Author: Xerxes the Magian

I thought I would share this important comment on Alauddin Khilji in light of the Padmavat defamation. I haven’t seen it yet though but I’ve heard it’s very anti-Alauddin..

I could be wrong but Pakistan’s elites are in the following cities:

Islamabad is the home to the political & bureaucratic elite. Very chaste and crisp Urdu and a real redoubt of the Pakistani government. I spent alot of time in this city when growing up but have found to be a Talibanised version of an English village (I jest but not by much). The main ethnicities are Punjabis, who are thoroughly Urdufied and Pakistanised and Pathans, who are the exotic minority in the city with their colourful language & weird accents.

Pindi (Rawal) is the ugly older sister of Islamabad but of course is where the military is based and so would probably be where all the military elite (which is the shadow government of the country) is based.

Lahore is the home to the economic elite, after all Punjab is the largest and most influential state. It is no Karachi however and is far more regional than cosmopolitan. It has a rough macho culture and can be a bit crude & crass. However as one of Pakistan’s oldest and most prestigious cities it has considerable sway. Punjabi language & ethnicity has obviously a strong sway here as the common tongue mixed in with Urdu of course.

Pakistan’s greatest city (& my personal favorite) is of course Karachi. It may not necessarily have the moneyed but the social trendsetters are here . Predominantly drawn from Pakistan’s once dominant elite (the Urdu-speakers are sort of like the Wasps in Pakistan, a faded elite) who go to certain schools (well only one, KGS), study abroad, live in Defence & Clifton and have a rather hedonistic approach to life (not in the manic way as upper-crust Lahoris but in a more studied & sophisticated way). The living room arbiters of the cultural life of the nation; English-speakers with Muhajir heritage (of course most of these families have intermarried with the locals etc). Love-hate relationship with India and very confused about Pakistan in general; believe that they are the last continuance of the Mughal decadence of Delhite culture. I may be projecting my own love of Karachi here but it really is the Queen of East; the last redoubt of Urdustan.

Much as I like New Delhi (I much prefer New Delhi to Lahore & my truest roots are there since my late grandmother was born in Karol Bagh) it’s not very inspiring to see the Muslims clustered in ghettos like cattle waiting to be slaughtered. Ghalib would probably find Karachi, more than Delhi, to be a more familiar city..

These are K-Jo’s children that he had by surrogacy. They are obviously very cute and beautiful and I’m very happy for him (I’m a huge supporter of surrogacy).

However it seems that they were fertilised with a white egg donor and while I don’t comment on personal choices; I don’t see why he couldn’t have chosen someone of his own race.

What I find strange about Hindutva is that they hate us (the Mughals & their Muslim spawn in India) but are so ambivalent/ almost slavish towards white people.

Classic example of divide & rule; as much as I believe in desi solidarity if a Pakistani or Persian had done such a thing I would not have approved. If one has no pride in one’s colour or heritage then what’s the point

Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong in falling in love with people of different races and have children with them; that’s a very beautiful thing. However to go out of one’s way and pull a Michael Jackson; to try and have super-Aryan children, strikes me as a complex too many.

Furthermore Karan has the onus of being one of the most emulated individuals in India and by somehow sending out the impression that white is right is not healthy for a society that is already ridden with colour complex. Roohi & Yash would have been just as lovely in a darker shade of brown..

I have noticed that desi Hijabi women in Britain have a habit of acting very precious; as though every men is into them.

My second observation that just as some styles suit certain races; does the Hijab suit desi women when one of their prized assets, luxuriant thick hair, is all bundled up?

Finally if the point of the Hijab is to make a woman unattractive then isn’t that something to be discouraged; Model minorities should always put their front foot forward.

ps: Oh My Lord! I had literally just posted this article when my wife prompted me that this is World Hijab Day. That is so shocking like within 2 minutes of this article being published I found that out; quell coincidence!!

I just realised in my reply to Min Min Pucci that Brown Pundits has turned 7 yrs Old over the Christmas – New Year period of 2017.

I had just met my wife-to-be so BP coincides with the definitive end of my single life. December 15 is my birthday and Dec 15′ 2010 (I had just turned 26) is when I met the very brilliant Vidhi; a birthday gift from the gods..

In that same period I remember feverish discussions on the Sepia Mutiny thread board between Razib, Alia and myself. I can’t remember the topic and I prefer the haziness of my memories to the cold hard truth of a google search.. Legends arise in mists after all.

It was a very interesting Christmas/birthday period since I hadn’t travelled anywhere (my job at that time was very demanding) but everyone else had and it was a curiously still moment in my life.

In the script of my life it was the pregnant pause that would birth the events of the next decade. In a way it was a very innocent and idealistic time of my life; passionate about the far rather than the near. Essentially I was ripe to take my blogging to the next level (I had been blogging at my own blog from 2002 but never as far or as wide as I would have liked)..

It was Razib’s idea to start a brown-focussed weblog (to add to his mighty online empire). I jumped on the idea since I work well collaboratively.

I remember I submitted a list of names and Razib pounced on Brown Pundits; so it was a very serendipitous beginning for the first two “Brown Pundits”.

Omar joined almost immediately and became a formidable (and saner voice than mine; the devil in me loves to bait the mob) presence on this blog. We spent most of the first years discussing Pak-nationalism (the gift that keeps on giving to all desi comment forums) until BP “intermitted” (I can’t remember exactly when).

This reboot of BP is a lot quieter but maybe because we’re a lot older..

Nikki can’t express an opinion without being reminded that she’s actually Nimrata.

I’m not even sure “the political cat” is a desi account in which case it’s even more offensive..

Bilawal’s first interview (he did quite well) with the Indian media.

https://www.facebook.com/aqgilani/posts/10159893813260253

Pimp coat though ..

I picked this link on Ajit Pai from Razib’s blog.

But he also caught my attention because Ajit Pai is a Konkani Gaud Saraswat Brahmin—and I am, too. In late 2016, I retired an oral history project on Konkani-speaking Brahmins because I mostly recorded versions of the same fabulous origin story, more legend than history—that we were “pure” light-skinned Brahmins of the north, who traveled to southwestern India after the Saraswati River “went underground.”

I had a GSB friend but that’s beside the point. What I have noticed is that there is an almost compulsive need in Indians to name drop their caste, especially if it is a high one.

There was no need for this author to mention her K-GSB origins but then that wouldn’t allow her to flaunt it.

Thoughts on the Aziz Ansari issue?

I have many but I’ve kept them to myself..

I’ll throw a rather controversial question out there; “has Aziz reinforced certain stereotypes about Brown & maybe Muslim men in the dating market?”

I’m just asking the questions (don’t shoot the messenger) and exploring the issue from a “Brown” “Pundit” angle.

How wrong was Trump?

I’m half Pakistanis & half Iranian. While I have a patriotic love for my origins; it’s hard to deny how disorganised Pakistan & Iran are (to varying degrees).

Obviously what Trump said was offensive however the fact that usually when a country has a diaspora, it means there’s something very wrong with it.

This is of course just my thoughts on the matter; it is offensive but how wrong is it? Is it offensive to tell the truth?