The Organic brew; London, pakistan, photography, travel, poetry & a general acerbic sentiment.

Nachan mein uuday naal: Abrar ul Haq

// May 26th, 2004 // 60 Comments » // Uncategorized

Abrar has throughly dissapointed with his latest instalment in the majajani series- Nachhan mein uuday naal; and thats putting it mildly.
The darling of the paki-punjabi/bhangra scene shot to fame with a single song, billo, which catapulted this then geography teacher at lahore’s Aitcheson college to instant stardom. And it was recognition that was well deserved, his lyrics were always fresh, often funny and sometimes even poignant.

“aanday jaanday teeshan thay kulffiyan khaawan gay”
-Billo
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coke and calculus

// May 23rd, 2004 // No Comments » // Photographs

Credit : B. Rocky

Musharraf ties the knot: the redux

// May 22nd, 2004 // Comments Off // All, Photographs

No, i’m not obsessed.

shopping list for today

// May 21st, 2004 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

2 tubs of hagen dazs (i dont think i will ever learn to spell) – Cookies and Cream, Toffee
2 bags of small bananas (7 per bag) – from the ivory coast
Large box Mcvities Jaffa cakes – you cant say no
3 muller yogurt corners – 2 mixed berries, 1 strawberry
750 ML of hapic toliet cleaner – err

All procured from my local Budgens branch.

oh, and one large spanish onion (for a peppercorn and mustard steak, incase you were wondering :D)

Cock on the mountain top?

// May 19th, 2004 // No Comments » // All

Growing up in Pakistan one cant but help getting accustomed to the singularities of the chinese way of ‘branding’ goods. Good ol’ red china will come up with the most remarkable names for things-from the ‘three rings’ brand of padlocks to ‘flying squirrel’ brand of air-gun pellets..
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Lyrics of the day

// May 15th, 2004 // 2 Comments » // All

Too bad I don?t get time these days to write anything more exciting than the legal ramifications of recognition of states post the UN charter.
But just to keep the momentum going, ill try and post a snippet or two of something I have been thinking about..
Here are the lyrics to a song I first heard in a Carlsberg advert. Its a theme 3 was also ‘inspired’ by, although they never really managed to pull it off with quite the same panache..
Cheers
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Random quote for the day

// May 9th, 2004 // No Comments » // All

Completely random quotes i have recently been mulling over –

? Shonkochero biuhaulota nijere aupoman”

?To be paralysed by timidity is to insult oneself?

-Rabindranath Tagore

‘Haan bhala kar, tera bhala ho gaa
aur darvesh ki sada kia hai’

-Ghalib

‘Nisaar main teri galiyon peh ai watan, keh jahan
Chali hai rasm keh koi na sar utha keh chale
Jo koi chahane wala tawaaf ko nikale
Nazar chura keh chale, Jismo-jan bacha keh chale’

-Faiz Ahmed Faiz

‘Masjid tau banadhi shab-bher mein eman kay harat walon nay
mun aapna tau purana paapi hai, barsaon mein namazi ho na saka’

-Ilama Iqbal

The more crass ones, the ones i have been mulling over too-but for completely different reasons altogether.

‘fluctuation tau hoti rehti hai,
it’s a matter of liiifee’

-ptv music charts presenter, ‘speaking’ Urdu in there own, ridiculous way.

‘raste se jaa rahaa thaa, bhelapuurii khaa rahaa thaa,
la.Dakii ghumaa rahaa thaa,
tujhako mirchii lagii to mai.n kyaa karuu.’

-Bollywood film lyrics at there poetic best

On hydrogenated cooking oils and desi colas

// May 8th, 2004 // No Comments » // All

How many of you know that Unilever’s massive south Asian oil business (under the name of DALDA), was originally called Dada?
The edible oil business that is now synonymous with hydrogenated/solidified cooking oil in south Asia traces its roots back to DADA oil started in pre-partition India by Sir Haji Kasim Dada. He was Lever Brother’s (as they were then called) representative in India, and it was at there insistence that the level ‘L’ was added to make the name we all trust for its sheer heart stopping power–Dalda.
Incidentally, Unilever is seeking to divest the edible oil products line, and Pakistan?s Dalda is to be the last one to go after Nepal and India.
A final twist in the tale-haji Kasim Dada’s firm was the one that instructed a young barrister by the name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and were the ones who sent him to represent the firm in South Africa!.

Pakola today without a doubt has one of the strangest designs for a cola bottle. Although this is in part made up by the fact that nothing tastes better that some ice cold Pakola with ice cold milk and, well, ICE..
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The venerable commitee

// May 1st, 2004 // 1 Comment » // All

Islam?s wisdom in shunning a formal priesthood becomes increasingly more and more apparent. Over the last 1400 odd years, it has meant that popes need not be chosen; inclined as they are to acts that seem out of place for god?s representative on earth(errant popes [and a popess-how can we forget popess Joan] readily attest to the veracity my statement)-saving us countless blood, sweat and tears.
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On Faiz’s Birthday.

// May 1st, 2004 // No Comments » // All, Poetry

A telling article on Faiz in the friday times the other day. A fresh perspective on Faiz’s involvement in the ‘rawalpandi conspiracy’ case.
Partly in lieu of this, Faiz was one amongst a long line of great pakistanis dealt a poor hand by our own authorities. Abdus Salam immediately comes to mind as another one of those hapless victims.

Friday times does not archive its past editions so i’ve included the text here.
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