Among other sports; cricket is one SPORT which is rigid to changes. It took ages from; Test form of cricket to ODI’s and then came twenty-20 which quite changed the shape of International cricket. Its more exciting, thrilling, one can arrange more matches in a day. But many veteran cricketers like Waseem Akram, Javed Miandad and Ricky Ponting are still in love with the original form of cricket ie Test cricket.

When I first heard about IPL, I was pretty excited. I was expecting some quality cricket along with the regular excitement and fun. And then we witnessed cricketers being sold out like sheep’s and goats. The only difference is that no goat worth millions of dollars The commercialism didn’t stop here. Rich Actors (SRK), Business Tycoons (Vijay Mallya etc) and not so rich girlfriends of quite rich Business men (I am talking about Pretty Zinta here) won the rights of each regional team.

Cricketers seems to be (filthy rich) happy, so are the investors for obvious reasons. But guyz shouldn’t there be any difference between cricket and a Karan Johar film or any Bollywood commercial flick for that matter. I am not against Indi masala films, neither I am against 20/20 or new exciting form of cricket for that matter. But people IPL is anything but cricket. I mean golden helmets and pads. Half naked cheerleaders cum bar dancers jumping/dancing on every boundary. Okay I agree I am a bit conservative when it comes to this, but the fact that sex sells does not imply that every picture in the art gallery should have a naked woman. Go on call me a traditionalist but my point makes sense.

The only reason of my displeasure is; I was expecting a league of EPL & UEFA standard and I am observing something like WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). So the question is; will the real cricket survive?

More on this here, here

Popularity: 100% [?]

How many of you were actually planning of going to India for the upcoming Indian Premiere League this year?

Well for all you cricket lovers out there; let’s have a little reality check. In case you loose your passport or any other official document by ‘MISTAKE’ and you happen to be a poor Pakistani on an Indian land then chances are that you might end up dead after six years of physical torture. Like this cricket loving poor fellow; Khalid Mahmood, who went to watch the Mohali test but never came back.

4^th March 2008, Obaid ullah was watching Kashmir Singhs return to his loved ones. Celebrations on the Wagah border, dances, music, happy faces and loads of Indian and Pakistani Media coverage. One hour later the phone rungs, Obaid answers the phone and found out that his brother Khalid died on the 28^th of February (about a week ago). I wonder what took them this long to inform.

Now I want to go back in history when Khalid was in a prison near Delhi. His family tells the media that their beloved Khalid (who was just a conductor in a transport company) was badly tortured by Inidan police and agencies officials. They daily use to pour steamy hot water on his head, which resulted in permanent lost of hair. They also nailed his feet while torturing that made him handicap. His body couldn’t take any of this inhuman treatment and gave up on his life.

The same Wagah border that was all festive few days ago was depicting sorrow and grief. Every eye was wet. Khalid’s mother, sisters and brothers were crying their heart out but there was no Govt official to condole them. The role of the Pakistani High commission was predictably hopeless, it was a small case of passport misplacement but why would they help an innocent Pakistani when our own local jails are filled with innocent souls.

I was expecting some kind of protest from the Indian community not on official level but certainly from the human rights groups and activists. Unlike our country India claims to be the biggest democracy on the face of the earth. We witness every day thousands of Indians marching on the roads of Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta etc protesting on everything from dear hunting, Sania Mirza’s mini skirt to Sania Mirza’s disrespect to the national flag but will a single Indian will march out of his house and protest for Khalid Mahmood? I guess I am expecting too much. Who will protest for a Pakistani Muslim In fact the blood of Muslims is the cheapest at this time of the year, especially when that Muslim happens to be a Pakistani.

The unfortunate question on every Pakistani’s mouth; is this how the Indians return a favor?

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You can watch ‘Live with Talat‘ for more details.

Popularity: 51% [?]

A man can fight anything but his luck. This phrase hold true for many and one of them is our friend Kashmir Singh. For those who haven’t heard the name before; this Indian national spend thirty five years of his life in a Pakistani prison behind the bars. He was caught on espionage charges and sentenced to death. But God had other plans, he spend 35 years in different Pakistani jails.

He left a 5 year old son who is now 40 and leaded a life of an orphan. ‘Only we know how we survived through this time. I worked as a laborer to raise my children,” said Paramjit Kaur, Kashmir Singh’s wife. To his jail inmates Kashmir Singh is Ibrahim who converted to Islam and now offers 5 time prayer. This release might improve the Indo-Pak relations. And prisoners like Kashmir Ibrahim Singh on both sides of the border will be the beneficiaries.

On a personal note I feel very sorry for the man; I know he was once an Indian spy on Pakistani land and the punishment for spying is death in every country. But I am sure nobody joins the secret services picturing James Bond in mind. The guy must have done it for money, country and then for uniform. But things turn out to be absolutely apposite to what we always plan. That’s the natural law, you can’t fight your luck or can you?

‘This world is nothing but a playground but we haven’t created it for fun [amusement] or excitement’ says the Quran. I want to put up a question to the readers Muslim or non muslim; that are we ready for such challenges. We don’t have hearts of iron, we cry when it hurts, we moan when we loose the ability to control the pain. So are we up for this immense challenge? If not then we wouldn’t have been assigned for this task.

Apparently Kashmir Singh aka Ibrahim is getting a lot of media attention. The retired general (Musharraf) did a good deed and wants the media to show it. Like we Pakistanis will overlook the fact that the real chief justice and all of his family members including his 11 year old handicapped kid is house arrested for NOTHINGGGGGGGGGGG !!

This world is full of hypocrites. No body even smile at someone just for the sake of it. And now Kashmir Singh/Ibrahim will take a close look at this new world. His friends and family members are waiting for him on Wagah border with flowers and love. I am sure they will do the bhangraaa at his arrival I wish he spent the rest of his life in peace and I hope that the Indian Govt. will provide the Pakistani families something to celebrate by releasing some prisoners.

Maybe someday we won’t feel the need of sending spies across the border. And these brave men get never separated from their families again. In the end I would like to give the missing Pakistani men who were never charged for anything and are spending their lives in the world not known to any one, especially their family members. I am talking about ‘The Missing Persons’. A gift from uncle Musharraf to our nation.

More on kashmir Singh, here here and here

Popularity: 48% [?]

Three Prime Ministers, similar fate…

Tere honton ke phoolon kii chahat mein hum

Daar ki khushk tehni pe waare gaye

Tere haaton ki sham’on ki hasrat mein hum

Neem tareek raahon mein maare gaye

… Qatl-gaahon se chun kar humara alam

Aur nikleinge ushaaq ke qaafle

Jin ke raah-e-talab se humare qadam

Mukhtasar kar chale dard ke faasle

Kar chale jin ki khaatir jahan geer hum

Jaan gunwa kar teri dilbari ka bharam

Hum jo tareek raahon mein maare gaye !!

Popularity: 17% [?]

How many of you have seen Godzilla? I can still recall the scene where the French spy was distributing weapons and uniforms of the American army among his fellow Frenchmen. He also gave chewing gums to every soldier. So that they appear hip or cool or fly Yes, that’s what we all have learn from Hollywood. That American action heroes and war veterans are fearless and valiant. Bruce Willis despite being a regular LAPD cop can hunt down international terrorists in the most crucial of the situations and at the same time can be so hip and utter cool dialogues like, ‘Yippi kai yeh’. In this media controlled world that we are living in perception has a wider and unfathomable effect then ground reality.

In 2006 a movie by the name ‘Rang De Basanti’ was released in India. The plot revolved around a group of friends and how they transformed in to the characters they were impersonating. Now we all know that Indian ideology revolves around Gandhi. But this film promoted Bhagat Singh’s version of justice. This was not only violent for some but absolutely opposite of the teachings of the peaceful Indian Mahatama. So after the huge success of the movie a new debate started among Indians that what should be the path to follow. Of course hardly anyone in any country follows the teachings of their Prophets, heroes, leaders as much as they claim. But even then they have some ideology which they pretend that they are following. Like every party by the name Muslim League in Pakistan claim that they are the party of the Quaid. (Just for the record there are more then 5 in total.)

Coming back to Rang De Basanti; the group of friends in the movie avenges the tragic death of their pilot friend and murders the defense minister (who was involved in the corruption scandal which led to the pilot’s death). This movie raised an imperative question that if someone as influential as a minister is involved in a murder or mass murdering and the system or Judiciary fails to punish that influential criminal then what should be done. Should the Janta, awaam or the people take the law into their own hands and award judgments on the streets?

But that was only a movie. Films are there to entertain you and make you feel good. They don’t tell you how to change the course of your lives. They might create an impression though; at the end of every feel good movie everything goes to superfine. The bad guy meets his catastrophic end and the good guys gets justice or the girl next door . But we all know in the real world the bad guy usually wins or goes unharmed. Like in Narrendra Modi’s case he won a phenomenal victory despite the genocide that was carried out under his tree. This is amazing, blame congress and Sonia Gandhi but somebody voted for him and they didn’t care much about the innocent killings.

So the fact remains that how big the crime be, if people like Modi or Bush play their cards well. Everything is possible, I am sure Adolph Hitler must be feeling quite over rated for his sins rite now.

Note: I previously wrote about Modi here

Popularity: 16% [?]