The Express Tribune Magazine - October 4 by Express Tribune

OCTOBER 4-10 2015

Portfolio

Three days in Mumbai

Cover Story

Beads of hope With Paper Miracles, female survivors of the 2005 earthquake are rolling away their troubles one bead at a time

Indian Muslims didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let a beef ban hold them back from celebrating Eid

2633 Interview

Light and shade With nearly 50 years of experience in show business, Behroze Sabzwari has made his audience laugh and cry in equal measure

Spotlight

Hitting all the right notes An online music start-up taps into our love for the Pakistani music we grew up with.

14 39

Feature

Reinventing the wheelchair

Engineer Pervez Durrani promises improved mobility for people with special needs

Regulars

6 People & Parties: Out and about with beautiful people

42 Reviews: Music, TV and Movies 46 Framed: Under wandering stars

Magazine Incharge: Dilaira Dubash. Senior Subeditors: Sanam Maher and Ali Haider Habib. Subeditor: Komal Anwar and Aesha Munaf Creative Team: Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Mohsin Alam, Talha Ahmed Khan, Hira Fareed, Maryam Rashid, Eesha Azam and Sanober Ahmed Publisher: Bilal A Lakhani. Editor: Kamal Siddiqi For feedback and submissions: magazine@tribune.com.pk 4 Twitter: @ETribuneMag & Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ETribuneMag Printed: uniprint@unigraph.com

Mehwish Hayat

Ahmed Ali Butt and Ayesha

6 OCTOBER 4-10 2015

Neuplex hosts a premiere of Jawani Phir Nahi Ani in Karachi

Sohai Ali Abro

Xahlay Sarhadi and Mansha Pasha

PHOTOS COURTESY SYNTAX COMMUNICATIONS PR

PEOPLE & PARTIES

PEOPLE & PARTIES Sarwat Gillani and Fahad Mirza

Uzma

PHOTOS COURTESY WALNUT COMMUNICATIONS

Ayesha Gillani and Adeel Asghar

Neuplex hosts a premiere of Jawani Phir Nahi Ani in Karachi Huma and Nomi Ansari

Hamayun Saeed

8 OCTOBER 4-10 2015

Aznan Sami Khan

Ayesha Khan

PEOPLE & PARTIES

Ramsha and Anum Nadeem

Sufia, Minahil, Sara and Khujusta

PHOTOS COURTESY VERVE PR

Onaza Butt and Rania

Sindbad opens in Lahore

Shahrez, Farzeen and Shazme

10 OCTOBER 4-10 2015

Saadia and Farah Asrar Tanya, Fizza and Muhammad

Sarah, Romesa and Maleeha

PEOPLE & PARTIES

PHOTO COURTESY SYNTAX COMMUNICATIONS

The Dawood Foundation (TDF) announces the launch of the TDF Nature Series in Karachi

Zaib Bangash, Mariam Umar, Sabrina Dawood, Sereena Saeed, Mini Bangash

Mr and Mrs Khalid Malik

Tania and Hamad Dawood

12 OCTOBER 4-10 2015

Maheen and Shahid Khan

Alyy Khan and Chandni Saigol

LIGHT SHADE FEATURE

With nearly 50 years of experience in show business, Behroze Sabzwari has made his audience laugh and cry in equal measure BY ALLY ADNAN DESIGN BY SANOBER AHMED

Immensely talented, versatile and popular, Behroze Sabwari is one of Pakistanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most successful actors. He started his career as an actor on television at the age of 11 and completed 47 years in show business earlier this year. Sabzwari received the Pride of Performance award in 2009 in recognition of the body of his work and has won awards and accolades for his acting talent all over the world. In an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune, he reflects on decades in show business, friendship, politics, and patriotism. AA. You have been associated with radio, television and film for almost half a century. How has the industry changed in the period? BS. The industry has become very commercial, especially so in the last decade. Today, it is thoroughly commercialised and more about business than art. This is both good and bad. It is good because the industry now has money and people in show business mostly make a decent living, but it is bad because there is tremendous, almost singular, focus on making money. This hurts art, creativity and originality. The fear of commercial failure makes producers, writers and directors averse to taking risks and forces them to stick to ideas that have been tried and tested. Unfettered risk-taking, scholarly recklessness and intellectual adventurism are necessary for the industry to evolve and grow. These values used to exist in the early days of television, when we had only one channel, but seem to have disappeared over the years.

AA. Do you miss the early days of the Pakistan Television Corporation? BS. I miss those days a lot, especially the atmosphere of the television stations from the 1970s. People involved with television in the early days were well-educated, highly intelligent and exceedingly creative. The was no money to be made in television in those days; people who joined the industry, therefore, did so because they genuinely cared for the medium and wanted to be a part of something good, something artistic and creative. People in the industry no longer take the artistic aspect of show business seriously. They have no patience and want to achieve success overnight with little hard work. We used to spend hours and hours studying the craft of acting with our seniors. I did my first play for television, Dadajan Nanajan, in 1968. The wonderfully talented and gentle Mahmood Ali and Qayyum Arif were my co-stars. My role in the play was not a big one but the two of them, along with the director, spent several days with me to make sure that I did well in the play, which was telecast live. Acting was not something we took lightly in those days. We used to read and prepare the script for five days each week and record in the remaining two days. These days, very often, one goes to the set unprepared and is handed the script just before recording. Preparation, homework and rehearsals are no longer considered vital. A lot of people feel that looks are more important and there is no focus on teaching the craft of acting to newcomers.

Actor Behroze Sabzwari.

PHOTO CREDIT: AMMAR SHAREEF AND YASEEN LAKHANI

Behroze Sabzwari voiced the character of Deenu in 3 Bahadur, Pakistan’s first animated film. PHOTO COURTESY: 3 BAHADUR MOVIE FACEBOOK PAGE

Producers of the caliber of Muhammad Nisar Hussain do not exist any longer. Actors are able to intimidate producers who do not have the confidence that comes with talent and ability Behroze Sabzwari AA. Many young people who have joined the industry recently act like stars that they have yet to become, with stories of their bad behaviour, unprofessionalism and tantrums becoming increasingly common. Why? BS. The actors you refer to come from affluent families. I remember the time when people like Sahira Kazmi, Muhammad Nisar Hussain and Yawar Hayat used to make television plays. They were hard taskmasters who had no patience for indiscipline and unprofessionalism. They would have never tolerated the kind of behaviour that we often see today. Producers of the caliber of Muhammad Nisar Hussain do not exist any longer. Actors are able to intimidate producers who do not have the confidence that comes with talent and ability. The second reason for the tolerance of misbehaviour is rampant commercialisation. Young actors start getting star treatment after a single hit. They are assumed to be guarantors of success in what has become a very riskaverse business. Actors who have a few hits to their credit thus become important and valuable and they are often 16 considered indispensable. OCTOBER 4-10 2015

AA. The slogan “Be Pakistani, See Pakistani” is being used a lot by people in the film industry these days. Do you think that seeing Pakistani films, irrespective of their quality, is a tenet of patriotism? BS. People who raise such slogans are actually making an admission of their own shortcomings and failings. Instead of being influenced by such slogans, Pakistanis should turn the tables on the producers and ask them to demonstrate their patriotism by making truly world-class films. AA. The world of show business is not known for friendships. Yet, you and Javed Sheikh have had an enduring friendship for almost 40 years. What has kept the two of you together as friends for so long? BS. Javed Sheikh is a great man. I have seen him rise from being a car salesman to being the top star of Pakistani cinema and he has retained his warm, sincere and tender persona throughout. I believe that our friendship has survived for as long as it has because we genuinely care for each other and because we have been there for each other through thick and thin. AA. Javed Sheikh has not had a lot of success with women in his life. BS. You make an understatement — he has been particularly unlucky with women. He has had many women in his life, but is yet to find a soulmate. Javed is a ladies’ man but trust me when I tell you that he does not run after women. It is the other way around. He attracts women. He attracts them in droves. He just does not know how to choose wisely.

Young actors start getting star treatment after a single hit. They are assumed to be guarantors of success in what has become a very risk-averse business Behroze Sabzwari The cast of the wildly successful television series Tanhaiyaan. PHOTO COURTESY: MARINA KHAN FACEBOOK PAGE

man in films, which is what I wanted at the time. I played Qabacha when I was young and handsome but the role became so embedded in everyone’s minds that no one was able to visualise me as a hero. AA. Sexual abuse, harassment and impropriety have become very common in show business. Why? BS. These issues have always been there but the problem has become widespread as we have truly lost our moral compass. And there is only one entity to be blamed for our decline — politicians. And I refer to every single party and every single politician. A lot of people do not know this but a lot of women in show business claim to be actors, models and singers, but they are not. They are able to afford homes and cars after one or two gigs that I can’t even think of buying after almost 50 successful years as an actor. Show business cannot support the lifestyles of these ladies. Politicians, with all their illgotten money, can. Our politicians have made it virtually impossible for a Pakistani to earn an honest living with dignity and respect. Moin Akhtar, Behroze Sabzwari, Safirullah Siddiqui aka Lehri and Umer Sharif. PHOTO COURTESY: UTUBE.PK AA. You haven’t just stuck to television — you’ve worked on a few films as well. BS. Yes, Javed was the one who encouraged me to do the few films I did. I wanted to do more but was not offered the kind of roles that I wanted. A lot of film-makers asked me to reprise the role of Qabacha from Tanhayiaan but I had seen people like Jamshed Ansari fail when they had done the same. I wanted people to remember Qabacha from the immensely successful serial and not from a flop film. I did not get many opportunities to play the leading

AA. Do you have hope for Pakistan? BS. Yes, I do. I worry about my country — in fact, I worry a lot about it — but I still have hope. AA. Why? BS. I have hope because God is kind, fair and merciful. If we forget the elite, and the politicians, Pakistanis are, by and large, very good people. They are kind, resilient, honest, talented, generous, loving and warm. God is not going to punish them for long. Ally Adnan lives in Dallas and writes about culture, history and the arts. He tweets @allyadnan OCTOBER 4-10 2015

Reinventing the wheelchair Engineer Pervez Durrani promises improved mobility for people with special needs TEXT AND PHOTOS BY ZAHID GISHKORI DESIGN BY SANOBER AHMED

20 OCTOBER 4-10 2015

The idea took me hundreds of days to execute due to the limited resources available to my students at the college Engineer Pervez Durrani

Pervez Durrani’s invention is a big one for a small town like Layyah in Punjab. The engineer has designed a three-wheeled wheelchair with the help of his students at the Government Polytechnic College, Layyah. It is a specialised machine with a steering wheel, enabling people with physical impairments to get around a lot easier than is possible with a conventional wheelchair. Young local engineers call it the tricycle, while Durrani claims it is his Mercedes. In function, it is similar to a Segway PT sans battery power.

The unique wheelchair invented by Durrani, also called the ‘tricycle’ by local engineers.

Engineer Pervez Durrani stands next to a multimedia projector he invented.

“I came up with the idea after people with physical impairments urged me to invent a vehicle for them,” Durrani tells The Express Tribune. Sitting in a small room along with a student, he recalls the time he saw a man who had lost both his legs being helped by a family member. “I thought about why he needed another person to push his wheelchair,” shares Durrani, explaining the impetus to invent his own contraption. “The idea took me hundreds of days to execute due to the limited resources available to my students at the college. The aim was to eliminate all problems faced by a person with special needs in getting around.” Durrani is quick to answer the one overarching question that hovers above all such inventions: price? He says the vehicle is put together using locally available and inexpensive parts. Though a specific price tag has not yet been decided, he has decided to mass produce the wheelchair following the encouraging response he received at Expo Centre Lahore, where the invention was showcased earlier this year. Investors, too, seem eager to jump in and it might not be very long before the wheelchair hits the market. Explaining how it works, Durrani says the steering is connected to a crank shaft via a rod at the rear wheel shaft. “When pushed forward, the steering powers the rear wheels. Pulling it towards the driver makes the vehicle back up. Turning the steering left or OCTOBER 4-10 2015

A KNACK FOR THE NEW The unique wheelchair is not Pervez Durrani’s only attempt at reinventing a device to increase its accessibility and utility

Solar energy heat engine This prototype is designed to convert solar energy into direct mechanical energy. A curved lens over a cylinder allows the air inside to expand from solar heat. The air then pushes the piston which drives a flywheel, transmitting energy to another piston and pushing back the air into the first cylinder. During this, the air cools and is re-heated by solar energy, producing mechanical energy.

Stair climber hand truck This contraption has three wheels fitted in a triangular shape on either side. It runs on four wheels at a time while two remain upward. When the front wheel strikes a step, the trolley stops and the raised wheels rotate and climb over the step. This way, less force is required to haul luggage upstairs. Similarly, the front wheels rotate and go down the steps when required.

Water turbine Durrani’s water turbine produces electricity even from low flow of water in a canal. Since it does not require high pressure of water from sources such as a fast-flowing river, producing energy can be much easier for those living in remote areas of the country.

Pedal-driven machines Durrani has also made a pedal-driven washing machine and a pedal-driven grasscutting machine. These inventions employ foot-power and do not require any electricity to run.

The prototype has been tested by a number of people with special needs, who drove it with ease and said they would buy the product once it is available commercially A stair climber hand truck used to haul luggage upstairs.

right makes the vehicle change direction accordingly,” he adds. The prototype has been tested by a number of people with special needs, who drove it with ease and said they would buy the product once it is available commercially. But Durrani still sees room for improvement. He says he can further streamline the design, but that would require some investment from a willing businessman. A canopy to protect the driver from sun and rain is one of the add-ons on his mind. A graduate from University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Durrani has always dreamt big. “My aim is to come up with more ideas and projects of human interest, and to promote my beloved country. I want to tackle the energy crisis by creating power at low cost. We work hard on new inventions, pushing boundaries so we can tell the world how talented the people of Pakistan are,” he says emphatically. “I’m not chasing wealth or fame. I only wish to serve my country because I believe every one of us should strive to make it a better place. An aimless life is certainly a sin. Those who do not have a definite aim are like travellers without a destination.” And Durrani is not one to leave his life up to chance. He wants to mould his own destiny, but more than that, he wants to see people take charge of their lives. It’s a rhetoric politicians pitch mindlessly, and yet, hearing it from Durrani is like hearing it for the first time. Listen carefully.T Zahid Gishkori is an Islamabad-based reporter for The Express Tribune. He tweets @ZahidGishkori

22 OCTOBER 4-10 2015

COVER STORY

Beads of

hope

With Paper Miracles, female survivors of the 2005 earthquake are rolling away their troubles one bead at a time BY FERYA ILYAS | PHOTOS COURTESY PAPER MIRACLES DESIGN BY EESHA AZAM

The clock struck 8:50am and Nosheen Aslam, sitting in her Muzaffarabad classroom, heard what she thought were airplanes hovering above her college. In the moments that followed, cracks began to appear on the walls and the ceiling and soon the brick structure came down, burying Aslam and her classmates under the rubble. Unaware of the scale of the devastation, she assumed it to be a minor roof collapse incident and expected quick help. But as she lay under the debris for the next four hours, battling piercing pain in her waist, reality began to dawn upon her. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was conscious the whole time and could hear my friends struggling under the crumbled bricks but after a while I noticed everyone was reciting the kalma; I realised this was the end and recited the kalma myself,â&#x20AC;? Aslam says, recalling the terrifying details of the 2005 earthquake which wiped out entire towns and villages in the scenic Azad Kashmir valley and adjoining areas. This year marks a decade since the quake occurred on October 8th. With the epicentre close to Muzaffarabad, the 7.6 magnitude quake in the Himalaya region left over 87,000 people dead, 138,000 injured and 3.5 million homeless.

trash to treasure

From

Step 1

Waste paper from calendars, magazines and newspapers are sorted.

Step 2

Sheets are cut into long paper strips with the help of a machine.

Step 3

A strip is rolled around a toothpick and glued at the end to form a bead.

Step 4

The beads are varnished for shine and sturdiness.

Step 5

The finished beads are sorted according to their colour and size.

Step 6

The paper beads are paired with semi-precious stones and metal beads to make jewellery and other accessories.

As the rescue work began, Aslam was brought out of the wreckage without her bag and books but with a disability; she suffered a spinal injury and became dependent on others as she moved between hospitals for recovery. “I knew life would not be the same because I could not do anything myself,” she says, sharing how she felt after the tragedy in contrast to her lifestyle a decade later. An earthquake which crippled her backbone and dreams 10 years ago also gave her the courage to continue and be thankful for what she has, rather than lament what she lost. Aslam may not be the police inspector she wanted to be, but she is a financially independent woman supporting herself and her family. A customer care officer at a mall by day and a beadmaker by night, Aslam lives at Ehsaas Foundation — a shelter in Golra village, Islamabad — with over a dozen other female survivors who are part of a social enterprise, Paper Miracles, which designs jewellery using paper beads. “Paper Miracles began as an initiative to create opportunities for survivors of the devastating 2005 earthquake and was designed and launched after listening to their inspiring stories of extreme hardships and how they overcame them with strength and determination,” Elli Takagaki, the brain behind Paper Miracles, tells The Express Tribune. Takagaki says the art of making paper beads is very simple: it only requires waste paper and a toothpick. “It is an activity anyone can easily do, wherever and whenever they wish, without relying on anyone,” she explains, sharing how stories of these women and their physical and emotional trauma inspired her to initiate an income-

A unique fashion raw material, the colourful paper beads are threaded together to make jewelry and other accessories such as key chains.

generating activity to facilitate economic independence. “The element of ‘making something without relying on others’ was the determining factor to move forward with Paper Miracles. We thought this could be an ideal solution for the beneficiaries who had expressed their strong desire to be economically independent and to bring about a change in their lives ‘using their own hands’,” she adds. Though a known practice in other parts of the world, Takagaki says paper beads were not introduced in Pakistan before. “I first witnessed the art of making paper beads in Uganda as I drove by a group of women singing in harmony, swaying to the tune, chatting and laughing so hard that tears were coming out. I immediately stopped to take a closer look and noticed the fingertips of these women were moving quickly, efficiently rolling long strips of paper one after another into beautiful beads,” she recalls, adding that though she observed this activity for just a few minutes, it left a strong impression on her. “It depicted an ideal image of bliss and harmony while being a productive member of the workforce.” Since its inception in 2012, Paper Miracles has changed many lives with its ‘beads of hope’. “Earning an income by rolling strips of waste paper may seem like a trivial activity, however, we have seen over and over again, the incredible impact this seemingly trivial activity can actually have. The facial expressions of these women have changed as a result of increased self-confidence and dignity. Each paper bead the beneficiary makes with her own hands is tangible evidence of moving one step forward to achieving her goals,” says Takagaki. She believes the project has helped these women regain dignity and confidence by making them independent. “Once self-esteem is regained, the beneficiaries feel confident to take on new challenges, opening doors to new chapters in their lives,” states Takagaki, highlighting how little support can go a long way in bringing change — an aspect evident in the lives of these women. Safia was a 19-year-old undergraduate student when the 2005 earthquake flattened her college building in Bagh, leaving her paraplegic. But a look at her résumé today could easily put any average person to shame. With the support of her family, friends and well-wishers over the last 10 years, not only did Safia complete her Bachelor of Arts degree, she pursued Bachelor of Education and Master of Economics studies. Moreover, she works as a community rehabilitation worker to counsel other survivors of the earthquake and teaches Islamic Studies to secondary class students at a school run by the Ehsaas Foundation. Safia complements her school salary with the extra income from Paper Miracles and utilises her free

Safia meticulously rolls a strip of paper to form a bead.

COVER STORY time after classes sitting with her fellow residents and making paper beads. “I lost all hope after the incident and even gave away my books because I knew I wouldn’t be able to continue studying, but I gradually returned to life; I learnt life doesn’t end with tragedies and we have to live on,” shares Safia. The beads that Aslam, Safia and many others create at the shelter are the building blocks of a one-of-a-kind jewellery collection. “At our first exhibition, the items were selling so quickly, we ended up frantically adding a “reserved” tag and asking customers to allow us to keep items until the end of the exhibition,” Takagaki recalls, adding the initial positive response gave her team the confidence to move forward and further accelerate the implementation. The initiative is supported by many expats and diplomats who even walked the ramp for Paper Miracles at a recent event. “We have been fortunate to be blessed with so many people supporting us since the beginning. HE Rodolfo Martin Saravia, the dean of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassador of Argentina, has generously accepted the role of being our goodwill ambassador after the departure of Susan Heyward, the Australian High Commissioner’s 30 wife, our first goodwill OCTOBER 4-10 2015

ambassador,” Takagaki says, mention a few names, but adding that the complete list of supporters is quite extensive. The exhibitions held with the support of the diplomatic community in Islamabad not only help showcase the jewellery but also give the bead-makers a chance to witness upclose the overwhelming response to their hard work. Shaheen Abdur Razzak, who makes beads for Paper Miracles after her shift at a call centre where she books movie tickets, enjoys such moments of glory. “It feels good because we get to meet new people, we are called up on the stage, introduced and praised for our work,” she shares. Razzak was only 16 years old when her house in Azad Kashmir gave in to the severe tremors of the 2005

At Ehsaas Foundation, a woman spends her free time making paper beads.

earthquake and left both her lower limbs paralysed. “I had never met a person with a disability and knew nothing about the challenges of losing such a vital bodily function. I spent the next six years in hospitals but decided to not let my life come to a halt,” she says. Created with the specific aim to provide a livelihood to earthquake survivors like Razzak, Paper Miracles has expanded its operations and impact over the years. “It is exciting to see the growth as the number of beneficiaries has increased since its inception to include marginalised women in Sindh, southern Punjab, in Bari Imam and soon in Peshawar,” Takagaki shares, adding that their product range has also expanded from necklaces and earrings to home textile products. “Stitching and embroidery are also done by our beneficiaries, allowing us to create more incomegenerating activities for more marginalised women as part of the Paper Miracles value chain,” she adds. Ten years ago, the fate of many survivors might have appeared bleak but with hope and perseverance, the Paper Miracle beneficiaries have risen from the debris of their schools and houses to reach new heights. T A model flaunts Paper Miracles’ necklace at a fashion show.

Ferya Ilyas is a senior subeditor at The Express Tribune. She tweets @ferya_ilyas

I was conscious the whole time and could hear my friends struggling under the crumbled bricks but after a while â&#x20AC;Ś I realised this was the end Nosheen Aslam, member of social enterprise Paper Miracles

Political Chief at US State Department in Pakistan Amy Lillis walks the ramp for Paper Miracles.

Threedays in Mumbai

Indian Muslims did n’t let a beef ban hold them from celebrating Eid back

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY GOPAL MS DESIGN BY MARYAM RASHID

Shepherds and traders camped at the Bakra Mandi in Mumbai’s Deonar suburb for about a week leading up to Eid.

Sacrificial goats and sheep shared the streets with idols and gossip columns in newspapers reported the prices and special qualities of the goats that Bollywood stars had bought On the 24th of September, the headcount of the goats inside the market was 206,681.

An area was allotted to the buffalo market in Bakra Mandi. It is currently illegal to sell or consume beef in Maharashtra, but India remains one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest exporters of meat, mostly water buffalo meat (also known as carabeef).

Food for the goats and sheep at the Bakra Mandi.

Mumbai is a city that lives life inside out. In this crowded city, life spills out onto the streets and everything private becomes public, especially during festivals. While the annual Ganesh Chaturthi is the one most celebrated on the city’s streets — marked by 10 days of festivities — many other festivals are celebrated with equal passion. Eidul Azha is one of those festivals. This year, Eid was celebrated on the 25th of September in Mumbai, coinciding with Ganesh Chaturthi. Sacrificial goats and sheep shared the streets with idols of the elephantheaded Ganesh and gossip columns in newspapers reported the prices and special qualities of the goats that Bollywood stars had bought. Banners with pictures of politicians and local leaders with goats popped up around the city, along with their Eid greetings. Goats trailed children in the narrow streets of the city, following them as they scampered off to playgrounds. Those who don’t celebrate Eid have the option of feasting at a friend’s house or at restaurants. For example, a new and popular eatery had a nose-to-tail goat dinner to mark Eid this year.

Goatherds, shepherds and traders from all over Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and the Kashmir valley come to the mandi before Eid.

Qui ium vent The Bombay aut Highfuga. Court Nam etaquo rejected es namto petition andaeped relax the beef molecus ban during andaec the three days of Eid

Truckers and shepherds from the northern states try out Mumbaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vada pav.

Every year, the city’s administration sets up and runs the Bakra Mandi in Mumbai’s Deonar suburb. The mandi draws goatherds, shepherds and traders from all over the home state of Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and even as far as the Kashmir valley. Goats reared by locals in their homes and workplaces are also brought here for sale. Eid is the only time of the year when shepherds and traders from the arid states up north make the trek down to Mumbai because of the higher price their produce fetches at this time of the year. Deonar is where the city’s abattoir is located. When it was opened in the early 1970s, it was the largest in the country. The market — one of the largest goat markets in India — is set up within the abattoir complex. In one corner of the same market, buffaloes were also sold for sacrifice. It is currently illegal to sell or consume beef in the state of Maharashtra, and the Bombay High Court rejected a petition to relax the beef ban during the three days of Eid. On the 24th of September at 12am, or the beginning of the day, the headcount of the goats inside the market was 206,681. Gopal MS is a Mumbai-based photographer. He tweets @SloganMurugan and can be found on Instagram @mumbaipaused

Decorative accessories sold for the goats and sheep at the mandi.

Hitting all the

right notes

An online music startup taps into our love for the Pakistani music we grew up with BY KHALID BAJWA PHOTOS COURTESY PATARI DESIGN BY HIRA FAREED

Patari was never supposed to happen. We had planned to create a Hulu â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a streaming service offering TV shows, clips, movies, and other media â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for Pakistan. For two years, we tried to make this happen in vain as most TV channels refused to cooperate with us. In this time, we met with a senior media executive who urged us to focus on music instead. However, we were so consumed by our original plan that we refused to give up on it.

As the grind started getting tougher to bear and there seemed to be no end in sight to the wrangling with TV executives, I secretly started thinking about a music platform. I had grown up in an environment where music was always very important. One of my first memories is of my mother doing her chores to the lilt of ghazals playing on full volume. Growing up, the music scene in Karachi was extremely vibrant and I formed an inextricable bond with Pakistani music. Over the years, that bond had faded, but the more I thought about it, I realised that a music-sharing

SPOTLIGHT platform could bring back the music I had grown up with. After one particularly frustrating phone call with a TV channel executive who was insisting on absurd price tags, I slammed down the phone and decided I’d had enough: the TV plan was dead. I called up my co-founders, who were as frustrated as I was. We applied to Plan9, Pakistan’s largest technology incubator, and after being accepted, our Patari journey started in earnest. Patari is a dedicated online medium that showcases old favourites and new discoveries from Pakistan’s vibrant music scene. This music, to date, has not been offered in one place — much of it is missing or is of bad quality. Patari enables users to search through an extensive library — our state-of-the-art search engine is built specifically to deal with how people spell Urdu in English script — via a beautiful interface. A team of musicians and journalists has compiled playlists that cut across genres, decades and moods to offer music-lovers a window into the wonderful textured world of Pakistani music. When we started building Patari, I was working as a freelance programmer. Patari’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Iqbal Talaat was the CTO at a Karachi-based company and co-founder Humayun Haroon was also freelancing.

Programming pays well — really, really well — and we were all earning six-figure incomes. We gave it up because we were tired of working on products we didn’t care about for clients that we didn’t care about. It was time to focus our energies on something we were deeply committed to and so the decision to leave behind the corporate world was a very easy one. That said, doubt is a constant foe for any entrepreneur — it never goes away, lurking, ready to pounce at the slightest of chances. As business magnate Elon Musk says, “Doing a startup is like eating glass while staring into an abyss.” Two years after we first set out to create an online streaming platform, we were desperate and doubt didn’t set us back much. We had very little left to lose. We debuted Patari to 800 users at first, inviting them to test out the system. In two-and-a-half weeks, these users binged on over 100,000 songs. The platform went viral and it was like being strapped to a rocket ship which had a mind of its own. With our phenomenal growth came great responsibility — something I still fear. While this is something that every entrepreneur struggles with, the weight of expectations only drives us to work harder. There are many people we

The Patari team compiled playlists that cut across genres, decades and moods to offer a window into the wonderful textured world of Pakistani music. OCTOBER 4-10 2015

Make it work Confidence is key: One thing that we did have in

mind was a very clear idea about what Patari should be, and we weren’t afraid of being confident about its potential. Don’t overthink, work your heart out and if you have an idea you think has potential, just go with it.

Manage perceptions: Learning the intricacies of Pakistani copyright law was something that several people helped us out with, but one of the biggest things we had to learn was to manage perceptions, particularly in light of some journalistic standards in the Pakistani entertainment media. Our contract negotiations, particularly the obstacles with EMI were leaked to the press, and even as we were finalising our deal, there was a lot of speculation that we had to deal with. Do what you love: Life has a brilliant way of working out, of bending to sheer will. Don’t spend your hours and days at a job that you don’t love, doing something you don’t like. Do what you want to do. Period. Work hard, and remember that there’s no shortcut. have to prove right — and probably and equal number of people to prove wrong. It helps that I am a User Interface/ User Experience designer and programmer, and have worked for some of the leading companies in the world. This has given me great insight into what makes a good product, what constitutes a good design, how to approach big problems by breaking them into smaller chunks you can attack. Additionally, working for these companies taught me how to manage teams and get really smart people to work well with you — as a rule, the smarter the people on your team, the more carefully you have to manage them. It is a huge misconception that running your own business is a breeze, with lots of free time. I haven’t taken a single vacation in the five or so years since I graduated and my work goes with me everywhere. As I am not a 9-to5 worker, this is a culture I have tried to instill at Patari. Those who work with us can come and go as they please, they are free to use Patari equipment and premises to work on personal projects, there is no hierarchy and anyone can (and does!) stand up and say, “Khalid, you moron, you are doing this wrong.” Half of our team is remote and I have not met a more hardworking group of people who work 10 times the amount that people who do regular 9-to-5 jobs do. One of my favourite stories about Patari is from the day

Patari co-founders Khalid Bajwa (far left) and Humayun Haroon(far right).

we pitched the platform to a judge at a contest for startups. He asked if we had a particular song by Najam Shiraz. He sat down, put on his headphones and listened to the entire song. He then got up and was walking away when I reminded him we still hadn’t had a chance to give him a demo or walk him through our business plan. “Jawani ki yaadein taza ho gayi,” (“You have refreshed memories of my youth”) he said, with a wave of his hand. “No pitch needed — I am sold.” Right then and there, I knew that we weren’t alone in forming important connections with the music we grew up with. There are generations upon generations who grew up with this music, as important to them as the air they breathe in, and if we can get back that same feeling of excitement when every day was an adventure — of finding that one new song, of discovering that one new band — I’ll know we have been successful. Patari currently has 25,000 monthly active users. Today, there are 15 million smartphones in Pakistan, 2 million broadband connections and millions of Pakistanis who live abroad and who have lost touch with this music or have never been introduced to it. Our goal is simple, really: we have to get Patari in the hands of each and every one of these users. Khalid Bajwa is the CEO and co-founder of Patari and tweets @hisBaajaness OCTOBER 4-10 2015

MUSIC

Turning over an old leaf Iron Maiden’s 16th studio album proves the British metal band is indestructible BY AESHA MUNAF

Forty years and 16 studio albums: Iron Maiden is like molten lava, consuming everything in its course as it marches on forward with galloping guitars. Even cancer didn’t stop Bruce Dickinson’s deathly howl. Experiencing symptoms of tongue cancer — reportedly from not watching what he ate — Dickinson delayed going to a doctor till he had laid down all the vocal tracks for Maiden’s latest record The Book of Souls. Do the songs sound like they’re coming out of a promiscuous mouth? Possibly. Do they sound like someone with cancer is singing them? Forgetaboutit. The Book of Souls comes four years after the last studio venture, The Final Frontier. Iron Maiden has been on a roll since Dickinson and guitar player Adrian Smith rejoined the band, going on to record A Brave New World. The Book… is the latest in a line of Maiden’s solid set of signature songs. Though bassist Steve Harris has always been the dominant songwriting force, this record does see the band contributing a lot more. Dickinson gets sole writing credits on closing track Empire of the clouds. The album kicks off with a somewhat slow start in If eternity should fail, before gradually turning into the traditional Maiden march replete with Dickinson’s quintessential holler and triple-guitar chug fest. The weakest track of the record is the one single Maiden released before the record, The speed of light. It might be sacrilege to call a Maiden song weak, but at number two the catchy number features a little too early in the record. The great unknown is a throwback to Maiden’s A Matter of Life and Death (2006). Starting slow, it picks up pace to deliver the typical Maiden chorus belted out by Dickinson’s piercing pipes. Cancers around the world probably observed a moment of silence after hearing it. 42 The red and the black is one of the strongest tracks. When you OCTOBER 4-10 2015

think of Maiden, you think of the galloping, melodic guitar breaks and harmonies, and of course, the sing-alongs. The track offers all these, and more. After all, when you put on a Maiden record, you know what you want: unabashed vintage. If it ain’t broke… The title track has some of the album’s heaviest and crunchiest riffs. It’s one of those tracks that make you want to bite Eddie’s head off, in a good way. In Death or Glory, Nicko’s swinging drums and Harris’ pounding bass lock together to make your bones tickle. Dickinson’s harrowing voice only makes it better. Shadows of the Valley might raise a few eyebrows for the intro riff being too similar to Wasted Years. When the river runs deep is more Powerslave than any recent Maiden song. Up-tempo with a driving groove, it’s when the album enters into cruise control. Tears of a clown, another Harris composition, is understandably Dickinson’s favourite song to perform. His melodic wail has a bittersweet quality to it. Just as well, since the song is meant to be Maiden’s tribute to the late comedian Robin Williams. An interesting aspect of the album is the two power ballads: The man of sorrows and the longest Maiden track to date, Empire of the clouds. While the former shows the band is willing to experiment, albeit only a little, the latter is a true magnum opus. Admittedly, it’s no The rime of the ancient mariner, but it takes the listener on an operatic metal journey with some brilliant fretwork. The Book of Souls is Maiden’s lengthiest work to date. Some fans might argue there is a little more room for experimentation and evolution, but if you’re not looking for a 92-minute, cancer-killing record, you might as well run for the hills. T Aesha Munaf is a sub-editor at The Express Tribune’s Magazine desk. She tweets @AeshaMunaf

ALMOST CHILD’S PL Y TV show Playing House explores how fun life can be if you have your best girl by your side BY NUDRAT KAMAL

Female friendships in Western television shows are having a bit of a moment. Unlike Pakistani television, where the last welldone depiction of friendship between two women was decades ago in the form of the inarguably wonderful friendship of Zoya and Angie in the 1980s classic Dhoop Kinaray (really, what is up with the lack of female friendships in contemporary Pakistani dramas? Somebody rectify this immediately), American TV suddenly has quite a few examples of lady friends being funny and fearless. From real-life comedy BFFs Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to the flawed but hilarious girlfriends of Broad City and Girls and the decade-long (and recently ended) friendship of the ‘twisted sisters’ Meredith and Cristina in Grey’s Anatomy, plenty of examples abound. But while female friendships are a staple of many sitcoms, new and old (Sex and the City and Friends come to mind), no show commits more fully or enthusiastically to being completely about the bond between two women than the recent cult hit Playing House. Created and written by, and starring real-life best friends Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair, Playing House is about childhood besties Maggie and Emma, whose lives have diverged onto different paths but they remain as close as ever. While Emma 44 is living a high-powered, career-driven life in OCTOBER 4-10 2015

Shanghai, Maggie has chosen to remain in their small hometown, is married and has a baby on the way. But when Maggie finds out her husband is having an affair on the Internet, she kicks him out and Emma, as best friends do, offers to quit her job and move in with her to help her raise the baby. Also around are Mark (Keegan-Michael Key), Emma’s upstanding and occasionally uptight high school sweetheart, and his wife (who Emma and Maggie used to pick on back in high school, calling her Bird Bones), Maggie’s weird but kind brother Zach (Zach Harper), and Emma’s overdramatic mother (Jane Kaczmarek). The premise of the show is deceptively simple — two best friends hanging out and having fun, while taking a stab at motherhood — but it’s what makes the show so effective, especially since the friendship at the heart of the show is so authentically drawn. Emma and Maggie’s friendship has a certain comfort and lived-in quality — complete with rapid-fire banter full of inside jokes and pop culture references — that makes you want to be in the midst of their interactions. The fact that it’s written and created by actual best friends obviously gives the characters’ rapport an added credibility, and the actors’ history in improv comedy lends the show a zany, screwball edge, making it one of the funniest on air today.

The show’s broader, wackier moments are grounded in the emotional depth of Emma and Maggie’s friendship — whether it is Emma helping Maggie through a freak-out moment about her impending motherhood or Maggie helping Emma deal with her complicated feelings for an ex who is now in her life again. The show proves that it can do serious, dramatic moments as effectively as it aces the comedy. It also helps that the main duo is surrounded by an excellent supporting cast. Key, who is known for this recently ended sketch comedy show Key and Peele, is especially amusing as the ex-turnedtown-cop who is perpetually exasperated by Emma and Maggie’s shenanigans but also has enough chemistry with Emma and a certain suave charm to make the arc of their will-they-won’t-they storyline compelling and fun to watch. The rest of the characters are as entertaining because the writing fleshes them out well and gives specificity to their individual uniqueness. With the second season just having concluded, and a total of only 18 episodes, now is the perfect time to catch up on this warm-hearted and hilarious show. Rating: Nudrat Kamal is a Fulbright scholar studying Comparative Literature at Stony Brook University. She tweets @NudratKamal

HITTING HARD