The other day when I posted the news on earthquake in Islamabad, I had sketchy information. It was some fifteen minutes past nine when i first learnt of the 7.6 tremors and the collapse of a building in Islamabad. Logging onto newsites, most reports were focussing on the devastation in Kashmir, Islamabad/R.Pindi and some of that information i started putting up in comments.
At that time all media had on hands was information from the capital and from the media's point of view, the collapsed Margalla Towers made great footage, any experts that they called in were from the Met office whoe went on about the kinds of quakes and its magnitude this time round.
and then reports started coming in and i went in a freeze.
if i thought islamabad was badly hit, it was nothing compared to waht happened up north.
I have an album from my trip with Uni to the Northern Areas in the summer 0f 2000. We went to Balakot, the same hamlet where 400 school children died. and that too was nothing. We were stopped on the trecherous mountain raods by random landslides, trapped on raod for more than six hours. the FWO was quick, they had dyanamite to blow up the landsliding. and that took six hours. the northern areas of Pakistan are essentially cut off from the country. just one road snakes through the mountain ranges. waht would be the speed of relief operations reaching the place is a disturbing thought. at least the nation has woken up and is responding to aid pleas.
and so is teh world chipping in. Its disturbing TV and newspapers. Mom's so upset that we are thinking of banning her from watching any more TV.
What's happened has happened. What is important is the rescue and rehabilitation work.
And prayers. Humans have an amazing coping up mechanism. if rescue teams can reach in time, those buried under the rubble can still come out live.
i have to stop thinking on what has happened and work on what can be done.
and pray that money raking bastards who remain so irrespective of what hits their cities/villages refrain from their activities for just a while. those profiteers...i am not even sure of what kind of help is needed. Monetary? try paying a mother who's lost all her kids in the school collapse. food packets? clothes? medicines? I just wish I were a doctor or even strong enough to fly up north and do my bit. life sitting here and paying token lip service sucks.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Aftermath
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Earthquake in Islamabad
Scaree news to start the day.
News of a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Extending to New Delhi in India, Sri Nagar in Kashmir, Peshawar and Lahore in Pakistan.
Listening to Geo Tv's audio streaming on the web I wonder and pray for the safety of everyone.
experts say it could have been and would be better if its a defocussed quake, with major seismic activity deep underground and few tremors reaching up, thus lessening chances of damage and casualties.
Reports also say that people are in a panic and out of their homes since morning.
With no access to TV and without actual footage of the happenings I am quite worked up too.
At teh same time I wonder if all this makes for such good TV, would the media cash in on the panic, as is their wont and whip up a quake frenzy? Exaggerate?
Please pray for Saadat and Ajmal Sb. And everyone else.
Updates in comments and updated pic at 12:15 pm.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Vanity check
Cocktails at Ajmal Sb's place:
This is me, plain and simple:
How to make an A
Ingredients:
1 part competetiveness
3 parts courage
1 part leadership
Method:
Blend at a low speed for 30 seconds. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of fitness.
With frills and fancies, erm, all caps as initials are to be:
How to make an A
Ingredients:
3 parts mercy
3 parts crazyiness
5 parts beauty
Method:
Stir together in a glass tumbler with a salted rim. Serve with a slice of emotion and a pinch of salt. Yum!
I can't decide which one to disagree more with!
And yes, nothing better that I could come up with either.
This was better and, erm, truer:
| A may explode without warning |
| M EXPLOSIVE |
Saturday, September 17, 2005
One day at work
Hello
Hello, I am calling from *****, can you advice me what BMW series is latest in the market and I should buy?
Huh?
I mean would be worth spending all that money? Are parts readily available, what about maintenance and car specifications and all.
Oh, I see. Sir, how many wives do you have?
Excuse me?
Well, you see, BMW has a new notice out after Swaziland's King Mswati III invested in 10 new 5 series for his wives. BMW now stands for Beamers for Multiple Wives. So, the new policy dictates that only men who have more than two wives can now buy a BMW.
What? Is it BMW’s Karachi office?
*grin* Errr, no.
*click*
“Neoliberal democracy, with its notion of the market uber alles…instead of citizens, it produces consumers. Instead of communities, it produces shopping malls. The net result is an atomized society of disengaged individuals who feel demoralized and socially powerless.”
Imports to Latin America are heavily skewed towards consumption for the rich…the wealthy are generally exempt from social obligations, including taxes…The problem of Latin America is not ‘populism’…but ‘subjection of the state to the rich.’
My reading list these days:
From Beirut to Jerusalem, Dr. Ang Swee Chai
Che Guevera, Eric Luther with Ted Henken
Profit Over People, Naom Chomsky
The Economist’s Pocket World in Figures 2005
Everyday I face a barrage of gigantic billboards, trying to get my investment in world class residential projects, flashy cars, jazzed up home entertainment systems, latest communicating gizmos; trying to entice me into walking into their swanky outlets with promises of amazing sales and discounts, and mouth watering food.
Lowering my gaze, more to the ground, I see a huge mass of people sweating in the blazing sun, waiting for their route buses, little children running about barefoot on infernal tarmac.
A petrol station sports a spiffy billboard on how 88% of its customers found that their particular brand of petrol gives more mileage. And right across the road I see a teeming mass of ailing humanity stirring up on their tattered chadars on the pavement that served as their beds for the night. Entire families marking out their spaces. Some have not bothered with even a chadar.
This is Pakistan, with a growth rate of 8% that allows Pakistan and its people to raise their standard of living and improve the quality of life, something already beginning to happen.
With this growth rate, the per capita income will rise and people will spend more and that will create more momentum in the economy, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz noted. "This buoyancy in economy is sustainable and will provide a base for even higher growth in the years to come."
I reach my workplace, switch on the aircon, answer a phone call that, grins aside, gets me thinking, run a google search on some words for old news items I remember having read , to see if all these months have been enough for the good effects to have permeated downwards in the society, and type out this blog. About time I paid lip service. Best that I can do.
On another note, Altaf Hussain turned 52 today. I just hope he starts acting like a sensible 7 year old, his real mental age.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
(S)he died while (s)he was living...
Monday, August 29, 2005
Blasts from the past
I been cheating.
I started blgging in 2002. December 2002 actually. and have deleted this blog twice since. changed blogger name at least 4 times and changed templates a whole 6 times, that is not mentioning the minute tinkerings I carry out on a regular basis.
'Neways. Yesterday I was going through my 'soft' clutter and came across a CD that housed Version 1 of the blog. So I thought it might be a good idea if i gleaned and put up some old, antiquated entries...it makes for such a good study of my blogging and thinking patterns that when paranoia sinks in, I delete blogs. Not this time, figured out an other way. perhaps.
'Tis a shame I could not figure out a way to the interesting comments i had gathered at the time too.
and Blog Day tag was a previous post. Perhaps I should change back blogger display settings.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Tag a Day
Tag a Day
August 31st is designated to be a Blog Day. SAJ Shirazi tagged me to mention top five blogs that I enjoy reading. Now my blog reading habits are erratic. My top five read list these days would be:
I think all of them bloggers should come out with a book. I would be the first in line to get Sir Ajmal’s book, signed by him of course.
Oh, and I am not really updating, or checking up my own sorry place on blogspot. This should do, for a long long while. ;)
Saturday, August 13, 2005
حال میرے دیس کا
Jashn e Azadi mubarak everyone!
yes, everyone irrespective.
I was thinking of an August 14 related post, but Ajmal Sb's beat everyone to an apt spoof of Iqbal. And yet not a spoof as it is a scary and sad representation of teh current state of affairs of this state founded in 1947.
باعمل مسلمانوں سے پیشگی معذرت
اقبال تیرے دیس کا کیا حال سناؤں
دہقان تومرکھپ گیا اب کس کوجگاؤں
ملتا ہے کہاں خوشہء گندم کہ جلاؤں
شاہین کا ہے گنبد شاہی پہ بسیرا
کنجشک فرومایہ کواب کس سے لڑاؤں
اقبال تیرے دیس کا کیا حال سناؤں
مکّاری و عیّاری و غدّاری و ہیجان
اب بنتا ہے ان چارعناصر سے مسلمان
قاری اسے کہنا تو بڑی بات ہے یارو
اس نےتوکبھی کھول کےدیکھا نہیں قرآن
اقبال تیرے دیس کا کیا حال سناؤں
بیباقی و حق گوئی سےگبھراتا ہے مومن
مکّاری و روباہی پہ اتراتا ہے مومن
جس رزق سے پرواز میں کوتاہی کا ڈر ہو
وہ رزق بڑے شوق سے کھاتا ہے مومن
اقبال تیرے دیس کا کیا حال سناؤں
جھگڑے یہاں صوبوں کے ذاتوں کے نصب کے
اگتے ہیں تہہ سایہء گل ۔ خار غضب کے
یہ دیس ہے سب کا مگر اس کا نہیں کوئی
اس کےتن خستہ پہ تو اب دانت ہیں سب کے
Monday, August 08, 2005
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Madrassa expulsions 'to go ahead'
...he took the decision because he did not want the madrassas "misused for extremism".
