| August 16, 2008 | Saturday | Sha'aban 13, 1429 |
Of schooling and making the ‘33 per cent’ cut
ICE cream does not need a season to be enjoyed; it only needs an excuse. However, Providence has been kind to this city in the sense that we enjoy warm weather for most of the year and hence get a greater chance to gorge on ice cream, though there are those among us who derive great pleasure in downing dollops of the cold, sweet stuff during the dead of Karachi’s (brief) winter. I, for one, am not one of them.
A wide variety of variations of the frozen dessert – beloved by countless faithful followers the world over – is available in the metropolis, from swish boutiques selling highly priced imported stuff in air-conditioned shopping malls to humble kulfi-wallahs peddling their product off a bicycle on the streets. No matter what your pocket size, God has given Karachians of every hue easy access to ice cream. Hallelujah.
Over the years, this writer has tried and tested ice cream of various varieties in this city – from the aforementioned shimmering malls to the thelay-wallas. Hereunder are listed some of the relevant experiences.
Perhaps a decade-and-a-half ago, when international fast food franchises landed on these shores, foreign ice cream vendors soon followed in their footsteps. To be precise, to my knowledge only one foreign franchise has come – a Swiss concern – while another up-market ice cream vendor claims to sell authentic Italian gelato, said to be a creamier version of good old ice cream.
One must call a spade, a spade: the stuff available at these places tastes heavenly. That said, the price, especially at the Swiss joint, is so high that no amount of ice cream can put out the fire raging inside the burning wallet of an average punter like yours truly after tasting a scoop or two at such places. Perhaps their product is flavoured with the milk of paradise. The Italian place, on the other hand, is priced a little lower.
But we are men of the people. Once or twice a year this high-end stuff might be okay, but where does everyman go for his/her ice cream fix? Well, for one there’s the stuff sold at corner stores and supermarkets manufactured by multi-national companies. But though these choc-bars, cones and other such delights may have their merits, just as I would not discuss a microwave dinner in a food column, ice cream sold out of a wrapper will have no place here.
Like fast food joints, there are countless ice cream parlours that dot the city, some very good, others average and some downright diabolical. Perhaps the most famous local chain is Baloch, with parlours from Kharadar to North Nazimabad and everywhere in between. One has to say that the special faluda at this place is a right treat on a sizzling summer day.
Not only does it quench one’s thirst, but the delicious mix of ice cream, rooh afza syrup, crunchy nuts and vermicelli is to die for. That goes for any well-made faluda. I say well-made as I’ve had my share of greasy, absolutely unpalatable faluda in this city.
Though flavours like chocolate, vanilla and strawberry can be had anywhere on earth, last summer I tried something terrific at a place on Burnes Road that specializes in kheer and rabri: rabri ice cream. What a truly glorious invention! It had the rich flavour of rabri with the smooth texture of well-made ice cream.
If you’re in the mood for something more traditional, perhaps Chaudhry Farzand Ali’s Spartan kulfi parlour might be the place to go. An absolutely no-frills establishment, customers are seated on marble benches here and served in tin plates that look like they date back to Partition. Located opposite the Empress Market in the heart of Saddar, this place retains something of the charm of old world Karachi in the simple delight it serves up.
Chaudhry Sahib’s offerings are as simple as the décor in his outlet: no tutti-frutti, frozen yogurt or foreign flavours here. Just plain old kulfi served up with plenty of vermicelli and a dash of rooh afza syrup and voila: a dessert fit for a king. Everyone from day labourers to cats in smart shirts line up to taste Chaudhry Sahib’s delightful kulfi.
But if you’ve had enough ice cream out of a cup or glass, you might want to try the cones available at two ice cream parlours just off Burnes Road, close to the old campus of the NED University. For the life of me, I’ve never had so much ice cream for so little money.
Starting at Rs15, these cats will make you a towering waffle cone with at least three flavours. However, be forewarned as unless you tell them exactly what you want, they are liable to give you the most bizarre mix of flavours you’ve ever tasted. I remember once ‘enjoying’ coffee, pistachio and mango in one cone. Quite an experience, to say the least.
If the swarming flies don’t bug you much, this is the place to get your money’s worth when it comes to ice cream.
A TEACHER training conference was held at the Pakistan National Council of the Art (PNCA) early this week in Islamabad.
Some 600 teachers including academics and scholars from home and abroad participated in the high profile exchange of ideas.
Any escape from the tense thriller pertaining to the presidential impeachment was, of course, impossible but few things leave a more lasting impression on life as education.
Perhaps, if some had benefited from the right kind of schooling in the right quarters, we would have been spared the ignominy of seeing Pakistan turned into a laughing stock before the world.
Central to the conference theme was how to groom the youth for leadership role — in the heart of a city, which is notorious for installing poor captains. Back to school.
Modern teaching has assumed great significance since the art of imparting education is now grounded in a decidedly, scientific mien. In short, the Information Age continues to test the boundaries of what to educate and, more importantly, how to educate.In our time — and it isn’t eons ago — teaching in even the supposedly, best government schools in Islamabad was pretty lopsided.
The emphasis was on theory, which was remarkably partaken by rote and very little was breached in terms of the text (as if it was the gospel) so that few, if ever, dared think and talk in the realm of practical application.
In fact, the students were hardly ever encouraged to ask questions. Not surprising considering a large majority of the teachers were themselves a product of the same textbook culture.
It seems the bright idea was to strike the magical “33 per cent” at the exam for rites of passage to the next level (today, that could very easily get mistaken for a commission cut).
It appears very little has changed all this while.
An extension of this myopic system is the much-patronised “test papers” as the ultimate guide. A collation of exam papers spread over the previous five years or more, it gives the student a handle on what is in store.
The idea of the ‘test paper’ guide — treated as it is like a magic potion — has cut a swathe in both the ability and capacity to teach and learn.
It is an indictment, so to speak, of a system, which does not encourage the teacher to bring fresh ideas to imparting education and the student to push the limits of learning.
Recourse to multidimensional information has the potential to turn the fortunes around for students as well as teachers willing to embrace the changing world in terms of self education.
But because they are caught in a curricula time warp and the ‘test paper’ remains the perpetual guide, we are still more or less at Ground Zero in making effective use of this knowledge.
Any review of the fiction being taught that passes for subjects like Pakistan Studies would require more space than this column would permit. But a very good example of this can be derived from a little anecdote involving a student known to me.
When one of his teachers heaped unqualified praise on a certain poet beyond his contribution to the “national” cause, this Grade 10 student could take it no longer and asked the teacher, if the poet offered genuine inspiration given that “he had been a known drinker with girlfriends to keep him in good humour”.
The mere suggestion of a different view invited the wrath of the teacher, who lambasted the student for “having loose morals” before summarily sending him out of class.
So much for education!
The point here is not that the revered figure had a thing for the bottle or a way with women — both being an issue of personal choice — or that the student’s logic appeared somewhat muddled but how the teacher was unwilling to see beyond the stereotyped ‘role model’ he zealously preached.
It wouldn’t have hurt if the issue had been dealt with in a free and frank manner so that an inquisitive mind was satiated. This brings one to the core issue governing teaching. Today’s generation has had a head start over us, what with the IT revolution. It is no longer possible to impart education by old methods.
Here’s the bottom-line: The student will be less inclined to follow the teacher, if he or she is not suitably, equipped with knowledge that is current and packaged in an interactive mien. It’s no longer a question of respect.
The teacher training conference in Islamabad delved into the importance of paying individual attention to all students as well as grooming them for the changing times.
However, none of this will be achieved if the modus operandi is not changed to bring it in sync with the times.
The writer is News Editor at Dawn News. He may be contacted at kaamyabi@gmail.com
