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’.
03/11/08 LAHORE :Lahore High Court Bar Association in protest of November 3, 2007 action by former president Pervez Musharraf will take out a protest rally in Lahore during the day. The Association will hold a General House Meeting prior to this event. The lawyers in order to halt court proceedings have announced to put locks on all the higher and lower courts during their protest.
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.
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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Following is something I wrote 20 years ago for Adamjee College’s annual Magazine. Time flies guys! While going through my stuff today, I found the magazine and thought of sharing the article here. Pardon me if some of the write up appears too lame in 2008. Imagine that I was just a first year teenage student then. While some of the text may appear to be sarcasm, I am very proud of my college and I hope many of our readers will be able to relate to their college life in Pakistan.
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