We Punjabis train our eldest son
for the role he will taking up in later life, from
infancy. In our society it is the role of the
eldest son to lead the destiny of the family. He be
well-grounded and versed in his future role from
childhood. He does not have the innocent childhood of the
westerners. He is made constantly aware of his position
vis-à-vis his sisters. If the first born is a son we
distribute sweets. We believe our name and fame to be
in some inexplicable way ,linked to the
sons:).daughters are anathema to us. The main reason
being the son supports the parents in their dotage. The
other reason is the Hindu custom of dowry we have
adopted. We have to give a lot of money and possessions to
the daughter on her marriage. My mothers’ eldest son
was Mushtaq. He was to become the guiding light of our
family through the hard times coming. He was a
taurian:), as such he was very down to earth and fixed
in his ways. A bit stubborn, but withal the most
generous person around. Qualities, which were to stand
him in good stead. He studied in Comilla. His ideal
being a boy by the name of Muqeem. His reason being
that Muqeem was tres honest, straightforward, excelled
in studies and sports, an excellent administrator and
the head boy to boot. Thus even in his childhood
idealization we see the tendency towards leadership. He
The Essay on The Value of Early Childhood Education
Nelson Mandela, the well-know statesmen, once said, “Education is the great engine to personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine that the child of a farm worker can become the president of a great nation. (date, page #)” Image that when you have children will you give your children ...
idealized the qualities of Muqeem and wanted himself
to be like that:).
In Comilla all the students were to
tell the truth, and nothing but the truth. The nuns
were in the habit of washing out with soap the tongue
of the untruthful child. Life was very austere. The
children mostly got boiled vegetable for food, this
then was the character building school from which
Mushtaq graduated with honors to fulfill his destiny
in life:).
Rukhi was a year younger to Mushtaq and was
a cusp lying between Taurus and Gemini. She had a mixed
personality. Talkative, bright and chirpy at one
moment, and the next, the most serious person
around. She was my eldest sister and had a lot of
sibling rivalry with Mushtaq, they being almost the
same age. It is a well documented fact that females do
grow quicker than males. Rukhi was a bit taller than
Mushtaq, to his lasting chagrin and shame. In later
life he overtook her and was the happiest man around. I
still remember the childlike innocence with which the
younger kids took sides with the two juggernauts. Zubi
and me became the followers of Mushtaq while Samina
and Tazeen followed Rukhi. Going at it hammer and tongs.
for us these politics were very real and as important
as the Indo-Pak relationship was for our parents. A toy
car, to the child, may be more important and well loved
than a real car to the grown up. A child is a creature
of selfishness. He has learned to take but not to give.
It be later on in life we realize the importance of
giving. Through the coming crises Rukhi became like a
mother to us, the innocent child hood of both these
siblings of mine was abruptly terminated and they were
brought face to face with real life in the harshest
circumstances possible. My most beloved sister was
Zubi. She was four years younger than Mushtaq and the
most stable personality amongst us. Even as a child she
was the bravest of us all and even went to the
bathroom alone at night. It had long been our custom to
tell tales of djinns and witches before going to bed
The Essay on Child Life Specialist
Specialist matches my personality because I like working with little kids and I like working with problems that others have I have always been the one that all my friends can come to because I like being a problem solver. This job you have to be able to manage emotional stress in working with children who have life threatening diseases. Since this profession does not require to be sitting down in ...
and if we wanted to go to the washroom at night we took
some one with us to stand guard at the door while we
relieved ourselves. Not so Zubi. She went alone and
trumpeting to the bathroom and the next day we had to
listen to all her exploits:).even as a child she
looked out for the smaller kids and kept them safe
know the finer art of swimming. She saved me twice from
drowning. I owe her my life twice over. She was usually
away in Murree, where she was a studying. The day she
came home was the most exciting one for me. Once she
came back and couldn’t recognize me, since I had grown
faaaaaaat:).I started crying. She tried picking me up
but failed due to the weight. She told mom to put me on
her knee and sat with me for one hour.
Little deeds of kindness
Little words of love
Make our earth an Eden
Like the heavens above
Samina was the quiet one. she always liked
her own company better than that
of others. This was not due to any narcissistic
tendencies on her part, but because she was extremely
modest and shy. A warm loving caring child. But totally
self contained and sufficient unto herself. She had few
friends but those she had were for life. A child of few
, but weighty words. She always meant what she said. She
being a capricornian like Tazeen , but diametrically
opposite in temperament. Tazeen was always the life
and soul of the party. An outgoing and vivacious
personality. The inner personality of Samina and Tazeen
were the same, but their outer manifestation was
different. This then, was the family with whom I
started my journey through life:).
My pop wanted to leave
East Pakistan as the situation was getting serious day
by day. The basic problem was that the majority of
Pakistanis resided in East Pakistan, while the
government, civil service and the army was in the
hands of the west Pakistanis. Our family being a prime
example of the colonizing tendencies of the west
Pakistanis. East Pakistan wanted its rights which west
Pakistan was unwilling to give. The attitude of the
West Pakistanis was imperial and harsh. They ruled
The Essay on East-West Encounter In Kamala Markandaya’s Possession
Women Novelists in Indian Fiction in English occupy prestigious position. Kamala Markandaya and Anita Desai occupies a prominent place among them. Many Women Novelists Wrote on the theme of East-west encounter. Kamala Markandaya and Anita Desai also wrote on this theme in their novels Possession and Bye-Bye Blackbird. The theme of East-west encounter refers to the conflicts and reconciliation of ...
supreme. At this time many freedom movements started
in East Pakistan. In the elections sheikh
Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman won with overwhelming majority in east
Pakistan and got a majority in the parliament. But the
West Pakistanis refused to accept him as their
leader. At this juncture there was no choice for the
East Pakistanis, but to find their own destiny with
an independent state……which was to be named
BANGLADESH. All my siblings were away at this time
excepting Tazeen. Cookie studied in Dhaka university
whilst Babbi was preparing to enter the Pakistan
army. My pop recalled all his kids excepting Cookie and
Babbi and prepared to move out of East Pakistan. The
political situation was getting grimmer and grimmer
daily. There was a lot of anti West Pakistani feeling
in the Bengalis. The Bengali had been trodden beneath
the feet of the Punjabi and now he was rising. During
this time Cookie had been having a love affair with
Shilu, a female of the Bengali elite and now he wanted
to marry her:).so our plans for leaving East Pakistan
had to be postponed as we had to attend the wedding of
Cookie. He was married with a lot of fanfare and
celebration in the typical Bengali tradition. Little
did we realize that after much laughter, tears do
come. In life the times of joy and happiness are few
and far between and should be grabbed when they do
come. Each moment should be cherished as if it is the
last moment of life. Live each day for itself because
when it is gone, its gone for good. Moments of joy
should be remembered long after they are gone whilst
sadness , soonest forgotten, is best mended. Learn the
lesson sad incidences impart and forget the heart
break and pain. The Mukti Bahini were the freedom
fighters of the Bengalis. we had been constantly
hearing that they had been causing a lot of damage to
the Pakistani army. They were also killing the
civilians of West Pakistan, who they regarded as enemy
and usurpers. At last the Pakistani army started a
campaign against the Mukti Bahini and drove them out
The Essay on Pakistan-America Relationship
Pakistan’s relations with the U.S. were established and progressed during the rigid cold war period. In start, Soviet influence on Afghanistan and Iran forced Pakistan’s first Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan to cement a pro-American and pro-western policy. Prime Minister Ali Khan made a tireless effort to establish relations with the Soviet Union, repeatedly asking Joseph Stalin for military ...
of Dhaka and into the border areas. We in Sri Pur Tea
Estate knew that during their retreat they would pass
near our plantation, which was right on the border. My
pop had always been a loving and kind
administrator. All our coolies told him to arm them to
fight the Mukti Bahini. But my pop refused. He did not
want Bengalis shedding Bengali blood. He told the
coolies to move to safer places near Dhaka. Only our
immediate family and a Pathan guard were left in the
Tea Estate. Mushtaq had a .22 bore gun for fighting the
might of the guerillas. My pop had a 303.while the
pathan had a shot gun. Even Rukhi, the scion of a
martial race, was armed. She had an air gun. Even though
she knew it to be useless , but it be the gesture of
all out defiance which counted. True bravery is not to
be fearless, for a fearless person be a fool. True
bravery is when our knees do be shaking with fear, yet
we stand defiant in the face of overwhelming odds.
Spitting in the face of fate and fortune, for what we
believe to be right.
The idiot gods you defy.
Same to you are shame and fame and pain.
three men and a girl with an air gun
stood up to defend their hearth and
home against the united might of the Mukti Bahini. the
rest of us were inside the house. I still remember the
bowed head of my mom, bowed in prayer. The stage was
set for the scene of the greatest cruelty of man
towards man. Inexorably leading onwards my tale towards
tragedy, which is unavoidable when one race oppresses
the other.
The end
