AUGUST 25-31 2013
AUGUST 25-31 2013
Feature
Six Degrees of Restoration Two out of 12 historic gates are being repaired in Lahore
Cover Story
The Secretary Behind her desk, she sees all, knows all but is rarely ever heard
30
Art
Cheap Shot Pakhtun kids invent their own games
32 Feature
34
24
4
Give them
Wings
A little bit of technology can ensure girls don’t skip school one week every month
Regulars
6 People & Parties: Out and about with the beautiful people
37 Review: From books to movies 42 Tech: To Protect and Serve
Magazine Editor: Mahim Maher and Sub-Editors: Dilaira Mondegarian and Sundar Waqar. Creative Team: Amna Iqbal, Essa Malik, Jamal Khurshid, Samra Aamir, Anam Haleem, Munira Abbas, Faizan Dawood. Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Executive Editor: Muhammad Ziauddin. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi. For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk Twitter: @ETribuneMag & Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ETribuneMag Printed: uniprint@unigraph.com
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Mani, Nusrat and Iqra Mujahid
Cambelina and Mani
Farah Iqra and Zara PHOTOS COURTESY FACTOR HUB
Outfitters launches its first flagship outlet in Karachi
Nisa
6
Sandra with a friend Abeer Adeel AUGUST 25-31 2013
Huda and Faisal
AUGUST 25-31 2013
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Janie Liang and Saleha
Manisha and Aartivijay
Shadab and Muznah
Aisha and Sahar Kashif
8
Mehwish AUGUST 25-31 2013
Myra Rupaney
Misbah Mehta and Chetna
PHOTOS COURTESY SAVVY PR AND EVENTS
Anjalee and Arjun Kapoor fashion house host a one-day sale in Dubai
AUGUST 25-31 2013
PEOPLE & PARTIES BodyBeat Productions organises a prize distribution ceremony for ‘Champion Abhi’ in Karachi
Naheed Ali, Hasan Rizvi and Anoushay Ashraf
Imran Afzal and Aizah Ashraf
Nasir Jamshed and Sumaira Kamil Hamad Azam
Maliha Subhani
Nazia Ahmed
Mohammad Irfan
10
Mehreen AUGUST 25-31 2013
Wahab Riaz
Roomana
Zeeshan
Kashif
AUGUST 25-31 2013
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Mr and Mrs Asad
Mrs Farooq Azam
Pareha, Mishi and Sonia
Dr Rukia and Abida Parveen
12
Mr and Mrs Khawaja Giasuddin AUGUST 25-31 2013
Mrs Mudad
Ali And Shireen
PHOTOS COURTESY NUCLEUS EVENTS AND PR
Abida Parveen celebrates the first anniversary of her art gallery, AP Gallerie, in Islamabad
AUGUST 25-31 2013
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Mona, Sania and Maheen
La Chantal displays its Eid collection in Lahore
Resham and Chanda
Risalat
Sidra and Zara Sania and Rabia
14
Beenish AUGUST 25-31 2013
Fatima and Seher
Zainab and Mahi
PHOTOS COURTESY SAVVY PR & EVENTS
Maliha, Puppal and Sadia
AUGUST 25-31 2013
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Noore and Saba
Barira and Sidra PHOTOS COURTESY SAVVY PR & EVENTS
Saadia
Nabia and Rabia
Amna, Amal and Minni
Saba
Farah and Saira
16
Andaleeb Abbas AUGUST 25-31 2013
Arooj and Dr Shahida
Palwasha and Faiza
AUGUST 25-31 2013
PEOPLE & PARTIES Ensemble displays its multidesigner Eid collection in Karachi
Tena
18
Sadia
Fauzia Kasuri
Tabassum, Sana and Hina AUGUST 25-31 2013
Shezray and Ayesha
Maheen and Amber Rauf PHOTOS COURTESY LOTUS PR
AUGUST 25-31 2013
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Shehrnaz Ayesha
Benny and Maheen
Daulat
Faiza and Maha
Seher
20
Hameer, Aneseh, Anam and Hassan AUGUST 25-31 2013
PHOTOS COURTESY LOTUS PR
AUGUST 25-31 2013
AUGUST 25-31 2013
AUGUST 25-31 2013
COVER STORY
Maharukh Bhiladwala President of Distinguished Secretaries Society of Pakistan and Association of Secretaries and Administrative Professionals in Asia Pacific. She has been in the secretarial profession for the past 47 years.
24 AUGUST 25-31 2013
Behind her desk, she sees all, knows all but is rarely ever heard BY SARAH MUNIR DESIGN BY MUNIRA ABBAS
If TV shows were any indication of reality, every secretary would be a rubenesque redhead, flitting around the office in a tightly zipped skirt and even more tightly guarded secrets. She would be a master of the moment — sultry and gregarious behind closed doors but impenetrable and aloof in public. She would be discreet and immaculate, with never a hair or emotion out of place. She would always be sexually superior but intellectually inferior — on television only, that is. But life is not an episode of Mad Men and sexy stereotypes do no justice to the women (and men) who were regarded as the highest vertebra in the backbone of a company. The profession has changed with computer technology, good secretaries are hard to come by today and perhaps it is not considered a career path any more. Even the word ‘secretary’ has been replaced with the more politically correct ‘administrative or office assistant’. But as some of the old guard will tell you, they still take immense pride and prefer being called a secretary. “[As a child] I remember Jacqueline being the first one to walk into [my father’s] office,” says Bilal Hameed, a private textile businessman in Lahore. “She was this super-organised, stern woman. You know, the kind you can never imagine [as ever once being] young.” Jacqueline worked with his father for nearly 24 years but once she retired, Bilal says his father never found a replacement who could fill her shoes. “They kept coming and going.” In Karachi, Pakistan’s financial capital, Parsi and Christian secretaries were and still are regarded as having set the gold standard. Some of them are still around but several factors have contributed to a drain on the profession. Aside from retirement and death, the general exodus of this non-Muslim demographic in reaction to the slow creep of ‘Islamisation’ from Ziaul Haq’s time has had the corollary effect. And thus, while women such as Maharukh Bhiladwala, Goretti Ali and Caroline Charles, all secretaries with decades of experience, still rule the carpeted corridors of multinational companies few of their caliber remain.
25 AUGUST 25-31 2013
COVER STORY Limited options “When we entered the workforce, the options for women were limited. You could either be a teacher, nurse or a secretary,” says Goretti Ali, who has been a secretary for 34 years. Since teaching did not pay well and being a nurse required a different kind of commitment, she chose to follow her sister’s footsteps and took her first job as a typist at the age of
1979: The Executive Committee for Distinguished Secretaries Society of Pakistan.
17. Training involved a few months of typing and shorthand classes after school and a lot of learning on the job. During the 1970s, many women went to a school run by the St Patrick’s social welfare society on the grounds of the cathedral. Today a good secretary can ask for as much as Rs75,000 but Mahrukh Bhiladwala used to go home with Rs80 per month 47 years ago. That is by no means a measure of success, for to-
1971: A typing school run by St Patrick’s Social Welfare Society in Karachi.
day she is the president of the Distinguished Secretaries Society of Pakistan, a voluntary organisation that provides professional support to secretarial members across Pakistan. Inevitably though, as other professions such as architecture, human resources and banking opened up, the charm of a secretarial job began to fade. “Back then, there was a lot of glamour and a certain persona associated with being a top executive’s secretary,” she says. “Now young girls don’t want to [take] a line which is by nature a subordinate profession — where you always have to report to someone else.” They would rather be in jobs where someday they can be the boss.
26
The making of a good secretary Typing, maintaining a filing system, taking shorthand, and answering the telephone were the basic skills that every secretary needed when Goretti Ali entered the profession during the 70s. But naturally, it spirals out to include making travel arrangements, or even, in some cases booking wedding halls
details and seemingly unimportant tasks that they have to take care of, but if you can do that with a smile, you are perfect for the job.” A good secretary also has stamina. For many, a regular day starts at 7:30 am and ends around 7 pm. “The concept of a 9 to 5 day is outdated,” says Biladwala. “There is no such thing.” But it can also be a nerve-wracking job in which there is no
1978: Presenting certificates of attendance to the Pakistan secretarial delegation in Singapore. or finding a vet for the boss’s pet. Scheduling the boss’s time is one of the biggest duties. “You need to have enough of a mind to be able to tell the real [deal] from the chaff,” adds Bhiladwala, stressing the need for a firm but pleasant demeanour. “Everyone wants to see the boss — it is your job to decide whether this person is worth your boss’s time.” But with this power comes greater responsibility. The former head of an advertising firm recalled the loss of an eight-million-rupee account 16 years ago because the secretary flubbed up on the day’s list. He went out to lunch and she forgot that a major ice-cream company’s executives were slotted in for a visit. Good people skills and the ability to communicate properly with your boss were the bedrock of the profession as was the understanding that as a secretary you were the “the face of the organisation” as Ali puts it to emphasise what they considered one of their weightiest responsibilities. “Patience is the biggest aspect of it,” says Saleem Khan, a private businessman in Karachi. “There are a lot of small
“Along with the skills and personality, you need to have enough of a mind to be able to tell the real [deal] from the chaff. Everyone wants to see the boss, it is your job to decide whether this person is worth your boss’s time,” Maharukh Bhiladwala
COVER STORY room for histrionics no matter how badly your day has gone. Bhiladwala’s formula was a restrained one: When a day gets out of control, I just close the door, jump up and down for a few minutes and mumble a few things. If you [happen to] walk into the room two minutes later, you will never be able to figure what I was doing.
Evolution of the job
1990: Arnawaz Desai was the secretary to the MD and CEO of BOC Gases for more than 20 years.
1995: Goretti Ali during the early years when most offices were transitioning to computers.
1995: An office gathering at Mackinnon Mackenzie & Co.
28 AUGUST 25-31 2013
Before computers invaded the office, the typewriter was a secretary’s best friend but also her worst enemy at times. “I remember the days when we sat with six, seven sheets of carbon paper and typed away, as the keys went tick-tick and the carriage went clackety-clack,” says Bhiladwala. “And God forbid, if there were calculations involved…. you had to sit across a person who read off the numbers from a paper while you ticked [them off].” Goretti Ali recalls how excited they were when they first found out that they could save a line on the electric typewriter. As the world became more tech-savvy, the women invested in computer classes and gradually mastered the device. From manually memorizing the commands of the early disk operating systems to learning to create immaculate spreadsheets on Microsoft Excel, these women struggled but learnt all the skills needed to stay relevant in their field. As bosses started to manage their own schedules with the help of laptops and handheld devices, the nature of the secretary’s job changed. “Now a secretary can’t be just a secretary,” emphasises Caroline Charles. “She has to know a little bit of finance, HR and administrative work if she wants to secure her job.” She is one of the relatively younger entrants to the profession and her work entails all of the above. Not just the job, but the way they dressed for it also changed with time. Previously they enjoyed a reputation for being sharply dressed in all kinds of clothes from trousers and skirts to shalwar qameez. “Things changed post-9/11,” says Ali. “It was better to gel in than to stand
out.” She completely switched to shalwar kameez but cites the deteriorating conditions in Karachi as the main reason. “These days the city can shut down any time within minutes. You have no choice but to walk down the street and hail a rickshaw, and doing that in a skirt is just asking for trouble.” And yet there are women like Bhiladwala who agrees with the potential risks of wearing Western attire but who has adamantly stuck to her linen trousers and floral tops.
The ups and downs The salary ceiling has been one of the biggest downers in the profession. A beginner can make anything between Rs2,000 to Rs25,000. However, once a secretary reaches a certain rank and pay scale, it is impossible to grow any further. “It is just the nature of the job,” says Bhiladwala. “You might be handling the work of a manager, but you will always be a secretary and that automatically puts a barrier on how much you earn.” Her case is an exceptional one: she became a managing director for one of the companies that had initially taken her on as a secretary. When the company dissolved a few years later, though, she had to rejoin the secretarial market at a much lower pay scale. Sexual harassment is a constant risk and for most women is an instant deal breaker. They will walk out, which is hardly justice for them but the only option. The unwanted attention ranges from men making suggestive remarks, to slipping them telephone numbers and making physical advances. “It is the absolute worst thing for your confidence,” says Ali. “You start to second-guess yourself and spend an endless amount of time wondering if you gave off the wrong vibes. Sometimes I wish we could live life backwards; I would have handled situations so much better.” Working for women bosses does not necessarily make it better — that terrain comes with another set of challenges. They are generally more aggressive and keen to emphasise their authority, something that Bhiladwala explains is the outcome of trying to overcome the default perception that women are the weaker sex. “A woman has to work twice as hard to prove that she is half as good as a man,” she says. “Men can go around slapping each other on the back and get to work when it’s needed. If a woman does that, she is perceived as frivolous. So she has to be doubly vigilant and doubly authoritative, [but] which if taken too far, becomes arrogance.”
scene. Pakistan will be hosting the next congress, a bi-yearly congregation of secretaries across the Asia-Pacific region in September 2013. The country is a member of the Association of Secretaries and Administrative Professionals in Asia Pacific, an international body of 15 member countries. A five-day conference will host 120 foreign delegates, said Bhalidwala, who is the current president of association and nervous and excited in equal measure about the event. “It is challenging because of the security situation,” she admits. “But that is why it is equally important too. The world has a certain perception of Pakistan and we want to change that by projecting our working women at the forefront.” The conference will host speakers to address workplace issues and provide an opportunity for secretaries from different countries to network and exchange ideas. The last congress hosted by Pakistan was in 1990.
Future The supply and demand for secretaries is tenuous. According to an advisor for a media group, he has noted high demand in the Punjab where the old merchant class ‘seths’ still need someone to do their correspondence in English. Their children, however, who take over the reins of business with formal degrees do not need this kind of help. “Once I took over things, I never really felt the need for one,” says textile businessman Bilal Hameed, who has been managing his father’s enterprise for the last five years. “Everything is so… convenient now. You check your own emails, plan meetings according to your schedule. You don’t really need another person to do it for you.” If the decline in demand is linked to the rise of the cloudcomputing executive, the supply is shrinking because of better-paid jobs and a change in perception for the profession. The only good news is that Ali and Bhiladwala feel it will always be in safe hands, especially now that people join it out of choice, not because they have no other choice. T
National brand ambassadors Secretaries, as many of them like to be called, have done a fair bit of work on the international
29 AUGUST 25-31 2013
Six Degrees of Restor A bird’s-eye view of the walled city of Lahore where two out of the 12 historic gates are being repaired BY FD SHEIKH
Roshnai Gate
Six of the remaining 12 gates of the walled city of Lahore are being rescued. The Walled City of Lahore Author-
Roshnai Gate lies between the Lahore Fort and Badshahi Mosque and is still in its original condition. It was the main entrance from the fort to the city and was specifically used for courtiers, royal servants and their retinues. In the evenings the gate was lit up, giving it the name Roshnai or light. Next door is Hazuri Bagh, created by Maharajah Ranjit Singh in 1813 to celebrate the capture of the Koh-i-Noor diamond from Shah Shujah of Afghanistan. In the centre of the garden stands the Hazuri Bagh Baradari in marble. The mausoleum of poet Muhammad Iqbal and the Samadhi of Ranjit Singh are worth a visit here.
ity is putting millions of rupees into the project with the help of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Experts will start with the Texali and Shah Alam gates. They will, however, be modeled on the Roshnai gate, which was built in the Mughal style, said a restorer. It appears that Sikh or British styles will be eschewed. The old city of Lahore came to be known during the reign of Emperor Akbar (1584-1598) as the walled city because it was enclosed by a nine-metre high brick wall with a rampart. The walled city had 13 gates made of wood and iron. They continued to exist until the 19th century but the British are said to have demolished them in an attempt to weaken the defences. Almost all of the gates, except Roshnai Gate, were felled. Except for the Delhi and Lahori Gates, all of them were rebuilt but sadly today, only six continue to exist: Roshnai, Delhi, Shairanwalla, Bhati, Kashmiri and Lahori gates. Here is a bird’s-eye view:
Masti Gate
Iqbal Park
Masti Gate FORT
Roshnai Gate Lady Wellingdon Hospital
Its name derives from the word Masjidi as the mosque of Mariam Makhani, the mother of Emperor Akbar, is located in its immediate locality. Some historians assert that the gate was named after Masti Baloch, who was appointed a guard. This area is primarily packed with shoe vendors today.
Texali Gate
Bhati Gate Named after the ancient Bhat Rajput tribe, Bhati gate is renowned for Lahori food. Its Bazaar-eHakiman was named after the hakims, who lived here. Poet Dr Allama Iqbal had a small place here where he used to study and hold daily meetings with his comrades; it still exists. Prominent pahalwans or wrestlers such as Kala Maro lived here.
Dental Hospital
Rd Ravi
The royal mint or Taxal was located near this gate, lending it its name. Today this area is renowned for its appetising range of food. The bazaar is also the place to go to for musical instruments that are made and sold here. The sacred places for the Sikhs, Pani-Wallah Talaab and Gurdwara Lal Khooh are also located here.
Texali Gate
Faqir Khana Museum
Pir Makki Shrine
Bhati Gate
Mori Gate
Data Ganj Bakhsh
Rd re ho La
Mori Gate Sandwiched between Lahori and Bhati gates was the small Mori gate, even though it wasn’t a gate as such. In Urdu, the word mori is used to referred to a small hole. In the evening, when all of the gates were closed, this particular opening gave access to the walled city. It was also used as an outlet for garbage disposal. The striking structures are still witnessing the glory and magnificence of the bygone empires; however, advertisement of different shops, banners of political parties, pollution and uncleanliness of the vicinity are heavily 30 costing the splendor of the Mughal art. AUGUST 25-31 2013
Lahori Gate The oldest of the gates of the walled city, Lahori Gate is colloquially known as Lohari Gate. During Hindu Raj, the neighbourhood of Ichra was supposed to be the actual Lahore. As this gate faced Ichra, it was thus named Lahori Gate. However, another group of historians claims that Lohari comes from Urdu word loha or iron. Lohars or blacksmiths used to run their business here. Just across this gate you will find Anarkali Bazaar and the tomb of Qutubuddin Aibak, first Muslim ruler of the subcontinent.
Lahori Gate
ation Kashmiri Darwaza
Khiziri Gate (Shairanwala Gate)
This gate opens towards the valley of Kashmir. Inside visit the Kashmiri Bazaar with narrow markets and alleyways. A pathway leads to the famed and impossibly tranquil Wazir Khan Mosque. A big market for children’s shoes spreads out from it.
It is said that this gate was named after a saint, Hazrat Khwaja Khizr Elias, who was known as Amer-ul-Bahar (commander of water). At the time it was built this gate opened onto the river front. Some historians assert that when Sher-e-Punjab Maharaja Ranjit Singh got hold of the city, he kept two domesticated lions in a cage for protection, which is why this gate was named Shairanwala or Lions gate.
Zakki Gate (Yaki Gate)
Khiziri Gate (Shairanwala Gate) Kashmiri Darwaza
Rd iz Az
Zakki Gate (Yaki Gate)
Golden Mosque ss Bra
Delhi Gate
Wazir Khan Mosque
aar
Baz
Rang Mahal
Akbari Gate B A Z
Zakki Gate has a bit of a surprising story. It was named after a saint, Zakki, who historians say was beheaded during a fight against the Tartars. It is said that even after his head was severed from his body, the body continued fighting for some time. His head and body are said to be buried at the spots where they fell. A number of temples are also located in and around this gate.
Delhi Gate: This gate was built during the reign of Emperor Akbar and is named as such as it opens towards Delhi, which was the then capital of the Mughal dynasty. Just as you enter, to the left is the rehabilitated royal bath or Shahi Hamam built by Hakim Ilmuddin. A short walk up ahead will lead you to Wazir Khan Mosque with its intricate painted panels. The tomb of Hazrat Meran Badshah is located in the courtyard of the mosque. Hindus also revere the Shawala Baba Bhakar Guru site in this neighbourhood.
A A
Mochi Gate
R
Shah Alam Gate
Akbari Gate: Named after Jalalud Din Muhammad Akbar (1542-1605), Akbari Gate is located in the east. Akbari Mandi, the biggest wholesale and retail market of Lahore for grains and spices, was set up by the emperor and serves thousands even today.
Mochi Gate: d lar R Circu
Morchi or trench soldier seems to be the word that led to Mochi Gate. This etymological origin is supported by the fact that some streets or mohallas in the area still bear names like Mohalla Teer-garan (arrow craftsmen), Mohalla Kaman-garan (bow craftsmen). Some historians feel that the name came from Moti or pearl after Pandit Moti Ram, a guard during the reign of Akbar who used to watch over this gate. The gate was the main route taken to some Havelis of the Mughal empire such as Mubarak Haveli, Nisar Haveli and Laal Haveli. To its immediate right is Mochi Bagh where political get-togethers take place. Find here dry fruit, kites and fireworks and don’t miss the kebabs and das Kulcha with lonchara for breakfast.
Shah Alam Gate This gate was named after Aurangzeb’s son and successor, Muazzam Shah Alam Bahadur Shah. It was once called Bherwala Gate and was burnt to ashes in the 1947 rioting; only the name exists today. It opens into one of Lahore’s busiest bazaars, where you can get nearly everything from iron receptacles to wedding accessories. Rang Mahal and Soha Bazaar (the gold market) are also worth a visit. There are almost 400 shops, burning brightly with hundreds of gold and yellow bulbs, to browse. Kanari bazaar is a hot favourite for brides-to-be and Chata bazaar is known for the traditional leather khussa. Go to Gumtee and Dabi Bazars for bangles and Azam Cloth Market for textiles.
31 AUGUST 25-31 2013
GAMES
Cheap Shot The most expensive of toys are no match for the games these children invent BY SOHAIL KHATTAK ILLUSTRATION BY JAMAL KHURSHID While many children in Karachi and indeed across Pakistan were busy were some who either don’t playing with their toy guns this Eid, there w parental disgust) or who aren’t have access to such fake weaponry (money, p play games they have invented or interested in it. These are the children who p pl where their parents will have to ones that don’t involve a trip to the toy store w plastic. fork out hundreds of rupees for Chinese plast ic predominantly Girls, especially those living in predominant tl Pashto-speaking most inventive: neighbourhoods in Karachi, are perhaps the m
Chindro Twelve-year-old Tooba likes to play Chindro with her friends in the street outside her home in Masan. She explains that for Chindro you first need a flat circular stone or wooden block and flat surface, which can be the ground. You mark a rectangular box on the ground, divide it vertically in the middle and then horizontally with three lines. This will give you eight boxes. The players toss a coin and the winner starts the game. Tooba throws the stone in the first box, hops and aims to hit the stone into the box above with her other leg. This continues for all the boxes. If the player touches any line she loses her turn. If you complete a round, on one leg all the while, and get the stone through all eight boxes, you get a point and another turn. It is almost like hopscotch with a few variations; the stone needs to be kicked and not thrown into the box and none of the boxes are numbered. You start by moving up the right column of boxes and coming down the left column.
32 AUGUST 25-31 2013
Bilovri or Kanchay Bilovries are marbles or glass pieces sold in the market. A number of games are played with bilovries and usually the winner gets to take them home. In one commonly played game, the children try to put the bilvories into a small hole that is about one inch wide and deep from a distance of about five to six feet. To aim, stretch your middle finger back like a bow-string by applying pressure with the forefinger of the right hand. Then shoot the marble by releasing the finger.
Shalghaatay
Ghotti “We usually play Ghotti inside rooms in the summer or in the grounds in the evening after we complete our Quran lesson in the seminary,� explained Tehreem, a class 4 student who lives in Keamari. Ghotti is played with five small round stones. Usually two or three girls take part. You put all five stones in the sand and then pick one and throw it in the air. That stone is called the Taak and you can only use one hand in the game. You have to pick up another stone from the sand and catch the Taak before it touches the ground. If you fail to get another stone or catch the Taak, you lose your turn. If any player completes a round with all four stones without letting any of them drop she gets a point and the second turn.
Shalghaatay is played between two teams. Team A closes their eyes in a street and Team B marks lines with chalk or charcoal on the wall of a house at some hidden place. Team A has to find those lines. T
33 AUGUST 25-31 2013
Give them FEATURE
Wings In the secret lives of girls, shame is the great leveler. The logistics of managing the oneweek interruption of the ‘biological’ cycle can be a nightmare when you have to go to school. Many girls would rather skip classes than
A little bit of technology can ensure girls don’t skip school one week every month BY SAMEER MANDHRO
34 AUGUST 25-31 2013
put up with the discomfort exacerbated by long walks to school and the risk of soiling themselves in a place where there are either no toilets or poor ones. This has long had a small, almost unnoticeable effect on school attendance rates in Sindh’s countryside, small towns and villages. While there are no numbers for this province, the trend has been documented in the north. Results from a recent study in areas affected by the 2005 Kashmir earthquake near the city of Muzaffarabad indicate that almost 50% girls miss school during their cycle, and about 40% of girls do not have access to protective materials to manage this phase. Additionally, Unicef Pakistan said in 2011 that shame during the cycle, limited education from the family on this aspect of biological change, ridicule from boys, a lack of washrooms and facilities to change, clean up and dry re-usable protection material all limited a young girl’s ability to cope.
But the times are slowly changing. A little cotton and some technology can go a long way. The Express Tribune was not able to find any data on Sindh to support the claim that access to feminine hygiene products improves school attendance. However two sources of information seem to bear this out: studies from Africa and interviews of school principals and grocery store owners in Sindh’s towns and cities. The phenomenon has been documented in Africa. A 2009 University of Oxford study in Ghana found that girls were missing up to five days of school a month. In test case studies, they found that supplying the students with the feminine hygiene products radically changed their ability to go to school confidently. On average, the rate of absenteeism was halved (from 21% to 9%). The headmistress of a girls’ school in Old Sukkur, Muneeza Begum, also testified to the problem of absenteeism. According to her estimates, while she has 1,200 students, attendance can go down to as little as 600 at times. “It is a lame excuse that they can’t attend school because of their monthly [cycle],” she said. “I always suggest they use the comfortable stuff and attend class.” But she noticed that as the girls were generally from poor families they could not afford the 150 rupees for one pack. Affordability can be such a key factor in decision making that a non-profit in Rwanda alerted its government to lifting an 18% sales tax on feminine hygiene products. The government agreed, saying it understood this would help girls from poor homes who would otherwise miss school. Globally, girls who cannot afford the protective material mainly have to make do with cloth, rags or home-stitched cotton pads. These options are neither comfortable and reliable nor hygienic, even if they are cheaper. Generally, in Sindh’s peri-urban areas, girls tend to be aware that they have other choices. This awareness has emerged as companies have spread their distribution networks with welldesigned and packaged products at even the smallest grocery store. It is also becoming more acceptable for women to shop for them themselves. In Tando Muhammad Khan’s Shahid Bazaar, for example, salesman Imtiaz Pali at Chhipa General Store has stocked these products for the last 10 years and his shop is ideally located close to private and public schools and colleges. A majority of his customers are students and he
The girls have no excuse now. They have thrown away the old stuff that gave them trouble Anila Abro, director of physical education at Government Girls College, Larkana, referring to the cloth and cotton protective material
35 AUGUST 25-31 2013
FEATURE has found that having pocket money is key to the decisions they make. He says he gets customers from the surrounding countryside but an education seems to make a slight difference. “Girl students are more confident than ordinary ones,” he added, while making a comparison between school-going and illiterate clients. He has stocked the brands in a corner of his shop and displays them by pack size and price. While many younger women will walk in and pick them off the shelf, he still receives ‘parchis’ or chits of paper with orders from customers who are older and live in the surrounding countryside. Women from the villages send the parchis because they don’t necessarily go to market themselves — their men do. The demand for feminine hygiene products is most likely closely linked to quality, as introduced by multinational brands. Proctor & Gamble, for example, began to produce the brand Always in Pakistan in 2001. The company did not share any data with The Express Tribune despite repeated requests, but according to an unofficial estimate this brand had 66% of the market share in 2012. And while it is a sensitive subject in this part of the world, companies such as P&G have used the double-edged ploy of running educational programmes with product campaigns. It was reported by Africa News in 2012 that P&G started an ‘Always Cares’ programme in Nigeria where the company teaches girls ages 13 through 21 about puberty and feminine hygiene. Since 2009, the program has reached more than one million girls a year. Quality seems to matter here too. Ambreen Musharaf, a lecturer at Government Girls Degree College, Sakrand, said that girls who can afford it will make their purchases on visits to the bigger cities. Otherwise women are stuck with low quality options. “The available [product lines] in very small towns are of low quality therefore our students still use the old [options],” she said. “I see a few girls from good families who mostly visit the bigger cities are more comfortable.” It certainly helps if institutions such as the 900-student strong Government Girls College, Larkana keep a stock. “The girls are comfortable now,” said Anila Abro, the director physical education, while referring to the trend in switching to feminine hygiene products. “There a few who are still shy to ask for them during school hours but we provide them.” She vouches for improved attendance rates in the last couple of years because of this change in “life style” as she put it. The girls are more confident during that time of the month and don’t try to avoid gym class either. “The girls have no excuse now. They have thrown away the old stuff 36 that gave them trouble,” she added, referring to the cloth AUGUST 25-31 2013
20%
Huge Market
of girls have access to protective material, due to the high cost or insufficient availability in local markets in Pakistan. SOURCE: WASH IN SCHOOLS, PROCEEDINGS OF THE MENSTRUAL HYGIENE MANAGEMENT IN SCHOOLS VIRTUAL CONFERENCE 2012
and cotton options. It appears that being linked to a large urban centre leads to more awareness. Shahida Khokhar, a teacher at the Girls Middle School Dokri, in a taluka of Larkana, said that the use of old protective materials persist in small towns and villages. “Women in rural areas have no idea [about feminine hygiene products] but girl students who interact with their peers in cities, use the new [technology],” she said. “I see that a majority of women in rural areas have a complex about [using them].” The simple decision to use a certain product has a lot to do with the culture at home and there are differences in the lifestyles of women in cities such as Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas, Larkana and Nawabshah and their surrounding rural areas. Shahida Mushtaq, the principal of Ibn-e-Rushd Girls College in Mirpurkhas, with over 30 years of teaching experience, believes that family background explains the evolution. “Parents want a better life for their daughters — in class and outside class,” she said. “Today’s girls are more advanced and lucky. They [want] the best facilities.” A strong sense of academic competition means that girls do not want to be held back. “A girl has to attend class no matter what her condition,” stressed Aftab Ahsan Qureshi of Hyderabad’s Nazrat Girls’ Degree College with 5,000 students. “There is no excuse for anything. She has to attend class which ensures success in the rest of her life.” Her tone is markedly no-nonsense, but the college has a reputation across Sindh for enforcing discipline and punctuality. “I didn’t care what a student is facing physically,” she added. “Hyderabad is a city and girls of this city have to compete with those in bigger ones like Karachi.” And while Qureshi, who has worked with girls for 37 years, did not necessarily agree that the introduction of feminine hygiene products had any impact on attendance, she did admit that they had brought about a change. T
BOOK
Faking it till you make it in Paris A German author writes under a pseudonym to create an international best-seller — also based on a ghost writer BY SABA KHALID France has a way of pulling in audiences like no other city in the world. Whether it’s for the Eiffel Tower, Carla Bruni’s Little French Songs or Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s rom-com Amélie, it is impossible not to be drawn to French culture, cuisine, language and its array of enigmatic mesdames et monsieurs. Author Nicolas Barreau seems well aware of this theory and decided to devote his second novel The Ingredients of Love to a combination of the above. As expected, his book has not only piqued the interest of Europeans but an international audience as well. It was first published in Germany in 2010 but after gaining considerable traction, has been translated into English as well. Barreau’s protagonist is a thirty-something Parisian restaurateur named Aurélie Bredin who wakes up one day to find her eccentric lover of two yyears gone forever. In the past, Aurelie had wilfully ignored Clau Claude’s disappearing acts. However, this time she knows it’s different especially after she finds a devastatingly sho short note from him saying that he had finally met “the wom woman of his dreams”. The he heroine, spiralling in a never-ending vortex of selfpity an and humiliation, wanders the rainy streets of Paris until sshe reaches a small bookstore in Ile Saint Louis. It is he here that the novel The Smiles of Women written by a rrelatively unknown English author Robert Miller, calls out to her. Aurelie brings it home and reads it cov cover to cover, only to discover that the book is acttually a tribute to her smile and her restaurant Le Temps des Cerises (The time of the cherries). With a drastically transformed perspective on life and fate, she pledges to find the man
ow behind the novel just to let him know that he saved her in her bleakest o time. But reaching this writer, who lish supposedly lives in a romantic English se cottage with his terrier, seems close nglish sh writer to impossible. For one thing, the English Robert Miller does not really exist. He’s the literary creation of Andy Chabanais — the editor-in-chief at a French publishing house. Chabanais had written the novel on a drunken whim under the name of Robert Miller as he knew an English author’s story about Paris would be a hit with a female audience. But as luck would have it, The Smiles of Women, takes off and now Andy Chabanais is receiving incessant calls from journalists for interviews. Bookstores want the Robert Miller to fly in to Paris for readings. This is the formula for disaster; Chabanais finds himself in the presence of the woman who had inspired him to write the novel but he cannot tell her who he really is. Funnily enough, the book’s biggest failing is Aurélie herself, who appears to be a strangely one-dimensional and gullible character. Somehow, the unassuming French editor manages to win the affection of the reader quicker than the quirky heroine. Ingredients of Love is reminiscent of Chocolat, a 1999 novel by Joanne Harris, as it is replete with beautiful descriptions of French cuisine and actual recipes at the end of the book. It also offers a unique insight into the French publishing world. While it is supposedly written by a man, it is easy to tell that the writer is a female. This may have something to do with the fact that Nicolas Barreau is a pseudonym for a well-known literary figure widely speculated to be German author Daniela Thiele.
The Parisian Life: À la recherche du temps perdu Murder on the Eiffel Tower The first in a series of six Parisian murder mysteries by Claude Izner, Murder on the Eiffel Tower, captures the death of a woman on this great Paris landmark. The cause of her death is initially traced to a beesting. But is that really so?
Paris Peasant
Le Temps des Cerises
In Paris Peasant (1926) hardcore communist, Louis Aragon, effectively uses surrealist writing to paint a beautiful picture of Paris. He consciously uses the city as a framework and interweaves his text with images of related ephemera: café menus, maps, inscriptions on monuments and newspaper clippings.
Zillah Bethell tells the story of Eveline, a young woman, set in the background of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. She is engaged to the romantic Laurie, but is drawn towards his friend, Alphonse, who is plotting to break the siege. The author’s vibrant prose and dramatic imagination make the book an enjoyable read.
37 AUGUST 25-31 2013
BOOK
The book with the really long title that you must read Swedish writer Jonas Jonasson brings us a century of insanity and dictators in 400 pages BY ANAM HAQ
Available at The Last Word for Rs795
3 AUGUST 25-31 2013
I am not particularly fond of literature in translation because I find that so many expressions, descriptions and nuances are completely lost in the packing and moving from one language to the other. These efforts produce an echo of the original; they result in a very strange sensation of a story. However, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson and translated by Rod Bradbury, hereafter THYOMWCOTWD (because that makes it much simpler), skips past this limitation because it actually is a strange story. It is an honest-to-God strange, shamelessly outrageous, feel-good romp of what I can only call a backlash to the gritty horror and dark thrills in Swedish noir writing that I usually stay away from. Allan Karlsson is a one hundred-year-old man who climbs out of the window of his old people’s home on his 100th birthday. He walks into a world which, when complemented by flashbacks from his earlier life, is more often that not eventful and delightfully carefree (despite some macabre deaths). The first order of Karlsson’s escape day: steal a suitcase from a fellow passenger at the bus station only to discover that it contains fifty million Kronor. Armed with this ultimate resource and nothing to lose, Karlsson runs into one peculiar character after the other. The world is quite imaginatively his oyster and he assembles an equally inspired crew (rather Master and Margarita here). They include: a fake Bible seller (the old Testament ends with “and they lived happily ever after”); his brother, who is a hot dog vendor but is familiar with almost every profession known to man because he spent over fifty years in university studying every degree and completing none; a woman (the Beauty) whose pets include an Alsatian and an elephant; a thief who specialises in large-scale corruption and robberies; a mob boss and a detective inspector. As if this did not provide enough excitement, add to the list of the centenarian’s adventures saving General Franco’s life and sharing paella with him. He helps the Americans develop and perfect their nuclear bomb. He makes great friends with and gets drunk with a very appreciative Harry Truman. At some point he goes to China to help Chiang Kai-shek’s wife blow up the communists. There is dinner with Stalin and a taste of a gulag. There is a plane ride to London with Churchill and at some point an umbrella in a cocktail on a beach in Bali. These are just the highlights. Apart from being entertaining, the plot is also surprisingly flexible. It moves in concentric circles — it starts off with a minor occurrence and then keeps adding to them. And while these grow greater and greater, Jonasson manages to maintain their strong link to a counter-plot, ie the earlier life of Allan Karlsson, in alternating chapters. The flashbacks aren’t placed so much to inform or underpin the current happenings (the motley crew on the run from the law with stolen Kronor), but to enhance the narrative and add a dimension which really drives home the definition of an eventful life. It’s like reading two books in one but without it being jarring or forced. The writing is so delightfully deadpan and at other times so
The book’s triumph is the narration. While it takes place in third person, it largely bases itself on Karlsson’s observations
ironic that the immensity of the narrative (we are dealing with a century’s worth of insanity and dictators), is effortlessly eased into four hundred pages. Also a factor in the book’s triumph is the narration. While it takes place in third person, it largely bases itself on Karlsson’s observations which tend to be frank, almost Forest Gump-like as some reviewers have said. He is basically a nice guy, who is happy to help people (the Americans and their bomb), but only if asked nicely. So what happens when Stalin starts to get angry with Karlsson over replicating the American bomb for the Russians? “...Did you have Stalin repeat a homage to the enemies of the revolution?” asked Stalin who always spoke of himself in the third person when he got angry. Allan answered that he would need some time to think to be able to translate ‘sjung hopp faderallan lallan lej’ into English, but that Mr Stalin could rest assured that it was nothing more than a cheerful ditty. “A cheerful ditty?” said Comrade Stalin in a loud voice. “Does Mr Karlsson think Stalin looks like a cheerful person?” Allan was beginning to tire of Stalin’s touchiness. The old geezer was quite red in the face with anger, but not about very much... ...Stalin exploded again. “Who do think you are, you damned rat? Do you think that you, a representative of fascism, of horrid American capitalism, of everything on this earth that Stalin despises that you, you can come to the Kremlin, to the Kremlin, and bargain with Stalin and bargain with Stalin?” “Why do you say everything twice?” Allan wondered while Stalin went on... ...”I shall destroy capitalism! Do you hear! I shall destroy every single capitalist! And I shall start with you, you dog, if you don’t help us with the bomb!” Allan noted that he had managed to be both a rat and a dog in the course of a minute or so. And that Stalin was being rather incon-
Jonas Jonasson sistent because now he wanted to use Allan’s services after all. But Allan wasn’t going to sit there and listen to this abuse any longer. He had come to Moscow to help them out, not to be shouted at. Stalin would have to manage on his own. “I’ve been thinking,” said Allan. “What,” said Stalin angrily. “Why don’t you shave off that moustache?” With that the dinner was over, because the interpreter had fainted. Other reviews have called this book hilarious or laugh-out loud, but I found it more dark comedy than raucous LOLs. Stating the obvious as a technique sometimes mitigates the otherwise horrific reality of a scene and at other times work to create satire. For instance, one of the mob boss’s henchmen, whose money Karlsson has stolen, catches up with the crew only to meet a gruesome death — under the bottom of Sonya the pet elephant. The book is not without its flaws. Despite the sparkling sense of humour that flows throughout, there are parts which needlessly drag. These chapters are the ones set in current time with Karlsson inadvertently bumping off one henchman after the other and amassing more and more crew members. This running narrative pales in comparison to the one about his past. Those parts are larger than life and worth marvelling at, not just for the fantastic events, but also for the effortlessness with which Karlsson’s life propels forward. In him we see the classic example of someone being swept off his feet by forces large and (at times) benevolent. And thus, while I normally scoff at the pretentiousness of epigraphs in literature, the one in THYOMWCOTWD is near perfect. It encapsulates Karlsson’s spirit to embrace life and take a chance, no matter what the consequences, because eventually, you will end up on a spectacular beach with a cocktail in your hand and fifty million Kronor in your rather large 3 pocket: “Things are what they are, and whatever will be, will be.” AUGUST 25-31 2013
FILM
WILDLY (IN)APPROPRIATE Who is Frances Ha? We’re not sure she knows herself OUR CORRESPONDENT Frances Ha will be a difficult movie to sit through for many Pakistanis. I emerged from the cinema in London relieved the film was over but appreciative of its new take on the life of a young woman trying to make it in New York, to put it extremely simply. I also fought back the urge to comb her hair into a clean ponytail. That was a strangled reaction from the socially conditioned Pakistani female in me even though I am not particularly well groomed myself. Frances (Greta Gerwig) is a wide-eyed 27-year-old college graduate aiming to get a permanent place on staff at her dance company. As the movie opens, we see her living with her best friend Sophie (Mickey Summer). They tell each other they love each other, a lot, they drink beer on the windowsill and snuggle in bed. “Tell me the story of us,” Frances asks her; we feel it is bedtime and the mother is tucking in her child. At first I mistook the intimacy of their relationship as semi-homo erotic but as the film unfolded, I realised Sophie was just Frances’s support lifeline. As soon as the characters are set up, Frances’s life starts to go belly up. Her boyfriend breaks up with her when she wobbles on moving in wi with wa him because she wants to renew her lease with Sophie. But she comes home to discover Sophie has decided to move out. For the rest of the movie we ha have to painfully watch her figure out livin living arrangement arrangements given tha that she ca can’t ma make re rent
and the dance company job falls through. In cringe-worthy scene after another, we follow her trying to gain some semblance of cohesiveness in her life. Does she know what she wants? This involves a random trip to Paris, taking up with a narcissist for a space in his apartment, going back to her alma mater for a summer job and sleeping in a dorm to get by. The plot runs along from one disaster to another, so don’t watch it if you like some semblance of progression to a neat ending. Frances Ha (directed by Noah Baumbach) flirts with the genre of mumblecore films, a sub-genre of American cinema, which prefers natural-sounding dialogue, low budgets and amateur actors. You won’t notice that it is shot in black and white, a choice that actually gives the film great character and is so reminiscent of Woody Allen’s work. And Frances seems like a modern version of the characters neurotic Jewish New Yorkers Woody Allen has played. She is awkward, says the wrong thing, is self-obsessed but in an endearing innocent way. We forgive her because she is young, a hipster, lost. She doesn’t know when to stop leaving messages even though the person she is calling obviously doesn’t want to talk to her. We feel embarrassed for her. She runs blocks to an ATM when she runs out of cash for a dinner she insists on paying for. Her date lets her pay. We are not comfortable with how he treats her. Much of the chaos is balanced out by her honesty that charms us but the very next moment makes us recoil in horror because we can’t be so close to something so socially inept. Take this scene from a hellish dinner she finds herself at: “What do you do,” asks the man to her right. “Er... it’s a little hard to explain,” she replies.
“Because what you do is complicated?” “Err...because...I don’t... really do it.” The underlying theme is friendship — can Frances learn to be on her own without Sophie who has grown faster out of the relationship? But this spirals out neatly into other rich veins touching on change, how oddly enough men still treat women with misogynistic undertones and get away with it, being young and clueless but wanting to figure life out on your own no matter how scary it is. The expertly written script carries all of this through with snippets of observations that Pakistani women will love. “Patch is the kind of guy,” declares Frances, “who buys a black leather couch and is like, I lurve it.” I’m not sure I love her character, but I get that it’s finally a film that shows a young woman without makeup and untouched by the conditioning that society foists on us. T
and
To Protect
Serve
Passwords just don’t cut it anymore — keep your stuff safe Data theft, website vandalism and hacking are constant concerns in this age when information is
BY KHURRAM BAIG
power and everyone wants to ensure its safety. For the longest period, users have relied on text-based passwords as
the first and sometime only line of defence and this has worked fairly well, and still does. But this doesn’t mean that you cannot find more creative and more unorthodox — read ‘cool’ — methods to protect your data.
USB lock
Wireless PC Lock
Data may be a virtual commodity, but this doesn’t mean that the protection must be the same. For the real people out there we bring you the Headlock! This tiny and very inexpensive device slips over the connector of any USB flash drive (or any USB device) and locks in place with a three-digit combination. But do keep in mind that the lock’s three wheels only provide 1,000 possible combinations. So a patient hacker with a few hours to burn could easily get in.
The tiny green puck clips to your shirt or keychain and serves as a PC proximity sensor. If you move two metres or more away from the computer, the receiver plugged into your machine’s USB port locks the computer via software. Once back within range, the PC unlocks. This can help you save the two seconds it takes to log in and log out manually. And I think for that, it’s a bargain!
Swiss Army USB
PC Clamp
The Swiss Army USB has its share of the usual bells and whistles but it also has a biometrically protected, self-destructing enc encrypted USB thumb drive. To access the encrypted data stored on the built-in flash drive, you need to swipe your fingerprint across the Secure Pro’s built-in optical sensor. But don’t try fooling it with a severed finger, it’s heat-sensitive as well, so only living fingers will do. If you try to open the flash drive’s case, the Secure-Pro burns out its chips in se spite. Very secure — and very strange.
USB Port Blocker Your machine could be used by unmonitored users, say in a hotel lobby or the airport. And you might also want to protect your PC from illicit USB device connections. The Lindy USB Port Blocker is a two-part device consisting of a key tool and a “lock,” which is essentially a dummy USB connector. The key tool deposits the lock into an unoccupied USB port and detaches, 42 blocking physical access to the port. AUGUST 25-31 2013
The wheel clamp is not the only device out there to lock something down. Similar technology exists for laptops as well. Perhaps a day will come when passwords won’t be enough and we will physically need to clamp shut our notebooks to ensure data security. This device, launched by Elecom, and now cloned by many others, prevents users from physically opening your laptop to use it. It also comes with a cable to prevent people from just walking off with your machine.
Peeping Tom Now you can peep, legitimately and not be censured for it. When you peer inside the Qritek IRIBO mouse, or rather look inside the eye on the side of the device, you get an eyeful of light which works with a camera inside the mouse to scan your iris to confirm your identity. Only then will it give you access to the computer it is attached to. T