Avatar Day

James Cameron, the director of Terminator 2, is coming out with a new movie for the first time in a decade. The movie, Avatar, is about a human soldier's brain being "downloaded" into the body of an alien species on that species' native planet.

The story is supposed to be about how the human realizes that humans are the bad guys and are exploiting that planet for resources. The human in his 'Avatar' body then joins the fight against humans to protect the planet.

There was a promotional screening of about 20 minutes of the movie yesterday to which I was lucky enough to get a free ticket to. Although the story seems interesting the thing that really blew me away was the spectacular 3D imagery that the movie has. The CGI and live-action is blended so seamlessly that I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like this before.

The contrast, in viewing the 20 minute screening and then a theatrical trailer of Avatar on a normal screen, was astounding.

I must say that the promoters of the movie have succeeded in their mission of generating enthusiasm for the movie in me. This post is my way of promoting the movie further; as good word of mouth was no doubt the hope of 'Avatar Day'.

Decades long war

I recently saw a couple of videos on PBS called the "Children of Taliban" and "A Letter from Karachi". The videos touch upon many aspects of the current situation in Pakistan; radicalization of Swat, military operations in Bajaur, IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camps in Peshawar, views of the Pakistani soldiers and most importantly they talk about the recruitment of children by the Taliban for fighting.

Hearing a kid talk about wanting to become suicide bomber (Fidaayeen) and being inspired by suicide bombers younger than him is disturbing. Also disturbing is hearing a Taliban child recruiter talk about how children as young as 5 years of age are being recruited.

This last bit of information is the most shocking for me. Apart from the moral depravity of using children to blow up people, it is the age at which they have been radicalized that is important to bear in mind. If a child is radicalized at such an age, I doubt he can be un-radicalized easily later on. I wonder how kids from the Nazi "Hitler Youth" organization were un-radicalized.

However, comparisons between the Nazis and the Taliban can go only so far. The Taliban haven't yet become as big as a threat as Nazi Germany. The Nazis didn't fight a guerrilla war, while the Taliban have repeatedly shown that they are willing and capable of doing just that. Moreover, I don't see entire countries mobilizing to deal with the Taliban, not even Pakistan. This leaves the Pakistan army no chance at a quick and lasting victory over the Taliban.

The longer it takes for the Pakistan army to emerge victorious the longer the Taliban have to radicalize children. What will happen to these children even if the Taliban are ultimately defeated. Will these children suddenly start going to school and become productive members of the society? Or will they be ostracized and become criminals? Or will they just brush off the defeat and start new insurgencies when they are older?

To me, it looks like the Pakistan army is set for a decades long war.

Who should Pakistan listen to?

The Pakistani government doesn't always tell the truth and misleads other times. The history taught in the schools of Pakistan is heavily distorted and the news media doesn't offer a truthful view of what's going on.

I have been worried about the deteriorating condition of this neighboring country and I have scoured YouTube, news websites and forums for voices of sanity rising from the chaos.

Here are a few Pakistanis who talk straight. They are not necessarily friends of India but they don't make excuses for the conditions prevailing in their country. These are the men that the people of Pakistan should be listening to.

1) Ahmed Rashid - Author of "Descent into Chaos" and "Taliban"
2) Hasan Nisar - Journalist
3) Tariq Ali - Journalist and Writer
4) Javed Chaudhry - Host of the TV show Kal Tak
5) Mohammed Hanif - Journalist and author of the book "A Case of Exploding Mangoes". Head of BBC's Urdu service.
6) Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy - Eminent nuclear physicist

The one person whose theories the Pakistanis would do well to avoid is Zaid Hamid.

What's in a name?

I had an interesting conversation with my friend, Manish, the other day. It was all about his name and how he preferred to write it in the Devanagari script and how he pronounced it.

The correct spelling in the Devanagari script for his name is मनीष (IPA: /mǝniːʂ/) but he prefers to write it as मनीश (IPA: /mǝniːʃ/) for aesthetic reasons. The difference between just one letter though changes his name from having a meaning to making it meaningless.

मनीष comes from the Sanskrit word मनीषिन् (IPA: /mǝniːʂin/) which means a wise man. मनीश on the other hand has no intrinsic meaning. It is mistakenly believed to be portmanteau of मन (heart, mind) and ईश (God).

My friend's problems arise from him wanting to have a meaningful name and at the same time writing and pronouncing it differently. I haven't mentioned his last name so I think I am safe from the dire consequences promised to me if I ever stooped so low as to reveal this secret of his.

As for me, I will continue to pronounce his name using the voiceless retroflex fricative instead of the voiceless postalveolar fricative.

p.s. 100 extra points for whoever got throught this article without clicking on any of the links.