... for without victory, there is no survival!

It’s not just cricket anymore. It has gone much beyond the contest between bat and ball. This T20 victory is a kind of a vindication of a resolve, not just for Pakistan’s cricket team, but the whole nation at large. The nation that was hurt, hurt bad and bleeding, a nation that was longing for any news that didn’t involve death and blood, a nation that was mourning one death after another for past few years, a nation which had lost hope.

Finally the news came, a ‘good’ news. We were victorious, even if in a cricket game, and the victory was sweet, least expected, but a victory nonetheless. As Winston Churchill once said, “Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.” And who would understand these words better than us? This is a victory which has rejuvenated a nation that was down and out. A victory that gave 160 million people a reason to smile in the darkest of the days. A victory celebrated by and one, and a victory celebrated by all. A victory, that brought tears to my eyes.

A hope has finally emerged out of despair.

This T20 win has got much more symbolic value for Pakistan and Pakistanis than anybody could imagine. For others this may be a just another competition win, but for us this is much bigger, for it has given us a reason to re-imagine our future. A future that can be built on the principles of unity, faith and discipline, principles that helped Younus Khan and his men to lift the cup that nobody thought was their. May this nation witness plenty more victories and may the people of Pakistan be always as happy as they are today.

Pakistan Zindabad.

• • • Attitude Polarization and the future of our race !

Attitude polarization, also known as belief polarization, occurs when people who have a belief or attitude interpret evidence for or against that belief/attitude selectively, in a way that shows a bias in favor of their current view. If they are given evidence that agrees with their belief, they accept that it supports their position. If they are given evidence that contradicts their belief, they either ignore the evidence, criticize it, or reinterpret it so that it also supports their original view. According to Cordelia Fine, a Research Associate, at the Center for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, belief polarization can explain why we don't seek out views that challenge us. -- Wikipedia


It means that learning behavior is likely to be influenced by 'myside bias 'or irrational belief persistence' as opposed to learning behavior based on objective data, according to Ludwing's and Zampler's research on the subject. In even simpler words, you are most likely going to stick to your point of view or belief even if you receive evidence contradicting your views. You would either out rightly rejected the evidence or would reinterpret it in a way that it would support your views as well. And if you would receive an evidence supporting your views, you'd accept it without further inquiry, and as a result your point of view would become even more intense.

Another example of this phenomenon that I read at another blog suggested that people would become even more steadfast on their views if provided with either contradicting or supporting research. So in any case views are likely to get extreme.

This makes me wonder that what is the future of human race going to be? Will we be able to get out of the conflicts that we are in, and not just the physical one but the intellectual conflicts as well? Will we be able to, ever, bridge the differences between two extremes? Will we be able to bring two opposite views on table and form a third, more amicable, view? In Pakistan's and Muslims' context, will we be able to convince the ultra extremists and ultra liberals that there's a balanced, central path as well? Will we be able to ultra nationalist Indians and Pakistanis that India and Pakistan can have friendly relations too?

If this phenomenon of 'Attitude Polarization' is actually as influential as the research says it is, I really wonder what would the world be like a few decades down the lane.

• • • Koi Ummeed Bar Nahi Aati, Koi Surat Nazar Nahi Aati!

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(Originally posted at Blurred Boundaries on Wednesday, April 1, 2009)


With every passing day I'm loosing hope, hope of a secure, peaceful and bright future, if I'll have one at all, in my beloved country - Pakistan.

Every incident (like the one of lashing a 17 year old girl publicly in Swat for going out with her father in law) instills fear in me. I think of the days, months and years to come.. I think of my own daughter and it gives me shivers, just the thought that what the future might hold for her.

Every news item makes me feel that things have gotten out of hands, that there is just no hope, only fear. And when I see my fellow Pakistanis not realizing this almost certain threat, it saddens me even more.

So I ask myself once again.... Hope - All's lost, Or all that remains?