Live and heart breaking

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All eyes were on ticker during the big news day on Saturday

As the sun went down behind hills, I was wandering at an ancient temple's ruins in Malot. I should have switched off my mobile phone, since it was in those idyllic hills that I received the disturbing news. Within the next few minutes my mobile phone had exhausted its charge.

We drove back immediately to check if what we had heard was true. As most people in the room preferred Urdu we switched back and forth between Geo and Aaj TV. My Urdu is already an embarrassment here and with the tickers and flashes moving at the speed of light I was struggling to get the latest updates right.

I asked strangers to read out what was appearing at the bottom of the screen. A friendly old man staying in our guesthouse obliged and read out the Urdu script for me using simple words. But the tone of his translations lacked any shock or surprise, it was like 'Don't worry, it happens'. Then suddenly the screen went blank. We switched back to Dawn News. We could only hear its sound now. Geo News was running a ticker in black, to mark its response.

Then one by one, within a span of few minutes, the screen, the noise, the flashes, all went off. And can you beat it, apart from PTV, the only other channel we were getting was an Indian Hindi network but I couldn't figure out which one since it didn't bear any name or logo. Now everybody wanted me to read out the flashes on the Hindi ticker. Rest as they say is history.

In all fairness

Ever since I have arrived in Pakistan I have been complaining about unavailability of Indian news channels here. Indian entertainment channels are available here and are immensely popular too but few miss Indian news channels.

"If you can let the Al Jazeera and FOX News here, why not us?" I pontificated on the importance of cross-cultural dialogue and the role of news media. But now that all private TV news channels have been pulled off air, I have no reason to say anything, right? Now we all sit down together in the evenings and watch Animal Planet.

Win-Win situation

On a visit to the Punjab University in Lahore, I noticed how the library on campus is all set to become an intellectual hotspot in the city. Two new study centres are coming up in the vicinity of the library building with a few yards of separation between them. But on the ideological spectrum these two centers represent two opposite poles.

On one side of the library is the Iranian Center, set up with aid from the Iranian Govt. It has a lavish display of Persian culture, complete with manuscripts and literature ranging from classics to the contemporary. On the other side of the library is the Lincoln Centre, which is being set up with aid from Americans.This will be a resource centre providing students with the American/Western perspective over many issues concerning culture and politics.

The two nations that can't bickering internationally, are now trying their best for to win the young hearts and minds on the university campus. For the students its bonanza on their hands, they have the of both the worlds, a win-win situation.