In the Line of Wire

Wow! Thanks Mohtashim for posting this. Check it out guys and gals. It is a Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak lego set produced by a company called Podbrix. All 300 sets were sold in 3 minutes flat! But Mohtashim managed to get one.

I am coming to see it the minute it gets to you Mohtashim - please let me know when!

I am sorry to be carrying on about this but I can’t help it. I needed to tell the world that a life-sized giraffe (actually larger than that) has now joined our friend the falcon at the Gharibabad intersection in Karachi. I nearly had an accident as I braked to a halt when I came face-to-face with the giraffe on the way home today. What is this obsession with animals by this town nazim - the reason for my assumption that it is the town nazim who is reponsible for this animal farm is because no other part of the city has been infested by these fake animals. Anyone know anything about this?  If they had been put up in various public parks along with the plants and flowers, swings, slides and merry-go-rounds it would make sense, but on traffic islands? Come on guys!

If the rumour turns out to be true and Apple and Volkswagen (my two favourite companies) actually go ahead and bring out an iCar, I for one would most definitely want it! What would an iCar be like - well i am sure it would be super cool in terms of design and ease of use. It would have an iPod built in and the dashboard would resemble any dreamy Apple product interface. There would also be an iPhone built in - both the iPod and the iPhone would be removable so that the owner could take it with him/her whenever he/she left the car.

This would be a car that every Mac user would long to have - whether it was affordable or not. Maybe it would be available in 3 different sizes - like the MacBooks! Maybe it would be available in different colours - like the range of iPods. For more details regarding the rumour, click here.

Ever since I moved back to Pakistan I have noticed that some people are driven to burning buses or cars or taxis or setting shops on fire whenever they are upset about something.

This photo was taken on the main road a little distance from where i live. I hear that the drivers of two container trucks were driving like maniacs and were involved in an accident. I don’t know if anyone was hurt or killed. But apparently some passersby got worked up and set fire to the two container trucks.

Whereas I can understand the anger at the rash manner in which these drivers drive their vehicles and the accidents that often result, I do not know what benefit is derived from setting them on fire. Violence only begets violence. Strict adherence to traffic regulations is what is required. If only our police could get their act in order and if only we as citizens would learn to be more responsible, things would begin to change. Why is it that the same taxi and truck drivers and the rest of us seem to adhere to traffic laws in the Middle East, the Far East and other countries? Is it because we know we won’t be allowed to get away with it?

I wonder how many people have watched 30:30 - a new show on Dawn News. Personally I find it really rivetting - of course that might be because I was a debater in school and college and it brings back wonderful memories. The host of 30:30 is very professional and does a great job. I wonder what his background is.

Some of the guests on the show take to it quite like ducks to water, but others face some problems. Why so? Well, the basic concept of the show is that there is a theme for each episode - the two guests hold differing points of view. They make opening statements after which each one conveys his viewpoint or responds to the others’ question or remark in 30 seconds. It is the 30 seconds that is a problem because we seem to have difficulty in saying anything in less than several minutes.

Anway, to get to the point (see what i mean about us Pakistanis going on and on!) a couple of days ago, the theme of 30:30 was the traffic jams in Karachi. The guests on the show were none other than the City Nazim of Karachi, Syed Mustafa Kamal and Mr. Hamid Maker, the Chairman of Helpline Trust (an NGO that has been very vocal in agitating for citizen and consumer rights). I don’t need to tell you who was on the hot seat!

Hamid had prepared himself very well and presented his case very professionally. What I was most impressed with in the case of Hamid Maker was that he was able to put forward his strongest points without being rude. It is amazing how much one can get done if one doesn’t make the other person feel that one is on a witchhunt.

Mustafa Kamal too must be complimented on accepting the faults with his administration and being open to suggestions on improving the system. He answered all the questions posed to him and didn’t try and evade even the most difficult of queries - something one doesn’t really expect from most politicians.

What came out during the discussions was no surprise to anyone who watched the show. Karachi is run by 13 different bodies. In addition to that, the traffic police do not come under the authority of the city government. So whereas the pending construction work in non-cantonment and DHA areas and the lack of sufficient public transport are the responsibility of the city government, the traffic police are not. Nonetheless, apparently CDGK is working with the police authorities to try and ensure better traffic management. 300 CNG buses have actually arrived in Karachi and will be on the roads soon. I wonder how much this will add to the congestion but there is no denying that more public transport is a necessity.

Congratulations to Dawn News on a brilliant show. Keep them coming!

I am one of those people who had never really thought about the economic involvement or economic might of the military in Pakistan until yesterday. I was awoken from my ignorance at an event sponsored by Oxford University Press at The Second Floor yesterday evening.

Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa, author of Military Inc. - Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy, was the chief guest. She was there to talk about her book - the background, the research, the possible solutions to the problems she had highlighted in Military Inc., and the reaction from various quarters. As expected, the event was packed to capacity - and included people like Wajid Jawwad (former Chairman of EPB), Asad Umar (head of Engro), Tammy Ayesha Haq (of Business Plus), loads of media people - prominent among them Ardeshir Cowasjee, Ghazi Salahuddin and Asif Noorani and the Dawn News team. The surprise visitor in my view was Zafar Khan, the new Chairman of PIA. Apparently he is also a key member of the Pakistan Fellowship Foundation that sponsored Ayesha Siddiqa’s visit to the United States to carry out research on the subject. Also present were young media practitioners, teachers, researchers, writers, doctors and other people from civil society. Very good turnout.

Military Inc. digs into the vast and expansive empire that the Pakistani Military has set up in Pakistan over the past 6 decades.

The central argument of the book is that `Milbus’ (combining the words military and business) perpetuates the military’s political predatory style, resulting in the military’s influence in all aspects of Pakistani society. Profit, says Dr. Siddiqa, is directly proportionate to power and that this is both a cause and effect of a non-democratic political system.

`Milbus’ is defined by Ayesha Siddiqa as military capital used for the personal benefit of the military fraternity and their cronies. It refers to all activities that transfer resources from the state to an individual, a group or a company within the military or set up by the military. She says that these activities do not figure in the defence budget nor are they subject to the normal accountability procedures of the state. They are either directly controlled by the military or enjoy its patronage.

Although the beneficiaries are primarily senior military officers, both serving and retired, Ayesha Siddiqa says that the `Milbus’ benefits a wider circle of civilian businessmen and politicians who have supported it for their own personal gain.

She says that industries run by military or ex-military officials include steel mills, sugar factories, cement factories, gas stations, boot manufacturing companies, fertilizer factories, cereal factories, banks, logistics companies, construction companies and utility companies.

Some of those present at the event shared stories about how military enterprises had impacted adversely on different types of businesses. There were questions on possible ways to send the military back to the barracks and to expunge them from the economy of the country so as to reduce the excessive influence that they exert on all aspects of Pakistani society.

Most people at the event were not anti-army. However, they were all in agreement that the army should focus on what they were set up to do rather than involve themselves in other activities of the state. According to the author/researcher, politicians, businessmen and civil society needed to take responsibility for the state of affairs that existed and needed to start a movement that would change the status quo if Pakistan is to take the first steps towards becoming a democratic state.

For me the evening was educational as well as scary. I guess there are many like me who are a-political and subconsciously close their eyes to the realities that exist around them. Maybe we should be more involved if we would like to see things change.

Kudos to the courage of the author Ayesha Siddiqa for taking on this task, to the Pakistan Fellowship Foundation for supporting it, to OUP for publishing the book against all odds and to The Second Floor for organizing yesterday’s event (and providing free food and drink - the lemon tarts were superb). Apparently, when the author and OUP tried to launch the book in Islamabad, there were all sorts of hurdles that kept her from doing so. The Islamabad Club cancelled their booking and hotels were advised not to provide space for the event.

Jawwad Farid, CEO of Alchemy Technologies, and Treasurer of P@SHA, ready to attack a huge meal at Nandos. No it wasn’t a meal that was shared by 3 or 4 people. Jawwad was hungry enough to have it all by himself. May I add that the meal began with humous and chocolate cake (which Arooj and I shared with him), Jawwad said he was celebrating. Signed another deal Jawwad? Bon appetit!

When Sajid Hameed, Resident Director of Etilize Pakistan, invtied me to join him and his team and their families at the Cineplex yesterday evening for a showing of Khuda kay Liye, I must admit I was initially not too keen to do so. I am not really a Pakistani or Indian film fan although I used to watch some of the Indian Art flims and classics with my mother. I rather liked those.

So why did I accept Sajid’s invitation? For a couple of reasons. First of all Sajid is a nice guy and I considered it an honour and a privilege to be included in this Etilize outing. Secondly, I had heard a lot about this film and I was a little curious about all the hype.

When I got to the Cineplex at Seaview I met up with a lot of the young people who work at Etilize. Sajid had booked the entire cinema hall - the group included mostly Etilize staff, their families and some guests. It was nice to see the head of one of our major IT companies making an effort to bring the staff together in a non-work environment. Having fun outside of work helps bring teams closer together.

Anyway, let us get to the film. I must admit it was different from what I had imagined a Pakistani film to be. So much for preconceived notions! The movie has been well produced, the cinematography, the music and the acting is good too and some parts of the script are absolutely brilliant.

I didn’t like the storyline too much, but then that’s me. I always want a happy ending so the male lead star ending up maimed and the female lead star opting to live on her own on the borders of Afghanistan and run a girls’ school rather than go back to London and restart her life, is not my idea of an acceptable ending.

The movie addresses the misconception propagated by some leading Maulvis that beards, form of dress, hatred of anything that is ‘different’ and so-called jihad are what Islam is all about. The misleading of the youth of this country in the name of religion and the status of women in Islam, are also addressed. Khuda kay liye is a film that is very different from the ‘normal’ popular form of Pakistani or Indian film. It addresses real issues; it doesn’t have dance sequences; the music is not the main event - the script is; Clothes, jewellery and glamour are not the focus.

There are parts of the movie that don’t appeal to me but overall I think Shoaib Mansoor has done a wonderful job. He has changed my perception of Pakistani cinema. I think that this is a good start to the revival of cinema in Pakistan.

Job portal Monster.com has announced that confidential details of more than 1.3 million people, mainly Americans, were stolen by malicious hackers. Apparently, servers and hijacked home computers in the Ukraine were used to mount the attack. The thieves got away with names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of Monster.com users. Details available on the BBC News site. Symantec, who informed monster.com of the attack on August 17, reveals how it was done. The rogue servers were shut down on August 21 according to monster.com. It is said that no financial information was stolen.

I live in Federal B Area and, although the rains two days ago, meant that many of us couldn’t venture out that day, yesterday the roads out of our area were totally dry. I came as far as Shahrah-e-Qaideen and apart from one patch of very shallow water just before the Allahwalla Chowk, I saw no water anywhere.

Imagine my surprise when I tried to get to Royal Rodale Club on Khayaban-e-Sahar yesterday for a seminar at 6:30 pm. All access routes to the place were flooded. It was like a swamp everywhere we turned. I felt so sorry for the people living in those areas. How are they functioning? I met a friend at the event who told me that he had moved to his in-laws during the rains a couple of weeks ago and hadn’t been able to move back.

People are always surprised when they find out that I live in F.B. Area. The assumption is that I live in DHA. Thank God I don’t. I think the CDGK has done tremendous development work in this area. Most of the roads, flyovers and underpasses now make it a trouble-free drive. There is still room for improvement in certain parts of Gulshan-e-Iqbal but we are getting there. Why can’t DHA and the Cantonment boards learn a thing or two from CDGK? Or are they just not interested?

The rains are not a new phenomena. The monsoons come every year. Is there any reason we can’t collectively be prepared for them so that life can go on as normal - just as it does in any other country during the rains?

Gap Unveils New ‘For Kids By Kids’ Clothing Line

Why have I only just become aware of them? Yesterday as I was driving around from one meeting to the next (it was one of those days when i had back-to-back meetings), I noticed a waste collection truck with the words Wastebusters plastered all over it. Naturally it drew my curiosity and since there was a url clearly visible, I checked them out as soon as I was able to log in.

According to the information on the website, the government is only able to collect 60% of the 50,000 tons of garbage that is generated in Pakistan every day. It is therefore up to the rest of us to deal with the remaining 20,000 tons.

Waste Busters was formed in 1996 as a non profit organization in a small community in Lahore to address the issue of garbage pollution at community level.

Since then, they have apparently grown into an internationally recognized fully integrated waste management organization with operations in all major cities of Pakistan and linkages in the developing countries of South Asia such as India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Good to see such initiatives in Pakistan. Community initiatives are indeed needed to cope with a lot of the problems that are faced by this country. The government cannot do it alone - and hasn’t!

I suppose I shouldn’t really patronize the likes of Makro because I believe that wholesalers like Makro and Walmart (which is entering the Indian market) are going to impact heavily on the small mom & pop operations in both countries.

But off and on when I am on a schedule, it is just so convenient to go to one place and buy everything in airconditioned comfort. It is a 15 minute drive from home, there is sufficient parking and I get all my grocery shopping done quickly. Of course it is quite irritating if you don’t want to buy in bulk … but if you don’t want to buy in bulk, i guess you shouldn’t be in a wholesale store.

Anyway, enough with the rambling. Let me go ahead with the story. Yesterday morning I got to Makro at around 9 a.m. There were very few people around so I quickly got the stuff I needed and made a beeline for the check-out counter that had no queue. There was a young lady at the counter who asked if I had a Makro card. This is a standard question posed to me each time I shop there. Usually they just say okay and proceed to check you out.

Yesterday was different though. She told me that without a Makro card number she could not proceed with the transaction. It would take a minute to get my “details” and I would have a card. I guess it would have been easiest to just give her the information and proceed.

However, I wasn’t in a mood to be forced into having yet another card made for no apparent reason. So I asked this young lady what the advantages were to having a Makro card. She looked confused so I elaborated. “In other countries if you apply for a store card, you get something in return. It entitles you to a discount or it’s a stored value card or something of that sort.” She thought about this and said that the Makro card entitled the customer to nothing like that. So I asked her again why I should want to have one.

Poor kid - it wasn’t her fault and I felt sorry for making her life difficult (actually it was nice to see so many young women working in different positions in the store) but I was trying to make a point. If Makro has a card for which they want customers to provide information about themselves, then in exchange for this information they should be providing a service. Why should my “details” be freely available to them or anyone else? Why have a card if there was no perceived advantage/value to the customer? Are they trying to restrict the number of customers who walk through their doors?

Anyway, the young lady went off to several of her colleagues and supervisors and I could imagine her saying to them that there was this argumentative woman asking all sorts of difficult questions and refusing to apply for a card (she needed my National ID Card to complete the registration - I asked her why I should be out on a Sunday with my ID card - although I did have it in my wallet). The saga ended when she came back and checked me out without another word.

It was only when I got home that I noticed that, in order to bypass the problem, she had been asked to use the ID of Ashraf General Stores whoever they are. Absolutely ridiculous! Shouldn’t the management of Makro think things through before trying to implement a policy such as this? Or is the customer just supposed to roll over and play dead because they say so?

The cow seems to have wandered off … but now there is a horse at the Liaquatabad roundabout. I took some “quick & dirty” pictures so that no-one would think these were figments of my imagination.

I was driving home yesterday when, as I passed the Civic Centre roundabout, I saw this huge Arabian teapot to my right. It had the words “Wel Come” (as welcome is sometimes incorrectly spelt) on it. White and made of god-knows-what, it stood out like a sore thumb. And guess what else? There are holes at the top of the teapot and one can see some tiny lights flashing from within.

As I moved a little further I saw a bird (perhaps a falcon) perched on a midsized pole looking very fierce - no, not a real falcon - one made of stone or something.

Good things come in threes I am told so I was not surprised, as I approached the Liaquatabad underpass, to see a cow and a donkey - as unreal as they could possibly be made to look.

Ridiculous doesn’t even begin to describe how all this stuff looked. If it hadn’t been dangerous, I would have stopped and photographed the monstrosities. I wish the CDGK would consult someone before they do things like this. The scary thing is that maybe they did????!!!!