The Word of mAn[S]o0r

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

Labels: change, my life, thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 9:33 AM | Permalink | |

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.

Labels: my life, thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 11:43 AM | Permalink | |

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?!

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 4:09 PM | Permalink | |

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.

Labels: my life, thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 6:04 PM | Permalink | |

coffee is a life-saver!

enuff said :D

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 6:54 PM | Permalink | |

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)!

Labels: rants, speaking out, thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 2:45 PM | Permalink | |

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?

Labels: my life, thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 4:32 PM | Permalink | |

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.

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 5:08 PM | Permalink | |

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.

Labels: my life, speaking out, thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 1:07 AM | Permalink | |

as having a Zinger at 2 AM!!

Yummmmmm!!!!

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 3:06 AM | Permalink | |

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.

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 9:07 PM | Permalink | |

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.

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 11:59 AM | Permalink | |

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

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 4:59 PM | Permalink | |

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!

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 4:33 PM | Permalink | |

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.

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 3:20 PM | Permalink | |

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?

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 9:55 AM | Permalink | |

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!

Labels: my life, thoughts, world through a lens

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 11:54 AM | Permalink | |

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

Labels: thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 2:53 PM | Permalink | |

... 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!

Labels: rants, thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 2:51 PM | Permalink | |

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!!

Labels: my life, rants, thoughts

And so said mAn[S]o0r at 5:57 PM | Permalink | |