November 1, 2024
ISLAMABAD – MUKESH Ambani, of the unending wedding ceremonies fame, recently enlightened Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about the Sanskrit meaning of his company’s name and its significance in the logframe of progress.
A little digression: we just witnessed two important conclaves where world leaders and nations aspiring to join their ranks got together to discuss ways of cooperation and agree upon the rules of competition. Pakistan hosted the delegates of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Islamabad, and Russian President Vladimir Putin recently welcomed the world leaders at the BRICS summit in Kazan. Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar attended the Pakistan moot and Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the BRICS meeting. He met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines.
Easing one of the irritants between them, India and China have agreed to resume patrols along the disputed Line of Actual Control in Ladakh. Soon after Mr Modi returned home, the CEO of Nvidia, a leader in chipmaking and AI, visited India. We, too, can claim that Bill Gates, another tech giant, visits Pakistan more often than he goes to his company headquarters. But alas! He comes here to share his concerns over our horrific failure on the polio front: over 40 new cases so far this year. Who knows what else he discusses while here? We only hear the bits and pieces about giving each family free-range chicken to have fresh eggs. News on this enlightening front has also dried up since Imran Khan’s imprisonment.
Returning to Ambani’s pearls of wisdom, he informed Mr Huang that in Hindi, ‘Vidya’ is the name of Sarasvati, the goddess of knowledge. In the Vedic scheme of things, one who prays to the goddess of knowledge gets the attention of Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity. In other words, to borrow from the geeky world of IT, knowledge and prosperity are interconnected on the circuit board of progress; without this connection, the motherboard of any development strategy is nothing but a motherlode of chicken droppings.
It is not as if no one of consequence visited us following the SCO summit. The English cricket team was here. Entire transport systems like the celebrated Metro between Rawalpindi and Islamabad were suspended, and major highways and arteries connecting the twin cities and beyond were routinely closed to facilitate the 20-strong visiting squad’s commute between their hotel in Islamabad and the match venue in Rawalpindi.
It is beyond comprehension why these cricketers could not stay at a hotel in Rawalpindi to spare millions of people daily misery on the roads. If the five-star hotel in the garrison city does not meet the visiting princelings’ standards, other accommodations are there to give any manor or mansion a run for their money. They can also be put through the rigours of Kakul Academy, albeit much closer to the sea level, while there.
On conclaves and sporting events and their follow-up, one has never heard a squeak from any quarter regarding the gains and investments resulting from these spectacles. It would be great if the Pakistan Cricket Board or some chamber of commerce could tell us about revenue generation or a boost to the local economy from these unending hosting sprees. The state of planning that goes into these adventures could be discerned from the fact that stadium renovations are undertaken without any regard for timelines for the upcoming series. This recently resulted in most matches being played in Multan and Rawalpindi. Lahore has to be skipped, as we cannot risk thousands of PTI supporters turning it into a political gala. It is not for nothing that cricket and the interior ministry are entrusted with the same person.
A few years back, we celebrated the return of international cricket to Pakistan. Remember, no one wanted to come here after the attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009? One would like to ask who adopted and emboldened the forces who attacked the visiting team. The same benefactors now want us to celebrate the return of international cricket, but to what end, one must ask? To close down entire cities so that some boys could play ball?
Petty differences apart, all religions, ideologies, and philosophies hold the knowledge and its acquisition in the highest esteem. May we be granted some common sense, if not wisdom, to stop being mesmerised by jets doing aerobatics while letting off coloured smoke during parades and boys playing cricket to satisfy the ‘boys’ vanity.
We need to earn some Lakshmi. We cannot live on borrowed money or ideologies. We must decide whether to pursue a future of BRICS and SCO or be at the mercy of the bricks and stones brigade hell-bent on taking us back to the Stone Age.