Books Review

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown : An odyssey through time

2010-07-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

Long after Da Vinci Code reading Masonic mumbo jumbo from Dan Brown would be a totally a wastage of time. The sheer size of the book also kept me away from the book. Compared to other books this is a huge volume (133 Chapters). It took around five nights to read it speaks about its gripping story line. The beauty of Dan Brown's novels is that one is exposed to such elaborate half-fact / half-fiction that one is amazed at how he manages to maintain consistency and interest is maintained. Such is the power of Brown's narration that one is made starts to make a movie in the mind. Thanks to the movies now one can only imagine Tom Hanks for Robert Langdon !

1. Historical Perspective

The Lost Symbol's major strength is that history is discussed at a flashing speed. One moves from century to century and then back and forth in the matter of sentences. So seamless is continuity that the frequent back and forth between historical references (which Brown at times goes to great length to narate) is unable to affect attention rather acts as a stimulus to read on and on.

2. Knowledge Ad-ons

Also adding to knowledge is the reference here and there of classical art. Mathematics and Computer Science are Brown's forte. Digital fortress is one case in point. Lost Symbol continues to introduce the user to hi-fi technology and mysterious (often secret) organizations.

3. Autonomy

The Lost Symbol is a long winding road where twists happen at almost every instant so much so that when the climax arrives one is ready for it even though its not expected.

4. Captivating Masonic Rituals

Another reason to read the novel is the description of masonic rituals in the book. Different degrees in Freemasonry hierarchy and rituals are described vividly.

5. Close out

Compared to other novels this time around it seems that Dan Brown did not do well at the end. The ending rant is probably the only part of the novel which one is better off not reading.

In the end this novel turned out to be another enriching thriller by Dan Brown.

Mandelbrot on Fractals and Roughness

2010-07-08T16:19:00.000-07:00

Benoit Mandelbrot sits down at the TED Talk and talks about fractals for twenty minute. The legend talks about Fractals so beautifully and simply that one is astonished by all the fractal designs. The Julia Sets in four dimensions are simply amazing. Fractals are extremely complicated objects that are defined by extremely simple formulas. The examples of clouds and valleys being created by inputting a number (the roughness number).

Daniel Pink : Motivation goes beyond rewards

2010-07-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

Daniel Pink surprised me with the statement that "Money does not motivate rather is counter productive to creativity". The first question that comes to mind is that what motivates then? The answers to this question has been explored / researched by Daniel Pink over the years. What he comes up is in the video and wonderful books. The idea of rewards works for mechanical tasks, working in the carrot-stick reward-punish system. If you work well you will receive rewards otherwise you will be punished. As soon as the work required rudimentary cognitive skills the larger rewards actually bog down the creative mind and resulted in negative impact on performance.

The corner stone of Pink's motivation philosophy are the following.

1. Mastery
Mastery is the human instinct to get better at things. No matter if there is a reward associated or not with it. One needs to become better at the skill. For example all the open source developers have been writing tons of code just to get better at it instead of getting pennies / dollars per line of code.

2. Purpose
Purpose derives the development of Wikipedia which has overtaken encarta as the number one online encyclopedia. There are no monetary rewards but only purpose. The higher purpose of helping others.

3. Autonomy
Autonomy improves self-direction and helps people work in a better way. This is the Google model. Let the engineers work on any thing they want to work as soon as that is not the regular work. This led to brilliant ideas being developed. ROWE(Results only work environment) people don't have schedules they have to show progress and what they do when they do depends on themselves. The productivity and creativity goes up.

Interesting quotes from "Why I am so wise" by Friedrich Nietzsche

2010-04-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of the most thought provoking books ever. Every line is full of ideas that one has to stop reading and start thinking about the idea. For example it took me hours to figure out the meaning of the following.

For pay heed to this: it was in the years of my lowest vitality that i ceased to be a pessimist: the instinct for self recovery forbade to me a philosophy of indigence and discouragement.

This one is also particularly touches the heart.

My reproach towards those who practice pity is that shame, reverence, a delicate feeling from distance easily eludes them, that pity instantly smells of mob and is so like bad manners as to be mistaken for them- that the hands of pity can under certain circumstances intrude downright destructively into a great destiny, into a solitariness where wounds are nursed, into a privilege for great guilt.

The following touches a topic which has been topic of thought. It so very well shows how important it is to vent the feelings.

It also seems to me that the rudest word, the rudest letter are more good-natured, more honest than silence. Those who keep silent almost always lack subtlety and politeness of heart; silence is an objection, swallowing down necessarily produces bad character- it even ruins the stomach.

100 ways to motivate yourself by Steve Chandler

2010-03-31T15:08:00.000-07:00

Reading Steve Chandler's book feels like Napolean Hill meets Robert Kiyosaki. The serenity by which each tip is introduced and elaborated in the most concise manner allows one to keep attention as well as to think about incorporating that particular tip in life. The amazing manner in which the book starts grabs one's attention. "You have no personality" ... Hearing this makes everyone uneasy and stand up and listen. This brand of attention seeking missiles are launched at the start of almost every tip. Get on your deathbed, Tell yourself a lie, Kill the Television, Make a relation-shift are some of the thought provoking as well as attention getting tips.

The best part is where the author relates Arnold's story from the body builder to movie star. How his vision was created and how it was achieved.

The book demands action for as per the psychologist and author Dr. Nathaniel Branden has written, "A goal without an action plan is a daydream."

DREAM-PLAN-ACTION is the mantra that is taught by the book. The rest are motivational methods and the ways to achieve this goal. Its important to realize one's potential before one can set a goal and achieve success.

Architecture for Change by Robert M Tomasko

2010-03-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

Tomasko's architecture for change is an attempt to send across a very serious message that the change we strive to implement might as well result in problems. Therefore its imperative to analyze the three steps of change in Resize-Reshape-Rethink. These three phases are explained in the book. The book draws parallels between architects and organization planners. How the architect looks at the the building and what parameters are considered to bring about a change. Similarly in designing an organization its necessary to keep the principle of "form follow function". That is to say that shape of the organization is determined by the kind of functionality it is supposed to perform. Just like architects in school are taught the basic guidelines and mechanics behind loads and how to design structures to withstand the tests of times. Organization planners need to be taught the ways and means to Resize-Reshape-Rethink the organization. The author is critical of mindless usage of buzzwords to defend changes. For example downsizing never worked as a change agent. Rather at times the very people needed in the stripped down enterprise tend to leave the company either voluntarily via some golden handshake scheme or come down the cut.

Resize is the attempt to cut down the company's to size. The best way is to identify the work which is being done in a company instead of looking to simply cut down head count. Resource allocation need be done with the end in mind. The end being getting the maximum competitive advantage.

Reshape the organization means getting rid of work fragmentation, i.e., to get rid of the notion of dividing the work into multiple departments. Trying to complete the work and restructuring organization to maximize "form follow the function" principle. Instead of making change an end instead of a means to achieve the end.

Rethink phase of change asks the management to spend time trying to temper the hierarchy and keep on evaluating every job for its effectiveness in terms of work and upward movement.

On the whole the message sent across is that CHANGE is not an end but a means to achieve some goals. Focusing more on the goals and then selecting the means always ensures in better change management. The author's emphasis is summed up in the story of Temple of Ise, Japan which was built in eight century AD and dismantled every twenty years and rebuild to keep it a replica of the original without wear and tear. The author says "The regularity of its rebuilding also represents a view of time and change that says these are not enemies to be resisted, but realities to be accepted and adapted to".

The Religion War by Scott Adams

2010-03-01T02:11:00.000-08:00

If God's Debris was an insight into man's inside then Religion War is a commentary on current social atmosphere. The character of Avatar continues to amaze the reader with pattern resolution and extraction. However there is a change here the old avatar is long dead and taken over by the delivery man of "God's debris". The stakes are much higher and Muslims vs Christian-Judea Alliance are at the verge of war. This is not going to be just another war but a war where billions will perish. In this scenario the avatar comes forward and tries to resolve the conflict between the two parties. But before that the avatar has to go through a long process of developing confidence in the two parties that avatar can be trusted.

The Religion War is about how Al-Qaeeda will grow unless the West re-thinks its policy towards Muslims and how the Al-Qaeeda is using bad methods to solve deep rooted issues. Reading through the book you don't start liking either party but at the same time you don't simply hate them. It becomes clear that both parties are there because of very heavy historical baggage they carry.

A very well-written and fast moving story line which results in astonishing revelation and insights for the reader to continue thinking long after reading the book.

God’s debris by Scott Adams

2010-03-01T01:57:00.000-08:00

One of the most absorbing books read it in three days. Avatar’s dialogue resembles that of Socrates as per my dad. The powerful discourse leads from one topic to another without the reader feeling that really deep topics are being dealt. The author through the avatar comes up with probably the most simplistic but astonishing argument against the theory of evolution. Most importantly the book does not commit any blasphemy while introducing the core idea of God’s debris.
The avatar comes across a man of unique talent able to process information and unravel patterns associated. The patterns give the avatar insights which lead to profound responsibility towards other humans. After reading the book reader is unable to dissociate from the ideas presented and continues to think about them.

Experiences of avatar at one point seem paranormal but then when the process of reaching those experiences is revealed the reader starts to identify with the avatar. The avatar then becomes nothing else but simply an extension of the reader. The difference of course lies in processing information and drawing conclusions.

Winning it the Jack Welch way through Candor and Differentiation

2010-02-20T11:03:00.000-08:00

Jack Welch the amazing CEO, who turned around General Electric’s attempt to become a white elephant into a role model of efficiency for all industries. The ideas presented in the book are not old wine in new bottles rather thoughts of one of the successful leaders of last century. All of the book is worth reading and worth implementing (if situation allows). Differentiation and Candor are two powerful ideas presented in the book.

Candor
Candor means quality of being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech. This powerful trait is what it takes to untangle complex knots. Implementation of candor is easier said than done. Candor should be used in two different ways to praise one who is working well and to call a spade a spade. Once candor becomes the modus operandi of the organization the employees know exactly what is expected of them also exactly what is lacking in them at the moment. The continuous appraisal leads good results because all stakeholders are clear in their mind that if something is wrong they would be the first ones to know.

Differentiation
Differentiation means discrimination between things as different and distinct. The idea of differentiation actually goes with candor. Differentiation would not be in negative connotation if its used with candor. Differentiation actually would lead to effectiveness and fairness leading to efficiency.

Jack Welch's success lay in the ruthless implementation of these and other idea.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

2010-02-18T07:12:00.000-08:00

Hill's 1937 Book sold 30 million copies in 70 years . Reviewing a book that has been around for over seven decades is both easy and difficult. Think and Grow Rich (TGR), is also claimed to be the Genesis to most of motivation literature of last century. So whats so special about the book that deserves a review. Yes everybody knows almost everything the book brings to the plate. What makes it worthy of precious reading time specially in this age? Is the book still relevant, when we have Kiyosaki's wide variety of books dealing the same theme in a much more modern environment? The answer to both the questions is "read the book and you would know I was correct". Since that would be too late here are some of the reasons why Hill's book is a sure to impact.

1. The emphasis is not on tricks but rather on mindset
2. The book helps analyze life / career
3. The book helps in incorporating / building character traits which go a long way

What are the three words that grab attention after reading the book? "Harness your desires". The book is all about finding , creating and achieving desires and banishing fears.

Max & Max:: Movie accompanying the eighth habit by Stephen R. Covey

2010-02-17T10:36:00.001-08:00

A very interesting movie featuring dog and customer service representative. How both intend to make a contribution towards life by trying to satisfy/ follow the how-to manual of the superior. In what seems to be mostly contrived set of similar situations between Max (the dog) and Max (the man), one is made to think that the situation is not out of this world. Everyone has felt similar feelings during one or other time of the career/ student life.

Pelican Brief - An insight into the mindset of large companies

2010-02-14T09:52:00.000-08:00

,Pelican brief a well written piece by John Grisham. The book revolves around clueless murder of two judges and its short-term long-term implications. The key elements of the plot are well hidden until the climax. The book was made into a movie but the depth of the book cannot be portrayed in the movie.

The book deals in detail about the travails of the character Darby Shaw investigation. The company's coming after her. The pelican brief (the brief itself) take backstage in what becomes a mouse and cat race in the movie.

The Pelican Brief speaks out now global the distrust of multinational companies / large corporations about the laws of the land and their ability to muscle through anything of their liking. However the silver lining presented by the author is that one voice of truth is enough to ensure that the law of the land is upheld. The fact that the voice is heard at the highest echelons of power is a bit absurd / Utopian but on the whole the book lives up to the billing.

Why Avatar is re-packaged Frank Herbert's Dune?

2010-02-09T05:16:00.000-08:00

Frank Herbert's contributions to the genre of science fiction are under appreciated. Herbert's lack of popularity is attributed to the lackluster performance of Dune Movie and the three-part miniseries.

The latest movie Avatar by James Cameroon has a similar story line to the Dune novel by Frank Herbert published in 1965. The following table illustrates the corresponding characters etc.

Dune	Avatar
Planet Arrakis	Moon Pandora
Fremen People	Na'vi People
Paul Atreides / Muad'Dib	Jake Sully
Chani	Neytri
Lady Jessica	Dr. Grace
Spice Melange	unobtainium
Baron Harkonnen	Colonel Miles
Dr. ~~Wellington Yueh~~ Kynes	Dr. Grace
Sand worms	Exotic Animals in the forest
Shai-Hulud	Toruk

The story development is also similar like fighting against own people and unifying the whole fremen (na'vi) community. Jake's special spiritual status is almost similar to Paul Maud'Dib. The community's special bond with environment and its effects on religion. The use of unconventional weapons against the much more powerful enemy.

The movie looks more like a tribute to the great Frank Herbert than a classic movie in its own right.

A similar review is also given here.

The best novel of Harry Potter Series by J K Rowling

2010-01-30T08:32:00.000-08:00

Harry Potter series written for kids by J K Rowling is an extremely interesting story line. Rivaled by the Lord of the Rings in terms of exotic imagery and thrill. The following Harry Potter Series of seven high quality novels.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone / Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

All these novels are well written and the plot keeps thickening but the pinnacle of the novel comes in Half-Blood Prince. That is probably the best novel of the whole series. The reason being the fact that the whole story line takes twists at every instance in the novel but more importantly due to the dominant role played by Severus Snape in this novel. The best character after that of Harry Potter is Severus Snape. The character development by J K Rowling is possibly the best part of the whole series.

Like all good novels which have been filmed badly. The Harry Potter movies suffer from the same problem. The immensity of the novel could not be grasped by the movie. Even though in the case of Harry Potter the movies are far superior than other novel-movie adaptations.

The Dead Past By Issac Asimov

2010-01-30T07:37:00.000-08:00

Issac Asimov’s 1956 “The Dead Past”[1] is a good story by the fabulous story teller. In this story he deals with the issue of forgetting the past. In my opinion forgetting the past is probably the biggest gift of god to mankind. Let me quote the story “... who on Earth has a past that is absolutely clean?” The clean past also needs to be dead. Asimov also focuses on other issues but the forgetting the past is the primary one.

The story was written in an age when physics was blossoming and it shows while reading it. The only thing that made one realize it was old story was the fact that Asimov failed to foresee the advent of internet. Not that one expected him to foresee it but that is something which is in the back of one’s mind while reading it still but it fails to diminish the thrill. The advent of information technology in the current form and the medium of information access has changed a lot. One other thing that is problematic while reading the novels by Issac Asimov is the mechanical nature of the robots in contrast with the electronics/ computer/ mechanical robots of today.

[1] Wikipedia the dead past

Dan Brown's "Digital Fortress"

2010-01-28T08:14:00.000-08:00

A nice book by Dan Brown. Digital Fortress, as the name implies is about a fortress in digital domain. A nice plot with an uneasy climax but the trade mark powerful narration of Dan Brown makes it a pleasure to read. Digital Fortress bring to fore how Dan Brown researches the story and its background. If I add anything else it would simply add spoiling the fun of reading the novel.

Dan Brown's Deception Point

2010-01-23T12:56:00.000-08:00

I read Dan Brown's Deception Point. Dan Brown's style carries over to this book and like always the plot is thick and the villain is kept secret right till the end. Deception Point relates to the NASA's funding cut. NASA is about to release some profound research which will not only be able to let it keep its funding but also have wide scale repercussions for all of humanity.

On Complain

2009-11-30T21:34:00.000-08:00

Men, inspired by desire to achieve great things in life, have accumulated fortunes sufficient for generations. This very desire can lead a man to a state where he complains about all the things around. Complaining about the things around is a very convenient escape route adopted by people facing struggle in life. The rigors in life tend to disappoint and then push into this abyss. The beauty of life is in the hardships and struggle for success not in the comfort zone of complaints. Complaints are most likely to be directed at friends, peers, parents or employers, who have some degree of interest in one’s life. Now the employers or peers might have a reason to have vested interest but all the others don’t have. Therefore it is imperative to realize what could be the problem. The rest are mostly sincere people. Sincerity is a double-edged sword. Sincere advice is often thought to be equivalent to correct advice but the advice may or may not be correct. Such complaints generally arise after thoughtlessly following sincere advice and thinking it would most likely lead to good results. Interestingly one cannot blame the person as well and hence the leading to the abyss of complaining about one’s own life. The scapegoats could be government, employers or even at times family members. It’s extremely difficult to cure since one cannot address the root cause of the problem which is following sincere advice without giving it a proper thought.

Background complexity into the fore

2009-02-10T21:24:00.000-08:00

Mood transferred to canvas

Courage Tenacity Clarity towards goals

2009-02-06T07:18:00.000-08:00

In the lonely and dark evenings of Abbottabad, one begins to feel the warmth of the heating system (be it gas heater or electric heater) is beginning to diminish after every passing moment. The following quotes remind one to move forward.

"When desire is mixed with faith backed by massive action, the probable becomes possible, every time. No exceptions. -Tina Su"

"Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the universe is endlessly bountiful. Just put forth a clear enough request, and everything your heart truly desires must come to you." -excerpt from Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain

Courage

Courage is the strength required to go after the glorious goals set forth in the youthful years. Even the education from the finest schools and universities of Pakistan or the world over fails to breed the spirit of the courageous. True they say strength and courage can never be taught. Is it something built in or does it require one to go through a modern curriculum of human psychology to build?

Tenacity

When tenacity is sprinkled on courage the fruits which delivered are second only to Adam's (Eve's) Apple in terms of desire. If courage is the fuel for change then tenacity is the vehicle. Tenacity is determination to achieve the goals. Courage kick starts the process which can only be culminated via steadfastness and belief in those goals.

Clarity

The second quote talks of boundless endowment capabilities of the universe. All is within reach and all one has to do is to put forth a request. The word request is qualified by a very interesting adjective "clear". Clarity of thought , courage , tenacity of these three clarity of thought is extremely difficult to attain.
Human mind is designed to forget if one loses this capability one might not be able to rise from the depths of sorrow or pain. Clarity of thought is possible by using this faculty of the human mind. Forgetting everything, banishing every thought out of the mind and then focus only on the task at hand leads one to dream up the goals and then once the ideas have been imagined clearly then all that is left is execution.

More on execution later.

Visit www.ptps.edu.pk for more blogs

Democracy is the best revenge

2008-09-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

Asif Ali Zardari's tale continues, a man thought to have brought down the daughter of east twice, was elected the President of Pakistan by a huge majority of electorate. According to media people turned out in large numbers on the streets to celebrate. Yes Pakistanis are fortunate to have celebrated twice within 20 days. The first time it was Musharraf's departure and now Zardari's arrival. Democracy is sure a sweet revenge and at times sends you to the presidential palace.

The following statement should be kept mind while looking at the future of democracy in Pakistan.

But most Swazis see things entirely otherwise. As a local saying goes, "A king is a mouth that does not lie." The government is bad, people tend to conclude, but the king is good.
- http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/05/africa/swaziland.php?pass=true

Musharraf goes lessons learnt

2008-08-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

Musharraf has left today 18-August-2008. Twenty years and one day after Zia ul Haq died in an air plane crash. Back then hopes of democratic rule were raised after the victory of BB as PM. Even now we have great hope that democracy will be on track. But we should also look at what are the lessons we can learn from the rise and fall of Musharraf?

- We should always be ready to learn from history
- Never go back on a promise. Musharraf must be remembering Dec-2004 when he promised to take off uniform
- Always keep a tab on public sentiments and adapt accordingly instead of forcing your own opinion on the public.
- Always choose your friends carefully.

On course towards constitutionalism

2008-08-10T11:08:00.001-07:00

Two years ago on 6 Jan-2006 I posted an article I had written in Feb-2005 about dearth of democrats. Much water has flown under the indus ever since. Specially since March 2007 after the world famous NO by Iftikhar Chaudhry. We have had a long lawyers' struggle, presidential elections, return of two natives and general elections. We thought that was end of it but it never gets un-interesting in Pakistan. After a long drawn "war" to restore the judges via Bhurban Accords, Resignations from Cabinet and loads of summits. Now we are at a juncture where the born-again democrats are impeaching the President.

If all goes well the judges will be restored soon as per the promise of Mr. Zardaari and Mr. Nawaaz Sharif.

So keep your fingers crossed this is not going to get uninteresting anytime soon. So we live in interesting times.

Constitutionalism: 49 years later

2006-01-05T12:57:00.001-08:00

The dearth of democrats is probably the single largest problem our country is facing but unfortunately we are not even looking at it as a problem.

As the Pakistan day approaches the country's increasing de-politicization and indifference bears witness to the history of constitutionalism. 23rd March is celebrated as Pakistan Day and commemorated as a day when in 1940, by the Lahore Declaration the Muslim League decided to pursue a policy of getting separate homeland(s) for the Muslims of South Asia. Although this dream turned to reality in about 7 year, but it took another 9 years to come up with a constitution. It's unknown (at least to me or majority of the nation) why they chose 23rd March to promulgate the first constitution of this country. I hope that at that time they did not know it was the first constitution of Pakistan. The constituent assembly after a roller coaster rides and near fatal dissolutions came up with a constitution of Pakistan. The constitution came into force on 23rd March 1956. It was a great day for the country since finally it was no longer a dominion and could proudly be called a Republic. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan (its official name) came into existence and hence rid the nation of the imperial forces which forced upon us more than 100 years of captivity. The day marked the office of Governor General turning into President of Pakistan and Major General IskanderMirza became the First President of Pakistan. So the ball started rolling towards a republican democracy. Even the imposition of Martial Law in 1958 could not change the status of the nation as a republic but the proud republic day was converted to Pakistan Day and children forgot the significance of this day since the 1956 constitution which was being celebrated on 23rd March was annulled and 1962 gave us a new constitution. This new constitution kept on working till about 1969 and then in 1973 after the greatest tragedy this nation faced we had a new but this time consensus constitution. Its unknown whether we had a new constitution in 1985 when assemblies were restored but since, the Eight Amendment was made in constitution of 1973 so we can say it was not a new constitution rather the same old 1973 was amended albeit 17 times till this day (last time it was amended in December 2002).
This short history does not cover all the details since this is not the main focus of this article. The primary purpose is to explore the state of constitutionalism 49 years after the republic day. What does constitutionalism mean and where do we stand on this account? More importantly is it desirable attribute in a nation?
Simply speaking constitutionalism is the broad term which means that every male, female, businessman, politician, teacher, student and soldier of the nation agree to abide by the norms laid out in the country's constitution. This is not a unilateral agreement. In return the masses expect that their fundamental rights will be protected by the guardians of the constitutions. In our case the National Assembly is the guardian of the constitution.
How can we expect that everybody submit and abides by a single constitution? How can a piece of paper guarantee such a personal security as fundamental rights?
It's not unusual to see the indifference of people towards constitutionalism in general and constitutions in specific especially after one reads through the history of constitutions described above.
The most important question which is asked in this regard is who will bell the cat? It is not difficult to guess who this cat is. No really I am not talking about any dictators or democrats ruining democracy and constitutions. I am actually talking about everybody who in pursuit of his own interests or falsely believing that it is for the general good by-passes the laid down law of the land.
Let's take a hypothetical situation in which we consider the non-controversial task of ensuring that the right of a person to pursue a career of choice is ensured and guaranteed by the constitution. Now what does this demand from the people who are being governed under the constitution and also those who govern? Well simply speaking everybody (it has been defined earlier on who this everybody includes) should not only write this in the constitution but believe from the core of the heart that this is in our best interest that this right is guaranteed. The onus is both on the people of the state as well as the governing people to ensure that nobody's pursuit of a career is hindered. Now what if there is a large group (not necessarily a majority) who advocate that it is not everybody's right to pursue a career of choice. What should be done in such a case? Either we exclude this provision from the constitution or we should somehow convince the group. Both of these solutions seem to be equally difficult. We cannot exclude it from the constitution and we cannot convince a large group without being persuasive. Just imagine the kind of result we will observe if we are to implement this right without convincing the large group and alternatively the kind of mess we will create in the event of exclusion of this important fundamental right from the constitution. This simple example has really brought out the whole core of this article that constitutionalism is really necessary for the survival of a society and that it?s equally necessary that ALL (not simply a majority) should be unanimous about the constitution prevalent in the country.
Convincing is easier said than done. The role is shared by all. The politicians need to convince people that the fundamental rights are important for their (the people I mean) own socialwell being. This well being has nothing to do with economic well being which is being pursued by everyone by hook or by crook. Who has to do all this? The dearth of democrats is probably the single largest problem our country is facing but unfortunately we are not even looking at it as a problem at all. The east west divide and the 100 years of British Rule have a lot to do with our attitude. We were fortunate to have a leader like Muhammad Ali Jinnah who was a true democrat. We are one of the proud nations in this world, who gained independence through a thoroughly democratic method. But where did all this vaporize in the past 58 years? Maybe we never really cultivated this concept in our society or maybe we were unfortunate to lose Jinnah and never to have a leader even close to Jinnah's democratic credentials. It is normally said that the later is perhaps the case but probably it has more to do with lack of fostering of a democratic culture in our society. Constitutionalism is the only path that can be followed. It is neither the objective of this article to demand a constitution nor should such an implication be derived. The primary soul of a democratic spirit is constitutionalism. All our rights are ably defined and protected by the constitution. Hence we should protect the constitution by vowing to defend it by following it.

February 5, 2005

Credits and Background information: The basic idea of this article was the theme of a lot of discussion with my colleagues and friends. But all of this is possible because of my quiet but really influential mentor my father whose education enabled me to entertain these ideas and to really have the capacity to get greater insight into issues. The most important contribution in this regard of course goes to Thomas Jefferson who really impressed me with his great convictions in democracy. The federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay have been the primary source of my knowledge of constitutional discourse. Moreover J S Mill and recently Karl Popper have been increasingly helpful in exploring and broadening my horizon. The first part of the article was actually told to students of my school at Abbottabad (Present Times Public School) in 1999 when the 23 March Pakistan Day function was held and attended by me as a judge.