Self Talk

Sudden rise of Pakistan’s cricketer turned politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf has been acknowledged worldwide. Although he himself calls it a tsunami of an awakened youth, many having the political know-how are still divided in their opinion. Some say that it is a continuation of Arab spring, where social and electronic media has made people aware of the wrongdoings of the seasoned politicians and establishment, by virtue of which they have turned to IK’s PTI. Others believe the refusal of mainstream political parties to play in the hands of military establishment to weaken the system has led the establishment to invest on Khan. While Khan remains a throbbing sensation for the youth even at his 60, for a person like me it is still difficult to decide which way to go. The problem is choice. Although Imran Khan is gathering points day by day, it is still not clear whether he is going to be a real agent of change, the one that will really be up to our e...

I am an ordinary fan of cricket and not an expert at all. Being honest with myself, I dislike Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (SRT) as a cricketer. The reasons are many, and being an Indian hero is not one of them at all. I don’t deny that I have adrenaline rush much higher when I see Pakistan vs. India as compared to Ashes, yet I never hate a sportsman for his nationality only. The reasons are quite diverse, but I feel better to realize that it is time finally to say good bye to the selfish cricketer and move forward. Sachin has stayed in international cricket far more than he actually should have had. His career started sometime when I don’t even remember but after few initial years when I enjoyed watching him, I started getting bored with his presence. The range of shots, the foot work and the ever piling up of records, even the commentary started feeling sick in his presence. There used to be a fresh feeling on the other end, a new face, learning process, mistakes, new shots, and ne...

Photoblog is a different category of sharing which Clinical Hammer was never intended to be the one. Yet I decided to take an exception and share here my visit into the belly of the city of Paris, "les Catacombes de Paris". It is a tunnel museum thing with a huge collections of human bones, roughly estimated to be holding remains of six million people. The bones are bare to touch (although prohibited) and are not behind any kind of glass or other protection. Due to inadequacy of burial place in and around the city of Paris in 17th century, a decision was made to relocate the bones of those who died long ago in a tunnel system originally related to stone mines. More can be found from wikipedia's link to The Catacombs of Paris . Place Denfert-Rochereau, Paris First entry to the dark inside Better with camera A building miniature Stairs, probably leading nowhere It was a cloudy Saturday when I got out of the subway station of Denfert-Rocher...

Every year, the 14 February brings a heated debate about whether or not we should celebrate this day like the western world does. The increasing polarisation of our nation into conservatives and liberals has forced me to proclaim that this post is neither in favor of nor against the celebration itself. I believe celebration is on because it is selling. Everything that sells finds sellers and buyers. For me, those social dynamics are worth discussing that add fuel to the fire. I want to examine our social contradictions and hypocrisy that makes our arguments hollow. Definitely Valentine and his legacy has nothing to do with our civilization as well as culture. Not only with Muslims but conservatives in India have also been visibly furious this time, burning effigies and doing manifestations. Agreed that it is against eastern culture but there remains some issues to be discussed, especially on our side of the border, which I will focus upon. First of all, the strictest criticism c...

Conspiracy is an act to deceive, mislead, or defraud others of their legal rights, or to gain an unfair advantage of a situation. Different people at different times of their lives experience such challenges. Some of them come clean of such stuff; others pay for their deeds. While incidence and prevalence of conspiracies may be different for rest of the world, we seem to be in excess of this blessing. I remember as a young boy when I first time heard that Pakistan was made out of a conspiracy and people in forefront of the movement were somehow playing in the hands of enemies. I couldn’t believe my senses. Later I was told that it is a conspiracy to weaken the idea of Pakistan and one shouldn’t pay heed to such absurd ideas. Conspiracy has now become a frequently used word in our daily routine. We have developed a habit to blame others for our own failure. While logical thinking may suggest some solution for our problems, the paranoid thinking has led us to nowhere. ...