Hybrid
Accents
by
Fazeel Azeez Chauhan
Table of Contents
(1) Khan Rocks the Pyramid
9-19-95
by Fazeel Aziz ChauhanNusrat Fateh Ali Khan should be in the next Memorex commercial. In one of their old TV ads, a woman is shown singing in a high pitch and she causes a glass to break with her powerful voice. But in the new commercial, Khan saheb should be shown causing an avalanche on K-2.
After watching Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's concert in L.A. on Saturday, I wonder if there is a better male vocalist in the world. Is there another example like the great Khan, whose family's musical legacy is hundreds of years old? He took the stage of the Pyramid Arena at Cal State Long Beach in front of a restless audience. They had been anxiously waiting for this concert since the date was announced about three months ago.
Several people bought their tickets in advance from TicketMaster and experienced very long delays at the Will Call window. Some were angry but strangely, this anger was only surface level and very temporary. There was a special feeling in the air. Under similar circumstances, at any other concert, tempers would have been flaring and cursing and fighting would have occurred. But these people who had come to hear Khan were different. They were quiet and mellow. They complained mostly because they were anxious to get inside and dive into the magical ambience Khan had created under the Pyramid. Inside and out, there was a general warm feeling of peace and joy.
According to Khan, Qawali started about eight hundred years ago in the area which is now Afghanistan. A Qawal is a man singing a Qawl. A Qawl is a saying. I suppose it's literally similar to the word Rap. The great difference is that in Rap music, someone is usually making a social or political statement and usually the feeling is harsh. On the other hand, Qawals go to the furthest depths of the soul and sing about Islamic spirituality, creating a state of delicious ecstasy.
The lyrics being sung are usually hundreds of years old and were written by various spiritual leaders. Many of these pious men were Sufi and are also referred to as "Pir" and "Faqeer". They are great men who make incredible sacrifices to reach enlightenment through meditation, Zikr and other means. The spiritual poets often write about their intoxication in the love for Allah and his Prophet Mohammed. The powerful words were obtained as precious gifts after paying the great price of annihilating the self. These spiritual leaders distributed these gifts among their followers. When Qawals sing these words, the music literally transforms the audience into a trance. Since its inception, this enlightening music has helped expose people to the message of Islam.
Some Muslims feel strongly against the involvement of Islam with music, dance and Sufism. However, one might say that the Azan, recitations of Quran and Naat are also forms of music. The Whirling Dervishes of Turkey use dance as a tool in their quest for enlightenment. Chanting and Zikr have a rhythmic element and are also used as tools to meditate, concentrate, contemplate and to detach from the self. Any tool can be misused so we should not throw away the baby with the bath-water. Indeed Allama Iqbal practiced Sufism too.
It was very moving to see thousands of people gathered under the Pyramid to hear the message to their soul. There is a theory among the practitioners of Transcendental Meditation that if 1 percent of the people of a city gather together and meditate for an hour, they can cause a positive change in the entire population of the city. There was something definitely magical that happened at the Pyramid on Saturday and many of us could not put the feelings into words.
The thirsty ears and hungry eyes awaited the great Khan for hours. When he arrived, a crowd of reporters swarmed him on the way backstage. He took the stage with eight of his "Humnawa". They included four background singers, three other alternating singers, two harmonium player and Dildar Hussain with his heart pounding tabla beats.
The musicians sat down on the ground in the form of a crescent, facing the audience, and Khan began with the famous "Allahu". The crowd immediately responded with loud approvals of joy. Allahu is a common mantra used in the practice of Zikr. Thus five thousand people began a collective meditation of 75 minutes. The audience clapped along with the musicians and responded to the entrancing verses with roars of pleasure.
Lots of people shouted their requests during the brief pauses. Khan responded with the next Qawali "Iss Karam Ka Karun Shukr Kaisay Ada". It means: How do I give thanks for this blessing? The next Qawali lit the Pyramid on fire. "Ali Da Malang" caused people to get up and start dancing. Lights were turned on so that everybody could see this great moment of celebration. People started showering Khan with money when he sang "Mera Piya Ghar Aya". There were scores of non-Desi people in the audience and they could not understand why people were throwing money at Khan. But we all understood something that was much more deeper. This was one of the rarest occasions in life when people of all colors, religions, cultures, countries, classes and races were brought together in a peaceful celebration of the human spirit. The vibes of truth were in the air.
"Mast Nazron Say Allah Bacha-ay" caused more people to dance. In Pakistan, people are freely allowed to dance to Qawali and it can put them in a state of trance or "Mast". Unfortunately, people dancing near the stage were told to stop by two large wrestlers. Khan continued with some moving verses that caused the crowd to go wild. Soon it was intermission and people rushed to grab the Desi food. There were a lot of smiles under the pyramid. The concert had brought many young people. For example, there were a lot of Desi young women who appeared very westernized. They are usually not seen at Desi shows because they probably relate more to western music. They were the proof that Khan can bring together all kinds of people. Especially those of us who migrated here at a young age or were born here and have trouble formulating our identities. Khan provides a deeper meaning, especially for those who experience conflicts of belongingness.
Another 75 minute long meditation started after the intermission. Khan sang two short versions of "Sanson Ki Mala Pay Simroon May Pi Ka Naam" and "Mitr Pyaray Noo Haal Mureedan Da Kehna". The latter is a very beautiful piece about followers or "Mureeds" of a spiritual teacher or "Pir". Khan sang powerful sequences of scale tones, waving his hands and arms in circular motions, pointing up, going back and forth, from very low to very high pitches, arriving at a big crescendo that caused loud responses from the listeners. The listeners appeared more like seekers and Khan handed out cup-fulls of intoxicating melodies and enlightening lyrics for their souls.
Some people shouted to request "Gorakh Dhanda" and Khan's keen ear again somehow picked it up out of the joyful noise. When he sang "Jhoolay Jhoolay Laal Dam Must Qalandar", several people went out of control. Many of them danced in their seats and in the aisles. The dancing continued for the rest of the evening. Khan spoke only two sentences during the whole show. And then came time to say goodbye. People gave a long standing ovation and expressed how happy they were. What great gifts Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan gave to the people that night! He gave them love, peace and joy. And most importantly, he fed their spiritually starving souls. There is no bigger service to mankind than that
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(2) American Born Pakistanis
2-19-91
by Fazeel Chauhan
Eighteen year old Uzmah Multani is the founder and current president of the Pakistani Student Association at California State University, Los Angeles. Two years ago, she decided to form the organization on this campus to encourage Pakistanis to get involved in social and cultural activities. Her intention was to provide a common platform where Pakistanis could meet and exchange their views about life in the United States and to offer support to each other. She has worked very hard to serve our community in a positive manner. Personally, I have found valuable friends and support, through this organization. The following is a synopsis of a conversation I had with her about what it's like being an American born Pakistani. She talks about some of the difficulties posed to Pakistani Americans. I believe these statements also ring true for those of us who have been here for many years.
"I was born in California and have lived here all my life. As I was growing up, my family enriched my life by instilling in me, the traditional Pakistani values. While at school, the American culture also had an influence on my life. When I was a child, some people viewed my identity with a bit of mystery. Their reactions would some times make me wonder what I was: Pakistani or American. My physical characteristics, language and values were Pakistani, yet my spirits were somewhat American.
"Most first generation Americans like me, seem to live two roles. Yet it is not like two separate and parallel lives, one American and the other Pakistani. Usually people take the best of both worlds and carefully sculpture a good combination that best suits their individual personality. Like myself, they still consider themselves as Pakistanis. But Some hardliners disagree and question our freedom of choice and want us to be just like a picture in their minds - a stereotype. If our individuality and uniqueness makes them uncomfortable, they become afraid and their narrow minds cannot accept us. This is the unhealthy "either / or" thinking. To them, it has to be either "A" or "P". They want to classify us and put us in a convenient box or category. Prejudice is based on this type of thinking that "I am right and you are wrong", or "We are good and they are bad." But the fact is that there are very few absolutes in the world. The definition of a pure American or a pure Pakistani is extremely subjective. Some ethnocentric and egocentric people want to divide humans into such categories so that they can discriminate against one group or the other.
"Some Caucasian Americans are prejudiced against other Americans who are non-white. I'm sure that just like us, most other non-whites have witnessed plenty of discrimination of this type. I founded PSA because I consider myself a Pakistani. I'm sure you're aware of the sad reality that some Pakistanis are prejudiced against each other. For example, some Pakistanis discriminate against American born Pakistanis. Yet most people do generally accept and respect Pakistani Americans for exactly what we are. They accept us as equal and don't get hung up on differences in languages, religion, culture, gender or place of birth.
I think that being a Pakistani American is a gift. Friends have commented to me that having two identities is far more beneficial than one. We can have Pakistani friends as well as American. Pakistani Americans have the capacity to look at things in a different light and in a more open-minded perspective. I believe that one person's culture, language or gender does not make him or her better than the next person. What really counts is what we have inside of us. Pakistani Americans are exposed to more than one ethnic group, culture and language. This educates them in different areas of life and enables them to relate more openly to people with different backgrounds. They usually view themselves as world citizens and are more willing to accept people of different ethnicities as equals.
"I used to attend Arabic classes at the Islamic Center every Sunday. I mixed with children from various other backgrounds. However, the common denominator of being Muslim united all of us. Students were not classified into different categories, they were just educated. It was then I realized that individuals who classify others are simply trying to prove their own superiority. Religion always taught us unity and equality. Yet humans persistently attempt to supersede all moral codes by implementing their own personal rules and subjective values. Around the world, this factor encourages separatism, ethnic violence, prejudice and war.
"Man has created borders that divide countries and their people. We should not view "us" as better than "them". Rich or poor, Pakistani or American, Punjabi or Sindhi, Shia or Sunni, we are all equal. We have to climb over these walls to the "other" side to get the "other's" perspective, an additional point of view. We are all mirrors and what we see in others are reflections of ourselves. If "others" seem different than "us", we should overcome our fears and try to relate to them objectively. Growth is not possible without objectivity. I wish that we'll soon see a day when Pakistanis can get along with other Pakistanis, Americans can get accept other Americans and people of all "colors" in the world can peacefully and harmoniously unite together, like a beautiful rainbow"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(3) Community and Belongingness
3-15-95
We come to the United States in search of something better. In the process, we may gain a lot, but we are also uprooted. We lose many precious things, including our loved ones and our home. To combat the hardships of this new land, we need the support of our fellow Pakistanis. A strong community can provide us with the feeling of belongingness and make us feel like home.
The famous psychologist Abraham Maslow identified a human being's five most important needs as:
1) Physical
2) Safety
3) Love and Belongingness
4) Self-Esteem
5) Self-Actualization
To fulfill the love and belongingness need, we must have the support of our community. In our house, our family provides us with this warm and comforting feeling. This is how we define a place as "home". At home we feel like we really belong there. It's a place where we are loved, accepted, sheltered and nurtured. We have left our homeland - Pakistan, and have now moved into our new house - the United States. In this new house, our community can serve as our extended family to turn it into our home.
Personally, I've tried to blend into the American lifestyle, but often I am treated like an outsider. We may not be considered as equals, based on our differences in culture, language, religion and color. These are the harsh realities of life in the United States. Discrimination is psychological genocide. Such obstacles seem overwhelming if we attempt to combat them all alone. But we can face them better if we know that we have the support of a strong community behind us. This "community" is not a vague and abstract entity some where out there. We have to think of it simply as you, and me.
These comments are not intended to create reverse discrimination. What I am suggesting is that our Pakistani community can serve as our home base, offering us stability. We should be able to feel confident that we can always return to this safe haven. As individuals, we have to implant our roots deep into our community. From there, we can go out to succeed in the rest of the world. Otherwise, we are liable to drift away like a ship without an anchor. We have to start with ourselves.
There is an emphasis on individuality here, but there is also a lot of isolation. As lone individuals, we run the risk of losing our identity. We can become discouraged enough to lose our hopes and dreams. It can turn into a terrible situation, making our life here very difficult.
Under these circumstances, the support of our fellow Pakistanis becomes extremely important for our survival and well being. We need role models and friends. We should be able to interact intimately and bond with each other. Together we can form this united community.
Instead of pointing out each others' human weaknesses, we should focus on the other's positive qualities. We should embrace the common threads that unite us. We can overcome fearing each other and stop allowing our differences to create distances between us. It will be very helpful if we have an objective attitude and are more tolerant of other people. Our culture teaches us to be sensitive and caring. I appeal to you to use these abilities to get close to, and empathize with each other.
Life in the U.S. can become very challenging indeed. Therefore, the circle of a tight-knit community can serve as an essential refuge, where we can frequently come and feel at home. If each one of us does our part in helping one another, we can make this place our home away from home. A strong community can be a homeland and like a mother, comfort us in her loving arms. She can give us the feelings of belongingness and acceptance, and help erase our feelings of homelessness. Isolation makes us feel weak and rejected. Belongingness charges our batteries and makes us feel strong and empowered.
Let's have community gatherings more often, to preserve our roots and identity, as well as our sanity. More importantly, let's focus on the individual level. If each one of us offers their support to all the people they come in contact with on a daily basis, we can develop this powerful community. Let's offer our trust and friendship to each other. We can share a few laughs to ease each other's sorrows. Some times all we need is a few words of kindness. Let's embrace each other and unite in a strong circle of our community, where we can help and love one another, through the limited time we have left here together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(4) The Sword of Friendship
1-31-91
by Fazeel Chauhan
Majeed is a graduate student of sociology. I recently met him in one of my classes. This is what he had to say: "Sometimes I don't know who to trust. Due to some of my recent experiences, I am very afraid of getting close to people.
"I am a foreign student and have no family here. So my friends are very important to me. But making friends is not easy, specially in Los Angeles. Here, everybody is very busy in their own world, trying to survive. Sometimes, I'm not sure who my friends really are. I've been hurt so many times by friends in the past that now I have developed a defensive attitude. In order to protect myself, I don't get close to anyone and I avoid friendships. The closer you get to someone, the more deeply they can hurt you. It seems like friendships are very temporary here. I feel like "friends" just hang around for a while, until they are able to take advantage of me in some way. There are times when I have five or six friends. Soon afterwards, they fall off one by one, like autumn leaves. Then I find myself all alone again.
"You may think that I'm over-reacting, but there are too many examples to recount. A few people I know here used to be my friends in Pakistan. But they changed after coming here, and now we are like strangers and don't get along with each other. In the beginning it was very hard to accept that they were not my friends any more. Some of the friends I made here, had the Jeckyl and Hyde syndrome. In front of me they claimed to be my friends. But a time came when I witnessed their other side. It turned out that they were just using me and were not sincere.
Naeem, was a very good friend of mine for about a year. One day, I was very surprised to see him acting like a stranger. His friends told me he had a drug problem. I offered him my help, but he completely denied ever using drugs. I was very disturbed to find that I didn't really know him and that he had the ability to look me straight in the eyes and tell me white lies. I thought I was such a fool to have believed the many lies he must have told me in the past. He was dishonest with me and I could no longer trust him. When you find out that someone you care about lied and deceived you, it makes you crazy because you don't know where the lies end and where the truth begins.
"Aqeel is one of my married friends. We both had a mutual friend named Elyas and he was a single man. The three of us spent many weekends together. Then we found out that Elyas was openly making passes at Aqeel's wife. We were really disgusted. This was a man whom I had known for many years. I was very disappointed and hurt. Now I don't know what this friendship was all about. I wasted so much of my valuable time with this hypocrite. I can't convey how badly this hurt Aqeel.
"Many problems with friendships occurred when money was involved. I loaned money to a few of my friends. They usually were in a desperate situation and asked me to do them a favor. I helped them when they needed me, but they weren't there when I needed them. Often, they would not return the loan for a long time and would forget all about it. Then I would have to look bad and chase them to get my money back. They know very well that as students, we barely have enough money to survive. We can't even afford to give spare change to a homeless person. Some would turn the situation around and accuse me of valuing money more than the friendship. But what about their end of the obligation, their promise, their commitment? If they valued my friendship enough, they would have paid me back on time and in full, instead of taking advantage of me.
"I am very hurt to find that I cannot tell when my friends are lying to me. I trust them so much that I don't expect them to deceive me. Why can't they be as sincere and loyal to me as I am to them? I don't think my expectations are unreasonable. In Pakistan, my friends and I truly trusted each other. But here, I can't tell who I should trust and who is insincere and who's lying. On the outside, there is this pretentious front, but inside, they are totally different. I'm never sure of what their motives are."
I could relate to Majeed's experiences. When I first met him, he tried to avoid me too. But eventually, I was able to get through the walls he had erected around him to protect himself. I tell him not to lose hope, that there are many good people out there. For example, my best friend Javed, who now lives in Australia. The thousands of miles between us did not affect our friendship because the trust and commitment are so strong. Deep within us, we have the understanding that we'll be good friends for a long time. Whenever I talk to him, it's like he's there right beside me, like he never left. I am fortunate enough to have a few good friends who genuinely love me. But I've had bad experiences too, just like Majeed.
It is tempting to become selfish and egocentric, like the negative people in our lives. But then how can we live with our selves? How do we go to sleep at night knowing that we've hurt somebody? How do we rationalize our bad behavior? How do we convince ourselves that the damage we did, served a "good" purpose?
I'm sure, there are a lot of Javeds out there. If we assume that there are not, we are doing injustice to them and to ourselves by depriving each other of a valuable friendship. If we have no friends, then life seems meaningless. Humans are after all, social animals. We need to socialize with each other for our survival, much more than we realize. Life seems like death when we have no friends. So we have to take the risk to reach out and connect with somebody. Life is a series of risks and gambles. If you don't roll the dice, you'll never win. You may find a person like Javed, or you may find someone like Elyas. We should be aware of the risks, but should not let fears rule our lives. If you are someone's friend, please be kind and value the trust that has been given to you. Strangers can't hurt us nearly as much as friends can. Friends can cause us deep emotional hurt which can have longterm psycholological effects on us. The poet sufi Bulleh Shah in particular stresses:
Don't break anyone's heart
Because God lives there
In each of us there is an animal; the devil within. But there is also a saint inside all of us. Let the saints take over and chit chat about God's beautiful creations. There are too many miracles to discover and not enough time
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(5) Are You A Frog Or A Fish?
10-11-96
by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan
Hey, where are you from? This question is asked of us because we are viewed as different; Frogs among Fish. Maybe the issue is not Frogs and Fish but Cowboys and Indians. Yea but what's this Fishy Froggy business anyway.......
Well, I'll quote my Amphibious friend from Ottawa, Canada "I believe it was Imam Abdullah Hakim who told me about fish and frogs. He used these two animal types to describe the two basic kinds of Muslims: "fish" and "frogs". Fish, being water-dwellers, rely on their special environment to carry out all of their activities of life; on the other hand, frogs, which are amphibious creatures, can thrive both in water and on land. "Fish" require ever-present, supportive and homogeneous environments to function successfully. But "frogs" can make it ANYWHERE. Do you seek to spread yourself beyond the scope of your comfort zone? Are you a frog? How far are you willing to venture? If you have thick, slimy, green skin then come along with me!".
Hybrids like us live in the U.S. but are linked to other countries, through an invisible umbilical cord. Those of us who've lived in the "old countries", swam and played among the local schools of fish. There we were fish and not viewed as frogs. The millions of beautiful and colorful fish were of all shapes and sizes. To a large extent, we understood our people and our surroundings, and enjoyed a certain amount of comfortable belongingness there.
Now we've come out to a new land, a different world. Some of us hybrids were born here yet don't feel we belong solely to this land. We long for a swim in the deep ocean and sometimes we venture out there with our friends, fish and frogs alike. As frogs, we are likely to float on top of the water, near the shore, with our vision reaching into the heavens. Through the clouds and the pollution, we try to ponder who we are, where we are and where we belong. And how many years more will we have to live here to be not considered "Foreigners". We may experience that today, fish in both the Indian and Pacific Oceans view us as strange green aliens. So it makes us speculate where can we fit in.
Young people like us often wonder "Who the hell am I? Am I American, Pakistani, or Muslim"? We wonder which group we belong with, Caucasian, African, or Hispanics. Sometimes application forms force us to be incorrectly classified as "Asian" by which they mean Pacific Asian only. Other times we're stereotyped as Arabs or Middle-eastern people. As we ponder these questions and form our self-identity, we beg, borrow and steal pieces of ourselves from various sources. An African American friend recently educated me about the idea of the "Looking Glass Self". It states that we look at ourselves through other peoples' eyes. Us Frogs don't often have the luxury of looking at ourselves through our own people's eyes. So we often see ourselves through American eyes. And sadly, the American eye usually captures us at our worst, and presents negative images about us through the media.
My friend ZZ from Washington D.C. says "I think an important issue that we, as the "first generation", face is culture. What are we? We are hybrids, that is a pertinent term. But where do we draw the line? As an American born citizen, I think I should consider myself an American. The only life I've known is being in America. But I also value my parents' roots, Pakistan. But their parents were Indian. It's really confusing, living in a "hybrid-culture". During the day, we work and hang out with Americans, talking to them, eating their food, experiencing their values. Yet, when we come home to our families, we are eating curries and rice, speaking Urdu and listening to Indian music. At least my parents usually do. I enjoy that too, but, jeez I gotta turn on MTV and watch Alternative Nation to get a grip. And adults wonder why so many of us are so messed up. We have no idea who or what we are. At least, I feel that way sometimes."
How can we ease this situation of duality? That will come from supporting each other. To help each other deal with our common predicament, we need to share our tools. We need to really talk and listen to each other. We need older people to be open to their children and also to mentors youngsters. We may not be able to solve all our problems, but sometimes it helps greatly just to express our feelings and to know that we're not alone in feeling like a fish out of water. Our people lack a survival manual, a history and power in this land. But gradually, our Pakistani community is getting more established here and our broader, amphibious views are benefitting other communities as well. We can also learn valuable adaptation techniques from other communities. Achieving a healthy balance within ourselves is not easy, but none the less, it's a great adventure
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(6) Mind and Media
1-7-93
Fazeel Aziz Chauhan
Knowledge is power. At a recent gathering to celebrate Quaid-e-Azam's birthday, I learned how much he stressed the importance of attaining knowledge. In his will, he distributed all of his belongings among three schools. In today's fast paced information age, the media of film, tv and radio can be excellent sources to provide us with knowledge.
Many people have suggested that education can solve a lot of our problems. If people are well informed, they tend to become more objective. They may become more tolerant of other points of views and may some day use non-violent means instead of resolving conflicts through fighting and warfare.
The U. S. as a super-power, can influence the events taking place in the world. This country and its people have the potential to create a world focused on destruction or on peace. Therefore, it is very encouraging when the media does a good job of informing the people. Without information we are blind. Learning and growing is what life is all about. I would like to draw your attention to some of these refreshing, and some very courageous efforts on the part of the media.
I was glad to see a famous director, Oliver Stone, use the medium of film to inform the people about one of the most popular leaders of this country, John F. Kennedy. The movie "JFK" tells us that he wanted to end the Vietnam war and cut military spending. He wanted to dismantle the CIA, and he was against attacking Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also played a role in helping Blacks and other minorities get equal rights. JFK had some revolutionary ideas about changing the policies of this country in the world. But he was viewed as a threat by some, and was assassinated. The conspiracy theory points the finger at the CIA, the military and even the Vice-President, Linden Johnson. This high budget and widely distributed movie by one of the country's leading directors is being well received by the movie-going audiences. It has made people raise questions about what really goes on in the government. The film is an eye-opener and I highly recommend it.
There are other good movies also, which have a similar theme as "JFK". Since Pakistanis love to see movies, I'll mention some of them. An excellent movie about the Iran-Contra affair is "Cover Up". It has been showing in Santa Monica for the past few months but is also available on video. The Christic Institute is a law firm that has taken on, and won, historical issues such as the Karen Silkwood case. The movie "Silkwood" was based on this case. The Christic Institute has a case pending against the people involved with the Iran-Contra affair. They have researched and documented evidence that supports the claims of the movie "Cover Up". It tells how Reagan and Bush knew all along, about the CIA's involvement in weapons and drug smuggling. A movie with some positive and enlightening ideas is "Mindwalk". It deals with personal, political and global issues. It is based on a book by Fritjof Capra. He is a leading scientist in Physics who connects it with mysticism. "Dances With Wolves" tells us that all people are the same and that the real enemy is within each of us.
PBS uses the medium of television positively, with their wide range of programs, to effect the lives of the viewers. One of my favorite shows is "Frontline". A few months ago, I saw two movies on Channel 28. Award winning, "The Official Story" from Argentina deals with the disappearances of thousands of people in their country. Another very disturbing film "State Of Siege" is from Uruguay. It is about the police departments of countries around the world. Many countries send their top police officers to be trained in the U. S. Torture techniques and fear tactics are some of the topics covered in the training classes. The police headquarters in Uruguay were partially run by an American "advisor", in 1971. This was how the U. S. was able to exert direct control over the people of that country.
A good source for news and information on the radio is listener sponsored KPFK, 90.7 FM. An enlightening talk show on KLOS, 95.5 FM with host Frank Sontag comes on Sunday night at midnight.
I commend all the people in the media who are trying to empower us with knowledge. I hope this trend continues and that we'll see less of the usual sex and violence and more of vital issues that effect our world and our lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(7) Ali Haider Show
7-31-95
by Fazeel Chauhan
Ali Haider, Bushra Ansari, Bunny and Milestones have been touring together for the last six weeks. Los Angeles was the last leg of this tour. Unfortunately, for the artists, the end of this tour was marked by an unpleasant experience. The problem had to do with the financial contracts. This was one reason why it took so long for the performance to begin. Originally, the show was to start at 7:30. Then, in last week's Pakistan Link, the new show time was changed to 8:30pm. But it was 10pm when the curtains finally opened and Bushra Ansari took the stage with Allah-Ditta band.
I think you'll agree that it's about time that we as a community start being on time. As artists and promoters, we need to begin the shows exactly at the announced time. This is the promise that you've made. On the other side, the audience needs to be in their seats at the scheduled time. Another factor which caused the delay of this show was that many people did not arrive at 8:30. In general the attendance was low and I suppose the organizers were waiting for more people to arrive before they started the show. If the artist, promoter or audience is late to a gathering, nobody wins. We all lose. And what we lose is our most valuable asset which is time. It's about time that we discard the idea of "Pakistan Standard Time."
Bushra Ansari sang beautifully. Her voice is very melodic and her personality is very confident. When some men were making too much noise, she told them directly that it's better if they let her talk. I like seeing that positive power in women. Due to the low attendance, $10 tickets were not sold. Only $15 and above were available and this made some people angry. To ease the tension, Bushra told a good joke about miser husbands. I guess us men don't spend enough money on the women and we're miserly with our compliments too. I wish someone had taught me how to compliment a woman. So I have a request to the elder males in our community. Could you teach us younger guys what you've learned in life so that we don't make the same mistakes again? Teach us the practical stuff, not the theoretical.
Bushra introduced the stage band. The Allah-Ditta band had a bass player, guitarist, drummer and a keyboardist. They were good musicians but lacked energy. Some day, I'd like to see the Desi versions of "Flea" and Pete Townsend, jumping all over the stage. These musicians exemplify the celebration of life through their energy.
The next band to take the stage was Milestones. Unfortunately, the band's name was incorrectly pronounced and advertised several times as Mile Stone. Sounds like a rock that's a mile long. The audience didn't seem very familiar with this band. For me, It was awesome to finally see them perform and to hear "Candy's" voice leading this band. Wow. Things really have changed. A Desi woman was wearing pants and singing "Blue Suede Shoes." Her voice was very impressive and well-trained. She's the Desi "Sade." I'll bet that Sade was a great influence on her hypnotic and smoothly flowing voice. Even her hairstyle was like Sade. The best moment for Milestones was when the bassist was singing a rap song and Candy was weaving a web of harmonies over it. From the first time I heard her, I said that this woman is very talented and she will go very far.
Bunny took the stage and raised the energy in the hall with a few upbeat dance tunes. I think the bad dudes sitting in the back harassed him too much. I felt bad for the guy. An artist cannot give you his best if he's under stress from the organizers or from a ruthless audience. Us artists are usually the sensitive type. And I could see that something was bothering Bunny. Maybe he didn't feel enough cohesion with the Allah-Ditta band. They probably performed together rarely because Bunny has his own band. Bunny's performance was very good. Especially when he grabbed a guitar and played along as he sang. Bunny is a talented musician with a voice that has strength and depth. I talked to him backstage. He came across as a very friendly, humble and caring man.
Ali Haider performed about ten songs. Out of all the musicians, he had the greatest energy. He danced around on stage and got the audience to sing along with him on a few songs. Then he came off stage in the middle of a song. I thought he was going to say a few words to the rowdy guys in the back. But he went and sang to a few women instead. The audience really loved it that he came down and mingled with the crowd. Ali seems to be getting increasingly popular. He's also trying to break into the Indian market. Unlike many other pop bands, I didn't notice any stolen riffs in his music. What we need is originality and not copies of western songs. And Ali Haider definitely is original and very creative.
The show ended at 1am. The sound quality was sloppy. This was not the musicians' fault but had to do with the proper blending of all the instruments. I discovered that the musicians did not have a chance to check their instruments beforehand. And this is why the sound was not mixed properly. All these musicians were very talented. It is unfortunate that their sound quality lacked perfection and that they did not have enough time to show us more of their musical abilities.
When I protested the Gulf war, very few people showed up at the demonstrations. But a Raiders football game or a Guns 'n' Roses concert can attract 80,000 people at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Is there more peace in the world after either event? How can we gather people together and empower them to make the world a better place? How about taking 1% of the time at our functions to address the real issues of Muslims? Maybe a five minute speech on Bosnia and a donation box would've made a difference at this concert. What do you feel?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(8) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan '96
In August, I had the honor of seeing Khan in concert twice.The man is responsible for making Qawali music popular around the world. He has truly had a profound influence on my life. I traveled to Berkeley with my father and noticed the majority of the audience was Caucasian. Knowing that being a Muslim is considered a crime in America, I was very happy and proud to see that they had come to appreciate a Pakistani Muslim. I realized that it was an extremely rare occasion where the man being admired by Americans was mine, the music was mine and the heritage he represented was mine. That makes us feel proud. Outside that auditorium, there isn't a large place we can call our own. The overt and covert pressures of society can force a person to not be himself. But at Khan's shows we felt free to walk, dress, talk and act in our own true and natural way.
In Los Angeles, the tension in the air may have been due to the open racism here. But Pakistani youth danced in ecstacy, free and proud. Some demonstrated their power and rebellion by taking off their shirts. We usually hear nothing good about Muslims from the dominant society. Khan has broken through those barriers, forcing the listeners to take a second look at Muslims. His music is on the soundtracks of Last Temptation of Christ, Bandit Queen, Natural Born Killers and Dead Man Walking. He has albums with Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, and Michael Brooks.
Khan sings many Qawalis about Allah and Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). In addition, he sings about the lives of many Saints who can serve as real heroes. For example, one of the many Qawalis praising Hazrat Ali talks about his courage stating:
Ali was victorious in all battlefields
Khayber still trembles upon hearing his name
When I sit in my car and plug in one of Khan's tapes, it takes me to another world. There, I get wisdom, courage, and joy. And I am ready to face whatever comes my way.
Professor Tayyab says "It is not that WE are trying to be like THEM. The truth is, THEY are trying to be like US". They steal ideas from the East, re-package them and label them as "Western". Why is it "cool" for Sting and Robert Plant to wear our Kurta or Sherwani, but when we wear our own clothes, it's frowned upon as if it's unacceptable like a crime?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(9) Hopes and Dreams
1-22-92
by Fazeel Chauhan
Younus came to the U. S. two years ago as a foreign student, to get a bachelors degree in civil engineering. He came here in search of hope, opportunity and a better life. But his plans were altered due to a strange twist of fate. He recently had a brush with death when he was shot two times.
His parents almost lost their only son. He had come to the U. S. for higher education upon his father's recommendation. After graduation, Younus had planned to work here for a while and then hopefully land a job in the middle east, that paid well. His father had sold some property to get enough money to send him over. He continued to financially support Younus as much as he could, but the expenses were too great. So Younus decided to start working here.
He applied for a working permit to get a part time job so he could partially support himself. For a while, he worked in the campus library but was paid close to minimum wage. Then, a few months ago, he found another job at a liquor store, working as a security guard. His job was to guard the liquor store at night. He expected it to be an easy job. The hours were great and he would also be able to do his schoolwork at his job. Besides, the pay check at the end of the week would be a little bigger.
A couple of weeks ago, the incident took place while he was at work. He had stepped outside the store for a few minutes. When he walked back in, he saw a man robbing the cashier at gun point. The robber was startled when he saw the security guard walk in and he panicked. He turned around and shot at Younus three times with his hand gun. He missed only once. Two of the bullets hit Younus and he fell to the ground, screaming in agony and pain. The robber snapped the few dollars from the cash register and ran out the door.
Younus lay on the ground in a pool of blood, his life flashed before his eyes. He screamed in pain, disoriented and shocked at what had just taken place. The cashier, tried to comfort him while they waited for the ambulance and police to arrive. The police was unable to find the gunman, he had escaped. The paramedics worked fast, trying to stop the bleeding at the two wounds. Younus was in bad shape as the ambulance rushed to the hospital. The first bullet had hit him in the ribs, two inches below his heart. The other one went through his right thigh.
The doctors told him later that if he had arrived at the operating table half an hour later, he would not have survived. But he was very lucky and they were able to save his life. He was in intensive care for a few days and eventually his condition stabilized. He's at home now, but still confined to his bed, as he recovers. He still can't believe that this happened to him. It was totally unexpected. Still in shock he wonders why this happened to him and how he could have avoided it. He had done nothing to hurt the gunman. He just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Younus is going back to Pakistan in a few days so that his family can take care of him. They are worried and scared. They want him to come back home and forget all about America. Younus is a fighter though, he says he'll come back to finish his studies, as soon as he's recovered. I don't know how he will rationalize what happened to him. How will he deal with the incident? And what about the gunman? What was his motivation? How does he live with himself, knowing that he almost killed another human being?
Some times I wonder, why bad things happen to good people. Younus was a good person. All he wanted was to be able to live a better life. He didn't want to hurt anybody. We all have our dreams and we all make our plans. But behind the veil, there are unknown forces that have their own plans for us, leaving us with too many unanswered questions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(10) Child Abuse
10-10-95
by Fazeel Chauhan
It has been said "If you must beat a child, use a thread". In America, even though it is illegal, each year around one million children suffer from child abuse. Sadly, in Pakistan, child abuse is not viewed in general as wrong or destructive to children. Therefore, the vast majority of children end up being abused. Growing up and as adults, millions of these children suffer from mental, social and behavioral problems. Parents and adults need to be aware of the tremendous damage abuse can do to a child's life.
Growing up, my friends and I were frequently abused by people in our families and by our teachers. "Abuse" is usually defined as non-accidental physical attack on (or injury to) children, by individuals caring for them. But abuse can also be verbal, sexual and emotional. It is very painful to see how the lives of some of my friends were destroyed by their parents or "loved ones". My friend Nadeem's parents were working in Dubai and had left him with his aunt in Pakistan. She often used her shoes to beat Nadeem senselessly, on his face and head, in front of the whole neighborhood. This made him feel worthless and humiliated. He's turned into a hermit who finds it very difficult to express his feelings positively and keeps failing in his business ventures. He neglects and abuses his own children, following in his parents' footsteps. Ahmed's father, a military man, was sure that physical punishment and fear tactics were the best means of disciplining his family. He tried to gain their "respect" by scaring them to death. He would line up the whole family in a row and then beat them up one by one, with a broom or hockey stick. Ahmed was so terrorized by his father that he would urinate in his pants. He has developed into a very depressed and scared adult. He is a rebel and hates any kind of authority. He cannot forgive his dead father nor forget his crimes.
These abused children were not mischievous or trouble makers by nature. It was usually the abusers who demanded far more than what the children were capable of providing. Azam's father hit him in the head with an iron rod. He is convinced that this caused brain damage, making him epileptic. He has developed into a very violent person now. Tranquilizers can't calm him down and he frequently beats up various members of his family, including his old father. Indeed, children are not born violent. They learn it from their parents.
Some children experience emotional rather than physical abuse. They may be neglected and ignored by the parents. Waseem was such a case. He had a very sensitive personality. His parents were emotionally unavailable and inattentive, which made him feel rejected and worthless. Thinking no one loved him or cared about him, he started abusing himself with drugs. Now he's a heroin junkie, who has no "self" left. Some adolescents feel very pressured by the family to excel in school. There are cases where kids commit suicide upon failing their exams. Sexual abuse is far more common than we think. Its existence is minimized and denied. My friend Farooq was sexually abused by his uncle. He's an emotionally disturbed adult now, who goes to therapy to heal the pain. He's unsure about his life, particularly about his sexuality. These were some of the cases of young boys whom I personally knew. For little girls I fear that the predicament is much worse.
Child abuse and domestic violence is found in all segments of society. Abused children are not happy, don't feel good about themselves and tend to not enjoy life. They have low self-esteem, poor self-control and negative feelings about the world. Some show high levels of rage, frustration and aggression. Emotionally neglected children who experience lack of love and care, tend to be withdrawn and depressed. They exhibit mental and behavioral problems as they become older. Children learn what they are taught, especially from their parents. Abusive parents teach their children to do the same and the vicious cycle continues from generation to generation.
On the other hand, children who are given love and attention, come to believe that they are loved and look at the world in a positive manner. They have high self-worth and a successful lifestyle. In the book "The Road Less Travelled", Dr. Scott Peck states the following: "If a parent can give a child the feeling that s/he is loved, the child develops high self esteem and self-worth. It is a feeling that no gold in the world can replace. The child grows up having this feeling deep within him/her, that cannot be taken away. Even if s/he's faced with a major crisis, s/he's able to overcome it, believing that s/he has the ability to do so. S/he feels very confident and knows that s/he deserves the best in life, including happiness, love and prosperity. Therefore, s/he does not hesitate to achieve high goals and success.
Most parents want to be good parents. Classes that teach parenting skills often help prevent parents who have abused their children from doing so again. The psychology section of the local bookstore or library is full of books that can help you become a better person and parent. An excellent book by Tara Singh is "How To Raise A Child Of God". Another highly recommended book is "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay. If you have been a victim of abuse, it is very sad and I empathize with you. But there is lots of hope. You can turn your life around and stop the never-ending poisonous pedagogy that has been going on from generation to generation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(11) Brainwashing Machines
4-14-9?
by Fazeel Chauhan
On April 11, Muslim Media organized a panel discussion at the Al-Medinah restaurant. The two guests were Heather Allen, an executive of NBC tv and Dan Fischer, the editor of L. A. Times' World Report. Irfan Mirza was impressively articulate in serving the function of host.
The event will receive coverage in other parts of this paper, therefore, I'll take a slightly different approach. During the discussion, Heather disclosed some honest facts about the weaknesses of the media, whereas Dan stressed the credibility and excellence of his staff. I am grateful to both of them for taking the time and courage to appear before the Muslim community. Although they tried to paint a positive picture of the media, most reporting is not favorable towards Muslims. Usually, journalists get their news from government releases and hardly question the accuracy of the "facts". The media becomes a brainwashing machine of disinformation and keeps the masses ignorant.
When was the last time you saw a positive portrayal of a Muslim in the media? Usually they are shown as violent and crazy terrorists. Minorities and immigrants in general, and people of color in particular are presented in their worst case scenarios. Some people call it a conspiracy. Former CIA director William Casey owned 20% of the New York Times. The more we learn about what happens behind the scenes, through sources such as "JFK" and books like "The Insiders", the more scary and hopeless the situation seems. Big business and advertisers influence what the media talks about. Who pulls the strings behind the scenes? There are definitely powers that censor the information that you and I receive. The Soviet Union was presented as the enemy for so many years. Then it was Iraq, and by election time, maybe it will be Libya. The media has served as a brainwashing machine and has created a negative stereotype of Muslims. The media is a big authority and an individual is not. The Muslim lacks a magic cleaner to wash away the negative views in other peoples minds that stain his/her reputation.
Both Heather and Dan agreed that they could do a lot more to change the stereotype of Muslims. But they also relayed that they were small cogs in the big machine. The media is an extremely powerful tool to represent us. Other groups such as the jews learned this a long time ago and they are very influential in the world, through the media, especially the movie industry. How many jewish directors, actors and comedians can you think of? And how many movies about hitler have you seen? How many times have you seen a tv show involving nazis? These movies are shown throughout the world. But do you remember a positive movie which promotes better understanding of the billions of Muslims in the world? The jews are also powerful in government. As discussed by the panel, the more influence people have, the more coverage they get. Kirkpatrick, the former U. S. embassador to the U. N. was Jewish. Can we even imagine an American Muslim in such a powerful role? The oil producing Muslim nations did not learn the lesson from Jews to unite and command the world through their immense wealth.
Heather mentioned that the nightly news consists of only twenty two minutes. There isn't enough time to cover areas such as the Muslim world. Dan said that his paper's World Report does not make any money. And that's what the media is about - making profits. Whatever sells is what's put on tv, producing couch potatoes and vidiots. Most Americans use the tv to get their information. "If it's on tv, it must be true". They read less than one book a year. A small percentage read the mainstream newspapers and even a smaller group uses alternative media as sources of information. Even in that arena, you'll find bias, such as Santa Monica College's KCRW. It is "National Public Radio", but a closer listen will show the presence of a jewish director, who's influence can color the whole radio station. Can you imagine the type of programming we could broadcast if the director was Muslim? African Americans, East Asians and Hispanics also exercise their power through politics, business and the media. Muslims should learn to play that game. The least we can do is write letters to the editors and to our elected officials to let our voices be heard. Together, we can change the situation. In childhood, they taught us: "Knowledge is power". Today, whoever is powerful gets the most coverage in the media, making it a world where "Power is Knowledge". That's very scary for those who are not so powerful
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(12) Creating the Muslim Promise Keepers
11-26-96
by Fazeel Aziz Chauhan
For three and a half years, I was a member and leader of a team of American men. One major goal was to help each other be the men we always wanted to be and to live honorably. As with any such boy scouts club or mens' support group, a set of rules was used, called the Code of Honor. Coming from a place of deep caring for each other, the men were truthful, intimately honest and held each other accountable to the basic principles of the Code of Honor. The code was a simple yet powerful tool that helped us become successful in all areas of our lives. Most importantly, the teachings helped us create mutually fulfilling relationships. These relationships gave us the great gifts of community and belongingness.
The teachings about forming strong communities and relationships were very valuable and I wished that our people would learn these tools too. I had trouble bringing Pakistani men to this knowledge. The two greatest prerequisites of becoming a part of a men's group are trust and commitment. Many Pakistani people around me, don't deeply trust each other and the commitment to each other is not very strong either. There is a lot of loyalty in the friendships but that alone is not enough for a strong relationship. I also had trouble bringing the knowledge to two major mosques of Los Angeles. Sadly, the Muslim leaders I talked to were not interested in forming any support groups. I gave the example of a highly successful Christian support group for men which is called "The Promise Keepers." Last year, at their annual gathering at the L.A. Coliseum, these men were 65,000 strong. Obviously, these men are benefitting greatly from being part of a team of men. A "team" of men is different from a support group because in a team, the men synergize together and strive for excellence. Whereas, a support group, often contains a large percentage of people who only want to talk and not take action.
Here's how to form a team of men: Two experienced men are needed as leaders, who will train the men's team for two months. They start with a camping trip together, get to know each other and develop a deep trust and bond with each other. The team leaders teach the men why it is important for them to be open, honest and truthful with each other. The team is "a safe place" where a man can talk about his deep feeling and not feel judged, or rejected by the other men. When the men trust each other enough to reveal their deep dark secrets to each other, then they bond together as blood brothers.
A team of ten men meets once a week for three hours. The men share honestly about what's going on in their lives. The collective wisdom of the team asks questions and helps a man get to the truth, and to the solutions. The purpose of the team is to help the other men become the men they've always wanted to be. So each man has to do some soul searching and write down briefly, what kind of man he wants to be. For example, a man may want to be able to show his wife and children that he loves them, he may want to overcome the problems in his relationship with his father, he may want to complete a college degree, he may want to overcome a bad habit, etc. The men's team asks each man to make commitments, or PROMISES. These are small steps toward reaching the bigger goals. For example, the man who wants to complete a college degree is asked, what steps he needs to take to reach that goal. One step may be to enroll in a college, so he makes a promise that by next week's meeting, he will have enrolled at L.A. City College. If at the next meeting, he has not kept his promise, then his team asks him a series of questions, to find out why he did not fulfill his commitment. Together they discover the man's barriers and help him dissolve them. The other men, who are helping a man, get a lot of benefit as well. They also learn that they are similar in many ways, with the "other man." This brings them closer together and makes the team stronger. And together, they make progress every week toward their goals. About five teams meet together once a month and share the collective wisdom with each other. The men hold each other accountable and help each other lead honorable lives.
The code of honor I learned did not pertain to a specific religion because it consists of universal principles. I urge Muslims to form "The Muslim Promise Keepers" and create a brief code of honor with which they feel comfortable. Using this Muslim men's movement, Muslims can get to a place where they trust each other, are united and will give their lives for each other. Through the process, we will realize that we are all the same, and we share the same major obstacles as human beings. Then we learn to care about Muslims, non-Muslims, Punjabi, Sindhi, Indian, Pakistani, Caucasian Americans, Blacks, men and women.
By the way, the women's groups are called "The Family of Women." A book highly recommended, but for women only is "What Really Works With Men" by A. Justin Sterling. An excellent book for men is "Iron John" by Robert Bly. It is a comprehensive collection of information regarding men from historical, cultural and academic perspectives.
A men's team does not "bash" women and instead strives to better the relationships with them. If you have any questions, study the Code of Honor below and it will likely give you the answer. So are you going to start such a program through your mosque or even independently? Or are you happy with the status quo and don't want to make a difference in your community?
(1) Commitment Before Ego
(2) Honor the Truth
(3) Respect Confidentiality
(4) Keep Your Word
(5) Be a 3-dimensional Man {Caring, Fun and Courageous}
(6) Be Prepared
(7) Defend Humanity
(8) Be Faithful
(9) Defend the Code of Honor
(10) Never Engage in Battles with Weaker Opponents
(11) Fight Only Honorable Battles
(12) Earn and Honor Rank
(13) Be Humble
(14) Embrace All Men
(15) Be an Example to Children
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(13) Thanks, Rodney
5-12-93
by Fazeel Chauhan
The whole country watched the brutal beating of Rodney King by four cops. Their guilt was documented on a video, yet the jury found the policemen not guilty. I asked Jameel about his thoughts and feelings about the case and the riots that followed.
"I don't blame the people for rioting", he said. "You have to look at the history of this country. You have to objectively see the tremendous problems with the social, economic and political systems of this country. A closer look shows that fairness isn't equally likely for minorities and the less privileged. Police beatings and unjust verdicts occur every day. We just don't see it... until it happens to us. Only then do we usually try to do something about it.
"To fix a problem, first we have to acknowledge that it exists. But usually, Americans choose to not see things that may upset the status quo. If the sleeping masses wake up and see what the U. S. is doing to their own people, as well as to other countries, then they would become very upset and will do something to change it. This is what people were attempting to do through rioting. The Rodney King verdict woke up some people with a big jolt. Some took to the streets and expressed themselves violently. The destruction is seen as sad and scary by most people, but in the bigger picture of things, it is not a big deal. About fifty people died and there were about a thousand fires. Compared to the 300,000 plus human beings killed in Iraq and the total destruction of cities and industries there, the L. A. riots are minuscule. Why didn't the American people riot then? They didn't identify the death of Iraqis as a problem.
Problems are usually allowed to get out of hand before they are noticed. Consider for example the millions of deaths in Africa due to hunger and disease, lack of human rights around the world, the population explosion which is suffocating the Earth, the cutting down of the South American Rainforest at a rate of one acre per second and ozone depletion, the conquering of the Native Americans and the deletion of their history, slavery of blacks and ongoing racism, teachers who don't get paid enough, daily gang shootings in L. A., assassinations and government overthrows of sovereign nations by the CIA, enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world sixty times over, the two-party political system in the U.S., both of which are two sides of the same coin, the ever growing multi-trillion dollar U. S. deficit and the violence and tension in the Middle East, Kashmir and the new Soviet republics. These are massive, sad, scary and upsetting problems about which most American have not done much. These are the things that people really need to protest and correct. If the people lead, the leaders will follow. But for most people, if it's N.I.M.B.Y. (Not In My Back Yard), they don't care and they remain asleep. People started "caring" when their back yards were on fire.
"Politically, the American people are very naive. They will have to open their eyes to the identify problems such as the Rodney King case, and become involved to correct them. Not budging from the status quo and the comfort zone create numbness. On the other hand, each change is a chance for progress and learning. The last riot in L. A. was twenty five years ago. That means the people have been asleep for many years because as I said, there are far more important issues to protest about than a police beating. Hopefully this protest has paved the way for people to get actively involved in trying to correct other problems.
There has been destruction but the positive aspects have far out-weighed the negatives. The violence may not have been an appropriate means, but at least the people did something to get the attention of the powers-that-be. Maybe they were also tired of peaceful demonstrations, which nobody seems to care about. In a numb society, outcries of injustice can be very healthy because they can wake people up. Thanks to Rodney's verdict, the people attempted to take things into their own hands. Their methods may have been wrong, but at least they tried. They attempted to change things, to correct wrongs and to make progress. The roots of the problems are in the overall economic, political and social systems. Those are the areas that always need to be actively evaluated and corrected. As a first step, we must have equality for all human beings"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(14) Drugs And Alcohol Abuse
3-4-91
by Fazeel Chauhan
Drug and alcohol abuse is a problem in this country and also in Pakistan. Drugs have stolen some of my friends and I've wondered why it is that people use and abuse them. The problem does not begin with the first sip or the first hit. The origins are deeply rooted in social and psychological causes.
The recent availability of more dangerous drugs such as heroin have made this a serious problem in Pakistan. Drugs and weapons some times go hand in hand. Maybe one reason for the increased influx of drugs in Pakistan is the war in Afghanistan. The Iran-Contra affair is a good source of information about this type of phenomena. Having said that, I'd now like to focus on the more immediate causes of drug abuse.
Plenty of research has been done on the social and psychological causes of drug abuse. I invite you to think about and research why people use drugs. The problem is not restricted to a certain socio-economic group. Any person is susceptible to it. In America, we frequently hear that among the users there are lawyers, doctors, businessmen and even politicians. So what purposes do drugs and alcohol serve? What is the pain and suffering which the users are trying to numb and alleviate? What realities are they trying to escape? We can find many reasons if we look at each case objectively. An example is what happened with my friend Azmat's brother. Here's the story in Azmat's own words:
"My father used to work in Dubai. After a few of his friends sent their sons to study in the U. S., he decided to send me here too. He wanted me to become a doctor. But my brother Habeeb also wanted to come along. He decided to attend a college for a year to get a diploma in Computers. I was sixteen and Habeeb was seventeen. When Habeeb was in Pakistan, he occasionally used alcohol, marijuana and even opium. I didn't pay attention to it at the time because he never did it in front of me. Like the rest of the family, I didn't want to see the problem and denied its existence.
"After arriving in Los Angeles, I started going to USC, and he went to another college. Our next door neighbors were South Asians as well. Habeeb made friends with them and they re-introduced him to alcohol and marijuana. He had decided using drugs in childhood, to avoid the pain caused to him by his family. Our father, for example, frequently beat us without a legitimate reason. Habeeb was emotionally scarred by this abuse and resented it very much. Parents should give enough love to a child to make her/him feel that s/he is genuinely loved. This gives a child the kind of self-esteem, which is worth more than all the gold in the world. When they grow up, they feel confident enough to face even the biggest crisis successfully. On the other hand, when children are abused, some of them like Habeeb, want to kill themselves. They feel neglected, unwanted, hurt, resentful and powerless. Some may choose suicide as a form of vengeance. While others kill themselves slowly, through a form of self-destruction such as drug or alcohol abuse.
"Habeeb progressed to the more dangerous drugs. He started doing LSD (also called acid) and PCP (a tranquilizer for elephants). But he was unaware of the dangers of these drugs. LSD makes a person see and hear things which are not real. PCP can stay stored in the body for months, causing flashbacks at unpredictable times. Imagine the strength of this drug, which was used as a tranquilizer for elephants. I'm sure these drugs were not available in Pakistan in those days. But they were responsible for making my brother crazy.
"He tried to jump out of the 3rd storey window, he threw himself in front of cars and also became very violent. I tied him up so he wouldn't hurt himself or others. I thought he'd soon snap out of this state. But I had to take him to the hospital after he got completely out of control and lost his mind. He did not recognize me. I was shocked at the whole situation. At age sixteen, this was my first major experience and it haunts me to this day. His doctors could not tell me when he would get better. I was overwhelmed, I didn't know what to do, and I had no family here to help me. I prayed a lot. A whole lot. But day after day, when I visited him in the mental hospital, his condition did not improve. At times he was like a zombie, at other times he was restricted to a padded cell and not allowed visitors. I had lost hope, but five months later, he started coming to his senses again. A few days after he was released, I sent him back to Pakistan. I moved out of the city as well because it kept reminding me of my painful feelings and memories.
"He did not suffer as much as I did, because he was not aware of his condition. But I cried and hurt because I had to see him like that every day. My own brother, lost, somewhere far away, and I didn't know how to get him back. The psychiatrists and psychologists did all they could and woke him up again. So what is he doing today? Habeeb went back to Pakistan eight years ago and for most of that time, he's been addicted to heroin."
Azmat is one of the most clear-headed and understanding people I know. Why is it that his life turned out ok, while his brother's didn't? I think each one of us has different levels of sensitivity. Maybe Habeeb has a more fragile nature and his wounds hurt more. For many of the years that he's been abusing drugs, the people around him ignored his problem. He kept drifting farther and farther away. If the father acknowledged Habeeb's problem, then he'd have to think about the causes, one of which would be his own abuse. So these issues can be very scary to look at.
Drugs and alcohol are forbidden in Islam. In Pakistan, one might feel a lot more social pressure to not use them. But in the U. S., a person can go down to Vons and grab a six pack. The ads tell us that any time is "Miller time". Drug use is more acceptable here and alcohol is well promoted. Like Habeeb, a person can be easily tempted to use one of these items as a crutch. It may be to stop boredom or to avoid an uncomfortable feeling. The person may be trying to forget a painful memory and use drugs as a means of escape. Some may feel powerless about their condition and use drugs to make themselves feel "good".
On the surface, these reasons seem foolish and it's easy for us to point the finger and reject a person who has a drug problem. "S/he is stupid, is not like me, is not one of us..." But this only hurts and further alienates the person instead of helping them. We need to look at the deeper causes of this problem. Why does a person feel powerless to begin with? Exactly what is it that they are trying to forget or escape? Have they suffered a loss recently? Are they under a lot of stress? Do they feel lonely and depressed? The roots of these problems have to be discovered for each individual and then solved.
The first step toward the solution is to identify the problem. Some times this step takes a long time. The user needs to properly define what the problem is and then take steps to correct it. The problem may seem overwhelming, making a person feel hopeless and helpless. When a person has a lot of burden or if something is really bothering them, it becomes hard to keep the mind clear and to know what's going on. In this situation, a close friend or relative can offer the much needed support before things really get out of hand. Counselors and support groups can also serve the purpose.
The longer we put off facing our problems, the more complex they become and the harder it is to solve them. Drug and alcohol abuse are classified as illnesses and should be controlled and stopped as soon as possible. If someone you know has a drug or alcohol problem, there is plenty of medical and psychological help available. Most areas have a local chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Hotlines are also listed in the phone book for quick counseling and as sources of reference. Ideally the whole family works through the problems together with the help of a professional. We have to try to understand the person and then help them. For their recovery, drug users need lots of help, support and encouragement
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(15) Bandit Queen
8-7-95
"Bandit Queen" is the name of a new Indian movie. It is a true story based on the life of a famous woman named Phoolan Devi. At one point in time, the film was banned in India because of its controversial content. The movie is not just about Phoolan Devi, however, because it deals with some of the deep social issues of India and Pakistan. This is a very remarkable and socially conscious movie, which makes the viewer look inside. For the Desi viewer, the reality of this movie is hard to accept.
The film opens with an image of a young eleven year old girl. She stares right into your eyes and tells you in a powerful and assertive voice "Yes, I am Phoolan Devi..." At the end of the sentence was a common curse word. This was very unexpected and really grabbed my attention. A young, cute, innocent little girl is not supposed to talk like that. It made me sit up in my seat and I wondered "What was that." From the beginning, the movie was very disturbing. But this ugly discomfort had a very strong and positive effect on my psyche.
Another nice touch in "Bandit Queen" was that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the music composer. There was a haunting song which was sung by a child. Khan kept the music in its raw form and gave it a rough edge. Even the music was packaged in a very real way. This movie represents one of those very rare occasions when the film medium has been used to present the truth to people. Almost all Pakistani and Indian movies show us a romanticized view of life. Like tv, movies can become a drug that we use to escape from real life. We've all seen enough of these movies about fictitious characters who live in a nonexistent world, that we start expecting our real lives to be like that too. But when real life strikes us over the head, it is a very disappointing experience. Films and tv can be very powerful and motivating tools if we want to bring a positive change in the world. That is one reason why this is such an awesome movie.
In Bandit Queen, there were issues which were absolutely the truth but these were hard to swallow. The ugly realities of our society were very difficult to accept. I found myself sitting at the Nuart Theatre in Santa Monica. Almost everybody in the audience was American and there were hardly any Desi people. This made it worse. My first reaction was that I don't want Americans to see all these evil things about my culture. It will give them another excuse to discriminate and belittle us. But if our own society will not acknowledge these problems in our culture, then it might take outside observers to convince us that hey, this behavior is not right.
So what was so disturbing in this movie? It exposed the worst kind of child abuse. It slapped me to show me the severe oppression of women. It demonstrated how rich people can take poor people for granted and make their lives so cheap. It shouted of how human beings who don't have enough money or status are treated worse than animals. It screamed with the pain of women who have no choices and who have to live their whole lives like prisoners and slaves. It makes you sick about the class system which exists in both India and Pakistan.
The movie really shook me up. It woke me up and reminded me of the society that I come from. It showed me who I am. It made me realize the truths about myself and my people, which I didn't want to accept. It showed me the suffering of the masses of India and Pakistan. It reminded me of the raw, blunt and painful prejudice that my people have. Prejudice against how others look, against women, against the poor and against people who have a lower class. It is very powerful movie. If enough of us see it, then making positive changes in our society will become easier. You will realize that there are a lot of things you want to change. You will feel like taking some action to help somebody. And maybe you will follow through and do something to stop the oppression, injustice, prejudice, and other crimes against humanity. What do you feel?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(16) Gambling
3-15-95
by Fazeel Chauhan
Kamran has lived in this country for the past six years. He came here on a student visa to pursue higher education and has just completed a master's degree in Computer Science. Now he's faced with a dilemma. Should he go back to Pakistan or stay here. I have frequently met people who have had to make this important decision. Like the major choices in life, it's a big gamble. Weighing the pros and cons of either option can be very difficult. Here's what his situation is:
"Up until a few months ago, I wanted to stay here. I had planned to send resumes to various companies to look for a job. Someone out there would hire me, I thought, and sponsor me, so that I could live in this country legally. But now I'm not sure whether it's wise for me to stay here. To extend my visa and to buy myself some more time while I'm in the process of making a decision, I have enrolled into a MBA program at my university.
"I have talked to a few of my colleagues who are in the same boat as me. One of them is from Algeria and he was the top student of my university. He was doing an internship with one of the defense contractors. As a project leader, he designed some technically difficult systems, using the latest tools and proved himself a valuable asset to his company. He worked extra hard and obtained awards and recognition from the employer. Yet, even after all of that, the company did not sponsor him. He ended up going back to Algeria and opened up a school there to teach computers and became very successful.
"It seems like I will not be able to stay here. The economy is in bad shape and many computer professionals have been laid off from their jobs. How can I compete with someone who has working experience and citizenship as well? I'm scared and unsure of my future and I don't want to make the wrong decision. I have been in school all my life. Now it's time to get a job and I don't know if I will be successful. That's the main reason I haven't really tried to get a job and have been procrastinating.
"One option I have is to work on my own by assembling and selling computers. But I will be illegal and always concerned about it. Another choice is to marry my girlfriend. She's American and we've been dating for about two years. She says she's in love with me and wants to marry me. But I just don't know. My family would not approve and seems like inter-racial marriages are much more susceptible to failure. When I consider getting married to her, the line between genuine care and taking advantage becomes cloudy. It will break her heart when I go back to Pakistan.
"I know these guys who are in the Desi mafia in New York. They can get me a fake passport or green card. But I've rarely done anything that illegal and risky in my life. The FBI is after them and I'd probably end up getting caught and deported. I don't want to get into that kind of trouble. I think I'll just head back home to Pakistan.
"I love this country and there are so many opportunities and choices available here which are not in Pakistan. I have grown tremendously in the years I've lived here. Twenty years of living in Pakistan could not have taught me the things I have experienced in the last six years in America. But the dirt beneath my feet is not mine and these people in the streets are not mine. This language and culture is not mine and I feel isolated. Friends are hard to find here and people are spiritually starved. Then there is racism and lack of acceptance of "colored" people.
"I think I'll be able to readjust in Pakistan. I have a family that loves me and friends that genuinely care about me. If you have money over there, you can live like you were in America. There's a lot of things I don't like about my country. And I'll have to get involved in trying to correct them. I should work to help my own people. I'll open up a computer school there and improve the life-scope of my own folk. I'll get married to one of my own kind and hopefully not live unhappily ever after. Life is a series of choices, a bunch of gambles. Each choice you make opens up a new world to you and simultaneously shuts out another universe of options. I hope I'll make the right decision. Only time will tell"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(17) The Honorable People
10-5-95
by Fazeel Chauhan
Forty Eight years ago, millions of Muslims of the Indian Sub-continent gained their freedom. They did not want to live under the oppression of the British or the Hindus. They wanted independence and the freedom to practice their religion and culture without restrictions. Half a century later, we're still slaves. We are not independent and free. Our actions and current circumstances show that we are not living those values that the founders envisioned practicing. Corruption, injustice, oppression and civil war are the diseases destroying our country Pakistan.
The Westerners came hundreds of years ago and enslaved our ancestors. Their motive was greed of power and money. They ruled our people and stole the material goods and ancient treasures of our land. They made us conform to their thinking, laws and values and attempted to divert us away from our magnificent heritage. They used the tactics of divide and conquer to oppress and control us. The brave people who stood up to fight them were killed or bought. They were our enemies and they taught us to hate ourselves. They looked upon us as the "dirty natives." They made us learn their English language and steered us away from our own richer languages. So they brainwashed us into believing that our old traditions and native values were wrong and that it was good to be modern and westernized. We began to lose our integrity, got confused, and started becoming like them.
The British were able to come in and invade the land, hearts, souls and minds of our people because we had become weak. Specifically, we lost the values which had made us powerful, honorable people and the integrity which had kept us on the right path. When we became weak on the inside, both the devil and the British were able to conquer us.
Our forefathers dreamed that things would be different after independence. Our ancestors gave their lives to attain freedom for their future generations. They hoped that we would live happily ever after in our sacred and "Pak" land. The dream has turned into a nightmare today, especially for the people in Karachi. With so much unrest and lawlessness, nobody knows who could get killed next. So many people have guns that it has become like the wild west. Corruption is rampant in our motherland. A poor man who does not have money or connections, is powerless and vulnerable. Freedom of speech means that a person may be killed if he says what he really feels. The basic human rights that we enjoy in America have to be bought and sold in Pakistan. We are still weak because we still allow ourselves to be divided and conquered.
Part of the problems in Pakistan is the covert operations of outside forces like the CIA. We should learn planning skills from the British, Americans and Jews. Their planning is for the next five hundred years. The imperialist British said "We will not only conquer their lands and minds, we will rule their hearts and souls for generations to come." Today, many generations later, our hearts and souls are slaves to the west. A Caucasian man told me proudly "Don't fool yourself. Just because the British flag was replaced by the Pakistani flag in 1947 does not mean that you are free. Any imperialist government still rules the colonies even after granting them "independence.""
The language we are communicating in today is English. It's difficult to communicate feelings and emotions in this language. For example, there are so many different words for love in Urdu. But English is a necessity in today's world. That's fine, but what's really repulsive is when in Pakistan people proudly and abundantly use English words in their Urdu conversations. The more "westernized" a person looks, the more respect and admiration he gets. Today, a popular song is "Goree". Why is white considered more beautiful? Is it because we believe the Caucasians who told us that we are the "dirty natives" and the whites are godly?
Religion and spirituality are very personal things which are between a man and his God. Yet so many people are oppressed in the name of religion. In Pakistan, many people are not educated enough to properly interpret and analyze the teachings of a religion. The people are threatened not to question "religion". The biggest enemy in our culture is self-righteousness. There are so many egocentric people who think that only they are right and everybody else is wrong. They have no tolerance and are threatened by a difference of opinion.
Twenty years ago a boy was born in Karachi. At a very young age he started having dreams in which the great heros of the world appeared to him. Men like Tipu Sultan, Hazrat Imam Hussain, Nelson Mandela, Bob Marley and Allama Iqbal would talk to him in his dreams. They urged him to be a righteous man and lead his people out of their miserable state. For several years, he strengthened his spirit. Then he started teaching people the ancient ways to make them honorable again. He asked these people of integrity to join him and formed a movement called the "Honorable People".
About a million of these warrior souls are now working for human rights in Pakistan. Their values are rooted in their own rich and ancient eastern heritage. These men and women do not compromise their principles and choose death over slavery. These humanitarians are united and are willing to give up their lives to wrong the rights in Pakistan. They will jump off a cliff before taking a bribe. They are not hypocrites or jealous of others. They protect and empower women and children. They ensure that the poor and needy also get the same basic human rights as everybody else. They make peace among warring factions. They talk to the men who want their own little kingdoms and persuade them to join the Honorable People. As leaders of our society, they make long range plans and visualize where our society should be in five hundred years. They care about other people and are not selfish. They believe that their purpose in life is to serve other people. Will you become an honorable person to help your children? What stops you from joining the Honorable People?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(18) Affirmative Action and Proposition 209
10-28-96
by Fazeel Aziz Chauhan
Is there a conspiracy against non-white immigrants? In California the same people who brought us proposition 187 a couple of years ago, are now bringing us proposition 209. It assumes that racism does not exist anymore and that Affirmative Action programs should be terminated. If the two dots are connected, I wonder what the projected ultimate goal is. If we as part of the "minority" don't vote against 209, then we are on our way to legalized racism.
Proposition 187 targeted "Illegal" aliens, denying their children education and medical care. As Dr. Hathout mentioned, "Even if a person doesn't have proper papers, I will still treat him like a human being and give him the medical care he needs." Proposition 187 attempted to legalize immoral treatment of undocumented aliens and it passed. Proposition 209 is the next step, which takes certain rights away from "legal" aliens. What's next? Separate passports based on which country a person immigrated from? Legalized racism based on your color? Currently, people with "European" features are not likely to be asked to prove whether they are legal or whether they are "American." Nobody even talks about the thousands of illegal Italians in New York. In fact, immigration from European countries is encouraged. Governor Wilson and his supporters are targeting the non-white people.
Some students have been on hunger strikes and demonstrating at the Federal Building on Wilshire Blvd. in Westwood. This is a tradition that Mahatma Gandhi popularized. But Jackie who is an activist says that appealing to an oppressor's morality only works when he has morality. So what can we do? Believe it or not, your vote is extremely powerful. Elected officials do care about your vote. Even if you are not a citizen and not eligible to vote, you have every right to call or write to them and state how you feel. Even President Clinton responds to letters within a month. Many government officials are on the Internet and can be contacted easily if you have a computer. You can contact your local library to obtain names, addresses and phone numbers of all your representatives.
Many people, especially "Americans" say that they don't want to get involved in politics. Even though politics is a dirty business, still, we cannot escape the effect it has on our personal lives. For example, proposition 209, will affect all of us because we are a subset of non-white immigrants. Although a lot of energy is required these days to earn a good living, we should not be blind to the big picture. In politics, there is a lot of misinformation. For example, proposition 209, which takes away rights from minorities and women, is labeled as the "Civil Rights" initiative. This kind of "double-speak" can confuse even a sensible person.
Affirmative Action programs which were designed to combat racism are now being called reverse discrimination. The truth is, Affirmative Action is a sensible remedy for addressing current discrimination against people of color and women. It is a means of giving equal opportunities to people of color and women for hiring, promotion, public contracting and public school enrollment. Currently, 86% of jobs are not advertised, and are filled through word of mouth. Affirmative Action is a door opener for people who would otherwise be shut out of good schools, government contracts, and public jobs. It is not a system for hiring unqualified people. No program requires anyone to accept substandard or unqualified applicants. It is not a quota system and it is not a remedy for past discrimination. Unfortunately, discrimination continues to be widespread today. Just ask a conscious non-white person. According to Californians for Justice, Caucasian men make up 96% of CEO's, 85% of tenured professors, 89% of US Senators and 100% of all U.S. Presidents. On the other hand, people of color and women get the lowest paying and least desirable jobs. They also have much higher poverty and unemployment rates. Radio station KPFK 90.7 FM is also a good source of un-biased news and information.
Don't be fooled by Proposition 209, which they are wrongly calling the "Civil Rights" initiative. It eliminates all public equal opportunity affirmative action programs. This "Civil Wrongs" initiative offers only racial division, gender exclusion and open discrimination. The dangerously vague language also legalizes discrimination against women and girls. Does it sound like Apartheid as in South Africa? The initiative falsely assumes that the effects of past and present discrimination don't exist. It takes us back at least thirty years. Fortunately, there are groups like "Angry White Men Against Prop 209" a beautiful bunch of guys from Oakland. Please, vote against Prop. 209 on November 5th and write your elected officials to discourage them from putting such a bill on the ballot in the future
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(19) Independence Day
8-14-93
Fazeel Chauhan
What does independence mean to me?
It is many things: Freedom, autonomy, maturity, connectedness and open mindedness.
Our goal should be to be the best that we can be - intellectually, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Trouble is, we as human beings are very tempted by our comfort zones. We arrive at a comfortable point in life and then stop to enjoy it. This resting point represents a stagnation in our growth process. The giant sequoias, evolve from a small seedling. Their growth doesn't stop and because of their adaptability, they are able to flourish for thousands of years. Those of us who do not continue to grow, change adapt, stop evolving and perish. the chains that bind us are all the things, beliefs and excuses that stop our growth. Our goal should be to break these chains and strive to be free in the truest sense.
One essential value is open-mindedness. We need to be accepting of other people's views and feelings. Why is it that I don't see any signs on the buses here, that forbid political arguments? People don't have violent fights over politics, honor and religion here, because they are somewhat open-minded. Egocentrism, tunnel vision and narrow mindedness are signs of ignorance and fear. When children start growind, they ask why about everything. Questioning should be allowed so that people can form their own opinions. "Other" opinions that "they" have should be tolerated by "us". As immigrants, we may be viewed as different and separate. But the fact is that we are all connected. We are the same- all "one".
Discrimination is a blindfold and it is psychological genocide. There is no doubt that it exists in the world, but as individuals, we should avoid it. Somebody's last name, economical status or social status, their gender or religion should not be viewed as inferior to our own. At CSULA, on the statue of Confucious it states: "Among truly educated people, there is no discrimination". We should educate ourselves in and out of school. But there are those who are educated but still ignorant. We should allow the education and learning experiences to change us and expand our views.
This is what independence means to me. One day soon, enough of us will join hands and embrace each other, to celebrate the independence of our souls
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(20) Lata Shines at the Shrine
10-10-95
by Fazeel Aziz Chauhan
Last Saturday, the Legendary Lata Mangeshkar performed at the beautiful Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Lata embarked on a U.S. tour after an absence of over a decade. The anxiously awaiting fans bought out all the tickets a month before the show. The performers included a variety of musicians and singers and the audience sat back and relaxed in their seats to enjoy the show.
Being a Desi event, it was a pleasant surprise that the show began on time. Mr. S.P. Balasubrahmanyam began the show with a few popular songs from Hindi films including "Yeh Bandhan Anjana". During his introduction of Lata, he asked the audience not to whistle and to give her the respect of a mother. This set the tone for a very quiet and mellow audience.
As Lata walked onto the stage barefoot, the crowd gave her a warm welcome with their applause. Balasubrahmanyam and Lata sang a few duets, beginning with "Sundariya". The next song was very upbeat and three background female singers came on stage to join the duet "Dulhay Kee Saliyo". These vocalists came on stage for various other songs throughout the show, to add more depth and color to the orchestral sound. Jyotsna Hardikar, Sumati Antrolekar and Kirti Pai were dressed in ornate orange sarees, and sang enticing harmonies to the chorus lines.
Lata took a break and Adinath Mangeshkar sang a few popular tunes. He humbly introduced himself as a young performer. The crowd gave him a lot of encouragement and respect as Lata is his aunt. He sang the hit "Ik Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga" from the movie "1942". It is a simple yet beautiful and catchy tune. Jyotna joined Adinath for a duet "Tumhi Main" from the movie "Criminal". The song was partly copied from a hit by the band "Enigma". But Jyotna sang the haunting melody which sweetly melted in the listeners' ears.
Many of the performers were closely related to Lata and I was surprised at the incredible artistic talent that exists in this family. Usha Mangeshkar who is Lata's sister sang a couple of oldies from the movies "420" and "Nikah", including "Aichak Dana". She is also a painter and award winning movie producer.
The most vibrant performer of the night was Sudhesh Bhosle. He joked with the audience and captured their attention by talking about the "Upar Walay" - the people sitting in the dark, at the very top. His success began with the song "Jumma Chumma" from the film "Hum". He has the ability to accurately copy great singers like Kishore Kumar, Rafi and S.D. Burman. Sudhesh began with Kishore's hit "Hum Na Karain Gay Pyar" and it felt like Kishore himself was in the room. He also sang one of my favorite tunes "Chaand Mayra Dil". The guitarist who was sitting during the whole show, stood up to play this hip song. Sudhesh got the audience involved and asked for their participation. They got energized and responded with their applause to "Tum Kya Jano Muhabbat Kya Hay", "Amma Dekh Munda Bigra Jaye" and "Gata Rahay Mera Dil".
Lata came back on stage and talked about the great composer S.D. Burman. The first song he composed was for Lata. Her last song with R.D. Burman was the hit "Kuch Na Kaho". When she sang this song, an older couple in love got up and started dancing with a strong embrace. Security was called to have them sit down again. In this set Lata sang a few historical songs like "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya", "Aa Janay Jaan" and a 50 year old song "Lara Lappa".
After the intermission, Lata sang a beautiful classical duet with her brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar. It started with only the tabla and drone and later the whole orchestra joined in. It was a 13 member orchestra with all the men dressed in the same white shirts and embroidered black vests. These were the unsung heroes who provided the vocalists with the necessary rhythm, strings and melodies. They were lead by the musical arranger and conductor Anil Mohile. There were six musicians on percussion including Raphael Satamkar on and electronic drumset called Octopad, Narayan Naidu on Dholak, Maqbool Khan on Bongos, Kishore Bham on Mallets, Vishal Mhatre on Congos and Ramakant Mhapsekar on Tabla. Amar Mohile played synthesizers and Ajay Madan played Guitar. Kishore Desai was on Mandolin, Prakash Patel on Violin and Vivek Paranjpe on Keyboards. An important part of the sound mix was Suraj Sathe who played Accordian. This variety of instruments gave the orchestra a very broad and rich sound.
Lata ended the program by singing about 20 one-liners from her hits. These included "Aye Ga Aanay Wala", "Raja Key Aye Gee Baraat" and "Aap Key Nazron Nay Samjha Pyar Kay Qabil Mujhay". Some people responded with applause and praise for their favorite songs. Lata asked them to "Remain peaceful and not to create too much comotion". The last song was "Yeh Zindagi Usee Key Hay Jo Kisi Ka Ho Gaya" which creschendos on a high note "Alvida". Lata apologized for her sore throat and thanked all of the musicians and promotors. It was indeed a very professional, rich and memorable show.
Pakistanis love great Indian singers like Lata. Such musicians and artists can bridge the gap between "us" and "them" and help create peace. Good artists are not confined by territorial or political boundary lines. It is unfortunate that there is division among the people who lived together and got along for hundreds of years. Our differences are few and our similarities are numerous. We have a common legacy and ancestry. Let's focus on the things we have in common and create peace with our neighbors
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(21) Letter to TV Department
5-29-97
Dear Department Chair for TV Students,
I am greatly concerned that in the TV classes, the instructors hardly ever talk about Ethics or responsibility. Media in general, and TV in particular are extremely powerful tools. Any powerful tool can be misused. Students need to be made aware of the propaganda, consumerism, "double-speak" and withholding of information, which we see on TV. We should be given an opportunity to discuss such issues in class and possibly come up with some ideas and solutions. This will create a much richer educational experience. Here, I am not referring to the moral issues of what my kid should watch on TV, nor about requiring rating systems and computer chips to block out certain shows.
Since TV has a powerful impact on its viewer, it has been misused throughout its history. In class, we don't discuss the fact that people believe that what they see on TV is the truth. Often people running for government offices make promises on TV. Later, they do not keep these promises. Corporations spend millions of dollars to promote a fantasy image about themselves through their commercials. Taking it a level further, how about all the commercials which are trying to sell us the latest cars, or the latest luxury items? From a psychological perspective, how does this promotion of consumerism effect an ordinary person? Do these commercials make people in Los Angeles, for example, feel like they are superior human beings if they drive the newest car? Do these ads promote classism?
How about, when some story involving violence is shown on the news. If it's a bomb, it must be those Arab.. terrorists? This is what they initially said about the Oklahoma Federal building bombing. It is what they guessed about the bombing during the Olympics in Georgia, and about the plane crash in New York. What about telling the students how certain groups of people are subtly demonized, misrepresented and stereotyped? Often we are not even aware of the hidden messages. The policemen who brutally beat Rodney King, as seen on TV, were found not guilty, which sparked "Riots" in "South Central" L.A. The students need to be informed that the African American community and well informed people refer to these incidents as "civil unrest". The news does not attempt to educate people about the sociological aspects of violence. They are in the business of sensationalizing an issue, which will attract attention, which will sell more commercials, which will make more money for someone.
I mean, forget about us as ordinary viewers....How about us as TV students, Are we supposed to just ignore these issues and just roll the camera? Is it true that if a company has enough money, they can say whatever they want to on TV? The Nazis used films to promote their propaganda, and the viewers simply conformed. Is that what is expected of us, the students, to not discuss in class, these important issues that effect millions of people every day? Should we not be taught the truth about the power and effects of TV? Should we not be taught to question what we see on TV?
The ordinary person gets his news and information through TV. It often does not portray minorities and people of other cultures, in a positive light. How often are the villains shown as some dark skinned, cynical, violent and crazy individuals. Sure, everyone is supposed to have freedom of speech. But what about the freedom of information? Shouldn't people (or students) be informed of the whole truth about TV? What can we as viewers do to hold someone accountable for putting something on the air? What can we as students, and future employees of this industry, do, to act in a responsible and ethical manner? There is too much truth which is eliminated or not mentioned. Should we as students take some kind of oath of responsibility like doctors or court witnesses do? Or should we care about nothing?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(22) Are You A South Asian Hero?
by Fazeel Aziz Chauhan
5-9-97
There is a famous African proverb "Until the lions have their historians, tales of hunting will always glorify the hunter". Being minorities in America, we owe a lot of gratitude to African Americans. We enjoy a lot of freedoms and Civil Rights, because of their hard work. About seven years ago, three or four friends of Indian/Pakistani origin decided to start a community service organization called South Asian Network. This non-profit organization's mission is "People Helping People". The goal is to unite South Asians and network with other communities and organizations to empower people.
SAN is a non-religious organization which strives to overcome barriers of culture, race, country, gender and political orientation. SAN operates in a way which is respectful toward all human beings. They work for social justice and human rights but their main thrust is community outreach. Over the years, hundreds of people have participated and benefited from their programs. Monthly discussion meetings are held to address real issues faced by the common South Asian, such as cultural adjustment, solitude, relationships, conflicts of values and belongingness.
Since about a year ago, SAN's community center has been located right in the heart of the South Asian community in the Cerritos / Artesia area. Hamid Khan is one of the pioneers of SAN. Together with Pam Grewal, Assad Zaidi and other members, they have been doing the courageous and heroic work of reaching out and helping people. They serve as excellent examples of what one or two people can do to make a big difference in someone else's life.
A few days ago, a Free Heath Clinic was organized at SAN's office. The need for this service was realized because of the recent government cutbacks in health care. That eliminated the safety net for a number of people who ended up with no health insurance. Many can't afford to pay the high cost of common medical services. SAN's results were very successful, specially since 90% of the people were in genuine need of health care, because they didn't have it available. A bunch of volunteers showed up to help with various medical tests, as well as with general administration. Some even brought snacks and sweets to serve with the traditional free flowing hot tea.
A few doctors and a nurse volunteered their services to provide physical exams and counseling to the 64 people served. A pediatrician, two general practitioners, a dentist and a psychiatrist examined each person's case thoroughly. Various tests were performed on site and the results were given back right away. People were tested for Blood Cholesterol, Urinalysis, T.B., Blood Glucose, Hepatitis, HIV and Blood Pressure. After each case was evaluated, referrals were provided to the people for no-cost or low-cost health care which is available from various sources in southern California.
Look for the next Free Health Clinic at SAN, in June. Also coming up on May 18, there's a Free Legal Clinic, to help you with such issues as immigration. In the past, SAN has provided free mammograms for women over 40. SAN's ongoing programs also include English classes for senior citizens, Urdu and Yoga Classes, Job Search Workshops, Cultural awareness and much more. Since SAN is a non-profit agency, your Tax-Deductible Donations would be extremely helpful. Volunteers are always encouraged to get involved in "People Helping People".
Often, a person who wants to give back to his community finds that very few open channels exist. Frequently, leadership at our organizations actually discourages people from volunteering. Their scope can also be very limited and disappointing. Our organizations are usually politically oriented or are geared to serve only a subset of the South Asian community. In such an environment, SAN's example of community outreach is a great one.
As South Asians, we need to unite together, especially because of the recent backlash against immigrants in this country. Unfortunately, we often get caught up and focus on our differences. Taking a closer look, we realize that the differences are very little compared to the vast amount of commonalities. I for one, really wish that we could give the benefit of the doubt to the next person, and just draw on the richness of what we can offer to each other. The Jews are an excellent example of a group of people uniting and taking care of the real needs their people. Like Jews, South Asians are settled in all corners of the world. It's a fact that we are extremely spiritual people. Imagine, if we unite that spiritual power, we can truly change the world.
Maybe YOU are the Hero who will get a program started in your local community, to help somebody. Are you going to pass the buck, like the next person? As the Bolivian activist Che Guevarra put it "To be powerful, we have to work together, because by ourselves, we are nothing"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(23) Time Out
1-3-93
Time is very limited for me, especially because I go to school and work full-time also. Being late for classes and meetings as well as forgetting to do things was common for me. If you are in a similar pridicament, try a time management system to organize yourself. For a moment, consider trying to define time. We understand what time means, but explaining the concept to someone is difficult. Here's one definition: Time is a continuum in which events succeed one another from past through present to future.
The basic element of time is an event. The key to managing time is to control these events. If you fail to control the events in your life, then the events in your life control you. If you want to succeed in life, knowing how to manage your time well is extremely important. We can take a passive role about life and wait for "fate" to deal us a hand. In that case, we are at the mercy of the people and the circumstances of our external environment. That puts us in a situation that makes us feel powerless and weak.
On the other hand, we can take the active role in life and make things happen instead of allowing things to happen to us. In the United States, the focus is on the individual. In Pakistan, however, the society is considered more important than the individual. Both views have benefits and drawbacks. In the U. S. I like the individual freedom and the power of personal choice.
There are certain events over which we have no control. For example, other people's behavior, traffic and acts of God.
Nobody teaches us time management. To love life is to love time. Real success comes as we get control of our life and do the things that matter the most. We can become more organized, productive and successful. Time is nothing more than a continuum of events. Time management means to get control of the events in our lives.
One of the major sources of stress is that we are making or accepting commitments all day. To remember these commitments, we have to write them down, but we should write them down in the same diary. Assign an estimated time for completion to each task. Each task should also be prioritized. Do the urgent tasks first, which cannot wait until tomorrow. The act of just writing down your daily schedule can bring a lot of clarity and give you a better sense of what you can manage on that day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(24) A Public Service Announcement Video:
Muslims and Islam
Background Music:
Mix of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Muslims are fun loving and good people. There are One billion Muslim men, women and children all around the world, who believe in the religion of Islam.
Muslims are often stereotyped as terrorists and portrayed as villains in the media. Just like other ethnic groups have been wrongfully stereotyped in the past, such as Native Americans, Jews and African Americans. There is too much misinformation about Muslims and Islam. But the truth is that Muslims are very peaceful and loving human beings who, like many Americans, believe in Jesus, Moses and Abraham as prophets of God.
Approximately one American in a million commits a murder. But that doesn't mean that all Americans are murderers. Similarly, about one in a million Muslims commits a violent act on TV. But that does not mean that all Muslims are violent.
Ask yourself, could a terrorist make something as romantic and as beautiful as the Taj Mahal? No way! The truth is that the Muslim Emperor Shah Jahan made the Taj Mahal as a token of his incredible love for his wife. And there are thousands of other magnificent examples of Muslim architecture and art, all over the world.
Ask yourself, is Aladdin a terrorist? His story is hundreds of years old and is taken from the Arabian book called A Thousand And One Nights. It is the story of Allah-Deen and his magic lamp.
Women are highly respected in Muslim societies. Women have been elected as Prime Ministers in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey.
From the gas in your car to the Arabic Numbers in Mathematics, Muslims continue to provide important contributions to the Global community. Important sports figures like Mohammed Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Hakeem Alajuan represent good role models of Muslims.
We invite you to find out the truth about Muslim people. The Quran and other books on Islam are available at your local library or bookstore. For further information, you can also contact the Islamic Society of Orange County by calling (714)531-1722
Let's cooperate and create a truly Global Community. We can achieve that if we treat all human beings with respect, no matter what color, gender or religion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(25) Intellectual Dr. Eqbal Ahmed on:
Crisis of Society and State in Pakistan
12-2-98
by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan
The Council On Pakistan American Affairs (COPAA) has been holding gatherings to address important issues of our community. A few days ago, they illuminated Southern California with the presence of a great intellectual of our time, Professor Eqbal Ahmed, PhD. The event was hosted by COPAA president Masrour Khan and Dr. Nazir Khwaja. As evident in the pictures, several notable community activists were present with their support, including Safi Qureshi, Siraj Bukhari, Counsel General Tariq Khan, Ahmad and Parveen Ali, Rizwan-, Hamid- and Javida Malik, Hinna Rizwi, Hussain Rokerya, Amir and Nuzi Sadiq, Arif Shah and Zakaria Sattar. Also, to help the flood victims, Dr. Masrour Khan generously presented a check of $5,000 to the Consulate of Bangladesh on behalf of COPAA.
Professor Eqbal Ahmed currently resides in Pakistan and teaches in England. Palestinian scholar Edward W. Said describes fascinating leaders in his book "Representations of the Intellectual". An important trait of an intellectual is to Speak The Truth To Power. Such people who don't sell out are very rare today. They spend their lives struggling for the progress of humanity. Dr. Eqbal Ahmed is such a recognized intellectual with a truly impressive record:
Mahatma Gandhi mentored two Hindu and two Muslim children just before the time of partition. Gandhi would give people the example of these four children and say "If these children can manage to become friends and play together, then so can the adults". One of these children was no other than Dr. Eqbal Ahmed. He came to the U.S. at and early age and lived here for 37 years. He was a distinguished teacher of History and Political Science at prestigious universities like Princeton, for many years,. He was also: A revolutionary of the Civil Rights Movement, An anti-Vietnam war activist, Editor of "Race and Class" magazine and a Columnist for New York Times.
During Nixon's presidency, Professor Eqbal Ahmed was charged with kidnapping of Henry Kissinger and was defended by (former U.S. Attorney General and activist) Ramsey Clark. Of course the charges were proven false. From 1959-1964, the Professor was a part of the armed struggle for independence in Algeria. Two documentaries have been made about his adventurous life. United Nations Secretary General Cofy Annan said last week that "Dr. Eqbal Ahmed is a public intellectual and a famous thinker whom we need to listen to and learn from". He's trying to establish a quality university in Pakistan to be the training ground for future leaders.
The following are excerpts from Dr. Eqbal Ahmed's words which easily and clearly help us to understand the situation: Since its inception, Pakistan has had a 9 part crisis. These are not to be viewed separately and their solution is also interlinked:
(1) Legitimacy: Meaning title to authority or "Mulukiat". The public should feel that the state of affairs are what they ought to be. The Chinese call it "The mandate of Heaven". It should be a good state with not just power but also authority. Legitimacy of a state comes from the subjects feeling that (a) It's a JUST state (b) Equality is being observed including equality of opportunity, behavior and rights (c) There is participation of the people (d) Ideology.
Quaid-e-Azam said "You must now build a State in which a Muslim is not a Muslim and a Hindu is not a Hindu". Meaning we need to work together to build the country and get to a higher level. But a few years later, the 1956 Constitution made it the "Islamic Republic" of Pakistan, stating that no laws shall be passed which are (a) Repugnant to the Quran and Sunnah (b) The head of State shall be a Muslim. Two years later, General Ayub Khan had a military coup de ta. One of the greatest scholars of our time Maulana Fazlur Rahman was jailed. The country's downfall escalated with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who shouted slogans which were: Anti-American, anti-Indian, anti-Capitalism, anti-landlord and "Roti, Kaprra aur Makaan". Then we lost East Pakistan by our own mistakes.
Zia-ul-Haq's coup de ta was next and he called himself "Islam ka sipahi". Over a period of 11 years, he promised 17 times that elections will be held in the next 90 days. Our political jokes are second best in the world, after the Egyptians. The Quaid said the base of a State is Justice and Democracy. But in the last 9 years, we've had a mish mash of systems. The 15th Amendment is one more brick taken off the legitimacy of the State
(2) Democracy: 23 of the last 50 years have been military and dictatorships. In the last 7 years, we've had four governments which are unstable, squabbling and quite corrupt. There's a total absence of local democracy. 90% of the time there is no Mayor. When there is a Mayor, he can't do anything
(3) Development: The 5% rate is too high and there is a labor intensive rate of growth. The country gets blood injections from the outside like expatriates' money, borrowing and financial aid. Two times more is spent on debt payment, than on defense. Rich classes, for example the landlords have never taxed themselves. The working class is denied the fruits of their labor
(4) Distribution: There is improper distribution of wealth because 5% of people own 75% of the country's wealth. The other 95% of the people have to live on the remaining 25%. Education is unequally distributed with 15,000 kids studying abroad. Health is also unequal and not accessible to working class people. There is inequality on Provincial lines with Punjab being the richest and Balochistan being very poor
(5) Integration: We've had consistent bad planning and bad mistakes. People don't feel united as if it's their own country. The skewed development and distribution which caused the breakup of Bangladesh still continues. Kala Bagh Dam has aroused emotions needlessly. The anti-Shia Taliban are a blight in the name of Islam and contribute to dividing Pakistan. Shias are 20% of Pakistan and a majority in Iran
(6) State: The State is (a) Fat: and can't walk or carry its own weight. It's obese beyond the capacity to operate optimally (b) Over Centralized: For example the Prime Minister has to get involved in some small tasks which subordinates should handle (c) Unresponsible: to the needs of the people. Why should I pay taxes when the State is not serving its citizens
(7) Culture: There is no national culture. The country is divided between people who speak English and those who don't, e.g. those who go to Urdu-Medium schools. For example in Lahore, Mall Road is the dividing line which separates posh areas like Gulberg and Model Town from the rest of the people. The education system is helping to divide the country rather than to integrate various classes
(8) Leadership: There's a consistent and permanent crisis in leadership. There has been a growing failure of leadership since Jinnah and Liaqat Ali Khan. More so since Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
(9) Education: There's nearly a total destruction of higher level educational institutions. There is no industry of Liberal Studies which is supposed to build leaders in law, teaching, and the army, etc. Thus there is no training ground for leaders. The top six colleges don't meet the standards of even the worst community colleges of the U.S. Those who do get educated are "freaks"
During the Question / Answer session, Professor Eqbal Ahmed made many important points: It will take a massive effort to turn the tide. India does not want to take over Pakistan. We started and lost the war of 1965. India did not break up Pakistan from Bangladesh, WE did it. Civil society must act as watch dog to give the lead to the government. Public should be tough and give a hard time to the leaders. Connect yourself to civil society and to people who are doing things. We shouldn't pay taxes because the government can't even collect trash except in Islamabad which is a wonderful place because it's only 10 minutes away from Pakistan. It's an American suburb.
Human rights organizations have discovered 22 private jails in Pakistan. Such tasks are the responsibility of the government, which is not doing its job. Akhtar Hameed Khan has one million people with him in Orangi. They have 85% literacy rate and 10% unemployment rate. Yet he was jailed, and mistreated, which caused him to have a heart attack. About the nuclear explosions: There is no linkage between testing and capability. Pakistan should not have done the nuclear testing. The weak [Pakistan] doesn't show its weapons. It keeps its powder dry to keep the other side guessing. We shouldn't try to match India's advances. Otherwise, like Russia trying to keep up with America, we will implode and destroy ourselves.
There is a shortage of leaders in the world but Nelson Mandela is a good example of statesman-like leadership. The Chinese are competent and effective. Clinton wasn't bad until he unzipped his trousers. Fidel Castro is remarkable even as a survivor. Miss Bhutto was a Kleptomaniac. Nawaz Sharif did some good work like keeping the traffic moving and ending the overspending on weddings. A Prime Minister of Pakistan has more power than a dictator. But Nawaz Sharif hungers for even more power. This is his downfall and destroys his sense of purpose.
With the loss of East Pakistan, the idea of Pakistan did not die. Ideas don't die, they change. The loss should have taught us something. States or countries break down by anarchy, revolution or defeat in war. Pakistan has the lowest literacy rate in South Asia. The administration has to be cleaned up. People have to be empowered by holding elections at the City level. There must be be a good program of land reform. We must take risks and make sacrifices. Fear is always the first obstacle. Achieving liberation is hard. it is like breaking rocks with eggs. You need patience and intelligence. And don't feel defeated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(26) Rattle Snake
4-2-93
When I was in Abbottabad, I was about 15 years old. Still a young boy. One day, my best friend Javed and I were walking to the Cafeteria to get some food. On the side of the road is a "V" shaped water drainage area. It's made of concrete and is like an open pipe, that runs along the road to move the rain water so the area doesn't get flooded.
I heard the movement of some dry leaves. This sound was coming from the drain. I kind of ignored it. But the rattling of the leaves also caught Javed's attention. So we casually walked toward the edge of the road and looked down at the two feet deep drain. In the backs of our minds, we were expecting something "harmless" like a frog or something. But we were shocked and scared to see a big snake there, moving ahead, inside this drain. At this unexpected sight, we panicked. Javed got a rock and tried to hit it with the intention of killing the snake. He was brownish, with some black marks. He was kind of fat and around six or seven feet long. Poor guy, it was not his day. Both Javed and I were scared on one hand, that the snake may bite us. On the other hand, at some level we thought we had to get rid of this pest so that it won't kill anyone else. We threw several rocks at it. Even though we were above it and very close to it, we could not hit him and kept missing. Poor soul, he probably was harmless and just wanted to be left alone.
By now, a few other kids stopped as they were passing by, to see what the excitement was all about. One of them also searched around and found some rocks, which he threw at the snake. Eventually, the snake was hit a couple of times but was not killed. One of the workers showed up and we left the matter to him. I hope the snake was killed and not left injured and in pain like that.
In those days, I thought of all snakes as dangerous and poisonous. In fact I remember a book I had read which talked about famous people who had been killed by different kinds of snakes. But the picture that had been drawn in my mind was not a valid one. Now I've learned that the snake, as all the other animals, has its own beauty and its own purpose. There are many kinds of snakes and most of them are non-poisonous. I have seen serpents which are non-poisonous and are not harmful to humans. In general, the idea about snakes is that they will not bother human beings, unless the human beings bother them first. For example, if a person goes into a cave, which may be a snake's home, he is likely to get bitten if the man happens to stumble on the snake.
Man is the most dangerous animal, a much worse killer than a snake. Don't you agree? We are the ones who kill our own kind, which very few animals do. We are the ones destroying the forests, the oceans, and all the animals and plant life in them. We are the ones polluting the oceans and the land, and even outer space. But... that's a long story in itself....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(27) Get Up, Stand Up, For Your Rights
by Fazeel Chauhan
10-25-96
In an effort to "adapt" in America, we may change our name, language, clothes and beliefs. As hard as we may try, we do not fit in as "Americans." Our basic identity seems alien to a typical American. Our name, religion, culture and heritage are non-European. Because of these differences, we as a group have the most difficulty in the process of "assimilation" and may become easy targets of racism. Thus the title, which is one of the many suggestions given by reggae singer Bob Marley.
When I came to America, as a teenager, I wanted to fit into the new society. I tried hard to get rid of my accent, facial hair and native clothes. I opened myself up to learn about the new cultures, religions and social behaviors. I wanted to understand Americans and to discover common things based on which I could befriend them. I was an excellent Cricket and Hockey player. That did not help me here so I started playing football and baseball. In college and elsewhere, I was told that in order to survive, we must adapt. And I tried to adapt as much as I could. I even had to adapt my sense of humor because I could not make American people laugh with Pakistani type jokes.
I learned that American people in general have many great qualities. Americans are generally honest, law-abiding, well organized and punctual. In college people did not cheat like they did in Pakistan. In everyday life, I didn't have to deal with corruption. Sadly and unwillingly, however, I became aware of racism in America. It was of a different brand than the kind I experienced in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Somehow, we are not prepared to deal with it.
Most of us don't come here with American citizenships in hand. Many come here on student visas, which do not give us the confidence to walk on this ground as if it belongs to our fathers. We live in fear, without "making waves," til we acquire our Nationality. To our dismay, it doesn't make us an "American" in the eyes of the American majority. We continue to operate from a place of fear and put Caucasians on a pedestal.
In the initial contact with Americans, the first question asked is "Hey, what's your name?" If it's a common Muslim name like Hamid, Ali or Fareed it generates a wall of separation. If you're "lucky" enough to have fair skin and/or "European" features, you may get a foot in the door. But if you have the usual brown features, a wall rises against you, even before your name is asked. In conversations with Americans, we're asked about our religion or country of origin and some barbed wire gets added to the walls. These questions may be prompted to us because of our "accents." Some of us may discover that becoming a part of the American social circles is extremely difficult. We know them, but they are not interested in finding out who we are. In trying to "adapt," we gain little and lose our identity. We also turn to fellow Pakistanis and realize that they too have imported certain prejudices. We notice that frequently Pakistanis don't acknowledge each other on the street. The idea gets or grows in our heads that we are no good. The media does its share of promoting White American values, which may make us feel minor.
Muslims around the world and in America don't seem to have the spiritual fire and power like we did in the old days. When we instinctively stood up for our dignity, faith, and name. There is a general feeling of sadness and powerlessness among Muslims. A weakening of the spirit was caused by outside forces and helped by inner corruption.
Speculation about the state of the collective Muslim mind can be very subjective. The point is, at least in America, we operate from a place of fear and don't stand up to defend our basic human rights. We sometimes get stuck at "What can I as one person do." Or we become so disappointed that we pretend not to care. Some people stop me from talking and expressing my feelings about racism. I tell them that I am a Pakistani Muslim and my name is not "John" any more. I insist to them that I am the victim, not the racist and we shouldn't blame the victim. It is a big problem and the only way to get to the solution is to first talk about it.
Evil and good are part of everyday life. The evil things may seem scary, but if we have the solid strength in our spiritual being, we can say Takbeer or Na-ra-ay Haidery and face up to whatever evil is in front of us. Last week, my buddy Noman and I stood up to six racists in Chico State University, near Sacramento, CA. When we stood up for what was right, to our surprise, they turned out to be cowards and ran away. Muslims, Pakistanis and Indians are new immigrants and thus the easy pickings. A racist person looks for the easy target. Even gay people have more "power" than us, such that it is considered politically incorrect to say anything against them. But it's considered acceptable to slander Muslims. From your heart, do something to end racism, and help empower your people
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(28) Success of a Society
5-19-97
You need three things for the Success of a society:
1. Higher goal (purpose)
2. Self-sacrifice {don't feel alone, feel like we're together everywhere}
3. Visionary and inspirational Leaders
What's important is to have patience and persistence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(29) Imran Khan's Cancer Fund-Raiser
12-2-98
by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan
Some of Pakistan's best artists gathered last Saturday, to raise money for a worthy cause. These celebrities included an acclaimed rock band named Junoon, the most innovative comedian Moin Akhtar and famous Cricketer-turned-politician, Imran Khan. The event was a great success because in a matter of a few hours, around $130,000 was raised for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital.
The hospital is located in Lahore and is named after Mr. Khan's mother. He talked about the poor conditions of health care in Pakistan. "My mother had colon cancer which is usually one of the easiest type of cancers to detect. But when her simple tests were conducted at three different labs, none of them provided the same results". Only fifty years ago, the country was founded on the basis of Islamic values. But now some people are promoting a new god: money. They illegally produce counterfeit items. From the packaging, it is impossible to tell which box of Gold Leaf cigarettes is fake. In the case of cigarettes, both the real and the fake ones can cause cancer. But what happens when the person with lung cancer requires medical care and can't tell if the medicine he's taking is fake also?
According to Bashir Ahmad the miniature painter, a person with a minor ailment, who walks into a clinic can easily end up being brought out dead. He may receive an injection through a contaminated needle and become infected with the AIDS virus. Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan got infected with Hepatitis in a hospital while going through a kidney dialysis procedure. Hepatitis can usually be contracted in dirty places. According to Islam, cleanliness is half the religion. From Shamans to Hakeems to Doctors, the profession of healing is meant to be sacred. This is a field in which sanitary conditions and purity of medicine is essential. But what can people do when they can't find unadulterated medicines? Patients who would quickly recover if treated with the real medicine, often end up getting sicker because they received impure medicine. Many people suffer from dangerous side effects because medicines have been turned to poison. There are victims in my own family. To get rich quick, the hell bound manufacturers are killing people. They have Muslim names but have forgotten an inevitable meeting with their maker.
Thus the general situation of medical care is hopeless. So Imran Khan's mission is to create a model institution which would raise the standards of medicine in the whole country. SKMC hospital is the only one dedicated solely to cancer treatment in Pakistan. The country's population is over 130 million. Due to widespread uncleanliness, cigarette smoking, poor nutrition and pollution, there are probably a million people suffering from cancer. SKMC hospital is a ray of hope in such a bleak environment.
Imran Khan assured the supporters that "To avoid what happened with his mother for example, lab tests are now being conducted at the hospital which are accurate and reliable. Over the last three years, more than 200,000 patient visits have occurred. The total cost incurred in this process has been $15,000,000. We are so overwhelmed with the quantity of patients that many simply have to be turned away. The hospital was built and is maintained without any help from the government. We are only able to accept patients whose chance of survival is over 50 percent. The treatment is free for 95% of the patients and people come from as far away as Afghanistan. Our purpose is to treat a poor person as a human being. All our patients are treated with equality. Thirty percent of our budget is for purchasing medicines and equipment from outside the country. We have difficulties now because of the Rupee's devaluation".
An introductory video about the hospital, titled "Vision of Hope" was shown. The non-Pakistani director talked about plans to create mobile cancer units. Beloved comedian Mr. Moin Akhtar was said to have played an important role in pioneering the hospital. He is also a big supporter of the Insaaf party to get Mr. Khan elected into government. Most expatriates sadly watch the deterioration of Pakistan and pray that an honest leader would come and put the country back on track. Many would support the elimination of corruption "by any means necessary". Hopefully, Imran Khan will get elected as Prime Minister soon and solve the problems utilizing an honorable and well educated team of assistants. People's skepticism, hopelessness and a sense of failure will be overcome.
Unfortunately, the audience didn't get a chance to enjoy Moin Akhtar's hilarious comedy. He only told a couple of jokes because it was a serious event. Though he was ill, he still hosted the show and said "At one point I did so many shows that I thought I might end up in the Cancer hospital myself. I truly respect Captaan Saheb and will follow his leadership anywhere. Life is a reel which doesn't have a "Rewind" button. Quran stresses that a person should attempt to think about and understand his life. Please help the cancer patients who don't have any place else to go for treatment. Even a one cent donation will help someone in the hospital. I was moved when a little child donated two dollars".
Recitation of the holy Quran was by Mohammad Khan. Opening remarks were by Dr. Mohammad Razaq. The speakers included Dr. Khalid Sheikh, Abubakar Vakil, Dr. Nafees Nagy and Safi Qureshi. Many people crowded around Mr. and Mrs. Imran Khan to chat and take pictures with them. The night was closed by the energizing music of "Junoon". The rock band opened with "Laal Mayree Pat" and their number one hit "Sayyonee". They played all their popular songs for over an hour. The young crowd thoroughly enjoyed their powerful music though the older people started moving further and further away from the ceiling-high speakers. Junoon is probably the best South Asian band in the world. They have been able to cross the political and religious boundaries to become widely accepted even in India. The multi-cultural union of these musicians is highly commendable.
An important lesson learned was that celebrities have a much easier time raising money. A week earlier, the Council on American-Islamic Affairs was pulling teeth to raise $88,000. But Imran Khan, Moin Akhtar and Junoon did not have to say much to get people to empty their pockets. One person even gave a blank check. One volunteer was privately preaching Pakistani patriotism against Indians. The ten years of university education in America was unable to eliminate prejudice. Truth is, no matter which group or sub-group you don't like, human beings have most things in common with each other. We should learn from Cancer which is better than racists, because it has no prejudice. That is why people who are richer and luckier put in a lot of effort to make this humanitarian event a success. We salute all the unsung heroes who put so much time, energy and money to organize the fund raiser to help a group of people who may be less fortunate than us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(30) An Accident in the Desert
4-12-99
Fazeel Azeez Chauhan
It was a hot summer day in the Arabian desert in 1974. In the 120 degree heat, the wind was beating the sand against the car, on the deserted highway. Up ahead, mirages appeared constantly. Mom, Dad and six of their youngest kids were in a brand new, chocolate colored Toyota Corolla station wagon. We were on our way to Mecca, for a pilgrimage.
The distance to the destination was still 600 miles when a swerving pickup truck forced my dad to take the car on the shoulder. He avoided the collision, but the front tire hit a strange hole on the soft shoulder and the car turned over.
Dad was driving at about 80 miles per hour. The over-turned car skidded down the road at a very fast speed and it didn't seem like it would ever stop. The roof scratching against the asphalt mad a loud scary noise. I saw blood spraying out of my father's arm. The car echoed with screams of shock and horror.
Eventually the care slid off the road onto the sand and stopped. The kids were crying because they couldn't get out. One of my brothers kicked out the rear glass window and the six kids crawled out. With horror, we looked at our parents, who were almost passed out, and traped in the front seats.
The highway was littered with things that had been tied to the roof of the car. The strong wind was scattering the things, including money, further and further away from the road, into the endless desert. Some people pulled over and helped open the driver door to get my father out. His left arm was broken and drenched in blood. He was moaning with severe pain and disbelief. A man attached some pieces of wood to his arm to keep it from moving.
My mother's right arm forearm was still trapped under the car. Ten people lifted the car slightly to free her arm. The bones were all crushed and the flesh was split open. Veins were dangling from her arm. She was in shock and crying with excruciating pain. My parents almost died but they made it to the hospital on time and each had several operations. Each suffered infections and incredible amounts of pain. A doctor was about to amputate my mom's arm, but she held her ground and did not let them do it. In the hospital for 6 months, and later at home, she looked at her arm and cried for months.
She finally got some peace of mind when she met her spiritual guru. Though my father had read lots of books about Sufi Saints, it was my mother who persuaded me to also become her guru's disciple. I waited twenty years before I began to find out what Sufism really was
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(31) What Can I Do?
By Fazeel Azeez Chauhan
5-3-97
Practitioners of prejudice commit psychological genocide against other human beings. Frequently, the individuals who are targets of discrimination belong to a poorer and "weaker" group. Over a period of time, the oppressed group of people can become very discouraged if the odds against them are too big. Muslims in America are very aware of the injustices committed against them. Sometimes we may become disappointed, but taking action to solve the problems our community faces is extremely important. We should never say "there is nothing I can do," because that's accepting defeat. Therefore, a list at the end provides a few suggestions as to What we CAN do.
Many Muslims are aware of how misrepresented and oppressed they are in the world. Individuals often talk about how Muslims are slaughtered in Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq and Palestine. We wait in vain for our local and world leaders to provide proper guidance or to save the day. But no one seems to care. Muslims are shown in an evil manner in the media as violent terrorists. The same movies and tv programs we see in America are exported all over the world. Through these, our "native" people's minds are confused and conquered by creating a schizophrenia of contradictory materialistic values. People in Pakistan know that a Prime Minister can't get elected without American support. Yet, they romanticize American movies, women and way of life. We line up by the thousands at the U.S. embassy. Pakistanis are proud of their relatives living in America. At times, the situation seems very confusing, overwhelming and discouraging. But we must not let our spirits be conquered.
In America, Pakistan and in the world, the one with the biggest gun wins. President Reagan branded Libya as a "terrorist" state, and killed as many Muslims as he pleased. When the hostage crisis occurred in Iran, "Americans" blamed everyone who looked like the Persian "enemy". Yet, the U.S. illegally sold weapons to both sides in the Iraq Iran war. Saddam Hussain was armed and built up as the hero against the "enemy" Iran. Then in the Gulf War, the "enemy" label switched to Iraq. How was it possible that the American government could gather so many "Muslim" countries to join them? Who made Pakistanis and other Muslims kill their Iraqi brothers and sisters? How could Saudi Arabia allow the U.S. to establish one of the largest military bases in the world? A large foreign military presence in the country of Makkah and Madina signifies a degree of conquest. Similarly, the Israelis feel that they can get away with digging a "tunnel" under Masjid Aqsa. So what can we do to make the situation better for Muslims in the world? We must unite and begin with small groups, working at the grassroots.
At the Mosques and Islamic conventions, these same issues are discussed every week. Talking about the problem is very important. But that is only the first step toward the solution. The second step is a debate of alternative solutions. The third step is taking action to solve the problems. Generally, Muslims in America are at step one, just talking about the problem. One of the most common traits of Pakistanis is criticizing each other. We are too busy attacking each other, rather than addressing the solutions. If we sit down together as a support group to sincerely and objectively discuss our personal and global problems, we can help each other to come up with good solutions. Otherwise, we'll continue to fight and lose our individual battles, on our individual islands. And Muslims will continue to be marketed as the "enemy" which was the former label for the Soviet Union. Here are a few things Muslims CAN do:
1) Never believe that there is nothing you can do
2) Create and strengthen support groups, which can also meet and organize at Mosques
3) Don't lose your hope, spirit and pride. Remember what the truth is.
4) Support each other with an open heart, rather than trying to be right through criticizing others
5) Teach the children to be leaders in government, media & community. Don't only become rich doctors.
6) Take responsibility and be a leader who is not selfish
7) To fight against the misinformation, make copies of the Introduction to Islam flyer and distribute it to educate people. It's available at the Islamic Center of Southern California.
8) Resistance is the secret of joy. Holding on to your values and identity is a source of power.
9) Express your feelings to people in a practical manner. Unexpressed feelings turn into physical, mental and social illnesses.
10) Demand from the media that Muslims should be presented in a positive light.
11) Don't allow us to be divided and conquered by external forces or by internal back biting
12) Demand a change from your Congressman, Senator, President, Governor, state &local reps.
13) Don't believe the lies
14) Drink deep from your religion, language, culture and literature
15) Organize FREE events to inspire Pride and Unity in Muslims
16) Join forces with other minorities
17) Listen to KPFK radio, 90.7 FM
18) Subscribe to "Nation" magazine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(32) How to stay in your power
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(33) Pakistani Railway Mafia
by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan
In order to help facilitate the looting of Indian treasures, the British decided to build decent railways. Of course, it was the Indians who spilled their sweat and blood to do the actual construction. Last month, during a visit to the Pak (sacred) land, I experienced the unholiness of today's Pakistan Railways. My friend Shehky and I had decided to take the round-trip from Lahore to Karachi by train.
We went to Lahore Railway station, on the day of our trip. At the ticket counter, the clerk who probably makes less than 2,000 Rupees ($40) a month, gave us a very bad attitude. He was so rude that I couldn't even get a straight answer from him about the train schedule. It was his negative way of exerting power to get a sense of superiority over the customers. We finally discovered that there were no tickets available. So Shehky took me to a restaurant across the street from the station. There, in black market, we got two tickets for 1300 Rupees each. Of course, the face value of each ticket was only 780 Rupees. Who made the 520 Rupees of profit on each ticket? The Railway Mafia.
This is nothing new, everyone knows about the tickets being sold in black. Usually, a traveler only has to ask a Kulee to purchase a ticket. It seems that railway workers on many levels are part of this mafia ring. From the Kulees on up to the executive management, everyone gets their share of the 520 Rupees profit from each ticket. The biggest proof that they're all in it together, is that you will never be able to buy a counterfeit ticket. That's because the Pakistan Railway Mafia is so powerful, that they've destroyed the competition from any other mafia. The tickets themselves are so simple that anyone could easily print fake ones. But nobody has dared to do so to challenge the Pakistan Railway mafia.
At the Karachi station, the Railway had displayed large banners announcing that they would not tolerate the black marketing of tickets. "Violators will be jailed and fined" was the main line of the drama. In Karachi, for the trip back to Lahore, the Kulees were asking for 1500 Rupees per ticket. The Railway mafia falsely claimed that it was now too risky to sell tickets in black. They used this trick to hike up the prices even more. We got two tickets which ended up being in a women's compartment. There are six bunk beds for the people in each compartment. The other four people in our compartment happened to included two young women and two young girls. The oldest was about 21 and did not like us being in her vicinity, possibly because of my long hair and Shehky's earrings. Maybe we don't look like two ideal "mama's boys". She contacted the Railway authorities to have us moved, but they were of no help. Later she became a bit friendly and gave a blanket and pillow to my friend who was feeling cold.
In the adjacent compartment was a woman with her two daughters who were visiting from England. Her sister was also there and she was obviously a sincere old timer from a small town in Pakistan. She offered us a large plate of homemade Biryani. On her genuine insistence we accepted and enjoyed the delicious meal. Their younger daughter was about five years old and was playing house on the very top bunk bed, which is about 5 feet above the ground. The poor girl rolled over and had a terrible fall to the ground. But luckily, she was spinning during her fall and thus miraculously didn't have any significant injuries. God does protect his good people.
Guess what happened when we arrived in Lahore from Karachi? My friend Shehky is an artist and has been gradually moving his belongings to his new home in Lahore. He had a suitcase full of metal tools and instruments for wood carving. As soon as we stepped off the train, an officer of the mafia pulled us aside. He told us that each passenger is allowed only 20 Kilograms of baggage. Anything heavier should have been checked in and stored in the baggage compartment. This was a new rule, which very few people knew about. In fact it's another trick for the mafia to make money.
Here's how the Railway mafia rips off people: The officer took us to a weighing machine. The machine indicated that our suitcase weighed 65 Kg. At the top of the machine was a sign that said "Warning - This machine can show inaccurate measurements at any time". But nobody was paying any attention to this sign. We were asked to pay 22 Rupees per Kg, totaling 1430 Rupees. We objected with agony. At that time, a man wearing very nice white clothes appeared on the scene. At first he seemed to be an employee of the railroad, but later turned out to be a taxi driver, who was part of the Railway mafia. Bargaining, diplomacy and arguing back and forth resulted in a bribe of 400 Rupees. This included the taxi fare to our home. The kind gentlemen of the mafia assured us that we would get home safe and sound.
When we arrived home, we had to pay 400 Rupees to the taxi driver. He probably got 100 Rupees as his cut. The other 300 Rupees went to his mafia friends at the Railway station. Though the amount is only $8 for me, but for a person struggling in Pakistan, 400 Rupees is a lot of money. On a daily basis, the Railway mafia is thus robbing hundreds of people. It's just another example of an elaborate "number two" or fraud system created to make money for the authorities. These people have the audacity to call themselves Pak- and Muslims. It's estimated that 90% of Pakistanis don't even pay their electric bills and pay bribes instead. Show a non-Muslim a few common things in Pakistan and he will be convinced to never become a Muslim because we are such bad examples of the faith. If "Cleanliness is Half the Faith" then Americans practice half the teachings of Islam, but Pakistanis don't. Enough Pakistanis are corrupt and not on the straight path of Islam. That's the cause of our suffering and downfall
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(34) Thank You SAN
12-19-96
To Mr. Hamid Khan, South Asian Network
I would like to thank you for all the help you've provided me through SAN over the past four years. For me, South Asian Network has been a place where I can come to and get the precious feeling of belongingness. There are many South Asian people, specially the youth, who are in the same predicament as me. You have been educating and teaching them about Career Development, English, Yoga, Laws, Health issues and Immigration. The greatest benefit I personally gain is through the group discussions on Immigration and Family issues.
South Asians are an extremely new group of people to immigrate to America. Here, we lack the roots or background of a historical presence. Since our numbers are very small and we arrived here very recently, we don't have proper political representation. There is also a lot of misinformation about our people in the media. Those of us who are Muslims are falsely and frequently misrepresented as terrorists who are violent and oppressive toward women. These major issues, combined with the stress of adjusting to the new country and culture can really isolate a person. The fast paced and unfriendly culture of Los Angeles also adds to the difficulties that our people encounter. Often we feel misunderstood, isolated, out of place and longing for a feeling of home.
Really, the only option available to us when we want to be with our community is through religious affiliation. I can go to the Mosque and pray with other Muslims. But there aren't any social activities that take place there. For example, no classes about American culture, English or Career Development are offered. There also aren't any programs like mentoring, personal counseling or group discussions. South Asian Network fills the void for these needs. Most people in our community have not heard of the important services that SAN is providing. It is a fairly new organization, but its vision is very critical for the progress of our community. As more people find out about what SAN is offering, the available funds will increase and so will the services to the community.
Many people like me also lack a family because we immigrated here alone. The sincere people at SAN have given me tremendous support. You have provided me with a lot of understanding through personal attention because of which I don't feel so lost and alone anymore. The volunteers at SAN, like you, give me the greatest respect as a human being. And this makes me feel like I have some worth and that I have something of value to give back to my community. In southern California, it is nearly impossible to find people who genuinely care about other human beings. Everyone is just too busy. But SAN has a different vision, and you embrace me for who I am, rather than judging me. This makes me feel like I belong here. Otherwise, I frequently feel like I am slipping through the cracks of society.
I commend you for having the courage and for taking the time to help our community. I also thank you for teaching me, for educating me and for genuinely caring about me. I am always grateful to you. You can call me to help you with any volunteer work for SAN.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(35) Muslims Under "Siege"
12-2-98
by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan
Driving around town, billboards of the new movie "Siege" are very disturbing. Specially the line "After November 6, Freedom is history"......(For Muslims??). On November 4, the well publicized movie "Siege" had an opening premiere in Los Angeles. Ironically, the showing was at GCC's Avco Cinema which is right next door to the Pakistani Consulate's office. Lucky for the Muslims that we have an organization such as CAIR to combat the racism propagated against Islam by such movies. It was really wonderful to witness over 200 college students, enthusiastically taking part in the peaceful demonstration.
Mr. Hossam and others from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) coordinated with Southern California Muslims to hold an educational campaign. Every year, Hollywood produces at least one film or TV movie which addresses the Jewish holocaust. Millions of other people have also been killed in this decade in Africa. For example in Rwanda by warfare or the rest of Africa due to famine. But the powerhouses of Warner Brothers or Fox can't find any creative or caring people to make a single movie about those victims. And as usual, producers keep churning out anti-Muslim movies. For at least two hundred years, European Colonists have proclaimed that the colonized people are dirty, evil and in need of saving. Movies which promote stereotypes and misinformation against Muslims are just a continuation of that philosophy. Is it insecurity that makes a person develop a superiority complex? People who feel good at the expense of hurting others experience only temporary happiness.
The Muslim community responded to stereotypes promoted by the 20th Century Fox movie "The Siege". CAIR and local Muslim Student Associations organized Muslims at the first world-wide public screening of the film. Over 200 people participated in the demonstration, about 90% of whom were college students. Even high school students were holding signs and passing out leaflets about Islam for the viewers. Several news media were present to cover the event, including Channel 5 and 9. The Muslims did not engage aggressively with the viewers. Leaflets were offered and if someone didn't want one, then Muslims did not pressure the person. The idea was to show people the calm side of Muslims. Demonstrators also organized a plan for additional leafleting at other theaters for Friday, at the public release of the movie.
The flyers addressed three common stereotypes about Muslims being terrorists. It invited people to visit a Mosque to learn the truth about Islam. Also explained were topics such as 5 pillars of the straight path of Islam, the sacred Quran, peaceful Muslims in America, the honorable role of women, misconceptions about Jihad and effects of the stereotypes against Muslims and Arabs. One viewer said "You guys don't look like terrorists, I'm not going to watch this movie" and went back home.
Any Muslim over the age of 25 has a lot to learn from the younger Muslims, as well as from African American Muslims. These are the people who have a lot of passion about their beliefs. Many are like born-again Muslims who follow the teachings by choice, not simply because they were privileged to be born into a Muslim family. There were less than 20 people at the event who were over 25 years old. The older people were mostly African Americans. The passionate response of the young Muslims and specially the equal participation by women was incredibly empowering. People in cars driving down Wilshire Blvd. in Westwood, during the 6pm rush hour traffic, definitely noticed the signs that read "Freedom of Speech = Yes, Stereotyping = No" and "Fox Puts Muslims Under Siege".
A confident and mature sixteen year old high school student had come from San Fernando Valley with a friend and said "We are tired of being portrayed as evil people and terrorists". People had also come all the way from Riverside. A group of African American Muslims had lovingly caravanned down from the Riverside Mosque. A very well informed brother, Amir stated "We need to show up in such numbers also in front of liquor stores owned by Muslims. If African Americans and the rest of us unite, we can be extremely powerful. In our community, there is no assistance for young people to get married. Inter-racial marriage is a good coalition which would benefit the whole Muslim community". One person said "I'll check out the movie but won't pay for it directly. Buy the ticket for another movie which is playing at the same time, and then go inside to see Siege".
Another veteran activist reported "I'm thrilled and inspired to see such a great turn out. I got tired of carrying the weight for other Muslims. In 1991, I used to demonstrate against the Gulf War, a block from here, at the Federal building. There were only a handful of Muslim who showed up then. Facing the onslaught of racism alone, had burned me out". We need to applaud the work of CAIR and the young people in the Muslim Student Associations. They coordinated the community who showed up in significant numbers. The result was that Muslims felt empowered and not as helpless victims. Such community efforts are vital and require participation by ALL Muslims. Are you taking a free ride? If you call yourself Muslim, give something back to your community
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(36) Legacy of Urdu Poetry
12-2-98
by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan
Language is an important asset of a community. Language connects people to their culture, religion, history, ancestors and expression of feelings. Urdu is very beautiful and by definition is a multi-cultural language. When Urdu is your mom's first language you can study English for 20 years and still be unable to reach the depth of certain feelings. Poetry is the language of feelings and can be a good test of a person's identity. If you find that English poetry sufficiently expresses the range of your feelings, then you lean toward that language. If you find that conveying a wide spectrum of feelings in English can be cumbersome at times, then you may savor Urdu poetry. Does that mean that Urdu speakers feel more than English speakers?
Urdu also connects us to our ancestors. Authentic Urdu poetry is a good means for connecting to our roots. Sometimes, a person doesn't realize the value of roots, until he's in his 30's or when she becomes a mother. If you want to destroy a people, cut them off from their roots. Without sustenance, even the most beautiful plant will wither away and die. So the work that Nayyar Apa and Urdu Markaz have been doing for a decade is extremely crucial for our survival, specially in America. People might be staring at you with judgemental glances, but you can shrug them off your shoulder by humming some Urdu poetry which transports you to another place.
If you are a person who gets confused about his identity, three easy things can help clarify feelings. One, go to Pakistan and absorb the authentic things of the mother land. Two, intake the positive things of the culture by making friends with wise Pakistani elders. Three, submerge yourself in the works of bona fide artists like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Khusro, Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz. Some poets specialize in writing love songs about women. But self-realization is even higher, as emphasized by the awesome inspirational poetry of Allama Iqbal. What's important about Sha-ir-e-Mashriq (the Poet of the East) is his U-Turn. He got a PhD of Philosophy in Germany and was well versed in Western thought. Yet he didn't sell out and promoted Islamic and Eastern values.
The authenticity of the arts of non-western people is endangered by TV and other forms of invasion. Authentic Urdu poetry quickly connects us to our ancestors, and to the truth. Urdu Markaz attempts to promote poets who are carrying on the bona fide traditions of a long line of great poets. They organize wonderful poetry readings at least once a year. The audience has been increasing greatly, as hundreds of people attend and partake in the flavorful verses. Writing poetry is very hard work. Good poets also have a deep understanding of philosophical, social, political and psychological influences.
Talking about Urdu poetry in English is a peculiar idea. The best thing is to read the poetry yourself and attend Urdu poetry readings. You may learn many lessons through the experiences of poets and don't have to re-invent solutions from scratch. Like tribal music or ancient rituals, at a Mushaira, you get the sense that your ancestors have practiced the same traditions, hundreds of years before you. It is an un-adulterated experience of our culture.
On November 6, Urdu Markaz held the Mushaira in Buena Park, near Disneyland. But niether Disneyland, nor Magic Mountain can offer the rides that the Urdu poets piloted. Plus, the Mushaira was much cheaper, and the experience meant something beyond pure entertainment. Peerzada Qasim did an excellent job of hosting the event. Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi was the honored president. Jameel Badlavi and Gain Chand were the honored guests in the audience. Some of the poets were from U.S. including: Farooq Taraz and wife Noshi Geelani, Zarreen Yaseen, Zafar Rizwi, Iqbal Mian Zaidi and Iftikhar Naseem. Abdul-Rehman Siddiqui was given the 1997 Poet Of The Year Award for his book "Naghma-e-Zanjeer". Amjad Adaya also presented him with a $5,000 check. A pleasant surprise was the Community Service Award given to Abu-Bakr Vakil for his consistant assistance.
Mansoora Ahmed had won the Academy Of Letters Award in Pakistan. She brought tears to our eyes with her verses about the political and social unrest. Nawaz Dayo-Bandi, Mansoor Usmani and Irfan Siddiqui had come from India. Waseem Baraylvi, Peerzada Qasim and Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi arrived from Pakistan. It would be unfair to acknowledge one poet and not another. You had to be there. If you weren't, you missed an thoroughly fulfilling experience. The program journal handed out was the best ever. It was generously sponsored by community businesses. Printed on glossy paper with colorful roses on the covers, it had poetry of all the greats. At the end, it included works of the evening's featured poets. Many thanks, wah wah and muqarrar irshaad to Urdu Markaz International!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(37) Yosemite National Park
5-29-97
One of the best examples of formations caused by glaciers is the world famous Yosemite National Park. It is located about three hundred miles North of Los Angeles, and about one hundred and fifty miles East of Sacramento. Geologists believe that the "U" shaped valley was created by the movement of a glacier, hundreds of thousands of years ago. The more common, "V" shaped valleys, on the other hand, are created by flowing streams.
Along with snow and ice, glaciers contain debris and rocks, some of which are very large. As the glacier moves through the valley, it scrapes against the walls. For this reason, the walls of Yosemite valley are very smooth. The steep vertical sides of Yosemite Valley create very beautiful waterfalls, some of which are the highest in the world
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(38) Wah Wah Ustad Jee
August '97
by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan
The great master's soul became free from his body a few days ago. We mourn this great loss to humanity. And we send Khan, all our love for giving us so much wealth in the forty nine years he was around us.
I sit and ponder.....listening to one of my favorite Qawalis:
Iss Karam Ka Karun Shukar Kaisay Ada
Jo Karam Mujh Pay Mayray Nabi Kar Diya
I can't help but cry for him, as if he was a dear friend. Because he did give us a lot. He was a guide, a teacher and a light. He lives in a special place in our hearts because he was also a member of our Muslim family. Our brother brought immense honor to our family.
How can I measure and state all the Faiz (benefits) that we received from Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Do you remember where you were when you heard the news? I didn't believe that he had passed when I saw it on tv last Saturday. I was in shock and denial. Even though I had known for about a year that he was very sick, I didn't want him to go behind the veil so soon. Is that selfish and greedy on my part? No, I think I just love him a lot and wanted him to stick around for a long time.
Since last August, he spent several months here in the Los Angeles area. He used to come to UCLA for treatment and was said to be residing in Santa Monica. And during the last year, I saw him at a few shows. Sometimes I saw him performing and at other times, he was an honorable guest at other artists' shows. I always wanted to meet him but didn't get the opportunity until two months ago.
I was visiting Pakistan and staying in "Data Ki Nagri" Lahore. It was a great honor to visit the shrine of the great saint Data Ali Hajweri:
Na-kasaan Da Peer Kamil
Kamilaan Ra Rahnuma
On the occasion of Data Sahab's Urs, dozens of Qawals paid homage to the great sufi master. As they say, when Aulia-Allah (Enlightened people) become free of their bodies, we should not say that they are dead. Once free from the constraints of a body, the holy souls become even more powerful:
Jin Ki Mehfil Saji Ho
Woh Zaroor Aatay hain
When Khan Sahab concluded the Mehfil-e-Sama at this occasion, I didn't know that two months later, he'd be hanging out with Data Sahab even more. I invited him back to Los Angeles and requested him to sing for a much longer time than his previous show. He just nodded his head saying okay. Okay Khan Sahab, I'm just honored that I got a chance to see you and finally speak to you. You have been speaking to me for so many years through your music. I am truly grateful for what you have given to humanity. We who discovered your music are very lucky. We who speak your language are even more thankful.
You speak of love, passion and humanity. With your message, you were able to change the negative stereotypes that some people have about Islam. At your concerts, you graced us with your mere presence. You made all the people dance with joy, stirring them up with those powerful taals of the tabla . You awakened our souls with the deep vibrations of your melodies. You brought honor, respect and courage to the Muslim people of the world. You reached the top of the world with the Pakistani passport in your pocket and Allah-Hu in your breath and Islam synchronized within your heartbeat. You were truly a Nusrat and Fateh (Victory). And there is no doubt about that.
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, through your words and music, you teach us to feel alive. You teach us to look, to hear, to discover, to learn, to love, to wonder, to be thankful, to love our pain, to get in touch with the Creator, to enjoy life, to have fun, to honor the thousands of Prophets and Aulia-Allah, to keep Islam in our hearts, to act, to treat other people with love and kindness, and to live as good human beings. Thankyou Ustad Jee for giving us all of this and lots more. We are very grateful to you. We will strive to live up to your example. You are always alive in our hearts. And we promise to keep hearing what you have to say to us so that we can reach higher. I will always love you Ustad Jee!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(39) Writer's Bio
8-16-99
Fazeel Azeez Chauhan of Los Angeles was born in 1963 in Pakistan. He lived there off and on for ten years. As a teenager, he lived for five years in Saudi Arabia. He's been living in the U.S. since 1980
He attended California State University and has a bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems. He also majored in Psychology in graduate school. At Los Angeles City College, he completed a two year training program for Television Production. He also studied Creative Writing. Since 1990, his articles on social issues are often published in Pakistan-American weekly newspapers.
In 1991 he started working for a large organization as a Computer Network Engineer. He continues working in that profession full-time. His interests are hiking, traveling, reading and writing poetry, music and community service
A collection of his poems will be published in the coming months
Contact Information:
laylamajnu@hotmail.com
