Honor among thieves

Alternative media is such a waste of time they say, its neither objective nor credible. This is the line adopted by most mainstream media houses in Pakistan, yes they may  semi court blogging and other alternative media sources, they may encourage it in some limited way but its all eyewash. Its meant to keep the…

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40 rs and a dream Part III

When digests such as  Sabrung were at their peak in Pakistan, they went ahead in every facet of publishing and tried to make them selves better, where they failed though was to successfully convert themselves into an institution. It was the same in my case, as after launching and successfully claiming my spot in the…

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A reason to smile

In Pakistan, we often make the mistake of thinking that the phenomenon of women breaking stereotypes and conquering uncharted terrain is a recent one. However, a conversation with a path-breaking woman such as Nigar Nazar serves as a reminder that the current generation has only had the courage to step out of their comfort zones…

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40 rs and a dream part II

I have in my last entry in these memoirs written about my success and how I came about it in some detail. Let me now reveal to you dear readers the secret behind the success of “Sabrung Digest”. Yes there was a lot of hard worked involved in it and many sleepless nights, but I…

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A midsummers tale

Not to be outdone with all that Pakistan’s cricket board has managed to provide to our nation in the last month or so, thrill wise our boyz are still at it making waves wherever they go. In fact I think its safe to say that no team in the world’s history can come up with…

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LBS tech Episode 1

This is the first official episode of Laid back tech, an offshoot of the Laid back show created and produced by me and Dr Awab. Where the Laidback show focuses on current affairs and politics as well as sport, the tech side will do reviews and I/T geek related stuff in a separate podcast. The…

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40 rs and a dream

I was born to a middle class family in Muradabad, U.P, India on the 10th of March 1940, In those meager but literary surroundings I started my life in this world. Things were much simple then, we did not have the trappings that the youth of today have, but I was fortunate enough to have…

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That’s just not cricket

ALSO PUBLISHED ON THE DAWN BLOG Sub-continental cricket is of a different form than the game played internationally. The rules are the same, yes, but only in this part of the world is cricket treated as a way of life, rather than as a sport. Only here is a cricketer deemed so infallible that fans…

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When we were champions

ALSO PUBLISHED ON THE DAWN BLOG “Hassan Sardar to Kalimullah, Kalimullah takes the ball into the D, he dodges one, two players, he shoots. Kalimullah has just scored a goal for Pakistan in the Olympics” This is an example of some of the voices that are burnt into my memory. Voices from a time when…

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Podcasting into the future

Social media is the hottest hippest thing in Pakistan these days, where every politician wants to twitter with their masses of voters and every social or anti social man, woman or otherwise has to have a face book account. It is so cool these days that every self respecting journalist is lining up to have…

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