Clik here to view.
Aamina Sheikh: The glamazon next door
On a Tuesday morning, I opened the front door of my apartment to greet Aamina Sheikh –model, actress and leading lady of Seedlings (Lamha), a Pakistani film that screened at the New York City...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bodybuilding and steroids: Risky business
Right after his warm-up, Manzoor Durrani sneaks into the changing room of his gym with a brown paper bag. He carefully pulls out a vial and a syringe. The needle is loaded with pure pharmaceutical...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kingdom of lakes
When the thought of travelling to the Pak-Afghan border comes to mind, it’s usually accompanied by a pervasive sense of insecurity, and more than a little fear. And right before travelling to the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who u gonna call? Ghostbusters!
“It’s almost as if they want forgiveness. They say that they are aware of what they did during their time and it probably wasn’t the best thing to do but they were acting in the best interest, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The forgotten filmmaker
‘Can you recommend any good Pakistani film-makers?’ This is the first question I am asked whenever I have a discussion with foreign film-makers and it always leaves me rather bewildered. Pakistan has...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s getting hot in here
Meesha Shafi is one sexy b****. “Sexy” because she just can’t help it — put an attay ki bori on her lean frame and dump a pail of dirty water over her head and Shafi will still manage to look like...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Crushed
When tourists drive over to Abbottabad from Islamabad, they expect lush green forests to welcome them. Now, it’s the echoing sound of machinery from stone-crushing units that dot the area which, at...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chillin’ with a capital 'C'
Once considered the ideal spot to move to after retirement, Islamabad’s sleepy pace has recently sped up to a more active one. If you’re health-conscious, this sterile town that has been the abode of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shopping for green: Chemically crazy
You pick up a banana and it has likely been smeared in carbide to speed up its ripening process. The glossy apple that looks all the more appealing to the eye than to your taste buds is waxed. And...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The emerald empire
A sea of emerald stretches out before me, a canopy of hundreds of verdant leaves crowned with red, yellow and orange canna lilies. Close by, a family of ducks happily paddles in a pond as honeybees...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Diary of a ‘Luna’tic
Pakistan has its own chand ka tukra and no, it’s not your khala’s best friend’s bahu as she would have you believe. It is a real piece of the moon, the earth’s natural satellite, hidden away in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lame is the new cool
You may roll your eyes or even feel like pulling them out of their sockets when you hear these jokes, but their lame brand of humour will certainly grab your attention. Meet the brains behind The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The lord from Lucknow
How many people do you know who have been bestowed high national civilian awards by two countries that, to put it mildly, don’t like each other very much? Not many, for sure. But when those two...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Trading for trust
It is one of the most ridiculous sights in the world: at the Wagah border crossing that links Pakistan to India, several trucks stand on the Pakistani side, with labourers unloading 50-kilogramme...
View ArticleClik here to view.
P.S. I’m just like you!
The two great subcontinental rivals, Pakistan and India, are at it again. For the umpteenth time, these nearly perennially hostile neighbours are attempting, however cautiously, to improve ties....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Film review: Raaz 3 - better keep this secret
Believe it or not, Bollywood is still making films about black magic, evil spirits and holy spirits and the war between evil and holy spirits. Raaz 3, in essence, is about this war between the spirits...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chalo chalein Funland
This was one of the most frequently aired jingles back in the 1980s, when having only one TV channel meant that just about everyone who watched PTV saw this ad for Funland approximately one million,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Daadi’s diary: Fending off facial oils
This lovely humid weather, which shows absolutely no signs of going away anytime soon, leaves some of us looking shiny and slippery. Sometimes it gets so bad that I could use my face as a reflective...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Searching for Manx
In the game of hide and seek that was played out between the sun and the clouds that evening, it was rain that eventually won. Sailing on a ferry named Snaefell from Liverpool in the UK to Douglas,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A night with her
“We must tell her story!” Taimur*, my partner-in-crime, whispered to me as we looked helplessly at her. That was exactly what I was thinking, but I wasn’t sure how good an idea that would be. It was...
View Article