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Sampa, the sailors wife
It was regarding the demonisation of Pakistan and our violent ways in Sampas country and of her genuine surprise to find it mostly the other way round here
Somali pirates are a menace in which no good can possibly be found. They hang around international sea trade routes passing through the Arabian Sea close to the Gulf of Aden, hijack ships, kill and kidnap their crews and passengers and demand ransom for their release. Their nuisance is so great and extensive that sea faring nations have been forced to form combined naval task forces to tackle them. They are murderous and slippery, with whom nothing but money works and who talk only through the barrel of a gun.
On August 2, 2010, MV Suez, an Egyptian cargo ship, with 22 crewmen under a Pakistani captain was commandeered by Somali pirates near the Gulf of Aden. The crew consisted of Egyptians, Sri Lankans, Pakistanis and Indians. Of the six Indian crewmen, there was one called Ravinder Arya from Haryana whose talented wife Sampa has been able to open, singlehandedly, the barrage gates of naturally flowing goodness between the people of India and Pakistan. This is the magnificent story of ordinary people of the two countries who found a common wavelength in suffering and reached out to help each other in despair. Bonds forged between people in common adversity are stronger and last longer than any other.
Sampa had heard of the Ansaar Burney group that was working hard to secure the release of the MV Suez hostages. She wrote a simple letter appealing to these unusual men to help her husband get home too. That was it. A desperate Indian wife, mother of young children, touched the most delicate of human sentiments in Pakistan of compassion and empathy. These noble sentiments, once initiated, needed no other motivation to go on.
The Burney group picked up the cudgels on behalf of not only her husband but also the entire mixed crew, regardless of their nationality. They went from pillar to post, rang every doorbell to collect over two million dollars to pay the ransom demanded. These good men persisted and finally prevailed. The entire crew was released in June 2011 and escorted to Karachi by the Pakistan Navy.
The sad part is that while this tense drama of human misery was being played out, hard crusted officialdom in both countries remained as inert as a tombstone, extending practically no help in the matter. States of their origin, more or less, let the matter drift and resolve by itself, if possible. This clearly shows there are two different narratives current, particularly in the subcontinent: prejudiced official and open popular. This contradiction between the two approaches is a major cause of our interstate friction.
Unfortunately, largely partisan media on both sides has been instrumental in promoting the unfortunate notion that neither side was capable of any thought or act of kindness towards the other. Therefore, they did not consider this unique saga of selfless humanitarianism sensational enough for a major news story. It had to be Sampa Arya who overturned this devils circus in one stroke. Falsehoods are like castles of wax that melt with just one warm ray of truth. I recollect a Surti jeweller boy whom we met while vacationing in Madrid in 2000 or thereabouts, in a restaurant. He was sitting alone and a little lost. I invited him over. He joined my wife and me for lunch after a bit of hesitation. A fine lad he was, in Spain to learn more about how best to cut diamonds. His boyish excitement kept me from telling him that I was serving in the army despite his insistence, as that would have spoilt his innocent joy. In the course of our small talk, he asked why the relations were so bad between our two countries. And then adorably went on to answer himself: Because of our leaders and press. I agreed and added, Also the courtiers who have unrestricted access to the leaderships ears. I should have added clergy to the list too.
The other day, Sampa along with another fellow sailors wife was on one of our TV talk shows. Both had expressly travelled to Pakistan to thank personally the Burneys and the people of Pakistan for their help. What a refreshing presence it was, effervescent, naturally friendly, and untutored. Her description of painful uncertainty laced with hope and despair and the decision to reach out to Pakistanis was as moving as it was effortlessly unaffected. Her good heartedness, homegrown but expressive poems and emotive bursts of thankfulness must have touched viewers all over the country. She seemed to possess a mind amazingly free from the cobwebs of prejudice and perfidy that float around in such abundance in this part of the world. Her answers to questions came out with the perfect ease of a positively poised person at peace with herself. To each question, her answer was factual and without malice. It was regarding the demonisation of Pakistan and our violent ways in Sampas country and of her genuine surprise to find it mostly the other way round here. That people were just the same as they were in India. She supported her story by describing the pleasant surprise of her neighbours who could not control their raw disbelief when told that her husband was freed from the pirates with the help of Pakistanis.
The secret of Sampas infectious optimism, beside her good nature, perhaps lay in her own words: I have always espoused profound desires, along with a determination to defeat lurking fears of disappointment, and her resolve to preserve her faith in the goodness of Pakistanis looked firm and apparent. One prays it remains that way and that the Aryas never have to undergo an agony like that again. It is not really the sentiments of gratitude that matter but the elegance of their expression which does. Sampa and Madhu did it to perfection with their simplicity, warmth and truthfulness. None could be better ambassadors of amity than the articulate Sampa Arya and the shy Madhu.
Whenever it is possible to be our natural self, each one of us is capable of limitless goodness and can move innumerable hearts. Somali pirates could kill, capture and loot, but must never have thought of bringing out the best amongst two estranged people of needlessly hostile countries. Buried deep in evil are invariably the seeds of future goodness.
The writer is a retired brigadier of the Pakistan army and can be reached at clay.potter@hotmail.com
It was regarding the demonisation of Pakistan and our violent ways in Sampas country and of her genuine surprise to find it mostly the other way round here
Somali pirates are a menace in which no good can possibly be found. They hang around international sea trade routes passing through the Arabian Sea close to the Gulf of Aden, hijack ships, kill and kidnap their crews and passengers and demand ransom for their release. Their nuisance is so great and extensive that sea faring nations have been forced to form combined naval task forces to tackle them. They are murderous and slippery, with whom nothing but money works and who talk only through the barrel of a gun.
On August 2, 2010, MV Suez, an Egyptian cargo ship, with 22 crewmen under a Pakistani captain was commandeered by Somali pirates near the Gulf of Aden. The crew consisted of Egyptians, Sri Lankans, Pakistanis and Indians. Of the six Indian crewmen, there was one called Ravinder Arya from Haryana whose talented wife Sampa has been able to open, singlehandedly, the barrage gates of naturally flowing goodness between the people of India and Pakistan. This is the magnificent story of ordinary people of the two countries who found a common wavelength in suffering and reached out to help each other in despair. Bonds forged between people in common adversity are stronger and last longer than any other.
Sampa had heard of the Ansaar Burney group that was working hard to secure the release of the MV Suez hostages. She wrote a simple letter appealing to these unusual men to help her husband get home too. That was it. A desperate Indian wife, mother of young children, touched the most delicate of human sentiments in Pakistan of compassion and empathy. These noble sentiments, once initiated, needed no other motivation to go on.
The Burney group picked up the cudgels on behalf of not only her husband but also the entire mixed crew, regardless of their nationality. They went from pillar to post, rang every doorbell to collect over two million dollars to pay the ransom demanded. These good men persisted and finally prevailed. The entire crew was released in June 2011 and escorted to Karachi by the Pakistan Navy.
The sad part is that while this tense drama of human misery was being played out, hard crusted officialdom in both countries remained as inert as a tombstone, extending practically no help in the matter. States of their origin, more or less, let the matter drift and resolve by itself, if possible. This clearly shows there are two different narratives current, particularly in the subcontinent: prejudiced official and open popular. This contradiction between the two approaches is a major cause of our interstate friction.
Unfortunately, largely partisan media on both sides has been instrumental in promoting the unfortunate notion that neither side was capable of any thought or act of kindness towards the other. Therefore, they did not consider this unique saga of selfless humanitarianism sensational enough for a major news story. It had to be Sampa Arya who overturned this devils circus in one stroke. Falsehoods are like castles of wax that melt with just one warm ray of truth. I recollect a Surti jeweller boy whom we met while vacationing in Madrid in 2000 or thereabouts, in a restaurant. He was sitting alone and a little lost. I invited him over. He joined my wife and me for lunch after a bit of hesitation. A fine lad he was, in Spain to learn more about how best to cut diamonds. His boyish excitement kept me from telling him that I was serving in the army despite his insistence, as that would have spoilt his innocent joy. In the course of our small talk, he asked why the relations were so bad between our two countries. And then adorably went on to answer himself: Because of our leaders and press. I agreed and added, Also the courtiers who have unrestricted access to the leaderships ears. I should have added clergy to the list too.
The other day, Sampa along with another fellow sailors wife was on one of our TV talk shows. Both had expressly travelled to Pakistan to thank personally the Burneys and the people of Pakistan for their help. What a refreshing presence it was, effervescent, naturally friendly, and untutored. Her description of painful uncertainty laced with hope and despair and the decision to reach out to Pakistanis was as moving as it was effortlessly unaffected. Her good heartedness, homegrown but expressive poems and emotive bursts of thankfulness must have touched viewers all over the country. She seemed to possess a mind amazingly free from the cobwebs of prejudice and perfidy that float around in such abundance in this part of the world. Her answers to questions came out with the perfect ease of a positively poised person at peace with herself. To each question, her answer was factual and without malice. It was regarding the demonisation of Pakistan and our violent ways in Sampas country and of her genuine surprise to find it mostly the other way round here. That people were just the same as they were in India. She supported her story by describing the pleasant surprise of her neighbours who could not control their raw disbelief when told that her husband was freed from the pirates with the help of Pakistanis.
The secret of Sampas infectious optimism, beside her good nature, perhaps lay in her own words: I have always espoused profound desires, along with a determination to defeat lurking fears of disappointment, and her resolve to preserve her faith in the goodness of Pakistanis looked firm and apparent. One prays it remains that way and that the Aryas never have to undergo an agony like that again. It is not really the sentiments of gratitude that matter but the elegance of their expression which does. Sampa and Madhu did it to perfection with their simplicity, warmth and truthfulness. None could be better ambassadors of amity than the articulate Sampa Arya and the shy Madhu.
Whenever it is possible to be our natural self, each one of us is capable of limitless goodness and can move innumerable hearts. Somali pirates could kill, capture and loot, but must never have thought of bringing out the best amongst two estranged people of needlessly hostile countries. Buried deep in evil are invariably the seeds of future goodness.
The writer is a retired brigadier of the Pakistan army and can be reached at clay.potter@hotmail.com
