‘My husband is my father’s age…’
A few weeks ago, I happened to witness the unfortunate crumbling and subsequent break-up of a close friend’s marriage. After hearing both sides of the story, I arrived to a conclusion regarding the main reason behind the failure: The husband was 20 years older than his wife. Although common in an eastern society where arranged marriages are the norm, such large age-gaps (10 years and more) often have great drawbacks in a relationship as intimate as marriage. In our society, parents are in a rush to marry off their daughters before they hit the twenty-fifth birthday mark (or even earlier), ...
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Demi Moore and our fear of ageing
Demi Moore’s recent divorce from her younger husband, Ashton Kutcher, and subsequent trip to rehab for drug and alcohol addiction have been documented all too well in the tabloids. We read the headlines, and exclaim our shock and horror at Moore’s “pathetic” behavior. Unable to keep her much younger man, losing the battle with Mother Nature, guilty for beginning to show her true age, Moore reportedly turned to substance abuse to keep her fledgling self-confidence afloat. We can balk as much as we want at Demi Moore’s troubles, but how long can they distract us from our own insecurities? With the deluge of bad press ...
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Left to die in an old age home
In her article for The Express Tribune, reporter Rabia Ali wrote: How an elderly Mehmooda Begum was left at an old home is heart breaking. Tired of eating porridge which was served to her every day, she decided to cook food for herself one day. The daal she made got her a black eye and a forceful admission to the old people’s center by her son. As Mehmooda recalls her story, miles away from her family at the largest old home of the city, her lips quiver and her kohl-lined eyes fill up with tears. Her youngest son, and his wife, ...
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Know your rights: Ilmpossible
Distracted by the political instability of the country, Pakistanis have failed to draw their attention to the termites that have been incessantly devouring the well being of the country. The crippled education system of Pakistan has proved to be one of these destructive creatures. Nevertheless, the presidential assent given to the Constitution (18th Amendment) Bill in April 2010 was an occurrence of great magnitude in this matter. What were the outcomes of the 18th Amendment? It turned Pakistan into a parliamentary republic; it removed the powers of the president to dissolve Parliament unilaterally. What else did it do to the constitution? ...
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Neck creams: The truth about aging
This isn’t usually my forte – writing about terrorism I can handle, but aging? There was nothing in the writer’s journal about this. I suppose worrying about where Osama Bin Laden has been all this time has finally caught up with me – or at least in the form of the beginnings of fine lines on my forehead. Since I’ve turned 27, I feel like I’ve aged over night. My body clock has definitely kicked in – even the most vicious of babies look like cute little bundles of joy and cotton wool. I’m slightly more concerned about the area ...
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What the **** did you just say?
Every family has different rules for their children and mine is no different. One of the most important rules is that no rude words are allowed to be spoken in our house. To my surprise, my kids eagerly follow this rule. If they hear a new word, they always ask me whether it is bad. The other day, both my kids came up to me and said “Mama, are we allowed to say ‘what the ****?” When I asked where they had heard these words, they told me they hear them everywhere. They told me that even the kids in their class use this ...
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Tatenda Taibu: Boy turned into a man
Teen debuts, controversies, early retirements and reversals are traits often found in the subcontinent. Talent, brimming on the surface and visible in short bursts, defies age and experience as laurels pour in from all corners, predicting a bright future. No sooner comes a revolt, threats by external influences and the decision to call it a day arrives as easily as a cross-batted squat followed by a scamper for a couple. That has been the story of the 27-year-old former Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu. Plucked from obscurity, still in his teens and having no first-class experience, Taibu’s ascent to not just captaincy, ...
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Ahmadinejad: The granny in the drawing room
“The best age for marriage is between 16 to 18 for girls and 19 to 21 for boys,” a Mardomsalari newspaper quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying on Sunday. For a figure with his political stature and notoriously brazen statements (remember “Anybody who recognises Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury”?), Ahmadinejad’s take on the “best” age for marriage undermines his lofty reputation. Primarily, the claim that there is, indeed, a “best” age for marriage is overwhelmingly tall, and what it really does is make me think that deep down beneath that façade of guts ...
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Money 101: A beginner’s guide to saving
We are living in times of great economic distress and unless you have spent the better part of the past three years living under a rock I am sure you have felt the pinch starting from petrol to sugar prices. As a nation we are renowned for our hospitality, our generosity – in fact most of us use are likely to tell a cautious spender “Stop being kanjoos!” More often than not the butt of most overspending and monetary mis-management jokes is the fairer sex. At the work place you are likely to hear comments such as “she is only ...
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