Pakistanistan Day -5, Eid ul Adha

Visiting for the first time last century, and at that time working on high energy particle physics projects, I compared the roads of Pakistan to the collider rings at CERN. Today, I'm happy to report that, in Islamabad at least, the opposing particles are (mostly) no longer on the same path. 

But it's Eid, a public holiday, so the roads are relatively quiet. The serenity of the roads is perhaps in stark contrast to the spectacle that is the ritual qurbani sacrifice occurring in designated places around the city. While some regard this as barbaric and it can be traumatic to watch, the halal slaughter process is supposed to be as compassionate as possible to the animal: caring for it beforehand, using a sharp knife, performed quickly with precision, and with a blessing. Unconsciousness is fast once the brain is drained of oxygen, but the muscle spasms as the heart drains the body of blood gives the impression that animal is fighting for life. Death in the animal kingdom is rarely kind and this is surely quicker and less stressful than being chased by a predator and slowly dying once its guts are ripped out or a limb is chewed off? I was mildly reassured to see the handlers stroking their animals while they were waiting. Keeping the animal calm prevents it from producing stress chemicals that taint the resulting meat. I think the slaughter is actually meant to done out of sight of the other animals, but even while the slaughter was occuring, the other animals didn't seem perturbed by this.