Tuesday, December 28, 2010

End Year Blues...2010

So the year is approaching to its end finally...and it is freezing too...A dry freezing December to cap all the warmth and buzz of 2010. A strange cap indeed. But the year has been phenomenal to say the least for me and those surrounding me. Phenomenal but not always positively phenomenal. So a recap of year from my lenses.
Professionally year was quite good. A lot of friends graduated with their PhD degrees in the year. Universities gave a very warm reception to all of us. Almost everyone is engaged in some kind of positive work to contribute towards betterment of the nation. Mercifully none of us proved to be greedy to choose greener pastures and stayed back home happily. We got some wonderful colleagues and students who will be our pride for all our lives. First of our friends headed for his next big achievement as Dr. Arfan Jaffar is now pursuing his Post-Doc in South Korea.
The relationships started scattering with elders, colleagues and friends drifting away and away as their careers and lives led them to different paths. As the tide turns smoother and we look back at how 2010 started and ended...the nostalgia become immense to bear. Lives became less about interaction and more about inter-connectivity. That is funny indeed...
Nationally, the chaos prevailed which has become our hallmark. Here in Pakistan, we have started to wonder if we will be able to survive one non-chaotic, routine and peaceful day? As mentioned 3 months ago, time to bet on Pakistani politics is on and is gaining momentum. More and more fault lines are appearing with mainstream political establishments losing ground, meaningless populist activism taking hold and corruption becoming norm rather than exception.
On the front of arts, Coke Studio this year was disappointment for many but in my case, it was again instrumental in reinventing Arif Lohar, Tina Sani and Karavan...I will be uploading my three best recordings of this year's Coke Studio on 31st December so keep looking for that. And yes...SYMT was an encouraging find of the year in my personal opinion. Internationally, music also seemed in a sort of hibernation to me as no major attractions appeared at least for me there. About theater and cinema...the least said the better. Except for Inception, I don't think anything worth mentioning appeared. On local front Dabangg was noteworthy as it changed the whole equation despite its totally idiotic script and more idiotic acting. Times are becoming more and more strange.
And the biggest of all was not Mark Zuckerberg and the face book...It was also not the oil spills of America and Eurofreeze...It was also not the commonwealth games in India or Football world cup in South Africa...In my opinion, the year will be remembered for all times to come as the one that changed our whole perception about media, diplomacy and LEAKS. WIKILEAKS is perhaps the most significant event of 2010. And as the decade is coming to an end... I will rate WIKILEAKS aming the five greatest things of this past decade. Perhaps very close to the history changing event of 9/11 bombings of WTC that happened in 2001. Julian Assange and WIKILEAKS have made 2010 an immortal year in history.
So the year is coming to its end...decade is coming to its end and it is a freezing December. Enjoy the year end blues. Enjoy the top 10 lists of everything in 2010 published by Time magazine on the following link (Courtesy Time Magazine) :


 





Thursday, December 23, 2010

My only leader...My Jinnah on his 134th Birthday

Who else can be a leader like him?
I like to think that I am a history buff...and frankly I am someone who gets fascinated by a lot of people quite frequently. I adore a lot of people but there is a strange twist to this fact as well. When it comes to leadership then there are only two men from twentieth century whom I consider leader in true sense. And quite strangely, both exploded on their respective horizons at the same time. Churchill and Jinnah are those two names. 
Churchill becuase he was too ordinary a man to fascinate and inspire the imagination of his people and those of other allied nations in second world war. He seemed to have no charsima, no distinction, no honors. He seemed like a minnow among his allies and enemies...the likes of Roosevelt, Stalin, Kai Shek, Hitler, Missoulini etc. They were the names, inspiration, fascination of their respective nations while Churchill was seemingly  just a fat drunkard who knew nothing about how to fight a war. Yet, it was only this one fat drunkard, who designed the whole war. Who made all the schemes and arrangements. It was he who kept on traveling in broken planes, freezing, but determined to win the war in which he so much believed. He seemed like fighting a war which he could not even inspire his nation for. Yet he was determined, unafraid and brave enough to believe and finally made everyone else believe in him. He is still under rated yet he was the true architect in my opinion.
And there was Jinnah. A man so charismatic, so enlightened, so educated that he seemed totally lost to his nation. His nation could never relate to the manners and language Jinnah used. He talked but noone amongst his constituency understood. He behaved totally opposite to how his people behaved. He lived an alien life and followed alien traditions. He was no Gnadhi, Sabhash Chandar Bose, AbulKalama Azad etc. He never believed in political manoeuvrings that were norm of his times. He never violated law despite he being totally against it. He never went to jail to become popular. He despised favors and never tolerated any personal endorsements. A strict disciplinarian who was always mocked by his contemporaries for his principles. He also had a war in which there was no hope for him. But just like Churchill, he overcame all of this and won his war. The war that he fought was not for himself. He was diagnosed with last stage of cancer while he was in the middle of his fight yet noone knew it till his death. He was not fighting it for riches and claims. He was already amongst the richest and most affluent and most charming amongst Indian elite. He was also not fighting it just for those who call themselves Pakistanis today. He was fighting it for all of those who believed that oppressed have a right to speak and make their decisions. He was fighting it for all of those who believed in rule of law and its abidance. He was fighting it for all of those who believed in power of people. He was fighting this war for those who believed that all men and women have equal rights which need to be respected. He was a leader of all nations and all people of this world. The sad fact is that we Pakistanis have proved to be so inept inheritors of such legacy that instead of spreading his message properly, we have even made him an alien in our own society. A democratic nation based on principles of equality, respect and tolerance as visualized by him has been transformed into crowd ruled by mob and military, intolerant and ignorant, corrupted by greed and blinded by hate towards each other. It is sad fact of this day when I am trying to remember who my leader actually was.
Jinnah (or Qiaid-E-Azam), the great leader as we call him was great because he was not pretentious. He was great because he was honest and always spoke truth. He was leader because he stood with what was right. He was inspiration because he thought of himself as a human with weaknesses. He was never proud of his weaknesses but he never attempted to gloss over them. He never pretended to be demigod with all the solutions in his pocket. He was loved because he loved everyone...irrespective of his status, creed, race or religion. He was respected because he respected everyone...friends and enemies alike. Jinnah was a Muslim, a constitutionalist, a democrat, a pragmatist, a realist in the true sense of words. I remember him today, on his birthday as my only leader of twentieth century. May his teachings, his legacy and his traits spread amongst all the mankind and his soul rest in peace till eternity.
A few of his landmark pictures...an asset left with us to cherish and remember...








Saturday, December 18, 2010

Dr. Aftab A. Maroof...my Teacher, my Mentor, my Role Model

Dr. Aftab A. Maroof
Dr. Aftab A. Maroof is not just my teacher and my mentor. He has been so to undoubtedly thousands of young and not so young (like me) who frequented the corridors of National University, FAST, Islamabad campus. He has been associated with this institute for approximately fifteen years now and still is. He has also been director of this campus for past ten years. And today, this is the point of this blog. Some such news are circulating that Dr. Waseem Ikram (another most distinguished and very kind of my teachers) has replaced him as director FAST, Islamabad campus. If it is true, it is the most fitting conclusion of a very traumatic week for me when I am greatly missing the company of a few of my friends and a few of my most respected teachers. It seems odd to listen from someone as old (and supposedly mature) a person as myself but the fact is that for me, it is difficult to visualize FAST, Islamabad campus without thinking of Dr. Aftab sitting in director's office. Just the thought of his presence in that prestigious seat filled our hearts with comfort. Respected Dr. was the sole force behind fulfilling the dream of FAST Islamabad campus. He literally built it with his affection, love and toil. Dr. Aftab oversaw the conceptualization, formation and maturity of a very successful PhD program at FAST. He truly was among the three architects of PhD program (the other two being my most respected sir Dr. Rauf Baig and sir Dr. Anwar M. Mirza). So many battles have been won under his guidance, so much wisdom has been learnt through his words. So much respect has been earned because of his teachings.
Dr. Aftab will always be my role model. And role model of many others like me. His humbleness, his humility, his grace, his wisdom and his straightforwardness...wishing all the very best to new director FAST, our most respectable Dr. Waseem Ikram and bidding a very sad farewell to Dr. Aftab as director (thanks god he will be with us in Islamabad...).
Lastly to sir Dr. Aftab...I hope now we shall have ample time to sit together and discuss so many things under the sun about which, we, your students are curious and about which, only you have answers...I still regret my chance of traveling with you when you went on that famous trip to India. May you live long and happy amongst us Dr. Aftab...

Thursday, December 9, 2010

What do you do when start losing hold of people who cared about you?

  These days are quite tense days for me on a personal note and I wished to record it as many others may relate to it as well. The dilemma is quite strange but equally difficult to grasp. I am talking about losing hold of people who are quite well and healthy and happy in their lives and who are as best my friends and family now as they always were. Yet the feeling of losing hold of them is quite intense.
I have always been considered as someone who has been blessed with great company. I have wonderful family and some of the greatest people as peers and friends anyone can ever imagine. I was blessed with greatest of my memories in past ten years. These have been my most blessed years of life. More so because I had my family, my teachers and my friends around me. The thought of ever being without such great companions never struck me....
But then, it started happening...the family started to take its logical course of action as siblings started to move out as they grew in age. Younger sisters and brothers who grew up before me started looking so mature that at one time it pleased and at another it saddened with the realization that another thread with my own childhood has collapsed. We, were children a few years back and we were becoming parents now. The feeling was both of accomplishment and of nostalgia.
And now, another transition is taking place. The problem for me is that transitions are so quick that my mind is unable to grasp it. The circle of peers and friends that we (and I in particular) cultivated with so much love started to disperse. In the words of another friend "Our swarm has started whirling". It started with departure of our respected teachers, Dr. Anwar M. Mirza and Dr. Rauf Baig departing for Saudi Arabia in quick succesion. It was followed by departure of Dr. Amjad to Lahore which suddenly started feeling like another country. And now, Dr. Arfan Jaffar is about to leave for South Korea. Despite wishing all of these great and lovely comrades every happiness in the world, somewhere inside my heart, I wish the time to roll back and some how grab all of them again within my circle of loved ones.

So, a very warm happy birthday to myself which is looking so lonely and so sad this year...without my very loved friends and well wishers around me...A personal nostalgia

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

End Year Blues...2010

So the year is approaching to its end finally...and it is freezing too...A dry freezing December to cap all the warmth and buzz of 2010. A strange cap indeed. But the year has been phenomenal to say the least for me and those surrounding me. Phenomenal but not always positively phenomenal. So a recap of year from my lenses.
Professionally year was quite good. A lot of friends graduated with their PhD degrees in the year. Universities gave a very warm reception to all of us. Almost everyone is engaged in some kind of positive work to contribute towards betterment of the nation. Mercifully none of us proved to be greedy to choose greener pastures and stayed back home happily. We got some wonderful colleagues and students who will be our pride for all our lives. First of our friends headed for his next big achievement as Dr. Arfan Jaffar is now pursuing his Post-Doc in South Korea.
The relationships started scattering with elders, colleagues and friends drifting away and away as their careers and lives led them to different paths. As the tide turns smoother and we look back at how 2010 started and ended...the nostalgia become immense to bear. Lives became less about interaction and more about inter-connectivity. That is funny indeed...
Nationally, the chaos prevailed which has become our hallmark. Here in Pakistan, we have started to wonder if we will be able to survive one non-chaotic, routine and peaceful day? As mentioned 3 months ago, time to bet on Pakistani politics is on and is gaining momentum. More and more fault lines are appearing with mainstream political establishments losing ground, meaningless populist activism taking hold and corruption becoming norm rather than exception.
On the front of arts, Coke Studio this year was disappointment for many but in my case, it was again instrumental in reinventing Arif Lohar, Tina Sani and Karavan...I will be uploading my three best recordings of this year's Coke Studio on 31st December so keep looking for that. And yes...SYMT was an encouraging find of the year in my personal opinion. Internationally, music also seemed in a sort of hibernation to me as no major attractions appeared at least for me there. About theater and cinema...the least said the better. Except for Inception, I don't think anything worth mentioning appeared. On local front Dabangg was noteworthy as it changed the whole equation despite its totally idiotic script and more idiotic acting. Times are becoming more and more strange.
And the biggest of all was not Mark Zuckerberg and the face book...It was also not the oil spills of America and Eurofreeze...It was also not the commonwealth games in India or Football world cup in South Africa...In my opinion, the year will be remembered for all times to come as the one that changed our whole perception about media, diplomacy and LEAKS. WIKILEAKS is perhaps the most significant event of 2010. And as the decade is coming to an end... I will rate WIKILEAKS aming the five greatest things of this past decade. Perhaps very close to the history changing event of 9/11 bombings of WTC that happened in 2001. Julian Assange and WIKILEAKS have made 2010 an immortal year in history.
So the year is coming to its end...decade is coming to its end and it is a freezing December. Enjoy the year end blues. Enjoy the top 10 lists of everything in 2010 published by Time magazine on the following link (Courtesy Time Magazine) :


 





Thursday, December 23, 2010

My only leader...My Jinnah on his 134th Birthday

Who else can be a leader like him?
I like to think that I am a history buff...and frankly I am someone who gets fascinated by a lot of people quite frequently. I adore a lot of people but there is a strange twist to this fact as well. When it comes to leadership then there are only two men from twentieth century whom I consider leader in true sense. And quite strangely, both exploded on their respective horizons at the same time. Churchill and Jinnah are those two names. 
Churchill becuase he was too ordinary a man to fascinate and inspire the imagination of his people and those of other allied nations in second world war. He seemed to have no charsima, no distinction, no honors. He seemed like a minnow among his allies and enemies...the likes of Roosevelt, Stalin, Kai Shek, Hitler, Missoulini etc. They were the names, inspiration, fascination of their respective nations while Churchill was seemingly  just a fat drunkard who knew nothing about how to fight a war. Yet, it was only this one fat drunkard, who designed the whole war. Who made all the schemes and arrangements. It was he who kept on traveling in broken planes, freezing, but determined to win the war in which he so much believed. He seemed like fighting a war which he could not even inspire his nation for. Yet he was determined, unafraid and brave enough to believe and finally made everyone else believe in him. He is still under rated yet he was the true architect in my opinion.
And there was Jinnah. A man so charismatic, so enlightened, so educated that he seemed totally lost to his nation. His nation could never relate to the manners and language Jinnah used. He talked but noone amongst his constituency understood. He behaved totally opposite to how his people behaved. He lived an alien life and followed alien traditions. He was no Gnadhi, Sabhash Chandar Bose, AbulKalama Azad etc. He never believed in political manoeuvrings that were norm of his times. He never violated law despite he being totally against it. He never went to jail to become popular. He despised favors and never tolerated any personal endorsements. A strict disciplinarian who was always mocked by his contemporaries for his principles. He also had a war in which there was no hope for him. But just like Churchill, he overcame all of this and won his war. The war that he fought was not for himself. He was diagnosed with last stage of cancer while he was in the middle of his fight yet noone knew it till his death. He was not fighting it for riches and claims. He was already amongst the richest and most affluent and most charming amongst Indian elite. He was also not fighting it just for those who call themselves Pakistanis today. He was fighting it for all of those who believed that oppressed have a right to speak and make their decisions. He was fighting it for all of those who believed in rule of law and its abidance. He was fighting it for all of those who believed in power of people. He was fighting this war for those who believed that all men and women have equal rights which need to be respected. He was a leader of all nations and all people of this world. The sad fact is that we Pakistanis have proved to be so inept inheritors of such legacy that instead of spreading his message properly, we have even made him an alien in our own society. A democratic nation based on principles of equality, respect and tolerance as visualized by him has been transformed into crowd ruled by mob and military, intolerant and ignorant, corrupted by greed and blinded by hate towards each other. It is sad fact of this day when I am trying to remember who my leader actually was.
Jinnah (or Qiaid-E-Azam), the great leader as we call him was great because he was not pretentious. He was great because he was honest and always spoke truth. He was leader because he stood with what was right. He was inspiration because he thought of himself as a human with weaknesses. He was never proud of his weaknesses but he never attempted to gloss over them. He never pretended to be demigod with all the solutions in his pocket. He was loved because he loved everyone...irrespective of his status, creed, race or religion. He was respected because he respected everyone...friends and enemies alike. Jinnah was a Muslim, a constitutionalist, a democrat, a pragmatist, a realist in the true sense of words. I remember him today, on his birthday as my only leader of twentieth century. May his teachings, his legacy and his traits spread amongst all the mankind and his soul rest in peace till eternity.
A few of his landmark pictures...an asset left with us to cherish and remember...








Saturday, December 18, 2010

Dr. Aftab A. Maroof...my Teacher, my Mentor, my Role Model

Dr. Aftab A. Maroof
Dr. Aftab A. Maroof is not just my teacher and my mentor. He has been so to undoubtedly thousands of young and not so young (like me) who frequented the corridors of National University, FAST, Islamabad campus. He has been associated with this institute for approximately fifteen years now and still is. He has also been director of this campus for past ten years. And today, this is the point of this blog. Some such news are circulating that Dr. Waseem Ikram (another most distinguished and very kind of my teachers) has replaced him as director FAST, Islamabad campus. If it is true, it is the most fitting conclusion of a very traumatic week for me when I am greatly missing the company of a few of my friends and a few of my most respected teachers. It seems odd to listen from someone as old (and supposedly mature) a person as myself but the fact is that for me, it is difficult to visualize FAST, Islamabad campus without thinking of Dr. Aftab sitting in director's office. Just the thought of his presence in that prestigious seat filled our hearts with comfort. Respected Dr. was the sole force behind fulfilling the dream of FAST Islamabad campus. He literally built it with his affection, love and toil. Dr. Aftab oversaw the conceptualization, formation and maturity of a very successful PhD program at FAST. He truly was among the three architects of PhD program (the other two being my most respected sir Dr. Rauf Baig and sir Dr. Anwar M. Mirza). So many battles have been won under his guidance, so much wisdom has been learnt through his words. So much respect has been earned because of his teachings.
Dr. Aftab will always be my role model. And role model of many others like me. His humbleness, his humility, his grace, his wisdom and his straightforwardness...wishing all the very best to new director FAST, our most respectable Dr. Waseem Ikram and bidding a very sad farewell to Dr. Aftab as director (thanks god he will be with us in Islamabad...).
Lastly to sir Dr. Aftab...I hope now we shall have ample time to sit together and discuss so many things under the sun about which, we, your students are curious and about which, only you have answers...I still regret my chance of traveling with you when you went on that famous trip to India. May you live long and happy amongst us Dr. Aftab...

Thursday, December 9, 2010

What do you do when start losing hold of people who cared about you?

  These days are quite tense days for me on a personal note and I wished to record it as many others may relate to it as well. The dilemma is quite strange but equally difficult to grasp. I am talking about losing hold of people who are quite well and healthy and happy in their lives and who are as best my friends and family now as they always were. Yet the feeling of losing hold of them is quite intense.
I have always been considered as someone who has been blessed with great company. I have wonderful family and some of the greatest people as peers and friends anyone can ever imagine. I was blessed with greatest of my memories in past ten years. These have been my most blessed years of life. More so because I had my family, my teachers and my friends around me. The thought of ever being without such great companions never struck me....
But then, it started happening...the family started to take its logical course of action as siblings started to move out as they grew in age. Younger sisters and brothers who grew up before me started looking so mature that at one time it pleased and at another it saddened with the realization that another thread with my own childhood has collapsed. We, were children a few years back and we were becoming parents now. The feeling was both of accomplishment and of nostalgia.
And now, another transition is taking place. The problem for me is that transitions are so quick that my mind is unable to grasp it. The circle of peers and friends that we (and I in particular) cultivated with so much love started to disperse. In the words of another friend "Our swarm has started whirling". It started with departure of our respected teachers, Dr. Anwar M. Mirza and Dr. Rauf Baig departing for Saudi Arabia in quick succesion. It was followed by departure of Dr. Amjad to Lahore which suddenly started feeling like another country. And now, Dr. Arfan Jaffar is about to leave for South Korea. Despite wishing all of these great and lovely comrades every happiness in the world, somewhere inside my heart, I wish the time to roll back and some how grab all of them again within my circle of loved ones.

So, a very warm happy birthday to myself which is looking so lonely and so sad this year...without my very loved friends and well wishers around me...A personal nostalgia
Protected by Copyscape Duplicate Content Finder