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The International Festival – by Bushra Sayed

This year the 2000 International Festival was held at the Raleigh Convention and Conference Center and ran from October 6^th through October 8th. More than forty international and ethnic groups participated this year. Everyone seemed to enjoy volunteering at the Pakistani bazaar and the ceremony presentations. The participation of the Pakistani-American Association (PAA) representatives in the International Festival at the Raleigh Civic Center was a huge success. A gigantic wire sculpture of the Earth was hung from the ceiling of the convention center, which appeared to carry a silent message of unity in the air.

The Pakistani bazaar was hectic but fun, where many curious people came by to see what it had to offer and eagerly asked questions about the type of clothes Pakistanis wear. The sale at the bazaar was good this year since volunteers managed to sell many objects, including a few rugs and clothes. Here people were shopping their way through colors and textures of Pakistani clothes and crafts, and volunteers had lots of fun putting mehndi on visitors at the Pakistani booth: a learning and entertaining experience. The visitors were told about mehndi and how it works, and had lot of designs, patterns and prices to choose from. Everyone who volunteered at the mehndi table did an excellent job, especially Naseer Sayed and Farooq Agha who surprised every one by doing an exceptional job of putting mehndi on various customers.

This year, PAA had two different themes for the slots: Musical Instruments of Pakistan; and Eid celebration and Chand Raat. The Musical Instruments presentation was done using many props such as a laptop computer and a projector.   Umar Kishawar played tabla, John Caldwell played the harmonium and Afroz Taj sang lyrics. The PAA chose to emulate the Chand Raat, which traditionally takes place before Eid in Pakistan. Seema Farooqi organized this second presentation with the help of Saima Ali, Rashda Faridi, Aasia Wasti and Riffat Sayed. The presentation showed what transpires on Chand Raat after seeing the new moon, how every one becomes involved with preparing their clothes, cooking the Sheer Qorma, doing last minute shopping, putting mehndi on, etc. Most of all, the audience appreciated the sampling of Pakistani food and flavors, which was offered to them later on in the program.

Rehana and Najam Arifeen proudly celeberated the seventh birthday of their twin daughters, Maria and Rubia, in style. Their birthday party was held on October 1, 2000 at CICI’s Pizza, where there were about sixty guests. Both the girls looked very pretty in their jade green dresses created for the occasion by their dadi ammi who lives in Karachi. They quickly blew out the candles and cut the freshly baked cake while the children crowded around to sing: ‘Happy Birthday’. This was followed by a pizza buffet.

On October 15, 2000 Darakhshan, daughter of Aijaz and Qasim Shaikh was engaged to Malik Rahmat Ali. The engagement ceremony and the reception were held with elegance at the Tandoor Restaurant in RTP. There were eighty guests including some from out of town. Darakhshan, whose family is from Karachi, is studying computers at Wake Technical Community. Her fiancé Malik Rahmat Ali is from Gujerat, Pakistan and works as the manager of a local Subway restaurant in Durham. Their wedding is scheduled to be held in February 2001.

Continuing its tradition of bringing together Urdu aficionados on a monthly basis, the Urdu Majlis was held on the 14^th of October 2000 at Caldwell Hall at NCSU. As usual, the program was divided into two halves, the first part in honor of an artist of note in the Urdu world and the second, to give a chance to the individual attendees to share their own works or the works of their favorite artists.

 The artist of choice for this month’s Majlis was Qamar Jalaalvi, a poet of note who achieved more fame for his works after his death than during his lifetime, and thus largely led a life of penury. The effect that this had on his poetry was beautifully brought out by an excellent presentation prepared by Sarfraz Qazi, who went to great lengths to anchor the session skillfully. Sarfraz’s preparatory material was so extensive that there were several speakers who judiciously used his material for presentation.

The second session, as usual, allowed for a greater selection of poetry and some of the noted artists whose poetry was presented were Faiz recited by Sultana Khatak and Javed Akhtar recited by Ahmed Kamran. The session also included some individual poetry written by Jafar Abbas. The poet chosen for the November, 2000 edition of Urdu Majlis is Amjad Islam Amjad.

KARACHI, Oct 31: A large number of children are suffering from sub mucous fibrosis (OSF) due to their habit of chewing sweet supari which leads to a gradual closure of the mouth. The inside portion of the mouth turns leathery and the flesh begins to harden, turning the natural color to a whitish hue as the disease progresses. This is caused by the alkaloids in the betel nut and other chemical additives which “tan” the mouth lining. According to Dr. Mervyn Hosein, more children are buying saunf supari that costs just 50 paisas a packet. Children get easily hooked on saunf supari, which is laced with a light wash of narcotics. Another dangerous trend is that children are now buying gutka, a lethally addictive mixture of tobacco, katha and limestone, which can lead to a new mouth cancer epidemic. Pakistan Dental Association is asking that saunf-supari packets carry a warning that “eating chalia can lead to mouth cancer”(APP).

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is in the process of reengineering the cumbersome labor certification process. The ETA intends to make fundamental changes that will streamline the process and improve effectiveness. As part of the ETA’s efforts to take advantage of technological innovations that will increase efficiencies in the program the current proposal requests that the relevant forms be standardized and machine-readable to eliminate the need for data entry by the ETA processing centers when an application is first received.

After an application has been determined to be acceptable for filing, a computer system will review it based upon various selection criteria or “flags” that will allow more problematic applications to be identified for an in-depth review or audit. Some applications will also be randomly selected for an audit without regard to the results of the computer analysis as a quality control measure.

If no request for an audit has been triggered by the information provided on the application nor via random selection, the application will be immediately certified and returned to the employer, who may then submit the certified application to the INS in support of an employment-based I-140 petition. It is anticipated that if an application is not selected for an audit, an employer will have a computer-generated certification decision within seven to twenty-one working days of the date the application was initially submitted. By contrast, a labor certification from the DOL currently may take twenty-four months or longer.

If an application has been flagged for an audit, the employer will be notified and required to submit in a timely manner documentation verifying the information stated in or attested to on the application. Upon timely receipt of an employer’s audit documentation, the scanned application would be electronically distributed to an ETA regional office where a case analyst would conduct an audit, as determined by the regional certifying officer. After an audit has been completed, the application could be either certified; denied; or supervised recruitment could be required.

Upon the implementation of the new system described in these articles, the DOL believes that a number of key criticisms of the current program, such as its cost, timeliness, and complexity, will have been resolved or mitigated to the extent practicable. The Department is continuing to monitor operating procedures to determine whether further efficiencies can be made that would improve the balance between meeting employers’ legitimate needs for foreign workers with the DOL’s obligation to both protect jobs for U.S. workers and protect against adverse effects on the U.S. labor force.

By Robert B. Spiro, Attorney, Bashyam & Spiro, LLP, concentrating exclusively in matters involving Immigration and Nationality Law, (919) 833-0840.

Yesterday, I met old friends at Kinnaird College’s 67^th Annual Commencement. Amidst greetings, kisses and hugs, I saw the entire graduating class of 1999, most of whom I hadn’t met in over a year. It was a pleasant experience, meeting with friends and foes alike; everyone was so different and yet the same. There was an excitement of sorts in the air, as solemn black gowns were worn and everyone tried to figure out how to wear a particularly confusing hood-like cloth, which actually came on the shoulder.

The sea of faces walking towards the Perin Boga Amphitheater were familiar with the grounds of the huge campus of Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, for they had all spent at least two and up to four years of their lives walking every inch of this very place. Everyone was smiling, exchanging notes, and talking about old times. The Commencement honored the graduates as awards and degrees were conferred and the ceremony ended on a happy note; everyone went their own way, smiling, promising to call and keep in touch.

Commencement is a momentous event as it is, but if one has good memories attached to the institution from where one is graduating, it is an even more invaluable occasion. Looking at my former classmates and teachers made me realize what all Kinnaird had given me in the form of not only education, but also confidence, knowledge, love and most important of all, recognition. I am a graduate of Kinnaird, one of the leading institutions of women’s education in Pakistan, and this sense of belonging makes one feel very proud.

Established in 1913, Kinnaird College was one of the best women’s colleges for a very long time. Located in the olden times near the Lahore Railway Station, it later shifted to the Jail Road campus, which is spacious and open. Kinnaird was made up of students from all walks of life, all religions and backgrounds. Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis and Muslims alike studied together. Mostly young women belonging to important families studied at Kinnaird College as it became a status symbol of sorts. It was a place where the established and renowned families of the olden days sent their daughters to get education as well as to learn the mannerisms and culture of those times. Kinnaird girls became famous for their etiquette and polished image and came to be known as KC-ites, a term that is prevalent even now. Today, Kinnaird College offers a two-year Intermediate program, three-year Bachelors of Arts and Sciences programs and six Masters programs, including Mass Communication, English Literature, Linguistics, French, Environmental Sciences and German.

Kinnaird has produced a number of young, talented and intelligent women who have gone on to make a difference in every field possible in Pakistan. Kinnaird has women working in numerous areas such as Yasmeen Sehgal in education, Asma Jehangir in Law, Faryal Gohar, Zeba Bakhtiar, Sahira Kazmi in the performing arts, Kamila Hayat in bureaucracy, Ayesha Haroon in journalism, social work, medicine, Bapsi Sidhwa in writing, Hadiqa Kiyani in the music industry, architecture and many more fields. These women have proven that they can survive in a patriarchal society such as Pakistan’s and carve their own niche. Graduates of Kinnaird have also studied in some of the top world schools such as Oxford, Cambridge, London University, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, New York University, and many liberal arts colleges. Kinnaird is also proud to have produced several Rhodes and Commonwealth scholars.

Studying at Kinnaird is an experience that most people remember for the rest of their lives. The open grounds, interaction with teachers, dozens of extra-curricular activities, intercollegiate functions, dinners, concerts, musical evenings and similar activities are what give all KC-ites a well-rounded education. Graduates often come back to visit their college, eat the famous ‘Naan Samosas’, sit under the towering tree in the main ground, and visit all the classrooms which still have the rustic charm, despite the years gone by.  

One does not realize the importance of what one has unless that thing is taken away. While studying at Kinnaird, meeting friends every day, sitting at the canteen and gossiping, trying to see the restricted areas of the hostels (where only ‘hostelites’ were allowed), bunking the awful women’s military training, sitting on the undulating roof and screaming ourselves hoarse at concerts, I don’t think any of my friends realized how much we would miss all this. Kinnaird is truly more than just an institution, it is an experience, which is quite worth having!

Literary and artistic activity in Lahore has traditionally revolved around cafes and restaurants. Eventually, these places became the haunts of intellectuals, writers and artists that spent hours-drinking endless cups of tea over discussions close to their hearts and minds. In the colonial era, Lahore was full of restaurants and hotels that lined the famous Mall, offering food, snacks and drinks. Lahore’s most famous tea house – renowned for its artistic and intellectual clientele – is now at the center of a battle to stop its closure.  The Pak Tea House reputation has rested on its association with a clientele of visiting writers.

The Pak Tea House had once been the hideout of choice for leading Urdu writers. Famous names, such as Mira Ji, Saadat Hasan Manto, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Kamal Rizvi, Munir Niazi, Ustad Amanat Ali, Intizar Hussain and many others have spent innumerable evenings at the tea house, which once used to remain open until midnight. The celebrated fiction writer, Intizar Hussain, has been a regular visitor to the tea house since 1949. He believes it is a cultural institution, which is known all over South Asia. People freely expressed their political views in the Pak Tea House – even in the repressive days of the military regimes. Many international writers have been to the Pak Tea House to view how literary issues are discussed in Lahore. The American Students of Urdu Program at Berkeley, California, has been a frequent visitor, and in 1998, the Government of Pakistan gave two lakh rupees to repair and refurbish the spot.

It is also a venue for the weekly meetings of Halqa Arbab-e-Zauq, a literary organization of writers and intellectuals. Founded in 1939, the Halqa has been the identity mark and a forum of literary culture in Lahore. For the last thirty years, the Lahore Halqa has been holding its regular meetings at the Pak Tea House, where many eminent writers have their sittings and discussion meetings around its tables. It had indeed become a wish for writers when visiting Lahore to go to the Pak Tea House to meet other writers and exchange ideas. Before the formation of the Writers' Guild, the Executive Committee of the Halqa refused any financial aid from the government because it felt that the grant might adversely affect its literary achievement. The Asia Foundation had also offered a substantial funding to Halqa, which was gracefully refused. This literary forum, which is funded by its office-holders and by the donations of its members, has meager financial resources and has no office to conduct its meetings.

And lately, owner of the Pak Tea House, Zahid Hasan, states he is not physically fit enough to run the cafe, because of heart surgery. His sons are not interested in the business either, so he wants to open a more profitable venture – a tire shop. He says that the tea house is a losing undertaking so he must close his tea-serving business. This decision has created a crisis for Halqa Arbab-e-Zauq, as it had no other available venue for holding its weekly meetings. However, a committee of senior writers is trying to persuade the owner not to close it down. For them, it is a cultural icon of not only Lahore but also Pakistan. On September 3rd, the General Body of the Halqa met the owner of the Pak Tea House to negotiate. Ejaz Batalvi, Abid Manto, Intizar Husain, Hussain Majrooh, Anis Nagi, and other important writers joined the negotiations. The tea house owner’s opinions were received in a cordial and sympathetic manner. Hussain Majrooh suggested that if Zahid desired, the Halqa could run the Tea House and would also pay the owner in order to meet expenses. The General Body was hopeful that the loss could be met if greater care was given to the affairs of the Tea House. A Committee was formed to look further into the problematic situation and to save both the Tea House and the venue of the Halqa's weekly meetings. Zahid's Hasan’s cause was also Halqa's cause.

The Punjab government has offered the owner regular financial assistance to make up for his losses. The owner’s lawyer apparently agreed not to close the Pak Tea House. However, its future does not look bright, as the owner’s ailing heart does not seem to be deeply involved in the issue, and the quality of the tea and other services has rapidly declined. The rumor that Halqa will turn into a nomadic association, having no other place to go, has caused anxiety and apprehension for its supporters. The Pak Tea House should not therefore close its doors on Halqa. There is however every fear that with the Tea House converted to a tire shop, the Halqa may cease to exist. If the Pak Tea House is inevitably shut down, it will unfortunately be the closure of the last remaining hideout for writers and intellectuals in the city.

When I watched the sun set from the Spanish coast this past year, I thought again of the small container of saffron that I gripped in my hand, which I had just bought for my parents from the market. Just like the threads that weave across a burst of yellow in the evening sky, like breaking crimson bracelets that scatter across a mehndi colored sari, the fragrance of saffron is not easy to describe, with a flavor that cannot be duplicated by any other spice. Once coveted as the world’s most expensive spice, with a price equal to that of gold during medieval times, saffron has been long prized in areas such as Pakistan, Iran, Spain, and Greece.

The saffron crocus has been known to be native to the areas of Asia Minor, Iran and the Mediterranean. However, a major producer of saffron is, of course, Kashmir, where it was introduced to the area during the invasion of the Mongols. To the west of the Himalayas, around the area of Kargil, the population is predominantly Muslim and the agricultural resources, such as walnuts, almonds, apples, pears, cherries, and peaches are concentrated in the Jammu region. In the entire subcontinent, it is the Vale of Kashmir, which is the only producer of saffron. When the saffron crocus fully opens during one week of the Kashmiri autumn, the flowers are each picked by hand. The female portion of the flower, three small bright red stigmas, is taken from the middle and is the sole components of the saffron spice. Each red stigma capsules the complicated chemicals that contain saffron’s yellow dye, aroma, and flavor. It takes 5000 flowers to make one ounce of saffron and about 75,000 blossoms to make one pound. Once these stigmas are hand picked, they are spread out on trays and then further dried over large charcoal fires. It is then packaged and used as a main ingredient in various rice dishes.

Throughout history, saffron was sprinkled over guests as part of a traditional welcoming ceremony in parts of Asia, and in India it is the color of the clothing that marks the wealthiest of castes. Ancient documents show that saffron (pronounced “Zah-faraan” in Pakistan and Iran) was used not only in ancient Egypt, but Rome, where it was used in food, as well as in perfumes and dyes. It is documented that the streets of Rome were once covered in saffron when the emperor Nero entered the city. The Greeks, on the other hand, considered the spice to symbolize life and youth, and presented it as a gift to newlyweds, who slept with saffron strewn on their pillows. In Spain, the Arabs around the tenth century brought saffron to the mainland, and the spice was then introduced to the rest of Europe by the crusaders.

Saffron petals contain a fragrant perfume that contains the essential oil of saffron. It is the odor in the flowers that helps in attracting certain insects for successful pollination, and these oil droplets, which are stored in the glands of plants, eventually diffuse through the walls and fill the air with a distinctive perfume. Essential oils bear the name of the plant that it is extracted from, such as rose oil or peppermint oil. These oils are vital because they are the authentic representatives of the true essence of the flavor and odor of the bloom. The very earliest records of essential oils from many flowers come from Egypt, Persia, and ancient India. Again, it was the Arabs who devised the technique of distilling and extracting essential oils of flowering plants, thus creating a breakthrough in the perfume trade. Although the fragrance of saffron is superb, its existence is unfortunately short-lived and cannot be used for commercial purposes.

Yet saffron is not without its health benefits or dangers. As a beneficial herb, it can be used to treat such ailments as indigestion, high blood pressure, and heart disease. In high amounts, it is toxic and should never be used by pregnant women, women planning to become pregnant, or children under the age of two.

Due to the value of saffron, there have always been those who have corrupted its trade. Some dealers dilute the quality of the spice by adding marigold petals, safflower pieces, or by letting the stigmas soak in oil to increase the overall weight. Since the male part of the flower has no value, they have been added to the genuine red stigmas in order to make the end product heavier than its original weight. Varied saffron sellers have noticed that in contemporary culture, some are apprehensive about buying powdered saffron instead of the threads, since similar substances such as turmeric can easily replace a powder. Supermarkets in general do not sell saffron, since it attracts shoplifters, and many managers have been known to keep it in safes behind closed doors. It is the specialty stores, here in the United States, such as the Pakistani and Indian food shops that usually carry the spice.

According to author Ellen Szita, who has written Wild About Saffron: A Contemporary Guide to an Ancient Spice and who’s web site can be found on www.saffroninfo.com, “There is not one single ingredient known to us which can be substituted for saffron. The higher the coloring strength, the more intense the flavor and aroma”. She tells us that although saffron has the reputation of being the most expensive spice in the world, one should not pay more than $36 an ounce for quality saffron from Kashmir, Greece, or Spain. Saffron from Iran is not available for sale in the United States since it is considered an illegal product due to recent embargoes against the country. She further states that if saffron is stored in an airtight container, whether it is in thread or powdered form, it has one of the longest shelf lives of any other culinary ingredient.

I have a question for all you parents out there who are raising your kids in America: Do you accept their version of life in the land of plenty or do you yearn for the days when you could simply grab them by the ear and take them to the local village maulvi to knock some sense into them? If you do feel this way then know that you’re not alone. These unripe guavas that you raised from the cradle insist on eating McDonalds after school, ignoring excellent home cooked salan/parotha, playing baseball in the yard rather than playing cricket, or wearing scrappy Levis instead of a home made Lengha from nanni. As someone brought up in the west, I have to say, I feel sorry for what my parents went through raising me and feel it is my duty to write in honor of this cultural dilemma. So please listen closely, all those from Lahore, Karachi, Hyderabad, Peshawar, or anywhere else from the Pak Sar Zameen. There are solutions to every problem and maybe I can help you find the light at the end of the Khyber Pass tunnel, (which you would take with a pinch of nammak).

Now, as an individual, I don’t believe in all this so called “pseudo-child psychology” that we are bombarded with all the time on shows such as Oprah or 60 minutes. In the end, the books and talk shows are fluff, and it’s all about getting down to the level of your child and seeing the world from their perspective. It is important to explain to your child WHY you are sending them back to Pakistan to become a scholar at the age of thirteen.  When you tell them, they will calmly  pick up the phone and probably dial 911. But, if they share your vision they will say, “Hmmm. You know Abu-jee is right. I don’t REALLY need to go to college and that twelve year old cousin of mine in Islamabad is kind of cute”.  If you are the enlightened type of parents who prize education then maybe your problems are different.  Usually, you don’t want your son or daughter to leave home until they turn at least forty. Again, you can explain to him or her that it is all for their own good and say, “Beta, you know we love you very much and have watched you grow from a hopping tidda into a javaan bahadur. Now, be good and vacuum under your bed before that conference with AOL’s vice president.”

If you have a daughter or many daughters, the problems are ten fold. When your sweet, little jalebi is all grown up and becomes argumentative, don’t you sometimes wish that she would just turn back to being a simple little gurgling gulab jaman? Let’s be honest now. You see stars from all the anxiety your daughters may cause you by refusing to see your side of things. Maybe you sit glumly on the sofa, with your cup of Lipton, some days wishing the US government gave out special desi tokens forcing her to stay home for at least one month of the year. That might give her an opportunity, say in February or March, to fry up some pakoras and whip up some kheer while a potential marriage hookup just happens coincidentally to drop by. Okay, my mistake – maybe the kheer is for you.

Some who have been kind enough to continue reading this, near to its end, might think I’m being unfair and will say that not all Pakistani parents in America want to let their children confusedly walk into a lassi filled labyrinth or a mathai dripping maze. But with all respects, even if you say so, I simply don’t believe you!

We had held plans to go boating with the Faruquis for quite some time, but the forecast of rain, on that Saturday afternoon in August, was firmly determining to upset our trip. After a flurry of phone calls we decided that as long as there were no thunderstorms in view we would be fine on the water.

We all arrived at the Ebenezer boat ramp amid a few sprinkles, still having our doubts whether it would be sane to get out on the lake. When we noticed some fisherman bobbing on the water we decided it was the safety signal for us to launch the boat. As we all piled in, we found we had enough food to last us a whole week in case we got marooned on one of Jordan’s "deserted islands". Nureena and Seema Bhabi had initially gotten into the boat with a little trepidation, since it was their first time on a boat, but after donning life jackets they did not look as fearful as they had at the beginning.

The rain ceased as soon as we started out and we all breathed a unanimous sigh of relief. After exploring some of the misty nooks and crannies of the lake we all felt a little exhausted and needed some nourishment, so we stopped the boat in the middle of the lake and out came the pizzas and sandwiches. We made lemonade out of lemons, and stuffed ourselves as the fish jumped around us, in the hopes for free food. Finally hot tea was served and with the waves rocking our boat like a cradle we all relaxed, forgetting the rest of the world for a while. But raindrops disturbed the mood, and it was time to go back. Luckily, we had brought along a large polyethylene sheet, which we held over our heads, and as the wind billowed the sheet upwards and formed a nicely shaped dome, we cruised back slowly, enjoying the rain and the end of a delightful outing.

KARACHI, Oct 19: Germany has started recruiting IT experts in web designing, e-commerce, networking, programming software and hardware. “Germany needs 75,000 IT experts in next two to three years”, stated Rudolph W. Fritz, managing director of Federal Employment Services at a press conference. He said that the working contract for recruited applicants would be DM 100,000 per annum. Since Aug 1, the German government had issued some 2,140 green cards and among them 40 were Pakistani. The Indians received 350 green cards, followed by 240 from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Baltic States. Another 212 went to Romania, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia and other surrounding countries. He said since Germany want more IT experts from Pakistan he will be consulting with the Overseas Employment Corp. in Islamabad (APP).