MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
SISTERS IN LAW Law is a male-dominated profession in Pakistan. Find out why
MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
Feature
Cover Story Sisters in law
Discrimination and challenges faced by female lawyers in the legal profession in Pakistan
Brides beyond borders How families from both sides of the Pak-India border unite through marriage
18 Feature
Pitch perfect The process of making the perfect cricket bat
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4
40 Regulars
6 People & Parties: Out and about with beautiful people
46 Reviews: Movie and Book 50 Tech: The app MuzMatch makes digital love-seeking halal
Senior Subeditors: Dilaira Dubash and Sanam Maher. Subeditor: Komal Anwar Creative Team: Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Mohsin Alam, Talha Ahmed Khan, Hira Fareed, Mariyum Rashid, Eesha Azam & Sanober Ahmed Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. 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 Trade Development Authority of Pakistan hosts a trade fair in Karachi
PHOTOS COURTESY CATALYST PR & MARKETING
Tara Mehmood
Munira, Rubab, Sania and Haseena
Eshal and Shafqat
Anushae ParakhÂ
6 MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
Nimra, Mehreen and Eiman
Sanaa Hafeez Sheikh
Madiha Imam
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Alina
Amir Adnan
Sadia, Nadia, Aalia, Ayesha and Alizeh
8 MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
Sonia and Adil
Huma Adnan
PHOTOS COURTESY CATALYST PR & MARKETING
Nazish
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Misbah Mumtaz
Nazia Malik
PHOTOS COURTESY TAKEII PR
Amber Wajid and Kiran Khan
Atiqa Odho
Chen One opens up its new store at Dolmen Mall Clifton, in Karachi
Hareem Farooq
Samar Mehdi
10 MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
Sarwat Gillani
Zainab Mohammad
Hina and Maliha Rao
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Anam Tanveer and Seemi Pasha
PHOTOS COURTESY TAKEII PR
Rose and Mathira
Beena Hasan
Sonia Hyder
Sidra Sajid
12 MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
Shahla Rehman
Saima Haroon, Iqra and Falak Shaikh
Sofia Naveed Lari
PEOPLE & PARTIES
Neelo Pirzada, Beena Hafeez and Neelo Munaf
Neelo’s Salon & Spa hosts an intimate Valentine’s Day event in Karachi
Madiha Iftikhar
Syra Shahroz with her son
14 MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
Zuby Shikoh
Fatima
PHOTOS COURTESY CATALYST PR & EVENTS
Sadiqa Awab
FEATURE
Brides beyond borders How families from both sides of the PakIndia border unite through marriage BY OONIB AZAM DESIGN BY ESSA MALIK PHOTOS COURTESY: KIRAN AND DRUV’S FAMILY
Nahargarh Fort Ranthambhore, the marriage venue.
Regally attired Druv Singh and Kiran.
Years after Partition and despite decades of instability between India and Pakistan, borders between the two countries have not broken ties between families on either side of the Thar desert. The royal families from the region continue to marry across the border to uphold their centuries-old traditions.
clans of Rajasthan, India, and the Sodha clan from Umerkot, Pakistan. Kiran Kumari Singh from the Sodha family married Kanwar Druv Singh from the Shekhawat family, whose father Thakur Gaj Singhji Shekhawat is famous for owning the great Alsisar Haweli in the north western part of Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan. Around the same time, another member of the Sodha family Kanwar Karni Singh Sodha married Padmini Kumari from the Thikana Kanota clan in Jaipur.
In the month of February alone, two inter-clan
18 weddings took place between the Shekhawat and Kanota MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
Druv Singh at the official engagement ceremony attended by the male members of both families.
Staying true to tradition To explain how these marriages work, a cousin of Kiran and Kanwar Tejvir Singh says, “It’s not that men and women are in short supply here in Pakistan.” Nearly six-feet-tall, Tejvir has a heavy voice and elaborates on the cross-border weddings in his royal tone. “It is our strong cultural and religious beliefs that do not allow us to marry within the clan,” he explains. Tejvir says the Rajput clans are divided into three classes: Chandravanshi, Suryavanshi and Agnivanshi. “The Sodhas are a subdivision of the Agnivanshi class and they have to look for someone from either the Chandravanshi or the Suryavanshi clan, who are in India.” While reading out the five-page invitation card, Tejvir says five functions were held for Kiran and Druv’s grand wedding at Nahargarh Fort in Ranthambhore, situated in the Sawai Madhopur district of southeastern Rajasthan. “The wedding ceremonies kicked off on February 8, with Ganesh Sthapna (worship of lord Ganesh),” he says. This was followed by the pithi ceremony where a paste is made out of chickpea flour, turmeric and rose water, among other ingredients, and is rubbed on the bride and groom’s face, hands and legs. There is a belief that if the bride rubs pithi (the paste) on someone who is unmarried then they may get married soon, says Tejvir. On the same day, the mayara dastoor and a mehndi
The groom is received with a traditional arti.
function was held. “Mayara dastoor is when the maternal uncles of both the bride and the groom arrive with their families to their respective homes. The uncles give cash, jewellery, sweets and other presents to their sister and her family,” says Tejvir. Next there is the teeka dastoor ceremony where the bride’s family gave the groom a teeka (a tilak that Hindus apply on the forehead of the groom). “This is when the groom’s family is given an official
When the groom’s family arrives at the bride’s home, the entrance is decorated with a beautiful toran that is made by tying different flowers and beads together, The groom, while sitting on a horse, has to hit the toran with a sword, just to show off his heroism Kanwar Tejvir Singh
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FEATURE Rajasthani culture
1,161
is the number of wedding dresses given to the bride from the groom’s side.
A wedding hiccup Padla being displayed, gifts for bride from groom’s family.
invitation to the wedding ceremony,” he adds. “February 10 was the day of Kiran’s main wedding function,” Tejvir says. The ceremony began with tying a safa, a Rajasthani turban, which is an essential part of weddings in India, explains Tejvir. “The length of the safa varies from five to eight metres, depending on how it is tied,” he shares, adding that both sides wear a different colour that makes it easy to determine which side a particular guest is representing. A number of customs make the weddings in Rajasthan a royal affair. “When the groom’s family arrives at the bride’s home, the entrance is decorated with a beautiful toran that is made by tying different flowers and beads together,” says Tejvir. “The groom, while sitting on a horse, has to hit the toran with a sword, just to show off his heroism.” Kiran’s aunt Sareeta Kumari, also known as the ‘bua ji’ of the Sodha clan, takes care of all wedding functions in the family. She says the groom’s family provides the bride with no less than 1,161 wedding dresses and three other things — a nose pin, necklace and a teeka — which are of great significance in Rajasthani tradition. “We don’t run after famous designers or brands for wedding dresses [because] it is out of their league to design dresses for our brides,” says Sareeta, adding that brides only wear two colours, either pink or red. “This time it was 20 red for both brides,” she adds. MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
Although the ties between families on both sides of the border continue to grow stronger through marriage, this has not eased the decades of hostility between the two countries. Tejvir says their community has been grappling with strict visa restriction for decades and now they have become accustomed to it. “For us, Padmini is Pakistani and our bhabi (sister-in-law),” he says. “But it will take five years for her to prove that to the Pakistani government and get a Pakistani passport.” Until then, she will have to live in Pakistan on a visit visa that has to be renewed every two to three months, he shares. “For an Indian residency, it takes seven years for the process to be completed. But ever since the Thar Express train service — that connects Khokhrapar (Pakistan) to Munabao (India) — was launched, travel has at least become a lot easier,” he says. Kiran’s sister-in-law Rajeshri, who was an Indian citizen and now a resident of Umerkot, says the lifestyle is different on both sides of the border as well. “Sometimes these are subtle and other times major differences, but we manage or rather have to manage things,” she says. “Our mothers and grandmothers also married across the border when there was no mode of communication. Now we can at least pay a visit back home once a year,” she adds in a telephone interview. The differences, however, come to the fore when it comes to cricket. “For instance, Padmini loves India a lot and is a hardcore fan of the Indian team,” says Rajshri. But Karni on the other hand is quite patriotic when it comes to Pakistan and a staunch supporter of his team, she adds with a smile. T Oonib Azam is an Express Tribune reporter at the Karachi desk.
COVER STORY
SISTERS IN LAW KOMAL ANWAR Discrimination and challenges faced by BY PHOTOS BY ARIF SOOMRO female lawyers in the legal profession in DESIGN BY HIRA FREED Pakistan
–WW
Article 25 of the Constitution of Pakistan states that all citizens are equal before the law and there shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex. However, the very judicial system that is required to implement this has failed to observe it within its own jurisdiction. The Asian Development Bank has spent more than $350 million (a little over Rs35 billion) on judicial reforms and has maintained that more women should be appointed
as judges but currently there are six female judges in Pakistan and none of them have been appointed as Supreme Court judge. Although more and more women have been graduating with a degree in law recently, few seem to adopt the profession after a brief stint at a law firm. Many complain of gender discrimination in the maledominated field and switch to a profession that is more accepting of women.
The Sindh High Court.
Law firms practice the law of inequality While a local degree is a setback for both male and female law graduates, women who do manage to land a job in the legal profession never manage to obtain an all-round experience and always end up behind the desk with paperwork. According to advocate Ismat Mehdi, who runs Ismat Law Associates, the amount of work that was required from her during her initial years in the field was twice the amount assigned to male associates. Only when she proved her worth by handling the excessive workload did her seniors take her seriously, she says. Advocate Sara Shah, manager of the legal department at Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited,
Darakshan Sheikh Vohra is a partner at Liaquat Merchant Associates in the corporate department.
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Vohra suggests that unless there is change in the mind-set of men and a greater appreciation for the skills female employees bring to the table, there will be no change in how women are perceived in the legal profession
In the 2014 Gender Gap Index annual report published by the World Economic Forum, Pakistan ranked 141 out of 142 in terms of gender equality worldwide. This was the third year in a row that Pakistan maintained the second to last ranking. MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
narrates a similar experience about her first job as a legal associate. Her male boss deliberately assigned her more work by stating that this was the only way for women to learn. Senior partners mainly offer research work and drafting of suits to women, reveals advocate Shah. This puts female law graduates at a disadvantage since holding briefs and pleading cases before the court is the essence of litigation, she adds. Many litigation firms have taken it upon themselves to decide what
Women are rarely appointed as Supreme Court or High Court judges. This is because the criterion of assessment for women has deliberately been made difficult Advocate Sarah Shah
Supreme Court of Pakistan
women can and cannot do. Presently there are no female lawyers working at M/s Faisal Kamal & Arshad Hussain Advocates. According to advocate Arshad Hussain Khan, partner at Faisal Kamal & Arshad Hussain Advocates, his firm discourages women from opting for litigation considering the many challenges it involves, such as spending long hours at courts and dealing with criminals. Furthermore, for lawyers to succeed in the profession, they also need to network. This, in turn, helps the firm grow its client base and generate more income. According to Darakshan Sheikh Vohra, an equity partner at Liaquat Merchant Associates, men have bigger social circles and therefore, more opportunities to network with clients as compared to women. This inevitably encourages firms to prefer male partners over female partners. With limited opportunities to grow, many women leave the profession or enter the profession as in-house lawyers, says Nausheen Ahmad, corporate secretary and head of the legal department at Habib Bank Limited. The gap between female and male partners is, therefore, evident
Divisions within the legal profession Corporate lawyers — Involves understanding, defending and upholding legal matters related to a company’s affairs. Litigators — Lawyers who represent plaintiffs and defendants in court cases and manage all phases of the litigation process from investigation to pleadings. In-house lawyers — Instead of working at a law firm, an in-house lawyer works within a corporation and handles legal needs of the company they work for. in most law firms. This is because “male partners at law firms also feel insecure when promoting women,” says advocate Shah. But according to advocate Naheed A Shahid, who is the sole proprietor at Azizuddin & Shahid Law Associates, fewer women make it to the top due to social and cultural limitations. Male partners fear that they might leave for personal reasons, such as marriage or to start a family, she says.
How female judges are judged At courts, women face an equal number of challenges. Despite the limited number of female judges appointed at superior courts, a judicial policy announced in 2009 by thenchief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had no mention of reserving seats for female judges. “Women are rarely appointed as Supreme Court or High Court judges. This is because 31 MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
COVER STORY the criterion of assessment for women has deliberately been made difficult,” says advocate Shah. Male lawyers even avoid their cases being heard before Justice Ashraf Jehan at Sindh High Court of Karachi, she claims. The reason for this is that male lawyers are not confident about her legal knowledge and distrust her competence to decide cases on the basis of merit, she adds. There have been times when female judges have passed judgments in favour of women at lower courts, especially in family law cases, says advocate Hussain, citing a possiblereason for distrusting female judges. But when it comes to the treatment of female judges, Hussain says, “Women are prone to verbal harassment at courts from fellow male lawyers and, most of the time, this goes unreported.” Therefore, he does not encourage his family members to enter the legal profession. Despite 35 years of experience in the field, even advocate Mehdi discouraged her daughter from
According to advocate Arshad Hussain Khan, partner at M/s Faisal Kamal & Arshad Hussain Advocates, his firm discourages women from opting for litigation considering the many challenges it involves, such as spending long hours at courts and dealing with criminals pursuing a career in law. She agrees that there is rampant gender discrimination at courts in Pakistan. For instance, there is currently no representation of women in constitutional institutions, such as the Federal Shariat Court — which has the power to enact new laws or strike off old ones from the statute books — and the Council of Islamic Ideology, which run parallel to the judiciary. Since women’s views are not taken into account while making or amending laws, this makes them vulnerable on the whole.
Seeking justice Nausheen Ahmad Corporate Secretary and head of legal department at HBL.
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Vohra suggests that unless there is change in the mind-set of males and a greater appreciation for the skills female employees bring to the table, there will be no change in how women are perceived in the legal profession. She believes that female employees
Arshad Hussain Khan is a partner at M/s Faisal Kamal & Arshad Hussain Advocates.
are far more loyal, hard-working and detail-oriented than their male coworkers, thus making them crucial components in a firm’s team. However, advocate Mehdi suggests that women can improve their standing in the profession by acquiring greater expertise and skills in order to stand out among male co-workers. She encourages women to be more assertive and to confront male co-workers when they behave
inappropriately. “No one will do anything, we have to do it ourselves,” she says. “Men will leave you behind no matter how intelligent you are.” Advocate Shah also believes that the main challenge lies in the attitude of female lawyers and judges who do not work hard enough to gain
Advocate Ismat Mehdi suggests that women can improve their standing in the profession by acquiring greater expertise and skills in order to stand out among male coworkers greater skills and knowledge in the profession. While most agree that women must rely on themselves and take matters into their own hands,
Ismat Mehdi is the owner of Ismat Law Associates, holding an experience of 35 years.
others recommend seeking justice through the legal system. On the topic of harassment faced by in-house female lawyers, Nausheen Ahmad, corporate secretary and head of the legal department at Habib Bank Limited, says that women must address harassment in the workplace through effective implementation of the sexual harassment law and strict
Females in the courtroom Justice Mrs Ashraf Jehan is the only one female Sindh High Court judge out of a total of 30 judges. Lahore High Court is the oldest High Court in the country and currently has only two female judges, Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Miss Aalia Neelum. Out of a total of eight sitting judges at the Balochistan High Court, there is only one female justice, Justice Syeda Tahira Safdar. Peshawar High Court has two female judges, Justice Irshad Qaiser and Justice Musarrat Hilali. There are currently no sitting honourable female judges at the Islamabad High
Court.
compliance of the sexual harassment code by organisations. This will attract more women to join the profession and help them feel secure, she adds.
Settling the case Although the future for women in the legal profession appears bleak, Vohra says whether a lawyer is a man or a woman does not make a difference. The client will opt for someone who is knowledgeable, has a professional attitude, shows high level of commitment and delivers results. But for clients to eventually have a choice between female and male lawyers, more female lawyers will need to be employed in the field and be given an equal opportunity to grow.T
Komal Anwar is a subeditor on The Express Tribune magazine desk. She tweets @Komal1201 MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
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Pitch perfect
H How d do you k know if a cricket i k tb batt will ill perform well? You listen to it TEXT AND PHOTOS BY SA’ADIA KHAN
Using a mallet — a hammer-like tool — batmakers would traditionally knock on the bat’s wood and the softer the sound, the softer the wood and therefore, the better the bat will play. At CA Sports, however, as is the case at many sports manufacturing companies, the mallet was left behind years ago. Now, a cricket bat has to withstand three tonnes of pressure applied by a machine with a curved roller that rounds off the bat’s face and compresses the wood up to one centimetre.
The first stage of shaping a cricket bat is the process of cutting large pieces of timber into three quarters of a metre in length.
CA Sports was founded in 1958 in Sialkot by Charaghdin Abdulrasheed. The company’s name refers to the first initial of its founder’s name, as well as his son, Abdul. At present, Zahid Javid, Abdul’s son and Charaghdin’s grandson, is at the helm of the company. “CA Sports started out manufacturing wooden tennis rackets,” Javid explains. Graphite rackets were introduced in 1975 and thereafter, the production of traditional lawn tennis rackets declined. By 1978, CA started production of cricket bats and sponsored their first cricketer, Salim Malik. Javid says the demand for cricket bats has been on the decline, particularly as the game is not played at club level and fewer children take up the sport at club and regional levels. However, the sales of ‘tape ball cricket bats’ has increased. A ‘tape ball’ is a tennis ball wrapped in electrical tape and used to play street cricket. This kind of cricketing kicked off in Pakistan in the 1980s especially in cities like Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Sahiwal. Tape ball cricket has developed into an integral part of the game in Pakistan and the format is played in virtually every sports group or club; pacers such as Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram developed and refined their bowling line and length from the bounce and speed generated by the bounce of the tape ball. Tape ball bats can vary in length, width and weight as compared with regular cricket bats, and they are more curved. CA produces 40,000 to 45,000 regular bats every year and up to 500,000 tape ball bats. “CA is the pioneer in tape ball bats,” Javid explains. The bats are only sold in Pakistan and Bangladesh and the wood used for these bats comes from Mansehra, Peshawar, Abbotabad and Rawalkot.
After the willow wood has been dried, a stencil is used to mark the piece of wood for the cleft to be cut out.
The ‘gentleman’s game’ The first references to cricket date back to the 13th century, with historians saying it started out as a children’s game. By the 18th century, the sport gained popularity with the English aristocracy, evolving to be played ‘in a gentleman’s manner’ — with no sledging (insulting or verbally intimidating other players), hostility or bodyline bowling (an aggressive form of bowling pioneered by the English team in the 1932-1933 Ashes tour of Australia). In 1771, it was determined that the width of the bat would be 4 ¼ inches, which has remained the measurement since. The oldest bat dates back to 1729 and a bat cannot exceed the length of 38” (965mm) and must weigh anywhere between 2lb 6oz to 3lb 2oz. “Our family has been manufacturing cricket equipment and clothing for three decades now,” says Javid. CA is the official supplier to the Pakistan Cricket Board and sponsors the national cricket team. Bat-making is historically known as ‘pod shaving’ and
The cane handle takes shape before it is reinforced with twining. 41 MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
FEATURE A guide to willow grading Cricketing vernacular Blade: The main body of a cricket bat is called the blade. It is generally flat on the striking face and with a ridge on the reverse (back) which concentrates wood in the middle where the ball is generally hit. Some cricket bat blades are covered with hard plastic to protect the wooden surface from wear and tear. Sweet spot: The centre of the blade is known as the sweet spot, although batsmen will use different parts of the blade to play different shots. Handle: The blade is connected to a long cylindrical cane handle, similar to that of a tennis racquet, by means of a splice. The handle is usually covered with a rubber grip and made from white willow wood or cane, bound with fine twine to further enhance grip. Shoulders and toes: The top part of a cricket bat closest to the handle is called the shoulder. The toe
Grade 1+ willow — This is the best willow that money can buy. The blade is unbleached with eight to 12 straight grains and is blemish-free to a large extent. Full-sized blade: over £350 (over Rs53,282) Junior blade: over £150 (over Rs22,835)
of the bat is the bottom of the blade and the part of the bat that rests on the ground as the batsman waits to hit the ball.
cultivated only in England or Kashmir and the trees are usually harvested between the ages of 15 and 20 years. This soft fibrous timber of the willow possesses the perfect characteristics — balance, power and durability — to perform in a cricketing environment due to its stringy wood fibres that give the wood elasticity, the key to its performance. The narrower the grain — the growth rings of the trunk, which can be seen on the bat’s face — the longer the tree has grown before being harvested. The more grains the better the performance of the bat; a bat with six or more grains is considered to be ‘good’ and 10+ grains means the willow is excellent, Javid explains. The willow used by CA arrives graded and ready to go to production.
Grade 1 willow — This is high quality unbleached English willow. It has a slightly broader grain and sometimes a slight red edge. Full-sized blade: £250 — £300 (Rs38,046 — Rs45,670) Junior blade: £120 — £150 (Rs18,268 — Rs22,835)
Making a bat
Eliminating the process of ‘knocking-in’ with a mallet, this machine compresses the bat without changing its initial shape. traditionally, cricket bats are made from willow wood, specifically from a variety of white willow called ‘cricket bat willow’ or ‘Salix alba var. caerulea’, which is 42 tough yet pliable. This type of willow is MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
Each bat has to be carefully cut with its face along the radius of the tree trunk; a piece three quarters of a metre long is cut and the willow is placed in direct sunlight to dry. A cleft is cut at the top end, where a dried cane handle glued together in sections is carefully inserted and glued into place. This handle is reinforced by binding and coated with an extra layer of rubber glue to prevent the twining from unraveling. The willow wood blade flexes enough to deliver a good hit and the cane handle absorbs that energy protecting the player’s hand. Once the handle is fitted, a tool called
CA produces 40,000 to 45,000 regular bats every year and up to 500,000 tape ball bats
Grade 2 willow — This is unbleached English willow with some minor blemishes, red wood on the edge and a slight irregular grain. Full-sized blade: £200 — £250 (Rs30,448 — Rs38,046) Junior blade: £100 — £120 (Rs15,223 — Rs18,268)
the drawknife shapes the bats. Ghulam Muhammad, one of 500 workers at CA, says that the shape and curve of each bat he lays his hands on is identical — that’s the beauty of his craft. “Skilled craftsmen are used throughout the manufacturing process,” explains Javid. These craftsmen are able to create the exact curvature required for each bat weight and specification. The workers use tools called metal hand planes to flatten the edges of the willow bats, making sure to strike just the right balance. If the edges are too cured, the blade will not perform well. Then, a pressure machine with a curved roller applies three tonnes of pressure to the bat face and compresses the wood. Finally, the bat is sanded down with an air-filled drum sander and polished against a cotton wheel. All the bats end up in the hands of Mustafa Ali, a 26-year-old man responsible for the adornment of the bats with the official CA logo. “Each bat is first stamped with the company logo and weighted,” he explains. “Then I put stickers on the bat with information about its weight and so on.”
The craftsmen at CA are seasonal workers and many maintain farms or livestock in down periods.
The market Javid fears that cricket is losing its appeal with the younger generation in Pakistan. Additionally, the manufacturing market has been greatly impacted by the exile of the sport to the United Arab Emirates after the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan in 2009. “Our cricket team needs to [play at] home,” Javid says. He says business was also affected in the lead-up to the 2015 Cricket World Cup (CWC) as a black market selling clothing and kits thrived. “Even though we are the official manufacturer and distributor of the 2015 CWC goods, it has had little to no impact on accelerating CA Sports’ growth,” he points out. Exports of cricketing goods rose by 15% during the World Cup period and Pakistan earns roughly Rs3 billion annually from total exports of cricket goods. Sa’adia Khan is a freelance photographer based in Islamabad. She tweets @IM_SaadiaKhan
Grade 3 willow — Some of these bats will be bleached English willow to cover up a more irregular grain and more blemishes. Full-sized blade: £150 — £200 (Rs22,835 — Rs30,448) Junior blade: £75 — £100 (Rs11,418 — Rs15,223) Grade 4 willow — This will be bleached English willow which is often covered up with a protective facing and sold as ‘non oil’. Full-sized blade: £100 — £150 (Rs15,223 — Rs22,835) Junior blade: £50 — £75 (Rs7,612 — Rs11,418) SOURCE: TALENT CRICKET
The finished bat is adorned with the CA Sports logo before it is ready to leave the factory. MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
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Polishing up the glass slipper The greatest strength of Kenneth Branagh’s spectacular Cinderella lies in its fidelity to the fairy tale. The film unabashedly embraces Charles Perrault’s Cendrillon — the first version of the story that was published in 1697 — and Disney’s original animated version. There is no desire to tweak the story for 21st century sensibilities, no messages of female empowerment and no attempt to add greater meaning than was originally intended. Cinderella conveys a simple but timeless message — courage, kindness and morality are the most important virtues and ones that always prevail — by telling an old tale fairy remarkably well. The film opens with a 10-year-old Ella (Eloise Webb) living happily with her doting parents. Then tragedy strikes and Ella loses her mother (Hayley Atwell) and father (Ben Chaplin). She is left at the mercy of a cruel stepmother (Cate Blanchett) and stepsisters Drisella (Sophie McShera) and Anastasia (Holliday Grainger), who treat her like a servant and rename her Cinderella (the adult Ella is played by Lily James). Ella then meets a handsome stranger (Richard Madden) whom she believes to be an apprentice at the palace, but who is really a prince. She is delighted at the prospect of meeting him again when she receives an invitation to a royal ball and heartbroken when her stepmother does not allow her to attend the party. Her Fairy Godmother (Helena Bonham-Carter) intervenes by engineering a spectacularly grand entrance for her at the ball. The prince is delighted to see Ella again and, through a series of twists and turns, the two are soon united to live happily ever after. The one departure from the original story is the meeting between Cinderella and the prince before the royal ball. Cinderella wins the prince over by asking him to spare the life of the stag he is hunting. She falls in love when he shows kindness by letting the stag go. The two are captivated not just by each other’s admittedly good looks but by a shared
A faithful rendition of Cinderella brings back the magic to a centuries-old fairytale BY ALLY ADNAN
spirit as well. The blend of enchantment, enlightenment and romance makes this one of the film’s most effective scenes. Lily James and Cate Blanchett tweak the story by giving greater depth — and a little bit of spunk — to their characters. James plays the central character using what can only be described as an inherent inner glow to great advantage. Hers is not a spineless and abused Cinderella but one who uses courage and kindness as strengths to deal with, rather than fight against, cruelty and abuse. In the hands of a lesser actor, the character would come across as appallingly ‘good’ but here it is endearing and believable. The regal, imperious and cruel Blanchett waltzes through the movie with a menacing loveliness and frightening grace. She portrays the wicked Lady Tremaine as a damaged woman who uses a studied composure to mask desperation and a humble upbringing. She is as determined to marry her daughters into advantage as she is disdainful of their lack of distinguishing qualities. There is pathos beneath the gothic veneer of malevolence. Cinderella features a number of competent performances but the real star of the movie is its lush visual appeal as production design, costumes and cinematography work to present a sumptuous feast for the eyes and the senses. The film was shot with actual negative film, using little more than reflectors, tungsten and natural light. The results are crisp images with warm hues, accurate skin tones, spectacular interactions of light and shade and a magical profusion of colour. Branagh’s may well be the finest film version of the enduring fairy tale but it leaves one question unanswered: Why are the glass slippers not affected when everything else returns to its original form at the stroke of midnight as the Fairy Godmother’s spell wears off? Rating: Ally Adnan is a freelance writer living in Dallas. He writes about culture, history and the arts and tweets @allyadnan
BOOK
Celebrating Lahore Bapsi Sidhwa’s City of Sin and Splendour is a fascinating read of the complex mosaic that is Lahore BY NUZHAT SAADIA SIDDIQI
In his delightfully prosaic essay for the launch of the highly addictive game SimCity, Neil Gaiman writes about the charm of cities. Gaiman’s essay beautifully sums up what makes cities so fascinating. And even though he refers to many cities in this essay, chances are that if he was challenged to write about Lahore, he would have found all the contradictions too vast and varying to narrow down in one piece. Since Lahore so stubbornly escapes definition and cannot possibly be confined to one author’s imagination hence essays, short stories, recollections and anecdotes have been sourced from about 40 different authors, poets, historians, journalists and former residents of the city. Their thoughts and words have been synthesised to form the book City of Sin & Splendor: Writings on Lahore. The anthology, edited by the venerable Bapsi Sidhwa, is an ambitious tome that aims to capture the magic of Lahore from many different perspectives, some laced with admiration, some with begrudging praise, some with a pang of nostalgia and some armed with sceptical understanding. It is an ode as well as a guide to the dark heart of a city that is as welcoming as a mother, yet as demanding as a fictional mother-in-law. To start off, one has to quickly move past the feeble and bland attempts of several authors trying to retell how the city was named. After this, one can dive straight into the actual stories, which range from poetic to morose and stunning to damning. Lahore is remembered from when it was the darling of the Mughals with a historical piece by ED Maclagan called ‘The Travels of Fray Sebastian Man Manrique in the Punjab, 1641’. A little further on tthe timeline, Fakir Syed Aijazuddin’s piece titled titl ‘Akbar’s Capital: Jewel in the Sikh Crow recalls when Lahore was the Crown’ battle battleground and barracks of the Sikhs. Pieces by Sorayya Y Khan, Ijaz Hussain Batalvi, Saad Ashraf and Rudyard Kipling capture tthe period of the British rule over the city. The pieces pie pertaining to Partition, however, are the most enchanting e yet harrowing in the same breath. His Historical Lahore still lives on in the Lahore Fort, the Badshahi Mosque and the man Mughal relics still scattered around many th city. The fact that the city’s heritage the that spoke of a pluralistic collective, Author Bapsi Sidhwa.
which was inclusive and welcoming of people of all religions and ethnicities, has been lost can be ascertained from pieces by Krishen Khana, Ved Mehta, Urvashi Butalia, Meena Arora Nayak and the eternally irrepressible Khushwant Singh. No book about Lahore may be complete without a word from two of the rowdiest and proudest men Lahore has had the pride of providing a home to: Saadat Hassan Manto and Khushwant Singh. Manto’s ‘Toba Tek Singh’ appears early in the anthology, whereas somewhere around the halfway mark Singh’s essay ‘Lahore, Partition and Independence’ makes a gleefully damning appearance. Singh recounts his earlier days as a lawyer at Lahore High Court, his interactions with the social circles and his unforgettable interaction with volatile artist Amrita Sher Gill, who was known as ‘Frieda Kahlo of the East’. In the same section of the book, Minoo Bhandara writes about when Ava Gardner arrived in Lahore for shooting Bhowani Junction. A snidely refreshing essay from Ismat Chughtai about the obscenity trial she and Manto had to face in Lahore sums up the cultural and social vortex the city has always been. Jugnu Mohsin’s fascinating interview with the revolutionary poet Habib Jalib lends gravitas to Lahore’s reputation as a birthplace of revolutions, and another interview with the authoritative man of letters and arts Zia Mohyeddin authenticates the fact that Lahore has been the birthplace of stars. And when it comes to stars of Lahore, none shone brighter than the Melody Queen, Madam Noor Jehan. Khalid Hasan’s brief yet intensive profile of the songstress and her legend reads like a cinematic piece. The essay introduces her humble beginnings, shapes a scintillating yet somber narrative of her passions and progress in the film and music industry. It ends on a shikwa of sorts, that a woman who loved Lahore so intensely is not buried here. The anthology is a suitable tribute to a city that is constantly evolving. Perhaps the only thing that lets down the anthology is the oversight in properly assigning a genre to many of the pieces. Whether they are fiction or fact is a task assigned to the reader, and those not familiar with the writers may be left wondering. Other than that, it is a good enough companion both for those who love or those who loathe the city. Nuzhat Saadia Siddiqi is a freelance writer based in Lahore. She tweets @guldaar.
TECH
A faithful BY SAIM SAEED
union
DESIGN BY TALHA KHAN
How do you make an app that reforms the ‘hook-up culture’ we’ve come to know and love into something halal, everlasting and ultimately something our parents would approve of? Thirty-yearold Shahzad Younas, a British-Pakistani entrepreneur says he has the answer: MuzMatch, a matchmaking service takes its cues from Tinder, but caters exclusively to Muslims. The app retains the fundamentals of Tinder — you are presented with a series of possible matches and you swipe right or left on your phone to signal interest or dismiss each candidate. But MuzMatch has features that speak to the hearts of a more conservative clientele; you can create a profile that describes your religious sensibilities and select ‘Sunni’, ‘Shia’ or ‘Just Muslim’, specify the extent to which you practice religion and whether you have a beard or wear a veil. The app also has a wali feature, where messages and photos of the match are automatically forwarded to a prescribed guardian, normally one’s parent to keep the courtship as halal as possible. Younas says he wants to help Muslims ‘choose their own romantic destiny without breaking religious rules’. “Women on other dating apps are faced with weirdos and creeps,” the MuzMatch founder said. “We will ban anyone sending disgusting or inappropriate pictures and messages.” While such apps open up the next frontier in courtship, ‘Muslim dating’ is a phenomenon that does have precedent. Nuptial websites like shaadi.com or muslima.com have millions of customers. A labyrinthine set of questions, profile features and algorithms work to get one the perfect match, whether their deen has lapsed or been reborn. Tinder-like apps are a natural progression from such matchmaking sites. More broadly, an app like MuzMatch is perhaps a rebuff to that cacophony of Western voices that demand the ‘Muslim world’ to 50 modernise. What better way of being ‘modern’ than to tell the story MARCH 29-APRIL 4 2015
The ‘Muslim dating’ app MuzMatch makes digital love-seeking halal of how you met your partner online, or on a date, even if the parents did come along? The Muslim world has moved on from the monopolies that the Mrs Qureshis and Siddiquis held in matchmaking, and for the better, without necessarily removing the shackles of parental or societal consent. It is capitalism’s unscrupulous ability to adapt to obstacles like culture, people’s preferences, habits and moods that make it the most powerful institution on Earth. For instance, instead of selling a car with interest, ‘Islamic banks’ buy it and sell it to you at a ‘profit’, ensuring that you buy your price inflated-car the way your religion would apparently want you to. One can get halal tour packages to Turkey, Malaysia and the UAE, skipping the skimpy beaches entirely
Muzmatch has features that speak to the hearts of a more conservative clientele; you can create a profile that describes your religious sensibilities and select ‘Sunni’, ‘Shia’ or ‘Just Muslim’, specify the extent to which you practice religion and whether you have a beard or wear a veil and focusing instead on the breadth of Islamic history. For only Rs6 per day, you can get your daily hadith on your cell phone. You can get your non-alcoholic perfumes, red wine vinegar substitutes, impure silks and Burberry hijabs. Name a product and there is a halal option that you can find in the grocery store aisle, and now, the App Store. Currently MuzMatch is working on an android app and will also offer a wide range of languages in the future to cater to Muslims across the world. Like banking or holidays, when there’s a particularly ‘Muslim’ way of doing things, there is indeed a market to get it done, keeping Muslim sensitivities — and a nice paycheck — in mind. Saim Saeed is a freelance writer. He tweets @saimsaeed847