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Covering the enemy THERE is never a dull moment in Pakistan, particularly for an Indian correspondent, notwithstanding all the functional restraints and constraints he faces. Since India-Pakistan share a unique love-hate relationship at the level...		The other side of the coin THE lone Pakistani journalist based in India is Dost Muhammad Yousufi, who is the Special Correspondent of the Associated Press of Pakistan. He was invited to write, but preferred to be interviewed. The interview was conducted...
Aab-e-Hayat for Shahanshah LIKE many timid-hearted admirers of the Shahanshah, I stayed back. I couldn’t make up my fickle mind to join the adventurous admirers of the Shahanshah in their arduous expedition in search of aab-e-hayat. It is god’s water of life that springs from a snow-white mountain and drains into a mysterious silvery lake in the terrain of Zulmat....		More like a French festival week IT was more like a festive French week, with one function after another and the France’s bachelor consul general playing host at all of them. First, there was the French gastronic...
Veering between dishonesty & incompetence WHEN a new boy arrives on the block, he finds that his mettle is being tested. Is he a threat to an established order and hierarchy? Will he be a follower...		Hospital hangama A NEWSPAPER report about conditions in hospitals reminded me of the week I spent in one of them last year when my father was having an operation. It was in...
Crime in the city WITH the way the crime rate has shot up in the city, one wonders how safe is it to live here anymore. And with the kind of aid the custodians of the law, the police, provide, one again wonders if one can turn to them for help. In these hard economic times, burglars and robbers are the only ones doing a thriving business....		Speed demons AS he started running from almost the boundary line, where a crowd of school children, including myself, were watching the match, we felt tremors in the earth below. He would build...
Toronto: a utopia TORONTO was hot, hot and hot. The weather was hot and Caribana had made it hotter. All the hotels with any number of stars were full to the capacity. It was hard to get rooms anywhere as our visit to Toronto was unscheduled....		Mount Noor-ul-Quran of Quetta THE arresting beauty of the signboard of Jabal Noor-ul-Quran (the mountain of the light of Quran) is so dynamic that the aspiration of visiting of the mountain arises in the heart...
Stupid white men and all others! “IT is not our intention to be prescriptive about restoring democracy in Pakistan,” says a senior State Department official when I ask him about President Musharraf’s disdainful dismissal of Benazir Bhutto...		The living satis IN times gone by, there was a Hindu tradition where the wife of a dead man was burned alive on the pyre along with the body of her dead husband. She...
The innocent return to heaven THE headlines of March 20th were again about another gory road accident. The tragic occurrence that cast a dark shadow over eleven families was the result of reckless driving. Two college...		A soldier trudges home THE independence of the subcontinent brought an era of hope for the multitudes living under colonial rule. But the dawn of independence was also to cast a spell of despondence. The...
Bhitai: an immortal poet WORDS are the tools that a poet uses to enrich the canvas of his creative artistry. Poetry resulting from the beauty of thought and words like stars that emerge from the...		Weapons of the weak WHENEVER there is injustice and exploitation in any society, there is also response from the exploited and weaker section of society. Sometime, the expression of resistance is silent and suppressed, and...
Evolution of the calligraphic art HANIF Ramay has been seen once again reverting to his first love and speaking on art. And significantly, he has chosen to do so at a time when the politicians can hardly think about anything other than the referendum. Seemingly indifferent to the political halla gulla in the country, he was seen here in the Co-opera Art Gallery holding...		The Khans of cricket OVER the years, members of two families have made a considerable impact on the game of cricket in Pakistan. One is the Mohammad family which produced the likes of Hanif, Mushtaq,...
Putting things in perspective IN essence, substance and result, the first One Day International between Pakistan and New Zealand in Karachi was no different to the final of the triangular that was played just days...		Flying needs a boost “FLYING is an addiction. Everything else is a step down,” says a commercial pilot who has spent a great deal of his career flying Cessna aircraft and machines of similar ilk....
Time to think long-term BY the time these lines appear in print, I will hopefully be flying towards Mayanmar where I have been posted by the Asian Hockey Federation as the Technical Official for a tournament which will mostly feature B-string sides of the continent....		Deja Vu In the cabin of a sleeper compartment of a train. Professor Prism is reading the newspaper while his friend Pawn is lying luxuriously in his seat, murmuring the tune:...
The cities we love to hate “I HATE Karachi. I have no reason for that. It is just like that. I can’t help it,” said a Karachi-hater who was a top official of the foreign office of...		Genesis of poverty THIS refers to Dr Nasir’s article Genesis of poverty which appeared on April 14, 2002. Many intellectuals have presented the philosophy of poverty. Karl Marx is the most important figure in history who expressed his philosophy....
MOSAIC: Dances from around the world MODERN German impressionistic movement, Andalusian backbends and heel clattering, and a Tai-Chi ballet combining eastern and western dance styles. All these feature in the first half of this year’s programming at...		Newsmaker ZAHIR SHAH, the former king of Afghanistan, recently returned to the war-ravaged remains of what was once his kingdom, under the glare of global media spotlight. Though his return was marked by extraordinary security measures, it was not long before reports...