Old Neighbors And Old Memories

Sir,

That was a nice piece. The custom of arriving 1 hour after the prescribed time is not a Pakistani trait alone, its common across the subcontinent. Indian Standard Time (IST) is also known as Indian *Stretched* Time.

regards,

Mani Shankar Aiyar is a sitting Member of Parliament from Tamil Nadu.I do not understand the Lahore connection??.Just curious.


http://www.tn.gov.in/tnassembly/mptn-ls.htm

This was one of those rare India-Pak articles that I enjoyed reading. I hope the Laxmi Mansions thing worked out... did it? Btw, I`m not clear - is it one building or is an enclave kind of a deal? I`d have liked to see a description of it somewhere.

cayenne - MSA was born in Lahore. He`s one of those pan-Indian kind of citizens like the late JN Dixit for eg.

Mr. Khan,

Since you are a history teacher, please honestly answer the following question. Do you teach based on the mullah/govt curriculum of biased history that starts with Qasim and skip all non muslim contributions.

If you don`t, how do get around it without their wrath. And, how prevalent is that.

In Inida, we have our fare share of lies. But, enough sources are available to contradict the lies.

Mr. Khan,

Since you are a history teacher, please honestly answer the following question. Do you teach based on the mullah/govt curriculum of biased history that starts with Qasim and skip all non muslim contributions.

If you don`t, how do get around it without their wrath. And, how prevalent is that.

In Inida, we have our fare share of lies. But, enough sources are available to contradict the lies.

Kaurasach, L.A.S is a private school and it has it`s own curriculm, which is based on the American Principles of Education. The history courses offered are, World History I, World History II, Advance Placement European History, Advance Placement World History, American History, Advance Placement American History, Pakistani History, and history of the subcontinent.

I`ve had Mr. Feroz as my teacher since 9th grade and have taken all the classes he has taught so far in school and shall be taking AP European History with him next year.

I have not taken history of the subcontinent as Mr. Feroz does not teach that subject. I think L.A.S offers a very in-depth, comphrensive, and well-rounded education to her students.

``I was wondering all throughout the dinner, was there a reason that the our governments had created this particular climate, because deep down in their hearts they must realize fully well what would happen if the goodness of the people is allowed to express itself freely? ``

FerozK sahib - you got it captured just right on the money. I wonder, how in the world this Army is pulling through to commit its very own political suicide. I would give the credit to megalomaniac amreeki planners sitting very far from Lahore. The fascist hindu right has just recalibrated their whole politics with Advani`s visit and here Army is administering a lethal potion to its very existence. I hope it turns out as deadly as it looks.

cayenne #2

`` Mani Shankar Aiyar is a sitting Member of Parliament from Tamil Nadu.I do not understand the Lahore connection??.Just curious.
http://www.tn.gov.in/tnassembly/mptn-ls.htm ``

The word ``Aiyar`` is a corruption of the word ``Iyer``. He is a Tamil Brahmin who has settled in the North. This must be the first time he won a election from TN. I doubt he could win election without support of DMK or AIADMK. The guy is a sycophant for the Nehru family. I doubt he spends any time in Tamilnadu. I believe he used to be a MP for a Hindi speaking state. Probably a member of the Rajya Sabha.

heres his photo.

...storm in a tea cup...?

Ref bbabu #8

[The word ``Aiyar`` is a corruption of the word ``Iyer``. He is a Tamil Brahmin who has settled in the North. This must be the first time he won a election from TN. I doubt he could win election without support of DMK or AIADMK. The guy is a sycophant for the Nehru family. I doubt he spends any time in Tamilnadu. I believe he used to be a MP for a Hindi speaking state. Probably a member of the Rajya Sabha.]

You are right on most counts. He in normal times can`t get elected dogcatcher in the Mayiladuthurai Municipality. His consistent sycophancy got him the MP`s seat; that, and the support of all parties except the ADMK-BJP combine in Tamil Nadu.

He is a member of the Lok Sabha not the Rajya Sabha.

I believe he is married to a Punjabi woman, this being the limit of his taste in exotic women. Rajiv Gandhi couldn`t get an Englishwoman and so had to settle for an Italian.

[Soon a couple of people from CID showed up and I accompanied them as they checked the bouquets for bombs.]

This certainly was NOT doing India any favors!

F R Khan

Thanks for capturing these moments.

nhk

A really nice Indo-Pak piece.

Kauray

What you have pointed to is a serious problem.

However Pakistan has several streams of education ... and in most American and British schools the texts used are by foreign authors or are Oxford University Press approved.

Mr Feroz Khan uses ``History of Pakistan in 20th century by Lawrence Zirring`` which is an excellent book ...

Kaurasach # 5

Lahore American School is affliated with the United States` Department of State, and such does not follow the curricula of the Pakistan Board of Education. It is a private school, which is free to decide it own texts books within the parameters as established by the Association of American Middle Schools. LAS offers Islamiyat and Pakistan history, because these two courses are required if LAS students want to attend a college/medical school in Pakistan.

I have also taught at Aitchison College, where I had to teach according to the prescribed curricula of the government`s board of education. In Aitchison, I did not follow the guidelines or the course material as I considered them to be highly biased and historically flawed. I taught from my old college notes. In this, I had the support of Mr. Shamim Khan, the Principal of Aitchison College. I had talked to Mr. Shamim Khan and told him that Pakistan Studies, as taught were nothing more than unbridled lies, and his reply was: teach them the real history!

In LAS, I force the students to think critically and to review the history of Pakistan through unblinkered prism. Haroon Shaikh is one of my students and I am sure that he will attest to the fact that I spare no one or any institution in my class. There have been times, when Haroon was kind enough to warn me that I was moving beyond ``too many danger lines``. I do not teach the mullah/whabbi course and in fact, most of my students are very uncomfortable with my questions and comments on Pakistan.

I think that if real history were to be taught, there would be a lot of people in India and Pakistan, who would get very uncomfortable. In my humble opinion, instead of teaching the reality of the past in India and Pakistan, we teach them the offical mythology, which we call as history; but it is not history. It is a highly skilled revisionism of facts mixed with distortions to create a perception, which is more fiction than it is factual in its over instructional values.

Ciao