Discrimination against men 8-|

We saw her first as, Zaara Hayaat Khan; the pretty, lively and carefree child of a Lahori Nawab-type-politician who falls for an Indian serviceman while on her visit to India in Yashraj’s ‘Veer Zaara‘.

And now, Bollywood’s bubbly girl, Preity Zinta, returns as a British born confused Lahori named Alvira Khan, in the newest Yash Chopra flick called ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom‘.

Along with Preity Zinta, Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukherji, Amitabh Bachhan, Hema Malini, Anupam & Kiron Kher, Boman Irani; all A-grade actors, the Yashraj banner made ‘Veer Zaara ‘ a blockbuster in India which gained unprecedented popularity in Pakistan too.

This time, in ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom‘, Preity has Amitabh & Abhishek Bachhan, Lara Dutta, and Bobby Deol as co-stars. The movie has just released and it remains to be seen whether it repeats the success of ‘Veer Zaara‘ or not.

Though we’re graciously pleased and flattered by the fact that, as compared to any other Pakistani city, Lahore is more popular in Bollywood movies and the Indian film industry as a whole, still, why is it so?

Is it because of Lahore’s importance as the cultural capital of Pakistan; it’s close proximity to the Indian border; the Punjabi & Sikh connection; the status of being the Capital of Mughal India, a heritage that it proudly shares with Delhi; What Lahore gave to Bollywood; or just for the sake that, Bollywood loves Lahore!

Image Source:

Zaara Hayaat Khan – BBC Shropshire
Alvira Khan – India FM

I’m surprised no one has written on this billboard advertisement before myself: it’s just about located everywhere, with its larger-than-life dimensions. I first saw this in Karachi during my brief stay before coming to Lahore, and since then I probably see this at least four times every day.

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I am not surprised at the act, just amused at the presence of a camera. I am most sad at the levels of decency by our very own federal law minister Mr. Wasi Zafar. This is expected from him. No B.A. degree can teach you manners, just like it can not teach you politics. Anyways, enjoy, and the below may not actually be safe for viewing with certain family members.

A bit more on the Wasi Zafar here.

By the way, I am voting for Imran Khan, whether he himself is allowed to appear in the elections or not, thanks to Musharaf, MQM and the lot..
And yes, you can call me the deliberate naive who thinks his vote will actually count. It will. A little birdie told me.

The latest in news is that a protest against load shedding in Karachi went violent at Shahra-e-Faisal and ransacked a bank and a KFC outlet.

Load shedding has become a national problem that even the capital failed to avoid. However, power supply shortage has never been as accute in other parts of the country, expecially Lahore, as in Karachi which is the largest and most important city in Pakistan.

Do you think it is right to pull down a restaurant with people sitting inside just because its air-conditioning was running through private generators when the whole area was in dark?

Travelling in the busses has always been a cumbersome job. Though, the government introduced some new licensed Bus Companies to operate their busses on different routes of the city, replacing the old local “Hiace – Vans”.

But the present condition of these busses is not up to the (even local) level. It means that they are not fulfilling the minimum criteria to run the bus which they agreed upon in the start.

But don’t worry… no one cares for those conditions again after getting the liscence, neither the government bother to take any action.

There are some routes where (still) the old, or I must say really old, busses are running. Many can be seen at the Ferozpur Road, Lahore.

One of those routes is the “Route # 23″, which starts from ‘Thokar Niaz Baig’ to Bhatta Chowk, Defence; or may be even further (don’t know where exactly it goes), has some really old busses on which, I still remember, I used to go to my village when I was a child.

The busses are just many years over there expiry date and are run on an enormous speed (even faster than the new advanced and stable local busses). The main reason of this over speeding, which once a ticket collector of the bus told me, is that they (the bus drivers) have to cover the distance from ‘Thokar Niaz Baig’ to Phaatak Stop, Kot Lakh Patt Station in just 30 minutes.

It means that they have to manage the loading and unloading of the passengers and their luggage and also try to maximize there profits, by having more commuters from stop to stop, with in 30 minutes. Otherwise, they are fined Rs.30 per late minute.

Sometimes; to avoid the fine, the drivers don’t stop their busses at any stop so that they can reach the ‘Bus Stand’ in time.

And now that means; ‘they are not stopping for any commuter to get in to the bus and at the same time to get out of the bus.’

Just imagine that how fast they have to drive while managing the overloading as well.

This over speeding of the busses causes some serious problems to the drivers of the other vehicles and sometimes for the bus driver himself.

When this gigantic vehicle is driven at an enormous speed with a continuous sound of the pressure horn and without pressure brakes… one can expect some serious kind of results.

Such an incident happened on Tuesday Morning at about 11 to 12pm. The driver lost control over the bus and unfortunately; the bus encountered an accident and fell into the ‘drain’ (gabdaa naala) of Moulana Shaukat Ali Road, near the ‘Johar Banquet Hall’.

I was unable to get any sort of information about the accident because there was no one, who knew exactly what happened.

As I have a practical experience of sitting in that kind of bus so, I know that how congested the passengers sit or stand in the bus. If the bus had been overloaded, the accident would have been much severe.

If any one of you knows about this accident, is invited to share it in the comments below. Your participation would be acknowledged.

When the President of Pakistan, General Pervaiz Musharraf, imposed restrictions on the media under a ‘New PEMRA Ordinance’ (which later on was withdrawn); the journalists, media professionalists, different organisations and the general public including students protested and rallied against the new ordinance.

The restrictions which were introduced in the Ordinance were ‘totally not acceptable’ by the media professionalists.

“A picture is worth thousand words!”

This picture below, well defines the emotions of the local media after that ordinance was introduced.

Photo: News Bloggers (AOL)

Note: It must be noted that tha ordinance was withdrawn, by the President himself, on the condition if Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) will come up with a ‘New Code of Conduct’ with in three days.

News Sources:

News Bloggers – AOL
Dailytimes Pakistan

While browsing through Wikipedia, I found this rare picture of Lahore Railway Station, back in the 1880s.

The surroundings look all deserted giving the Station building an impressive elevation. I only wish if I could turn the time back and have a Buggy ride from Railway Station to Flattei’s Hotel on the Mall… 8)

Source: Wikipedia

“This is a low-resolution and cropped (down to 40% of original size) version of Photograph of the Railway Station at Lahore, Pakistan, taken by George Craddock in the 1880s, part of the Bellew Collection of Architectural Views. Oriental and India Office Collection. British Library.“

This one seemed to be real fond of fruits; after all, fruit walay ka monkey jo tehrah!

I read this outside a local school and i was really impressed by these points. I think that its not just the duty of the Principal of that school to accomplish these goals.
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