It’s probably not all that remarkable that a young American went to Pakistan and found fascinating the traditions that define daily life there, from the calls to prayer to the garishly decorated transport trucks.

Not all that remarkable, except that somewhere along the trip the young girl turned from tourist to commentator, conducting formal interviews with 10 Pakistani women she met.

This was the experience of Chiara Angela Kovarik, a Mendota Heights teenager who with her parents spent a month in Pakistan in summer 2001. Now, at 17, she has published her work in a 174-page book titled “Interviews with Muslim Women of Pakistan.”

Jazz must change, says Rez Abbasi, and he’s set his sights on one possible path forward. “In order for this music to keep living and evolving, it has to break the boundaries,” the New York City–based guitarist contends. “You can’t call my music ‘jazz’ anymore; you can’t call jazz jazz anymore. I just prefer to call it multicultural music.”

The inch-thick compilation of documents doesn’t read like a love story. But the papers might be necessary to hold together the marriage of one Waterloo couple.

The stack includes 12 months of bank statements showing joint financial activities. An original term life insurance policy with a spouse beneficiary. An original apartment lease, signed by two.

These records and more, soon to be mailed to a Des Moines immigration office, are an attempt to prove Malik Ahmad, 32, a Pakistani citizen, and Amy, 26, a Washburn native, share a life as husband and wife.

In a recent survey of 180,000 American workers, over 80% indicated an intense dislike for their jobs. This is truly a sad reflection on an activity that absorbs such a major portion in each of our lives.
Maybe it’s time for a conscious reassessment of our philosophy towards work. It seems that many of us are simply working too hard with too little to show for our labors.

Two years after its “Passion for Peace” tour stop here rocked Miller Auditorium, Pakistani-American rock group Junoon is back in town with the same goal in mind: To use its music to unite people across ideological and religious divides.

The trio, consisting of founding members Ali Azmat on vocals, guitarist Salman Ahmad and bassist Brian O’Connel, plays the State Theater on Monday as part of its current U.S. tour.

Azmat and Ahmad are Pakistani Muslims, while O’Connel is an American Catholic. They formed Junoon, which means “passion” in Urdu, in 1990, but there were challenges from the beginning.

Karishma and Kareena Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty, Shushmita Sen, Sanjay Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Rishi Kapoor and Neeto Singh, Yash Chopra, Rakesh Roshan, Mahesh and Pooja Bhatt are just some of the Bollywood giants who have been invited by their Lollywood counterparts to spend this Basant in the city.

Most of these actors already have a Pakistani visa and others were in the process of getting one, said film director and writer Asif Ali Pota. He said the proposed programme includes a night at the Lahore Fort, which will be recorded by Prime Television, UK, and a dinner in Karachi hosted by the designer BG.

After waiting in the wings, Ex Miss World Yukta Mookhey finally bagged lead role in a film. The film is called ‘Hum Teena-Three Is Company’ and is supposed to be a suspense thriller. Produced by International Cine Inc, it will be directed by Rajeev Chaddha. It’s a two hero project and insiders say that one will be played by an Indian actor, while the other will be an American actor. Let’s hope after her wash away debut with ‘Pyaasa’, she gets lucky with this one!