"Public response to a celebrity varies depending on what the celebrity draws his/her fame from."
"A celebrity is a celebrity is a celebrity and we, 'P' Public, are in awe and..."
"Like a degree is a degree is a degree? Did you hear former Balochistan Chief Minister is reportedly enrolled in a college now?"
"And what is he going to study? Spiritualism? Medina ki riyasat (administration) though The Khan says Europe is following the precepts of that riyasat so why reinvent the wheel is my question?"
"Hush, you know The Khan doesn't like criticism anymore."
"Funny isn't it, once our leaders become prime ministers they develop a very thin skin when they should be developing an even thicker skin."
"Right, anyway you meant 'Q' Public not 'P' Public right!"
"Q Public is how the US public is referred to, we in Pakistan refer to our public as Pakistani and need I add all three of our national parties have P for Pakistan right at the start - Pakistan Muslim League and then you may have an N or a Q or a Z, Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Therik-i-Insaaf..."
"None of the regional parties use Pakistan in their title! Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and now they too have many letters attached, P and S and I am not sure if there was another split during the weekend, then there is the Awami National Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and..."
"What does that show?"
"I am not sure; anyway, as I said public response to a celebrity varies according to where the celebrity draws his/her fame from. If Meera was to come in our midst I would sidle up to her and make her talk in English, her fans would simply sidle up to her, then there are the cricketers, we would get their autograph and if they have won a match we would surround them and...and try to get their autographs and touch them and if they haven't won a match we would boo them and..."
"And a politician? And what about a cricketer turned politician?"
"Our politicians are always accompanied by their own groupies - Zardari sahib has his groupies, then there is Nawaz Sharif he has asked his groupies to accompany him to jail to impress all with the numbers..."
"And Imran Khan?"
"Has his groupies now, as the captain of our cricket team we all loved him, he got Pakistan the world cup, as an opposition leader we also loved him, he spoke about change."
"And now?"
"The crowd at the laying of the foundation stone at Al Qadir University reminded me of crowds that gather for other party leaders - they appeared to be unimpressed with what he had to say."
"The Khan said he named the University after the man who lived in the area and who did a chilla which has something to do with spiritualism though I am not aware of that aspect of spiritualism."
"That's the influence of The Khan's third wife I reckon..."
"I heard Firdous Ashiq Awan..."
"Don't be facetious; anyway, the crowd appeared terribly bored with The Khan's speech; in other cities there was spontaneous anger after the raise in petrol prices and the next time he comes out of Banigala or the PM House he may be booed and..."
"Hmmm, I hope he now understands that the love of the public for a politician can be very, very, fleeting especially when you head a government..."