Nawaz: I want Dar to be the Caretaker PM.
Zardari: No. We had SS. Now it’s our turn.
Fazlu: Where’s my turn?
Zardari: You are not playing.
Asim: Decide and let me know. So I may reject.
Dar: Make me the CPM. I will stay neutral. I promise.
Zardari: Will you get the surgery done?
Dar: What for?
Nawaz: To become neutral. Like Bajwa. Don’t be an arse Dar.
Dar: I was serious.
Fazlu: So was I.
Asim: You boys are never serious.
Zardari: But you boys are always serious.
Asim: Don’t taunt.
Zardari: Just don’t make me focus on you boys else I can be a cunning…
Asim: Husband?
Zardari: Father.
Nawaz: Guys! Let us decide this. I am always for synergy. Let’s do it together.
Fazlu: So, am I in too now?
Asim: No.
Dar: And me.
Asim: [on intercom] Escort Dar.
PA: Escorts now?
Asim: Not those escorts bloody well! Take this Dar out of the room.
PA: Sir.
Nawaz: So, let’s final. What do you say Zardari.
Zardari: Let it be Jillani.
Nawaz: Done.
Asim: Ok.
— Next Day — Escorts Room —
Asim: [on phone] It can’t be PPP or PMLN. It should be our BAP. Kakar to be the CPM.
PA: Sir.
Author: Saki Nama
For non-violence to work, the opponent must have Conscience
Those who condemn violence would have condemned Bhagat Singh too. Like Gandhi. He didn’t approve of the revolutionaries.
Without violence, French Revolution wouldn’t have been possible. That same Revolution gave Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.
Napoleon too. But that’s deviation from the topic.
Maximilien Robespierre – known as the incorruptible – was known for his violence. Without his violence, French common people couldn’t have survived.
Che Guevara. Too cool. All his life was based on violent struggle. Apart from his motorcycle diaries.
And the list can go on and on.
Today, people condemn capital punishment. Even for mass murderers and rapists. I don’t. I’m too pro for capital punishment for murderers and rapists. The world is already overpopulated. Let’s get rid of the scums. At least.
A deviation. Again. No apologies.
But such are the scenarios that are too complicated to have an absolute answer. Because there is never an absolute answer.
Today, with social media stuff, and fragile activists with egos and their faces to be known as recipes for clickbait, and podcasts, and noise, and references to the outdated ideas as if they were the holy scriptures… too much…
Much ado about nothing. But their faces and feces that they spit from their mouths. For fame, name and the game.
These ones would have condemned Bhagat Singh, Che Guevara, and others. And we would have been deprived of the beautiful history of struggle of mankind that we have. At least something to cherish in the books. And nostalgia. For the places where we haven’t lived.
So, I can’t condemn. Can’t condemn everything. Because sometimes, when fires are flamed and bullets are fired, in the right direction, with the right aim, I love that. And that’s absolute.
Poles against Polls
Even in martial laws, elections were held. Engineered or faked, but couldn’t be ignored. Such was the power of polls. Against poles.
Ayub held elections in 1962. ‘Defeated’ Fatima Jinnah.
Yahya held elections in 1970. Didn’t like the results. Dissected.
Zia held non-party elections in 1985 to bring Junejo. But Junejo proved to be more democrat than democratic civilians.
Musharraf held elections in 2002. Brought PMLQ. Rhymed so well.
Musharraf, again, held elections in 2008. His tombstone.
And here comes 2023. Elections unconstitutionally delayed in two provinces already. Another unconstitutional delay in General Elections on cards. The devolution from engineered and robbed elections has reached ‘no elections’. So well.
For Now…
3-4 years down the road, PMLN would be facing these laws / amendments that they happily passed in recent days. They will soon be crying, like they did in the past, but then they won’t have anymore support for their crocodile tears.
Some of the seniors would be jailed. By the same powers beyond the judiciaryudiciary. They won’t have as much support as they once had when NS named Bajwa and Faiz in Gujranwala in 2020.
They will again shout and make noise for democracy. And votes. And human rights. And freedom of speech. Blah blah.
And they will be eating their vomit. Again. Without a shame.
That’s also the first political maneuvering that Maryam Nawaz has learnt from her father. That is: when in doubt, lick boots.
PPP will never face such a thing. Since BB, they learned never to stand for democracy. Bilawal roars in the parliament from time to time, for civil supremacy, but that’s an act they perform in theaters only.
Wait. Don’t go. His Highness isn’t finished yet.
If IK will get a chance – somehow or someway – he will do exactly the same things he did to empower boys. He will replace SS and no one will feel a change.
Because this is all we have. These three and the second in tiers – like PMLQ, MQM, BAP, etc. – are all from the same origin. Even LeJ, TTP… leave it. You can’t handle the truth.
Remember the extension? Apart from the 21st amendment of 2015, these politicians never stood united. Except for the extension in 2019. And if you look closely, the two were the same things and these kids were ordered to behave united.
Unite them. Pass the rule. The divide and rule. How cool!
Anyway.
Before you shed another tear for the one in jail at the moment, he never shed any for his fellow parliamentarian – Ali Wazir – who remained in jail for over a year in his tenure. He didn’t give rat’s ass for anyone except himself.
Dead bodies blackmailed him. Never listened to the atrocities that happened in the whole western belt. TTP came back in action. All he did was nothing except to stand with the perpetrators, until tragedy started to emerge in the mirror.
Smoke and mirror. Smokescreen. Too bad.
It’s a repeat telecast. It will happen again. Heroes will become villains. Villains will become heroes. However, in reality, there won’t be any heroes. Only villains. To be ruled by the Lucifer.
Faiz said, hum dekhain gay. Wo din. Jiska wa’ada hai. Hum dekhain gay.
But he missed that there is another promise too. A promise that was made with the Lucifer. To rule the world. With evil and power.
We shall see. For sure. It’s a promise. But we shall not see that to be fulfilled here. Not in this world.
All the Prophets stood for the same. Then all the philosophers too. Thinkers too. Marx brainstormed all his life to make an equal society. Writers. With words. Aimed for justice. Activists. Revolutionists. So many. So more.
Yet, here we are. After thousands of years of struggle, the struggle is exactly the same. With the internet, modern devices, mass transit, banking, modern economics, fast food, globalization, space travel, and everything around us; the struggle for the basics is exactly the same.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to keep going. As incorruptible. As clean. As a person you once read about in a good novel.
That’s all. Till you will be called. To stand up. To turn around. To burn the citadel down.
ProNUNciation
It’s not Cillian as in Sicily. It’s Killian Murphy. As it’s Kylian Mbappe. That’s the pronunciation.
By the way it’s ‘pronounce’ as it is. But when it’s ‘pronunciation’, it’s proNUNciation. Not proNOUNciation. Because it’s not noun. It’s unnoun.
Like in desi ‘fees’ it’s already plural. ‘Feeses’ is not a word. It’s feces. But that’s another world altogether.
That’s the best His Highness could do. Thank goodness he’s not a teacher. Would be His Lowness.
Still want to learn English from the one who doesn’t even know the definitions of adverb and adsense? Or the types of tenses and the tensions they amass?
The Purple Lighter
A story could be written on that particular lighter. A story could be written on each cigarette lit up by that lighter. Then on all the lighters. And all the cigarettes.
But that lighter was purple. Like the book: the color purple. Only one cigarette has been flames by that one. No. Two. Two cigarettes. At the same time with a small interval of time that was passing through the black hole.
And that’s that. No story could be written on that lighter. No more cigarettes to be ignited by this one. It’s going in the archives without any spark. Or flame. Or shadow. Or anyone to blame.
There’s no story.
No touch.
No tip.
No spark.
No tobacco.
Hence, no ash.
Nothing for this lighter.
Only history of an untold story.
Manuscript of Sadness
Sadness is saddening. But lucky are those sad women on whom men write words and pages and books and poems of sadness.
For a sad man, there’s no one. Just like there are words and pages and books and poems on motherhood, but almost nothing on fatherhood.
He would be eating a sandwich on a lone bench in a lone park and someone would take his picture that would make some rounds on social media and that’s all.
Unlucky sad men. They have to write sad words and pages and books and poems for themselves; as well as for women.
No one’s going to write on him except himself. And that’s how, men become a tragedy. Either for themselves or the entire society surrounding them.
میں بھی بہت عجیب ہوں اتنا عجیب ہوں کہ بس
خود کو تباہ کر لیا اور ملال بھی نہیں
Then comes crime. And punishment. And abusiveness. And suicide. And harm. And chaos. And a death. Of a filthy man.
Ideally, everyone should have a manuscript written by someone else. A manuscript written individually for each person by the opposite gender. A manuscript of sadness.
For instance, His Highness writing Marla’s sadness in his words for her in her scenario. Giving his words a voice of hers. Marla would be happy with this sadness. Isn’t it? No. She may not. She may not like a certain chapter of the manuscript and that’s how it would go in vain.
But then, someone would find that manuscript after years or decades and that discarded piece would become a classic piece of literature. With that same chapter to be considered as a magnum opus.
However, the reality of the two remained sad regardless of the millions that publishing houses are going to make on their suffering. Because they… got nothing.
And perhaps you got nothing as well.
Tragic Miss
Being a man is a tragedy. Either for himself or for the society around him.
Being a woman is also a tragedy.
Being a non-binary is another kind of a tragedy.
In fact, being is a tragedy. To be is a tragedy. Only not-to-be is not a tragedy.
Singles are unhappy.
Doubles are also unhappy.
Triples are happy though, but that’s not a long-term setting. Why did I mention that?
Anyway, married ones are definitely unhappy. Everyone’s unhappy. So, everyone is relatable. Socially.
And with that, nothing. I forgot the eulogy. Sorry, epiphany. I forgot the epiphany I had at Jumma. What a miss!
Mint Margarita
One of the biggest modern day robberies in restaurants is of Mint Margarita. They charge as if they are offering Margaret with the Mint. Prices are like Rs.300 or Rs.400 per glass. Some places offer the same for over Rs.500.
All it has is iced water, mint, 7-Up and lemon. Some may add salt. That’s all. After some sips, there’s only ice hitting your brain more than your thirst. But people are obsessive about this particular drink.
Same goes with the lime water. A little cheaper than Mint Margarita but more or less, it’s nothing but a robbery.
Anyway, one has to drink something. Even water isn’t at regular price when you are inside. But still, it’s water. It is what it is. Like – or unlike – Coke.
Dear consumers! There’s no Margaret with Mint Margarita. It’s just iced mint. Stop being obsessive about it. Her.
The Need of Validation
Most of the times, you know you are wrong. Guilty. But still, you want a person to tell you that you are right, and that person is all right with you. Friends usually cover this aspect of life for you. You tell them your state – with or without missing pieces of information that makes you guilty – and they validate it. If they don’t, they don’t stay your friend eventually.
There is a shortage of friends today. So, therapists and psychologists cover this part. In future, Artificial Intelligence is going to cover this superbly with perfect answers that you always wanted to hear. Particularly, when you were wrong.
Friends can go rogue sometimes. They can be honest and lethal by telling you your wrongdoings, which you know already. But the sessions where you pay to be listened will never tell you that you were wrong. It would be idiotic of them to lose a client. A bird. Coming and paying for validations.
With that comes a whole new industry worth billions of dollars. That is going to be modernized from traditional approaches. From informal friendships to formal sessions to AI.
That’s all for ‘validation’. That’s how important it is for the majority of the people. This need has upped with social media and modern devices.
But then there are the crazy ones. Who doesn’t want validations. Even when they are wrong. Some even seek invalidations. Or they are indifferent. And they carry their boats, a little better than others, and keep a low pace towards life. And sometimes, they make an impact too.