iBlog by Sasha

By Sasha Scheherzade If love has a name, it's Diliris Ertugrul. Why? Believe it or not, this casts magic strong enough to captivate viewers.  One with doubts will understand after tuning in the first episode. Diliris Ertugrul tells a passionate account of The Kaıs, a brave and humble Turkish nomadic tribe. The Kaıs are a warrior tribe that on one hand has embraced to become targets with rough weather and the Mongols and Crusaders on the other hand. It is a chronicle of courage, inspired from historic foundation of the Ottoman Empire, at the end of the 13th century in Northwestern Anatolia in the town of Soğüt (modern-day Bilecik Province) by the Oghuz Turkish tribal leader Osman. The plot of the play is in stark contrast with any modern-day western spiel that either instills fear of the obscure or forge acceptance of paranormal figurines conjured through accidental lab mutations and later lauded as heroes. This tale revolves around a nomadic tribe of shepherds, who requ

By Sasha Scheherzade April 24th marked the death anniversary of late Sabeen Mahmud (shared) and amidst the people going through this pandemic drama-in-real-life, it slipped quietly by. Gunning her down was a cowardly attempt to silence a brave woman who provided this chaotic city of Karachi with a  much needed wonderful community space for shared discourse and healthy dialogue between the have's and have-nots. It was everybody's retreat. It was my retreat. My kid and I met some like-minded happy souls and participated actively in toddlers's music, craft workshops, Sheemajis theatrical activities, Pervez Hoodbhoy's very piquant lectures and soulful Qawwalis. I made some great new friends, conceived my first Readers' Group, conducted active book sessions and stayed inspired. After the quietus of the ingenious and brave Daughter of the ever chaotic yet all embracing Karachi, which was a traumatic demise for the peaceful people of my city, I stopped m

By Sasha Scheherzade A native language spoken by a parent/father or mother tongue, is one that an infant gets exposed to from the time of birth. In some countries, the term native language or mother tongue refers to the language of one's ethnic group rather than one's first language or mother tongue or any language that is spoken at home. . Pakistan is fortunate enough to enjoy a geographical location that not just traditionally but linguistically rich with an equally diverse nation that is known for being dynamic in all cultural aspects out of which mother language comes first and foremost. Nearly 74 mother languages are spoken in Pakistan according to stats shared by UNESCO Islamabad. The five chief regional languages Punjabi, Pushto, Sindhi, Siraiki and Urdu have more than 10 million speakers and almost all mother languages belong to a Indo-Iranian group from the Indo-Europeon family.  Ethnologue ,  an online reference print publication lists 74 spoken lang

By  Sasha Scheherazade Not many artists have achieved success where documenting the traumatic experience of one of the most horrific and grandest migrations in history is concerned. The colonial British powers that brought Pakistan and India into being nearly seven decades back, was not without an engineered and very violent partition of the boundaries.       "I have relived 1947," says Jimmy Engineer, "although I was born seven years after the inception of Pakistan, but to me it seems that the very time of partition, with people migrating from Indian border to Pakistan by whatever means they could, is still etched afresh a memory as if I had lived through this whole process of partition, died and my rebirth happened in the year 1954," says the artist par excellence, who has proclaimed himself  as The Servant of Pakistan.   Seeing Jimmy Engineer's work on his Independence Series one can observe the trauma encountered by some 20

by Sasha Scheherzade Each year more and more craftpreneurs are provided a huge platform by The Crafter's Guild at The Crafter's Expo, a vibrant craft fair, bustling with activity and color, where home-based craft community of Pakistan displays their exquisite and innovative handmade products, which speak volumes about their continued efforts and reflect their zest for creativity. From edibles to wearables, this year The Crafter's Expo held in December 2016 (or TCE16) showcased some 122 local artisans and crafters; both rural and urban, thereby vigorously promoting their precious businesses. Following the analogy "Happiness is Handmade", the idea behind the expo is to strengthen and revive the otherwise forgotten cottage industry of homeland through promotion of their small businesses and push back the craft community from backend to the forefront. Since 2012, what began as a small initiative by Varah Musavvir of The Crafter's Guild, has now evolved into a f