Believe it or not, but summer temperatures in Lahore and other inland cities were not as high as they are these days. The reason, perhaps, is the mindless commercialisation that over a period of ...
It was a warm day as I and Bilal trudged up the hill towards the magnificent Alhambra Palace in Granada. Two hours later with time running out on our ticket, we came down the gently winding road with ...
Many of my friends sometimes accuse me of being old fashioned and opposed to modernisation. While they are entitled to their opinion, they cannot be farthest from the truth for I am someone, who ...
A car pulls up into the driveway and stops in front of the verandah. The rear door opens revealing a tall, stately young woman, who steps out with the dignity and grace of a queen. My mother receives ...
The caption of this week’s column has nothing to do with the fairytale, where a beautiful Princess bites a poisoned apple and in so doing succumbs to a spell that causes a death-like sleep. The ...
There are but a few places in Lahore that have outlived the ravages of time and commercialisation. One of these collectively represents the meeting point of Temple and Lawrence Roads with the Mall ...
I have just finished rereading a book titled “Eats Shoots and Leaves”. This fascinating piece of writing was presented to me by a dear friend some years ago in the hope that I may ...
I was a young man in Lahore when the general elections featuring two major candidates, i.e. Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah and Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan, were held. These polls were based on the votes ...
We live in a world that is hallmarked by violence, intolerance, war and deprivation. It is for this reason alone that I decided to format my columns in a nostalgic vein - bringing back to life better ...
The caption of this week’s column is inspired by the famous song of my younger days “Oh! To be in England (pronounced ‘Yingland’), now that the Spring is here”.......and ...
It was the year 1966 and I was happy - happy because I was coming home on leave after serving one year in an inaccessible and remote area of Pakistan. As I parked my car in the porch of our home in ...
Amongst the many things that my family (rightly or wrongly) credits me with is a voracious appetite for things that swim under water. My inclination to consume anything that lives in fresh water or ...
There comes a time when column writers come face to face with a phenomenon known as the ‘writer’s block’. This is when the urge to pen thoughts comes to a full stop and one’s ...
The otherwise serene and rustic atmosphere of my house undergoes a boisterous change as my grandchildren, grand nephews and nieces drop in for the weekend. There was, however, a time when we were ...
Now that spring time is upon us, we are liable to spot roadside vendors selling a green and yellow berry-like fruit that is popular with both young and old. This is the inimitable Ber, which along ...
There was a time when almost every member of my generation was brought up listening to fairy stories. Some of these tales were from local settings, while others had an international origin. My ...
I consider myself lucky that professional commitments presented me with frequent travel opportunities, wherein days were spent in outdoor activity and nights in Dak Bungalows. If any of my readers ...
Islamabad recently went through a severe bout of thunder and lightning and I was rather surprised when a number of people attributed this to the doomsday prophesies that did their rounds as 2012 ...
The English language is a funny thing by any standard and this fact is brought home in no better way than in that wonderful book, “Eats Shoots and Leaves”, (interpret it anyway you like). ...
No subcontinental scene is complete without its complement of beggars and alms-seekers. While society considers beggars to be a scourge that spawns many ills including trafficking and crime, millions ...
The line ‘a log fire, a mug of hot cocoa and soft music from a radio’ is likely to conjure up sweet memories for many readers of my generation, who watched helplessly as television, video ...
Many of my readers will raise an eyebrow or perhaps two, at the heading of this week’s column. Some may even drop me a mail indicting me as an ignoramus for misspelling the name of someone from ...
It was the Sunday before the fog engulfed Islamabad that I parked my car in front of a well-known establishment selling traditional breakfast items. As the piping hot, golden puris and spicy bhaji ...
The wind is howling around my house and the wind chill factor is rapidly pulling the outside temperature to freezing. I am sitting in front of a crackling log fire in my living room paying silent ...
I have lately been rather tardy in opening my inbox because of some heavy wedding commitments amongst friends and family. I was, therefore, pleasantly surprised when I found that I had received a ...
This is the time of the year when those good people, who like to grow green things are at their happiest. This is a time when seedlings are popping their heads out of nutrient filled pots and fellow ...
I have once again stirred up a controversy within my family circles because of my insistence in going rural. The argument put forth by my children and their aunts and uncles is that I have done ...
Islamabad is experiencing its first winter shower, as I type this week’s column in a desperate bid to meet the deadline. I am finding it rather difficult to focus on what I am doing because my ...
I am writing this week’s column from my bed because I have been laid low by a four-day virus that is accompanied by fever, a racking cough and extreme malaise. I appear to have invited this bug ...
I was just about to enter my daughter’s bedroom, when I stopped dead in my tracks. I stood listening while a grandmother held two of her grandchildren spellbound with a story that transported ...
Wednesday, 19 June, 2013
June 13, 2013, 9:23 pmImran Khan visits PTI deceased worker family in Rawalpindi
June 15, 2013, 9:01 pmDouble attack in Quetta kills 25: officials
June 15, 2013, 5:49 pmBomb attack destroys Quaid's residency in Ziarat
June 17, 2013, 3:34 pmKPK govt presents budget with outlay of Rs 344 billion
June 12, 2013, 6:20 pmUS to help Pakistan overcome energy crisis
June 17, 2013Pakistan’s cricket shame: Whom to blame?
June 14, 2013KPK 12-member cabinet sworn in
