lounge issue no 121

06 I February 03, 2013

I 07February 03, 2013

Last year, it seemed like orange was everywhere. As we have approached 2013 people are awaiting the colour for this year. Pantone, a small business based out of New Jersey,

carried out a survey and crowned Emerald as the colour for 2013. Emerald is a ‘lively, radiant, lush green’ colour that Pantone describes as the ‘colour of growth, renewal, and prosperity.’ The colour is a shade of green and gives a very elegant feel.

The colour will be center of attention for everyone. Fashion designers, jewellery designers and interior decorators will be coming up with collections based on the colour of the year. This international phenomenon will be seen in the Pakistani fashion industry and its productions as well – both in casual and formal collections. In order to get a better idea how various designers closer to home feel about it, we asked them how they would go about incorporating this color in their creations. Following are the excerpts:

Emerald, the colour for 2013

By Kabir Khan

A ‘lively, radiant, lush green’ colour that also symbolizes ’growth, renewal, and prosperity’

Monica ParachaThe strength of green is that it goes with or enhances most colours. The overall energy of the color is just amazing. People should go for this in their accessories as well, and not just outfits.


Kausar HumayunGreen is not only the colour of the season but it is also one of our all-time favourites. This particular shade is a classic, earthy tone – with pops of vermilion red – that is used in a style that transcends to the contemporary. It is this fine line that we like to straddle creatively here at Pershe. The goal is to create a piece that adheres to the classic South Asian tradition but in a new and innovative way for the modern woman who treasures her heritage.

Sehyr AnisI love it as an accent colour, a great one to mix with neutrals on various outfits. The colour is very pleasing to the eye and gives a feeling of comfort. Balanced yet sophisticated, Emerald enlivens all colours in the spectrum and will continue to make a statement beyond spring and summer into fall and winter.

Ruby ShakelPairing [emerald green] with other bolds, such as royal blue, fuchsia, or purple jewel tones, works surprisingly well. The colour can be used alone and can also with different patterns and prints.


Parmesan Garlic Toast

Saira RizwanGreen is the most abundant hue in nature – the human eye sees more green than any other colour in the spectrum. I personally like the colour very much as it personifies the person wearing it and enhances other bold colours as well.

Afsheen MehoobIt’s a classy colour, to say the least. Emerald has depth and completes the overall look of the outfit. The colour will look outstanding on bridal dress with heavy embellishment, giving it a new and fresh feel if it replaces the traditional red.


Hailing from an all-round accomplished Zahid Niaz is a septuagenarian who has had through a long and fulfilling life taken keen interest in art, drawing, reading and photography. He is much respected in the world of commercial production and photography, with more than 250 TV commercials to his credit – with quite a few of them winning Best TV Commercial Award over the years. In addition to that he has provided professional photographic services to a number of leading local and multinational brands and organizations. His photographic skills have also won recognition through national awards in calendar and diary competitions and prominent positions in the world wide net photographic competitions.

Zahid Niaz however is more proud of his superbly composed paintings. Here is a sampling from his superlative work.

Zahid Niaz,an all-round artist

Art


Red Bull Jhal Magsi Desert Challenge 2012

Nadir Magsi crowned champion againJhal Magsi Desert Challenge 2012, sponsored by Red Bull, is considered one of the toughest amongst all jeep rallies. But the terrain in Balochistan, challenging as it is, with its rocks and stones, desert and rivers, offers great sights and sounds. Now into its seventh year, the competition was as fierce as it is always expected to be. With the best rally drivers from the whole country competing for the most coveted, Nadir Magsi continued to display his master class by winning the rally for the seventh time consecutively.

The ‘undisputed king’ of rallying in Pakistan, Nadir Magsi is always a favorite for this particular rally because of his ‘home’ advantage and supreme skill-set. He didn’t disappoint by retaining his hegemony over the trophy by covering the 196 kilometers long course in 2:01:57 — the fastest time across the four categories. A relatively new entrant compared to the stalwarts in rally driving. Qasim showcased his remarkable driving skills and improving his last year’s time by two minutes to come second in 2:05:46 while Rana Summair Noon came in third at 2:17:26.

By Yasir Nisar

42 I February 03, 20130, 2012

In line with the last year, the main sponsors Red Bull

brought over a Lebanese driver Abdo Fegali and a Red

Bull athlete to guide and suggest improvements. Fegali

drove on the track and was overjoyed at such diversity

of landscape and terrain in a single track. He suggested

improvements for making the rally more attractive and

closer to the international standards.

Prior to the event, champion Magsi said: “owing to

constant rains, the track is more difficult this year and

drivers may have a hard time finishing.”True to his

prediction, only 22 out of the 36 participants across

the four categories managed to finish, the remaining

14 either breaking down or rolling-over.

The ‘B’ category was won by Asad Khoro with a 2.7 litre

Toyota Vigo, completing the track in 2:10:38 followed

by Ronnie Patel, a reputed entity who competed for

the first time in Category B here, finishing in second

in 2:10:45 and Nauman Saranjam at third in 2:22:56.

Zafar Magsi was ahead on the clock in the ‘C’ category,

followed by Mukesh Chawla and Syed Asif Imam.

In the ‘D’ category, Aminullah Khan finished first

followed by Gohar Sangi and Shaheen Iqbal.

Photography by the AuthorFebruary 03, 2013 I 43


Review: Race 2 A two beats Bond

‘Race 2’ h a s e ve r y

ingredient of an Abbas-Mustan flick. It’s got oodles of glamour, scorching style, sleek Bond-ish heroes, gorgeous ladies, characters with more than 50 shades of grey, some enjoyable background music, talks of yachts and oh boy – some cars and overshadowing every other thing? Money, Zee News reports. The sequel to the 2008 blockbuster, ‘Race 2’, too, starts off with a bang. The petrol tank of a bright yellow Ferrari is shot at and the beast explodes into flames. Inspector Robert (Anil Kapoor) voiceover introduces Arman Malik – a tux-clad John Abraham for whom nothing holds more importance than money. Then, Arman’s half-sister Eleana (Deepika Padukone), who owns half of Malik’s empire, is presented as a woman who leaves no stone unturned in furthering her property. Deepika’s stylist deserves a wholehearted pat on the back. Padukone looks ultra-gorgeous. Omeesha (Jaqueline Fernandez) is Arman’s girlfriend. And then there is The Ranveer Singh (Saif Ali Khan). This time around, he is baying for Arman’s blood. An extraordinarily dumb Ameesha Patel playing Anil’s sidekick Cherry can mouth heavily innuendo-laden sentences like “When will you pop my cherry?”, but is intolerably stupid at understanding others. For this Cherry hasn’t even heard of the 18th century Shape-of-a-Banana joke. However, Ameesha, who steps into the shoes of Sameera

Reddy, doesn’t really come across as anything more than a useless accessory. Patel doesn’t really have any role to play apart from the sex-starved secretary who tries to jump her boss at every littlest opportunity. The story involves casinos, generous numbers of Audis, which at times make you wonder whether or not the film is a giant commercial for the car brand. There’s actually a cleverly put in sentence promoting a model of the car too. People in the film speak of money in millions and billions of Euros to a point where you stop working out the zeroes in the figures. The style quotient is so much in the film that even in the pouring rain and sobbing in front of a grave, Saif cannot take his glares off. There are twists and turns, some extra-long winding chase scenes, which could definitely have been shortened and action. The film, apart from the amount of money put in constructing it bit by bit and its action sequences is actually nothing. It is very glittery, making it blinding at times. And yes, betrayal is survival every bit so. Saif gets to mouth some of the best dialogues in the two and a half hours of blasts and twists and turns. Sample a few: Ranvir saying, “Revenge is a dish best served cold,” “Race humesha meri hi thi aur meri hi rahegi,” (The race was always mine and will always be mine) and the like. When it comes to acting, barring Ameesha Patel, most have lived up to their roles. Saif, reprising Ranveer’s role from the original, does a great job this time too. John Abraham’s character is painted in the darker shades of grey and Action Abraham plays the cold-blooded Arman Malik well. He tries hard to provide

his character with the required depth and succeeds mostly. Deepika’s acting skills are going up with every single film of hers. If in ‘Cocktail’ she played the carefree Veronica to the hilt, here she ups her performance with the shrewd Eleana. Jaqueline Fernandez has some really stylish fencing and archery scenes in the film only that their purpose evades the senses. Anil Kapoor in his fruit-loving Robert Costa avatar justifies the role completely. An almost blink-and-miss cameo by Bipasha Basu is the basic premise of the film and the lady doesn’t disappoint. The supporting cast of Aditya Pancholi and Rajesh Khattar play along well. As for Ameesha Patel, enough said already. Salim-Sulaiman’s background score matches the high-octane action scenes completely and is a huge advantage for the story. Without it, the film might have been a pretty damp affair. Music director Pritam has a song for every drop of a hat. The most famous song of the film, “Allah duhai hai”, ironically, comes across as unintentionally funny and placed at a moment, which makes it so. “Be intehaa” in Atif Aslam and Sunidhi Chauhan’s voice is an enjoyable one. The music of the film is mostly for moments when you have a ‘party on your mind’ literally. The film is defined by its well defined and crazy action sequences and a lot of it. Shiraz Ahmed’s story doesn’t come across as the most defining feature of the film: blame the excessive action for that. The film is left open-ended and I can bet anything on this that there’s a sequel to this one coming up soon. The story isn’t able to keep one glued to the screen: your attention sways from not enjoyable

Film

February 03, 2013 I 45

TiranjanIt is a widely circulated and

read Punjabi literary periodical being published regularly by the Punjab Institute of Language, Art & Culture. Personal interest and supervision of its patron and chief editor have gradually transformed it into a veritable ‘thing of beauty’.

The instant issue contains an engaging variety of prose (essays and short stories) and verse (ghazal and nazm) contributions from a mix of old and new writers like Ahmad Shahbaz Khawar, Dr. Saeeda Rasham, Hussain Shad, Nadir Ali, Muhammad Ali Charagh, Muhammad Akram Saeed, Masood Chaudhry, Sultan Kharvi, Sh. Muhammad Hayat, Dr. Ashfaq Ahmad Virk, Tanvir Zahoor, Naila Sadaf, Muhammad Zaheer Badar, Naz Okarvi, Dr. Sughra Sadaf, Arshad Manzoor, Sofia Bedar, Yaqoob Parwaz, Amjad Sharif, Muhammad Abbas Mirza, Azam Touqeer, Mohsin Maghiana, Manzoor Saqib, Ghulam Mustafa Bismil, Zahid Nawaz Khan, Ali Shah, Muhammad Mumtaz Rashed, Prof. Zuber Kunjahi, Shaukat Ai Qamar, Hakim Arshad Shahzad, Talib Jatoi and Afshan Kanwal.

Letters to the editor from readers including men of letters and literary connoisseurs/enthusiasts would seem to serve as a useful feedback for further improvement of the magazine whereas pictorial illustrations on its flaps tended to upgrade its shape and design besides enhancing its popular appeal. PILAC do deserve kudos for all this.

Kisht-e-VeeraN

Sultan Ahmad Abdullah, the author of Kisht-e-VeeraN, is a physician by vocation. He has had a brilliant academic career starting from elementary education at Sohdra, secondary at Cadet College, Hasan Abdal, higher secondary at Government College, Lahore and medical at Nishtar Medical College, Multan. Originally from Sohdra, a small but historic town in tehsil Wazirabad of district Gujranwala, he chose to settle in Faisalabad after retiring as associate professor of chest medicine from the Punjab Medical College, in 2003.

His second publication after Hasrat-e -Natamam, the present book is a readable miscellany of writings (generally essays) on topics mostly related to the author’s person and life. Some of these essays could be likened to memoirs bearing on his biography. It comprises twenty-three chapters including a few essays and reviews written by Prof. Ghulam Rasool Tanvir and Prof. Ishfaq Bukhari besides the author’s preface and Prof. Dr. Qari

Muhammad Tahir’s foreword.The book contains an account

of his (auhtor’s) visit to Kandahar in Afghanistan as a member of a four-man medical delegation, in May 2012, to survey the medical relief work being done by the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) in the war-affected areas. His patriotic fervour finds a forceful

Tiranjan (Sept-Oct 2013)Patron: Malik Muhammad Ashraf Awan

Chief Editor: Dr. Sughra SadafPublisher: Punjab Institute of Language, Art & Culture,

LahorePages: 160; Price: Rs100/-

A Punjabi magazine and a miscellanyAn interesting miscellany of essays by a physician turned writer and a prestigious Punjabi literary magazine form the substance of the present reviewBy Syed Afsar Sajid

Books



expression in chapters titledPakistan Sawal Karta Hai? Another chapter carries some impressions of his second sojourn in England in 2009.

At once place, he calls upon thinkers, religious scholars, members of civil society and intellectuals to guide the common Muslims as to how they should mould and lead their lives in total obedience to the commands of Allah (SWT) and the teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). An ‘obituary’ (of the author) and its ‘reply’ make an interesting reading in the backdrop of the all-encompassing moral theme of the book. Prof. Ghulam Rasool Tanvir’s essays titled Haq Maghfirat Karay

Ajab Azad Mard Tha and Munhasir Marnay Pay Ho Jis Ki Umeeed offer an adept psychoanalysis tinged with irony, of the author’s person, predilection, and pursuits that also constitute the subject of a self-explorative essay titled Abjoo-e-Nadaan.

The article on Chenab Club, Faisalabad titled Anokha Ghar and reviews of the same by Prof. Ghulam Rasool Tanvir and Prof. Ishfaq Bukhari coupled with an ‘epistle’ to DCO Faisalabad form an interesting but enlightening quartet of writings on a social subject concerning a small but vocal section of the denizens of Faisalabad who are members of the said club.

The author’s recollections of his childhood/adolescence together with those of his visit to Afghanistan during the siege of Khost in 1988-89, in the aftermath of the Soviet evacuation besides his moderate approach and candid views on some vital contemporary religio-political issues summarily discussed in the book, are likely to engage the attention of the inquisitive reader.

Kisht-e-VeeraNBy Sultan Ahmad Abdullah

Publisher: Dr. Saleem Ghauri, Dermatologist, PESS Hospital, FaisalabadPages: 134; Price: Rs180/-

The Lahore Literature Festival 2013, a two-day festival will be held on Feb 23 and Feb 24 at Lahore.

The inaugural Lahore Literature festival 2013, a two-day event, will be held on Feb 23 and Feb 24 at Lahore at the Alhamra Arts Center. The festival will include panel discussions on Urdu and English literature, and book reading. The scheduled panels include: The Courtesan in Urdu novels, Legacy of Political Autobiographies, Urdu Writing’s Future in the Punjab, The Holy Warrior in Pakistani cinema, Literature of Resistance, Discovering Pakistan’s English-Language Ooetry, Challenges of Language and Storytelling in the 21st Century and much more.

The festival will also include some eminent speakers like Ahmed Rashid, Ayesha Jalal, Bapsi

Sidhwa, Daniyal Mueenuddin, Hameed Haroon, Intizar Hussain, Jeet Thayil, Linda Bird Francke, Mohsin Hamid, Nayyar Ali Dada, Salima Hashmi, Tariq Ali, Tehmina Durrani and Zehra Nigah.

“We are excited about the interest and the goodwill LLF has generated. We also feel strongly about the programme, and the panelists we have the privilege of hosting,” said Nusrat Jamil, the chairperson of LLF’s Advisory Board. “This is a long-term initiative, which will enrich the cultural landscape of this unique city every year,” said Nusrat.

“The LLF has been made possible thanks to the generous assistance of individuals and foundations as well as the support of the City District Government,” said Razi Ahmed, the LLF founder and chief executive. “We are closely working with schools and

colleges in and around Lahore to ensure youth participation in this event geared at promoting literature reading and critical thinking.”

The LLF is incorporated under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, with the objective of enriching the cultural experience of Lahore’s residents by creating an institutional platform for fostering and furthering Lahore’s literary traditions.

Tickets for the 2013 LLF will be available mid-February. Citizens and journalists who wish to attend can register on the spot at the venue, or register ahead online.

Lahore Literature Fest to kick off Feb 23


Recipe

Ingredients:

1 loaf French bread (not the

long thin kind)

1/2-3/4 cup butter, softened

(no substitutes)

1 -2 tablespoon fresh minced

garlic

2 teaspoons dried parsley or

2 tablespoons fresh parsley

1/3 grated parmesan cheese

(you may increase slightly if

desired)

1 pinch salt (or to taste)

Directions:

1 Set your oven to 375°F.

2 Cut slices down the length of the bread about 1-inch

intervals without cutting all the way through.

3 In a bowl, combine the softened butter with garlic,

parsley and Parmesan cheese; mix well to combine.

4 Spread the butter/garlic mixture between bread

slices, and then on the top of the loaf (you may sprinkle

more Parmesan cheese on top of the loaf if desired).

5 Wrap the bread in heavy-duty foil leaving the top

partially uncovered.

6 Bake until heated through (about 15 minutes).

8 Place onto a baking sheet and bake (350 degrees F)

until lightly toasted to desired doneness.

9 Serve warm.

Parmesan Garlic Toast

lounge issue no 121

Documents

colour of growth

accent colour

classy colour

lush green colour

shade of green

crowned emerald

fashion designers

jewellery designers