Mohammad Ayaz Abdal

I have always been interested in the history of this city. Karachi is a relatively a new city by the Subcontinent standards. In fact, this city is in its infancy compared with thousands of years of history associated with some of the other cities. An excellent article has been written for ATP by Bilal Zuberi which provides information about the early days of this mega metropolis but I was always intrigued by two questions.

1. Has Karachi or its adjoining areas played any part in the theatre of ancient Indian history
2. Who were its real founders?

For my first question I found out that the earliest account of the area where Karachi is located can be found in the record books of one of Alexander-the-Great’s admirals, who sailed back home from the Greek expedition to India, from a harbor by the Indus delta, known as Krokola. I was fortunate to come across Karachi Ki Kahani published by Aaj Publications.

Owais Mughal

In my not-so-extensive vocabulary, Pakistani food can be divided into two categories viz., Any-day-dishes and Many-day-dishes.

Any-day-dishes are those for which one prays to God to get any day e.g. nihari, qorma, biryani, haleem, halwa puri etc.

Then there are Many-day-dishes. These are generally good for health therefore less popular. These are eaten widely because they are light on pocket and stomach. Once made, they usually last for many days, hence their title. To top this list are few like tinda, loki, kaddoo, torai, bengan, daal (lentils) etc. This situation reminds me of a sher:

ya rab meray naseeb meiN rizq-e-halal de
khaane ko qorma aur khilaane ko daal de

While many web sites are dedicated to the recipes of festive foods, we will today present to you a recipe’ of common food. Yes, it is a many-day dish and it is called ‘rice masaala’. To cook it is as simple as the equation: rice + masala = rice masala. The recipe’ is so simple that it has now made me think whether I should spend more time writing following post or not? I’ll give you a sneak peak of our final product. Please look at the photo below and then decide for yourself whether you want to read further or not. My ‘istehqaaq’ (I want to say ‘ego’) will not get ‘majrooh’ (hurt).

Adil Najam

UPDATE: The Prime Minister has announced the withdrawl of the President’s judicial notifications!

Hats off to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani for political theatre of the highest caliber. And I mean that as a compliment.

On Monday he played the loyal Prime Minister defending his President, attacking the opposition, and hinting at a parliamentary reigning in of the Chief Justice. On Tuesday, following a roller coaster of a political day in Islamabad, he ‘gate crashed’ the Chief Justice’s party, leaving Iftikhar Chaudhry no option but to be as gracious a host as the Prime Minister was gracious as a guest. By the time he left, an invitation to the Chief Justice to come to the Prime Minister’s House had been delivered and accepted, and a promise of “good news” by 3PM on Wednesday was being made to the media.

Was there more behind this gesture of reconciliation from the Prime Minister? You bet. Although, I have no idea what.

Are there still more surprises that could spring up? Certainly. The only thing that can be said with certainty in Pakistan politics is that there will be surprises.

Is the immediate crisis about the Supreme Court appointment averted? Probably. At least for now.

Is the underlying political crisis and institutional clash over? Not by a long shot.

Fasten your seat belts, folks. No matter what happens at 3PM on Wednesday (or before or after that), the roller coaster of Pakistan politics will continue. And, like on any good roller coaster, there will be times when you will feel like shouting out in exhilaration, and there will be other times when you will feel like throwing up. Let us hope that Wednesday will be a case of the former!