Glass is a fascinating medium for art, but sadly art schools in the country don’t have the facility to teach glass blowing and molding techniques as the kiln used in the process is very expensive and consumes a lot of electricity which makes it almost absolutely imposable for any art school or facility to operate a kiln.

Being the reason, artwork made out of glass is fairly a rare sight in art galleries across Pakistan but thanks to artist Martin Willem who has been visiting Pakistan on and off quite often since almost a decade, and had exhibited his amazing work of hand blown glass in 2006 for the first time in Faisalabad and then again in 2008 in Lahore and the same year in Islamabad too,  providing art students and enthusiasts exposure the this wonderful medium across the country.
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There is much WEIGHT in the argument that If establishing the WRIT of the government and Militancy ( another IN-fashion word among elite) is what all noise in upper Pakistan is about then is Karachi not facing the same issue since writ of the gov. is absent here now for around 2 decades. Do we have any wise heads around on how to clean Karachi from Militancy. Is Operation Clean up the solution? What people think . . .

[Image : LAtimes]

[poll=18]

Katha theater group’s presentation of Mai Adakara Banu Gi, a fundraiser for the Rotary Club, is a FUN performance to attend. Taking place at the Karachi Arts Council until the 9th of June, the play features a cast of just two people: Sania Saeed and Ehtishamuddin. An incredibly challenging proposition to keep an audience engaged with only two people on stage over the span of 2 hours, is tough. The script demonstrated the great chemistry between both the actors and kept the audience in splits with its fantastic comic timing and simple story line. (more…)

Part II : The Problem

As the reality comes closer (15 deaths as of last report) and it occurs to this city that ONE MORE time, for history’s sake we gave this leadership ONE MORE opportunity to rule us and like it was expected they failed again. This takes the discussion back to what’s actually wrong with the people who rule us. This time they came through a SO-CALLED democratic process known as elections. So how elections could results in a setup that is more incompetent than ever. This also raises the question as to does election help cleansing or help corrupt reach power. I, along with many were few who strongly opposed the feb 18 elections and at least I was confident (and it proved once again) that these elections will simply result in reputation of the faces we badly require to get rid of. I waited very patiently to tell my friends who think that democracy is all about voting and FULLSTOP. What they lack is their understanding of democracy as a MACHINE that can deliver depending upon who is running that machine. The machine itself is nothing. If you put an SHO under a dakku how can you expect peace in a locality and then argue that democracy did not help. I believe with conviction that democracy, as a SYSTEM never ever came at first place here. For us to say democracy has arrived there has to be a minimum shape of it that can be seen functioning. Let’s start with basics here:
Starting from a VOTE how many of our voters (since much of the hoop hoola in jungle by these parties is about the number of votes also infamously known as awaami himayat) fulfill the following simple criteria required for a vote: (more…)

It has been incredibly hot these past few days in Karachi. The sun has been shining at its extra-scorching brightest and today there was almost not a single cloud in the sky. The heat in this city is usually at its extremes during this time of the year. It does not leave you alone even inside your house unless you have been running your airconditioners 24/7.

I happen to live on the top floor of my house and I have been noticing that my floor gets much warmer than the lower floors during the daytime. Even at night, the heat does not abate to comfortable levels as the roof radiates all the sun’s energy it absorbed during the day. If you are a resident of the top floor of your house / apartment, you would also have noticed that your home often gets too warm for comfort as your rooftop gets baked to oven hot temperatures every day. You would have been getting high electricity bills as your airconditioner works overtime in order to pump all the extra heat out. But is there any solution to this problem?

How much sun does it take to bake your roof?

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It is always a delight to see young people coming out show there talent, specially in art with  strong and mature expressions and this exhibition titled From Father To Son is one such unique exhibition which exhibits incredibly stunning art work by a father, Tariq Alexander Qaiser an architect by profession and a photographer by passion and his fifteen year old son,  Kayhan Feroze Qaiser side by side. 

Remarkably the fifteen year old contributor’s work is so is so strong and well balanced that one really cant imagine that this photographer would be so young until one meets Kayhan in person.

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Updated 6:28pm

More photographs of police blocking access to Korangi via Kh-e-ittehad. Riots have broken out as a result of frustration caused by failing civil utilities. No water in the area for the past four days (at least). More later.

police blocking kh-e-ittehad

police redirecting traffic

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