Non-Flapdoodle-ental Scientist

I will be here

... maybe for a while

:-)

Because frankly, it's holy shit.

So the citizens of Lahore were extremely happy and excited yesterday, that is, 26th February 2011. Not just because Pakistan won the cricket match against Sri Lanka, but because of all this as well:

NO. These have not been stolen from Dawn or whatever. These are very much personal. Although, dawn has got some really awesome ones too in their Media Gallery.

So, the folks got really excited. I'm guilty of sharing the excitement too. It was absolutely amazing.

Generally known as the 'Heart of Pakistan', as it's situated in the middle of the country, and 'Green city' because of its lush greenery, the city of Lahore can, indeed, be full of surprises. Last I remember, it was listed amongst the 'most polluted cities' in the world, basically in terms of air pollution. It is situated very close to Kasur, which again is actually 'The Most Polluted City in the Whole World' since it's an industrial city.

Lahorites went all crazy during and after this hailstorm. I am sure (infact, I know) that many people partied much and as it was Saturday night, the hype was doubled. I had fun too, yes. But this episode, was not exactly a good sign. It's a sign of Climate Change. And Climate Change is not good, people. It means disaster. Major disaster. The world might just end. Like in a couple years. (Worry lines, anyone?) Call me a cynic but don't. If the world really ends, well then, good. It has to end SOME day, anyway. 

'We will never be silenced'

As an environmentalist, I'd usually be seen or heard debating and relating things like ‘Public Transport’ and ‘Clean Air’ to ‘Equality and Human Rights’ in our country. Yes, there is a strong relation over there which could be discussed sometime later. I dream about an 'Environmental Revolution' that could ever take place. That's rather a funny dream but hey, it could happen. We all have our perspectives to the way of life we'd like to live. They say extreme environmentalists tend to overlook the bigger picture while hissing away and sometimes shouting out to their respective government's lack of attention on earthly matters. I do not agree with this as 'WE' are actually the ones, most of the times, pointing at the bigger picture along with solid evidence in hands. We're pretty great in outlining a matter of life and death like that. And here I would say that we are only shushed under a scenario such as presented in the video above. (Got more important things to deal with than your happy-green-solar-powered-nerdy grimaces)

This is extremely inspirational: ‎"We will not be silenced. Whether you're a Christian, whether you're a Muslim, whether you're an atheist, you will demand your goddamn rights. And we will have our rights, one way or the other! We will never be silenced!"

As citizens of Pakistan, do we have a lesson to learn from this? Or do we have an advice to give somewhat like ‘maybe you should try blowing yourself up one by one?’ If that doesn't help, ‘dudes, let it go’? Maybe we’ve got comments like ‘we’re an impotent society, it’s cool to see you guys are potent enough to indicate a revolution, because fighting for rights is pretty awesome in itself. Our governors get shot if they talk about rights or try to use any of them. We’re kinda creepy like that.’ On the other hand, I asked a friend if she thinks any lessons wait to be derived from such an incident. She had a good point. If our government is toppled right now, the ‘Mullahs’ would get voted in by our population!

I read an interesting question from an individual the other day that was asked one of my favorite writers. We don't have choices in the circumstances that we are born under. True, but if in case, all of us are born under 'equal' circumstances, then would that account for the best system to live in? As far as the person questioning could think, along with his set of arguments, he would not be so happy to be ‘like’ everyone else, and to be on the same level as everyone else. He would like to be better off. Now, that is pretty ‘human’ of him to think in such a way. It’s true, we could be born under the best of circumstances, without having to choose, but when the time comes when we have to choose, we may still like to be better off than the rest. At the same time, equality is important and has its due weight in the system. The missing link is that not everyone decides to or gets to ace. Not everyone decides to strive for something better. And not everyone succeeds either in achieving something better. The point is was he given the opportunity? The ‘right’? Levels are automatically sorted out and defined. But the opportunity of an equal right is to be provided ‘in the system’ to avail. The rest is on the people. Fail or succeed. It all then depends upon who is trying and who isn’t.