Some casual reading material to peruse while visiting Pakistan after 6 beers at a New Years Party. Some Pakis do have a sense of humour and we need to celebrate those. Shivsaar I look forward to your dissection skills to bring forth the Paki gems from this article. Requesting indulgence from mods for posting in full From "Dawn" :
Whole lota love By Amber Rahim Shamsi - Wednesday, 30 Dec, 2009
The lota goes where the master goes and is used to describe MNAs who defect from one party to another in pursuit of benefits.
An open letter from the Protection of the Abuse and Use of the Lota Society (PAULS)
Dear All,
We are concerned about the bad press that the ‘lota’ or pot has been getting. This society has been formed to redeem this humble object from obscurantists, political victimisation, and faux modernists. For too long, the lota - whose use is pervasive and private - has been subject to public derision.
In particular, we are referring to its pejorative application to politicians. We were disturbed to find that that a politician who is liable to switch parties and sides is still referred to as a ‘lota’. Consider this sample from a news report on a National Assembly session featuring a debate on the controversial Kerry-Lugar aid bill:
"The harshest criticism of the day came from some of one-time loyalists of former military president Pervez Musharraf in the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, whose parliamentary leader Faisal Saleh Hayat had a surprise altercation with Pakistan People’s Party’s Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, a sister of President Asif Ali Zardari.
"That led to the first such a furious division in the 19-month-old house despite a desire expressed by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to forge a consensus on the aid bill and an abrupt end of the sitting amid PPP chants of ‘lota, lota’, a usual description used for political turncoats, which the PML-Q leader became in a group of about 20 PPP lawmakers who switched sides after the 2002 election to help the formation of a pro-Musharraf coalition government but were spared disqualification by a decree that delayed the revival of an anti-defection law…. The chair’s move failed to calm down PPP members who stood up in their seats, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan leading the ‘lota, lota’ slogans from his front-row desk."
It is not under the purview of PAULS to understand the lack of intellect in parliament, but we strenuously object to the disparagement of the lota. A few members of our society took out demonstrations in the 1990s, when the venality and disloyalty of politicians became encapsulated in neologisms such as ‘lotacracy’. In his book ‘Pakistan: The Political Economy since 1947’, Nadeem Qasir writes:
"The depth of moral apathy among politicians had now touched such lows that a new term was coined to describe this: ‘lota-ism’....The lota goes where the master goes. The word ‘lota’ became part of common parlance when describing the MNAs who defected from one party to another in pursuit of ministerial positions or other benefits. To show their distaste and disgust for this growing caste of politicians, some groups in Lahore organised a demonstration in 1995 which demanded that the media be dissuaded from using the term ‘lota’ with reference to such politicians, as this amounted to the desecration of this ‘purifying’ utensil!"
But it seems our protests have gone unheard. That, however, should not be a reflection on the lota itself, but a reflection on the political culture. Parliament added the ‘floor-crossing’ act to the constitution in 1997, penalising politicians who defected. Yet the metaphor has stuck. Indeed, we found it quite offensive that among the list of more than 100 symbols up for grabs in the 2008 elections, not one party chose the lota. That in a list which includes such meaningful items as a coat, flower vase, and bucket.
We are also concerned about rumours that the lota will soon be replaced by the Muslim shower. For one thing, giving a device that essentially spurts water a religion is hitting below the belt. The lota is South Asian – its use not barred by religion or race – but that is no reason to disassociate from our roots. The reason we have been unable to find an identity is because we wobble between South Asia and the Middle East, rather like a lota without a base.
Furthermore, a lota is not dependent on good plumbing to be used; in a sense it is truly egalitarian. Unlike the Muslim shower, the lota is portable. The stream of water can also be easily controlled, with water being saved and conserved for later. Anyone who dares believe that a lota is obsolete, has, well, poor bathroom hygiene.
We consider it an honour there is no English equivalent word for lota. It is a word untranslatable, for within its curves and swirls is contained the national psyche – clean and unclean. And how can the British – for all their anglicising of verandah and dacoit – understand an object that is more than a mere bathroom accessory. They have a chamber pot – now obsolete – which in its modern reincarnation has been infantilised as a ‘potty’.
But the lota is grander, its evolution is Darwinian (if Darwin was post-modern) – a fine example of the survival of the minimalist. As Dustin Hoffman was told in ‘The Graduate’: ‘I have one word for you: plastics.’ And plastic did for the lota what the printing press did for books and newspapers – mass production. Thus, from metal to plastic, hygiene is now easily available to the masses at cheap prices and in bright colours.
American industrial designer Charles Eames had this to say about the lota in 1958:
"Of all the objects we have seen and admired during our visit to India, the Lota, that simple vessel of everyday use, stands out as perhaps the greatest, the most beautiful…But how would one go about designing a Lota? First one would have to shut out all preconceived ideas on the subject and then begin to consider factor after factor: The optimum amount of liquid to be fetched, carried, poured, and stored in a prescribed set of circumstances."
Finally, PAULS has found that the history, etymology, origins, and production numbers are not freely available to the public. We intend to conduct and publish detailed reports so that the cultural phenomenon of the lota can be better understood. Why is it important? Consider this: what would you do in a bathroom with just toilet paper?
With warm regards,
The PAULS Board
