SOMEHOW, it seems that Pakistanis are better hosts than their Indian counterparts. This statement is based on the fact that the number of visitors from India is far more than the same to India. The cricket bonanza was the ice-breaking event and after that there has been no looking back. Women activist, parliamentarians, politicians, businessmen and now Urmila Matondkar, Sonum Nigam, Shusmita Sen and Malaika are all here.
In fact, Pakistanis have had an over-doze of Indian entertainment to digest in such a short span of time. In Islamabad, too, the coffee morning of the Islamabad Foreign Women’s Association (IFWA) was invaded by Indian ladies to display a show titled Romance of the saree. However, these ladies were not on visit visas but part of the Indian High Commission based in Islamabad.
Three Indian ladies, Mohini Menon, wife of the Indian High Commissioner along with Ranjana and Geeta, all elegantly dressed in stunning cotton sarees, started by sharing the history of this so popular attire that “covers a multitude of sins” in its six yards of cloth. The narration was complimented by a catwalk by another five women, also from the HC, who presented different styles of sarees from various regions of India. The models amazed the audience with the variety of designs, weaves, ethnic combinations and materials, presenting a range of bandhanis, chicken kari, jamdanis, kanjiwarm and banarsi.
Fashions come and go but sarees have always been in vogue and carry an emotional attachment for the women of South Asia. Handed down from mothers and grandmothers to daughters and granddaughters, sarees can last decades, provided they are taken care of properly. Mohini encouraged the ladies to take out and wear their sarees tucked away in trunks for years and “air them frequently” if they want them to last long. “Saree is a piece of art and Indians are proud of the fact that we wear art,” Mohini concluded. The only disappointment was that they were all from personal collection and thus not on sale.
Although, as the name suggests, the organization has predominantly foreign women as members, some enterprising Pakistani women have also joined it which is a great help specially in coordinating fund-raisers. “The organization supports the helpless, hapless and the hopeless in and round Islamabad by donating desks, benches and computers to schools and sewing machines to needy women,” Dilhani Weerasooriya, wife of the Sri Lankan High Commissioner and the IFWA president explained.
‘Phantom’ in the Capital
The Phantom of the Opera, a stage play that ran to packed audience every day for eleven days, (April 16-27), has been the talk of Islamabad lately. There were many reasons, one being that the director from Lahore, Shah Sharabeel, was instructed to select an indigenous cast and train Capital talent, thus “sowing the seeds for future theatrical activities envisaged for the city.” Sharabeel passed the acid test by training an amateur group of actors. In Islamabad, they say everyone knows everyone else. It was very interesting for the audience to identify some, if not all the characters.
More interesting for some among the audience was the 15-minute show Sharabeel put up every evening before the curtains were raised. A sermon of instructions followed the seating arrangements episode every night without fail which was not limited to switching off of the mobiles. What put people off was that “no one can leave before the curtain call is over and, once you go out, you will not be allowed to come back.” Although everyone took it with a pinch of salt, it served the purpose of rapt attention from the audience.
After the success of the play, Sharabeel is working on a creative entertainment project in Islamabad which will have a mini-golf course with a garden amphi theatre. The most interesting part of the project is Chai Ghar, as we are a tea-drinking nation we should also have a place like Starbucks where masala chai, ilachi chai and truck driver chai should be available with samosay, namak paray and jalaibi. People will get an opportunity to read and listen to poetry and prose of Urdu a la Ghalib, Faiz and it will be a combo of culture and entertainment.
SOMEHOW, it seems that Pakistanis are better hosts than their Indian counterparts. This statement is based on the fact that the number of visitors from India is far more than the same to India. The cricket bonanza was the ice-breaking event and after that there has been no looking back. Women activist, parliamentarians, politicians, businessmen and now Urmila Matondkar, Sonum Nigam, Shusmita Sen and Malaika are all here.
