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city Call
for cornea MOOD STREET Town
Talk plays By Usman Ghafoor It was truly a 'class' act. As the teenage boys of Lahore Grammar School descended on the rather smallish auditorium stage of the girls branch -- alias 1-A-1 -- to reprise the parts their elders, the Hashmis, had immortalised in the original Such Gup TV shows, they proved quite a match. And how.
city character Selling away dreams A labourer in two different markets, talks about his life By Ali Sultan At 10 pm, Ahmed wearing a red chequered shirt, brown
pants and a fake Gucci watch is asking a very important question, "
Sir will you buy this perfume?" Its original price in the market is
Rs 4000, but on a discount price you can get it for Rs 750." Ahmed is
smiling, yet other parts of his face are not. His eyes dart between the
bottle of perfume and the customer, the eyebrows locked in concentration,
the gelled-back hair totally still. At 10:02 pm, when the potential customer becomes the reality nobody, Ahmed standing right in between Cock 'N' Bull and Paradise ice cream, bends down and carefully puts the perfume back in the battered brown suitcase. He gets up and looks at the rich kids smoking their first cigarettes and using their hi-tech mobiles, the Chaudhry types with their starched white shalwaar kameezes and real Gucci watches, smells the sweat, the Testosterone of the gunda boyfriends, the hint of real perfume on hip girlfriends, the shwarmas, the burgers, the barbecues. The cars, the blinding lights, the stench of money burning, yet Ahmed, standing at the very mouth of Liberty market, will have, even if he wants, nothing of this, he knows this. The only thing Ahmed wants is that someone buys a bottle of perfume. Ahmed for the last five years has been a salesman. In the day, Ahmed sells drawing books for children. "It's very hot in the day, so I take different buses and try to sell these books. There are good days and bad days. Usually I sell 10-15 books everyday but sometimes I don't sell any. I believe that luck plays a big role, you can be a good salesman but if luck is not on your side, forget about it." The buses are crammed with bodies but Ahmed doesn't mind. "The people, who travel by bus, are like me. I feel at ease when I am selling in a bus. I don't have to wear a pant and a shirt; I don't have to look modern. When people look at me, they see another human being." Ahmed has had a tough life. "Our family was poor but we were a happy family. Five years ago, when I was in Matric, my father left home for work and never came back. We later found out that he had married a younger girl. It was devastating; I left school and started working. Now everyone works - me, my mother and my little sister, and we get by. Life hurts but it doesn't stop moving." The persona changes when night falls. Ahmed, the real Ahmed sheds away his shalwaar kameez and wears western clothes, his oiled hair changed into gelled hair. "A place like Liberty has no heart," says Ahmed. "I make good money here I know but the way people look at me, I feel like a freak. Sometimes I want to cry but I can't. A salesman can't cry, can he?"
No one donates cornea in Pakistan. So, is there no hope for six million blind people living here? By Saleha Rauf Nosheen Akhtar had lost her eye sight and remained blind for six years until she had cornea transplant a couple of months ago. Now she can see and do all household work. She is very happy and says her world has changed altogether. Sadia Jamshed who is 26 at this time, says she could not
see things clearly since childhood. She was divorced because of poor vision.
Her in-laws taunted her for her inability to do things properly. Now cornea
transplant has restored her eye sight. She is happily married and has started
a new life, she says. Muhammad Naveed says, "I lost sight and four years passed in darkness. I had no work for three years. Now after cornea transplant I can see and can't tell in words how happy I am." Naveed is an electrician. Zubaida Bibi says, "I was not able to see for 10 years. Now I am no more dependent and feel really good. May Allah give the reward to those who helped me get back my eye-sight." These are some of the people who are now able to see with cornea transplant and The News on Sunday got to talk to. Cornea is a delicate transparent membrane of the eye. It acts like a window for the eye by controlling light from entering into the eye. This layer protects eye from dust and germs together with eye sockets, tears and white portion of the eye. Any disorder in cornea can cause blindness. In Pakistan around 6,000,000 people are suffering from blindness due to two major ailments of cornea trachoma and trauma. Trachoma is a contagious infection of the eye and a leading cause of blindness all over the world. This is an ailment of poverty and can be found in over crowded areas with poor hygienic conditions. Germs are transferred into the eye from dirty towels, hands, flies and drinking water. The World Health Organization has proposed a strategy for the global elimination of trachoma from the third world countries. This is called Global Elimination of Trachoma by the year 2020 (GET 2020). Pakistan has been given the target 2015. WHO has planned SAFE strategy for eradication of trachoma.
The acronym SAFE combines the three elements of primary, secondary, and
tertiary prevention surgery, antibiotics, facial hygiene and environmental
change. Eye trauma refers to any injury to the eye. It's a common cause of loss of vision. Road accidents and facial injury can cause eye trauma. Director General of College of Opthalmology and Allied Vision Sciences Professor Dr Asad Aslam Khan warns of two things. He says, "Sharp toys should be banned and people should use seat belts while traveling." Corneal blindness can be treated by cornea transplant in which the diseased cornea is replaced with a matched donor button of cornea. In Pakistan these corneas are imported from Sri Lanka mainly. Corneas are also imported from Nepal and European countries where people donate them. They come very expensive. A cornea imported from Sri Lanka costs $300 whereas those imported from other countries cost around Rs. 50,000 when the beneficiary pays only the expenditure on preserving the cornea and its transportation. Cornea can be removed within 12 hours after death while those removed within six hours after death are of best quality. The person who wants to donate cornea should register himself with cornea bank which issues a card which the person keeps with him. After his/her death the family informs the cornea bank and a team reaches there to remove cornea. These corneas are preserved in cornea bank and cannot be sold. If people in Pakistan won't donate cornea, their import will go on. Religious leaders always become a hurdle in the way of donating human organs. It has been seen that families do not permit cornea bank to remove cornea after death. However, nobody who is suffering from corneal blindness refuses to go through cornea transplant for religious reasons or because of family restriction. Dr. Saira Saeed who is in charge of cornea bank in Mayo Hospital says, "Only three people have registered themselves for cornea donation. If religious leaders persuade people they can be motivated to donate their cornea." Dr. Shakeel Ahmed at Sardar Eye Trust says, "The religious orthodox do not let people donate their cornea. The clerics should show some flexibility as legal hurdles are removed now." Dr. Asad Aslam says, "When you are dead you lose control. In some cases where people had registered themselves, their descendents did not inform the eye bank. In cases they refused to allow to remove the cornea. Friends and family should be aware of the decision of the donor." In Pakistan, doctors are doing cornea drafting successfully. The cornea for this purpose is imported with the help of Health Ministry, national and international NGOs and helping hands. In Lahore, Mayo Hospital has established a cornea bank in College of Ophthalmology and Allied Vision Sciences (COAVS) to preserve cornea only. It is sad that not a single cornea donation has come from Pakistan. Dr. Saira Saeed, in charge of the Eye bank who herself has donated her eyes says, "Fred Hollows Foundation gives us financial assistance and we are importing cornea. Not a single cornea has been removed by our team. " Dr. Farah at Mayo Hospital says, "Educational talks and seminars can help people understand the importance of donating cornea." However, very few people have registered themselves. In Sardar Eye Trust corneas are imported from Sri Lanka with the help of Labard. These corneas come for free for the recipients. The cost is paid by the NGOs. Only operation fee is charged. Khalid Mehmood, the record keeper at Sardar Trust says, "Almost 400 successful cornea grafting has been done here at Sardar Eye Trust. Fifty five people who cannot see with both eyes are still waiting for transplant." Laila Nusrat, the owner of Sardar Trust and a member of Labard says, "I am importing cornea from Sri Lanka since 1981, the year Labard was established which is for those who are totally blind." What can be a more precious gift than vision. Shopping spree By Sidra Mahmood Various psychological studies done abroad have come up
with the conclusion that for various situations; a nice, expensive shopping
spree can be the world's best anti-depressant. Wherever the studies or
research be conducted, it does not manage to restrict the area of
application, and people world over have adopted this anti-depressant almost
religiously. Why I didn't categorise women as the main guinea pigs of this
research is due to their zealous labour to land on the platform of equality
with the men. Also, why I am unable to forego the men as the knights of the
shopping mêlée is because of their effort to afford the female gender a run
for their cosmetics by turning up to be more beautiful than the women can
manage. The term metro-sexual lent a lot to this strife between the genders
to look better than the other can manage…hence, the shopping spree. The fashion industry or the marketing world offers ideals to the people to follow – ideals that exist in imagination and are far removed from reality. Reality is bleak and grimmer than how it is portrayed in the electronic world of colours. No matter how much one might try to squeeze the last penny till it almost squeaks, shopping for the articles that make us fashionable – in every walk of life – is most tempting. In our beloved country Pakistan, the level of shopping varies with age. Not the era but the chronological age that has its own exigencies. No matter which age-bracket you fall in, you are supposed to be par-excellence. And the standard of judgement are the posters that are full of people endorsing products with plastic smiles and perfectly made-up faces and clothes, not to mention the dream-like houses that form the background for these advertisements. The marketing world sells dreams to the consumer who is so naïve that he goes to buy all the products without really needing them, and end up being a mere squirrel whose granary has to be full, no matter what. How many times do we open up our cupboards to find them overflowing with clothes that have never been worn but bought because it appeared appealing in some long-forgotten advertisement, or probably it was heard to be in-vogue. Not only the cupboards, enter the kitchen or the storeroom, it spills over with unused, brand new, but redundant items that were bought in the name of shopping, and tucked away to be remembered at some later date when the season for cleaning or sifting arrives. The tragedy with such shopping, generally, is that nobody wants to share or give these things away. Why? Not because people are discourteous or supercilious, but they cannot forget the fact that they spent hundreds or thousands on buying them. Beginning from mobile phones to cosmetics, down to the clothes and shoes up to the three-dimensional LCDs and what not…people are judged by the life-styles and life-styles become a judge of whether anyone can be borne as a human being or not. To fulfil the consumers' demands for a continually improving standard of living, mushroom departmental stores crop up and they know how to fleece people without making them aware of what befell them. For starters, they become brand-stockers – hence, catering to the demands of the people to get branded with 'branded' materials. The sales at such stores promise 'a buy one – get one free' offer, something that the people of the economically unstable country cherish. But when they have bought these redundant side-gifts with the required items, what should they do with them but to hoard them away. Another factor besides the above-mentioned ones is the peer-pressure. Quite unlike the pressure children face at schools, this is more deadly. The concern with what the neighbours bought, what did the friends wear at the party and what kind of new electronic device has been accumulated by the 'others' make the people go out of their way and means to amass these items. How many people have tried to buy cars in the name of 'lease' and when their means did not allow them to continue the payment, they not only lost their cars but also their money. Not only cars, the craze to buy a new cell phone to remain in vogue and in sync with the contemporary models; land people in more indebtedness than anything else. The text that is seen usually going around from cell phone to cell phone about 'do not judge people by their possessions' is generally seen to fall on dead ears; the text gets forwarded but hardly makes any impact on anyone, I guess. Considering the various causes and effects of shopping, is the psychological study still justified in suggesting shopping as an anti-depressant? I leave it to all and shop-aholics to decide.
- Lahore's 4th Critical Mass Weekend cycle ride today from Zakir Tikka, Sarwar Road, Lahore Cantt at10am. - Exhibition: 'The Show of a Lifetime' by Sonia Chundrigar till Fri, May 15 at the Drawing Room Art Gallery. - Exhibition: Figurative paintings by Zoay till Fri, May 15 at The Drawing Room Art Gallery. - Music: APMC Concert at Alhamra, The Mall, Hall III on Mon, May 4 at 6pm. Vocal: Ustad Shafqat Salamat Ali Khan, Mahnoor Awan. Clarinet: Jaffar Hussain. Accompanists: Kashif Ali Dhani on tabla, Faqir Hussain on sarangi, M Kamal on harmonium and George Iqbal on tanpura. - Concert: Ustad Badar uz Zaman, Ustad Qamar uz Zaman in concert at Lahore Chitrkar on Sat, May 9 at 7:30pm. - 'Guru Circle' by S.Bilal Qutb at South Asian Media Centre on Mon, May 4 at 5:30pm. This is a question answer session in which there will be discussion about philosophy, history, phsycology, literature, personality development, art & culture and others. - Seminar on Orientation of Export Procedure at Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Amin Hall on Tuesday, May 5 from 3-5pm.
Peace – a utopia When 'conflict and harmony' is made a theme for a drama festival in Lahore By Waqar Gillani "My religion is the best," this was the only fighting line amongst the representatives of different religions belonging to Hindu, Jew, Christian and Muslim faith in a staged battlefield at Convent of Jesus & Mary, last week. The play, drawing conclusion towards utopia of peace
and humanity, was one of the short dramas of O level/matriculation
students of different schools of the city. They were participating in the
first short-drama competition arranged by Seeds of Peace (SOP), an
international non government organisation (NGO) working with the students
from conflicting boundaries to promote peace and harmony. This world is so full of terror and violence these days that even children have nothing to say except for peace in their utopia. There were fights between peace and destruction throughout the competition. There was appeal for humanity; peace, tolerance, freedom and harmony in every short play presented before the audience in the old Marian Hall of the school, having principal of the school Pilar Vila San Juan as guest of honour. "We believe that every religion is right in its own way. We have different likes and dislikes. Our wrongs are connected and integrated with our rights. Hence every belief is disbelief and every faith is mutually accepted and discarded. Obviously, no big difference. You love us, we love all of you. Find joy in simplicity, self respect and indifference to what lies between virtue and vice! Love the human race and follow the divine. You have the brush, you have the colours, you paint your own paradise and then in you go. This is what we may denominate as an optimum utopia! Long live humanity!" was one of the concluding lines of children's utopia. A total of eight teams participated in the competition
based on the theme of "utopia." Teams were from Beaconhouse
School System, Garden Town; Convent of Jesus and Mary, Durand Road;
Crescent School for Boys; Divisional Public School Model Town; Lahore
Grammar School, 55 Main Gulberg and Johar Town branches; The Trust School
Aamir Town and Thokar Niaz Baig branches. Lahore Grammar School (girls), 55 Main Gulberg, Lahore won the first position, while LGS (boys), Johar Town stood runners up. The team of Convent of Jesus and Mary, Lahore bagged third position. Abuzar Farrukh from LGS for Boys, Johar Town and Shayan Ather from LGS 55 Main Gulberg were declared as the best individual performers for this drama competition. Seeds of Peace gave Certificates of Appreciation to all the participants of the drama. Beacon House Garden Town, Lahore performed a mime depicting how one has to face a lot of obstacles to achieve their dreams and to achieve his utopia. Convent of Jesus and Mary performed a mime that was a dramatization of the poem "IF" by Rudyard Kipling. It was a symbolic representation of man's struggle against all odds to achieve perfect happiness -- his Utopia. This was a very different performance by the Convent girls as compared to the other schools. Anoop Hafeez, the narrator stood out with her controlled recitation and expression. The judges appreciated the act and termed it unique. Crescent Model School for Boys, Shadman presented a drama showing Utopia through the barrel of gun, mass killing. They presented utopia in a declined idea, utopia through the enforcement of religion and peace making through moderation. Divisional Public School (girls wing) staged another mime about the war among nations as well as within people's hearts. It was also about the beauty of happiness which a bird can give to a young girl that is denied to her by her own superior race. Lahore Grammar School for Boys, Johar Town performed a drama "Quaid-e-Hayat", a play about a young man wrongly arrested on charges of terrorism by corrupt police officers who blamed him for some prize money and killed him in the end. Lahore Grammar School, 55 Main Gulberg, in a less staged but more radio-performance narrated a love story between two animals. The Trust School, Aamir Town presented a drama between good and evil where peace defeats evil spirits and prevails. The Trust School, Thokar Niaz Baig staged a mime on the theme "Utopia". It was a scene of paradise. Adam and Eve, entrance of devil, evil emotions spreading their influence, then their effects on people, entrance of hope and victory of peace in the end. Thinking of even 10 minutes performance is a tough job, Pilar Vila San Juan appreciated students' efforts to use this powerful tool and medium of expression to promote peace. Angela Williams, one of the judges, talking to TNS, said the performances were enjoyable and the manner in which they were presented, was extremely sophisticated. "Themes which highlighted the state of the world and Pakistan and what an ideal world is, makes you think about solutions," she said, adding, "There was a great deal of thought in these plays." She said they gave first prize to LGS (girls) because of different presentation, talent and thought with radio performance creating utopia. "The organisation is dedicated to preparing teenagers from areas of conflict with the leadership skills required to promote coexistence and peace. It conducts year-round programme for youth to uncover their hidden talents," Sajjad Ahmed, Pakistan chapter coordinator of the organisation told TNS, adding, "The objective of the competition was to motivate students towards focused extra curricular activities." "The drama was held in an effort to provide a platform for the youth to show their talent, also giving the audience something to hold their attention." He hoped that audience hopefully left with few thoughts and questions in their mind. "Also, it will give the performers (and the audience) a chance to think properly about certain issues that we often overlook, assuming that we know them fully," Ahmed expressed.
LGS annual play, based on the inimitable Such Gup, sifts men from the boys By Usman Ghafoor It was truly a 'class' act. As the teenage boys of Lahore Grammar School descended on the rather smallish auditorium stage of the girls branch -- alias 1-A-1 -- to reprise the parts their elders, the Hashmis, had immortalised in the original Such Gup TV shows, they proved quite a match. And how. Team director Shahnaz Shaikh deserves credit for
reviving the script she says Shoaib Hashmi gave her some 10 years back.
This is a script she has a special way with. "I myself performed it
with them (the Hashmi lot) when I was in NCA," recalls the actress of
all-time PTV classics such as Ankahi and Tanhayyian. Currently associated
with the LGS Dramatic Club which was created last year with a rendition of
Shakespeare's Hamlet, Shahnaz has ably led the young pack of actors
(school students) to their second theatrical success. Such Gup is an ever green format: a mix of independent, comic skits a la The Benny Hill Show, where the characters are the various social 'types' we come across in our day-to-day life. They have their follies and issues, and the script makes light of them through sight gags and ironical humour while actually highlighting the ills of the society. The best part about the script is that it is still very relevant and, hence, hugely enjoyable. With a script like that, half the battle was won for LGS. But the comedy wouldn't have worked without a powerful enactment. And, this was particularly where you had to hand it to the entire team of the school's annual play for making it work -- and work so well. The small bunch of 9th-standard boys, in their multiple roles, were a riot on the stage -- whether it was Fareed Ishaq's Father, Doctor and Scientist; Baxit Khatana's Shikari, Anchor and Saiqa; Jibran Chohan's Daku or Farooq Gul's Policeman. Murtaza Chaudhry and Reza Bokhari made hilarious
ladies, helped by their garish outfits, blonde twirls and loud makeup. Every change in the set or the characters' wardrobe was punctuated by live performances by the choir comprising Ali Haider, Mohammad Ali, Komail Reza, Maaz Khalid and Uzair Ali. The play also occasionally broke into specially choreographed song-and-dance acts, joined by a Bhangra Group, thanks to Samreen Kapasi. No wonder, Shahnaz dubbed the show as "Such Gup Remix!" Without upsetting the mood of the show, the skits were arranged in a certain order "basically to suit our limitations with the set designs". An occasional crack was made at the school also, to
appeal to the crowd of 'natives'. For instance, when a character quips,
"Insaan jahan sey aata hai wahin chala jaata hai, siwaye punjabion
key jo LGS mein daakhil ho jaatey hain." There was a huge sound of
laughter across the auditorium. Eventually, the show belonged to Hamza Kamal whose 5 impersonations -- especially the very rugged school masterni, the clumsy Thanedaar and the gharara-wearing, grey-haired, bespectacled mother with a 'thing' for the Policeman -- stole the show. This tall, lanky slip of a boy amazed the audience with his poker-faced, perfectly timed comic acts. He also delivered his lines with stunning clarity. Incidentally, he is Shahnaz's favourite, too. (The writer can be reached at: usmanghafoor@gmail.com)
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