Stereotyping: A Choice Made

When a painter starts to paint a beautiful painting, he visualizes it a certain way. He adds colors, shapes, geometric designs, and all his creativity to it on the basis of that imagination. During the entire time that he is painting, he feels it will turn out to be exactly what he wants. On completion though, the painting looks dreary and lifeless sometimes. He goes back to change either of the elements to transform it into his desired state. After the morphing process, the painting looks as good as it should. Short sightedness influences his perceptions, but reality is far from different.

We frequently talk about macroeconomic issues, about social issues at a global level. We talk about how they’ve impacted lives. We discuss their humongous affects. But have we ever trickled the issues down to a grass root level? Issues usually commence at the very basic level and later aggravate to generate issues of huge magnitudes. Discrimination is a common practice at all levels, but it breeds from stereotypes at smaller levels.

Often unaware of what we’re doing we tend to stereotype people ourselves. Once, when I asked a friend of mine whose birthday had passed previously for a birthday treat, another friend of mine said that he won’t give one. “Yeh Memon hai yaar, treat dey hee naa dey” (translation: He is a Memon, he won’t give a treat thus).

“All muslims are terrorists”, “Blondes are dumb”, “Women who wear hijaab are religious” are some other common stereotypes that we might have come across. Every day we judge people on the basis of the community, race and religion they belong to, on their appearance, their preferences, their choices and what not. But we don’t consider how hurtful it is until we witness a scenario in which we ourselves are being labeled.



Stereotyping is similar to the “Six Blind Men and the Elephant Story” where they judge the elephant according to what information they have access to. Their relative perspectives are a consequence of factors that are beyond their span of control. But when we stereotype, it is a choice that we make. We choose not to know people first and label them on the basis of pre-conceived notions.

On my first day at my University I saw people entering the class room and immediately after a glimpse I started generalizing and judging them on how they looked or spoke. To this day, none of the first impressions have turned out to be true in any case whatsoever. All those people have proved to be totally different persons when I actually got to know them.

So many countries in contemporary times are participating in exchanges to change perceptions and typical stereotypes that other nationals have about them. Governments in the West are funding exchange programs massively to develop cross cultural understanding. They see it as an investment towards the change they envision.

As mentioned earlier also, stereotypes exist at the extreme basic level. Universities that offer programs in diverse disciplines have students encompassing certain stereotypes about programs that they themselves do not belong to. Identifying this problem, a few students from SZABIST have started a full fledge campaign on spreading awareness about inter-program stereotypes and removing/altering them. The initiative has been named “Paradigm Shift” and has been marketed through different mediums. It will serve as a platform for students to discuss their programs, facilitating the cause and assisting the initiators to achieve their objectives.

It’s time that we the educated lot start bringing about a transformation in the way we see others. If education cannot even change the practice of one group stereotyping the other then all of it goes in the trash. Dumbledore in the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets said "It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Gandhi vs. Jinnah: Is it even worth debating over?

There have been times when certain individuals have risen up to the deceitful religious dogmas, bigoted maniacs, societal injustices and opposed the wrongdoings. Rising up against conformist ideologies is sometimes possible but there are times when these acts turn to a massive turmoil and a mass opposition. The individuals who bring about these reforms are sometimes termed deviants and sometimes praised. But they all should be presented with the title of a “Leader”.

Here I would like to take my discussion to the phenomenal qualities of two such leaders of whom the world knows about; the two leaders from this side of the world that the entire globe is particularly interested in. Mahatma Gandhi and Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah: the two people who beautifully carved their names in the books of the history of subcontinent. These were the men who rose up to the challenging situations of their times and gave their followers refuge from external rule.

I would like to highlight some major similarities between the two leaders. Both Gandhi and Jinnah had similar leadership styles. They made people believe in their vision and carried such a strong charisma that dictated the moves of their followers. They bestowed their nations with eternal freedom. True that Gandhi was a people oriented person and had a very non violent self stimulating type of style, Jinnah had to act all strong and stern. They molded their personalities according to the need of the day and made relative sacrifices.

Why is then Gandhi considered to be a better leader? Why are the two even compared? Just because they both supported and led opposite sides of the independence war doesn’t make them comparable. The situations that shaped and transformed the decisions of both were different. Their ideologies were different. Their approaches were different yet it is concluded that Gandhi was a better leader by the West. During my exchange year I encountered with so many people who asked me this: Do you think Gandhi was a better leader or Jinnah? The meaning of Mahatma has been explained well as the great one but people in the West aren’t aware that Quaid-e-Azam also has similar meaning.

Yes this perception owes to the fact that Indian film cinema has uplifted Gandhi’s image through its pro-Gandhi films but until and unless all facts are properly analyzed of the pre-independence era, vague statements like Gandhi was a better leader shouldn’t be passed. Also the perception that Pakistanis hate Gandhi and Indians hate Jinnah as leaders is not correct. Despite being a Pakistani, I absolutely adore Gandhi as a leader and quote his example whenever relevant and know Indians who loved Jinnah’s brilliant moves to give Muslims what they required. Both are exemplary leaders and both should be appreciated for their contributions.

Efficient Surveys for Desired Results

“Can you please fill this questionnaire? It’s for a project. Your help will be really appreciated.”

For such requests, these are the responses that one generally gets:

1: “Oh! Can you come back after 5 minutes? I’m kind of busy right now.”
2: “Another survey? Oh no!”

Some students would just respond by asking for a pen and randomly filling it out without even reading the questions.

This is one situation that almost every student dreads but goes through during his/her university life. There are many reasons underlying this force of aversion from filling out surveys and questionnaires. It is a matter of disgrace for us that even the most renowned universities don’t teach their students basic researching skills be it primary or secondary research. Thus students are usually unaware of how precise and good questionnaires should be designed so as to get the right responses out of the targeted respondents. Here I have put together some dos and don’ts of a survey questionnaire and how to design effective ones.

1) Keep it precise: Nobody wants to fill out a questionnaire if it exceeds more than a page or two. People don’t generally appreciate filling out questionnaires that take more than 5 minutes of their time. If two questions overlap somewhere, combine them to form one question.

2) Avoid personal questions: Keep in mind that you are getting general responses of your target audience focused towards your research domain. Want to ask about monthly incomes, age or their area of residence? Trust me! “Bad idea”.

3) Choose close-ended questions: Many students usually forget the difference between interviews, focus groups and surveys. Interviews usually have open ended questions whereas surveys shouldn’t. A good survey will always have concise and close-ended questions for ease of audience. For instance if you wish to ask what places they usually prefer for hang-outs, it would be good to provide a list of options yourself like “cinema, café, park etc.”

4) Do not use technical language: Whether you are a business, engineering or a medical student, it is advisable to use simple and easy to understand questions in your research. Using jargons and technical words will give you distorted results.

5) Provide sufficient information for understanding: So if you do want to ask about public opinion or focus on the qualitative analysis using rating scales, it is always courteous to explain them beforehand to avoid ambiguity. Thus if on your rating scale of 1 to 10, 1 means excellent then it would be better to mention how your scale works.

6) Divide it into parts: If your research focuses on multiple aspects then it is best to divide it into several sections each having relevant questions.

These are the key to designing a good questionnaire not just to facilitate respondents to respond but also when you start entering the data and analyzing the trends. Use these tips next time you start making a questionnaire and people won’t stop noticing how well it has been designed. Happy surveying :)

False Islamic Standards

Being born in a conservative societal set up yet having a pair of sane parents is one thing I haven’t been able to figure out yet as to whether it is unfortunate or a blessing. Well let’s just get to the main point. Because I do not behave in the way most Muslims do doesn’t give them a right to stereotype me. The sad part is that we the Muslims have a tendency of justifying everything we do through our religion. And we aren’t any better than those jihadis or Taliban who have brought such disgrace to Islam.

I belong to family where religious practices are very strict and I am expected to abide by certain things due to religious obligations. And even when people know I’m 22 and responsible for my own doings, I am asked to do certain things. Let’s take praying and covering my head as an example. So I am compelled to cover my head just because it is an essential in my religion. But hey! Didn’t Allah say that elders are supposed to guide the kids and not impose stuff on them? Sadly I have started developing a disliking for such practices.

I happened to go to a family wedding a few months back when I was decently dressed (and fully covered) but stopped by a relative auntie clad in burqa and got lectured on how I dress. According to her standards, I was not covered the way I should have been and she didn’t even consider how I would feel after her pointing fingers at me like that in public. Later when I wept in front of my parents and disclosed the whole story they questioned her as to why she did that. And this is what she had to say:
“Well she was not observing purdah and it was my duty to tell her that. I would have been a sinner otherwise. Islam makes us responsible to tell people what’s right and stop them from indulging into wrong doings.”

This is just one instance out of the innumerable ones that I’ve come across so far. I felt like asking her later “What about Huqooq ul Ibad auntie?” But her ignorant and carefree attitude stopped me from doing so.

Islam has made it a compulsion on us to practice it promptly but is Islam only about praying and covering ourselves? Isn’t observing rights of our fellows an integral part of Islamic practices too? Some would argue here that Huqooq Ullah are more important but are they forgetting that Allah forgives us if we ask for forgiveness after committing such sins but doesn’t forgive us if we usurp fellows’ rights or utter heart-rending comments for them until they forgive us themselves? On what basis do you prioritize Islamic practices and beliefs?

Not just this. There are so many other actions of ours that we do and justify them through Islamic principles. Our feudal lords when marry multiple women respond by saying they are permitted to do so by Allah. Our men not letting us take professional careers give examples of Bibi Fatima quoting that she was a good mother, a good daughter and a good wife but forget that she was a mentor to the women of the entire Muslim Ummah too. Didn’t she take the role of a mentor to impart Islamic knowledge to Muslim women? Wasn’t she the most educated of all women at that point in time?

I worry a lot about how we the Muslims have come across such practices as a misinterpretation of Islamic laws and guidelines. Is making your women cover themselves and restricting them to home Islamic in any way? Is imposing religion on a mature person Islamic in any way? Is denying women their basic rights Islamic? People need to go in an in depth research of the Islamic teachings and way of life and then preach and pass Fatwas.

A piece of advice: Be a paragon of Islamic way of life yourself instead of just correcting others around and meddling into other peoples’ personal spaces and the world will start respecting us as the followers of the great SYSTEM Islam.

I made a difference

Did you give way to an ambulance while driving in a traffic jam?

Did you put the wrapper of your eatables in your bag and threw them in the trash can after reaching home?

Did you ever forgive and not argue back with anyone for the sake of peace?

Did you ever keep the tap off while shampooing or brushing teeth?

Did you ever leave your room after turning the lights, fans and ACs off?

Did you ever think of your maids and servants as being equal to you? Did you give them their due respect?

Did you ever think twice about people who are starving to death before spending thousands of rupees on a hang out or eating at your favorite restaurant?

Did you ever think for a second during your seeming-to-be-busy schedules of those who not far from your own lands are being massacred to death by terrorists?

Did you think how many people are shivering across your borders while purchasing that expensive outfit of your favorite brand?

Did you? I did. I did not expect the desired outcome before putting in my own efforts. And I take pride in announcing that. I act responsibly and try correcting myself before I whine about the cruelties and unfair treatments around me. And the sole reason why I don’t hesitate when I demand my rights is because I do not have any guilt in doing that. I do make terrible mistakes but I try making a difference in people’s lives. Life is not just about luxuries and getting what one wants from it. At one point one has to grow up and start thinking beyond oneself. For every penny that we spend and every bounty that we enjoy we have to be accountable to God. Make wise decisions before taking any step because all our current mistakes will have a multiplier effect on our future generations.

The WOM Revolution

Ever since the social networking websites conquered this planet, marketing and brand positioning have taken extremely different dimensions. Due to the ever evolving trends and shift from a national to a globalized world, people are becoming more conscious of their choices. The era of mass customization due to individual preferences is how we define today’s business world. Choice of brands and thus the buying process is now very complex since brands define an individual’s personality. The clutter of innumerable products, brands and services have made competition tough; and has directed the endeavors of businesses towards customer focused strategies.

The growing intricacies of these dynamic changes have made marketers ponder over what factors shape these conditions. Through research and trial and error marketers have come to learn that consumers are highly influenced nowadays by their reference groups and peers. Word of Mouth is a very powerful tool. Studies have revealed that the factor which most influences the consumer decision making process is the review of the product (what the users have to say about it). Social Media is playing a very crucial role in fostering this. Customer views can be shared easily through these social networking sites in contemporary times.

Companies are thus taking concrete steps to ensure proper placement of their products and to boost their sales. They are now interacting with their customers 24/7 through these social networks and their Marketing objectives are directed towards a common man. It has been observed lately that many firms are now doing these to stand out:

1) A proper well maintained blog through which they share news about their products and complimentary services.
2) An interactive and updated Facebook page through which communication has improved manifold.
3) Promotion of their products and services through Testimonials and publications.
4) Using Public Relations as a means to achieve their Marketing objectives.
5) Interacting with Media which is a major opinion former and trend setter.

Huge multinationals like Procter and Gamble are using this new approach now. Their entire Marketing plan for Ariel is built on PR tactics and thus their advertisements are made in a testimonial form. Even Zong in the telecom sector is responding to the immense competition through these. Upcoming Marketers now need to adapt to this Word of Mouth and customer- oriented revolution that will transform the future of their businesses.

Need of the day: An Educational Reform

Having a degree is considered to be synonymous to getting educated and has been the standard since traditional times. We often forget the purpose of what we have been doing in the conquest of becoming educated. The top most accusation is to be put on ourselves after the education system. We are the ones who have given it so much autonomy as to decide of how things will operate, thus putting the future of our generations at stake. And we forget to realize that we are relying too much on the degree and not the curriculum and the learning. As observed by many, our education system has many weaknesses highlighted below:

1) Market knowledge is not being imparted. Students know concepts but lack the application part. Especially teachers who have a lot of teaching experience but no work experience tend to focus only on theoretical aspects.

2) A lot of focus is being put on the bookish knowledge and important things like ethics, career building, counseling, and personality development are being neglected. Schools are social institutions where the learning process is transformed by inculcating these.

3) Mentors, guides and guest speakers are not being invited to talk to the students to give them an exposure of work life and environment.

4) The examples quoted in most of our books are from the international markets’ and authors’ perspective and are not relatable at all. Since the conditions shaping our surroundings are very different from the international ones, quoting local examples would be better. Also the ones that we follow have been the same for ages. Their editions haven’t been updated either and they give examples after pages of monotonous text passages.

5) Not all fields are being given equal exposure. Fields like arts, media, dance, sports, theater etc. are being ignored. Students end up choosing the same redundant fields leading to cognitive dissonance, frustration and dissatisfaction throughout their lives.

6) Students are not being given good training on time management, stress management, communication barriers bridging etc. and thus later in their professional lives they lack the power of handling pressures.

7) The system is completely devoid of understanding and reasoning. A research by psychologists shows that students who ask excessive questions in the class are not only left unanswered but also are discouraged to do so. The student who asks the maximum questions is the one considered dumbest and gets the least marks.

To summarize it all, the education system that is dominating our nation right now is far below the caliber of the international ones. We are forgetting that this is giving birth to an incompetent future generation that will lack in almost all fields of global competition. The only thing that can secure our futures is an educational reform. Just like we cannot expect a recipe to turn out into a well cooked and delicious dish if we don’t put in the right ingredients in their required proportions; we can’t expect a bright yielding future if we are feeding our upcoming generations with the wrong milk in the name of education.

Fiasco…

After a long, tedious and demanding month of mid terms, my friends and I decided to go out for Johnny English Reborn and decided to watch it at Cineplex rather than at Atrium Cinema, since it was convenient for all of us. We were surprised to see how the once cluttered cinema was now almost vacant without much traffic around. It was a week day thus we assumed that people were occupied with work. We bought 4 movie tickets and were told that the show will begin at 3 pm sharp. We waited for a few moments and then were directed to a hall only to discover that it was just the 4 of us in that cinema that day. For a moment we felt extremely royal at the thought that we would be able to enjoy without anyone judging us. We grabbed seats in the centre row and began munching on our pop corn sipping our drinks. 15 minutes passed and the show didn’t start. We started becoming restless since a couple of friends had been really exited about the release of this one. They demanded that the movie be played ASAP. It finally began around 3 30 pm. Excited for the movie, we ignored what had happened and started enjoying it. After a few moments the screen went all blank and we could only hear the actors chatting and the background sounds. Got that fixed. After a few moments, a little demarcation appeared on the screen dividing it into two halves. Later at least thrice the screen projection lost its actual position and the heads started appearing at the bottom while the remaining body went at the top. Once, even the entire movie stopped. All of us were really disappointed since we had been waiting for this one movie since like ages. Also the movie itself was not up to the expectations. After leaving the hall we decided never to go back to that place ever again. Cineplex lost another set of its customers. Unsatisfactory performance and inconsistent quality is one of the reasons why Cineplex has a declining market share and the remaining one is being gobbled up by Atrium too. Cineplex needs to revive its business strategy, else it will go extinct within no time.

You are the WORST thing that ever happened to me

Why is she always around? Why does she make things worse? She is that inevitable reality of our life that we can’t flush out so easily. Every time something goes wrong I end up cursing her. She is the one behind all our miseries and woes. I can’t believe how frustrating one can make another’s life like that. It’s like she is a bad omen. She brings this bad luck charm to us. Why is it that always in her presence things turn out so extraordinary in the evil sort of way. I cannot stand her existence. I cannot just explain how much I detest her. The level of abhorrence that I’ve developed for her in the past few years is so verbose yet impossible to explain. I can’t believe how someone can be that evil. How someone can be such a wonderful pretender. Her ability to twist the facts is amazing. So extraordinary that I get a feeling at some instances that maybe she has been blessed with this supernatural power of being so bloody evil yet appear as the most saccharine-ish creature alive. She is that bitch that I despise. She brings this bad karma which expresses itself so often. But as soon as she leaves I feel as if I’ve migrated from hot scorching sunny days to cool breezy nights. I have hated her, I still do and I will loathe her till the last breadth that I take.

My solace

Every morning I wake up with a hope of achieving something, discovering something new, meeting new people and getting my tasks done. All I have in mind is what needs to be done and the instant I start compiling the “To Do” list, I feel a surge of nervousness running at the back of my brain. It’s a feeling so ambiguous and impossible to explain. The fear of getting a long list of things done overcomes the ecstasy of waking up at a new day, ignoring the ray of the light of the dawn that morning. The joy of being blessed with another day to cherish blissful moments and to confess to people around how much I care about them. A moment later I find myself pulling up my jeans and getting ready for the day rushing here and there to get things in order. And after all that battering and yelling I leave my house and get to where I should be. There are times when my days start terrific and end extraordinary and there are days when things don’t go the way I plan. At times I experience moments of life long learning, witness unforgettable moments and achieve planned objectives. I return home with a feeling of satisfaction and completeness. But there are times when I return home all disappointed and frustrated. Times when commencements do not reach their destined ends. And those are the times when I need people. People who I yelled at the same morning; to console me, to show unconditional love, to bestow me with just a couple of moments of their precious time, or to just listen to my miseries and woes and lend a shoulder to cry on. And there is no comparable feeling of the degree of guilt and grievance in this world after that. I realize how things are ripping apart. How I’m taking them for granted - the people that I so badly need and those that I belong to. Those who I want to be there when luck is not at my side. Also at times when I want to share my moments of triumph. People to mourn, celebrate and share my life with. And even when I’ll feel like a loser, they will be there. My real and long term achievement is retaining what I already have – my solace, my FAMILY!