| November 12, 2007 | Monday | Ziqa’ad 01, 1428 |
Shammi’s first solo flight
It’s common knowledge that the quality of our city’s health-care facilities is directly proportionate to the money one can spend. Therefore Karachi has seen a mushrooming of private clinics and ultra luxurious hospitals, while the metropolis also offers some more established and well-equipped hospitals. But the one thing that all facilities have in common, whether they are renowned names in medical care or more recent arrivals on the scene, is the complete lack of emergency facilities.
From their inept doctors to the sudden unavailability of medicines and equipment, the fact remains that whenever one needs medical attention on an emergency basis – usually at the small hours of the night – they have nothing to offer. These emergency wards are literally like little pockets of hell situated in every hospital.
This means that one has to have a doctor friend in order to treat those in need of immediate medical attention. Children and the elderly suffer the most at these ‘emergency’ departments that are swarming with ‘doctors’ that have the compassion and aptitude of a brick wall.
Never will you be told not to panic during an emergency. In fact, the staff seems to be trained in making sure that you become so wound up with fear for your loved one that you are ready to admit them for the most minute of ailments.
At eleven one morning, only a couple of hours after I had dropped my son at school, I received a call all parents dread getting: my son had hurt himself in school and I was asked to take him to the hospital. The closest facility was a well-reputed local hospital. Immediately we were told (by the receptionist!) that my son would have to be given a cannula to administer painkillers. The already tormented child burst into tears at the mention of needles. We were ordered to get an X-ray done and after waiting almost an hour, we were told that my child had a broken wrist.
As every so-called doctor on duty strolled into the emergency ward and asked us what was wrong, I got really tired of repeating the story at a time when my son should have been given single-minded attention. A gentleman finally ambled in and said he was a doctor and was going to set my son’s wrist. Let me add that he gave gory details as to how the bone was completely severed and would have to be pulled into place. After such a vivid story he asked me to leave the room. Only a mother can imagine the trauma I had to suffer standing just outside the curtain separating the place where my son was screaming at the top of his lungs, begging his father to come and save him.
The relief was tremendous at finally being allowed into the room. My son had the presence of mind to ask me to thank the doctor for his ‘efforts.’ Little did he know that the ‘doctor’ had done nothing but add to his agony. We found out the following week at the follow-up check-up that the bone had not been set at all and was healing at a tangent. They said, to my utter horror, that they would have to re-set his wrist.
As of now we are depending on the second opinion we got from another doctor sitting in the same hospital, who said my son will outgrow the abnormality that a crookedly set bone will cause.
No one can pay for the moments of torture a mother suffered when she told herself to be brave because she thought her son’s pain was for his own good. She trusted a doctor, a mistake she will never make again.—Saima Salman
Extremism in women
In our society, it appears that women are more extreme in nature than men, particularly in matters concerning love. Although the higher literacy rate in urban areas, like Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad and other major cities, has by and large transformed society into a more civilised one, it has failed to edify even most of the educated citizens of this country, especially in emotional matters that demand a high degree of restraint and tolerance.
The blame of a wrong decision or action, leading to an unpleasant situation, often rests on men because our society still regards women as subservient to the elder male members of a family.
In a love affair, there are many male and female players who act according to their capacity, power, influence and importance. As such, everyone involved contributes his or her bit in encouraging or discouraging the main characters. Anyway, the point which needs to be focused on here is the level of extremism in women when it comes to a love affair.
There are countless examples — coming from both the rural and urban segments of our society — that a love affair gets out of the parameters of secrecy only when the woman involved gathers the courage to revolt against her family, community, clan, tribe or any other bonds that may have blocked her way to marry her lover. If she doesn’t revolt against her opponents, the man, however powerful or influential he may be, is not likely to succeed.
For a woman in this male-dominated, conservative society, it is not at all easy to face the ultimate wrath of the whole society by proclaiming a revolt. Even men would think twice, rather a hundred times, before opting for such an action. In fact, the man is encouraged and emotionally instigated by his lover when she realises that such a revolt is the last resort. And this “last resort” comes very early, in most cases, because a desperate woman lover is agile: always in a hurry. She fears that a delay may stand in the way of success.
In most cases, the credit of a successful love affair goes to the woman involved and the man just banks on her to continue the battle until success. The woman remains steadfast and employs every resource at her disposal to intensify it and ensure early success.
The role of other women supporting or opposing the main characters is as strong and vital as that of the main pair – sometimes decisive. One may safely conclude that these women also have the authority to impose their decision, right or wrong, on all the male members of the family. And this proves an extremist and autocratic approach.
The very first, and of course the last, warning from a woman lover to her male counterpart comes in the early days of an affair. If you haven’t received one or heard of any, I would like to let you read the decree: “I will kill you, or your paramour, or myself if you ever ditch me.”
This warning is emphatically conveyed to the man and he must not make the mistake of underestimating the will and determination of the woman, who is willing to go to any extreme to give the warning a practical shape.—Awam
Compiled by Syed Hassan Ali
Email: karachian@dawn.com
KARACHI: In the early stages of their careers most artists, musicians, writers and all others involved in creative pursuits are inspired by masters in their fields. But if they fail to move out of the shadows and refrain from evolving their own styles they fail to grow. They simply stagnate. Shammi Ahmed, as her current solo exhibition at Zeniani shows, is now no more the toddler that held on to Jamil Naqsh’s fingers when she started to paint 15 years ago.
She now stands on her own, which is not to deny that her mentor’s influence is not to be seen in her work. She clearly belongs to the Naqsh school of painting and like his, or perhaps more, her own oeuvre has unmistakable influences of that titanic name in world painting – Pablo Picasso. Like Picasso’s figures, Shammi Ahmed’s are rounded. These have all been composed in squares of the same size which brings out a refreshing uniformity in the works on display.
The 33 canvases are, for want of a better word, woman-centric. Women wearing enigmatic expressions look at you intently the moment you enter the small hall of Zeniani Gallery. You can’t avoid their gaze. Most appear pensive but at least two of them look relaxed. There is a hint of a smile on their faces. But the most dominating features on the canvases are the eyes of her women – open or shut – whether there is just one pair or more. You can’t escape them.
Lending variety to the compositions are flowers which almost invariably make an appearance in paintings that focus on faces, rather than on the rest of the body. Their presence serve as a reminder that woman, like a flower, is a joy for ever, if one may borrow an expression from John Keats. The play of light and shade is yet another strong point about the work on display. It gives a touch of strength to the compositions.
Until a few years ago Shammi was not a prolific painter. She only picked up the brush when the impulse to express herself was undeniable, but things have changed now for she is often seen painting with demonic energy, sometimes from sunset to daybreak.
This time she came up with 33 paintings only to find, much to her delight, that at the end of the opening day only three frames did not bear the ‘sold out’ sign. The exhibition at Zeniani in Tauheed Commercial, DHA, will be on till the 18th. To her the show is of more sentimental value than her group shows in the past as this is her first solo flight.
One hopes that next time she would burst on the scene with her lovely specimens of calligraphy. Her third prize at the calligraphic contest at Lahore’s Al-Hamra Complex showed us yet another facet of her talent.—Asif Noorani