Pakistan vs New Zealand - Day 5 ... What's a juicy target?

NZ is 177/6 with a 187 run lead. Day 5 is nicely poised. New Zealand should be all out before 225, barring really good batting by Ross Taylor.

Here's some quick analysis I ran on what a target like that means ...

A target of 235 will be really interesting - there's enough time in the day for things to happen.

Good times ...

On George Fulton, Dubai and Imran Khan

George Fulton is an interesting character. He’s big. He’s Caucasian. He’s Pakistani.

Here’s a picture:

George Fulton started out as a British national who came to Pakistan as a BBC World producer, looking to produce current affairs programming tailored for a Pakistani audience. Pakistan happens to be one of the few countries where people still watch BBC World.

Whilst in Pakistan, he got involved in a local reality TV show called “George ka Pakistan” (George’s Pakistan), as the lead character. The challenge for him was to travel around Pakistan, and become a Pakistani within 3 months, or 12 episodes. At the end of the show, viewers would judge through SMS voting, whether or not George had done enough to deserve to become a Pakistani.

He travelled all over the country – milked cows in the villages and raced donkey carts in the cities – but more so than just being captured on camera being part of some superficial shenanigans, he seemed to bring a very interesting sort of intellectual depth to the show, and really tried to understand the political, social and cultural fabric of the country, for all its breadth, richness and complexity – and as he often pointed out, its contradictions. He hung out with the elite business class in Karachi, drove around with politicians (feudal lords) in some of the villages; in addition to all the antics and cultural rituals that he took part in with a diverse set of common folk across the length and breadth of the country.

He has a great, very likeable personality, and was very comfortable on screen. Needless to say, he was extremely popular, and the audience voted overwhelmingly in favor of him becoming a Pakistani. Around the same time, he met a Pakistani girl from a typical educated upper middle class background called Kiran, and married her. I presume he also converted to Islam (even though I am not one to judge, I presume this was done in order to make the marriage acceptable to the bride’s side of the family – cross cultural marriages and the religious conversions around them are such messy business, but often essential for making things happen). I am not exactly sure how he obtained his Pakistani citizenship, but my guess is that the marriage paved the way for it. He now holds a Pakistani passport.

He stayed back in Pakistan with Kiran for several years, living in Karachi. Initially, he started a current affairs talk show on a local channel, but it was not particularly successful. Later, he paired up with Kiran and started a breakfast talk show, which was more successful, called “Kiran aur George” (Kiran and George) – the audience loved watching a white guy talk about anything and everything related to everyday life in Pakistan, especially his attempts at speaking Urdu – the on screen chemistry between this rather peculiar couple was really good, including his cheeky antics followed by Kiran’s playful slaps on his shoulder. That show ran for quite a bit, but has now stopped airing.

They have left Pakistan now, and settled back in the UK. He has still been writing regularly for the Pakistani press. In fact he has been writing for a while now, but I have only recently discovered some of his work. He writes extremely well.

His April 2010 piece on Dubai is a timeless classic.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/7950/at-least-we-are-not-dubai/

It echoes the sentiments shared by many but which I largely disagree with. It is still a very well written piece and an important thought provoking read.

His article in yesterday’s paper on Imran Khan was also interesting.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/257064/yes-we-khan/

Imran Khan is Pakistan’s former cricket captain turned politician, a national hero for winning the 1992 cricket World Cup against some serious odds, and later for building a cancer hospital in Lahore by mobilizing donations from the public. His political career and personal life have been less stellar though – he married Jemima Goldsmith, a British socialite, but she struggled to settle into life in Pakistan, so he had to separate from her and their two kids – his politics are controversial, and he hasn’t been able to gain much traction as a politician; he has strong right wing tendencies, a soft spot for the religious extremists, but more so than anything, very little popular appeal and a tendency to seriously flip flop on some important issues.

This time, I agree with most of what George Fulton has set out in his article. Imran Khan is an interesting character, and for all his faults, he is still the best option we have for 2013 (barring Musharraf and the Army, who for matters of principle will not be allowed to make a comeback, at least not yet – even though their political capital has slowly been replenishing, especially after 3 years of Zardari – sub pe bhari i.e. a burden on everyone – and a general sense of disillusionment with all the other available options).

Here’s an illustration of the political options we have for 2013, based on my classic and trademarked “3-cardinal-sins in public service” framework. Each sin is scored from 0% to 100%, with 100% being the worst place for a candidate to be in from our perspective (at my discretion scores can exceed 100% as well, but this is only when I am really trying to hammer through a point). The candidate with the lowest net score or the lowest number of “net evil points” wins:

The 3-cardinal-sins in public service	Sharifs	Zardari	Chaudhrys of Gujrat	Imran Khan	Musharraf (without Chaudhrys?)	Army
Apathy	50%	105%	60%	0%	0%	30%
Lack of integrity	80%	110%	80%	0%	0%	30%
Lack of competence	60%	80%	70%	80%	50%	50%
Net evil points	190%	295%	210%	80%	50%	110%

So with the two right most columns not an option, Imran Khan is perhaps our best option. He even comes quite close to Musharraf, who in my view shares Imran Khan’s genuine passion for the country, and strong integrity, but is quite a bit more skillful and competent.

But as George Fulton points out in his article, there are a few things Imran Khan needs to change.

First of all, politics is a game of maneuverability in a structurally constrained space, which often means compromise. As principled as he is, which ordinarily would be a great thing, he also seems to be unelectable – and clearly unacceptable to many of the key power players who wield influence over Pakistan. He has to show greater flexibility on some issues, and hold back on his rhetoric on others – at least for the sake of the greater good.

Secondly, he does hold a very serious “Messiah complex”. So far he has failed to build a movement around himself – he needs to change tack and focus on building it around the institution that he represents and around its ideas or key messages. We certainly require a bit of his personality to seed it, and to provide it with a foundation, but his persona alone, is not going to be enough.

On this, he is almost delusional – I heard him speak at the LSE a few years ago, back when I was a student there, where he drew parallels between himself and the Prophet Mohammad, and how the early years of the Prophet were also a struggle. The pronoun he uses needs to change. Less “I”, more “we”. He hasn’t received an official mandate from God (and cannot, given that Mohammad is the last prophet in Islam), so he needs to do something drastically different to turn his fortunes around.

There are many things he can get going for him – his biggest asset being a strong “latent” support base among young and educated urban voters, which is a very large and fast growing segment, thanks to our country’s demographics. They are largely disillusioned and disenfranchised by the country’s politics, and given that they feel so helpless about their country’s future, the only thing they care about is trying to find a way to immigrate to any other country.

He needs to find a way to mobilize them. His crazy talk show appearances, where he spews out strong inconsistent rhetoric against anyone and everyone, coupled with his delusional self-belief, are not going to get him their support – or anyone’s support for that matter. Something needs to change.

Can he start focusing on developing a base of consistent and focused key messages which will appeal to this core base, and also build a really kick-ass grass roots campaign machine focused around them? Surely he can mobilize all these students based on just their selfless (or collectively selfish) motivation to fix the country and defeat any political party, with their messy system of “karkuns” (political workers), built around a selfish and self-destructive system of patronage and rent distribution.

 Yes we Khan! Yes we Khan! Yes we Khan!

Tough decisions - Idealism in the face of a down-spiral

Readers – Two reasons why I haven’t blogged for some time now:

i)                    I have expended a good portion of my blogging time, energy and creativity writing for the Juhudi internal blog. My post received three “Sawa Kipisas” (the highest possible rating), just as high as the other serious posts on that blog. OK … I must admit though – one of those was from me for myself … but still, far exceeding my expectations. Corporate blogging or memo writing is new ground for me – hard to balance “folksy” story telling with “top down” vision and direction setting, especially when one is trying to influence change in a relatively flat and open culture (which I like).

ii)                   These are tumultuous times – I am travelling back home (to Islamabad from Nairobi), literally writing out of the Emirates Business class lounge at the Dubai International Airport. Life decisions (about how I spend the next 12 months) absolutely have to be made now. MBA applications need to be taken very seriously. Nairobi has emptied out after the summer, and there are too many missing people and too much nostalgia to make that city a happy place or situation to have just been in or think about going back to.

Plus, on my way out of Nairobi, Kenyan Immigration tried to arrest me again (third time now). I dealt with them with a bit of a flippant and carefree attitude. I just didn’t have the patience to deal with them as I did, or at least tried to, with the very first folks at Nyayo House (please read my very first post on this blog – the one which started it all). Still, whatever was left of my patience and of my soft skills prevailed, and I got out of the situation with just a few pleasant arguments.

Back in Dubai, albeit only at the airport, I am realizing that my love and admiration for the city is not “significant”. Looking out at the skyline as we were landing at night, I felt that the city was familiar, but I did not feel very connected to it (even though I have been defending and promoting it quite a bit – The contrarian that I am, I like countering stereotypical perspectives on Dubai). I will be making a proper stopover here in two weeks, on my way back to Nairobi, but I suspect that it will be more about the people I have left behind, rather than the city or the sights. The fact that the WiFi password at the Emirates Business Class Lounge is “FLYEKA380”, speaks to the obvious grandeur it aspires to. For me personally, this part of its culture is a bit of a turn-off. The “tourism video” Emirates displayed as we were landing showed this grandeur and decadence. But the “organic” beauty of Nairobi feels so much more like home – the church spires, the dark and heavy smoke from the busses, and the narrow roads with their age old trees. Still, there’s the fact that this is the only place close to home, with some form of stability and professional opportunity. Home is very fast failing as a state – I wonder if it will be safe at all to return to in a few years.

And this bring me to my final point – A good part of the reason why I am travelling back home is to find some kind of courage and inspiration, and to do some hard due diligence, on starting a social enterprise – more specifically a Microfinance Institution with a kick-ass model. If the right people are excited, and one or two tangible pieces of the model can be put in place (e.g. livestock insurance), it’s a go. I have the story line, a bit of the professional credentials and experience, and even much of the start-up capital. But, how am I supposed to feel upbeat about this when the front page headline on “The Gulf Today”, the newspaper I involuntarily received on the plane reads – “26 Pak soldiers die”? As the story goes, a bunch of militants crossed over the Durand line (the “artificial” border between Afghanistan and Pakistan carved out by the British) into a part of Pakistan today, which had previously seen relatively little conflict. They attacked a set of army and police and check-posts, killing 26 Pakistan Army soldiers and 10 police personnel. Surprise … They have ravaged 36 families. Kids who are orphaned – who will never see their fathers again. Fathers and mothers, who will have to live through the day they will have to bury their own sons. And an apathetic local news audience (populace), tired of seeing this for the past 5 years or so – I read somewhere recently that Pakistanis don’t take terrorism that seriously anymore and only perceive it to be the 4^th most important issue in the country (after corruption, poor governance and inflation).

This raises the question as to whether this is the kind of place I wish to spend the next two weeks in, let alone one to three years. I am seriously upset and I seem to be a minority in being seriously upset. I am trying to swim against the tide. I fully anticipate that religious rituals this Eid will include a mullah spewing out some serious hatred (this happened last year at Eid Al Fitr in the local mosque close to my parents’ home), and that no one will be unfazed by this. But I have come off the plane after watching “Invictus”, hence the confusion. I need to draw inspiration from the actions of Mandela, which helped so radically alter the course of post-apartheid South Africa. Is there hope still? Is this at least worth a few years of personal investment? Let’s fly into Islamabad with an open mind. Let’s leave the decision open still. Happy Eid everybody!

On humility and decadence

Readers: A short post this time – A couple of friends are travelling to Dubai, and I sent them a list of my favorite things to do out there. You can find the list at the end of this post. What I realized is that 9 out of the 11 things on that list are what I would classify as “decadent”. My definition of “decadent” is simple: anything which costs over 50ish USD. Data from Gini curves (a distribution of income equality) reveals that this is a daily level of income enjoyed by less than 5 percent of the world population. A lot of these experiences, however, are fun and unique to Dubai, so the decadence is somewhat justified, especially for first time visitors, and especially considering that they are helping create a vibrant tourism industry in Dubai, a city which has no hydro-carbon resources remaining. In fact, I strongly support this decadence as a win-win for all. The best things in life might be free, but can good things not be costly?

A member of the Abu Dhabi royal family recently carved his name into a private island, just off the coast of Abu Dhabi. You can see it on Google maps by following the link:

http://maps.google.com/?q=Al-Futaisi+-+Abu+Dhabi+-+United+Arab+Emirates&hl=en&geocode=FUvOcwEde848Aw&t=h&z=13

This island is not very far from the main island of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. If you look carefully, the letters “HAMAD” are very visible. I am not sure they realize this yet, but the letters are in fact inverted, if one is facing north. As soon as Hamad catches this mistake, he will probably have them filled in, and dredged again with the correct orientation. If I wasn't sick and tired of popping bottles of Cristal in VIP clubs, the ultimate in decadence, I would probably also have my name carved into some stretch of landmass (Juhudi Gardens is all I can afford for now, and it might not be visible from space). If I were Hamad, I would have all the letters filled in with water, not just the “H” and “A” as is the case currently, and ride through all of them in my motor yatch. That would keep me entertained for a little while. If that joy does not last, I would do what this other guy is doing in a YouTube video which went viral. Please follow the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR2R2R2Pdts&feature=player_embedded

And when that’s no longer fun, I would simply listen to this song, which is the deepest, most soothing and beautiful song ever composed. It’s based on the poetry of Bulleh Shah, a 17^th century Punjabi poet, philosopher and mystic. Please follow the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMcUNnYIQdA

The music itself is quite unique, and part of the hugely popular and highly acclaimed Coke Studio series (Coke Studio has an amazing business model, where everything is left open; Coke benefits enormously as the co-brand, and the artists get compensated well, in a music market otherwise plagued by piracy – May be Microsoft can co-brand its software, and open it up to everyone, in these parts of the world). The song has been composed with a few traditional sub-continental instruments (including the indigenous and highly rare, “Sagar Veena”, which is a bit like the mystical “Sitar”), fused with modern western instruments. The video has subtitles in English. The depth and beauty of the song is lost a little bit in translation. The English translation might sound a bit simplistic, trivial and repetitive, but the Punjabi version is sublime. My favorite couplet starts at around 4:30 in this video, which is the following: “Ho, rabba koi meray dil dian kadran pachanay; mein sawaali, jeda nahin koi sawaal” – translates to: “God, if only someone could understand the deliberations of my heart; I am a seeker who seeks nothing.”

We need to count ourselves lucky for having such a rich tradition of metaphysics, and thank the good folks at Noori and Coke Studio for making Bulleh Shah accessible to a new generation. Enjoy!

The following is a list of my favorite things to do in Dubai, in no particular order:

1) DISCOVER THE DOWNTOWN BURJ KHALIFA AREA: Go to "At the top" at Burj Khalifa, the viewing platform on the 124^th floor of the tallest building in the world. It's an engineering and architectural marvel, and especially interesting if you enjoy watching those Nat Geo engineering documentaries. While you're there, take a quick walk through Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world, which in spite of its enormous size, gets very crowded on the weekends. Check out both the indoor and outdoor walkways, especially the one by the dancing fountain, the largest and most expensive fountain in the world. Lunch or dinner at one of the outdoor cafes or restaurants by the fountain needs to be experienced (Cost: 70 to 80 USD pp, including a meal by the Fountain – quite decadent).

2) DINNER AT ZUMA: Zuma is a fancy Japanese Restaurant in the Dubai International Financial Centre, or DIFC. I typically order the same thing every time, which includes chilli edimami, yellow sole with ponzu sauce, marinated black cod, crispy fried squid and drinks to taste. An essential experience where you’ll get great food in a super decadent environment, and where you’ll get to watch all the other people enjoy great food in a super decadent environment. The most surreal part is watching batch after batch of all the dolled up girls and metrosexual men come up the glass lift, and enter the restaurant, exchanging cheek to cheek kisses with the bouncers (Cost: 150 to 200 USD pp – extremely decadent).

3) EXPLORE OLD DUBAI: Take a walk along the Bastakia and Dubai Museum area on the Bur Dubai side of the Creek. It includes some of the old neighborhoods of Dubai, with their traditional old houses, topped off with wind towers, a traditional form of cooling. Cross the Creek on a Dubai Water Taxi or “Abra” over to the Deira side, which is super cheap at just 1 dirham or 30 US cents. Soak in the atmosphere of old school or authentic Dubai, and a little bit of the up and coming Dubai of the late 80s and early 90s on the Deira side. Do not eat here. The restaurants are known to be dodgy and overpriced (Cost: 5 to 10 USD pp, including taxi and Abra rides – not decadent at all).

4) PARTY AT A LEBANESE SUPER CLUB: Hit one of the Lebanese super clubs on a Thursday night, the start of the weekend (the weekend falls on Friday and Saturday in Dubai). Okku at the Monarch Hotel, and 400 at the Fairmont Hotel were my favorites as of April, but there are new additions to the scene all the time. Enjoy the super decadent partying, and watching the decadent people do what they like to do best. It’s a bit different to the decadence found anywhere else in the world e.g. London decadence, which I have experienced a bit of. It’s very classy/plastic on a very large scale and has to be experienced at least once (Cost: 80 to 100 USD pp, including a few drinks and “table” seating – quite decadent).

5) ENJOY A WEEKEND CHAMPAGNE BRUNCH: Have a post-super club champagne brunch on Friday at one of the five star hotels, and cure your hangover with unlimited buffet food and champagne. Not sure what the best hotel to do this is these days. Usually a lot of fun with a big group of friends, but could also be done in a smaller group or just as a couple. Food can be decent. People watching and socializing is the big draw (Cost: 100 to 150 USD pp – very decadent).

6) ENJOY SUNSET DRINKS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN: Have Sunset drinks at “360”, part of the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. It’s a phenomenal place, on a little island, around 200 meters into the ocean. In addition to watching the sun set, enjoy gorgeous twilight views of both the Sheikh Zayed Road skyline, and the Marina skyline, and of course two phenomenal architectural marvels, the Burj Al Arab and the Jumeirah Beach hotel (Cost: 30 to 40 USD pp for a couple of drinks – mildly decadent).

7) BEACH PARTY: Party the night away at the Barasti Beach Bar in the Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Hotel, rated one of the best beach bars in the world. It’s a fairly long stretch of beach, with lots of sun lougers, and crowded with expats almost every night. Enjoy the gorgeous views of the Marina skyline. Sho Cho’s is another good bar on the sea, at the Dubai Marine Beach Resort & Spa (Cost: 50 to 70 USD pp for a couple of drinks – quite decadent).

8) HAVE A SPLASH AND ENJOY A FEW THRILLS: Spend the day at either the Atlantis Aquaventure or Wild Wadi Water Park. I personally prefer Aqauventure. The “Leap of Faith” is a 30 meter free fall slide (5 degree angle is just about safe), which needs to be experienced again and again. I experienced it 4 times when I was last there, in spite of the super long queues. Why, you ask? Because it was so good. Relax and chill, by one of the many pools, the beach, or in the lazy river. Or enjoy the some of the other exhilarating rides in the park (Cost: 80 to 100 USD pp – solidly decadent).

9) EXPERIENCE THE OTHER SIDE: Enjoy dinner at Ravi Restaurant in Satwa. It's the best Pakistani restaurant in Dubai, but in a slightly grubby part of town. Dubai is a city of contrasts, which is best portrayed in the 2009 movie “City of life”. It is home to Arab millionaires; Western Educated Professionals; Indian & Pakistani taxi drivers; Filipino service workers and Indian & Pakistani construction workers. Ravi Restaurant is a road side café, in a part of town where a lot of taxi drivers and service workers live. It’s a bit like being in India or Pakistan, except that all parts of Dubai are extremely safe. The food is absolutely sublime (Cost: 15 to 20 USD pp – not in the decadent zone).

10) EXPLORE THE MARINA AREA: Take a walk along "The Walk" at Jumeirah Beach Residence, or JBR. It’s a shopping lane right on the beach, with quite a few restaurants and roadside cafes. While you're out there, take a speed boat tour along the Dubai Marina and the Palm Islands. It’s fascinating if you're into architecture and engineering, especially those Nat Geo engineering documentaries. JBR is a massive apartment complex, home to around 80,000 residents, built in postmodern style. For me it's an absolute architectural marvel, with the same sort of grandeur as the Pyramids of Giza or the Taj Mahal, but a lot of people think it's just butt ugly (Cost: 100 to 150 USD pp including boat tour and road side restaurant meal – quite decadent).

11) HEAD OUT TO THE DESERT: Book a Desert Safari or plan a camping trip independently, overnight in the desert. Desert Safaris are extremely touristy, with lots of dune bashing, sand boarding, belly dancing and henna tattoos. Set expectations low, and enjoy the ride. I personally don’t like it very much. However, going out to the desert independently and camping overnight is an absolutely phenomenal experience, especially with a group of friends. Enjoy the red rolling sands, and wait for night to fall, where you will be able to enjoy some of the best views of the stars in the clear desert sky, and a bit of a chill in the air, with the cool desert nights. Take a few drinks along, and some bonfire equipment. Enjoy some roasted marsh mellows, a fire-side chat, or play mafia around the fire, into the night (Cost: 50 to 100 USD pp for a Desert Safari tour –mildly decadent).