I am sure many of ATP readers will be surprised to see this photograph in which former President Musharraf is saluting his most vocal critic Imran Khan.

Before you jump onto conclusions, let me tell you that this photograph is said to be taken during a fund raising event doe the Shaukat Khannum Memorial Hospital sometime in 2000-01. It was the time when Imran Khan’s PTI supported Musharraf and he was a reportedly hot favorite candidate for Prime Ministership.

Do you think the photograph is real? Imran Khan actually mentioned this one in many of his speeches in US recently. Watch the part of his speech after 4 minutes and 50 seconds in a video here. And if it is, what does it tell us about Gen. Musharraf. Or about Imran Khan.

Here is how you complain about your telephone not working, Lahori style!

The banner in the picture reads:

We have been trying to get out PTCL number 042-6371795 fixed for the last six weeks, but without any success!

It is not clear whether putting up a banner to register your telephone complaint worked or not. But one can only imagine how desperate this person had to be that he resorted such extreme measures of spending money on the printing of this banner and then hoisting it on a busy city road. Or, maybe, he is just trying to make light of what has to be a really frustrating situation. As they say, “Lahore, Lahore hai!”

This photograph, was taken yesterday (Nov. 2) by Khalid Tanveer of the Associated Press. Take from a different angle, it continues to boggle the mind. It is a train coming back from Multan after a religious congregation. Was this just a photo-op or were they actually traveling like this.

In the photo above, a small boy is seen feeding a colony of pigeons near the Sindh Secretariat, Karachi.

Photo is taken on October 4, 2008 and is courtesy of Syed Abbas Mehdi.

When I first saw the photo, the sheer number of pigeons reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 movie called The Birds. Photo to the right is a scene from the movie ‘Birds’.

Following is one of Mirza Ghalib’s famous ghazals. We think it will be interesting if we let our readers try to translate it. You can choose a language and style of your own. You can translate it in English or salees (easy) Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi etc. You can translate it funny, silly or melancholy. You can turn it into a ‘azad nazm’ or even make ‘nasr’ (prose) or a story out of it. Wanna take this challenge? Bring out your creativity. There is no wrong answer here.

The scene below is from June 01, 2008 where people are seen pushing a broken down bus near S.M. College, Karachi. The photo is a very good representative of our society in literal as well as philosophical way.

Let me tell you why I think so..

(1) Literal in a sense that such scenes are very common in Pakistan where passengers of a bus are also asked to push it when the engine dies down.

(2) Philosophical in a sense that note the dua (prayers) written on the bus as ‘allah nigehban’ (May God Protect You) and ‘allah mehrban’ (May God be Benevolent to you). But unlike our symbolic and ritualistic society these brave men are not waiting for some divine help to appear. They are taking matters in their own hands and should I say..‘himmat-e-mardaaN, madad-e-khuda’ (God helps those who show courage).

I’ve read somewhere that while the war of independence in 1857 was getting crushed by the British, the ladies in old city Delhi were heard saying:

‘khuda karay faraNgioN ki topouN mein keeRay paReN” (May God put pests in the guns of colonial powers). Of course such prayers were not going to be heard. In the end Delhi lost its power seat for the next 90 years.

Allama Iqbal has also said:

    Khuda ne aaj tak us qaum ki haalat naheeN badli
    na ho jis ko khyal aap apni haalat ke badalnay ka

Fourth edition of National Twenty20 Cup concluded in Lahore today with Sialkot Stallions retaining the Champions title for third year running. Runners Up Karachi Dolphins were left wondering about their luck and skills as they have now appeared in 3 Finals in the past 4 tournaments and lost everytime.

Final Score: Karachi Dolphins (125/9), Sialkot Stallions (126/3). Detailed Scorecard here

Following have been winners and runners-up of 4 twenty-20 national tournaments that have been played in Pakistan so far.

2004/05: Winner: Faisalabad Wolves, Runners Up: Karachi Dolphins
2005/06: Winner: Sialkot Stallions, Runners Up: Faisalabad Wolves
2006/07: Winner: Sialkot Staliions, Runners Up: Karachi Dolphins
2007/08: Winner: Sialkot Stallions, Runners Up: Karachi Dolphins

13 teams from all over Pakistan took part in this year’s tournament. They were divided into 4 pools with winners of each pool qualifying for semi-finals. The points table at the end of pool matches looked as below.

Semi Final 1: Karachi Dolphins (69/1) beat Islamabad Leopards (68)
Semi Final 2: Sialkot Stallions (117/6) beat Lahore Lions (111/6)

Karachi and Sialkot both had a star-studded team. To me, atleast on paper Karachi’s team looked stronger with services of 6 players who have representated Pakistan’s national team.

Karachi was lead by Shahid Afridi. It also had Pakistan’s 5 other ODI players: Fawad Alam, Sohail Khan, Naumanullah, Khurram Manzoor and wicket keeper Sarfraz Ahmed.

Sialkot was lead by Pakistan’s national team captain Shoaib Malik and it also had the services of Pakistan’s 3 national ODI players Mansoor Amjad, Abdur Rehman and Kashif Raza and 1 test player Qaiser Abbas.

Shoaib Akhtar ki wapsi

Ofcourse a big news for this year’s tournament has been the return of Shoaib Akhter. He played for Islamabad Leopards and his performance remained as follows

v Karachi Dolpins: 4 runs in batting and 3-0-22-0 in bowling.
v Multan Tigers: did not bat and 4-1-14-1 in bowling

I must say no matter what happens we are a tough nation. Finding our own way through the thick and thin of all times. Even finding humor in the saddest of all situations.

On festive events such as Eid, across Pakistan you will come across punch lines as “Dhamaka Sale Jaari Hay” so often. “Khudkush Sale” (Suicidal Sale) is the new term coined in market.

The shopkeeper was right in thinking that the word “khudkush” will attract everyone. I do hope it doesn’t attract Mr. Khudkhush himself but the genuine buyers only.

Eid approaches. This not not a time to be depressed. But these are depressing times. Eid deserves an upbeat message and positive pictures. Soon, we promise, we will have these for you. But today, I cannot get this picture out of my head.

This picture, taken by Emilio Morenatti of the Associated Press, haunts me. As it should. Taken yesterday (Sunday) in Islamabad, the caption reads: “A Pakistani boy waits to get a ration of donated food before Iftar, the time to break their fast, during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.”

I share this all with you people because I think it will make some difference. All of my family members were invited to a birthday party of our neighbor’s daughter who is unfortunately born with a disorder of learning things slowly. She is a beautiful little girl of around eight years who was wearing pink colored frock and sitting in the lap of his father looking like a little princess. But she was throwing things at guests, spitting at her friends’ face and crying endlessly. Her family members were doing everything to please her. They are quite well-to-do family. It was a lavish ceremony with great arrangement and number of dishes.

Moment of anguish came when my aunt asked mother of little girl that when are you sending her school. She turned and gave my aunt a baffling look and said disdainfully “School” as if something hit her on head with a lightning speed. Then she gathered herself and replied no we can feed our kid and in this condition she cannot attend any of the schools. Her ill-informed attitude made us all retreat but left me with a great pain for that little innocent girl who is bound to spend rest of her life without any proper education or schooling whereas there are schools working in our country that help such children and made them able enough to mingle with other human beings.
Similarly another family lives in our neighborhood has a son that faints once he walks few yards due to some complications after his birth. Knowledge of that mysterious malady made him despondent and his family over-secure towards him that they are not pushing him for education. He just stays at home watching movies all day long, uses internet and rests in left-over time. He has been doing his intermediate from last few years and still unable to make it. I asked him once about his studies and he said it with utter impoliteness, “hum parhte nahi hain”. He is a healthy looking young man with enough resources at his family’s disposal that can arrange some education for him right at his doorstep. Experience of these two incidents makes me tell my own story so my readers can create awareness about this issue.

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