Self Talk

Standing tall, the tankey I remembered the day when, in August 1998, when returning from Khanas Pur Ayubiya trip, we stopped at the then used-to-be bus stop near Moti Mahel cinema. Someone pointed to a water tankey barely visible in heavily pouring rain and said, “Can you see that? That is the campus of RMC”. Although I was in F.Sc. Pre Medical then and was a potential candidate of being a future doctor, I had hardly heard of a medical college in Rawalpindi other than AIMC. And a year later when I got the news of my admission there, the only image of the institution that flashed before my eyes was a tankey lost in the rain. When I finally walked into Rawalpindi Medical College, first time in my life, I came to know that I had seen the most prominent part of the building already, the tankey . I was carrying the loads of happiness of qualifying for admission, and bundles of countryside livelihood habits and styles. I can’t recall what I was putting on that day, but I am sure...

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...