“The Moonis Elahi factor…”

“Factor or element.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Factor can be an issue, factor can be an aspect, element is a component…”

“Don’t be facetious…anyway didn’t his dad say that the ingredients for cooking of khichri, a rice mixed with lentil dish, have been bought but the cooking has not started…”

“I wonder what he meant? In my house khichri is the staple diet for an upset tummy and…”

“Ha ha, and you don’t know whose tummy is upset! My friend, from where I am sitting, all of them have an upset tummy, The Khan looks under strain, his Chief protagonists are also exhibiting signs of anxiety…”

“The best drug for anxiety is Prozac though it is a habit forming, addictive.”

“And politics isn’t addictive! They are all taking prozac — The Khan’s prozac dose is addressing large gatherings with his staple speech, Shabaz Sharif’s Prozac dose is convincing his brother to give the shut up call to Maryam Nawaz, Zardari sahib’s prozac is wheeling and dealing and dealing and wheeling and…”

“Indeed, anyway none of them is into prozac these days, all are into khichri so I guess the anxiety attacks have taken second place to the upset tummy…”

“Right, anyway going back to the Moonis Elahi factor I reckon his public call to The Khan not to be ruffled because of the visitors to his family’s mansion was perhaps to set the stage for his request to launch Kalabagh dam the next day in the cabinet meeting which was shot down by all those hailing from Sindh…”

“So what do you reckon, its back to the khichri instead of we will support you come what may?”

“Well, come what may does not include all situations, I mean…”

“Yeah, yeah Parvez Elahi said his party would support Musharraf for another ten years but then the pledge became redundant right.”

“Right, but those who shopped for the khichri ingredients forgot salt and that is a major ingredient you know and I heard the mafia is controlling the supply of salt…”

“One easy solution: let loose the Competition Commission of Pakistan.”

“Not very cryptic are you. Anyway if Shehbaz Sharif is indicted that doesn’t mean the house of cards he has built will collapse. The Khan and his band are busy burning not only the opposition’s boats but all their own boats as well…”

“Politics in Pakistan is about the thinking that the seat is very warm in spite of the under seat heating switched off.”

“Indeed.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022