Before I give you an update on All That Jazz, let me give you a glimpse on how the health system works in Canada. Having extended our stay, I realised that I would be running short of some of my medicine. In Pakistan, we simply give a list and money to the driver and within one hour, you have your medicine, but not so in Canada and America. First, you have to locate a doctor who is familiar with the brand names of our medicines or go to Google and download the generic names of the drugs, which I had to do. Then, you have to find a doctor, who will be good enough to write out a prescription for you and will charge you up to $50 for this service. Afterward, you have to take the prescription to a pharmacy to buy the medicine, which charges up to $7 as dispensing charges and have to wait normally up to 4-6 hours to collect the medicine. However, for the Canadians, all medicines are free and for senior citizens, it is delivered at home. Now back to the travelogue. We left on Wednesday morning and took Highway-104 for our five-hour drive to the city of Ottawa, which is the seat of Canada’s parliament. Nazir, Mumtaz’s nephew, decided to come with us, as he too enjoyed jazz music. The drive was long and tiring and after a few stops on the way, we reached Econo Lodge, Downtown East, owned and managed by our dear friend, Naushad, at around six in the evening. However, after a power nap and a hot shower, we were ready to go and explore the city. Naushad suggested that we go to the Downtown, where all the action is, and after walking around for a while, we decided to have our dinner at the Cracked Canoe of the Highlander Pub. We ordered a pitcher of the popular Canadian Blue Waters and a glass of Chardonnay for Mumtaz. The food was not that exciting, but the music and the ambiance made up for the over cooked chicken wings and hamburger and chips. Finally, at around midnight, we decided to call it a day and headed for the hotel and wearily climbed into bed.The next day, Ottawa was in a grip of a scorching heat wave, but by evening, it had cooled off and there was a refreshing cool breeze and it was the perfect weather for sitting outdoors and enjoying all that jazz. The eleven-day Ottawa Jazz festival started on Thursday and the first programme that we went to was at the Canal Stage, Confederation Park, which was filled to capacity with jazz lovers.We spent the next six days driving around the beautiful lakes, parks and landmarks of Ottawa and nearby Quebec, including Canada’s Parliament building, its historical and impressive library and the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, built by HH Aga Khan and designed by the world-renowned, Tokyo-based architect, Fumihiko Maki. The objectives of the Centre are to provide a secular facility for ‘building relationships, enabling quiet diplomacy and disseminating knowledge and information’. And the evenings were of course spent listening to scintillating and exciting jazz at the Confederation Park and dining at the numerous out door restaurants around Clarence and George Street, enjoying the ‘Feel Good’ factor that the citizens of developed countries enjoy and what we desperately lack in the land of the Pak and the Pure.Nazir had been smart enough to bring three collapsible chairs with him, so we had no problem in finding a place near the stage and enjoying the music in comfort, sipping chilled Chardonnay, munching on Nimco’s chili chips and generally chilling out. Some of the well-known jazz musicians who participated in the Jazz Festival included the versatile John Mayall, the British, seventy plus year old blues singer, considered to be the Father of British blues and his Bluesbreakers band, who thrilled jazz lovers with their great music. This was then followed by the Robert Cray Band, who is considered to be the most expressive vocalist and guitarist. The comedian and actor, Steve Martin and his Steep Canyon Rangers, Jack Pine and The Fire, the Joel Miller Quartet and many others were also there to entertain the jazz lovers, including the exciting and electrifying Janelle Monae.Time flew by and our six days in Ottawa soon came to an end. Nazir had to return to Toronto on Monday and we left for San Diego on Wednesday, via Washington. But the few weeks that we spent in Canada and the hospitality and the courtesy that we were shown by our relatives and friends, especially Anwar, Fatima, Nazir and Naushad, will always be treasured and remembered.Coming to the events back home, it seems that the good news is that the curtain on the High Noon drama in the Supreme Court of Pakistan has finally ended and the over confident PM, who kept claiming that only parliament could kick him out, has been booted out by the Chief Justice and his brother judges. However, the bad news is that Raja Asharaf, who has been accused of massive corruption in the IPPs projects, has replaced Yousuf Raza Gilani. So once again, we have another bad, rancid wine in a different bottle and the charade and the game of musical chairs goes on, until we have the elections.The SC and the superior judiciary have preformed their duty by dismissing the PM and now the onuses falls on the citizens. Will they perform their duty, exercise their right to vote, cast their vote according to the dictates of their conscious and ensure that Ali Baba and his forty thieves are not voted back into power again? Or will they, as in the past, have a laid back attitude and allow the elections to be hijacked by the corrupt, the rich and the powerful? In Egypt, which was the catalyst for the Arab Spring, the citizens have exercised their right to vote and booted out the old corrupt regime. So now, even after the dismissal of the rich and the corrupt by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, history repeats itself and the same corrupt lot return to the parliament, then it will indeed be a tragedy and there will be none to blame but ourselves.I hope to be back in Pakistan by the middle of July, so until then, stay out of trouble and stay safe. Hamid Maker. (email: trust@helplinetrust.org).

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