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Movie Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" movie poster. - Courtesy PhotoThe bow and the arrows come out again, to satisfy television ratings and please totalitarian powers that be.The sequel is a strange...
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Karachi’s Khokharapar
Akhtar Balouch, also known as the Kiranchi Wala, ventures out to bring back to Dawn.com’s readers the long forgotten heritage of Karachi. Stay tuned to this space for his weekly fascinating...
View ArticleJimmy nay socha: Queue
Now, here’s a thing that’s universally non-existent in this country unless enforced through ticketing systems or other ways. From a bus stop to a general store, you will never see people follow a...
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Is this the winning 11 Pakistan have been searching for?
As Pakistan created history at Port Elizabeth, there was a 90s feeling in the air. Both series, home and away have been packed with drama and the last two overs could very well have been Saqlain and...
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Terrorists are jerks!
We know they are cold-blooded killers, able to annihilate a few or a thousand without the prods of conscience or the considerations of consequences. They can target pregnant women or giggling school...
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“I have a blood relation with Pakistanis, they killed my father”
The two tribes placed a stone on the border, which was always covered with blood. Whenever someone was killed, the stone was handed over to the victim’s tribe.The tribe was required to wash it with...
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Movie Review: Elysium
A scene from movie, "Elysium". - Courtesy PhotoIn another of the many likely future dystopias courtesy Hollywood, humanity is trashed by the difference in social classes and dull-witted tyranny.In...
View ArticleChasing bovines on the Delhi Metro
Journalistic ignorance comes in many forms. Some editors condone and some readers ignore. Mistakes and generalisations are part and parcel of journalistic practice. Visiting journalists are allowed...
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The famous Four - Part IV
For whom the bell tollsThe 16th day of April in 1853 is special in the Indian history. The day was a public holiday. At 3:30 pm, as the 21 guns roared together, the first train carrying Lady Falkland,...
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Food Stories: Hara masala biryani
-Photo by authorBiryani, to love or to love a little more?If you are from the subcontinent, foodie or not, you may have asked yourself this question: What is it about biryani that we love so much? The...
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Ode to Karachi: “Longing”
This blog is part 2 of a three-part series. Read part 1 here. I never knew longing could be so physical especially longing for a place. I long for Karachi with every inch of my being. I see what is...
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Searching for their sons
A terrorist’s mother doesn’t love her son any less. For her, he is a martyr if dead, and a missing person if incarcerated. While the superior courts have rightly taken up the cause of the illegally...
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Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after
One of my favourite pastimes is sharing a drink with close friends and talking late into the night about a million things, in spite of the fact that I’m not a big drinker – or rather haven’t been one...
View ArticleOf streets and names
You will be amazed to know that there are two streets in Karachi, which are named after five personalities. These personalities include mystic poets, religious and spiritual leaders, and a...
View ArticleJimmy nay socha: Horn
If you absolutely abhor someone’s happiness and wish to suck their very sense of peace from their souls, please know, it’s very easy. In fact, you can even kill them without a conviction. Just make...
View ArticleThe tale of a jirga foretold
The landlord sat in his orchard, drawing on his imported cigarette. He had a special setup: chairs, a table in the centre, a pedestal fan and a bulb. “He oversees his lands himself. It’s a habit,” the...
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Movie Review: Insidious Chapter 2
A scene from movie, "Insidious: Chapter 2". - Courtesy PhotoYes, the cast of “Insidious” sees dead people. Almost everyone in every horror movie do. Haunted cupboards, creaking doors, shrieking...
View ArticleAfter partition; after apartheid
Nelson Mandela died yesterday December 5. 2013 and the world mourns for him. The South Africa that he was born into saw him, a black man as unworthy of equal citizenship, wished to keep him excluded...
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This is the spirit the Taliban failed to subdue
Overcast sky. Rains, slow but constant. It was cold but not cold enough to use it as an excuse for not attending the party. No snow, no sleet. Roads were wet but safe. Salima looked out the window and...
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Farewell, Great Helmsman
Nelson Mandela was on his first visit to India in 1990 soon after being released from prison when I saw him in person. It was at the bustling lobby of one of New Delhi’s landmarks – the Taj Mahal Hotel...
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