Pak Tea House » ancient civilisations
At least we are not Dubai
Among all the gloom about our country, we tend to forget the richness and the diversity of our cities and culture. We have a lot to achieve, but we overlook a lot more that we possess. George Fulton expresses his disdain for Dubai, a ritzy burgeoning middle eastern city that portrays itself as a coastal quasi-western city of choice for businesses and tourists. We may not fully agree with George’s assessment of Dubai as just a glamorous and materialistic cosmopolitan. Yet his comparison of Karachi or Lahore (with their rich culture, traditions, intelligentsia, linguistic pluraity and democracy) with a drab city (run by an autocratic dynasty and inhabited by empty fops looking for relatively quick riches) do ring a loud bell. (AZW) By George Fulton, The Express Tribune http://tribune.com.pk/story/7950/at-least-we-are-not-dubai/ We haven’t got a lot to be thankful for these days in Pakistan. But at … Read entire article »
Filed under: ancient civilisations, Architecture, culture, Democracy, Karachi, Lahore, New Writers, Pakistan, Politics, public policy, Society, UAE
The Human Journey
The mystery of Universe and the journeys taken by humans has had an immense impact upon different civilizations of the time. How humans have traversed from one civilization to another; how languages were developed and their attributes transferred to others. How architecture, culture, and everything that defines the very “fabric of civilization” created the need to survive, to transfer the knowledge and wisdom through the feathers of time. The modern times and era owes everything … Read entire article »
Filed under: ancient civilisations
Civilizations (Mirrors of Our Existence)
From years of our travel We look back Upon these civilizations, From years of adventure We look back Upon these civilizations From days of our inheritance The lands and its cultures The old forms of languages The mystery of Universe The old journey taken By humans and nature together As they traverse From place one to another, In harmony and disarray As we born and die From on to another, As we love and hate The old circumstances And situation, intertwined Through languages and its art, The trails, lost and visible As we look back Upon these civilizations The … Read entire article »
Filed under: ancient civilisations, Architecture, Arts and Crafts, culture, Dance, drama, dynasties, Heritage, History, Identity, Languages, Law, Literature, movements, Music, musings, Nature, Philosophy, Physics, poetry, Politics, psychology
Pakistaniat : The Crisis of Identity
Bradistan Calling What can I give to Pakistan as a present on its 62nd Birthday, What else than an article on its chequered history and identity. Bertrand Russell famously said,” There are three great civilisations in East i.e. India, China and Islam”. Pakistan is blessed to be located at the crossroads of all these great civilisations. In my humble opinion this is the biggest strength of Pakistani identity. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, ancient civilisations, Architecture, baluchistan, Citizens, Cricket, culture, dynasties, Environment, Europe, FATA, Heritage, History, human rights, Identity, India, Iran, Islam, Jinnah, Karachi, Kashmir, Languages, Left, Literature, Media, minorities, Music, North-West Frontier Province, Northern Areas, Pakistan, Partition, Peshawar, Politics, Punjabi, quetta, Religion, Rights, Sindh, south asia, Sufism, Taliban, Terrorism, Travel, Urdu, USA, youth
Will we need to close the door to Pakistan's dispossessed?
Our leaders are losing sleep over the Taliban’s advance and what that could spell for Britain Nick Cohen The Observer I would like to welcome Zahid Abdullah to Britain. He is a Pakistani student of English literature, rather than the snarling prose of the theocrats who threaten his country, and suffered the keenest blow a lover of books can take when he lost his sight. Undeterred, Abdullah divided his spare time between producing talking books for the blind and supporting the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives, a pressure group that campaigns for the classic liberal causes of human rights, freedom of information and freedom from “barbaric acts of terrorism”. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, ancient civilisations, Army, Benazir Bhutto, Citizens, Colonialism, culture, Democracy, Economy, Education, Europe, History, human rights, Identity, India, Islam, Islamabad, Islamism, journalism, Kashmir, Labour, Media, minorities, movements, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Politics, poverty, Religion, Rights, Society, south asia, Sufism, Taliban, Terrorism, Travel, violence, war, Women, youth
The White Tiger of Pakistan
The White Tiger of Pakistan If Billo Halwai Lived in Pakistan You Chinese are far ahead of us in every respect, except that you don’t have entrepreneurs and our nation- though it has no drinking water, electricity, sewage system, public transportation, sense of hygiene, discipline, courtesy or punctuality- does have entrepreneurs. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of them, especially in the field of technology and these have setup all these outsourcing companies that virtually run America now. Only three nations have never let themselves be ruled by foreigners: china, Afghanistan and Abyssinia .these are the only three nations I admire. My country is the kind where it pays to play it both ways. The entrepreneur has to be straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere at the same time so I am … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Afghanistan, ancient civilisations, Books, Colonialism, culture, Democracy, Economy, Europe, FATA, Fiction, human rights, Identity, Iran, Islam, Justice, Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Punjabi, Religion, Sufism, Taliban, Writers
Poem: Waris Shah Vs Aitzaz Ahsan
by Bradistan Waris Shah Vs. Aitzaz Ahsan (In the Court of Supreme Judge ALLAH The Almighty) A Tribute to Late Amrita Pritam aaj aakhaaN Aitzaz nuuN aaj aakhaN AITZAZ AHSAN nuuN, kitoN Chamber vichchoN bol, te aaj kitab-e -Knoon daa koii aglaa varkaa phol ik Uthyaa sii Wada Kanoon Daan, tuuN likh likh maare Byaan, aaj SWAT DE Dhiyaan rondiaa, tainuN Aitzaz Ahsan nuN kahen Jaag dardmandaaN diaa dardiaa, Jaag Pakistani Jaag … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, ancient civilisations, Arts and Crafts, Citizens, culture, Democracy, Europe, Fiction, Heritage, History, human rights, Identity, India, Islam, Islamism, journalism, Justice, Languages, lawyers movement, Left, Literature, Love, Media, minorities, movements, Music, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Philosophy, poetry, Politics, Punjabi, Religion, Rights, Rural, Society, south asia, Sufism, Taliban, Terrorism, youth
Obituary:Javad Nurbakhsh- A Sufi Soul
A leading Iranian Sufi, he was also a noted psychiatrist, author and medical clinic director By Leonard Lewisohn The Guardian, Wednesday 7 January 2009 The master of a branch of the Nimatullahi order of Sufism in Iran, Dr Javad Nurbakhsh not only furthered the cause of his religion, but was also one of the country’s leading psychiatrists. When the upheavals of the Iranian revolution in 1979 caused him and many others to emigrate, he continued to organise the practice of Sufism abroad till his death in Britain at the age of 81. Sufism is the mystical tradition within Islam whose followers – Sufis, or dervishes – espouse a religion of love based on poetry, music, and utilising various esoteric contemplative practices, the most important of which is a type of interior prayer … Read entire article »
Filed under: ancient civilisations, culture, Europe, Heritage, History, human rights, Identity, Iran, Islam, Love, Philosophy, poetry, Religion, Sufism, Travel, Writers
Pakistan: Reclaiming the Indus Person
By Aisha Fayyazi Sarwari There are so many ways for Americans to find themselves if they are lost: They can read Eyewitness to America, an anthology of people who were there when the US was created; they could go to Gettysburg or heck, just rent the TVC; or they could go to the Metropolitan Museum in New York; or take a course with Professor Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn. … Read entire article »
Filed under: ancient civilisations, Architecture, History, India, Jinnah, lawyers movement, Pakistan, Partition
Ahmed Hassan Dani remembered
Fauzia Minallah remembers Pakistan’s great scholar Dr Dani whose research will always remind us of who we are and where we came from Eminent scholar and renowned archeologist Dr Ahmed Hassan Dani is not with us anymore. It only seems like yesterday when he blessed us with his company on a number of cultural caravans I organised for children in Islamabad to open their eyes to the cultural heritage of their city. … Read entire article »
Filed under: ancient civilisations, History, Identity, Pakistan
Business unusual at Kalash
A valley that has long fed the natives on its thriving tourism industry suffers the consequences of ignorance By Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro The landscape of Kalash is breathtaking, to say the least. It encompasses verdant valleys, running river waters, meandering roads and wooden hamlets. Kalash is located in three isolated mountain valleys: Bumboret (Kalash: Mumret), Rumbur (Rukmu), and Birir (Biriu) where both Muslims and non-Muslims live together. The non-Muslims are known as Kalasha — ‘the wearers of black robes’. Their dwellings are made of wood and tucked in the mountains. Tourists from all over the world have always been fascinated by the serenity and the variegated culture of Kalash, especially during the traditional festival days when the place is so crowded that it is hard to find a room in any hotel in the … Read entire article »
Filed under: ancient civilisations, culture, North-West Frontier Province, Travel
Extracts from Empires of the Indus by Alice Albinia
From the Guardian Water is potent: it trickles through human dreams, permeates lives, dictates agriculture, religion and warfare. Ever since Homo sapiens first migrated out of Africa, the Indus has drawn thirsty conquerors to its banks. Some of the world’s first cities were built here; India’s earliest Sanskrit literature was written about the river; Islam’s holy preachers wandered beside these waters. Pakistan is only the most recent of the Indus valley’s political avatars. I remember the … Read entire article »
Filed under: ancient civilisations, Books, culture, Heritage, History, India, New Writers, Pakistan, Travel, Writers
Hellenistic and Parthian Gandhara
Pervaiz Munir Alvi cross posted from ATP Pakistan is home to the ancient Gandhara Civilization. Its Buddhist character, which this civilization is best known for, was first established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when colonial British military men and archeologists discovered various ancient religious sites near the city of Taxila in the Potowar region of Pakistan. However since independence of Pakistan, the late 20th century studies and research conducted both by the Pakistani and Western scholars have documented and confirmed that Gandhara Civilization was not always Buddhist in character but had also gone through some well defined Hellenistic and Parthian periods as well. The Hellenistic period of Gandhara starts with the arrival of Alexander the Great of Macedonia in 329 B.C. After conquering Taxila in 327 B.C. he remained in … Read entire article »
Filed under: ancient civilisations, culture, History
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Sunrise at the Arabian Sea, Charna Island
24 Dec 2011
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