In the Line of Wire

Scottish artist David Mach

I have known Ragni Marea Kidvai from the day she was born. I have sketches she drew as a child. I have her very first published poem. I have photos of her - some of which she may actually want destroyed (one day when Ragni wins a Grammy or an Oscar or both, these things will become extremely valuable - although, to me, they already are).

Recognition, of course, goes beyond Awards. More important is the motivation for the work, the commitment with which one does it, and the value one personally attaches to it as well as the satisfaction one derives from it. Work earns its own rewards. However, recognition sometimes brings the issue one is trying to address to the forefront, and in certain cases spurs some people into doing some much-needed things. I know that Awards are very often open to criticism but until people learn how to value themselves, some form of public perception is the only thing we have. As long as it works toward the benefit of a cause, or highlights good work and innovation, it will continue to play a positive role.

But I digress.

As a very young child, Ragni questioned her Karachi Grammar School teacher about the banishing of a Parsi girl from the Islamiat class. She started the Youth Initiative for Peace which brought together young people from India and Pakistan for a retreat at which they discussed possible solutions for peace in the subcontinent.

I was therefore not surprised when I heard that her first film was not just a “pretty moving picture” but addressed a social issue that was not generally talked about in polite Pakistani society.

Ragni is the Director & Producer of Bindiya Chamkay Gi which is a short documentary-narrative about Bindiya, an outspoken member of the Khwaja Sirra (Hijra) community in Karachi. The film was screened yesterday evening as part of the T2F Cinema for Change series. It traces a day in the life of Bindiya and the legal, social, and cultural challenges that the Khwaja Sirra community faces in Pakistan.

The documentary is very well-researched, scripted, filmed, directed and edited. It is sensitively made and highlights the issues that affect an entire segment of our society.

As an actor and as an activist for her cause, Bindiya is a complete natural. She presents the case of the Khwaja Sirra Community clearly, in simple terms, and yet emphatically.

All the Khwaja Sirras really want is to be recognized and respected as a third gender. As Bindiya puts it, “this is the way God made us - why can’t everyone accept that?” What they need is access to jobs, access to education and respect and affection. Is that really too much to ask for?

Some of the problems that Bindiya highlighted are things none of us have really ever thought about:
1. Public toilet facilities - they can’t go into either the Gents or Ladies toilets without someone objecting
2. Public buses - since buses are segregated, they are neither welcome in the Ladies’ section, nor in the Gents’ section so they have to travel by rickshaw or taxi which is really an unaffordable form of transport for them. Therefore they stay close to home and rarely venture out.
3. When they apply for their ID cards, and are asked for their gender, it is only now that ‘Khwaja Sirra’ has become an acceptable option
4. Schooling - they are pulled out of school by parents because of the cruelty and the mocking that they are a target of
5. Abuse by policemen - they are picked up on suspicion of all sorts of crimes and even when most of them are innocent, they are released only when palms are greased.

The documentary highlights all these issues and makes a plea for understanding, fairness and the right to education, employment and health services for the Khwaja Sirra.

We need to ask ourselves why it is that we as a society mock anyone or anything that does not conform with our perception of what is “normal”. Why is it that we hate and fear anyone whom we do not understand? The film leads us to question our lack of compassion and respect for human beings who do not fit into the moulds that we as a society have created.

The Question & Answer session was intense with most people offering their help in one way or another. However, even some of the offers of help showed people’s lack of understanding of what was needed. One of the doctors present offered medical help to “fix” all the Khwaja Sirras who wanted to be normal. The question that popped into my mind was ‘Why try and fix something that ain’t broke?’ Bindiya answered this question by saying that they were happy being who they were and why couldn’t the rest of us just be happy for them instead of wanting to turn them into something they were not supposed to be.

There was a suggestion that Women’s groups should attach the Khwaja Sirra cause to their cause thus adding momentum to the efforts of both. Sections of the audience were of the opinion that the Khwaja Sirra should try for representation in Parliament so that their views can be considered and their rights protected.

One person suggested that community schools should earmark some schools for the education of the Khwaja Sirra. I don’t understand why inclusivity and integration cannot be the suggested course of action instead of segregation - Schools for women, schools for the visually challenged, schools for the hearing impaired, schools for the Khwaja Sirra, schools for the mentally challenged, schools for the elite, schools for the poor.

How are we going to develop a society where people understand and accept each other - and no, not just tolerate (I hate that word!) anyone who is different, if we continue to start special schools for anyone who is not like ‘us’. Let us provide education for every sector of our population through integration. Sure it will initially be a challenge (just as it was when African-Amercians were integrated with the whites in the US) but we have to begin some time. We have to start teaching the coming generations that it is okay to be different, that we can have our own way of life, our own beliefs and that others can have theirs. And the sooner we start doing that, the better.

Well done Ragni for creating a brilliant production! I am extremely proud of your achievement, of the person you are, of your sensitivity and your compassion and of your talent. Keep it up! I hope that through the awareness that you have created, and no doubt will continue to create, Bindiya will find the courage to continue her struggle for the rights of her community.

Last week the ICC EBITT Task Force meeting, the BASIS seminars and the ICT Development Conference were held in Dubai at a place called the Etisalat Academy.

It was a peaceful place which had two residences, a cafeteria block, a recreation block, an auditorium and a mosque. It was spread out and far away from the mad city rush and the modern and extensive shopping malls that Dubai is well known for. In fact it cost around Dhs. 50 to get from the Etisalat Academy to the city centre - which is possibly indicative of the distance.

As I walked around the grounds of the Etisalat Academy, my thoughts went back to a place called Matahari Island which is two hours by speed boat from Jakarta in Indonesia. It reminded me of Matahari Island without quite being like it.

I think it was in the early nineties that Macromedia Inc, which Enabling Technologies represented as a Distributor, held its Annual Retreat on Matahari Island. Having landed in Jakarta, we were all pushed onto speedboats and taken to this island two hours away. The water was quite choppy and some of the delegates threw up on the way there.

Once there, we were each given a cottage in which we were to live during our stay. There was a dining hall where we met for all our meals and there was a sort of conference hall where we had all our meetings. I remember that in order to use our computers and the multimedia projection system during the business sessions, the power in all the cottages had to be shut off first

One could swim, dive and jog but other than that, there were no other distractions - no shops, no post office, nothing. You couldn’t even buy a postcard. Having lived all my life in a place like Hong Kong, I was totally traumatised. They wanted us to focus on getting to know each other and trying out the range of Macromedia products. We were also there to brainstorm and develop worldwide marketing and positioning strategies.

Since there was no escape, we did settle down to the task at hand. It was a very relaxing, unstressful and beautiful location - totally unspoilt by the modernity that had already begun to creep into most cities and tourist resorts in the region.

As I said, Etisalat Academy was not quite Matahari Island as in the evenings we hopped onto coaches and went for dinner to places like the Sheraton but somehow my first glimpse of the place brought back memories of the Macromedia Retreat that we were a part of more than a decade ago.

Slashdot says:

“Timothy D. Cook, Chief Operating Officer at Apple, disclosed during Apple’s conference call to discuss their fourth quarter earnings that they estimate 250,000 of the 1.4 Million iPhones that have been sold were bought by people intending to unlock the phone. ‘The elasticity in demand with the price drop enabled us to far surpass our expectation of hitting around a million units cumulatively by the end of the quarter. Some number of these were sold to people that have an intention to unlock and [while] we don’t know precisely how many people are doing that, our current guess is there is probably 250,000 of the 1.4 million that we sold where people had bought them with the intention of doing that. Many of those happened after the price cut.’ Apple knows how many iPhones have been sold and how many have been activated with ATT. The difference is the number that are unlocked.”

250,000 is a large number! And now Orange has announced that they will officially sell unlocked phones in France. So how does this work? Won’t that mean that Apple iPhone software will have to support these unlocked phones if they are sold officially, hence making a mockery of the likes of ATT and other partners in markets where the iPhone is tied to only one telco?

Oh don’t get me wrong. I am thrilled! I believe in complete openness. Just wondering how Steve Jobs is planning to keep everyone happy or is he?

She sees herself as an “agent of change” – for the young to seek technology as a vehicle for development, for women in the Arab & Muslim world to be inspired to grow and prosper and serve their societies.

Who is she? Her name is Sheikha Lubna al Qasimi. She hails from the Royal family of the UAE and was the first woman appointed as a Cabinet Minister in the UAE Government. At present she wears two hats - she is the Minister for the Economy and Planning of the UAE and is also the CEO of Tejari.com, apart from being on the Boards of half a dozen organizations including the Autism Society of the UAE. She is also an active volunteer of the “Friends of Cancer Patients”.

I met her during a recent visit to Dubai for the meeting of the International Chamber of Commerce’s Commision on E-Buisness, IT & Telecom. She is an IT professional having graduated from the University of California with a degree in Computer Science, and following that up with an Executive MBA from the American University of Sharjah.

A charming and accomplished woman, she is a regular speaker at regional and international conferences, has won dozens of awards and continues to pave the way and open up new avenues for women in the UAE through hard work and example.

When she first returned from the USA 16 years ago, she could have got a plush position because she was a Royal but instead she joined Datamation as a programmer and worked normal 10 hour days just as her colleagues did.

Six years and several jobs later, Lubna got her first break when she joined the Dubai Ports Authority as Senior Manager of the Information Systems Department. During her tenure, she transformed the DPA through a sophisticated electronic system that networked the ports and customs authority with the cargo community, thereby streamlining the flow of documentation and enabling the efficient handling of cargo.

Sheikha Lubna credits her parents for the person she is today. From her mother she says she has inherited discipline, initiative and her pride in being a woman, and from her father she has learned creativity and a love for the world.

How has being a Royal impacted her career? Well, according to Lubna, it is difficult to convince most people that she has worked her way up so she doesn’t even try. “I let those I have worked with speak for me,” she says, and she works twice as hard to demonstrate her knowledge and her professionalism so as to win people’s trust and acceptance. But win it she has!

As I think about the one issue that is being raised by all bloggers today, I wonder what each of our countries is doing vis-a-vis the Environment.

It is all very well for Americans to be celebrating Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize for “An Inconvenient Truth”, for the Pakistanis and Indians to be celebrating the fact that their scientists are on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that shares the Nobel Peace Prize 2007 with Al Gore and “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”.

However, although we certainly do appreciate what these individuals have done, let us not forget that change on the ground has been very slow. We only have to drive down our city roads to see the smog and the smoke, to realize that politically no-one is prepared to take on the challenge of protecting the environment and subsequently the health of the people that live in these cities. Too many business interests (both big and small) get in the way. God help us and the coming generations if we cannot change these attitudes!

Hackers at work while Webmaster prays. Quite an extensive task considering that several links have been added with different images - the American flag, the Punjab map, etc. Wonder who these guys are! I was led to the hacked site by friends in the US as I was deeply submerged in the cooking of Sheer Khurma and my mother’s famous cocunut barfi. Yummmmm!

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

- Steve Jobs

EED MUBARAK ONE AND ALL!

For several years now I have been a proponet of Community and Campus Radio - ever since I was first introduced to it by my friends Vickram Crishna and Arun Mehta from Radiophony. They have now been evangelising Low Power Radio in India for some years and have even helped to set up village stations where the village people have been producing their own programs.

Although Community Radio is something that will not take off in Pakistan until we can convince PEMRA that low power stations are a great means of communication and empowerment for the rural areas, I was glad to see that campus radio was beginning to take off with the Punjab University, the Peshawar University, Szabist and Karachi University applying for licenses.

I don’t know if Szabist have got their license yet but KU has had it for over a year and in fact PEMRA have warned them that if they do not launch the station soon, their license might be cancelled.

So what is the delay? Apparently they are waiting for the Institute of Mass Communication building to be complete. The construction has been in the works for about 15 years or so and millions of rupees have been spent on it.

Water and electricity is the problem it seems. With the amount of money that they have received from the Feroze Ahmed Trust, the HEC, etc. it is really surprising why the project is in a go-slow mode. Students have in fact received training from Radio Pakistan as well but the wait continues ….

As for Szabist, that is apparently a political issue.

My take on all this is that first of all the license fee for campus radio is too high, and secondly, why should the entire process be so difficult? Creating radio programming requires creativity and passion more than it does money. Why can’t the transmission of KU begin from the main campus and shift to this “white elephant” if it is ever complete. Let the kids create programming, share information and knowledge and entertain each other. Shouldn’t that be the main consideration?

Aren’t we always grumbling about the lack of accurate statistics about our industry size and expertise? This is especially true when we are travelling and representing the Pakistani IT sector and not just ourselves.

Keeping in view the importance of having accurate and up-to-date data on the industry on an ongoing basis, P@SHA’s Central Executive Committee has decided to initiate Biennial Surveys of Pakistan’s IT & IT enabled Services (IT & ITeS) Industry - this will be repeated on a regular basis.

Your active participation is required to make this a useful exercise. You can participate in the survey by filling in this questionnaire and sending it the PASHA Secretariat or you can fill in the survey online by clicking on the following URL:

https://www.hostedware.com/secure/hs/takesurvey.asp?c=PASHA

Spare some precious time to participate in this very important industry survey. Come on guys and gals - take 15 minutes to complete this survey and help P@SHA talk knowledgeably about our growth.

The P@SHA ICT Awards 2007 Organizing Committee has received requests from some members that the deadline for nominations for the Awards be extended by a few days, so by popular demand the CEC has decided to extend the date for online nominations to October 21, 2007 1800 hours. “Make the extra hours count” says Jawwad Farid.

There were also some queries regarding the nomination forms for the 3 local Awards: Best IT/ITES Employer, Best in Brand Development in IT/ITES Sector and Best Growth in the IT/ITES Sector

The forms are attached here:

Best Employer

Best in Brand Development

Best Growth in IT Sector

India telecom giant Reliance landed an exclusive retail relationship with Apple - a $19.3-billion agreement to build a series of iStores that would showcase Macs and iPods and eventually the iPhone. The first store, which will be officially dubbed “iStore by Reliance Digital,” is expected to open by the end of October in Bangalore, the “Silicon Valley” of India.

The Economic Times (of India) reports that this is the first time Apple is teaming up with a corporate partner for distribution anywhere in the world. The iStores, the report says, would be standalone retail locations that would sell Apple products ranging from Macintosh computers to iPods and later, once it’s launched in India, the iPhone.

Already under construction, the first iStore in India will be opened just before Diwali and will be over 2,000 sq ft.

The report says that the Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Retail will open a total of 10 iStores by the end of the calendar year and that Apple would invest in market development. Apple has few resellers in India but no company-owned store, according to the Times.

While the deal is expected to give Apple an immediate presence and several retail and distribution points, the stores are also expected to help grow the Reliance Digital brand.

When will Apple come officially to Pakistan? The wee little stores we have now really do not do justice to the Apple store concept. Shall I write to Steve Jobs or to Mukesh Ambani?

The Organising Committee for the P@SHA ICT Awards 2007 is now actively seeking nominations to 15 categories. Nomination submissions will close on 19 October 2007. The top winners in each of the 15 Categories will represent Pakistan at the APICTA ICT Awards 2007 in Singapore from November 26 - 30, 2007.

Cluster Category : Tools and Infrastructure Application
Product Definition :
Any software program designed to operate hardware through basic operating systems and programming languages, increase the efficiency of systems personnel through system performance measurement tools, improve the operating capabilities of the hardware system by routing the flow of data among machine units, and handle data entry and delivery, or to insure program integrity through maintenance, convert programs from one language to another, organize data resources through sort/merge products, and monitor machine usage.

Cluster Category : General Applications
Product Definition :
Any application software, hardware or its combination to support a range of functions that are commonly used by an enterprise or any business or organization entity in order to improve efficiency and productivity. Includes in this category are: back office applications, office productivity tools, human resource information system, administration tools, procurement system, marketing system, CRM, healthcare system etc.

Cluster Category : e-Community and e-Government
Product Definition :
Any application software, hardware or its combination that:
- supports the community in our society with the aim to promote the rights and needs of particular groups; or
- enable more efficient, effective, transparent and low cost of Government operations; or
- has been implemented by Government Institutions and Public Services to provide the best and valuable services to Public; or
- has been developed to meet specific Government requirement for Public Service use and its services is managed by a Government Institution.

Cluster Category : Security Applications
Product Definition :
Any application software, hardware or its combination that provide authentication support, intruder detection and prevention system, antivirus, anti spyware, data and/or system protection and counter security checking system.

Category : Communications
Product Definition :
Any application software, hardware or its combination that relates with any transmission of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, voice, video, data, or intelligence of any nature by digital or analog, electromagnetic or electronic signals through existing and emerging media (e.g., radio, telephone, television, facsimile, SMS, MMS, GPRS, Internet, WiFi, WiMax, 3G, Bluetooth, RFID).

Cluster Category : Tertiary Student Project
Product Definition :
Any Information and Communication Technology project or research performed by a student or a group of students who are registered as active undergraduate student in higher-learning institution, such as a university or a polytechnic.

Cluster Category : Secondary Student Project
Product Definition :
Any Information and Communication Technology project or research performed by a student or a group of students from a Secondary School or Junior College.

Cluster Category : Education and Training
Product Definition :
Any application software, hardware or its combination that promotes a program or programs to develop, support and administer the training, general knowledge, academic, technical, vocational skills and cultural attainments of individuals.

These programs are used for schools, preschool activities and childcare centers, colleges, universities, schools for the mentally retarded or physically handicapped, educational radio and television stations, libraries, enterprise or museums.

Cluster Category : Research and Development
Product Definition :
Any Information and Communication Technology research and development done to discover and invent new knowledge, products, processes, and services or to create new and improved products, processes, and services required by market needs.

Any Information and Communication Technology product or creation that has been completed fully but not yet actively marketed or it is already actively marketed but still no customer or installation at the customer site yet provided its marketing effort is still less than one year since its product completion.

IPR of the Research and Development product must be owned by the company who nominates the product entry.

Specific Category : Start-up Company
Nomination Description
Start-up Company is an Information and Communication Technology company who develop an innovative and potential superior ICT Product but the company itself is still considered at the early stage of inception. The Start-up Company must meet the following criteria,

-The company must be a company registered under company eligibility for nomination rule
-Company registration must not more than 3 years from the date of APICTA competition
-Founder of the company and or the product developers must still be the major share holder of the company
-The company must not be a subsidiary of a well-established parent company.
-The company has not received substantial funding from VC or other investor other than their own funding

Cluster Category : Financial Industry Applications
Product Definition :
Any application software, hardware or its combination to support and enable process of transferring and managing capital or funds or monetary related entities within or across the enterprise in a various related industry such as banking, insurance, stock exchange, and multi finance.

Cluster Category : Industrial Applications
Product Definition :
Any application of software, hardware or its combination required by engineering automation to increase its process performance of creating products and services, improve efficiency and productivity e.g. Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM), optimization devices and system, process effectiveness monitoring tools, data acquisition software, SCADA, process and discrete manufacturing, oil and gas etc.

Cluster Category : e-Logistics
Product Definition :
Any application software, hardware or its combination to support and enable the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption in order to meet customers’ requirements.

Cluster Category : Media and Entertainment
Product Definition :
Any application software, hardware or its combination that
• relates to the process of combining text, sound, pictures, and/or videos, to create a diversion that holds the attention (entertainment), in the form of Multimedia, Infotainment, Immersive and interactive. Included in this category is the application as afore mentioned through internet medium and mobile devices delivery; or,
• provides management and technical support to the news and entertainment industry such as Television Broadcasting, Radio Broadcasting, Cinema, Live Entertainment, Publishing, Newspaper, Internet News.

Cluster Category : Tourism and Hospitality
Product Definition :
Any application software, hardware or its combination that supports service based industry comprising a number of tangible and intangible component such as transport, foods and beverages, tours, souvenirs and accommodation, health-tourism, culture, adventure or simply escape and relaxation.

In addition, P@SHA started three local awards last year:

Cluster Category: Best ICT Employer

Cluster Category: Best ICT Brand Development

Cluster Category: Best ICT Growth

The winners of the P@SHA ICT Awards compete with the Best of breed solutions in the region. It is a great opportunity to benchmark your product against others in your space, and also to network with other technology companies in the region. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t but the competition highlights the kind of cutting edge products that are being developed in Pakistan and positions us as an IT destination.

Read Jawwad Farid’s experience of participating and benefiting from winning the P@SHA Award and then going on to participate at APICTA. It shows how one can build relationships through these competitions that eventually benefit the company commercially. It is an opportunity that you should not miss if you have developed a product that you feel is cutting edge. The APICTA network itself is a market that opens up to you as does venture capital from the region.

This year Pakistan will have 6 judges at the APICTA Awards 2007. We want at least 15 companies (whose airfare will be covered by P@SHA) to compete at APICTA. Don’t miss this opportunity to profile your product and win an Award for Pakistan.

The student category is also important so if you know of any student projects that deserve recognition, please ask them to nominate their projects for the P@SHA Awards.

For additional information on the Awards feel free to drop Jawwad Farid (jawwad@avicena.com), Yusuf Jan (yjan@mixitusa.com), or me (jehan.ara@gmail.com) a line.

Great tips from Jawwad on APICTA Do’s & Dont’s - lessons learnt. Nomination forms and other details can be downloaded here.

I have never allowed illness to interfere with any of my activities - especially my work - but one teeny weeny, evil mosquito managed to bring me down last week! I suddenly developed very high fever, couldn’t hold anything down - not even water and medicine. I struggled with this state for 5 - 6 days before my doctor advised me to go get a saline drip. He said it sounded as if I was losing too much fluid.

So I went to the emergency room of the hospital closest to me - the AKU - where I was told that I couldn’t be given a drip simply because I wanted one. I asked to see the doctor on duty so he/she could attend to me but was told that the Emergency room was full and that I would have to wait 3 to 4 hours.

I felt I would die if I had to wait that long so I phoned my friend Afia who asked me to head for the National Medical Centre where she would arrange for a doctor friend to organize a drip. On reaching NMC, I was attended to very quickly. I was given a saline drip as well as medicine to stop the vomitting. While I was there, they took a complete blood count and discovered that my platelet count had gone down from 150,000 to 85,000 in 24 hours. By then other friends - Rukhsana, Zak, Nuzhat, Ghazala, etc. had gathered around me and a joint decision was made to move me to OMI where I would be admitted until the platelet count was brought under control. I resisted a bit asking why I couldn’t just go home but of course no-one was listening.

At OMI, Dr. Tasneem Ahsan diagnosed me with classic Dengue fever. Whenever we read about any epidemic in the paper, or hear about it on radio or television, we never associate it with happening to us. It is always associated with someone else - especially when the numbers being quoted are 560 out of a city of millions. Well, it did happen to me - as it did to Erum (of Alchemy) last year. Maybe Jawwad Farid breeds the dengue mosquito. Should I sue him do you think? Naah he is a nice guy.

Dengue (pronounced den’ gee) is a disease caused by any one of four closely related viruses (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, or DEN-4). The viruses are transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito. The main symptoms are high fever, nausea, vomitting and intense pain. Platelet count drops to an extent whereby haemorrhaging can occur hence monitoring of the platelet count is extremely important.

I have been in hospital many times but never as a patient. I had spent weeks and months in various hospitals with my mother when she was ailing and needed attention. I must admit now that being a patient yourself is very different from being a caregiver. I felt absolutely traumatized and at the mercy of doctors and nurses.

From the hospital clothes (which appear to be designed to take away ones self respect), to the umpteen needles, to the total handing over of control of yourself to other people, it is the scariest experience I have ever had. I am a person who has always taken care of others. This was the first time that I had no control at all, and I felt completely helpless. I understood now what my mother must have felt all those times she was in hospital.

I had tried to make her as comfortable as possible - just as all these people were trying to do for me - my friends, my father, the hospital staff but hospitals just aren’t any fun - and the sooner one is out of them, the better.

Simple things like the value of being able to use both hands was brought home to me when one of my hands was out of commission due to the drip and the canola.

I have loads of people to thank for making my hospital stay bearable:
1. Dr. Ghazala Aziz who insisted I go to OMI rather than agree to being admitted to NMC
2. My old school friends Afia and Rukhsana who took charge and wouldn’t even allow my rudeness to discourage them from taking care of me.
3. Afia’s daughter Farieha, my friends Zak, Nuzhat and Naheed - all of whom took turns staying with me. I was not allowed to be alone for even a few minutes.
4. Jawwad, Fawzia & Uzma - for the huge cartons of juices, crackers, cheese and olives which provided variety to the cuisine
5. Barrister Shahida Jamil for the lovely flowers you see above
6. My siblings and friends who called from all corners of the globe many times
7. The many friends and family members who phoned, emailed, visited and brought flowers to keep me in good cheer (especially in the absence of wifi connectivity) and of course my father who worried and prayed constantly for me to get back to good health.

I am now back home in the comfort of my own room, resting and rebuilding my strength. The withdrawal symptoms of being kept away from my Apple MacBook Pro and my internet connection, are fading away. Hopefully in a few days I will be back to normal. Being ill is no fun at all!