"My respect for President Zardari has tripled."
"Well, that's a first for a non-jiyala. Or are you being facetious."
"What do you mean?"
"Zero times three is zero."
"No, I am serious with one proviso: as a non-jiyala I make a distinction between a jiyala and a Zardi if you know what I mean."
"Did you hear Mushahid Hussain's analysis recently? He said that history of elections has shown again and again that a jiyala would always vote PPP and that if a jiyala is not happy with his party's performance in government then he/she won't come to vote but never ever vote for anyone else."
"And this is the guy's independent assessment because his party has not already agreed to an electoral alliance with the PPP?"
"OK, I grant you that gone are the days when Mushahid would refer to the Zardis as lutto tey phutto (loot the country and then run away) but you must accept that the PML (Q) is a dead beat party barring around 20 seats in Gujrat. But my guess is that a jiyala led by Z A Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto may not automatically transfer loyalty to President Zardari."
"Let's wait for the election results."
"In any case what I implied when I said my respect for President Zardari has tripled is his recent visit to Multan to express support for the litigation beleaguered Gilani family."
"Oh, I thought he went to eat Multani halwa."
"Don't be facetious, you know the President is not allowed to eat sweets and..."
"Why do you take everything literally?"
"What do you mean?"
"Halwa may not be the one you eat."
"Oh man! Such inane cryptic statements!"
"Anyway the President in the face of judicial inquires into allegations of massive corruption against Gilani family went to Multan to express his solidarity."
"Can I say that it is only the male Gilanis who are implicated."
"Before you take that as a gender issue let me remind you that Mrs Gilani got a lot of the loans she took written off and..."
"Oh please! But you have to agree the President is loyal to his friends. Remember when he went to visit Zulfiqar Mirza in his house?"
"I do and I am not sure if the President broke bread there but I do know Mirza offered Rehman Malik bananas and apples to confuse the guy."
"Don't be facetious - Malik did not accompany the President."
"And again you take everything too literally, lighten up my friend."