With having tons of creepy shows around on television that does nothing but give away those tips on preparing whitening creams for your face or remedies that might make you have long luscious hair as claimed by ‘dermatologist’ or all the ‘herbalists’ in the shows while preparing them and then the tickers that says “aj hum bana Rai hn rang kaala krne wali cream aur aisa shampoo jo k apko ganja krne me mdad krega”ooops… my bad! How can I even forget, we reside in Pakistan! “rang kaala hona yahan pr tou badsoorti smjha jata he!” Pardon me guys for even writing such a thing! so where was I? Yeah those tickers where they publicize their ability to make whitening creams, that makes you wonder the mentality of these people conducting the shows, I mean like seriously? Is this what we should be worried off in such a world where everyone is headed towards a progress?? Ab bs yehi kam reh gaya he Kia?? Smh literally! That being said, honestly in such a situation ‘Sunrise from Istanbul’ is definitely a breath of fresh air.

I began watching it a little while back, mainly because the vibes it generated, and the idea it started off with seemed a bit novice, and to my surprise there weren’t any aforementioned disgusting stuff in the show and since I had to kill some of my precious time so that I might witness myself drown in the bucket loaded with guilt as exams for my very first semester were to be held a few days later and also for the fact that my tablet got out of my reach, (Maybe somebody cursed me with black magic, hmmm?) I got into it.

However, I stopped watching it later due to the hectic schedule I have, but the other day got the chance to watch it again, after when I caught glimpse of it while searching something worthwhile to watch. And then reminiscent of my experience with it hit me back, which led me Penn this overview down for you guys!

Sunrise from Istanbul is a Pakistani morning show, recorded in Turkey and hosted by Maria wasti which airs on see tv. The show also comprises bunch of some musicians along with a chef (all Turkish).

One of the reasons that provides me a reason to tune into the show every once in a while is that they reserve one episode for a single personality, which ends up on being enough fruitful to give it a decent end and that not even a single fuss gets to be created, which probably is not the case with most of the morning shows airing these days. That being said, the guests are always treated with utmost respect by the host herself, and also the way Maria is always friendly with her guest lights up the mood, the minute you start watching the show.

Frankly speaking, for me the show has always been a mood lifter, I really loved the episode when Reham khan was invited, I got an insight into her life and her decent and thought-provoking conversation made me like her even more. Other than that, the game Maria plays with her guests is quite different, unique and interesting too, something you guys may not come across in any other game show. However, the way she plays it is slightly confusing, yet cute at the same time. Curtly speaking, the show can be worth watching if the guest that interest you, is invited, as plenty of time is given to the host to conduct a decent interview.

Hope you guys liked the overview! Don’t hold back in sharing your thoughts as I definitely am looking forward to reading them.

Stay blessed!
Mariam sheikh!

Exploring the horizons of a tale of an idealistic living of both the leads, Nimra Ahmed this time takes us on a ride to Karakoram, aka Rakaposhi residing in the northern areas of Pakistan, along with her aged old approach of giving in all the tad bits of details of almost every little scenario and then maintaining a touch of suspense in her another magnificent work of fiction, karakoram ka Taj Mahal, which, for all the astounding reasons is based on a true story!

The novel starts with Parishe (pari) another beauty queen, owning the looks of pari (fairy) as portrayed in the novel with her hair all tied up back in a nice, neat ponytail, supposedly, being angry at a kid as he whistled at her while she was on her way to her cousin’s house (Nisha) who is also her only best friend, at the moment. Initially she’s portrayed as an idealist, whose, dreams got crushed by her own family members, relatively at quite a younger age right after her mother left the dimensions of this worldly world. Though, she sidelined all her dreams, she still has this desire to crest the mountains, or, to be more exact be delighted by the scenic beauty of it and meetup with her dream prince she has been dreaming of her entire life, but she being another innocent soul agrees on marrying her aunt’s son, Saif just for the sake of her father and also struggles on becoming a doctor just so that she might make her father and in-laws happy.

Moving forward as the story progress she’s given permission by her father to just have a visit of northern areas of Pakistan along with her cousin Nisha and a tour guide ( since my geography has always been quite a disaster and I have always been struggling in memorizing the names of places, I won’t be naming them here!) That said, while they both were wandering on the streets of Mall road of Murrey they crossed paths with Uffaq Arsalan ( the hero) another idealist in the novel, whom parishe couldn’t take her eyes off from the minute she sighted him, (Yes, he happens to be that handsome!) Who was just to crest Rakaposhi.

The story takes a turn as they spend some time together, since, coincidentally they went off to visit those northern areas together with the same tour guide. And then with loads of tears and drama Pari ends up melting her father’s heart that led him to allow her summit Rakaposhi along with the people who were on their way to summit it, which took the story to the whole new dimension.

Overall, the entire story revolves around dreams being shattered and still not giving up, sorrow, happiness, laughter and then the scenic beauty of the northern areas of Pakistan. The characters, dialogues and all the minute details keeps you glued to the book and the nights spent in Karakoram are written in such an impeccable manner that it gets nerve wrecking until you get to the end especially the part when Irsa (their mutual friend) dies and then later when another avalanche hits Uffaq!

The best part for me was when Pari does everything she could to save Uffaq, however, the part when they were rescued took my breath away as it got really devastating to see him not being rescued after all the obstacles, stress and physical torture they both went through. It not only took my breath away, but also tore me apart on the inside, considering the fact that it was based on a true story and that all the characters were real, things got even more scary for me!

Honestly, this one is absolutely a must read and after getting towards the end your heart won’t hold back in screaming, “ Nimra Ahmed you really owe me my tears girl!” Nevertheless, it’s definitely a masterpiece!

Hope you guys liked the review, don’t forget to share your thoughts.

Keep reading!

Stay blessed!
Mariam sheikh!

While watching these two episodes, I was reminded of this nursery rhyme/song the kids used to listen to when they were small. The one about five little monkeys jumping on the bed, then there are four, three, etc (those were some seriously dheet monkeys by the way!). Anyway, here it seemed like cat upon cat was let out of the bag as there were quite a few revelations. Saima’s blurting out the truth about Tania, Saif’s mother ‘realising’ how unfair she had been, Saif ‘realising’ he can not bear being separated from his son (although having managed just fine till now) and Hina spilling the beans about Tania-Talal to Roshni.

Saima blurting out the truth about Tania was convincing enough for me for her character lacks depth and even though she probably felt very clever at the time, siding with Tania even when she saw right through her now when rubbed the other way she could not help blurting all out in front of Saif. Tania’s accident made her mother suddenly realise how she has wronged Laali. Which is what she said at least but I am not sure whether she genuinely feels guilt or is suddenly worried about how all this will affect her children’s marriages (given as they are all married into the same family!).

I find it odd how Saif never had the urge to see his son before Tania sent him a picture. They live in the same city but it never occurred to him to go see him and now one picture has him turned into a raging father who must have his ‘haq’. I wondered too at Tania’s intentions when she sent Saif the picture. Somehow I do not believe she intended for him to go crazy like this and demand that the child be with him or to complicate Laali’s life but Saif has set out just to do that. Before learning the truth about Tania, it was only his son he wanted back but now he wants Laali and his son and lives in some weird frame of mind where he believes that Laali still harbors feelings for him. I suppose in his odd little La la land he now fancies a ha-lala. Quite lame I know, but I could not resist, haha.

I am not sure what Laali was thinking taking her son to the park to meet Saif. Yes, he threatened to come to her house and the only thing I can think of is that since Mustafa was not home she did not want it to go back to his ears that Saif had visited. But I feel she should take him into confidence for it is not as if Mustafa is not aware of her first marriage so why the secrecy, especially as Laali till now has seemed to be quite a sensible person. But hey, who’s asking me. I expected Ayaan to say something about meeting a man in the park or something to that effect but he has not said anything as yet. It is predictable which way this is headed and then the promo for the next episode confirms it so now tables have turned and it is like being on a see saw. Laali sulked while Mustafa suffered, they came midway and their relationship if not close then at least was amicable and now I suppose Mustafa will sulk and Laali shall suffer. Ah well.

While we are talking about parks and see saws, Talal and Roshni have their own ping pong game of insults going on. She screamed, raged, cried, pouted, flounced – all to end up meekly saying ‘qabool hai’. I have no idea whether mujhay roza lag raha hai or not Roshni, rather I am ‘kam aqal’ but what exactly is the problem between these two? I mean, yes she overheard the conversation Talal and Laali had and well she got to know what he thought of her – straight from the horse’s mouth! So, would it not be logical that she would be hurt and question his feelings and intentions? Then why the arrogance and anger on Talal’s part that she should not question anything. Not questioning would be being ‘kam aqal’ or demanding to know what those words meant is? How about a simple conversation where they could come clean about their thoughts – heck, I could pen the lines down for them since words seem to not be their best friends right now. Talal seeks Roshni out like a never ending game of cat and mouse only to hurl insults at her and she has wept most of these episodes away, like a very weepy Rudolph!! I was less than impressed about his anger on their wedding night although I do have to say it was actually nice and different how they bothered offered their prayers together. Realistic or not, it still left me with a nice feeling.

So as illogical as the strain between these two is, it appears Tania’s story seems to have snapped Roshni out of her misery. No clue how that has helped but I hope things get better now and Talal has a better apology/explanation for his behaviour for being curt is one thing but questioning one’s intelligence repeatedly and putting them down is another.

I know I went on like tweety bird about how I liked this drama and I still do but I do think maybe I enjoyed it more because I had the chance to binge watch it. Also, probably because before I tuned in and decided to review it (which automatically awakens my Midas touch), nobody was having this many tantrums. Now Roshni, Talal, Saif all seem to be acting up. I would like a bit more focus on Laali and Mustafa now as I was fast losing patience with Talal. I found myself looking forward to Khurram’s scenes because yes he adds humor to the drama but I like how he has a much more sane and logical head on his shoulders than Talal and how he can tune in to others’ emotions and not be tagged with the constant joker label. Even though Faris Shafi’s drawl and acting seem quite typical in each drama (not that I quite mind to be honest), I like how I could feel myself get truly annoyed with his selfishness. He often passes off as quite ‘masoom’ in his acting and till now his only (albeit a big one) fault had been that he was weak and preferred to listen to his mother and sisters over his wife but now when he has taken the reins in his own hands, he has not managed to redeem himself at all rather just seems to have sunk even lower.

It appears as if The Bratzz (Saif & Co.) are all out to wreak further havoc in the lives of the members of Sikander villa. Looking forward to seeing how Mustafa tackles the Laali-Saif issue and what exactly Tania has to say to Talal and whether she manages to get the chance to talk to him. The drama seems to be heading towards its end which would a decent time to end it I feel. What did you all think of these episodes? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Kunwal Javid

Aspiring to be a novelist one day myself I seem to be indulged in pretty much every book that interests me. You can call me that ‘Kitabi Keera’, or, since we happen to be, existing in a ‘tech world’ label me as ‘Tablet Keera’, who is seen mostly hidden under the cover reading their favorite books at night hours, despite being aware of all the cons they might endure for not sleeping on time. Swollen eyes, hair fall, dark circle or what not! But, who cares, as these books are so much more to us than these imperfections and, besides these are the imperfections that make us human! So next time anyone makes fun of your swollen eyes, don’t let them get to your heart- roll your eyes, sit back and turn the page to know what’s going on in the lives of your favorite characters, with a smile.

Now that I’m a book worm let me just admit that I like to re-read things depending on the intensity it touched my heart with. So, while I was re-downloading ‘Wo Jo Qarz Rakhte The’ in my tablet yesterday an idea hit upon my cranium to write a review on it, just so that I might share the beautiful journey I went through while I was mused in the world of ‘Saad’ and ‘Fari.’

The story starts with Fariya, a very young aged girl weeping at the misery of her parent’s death in a car accident, while she’s been told about her maternal grandfather by her family’s beloved maid. The story progresses with her going back to Pakistan along with her grandfather, living a life of dismay with her grandparent as she still has not gotten over the fact that she wouldn’t ever get back to her homeland. However, with time, things get better as she befriends with a two years elder guy who keeps on explaining and advising her for having an optimistic outlook on life, his forthright attitude and the way he perceive things and the sincerity he shows towards her makes them the best of friend.

Over the years she gets better and better by the constant care of her grandmother and her only best friend, yet, she is still not aware of the sternness his Grandpa shows towards her. Fast forwarding, she gets to know the truth by her mother’s only best friend ‘Anjumand aunty’ who came to visit her after 10 long years. And then the story revolves around Fariya, Saad, Zufishan(Fariya’s mother), Fariya’s father and then the grumpy grandpa who’s not really grumpy and sweet as sugar Grandma.

Overall the story which might seem quite simple has charm in its simplicity. The way Farhat ishtiaq has molded her thoughts onto the piece of paper is worth being praised for. Honestly, she has become one of my go-to writers whom I can read almost all day. The writing style that she owns in which she converts the simplest of stories into something that attains a special place in our heart explains her evolved and refined writing skills. ‘Wo Jo Qarz Rkhte The’ is a story of sacrifice, forgiveness and love that stays for eternity. The way Fariya sacrifices her love just so that her grandpa might forgive her mother and how her mother missed her father even though she had everything made me realize the strong ties we have with our parent. And even if we try to scratch them out from our lives, it would be our souls that would end up being crushed into million pieces.

The touch of poetry in the latter part of the novel when Fariya is described as missing her childhood is so beautiful that even I started missing it. Lol :P and the relative utilization of the classic old aged stories were poignant, and very much in accordance with the situation.

I guess the story is quite predictable yet Farhat’s subtle approach and unique sense of writing made the novel, Hmmm, what should I call it?? A must read? Well… I guess it’s in between a guilty pleasure and a must read! Yet I wouldn’t mind recommending it to you guys, as the novel was really worth my time. And to all those who end up cursing me for wasting your money for not being happy with the ending, I recommend you to become a ‘tablet’ or a ‘smart phone Keera’ just like me, so that you wouldn’t get to spend your money on the book.

Hope you guys liked the review. Let me know if there’s any novel you’d like to be reviewed by me and do forgive me if I forgot anything special as I read it a year or two back. Don’t forget to share your thoughts, let’s rewind back to the time when we first read the novel.

Stay blessed!
Mariam Sheikh