As if I didn't have enough problems already, my laptop has been affected by a virus.

I have three email addresses (yahoo, gmail and lakhanis). For some reason, the last one has been disabled by a virus. That's what the domain guy says, although he can't explain why the others haven't objected. If my laptop has a virus, it should be noticed by the others. Besides my personal emails, there is my company's email in another domain. Even they haven't objected. So, what's going on?

I wish I knew. The domain provider has scrambled my password so that I can't access it. I'm researching on trojans and viruses, but I'm not yet able to decide which one I should buy. Using the ones that are free is not an option, I've been told. 

What I don't understand is why my family members using the same domain have not been affected, even though they don't have antivirus programs installed in their computers. It's been a long time (many years) since this kind of thing has happened to me. I only hope it won't take too long for the problem to be resolved.

 I know some people who have attained the age of 90 and even one who is 95. He's practically bed-ridden nowadays. Another one (once an active industrialist and social worker) is also bed-ridden at the age of 85, as he's fallen a few times and broken many bones. I have two cousins older than me (one is 83 and the other 85), both of whom are still healthy (probably because they never had any children). I myself will be 80 in a couple of months and already I feel that living beyond eighty is a chore. Most people I went to school and college with are dead, or living abroad. I don't have many people who I can talk with, and the two or three I do have long conversations with never call me. In fact, sometimes I have the distinct feeling that they're trying to avoid me (like I used to avoid an uncle who would call me and talk for an hour).

A close relative of mine is in intensive care, fighting for survival. He has always been a diabetic, and I'm surprised why he gave up walking. He had suffered a mini-stroke a couple of months back and his doctor had told him to take an anti-coagulant pill. For some reason, maybe due to old age, he stopped taking it and suffered a major stroke that left his right leg and arm paralyzed. 

If this is the fate of those who live long, it's better to die in your seventies.

 It's the sacred month of Muharram (the month of mourning) and I have yet to understand why some Muslims indulge in self-flagellation and inconveniencing others by taking out processions. 

I admire the Iranian leadership for taking a stand against Israel and supporting the Palestinians. But I can't help wondering why they cannot put a stop to all the senseless activities of Shias (and some Sunnis as well). In Pakistan, virtually all economic activity comes to an end during the first ten days. Goods are stranded at the ports, payment for delays have to be made in dollars and daily wage workers have to go without earning anything. 

I once had a skilled supervisor whom I asked to come to work on the tenth of Muharram for an hour or so. He was shocked. According to him, anyone who works on that day is doomed to burn in hell. 

I have read about the origins of Shiaism and know what happened for Muslims to split into two major groups. There are only three or four countries where Shias are in the majority. In Saudi Arabia, which has many Shias living in the oil-rich eastern part of the country, the tenth of Muharram is not observed at all. In Azerbaijan, a Shiaite country, the day is observed in the privacy of homes and mosques, not on the roads. In Malaysia and Indonesia, virtually no one has heard about Shiaism. 

I don't object to anyone mourning and beating their chests, but at least they should confine their mourning to their mosques or localities. In Pakistan the main roads of all the cities are blocked by the mourners, as a result of which persons suffering heart attacks cannot be taken to hospitals.

 One of the major advantages of living in the twenty first century is that you can watch foreign movies on Netflix. Indian films have been banned in Pakistan for many decades now, so I am able to watch such movies on my laptop. I also watch American movies (much more than the Indian ones).

Recently I came across the movie "Maharaj". After watching it, I consider myself lucky that my remote ancestor Nathu Lal or Nathu Ram became a Muslim some three hundred years ago in Bhavnagar, India. As the film is about a Hindu sub-sect in Gujrat (the Indian state where I was born), it was a shock to know about a disgusting custom among its followers. The movie is based on a true event (a case in the Bombay High Court) that occurred about 150 years ago.

In this sub-sect, it was common for girls and women to have sex with the leader (Maharaj) before they were married. Everyone in the sect (men as well as women) considered it perfectly normal and apparently most of the women in the community had been abused by their chief before their marriage. Whatever the Maharaj said was considered to be the law, they thought he was God in human form. It took a very brave man to challenge and get the community to abandon this custom. The movie is in chaste Hindi (which I find difficult to understand) but the subtitles make it easy for the viewer.

 

Shining and hungry

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024

This letter refers to the article ‘A land of ‘bholas’’ (July 8, 2024) by Hussain H Zaidi. The Indian government has consistently claimed that India has been enjoying up to eight percent growth over the past fifteen years.

However, a simple Google search proves otherwise, as the per capita consumption of edibles in Pakistan is much higher. In the Global Hunger Index, India is almost at the bottom and is actually ranked lower than Pakistan.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=322918

 

Western meddling

Monday, July 08, 2024

First it was the British high commissioner in Islamabad who cast doubts on the fairness and impartiality of the February general elections. Then, the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly demanding a probe into the elections. Now, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has held that the cases against Imran Khan were without legal basis and politically motivated to exclude him from competing in the political arena. This is not the first time that general elections in Pakistan were controversial or when cases have been made against political leaders that were without legal basis and politically motivated to exclude them from competing in elections. Imran Khan’s government was perhaps the leader in both getting controversial help in elections and pursuing dubious cases against political opponents. So why did no British diplomat or the US Congress or the UN say anything about it between 2018 and 2022? Why have they awakened now to the alleged rigging of elections and imprisonment of our political leaders?

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=322315

 

Mysterious support

IT was the British high commissioner in Islamabad who set the ball rolling with a comment on the political scene in Pakistan, followed by the United States House of Representatives, and now the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. What is happening in Pakistan is nothing new. If anything, the period between 2018 and 2022 was the worst in many ways. Where were all these foreign individuals and bodies at the time? Why have they chosen to comment on allegations of electoral rigging and imprisonment of political leaders now?

Shakir Lakhani
Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 7, 2024

https://www.dawn.com/news/1844298/mysterious-support