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
Mahatma Gandhi on race relations between Indians, White people and Africans
By Yasser Latif Hamdani Will the real Gandhi please stand up? Mahatma Gandhi was one of the most extraordinary men in human history. While he is respected as the founding father of India by most Indians, his impact is truly global, more than any other leader from the subcontinent. He continues to inspire millions around the world and amongst those who claim to be the great man’s devotees have been leaders as diverse as Dr King and … Read entire article »
Taleem e Balighan: Murder of History in Pakistan
This is episode 1 of program Taleem e Balighan. Taaleem e balighan means education for adults. This program is aimed at highlighting an alternate view about Pakistan. We view Pakistan and its issues, not from an establishmentarian point of view but from an independent one. We believe that our current generation has been fed with blatant lies about our history. We have listed some important incidents in the history of Pakistan and provided a balanced view on them. The first episode focusess on Lies in history of Pakistan. In the first video, we discussed how Mr. Jinnah’s speech was tried to be censored, how many times did Mr. Jinnah visit Kashmir between 1940-47, the only speech by Mr. Jinnah in which he had to face hooting, Was Allama Iqbal actually the first person to propose the idea of Pakistan and the opposition faced … Read entire article »
Babur, the first Moghul emperor
Courtesy The Economist – Dec 16th 2010 ON A bright winter’s morning lines of plane trees and immaculately tended rose bushes fall away down terraces where men crash out on carpets and sheepish young couples sit as close together as they dare. The plants are fed by a central water channel, the signature feature of a Moghul garden. Below is the brown smog of Kabul; beyond, snowy mountains. The tomb of Babur, … Read entire article »
Owner of Hyderabad’s iconic bakery dies
… yet continues to help many live [Dawn Online] HYDERABAD, June 11: Man is mortal but legend stays. It can truly be said for late Kumar of Hyderabad’s Bombay Bakery, as its cuisine left an everlasting flavour on the taste buds of those lucky, who had the opportunity to relish these. Kumar Thandani enjoyed seventy and two winters and met his creator on Friday in a Karachi hospital. A bachelor throughout, he left behind a sister and two … Read entire article »
Filed under: culture, Heritage, Pakistan, poverty, Sindh, Society
The GT Road Blog
NPR correspondents are taking the historic Grand Trunk Road from the Bay of Bengal in the east to the Hindu Kush mountains in the west, across the Indian subcontinent. They talk about life along the route. This is the first post from when they arrived in Pakistan, last month. We hope to reproduce, over the next few days, here on PTH, their thoughts and impressions on the journey through Pakistan. In Pakistan, The Grand Trunk Road Is ‘An … Read entire article »
Filed under: culture, Heritage, Identity, India, Pakistan, Travel
Tender Tea House
From Partition onward, Nasir Khan writes, a dusty cafe was the centre of Lahore’s literary life. Pak Tea House sits on Mall Road in Old Anarkali, nestled between tyre suppliers and motorcycle workshops. Before Partition it was the India Tea House, but 1947 and a quick paint job changed that. No one knows why it became – along with several similar shops on the same street – a favourite haunt of so many intellectuals. Maybe it was the cheap but good milky tea, or the extra-sweet biscuits. Perhaps it was the literary sensibility of the first post-Partition owners, two brothers from India. It might have been the radio on the counter that was constantly tuned to Lahore’s call-in request programme. And, for scores of struggling writers and poets, the availability of … Read entire article »
Filed under: culture, Heritage, History, Lahore, Pak Tea House, Pakistan
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
A Realist with a Heart: Remembering Raj Kapoor
By Mohammad Taqi چناں قحط سالے شد اندر دمشق کہ یاراں فراموش کردند عشق ( سعدی شیرازی ) Saadi of Shiraz wrote with great dismay that “the famine in Damascus is so bad that friends have forgotten how to love”. Something much worse has befallen our city, Peshawar. It is difficult, if not impossible, to talk about music, art, films or love when the terror reigns supreme and war has ravished the city and its citizens alike. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Arts and Crafts, Cinema, culture, drama, Heritage, History, India, Media, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Peshawar, Photos
Balochistan: too small an olive branch
Cross Post from www.opendemocracy.net By Qurratulain Zaman, 27 November 2009 “They ordered me to rape her. She was so thin and was crying when they brought her in the room. I was terrified to look at her, as I thought she was a spy or an agent”, says Munir Mengal, a 33- year- old Baloch, living in forced exile in Paris. Munir Mengal spent 16 months in underground jails of the Pakistani intelligence agencies. “The low rank officers came back to the room and started beating me because I didn’t obey their orders. They took off my clothes by force and hers too, and left us alone. In her sobs I heard her praying in Balochi language. She was praying for someone named Murad. That’s how I got to know she is my … Read entire article »
Filed under: baluchistan, Democracy, Heritage, Islamabad, journalism, Pakistan, Politics
CAP Wants You!
POSITION AVAILABLE: JOIN THE CITIZENS ARCHIVE OF PAKISTAN STAFF The Citizens Archive of Pakistan is a place that fuels creativity, ignites minds and provides inspiration. With extraordinary exhibitions, a burgeoning photography archive and Pakistan’s most diverse collection of Oral History, we are dedicated to a conversation between the past and the present. … Read entire article »
Poem: The Explosion
Wrapped up In delicacies and intricacies of life – As the morning mist clears Whatever thrown at me, At us as a nation. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Democracy, Economy, Education, Elections, Heritage, History, human rights, Identity, Jinnah, Pakistan
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
Neo 'Iron curtain' and the loud marching steps.
The Neo ‘Iron Curtain’ and the loud marching steps of televangelistas. Bradistan Calling The latest cultural trend is the sensational rise of televangelist channels in U.K, using tactics which can only be described as ‘emotional and religious blackmail’ and premium rate phone charges to raise funds from devotees, most of these are Nigerian Pentecostal ‘Witchdoctor’ (faith healer potions and exorcisms) TV channels operating from London. Generally the term ‘televangelist’ refers to American evangelical splinter churches propagating to solicit donations for converting poor Africans. This concoction of ideologies is being beamed back to Africa and Asia through satellite. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Army, Benazir Bhutto, Citizens, culture, Democracy, dynasties, Elections, Europe, FATA, Heritage, History, human rights, Identity, Images, India, Islam, Islamabad, Islamism, journalism, Kashmir, Labour, Languages, Media, men, minorities, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, Palestine-israel, Partition, Politics, poverty, Religion, Rights, Society, south asia, Sufism, Taliban, Terrorism, Travel, Urdu, USA, violence, war, Women, youth
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