03-27-2009, 02:59 AM
From Bloomberg
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Yale Grad Mueenuddin Farms Mangoes in Brutal Pakistan (Update1)
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Interview by Zinta Lundborg
March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Brought up in Pakistan and Wisconsin, educated at Groton, Dartmouth and Yale Law School, Daniyal Mueenuddin is now back in the Punjab farming hothouse vegetables and mangoes.
He lives there with his Norwegian wife, who knows for how long.
Mueenuddinâs first book, âIn Other Rooms, Other Wonders,â contains eight luminous stories about class and power in a country undergoing radical change. Bloomberg critic Craig Seligmanâs review said the author âmakes it clear that as Pakistan shifts from a feudal economy to an industrial one, its brutality is only increasing.â
The writer talked about his much-praised volume and adventurous occupation on a visit to Bloombergâs New York headquarters.
Lundborg: <b>What do you make of the depiction of Pakistan as an unstable, nuclear-bomb wielding hotbed of terrorists?
Mueenuddin: Itâs actually true. Pakistan is probably the most dangerous place on earth. I think there is a very great danger that the nuclear genie will be let out of the bottle fairly soon, and that the bottle will be in Pakistan.</b>
Lundborg: <b>As half American, do you find yourself defending the U.S. against Pakistani stereotypes?
Mueenuddin: I donât defend America because itâs indefensible. In my lifetime, the most short-sighted policy has been the Bush administrationâs. The âUgly Americanâ basically is a pretty fair portrait. A lack of sensitivity and a ham- handedness has characterized American policy in Pakistan for a long time and those chickens are coming home to roost. </b>
Rushdieâs Stories
Lundborg: One of your tales was chosen by Salman Rushdie for his anthology, âBest American Short Stories.â While the Taliban is not much present in your work, do you ever think about fatwa and censorship?
Mueenuddin: Absolutely. As it happens, up to now I havenât been particularly interested in writing about mullahs or Sharia simply because theyâre not very significant in the community I write about.
I am fearful and any Pakistani writer who says heâs not is being not clear-headed or not truthful. The environment is such that there are things you cannot talk about, certain things you cannot say, and I find that oppressive. Once you darken a small part of the landscape, it infects the rest.
Lundborg: You write about the relation between rich and poor. What do you see happening to the different classes in Pakistan?
Cataclysmic Change
Mueenuddin:<b> Weâre in for a period of real upheaval and itâs going to be violent, maybe cataclysmic. If by some chance, the Islamic fundamentalist revolution that I see coming does not come, then the old feudal order will be undermined by a criminal and politically more savvy group and the poor will get more and more desperate. </b>
Lundborg: One of your American characters says about Pakistan, âI hate it, everyoneâs a crook and nothing works here.â Does this reflect your own ambivalence?
Mueenuddin: Every foreigner for the last 100 years has felt that about both Pakistan and India. Whatâs marvelous is that the country gets under your skin and while you might hate it, you canât leave it.
Lundborg: Why do women have such a hard time in your stories?
Mueenuddin: The position of women in Pakistan is absolutely appalling, and across the board, from the poor to the rich, in order to exercise any power they have to manipulate men.
Lundborg: You depict one âkerosene wife,â who goes up in flames as people stand around and watch.
Dangerous Stoves
Mueenuddin: Thatâs a surprisingly common âaccidentâ that happens. These poor women just keep blowing up with their stoves. They should really do something about the design of those stoves -- or the design of the husbands. In the Pakistani countryside, beating your wife is considered a sport.
Lundborg: If thereâs a violent political cataclysm, as you expect, are you staying there?
Mueenuddin: My wife and I have obviously discussed this at great length. When we come to the conclusion that our lives are in immediate danger, weâll leave. Weâll certainly try to err on the side of caution.
Lundborg: The cataclysm will come from a military overthrow?
Mueenuddin: A military overthrow would be great! <b>The problem stems from what happens if the military gets overthrown. The threat is from the Taliban-type fundamentalists who have very much infiltrated the army, so I think the army itself is divided.</b>
Targeting Tel Aviv
Lundborg: <b>The bomb is going to get thrown on India?</b>
Mueenuddin: <b>If the radical fundamentalists get hold of the bomb, theyâd proliferate it in some way. Their first and ideal target would be Tel Aviv and their second ideal target would be New York or somewhere in America.
The West cannot afford to let the fundamentalists take over Pakistan because the one thing theyâve made absolutely, perfectly clear is that if they ever get hold of the bomb, they intend to use it as quickly as they can. </b>
âIn Other Rooms, Others Wondersâ is published by W.W. Norton (256 pages, $23.95).
(Zinta Lundborg is a writer for Bloomberg News. All opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the reporter on this story: Zinta Lundborg in New York zlundborg@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: March 25, 2009 09:01 EDT
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Yale Grad Mueenuddin Farms Mangoes in Brutal Pakistan (Update1)
Share | Email | Print | A A A
Interview by Zinta Lundborg
March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Brought up in Pakistan and Wisconsin, educated at Groton, Dartmouth and Yale Law School, Daniyal Mueenuddin is now back in the Punjab farming hothouse vegetables and mangoes.
He lives there with his Norwegian wife, who knows for how long.
Mueenuddinâs first book, âIn Other Rooms, Other Wonders,â contains eight luminous stories about class and power in a country undergoing radical change. Bloomberg critic Craig Seligmanâs review said the author âmakes it clear that as Pakistan shifts from a feudal economy to an industrial one, its brutality is only increasing.â
The writer talked about his much-praised volume and adventurous occupation on a visit to Bloombergâs New York headquarters.
Lundborg: <b>What do you make of the depiction of Pakistan as an unstable, nuclear-bomb wielding hotbed of terrorists?
Mueenuddin: Itâs actually true. Pakistan is probably the most dangerous place on earth. I think there is a very great danger that the nuclear genie will be let out of the bottle fairly soon, and that the bottle will be in Pakistan.</b>
Lundborg: <b>As half American, do you find yourself defending the U.S. against Pakistani stereotypes?
Mueenuddin: I donât defend America because itâs indefensible. In my lifetime, the most short-sighted policy has been the Bush administrationâs. The âUgly Americanâ basically is a pretty fair portrait. A lack of sensitivity and a ham- handedness has characterized American policy in Pakistan for a long time and those chickens are coming home to roost. </b>
Rushdieâs Stories
Lundborg: One of your tales was chosen by Salman Rushdie for his anthology, âBest American Short Stories.â While the Taliban is not much present in your work, do you ever think about fatwa and censorship?
Mueenuddin: Absolutely. As it happens, up to now I havenât been particularly interested in writing about mullahs or Sharia simply because theyâre not very significant in the community I write about.
I am fearful and any Pakistani writer who says heâs not is being not clear-headed or not truthful. The environment is such that there are things you cannot talk about, certain things you cannot say, and I find that oppressive. Once you darken a small part of the landscape, it infects the rest.
Lundborg: You write about the relation between rich and poor. What do you see happening to the different classes in Pakistan?
Cataclysmic Change
Mueenuddin:<b> Weâre in for a period of real upheaval and itâs going to be violent, maybe cataclysmic. If by some chance, the Islamic fundamentalist revolution that I see coming does not come, then the old feudal order will be undermined by a criminal and politically more savvy group and the poor will get more and more desperate. </b>
Lundborg: One of your American characters says about Pakistan, âI hate it, everyoneâs a crook and nothing works here.â Does this reflect your own ambivalence?
Mueenuddin: Every foreigner for the last 100 years has felt that about both Pakistan and India. Whatâs marvelous is that the country gets under your skin and while you might hate it, you canât leave it.
Lundborg: Why do women have such a hard time in your stories?
Mueenuddin: The position of women in Pakistan is absolutely appalling, and across the board, from the poor to the rich, in order to exercise any power they have to manipulate men.
Lundborg: You depict one âkerosene wife,â who goes up in flames as people stand around and watch.
Dangerous Stoves
Mueenuddin: Thatâs a surprisingly common âaccidentâ that happens. These poor women just keep blowing up with their stoves. They should really do something about the design of those stoves -- or the design of the husbands. In the Pakistani countryside, beating your wife is considered a sport.
Lundborg: If thereâs a violent political cataclysm, as you expect, are you staying there?
Mueenuddin: My wife and I have obviously discussed this at great length. When we come to the conclusion that our lives are in immediate danger, weâll leave. Weâll certainly try to err on the side of caution.
Lundborg: The cataclysm will come from a military overthrow?
Mueenuddin: A military overthrow would be great! <b>The problem stems from what happens if the military gets overthrown. The threat is from the Taliban-type fundamentalists who have very much infiltrated the army, so I think the army itself is divided.</b>
Targeting Tel Aviv
Lundborg: <b>The bomb is going to get thrown on India?</b>
Mueenuddin: <b>If the radical fundamentalists get hold of the bomb, theyâd proliferate it in some way. Their first and ideal target would be Tel Aviv and their second ideal target would be New York or somewhere in America.
The West cannot afford to let the fundamentalists take over Pakistan because the one thing theyâve made absolutely, perfectly clear is that if they ever get hold of the bomb, they intend to use it as quickly as they can. </b>
âIn Other Rooms, Others Wondersâ is published by W.W. Norton (256 pages, $23.95).
(Zinta Lundborg is a writer for Bloomberg News. All opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the reporter on this story: Zinta Lundborg in New York zlundborg@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: March 25, 2009 09:01 EDT
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