Alexandria Mills – the Blue Eyed Miss World 2010

Miss Alexandria Mills - the 18 years old, standing 5 feet 9 inches tall, blonde with blue eyes became the blue eyed of all selectors when she was finally declared the Miss World 2010 on 30th October in a beautiful closing ceremony held at Crown Convention Center in Sanya, China (left top). Hailing from Louisville, USA, she became the 60th Miss World. Emma Wareus of Botswana became the first runner up while Miss Venezuela Adriana Vasini was named the second runner-up.

In her final 30 seconds decisive speech, Miss Mills said that she wanted to make an impact on others life and would like to help every people that she possibly could. A beauty model herself, she aspires to become a teacher.

Also See:

Miss World 2010 – Alexandria Mills

Miss America is the new Miss World 2010

Ladies swarm Rashakai as weather changes

Sometime ago I wrote about Rashakai, a haven of ladies cloth. I have been “going” or being taken to the place by my wife as and when season or fashion changes. We would normally visit on weekends, which are in fact the busiest days of Rashakai. For today’s post, let me first describe you the Rashakai for better understanding of our yesterday’s visit and as to why it was different from my previous visits.

Rashakai, located on the mouth of Rashakai interchange of the M1 Motorway (the Islamabad-Peshawar section is known as M1) and Nowshera – Mardan road. Once one descends from the Rashakai Interchange, taking a U-Turn on the Nowshera-Mardan Road, there is a narrow dirt track that takes you inside a large courtyard surrounded by shops. The courtyard is used for car parking.

Now on our previous visits, even on the most crowded days, the cars would be seen parked just on its fringes facing the shops. The only problem used to be to find a shady tree to avoid the direct sunrays in scorching summers. But this time: wow, it looked like a busy street of Karachi or Lahore locked into a traffic jam. The otherwise quite courtyard was reverberating with the rumbling of the car engines and horns as those who wanted to go out were blocked by those wanting to get in. The hustle bustle of women simulated a festival rather than ordinary shopping as there hundreds of them at any given time as compared to a few otherwise. For most of the ladies of KPK, the fashion originates from Rashakai and the rush vindicated my statement. Once you are in, it is really very hard to “coerce” the ladies to call it a day and head back home.

When I enquired as to why there was so much of rush, a shopkeeper said that since Nowshehra market had been devastated by recent flash flood, all shoppers have been redirected to Rashakai. What a contrast: while shopkeepers at Nowshehra cloth market counted were counting their losses, the shopkeepers at Rashakai were counting their profits. These are the cruel hard facts of life. The entire cloth market of Nowshehra succumbed to the roaring flood waters of River Kabul a few months back. Since most of the shops were in the basements, the entire lot of cloth was lost, worth millions of rupees.

While Nowshehra would time to rebuild and its market once again offers yet another outlet to the ladies, Rashakai would continue to thrive.

Rashakai – from here the style originates

The Fire Within: When do people become corrupt?

 "These days everyone is talking of rampant corruption in the country. Even it has hit the headlines across the world and our “corruption stat..." Read on The Fire Within: When do people become corrupt?:

October the 29th – the day when the First Internet Message was sent

Millions of people use internet daily round the clock as easily as drinking a glass of water or peeling of a banana. The use of internet has linked people of the entire world in real time, making the world a global village, interconnected and well linked. People living on extreme ends don’t feel a second’s lag in conversing and communicating with each other. Not only this, millions of pages of useful knowledge get uploaded on the internet for viewing by multiple of millions of viewers.

But few would know that the journey of internet wasn’t that easy. It took “people” years to bring digital data visible to others rather than banking on tele-printers and other devices. Internet was known as ARPANET in 1969, when the first ever message was transmitted over it by Charley Kline, a student-programmer of UCLA, at 10:30 pm on 29th October 1969, just a few months after the first man stepped on the moon. Under the supervision of Professor Leonard Kleinrock, Kline transmitted from the university's SDS Sigma 7 Host computer to the Stanford Research Institute's SDS 940 Host computer. The message text was the word "login"; but only the letters “l and o” could be transmitted after which the system crashed.

The short message was the same as the 12 seconds or so flight time of the first aero plane built by the Wright Brothers in 1903. But as the technology developed, the ideas matured both for aircraft industry and the internet world. Today while we sit on our laptops or desktops and use the internet as easily as anything, the aero planes zoom over our heads, bringing the worlds together, connected and closer.

Related Reading: History of Internet (Wikipedia)

Major Langlands - A life worth living

Forgive me to start with that I did not know of Major Geoffrey Langlands till I saw his photo with the British High Commissioner in Pakistan a couple of days ago in the newspaper receiving the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) for his commendable achievement in the field of education in Pakistan. And I think I wasn't the only one for not knowing this great man who lived here in our country for almost his life and cared for our children.

As I know now Major Langlands came to the British India in 1944 and then after partition continued to serve in the Pakistan Army till 1953. That was even before I was born. He then joined the famous Aitcheson College of Lahore and taught there for another 25 years. He then left for the final frontiers of Pakistan’s north to become the first principal of Cadet College Razmak in the North Waziristan, rather he was the founding pillar of the college. 

Imagine a man abandoning his comfortable post and abode in Lahore and choosing to go to one of the remotest and difficult areas of Pakistan where even no Pakistani would be willing to go and teach. But Major Langlands spent another 10 years of life there. And as if that wasn't enough. He had yet other goalposts to reach to and more difficult places to go to give out his everything to the children of Chitral. He founded the Langlands School and College in 1989 and is managing the facility since then.

The royal honour also coincided with his 93rd birthday. The British High Commissioner Adam Thomson paid rich tribute to Major Langlands while handing him over the royal honours and said, “It is with great respect that I present Major Langlands with this honour today. This is a testament to the dedication that Major Langlands has shown to improve the quality of education in Pakistan. The fact that at 93 years of age he is still devoted to his job as Principal of Langlands School and College in Chitral is a reflection of this commitment.” Earlier the government of Pakistan also announced the prestigious Hilal-e-Imtiaz award to the educationist, which he will receive on 23rd March 2011.

Major Langlands’ journey to the remote areas of Pakistan is long and arduous. Form a math teacher, he chose to wear the heavy black boots. He continued to do so till 1953 as I said earlier and then turned to teaching once again. The then army chief, General Ayub Khan arranged a job for him at the Chief College (the Aitcheson College is commonly known so) and he took up his love for mathematics once again. He must have taught many students that later rose to distinction and high positions, Imran Khan is one that he often cites. Even now sitting in the cold Hindu Kush region with Trich Mir (the highest mountain of the area) overlooking, his attire is remarkable. He wears a blazer, polished shoes and matching necktie. Living by a small bungalow by his school, he walks up to his school every morning with same pace and gait since he came here.

The struggle, dedication and love of Major Langlands for education and that too for the children of the remote areas of Pakistan reminds me of a few lines from the War of the Worlds audio:

There must be something worth living for,

There must something worth trying for,

Even something worth dying for…

And I wonder how these lines perfectly describe the life of Major Langlands. Himself orphaned at the age of 12, he dedicated his life for children far from the home where he once played with his kind, he has tried to educate the children of our land, which most of us have never heard off. He chose to give away his entire life to us rather than going back to England and live a life in his own environs. He continues to improve the education standards of his pupils which is exactly the motto of his school” "There is always room for improvement.” His best students have gone on to scholarships in Lahore, doctorates in Australia and exchange programmes in America. 

There were times when foreigners were discouraged to stay in the northern areas owing to the ongoing militancy, but the local administration made an exception for Major Langlands, as he had become an indispensable figure in the area. People of the area respect him and love him to be within them. The District Coordination Officer of Chitral remarks, “"Major Langlands is a living legend. He has made an extraordinary contribution, a portrait of dedication. What he has been assigned by Allah almighty, he has done with all his energies."

Now at 93, Major Langlands however needs rest as he has not been himself lately. Living at this age with a fragile body in the snow cold Chitral is becoming tougher for him. While a retirement house waits at Aitcheson College Lahore, he is looking for an equally devoted replacement for him. "I will teach until I am no longer able," says Major Langlands. "But it would be nice if someone takes over from me for future." But his is skeptical and keeping his fingers crossed.

Final goodbyes: female students cry as the Major is handed his leaving card (Pic: Paul Grover)

Update: Goodbye to Major Geoffrey Langlands of the Hindu Kush

Ramsar and the Caspian Sea

When we were kids, our general knowledge tests always carried a question on the Caspian Sea as the largest enclosed body of water of the world. Then my interest in philately introduced me to Ramsar as it was here the first meeting of the once vibrant RCD (Regional Cooperation for Development) organization was held (RCD had three members then: Pakistan, Turkey and Iran). And the for the third time Ramsar entered in my life or so to say I entered in Ramsar when I went for a yearlong study course in Iran.

My neighbour in Tehran was a PhD in cosmetics and had a vacation villa at Ramsar right on the Caspian Sea. One day he invited me to his villa and I readily accepted the gracious offer, as my dream of seeing two places that I heard of long time back, was about to be realized. On a long weekend, I packed up and drove to Ramsar with my family. We skirted the Karaj Dam with its deep blue waters, Tajrish and then through the Kandovan Tunnel – a one way tunnel under completely snow capped mountain top. We then went along the coast of Caspian Sea a little ahead of Slaman Shahr and passed through Tonekaban before reaching Ramsar. Along the coast, we came across small villages and we stopped at one of these, have photographs with a villager and his family. So very simple and friendly people they were.

Located in the north of Iran, Ramsar is lush green, densely wooded mountainous city, resting on the beautiful beaches of the Caspian. The city attracts tourists both from Tehran for its clean and pollution free environment. Its wooded hills gradually roll down to the beach, while the majestic Alborz Mountain forms its background. During Shah of Iran’s time, Ramsar was the official hill resort of the late king, who had built a beautiful palace (Kakh-e-Shah) on the hills overlooking Ramsar with a spectacular view of the Caspian. The palace has now been converted into a museum. There was a famous Casino in Ramsar which was burnt during the struggle for an Islamic revolution. When we visited Ramsar, the building still stood, charred and blackened. Now I hear a hotel has been built in the same building after modifications and renovation.

The villa of my neighbour was a three floored structure. And we would sit on the terrace facing the Caspian and see its vast stretches for hours together. One day he asked a friend of his to get us a sturgeon fish. Fishing of sturgeon, famous for its world quality caviar, is strictly prohibited in Iran, but our host wanted us to be served with the best of the best. So we sat in his living room where the fireplace was alight with woods. He himself prepared the fish, put the pieces on the skewers and placed near the fireplace to roast, and we waited as the aroma of the fish meat spread in the room. And when I ate the fish, I was spellbound. I had never tasted such a beautiful fish meat before. We all really thanked our host for the fish; we would have never eaten in our life time otherwise.

We also went boating in the Caspian Sea one day. The sea was very rough as it was too windy that day and the motor boat swayed laterally as it tried to wade through the noisy waves of the sea.

In the evenings, we would go to the bazaars of Ramsar, which were beautifully lit and decorated (my younger son at one of the shops of Ramsar – top left). There were two beautiful hotels at that time in Ramsar, beside small roadside motels and restaurants. One of the hotels was rather an old fashioned, which looked more like a museum than a hotel. Even its name “Hotel-e-Qadeem (Old Hotel)” vindicates its appearance and architecture (above bottom left).

There are natural springs at the foot of the Ramsar hills which had sulpher in their water. People from adjoining areas would come to these springs to bathe as they considered the water to cure many diseases. We went near the springs where the entire environ was sulpher smelly. We did not go inside though. Due to these hot springs, Ramsar has the highest level of natural radioactivity in the world. As per Wikipedia, the peak dose of radiation received by a person living in Ramsar for one year can be in excess of 260 mSv.

Ramsar is also famous for The Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) -called the "Ramsar Convention" - an intergovernmental treaty that embodies the commitments of its member countries to maintain the ecological character of their Wetlands of International Importance and to plan for the "wise use", or sustainable use, of all of the wetlands in their territories. Unlike the other global environmental conventions, Ramsar is not affiliated with the United Nations system of Multilateral Environmental Agreements, but it works very closely with the other MEAs and is a full partner among the "biodiversity-related cluster" of treaties and agreements.

Despite all these years since I went to Ramsar, the memories are still fresh in my mind. If I go to Iran again, I will definitely re-visit Ramsar.

Sun Spots

I have seen photos of sun spots many a times on the internet and magazines and always wanted to shoot these myself. Setting sun my otherwise weakness, I usually sit on my terrace and shoot as many photos as possible, but never the sun spots. However, a few days back, I found the sun quite dark orange and started taking shots hoping to finds some spots. I strained my Sony DSC H2 camera to its maximum optical zooms at tele-lens mode (although I do not have a tele converter). And wow!! This time I was lucky. I found two tiny spots as shown above.

Sunspots appear temporarily on the surface of the sun as burst of very high energy, reaching temperatures in the range of 2,727–4,227 °C. Since the sun itself is very bright, these could only be viewed on a fading sun, as I did. Sunspots expand and contract as they move across the surface of the Sun and can be as large as 80,000 kilometers (49,710 mi) in diameter, making the larger ones visible from Earth. They may also travel at speeds up to 100 mph across the suns photosphere.

Photo: Jalalspages (Flickr)

Bravo!! Pakistan Army Team - Men at their Best

Each year, a military competition is held in Britain, known as the “Cambrian Patrol” to provide a challenging patrols exercise in order to develop operational capability among young and energetic military personnel from almost all over the world. The exercise is held in Wales and is organized by HQ 160 (W) Brigade on behalf of HQ 5 Div and conducted in the Cambrian Mountains of mid-Wales.The three day patrol exercise demands a very high state of physical fitness and endurance, besides testing the leadership qualities of young officers and men in achieving the given mission assignment.

This year, a total of 86 teams participated in the patrol exercise, which included 70 teams from the UK and remaining from other countries that included besides others the teams from Pakistan, India, Canada, France, Afghanistan, Germany and even the USA. Each team comprises of 8 men carrying up to 55 kilos each across some of the most unforgiving terrain. There have been accounts of teams trudging through bog land up to their waist for 4 hours only to cover 1.5 km. It's a test of leadership, self discipline, courage and determination. The exercise usually starts with teams arriving at a RV before having their equipment checked to make sure they have everything required. Missing equipment is replaced by dead weight and points are deducted. After receiving the orders, each team prepares a sand model to make plan. And then the race starts while the clock ticks. The teams almost run to close the timings through marshes, water channels, back breaking mountains and long stretches of plains.

During the three day exercise, all teams tried their best to take a lead on the other. But at the end, it was Pakistan’s team that took the lead over the rest of 85 teams and won the coveted gold medal. Well this goes without saying the winning of the gold medal speaks volumes of excellent training given to Pakistan Army. The credit goes to the entire team, the X Corps and the Pakistan Army for achieving this milestone achievement. Well done Lieutenant Basit and his team.

Pakistan Army Team: Photo Courtesy: ISPR

Cambrian Patrols 14.10.10 Video (YouTube)

October 21 (1879) – the day light came to the world

The world lived in utter darkness since time immemorial and perhaps would have continued to do so for many more years till on this day, the 21st October, Thomas Alva Edison invented the first incandescent light bulb in 1879. Although, he was neither the first nor the only person trying to invent an incandescent light bulb, as there have been others trying to do what Edison did and took the lead.

The very bulb today lightens up our dark nights and one doesn’t feel whether it is day or night. An incandescent lamp is glass tube in which a filament is heated to incandescence by an electric current. Today's incandescent light bulbs use filaments made of tungsten rather than carbon of the 1880's. To these bulbs, now another revolutionary invention of energy saver bulbs has been added, which produce more energy and light with lesser electrical input as compared to an ordinary an incandescent bulb.

Edison lived with 1,093 patents issued to him than any other inventor till date. Besides this revolutionary invention, Edison is also credited with inventing the phonograph and the motion-picture camera, besides making contributions in the fields of telegraphy, telephone communications, and several business procedures. He even predicted the idea of an aero plane as far back as 1871, when he said on New Year's Day, 1871, "A Paines engine can be so constructed of steel & with hollow magnets . . . and combined with suitable air propelling apparatus wings . . . as to produce a flying machine of extreme lightness and tremendous power."

I could go on and on but it would better to read the following link on the man who brought light to the world on this day October.

Read more about The Undiscovered World of Thomas Edison

Death of an ex president and a gentleman

Today every news channel carried the news of the demise of the former president of Pakistan, Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari. Like everyone else I presume, I was also sad to hear the news. Though not a political man myself, I admired him for his demeanour and the way he carried himself as a man, sardar and a president. Compared to other political presidents, at least he looked like a president, as did Ayub Khan, much to the dislike of some.

Hailing from a respectable Leghari tribe of the Dera Ghazi Khan, the young Sardar Leghari graduated with honours from the Forman Christian College, Lahore, where again he was amongst the best students, and later from College Oxford University. After returning to Pakistan he joined the Civil Service but soon after the death of his father he resigned from service and came back to his roots to look after the tribal affairs of his tribe. He later joined Pakistan Peoples’ Party and has been de facto leader of the party during imprisonment of Z A Bhutto.

He spoke softly, unlike the conventional political presidents and carried himself with grace and dignity. He held the office of the president as long as he was respected and didn’t budge from his view point in front of the demagogue politicians.

He became the president of Pakistan in 1993, sponsored by the party he belonged to. But acted like a man of honour when he could not tolerate the rampart corruption, extra judicial killings and lawlessness of the government of Benazir Bhutto. To his bad luck, the government that replaced Ms Bhutto’s was equally corrupt, inept and vindictive. The government of Nawaz Sharif, or better Mr Nawaz Sharif alone, tried to grab all the powers under one man and which tantamount to becoming a civilian dictator. Sardar Leghari tried to sort out the affairs with consultation with the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah. But Nawaz stormed the Supreme Court building with his political workers and sacked the Chief justice. Seeing the mood of the time, Leghari resigned. It is very strange that Nawaz had the audacity to storm the Supreme Court as the chief justice was a threat to him, but later he sided with another chief justice as his ouster ousted the chief justice and him too. How people behave under trying times. One wonders what becomes of a chief justice if Nawaz again comes to power.

Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari later formed his own political party by the name of Millat Party. He also joined the Muslim League (Q). Lately he hasn’t been well on account of his heart-related diseases and was admitted in the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) at Rawalpindi, where he breathed his last on October 20, 2010.

With him gone, Pakistan has lost an upright, intellectual and an honest ex president. May his soul rest in peace. Ameen.

Landmarks and Parks of Tehran

I stopped short of discussing landmarks and the beautiful parks of Iran in my last post as it was getting out of my hand. I never wanted to prolong it any further, lest the interest of the readers was lost.

At that time, the best landmark of Tehran was the Azadi Square (top right in the photo). Actually its name was Shahyad Tower, when it was built to commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of the once great Persian Empire in the Shah of Iran’s reign. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, its name was changed to Azadi (freedom) Tower. Beautifully lit at night, it can be seen from miles apart. Whenever driving at night, it always served as beacon for direction keeping. Now I hear that another impressive tower by the name of Milad Tower has been added to Tehran’s skyline, which overshadows the Azadi Tower to an extent. But I really cannot comment on it any further as I haven’t seen it except in photographs, in which it looks impressive and pragmatic.

Apart from this, there are many museums and cultural centers. A number of erstwhile royal palaces have now been converted into tourists sites (though expensive items, paintings and furniture has been removed) and are centre of attraction of anyone visiting Tehran, and so for us as well. These palaces included the Golestan Palace, Niavran Palace and Saadabad Palace. The famous Peacock Throne of the kings is placed in the Golestan Palace. We also “roamed” in the vast green lawns of Niavran Palace, where once tourists like us could not even dream of entering. Beside palaces, there are a number of museums that include the Carpet Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Quran Museum and Painting Museum. Carpets are the specialty of Iran and one can see the most expensive, exotic, minutely woven and ultra big carpets displayed in the Carpet Museum, which was closer to the Park-e-Laleh. The Art Museum had some masterpieces from Picasso and Van Gogh, said to have been chosen by Empress Farah Deeba.

Teheran has wide roads and “Utu-baans – a Persian translation of the German Autobahn.” Beside many others, there were two that would interest us Pakistanis. These were the Bozarg Rah-e-Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Muhammad Ali Jinnah Expressway – the founder of Pakistan), and Iqbal Lahori Street in Eastern Tehran (the national poet of Pakistan Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal had his initial poetic work written in Persian and is still revered as a great poet in Iran and his poetry is taught in schools and colleges. Although born in city of Sialkot, he had his higher education from Government College Lahore, where he was on the faculty later on as well. Perhaps for this association, he is known as Iqbal Lahori in Iran).

If I am allowed to say that Tehran is nothing without its parks, I may not be very wrong. Besides Park-e-Laleh (that I mentioned in my previous post) there are more than 800 small, medium and large scale parks spread all over Tehran, of which Park-e-Millat, Park-e-Niavran and Jamshediah Park are the major ones. I along with my family was a regular visitor of Park-e-Laleh and Park-e-Millat.

Almost on every Sunday, like most of the Tehranites, I would also take my family to either of these two parks to spend the day. And the best thing was that despite being visited by thousands of visitors, there would be no litter left behind by anyone. That’s something unbelievable. There were some fine restaurants in these parks where one could enjoy the traditional Iranian cuisines. Park-e-Millat is the largest of all parks in Tehran. In the imperial times, Park-e-Millat was known as the Shahansahi Park (the Imperial Park). There is a big lake which looks majestic at sun sets, with the reflection of Alborz Mountains. There were boats to enjoy the lake rides. The park has elaborate amusement facilities for the visitors which includes skating lanes, snack bars and coffee shops and a small area with birds in cages. There also is a horseracing club adjacent to the park. I am told that the park has now home to the first musical fountains in Tehran, established in 2008, like that of the Dubai Mall.

Closer to Park-e-Millat is located the Tehran international Fair grounds, where exhibitions of international level are held. I once went with a friend, a geologist from Pakistan who later died in a helicopter crash in Iran, to a book fair and was fascinated to see the interest shown by the Iranians in the books and other AV equipment and aids.

Sandwiched between the Carpet and Contemporary art Museums, Park-e-Laleh (pictured top and bottom left above) was more frequented by us as it was closer to our house. We would walk down to the place in the evenings to enjoy the lush green park with a huge fountain in its centre. There was a Kangaroo at one of its entrances, which is centre of attraction of my sons. No sooner it started to become visible, both of them would leave us and rush towards it and sit in its lap. Chalo Kababs used to be our favourite dinner, followed by delicious coffee ice-cream. On our first snow fall, we rushed to the park and enjoyed the snow fall right there in the open. I would never forget that (though on our way back we found our car to be covered with a heavy sheet of snow and took quite a while to remove it and drive back home).

Well, that’s all for now – but my description of Tehran is far from over. I would write more about people of Tehran in particular and that of Iran in general besides describing the Shehr-e-Baazi (the Sports City) in my next post.

Related Reading:

My memories of Iran - Tehran

Isphahan - Nisf-e-Jehan

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Paintball Guns – Creating Realism in Sports

Perhaps one of the most innovative sporting gears that combine fun and realism together is the paintball guns. Originally started as sports, the paintball guns are also being used by the armies as a means to establish “real war casualties” in the combat training. As for its popularity in USA alone, some consider it to be more popular and likeable sport than the baseball.

Being an avid paintball sport lover, I am always on the lookout for more innovative paintball guns. Recently I discovered Ultimate Paintball producing some of the finest paintball gear. Their best selling looking-real paintball gun include the Tippmann A5, Tippmann 98 Custom, Spyder Pilot, Tippmann X7, and Spyder MR1. Besides they have a wide variety of masks, vests, glasses and allied equipment needed for paintball sporting. The Ultimate Paintball also promises hefty discounts and free shipping. Why wait?

Happy Birthday to Dr. Senta Maria Anna Siller – the Honorable Mother of Dolls

On the occasion of the 75th birthday of Dr. Siller Siller, I on my own behalf and on the behalf of all friends of Thatta Kedona, take this opportunity to thank her heartily for her exemplary and untiring efforts towards the cause.

Happy Birthday to Dr. Senta Maria Anna Siller – the honorable Mother of Dolls who is recipient of Floriade (the Netherlands), Gestaltetes Spielgut (Creative Toys – German Toys Industry), Bundesverdienstkreuz (highest civil order of merit of the Federal Republic of Germany) and many more honors.

We recommend Dr. Senta Maria Anna Siller for Pakistan President's Award for Pride for Pride of Performance.

October - The Breast Cancer awareness Month

"Breast Cancer was once considered to be a deadliest form of cancers – something that women dreaded..." Read on the detailed post at The Fire Within: October - The Breast Cancer awareness Month

The Fire Within: Sanjh – Helping the flood victims in its own way

The Fire Within: Sanjh – Helping the flood victims in its own way: "Like everyone, the artists of Pakistan also came forward to share the grief of their brethren in distress. “Sanjh” is one such collective effort of artists with a caring heart who got together to raise funds for the flood victims through an innovative way. ..."

I am better off abandoned in the wilderness..

Sometimes, the poetry written at the back of public transport, specially wagons and trucks is both amusing and thought provoking. While going to Islamabad the other day, I saw an innocent nightingale “Nadan Bulbul” – a wagon going on the Shah Faisal Avenue with the verse as shown above on its rear. In plain translation, the verse means, “From the bitter world and the bitter love, I am better off abandoned in the wilderness forever.”

One always find heart broken pieces of poetry, all addressed to the cruel lovers, who left their once poor acquaintances for the riches. One really has to be alert to preserve such “artful poetry” written by countless unsung poets throughout the country. I hear someone has compiled a small booklet on this peculiar poetry, exclusive to the rear sides of the public transport, specially the buses, trucks and wagons.

I remember there was one Kafeel Bhai from Gothki, Sind who had his name on every truck. His peculiar “right arm, left arm” type verses were very amusing and different. I once asked a friend from Ghotki to arrange for an interview with Kafeel Bhai, but I was told that he had left for Karachi in search of better avenues to earn money rather than restricting him to painting trucks only.

Sp whenever you are travelling, be on the lookout with a camera ready by your side to shoot these “masterpieces” from ordinary people that express and represent the aspirations and sentiments of the poor and downtrodden.

My memories of Iran – Tehran (Part – I)

I wrote about Isphahan awhile ago, but my journey began from Tehran where I along with my family and two other “students” landed at Meherabad International Airport of Tehran on one bright September morning, although it didn’t have to do anything with the September Morning sung by one of my favourite singers Neil Diamond. We were received by a senior representative from the Pakistani Embassy and lodged temporarily in one Hotel Atlas. Not very impressive, but was easy on our pockets as we had to pay the hotel rent till we found an apartment for our year long stay in Iran.

No sooner did we reach the hotel and dumped our stuff, we were out on the streets to watch the hustle and bustle of Tehran. As per one explanation, the word “The-Ran” means Bottom (The) of the Mountain Slope (Ran) and surely it is located at the foothills of towering Mt Alborz. Tehran is quite a big city, developed with wide roads, buses, cars and lot of people, both men and women. Cars weren’t impressive as majority was the indigenously made vintage shaped. A few imported cars could be seen on roads, but mostly the cars were homemade. In the initial few months, till we started to get our salary, we travelled on taxis, both official and non-officials. Well official taxis meant hired taxis as anywhere in the world. But unofficial taxis were just like “Sawari Tonga” of Lahore where you along with others could share the same taxi till your destiny at very nominal charges. Otherwise the official taxis were very expensive and if taken exclusively were called “Darbast (if I remember correctly after some twenty years now).

We stayed in the hotel for a week or so and then shifted to a two-bedroom apartment in an area called Amirabad, a few streets behind the Pakistani Embassy. Now I hear the embassy has shifted to another location. Our apartment was in the middle of a three storied building, with our landlords (or may I say the landlady as she was more dominant than the lord) in the ground floor and their daughter and her family on the top floor. Well our landlady was “quite’ a lady and kept us in a strict discipline for the entire year.

I, along with the other two students from Pakistan, would go to the military college in the college car early in the morning and came back by three in the afternoon. And then the next duty with the family would commence to end late a t night, wandering in markets and parks. Our best place to roam and shop was the Shahrah-e-Wali Asr (the erstwhile Pehalvi Avenue of Imperial Iran days – the photo at the bottom above) and Al-Quds super store, followed by the most expensive Maidan-e-Mohsani shopping malls. Closer to our house was one of the grand parks of Tehran, Park-e-Laleh (The Tulip Park). My children would enjoy rides and ice creams while we would eat “Chalo Kababs (a plate of boiled rice with two seekh kababs).” These were my elder son’s favourite. Murgh Sokhari (perhaps the Kentucky Chicken previously) was another treat to eat. This eatery used to be so full, that customers were issued with token to wait for their turn. Later we found a pizza shop in one f the posh localities of Tehran; I have forgotten the name over these years. We would go upstairs, so that our pizzas could be “transported” in a tiny lift from ground floor to the first floor – a delight for my children as they would stand in front of the lift to come up and bring to us our sizzling pizzas.

It was hard for us to find bread (double roti and roti/chapatti) in Tehran as bread (nan-e-farangi) was almost alien in Iran. It was with great difficulty that we found a shop which sold these and had to travel almost 35 kilometers round trip to get these. As for chapati like bread, we had to get used to the local bread available from bakeries only. We could not get flour (aata) from any source as it is not a custom to bake breads at home. There used to be two lines at the bakery: one for those wanting a couple of bread and the other for anything more. Since most in Tehran were working hands, they would prefer buying in bulk to last for a few days.

There are a number of site seeing places around Tehran. The best perhaps is the Mt Damavand and its ski resort Dizin (centre photo above). In the winters, the entire Tehran would converge on Dizin to enjoy skiing and sizzling hot food in a wooden restaurant atop the Mt Alborz. There were chair lifts and cable cars to transport tourists from car park to the skiing resort. Once atop the top, one would shiver with extreme cold – but nobody cared at all, rather had fun. My elder son was one of the people enjoying the most. He would lie down on slopes and slide on the snow during the entire time while we were up there.

There are a lot of landmarks and parks in Tehran that attract tourist attraction. It would require another post to cover details, which I will do shortly.

10s at their best today

Today may not be a different day for the world, but for those finding interesting things out of the ordinary, it has something unique in it. Today is 10th of 10th month (October) of 2010. So this makes a unique get together of three 10s today. But there is more to it. At 10 seconds past 10 to 10, three more tens will be added to the day twice (am and pm). So we are being bombarded with tens today. Interesting!!

For mathematical wizards, there is more to it, if not by the astronomers. 10 is a binary as well as a decimal number. 1 and 0 are the basic binary digits that make up everything that makes a computer to function. In binary terms, 101010 denote 42. Now if someone wants to relate it with the happy and sad figures of 6 (unlucky for some) and 7 (the lucky number), 42 (101010) is easily divisible by both the lucky and unlucky numbers. What effect it would have, well numerologists may have something to it.

As for the history, there is no significant incident reported ever on the occurrence of three (or six) 10s till date. I remember when it was 8-8-8 or 9-9-9, and many people chose the date for their weddings as good omen or started their business, but nothing extraordinary happened. So we need not be obsessed with such coincidences and happening. All we know is that it occurs every 100 years, and I and you wouldn’t be there to see it happening again in our lifetime. Well that I something a bit sad, but no one has ever lived, except a few lucky ones, to have this day seen twice. So be happy and disregard all SMSs you may be receiving with funny or dramatic announcements.

Flood victims' woes bring Belgian biker to their help

Much has been written about the flash floods that wreaked havouc through the entire length of Pakistan for the last three months. These floods destroyed some 2 million houses besides affecting some twenty million poor villagers and their families, including 600,000 children. They continue to live in makeshift tent villages, hoping to go back to nothing and start all over again, as the floods swept away everything that came its way including the fragile mud houses.

While the world community responded generously, there have been instances where individuals have contributed from their own to help the flood victims. A Chinese lad donated $ 200,000 while a nine old Turkish girl donated her entire year’s pocket money and favourite doll. To add to the list of these beautiful and generous people is the nine-time world trial biking champion Kenny Belaely. Kenny is currently touring Pakistan to raise funds for the flood victims of Pakistan. He is touring various cities of Pakistan and with his awe inspiring biking skills is not only entertaining his audience, but also raising funds in the process. Impressed by the ordinary Pakistan, Kenny confides to a news reporter, ““Pakistanis are very nice, friendly, warm welcomers and kind hearted, and I would love to come a hundred times to this country.” This impresses me and every Pakistani and we thank him for coming all the way from Belgium for a cause. He intends sending the fund money through the Belgian government and has named the project as Pakistan 1-2,1-2.

As for his biking performances, these are extraordinary and masterly. He can make a side hop from some twelve feet by jumping his bike from ground level and positioning it on a wooden table. He also demonstrates gap jumps over three meters gap beside many other interesting and challenging loops and skills. I saw it on the TV last night and was really impressed by this young man of barely 22. The best part came when he invited a young girl from the audience dressed in red to lie on ground with stretched legs and arms and then he hopped his bike over her body so masterly without his bike wheels ever touching her. The same way the magicians throw the dagger on the apple placed on the head of the volunteer. He intends sending the fund money through the Belgian government and has named the project as Pakistan 1-2,1-2.

His cause and the skills impress me and every Pakistani and we thank him for coming all the way from Belgium to be with us in this hour of distress.

Flying Swords and Khattak Dance

Traditional Khatak dancers (Photo: Jalalspages)

Khattak is a swift martial sword-dance of the Khattak tribe of Pashtuns in Khyber Pakhtunkwa province of northern Pakistan. Khattak is danced to fast music featuring the piper clarion and drums “dhols” beaten with sticks. Dozens of men dance together wielding swords or handkerchiefs, performing acrobatic feats. The Khattak dance has three main forms, Shahdola, Bhangrha and Bulbullah, and their many derivatives. The dance comprises 12 steps requiring great skill on the part of the dancers. The dancers alternate between performing solo and synchronizing with the rest of the troupe.

In the Bhangrah, performed in circle, every member swirls while carrying swords. In the Derabi, two youths, each carrying a sword and a handkerchief, start dancing in front of the man with surnai while the rest of the troupe members wait for their turn. In the Laila, a group of four performers holding two swords each perform stunts while moving in a circle.

Braghoni is the fastest and the most adventurous of all steps, which a single dancer performing with three swords. He swings two swords in the air while holding the third in his mouth. Bulbullah is the last of the twelve steps, staged without swords. The dancers sing a love song at a high pitch. At the end of the song, the drumbeat increases and the dance goes on.

Watch below a video that shows an exotique display of the Khattak Dance:

The dancers are dressed in traditional white coloured shalwar kameez (the loose trousers and shirt) with a cloth belt tied around the waist. The dancers also have rather long hair, which when swirling hang out beautifully outwards as do their loose shirts. It is fun watching these men performing this crafty dance with their heart and soul in it.

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Remembering that dreadful morning of 8th October 2005

The morning of 8th October 2005 was no different from the previous mornings for many decades in Pakistan till about 8:50 am when a powerful earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale jolted Pakistan's northern areas of Balakot, Mansehra and many parts of Azad Kashmir (Pakistan administered part of Kashmir) including its capital Muzaffarabad, besides Rawlakot and Bagh. Within next ten minutes, the entire cities perished and turned into piles of rubble. As the daily scores rose, an estimated 100,000 lost their lives, 3-4 millions became homeless, including over 80-90,000 seriously wounded. A majority of the people who died consisted of school and college students.

As the days went by, the damage reports swelled. We lost some 600,000 houses, completely razed to ground, 7,000 schools totally destroyed (burying under them smiling children who had left their mothers with their innocent smiles just an hour ago). The powerful quake destroyed over 200 link bridges that made rescue operations extremely difficult. Hats off to the soldiers of Pakistan Army, who carried food and clothes in their backpacks to climb the treacherous mountains to reach to the people left in the open and who brought back sick and wounded on their backs on their way back. The overall losses were around $ 5.5 billion.

Five years after today, although much damage has been restored, there are still many who have yet to be rehabilitated. Many schools are still to be built and countless people long for the rebuilding of their houses that turned into rubble. While the world wide opened its arms and donated generously as the then government did not have credibility problem. Plane loads came in waves to bring relief goods, while Pakistanis wholeheartedly supported their brethren in distress.

The earthquake left behind thousands of lamenting tales behind – of children that died when the school roofs fell and of teachers who died saving the little children. Just yesterday, there was news that a boy was reunited with his mother since he got separated from her on that fateful day. But many women still lament the loss of their children; brothers grieve for their siblings, while fathers and husbands cry for their children and wives.

We have hardly overcome the shock, when this year flash floods added to the miseries of many more. I do not know how much time it would take for the rehabilitation of people from Swat to seashore of Arabian Sea and the rebuilding of the many more bridges, schools, buildings and roads. I only pray for no more wraths from the Nature and hope we recover from the aftershocks, and live again.

Related Links:

Earthquake 2005 (Pakistanpaedia)

Lamenting Scars of the Soul

The nostalgic eateries of Lahore

Not for many reasons, my family finally decided to settle in Islamabad, specially its rather friendly weather. But this could not take away my longing and love for Lahore – a city where I was born and grew up as a young man. The nostalgia of those roads, bazaars and places that I once walked thus always takes me back to Lahore every couple of months. And I find myself young again amid friendly and familiar environs. I try to foot the places which were once my usual routes to my school and later the college. I would save on the money given to me as bus fare to eat whatever came my way, and I enjoyed both the walking and eating.

The last weekend again took me back to Lahore to attend wedding of a friend’s daughter. And this gave me yet another opportunity to find out new eateries specific to Lahore. In fact, you don’t have to find places to eat, as every corner of Lahore has some specialty that one cannot resist to devour. For sophisticated and the rich, MM Alam Road in Gulberg has dozens of restaurants offering variety of packages to choose from. Here one can find all sorts of traditional, European and Chinese cuisines prepared to suit the local tastes, beside the much liked burgers by the young. The environment created by some suit the kind of food being served.

As for very indigenous foods, there is no dearth. Mozang, Main Market (Gulberg), Wahdat Road, Gawalmandi, Lakhshami Chowk, Anarkali and Gari Shaoo are some of the areas where hot, spicy and sizzling food is available till very late at night. Cuckoo’s Den near the Lahore’s Badshahi Mosque is yet another place where one can enjoy innovative food, coupled with the view of old Lahore, the Lahore Fort and the Badshahi Mosque.

My sons are equally fond of visiting such places with me and enjoy eating the food more or less the Lahori way. Remember, in one of my previous posts, the Lahorites eat KHABAS not merely Khana. You go to someone’s place and you will be entertained with whatever is available in the kitchen. And you would eat as you normally do, probably a little overeating as well. But when you think that all is over, the host would announce, “Let us go out and EAT.” Appalled of this revelation, and despite your pleadings that you had had enough at his place already, you will be taken to any of the areas mentioned above. And when the order would be placed, you would almost turn pale, as no one in his right mindset would be eating all that which would have been just ordered. This is when Khana becomes Khaba. So when going to Lahore, have a heart of a Lahori lest you are caught off guard. And don’t forget to drink a full glass of ice cold “Lassi” after the dinner, in one gulp called “deek” in local language.

This time, after a nice and decent dinner amid pleasant environment of MM Alam Road, I took my family to Wahdat Road for some real stuff. And before I could locate any real place, my sons’ eyes fell on Shahi Pathoorays and I was told to stop. We ordered two plates initially, but then there was no ending. Each plate had two Pathoorays, and we ordered God knows how many. But the crispy fresh from the oven heavily oiled Pathoorays with spicy chickpeas and pickle were heavenly tasty. You have to eat these to know the taste.

Next time, I will take them to Mozang for Qeemay walay Parathay (greasy breads stuffed with minced meat) eaten with curd. And when winters come, I may take them to Garhi Shahoo for one of the best fried fish in Lahore. Just the mention of all this makes me hungry and forces me t go to kitchen to find something for munching. A true Lahori has his appetite never quenched.

Related Reading: Khana, Khaba and Eateries of Lahore

Blog Action Day 2010 - WATER

Have you ever wondered that while you can buy bottled safe drinking water from the market, more than one billion people around the world cannot afford this luxury of clean drinking water? Join countless bloggers around the world to participate in the Blog Action Day to raise awareness about the clean and safe drinking water for those who cannot afford it or don’t have access to it. Remember access to clean water is not just a human rights issue – it is an environmental, animal welfare, and sustainability issue. Water is a global issue, and affects all of us.

Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action. So be part of the fifth Blog action Day 2010 which is dedicated to the accessibility to clean drinking water. The theme was chosen by vote on Change.org’s blog, with Collis and Cyan Ta’eed as its co-creators.

Those who haven’t heard of the Blog Action Day, may I add for their information that it is all about grass root level activism, based on the philosophy that ordinary people can make an extraordinary difference. Join the cause and celebrate the day with your own post at your own blog, as I have.

Photo courtesy: Diets in Review.com

The Fire Within: The shopping mayhem

The Fire Within: The shopping mayhem: "Yesterday, I wrote about the liberty of women at shopping. But when it comes to the season of sales, their quest for buying more and more of..."

Women at Liberty

Women always want liberty – not from men presumably, but liberty to shop. Stuff their purses with the entire month’s budget and the first thing they would instantly do would be to dash to the nearest shopping complex to buy the suit they saw worn by a friend yesterday. And when they are shopping (and you happen to be accompanying them), don’t stop them from hopping from one shop to another. And if they ask you for an advice, rest assured your advice will be straightaway ignored. But the pleasant surprise would come after hours of moving back and forth from one shop to another when they would come back to buy the same shoe or cloth you had selected.

Last weekend, I was in Lahore and instead of going to the guest room we had booked, my wife asked to be taken to the Liberty Market in Gulberg, Lahore. And then the same ritual was repeated as narrated above. We hopped from one shoe shop to the other and finally after the tiring exercise, we went back to the shop#2 to buy the same shoe that I had recommended. The shoe shops and all other shops exclusive for ladies were jam packed. But those selling the men’s merchandise were just praying for someone unaccompanied to visit their shops as well. But I suppose mostly were disappointed and were sitting idle. I pitied them and the men who could not go in.

Lahore is a haven for ladies’ shopping and the entire city is laced with such shopping complexes that deal exclusively with ladies merchandise. When we were kids, Anarkali Bazaar, off the Mall near Punjab University and the Government College (now GCU), was the only venue for ladies’ exclusive shopping. I remember accompanying my mother to Anarkali. And after the same shopping exercise, we would eat the famous fruit chaat of Bano Bazaar. The chaat used to be so spicy that it would feel that your entire inner system was on fire. So to relieve the suffering, we would dash to the milkshake shop for a glass of ice cold banana or mango milkshake. In those days, milkshake was something that was exclusive to Anarakli only, now it is available everywhere.

From one Anarkali of yester years, there are innumerable thriving shopping and fashion venues for ladies’ shopping spread all over the city. The poor Anarakli has now been relegated to a lower shade as ladies now prefer more flashy and attractive new shopping malls rather than the stale Anarkali. This gives women more liberty of action to shop, but with a difference. Once they shopped with all they could save, today they shop from the monthly budget first, and whatever remains is used to run the household - whether you like it or not. But this keeps them happy, and that is what matters most in the end.

Season of bands and marriages

Soon after the month of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, the season of bands and marriages ushers in with its pomp and show. You go anywhere, and would find long motorcades of “barat (the grooms journey to the bride’s place for the wedding ceremony)” on every road. The groom’s car is beautifully decorated with fresh flowers, garlands, and buntings. Some even put on glittering lights as well. Like everyone else, I was also been invited on a number of weddings this month. Two I have already attended and a few a are yet to be attended.

I went to Lahore on the weekend to attend the wedding of a friend’s daughter. Although, the a lot of ceremonies precede the actual wedding, like the dholki, mayoun, mehndi and nikkah ceremony, I could only make it to the wedding day due to the studies of my sons. All these ceremonies are very heavy in music. Mostly people hire local singers to their homes and even hotels to entertain the guests with wedding songs. Some even arrange military or local brass bands to be played on weddings. Although the trend of playing brass bands is on the decline in the cities, the tradition still goes on in small towns and villages, where musical groups are not that popular. In villages, the barat procession Is generally led by the local brass bands, dressed like military bands.

The wedding was arranged in one of the leading hotels of Lahore, which can accommodate almost half a dozen of such functions simultaneously. And obviously this calls for lot of rush, hundreds of cars to be accommodated in the limited parking lot of the hotel. It took me a while for my sons to locate a parking for our car. It took quite a while and when we entered the arena, the food had already been served and people were busy in their dinner. My friend was very pleased on our arrival and straightaway took me to the centre stage to introduce me to the groom and beside pleasantries, we had a photo session. I had a number of old friends attending the marriage, so we all got together in a corner, had food and a good gossip. Then it was time for wedding rituals. One of the rituals is that the sisters and cousins of the bride take off one of the shoe of the groom and ask for some handsome money in return. They ask a lot of money and a hearty debate goes on between from sisters and cousins from both sides amid large uproar and NOs when a smaller amount is presented. After a lot of “Hulla Gulla”, both parties finally settle for an agreed sum in return of the groom’s shoe. I wish Cinderella could see this ritual. This is the last ritual after which the bride walks out with the groom to her new home amid tears and wishes from everyone.

For the second wedding, that of a son of a friend of mine, I had to rush back to Islamabad from Lahore and I barely made it to the venue. All wedding have a similar pattern in cities, while in villages, there are minor differences owing to local customs and traditions. I will write more about the various rituals some other day.

Related Link: Customs and traditions of Pakistan