questions from his dad. I guess that told me curiosity is good, unless of course, you’re a cat!

Eitherway, we need a more responsible media in Pakistan. It shouldn’t be just 2 dimensional, about targeting the youth with enlightened moderation and stupid dramas, but it should also have a purpose. Children targeted cartoons and programs that actually make some sense and can have a long term value to their and our lives. Unfortunately, the present direction of the media is anything but responsible.

Going back to the arrogance bit, it’s all over really. Either because of religion, cultural superiority or even a better lifestyle. What we really need, all of us, is a bit of awareness. Muslims and non-muslins both, we are all part of the collective humanity aren’t we? We need to be correctly informed, to have empathy and to be aware. I remember the line from Merchant of Venice again, “If I were to bleed, would the color not be red?”

James Blunt’s High has a rather touching line, “Thought I was born to endless night, until you shined…”

May we all shine.