Tuberose: St. Joseph’s staff

Week 35	August 25, 2014	August 31, 2014

1.     Preamble:

The monsoon season is coming to an end. Even though the clouds keep gathering, I doubt if there would be more than a couple of showers if at all, here on. The nights are already cooler. The end of this, thirty fifth week will lead to the beginning of September, signalling gradual demise of summer.

The transition brings back to mind  the sweet memories of the 1961 musical comedy 'Come September'. Alas! they don't make movies like that anymore. The title music of that film instantly acquired a celebrity status. One could listen to the tune all the day long without feeling tired or bored. Those days in 1961 were synonymous with my entering the college and getting almost suddenly exposed to the world, which in those days used to be so thrilling and exciting! There could never be more adept and savvy an initiation to the adult life. But now more than half a century later, I must move fast-forward to September of 2014 without being too nostalgic about the past!

Among the fragrant flower blooms that we know and are aware of, following may be listed in order 
of intensity of sweet and pleasing scents, they emit:

1. Kamini (Murraya Paniculata) 2. Tuberose (Polianthes Tuberosa) 3. Raat Ki Raani or Night Blooming Jasmine (Cestrum Nocturnum) 4. Motia (Jasminum Sambac) 5. Orange Blossoms (Cotrus Sinensis) and 6. Spring flowering Hyacinth.

We are most fortunate to have all of them at our farmhouse. While we have already talked about Kamini (Ref. Blog of Week: 27 dated June 30, 2014, 'Kamini Heralds the Arrival of Monsoon') in this blog besides talking about the Tuberose and celebrating the birthday of our youngest son Taha, promised last week, we will also look at the 'Night Blooming Jasmine (Cestrum Nocturnum) or Raat Ki Raani, which too is in full bloom these days. Additionally, we will exhibit the picture of ripened Chiku fruit (Manilkara Zapota/Sapodilla), which we had already introduced and talked about earlier in the blog of 18 July 2014 (week: 29). We may not however broach forward the Motia (Jasminum Sambac), for it's season (beginning of summer) has already expired. 

2.     Garden Flower:

2.1.  Polianthes Tuberosa:

Tuberose is native to Mexico that produce short grassy looking leaves and spikes of white intensely fragrant flowers. They are grown from bulbs and reproduce fast. With time clumps have several mature bulbs capable of blooming. The flowers appear during late summer to fall. Several of us may be wondering about the title: vara de San José, chosen for the blog of this week. In Mexican Spanish, the Tuberose is caled nardo or vara de San José, which means ‘St. Joseph’s staff’.The tuberose is named for the shape of its rootstock, not for its resemblance to a tube shaped rose. The tuberose is not a rose.

The tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa) is a perennial plant. It's name is derived from the Latin tubarosa 
meaning swollen or tuberous in reference to its root system. Polianthes mean "many flowers"in Greek. It may not however be confused with Polyanthus, which is the terminology used for any of several hybrid garden primroses, such as Primula Polyantha, which has brightly coloured flowers. The bulbs of tube Rose were planted in the front garden of our farmhouse, when we moved into it some five years ago. They are there since then and have never been pulled out at the end of the season in winter as is suggested by many.

Read more at:

[1] Polyanthus Tuberosa 
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polianthes_tuberosa

[2] Tuberose
http://www.flowers-cs.com/tuberose.html

3.    Flowering Bush:
3.1. Night Blooming Jasmine (Cestrum Nocturnum):

Cestrum nocturnum is a species of  Cestrum  in the plant family Solanaceae (the potato family). The species is native to the West Indies but naturalized in South Asia. Common names include  Hasna Hena, lady of the night, queen of the night, night-blooming jessamine and night-blooming jasmine. Locally it is called Raat Ki Rani. We have a couple of these bushes at our farmhouse:

Raat Ki Rani has the strongest fragrance out of all the fragrant plants. In the evening, the fragrance becomes pleasantly intoxicating.  

Read more at:

[1] Centrum Nocturnum
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cestrum_nocturnum

[2] Night Blooming Jasmine Raat Ki Rani Cestrum Nocturnum Plant Care and Tips
http://gardening-simplified.blogspot.com/2012/09/night-blooming-jasmine-raat-ki-rani.html

[3] jasmineandtheelephant's Blog
http://jasmineandtheelephants.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/raat-ki-rani/

4.     Fruit of the Season:
4.1.  Chiku/Manilkara Zapota/Sapodilla

We introduced and talked about our Chiku trees and the fruit it was bearing earlier in the blog of 18 July 2014 (week: 29). The fruit having since acquired the desired size was harvested last week. It is of ellipsoid shape, up to 15 cm in diameter, containing two to five seeds, Inside, its flesh is of earthy brown colour with a grainy texture akin to that of a well-ripened pear. The seeds are black and resemble beans,  with a hook at one end. The fruit has an exceptionally sweet, malty flavor. 

5.     Family Event (s):
5.1.  Taha's Birthday: August 29

Taha has just turned 31. He was born on Monday the 29th August in 1983, some three years after I was transferred from PINSTECH, Islamabad to KANUPP, Karachi. We were residing then at 24 KANUPP Colony in Hawks Bay. I still remember vividly the day he was born at the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, situated on M. A. Jinnah Road (formerly Bunder Road) Karachi. All his elder brothers: Hasan, Omar and Saad were still quite young. As we couldn't possibly leave them all by themselves, we together drove to the hospital some 15 Km from our residence in Hawks Bay early in the morning on the day, he was expected to be born. While Anjum was taken to the labour room, huddled up we waited in the lounge to hear the good news, which was announced at about 11 AM.

Taha was virtually raised by his brothers, who took care of him all through his childhood. They would babysit him. They often would take him out on his pram and play with him until he came of age to play with them the game of cricket on which with time, he became so good as to excel them in all departments of the game. While working at KANUPP, I often used to go on extended tours both in and out of country. Anjum told me that even though quite young, he would by himself without Anjum asking him, come and sleep in my bed while I was away. What a cute thing to do, I would wonder! He went to the same school as his brothers. When I was at Ontario Hydro in 1994-95, he accompanied Anjum to be with me for 2 months in the end and we together went to see many a places. 

Taha passed his matriculation in 1998, the same year I moved to Islamabad to take up my new assignment as the Director Institute of Nuclear Power (INUP). Initially only Taha accompanied me to be admitted to a college. The change of environment and having suddenly been separated from his loving brother didn't sit well with him initially and he suffered a bit on that account  in his academic studies but then he recovered quickly and graduated successfully from the Beaconhouse Informatics. He then moved back to Karachi to receive professional training in IT Auditing from KPMG. Those were the turbulent years of his adolescence synonymous with angry age, too. Fortunately enough that phase passed quickly to our's as well as his satisfaction. 

Taha married Shaema in December 2009 and served brief stints at the Soneri and Pak Saudi Banks before moving to Muscat (Oman) to work at the Bank of Oman International (later HSBC). We together with Hasans (family of our eldest son) spent a week with Tahas in Muscat in February 2012 and thoroughly enjoyed our stay there, seeing several historically famous castles and forts besides beautiful Muscat harbour, the enchanting garden of Sultan Qaboos as well as the age old Souqs and bazaars. Taha performed Hajj last year and soon thereafter immigrated to Canada. Tahas now live happily in Missisauga with their two lovely daughters Ammanah and Zainub who respectively were born in May 2011 and December 2012. In Toronto he has served with the CBIC before joining the Manulife Financial (MFC), which is a leading Canada based principal financial services group with operations in Asia, USA and Canada. His varied professional experience have the promise of a very bright future insha Allah!

All our sons are endowed with special qualities. Taha too is a gifted son. He is resilient, tolerant, responsible and entertaining. Besides a loving son, he is a loving husband and caring father too. We miss his loud laughs and jokes when he is not there and immensely enjoy his company when he is around and with us. We always look forward to his home coming. He has the capacity to bring the otherwise 'quite' of our farm house back to life again. He is popular with adults and kids alike. He enjoys good food. He likes chicken of all possible preparations but his most favourite is Chicken Roast, which Anjum never forgets to prepare for him when he is at the farmhouse - his 'home'. Interestingly, his greatest dislike is also Chicken Roast, if it incidentally is from Muscat Bakery in Oman. Taha likes to dress nicely too. Both the Western as well as the local Shalwar Qamees suit him. 

Taha enjoys being with us and the families of his brothers immensely. He performed his Hajj last year just before migrating to Canada. On the eve of his departure, we all except Anjum (she was then visiting her mother in Canada) assembled at Hasan's place in Lahore and had thoroughly enjoyable time together. It was one of the most memorable reunion. 

We hope to be together again on coming Eid ul Azha and are looking forward to similarly wonderful time in sync insha Allah!

A very Happy Birthday Taha! Wish you many happy returns of the day. May you always be very happy and laughing (to yours and our liking loudly). We love you the way you are and wish very much you to always remain the Taha that Allah, our creator and benefactor has made - One if the best among ourselves!

Godspeed

Kamini Heralds the Arrival of Monsoon

Week 27 of 2014	Monday June 30, 2014	Sunday July 6, 2014

Ramadan Kareem started on Monday the 30th of June. We have had quite a few showers of the monsoon season since. The atmosphere is hot and humid. The day time temperature is in the mid 30's and humidity any thing between 30 to 60%. Suffocating at times for humans and animals but not for the plants and the foliage, which thrive in this weather. The activity at the farm itself has been reduced to the bare minimum. It  may remain so during the entire month of Ramadan. There was nothing much to do except plucking of Lychee fruit besides occasional weeding and cultivation of summer flower beds and cutting of hedges as well as mowing of lawn grass once a while. The watering needs of the plants and trees is sufficiently fulfilled by the monsoon rains, which come often early in the morning on most days. The seasonal flowers sown earlier include Zinnia, Portulaca and  Cosmos that are expected to flower later during the current month of July.

Flowering Trees/Bushes/Shrubs:

1. Murraya Paniculata - Kamini

There are many a kind of trees, shrubs and bushes. Among the bushes and shrubs most popular are the evergreens, which provide a green foliage throughout the year. Then there are deciduous trees, shrubs and bushes which provide a great fall foliage, which makes them popular among cultivars. Then there are everyone's favourite the flowering trees and bushes, which produce beautiful blooms of various colors during the spring and fill up the garden with beautiful fragrance. 

Murraya is a small genus of flowering shrubs and small trees from south Asia especially from the subtropical plains of Pakistan and India, where it is called Kamini besides also as Kunti, banmallika, pandhri as well as many other names. In the sub continent it is grown as houseplant and shrub because of its lovely foliage and flowers.  

The plant produces abundance of small and white flowers that add to the beauty of fresh green foliage and spread their fragrance all around. The flower bloom, which covers the bush in its entirety is extremely short-lived and lasts only for about a day or two before whittling away and the flower petals falling all over the grass underneath but the scent still enchantingly persisting in air. The kamini bush produces green fruits which on ripening become red look like berries, which birds like to pick on.

Art our farm the Murraya or Kamini shrub was planted in the very beginning besides the Pink Shower Tree. It suddenly came to life on July 1 almost with the first drops of monsoon rains and filled the air with a very strong scent of its flowers. It's so unfortunate that the fragrance can not possibly be reproduced here at this time of the state of technology but the way it is going it should soon be possible.

2.  Weigela Vanicek

The weigela shrub is a type of perennial flowering bush. It produces clumps of red, white or pink flowers. The variety we have at our farm is the one that produces multitudes of dazzling bell-shaped red colour florets (Weigela 'Bristol Ruby' or Weigela florida)

There are a couple of the Weigela Shrubs along the farm demarcation boundary on the right side on 

the rear of the plot and these all are flowering at this time in mid summer.

Fruit(s) of Season:

1. Lychee:

On account of Ramadan, the picking and plucking of Lychee fruit was a slow process. The trees continued to be laden with the fruit, which on account of very favourable hot and humid weather, took the ideal red brick colour and improved in size further. In the dry hot weather the skin of Lychee fruit brittle fractures leading to its instant splitting on slightest of cooling at night. This was exactly the case last year when the dry hot weather persisted for too long, leading to almost complete destruction of the entire crop. The Gola variety is now fully ready and can not wait any further for want of plucking. The 'Surai' can however wait for may be another week or fortnight. The present state of the two varieties respectively is depicted in the following pictures:

2. Red Grapes:

This week saw the last of the grapes. Bunches had all turned reddish black and the grapes were exceedingly sweet. Below is a picture of the last bunch of grapes after which we said farewell to the grapes for the year 2014.

Vegetables of Season:

There were no new vegetables except the Okra, Brinjal, Bell Pepper and Green Chillies currently growing in our yard,. Those were reported in the earlier editions of this blog. The Brinjals are on their way out but Okra would last a while. After the onset of rainy season, the Bitter Gourd and Bottle Gourd, also reported previously have started flourishing slowly and shall be reported upon in due course again.

Our Pet Birds:

Peach Faced Lutino Love Birds:

In this edition of the blog, we will introduce our Peach Faced Lutino Love Birds of which we have two pairs acquired from Karachi last year at about this time.  These with their golden yellow plumage and peachie face, are said by many to be the most beautiful of all lovebirds!

The Lutino Lovebirds are very social and love companionship. Their natural behavior is to live closely with a companion. They make a very fine and affectionate pet. They will are kept as in our aviary in pairs to satisfy their considerable need for constant companionship, mutual preening, and socialization. These birds have a moderate but metallic shriek and can be somewhat noisy for parts of the day. Although they seem to be happily settled after their second summer and a winter in between, they still haven't started breeding to which we are keenly looking forward.

Rain Raven

Week 34	August 18, 2014	August 24, 2014

1.     Preamble:

The monsoon rainy season continues despite the fact that it did not rain the entire week except at the fag end, on last Friday night. We could smell rain in the air on the preceding evening and hear in the distance thunder rumbling, moving closer and closer accompanied by lightening arcs across the sky before the rain storm accompanied with the howling wind struck. It did rain for a good couple of hours. The air became fresh and clean once again. The temperature plummeted to mid twenties from mid thirties and regardless of the post rain high humidity, it was easy to breath before and just after rising of the Sun. The chirping and singing of many a birds early in the morning foretold a happy day ahead.

We have radar, sonar, thermometers, barometers, so us humans know what the weather will be like hours or even days ahead. Other animals and plants do not have instruments to help them predict the weather. Yet they seem to know. If we watch them we can have a confirmation to the effect too. Among the plants, the Texas Sage or barometer bush as well as the Rain Raven as it is also called can sometimes predict rain better than our meteorologists. When it begins to produce an abundance of purple flowers, watch out—rain is on the way. We have a couple of these bushes at the farm and have been witnessing their blushes from time to time all through this entire monsoon season. We will talk about the Texas Sage besides also the heavenly Hibiscus the summer's late-blooming sensation and the Tuberoses, which too have lately arrived on our farmhouse scene. The Bitter Gourd Vine these days is full of yellow flowers and the vegetable fruit that it is bearing. In addition one of our Guava Tree too is in fruiting season and we can not resist talking about it too. But first and foremost the Rain Raven. 

2.     Flowering Trees/Shrubs:

2.1.  Texas Sage: Rain Raven or Barometer Bush:

The Texas Sage or Cenizo (Leucophyllum frutescens) as it is sometimes called, is a great south and central Texas native shrub. The sage has many varieties offering evergreen foliage in shades of gray to green and blooms in hues of pink, lavender or white. The sage, of which we have a couple of plants at our farm is the one which gives out blushes of lavender flowers. It is called the ‘Silverado’ Texas Sage. It has a dense, rounded growth habit. It's bloom cycles follow summer rainstorms.

We have one in front of our front window facing west and the other in front of a bedroom window facing south. We keep pruning them at regular intervals to keep them in the shape of a tree.

Read more at:

http://pk.search.yahoo.com/search?p=Texas+Sage+Silverado&fr=ipad

http://plant-shed.com/beat-the-heat-with-texas-sage/

http://pk.search.yahoo.com/search?p=Texas+Sage+Desperado&fr=ipad

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucophyllum

http://shoreacres.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/trusting-the-barometer-bush/

2.2.   Heavenly Hibiscus: Summer’s Late-Blooming Sensation:

In addition to Texas Sage, one other shrub, which is in bloom these days at our farm is Hibiscus. Hibiscus is a large shrubs or small trees that produce colorful, trumpet-shaped flowers late in summer  

It is a deciduous shrubs with dark green leaves; the plants can grow to 15 feet tall. Flowers may be up to 6 inches diameter, with colors ranging from yellow to peach to red. 

Talking of Hibiscus, I all of a sudden remember and reminisce about my days in Denmark back in 1974-75. I was there for a stint of one year with the Danish Atomic Energy Research Establishment RISO at Roskilde. At the RISO Guest House. we were many a foreigners from several countries but quite a few from Egypt, with whom I had developed close friendship. Together, we used to go to Copenhagen besides other places of interest. One especial place that we used to frequent was the apartment of Dr Hafiz Higgy, who was an Egyptian scientist of considerable standing (He later rose to the position of the Chairman, Egyptian Atomic Energy Commission). Since Dr Higgy had a family, accompanying him, he preferred to live in the city of Roskilde rather than the RISO Guest House. I remember when ever we went to the apartment of Dr Higgy, his very kind wife, whom we all addressed as Madam used first to serve us with a maroon colour cold beverage, which had a nice tangy taste to it. I then learned,  it was the preferred Egyptian drink called Karkady made from  dried, dark red petals of the Hibiscus flower. Many years later when I went to Cairo to attend an international conference in 2002, I had a rendezvous with the family of Dr Higgy who looked after me and had me invited to their place for a very sumptuous lunch. Of course at that occasion too the Karkady was served as a starter, which took us back to the sweet memories of our days together in Denmark. On my return, I did not forget to bring back a packet of the famous Karkady from Luxor, (Egypt), which was grately liked by the entire household of ours.

Read more at:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus

http://www.bhg.com/common/profile/regStep1.jsp?regSource=9438&returnURL=http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/perennial/hibiscus/

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_tea

3.     Vegetable of Season:

The vegetable of season currently is none other than the Bitter Gourd, which we are harvesting in abundance these days. Taxila, where our farm is situated is renowned for good quality Karela or Kareli,  which the bitter gourd is known as locally. It is planted by more or less every other grower in the vicinity. Every day in the morning we can see Suzuki vans loaded and packed to capacity with this vegetable leaving for the vegetable market in Islamabad/Rawalpindi. Besides, Lychee, Oranges and Garlic, it is another cash crop of this area. For the last couple of years, it is being exported  directly from the farms to the Middle East, where it is in great demand. We have talked about it earlier too and will suffice with exhibiting only the pictures of our produce at this time hereunder:

4.     Fruit of Season: 

4.1.  Guava:

In addition to other fruit trees, we have a couple of Guava trees at our farm as well. It is an evergreen, tropical tree. Different cultivars are grown all over the world which, vary widely in flavor, pulp color, and seediness. The best quality Guava is grown and cultivated in Malir (Karachi) and Larkana (Sind). The fruit is soft when ripe with sweet musky aroma and creamy in texture. Internally, the flesh varies in color depending up on the cultivar and may be white, pink, yellow, or red. Ripe fruits have rich flavor with sweet-tart taste. Each fruit contains numerous tiny, semi-hard edible seeds, concentrated especially at its center.

In the Taxila/Khanpur area where our farm is situated, the Guava is of the same cultivar that is grown and cultivated in the Punjab. During each season, the trees at our farm bear numerous round-shaped fruit. Following are some pictures of the Guava harvest of our farm. We will keep harvesting the fruit for a few weeks yet.

Before we wind up and close for the week, it is nice to say adieu with a bunch of Tuberoses which too are in bloom and about which we sure will talk next week when we will also celebrate the birthday of Taha, our youngest son, in these pages.

Godspeed Every body.

Clouds, Rains and Rolling Darkness

Week 33	August 11, 2014	August 17, 2014

1.     Preamble:

Our farmhouse has rolling hills at its rear in the north and north east. Besides, the landmass has gentle but distinct slope towards south and south west. This, often leads to flash floods following torrential monsoon rains. As one can understand, it is inherently dangerous for the live stock and inhabitants of the area alike besides the damage they do to the standing crop. Only last week such a situation did arise when following heavy rains early in the morning two water buffaloes in the vicinity of our farmhouse were swept by an exceptionally violent and ferocious torrent rushing down the hills. 

The weather changes particularly if they last an extended period can potentially affect agriculture, live stock, human beings as well as the farm life. We may accordingly start this blog with a brief discussion on the prevailing weather situation as usual. The monsoon season, which lasts from mid July to the end of August in and around Islamabad, continues undiminished. The season, as we studied in school, comes about due to a shift in wind directions. Throughout most of the year, in areas affected by monsoon, winds blow in the direction from the land to the ocean, keeping the air dry. However, in certain months (mid July to end August) the wind starts blowing from ocean to the land, bringing in excessive rains.The monsoons of South Asia are the most famous, but they also occur in North America, Africa and South America. Here we might have a look as to how it affects the landscape around our farmhouse!

The mist hangs low from the grey cloudy skies. Dark clouds amass draping a fog or mist over the hills. In the first picture above, the weak sun is rising from behind the hills barely showing the silhouette of our farmhouse, in the rolling darkness under the cloud cover. In the second picture one can identify the farmhouse behind the sentinel Junipers and the grass savannahs around. Both these pictures reflect the ambience of our farmhouse at different times of a day during the current monsoon season. The dramatic green growth has completely obscured the farmhouse. This is particularly evident if one compares the above two photographs with earlier photographs taken last winter. 

2.     Summer Flowering Trees and Shrubs:
2.1.  Lagerstroemia:

In the edition, dated 29 June (week: 26) of this blog, the flowering plant talked about was Lagerstroemia (Crape Myrtles). There, we introduced the Double Violet Lagerstroemia in early bloom. The Lagerstremia flowers of other colours were yet to bloom. During the current monsoon season, they all are profusely flowering. Among them besides the Violet are: White, Pink, red and purple:

Read More at:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagerstroemia

3.     Fruits of Season:

3.1.  Pear:

We planted six plants of Pear two years earlier. Out of those only two survived. One of them has produced a solitary fruit this year. Both the surviving plants are healthy and doing well. We may therefore hope to gradually have more and more  pears from these two in the years to come. 

Recent studies have shown that the skin of pears contains at least three to four times as many phenolic phytonutrients as the flesh. These phytonutrients include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory flavonoids, and potentially anti-cancer phytonutrients like cinnamic acids. The skin of the pear has also been show to contain about half of the pear's total dietary fiber. All pears contain flavonoids. Intake of which can decrease risk of type 2 diabetes. 

Read More at:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pear

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=28

3.2.  Quince:

Along with Pear we had also planted a couple of Quince trees. Only one of the two however survived. It too has bore fruit this year.  Although we are familiar with pear, quince is not however well known in this part of the world. This fruit cannot be eaten like pear or apple but need to be baked or frozen to eliminate their acidity. Once ripened, the yellowish fruit still has a hard exterior. If one is not using them immediately, cooking guides recommend storing them in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. The core of the quince is very hard. 

Though the interior of the quince is white when raw, cooking will turn it a deep red. Like apples, this fruit contains a lot of  pectin so it is frequently used for jams and jellies. 

Read More at:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quince
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-quince.htm

4.     Book Review:
4.1.  Before Memory Fades: Emergence of Pakistan as Nuclear Power

This blog relates in general to the life at our farmhouse. Every thing at the farm including plants, flowers, vegetables, fruits and birds, pet or wild inspire us. We take deep interest in them. These all together form the kit of our (Anjum's and mine) survival here. One of our essential occupation and pastime is also reading books. During our once a fortnight visit to the Islamabad Club Library last week, I noticed a book, which caught my fancy. It was the memoir of the Ambassador Mian Abdul Waheed. As the memoir made special reference to the work of the Ambassador in furthering the cause of Nuclear Power for our country with a foreword by none other than Abdul Qadeer Khan, I got it issued in my name forthwith.

I am quite aware and appreciative of the fact that it is not at all the proper forum to review a book but this book kept me occupied for most of the last week. I accordingly can not help but talk about it a bit. If I publish the following comments, these might politicise the subject to my dislike. We read very good books as also good books, which often are a source of inspiration to us. I am afraid this book belonged to neither of the two.

Mr Abdul Waheed was our Ambassador to Italy and Germany during the rule of President Zia ul Haq.  He originally belonged to the police service but got himself transferred to the foreign service to, shall I say our misfortune! I do not  know him personally nor have I ever met him. I have never been introduced to his person in absentia either. I wish however he had not written the book, for in all his naivety he succeeded only in portraying himself as an incompetent diplomat without any consideration or sense of responsibility that was entrusted to him by the State. In spite of having been provided intensive training both within the country and abroad he unfortunately never attained the ability of the stature that some of his colleagues, are or were known for. It is regretful that barring a very few, he doesn't seem to have kind words for any of them. To my horror, he was also the Chairman Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs National Assembly of Pakistan.

According to my knowledge Pakistan never admitted, it was officially involved at any level in the transfer /smuggling of material(s) and components related to its nuclear programme from abroad. The ambassador goes out of his way to claim his involvement and at that with a lot of relish, deriving credit for the smuggling of special steel and magnets besides many other components in that connection.  While doing so, he goes to the extent of disclosing that he was posted as ambassador to Germany at the behest of none other than the President of Pakistan (Zia ul Haq) himself for the sole purpose to attain that objective. This tantamount to bringing the dead horse to life again and therefore besides his own disrepute (of which he is altogether unaware) also embarrassing the Government of Pakistan. It is quite clear that he got the foreword of his book signed by Mr Abdul Qadeer Khan without the scientist reading it. The Ambassador doesn't seem to have any idea as to what the nuclear programme was all about? He only used it for gaining cheap attention.

He claims that in spite of being closely related to both the President and the First Lady, he never took an undue advantage or favours from the coveted relationships but he does admit that he requested the President to appoint him the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs to which the President statedly acceded to but asked him first to get himself elected (or shall we say nominated) to the Parliament. He did succeed in doing so but fortunately for the country his benefactor perished in the tragic air accident. One can conclude from his own statements that he was unfair to his colleagues, some of them extremely respectable diplomats of their times. Quite regretfully he backbited on them by filling the ears of the President against them. I wonder if it was not the misuse of his close relationship with the President? 

It is amusing that the ambassador never failed to mention his tête-à-tête and pleasant talk with the sales girls of department stores, where ever he went. It is interesting that all those sales girls found him charming and handsome. At one stage I was appalled at him seeking suggestions from his landlady as to where he needed to go to see striptease in Paris! What an indignity! He doesn't mention  or talks about diplomatic skills if he possessed any. Had he not written these memoirs, we would never have learned why our missions abroad are so callous and are such a miserable failure as to provide any solace and remedial measures to our countrymen besides failing completely in projecting the name of our country and safeguarding its reputation. 

The memoirs in question disappointed me no ends. I feel regretful to have seen and read them. Those succeeded only in bringing remorse to me, at the misfortune of our beloved country. God bless our country!