Wednesday, 24 June 2015

Got mangoes? Put them to use in Mango Iced Tea and Mango Trifle!



I think we can all agree that the very best thing about summer in Pakistan is all the mangoes everywhere.
I was never a big mango fan when I was younger (blasphemous, I know!). However, over time, I’ve become more fond of them. Not only do they satisfy the sweet tooth, but are loaded with vitamins and minerals and are high on fibre and water content, which makes their consumption a win-win situation.
I’ve also become more interested in finding novel ways to use them in my baking and cooking.
Ease comes first for the two recipes I’m sharing today. Both require minimal effort and time in the kitchen, while highlighting mangoes in simple but delicious ways.

Mango Iced Tea

I practically live on tea and, during the summer months, iced tea is a refreshing change when I can't bear the idea of a hot cuppa. While iced tea with lemon is great on its own, flavouring it with fresh mango puree makes it extra special. This makes for a great Iftaar drink too; you get water, sugar, and caffeine all in one go.
Ingredients
For simple syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
The rest:
2 teabags
3 cups boiling water
1 cup fresh mango puree
1 teaspoon lemon juice
A pinch of salt
Ice, to serve
Method
1) To make the simple syrup: Add the sugar and water to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for about 3 minutes. Remove from stove and set aside to cool.
2) Add the teabags to the 3 cups of boiling water, cover, and leave to brew for 3 to 5 minutes.
3) Remove the teabags and discard. Leave the tea to cool.
4) In a large jug, mix together the cooled tea, mango puree, lemon juice and salt.
5) Sweeten the tea with the simple syrup, according to your taste. I added 4 tablespoons, but you can add more or less according to your preference.
6) Refrigerate the iced tea until you’re ready to serve.
7) Serve over ice.
Tip # 1: You can make a large batch of simple syrup and store it in a jar in your fridge for up to two weeks. Use it to sweeten all sorts of drink; it beats having to stand there stirring away until all the sugar dissolves!
Tip # 2: You can you use other fruit purees or juices to flavour your iced tea as well. Try swapping out the mango puree for fresh peach puree. A personal favourite of mine is to use 1 cup cranberry juice instead of fruit puree.

Mango Mousse Trifle

While you can't go wrong with a big bowl of mango chunks for dessert, this trifle elevates the simple mango without much effort. I’ve left out trifle standards like custard and jelly here, but you can add more layers if you wish.
Ingredients
½ lb plain cake, cut into cubes
2 large Sindhri mangoes, peeled and cut into large cubes
4 tablespoons caster sugar
1 cup mango puree, chilled (use a more flavorful mango for the puree, like Dosehri or Chaunsa)
1 cup whipping cream (heavy cream), chilled
½ to 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
Method
1) In a mixing bowl, add mango and caster sugar. Mix well, cover, and leave for 20 minutes.
2) In a large glass serving bowl, add cake in an even layer and then top with mangoes.
3) Prepare the mousse: Using an electric beater, whip the cream until stiff peaks form (when you remove the beater from the cream, the peaks formed should hold their shape).
4) Add the chilled mango puree and ½ cup icing sugar, and continue to beat until well combined. taste the mousse and add more sugar if desired.
5) Spoon the mousse over the mangoes in an even layer.
6) Cover the trifle and refrigerate, preferably overnight.
7) Decorate with chopped or sliced mango and serve.

Friday, 19 June 2015

How the super rich invest their money



WASHINGTON: Rich people are raising the stakes. The wealthy are now keeping more of their money in stocks than any other asset class, according to a new report out on Wednesday that offers a glimpse into the investing habits and concerns of the ultra-rich.
Stocks beat out cash last year to take the number one slot, according to the annual World Wealth Report by Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management, which looks at people with $1 million or more to invest.
The share of assets held in stocks increased to 27 per cent last year from 26pc in 2013. Meanwhile, the portion held in cash, which investors said they viewed as important to maintaining their lifestyles, dropped to 26pc from 28pc over that same time period.
The shift into equities offers a few lessons about how the rich are managing their money. It’s worth noting that some of that increase might just be a sign that the wealthy enjoyed some of the gains we saw in the stock market last year. The S&P 500 stock index gained 11pc last year, and anyone invested in the market would have seen their assets grow and take up a bigger portion of their portfolio.
It is also a sign that after witnessing roughly six years of gains, investors finally may be getting more comfortable with the idea of investing in stocks. There’s no telling how much higher the market could go, though. While stocks are still climbing — and have nearly tripled from the low in 2009 — movement in the market has been a little more flat in recent months.
Some more good news tucked into the report: More people are getting rich. The number of people with at least $1m grew by close to 1m last year to 14.6m people, the study found. (That included 920,000 new millionaires, to be exact) A third of those new millionaires live in the US.
By arrangement with Washington Post-Bloomberg News
Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2015

Wednesday, 17 June 2015

Bina Khan's Makeup Masterclass: Learn to contour like a pro


This is what you've been waiting for, even if you didn't know it!
In this new video series for Dawn.com, makeup artist Bina Khan shows you how to highlight, glow, bronze and shine like a superstar.

Her first tutorial tackles that elusive yet sought-after skill: highlighting and contouring. Here, Bina shows you how to achieve those cheekbones using both foreign and locally available products. She says, "the basic premise of contouring and highlighting is to exaggerate the plains of your face, suggesting some seriously chiseled bone structure below. Contouring is one of the strongest weapons in my arsenal."
Check back every two weeks for a brand-new tutorial by Bina.
Happy highlighting!

Tuesday, 16 June 2015

Afghan refugees ‘all praise’ for Pakistan



ISLAMABAD: Rahib Nawabi, 31, an Afghan refugee, says he can never forget the hospitality which he and other refugees received during their stay in Pakistan.
“We wish we can go back to our country but the current security situation back home doesn’t allow us to return. As soon as the situation improves, we will go back to our country but the love for the people of Pakistan will always remain in our hearts,” he told Dawn at the Shalimar Cricket Ground where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron) marked the World Refugee Day.
The day is observed on June 20 every year as a tribute to the courage and resilience of the millions of people uprooted as a result of ongoing conflicts, wars and natural disasters globally. The Afghan refugees on the occasion presented musical performances and played a cricket match with Pakistani students. Stalls were also set up by Afghan vendors to highlight their culture.
“I came to Pakistan in 1992 when I was eight-year-old. I grew up here. One day we will go back to Afghanistan but the hospitality of the Pakistani people will never be forgotten,” said Nawabi.
Another refugee, Mohammad Hamad, who is getting education from the International Islamic University Islamabad, said Pakistan always gave importance to the Afghan refugees. “We appreciate Pakistan for hosting millions of registered and unregistered Afghan refugees. This is something we can’t forget,” he said.
According to the UNHCR, Pakistan has hosted almost 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees for over 35 years which is the largest protracted refugee population globally. A large number of unregistered Afghans are also living in various parts of the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Safron Abdul Qadir Baloch reiterated the government’s commitment to the voluntary, gradual and dignified return of Afghan refugees to their country.
“We are proud of our hospitality and will continue supporting every initiative for the establishment of peace, prosperity and development in Afghanistan,” he said, adding a peaceful and developed Afghanistan was in the best interest of Pakistan. He said improving relations between the two countries was equally important for regional peace and security.
UNHCR representative Indrika Ratwatte appreciated Pakistan for the hospitality in hosting the world’s most protracted refugee population and commended the government’s current efforts at formulating a policy on the Afghan refugees, including its decision of documenting the non-refugee Afghan population.
He also paid tributes to the resilience of the refugees and said around the world conflicts were forcing record numbers of people to flee with a devastating impact on individuals and families.
The cricket match, which was played between Afghan refugees/embassy staff and Pakistani students, was won by the former. Secretary Safron Pir Bakhsh Jamali assured the UNCHR of Pakistan’s full support in every step it takes for the betterment of the refugees.
Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2015

Monday, 15 June 2015

Karachi's photographers unite to reveal the city's secret stories



Despite protests and heavily jammed roads on the evening of June 12, people in large numbers managed to visit the I Am Karachi Museum set up at the Alliance Française de Karachi.
The two-day event, held under the consortium of I AM KARACHI and The School of Writing (TSW), was an audio-visual exhibition of photographs taken by amateur and professional photographers from all six districts of the metropolis namely Korangi, Malir, East, West, Central and South.
“It’s not just a photography exhibition. We have collected 70,000 photos, creating Karachi's largest archive to date," said Mohsin Tejani, the founder of TSW.

Sunday, 14 June 2015

Sneak peek: Buy what you like at Daraz Fashion Week!



This weekend, you just might get your retail fix at home.
Online retailer Daraz.pk is launching a new initiative — a three-day online fashion show titled Daraz Fashion Week — that will showcase the latest summer collections of their high-street brands.
Popular favourites like Sana Safinaz, Amir Adnan, Generation, Daaman and Ego are showing, as are some lesser-known brands like Blossom and Reborn that may be worth your while to check out.

The event may be redundant for city slickers who can hop out to the mall to inspect the latest fashions, but will improve the online shopping experience of buyers in small towns and cities where many of these brands aren't as readily available. If nothing else, the fashion week will allow these buyers to inspect products more closely than a static image allows.
The purpose of Daraz's fashion show is to "take luxury high-street fashion to the masses".
Perhaps the best part of Daraz Fashion Week is that it's shop-able (that is, viewers will be able to immediately buy what they see on the runway). Usually, fashion weeks entail a wait for the collections to make it to the stores, but given that this fashion week is pret-only, the collections are ready for retail. In fact, many of them are already in stores.
The fashion week was pre-taped at a press-only event and will go live on the Daraz website tomorrow.

Karachi re-imagined: How the City of Lights Festival brings civic pride back


Recently, Karachi's walls got a resplendent makeover.
Instead of political slogans and commercials for cockroach killing concoctions, the walls were adorned with beautiful artwork. It's a welcome change, and has one wonder how else art can create an impact
I Am Karachi has answered the question in more ways than one, most recently at the just concluded City of Lights Festival.
A consortium of artists, writers and thinkers, I Am Karachi aims to promote harmony and unity in the city through the arts. Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP)’s Karachi City of Lights festival thus also aimed to provide reminders of the city's glorious yesteryears through a taste of the visual and performing arts. The festival took place at the Fomma Trust-Art Centre at Zamzama Park from June 5 to 7.
Lighting it up
Although Day One of the festival kicked off at around 5pm, the park came alive after the sun had set and the temperature went down. With more than 10 art installations placed at different points in the park, the arrangement of lights imparted a beautiful glow to the event's ambience.
Time travelling: Mobile museums and oral histories
The festival served as a good reminder that the country's financial capital is also rich in culture. Karachi is home to architecture that dates back to the British Raj, and festival attendees were able to learn about the history of some of these famous landmarks from CAP's mobile museums. With information written both in English and Urdu, the museums aimed to attract children with a jigsaw puzzle, a peek into a miniature version of a building and boxes with fun facts about the legacy of another.
While we were disappointed to see that the mobile museums placed at Karachi Zoo last month were quite worn out, the museums at this weekend's festival were in mint condition. These mobile museums can be visited according to the buildings they represent namely, Mohatta Palace, Karachi Port Trust, Safari Park, Karachi Zooo, and Frere Hall where they had been placed in May.
One of the most needed activities was CAP’s oral history project, which is preserving tales of the partition. It was a popular installment that allowed listeners to hear all about the days when Waheed Murad visited Radio Pakistan or when Karachi boasted many bookstores and cinema halls.
Portraying Karachi: Historical, chaotic and ultimately beautiful
The art installations, including audio and pictorial stories, moving images from old Karachi as well as projects showing unique aspects of Karachi, gave an insight to how the city is perceived by different artists.
“The idea revolves around 12 seconds when you have to stop at the signal and the uncomfortable feeling that comes over leading many to rush as soon as it is opens, which symbolises an organised movement to a disorganised one.Chowks are point elements, we refer to them all the time like, Teen Talwar or when an unfortunate incident happens, we say ‘let’s meet at Press Club and move to Numaish’," said Mazhar.
"It is an important element as to how signals and chowks are related. The composition is all about layering and defines Karachi as it is a cube whose corners do not meet just like the city we live in which is growing organically.”
She added that the cube was made in such a way that from each point a different image would be seen.
A jukebox titled 'Karachi Dance-athon' playing different tunes from the old days also attracted attendees but the music was inaudible due to technical issues.
Another fascinating aspect of the festival was the live painting of old Karachi by painter Faiz Rahi, who once painted cinema billboards.
“I decided to recreate these images because they can’t be found anymore. This is Paradise Point and it used to be one of the most important landmarks in Karachi,” shared Rahi as his fingers worked swiftly on the canvas.
Of music and laughter
While people looked around at the artwork, around 80 attendees crowded into a small room where musicians Yousaf Kerai and Shehroze Hussain gave atabla and sitar workshop. Starting with a short performance of 'O Laal Meri','Ankhiyan Udeekdiyan' and others, the duo then discussed major and minor notes in music upon which all harmonies depend. The crowd including children responded to Kerai and clapped to the music with almost everyone in awe of the 17-year-old prodigy Hussain.
This was followed by a performance ‘Two Views of a Bridge’ by improvisational troupe Platoon, which poked fun at the city’s conditions and relationships. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the work presented in both English and Urdu.
Swaleha Alam Shahzada, executive director of CAP, shared that the aim of the festival was to give room to tolerant activities through the arts:
“Our aim is to see a Karachi, which was once tolerant and peaceful, but then very quickly it all changed. I saw Karachi go from a very lovely and peaceful city to curfews, riots, political parties, etc. I lived through that era and the '80s changed the city completely, economically, politically, socially and most importantly, morally. The purpose of this exhibition is not only to promote a more forbearing Karachi but to encourage the youth that it is up to them to take its ownership.”

Friday, 12 June 2015

Food: My quest for the best kulfi faluda in Lahore



Come summer in Pakistan and those who can afford it jet off to exotic foreign locales to cool off, while some head to the hills in the north. Those that can’t do either, well, they don’t do anything. Except eat, that is, with a heavy preference for ice cream, gelato, and of course — kulfi faluda.
Undoubtedly one of the best ‘coolants’ to eat/drink in the summer is rich, creamy, milky faluda. It’s not just rich in flavour, but, according to its sellers, it cleanses the body from inside, cooling it off. And with the kind of summer our part of the world endures, we need lots of it.
Faluda is a thick, cold beverage/dessert, especially popular here in the subcontinent. It is usually prepared by cooking congealed milk or khoya with milk for hours and hours until the mixture is thick; it is then left to cool and then ideally served with arrowroot or wheat starch vermicelli and a sweet syrup.
Variations include a block or cone of kulfi, basil seeds or tukh malanga, crushed almond, rose water, fruit, jelly, Panadanas syrup or kewra and what not. When served with kulfi, it’s called ‘kulfi faluda’. Before being added to afaluda, the tukh malanga are soaked in water so they can swell and become soft and jelly-like. They hardly have a flavour, but just add a slimy texture tofaluda, which isn’t too bad.

First, a little history...

Originally called Paloodeh or Pālūde, this tasty treat is an improvisation of the Persian dessert called faloodeh. It is a traditional Iranian dessert that originates from Shiraz in Iran where it is famous as ‘Shirazi Faloodeh’. It is believed to have been brought to the Indian subcontinent during the Mughal era. According to one of the stories, Mughal emperor Jahangir was fond of having faluda with cream and fruit.
In the south of Bangladesh, a variant of faluda is made with Pandanas extract, pistachios, Shagu pearls, creamed coconut and mango as well as milk and vermicelli. Some Bangladeshis like to add strong black tea to get a distinct flavour out of it.
It is also very similar to Thai drink nam manglak, which is made with shredded jelly, tapioca pearls, Job’s Tears mixed with sugar, water and rose water. Several other countries, such as South Africa, Mauritius and Iraq have their own versions of this delicacy.

The quest for the perfect faluda begins...

With the sweltering summer having arrived in Lahore, I decided to get my first taste of this heavenly dessert and explore where I can get the real deal from.
This quest was very different from my previous — wherein I was searching for the perfect nihari in Lahore. Nevertheless it was a challenge that I was determined to conquer!
I claim to have a huge sweet tooth and anything sweet is a weakness, fromjalebi to ras malai to mithai to cakes, pastries and tarts to halwas. The list is endless (and mouth watering). So I couldn’t resist the temptation to eatfaluda as soon the thought crossed my mind.
Lahore has way too many options to choose from when it comes to faluda, and in all forms and variations. I’ve had a couple of varieties before but this time I thought I’d look for the best among the many names around town. I was off from work, so I called up a friend who picked me up in no time on his bike and off we went after dinner.
Mashallah Nafees Kasuri Faluda
The faluda from Punjab’s city Kasur is the most popular here, as are that city’s andrassas and fish. So naturally, I decided my first stop will be ‘Mashallah Nafees Kasuri Falooda’ on main Ichhra road. They claim to sell the original Kasuri faluda.
As soon as we arrived in front of the shop, I was struck by the interior. Decorated with mirrors of all shapes and sizes, it was unlike any other faludashop I had visited. The first thing I uttered as soon as I saw it was: “What’s with this Sheesh Mahal here?” I was impressed; the place was spick and span with neatly set tables and a large counter behind which the owner sat taking payments and orders. The only thing missing was a maharani, since the place looked like a royal darbar.
We found ourselves a table, sat down and placed our order, which was just one bowl of faluda that my friend and I intended to share. We ordered a small one, but what was served was bigger than what I expected. And accompanying it was a small bowl of ice. It was only later that we found out they sold one-size servings, unlike their competitors who offered small and large portions.
The faluda was laid out in the bowl in five layers: the sheera (syrup), vermicelli, a block of qulfi, crushed ice and rabri. I had never had faluda like this.
On asking the waiter about the layers and the accompanying extra ice, we were told that this is how the delicacy is served in Kasur. I also notice that there’s no tukh malanga because I’ve always had faluda with it and thought it was an essential element.
“The rabri is actually not sweet. The whole thing is made sweet by that syrup at the bottom and a small quantity of sugar in the kulfi that you can choose to remove. So basically, those who want a sugar-free faluda can do away with the sheera. And the tukh malanga is not part of the original Kasuri faluda.People here in Lahore add it themselves,” the waiter enlightened us.
We dug in, mixed it all up and devoured the faluda in no time time with the vermicelli often slipping off from the spoon. I could taste every item in that bowl distinctly: the slightly salty, thick rabri, the vermicelli, the not-oversweet kulfi, all sweetened with the layer of sheera alone. No dried fruit, no nothing. It definitely was a treat well worth the Rs130 we paid.
After our dessert, we went up to the owner, Sheikh Hassan, for a little chit-chat. “My great-grandfather used to sell dairy products before Partition in the main bazaar of what is now Kasur. His Indian friend back then gave him the idea of selling faluda as well. So our business began then and there. By the grace of God, my great-grandfather was the pioneer of the faluda business in Pakistan. A few years after Partition, he came to Lahore where we have been in the business for over 60 years. My great grandfather’s three brothers were also in the same business, but they stayed back in Kasur and their families are now running those businesses. Faluda is very good for cancer patients as it cleanses the stomach. And one glass of rabri a day can create blood cells in a dengue patient also. It is that beneficial and pure,” the man said.
He went on to say that they got all their ingredients from Kasur as they didn't trust their supply in Lahore. “Everything is pure there. Here in Lahore they use injections in everything. We use the best milk, sugar and khoya. We want to sell only what’s pure.”
Hassan’s shop has just three items on the menu: Rabri Falooda, Rabri Qulfi Faluda and Rabri Shake. “When we started the shake around two years ago, no one else was offering it and even now no one can offer you the kind of shake we make. It’s all about how long you cook the rabri; we do it for 10 hours straight, which is what gives you that taste,” he boasted.
The owner told us they sell in winters too, but obviously the business is really slow. “We neither have anything else to sell nor do we want to introduce [a winter-friendly dish]. This is our bread and butter. We operate for only a few hours starting in the evening around 6pm till 2am in the summers and 11pm in winters. Since we’re right on the main road, we can’t open up earlier.”
And then, I just had to ask him about the glittering interior! To my surprise, the shop wasn't an ode to a storied past. He simply said his daughter, who was an interior designer, had designed it. We thanked him for his time between constantly taking orders, clearing payments and giving instructions to his waiters.
Sitting in the corner of the hall at a table with two friends was a lawyer, Saadat Ali, slurping away his faluda. “They have the real taste of pure Kasurifaluda that I’ve tried. Their environment and presentation is all perfect. I’ve tried almost all famous faluda points in Lahore and also visited Kasur especially for this dessert. So I can say it’s the best amongst all in Lahore. Both quality and quantity, perfect cleanliness and accurate mixture of ingredients makes this the best bowl of faluda,” he said, gesturing to his fast diminishing serving.
Al-Fazal
Our next stop was Al-Fazal, which is right opposite the popular and scrummy Goga Naqibia on Temple Road. We were welcomed by a water tanker parked inappropriately right in front of the shop.
The interior of Mashallah Nafees Kasuri Faluda had raised our expectations so high that this intrusive eyesore deflated them before we even entered Al-Fazal . It was like any usual dairy products shop anywhere in the city. The board above the entrance should have carried the shop's name, but instead displayed the entire menu unusually through pictures of everything they sold, right next to a depiction of Baba Bulleh Shah.
Seeing hardly any activity, we thought it was closed, but were told it wasn’t. So we took the sole table there and asked for a small bowl of faluda. Unlike Nafees Kasuri, they offered small and large bowls for Rs90 and Rs120 respectively. The faluda's messy presentation made it look unimpressive despite having the same elements as our previous sample. It tasted slightly stale, as if it had been prepared early in the morning. It was obvious and the workers seemed uninterested. We requested a waiter to spare a few minutes for us.
“This business must be around eight to nine years old. We have at least 20 to 25 branches in Lahore. The owner, Mehr Jajj, is from Kasur and sits at the shop’s General Hospital branch. They have a few branches in Kasur also. We sell an assortment of refreshing beverages, desserts and snacks, including Rabri Milk, Milk with Almond and Cardamom, Fruit Chaat, Ras Malai, Dahi Bhallay, fish in the winters, Kheer and Chaati Lassi. Our most popular items are the lassifaluda and milk. When the faluda business slows down in the winters, we offer the hot and nutritious Doodh Jalebi,” explained the waiter Sarfaraz, while customers kept coming to purchase their bottled milk that’s apparently quite in demand in the area.
Not too happy, we decided to head over to the unofficial ‘hub of faludas’, Anarkali. One of the streets there is lined with brightly lit shops, old and new, selling the scrumptious dessert with their own variations (the end of this street is the start of Lahore's famous food street). That was my lucky night!
Lasani Faluda Shop
Our first stop in Anarkali was Lasani Faluda Shop or Almashhoor Lasani Faluda Shop, as they owners would like to call it. It was a wide, orderly shop with space both inside and outside to sit. Besides faluda, their other specialty is rabri milk, but they also sell ras malai, plain milk and kheer.
We ordered our bowl of faluda that cost us Rs80 for a small serving and Rs130 for a large serving. All faluda sellers in Anarkali seemed to have kept their prices the same.
This particular faluda contained the same elements as the previous ones, the only difference being that the kulfi was cone-shaped and was sprinkled with crushed almonds on top. It not only looked a bit different from the ones I had before, but also had a distinctive taste. Cardamom was the dominant flavour I could clearly taste as soon as I took the first bite after mixing up everything in the bowl. It was also slightly sweeter and had less crushed ice than the previous two I had.
Owner Amir, while sitting behind the counter and clearing payments, told me his great-grandfather (whose picture could be seen hanging inside the shop) started this business around 20 years ago.
“The shop has been named after our pir Syed Jamaat Ali Shah Lasani. This is our only branch in the city and anyone selling with the same name is a fake. We’re open in the winters too but only serve a few customers a day. A lot of our customers are visitors to Lahore who come to see the historic Anarkali and spot faluda here, which fascinates them,” the young man told me.
On asking him about how faluda is prepared, Amir told me that the rabri is first made with milk and khoya and cooked for around six to eight hours till it gets thick and has the right consistency. Then if they want to make kulfi, they add some sugar to the rabri mixture and freeze it.
A group of boys was sitting behind us and enjoying various desserts: milk, ras malaifaluda and rabri. One of them, Salman, a student, said: “We always come here as it's open during our spare time and offers the best faluda in town. We have been coming here for many years and think the others are no match for Lasani.”
Riaz Faluda
Right next door was another decades-old shop, Riaz Faluda, which I had heard about a lot but never had the opportunity to try. Neither its exterior nor interior was as impressive as its neighbours'. The small families-only seating space inside seemed closed and I could see an old man sleeping on one of the benches. So we sat outside on rickety plastic chairs and asked one of the waiters to wipe the table. There were two more tables in front of the shop and one set up in a corner for ‘families’.
The faluda looked exactly the same as Lasani’s with same elements as everyone else, just that their rabri was a bit thicker. The taste was also very similar. We ordered a small bowl and gulped it down in a few minutes.
I then headed to the counter to chat with a man whom I presumed was the owner, fully expecting that his great-grandfather or grandfather must have opened the shop in Lahore... and I was right.
Ahmed Hassan was his name and he told us that his grandfather, Malik Merajdin, started this business 40-50 years ago and named it after his eldest son, Riaz.
“My grandfather went to Kasur, got the idea from there and opened a shop here. We have four branches in Lahore, the other three being in Samanabad, Iqbal Town and Bilal Ganj. On the menu, we have three types of faludasrabri kulfikulfi and a simple rabri faluda, as well as ras malairabri milk and kulfi. When winters set in, we offer green tea and tea to compensate for the slow sales of our flagship item, the faluda. In the summer, we sell roughly around 300-400 bowls of faluda a day,” he added. While talking to Hassan, I noticed the waiters bringing glasses of rabri milk or bowls of faluda to him to sprinkle the crushed almond on top before serving to customers.
Yousaf Faluda
By this time, my friend ‘Hafiz’ — as we like to call him — and I were more than full and couldn’t have anymore. But smack in the middle of a street selling only faluda, we couldn’t go back home without having another. We had to choose between the most popular one in Lahore, Yousaf, or the unheard-of and relatively new Baghdadi. We decided to go with the former.
What’s interesting about Yousaf Faluda is that it has two shops right opposite each other to cater to the hordes that they get each day, according to the owners, and a third set-up on the same street, a family hall a few yards away. So up we climbed the stairs to the sitting area in the main shop that had three blocks, each separated with a curtain. As soon as we stepped off the last stair, I noticed a sign in front of me saying, among other things, that one couldn’t sit idle in the hall (“Hall mein fazool bethna mana hai”).
My friend and I ordered our standard one small bowl to share, but both of us kept insisting the other finish it off. Sigh. I had to give in. The first thing I noticed as I mixed up everything was that they had added tukh malanga in it, which none of the others had. The faluda tasted delicious, of course, and had an unavoidable tinge of kewra in it. The remaining elements were the same. No wonder it’s the most popular in the city.
Their menu was quite interesting; while the other faluda shops just served more faluda in their large bowls, Yousaf Faluda offered two cones of kulfi. Besides that, they sold ras malaikheerrabri milk, ras malai faluda and a simple faluda without kulfi. After wiping the bowl clean, we climbed down the stairs to talk to the man sitting behind the counter.
A pleasant old man, Haji Haider told us that his elder brother started this business whom this shop was also named after. Initially he couldn’t recall how old it was, but after pushing a little, he said it was started in 1958 (57 years ago) and claimed it was the oldest faluda shop in Anarkali.
“We have only one other branch that is in Johar Town and is run by my younger brother. My brother who started this shop here was selling faluda in Kasur before he moved to Lahore,” he said. On asking about the timings he said, they sat in 24-hour shifts, joking that “maut aur gahak ka kya pata (you never know when death and a customer could come for you)”.
“Cold milk and ras malai are the next most-sold items after faluda. And in winters we offer Kashmiri pink tea and gajar ka halwa. We cook our rabri for five to six hours, which gives us this quality and that we pay bills worth thousands for,” he went on.
I specifically asked him about adding tukh malanga, which nobody else we had tried had added. “It has a cool effect, that is why we add it. Also, our customers demand it,” Haji Haider said. About the reason behind their success, Haji sahab modestly said, “Naseeb naseeb ki baat hoti hai (It all depends on one's fate).”
And with a goodbye to Haji Haider, we decide to end our little faluda adventure or both of us would explode. We could barely walk straight. But we had no regrets for sure.

The verdict

The common factors that all the faluda places I visited that night shared were the price, except for a difference of not more than Rs10; their histories, how they started out; the fact that young men had now taken over their family businesses; the owners used similar words to describe the reason behind their product being better that the rest; and all boasted about its alleged health benefits.
If I had to rate the faluda shops we tried, I would definitely rank Mashallah Nafees Kasuri Faluda at the top only because of its 'genuine' taste and presentation, the interior of the shop and the cleanliness they had maintained there.
Very close behind would be both Lasani and Yousaf for the tinge of sweetness that I prefer, followed by Riaz and then Al-Fazal at the end. I know what I’ll be recommending my friends and family now. And I’m definitely going back to a couple of them once summer properly sets in. My love for all things sweet made it a thoroughly enjoyable experience!

Wednesday, 10 June 2015

No Pakistani varsity in Asia's top 100


Times Higher Education (THE), a leading authority on world-class universities, has launched Asia University Rankings 2015.
Bad news for Pakistan: not even a single university could make it to the list.
India has nine representatives, down from eight last year, while Iran has three institutions in this year’s rankings– led by Sharif University of Technology (43rd).
Times Higher Education rankings for Asia used 13 performance indicators to examine each university’s strengths against its core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.
“The rankings are fine, the criteria are fine but Pakistan’s ground situation is not fine,” said Punjab University Registrar Dr Shahid Muneer.
“Of several concerns, one is that Pakistan lacks resources and hardly any allocations are made for research and development. In such a scenario, institutions find it hard to create a research culture,” Dr Muneer said.
Phil Baty, the editor of Times Higher Education, acknowledges the scarcity of funding for Pakistani universities. But he has a way out.
“It is not a simple task – to perform well in Times Higher Education’s university rankings an institution must be performing strongly across all of THE’s five core areas: teaching, research, citation impact, income from industry and international outlook,” he told Dawn.
“However, analysis of other countries across the region suggests that many are incorporating improving the competitiveness of their universities into their economic growth strategies.
“Having enough resources to forge alliances with global counterparts and encourage internationalisation through the co-authoring of academic papers, encouraging international students, enhancing links with industry and the increased use of English language can propel a country’s universities’ position in the rankings – as we have seen notably in the case of China and South Korea, who sit in first and third place in the rankings respectively,” said Baty
Dr Muneer said Pakistan was also a victim of brain drain since the country's PhD scholars opt for jobs in greener pastures. “Our [Pakistan’s] student-teacher ratio is also poor at around 80 to 1. When there are no teachers, how can we perform?”
Having such a high ratio of students to teachers presents real problems in terms of dynamic and focused strategic leadership, and this is what is needed to develop world class research-led universities, said Baty.
“This is one of the core areas that Pakistan needs to focus on to move its education system forward – it is concerning for a country of its notoriety.”
English language is another issue, according to Dr Muneer, that restricts Pakistani universities’ work featuring on international scenes. “Most Pakistani universities are producing PhDs in local literature, in languages like Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi and Pashtu,” he said.
“English is the global language – to elevate itself in the tables and perform on an international level, Pakistan needs to start focusing on English. This will help its universities’ scores for citations, as well as its scores for international outlook, with it starting to share research projects and attract faculty and students from overseas,” said Baty.
This year’s tables reveal that China has overtaken Japan as the continent’s higher education powerhouse.
Although the latter still boasts the region’s number one institution— University of Tokyo— many of its universities have lost ground with 19 universities in the list this year, down from 20 last year and 22 in 2013.
By contrast, Mainland China has three new top 100 entrants, taking its total above Japan’s for the first time: China now has 21 representatives, up from 18 last year and 15 in 2013. Both Peking University (fourth) and Tsinghua University (fifth) have moved up a place.
Hong Kong University, retaining third place overall, leads a strong group from the Chinese special administrative region (SAR) – all six of Hong Kong’s ranked universities made the top 50.
Macau joins the table for the first time, with the University of Macau at joint 40th place.
South Korea is the third-strongest nation in the rankings with 13 representatives, down from 14 last year while Taiwan has 11 universities in the list, down from 13 last year and 17 in 2013.
India’s strength has also deteriorated slightly this year with nine representatives, down from eight in 2014.
India has a new number one – the Indian Institute of Science ranks 37th, one place ahead of last year’s leader, Panjab University. Five Indian institutes of technology led by IIT Roorkee (joint 55th) take the lion’s share of the country’s representation, although there is also room in the top 100 for Aligarh Muslim University (90th) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (96th).
Singapore has only two universities in the top 100, but both are highly placed: the National University of Singapore retains second place, while Nanyang Technological University moves into the top 10 for the first time.
Thailand has two representatives in this year’s tables. Its top-ranked institution, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, slips five places to a joint 55th, followed by Mahidol University, which continues its downward trend, dropping nine places to 91st.
The Middle East is well represented in the rankings, which cover the entire Asian continent.
Turkey has six institutions in the list this year, up from five last year, with all in the top 50. Middle East Technical University rose 17 places to 12th, largely attributable to its outstanding research impact. Boğaziçi University takes 14th position (up from joint 19th) and new entrant Sabancı University almost makes the top 20 in its debut appearance.
Four Israeli universities made the top 100, up from three in 2014.
Iran has three institutions in this year’s rankings, led by Sharif University of Technology (43rd). Isfahan University of Technology moved up 24 places to 61st, while the Iran University of Science and Technology enters the top 100 at joint 69th, replacing Tehran University of Medical Sciences, which has not been featured this year.
Saudi Arabia has two representatives, with King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals at 71st and King Saud University one position behind. Both institutions have made gains over last year.
Lebanon’s sole representative in the list is the American University of Beirut, which fell two places to a joint 88th.

Tuesday, 9 June 2015

Watercolours by Hitler to go under hammer in Germany


BERLIN: Watercolour paintings and drawings by Adolf Hitler from about 100 years ago are to go up for auction in southern Germany this month, an auction house said on Tuesday.
Some of the works, which date from 1904 to 1922, are signed A. Hitler, the catalogue of Nuremberg-based Weidler auctioneers showed on its website.
The 14 watercolours and drawings are expected to go under the hammer between June 18 and 20 for between 1,000 euros and 45,000 euros ($1,128-50,700) each.
The most expensive is a painting of King Ludwig II’s Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, now a tourist magnet.

In November a watercolour painted by a young Hitler in 1914 of the city hall in Munich sold for 130,000 euros at a sale organised by the same auction house.
The buyer wished to remain anonymous.
As a budding young artist, Hitler applied to the Vienna Academy of Art but was rejected. He continued to paint however, copying images from postcards that he sold to tourists. Experts consider his work to be of mediocre quality.
Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2015