Ecstasy, dreams and a little affliction

Yom-e-Ashoor

2009-12-28T21:47:00.002+05:00

Dad, on seeing the mourners, 'Kafir bhi musalmano ko maar rahay hain or musalman bhi apnay aap ko maar rahay hain'

Biology-my darling!

2009-11-15T03:11:00.007+05:00

It's about those days when biology and I were in love. Like many ambitious youngsters, unaware of the demands and limitations of our society, my dream was to become a 'scientist' on growing up; biologist in this case (I had thought of becoming an astronomer before and a nuclear physicist later and what I ended up doing was medicine. Lol)

My interest began when my elder cousins told me that you get to dissect a frog in grade nine and ten. I was intrigued by the details of nailing the frog on a wood board and using all those dissecting instruments. I was pretty much looking forward to it. My cousins also told me that you get to dissect bigger animals as you go to higher grades. Frog, rabbit and then a giant monitor! Never got the monitor though.

Ms. Rizwana was one of the best teachers I have ever had. She demonstrated very accurately the technique of preserving that one vein that ran across ventral body wall of the frog. Some guys still cut it and their frogs bled to death. Some mischievous, gangster 'cool dudes' stabbed the frog right in the abdomen on their first time to show their indifference and valor. I was very meticulous, successfully preserved the vein and took a long time in just opening up the frog. A live beating heart was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. I just kept on wondering why is it beating, where is the energy coming from. And then the bell rang. The practical time was over. In fact it was the last period; school time was over. But I wasn't done yet. I had just opened up the frog. So what I did was I cut it's oesophagus from the highest end, then I cut it's cloaca and took out it's whole digestive system with every organ I could get hold of. I wrapped it in a paper, put it in my pocket and brought it home.

On coming back, in all excitement, I told mom, 'Hey mom, guess what I've got from school? FROG BOWELS!!! Yayyyy' She said it was disgusting and told me to get it out of the room. So I dissected and observed each and every thing of it in the veranda. I opened up the stomach and and intestines and looked at their insides to my heart's content. Finally I threw it away.

There were just three or four dissections in school. It wasn't enough of frog for me. I decided to buy a frog and dissect it at home. My younger brother had also reached the dissection stage so I bought one from him too, from Anarkali. I kept them in an old shoe box. To anesthetize them I soaked a piece of cotton in the anesthetic, dropped it in the box and covered it. I thought that the frogs would get unconscious by it's fumes. I shook the box well and it took a long time to knock them out. I had wanted to buy chloroform but the guy at the shop gave me carbon disulfide instead, saying that it was a 'better' anesthetic. In fact it was worse. Our frogs kept on convulsing during the whole dissection, though I had kept cotton pieces soaked in the anesthetic under the frogs' nostrils.

Even before a frog I had dissected a chick. I must have been in grade six or seven then. There was this huge banyan tree behind our house whose branches had covered half or our roof. Crows and eagles would frequently build nests on it. Once I found a dead chick on our roof. I couldn't figure out the specie; it didn't even have feathers on it. But it was big enough for me to play with. I dissected it with make shift instruments: straws and sticks and tree branches.

The preserved specimen in the biology lab were another interesting thing. I decided to build my own museum. I would kill animals, tie them on a scale with a thread and place them inside an empty jam bottle. To preserve them I would add spirit in the bottle. And the specimen would look just like those in the biology lab, erect in the bottle. I had collected lizard, mouse, centipede, millipede, earthworm, another lizard like reptile I don't know the name of and any other thing I would across. I killed lizard with an air gun and mice in a mouse trap. To kill the invertebrates I would directly drop them in a bottle full of spirit. Earthworms would convulse violently, release a white fluid from one end, anus or mouth, and die. Sprinkling salt over earthworms when they would come out after rain and watch them convulse was one of our (me, brother and cousins) favorite deeds. I had kept all the specimen bottles in a cupboard properly arranged and labeled.

In high school we had to dissect cockroach. Again I was good at it. I could separate out the digestive system of the roach very finely while some messed it pretty much. But there was one thing I couldn't do in first and second years of med school. Stunning the frog. Uff...I was never able to do that. Striking a rod hard on a conscious frog's head to knock it out, the sign of which was it's tongue would protrude out. So you'd have to blow real hard on the first time. If you do not strike hard enough, it would not get unconscious and would just shriek in pain. Most of the first timers would do that. Strike it lightly again and again. That was very disgusting. I never did it. Pithing was one hell of a job too. You had to run a needle all along it's spinal cord to destroy it. Many guys would insert the needle in every part of the frog but the spinal canal. It was difficult to find in the beginning but easy once you knew the technique. That was after brutally killing three or four frogs.

When spiders caught my attention, I would be in search for one every day. I would observe it build its web and wait for a prey in the center of it. Sometimes I would pick up some insect and deliberately throw it on the web so that it would get stuck in it. I would see the spider come for it, wrap it with its thread and eat it.

In plants 'reproductive botany' was my favourite. I loved sowing seeds and watching them sprout and grow. I sowed watermelon seeds, mango seeds, ginger, garlic, onion. I followed them for some time till my interest faded. Inspired by Mendel I grew peas too, in a jam bottle. It sprouted and produced more peas. Once I grew Rhizopus on a piece of bread by soaking it in water and keeping it in a dark place. I scrapped it off, took it to college and observed under microscope. I also scrapped some moss from a dark, wet wall to see it under microscope.

Ah, such were those days. :-)

Operation Northwoods

2009-10-27T12:28:00.003+06:00

Operation Northwoods, or Northwoods, was a false-flag plan, proposed within the United States government in 1962. The plan called for CIA or other operatives to commit apparent acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Castro-led Cuba. One plan was to "develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington".

This operation is especially notable in that it included plans for hijackings and bombings followed by the use of phony evidence that would blame the terrorist acts on a foreign government, namely Cuba.

The plan stated:
The desired resultant from the execution of this plan would be to place the United States in the apparent position of suffering defensible grievances from a rash and irresponsible government of Cuba and to develop an international image of a Cuban threat to peace in the Western Hemisphere.

President John F. Kennedy personally rejected the Northwoods proposal and it was never executed. Obviously they would never have made it public if it was carried out. Read more

On Lahore attacks

2009-10-15T21:52:00.003+06:00

An acute, large scale war with clearly defined enemies and an end result is better than dying chronically.

Mars - the beauty

2009-08-21T20:24:00.002+06:00

Me versus Jews/Pro-Jews

2009-08-07T15:09:00.007+06:00

If you ever read the comments below some controversial/religious videos on YouTube, you must have noted that sometimes they get really filthy, calling bad names to each others' religion and gods. This may seem stupid but there was this holocaust video on YouTube and I posted a harsh comment and there started a battle. The repliers were definitely pro Jewish if not Jews. This is how it went:

Me: This is what should happen to Jews again. They deserve it.

Jew 1: You even don't know what you speak, you have no idea how evil you are! You believe or not but GOD'S BREATH is in you, too. Be happy that you live!!!

Me: Evil? Evil are those who force people out of their houses saying that this is their land. Evil are those who kill innocent people. Evil are those who demolish innocent people's houses. Evil are those who killed more than 1000 unarmed people this year in January (not to mention those killed in previous years) using phosphorus bombs violating all international laws. (Oh and by the way phosphorus burns human flesh) There are thousands of videos here on YouTube . I can post here so many links.

Jew 2: Please buy some brains

Me: Lol. That's all you could come up with? May be you need to buy some brains. And please buy an extra occipital lobe so that you can see whats really going on in Gaza.

Jew 2: uuuuuuuuhm yes those are the only words i know

Jew 3: Are you comparing Gazy to the Holocaust? Do us all a favour and have a brain check in Pakistan (LOL)...

Me: Are you saying that Holocaust jusitfies Gaza massacre? Can I kill your family because somebody else killed mine? And that somebody has no link with you whatsoever.

Jew 3: No, but this video is not about the Gaza strip. You might want to join the Neo Nazi movement instead posting your hatred here.

Me: O come on dude. Gaza came up as a part of discussion. You know that. It's just that it was the only answer that came in your mind. Well I could say that this video is not about a Neo Nazi movement. They didn't teach you in school how to engage in a healthy discussion? And where is hatred? That was mere truth/criticism that you call that you Jews/ pro Jews can't bear and label it as hatred/antisemitism like this israeli minister telling here:
It's time you opened your eyes.

Jew 3: Are you from Paki Stan? Oh ok, that surely explains your ignorance... my bad...

Me: And you are from England which explains your stupidity and such a 'rational' and 'logical' answer! Thank you.

Jew 1: And again I say to ainwee and to the others who think all these evil things that we all have GOD'S BREATH in us, respect each other and be happy that you live! You even don't understand what you speak and how evil you are!

Me: History shows that where ever Jews went they were beaten and forced out from that area. Because that was the only way to achieve peace. If Jews really believe that they are the 'chosen ones' then they should wish to die. Because they love God and God loves them right? They should long to meet God. But they don't, they want this world, they want 'land'. They wouldn't pound on someone's land and say it is ours if they had a belief in God. And God certainly doesnt want them to kill thousands of people.

Jew 4: i see you're from Pakistan......well,can you please tell me how Pakistan came to existence??? and i'm sure it's not the jews killing innocent people but your kamikaze cousins!and for the argument of them wanting land.....how about kashmeer????It seems to me that the accuser is guilty of what he's accusing!BTW should they wish to die because they love God?the only ones who reason that way are people like you!!!waiting to see virgins and fast horses in the other side!

Me: Oh, a very good question. We have to go in history. Muslims had been living in Indian subcontinent for over a thousand years. The Mughals (Muslims) ruled India for about 400 years very PEACEFULLY. The Hindus were OK with it; there was never any resistance movement. Then the Brits decided to destroy the world and in the process they conquered India. Now there are four castes in Hindu religion, the lowest being the Shudars. The upper classes of Hindus consider Shudars unclean and don’t like to talk to them and touch them. Muslims were considered by Hindus even lower than the Shudars. This and so many other differences in the religion (e.g. Muslims eat cow while cow is a god for Hindus; they obviously couldn’t see their god being slaughtered and eaten) led Muslims to demand the DIVISION OF A COUNTRY IN WHICH THEY WERE ALREADY LIVING FOR A THOUSAND YEARS. Hindus went to one side while Muslims went on the other side of the border.

Jews on the other hand say that the land of Palestine is promised to them by God. Their movement took acceleration after world wars when Jews from all over the world specially Europe started settling in Palestine. After the United Nations Partition Plan more Jews started pouring in and they forcefully made the people evacuate the houses already living there. The resistance by Palestinians and Arabs was obvious. You don’t pound on someone’s house and say that it’s mine because god said so. You live in Italy right? If I start sending people from Pakistan to Italy today and say that Italy is ours because our scriptures say so, what would you do? You would kill us.

You say the Jews aren’t killing the people there? How about this:

and this:

Are you sleeping or what? I can paste here thousands of more videos. And by the way those kamikazes are not my cousins, they are my BROTHERS. That’s the only way they’ve got kill some 13 Jews in response to 1000 of their own killed (source) An atomic power and possessor of phosphorus bombs, laser guided missiles, tanks, radars and fighter jets versus suicide bombers and children throwing stones at the tanks. What a match!

And Kashmir, again you don’t send your 0.7 million army to an area and start killing people and say it is ours while the people of that area want to live independently. These examples of Kashmir and Pakistan you gave are completely out of place. Israeli case is very different from these.

And yes that is very very logical. If they loved God they wouldn’t kill innocent people. If they loved God, they wouldn’t want a piece of land. They would rather long to meet God and worry about the life hereafter! You ever loved someone? I’m sure you like to live with your loved ones, not away from them and blackmail other people in their name.

Jew 4: so what you're saying is the hindus started hateing the muslims after the brits ruined the world?it really doesn't sound coherent....and anyway........kashmeer?....... .and why do muslims bomb countries in order to form an islamic state???

Me: Dear dear, I'll have to teach you whole history over here in this little space. Muslims ruled India for hundereds of years and there was peace most of the time. When the British decided to leave a battle for dominance started between Hindus and Muslims. Muslims didn't want Hindu rule because they feared that they will be subjugated and maltreated as they were already being in Hindu majority states even in British rule. The reason was British were on Hindus side. The evidence of which is that many areas which were to be added in Pakistan were given to India on the very night of partition and independance.That could only occur through personal relations of Hindus with British.

OK,so which Islamic state was formed after Muslims 'bombed' that area?Is it wrong to act against the 0.7 million Indian army deployed in Kashmir to forcefuly occupy the land?Why don't you ask the Indians and Jews about their forceful occupation of land and killing of inocent people?

Jew 4: you said muslims ruled India for a long time even though they were a minority.......now,do you know what year it is according to the jewish calendar?and where do you think they were for centuries before muslims even existed????in New York????and anyway nobody's saying the war on Gaza was because of the holocaust other than you

Me: OK, so you say that Jews existed in that land before Muslims which is like thousands of years before? So, according to your argument Christians and Muslims should have no place on earth because both are newer religions. Muslims ruled Spain for 800 years. They don't say that Spain is ours.

There have been wars and conquests throughout history. So to know that to whom does a particular land belongs, should we go back in history and see who conquered that land first of all? That's not the way things go. The point is forceful occupation and killing of innocent people which if anyone (whether they be Jews, Christians or Muslims) does should be comdemned and stopped by force.

I don't know if there's any limit of comments on YouTube but I could'nt post any more comments. Anyways aina di aisi di taisi :-p

Death

2009-07-31T11:45:00.002+06:00

I wont say I'm not afraid of dying but the verses of Quran about going back to God really helped. It made it a little exciting. The afterworld and a positive life in this world lessens the fear of death. And now I know that ardent believers and hard practicing Muslims are not afraid of dying. They look forward to it. And Quran is so right when it asks the Jews that if you are right then you should wish to die. (62:6) Mumtaz Mufti asked his son that don't mourn when I die, rather celebrate my death, sing and dance and beat drums.

Usama Qamar's funeral was really sad today. He must have been twenty one, one year junior to us in the university. Everyone looked as if they knew him very well. No fashion, no deodorant, no spikes. Everyone felt it. Usama is great in the sense that he shook us all, stimulated us to think, gave us a lesson. On my way back I kept on thinking what if it were me. I thought about my funeral, where would they have arranged it, how many people would have come. And then I thought am I ready?

Dogs

2009-07-23T18:38:00.003+06:00

Dogs bark. Some dogs bark to hinder your way and if you want to grow then you must learn to ignore these dogs. You always grow against resistance. If there are no dogs in your way then you are not really going anywhere.

Inside the Ka'aba

2009-07-14T23:27:00.001+06:00

The Journey

2009-06-13T13:18:00.002+06:00

I'l be at the airport in half an hour. I tried to remain calm and casual but couldn't. Because I know it's huge. And I'm going to learn a lot of things. I hope I get something permanent out of it. It's just half an hour and I'm still unable to decide what to pray on the first sight of Kaaba. There are a lot of things.

And man...its really hot in Saudi Arabia.

'Taliban' exposed

2009-05-30T22:48:00.004+06:00

Major General Athar Abbas, spokesman military and DG ISPR has said that Taliban are using weapons of NATO and that foreign agencies are training and supplying weapons to them. (Source)

Now those taliban phobic 'enlightened moderates' would still not raise their voices against these foreign hands. They will still fail to see that the same people are helping taliban who are asking Pakistan army to fight against them. They will still not realize that it's the people behind taliban who are a threat to Pakistan's nuclear assets. They still won't understand that fighting taliban wouldn't do any good unless you fight with people sending taliban.

If you want to get to rid of a tree, you don't waste time and money cutting the branches; you cut the roots. Branches sprout again.

Bake sale

2009-05-28T22:26:00.005+06:00

A novel way to help Swat IDPs. We sold home made pizzas, cakes, cookies, pies, burgers, sandwiches and chana chaat and were able to collect Rs. 21,000 in one day. All for Swat people.

1-5 blast

2009-05-27T22:32:00.002+06:00

As they came in the emergency of Mayo Hospital one after the other...

Targeting police serves a special purpose. It scares them, along with the common people. Many policemen might have abandoned their job because of this and many of those who had thought of going in the police department might have given up their thoughts. Result: a still weaker and lesser police, local thieves and criminals getting brave, shattered law and order, chaos, collapse. Target achieved.

3-3-9
30-3-9
27-5-9

9

OMG

2009-05-20T23:07:00.003+06:00

This is what a patient had to present in the E.N.T Out Patient Department yesterday. Pity they don't show up early.

Anaesthesia fun

2009-05-12T22:11:00.002+06:00

Good Bye Bano Ji

2009-04-22T21:55:00.003+06:00

One of my favorites that she sang, Dasht-e-tanhai by Faiz. This is one of the poems that I learned by heart and sang it in the class in Government College. :-D Our Urdu teacher would very often ask me to sing something semi classical in the class.

This is a golden video. I can recognize Ashfaq Ahmed, Amjad Islam Amjad and Ahmed Faraz among the audience. Notice Iqbal Bano's way of receiving compliments.

On having kids

2009-04-20T20:38:00.005+06:00

I wanted to be called a father. Saad said you are an uncle, Mamoo (as if he knows what I've been doing!). Anyways their paternity is not important as long as they are being cared for properly. My peahen had been incubating five eggs and three chicks hatched out the day before. Small, plump, cute. Mommy (I've now named her Daisy) is happy and I'm happy. To name the chicks their sex had to be known, obviously and the only way chicks' sex can be determined is by palpating their genitals with the pulp of a finger which I'm not going to do by any means. So Saad and Noman suggested unisex names like Naseem, Tallat and Farrukh etc for which I'm thankful to them. I'l consider these names.

Daisy is a wise mommy. She's vigilant and takes each and every step slowly and carefully as she walks while her chicks follow her. Once she stepped on one of her chicks accidentally. She soon realized it, did not put her weight on that foot and lifted it immediately. What I'm rather flabbergasted at is the communication between the family. She produces different voices to which the chicks respond. She has a different voice on sensing danger to which the chicks respond by hiding beneath/behind her. A distinct voice on finding something eatable which is a signal for the chicks to come close to her beak and look forward to something tasty. God!

Feeding time. Scrambled egg is one of their favorites.

Bad weddings

2009-04-19T22:03:00.004+06:00

I hate those weddings in which they create a partition between male and female guests. It kills half my purpose of going to weddings. And if the food is bad, the other half is killed too. ;-)

Tit for tat

2009-04-18T19:28:00.005+06:00

An Indian Colonel, one Harish Puri's letter to General Kiyani was painful and infuriating. The reply by a Pakistani was analgesic and euphoric. Here I post both the letters. They are really interesting. Note the similarity of words in both, specially in the beginning.

An open letter to General Kiyani

Dear Gen Kayani,
Sir, let me begin by recounting that old army quip that did the rounds in the immediate aftermath of World war II: To guarantee victory, an army should ideally have German generals, British officers, Indian soldiers, American equipment and Italian enemies.

A Pakistani soldier that I met in Iraq in 2004 lamented the fact that the Pakistani soldier in Kargil had been badly let down firstly by Nawaz Sharif and then by the Pakistani officers' cadre. Pakistani soldiers led by Indian officers, , he believed, would be the most fearsome combination possible. Pakistani officers, he went on to say, were more into real estate, defence housing colonies and the like.

As I look at two photographs of surrender that lie before me, I can't help recalling his words. The first is the celebrated event at Dhaka on Dec 16, 1971, which now adorns most Army messes in Delhi and Calcutta. The second, sir, is the video of a teenage girl being flogged by the Taliban in Swat -- not far, I am sure, from one of your Army check posts.

The surrender by any Army is always a sad and humiliating event. Gen Niazi surrendered in Dhaka to a professional army that had outnumbered and outfought him. No Pakistani has been able to get over that humiliation, and 16th December is remembered as a black day by the Pakistani Army and the Pakistani state. But battles are won and lost – armies know this, and having learnt their lessons, they move on.

But much more sadly, the video of the teenager being flogged represents an even more abject surrender by the Pakistani Army. The surrender in 1971, though humiliating, was not disgraceful. This time around, sir, what happened on your watch was something no Army commander should have to live through. The girl could have been your own daughter, or mine.

I have always maintained that the Pakistani Army, like its Indian counterpart, is a thoroughly professional outfit. It has fought valiantly in the three wars against India, and also accredited itself well in its UN missions abroad. It is, therefore, by no means a pushover. The instance of an Infantry unit, led by a lieutenant colonel, meekly laying down arms before 20-odd militants should have been an aberration. But this capitulation in Swat, that too so soon after your own visit to the area, is an assault on the sensibilities of any soldier. What did you tell your soldiers? What great inspirational speech did you make that made your troops back off without a murmur? Sir, I have fought insurgency in Kashmir as well as the North-East, but despite the occasional losses suffered (as is bound to be the case in counter-insurgency operations), such total surrender is unthinkable.

I have been a signaller, and it beats me how my counterparts in your Signal Corps could not locate or even jam a normal FM radio station broadcasting on a fixed frequency at fixed timings. Is there more than meets the eye?

I am told that it is difficult for your troops to "fight their own people." But you never had that problem in East Pakistan in 1971, where the atrocities committed by your own troops are well documented in the Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report. Or is it that the Bengalis were never considered "your own" people, influenced as they were by the Hindus across the border? Or is that your troops are terrified by the ruthless barbarians of the Taliban?

Sir, it is imperative that we recognise our enemy without any delay. I use the word "our" advisedly – for the Taliban threat is not far from India's borders. And the only force that can stop them from dragging Pakistan back into the Stone Age is the force that you command. In this historic moment, providence has placed a tremendous responsibility in your hands. Indeed, the fate of your nation, the future of humankind in the subcontinent rests with you. It doesn't matter if it is "my war" or "your war" – it is a war that has to be won. A desperate Swati citizen's desperate lament says it all – "Please drop an atom bomb on us and put us out of our misery!" Do not fail him, sir.

But in the gloom and the ignominy, the average Pakistani citizen has shown us that there is hope yet. The lawyers, the media, have all refused to buckle even under direct threats. It took the Taliban no less than 32 bullets to still the voice of a brave journalist. Yes, there is hope – but why don't we hear the same language from you? Look to these brave hearts, sir – and maybe we shall see the tide turn. Our prayers are with you, and the hapless people of Swat.

The New York Times predicts that Pakistan will collapse in six months. Do you want to go down in history as the man who allowed that to happen?

The writer is a retired colonel of the Indian army who lives in Pune. Email: hbpuri@hotmail.com

The response by a Pakistani.

Dear Mr. Puri,

Sir, let me begin by reminding you of the quip that made rounds all over Asia, right after the 1965 Indo-Pak war: To guarantee defeat, an army should ideally have Indian Generals, Indian Officers, Indian Soldiers, Israeli Equipment and Pakistani enemies.

An Indian Air Marshal that I personally met, told me that in the 1965 war, one Pakistani pilot, brought down 6 Indian AirForce Jets, in less than 60 seconds. Israeli Air Force pilots under Indian command, he said, would be the most hilarious combination possible. Indian Officers he argued, were more into Bollywood Actresses, Killing innocent people in Kashmir and getting their asses kicked in Mumbai by a bunch of amateurs.

As I look at the moments of numerous defeats that Indian Forces face every day in Kashmir, against a bunch of Mujahideen, with an ultra-equipped army of 700,000 troops, I can’t resist recalling his words. The second is the moment when the world witnessed in the war of 1965, the graveyard of 100, 200 no 600 Indian tanks not far from your border.

The surrender of any army is no doubt a sad and humiliating event. And to think of the signing of the Tashkent (ceasefire) agreement to end the 1965 war, after which your Prime Minister Shastri died of heart attack, entertains me with rolls of laughter. The fact that India was once again planning to attack Pakistan in 1986 (during the reign of Gen Zia-ul-Haq) under the wise leadership of Rajiv Gandhi; Rajiv Gandhi, the then PM of India, during his conference with the Indian Generals and top brass of India (to finalise the details of the attack) receives a call from Gen. Zia ul Haq where he reminds Rajiv Gandhi that he also has the copy of the file of plans lying on his (Rajiv Gandhi’s) table for discussion, and then Gen Zia flies all the way to Jaipur (and meets the Indian PM during a cricket match) to return that copy, as a courtesy to the Indian PM to remind him that we might’ve been sleeping, but we’re NOT Dead! – sometimes makes a cunning smile cross my face. That some wars are lost even before they’ve started, is not only shamefully mortifying, but a serious blow to the entire establishment; and is simply a lesson that is taught only once.

I always thought that the Indian Army was far superior to the Pakistan Army, in terms of their Artillery, Infantry, Fighter Fleet and weaponry systems (being provided to them exclusively by Israel), however, President Jiang Zheming reminded us recently in 2002, when India was once again planning to attack Pakistan – that he had never known soldiers more pusillanimous (meaning cowardly) than those that represented the Indian Army. He was of course referring to the fleeing incident of the 1962 Indo-China conflict, where Indian soldiers fled the battleground, and in their haste to “run away”, forgot their weapons, which China later returned to India (it is also said that Chinese army cleaned, polished and removed the rust of the arms being used by Indian Army before returning them). Such total surrender, disgrace, and fleeing the battleground, by men who call themselves “soldiers”, is astonishingly humiliating yet funny.

I have been an analyst, and it beats me how my counterparts in India have been unable to understand the Asamese Freedom fighters, the Kashmir Freedom Fighters, The Naxalites etc. etc. (the list may fill up a page), in over 60 years, and keep on blaming Pakistan for all their woes. Moreover, how the Hindu Extremist parties like the RSS have opened up training camps in densely populated urban areas, training Hindu extremists to burn people alive, and to bring down landmarks as significant as the Babri Masjid, without raising any eyebrows in the Government. Is there more than meets the eye?

We are told that it is tough for your army to counter “your own people”, like the extremists of Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Pareshad and RSS. Whether it be burning of thousands of Muslims alive in Gujrat, or be it the genocide of Christian minorities in Orissa, your security forces simply stand and watch the mass murder of innocent unarmed people.

Mr. Puri, it is imperative that without any further delay, we recognize our enemy. I use the word “our” advisedly because the threat of BJP (which is fully backed by the types of Narindra Modi and parties like RSS, VP and BD) coming into power in the upcoming elections – and putting our borders under serious jeopardy, is quite imminent. Additionally, your army consists of several serving officers like Col. Purohit, who exhibit hostility and hatred towards Pakistanis by bombing innocent civilians in trains (Samjhauta Express). What is more, the BJP did not mind mass murdering people in Mumbai during November last year, simply to prove its point that the Congress Govt. was a major failure, and during the upcoming elections, BJP must win. And framing the “Pakistani terrorists” was the easiest part, because a similar hostile viewpoint is maintained by a vast majority of Hindu population in India.

You remind me of one Pakistani journalist being killed by the so called Taliban Pakistan? Well, ever heard of the Journalists who were “MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD” by Israelis, not by shooting them down with bullets, but by running tanks over them. God knows how many such journalists have been run-over, murdered by Indian Extremist parties in the name of nationalistic planned killings. But believe me, there still are some sane voices in India like Arundhati Roy and Amresh Misra, and it is about time you started thinking rationally and instead of suppressing their voices, gave them some room to express their thoughts, so that BJP does not hi-jack India once again.

Ok, anecdotes aside, on a serious note:

What would you say if we asked you what took the “Indian Commandos”, the Indian NSG and the Israeli Commandos, 60 long hours to control only 10 terrorists who had hijacked Mumbai in less than 60 minutes? You were trying to save as many hostages you say eh? To avoid casualties to the max, isn’t it? Why didn’t the Indian Govt. simply drop bombs over the Taj & Oberoi hotels, (and let’s not forget the Nariman house, where your Israeli friends were busy cooking broth for Pakistan). And you shamelessly suggest we wipe off a complete region just because its got a few black sheep? Ok, it seems to us, Mr. Puri, that either you are not and have never been a part of the Indian Army, or they retired you early due to your childish, infact amusing approach towards solving problems. As to why we decided to stop the operation against these Terrorists of Swat is something beyond your comprehension, and it would be highly recommended for you to stop giving advise to people with more than twice as much experience as you might have. Haven’t you heard the phrase “it is better to remain quiet and let people think you’re a fool instead of speaking up and confirming it”.

As far as the flogging of the girl in Swat is concerned, to which you have attributed your whole letter to our General (COAS), its a fake story. Even if it were true, it is mere punishment. What do you call the burning alive of human beings? This is a far worse threat and insult to humanity than any one could imagine in the 21st century!

Not only the NYT, but the Pentagon, Tel Aviv and Delhi have also expressed their opinion of Pakistan’s collapse in next six months. It doesn’t worry us much, because the sooner we learn about our enemies, the better. Nonetheless, it also clearly tells us about the forces at work in Pakistan trying to tear it apart. But we assure you, that even if we DO break (GOD Forbid), we’ll only break into 4. Think of what will happen if BJP takes over India and starts openly suppressing all the minorities in your population of over 1 billion people. India will break into countless pieces, just like the USSR.

A nice stunt you’ve pulled there, and I completely appreciate it. I hope that you shall equally enjoy our response to your “well-versed” letter. Keep the comedy coming, this is good for the future of both Pakistan and Bharat friendship.

Yours,

Chokore Paratha

A tree in lungs!

2009-04-15T21:51:00.003+06:00

It's not the bronchial tree. Russian surgeons found an actual plant growing inside a man's lungs which was thought to be a carcinoma. It is believed that the man inhaled a tiny seed which germinated in the lungs. It caused severe pain and the surgeons decided to operate and there was a surprise for them. Lol. What more have you got for us mother nature? (Source)

At Sunday market today

2009-04-12T14:53:00.006+05:00

Thank you Mr. Chief Minister

The bigger game - 1

2009-04-11T18:44:00.007+05:00

These are weird times. The world is in a state of war. There are no clearly defined enemies, there's no hero, no one knows when and how will this war end.

There are two ways this war can be observed. One, through the governments' eyes as shown by popular media. This perspective is as simple as ABC: 'Taliban and Al-Qaeda attacked America on 9/11 and now America wants to take revenge and wipe them out. Taliban have been hiding and running and America and its allies has been chasing them since the war started.' Cat and mouse game (We have got a very clever mouse by the way and the cat through this perspective falls nothing short of Tom). This is the easy way out. This is all what the governments tell us and want us to believe.

The second perspective is that its the cat who is cunning and the mouse is the poor guy. Reaching this conclusion is difficult because it requires inquisitiveness, deep insight and a lot of common sense. The information is difficult to get because it doesn't get that highlighted by the media and is ignored as unimportant. It is found in bits and pieces and the puzzle has to be solved by joining the information. The outcome is usually really huge and scary. Unfortunately the so called liberals and moderates who are vigorously skeptic about traditions, orthodoxy and religion miserably fail to read between the lines when it comes to politics. They don't question, they don't ponder. They want to believe the 'cunning mouse-naive cat' theory.

9/11 drama was staged by American government/agencies. Now there is a huge bundle of evidence supporting it. I have seen at least three American documentaries proving that 9/11 was not the job of Al-Qaeda. Evidence from other countries and other Americans is additive. Every one who believes that it was done by Al-Qaeda needs to go through the evidence against it. Common sense also raises many questions to create doubt against the government presented perspective. Like: How come the CIA never knew it? How come the air traffic controlling departments couldn't notice the change in a plane's route? Why weren't the defense mechanisms mobilized until the second plane crash which took place after about 10 minutes of the first? Etc. This was done to terrorize people, so that they would give up their rights, give in to the government and the government could justify her invasion of South Asia. There was NO other way at all she could do it. So the whole war on terror becomes a lie. Now, why would she do it, I haven't been able to find one answer. Oil reserves of Iraq, deeming Pakistan and China as potential threats and reaching up to them, fear of spreading of Islam. (Speaking of Islam, 20,000 people convert to Islam in America each year according to NBC News)

(To be continued)

Stairway to heaven

2009-04-08T20:00:00.009+05:00

My brother specially called me from the gym to inform me about the rainbow that had adorned the sky in the evening. And I couldn't thank him enough :-)

It was actually a double rainbow. If you see closely in this photo there is another arc over the brighter one.

Tom, Dick and Harry

2009-04-08T14:58:00.011+05:00

I don't have to think twice when it comes to a Shah Sharabeel production. His name has become synonymous with quality English theater. I run to see the play as soon as possible.

This humorous play, by Ray and Michael Cooney, is about three brothers; Tom, Dick and Harry. Tom, the wise one, is married and wants to adopt a baby. Mrs. Potter from the adoption agency is about to arrive to evaluate the family. The whole play revolves around the three brother's preparation to make a good impression on Mrs. Potter and how one after the other they get into so much trouble.

Honestly, I didn't like it a lot. Perhaps it wasn't as HUGE as his last two plays Phantom of the Opera and Bombay Dreams were. There was just one set and it continued for almost two hours without any interval. In Bombay Dreams, the musical, there were about 500 performers and huge sets and beautiful dances. While it was the biggest production I had ever seen, Phantom of the Opera had the best sets and costume. These were the two best plays. This one was just time pass.

Here is an interview of Shah Sharabeel with little clips from Bombay Dreams

OK, now I have to put a dance from Bombay Dreams too :-D This was the last one and very unexpectedly the performers threw confetti all over the audience. Shah's plays are full of surprises. In Phantom of the Opera they actually threw a large chandelier on the stage from a height which shattered the bulbs with a loud noise.

Flogging of a girl by Taliban

2009-04-05T19:59:00.003+05:00

It was bad. Deplorable. Despicable. Abhorrent. And all the words implying this meaning. It was nauseating to see that helpless girl being whipped like that. People are disturbed, obviously, as evident from the demonstrations held by rights activists, civil society members, workers and NGOs. Asma Jahangir, Human Rights Commission Pakistan (HRCP), Commission for Peace and Human Development (CPHD) have all condemned the horrible incidence. Good, well done. That should be the spirit.

Now the terrorist attacks every day in Lahore and Islamabad and other cities and the daily drone attacks by America. No demonstrations. No HRCP. No CPHD. No Asma Jahangir. Can't they stage protests against the drone attacks too, that kill innocent civilians during marriage processions and funeral services, the suicide bombings that kill ordinary people? Why have these become acceptable? I hear that students and lawyers also protested. Thats good. But why don't they protest against drone attacks?

Just in case you are thinking these two things are unrelated, here is the comparison. It's about human beings, right? Basic human rights. Should one type of violation arouse more hatred than other? If yes, then killing is more deplorable that beating. No? Is it just Taliban phobia?

A day with friends

2009-04-04T19:34:00.008+05:00

Its spring vacations. We had to go out. We decided the old city. Plan was to visit Lahore Fort and offer Jumma Prayer at Badshahi Mosque.

We were sitting there in the mosque and guess what we were talking about.

There was this old man who claimed that he had done M.A in English and had been teaching the subject I forgot where. Well he was fluent in English. From his appearance it didn't look like he could speak like that. He told a little history of the mosque and then he showed this 'trick'. In a confinement of the mosque with high arched ceiling he showed that his voice could resonate. He produced voice of a particular frequency and it did resonate. People were clearly impressed and gave him a little money. Later I told my friends that I often do that in my shower which is bounded by glass.

At Eden Restaurant, Fortress

Laughing ourselves off at my place, watching video of class trip that I made. In this video: Awais, Noman, Mansoor, Tamoor, Salman, Osama, Asad, Azeem and me.

Cooking Chickpeas - the desi way

2009-04-03T21:36:00.010+05:00

Ahhh...spring vacations...time to sit back and relax. Cooking is fun. Cooking chickpeas is ecstatic and cooking chickpeas the desi way is the best thing in culinary world (after baking and barbecue and making a steak and frying fish).
Dehydrate the fresh chickpea branches in the sun for a day so that the leaves become brittle. Light some fire with the help of wood and papers in a container and cook the branches directly over the fire until the pods are all black and fall down in the container. The fire will probably extinguish in one go. Light it again over the fallen pods and ash and cook the rest of the chickpeas. The pods will get buried in the ash and will be heated and cooked well. Then let it get cool a little and dive into the ash. Pick out the pods, open them up and there they are, fresh green warm chickpeas, ready to be gulped down.

Micheal Jackson-Mikaeel Jackson?

2009-04-03T20:48:00.001+05:00

Really? I thought it was just a rumor.

Sigh...

2009-03-30T22:32:00.003+05:00

No one knows about the investigation of the 3/3 attack, if at all it is being carried out. Similarly people will forget 3/30 attack in due time. No one will ever know who did it and the culprits wouldn't be captured let alone prosecuted.

Stupid Rehman Malik's stupid remark that Baitullah Masood's group is involved strengthens my view that it has been done to pave way for America. This is to reinforce the idea that Taliban have got a strong hold in Pakistan and that America needs to come and wipe them out. They are going to pay $1.5 billion per year. Thats not for nothing. This money is to shut the mouth of those officials who say that they condemn American attacks. America is already talking about Quetta. Taliban have fled from Afghanistan to FATA, from FATA to Quetta, soon it will be Punjab and Sindh. And America WILL attack Quetta but slowly and smoothly, just like the attacks in FATA were declared mistakes in the beginning and then these mistakes became regular. Obama is poor guy. He is weak. As I said when he was elected that there would be NO change in America's policy. Her advancements wouldn't stop. She wouldn't quit Afghanistan or Iraq in near future. And that she would try her best to get Pakistan. But will the Pakistanis allow her to get them that easy? Lets see.

Made in Pakistan

2009-03-29T14:12:00.001+05:00

A documentary on the lives of four Pakistanis; Tara, Waleed, Rabia and Mohsin, each striving to make a difference. Coming soon. Waiting.

Kashf: The lifting of the veil

2009-03-28T11:42:00.003+05:00

Why don't other 'watchable' Pakistani movies get to have the same publicity as Khuda Ke Liye, I don't know. Kashf: The lifting of the veil is a new movie in English directed by a US based Pakistani, Ayesha Khan, shot entirely in Lahore. She claims to have presented a different aspect of Islam and Pakistan, seldom talked about in movies before: Mysticism. Seems interesting. I heard it has already won some award at some film festival in the US. Couldn't find out if it will be shown in the cinemas here. Here's a trailer

Ayesha Khan, the director:

Pakistani talent

2009-03-20T22:55:00.004+05:00

Ahahaha. Funny and sad.

Welcome spring

2009-03-19T23:02:00.007+05:00

I had to release the anger which built up in me after hearing a professor's excruciatingly painful bakwas today. Luckily there was this classical dance performance by the students of Alhamra Arts Council at Alhamra Hall. And luckily it was the beginning of spring. The performance turned out to be good. I had some friends with me. Interestingly all the performers belonged to entirely different fields. Girls from LACAS, LGS, a veterinary doctor, a civil engineer, a guy from Sri Lanka and a traffic warden. Lol. So anyone can happen to like classical dance. The first video is sort of Kathakali, the second is a poem by Amir Khusro and the third is a Tatkar (fast foot movement). Sorry for the bad quality of the videos. It was just my cell phone. :-)

Mardangi

2009-03-19T17:48:00.003+05:00

Here are some women defining mardangi on BBC Urdu. All mard please get benefit.

How to kill time during boring lectures

2009-03-18T16:18:00.008+05:00

This is today's ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) lecture. Azeem and Asad were drawing and making boats and kites out of paper while Saad and Noman were playing cricket. So here's a good idea for you. In a boring lecture you can utilize paper or you can play cricket. In case you don't know how to play cricket: Each guy has a team of players noted down on a paper. The one who's playing first opens a book randomly again and again and the second guy notes down the last digit of the even page number; 2, 4, 6, 8. That's the first player's score. When the last digit comes out to be zero the player is out. Total is done in the end and compared with the other team. See? Cricket is an adult's game. There are so many other things that we do during lectures (the boring ones only, we have to listen to the professors'). I'll post those too. ;-)

Sensational

2009-03-17T22:08:00.000+05:00

People aren't afraid

2009-03-16T15:14:00.005+05:00

Who would have thought that among all the bombings and threats and the recent attack on Sri Lankan team, such a huge mass would come out on roads in Lahore. People aren't afraid. Literate masses/middle class people might be, who sit in their homes and watch it all on TV but illiterate ones aren't. And it was certainly this huge crowd that made the government give up. One can just hope and pray now that every thing goes well.

Honestly, I don't think the things are going to change much. The people running the government are incompetent. There will be more such clashes and I doubt the fact that the government will complete its five years. For starters, PM has announced the restoring of CJ Iftikhar. OK, but how? Will he take a fresh oath or be restored as such? Why is the government waiting for the tenure of CJ Doggar to end? Secondly I don't think they will declare the steps taken on 3rd November invalid neither will they restore the constitution to its pre-3rd November state. This is an NRO government which itself is the biggest injustice, injustice to the 160 million people of Pakistan. But I'm still hopeful.

Town arrested

2009-03-15T11:24:00.002+05:00

I happen to live in the same housing society as our dear Nawaz Sharif. To prevent that one man from moving, whole of the town has been sealed off. No one can move out, no one can move in. While Nawaz has been house arrested, all the other residents of the society have been town arrested. Democracy rules. Lol.

Basant

2009-03-13T10:26:00.000+05:00

Can anyone tell me one good reason why Basant should be celebrated?

At the Martyr's round about

2009-03-05T18:18:00.007+05:00

They weren't afraid

2009-03-04T21:44:00.002+05:00

Professor Dr. Arshad Cheema, head of the surgery department at KEMU, was the surgeon who was called at Qadafi Stadium after the attacks to treat the Sri Lankan players. He told us today that they had very minor injuries, some fragments of metal embedded in their bodies, which he removed successfully. And that they weren't afraid at all. They were joking. They were used to such things in Sri Lanka. One of them actually asked the professor to have a photo with him.

Now I didn't know that Pakistan and Sri Lanka had so much in common. :-D

To the martyrs

2009-03-03T16:51:00.010+05:00

I'm not a writer but I still had this block. I couldn't write. And now suddenly I have a lot to write about.

A friend broke the news to us in the university. We showed the obvious reaction. With this attack on Sri Lankan players I thought the sports in Pakistan are over too. First they tried to bring an end to cultural activities by attacking the Arts Festival.

The only autopsy labs in Lahore are in our university, King Edward Medical University. All bodies are brought there. When we heard that they had brought the bodies of the Liberty carnage victims, we ran off to see them. There were six Edhi ambulances parked in the garage of Forensic Department, one body each. I stood there for a long time. There were people, two groups. One, the relatives and colleagues of the deceased, crying, shrieking, in deep shock. If I could understand one word that they were uttering, that was ALLAH. The other was the spectator group, not crying apparently, but their faces showed what they felt. From a few of them I could hear the word 'India'. Then there were the passers by who came, saw and went indifferently, again apparently. Some were coming back from Al-Karim Bakery; eating sandwiches and patties and drinking juices and I was like 'WTF, can't they just stop eating for a while, at least when they are passing by the ambulances? Can't they just stop there for a while and show that they feel, that they care, that they are human beings too? Can't they stand there and offer Fatiha, console the crying and show some solidarity? Can't they stop laughing for a while?' Or was it just me? Do I feel too much? Some people would say, 'kya hai yaar, roz hi to hota hai ye sab kuch, theek hai jo hona tha ho gaya, kya karain ab, move on.' I made this little over there

One of my friend's eyes welled up, I saw our Forensic demonstrator crying. Then I heard the siren of another ambulance and I thought, 'Oh no, another.' A guy asked a policeman who survived, 'None of the attackers were killed?' He replied, 'It takes a little while to load the rifles, we didn't even have time for that.' But I salute those martyrs who, as soon as they heard the firing, came out of their vans and surrounded the bus which was carrying the Sri Lankan players. This is exemplary braveness. I saw their blood, dripping from the edges of the ambulances and on the stretcher, gore, which had now become semi solid, black. Only if I could preserve it, the blood of the martyrs.

Later, Dr. Sajid was taking our class in his office. His cell rang. I could tell that someone just told him what had happened. He said after hanging up,
'Congratulations, Sri Lankan team has been attacked.'
'Yeah, we know Sir'
'Kitnay afsoos ki baat hai, agar ab bhi government na bolay to lanat hai in pe'
'Exactly Sir, this is so clear who has done it'
'Khair dafa karo, lets get back to the topic, so pyogenic meningitis has an acute history of headache, fever and vomiting while the history of tuberculous meningitis extends over weeks and months....you know Pakistan ke mukaddar main foj hi likhi hai, we can't go in normal way' Then he concluded his lecture way before time.

On my way back home the roads were deserted although, it were the rush hours and usually it takes my about 40 minutes to travel 12 kilometers. I must have reached back in half the time. There was harsh wind blowing which caused the leaves from the trees to fall down all along the Mall and Canal Road. It was cloudy. Water in the canal was stagnant; it flows otherwise. I felt they were all protesting. Pathetic fallacy? Is it just me?

Desi drums

2009-02-22T18:14:00.005+05:00

This may sound funny to many (read Pakistanis) but err...I've now got a tabla. It's my friend's. I'll return it when the obsession gets off. The tabla itself looks funny. Two drums, lying there peacefully, quiet. It's just a matter of playing them, when they start speaking and laughing and crying. They create the environment, they set the mood and they are unlimited; you can't say you've learnt it all. Little did Amir Khusro know what a universe he has created, when he invented tabla in the thirteenth century. Music doesn't end.

Like any other instrument it's difficult, requires a hell of practice. I tried playing dadra and teen taal. Different areas on the same drum produce different sounds when struck with different intensity and different pressure. I know five sounds of the smaller one and about six of the larger, there must be so many others and the combination even greater. Mastering the sounds is different than mastering the rhythm. One may be a good player but may not have a good sense of rhythm.

Mozart effect might be controversial but I'm sure I'll discover a rhythm therapy.

Reasons to be proud of

2009-02-19T19:33:00.006+05:00

*Lahore Grammar School (LGS) has won the Asian Regional Space Settlement Design Competition 2009 organized by NASA in India. The team comprised of two Indian schools too. They brought home a trophy which has an actual meteorite fixed in it. Wow! Congratulations LGS. Thank you for making us proud. (Source: Dawn)

*A Pakistani student, one Saad Waqar, has set a world record by securing highest marks in maths and physics in A-level exams. (Source: Nawa-e-waqt)

*Ali Moeen Nawazish of Rawalpindi has brought worldwide recognition to Pakistan by blazing his way into the Guinness Book of World Records, clearing 23 A-Level subjects and securing A Grade in 21 of them. The previous record was 13. (Read more and on Wikipedia)

Congratulations and thank you all! :-)

One day prep

2009-02-19T18:22:00.005+05:00

People keep on studying it the whole year; we took the B.Sc. English exam with a preparation of just one day, like we had done that with Pak-studies and Islamiat. Two days at the most. Twenty utterly boring stories (with a few exceptions) were not easy to swallow. I did not even read all. Luckily all four questions were from stories I had read. The examination center was this Ch. Rehmat Ali School, which reminded me of my own school. A little boy actually asked one of my friends, 'Bhai aap konsi class main hain?.' The grounds were much bigger than ours at KE. The school was much cleaner too. There weren't any open gutters or pigeons' shits or dogs, cats or donkeys.

Before the exam commenced we were out there in the ground chatting and laughing loudly while other candidates were busy, their heads buried in the books, trying to grasp some more at the eleventh hour. When we were at our seats, before the distribution of question papers, I saw a guy from AIMC reciting some verses, eyes tightly closed, eyebrows frowned. I thought, 'Man...he's serious'. After a little while, a man, must be in his late thirties, entered the room. We thought he must be an invigilator. But he came forward and occupied an empty seat. He was a candidate. My friend whispered, 'Inko ab yaad aya hai.' Our real invigilator was a fat old man, thick stubble on his face and looked fed up of his life. After distributing the papers, he sat on a chair, supported his head against the wall and closed his eyes. I can't tell if he actually went to sleep.

Bravo T's

2009-02-17T20:30:00.005+05:00

Plain White T's have impressed me. Lol. For one reason, their two songs I heard, were easy to play on the guitar, for another, they were just awesome. I can't decide if Hey there Delilah is better or this 1234. Latter's video is better for sure.

On valentines day

2009-02-16T23:27:00.002+05:00

Lutf wo ishq main paye hain keh jee janta hai
Ranj bhi aisay uthaye hain keh jee janta hai

Daagh Dehlvi

Ocean of books

2009-02-16T15:37:00.021+05:00

Mom was more excited than me about the book fair. She bought a couple of books, I bought a couple of books and we were the happiest maan-baita on earth. Now that's why I say moms are better than girl friends. There's no 'breaking of heart', no cheating, no dumping, no suffering, no wastage of money and then there is strong, eternal love. :-D

Above: Caligraphy competition for children. (Debris indicates that the book fair is in Pakistan)

Above: People at this stall claimed that these lamps they have are made from material containing salt and 'a chemical' which emits 'waves' when light passes through it. These waves heal the diseases listed, which are almost all. When I asked them what is that special 'chemical', they said we don't know. :-D

Above: Painting competition for children

Above: I left a messege on the board too :-)

After these tiring two hours at the book fair, lunch at the nearest restaurant was inevitable :-)

I would love to go to the book fair again.

My first prescription

2009-02-15T13:16:00.000+05:00

I was happy. I did not write it from my mind; this Associate Professor (AP) had me written it. It was my first prescription in real life. My patient in out patient department was Shazia, young female, a mother of four and a pure, naive, Punjabi speaking house wife. And she was afraid of doctors and diseases, naturally. She had come for burning pain in the epigastrium and as I took her history, she told me all symptoms of reflux esophagitis. I thought this is an easy case and I wont be having any problem presenting it in front of the Associate Professor. But then I did her general physical examination (GPE). Her blood pressure (B.P.) was 180/110 (normal average: 120/80) and her pulse was 106/min (normal average: 72/min) and there was swelling on her face. When I was done, she asked, 'theek hai?' and I saw the fear in her eyes, I said, 'G'. I couldn't tell her that this much blood pressure wasn't theek, I just couldn't. I couldn't figure out why her B.P. was so high, perhaps it was just anxiety. Anyways when I told her that I'm going to present her case to AP in front of whole batch, she got scared like hell. She thought there was some grave problem and started crying. I melted, from head to toe. I felt like patting her and holding her hand. Thank God her husband was there. He condoled her, I condoled her and together we were able to stop her tears. I told her that there is nothing wrong and every patient in OPD is presented in front of AP.

This AP, Dr. Sajid was unusually good. He was supposed to be suffering from initial stages of Professoritis. He wasn't. Therefore he didn't insult me or got mad if i did any mistake in presenting my case. I told him Shazia's B.P. and pulse. He got alarmed. He checked for pitting edema, which I hadn't. It was positive. He knew what it was. He asked her if she had taken any Hakim's medication recently and she said yes. Then Dr. Sajid told us that Hakims usually give steroids or heavy metal salts in their medicines and Shazia was showing symptoms of steroid toxicity. Then he asked me to write omperazole for her reflux oesophagitis (which was her only presenting complain) and prescribe kidney tests to see if the steroids had damaged her kidney.

How a simple GPE changed the course of investigations and treatment. If I had skipped that, we could have sent her home with just omeprazole. (Dr. Sajid would have picked up the mistake of course) I wouldn't forget Shazia's face. I am happy.

Small people, great things

2009-02-13T21:50:00.005+05:00

There's nothing in my blog or in me that makes me suitable for an interview, but this lady, Ghazala Khan, was kind enough to ask me for an one and publish it on her web site. It's solely on her request that I am mentioning it here. I wouldn't have otherwise.

http://www.pakspectator.com/interview-with-blogger-abdullah-shahid/

Bye bye holidays

2009-02-05T23:35:00.004+05:00

University is re-opening from tomorrow and God knows how badly I want the holidays to continue. I want to see movies, I want to read books (non-academic), I want to see Desperate House Wives, Grey's Anatomy, House, I want to play counter strike, I want to sing, I want to hang out with friends, I want to eat out, I want to do that dance practice with friends for my friend's brother's wedding, I want to go shopping with Mom.

This can all occur even now but with much less frequency. Now there would be bone breaking routine, tiring tests, hectic assignments, hospital rounds, robust books (academic), campus politics, diplomacy, hypocrisy, professors' arrogance, professors' rudeness and professors' tyranny.

But there would be this fun part also...friends: non stop laughing, giggling during lectures, cracking filthy jokes, making fun of teachers, giving them nicknames and Al-Karim Bakery.

Another chance

2009-02-05T01:17:00.002+05:00

They gave him
another chance
another hope
to begin
once again,
to forget the past
the gloomy past.
After all
he was just
a little kid.

He knows its difficult
but he also knows
its not impossible.
Nothing is impossible
After all
hes grown up now.

On losing slippers

2009-02-05T01:14:00.000+05:00

When I lost another pair of slipper today (actually sandals this time), I couldn't exactly remember how many of my slippers had been stolen from outside the mosque while I was inside, praying. I thought what the hell, aik to masjid main jana kabhi kabhi naseeb hota hai ooper se joota chori. But then I looked on the brighter side: chalo...kisi ka bhala ho gaya ho ga.

The addiction that is Counter Strike

2009-02-03T22:26:00.003+05:00

I thought only sitcoms and soap operas are addicting. I started playing counter strike online less than a week ago and I am addicted. And I'm not even skilled in it yet. The best part are my cousins and brother who play on the same server.

Looking back in the past

2009-02-03T15:32:00.006+05:00

When I actually looked back sixteen hundred years, it didn't seem much different; it was just the feeling. The Orion Nebula is 1600 light years away and is 24 light years across. And I saw all that through my eye of just 35 millimeters! That 18 inches diameter telescope also presented those craters on moon with such detail that for a moment I thought I was on moon. I forgot the craters that I had seen earlier through my Dad's binoculars. Don't know why but I find moon very beautiful, even through a telescope. It sometimes seems mysterious. The elevations, the depressions, the shadows, the dark and the bright areas, the plain surface. I want to visit moon some day. When I came back and told Mom what I saw, she said, 'And did you see that old lady spinning thread on her wheel? :-)' I've decided that I'l definitely meet her when I go on the moon.

I thought that this Astronomy Festival would be a big one, with representatives from different institutions, having different stalls etc. But in that big ground of Punjab University there were three telescopes, a projector-screen and about twenty people. And man it was cold there. I certainly miscalculated the temperature. Earlier that day when I went to the Sunday market and I couldn't bear the sun's heat, I thought winters are over. So I wore light clothes and sandals to go to the Festival at night. Perhaps it was due the vastness of space and the grass that almost froze my feet. Nevertheless what they had to present was more interesting. It must have been the first one of its kind and I was happy that we are finally waking up from our slumber.

Looking at the nebula I thought that if man could travel very much faster than the speed of light (which is actually impossible as they say) and go to a distance like 1600 light years away from earth in an instant, and if our earth could transmit so much light to reach that distance, it would be possible to look back 1600 years on earth. I know there are so many 'ifs' in this assumption, but it could solve so many mysteries :-)

Pakistan Sangeet Icon 08

2009-01-30T23:14:00.004+05:00

I surely missed a lot of things in the exams. This Asad Abbas won the competition and became the Pakistan Sangeet Icon. A great voice, crystal clarity and full control over notes, indicative of hard practice and learning from a good maestro.

And then this ghazal, Ranjish hi sahi. It's my favourite. I never get bored from it. Of all the version of all the singers I've heard of it, and I have tried to listen to EVERYONE who has sung it, Asad's rendering was one of the best.

Again

2009-01-28T00:44:00.004+05:00

He did it
again.
Fell into darkness,
darker than the night.
Cold beyond measures
from which
he had emerged
after this hard endeavor.
But he will rise again,
he won't let them
have him.

After all
he was just
a little kid.

A sixty two membered cabinet

2009-01-27T17:11:00.003+05:00

Har ghar se minister niklay ga
Tum kitnay ministers maro gay

Jiye Bhutto

Did we land on the moon?

2009-01-26T12:59:00.004+05:00

Well, well, well. I was quite taken aback when I learned that there are a few people who believe that man never set foot on the moon. And that America, in order to establish her superiority, fooled the whole world. The evidence provided by these conspiracy theorists (shown in this 43 minutes long documentary of which I have posted the first part) seemed so concrete that I was quite convinced. :-D

Some of the arguments presented by the theorists were proven wrong by the Mythbusters (Those episodes are available on YouTube too).

White fairy

2009-01-24T18:48:00.002+05:00

I think the floor was a bit slippery thats why her tatkar wasn't that fine and all her other movements seemed a bit restricted too. Anyways teen taal and dhamar, both are my favourite. Couldn't identify the raga. This Mughal atmosphere was an extra treat.

Golden principles

2009-01-23T21:14:00.003+05:00

Dad took me to his work place today. All the way through, in the car, he showered upon me golden pieces of advice. 'Never take revenge on anyone, specially when you are in power.' And 'He who gets to have a control on his anger is successful.' And then, 'Whenever you meet someone, meet with good attitude and good gesture. Try your best never to do harm to anyone.'

I just wrote these down so that I can remember them for a long time.

Independance day

2009-01-22T18:05:00.003+05:00

Who else could tell better the importance and feeling of independence than a medical student who has just gotten done with his Professional exam. After three full months of continuous crushing and grinding, my whole body is reduced to very fine powdered particles. These ten or fifteen days that I have got now, I'll reshape myself. I'll try to melt the kilograms of extra fat that I've accumulated over this period by sitting and eating, and eating and sitting day and night.

My incubation period is over and with all prayers I wait for my eggs to hatch. I celebrate today my independence.

Height of stupidity

2009-01-16T12:58:00.004+05:00

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." (Albert Einstein)

Sorry Mr. Jinnah, we are ashamed...once again.

Two souls, one body

2009-01-13T15:30:00.005+05:00

Lovers might have one soul and two bodies but Abby and Brittany have two souls and one body! It's amazing how instead of having a separate control on each hand, they can clap, drive, hold a baby and perform other chores with such co-ordination. God...one girl can't feel what the other girl feels and they have a line of division on their body of the perception of touch. And they are hopeful to become moms! And the height of optimism: 'The best thing about being conjoined twins is that theres always someone to talk to and you are never alone.' Amazing.

The 'chosen ones'

2009-01-12T23:28:00.004+05:00

Weak hearts, persons easily going in to shock/trauma better bury your faces, hide some where and don't watch this.

Jumping over the dead bodies, collecting bits and pieces of human flesh, checking with the ear pressed against the chest if the person is alive or dead, and that general uproar and noise all around; who won't cry after watching that? The number of killed is about to reach a thousand. Those who do this, don't they have hearts? And they talk of disarming Hamas. Hamas can't even have small rockets while Israel can have atomic bombs and what not? And they call themselves the chosen ones. They are using white phosphorus bombs which burns down even the bones and the use of which on civilians is a crime. Why not disarm Israel? Why Muslims ever where? Why are they all against Muslims? Might be because they are weak. But Pakistan is an atomic power. They are against Pakistan too. Why has the rest of the world united and the Muslims are on one side? Why did the Koran say that the Jews and Christians can never be your friends?

Saadgi Muslim ki dekh auro ki ayari bhi dekh

And what can we, the common people do? Just sit and watch. Or just go and have a part in the protests on roads.

The six vivas

2009-01-12T23:03:00.003+05:00

I don't know its significance but giving viva to SIX professors in a day is definitely tiresome, irksome and 'mind blowing'. When it was over I felt like my blood vessels had adrenaline instead of blood in them. I must not have secreted this much of it ever. And Mom's comforting consolation was, 'Han phir doctor banna asaan to nahi hai na.' :-)

My angels

2009-01-07T21:31:00.005+05:00

God sends angels to protect and guide his men. To make them happy. I have got some angels too. My family and my friends.

My mom gave me two rose flowers today. Two signified my turning twenty two. She also gave me an English translation of autobiography of Emperor Jahangir, Tuzk-e-Jahangiri and another book, 'Madina se White House tak'. And she is proud. Calls aside, a few of the messages that I got were:

*Happy Birthday to my handsome, cool, cute and Babloo friend. (The sender is partially blind actually)

*Happy birthday buddy! Best wishes for your life and exams. Keep singing your melodies.

*Happy b'day mate. You sure know how to get born at the wrong time. (Pointing towards the ongoing exams)

*Treat time! Happy Birthday to you P**** (The sender has a pathological affiliation with P****)

*A very very Happy Birthday! Prayers, Regards and Love! Main **** kar raha tha is liye dair ho gaye. (The sender is actually a fun master)

*My dear doctor! Happy Birthday. May you have many more.

*Happy Birthday baby

*Happy Birthday Abdullah dear!

I look at the bunch of Tulips that lie in my room and that I got today and my eyes well up. I never thought God could bestow so much happiness upon such a sinner.

Thank you all. Thank you for being around me, thank you for making me happy. And thank you God, for every thing. You are the best.

Zindagi or Imtehan

2009-01-05T21:52:00.005+05:00

I don't know if this verse is by Faraz or not but it aptly describes the lives of medical students.

Suna tha zindagi imtahan laiti hai Faraz
Per yahan to imtehano ne zindagi le li

:-D

The vision of your face

2009-01-05T02:31:00.005+05:00

The vision
of your face
stimulates my hippocampus,
causing recall of past experiences,
stimulating my reward center
producing a sense of well being.
It stimulates my sympathetic system,
releasing epinephrine
and cytokines,
producing asystolies and extra systolies,
giving me skipped beats
with cold clammy skin,
dilated pupils, and
euphoria.
I mean
I miss you.

(I don't need drugs to get high)

A. Shahid (Inspired by a text message)

Appendicitis and friends

2009-01-03T21:58:00.004+05:00

I don't look like a mosquito but that ward boy sprayed the mosquito killer almost over me as I laid there in the ICU of Mayo Hospital crying in pain. That was a useless attempt to kill all the mosquitoes/flies/bugs in the ward just before the professor’s visit.

I have got the best friends in the world. When I told them that I have got appendicitis, they were...err...rather happy about it. One replied, as excited as ever, 'O really??? Thank God we got some chance to serve.' The other said, 'Nice yaar, so when is the surgery? I would love to assist.' I dont know what were they happy about. As far as I am concerned I wasn’t sure whether I should be happy or not amidst all that nausea, vomiting and pain.

It was the first time I saw any operation theatre (OT) of Mayo Hospital. I had to ask the guy carrying me, 'Are you sure this is an operation theatre?' He smiled. I believed him anyways. The OT had to be occupied a considerable time before my surgery just in case some other doc might claim it, so I was there like an hour before my surgery. I lay there on the table as if I were lying on a beach, sun bathing; both hands behind my head and the legs crossed. After a little while two final year girls, wearing the OT gown popped in, giggling.
'So...its YOU who have got appendicitis??'
(Yeah...SURPRISE!!!)
'You know what, we have stayed here at this time of night specially to see your appendicectomy'
(Oh! What an honor!)
Seeing them getting on my nerves I decided to attack
'Ok you are here to see my appendicectomy, just tell me the blood supply of appendix.'
It was no wonder they could not.

I was shifted to ICU after the surgery. I had been to the ICUs of Mayo Hospital before so this time I did not have to inquire about its authenticity. Pain did not let me sleep the whole night and time seemed to have frozen. In the morning I got my first three visitor friends. They had their bags and overalls with them and were ready to attend their first lecture. The first thing they did on reaching the university was to come to the hospital and meet me. As long as they stayed, I did not feel any pain.

Then the doctor came along with his whole crew and after inquiring about my health, pain and sleep asked, 'Have you passed any wind?' Now firstly, this is a personal question and should not be asked in front of so many people. Secondly, wind is not the proper word. A real wind blows harsher and is pleasurable to others. Thirdly, I don’t keep a record of my winds. Whichever doctor came afterwards, wind was the hot topic.
'Hi, How are you? Have you passed any wind?'
(Which was good of course as it indicated that my bowels had recovered from post operative shock)

After an hour I got seven more friends and I got a reason to laugh. After an hour I got seven more friends and I got a reason to laugh. Then I was shifted in a room. Those were the same corridors where I had been walking as a doctor, seeing the misery of the patients since the beginning of third year. I was in the same corridor again but this time on a wheel chair, as a patient and this time people were staring at me. Now I knew what its like to be patient.

By night I had about 30 friends who came to visit me. They left no chance to cheer me up. One was kind enough as to offer, 'Don’t worry yaar, it was just a vestigial organ and it had no particular function. But if you still insist we will buy you a new appendix.' Another came and drew three stars, wrote 'Get well soon' and put his signature on the palm of my hand.
Now I was happy, I’m sure about it. I thought I was lucky that I got operated in Mayo Hospital, so very close to my university, King Edward! It helped me get better sooner. Believe me if you have got loving parents and good friends, a lot of them, you wont regret having appendicitis!

P.S. Thanks to my parents for everything. And special thanks to Prof. Khalid Javed for helping me getting rid of that goddamn appendix and for treating me like his own sons.

A. Shahid (published in Kemkol, King Edward Medical University's annual magazine)

Another year

2009-01-03T17:44:00.004+05:00

Another year went by,
another story ended.
The same old days,
the same old nights,
empty spaces
haunting darkness
gloomy secrets
futile efforts.
Then another year came
and changed my heart,
changed my direction.

A. Shahid

Cyber war

2008-12-28T20:41:00.005+05:00

There might not be an actual war with bombs and missiles but this Mumbai incidence and the later happenings has filled a lot of hatred in the people of Pakistan and India against each other. What could be a better source to know that than Orkut; the youngster's place.

While calling each other the worst names, abusing each other's religion, they are now hacking the communities and profiles on Orkut. Indians have the advantage of being greater in number. Up till now I haven't seen any hacked Indian community/profile, while the largest Pakistan community which had above 40,000 members and a lot of profiles have been hacked. And theres no doubt that this war has been started by Indians, when they first hacked the OGRA (Pakistan Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority) web site. This hacker group calls itself HMG, Hindu Militant Group. Not only Orkut, theres a lot of dirty crap on Facebook and YouTube. How far will this Cyber war go, that can't be said for sure.

I had some friends in India through. One was a medical student and he used to scrap me almost every other day. After the Mumbai incidence, I scraped him, offering my condolences and condemning the attacks. He never replied. And I felt ashamed on scraping him in the first place.

A few weeks ago, President Zardari, while addressing some Indian journalists via video conference, said, 'There's a bit of a Pakistani in every Indian and there's a bit of an Indian in every Pakistani.' He must have realized the futility of his statement now.

Things might get normal as they were on political scenario, but it will be difficult to extinguish these burning coals of hatred in common people, fueled by the wrong policies of some stupid people.

Happy Birthday Quaid-e-Azam

2008-12-25T11:00:00.001+05:00

If only he had lived a few more years...

Bari mushkil se hota hai chaman main deedawar paida

2008-12-23T13:37:00.003+05:00

Beauty, minds, expression and voice all in one. The world has yet to see another example. There are a few people who can put emotions in their songs and there are fewer people who become style icon at the same time. She did it all. She had elegance, charm and beauty. The national songs she sung during wars must have playe a great role to bring up passion and patriotic feelings. And this great transformation of voice that took place from her youth to old age, I've never seen a kind. When she died eight years back on this day, I remember that it was 27th night of Ramazan; the Shab-e-Qadar. I don't know what significance it has got; many people die on that night and many would choose that night to die, if given a choice.

Being in war

2008-12-22T17:09:00.006+05:00

I don't want war, no one does. But I've frequently imagined my self in it, like in those second world war movies where I and other companions are hiding in a destructed place in some old building killing any enemy who passes by. :-D And today I heard the fighter planes flying across.

I was having lunch when I heard the first one. The sound was so clear and distinct from the regular passenger planes and those two seater training planes that fly daily above my house. Then there was another. Mom came in, contended, smiling. Before she could say anything, I asked to confirm, 'Mom those were fighter planes right?' (Just a day before she was relating the 1971 war and how there were black outs at night and how they used to hear the fighter planes.) She replied in affirmative still smiling. When I heard another, I ran out hurriedly to see it but couldn't. Later I heard on different TV channels that people went on their roofs raising slogans of Allah-o-Akbar and in favor of Pakistan Air Force. My aunt told that she was in a market when the planes passed and that all people in the shops came out on the road and started looking up at the sky. No one was afraid.

I've been seeing planes in my dreams for the past couple of days. I saw one being hit by a missile and falling, like a mile away from me. :-D Though the wars would now be very advanced, planes and missiles and all that and the actual participation of common people without training seems difficult, as was possible in older times, and I don't know how many will be left after a week or two of war this time, but God forbid if such a time comes that the government has to ask for the recruitment of common people, then we will go and fight. :-) We will fight for Pakistan.

Libretto

2008-12-20T23:11:00.006+05:00

You rock my world.

You make me 'sharp'

when I'm 'flat'.

You make me 'major'

when I'm 'minor'.

You pull my strings

when they are lose.

You fill the air around me

with notes

who lift me up,

like a flying carpet.

You define my chords,

melt my soul.

My instruments.

A. Shahid

The other world: Pakistan and Youth

2008-12-18T01:30:00.003+05:00

Aik roz subah sawairay meri beewi iqbal ne muhjhay jagaya. wo sakht ghabrai howi thi. us ne honto per ungli rakhi howi thi.

Mera bazoo pakar ker wo mujhay baramday main le ai. wo dekho, us ne sehan main bichay howay takht ki taraf ishara kia. takht per Aksi (Mumtaz Mufti's son) betha tha. us ka chehra doosri janib tha.

Main isay sihan main baithay dekh ker hairan howa. is liye ke wo kabhi sehan main na baitha tha or subah sawairay kabhi nahi jaga tha. in dino so CSS imtehan ki tyari main masroof tha, is liye raat ke aik do bajay tak parhta rehta tha.

behar soorat main Aksi ke kareeb gaya.

is ne mu mor ker meri taraf dekha. khof se meri cheekh nikal gaye. is ka mu sooja howa tha. chehra masakh ho raha tha. ankhain surkh theen or yoon jal rahi theen jaisay koilay dehaktay hain.

mujhay khof zada daikh ker us ne apni abnormal kaifiyat ko dabanay ki shadeed koshish ki jis ki wajah se us ka chehra or bhi bhayanak ho gaya. bola, kuch bhi nahi abu kuch bhi to nahi.

kuch to hai, mainay kaha.

nahi nahi, wo bola, koi khas baat nahi. aik aam sa mushahida hai. jo pakistan ke nojawano ko ho ga. ap ko bhi ho ga.

aik mushahida aik vision, wo bola, pakistan ki aanay wali azmat ka vision. raat ke pichlay pehar sooraj meray kamray main ghus aaya. us wakt us main hiddat nahi thi, sirf noor hi noor tha. main chaka chond ho gaya. abu, wo sooraj simat ker pakistan ban gaya. ye keh ker wo khamosh ho gaya. der tak chup chap baitha fiza ko ghoorta raha. us wakt us ke chehray per diwangi ke asrat bilkul numayan thay. kuch der ke baad us ne meri janib mu mora bola, abu ye mushahida bohat so ko ho ga. sab is ka tamasha karain gay.

wo phir khamosh ho gaya.

kuch der baad bola, aap pakistan ko nahi jantay abu, nahi jantay. us ki awaaz phati phati thi jaisay koi dara howa ho, sehma howa ho. aap nahi jantay wo kehnay laga, laikin main janta hoon, mainay apni aankho se dekha hai, laikin main bata nahi sakta ke kya dekha hai. isay bayan nahi kia ja sakta, sirf mushahida kia ja sakta hai.

wo phir khamosh ho gaya or tiktiki bandh ker fiza main dekhnay laga, jaisay beetay howay ko phir se beet raha ho.

abu, wo phir bola, pakistan ne duniya ki rahnumai karni hai. duniya ko rasta dikhana hai. ab main civil servant hoon. mujhay pakistan ki chakri ata kar di gaye hai. bohat so ko ye chakri ata ki jaye gi, bohat so ko. ab mujhay mutalia karna hai, mutalia, mutalia, mutalia

us din ke baad Aksi k mamoolat badal gaye. us ne namazain parhni shuru kar dee

Mumtaz Mufti, Alakh Nagri

I never looked at CSS and government service this way. That's a thing of honour. Those who get it have a chance to get their world hereafter made beautiful. Medicine can also mean the same too. Just depends on the person and his 'niyyat'. This book gives another objective of doing M.B;B.S. Serving Pakistan

More of shoes

2008-12-16T23:25:00.004+05:00

Ahahahah. Stop it yaar. Now they have made a video game. One who hits Bush the most number of shoes, wins. Something like this:

I heard in the news that they have broken that Iraqi's ribs and arms. I hope he gets eternal relief soon.

The historical shoes

2008-12-15T21:52:00.006+05:00

Ahahahahah. A Saudi man has offered $10 million to buy the shoes thrown at President Bush. Wah wah.

My heart goes out for that courageous Iraqi man. He has been transfered to an unknown place already. We all know what are they going to do to him :(

A farewell gift

2008-12-15T01:31:00.004+05:00

Sorry Mr. Bush, you certainly deserved more than this. This Iraqi journalist called him a dog and said that it's a farewell gift for Mr. Bush who had come to visit Iraq for the last time before his tenure ends. He got thousands of people killed in Iraq and couldn't even justify it. Called it an 'intelligence failure', a mistake you know. I'm in search of an interview in which Bush, when asked that how much he feels responsible for the current circumstances of the world, replied something like this: 'In the coming times, people will come to know that many decisions were made ten to eleven years before my holding the office.' Good bye Bush.

Testing testing...

2008-12-14T14:26:00.004+05:00

After the success of American 'mistakes', now presenting the Indian 'mistakes'. Why did these mistakes never occur in the past seven years? Why just after the rising tension? And why did these mistakes occur at two separate times? Why did the PM had to say just a day before that we hope that they won't launch an air strike? (They were expecting it, surely?). What wrenches the heart more is not the attack per se but the response of the our 'leaders'. Everyone here is shouting against the violation but those in the government. Not a single strong, aggressive statement while their counterpart is taking advantage of this very leniency perhaps? Threatening to strike the 'terrorist' spots in our land, backed up by the west. Couldn't the President today, while assuring the world again to act against the terrorists also assure the his nation that Pakistan will retaliate with full force against any external incursion? Just this simple statement would have meant a lot. We, on the other hand, as a faithful dog, have already begun to obey their orders by launching an operation against Jama'at-ud-Da'wah without any proof.

I've always longed to see miracles. But I see this miracle here: the existence of Pakistan for the past sixty one years. It's creation doesn't seem such a big deal in front of how Pakistan has survived in the past years.

American control?

2008-12-11T21:48:00.004+05:00

Dad said he thinks that Americans have got some, if not all, control over the nuclear assets of Pakistan. That is why India is being so fearless. Well, that scared me a bit. But I want to remain optimistic. I want to think that it's just because of the very weak and irresponsible leadership that every one putting pressure on us. Atomic bomb is the only thing we have. That gone, then every thing gone. But that is not supposed to happen. No.

The other world: Islam and Pakistan

2008-12-09T23:34:00.003+05:00

Shahab ne Atiya ko phone kia. Aitya kehnay lagi, aap yahan aa jain, main aap ko aik bohat bari khush khabri sunana chahti hoon. jo kisi or ko nahi suna sakti. Shahab Atiya se milnay gaya to sath mujhay bhi le gaya.

Us roz Atiya baray mood main theen. kehnay lageen ajkal arsh per bohat khushian sunai ja rahi hain. charaghan ho raha hai. hazoor dulha banay howay hain. phoolon ke haar pehnay howay hain. gulab ki pattiyan nichawar ho rahi hain. sab khushian mana rahay hain.
kehtay hain islam ki nishat-e-saniya ka dor shuru honay wala hai. arsh or farsh aik doosray ke kareeb aa jayen gay. Pakistan is dor ka gehwara ho ga. wo ruk gaye, phir wakfay ke baad kehnay lagi, mainay dekha hai ke sadar-e-pakistan ki kursi khali pari hai, wahan kala jhanda laga howa hai. jo shakhs in ki jagah le ga wo bohat sakht geer admi ho ga. is ki darhi ghani hai. aankhain sabz hain. main dekh rahi hoon ke aik khooni jang ho gi. east pakistan hamaray hath se nikal jaye ga. kashmir hamain mil jaye ga. Pakistan ke ilakay main wus-at ho gi. ham Delhi per kabiz ho jain gay.
us roz Atiya baray josh main thi, wo musalsal batain kiye ja rahi thi. shahab or main chup chap baithay sun rahay thay. phir shahab bola, kehnay laga, mohtarma kuch aisi batain bhi to hain jo aap arsa-e-daraz se dekh rahi hain laikin woh wakoo pazeer nahi hotee.
haan wo boli kuch aisi batain bhi hain. laikin nashat-e-sania ki baat to ho kar rahay gi. chahay aaj ho ya chalees saal baad. or Pakistan nashat-e-sania ka markaz ho ga. ye to te shuda batain hain.
Atiya ki batain meray liye baihad paraishan kun theen. ye nashat-e-sania kya cheez hain. bhai jan bhi is ke baray main baat kia kartay thay. kaha kartay thay, tum Pakistan ka fikar na karo. Pakistan ka fikar karnay walay Allah ke banday mojood hain. tum jab bhi koi kadam uthanay lago to socho, kya mera ye kadam Pakistan ke liye bais-e-nuksaan to na ho ga.
is per mujhay khayal aata ke Pakistan ko itni ahmiyat kyoon de ja rahi hai. kya is liye k ye musalmano ka mulk hai. musalmano k to duniya main beesion mulk hain. phir ye bhi hai ke ham Pakistani to baray-e-naam musalman hain. phir ye bhi hai ke ham Pakistani to baray-e-naam musalman hain. na hamaray kirdar main islam ki jhalak hai, na aamal main islam ka rang hai. albatta aik wasf zaroor hai ke ham main islam ke liye, hazoor sal allaho alayehi wasallam ke liye, jazba mojood hai. kya pakistan ko ye sharf is jazbay ke liye hasil ho ga. ye to koi baat na hoi.

Mumtaz Mufti in Alakh Nagri

Sargodhay da leyla

2008-12-08T19:13:00.007+05:00

Someone said, 'People, like sheep, tend to follow a leader - occasionally in the right direction.' Well, this ram has surely come in the wrong direction, as he is going to regret later. And he has destroyed all my belief of domestic sheep being naive and friendly, for he is strong, macho, very very aggressive and perverted, that makes me want to castrate him. I mean jawani sab per aati hai laikin koi tameez bhi hoti hai. And this chilling cold makes me want to rip off his thick wool and rap it around myself. OK...I actually want his spleen too. I'm only going to eat it again next year. I make it in the simplest way: cut it into small cubes, sprinkle some salt and red chili powder and cook it on a pan. After its done, season it with some lemon juice, and it makes my Eid.

I wonder why doesn't the goat and cow population become extinct, provided millions of them are sacrificed in just three days. I think sacrificing them has become a part of natural ecosystem and the same amount is produced every year again. I read some where that the sheep population in New Zealand is actually more than the human population there. Perhaps they might consider slaughtering a few of them?

More music

2008-12-08T14:56:00.004+05:00

The other day I was at my friend's place at a little 'musical' gathering. I got it all recorded. This is my friend singing a Khayal in Raga Kamod in Aik Taal.

Destroying the first line of defense

2008-12-07T22:23:00.005+05:00

I feel sorry for ALL those killed in the Mumbai carnage. Even the Indians have no proof of Pakistani involvement in the Mumbai attacks as yet and this video goes on to say that ISI is behind EVERY terrorist attack in the world. Why they are all after ISI, I found my answer from Gen. Hamid Gul. He said that ISI is the first line of defense of the country. Destroying ISI would mean depriving a person of his ears and eyes and thus making it easy for the predators to attack. Let us for a while believe that ISI IS behind every attack in the world. Then thinking it from another perspective, I say that ISI is the most powerful organization of the world. It can do whatever it wants, anywhere it wants. And all other intelligence agencies of the world are so inferior to it that they never get the slightest idea of what ISI is upto.

Another 9/11

2008-12-06T22:35:00.001+05:00

Javed Chaudhry said that when the former president Musharraf had decided to resign he started meeting various journalists, one of whom was he. Musharraf told him that the Americans are fearing another attack like that of 9/11. They think that its plan is being devised in Pakistan and if such an attack does occur the Americans will need no other reason to strike. They will do to Pakistan what they did to Afghanistan.

Now that would be the best way for America to invade Pakistan and perhaps after killing millions of people they might say, 'Oops, there aren't any terrorists here. It was just a mistake, we were misguided.' I don't understand what problem have they got from Pakistan. If they were that committed, that friendly, that sincere they would have tried to make the Pak-Afghan border more secure, they would have tried to educate the people of FATA, they would have to make FATA and NWFP developed states by opening education institutions, industries etc. But they just want to kill people. And now that they are trying to enter Gen. Hamid Gull's name in the list of terrorists, I have no doubt left that they are not our friends. What problem have they got from a retired Deputy General of ISI who just sits and appears on the talk shows. Is it because he is anti American? It being the case, half of the world stands terrorist!

On the foot steps of America

2008-12-03T22:08:00.005+05:00

Even if they hadn't called it their 9/11 it would have reminded me of the event, not because of the hugeness of it but because of India's reaction to it: blaming Pakistan without any evidence so blatantly, demanding people and threatening to strike Pakistani areas. (But it will not, seriously, I don't think they have enough courage). And now I have no doubt left in my mind that India has not accepted Pakistan up till now and that they can't miss any opportunity to hurt/blame/strike Pakistan.

One of the ways to guess the culprit of an event is to see who gets the maximum benefit. Looking at the Mumbai event I think India has got the most benefits and Pakistan is in all disadvantage.

*They are getting sympathies from all over the world and this is a plus point politically.

*The Kashmir problem which was emerging in a new way and was gaining strength has been totally sidelined. Obama announced to play the role of arbitrator in the Kashmir issue and India's reaction was worth watching. They immediately sent a group to America to give briefing to Obama and his colleagues about the Kashmir issue. They have got rid of it for the time being.

*BJP has got political advantages as the elections are coming by. As was in the news that BJP distributed pamphlets saying 'If you want to get rid of terrorism then vote for BJP'

*Another advantage went to RAW. When the Samjhota Express incidence took place, India immediately blamed Pakistan for it. Later investigations showed that their own Colonel was responsible for burning down 62 Pakistanis alive and who had contacts with RAW. This Colonel was convicted and some terrorism squad was investigating the case. Luckily for the Colonel all the members of the team, including their head, were killed in Taj Hotel.

*They have got yet another reason to blame and threat Pakistan. America and India both have said that if Pakistan doesn't do something about the terrorist (as if what it is already doing is not enough) then they will attack the terrorist places inside Pakistan.

Pakistan on the other hand has all the disadvantages due to these attacks. The only benefit I see is that this incidence has showed once again that who is a friend and who is not, which the Pakistanis tend to forget very soon.

The science of love

2008-12-01T20:07:00.004+05:00

I saw this program in the Naked Science series the other day and noted the following interesting points:

Women in love have more blood flowing through their hippocampus.
Hippocampus is a part of brain and is concerned with memory. More blood flow means that the area is more active. Supposedly women recall their beloveds more and they talk about them a lot with their female friends.

Men and women prefer people who have immune systems different from them.
In their study they found out that men and women had very different immune systems from the partners they chose. They interpreted it as a tool of better survival. Two different immune systems provide a larger range of immunity to the offspring and helps in a better fight against diseases and thus better survival.

People prefer people having symmetry.
In an experiment they took the sweaty shirts of a group of men who had just played basketball and asked a group of women to smell the shirts and fill out a paper. The shirts were all white. They found out that women preferred men having more symmetry. (Symmetry is reflected in body odour?) Symmetry is attractive. But they found out that PERFECT symmetry is unattractive! Through graphic programming they replaced one half of the face with the reflection of the other half and the face looked ugly! So no one is perfectly symmetrical. They also found out that twenty four hours before ovulation women's ears and hands change shape to a very little fraction of length, making women more symmetrical and thus more attractive. (So if a man thinks that his beloved is looking more beautiful on a certain day, would it mean that she is ovulating and its just the right time? :-D) Humans are attracted by two other things according to their study: intelligence and body shape.

Fear and anxiety increases attractiveness and stimulates sexual drive.
Experiment: A woman gave the passing by men a certain survey form to fill and gave them her cell number in case they had any queries about the survey. She did this at two separate venues. At one place she was standing on bridge high above a fast flowing stream and the second time she was on the ground. The other day she got four times more calls from the men on bridge than on the ground!

Creativity and artistic behaviour increases sexual activity.
They said that artists have twenty five percent more sexual contacts than others. Well, I personally believed it before seeing this program and the only reason of paintings and music being prohibited in Islam, I could ever think of was exactly this. No second thought about why there is more sexual perversion, gays and all that, in media, acting and fashion designing etc.

Caudate nucleus was more stimulated in people in love.
Caudate nucleus is a part of brain of which one function out of many is to regulate the feelings of reward through the reward center. 'Recently, scientists have discovered the function of caudate in humans falling in love. When a group of college students were shown a photo of their beloved, both the caudate and the ventral tegmental areas lit up. These MRI brain scans suggest that the ventral tegmental floods the caudate with dopamine when falling in love' (Wikipedia) Now, is it possible to find out through an MRI that a person is in love or not? Not that easy. Interestingly they found out that cocaine also stimulates the same areas in brain; the reward centers. A person can do anything for his/her love and an addict can also do anything to obtain drugs (So being in love is like a drug addiction? And the other way round, do the people who abuse cocaine feel that they are in love?)

Pharmacology of love
Dopamine as I already said above increases in the caudate and ventral tegmental areas in people in love. They said that dopamine 'fuels romantic love' (Excess of dopamine causes psychosis and hallucinations. Any relation to people going mad in love? And can such people be treated with anti psychotic drugs?)
The other important drug is oxytocin which they called 'The cuddling chemical'. Oxytocin increases sexual drive and is released during intercourse. The more a couple has sex, the more oxytocin is released and the more they fall in love! Therefore people should not have with sex with someone they don't love! They found that oxytocin is important in forming monogamous pairs in certain mice. Oxytocin also increases trust and reduces fear!

Now the unanswered questions: Is love all a game of certain chemicals? How much control does a person has on love? Can the feelings of love be changed through chemicals? Can a person be 'made' to fall in love and can a person be made to forget his love just through drugs? Time and more research will tell :-)

My strength

2008-12-01T00:24:00.003+05:00

The enemies of Pakistan. They give me strength. Yes, they do. They give me reasons to love my country even more. Whenever they attack Pakistan, whenever they try to defame Pakistan, whenever they talk bad of Pakistan they make me proud of my country.

The other world: Dr. Atiya

2008-11-29T23:30:00.008+05:00

Shahab hansnay laga or bola yahan Karachi main aik seer hai, usay mustaqbil ki jhalkian nazar aati hain.

kahan hai, mainay poocha

us ne aik kaghaz per pata likh diya. kaghaz mujhay daitay howay kaha, mera naam le lijiye

Qaisar, Ahmed Bashir, Isfaq Hussain, Insha or main aglay roz ikathay ho kar Atiya se ja milay.

wo aik sanjeeda, kam go, ba wakar or taleem yafta khatoo thi. wahan kamray main kuch or log bhi baithay thay.

jee farmaye wo har sail se poochti. jab wo apni beeti suna chukta to gardan jhuka kar baith jati. kuch der yoonhi baithi rehti, phir sir utha kar muskarati or sawal ka jawab de daiti.

Qaisar k baad meir baari thi. mainay kaha mujhay kuch nahi poochna

aap Mumtaz Mufti hain? Atiya ne poocha

jee, mainay jawab diya

shahab sahib ne mujhay aap ki mutalliq phone kia tha

Ahmed Bashir bola, darasal ye shakhs apni sarisht ke khilaf kisi ko peer man baitha hai

Atiya muskarai, wo buzurg kahan hain jinhain peer maan baithay hain?

Pindi main

Atiya ne murakbay main sir jukha diya. chand sa-at baad sir uthaya. boli, wo khud aa gaye. oonchay, lambay, goray, chittay, sir per roomi topi thi. hath main hukka tha, punjabi booltay hain kehnay lagay: tu rehan day, asi apay seedha kar laan gay.

main soch main par gaya. isay kaisay pata chala ke wo roomi topi pehantay hain, hukkah peetay hain or punjabi boltay hain. or wo khud kaisay aa gaye. aik marhoom o maghfoor budha Pindi se Karachi kaisay aa gaya or phir lehja bhi to unhi ka tha. ye sab kya hai. ye kaisi duniya hai jahan log marnay ke baad azadana ghoomtay phirtay hain.

---------------------------------------------------

mainay faisla kia ke Atiya se akailay main miloo or isay poochoo ke ye gift usay kaisay mila. mainay telephone pe Atiya se wakt manga, wo man gaye.

mainay kaha mohtarma, aap ko mustaqbil ki jhalkian kaisay nazar aati hain? wo muskarai kehnay lagi kabhi mehsoosaat ke zariye jhalki nazar aati hai, kabhi aankhon ke samnay tasveer aa jati hai, kabhi aawazain sunai daiti hain or kabhi deewar pe film chalnay lagti hai.

aap kab se ye jhalkian dekh rahi hain

bachpan hi se, jab mujhay poori tarah shaoor nahi tha

phir us ne mujhay apnay bachpan ki mukhtasir si kahani sunai:

aik din parosan ki saas beemar par gaye. us ne shor macha diya ke jao doctor ko bula lao. us wakt main mareeza ke paas khari thi. mainay mareeza ki taraf dekha or mujhay yoon nazar aaya jaisay wo mar chuki ho. mainay buland awaz main kaha ab doctor ko bulanay ka kya faida, ye to mar chuki hai. ye keh kar main ghar chali aye. doctor ke pohanchnay se pehlay mareeza fot ho gaye. meri ye baat saray muhallay main mashhoor ho gaye. phir logo ne mujh se sawal poochna shuru kar diye. jab main in sawalaat per tawajju daiti to mujh per mehsoosat tari ho jatay jis ke mutabiq main unhain bata daiti ye ho jaye ga ya nahi.

kehnay lagi log samajhtay hain ye imtyazi salahiyat hai, ghalat samajhtay hain, mustaqbil ko jan laina bari takleef de baat hai. jab meray walid fot howay tab mainay jana tha ye kis kadar takleef de baat hai.

us roz mainay dekha ke aik kafan urta urta khirki se kamray main dakhil ho gaya or doosri charpaye per aa kar tik gaya. aik adh minute wo wahan para raha phir tehleel ho gaya. mainay shiddat se mehsoos kia keh aaj is kamray main koi fot honay wala hai. us roz das bajay mainay kafan ka manzar dekha tha. das bajay se teen bajay tak mujh per goya naza ka aalam tari raha. main mar mar ker jeeti rahi. main baar baar apnay mian or abba ko phone karti rahi, teen bajay wo ghar aaye to kuch tasalli howi. phir char bajay ke kareeb abba ke pait main dard utha or wo usi charpai per lait gaye jis per kafan tika raha tha. meray mian ne doctor ko phone kia laikin doctor ki amad se pehlay hi abba rukhsat ho gaye.

ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) ka mutalia karnay ki wajah se mujhay seers k baray main kuch maloomat hasil thee. mujhay ilm tha ke kuch logo ko paidaishi tor per mustaqbil ki jhalkian nazar aati hain. or kuch logo main sir ki chot lagnay per ye khasoosiat ubhar ati hai. mujhay ye bhi ilm tha ke is khasoosiat ko mazhab se koi ta-alluk nahi hai, laikin hairat ki baat thi ke Atiya ko mazhab se gehra ta-alluk tha.

Atiya ki kahani sun ker mainay jan liya k wo seer hi nahi kuch or bhi hai

Mumtaz Mufti Alakh Nagri

(his autobiography)

Send ups over

2008-11-29T18:58:00.003+05:00

My back is arched like that of an old man. My legs hurt and my brain is too saturated to contain anything else. Thinking that it was just a rehearsal and the final drama is yet to come, I get a little scared.

Wasted days

2008-11-25T22:04:00.001+05:00

A day without laughter is a day wasted.

Charlie Chaplin

Preparation of medical exams wastes so many days of our lives.

Nature unpredictable

2008-11-24T21:56:00.004+05:00

National Geographic is surely the best TV channel. Watch this baffling video and draw your conclusions. Humans have a lot to learn from animals.

Chickenpox and tarka

2008-11-23T22:13:00.000+05:00

Our maid said that if any one has got chickenpox then no food in the house should be flavoured with a tarka. Because tarka produces a sizzling sound that is supposed to enhance the severity of pox. Now, I never knew that varicella zoster virus (VZV) had a special affinity and liking for saturated fats or may be its just those specific food items that the virus likes. May be the virus likes Haleem or other pulses. Anyways, while the west is busy developing vaccines for viruses, we have a simple desi treatment at home.

Rock night: three blasts

2008-11-22T23:38:00.003+05:00

The enemy has succeeded in what it wanted exactly. It is crippling the people mentally. It is isolating Pakistan. The blasts at WPAF were an excellent success to further tatter the image of Pakistan and to prevent any foreigners coming here again. That would be the end of all the activities in Lahore. Cultural or sports or other. People are already afraid, now they will be even more. Mum and Dad straight away prohibited me from going to the festival today which I had a plan. We are smoothly and fast heading towards a big war.

To Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, with love

2008-11-22T16:10:00.005+05:00

I always wondered why we lack scientific minds. A part of the answer might be that because of what we do to the very few such people that we have. We hand over our neuro-scientists to America and we lock up our nuclear scientists. Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan is an asset. People say that he should have been made the president of the country. But I think that he should have been allowed to continue research work. He should have been allowed to establish universities, attract students to this his field and deliver lectures throughout the universities in the country. He should have been allowed to transfer his knowledge to the relevant people and to create minds like his. He should have been awarded with money and all the facilities that our non deserving ministers get to receive.

Even if he were involved in any nuclear trafficking, he should have been defended because he is OUR OWN. Being a Pakistani the government should have tried to cover up his faults and mistakes if there were any. As regard the accusations of other countries, if the government was not able to deny them straight forwardly, it could have handled the situation in a political and diplomatic manner. Like giving statements that 'we condemn it and we will conduct a trial' and actually not doing it or something like that.

Dear Dr. Khan,

Please forgive us, for what we did to you. Our heads are bowed and we are ashamed. We are just not aware or may be we are just too selfish. May Allah give you courage and health and make you able to produce like-minds and do more for the country.

Three D's

2008-11-22T15:50:00.001+05:00

Drone, Dengue and Depression

Ud kothay utton kanwa

2008-11-19T11:32:00.003+05:00

Well I'm not any Saima or Saira Naseem nor is this crow sitting on the kotha exactly but I still want it gone. I tried singing the song too but like in the movie, it kept on sitting till the end. It is sitting just outside my neighbour's upper storey window pane, a few meters from me. I can see and hear him clearly from my window. This crow caught my attention because he is in love. He sits at the same place for hours and caws. He caws when I am eating biscuits, when I am surfing the net, when I am just trying to relax and when I am trying to memorize the early and late changes after death. What attracts him there is his beloved. And he has every reason to come there daily because his beloved is very docile and does everything that he does. She caws when he does, she flaps her wings when he does; she is his own reflection in the mirror, literally. This stupid, stupid crow sits in front of the window pane, sees his own reflection and keeps on cawing. This makes him happy and me want to kill it. He has developed a long term memory and never forgets her. Far away, I can hear the screams of some eagle too but the eagle is just wasting time flying around. 'The eagle never lost so much time, as when he submitted to learn of the crow.' William Blake
I wish humans had a lesson from the crow too.

A little break

2008-11-15T21:51:00.012+05:00

I went to see some contemporary dance today at the festival and I've decided never to see contemporary dance again :-D It's not that it was bad. The performances were brilliant had their own philosophy and meaning of the dance which they explained before every act and they were all very well prepared and rehearsed but it just didn't catch my interest. They were from Banglore, India and they called themselves Nritarutya. Nevertheless the festival per se was sumptuous, as always. The ambience, the lights, the colours and those giant moving puppets.