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issue MOOD STREET By Sidra Mahmood “Pow! Whoosh!! Oh no, the game’s over!” laments one boy while another waves a certificate in his face basking in his triumph in an inter-school gaming competition. What was the game though? Counter Strike? Or was it Call of Duty? Either way, the boys had enjoyed the bloodshed with relish so much that it seems that spending the time on these games at home wasn’t enough; they had opportunities to enjoy them at school level with the endorsement of the elders. Isn’t this an interesting development in the psyche of our children that they take more interest in war strategies and tactics, no matter on how menial a scale? Moreover, in a century whose legacy has been nothing but warfare, such a pastime seems almost like a noble endeavour or a case of far-sightedness. Town
Talk idea
The tragedy near Kharak Nala on Multan Road
issue Brewing
deaths Substandard
home-made toxic liquor that sells in roadside hotels and kills people By
Taimoor Hassan Alvi It was reported in the
media on Nov 25, 2011 that a large number of people (28 in Khanewal and 7
in Muzaffargarh) died after consuming poisonous liquor. This sort of
headline appears in newspapers almost every month but the fact that
business of fake liquor or ‘desi sharab’ is flourishing despite police
crackdowns in some of the breweries, is a cause of concern. As per some media
reports in southern Punjab 800 people have died due to poisonous alcohol
over the past 8 years and in 2009, 130 people were reported blind due to
this liquor. The reason behind such high casualty is that people who drink
this liquor avoid going to government hospitals fearing legal action. Sadly, most of the
casualties occur on joyous occasions like marriages and Christmas. The main problem exists
in rural areas where desi beer is prepared locally for which all they need
is a hideout to store the raw material and prepare the liquor
uninterrupted. It can be a room, a flat or a house in a slum. There are mainly two
types of this liquor. First, prepared from sugar, rottten fruit, or
anything like this and called ‘desi sharab’. Second is prepared from
ethanol. The main ingredient is
ethyl alcohol, a volatile flammable, colourless liquid. It has several
uses especially in manufacturing of synthetic fuel, medicines and paint
industry. It is psychoactive and one of the oldest recreational drugs.
Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, in common
usage, it is often referred as spirits or moonshine. Ethanol is the
principal psychoactive constituent in alcohol beverages, with depressant
effects on the central nervous systems. Ethanol is mixed with large
quantities of water and other fruit essence to dilute its potency and make
it safer for human consumption. This concoction is also called
‘moonshine’. In Pakistan ethanol is
being primarily produced in the sugar industry as a byproduct. Movement of
this product is largely governed through Pakistan Excise Act 1968 whereby
its containers are sealed on the point of exit and de-sealed at the point
of destination. Any sale is governed through the permits and licenses
issued to various recipients. The problem starts here when this product is
being moved in the containers and is pilfered along the way with the
active support of drivers carrying ethanol and roadside eateries in
connivance with the bootleggers, especially in the main national highway
stretching all the way from central Punjab to Karachi. That is why every
now and then incidents occur from the usage of ethanol as liquor along the
highway. While travelling along
the highway we may come across a number of these locally-prepared desi
sharab vendors. The process of making such toxic liquor is such that
anyone can make it at home without any help. “Spirit is mixed in
pre-determined ratio and that’s all,” shares one Babar Chaman Masih, a
vendor along the highway hotels popular as truck hotels. Empty bottles and
stickers are bought from Lahore, for example from a market at Mayo
Hospital and spirit is bought in gallons. The spirit is mixed with water.
The bottles are then filled with it and sealed. We have the equipment to
seal the bottles, says Masih. Bottles with different sizes have different
names like kuppi, bambaat, katchi shraab, pinky and kutta maar. The label
that sells the most is called “walyati”. Prices comply with quality. “It is an easy and
profitable business for us; we have never been caught while transporting
the stickers and empty bottles from Lahore,” he shares. Ingredients used in this
type of wine, such as vinegar make it deadly, says a medical practitioner
Dr Tariq Durrani. “This liquor is
produced in a cheap and unhygienic way. Therefore, chances of developing
bacteria increases,” says Durrani. Secondly, these chemicals are
neurotoxin which directly harm the central nervous system and in extreme
cases affect the muscles, cause suffocation and stop the heartbeat,
causing death. Aftab Phulerwan, a CIA
Police DSP, who has caught a number of such dealers, says desi sharab is
not as dangerous as sharab made from industrial ingredients, rotten fruit,
spirit, molasses and shrubs. Certain chemicals and medicines used to make
the liquor makes it lethal. Dealers in this liquor
business also fool the rich by mixing tharra with imported liquor. “They
suck out imported liquor through syringes or other methods and then inject
tharra into the bottles. Those who drink it are blissfully ignorant of the
fact that it is half foreign and half tharra,” he said. “Most of the sellers
and users of this liquid are illiterate who have no idea that large dose
of this drink can prove fatal. Making and selling this liquor is
attractive as it means quick money. Thirty litres of ethanol is available
at Rs. 5,500 from illegal ‘dabba petrol pumps’ which can be sold for
Rs 11,000 after mixing these ingredients. Besides this it does not require
any distillery which is time consuming and attracts the attention of law
enforcement agencies. “Clientele is available who are generally very
poor and want to have some fun in just Rs. 200 per litres”, says DSP
Phulerwan. Aftab Phulerwan says
police is trying its best to stop this illegal business but the main thing
is public awareness. People themselves must recognise that the price of
such cheap entertainment could be their lives. Life
in action By
Sidra Mahmood “Pow! Whoosh!! Oh no,
the game’s over!” laments one boy while another waves a certificate in
his face basking in his triumph in an inter-school gaming competition.
What was the game though? Counter Strike? Or was it Call of Duty? Either
way, the boys had enjoyed the bloodshed with relish so much that it seems
that spending the time on these games at home wasn’t enough; they had
opportunities to enjoy them at school level with the endorsement of the
elders. Isn’t this an interesting development in the psyche of our
children that they take more interest in war strategies and tactics, no
matter on how menial a scale? Moreover, in a century whose legacy has been
nothing but warfare, such a pastime seems almost like a noble endeavour or
a case of far-sightedness. What we see on the media
shapes our minds and perspectives, and what we hear from others definitely
influences our opinions. The minds of our children are malleable, and with
the kind of ‘exposure’ they have – the favourite word used to excuse
the children’s attitudes nowadays – it should hardly come as a
surprise that games which they choose to play and which are supposed to be
enjoyed for the sake of leisure are instead sharpening their innate
survival instincts. I personally believe
that one cannot blame the media all the time for what it shows and
discusses. If there are stories of bloodshed and warfare, incessantly
throughout the world, well, there is hardly any choice left. Especially,
if the war is threatening to be at your doorstep with every passing day,
one cannot act the ostrich-in-the-sand all the time. But what is worrying
is that while the facts are being taken into account by the young minds,
aren’t these facts also indirectly responsible for honing their
instinctive brutality? What one observes
nowadays is that the predominant idea in our youth’s mind revolves
around the exploits in the battlefield, the worshipping of action heroes
— all from old-timers like Superman down to the latest installment of
Ethan Hunt — and the action sequences which are replete in their X-box
and PSP games. The old idea of Super-hero movies and military related
stories to imbibe ethical values of bravery, determination and the final
triumph of the good over evil have become secondary to the life-like
graphics and the adrenaline-pumping action on the screens. Instead of
envisioning themselves in the role of the guy who saved the day, the
children are more interested in how many punches and kicks went into the
bargain and what was the coolest of the moves that they would want to
learn. Thoughts such as these
are significantly evident in the teenagers – and while saying this, I am
envisaging the drooping faces of my A-level students who might like
imagination to get impossibly wild, but in every piece of creative writing
that they ever write, 80 per cent chances are that the story will revolve
around a cool thief who is giving police a run for their money and kills a
few people in the attempt to save his skin. And I say this without
exaggeration. Though there are 20 per cent chances that their story might
revolve around a football match or a football star from any of the
international clubs, but a vast majority believes that spoonfuls of
action, gory details and a cool outlaw are the only ingredients for a
fabulous story. Who can blame them for
their lack of imagination when everything around them is simply jam-packed
with real scenes of horror? Where bomb blasts and gunfights are a daily
occurrence, where games are chiefly combat-oriented and where guns are
used for practical entertainment, like paintballs, who stands a chance of
not giving in to the lure of an action-packed ride through life? *Faiz Aman Mela today at
Alhamra Arts Council, The Mall at 1:00 pm. *Solo Exhibition by
Muzzumil Ruheel at Rohtas 2 Gallery till Feb 13. *Filums — the LUMS
International Film Festival hosted annually by the LUMS Media Arts
Society (LMA) till Feb 20. *Letters To Taseer II at
The Drawing Room Art Gallery till Feb 23. *Open Mic at Institute for Peace
peace and Secular Studies (IPPS) on Wednesday at 6:00 pm.
People not just share
intellectual works like essays, papers,
articles, poetry but also other talents like songs, music
compositions, monologues etc. Yet
another plan Work on
rapid bus transit has begun at Ferozepur Road in collaboration with a
Turkish company. The million dollar question is will it help reduce
traffic congestion? By
Shahzada Irfan Ahmed The Punjab government
has laid the foundation stone of Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) project at
Ferozepur Road and has vowed to complete the first phase in the first half
of the year. The proposed BRT routes
are from Gujjo Matta on Ferozepur Road to Mozang, Chauburji to Thokar Niaz
Beg and Chauburji to Shahdara. There is an increased
activity as Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbash is expected to arrive in Lahore
soon. During his stay here, he will inaugurate projects launched with
collaboration of Turkish companies and discuss those which are in the
pipeline. Traffic congestion
remains one of the biggest worries that haunt commuters. The death of a
heart patient in an ambulance due to a four-hour traffic jam last week is
just one example to explain the gravity of the issue. The problem of traffic
congestion is at ots peak as major roads of the city are undergoing repair
and construction work simultaneously. The adjacent roads which take
extra-load in case of congestion are also in a miserable state and only
add to the problem. In this background, the
Punjab government’s plan to launch BRT service in Lahore in
collaboration with a Turkish firm on the pattern of Istanbul holds
significant value. Work on the design and structure has started under the
supervision of 15 Turkish engineers who arrived recently. A Turkish firm
Ulasim an enterprise of Istanbul Municipality has been engaged as
consultant for the project which would be funded by the Punjab government
preferably on the basis of public-private partnership. The question here is
whether the required investment and effort is worth its value and how
appropriate is it to replicate the BRT model, deemed fit for Istanbul, in
Lahore. In case it is not, what alterations and improvements are required
in it to serve the purpose it is meant to? Talking to TNS, Pak-Turk
Business Association (PTBA) General Secretary Taner Kocyigit says BRT
operation is the most suitable and economical for a city like Lahore.
Unlike costly construction of underground subways or elevated platforms
for metro-trains, BRT needs only one reserved track down the centre of a
motorway (on each side), separated from the rest with the help of a fence.
Bus stations at regular distances for passengers to board and disembark
are the other major requirements, he adds. Taner says BRT users
travel hassle-free in dedicated lanes that look more like runways. “I bet if the plan is
executed successfully, people would park their cars at home and feel
privileged to use BRT,” says Taner who agrees the traffic in Lahore is
different from that in Istanbul and pedestrians, road side vendors,
encroachments along roads etc are a nuisance for traffic planners. “It
would be a major task for Ulasim to design the project and take care of
these issues,” he says, adding the firm will advise where the bus
stations should be built, what should be the distance between two
stations, the speed of buses at certain points, whether the pedestrians
should buy tickets at station or they should be given an option to buy it
inside the bus and so on. It is also advised to
install LED display screens at every station where they will show in how
many minutes the bus will arrive. As per Punjab government
documents, Ulasim has agreed to undertake feasibility study design and
preparation of bidding documents for 60-kilometer BRT service at a cost of
$550,000. An official in the
Punjab government shares with TNS that one of the major problems for the
government is to remove encroachments from Ferozepur Road and Multan Road
where BRT is being introduced. “Chauburji to Shahdara is another route
where encroachments are a hurdle in the successful introduction of BRT,”
he says. “It’s obvious when
you are dedicating a 10-foot road for rapid bus service you need more
space for the rest of the traffic. If this encroached land is retrieved
there is no issue. But unfortunately pressure groups are strong and a lot
of politicians are themselves involved in this violation. This makes the
task difficult but it is not impossible” The government plans to
launch BRT on Build Operate Transport (BOT) system and import buses from
Turkey. The criteria so far is that bidding firms will be given 20 points
for their professional standing and capability, 40 points for their
financing capability, 20 points for project approach and methodology and
20 points for relevant experience and skill. The minimum score to qualify
will be 70. Mian Tahir, a purchase
officer at a factory along Lahore-Kasur Road vows he will be the first
person to park his car in garage and start using BRT if that dream is
realised. “Why travel on car if it takes you two hours to reach the
destination. If the rapid bus takes you there in 40 minutes what else do
you want?” Ahmad Rafay Alam, an
environmental lawyer with special interest in urban planning, believes BRT
can deliver but questions as to how a government known for mere promises
can deliver on this count. His point is that the Punjab government
promised to bring 2,000 buses on roads but could bring only a few dozen. However, he’s all
praise for BRT and says in most cases globally it’s running in profit
due to the low-cost and high-benefits involved whereas multi-billion
projects like underground subways suffer losses and periods as long as 15
years are required to make them break even. Citing a recent Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) study carried out recently, Rafay
Alam says 40 per cent people walk all the way to their offices or other
destinations, a large population commutes on motorcycles and public
transport and only 8 per cent use cars. This means the eight per cent are
a nuisance for the remaining 92 per cent. “I hope in case of an
efficient BRT, major load will shift to it.” The JICA study, Rafay
Alam says, puts the number of motorised trips per day in Lahore at much
less than the average trips for a city of this size and importance. These
include all trips to offices, markets, parks, recreational facilities,
friends and acquaintances etc. This means people have no option but to
limit their travel due to lack of quality transportation facilities, he
adds. Rafay insists mobility
is the key to social and economic development and adds many people do not
even mull job offers at workplaces far from their homes. “Therefore, I
think an integrated and efficient traffic management plan in the whole
city is the need of the time. Solutions at select places are welcome but
the government must not limit itself to only these three routes.” The government official
(quoted above) agrees BRT cannot succeed as an isolated project and a lot
more needs to be done to change the behaviour of commuters and inculcate a
sense among them to obey traffic rules. Therefore, he says, a
comprehensive traffic and security plan is also under consideration. The
city administration in collaboration with several Turkish companies is
planning to have intelligent traffic signals that change timing according
to the flow of traffic, automatic red signal jumping detection system
which will photograph the registration plates of the violators’ cars,
automatic number plate recognition system at entry/exit points and
information system telling about traffic congestion ahead. This will decrease the
load on traffic officers who will ensure smooth flow of traffic and
violations will be detected through automation. In the first phase, 87
important cross-sections have been selected in the city to install
high-definition cameras in the city. The
author is a staffer who studied BRT system at length during his recent
visit to Istanbul, Turkey. Email: shahzada.irfan@gmail.com
Taka tak
is a popular Lahori dish that is both delicious and light on the pocket By
Salman Ali While the world is
talking about the Chinese, I thought of highlighting the position of
Lahori food on the chart of bizarreness. I am sure it stands somewhere in
the top 10. It’s a true Lahori food and can be found in every market. Roughly translated, Tawa
gurda kapoora means kidneys and testicles in a large frying pan. To avoid the
embarrassment of associating such words with food, most of us now call it
Taka tak. It refers to the sound made by the skillful chef while frying
these organs and hitting the pan with two sharp slicers in a captivating
rythm. He keeps slicing and frying them until the kapooray, gurday
(kidneys), dil (heart), maghaz (brain) and chaampain (ribs) become a
homogeneous mixture of meat and thick masala curry. You can make your pick
and choose which parts to include in your serving. It is delicious and for
sure a heavy meal to eat. One of the most famous
spots to try this out is Butt taka tak at Lakshmi Chowk. It’s right next
to Butt Karahi. Not only will you enjoy the typical outdoor dining
experience in the heart of Lahore, you will also find a bunch of live
chickens to give you company while you listen to the magical beat of taka
tak. Not to mention all those large tables smothered with uncooked goat
organs giving you a feeling of being part of a massive autopsy project. While your meal is
getting ready one can sit or can lie down on ‘charpoy’ and can relax.
The best part is when a man comes tinkling some bottles of oil calling out
‘maalish’. And if you go for that maalish you are going to eat more
for it increases the appetite for sure. The moment you take the
first bite of this scrumptious meal, troubles such as traffic noise,
diesel smoke, smell of chicken shit, autopsy tables, etc will stop
bothering you. The best thing is that it’s not too costly and about in
the range of Rs.150-200 per plate. The fact that all the Butt taka tak
items are almost sold out by nine at night, signifies that the food is
delicious and of course yummy. Mohammad Abbas says,
“He usually comes here with his friends to eat this delicious meal. In
winter it’s a meal to eat with no compromise. I love the voice of taka
tak and I wish I could dance on it though the place is not much clean so
that one can sit comfortably with family. You will spot a cat under your
table looking at your meal which will surely be a great sight.” There one can find
people of all ages. The best part of it is you can eat to your heart’s
content yet spend so little that you might wonder if you have spent
anything at all. So at last we can say dive in and give it a try. salmanali088@gmail.com
The tragedy
near Kharak Nala on Multan Road calls upon the society to report to the
government about such units operating in residential areas so that they
can be moved to a safer place.
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