Dr Ayaz Qureshi

I preferred travelling 400 miles from Islamabad to my village in DG Khan by car. The journey took around 12 hours when there were no motorways. Now it takes more like 8 hours. We used to do it in daytime for safety and better visibility. Roads were narrow, with lots of potholes and incoming traffic including carts, motorbikes and bicycles.  Sometimes, it was convenient to take a bus which usually ran in the night. Daewoo buses were thought of as a better service because, for the first time in Pakistan, they introduced a ‘hostess’ onboard who offered you a cold drinks and snacks. Some passengers saw them as a source of entertainment, starring at at them for timepass, or trying to be unduly friendly by offering their phone numbers or soliciting unwanted conversations. Others asked for many cup of coke or water just to make themselves feel pampered by a young lady. Some passenger even touched and groped them as they went past their seats in the aisle - yes that is sickening!  The...

Ghulam Farid was the brightest kid in his year of the village school where I went. All kids have their gifts; his was calligraphy and folklore, especially a poetic rendition of a quarrel between a man's wife and his mother. He used to have the whole school spell-bound when he recited this one. He was equally bright in reading and writing. His favourite pastime was to memorize spellings of long English words which he then challenged the rest of us to match.  His father was a carpenter. Farid couldn't continue his school beyond year 10 (only a few of us were fortunate enough to do that). He became the village ‘painter’, making his living from his calligraphy skills, preparing billboards, banner, posters or simply painting colourful slogans on walls for local politicians. He made a good living out of his hobby and was very well known and respected for that. But then came the ‘panaflex’ – the computerised printing of billboards. Farid was out of work for sometime, then he be...