Friday, March 20, 2020

Khamosh Pani review Essays

Khamosh Pani review Essays Khamosh Pani review Essay Khamosh Pani review Essay Speaking to the Constituent Assembly in 1947, MA Zinnia presented his vision for the country: If you change your past and work in the spirit that every one of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what his color, caste, or creed is first, second, and last a citizen of his State with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make (McDermott, Gordon et. Al. 759). In subsequent months, the constitutional debates revealed the deep divisions that existed within the country. Less than 2 years after Jinnis speech, the Objectives Resolution held that Islam was to be the guiding force in Pakistanis political life. Still later, the Minor Report of 1953 concluded that an Islamic state was anathema to the ideals of political modernity and that Pakistan ought to be a liberal secular state. These two conceptions of religion set up a constitutive tension in which Salamis political significance becomes ambivalent as doctrinally inflexible, historically anachronistic, and therefore incommensurable with modern statehood. This existential tension is visualized in Sabina Sumacs film Shampoo Pain (Silent Waters). Set in a Punjabi village near Rawlins, it tells the story of Ayes, a widow raising her teenage son Salami in 1 979 just after General Siss military coup. They enjoy a mostly serene existence until radical Psalmists arrive from Lahore to induct new recruits for the jihad cause and to propagate the Colonization of the country. Initially dismissive of the zealots dour persona, the impressionable Salami is taken in by the sheer forcefulness of their rhetoric, frustrated as he is by the lack of opportunities offered by his circumstances, and perhaps threatened by the educational ambitions of his girlfriend Subside. The arrival in the village of Sikh pilgrims, coupled with Salamis growing anger and intolerance, leads to the revelation of long-buried and horrific secrets within his own family, ending with Ayes making the sacrifice that she wasnt ready to make in the turmoil of Partition. The painful meaning Of the films title becomes dreadfully clear. Several scenes depict the social transformation that takes place in Pakistan during this period: the adolescent romance of Salami and Subside to the knowledge of others in the village, Subsidys simple dreams of creating her own wealth with a mixer, a ceiling fan, and a job in a big office, a colorful wedding replete with music, dance, and drinking. With the arrival of fundamentalist forces, however, we sense the burgeoning air of terror and story in the village: the postmans fearful observation that no matter what has happened, you never hang a Prime Minister, the chatty barber being warned when he jokes about the General and his grooming ritual , the wall around the girls school being raised, shops being forced to close during amaze, the Sikh pilgrims being bullied by the zealots while at prayer, and Ayes being ostracizes unless she publicly declares her unsullied Muslim identity. The character of Salami is remarkable in his ability to project both confused aggression and intense vulnerability. His transition from the natural joy of a carefree, flute-playing young man in love in the first part of the film, to the indoctrinated and sullen faux brute of the second demonstrates the process by which political ideology leads to social transformation. His personal sense of crisis through the process is revealed in scenes such as when Salami lets his propaganda fliers float into the stream, and then shoots them in frustration, or asks his mother why she isnt proud of him. Shampoo Pain is as much Salamis story as it is Essays: a woman first scarred y the ferocious tearing apart of her family and homeland, only to be devastated years later when her son is taken from her by the new claimants of the same destructive forces. Through traumatic flashbacks, the film reveals the violence of Partition in which many women were killed by their own families or forced to commit suicide to protect their honor from rape by other men. Unable to protect his women from rape, Veers father chooses such a method of maintaining their purity and retaining the communitys masculinity. Helpless against the chaos around them, and unable to secure retention from the state, communities frequently resorted to such ritualistic executions. Such practices suggest a desire to control their destiny; a desire for agency that took womens bodies to be a site for preservation. Every refuses this fate and instead submits to violence by men from the other community and dislocation from her own. At the same time, she claims space for herself, as Muslim Ayes, in her ancestral village Charka, now located in Pakistan. The film also connects local suffering to global power. The events of 1979 that engulf Charka involve global politics, as two superpowers, the United States ND the Soviet Union, struggle for world dominance. Politicized Islam is used to generate cadres of young men willing to join the American-led jihad in Afghanistan. The internalizing of these macro processes is remarkable. In an early scene, one of the organizers from Lahore reminds his stauncher companion: were here not to fight but to convince. Reaffirmation of religion within Pakistan helps identify those who will be transformed into holy warriors. During this process, communal divisions are deployed to recognize those who belong to the polity and those who are outsiders. The importance of Shampoo Pain lies in presenting politicized Islam and its connection to communality and social transformation as a process. It serves as an important critique of state-sponsored religion and its effects on peoples lives. The film simultaneously threads some of the most controversial and emotionally blistering issues of Partition, communality, the indoctrination of disaffected youth, and what it means to be female, especially in times of conflict. The simple narrative about a widow in a Pakistani village and her boy is extraordinarily effective.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Blaschkos Lines and Invisible Stripes on Human Skin

Blaschko's Lines and Invisible Stripes on Human Skin Unless you have one of a number of skin diseases, you may not realize you have stripes, much like those on a tiger! Ordinarily, the stripes are invisible, though you can see them if you shine an ultraviolet or black light over your body. What Are Blaschko's Lines? The  Lines of Blaschko or  Blaschkos lines make V-shaped stripes down your back, u-shapes  on your chest and stomach, simple stripes on your arms and legs, and waves on your head. The stripes were first described by German  Alfred Blaschko in 1901. Blaschko was a dermatologist who observed pigmented patterns in people with certain skin diseases. The patterns are also visible in people with chimerism. A chimera begins as two cells that have different DNA from each other. As these cells grow and divide, they contain slightly different instructions on how to produce proteins, including pigments. The lines dont follow blood vessels, nerves, or lymphatic vessels, believed instead to reflect the migration of embryonic skin cells. Under ordinary conditions, skin cells are programmed to produce the same amount of pigment as each other, so the stripes arent noticeable. The slight differences are more obvious under the higher energy of ultraviolet light. Other animals besides humans display Blaschko lines, including cats and dogs. How To See Your Human Stripes Whether or not you can view your own human stripes depends on your natural skin pigmentation and the type of UV light you use. Not all black lights are sufficiently energetic to make the lines visible. If you want to try to view your own stripes. youll need a dark room and a mirror. Shine the black light over exposed skin and look for the pattern. Conditions Where Human Stripes Are Visible Several skin disorders may follow Blaschkos lines, making them visible. These conditions may be inherited or acquired. Sometimes the stripes are visible throughout life. Under other conditions, they appear and then fade. While its possible for the whole body to be affected, many times the lines only appear on a single limb or region. Here are some examples of skin conditions associated with Blaschkos lines. Congenital Skin Disorders linear sebaceous naevus (lifelong)unilateral naevoid telangiectasia (lifelong) Acquired Skin Disorders lichen striatus (one to two years)linear psoriasis  (one to two years)linear scleroderma Genetic Skin Disorders Conradi-Hunermann syndromeMenke’s syndrome How Are Blaschko's Lines Treated? If Blaschkos lines were simply stripes, treatment might be as simple as applying make-up or a drug to fade the pigment. Sometimes Blaschkos lines only affect skin pigmentation. However, the marks associated with skin conditions may present as dermatitis, with papules and vesicles. In some cases, corticosteroids may improve skin health. Treatments that reduce physical and emotional stress and address the underlying cause of the condition may also help.