KARACHI: “There are too many wrong numbers on this gola (planet/globe) and I am searching for the right number,” said PK [believe it or not] wearing that same bright yellow helmet, loads of wooden bead mala around his wrists while sitting on a footpath with his old cassette recorder/player and blinking away like an owl outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Thursday.

PK in Pakistan, as he is called here, was handing out yellow flyers to all passersby.

It had the word ‘MISSING’ printed on it in big, bold letters with “water, gas and power” printed underneath and an arrow below pointing to the words ‘emandaar hukumraan’ (honest people in power) below it along with a phone number, URLs, etc.

It was in a way asking the rulers for basic rights. Bigger poster versions of the same were also being pasted on the wall behind him.

Members of the media going inside KPC for lunch put that on hold to ask the character who he was. But he would only blink and tell them that he was PK, looking for the right number on this globe.

“I have started my search for the right number from today and two days before the elections I [will] give it to everyone. I am sure to have found it by then,” he said convincingly in the typical Indian peasant accent made so famous by the actor in the hit foreign film PK.

For readers who must be wondering about the chap’s actual identity, it must be added here that his real name is Sharry Khan, who happens to be both host and actor for several television shows.

Going back to his role here, he said: “The people who have been in power in this country for the last five years have been taking our phirki (making a fool of us) by giving us the wrong number. But by the time I am through, everyone will have the right number stamped on them.”

Asked then if he was representing any political party and if this was a clever election gimmick by any politician, PK looked disappointed. Shaking his head he blinked twice and said: “I do not represent any party. I am not even on any party’s side. I only like one party, which is Birthday Party!”

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2018