Of teens and charity : ‘Like OMG, I work for an NGO’
Areeba, not her real name, is a bright, conscientious 18-year-old off to college this September. She works on and off rebuilding a girls school in rural Sindh in an effort guided by her school. “I know all the girls names, they teach me Sindhi and mark my progress, I distribute sweets,” she says, her enthusiasm apparent. But then comes this observation: It’s something I’m really into, not like, I don’t know, wannabe hipsters who’re just in it for the certificate and the photo ops. Wannabe hipsters in it for the photo ops? I told my father what she said and his first ...
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What shisha ban?
The Sindh Government supposedly banned shisha smoking in the province for two months, starting March 26 this year, and vowed to take strict action against those who violated it from April 1. I use the word ‘supposedly‘ because the ban hasn’t gone into practice in the streets of Karachi as yet. Karachi, the provincial capital, is the hub for restaurants and cafes that offer shisha, and there is quite a big demand for it as is evident by the number of youth who frequent these places on a daily basis. Try going to one of these cafés on a weekend and you would be hard pressed ...
Read Full PostWhy you need to cut us some slack
Stress is hoping against hope that the History notes you have been reading till 1 am, with your brain telling you to go to sleep, will somehow show up on the examination paper tomorrow. Stress is a row of kids sitting in an examination room, suddenly turning around in their seats to laugh – nobody has any idea what the numbers swirling on the Math paper actually mean. Stress is the sleeplessness of many a youngster, whose parents expect them to churn out just as brilliant results as their older siblings have had done in their student life. Stress is trying to ...
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Azan, shisha and convenient hypocrisy
There is a cafe near my university which is frequently visited by students. It has groovy music and plenty of shisha. From the very visible public display of affection to the “immodest” dressing of students – it is a conservative’s nightmare. I am sure you can picture the place in your head by now. So one particular day while I was there with my friends, a waiter suddenly rushed towards the sound system and switched it off. One of my friends joked that maybe the Taliban had finally heard of this place and attacked. However, that concern was rapidly waived as girls sitting ...
Read Full PostA product of the 2000′s tries to make sense of 1980 Karachi violence redux
When Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Rawalpindi, my family and I were in one of the last cars to cross the Islamabad motorway toll booth before the city went into total lockdown. In the midst of the shock, anger and fear felt in the capital as it nervously eyed its neighbour, one image would particularly stick: the receptionist at the hotel leaning forward across the counter saying in a terrified whisper, “Aap log… Karachi say hain?” [Are you folks from Karachi?] The TV was on in the background, and for the first time we were forced to tell frantic ...
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Help! I can’t get over my ex
Dear Miss Informed, I am a 20-year-old girl and no matter how hard I try, I can’t get over my ex-boyfriend. We dated for three months but he lived in another city for about 70 per cent of our relationship. Initially, things between us were delightful, as all new relationships are, but slowly he started to cut me off. Then, he dumped me. It has been six months since this happened; I have mourned, grieved, been called a fool for falling for him so hard after just a few months and heard many bitter things from my friends. But I ...
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Didn’t you know everyone hated you?
While social networking sites may have made their founders billionaires, they have created trouble for many of their users. Or I should say many users have created trouble for themselves and others around them. Social networking sites have become online gangster spots for many rebellious youngsters around the globe. They have even allowed older people to act in a childish and immature way, causing problems for their families. This week Vivek High School in India suspended 16 students for starting a thread containing vile remarks against a female teacher. It turns out that this is not the first time someone ...
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Welcome to Pornistan
If Fox news is anything to go by, Pakistan may be the leading nation in “sexy” online searches. According to a recent article featured on FoxNews.com, Pakistan is ranked the first in the world in terms of pornographic Google searches. Of course, this discovery is juxtaposed with Pakistan’s recent behaviour in cyberspace. Pakistan temporarily banned Facebook, Youtube and Blackberry service in reaction to the controversial Facebook group “Everyone Draw Muhammad Day”, which itself was a reaction to Comedy Central’s decision to censor the image of Prophet Muhammad from South Park. Of course there is the obvious question: If Pakistan ...
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