tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81705935196418428812024-03-13T19:23:38.760+05:00Deen Sheikh On the road less travelled.....Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-24015597918927706332017-12-07T13:17:00.002+05:002017-12-07T13:42:03.523+05:00A Story From Sensational Shanghai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Fan of travelling yes, fan of travelling in the winter anywhere, a Big No. It is true, I am not a fan of the cold weather, it is somewhat outside of my comfort zone. This November I found myself hopping on a plane for what was a work related trip to China, the last stop of which was the largest city in China, Shanghai. My first visit to the city since 2010, when I had dropped by to visit the World Expo. That was at the peak of the summer season and boy it was definitely quite hot that summer with the Celsius scale hitting 40 in the peak of the afternoon.<br />
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My three days in Shanghai were followed by quick visits to Xiamen, Jinjiang and Wuxi, from the latter I hopped on a bullet express train to Shanghai Railway station. The journey by car which otherwise would have taken four hours and given Shanghai's reputation with respect to traffic jams, not the best of ideas. After an hour long journey by train I found myself at the Shanghai railway station. This was my first inter city journey by train in China, it went by far better than I expected, and not long after my arrival into the railway station, i was at my hotel, The Radisson Blu Shanghai New World on Nanjing Road.<br />
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The Nanjing Road area of Shanghai facing people's square on one side and the Puxi skyline along the Huangpau river on one side make it one of the liveliest districts not just in Shanghai but probably all of China. As per the locals, domestic visitors also flock to what they see as China's international city, with some of the best designer shopping and some of the best food the world has to offer.<br />
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After a few very busy work days, I had some time to myself to explore the area surrounding my hotel and if time permitted other parts of Shanghai. But given how cold the weather was, I was not too keen to wander that far off from my hotel, and stayed within the surrounding area, and considering I was blessed with an incredible scenic view of the Shanghai skyline from my hotel, it was hard to leave the warmth and comfort of the hotel room also.<br />
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Nanjing road is absolutely tourist central, tons and tons of shops, cafe's, restaurants and what not, with limitless people just walking past you every second. There are no surprises that quite a few known brand hotels are also located in the district, as well as there being a Starbucks cafe every few minutes walk. While out and about exploring, I did get the opportunity to explore some Halal dinning in the Huangpau area around Nanjing road. I managed to discover a Turkish Restaurant called Kervan, was not impressed, I have had way better Turkish food than that in China. I discovered a very decent Indian Restaurant that I even returned to for a second meal called Kebabs On the Grille, which did a very decent job with the Paneer and Chicken Tikka. Probably one of the better Paneer Tikka's I have had on my travels. But for me the icing on the cake was Tripadvisor.com's recommendation for the number one Halal Restaurant in Shanghai.<br />
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Shanghai's number one Halal Restaurant for Chinese food is this eatery called Yershari, located in a shopping mall on Nanjing Road. I do not remember the name of the shopping mall, but it is where the Apple store is located. Hard to miss the Apple store no matter where on the planet you might be. I arrived at the restaurant at 7 pm, and I was greeted with an hour long que, my thoughts, this better be worth the hype and those reader reviews on tripadvisor.com. Now this is where my visit to Shanghai got interesting and I returned home with a story I would happily share, maybe for years to come.<br />
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In the waiting area of the restaurant, I went and sat down on an empty chair besides a young Chinese man, who it seems could not speak a word of English, but could clearly identify that I am a foreign traveller to his country. He initiated a conversation with me using a translator app on his phone, at that point I was expecting just a courtesy Hi Hello, was not expecting an experience that awaited me.<br />
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He used the translator app on his phone to translate from Mandarin to English, and I began reciprocating using Google translate on my phone. I was using a VPN to access Google services in China, along with Facebook and Instagram. So this is where it began, while waiting for our respective tables, his number was 28 mine was 42, we began communicating with our phones with each other, I know it sounds rather weird and some what anti social but it worked in this case here, our linguistic limitations were no longer a barrier to communication. He would type something in Mandarin on his phone, hit translate, show me the English equivalent of what he was trying to say, and I would do the same via Google Translate, type in English, hit translate and show him my screen so he had an idea of what I was trying to say. We did this for about 45 mins or so before he got the call announcing that his table was ready, at this point he had discovered that I was Muslim, and so was he, so he invited me to have dinner with him, to which I happily accepted. Who wouldn't want some company over dinner in a far away land, as much as I love my personal space, it is always nice to have some company over dinner.<br />
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After having sat down for dinner, Abdullah was his name, I asked my new friend to surprise me with his choice for dinner from the menu, he insisted that I being a guest to his country pick what ever my heart desires from the menu, but reminded me that the Almighty hates wastage so I order carefully. Not knowing what the portions would be like at this place and what to expect, usually such fine dine looking places have smaller portions, so I did not exactly order conservatively. I ordered the chicken and potato stew, which is something u find in almost every Muslim Chinese Restaurant all across China. I ordered something that loosely translated into Garlic Beef Ribs, 2 Chinese Style Naans, Egg fried rice and Chinese beef buns. I was expecting smaller portions so that is a lot I know!<br />
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We continued our waiting area style of engagement and communication with one another for an additional hour and a half while waiting for our food, and then while having dinner itself. Due to our linguistic limitations, we could not verbally speak with one another, so we continued doing what we were doing earlier, type on our screens, hit translate and show to the other. The only words uttered were Alhumdulilah, Mashallah, Inshallah. I insisted to Abdullah that he let me pay, for the company and the experience that he has honoured with me is something I will remember for a very long time, but while I was insisting on taking care of the bill, he had already paid when our order was complete by Scanning his phone against a QR code on a device on the table, I did not even notice when he did that and that QR code payments were so common in China. He insisted I am his Muslim brother, and a traveller, this is the least he could do and he only asked that I remember him in my prayers and well wishes.<br />
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<b>BTW THIS PLACE TOTALLY LIVES UPTO THE HYPE! THE FOOD WAS INCREDIBLE! </b><br />
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Before we said Good bye to one another, we added one another on WeChat, which is what everyone uses in China as a replacement for WhatsApp, and before we left the restaurant we were greeted with live entertainment, a cultural dance performance from Western China, from the regions that border Central Asia. I do not know at this point if my paths will cross with Abdullah ever again, but I hope we cross paths again one day in some part of this God's earth and we have another wonderful memory with which to remember each other by. My parting thoughts, language is not a barrier between two people, the real barrier lies in our hearts and minds, If we open our hearts and minds just a little bit, the world is a wonderful place, with wonderful people, and when two people meet, the possibilities are limitless.<br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-45979166839496227502017-10-16T11:22:00.002+05:002017-10-16T11:34:20.300+05:00Let's Talk About Mental Health, Shall We? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It is the month of October and since 1949, October has been observed across the United States as a month for mental health awareness, by means of which millions of people are reached through campaigns and initiatives to create awareness regarding mental health concerns. The importance of good mental health can not be under estimated, yet there are many people out there still who do not even acknowledge this as an issue to begin with. For many people, mental health issues are non issues, some degrade it to the point of it being a figment of one's imagination. That is an unfortunate reality in a country like Pakistan as well, where generally all health related issues are put on the back foot and not even given a fraction of the due attention they deserve.<br />
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I am just going to simply talk about mental health right now, nothing else. I am going to keep this blog, plain and simple. I am going to say it again and again, Mental health issues are a reality, they are a God Damn reality, and they effect everyone. If you are not directly effected, you are indirectly effected because some one u know might be struggling with good mental health. The battle for good mental health is a life long battle.<br />
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The absence of good mental health can have negative effects on our life, they can effect our judgment, our ability to make decisions, our ability to be rational, it can lower our ability to confront or show resistance towards adversity. Absence of good mental health can disrupt our very ability to live our day to day lives. That is how important good mental health is. I am saying it again, it is a reality, get used to it.<br />
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My experience of living in Pakistan as an adult has taught me that not only are people very apathetic towards mental health issues, but people actively contribute towards the decline of good mental health because of their sheer apathy not just towards the lives of other people, but also due to complete disregard for issues concerning good mental health.<br />
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A visit to Karachi University's Institute of clinical psychology will prove to u, how many people, young and old, man, woman and child, suffer from mental health issues. Due to the stigma attached to talking about mental health in our society (I am guessing its like this in many parts of the world) people who come in seeking help for their mental health issues do so with a certain degree of reservation. I have witnessed it with my my own eyes, those visiting the institute where dozens of mental health professionals tirelessly make efforts to help others, have a sense of fear and stigma with themselves that they have had to take the initiative to come to such a place. The only anomaly u see there is the abundance of hesitance among those visiting, but like you and I, their normal every day people, who are just seeking to make their lives better.<br />
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I am going to repeat this again, mental health issues are real issues, get used to it already. My request to any one reading this, take some time out and think about it, contemplate, reflect and what not regarding the reality of mental health. Keep an eye out on people around you, some one around you could be suffering from poor mental health for a variety of reasons, the signs might not be too obvious and people might be reluctant to talk about it. Mental health is a reality and people right in front of you could be suffering from it. A lot of people develop mental health reasons due to personal battles, traumas, or loss and grief. Someone u know could have lost a loved one, or could have witnessed some thing traumatic, or they could have been bullied or just not been sleeping well for whatever xyz reason. Something or the other could have caused damages to their mental health. Most people suffer in silence, do not ignore mental health issues, do not ever tell people that mental health issues are a figment of their imagination, do not ever tell people that they are making excuses or evading responsibilities. We all have our limitations, there are things we can do, and there are things we can not. Sure its true what they say life truly begins when we wander outside of our comfort zone, but if human beings are pushed too much outside of their comfort zone, the consequences of that could be very damaging and have life long effects.<br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-61062630715258931702017-05-23T12:28:00.002+05:002017-05-23T12:28:28.920+05:00Kindness needs a Reincarnation! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Okay people listen up, gear up! Yes I am talking to you, the person reading this blog, i wont lie, I really do hope there are a lot of people reading this. So people as you all know Ramzan is coming, or Ramadan as some of you like to call it. It is coming, in the middle of this brutal OMG you are killing me kind of summer, and very soon you will be bombed with everything Religious or Ramadan/Ramzan themed. For the faithful, fasting followed by the optional Tarawee Salah, for the not so faithful and devout, being forced to have your meals behind closed doors, keeping quite about whether you are fasting or not, and try to not stand out for whatever XYZ reason. Yet both of you, yes both of you, a very large number of both of you are lacking in Kindness. Yes, I said it, among both of you, kindness is an almost extinct variable.<br />
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Heads up, my blog will reek off a little bit of bias towards the visibly religious lot in particular, there is a reason behind this. I won't get into details, but what I will mention is that you visibly religious lot, certainly raise the bar of behavioral expectations that others may have off you and your new found piousness and fondness for spirituality, when that is really lacking, it adds to anger, frustration, anxiety along with severe disappointments. Then again you would blame us for having high expectations to begin, this is where i say cut the crap, stop making excuses, and stop hiding behind your religious attire u choose to to wear at your own free will. This is about kindness, kindness does not need an excuse.<br />
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Kindness is almost dead, its more extinct than the Dodo, sometimes I actually begin to wonder if we as a species have evolved properly, are we yet to get to the desired level of evolution or have we gone back a stage in the 21st century. Kindness needs a revival, it needs a reincarnation. The challenge I would like to throw both religious Muslims that will be fasting in this holy month as well as the non religious who would be continuing normal life behind closed doors, is to be kind to people around you over the next 30 days. Do you think you both can last a month without being unkind.<br />
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First of all let me make it clear, u may think you are avoiding being unkind to the other person, absence of deliberate cruelty or intentionally being mean is not being kind, but it is also a very damaging form of unkindness. Let me give u all an example to elaborate a little bit, lets say, you all need a small favour out of someone, or you want something done by someone, who u usually would not consider as someone who merits your time or maybe a lesser being owing the image u have in your head for whatever XYZ reason, ask nicely, ask in a kind manner, most people will still be accommodating even if they know their being used, least u can do is ask kindly, A little bit of kindness can go a long long way in making or shaping someone's life, you do not even have to do it beyond basic politeness and very basic courtesy, while a little bit of unkindness and cocky rude attitude can badly break some one. Most of us Millennials, be it the early lot that was born in the 80s or the later late born 90s and beyond, we are all living serious pressure cooker lives, though we broadcast a lot of shit on social media, there is a lot of things we can not share, some very personal stuff, it might be related to one's job, one's partner, one's family, one's health, the list is endless, so try and be Kind, it really does not take a lot of effort.<br />
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To make a stronger point, I will share an example from my own life. One of the months of 2016, I was fresh out of a broken relationship, was a borderline mess, took me a month or 2 to get over it and move on, but I decided to start the process of moving on within 24-48 hours. About a week after the unexpected demise of that I had a wedding to attend of someone I knew from childhood, at the proceeded with my usual Social media activity, those who know me, my usual wedding photos, including my signature wedding selfies of the crowd acting all natural in the back ground. One of the ladies who was not by design in the wedding photographs but purely because she was in the back ground, very rudely and obnoxiously in a very inappropriate like she owns me demanded I take down all evidence, absolutely all evidence of the wedding from my Timeline. <b><i>Her Arguments as to why ''I know too many people, some one or the other will ask her how the wedding was'', she further added fuel to my inner rage by claiming I am ruining the wedding for the bride and the groom since they were selective in their guest list. If people see the picture, they will ask Qs over why they werent invited (all assumptions). </i></b>The mental frame of mind I was in, I could have been a real mean person that point, I decided I needed to take a stand for myself without being unkind, so out of pure defiance, I uploaded one group pic intentionally and that on Instagram where the lady isnt one of my followers, not proud of that moment, but had to be done. I got to hear some foul language and swear words from that lady for daring to do something without permission, but at this point I do not care.<br />
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Anyways that's not the point of this, the point of this, be bloody kind to people around you, you do not know what their going through. If everyone of us makes a very tiny effort even to be kind and not at all be unkind to our fellow human beings, it can set off a small chain reaction, and the immediate world around us can be a far nicer place. A slightly nicer world, calmer nerves, better concentration at work, we can all sleep better, and best of all we will not be unnecessarily snapping at other people, who in turn will snap at others. So Give it a thought, my 30 day challenge to You, Be Kind Daily for 30 days, and see the difference you make.<br />
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If old TV shows and old movies can get reincarnated, why not kindness, so lets give it to a try..<br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-2598561035385987552016-12-19T11:48:00.004+05:002016-12-19T12:03:10.251+05:00Someone explain Relationships 101 to Millennials <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Millennials, all right, let us get started with who or what this group is shall we? Well this group can be defined as individuals born from the early 1980's on wards, a very large number of them reached adult hood at the start of the new millennium. Think if you were born in 84, 85, 86, you probably turned 18 in 2002-4 and started life as an adult.<br />
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Some attributes of a lot of millennials, they have very high and rigid expectations of what they want out out of life,they are the generation that wants instant gratification, they are the right here, right now, I want this done yesterday type generation. They are very easily dissatisfied, and the very first signs of things not going their way, causes stress, anxiety, sinking feelings in the gut, panic, paranoia, which in turn results in severe difficulty to cultivate and manage relationships.<br />
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I am not an expert on relationships, but I do have a social science back ground, so let us begin by trying to decode millennial behavior and attitudes.<br />
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Millennials, God, I really wish they came up with a shorter word to describe this generation.<br />
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Millennials, are very very distrustful off other people, they do not trust their close friends, whom they label as close friends. Their is always the belief that every friend is a transitional friend and that their friends will not be there for them when they really need them. Most if not all millennials have probably experienced social betrayal from people they believed were their friends, its a deep down sinking feeling or belief among them that their friends will abandon them when they need them the most (for example going through a crises) or move on to other people or other friends when something better comes along. This whole sense of distrust prevents people from taking a risk and trying to form meaningful relationships. Meaningful relationships take time, effort, patience, compromise and a shit load of hard work and perseverance.<br />
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Relationships of Millennials are more like, first alarm bells, first whims, first random gut feelings, first thing they do not like in a relationship, or when things are not going completely their way, that is the end game, that is the deal breaker, that is when the decision to end relationships is made, swiftly, coldly, very brutally, and we do not even give the other person <b><i>any form of closure</i></b>. That absence of closure, in turn creates a cycle, where the person lacking the closure will make the same mistakes in that relationship again and again, or will treat other fellow millennials in exactly the same manner assuming it to be a cultural norm, one that is widely acceptable. For the millennials, the concept of communicating , talking things through in relationships, and trying to come up with solutions to roadblocks or problems or challenges does not exist, and you know why<b><i> they want instant gratification, their way or the highway. </i></b><br />
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Okay so most social scientists and experts on human behavior till quickly throw the blame at social media, the age of Facebook and Instagram where we are all sucked into a comparative bubble, where we want a sense of association and approval from our fellow tribe, i.e. the other millennials and in that process we have a sense of dissatisfaction with what we want out of life, and what life gives us. We keep wanting more and more and more out of life, because we are surrounded with too much information about the different filters concerning other people's lives, maybe that is a very valid, but maybe it is not the only argument that can be put on the table also. We live in a world where comparison with the other is at the touch of an app away, so we are maybe always living in a feeling of relativity, the relativity to status quo of our peers. How many of us are happy for our peers, and how many of us are actually envious when good things happen in their lives? Just think about it for a moment.<br />
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Anyhow i wanted to bring to everyone''s attention another point, that we all millennials have experienced incompatibility with our environment and our upbringing. Being a millennial myself , I was told growing up that if you work hard, put in the effort, study effort, make it count, get the grades, get that degree from that fantastic university, your life is set, you will be well rewarded, that is kind of how things worked in the generation before us, our parents generation or those of us with siblings a decade or decade and a half older, but the reality of our generation is seriously different. For most organizations, it i all about the bottom numbers, profitability in terms of numeric, and employees are just a number that can be scrapped, shed to ensure profitability and cut costs. Those starting new jobs, instead of telling them what training they will be offered along the way, they are asked in interviews, what they can already do, they are expected to know everything from the moment they step into the post student era world, sometimes also in the student era world, as I got to learn the hard way at Graduate School in England. My own struggles off graduate school were mainly due to my lacking of technical skills and knowledge that my degree required and the absence of social support.<br />
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To Sum up I would say, the solution to a lot of the problems, the stress, the crises millennials face, especially with regards to meaningful relationships is for some one to talk to them in a comforting manner, stuff like that all this is okay, sometimes these things happen, sometimes people are different, you have to make the most of it. But how are you going to teach patience to the millennial lot? condition them towards being patient, well i do not know the answer to that Question, if you do, drop some feedback in the comments section below.<br />
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Thanks for Reading<br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-62983353540968262212015-05-13T11:46:00.004+05:002015-05-13T11:46:40.931+05:00Book Review: Undying Affinity <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I Came across this book as an Amazon recommendation. I found it very unusual that Amazon was recommending me a romance novel, I am not sure how Amazon's algorithm works, usually I am a reader of Non Fiction, however I am some one who has always encouraged Pakistani writers by reading and recommending their books. I always seek out fiction written by Pakistani writers, be it by more well known writers like Kamila and Mohsin, or the slightly lesser known one's like Saba Imtiaz and Shazaf Fatima Haider. Our English language writers alongside their Urdu language counter parts are very talented and have tremendous potential to impress their readers.<br />
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I was initially skeptical of this book, firstly it being a romance novel and secondly the author's very young age, also the Amazon sampler before downloading the book did not impress me so much. The first chapter or 2 that you can read as part of the free preview slightly disappointed me with a slightly under developed use of good quality vocabulary, there were moments when it felt the English language wasn't freely flowing as it should. But then again it is the author's debut novel and unlike her fellow Anglo Pakistani writers does not come from a back ground where she holds a degree in English or Creative writing so I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and downloaded the book.<br />
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The book is about a young early 20's something girl named "Zarish" who hails from an upper middle class business owning family in Lahore. She is no different from any other girl in her age group, living a laid back care free life style that involves going to University, socializing with friends and just taking life easy. We are introduced early in the novel to her childhood best friend, a young man by the name of Haroon, who she has grown up with and has spent the most time. Their parents always assume, that their close friendship will blossom into love and eventually marriage.<br />
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It seems everything is going according to a standard scrip, this is until one evening while she is out with her friends for dinner, she has a by chance bumping into some one who unknowingly to her would change her life in the weeks and months that were to follow. That person being "Ahmer Murad", a young man in his late 20's who has returned to Pakistan leaving behind a life abroad to be with his ageing father. Little did Zarish know that the man she had an brief interaction with at the restaurant would be one of her professors and mentors at the university in the coming semester.<br />
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Considering the embarrassing nature of their first interaction, Zarish is shown as some one who is drawn to her professor's good looks as well as engulfed in a sense of discomfort whenever she sees Ahmer Murad around. It doesn't take Ahmer long to develop a good bond with his students, as he becomes a much loved instructor at the university with students showing significant interest in the finance class taught him. As the semester goes by, circumstances move in such a way that the amount off out of close interaction between Zarish and Ahmer increases and they see a side to each other beyond the teacher-student relationship, they start seeing each as the other person behind the curtains with a glimpse into their lives and how their families have crossed paths in the past.<br />
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As their paths cross more and more, they start developing a friendship that involves a trusting relationship as well, which blossoms into love with Zarish being the first one to confess her unconditional love to Ahmer and the 2 are left with hard choices, some moral self questioning about going beyond a student-teacher relationship and the challenges, some expected and some unexpected that will test them and tear them apart.<br />
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There are many beautiful moments in the book, many intimate moments shared by Zarish and Ahmer, such as the first time Ahmer confesses her love for Zarish, and the first time they kiss. The chemistry and bond shown in the book between Zarish and Ahmer reflects the innocent nature of our two characters which if you ask most people is a dying trait one rarely finds, that makes it the book's unique differentiating point that it is a simple innocent love story with innocent characters whose love is tested by norms, limitations and tragedy. Saying anything further would be spoiling the book for would be readers, I highly recommend it, especially if you are under the age of 25. For her debut novel Miss Naveed has done a very good job and I look forward to reading her next book.<br />
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I am giving the book 4 stars, because of some minor short comings in the book, such as the quality of English used in some of the earlier chapters is not off a very high standard, secondly the writer has not made use of the odd humour that some writers use to keep their audiences engaged in the book this may bore some readers though personally I did not experience boredom while reading this book and thirdly the length of the book was almost 400 pages, an ideal book in South Asian literature should be under 300 pages, their were some things that seemed like repetitive in the book and could have been left out, while some minor characters were not given their due justice and coverage. It would have been nice to know a bit more about Ahmer's past in particular especially his youth.<br />
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I wish Sara Naveed all the best in her future works, I am already eagerly awaiting her next book. For those in Pakistan this book has not been officially launched nationwide, it is available on the Amazon Kindle if you are a Kindle user, alternatively you could contact the writer on her Facebook page and order a paper back (In Pakistan) with an option of Cash on delivery. For readers in Karachi, not yet available at Liberty books. </div>
Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-68359733619395326252015-04-07T14:35:00.003+05:002015-04-07T14:35:26.972+05:00Travel Diaries: Choose your Travel Companions Wisely <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The desire to travel, Wanderlust, is inside so many of us, so many of us yearn for that freedom that travel brings along with it. This is in addition to the many wonderful things that travel enables us, it gives the opportunity to unwind and refresh, explore new culture, meet people and also taste some great food along the way. Some of us feel that freedom as solo travelers, while some of us love to have company around while we travel and can never even imagine getting on that plan and visiting some place new without companionship. The benefits of solo travel maybe plenty, such as freedom and flexibility to do whatever when you want, while traveling in a group or with friends, comes with benefits such as better bonding between you and your travel companions, you always have some one with good fresh ideas, some one to talk to, and not to mention of course some one to take that all important photograph in front of a landmark, which was previously not possible before front facing camera's in mobile phones and of course the horrible invention the selfie stick. I wish the latter would just get uninvented some how. There was an April fool's day joke about the Selfie Shoe coming up, boy did that cause quite the stir.<br />
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Coming back to the main essence of this blog, travel companions, I can not for the love of God emphasis enough that one must choose their travel companions wisely. Sure it sounds great to be spontaneous and make a random holiday plan with a friend, but traveling together could make or break the bond in pretty much the same way living together can also make or break a relationship. The following are some things that you need to be mindful off before going on a trip with some one, unless ofcourse their your significant other than most stuff gets completely overlooked.<br />
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1. How close are you to that person, and to what extent can you really trust that person? Have u had a history where at any point trust issues, mutually or from a single side did sprout up?<br />
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2. Do routine habits and life style choices of the person you travel with annoy you or at all make you comfortable? For many after a certain age habits and life style choices are some what fixed and no power can undo that. If your even mildly uncomfortable, it would be best to avoid traveling with that person. For example for some Muslim travelers, eating only Halal is a priority, while for some it isn't. Even though it is not a big issue, it is a cause of discomfort for many Muslim travelers when their fellow Muslim travelers are not big on Halal.<br />
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3. Alcohol consumption. In most parts of the world alcohol consumption as a social lubricant is second nature to people, kind of like having tea in some parts of South Asia, so if this social lubricant causes you discomfort, plan your way of meeting and bonding with people alternatively. In the case of your travel companion, do learn about their alcohol consumption habits, do not judge them over drinking, but if they are a good friend please facilitate them in keeping consumption to a moderate level.<br />
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4. Never ever travel with some one who takes pleasure from lighting a match, we all have atleast that one friend who loves petty gossip and lights matches for that petty gossip, it gives them a feeling of power over the other person. Lighting a match and rubbing salt on old bounds under the guise of no one else being around. On that note, never travel with some one who has a history of breaking your trust even once, unless of course they have mended all the bridges involved.<br />
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5. Never travel with any one who has bad hygiene. That one is obvious, no need to go into details.<br />
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6. Never travel with some one who has a history of being reluctant to share. While on traveling, it is not uncommon for you to forget some stuff in the hotel room or forget to pack some stuff in the luggage. Personal hygiene stuff like tooth brush apart, If your travel companion can not share with you stuff such as let's say a mobile phone charger or a universal adapter or even toiletries such as Shampoo or Sunscreen, yeah the holiday won't exactly go according to plan.<br />
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7. Do not travel with some one that does not respect you enough to let you have a say in your holiday, it is best to avoid travel or part ways early with a travel companion who is always bossy, and tries to dominate how the holiday should proceed, from landmarks which need to be visited, from places for food, some one who doesn't cooperate with u slightly to put it simply. Last thing you want to do is get into a fight. <br />
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Just Some Food For Thought, Speaking from personal experience<br />
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Happy, safe and memorable travels every One.<br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-27135289362406852962015-04-07T14:03:00.000+05:002015-04-07T14:03:11.126+05:00We Need To Talk About Bullying (Part IV)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It must be extremely difficult being a teenager today, I am sure no matter how hard I try I really can not imagine the true extent of what young people today have to go through. Today I am talking about bullying again, because it is a topic that needs to be spoken about as much as we can because bullying isn't declining but thanks to developments in technology and social trends it is going out of control and out of proportion. We live in an age and era where offline bullying is now accompanied by digital bullying which makes things a lot worse than they already are.<br />
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Some weeks ago, it was early in the morning and I had switched on SBS in my Melbourne hotel room. SBS Australia is one of the few free to air TV Channels alongside 7, channel 9 and the ten network. They were running a program on how bullying in the digital age is effecting children particularly teenagers leading to an academic, social and emotional down fall of the next generation of young people walking towards adulthood. According the documentary the attention towards the impact of digital bullying was first noticed in many high schools with a decline not just in grade work of young students but also a significant decline in their push towards physical fitness and athletic agility. Having personally lived in Australia for 4 years I personally know the importance on good physical health, fitness and a good active life style put forward by most Australians. This is also reflected upon the agility and competitive mindset of their athletes and sports persons. In Olympics Australians always feature in the ten best performing nations in terms of medal counts, while in other sports such as Rugby and Cricket, their a force to be reckoned with.<br />
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The documentary that I was fortunate to see was set in urban Queensland, where PE or Physical Education teachers or instructors noticed a decline in confidence and a drop in motivation for being competitive towards physical activities such as sports and fitness during the school hours. Upon investigation it turned out that students who were terrified off showing their potential or making daring efforts to exert themselves in physical challenges had become conscious of themselves, their bodies, their physical appearances as a result of not just real time bullying, but a lot of digital and cyber bullying that they had to be subject to. Aggressive comments like 'O Shes a Fat Cow' or 'He is a Fat Pig' or 'He/She is a midget' were being labeled at them by their peers, and thanks to the power of social media, they had been going viral and had played a great role in shaping opinions of others who otherwise wouldn't have had any. Long gone are the days, when the bully was out of your face, you did not have to think about the bully or attempts of bullying, now considering everyone as a smart phone and easy access to social media, it seems their is no escape. Young people today are always subjected to bullying. With limits to how to manage what goes on in the world of social media, it will become even harder and harder for parents as well as teenagers to manage circumstances.<br />
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Realistically bullying could never be prevented, bullies have existed since the dawn of civilization, technology has just presented everyone with a whole set of new challenges no one ever expected. One thing that can be done is to create awareness among people as how to identify bullying when it happens and what to do in what circumstances should they be on the receiving end of bullying or on the spectator end. Part of the problem lies with people's apathy, this I was witness to when I was in school, and I witness this in the lives of young people today, its the apathy of by standers, witnesses, who not only fail to even blink an eye when they see some one being subjected to bullying, but often at times, they take the side of the aggressor and entertain the idea that maybe the victim of bullying is some one who actually deserves the treatment thrown towards them. We see it as a natural course, a natural order, we see the aggressor from the vantage of a first mover, the first mover is well within his or her right to act and must be acting right, we seem to automatically dismiss alternatives. The dismissal of alternatives comes down to our inability to feel empathy for other human beings, realistically it is impossible to feel absolute empathy for another or be absolutely sensitive as to feel for the other person, but it is totally worse on a whole different level we see the victim of aggression as a lesser being than the bully or the aggressor. It is no different from how we look down upon victims of abuse, back of our mind we want to be impartial, so we end up making things worse by giving even some benefit of the doubt to the aggressor. There can be no 2 ways about it, an aggressor is an aggressor, some one who makes the must move must be in the spot light.<br />
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When was the last time so many of us actually took a stand for some one getting beaten, harassed, socially ostracized or character assassinated because of one or just a handful of people. Standing up is far fetched, I haven't even seen people show compassion for the person getting bullied, even compassion is far fetched, I have seen people believe the image of the victim as portrayed by the bully as some one who deserves it. Just some food for thought for everyone, considering we live in a digital era, next time any of us is witness to digital or cyber or social media bullying, we should entertain the idea that okay maybe this is not right, and maybe the bully is wrong and not their victims.<br />
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Just Food for Thought. </div>
Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-23741174942890402342014-09-06T12:23:00.000+05:002014-09-06T12:31:32.750+05:00Let's Talk About Bullying Again (Part 3) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Fairly recently I came across this little piece on the internet <a href="http://www.tickld.com/x/this-guy-just-changed-the-way-we-see-beauty-and-the-beast">about Disney's Beauty and the beast</a> which is a childhood classic for many and one of their great animated hits from the old days.Though personally not a fan of the popular children's tale, it gave insight into the story in a way a great number of us who have seen it in our childhood would have not observed. Seeing and observing something from the mind of a child differs significantly from how we see, perceive, feel and react to things as an adult. This little piece online gave quite some food for thought about the deep messages hidden between the lines, how there is more to a simple children's tale which we had seen many many years before any hint of adulthood wisdom kicked in. That little piece talks about bullying and social discrimination in a manner that makes it an important highlight of the children's animated film.<br />
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The film highlights how damaging bullying can be and the consequences of bullying, not just that but also some of the other types of bullying that takes place, and how we as a collective lot do not reject bullying, instead of we go an extra mile and glorify bullying behavior. There is a character called Gaston in the film that everybody developed a disliking for as he was seen as a non friendly character, but what the film also suggests and this is from the above link itself, that the character demonstrates that bullies are rewarded and beloved by society as long as they possess certain characteristics, while nice people who don't are ostracized. Even the love story itself is about two individuals who find comfort in one another after society rejects them.<br />
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The character of the beast and his outbursts of anger are also an important backdrop of the film. His anger is not because he is a monster, but because of society's attitude towards him and their decision to socially ostracize him by convincing him time after time that he is indeed a monster not worthy of social acceptance. See this here itself is a very important lesson from this Disney animated film, there are very deep psychological consequences of society's behavior towards a certain individuals who by their own circles are deemed different from the lot, especially if it is different in the wrong kind of way. By reinforcing the belief that one is a monster or sub human or in any way in a relatively inferior human being, society particularly the active self serving pricks are pushing one towards the belief that they are indeed human or simply put not <b><i>EQUALLY HUMAN</i></b>.<br />
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The Concept and idea of being equally human is an interesting one, there has been much debate on this in academic circles and their publications, but stimulating and productive discourse on the topic rarely takes place among standard social settings. People in society usually display such treatment towards not only those that are different from a standardized lot but also those deemed relatively inferior, and the way we have seen such behavior depicted in popular culture, it initiates with the work of self serving trouble makers, who would benefit directly or indirectly from the mistreatment of another And like its highlighted in the Disney article, these trouble makers are usually very conveniently ignored as trouble makers and are seen as fairly right people and fairly rightful in their approach because of certain characteristics they all possess. No one even remotely entertains the idea these trouble makers maybe the one's'who are really different because the general rule of thumb is good folks do not try and build hatred for others. It is these very people that lead others on as well to follow them into a web of hatred, discrimination and demonize they the others.<br />
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Examples are widespread in Pakistan, it is usually one person or a small group of people that incites provokes and gathers a mob against minorities, against law enforcement agencies and functional government institutes. These include acts of violence and persecution towards religious minorities such as Qadiyani' and Christians in Punjab and Hindus in Sindh. It also extends to include the trouble makers from BSO Azad at Universities across Balochistan in their personal feud with the state.<br />
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But let's look at it from a more micro perspective leaving behind political or religious or any other controversial elements to this debate. Early basic, primary and secondary schooling or education are the basis for behavior that shapes people as they move into adulthood. It is in these years that such behaviors are ingrained, conditioned or taught with respect what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. Not everyone we went to school with has a standardized life map like a lot of us. Every child in school in the early years or as a teenager in the later years are a product of their environment, upbringing and their realities of life. Some of our fellow classmates are the only child, some come from broken families, some come with the baggage of trauma from abuse, some come from an over protective or overly ignored upbringing, some from very competitive and high expectation backgrounds, quite a few variables.<br />
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We all remember our schooling days of how there were always other children who were brutally picked on and they were the children picking on them, most of us were silent restrained observers. In true essence we in our minds were actually condoning bullying behavior firstly by not only showing apathy and restrain from preventing a conflict (for whatever reason) and secondly by looking down upon the victim of bullying, harassment and discrimination as an inferior being, some one whose ill-treatment is justified. In a way we are reinforcing bullying by justifying it, we are reinforcing the belief that victims of abuse and mistreatment do not belong and they need to be rightfully put in their place. When was the last time, either of us dared to get up and question the bully or question the acts of bullying?<br />
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To Be Continued.....</div>
Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-44937638600561358422014-08-12T11:49:00.002+05:002014-08-12T11:49:49.240+05:00Are we really good and socially responsible friends? (Originally published April, 2011).<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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There is a question that has been on my mind for quite some time. That question has been what distinguishes our friends from our peers, and should we practice social responsibility towards our friends ? At times, there are many people who can not distinguish between their friends and peers, though the definition of friendship varies from how the wo<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">rld describes it, definitions of how we define our peers stay some what the same. I remember once picking up a sociology textbook that first year university students use for intro to the subject and came across a textbook definition of what a peer is. Based on that text book, our peers are defined some what as people we know, we get along with and people we socialize or interact with. Sounds like the definition of a<strong> 'friend'</strong>, but surely friendship and friends carry a different meaning, otherwise the two words would not be in existence or would be merely used inter changeably.</span></div>
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Friendship in order to distinguish itself incorporates characteristics that differ from those we associate with our peers. Friendship incorporates additional values such as empathy, honesty, mutual understanding (which is common with peers also), trust, positive reciprocity as well as an element of social responsibility. The social responsibility that I speak off comprises of only not only how socially responsible we are, towards our friends, but also how pro active we are in instilling a sense of social responsibility in them, whether that social responsibility is towards other people they know, or the wider community at large. In other words, a socially responsible friend is one who is not only a good, reliable and responsible friend towards us on an individual level, but is also one that communicates a sense of socially responsible behavior in us. One might argue that as mature adults, many of us are capable of thinking independently on our own and be in a position to distinguish between right and wrong, and that we do not need our friends or peers or who ever to be telling us what to do and what not to do, what is right or what is not? These are some of the countless arguments that one can expect people to give.<br />
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To put it simply what I am really trying to say is that what distinguishes our friends from our peers is that they are not reluctant to re assure us when we are correct, yet at the same time neither are they reluctant to criticize us or condemn us when we are walking down the wrong path or following a set of behavior or actions that are questionable, socially irresponsible or even just down right wrong. It is human nature, that we through out the course of our life, especially during early adulthood, we want a sense of continuous assurance from people in our lives especially those whom we see as our friends, with regards to what our plans in life are, and what course of action we choose to follow. We want people, who we see as our friends to unconditionally support us regardless or whether we are right or wrong and/or look the other way when we are doing something wrong. Though different people have different thresholds for criticism coming from others, when it comes from our friends, or when our friends tell us what we are doing is wrong has an entirely different effect on us. One possible reason for this could be a level of emotional connection that we have with them, a sort of memorandum of understanding that has been built over time. Has it ever occurred to us, that it is only our friends who will communicate this to us, if we are genuinely truly doing something wrong, while our peers would not even think twice about what we are or are not doing?<br />
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Why is it that we forget that is our friends and not our peers at the end of the day, who come to our aid in times of need, in times when we are at our worst, times when life turns it's back on us and not necessarily the people we socialize with. So why should be reluctant to listen to our friends when they are giving us genuine advise and most importantly why should we hold ourselves when our friends are doing something wrong. It is not uncommon that we over the years growing up, witness our friends do questionable things before us, even though it might cause us minor disappointment deep down inside, out of possible fear of repercussion or loss of acquaintance holds us back. How many of us have seen our friends cheat in final exams, break the law, bully, abuse, harass and carry out targeted discrimination towards others. How many times, have we seen our friends use and exploit others, how many times have we seen our friends mistreat others, how many times have we seen our friends become victims of drug and alcohol abuse? How many times have we seen one friend of ours mistreat and exploit another friend? How many times have our sense of favoritism amongst friends cloud our objectivity and social responsibility? Just How many times?<br />
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One of the most famous human rights activists of the 20th Century, the late Martin Luther King Jr who led the famous civil rights movement in the United States once said <strong>' Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter'.</strong> If we look back and reflect on life, the frequency of us witnessing such events over our lives would be substantial. We should take this opportunity to reflect back on just how good of a friend have we been to our friends and how often have we been silent where we should say something</div>
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-86057062802885407472014-01-27T13:52:00.001+05:002014-01-27T13:52:17.937+05:00The Myth of the First Impression, First Impressions are not as Accurate as we think.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The saying goes that the first impression is always the last impression. It is something we have been brought up to believe over the course of our lives through a product of conditional and subliminal. To put it more accurately it would be fair to say that the first impressions are usually the more lasting one's when it comes to other people, These are the images or perceptions that stick in our minds and we experience what somewhat call a mental road block that distorts or influences how our senses and perception reacts to future signals or communication coming from the person following the first impression. The first impression that the other person leaves on us, whether good or bad sticks around whether we are the judgmental types or the open minded.</div>
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The truth of the matter how ever is that if we keep a slightly open mind and think objectively for a moment. First impressions are not necessarily accurate and might not reflect the true image of the person we are meeting. Firstly I would like to point that out that impression building begins even before we actually meet a new person for the very first time. It begins with our perception. Over the course of our lives, as a result of various experiences, various people and through conditional and subliminal we develop our unique perception and outlook on life. Now I am a person who favors diversity and values the different opinions and attitudes that new people bring into the social setting. Due to all of this, we have a certain level of expectation of what we expect the other person that we are about to meet. For example, when we meet a new person through a friend or in other friends friend of a friend, we expect unconsciously that the person our friend is about to introduce to use would share some similarities to our friend or would fit certain characteristics we expect some one of that age or background to bring with themselves. That is not the only thing that shapes our attitude towards the new person even prior to any interaction. At times it is human nature to do a quick back ground check on the person that we have just met or are about to meet, and sometimes what we hear might influence us when interacting with the new person. In other words, what I am trying to say is, already an impression is created in our minds due to a <strong><em>word of mouth</em></strong>. Word of Mouth could be good or bad, we could be hearing pleasant or unpleasant things from a person we check up with, and based on what we have heard, we judge and we observe the smallest of things. In a nutshell for example, we are about to meet someone new, we check up on the person from someone we might know mutually, if we do not hear good things, in a way our mind is made up even before the other person leaves their own independent first impression.</div>
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Even if we take back ground checks and pre-determined perceptions out of the equation. There are still a lot of inaccuracies when it comes to first impressions which make determining the other person based on a first impression as somewhat controversial and questionable. Other variables and factors are always at play that can have an effect on the outcome of the first impression. These include the person’s physical health, when we meet someone for the very first time it is entirely possible the person might be unwell, might be down with a fever or something, which might affect the person’s full potential in a social situation. When one is unwell and is meeting people, it is already a daunting task managing ones self in a social situation, let alone take full advantage of it or show your true self. Another variable which plays some role in the first impression scenario is the shyness level of the new person. At times people we meet are shy around new people, or people they are being introduced to, it takes some time for a person to be able to move into a slight comfort zone with new people. My best guess from personal experience would be that it takes till the third time for a person to be able to really move into the comfort zone around new people. I am stating this based on the fact that the second interaction creates some level of familiarity which breaks the ice, while the third interaction is re visiting familiarity after the ice has been broken allowing people to slightly move into their comfort zones. Observe and see for yourself, by the time we meet a new person for the third time, we as well as the other person in Question are relatively more comfortable with each other. For such an observation to be made however, a proper social interaction would be recommended as opposed to a casual bumping into people.</div>
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As an individual myself I have always truly valued diversity and the different set of values, beliefs, characteristics and opinions that people bring into the room. I suppose it is a product of living overseas in a multicultural society, where contrary to what many people believe, diversity in society is embraced and valued as opposed to being treated as an excuse for possible friction. It is due to my values of in favour of embracing diversity that I argue that we should all keep an open mind when it comes to meeting and interacting with new people as opposed to going with a slightly closed box mind. If we keep an open mind and optimistically think that not all people we meet will be selfish with some personal agenda, we are opening ourselves up to great opportunities and people that might come our way Most importantly when we are meeting new people, we should always practice and observe common courtesy, as the lack of basic common courtesy is what could spark unwanted friction and misunderstanding.</div>
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-30747706684017615592013-11-08T11:29:00.000+05:002013-11-08T11:37:19.953+05:00Islamabad innit!!!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Islamabad more popularly known by the locals as Isloo, is the national capital of Pakistan. Located about a four drive north of Lahore, Islamabad along with its neighboring twin city of Rawalpindi form Pakistan's fourth largest city. The twin cities as the locals like to call it, for a new visitor if it were not for the sign boards it would be very hard to tell when one Islamabad ends and when Rawalpindi begins. Both cities are quite different from one another one, Rawalpindi is an old pre-partition era urban center, which since partition has been home to the Pakistan armed forces and before partition it served a HQ for the British Indian army, the locals are proud to hail from Pindi, while people from Islamabad are even prouder of their city. Islamabad is a purpose built well planned city commissioned by the then president of Pakistan Ayub Khan to serve as the future capital of the nation. At the time the nation's largest city Karachi had served as the capital of the newly formed nation since its inception in 1947.<br />
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My recent trip to Islamabad carried with it a lot of excitement, as though I was not a first timer to Islamabad I had never gotten the opportunity to actually explore the city and its laid back vibe. My previous trip in 2010 to the twin cities featured a wedding in Rawalpindi which did not leave time for exploring Isloo, and the trips before that were either express visa trips into the diplomatic enclave or transit stops for journey onto hill stations like Muree, Bhurban or Nathiagali. I can not even describe how excited I was to explore our nation's capital and the best part about it was going to be that for the duration of my stay, I would not have to worry about the state of safety and security which is a natural cause of concern for all those who hail from the city by the sea Karachi, which has a ridiculously high crime rate.<br />
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I am usually not the one to believe in the envious eye but my trip to Islamabad did not exactly kick off to such a great start. To get to Islamabad I hopped on the afternoon Daewoo Bus Service from Lahore to Rawalpindi (which is where the Daewoo stop is) and half way through shortly after the mid point rest stop, the engine fan caught fire and our bus had to make an emergency stop around Kalar Kahar near the Salt Ranges of the Punjab province. We got on a replacement bus an hour or so later and made our way to the twin cities. I arrived in the twin cities a few hours but just in time for dinner. We had dinner reservations at this lovely outdoor-ish Italian restaurant by the name of Tuscany Courtyard, which as the name suggests had a nice spacious courtyard. The food was absolutely brilliant and worth every penny, considering we had a 4 course meal for 2K pp, so all in all good value for money. It wasn't long before we spotted our first parliamentarian. As we stepped out, speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq walked in with his family and surprisingly no security escorts, maybe its just a surprising thing for us Karachi City folks to see politicians with security left right and center.<br />
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Then began the touristy trail the following morning, I had already made a list of To Do Things and Must visit Places in Islamabad for my short trip. Due to the constraint length of the whole trip, I did not get the opportunity to visit Saidpur Village or the new Centauras shopping mall. We started Saturday with a visit to Lake View park located alongside Rawal lake. The picturesque lake side park is not only a vast spread of green but also features a bird park for<b> bird brains</b> and bird lovers, paddle boating, hiking trails as well as a Go Karting for the the adrenaline junkies. All that fresh air was intoxicating.<br />
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Followed by Lake View park, we made our way to Shakarpariyan and the Pakistan monument, the latter being a monument made during the era of president Parvez Musharaf. The stunning monument in its impressive pillars carry equally impressive carving which are a reflection and testimony to national symbols and national pride. The impressive compound of the monument also offers spectacular views of the city, by far this has been my favorite stop in Islamabad. A quick lunch later, we proceeded to visit Serena hotel, which is by far the most luxurious and priciest of fancy hotels in Pakistan and a popular choice for foreigners as well as they can commonly be spotted around the hotel premises, in any case all over Islamabad foreigners can be easily spotted, be it convenient stores or luxury hotels. Something we Karachi folk don't get to see much off.<br />
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After a short rest, we proceeded towards the magnificent Shah Faisal Mosque which is not only a symbol of Islamabad but also one of the architectural symbols of modern Pakistan. With its enormous courtyard and massive worship capacity, it is easily among the largest mosques in the world this combined with its stunning and mesmerising modern architecture. As dusk kicked in, we proceeded to a popular Islamabad hang out among the youths of the city 'Chaye Khana'. Initially I was curious what the big hype was, why was it Islamabad's popular to go place, once there, felt like home, felt like I was in just the right kind of cafe. Definitely worth a visit on a trip to Islamabad, and they do pretty decent Peshwari Kahva and Doodh Pati. For dinner time in Islamabad, Monal located on top of the hills is a Must Visit for not only spectacular scenic views of Islamabad but also for its incredible Pakistani food. Unfortunately time constraints I could not get the opportunity to visit this restaurant during day hours and had to settle for illuminated night light night time views, which though not as breath taking as they would be during the day are still fairly impressive. Good food, good company and a good view, best of all peace of mind and safety.<br />
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As my trip came to its conclusion I wondered when I would be back in our beautiful and stunning national capital. I am not certain whether it will happen any time soon, but I do hope to return, finish my tourist trail and spoil myself with all that fresh air, for the time being I am going to see where my travels take me next.<br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-48306056484028329252013-09-05T15:32:00.003+05:002013-09-05T17:12:53.369+05:00The Weird Kind of Rude<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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" 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The awkward kind of rude, the weird kind of rude or the very totally majorly kind of rude. Some people are rude in just the weirdest way possible. Sometimes the weirdness gets borderline dumb, makes you want to go facepalm right there and then. Well this world will always be full of really rude people, dumb people and weird people, so why not have the really dumb and weird type of rude people? Very recently I had dinned out on a weeknight evening with a friend of mine at one of my favorite restaurants in the city by the sea and I had encountered a slightly bitter experience, not with respect to the restaurant itself but as a result of some other patrons confidentially not just present at the same time but occupying a neighboring table. It is one of the higher end establishments in this city, and by design it is a beautiful restaurant with a brilliant outdoor court yard for those wishing to enjoy the gentle sea breeze of the city by the sea. The staff at the establishment are brilliant full kudos to them for taking excellent care of their customers. For foreigners reading this blog, my nick names for home town 'Karachi' are City by the Sea or Shehr e Quaid, the latter if I am feeling very Urdu-ish. Just so you know, Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and is one of the official languages of India.<br />
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This particular experience with respect to other people was not happening as an occurrence in my life for the first time, it has happened fairly frequent. One thing is very common to the people that display such gestures of awkward rudeness. Their casual acquaintances in most circumstances, having met me just once or twice or max a handful of times in life. They do not know me on a personal or social capacity, which is what is the optimal required level of interaction required in order to form an objective opinion about another person. The behavior in Question I am about to describe is something not just myself, millions of us growing up have experienced it as some stage in life or the other. Very high likelihood of it happening while we were in high school of in the early years of our adulthood at University. This is when you as an individual walk into a place, you spot some one whose presence makes you uncomfortable, even though you mind your own business and go about your way, those very people can not keep a lid or check on their emotions and engage in rude, childish, immature and anti social behavior of certain sorts. For example if they are accompanied by other people who are strangers to you, they would start whispering about you using negative references to their peers and friends.<br />
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Now generally I am not some one who is bothered by what the individual ONE person thinks about me, it is a reality of life I can not be liked by everyone, though I try my best to like people, I can not like everyone either. My cause of concern arises when those that dislike me can not shut the fuck up with respect to how they feel about me or how they see me, they just feel too compelled to spread their opinions with respect to myself onto complete strangers who until that moment had no idea who I was, I was a complete stranger to them. Unnecessarily attention has been brought into my direction, people who are complete strangers to me now have some attention focused in my direction and not in the best of ways. Them being complete strangers having never met them I am unlikely to pay attention to their faces, let alone remember them, but since wrong attention has been brought to them about me, if I am ever in life to meet such people (strangers) in the near future, very high probability of them having already biased opinions and might act socially inappropriate towards me. At the time they might indirectly influence others accompany or those present at the venue or whatever in those circumstances with respect to who I am as an individual.<br />
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Such experience is not unique to me, what I am writing every single one of you reading this has probably experienced this at some point or the other in their lives. Let me share an interesting example of how people exchanging dislike for a person can translate into cyberspace and take the form of cyber bullying even. Last year when I was a graduate student in the United Kingdom, this Pakistani chap, I am guessing from his Facebook profile he was 20 at the time, he went by the name of Khizer which is a common Pakistani first name and was an undergraduate student at one of the universities in London. That fellow picked fights me on chat groups, Facebook fan pages, groups and even started to message me direct to my inbox of threatening to cause me physical harm also. His only argument for such behavior was that so and so person and so and so person 2 have said such and such about me, why would they lie, you must be this kind of person. My immediate reaction was ''how much free time does this weirdo have?'' and ''haven't his parents taught him that you respect elders? But then again kids these days, those born 89 and beyond, their a whole different generation from those born 83 to 85, hard to predict their behavior. One thing is certain though my generation at least respected their seniors and elders regardless of how much we hated them. I say this behavior constitutes as a kind of social bullying without a doubt. What makes this one interesting is that the person who was referenced as making a strong claim about me had only met me once or twice before. Back in 2008, i had experienced a huge difference of opinion with a friend in similar circumstances, in that case individuals referenced i had never heard off. It is also a very small world, so that does not help.<br />
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I would like to conclude by encouraging socially responsible behavior and etiquette but I suppose that is pointless in a world, where people are too judgmental and are continuously looking for reasons to hate one another . So I guess it is like talking to a thick brick wall, even after reading this blog, unlikely that people will change their behavior, change their mood, change their attitude and become more open minded. Some people will always be narrow minded and will always want to demolish people in their minds for a personal ego boost. For the time being I can choose to keep ignoring such people and hope bad word of mouth doesn't cost me or any of us when it really matters. </div>
Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-68467007816886033392013-08-31T15:19:00.001+05:002013-08-31T15:33:14.416+05:00Of Shadi's and Segregation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As the holy month of Ramzan comes to an end we are greeted by the festivities of Eid, and immediately without wasting any further time as soon as Eid ends, it is the start of a very busy shadi season. It is almost an annual ritual off sorts, Eid ul Fitr goes, a busy hectic tightly packed shadi season begins. For me the tradition of having a schedule fully loaded with Shadi's continued post Eid in 2013 as well. By the time I am writing this, I have attended over 10 events following Eid, and I am still due to attend 2 more before I can say Shadi season is over, well atleast to the best of my knowledge I have just 2 more to attend. Another card pops or a Facebook invite, might happen, it seems everyone I know is in the rush to tie the knot get married. Weddings are and can be fun, depends on the setting of the wedding, the venue, the food, the entertainment planned out, the people in attendance makes Shadi's a great evening out also. And if it is a close friend getting married, there is no excusing missing Shadi's for every day outings or pure laziness.<br />
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The season started with one of my closest friends wedding. That was indeed a memorable wedding affair. It had the usual 3 function set up, the mehndi, the baraat and the valima. For foreigners who are not familiar with our marriage event set up ordeal, here is a quick summary. The Mehndi is a Semi formal event which can be a large gathering or a small one with close friends and family depending on the would be married couple. It usually comprises of application of Henna on the hands of the girl's usually cousins and close friends of the bride, followed by a dance-a-thon of sorts. The latter assuming the family is not conservative about guys and girls dancing off in a competitive style like it's dancing with the Star's in front of wedding guests. The Baraat/Shadi function is where the Groom's family arrives at a Shadi Venue usually at a Shadi Hall or in a Hotel with his entire army of close friends and family and the function ends with the Groom taking the bride home. This function is usually hosted by the bride's family with the nikkah ceremony taking place also if not already taken place at the mosque. The Valima on the other end is a religious tradition sort of event which is hosted by the groom's family for the bride's family, as well as their own close family friends. For many traditionalist families, this is the only event on the cards. If the wedding is in a Punjabi family in particular, expect it to be loud and colorful with very extrovert people.<br />
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Over the last ten to fifteen years or so, urban Pakistani society has started experiencing a wave of religious conservatism, a lot of credit for which should go to very extreme right wing religious schools such as the Al Huda School for men and women, or the men's religious revivalist movement the Tableeghi Jamat. The latter is famous for it's massive annual gatherings in Malir, Karachi, and in Raivand, Lahore. Both the schools as well as this revivalist gathering mission seems hell bent on proactively creating and enforcing a culture of rigid literal implementation of religion on Pakistani society. Pakistani society has historically been conservative and old school, but courtesy of the effects of local culture, sufism and having lived in a pre parition India for centuries, the religiousness effect has been relatively moderate through most of Pakistan's history. The effect's of the wahabi style symbolic ritual focused Islam kicked into Pakistan during Zia's dark tenure as Pakistan's head of state. Following Zia's death, society returned towards liberalization in the 90's as democracy also returned to Pakistan, however as we headed towards the late 90's and awaited the 21st century, these right wing religious schools gained prominence as well as the Tableeghi Jamat and began undoing the the years of social progress of society. Their goals include a literal implementation of Islam, an over emphasis on symbolic rituals and a disconnect from the worldly life for the life here after.<br />
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This has had an effect on people's social behavior and as a by product an effect on weddings in Pakistan. Growing up in the 90's for me it was a rarity to see such religiously influenced wedding ceremonies even among the religious lot. The drive to have a Sharia Law compliant or a religious compliant wedding is very intense among not just the elders of the house but also among the youth of the house that have subscribed to such schools of thought. The result of which is you see a fair amount of gender segregation at Shadi's, the music and entertainment in many cases has disappeared and a huge rise in the number of religious people in attendance, or atleast visibly religious people. Such has become the passion with segregation that many even among Pakistan's educated urban middle classes find mixed gatherings a disgusting sight. Every shadi season every year I have seen the occurrence of where people including close family of the the to be married couple walk out upon discovering that the event is a mixed affair and doesn't involve segregation of genders. This puts also added pressure on families that usually do not have segregated affairs to enforce segregation in their events so that they do not end up having an event where close relatives are boycotting or people socially relevant to them. This not only prevents, friends and close family from meeting and socializing with one another, but it stimulates and reinforces a belief that all hell will break loose should a gathering not be segregated, and we will go all to hell at the sight or being spotted by a Non Mehram man/woman and severe punishments lie waiting for us in the after life.<br />
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So far I haven't seen all hell break loose, and a lot of these so called segregated events that I have attended do not fully adhere to segregation trends either. The staff serving is usually male, so are the security guards, as well as the camera men and photographers. In addition to that, in some segregated weddings, the groom is the only guy present in the hall sitting on the stage with his new bride while his friends and male relatives are kept on the other side not visible from the eye. One should spare a thought or two for the groom, bechara, one never asks how he feels, or the newly married couple how they feel about what is supposed to be the single happiest moment in their life forced away from plan due to irrational social and peer pressure, especially from the religious lot, who if they were truly religious would show compassion and enthusiasm as others celebrate new beginnings in life in very much the same manner others participate at their crucial events regardless of the segregation even though they may find it a needless practice. We can atleast try and not cave into bullying if our beliefs state otherwise, were just encouraging a needles trend.<br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-50552095767138018422013-06-19T15:57:00.000+05:002013-06-19T16:10:38.885+05:00Surviving Istanbul<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Even though I hail from Pakistan's city by the sea, Karachi
where major civil unrest is a regular occurrence and often comes without
warning, never did I expect to find myself caught up in all this thousands of
miles away from home on the cross roads of the two continents. Istanbul, the
largest city of the Turkish republic and the only major city that falls between
the two continents of Asia and Europe. Media coverage has been very minimal in
Pakistan, some are however courtesy of foreign media outlets familiar with the
events that unfolded in Turkey's largest city Istanbul over the past few
weeks. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It all began a few weeks ago with demonstrators mainly the
youth gathering at Gezi Park which is
located next to the iconic Taksim in Central Istanbul to protest against a
development project that involved the planned demolition of the park in favor
of a mega shopping plaza along with luxury apartments. The arguments of the
protesters in the early days were that it was one of the very few green spaces
remaining in Central Istanbul and for environmental reasons the Park must be
protected. What started off as movement
to protect the park evolved into violent and destructive anti government
protests with calls demanding the resignation of the Turkish Prime Minister
Tayyeb Recip Erdagon. Different varieties of Anti Government protest groups had
joined the environmentalists in Gezi Park, and the figure occupying the park
and adjoining Taksim square had multiplied. <o:p></o:p><br />
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Majority of Turks living in Istanbul and other major cities
particularly the youth are very proud of their secular and non religious
identity and they feel threatened by the Prime Minister's recent initiatives
for mildly curbing the sale of alcohol. I say mildly because, the only
restrictions he has introduced is that you can not have liqour stores around
mosques and corner shops can not sell from 10 pm to 6 am. The latter is also
applied across most European Union countries including the United Kingdom,
hence making it essentially a very European initiative. His opponents now label
him an Islamist dictator in the making. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I was originally destined to stay a few minutes walk from
the iconic Gezi park and Taksim square, because of the nature of protests and
demonstrations which had prospects of turning violent, I opted to stay at a
hotel located about 1.5 km away from Taksim Square in an almost equally
happening and vibrant part of town. I arrived back at the hotel around 930 pm
on Saturday night, it was mostly calm around Taksim at the time, and everything
in my neighborhood was business as usual. I woke up the following morning and
saw the hell that had been unleashed in Osmanbey and Sisli neighborhoods of
Central Istanbul. I had stepped out of the hotel in the morning as usual to
witness carnage. The entrance to the hotel resembled a make shift clinic with
doctors treating the injured protesters and the air outside was not breathable,
there was enough tear gas residue in the air to cause a burning sensation in
one's eyes and throat. After taking a few quick snaps, I rushed back into hotel
and headed straight for my room. The street right outside the Hotel was
unrecognizable and resembled a war zone. Through out the night and the morning
a major conflict had taken place between protesters and riot and the
neighborhood of Osmanbey had become the new front line in the battle. I later
came to know, that the night before, the Prime Minister had finally lost his
patience with the Gezi Park and Taksim demonstrators after issuing them
ultimatums repeatedly to evacuate and had ordered the riot police to march into
Gezi park and empty it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I returned to the lobby a few hours later just in time to
check out and leave for the airport. Battle between riot police and protesters
had resumed outside the hotel with fresh rounds of tear gas bombs and rubber
bullets being fired by the police while the former were hurling stones at them.
By now tear gas had made its way into the lobby, and even the air in the lobby
was intolerable. The staff was very cooperative and helping indeed, they
facilitated my exit from the hotel through the underground staff car park
through the back of the hotel as I hopped onto a cab and made my way to the airport
for my flight back home. There was
momentary panic but it subsided once I reached the airport. Such chaos is rare
for this beautiful city and I can only hope that these protestors and the
Turkish government are able to find a common ground and life returns to full
normality in Central Istanbul very soon.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-28518824050725269062013-04-29T12:17:00.000+05:002013-04-29T12:27:30.283+05:00Let's talk about Bullying- II <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Bullying involves even a demonstration of power or inducement of fear when there is a percieved differential in status or power between two or more individiuals. The bully always percieves him or herself as being relatively stronger then their victim hence chooses to engage in such behavior towards them. Where percieved equality exists, bullying becomes a very rare occurance. Sometimes this demonstration of power that comes with bullying can involve use of brutual force or extreme violence, which can result in serious injuries or the worst case scenario 'death' inflicted upon a victim. That is exactly what happened this past weekend in the city by the sea, as a young soul lost his life under unfortunate circumstances.<br />
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Hamza Ahmad was the name of the 17 year old teenager who was allegedly shot dead this past weekend by the body guard of another teenager who was an acquaintance of his. Reports circulating in the press and on social media suggest, that the fight was over a girl or whether it was about one boy harassing the other's girl friend. Regardless of what the dispute was about, one young soul needlessly lost his life, because the other young man whose guard shot Hamza did not value Hamza's life as a human being, it is entirely possible that the guilty young man in question percieved Hamza's worth as mere bug splat or himself as some one supreme ofcourse speaking in relative terms.<br />
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I first heard about the death of Hamza when I got a message on whatsapp from a friend of mine saying that a teenager has been shot and killed by a classmate of his on Khayaban e Sehar in DHA Karachi. She herself came to learn about these events through Facebook status's that kept popping up condenming the act and showing signs of solidarity to the family of the late Hamza Ahmad. On the risk of sounding borderline insensitive I would like to suggest that we should have all seen this coming, especially those of us in our 20's and 30's. With the amount of easy access weapons and people with weapons roaming our city, it was only a matter of time before our degrading of the life of another human being became a reality. There was widespread apathy towards the lives of others when we were growing up, those of us who grew up in the 90's or the past decade, it was a ticking time bomb waiting to happen before we felt no ifs and buts about extinguishing some one's life altogether.<br />
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The root cause is our apathetic behavior towards others, towards the lives of other people, be it the actual life itself or everything else that people hold dear to their lives, such as personal belongings, loved ones or even social relationships. I would like to go out on a limb here and assign some blame to my generation, the lot that grew up in the 90's, that the amount of apathy that we demonstrated and the culture of apathy towards the lives of others it created, has lead to issues such as the untimely deaths of Hamza Ahmad and Shahzeb Khan before him. The generation after us have become even more apathetic and this has given a lot of fire power to the bullies and how they go about treating those they percieve as below them. What I mean by the bench mark was laid in my time was that it became a widespread trend when I was in school that we on a collective scale would indifferent or pretend as if nothing was happening when our peers were being bullied, harassed, socially ostracized or beaten up. I myself have been on the recieving end of such violence as a teenager in high school, I still clearly remember the apathy and insensitivity of my peers, who would blindly look the other way with the attitude that this does not concern. Refusal to intervene in conflicts or disputes that your peers are caught up in, because you all have only your life is your concern attitude. Infact, I am certain some of you people take great pleasure in being distant observers of those being abused in front of your very eyes. How many of you have taken pictures of it or made a video of it and uploaded it onto Social media?<br />
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You people were silent, absolutely stun silent, and I am certain even children and teenagers now a days are stun silent and caught up too deeply in their own selfish individualistic pursuits, that even today they would look the other way when some one in their school is beaten up, molested, mocked, ridiculed or character assassinated in front of your eyes. For a lot of you pathetic apathetic and insensitive types, instead you guys see the victim as a potential possible loser of the class hence every mistreatment warranted at them is justified and you further damage their survival chances by keeping yourself at Bay from them. Most conflicts start off as petty and small, not managing them timely and in a proper manner triggers all sorts of things. People see for yourselves what your culture of apathy leads to, are you people satisfied or are you people just shedding crocodile tears? If your in your 20's and you feel sad about Hamza Khan, just how genuine is your sadness? Think about it, are you sad because an innocent soul lost his life, or are you guys sad because of the messages pouring on social media. If you can watch some one like yourself get beaten up right in front of your eyes and not feel a thing, how is it that you feel so much empathy for some one you probably have never met in your life. I am by no way condoning what happened to Hamzan, I am just giving you people something to to think. So Jut Think about it, just some food for thought. </div>
Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-30131350434492320302013-04-15T14:26:00.002+05:002013-04-15T14:30:49.109+05:00So Let's Talk about Bullying. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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" 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" 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Bullying, is perhaps one of the most tabboo topics in our urban Pakistani society, it is probably as taboo as freedom of expression or talking about sex education for the youth. People often love to avoid talking about it, it is very very conveniently swept under the rug as if it is something no one wants to acknowledge that it exists to begin in. To put it in simple and straightforward English, bullying is more or less display or exercise of power between singular or multiple individuals where a percieved power differential exists. Bullying in itself has become so vast, that even in the corporate world bullying is talked about as a tactic that bigger companies use against the smaller ones and play the occassional game of unfair competition. For bullying to take place, there has to exist a perception between the bully and their victim that their supposed victim is relatively inferior to them based on their perception. We have always heard these words <i><b>'a bully never picks on some one their size'</b></i>. This alone should answer a lot of questions about bullying. Among the existing literature, a very big focus of bullying is on bullying and harassment that takes place in school, most particularly high school, when young people are in those transitional teenager years when it all begins. It is bullying from these teen and pre teen years that carries onto adulthood and a host of other bullying related issues ignite later on.<br />
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The whole issue of bullying and its early youth origins has become a matter of even greater concern in the modern technology oriented and social media that we live in. We live in a day and age where the youth and our children have access to high speed mobile internet on internet enabled smart phone devices and have instant access to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, which were not around when my generation was not in high school about a decade ago. Cyber bullying is going out of proportions on an epic scale, unlike what some of us would have imagined even a decade ago. The seriousness of cyber bullying has prompted many countries especially in the European Union to step in and intervene on the matter. It was really refreshing that on the widely popular Express Tribune Blogs, one of their web desk sub editors<b><i> Zahra Muhammad</i></b> who ocassionally blogs as well took a very bold initiative and brough to the attention of their online readers the issue of high school bullying and the impact that social media has on this whole episode. In <a href="http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/16871/terror-on-facebook-confession-pages-from-kgs-to-cas/">her blog</a> she mentioned that many well known upper middle class schools in Karachi have secret or not so secret anymore confession pages on Facebook.<br />
<img src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSDZwJjIhItvBRCU6u9RDQgkcLgjzt-skiONQNSKNlcg4inV6pDAg" /><img height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Y_ZyeoSzX4/UTYygQGd4QI/AAAAAAAASRI/3FGC_mccATk/s320/url.jpeg" width="320" /><br />
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In these confession pages students of these schools on their respective confession pages are verbally lashing out against their fellow students in an attempt to character assassinate them or socially demonize them. For a lot of people it might seem that all this is in good humour and one should just dismiss it as casual naive teenage behavior, but who are we really we fooling by saying this. As a matter of fact I agree the blogger Zahra Muhammad that we are kind of living in self denial when we show complete apathy to such behavior and disregard just how truly damaging this sort of social or antisocial behavior is. It can be truly damaging in the long run to the lives of those being bullied online with severe consequences in real life. While some of the confessions that will come on these pages will truly be light hearted humour and in good spirit, most of it is likely to be for the sole purpose and intent of damaging some one and bring about social, emotional and psychological harm to their intended victim. I would like to honestly say we are living in denial if we again think for a moment that children are naive and have no real ill-intent, a lot of us who have gone through high school and first hand seen the transformational effect it has had on our lives as well as those around us, should avoid being apathetic and try to put themselves in a position where they can feel empathy for the person being victimised. <b>For those of us who have grown up watching teen movies would have seen countless movies made on the issue of bullying at school, how it damages lifes, tears people apart, and most of the aggressors are purely doing it for pleasure purposes or to give themselves an ego boost so they can believe their superior to some of their peers. </b><br />
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These messages The nature of these messages thrown out across social media can have long term damaging consequences for the person being victimised. It can lead to cases of social discrimination and marginalization that the victim might experience on behalf of their peers, even to the point of social isolation. Social marginalization and ostracization of the nature can damage a youngsters self esteem, confidence and social skills by instilling a fear of their social environment. Not just for the duration of the schooling years, but it is something that can carry on for years and years to come, playing an important role in hindering the development of that person on a social or even economic level. Also let's not forget that one nasty character assassination rumour, could lead to dozens more in the future, as it will give others the impression also that the person being targeted either through word of mouth on social media is in fact a soft and easy target. It would also encourage people to join in on the bullying who otherwise would not even remotely consider it if the intended victims are overly demonised to the point their reduced to social misfits or outcasts. There is also the tendency to create long term rifts through the process of stereo typing, for example for whatever some people get stereotyped as being your typical losers in school because their either too needy, or they can't afford the finner things some peers have, socioeconomic or cultural background or even for their poor ability to speak English (which by the way attracts a lot of unwanted attention in elitest schools) etc to just name a few.<br />
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What I am trying to say is that such attitude have long term consequences,that even among people who are indifferent to those being bullied, it will create serious distancing or pushing away attitudes towards these people without ever showing the desire to know them on a personal or social level, and such attitudes might continue well into adulthood. Some one's public reputation what it might have been during the school going days, their former peers might treat them the same way even as we all supposedly evolve into adult hood or may even create countless obstacles in life through an active continous chain of bad public propoganda. In other words, the person deemed yesterday as the big loser in school, might have trouble forming social relationships not only because of lost confidence and self esteem, but the negative public propoganda message might become so out of control, that it will serve as a barrier a brick wall of sorts to form future relationships.<br />
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With the advent of social media and mobile technology, communication travels at alarmingly pace, and in the case of bullying or cyber bullying this is something of serious concern. A lot of youngsters are naive to the point, they do not realize the consequences of their actions in the present and future tense, they may hate some one for the sake of hating some one, but they do not realize what damage their words and actions would do. This is where the responsibility lies with the sane adults out there, who have been there, done that, witnessed all of this growing up in a offline environment to educate their children with regards to making responsible choices in life, to explore the causes of anger and aggression in their children which they pour out on peers they percieve weaker than them and to foster a culture of empathy for their peers, as their behavior during adolesence will have a long term effect on their personality and the people they grow up to be. Schools and their administrations are equally responsible, it is their responsibility to monitor such behavior whether it is happening online and offline, and provided councelling services to students that are victims of bullying as well as those who are committing aggression towards their percieved weaker peers. A lot of people can be saved if this matter is engaged proactively, a lot of lives and futures can be saved. I know it is easier said than done, it is one of the most difficult things in the world to actually make some one feel empathy for another human being but atleast we can try, just some food for thought. To conclude I would like to add just one final message, that those among us who are now adults, but took great pleasure during school days in character assassinating, socially ostracizing, bullying, harassing and in some cases physically abusing some of our peers, a good starting platform would be to make amends with such people, so that we can be good role models for our next generation.<br />
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Just some food for thought.</div>
Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-39351978293848040432013-03-26T13:55:00.001+05:002013-03-26T16:10:22.607+05:00There is more to this story, a Look back at 1971<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img alt="Photo: Bengali nationalist terrorists publicly executing non-Bengalis while Bengalis all around look on in amusement. This is something the Indian media (as well as the criminal gang of racist traitors that calls itself the Government of Bangladesh) refuse to accept. The sheer ignorance of that grisly episode of history in 1971 should be exposed to the Pakistani public. Many Biharis, Punjabis and other non-Bengalis were brutally murdered by Mukti Bahini, as it wanted to "cleanse" East Pakistan to create an ethnically pure Bengali state. This is something Bangladeshis would rather hide than accept and to this day the obnoxious swarm of racist mass-murderers, that calls itself the Bengali nation, treats non-Bengali Pakistanis left behind in East Pakistan like animals living without even the basic rights of a human being (over 3 million "stranded Pakistanis" live in Bangladesh). And who could forget the reaction that came from the ENTIRE Bengali nation when Pakistan defeated their national team at the 2012 Asia Cup Final in Dhaka.
Just to make it clear, we have no urge to take back East Pakistan nor do we hold any grudges against Bangladeshis - however, we will defend ourselves and let the world know the real truth behind 1971.
Ever since 1971, Pakistanis have been brainwashed with a masochistic version of history that holds us responsible for everything that happened in that war. But the actual evidence tells a very different story - Pakistan is accused of provoking Bengali separatism by committing atrocities in East Pakistan, but it's a fully established fact that the Indian intelligence agency (RAW) fomented secessionist terrorism and sponsored the Mukti Bahani, while politicians in its pay whipped up war hysteria among the Bengali people. Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman's daughter admitted her father had started his separatist campaign in 1969, a full 2 years before the alleged "atrocities" of the Pakistan Army (which we have been told were the reason why East Pakistan broke away). This is now known as the Agartala Conspiracy; moreover, our history books make no mention of Crusader-100, which Jessica Fox writes about in great detail here in the link below
LINK - http://www.free-press-release.com/news-raw-trained-crusader-100-in-action-in-bangladesh-1335098104.html
Indian General Manekshaw in his book, admitted to recruiting 80,000 Hindus to create the Mukti Bahini. This group (whom he trained) would dress themselves up in Pakistan Army uniforms and killed, raped and pillaged large numbers of civilians in East Pakistan. They also carried out acts of sabotage against the government of Pakistan while dressed in civilian clothing.
In the book "Blood and Tears" by Qutubuddin Aziz, he describes in great detail about the Mukti Bahini which committed large scale massacres of innocent civilians during the war. Once again, a lot of the times they did this while dressed up in Pakistan Army uniforms.
Another book entitled "RAW and Bangladesh" written by a Mukti Bahini terrorist-turned-journalist Zainal Abedin, is a huge eye-opener that reveals the true face of the Bengali separatists and shows the Indian hand behind the atrocities committed in East Pakistan (that were blamed on the Pakistan Army). In this book, Zainal Abedin also says India, under the guise of giving Bengalis freedom, turned them into a colony and vassal.
In the book "Genesis of Indigenous Chakma Buddhists and Their Pulverization Worldwide" by S. P. Talukdar, it documents the atrocities of Mukti Bahini against the Buddhists of East Pakistan's Chittagong Hill Tracts, even though they never fought for Pakistan in the 1971 war.
LINK - http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=eDCu52UwBP0C&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq=Mukti+Bahani+dressed+as+Pakistani+soldiers&source=bl&ots=Cg_OKvocrd&sig=tp1ZX94JeM3gmVKC5_XrSGeJoHI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tyIlUM2wJ4aB4gTYnYGwDw&ved=0CFYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=Mukti%20Bahani%20dressed%20as%20Pakistani%20soldiers&f=false
Sarmila Bose has written an excellent account of 1971 in her book "Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War" published by C. Hurst and Co. and Columbia University Press. She has been subjected to howling denunciation from the vanguards of politically correct history in Bangladesh, but the evidence upon which she wrote her book have not been refuted by her detractors. Read more about her book here in the link below:
LINK - http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/05/20115983958114219.html
Here's a story about the Jessore massacre - that massacre was definitely NOT committed by the Pakistan Army. The dead men were non-Bengali residents of Jessore, butchered in broad daylight by Bengali nationalist terrorists, reports Sarmila Bose. This is an on-going theme of 1971 - the massacres claimed to have been committed by the Pakistani armed forces were in fact carried out by Mukti Bahini then covered up by both Bangladesh and India.
LINK - http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060319/asp/look/story_5969733.asp.
Pakistan is accused of committing a genocide and killing 3 million people in East Pakistan. So, this means the Pakistan Army was killing Bengalis at a rate of over 17,000 per day, about the same rate as Auschwitz. This at the hands of a military that was fighting a war against a foreign power from the front and secessionist terrorists from the back, while the majority of its war assets were based a thousand miles away in West Pakistan. 17,000 per day? Impossible!
There are certain hallmarks without which no genocide can possibly take place - these include:
a. Mass Graves
To date, not a single mass grave has ever been found in Bangladesh. If 3 million were killed, where did they go? Did they simply vanish into thin air?
b. Concentration Camps
Never existed - Bengalis themselves claimed none ever existed.
c. Mass Dehumanization of the target group
The Nazis called the Jews "vermin". The Hutus called the Tutsis "cockroaches". The Bengalis were generally looked down on by other Pakistanis but there was no such dehumanization. As if 2012, over 3 million Bengalis still reside in the city of Karachi alone. If Bengalis were being "dehumanized" why didn't these 3 million leave?
d. Systematic, Coordinated Execution of Killings
As mentioned earlier, Pakistan's military assets were all based in the Western wing and was fighting with insufficient supplies against the combined forces of India and heavily armed and militarily trained terrorist guerrillas. Moreover, the entire operation was a logistical and technical nightmare in the middle of a vast piece of territory full of marshy terrain completely unsuited for mass-scale genocidal military operations.
Not a single United Nations report claims anywhere close to 3 million were killed. To this day not a single Pakistani military officer or soldier has ever been accused of war crimes or tried by any international court for 1971 war-related crimes. Not a single western nation has ever denied a VISA to any Pakistan military officer or soldier on human rights grounds like Canada did with India regarding Kashmir and Gujarat. To think that a military low on ammunition, supplies, and morale could organize killings at the scale of the Nazis who had a detailed plan of mass murder is absurd. Also the allegations of 300,000 rapes means that every Pakistani soldier raped 5 women - yet another absurd claim. There may have been rapes and killings of civilians (both by the Pakistan Army and the Mukti Bahani of course), but to throw out such absurd numbers is so insane.
The anti-Pakistan forces weaken their own case by making such preposterous claims, particularly since the claim of 3 million came from Sheikh Mujibar Rehman, as he was flying back to Bangladesh, after spending the majority of time in West Pakistan. How could he know the number of civilian casualties or rapes when he had no contact or accurate information from the ground? Civilian casualties and rapes may have occurred, of course, but to make arbitrary numbers for political reasons is the height of intellectual dishonesty.
Another Indian myth is that Hindus and non-Muslims were "wiped out" in the war. The idea that some mass exodus of Hindus and non-Muslims occurred is a lie. Also a lie was the idea that Bengali Muslims and Hindus lived in harmony and Pakistanis ruined it during the war. For more information on Muslim-Hindu relations in East Pakistan, read "Bangladesh and Pakistan" by William B. Milam, in which he addresses this issue quite strongly. He even offers statistics; in 1947, 23% percent of East Pakistan was Hindu. In 1974, it was 14% and as of 2002 only 9%. Hindus have been continuously leaving Bangladesh since independence because of the violence they face and more commonality with people across the border in India. The so called eradication of Hindus and non-Muslims again is a major hyperbole and a lie.
Moreover, we must never forget the Soviet hand in the breakup of Pakistan in 1971. The following Youtube video is an almost 30-year-old interview; the USSR's actions were NOT mere conspiracy theories. This interview took place back in 1985 with a former KGB agent who was trained in subversion techniques. He explains the 4 basic steps to socially engineering entire generations into thinking and behaving the way those in power want them to. It's shocking because our nation has been transformed in the exact same way, and followed the exact same steps. LINK - http://youtu.be/A-ZQbJHagx4
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Here is an article entitled "Bangladesh Gets No Sympathy for 1971" by Bangladeshi writer Mohammad Shahidullah
Lately, a lot of attention has been focused on trial of the Pakistani army personnel who were responsible for the killing of so many innocent people in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) in 1971. I will try to provide some explanations why such a large-scale killing did not receive the kind of international and human rights groups' attention it deserved, and why the world did not move for any justice in this case. I will also reflect on how that impacts our psyche as a nation.
1) Credibility: Bangladesh govt. crudely and arbitrarily made up the number of deaths during the 9-month period of 1971. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, when released from Pakistani prison in January 1972, stated the death toll to be 1 lakh in London airport, 1 million in New Delhi airport and 3 million when landed in Dhaka. (Some people suggest that Sheik Mujibur Rahman confused million as English for lakh. But that is a different story). Obviously the number was not based on facts. Later, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman formed a commission to make a survey of the killings and come up with the real number.
The commission, after an exhaustive work, came up in 1973 with a death toll number, which was a 5-digit number. The results were published in newspapers briefly. The govt., in an apparent attempt to save it from a big embarrassment, hushed up the commission report and a high level decision was made to continue with the 3 million number publicly. (This is possible only for politicians of third world). Now, a casualty of 20,000 or 40,000 or 60,000 people in a matter of months is not a trivial thing, and is not to be taken lightly. It is a serious tragedy of mankind by any standard and in comparison to other events of the century, which deserved appropriate judicial action. Specially, the people killed were totally innocent to be a target of any army. We, Bangladeshis should not have anything to be ashamed of if the human sacrifice we made for our independence is not in millions, but in tens of thousands. Not many peoples have made that kind of sacrifice for their countries. But as the over-enthusiastic Awami League leadership wanted to take the whole credit for independence to themselves, they thought that by putting a large figure of deaths, they would increase their price in front of everybody.
2) Exaggeration: Another thing to note is that world community is not ready to buy this number of 3 million deaths. They are not as gullible as simple people of Bangladesh who hardly do any diligence behind the numbers. (Even people in India in their private conversations agree that the 1971 death toll number is absurd). They do hair-splitting investigation of everything. A death toll of 3 million over a period of 8 and a half months (266 days) means over eleven thousand people were killed everyday on an average! There is hardly any mechanism that any army can employ to kill that many people in one day (may be except by nuclear bombs) for so many days in a row. It is not possible for any force to kill that many people individually or in groups when the whole population was against the army. (Carpet bombing in Vietnam did not kill nearly as many people as someone would expect). Also, 1971 was in very modern time, and communication was quite developed then. It was highly unlikely that Pakistanis would get away with such a big genocide and the world would not know about it or not do anything about it. India and USSR were very much on Pakistan affairs then, and at least they would not let it slip unnoticed. I would even ask all of us who were adults in 1972 to take a sample survey. How many people did you know personally or your relatives who were killed in 1971? Or how many people did you know who had their relatives killed? Bangladesh is a country where people know each other unlike in USA. It is not difficult to know if people get killed. If 4% of the population was killed in a matter of months, then everybody should have some of their relatives killed. That was not the case. If you consider all the links, you will find that the death toll could not have been higher than what Sheikh Mujib's commission found out.
3) Political Motive: Bangladesh govt. was never interested in bringing to books the war criminals of the Pakistani forces. All they wanted was to make a political issue out of it and keep it alive. They were afraid that a trial of the criminals (at least 197 by the Awami League govt. account) would bring the matter to a closure, which would deprive them of a propaganda weapon. They wanted to maintain the hatred in public mind so that the Awami League govt. could cover their incompetence and failures in running the country. It also fit well their agenda to keep the Islamic forces in the country suppressed in the pretext that they were a party to the killings and until a trial happens, they will remain guilty in front of the nation. A fair trial of the Pakistani army officers would reveal facts that would cause embarrassments for many big Awami League leaders and clear the names of many of their political opponents who are always accused for taking part in killing without a charge sheet to this day.
4) Lack of Sincerity: The Awami League govt. was hardly concerned about the emotional side of the relatives and friends of the victims. In reality, very few of the Awami League leaders (even lower level ones) had lost loved ones during the 9-month period. (That can be a topic of another article). So there was no sensitivity or sense of urgency for them to work for justice for the relatives of the victims. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who did not lose anybody close to him, made behind the curtain deals with the Pakistani premier Bhutto (the person who was probably most responsible for the tragic events of 1971) in exchange of the war criminals. But he continued his high pitch rhetoric in public to keep his political enemies at bay. To this date, the same tactics are being used by the Awami League. When the identified war criminals were in their hands, they let them go and now they are behaving as if the Pakistani govt. rescued their army personnel by some military action. They are fooling the countrymen by their humdrum and shouting in the air for war crime trial knowing fully well that nothing will happen.
5) National Character: We have demonstrated time again how unreliable we are as a nation in giving out information. Especially our politicians have earned such notoriety as far as honesty is concerned that we do not need to elaborate. Even today, we lie about our population. When our population is nearing 150 million, we state it as over 120 million to avoid the disappointment of the donor agencies. We routinely exaggerate the numbers like percentage of literacy by a big percentage. The govts. in Bangladesh are only good at propagating lies, deceptions and falsehoods. They promise things in a flash that they know are not deliverable. They always claim credit for things that have really not happened, and for things they do not have any contribution. When our national budget's 50% comes from foreign aid, we always boast to pass a 'surplus' budget every year, which is totally farcical. These things are good for domestic consumption, but world community knows what goes in our country. Just because everybody is not blunt as Henry Kissinger was does not mean that people outside do not notice things or know things. They just tend to ignore things as petty matters in their big picture. The world community is sensitive enough not to insult the event by openly questioning the 3 million figure, but they all know it is an outrageous lie. So when the world community is consciously working to redress human tragedies in Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Kashmir, E. Timor, Chili, nobody is inclined to talk about 1971 tragedy of Bangladesh. The western world does not even recognize it as an important event of the century. It is not in the list of top genocides of the century for obvious reasons, although killings of less than half a million people got into the list (Time magazine). Apart from the fact that a considerable time has passed, we ourselves have weakened the case by our continuous dishonesty in this matter. We still hammer on the unrealistic 3 million number and are not willing to reconcile to truth. Because, in some of our hearts, we find our ego getting hurt to admit a mistake. Many of us do not really want a trial of the culprits, but are more interested in keeping a tension current in the region. This gives a good preoccupation for a section of our country, and suits the political agenda of many. Even today when 5 skulls are discovered in a grave in Mirpur, we drum it up as a 'MASS' grave. We try to sensationalize a thing that everybody already knows or expects. Because, it fits well with political timing of some special quarters. The situation now is very much like early seventies, and the party in power needs to create a lot of distraction to cover up their misdeeds. We discovered graves with many more skulls in 1972, but then we kept quiet. Why? This is the contradiction we suffer from. If we really believe 3 million people were killed in 1971, then why are we so excited to find a few skulls now? Are not 'millions' more supposedly buried in unknown graves? Discovery of 5 skulls does not go any distance to substantiate the 3 million number anyway. Some people will argue that it is an insult to the dead even to question the number of deaths now. But is it? And only 'anti-liberation' forces would do so. That is a typical response to many problems that our nation has come to face today. But if you think it carefully, we have insulted their memory more by making a farcical matter it has been reduced to. We have used them as a pawn in the narrow interest of the political parties. That is how we have treated our freedom fighters. Now we are politicizing even the children of the martyrs and using them for selfish propaganda. This is precisely why the sacrifice of our people did not (and does not) get the respect it deserved. This is the reason we did not get any justice in bringing the perpetrators of the crime to book. This has only reduced the honor of the nation to a level that we did not want. The present generation of Bangladeshis are only more confused by all these contradictions.
The publicized sacrifice of a huge number "3 million" does not inspire the nation for doing any good for the country and the society. Nobody cares to honor the people who laid down their lives (except for some politically motivated photo ops on certain days of the year). Why? We have deprived the nation of truth by distorting the history. Unless we become conscientious and do the right thing and face the truth, it may be too late to rectify the situation and we, as a nation will live a lie forever! This is called self-deception. Nothing can be more unfortunate for a nation.
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And just to end it off, here are the Top 10 Worst Genocides In History. There is no mention of Pakistan anywhere on this list:
Mao Ze-Dong (China, 1958-61 and 1966-69, Tibet 1949-50)
49-78,000,000
Adolf Hitler (Germany, 1939-1945)
12,000,000 (concentration camps and civilians deliberately killed in WWII plus 3 million Russian POWs left to die)
Leopold II of Belgium (Congo, 1886-1908)
8,000,000
Jozef Stalin (USSR, 1932-39)
6,000,000 (the gulags plus the purges plus Ukraine's famine)
Hideki Tojo (Japan, 1941-44)
5,000,000 (civilians in WWII)
Pol Pot (Cambodia, 1975-79)
1,700,000
Kim Il Sung (North Korea, 1948-94)
1.6 million (purges and concentration camps)
Menghistu (Ethiopia, 1975-78)
1,500,000
Yakubu Gowon (Biafra, 1967-1970)
1,000,000
Leonid Brezhnev (Afghanistan, 1979-1982)
900,000
Jean Kambanda (Rwanda, 1994)
800,000" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/p480x480/45318_463262910383243_789888634_n.jpg" /></div>
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<b><i>(Picture Above depicts a scene where post Liberation, Bengali nationalists are publicly executing non Bengali's, while an insensitive crowd in the back ground watches, is this the compassionate non violent Bengali way, present day Bangladeshi's speak off?)</i></b><br />
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Today the 26th of March is a Tuesday, only just the second day of the working week. For many of us living in the major urban centers of Pakistan, it is probably just about getting through another week of work before we can all unwind on the weekend. Thanks to the countless efforts done by our state institutions and our historians, many Pakistani's are probably not aware of the historical significance that this day has in Pakistan's history. Along with December 16th, this day too should be marked as a day of national shame and mourning, we should also be mourning that this day proved the lack of ability to unite as Muslims even in the same geographic region. Maybe the 60's and early 70's were different as that was also the age of Pan Arabism when the entire Muslim Majority Arab world was involved in a political war with Israel and had just suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the enemy in six days in 1967. In Pakistan's case, March 26, marks the day in the calender when back in 1971 when we were betrayed. It is true that the civil war did not come to an end till December 16 which is when the small contingency of Pakistani armed forces surrendered, but March 26th was the day we were officially betrayed and all the hard work of our forefathers in the 30's and 40's was forcibly drowned in the Bay of Bengal, so Youm-e-Ghadari-Mashriq Mubarak (being sarcastic here).<br />
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It was on March the 26th 1971, when the separatist traitors of East Pakistan under the guise of ethnocentric nationalism declared independence from their Western half and announced themselves as the new state of Bangladesh. Bangladesh in Bengali means nation of the Bengali people, if that does not imply emphasis of an ethnocentric identity what does? Majority of academics, intellectuals, writers, historians, regardless of whether they are Bangladeshi, Indian, Western or even Pakistani writers make an attempt to assign the entire blame of what happened in 1971 to our ruling elite in Islamabad and to our military, very few have dared to even make a borderline suggestion that Pakistan was not entirely at fault. Those that dare to suggest, that others were at fault and forces other than Pakistan was at fault are often ridiculed, mocked and humiliated by others in the educated and intellectual community even within the educated circles of Pakistan. It seems it is just too easy to assign all the blame to Pakistan and any alternative suggestions is inviting insults to your intellect.<br />
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This blog is not about going deep into the historical causes, which lead to resentments and feelings of severe inequality among majority of former East Pakistani's. We are not going to look at the Language Movement of the early 50's or the failure of our Government to act in response to the 1970 cyclone. Even with events like these, civil disagreement and sentiments of inequality are one thing, it is another thing to commit treason and follow the path of secession from your own country. There are political and diplomatic channels through which such feelings could be managed, diplomacy was never given a chance. I will say this again and again, we Pakistani's as well as our founding fathers which comprised of thousands of Bengali Muslim leaders were betrayed by the educated urban class gentry of East Pakistan who wanted to have their cake and eat it to, they wanted the whole pie all to themselves. It is not unusual in any part of the world, even in the West, secessionist movements are usually lead by educated intellectual gentry from those regions that know how they can benefit personally if they come into power. Such secessionist movements in the West, good examples include Scotland in the United Kingdom, and the Basque and Catalan provinces of Spain. Even now the current Baloch insurgency in Pakistan is being lead by the elite and powerful of Baloch society which has managed to brain wash the urban middle classes of the province. They do not even deny foreign involvement.<br />
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From a very long time, even years before 1971, they stopped calling themselves Pakistani, so this blog is about exploring and entertaining the thought that maybe we should also consider the events of 71 from the angle that maybe we were betrayed by our own fellow country men courtesy of an elaborate plan to break the country up which began many years ago and in which some decision makers sitting in New Delhi at the time were involved. While most of Pakistan in the mid to late 1960's was in the process of recovering from the after math of the costly 1965 Indo Pak war (which by the way we did not win contrary to popular belief, we only successfully defended ourselves) some politicians and intelligence agents sipping coffee somewhere in Connought Place in New Delhi were making strategies on how to break Pakistan apart and punish the Muslims of the sub continent for their original sin of 1947, the original sin of partition, which itself was based on the two nation theory. There are elements in Bangladeshi society who do not even deny that nationalist parties were too greedy to rule to be able to come up with a diplomatic solution. How is it possible, that overnight after Yahya Khan delayed the formation of the national assembly that all hell broke loose in East Pakistan, totally out of control civil unrest gripped the whole province. The amount of chaos that eye witnesses from the era testify to leaves one to believe, it was pre-planned to weaken the control and influence of Islamabad in the province. Some off you reading this might be thinking that I seem to have conveniently forgotten about the 1970 general elections where Mujib Ur Rehman won fair and square. No doubt Mujib won the elections fair and square and it was ZA Bhutto's childish stubborness that prevented a government from taking shape in Islamabad.<br />
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Few people know that there were some back door negotiations taking place between Bhutto, Sheikh and Yahya while all hell started breaking loose in East Pakistan. It was only after the situation became uncontrollable by the police in cities like Dhaka and Chittagong, where the ethnic Bengali's police and other forces were committing mutiny that the army was requested to come in and help with managing law and order. Even fewer people have entertained the idea and thought that sure there were serious concerns that the West Pakistani gentry had about a Bengali man ruling them, and there is no denying there was borderline racism involved, but why does no one think for a minute that Sheikh Mujib made no effort to manage the fears and concerns of the people of West Pakistan or address their concerns, he was after all their leader also, their future Prime Minister also. It wasn't until many months after the election results that he was finally arrested in West Pakistan, he had ample time to address the concerns and garner public support. He even started referring to East Pakistan as Bangladesh as early as 1969 in his speeches. Concerns about those in West Pakistan could have included reasons such as the ruling party being a Bengali nationalist party, which might changed the cultural map of the Pakistani state and forced imposition of Bengali culture on the Western wing. Some modern day Bangladeshi parliamentarians have also admitted to the Agartala Conspiracy that it was infact a reality, this is also something Indian generals veterans of the 71 war have admitted to and they proudly brag on live television especially on NDTV that how the Indian government under the leadership of Indra Gandhi executed a master plan of breaking Pakistan up. Plans to break up Pakistan go back to as early as 1967, which is when direct contact between Bengali nationalists in East Pakistan began with Indian Government representatives in the Indian City of Agartala which is located 2 KM's from Bangladesh, one can even see the State Administrative building from Bangladesh. There was an even element of propaganda in the 71 civil war, on the global front lead by none other than your Indian performing artists. In the August of 1971, while the civil war was reaching crucial stages a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_for_Bangladesh"> </a><i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_for_Bangladesh">'Concert for Bangladesh'</a> </i>was staged in New York City lead by the legendary music maestro from India Ravi Shanker and his friends in the international music community. This along with Indra Gandhi's regular visits to Washington are reflective of the fact that a lot of media and public relations propaganda was also involved in the break up of Pakistan and of demonizing the Pakistani army as well as the ruling elite in Islamabad.<br />
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(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_for_Bangladesh)<br />
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It was in 1967 only that West Pakistanis living in East Pakistan started experiencing discrimination and mistreatment from the ethnic Bengali majority. Survivors of the East have many a tales to tell, the civilians became soft targets overnight. The fortunate were those lucky enough to survive for in 1971, a mass genocide of ethnic Urdu Speakers and other Non Bengali's also happened in East Pakistan and also for many years in the years afte Bangladesh as an Independent state emerged. For those Pakistani's the ground beneath their feet was shaken, their whole world fell apart, during partition they migrated to East Pakistan because they were from the Eastern States and geographical proximity meant East versus West was a better choice, back then it was all about getting to Pakistan, didn't matter where you went to. None of them saw what was coming, none of us in West Pakistan saw what was coming. Let's also not forget that war with India erupted in West Pakistan which was effectively cut off from it's Eastern Wing, and the Eastern Wing after a mass insurgency in the form of the Mukhti Bahini got occupied from all directions by the Indian armed forces to the point where our armed forces of 55,000 soldiers were brutally out numbered. The only choice left was surrender at that point, the outcome would have been the same if every soldier fought till the last drop of blood. Why is it that even the most educated and rational of Bangladeshi's even refuse to listen to the idea that atrocities and war crimes were committed against Non Bengali's, they talk about it as if it is something totally fabricated fiction, the way we have buried 71's failure under the rug, they have buried crimes against Non Bengali's under the rug as if they never happened.<br />
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Now this is where a lot of people are going to argue that the Western Wing forced its culture and language on the Eastern Wing, we were a young nation, we were an inorganic nation carved out of British India, cultural development was in process, it takes many decades for young nations to establish their culture and society, such things happen when one sub culture is given more priority over the year. The Cultural model that was designed for Pakistan was one conceived by leaders of the All India Muslim League that founded Pakistan and it was a model designed by mostly your Urdu Speaking Gentry that went onto dominate Pakistani Society. For clarification purposes, the Urdu language was not even indigenous to Pakistan, it was adopted as the national language because the Urdu language at the time was representing Muslim India's linguistic culture. It was a language spoken mostly in UP and Bihar, and later went onto become a commonly spoken language by the educated Indian Muslim lot. Let's not forget India's national language Hindi falls under the same category, it is the language of North Indians which make up a third of the population but it is forced upon almost a billion other people including those in West Bengal. North Indian culture is also very dominant in Indian society, one can see odd mockery being made in popular culture in India about the differences between North Indian and Bengali Culture. If any one has seen the low budget comedy 'Vicky Donor' they can see some accurate stereotyping a lot can relate to.<br />
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This is especially for all the modern Pakistani liberals out there who very conveniently love to bash their country especially the foreign educated one's who do not have any sense of patriotism left because they have seen Pakistan too much from an Imperialistic Orientalist Western perspective, show some respect, all nations make mistakes, even the America that educated you was founded on the basis of treason because their elite gentry, the cotton plantation owning gentry did not want to pay their taxes and wanted total control. And if any one from Bangladesh is reading this, if your going to punish the war criminals of 71, and you want to hold Pakistan accountable, also hold your parent's generation accountable, also hold your people responsible and accountable for war crimes even they committed and why treason was the only option left.<br />
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Youm-e-Ghadari-e-Mashriq would remain a dark day in Pakistan's history, but Pakistan is a survivor and will survive if we start showing patriotism and compassion on a collective scale, were a young nation, we still have a long way to go.<br />
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Pakistan Zindabad.<br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-31616358335806532802013-03-19T12:19:00.002+05:002013-03-19T12:35:42.861+05:00Goodbye My Pakistani Hero<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Yesterday on the 18th of March, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan said Good Bye to its most famous war heroes of all time. Muhammad Mehboob Alam, very popularly known as MM Alam passed away yesterday after fighting a long battle with terminal illness. He was 77.He will be best remembered for his decisive role and his incredible heroics in the 1965 Indo-Pak war. He single handedly shot down 5 Indian fighter jets in under a minute, 4 of them which went down in the first 30 seconds and established a world record by doing that. For his bravery and the skills he demonstrated in the theater of war, he was awarded the 'Sitara-e-Jurat' or the Star of Courage, one of the highest military honours given to military service men in the Pakistan armed forces. The very trendy and fashionable street in Gulberg, Lahore is named after him.<br />
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The nation should never forget a heroe like MM Alam, for he was not just a national heroe, but he was a true patriot till his very last days in mortal existence. MM was born in Calcutta (now called Kolkotta) in 1935 during the days of the British Raj and along with his family migrated to the new nation state of Pakistan. His war time bravery aside, he demonstrated his emmence patriotism for his nation, the very nation that his forefathers worked very hard to create by choosing to remain a Pakistani and a Pakistani serviceman even after the brutual civil war unleashed by ethnic nationalists in the former East Pakistan. He chose to stay on and become a Pakistani even after the new ethno centric state of Bangladesh emerged out of former East Pakistan. He went on to serve the state of Pakistan till he retired in 1982 and opted for a quite life in Karachi till his passing away. He is survived by his brothers, who are very well known individuals in the Pakistani intellectual community and are currently professors at universities in the United States.<br />
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Despite the fact that thousands of Bengali origin soliders including those on senior ranks betrayed their country and defacted to fight with the seperatist minded rebels, MM Alam and a few others like him did not abandon the dream of Pakistan. It was unfortunate that at the time the Pakistani Airforce grounded him because of his Bengali origin in the backdrop of countless defactions. A very well known example is that of Moti Ur Rehman who tried to defact by taking off in an aircraft from an air force base in Karachi, who was only stopped by the bravery of another patriot Rashid Minhas. I don't intend to go into the gory details of the 71 war in this blog, I am saving it for December, this is all about the man, the legend that was Muhammad Mehbood Alam who is now no longer among us. His bravery and patriotism is a good learning example for Pakistani's today and he will continue to be an example for many generations of young Pakistani service men in the years to come. Rest in Peace MM Saheb, may the Almighty grant you a place among others in Jannah.<br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-42618594644047556192013-02-20T15:04:00.000+05:002013-02-20T15:04:22.773+05:00Recap and Lessons from KLF 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This past weekend saw the conclusion of yet another hugely successful annual Karachi Literature Festival which was staged at the Beach Luxury hotel. This was the fourth year that this event took place in the city by the sea and it has created a road map for other cities to follow. Very soon the city of Lahore will be having it's first literary festival, we can hope it will also transform into a regularly held annual event. This year's Karachi Literature Festival was not as good as the ones held during the previous year, even though this year the choice of venue for staging the event was far more spacious and accessible to a greater number of people. Reason being a lot of writers, poets and intellects cancelled on the very last minute, especially from across the border. I did get to meet one of India's most famous female journalists Barkha Dutt from NDTV. Apparently I didn't have an idea of how famous she was in India, I just recognised her from a few random political talk. Also present at the festival from the journalism community were veterens Nadeem F Paracha, Javed Jabbar as well as the young business desk editor of the Express Tribune Farooq Tirmizi.<br />
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There were a fair few book launches as well. I had the fortune of attending a few, one of which was Aquilla Ismail's book 'Of Martyrs and Marigold'. Coincidentially I have already had the book on my Kindle for quite some time, it was only launched in Pakistan at the fair. The book is from a mainly Bihari speaking Urdu narrative, its a fictional account of what the writer's family and people they knew had to endure in post 71 Bangladesh. How they became soft targets for the nationalists because they were civilians and because they were not natives, could easily occupy the blame.<br />
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Even with all the cancellations, there were some outstanding events at the Karachi Literature Festival. For me personally the highlights were 'Aapas ki Baat, Najam Sethi ke Saath live', it wa sort of like watching Najam Sethi's 11 pm show from GEO TV live. He did end up making analytical comments of the type also which he would normally not make on live TV, I am guessing due to the policy of the Jang Group and Geo TV. Mohsin Hamid, the writer of 'Moth Smoke' and 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist', along with other Pakistani writers Nadeem Aslam (writer of Maps for Lost Lovers) and Kamila Shamsi the writer of Kartography were part of a panel discussing the role of politics in modern South Asian Literature. In the panel they pointed out that major global political events such as the Cold War and 9/11 has had a profound effect on the world, and hence they are used as back drops for fictional writers even from developing nations. They argued for any writer, be it a fictional or non fictional writer, it is very difficult keep politics completely independent of their writing, citing it is natural for any good writer to write politically or think politically while executing their writing. Mohsin went on to add that politics in novelization is not just about what your government is upto, but it extends to include politics of class, politics of gender and also a socioeconomic divide.<br />
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For me, other than personally getting the opportunity to chat with Mohsin Hamid and Najam Sethi, what really stood out in the event was the talk on Satire in Media which featured Bushra Ansari and Ali Gul Pir on the panel with Nadeem Farooq Paracha (NFP). During the talk, they talked about how most of our society and television audiences are not mature enough to entirely understand or appreciate satire and it will be a while before it is properly understood. They did give a lot of credit to Dr Younis Butt for his work in taking on current affairs in Pakistani politics and producing satire for cable television. For those unfamiliar with Dr Younis Butt, he is the man behind 'Hum Sub Umeed Se Hain' on Geo Television hosted by Saba Qamar. NFP jokingly also said, maybe Dr Butt is afraid of Altaf Bhai, he gets the least amount of Satire dedicated to him.<br />
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The talk concluded with a lot of members in the audience were repeatedly raising Questions as to why Religious Issues, sectarianism and lack of harmony in our society isn't discussed through satire, since a lot of political solutions are achievable through Satire, why not religious ones. To this Bushra and NFP replied that it is because of the extremely sensitive religious nature of our society, even the fairly educated lot (some of whom can be labeled as parhe likhe jahils) that it is at this point even remotely unthinkable of discussing religious issues or sectarianism through satire or through any form of humour. Even though in reality religion is a personal affair, in a society like Pakistan it has become a public spectacle. One can not disagree with them, a good example right in front of us was the back lash media outlets got for promoting even the smallest of stories relating to Valentines day, an event which many on the religious right and this conservative society find immoral and distasteful. I feel particularly bad for those two young people who carried Urdu language banners stating let the love flow. Our society might not be very open minded and ready for humour or satire with respect to religion, but the Question we need to ask is, how do we change all that? Every one talks about the direction our society is headed, but let's start asking Questions now what can we do?<br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-66708633397507741692013-02-14T11:37:00.000+05:002013-02-14T14:35:06.967+05:00So where's the V-Day Haram happening again?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Another year, another month of Feb, another Valentines day graces our calender. Another year where the religious right aka the mullah brigade is at it again condemning it as an act of immorality that will result in all hell breaking loose on the moral fabric of our society. Regardless of what one thinks of Valentines day, hate it, love it or our indifferent, it is still going to happen, there is now law in Pakistan that forbids it's celebration. And it seem's plausible that this trend will continue on for years, Valentines day will come, the mullah brigade with make its usual fuss, people wanting to celebrate it will celebrate by exercising their God given free will and on the next day life will resume as it was before the V day fever came in.<br />
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On this day (V-day), thousands of couples are going to be going out for dinner, exchanging gifts, spending time together and exchange moments of intimacy, and in the case of Pakistan since public displays of affection are frowned upon, all that will happen in complete privacy. Sure Valentines day is an overly commercialised day courtesy of the Hallmark Card culture and is drowning in Red, but that's a different story altogether, its a good kind of red by the way, not the red that represents spilled blood. For those bitterly opposed to Valentines day, here are some things you guys should know, majority of couples likely to celebrate it in Pakistan would be married couples, so yeah husbands buying flowers and gifts for their wives, and wives buying gifts for their husbands. They can celebrate their love all year long, a commercialised event just gives them another excuse to do it and enjoy in the process. Now what is more Halal than the love between a married couple, between a man and his wife? There is nothing Non Shariah about it.<br />
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I am curious, those of you guys bitterly opposed to the even mention of this day in Pakistan, is it because you men do not want to spoil your wives by showering them with flowers and gifts, and you ladies, are you just upset that your husbands did not spoil you with gifts. We all know everybody likes getting gifts, if you really dislike gifts, shun the gifts that come your way on wedding anniversaries, birthdays and even your own wedding. Yes, I know what you are thinking, what about all the millions of high school, college and university students. Well most of them, their not full fledged mature age adults, their just looking to have some innocent fun, enjoy life and experience the joys that come with it. A lot of our youth appreciates life and what comes with it, hence their very proactive when it comes to festivities. Don't demonise this youth, their also fairly active on Eid-Milad-Nabi, you will find Milad celebrations across schools, colleges and universities so yeah there goes the excuse of religious insensitivity out the window. Their also very active on Independance day, so yeah you can not even accuse them of being overly westernised and insensitive to local culture. We live in a globalised world, certain set of events, cultural attributes or trends go beyond geographic borders.<br />
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If anything according to your individual definitions of shamefulness is happening, very very high probability that it is probably happening behind cloosed doors and what happens in the privacy of some one's home behind closed doors is of no course to any of us. What will happen on the surface level is nothing out of the ordinary, people will be going out for dinner, going out for a movie, spending time with one another like they usually do, the only difference is there will be a lot of RED going around and florists are going to make a killer buck today. Now what is so HARAM about an honest hard working florist who may be a devout Muslim selling flowers? He sells flowers every day, only difference is he is selling a huge lot more especially the roses.<br />
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<b><i>So tell me again, where are the countless of shamelessness happening in public eye again? Please enlighten me as I am mighty curious to know. If nothing immoral or shameful is happening, keep your attitudes to your self and let the love flow.</i></b><br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-2451338053393365622013-02-12T19:01:00.000+05:002013-02-12T19:05:52.165+05:00Ad spending on V-Day Bashing.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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" width="400" /></a><br />
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So Valentines day is coming. Yes that's right the 14th of Feb is just around the corner, and signs of the day to come are all around the city of Karachi. To cash in, so many companies big and small are spending good money on getting their advertising message across to the audience they hope would be celebrating the day. Whether their huge outdoor hoardings, print adverts or those appearing on prime time television, the spirit of Valentines day is definitely in the air, especially for the marketers. Among the campaigns dished out through different mediums this year, one that marketing campaign that really stands out is the one done by Cadbury for their signature flagship Dairy Milk chocolate brand. In the advertisement on television they show a young man who manages to get his message across to the girl he seeks by passing the chocolate with a Valentines day message across the class room, in the process, all but one piece of the chocolate gets eaten up. The last piece manages to get the job done, the boy's message gets communicated to the girl, and the marketing agency behind this advertisement is successful in getting their message across to their target audience. This TV advert has been brilliantly complimented by outdoor and print advertisements. Cadbury Pakistan has also redone its packaging on its range of Dairy Milk products. Whether its your brilliantly made television advertisement by Cadbury for their flagship dairy or some other brand, no escaping Valentines Day. There is also no escaping the other kind of attention this day manages to attract.<br />
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Not that I was totally surprised to see what I saw, especially considering the route that society in Pakistan is taking. I did manage to take a snap of what I saw at a very busy Chowrangi (Roundabout) in the Bahadrabad area of Karachi. For those on the other side of the bridge, its about 7 odd KM's from you all live, rest of Karachi probably knows how busy this chowrangi is. It is not uncommon for one to find hoardings, sponsored TV shows or advertisements (both print and broadcast) aimed at getting a certain message across at a certain time of the year. This advertising message was aimed for the purpose of defaming and demonizing Valentines day with carefully selected extracts and references from religious sources. Do not be surprised people if on the actual day, you seen tens of thousands of both men and women out on the streets burning symbols of Valentines Day like Teddy Bears, Flowers and other various trinkets.. It has happened before and I suspect it will happen again.<br />
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<img alt="Photo: Parked at Bahadrabad Chowrangi, Can't believe some one paid for this, lol" height="400" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/c67.0.403.403/p403x403/559982_692075041101_84613253_n.jpg" width="400" /><br />
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The pic above I snapped with my cell phone camera as I was passing by Bahadrabad Chowrangi in my car.<br />
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Not that I have a particular opinion on Valentines day etc, rather to point out to those in opposition to the celebration of the day that make it sound as if all hell will break loose if this day is celebrated. The apocalypse will descend upon us immediately as a grave act of shameless sinfulness is being committed in a country occasionally titled land of the pure. I wrote a blog early on a similar line in which I referred how the religious right and the growing conservative lot (especially the new lot) in our urban societies go paranoid crazy about the thought of any communication of any sorts between members of the opposite sex who are either not related or married to one another. They believe any contact of any kind between genders is a sin waiting to happen and hence it should be prevented. Same reaction to Valentines Day, reactions suggest delusions on similar lines that a catastrophe is waiting to happen should this occasion be celebrated. Frankly speaking, those who wish to celebrate it should be free to do so, and those who do not want to celebrate it should be free to keep their distance from it. I how ever do not see the point of paying good amounts of cash on advertisements meant to demonize the day. A lot of it stems from our culture of moral policing which goes hand in hand with widespread hypocritical attitudes not uncommon to people of Pakistan. The same religious right who demonizes Valentines day, among so many of them you will also find people who do not even blink an eye when violation of human rights or abuse of some sort or the other is common in our society<br />
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I do not want sound like I am judgmental prick, but what I am about to communicate can not be done without sounding atleast borderline judgmental. It is this very same right wing religious lot in our society that has started demonizing everything and anything, and everyone and anyone who does not adhere to their ultra conservative Wahabi influenced school of thought. They argue its not their school of thought, rather it is the will of God to look down upon people and discriminate people based on how rigidly people practice religion or not, too much emphasis on symbolic rituals and practices. Do not be surprised, if you also come across people who will get offended because you turned down an invitation to offer Salat (prayer) in congregation with them, because trust me I have and that too on multiple occasions. In a nutshell it is very difficult for such people to come to terms with the reality not everyone is religious, people by not being religious are just exercising their God given FREE WILL. I could be wrong but part of me believes that for the religious conservative lot, especially those new to that way of life, it is very difficult to come to terms with leaving a life behind for the pursuit of religious devotion while others around them are still living their lives business as usual. In other words, people are experiencing worldly life (their choice of words) while they have left everything behind for spirituality. If they had truly left everything behind, their not would be this feeling of missing out on life by seeing others pick and choose how they deem fit to live. Just look at the image above and read the words, they have openly declared Valentines day as something evil and immoral and that this celebration is insensitive to Islamic values and followers of Islam. If that isn't also judgmental, please correct me if I am wrong. I for the time being have said what I wanted to say, they have a right to their opinion but no right to enforce it on others or even demonize millions based on personal sentiments. I would probably get a lot of votes from secularists for saying that those opposed to it are not really against it for cultural or religious reasons, rather cause their not part of the whole festivities and celebrations, only time will tell.<br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-38525647980972396262013-01-16T21:18:00.001+05:002013-01-16T21:18:06.709+05:00Social Media as a Tool for Change<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It would not be incorrect to say that we live in the age of social media, the effects of which can be seen very prominently in the world around us. Social media tools such as Micro blogging site Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have become a part of every day life and they have entirely changed the way millions of us interact and engage with the wider world around us. Facebook in particular has been a real game changer with over a billion years world wide. Social media has provided an extremely effective medium of marketing and public relations for businesses both big and small as it allows them to participate in two feedback with their desired audiences. The real power of social media however lies in its ability to allow its users to not only communicate with multiple users, but also share, create and broadcast content with wider audiences and achieve mass penetration.<br />
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The youth in particular has been a major driving force that has fueled and accelerated the growth of social media around the world due to their willingness to adopt and embrace innovation and technology. Let's not forget that behind these major social media sites were young entrepreneurs such as Mark Zuckerburg who founded Facebook while he was an undergraduate student at Harvard University. This growth has been further fueled by the advent of the smart phone that allows access and connectivity to social media platforms for its users on the go. Alongside social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, blogging sites such as Word Press and Blogger have provided many with a platform through which they can share their ideas, thoughts and opinions in writing. Blogs are also a very potent tool if used properly in any social media or internet based campaign.<br />
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Over the past few years, millions of us have witnessed first hand the power of social media and the role that it has played in shaping global events. When disaster struck Japan last year in the form of the Tsunami, images of the extent of the disaster were broadcast over social media bringing to the attention of the world the extent of the devastation that had hit Northern Japan. These past few years have also witnessed revolutions all across the Middle East and North Africa which has brought about political and social change. Twitter and Facebook allowed countless users and activists within the region to spread the word and get the message across through mass circulation. As a result of which it became possible to mobilize tens of thousands of supporters of democratic and political reforms. Through YouTube activists in the region were able to broadcast videos of the on going revolution as it happened and attract support of the international community as the governments made every possible to suppress the demonstrators.</div>
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The potential that social media has to offer has even been experienced in a country like Pakistan, where it has been at the fore front of political rallies, for voicing outrage against government policy or injustice, social activism and for campaigning by pressure groups. In the winter of 2011-12 cricketer turned politician Imran Khan and his political party, the Tehreek-e-Insaaf organized massive political rallies in the cities of Lahore and Karachi, with an attendance estimated in the hundreds of thousands. Prior to the rallies in these two mega cities, members of Tehreek-e-Insaaf as well as its youth wing were very active active through social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter in communicating the party message to the masses especially the youth and mobilizing them. As it turned out, the social media campaign worked and the rallies proved to be a huge success. Many analysts argue that the success of these rallies could have a significant impact on the upcoming elections later in the year. The rally was also broadcast via social media to a global audience over the internet. Following Imran Khan and the PTI's lead, many other politicians and their political parties have jumped onto the social media bang wagon and begun working on an effective customized social media campaign.<br />
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When tragedy strikes, social media proves that that it is more than just a tool for social communication and can play a vital role in generating mass public attention and awareness towards a cause, even if the cause involves fighting for justice. This past December, a young media sciences student from a local university was gunned down in cold blood in Karachi by members of a very influential and politically connected family. Friends and family members of the victim took up their fight for justice on social media. It was because of social media, that they were able to get a large number of people not just within Karachi but through out Pakistan to join their cause and mobilize through organized peaceful protests across the nation. The volume of activity offline and online through social media managed to capture the attention of television channels, as well as law enforcement agencies that took actions to ensure the criminals were brought to justice and this casualty did not become just another random statistic. This has inspired many others to seek out justice through the effective use of social media.<br />
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Social media in a country like Pakistan has also created a generation of citizen journalists and activists, who are able to record and report breaking news as it happens . This also lead to the growth in the number of young people pursuing careers in media and journalism. For example when civil unrest engulfs the city of Karachi, social media proves itself to be an effective tool of communication for people to inform one another about alerts, developments and important facts such as which routes to use and which to avoid and supporting such alerts photographs and videos. Countless offline campaigns started and gathered support through social media, whether they have been campaigns to fight for minority rights, or for the passing of certain legislation on provincial or federal levels. Policy makers realize the ability of social media in shaping and influencing public opinion and are now mindful of the relevant developing trends. With all the potential that social media has to offer, it is highly likely that in the days and months to come we will witness growth in the use of social media in Pakistan as a tool for activism. Time will tell whether social media is a fad of sorts or the start of many great things to come. </div>
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-25825459439585489372013-01-16T14:48:00.000+05:002013-01-16T18:54:52.814+05:00Customer Service or Not, Some Don't Care<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Very recently on a flight back from Lahore, I had the opportunity to interact with a seasoned entrepreneur. During that conversation, we did have a chat on business and the rules of the game, especially as far as service is concerned. The conversation ended with his golden advise that business is not just about making money but it also about building good relationships with all your stakeholders. The advise of the entrepreneur may not be something unique, it is something that every one who has ever attended business school can relate to, however what is really disappointing is a significant absence of efforts for relationship building in the service and hospitality sector in Pakistan, what makes it worse is that we as stakeholders (customers or recipients) have little or no expectations with regards to receiving efforts from the other for building and developing relationships. A lot of us have the everything goes, we are fine with what get attitude. I am at times suspicious if it stems deeply from our culture or national surroundings where so many of us face disappointments on a day to day basis in everyday life to the point, we have no expectations of any kind. Be it expectations with respect to a promising future in this country, or excellent customer service at a restaurant.<br />
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My reference here is particularly targeted to the hospitality industry in Pakistan, more specifically cafes and restaurants but also includes establishments such as theater and cinema. As a paying customer especially at high end or upper tier establishments, we are entitled to getting not just the product or service that we are paying, but we are also entitled to customer service that extends beyond a transactional exchange between two or more parties. Transactional exchange implies that only simplistic exchange of sorts is taking place between two or more individuals, in reality any exchange that happens between any one involves more than just a transaction. It is becoming a far too common a sight here in Pakistan, especially in the nation's largest city where those in the hospitality industry are unable to take any customer criticism or feedback that might be even borderline negative, even though it is the right of the customer to be able to communicate . I am not even going to try and be diplomatic here, I am going to go all out and even name some of the establishments that have demnstrated such shameful and disgusting behavior towards myself as well as other customers, on occasions out of pure arrogance or complete inability to handle criticism. A lot of fault lies with us the 'customers' as well, we hold little or no expectations with good customer service, we blindly accept whatever is given to us, this sort of feeds arrogance to owners of such establishment, who develop a complex where they think that by even purely existing they are doing their customers and maybe humanity a huge favor.<br />
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I start with Espresso, which is a Karachi based Coffee house chain which opened its flagship store in Karachi's stylish Zamzama district close to a decade ago. They adopted a policy which was not unique to the hospitality or service as a whole, rather very unique to the restaurant industry as a whole, such a policy and how ludicrous it is one will not find anywhere outside of Pakistan.This policy has the cover disguise name of 'families only'. Most of us know what the definition of a family is, and an establishment of its nature is not a family restaurant, their policy to be specific is that men without being accompanied by women can not enter their premises after 7 pm in the evening. I initially showed some passive respect to their policy and decided to visit the cafe at an earlier time slot. So my personal feud with them began that day I visited their Shabaz establishment at around 530 pm, I do not need to give an explanation as to why I did not go elsewhere after I was made to wait. Having been there with friends since 530, we did not get a table till almost close to 7 pm. Just as we were about to sit down, the waiter comes to us and tells us to only get Coffee or get a Take Away since its 'Ladies logg kay anay ka time' (Time for ladies to come in). My first reaction after WTF was, all I see are ladies logg all around me, how is it that is now Ladies logg ka time? After being forced to leave instead of being accommodated after waiting so long, I decided on a future visit to one of their other branches I would leave behind my comments in a comment card. People get this in your head, the comment card is there for a purpose, if cafes and restaurants cant handle criticism they should get rid of it.<br />
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After purchasing my coffee at their other outlet, I described my experience in their comment and highlighted how they should be accommodating instead of making efforts to be rude to their customers. The waiter immediately gave my comment card to the manager, who immediately came up to me and told me to go have coffee somewhere else if I have a problem with their service. Now everyone reading this, I just want you all to take a few minutes or even a few seconds out of your time and think is it okay to say such a thing to a paying customer. Would you like that if some one attacked you verbally for writing something on their comment card? I will not deny I gave them a bit of a hard time on social media in the months that followed, I made an open public mockery out of their policy and even managed to get public support in opposition to their discriminatory admissions policy. I think what really sent their nerves wrecking was not just me as a unsatisfied customer, my arguments against their policy were influencing public opinion. In the end they did ban me from their Facebook page, I wouldn't say it reflects badly on me, rather it reflects badly on them, and if Karma is to believed in, what goes around, comes around.<br />
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The next establishment that I would like to bring attention to is also in the hospitality is the Chinese Restaurant by the name of Ginsoy also located in Khayaban e Shabaz in DHA Karachi. I do not know who gave the owner Hasan Baweja this ridiculous idea of trying to exploit the customer and pull out extra cash from the customer's pockets under the disguise of customer service charges. The policy that they were practicing was a mandatory 10% service added on top of the final bill of the customer. Last I checked providing a service was part of a restaurant, they might as well tell the customer to go to the kitchen and fetch their own food. I will share a little insight, when I protested on Facebook against their policy, I immediately started getting personalised messages sent to my inbox by Hasan Baweja of trying to slander his establishment, demonize him and ruin his business. He also accused me of calling him a thief. He has admitted in his correspondence to me, that the mandatory service charges introduced are for the purpose of staff motivation and all the proceeds from that goes to the hard working staff. Last time I checked staff motivation and retention was the management's head ache, not that off the customer. For protesting this unfair customer exploitation, not only did I find myself banned from their Facebook page, but was also on the receiving end of harassment and false accusations directed towards me by their own Hasan Baweja. My personal message to Hasan Baweja, boss you have a lot to learn when it comes to customer service and snobbery is inexcusable, just because heavy spenders at your restaurant turn a blind eye to how their treated does not mean you keep doing it. Poor customer service at Ginsoy isn't just my own personal experience, I have often on visits seen that people have been made to wait ridiculous long periods for their food, even after the long wait, the food is not properly cooked.. For that the staff instead of apologizing makes excuses that we do not have Gas, we Can't do anything. Think for a few seconds, is such behavior excusable? It's not like their service is anything to write home about, firstly the amount of effort required to eat there is a major turn off which includes booking a table at times a week in advance, secondly they take forever to bring the mains, and even then there is no guarantee it is fully cooked, and all they have to say for themselves is 'Gas Nahin Arahee hai' instead of apologizing to the customer.<br />
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I have many more experiences to share, but for the time being I am going to conclude this blog, since I have already gone into too much detail. In the near future I hope to shed some light on poor customer treatment in other sectors of hospitality. I am however going to conclude by saying that we as paying customers should get rid of this whatever goes mentality and should have nothing but high expectations out of customer service that we receive, even if it is a one off bad day unless we complain how will the establishment learn from their mistake. It is our right, they as establishments are not doing us a favor by existing, rather we by giving them our custom, these establishments should treat all their customers, big, small, loyal or critical as important stakeholders. And finally I am not trying to generalize here, one will find establishments in Karachi that take paying customers very seriously and make efforts to make their customers feel significant, that is exactly the kind of treatment that restaurants and cafes in Karachi should extend to their customers. Paying customers should be made to feel like their the most important people in the world for them. This just proves that it can be done, excellent customer service in Pakistan is possible, and the ones that value their customers will go a long way towards success.<br />
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-17291359695844165412013-01-10T14:32:00.002+05:002013-01-10T14:32:54.156+05:00For the Love of Burger<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="text-align: left;">FatBurger FatBurger FatBurger. That's right people, you read correctly, FatBurger is the name of the California based chain that recently opened up in our very own beloved city by the sea. A great personal achievement is that after a very long time Karachi beat Lahore to it when it came to the first Pakistani store of a foreign franchise. In the last many many years now, most foreign franchises have preferred Lahore and opened up in the northern city, owing either to the relatively better security situation in the city or because of Lahore's reputation as being the food capital of Pakistan. Without a doubt the city of Lahore is a food lovers paradise but our city of 20 million by the sea does not deserve to be ignored like this. The last time we had something grace our city first from foreign shores was KFC in the mid to late 90's with its first store near NIPA in Karachi's Gulshan e Iqbal area. McDonald's the world's largest chain graced Lahore before it come to our shoes, as did Gloria Jeans the famous Australian coffee chain, as did Cinnabon famous for its brilliantly </span><span style="text-align: left;">awesome</span><span style="text-align: left;"> cinnamon baked goodies and of course Hardee's which opened up in Lahore a good 2 years before it made its debut in Karachi. </span></div>
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It was a welcome bit of Good news that Lahore is FatBurger's next destination and they graced our city and its army of food lovers first. As the name describes it, FatBurger is all about the Burger, and the burger follows its brand name quite literally, the burger is big and fat. FatBurger opened its doors to the people of Karachi on Saturday the 5th of Jan 2013 at the Dolmen City mall in the Clifton area. I managed to convince a friend of mine that we should be there for the opening day, after all those big FatBurger bill boards all across Karachi did make a strong case for it and the burger had to be tried. I actually thought the joint had opened earlier and made a trip in vain an exact week before the actual opening to get my hands on a FatBurger.<br />
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We managed to get there on opening night at a very good time, just some bit after 8 pm, the Que was not massive, hence we did not expect to be standing in the Que very long but alas it was a good 2 hour wait in that line before I reached the counter and I could place my order for the FatBurger. Even though my legs were sore, I would say it was kinda worth the wait, it was a unique burger experience and something I would like to go back for, even if the amount of calories in that big FatBurger could kill me. I went all out on experimentation and ordered the XXXL FatBurger, which featured three layers of beef patty well grilled patties if I might add. On top of that I asked them to give me all the add on's, yes that's right, all the add ons, so my add ons featured Beef Chilli, Beef Bacon, Egg, Extra Cheese and Jalepeno's. You gotta love that, that makes for a killer burger. With that many layers it was quite a challenge opening my mouth big enough to eat the burger, it did not take long to finish it though, a mere 10 minutes I would say considering all the time spent waiting for the food, well over 2 hours. Definitely something I am going back and definitely for the super Chilli Cheese Fries, and also for the curiosity about the taste bud sensation prospects of other menu offerings. </div>
Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8170593519641842881.post-16476874791868191692013-01-05T16:59:00.001+05:002013-01-05T16:59:58.238+05:00The power of Social Media<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We live in an age of social media. All around us the buzz is
all about social media and its impact on our world. It would not be wrong to
label ourselves the social media generation with hundreds of millions of users worldwide
for social media platforms and tools such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr
Pinterest and Google plus. Though social media is not something that debuted in
the last year or so, it has been around for over a decade. Even though Orkut
back in the day was somewhat of a pioneer in Social Media, it wasn't until the
advent of Twitter, YouTube (now owned by Google) and Facebook that the social
media revolution really kicked off. Facebook has been the biggest player and
the real game changer in the equation, from its humble beginnings in the
Harvard dorm room of its founder Mark Zuckerburg, it has gone on to become not
just the largest used social media site, but also one of the most visited
websites of all time with over a billion users worldwide. These social media
sites are effective tools for organizations, businesses, and professionals
especially those in media.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Social media tools like Facebook provide an extremely cost
effective means to reach out and engage with large audiences which are
increasingly connected to the world around them through social media. Such is
the importance of social media particularly as a marketing and public relations
tool that courses in social media marketing are being made part of the degree
at business schools around the world with proactive encouragement given to
students for making use of social media tools in their projects. At the same
time many other tertiary institutes are making provisions for workshops that
are catered for bringing veteran professionals up to speed. Workshops are a
useful way of bringing veteran graduates and employees up to par with changes
in trends. At the same time workshops also provide insight on how best to
optimize the use of social in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives.
Through workshops focus can also be directed towards developing customized
social media solutions as opposed to the use of standardized approaches.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Since social media provides its users with a platform
through which to engage their audiences in a two way communication, it allows
the generation of audience feedback and input which at times is obtained
instantly. As a result of this social media is an excellent tool for managing
customer service. For example a PC
manufacturer such as Dell and ASUS use their Twitter account to provide their
customers with updates with respect to product releases or upcoming offers, on
the other hand Facebook is used to assist customers by providing them with
solutions to problems or questions that customers might have. On the other hand
software manufacturers such as Microsoft are able to use the social media tool
YouTube to provide Microsoft users with video tutorials on how to install,
update and use their software package offerings. Such use of social media can
also be found in the hospitality industry in Pakistan, where many restaurants
and cafes are using Facebook to announce promotions, display images of the menu
items, listen to customer complaints and take dinner reservations. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Among professionals that have benefited the most through the
use of social media include Marketing and Public Relations professionals,
educators as well as journalists along with others in the industry such as
entertainers. For marketers it provides them with an effective tool to market
their brands and engage with their ever so connected audiences. The use of
social media for marketing activities also enables the opportunity to conduct
mobile marketing as the number of internet enabled smart phones increases with
access to these tools in the form of smartphone apps. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Broadcasters have also benefited a great deal with the use
of social media and the success of many major television and news programmes
may not have been possible in the absence of social media. Social media has
played a significant role in the marketing, promotion as well as the replay
broadcast of television dramas and sitcoms that have become an important part
of modern day popular culture. A group among media professionals that one can
argue has benefited a great deal from social media are journalists since social
media provides a quick and effective platform to share or release a news story
as it breaks and are able to achieve mass penetration Many major events and
news stories including uprisings, revolutions and natural disasters were
brought to the attention of the public through the use of social media.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Social media as a tool has also benefited students and the academic
community a great deal as well. Firstly
as we have already mentioned it allows two way communications, it provides an
efficient way for exchange between staff and students in the form of updates,
alerts and course specific messages. It also permits live staff-student
discussions. Through Facebook students can also share study material and
discuss ideas with one another, while YouTube can be used for the purposes of
relevant course specific video tutorials which can be replayed. It is due to this
very social media revolution that many universities now proactively encourage
their students to use social media with
respect to their course work and projects. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Deen Sheikhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14447030498404020140noreply@blogger.com0