A Year of Transformation

Source: NASA

The world is changing, and so have I. Now, I do not get to blog as frequently as much as I used to. Or perhaps would have wanted to.

Perhaps it would be incorrect to say that I did not have enough time. But it is time to talk about different things.

The different person that I have become, bracing for a transformed life. A person with a completely different mindset. One who wants to talk about different things. One who has been as disgusted with the world and life as it is as he is at peace with it.

A person who cares as much about issues as he used to but is perhaps more at peace with what he can do about it.

The focus of my thoughts will perhaps be more around inspiration and things that matter in life, at least to me. These thoughts are going to be more infrequent than before, but they will surely be there. I will make sure that such ideas are expressed in a more meaningful manner.

There is always a constant struggle inside me about preserving things the way they are and resisting any change. I am still not over such struggles and perhaps will not be in the near future. However, even grappling with the idea of tiny changes about my existence sounds like progress to a person who never wants to give up on what looks like ritual and tradition. To a person who would rather have time frozen in a moment forever. But am I the only one who wants that? And will existence even be worthy of anything if that were the case?

I have stepped deeper into advertising and agency day jobs. Whether this is what destiny holds for me, only time will tell. But this is the beginning of a new phase for me. As for more creative adventures, I will have to see how I am able to reinvent myself to get closer to what fulfills me.

This has also been a journey in trying to make sense of who and what I am.

Perhaps, there is still time to take greater risks. However, I am not sure if now is the right time for it.

A war that changed the world

Source: RUSI.com

It just started like that. It probably always starts like that.

You thought it was never going to happen but found columns of tanks heading into the border zones. You thought it was just intimidation, but it broke into a full-fledged battle.

It may have started as the manifestation of the megalomania of an autocrat. Still, like every war, it has irreversibly changed lives for the worse and destroyed a country beyond recovery. The Russian dictator has pushed entire Europe, along with his nation, into a spiral of death, misery, and destruction. He is on a collision course with the West and has lost all sense of rationality. And perhaps, some of its global impact might even have been conscious on his part.

Apart from destroying the lives of thousands of Ukrainian families and even more individuals, the war has essentially shaken, if not altered, the liberal economic order. The biggest triumph of Western liberal democracies has been its financial and economic system at least, which had bound the rival authoritarian powers such as Russia and China, and to some degree, even Iran. Partially by shutting Russia out of the NIFT system, the West has contributed to that polarization itself.

Source: DW/Anatoli Stepanov/AFP

The war has also disrupted parts of the global supply chain and resulted in an imbalance of energy supply, with Europe barred from Russian gas, much to the chagrin of Germany. And as we exit 2022, while Russia has expressed its intention to enter negotiations to end the war for the first time, which is not a surprise considering how terribly it went for them, there is hardly an end in sight. It continues to impact our lives hundreds of miles away in the shape of economic ruin.

Here, it is important to acknowledge the sheer evil of the shameful foreign policies of India and Pakistan in this entire episode. Both countries refused to call out Russia for its disastrous war crimes and failed to stand with Ukraine. Apart from ignoring Ukraine altogether, the countries resorted to completely ignoring the plight of the Ukrainian people in their UN voting record. What is worse, Pakistan’s idiotic leader Imran Khan was standing right next to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin the day he was sending tanks into the Donbas region of Ukraine. Even today, Pakistan is prioritizing “Russian crude oil” that it will probably never get over Ukraine.

However, the war has truly given the Ukrainian people and the world a hero in Volodymyr Zelensky, whose leadership is still the embodiment of Ukrainians fighting hard for their existence and freedom even 9 months after the brutal Russian attack. As of this date, the United States has provided the Ukrainian forces with Patriot anti-missile defense system to stand some chance against the barrage of Russian missiles systematically targeting Ukrainian civilian and cultural centers.

It is shocking how Russia has practically gained nothing except destroying the lives and livelihood of millions of Ukrainian. Apart from gratifying the ego of yet another destructive and warmongering European dictator, the Russians are continuing with their stalemated fight against Ukraine. They are desperately looking for face-saving that is not going to be easy to come by.

The world must come together to stand up for the Ukrainian people and discourage Russia’s reckless warmongering. All people must urge their nations to take a stand but especially Pakistani conservatives and progressives should give up their cynical world-view and pressure their government to take a stand to discourage Russia from continuing with the war.

They are already losing the war anyway.