I don’t want to complain but sometimes certain things, happenings, or acts really get me peeved. It is not because I am critical by nature. On the contrary, I happen to be gregarious, outgoing and friendly. My conversation is, most of the time, laced with relevant humor. In fact I am a connoisseur of jokes. (I am quite well know for my repertoire of jokes, though mostly, as some would say, off-color). Being a Leo (a perfect Leo, to be modest), I am intentionally or unintentionally in the center of things. Being an active member of the SITE Association of Industry, Employers' Federation of Pakistan, Pakistan Cotton Fashion Apparel Manufacturers and Exporters Association, etc., I am invited a lot to dinners, parties, seminars, etc., I have to be in touch with many things apart from business. So I move around aplenty. At times I complain about this or that. I don’t want to complain but I have to.

Take for instance the wedding dinners. One is invited to a wedding dinner as a relative, as a friend, as a colleague, as an employer etc., One has to attend these as a social obligation. One may not like the crowded place, or stomach the insipid food, or appreciate the ghastly time. But, one has to register his presence. Generally the cards invite the guests to be at the venue, say at 8:00 P.M. SHARP Repeat SHARP. Like a dedicated guest you make it latest by 8:05 P.M. You are in for a shock. Even the hosts have not arrived let alone the guests. Like a stupid Oaf you sit alone, gazing non-chalantly at the caterer's helpers, moving around mechanically. The guests start trickling in soon after 9:00 P.M. In the course of time, you normally get the company of someone who is not in tune with your wavelength. Unfortunately you are stuck. Most of the time the wedding dramas get on your nerves. The only way out is to boycott these weddings. Sadly, its not that easy. I don’t want to complain but if the hosts try they can serve the food on time, guests too will appreciate (the early-comers, that is). In fact, I give a lot of credit to my father-in-law. The invitation card for my brother-in-law's Valima clearly stated that dinners will be served at 9:10 P.M. Guests were politely requested to be on time so that the schedule was met. And it was actually served exactly on the DOT. Ahmed Jaffer put his foot down at his grand child's wedding and got the food served only a few minutes past the scheduled time. The hosts should not worry about the negative response they'll get from late-comers. If the hosts start serving on time, the invitees can also reach home soon. These are, difficult times. Why not have lunches instead? Few guests may come but austerity will be the eventual result.

I don’t want to complain about the telegraph office but sometimes they screw up too. Take for instance the telegram I received on January 16. It was from Mr. S.M.Inam, General Secretary, Karachi Tuberculosis Association informing me that I was selected as a recipient of a merit award to be given by the Governor of Sindh. I was invited to attend the symposia to be held at Ojha Sanitorium on January 17. Being not sure of why I was chosen when I had, regrettably, done zilch for KTA, I rang-up Mr. Inam. He profusely apologized and informed me that my anme was NOT on their list and there must be a mistake. Naturally I sent my man to the Nazimabad Post Office. After lot of running from here to there he finally got the answer. It seems that the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry had sent me a telegram inviting me to a meeting with the Austrian Trade Delegation on January 16. Somehow the P.O. mixed up the telegrams. The poor recipient, who was to receive the award must have been deprived of the opportunity to receive the merit award from the esteemed Governor, courtesy the T&T chaps. In fact, somebody had recently complained in a letter to the editor about not receiving a letter in time informing him that his uncle and aunt from the USA would be visiting Pakistan for Christmas (possibly for the last time). He got the letter well after his uncle left for his abode in Virginia. Anyway, to come back to my telegram. The only remedy in the rules, according to T&T, is the reimbursement of the telegram charges. I hope the KTA and KCCI claim the amount from the T&T.

I also don’t want to complain but Uncle Ardeshir Cowasjee, the columnist who specializes in criticizing, sometimes goes overboard. In the Friday edition of DAWN, in an article entitled "BANZAI", he describes the morning Azan as "loud agonizing cries, oddly enough from loudspeakers, which seemed to come simultaneously from various directions in complete discord with one another. (The Japanese guest) rang the concierge. Kalameety aathquake, tyffon?" I think the Japanese are far more knowledgeable than what Uncle Ardeshir makes them out to be. They are always well prepared when they go to foreign countries on business. They understand what the Azan is. Perhaps, the Uncle would like Mehdi Hasan or Ghulam Ali to teach the Muezzins the perfect harmony. May be a few Raags. Come on Uncle! Being a minority doesn't entitle you to special privileges.

I still don’t want to complain but it seems that the policy makers really don’t give a hoot about the power problem. Load shedding is chronic, especially in Punjab. WAPDA is going bonkers trying to schedule the load outage. The traders, industrialists, citizens of Punjab are seething and sweating. The gap between demand and supply is in excess of 1500 MW, and the demand is growing at an annual rate of 12%. Even in these crises, the policy makers set on the file of the Hub Power Project for so long. The foreigners who want to invest in Pakistan to set up this 1200 MW plant which would cost the Pakistan Government Rupees ZERO, and who had spent over 30 million US greenbacks on the project, were really piqued that the Government would take so long. Finally the Prime Minister had to step in. The BOE gave the go-ahead signal and hopefully in 3 years we'll have the plant, transferable to this country, at no cost, in 30 years. Why the delay? Why the red-taps? Why? Why?

And, I still don’t want to complain but the statement of Minister, Advisors, Advisors-to-be, Advisors-who-think-they-are-Advisors, etc. that the Government will DO this and DO THAT NETLE. Why do newspapers print these hackneyed press releases? For once let's read about a thing being DONE and not WILL DO. Nothing is going to be done except may be passing the time. Too bad there is not a law against these kind of statements and boats.

I hope no one complains about this article. Cause, there are still other areas where I don’t wanna complain but I still have to. Why don’t we consider this article as Part I ? Someday I'll write more about the others. Hope you don’t complain, but if you want to do it, go right ahead. It's a free country. Like the man said, "Live like you wanna live."