Living with a white peacock
Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Labels: Lahore School, Peacock
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, January 13, 2016,
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Fruit Basket From Pashin
Monday, 11 January 2016
Visit Pishin at this time of the year and one finds thousands of acres of fruit orchards. The rich harvest of apples, grapes, plums, peaches and apricots is seen every where. I discovered the area, and the taste of the fruit, during my stay at the School of Infantry and Tactics, Quetta when we used to walk miles and miles for training maneuvers. It is still the same.
Legend attributes the origin of the name Pishin to a son of the Emperor Afrasiab. Until the middle of the 18 th century, when Quetta finally passed into the hands of Brahvi rulers, the history of Pishin is identical with the province of Kandahar. The earliest mention of Pishin is found in the ancient writing in which "Pishinorha" is described as a valley in an elevated part of the country and containing a barren level plain.
Read more »Legend attributes the origin of the name Pishin to a son of the Emperor Afrasiab. Until the middle of the 18 th century, when Quetta finally passed into the hands of Brahvi rulers, the history of Pishin is identical with the province of Kandahar. The earliest mention of Pishin is found in the ancient writing in which "Pishinorha" is described as a valley in an elevated part of the country and containing a barren level plain.
Labels: Travel
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Monday, January 11, 2016,
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When wishes are horses
Sunday, 3 January 2016
Setting eyes on Maqbool and his mule cart for the first time, one culd be forgiven for thinking that he belongs to a working class endeavoring for survival. His shabby dress and toes peeping out of slippers too large for him, do not project an image of a contented and happy man who is fond of good animals and racing.
I first met Maqbool, commonly known as Bola Rehre Wala, at the Multan Railway Station where he works from 6 am to 9 pm every day, no holidays. He takes all the newspapers and magazines arriving at Multan Railway Station from all over Pakistan to various newspaper agencies in the city. He also takes with him any other load he may find on the Railway Station if he is free and his mule is 'willing'. He earns six to eight hundred rupees daily out of which two hundred rupees go to the diet and care of his mule.
Over a period of time, I found out that he has four children, two boys and two girls, none going to school. He and his wife do not wish to send their children to school because the boys are to join him in work as soon as they grow up and the girls are to be married off. His wife takes care of every thing at home. His elder son Nasir Iqbal has already started giving him a hand off and on. In return Nasir gets two hundred and fifty rupees per week as pocket money from his mother, which he spends on rented VCR and five films every week. The family has a colored TV in their in two room house with a separate place for the mule and the cart. Bola is not getting the cable connection because he fears, "girls will see cable all the time."
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ Sunday, January 03, 2016,
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Local blog context
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
Blogs initially started as archives for web links on the Internet. Users could place important links on blogs to be referred and read later. Overtime blogging has matured as a phenomenon and one can see meaningful and useful blogs on any subject online. Blogsphere has become a very strong voice; vibrant, living and ever growing.
Pakistan blogsphere (blogs about Pakistan by local bloggers and those bloggers who are living abroad) has created its own identity that is mostly political and or personal. Pakistan corporate blogging has yet to take off though. Where personal blog create social harmony, well knit community and peace, political blogs add to the positive image Pakistan needs so much, more so in online world. Given the strength of powerful international media and in the face negative content, there has always been a lack of local content. Thanks to able Pakistani bloggers that they are adding meaningful local content in their blogs and that contextual content not only answers some of what mostly ill informed foreign media says but also add to the positive image.
Need of the hour is that Pakistani bloggers come forward and play their role by adding more content that is based on facts and first hand information. You owe this to Pakistan. No?
Labels: Fine Art of Blogging
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, December 23, 2015,
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Virtual Communities
Monday, 14 December 2015
Virtual world is seamlessly getting into real world. Social side of technologies is making the World Wide Web much more localized by bringing like-minded people together and in the process creating closely knit online communities.
Combination of features like worldwide accessibility and instantaneous communication has made it possible for backpackers, globetrotters and other curious from all over the world to join together at different online platforms to exchange information, experiences and plans in their favorite pursuit; travel.
Subscribers range from the professional travel writers to hardcore travelers and adventurers and commoners who are simply interested in reading online. Travel communities are accessible by millions of interested people all over the world.
Read more »Combination of features like worldwide accessibility and instantaneous communication has made it possible for backpackers, globetrotters and other curious from all over the world to join together at different online platforms to exchange information, experiences and plans in their favorite pursuit; travel.
Subscribers range from the professional travel writers to hardcore travelers and adventurers and commoners who are simply interested in reading online. Travel communities are accessible by millions of interested people all over the world.
Labels: Virtual Communities
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Monday, December 14, 2015,
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Sunday Tending
Saturday, 12 December 2015
Labels: Trees
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Saturday, December 12, 2015,
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Urdu Twitter for Hilal
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
This article appeared in June 2012 issue of Pakistan Army Monthly Hilal
.
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Labels: Social Media, Twitter, Urdu Blogs
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, November 04, 2015,
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Khanewal Junction
Friday, 30 October 2015
Located near old Multan, Khanewal is comparatively a recently founded town. Its only claim to fame is that it is an important destination on the map of Pakistan Railways. Busy railway junction, railway workshop, pre stressed concrete sleeper factory and huge shunting yards have developed a sort of railway culture in this agricultural market town. National highway also passes the town but people mostly uses railways for travelling and transportation.
This area was a vast grazing land before the excavation of Lower Bari Doab Canal. As per the local lore, the grass from this land used to go as far as Burma during the Second World War.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ Friday, October 30, 2015,
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Historic Trilogy
Wednesday, 7 October 2015
The first thought that came into my mind after visiting Okara can be described by four words: milk, butter, mammals and farms. Peers also told me the same. Besides Harappan ruins, I did not know the area. But one thing I did know, though, was that I should be happy to say goodbye to the place. Two years later, I felt drawn to the area and its people and it was very hard for me to part. There is so much to be seen, so much to be done. Above all, it has spirited, sincere and full-of-love people living in Gogera, Dipalpur and Pakpattan historic trilogy. The distances in the hinterland are short but the landscape is so enormous that it had to be studied in parts like a large mural seen by a child.
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, October 07, 2015,
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What Are Criminals Made Of?
Saturday, 3 October 2015
Violent crimes have been at historic up nationwide; they are rising sharply in all cities. The rise seems to have been set off by something more bewildering.
Imagine Lahore only ten years ago: It was a different city; socially cohesive, closely knit. Young children could go visiting neighbors or to nearby shopping centers to get groceries and other things but not now. People then knew each other personally and had strong social bounds; hence courtesies for each other.
Things started changing with an exponential increase in urbanization. Large number of outsiders started moving in Lahore to live and or work. Now even the immediate neighbors do not know each other and people act like total strangers. Garish housing societies have come up on all the open spaces inside the city and Lahore has expanded much beyond what used to be municipal boundaries. The crime rate has grown with mush faster speed than the city.
Read more »Labels: Crimes, Criminals, Society
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Saturday, October 03, 2015,
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