Corruption? No, thanks

It's the World Anti-Corruption Day today. Speaking of corruption, I once read this joke somewhere:

During a trial, the prosecuting attorney attacked a witness. "Isn't it true," he asked, "that you accepted ten thousand dollars to compromise this case?"

The witness stared out the window, as though he hadn't heard the question.

"Isn't it true that you accepted ten thousand dollars to compromise this case?" the lawyer repeated. The witness still did not respond.

Finally, the judge leaned over and said, "Sir, please answer the question."

"Oh," the startled witness said, "I thought he was talking to you!"

As I finished chuckling on the joke, I was hit by the stinging realization of how the witness's reply was so reflective of my own society; my own people: that we're all in it - one way or the other - and yet always find somebody else to blame for it.

Driving Me Crazy

"You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive."
- Bumper Sticker

There is the fragrance of a fresh blooming rose; then there is the stench of a dead rat in a water-pipe. There is the mellow chirping of merry birds early in the morning; then there is the torture of nails screeching against a surface. There is the ecstasy of victory; then there is the misery of not being able to put a thread through a needle’s eye. There is the levitation of first love; then there are the thirty years of marriage. There is the pleasure of a long walk along the beach under a faint drizzle with a wanted companion; then there is the agony of driving a car in Karachi.