What to do? on January 30, 2019Almost everybody in Pakistan and that includes TV anchors, Op-Ed writers, drawing room analysts and members of the general public seem to know what the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is flawed. And all of them know what really needs to be done. But then if everybody and their aunts know what needs to be done […]
Predictions for the New Year on January 4, 2019My first article of the year in this newspaper is about predictions for the New Year and examination of the predictions for the year that just went by. In my predictions from a year ago I refrained from making any predictions about Pakistani politics. Of the rest, I was wrong about what I thought might […]
Some thoughts on Christmas Day on December 28, 2018Every Christmas day brings back memories of all the years I spent in the United States (US) and of helping bring up ‘Muslim’ children in a mostly Christian country. As I live in present day Pakistan, I do realise that how difficult it must be to bring up children as Christians in this overwhelmingly Muslim […]
Barriers and u-turns on December 18, 2018Some fifty years ago a friend asked me to take one of those ubiquitous Readers Digest quizzes. One of the questions in the quiz was: “What will you do if you come across a barrier in your path?” My answer was that I will go over it. Then I was asked what if you cannot […]
George W Bush the 41st president of the US on December 11, 2018George Herbert Walker Bush (GHWB) the 41st president of the United States (US) died recently at the age of 94. I was in the US when he was elected vice president and then president and I was also in the US four years later when he lost the presidential election to William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton. […]
The Samson Option on December 5, 2018Suddenly too many young men are sprouting facial hair. Not just the ‘usual suspects’ but also entertainers, sundry sportsmen and particularly members of the Pakistan cricket team. The proliferation of facial hair in our cricket team might have something to do with the flowing beard of our ‘chief selector’ and of course the relatively restrained […]
New Year predictions on January 5, 2018My first article of the year for this newspaper has traditionally seen me explore my predictions for the New Year; as well as offering an overview of how well I had got it regarding the previous year. At the beginning of 2016, I foresaw, among other things, that Donald Trump would never be elected president […]
A look back on my writings for DT on December 30, 2017A little over twelve years ago, I first wrote an op-ed piece for Daily Times (DT). Since then I have contributed about six hundred weekly articles on subjects ranging from the ‘divine to the mundane’. However, I have always tried to avoid being profound. During the initial years I wrote mostly about how different life […]
Extravagant weddings on September 16, 2016Most weddings are meant to be remembered, at least by the family and close friends. Extravagance is then an intrinsic part of every wedding, and the level of extravagance depends on the financial wherewithal of the family involved. Weddings belong on ‘society’ pages of newsmagazines, but a particular wedding somehow ended up in the op-ed […]
Underneath the mango tree on September 9, 2016Last night in a dream I watched Dr No, the first James Bond movie. Not all of it but the part where Bond is on Crab Key Island and hears a woman humming the song, “Underneath the Mango Tree.” The scene is perhaps one of the most iconic ones in the history of cinema. As […]