Pakistan

It was second consecutive win of Pakistan. Yesterday evening, I asked a friend of mine to accompany me to a nearby place for a small job. He offered regrets as he was watching the cricket match. Once asked as to why he was so much glued to the TV watching the match. He replied that with poor law and order situation and the unending price hike, there was hardly anything left for entertainment and he did not want to miss it. How right he was and is!

Thanks to Light Within for reminding that Blog Action Day 2009 is coming up (October 15, 2009) and the theme this time is Climate Change. Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Join the movement.

International climate negotiations are occurring in Copenhagen this December, and this Blog Action day aims to to mobilize millions of people across the world for finding a sustainable solution to the climate crisis. On October 15, take time to blog about climate change and help raise awareness about the issue. Register your blog today {#}.

DeSOM – Services Club Lahore – has come to be famous for its traditions like celebrations of festive occasions like Chand Raat – night when Eid ul Fits moon is cited on first of Shawal – national days and other get to gathers. Like always and like everyone, I was there with my whole family. In addition, there we meet some old colleagues and their families, kids met their class fellows and friends and had a traditional food with little bit of every thing from Murg Channe to BRBQ (dahi bhalle, halwa puri, biryani, list goes on and on) .

There were many stall form bangles and hina to crystal gazers and special Eid gifts for kids to indulge in. Yes, there were a lot of boooools for my Maan.

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Eid is celebrated by Muslims the world over as a day of rejoicing after fasting during the preceding lunar month of Ramadhan. In all Muslim majority countries, Eid day, and a day or two before and after Eid are declared as closed holidays. Wheras celebration of Eid should logically be the privilege of only those Muslims who resorted to fasting, it is celebrated by all Muslims alike. Shopping for Eid starts a week to ten days in advance. By and large everyone buys new clothes, particularly, the ladies and children.

The evening before Eid is called Chand Raat (the night of sighting the moon of Eid). This evening is specially important for the girls and women who take pains to decorate their hands, arms and even feet with mehndi (henna). There are some women in each locality/family who are very good at applying mehndi and become most sought after. In cities, there are professionals who charge hefty sums for this. On this evening there are displays of fireworks which are a source of amusement and fun for the children. The evening is also spent by housewives to cook/prepare various dishes for the families. So, there is a lot of hustle and bustle on Chand Raat.

On the morning of Eid, the most important event is Eid Prayers. Large gatherings of prayers are held in all the big mosques and in open grounds. Soon after the prayers, friends, near and dear ones present in the congregations greet each other by embracing, traditionally three times. After Eid prayers, children await their elders to give them Eidee (monetary contribution) to them. Now the feasting starts. There are families who await their relatives and family friends for the feast at home, there are others who choose to leave their house to attend such feasts. The favourite dishes are sawwian (vermicelli's), chaat (a snack of potatoes and chanas with onion and spices), kheer (made from milk and rice), kababs (made from minced meat) etc. Families exchange some of these dishes with their neighbours. Besides visiting each other, families move out for picnics to zoo, museum, playlands etc. There are some who spend their time before the screen watching TV, movies or on the Internet. There are others, a few, who spend the holidays sleeping to make up for the sleep lost due to over work earning their livelihood. Some affluent families are very particular to share their happiness with the poor by alleviating their sufferings to the extent they can. Some families also make it a point to visit the graveyards to remember their near and dear ones by praying for them who are no longer living. There are some unfortunate ones who happen to have lost some of their near and dear ones in the recent past. It's really hard for them to enjoy the festivities of Eid.

Persons living away from their near and dear ones in other cities or other countries plan to spend Eid back home. There are some who can afford that in terms of money and time. But there are others who either can't afford monetarily or their nature of occupation does not permit them to be with their families. The reliance in such cases is on the present day blessed means of communication.

The month of Ramadhan of the lunar calendar is considered to be a holy month for all Muslims. Muslims, the world over, celebrate this month exercising restraint and tolerance in their social and physical activities. They fast, offer their prayers more regularly, offer nama-e-taraveeh (additional non obligatory prayers), are more kind and caring towards fellow human beings, particularly the poor. The month of Ramadhan is supposed to act as a refresher course for them to remind them of what they tend to forget in the other eleven months.

The ritual of Fasting is part of all religious faiths in one form or the other. However, the objective of the ritual of fasting is common; to attend to the rights of Allah and that of fellow human beings. So, the question which I ask myself and all Muslims is as to what extent has each one of us been able to move forward in the two aforementioned obligations? Has this passing month of Ramadhan been able to make us better Muslims not only in our beliefs by word of mouth but also in our deeds? Lucky are the ones whose answer to this question is in affirmative!

This is to extend my heartiest Eid greetings to the Muslim readers of my blog. I wish and pray that all of us Muslims are able act as better Muslims after the passing month of Ramadhan. The true celebration of Eidulfitr is not restricted to putting on new clothes and eating good dishes but we ought to be effecting a positive change in our worshipping Allah and being better in our social conduct.

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Planet Earth appears to be big with an endless ocean of air around. Astronauts see the planet as small dot set against black background with a thin layer of atmosphere. Environmentalists fear that our home planet is slowly scorching. Earth is the third planet from the Sun at a distance of about 150 million kilometers. It takes 365.256 days for the Earth to travel around the Sun and 23.9345 hours for the Earth to complete one rotation. It has a diameter of 12,756 kilometers. Atmosphere is composed of 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and 1 percent other element. About 71 percent of earth’s surface is covered by water and the rest is land.

Earth is the only planet known to shelter life. Earth’s surface is surrounded by a layer of gases known as the atmosphere, which extends upward from the surface, slowly thinning out into space. Below the surface is a hot interior of rocky material and two core layers composed of the metals nickel and iron in solid and liquid form. Unlike the other planets, Earth has a unique set of characteristics suited to support life. It is neither too hot, like Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, nor too cold, like distant Mars and the even more distant outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and tiny Pluto. Earth’s atmosphere distinguishes it from the planet Venus, which is otherwise much like Earth. Venus is about the same size and mass as Earth and is also neither too near nor too far from the Sun. But because Venus has too much heat trapping carbon dioxide in its atmosphere, therefore its surface is extremely hot for life to exist.

Life itself contributes to changes on Earth, especially living things can alter Earth’s atmosphere. For example, Earth at one time had the same amount of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere as Venus now has, but early forms of life helped remove this carbon dioxide over millions of years. These life forms also added oxygen to Earth’s atmosphere and made it possible for life to evolve on land. And now the gases produced by human activities are making changes.

As per the Earth science, our planet is one of the most active of all the planets in the solar system. Earth is constantly changing. Most of these changes have been gradual, taking place over millions of years. Nevertheless, these gradual changes have resulted in radical modifications, involving the formation, erosion, and re-formation of mountain ranges and the movement of continents.

The weathering and erosion that result from the water cycle are among the principal factors responsible for changes to Earth’s surface. Another principal factor is the movement of Earth’s continents and seafloors and the buildup of mountain ranges due to a phenomenon known as plate tectonics. Heat is the basis for all of these changes. Heat in Earth’s interior is believed to be responsible for continental movement, mountain building, and the creation of new seafloor in ocean basins. Heat from the Sun is responsible for the evaporation of ocean water and the resulting precipitation that causes weathering and erosion. In effect, heat in Earth’s interior helps build up Earth’s surface while heat from the Sun helps wear down the surface.

Knowing our mother planet better can make a difference. {X - Posted From Here}

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My new blog Socio Political Affairs gets its first honorable mention at Light Within. It reads, "Similarly I enjoy reading Socio Political Affairs – a new blog that covers national and international affairs. Given its age, this blog also has started creating waves in Pakistan blogsphere. The blogger picks up hottest issue of the day and writes his own opinion about the issue that aims at setting free independent thinking in the readers."

Read an interesting overview of Pakistani blogsphere by S A J Shirazi here.

As I am personally interested in photography and have my own proud pictures’ collection, I found Picjoke.com very interesting and useful. I tried some pictures (here, here, here) and liked the result. What you think of the effects you see here. Please share your opinion in comments section here.

Living in the cyber age, everything is coming in digital form. One of the most efficient options to store, manage and view pictures in with digital form. Not only that, you can manipulate the picture or a sketch and create an effect that you like. This way you can enhance the strength of your pictures. They are one of the best utilities for those who have integrated digital cameras into their lives. That is where Picjoke.com comes in.

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According to Dawn, Tuesday, 08 Sep, 2009,

“No one can imagine the amount of pressure exerted upon the consultees for the selection of certain persons, but by the grace of Allah none of the consultees has succumbed to pressure,” the chief justice said at a ceremony here on Monday to mark the beginning of the new judicial year.

The worthy chief justice remarked this in relation to the appointment of judges to the superior courts. It speaks of the level of nepotism, corruption and politicization of everything important happening in our country. Whereas, it is highly appreciable that the chief justice and his team have not succumbed to the pressures, it very clearly reflects how hard it has become to remain honest. I only hope that these pressures do not take the form of threats and black mailings as the honest people too are but humans.

According to The News International dated Monday, September 07, 2009

"Justifying Jaswant Singh’s summary expulsion, BJP Chief Rajnath Singh on Sunday warned that the party would take action against all those who favoured Mohammad Ali Jinnah, against whose ideals the party was opposed to".

Above is the true face of Indian secularism and democracy, supposed to be the largest in the world. BJP is not a small political party. It has ruled the country in the past defeating Congress and may well come into power again. Jaswant singh has recently written a book in which he has praised the founding father of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

The News International dated Sunday, September 06, 2009 reports,

"Prime minister reversed his earlier decision to sack Khalid Mirza unceremoniously that earned criticism that the incumbent regime had bowed before the influential business tycoons, especially the cement lobby. The CCP had taken the decision to impose over Rs 6 billion penalty on cement manufacturers a few days ago".

Either the sacking was wrong or the restoration is. Decision making at that high level is supposed to be well founded based on sound information and not on personal whims, and the least it is not dependent on the pressures.

I have been indisposed for last two weeks. My friend took me along to get his car checked up from a workshop. While walking up to the car, after the check up, I unknowingly put my right foot on a greesy patch, slipped and fell down with all my body weight instinctively falling on my right hand. We immediately went to a nearby hospital. I was given a couple of injections and x-rayed. Fortunately, there was no fracture. However, the pain in my right arm was so severe that I remained off from my work and also from blogging for some days. I could not move my arm freely. Any movement, advertant or inadvertant, would cause crying pain. I did not know as to which position I should keep my arm in so as to avoid pain. I could not lift or carry anything with the right arm. It was hard to bathe and change clothes., eat and drink. I became lethargic avoiding work which I could not do and also the one which I could do. The pain hasn't gone yet, but its intensity has reduced and I am back to work.

IF I was superstitious, I would have put the blame on my friend who is lucky that I did not attribute this accident to him. My friend opined that if this accident had occurred in a developed world country, I would have sued the workshop people for the greesy patch and got handsome monetary compensation. However, all these days, my thoughts centered around the difficulties faced by the disabled persons whose limbs; one, two, three or all four are either amputated or are non functional. Although, even now, it is hard for me to fully comprehend the insurmountable difficulties faced by the disabled, I had a chance to have a feel of the sembalance of it. Whatever we have, we take it for granted until we are deprived of it. The value of the blessings is truly realized once we have to live without these. The other thought which came to my mind was as to how within a fraction of a second my right hand instinctively moved to voluntarily bear the weight of my body to save it from a bigger loss. Why don't we all react that quickly and selflessly to save our fellow human beings including the near and dear ones. Yet another thought which prevails over me is that worse could have happened. How helpless we all are! This is what I go through every time I fall sick. However, every time I get well, these thoughts move away and I get busy in my normal routine. How forgetful we humans are!

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We all have near and dear ones from amongst our friends and family who live in other cities or countries and we have to receive or see them off in person just like we are received or bid farewell away from our hometowns. Similarly, in certain cases, we have our office bosses, peers and subordinates, or business partners or political or diplomatic friends or foes to receive or see off. Also, receiving and seeing off is, at times related, to certain occasions of joy or sorrow. Depending upon the degree of relationship and things at stake, time permitting, we make efforts to receive and see off our near and dear ones in person. There are some for whom whether we have time or not and whether we like it or not we have to steal time to receive or bid farewell. There are others with whom our emotional involvement is so much that we make it a point to receive or see them off in person right till the entry/exit point. Place to receive or see off also varies. It may be our home, office or entry/exit point to our city like a bus stop, railway station or and airport. Choice of the place is often directly to related to, besides the degree of convenience, the degree of relationship or importance we accord to our guests or near and dear ones.

Every time I go to the airport, I observe varying kinds of receptions and farewells being accorded to different people. I see people receiving or seeing off their near and dear ones with tears of joy or sorrow in their eyes. There are others whom I see dropping the guests and saying good bye there and then and leaving the airport with no expression of emotions of any kind. There are people who remain at the airport right till the time plane takes off. I see them gazing at the plane as if they did not want the person(s) in the plane to part with them, thus, trying to remain attached with them until the last possible moment. Similarly, I see people reaching the airport well before time to receive the guests, near and dear ones counting every minute impatiently. There are others who reach just in time or even late by a few minutes to receive the guests, near and dear ones.

I find airports, and by the same analogy other entry and exit points like bus stations and railway stations, places where expression of emotions is at its best in terms of joy, sorrow, love, liking, disliking and hate. However, the latter two negative expressions are less visible than the other positive expressions. I wish we could live with each other as per the emotions displayed by us while receiving or seeing off our near and dear ones. But, this happens very seldom.