Guest Post by Mast Qalandar

In my last two posts on Islamabad (here and here) I talked about the woods and the forest trails that I love so much and take to them whenever I can.

In those woods, at the foot of the Margallas, until a few years ago, there was a very large and very old tree, believed to be several hundred years old. Its gnarled branches sprawled like an umbrella over a very large area around the tree.

It was a pipal tree (ficus religiosa). Pakistani residents of Islamabad were generally unaware of the significance of this tree. But the tree attracted many expatriate residents, mostly from South East or East Asian diplomatic missions in Islamabad. They would come and simply contemplate the tree and its surroundings. Someone had even a built a concrete kiosk and a concrete bench next to the tree for visitors to sit. The tree was believed to be a Bodhi tree.

What is a bodhi tree and how it came to be in Islamabad?

Adil Najam

Robert (Bob) Andrew Woolmer, most recently the Head Coach for the Pakistan cricket team died of a massive heart attack in Jamaica earlier today. He was born on May 14, 1948, in Kanpur India, played 19 tests and 6 one day internationals for England and was amongst the first in a generation of ‘super coaches’ in international cricket.

His tenure as Pakistan’s cricket coach was a particularly tumultuous one, especially recently. Its lowest point was yesterday when Pakistan – under his coaching – lost miserably to Ireland. This was a massive blow for the Pakistan team, people and obviously for Bob Woolmer. The massive heart attack he suffered today ultimately took his life.

According to BBC News:

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer has died after being discovered in his Jamaica hotel room on Sunday morning. The 58-year-old former South Africa coach, who played for England between 1975-81, was found unconscious at the Pegasus Hotel at 1045 local time.

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Adil Najam

Radio program Aap Ki Duniya on Voice of America’s (VOA’s) – now of the Wasi Zafar outburst fame – hosted an hour-long Round Table on blogging in Pakistan.

Hosted by Murtaza Solangi, the program featured a conversation on the state and future of blogging in Pakistan with four bloggers: Awab (of TeethMaestro and Karachi Metroblog) Ramla (of Next>), Hakim (of MicroPakistan) and myself (Pakistaniat). You can listen to it here:

[Audio:http://pakistaniat.com/audio/VOA-Pakistan-b logging.mp3]

Although framed in the context of the role of the Pakistan’s blogistan (‘blogsphere’ for non-Pakistanis), the lively conversation was, in fact, broader and looked also at why people blog, whether it makes a difference, and what the future potential of blogging might be. It also looked at the issue of blog bans in Pakistan, and the follies of such policies. I enjoyed the conversation very much. Not only because I can now match ‘voices’ to names but also because it made me think more clearly about why we spend so much of our time on this, whether it is really worth doing, and what it might mean in a broader context.