Author Archives: Nasser Yousaf
15 hours ago
A dinner in praise of money
CLIMATE change is already in evidence here in Peshawar so that winters or rather visible traces of it, as Charles Dickens would say, could be encountered even in April keeping the scorching heat of the summers at bay for a good length of time.
CLIMATE change is already in evidence here in Peshawar so that winters or rather visible traces of it, as Charles Dickens would say, could be encountered even in April keeping the scorching heat of the summers at bay for a good length of time.
25th April, 2013
Musing variously in the old Frontier
‘Ezeudo,’ he called in his guttural voice. ‘If you had been a coward, I would have asked you to bring courage when you come again. But you were a fearless warrior. If your death was the death of nature, go in peace. But if
‘Ezeudo,’ he called in his guttural voice. ‘If you had been a coward, I would have asked you to bring courage when you come again. But you were a fearless warrior. If your death was the death of nature, go in peace. But if
12th April, 2013
Throw the pearl back in the sea, please
A LITTLE while ago one stopped briefly at a famous secondhand bookshop in the Cantonment Bazaar Peshawar to fend for one’s reading needs. The entrance to the shop had been crowded by a group comprising
A LITTLE while ago one stopped briefly at a famous secondhand bookshop in the Cantonment Bazaar Peshawar to fend for one’s reading needs. The entrance to the shop had been crowded by a group comprising
26th March, 2013
Bribing the citizenry
NEARLY half of the American states have legalised the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
NEARLY half of the American states have legalised the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
18th March, 2013
The Pakhtun’s last sigh
THIS March seems to be unusually wet, perhaps the wettest of the last about two decades. Plenty of rainfall has lashed Peshawar and the rest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, quite unannounced.
THIS March seems to be unusually wet, perhaps the wettest of the last about two decades. Plenty of rainfall has lashed Peshawar and the rest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, quite unannounced.
1st March, 2013
Faulting old wine
Literature was the most talked about topic in Pakistan’s English media during the last three weeks. Karachi and Lahore saw scores of renowned literary figures from around the world converging on the two cities. One helplessly envied Karachi and Lahore, and wondered in what time length Peshawar would figure on the
Literature was the most talked about topic in Pakistan’s English media during the last three weeks. Karachi and Lahore saw scores of renowned literary figures from around the world converging on the two cities. One helplessly envied Karachi and Lahore, and wondered in what time length Peshawar would figure on the
16th February, 2013
An earnest letter to Lee Kuan Yew
My Dear Lee Kuan Yew, One of your recent interviews has revealed that you are not far from starting the tenth decade of your life; and that despite having been grown considerably frail in physique your colossal reserves of vision,
My Dear Lee Kuan Yew, One of your recent interviews has revealed that you are not far from starting the tenth decade of your life; and that despite having been grown considerably frail in physique your colossal reserves of vision,
11th January, 2013
A tribute to the electrifying Maulana
The above is a tribute, nay an unintended poetical obituary of Mohammad Amir, famously known as Maulana Bijlighar, who breathed his last on the second last day of 2012. It was penned by the seasoned retired bureaucrat and an accomplished poet
The above is a tribute, nay an unintended poetical obituary of Mohammad Amir, famously known as Maulana Bijlighar, who breathed his last on the second last day of 2012. It was penned by the seasoned retired bureaucrat and an accomplished poet
2nd January, 2013
Vulnerable heights
UNTIL that horrific and gloomy evening of December 28, 2012 when the entire lengths of the old city of Peshawar resonated and shook with the sound of yet another devastating suicide bombing, Dhaki Naalbandi in the Qissa Khwani Bazaar was best known for once being home to Prithvi Raj Kapoor, the pre-partition
UNTIL that horrific and gloomy evening of December 28, 2012 when the entire lengths of the old city of Peshawar resonated and shook with the sound of yet another devastating suicide bombing, Dhaki Naalbandi in the Qissa Khwani Bazaar was best known for once being home to Prithvi Raj Kapoor, the pre-partition
11th December, 2012
Mounting sins in the Hindu Kush
THE ongoing construction of an eight-kilometre long tunnel in the Hindu Kush Mountains, and a little earlier than that the launching of the internet service in the valley has finally brought Chitral to the fore
THE ongoing construction of an eight-kilometre long tunnel in the Hindu Kush Mountains, and a little earlier than that the launching of the internet service in the valley has finally brought Chitral to the fore
20th November, 2012
Kara Kush and the beasts
“HE squinted down at the shoulder-strap on the summer uniform of the tank commander whom he had chosen as his first target.
“HE squinted down at the shoulder-strap on the summer uniform of the tank commander whom he had chosen as his first target.
20th November, 2012
Kara Kush and the beasts
PESHAWAR: “He squinted down at the shoulder-strap on the summer uniform of the tank commander whom he had chosen as his first target. He was about twenty metres away, sitting there, looking bored. The two small
PESHAWAR: “He squinted down at the shoulder-strap on the summer uniform of the tank commander whom he had chosen as his first target. He was about twenty metres away, sitting there, looking bored. The two small
3rd November, 2012
Keats and Ghani Khan: two naughty boys
There was a naughty boy And a naughty boy was he, For nothing would he do But scribble poetry---- That was John Keats singing. Keats would forever be remembered as an unequalled romanticist in English poetry. He was born in 1795 and died in the prime of his youth in 1821
There was a naughty boy And a naughty boy was he, For nothing would he do But scribble poetry---- That was John Keats singing. Keats would forever be remembered as an unequalled romanticist in English poetry. He was born in 1795 and died in the prime of his youth in 1821
22nd October, 2012
Inescapably trapped in own dwellings
IT is not that mines related accidents do not occur in our country. Many miners, mostly from Swat and Shangla, have died over the years toiling in heart wrenching conditions in mines across Balochistan. There
IT is not that mines related accidents do not occur in our country. Many miners, mostly from Swat and Shangla, have died over the years toiling in heart wrenching conditions in mines across Balochistan. There
12th September, 2012
Endless comedy
THE waiter came, took my plate, stopped to brush a few crumbs off my tablecloth, and hurried to another table. I was seized with regret about this day, not only because it had been futile, but because not even its futility would remain, it would be forgotten
THE waiter came, took my plate, stopped to brush a few crumbs off my tablecloth, and hurried to another table. I was seized with regret about this day, not only because it had been futile, but because not even its futility would remain, it would be forgotten
23rd August, 2012
Tranquil prayers
A little more than four hundred years after telescope was invented, a bespectacled, slim and vastly cantankerous mullah in Pakistan is seen on the television screen across the country peeping through the device to announce the sighting,
A little more than four hundred years after telescope was invented, a bespectacled, slim and vastly cantankerous mullah in Pakistan is seen on the television screen across the country peeping through the device to announce the sighting,
7th August, 2012
Our melancholy booksellers
Peshawar may have lost its biggest bookshop, the British and the US library services, but there is no stopping the earnest booklovers find books.
Peshawar may have lost its biggest bookshop, the British and the US library services, but there is no stopping the earnest booklovers find books.
13th July, 2012
Waiting for PUC
UNREGULATED mass human activity during the last about two decades has turned the Himalayan mountaintops of Nathiagali, Thandiani, Ayubia and Murree into the inveterate mountain-lovers nightmare and a sprawling playground for the scavengers.
UNREGULATED mass human activity during the last about two decades has turned the Himalayan mountaintops of Nathiagali, Thandiani, Ayubia and Murree into the inveterate mountain-lovers nightmare and a sprawling playground for the scavengers.
3rd July, 2012
Aiman, Adele and Agnes Obel
PESHAWAR: In the first quarter of the last century, Virginia Woolf, famous for taking on subjects as complex as the streams of consciousness and a vociferous feminist, wrote that in a hundred years
PESHAWAR: In the first quarter of the last century, Virginia Woolf, famous for taking on subjects as complex as the streams of consciousness and a vociferous feminist, wrote that in a hundred years
7th June, 2012
Computer comes to our mediaeval village
PESHAWAR: ‘There is only one sort of a man who is absolutely to blame for his misery and that is the man who finds life dull and dreary. There are no circumstances in the world that determined action
PESHAWAR: ‘There is only one sort of a man who is absolutely to blame for his misery and that is the man who finds life dull and dreary. There are no circumstances in the world that determined action
