Punga hai punga, punga hai punga. Punga ke peechay. . .

*with apologies to the memory of Anand Bakshi*

There are times when I look at one of Irfan Husain's photos in the columnists section of Dawn that I think if I changed it a wee bit, made his eyes the color somewhat ranging from hazel to green, his nose perhaps a little wider somewhere, I can't think where at the moment, took away all that hair that just droops around Husain sahib's face, then I would be staring into the face of my father. Just that one picture though, because other photos, I don't see the resemblance at all.

Khair. . .

Irfan Husain began his column published today with a Sikh joke/anecdote, and I thought haw hai, you did not do that! The joke seems rather apt though for the clash between Zardari and "Punjab da sher" (I use that term with the utmost sarcasm, since it appears to be lost in typing at times) Nawaz Sharif.

Speaking of Sikh jokes, which I generally prefer to shy away from, my father, whose ancestry is Sikh, told us a joke once about the Sardarji who in his hotel room, craps in his roomaal or some piece of cloth and flings it upwards toward the ceiling where literally the s--- hits the fan; and the conversation between the Sardar and the hotel person that follows. I told that joke to some of my friends once, and found how that same joke with some variation exists in their culture as well. . .

Khair. . . things may not (God willing) get to the point that Husain sahib is concerned about, but an interesting analysis nevertheless:

STOP me if you’ve heard this one: a Sikh was on a flight, with a parrot on the other side of the aisle. He noticed that every time a certain pretty hostess walked past, the bird would whistle appreciatively. The girl would give the parrot a dirty look, but nothing else happened.

The last straw was when she was nipped by the bird while passing by. She stormed into the cockpit and complained loudly about the lewd passenger. The captain said there was little he could do, and asked her to put up with the bird’s behaviour until they had landed.

The next time she walked past, the Sikh got into the act, and pinched her. This time, she blew up and threatened to resign if the captain took no action. “OK,� he replied. “Throw them both out of the plane.� As the two fell from 30,000 feet, the parrot asked the Sikh: “Sardar Ji, can you fly?� When the panic-stricken man said no, the bird unfurled his wings and asked: “Then why did you take a punga with the hostess?�

‘Punga’ is not an easy Punjabi word to translate, but it roughly means to provoke somebody without good reason. What I want to ask Asif Zardari is why he has taken this huge punga with Nawaz Sharif if he didn’t have the numbers and the support necessary. As the country braces for the lawyers’ long march, people and pundits are talking openly about the very real possibility of another military intervention. Fortunately, the present military leadership seems to have little stomach for a coup, but they could be pushed into one through the instability instigated so unnecessarily by Asif Zardari....

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/Dawn%20Content%20Library/ dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/a-presidential-punga