Partly Facetious: Different meanings of shaba

01 Jan, 2019

"What's the difference between a leader and a follower?"
"A stupid question I say! Zardari sahib, his son Bilawal, Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam, are clearly leaders while The Goat...the guy who goes main, main, main (and he is not referring to himself as the main man - he has never ever dared place himself above Nawaz Sharif though the same cannot be said about The new PML-N President), anyway he just starts each sentence with the Urdu word main, meaning me, me, me..."
"I have it on good authority that Khawaja Asif has gone to Dubai to visit the company headquarters - you know the company that gave him the iqama and..."
"Why? Without a ministry, isn't he less than useless to the company! Besides isn't he needed here?"
"Hey back off, the guy is a loyal nawala though not a shaba fan..."
"Shaba in Hebrew means swear, in Dhivehi (Maldives) young and in Punjabi it means well done and..."
"Stop, I meant doesn't Khawaja Asif's party leadership need him here?"
"Nawaz Sharif is in jail available only on Thursdays, Maryam is a phone call away, and his relations with Shahbaz were never exemplary to say the least so he probably thought he might as well go to Dubai for a bit, I mean it's not as if he needs a visa..."
"A Dubai visa is not that hard or expensive, pay Rs 14,000 and viola! But anyway, what are the other two stooges doing? Haven't heard a peep out of them in recent months!"
"Daniyal Aziz and Talal Chaudhry are quiet because they don't want to draw attention to themselves ..."
"I don't see why they are worried. The focus is on Zardari sahib and his Sister anyway when I asked about the two remaining stooges I meant the non-commissioned Sharif loyalists - you know Asif Kirmani and Perveen Rashid."
"Don't be facetious - the former is a senator and the latter was displaced by Mushahid who wisely was reselected as head of SSC and..."
"SSC?"
"Sharif Sycophant Club."
"Well, that bodes well for the future of Sharif politics, I mean given that the SSC still has the power to attract members..."
"Mushahid? A man focused on one man constituency..."
"But the one man changes - Nawaz Sharif to Musharraf to the Chaudhary Brothers to Nawaz Sharif to..."
"Agreed, but when I said there is a difference between a leader and a follower I was referring to Chaudhry Nisar's press talk after a long gap - he must accept that whichever party he goes to he would be a follower..."
"What do you mean?"
"In the PML-N, he will be a follower of the Sharifs and their progeny, in the PPP he will be a follower of the Zardaris, the Bhuttos, the Bhutto Zardaris, the Zardari Bhuttos..."
"Don't be facetious, and if he joins the Maulana?"
"There is a dynasty there too..."
"The Khan's party is not dynastic."
"Yet...you have to use the word yet..."

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