Bravo Shahbaz Taseer!

Watching Shahbaz Taseer’s first ever interview since he returned home from captivity gave me goosebumps, a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye: living nearly half a decade as a hostage in appalling conditions, being shuffled between warring militant groups along the notorious Pakistan-Afghanistan border, being at the receiving end of gruesome acts of torture, and then suddenly, one day, being allowed to escape to one’s family and home. Surreal. It was too good to be true. “It’s insane you can find humanity where there is none,” he remarked, summing up the bout of unexpected luck that came his way earlier this year.

I was amazed at how composed Taseer looked in the interview. Commendably, he has buried the horrific physical and mental scars left behind by the inhuman atrocities committed on him to turn a new page in his life book. The young and good-looking 33-year-old has a whole new life staring at him. His Twitter feed reveals that he’s been enjoying some well-deserved Nutella cream pancakes and nihari. All’s well that ends well. 

Tailpieces

1) Getting a transplant for the male reproductive organ makes for a giggle-inducing headline for the immature. However, for Thomas Manning of Massachusetts, who received a transplanted male reproductive organ after a 15-hour procedure, it marks a new chapter filled with hope. At a larger level, it depicts hope for all those who have suffered genital injuries and a consequent loss of self-identity.

2) David Cameron has just signed up on Tinder to motivate youngsters to vote, or so he says. Imagine spotting his bespoke advertisements while trying to score a date!

3) Despite Cannes’ notoriously strict dress code for the red carpet, Julia Roberts, while wearing an Armani Prive gown, chose to flout the norm by walking barefoot. But who in their senses would dare to turn Roberts away? Now whether the pretty woman did that deliberately to engineer attention to her new Jodie Foster-directed movie, Money Monster, or whether it was merely an act of blatant fashion rebellion, is anybody’s guess, but she was successful in inspiring newbies to follow in her footsteps. Sasha Lane ditched her footwear at a photo call for her latest movie. For all those who loftily espouse that personal style (regardless of how startling it might be) is about being comfortable with oneself but don’t actually stick to their philosophy, Roberts has shown us how to make our actions speak louder than words. At last, it was good to see non-conformity at the stodgy festival.

4) The pressure to stay beautiful wasn’t confined to Roberts. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s purple lips, in the week of release of her latest outing, Sarbjit, became the talking point of the traditional and social media. Unpardonable fashion blunder or intrepid fashion statement? A divided opinion is both inevitable and immaterial. What is actually worrying is the burden that we have started placing on our cultural icons to look conventional and perfect, spawning a costly and tiring world of artificiality — clothing brands, labels, stylists, designers, trainers, spiritual gurus, make-up, hairstyles, hair colours, botox, wrinkle-clearing, skin lightening, body toning, fashion glossies, style websites, paparazzi blogs, photoshoots and what not. All of this and more, even as every other commoner-turned-self-appointed style critic sits with a magnifying glass and red marker, flashing what is his or her uncompromising (and often uneducated) opinion. Time to focus. Smart alecs sniggering that Ash may have had jaamuns or blackcurrant ice cream before the premiere might be better off moving their gaze away from the red carpet. What is needed are more robust and unbiased critiques of an actor’s onscreen hues.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2016.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.