The realities of Bigg Boss, Wasim Akram and Pak-India relations

It never fails to amaze me how Pakistanis and Indians pretend to be indifferent to each other but keep their eyes and ears open for any tiny bit of news that might be floating about each other.

There are countless people who we can thank for this.

Let’s see, there’s the cricket teams, as no Pakistan-India conversation is complete without at least three mentions of the last match played or how unfair the Indian Premier League was for not letting any Pakistani play this time.


That doesn’t mean India has ‘recognised’ the immense talent we have in the Green Land. They got Wasim Akram to co-host a show with Sushmita Sen, with rumours that the two would tie the knot as well. Though those two denied the rumours, Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik did actually get married.

The latest and probably the most shocking of all is Veena Malik and our very own Begum Nawazish Ali being participants in the widely-watched “Bigg Boss” show. They have made more news thanks to Shiv Sena protesting against their participation than through their performance. Veena Malik has used this platform to go on and on about how brutal her relationship with Mohammad Asif was whereas Begum Nawazish has continued to do what she’s best at, flatter all those around her while putting on a forced show of modesty. I wonder how many more feathers they’ll rustle.

Though we scream and shout about how different we are from each other, in terms of culture or traditions, that is not the case. We’re more alike than we are willing to accept. Both Indians and Pakistanis enjoy festivities with big celebrations, fancy clothes and elaborate shaadis. The bonds of friendship and relatives reach out all over the world regardless of where you are and when people from the two nations meet elsewhere, it’s like the reunion of long lost brothers and that is exactly hopefully what “Bigg Boss” will prove...aside from raising television rating points and oh yes... the publicity.