meaningful ramblings on meaningless thoughts...

Rajnikanth vs.Google ...

2011-09-10T00:30:00.001+10:00

Time flies ...

2010-02-09T19:35:00.002+11:00

Been almost a year since my last post. Facebook addiction makes me forget this exists. Even if I'm reminded, I'm too lazy to write. Should I do another catchup? I think I will, one of these days. This will have to end here as time has flown ...

Wollongong...

2009-03-03T15:31:00.002+11:00

Many outside Australia, would wonder 'what is a Wollongong?', well I don't know what it is or means, but it is a name of a city! Spent a night there last weekend.
It reminded me of a relatively similar unknown city called West Lafayette in Indiana USA. The similarity, the main attraction of both towns is a major university. University of Wollongong and Purdue University. Wollongong took the cake however, thanks to the beautiful beaches, harbour and lighthouse! West Lafayette had a terribly long, harsh winter.
I was talking last night to a friend from Purdue, and mentioned how Wollongong reminded me of the days at Purdue, and he expressed his surprise over the fact that everyone he was in touch with from Purdue, had fond memories, even though it was a shitty city with an even shittier weather. And, we agreed that it was the surviving through all the shittiness that made it all memorable!

Camping in Murramarang National Park...

2009-02-27T20:48:00.004+11:00

This place is hard to edit with pictures ...while I'm writing I can't tell where the pictures will be positioned! One is the campsite with free roaming wallabies, and the other is jet skiing nearby. The wallabies were cute, furry and playful, and the jet skiing was an adrenalin rush totally worth the fortune we spent on it. Although my thighs hurt for the following two days! Right after jet skiing we went kayaking, which also was a great experience with the beautiful sights and sounds. However, the break in the middle of the lake with home made muffins and juice provided by the guide resulted in a (mis)adventure that made the trip unforgettable, more so for others, as I am pretty used to such antics myself. Thanks to the long day, and the juice, on the return trip from Kayaking, just after sunset, nature called with urgency, and I just could not continue pedaling, so I tried getting off the kayak to take a quick dip, but ended up capsizing. For me it was just another dip in the water, and boy was I relieved! But I got to hear a lot of lectures on the stupidity of the act and the dangers involved etc. etc. and all I had to say was that, when nature calls, Murtaza responds :P. Other highlights of the trip included several dips in the cold water at the beach, prawning in the lake at night with torch lights and cookouts. Also, not to be forgotten was the ride to and from in an 8 seater van singing and dancing on the way.

Text of Steve Jobs' Commencement address (2005)

2009-02-27T01:37:00.001+11:00

Text of Steve Jobs' Commencement address (2005)

Posted using ShareThis

Things people notice and remember ...

2009-02-27T00:41:00.002+11:00

In an attempt to rejuvenate this blog, I did a bit of marketing, as readership is an essential motivating factor for writing. Ofcourse that was not the intention when I first started it years ago.

On another blogging site that I started before this one I wrote, and I quote,

"...why am i here...coz i'm impressed by some of the serious bloggers...maybe someday...i'll make it big and these will make up my biography...i'm too modest to write it myself :P ...there goes my claim to modesty...i wonder if i'll be able to keep up with this...i'll try..."

Hehe, can't believe I just quoted myself, I'm flattering myself!

Anyhow, I have strayed off the topic, infact I never got to it!

The motivation for this post was that a very good friend visited the blog as a result of the aforementioned marketing and pointed out that there was no mention of the adventures we've had in the recent past. My excuse as usual, was that this blog has been neglected for quite a while and I'm still trying to catch up, to maintain some chronological order.

Coming to the exact reason for the topic, we had gone camping, I'll do a detailed post hopefully with pictures on that, but after about a month, as the trip randomly came up thanks to the conversation about the blog, he narrates the following story that I had no recollection of ...

On the said camping trip, we went kayaking in a river/lake, I have a terrible memory, that was quite close to the ocean and in time of flooding formed a connection that allowed mixing/exchange of water. So, the question came up, whether the lake was sweet water or salty, and instinctively I put my hand in the water and tasted some, and answered what I thought it tasted like. Again, thanks to the wonderful memory, I don't remember the answer. But, the point is, what to me was an instinctive reaction, soon forgotten could form such an impression on someone else is, I think, scary!

An old but still very relevant article...

2009-02-26T02:38:00.001+11:00

Uri Avnery

Muhammad's Sword

23-09-2006
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1159094813

Since the days when Roman Emperors threw Christians to the lions, the relations between the emperors and the heads of the church have undergone many changes.

Constantine the Great, who became Emperor in the year 306 - exactly 1700 years ago - encouraged the practice of Christianity in the empire, which included Palestine. Centuries later, the church split into an Eastern (Orthodox) and a Western (Catholic) part. In the West, the Bishop of Rome, who acquired the title of Pope, demanded that the Emperor accept his superiority.

The struggle between the Emperors and the Popes played a central role in European history and divided the peoples. It knew ups and downs. Some Emperors dismissed or expelled a Pope, some Popes dismissed or excommunicated an Emperor. One of the Emperors, Henry IV, "walked to Canossa", standing for three days barefoot in the snow in front of the Pope's castle, until the Pope deigned to annul his excommunication.

But there were times when Emperors and Popes lived in peace with each other. We are witnessing such a period today. Between the present Pope, Benedict XVI, and the present Emperor, George Bush II, there exists a wonderful harmony. Last week's speech by the Pope, which aroused a world-wide storm, went well with Bush's crusade against "Islamofascism", in the context of the "Clash of Civilizations".

IN HIS lecture at a German university, the 265th Pope described what he sees as a huge difference between Christianity and Islam: while Christianity is based on reason, Islam denies it. While Christians see the logic of God's actions, Muslims deny that there is any such logic in the actions of Allah.

As a Jewish atheist, I do not intend to enter the fray of this debate. It is much beyond my humble abilities to understand the logic of the Pope. But I cannot overlook one passage, which concerns me too, as an Israeli living near the fault-line of this "war of civilizations".

In order to prove the lack of reason in Islam, the Pope asserts that the prophet Muhammad ordered his followers to spread their religion by the sword. According to the Pope, that is unreasonable, because faith is born of the soul, not of the body. How can the sword influence the soul?

To support his case, the Pope quoted - of all people - a Byzantine Emperor, who belonged, of course, to the competing Eastern Church. At the end of the 14th century, the Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus told of a debate he had - or so he said (its occurrence is in doubt) - with an unnamed Persian Muslim scholar. In the heat of the argument, the Emperor (according to himself) flung the following words at his adversary:

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

These words give rise to three questions: (a) Why did the Emperor say them? (b) Are they true? (c) Why did the present Pope quote them?

WHEN MANUEL II wrote his treatise, he was the head of a dying empire. He assumed power in 1391, when only a few provinces of the once illustrious empire remained. These, too, were already under Turkish threat.

At that point in time, the Ottoman Turks had reached the banks of the Danube. They had conquered Bulgaria and the north of Greece, and had twice defeated relieving armies sent by Europe to save the Eastern Empire. On May 29, 1453, only a few years after Manuel's death, his capital, Constantinople (the present Istanbul) fell to the Turks, putting an end to the Empire that had lasted for more than a thousand years.

During his reign, Manuel made the rounds of the capitals of Europe in an attempt to drum up support. He promised to reunite the church. There is no doubt that he wrote his religious treatise in order to incite the Christian countries against the Turks and convince them to start a new crusade. The aim was practical, theology was serving politics.

In this sense, the quote serves exactly the requirements of the present Emperor, George Bush II. He, too, wants to unite the Christian world against the mainly Muslim "Axis of Evil". Moreover, the Turks are again knocking on the doors of Europe, this time peacefully. It is well known that the Pope supports the forces that object to the entry of Turkey into the European Union.

IS THERE any truth in Manuel's argument?

The pope himself threw in a word of caution. As a serious and renowned theologian, he could not afford to falsify written texts. Therefore, he admitted that the Qur'an specifically forbade the spreading of the faith by force. He quoted the second Sura, verse 256 (strangely fallible, for a pope, he meant verse 257) which says: "There must be no coercion in matters of faith".

How can one ignore such an unequivocal statement? The Pope simply argues that this commandment was laid down by the prophet when he was at the beginning of his career, still weak and powerless, but that later on he ordered the use of the sword in the service of the faith. Such an order does not exist in the Qur'an. True, Muhammad called for the use of the sword in his war against opposing tribes - Christian, Jewish and others - in Arabia, when he was building his state. But that was a political act, not a religious one; basically a fight for territory, not for the spreading of the faith.

Jesus said: "You will recognize them by their fruits." The treatment of other religions by Islam must be judged by a simple test: How did the Muslim rulers behave for more than a thousand years, when they had the power to "spread the faith by the sword"?

Well, they just did not.

For many centuries, the Muslims ruled Greece. Did the Greeks become Muslims? Did anyone even try to Islamize them? On the contrary, Christian Greeks held the highest positions in the Ottoman administration. The Bulgarians, Serbs, Romanians, Hungarians and other European nations lived at one time or another under Ottoman rule and clung to their Christian faith. Nobody compelled them to become Muslims and all of them remained devoutly Christian.

True, the Albanians did convert to Islam, and so did the Bosniaks. But nobody argues that they did this under duress. They adopted Islam in order to become favorites of the government and enjoy the fruits.

In 1099, the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and massacred its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants indiscriminately, in the name of the gentle Jesus. At that time, 400 years into the occupation of Palestine by the Muslims, Christians were still the majority in the country. Throughout this long period, no effort was made to impose Islam on them. Only after the expulsion of the Crusaders from the country, did the majority of the inhabitants start to adopt the Arabic language and the Muslim faith - and they were the forefathers of most of today's Palestinians.

THERE IS no evidence whatsoever of any attempt to impose Islam on the Jews. As is well known, under Muslim rule the Jews of Spain enjoyed a bloom the like of which the Jews did not enjoy anywhere else until almost our time. Poets like Yehuda Halevy wrote in Arabic, as did the great Maimonides. In Muslim Spain, Jews were ministers, poets, scientists. In Muslim Toledo, Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars worked together and translated the ancient Greek philosophical and scientific texts. That was, indeed, the Golden Age. How would this have been possible, had the Prophet decreed the "spreading of the faith by the sword"?

What happened afterwards is even more telling. When the Catholics re-conquered Spain from the Muslims, they instituted a reign of religious terror. The Jews and the Muslims were presented with a cruel choice: to become Christians, to be massacred or to leave. And where did the hundreds of thousand of Jews, who refused to abandon their faith, escape? Almost all of them were received with open arms in the Muslim countries. The Sephardi ("Spanish") Jews settled all over the Muslim world, from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east, from Bulgaria (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in the north to Sudan in the south. Nowhere were they persecuted. They knew nothing like the tortures of the Inquisition, the flames of the auto-da-fe, the pogroms, the terrible mass-expulsions that took place in almost all Christian countries, up to the Holocaust.

WHY? Because Islam expressly prohibited any persecution of the "peoples of the book". In Islamic society, a special place was reserved for Jews and Christians. They did not enjoy completely equal rights, but almost. They had to pay a special poll-tax, but were exempted from military service - a trade-off that was quite welcome to many Jews. It has been said that Muslim rulers frowned upon any attempt to convert Jews to Islam even by gentle persuasion - because it entailed the loss of taxes.

Every honest Jew who knows the history of his people cannot but feel a deep sense of gratitude to Islam, which has protected the Jews for fifty generations, while the Christian world persecuted the Jews and tried many times "by the sword" to get them to abandon their faith.

THE STORY about "spreading the faith by the sword" is an evil legend, one of the myths that grew up in Europe during the great wars against the Muslims - the reconquista of Spain by the Christians, the Crusades and the repulsion of the Turks, who almost conquered Vienna. I suspect that the German Pope, too, honestly believes in these fables. That means that the leader of the Catholic world, who is a Christian theologian in his own right, did not make the effort to study the history of other religions.

Why did he utter these words in public? And why now?

There is no escape from viewing them against the background of the new Crusade of Bush and his evangelist supporters, with his slogans of "Islamofascism" and the "Global War on Terrorism" - when "terrorism" has become a synonym for Muslims. For Bush's handlers, this is a cynical attempt to justify the domination of the world's oil resources. Not for the first time in history, a religious robe is spread to cover the nakedness of economic interests; not for the first time, a robbers' expedition becomes a Crusade.

The speech of the Pope blends into this effort. Who can foretell the dire consequences?

I love google!

2009-02-26T01:21:00.002+11:00

Yes, I really do. I don't know how I would have graduated without it. Or still be in Grad school! Or get around the US and Australia, and stare at my rooftop and trace the route home when i miss Karachi!
To top it all off, this right here also belongs to google, and I could actually make money off it!
Plus it's genius. It gives me suggestions when I'm searching and don't know how to spell or don't know the full name. Even the ads! My previous post was about Kenya and Australia and being in college, and all the ads were either travel websites or colleges! Blows my mind! I wish I could come up with something remotely useful!

lets get over the catchup....

2009-02-25T13:27:00.002+11:00

So, I've been in Australia for over 7 months now. College life wasn't as active as I had hoped, me being lazy and the long commute from my sister's place. The studies however went quite well and I finished with a distinction average.
Been on vacation almost 4 months now. Another 2 weeks for semester to start. Geeky as it may sound, I'm actually looking forward to it!
Went to Kenya for Ashara (10 Days of Muharram, first month of the Islamic calendar, where we remember and mourn the sacrifices of Imam Hussain in Karbala, Iraq).
Apart from he religious stuff, Kenya is a beautiful place. Was staying at a beach resort, with white sandy beaches, coral reefs, and clean blue waters. Add to that a nice hot summer. Perfect! The only thing missing was some good company ;). But I'm not the one to be complaining. Went snorkeling, a one day safari with random people and shopping in the city. Met up with friends from the U.S. Made some new ones. Had a great time. Too lazy to put pictures here.

more catching up...

2008-12-22T00:34:00.002+11:00

so my last post covered up to October 2007, continuing...

November - December 2007 :
Back in Karachi.
Busy with the wedding season.
Parents went for Hajj, tried getting used to dad's business, not very successful.
Single again.
Applying to study in Australia.
Changed passport and national identity card, to get my surname on record.
Heard from University of Houston that I got accepted with scholarship, resulting in in-state tuition fee. Had also been accepted to UNSW and had made up my mind to pursue Australia.
Forgot all about IELTS and didn't manage to get a date until january which meant I would not be able to go in March for the first semester.

January - May 2008:
Can't really recall anything exciting. Just waited and waited chilling out with friends. Had an interview for an internship with Clifton Cantonment Board that never really happened. Waited for 5 something hours, took a short typing test and was sent home. I had made up my mind I wasn't going to work there even if they did get back in touch but it never happened.
Also during this time I got in touch with Citizens Archive of Pakistan, set up by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, a superwoman, who was kind enough to have me volunteer for her amazing project.
There were a few teething issues and the volunteer internship didn't start till mid June. But I had something to look forward to along with the prospects of studying in Australia in the not too distant future.

June - July 2008:
The highlight for June was definitely the internship with CAP. Being a graduate and a techie, I was honored with the additional title of 'Admin'. I didn't really do any work related to the archiving or the oral history project, that most of the interns were working on during the summer. I set up the computers, and the network, helped set up the new office, taking inventory, did a bit of accounts, ran errands, made trips to the computer market for repairs, buying and selling hardware and software. And the best part, made a lot of friends mostly female :P. It was a bit of hard work getting up early morning and I was getting tired of it so was elated when I finally did get the visa. A bit of shopping, farewells and the likes, and I was off to Australia!

roundup to catch up ...

2008-12-20T11:42:00.002+11:00

So, I'm not getting motivated enough to write...and yet I want to get this up to date, alive and kicking and all that, so I think I'll go month by month and just list the major updates and get it done with.
May-June 2007:
Graduation and the road trips.

July-August 2007:
Back and forth between Indiana and Texas, moving all my stuff to Texas. Bought a car from a friend for 2 grand. Drove it all the way to Houston from Purdue. Hit (and definitely killed) a dog on the way. Scary experience. Was cruising with both feet off the pedals. Saw the dog but sort of froze, and probably for the better, because had i breaked or swerved left, may have caused a pile up, swerving right would have landed us in a ditch. Unfortunately for the dog we ran over it, and so did the car behind us. *Shudder*
Interviewed at a few places, including Subaru of Indiana. Another company close to Louisville, Kentucky called for an onsite interview and provided a hotel, so took the friend whose car I was going to buy and partied. By the time I got back to Purdue I had received the rejection :P

September-October 2007:
Ramazan in Houston, took the GRE for the third time, met the requirements for University of Houston, FINALLY, but too late for the fall semester. Got sick of sticking around, booked a ticket for Karachi. 2-3 days before leaving another Houston company called for an internship but I had made up my mind. Was missing someone a bit too much. So well a week after Eid, I was back in Karachi. Also, I now had my sights on Australia since my sis and bro in law had moved there.

another back dated post ...

2008-12-09T01:19:00.002+11:00

I guess this should have been sometime in december last year ...probably would have been in a different emotional state, but, writing that poetry reminded me that I never mentioned I'm single again, ha! Single and ready to mingle, though easier said than done!
I'd rather not divulge into the details, lets just say, I screwed up and got dumped!
If I may stroke my ego a bit, I think the screw up involved me not having done the dumping!
Anyhoo, taking it like a man, sulking ever since :P

what i want ...

2008-12-09T00:54:00.002+11:00

Everyone wants a million dollars, so do I. But they're not going to fall off a tree, nor is anything else that I want just as much. When has that ever stopped anyone from wanting anything, everything, something ...so here goes,
a job that fills my pocket,
a pocket that satisfies my wife,
a wife that makes a home,
a home i can call my own,
time to spend with my family,
backpacking across Europe,
cruising on the Pacific,
a camera to capture every moment...
(yeah I want a DSLR now...all that lame poetry for a camera, what I need is to get a frigging job!)

Totally Random ...

2008-12-08T13:11:00.002+11:00

I'll give myself four minutes for this post. It's second day of Eid. Had a hectic day yesterday. Not that I did much, just didn't get my sleep, which these days is over probably over 12 hours. I have become super lazy. I have 'rented' a car but haven't used it yet!
I am on a 4 month vacation. I had a job lined up for the day after I got done with exams, and I quit on the first day. It was a 4 hour shift, which seemed like eternity, I must have glanced at my watch at least a hundred times.
Time's up.

road trip 2!

2008-11-30T18:57:00.002+11:00

So after driving around the midwest and east coast ...checking out Niagra falls, DC, Atlanta and Orlando, attending a cousin's convocation at John Hopkins (missed the ceremony but made it on time for the after party)...attending another cousin's high school graduation in Kentucky, and returning the car back in Indiana, flew to the west coast, San Jose, California!

Staying with family friends went on another road trip in their van. This time we went to San Fransisco, Anaheim (Disney Land is in Anaheim, and not LA, so I can't claim I've been to LA, unless the other places we went to, were in LA, will have to make sure :P ),

Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...so there. Grand Canyon is an experience. Went on the Skywalk too. Nuff said!

Back to San Jose, and then a flight to houston ...from where on and off to nearby cities in Texas.

the road trip ...

2008-11-25T17:59:00.002+11:00

Backdated post ...June 2007

Who: Me, my parents, uncle and aunt (chacha, chachi).
The Car: Dodge Stratus
Driver: Me, for over 90% of the way!
The route: Indiana, Maryland, New York, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky. And back to Indiana.

There is so much catching up, that I don't feel like going into details right now!

greetings from Australia!!

2008-11-25T17:49:00.002+11:00

Ok, so I disappeared for the longest time...over a year and a half. Thanks to google I still have access. Well, I graduated from Purdue, with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering BSIE degree. Can't really say with flying colors, because well the damage done in the first couple of years was irrepairable. Anyhow, my parents were around for the convocation, a grand ceremony it was. Went on a long road trip after that. Details in another post, coming soon hopefully. I'm addicted to facebook, and all the updates, photos, socializing etc. happens there. Hence the neglect. I have way too much time on my hands these days, so I'm taking up new hobbies and rekindling old ones. Will catch up to speed with life in current times, soon. Lots to write about. Will try and go chronologically. I guess I should back date these posts as well.
This one should have been around June 2007!

sigh...

2007-03-30T14:03:00.000+10:00

Hmm...so my last post was sometime in february...a month left for graduation, quit looking for jobs, awaiting replies from graduate schools...two to be exact...hoping to get into one...University of Houston...loved the city, its the closest an American city can get to Karachi!

I had sort of planned my last semester to have a light load, so I could take it easy, live it up and what not...little did i know i would be engaged and missing home terribly...killing time watching episode after episode of Stargate Atlantis in whatever free time I get, filled in with occasional bouts of something i'd rather not be mentioning here...

sigh...life tends to get boring, especially when you're looking forward to something in the near future...just cannot stop thinking about it...which makes the time go even slower...fortunately hi-speed internet has loads of time killers...so i'm surviving...

on the academic front...hardly a month away from being officially declared as an 'engineer', i feel ashamed to call myself one. I don't know, I may turn out to be of some use, but right now, I feel like a total dimwit. It doesn't help when friends have already landed jobs or been accepted to schools i don't even dream of...

on the bright side, spring is here...and every now and then, with the sun sneeking out and the fauna in full bloom, and not to forget the lovely ladies (yeah, yeah, I know I'm engaged)...it does get heart warmingly beautiful!

2007-02-21T15:41:00.000+11:00

back. yes I seem to have a bad habit of disappearing. what can i say, was back in pakistan for winter break and i got engaged! yes i am very happy for myself!but then i'm back in the freezer, and applying for grad school, which means atleast another year away from home and my fiancee, not too happy about that. I actually did pretty well last semester, my first ever semester honors...managed a 3.6! So now my hopes of getting into Grad school or somewhat higher. Or should i say chances. Now that i'm engaged and all, i don't really want to go to grad school. actually it's more like i want to be with her, and the lazy ass that i am, i don't have funding or job so i cannot bring her here...so i want to get done with it all and go back! My applications await me...so i better get going. Hopefully i'll have more time for this now, as i have way too much time to talk to myself and sulk these days!

Dayum...

2006-11-02T17:24:00.000+11:00

Whenever I start feeling good about myself, I come accross stuff that puts me down! There is so much talent out there. Meeting graduate students is inspirational to say the least. But it makes me feel like a dimwit!

Just spent the last two hours reading random blogs. A lot of emotional rambling, yeah some female writing about her friends and her life...interesting read, for a while.

I want to brag too. My life is super cool. Yet I'm always jealous of other people living it up. I'm sure they exaggerate on their blogs. People do in their real lives. I don't like it!

When people write about the best of times and the best of friends and the unforgettable moments, do they really feel all that? Am I an emotionless rock? Are my expectations to high. Or maybe I just don't know how to appreciate life.

When people write about how miserable their lives are, reading about it sends a chill down your spine. Is it really that bad? Am I heartless? Haven't I ever experienced a heart break?

I have travelled a lot, 4 continents, 8 countries, countless cities. I should write a travelogue. But my memory doesn't serve me well.

I know hundreds of people in tons of places. I remember their names and faces. But that's about all. I can't quote, I can't describe.

I've been to 2 pre-schools, 3 schools, and now university from where I am about to graduate. Fortunately I haven't transferred or switched majors. I've had great times. Some of my best times. But I can't put them in writing. I can't even talk about them. Spent countless nights listening to friends talking about their school life, the pranks, the crushes, the silly games, so on and so forth. I can't think of anything worth sharing.

I can go on and on writing about why I cannot write! I've already written a page. I'd make a good spin doctor!

publicity stunt...

2006-11-02T09:34:00.000+11:00

so i found this site/forum or whatever you may call it, i'm not that tech savvy, and my vocab is limited. So yeah, back to the site, it collects bloggers from all over pakistan, and abroad (of pakistani origin) and puts an extract of the latest update, and list your blog on their directory of pakistani bloggers. Pretty neat. So i want to be on there. They want regular/active bloggers, with significant blogging over the past 2 months, so here i am, with a pointless post. But don't fret, i'll be back with more pointless rambling, without the ulterior motive! All i want is more traffic!

Bloody pneumo...

2006-09-29T15:29:00.000+10:00

Left : "Righty! You alright bro?! I think I heard something pop..."
Right: "Uh, I'm not sure, I'm losing air...shit, theres a leak!"
Left: "Dude! You're shrinking! Do something, plug it!"
Right: "Hmm, I think I got it...shit, I can't take in air! Looks like the leaked air is trapped and pressing on to me...what am I gonna do, this it it! We're dead bro!"
Left: "I don't know about you, but I'm not done yet! Just hold on, I'll try and cover up for the both of us. Don't you dare give up on me! I mean it!"
Right: "I'll try, but I don't know how long I can hold on..."
Later...
Right: "Ow ow ...ouch!!"
Left: *puff puff* "you okay?"
Right: "Something's poking on to me...OUCH!!"
Left: "What is it? You're scaring me, I can't go on like this forever!"
Right: "I don't know, looks like a big ass needle...damn it's wide... and long...owww!...looks like a tube of some sort, I think we're at the hospital."
Left:"Yeah I've been getting some nice clean oxygen...what's that noise?"
Right: "Aaah...finally! I can feel the pressure lifting, I think its sucking out the air, phew!"
Left: "Thankgod! You alright now?"
Right:"Yeah, though the darn thing bruised me all over! And thankyou man, couldn't have done it without you..."
Left: "I did it for myself too...we're a team, a family! Though it's a good thing he doesn't smoke...there's no way I could have covered for the both of us covered in tar and nicotine!"
Right: "Yep, I would have had gone all the way too...alrighty then, back to business, take care!"

I'm bored...

2006-09-16T12:48:00.000+10:00

I could be studying, doing homework, out partying. But no, I'm sitting in my room, on a friday night waiting for something to happen. It just might, or I might just lie in bed thinking about totally random stuff, stuff that I may mention further down in this post, that I thought up last night. My mom thought I spent too much time thinking. Maybe she was right. I'd just sit there, lost, legs curled up, back arched, head buried in my knees. She'd ask me, what I was thinking, and I'd usually have no answer. Its not like it was something in particular, that I could just blurt out and be done with. I'd be planning my path to success, fame and fortune; or a bollywood style romance. Am I crazy?
So last night, I was thinking of something to write about, and pondering on the current situation my life was in. Taking the cliched analogy of life being a path littered with forks, crossroad, speed bumps and what not, and the even more cliched, stepping off the trodden path, I was trying to figure out where I stood at this point in time. I came to the conclusion, thinking in terms of the Interstate highway system, that I was on a long stretch without a destination or crossroad in sight. I could very well be on the tri state highway, without knowing my destination state. Enough rambling about the analogy, the point being I'm stuck here for atleast a year, and then I have no clue where life shall take me. The options are there, but none too promising or overlapping. Infact they're poles apart. The way I see it, I have 3 options. Work, Study, Go back!
Sounds easy enough. I don't have a job, the way my grades stand, studying further seems far fetched. That leaves going back. I don't want to just yet! Being optimistic, lets say I get my act together, round up a good resume, apply for grad school and get my grades up just in time for graduation. Then what? If I get a job and admission to grad school, what do I choose?
....this will have to end here, got caught up chatting on msn and the train of thought has derailed!

lets do a serious post...

2006-09-09T08:00:00.000+10:00

The question is, what do i want out of life?
In the long run, I want to go to heaven...
In the short run, I want to go hand in hand with the devil, no i want the devil to take inspiration from me...

Well not really, i'm not a bad guy...yes i do have devilish desires...i'd like to drink, and party...fuck around...i envy the playboy dude, and the hustler and the penthouse dudes...but i don't really want to harm anyone...no looting, plundering, killing, terrorizing...where does that put me? I'd help people if i had the resources, but i expect to get something in return...

I think every deed is driven by selfish desires. It's just the desires that may not be selfish. I know that doesn't quite make sense. What i mean to say is, if i desire to make people happy and to like me, and i go out of my way to achieve that, am i not just fulfilling a selfish desire. To everyone else it may sound like a selfless act, but if it gives me pleasure and satisfaction, a good night's sleep, peace of mind...am i not just being selfish? If I were an emotionless person, if i was not affected by what people thought of me, or how they felt, would I still go out of my way to do a favor?

Maybe my definition of 'selfish' is messed up...

more randomness...

2006-09-09T07:12:00.000+10:00

the weekend is here...before long it will be gone
the homeworks have started piling...the deadlines shall soon be approaching
if i had taken the first two years seriously, i may have known what's going on...
the rest i'll leave to your imagination...
but heck, I have to be smart to be where i am, and i'll pull it off, probably by crook...

i just bought two posters...as a reward for almost cleaning up my room...
1) Challenge: When life presents a challenge... take your shot.
This written under a beautiful picture of a full shot glass and a slice of lime...
2) Relax: The poor long for riches. The rich long for heaven. But the wise desire tranquility.
This written under an amazing picture of white sandy beach, coconut trees and clear water...

i have to go to walmart...get stuff to be able to do my laundry...i'm out of underwear!
theres a dorm trip tomorrow to a beach nearby...i could take the time off...

hurry...

2006-09-09T04:02:00.000+10:00

I have about 2 minutes for this post...
I need to take a shower, say my prayers and go for my spanish class...
This should be categorized as 'likes and dislikes'...
I have a fascination, or should i say fetish, for shaved armpits and pretty toes...
I hate it when people leave the labs with chairs halfway across the room, well not quite, but you know what i mean, i mean how hard is it to push it back under the table when you're done? I don't mind doing it, coz i'm paid for it, but comeon...be nice!
My time is up...more under this category soon...

time flies by...

2006-09-06T14:14:00.000+10:00

I love my life...I don't know if I just keep repeating that to make myself believe it, or my life really, truly is amazing. From one perspective, and relatively speaking, it is one hell of a life, or should I say 'heavenly' because I am about to thank God? A million thanks to God, when I look around I feel truly blessed.

Back to my usual blabbering, school is in full swing...losing track already. So the first weekend my dorm people had organized a trip to a water park. It was small for american standards, smaller than our very own Aladdin in karachi i thought. I was done trying most of the slides I was brave enough for, and spent a considerable time bobbing and fooling around in the wave pool, all in about 3-4 hours. Then I took it easy, my lung still recovering and anticipating a long weekend ahead.

My friends in Canada told me the night before that they were coming to the US for a short vacation! After hours of arguing, excuses and what not, it was decided they would pick me up from the water park which was about an hour from Chicago, driving all the way from Toronto, stopping at Windsor and Detroit. The plan was to spend the weekend in Chicago. So, with my horrendous road sense, and a visitors map we were off to chicago. After spending some time at Navy Pier and starving ourselves, made it to Devon just in time for dinner. Pakistani time ofcourse. Had a hearty meal of nihari, seekh fry and karahi and then spent the night at a motel in a ghetto suburb.

Next morning we were off to downtown hardly agreeing on what to do and what not to. Spent some time at the beach, walked around downtown, went to the Hancock observatory, (breathtaking view from the 96th floor), a visit to the millenium park, dinner at Chillis and off we were again. But the night was still young, so stopped at the Horseshoe Casino in Indiana. Due to some weird laws only the Hotel and parking lots were on land. The actual casino was on a ship, which is all pretty cool. But being in Indiana, and not being racist or anything the crowd and the staff were 'ghetto' to say the least. In anycase had a fun time winning and then losing all that I had won on some safe betting on Roulette. We left with a negligible negative balance, and in my case $2 positive balance, which I still think was a mistake on the part of the dealer :P

Made it back to campus at about 4 in the morning, slept a few hours at a friends apartment, showed my Canadian friends around campus and then bid them farewell just in time for my second class of the day. Slept through the first one. :D ...

This post is already about 2 weeks late...had another fun weekend, but that I guess should be another post. Should put up some pics too on the picture blog.

back to school...

2006-08-26T15:30:00.000+10:00

The tiny vacation, or should i call it a break, whizzed by. School has started, one week down already. After the lazy summer school, with some 8000 freshmen, and beautiful weather...the campus looks like a fish market...but i'm not complaining too much...atleast theres beauty to be appreciated :) ...back to the dorm...still setting up my room...it's my final year, plan to make it grand...arranged for a microwave and fridge already, got a dvd player, but still no tv...i think i'll return the player and use my laptop...going to a water park tomorrow morning, which reminds me i better get some sleep...these dorm sponsored programs have to start early morning :S

Went to see 'Snakes on a Plane' last night...the crowd was great...the movie was funny, everyone should go see it, but leave the movie critic in you at home! I had a great time...don't want to spoil it for anyone.

in memory of the missing post...

2006-08-16T07:24:00.000+10:00

Last night, or should I say this morning...I wrote an insanely long post titled more randomness...and boy, was it random...but then the internet went bonkers, theres something wrong with the router and i was too lazy to go and fix it...so, well the post was lost...

I updated the blog yesterday, new look, more links to some of my friends' works and some very interesting, memory rekindling, informative blogs...stuff i can spend hours reading...now i don't know if anyone actually goes through my blog or the links...but it's more for myself...my online desktop, my favorites folder...

I also updated the 'about' part ...with a new description for the blog...incase a chance visitor stumbles upon...so far it doesn't entirely hold true, but i'll make it a point to read it every now and then to remind me of the purpose of this blog and post appropriately. Not to mention i'll try and be more regular.

Randomness...

2006-08-14T06:09:00.000+10:00

So, my two week vacation, boring as it may be, is going along pretty fast. I still haven't gotten down to taking the test for a driver's license. I'm crashing at a friend's place, who himself is in Manila...and his apartment mate, probably somewhere in Turkey. The point being, I have a two bedroom, fully furnished, (which for me means internet, cable and airconditioning) all to myself.

Read a Stephen King novel "The Long Walk" last couple of days, pretty disappointing at the ending...I like happy endings, detailed ones, this was just abrupt, sort of like a cliffhanger, leaving it all to the imagination. Now if I wanted to do that, I wouldn't be reading a novel, I'd be writing one.

Been eating a lot of taco bell lately. Finally found the ideal chalupa combination. It has to be baha steak. Not nacho, not supreme. No chicken or beef either! Will have to try their sides and desserts, to get the perfect proper meal combination.

UK continuum...

2006-08-05T17:10:00.000+10:00

So in my last post I was ranting about the desiness, ghetoness, misfitness of Southhall, the place not to be when you're belching out pound sterlings for a vacation. So anyways once I was done with the community obligations, I was invited to crash in my friend's dorm room at LSE.

Him being the hardworking, focused, motivated, career minded individual, smack in the middle of finals, in his final year, had warned me before hand "You could not have chosen a worse time!".

So anyways we watched some movie, I forget which...ah yes the Da Vinci code...i'm not a movie critic so don't expect a review. I think I enjoyed "John Tucker must die" more.

So anyways, this other friend in Manchester, another hard working studious guy, now in a PhD program, was all done with his finals...so as expected, I took a train next morning and was in Manchester. I'd rather live in Manchester than London, maybe another reason why of all the places in the states, I chose central Indiana. That's blog material, but on another post maybe.

So down in Manchester, or should i be saying up? I don't know, the only Geography I ever studied was Pakistan Studies...saw another couple of movies, MI3 and X-Men3...went to a posh indian restaurant, don't find too many of those...yes they're usually all expensive but rarely posh! Went to some club, no luck with girls...met up with another old school friend, made new ones. Good time!

So well Manchester covered, we decided to explore Scotland, so got on to a bus and off we went. Next stop Glasgow. Nice modern city and everything. But it was a Bank holiday, the cheap hostels were all packed. The guy at the reception told us to go sleep at the airport! Nay! we checked all the hotels nearby, except ofcourse a few that we were sure we couldn't afford! Ended up spending the night at the bus stop, or whatever remained of it after chilling at a sports bar till it closed. At the crack of dawn we were out again. Found a coffee shop, just the thing to keep us going...

In a couple of hours we were on a bus to Edinburgh. Now this place is definitely beautiful. Castles, hills, modern architecture ...classy! End of the day, back to Manchester!

So after some rest...forget how many days, the friend back in London was done with his exams too...so off I went. Met up with more people, friends old and new. Went to Thorpe Park, roller coaster heaven. Played some cricket, ate some good desi food, chilled...good time!

And it was time to go back...back to Purdue for two months of intense summer school!

My spending spree...

2006-08-04T14:39:00.000+10:00

Going back a little in time...when the lungs were healthy and fine!

Spring semester ended satisfactorily, pulled up a failing grade in one course and fell to B's and C's in the ones I was doing well...all to familiar. No regrets!

Was planning a trip to Canada for quite some time, got in touch with long lost friends, tried to gather some company, looked up airfare, visa procedure and all. One night my mom calls me up and tells me to try and go to London instead, Syedna was going to be there for his birthday, and my friends from Canada were planning to go as well. Long distance call, terminated. But the idea made through, spent the night collecting documents, sent in the Visa application the next morning, got it in four days and was on a flight a few days later to London! Spent the first week or so with the friends from Canada, attending Bohra community events and all and sightseeing, stayed at the desi-town Southhall. Now this place is as ghetto as it gets, desi style. There was a Gurdwara and gym style thingy for pehlwaans and not to mention a line of other desi shops. Actually, I hardly recall seeing any white people there. The railway station, no the tube didn't come this far, had Punjabi subtitles! (Can I use subtitles in this context? Who cares!). I think that's about enough for this post, I could go on rambling but should leave something for later!

the price of freedom...

2006-08-04T14:20:00.000+10:00

Summer session is over, all done with exams, no more, no more! But it'll only last about 17 days or so. And what do I plan to do? I'd rather not plan. Plans have a knack of going haywire.

Had planned to go to Chicago for the weekend last week. Instead, I was in hospital with a chest tube shoved through my side, sucking air out. Why? Because my lung went kapish, well not totally, more like the air whizzed out. Doesn't it always? Well yes, but in my case, it didn't come out through the nose or mouth, but through a hole somewhere in my right lung. Now, the human body is not as porous...girls might complain all day about pores, but that's a different story. The point being, the leaked air trapped inside, compressed the lung, defined as a spontaneous pneumothorax, in layman's terms, a 'collapsed lung'.

This happened the second time in about just over a month! So, I am to rest, which means I cannot fly, cabin pressure and all that crap. There go my houston plans. Had bought a student discounted ticket, so the refund was less than the penalty and service charges.

The wretched run doesn't end yet. My apartment lease ends in a few days, so I mailed the dorm people to let me move in early. But no! I can't move in till four days after I have to move out of the apartment. And even then I have to pay every night till the contract for next semester kicks in. Thank God for friends, I have several places to crash. And crash I will till my contract starts. Not paying a bloody dime! Take that!

2006-08-01T19:37:00.000+10:00

Back again, just spent hours on the Karachi metblog. I am not the type of person to be looking back and 'missing' anything...I came up with the expression "Home is where the heart is, and I carry my heart with me" ...but then you do tend to lose your heart once in a while...though lately i've been losing my lung! Weird eh! So well it's been almost six months since my previous post, and I think I have accumulated a lot of material for some long posts. But it's 5.40 in the morning and it's final's week, better get my ass offline!

2006-01-22T00:29:00.000+11:00

back again!...friday night i had nothing to do and was too lazy to go out...so i slept...and so i am up at 8 in the morning on a saturday!! hope i can make use of it...this is not a very good use...but i think if i write a little everyday, i will get better at it...besides i'm pretty sure i'm the only one reading it ...better get going...

2006-01-21T14:22:00.000+11:00

so i've been gone a while...i just read that last post...thought i'd write a continuum...is that a word? too lazy to check right now...so yeah that exam i was talking about...till the end of the semester i was pretty much clueless in that course...but somehow i managed to pass it...heard they were easy on the people not in the same major...lucky me...but yeah, i managed to salvage the semester from that point on ...or should i say...lady luck decided to shine upon me yet again.
Went to karachi for the winter break, after a year and a half, and disappointingly got bored in only 20 days! i guess i've become accustomed to the torturous, monotonous, american university life. Missed the first week of classes, the second week went whizzing by, with late night work shifts and and organizing my new room. I love the new room at the dorm. Just hope i can keep it organized. Came back with a lot of resolutions, lets see how many i stick to. Will try and be more regular here...need to update the picture blog too ...and get down to some serious studying...i'm a junior now...halfway through ...time surely flies!!

What a day...

2005-10-19T13:25:00.000+10:00

Ever sat in an exam, totally clueless?...Never had i ever, until today...it was bad, because i had actually made an effort to study...but no, i could not get even one answer for sure, the result being, I was done guessing in about half an hour and then fell asleep. On a positive note, I wasn't alone, there were a lot of people almost as clueless...and if they weren't, it was because they had studied longer and harder, so i'm not that disappointed nor disheartened...come to think of it...i'm beyond that point...nothing disappoints me anymore...i'm not afraid of failure anymore...which is bad because i have stopped fighting it ...but i must...therefore i'd better end this post here and try and salvage what little is left of this semester. I have three assignments due for tomorrow and an exam the day after, and no it's not morning...it's 10:30 in the night already! ...and oh, I missed my work shift in the morning today, was supposed to report at 6:30, and thanks to the totally useless study session last night for the exam, I woke up at 7...yeah i missed sehri too...but fotunately i had had dinner twice the day before so i managed to go through the day without my stomach growling too much. All in all, it turned out to be a pretty useless day, but i better try and gain something from it by 'trying' to finish all the assignments for tomorrow...seems like a dream, wishful thinking perhaps...but i have friends...hehe...adios!

where am i!!

2005-10-05T18:31:00.000+10:00

this blog was not created to be neglected! ...but then everything in my life is being neglected at some point or the other, like for instance it's 3:33 am at this moment...an hour left for my scheduled sehri time, and i've been neglecting my homework for the past 3 hours or so...which is due 9:30 am ...i just hope i do not end up neglecting my class...haven't i used the word neglect and its derivatives a tad bit too many times? ...am i making any sense whatsoever? anyhow, as i was saying...i finally got around to stop neglecting the pile of dirty laundry growing in the corner of my room, and the carpet that was fast disappearing under chocolate wrappers, more dirty laundry, books and what not, and the study table that had no place to study on ...no wonder my studies were being neglected for so long...so now i better get my act together...and reduce all this negligence creeping up in all areas of my neglected life...better start on my homework ...from the last time i mentioned the time..i've spent about 5 minutes on this blog...next time hopefully it'll be something better...more pictures...talk about my trip to minnesota maybe...and by then i might have been to cedar point in ohio ...HOPEFULLY ..so well ..enough is enough ...i have to get some sleep too...

hmm...

2005-08-29T11:30:00.000+10:00

I think i'm going through a writer's block...is that the right phrase even? ...no wait i'm not a writer to begin with...i'm supposed to be the nerdy engineering student with a geeky look and the hottest technology...i guess i'm a misfit...no wait...the pretender sounds better...i'm an evil genius...i can be what i want...do what i want...the way i want...if only i could also make as much money as i wanted...i will...one day...Inshallah!

Semester has started...have been promoted at work...i am now SENIOR lab assistant...lot more work for a measly raise...but i need stuff on my resume...so no complains...complaining only makes life miserable...all my roommates are back...and our favorite past-time is to sit and talk...waste a lot of time...life is good!

Summer wasn't all bad...yeah had to wake up at 7:30 everyday for a thermodynamics class and the grades were miserable...but never had the time to get bored or complain. One night we 'borrowed' a couple of bikes and went cycling at midnight...all the way to Walmart...some 5 miles...going wrong way on the highway...by the time we got back it was 3 in the morning...but we still hadn't had enough so rode through a fountain...it is a university tradition to do a fountain run, but i'm confident we were the first to ride bicycles through it at 3 in the morning! Went to Six Flags, fishing a couple of times, Chicago for food and Indian movies...towards the end volunteered for International student orientation, made some new friends...there were some 700 new international students from Aruba to Zimbabwe...mostly from India, Korea and China...yes life is GREAT!!

2005-07-31T13:18:00.000+10:00

fishing in monticello, IN

Bad hair...for life!

2005-07-25T14:01:00.000+10:00

People complain about lack of hair, thinning hair , receding hairlines and bald spots. My complain? I have way too much hair and its so freaking thick. I was going for a mane, a short ponytail perhaps, but my hair is so thick it looked like an afro, without the curls. And it was always in my eyes. To be able to walk straight and go about my normal life without having to constantly brush it back with my fingers, i wore a cap almost perpetually. So then what was the point of having long hair with blonde streaks (yeah i spent quite a fortune on that part) if i could not show them off? So, I finally gave up on the ponytail idea and went for a haircut yesterday. I told her my dilemma and she proposed to not only shorten my hair but also reduce the thickness so i could manage it. I came back pretty much satisfied but after a couple of showers and staying in bed for most part of the day, i don't quite like it. Its still too thick and now that its short it remains standing, and not in the cool spikey sort of way, because its just too thick for that! Lets see when my patience runs out and i go again and get an ultra short haircut that doesn't need to be taken care of!

Testing...

2005-07-25T05:43:00.000+10:00

late? but i made it! how long will i last? outlast?