Madspeak

I invited my wife's family for a get together. When they came, instead of sitting down to chat, rushed to where the TV was to watch a game.I have no interest whatsoever in the game. Even if I am, I will not watch a game when I am having a get together.  I sat where I usually sit and talk with anyone who comes visiting.This time I was sitting alone - because the game was many times more interesting than my company. Addiction to a game and not being interested in talking about anything is some kind of anti-social behaviour. Some kind of mental illness.  Even if the people are family, there is such a thing as  courtesy and decorum. I suppose people who are anti-social  cannot understand that is, which they brush it  aside. Only after the game ended did they come over to sit. But that was temporary, dinner was served and they rushed to the table. It was apparent they had no interested in talking with me whatsoever. I was feeling really sickened by this behaviour. It hurt. But they

Every 'social networking' site has some technical limits as to how many people can be on a single account.  For Twitter it is 3000 and Facebook it is 4000. Others may have their own. What is social networking for if it is limited in the number of people it can handle at a given time.  All these social networks are beginning  police all activity and censor a great deal.  The very purpose of social networking in itself self -defeating. Many people have stopped using them because there is nothing really going on. No drastic changes, no updates. Many people are on them for absolutely no reason at all. They are there, they have an account but never ever use it. They never bother to log in. There are those who want to share what they are not liked by the owners of that social networking website and the people who using it. The original social networking websites were myriad chat rooms and forums. People who liked the same things got together and shared whatever they had in common 

Young students in their twenties are being kidnapped from Karachi and other cities. Though reports about these are kept secret, but with the frequency they are taking place, there is bound to be a leak  and people eventually get to know about this. But the question is who responsible and why is it happening. There are no clear answers. But the people who get away by committing such crimes are obviously are very highly placed, they are virtually above the law. No one can arrest them, even though the evidence is overwhelmingly against them. This is a new way to terrorise the people, it simply boils down to this. If the police and other law enforcement organisations are unable to prevent crime, the people would be forced to take up arms against those who murder, kidnap and steal. Whatever the reasons for the kidnapping, is irrelevant, the people protecting the kidnappers will face the wrath of the people. No court, no judge is going to prosecute these criminals. There is a limit to su

The begging racket is one of the most common which plagues the city and it involves the police. Traffic signals are rented out to the beggar gangs, the police collects the rent. Beggars are everywhere, not a single place is spared. In shopping areas, wearing dirty clothes, standing in the sun, exposing disabilities. Stories abound of finding out that beggars actually multimillionaires living lavishly, owning several buildings. On days of  religious events gather around at churches, temples and mosques. Many of the beggars are spies "hiding in plain sight". That does not work anymore, because everyone suspects that behind the guise of a beggar they really are someone else. They act insane and pretend to be so many other things, all of them are really very rich with huge bank accounts. If they are exposed, either they move to some other part of the city or they kill the people who know the truth about them. The really destitute and extremely poor people never dare beg becaus

Turkey lost its empire after World War I. The empire comprised of the entire Arab world and some European countries. The Khilafat Movement essentially was to help Turkey in World War I because they were fighting the British - as the saying goes the enemy of my enemy is my friend.  Turkey never got back its empire, it was occupied by the Allies who had won the war. The Arabs never forgave the Muslims of India because they were supporting their oppressors.  This has had a long term impact on Pakistan in its relationship with Arab countries. Yasser Arafat the  late Palestinian leader never made an official visit to Pakistan, he simply stopped over on his way to India. The Arabs saw Islam as a threat to their freedom, which is why they made the Arab league. They saw the Allies as their liberators.  They much rather be ruled by non-Muslims than by Muslims The Arabs hated the term Muslim Ummah, For them it meant being ruled by some non-Arab Muslim country. The Arabs made the Arab League,

The cellphone has become an integral part of Pakistani life, it is hard to imagine life without it anymore.  Every single person is using them, particularly people by those who have a great deal of free time and lots of people to talk to. Gossip gets around fairly fast. I was in a bus, there was this lady who had this phone stuck to her ear and she was asking virtually about everyone in her family and group of friends and telling them all kinds of stories. No sooner she was diconnected because she used up the credit, she added credit resumed her gossiping. All kinds of people, many who are doing fairly menial jobs are busy receiving and making calls. People love staying connected with anyone they know. There are others who have few friends and want to talk, I received one and that unknown person simply wanted to hear me talk about anything. He even went so far as to ask me to lie to him,  because there was really nothing to talk about. He simply wanted to hear a voice. Lonely people

I feel exactly the same as I used as I did when I was a kid. But it struck me that I was older. I was 20 when teaching and all the kids there started calling me 'Sir'.  That really surprised me. That was the title I used to give everyone who was older than I was. I got over the shock, went to the university completed my studies.Being in my 20s was not safe - cops always stopped all the motorcycle riders who were my age, check licence and registration. But it was easier so many other things. Make friends, talk to almost anyone. When I turned 50 things changed drastically - I looked older to everyone else. People called me  with the titles given to people who are old. It was hard to talk to people because of the age difference. Many of my relatives, friends and colleagues had died. There is tremendous respect for older people I must admit, but I have never felt any different.  For instance I was standing in a place there were number of chairs all occupied by younger people. I