Montage/Collage

Karachi the 'multifaceted city'

BAT IT LIKE KIDS

Yeh dunya hai dil walon ki masti mai something something, I was gob smacked to see my  18 months old nephew dancing crazily on this song during the world cup season, I thought oh boy now he has become like those crick freaks, every time this song or the aman chakka came on TV he pushed and persuaded me to dance with him, every time the sound of cheering came through the TV he used to pose like the umpire and was letting us know through his action that it certainly was an out, but most of the times it was a sixer or a four. Any how than the big game day Indo-Pak match came, the Sindh government announced an off, every body got them selves glued to their couches, females started praying nafils and mannat and all, and not suddenly but we lost, the so cheerful and optimistic tone of people turned in the accusing one, people rushed to the bathroom to take off the greens of their face, expensive franchised team shirts were thrown in to the closet carelessly. I heard people saying oh it was fixed, they could have won that ‘if they had tried’, text messages started to circulate around that how the PM made a deal,  the many the nitty gritty details of the dealings. I may be the rare one to not to get affected all by this but to be very honest I did feel a bit a liiittttllllee bit disappointed, and trust me it was because of the aura around me, don’t blame me. But when a few hours later my crick-o-freak-o- nephew came by, he was still his at his cheery best, his bat his ball his face paint every thing was there, he dint bother about the loss, all inside him was the love for the game, and than it struck me that ‘don’t love how the game is played, love the game that is being played’ and this all was taught me by a knee grass hopper J

Another Track Suffers( fake news report)

Recodig 11-Feb-2011, Narjis Wasim: A blast, near the newly inaugurated railway track, jolted the area leaving 15 dead and 25 injured. The blast occurred in the wee hours of the morning when the working staff was about to start their booking.

The heavily injured stationed master before getting hospitalized told that “the blast was so boisterous that it left us dumbfounded, no one had the slightest idea of what had happened”.

One of the passenger was seen crying over the loss of his 9 year old son, he stated that he along his son reached the station quite early and they could not see any security guard for the protection of this station, the aggravated father further added that government should had kept some sort of security in this critical area.

THE JOURNALIST WITHIN YOU.

Narjis Wasim

Karachi,JUW:“Citizen Journalism does not have the charm of famous or televised journalism”, stated Ovais Ahmed Mangalwala, anchor and producer of Dawn Citizen Journalist, “but citizen journalism can be used where media gets wrong”. He further added that the trust factor is stronger when a mango person delivers or reports the news to his fellow people. During the interactive 1 hour lecture, that was arranged for the mass communication students, he explained the pro’s and cons of Citizen Journalism (though there are close to zero cons of citizens journalism), He told that events all around are waiting to be reported, journalists and reporters certainly can not reach or be at every event, it’s the citizen around whom all his happening, so the citizen should and must take up the tools and report the incident good or bad but newsworthy. He also threw light on the tactic a citizen journalist must follow before reporting something he said that,”be accurate, dead accurate, be sure your facts or statements have backing or proof.  ”

The anchor and producer announced the upcoming launch of Dawn’s new show tentatively titled ‘Meri Nazar’ (which is on the line of citizen journalist) for which he urged the attendees to send them picture and videos without adding up their own opinion and point of view about the rare incident they report, because it may show biasness and a good journalist should never be anything but biased but do make a point to show it to someone for their feedback.

http://dawnnews.tv/citizen-journalists

GOING LOONY FOR LAWN

You  are roaming around the market, you are waiting to spot and find the perfect lawn print of your dreams, you are keen, anxious, eager and what not, to find it suddenly something comes before your eyes, you want to get your hands on it, yes yes it is the lawn print you have been waiting for, you almost run like a predator  to  reach the shop to touch it, ohhh its such a such a oh leave it an unexplainable feeling, you touch the fabric and it makes you sigh with happiness, your adrenaline pumps, you have got to wear it , you have already started to visualize that  dress on you, its design, how well it looks on you, and suddenly reality strikes you when some one around you asks the prize of that lawn suit, which leaves you flabbergasted, its only 1700 or so, then another slab of reality falls over you when you see that the lawn fabric is thin to max. All your hopes and ideas fizzle out. Its summer time and you are bound to get a few lawn suits to wear in summers, but the prizes are talking to the skies, the fabric and price both are not at all hand in glove, prices have soared all time high, and now the brands have also descended the market. The mediocre consumer is in a dilemma they want to buy a branded lawn suit, but there need is to buy a reasonably prized lawn suit, even now the reasonable prize is not at all sober and affordable.

It’s making me crazy, my mind has stopped working after getting to know the prices of normal brand’s normal print suit which turned out to be 1000, if we even think of buying it hemorrhages my brain, expressed Mehmooda Begam a housewife with an anguished frown. The quality is at the worst of all times, even if the print is liked by me, but the quality of the fabric leaves me disgusted, paper thin is a understated word for the quality of the suit, specially the shalwar is paper thin, how are we supposed to walk around with such a shalwar on .In my opinion no one in a sane state of mind will buy such a membranous suit with a high price. 

Nazahat Fatima student of Hamdard University seconds the thought of Mehmooda Begum, that the fabric is indeed thin, according to her Gul ahmed’s fabric is the thinnest of all, but she believes and follows the rule, survival of the prettiest when it comes to lawn, she said that she would always go for the print whether it would cost her a penny or would leave a dent on her pocket, Print is her mantra she is loving the collection of prints of Firdous and Sana Safinaz is her all time favorite brand. Nazahat also complained about the prices which are of the height of Burj ul Arab, a shirt piece in the past would cost her form 300-450, but now the price of a shirt piece starts from 500, which she believes is quite flustering.

Oh believe me, there is hard competition among middle class wives to get the best and the most expensive lawn among her group of peers, and especially on those women who daily pick their kids up from the schools, Mrs. Umaima Ansari stated, where as her husband chimed in that, such husband faces even thousand tone more pressure when their wives lawns expenditure starts up, “some times we just feel like running away and away and keep running away”, he believes that it has become almost impossible to make a variety of clothes, before in the same amount of money summer dresses of his kids and wife were an easy target, but now the finish line of this target seems blurred.

Abdul Rehman, who has been in the cloth business for the past 15 years sorrows over the fact that this summer season till now has been the worst for his business, the number of buyers have declined where the rates of every thing, electricity, gas, labor, entrance of new designer brands and every thing has skyrocketed which is also one of the main reason of in hike of lawn suits prices, ”now our sales are not what they used be in the previous year, the middle class’ hands have been tied by this inflation so tightly that they can not think of buying more than 1 or more than, the tension that erupts on their faces when they get to know the prices is quite hard for them to hide. Where as another retailer disagrees with Abdul Rehman and says that even the middle class is getting as much lawn as they want, its just some don’t buy it and some does not.

These branded lawn suits are only affordable for a certain group of people, hardly any bourgeois can imagine wearing a branded lawn suit, even I believe wearing them in imagination would cost us a bomb, it was much easier for us to buy lawn suits before, but now we have got to choose between our summer dresses or our kids’, explained Arsala Naz. The marketing strategies of the designer brand is so well, they are almost in every corner of the city, every bill board has been taken over by them to lure the mango people, it confuses us what to do what not to do, she also stated that her teenage daughter of 17 years indirectly tries to cajole her parents to buy her at least one branded lawn, only because certain friends of her flaunt their branded lawn.

Shaneela Shah who lives in America, comes down to Pakistan every summer to get lions share of lawn suits, but this year she experienced a vast difference in terms of marketing and the competition that’s started in the lawn business, she believes that lawn itself alone has become a separate and to look out in future business, but she also complains about the price she says that after buying a branded lawn dress of 3000-4000, we have to take out extra money to get it stitched perfectly and accordingly to the latest design and all, but after all the extra hard work and money it will always be called a lawn suit, which can not be worn at a party or something because at last its going to remain lawn.

Syed Ibrahim, who has been a sales man at Gul Ahmed for the past 6 years explained that, the recent rise in inflation of the cause that the price of our fabric has gone up, but he stresses over the point that quality and life of the fabric remains satisfactory and as far as the sheerness of the dress specially the shalwar is concerned, that mainly happens because the price of thread has also gotten out of the reach of big companies a little bit it is 4 times higher than now, we do have to cut down at some place, but before getting it stitched if the fabric is put in water the sheerness disappears to a certain limit. And lawn is worn to beat the heat and if you are going to put lining under that the dress will get thicker and uncomfortable. He also said that this year due to the new bandwagon of brands has given us a rather tight competition, now people have more option to choose from.

Oscar Wilde many years back once said:

‘Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation?  I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to.’ 

And lawn has now become such a temptation.

Students Not Allowed(News reprtng within campus)

A bolt from the blue for the students:

Karachi: “Miss Sabeen has not come today,” shouted a student in a class full of her class mates chafing at the bit waiting for their teacher. The news writing and reporting teacher did not come the university on Monday 21^st Feb, for unknown reasons, which left the students flabbergasted when they got to know that for the “very first time their teacher was absent” on a regular day even when the situation of the city was stable. Some were glad to know so as a debating competition was taking place in the auditorium which they had to leave to attend her class and then were free to attend it where as some students  were heard saying HAIN, WHAT?, YOU KIDDING ME, NO WAY etc.

Jinnah debating society under new wings

Karachi, Jinnah University for women: The presidency of the debating society of Jinnah University was recently handed over to Syeda Tooba Javed (Dept. of English III year), as the term of last president Tabassum Sajjad(EX student Dept. of Mass Comm.) reached its end.

The recently held Bilingual debate competition was completely her brainchild and was held under the super vision of the then would be and now president .Syeda Tooba Javed was given the post of president on the basis of active participation, performance that was always up to the mark in every event organized by the debating society, whether she had taken part as a debater/ orator or not, explained Miss Surraya Qamar in charge of the Jinnah debating society.

She also stated that Syeda  Tooba Javed will prove out to a be better  president  than the previous one in the matters of administration as the previous president was way too much easy to convince on issues , where as Syeda Tooba Javed has much better  professional perspectives and is very good when it comes to management. Miss Surayya Qamar is looking forward to the 23^rd march debate to be arranged by the new captain of the ship, she also hopes that Tooba Javed will bring new and fresh blood in the debating society, and much more successful debating events.

No room for smokers? 

Karachi: As smoking is strictly prohibited in the university(JUW) the male debaters who had taken part in the bilingual debating competition were inquisitive if they could by any chances hide anywhere and could puff some how. Most of the boys who smoked wanted to head towards the toilet with their group of peers as no one specially female proctors who were there only chaperone could enter the toilet, where the boys coffin-nailed the toilet. One of them was heard whispering to his friend “this place is hell for smokers” while heading towards the bathroom, told Hina Wasim (Dept. Bio Chem. IV year)

Where do we go then?

Students have got no proper place for sitting,

Narjis Wasim

 Karachi, Feb 2 2011: The basket ball court where students are supposed to play and keep their selves fit are seen sitting idly there, some are trying to concentrate on studying, where as most of them are seen chatting or engrossed in their favorite invention of the century, their mobile phones. One of the main reasons of this number of people sitting here is that first of all the basket ball court can not be called a basket ball court from any angle as it is in shambles, there is no net in the basket used for games, and the other and the main reason is that there is no appropriate seating arrangement for the students in the university.

Students of mass communication with a lot of anger and irritation said that if not here then where should we go and relax, we cant sit at the corridors, we are not allowed to sit in our seminar library, the area of the Vice Chancellor’s office is quite airy and comfortable but now even there sitting is not allowed, We see a lot girls mostly drown in their phone calls, and once we also saw a group trying their hands at smoking. One of them said that “Majboori ka naam shukria hai” that’s why we sit here, and she told the same story as her friends told us.

A case of misquoting quotes / A case of misquoted quotes:

Karachi, Jinnah University for women February 22^nd Feb 2011: The Channel edited the whole talk and only showed the part when I said that” It was my first time and I got nervous.” Complained Anum Haider  (Micro biology II year) and said that only a certain part of her brief interview was telecasted on news channel named Samaa , which gave another angle to what she had actually said. She explained that when the reporter asked her to share her experience and asked her to tell about when she could not complete her speech and left the podium at the Bilingual debate competition, she actually had answered that “I was asked to give a complimentary speech just 5 minutes before I had to deliver it, I did not have the slightest idea about it in any corner of my brain, as It was my first time and I got nervous.”

Student Not Allowed. Says Who?

Roof area of pharmacy’s building is a no entrance area for students; Students are completely unaware of it.

Narjis Wasim

Jinnah University for Women, Karachi, Feb 2 2011: Groups of students chilling and relaxing, some making notes, some passing their time, some deeply busy on their cellular phones. Open wires of K.E.S.C and P.T.C.L. are lying over the surface without any proper wiring, heaps and heaps of garbage is just at the arm’s length, there are only few shades on the roof, in summers which can be quite a pain .But why are they sitting here not any where else? When they were asked this question, and also what do they want here? Any interesting scene that occurred over here, what types of students mostly come here, there answers are given below:

Suicide attempt & Adda:

A student from bio chemistry department with utmost surety told us that once she saw, a college student slashing her wrist while sitting with her group of peers, and after attempting this she and her friends disappeared in thin air.

Another student very cheerfully said that we really like this place, we call it our “Adda”, some time we do play but mostly we come here to pass our time, Though its very hard to sit here in summer, and wires should be properly set up, When asked that is sitting allowed here, they very confidently said “yes it is”.

Party Place:

We have even celebrated each others birthday party here, a group of students of Pharmacy told us. As our department and lab is on the near by, we come here to sit and prepare notes, so in any case we are always remain near to our department. A student said that Asghar (Security Guard) must not be allowed to come here to get us out from this place, she stated that Asghar’s way of talking is completely un acceptable, he should adopt a milder way of talking, They also said that the heap of litter should be removed from here, and a shade should be provided for them to guard them selves from sun light, When asked if any one has ever forbade them to come here, they said it is an open place for every one.

Don’t Hide:

When we questioned Uzma Naz and Farah Naz, the maids of “the pharmacy department” they said that we have never gone up to the roof to bring back girls down, but we have asked them numerous time to sit in open places and not hide themselves from us up over there. When asked, then who is responsible for bringing them down, they both answered Asghar is.

Lack of Security Guards

When we raised the question to Asghar Ali Khan, the security in charge and gate in charge that why students sit on the roof top of pharmacy area even when they are not allowed there? He stated that one of the reasons is that the students do not have enough space for sitting. We get complains twice a month, that some one has thrown a bottle or some rubbish stuff, and the risks of some one trying to jump form there is very high, that’s why sitting there is not allowed, When asked that why no one goes up there to bring them down? He answered that the problem is that there are very few security guards, if we keep going there and ask them to come down who will guard the main gate?

 

bOoKs BooKs

Bursting Becky’s bubble

What happens when 3 novels are merged together to make a movie of 2 ½ hours? Tadaa comes the confessions of a shopaholic directed by P.J.Hogan. So those who have seen the movie and plan to read the book or vice versa, a piece of my mind for you guys is that don’t hold any pre conceived notions.

In the movie the placement of character, the turn of events in Becky’s life (book and movie) is as different as chalk and cheese. The shopping extravagances of Miss Bloomwood are no where to be matched in the book if compared with the novel, the day dream sessions (trust me they seem to be so vivid and real aahh) Becky usually gets into, how she draws in her horns, and her journo (journalist) rules, all these are poles apart when compared between the movie and book life of Rebecca Bloomwood.

But the movie and novel both are worth your time, the author and the director both are cat whiskers for their brilliant work. Especially the author Sophie Kinsella is topnotch.

P.S: A sincere tip from me to all of you, don’t follow Becky’s journalistic approach ;). No no never. You’ll understand when you read the novel. Other wise Happy Reading

The Temple By The Sea.

 Bucket filled with livers of goat, small balls of dough placed on plastic plates to be sold, teenagers selling offal  for kite feeding, kids holding the ends of their mother’s duppata, afraid of not falling down, you can see all these thing at a side of the famous netty jetty bridge , but there is altogether a different world down the bridge where Hindu believers sittings at a set of long stairs leading them to temple and to the sea ,women  getting their feet damp by entering the water, men trying to give their kids a small dive in the sacred water, this is what happens at the temple situated under the bridge.

When you enter the premises of the Shree Laxmi Narayan Mandir, at first you get hit with the thought of whether I’ll be allowed to go inside the temple or not? But as soon as you see people they smile at you without bothering about you religion, you pass the main gate you descry the blackened sea, devoted people sitting over the stairs are indulged in the rituals. This for some reason leaves you shell shocked to explore the other side of the sea with a total different religious perspective. “This is home away from home as in this our”ganga mayya or choti gangotri” most of the Hindus living in Karachi visit this sea and temple to perform all the religious duties. Our parents and grand parents who were born in Karachi have been paying their visit to the holy sea”, explained Mr. Rama Shankar who had come to visit the Shree Laxmi Narayan Mandir. He further told that every ritual from our ganesh visarjan to the kriyakaram, mundan to navratri is celebrated here with full zeal and zest.

Babli Sanjay was holding a steel platter a.k.a. thaali, creatively decorated with confectionaries known as Prasad, ignited incensed sticks, a half cut colored lemon to ward off the evil eye,  she swirls the thaali before the sacred sea bow her head before the sea, and leaves the thaali to float away, she was performing the  Govardhan Puja for the safety and prosperity of her family, when quizzed about that does not the blackened water disturbs her or the smell erupting, she very calmly and without creating any fuss over religious issues replied that, this water is holy for her, it is the module of purity, “we drink this water and splash it all over around our houses, we drop the remaining ashes of our deceased relatives in the sacred river, this water never gets impure as it is constantly flowing. This water also makes us plain and simple; we believe that by having a swig of this water and by laving in it, this river takes away all our sins from us.”

This temple is 150 years old, it was built during the British raj, informed Arjun Maharaj who has been the head of all ritual activities of this temple for 23 years, he also gravely stated that the numbers of devotees has seen a major set back, “it has decreased by all leaps and bounds”, he blames the new road system that has been sketched out, as the reason why there are less numbers of visitors. He also added that the recent inflation rise has made it impossible for the devotees to visit the temple by the sea, because as the temple is situated at an end of the city, people who live far away have to travel a tremendously long way to reach down here and more over the fares of busses, petrol, rickshaws and taxis also make the visit impossible.

He also proposed the fact that this temple is in dire need of an overhaul, “ some parts of this temple are certainly in shambles, we get no help from officials, we are fed up of writing letters and application to the officialdoms, but no avail at all they turn deaf ear towards our pleas” further he added that almost every channel has come to this temple and made reports on it but it dint serve its turn, people from different walk of life and religions do make donations which is equal to salt in the grains but still they do care about the well being of this ancient temple . Arjun Mahraj believes that it is only the power of God that’s keeping the temple stand still.

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah during addressing the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, in Karachi
on August 11, 1947 said:

“If we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor... you are free- you are free to go to your temples mosques or any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state... in due course of time Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease to Muslims- not in a religious sense for that is the personal faith of an individual- but in a political sense as citizens of one state” The father of the nation believed in equality and he also said so in the above lines, but are our recent lot of leaders and politician giving a thought to save the sacred place of the minorities who according to the founder of the country have the equal right as Muslims.

They are as much as human as us, they are a part of our country as we are, they are the part of the economy they are working for the country, than why not we should listen what they have to say. Our leaders should better watch out because if they don’t bother to care for their needs in the future, they won’t be filling their vote banks.