The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. This forced hundreds of thousands of Afghans to seek asylum in Pakistan. During those days the Pakistani journalist Tariq Ali who was a very big critic of the Pakistani dictator General Zia-Ul-Haq and was living in London recounted this joke in an article, if I remember rightly it was published in Sunday (The Amrita Bazaar Patrika publication) which had M J Akbar as the editor: An asylum seeker from Afghanistan was being interrogated by Pakistani authorities. "What were you doing in Afghanistan before the invasion?" they asked him. "Oh, I was the Minister in charge of the Navy of Afghanistan," said the man with nonchalance. The Pakistanis burst out laughing. "But Afghanistan has no Navy," they said when they had stopped rolling on the floor. "So what?" said the asylum seeker, "you have a law ministry, do you not?" by Dev Kumar Vasudevan

Then: I saw her standing there with a hand held to her ear. I sympathised with her for having an ear ache. Turned out that she was using a mobile phone. Now: I saw her standing there using her mobile phone. Turned out that she was scratching her ear. (For what it is worth: This is my own creation) by Dev Kumar Vasudevan