Living in San Francisco Bay Area and wanting to liven up your upcoming event with help from a sharp local Desi stand-up comedian? Get Samson Koletkar. He can do the job, and do it well. This Bumbai born and raised Desi Jew’s act at the HDF fund raiser was very well-received. Of the two comedy performances of the program, Koletkar’s Kamasutra joke was certainly the funniest.

A cursory Google on Koletkar reveals that this talented man is possibly working as a technical consultant during the day—probably waiting for his stand-up comedy career to start financially supporting him. This creative man should not be wasting his time anywhere. The Desi community must support him by giving him chances to perform. He is ours.

The long list of people—including George W. Bush and Pervez Musharraf--who were intelligent enough to reap benefits from the 911 tragedy prominently features Azhar Usman. Post 911 Usman ditched a career in law and took up the job of making people laugh. If laughter is indeed the best medicine then Azhar Usman’s Desi parents must certainly be proud that their son finally became a Daktar.

آپ کہاں کے لاٹ صاحب ہیں؟
Ever heard the above Urdu expression? Well, this Lat Sahib (Lord Nazir Ahmed) was born in Kashmir, but is now a member of the UK House of Lords.

Tariq Aziz at HDF fund raiser in San Jose, California.

Human Development Foundation, a charity working on education related projects in Pakistan, held its annual fund raiser in San Jose on Saturday, May 17. Over 300 people attended the event that crammed a lot of action to fit in one evening: several speeches, a panel of experts to answer audience’s questions on Pakistan, two stand-up comedy performances, and a ghazal program.

100 years of Khilafat


On the death of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1908, the Ahmadi (Qadyani) community sought guidance from Hakeem Noor-ud-Din and thus started the institution of Khilafat in Ahmaddiya Community. Present Khalifa, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, is the fifth in the series. On Monday, May 12, Ahmaddiya Muslim Community of Bay Area arranged an excellent program to celebrate the centennial of Khilafat. The program was well-organized and unlike most programs by other Muslim sects, this one started and finished on time. All those who are hell-bent on proving Qadyani kafirs must take a moment to learn a thing or two from them.

Tayyab Mahmud (seen talking in this picture) said that the Pakistani coup d’etat of 2007 was unique in the world history, because unlike other coups that one was staged to oust judges. Mahmud also said that the Pakistani events of last year should be seen in the bigger context of developing world’s response to the western hegemony.
In the panel discussion Javed Ellahie said that the lawyers’ movement in which roughly five thousand lawyers achieved a lot for the whole nation was unprecedented in the history of Pakistan. Dabbir Tirmizi said his party, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf, did not have any hope in either Nawaz Sharif or Asif Zardari in instating impartial judiciary in Pakistan. Ijaz Syed apprised audience of the latest political situation and said that if the coalition of PPP and PML(N) breaks apart on the issue of deposed judges, then things would move towards the original “deal” that US wanted to broker between PPP and Pervez Musharraf.
With the crisis around the deposed judges dragging on, Friends of South Asia (FOSA) plans on arranging similar programs to raise political awareness on Pakistan among the local population.

FOSA's commemorative program featured eminent Pakistani-American law professor Tayyab Mahmud as the main speaker (on far left), and Javed Ellahie (trying to hear a question), Dabbir Tirmizi, and Ijaz Syed (on far right) as panelists who discussed various facets of the Pakistani judicial crisis. The program was titled “Pakistan’s Judicial Crisis and Remembering Karachi May 12 carnage.”

May 12 Karachi Carnage remembered in San Francisco Bay Area

For Pakistan, May 12, 2007 was a momentous--and a depressing--day. If violence has always been a part of the Pakistani politics then the Karachi carnage of May 12 was the ugliest manifestation of that fact. It was the day when Pakistan’s military ruler decided to break the momentum of a growing opposition by charging his political proponents to tackle the lawyers’ movement. Over forty people died on May 12 but the strategy of scaring people with violence backfired. Opposition to Pervez Musharraf grew even stronger and Musharraf was forced to make several concessions.
Friends of South Asia, a group of Bay Area watchers of South Asian politics, observed May 12 by holding a talk and a discussion on Sunday, May 11.