It is always a matter of pride for us teachers when kids (they always remain kids for us even if they are parents and CEO's now) do well. When things go wrong, we feel bad and wish them well. We may not have taught them, but the fact that we have all belonged to the school at one time or another links us together. My husband and I were part of the faculty at Lawrence, Lovedale for a long time. Our daughter passed out of Class 10 from there. We have very happy memories of our life there. All Lawrencians feel a bond with the Sanawarians from Lawrence School, Sanawar. It is, therefore, with a feeling of happiness and pride that I listened to the way Omar Abdullah (a Sanawarian) answered NDTV last night. When asked the inevitable (and dreadfully boring) question about the P-issue in connection with President Obama's speech in Parliament, I simply loved Omar Abdullah's reply. He said that it goes to the President's credit that in spite of the media going on and on about this issue, and the intangible pressure being put on him, he was very mature about the whole issue. His responses were measured and mature. Abdullah went on to ask what would have happened if the President had mentioned Kashmir, terrorism and Pakistan in the same sentence and not in that order, necessarily......................Wonderfully put, Mr. Abdullah! The lad has been baptized by fire and has come into his own right...
And it is true - when you think about it - it is our obsession with Pakistan that is hyphenating us with Pakistan. We can neither swallow them, nor do without them...They are cool as cool can be, as was borne out by a Mr. Hussein who was on the same show. He coolly goes - the United States knows they cannot do without us....Brilliant! I almost fell off my chair laughing...
There were so many things to talk about - it was such a civilized experience having the Obama's in our country - but how do we spend our time?? obsessing about Pakistan, tearing apart every word the President uttered, digging to find hidden meanings - Lord!! why do we still have such a complex?? why are we forgetting that we are a sovereign nation? why can we not take complements graciously? Good, bad, ugly, sad, bad, happy, we are bungling along quite merrily...we have our share of problem - huge problems - but we'll get there...how fast can an elephant move anyway???