Word has it that while President Zardari and Mian Nawaz Sharif were busy exchanging snide remarks, at least one ex-hockey player in the PPP ranks was busy removing the dust cover from his sherwani and eying the CM House with some affection. However, the minute a meeting between AZ and SS was scheduled, Jehangir Badar, Baber Awan and Latif Khosa got busy trying out their old sherwanis. And all three looked towards the Governor House with a tinge of longing. Well we all live in hope. * * * * * * * * * * Gymkhana Club, Lahore, has had a free although not necessary fair elections but its troubles are far from over. We hear that the club's finance manager has fled the country, but just before leaving posted a two-page confessional statement giving details about a corruption mafia that stretches a mile. In fact, if the letter is to be relied upon, the club is leaking like a sieve. There is mention of a Suzuki Mehran being bought under the category of ICI paints, about a well coordinated commission system in the supply department, about private offices being maintained by employees where deals are brokered and payments made. There are names and details of fat accounts being kept by account clerks and a list of people milking the club's welfare fund and how. We are told that even the guest rooms are rented out to non-members at the market rate. The writer goes on to confess, "Yes, I have done irreparable damage in the accounts department but I had tutors and accomplices". He names quite a few and then he ends with "you cannot catch me because I am now far away but at least catch them". Signed Tahir Saeed Gondal. No comments. * * * * * * * * * * The urea shortage (fertilizer crisis to some) is shaping up into a huge scandal. With desperate farmers buying a Rs 660 bag for up to Rs 1100, the man getting the flack is the minister at the helm of the whole affair. Well, with the whole mess pointing to a guaranteed wheat shortage and a huge opportunity for wheat importers, guess who is getting ready for the gravy train. We hear the commission mafia is sharpening its claws and the friends club is working out the distribution formula. Pakistan it seems is a land of opportunity, even in the midst of a financial crisis. * * * * * * * * * * The Indian High Commission in Islamabad has cancelled the Republic Day reception at Serena Hotel today, citing 'unavoidable circumstances'. Whether it was owing to Manmohan Singh's emergency heart surgery or the all-time low state of Indo-Pak relations, Islamabad's India friendly political and social elite was certainly disappointed by the sudden cancellation.