TPR Pod

CHECK LINKS BELOW FOR FLOOD CHARITY SUPPORT  

This month's Hamnawa Select has SO many songs! List-master Zeerak joins us for an unusually, yet promisingly, chaotic episode where we talk about a lot of the songs and other interesting things about Pakistani music!  

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 So many songs on the September playlist! 

05:38 “Mein Iqbal” blew our minds - part 1 

07:09 INTERLUDE: Is this the greatest era of Pakistani music? - number of artists, genres, KPI’s! 

14:01 “Mein Iqbal” blew our minds - part 2 

14:45 “Adhooray” by Arsalan Hasan - do english lyrics help or hinder? - part 1 

18:30 INTERLUDE: Who is the last big global Pakistani artist - not including Bollywood fame 

21:58 “Adhooray” by Arsalan Hasan - do english lyrics help or hinder? - part 2 

23:19 “Khatt” by Aqdas Asif & Ali Mustafa 

24:39 “Ghaayab” by Amna Riaz feat. us feeling old and how seemingly self assured the youngs are 

28:47 There are THREE songs with Kaifi Khalil on this month’s playlist 

32:28 How Eastern musical traditions might not work with the iTunes “one song = one single” model 

35:43 Ali discovers Annural Khalid 

38:48 Completely unbiased review of “Bojh” by Nadir Shehzad & Natasha Noorani 

42:00 Outro 

LINKS: 

Umair's post about charities: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChuaVgWjGjz/

Shehzeen's fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/lasbelafloods 

Hamnawa's September Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3fpBtuEoB3kHZBKo8Kj1Qs

Hamnawa's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hamnawa_net/ 

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpodSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupperRizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkharSarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

CHECK LINKS BELOW FOR FLOOD CHARITY SUPPORT  

This podcast is AUDIO ONLY. 

Rizwan got very sick recently. This is a quick podcast about that experience. We kept it light but things were quite concerning for a while there.  

LINKS: 

Umair's post about charities: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChuaVgWjGjz/ 

Shehzeen's fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/lasbelafloods  

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod  Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupper Rizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkhar Sarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

CHECK LINKS BELOW FOR FLOOD CHARITY SUPPORT  

Aanchal Malhotra is back on the show! Two years after her first appearance, she returns to talk about her new book 'In the Language of Remembering' where she charts the tales of the subcontinents partitions through the memories of its descendants.   

The conversation is as insightful, real, and relatable as it always is with her. Jump in!  

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 Intro 

02:27 The process of writing her latest book 

13:07 “Conversations cannot just be verbal” why she had to include visual observations 

18:29 The imagined landscape, filtered through a lens of nostalgia and magic 

27:42 Bridging the gap between fable and fact 

39:07 The importance of creating an archive of common people 

43:08 Are the descendants of migrants the only ones who care about the Partition? 

47:20 Do minorities hold on to their cultures more strongly? 

54:40 The risks of homogenising the causes behind the Partition 

1:16:13 How does Aanchal live with the weight of all these stories 

1:24:33 Outro  

LINKS: 

Umair's post about charities: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChuaVgWjGjz/

Shehzeen's fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/lasbelafloods 

Aanchal's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aanch_m/

Her website: https://www.aanchalmalhotra.com/

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpodSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupperRizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkharSarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

CHECK LINKS BELOW FOR FLOOD CHARITY SUPPORT  

Khayali Pulao is the internet alter-ego of Aitazaz, one of the newest additions to the Pakistani content creation scene. I had to have him on to talk about his very new yet very popular work on YouTube & Instagram. Great chat, he's a smart guy who knows what he's getting into. Looking forward to having him back on in the future.  

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 Intro & flood relief appeal 

02:20 Where he’s from, what he’s studying, why is he studying it 

07:43 How his creativity lead him to YouTube, learning basic cooking from childhood 

15:15 Who are his main YouTube cooking inspirations? Who did he learn from? 

21:13 Why he started a YouTube channel, keeping it secret, how his friends reacted 

29:41 How he directed people to his YouTube at the very beginning 

32:55 His insane Instagram growth 

37:32 Why he definitely does NOT want content creation to be his main source of income 

42:11 Why he turns down most PR & branded opportunities currently 

46:03 Audience response has been mostly positive EXCEPT FOR the Turkish recipe 

51:43 Vlogging and experimenting with other types of content, calling out Cooking Chaos 

58:38 His love of writing and how funny is he vs his friends? 

1:01:04 What is the PURPOSE of his channel, and what are his plans for its future? 

1:08:08 Jinn story & outro!  

LINKS: 

Umair's post about charities: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChuaVgWjGjz/

Shehzeen's fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/lasbelafloods 

Khayali Pulao Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mystapaki/

Khayali Pulao YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDctfghwVt9hnEbbohmjreQ/about 

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpodSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupperRizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkharSarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

CHECK LINKS BELOW FOR FLOOD CHARITY SUPPORT  

Wasn't sure if there would be a podcast this week considering how the news from Pakistan is calamitous with the floods and despair.   

Had a conversation with MystaPaki, noted content creator famous for his coverage of Pakistan and its people on a ground level, that helped change my mind. It isn't a great conversation, not many positives noted if any at all. But if the least we can do is call out problems where we see them, might as well.  

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 Intro & flood relief appeal 

03:12 Karachi - drowning in rain, kindness of strangers and forced “resilience” 

11:49 Being a doctor in Pakistan - underpaid, overworked, gaslit 

19:47 How do people feel about their future across Pakistan? Balochistan vs other provinces 

30:12 “Where Did All The Women Go?” - why he made that Reel 

39:28 His unusual, at times uncomfortable recent visit to Bosnia 

48:19 The existential threat these floods pose, and how Karachi will again be at the center 

56:11 People leaving Pakistan, our bubbles within bubbles, poor people with 10 kids 

1:03:30 Would he ever consider leaving? What’s keeping him in Pakistan? 

1:10:50 Abrupt outro  

LINKS: 

Umair's post about charities: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChuaVgWjGjz/

Shehzeen's fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/lasbelafloods 

Mystapaki's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mystapaki/  

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpodSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupperRizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkharSarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

Another month, another Hamnawa playlist highlighting some key new songs from the Pakistani scene. The internet's a bit dodgy in this one but you'll get through it. Jump in!  

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 Intro and names investigation 

01:44 Our relationship to music changes all the time 

04:55 The three songs we’ll talk about in this episode 

06:38 Mulaqatein by Schumaila Rehmat Hussain - semiclassical roots in a modern vehicle 

12:08 Silsila by Zahoor and Curly Ney - it’s in Pushto and we love that 

20:03 Habibi by Asim Azhar - why do we like this if we are old? 

24:54 Music in the TikTok age - shorter songs & quicker hooks, but not like this never happened before 

29:09 Pakistani music in the time of streaming - how does it help artists? 

31:35 Hurried outro  

LINKS: 

Hamnawa's July Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1MTR4zaYwegGq9GbEmREPN

Hamnawa's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hamnawa_net/ 

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpodSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupperRizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkharSarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

Nazar, Kazi & Irfan are on the show this week, first time back for them since we last spoke way back in January. We hadn't all caught up in a while apart from the usual group texts and since everything must be content, why not make it an episode?  

Things discussed in this episode:

00:00 Intro

01:27 Nazar’s Houston Kaptaan experience

07:54 Being desi in the West part 1

11:54 Interlude on liberal discourse on the Pakistani internet

14:02 Being desi in the West part 2

18:37 Twitter, Instagram, TikTok have very different audiences

19:55 Kazi’s recent Instagram & TikTok surge

22:52 Irfan entry

23:53 Nazar reviews Laal Singh Chaddha

TURKEY

30:18 Irfan & Kazi go to Turkey, general thoughts and vibes

36:20 Kazi’s first vacation in over a decade

41:51 Kazi learns Irfan is a good photographer

46:40 Food experiences in Istanbul

51:48 How we got Nazar married through our excellent advice and perspectives

1:02:15 Nazar’s new efforts on becoming a “BookToker”

1:05:09 Talking again about Kazi wrapping up the podcast, and why his Reels/TikToks work so well

1:12:22 Kazi’s crazy past couple months and just being tired

1:18:05 Talking about Maula Jutt, Ms Marvel, Prey, Sandman, The Bear, streaming services

1:29:13 Interlude about music piracy and Pakistani music in Ms Marvel

1:31:14 Outro

IG Links with links to all their stuff: 

Kazi Akber: https://www.instagram.com/kaziakber/ 

Nazar Syed:  https://www.instagram.com/mnazarsyed/ 

Irfan Junejo: https://www.instagram.com/irfanjunejo/

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod  Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupper Rizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkhar Sarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

As infrastructure and all facets of life in Pakistan come under more and more stress due to economic pressures, population increases and climate change; public transport is fast becoming one of the key issues the country must address sooner than later.   

Lucky for us, public transport enthusiast Gulraiz Khan let himself be recruited off Twitter to come chat about Pakistan's past, present, and hopeful future in the public transport spheres.  

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 Intro 

01:57 Where he grew up and why we’re doing this episode 

05:44 Why public transport is being talked about in Pakistan now, and how he first got interested 

12:14 Why has public transport not been prioritised in Pakistan historically? 

16:53 Why did the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) just disappear? 

18:57 How are the BRT systems doing in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar? 

25:59 “The BRT is not profitable”, why this perspective misses the point 

30:55 Talking about Karachi’s new bus services 

38:51 There is no substantive discussion around infrastructure or climate change in the media 

47:03 Can individual action OR TWEETING help fix these problems? 

50:44 Future public transport projects being worked on in Pakistan 

54:22 Quick jinn story and outro!  

LINKS: 

Gulraiz's Twitter: https://twitter.com/gulraizkhan 

Gulraiz's writeups at Dawn: https://www.dawn.com/authors/9254/gulraiz-khan  

Mahim Maher's article on Karachi's bus routes: https://tribune.com.pk/story/711471/timekeeping-and-transport-the-minute-men-of-karachi  

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod  Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupper Rizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkhar Sarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

It's a Chalant Crew episode, everybody's here, you know the vibes. For this episode we got SO MANY AUDIENCE SUBMISSIONS so thanks for writing in dearz. Jump in, no need for more exposition.

Things discussed in this episode:

00:00 We’re back, episode agenda, Rizwan doesn’t watch your Stories

AUDIENCE COMMENTS

05:49 Friendship Lost

09:03 DC Universe vs Marvel - Batgirl, Flash, Joker 2, “should” there even be a universe?

15:40 Are AI image generators (Dall-e, MidJourney) UNETHICAL?

23:43 “I hate marketing agencies in Pakistan” - everybody’s looking to screw you over

29:32 Big 4 sadness

31:15 Is it time to leave Pakistan?

41:50 How to fend off marriage pressure

44:21 Best burgers in the UAE?

49:01 We decide Kazi’s future

51:24 Planning Nazar’s honeymoon

STORYTIME

58:17 A listener goes for Hajj - Hotel fire alarm drama, washing machines vs uncles, hijinks in the flight back

1:06:45 A listener takes a flight via and to hell, Rizwan goes off on food and gifts

1:14:04 Sarkhail attends weddings in Manchester & Glasgow

1:18:42 Sarkhail goes to Paris and does a detailed review of Disneyland

1:30:46 Nadir directed a movie for an India-Pakistan collaborative project

1:38:35 Rizwan’s going to Malaysia to meet Gordon Ramsey

1:41:26 Outro

LINKS:

Nadir's movie!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynkxMzE0fcE&feature=youtu.be

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod  Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupper Rizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkhar Sarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

A lot of people have had a lot of opinions, feelings and thoughts on Pakistan's past and present trajectories. On the eve of the country's 75th anniversary we thought we'd get somebody who has actually done research on the topic on to present a report card of sorts.   

So we're joined by DOCTOR Umair Javed, Asst Prof at LUMS, to take us on a ride through history and examine multiple key facets of Pakistan and Pakistanis and how they have changed. Jump in.  

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 Intro 

01:59 Sweaty beginnings 

04:43 Who is Umair why is he talking about this 

10:11 People have really short attention spans for news and issues, social media has made it worse 

15:17 What did Pakistan’s population distribution look like in the early 1950s? 

19:18 Most people have a hard time grasping HOW MANY people live in Pakistan 

22:34 How and why has Pakistan’s population distribution changed from the 1950s to today? 

27:47 What people used to eat in Pakistan and the shawarma+zinger+pizza revolution 

33:42 How Pakistanis started to eat WAY MORE MEAT and why that matters 

39:06 People are moving from rural to urban areas. How’s that working out for them? 

41:41 How Pakistan’s economy and industry have worsened over the decades 

47:44 How much of Pakistan’s problems can we genuinely blame on leadership? 

51:37 Were things EVER on a better trajectory in our past? What changed? 

55:39 How the spread of technology revolutionized religion & religiosity in Pakistan 

1:01:59 FORTY PERCENT of the population is under 19. Do they have a future? 

1:09:39 Pakistani society keeps women at home and out of the workplace, how can that change? 

1:16:32 Desperately searching for signs of optimism with a complete damper at the end 

1:24:31 An amazing Jinn story!

1:30:49 Outro  

LINKS: 

"Cuisine and Culture" - https://www.dawn.com/news/1623998 

"Moral Panic" - https://www.dawn.com/news/1623998 

Umair's work with Dawn: https://www.dawn.com/authors/498/umair-javed 

Umair's Twitter: https://twitter.com/umairjav  

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod  Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupper Rizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkhar Sarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan