Train Wreck

Well fortunately this title is not related to some train accident rather what goes on in my mind after a certain incident. This time it involved a train being stuck on railway crossing and hundreds of cars being jammed as a result of it.

Its Karachi. The busiest of areas - I.I. Chundrigar Road and Jinnah Bridge. I.I. Chundrigar is closed because of maintenance. That leaves a road parallel and to the back of Chundrigar Road to commute and it also crosses a railway track. The Train got stuck and that ruined everything.

When I reached my office (after an hour stuck at bridge), I got to hear all the stories of what happened to different people, how awful it was, how people went 'under' the stuck train to the other side etc etc. I also got to hear a 'foreigner' complaining "Look at me, my shoes are dirty and I am sweating"... meaning that he had to 'go through' all this which he should not have in the first place had he not visited this place. Well excuse me...

'We' (the locals) too had to face this problem, we too were stuck in traffic jam, we too had to walk to our offices, our boots became dirty and we sweat as well.. just who the hell you think you are telling us that you had to go through all of this just because you were here?

Yes the train should not have stuck there but it did. Yes it should have been removed earlier but it was not. Yes people had to face problems but everyone managed it. Yes it should not have happened but it did.

Just do not come here if you can't handle situations. Moron.

And my thoughts are a train wreck because instead of complaining about the situation - I am focusing on that foreigner moron who is telling me he had to face problems! Whoa!

I Killed a Pigeon

Weird right? well not exactly. I was parking my car in a parking lot. As I drove, a couple of pigeons came moving in front of my car. I drove with the usual 'they'll fly by' attitude... and one of the pigeons did not. I drove over that pigeon.

I cant explain how awful I felt. To make it doubly awaful was the fact that the partner pigeon was standing right beside that dead pigeon while crows were trying to their job. Man I felt sick.

In this world of mayhem, people are killing other people and I am talking of killing of a pigeon. Sissy?

Rape and Adultery Differentiated

Strange as the title may sound, this is actually true. In Pakistan, there was no distinction between rape and adultery (or so the Islamic experts would have us believe) because in Quran there is no distinction! (Read my post Quran & Laws Related to Rape in Pakistan)

Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), a constitutional body, which deals with legal Islamic issues has ruled that both these situations are different and so the requirement imposed upon Pakistani women by the military dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq that they should bring four witnesses in case they get raped! and if if they do not bring forth witnesses then charges of adultery will filed against them! is not valid.

Read my previous posts Womens Protection Bill and Islam and Womens Protection Bill on these issues.

Sanity has prevailed and now Rape and Adultery will be treated differently. A woman will not be required to bring in four witnesses in case she files a case for rape and she can not be prosecuted for charges of adultery if she cannot manage 4 witnesses as the previous clause required.

Thank God for that!