Build your froyo tower at Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt
Given my ardent love for frozen yoghurt, when Food Connection Pakistan sent me an invite to a bloggers meet-up as a pre-launch for Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt’s first outlet in Karachi, I just couldn’t resist going. This first outlet, which was scheduled to open on the May 9, 2012, is located on Zamzama (again), and another one will be opening its doors soon near BBQ Tonite. The master franchise is owned by a young man named Salman Niazi who hails from Los Angeles. Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt (TFFY) has been operating successfully for quite some time in Punjab. An interesting piece of information for me was that ...
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The beginning and end of Anders Breivik
In this day and age of Islamophobia, Anders Breivik’s recent trial marks a significant shift in the way the word ‘terrorist’ is perceived. My perceived image of a ‘terrorist’ stems from my own country. Unfortunately, there is irrefutable evidence to prove this – be it the incidents external to Pakistan, such as the July 2005 London bombings and the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, or the list of internal suicide bombings. Since the 9/11 attacks, certain prominent characteristics have come to be associated with the word ‘terrorists’ including but not limited to: ‘Muslim’, ‘Pakistani’, ‘rightist’, ‘conservative’, ‘extremist’, ‘young’, ‘male’ and many others. July 22, ...
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The way forward for Pakistan cricket
All the rumours of sacking Misbah as captain have been laid to rest after Pakistan’s victory in the Asia Cup. The fear of Pakistan going downhill after the ODI series lost against England is no more there. Pakistan cricket has been stable, and for once the cricket season ended on a high note with not much to worry about. But what’s next for Pakistan? There are still many unanswered questions like: Who will be the next captain for Pakistan? Which new bowlers will have a future in the team? For how long can we persist with spinners as our main weapon? Who is the right ...
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Five reasons to stop questioning Obama’s faith
I thought the question was so absurd to begin with, that it would go away on its own. I was wrong. Four years later, that absurd question, “Do you think Barack Obama is a Muslim?” keeps nagging the American psyche in national and regional polls – despite ample data to the contrary. In 2009, a Pew Research Center poll showed that one in 10 Americans believed President Obama was a Muslim; the number jumped to one in five by 2010. So when last week, one in two Republican voters in the states of Mississippi and Alabama reaffirmed the same phobia, I had to say something. Enough! Data ...
Read Full PostDo I have the right to remain Ahmadi?
In 1966, nearly 180 million people in the US received Miranda rights – the right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination. Half a century later, a religious community in Pakistan, another country of nearly 180 million people, is facing a rather caustic version of the Miranda rights. They don’t have the right, but a duty, to remain silent. The religious group is the Ahmadiyya community. Two recent events frame the issue aptly. First, on January 29, 2012, clerics organized an anti-Ahmadiyya rally in Rawalpindi, attended by 5,000 madrassah students, chanting threatening anti-Ahmadiyya slogans and demanding to take over a 17-year-old Ahmadiyya ‘place of worship’. Then on February ...
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Mob rule wins again
We are peaceful people and we act with the administration’s approval, were the words of one of the clerics leading the charge to shut down an Ahmadi religious centre in Rawalpindi. Surprise, surprise, they succeeded last week. So is it safe to assume that the administration approves of violence against minorities? Stupid me, that question was already answered a month back, when a police officer decided to side with the mob instead of the law. In true testament to the competence and dedication to duty of the Punjab police, he lied to innocent victims of a mob threatening violence and ...
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Dawkins made it to my sociology class
Growing up in a society that discouraged asking too many questions, I often wondered what it is about modern western education that the conservative right is so scared of. Reading the news and following politics on television and online has helped me understand how our policy makers think and what issues matter to our general public. If you have done the same, you will know that every effort to modernise our educational system and make it more culturally and religiously neutral has met with stern resistance from political, religious and other factions of the society. But one day, while sitting in ...
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Pakistan’s confused liberators
Ours is a country full of right wing rebels, super rich humanists, revisionist progressives, delusional liberals and various other sorts of self-claiming messiahs. In one way or the other, all of these people who talk about reforms, peace, poverty eradication and national prosperity claim to have a solution for Pakistan’s deep-rooted problems in their own way. They sometimes chant about an unseen ‘true vision of Jinnah’s Pakistan’ and sometimes find relief in the rich cultural diversity of their history starting from the Indus Valley civilization. Despite their ideological differences, they stand united, or at least claim to stand united, against ...
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Who is @Tazeen Javed?
Tazeen Javed is what you call an experiment junkie. She is game for everything which she has not done before; she has worked at a gay bar and tinkered with a grenade (with its pin out!) because she had to get it under her belt. However along the way, she has managed to get some expertise in the field of communications and that’s how she earns her living. She also writes for various newspapers and news weeklies. Why did you join Twitter? Because you asked me to. Really, you said that I should join twitter to spread the word about my blog ...
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For us to dig deeper
Recently while in the US I had an unusual exchange with someone. I was in a meeting with a financial analyst, Eric, and in the middle of a conversation about tax returns and the IRS he paused and said: “So, the kids in Pakistan are like the kids here, right?” I was taken aback. I didn’t quite know what to make of his comment/question. I asked him to elaborate. He hesitated and said: “I mean kids are kids everywhere, right?” I told him that the Pakistani youth came in all shapes, sizes, political affiliations and bad musical tastes. He mulled that over ...
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