Too hot for sci-fi?
From the Blog PkColumnist.com: Too hot for sci-fi? - My bottle-palm died on me today. Yesterday was hot and humid, so I put it out on the balcony. Last night the temperature in New Jersey plummeted killing my plant instantly. I had nurtured it for full two years, celebrating each new shoot that it sprouted; making sure it caught the winter sun all through the frigid months. The weather here has given me the willies – woolies one moment, air conditioning the next. Like the weather, the American media seems to have gone bi-polar. Open the newspapers and the front page stories are of gays openly accepted in the military, in college, committing suicides when discovered, getting married, holding parades in New York, being bashed by politicians or coming out of their closets. Life for a straight guy, it seems has no space in the media nowadays, whether cyber, electronic, or print. That's fine with me I say, and thank the Good Lord that I don't have a teenager on whom I must clamp down parental controls. But any ordinary day from the vagaries of climate change to sexual orientation is enough for one to wonder if this stuff maybe is too hot for science fiction. Where is America heading? I for one am lost. To change the taste (in my mouth) I switch to Pakistani channels. But before that, with great anticipation I open the day's newspapers on the web. Now, now, column after column, angry statements, warnings, allegations, appeals, threats, invectives and revilement accompanied by bad news like the country facing a severe financial crisis or the NROed president appointing 'his own man' as NAB chief to catch the corrupt and the wicked of the land or the PML pinheads asking the president to return his looted money (it's pot, kettle, black) and apologising to the people or the apex court judges rushing for midnight marathons to save themselves from being made non-functional by the prime minister and the latter swearing he will never take such a step (though he and his president are known for not sticking to their promises). One day we have the apex court insisting that Barrister Kamal Azfar, elevated by the prime minister to a ministerial post as our saviour during national disasters (he's quit since), argue the NRO case on behalf of the government and the next day we learn of poor Sardar Latif Khosa having to resign at midnight as the PM adviser to stand in for Azfar. The mind goes into a spin. As if this was not enough, enter the fire-breathing Chaudhry Nisar into the political circus with his skinny frame and a huge head of hair (is it for real?). More fire and brimstone columns later, we learn that Chaudhry sahib plans to start a long march if the newly-appointed NAB chairman is not sent packing. Wait…there's more juice coming… lo and behold, he threatens to reveal the contents of the letter that the president's head doctors in New York wrote saying that their patient suffered from mental ailment due to long incarceration with the result that his memory seemed to go blank. He could not even remember his wife's birthday. Doesn't Mr Nisar know that the internet is a great 'tool' where nothing is hidden? He need not bother wasting his or our time spilling the contents as they are already posted on the net. As unsolicited advice; the opposition leader may need to spruce up his web-surfing skills so that in future he does not make such infantile statements. London calling, London calling…listen to the gems Mr Altaf Hussain gives us every day. But before that his governor in Sindh cries foul and puts in his resignation. No, no, no, says the president. Come quick to Islamabad. He comes and goes. He takes back his resignation. Wow! What magic wand did the president wave for the governor to change his mind? Welcome to the world of fairy tales. . Read Full Post
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