SanaSafinaz keeps you coming back for more

KARACHI:


After one failed attempt at having a tete-a-tete with Pakistani ladies’ favourite lawn duo due to the city’s recent security situation, The Express Tribune finally succeeded in touching base with Sana Safinaz — four time winners of the Lux Style Awards in the lawn category.
Safinaz Muneer welcomed us into SanaSafinaz’s revamped Bridal Lounge at Jason VIP Apartments in Clifton to talk about their latest enterprise. The spacious lounge is done up with stately furniture in muted colours; in various rooms, their collection of mostly dark red and maroon — with some lighter mint and Kashmiri tea pink — ghararas and flowy bridal dupattas are displayed on mannequins and racks. As our photographer adjusted her lens, a helper from the SanaSafinaz team adjusted the painchas of the beautifully worked farshis that could momentarily take one’s breath away.
Dressed in a fresh blue cotton kurta with casual white pants and Tory Burch flip flops, Safinaz was busy with brides-to-be and some prospective mothers-in-law before we had a chance to catch up. She explains that the duo’s move to expand their bridal collection was overdue. “We believe the bridal experience is one to cherish and it should be made as pleasant as possible,” she says. With dozens of heavily worked bridal outfits available for eager young women to look at, the lounge’s large collection presents a bevy of options. “A 21st century bride wants to know what she is wearing. It’s an old and an archaic expression that she is ‘not interested’,” explains Safinaz. “When a mother-in-law comes to place an order, the bride-to-be wants to know all about it and is 100 percent interested.”
While most brides complain that designers take too long to get their outfits ready, or that they have no idea what the final piece will look like — a reality that give brides nightmares — Safinaz understands that the bridal outfit is “something you should love to wear”. “For our brides, each one is special. Here, they can place an order but they have to wait for three month time period!”
But if the jora is being displayed at the boutique for everyone to see, is there an element of surprise? Will everyone know what the bride will be wearing before her wedding day?
“The girl and her mother-in-law know [what the outfit looks like],” Safinaz explains.  But if someone from the baradari [extended family] turns up and asks what the bride is wearing, we never, ever tell them details or price. It’s something very personal and that’s our policy.”
Retail queens
After being on every lawn enthusiast’s must-have list, these ambitious businesswomen have yet another shift in their business module. SanaSafinaz will soon be launching four retail stores across the country, with two in Karachi and one each in Lahore and Islamabad.
“In every household across the country, there is at least one working woman in the family,” says Safinaz, explaining the philosophy behind the designer duo’s upcoming endeavour.  “We are now catering to that growing demand of ready-to-wear products for that woman.”
The retail shops will cater to clients who can spend between Rs3,000 to Rs20,000 for office-wear and evening-wear in stitched and unstitched fabric. Shoes and chappals will also be stocked at these stores.
According to Safinaz, the key to success is innovation. She says that her and Sana Hashwani have always been ambitious girls with a strong business sense. “Success begets success!” Safinaz exclaims. There is no doubting the ambition and success of these constantly innovative women who stand out as possibly the first designer-entrepreneurs of the country. More power to them!

Watch out! Video games could breed our own Breiviks

Norway’s mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, in an effort to ‘desensitise’ himself before going on his shooting spree, spent a total of 130 hours playing the video game “Call of Duty”, as revealed by the judge who sentenced him.





This reminds me of my own 15-year-old brother and several other people I know of, who are not just fans of this game, but play it religiously.

Is there a possibility of any of them turning out to be something like Breivik?

It would be a sweeping generalisation if I say yes.

But the idea of these games helping in the desensitisation of someone cannot be entirely ruled out.

Having a gamer in my own house, I have seen that every other popular game these days is about gangsters, wars and killing people. With the graphics improving more each time, the visuals, can at times, become severely gory to watch.

Yet, it does not seem to affect any of the gamers and instead helps them boast about how ‘hardcore’ they are.

I would not hesitate in saying that I do not just want mere age restrictions on violent games but would in fact want them banned completely, because certain things become so deeply rooted in our lifestyles that they become difficult to just be restricted. I say this because I know that I myself cannot stop anyone from playing these games either by words or by force.

Some friends even thought I was trying to put a ban on a ‘form of art’, by calling for a ban on violent video games, but I don’t think killing people falls in the category of ‘art’. I appreciate the improvement in technology and the realistic graphics, but at the same time, I believe that they can be used in much better, constructive ways, than to be associated with violence.

Games are meant to be healthy and conducive to the mental growth of human beings, giving them an edge over others when it comes to logic, IQ, tactics or even just speed. It is disheartening to see how various forms of games are being used to promote something which could subliminally seep through the human mind and produce a few ‘crazies’ like Breivik, every now and then.

Can online activism lead to any real change?

Merely sitting, commenting or sharing something may provide a momentary burst of satisfaction, but it may not be enough to actually change something on ground. DESIGN: ERUM SHAIKH
Slacktivist me?



You have got to be kidding me, answered a self-declared cyber activist. I feel the real pain of anyone suppressed anywhere in the world, and it is my duty to highlight issues on Facebook, Twitter, and any online discussion forum; my moral duty to speak for the rights of the oppressed.

Such are the thoughts and ideas of a typical self-proclaimed cyber activist who may cross any online boundary to get across his/her point.

It is said that societal norms can determine how individuals utilise digital technology for activism. There are certain expectations regarding how we act, speak, and dress in a society. Expectations may vary amongst different social groups based on factors such as socioeconomic status or the level of education. However, we may see that online communication is often less restricted and individuals feel less bound by norms that they may adhere to in the physical world.

We therefore, often observe certain ‘activists’ even practising hate speech. There may always be a few party crashers in a simple online discussion. Come what may, type whatever, and say it wherever. Zero holds barred.

Is online activism any different from slacktivism?

In fact, online-activism itself is an often debated concept. According to the Merriam Webster definition, activism is defined as,

“A doctrine or practice that emphasises direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue”

How does such ‘vigorous action’ translate into real action in the physical world?

Actively pursuing a cause that may really lead to positive change is indeed a noble ideal. But ponder for a minute and decide how much of the cyber/online activism actually yields tangible results besides creating ‘awareness’?

How many have actually gotten off their comfy seats and walked outside to solve problems in their immediate neighbourhood (instead of in another country)?

How many fed a hungry child or decided to allocate some money for a good cause such as education?

How many stood up for the rights of minorities or those marginalised in our local community or our wider society?

How many of us have done something that may start to make other’s lives better?

Societies change when they have a critical mass of people who actually do something with their passions instead of just feeling the pain of other humans. Our world would most likely be a better place when it sees more action and less talk.

The question that has become a focus of research is whether online activism on its own can lead to change?

Critics may rightly argue that social media and people who used the power of such online platforms have toppled oppressive and non-democratic regimes in countries like Egypt. There is little doubt that social media has the potential to create positive as well as negative awareness in a society; but where would the potential be without people actually coming out onto the ground and physically changing things with their own hands?

Had social media been the only ingredient of change, we would have seen model societies emerging wherever social media adoption was high. The following quote sums it all up quite nicely,

“A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.”

We have enormous potential to actually do something about the myriad of issues plaguing our society. Merely sitting, commenting or sharing something may provide a momentary burst of satisfaction, but it may not be enough to actually change something on ground.

On the other hand, we cannot only blame cyber activists for their way of thinking, their intentions and their passion for change. We should start directing attention towards things we all can actually do in real life with our immense energy. Let’s pool resources to build a school in a village nearby, or help improve the ones already there.

Let’s galvanise support for cleaner neighbourhoods by contacting our ‘real’ friends whom we meet face-to-face, rather than merely over the internet and pressing a ‘Like’ button to solve issues across the seven seas.

Think of the group of concerned citizens who via social media organised clean-up campaigns in Pakistani cities. They physically went and changed something in reality instead of merely acting as slacktivists.

Life is too precious to be wasted in front of a screen. The internet screen is only as important, as it benefits us and is used to direct our energies to actions that actually matter. It is what we make of the internet today that will determine the kind of world we give to our children tomorrow.

Is the iPhone 5 after Jobs doomed to failure?

With the ever increasing trend of smart-phones, Apple’s iPhone has definitely bagged the top position in the list of favourites – and why shouldn’t it?

With an amazing set of features coupled with a slim and sleek design, excellent touch system and thousands of apps which you can download from the Apple Apps Store, the iPhone has everything desired to gain mass appeal.

Apple was formerly recognised for its computers and MacBooks, until 2007 when our very dear Steve Jobs introduced the exquisite iPhone, which was a combination of the iPod and the internet-enabled smart-phone. It took around a $150million to develop the original iPhone and as soon as it was launched, it was a huge success!

Big enough to be dubbed the ‘Jesus Phone’. The phone was powered with iOS containing preinstalled applications and multimedia.

The iPhone generations were no doubt considered as one of those that catered to the fast growing consumer demand- using a product oriented marketing approach.

However, when the much awaited iPhone 4S came out, the public was stunned. They were astonished not with the design and the features but with the fact that it was ‘exactly’ the same as its predecessor; the iPhone 4! Except for a few changes like the 8 MP camera, slightly greater weight and not to forget Siri, the iPhone 4S is identical to its predecessor!

Let’s not digress though; we are here to discuss launch of the much awaited iPhone 5, and not how badly Apple disappointed its customers with the 4S generation. Now that the creative genius behind the iPhone generation is no more, the launch and design of the iPhone 5 peaked to an even higher level of interest.

Can the Apple team continue to provide its customers with the superior quality, exquisite design and improved technology that was supplied under their guru? Or will Jobs’ death prove to the downturn in business for Apple?

These questions will only be answered well after the launch of the iPhone 5.

The iPhone 5 has not been given an official name, but this generation may be an important milestone for the company because this will be the first product introduced by the Apple team after the death of their first CEO. It is, however, said that the design of the phone has been approved by Jobs himself, who started working on the model even before the launch of the 4S. Hence, the world is most likely to witness the final masterpiece by Steve Jobs.

I understand that the new iPhone sports a bigger screen. Now this is a plus point!

However, it is only bigger in length and not in width. There’s no doubt that our Steve Jobs believed that 3.5 inches in length is the optimum size for touch screen phones, but to keep up with the larger Android phones in the market, the iPhone 5 supports a 4 inch screen. (Yes, it’s still not big enough). The screen also has a retina display resolution, like those present in the MacBook Pro.

Unlike the 4/4S generation, the new iPhone is also reported to have a liquid metal chassis. This alloy of titanium, nickel, copper and zirconium will provide greater strength and flexibility. Not only that, but the iPhone 5 has a greater storage memory using the Anobit’s technology of flash memory. The camera is of 12 MP strength, with facial recognitions in the captured photos and a front camera too.

Not to forget the ‘Siri’ improvement. The ‘Siri’ was first introduced in beta format in the iPhone 4S and it is said that the new generation is going to experience improvements in this technology. It has also been reported that Apple recruited several engineers to improve the Siri technology which suggests a major overhaul.

Now that Steve Jobs is resting in his grave, may God bless him, the Apple team has more space to experiment with several features and technology that previously Steve refused in his iPhone designs. Long Term Evolution (LTE) is one example which allows wireless data communication at high speeds. Adding to this, this phone boats the iOS 6. technology which is the world’s most advanced mobile operating system.

According to sources, Apple owns a patent for this technology and hence is likely to introduce it in its new generation. Don’t forget that with each new model of the iPhone, Apple has introduced a feature that hasn’t been in the market before.

When they say Apple is going to beat Samsung with its new iPhone, I think they will be right! And ‘if’ it really does that, Apple will be riding a new wave of success, especially after Steve Jobs.

Noor Jehan: Gone but never forgotten

Today, 85 years ago, a very special girl was born in district Kasur, Punjab. Had fate been kinder to us, she would have still been with us today. Madam Noor Jehan may have left the world but her legacy will forever live on, emblazoned in the minds of her fans as her evergreen songs.



Noor Jehan has a special place in my heart. This is not just because I am a fan of her beautiful voice and enviable poise, but also because she belongs to Kasur, where my grandparents were from. In fact, I have been told that my granduncle and she were playmates.

I was properly introduced to the queen of melody as a child. In grade three, I was asked by a teacher to sing “Ae Watan Ke Sajeelay Jawaanon” on September 6 of that year in a Defence Day function. I listened to it for the first time and although I didn’t completely understand it, I could feel that there was a very powerful message involved that the singer delivered perfectly. To help me practise the song and understand the true essence of it, my aunt explained to me what the lyrics of the song meant.

She said, Noor Jehan thanks the many brave Pakistani soldiers who saved their countrymen and didn’t care even if it was at the expense of their lives. She says that her songs are for them. Such a sense of gratitude and pride emanates from her voice as she sings this beautiful song, that even today it can make the fiercest Army-hater bow his/her head as a tribute to our brave soldiers.

It was then that I immediately knew I would be a Noor Jehan fan for life.

This came naturally, as I come from a family of classical music aficionados. Whenever I ask my father to teach me Punjabi, he only teaches me the language by translating Madam’s saccharine songs word by word into simple Urdu. Now I don’t know how I can make use of the word “wanjhli” (flute) in normal, conversational Punjabi, but the lyrical translation sessions were and still are very educational to me.

Madam Jehan could conveniently convey with the highs and lows of her voice, emotions of all kinds brilliantly. Be it Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi or Sindhi, she was able to stir sweetness into any language. People, even today, light up to the romantic and naughty “Gaayegi Duniya Geet Mere”, weep to “Ae Puttar Hattaan Te” and yearn to reunite with their beloved to “Chaandni Raatein”, just as they did years ago.

Even today, when I listen to a Noor Jehan classic like “Ae Puttar Hattaan Te”, I am overwhelmed by the timelessness of her songs. This one in particular, now reflects the sentiments of grief-stricken mothers of thousands of innocent Pakistanis who are killed in terrorist attacks every day.

This woman was fearless and subtlety was not her thing. Her bold make-up and clothes made her stand out but she still managed to look graceful. As not just a playback singer, but a great actress too, Jehan blew life into works of Pakistani poets and many Pakistani films for over 35 years. Her spectacular performances managed to bag her the President’s Award in 1957, and very deservedly so.

Many have tried to adopt Madam’s style but have failed miserably. The very feminine quivering lip, voluminous hairstyles and shiny satin saris topped with matching scarves around her neck best suited only her. She was not just a woman but a phenomenon who Pakistan owes a huge chunk of its good popularity too.

Congratulations to Pakistan on the birth anniversary of an unmatchable superstar. A legend like Madam need not be born again because she will live forever in film and chime in frequencies of radios all across Pakistan and the rest of the world.

Media ethics and rape: Have a heart!

The more gruesome details he can get his hands on, the better. I know it sounds horrible but it spices up the story. DESIGN: ERUM SHAIKH
Every other day our crime reporter says,

“Aray, yahan rape hua hai.”

(Hey, there’s been a rape at this place.)

or,

“Ek aurat ka Saddar mein murder hua hai, story chahiye?”

(A woman’s been murdered in Saddar. Want a story on that?)

We don’t even stop and think twice before asking,

“Nahi, is mein naya kya hai? Mazay ka murder tha?Koi weird detail pata chali?”

(No, what’s new in that? Was there something cool about the murder? Did you find out any weird details?)

The more gruesome details he can get his hands on, the better. I know it sounds horrible but it spices up the story. For example, there was a case a couple of months ago of the alleged Patel Para serial killer. A man was killing women from a lower middle class background and leaving their chopped up bodies around the city – usually in a three part series.

There were three things which made the police suspect it was the same man – the words ‘phone call’, ‘Quaid-e-Azam’s mausoleum’ and ‘Patel Para’. The bodies were cut in a similar way and left in the same area. The Soldier Bazaar police or people from the neighbourhood usually just found the pieces randomly in the trash or under a tree.

When our junior crime reporter went to the morgue to see the bodies, she came back with details like how the flesh was sliced from the bone or how one woman’s breasts were delicately cut and left on a board for an examination. Obviously, these details didn’t make it to the page. The story was toned down quite a bit and I was disappointed.

However, after attending a workshop on ‘powerful women, powerful nation’ by Uks, a non-governmental organisation specialising in research on gender equality and women development last week, I felt like I was either an insensitive jerk or there was no way to report on such issues.

A rape case or murder case is very clinically reported. You have the name, place, time, whodunit and then what the police or family have to say.

In a woman’s case, the police will immediately jump to the conclusion that the woman had a ‘loose character’. I kid you not.

They will drag her name through dirt and use derogatory terms which will indirectly comment on her lifestyle – but this is just in English papers, in Urdu and regional papers it is worse. At the seminar I also learnt that sometimes in Urdu newspapers, women and girls were referred to as titliyan (butterflies).

During the two day workshop, the director of Uks, Tasneem Ahmar, showed us newspaper clippings of two cases – Nina Aziz murder case and the Veena Hayat rape case. Both high-profile cases took the media by storm as one involved a British diplomat and the other one pointed fingers at a former president’s son-in-law.

In the late 1980s Nina Aziz’s headless body was found in a wardrobe in her house. Her head was found three days later in one of Islamabad’s greenbelts. The police claimed that her servant did it. The newspapers had a field day. An English daily published the story and basically said that Aziz, who was living alone in a house and working for a multinational company, was a ‘bad’ girl.

A report claimed that Aziz was too western – even though her parents lived in the same city, she preferred to live by herself, used to entertain men and was ‘liberal’. One of the many reports which maligned her character also mentioned that a ‘used condom’ was found in her room.

Interestingly enough, the day Aziz’s body was found, a man was murdered by his wife. She wanted to marry another man. It was a big case since the man was quite influential but only 150 or so words were written about his murder.

Then we have the Veena Hayat case. It was all anyone could talk about in 1991. She was the daughter of Sardar Shaukat Hayat, a prominent member of the All India Muslim League, and one of her best friends was former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. As expected, the case became political within minutes. There were two other cases which got the limelight because of Hayat’s case, Khursheed Begum and Rahila Tiwana, a Pakistan Peoples Party student activist. All three women were connected with PPP in one way or another.

Things got messier as the CIA became involved – the rape survivors claimed that the agency wanted them to make false statements and implicate Benazir and her husband. All three cases took place in Karachi. Hayat’s father who held a press conference two weeks after she was gang-raped was very certain that she was raped because of her friendship with Benazir, who had been sent packing the year before.

Some of the reports I read about the rape did not make sense to me. Hayat’s social position, her friendship with Benazir and her divorce seemed to be more important than what happened to her.

I suppose the media was unprepared to deal with these stories. When Tiwana was interviewed by The News, she was asked to go into details about the rape. Since their rape cases became political, these women received a different sort of coverage. In the pro-government side of the print media, it was defamatory; in the relatively liberal sector, they tried to tone it down but I guess it must have been difficult.

Mukhtaran Mai ─ who was gang-raped and had to parade around her village naked after a jirga decided that she had to pay for her brother’s ‘sins’ ─ is another case where the print and electronic media went haywire.

Her story was repeated, embellished, and was all over the place. Television show hosts asked her to come to their shows and pretty much humiliated her by implying that she was making it up. The former president’s statements about women ‘getting’ raped for foreign nationalities didn’t help either.

If a reporter files a rape story today, we are told to remove the name of the woman or girl to make sure her identity is protected in every possible way. Maybe it’s to avoid the media circus that their lives could become – looking at how such cases are covered in the media, print or electronic.

Maybe we should just not write about it till we’re sure we won’t judge or break down and cry.

iPhone 5: What really matters today

The iphone 5 is housed in an aluminium body with a high quality glass screen, two-tone back, and ceramic/pigmented glass at the top and bottom giving it that rich, refined, and hi-tech look that you desire from a phone designed in California. PHOTO: REUTERS
After days of speculation and hype, finally came the moment when Apple unveiled the iPhone 5 along with a new range of iPods and iOS 6 on September 12. Being an Apple enthusiast, I had expectations of a revolutionary product that would yet again re-define the phone industry. Obviously, however, no such revolutionary product was launched and what we saw was an improved iPhone. I was disappointed, and so were many others that expressed their emotions on Facebook and Twitter.

As the Foo-fighters concluded their performance and iPhone 5 event came to an end, I switched off my screen and headed for dinner at a friend’s house. The dinner was sumptuous and the talk was light. It helped clear my mind and focus on more rational parts of what Apple had just unveiled to the world. I realised that it did make sense from the customers’ point of view. So here is a list of four key differentiating features of iPhone 5 that should really matter.

It’s beautiful

You may contest this until you actually hold it. I say this from my experience of using almost every product designed by Apple. The 18% slimmer and 20% lighter iPhone 5 (vs. iPhone 4S) is housed in an aluminium body with a high quality glass screen, two-tone back, and ceramic/pigmented glass at the top and bottom. This gives iPhone 5 that rich, refined, and hi-tech look that you desire from a phone designed in California. It can never be confused with a phone designed in Helsinki, Seoul, or Taiwan. That’s differentiation!

Fast internet browsing

The iPhone 5 supports the fastest available wireless and cellular internet speeds offered by mobile operators around the world today. By December it will be available in 100 countries with 240 mobile operators, and it will be able to make use of the fastest internet speeds available such as LTE (upto 100Mbps), DC-HSPDA (upto 42 Mbps), and HSPA+ (upto 21 Mbps).

Beautiful sound

Inside the iPhone 5 box you will find newly designed EarPods. Don’t take them lightly as they may transform your music experience. The new EarPods are designed to rest and stay comfortably in the ear, relay music directly into the ear, and maximize the airflow to give the best sound. In short, Apple has harnessed technology and science to create a much improved music experience. I don’t see the need to buy beats headphones anymore.

 Faster response

Unlike any other smartphone manufacturer, Apple designs its own hardware and software for iPhones. It means that iPhones are optimized to deliver best performance. Building on that concept, iPhone 5 employs a faster A6 processor that in combination with the new iOS 6 doubles the speed of phone performance and graphics. It also enables iPhone 5 to capture photos 40% faster as compared to iPhone 4S running an earlier version of iOS.

 Other noteworthy enhancements

Apart from the key differentiating factors mentioned above, other enhancements that bring iPhone 5 at par with its competitors include; higher resolution Retina Display, better iSight camera for photos and video, improved maps and a longer screen.

 What the iPhone 5 doesn’t have

Some of the features that Apple has missed incorporating in iPhone 5 include; free music streaming, NFC technology for wireless payments, and wireless charging. It also doesn’t have a battery life that is better than its competitors.

 Conclusion

With iPhone 5, Apple has tried to address technical specification gaps that existed between iPhone 4S and other leading smartphones. However in my assessment, Apple has not made an attempt to position iPhone 5 on engineering higher ground but it has consciously positioned it on user experience supremacy. In fact that has been Apple’s positioning since the launch of original iPhone and it has once again reinforced it with iPhone 5. We will know whether or not this positioning still works when iPhone 5 starts shipping on September 21, 2012.

Good work CM Punjab Shahbaz Sharif

There is a low level outbreak of dengue fever in Lahore and its outskirts. Over the last few weeks more than a hundred patientshave tested positive for the dengue virus.

Every day the media gives the public an updated count of how many patients have been diagnosed with dengue fever. Sometimes the media is so dutiful in its obligation to inform, that the reports include the names of the suspected dengue patients as well!

Every patient is important. Even one case of dengue fever is one too many. Having said as much, if we look at the size of the outbreak, it is much, much smaller than had been anticipated by the World Health Organization.

For the last several months the government of Punjab has been conducting detailed and exhaustive surveillance for Aedes mosquitoesthat spread the dengue virus. Survey teams have been looking everywhere in Lahore for any small collection of still water.

Almost to the point of harrassment, the government and its operatives have been fixated on making sure that there is no fertile ground for the breeding of  mosquitoes.

This effort has been accompanied by a massive public awareness campaign. Countless seminars have been held in schools and colleges and there has been a major drive to educate the public on how to prevent dengue fever.

This timely focus on prevention of an outbreak seems to be paying dividends. At least for now it appears that the massive outbreak that was expected as a follow up to last year’s epidemic has been curtailed. Who can forget the chaos and panic last year? Thousands and thousands of patients were suffering from the disease and heavy criticism was directed at the government for failing to curb the spread of dengue fever.

We are not completely out of the woods yet. The outbreak could still flare up. However, if we do manage to make it through the next three weeks without a significant increase in dengue fever cases, we will have indeed performed a modern-day miracle.

The credit for this should go to the relentless efforts of the government of Punjab.

Enemies of Pakistan: Now on Facebook

The uproar over the anti-Islam ‘film’ (if it can really be called a film) has finally become a fad for Pakistan’s youth. It’s hip. Its trendy now, and I can say this with surety, because its finally all over my Facebook wall.

If ever there was proof that social media is simply a tool reflecting the community that wields it, and not some glorious tool towards progressive change, that time for Pakistanis is now.

First I got the seemingly harmless (although the stat cited is obviously just cooked up) viral image demanding the removal of the video from YouTube:

I decided to follow the image to the actual page that my friend shared it from.

Catchy title: Enemies of Pakistan. Here are some more images they have created, with hundreds of shares to each:

At this point, I am starting to get a trifle worried about the campaign that seems to be emanating from here. Fascinated, I keep exploring…

India? What does India have to do with this?

Someone has obviously gone to a lot of effort putting these together. I know because my team works on such viral images as well, and it requires someone dedicated for anywhere from 20-45 minutes to make one of these. I’m starting to wonder about the agenda here, and about the language being used with some of the posts. For example:

These are the pigs of the anti Islamic movie “INNOCENCE OF MUSLIM” who are also involved in insulting our beloved Prophet Muhammed peace be upon him. Share as much as you can.

CAN WE GET 100000 + SLAPS FOR THE PIGS

1 LIKE = 10 SLAP

1 COMMENT = 100 SLAPS

1 SHARE= 1000 SLAPS

Extreme attracts extreme. I’m now more interested in some of the people responding to these images in the comments section. I follow a few of them through to their profile pages to see what other content they are consuming and liking. I see this image being passed around the community, calling for the murder of the film maker for a large bounty:

It is a trifle chilling to see how quickly, and how far I’ve come from my Facebook wall. It is also terrifying to think that my cousins, nephews and nieces, all on Facebook and in their teens, could very easily get here too. I keep browsing community members of Enemies of Pakistan, and inevitably it leads me to increasingly violent demands – all through viral imagery:

Emotive, unethical (using the images of random children) and extremely successful, the above image calling for burning US and Israeli embassies/consulates is making the rounds on Facebook. I could stop now, but there is a lot more going on in this community. One of the images above was shared from Jaan qurban sipah e sahaba dera ismail khan (Life sacrifice Sipah-e-Sahaba Dera Ismail Khan). I’m intrigued to find such a localised online community for a banned outfit. Yes they have the basic curses for the film maker:

But they also have a very unsavory group of friends sharing some very unsavory things. I have crossed over to yet another group of the SSP and I find an image with by far the greatest number of shares and likes yet (almost 5,000 shares):

Its hard to keep in mind I am on Facebook. I have written before about the fact that social media may be isolating people so they only see and experience things according to their preferences, thus polarizing society and perpetuating/creating greater divides. At this point, I am really scared, but I keep going – thinking less now, just absorbing the images one after another in silence… some are impossible to share here. I explore for another 20 minutes and then go back to my news feed. There I find this image waiting for me:

I don’t know how to react.

Add to the blog: share links to other such material circulating on social media in the comments section below

Five guys you should not follow on Twitter

A Great Toic With the advent of Twitter, getting to know people has become much easier. You don’t have to send, approve or delete friendship requests; anyone has the liberty to follow anyone.

However, as tempting as it may be, here’s a list I’ve made of five kinds of guys you should either never follow on Twitter, or follow at your own risk!

1. The ‘every girl is beautiful’ guy:

This guy’s bio and picture will tell you all you need to know about him. He thinks you’re beautiful. He would date you if he knew you. He has devoted his life to making women smile. Thus he has thousands of devoted female followers, who have obviously gained confidence because this seemingly attractive young man has put up a picture in which he holds a placard with ‘You’re Beautiful’ scribbled on it.

Being the kind guy that he is, he will usually take time out of his very busy schedule and ask his adoring female fans to ask him questions to which he will graciously reply.

It will be tough not to press that follow button, ladies, but if you do, it’ll only lead to unrequited love.

2. The pious guy:

This guy will usually hail from a Western country. He has got ‘swag’ but, please, do not be deceived. He is very religious. He tweets about piety, love and forgiveness along with the occasional tweet about how he’s so amazing and needs the love of a good woman to complete him.

He goes in overdrive during Ramazan telling everyone how he’s been praying and how they should follow suit. This guy also (surprise surprise!) has a lot of devoted female followers. Seems like girls today are starved for religious guys who also look like rappers. He will tell you how relationships are ‘haraam’ but that does not stop him from flirting with his female followers.

Oh, the sacrifices he makes.

3. The self-proclaimed celebrity:

Don’t be deceived by his bio. He really has nothing credible to his name, except maybe a few videos on YouTube of his idea of humour or of him belting out a song in the most audibly and visually disturbing of ways.

Yet again, you will see hordes of girls vying for this young man’s attention, convinced that he’s the next big thing since sliced bread!

4. The guy who takes himself too seriously:

Twitter is filled with these guys. In their eyes, no one is more original or can have such a radical opinion as them. They have an opinion about everything, from your mum’s biryani to the credibility of the state.

They will butt into your tweets because they feel it’s their public obligation to correct everyone’s opinions to mirror their own, obviously far superior ones.

5. The ‘frandshipper’:

This guy takes plain old ‘frandshipping’ to a whole new level! He will tweet to you and replying to him will be one of the biggest mistakes of your life, because, clearly, now he knows you’ve fallen for him. He knows his tweets were just right to make your heart melt and you replying only confirms it.

Now he will direct message you till he either gets the message that you’re ignoring him or till you block him.

Don’t be too hard on him, poor guy has just confused Twitter with ShaadiOnline.com.