TV Bane or Boon?
Mood:  on fire
Topic: excuses excuses
Television and films are the agents of globalization in this day and age. We can sit all the way in Pakistan and know what the latest trends are all the way in Milan. We can know what the folk wares of the Australian aborigines are.

However, if one looks closely at the media it would be an accurate observation to note that the West has been highly successful in transferring their values onto all four corners of the world. We in South Asia have not been able to do the same. In this way Globalization has become Westernization or even Americanization.

There was a time we were very proud of our moral system we were sure no one could break us. The element of fidelity and loyalty to our culture was important and the secular values of the West were frowned upon.

However, this values system has vanished or is in fast decline over the past twenty years or so. We now take great pride in being considered Westernized. We may dress like them and talk like them even act like them. But the core issue is that we will never be them. Even if we go so far as to acquire their citizenship and forsake our own we will always be referred to alien residents and never as a naturalized citizen.

Why are we so taken by our colonialisers? Why are we falling prey to their trap?

Whatever became of pride in ones nation and love for one's own identity?

I think we have come to a stage where it is uncool to have values whether they be family, kinship or any values what so ever. We live in an individualistic society Ladies and Gentlemen where no one will come to your aid. So if anyone is under the impression that if your old and u walk into a bus people will make space for you or give up their seats in efforts to be civil... FORGET IT!!!

wake up and smell the roses
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Releasing Catharsis
What is the distinct culture of Pakistan? The youth of this country ask. What is independently Pakistani? Ever since partition Pakistan has had what is known as a shared culture within the subcontinent.

Some youngsters go so far as to say " hum main aur Indians main farakh kya hai? Hum Indian hi tou hain!"

Truth is that we are not Indian!!! Our ancestors fought for this country and in the process they lost their lives to give us a better future. If the future generations say these incriminating things, the sacrifices of our predecessors are wasted. Why did they bother to fight for a separate homeland?

I feel that by encouraging people from the arts we can enrich our culture and formulate something that we are proud of. It should be something that we can identify with as our own and not copied from anywhere.

Studying theatre and encouraging the aesthetics is the one of the things that can help us to identify our culture. The problem is that in this country every medium of mass media has been curbed and looked on as bad. Therefore each leader who has come to power has tried to curb freedom of expression. Causing a severe blow to our performing arts.

Pakistan is huge market for foreign films, especially Indian because of the commonality of language. This has caused the transition of culture to transgress boundaries and seep into every aspect of our daily lives.

Previously Pakistani dramas were high class with a strong story line and good acting talent. These plays were family oriented and people from every household could identify with the storyline and its characters. These dramas were appreciated all over the world, including India.

Over the past few years India too has ventured into the field of dramas and plays. Their plays started with the whole element of family but as demand grew commercially and people became hooked to them, the plays became complicated and eventually became an extension to the Indian films.

Ever since the launch of cable televsion in Pakistan hardly anyone watches the local television shows. Housewives turn on their favorite soaps and watch the idiot box all day. People have even started to dress like these actors of the small screen ever since the sarees from across the border became available. Selling of Indian products has become a lucrative business in Pakistan.

My question is that why are the people of my country so impressionable? Why can we not be leaders? Why do we stoop to following what sells? Where is our ingenuity? Unfortunately whatever little ingenuity we had has been lost ever since the influx Indian mass media. These days our dramas, which had been critically acclaimed all over the world are just a replica of what Mollywood is showing us. The same plots, the same clothes, the same themes and the same stories.

It is disturbing to see that what is being said by people around us is rapidly becoming the truth. Pakistan is losing its identity. We are following the competition and instead of developing what we are becoming a nation of copycats.

Although lots of channels have opened up in Pakistan and some are undoubtly good at what they sought out to achieve, everything has become too plastic.

There used to be a time in my childhood when people did not go anywhere at night before watching the 8 O'clock drama. Families came together to watch the plays every evening to see the advancing of the plots. It was a good opportunity to bond with one another when they got together for dinner and talked the plot through and made predictions about what the next episode would be about.

All this has changed and we have become confused. We are neither Eastern nor Western just wannabes of both. We choose to be eastern when it suits us and Western when we deem fit.