Shoania Moania - II

Will this never end?

First there was news yesterday, that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani intends to send a parliamentary delegation, headed by Population Welfare minister Firdous Ashiq Awan, to attend the "Shoania" (here I must acknowledge reader Takhalus' far better name 'ShoSan', but I am sticking to what is already out there) wedding. (Thanks to reader Asif Ali Khan for drawing attention to this news.)

Parliamentary delegation??? At the taxpayers' expense? Why???

Gilani has also intimated that he is going to send a "special gift" for the couple. Ms Awan has already said, obviously feeling she must live up to her portfolio, that she intends to give the couple a "family planning kit." What could possibly be more special than boxes of Saathi on your wedding?

But today, there is "breaking" news (what else!) that it has been discovered that Shoaib Malik's father's name on the Sania wedding invitation is different from that on his Ayesha / Maha Siddiqui divorce papers. On the wedding invite he is named as Malik Faqir Hussain, while on the divorce papers he is named as Malik Saleem Hussain. When Geo called on Shoaib's brother (I suspect the step-brother since he also moaned about not being invited to the wedding) to explain the anomaly, he gave some bizarre story about his father having gone through a phase some 20-25 years ago where he "zabani taur par" (verbally) changed his name, though not officially. Ok, so dad was going through an identity or a mid-life crisis or he didn't really like his name... why that should make any difference to official legal papers submitted now, I just don't understand.

I tell you, between the media, this family and the Siddiquis, it's enough to drive anyone bonkers.