“My family thinks I’m disgusting”
Transgenders are often forced to live under miserable conditions in Pakistan. Society does not accept them and they live as outcasts who are discriminated against in every field of life. This treatment extends not only to strangers but the family of transgenders too, who disown them and may even beat them till they are forced to leave their homes. In this video we learn of the humiliation they are regularly made to suffer. People not only mock and ridicule them, they do not allow transgenders to study alongside them in school. Many eunuchs are, thus, forced to live a life of begging, ...
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Love mein ghum: Lollywood in a shiny, new package
A swirl of flashy colours and deafening screeching music, combined with gory action stunts, have defined Pakistan’s Lollywood cinema in the recent past. Weapon-wielding thugs and skimpily clad stout heroines have provided the dwindling cinema goers with a staple diet of grotesque violence and crude erotica. The phrase ‘revival of Pakistani cinema’ which springs up time and time again with a new release, seems to have been overused to the hilt Charged with the spirit of keeping the sinking ship of Lollywood afloat, the golden girl of Pakistani cinema, Miss Reema Khan, stepped into the director’s shoes coming up with ...
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Kalash: What we can learn from the lost civilisation
My family and I were fortunate enough to spend a few nights among the extraordinary Kalash last summer. This unique tribe is tucked away in the isolated mountain valley of Bumberet, hidden from the rest of the world. Legend has it that 2,300 years ago, when Alexander the Great and his army were pushing deep into South Asia, on their way to India in 327 BC, some of his men remained in the villages of Chitral. As a result the Kalash tribe of roughly 3,500 today consider themselves direct descendants of the Macedonian king. We began our journey along the Chitral-Dir ...
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TV ads: Is all the dancing really selling?
Products in Pakistan have not always been sold by armies of men and women dancing to uncoordinated perfection. However, recently advertising ‘charts’ have been hit by four choreographed entries: Tarang, Sooper, Warid and Chaika, which are running on all major TV channels night and day. Does dancing sell? Does this mean that singing and dance routines are what grip the Pakistani people and make them go buy brands? Or, does this simply mean that this is an idea that can be easily sold to clients by agencies? Agencies have developed a stereotypical solution for all marketing communication needs and forgotten the essence of ...
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Wedding bling: For the love of money
It’s that time of the year again. Fathers lament the drain of their pockets, mothers get teary-eyed at every glimpse of their daughters, designers smirk behind their overpriced outfits, tailors get threatening calls from customers, salons get overcrowded, caterers lie their way through fancy menus and it’s probably the only time of the year when choreographers and the “band baaja walas” earn a decent livelihood. It’s the wedding season, where we focus on every little detail but the real wedding itself. From designer clothes to custom-made jewellery, weddings these days are known for more than just a simple event celebrating ...
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Would someone please pop the desi-elite bubble?
Have you ever tried to see through a soap bubble? The world seems distorted; askew. But what if you were inside the bubble? What if everywhere you looked, your vision was tinted by the soapy, bubbly lens – the world would still look distorted but you wouldn’t really know, because no matter which angle you chose to look out, the world would seem the same. So, when one lives in the ‘elite’ bubble, all seems quite well with the world! People in this bubble hail from rich families, have been educated at either the most expensive schools or have a foreign degree, promote ...
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Friends don’t let friends dance sober
“Call it what you wana call it, I’m a freakin’ alcoholic,” Over 100 young Karachiites chanted this song, with happy pills in their systems and joints and glasses of alcohol in their hands at a recent party. While possession of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and drugs of like quality may be a federal offence punishable with a jail sentence of several years in Pakistan it is not difficult to acquire the intoxicants. If you happen to pass by a wine shop in Karachi, which can officially only sell its products to non-Muslim members of the community, you may notice members of ...
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Heera Mandi: Scarlet secrets of Lahore
There is a bazaar in Taxali Gate called Heera Mandi. A few decades ago this place was famous for dancing and music. People used to go here for a visual and musical treat. Beautiful girls (kanjiries) used to sit in stall shaped balconies, called kothas, and ply their trade, the oldest profession in the world. The place was perhaps even more famous for singing and dancing. However, slowly the aesthetic pursuit became less arty and more tarty. The area became the centre of prostitution in Lahore. Most people have the misconception that the Diamond Market got its because of the beautiful girls who worked ...
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The quintessential wedding dancer!
If you have family and friends (even enemies) living abroad, now will be the perfect time for them to make their annual pilgrimage to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and kill your vacation. It requires a gut made of steel to say “Oooh-how-lovely-to see-you” to the sudden lover of the Pak watan when all you want to do is mutter “I-hate-you, b$%&*”on repeat. It is always this time of the year, which makes coming back to the desiland for our wannabe firangis, fun (they’ll never admit to this). There are rivers of mango juice, which flow with sweet sweet golden ...
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