Society

Hopeless but not serious

Humayun Gauhar

“Where the hell have you been, old man,” asked Maverick the Monkey. “You don’t look quite yourself. Is something the matter?”

“You don’t look quite so good either,” I replied. “I thought you would be in London with the prime minister’s huge entourage of sycophants, gallivanting around at state expense. You’re not very good at being a chamcha, are you?”

“Nah,” he replied. “Too expensive. My wife always insists on coming along and spends too much money shopping. What the state gives stooges on a joyride as spending money is a pittance. Can just about buy an ordinary meal. Better to stay at home.”

“That makes two of us,” I said, “the difference being that I happily take my wife with me everywhere. I won’t move without her, even when I go to Lahore for a few hours.”

“You’re saying that to save your hide because you know she’s going to read this, aren’t you?”

“No Maverick. I really hate it if she isn’t along.”

“Then she must be the best travelled wife in the world,” said Maverick plaintively.

“Probably,” I mused.

“So what’s wrong with you?” asked Maverick.

“Well, my eyes are going. I can’t see too well any more; even what I write is a blur. I may have to stop writing entirely if this goes on.”

“That’ll be a relief to some,” said Maverick teasingly.

“No, to many, I suspect,” I replied seriously. “They did an angiograph of my eyes and found some liquid behind both my retinas. So they’ll either do some laser treatment or give me three injections in each eyeball, two weeks apart. Neither will undo the damage, but may stop further deterioration. They say it is hemorrhage due to high blood pressure or hypertension, whatever you want to call it.”

“High blood pressure is a symptom, not a disease,” Maverick told me, as if I didn’t know. “It’s usually because of clogged arteries. Is that it?”

“Not that I know of. I’m having an angiograph of my cardiac and renal arteries on Tuesday. Only then will we know for sure. The arteries of my neck are clear. My blood profile is great – high good cholesterol, low bad cholesterol, low lipids and triglycerides, urea, PSA and all the jing-bang lot under control.”

“Then its not ‘pressure’ of the blood flow but ‘tension’ as in hyper, like you’re crazy. What are you so tense about? You’re not carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. If things go to hell, let them. You can’t do anything to stop it even in your own country, leave alone the inevitable ride to hell that Europe is on and America staring military and economic defeat in the face. Whatever will be will be – Quai Sera Sera.

Maverick continued impishly, “They must have told you to lose weight, fatso, and stop smoking cigars.”

“I don’t need a doctor to tell me that. Even a monkey can see it. Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you or perjure monkeys. Please don’t take it personally. I like you and your wisdom-filled visits.”

“Watch it. You’re not on one of your television programmes on which you can say anything and everything and get away with it. Remember, you are descended from us monkeys, and ‘descended’ is the operative word here, for you are a descent in evolution. If you had been an ascent, the phrase would have been ‘ascended from the monkeys’.”

“Have it your way,” I said. “My optical condition is hopeless but not serious. The doctor has put me on a fruit diet, so I’m now like you monkeys, but the situation is hopeless because I love good food. I am a chef and am going to start a restaurant soon. My wife is skeptical about it, so I’m thinking of calling it ‘Khyali Pulao’. It is Pakistan’s national dish – Imaginary Pilaf – living in a dream world. But then dreams are the stuff reality is made of. However, the situation is not serious because I have stopped smoking. Instead, I’ve switched to those electronic ‘cigarettes’ and don’t miss my cigars any more. But I know one thing. Even if I lose weight and stop smoking, my hypertension won’t go away. There’s something called wear and tear, you know.”

“That’s the attitude,” my friend. “Take things as they come, especially those you can do nothing about. Start dictating, to man or machine. Go get one of those Samsung Galaxy II Note gizmos that can take dictation in Pakistani English and transcribe at the same time. Every problem has a solution. You only have to find it.”

“Well, I just have to sell one more puppy to buy one,” I said.

“I know that great mystical verse must be swirling around in your head: ‘Kagha sub tun khaiyo, chun chun khaiyo maas ray; do naina mut khaiyo, inhain piya Milan key aas ray’ – ‘O crow, eat my entire body, pick on it morsel by morsel; but don’t eat my eyes for they are longing to meet their Beloved’.”

“Look, Maverick,” I said, using a most unfortunate phrase for one losing the ability to look. “My inner eye is just fine. Some of us can see the Beloved even on the earth plane.”

“So what does your inner eye tell you about our country?” asked Maverick seriously.

“Frankly, my inner eye says the same thing: ‘The condition is hopeless, but not serious’. It is hopeless for the underprivileged many but not serious for the charmed few. Whatever the outcome of our crises, which in all probability will be more crises, the charmed few will always remain on top of the heap, particularly as long as they keep the masses hopeless with the old nostrum that, ‘God ordained your condition to be so. It’s a divine test’.”

“I agree,” said Maverick. “But things are also hopeless because the will and ability of those who you have charged to do something about it are wanting. However, they are not serious if one has the capacity to find solutions and the will to implement them.”

“It’s a learning process,” I said. “Let it continue. Don’t abort it. Let it get as bad as it may. Only through suffering will we learn. It may take us beyond our lifetimes, but at least our progeny will live better lives.”

“What’s the guarantee?” asked Maverick mockingly. “In any case, I don’t know what you mean by ‘let the process continue’. Even what you call abortion is part of the evolutionary learning process, be it intervention by the age-old military-judiciary-cleric nexus or chaos and anarchy or revolution. They are not aberrations just because you don’t like them. Let whatever has to happen, happen. Then roll with the punches, get up, dust yourself down and get on with it. In the meantime, you really have made humans of yourselves, haven’t you?”

I knew Maverick was using the word ‘humans’ where we humans would use ‘monkeys’.

“Very funny,” I said. “How can you say that?”

“Look at what you’ve done to poor Khalil Gibran. You’ve done his ‘Pity the Nation’ to death. He must be turning in his grave. There are people who are even adding to it. ‘Pity the nation that thinks a Liquid Propane Gasbag is a sage and its real seers are foreign agents and real agents are seers’. Or how about: ‘Pity the nation whose prime minister would upset the system to protect $60 million dollars stolen from the people’. Or, ‘Pity the nation whose judges order its prime minister to do something that he thinks violates his oath and the constitution’. You want me to go on? ‘Pity the nation that doesn’t understand the spirit of its constitution nor the intent of its makers, but interprets it to mean what suits them’.”

“Stop, Maverick,” I screamed. “You’re going to be hauled up for contempt like the prime minister.”

“Sadly, your rulers only play to the gallery,” said Maverick, “and very badly too I might add. But one day the right things will be done, when the movie ‘Planet of the Apes’ becomes reality. You’re not too far away from it. Good thing is, we won’t have to lobotomize you. You’ve already lobotomized yourselves.”

humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com

Avoid Needless Surcharges & Interest Payments – Pay Bills Ahead of Time

No one wants to be charged extra money – especially when it comes to bank and credit company charges and fees.  Many of the times consumers get “into trouble “with unplanned and unexpected bank “service “fees and interest charges” due to a lack of understanding or comprehension of basic credit terms and banker’s definitions.  The rules are there to serve the bankers and the banking systems to increase their profits – all at your expense.  Hence it pays, and will save you money, time and frustration if you have a basic understanding of the rule of the road – that is common credit terms and definitions.  If you want to play with the big boys – you have to abide by the rules of their game and games.

Payment is Due on the Due Date:

First of all before explaining the terms that are commonly used in mercantile credit, it is important to understand the standard banking industry practice of using 30 day months, 90 day quarters and 360 day years.  Some people have children, whereas others have anal retentive accountants it seems.   Perfectionists, (amongst them whom, by their very nature and natures, one can, should and really must include most accountants. It’s a sad truism of life, none the less), you can count will persist in applying the exact days of the month in determining the precise due date of a transaction.  True computers and computerization in accounting have automated the drudgery of basic accounting practices greatly.  Yet it’s a case of simply more mud being thrown up against the wall – more quickly and with greater volumes.  Things for most of us with charge cards, bank loans and monthly auto payments have gotten worse not better.  Everything is now automated.  For the most part if you run into “problems” there is “no one” to talk to.  The basis of staying out of trouble is to do everything you can to stay above board with automated systems and under the radar as a none or late payer. If you can stay out of tripping alarm filters, red lines and the like which draw attention to yourself or your financial accounts – your life and frustration levels will be much more tolerable and enjoyable. Hence have an understanding and comprehension of bankers systems and how they assess fees and extra charges.  Do your best not to cross any thresholds to draw attention to yourself or create needless warning signals & alarms.

Bankers & Lenders Will Expect Payment on the Due Date:

You can count on a truism of the universe.  That is bankers and other lenders of money and capital will continue to employ their basic procedure of counting exact dates when accounts are due.  Thus if a demand note is due in 30 days , that is precisely and exactly  when the banker will expect payment. Count on it.

Pay Any & All Charges & Fees a Few Days Ahead of Time for Processing:

Thus if you have a credit card invoice or bank statement ensure that you make provisions that payment is made on time.  With many charge cards now, they insist on a clearing period.  Thus even if a due date is clearly marked on the bill, they will insist on payment 3 days or so ahead of time “for processing”.  What is amazing in this situation is that even if you pay the exact financial institution directly online or in person on the due date stated on their document – this is not good enough and you may well be billed those extra unwanted charges.

Pay Your Bills Avoid Extra Fees Bank & Credit Card Charges & Fees & Retain a Good Credit Record & Report:

So what is the summary in dealing with banks, charge cards and other financial institutions in terms of their bills and statements?  Pay your bills, pay at least the minimum and lastly pay ahead of time, not at the last minute.  The idea is to stay under the radar with all of the automated financial systems we have in 2012.  By doing so your life will be a lot easier, you will encounter less needless financial frustrations that’s solving can only waste your time and energy.  You will be saving yourself needless bank fees, charges and interest payments.  Lastly you will keep your vital credit record and history in good stead.

Thomas Medicine Hat

Many Edmonton auto shoppers want easy convenient one stop shopping for both their car or truck as well as credit financing.

Yet prairie advises its best to shop around for auto & truck financing.  While you may drive off the dealer’s lot with  “instant credit ” or “buy here finance your truck here“  terms . Yet this may not be the best deal for you or your family budget.  Take the time and extra effort to visit , email and phone various reputable Alberta financial institutions.  If well worth the extra effort, to reduce your payments and cash outlay from your pocketbook and families budget advises Prairie.

logicalfools.com
News, views and reviews. Local Eyes, Global Perspective

The Worm Does Turn

Humayun Gauhar

When people ask me whether we will arrive at a more equitable relationship with America wherein we agree to reopen NATO supplies routes and let them continue drone strikes and on what terms, I tell them the following stories.

Once upon a time there was a king. His courtiers always told him, “All is well – sub theek hai – the people love you, Sire.”  One day the king came out of his comfort zone and decided to put his people’s love for him to the test. He ordered that every morning when they enter the city gates they should be hit two times on their bare common bottoms with wet leather shoes. He would see if this would make his people turn or not.

After a month his courtiers told him that the people still loved him. “Okay,” said the king. “Beat them twice again as they leave at the end of the day. Then we’ll see.” And so it came to pass. After another month the courtiers informed the king that his people still loved him. Frustrated, he ordered that the number of shoe strikes be increased to ten each, morning and evening, like some medicine to arouse self-esteem. After some time the king’s courtiers informed him that a delegation of citizens desired an audience with him. “The worm has finally turned,” thought the king, overjoyed. “My people can grow a spine after all.” Much to the king’s disgust and dismay the delegation had a simple request: “Please increase the number of people administering the shoe beatings because ten strikes take too much time and we are late for work and late back home.” Angry, the king asked them in high dudgeon: “Don’t you have any self-respect that you are happy to be beaten on your bare bottoms every day?” Came the worm’s obsequious response: “What were bottoms made for, Sire? Beat us if it pleases you, but please also take our convenience into consideration.” The king gave up. Dejected, he said out loud: “The worm will never turn. My people are hopeless.” The king stopped the shoe beatings as an utter waste of time.

We have nearly always had much the same sort of relationship with our rulers, native or foreign, overt or covert, and those waiting in the wings to take the helm yet again. We had the same relationship with our British masters not so long ago. After ‘independence’ that relationship transferred to the new cock of the walk, the United States of America. Nothing new: we have kowtowed to all conquerors and self-serving princelings, potentates and satraps. The few who don’t kowtow and fail to enrich themselves are regarded as stupid by the supine. The question then arises: Are submission and slavery in our genes? Is it in ourselves that we are underlings?

It gets worse. When I was a little boy last century I had a Pathan Ayah named Rahima. She was the second concurrent wife of a man named Haibat Khan, a name that means ‘Fearsome Khan’. Rahima would proudly tell my mother that her husband beat her more than his first wife “because he loves me more. Since I’m young and beautiful he fears that I might get up to some hanky-panky. He doesn’t care for that old hag of a first wife of his.” It’s the same with us. We fool ourselves into believing that America is being so rough with Pakistan because we are very important to it, “our critical geostrategic position, you see.” We are happy to suffer. If America ignored us we would be unhappy, because that would mean that we are not important. Such is the mindset of the enslaved who don’t even know their rights, their faith, are bereft of ideology, concerned only with personal well being at the expense of others without giving two hoots for the greater good. Our ruling gang, in government or opposition, is akin to the black slave foreman who would whip other slaves on behalf of his master if they picked cotton slowly. The slaves called the foreman ‘boss’. Most Third World countries like ours are America’s foremen, as indeed they were foremen for the British not so long ago. Where do you think our landlords, judges, bureaucrats, military officials and the entire class conceived by Lord Macaulay comes from – ‘Englishmen in every respect except for the colour of their skins.” What is the most important aspect of “every respect”? It is the mindset. They learn to think like the master and adopt his value system. Why? To be good foremen and slave drivers they must pre-guessing what exactly it is that the master wants, that’s why, to do their dirty work for them without having to be told – like Jeeves, always striving to please. Our ruling gang is Jeeves for our current master to whom we were sold some six and a half decade ago.

I hope you have noticed that I have said ‘ruling gang’ rather than ‘ruling class’. I hate such labels, for they generalize. Ruling class should broadly mean all those who are in what one calls the upper middle class, the rich, the powerful and influential. The majority of the ruling gang comes from this class, particularly of the feudal variety, except for some honourable few. Not all members of the ruling class – or to use the much-misused word ‘elite’ – belong to the ruling gang and think like slaves or slave drivers. Which is why there is hope yet. They are the true elite, a word that means the best, cream of the cream. A not very well off poet or writer who wields great influence is amongst the elite of his society. Allama Iqbal, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Habib Jalib spring to mind. They were the elite amongst poets and thinkers of not only their time but for all times to come and influenced people a lot. They can never be equated with slave drivers for it was the slave drivers that they were out to obliterate.

We will certainly ‘reset’ our relationship with America. In any case, it is stupid to have no relationship or an adversarial relationship with still the most powerful country in history. It may be less inequitable than before, but it will still be inequitable nevertheless. In any case, bankrupt countries whose economies are aid-driven and dependent on handouts like slaves’ finances always are can hardly have a strong negotiating position much less take the high road. Our bondage was well underlined last week when, with negotiations still underway, America didn’t even give our government the fig leaf of informing us before striking us again with their drone, as they had done in Abbotabad and Salala earlier. For all our big talk, what have we done about it? Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Not even the same threatening noises as before. It’s a crass display of impotence.

The worm does turn. It is only a question of how much more oppression and time it takes. Look at Iran, Kashmir, Muslim North Africa and the Middle East recently. Forget that. Remember how our forefathers and mothers ‘turned’ to wrest a new country out of India? They ‘turned’ because at that time our leadership was not a self-obsessed gang. So let me end with my last story.

Once upon a time there was a man who was tall, slim and smart. He had a long, wizened face that the English so love. He spoke English better than his native tongues. He had great leadership and communications skills. He was educated in England and became a famous politician, though he saw many failures at the beginning of his political career. He was admired at home and abroad. He was a private man and frugal, to put it politely. He loved dogs. His financial honesty was beyond reproach. He was naturally bold and took risks. He played to win, not to avoid losing. He had tunnel vision and never said die. He had an unsuccessful marriage to a non-Muslim, divorced and the wife took the offspring to England. People called him all sorts of names.

I’m sure you’re thinking I’m talking of Imran Khan. No, I’m talking of a man whom his adoring people called ‘Great Leader’ because he helped them turn. Yes, the worm does turn when it gets the leadership.

humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com

Make for a More Enjoyable Life – Have Fun – Eliminate Clutter

Some people are messier than others. Some go through life as if permanently in a restaurant or bar where servers and staff take care of them 24/7. In some cases they live Scot-free at someone else’s expense – a queen on a luxury trip whereas others ….

What ever the level of disorder in your life and home you can start to solve the problem. In some cases it’s a wholesale cost saving approach whereas with others it’s a bit of the steak bite by bite.

First of all get a handle on the clutter in your life and background. After all you want more to your life than just the four walls at home. You do wan to venture out in the world – whether our for a meal at night with friends or your neighborhood bar or sports lounge. Clutter is a sign that our life is cluttered with low priority minutia. Clear your abode and move your life forwards. Have fun.

It’s neither easy task nor a cake walk to get a handle on clutter. No doubt it’s a case of acknowledging the problem and then a determined effort to make changes. One elderly man had a wife who just left things as they were around the house. The place as a sister in law to be noted was “frightening”. The spouse tried and tried but as he said “people (meaning his wife), just won’t put things away”. On top of that the woman smoked cigarettes, not for enjoyment of an addiction – but to lose weight or keep trim and attractive for the other sex. Yet she did not inhale tobacco smoke what so ever into her lungs. It was way past the bar scene for her. On evening after returning from work, the man found fire trucks outside his house, and fireman trampling around. It seems a smoldering cigarette in a dry plant had started a small fire. It was a case of the powers of the universe taking care of the problem. Everything was trashed and the insurance company took care of the cleanup. End of the horror movie and the day’s entertainment.

Nothing is easy in life. Yet the major things in life, that count, are both basic and take determined time, effort and follow through. Nothing is for nothing so to speak and there is no such thing as a free lunch or dinner. It can be summarized best – free up the clutter that abounds about you in your abode and clear up your mind. You will ultimately have a more pleasurable, less stressful life having fun with friends and family. Why not go out afterwards completing your clean up for a Bud, spud  steak at your local sports bar?

Its a hectic Manitoba world out there – a nice night out might be a spin for  Canad Inn Winnipeg Bud Spud & Steak deal .  Book by phone or on-line

logicalfools.com
News, views and reviews. Local Eyes, Global Perspective

It’s ‘it’

Humayun Gauhar

When I heard the verdict against the prime minister in the contempt of court case, Akbar Allahabadi’s verse came to mind:

Muzzakar kay liyay ‘he’ hai, mouannas kay liyay ‘she’ hai;

Magar Hazrat mukhannas hain, na heeon mein na sheon main.

It’s a parody on the English words ‘he’ and ‘she’, while ‘mukhannas’ refers to eunuchs.

For male it is ‘he’, for females ‘she’;

But esquire is sexless, neither in the ‘hees’ nor the ‘shes’

The verdict is neither he nor she. It’s ‘it’. Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gillani was convicted, but his punishment was detention in court till the judges choose to ‘rise’. It lasted 39 seconds. Having given their short order, the judges collected their wigs and gowns, rose and left, leaving the defence counsel speechless, to have his say later in a press conference. We are moving towards trial in media rather than by media.

What can I say? Why didn’t the judges go the whole hog, sentence the prime minister to six months and say that as a convict he is no longer eligible to be a member of parliament and thus no longer prime minister? It would have been clear and we would have gone on with our wretched existence. Instead, our confusion has been further compounded. If the judges just wanted to make a token example of the high and mighty by showing them that they are not above the law, they only made our uncertainty more uncertain. If they sidestepped the issue of eligibility and threw the ball into parliament’s court, then we are in for the long haul and much errant nonsense. Perhaps the bench divided, resulting in something for everyone – punish the prime minister without really punishing him.

The contempt case was a sideshow. The real show is to get President Zardari thorough the Swiss courts and make him return the $60 million that he and his wife stole from the people. Not a bad thought, but why depend on a foreign court? Why not order the Lahore High Court to start the retrial of the case that the Supreme Court had asked it to years ago? That court had found Zardari and Benazir guilty of corruption, but because of a taped telephone conversation between a judge adjudicating the case and a government official, it was rightly declared a mistrial by the Supreme Court, which asked the High Court for a retrial. It didn’t throw the judgment out. Why has that been hanging fire for years? Why throw the ball into the Swiss court instead?

The prime minister’s refusal to write a letter to the Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Zardari despite repeated orders by the Supreme Court over two years led to the contempt. Gillani’s reasoning is not without merit: the president has immunity under the constitution while in office. By writing the letter he would be violating his constitutional oath to preserve and protect the constitution by violating its Article about immunity. Those opposed to the PM’s contention dug up history: two of Islam’s greatest caliphs had presented themselves before a court. They forget that it was a court of their own state, not a foreign court of a non-Muslim country. Those great caliphs would never have countenanced going to a foreign court nor been sent there by their own court. Forgotten is something more important: the concept of immunity does not exist in Islam. To provide constitutional immunity to certain state office holders in an Islamic republic is a violation of the Faith. What is needed is an amendment of the constitution, instead of tying ourselves into knots.

The net result is that convicted prime minister or not, new prime minister out of this National Assembly or not, the letter will not get written so long as there is a People’s Party led government headed by a People’s Party prime minister. Q.E.D.

Our confusion gets further compounded while urgent cases remain pending and Pakistan hurtles into incremental chaos. This is what happens when a country is being led in every branch and at every level by hollow men, more interested in creating optics, enhancing their importance and expanding their jurisdictions than in solving the people’s basic problem of abject deprivation. Such people are themselves mukhannas ‘its’.

It would be unfair to write about the verdict until one has read the full judgment. But the question cries out: why did the Supreme Court reserve judgment in the first place? One would have thought that they did because they wanted to deliberate before arriving at a conclusion and release the full judgment the same day as the verdict was handed down. After all, this is not a case of Gangu Taili committing contempt. It is the Prime Minister of Pakistan for God’s sake. Not good for the country or the democratic process that is evolving in fits and starts and which all today’s protagonists made such a big deal of in President Musharraf’s time. We are told that the judgment was delivered to the Speaker of the National Assembly that elects the prime minister and to the Election Commission last Friday, but I haven’t seen it yet.

How can the prime minister be removed?

He can be persuaded to resign by the president or his party for the greater good to avoid a tamasha. No surprise that many in the People’s Party are preening their feathers for the job, but only the one who pleases the president will wear this crown of thorns.

Being an ex-convict, does he attract the article in the constitution pertaining to ineligibility? The Election Commission can determine this but only if the Speaker of the National Assembly refers the matter to it. The Speaker can only do so if parliament asks her to. And then she can take a month to decide.

He loses a no-confidence vote, which is up to the opposition that doesn’t have the numbers.

What are the prime ministers options? He can buy time, but only for a time. It seems difficult how he will get out of this one for long. He has made a defiant speech in the National Assembly saying that he will not leave office unless the Speaker asks him to. He can buy time by:

Going into an intra-court appeal, which means to another bench in the Supreme Court comprising other judges. It is unlikely that another bench will embarrass its brother bench even if the prime minister’s appeal has merit. But the PM could buy a lot of time in so doing.

He asks the National Assembly for a vote of confidence which he will get.

He calls elections; the People’s Party plays victim-victim at which it is champion, and wins. However, that doesn’t get rid of his conviction so whether Gillani can contest or not is moot.

He gets super defiant and asks parliament to ratify his Executive Order restoring the sacked judges. Parliament refuses to do so and the judges are out again. That would mean war, serious war, between the three branches of government.

The National Assembly, representing the will of the people, elects the prime minister and only the National Assembly can throw him out. Parliament is the only institution higher than the Supreme Court and that is where the PM can and should go. It is about time parliament stamped its authority on the state instead of being a rubber stamp. It would make for a head-on-clash between the legislature and the judiciary but it’s also about time that we clearly demarcate the boundaries of the jurisdictions of the three branches government. It’s not the Durand Line. Let’s determine who runs the country, the executive, the legislature or the judiciary or all three together within their strictly demarcated domains. Just when the country needs stability most, the three branches of government are busy destabilizing it like Mafiosi in turf battles. But they’re not Mafiosi, they’re institutions that some ignoramuses call ‘pillars of the state’, forgetting that an Islamic state has only two pillars, God and the people, His vicegerent.

They should realize that they’re preparing the ground for yet another extra-constitutional intervention that people will welcome. But this time it may not be led by a four-star general.

humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com

Workplace Decision Making – When Managment Must Make Decisions Alone

Making a decision is not a very easy task. This is especially true when the outcome of the decision can affect many individuals or the make or break of a project or product. Because of this people who make decisions typically seek the counsel of other people. Presidents or leaders have their own group of advisers that can help them in determining the appropriate judgment to certain situations and problems. Even ordinary people ask advice to others when making decisions. However there are also instances when we, as a leader or as an individual, have to decide on our own. Here are some instances that require making the decisions alone.

As a Leader Take Time to Assess Your Subordinates Capacities:

When you are a leader, you can very well asses your subordinate’s capacities. Because of that you can tell if they can contribute to your wise decision making or not. So in cases when you are sure they cannot give out sensible suggestions and solutions then you better do the deciding alone. Anyway, you are the leader which means you have the proper right and cognition to resolve.

Sometimes it’s best For the Leader to Be the Final Arbitrator & Decision Maker:

There are decisions made which can affect the whole group or company greatly. And in this case, only the leader or president takes the whole blame. Because of this, it is important that the leader make the decision alone. Though he can take advises from other people, it is still important that he make the decision on his own so that he will be firm on standing with that decision. Most especially when the time comes that he need to take the consequences of that decision.

On the Other Side Sometimes the Best Decision Is The One With the Least Consequences:

On a lighter side, there are instances when decision making is just a matter of choosing which is better though the consequence will be almost tantamount whatever decision is taken. This makes the decision making barely a matter of personal preference which is easy for any leader to do alone.

Sometimes the Best Decision is Derived Solely from Personal Intuition:

Coming up with your own decision alone is also encouraged when the judgment can be made based on intuitions and previous personal experiences. This is where great leaders are taken apart from not so good ones. The good ones were able to convert their past experiences into something that they can use in determining out their action during certain situations. It is important to remember that our intuition can make us survive during hard times so trust it. Never ever let others’ opinions or suggestions sway your strong intuition as much as possible stand by it all the time.

Emergencies Often Demand Quick Decision Making on the Spot:

Emergency situations oftentimes require quick-decisions that deciding alone is better. By deciding on your own, one need not to call meetings that can only be set when the other individuals are available that is why decision can be made relatively faster. Fast decision making can sometimes save the day so do not hesitate to make one when needed.

Two Heads & Shared Input Can Be Better Though Not Always Possible:

It is true that two-heads are better than one which can be applied when one is making a decision. Nevertheless a little confidence on experiences and gut feelings can make the process also logical. When you encounter the above situations, give yourself the full confidence to decide and take all the responsibility as well.

Robert St. Vital

Robert has many years practical experience in the employment counselling and resume writing service industries

Robert helps both local Winnipeg & overseas internet job seekers find and land Canadian and local Winnipeg jobs on-line

As St Vital frequently says – if you don’t pound the rat ( computer on-line mouse) you won’t get those on-line or in person job interviews.

After all its one big world and one big Winnipeg job shop out there.

logicalfools.com
News, views and reviews. Local Eyes, Global Perspective
http://logicalfools.com/

Peace the only option

Humayun Gauhar

Anyone that thinks that war is an option has got to be a nut. Anyone that thinks that war between nuclear- armed countries is an option should be committed. Nuclear weapons are there to stop wars from happening, not to start them. By that measure Israel’s Netanyahu should be in the nut house.

Peace is the only option, peace that is acceptable to all sides. That is honourable. Else it is not peace at all, only an illusion of it. India and Pakistan are champion illusionists, but illusionists would know better anyone that illusions evaporate very fast.

Pakistanis are a very optimistic people, a most endearing, quality and a very big strength. Any India-Pakistan summit and we feel that peace is at hand. Most laudable, for it underlines not only that we are an optimistic but also fundamentally a peace loving people who want to get on with their lives. Which makes our lack of peace at home ironic, but that is another subject. When our Zardari recently broke bread with their Manmohan Singh in Delhi, we went through naive excitement for the umpteenth time. If you really want peace certain realities have to be borne in mind.

India’s state terrorism particularly in Kashmir begets and reinforces freedom struggles what it calls non-state terrorism. Blaming Pakistan deflects attention from its state terrorism. Sure Pakistan gives it succor as any adversary would, like India did the ‘Mukti Baheni’. But it was our own state terrorism and iniquity against the Bengalis that caused it. India took advantage, as any adversary would.

If Pakistan were to ignore Kashmir the struggle might lose some of its teeth, but only for a while, for soon it will grow new ones. The Kashmir revolt is a creation of Indian intransigence that Pakistan takes advantage of. I have always said: state terrorism begets non-state terrorism. Non-state terrorism will remain no matter how many treaties you sign while brushing cores issues under a carpet dyed in human blood and woven with the weak threads of bilateral trade, film productions and cricket matches. As long as state terrorism persists non-state terrorism will continue. Period. I cannot understand why the world cannot comprehend such a self-evident truth.

India is a large country with a small country mentality whereas Pakistan is a relatively small country with a big country mentality. Ours comes from the millennium-long Muslim rule over India. Conversely, India’s comes from being ruled by Muslims for over a millennium. I don’t know how much currency this theory has, but both countries should have disabused themselves of such complexes by now. India, I feel, is beginning to get out of this mindset with its economic upswing, but it will not be totally eradicated until the next generations in both countries take the helm for they are less burdened by stories of slavery and Partition. Land and population sizes don’t matter, the human condition does. That the majority of our peoples live in abject poverty makes us puny. By that measure – and it is the only relevant measure – Singapore is a much bigger country than either India or Pakistan. Its real resource is the high quality of its leadership and its greater human capital development. By these measures, India and Pakistan are pathetic.

Strong and wise rulers on both sides can bring detente. Neither Zardari nor Manmohan can be accused of either strength or wisdom. Cleverness: yes. Strength: hardly. Wisdom: a big fat no. Only strong and wise leaders can ‘sell’ an inevitably compromise-laden agreement to their peoples without their patriotism being questioned, their opponents making capital out of it and a ratings-hungry media taking jibes at them.

The great anomaly is where real power lies in both countries. It should with the chief executive who is the head of state and prime minister. But both countries are dynasty ridden. So in Pakistan it lies with the constitutionally ceremonial president because he is also co-chairman of the ruling party by virtue of being Benazir Bhutto’s widower. That is where his power comes from. In India, an Italian catholic lady is leader of the ruling party only because she is Rajiv Gandhi’s widow. That is where her power comes from.

Manmohan Singh is a weak, proxy prime minister as is Pakistan’s Yusuf Reza Gillani. Singh belongs to the small Sikh minority and is keenly aware that he has to go the extra mile to ‘prove’ his patriotism in the backdrop of the Sikh rebellion for an independent state during the eighties, the storming of the Golden Temple and the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh body guards. Gillani is in office at Zardari’s pleasure while he and his son are running from the courts.

Both countries face difficult elections soon, as does their great ‘ally’ America. America will have a determining say in any India-Pakistan deal. All decisions by these three countries now will be heavily informed by the need to get re-elected.

Without the military leaderships of both countries on board any expectation of a meaningful deal is a pipedream. While our army’s role in policy-making is well known, the Indian military’s role is camouflaged. Nothing new: the US military often plays a decisive role in foreign and defence policy. If it did not Iran would have been attacked by the Bush the Brat.

Should we forget the ‘core issue’, Kashmir and the UN resolutions asking for a plebiscite there? Or should we sort it out first. Or, should we put it on the backburner and normalize relations in other areas – which India calls ‘Confidence Building Measures’? Kashmir will not let us forget it as long as a freedom struggles rages there. And it will continue raging with or without our support. In fact, the Kashmiri freedom fighters could even turn on us for abandoning them. As long as the Kashmiri freedom struggles continues unresolved the sword of Damocles will keep hanging over our heads for it takes only one madman on either side to vapourize all of South Asia. Best to do all simultaneously – core issue, other delimitation issues and CBMs – what Musharraf and Vajpayee agreed to, a ‘Composite Dialogue’ and hope for the best. What is needed is simultaneous statesmanship and raw guts on both sides. Leave it to the functionaries and we will continue nitpicking for another six decades.

India and Pakistan should stop tussling over an America-free Afghanistan and arrive at a mutually acceptable understanding. Afghanistan may not want either of us anyway. As if killing ourselves over Kashmir isn’t enough, we cannot go killing ourselves over Afghanistan too.

Illogical demands should stop. Asking for Hafiz Saeed without furnishing adequate proof is illogical. America has to ship up or shape out of the India-Pakistan equation instead of being a fly in the ointment by placing a bounty on Saeed’s head one day and then changing it to a bounty for evidence two days later. If you don’t even have evidence what the hell are you doing placing a bounty on someone head? The only sense it makes is that you are trying to derail the normalization process.

America wants peace for its own reasons.

1.   It realizes that war between India and Pakistan is no longer an option. Another war between them could well mean another World War. The US and its traditional allies will suffer unacceptable multi-sectoral damage, regardless of what happens to India and Pakistan.

2.   It wants to an India free from ‘Pakistani sniping’ to focus on creating an economic and military bulwark against fast-growing Chinese economic and military might.

The conundrum is that while America says it wants India-Pakistan normalization, it doesn’t want them ganging up to form a South Asian Economic Association or some such, which has the seeds of becoming another giant. Worse, Pakistan’s presence could be instrumental in bringing China into the fold as India could Russia. Can you then imagine what a ‘monster’ the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation with the South Asian Economic Association could become? Soon energy-rich Iran and the Central Asian states would want to be part of the action.

They needn’t worry, though. America is so far ahead in the sciences – medicine, genetics, space, computer sciences and so much more – that it cannot lose its position of preeminence though it will certainly lose some of its monopoly. No bad thing for America either, for sharing over-lordship might bring it’s foreign and defence policies into the realm of civilization and rationality.

humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com