The Word of mAn[S]o0r

Good bye... cruel world!

2006-10-13T13:32:00.001+05:00

Note: the following is not a suicidal post!!!

Cruel world, for me, became blogger and my urge to try out anything 'beta'! *sigh* i tried living with it, adjusting to its ever stupid demands, going through proxy and proxy just to have a glimps of it, yet somehow.. it was not meant to be. So now i've decided, this is going to be my last post here!! and thats final!

But no, im not gonna stop blogging! Ofcourse not! im too addicted to quit! What sort of message would that send to the poor kids!?

Yesterday, while going through the decision i've been mullin through for months now, i saw light at the end of the tunnel! The decision being, if to go away from blogger, then where!? (choice of host and platform are very important and after months of blogging, i have a pretty good idea of what i needed).

The answer?

www.wordofmansoor.com

Yes folks! its up!!! From now, i post only there. I request you all to please upgrade your bookmarks! See you there! Regular commenters (u know who u are) leave atleast one comment so that i know u've arrived.. will be awaiting ur arrival.

blogword: red

2006-10-11T12:46:00.000+05:00

I've said it again and again.. and yet, i'll say it one more time.

I hate doing my finances.... because no matter how much or how hard i try, i always end up in red.

One year on..

2006-10-09T11:21:00.001+05:00

This i wanted to post yesterday, but since i was offline the whole day, today is going to be it.

Sunday, October 8th, we witnessed the first 'anniversary' of the devastation caused by the Earthquake in the northern regions of Pakistan.

For me, the quake kind of had a much more personal touch... my father was posted in Islamabad when it happened, and the way he described it to me, forever changed my priorities in life.

He was sleeping at the time. When the first of the tremors hit, his eyes opened and for a few seconds he could not understand what was happening. Everything around him shaking, the sound of rumbling was defeaning. Then it hit him, he was in the middle of a quake! Being the logical man that he his, he figured out it would be no use to even try to get up and get to safety, the quake would be over much much before that, so he did the next best thing, he prayed.

In his words, "I thought to myself, this is it, this is my time. I thought of my family, said a small prayer of forgiveness, and started reciting the kalma"

I still get nightmares on what could've been...

May God bless all those people who lost family members in the quake, and give them the courage to move on.

Blogthought: Because i didnt

2006-10-08T02:41:00.001+05:00

Because i didnt want to make a new blog or leave this space, i put up haloscan and reverted my blog to its previous template.

p.s. blogger beta sucks :(

come full circle

2006-10-08T01:44:00.001+05:00

When blogger initially launched, they lacked a lot of features which
would become a mainstay of the blogging world later on. These included
trackbacks, and more importantly, comments!

Comments, which make each and every post worth writing.
Comments, which allow interaction on ur blog
Comments, which make you want to open up your mailbox every morning.

After a lot of lobbying by bloggers around the world, the people at
blogger added comments and Blogger finally became worth setting up a
blog on.

Then... the Pakistani government blocked blogger blogs in Pakistan,
thanks to the cartoon controversy. Their mechanism was very simple,
block the IP on which blogspot was hosted, and voilla, all blogs were
inaccessible at one go. Posting on the blogs was okay, since for
posting another domain www.blogger.com was used, which had a different
IP, only reading was a problem. But we were not to be dettered... some
talented people came up with pkblogs.com and we all breathed a sigh of
relief. The blog ban was kind of lifted... atleast with people wise
enough to know pkblogs.com.

But... and theres always a but... things were not going to be that
simple. Blogger decided to upgrade their services, and as with
everything google, they came out with blogger beta! Introducing a lot
of new features which were desperately required by the community in
general... but also introducing a very big problem for us bloggers in
Pakistan who had 'upgraded'! They setup the new domain
beta.blogger.com on the SAME IP as www.blogspot.com was hosted on.

What does that mean for us? Nothing much, except that we now cannot
post blogs (the people who upgraded) nor can people in pakistan post
comments on our blogs. What pleasure it is to upgrade! no?!

I <a href="http://wordofmansoor.blogspot.com/2006/10/coming-soon.html"recently</a>
dabbled on making another blog on blogger using the previous setup, or
maybe move to another platform altogether.. but that was not to be. I
couldnt part with what i've put up here since so long... i wanted to
keep it! Now the only problem was.. how to enable commenting???!!

THAT was resolved a few minutes before posting this entry!! Welcome
haloscan! A service launched quite sometime ago to address no comment
feature on blogger, today came back into use thanks to the major f-ups
bloggers been going through! It allows users to post comments for each
post, which are saved on the haloscan servers, and accessible to
everyone visiting the blog through a popup window. The world comes
full circle yet again!

Comments are back up! and im not going anywhere yet! Long live the
pakistani spirit!!

Oh, and im emailing this post in! Hoping it works

coming soon..

2006-10-07T11:40:00.000+05:00

I have to get myself rid of blogger beta. Which can only mean two things....

move to some other platform OR
move back to blogger basic

apprently, number 1 is out of the question... so now i need to move back. But what to name it? Also, im thinking of doing some kharcha and get a domain of my own.

What should i name it?

www.wordofmansoor.com? Sounds cool na!

Blogger beta added on blocked list...

2006-10-06T12:06:00.000+05:00

Subscribing to blogger beta was the worst decision i've ever made in my life!! Not only am i going through all the teething problems associated with beta (which i had quite quietly), i'm almost being forced to change where i blog.

Never knew i'd actually feel pain quitting blogger.com. Its been my cocoon, my incubator... bringing me into the blogging world and making me feel all there is associated with it. (Even though my cousins say i have *yet* to get a life).

I dont know where i'll be migrating just yet, though some options are wordpress.com, blogsome.com or getting my own server. I think i'll opt for option three, but that would be after Eid at the earliest. (comments welcome).

As of now though, at least i've got one way of posting here... through http-tunnel.com. If you guys can use a separate browser, then install it, configure it, and use it to browse through the blogspot world. Its a great piece of software, quite transparent too, and lets you feel free. The only downside is.. the free version only gives 1.5 kbps of bandwidth....

Signing out now.. apologize in advance for prolly not being able to reply on comment (though i will try).

crashed

2006-10-02T01:34:00.000+05:00

My system just crashed yesterday morning!!! uummm.. well, not excatly crashed, its running as much as it can, my profile got corrupted, which ofcourse, resulted in me loosing all my settings!!

What i miss most though, is my firefox settings! I had a plethora of extensions, greasemonkey scripts and above all, a very exhuastive list of live bookmarks which i've lost now.. so since yesterday, i've been spending my time on the computer trying to get back all that i've lost. Plus, i dont believe much in making backups.

But, as with all crashes, it's given me the opportunity to try out new stuff, streamline my operations a bit, and generally loose some of the crap which had accumulated over time. Now what i need to do is to uninstall a lot of stuff, and the regeneration will be complete.

kids are so cute!!

2006-10-01T01:54:00.000+05:00

My nephew, S, is two years old and sometimes he does the cutest of things. I wont go over how he's the best nephew there is, and had the most wicked yet innocent smile ever, and that he knows even at two just how to play people and that he's become my jaan.. cuz im sure its the same for everyone.

Anyway, i spent half-day with my aapi (his mother) and the kids today. After iftar, i was feeling my usual heavy headedness and badly wanted a smoke to complete my own iftari.. so after everyone was done and all, i quitely tried to slip downstairs without anyone noticing. Well, i had almost succeeded! My nephew, S, heard the door opening and ran towards it. When he saw i was trying to leave, he tried his level best not to let me with "maamu, aao", "maamu andar". I told him i would be right back, and not to worry... but he was not to be dettered. Then, and i dont know how he did it.. but he devised the best way to get me to come back.

Very innocently, he held out his hand... and said "maamu, chabi" indicating to me that he wanted me to handover my car keys!!!

That was just sssooo darn cute!!! though i was surprized that how at age two, he could come up with that?!

After i handed over the keys, he happily let me leave. Though by that time, quitely slipping away was no longer an option, as everyone was gathered at the door.

status quo

2006-09-30T02:30:00.000+05:00

Recently, over at my cousins, we had sort of a jamming session, getting everything off our collective chests and trying to feel a bit better about the mess that has become life. During this session, i realized something....

i was not connected anywhere..

Almost in all scenario's the discussion involved "... and i asked S for advice..." "...M told me not too, but i didnt lissen..." "...U had been my support throughout ..."

No where was i mentioned.. infact, most of the stuff i had heard for the first time ever. And these were the latest controversies in my own family.

That night led me to thinking... about how much a member of my extended family i really am? Before, i've always kind of prided myself in not being involved in the petty discussions going on everywhere and being kind of aloof... but these things were not petty. They were pretty life changing decisions being taken by people i hold really close to my heart.

In the last couple of days, i've thought a lot... and i have'nt come up with a solution! i'm so bad at socializing, that my nephew and niece promptly forget me in between meetings, and everytime i have to remind them that i'm their mamo! They know my other two cousins by name!

On the other hand however, being aloof has allowed me to live a relatively peaceful life. Since im not involved in the pettiness, im not involved in the fights, i have no bad will with any of my relatives, the little while i do meet them, i have a pretty good time...

Of the choices i have right now, im leaning towards maintaining the status-quo.

A TAX-ing experience

2006-09-29T14:06:00.000+05:00

Not really one of those inspirational titles, but anyway, here goes.

Today, i wrote up (and will subsequently) file the first tax return of my life. After see-ing the horror on everyone's faces whenever tax time rolls around, i thought it was going to be one hell of an experience. Add to it, that i did not have any help, still dont know *where* excatly to file the return, and where im going to come up with the money to pay it (thats resolved now), it promised to be one hell of a ride.

But thankfully, CBR proved to be quite a bit more helpful than expected. Thanks to their website, and all excel-based (autocalculating) forms, the whole experience turned out to be a breeze.

In just under 1.5 hours, i had written up and printed out my first ever return form. Im feeling quite proud of myself here. Just one problem though :( i missed the lowest tax slab by just a measely 9k!! and now my tax has gone up 2k!!

Tomorrow, im gonna go file it, and hopefully, going to return without much problems.

blogthought: If I could, I would..

2006-09-28T15:36:00.000+05:00

If i could, i would make you realize that all you need to be is the complete you and i'd be the happiest guy on earth!

That even through all your ups and downs, all your irritating habits, all your needs, your incapability of doing stuff for me, being with you... is what makes me.... truly happy!

Setting the mood...

2006-09-26T12:43:00.000+05:00

There are some things in life which immediately set your mood, especially if they happen in the morning. It could be your favourite song on the radio, seeing a specific color, a TV ad, seeing your best friends' face passing by in the traffic on her way to work, anything... but after that, you can rest assured that the rest of the day would be nothing short of beautiful and exhilarating.

This is what happened this morning to me, as i made my way down from my new diggs down to work. The radio was set on CityFM 89, with Mr. Suhail Hashmi blaring out his musical selection, and just when i was about to change the station, it started.....

The song with which i've always had great memories.. the song which can lift me out almost instantaneously out of any doldrum life throws at me....

Udit Narayan and Sandhana Sargam's Pehla Nasha

Two of my most favourite passages from the song..

Chaahe tum kuchh na kaho maine sun liya
Ki saathi pyaar ka mujhe chun liya
Chun liya
Maine Sun liya

and

Usne baat ki kuchh aise dhang se
Sapne de gaya vo hazaaron range ke
Usne baat ki kuchh aise dhang se
Sapne de gaya vo hazaaron range ke
Reh jaoon jaise main haar ke
Aur choome vo mujhe pyaar se

And whats even better than this song?? the remix version of it!

when ur on ur own....

2006-09-26T09:33:00.000+05:00

the only one worth relying on is yourself.

This came to me as revelation this morning, after a series of events.

1. I have a batman (an orderly.. not the crime fighter :p) with me where i live now, to make sure the cleaning, washing and other stuff gets taken care off. After a week of living at this place, i've realized the batman is really not interested in cleaning, washing and other stuff.. That i've started doing myself mostly....

2. The dhobi is not giving back my clothes.. as a result, now i have no clothes! So from today, i start washing my own clothes too...

3. This morning, for sehri, the batmans for the entire building (forgot?) to wake up and bring sehri to the rooms of other people around me... thank goodness i goto the mess for sehri, so i had it.. otherwise, everyone else is keeping a sehri-less roza.

4. My batman is not really interested in waking me up in the mornings either.... This issue, i have yet to resolve....

5. My best friend, whom i even threatened last nite that if she doesnt wake me up in the morning, i'll start looking for a new best friend.. forgot to wake me up! Consequently.. im looking for a new best friend now. LoL juz kiddin! she's just toooo sweet not to remain my best friend :D

and so, when on your own, you can only rely on yourself, or get wasted :p

Pehla Roza

2006-09-25T11:43:00.000+05:00

Ramzan has finally begun in our fair city (country) after the usual mess by the Ruet-e-Hilal committee. Personally, its going to be a very different ramzan for me this year.

Till now, Sehri's used to comprise of mom's daant (for waking up late), Kellogs Frosties, Egg + Toast, and Tea. Iftars were at home, with the usual pakora+samosa deal, fruit chat followed by dinner. Last year, i didnt even go out with friends all that much, hardly four times, the rest were all at home.

This year, since i've started living alone, I've yet to see what will iftari be like. But i like the sehri that i had today. Anda Paratha, Dahi-sugar-paratha and Tea! YUMM!!! (they also had palak-allo which is *not* so yumm, hence omitted).

I got woken up at around 4:15 by my roommate, and we headed to the mess to have sehri.. ate.. came back.. prayed, and then i promptly went back to sleep! Little did i know... (well, i did actually.. at the back of my mind), that i would oversleep!!

Came to office at 10:30! Its 11:49 and im already feeling way thirsty.... plus, writing about sehris and iftaris right now wasnt a good choice either :S

This is going to be one TOUGH ramzan!! Happy fasting everyone!

Now for the words of wisdom for anyone caring to listen
1. Be kind to your fellow man this ramzan!!!
2. Fasting is no excuse for not working!!!

bus... thats it.

tagged

2006-09-23T16:09:00.000+05:00

i feel like a wild animal under observation whenever i read this line 'your tagged'! The images of a person in a white lab coat druggin me and piercing an electronic transmitter on my ear gets eerily real!!

Anyway, i was tagged by dear, dear checkmate! so here goes. I, in turn, tag Icedmocha and Tanzila!!

I am thinking about:
her... the one i have, yet can never have.....

I said,
"just five more minutes!!!" while gettin up every morning... n then get hellishly late

I want to,
have my choti choti khushian! dats what makes life much more worth living...

I wish,
i could be a kid again... and laugh without wondering what it would be taken as?!

I miss,
refer to the first question ;)

I hear,
Fan's!! since the AC's on the fritz again :@

I wonder,
when will i get a 100k+ job??

I regret,
Nothing! Made sure of that!!

I am,
an enigma....... no, actually.. im as transparent as heavily tinted window's ;)

I dance,
wildly! but for myself only!

I cry,
have'nt for a long time... but the last time was when i was too shocked to do anything else!

I am not always,
fun... okay, i admit it.. im a nerd and can get hellishly boring at times!

I write,
whatever my heart feels like.. no restrictions

I need,
a tall glass of juice!

I finish,
a cigarette and wonder what good its gonna do me?!

hungry for a day

2006-09-23T00:23:00.000+05:00

What do you do when you go hungry for a day??

Make sure it doesnt happen again by getting Rs. 350 worth of junk food in your room ;)

Right now, im having the Pringles... yummmmmm!

blogwordoftheweek: words

2006-09-21T16:25:00.000+05:00

Let my words be my sanctuary,
Let my words be my prison,
Let my words by my sword,
Let my words be my flower.

My words.... My thoughts.... My pleasure.... My Pain!

(c) ME!!!

crash

2006-09-21T10:41:00.000+05:00

I've been going on and on over at KMB about motorcyclists in the wonderful(?) city of Karachi... Little did i know, i was gonna have my first run-in with one... that too.. driving at over 60 MPH!

This happened while going to the airport to drop my brother and mother for their flight to ISB, just as you cross the last signal before climbing up the terminal. I was barelling down that road, saw a green signal, people waiting at the intersection, and floored the accelerator thinking i'd get through before the signal opens....... (Before i go on, one point to note is that the intersection is surrounded with a lot of tree's/shrubs which ofcourse makes it impossible to see more than one car deep if your coming up the road. The cars i saw were stopped.... Anyways...) then i saw it! A bike with two passengers breaking the signal and crossing the intersection! I swerved right, trying to avoid them, cursing under my breath.... they cleared the road and i breathed a sigh of relief... almost!

Then i saw the SECOND bike breaking the signal and crossing the intersection!!!! this time, there was no time nor room to manouver out... in what seemed like a split second... i jammed on the breaks (which on a mehran are pretty non existant) and almost prayed/cursed in the same sentence!

Then we collided!

Luckily for him (the bastard!), he wasnt hurt.... nor was i or my brother (Thank God!!) his bike was kind of battered by then and my car was pretty much totalled from the front.... i was pretty thankful and sane till that moment, then i heard a strange noise coming from within the engine comparment... and lost it! For the second time in my life... i wanted blood! HIS blood!!! I got out and started shouting at him! Wo tou he was either too shocked or dazed (probably he's an imbicle) to say or do anything back, to bach gaya! Just at that time, my mom came over in the other car... the moment i saw her, i kind of cooled down... a cousin of mine also got out, and went brutal on his ass! (i love you for that cuz!!). After a couple of punches.. and the crowd trying to break us up... i sent my mom n the other car over to the terminal, the flight wasnt gonna wait for a phadda afterall, got my brothers luggage from my car, transferred it to a third car which was thankfully there, left my car at the intersection and went to see them off. It took me a futher half hour to really cool down! The adrenaline rush doesnt go down easily.

What a send off they had from karachi! Sorry mom... Sorry bro!

Damn motorbike drivers!!!

On top of that, he had the gall to say "gaari dekh kar chalao"!! that was enough to get him two three more punches!

Damage assesment: Bumper gone, Bonnet dented, both fenders dented, right axle damanged, engine foundation broken, radiator assembly pushed inside, headlights broken, bumper lights broken.

dude! where are the keys?

2006-09-19T18:04:00.000+05:00

My brother took the car yesterday.....
the car keychain also had the key's to my room cupboard on it....
i went to my room at 6:30...
my brother came back at 1...

i read Angels and Demons for six and an half hours! (The book is totally worth it!!)

Today, i seperated both set of keys! He's again taken the car.....

I think i'll complete the book today.

on its way..

2006-09-19T15:02:00.000+05:00

Today, i spent the morning getting my car boarded for transport. Surprisingly, the whole procedure takes about 15 minutes..... The actual procedure that is! The waiting and all takes about 4 hours :S which ate up my morning.

Went to get the car today, and the first thing i noticed was....... a FLAT!!! i mean, things cant happen without screwing up! now can they. Ol murphy still breathes somewhere :@

So anyways, with no other option, i changed the tyre... and took the car out. One thing i love about a corolla... it is air-conditioning! It rocks! My journey from tariq road to NLC headquarters was pretty uneventful.. when i reached there however, the contact person wasnt there. Turns out... he'd gone to hyd in the morning. Thats what the wait was about.. figuring out he was in hyd :D Khair, someone i got in touch with, got in touch with him, who inturn got in touch with his staff and told them to process my case. That way, i got the car boarded without much paperwork, otherwise, just obtaining an NOC is hell.

In the meanwhile, while waiting for people to get in touch, i thought i'd go get the puncture fixed, then decided to have lunch... and subsequently dropped in at Agha's with a single purpose.. a Henny's sandwich! I head Inspirex go on n on about it and thought why not have it. Picked up a BBQ sandwich and a Strawberry fanta, and ate in the car. The sandwich was... fresh and yummy. Though with a pretty steep price tag. Satisfied, my next stop was again NLC where thankfully the word had come through and my car was processed.

Then i realized another fact (because of which i just love a Corolla's AC), it was raining FIRE out today!! I got dehydrated almost! The searing heat hitting my face felt.... well... like searing heat hitting my face!

Now, im sitting at the office, where thankfully the net is working. I need to get back to work, and do some of it... My boss has been pretty accomodating so far, just hope he remains like that.... I need one more day late, to see-off my mom n brother tomorrow.

And im still unplugged at home :(

interrogation

2006-09-18T17:32:00.000+05:00

One of the things i hate the most, is people asking me to be specific about something they're asking of me. It feels like i'm being interrogated like a criminal or something. I'm the kind of person who likes to have a certain degree of freedom in whatever i do, so that if i find a more optimum way to do it, i can.

I believe this habit stems from being unpredictable. I can not follow a prescribed path for too long. Its just not me. I gravitate in life in response to a lot external forces, many of which i have no control over. Some tend to be more direct than others, however, these are still those which affect my daily routine more than anything else. These forces that i talk about can be vibes from people all the way to traffic jams forcing me to change route.

Let me explain with a very recent example. I was on my way home from work, when my brother called and asked me get something for him to eat, till then, my plan was to get home and sleep.. but it altered. Even though he was a force, it was very direct and i do not include that in my list of forces. From there on in, i changed route to go through clifton, when suddenly, while crossing the neighbourhood of my grandparents, i decided to stop by. I got out of the car, and starting walking up their driveway, where a cousin of mine was coming down with her kid, to get some work done. Here's how our conversation went

Her: Kuch aur maangti khuda say, to wo bhee mil jaata aaj
Me: Howcome?
Her: I was thinking of calling you, because grandpa is not feeling well, and was strugling with the decision for a long time, since you were busy in your packing and all.
Me: *all smiles*

The force here, was her will, (and my grandpa's as i later learned) to have me there, and somehow i gravitated to that spot. Now call me crazy, but this happens a lot to me. I can usually even sense when my cell phone is going to ring and pick it up just moments before a call connects. Its kind of a sixth sense going in overdrive.

I've kinda lost the will to write about what pestered me to write this post in the first place... suffice to day, a certain person X (not inspirex) has this habit of cross questioning me whenever they ask for something from me, and even though i never say no to him, this line of questioning really boils me. Today, my bubble burst on him and i really let him have it! It goes something like this

X: Where are you now?
Me: Office
X: Then why can i hear background noise? Your in the car? Are you going somewhere? where are you coming from? Why are you in the car? Arent you supposed to be at office?
Me: I am at office, just came down to get lunch.
X: Lunch? Where are you going to get lunch? Did u take the car? You took the car na? Where'd you get lunch from? How far is it from your office?
Me: %$^#$%$^&

*the above conversation is not verbatim! I think my anger shorted some circuits in my brain and i cant rem what the hell he said*

unplugged

2006-09-18T11:12:00.000+05:00

This weekend, i was unplugged!! Aarrgghhh! the horror of it all!

What i learned in the last two days was this..... im a net-addict! and i keep needing my fix!

It got so bad, that i started getting online from my mobile (even though it doesnt work that well) just to get a fix! Logged into my mailbox, checked out the number of unread mails... n logged out! Forget reading blogs from there!

Then i came into work this morning... all happy that i'll get to get online... and my damn PC was disconnected from the network!!! i almost screamed today! Got the admin guy to checkup my connection and now finally (shukar-allah) its working!!

Read a lot of blogs, commented a whole lot! And now posting!! Its so good 2 be online!! yayy!

*damn.. now i better get back to work!

the big day

2006-09-17T01:59:00.000+05:00

We finally moved today! When i say move, i mean, we vacated the previous house, i moved into my new 'digs' and mom n brother have assumed gypsy status till their departure on wednesday.
The day started out at 8 AM, just like any other.... when i got out of my room, i realized.... that it was gonna be the last day i wake up in that room. (i had been realizing such things a lot lately).. quickly took in what/how that room had been to me.. my 'sanctuary' for the last six years... as well as my bed n breakfast.

The packers/carpenters arrived as usual at 9:30, as they had been for the last two weeks. All credit goes to them for 'efficiently' packing up everything... My mom n brother just packed their rooms, i only packed up my clothes, the rest was done by them.

The container we had ordered came through at 11 AM, almost two hours later than scheduled... which gave us time for some last minute packing.. Also, that morning, we ordered a forklift to assist in loading the container... anyone planning a intercity move in the coming times... do yourself a favour and get a forklift! It reduced the time n breakage for the stuff manifolds!

At around 4 PM, my stuff, which was just to be moved crosscity, was loaded on another truck and the driver became anxious to leave. I handed over the rest of the packing/closing over to my mom n the packers, and left with the truck to unload the stuff at my new digs. I have now, officially, crossed the (so called) bridge of karachi, and live on not-defence side now.

Brought my stuff over, had them haul it up all three flights to my room, and then started some cursory unpacking. It was then that i realized that a) i was dehydrated, and b) was hungry!!! So grabbed a friend of mine, and we headed over to have some lunch. By the time i was back, i thought i'd just crash!! Almost did, before KESC decided to be a darling and shut off the power supply... and then the mosqitoes attacked! I had no candle, no mosquito coil and very irritated... then in the dark, continued unpacking some more stuff, found a candle i had stashed in my stuff 'just in case', lit it.. and proceeded to take a bath! Then changed and just as i was about to leave... the lights came back on! By this time, i was too pumped with my recent shower, so left. Did some visiting... had a late dinner with my bro (who i picked up on the way) and came back home at 1:30 AM! Its now 2:16 AM... and i just dont wanna sleep.... :S

I think i'm way past tired now...........

realization

2006-09-14T18:54:00.000+05:00

coffee is a life-saver!

enuff said :D

blogwordoftheweek: right

2006-09-13T10:29:00.000+05:00

I have a right...

... to want good things in life
... to make more money than i am now
... to enjoy the finer things in life
... to buy a Porshe Boxter
... to say no sometimes
... to not be judged
... to be in a bad mood
... to shout out at the world
... to curse when things screw up

I want those rights!! Am i wrong to want them? Is it too much to ask?

sleepless nights

2006-09-12T16:32:00.000+05:00

For the last two weeks, i (nor anyone else in my family) have'nt been able to sleep much. The house being in a constant state of turmoil kinda ruins the peaceful sleep you get.

Two weeks of tossing and turning finally caught up with me yesterday, when i zonked out for 14 hours straight (from 8 PM to 10 AM)! Thank god didnt have much to do then or i'd be in for an earful today!

Mom = Non-refundable

2006-09-12T16:28:00.000+05:00

Funny things happen when your SMS'ing and some of the keys stop working. My mobile phone, when giving suggestions for words using T9, auto completes words as well.

Yesterday, i was tying a message to my cousin saying "Im with mom" and somehow,
it came up as "Im with non-refundable".

Needless to say, my mom is pretty happy with my mobile phone since it speaks the truth!!

Sep 11

2006-09-12T14:45:00.000+05:00

Being a Pakistani, September 11th was always special. The day the founder of our country left earht to join God above, and watch (with horror?) at what his creation was to become...

Five years ago, it took on another meaning. Whats most interesting to note is how the world reacted to it, and thankfully, blogs came to the rescue, offering real-world opinions on how Sep 11 changed their lives. Check out Aisha's and Moz's post on Sep 11, as how muslims are/were treated in the US. They're scary!

Also, Mitch Albom wrote a great article in Detriot Free Press on missing the day before sep 11, which im totally in favour of.

Another point of controvery! Americans, being politically correct and anti-racial (what a joke!!) want a seperate line for Muslims at all major airports!! Now this really ticks me off! I mean why? Why is terrorism in their minds only about what Arabs did to them? (Answer: Because their goofy president tells them they're on a War against Islam and not on a war against terror in a recent speech!!!!) What about the Okhlahoma city bombings? wasnt that terrorism? What about what their soldiers are doing world over? Isnt that terrorism?!?!!

Since im already on the topic, there was this one saying i heard which has really clicked with me and i'd like to share:

"There's only one difference between a dictator and a hero. Who won"

(Truman was a hero because he bombed the hell out of Hiroshima and Nagasaki)!

Its a strange/irritating feeling

2006-09-12T13:16:00.001+05:00

when you cant post comments on your own blog :@

*blogger beta! Dont make me hate you*

cleaning out my drawer

2006-09-11T13:09:00.000+05:00

This morning, before coming into work, i sat down to clean my drawers, so that they could be packed. This morning, i also found out that i had accumulated a lot of stuff which i didnt need anymore, and some... which i was searching for what seemed like ages!

Some of the stuff stashed in there were

Medicines! I never knew i had that many medicines stashed away, strips of Panadol CF and Postan dating back four to five years, from which only one or two tablets were missing. These two were my staple during the days of university, when the common cold was indeed very common
Receipts! I've amassed a huge collection of ATM and Credit card reciepts over the years, which i had been faithfully storing in my drawer lest i need them in the future. Most of them have now faded to the point of becoming just plain scraps of paper hence they're now part .
Business Cards! I never knew i knew that many people! As a rule, i dont keep business cards in my wallet (its already too fat) so all those cards make their way to my drawer.
Coins! What can i say... i dont keep change.
Notes! Written to friends, gotten from friends, made me relive the glorious university days (even though for a short while) when we passed them around! (SMS still hadnt caught up)
National ID Card!!! Hey! i was looking for that!
Some other ID cards! More strolling down memory lane...

Most of them however, are now in a big bag marked "Dispose"! And here i thought, i'd be needing a whole box to move my drawer stuff!

living out of a box

2006-09-10T15:05:00.000+05:00

When your moving from one house to another, you pack up everything you have into boxes. By everything... i mean everything!

Thursday, i spent in packing up my room.. put all my clothes in boxes and almost taped them shut before realizing.... im still going to be here for another week! The result? Now i have no clothes out and too lazy to unpack the stuff! So, im living out of a box now, while im still at my own place.

Thankfully, im not alone! Another friend/blogger is going through the same dillema, having packed up kitchen stuff, and now has to unpack, use, wash, repack everytime they have something to eat.

addicted

2006-09-10T14:23:00.000+05:00

I have a confession to make.......

Im addicted.... to playing "Midnight Pool" on my mobile phone! Even though the version i have is in German!

How do i know im addicted? I woke up today at 6 AM to goto the washroom, took my mobile phone with me, started it up, played (and won!!!) two games, came back to my room and slept again! (And to think i used to make fun of a friend who used to wake up in the middle of the night for a smoke :S)

day(s) off

2006-09-09T21:22:00.000+05:00

I took two days off from the office, to help out in the moving part. One day was gonna be coordinating the packers and packing up my room, the second was gonna be filling up the container.

Later i got to know the container would come next saturday!! So much for proactiveness. Thought i'd goto office today, but that didnt pan out.. If you have a chutti.. enjoy it. Did some more of the packing coordination.

Got a major muscle pain (rupture?) in my back thats ristricting my left arm and neck movement :( its been there two days and i'm definately not liking it! Brufen's become my newest best friend!

Last night, i made a major breakthrough in a project im working on!! After a week of working out solutions (banging my head against the wall) i finally came across one!! Yay 4 me! Thats another reason i didnt goto office today, wanted to work out this project.... Advanced it quite a bit and feeling quite good about it!

Now i gotta get back to it... laters!

declaration

2006-09-07T17:43:00.000+05:00

Hmm... I should've put this declaration at the end of every paper i gave till now. Truly hilarious!

Students Declaration at the End of Answer Paper

"I hereby declare that answers written above are true to the best of mine and my friend's knowledge and I claim no responsibility whatsoever for any mistakes. Whatever I have written is truly fictitious and any resemblance with the subject matter is purely coincidental."

Source: Forwarded through friend

w-t-f?

2006-09-06T16:46:00.000+05:00

My mouse was just replaced, without me even being asked, by a co-worker who had the same type as mine. Im thinking.. W-T-F?!

Now, im torn between what to do?! Should i report it, make it an issue? Should i let it go? Should i confront him? He's already come up to me and casually remarked "mouse phir kharab hogaya?" on seeing i was having difficulty using it.

I make it a point to open up n clean my mouse every few weeks, just so its easier to use... and my original mouse was in very good condition :( Unfortunately, i've already opened and cleaned this one as well, destroying all 'evidence'. But still im steamed!!! The nerve of that guy!!!!

aarggghh!! I miss my mouse :(

blogwordoftheweek: decisions

2006-09-06T12:26:00.000+05:00

I have to write... but what should i write about?

My last couple of posts have been about decisions (here, here and here) and here i am once again... deciding what to post. Is'nt that a decision in itself?

poisoned

2006-09-05T13:15:00.001+05:00

Ever wonder what its like to die slowly of carbon mono-oxide (CO) poisoning? You know, the kind where you lock yourself up in your car, with a pipe blowing the exhaust inside, and leave the car running?

I dont anymore! I got my dose of CO poisoning yesterday, and actually paid Rs. 90 for it!! Here's what happened..

I took a rickshaw home from the office, since my brother had the car.. the stupid rickshaw i selected had a leak in its exhaust pipe, and would blow the exhaust into the back cabin from under the drivers seat, instead of out the pipe like its supposed to. I didnt actually notice it, till the driver revved up the engine and i was surrounded in smoke! I was inhaling the damn smoke for all of the half hour ride. By the time i noticed it, it was already too late and i was almost home, so thought... to heck with it!

But as soon as i got home, all that CO knocked me right out... i staggered upto my room, and hit the bed with a thud.. waking up 3 hours laters with a massive headache and still having my shoes on! And to think i take the rickshaw because i cant stand the LPG smelling taxi's!

*mental note: If committing suicide by exhaust, eat plenty of sleeping pills beforehand
*mental note 2: Inspect the damn rickshaw before entering it!

I have to go home by rickshaw again today.... im hoping it'll be a better one this time.

Update (later that evening): I took a taxi.

roasted

2006-09-04T17:08:00.000+05:00

You know you cant work any longer when, even in this simmering heat, the temperature outside is cooler than inside!

Thanks to our ever efficient KESC, the powers out again, and has been so for the last 3 hours. That means the AC doesnt work, the office is still shut air tight because the generators outside would blast our ear drums, and with 7 people here, the temperature has just gone up n up! To the point that the fan is now more of an irritation than a blessing!!

Cant wait for quitting time!!!!!

*ofcourse, since i cant work, that doesnt mean i cant blog ;)

On a brighter note, ever since the attendence policy got implemented, today would be the first day i will actually clock my full working hours (maybe even go above a little). Yaayyy!!

of a flower, choices, and self-doubt

2006-09-04T16:32:00.000+05:00

I snapped this picture in my garden the other day. A single flower which successfully bloomed where all others around it had failed to, and it forced me to think about certain issue's i've been having troubles with.

For starters, it was being the first one in my family to get into IT. I was always apprehensive about that, even though im good at what i do. I studied 6 years to become a software engineer, only to switch tracks just as i graduated and get into consulting. Now this field, in itself, is new, and we're Pakistan's ONLY local company in this business. So once again, i'm alone. I've always had this inner voice telling me to get into the corporate life, with all its trappings. Somehow, it seemed very interesting to me, and afterall, everybody was going for the corporate lifestyle now.

This flower got me thinking, that maybe the way to shine isnt by being with the crowd, its by growing to your fullest potential, even when everything around you is very different from who you are. Otherwise, this flower would've been just another one in the bunch, and i would've hardly noticed it... right?

Am i making sense? Or am i just trying to pacify myself, justifying to myself, the choices i've made which led me to this point? Baz Luhrmann, in his song, Sunscreen, very aptly says "you choices are half chance, just like everybody else" so its no use to berate myself over them. Is it?

vindication

2006-09-03T21:56:00.000+05:00

Its so nice to hear from someone else that you do something well. Its a great ego boost!

This time, it was about my driving. Both my parents have declared i'm a rash driver, don't pay attention to the road, and try to break every rule in the book. I, ofcourse, say otherwise. Thankfully, a lot of my extended family agrees with me, so i've still got my car and driving privileges. When i drive, i dont consider the car anything separate, rather, i consider it an extension to my body. This is especially easy with my mehran, since its small enough and im large enough. But i digress.

This time, it was my dads elder brother, technically my tia, but who i call chachu. No reason for that, except that the name's stuck since childhood. Anyway, his daughter enlightened me a couple of days ago that her father thinks my driving is "safe", and that i "pay attention to the road". You have no idea how good that felt!! yayy for me. *touchwood*

On a side note, now im paranoid that i'll have an accident pretty soon, which follows every time i have someone compliment me. I didn't write on this as soon as i heard it for this reason alone.

Anyone know how to perform 'nazar utarna'?

shudder

2006-09-03T01:52:00.000+05:00

I got pointed to this news article through Sobia's blog, and a shudder went down my spine as i read it!

Talk about hysteria! A man got 15 years in jail because he played paintball in 2000, 2001 and sent a consignment of paintball pellets back to Pakistan. I wonder when was the last time any 'gora' got arrested because of playing paintball?!

blonde or brunette?

2006-09-02T17:08:00.000+05:00

brunette!! most definately!

While in Paksitan, we dont have complete blondes, we do have a lot of streakings done.. my personal choice of hair color on women is dark (black or brown).

And im not alone, according to a study done by Sunsilk in the UK, more and more men are choosing brunettes over blondes. Why? Read the answer here.

unplanned celebration

2006-09-02T01:07:00.000+05:00

my nephew turned two today! yayyy!!

he's such a CUTIE! Just starting to talk, a total ball of energy, and im so in love with him and his sister!! We gathered together at my dadi's place for the celebration. It was all very last moment, which ofcourse meant that we had a blast!. Last year, his first was celebrated at Pizza Hut, and even though it kind of fun at times.. overall, it was pretty boring.

After the celebration, i stopped two of my cousins back, and decided we'll go dinner. We used to have a 'cousins night out' with the whole gang, but have recently realized.... the rest dont wanna hang out with us. Which is fine, since we dont want them around either, we're happy being the three of us. We went off to Ming Court at Khadda Market, which by the way, has delicious food!! Ordered Hot n Sour Soup, Chicken Chowming, Sweet n Sour Prawns and Chineese fried rice. They have such huge quantity, that even b/w the three of us, we couldnt finish it.

This time, i got tricked into paying the bill, as my cousins very simply stated, 'we dont have money' (damn it! next time, ask them first!!!). Thankgod for credit cards!! Saved face today.

After food, i tend to get a little high, (i dont really need to do drugs, i get high just after every meal, especially a heavy one :p) so i started picking on my cousins! LoL! poor souls! But it was fun! it became a free for all, with everyone getting in points on whoever, whenever they could.

Then we left, and decided to take the scenic route (through sea view) home. During the ride, the radio started playing really cool songs, coupled with the mohaal, and the 'post-food-high' it made for an awesome experience! We noticed the port shower was on, and decided to go check it out.

It was *so* awesome!!! And relaxing! There's something about watching the shower spray water all around, and the lights bouncing off it, making shapes and what not.. the wind blowing through your hair, just tingling you, nipping at you! AWESOME! I feel so refreshed right now! i think im gonna make that a regular thing now.

All in all, a very exciting evening! However, it was marred by the fact that my mom called my cell 8 times in half an hour, and since it was on silent, i didnt hear it!!! :( So she's pissed at me right now. Hopefully she'll be all okay tomorrow morning.

Ab me off too bed, Good night.

Late for office........

2006-08-31T11:10:00.000+05:00

This morning, i woke up at 8 went through the usual routines, got ready by 8:45 and was about to leave when i remembered i had to take my brother with me. Tried waking him up, but he wouldnt... so waited.... n waited..

n guess what!! he woke up 20 minutes later saying, "bhai, you go, i'll take the bus!" (aarggghh!!)

so i grab the keys, go down to my car, put the keys in the ignition, turned it, and....

nothing! :S

WTF?!? did some initial diagnostics, and learned that the battery had died over the night! which was pretty weird since, nothing was left open!!

two days ago, the car battery had died as well, the lights were left on by my brother. It started a while later though, but the battery water had depleted quite a bit. I did ask him to refill it, but being my brother he didnt and i also forgot about it.

Now im in a fix.. its 11:30, im still at home, and the car wont start...

the day after tomorrow

2006-08-31T01:07:00.000+05:00

A wonderful movie depicting one of the *possible* scenarios of global warming.. the coming of the next ice age. Only, they sped up the whole process to less than a week, rather than the 5 to 6 hundred years it takes.

A very old move too.. so why am i writing about it now? There are three reasons for this post (see! there's a reason to my madness afterall).

Reason 1: It was playing on Star Movies right now, and i had it switched on.

Reason 2: There's a scene in it where its raining really heavily in new york and the whole streets are clogged with water, cars are drowned and people are walking towards safety. The first time i watched it, i was horrified at how those people would be feeling, and what would i have done if i was in their place. This time, i knew. The events of the week before last (the rain week as i call it) flashed before my eyes, watching cars almost fully drowned, people being electrocuted, and myself wading through knee deep water just to get my car started. This time, it reminded me, that no matter what, the will of the people is what makes them survive even the greatest odds. And it is the collective will of the people, which makes order, even out of the worst chaos! Watching all the chaos in the movie, i kind of felt proud of my fellow city dwellers at how they had faced the real life drama and survived!

Reason 3: There's a character in this movie, the girlfriend of Jack's son, who was an over-acheiver all her life, planning everything around her to get into the top college, and get a top degree. They're sitting in the library, after the wave has hit the city, and she says, "All that planning for nothing". This line, rather the concept behind this line, hit me like a rock on my face the first time i watched it. And subsequently, i watched all my "planned life" go down the drain due to uncontrollable circumstances. I realized at that point, that life means making the most of out it while trying to fulfill your responsibilities to everyone around you, taking risks and feeling alive rather than just planning and following your plan. True, everyone suggests that, but in the end, we hardly follow what we plan.

Its 1 AM in the morning, im sleepy, and this post just had to be done.. dont know if im making sense or not, but i wanted to get it out.

blogwordoftheweek: end

2006-08-30T10:30:00.000+05:00

Change marks both the beginning and the end!

This weeks blogword fits in perfectly with the theme i've been carrying out on my blog, regarding the changes in my life.

What will this change end in the current state of affairs i call life?

living with family
living on the clifton side of the bridge
living in the same community for over 16 years
sharing a bathroom with my brother (and getting in countless fights over fogetting to unlock his door)
coming late to office (a direct consequence of point number 4)
managing household finances
monthly groceries routine
bi-weekly fruit shopping (i now how to pick ripe fruit!!!)
going home on time (still a question mark)
sneaking into the house when your late
homecooked meals (though still available from relatives places)
and many more....

On the other hand, this also marks the beginning of a new era, such as

living on my own
sharing a room with an unknown person (always wanted to know what that felt like)
going out whenever i want (day OR night)
eating out more
getting a much more active social life
cant think of more... :S

Cool! This is the first time i've listed these things down! Damn it! its gonna be FUN!

Template Change

2006-08-29T15:58:00.000+05:00

I hereby title the second half of year 2006 as the "Half-Year of Change".

Since everything is taking an new turn in my life, i decided to go and do some more changes! This time, to my blog template, leveraging the new features in Blogger Beta. (thanks to uXuf)

It doesnt offer anything new, since i've just ported the widgets i used before to the new template. And i've been wanting to use this 'cleaner' template for quite sometime now. However, one thing which has changed "under the hood" is how feeds are retrieved on the sidebar. I used to use a script called feed2js, but now i use the feature provided within blogger.

One thing which still doesnt work, and i dont know how to fix it.... The google adsense links on the sidebar.. somehow, they're not being retrieved.. which leads me to believe that maybe the stat collecting links might not work either.. oh well, such is the price of change.

One note to other bloggers willing to check out the new features in Beta, when you add content, it will most of the times give you an error, or get stuck displaying the 'Saving...' label. Just ignore it, since it does the work in the background just fine.

Too much stuff

2006-08-29T12:53:00.000+05:00

Even though we dont realize it, over the years we manage to gather a whole lot of stuff which form what we call 'homeliness'. You only realize that when

Your spring cleaning or clearing out the attic/garage
Your moving

Which is how i came across this fact that, WE (read mom), have entirely TOO MUCH STUFF!!

I spent nite before last with my brother packing up the drawing room, it took us the better part fo 5 hours and 8 cartons before we managed to come out saying "we did it". (actually, we didnt to it completely, still have 3 cabinets/2 cartons to go through, but we ran out of cartons so that was it).

This is the first time i counted up how many plates/glasses/cups/bowls/spoons and what not we have. Suffice to say, if i ever have to throw a party of 50 people.. i wont be needing to borrow crockery/cutlery.

And thats just the drawing/dining rooms!! the whole rest of the house is to follow suit!

Good thing dad arranged for a five to ten professional packers/movers to help out with the stuff, or it would've been HELL! God bless you Dad!

Change - A constant

2006-08-28T10:00:00.001+05:00

Only recently, i ranted about a change in my workplace... and what was my initial reaction to it. Mashallah, im all settled in my new place now, which i think is a bit better, since now i get to interact with the people more. I used to be at the end of the office and mostly lost in my own little world. So that was good.

Just as i was settling into that change, another one happened! And this was TOO sudden.

My mom informed me three days ago, that she's decided to join my dad in Islamabad! She was just there for a week, to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary (mashallah) and this bombshell dropped when she came back.

Now, i knew we had to move eventually, the house we're currently living in is marked to be demolished and we were served the eviction notice quite sometime back. But i was under the impression the move was going to be localized in Karachi. Now its suddenly intercity. My brother will be going with mom to islamabad as well, while i'll be staying back.

Why dont i join them? Two reasons... actually, just one reason. I have to finish off my university work (which is at its last stage) before i can actually leave the city. Oh yea.. and work. :D

Whats going to become of me then? Well, step number 1 is.. find a place to stay. I have the option of staying with relatives, and i *so dont* wanna exercise that option. Whats the fun of being alone in the city, if you still have to play by the rules... that too, someone else's? My parents offered a certain level of freedom to me, and we had a 'no interrogation' policy at home about each others well being, if we were home at night at a decent time.

Im looking for a room to myself, probably in one of the navy messes, which will allow me some degree of freedom and a taste of what life on my own is like.

And so I predict, this blog is going to take a new turn as well (yet more change), along with my life.

Google Error

2006-08-28T09:28:00.000+05:00

I switched to blogger beta... which, surprisingly, was not all that better. Now usually, betas offer something excting, (though uXuf disagrees), and that too... beta's by google. Through blogger though, they've missed the mark by MILES!

Not only is the new features unappealing to us power users, our current templates, on which countless number of hours have been devoted, mixing and matching stuff from everywhere, are not supported on the new system (yet).

How is that supposed to make our life better? Has google finally started turning into a big corporate master of evil? (like the current corporate master of evil, microsoft).

Why did i start this rant? Well, because basically i cant view my blog right now, thanks to a Google Error Page showing up! The one thing i hated about orkut may now become a reality for blogs as well. For some reason, the coding at google, supposedly robust coding, always makes ways to fail when being used by us mere mortals... resulting in...

Google

Error

Server Error
The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.
Please try again in 30 seconds.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!! I wanna view my blog!!!!!!! :@

Power Trip

2006-08-26T12:11:00.000+05:00

Dont you just hate it when people in your workplace go on their petty power trips every so often?

There's this guy in my office, he's in an administrative role, and the daily attendence comes under him. This is the first month that we have the daily attendance being done in our office, which ofcourse means that this is the first month im not gonna get my full pay. If we miss more than 8 hours a month of work, we get fined one days pay. This month.. i've missed around 16 hours.

Coming back to power trips, this guy started stating
"If you dont fill the attendance every day, im going to mark you abset"

"If you dont fill out-time every day, im going to report you and deduct your pay"

and what not!! I just hate it when people get all power-y over such stuff!

hypocrisy

2006-08-25T11:11:00.000+05:00

The latest fad in the world... everyone goes on and on about how 'bad' they've got it.

Hindu's shout out...
Christians shout out...
Muslims shout out...

but above all... Jews shout out the loudest. And that too about how their ancestors were killed by the so-called Halocaust, over 50 years ago, while at the same time, performing their own little genocide in palestine and now lebanon!

This rant is based on the news of the Jew community, and Israel shouting out against a restaurant which chose 'Hitlers Cross' as its name.

Here's the hypocrisy.....

"The incident exposes the lack of understanding of the present generation about the atrocities of the past and the need to educate them about crimes against humanity," federation chairman Jonathan Solomon said.

Am i to assume, taking over Arab land forcefully is *not* a crime against humanity? Expelling people from their own homes is *not* a crime against humanity? Bombing the hell out of them is *not* a crime against humanity? Killing innocent civilians just because they happen to be of the same race as their 'enemy' is *not* a crime against humanity?

If the above is true, then the Halocaust was also *not* a crime against humanity! If it isnt.. Israel needs to be tried for crimes against humanity itself!

Interpretations...

2006-08-24T14:26:00.000+05:00

Its so funny sometimes what they write in classifieds these days... whether just to shortage their space, or to get too much through.. many people often end up making serious errors in judgement.

This email i got portrays the same thing.... and i seriously laughed my ass of reading it!

These four classified ads appeared in a Kuwaiti newspaper on four Consecutive days. The last three hopelessly trying to correct the first day's mistake.

MONDAY:
For sale - SK Shah has a sewing machine for sale. Phone 2555-0707 after 7PM and ask for Mrs Mani who lives with him cheap.

TUESDAY:
Notice: We regret having erred in SK Shah's ad yesterday. It should have read, "One sewing machine for sale cheap. Phone 2555-0707 and ask for Mrs Mani, who lives with him after 7PM."

WEDNESDAY:
Notice: SK Shah has informed us that he has received several annoying telephone calls because of the error we made in the Classified ad yesterday. The ad stands correct as follows: "For sale - SK Shah has a sewing machine for sale. Cheap. Phone 2555-0707 after 7PM and ask for Mrs Mani who loves with him."

THURSDAY:
Notice: I, SK Shah, have no sewing machine for sale. I smashed it. Don't call 2555-0707 as I have had the phone disconnected. I have not been carrying on with Mrs Mani. Until yesterday, she was my housekeeper but she quit.

blogwordoftheweek: Inspire

2006-08-23T17:43:00.000+05:00

What inspires me the most to acheive *anything*?

My dad!

The look on his face when i break the news to him. The feeling of immense joy (the only feeling of joy i've ever known) when he says "well done beta".

Thats is what inspires me!

I love you dad!

That.... and being a techie, the built-in desire to try out any/everything new!

Suitable

2006-08-23T00:02:00.000+05:00

I was chatting with my gramps today, basically me and my brother, and he started off on the same topic which caused me much grief just recently. About when am i gonna get hitched.

My reply was the standard... "when i find a suitable person to spend my life with"

To which he asks "and what is suitable?"

That got me into thinking what qualities i would look for in the future Mrs. Mansoor. Would looks be up there? Would she just need to be of a a good nature? What?? I thought i had it pretty well thought out before, but today, i was stumped *yet* again.

My brother was not so tongue tied.. his perfect mate is someone who can listen to him talk about world in general.. someone who understands him. According to my grandfather, thats a pretty tall order.

But the question still remains... what would be "suitable" qualities in my partner?! I dont think im really that matured to figure it out. Or maybe, it is maturity which has led to this indecision.. of not being in a dream state wanting impossible things?

The tides of change

2006-08-21T17:59:00.000+05:00

I'm being made to change my seat at the office. We're having new people coming in, and my spot was considered to be the most suitable for them. Aaarrggghhhh!!

This is BS! total BS!!!

Whats more BS is 'where' im being made to move... just in front of the bosses office!!! With no fan, and no privacy!!

I dont like this change...... i will probably adapt to it.. but not without a fight.

Why i love & admire Pervaiz Musharraf - The Person

2006-08-21T10:03:00.000+05:00

Many things have been written and said about the man who is currently the president of our country. Some of them have been very good, while some equally horrible. Some targeted towards his integrity as a president, some towards his keeping two positions at the same time, and yet some again towards his political agenda.

However, many people forget, that above all, he is a person, a human being. And as such, he has both qualities as well as flaws. And its these things, which describe him as a person.

George Washington, the first president of the United States, is remembered throughout the world for his line "I will not tell a lie, i cut down the cherry tree". It describes how he was as a person, describes his character and his courage.

The same goes for our current president. There have been many incidents, where the true image of the man called Musharraf is shown to the world. Yet, these have happened so innocently, so quietly that they've gone largely unnoticed by people, except for those who came in direct contact with him. And as an admirer and a believer, i will narrate just some of them here to show you why this man has become my Idol.

Before he was the president, in the days of being the Chief of Army Staff, he once paid a visit to one of his relatives, a naval officer residing in N.O.R.E. 1. As a rule, no one, except for residents and their notified guests are allowed to enter the presmises of the naval colony. Musharraf arrived at the gate in his civies, and in his private car. The guard at the gate stopped him, and the following coversation ensued.

Guard: Where will you be going?
Musharraf: To meet Commander XXXX. He lives at XXX.
Guard: And your name?
Musharraf: My name is Pervaiz Musharraf
Guard: Do you have any identification on you Mr. Musharraf
Musharraf: (searching his pockets for a card and coming up empty handed): No, i dont have my card on me.
Guard: Well, then you please wait while i call Commander XXXX and confirm your identity.
Musharraf: Okay (parks his car on the side).

The guard calls the Commander in question, and tells him a Mr. Musharraf is calling for him, the naval officer tells the guard to let him through, and the guard flags Musharraf to proceed on his way.

Does this story make you wonder why such an exchange even happened in the first place? Where people would use other peoples sources as 'bharams' to guards and policemen, here is this General, no less than the Chief of the Army Staff, who treats a lowly guard with respect and follows the rules. It wasnt even mentioned that he was an Army man, since at the time he was off-duty and out of uniform. When asked for his card, he even went as far as to search for it. Flag officers of the military (Generals, Admirals, Air Marshals and above) do not carry their own identification, as it is usually with their aide for any official business. And when he did not find it, he waited for his entrance to be confirmed by the naval officer he was going to visit. Above all, he had, as an official car, a Mercedes, however, when moving on his own, he still drove in his private, unmarked car. Many military and government officials here will let their private cars rust away happily once they were issued a official one.

This is just one of the incidents, where the simpleness, and the 'feet on the ground' behaviour annecdotes there are about this person, and this is the reason why people are in love with him.

P.S.
The next day, when the Chief of the Naval Staff found out that General Musharraf had visited NORE and was stopped at the gate, the guard in question was taken to task by the naval authorities.

Theres nothing quite as satisfying........

2006-08-20T03:06:00.000+05:00

as having a Zinger at 2 AM!!

Yummmmmm!!!!

Announcing... Pak Telecom Updates

2006-08-18T22:18:00.000+05:00

I started up a series here called "Pak Telecom Updates" in which i was writing up what the mobile companies in Pakistan were upto. Posting on their latest offerings, ad campaigns, and my opinions on their various services.

Now, I've decided to seperate that series, or rather promote that series, into a blog of its own. So.. without further ado... i present to you

PakTelecomUpdates.blogspot.com

Your source for the latest in Pakistan's telecom world.

I love this country

2006-08-17T16:03:00.000+05:00

and i hate this nation!

Very well put by MB on Karachi Metblogs in response to this post.

In a country made up of ignorant people mindlessly going on a path to destruction..... where everyones in it for their own benefit, largely ignoring everybody else, where appreciation for a job well done is lost amid the harsh words thrown at them for the tiniest fault... Where is the voice of sanity? Where, i ask, is civilized behaviour!

blogwordoftheweek: free

2006-08-16T21:16:00.000+05:00

I felt free when i took my first ride on the bus on my own... but then i was bounded by the bus routes.

I felt free when i entered university... but then i was bounded by their rules and regulations.

I felt free when i left university... but then i was bounded by my job constraints.

I felt free on weekends... but now im bounded by household chores.

I felt free when my parents left for the week to celebrate their anniversary..... but i was bounded by taking care of my brother.

But then, i realized, i was free to ride the bus when i wanted to, to enter the university of my choice, to leave even though i had a job at the university, to perform household chores because i want my family to live comfortably for the rest of the week, and to care for my brother because i truly adore him!

That... is true freedom!

Allah bachaye..

2006-08-16T21:07:00.000+05:00

Allah bachaye... har nazar behaya hai.
jo bura hai wo.. dil ko lagta bhala hai.

The lyrics from a new song Bad Boy - Remix, featuring Sophiya in the video, very succintly explains the whole teenage dillemma. The reason why every boy is looking for the 'bad girl' while every girls heart aches for the 'bad boy'! Not the ideal long term solution, but still very much a 'want' across the world.

The Green Desert

2006-08-15T16:46:00.001+05:00

Thar Desert
Originally uploaded by Grumpy_y.

I never knew this happened... ever!

Looks so damn beautiful!!! Next year, after the rains.. im gonna go visit this place!

Ad Teaser #8: think beyond dandruff - Updated

2006-08-15T16:46:00.000+05:00

The whole scheme just screams out Head n Shoulders! Dont u think?

Update 15th August - Guess i was right :-D

The quality of Biryani...

2006-08-15T11:59:00.000+05:00

Our staple lunch at the office consists of ordering biryani from the Premier Biryani chain of stores. The other day, a colleague went up to them as asked

Colleague: "A lot of places around here serve biryani, and at much cheaper rates too.. why should we come and eat yours"

The answer the guy gave, both simple and complex at the same time, gave me a food for thought (pun intended).

Premier Biryani: "Because you can eat our biryani even if its dark".

From that day onwards.. whenever i feel like having biryani... i order premier! Its Rs. 15 to 20 more expensive from the other retailers... but the confidence of even having it in the dark is worth the difference.

Dil se - (Haroon) : A moving experience

2006-08-14T16:59:00.000+05:00

This video came out two years ago... and everytime i watch it, i get very emotionally moved by it!

It starts with a couple reaching Karachi by train... dresses as kisans.. and greeted by thier relatives here... lots of tears and emotions there. The picturization is amazing!

It then moves on to cover the lives of these two... from the birth of their kid, his growing up, him at graduation, then his getting married and having a kid of their own.

The underlying message of the video is (as i see it) that thanks to this country, such a life, considered a dream by many, can be acheived!

Long Live Pakistan~! Make my dreams come true too

Happy Birthday Pakistan!

2006-08-14T16:33:00.000+05:00

We will not loose hope.. we will not let you down!

We are the ones who describe you... you are what describes us!

We will make you proud of us!

Happy 59th Birthday Pakistan! May you have many more!

Height of a Skyscraper

2006-08-12T15:20:00.000+05:00

I got this via email today, and it really made me wonder just how many ways there are so solve each and every problem in our life. Some being easy, some complex, some boring, some fun, some orthodox while others highly original. To be able to consider all of them, yet come up with the most simplest of solutions is the true pehchaan of a genious!

The email follows....
A teacher asks a student how he would measure the height of a very tall building using a barometer, evidently expecting to hear about the reduced air pressure being proportionate to the elevation ....

The student replies: Tie the barometer to a long string, lower the string till the barometer touches the ground, measure the length of the string !

However, what follows is much more interesting: This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed.

The student appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter to decide the case. The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics.

To resolve the problem it was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer which showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic principles
of physics.

For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought. The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn't make up his mind which to use. On being advised to hurry up the student replied as follows :

Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground. The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H = 0.5g x t squared. But bad luck on the barometer." " Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic to work out the height of the skyscraper ."

" But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper.

The height is worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force T = 2 pi square root (l/g)." " Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up ."

" If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building ."

" But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say to him 'If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper' ."

The student was Niels Bohr, the only person from Denmark to win the Nobel Prize for Physics.

I hate having a stiff neck!

2006-08-10T18:19:00.000+05:00

This morning i woke up with a stiff back which resulted in a stiff neck!! It was so bad, i couldnt even go to work in the morning. Took half off the day off... Still cant turn my head to the left without a pain shooting up like a lightening bolt up the left side of my body!

The pain is centered just below my neck... i dont know whats causing it.. since its been there on and off for about 2 weeks now. I think it has something to do with playing games on my mobile... :S

The painkiller i had in the morning is about to wear off.... and the pains coming back tenfold!! Time for another dose... anything you people can suggest to take care of this would be more than welcome!

.
.
.
.
aarrgghhh!! DAMN IT!! damn this pain to hell (isnt that where it orginally came from?).

What did the chicken say to me?

2006-08-10T15:17:00.000+05:00

"come eat at nandos for free!!!!!!"

I used to be a RadioActive 96 FM fan, where radio in karachi is concerned. Before that, it was CityFM 89. Then i shifted gears to RadioOne 91.

That last shift rewarded me today.

This afternoon, when i was coming in to work today (i was sick in the morning, thats why took half day off), i heard this promotion by Nandos on RadioOne giving two coupons of Rs. 1000/- to two people via lucky draw if you answer a question. The question was

Complete the sentence
"Birds of a feather...."

I immediately took out my mobile phone, and called, got connected and gave the RJ my answer.

"... flock together."

There! Piece of cake (nandos chocolate cake! yummyyy!). I was told that if i win, i'll be notified via phone by 3 PM. So that took care of that, i came in to office, and began with my work.

At around 2:49, the phone rang! I picked it up and here's how the conversation went...
Me: "hello"
Radio1: "hi, is this mansoor"
Me: "yes, this is mansoor"
Radio1: "this is beenish from Radio1 91 fm."
Me: "hi beenish"
Radio1: "hi mansoor, how are you doing"
Me: "im doing fine. whats up?"
Radio1: "i really hope you doing good and all excited, because you just won yourself a Rs. 1000 voucher from Nandos!!! Congratulations!"
Me: "cool!"
Radio1: "Are you excited?"
Me: "im esctatic!!!!"
Radio1: "great, then just hold on and we'll put you on the air in a while..."

then i went on air, and was doubly excited! i already love eating nandos! its double the fun when you eat it for FREE!! yaayyy!

Just as i put my phone down.. a friend of mine called and asked "so.. when are you treating us at nandos?" LoL!

Ad Teaser #7: Beauty Bachat aaraha hai

2006-08-09T16:37:00.000+05:00

This teaser had started making its rounds almost three weeks ago, but since the rain season took over, posting it was delayed.

Im convinced its another stint by either Fair and Lovely, Dove or one of their competitors.

blogwordoftheweek: Space

2006-08-09T11:18:00.000+05:00

"Give me my space!!" said the boy

"If you want space! Join NASA baby" replied the girl

"WHEEE!!!!"

Note to self: if only........

I hate doing finances

2006-08-04T11:27:00.000+05:00

I have doing finances~! Literally!!

I spent the last 8 hours trying to figure out what sort of a mess i've created for myself... :'( Since i was adamant of creating my own expense monitoring system and not using any of the pre-created ones (since i thought my requirements were different!) So much for that... i've now sucummed to managing them the way they're supposed to be managed.... it was a good (though mind-numbing) journey to reach here and am glad i took it up!

The good thing is though... i think i've figured it out, and am in not *too* much of a mess! yayy!

The role of the media

2006-08-03T11:43:00.000+05:00

UK has gone to battle with the media for making people "feel helpless" by broadcasting apocalyptic messages about the weather changes. One line in particular got my attention..

"The style of climate change discourse is that we maximise the problem and minimise the solution"

Isnt that what the media does always? How many articles have you come across where a solution was promoted? Solutions arent 'sensational' problems are! They spice up the copy and sell more papers! Even though, the media does have a very profound impact on the lives of the masses, its such irresponsibilities that make me wish for tighter controls! Where did all the unbiased opinions go?! Where did the 'truth will set you free' go?! Why put a spin on everything to make it sound more spiced up!?

On the flip side... it is also the fault of us readers, for *wanting* spice in our lives! Who would purchase a newspaper/magazine without some bold (and/or shocking) headline grabbing our attention. As readers, we tend to read more about disasters and gossip than actual truth.

blogwordoftheweek: Rain

2006-08-02T16:03:00.000+05:00

You are cordially invited on Tuesday the 1st of August to the inauguration of the biggest swimming pool in Karachi at the Clifton Underpass

RSVP
KPT

Text Credit: Teeth Maestro (on KMB) | Picture Credit: Geo News

Tech Corner #1: Windows XP logs on then logs off

2006-08-02T12:43:00.000+05:00

Im starting this new series on my blog which will concentrate on the myriad of problems (and their solutions) that we have with the wonderful windows XP! This is the first installment...

My brothers PC had a problem of logging off immediately after you put in the password and login. I tried using other accounts on the system, thinking maybe it was a problem with his profile, but that didnt work either. However, i could still access the machine using a network connection from my computer. Access meaning i could view his hard drive and remotely manage his PC using the Comptuer Management MMC panel in the Control Panel. So i did a websearch and this is the solution i found to it posted by Jeff.

I have found that viruses sometimes modify the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

"Userinit" = "C:\WINNT\system32\userinit.exe,"

and change it to

"Userinit" = "C:\WINNT\system32\<some other virus exe>.exe,"

This will cause the issue that you are having.  To fix it, simply
change it back.  Of course you will not be able to do this by logging
on.  You can use another machine (computer A) on the same network (or
borrow a friends computer to network with A) and use regedit.exe to
remote connect to the machine with the problem (computer B) and make
the change that way.  Just make sure that the Remote Registry service
on machine A is running.  That same service may have to be running on
computer B (can't remember) but you can start it using Computer
Management and remoting from A to B as well.  Anyway, that is a bit of
a different subject and there are many messages regarding that.

I feel sorry for those that have re-built machines because of this
simple issue .

Hope this helps,

Jeff

Thankfully, now i wont have to re-install his windows installation.

City Submerged!

2006-08-01T09:55:00.000+05:00

This wonderfully hilarious, sarcastic, truthfully narrated article caught my eye today while surfing through The News, a local english language news paper here. Give it a read! The picture i took yesterday, while going home from work. Its shows a road which is now a canal at clifton...

The News - International

City submerged! By Lubna Jerar Naqvi

Anyone familiar with Karachi will tell you that there is hardly anything to see in this city. But what many aren’t aware of is the recent vast archaeological project that the present government has undertaken to give archaeology a boost in the country. A single journey across the huge metropolis will explain this. You can hardly travel on any road in the city without coming upon several mounds of dirt and concrete and craters resembling the Grand Canyon; Karachi has just about everything except for civic amenities, rule of law and peace! But Karachi got its first monsoon showers in the last week of July and more excitement for the people. Mainly because...

For several months a majority of roads all over the city have been dug up. This extravagant project was undertaken mainly because the nazim says that he plans to fix all the underground pipe networks, including water and sewerage as all the pipes laid underground in the last half century are in a mess which explains the mixing of water and sewerage lines, and the spillage of waste onto roads. He and his merry men and women pledge to fix this mess no matter how long it takes, even if it means the worst maniac traffic jams in the city’s history, the other roads of the city will be worn out so that this team can divert their attention and continue this vocation there.

But sages say that our foreign-educated nazim is actually trying to unearth an ancient civilisation, so that Karachi can become an international archaeological landmark and then maybe it will get the attention it deserves from the authorities. While others say that our nazim believes that Rome was not built in a day, and so will leave the dug-up craters acting as roads to become slush with the rain to provide each locality with their own small water place.

And unfortunately this is exactly what happened when the monsoon deluge suddenly snuck up on Karachi this weekend. Well not really, the city government had been telling anyone who cared to listen for the past three months that efforts were being made to face the rainy season by cleaning gutters, hauling away filth and God only knows what else. But these rains proved the government claims wrong (again) and most roads have become perilous watery trenches; one look at I I Chundrigar Road, Karachi’s equivalent to Wall Street of Pak, with vehicles stuck in the craters below the murky water one can just imagine the state of the other roads of the city. And there is no knowing what a nightmare the under construction underpasses must look like. There is no knowing how many parts of the city are submerged and how many cars are sinking. Many cars and trucks have actually been caught on tape and relayed by GEO where these vehicles are seen stuck and sinking! Now where else but Karachi can one see such a spectacle?

Ahhh, and to top it off where would this city be if the KESC didn’t play its role. Many areas of the city have been without power for more than 24 hours (this is apart from the load-shedding), added to this are the dangerous dangling wires, which incidentally, if you were paying attention, are not so dangerous since there is no power. And then there is the hazard of falling (read chopped) weak (not always) trees. The interesting part is that many other cities, mainly in our beloved Punjab, face worse weather conditions, but the electricity stays put unless there is a vicious storm and trees are actually uprooted and flung across the roads (it has happened) taking the wires with them. Then there is no time limit to the outage but otherwise; one can enjoy the rain without drowning or being electrocuted in the rain like in our adored Karachi.

And now after the storm, so to speak, water stands and will keep on standing until the warm weather returns; filth which has miraculously surfaced despite the three month cleaning up operation will rot and stink until the nazim can haul his men out to do the needful. And speaking about the nazim, the poor man just recovered from the political imbroglio last week, and is now faced with this. But the brave man keeps insisting on the electronic media that things are under control, does he mean under water?

Everyone in Pakistan, especially Karachi, is a critic and we whine too much. Thankfully our leaders have always given us something to think and criticise, which is the mark of a healthy government and an equally spirited public. But too much rioting, as was observed recently, is not good for the already harried people of Karachi; don’t they have enough to keep them occupied with all the power breakdowns, maddening traffic jams, crime available at all hours of the day and night, bomb attacks, price hikes and unemployment. All characteristics of large cities all over the world! What more could a spirited people ask for? But the ungratefuls want more and we all know what happens to those who want more (with reference to Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist). So the government just has to roll up its sleeves and call meetings (which are extremely important to while away the long hot days) so that the thankless people are kept entertained. This was the only reason the government came up with its own intrinsic fetish — excavation. And why not? It is innovative and no-one has done it before. And what if a little water has accumulated in these holes, another form of entertainment as is evident from the scores of people haphazardly parking their vehicles all over the place to get a glimpse of the water filled ditches below.

But why criticise for the sake of it (and it seems I am one of them), accolades must be given to the nazim and his team because there are some roads which have been completed and they are exceptionally smooth, in fact masterpieces. But what is the prudence of digging up well carpeted roads and redoing them at the inconvenience of the people if no new underground pipes are inserted. Why waste the taxpayers’ money and time on futile work where it isn’t needed, and ignore the road adjacent that actually needed to be repaired? Surely there is a reason for this official enigma, which the likes of us the commoners will never be able to appreciate. If we did wouldn’t we be the elected ones?

Bring on the Pakoras~!

2006-07-31T11:54:00.000+05:00

Its been raining cats and dogs (including, i suspect, a large portion of all other animals) here in karachi since yesterday. And i've loved every bit of it! Even went out for a stroll yesterday with my mother around where we live.

It was beautiful! My mother very appropriately commented "Its like being at a hill station". Now, my community is very green, much greener than a lot of other places in karachi, and the rain, washing away all the dirt everywhere, made the trees and the grass seem all the more fresh!

Plus, China Creek runs just behind where we live... so we have our own little sea side, and it was lovely there with the rain n all.

When we got home, my mom made Pakora's and we celebrated in the evening with them, chilli garlic sauce and Mirinda! The rain was amazing, the pakora's were delicious! and me? I was one happy bacha!

The early bird gets the worm

2006-07-29T22:58:00.000+05:00

In this case.. my business!

I went out this morning to retrieve some documents from my fathers friend, on the way back.. decided to shop for a new TV. It wasnt something that sudden.. rather it was on the back of my mind for quite sometime. The time when i decided this was about 10:30 AM. I decided to head off to Saddar, specifically Regal Chowrangi, to atleast get some quotes.

What i saw appalled me! Even at 10:30.. almost every shop was closed! I almost turned back to go home, when i saw this one shop open... and thought to atleast have one quote. So i went upto the shop and started asking for the pricing. I was interested in getting a 29 inch Flatscreen tv for my home. Initially, i thought i'd go with Philips, since my last was a philips too.. however, my mother was seriously against it. I asked the shop keeper about it, and his remarks kind of mirrored that of my mother

"Dont go for philips, they're made out of cheap chineese parts, just think that if comparable tv's from other companies are 5 to 7 thousand more expensive, then they must be cutting corners somewhere"

Oh well, so much for keeping going for philips. I asked him what sets he had on hand and he showed me a samsung one, a sony one, and a nobel one. Tried them out one by one.... and what really took my fancy was the Samsung model.

It has really good sound quality, and sharp picture! But what really won me over was the 6+2 year warranty (6 year picture tube, 2 year parts) that came with it. The other models except nobel, which had a 9+3 year warranty, had lower durations, with philips at 3+1 and sony as 4+1.

Why didnt i go for a nobel one, if warranty was such an issue? Simple.. after seeing the results of samsung and sony... it just didnt compete :-D Its very good in the affordable category, and in itself, has a very good picture quality. Where it lagged behind was sound.

So anyway, coming back to the topic! That shop was open early in the morning... the salesman was polite and very helpful, exchanged my previous TV for a very good price, and after a little haggling, gave me a good price on it, and threw in a trolley at a discounted price, which resulted in me buying it from him *on the spot*. Now im a happy owner of a new 29" Samsung Plano TV.

There! that should be a lesson to all other shopowners! Open up early and you'll get a impulse buyer.

Have i finally lost it?

2006-07-28T18:34:00.000+05:00

Three days and counting... i've been head-deep in depression! Why?! even i dont know!

I think it has something to do with the fact that my cousin is getting engaged... It got me into thinking about my own 'plans' for the future... which are basically nonexistent. You see, till now, all of us were single or dating, and the whole marriage concept was pretty much alien!

Then he goes and falls in love, gets the parents involved, and presto! they agree! Thats the 'second' time that has happened in my family... but even thats not the case. Its the fact that he was actually able to do it!

Since yesterday, i've gone out and put comments on no less than 2 blogs asking them if they would marry me! LoL! for the first time in my life... i think i've fallen as low as i could go!

I think i'll go crawl in a hole now...... All of you are hereby welcome to dump shit on me....

And guess what! EVEN JOHN GOT A GIRL!!!! Now i think i'll go dig my whole a little deeper :(

Happy Day!

2006-07-27T16:02:00.000+05:00

Yesterday, for me, was a very happy day! On three counts actually!

Count 1:
I got my first raise! Yayyyy! I know its against the culture to discuss pay, so i'll just say it was a cool 33% increment! Also had my annual review done. Company policy is that the boss discusses our progresses with us before finalizing the report. This is what was said on my report.

Best Qualities
Techinical Ability
Learning Ability
Communication Skills

Points to work on
Personal Organization (i can live with that :-D)

General Comments
Asset to the company

Overall Result w.r.t Expectations
Above Expectations

The best part was the verbal compliments i got from my boss. You see, when i started this job, i was put in as a test subject. Im working as a consultant, and entered it straight after graduation. Now, generally, being a consultant means you have relevant experience and knowledge. Knowledge i had (having completed six years worth of degrees in Software Engineering) and the rest i learned (hence loved the learning ability in 'best quality'). Now 8 months afterwards, i think the boss is seeing he made a good choice. My employment here was also very sudden, i came to him looking for advice as to where should i apply. He was my teacher (and is also my research supervisor)... and somehow, during our talks, he hinted that there might be an opening here.. and i immediately took it up! Next thing i knew.. i was sitting here two weeks later as an employee. Yippee!

When the complete report was discussed, i was asked "are you okay with this report?", my reply:"....... you kidding! im FLATTERED!!" LoL!!! (i actually said dat)

Now onto count 2:
My cousin is getting engaged this weekend! This is the same one i spent the cousins day with. The bugger didnt even tell me anything about it! Yesterday, his sister comes upto me and says "I have good news".. im go.."what?" and she breaks it to me! I swear i was much more in shock than anything else. The poor girl thought i was dissapointed to hear it or something. LoL! I had to explain that the way i was acting was me being 'esctatic' !! LoL!

Count 3:
My dad came to karachi for two days! Yaay!! I love it when he's around.. i can then get away from the 'holding down the fort' responsibilities for the while when he's around.

Somehow, i maybe knew the day was going to be good. I was up at 7:30 without the alarms, ready by 8, and out of the house by 8:40!! After a long time i was at the office before 9:30! and most importantly, before the boss! Oh, also took dada for a checkup and went to a daawat in the night thrown for my other cousin who had recently got married.

Calling card woes

2006-07-27T10:36:00.000+05:00

I've heard frequent calling card horror stories from people around me, and therefore decided to keep my sanity and start using my mobile phone for all calls. Atleast they connect easily (unless ofcourse, if you have Mobilink).

So anyway, today, i got a call from a colleague to see if i could work the fax machine to send out an international fax. We dont have international dialing on that line, so had to use a calling card. I was given an ARY Telecom international dialing card of Rs. 100 from which to send a 1 page fax. Pretty simple i thought, afterall, being a techie at heart, i just couldnt refuse working with tech stuff.

So there i was, sitting in front of the machine, calling card in hand, thinking that it would just be a 5 minute thing... i dialed the number "1254"...... and got a busy tone. No matter, maybe its just a temp thing (the optimistic voice inside my head told me). Dialed again..... still busy.. hmm.. maybe the horror stories did hold some truth after all. After repeatedly hitting the redial key for around 15 times, i finally got through!! yaay! or so i thought :S I was so much into "hang-up / redial" routine, that when i finally realized i had their system on the other line... i had hung up already! aarrghh!

Once again, i started the routine... waiting to get through, and finally did after the 10th or 12th try. This time keeping my senses about, not wanting a repeat of the previous event. A pleasant(?) voice answered on the other end, asking me to dial in the card number... being restless after so much dialing... i started entering the number even before the voice was finished..... when i finally pressed '#'.... it said "incorrect card number"! Now i was sure i had entered the right number.... but what the hey... we all make mistakes.. so tried again. Again the voice said "Incorrect card number".... and hung up~! WTF !!!!!

Again dialed, waiting to get through.... got through (took another couple of tries..) and waited for the recording to finish, before punching in the card number... pressed '#' very sure that i had entered the correct card number... after a brief (10 second:S) delay (during which i feared that my call was disconnected) i got a playback that i had rs 100 in the card balance! yayy! phase one complete! Then i was to enter the destination number... somehow missed the double zero in the front of the number.... and entered only one zero. The voice informed me i had 2 hours for this call, and i was pretty surprised as i wasnt expecting more than 15 minutes. Infact very surprised at how cheap international calls were now.

Then it happened... I heard "your number is being dialed" and finally "aap ka milaya hua number durst nahi" in such a rude tone i almost sat up with a start.. and the line got disconnected..WTF!!!

since then, i've tried about 5 times to send the fax.. each time a new error popping up... "Connection Error", "Paper Jammed", "Connection Timeout" and what not!!!

The rs 100 card is down to rs. 44, and i STILL havent sent the fax! I dont think ARY service supports sending faxes! So there u have it folks.... Now i have one of my own calling card horror(humor?) story!

On a side note.... ARY is powered by Wateen Telecom... if this is the level of service they're providing.... i shudder at how the WiMax network they're bringing up all over the country will run :(

blogwordoftheweek: Believe

2006-07-26T11:51:00.000+05:00

I've joined this new exercise in creativity run by Jammie where she send outs a word every wednesday, to a group called Wednesday Wanderers, and we write something about it.. its fun and makes you think a little as well. Also offeres different perceptions on what a word means to different people.... So here i go with my first blogword entry.... Believe

I keep telling my best friend, N, to believe in herself. She's the kind of person who for whom nothing is impossible and everything can be achieved by a flick of her wrist. Yet, for some reason, she can not.... does not.. want to believe she is capable of that. Sometimes it just gets so irritating... something i *know* she can do, yet shes always asking for advice on how to go about it, and following whatever someone else tells her.....

After 3 years of continously trying to get her to believe in herself, i changed my strategy a little... this time, i wanted her to have little visible successes in her own life by doing things the way she wants... and to know she acheived them cuz she believed in herself!

5 years ago... she was afraid of even *thinking* she could do anything on her own... today, she's taking major life-altering decisions on her own! Now thats the power of believing!

You rock N!!

Not the only ones

2006-07-25T14:53:00.000+05:00

It seems that Pakistan is not the only country to have a car-import industry. Other countries such as Vietnam and Ethiopia also face the same problem. However, here are some interesting reactions to it.

Vietnam: Most automobile manufacturers have sharply reduced the prices of
their sedan models as a result of competition from imported second-hand
vehicles, according to the Viet Nam Automobile Manufacturers'
Association

Could our govt. or car manufacturers learn something from them? The merc decreased its price by SIX THOUSAND USD!! Even in vietnam's currency thats a big hunk of change!

Ethiopia: [On how fuel price increases affect imports] “I think this increment in the demand of the consumers will not deteriorate even if the price of fuel increases through time. Most of the consumers that come to me don’t have the capacity to drive the cars daily but they simply want the car for a show. It is hard to find such customers driving around the city every day, since they will not afford the fuel price.”

This hits so much more at home! Lets see where all this takes us. On a side note... Porshe (PORSH-uh) has opened up a new dealership in Karachi! Another international car name comes to Pakistan after BMW and Mercedes-Benz

And once again...

2006-07-25T14:51:00.000+05:00

... we find ourselves in a rut full of trouble for being a nuclear power. Forbes USA has just reported a german magazine saying that Saudia is working on their own Nuclear program with Pakistani help!

It [Cicero, the german magazine publishing the story] says that during the Haj pilgrimages to Mecca in 2003 through 2005, Pakistani scientists posed as pilgrims to come to Saudi Arabia.

Between October 2004 and January 2005, some of them slipped off from pilgrimages, sometimes for up to three weeks, the report quoted German security expert Udo Ulfkotte as saying.

According to Western security services, the magazine added, Saudi scientists have been working since the mid-1990s in Pakistan, a nuclear power since 1998.

Last time, Dr. A. Q. Khan was fired... i wonder who'll be hung out to dry this time...? Its a shame really. Instead of honouring people who actually make a difference in our lives... we tend to send them up the river without a paddle!

Look into my eyes..

2006-07-25T12:05:00.000+05:00

I took "yet another" test, this time about what my eyes say about me. And i must say..... its true :)

You scored as Passion.

You are very passionate whether that passion is good or evil has yet to be determined. You have great power over others and they seem to flock to your service. You are very competative almost to a fault. Perhaps you should let someone else win for a change?

Passion

75%

Mysterious

75%

Diamond Eyes

50%

Eyes full of Pain

42%

What do your eyes reveal about you?(PICS!)
created with QuizFarm.com

The X in me...

2006-07-25T11:57:00.000+05:00

Seems like everyone is taking the X-men quiz, so i thought i'd give it a try too.. The result? Im Ice-man! Cool! i like being in the cold anyway. Also like what it says about me ;)

You scored as Iceman. Iceman is a very powerful but volitile X-man. His ego and reluctance to follow orders means that he often clashes with Cyclops. Despite being immature sometimes, he's very popular with the ladies and is an extremely powerful X-Man. Powers: Can lower the temperature in areas around him. Basically, he has a near limitless ability to freeze things and make massive amounts of ice.

Iceman

85%

Colossus

80%

Beast

80%

Rogue

70%

Emma Frost

55%

Gambit

55%

Cyclops

50%

Jean Grey

50%

Storm

50%

Wolverine

45%

Nightcrawler

35%

Most Comprehensive X-Men Personality Quiz 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

Celebrating cousin's day with...

2006-07-25T11:38:00.000+05:00

well.. my cousin ofcourse! this one being my father's sister's eldest, who's also six days younger to me.

Actually, it started out as a trip to the tailor... i went to pick him up after work, and on the way i heard on the radio that it was cousins day today..... that started to make my mind work a lil. Hmm.. how do i get him to treat me.. since afterall! its my day too ;) hhmmm....

Anyway, when at the tailors, i came up with a brilliant scheme. Something he couldnt refuse. Muhaha! (mustering up all the evil inside me) I simply stated "Guess what!!! your treating me at KFC today!"

Hahaha! the look on his face was PRICELESS! He was looking at me like i had lost my mind... well, i was feeling a little out of it.. but thats besides the point. The important thing is.. he agreed. I think it was more shock than anything else. LoL!

So there we were, sitting at KFC, ranting out about the worries and what-not of life.. i think we even had a profound discussion in the midst... but i may have imagined it.... i get so high when food finds its way into my stomach. (Note to my future better half: the way to my heart *is* through my stomach!) when i broke the news to him about why we're here. He just started laughin! It was fun! We ate up... and then i dropped him home.

Not bad for a spontaneous celebration. Thankgod i have someone who doesnt need planning! Way to go cuz! Love having you around!

In a city of 14 million people...

2006-07-24T17:57:00.000+05:00

is when a person feels truly alone.

I was talking to one of my colleagues here at work the other day, and the discussion revolved around the fact of how lonely he had become in the past couple of months. With friends who only came to him when they wanted something, people at home generally involved in whatever they were doing, and no one having the time of day to sit down and listen to him... (yea, i do have some pretty interesting discussions at work... *sigh*) and i realized that even with all the people i've been blessed with, my family, my extended family.. cousins and such, school friends, work colleagues, msn buddies and blogger buddies............. even after knowing and interacting with so many people..... my cellphone constantly ringing and sometimes even having to dodge people.... i still find myself, at times, to be lonely!

Does that say anything about me? Is it a fault of my own? My failure to bond with people around me? Or the fact that everyone... all the people listed above have lives of their own as well... where i just dont fit as well as i would've wanted to.

Having said all that.... i've also realized one thing in the past.... i *relish* it! Enjoy it! Want it!!

In the words of Alan Shore on the drama serial Boston Legal

"The only thing i want from a relationship is to be truly and utterly alone".

I know what you feel like Alan! i can totally relate!! I am satisfied.. content... even happy about this state of mind!!

What do you do with....

2006-07-24T17:26:00.000+05:00

1) A Stack of old mobile prepaid cards
2) A Stapler
3) Some freetime & a dose of creativity?

?????? Make yourself a coin holder and a pen holder for your desk drawer!! Came in very handy since i had a lot of coins and pens strewn about and couldnt find them when i wanted to!

Quite Imaginative.... dripping with sarcasm (Brand Power #3)

2006-07-24T17:07:00.000+05:00

We seem to have a new security company operating in Karachi.. there are a lot of them here, what with some people having *all the loot* and others trying to get their loot, its a constant struggle to keep ones possessions (and lives) safe.

So coming back.. i was driving down Kh-e-Ittehad the other day.. on my way to Royal Rodale (thats another post....) when i saw these three corolla's all dressed up in stickers proclaiming...

"Homeland Security"

I mean... COME ON!! Couldnt you have come up with something more original than what our fellow amreekans call their (inept?) federal internal security force? Even their phone number is 111-999-911. When will people LEARN!! Oh well.. atleast i got me another post in the "Brand Power" series..

Modern Machines in Local settings

2006-07-24T17:00:00.000+05:00

A stark reminder of keeping your eyes on the road and your speed low while driving! But thats not why i took this picture... i was surprised to see that we even HAVE a small size crane operating here in Pakistan!! Dont know about you, but im kind of impressed with all the new types of machinery we're getting here! What with all the new construction vehicles, cleaning vehicles and now cranes! Afterall.. im a man and big machines make me feel more like a man!! aarrh aarhh aarrrr" (Tim "the toolman" Taylor on the show "Home Improvement")

Oh yea! dont the clouds look good too? ;)

why homemakers are more required than career oriented women

2006-07-23T19:02:00.000+05:00

This post started out as a reply to PsycheD on an issue of why does society not like educated-career-oriented-girls as wives and the fact that they dont make good homemakers. Ofcourse, there are other reasons involved as well, such as some families having the male dominancy too much imprinted on their brains or having the ego thing... however, this ideal is followed in my family, from the days of my great great great grandparents (that much i know through talks with my grandfather...). So without further ado.. here we go.

The actual post starts here...

One of the major reasons of the societal break-up is the breakup of the family unit.. parents who are not around to educate their kids in the 'soft skills' (ethics, manners, morality etc) of life, hence they get out of hand, and once they grow up.. they lack certain skills to keep morality and ethics of the society in general intact. Its happening, unfortunately, as a society.. more so in our times since the so called upper class is more busy with their work or parties to take care of the kids who are running rampant...

When the mother is around to a) take care of the children b)ensure their emotional well-being and c) teaching them how to respect and be respected, those kids grow up to be better people in their own right! Ofcourse, the role of the father is just as important to the children as well. Just as important as the children seeing him as the breadwinner and supporter of the family. It makes them feel safe, loved and above all.. secure!

When both the parents go out 2 work, or spend most of their days there... these are the three essential ingredients of emotional well-being the children dont get.. and often turn to other sources, many turning corrupt in the process.

my seven mortal sins..

2006-07-23T19:00:00.000+05:00

Got this off PsycheD, who got it off Zag... Its the result of a test of how my sins match up! I've always known this for quite sometime that lust does play a very important role in my life (someone will recognize the term 'benefits' if they visit here..) and as the test reveals, it scores VERY HIGH! Woohoo! that means that either a)i took the test truthfully or b)the test is accurate.

Greed:	High
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Medium
Sloth:	High
Envy:	Medium
Lust:	Very High
Pride:	Medium

Discover Your Sins - Click Here

Wonder why i didnt score low in any sin.....? time to rethink my act probably..? LoL!
If any of you want to take the test, click here and *do* let me know how u score.

A glimmer of hope...

2006-07-23T15:50:00.000+05:00

I came across this quote by Salman Shah, the Economic Advisor to Pakistans Prime Minister in an article on World Peace Herald, reproduced on Pakistani Defence Forum.

Pakistan's growth rate has averaged an annual 7 percent over the past four years, helping lift almost 20 million of Pakistan's 150 million people out of poverty. The proportion of Pakistanis officially calculated as living below the population has fallen from over a third to less than a quarter in the past five years, [Salman Shah, economic adviser to Pakistan's prime minister] Shah said.

I must say... with all the things wrong with this country, such news really makes the glimmer of hope i have for it... just a little bit brighter!

Pew Internet Project Reports on Bloggers

2006-07-22T10:51:00.000+05:00

I read this article which carried out a survey on bloggers in the US and came up with different statistics. Although, these stats are for US bloggers, they can still show how the blogosphere is developing world wide. Some stats follow:

These are some of the key findings in a new report issued by the Pew Internet Project titled "Bloggers":
54 percent of bloggers say that they have never published their writing or
media creations anywhere else; 44 percent say they have published elsewhere.
54 percent of bloggers are under the age of 30.
Women and men have statistical parity in the blogosphere, with women representing 46 percent of bloggers and men 54 percent.
76 percent of bloggers say a reason they blog is to document their personal experiences and share them with others.
64 percent of bloggers say a reason they blog is to share practical knowledge or skills with others.
When asked to choose one main subject, 37 percent of bloggers say that the
primary topic of their blog is "my life and experiences."
Other topics ran distantly behind: 11 percent of bloggers focus on politics
and government; 7 percent focus on entertainment; 6 percent focus on
sports; 5 percent focus on general news and current events; 5 percent
focus on business; 4 percent on technology; 2 percent on religion,
spirituality or faith; and additional smaller groups who focus on a
specific hobby, a health problem or illness, or other topics.

need trainings to ride a cycle?

2006-07-21T08:39:00.000+05:00

Yesterday was not a good day for me... basically for a lot of reasons, but most importantly this! While on my way to office... a guy riding a cycle on the middle on the damn side road started looking somewhere else right when i was passing him, lost his balance and fell towards my car scratching its side!

What got me irked was
1) He was riding a bike in the middle of the road!
2) Wasnt even aware there were other things there... bigger things like CARS!
3) Lost his concentration looking someplace else rather on the damn road!
4) Lastly, he scratched my car!!

I stepped out in full mood to blast him! but somehow (being the damn nice guy i am) i started by asking if he was HURT!! i so wanted to inflict pain on this person but couldnt since i started out so nice! So i stepped back in my car and drove off to my office....

Seriously! first i thought motorcycle riders here needed trainings.. now bicycle riders need em too!! whats next? Pedestrians?? where did common sense and safety first go!!?!

so confused :|

2006-07-20T16:32:00.000+05:00

right now, im sitting at work... with a blank mind!

im so confused as to what to do!? Amazingly, there are no less than three tasks at hand... yet im not able to do anything! I think may be thats the reason.

To compound the problems... im feeling sleepy too :@ aarrgghh!!

Oh well.. back to staring at my screen.. trying to make the brain work!

The darned phone call again!

2006-07-20T13:55:00.000+05:00

I recently blogged about getting the dreaded phonecall. Well... two days back, i received it yet again! Only this time, it was my dadi who was sick!

I was woken up at 8 AM with the call that dadi needed to goto the hospital. Thankfully, my chacha was already there, and he took her. At around 11 i got a call that she's okay, and will be back home. I breathed a sigh of relief.

But then, at 6:30.. just as i was leaving the office.. i got the call again! "Dadi is sick again! We need to get her to the hospital stat!". I rushed from the office to her place, and got her to shifa. She's suffering from diarreah, and at her age, it is really taking a big toll. Cant eat or drink anything, vomitting and going to the washroom every half hour! It was bad.

We got her there, and put her on a drip. The original plan was, that she'll be on the drip after which we'll bring her home. Then things got bad.... when around 12 she still wasnt feeling any better, we took the decision to admit her. It was just impossible to take care of her at home, with little help and no water. At 2 AM, she was taken into the family wing at PNS Shifa, and put on continous drips and anti-biotics. I came back home at 3:30 AM... her whole night was filled with going to the washroom and throwing up and my cousin who was on watch had a hard night...

Now, its been two days since her illness started, and she's feeling a lot better mashallah. Probably be staying in the hospital for the next couple of days, just to make sure she's back to normal. Unlike the previous time, the guys did'nt have to go through the 'watch routine', since they dont allow male attendants. So this time, the females in our family go the watches, and we just provide the transport to and from the hospital.

Last nite, i was so whacked... that went home and slept as soon as my head hit the pillow. That was at 11 PM, which is very early for me. After a 10 hour sleep, im feeling a 'little bit' better. Just hope dadi gets well soon, and things get back to normal again.