Speaking of Talent
It is nice to see the almost dead Pakistani cinema being revived in one’s lifetime. Shoaib Mansoor, Javed Sheikh, Mehreen Jabbar, Sabiha Sumar, Talha Ghaznavi and Jamil Dehlavi are at least trying to bring back life to the dust ridden seats of Pakistani cinemas and theatres. At the same time, I would like to bring to your and the readers’ notice that while we are reviving our diminutive cinema, Bollywood has leaped far ahead and is now casting foreign high paid actors and making movies on a scale that almost matches Hollywood. It is about time that we, too, start appreciating our local talent and try going international, meaning, beyond Bollywood. There are directors who are making movies with awfully limited budgets and participating in foreign festivals. The foreign film festivals mostly appreciate them. This is where we fail to recognise and value our local talent. MAG should try and project the directors and artists who are trying to make it on their own. There should be a support platform for art and talent.
Mona Shahid

Rain Time
Although it is always a blessing to have rain come and wash with it all the dirt and viral diseases, giving everything a nice clean look but when it rains in Karachi it also has its downside. Roads clog with water, traffic jams, and innumerable cars come to a halt not to mention motorbikes, that are seen being pulled along by their respective owners, soaking, even maybe cussing at the moment. Rains are a great blessing. The way we lived in times bygone we would not be bothered much with it. But in the urban jungle it becomes awful for many reasons. The city government although has sufficiently worked towards the betterment of the local scenario, still a lot needs to be done. A great relief was that there was no water at the underpass this time. Seems last year's rains left a remarkable message for the contractors and government alike. But the Traffic jam have become a real problem in monsoon, it has become totally impossible to commute from one place to another during rains. I would request the city goverment to do some thing in this respect.
Gul Bano

Donkey Carts and Bicycles
I read your satirical News of the week and the joke in the following issue about the price hike of petrol. Indeed, the price of petrol has become a major problem for everyone nowadays. This is the very reason that set me thinking and finally I wrote this letter. The world’s most booming economy i.e. China consumes a large portion of the world’s fuel. Surprisingly, Chinese – from riding bicycles have come to driving high profile gas guzzlers (luxury cars). It seems however, that we will have to do the exact opposite - from driving gas guzzlers we will now be forced to ride bicycles. If you get a chance to visit Lyari you will see their mode of transportation is donkey carts. But that is the way of Lyari. If the way things are going and especially the escalating fuel prices keep their graph heading upwards then Lyari’s mode of transport and bicycles would seem to be the new transportation trend for the common man in Pakistan.
Atif Iqbal

Economic Crunch
Let’s face it. We are in trouble, big time. Atta and daal are becoming delicacies. The prices of everything are exorbitant. The government says that the produce is now better in terms of quantity, yet utility stores seem to have none of the most needed commodities in stock. How can anyone possibly identify any issue of this nature while no one seems to know what’s going to happen next?
Amna Manzoor

One day, the villagers decided to pray for rain. On the day of prayer everyone gathered and only one boy came with an umbrella. That’s confidence. When you throw a one year old baby in the air, it laughs, because the baby knows you will catch him. That’s TRUST. Every night we go to bed, we’re not sure if we’ll get up tomorrow but still, we have many plans for the coming day. That’s HOPE.
Have CONFIDENCE, BELIEVE and TRUST in God and never lose HOPE!
Sent in by MM

News of the Week
Chinese officials say foreign journalists covering the Beijing Olympic Games will not have completely uncensored access to the internet.