THE NEW SEVEN DEADLY SINS

Ladies and gentlemen- THINGS HAVE CHANGED! Gone are the days when honesty was considered the best policy and selflessness was a golden quality. In this era, if your head is not held high with pride, you are stamped with low self esteem; if a business is not run with greed, it will never reach the top, without envy, one will never strive to be superior, ambition as they call it.

I would like to propose the new seven deadly sins, a new amendment, a new history, a new world order! So let's begin.

Deadly sin numero uno: Contentment. If you're happy with who you are and what you have, you will never yearn to be the ace. Without the hunger to improve, my friend, we're as good as dead.

Number two: Humanism. Yes, we are human, but that in no shape or form justifies us being humane! This is a dog eat dog world and if we start tending to every fallen soldier or say starving child, we'll be eaten ourselves! Hypothetically speaking, of course.

Mortal sin number three: Hard work. A wise man once said "work smart, not hard." working hard leaves one tired and with less ‘me’ time. An even wiser woman, Aunty Acid said "Don't take life too seriously, you won't make it out alive anyway."

Deadly sin number four: Tension. Just relax! World hunger? So what? Oil crisis? Pshhhh! Let the 'higher power' deal with it. The only thing stress brings is high blood pressure. You do remember that's how Mumbaz bhai died, right? The poor guy got married. This brings us down to the most horrendous sin of all, number five.

Love: You fall in love and boom, you're a goner. Seriously, folks, love, sins and death are very closely associated. Romeo, poor, naïve kid, fell in love at the tender age of sixteen and had to take poison because he couldn't take Juilet’s  endless rants about how brave Tybalt had been. Love- just DON'T do it!

Sudden death number six: Forgiveness. When you bestow your mercy upon someone, really you're just handing them a loaded gun with a smile on your face. Compassion, I say, is only in the Lord's capacity. Let's leave the tough stunts to the professionals, shall we?

And last but not least, I present to you the seventh deadly sin! The LACK of lust. Now, I can already feel the smiles playing on your lips, sorry to disappoint you but I mean the lust for power. If we didn't have  power hungry people in the world, how would we be blessed with stupendous leaders like C C Patal and good ol' Hitler?

You see, ladies and gentlemen, the world is evolving, we are no longer cavemen using the barter system, the laws of living are no longer to have a conscience. In fact, if you still have one of those, you should probably toss that bad boy out before you enter the real world. Because everyone knows, dishonesty is the best policy.

By: Shaza Malik

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LET'S TALK ABOUT IMRAN KHAN

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan called for widespread civil disobedience in Pakistan, urging supporters to stop paying taxes and utility bills in a bid to oust the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.  The populist politician also raised the stakes- in a speech following a third day of protests in Islamabad, he warned that after two more days he would no longer be able to stop his supporters from storming the prime minister's house.

Today, as I write this article, PTI and PAT supporters have entered the red zone and are staging a sit-in in front of the parliament in Islamabad, while supporters here in Karachi protest near my house. I can hear slogans such as “Naya Pakistan” and “Go Nawaz Go” which frankly speaking have become so over used and clichéd, that they've almost lost their meaning.

Imran Khan, in this situation, is a perfect example of an immature stubborn child with an extremely huge ego. What makes me laugh is the fact that he thinks he has over 1 lakh supporters in the ‘inquilab march’ with him, which is obviously ridiculously over estimated. He came into the political scene with such a boom, but he absolutely failed to deliver. I used to be an Imran Khan supporter but during the past few months, I feel  let down and disappointed. He can’t even seem to deliver a decent speech at his rally, going on for about 2 hours when he announced his ‘civil disobedience’ campaign, as if purposefully trying to drown in the lack of purpose in jargon.

He talks about fairness and ‘true democracy’ in this country, demanding re-elections in every province except KPK where he won the most seats. That just goes to show the double standards of this country’s politicians, who manipulate people for their own personal gain, and hide between slogans of ‘revolution’ and ‘change’. 

Tonight, as all of Pakistan sits glued to their television sets, watching what happens next, I pray that some sense is knocked into PTI and they decide to take up the government’s offer for dialogue; or else it’s highly possible that we’ll see a battle between the supporters and the 30,000 security forces deployed to protect the PM house.

 By: Sana Ahmad 

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THE IFTARI DIARIES: TGI FRIDAYS

                                         I've had better Fridays

Okay- let’s talk about TGI Fridays. A place I’m pretty sure a lot of you have already been to, but maybe not for iftari. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered in that department. Frankly, I was extremely surprised to see the restaurant fuller than dolmen mall a day before Eid when I went there and a little bit grateful that my friends had saved a seat for me. That, and the fact that I travelled via rickshaw (darn those petrol-run ones, cost me a packet), all added to a combined 20 minutes of waiting time AFTER the fast had been opened until I got my food. I can’t really blame them there.

They served a complimentary green chili platter covered in fried golden-brown breadcrumbs and a dip on every table, and ours was no different. They were absolutely delightful at the time, maybe because I was extremely hungry or simply because they weren’t half bad, but too many of those gave me a headache. Don’t let the word chili fool you-  they seemed like a poor excuse for chilies since they were not spicy at all. In fact, if you closed your eyes and ate them, you couldn’t tell them apart from soy beans. So the verdict on the starter would be a 7 out of 10- mainly because of the dip, and because they were free.

During  the twenty agonizing minutes of waiting for my “blackened chicken Alfredo” I took the occasional nibble from my friends’ plates to review them here to give you all a more detailed review of TGI Fridays (once again, you’re welcome). So I tasted the chicken fillet with white sauce and the chicken was very hard, as if I was cutting through a beef steak. However, the outside was crispy, the chicken inside pleasantly moist even though the dish seemed to be unevenly balanced. Since I have tried many chicken fillets that have tasted better, that too at lower prices- maybe a 6 out of 10. Next up was a very  good looking cheese burger- like art on a plate. If only it was as good on the inside as it was on the outside. Like a supermodel with a horrible personality. The beef was dry and bland, and cost a whopping 890 rupees roughly. So I’d rate the burger a solid 5.5 on a scale of 1-10. Burger lovers, there’s a Burger King right next door- I’d advise you to take that route if you’re in a particularly burgery mood.

Now for the dish I actually ordered for myself. Along with the pasta I ordered an electric lemonade as it looked gorgeous on the menu card. Right from the first sip I regretted ordering the blue monstrosity. It had the remnants of lemons, with actual lemons and pineapple chunks bobbling inside of it. Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, there were actual pineapples, in a lemonade. Having dragged myself half way through the very expensive (R.s 275) lemonade I had to request one of the waiters to put it through a blender so  the residue would be gone and only the juice would be left. He obliged and came back with a full glass of clear blue lemonade. He refilled the damn thing. It tasted the same although much easier to drink without the particles getting stuck in the straw. Being the Memon I am, I still completed the lemonade 70% through. Oh how I regretted not ordering a coke. Out of ten? I’d give it a 1.5. With it came my pasta: the plate housed a hefty amount of white spaghetti drenched in creamy white sauce. It tasted decent. Like how I’d expect  pasta to taste. Nothing that blew my mind away. But they ruined the essence of the extremely Italian dish by putting in diced tomatoes which should never be used in fettuccine. They ruined the essence of the Alfredo but the richness of the sauce and the nicely charred texture of the chicken made a nice dish altogether, both presentation and taste wise. Like its complimentary brother, it scored a 7.

For dessert we ordered a brownie with a scoop of ice cream on top. I wasn’t the one who placed the order thus I didn’t catch the name. It was the winner of the day as the ratio of ice cream to brownie was just about right and the coldness of the ice-cream juxtaposing the warmth of the brownie made a nice array of flavors melting in my mouth. The two complemented each other nicely. This also scored the most popular rating which is (you guessed it) a 7.

 This is what TGI Friday’s has to offer. For me, not something to get too excited about, and not a bad place to go to if you’re in the mood to have something different. Located in boat basin, TGI Fridays is just about your average Joe’s. In there it’s always Friday, but for me, it wasn’t. For you, maybe it will be. You’ll be the judge of that. Do try it and let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Happy eating!

By: Mujtaba Khalid

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WITH GOODSIES - AN INTERVIEW

Uzma Saeed, founder and owner of Goodsies, a home run bakery of sorts, sat down with two of Nixor Media's writers to discuss her approach towards the business, further aspirations and what keeps her motivated. 

Q1. Goodsies. It's a name that's cute and warm. What's the inspiration behind its uniqueness?

A lot of people don't know this, but Goodsie is my nickname; a lot of people from my family call me Goods or Goodsie. I wanted to start a page, and I didn't want to use my name, because then it would've been Uzma's Cakes or something, and there are actually quite a few Uzma's who are in this business. I thought, why not Goodsies?

Q2. What kind of reception have you gotten? Do people like the name, or do you think people would prefer that you use your own name?

No, I think people prefer this. It's a brand name, and that's what I was after. I do have issues with people not pronouncing it right. A lot of people call it Goodies! But otherwise, I'm happy with it.

Q3. Cupcakes-  really a unique field to choose as a passion.  What was it that made you want to choose this career? 

I've been into baking all of my life. Since I was eight or nine I helped my mother; an expert baker, by the way. She conducts cooking classes, has written a cook book and goes on TV shows. So my mother is definitely my inspiration.

I've always been into baking rather than cooking. I still, to date, haven't made daal, biryani, qeema and things like that. I make Italian, Chinese, pizza - anything baked. I love baking. I used to make cakes for my children every year for their birthdays, and I used to get great feedback. Things like 'This is better than the best bakery cake we've had ever'.  So I thought 'Why not? I'll just start a Facebook page and see how it goes.'. So I did, and one order led to another. People liked it.

One thing a lot of people have said is that they order from many places, but what they like about my cakes is that they don't just look good, they taste good, too. For me, taste and looks go hand in hand. I mean, how long can you just look at a cake and admire it? You have to enjoy the taste also. It can look amazing, but if it tastes bad, people won't come back to me for another order.

Q4. So with things like sheet buttercookies with coloured icing and double chocolate caramel cupcakes that look like pieces of art, what is your typical approach to the cake making process?

Well, most of the time, people are very specific about what design they want on their cupcakes, so for those orders I make it exactly the way they want it.

Others just tell me it's an anniversary cake and then leave the rest to me. That's what I like.  It gets my creative juices flowing, and that I can have this and that. I might try and deliver on something special about that couple, or maybe try and copy them onto the cupcake.

I love creative freedom. My perfect order would be 'Make me an amazing cake. I'm leaving the design up to you. It's for a this-year-old's birthday'.

Q5. So they give you an empty canvas and leave the rest up to you?

Yeah, it’s like an empty canvas. I actually do love painting on cakes, and literally as well, because I have an art background. I studied at Parsons School of Design.  I studied graphic design. I’m a graphic designer. I worked before I got married, and for a little while after. But when I had my kids I thought that working full time just wouldn’t work out. I needed to be home.

My business actually suits me very well. I’m in my comfort zone. I’m working from home. If I have commitments, I can not take orders for that day.

Q6. So speaking of this comfort zone, we all know you are a wonderful mother and a phenomenal chef. So how do you manage to balance these very different aspects of your life? What’s the secret recipe for making it all come together?

Family comes first. Always. Which is why I’m not taking any orders in Ramadan. I’m heavily booked for Eid and afterwards as well, but not now. My kids are home, and they don’t want to see their mom dedicated to baking all day while they’re fasting. Family comes first and after that everything falls into place. My family is number one and then baking comes at number two.

Q7. So when you have so many flavors, do you feel likes some flavors get more preference than others? What do you think would be you most popular flavor?

Well, I’ve experimented a lot. When I started out I had the basic flavors like chocolate fudge, red velvet, vanilla. Some people said they wanted nuts, so I added caramel walnut and banana walnut, but it was a select few who wanted that. For the majority of people I would say the most popular flavor would be caramel chocolate and vanilla caramel. For people who don’t like it too chocolatey, it’s a vanilla base with a layer of caramel and cream cheese.

Red velvet really was a craze at one time. A lot of people were going for red velvet. One thing I really don’t like about red velvet is the artificial coloring. Although all my flavors, essences and chocolate are from abroad, artificial color and flavor isn't really such a great idea for a cake base.

Q8. What’s the strangest or most difficult order that you have made to date?

There was one order for a Lego Star Wars © themed cake. When I googled it and saw the picture, I was regretting why I took that order in the first place. It was one of the most mind-boggling designs that I’ve had to work with, because of all the lego pieces. In a cake you can’t go into too much detail, because if I had made an actual replica of that it would have taken me a week. There are time constraints that I have to work with. I can’t take 12 hours on one cake.

That said, I’m a detailed oriented person. I like to deliver. I like to give a properly detailed cake, with nothing rough or unfinished. I myself wouldn’t feel good about it.

Another issue is the weather in Karachi. It’s not good for fondant cake. I have to have the air conditioner on 24/7 while I’m working on the cake. If I don’t have it on, the cake starts to melt -- it starts to sweat, and starts to get a wet finish on the outside.

In the summer I dread making fondant cakes, especially if there are power outages. The other day I was working on a three tier cake. Everything was done, and I was waiting for it to set, and then the power went out. No AC. These things are really nerve-wracking for a baker. I have had to cancel orders because there was no power. I need electricity to run my machines. I can’t make the dough and everything else by hand. If there’s a long power outage, sorry, I can’t make your order.

Q9. In recent months, the food industry in Pakistan has boomed. Have you ever considered appearing on shows like Masterchef Pakistan and showcasing your talent to the rest of Pakistan?

I was asked once to come on a cooking show to demonstrate cake-decorating techniques, but coming on TV doesn’t fancy me. I’m a private person; I don’t want to be on television. I prefer it at home. Like I said, I’m in my comfort zone.

Q10. Where do you see yourself and your business 10 years from now?

I can’t really see myself ten years from now, but I do see myself expanding. I see myself hiring more people. Right now this is a one woman show. I do everything from baking to decorating and everything else, which is why I take very limited orders. The main complaint I constantly hear from my clients is that I’m always booked. They always have to order two or three weeks in advance. So yes, I need some hired help.

As far as an outlet is concerned, I don’t see that in the near future, quite frankly, because I like the personal touches on my cakes. I’m a perfectionist for the taste and the decor, and if I do this on a commercial basis I think somewhere along the line something will suffer.

Q11. So you think that going all out commercial would result in Goodsies losing what is special about it and its true essence?

Yes. I want to bake and decorate the cakes myself. For other things I can have hired help do, like help me with some aspects of decoration, but everything else I need to do myself.  I guess I’m a control freak that way, because I need to have control over quality.

Q12. For people who are starting their own businesses and trying to pursue their dreams, what advice would you give them?

No matter what you do, you have to give it your 101%. That is my advice for anyone who wants to make it in their career. You can’t be laid back and say ‘I’ll give it 50% and then things will fall into place.’. There are no shortcuts and no easy way to success. People who think that success comes easy are absolutely wrong. It is actually a lot sweat and hard work to achieve anything.

By: Adeel Pasha and Humza Hemani

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KARACHI'S CIRCULAR RAILWAY

Karachi is big. This one city has more people than dozens of countries, packed into an area smaller than your typical tropical island. In other words, it's the perfect recipe for mindblowing traffic jams.

Karachi is the largest city on Earth without some kind of government run mass transit system—not even buses. That means that if you want to get anywhere too far to get to by foot, you have to deal with the private transport sector, which has turned moving people into a business. Travel is usually subsidized in megacities to boost commerce and productivity, but here those involved are bent on making travelers pay as much as possible.

Believe it or not, Karachi once had a very successful transit system—the Karachi Circular Railway. Established in 1969, the system was a quick success and actually made a profit during the 1970s and 1980s, with 6 million riders per year. Unfortunately, like many government run enterprises, the system fell prey to mismanagement and bribery from the private transport sector, and started making losses during the early 1990s, eventually closing in 1999.

Recently, however, the government has decided to revive the railway line, which starts near Karachi Port and ends at the Drigh Road flyover, by Shah Faisal Colony, running through Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Liaquatabad, Nazimabad, SITE, Baldia, Lyari and Kharadar. There will be 23 stations, and after completion the track expects to see 700,000 commuters a day. An additional track will also be constructed to Jinnah International Airport.

Surprisingly enough, finances will probably not be a major problem for the Railway: Japan agreed to loan Rs. 2.5 billion for the project, which covers more than 90% of the cost. What may pose a problem is land encroachment, as buildings have been built far too close to the track for safety. An 83 foot wide corridor is to be cleared before operations begin.

Hopefully this time around we won't see the private sector take the project down. The railway will add much needed relief to Karachi's monstrous traffic problems, but will by no means fix it. For that, the railway needs to be extended into a comprehensive metro system, like those already existing in other cities Karachi's size. It'll be a long while before that happens, but the revival of the KCR will be a good start in creating a functional transport system for Pakistan's largest city.

By: Humza Hemani

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THE BLIND MAN'S GARDEN: A REVIEW

In Nadeem Aslam’s haunting new novel, beauty and pain are intimately entwined. The novel starts in late 2001 and takes place largely in Pakistan, though some sections are again set in the newly invaded Afghanistan. Elderly Rohan, eventually the blind man of the title, his vision gradually dimming, founded an Islamic school called Ardent Spirit with his wife Sofia. After her death he was forced out as the school became intolerant, a virtual nursery of jihad, but continues to live in the house that he built on the same site.

Before the main characters are properly developed, a minor figure is introduced who administers a dose of symbolism in the book. He is the “bird pardoner” who sets up snares in the trees on Rohan’s garden and traps the birds to set them free so he can get their prayers. Then there’s also a mendicant who goes around wrapped in hundreds of chains. The idea is that each link represents a prayer, and disappears as Allah grants it.

Unprotected by the gorgeousness of Aslam's language, the story is potentially novelettish or TV movie-like: two foster brothers (Rohan's son and a boy raised with him) in love with the same woman run away to war. The adventures they face and their family waiting in anguish stretches the storyline a bit. Rohan’s daughter Yasmin is also introduced later in the book and fails to develop as a character in her own right.  Perhaps Aslam did this deliberately, as marginalization of females is demonstrated by "a framed family tree that displays only the names of the males" and is a recurring theme in the book.

Like Nabokov, Aslam, whose mother tongue is Urdu, came to English as an immigrant. He learned it as a teenager, copying out the whole of Moby-Dick and Blood Meridian to expand his vocabulary. His prose are armed with allusions to history, literature, religion, science, and nature; which made many chapters of the book a delightful read.

All in all, The Blind Man’s Garden is an impressive piece of literature which captures the calamitous effect of ‘war on terror’ in a way that is magically realistic and definitely gripping.

By: Sana Ahmad

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WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR GAZA

Social networking sites are overflowing with enraged posts speaking up for Gaza. Blaming people for inaction, coaxing people into action, almost every fifth post is somehow commenting on the issue, and rightly so- the atrocities have continued for too long and so has the silence. However, realistically speaking, none of these posts are furthering the mission to save Gaza than those who they blame for silence. So what do we do? Frankly, from my Newsfeed, it seems as if nothing “can” be done other than changing my display picture or uploading a status. Thankfully, that is not the truth.

Before we examine the range of ways we have for helping Gaza, we need to first discuss those that are barely helping, if at all. Changing our profile pictures and status updates that support Gaza, serve the same purpose, that of showing solidarity. They speak out against the horrific violation of human rights and demand justice for innocents. Sadly, these posts and/or pictures create a ripple effect so small, that it is almost negligible. Mass cyber protest is definitely a possibility, just a very distant one with very little chances of making any difference at all.

Boycotting products that are US/Israel related is sadly ineffective too, in fact it’s self-damaging. First of all, the proof of any particular company funding the Israeli government is very little and in most cases debatable. Secondly, most of the products that are allegedly funding violence in Gaza, are owned by innocent Pakistanis, here at home. Our boycott which will probably not even deal enough damage to a multi-national company would definitely make a fellow Pakistanis life hard, if not miserable. In other words, we cause ourselves difficulty by boycotting products that can barely be proven guilty of funding Israel, while dealing almost no damage to the real aggressors, if they are aggressors at all.

 “..the least and all we can do to show our solidarity for the people of Gaza is protest on social media…”

 Thankfully that’s not true. Countless organizations are collecting money for donations for Gaza through websites, some of these are either collecting money to provide medical or rehabilitative aid to the victims of the Israeli violence like the “UNRWA” which supports around 5 million Palestinians, “Save The Children” which works specifically for the betterment of the Palestinian children, “Muslim Aid” which specializes in helping Muslim victims of disasters or human rights violations, all over the globe and has launched the “Gaza Emergency Appeal” project to specifically help those in Gaza.

 Other organizations are collecting funds to send in terms of social activists that are ready to endanger their lives in order to carry out mass -peaceful- protests in the region. It sounds dangerous and it is, yet these groups are not ready to let that stop them from helping those in need. If they can risk their lives, then the least we can do is support them monetarily if not physically. Such initiatives include the “Free Gaza” organization and “Gaza Ark”.

These are only some of the projects currently underway for the betterment of the Palestinians, and while we all want to do all that we can for those currently being tortured in Gaza, we should not donate blindly, lest a website is fake. That’s why I would personally suggest spending some time researching about the organization you are donating to, especially if it’s online.

Besides these initiatives, all of us can pray for those in Gaza, and moreover we can abstain from spreading hate between the Palestinian and the local Jewish communities of Israel. Palestinians have been subjected to war and suppression for years on end; the crimes against them definitely surmount any justification that the foreign authorities will ever be able to provide, but these people are trying to forge bonds with the local Jewish communities in Israel. Justice for Gaza is imperative but so is peace in that region, anti-semitic posts will eventually destroy any chance there is for peace to be reached in that region. Our anger is justified but we cannot forget who the enemy is, and it is certainly not the local Jewish in Israel, it’s the authorities. Our efforts should be focused to help those in Gaza not only for now, but for the future as well, without peace there is no future for Gaza, and without harmony, there is no peace.

Good thing is, it doesn’t end here. Rather than sharing photos of brutalized children, we can spread the message of all those organizations that are currently helping those in Gaza, not only does it show our solidarity for our brothers and sisters, speaks out against the mayhem created by the Israeli authorities, but it has the potential of changing the lives of millions.

By: Rabab Ahsan

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