Café Forty4: An oriental taste in every bite
Café Forty4 is not just a regular cafe; it can be used as a venue for a range of events. The restaurant, a new addition to the eateries of the Clifton Block 4 neighbourhood, opened just a few months ago and is already creating a buzz in the city. Samina Bilgrami, one of the working partners, has been in the food and bakery business for over 25 years and has given personal attention to every little detail of the operation, making Café Forty4 an experience beyond dining. The contemporary, double-storey facility encapsulates many artistically designed seating areas. The ground floor has a total ...
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Praying, the Malaysian way
“Baba, I want to offer prayers with you,” my daughter said to me one day. I treated the words quite casually and told her that she could join me. Nevertheless, I was amazed when she started reciting ‘Surah Fateha’ and a few other Quranic verses on the prayer mat. I lost my concentration and started listening to her. Tears came to my eyes and I was grateful to the Almighty. In Malaysia, my daughter had accompanied me to the masjid (mosque) a couple of times before. I used to join the jamat (congregation) as she ran around the spacious halls. As soon as ...
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Pakistan: Where life can be a blast
The ‘enlightened moderation’ mantra from the Musharraf era prompted Pakistan’s oft-quoted ‘soft image.’ Seen as a much-needed leap beyond archetypal vistas of K-2 and the Lahore Fort (think 1970s photographs issued by PIA and the Ministry of Tourism), well-meant consultants were hired for the purpose of promoting a progressive image for the country—or at least, that’s what the aim was in flying out designers and models to put on fashion shows at Pakistani Consulates around the world. One can almost imagine spectators gawking: “Gosh, they have women in their country who don’t wear a burka and aren’t getting stoned for ...
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Two thumbs up for Pakistani techies
The lack of success is somehow discussed and internalised more than the sweet taste of victory. But let’s sip this sweet nectar one sip at a time and savour it, just this once. The fastest brain in the world The world of information technology has found an abundance of fresh blood from the fertile Pakistani soil. The fastest brain in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records is Mamoon Tariq Khan, our very own wonder boy from Islamabad, now working on an inter-disciplinary IT solution to the problems of poverty and class divide through uniformed IT access from ...
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Pakistan’s unhealthy focus on US, UK, India
Pop quiz: do you know Pakistan’s Ambassador to Chile, Malaysia, Venezuela, Brazil, or Russia? It is very likely that you don’t and, there is a reason – these countries don’t get adequate visibility in Pakistan. Hussain Haqqani (USA), Wajid Shamsul Hassan (UK) and, Shahid Malik (India) are the few ambassadors that Pakistani media finds relevant, relegating all others to secondary and tertiary positions. Every country has their list of top 10, top 25, top 50, and “rest of the world” often referred to in international parlance as “ROW” but Pakistan’s foreign policy lacks depth and width. At the United Nations in New York, ...
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