Doraha-- Pakistani TV Play

The 14 episode drama Doraha is currently airing over the weekends on GEO in the U.S. Doraha means two roads/decisions leading in different directions. The next episode will be its 9th. I happened to catch episode 3 by chance and was mesmerized. The story by Umera Ahmed is excellent. Mehreen Jabbar's direction is editing is stellar-- no long boring merely time filler flashbacks with songs playing and cameras fixating on morose faces. Wonderful acting by the whole cast!! Doraha aired a couple of months back in Pakistan and Mehreen Jabbar's blog has viewers comments on the play. The last time a Pakistani TV drama, in fact anything on TV, had me smitten was...well...a very very very long time ago.
update:
Here's a site which makes the episodes available, so I took the liberty to watch them all. Overall Doraha remains an interesting drama, however the last few episodes lag the momentum that the first many excelled at. and therefore negates my no flaskbacks comment above. Furthermore there were many loose ends left untied: who does Omar's sister get married to? Why don't we see much of Omar's mother regretting the role she's played in the whole mess? We want to see her eat some major crow, we need to see her eat some major crow and, in ommitting this catharsis, Doraha makes a major blunder. Next, considering how headstrong and likeable Omar is at the beginning, his about-turn in the latter episodes is perpelxing as well as cringe worthy, especially the callous way he's ready to leave behind (spoiler alert) his wife and daughter. And that brings me to the biggest conundrum of all: what exactly is it about Omar that makes two women so madly in love with him. In Shehla's case perhaps obsession is a more apt adjective, and all too likely given that she comes from a culture where one's first love is supposed to be one's one and only till they day they die. In Sara's case, even though she's ovbiously from the same culture one expects her own background and innate intelligence to reign supreme but, eventually, this character falls flat on her face too. Doraha is definetely worth watching and, despite the glitches in the last few episodes, is still heads and shoulders above most other dramas on TV.

The Age of Obama

let the healing begin.

risks of an early -c-section

I'm not fan of c-sections, and having my second C on the fifth of Dec for my third kid (2,5,3 are the magic numbers) has left me even less so. My baby was breech, and I started contractions in the 38th week, but here's some latest info on why even supposedly 'full term' c-sections are not a good idea.

The earlier deliveries had a higher rate of complications. Among babies
born at 39 weeks, 3.4% had certain breathing problems, including one called
respiratory distress syndrome. The frequency of such problems rose to 5.5% for
babies delivered at 38 weeks, and to 8.2% at 37 weeks. An infant's breathing
problems don't usually cause lasting effects, but such babies are more likely to
have to be admitted for intensive care.

read rest here

Gaza and Israel-- home, clothes, name...

The situation is crippling to watch. And the cable news (CNN, MSNBC, FOX,) coverage in the U.S. is abominable. No doubt the Israelis fear of Hamas and thier rocket fire is mentally debilitating but, based on the U.S. news coverage (though some would call it propoganda), one would assume that the civilians in Isreal are suffering the same number of casualties as are those in Gaza. 760 deaths to 4 Israelis. Not that any are acceptable be it Palestinians or Israelies.
But the Isrealis are playing unfair: for all thier dropping of leaflets to warn Gazans to get out before the bombs come, where are the Gaza civilians supposed to go for cover? One one side is the deep sea, on others the borders are closed, and there is no 'country house' to flee to from the cities. So basically, leaflet or no leaflet, they're stuck. Damn Hamas for putting its people in this situation to begin with. And yet...even this uneven 'war' will come to an end, though too late for those dead or maimed, physically and emotionally. Days of constant bombing, of constantly being reminded of the precariousness of life. Imagine the nightmares those kids, adults, will have...

Americans are still subjected to Fox “News” and CNN propaganda piped into
airport waiting rooms, doctors’ offices, and exercise centers. People ask me
where they can get reliable information. I tell them that their goal cannot be
reached without their commitment of time. People who have access to
television services that provide English language foreign broadcasts, such as
Iran’s Press TV, Russia Today, or Al Jazeera, can get get news and insights from
those parts of the world demonized by the US media. The BBC World Service still
reports facts while covering itself by providing the views of the US, UK, and
Israeli governments.
read rest here

and

from The Christian Science Monitor
"I was forced to leave the house that I worked 30 years for," Abu Khaled
told me. "I took my clothes and underwear and ID cards so I could be identified
if killed in one of the explosions."
read rest here

Day One of the New Year

400 dead in Gaza, Palestine
4 dead in Israel

and cholera, amongst other killers, kills in Zimbabwe

I'd like all sickness and disease and war to end... but that's not happening any time soon...so this year's resolution is how to learn to live with it.

But then that's every year's resolution.

Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009

last night was new year's in Pakistan.
Tonight is new year's in the U.S.
Every day is a New Year some where.
So hello somewhere new year, and somewhere good bye.

Face This Face-- a poem

I was invited to contribute to 'The Green Kaleidescope'. an always interesting Pakistani e-zine. I sent the poem I'd written for and read at the AWP conference in Atlanta, GA 2007.

Face This Face

The other day in Atlanta the waitress talks to me in Spanish.
I don’t speak your language, I say. The same happens with Mexicans.
I’ve been confused for Italian once. Also Greek.
In Baltimore a Native American woman
asks; “Are you Cherokee?” “No.”She’s supposed to read my palm; instead she
touches my face.
I touch this face at home, this face that seems to belong
to others too: Native-America, Spain, Mexico, Italy, Greece; my face in these
places, in these races, surprises me. It’s India I’m used to.
Year one: Are you from India? I smile. From the country next to it, Pakistan.
Year two: You Indian?I shake my head. Pakistan.
Year three: Indian? Delhi, right? No. Pakistan. Lahore.
Year after year after year until I’m at home with being mistaken for
India.
Finally, after fourteen years of living in the States, one Iranian
gentleman gets it right (or wrong?) You are Pakistani? he asks. How did you
guess? It’s in your face, he says adding, As salaam a laikum. I reply: wa lai kum as salaam

Naam-us-tay. The middle age baba behind the counter at Starbucks
says every time I get my tall coffee in a grande cup because my milk needs the
extra space. Naam-us-tay, he says bringing his palms together. Uhhh…I’m from
Pakistan. Well, sul-laam then, young lady, he says. Just once. Then he forgets
or does not remember. I’ve given up. Namaste to you too,
Uncle Starbucks.

Chances are it’s not important to Starbucks Uncle to remember there is a
difference. Chances are he forgets that these two countries are not one and the
same.
pakistan-naam-us-taay-india-sul-laam

I long to ask Starbucks Uncle: ‘You
from Canada?’Just to hear him say ‘Nope, America.’(he won’t need to specify
North or South—he won’t need to because he’s white and because he’s got an
American accent.)
So do I: sometimes. That’s what the Pakistanis say

read rest here