Our obsession with technology

I was on an elevator on the way to my office floor and my elevator has a small screen where they show different news to keep the passengers engaged till their destination floor arrives. I read the news as it gives me information before I read it on the internet in my office. One of the news was that people have cut back on their healthcare and other stuffs just to afford technology. And it got me thinking that how much technological obsessed we are that we are ready to sacrifice all the necessities in order to afford the latest phones, tablets and computers and the accessories that have become essential parts of it. It is not only the hardware but the apps and other goods that we download and buy on it that have lead most if not all people to curtail other expenditures in order to be in the race to keep up with our friends’ technological advances. And I see it every day that as there are more technological advances, people are becoming highly dependent on them (I included) that survey after survey is getting released that we will want our phones and tablets more than anything other even in some cases intimate relationship. And I don’t see it slowing down since now middle school kids are getting their hands on technology and increasingly staying connected or their heads buried deep in their phones oblivious to their surroundings. We are essentially become slaves to the technology that we have invented.

The New India-Pakistan border Flare-up

This is what I say when I write about the India-Pakistan relationship. It is just an Illusion that it will get any better or they will become best buddies cooperating in many years. I am talking about the latest border skirmishes that has flare-up again in that part of the world. Fighting has been going on for the last few days with many casualties on both sides, despite encouraging signs since the new Prime Minister of India was sworn in. Now both sides are digging in and there have been lots of war mongering on either side. Although it will be useless to have a regular war between these two Nuclear armed nations, but any mistakes can lead to more and dangerous confrontation. And herein lies the problem that these border skirmishes happen for a while and then all goes quiet for a while and everybody take stock of the situation and then yet again something happens later in the future. It will always be an illusion that any sort of friendship will ever develop between these two nations but some hopeful citizens on both sides keep on trying vainly. There is too much hatred and animosity on both sides to have any meaningful relationship now and in the future. And so some more people die every time relationships deteriorates to such a point where firings and shelling happens and the border people suffer and some more people become widow and orphans and then life goes on but not for the people who are affected.

The 2014 Nobel Peace Prize-2

You see Malala is the second Pakistan to win a Nobel and the first female and Peace Prize, since there was another one, the Pakistani Physicist Abdus Salam who is completely forgotten since he hailed from the Muslim minority sect Ahmedi who are considered non Muslims in Pakistan and have been heavily targeted over the years by the majority Muslim sect. Both of these Nobel winners are not appreciated in their own countries but elsewhere around the world. Malala has been called the agent of CIA, the Israeli Mossad, the Indian spy agency RAW and is often termed as working against Islam. Meanwhile, Killers and Murderers are hailed in Pakistan because they are supposedly working in the name of Islam and are foes of the west. This xenophobic mentally has so much creeped into Pakistani Society that any achievement by any Pakistani outside Pakistan is considered suspicious and dismissed outright. The taliban have already showed their displeasure in this award and many other people in Pakistan with the same mentality have shown the same scorn against here. For example, some are saying that there are many young girls in Pakistan facing the same threat so why did Malala get this award. But you know haters will be haters and instead of celebrating their own kind, they belittle them. I hope next time Nobel should not be given to any Pakistani since they don’t appreciate anybody of their kind going on the top. And this is another prime example.

The 2014 Nobel Peace Prize

It was just announced a few days ago that the young girl from Pakistan who was shot in the head by the Taliban at the age of 15 and is now residing somewhere in the United kingdom Malala Yousafzai has been named the youngest Noble peace prize winner in history of that awards along with a 60 year old Indian Kailash Satyarthi who has been advocating for the abolishment of child labor for many years now. Along it was being discussed that Malala can be one of the winners but the lesser known Indian was surprise winner according to me. First of all I want to congratulate both of them for bringing an honor to their respective countries and they can now work even harder to fulfill the extra liability or burden that has come with this prize and I do hope that they will excel in their mission that they have now become famous for. But while Satyarthi is working in his own country, Malala is still a wanted girl in her own country and cannot go there without getting killed. Although naïve people are calling her to come back and fight for girls’ rights, you and I know that it is just a trap to silence this voice. Apart from this, there are many people who think that she is being used by the West to malign Pakistan and even their religion Islam. Although it is not true but the hatred of the regular so called Middle Class Pakis who use western technology but blame the west for all their ails hate anything that brings great awards to any individual Pakis anywhere in the world.