I have always wondered what happens at the Cabinet meetings that are held in the federal capital on occasional Wednesdays. How is the agenda set, how are the issues debated and how are they concluded and how/if all the participants contribute their opinions to the matters under discussion. The 'if stemming from the fact that there are just too many members of the Cabinet, which probably gives the get-together more a feel of a 'mela than a meeting Perhaps, the dissenting opinions are kept under wraps, but in our prevalent culture of going with the flow, particularly if you are in an alliance and lucky to be on a ministerial post, one never hears of passionate pleadings or innovative ideas to deal with the issues. The Cabinet meeting held this last Wednesday took the same decisions which have been tried in the past to control the energy crisis. Once again, there are going to be two chuttis a week. Being useless at home, as opposed to doing some work in office, will take care of the loadshedding and the economy be damned It sounds rather like cutting off the nose to spite the face. We have tried it all before - the experiments of two chuttis a week, along with market closure at sunset and setting of clocks back by an hour. Nothing stuck or worked and things just quietly slipped back into the previous pattern after a while. Ideally, I would like to be happily surprised one Thursday morning to read of the decisions taken at the Cabinet meeting the day before. They would read something as follows: The Cabinet decided that all strike calls made for Fridays would be stopped effectively and that the Friday sermons which spread hatred and incited violence will be banned altogether. Policemen found ineffective will be suspended or removed. The Cabinet also decided to subsidise Haj pilgrimage for the countrymen and all Hajis were now expected to pay only Rs30,000 each, while the rest of the portion will be paid by the government. The Cabinet recognised the rights of all Pakistani children to education and a secure childhood, and ordered that all private schools are to compulsorily educate less privileged children after their regular school hours or face closure. The Cabinet decided to allocate funds for public transportation and to revive the Railways by privatising it. The Cabinet laid strong emphasis on encouraging and promoting cultural and literary activities at all levels, with particular reference to recognising emerging talent. The Cabinet decided that begging is to be banned and the streets to be cleared of this public nuisance under all garbs. The beggars are to be taught skills for livelihoods by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which must, after all, have more work than seeing to the annual pilgrimage. As the song goes, kabhi na kabhi, kahin na kahin, koi na koi tau ayie ga - apna hamey banai ga, one continues to pine for leadership that really wants to go down in history as the agent of change. One that honestly tries to puts things on the right track and takes actions, which lead to globalised values taking root in our society too Politics has become more focused of late. It is as if the players have just got on to the Motorway and have fastened their safety belts. We seem to be gathering speed to a showdown. Who could have predicted that two of PPPs stalwarts would fall by the wayside, as their term in government nears its end. First, it was the fiery, and most unlikely because of his personal association with the President, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza. Now the good looking Shah from Multan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, has decided to formally separate as well. It remains to be seen which party he will join. The same announcement is also awaited from the estranged from PML-Q Marvi Memon. Two other women in politics, blessed with the additional glamour of being quite beautiful, were photographed within close range of PML-N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif this week. They were both in PML-Q till of late. But as the saying goes, wo jaata zamana hai aur ye aata zamana hai Postscript: Jagjit Singh passed away. With him also went a slice of our lives. I remember a time in the 80s when all I could listen to in music were Jagjit and Chitra. At home, in the car and everywhere where there was a music system. He made it such a pleasure to listen to and enjoy poetry and the genre of ghazal. My children heard him so much in their childhood that they too fell under his spell and developed an ear for ghazal. Jagjit and Chitra were responsible for introducing modern orchestra and giving a contemporary feel to this genre, hence, reaching out to a much wider audience. They were equally popular in India and Pakistan and, in fact, a source of joy to the South Asian Diaspora everywhere. Jagjit was able to give so much happiness to a large number of us when he performed in Pakistan a couple of times. I remember sitting through his concert just mesmerised to hear all my favourite ghazals live. Perhaps, the best thing Jagjit ever did was to sing Ghalib. He was effectively able to make a whole new generation fall head over heels in love with Mirza Ghalib too. He performed, along with Tina Sani, at the Faiz centenary celebrations in New Delhi in February this year and expressed a desire to come to Pakistan and sing Faiz. Alas The writer is a public relations and event management professional based in Islamabad. Email: tallatazim@yahoo.com