THE big sick: as I see it

THE big sick: as I see it

Yesterday I watched Kumail Nanjiani's '

The Big Sick"

We had arrived at the Regal Union Square thirty minutes earlier and found the seats of our choice. By the time the preview started there was no place left and couples had to sit separately. It was a houseful,  a month after the release.

The first I heard about the movie was from my kids who saw it and recommended it. Later I found out that Kumail's father, Aijaz is a Pakistani Physician like me and has been to the same high school I went, eight years earlier. Recently I had met him in Orlando at a reunion of our school, Cadet College Hasanabdal. He is the one who wanted Anupam Kher to play his role, and Anupam agreed.

It was my father in law who wanted to see it on a day trip to the city and I went along. 

As many would already know, it is a take of the real life story of a boy meets girl and later they break up as he does not have the courage to tell his parents about the relationship. His parents, especially his mother is actively working to find a right match: a Muslim, Pakistani girl. Then something happens which bring them close, betrayed by the title of the movie.

Kumail co-wrote the script with his real wife Emily Gordon. The lines are great and full of laughs. It tells all the tensions going on in the life of a struggling artist from Pakistani background, his job as an Uber driver, his relationship with his parents and brother, and dealing with real and perceived xenophobia of various shades.

The title is based on Emily's sickness which eventually helps bring both of them together. I wonder if there is a subtle reference to other sicknesses in the characters of the story: the prejudices, the concerns and the fears.

ISIS is mentioned in two occasions, Taliban and al-Qaida not at all. It tells us that things have moved and brands have changed. New brands gather more attention.

By the end of the movie, everybody know a bit more about Pakistan, cricket and the irrigation system. And all this is not in a bad way. I appreciate that. 

It does not show on his face, but the crux of the story is the way a young man over extends himself, at his own peril, not to disappoint his parents. In the process he has almost lied and risks losing both, his family and his love. Then he yearns and begs to get his family back, but does not realize how hard it is for his parents to budge.

It brings up the subtlety of tensions and contrasts in the way an American family and a Pakistani family handles the relationship between their kids.

The American family is able to overcome its initial reservations and bias and then the mother is even rooting for the Pakistani guy. 

It is not so simple for the Pakistani family. It shows the difficulty and pain the Pakistani family goes through in coming to terms with their kid going his own way. Without bashing the religion and culture, it shows how hard, and sometimes impossible, it is for people of my background to acknowledge, understand and accept the realities of present day life and that the kids are entitled to a life of their own. 

As pointed out after the movie by my mother in law, there was a time that Pakistanis were proud to have Zia Muhyeuddin played a short role in Lawrence of Arabia; now a Pakistani American has written the script and is playing the lead role in a Hollywood movie.

As a parent of two kids who are pursuing their carrier in visual and media arts and trailblazing their personal lives, the real life story of Kumail was very close to heart and home. I recommend it for all Pakistani parents living in the West.

This Land Is Your Land : In Urdu

This famous song by Woody Guthrie is considered  a Marxist response to Irving Berlin's " God Bless America".

http://www.npr.org/2000/07/03/1076186/this-land-is-your-land.

Popular like, 'Sohni Dharti Allah Rakhey" it is like people's national anthem. 

It is the story of a disenfranchised man, roaming America coast to coast, happier on the road than at home, and with the assertive feeling that the land belongs to him too. Some verses are more radical than others. Although US-centric, it has a universal appeal.

This was one of the songs celebrated by Obama's inauguration celebrations.

In the APPNA convention this year, 2017, it was sang on the stage by Fajjr. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drjzqB_LGX8

Here is the full version, of one of the versions, with my translation

====================================================

This Land is Your Land

by

Woody Gurthie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California, to the New York Island

From the redwood forest, to the Gulf Stream waters

This land was made for you and me

یہ ہے تیری زمیں یہ ہے میری زمیں

اس کی ایک اک گلی ہے تری اور مری

کیلی فورنیا سے لے کے نیو یارک تک

سرخ پیڑوں کے جنگل سے ساحل تلک

یہ ہے تیری زمیں یہ ہے میری زمیں

اس کی ایک اک گلی ہے تری اور مری

As I was walking a ribbon of highway

I saw above me an endless skyway

I saw below me a golden valley

This land was made for you and me

تہہ کیے ہیں سفر میں نے شاہراہ پر

ہیں خیاباں فضامیں تا حدِ نظر

اور نیچے ہے بکھری سنہری زمیں

رشک کرتی ہے جس پر بہشتِ بریں

یہ ہے تیری زمیں یہ ہے میری زمیں

اس کی ایک اک گلی ہے تری اور مری

I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts

And all around me a voice was sounding

This land was made for you and me

شوقِ آوارگی میں میں ہر جاگیا

میرے قدموں تلے تھا ہر ک راستہ

ریت چمکے جہاں پہ وہ صحرا ملا

ہر جگہ سے مجھے یہ ہی آئی صدا

یہ ہے تیری زمیں یہ ہے میری زمیں

اس کی ایک اک گلی ہے تری اور مری

The sun comes shining as I was strolling

The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling

The fog was lifting a voice come chanting

This land was made for you and me

دھوپ دھرتی پہ یوں مسکراتی رہے

فصلِ گندم صدا لہلہاتی رہے

رنگ چڑھتا رہے دھند مٹتی رہے

ہر طرف سے یہ آواز آتی رہے

یہ ہے تیری زمیں یہ ہے میری زمیں

اس کی ایک اک گلی ہے تری اور مری

As I was walkin' I saw a sign there

And that sign said- no tresspassin'

But on the other side... it didn't say nothin'

 Now that side was made for you and me!

راستے میں مجھے ایک کتبہ ملا

ــآگے جانا نہیں اس پہ یہ درج تھا

اس کی پچھلی طرف تھا نہیں کچھ لکھا

اس کا مطلب تو میں نے یہی ہے لیا

یہ ہے تیری زمیں یہ ہے میری زمیں

اس کی ایک اک گلی ہے تری اور مری

In the squares of the city-In the shadow of the steeple

Near the relief office-I  see my people

And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'

If this land's still made for you and me

چوک بازار کا سایہ مینار کا

ایک مجمع ہے افرادِ لاچار کا

ہیں وہ حیرت ذدہ ہے یہ کیا ماجرہ

جو تھی ان کی زمیں کھو گئی ہے کہیں

یہ ہے تیری زمیں یہ ہے میری زمیں

اس کی ایک اک گلی ہے تری اور مری

Nobody living can ever stop me

As I go walking that freedom highway;

Nobody living can ever make me turn back

This land was made for you and me

کوئی ایسا نہیں جو مجھے ٹوک دے 

میری آزادیوں کی ڈگر روک دے

نہ ہے ایسا جما جو یہ ہمت کرے

مجھ کو جانے نہ دے کہہ کہ ہٹ جا پرے

یہ ہے تیری زمیں یہ ہے میری زمیں

اس کی ایک اک گلی ہے تری اور مری

ناصر گوندل

First of July, Time and Again

July 1st is an important day in my life, and in the lives of all the physicians who are trained in the USA. This day, 28 years back I started my residency at Flushing Hospital. Three years later it was the first day of my fellowship in Hematology /Oncology at Westchester County Medical Center and again three years later, it was the first day of my job in Forest Hills where I joined a practice of medical oncology.

This is an anniversary, three times over. And similar is the story of all the doctors I know: my wife, siblings, cousins, nephews, friends, class mates and others included.  

Making rounds in the hospitals today I saw young physicians starting this journey of their lives; young, energetic, excited, some a bit nervous, they reminded me of my first day. 

World is a smaller place now than the time I started. Most of the foreign graduates like me had no exposure of American health system before that first of July. There was the difference of language, and I was unaware of the expectations of the patients, hospital staff and the dreaded senior resident. Among ourselves, the first years, we bonded well; some of the connections are still alive and strong. With time one realizes that the basic human interaction is same, across borders, languages and cultures. 

It is strange to realize what a difference those three years make in one's life. There is a sharp learning curve. You start as a novice and end up with a confident feeling, which at times may be erroneous.  

It is perhaps the most strenuous and rigorous time in the life of a doctor. I thought I had been through much rugged times in my previous life, but none equaled the time of residency. At the end of it, one has been through the final cast. What good or bad you learn, it would stay with you for the rest of your professional life. It is very hard to change after that. 

Outside of hospital. this is an equally important time in our lives. Most of us got married during that time. Many became parents for the first time. While job obligations are unrelenting, home obligations start to build up. If you find out how to do the balancing act at that time, you are good for the rest of the run.

While the doctor in training is there to widen the knowledge base and hone the skills of the trade, the hospital looks at the resident not much more than cheep labor. Some hospitals do better than others in and some residents take it better than others. At times it can be quite humiliating. By the June 30th of the last year, it is always rewarding. 

This June 30th, a young resident lost her life to senseless murder by a former fellow worker in Bronx Lebanon. I never thought our jobs could be that risky. Kudos to those who are in the line of fire.

So, Happy Anniversary to all of us, and good luck to those who are at the first step of this journey