The curious case of Pakistani media... Part 3

Entertainment and News aside, they are now using religion to make money and get famous. Just as they officially announce the sighting of moon, all those singers turned naat khwaan are seen on TV screens. Those who act/appear wearing sleeveless come in full hijaab and no one seem to have better knowledge of Islam than them.

All of the above described shit have no comparison to what these Islamic Scholar turned celebrities do. All to get those TRPs. I guess everyone knows what goes around for more than 6 hours in Ramazan every year. Bringing up sad stories so that people can donate to their trusts. The jack of all, those special prayers on sacred nights. Every one knows who is the pioneer of it. even after a leaked video, people are defending him. The dua hasn't even started he starts crying like a baby. Dude, get a life, seriously. It totally looks fake. But our public is to be blamed for it too. Don't we have any sense at all? Or are we blindfolded by such pious people that we will never question their integrity?

Where does this all Islamic appearance go just as the Chaand Raat is announced? It's all dancing and music on Eid day. No one ever shows if those people for whom the aids were collected have celebrated their Eid happily or not.

What we need is a serious revolution in our media. We have advanced ourselves way too early. When we could have taken this opportunity to spread our culture and show the talent to the world, all we are doing is to show the Indian culture. Their reality shows, their movies and their award shows. We have adopted their style of reporting too. Taking Cricket for example, when we win, celebrations and songs all around and whenever we lose, we just can't do anything but criticise the team and management. We forget what the players have done for the team and just for one loss, the media lose all the respect for them. We need to bring out ethics, rules and regulations about the conduct of these anchors, morning show hosts and news channels. Everyone, producer, director, anchor should be held accountable for something which is wrong. This is not western world and to hell with globalisation, we should be portraying our culture and norms. There was something about "geo Asool" but I guess like every other thing that was proposed for the betterment of this country, has been thrown in the trash. It's never too late for a change.

The curious case of Pakistani media... Part 2

Continued from here.

For 36 years, Pakistani Television viewers were provided by the news which only the Capitol (Governments) wanted to show. The only source to get factual news were the newspaper and only a couple of them were only trusted. Since the boom in 2000 with the emergence of Geo and ARY networks, the scenario got totally reversed. Until 2003, we did not have cable. During that time, all we heard were the praises for the newly introduced news channels. People were praising for factual and on-the-spot reporting within the minutes of an incident.

As I stated in the previous post, we had a kick-start but then we started to collapse. Take reporting for example. Any terrorist activity, they were in a rush to reach the spot and then brag about for more than 24 hours that they were the first to break the news. They never cared that underage, those with soft hearts and every kind of person is watching their reports and believing them. They didn't refrain from showing uncensored pictures of brutal dead bodies of those affected by blasts. Moreover, what follows after a sad incident. The depressed reports about someone losing their only brother, some pregnant woman losing her husband or someone who was about to get married. It is exaggerated so much that even a normal healthy person can have effects on health because of the sadness. During all this, the famous question of every single reporter. Someone has just lost their family member and you are asking "Aap Ko Kaisa Mehssos Ho Raha Hai?" Like seriously, will they say that they feel like dancing or laughing out loud?

Some extra ordinary incident happens and it is on the TV for 24 hours. Take an example of the destructive earthquakes in 2008 or floods in 2010. All these news channels showed were the images of affected areas and families throughout the day. It was like nothing else is happening in the country at all. I remember that Ata'a abad lake incident. News channels were covering it like this is the most important national issue. After a week, there was no mention of it at all. They had done their work of spreading panic among the public.

If that wasn't enough, we adopted the Indian style of reporting. Reporting with threatening type of background beats and using of slides with rhyming sentences and trying to create some chaos. Just portraying that some crime show is on air. To make matters much more worse, there are special hours dedicated to absolutely cheap reporting. For example, someone is selling Camel's milk at some roundabout in Lahore or some local council administrator has constructed a well furnished bathroom somewhere in Sindh. If they are that free, why don't they go and learn something about responsible reporting? Sundays, when mostly news channels have nothing to show. all they do is to report about some person who is not able to support his children who are suffering from some life threatening disease or some elder person who is not getting his/her pension. If you have to do this, why don't you do this on weekdays in your normal bulletins?

Another cause for the looming downfall, we never defend our nation in international matters. Those bomb attacks in Mumbai, as always, India put the blame on Pakistan. Instead of defending our country, one of those channels were so fond of investigation that they found the home of the detained terrorist and proved that he is a Pakistani. Same thing for the spot fixing scandal. Instead of defending Pakistani players, we helped the English media and courts to provide judgments against Pakistani players though there were serious issues of breaching the privacy by English tabloid. Such is the biased media of Pakistan and then we bring that crappy reason of freedom of speech and reporting of truth.

Kawwa chala huns ki chaal, apni bhi bhool gaya. Yeh zarb ul misal hamaray news chanells kay liye he kahi gayee thi. One channel started a talk show, and the others followed with it. Those who were news anchors are now anchor person of these political talk shows. Every day, they just have to somehow pass the hour between 8 to 9 when most people are back from their work and wait for the full bulletin at 9. Random politician been called, debate between the rival political parties on not so national issues with an expert and they are done. Some took the stage to make politicians confess of something from the past while others were just happy in enjoying fights. All for the TRPs. Our current minister of something once regarded the then important figure in politics as a slut. Just a couple of months ago, almost every social media activist and user watched how these talk shows are recorded and whatever happens during the break.

It is no time for gaining TRPs and revenue. It's time we sit together and define some ethics for this industry. It's time we determine what we need to show and what should not. It's time we determine how to report on facts and not do scripted reporting. It's time we make regulations and hold these media giants accountable for whatever wrong they do. I will again say that I'm not a student of mass communication and these were shared as a general public of what I have observed over these years.

The curious case of Pakistani media... Part 1

I'm not a student of mass communication or any media related degree programme but what I see almost every day, it has made me to express my opinion on this topic. From interviews of celebrities every day to discussing pregnancy issues and chatting with 8 months old pregnant women on live TV, this is what has happened to Pakistani media since there was a boom in early 2000s.

With the emergence of Geo and ARY networks, it was hoped that the true image of Pakistani media will be portrayed after we had so many years of what the Capitol (Government) wanted to show the world. Sad to say that just like our Cricket team, after a kick start, we are already on our way towards a big collapse.

First, it was the entertainment channels who started adopting Indian style of dramas/soaps and awkward editing. Our society was already spoiled by Indian media and all we did was to provide a helping hand to it. Telecasting Indian reality shows when we could have started one in our own country.

Morning shows. I remember the time when the morning show had started at 7 am just for the school going kids so that they go happily to school after watching a cartoon. It was a great idea to start calling celebrities for the interviews early morning and promotion of their activities. All credit to Nadia Khan though who assured that there is some innovation always and people don't get bored. Since she left this job, it has been a serious downfall. All we had were just people getting married week after week. Dancing hosts, cheap comedy and one poor Amjad Sabri singing Qawalies and wedding sons on every single channel. What one channel did, was soon followed by another channel. They didn't just stop here. Then there was a series of raiding dating spots in Karachi, shows on reality of paranormal stuff, black magic and now, the worst. Live Goud Bharayee.

Are they serious? Do the producers or channel owners have any sense? This is not some foreign country where programme ratings will be respected for even a bit. Seriously, who does live Goud Bharayee and answer questions about how are they managing or enjoying pregnancy on live TV? Moreover, today there were sitting 7 or 8 months pregnant women with their husbands and they were being interviewed.. All sorts of things were happening. Men being asked to show the love for their pregnant wives and everything. Like seriously, aren't there any ethics or rules?

Dramas. Although they have brought some great talent in showbiz but is it the Indian style that we wanted? Some serial has been running for 3 years now and I don't know if anyone still watches it. Some of the new serials, hats off to them for portraying the true image of our society especially when it comes to the lower class or lower middle class people but there will always be some Indian influence. Take reality shows for example. When they could have started their own shows, they are telecasting Indian shows and our public is so immature that they are sending SMS to local channels about who in their opinion should win, rather than concentrating on the fact that it has already been finished long time ago.

There's so much to write about but I guess I'll just stick to entertainment part only. Be back later with the news/information part.

T20

Just another post on the craziest Cricket scene at the moment. T20 World Cup. Like every other (true) Pakistani Cricket supporter, I'm all pumped up for it. I have exams for the next three months but no, I'd never be bothered by it.

Since the first event in 2007, the world has known what Pakistan could do in the shorter format of the game. Finalist in 2007 (that freaking shot by Misbah), Winners in 2009 (That voice of David Lloyd saying "Boom Boom") and Semi Finalist in 2010 (Hussey you **********) is enough to tell about how good they have been in this competition.

If this was the former Pakistani team, I'd have some doubts over them. But this is the fresh blood, well mixed with experienced campaigners like Afridi, Abdur Razzaq, Malik and Gul. Not to forget the magician and the best bowler in the world at the moment, Saeed Ajmal.

These four weeks will be fun. Many Pakistani fans will appear if they reach the semi finals. Screenings will be arranged, shirt sales will reach a new high while so many new brands will start to appear on Facebook newsfeed with their awkward type of supporting shirts for Team Pakistan. Memes. Fucking memes all over. Twitter, my timeline will be full of experts. I am one of them but at the end of the day I think that why do we do that. Is team management actually reading what we have to say? Are they taking everything into consideration? But just like every other Pakistani, I guess we will never stop.

Back to cricket now. This time, Pakistan is placed in Group D. Definitely, a group of Death, sharing it with New Zealand and Bangladesh. Over the years, Bangladesh had not been a problem at all but this time it's different. Shakib, world's best All-rounder. That midget Mushfiq is powerful too. At the open, Tamim is a totally different thing. They came closer twice to beat Pakistan in the Asia Cup. Then we have NZ. There might be so many new names but this team has just beaten the big mouthed, over confident cunts India in their own backyard. So yeah, this will be a test too.

Whatever the scenario will be, deep down I know that I'll be watching every match till the very last ball because of this hopeless love story of mine with the most unpredictable Cricket team. It can win a long lost match and can lose a match which it had dominated for 95% of the time. Best of Luck Pakistan. Let's bring back the cup where it belongs ♥

I hope we get this sight once again. Best of luck.

Emos all around

Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, everywhere you see, there is some emo in your newsfeeed or timeline. They say that I don't know about it. Dude, I have been through much worse. You don't know the pain of losing brothers and friends every couple of years... Anyways, I'm not composing to share my sorrows and everything.

According to my estimation, almost 80% of people are depressed because of love. Seriously people? For just a single person, you keep on ranting. Get sad. Do you ever realise what's happening around you when you're sinking into this low mode? For just one freaking person who you're not sure about if he/she will be there with you for your whole lifetime, you're missing on these wonderful days of your life.

I have been there. I have had those type of days but when I got back to my mind, I only realised that I was at the fault. I expected way too much then it actually was. I was kind of blindfolded.

Get your ass up kids. Your time is not worth for one fucking bitch or bastard. See around you. Your parents, friends and those who actually care about you. While  you're weeping for one, someone else who is there to care for you is also being hurt. I advise everyone to get a best friend. With whom you can just rant, cry, laugh and do everything you want to. I respect my best friends a lot because they have been there for me every time I wanted to rant. Even though one of them doesn't even regard me as their best friend.

Anyways, all you emos, you get this life only once. Live it to the fullest. Don't be fucking sad. Give up on sad songs. Go out, have fun. Be a child. Ride on those amusement park rides. Think like a pervert. it will definitely bring a smile on your face. Eat chocolate. Lots and lots of it. this is the time of your life which you should be enjoying. later, you have the tensions of your boss, family, kids and everything. Live it now or you'll regret it for your whole lifetime. CHIN UP, SMILE, FUCK THE PERSON WHO HAS MADE YOU SAD.

What I have been called

Our society is weird. We never call our children with their real names. with the name, a nick is always brought up. Whether it is in school, family or work, no one has a single name... Because of being short and overweight, I have been called with many names.. The ones I remember are set out below..

Miyan Jee: My parents named me because I resembled like fucking Nawaz Shareef when I was younger. Wtf.

Zainy: That's what my Khalas used to call me. I want those days back :'(

Khan: How the hell did I look like a Pathan?

Quiad e Azam: Because I once participated in a school function for 14th August

Chintoo: FML for that -.-

Creepy Stalker: I like that. Earned it from a best friend. Truly defines me.

Weird, Funnily Weird, Kuttay, Ugly, Lame, Idiot, Prick, Creep, Cute.. This is what my best friend has labelled me with and the best one with which she calls me, ZEE.

p.s. Thank you everyone for this LOVE.

Rant. Rant. Rant.

So it's happening again. That Prime Minister of Pakistan usually remembered as Raja Rental is invited by the Kaana CJ to the Supreme Court and as always and will be asked (read requested) to write the letter to Swiss officials. Who are you kidding with, Cheap Justice? For all these 4 years or so, it has been the same story. Order, appeal, order, review request, order and it's going on and on and on... A month ago, after such a long sentence of HALF A MINUTE because of contempt of court, one of them was sent home. AFTER FOUR LONG YEARS. And now, the same will be repeated with the new one. It's all part of the plan. With all these appeals, time will pass and then we'll have the elections. Some new party will come, Zardari (read Kutta) will fly away to get some MEDICAL TREATMENT and then there'll be new drama of issuing warrants for him, bringing him back to the jail and all the shit. 

Moving on, society shit now. When will we ever get rid of the sick mentality that a girl and boy can never be good friends and that if they talk and laugh with each other, there is something between them? Why do some people thing that if some person smiles at them, he/she like them? When will we ever get rid of those creepy dads who think that their daughters will fall in love if they ever go to co education system? When will we stop fixing our children's marriage just as they are born? When will we listen to our children about what they want to do with their life and stop bossing on them and asking them to become what we had planned to but could never do it? When will we start thinking that marriage is not about bringing a servant for you with whom you can have sex too? When will we stop shutting up our children with "bachchon kay koi dard nahin hota" if they ever complain about some ill health? When will this society get over from those norms of the 17th century? World is landing "Curiosity" on Mars and we're still beating up women because we don't have an answer to their argument... Call me anything, I don't care if I sound like a feminist here.

Some family shit now that I want to rant about. You can close the page if you want to. Till last year when my father suffered from a stroke, our place used to be a dispute solver. There were days when people stayed till 3 in the night and the disputes ran while I tried to stay away from all that in my room but it somehow reached my ears. It halted for some months as my father started to sleep early but now, it has started again. Any family dispute, they come here, debate and leave. What it does is that there dispute is solved, they live happily but the atmosphere of my home gets distracted. My father never likes it but he never says that too. All that mishap and the following mood swings, I'm at the end of them mostly. I now have this liberty to go out and sit with friends during loadshedding times. At least for a couple of hours, I try to throw it away from my mind but then it's the same story... That will continue for a week or so and somehow I'll have to cope up with it.

There was much much more to rant about tonight but thanks to some songs and a little turn up of events, I started trolling some people and forgot all those things revolving inside my mind. Cheers. :)

Colours of Eid

As I came back from Eid prayers, I saw little girls wearing bright colours and overloaded makeup with twinkling purse hanging while on other hand, little boys with shining glasses and watches roaming around in groups, pushing each other to get to the jhoola first, this is how the scenes have been outside my house on Eid day for the 22 years I have lived here.

Crispy new notes, a stall for (wannabe) Haleem Biryani, Gola Ganda wala, Taangay walay calling children and arguments about who came first to stand their and wait for the camel ride and among them all, are all these jhoolay. This one's my favorite. Doli Wala ♥ I remember, I used to give the person a 10 Rs. note and there I had my doli for 5 turns. That was the advantage of being a heavy fat ass :D The doli only belonged to me while others fought and were somehow managed in the other ones. The awkward tickling as the jhoolay wala is being forced to put in more effort because of the girl singing " Jhoolay walay jhoolay dou" (aagay ka mujhe nahin aata). Oh the memories associated with this ride :'/

Then there were the camel rides and the horse driven carriages (taanga).. Just as I finally got your chance to sit and take a ride, some uncle would appear and ask me to share it with his little son/daughter as the kid was afraid of taking it alone. I always feared the chants of "bhagao, bhagao" because those jumps were awkward and I always got side strain on my thighs and the jumps never helped it.

Please tell me what this white stuff is called.

Between all this,  there was a Pathan bhai with Air shot gun and the balloons, a couple of stalls where around 10 items were set and we were given 5 rings which we can throw at those items and claim them. A huge crowd of kids at the hotel because it was their chance to spend their Eidi on soft drink while no one was watching them at home. Then there was always a person who a little white chewy thing with rainbow colours which was wrapped around a stick and it was delicious. That person also had a lot of amazing stuff like magic stuff and patakhay wali gun.


All three days of Eid, it is like the same just outside my door... All these things takes me back to my childhood and I want to live these moments once again. In fact, I did today. Thanks to some relatives :D
Eid Mubarak everyone =)

21st year

I just turned 22 a couple of days and already feel old. Very old. :/ Anyways, the year ended the way it started. In heartbreak. I thought I'd be done with my ACCA before but the heavens might want me to sit at home for six more months. A couple of days later I turned 21, I had failed in 2 out of 3 exams that I attempted that time and it is the same story this time around too. The only difference, it happened 10 days before my birthday. I may not show it to the world but it's only me who knows how did it feel...

I would not call it the best or the worst year of my life. While recovering from the sorrow of failure and knowing that I had to sit at home for the next six months, I started this. Blogging. (Happy 1st Anniversary to my blog. Yayyyy.) Having secured only 66 marks in O Levels English, (they should have given me 3 more, considering what I did to the English language. If You Know What I Mean) I never thought that I'd be able to write blogs. I was never confident enough. Thanks to my best friend, her proof reading, that I posted my first blog. After writing enough now, I now read those first blogs of mine and feel the lameness in them. I seriously thanks all those people who have been following and (if) read those blogs. Is till make a lot of grammatical errors but I seriously don't care.

Anyways, this blogging led me to become Section Head (Features) at KarachiTips blog and it has been a great experience since then. Our blog team, it is the best. I have made many friends and everyone of them has something special about them. In my partner, I found another best friend. The most mature teenager I have ever talked to.

The year was full of surprises too. I don't know what got into me and I fought with a best friend. Thankfully, she came here to visit and we resumed talking again. Secondly, I went out. If you know what I mean. And the way it happened, people still don't believe me. Thirdly, I was proposed. I had known it for long that the girl had hots for me and one night in February, she said it all. Guess I'm not a Forever Alone anymore.
The saddest part about this year, even more sadder than my results, I lost my great grandmother. She had been ill for so long. For 22 years I've seen her getting ill, fighting it bravely and then travelling all around Karachi to her children and grand children's places. She was the eldest of all who gave me Eidi every year and gift on my Birthday. We used to do little jokes about her falling ill again and again but to be honest, she was the bravest women I have known up till now. I still remember the compliment she gave me last year when she was suffering from stomach problems and I drove her to my grandmother's place. :'(
May Allah grant her Jannah and forgive all her sins if she ever did any.

Among with all these surprises and sorrows, this year has been fun too. With all those friends I have made from KT blog, I have had a really great time. I have gone out with them many times and it has been fun always. Our Twitter conversations have been awesome. Infact, I'm the one who has made most of them to start tweeting. I have found a great place to study. Dolmen Mall. Yeah !! I go there, play a couple of games of Crazy hoop and NFS Carbon and then I sit down to study with either some fried chicken, burger or pizza to accompany me. I started travelling in public buses. It has been one hell of an experience too. Standing all the, sitting in an empty bus or hanging from the door while there was a sandstorm outside, it has been purely awesome. As for my Twitter, Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United player) retweeted me once. I have gained around 200 followers. If you're not even following me, join the awesomeness on the right side ;)

Eid Mubarak and Happy First Anniversary to my blog :D

Ramzan

Ramzan, Ramazan, Ramadan.. Whatever it is. It will always be Ramzan for me. Because that is what we have always heard.

Compared with last year, I know I haven't prayed or respected this month like I did last year. I tried hard to stop swearing but there had been events which had made me use those words. I vowed to not watch movies, I perfectly fulfilled it. Music, sorry I can't leave it. I have heard from those suddenly turned pious Muslims preaching about what will happen to me if I listen to the music while fasting. Somebody needs to tell them to stop swearing after preaching.

Quran. Alhamdulillah, at the moment I'm composing this, I have only one Siparah left and I'll be done with it after the Jumma prayers.

Prayers. Missed one or two of them. last year, I had got that black mark on my forehead. Not this time time though :'(

One thing I couldn't help this Ramzan is to control the pervert inside me. And well, Twitter helped in this cause too. I have suddenly developed this think with Coke. I get high when I drink a couple of glasses. While I had it during Iftar, couldn't help it at all to use double meaning sentences #IfYouKnowWhatIMean.

The only thing because of which I'm proud of myself is that I avoided internet totally on the last 5 odd nights...

Bottom line, time passed with the speed of light. it's already 28th day of Ramzan and Jumma tul Wida'a.. Alvida Alvida Maah e Ramazan :'(