|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
   |
crisis MOOD
STREET Town Talk review
RESPONSES
TO LAST WEEK'S
Shortage of gas, water and massive power failures has increased the hardship of Lahoris Uneven distribution of Sui gas has resulted in acute shortage of gas in certain areas of the city while there is uninterrupted supply of gas in some posh areas of Lahore. There is hardly any gas supply in the areas around Yateem Khana, Sabzazar, Shadbagh, Ghoray Shah, Mughalpura, to quote a few while areas like Cantt, Cavalry Grounds, Model Town, Gulberg, GOR and Defence are getting proper gas supply. Gas shortage. in addition
to the electricity loadshedding three to four times a day, has paralysed life "In the absence of gas we are using wood as fuel. We use around four to five wooden crates in which fruits are packed. This costs Rs 25 a day. Those who have better income are burning LPG gas cylinders. The whole of Pakki Thatti is doing without gas for more than ten days now," says Rubina, a resident of Pakki Thatti, Samanabad. "In Shadbagh, the gas supply is such that it takes six hours to cook a dish. Taking bath is out of question, not because geysers are not working, it is because there is severe water shortage as well. There was news about a two-hour loadshedding in all areas of the city but we are facing loadshedding round the clock. If a person cannot even clean himself, what will he perform. I couldn't come to the office one day I was so put off with the absence of water at my house. "It seems the government does not consider the residents of north Lahore humans because this area is beset with all sorts of civic problems possible. Main roads in the area are undergoing construction these days which adds to the problem because commuting time has doubled. Our women are particularly going through great hardship," says Muhammad Shahid who lives on Iqbal Road, Fazal Park 2, Shadbagh. "Everybody is using
donkey pumps to suck water. In the absence of gas, electricity and water I
have Afzal Hussain Shah has similar complaints about Ghoray Shah. A young IT person, Imran Rafiq at Chah Miran, who lives behind University of Engineering and Technology, is fed up of the electricity breakdowns which he says is shut down for half an hour at a stretch after every hour. Gas supply is also not there and he is eating from bazaar these days. Suhail who lives in Sabzazar says, "First we thought our stove had gone out of order but soon realised that we were not receiving gas. Electricity stove cannot work as electricity is equally poor. As if gas and water shortage plus power breakdowns are not enough, the eveningers are creating hype about sugar shortage in future. This will prompt stockists to withhold sugar and people will run short of this basic commodity as well after atta. There are shopkeepers who have put the price of atta on display; 20 kg bag for Rs 295 as if they are selling it cheap." A colleague who lives in
Scotch Corner, says her gas supply is fine while her maid who comes from a A resident of Gulshan-e-Ravi says, "Our gas supply is fine. Actually those along the main lines are getting gas while those along the sub-lines are short of gas." At the SNGPL head office on Kashmir Road, nobody was available to talk to the press. I went straight to the general manager transmission who directed me to general manager distribution who was out of town. His personal assistant sent me to one officer Masood Ahmed who declined to see me and his PA further sent me to Saadat Ali Khan who wasn't there on his seat and after waiting for half an hour for the officer I realised it was lunch break at the workplace and left after an hour's travail without being heard. However, a staff member at the SNGPL office said, "The problem is universal. Everybody is facing this in the city. Actually, the increasing CNG stations have compressors and suck much of the gas passing by their lines." Yet a personal assistant (PA) to a senior official said, "The SNGPL gets 1700 million btu gas from OGDCL who are the producers, while the city population needs 2100 million btu." This year was full of sabotage activities as we have been hearing about blasts in gas and oil fields now and then. This stops exploration work. Unnecessary litigation in this sector delays action on certain lines.
By Jazib Zahir Thrice a week, my ten year old neighbour practices piano under the watchful tutelage of his personal instructor. On evenings when he is not tapping piano keys, he can be found perfecting his backhand on the squash court or fingering pottery. He fits these commitments around everything else expected from a boy his age including school and time for friends and family. He has a worthy role model in his mother. She juggles the task of managing three children with being a part-time teacher at not one, but two schools. Some evenings find her unwinding on the yoga mat and others involve the meticulous gardening of her flower beds. Social scientists have
coined the neologism 'hecticity' to describe the state of constantly flitting But once we leave school, hecticity does not subside. The most desirable employers are more interested in how we have used our spare time to cultivate additional dimensions to our personality than just how well we mastered equations. They want people trained in the skills of leadership, teamwork and interpersonal skills and these can only be honed through a healthy mix of extracurricular activities. Things don't improve once you've landed that cushy job. The main culprit behind your hecticity is now work that tails you everywhere from the local restaurant to your bedroom courtesy your laptop and Blackberry. And now that you're in the habit, you want to sustain your hobbies and also accommodate leisure time for your family, all of which means that you are stuck in the vicious cycle of hecticity forever. It's easy to dismiss this as the lifestyle of some masochistic workaholics but the dark force of hecticity seems to be engulfing all of us in its own way. I'm a self-confessed hectomaniac myself. But rather than attending sessions titled Hectomaniacs Anonymous, I believe I am savouring the best of all worlds. I'm a full time student in a demanding degree programme but make space for a handful of part-time jobs and occasional bonding with friends and family. How am I able to withstand this torture? By reminding myself that every extra activity adds something special to my life. Spending a few hours a week penning my thoughts or lecturing my own students allows me to see the world through many different prisms. And of course the extra streams of revenue make my remaining leisure moments all that much sweeter. For other aspiring hectomaniacs, I have a useful tip. You need to follow the adage of Japanese business management that every job that is done well today can be done equally well in less time tomorrow. Sometimes you need to be creative in freeing up time for yourself. For example, I am not willing to forego my favourite television programs. But I am willing to watch a season of 24 sans commercials in just twelve hours thanks to Windows Media Player that allows me to view the whole thing at one and a half times its usual speed. Given his propensity for the fast-paced life, I can only imagine Jack Bauer would approve. Sometimes I wonder if I am better off spending my free time lazing under the sun. But then I allow myself to do that for just a few minutes each day and then get right back to work. Yes the idyllic life is precious, but the hectic one can be too. Town Talk • Eid ul Azha Polo Tournament till December 23 at The Lahore Polo Club, Race Course Park, GOR. •
LPC Polo Tournament till 1st January at The Lahore Polo Club, Race Course
Park, GOR • Puppet Show for Children at Alhamra, The Mall at 11a.m Ticket for Rs. 5/10 • Puppet Shows for everyone at Peerus Cafe every Sunday at 3pm. • Exhibition of A.Q Arif's paintings at Native Art Gallery from 9am to 5pm. Today is the last day of display. • Sculpture Exhibition: Dreams of Narda by Khurshid Anwar Khattak at Alhamra, The Mall till December 31 from 8am to 3pm daily. • Exhibition of the works of more than 40 famous artits at Alhamra, Gaddafi Stadium till December 31. The gallery is open from 9-5 daily. The first exhibition includes works of more than 40 legendary artists including Sadequain, Gulgee, Jamil Naqsh, Ijazul Hassan, Saeed Akthar, Eqbal Mehdi, Nazir Ahmad and Zulfiqar Zufli. • Exhibition at Rohtas Gallery: Subverting Desire by Aroosa Naz from 11am to 7pm till December 31. review Four visions Recently screened short films by women writers and directors must be appreciated for many reasons By Ali Sultan On December 18, 2007, the British Council hosted a screening of four Pakistani short films which were written and directed by women developed under the Scriptnet Charity. Scriptnet is a skill-sharing organisation that works with TV and film-makers in developing countries. It was set up in 1999 and has trained women in filmmaking from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka. The screening started off
with Madiha Fasahat's film 'Zaire-e-Tameer' which was a sweet story of a Aiza Khan's 'Miracle' was an interesting 'mistaken identity' film. A thief accidentally falls down into a well with two packs of sugar and is mistaken to be a holy man by the people of a village. Considering that it lost its plot somewhere in the middle and was a tad overlong, the film was well shot (most of its scenes occur at night which are notoriously difficult to light). The film faltered because Hussain Tiwana, who played the protagonist, played the Pir as a caricature rather than a person made out of flesh and bone. Ever had a chance of watching Hector Babenco's 'Pixote'? Farah Usman's 'I am learning' reminded me of it. A story about Nimo, a small illiterate girl who has to go out into the sleazy world and work because of her mother's illness was a strange hypnotic piece. Its hypnotism did not come from its subject matter which has been tackled before with various levels of success or because of its uplifting message in the end. It was hypnotic because of Nimo's (played by Zoya Akther) face. She had that uncanny ability of looking old and her expressions were such that it made the camera that looked at her, feel old. Farah Usman used Zoya very intelligently, with giving her a minimum of dialogue. She is a real find. The last film, Nabila
Malick's 'Sweeping statements' was perhaps the best. Thematically based on
the The real surprise was Seerat Jafri. Having seen her in various sitcoms, one would consider her another one of those run-of-the-mill actors. What she proved with her performance was that give her a well-written script and work on her and she will deliver. The process of filmmaking, both long and short, is a hard one, from writing original screenplays, shooting the film and finally editing them. It's an exhaustive and collaborative art form. All four filmmakers (considering that most of them are over 30 and are not 'young' filmmakers) should be appreciated. tragedy Too late to realise Mentally ill woman brutally kills her three children. She never got treatment but was taken to a pir who would give her amulet By Shehryar Warraich We often hear and regularly read news about suicidal activities all over the country. Sometimes we get horrible news that poor parents have committed suicide after killing their innocent children because their only fault was they were born in a poor family. But on Friday, December 14, a very painful and horrifying incident took place in Bara Dari, a village of Narowal where a mother killed her three children. This village consists of thirty to forty houses. Most of the residents are associated with labour work and the rest does small work in the fields. Yasin is also a resident of the village. He is a labourer and works really hard whenever he gets the opportunity and earns bare minimum so that he can run his house expenditures. He is married to Rubina, his cousin, and had five children. His eldest daughter is six year old and youngest is in the lap of her mother. His life was going smooth and he was quite happy with his domestic life. On that black day, Yasin had to leave for Lahore in search of some work but he did not know what a heart rending reality would be waiting for him when he would return home. After Yasin left, Rubina took her three children, Aftab 5 years old, Khurram 4, and Neha 3, to bedroom and locked the door. Those pretty and innocent children were unaware of what was going to happen to them. They didn't know that they had come to this cruel world for a short while.. They might be playing in the room or having fun with their mother but their mother had a different arrangement in her mind for their future. Rubina laid all of them on the bed. They might be disturbed because that was not the time to go to bed. They might have resisted as children do. We cannot say what Rubina's mental state was at that time. She held a spike, the steel bar with which ice is smashed.. All of a sudden she attacked one of her children with it. At that very moment children started making noise but the cruel mother continued her attacks. Her children were calling their mother in vain because she had already made up her mind to end their lives. After listening to children noises, people in the house and in the neighbourhood gathered outside the slaughter house and started beating the door to open it. "We were knocking at the door and begging her not to do it because we could see from the window that Khurram was badly injured. The children had been silenced and Rubina was also not giving any answer. So, ultimately, we broke the door and entered the room." A neighbour Liaqat Ali told us this horrific story. He had tears in his eyes. After wiping his tears he started again, "Scene in the room was horrendous and I might not be able to forget it my whole life. Blood was everywhere in the room. Faces of the children were wrecked down so badly that it was impossible to recognise them. Bed was broken down. The shoes of the children were scattered in the room. Aftab and Neha were dead but there was one hope when we found Khurram breathing very slow. First we rushed him to hospital. Rubina was not seen in the room. We found her under the same bed but she was out of her senses. Yasin, the unfortunate father, in acute despair and agony said, "We were fine as a family and living happily but I don't know what has happened to my family. In the morning I sent my elder daughter to Qari sahib to recite Quran. At 7, I left for Lahore to find some work. Before leaving I gave money to my children as well as to Rubina, my wife. Before I could come back, my children were murdered. There was no hot issue between me and my wife. There was no problem in our house so I don't know why this happened". Yasin was asked if Rubina had any mental disease. He replied, "Yes, Rubina suffers from some mental disease but that I never thought it would be so severe to lead to such an action like this. Six months back she threw our youngest daughter who was only four months old at that time. She started laughing after this act which was very disturbing for me so I took her to our Pir Sahib and he gave her black locket (Taveez) and said she would be alright after few days. Pir Sahib said that the reason behind her ill behaviour was some superstitious mischief. She had an attack four years back and just because of Taveez she had no other severe attack till this incident." Yamin, elder brother of Yasin, told TNS that he was at his shop where he received this bad news that Rubina was in the room with three children and children were crying but she was not opening the door. "I rushed home where other people had already gathered and were knocking at the door. I also started beating but it was useless. There was no movement in the room and Rubina was also not giving any answer. Having no other option, we broke the door. When we entered, we found two children dead and one was in serious condition and Rubina had fainted. After some time police arrived and took Rubina with them after she came into senses. We have registered an FIR but its useless because she is a mental case. Mukhtar Bhatti, station house officer, Baddo Malli, was reluctant to give any details about the case. He just informed that police has registered an FIR but he was sure that this case has nothing in it. as Rubina is a mental patient. She will be out of bars after some days and police has no more information regarding this case. Dr Riaz Bhatti, a psychiatrist says, "Any normal human being cannot even think of acting like this. It is definite that she is mentally ill. Patients like Rubina are advance case of schizophrenia. Technically we call it, Manic Depressive Illness, in which mood of the patient changes time to time. Off and on patients are under low phases and often they enter in high phase and a patient in high phase commits such acts." On the treatment question, he said, "In this scientific age we have no medicine for cent percent cure but there are sixty per cent chances of healing. To make patients healthy, its necessary to provide them with treatment in time but in our villages when a person gets caught in any mental disease, people associate it with some superstition so they prefer to go to a Pir instead of to a specialist. People need to be educated or condition of such patients becomes worse with time."
RESPONSES
TO LAST WEEK'S 1. Edhi 2. Shaukat Khanum Hospital 3.
Himayat-e-Islam
4. Jamaat-e-Islami 5. All mosques 6. Sahara 7. Fatmid 8. Al Khidmat Foundation 9. Dawat-e-Islami 10. All mosques To
enlist by popular vote for next week, send in your emails on top ten 'New
year resolutions' Please
email at shehrtns@gmail.com
|
|
in the middle class areas and slums. The slums do not have gas for the last
fifteen days or so.
come to office
today without breakfast. I just had fruits in the morning," says another
Shahid who lives in Ramgarh, Mughalpura.
slum at ten minutes walk from her home does not get the same. There is gas
and water shortage in Faisal Town as well which is one of the better
localities of the city. Mrs Shahida Riaz of Faisal Town says, "You
cannot light three stoves at a time. Geyser is simply not working while we
store water by running water pump. Electricity is not there for two to
two-and-a-half-hour in a day while there are days when there is no
electricity from eight to two in the morning.
between activities and tasks in a routine day. Hecticity is ingrained in our
children since we want them to be distinguished as scholars, athletes,
musicians and community welfare workers. The most selective colleges are only
interested in candidates who excel in all these fields.
from 9am to
5pm daily.
small kid who falls in love with bird's nest and her dilemma when the tree
that hosts it is about to be cut down. It had all the hallmarks of a
filmmaker who hasn't watched a lot of films. With its jarring editing,
melodramatic music and our favourite 'a film should have a message'
philosophy running through its veins, the film looked and felt more like a
social advertisement.
concept of second
marriages, of how a man brings another woman into his home and wrecks his
marriage and forces his first wife to leave in the end, was perhaps the best
written of all four. All the actors, Akram Warraich (the husband) Seerat
Jafri (the first wife) and Rudaba (the mistress and later second wife) and
other bit players gave intelligent performances. The film was shot well (most
of its scenes were also shot at night).
