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Playing games with education THE decision of handing back all educational institutions nationalized by Z.A. Bhutto’s government, in early seventies, to their previous owners was taken as soon as Zia-ul-Haq toppled the former’s government and decided...		Where are the Progressives? AT the time of its creation, Pakistan inherited a reasonable population of anti-status-quo Progressives. Even within the Muslim League (ML), there was a forward bloc headed by comrades like Mian Iftikharuddin of Baghbanpur...
Primitive rule prevails HAVE you ever thought, why doesn’t a Vice Chancellor take over the country and become your ruler?” The mentor asked. The pupils, mostly old, wrinkled, and infirm remained dumbfounded. Some of them, with their mouth wide open, meekly gazed at the mentor.“Come on boys. Think about it.” he mentor encouraged.....		Reality check on Hollywood dreams WATCHING movies is the favourite pastime of millions. We enjoy them in their various genres and for the good part, are also influenced by them. For better or for worse, movies,...
After closure of the US Consulate THE US Consulate in Karachi has closed down for an indefinite period due to security reasons. Unlike the temporary closure, which followed the terrorist attack on the largest US consulate in...		Cricket, the universal language WHEN Pakistan toured India in 1951-52, it had played the Madras test match at Cheepak, a ground that had been to Madras what the Bagh-i-Jinnah had been to Lahore or, for...
Human tradition AS the streetvendor packs up his stuff from the roadside and walks home to an ill-tempered, exhausted wife and six children, all he wishes for is for no woes on his...		Bitter medicines ON a calm summer evening, in the lawn of Professor Prism’s house, the Professor and Mr Pawn are sitting while Babu, the servant, brings tea. Babu: (to Pawn) “How much sugar do you take, sir?” Pawn: “No sugar. Not at all.”....
Of men and beasts of burden A SMALL eight or 10-year-old boy walks up to the car at an intersection. He tries to put a small Pakistani flag mounted on a stick on the windscreen and makes...		Operation Save Moenjodaro RECENTLY, Unesco arranged a three-day seminar on the preservation of Moenjodaro. The seminar concluded with the determination that conservation work will continue on what is beyond a doubt one of the...
Malir’s beautiful mountains FOLK wisdom needs no certificate of graduation. The illiterate women of rural Sindh display this wisdom through their wonderful arts and crafts skills. This is reflected from the variety of handicrafts...		Corruption Inc. IS it collective amnesia or what? Barely were we rid of the riffraff for 36 months, and now Pakistan is back again in their grip. People, who beyond any reasonable doubt...
Misleading advertisements “PLEASE keep polythene bags away from the reach of babies and children. These can cause suffocation.” I saw a plastic bag, just the other day, on which this precautionary note was...		Watching time pass by THE world around us is always undergoing a silent change, a transition that is so subtle at times that it is beyond description and immediate perception and, yet, it is there....
Of people and their professions IT is a historical fact that the poor and unskilled Muslims of the subcontinent were influenced by the Hindu caste system. They took jobs in accordance with the strict division of...		Passing on a legacy STILL an incredible performer on stage, sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan recently observed his 80th birthday with a gala event in San Rafael. Featuring performances by renowned artists and appearances...
General elections to partition IN the 1945-46 general elections, the Muslim League had won 457 out of 523 Muslim seats at the centre and in the provinces (ie, about 87.5 percent), and polled some 4.7...		Childhood memories SHOULD I call the book I have just finished a deceptive one? It was not the book it had promised to be at the time I began reading it. It began...
Pakistan cricket in doldrums THE decision was inevitable. The Australian Cricket Board was unhappy over the prospect of sending their team to Pakistan and had been contemplating cancelling the tour for long. Earlier in the...		It’s a time of acute crisis WITH the beginning of the triangular involving Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka, the cricketing world now has yet another neutral venue in the shape of Tangiers. This follows other such...
Seeking fortunes in foreign lands THE trend of migration abroad for better prospects, that saw a rush from the 1960s, peaked in the 1980s and was going strong till as late as September 11, last year. It was bearing away some of our toughest souls ready to give up lawlessness...		Reviving the Silk Road A COLOURFULLY painted and lavishly festooned Pakistani truck, with strings of multicoloured beads hanging from the front and sides, standing in the midst of Washington Mall, within a short distance...
Brides on the roads COLOURFUL brides run up and down the road, most of the time racing with each other. Nay, this is not a scene from a movie, rather a scene that a common...		Emotional intelligence and literature THIS is with reference to Fatima Zia Dar’s article Emotional intelligence and literature (July 14, 2002), wherein the writer has rightly mentioned that new brain research suggests emotions, and not IQ,...
MOSAIC: Putting splatt on the map FANCY taking a trip to Ugley, Spacey Houses, Hell Hole or Splatt? Well, believe it or not, it would be possible — because they are all genuine names of places in...		Newsmaker MAN’S dominance as the smartest animal on planet earth may well be in danger. And it is not some chimpanzee or any other primate, that we have so long been led to believe are our long lost cousins, who have managed to do so. Instead...