The Express Tribune Magazine - October 31

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

Blonde Ambition An interview with Scarlett Johansson

JUNE 13-19 2010

JUNE 13-19 2010

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

Cover Story 18 Blonde Ambition An interview with Scarlett Johansson

Feature 24 Blood Coltan How cell phone users are driving the war in the Congo

Profile 28 Candid Camera Yummy mummy Nariman Ansari on Firefly Fotoworks

Portfolio

28

32 The Sacred Shrine Omair Zeeshan at the Abdullah Shah Ghazi mazaar before the attack

Up North and Personal

32

42 Kastle Khan Zahrah Nasir meets the cricketing legend

Review 38 What’s new in books and film

Regulars 6 People & Parties: Out and about with beautiful people 14 Tribune Questionnaire: Mubasher Lucman on fidelity 41 Courtesy Call: how to handle perpetual borrowers 44 Horoscope: Shelley von Strunckel on your week ahead 46 Ten Things I Hate About: Smokers

14

4

Senior Sub-Editor: Nadir Hassan, Sub-Editors: Batool Zehra, Hamna Zubair, Film Critic: Faiza S Khan Creative Team: Amna Iqbal, Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Anam Haleem, Tariq Alvi, S Asif Ali, Sukayna Sadik Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Executive Editor: Muhammad Ziauddin. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi.

For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk Printed by: Yaqeen Art Press (Pvt.) Ltd., Karachi

JUNE 13-19 2010

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Decadent Delight Celebrities and socialites in Lahore attended the

Farwa, Rida, Iqra and a guest

Amina Kardar

6

Khadija, Amaima and Wadad OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

Ali Kasuri, Fatima Kasuri and Guest

PHOTO CREDIT: IJAZ MAHMOOD

opening of Lals Chocolates’ third store.

JUNE 13-19 2010

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Madiha with guests

Aina

8

Sana and Zara with a guest OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

Rida, Jalal And Mahreen

jid

Lal Ma

Fatima Kasuri and a guest

JUNE 13-19 2010

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Madiha, Akram and Awais Khan

Sonia Humayon, Ainy and Shamas

Guest

10

Zara OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

Guest

Wajeeha

JUNE 13-19 2010

PEOPLE & PARTIES

India Alert Bollywood celebrities were busy promoting films and

Sushmita Sen and Kunal Kapoor

Minissha Lamba

12

John and Bipasha at a special screening of Jootha Hi Sahi OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

A celebrity at the MAMI film festival

PHOTO CREDIT: IANS

attending festivals this week.

JUNE 13-19 2010

“I am afraid of losing my ratings” Talk-show host Mubasher Lucman on fidelity, women and dirty talk.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Happiness is not having what you want. It is wanting what you

Fidelity. I rarely come across it now but all of us publicise it end-

have. For me personally the happiest moments are the ones

spent with my children. For happiness must be shared. Sharing

lessly.

and joy were born twins.

On what occasion do you lie?

What is your greatest fear?

without thoughtful consideration. I can lie when I want to avoid

The things which I fear the most in life have already happened to me. Right now I am most afraid of sickness and poverty. I am also afraid of losing my ratings.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

There are a few really but to narrow it down I wish I could learn to control my short temper. For I have learned that people will

forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Lies. It is most deplorable when people tell half truths to give

Often lying can be the product of a snap decision, made in haste

hurting someone’s feelings. Also about my relationships/affairs as I do not wish them (women) any harmful publicity.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?

My teeth. I wish I could find the time to get them fixed and an employer to pay for it!

Which living person do you most despise?

A prospective suicide bomber. I wish for him to have a very very very long life.

What is the quality you most like in a man?

full lies especially when there is no need for it.

I really admire selfless donors in life. However for myself per-

What is your greatest extravagance?

much rather turn into a quality man.

Books. Cars. Perfumes. Entertaining friends at home. Vaca-

sonally, I do not wish only to acquire certain qualities. I would

tions. So many of them really....

What are the qualities you most like in a woman?

What is your current state of mind?

A woman who smells good. But seriously, men want the same

Confused. Confused about our society, government and our own

future. Confused about the quality of future my children will have. Confused about whether I should migrate like so many of

The most welcome quality would be a good sense of humour.

thing from their underwear that they want from women: a little bit of support and a little bit of freedom.

my friends or stay back. Confused if we can ever have patriotic

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

into politics myself to rectify things.

mentary, gaalis in Punjabi.

and capable leadership. Confused about whether I should come

“I mean to say”, “Inshallah” and many, though not very compli-

15 OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

When and where were you happiest?

Difficult to single out but when I held my first born in my hands in the labour room for the first time I was over the moon. That was also the first time I was not afraid of death as I knew I would

a pretty girl that anybody who believes that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach obviously flunked geography.

What is your most treasured possession?

live on. In order to appreciate happiness one must go through

My personal library and my collection of Anna Kournikova photos!

two?

If you didn’t do your current job, what would you choose to do?

Which talent would you most like to have?

I don’t feel I should be doing something else. Except sometimes

lots of sorrow or else how else can you differentiate between the

I would love to be a good singer. (Aah only if I could sing…) I know if I ever came out with a cassette there would be five songs on side A and a long apology from the recording company on

My current occupation is extremely gratifying and when I do it,

when I am not doing what I do then perhaps there is a secret wish somewhere to enter active politics.

side B.

What is your most marked characteristic?

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

where only one woman may enter, but it is full of little ante-

I would love to have a much larger family. We all need some change sooner or later, I guess the only human establishment which rejects change or progress is the cemetery.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Well, remember a man’s heart may have a secret sanctuary rooms which should never be vacant.

Who is your hero of fiction?

Umro Ayyar from Tilsum Hosh Ruba and Mario Puzo’s Godfather.

I have managed to retain my friends from my first year in school.

Which historical figure do you most identify with?

and pain but the others have withstood my moods, swaying

liph Umer. Sher Shah Suri and Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

Sadly, some of them have passed away too bringing loads of grief

temperament, airline food and are always standing by me. I am

also fortunate to have a great family that supports me in every

There are so many it’s difficult to be objective. But perhaps Ca-

Who are your heroes in real life?

endeavor. For me achievement is plural and must be shared.

My late father who was a war hero. Additionally, my mother, a

If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would

Mustafa Kemal, Zaheer Abbas and, of course, Waheed Murad.

it be?

I would be myself at any time. I believe that the years I have spent

very strong woman with exceptional qualities. Dr Abdul Salam.

What is your greatest regret?

are more satisfying than what most men can ever dream off.

I had a quarrel with my elder brother. We were not on speaking

Where would you most like to live?

I could have made it up with him before that. It was a terrible

Preferably a wooden hut on a mountain top but frankly I can live

anywhere and be happy long as there is plenty of domestic help around.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

terms and he died sometime later of a cardiac arrest. I just wish feeling.

What’s your favorite quote?

“Perseverance commands success.”

When a man talks dirty to a woman, it’s sexual harassment.

How many hours of loadshedding did you experience yesterday?

member the most miserable moments were trying to convince

perience the pleasures of loadshedding. a

When a woman talks dirty to a man, it’s $3.95 a minute. I re-

16 OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

None. I have a very powerful UPS and a generator. So I rarely ex-

JUNE 13-19 2010

COVER STORY

blonde

amb

BY BEPPE SEVERGNINI

TRANSLATED BY GILES WATSON

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

bition

The petite blonde is waiting for me on a sofa in the chateau, legs tucked under her floral-patterned skirt. I ask if we can move a little nearer the window. The battery of the iPhone I’m going to use to record the interview is low, and I need a socket. She looks at me, and I realise, the way you do when you’re in the dock, or in love, that my fate may be sealed in the next five seconds.

She smiles, gets up and moves. “Where would we be without the good old iPhone?” she says. We’re off on the right foot, then. A-list celebrities can turn uncooperative over a lot less, but Scarlett Johansson looks relaxed. During the afternoon, I had watched from a distance as she inaugurated the harvest at the Moet & Chandon vineyards outside Epernay, France. A grape shear-wielding Tinkerbell in the Neverland sunshine of the Champagne region, with men clustering around her.

A female colleague who had met Johansson warned: “Watch out. She’s as much fun as a lit cigarette in your hair.” Surely not. She’s cheerful, and she looks great. Better than the photos, which says it all. Having read some embarrassing Johansson interviews with male reporters — in which the most challenging question was “Excuse me, are you divine?” — I was determined to interview her as I would a sweaty, mustachioed 60-year-old.

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

COVER STORY Do you remember your first interview?

Yes, I think it was for The Horse Whisperer. I must have been 12 or

13. It would be bizarre to read it now.

You’ve made all the right decisions since then, to judge by your success. Who decides with you?

When I was younger and living at home, my mom always

wanted me to work on things I wanted to do. I never did anything I didn’t want to do. I picked projects that I wanted to see

and that I thought were cool. I’ve always hated those trendy slasher movies for teenagers. It seemed that every film I was offered was some kind of bloody mess. I hated them. So I did movies like The Man Who Wasn’t There with the Coen brothers or Lost in Translation. Movies that would fit my aesthetic, I guess.

I read that Robert Redford said about you back then: “She’s 13 going on 30.” Do you think you’re mature for your age?

I grew up in New York, and I was exposed to a lot. I was with

adults a lot of the time. I spent many months working with adults. I don’t know, sometimes I feel very much part of my generation. Other times, I think I was born in the wrong era. I feel nostalgic about a period of time I never lived through.

Any period in particular?

Oh, probably the ’40s and ’50s, the Golden Age of Hollywood. I

don’t know, it just seems like an exciting time.

Well if that’s what you think, no wonder people say “Scarlett reckons she’s the new Marilyn!”

Well, Marilyn Monroe was a very underrated comedian, cer-

tainly. But I think people see it as an aesthetic connection because we’re both blond and buxom and whatever. For a long period of time, there’s been this slender, androgynous aesthetic,

and yes, perhaps people confuse the two: style of acting with sex appeal and so on. I’d like to think there was a comparison there, but no I don’t think so. It’s hard to have a perspective on yourself, anyway.

Actresses tend to be more popular with men, and actors with women — that’s obvious. In your case, Scarlett, men seem to be distinctly enthusiastic and women much less so. In other words, does your success with male moviegoers cost you part of your female audience?

I’ve often played the “other woman,” and I think that’s hard

for women to swallow. But I’ve also played strong, independent women. I’ve never played a role that was a meek character.

I get the impression that men like you because you don’t scare

them. There are women who look like you in an American mall

20 OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

Marilyn Monroe was a very underrated comedian, certainly.

But I think people see it as an aesthetic connection because we’re both blond and buxom and whatever. For a long period of time, there’s been this slender, androgynous aesthetic, and yes, perhaps people confuse the two: style of acting with sex appeal

or on a street in Scandinavia. Some other stars look as if they’ve been drawn (by an artist).

Let’s put it like this: being attractive is mystery, allure, confidence.

It’s not necessarily physical attributes. Sure, they’re important, too, full lips, big eyes and so on. But for me, sex appeal is some-

thing that you exude, it’s the way you move, your delivery. That’s sensual. Cold, threatening, overly confident? That’s just not me.

I don’t think so either.

Thanks.

Lost in Translation is one of my favorite movies. It’s amazing how director Sofia Coppola managed to make a jewel of a movie just in a hotel. Are you surprised at its lasting success? You were 17 when you shot it and 19 when it was released. It was a turning point for you.

Sure, it was a turning point. But when I signed on to do it, I

didn’t think anybody was going to see it. It’s not that I didn’t believe in the project, but the script was very short, only 76 pages, so you had no idea how it was going to turn out. A lot of that film

is ambience — nothing happens. It’s the music, it’s the lighting, it’s the long-cut shots ...

Just out of curiosity: Was Bill Murray’s character in love with you? It’s something I couldn’t quite work out.

He would have been if he was a little bit younger or she was

older, but I think it was more a platonic kind of love. I think

she showed him something, and he was guiding her in some way. He kind of comes alive in her presence, and she as well.

She is able to transition to another part of her life, thanks to this chance encounter.

Are you happy about Sofia Coppola’s victory in Venice with Somewhere?

Very. It’s wonderful to see a female director win.

I’ll ask you about George W. Bush’s successor, Barack Obama.

You were a keen supporter before he was elected. Did you ever think that might hurt you professionally? Some of your Republican fans might not have been happy.

Why not? Part of being a responsible citizen is being politically

active. I don’t think about how this might affect my career. Look at Sean Penn. I don’t think he’s really worried about alienating his audience. He’s an incredible actor. The two things have

nothing to do with each other. Actors that I know I have a difference of opinion with politically, and they’re outspoken — I’d still

go and see their movies. I’m in the spotlight. If there’s a cause

or a movement I believe in — and that’s exactly how I felt during

the 2008 election, there was a movement — I try to help. Simple.

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

21

COVER STORY Drumming up support?

I don’t stand on a soapbox and tell people how to vote. I say ”I

support this person. Here’s why.”

Are you a little disappointed in Obama, two years on? Or are you still hopeful?

Hopeful. Not disappointed. I’m disappointed at the divisions

in American politics, at the polarisation of our society ...

You should come to Italy.

The media bias is so revolting. It’s very difficult to swallow.

and where am I in my career. The entertainment industry is in dire straits right now. (Laughs.) The idea of being a film star is

sentimental, but it doesn’t drive the box office — I mean very rarely. You need to think about what it is that you do creatively that’s fulfilling, not what you have to do to get to the top.

So no big mistakes, then?

Some things went well, some things went better than I

thought, others bombed. But everything I worked on I’m proud to have made. I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.

I assumed, along with many other supporters (of Obama) that

What has helped you most? Looks, personality, style, choices?

It’s an ethical and economic contrast in the media, pushing the

on a lot of films that were maybe progressive or artistic. I think

would change. But one thing has nothing to do with the other. country to swing one way or another.

I think it’s a market issue. The media stopped being an independent check when they realized that the public wants to read, listen to and watch people who tell them they are right. In Italy, in Europe, in America.

I agree. And people have learned to accept the status quo. They

just want to know that everything’s OK, somehow. They don’t

want to question their news source. Now you can find a whole lot of information out there on the internet. But you have to want to go look for it.

I’ve had a very successful independent film career. I’ve worked

outside of the box. And that is me. I think that whenever you

have an actor that is capable of making choices that are different

or unexpected, you want to know what they’re going to do next.

How many movies have you made?

Forty or so.

At the age of 25.

Twenty-six in November.

Where will you be 40 years from now? “Driving Miss Daisy,” director and producer? A grandmother with grandchildren?

They should hang a sign on Western society like the ones on hotel room doors: “Do Not Disturb.”

York and act in the theatre, and that will be my life. Other

themselves to death. Especially with this economic climate.

ment, stuff behind the scenes. But in the end, the audience will

That’s the way it is. People work so hard in America. They work

I don’t think they have the time or inclination to think about

politics or the environment, the big picture. They need simple, easy things. They’re so tied up with the hardship of their life.

I know that you’re very active with Bono’s RED, Oxfam and USA Harvest. Lots of film actors work on behalf of good causes.

Aren’t you worried about compassion inflation? Or that some people might doubt your sincerity?

You don’t have to let people know you support charity. But if

you want to tell people, “Look, this is a good organisation I traveled with. I know they do good and have a low administration cost,” well, you’ve got to go public.

What mistakes have you made in your life? I’m talking about your professional life.

That’s funny because I was thinking the other day about work

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

Sometimes I think that when I’m older, I’d like to live in New

times, I think I’ll go into production and do direction, developdictate that, if people are still interested. If the opportunities are there and I don’t have to compromise my taste — well, I’ll keep making movies. Otherwise, fine. I could see myself living

a quiet family life, having an organic farm. Who knows? I might sing more Tom Waits songs.

Thank you, Scarlett.

Satisfied? Did you get everything? If not — well, you can always

make it up.— NYT Syndication Services

(Beppe Severgnini is a columnist for Corriere della Sera, Italy’s oldest and most well-known newspaper, and author of more than

a dozen books, including the best-selling Ciao, America. His most recent book is La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind. a

Ghost World (2001) Lost in Translation (2003) Scoop (2006) The Prestige (2006) Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

The Horse Whisperer (1998) The Island (2005) The Black Dahlia (2006) The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) He’s Just Not That Into You (2009)

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

Comment

by fatima najm

21 mAY 9-15 2010

Do Pakistan’s 100 million cell phone users know their devices may be soaked in Congolese blood? Inside each of those phones are tiny quantities of coltan and cassiterite that add up to a lucrative illegal trade. The explosive growth in the wireless industry means that demand for these tin ores collectively results in the rape and torture of hundreds of thousands of innocent Congolese people a year.

My mind races back, across continents, to the lush green fields around Goma. My memory snags

for a moment on the haunted eyes of children fleeing rebel militias who control vast tracts of Eastern Congo, intent on keeping control of large deposits of coltan and cassiterite that lay buried be-

neath the rich red earth. Those children are among the 5.4 million innocent lives the conflict has claimed since 1998.

The average consumer may not have heard of coltan, but without it the wireless world would lose

its ability to churn out edgy, stylish devices. It allows capacitors to handle high voltages at high temperatures, which means it is essential to making razor-thin cell phones. While coltan is key to the miniaturisation of electronic devices, cassiterite is used to replace lead in tin plating, making

devices technically more environmentally-friendly, but resulting in the massacre of scores of Congolese villagers who happen to get in the way.

Goma is the capital of North Kivu province, scene of the current bloody conflict. Legal mining

operations are illegally taxed by rebel militias or members of the Congolese army, bankrolling a war that has taken the lives of as many as 45,000 civilians a month over the last decade, according to a study by the International Rescue Committee.

And death is not the worst of fates, according to Joseph Busisi. All he wanted when he left his

village was a job that gave him enough cash so that he could marry his fiance. A mine recruiter offered him a job that paid a dollar a day but a few days into it, part of the mine collapsed, severing

Busisi’s spine. He had no way of telling his family where he was, or of notifying his fiance. When I met him, he lay paralysed in Lubumbashi’s Sendwe hospital.

“There were no schools, I couldn’t study and there is no land to farm,” Busisi said. “There are no

jobs now in Congo, no place for me to work, except the mines.”

Schools in Congo function like day care centres where the children are not being taught, while

teachers say the government has stopped all spending on education.

“How can we build schools when invading militias turn them into their headquarters, (and) use

the desks and chairs as firewood?” said former education minister Prosper Kabila. “The interna-

tional companies must stop buying coltan, then the war will stop. And our children can go back to school.”

Katanga province is the heart of Congo’s legitimate mining industry, generating up to 70 per

cent of national revenue. The governor of Katanga, Moise Katumbi, blames the international community for the prolonged conflict. “How can the world give aid to Rwanda when the Rwandans

25 oCTOBER 31-nOVEMBER 6 2010

Comment

21 mAY 9-15 2010

are supporting armies that steal minerals from our mines and sell it to the world and the world

pretends to be blind?” he said, just days before the UN published a report detailing Rwanda’s role in the war, and several countries suspended aid. “Maybe the western countries don’t care because we are black, but they should be careful, this conflict can swallow many countries.”

Congo is resource-rich, and its powerful river system has the potential to power all of Africa’s

electricity needs. Experts say stability in Congo could translate into peace and progress for all of Africa, but at least five neighbouring countries have proxy militias battling each other in Congo for control of valuable tin ores.

The exploitation of Congolese land has resonated across countries, even in far-off Japan. Urani-

um used in the bombs that the Americans dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki came from a mine in Lubumbashi, Congo. “The Americans came here, scooped up the uranium and flew off, without asking,” said Governor Kutumbi.

That mine has been sealed shut and officials say it is illegal to mine uranium in Katanga. And

yet, in 2007, 17 tonnes of radioactive ore, part of a larger load that made it through checkpoints,

was hurriedly hidden in the Mura river when police began questioning lorry drivers. The uranium

contaminated the groundwater and every environmental expert scrambled to the scene, trying to contain the damage.

Given the widespread violence attributed to Congolese coltan and cassiterite, one would imagine

tin would be destined for the same sort of notoriety as blood diamonds. But a mining official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, doubts that will happen: “There is a cold and calculated cruelty

about the massacre (of people) and (the clearing) of forests for coltan, but blood diamond sounds glamorous, and blood coltan doesn’t mean anything . I cannot imagine Leonardo DiCaprio making that movie, maybe George Clooney? Maybe not.”

Manufacturers like Nokia have responded to questions as to whether the coltan in their phones

comes from the conflict zone in Eastern Congo. A page on their website carries a disclaimer saying that their supplier does not source coltan from illegal mining operations run by militias in Congo.

Corporations claim the path of coltan coming out of Congo is so convoluted that it cannot be prop-

erly policed, often changing hands half a dozen times before it reaches the cellphone manufacturer that we are familiar with. But Global Witness, an NGO that documents the exploitation of natural resources, has exploded that myth by tracing the supply chains of coltan and cassiterite.

Mark Twain led the human rights campaign against the first genocide in Congo which cost eight

million lives under King Leopold. This is the second genocide, and the key to stopping it has landed in the palm of our hands. But it doesn’t have to be this way. All consumers have to do is start asking

the mobile manufacturers , ‘Can you tell me where the coltan in my phone’s capacitor comes from?’

There are currently 100 million cell phone users in Pakistan. Those numbers could translate into a

powerful force for change. All we have to do is insist on transparency in the opaque offices of those who decide where and how to buy the coltan they put in our phones. a

>> Heart of darkness The links between Congo’s vast riches and its bloodstained history stretch back to the Belgian colonial era, when King Leopold II forced labourers onto his rubber plantations and ordered his agents to chop off the hands of workers who failed to fulfil their harvest quotas. Joseph Conrad called it the vilest scramble for loot that ever disfigured the history of human conscience. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle chronicled the land grab in The Crime of Congo. The exploitation started with ivory, which King Leopold extracted and sold at will, creating a slave nation in a country where he claimed to be building hospitals and roads. Then, the invention of the bicycle generated demand for rubber, and millions of Congolese lost their lives under a cruel regime designed to collect rubber in the most efficient manner. <<

27 oCTOBER 31-nOVEMBER 6 2010

PROFILE

andid amera

BY ANAM MANSURI

Nariman Ansari, a pioneer in the field of maternity and pregnancy photography, speaks on the magic of photos 28 OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

Ansari’s photos capture emotions that are as natural as they can get

“You can’t pay people enough to shoot children,” says photographer Nariman Ansari, who specialises in child and family photography. She is also the first photographer to do maternity and pregnancy portraits. As she leans back on the warm green couch in the living room of her Karachi apartment, frames of all shapes and sizes cram the wall behind her.

She chuckles as she remembers Kulsum, a two-year-old fire-

ball who was brought to her studio a few months ago by her

mother Marzia, to get photographs taken. “That girl gave me a gym session I will never forget!” Ansari remembers the day

when Kulsum ran out of Ansari’s home studio, outside into the living room, jumping behind their huge sofa, and then running

round and round the dining table, and back into the studio with

It was Ansari’s newfound appreciation of her relationship with her husband and son, which inspired her to take up this kind of photography.

Ansari chasing behind her with the camera and Marzia trailing after, her hands flailing, expression aghast and a stream of

hopeless apologies pouring out of her mouth. “There was a mo-

ment where Kulsum was running towards me really fast, her hair flying and pink dress fluttering and her eyes full of a delirious kind of joy, and I was running backwards, away from her clicking my camera. I just had to capture the moment.”

Ansari, 31, one of a handful of child and family photographers

in the country, started Firefly Fotoworks out of her one-room

home studio in November last year. Before that, the young Indus Valley graduate dove headfirst into directing right after she

finished university, giving her photography minor a backseat.

29

For two years she assisted director Saqib Malik with high proOCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

PROFILE

Relationships between parents and children continue to intrigue Ansari

file commercial music videos like Fuzon’s “Khamaj”, Ali Azmat’s “Na re Na” and even the India-based “Ghoom Tana” featuring ac-

tress Nandita Das. She worked for a couple of production firms and briefly directed a Pakistani sitcom called “Minglish”, until she gave birth to her son Izdeyar. It was not until the beginning

of last year that she decided to pick up her camera again and start a business from home.

“I spent about two to three years feeling like a failure because I

wasn’t directing, something I had wanted to do ever since I was 12. I thought that by now I would’ve directed a serial. It felt even

worse because people had had so many expectations of me because of who my parents were,” she says referring to her mother,

popular TV personality Bushra Ansari, and her producer/direc-

tor father Iqbal. “And then I had to make a decision. I couldn’t keep feeling sorry for myself. I decided to make the most of what

I had — if my lifestyle was giving me the opportunity to do this, with my children, or with my yummy mummy friends who had children, who was I to say no? It was time I accepted who I was and stopped trying to be someone I thought I was going to be.”

It was Ansari’s newfound appreciation of her relationship with

her husband and son which inspired her to take up this kind

of photography. She remembers trying to get her son Izdeyar’s

30

picture taken at Jimmy’s studio, and how nerve-racking it was.

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

“I spent about two to three years feeling like a failure because I wasn’t directing, something I had wanted to do ever since I was 12.

I thought that by now I would’ve directed a serial. It felt even worse because people had had so many expectations of me because of who my parents were.”

Izdeyar simply would not allow the man take a decent picture.

“There was no chemistry between them,” explains Ansari, “the

photographer was a sombre old bearded man waving a ganda sa

khilona in front of Izdeyar and nothing was happening. There was no magic.”

It was then that Ansari returned home, took out her studio

lights and her digital camera and started setting up a studio

space in her home. She called over her neighbour Maroosh and her twin daughters and held a trial photoshoot. “I needed to see if I really had the chemistry I thought I did with kids. I had to see

if I could bring magic.” The pictures turned out great. And that’s hardly surprising given Ansari’s playful nature and comforting look. The cuddly yummy mummy has short curly hair, a sweet

coaxing voice and lots and lots of patience. It is with this gentle-

ness that she slowly wins the trust of the fussy divas that visit

her studio, and once they feel comfortable they allow her in, and she gets her picture.

While photographing, it is relationships in their rawest most

natural forms that continue to intrigue Ansari; relationships between a mother and daughter, husband and wife or grandfather and grandson. She captures moments that are as natural as they can get, be it anger, sadness or utter joy.

She clicks away with her camera for hours on end if she has

to, never directing. “You cannot direct children, they are not going to listen you because they don’t even listen to their moms.”

Ansari simply allows her subjects to interact; interact with their

families, their surroundings and themselves. Some of Nariman’s favourite pictures include a little girl, Leena playing with

her long curly hair, and another one that she took of the fire-

“It is so important to cherish those moments,” says Ansari, “I wish I had somebody take pictures like that of me when I first met my husband as opposed to those emotionless wedding portraits that have been photoshopped to death. They aren’t memorable at all!”

ball Kulsum in between her fits of energy when she’s rubbing her eyes and her mother is kissing her head, or the one of baby

Haadi flashing a smile with his eyes twinkling so mischievously they seem like they’re on fire.

“It is so important to cherish those moments,” says Ansari, “I

wish I had somebody take pictures like that of me when I first

met my husband as opposed to those emotionless wedding portraits that have been photoshopped to death. They aren’t memorable at all!” She then gets up from her seat to show me a pho-

tograph that hangs on her living room wall, a picture of four

generations of Ansari women, Nariman holding little Izdeyar, her mother Bushra, Bushra’s mother and grandmother, in two

rows of two, with the top row standing and bottom sitting, staring straight at the camera with forced smiles. “This just docu-

ments what we look like, but it doesn’t capture what we had between us,” she says sadly, “and for this we went all the way to Lahore to get the photograph taken with my great grandmother.

I would make this sort of effort for a photograph…and I would want to cherish the magic that existed between all of us.” a

31 OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

PORTFOLIO

the sacred shrine PHOTOGRAPHY & TEXT BY OMAIR ZEESHAN

My grandfatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grave is on

rural areas of Punjab, and I

could make out of their chant-

the security. Armed guards

fairly peaceful affairs which

religious sects and were trying

the premises of Abdullah Shah

when you get to the place is

take my camera along with me

are all over the place. There is

Ghaziâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shrine. I decided to

when I tagged along with my uncle, who was going there

on Shab-e-Baraat to pay his respects to his father. I am not

very religious but the shrine

32

The first thing you notice

holds this power over people and it fascinated me.

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

barbed wire on the walls and

metal detectors placed stra-

tegically at different entry points inside.

The

whole

setup

seems

strangely incongruous. I have

visited a lot of shrines in the

distinctly remember them as required no securtiy. The walls

were short and there were hardly any checks.

While I was walking down-

stairs after visiting the burial place of the saint, I heard

heated chanting by two different groups of people. By what I

ing, they belonged to different to work out their identity cri-

ses by defining themselves in the context of their difference.

They sounded like they wanted a fight.

I was a little afraid that a

scuffle might break out be-

cause both the groups sounded

pretty adamant about making sure that their voices wereheard and the superiority of

their creed established. Luckily nothing happened.

Then i stopped by the adja-

cent burial premises to visit

my grandfather. Most of the people buried adjacent to him

did not seem to have anyone

to attend to them. There was only one other grave that hadsome flowers sprinkled over

it and some incense burning around it.

Not long after the visit, the

shrine was attacked, eight

people were killed and 60 were

33 OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

PORTFOLIO

injured. In a similar incident

sacred and probably protected.

people were killed in triple

something like this happens.

at the Data Darbar in July, 35 blasts at the shrine.

But now that I think about

it, I am surprised it had not

happened earlier. These are

prime targets for instilling panic and confusion.

People

34

expect

that

these

places are safe because they are OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

That just makes it worse when Sadly, I do not think that I

will be visiting any shrines for a very long time. It seems like a pointless risk now. a

35 OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

PORTFOLIO

36 OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

37 OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

REVIEW

featured review of the week

book a design sans designer

BY AMMARA KHAN

The purpose of human existence has vexed theologians, philosophers and scientists for centuries. With the progress of science, one would expect the elimination of religious intrusion into serious scientific investigation. However, compared to science, religion has been around for a much longer time and is still more accessible and acceptable to millions of people who find its teachings more reassuring and effective. Nevertheless, the success of science is indisputable. To get around this problem, religious people have improvised their arguments by resorting to progressive scriptural reinterpretations, Old Earth creationism or theistic evolution. Cult figures like Harun Yahya voice this desperate desire to make science an underling of religion. Such pseudo-science is not only a misrepresentation of scientific facts but a mutilation of religious beliefs too; it is high time we learn to wall out our religious beliefs when it comes to science for Robert Frost was right when he wisely said that good fences make good neighbours.

Stephen Hawking made an allusion to a divine creator in his famous book A Brief History of Time: “However, if we discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable by everyone, not just by a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason — for then we should know the mind of God.” For many people it was a confirmation on the part of the renowned physicist of the existence of God. However, those people are going to be displeased with Hawking after reading his latest book The Grand Design. Ironically, the book is not about the discovery of the grand design in the mind of God but a refutation of that possibility. He proclaims that “Because there is a law such as grav38 ity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. SpontaneOCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

ous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.”

The grand design that Hawking heralds in this book is one envisioned through the radical M-theory. M-theory is a cutting-edge theory that can be called an extension of string theory. It involves an 11-dimensional universe which harmonises the weak and strong forces with gravity and incorporates all the string theories.

Like many contemporary physicists, Hawking sees M-theory as The Theory of Everything: “M-theory is the only candidate for a complete theory of the universe. It is the unified theory Einstein was hoping to find. If this theory is confirmed by observation, it will be the successful conclusion of a search going back more than 3,000 years. We will have found the grand design.”

Stephen Hawking, one of the most eminent physicists of our times, has taken the task of explaining the reason behind human existence sans invoking a divine being in The Grand Design. This,

according to him, is “the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.” While A Brief History of Time answers the how part of the existence of universe, his new book concentrates on the why — the big bang being the answer to his previous enquiry and M-theory to the latter.

He establishes a historical context for M-theory to make it less formidable for non-specialist readers, who are certainly the desired targeted audience of the book. To do this, he adopts a roughly chronological approach, beginning with Iona and Greek philosophers who believed in natural laws rather than a personal God, referring to different creation myths at many instances, bringing up Copernicus who robbed man of his superior status by declaring that the earth is not located at the centre of the universe and thus opened the gate for revolutionary developments in physics and cosmology, moving on to Einstein and quantum physics and the way they changed the way we perceive space-time, arriving at string theory and its amazing implications, and finally, proudly introducing the reader to M-theory.

The Grand Design is present-day physics at its most accessible.

Unassuming in its tone, its language reflects a deep passion for science and an unusual gift for simplifying dense scientific matters. He draws analogies from common experience, some of which are poetically beautiful. For instance, to explain model-dependent realism he tells the reader about the prohibition of keeping a goldfish in a ball with curved sides in Monza, Italy. The city council said that the fish would have a distorted view of reality because of the curved walls of the ball. Hawking says, how can we know that we are also not trapped inside a giant round ball or how can we be sure that the goldfish’s picture of reality is less real than ours?

Top-down cosmology, says Hawking, can be the best description of reality. Quantum mechanics and classical physics are based on very different conceptions of physical reality. To solve this conflict the book disregards the “apparent” laws of nature, the laws that we observe with our eyes.

The strength of the book resides in its possible implications, the unparalleled translation of higher mathematics and rendering its complex findings into simple language. Unlike Roger Penrose’s A Road to Reality — an indisputable gem in mathematical physics which not many can proclaim to have completely understood — The Grand Design is a popular science book that can find its deserved spot on the shelves of layme, and inspire curious minds, stimulating a new interest in the wondrous possibilities that a Theory of Everything holds.

The Grand Design is one of those books that combine a child’s wonder with a scientist’s impressive intelligence. Already a bestseller, it is proof that science is not just obtrusive jargon.

The ingenious wit, lucid logic and pleasant expression, show that Hawking’s knack for brilliant writing has never been more brilliantly displayed.

39 OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

REVIEW

movie still waters

BY FAIZA S KHAN

Alexandre Aja, the French director who rose to prominence with the visceral slasher film Haute Tension in 2003, came as a breath of fresh air to a genre which appears to have been struggling of late with expensive, flaccid remakes and shock value quite often taking the place of the very basic premise of the horror film, to elicit fear or at least a lingering unease. With Haute Tension he succeeded and with his next big release, 2006’s The Hills Have Eyes, he pulled off another coup by doing what so few manage, delivering a fresh, effective and exceedingly disturbing remake of a cult classic.

This year, Aja gives us Piranha 3D, which, needless to say, the Pakistan-based viewer shall not be able to enjoy in its full glory.

Having clocked the number of eyeballs and other unmentionable body parts shooting towards the camera on a DVD print, this is no bad thing on balance. Piranha 3-D is an entertaining and often amusing creature feature beautifully shot with a clean palette of blues, greens and yellows starring some fairly likeable and better yet, dislikable, stock characters — several of whom have large chunks of flesh rent from their bodies by a shoal of the titular carnivorous fish. The premise is pure delight: a small town hosts spring break, a peculiar American custom/rite of passage whereby idiotic college-goers descend upon towns en mass to under-dress, over-drink and use as few of their brain cells as humanly possible.

Since spring break is synonymous with the odious video series Girls Gone Wild, which celebrates sexual exploitation in the name of sexual freedom, a large selection of potential victims, whom one would only be too happy to see eaten, is at hand for the piranhas to have a field day. There are cockle-warming touches such as Christopher Lloyd borrowing from his Back to the Future persona as a scientist who informs us with incredulity that this particular species of piranha hasn’t been seen since ‘’the Pleistocene epoch, two million years ago’’. I do love a horror with a touch of the prehistoric.

The central character should have been the lovely Elizabeth 40 Shue playing the town sheriff; it is she and her cute kids whom we OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

jaws-lite The film was clearly meant as a playful parody of the Spielberg masterpiece but its tone is inconcistent are rooting for. Sadly, the real central character in this film is the Spielberg masterpiece Jaws. While the film nods and winks at it throughout, opening with a cameo from Richard Dreyfuss reprising his original role, by and large the effect is largely to remind one of just how brilliant Jaws was. Clearly it was intended as a playful parody and homage to Jaws rather than competition, but the tone is inconsistent. Aja seems to have stepped out of his genre for this film — let’s face it, the French aren’t really known for their sense of humour. He’s more convincing when he gets nasty, and he really does, with a thoroughly disturbing massacre on the water of Saving Private Ryan proportions.

As such the film, for all its entertainment value, is somewhat scattered. There are, for me, two ways to go with a creature feature: there’s Jaws, which channeled Melville and made a psychological drama of Ahab versus a great white shark. Alternatively, there was the glorious Lake Placid, a whole other kettle of fish, scripted as a comedy, with an exceptionally low body count. With Piranha one feels as if it was scripted as fluffy entertainment and handed over to a serious director, ending up with Jaws-lite. a

ADVICE aA

call

courtesy

friend borrows clothes from me and my roommates whenever she gets the opportunity. It started out with accessories, progressed to casual wear and has now reached the stage of couture and formal apparel. It’s not that we don’t like sharing or are being stingy; it’s just upsetting when you have to hunt someone down to be able to use your own belongings. Borrowed items are always returned after months and they never look quite the same. Since we’re all housemates, saying no is just not an option as it only creates bad feeling. What should I do?

The Responsible One

SEND ALL QUESTIONS TO OUR ETIQUETTE EXPERT AT

MAGAZINE@TRIBUNE.COM.PK

It’s funny how girls always have this problem. Chronic borrowers are hard to deal with, and while we all make exceptions once in

a while, there is a limit to how much you can tolerate. If you’ve already tried saying no, it’s time to pull out the diplomacy card: white lies were invented for such situations. You don’t end up hurting anyone and you keep your possessions secure. So the

next time your housemate wants your clothes tell her they’re

at the drycleaners. If she’s persistent she might bug you a few more times, but when you continue to meet her with polite yet

appropriate excuses, chances are she’ll take the hint. Oh and as a precaution, keep your cupboards locked when you’re not home.

a My boyfriend and I have been going out for two years now and the only thing we to disagree on is my interaction with other guys. He’s not really conservative. But now even a text message, a casual wave or courteous smile causes strain and tension. I have tried fighting my case, but nothing seems to be working. We’re way past the days of gender segregation — get with it already! Besides, I thought socialising and mingling was healthy for any relationship.

Am I asking for too much?

The Space Finder Your boyfriend shows the classic symptoms of an insecure man.

Today he is insecure about other guys; tomorrow it will be something else. An insecure man is very hard to please because it is

not really your behavior that he has a problem with — it is himself. As far as your question is concerned, there is no need for you

to justify your stance. If you’ve been together for two years, he needs to trust you when you interact with other people. Sit down

and have a talk — let out everything, explain the awkwardness about this issue and find out what his concerns are. When he does, you have to make sure that he doesn’t have a reason to restrict your space and freedom. Or you could do the common sense thing and end this relationship.

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

41

UP NORTH AND PERSONAL

kastle khan

Chemical orange is an obnoxious colour at the best of times and to be greeted by a glaring wall of the stuff is nauseating. I imagine that the effect was supposed to be one of overpowering ethnicity but bad taste was

more like it and, as putting the cart before the horse is no way

to begin a story, I will now go back to the beginning and start all over again!

It had taken over a month to arrange a meeting with the

Khan: all negotiations conducted, infuriatingly, by text message as he does not answer his phone unless the caller happens

to be someone he wants to converse with. Not falling into that

hallowed category, there was no option but to play his game, laboriously tapping out one message after another until both date and time were set. Guessing rightly that he would be a stickler

for promptness, I headed down to the plains earlier, with a ‘getting lost’ allowance in my plans as phoning for directions obviously wasn’t an option.

As it turned out the Kastle was simple to find; perched as it is

right on top of the only hillock for miles around, smugly overlooking the congested building site known as Bani Gala which,

whether its ‘brass not class’ residents like it or not, is nothing

more than a suburb of unplanned, over-populated, mostly illegal, Barakhu.

and my eyes widened with surprise. Nicely maintained veg-

hillock badly needs repair in places but, when you relish your

happy Kochi dog lazing in the shade of a fruit tree. Preconceived

The single track, winding road leading to the crown of the

privacy as the Khan so obviously does, this is par for the course.

There was no mistaking the entrance to the Kastle: two white butterflies pirouetted amidst the blaze of shocking-pink bougainvillea tumbling over the walls on either side of the locked

and barred gate, manned by a self-important youngster who phoned ahead to announce my arrival. Returning from his bunker a good five minutes later he pompously told me to go away and return at the appointed time of noon, adding that the Khan

notions are something I avoid but, having been warned of insufferable arrogance by people who had previously made his ac-

quaintance, this was most certainly not the Kastle Khan of my imagination, although the grey-bearded retainer, who instruct-

ed the cab where to park, at a distance of course, before ushering me through the outer portals of the traditional haveli-like construction, was a Jeeves of the highest order.

The obnoxious chemical orange wall-hanging dominated

wasn’t home from Islamabad yet. Something told me that the

the large, airy, reception room where I was instructed to wait.

Khans do prior to press appointments but, admittedly, I was all

sofa draped along the wall immediately beneath the woven

Khan hadn’t gone anywhere, that he was doing whatever it is of 30 minutes early so turned tail and went back down through scrubby trees and scorched grass in search of a cold drink to stave off the dust-laden heat.

42

etable plots, artfully-trained grape vines and a huge, obviously

On the stroke of 12, I was back, the gates swung silently open,

the car glided along the tree-lined driveway towards the Kastle OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

Not on the comfortable looking, slightly grubby, creamish monstrosity, which, on closer inspection, had emerald green

things embroidered on it, but on an inhospitable, perfectly ar-

rayed, wooden-armed sofa instead. Like Queen Victoria, I was not amused and, when the second Jeeves left me to it, I made a

bee line for the open French windows leading on to a shady ve-

The writer’s meeting with the cricketer-turned politician ends with an unlikely insight

BY ZAHRAH NASIR

enough to get a question in. Let’s face it, the Khan is an experi-

enced interviewee and was quite determined to get his selected point across.

“There is an essay about you in a recently published book

called Beyond Crisis, Re-evaluating Pakistan,” I finally managed to in-

terject. “The book is a compilation of essays and the one about

you is headed ‘Itineraries of Conversion’. The author, Sadia Abbas, claims that you have a secret agenda against women’s emancipation. Any comment?”

The very surprised Khan couldn’t comment until he managed

to stop laughing; the laughter totally dismantled his usual public mask, allowing a glimpse of the very private person underneath to escape and revealing, in the process, that despite reports to the contrary, he is human after all.

Swatting flies away from the vicinity of the gateaux while

pontificating about politics, the Khan increasingly reminded me of someone…but who?

The answer popped in my head as he fed tidbits of cake to his

lounging dog. Donachan! He sounds, acts, even walks exactly like Donachan. Now Donachan has never set foot in Pakistan

and is highly unlikely to do so as Donachan spends his time supervising his own little kingdom in the north of Scotland. He strides around, dogs at his heels, dressed as every well-bred

Highland gentleman is supposed to dress — in tweeds that have

seen better days, an ancient briar pipe clenched between his

teeth, cricket bats and tennis rackets behind the door where ancestral spirits also lurk and he talks to, with, at, anyone who is prepared to or forced to listen. Donachan’s castle in no way randa where a beautiful, weather-worn, wooden dinning table

and chairs were temptingly arrayed. A second Kochi dog, lounging in the sunshine on steps leading down to a vast, tree dotted

lawn, ensured that I didn’t go further. Knowing full well that the Kastle is far from being old, I have to admit to finding the

strangely historical atmosphere infinitely soothing and would, perhaps, have dozed off where I stood if a sweat-drenched figure hadn’t materialised from behind an imported araucaria tree.

Wearing running shorts and an open necked T-shirt, the Khan

paused to re-tie one of his white joggers and was just running

his fingers through his hair when he spotted me, smiled a greeting, waved towards the table and suggested we sit. Presumably he hadn’t run all the way from Islamabad to meet me!

Jeeves reappeared on cue to serve green tea and plates of choco-

late gateaux while the Khan launched in to what appeared to be a well-rehearsed speech on environmental issues, having decided, wrongly as it turned out, that this is what I wanted to hear. Once he was in full flow, it took only a brief five seconds

to reach this temp. It was all but impossible to halt him long

compares to the Khan’s: its boundary walls are constructed

from railway sleepers of varying heights for military strategic purposes and he is perpetually stocked up for a siege. Donachan

you see, was once, so he claims, an undercover operative in Vietnam and still owns a tattered array of hand-stitched silk suits to prove it. According to local wisdom, Donachan is completely

and utterly loop-de-loop although, I hasten to add, our very own Khan is not or not visibly at least. Donachan is a faded blue-eyed blonde, the Khan most definitely not, so why the impression of

cosmic twinship? Of course! The mannerisms, the way of walking, the way of being and...the voice…that public school accent

a la Prince Charles whom Donachan, not the Khan, went to Gordonstoun College with. The distinctive accent of the British up-

per class which is so utterly impossible to shrug off even when speaking in Urdu or, in Donachan’s case, Vietnamese. One has

to wonder if the Khan has grown to loathe his accent as much as he currently claims to loathe the implicit colonialism it so

clearly implies and to wonder too, if this rather benign, likeable personage, actually has what it takes to rule the roost he so dreamingly aspires too. a

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

43

HOROSCOPE

BY SHELLEY VON STRUNCKEL

Aries March 20 – April 19 The recent move by your ruler Mars into the restless Sagittarius began a five-week cycle of exploration.

This involves not only new approaches to what you’re already

doing, but intriguing people and places. The trick is to explore absolutely everything but commit to nothing just yet. All that you learn over the coming two months will contribute to the lifechanging decisions you’ll be making early next year.

Taurus April 20 – May 20 While others’ eagerness to take action on intriguing ideas or offers is understandable, you’re concerned Shelley von Strunckel is an internationally acclaimed astrologer who created the first horoscope column for the London Sunday Times in 1992.

A frequent lecturer, she writes daily,

they’re moving too swiftly. Tell them exactly that, then back off

discreetly. This is a diplomatic way of allowing them to acknowledge how right you were, but in their own time. Meanwhile,

with your ruler Venus retrograde until November 18, you’ve plenty to think about, much of which requires serious reflection.

weekly and monthly horoscopes in publications around the world including South China Morning Post, The Gulf News, Tatler, French and Chinese Vogue and now The Express Tribune Magazine.

Gemini May 21 – June 20 For ages you’ve been trying to interest those closest, at work or in your personal life, in exciting new ideas. But you’ve had little success. Now, just as you’re about

to give up, they suddenly recognise how worthwhile your sug-

gestions are. Tempting as it is to seize the moment, play it cool.

They’re still hesitant about making changes and will want to take things slowly.

Cancer June 21 – July 21 The trick to dealing with this rather che-

quered week is to divide each day into two periods, one that’s devoted to life’s rather tedious duties, of which there will be many, and equally, one devoted to its pleasures, which will

also be abundant. This enables you to take care of what must be done, while you’ll still have time to replenish and renew your energies.

Leo July 22 – August 22 Everybody’s discussing changes enthusi-

astically. And they are exciting. Yet you’re wary, mostly because taking them further would require making substantial changes — and you need more than others’ enthusiasm to convince you

they’re worth pursuing. Still, despite your misgivings, do some exploration. What you learn is likely to win you over, enough

that by this Saturday’s New Moon, you’ll be seriously considering those changes.

Virgo August 23 – September 22 Being ruled by the inquisitive

Mercury, you’ll investigate all sorts of ideas. However, you’re also a sensible Virgo, which means that you need solid facts before you’ll consider incorporating the even the most promising of concepts into your life. Still, the odds are good the offers and opportunities that accompany Mercury’s stunning aspects to Jupiter,

44

this Thursday, and Uranus, next Sunday, will win you over.

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

Libra September 23 – October 22 You can discuss certain rather exciting new offers and opportunities and get no closer to turning them into a plan. That’s because with the actual circumstances

involved shifting frequently, what makes sense one day won’t the next. Yet you know you’d regret allowing these to pass you by. So do something which is out of character. Simply plunge in and let experience be your guide.

Scorpio October 23 – November 21 It’s true. Life won’t simply come to a halt while you reflect, in preparation for this Saturday’s Scorpio New Moon. Still, it’s worth putting off any decisions that aren’t pressing. Urgent as some seem, the fresh perspective on your life and priorities this brings means you’ll want

to rearrange things anyway. The less you do now, the less you’ll need to undo then.

Sagittarius November 22 – December 20 The problem isn’t making your interests first priority. It’s that some of the plans or proj-

ects you’re pursuing require that you deal with exactly the issues you’ve been avoiding, mostly because you’ve had no idea how to tackle them. But also some make you feel very anxious indeed.

Challenging as this is, there’s no better time than the present to deal with them head on.

Capricorn December 21 – January 19 The fact that others are mak-

ing decisions on your behalf isn’t a problem. When you trust

those in charge, you feel a sense of relief. But now you’re not only unsure what’s involved, you’ve serious questions about others’ ability to make the right decisions. Instead of worrying, work

closely with these individuals. Challenging as this may be, ultimately you’ll manage to achieve a very real accord.

Aquarius January 20 – February 17 Some situations can be dealt

with swiftly. But in many you’re short of facts. Understand that and you’ll stop worrying about the latter and focus on the former.

True, these involve changes far more extensive than you’d anticipated. But, again, when you’ll be dealing with those trickier situations during November’s second half, you’ll realise that those changes aren’t just inevitable, they’re in your best interests.

Pisces February 18 – March 19 Waste no time trying to justify your

plans to those who insist they’re being inconvenienced by them.

True, they may be causing a certain amount of chaos, but the

changes sweeping through your life are universal, enough that

they’re influencing everybody anyway. What’s most important

For more information, to order personal charts and to download & listen to detailed audiocasts, visit www.shelleyvonstrunckel.com

is that you focus on you and making the best of them. For once

45

others and their complaints must come second.

OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

THE HATER

10 things I hate about ......smokers

1 2 3 4 5

BY BATOOL ZEHRA

I don’t mind your stained, yellow teeth or the stale air that clings to you. I just mind that you’re around me.

6 7 8 9 10

The incessant, obsessive talk of quitting one day, of The

Last Cigarette, of their almost-successful attempt which

was sabotaged because of a chance meeting with an old smoking buddy. The weight of evidence is against you; face it: you won’t be able to quit.

The idea that you would willingly squander time and money to almost certainly destroy your health — and gain peer acceptance in the process.

The 10-minute breaks every other hour. Smoking

gives the perfect cover to loiter and shirk work. Try wandering aimlessly in the corridors without a

cigarette in hand and a smoke buddy to chatter with and see how severely you get reprimanded.

Their inconsiderate, egocentric behavior. This is the

non-smoking section of the restaurant and I have my baby with me. Please take your nicotine-laden air elsewhere. And no, I’m not sanctimonious, I’m sensible.

The fact that the juiciest tidbits of gossip are exchanged

in the smoker’s corner might sting, but what really irks me is how random smoke breaks turn into official

meetings, in which the most important business of the

day is conducted. I work here too you know; thanks for

not letting me in the loop when you were deciding on the next project.

When waiting for something – in a line to pay bills, at

a restaurant waiting for the rest of the party to arrive — smokers get to look philosophical and mysterious. Nonsmokers get to twiddle their thumbs.

The guilt they’re too willing to analyse with just about

anyone — or, alternatively, the deep, delusional denial of the problem at hand.

46 OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6 2010

Their denial of lung cancer. No, it’s not laughter you’ll

be choking with when the cancer is growing in your airway.

That smoking pretends to be about rebellion when it’s

actually just about fitting in. It’s the lazy, unthinking transgression that no one gets worked up about (except me). a

JUNE 13-19 2010

JUNE 13-19 2010