Afrah Jamal

Originally intended for the Good Times (magazine), posting it here. VENUE: The Second Floor (T2F) Sporting sagas could always use a rag-tag team to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Shifting the lens towards female players posed against a conservative backdrop who defy gravity and dare to dream puts an empowering spin on the chosen narrative. While underdogs make trusty hooks, women with gumption never go out of style. Finding them is not that difficult. Mashal Hussain and Khadija Kazmi are the face of KU women’s football. The Karachi United FC – Women’s Squad was launched in 2010. Mashal, who is the ‘Youth Program Coordinator – Women Division Lead’ defines it as a dream job. She is aware of the irony that in most circles it wouldn’t be classified as a career. Her steely determination to push the conversation about women’s sports into development territory based on time spent in the field gives her words an added poignancy. Mashal and Khadija appear poised to step int...

..couldn't wait any longer, had to post it here. Miss the Daily Times of yore . There is nothing to announce the arrival of Fall in Karachi; leaves do not change color, temperatures stay constant and billboards of chilled coffees lurk in the rearview. Nothing, except the ‘ Pepsi Unplugged – Fall Edition’ . It is a series of invite only events designed around live singing and dynamic playlists. They recently held a show in Lahore and rounded off the year by adding some inter-continental flavor to the mix for their anniversary celebrations in Karachi. The names were a highly guarded secret revealed just a few days before the event. Their presence underscored the growing scope of the ‘Unplugged’ series and the enterprising spirit of its creators. And, if the press releases are to be believed, such visits were to be the first of many, offering Karachiwalas a mixed platter of Sufism, Folk and Bhangra that kept the crowd going till 2 in the morning. Josh, an Indo-Pak band that ...

The Lost Wonderland Rolling back extinction has its moments . 22 years ago, ‘Jurassic Park’ made landfall in Pakistan nearly a year after official release, back when multiplexes were a myth and 3D - a distant dream. Ground breaking tech, enlisted to salvage relics of the past was counted upon to cast a spell. A couple of decades later, the big screen extravaganza stopped by for an encore. The enchantment hadn’t worn off. The arrival of ‘Jurassic World’, in not so glorious 3D, aims to reignite the passion, on the same day, and in superior cinemascope. It also ups the ante and the filmmakers slyly refer to the sky high expectations and shrinking attention spans as they, along with the corporate machine in charge of the imaginary realm fret about the complexities of cloning the shock & awe-factor. This version comes with a brand new director at the helm and has been set in the same universe as the first installment. ‘Jurassic World’ has widened the playing field by developi...