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Exhale!
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” Al-Pacino said that to Andy Garcia in The Godfather III (1990). Then the heart attack. Then that scene – ultimate acting – when his daughter gets shot. Her last word: “Dad?” Not a statement. A question mark. What if she hadn’t even said…
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Lahore, Monsoon & Short Stories
Every day has been a new short story in Lahore’s monsoon. July has been blessed and seduced to an extent that it has been wet for over two weeks now. It’s evening in noon. Again. Other times, it’s dark days and thundering nights. Last night’s drive in the rain was scary to hell, but it…
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Deaths Without Notice
Remember Bret Easton Ellis’s ‘America Psycho’? A novel written in 1991 and a movie made in 2002 with the same name starring Christian Bale. Patrick Bateman, the protagonist who was actually an antagonist, was into murders and executions – not mergers and acquisitions alone – and talked about killing a colleague but no one believed…
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Time Travelling, Book of Walli, Marla & Love
I am interested in time. Not because it is the most valuable gift you can offer to someone or anyone, but also because it is a mystery in itself. It passes through you and leaves the same instant. Leaving behind some scent, some touch, some memories, and nostalgia. Since Walli’s character in the book struggles…
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After War
War has made both sides bonkers. It’s not as clean for your side as you think. And it’s not as ugly for the other side as you mock. But yes, it ended with Pakistan on top. And that’s how you rhyme in war. I was reading Mehdi Hasan’s “Win Every Argument” when the war broke…
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Post Pehalgam
Truth lies beneath. Truth. Lies. Oxymoron. A billion-dollar industry thrives on both sides, selling the same story to their poor, hungry, illiterate, stunted, malnourished, thirsty, diseased taxpayers. The story of more weapons, more military, more missiles, more tanks, more fighter jets, more martyrs, more blood… and more budget. Budget. More. Behind the smokescreen stand the…
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Cholistan Canal Project
Before Cholistan Canal Project, there was a book about such business ventures. Things deteriorated though with the nosediving economy and business environment, but one business industry – a diversified conglomerate – has flourished. Military Business i.e., MilBus. When Ayesha Siddiqa originally published “Military Inc.” in 2007, she was ridiculed not only by the state but…
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God…
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The Movie ‘Chhaava’, Marathas, Mughals & Sub-Continent
After Ranjit Singh’s empire, I have always been fascinated by Maratha and Mysore. But making a movie like “Chaava” is an absolute disgrace to history as well as cinema. In 1526, Babar won the First Battle of Panipat against Ibrahim Lodhi and established the Mughal Empire in India: ending Delhi Sultanate’s rule. But was that…
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PMS & PAS
In private companies and multinationals, The higher you go in the hierarchy, the more you see people who know more. Experts. Doers. Even in negative sense, like those who deal in litigations, know how to drag a case for decades. These people rarely change their industry or field of expertise. So, they keep on growing…