Tuesday, March 23, 2010
a visit to a Karachi school
I visited a school in Karachi today. The idea was to talk to them about my book and my life and then just start a conversation with them. That all happened but before that I had the pleasure of hearing the school choir sing a few songs. This one really moved me. It is a song that was written last year, I think, and its about the misperception of Muslims. The chorus translates to 'it is not us' by which they mean that not all Muslims are nutters and not all Pakistanis are terrorists. Its quite a banal observation in its way but sitting there and hearing the children sing and looking into their young and earnest faces I actually felt rather moved and by the end of the song I had tears in my eyes. Maybe you had to be there, but for those who were not this is what it sounded and looked like.