Madspeak

I am a regular visitor of Clifton Block 2 , Karachi - which is still in a stage of being developed. Although most of the area has been converted into a proper residential area, a piece of land was allotted for a park. When the development of the area would be completed the park would be completed as well. However the plot remained a barren piece of land because most of Clifton Block 2 has yet to be developed. Things such as roads being properly paved and above a water supply system. Making of the park was the last thing to do, however its boundry wall was recently built. Everyone who lives there knew that the land was meant for a public park. But on a regular basis attempts were being to turn it into land mosque. Mosques are money minting machines for those own them. Because outside the mosque small shops open up they are sublet by whosoever owns the mosque. Besides building a mosque is the best way steal land – because if a mosque demolished, even if it is an illegal construction is ...

Every year the 'government' announces what they called is the annual budget. Nothing ever changes. All the money goes to three - the incompetent military, the absolutely corrupt civil servants and the rest is used to pay back huge loans. As can be expected there is nothing for healthcare and education, the amount is so low it is not even worth mentioning. The budget announcement is really an announcement of new taxes on virtually everything or how much more taxes or how much more has been added to existing taxes. Since the country is run by the military and its slaves the civil servants and myriad advisors ( there can never be a democracy when the head of state is a military dictator) - all the allocations announced in the budget are to enrich the military regime nothing else. In the absence of democracy - rejection of the budget is not an option and can never be. When the time to announce the annual budget comes around everyone in the country is terrifiecd. They are alrea...

For someone who has never ever done a job before and never been given any kind of career counselling by any who is genuinely a professional in this field, the hardest thing to know is what to demand in terms of salary and benefits and that is exactly what happened when I was hired by an advertisisng agency. Because I loved to write I became a copywriter, instead of being an account executive (as it was known in those days) to fawn in front of advertisers. But as time went by I discovered that the advertising agency which I had joined and the other advertising agencies I which I would eventually worked in, I learnt that the job of a copywriter was absolutely redundant, because the owner of the advertising agency considered himself as the world's greatest creative genius and knew exactly what kind of ads need to be made. So someone working as copywriter was really of no use. Becoming an account executive was not something I had any interest in doing, but since there were no other o...

The FBI has been around here for some years now. Practically taking over much of the work of the local police. If law enforcement has been handed to the FBI, that is great, we can disband our own police force - which save a lot of the taxpayers money. Why stop at the FBI have the entire police force in the USA come and stay here - imagine them trying to control the traffic in Karachi. Jokes aside, the more obvious reasons for the FBI's presence is to prevent terrorism - but that does not mean terrorism in Pakistan it means terrorism in the USA. But from what I been hearing the FBI is doing a great deal more than that, things which the Pakistani police are better at doing. But under the prevailing circumstances, it has become obvious that the way our police handles is not to the satisfaction of the FBI. The FBI has become a sort of Big Brother type organisation, every Pakistani is guilty until proven innocent. Things have come to such a state that everything that Pakistanis do or s...

There are endless articles appearing in a variety of newspapers that people should learn English. What the writers forget is that English is not exactly a perfectly spoken language - it is altered over a period of time. The type of English whch almost those columnists mention could very well be Latin. They have complete disdain for the type of English which people speak here. This English has its own pronounciations, its own spellings and a variety of phrases have competely different meanings. No one speaks what is sometimes called 'Queens English' or even 'Kings English', people speak as they understand or think it is right. The rules of grammar which seem to be carved in stone are shattered. As long as one person can understand the other, without having to be too academic about it. The columnist forget that the English they want is also changing in the countries where it is spoken, because it is the only language they know. In Pakistan people speak several ...

Imagine BBC telling its viewers who watch its programmes 'Click Online' - about the great porn websites it has found, but that of course would never happen. But this programme does tell its viewers about completely worthless websites. The websites which have been found are meant for kids. Grown ups have no use for them. Then there are websites about where news can be found, the BBC will never advertise an alternative news source. The claims of BBC being impartial and balanced absolute rubbish.

When the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won the majority vote in West Pakistan - the reasons were for what it stood for - it had nothing to do with the people who led it. The slogan 'Roti, kapra aur Makan' meaning 'Bread, clothes and housing for all' was powerful and elections proved it was also was very popular. Other political parties relied on nationalism and religion or some other values which did not benefit anyone. The PPP enforced all the International Labour Organisation's conventions. This brought about a major change in an otherwise extremely repressed society. The previleged and the rich could literally get away with murder - people were not employees - they were absolute slaves. There were no laws protecting them. Many businessmen who had become accustomed to the old ways of runing their businesses with absolute disregard for the people they had hired realised they were not going to get away with any kind of abusive behaviour and not forcing people be...