Abbas Town blasts: Will we wipe our tears, keep silent and carry on?
It’s 1:20am on March 4, 2013. As I write this, at least 40 or so families are feeling a searing, soul-wrenching pain, which most of us can’t even imagine and some of us can perhaps relate to. I am trying to imagine what they are going through. I don’t want to live it, but I want to somehow feel something other than anger. When they have a moment of stillness, family members are probably painstakingly recreating and reliving the last moments of their loved ones. When you lose someone you love, you think of how their last few minutes were. Was it ...
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Help! Am I still in love with my ex?
Hi, It has been four months since my ex-fiance and I broke up but I can’t get over her. We had a good relationship and to be honest, the break-up was more from her side than mine. Anyway, it’s been over four months now and I have had no contact with the girl, though I miss her dearly from time to time. There are things that remind me of her. At times, I wonder what she is doing, what she must be thinking, whether she is missing me too. I understand this is normal, and that time is the best healer. There ...
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Forgotten in Japan: Thousands of Pakistanis that no one is reporting about
The newscaster’s voice was audible even before I entered the house after attending my morning classes. “Earthquake in Japan” “Magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter scale” “Waves wash away the infrastructure of Sendai” “Tsunami warning issued to other nations in the Pacific basin” As I ran inside, the images and videos on TV showed one of the biggest calamities to hit the earth. However for me, unlike most Pakistanis, the news wasn’t easy to forget. It took a while to sink in. My father was there. “Is he safe?” I grabbed the remote and switched the channel over to BBC and saw footage of the destruction of one of ...
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Paying Shah Rukh Khan to upstage the bride
Let’s face it. Asian weddings aren’t particularly known for being understated. But the news that some wealthy Indian families are now paying Bollywood stars to pretend to be relatives and appear at their weddings as guests, takes over-the-top to a whole new level. The sort of level that is so absurd, it beggars all laugh-out-loud belief. According to an article published earlier this week in the Guardian, socialite families are paying anything from £7,000 to £70,000 (Rs952,438 to Rs9.5million) for Bollywood actors and actresses to mingle with wedding guests, make idle chit chat and have photos taken with the newly-weds while ...
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Graduation dilemma: This seat is taken
Among the enlightened elite of our great nation are parents who believe in educating their daughters. They spend several thousands, millions even, to ensure that their daughters have quality education from the best universities within their means. Yes, parents like these do exist, among the many who only look forward to the dubious pleasure in marrying their daughters off. Imagine, for example, one of Pakistan’s best universities. Graduation, especially with accolades, would add to any resume, attracting many good opportunities. But you are mistaken if you think I am talking about job opportunities. Somehow, somewhere, someone changed the rules of the ...
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Boys want to have fun too
What comes to your mind when you think of Karachi? The magnificent sea , ever-glowing lights , loadshedding, paan gutka and for me – gender discrimination. Yup. life is so not fair for the unfair sex in the capital of Sindh. I would have never noticed such discrimination had I been living in Karachi with my family. It was only when I came back to the city to pursue higher studies that I perceived the stark discrimination. The practice here is that all the trendy hang outs, parks, recreational spots are restricted to families only. As harsh as it seems this would still ...
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Protecting our children
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa Child Protection and Welfare Ordinance has recently been promulgated This is good news and will hopefully be passed by the assembly as a bill soon. It has been reported that a similar bill exists in Punjab. But there is dire need for such a bill to be passed in Sindh and the Balochistan provinces as well. Childrens rights groups and NGOs have been pressing for signature campaigns and seminars but so far little progress has been made. We should learn a lesson from Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa. The maximum number of cases of violence against children has been seen here. Due to the effects of displacement, suicide and ...
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Where and how to have fun?
Recently I visited an exhibition at the Expo Centre which boasted that over ten thousand people had attended on the very first day. One thing that always strikes me when attending such events is the enthusiasm with which families turn up and the fun they seem to be having, even when they are being jostled by each other and have to push their way to the front of the stalls. But then again, I guess it’s not surprising keeping in mind the limited facilities that families have to enjoy themselves, while also spending the least possible money. True, there are the ...
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Small villages, big families
While passing by the Public College, Gilgit, the other day, I was stunned to hear two boys of about 10 to 12 years of age discussing the growing trend of suicides in Karachi. I might not have been surprised if I had overheard this conversation in Karachi or Islamabad. But that it was happening in this oft-neglected and far flung corner of the world called Gilgit, was shocking. Indeed, the media has revolutionised our society. I paused for a while to listen to what the boys were saying. “Ye sub kuch gurbat ki waja say howa hay. Becharay garib log or kia ...
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