Kaka likely to join Manchester United in January 2011
From the Blog Globalnewsbulletin's Blog: Kaka likely to join Manchester United in January 2011 - Brazilian superstar Kaka is likely to join Manchester United in a shock loan deal this month which could lead to a permanent 50 million pounds move. The Brazilian superstar midfielder has been heavily linked to a move to Inter Milan with Real Madrid wanting 50 million pounds. Chelsea, too, is seriously interested in grabbing the . Read Full Post
Al Meezan Announces Interim Dividend for MSF, MCF and MIIF
From the Blog Globalnewsbulletin's Blog: Al Meezan Announces Interim Dividend for MSF, MCF and MIIF - Al Meezan Investment Management Limited (Al Meezan) is pleased to announce the second interim dividends for its three fixed income funds: Meezan Sovereign Fund (MSF) – Rs. 0.65per unit, Meezan Cash Fund (MCF) – Rs. 1.25 per unit and Meezan Islamic Income Fund (MIIF) – Rs. 1 per unit. Fund Dividend (Rs.) per unit % . Read Full Post
My story in code words
From the Blog PkColumnist.com: My story in code words - I fully sympathise with the people who choose to become journalists in Pakistan. I mean, if an extremely middle-of-the-road columnist like me, who is not even a real journalist and has zero drive to change the world, can be intimidated and harassed by the intimidators who take offence, what must not be happening to people who are real journalists and write real stories to change the real world. My textbook on journalism says that three things happen to people when they cross the line into the world of the media: a. they become famous, b. they earn money, c. they make contacts. A few months ago, when I started writing a column, three things happened to me as well: a. I lost my job, b. I earned nothing for five consecutive months, c. instead of making contacts, I got contacted. The tale of how I lost my job has already been told, so I will not repeat it here. But the only good thing about losing one's job for being stupid enough to write openly in a newspaper is that you are able to carry the affront like a war wound. You can play the victim and go about impressing people with stories of your martyrdom. Prospective employers love this story, and would instantly hire you if you know how to tell it right. Be careful about revealing the content of your writing, though. One wrong move and there is a strong possibility that the war wound might turn around and cause some serious harm to your unemployed posterior. As for earning nothing for five months, well it's not exactly true. I mean, if you count what newspapers pay their columnists, then you do manage to earn enough to buy yourself a bagel once a year. So if you convince yourself that your writing prowess is invaluable and nobody has the right to measure your weekly intellectual capacity in terms of money, then I assure you there is a chance you can lull yourself into a state of self-created contentment. The other option is to think in terms of how refined food is bad for health, and how you are better off with having your bagel once a year, and not more. The logic might be a little skewed in this particular argument, but, hey, when you are earning in bagels, who cares about logical fallacies, any way. The latest straw in this bucket of most unfortunate events in my post-column writing life was when I was contacted. A call was made to me a few days ago. The purpose of this call was to harass and intimidate me for writing something in a column that hurt the ego of a big-shot. Please understand that as I write these words I do feel harassed and intimidated, and second thoughts about every word I write are crossing my mind. I cannot mention the name of the person who called. Nor can I tell you the full story in detail. In fact, I will skip the story altogether, and come to the point. But, wait, the point cannot be made unless the story is told. So let's tell the story, but in such a way that no more egos are hurt, and no more calls are made. Just to clarify my strategy, I will be using code words in order to protect myself from more war wounds. So here it goes. BRRRR. The phone rings. I pick up. "Yes. This is about the nonsense you write in the newspaper." Says a voice. "Excuse me?" I enquire. "Yes, the nonsense you have written in a newspaper about my goat (code word)." "Excuse me, The Caller Person, thank you for calling. But, in my defence, I never used the name of your goat. So nobody knows it was your goat I was talking about." "Do you think I care about the trash you write?" fumed the voice again. "Do you think anybody cares about the trash you write? In fact, nobody I know has ever read you. Nobody even knows who you are." "So that solves your problem, doesn't it? Why are you still so worried, then?" I asked. "Because everyone knows who you ARE," said the voice again. "The whole Lahore knows who you are and which goat you are talking about. How could you do this to me?" Needless to say, the conversation continued in the same vein for the next fifteen minutes. There was some more bickering and scolding, allegations were made against my own goat-keeping skills (code word again), and I was threatened with promises of "I will go to the press and tell them what an untrained terrible goat you are yourself." All this while I made notes on a cereal box and waited for my chance to counter the argument. But by the time I was ready with a defence line under the heading called "Choco Pops," the caller had hung up on me without letting me pop a single choc (or was it choc a single pop?) Some of you might be confused with the code words in my story. But please understand that there is an implication of consequences if I go beyond this revelation and tell you more about the goat. I have a stake in the caller's goat; thus I have no choice but to confuse you with this nonsense. And this precisely is my point here. If an extremely non-partisan mere columnist like me is forced to think twice before writing about ordinary goats, what must not be happening to the journalists who break real stories about extraordinary goats? . Read Full Post
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