Pak Tea House » Arts and Crafts
The Flowers’ Stalks: selling books on Lahore’s streets
By Behzad Taimur The Sun is mellow and the early Sunday morning birdsong comes drifting down slowing through the air, and settles softly on a small street just off of Lahore’s famous Anarkali bazaar, like dust settles down once a gust of wind has blown past. The street is littered with small stalls of old books – each stall is a sheet of paper or a clump of rags with innumerable books lying on top. This, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts, culture, Education, Heritage, History, Literature
In Which Telling Your Real Age is Taboo
By Soniah Kamal: Who has not sat through a movie where a perfectly lovely heroine has been maligned with comments such as ‘boori ho gayee hai, thakhi wee lag rahee hai, uus kee Ma lag rahee hai ‘, she looks aged, she looks tired, she looks like his mother’. I had the pleasure during a recent trip to Pakistan of watching with a group the Indian film ‘Bhoothnath’ starring Amitabh Bachan, Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla. Part way into the movie, the men, all around forty years of age, began confirming with each other that indeed Juhi was looking older, much older, indeed she had become decrepit. She’s looking like Shahrukh’s mother, they remarked to each other, Shahrukh kee Maa lag rahi hai. The women at the gathering are all thirty … Read entire article »
Filed under: Bollywood
Continuation of a joint heritage
Ilmana Fasih recounts some examples of the ‘Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb’ and centuries’ old, peaceful coexistence beyond religious divides An otherwise sane looking person I met at a party recently started to spew venom laced with conspiracy theories about “Hindu Muslim animosity”. To top it all, he tried to use my own life to justify his views, insisting that my going to live in Pakistan after marrying a Pakistani was proof of the natural divide. He refused to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts
Of Tazias, Pirjhas and Chiniot
By Hasan Miraj: In the unleveled streets of Chiniot, the life takes up a sad note with the arrival of Muharram. Though the Shia community constitutes only 28 percent of the entire district but there is much more reverence than the census indicates. Chiniot, is the house of oldest and finest Tazias in Indo Pak subcontinent. A total of nine tazias are produced in different dates of Muharram and eventually they all get assembled at Maidan, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts
‘Every Land is Karbala’: The Globalization of Muharram
by Fahad Desmukh Here’s a map I’ve made by plotting a bunch of Youtube videos of the rites of the Shia Muslim commemoration of Muharram/Ashura. The embedded map below is a bit small and annoying to use, so click on this link for a full page version of the same. Then click on any of the little blue markers and a youtube video will pop up showing you an example of how the Muharram rites are performed … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts
TRAGEDY OF MUSLIM CIVILIZATION
By Aftab Zaidi: The 2011 Nobel Prize announcements were recently made at a ceremony held in Europe. It is rather sad that no Muslim was able to garner this prestigious award. After all Muslims constitute 21 percent of the total world population and are around 1.57 billion. It is an irony that so far the Muslim world has produced only nine Nobel laureates since the inception of this award by Alferd Nobel in 1895. This statistic seems even more horrifying if the Peace Prize winners are excluded from this list which leaves it with only two Nobel laureates in the field of science namely Dr Abdus Salam in Physics and Ahmed Zewail in Chemistry. Moreover, Dr. Salam was hounded and persecuted in his home country on account of his Ahmedi faith … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts
A little bit of Goa in Karachi
Pride of Goans. Pride of Karachi. A Vestige of Great Goan Legacy. Walking past Karachi Goan Association entrance is like entering a wormhole, jumping into a universe which is oblivious to cacophony of competing voices out on Saddar road. Goan Association Hall is a landmark which still plays an active role in Karachi’s social scene. The entrance opposite Karachi Grammar School is a humble one and trees, as old as the Gymkhana, shadow the front … Read entire article »
Filed under: Architecture, Arts and Crafts
Beyond the Boundary Line: A Pakistani pays tribute to Nawab Pataudi and Jagjit Singh
By Ghazala Akbar At the risk of enraging Pakistani Nationalists or cross- border internet trolls of the Hindutva variety, I would like to place on record my profound grief and sorrow at the passing away in quick succession of two Indian icons: Mansur Ali Khan, the former Indian cricket captain,9th Nawab of Pataudi and the majestic Jagjit Singh, the prince of Ghazals. Is there any common thread between these two seemingly disparate personalities, one a Sikh, the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts
Finding a Synagogue in Karachi
By Karachi Walla Unthinkable. Have you ever considered being friends with a Jew. Visiting a Synangogue from inside. That too, in Karachi. The construction of Magain Shalome Synagogue epitomized good old Karachi’s diversity and tolerance. Its destruction epitomized parochialism and intolernace prevalent now. The sense of loss is not only felt by once Karachite jews but by many others as evident by blog posts and flickr comments on the picture of the synagoue. The sense of loss becomes unbearable when you see the trash which has been put up in place of the synagogue. Jews lived mainly in the Ranchor Line and Ramswami areas in Karachi and there were around 2500 Jews at the time of the partition. They were part of the larger Ben-e- Israel group of the British India. The … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts
Karachi Theosophical Society
By Karachi Walla Visiting Karachi Theosophical Society inspires and entrenches deep sense of loss at the same time. The beacon of religious tolerance and pluralism which provided asylum to citizens of Karachi for more than hundred years is withering away. Someone once mentioned that Karachi is ageing like wine. A friend disagreed and said that its ageing like milk. Blunt but true! Until something is done to revive the spirit of the city. Unless the diversity of the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts
Facebook litigation
Our very own YLH, who is an advocate of High Courts of Pakistan, has filed an application to become a respondent in the Facebook Petition filed Muhammad Azhar Siddique Advocate. We at PTH believe in a reasonable exercise of freedom of speech and expression and consider the attempts by certain quarters to cut Pakistan off from the rest of the world to be misconceived and dangerous. Hereinbelow are excerpts from YLH’s application in the aforesaid petition. Earlier today was the first hearing in which in principle the Petitioner agreed to allow YLH’s application to be entertained subject to the Federation of Pakistan’s reply. -admin … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts
Art Auction in London for schools in Swat & South Punjab
Art lovers everywhere – please support Pakistan Rising and its Charity Auction of Pakistani art. Pakistan Rising‘s Charity Art Auction at Bonhams, London shall be taking place on Monday 3 October 2011 from 6-8pm. They have 10 beautiful pieces up for auction, all of which have been donated by our leading artists: Rashid Rana, Faiza Butt, Shezad Dawood, Iqbal Hussain, Salman Toor, Nurjan, Shafaq Ahmed, Komail Aijazzudin, Nahid Raza and Waseem Ahmed. In addition they have … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts
Is there a cure for Pakistan’s culture of victimization?
By Saad Hafiz: While periods of insecurity are common among a nation’s citizenry; the Pakistani culture of victimization has permeated the national discourse and sapped the Nation’s spirit. “They are doing it to us again,” “there’s nothing we can do,” “it’s all their fault” have become part of the political lexicon when discussing the complex issues facing Pakistan. Contrast the prevailing negativity to Mr. Jinnah’s Eid-ul-Fitr message to the nation on 27th August, 1948. “We can look to the future with robust confidence provided we do not relax and fritter away our energies in internal dissension. There never was greater need for discipline and unity in our ranks. It is only with united effort and faith in our destiny that we shall be able to translate the Pakistan of our dreams into … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts and Crafts
Recent Comments