Category: Lahore

Lahore, Published Features, Published Work, The Friday TimesLeave a comment

Alcoholics Anonymous

imadahmed

Imaduddin Ahmed | The Friday Times Sadaqat clinics fill a neglected niche in the medical world “Why are you running ads on curing alcoholism when alcohol is banned in the Land of the Pure,” wrote in one inquisitive reader. Why indeed? I decide to set up an appointment with Dr Sadaqat Ali, project director of the Sadaqat Clinic, to find out. I am invited to the flagship institution of Sadaqat Clinic, Willing Ways, in Gulberg, Lahore. Formally dressed and sitting in an upright manner, Dr Sadaqat looks every bit the sober professional. And it appears that the impression has truth … Continue reading Alcoholics Anonymous

Lahore, Pakistan, Published Features, Published Work, The Friday TimesLeave a comment

Degrees of mediocrity

imadahmed

Imaduddin Ahmed | The Friday Times Pakistan’s newest university has a campus in cyber space Mention ‘online university’ and conjure up images of illiterate Pakistani politicians with degrees worth as much as their rhetoric, earned by exercising a MasterCard. This is an image that Universitas21Global will fast overcome. New marketing challenges, however, await the online graduate university, entering the “ripe and promising” Pakistani market (words Dr Murkesh Aghi, “CEO” of Universitas21Global). A stream of examinations can ease readers’ minds that paying one’s way won’t be enough to earn a certificate with this university, whose flagship courses are its MBA and … Continue reading Degrees of mediocrity

Lahore, Pakistan, Published Features, The Friday TimesLeave a comment

Search and thou shalt find

imadahmed

Imaduddin Ahmed | The Friday Times BNU’s School of Visual Design provides vocational training to artists; it also offers a liberal arts education and the promise of an educated, cultivated citizenry Lahore is touted as Pakistan’s cultural capital and if you’ve visited danka.com.pk, you’ll see why. Information about the where and when of art exhibitions, lectures, music recitals, theatre and dance performances reveal that seldom is there an evening without a cultural event in our midst. One such event that I took a visiting college friend to was the end of semester show at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) … Continue reading Search and thou shalt find

Lahore, Pakistan, Published Features, The Friday Times, Women's rightsLeave a comment

You are what you eat

imadahmed

Imaduddin Ahmed | The Friday Times A holistic vision of health, identity and ethical farming Developments in the laboratory have enabled cultivators to grow more food for the world’s burgeoning population, but at a cost. People in the developed world have been worrying about health hazards associated with pesticides, nitrate fertilisers and (genetically modified) GM crops. All these are believed to be linked with cancer, damage to the environment and other health problems. This consciousness has spread all over the world; regrettably, unhealthy eating is not as big a concern in Pakistan as it should be. But things are changing, … Continue reading You are what you eat

Lahore, Published Features, The Friday TimesLeave a comment

Legging it

imadahmed

The Friday Times | Feb 13, 2006 Imaduddin Ahmed The Lahore Marathon: a day of mixed success It was ‘Run Lahore Run’ day and I had run out of run. I was walking to complete the 5km ‘Fun Race’. With me was a motley collection of retired army officers, schoolboys in tight jeans and open slippers and other slim but struggling young men, also getting a reality check about their fitness levels. As I approached the finish line, I heard young men cheering in the distance behind me. I could guess the cause – my friend Jacqueline Fellner, who had … Continue reading Legging it

Lahore, Pakistan, Published Features, The Friday TimesLeave a comment

Marx out of ten

imadahmed

The Friday Times | Jan 3, 2006 Imaduddin Ahmed Why Pakistani communism lags behind India’s – an encounter with Taimur Rahman “Marxist” is not a term of abuse in India, at least not to the voting majority in West Bengal or Tripura where the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), currently holds government, or to its over 800,000 paying, participating and versed members. The CPI(M), also a dominant force in Arundhati Roy’s Kerala, is only one of several communist parties in India and boasts to be India’s third strongest party in the national parliament. CPI(M) Marxism is an institution … Continue reading Marx out of ten

Lahore, Pakistan, Published Features, The Friday TimesLeave a comment

Making it happen

imadahmed

“I thought this was a dead nation, but the earthquake has woken us up. Everybody is doing what they can. You can see collection points on every chowk. Even children are collecting door-to-door and contributing pocket-money,” commented my dentist, a few days after the earthquake. An NGO executive had a different perspective: “People have been surprised at the activism of ordinary Pakistanis in the wake of the earthquake. But we have known this for a long time; indeed, we’ve relied on the activism of civil society. Our paid staff can only do so much; we wouldn’t be able to run … Continue reading Making it happen

Lahore, Pakistan, Published Features, Published Work, The Friday Times, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Preaching to Osama

imadahmed

I was at my biweekly Urdu class before work with Dr. Safia at a fly and police-infested canteen next to my office. Batting away a fly from her left eye, her lip, her cup of tea, Dr. Safia turned her eyes slowly to me. She gave me the stern look that a discontent anthropologist gives paying students when she wants to scuttle off for a cigarette and spend the rest of the day in the depths of her own mind. She pointed to an adolescent with a fluffy beard. “Speak to that one. He will give you good practice.” I … Continue reading Preaching to Osama