Morning shows in Pakistan do a million things, from promotions to competitions to celebrations to tributes to wedding renditions. One thing that stood out recently was Sanam Jung’s Jago Pakistan Jago yesterday. It was supposedly a pet show, but the animals that graced the sets were far from our usual concepts of the cuddly playful animals that are usually kept as pets.
There were Ayaz Sammo, Benita David and Amir Alvi as guests but the theme of the show was around Adeel, Ibad and Shehzad from Paradise Pets who brought their most unusual pets on the show.
There was a python and a crocodile, which their owners were handling with an amazing ease.
There was also a peacock who was getting quite excited and even jumped on the camera in the first break.
There was also a mix of exotic birds, including the blue green macaw, the African grey parrot and the white parrot.
There were also two very big dry land tortoises who did not come out of the their shells during the duration of the show.
Amir Alvi brought his own pet grey parrot and talked about the cocks and the dogs that he keeps at home. Benita loved his parrot and kept it on her hand for most of the time.
One of the pet owners, Ibad ur Rehman had brought his young son who kept the python around his neck and was very comfortable like that.
Sanam Jung, however was quite uncomfortable during the whole show. First she was not sitting down due to the peacock’s jumping that it was doing on the sets. She was also on guard from parrots that kept roaming on the floor. When the guests tried to get her to hold the python and the crocodile, she made funny excuses like she is not fearful and that she can easily hold but just does not want to. Also that maybe it is motherhood or something but she is not as brave and adventurous as she was before marriage. Her discomfort around the animals was very obvious and frankly, who can blame her. In fact, we want to salute her courage for being able to complete the show she was sharing with such unusual pets.
We are not big on animals here, but surely animal lovers must have found it quite enjoyable and informative.