A New World Order

Do you often feel misunderstood? Frustrated by the insane rules of this illogical world? Bored of inactivity coz nothing u r supposed to do interests you and der is a ban on everythin u want to do? Lonely coz no one understands you? Isolated from d unintelligent, similar-thinking morons in d world around u?

Then, its time fur us to come together and create a New World Order. We can adopt these as our holy commandments:

1) We shall blast Metallica, Iron Maiden, Korn, Godsmack, Kalmah and Opeth on our speakers and no one shall dare complain.

2) Hard Rock Cafe shall be declared as our sacred place of worship and we shall demand of the Govt, subsidies for our weekly visits.

3) Gambling, betting, drinking at 17, homosexual love affairs shall be made legal.

4) Temples shall distribute, in addition to pedas, laddoos, gulab jamun and ras malai, alcohol and marijuana.

5) India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh will become one country again so that we may enjoy exclusive access to Lahori food.

6) All our ancient political leaders will be shipped to Pluto.

7) We shall instate the "In memory of those ppl who lost their minds when Kurt Cobain died" and "I want Sepultara to perform in India" taxes on non-believers.

8) Red hair, blue nailpolish, ear and nose piercings, black t-shirts shall be made compulsory attire for anyone wishing to join.

9) Mornings will start at 5 pm and all important activities will be undertaken after midnight.

10) If you ever get an insane urge to do something (or not do anything) as the case may be, u shall go ahead and do (or not do) just that, and anyone who attempts to punish u shall be threatened with crucifixion.

11) Examinations, lectures and assignments shall be banned in educational institutions and only trips and holidays shall be allowed.

12) Fantasy fiction novels and cult movies will be declared as our holy scriptures with special free screenings on request.

13) Anyone wishing to rename our landmarks will have to give them cool names like "Fort of the Elf Lords of Rivendell" and "White City of Minas Tirith" and "Tower of Isengard" instead of those ridiculously lame and regionalized ones which hurt our religious sentiments.

And finally, our motto wil b "We aim to b different and do watever the hell we feel like".

The Controversy

This Jal concert in India quickly gained in popularity after Jal performed the hit track, "Dil Dil Pakistan", tweaking the lyrics slightly to "Dil dil Pakistan, Jaan jaan Hindustan". Now you can guess why that did not auger too well with a certain section of Pakistani society! A great thing about our north-western neighbors is that even though there is a stark contrast between its citizens when it comes to following religious ideologies and preaching extremism, everyone there is a fan of rock music! And this song is as close to being a national anthem as pop music can ever take it, which means that is it widely loved and respected.

Watch the video at 30 seconds and you will get a taste of Jal's ingenuity, which drove Indian fans to the brink of madness and was a move well appreciated by liberal Pakistani youngsters too. Nevertheless, it triggered a spate of debates on online forums and plenty of jibes, arguments, hopeful attempts to convince blind following with reason. The controversy kept the band in the limelight which suited it well of course. Jal's members behaved reasonably and in a mature way, coming out to say only that they had no problems in singing this song again to embrace friendship with India. And they did sing it again!

I, however, am stunned and greatly disturbed by the video. I have attended and watched footage of several of Jal's concerts. What appalls me is their ingenious and infallible ability to merge every track with 'Aadat'. Any track at all! At first, it had seemed a respect accorded only to the myriad derivatives of Aadat. But there you go :)

And just in case you are not completely enamored by the Pakistani music world, there was a rumor going around that Aadat was actually composed by Mekaal Hassan, a greatly gifted musician whose compositions fall into the classical fusion category. Though, Jal can boast of a reasonably talented guitarist in Goher, while Farhan's vocals only get better with every new release! And he does happen to be a great stage entertainer. Not to mention good-looking!