Loud Thinking

Archive for February, 2014

“Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that’s a real treat.”

— Joanne Woodward

Dear Prof. Ahsan Iqbal Sahab,

AoA.

I really appreciate and admire the Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, in his selection of the right man for the right job, by giving you the most strategically important assignment of planning, for the future of Pakistan.

I am also glad that in this regard you are really doing a yeoman’s job (which is really something to sing about) and burning your midnight oil, for chartering a bright future for the coming generations of our motherland.

However, the problem is that under the current SYSTEM even if YOU are made the PM, things won’t change.

This SYSTEM is NOT designed for honesty, sincerity and for solving the issues and problems of the teeming millions of Pakistan.

As they say in the computer language, garbage in garbage out. Albert Einstein, also defined INSANITY as “doing some thing again and again, without CHANGE; and expecting a different result.”

For the CHANGE of the SYSTEM to save Pakistan, I am submitting my proposals as below, for your kind perusal and CONSIDERATION please.

How to save Pakistan..?

After 66 years, Pakistan is a more fragmented society than our forefathers could have ever imagined. The schism (division or disunion), is so intense that if immediate corrective steps are not taken, God forbid, this country, may see even more turbulent times.

The writing on the wall is clear for all to read. The decadence of Pakistani society in every sphere of life, be it political, economic, educational, industrial, agricultural, religious, law and order or any other segment worth naming, is abysmal, to say the least.

Hardly any day passes without reports of suicides, committed by the poor due to the economic hardships. Children did not not die in dozens, but in scores, due to the measles outbreak and; strangely enough, no soul moved; and not even a single person was held accountable.

Maybe, we have one last chance to stem the rot, to unite the people and to give them a prescription, to rise again and re-build the nation from the ashes; because, for the overwhelming majority, a time is coming that the masses may will be forced to think: NO LIFE NO NATION.

The current frame work, under which the country is being run will not take Pakistan any forward, even if it is allowed to continue as such, for another 100 years.

All small and big nations in our region and the world have overtaken us, in the basic fields of health, food security, education, justice, law and order etc.

All stakeholders must wake up, as the nation is moving towards destruction and business as usual, can do no good for Pakistan; our survival is directly linked with the existence of our nationhood.

Nationhood means, “the state or quality of having a status as a separate and independent nation”.

Pakistan needs a turnaround; for which the basic need is our adaptation and readiness for the CHANGE, not in the cosmetic, but REAL sense.

We need a COMPLETE CHANGE from one era to the another, like the one, witnessed by China, under Mao Zedong.

Hence, for all Pakistanis, failure is not an option but success is also not automatically guaranteed.

In this regard, I would like to suggest that we formulate a new social contract, for the common people of Pakistan, who always pay 100 percent bills and taxes and never defaults on their bank loans. Let us make a new Pakistan, which is redesigned to practically cater to the needs of the exploited masses.

Changes must be made in the constitution, to make it a presidential form of democratic set up. The election system should also be changed, so that the whole country directly votes for the president. However, before voting, the candidates of all political parties for presidential post, must notify a list of their MPAs, MNAs and Senators, who will be automatically considered elected, according to the percentage of votes cast, in favour of the main candidate for the top post of the country.

The decision for Pakistan’s charter of development for building dams and all other mega projects for the next 50 years should also be finalised, on which, later on, no politics should be allowed. In other words, the representatives of the nation should decide now, where they would like to see Pakistan, in each and every field of life after 50 years. This plan should be further divided into ten five years plans.

In order to decentralise and empower the maximum number of people, to enjoy the fruits of self-rule, we should convert every division of Pakistan into a province. This will also work as a panacea (an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties), for the eradication of linguistic and any other type of frictions and doubts about the hegemony of the one class of the people over the other.

In fact, it will work wonders in the speedy development and unity of Pakistan; and kill instantly, any secessionist or separatist activities, currently prevailing in some parts of the country.

With kind regards and best wishes for your sincere efforts, in chartering the future course for Pakistan.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

3 Cheers for the PCB and the SL Cricket Board.

The whole democratic minded cricket lovers salute the Sri Lankan and Pakistani cricket boards and its leaders for steadfastly standing against the dictatorship of the so called ICC big3 who are hell bent destroying the very fabric of the glorious game called Cricket.

The stand and the dare- devil positive role of the ICC’s big2 in the today’s meeting is a monumental victory, the impact of which will be felt by the all cricket lovers of the world, very soon.

Cheers, Cheers and cheers.

The Hara Kiri of the so called big 3…!

ICC would be mad to allow ‘Big Three’ takeover: Mani

LONDON: Former International Cricket Council (ICC) president Ehsan Mani says it would be “sheer madness” for the governing body to effectively hand over control of the sport to India, Australia and England.

It was announced after a board meeting in Dubai last month that a new five-member ICC executive committee would be established to include representatives from the ECB, Cricket Australia and the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

However, the plan has received widespread criticism.

The current executive committee includes representatives from all 10 Test-playing countries, and some suggest the new proposals will allow the ‘Big Three’ to take over at the expense of other cricketing nations.

“If these proposals are accepted then the Big Three will decide how the ICC runs and what it does,” Mani told Reuters in a telephone interview from his home in Islamabad.

“The board of the ICC cricket council will effectively have no powers apart from approving whatever India, Australia and England do.

“If these proposals are accepted they are going to be doing severe damage to world cricket. It would seriously affect the credibility of the ICC as the governing body.”

Mani believes three of the 10 Test-playing nations will reject the new proposals.

“As far as I know South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan will not vote for it and without those three this cannot go through,” said the 68-year-old businessman who was president of the ICC between 2003-06.

“Do you really want to run World Cups and such like without these countries and without South Africa who are the number one-ranked Test team in the world? That would be sheer madness.”

India have long been regarded as the traditional powerhouse among the Test-playing nations and the Pakistani says England and Australia might think again about the new proposals if they are rejected.

“What will be interesting is what the Big Three will do if the plan is blocked,” said Mani.

“Bangladesh and West Indies have only supported the Big Three because they’ve been given the incentive that they will get more tours from these countries, hence more money from television rights.

“I question the morality of that but if this move is blocked, then it will be a serious time for England and Australia to think about how much damage they might be doing to the game just to fall into line with something that India wants.”

FREE-FOR-ALL

Mani said the new proposals would encourage a free-for-all scenario to develop in terms of future Test series.

“Under the present Future Tours Programme every country is obliged to play every other country in a four-year cycle home and away at least once,” he explained.

“What the Big Three are saying is do away with that, let all the countries decide who they will play against, with no obligation to play any of the other members.

“So you will have a free-for-all situation that certain countries will misuse to go where they want…it will totally unsettle international cricket because members will only play against countries where they make money,” said Mani.

“It would mean they won’t be interested in countries like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, New Zealand or possibly even West Indies where they will lose money to tour.”

Earlier this week, chairman of the ECB Giles Clarke said the new proposals would help give countries greater financial stability.

Yet Mani believes the lesser cricketing nations who are outside the 10 Test-playing elite will suffer financially under the new plans.

“The Big Three are also proposing to cut the funding of the associate and affiliate members and that will kill off the development programme of the ICC,” he said.

“What they are saying is we’ll give $210 million to associate members, half of that will go to the top six countries so the other 90-odd will have to share $105 million.

“What they further say … is that the new ICC executive board will decide which of those countries will get money and how much – that goes against the very constitution of the ICC,” Mani added.

“The constitution says the associate members will get 25 percent of ICC revenues. It doesn’t give the board of the ICC the right to decide who gets how much.

“What the executive board doesn’t appreciate is that although these countries don’t necessarily play a high standard of cricket, there are big economies involved like China and the United States that over time with the right sort of investment could give the ICC a huge amount of returns in terms of money.”

Lord Woolf calls draft proposal ‘a retrograde step’

ESPNcricinfo staff
February 6, 2014

Lord Woolf, the former chief justice of England and Wales who was commissioned by the ICC in 2011 to review its governance, has called the proposed revamp of the organisation initiated by the BCCI, CA and ECB a “retrograde step” and “a really alarming position for the future of cricket”.

“It is giving extraordinary powers to a small triumvirate of three people, and everybody else has got no power to say anything or do anything. I would certainly think it would be very difficult to get any person who was completely objective, looking at cricket, to understand how these proposals could take forward the programme for international cricket,” Woolf told the Telegraph.

“To say a sport that has got aspirations to be a world-class sport internationally should not have an independent body at the top seems to me to be very surprising. It seems to be entirely motivated by money. I think it will stand out as a retrograde step, and people will be worried for less powerful figures, or countries, in the cricketing world. It is elevating three members – and the assumption is made that if you get large earnings from cricket, they are yours and not cricket’s, which is very false.”

According to the draft proposal, which will be voted on at a meeting of all Full Members in Singapore on February 8, a greater proportion of revenue and executive decision making powers will be given to the three boards that proposed the changes. In February 2012, the BCCI had been one of the chief opponents to the Woolf report, which had recommended a restructuring of the ICC’s executive board to make it more independent and less dominated by the bigger countries.

“It’s an undisputed fact that they [India] are the biggest generators of money and that they can say that should be taken into account, but how it should be taken into account is a matter of judgment,” Woolf said. “That’s why this wants to be looked at. It may seem very attractive to the three countries involved – and they are undoubtedly the biggest countries in the cricketing world. All the more important I would say are the interests of the smaller countries.

“There is a paragraph which says: It is proposed that the ICC executive board forms a new committee of the ICC called the executive committee, which under new terms of reference will act as – and I emphasise this word – the SOLE recommendation committee on all constitutional, personnel, integrity, ethics, developments and nomination matters, as well as all matters regarding distributions from the ICC. I have never seen anything of that sort in a body of this nature.”

“May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine.”

— Frank Sinatra

Ghalib – A Ghazal in English
Posted by Syed Nayyar Uddin on November 28, 2010 in Ghazals of Ghalib in English |
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A Ghazal of Ghalib
Rendered into English
By my late father Syed Shahab Uddin Ahmad
Former lecturer of Chemistry (1941-51), Aligarh Muslim University.

(Kehtay ho na daingay hum, dil aagar para paaya,
Dil kahan keh gum kejaiy, hum nay muddaa paaya)

English Translation

You say my heart you will not give me back
If you could find it some where laid;
But where is the heart for me to lose,
Lo! thus I know where it has captured been.

In loving I enjoy the taste of life,
Redress it gave to all my pains,
Itself although a cureless pain it is.

My heart confiderate of my rival is,
No trust in it can I repose and thus
My sights are void and laments vain.

It’s beauty’s art to test in guise;
It is simple yet artful, listless yet alert.

The buds are blooming anew, reminding me
My broken heart, which I have lost.

I know this much of my heart, that oft
I ran in quest of it, but it is you
Who, has so oft been finding it.

The preacher of his words has sprinkled salt
On wound, but may one ask of him,
What pleasure did he get from this?

– See more at: https://www.snayyar.com/a-ghazal-of-ghalib-in-english.html#sthash.Gi44sw5k.dpuf

It may not be “now or never,” but it’s almost always “now is better.”

Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.

“Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”