Auntie Shamim and her escapades . . .

Can someone inform the Guinness Records that we have a woman in Pakistan, in the capital city of Islamabad nonetheless, who is perhaps an aunt to the largest populace in the world. Auntie Shamim . . . a relative to over 150 male visitors per day!!

This is the latest of the talibanization cases in our happening city of Isloo. Dozens of female students from a nearby Mosque (Lal Masjid for the detail-savvy reader) had been monitoring a house in G/6-1 and one fine Tuesday morning raided the premises kidnapping Auntie Shamim, her daughter, daughter-in-law and 6 month grand-daughter along with the plainclothes policemen who were guarding the perimeter (aka bouncers).

The reason to raid private property? The house was plaguing our society through its illicit activities and needed to be reprimanded because the authorities were not taking any action to control this menace to our society. The reason for kidnapping Auntie Shamim? To educate release her once she repented for her un-Islamic means of livelihood; which apparently she has done in a press statement and is now a free woman clad in a black burka. (that’s the garb extremist women in Pakistan might wear [atop their regular clothing] as a means of protecting their virtue from the leery eyed)

I ask you what the hell is going on with our society and government. I’m not condoning the existence of brothels in any manner however, I am concerned with the fact that the reins of control are slipping from our illustrious President who apparently had 90% support from half the population of Pakistan during the referendum in 2002.

When such issues start happening in your own backyard it makes one wonder how long we can sit perched on our posts, all dog-eyed and ignorant to the fact that the fabric which bonds liberal Pakistan together, is slowly acquiring a new tailor and he intends to present us with a new style of dressing.

Lets just hope that the government innuendos and political messages to the powers-that-be are read soon and we can go back to having relaxing weekends with friends and a few beers and not have to worry that the trash is being sifted through late night by the students of a nearby madrassah (that’s ‘religious school’ to you) and a lecture on the ‘sins’ of sipping brewed water is in the pipeline.

for the media story you can go to the link below:http://www.guardian.co.uk/
international/story/0,,2044910,00.html

lahore again lahore again, jiggity jig

Well the last weekend was spent in Lahore on account of a wedding (wifey’s cousin Zeeshan). Lahore is the cultural capital city of Pakistan . . . a city alive with the beat of the drums of Punjab, the food of the mughal and the decadence of the Lahori. (this will require a note all on its own)

I had to stay back in Isloo for work and missed the mehndi (which for you non-Pakistanis is the happening fun party before the groom and bride realize what they are getting into) on account of the fact that Rob Conway (chairman of the GSM Association and apparent big fish!) was supposed to arrive on Thursday evening and the PR department (which is yours truly) had to arrange the visit protocol and meetings/activities etc for that evening and the next day.

Well lo and behold the airline gods were on holiday because he missed his flight to Dubai and the onward connection to Pakistan (well done PIA engineers who are on strike demanding the resignation of their CEO) and we missed the mehndi!! Apparently it was an enthralling bash with fire dancers and the works keeping the guests boogying till the wee hours of the morning.

We made it to the cultural capital on the day of the Shaadi (that’s the wedding ceremony for the locally unaware) and stayed with my cousins Hassan and Mehreen Afridi. The trip was excellent because we got to spend some good quality time with our hosts. Wifey caught up on the times and Hassan was kind enough to teach me the tricks of Texas hold ’em Poker on the net. He was generous enough to let me wash his online account from 1,000,000 to 300,000 in one evening (thought the currency is not real there is a lot of hard work and patience involved in making ones account grow from 100,000 to 1,000,000 plus). Their kids are great and finally warmed up to us on the day we were supposed to leave which was ok because Hassan’s daughter asked him in the morning; while I was sound asleep, “where is your favourite Omar” which made my day!

Monday we set off to drive back home and made it safe and sound to our own familiar settings by sunset. Looks like we might head back again sometime soon to just chill with the cousins and not have to change into the oh-so comfortable wedding attire which allows one to get some good pics to store in an album that eventually gathers dust till the kids turn 18 and want to see how funny their parents looked in the hey-days!!

Spring is in the air which means summer is around the corner. . .look out lahori’s its bound to be a scorcher.

the return of the 'Saad'

For those of you that are not aware Saad A Khan is an old buddy from the days of yesteryears when Mr. Vain was the hit song at parties and the running man was a cool dance move. This was in fact reminded to me by my buddy who has come into town on a short stint to visit the motherland.

It’s good to reminisce about days one has either placed in a memory jar at the back of the daily dealings. Old flames, bad haircuts and even worse shirts can bring a good smile to the dreary routine of work-home-work-weekend and its repeat performance played one time to many!

Saad’s a stand up guy with an exellent sense of humour; an investment banker by profession based in Calgary. Dealing with the oil moguls’ of the western world has added a deep sense of worldy economics to this young guy who was one of the dude’s when I knew him back in school (that’s Froebel’s for the Islooites). His lightneing quips, blunt remarks and the views on peoples personalities are a fresh change to the usual diplomacies one has so gotten used to in the Islamabad social circuit.

Rifi’s was the dinner joint where we all met up at and exchanged some good old stories (and some that were locked in vaults till someone spilt the beans – being Saad in this case!!) after merry laughs and a few wine glasses the evening came to a pleasant close and the routine started all over again.

Im glad for these moments that we get. It will be these times that we will ponder upon and smirk when we’re old and gray with our thoughts that will be our companions more so than these days of social chaos that seem to be our ‘hectic’ lives.

On the flip side this chaos will add to the thoughts that too will make us smirk eventually!

P.S. the Thai green curry (chicken) at Rifi’s is divine!! Definitely recommend an evening there.

the Dinner, the GT and the BBQ

“Looks like I spoke too soon about the weekends being short and time running quicker than normal...this weekend was PACKED!Friday night started out with drinks at Amin & Nadia’s and off we (we here is Ace, Sam, Amin, Nadia, Wifey and I) headed to Majlis (that’s the Lebanese dive in Isloo with an awesome open terrace, sheesha and some decent food). Met some colleagues (on account of the fact that Mobilink employs a fair number of Egyptians and Lebanese manpower) there, who are the usual suspects at Majlis.

After a night of good food, headed back home to chill cause the week does sap the crap out of me!Satur-day was spent at the workshop in Pindi getting the weekly tinkering done to Betty. Headed back ‘cause lunch was at my friend Omer’s place who has recently become the proud father of an adorable 'baby-girl'. (Asad this is for you!)

lunch led to the drive back home where a quick shower and a change of clothes. . and a bit of coercion from my best bud we headed back out for another evening of fun.

Sunday was BBQ at our place (again) and the grill was fired up to satiate the appetites of my hungry (and hung-over in some cases) friends. After some minor burns and singes a feast was concluded by a competitive game of darts with Ace Chinoy being the champ for the evening.

Needless to say the weekend deserves another day-off just to recover but alas that freedom was not extended to yours truly and here I am on a Wednesday afternoon relaying the hectic schedule that needs to be paced out!!