Khushwant Singh, the Indian man of letters and surely one of the most underrated Indian novelists writing in English, wrote of his visit to Pakistan:
"Prohibition is as much of a farce in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as it was in Morarji Desai's India.A drinking man can find liquor in the mirages of the Sahara desert. In Pakistan it does not run like the river Ravi in spate, but it does trickle in tumbler fulls in most well-to-do Pakistani homes. You may have whiskey served in metal tumblers or in a tea-pot and have to sip from a China cup. It costs more than twice as much as in India but also goes down twice as well because it tastes of sin."
Later Singh watched a debate on television between three mullas and the Pakistan Minister of Information. The next evening, Singh found himself sitting next to the same minister of information at a formal dinner. The minister read a speech welcoming Singh and the rest of the Indian delegation. In reply, Singh got up and told the minister that the next time he met the mullas, he should recite them the following verses: Mulla, if your prayer has power
Let me see you shake the mosque!
If not, take a couple of pegs of liquor
And see how the mosque shakes on its own.
"There was," continued Singh, "a roar of applause in which the minister joined. Then he whispered in my ear: 'If these fellows [i.e., the mullas] had their way, they would make our girls' hockey teams play in burqas.' " From Ibn Warraq's Why I am Not a Muslim
"Prohibition is as much of a farce in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as it was in Morarji Desai's India.A drinking man can find liquor in the mirages of the Sahara desert. In Pakistan it does not run like the river Ravi in spate, but it does trickle in tumbler fulls in most well-to-do Pakistani homes. You may have whiskey served in metal tumblers or in a tea-pot and have to sip from a China cup. It costs more than twice as much as in India but also goes down twice as well because it tastes of sin."
Later Singh watched a debate on television between three mullas and the Pakistan Minister of Information. The next evening, Singh found himself sitting next to the same minister of information at a formal dinner. The minister read a speech welcoming Singh and the rest of the Indian delegation. In reply, Singh got up and told the minister that the next time he met the mullas, he should recite them the following verses: Mulla, if your prayer has power
Let me see you shake the mosque!
If not, take a couple of pegs of liquor
And see how the mosque shakes on its own.
"There was," continued Singh, "a roar of applause in which the minister joined. Then he whispered in my ear: 'If these fellows [i.e., the mullas] had their way, they would make our girls' hockey teams play in burqas.' " From Ibn Warraq's Why I am Not a Muslim
1 comment:
this is fascinating stuff, you got me interested
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