What you do during load shedding?
Friday, 24 May 2013
What you do during load shedding? This is an interesting question. Generally, it is presumed that people sit fingers crossed just cribbing, bickering and cursing those who are responsible for this type of energy crises that has literally paralyzed the country.
Everyone is effected by load shedding? On the one hand, it is destroying the economy and on the other. It is taking its toll on human beings. Load shedding has changed the character of our social fiber. You can’t visit each other. Most of us are on the edge; jittery and short tempered. Students are suffering the most. Can you study and concentrate for your exam when temperature sores to 45 and above, your UPS system has stopped working and you have to light a candle. Other categories that are suffering the most are old people, patients and kids. Someone rightly tweeted this, young kids in future may ask what is electricity? No pun is intended here.
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Everyone is effected by load shedding? On the one hand, it is destroying the economy and on the other. It is taking its toll on human beings. Load shedding has changed the character of our social fiber. You can’t visit each other. Most of us are on the edge; jittery and short tempered. Students are suffering the most. Can you study and concentrate for your exam when temperature sores to 45 and above, your UPS system has stopped working and you have to light a candle. Other categories that are suffering the most are old people, patients and kids. Someone rightly tweeted this, young kids in future may ask what is electricity? No pun is intended here.
Labels: Energy Crises, Load Shedding
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Friday, May 24, 2013,
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The Meter-Gauge of Sindh
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Today’s post is dedicated to the Meter Gauge Railway located in Sindh province of Pakistan, which in its hey-day, had a network of 517 kilometers of track. Today 325 km of meter gauge track, a few locomotives and some workable coaches still remain; but it is just a matter of time before this National Heritage is completely lost to oblivion.
The photo above is courtesy of Agha Waseem Ahmed and shows a class YD 2-8-2 locomotive No 518, a veteran of meter-gauge railway, now at display as a monument at Sukkur’s Pakistan Railway Museum.
Read more »The photo above is courtesy of Agha Waseem Ahmed and shows a class YD 2-8-2 locomotive No 518, a veteran of meter-gauge railway, now at display as a monument at Sukkur’s Pakistan Railway Museum.
Labels: Railways
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, May 22, 2013,
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The State
The Republic in which Plato presented concept of the state starts with a query. “What is justice,” sitting in his academy Plato asks students who were all experts in their own respective fields.
As per Plato every thing in the world should be given its appropriate place. Biologically human body can be divided in three distinct and incompatible parts. Wisdom comes from head; stomach is responsible for distribution of calories to the whole body through intakes; hands and feet work for the body and act as guards. Humans die when this appropriation is disturbed. Head cannot act in the place of stomach or hand and vice versa.
Like human body he classifies the state population. The philosophers work as head, businessmen, presents and technicians work as stomach and soldiers and administrators work as arms and legs. If one of them takes the place of another, it will be a gross imbalance. With that the state shall fall sick and ultimately die. If each is at its own place, the state will become ideal.
As per Plato every thing in the world should be given its appropriate place. Biologically human body can be divided in three distinct and incompatible parts. Wisdom comes from head; stomach is responsible for distribution of calories to the whole body through intakes; hands and feet work for the body and act as guards. Humans die when this appropriation is disturbed. Head cannot act in the place of stomach or hand and vice versa.
Like human body he classifies the state population. The philosophers work as head, businessmen, presents and technicians work as stomach and soldiers and administrators work as arms and legs. If one of them takes the place of another, it will be a gross imbalance. With that the state shall fall sick and ultimately die. If each is at its own place, the state will become ideal.
Labels: Governance
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, May 22, 2013,
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Gentleman Cadet Shirazi, Number 14811 from Khalid – 4 Don't Move
Monday, 20 May 2013
Good man Jalal Hameed Bahtti is documenting the biographical history of Khalid 4 (55 PMA Long Course platoon). Those who don’t know, Jalal is also running a website for the course where he has been putting up everything regarding the course. Every member of the 55 PMA family (and their children) are there on that site.
Other day, Jalal sent the script of Khalid -4 for Lahore based Khalid 4 members to see and add if there was anything missing. Nouman, Khalid Javed, Tasawwar, Younus and I got together and the whole script was read. And let me confess, it was reliving the past. There was nothing missing. Jalal has done a wonderful job. Very well done! But why you couldn’t find anything to write about me. may be there wasn't any thing.
And we all know Nuaman moderates very well (no one else speaks when he is there. He has so much (interesting) to tell.
And we all know Nuaman moderates very well (no one else speaks when he is there. He has so much (interesting) to tell.
I can hear, "Gentleman Cadet Shirazi sahib, number 14811 from Khalid – 4 standing in the last row, mat hillen (don’t move)."
Labels: 55 PMA, Men At Their Best
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Monday, May 20, 2013,
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African Pakistanis
Thursday, 16 May 2013
By Omar H. Ali - University of North Carolina, Greensboro
When we think about the African Diaspora, most of us turn our attention to the rich array of images, cultures and histories of black men and women in the Atlantic world. This diaspora, beginning in the 16th century, included an estimated 10.7 million forced migrants—about 2 million had died during the Middle Passage—from West, West-Central, and Southeastern Africa whose labor, creativity, traditions and struggles have made much of the world what it is today. However, there has been a far older dispersion of Africans through the Indian Ocean, which has parallels to the Atlantic migration but also a number of significant differences. It began well over a thousand years before and likewise had a direct or indirect impact on tens of millions of people through personal contact, cultural influence or the fruits of black labor, yet it remains the lesser known of the two major migratory trajectories of Africans in the world.
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Archeological and genetic evidence indicate that between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago, Africans began migrating across the Middle East and South Asia in waves of humanity that populated Eurasia. Since antiquity regular contacts may be seen between Africa and Asia with sub-Saharan men and women appearing in the art of South and Southeast Asia. However, the historically documented dispersion of Africans in the Indian Ocean world was largely the product of migrations (voluntary and forced) beginning in the first century and continuing through the 20th.
Labels: Indigenous Culture
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Thursday, May 16, 2013,
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To Carry the Dust to Multan
Standing in Qila Kohna Qasim Bagh - accumulated debris of ages - one can think of Alexander the Great, Muhammad Bin Qasim, Saints, Mystics, Sultans, Gardezis, Gilanis, Qureshis, and Khawanis. But what you see is the ageing town hall and Ghanta Ghar, Hussain Agahi chowk - Hide Park of Multan - with the nerve jarring rattle of auto rickshaws, tangle of tonga and donkey carts vying for space with mechanical transport, vendors and shoppers, blaring music of audio video music centers and second hand cloths (landa) hung on the walls.
A city of monuments, Multan has been around for centuries. History of Multan dates back to ancient times. As per the legend, its origin is assigned to the time of Hazrat Noah (A S). Under the various Hellenic forms of ancient designations (Kasyapapura, Kashtpur, Hanspur, Bagpur and Mulasthan) Multan figures into works of Hecataeus, Herodotus and Ptolemy. It has been an empire, a kingdom, a province, a state, a capital and now a divisional headquarters. Thousands years after Macedonians, the conquerors of Multan present an amazing variety of races: Graeco-Bactrians are followed by the Kushans who in turn give place to White Hans. The Arab first arrived here in 662 A.D. and it came under Muslims rule in around 712. Multan also remained under Karmatians, Lodhis, and Ghaznivids. Between 1221 and 1528, ten invaders swept through the city till it finally fell in the hands of Mughals in 1528. Under the Mughal rulers, Multan enjoyed years of peace and prosperity. Nawab Muzzafar Khan remained in power from 1779 to 1818, when Ranjit Sing stormed the city. After a resolute defense, British captured Multan on 22 January 1849. From Alexander to Aurangzeb the city was built, damaged, repaired, destroyed, demolished, and reconstructed many times. After the British rule, partition once again changed the face of the city and it witnessed the new demographic and socio-economic order in 1947. Multan has been reinventing itself ever since.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ Thursday, May 16, 2013,
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Mandi Bahauddin Mein
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Originally Mandi Bahauddin was a village called as Chak number 51. It started expanding after the completion of Rasul Hydroelectric Power Station on Upper Jhelum Canal in 1901. Today, Mandi Bahauddin is an over crowded market town famous for its agricultural markets (Grain Market, Vegetable Market and Livestock Market) and local industry of making colourful bed legs.
The name Mandi Bahauddin originates from two sources: Mandi (market) was prefixed because it was a flourishing grain market and Bahauddin was borrowed from nearby old village Pindi Bahauddin, which has now become part of the town. After the partition, thousands of refugees from India rehabilitated on the evacuee property of Sikh and Hindu landlords. Lately, after the construction of Rasul Barrage, people from the belt along southern edge of Salt Range up to Pind Dadan Khan and other areas across the River Jhelum came settling in the town. Due to migrations and increase in business activities, the town has expanded in all directions. The result is that more than half of the population is living outside municipal limits without any civic amenities. More unplanned localities and kachi abadies are coming up everyday. The tendency to move from rural areas to urban centres is on the increase.
Read more »The name Mandi Bahauddin originates from two sources: Mandi (market) was prefixed because it was a flourishing grain market and Bahauddin was borrowed from nearby old village Pindi Bahauddin, which has now become part of the town. After the partition, thousands of refugees from India rehabilitated on the evacuee property of Sikh and Hindu landlords. Lately, after the construction of Rasul Barrage, people from the belt along southern edge of Salt Range up to Pind Dadan Khan and other areas across the River Jhelum came settling in the town. Due to migrations and increase in business activities, the town has expanded in all directions. The result is that more than half of the population is living outside municipal limits without any civic amenities. More unplanned localities and kachi abadies are coming up everyday. The tendency to move from rural areas to urban centres is on the increase.
Labels: Travel
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Tuesday, May 14, 2013,
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Living in a fort
Monday, 13 May 2013
Discover Odysseus Lahori - Pakistan's Top Travel Blog
Historic Baltit Fort is at a short walk from Karimabad. Around 700 years old castle has been rebuilt a number of times during the centuries it has seen. The present structure was constructed some 600 years ago and the architecture reflects a marked Tibetan influence. The story goes that a Princess from Baltistan married the local Thum and she brought in Balti masons, carpenters and craftsmen to build it and it. According to local legends, 300 labourers for the construction of the Fort were also part of the royal dowry of the Princess from Baltistan. In former times this impressive fort ensured the survival of Hunza regimes. But even before the Fort is reached, the old cobbled streets of Baltit village spanned by easily defensible archways seem to provide enough of a deterrent to all but the boldest of intruders. Within the fort itself, narrow stairs with a small opening into the living quarters on the first floor are features, which must have helped ensure that the ruling Thum stayed out of harms way.
The Fort stands on a natural citadel of a hillock overlooking the Valley and makes a fine vintage point to view high peaks that surrounds the Valley. While there is a splendid observation of Hunza from the Thums’ balcony on the first floor, the best view is from the roof, which is gained after an equally guarded ascent. There were excellent views even at night: the village lights and the stars overhead all seem mixed up. There are 53 rooms in the Fort. The designers extensively used wood during construction. The intricate woodwork on windows, doors, columns and railings is testimony to the artistic expertise of those who executed the work. The Fort served as residence of Hunza rulers until they abandoned it and shifted their residence to another fort down the valley.
Read more »Labels: Built Heritage, Travel
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Monday, May 13, 2013,
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Every day is a mothers' day
Sunday, 12 May 2013
Redefine relationships, make mothers your best friend.
Labels: Personal
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Sunday, May 12, 2013,
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Battle within
Saturday, 11 May 2013
There are no chances of this horrible battle coming to an end.
United Nations will sure manage to end this.
No, no. I am not talking of war that has been imposed upon our country.
Which battle are you talking about?
The one which waging within!
Labels: Sitaroon Ki Bastiyan
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Saturday, May 11, 2013,
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Blogging fusion
Friday, 10 May 2013
Labels: Fine Art of Blogging
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Friday, May 10, 2013,
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Data Gang Bukhsh
Monday, 6 May 2013
Before independence Rae Bahadar Ram Saran Das lived near the shrine of Data Gang Bukhsh. He was one of the rich landlords of Punjab and a philanthropist who would not discriminate between Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or Christians. His three sons caught Influenza when epidemic spread all around during World War I. Doctors including Colonel Sundar Land, husband of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s grand daughter Bampa Daleep Singh who was the principal Kind Edward Medical College Lahore, did not know what to do.
Ram Saran’s sons were isolated in one room. Ram Saran narrates that one night he woke up and saw a pious person praying in the room. “Who are you,” Ram Saran asked perplexed. “I am your neighbour Data Gang Bukhsh. I could not see your dilemma and have come to pray for your sons. Do not worry. Allah willing they will get better,” Data Gang Bakhsh assured him.
Read more »Ram Saran’s sons were isolated in one room. Ram Saran narrates that one night he woke up and saw a pious person praying in the room. “Who are you,” Ram Saran asked perplexed. “I am your neighbour Data Gang Bukhsh. I could not see your dilemma and have come to pray for your sons. Do not worry. Allah willing they will get better,” Data Gang Bakhsh assured him.
Labels: History
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Monday, May 06, 2013,
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Balochistan Karez System
Friday, 3 May 2013
West of Indus Plains and out of monsoon zone is Balochistan – the largest landmass in Pakistan with an area of 343, 000 square kilometres.
Balochistan is scarcely populated, mainly due to its daunting arid geography. It includes the mountainous country separated by intervening valleys. Balochistan receives very low rainfall annually. But innumerable natural springs known as "Karez" and streams are found in most of the areas.
Read more »Balochistan is scarcely populated, mainly due to its daunting arid geography. It includes the mountainous country separated by intervening valleys. Balochistan receives very low rainfall annually. But innumerable natural springs known as "Karez" and streams are found in most of the areas.
Labels: Balochistan
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Friday, May 03, 2013,
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Temples of Katas Raj
Thursday, 2 May 2013
The mention of Katas Raj, located in the Salt Range 18 miles south of Chakwal, is found in Maha Bharat written in 300 BC. The etymology of this place as narrated in the old edition of Tarikh-i-Jhelum (History of Jhelum) is that according to Brahaman belief, Shiv Devta wept so profusely on the death of his beloved wife Satti that two holy ponds – one at Pushkar of Ajmair and other at Katak Shell – came into being with his tears. In Sanskrit, the word – Katak Shell – means chain of tears which later on was pronounced as ‘Katas’.
Read more »Labels: Heritage, Katas, Salt Range
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Thursday, May 02, 2013,
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Celebrating 38 years together
Monday, 29 April 2013
It was 38 years ago that over 200 young men, mostly in their teens from many cities and villages from across Pakistan descended on the soil of Abbottabad and joined the Pakistan Military Academy to realize their dreams of joining the Pakistan Army. Many of these young men made it to the profession of arms and served all arms and services of Pakistan for varying time periods.
As of now, of those 179 who passed out with 55 PMA Long Course, a few two and three stars continue to serve their country and the Army with pride and diginity.
On April 27-28, Abbottabad once again heard the familiar footstep of some fifty plus of once young men, now with grey hair, accompanied with their families and grand children flocking Abbottabad for a two day reunion and celebrate those two years they spent in the Pakistan Military Academy from 1975-77.
Read more »Labels: 55 PMA, Get Together, Men At Their Best
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Monday, April 29, 2013,
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