Lahore and the rest of Pakistan gets to watch ‘Kismat Konnection’ in theatres from July 18. This Shahid Kapoor & Vidya Balan starrer is the second major Bollywood flick to release simultaniously in India and Pakistan following Priyanka Chopra & Harman Baweja’s largely unimpressive ‘Love Story 2050′. Both movies are a vivid sign of the boundaries between Bollywood & Lollywood thining as the former makes full intrusion into Pakistan’s film entertainment scene.

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And as if this was not all enough, for the more Westernized lot, Angelina Jolie’s ‘Wanted’ screens on July 25 while ‘Kung Fu Panda’ is already evoking rounds of laughter at the main screens.

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Add to that Javed Sheikh’s long awaited venture ‘Khulay Aasman Ke Neechay’ for which enough pre-release buzz was created so much so that the movie even has a fully dedicated blog.  The movie itself was a decent effort according to the audiences.

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Finally, jewel of the year will be Mehreen Jabbar’s much inspiring ‘Ramchand Pakistani’ as it hits cinemas on August 1, 2008.

So, what are you up to this summer!

Places to watch:

Love Story 2050: Plaza, DHA Cinema, Sozo Gold
Kismat Konnection: Gulistan, DHA Cinema, Sozo World
Khulay Aasman Ke Neechay: Empire, Sozo Gold
Kung Fu Panda: DHA Cinema
Wanted: DHA Cinema
Ramchand Pakistani: Still to be announced

Father’s day is always celebrated on third sunday of June. A day to show him how much you love him and how important he is to you.

Although i’m not a big supporter of “Hallmark holidays”. Most of them ‘are’ designed to sell greeting cards, but for mother’s and father’s you cannot get enough time to appreciate them. You don’t have to wait for Mother’s or Father’s day to show them you care but in my view there is nothing wrong in pampering him/her a little more than usual on these occasions.

Many celebrated the recent Mother’s day with a lot of high interest. A few weeks before Mother’s day it seemed like everyone was so looking forward to it. There were attractive billboards with Mother’s day messages. Media and radio stations organized promotions with attractive activities to honor mothers for their sacrifice but when it came to celebrate Father’s day.

It was quite disappointing to see that Father’s day was not given serious attention or significance as Mother’s day. Is it so or is it just Me?

With only a handful of days left to Mother’s day, celebrated globally each year on May 11th (sunday) , a day when children express their great gratitude and appreciation for everything done by their mothers. Have you made some plans for it?

If you want to buy her something, it doesn’t have to be fancy and expensive. It can be a hand-made special gift or a card, wonderful bouquet of flowers, just a little something to entertain her, to express your love and affection towards your mother. Or maybe you can throw a surprise dinner party for your mom (as i plan to, Insha Allah! :) )

First make a list of all the family members or friends you plan to invite and send invitations. Then finalize dinner/lunch/brunch menu, don’t forget to include her all time favorite dishes.

Later set a clean lovely table, place attractive fresh flowers, arrange food in a special festive way and enjoy a lovely meal. A great gift for mom, isn’t it?

Can’t decide on anything yet, here’s a cool fun site to fuel your creative side.

1>>> Family Fun -Mother’s day.
2>>> Cards and gifts, ideas for Mother’s day.

In the end i just want to say, for all the work Mom does throughout the year she deserves to be pampered particularly on Mother’s Day!

Dear Lahore,

I know, it’s been long since you were here.

Since long people from you have been very sarcastic to people from me and have told my baby children that you’ve got no life. Islamabad is a dead city.

Albeit you being the capital of the province I reside in but am not a part of, since I am the “Federal Capital” of Pakistan and although reside in Punjab but am not a part of Punjab.

One of my kids on his way from Gulberg to somewhere on your roads took this picture, and it reminded him of this song.

These kids in the photos are the ones who make their lives by cleaning car screens . And the night time is usually their business’ most revenue-generating moments.

This picture reminded my resident the fact that even in the most busiest of all moments of life, one can still take time out to tell to their loved ones, “I Love You”

Dear Lahore,

Despite what everyone says or believes.

I love you loads.

Yours,

Islamabad.

The announcement below is taken straight from Green & White and Jehan Ara’s blogs:

Startup Insiders is coming to Lahore again on the 24th of February. This time the event is supported by LUMS and will be held at the LUMS Campus itself.

An incredible panel is aggregating together again, and this time fans of Jawwad wont be disappointed:

* Faisal Qureshi, CEO, Kolachi Advanced Technolgies
* Zia Imran, CEO, VahZay Pvt Limited
* Jawwad Farid, CEO, Alchemy Technologies
* Salim Ghauri, President & CEO, Netsol Technologies
* Osama Hashmi, CEO, CDF Software
* Jehan Ara, President, P@SHA
* Fahd Bangash, CEO, Amaana
* Zafar Khan, CEO, Sofizar
* Dr. Umar Saif, Founder, Bumpin.com, chOpaal and Associate Professor, LUMS

The theme for this session is:

Who is my customer? How do I find him or her? How and what do I sell?

The session details are:

Date: February 24, 2008
Time: 3pm to 6pm
Venue: Lahore University of Management Sciences,
Room A11 & A10, Ground Floor, Main Academic Block

As always, this is open for all aspiring or seasoned entrepreneurs. For more details and guidelines, visit Green & White, In the Line of Wire and Desi Back to Desh.

A note to organizers and attendees: As much as I would love to attend these sessions, I have unavoidable reasons that make it impossible for me to be there - my only beef with the last SI session in Lahore are all those pictures-less post-event posts! I hope we’ll get to see tons of pictures this time around! :)

LAHORE looked outrageously gorgeous on 14th Feb.

Too much traffic, too much Red everywhere on display….Levi’s or Banarsi …..uffff :D
The prices as i mentioned earlier hiked, of the ROSES (though there were many special discount offers from different shops). The single rose (in picture) was of 20 Rs. near Kalma Chawk…. Per dozen, just don’ ask :|

Anyways, what i observed was that, that it was more of a family event, Shoppy was over crowded, MM Alam was as usual hard to get across with the load of traffic ….and Lahore was attacked by never-before-seen hunks :p , almost every other car was filled with heart-shaped balloons……

I personally think that generalization of love and peace has become a necessity and it really does not need a specific day to cherish that…. viva la happiness.

And for LMB readers, a poem “Love and Friendship” by Emily Bronte ….

Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?

Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now
And deck thee with the holly’s sheen,
That when December blights thy brow
He may still leave thy garland green.

_{Members of civil society gives a red rose to a passer by at Liberty Chowk}

Satire takes a new face.

A hungry stomach needs more than Red Roses.

Image Courtesy: Express Daily

Valentine’s Day this year was colder than in many years, however, the feelings remained ever-warm. And Lahore was all covered in red hearts for the occasion.

Balloons, cards, cakes and roses - all posted record demand and in some cases record rate hikes as well. Afterall, this day IS a special day for people like the one pictured below - but obviously for a different reason :S

Despite of all the critcism by certain circles of the society, Valentine’s Day or ‘Youm-e-Mohabbat’ is becoming more popular by each passing year. Apart from the logical argument of actually not fixing a day to express your love, all other reasons don’t seem to appeal much to the love-birds of today, who just can’t stop falling prey to cupid’s arrows.

Two interesting Valentine’s Day specials that I happened to listen to on the radio were FM91’s Munch on Lunch (Ali & Beenish) with the theme ‘HATE‘ and Punjab Rung FM 95’s ‘Love in Sufism‘.

Munch on Lunch made a funny exception to the usual norms of discussion on love by talking about why people actually ‘don’t love’. On the other hand, FM95 focused throughout on the message of love and peace as spread by Sufi poets of the subcontinent and played quite a moving collection of recitals. Both were a rather fresh take on the usual ‘I ~dil~ you’ themed programs usually aired on our media on Valentine’s Day.

But then again why would those who actually are in love be listening to radio than to their respective ‘wohs’ on all-night free calls packages ;)

To everyone, everywhere;
who has ever been in love;
with anyone, anywhere…

Aa bhi gai wasl ki raat…

~ Poetry by Faiz at LoveUrdu.com

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@Blossom Shed, Defence

Question is, abnormally, when a single rose can cost you 100 Rs. (aprx.) only, (if red enough)??? Answer is pretty simple i.e. when Valentine’s Day is around the corner :) ….

According to the lady who owns Blossom Shed, roses are going to be sell at rate of 400 Rs. per dozen around Feb 14. Additionally, another reason behind this hike is extreme weather changes that affected the flowers.

Btw, is that true that V. Day is becoming a part of our lives now? I mean, many people do celebrate this day to show their love and affection to their family & friends ONLY ;). So can i assume that this day no longer belongs to Mr. Cupid?????