It wasn’t the dinosaurs’ fault the asteroid hit them. 
Of course, I’m talking about a theory by Luis Alvarez and son, that about 65 million years ago a large asteroid hit the earth, causing the mass extinction of dinosaur and countless other species, at what we used to call “the K-T boundary” which is the end of the Cretaceous geological period.
I absolutely haven’t got an axe to grind on that one, really. I’m only using it as a metaphor.
It is arguable that it isn’t the eastern culture’s fault that it was first hit by movies, then satellite television, a massive dose of western lifestyle and then finally by the internet – I highly doubt that even cockroaches could survive being hit by four consecutive asteroids.
Back to the dinosaurs for a minute. Though it is easily imagined that they were helped to extinction, it is easier imagined, that a variety of dinosaur species added to their own demise, as the Darwinists suggest, they were too big and stupid to compete. I don’t buy this at all, but my AAGAHIs are always welcome to recognize any theory that is seemingly conceivable, even if I think it is, like Darwinism itself, unreasonably big and stupid.
Similar to numerous supplementary things, evolution takes place, and the fact that it has occurred is away from human remedy. There is absolutely no magic wand that is going to reinstate the age of the dinosaurs, or turn back the clock to the zenith of eastern culture from centuries ago.
In Pakistan and India, a vast majority of people consider western culture as modernization and are hell-bent of gaining it at all costs. The backdrop from this thought is colonization. Our land was very prolific for British who embraced it with open arms. Colonialism played a massive role in originating inferiority complex among the people of that subcontinent. The biggest predicament with the nation is that they don’t recognize the distinction linking modernization and westernization.
The motive following this positive reception is their control and clasp over technology and science. They didn’t only bring changes in technological and scientific equipments but also changed the people’s state of mind e.g. New World Order.
In Pakistan and India, the vital rationale of westernization is colonialism. This tough impact can effortlessly be seen on economical elites. Unfortunately though, in Indo-Pak the economical elites are also the political elites – they indeed are the dreadful victims of westernization and have caused the sense of being unprivileged in the lingering fraction of society which gave birth to panic, crime and hatred in the social order and its foundation.
We can’t blame the dinosaurs for their demise, but I think there’s a fair argument if one were to point a finger at the demise of desi culture in the subcontinent. Today Indo-Pak’s youth is neither westernized nor modernized; in fact they’ve gotten confused in adopting the phenomenon – and that goes for both countries, India and Pakistan. I don’t think that I agree that by wearing jeans and skirts, speaking English and copy-catting the West will get you labeled as modern. It is ignorance of the people who consider it modernization.
Right now we live in a world where stress and unbalanced materialistic focus makes the pursuit for cultural comprehension grow in urgency. The culture of Indo-Pak, its people, its infrastructure, and indeed its very soil, encourage and breed cultural values, allowing spiritual traditions to thrive, flourish and prosper – but – who is really paying attention to the dying culture when we’re raising a generation on cheesy movies, run of the mill music, and a media that feeds a brainless reality.
It is sad to see that the majority doesn’t seem to understand that culture is not a zero-sum game, so the greater reach of one culture does not necessarily mean diminished stature for others. In the broad sweep of history, many traditions have grown together and flourished. This is the vital cog in us fighting off our culture’s ultimate demise – that there is NOTHING WRONG with trying to adopt a different lifestyle, as long as you don’t forget your roots and reason. The youth of Indo-Pak has been long chasing the title of ABCD (American Born Confused Desis), and in that long fruitless chase they’re merely becoming DBCD (Desi Born Confused Desis).
Somewhere between my visits to South-East Asia I was told an Urdu proverb by an old woman, which is fitting to end this article… with a hope that I wouldn’t have to use it for the youth of Pakistan and India. The woman simply said, “Dhobi ka kutta – na ghar ka, na ghaat ka”.
Armughan Azam
for AAGAHI monthly August-September issue
http://www.aag.tv/images/aagahi/04.htm
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:40 am
awesome!!!! you are a great writer!!
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:00 am
Grade A front page stuff mate for sure!!
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:14 am
i’m not sure what course of action you are advocating for the DBCDs, which i am a personification of. if it is a hybrid cutlure we are supposed to embrace, where is it being espoused? what are the facets and examples of it?
i noticed that this article comes from some publication for the AAG channel. correct me if i’m wrong, but the images and style of that channel embody the very things you criticize, in terms of the channel’s westernized clothings, lingos as well as all round confusion.
in fact, through my life the argument against ‘westernized modernity’ has usually been made by those with a salafist/wahabi/general reactionary islamic designs which they can hide behind the general frustration most of us feel about the lack of a contemporary culture in our society that feels organic and intrinsic to us.
i am not accusing you of doing the same, but it is a line of argument i am suspicious of unless you have something different to provide. some definete course of action. otherwise it is far too easy to call the youth of pakistan dhobi ke kuttay and DBCDs.
its foolish to think that people decided one day to wilfully negate their own culture in order to feel westernized. if their own culture remains vibrant and alive, they would continue to drink from its well. a good example is with our music, especially ‘traditional’ styles, which in a bid to remain relevant have become increasingly modern in their usage of western instruments and beats. yet they can’t seem to be classified as anyhting but classical music, hence comdemning them to cultural insignificance.
ps sorry for the rant…
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:19 am
waisay aap kaun se kuttay hain??? where do you categorize your own self?
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 am
To Karachi Khatmal and Desipagal:
I’m a British national, born and bred, and now residing in my Queen’s colony titled Canada. I don’t watch AAGtv and neither am I concerned with what they put on. I write for a publication that provides me with an outlet to share my abstract view of life, whether its of South East Asia, Europe or the America(s). Most channels in Pakistan are following the same formula that Indians produced well over a decade ago… and though its a brilliant revenue generator, its nothing short of disappointing. Even when its a 24 hour news channel.
I visit Pakistan and India almost in a clockwork every 3 years… and whatever I write about these two countries is what I see with the two eyes I have been provided with. I eat and drink in the poshest restaurants and hangouts, and drink tea from the crummiest “dhabba’s” all across Karachi, Lahore, Bombay and Delhi… and I don’t think that I can be proven wrong when saying that the new generation is nothing but only confused in trying to adopt a culture unknown to them and their forefathers.
What you see on TV is not what you implement in your life. That’s a fact any sensible person would agree with… unless one comes from the masses that have already been trained to not think for themselves, sitting in-front of the TV and swallowing all the horse shit that gets fed to them.
that being said…
Cheers!
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:02 am
i am certainly not denying your observations. but sometimes this depiction comes across as slightly lazy, just because it fails to identify what exists, and only points out what doesn’t.
for example, living in pakistan, and visiting it, would enlighten you to the fact that not only are we divorced from our past, every decade the powers that be hit the reset button and decide to reform the identity of the nation, which seems to oscillate between temporal nationalism to vapid religious fundamentalism.
coming of age in this latest era, i can tell you that in terms of music and literature, in terms of our thoughts and our ideas, we have come a long way form the generation that just preceded us, primarily because we were finally given a voice to speak with. without a doubt, most of the time that voice was imitated, and copy pasted. but not always.
we are finding our own selves. please give us (this is a plea to the powers that be) the time and tolerance to do so. we are not so adrift from our forefathers as it is believed, mainly because our forefathers were perhaps not who we like to believe they were.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:04 am
lol!! ha awesomee ! great thought I like how blend the dinosaur part in with the entire moral of the story ! Nice read !:)