Light Within

Happening now and I am attending [April 29, 2011]

Norbert Pintsch, Ghayyoor Obaid, Njini Victor, Ndu-Ricardo Coslez  - Institute for Planning and Consulting

The departure from tested construction principles (e.g. local construction materials, traditional construction methods) in the last decade has resulted in our forgetting, that construction units have a "life" of their own.

Does this fact remain unconsidered, even the best design features cannot to conceal the wrongful investment : scrap remains scrap !

In the current understanding of economics, construction objects get an image of positive Return on Investment, because the consequences of Technolgy Inputs have either not at all or only formally been evaluated.

This means in the practice, that even after a lapse of decades, the erroneousness of the development has not been recognized.

New York is one of the most popular travel destinations. Not only in America, New York is one of the busiest tourist destinations in the world. Just the name is enough to send any traveler dreaming. New York is a vibrant, multicultural city with a unique atmosphere where unusual and even surreal experiences abound. Exploring New York attractions online I came upon Gray Line New York – the source for NYC's best double-decker bus and deluxe motor coach tours.

Gray Line New York offers double-decker, hop-on, hop-off bus tours that include Uptown, Downtown, Brooklyn and Night loops. They also offer fully escorted English and foreign language motor coach tours in different languages including German, French, Korean, Spanish and Italian with top multi-lingual tour guides. Also Gray Line New York Sightseeing sells all major attractions tickets, including Broadway show tickets.

One of the best at Gray Line New York is Woodbury Common Premium Outlets Bus from New York. At the world-famous Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, you can see and shop at 220 designer and brand-name outlet stores. You will find impressive savings of  as much as of 65% everyday from leading designers and name brands and much more. Have a look at the neatly laid out site and see what is on the offer. Better still plan to take a hop on your next visit to New York

Salman Rashid

Balochistan was the greatest railway adventure there was in Pakistan. It drubbed the much-flaunted Khyber Pass train by miles. I wish I could talk of it in the present tense, but sadly that is not the case. It was once a great railway adventure.

There was, for example, the magnificent line that ran north of Sibi through Harnai, into the Chappar Rift and on to Quetta. The marvel of engineering on this line was the Louise Margaret Bridge that stitched the gaping crack of the Rift. The line died back in July 1942 after it was washed out by a massive torrent during a rainstorm. This wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened. The Chappar Rift was famous for recurrent maintenance problems and the question of dismantling it had been considered before. The war was on, steel was needed for munitions and in any case the Bolan route was in service. And so the line in the Rift was uprooted. Today all that remains of this glorious piece of railway engineering are bridge piers, line bed and abandoned railway stations.

The other great one was the Zhob Valley Railway (ZVR), so named for following the course of the Zhob River. While the Chappar Rift line was broad gauge (5’-6”), this one was the tiny Narrow Gauge (2’-6”). It ran northeast from Bostan on the Quetta-Chaman route to Zhob – or Fort Sandeman as it had been renamed by the British. Its length of three hundred kilometres made it the longest Narrow Gauge line in the subcontinent. I had once thought that at 2224 metres above the sea, Kan Mehtarzai station was the highest Narrow Gauge railway station in the world. But I now know that it is Ghum on the line to Darjeeling in India. The latter being thirty-five metres higher than our Kan Mehtarzai.

The ZVR was laid during the First World War. But then it ran up only as far as the chrome mines of Hindubagh (renamed Muslimbagh in the 1960s) that was used in the manufacture of munitions. In the 1920s the line was extended to Zhob with dreams of it going across to connect with Bannu in the North West Frontier Province. But that dream became a victim of the uncertainty of the 1930s and the Second World War. What Pakistan inherited at independence, it was the sacred duty of her sons to undo. And so barely forty years down the line we had successfully closed the ZVR.

The first time I travelled the length of the line in 1992, it was not by train but by car: the line had been dead for some six years or so. Whereas India draws train buffs from all over the world to its various railway lines, we have been great ones for shutting down our best showpieces. And so this line became a victim of part apathy and mostly inefficiency and corruption. Half-hearted attempts to revamp the line were made and the locomotives that rest and rust in the sheds at Bostan were overhauled some years ago. But no work was done on the civil works of the disintegrating line. For some time the refurbished locomotives were periodically fired to keep them work. Bye and bye all was forgotten and the last time I saw them in 1999, they were beginning to lose their shine once again.

As I stood on the platform at Kan Mehtarzai on that blustery November morning in 1992, I imagined myself in the First Class Sleeper on the NG-10 pulling in en route from Zhob to Bostan. And I had imagined myself making ready for the bearer to pop into the carriage with his stack of breakfast trays. The idea of toast and eggs at the highest Narrow Gauge station in the country (the world, as I then believed) had tickled me. I found myself wondering if, when the line worked, travellers had paused to consider the uniqueness of their situation.

In Bostan in 1992, Mirza Tahir the Station Master remembered the glory days of the ZVR. Winters were pretty hard on the tiny Narrow Gauge locomotives, he had told me, and it was not uncommon for trains to be caught in snowdrifts. Tahir remembered the great snowstorms of the winter of 1970. So deep was the snow that the snowplough in front of the locomotive just could not make way. The train foundered. The fireman built up steam while the driver tried again and again to nose through. But the snow was too deep – nearly two metres – it was said, and they had to give up. They dropped fire and waited.

While the passengers walked to the highroad that runs parallel to the line and got away as best as they could, the telegraph wires buzzed. Bostan was informed of the snow-bound train and requested for a rescue locomotive. Out came one steaming and puffing through the wintry landscape only to be caught in the snow a few hundred metres short of the stranded train. Bostan sent out yet another one and even that could not make it. Tahir said it took them a few days to clear the line and get it going again.

Since that journey along the ZVR thirteen years ago, I have passed through Kan Mehtarzai half a dozen times. Once or twice I detoured to the station just to check things out. But none of my trips had been in midwinter after a good fall of snow. Kan Mehtarzai station, as I knew it, was always dusty and wind-blown sitting in a treeless openness with a touch of a spaghetti western. I knew I was lucky when I got a chance recently to be there with the area in the grip of what many people would call bad weather: for several days there had been incessant rains and snow on higher altitudes. After years of drought, this was the best thing to happen to the Balochistan plateau and local farmers were joyous at the prospect of the harvest that the summer would eventually bring.

For me this was the chance to get to Kan Mehtarzai and imagine what it must have been like during the blizzards of 1970. The distant peaks and the rolling hills around the village were all nicely couched in deep snow and looked a darn sight better than their normal summer khaki. Snowmen being a Western partiality, there were none to be seen. Strange that when it snows, building a snowman does not come spontaneously to these people. Perhaps unprompted artistic expression is not part of our make-up. Or perhaps it is because we have not yet invented waterproof mittens that will keep the fingers from freezing while we attempt to flaunt our creativity. In town, business was shut and the few open doors showed shawl-wrapped men huddled around fires. Kan Mehtarzai seemed a bit of a ghost town.

Bordered by orchards where the apricot and almond trees were all undressed for the winter, the unpaved lane taking off to the south from the main highway was still unmistakable seven years after my last visit. The only difference was that it was under snow that a tractor gone before us had churned up into slush. We left the jeep short of the station and with snow crunching underfoot walked around a fencing, under the tall water tank and on to the platform.

I did not remember the set of three freight wagons, in their prescription reddish-brown, from my last visit. Surely they must have been abandoned there when the line worked. Only I had failed to register them. They were as bound in the snow as the trains in the winter of ’70. This time round, however, the snow was about a metre deep. On the ZVR, the cutest things on the entire pre-partition North Western Railway are the darling station buildings. I have not seen them duplicated anywhere else in Pakistan. They are, with only a couple of exceptions, all mud-plastered; they come with a pitched roof and, to one side, a neat octagonal tower-like structure with a conical roof. This was the ticket window. But only for those who cared to pay fare, for most travellers on this line considered it their birthright to go free. Indeed, that was one of the reasons for the line’s untimely demise.

Icicles were draped along eaves that were shaded from the sun for most part of the day. Glass-less lamps that once lit up the platform at night emphasised the dereliction of the station. The mud plaster on the façade was beginning to crack and peel and the roof on the north side of the building had caved in. This portion, if I remember correctly, bore a sign in 1992 marking it as the Station Master’s office. The rest of the station had been taken over by a family for we could hear women and children behind the matting that shielded them from prying eyes. A young lad from this family came around to check out my friend Naeem and me. I wondered if others came around to photograph Kan Mehtarzai railway station or he thought we were a pair of loonies with nothing better to do than to have our ears fall off with cold.

Snow completely covered all signs of the platforms and the track. Years ago this is how it must have appeared to travellers on this line. And when in the winter of 1970 the train failed to show up, the Station Master must have sent out a patrol to see what had become of it. Now nothing happens at Kan Mehtarzai. They don’t even build snowmen on the platform. Only the squatters bicker behind the matting.

I lament again the waste of a perfect showpiece of a railway line that could have helped Pakistan earn a few good tourist dollars. But that would have happened if the writ of the State held and if there were dedicated men in the railways. All those I had spoken to concerning the reopening of the ZVR as a tourist line had said it could not be done. There were too many problems and not enough finances. That I know to be untrue: we first permitted a working line to go to seed and now we complain of not enough funds to revitalise it.

India did much better with her Narrow Gauge show pieces in Simla and Darjeeling. But how can we, god-fearing Muslims, be expected to emulate those godless enemies of our beloved country.

Thanks to the mismanagement, ill planning and low priority accorded to this collective problem, load shedding is a continuous phenomenon in Pakistan but most people are reminded of this menace when the going gets ‘hot’ though industries and work force keep suffering even during colder seasons.

Last year I wrote we in Pakistan are having load shedding; worst ever. You have to live here to understand that. Of course I was wrong. Worst is now.

No amounts of words or phrasing cam make you understand what are the feelings of a lady who is a patient and whose physical condition worsen in hotter weather. Or when you see a student studying in candle light when temperature is touching 45 degrees or a factory owner thinking of closing the unit and moving his industries to Bangladesh. Stakes for load shedding are very high and deep.

UPs, most people invested in, don’t work because the batteries need time to recharge. People think of buying generators but cant due to ever increasing prices of diesel, petrol and even gas.

It is this scenario that most people are living; cursing those who are responsible for this fiasco including selfish, clue less and careless rulers.

I also wrote “let us get used to this situation.” Now I say we can’t because the situation is degenerating fast and getting used to also need some time.

It is April 17, 2011; the thirty sixth anniversary of commissioning of 55 PMA Long Course. On this bright sunny spring day, officers of 55 PMA are getting together at Mangla Lake. Everyone  is welcomed at the Water Sports Club from where ferried to the rafts rocking in the middle of the  Mangla Lack. It is in this milieu annual get together of 55 PMA Long Course was held. Over 80 officers, most of them accompanied, attended the great and colorful gathering.

Over time, 55 PMA Long course has become a closely knit  and linked community. In addition to local chapters' get together at each station (Karachi Chapter is on April 20, 2011) , annual get together is held at different stations where one can see ever increasing spirit, growing relationship and mutually supporting connections at their best.

This time get together was planned at Mangla –  off the beaten track very nicely laid out cantonment. Mangla is at its best at this time of the year. Even Acacia, Kikar and Phulai are lush green at this time e of the year. Visitors get the feeler of a hill station commuting or walking on those undulating paved roads up and down. Driving over Mangla Lake‚ my first sight of the boat (huge raft) anchored in a the middle of the Lake far below (there is a little water in the Lake so the depth looks more) quite took my breath. Pointing hull of the boat lay in pale blue shallows‚ riding on the swell. Even a hardened seaman would have melted at the sight of a creature as beautiful as the beautifully laid out raft. I looked forward to the promise of meeting my old buddies while sailing (call it floating) around the lake.

But I forgot all about the beauty and the environs as soon as a sleek and small boat puttered us on the raft. Among associates of 37 years you become same old self. You start reliving those old moments. You even like those old nicks and jokes which in those days you never liked. And yes, sanity look on from the side.

No one knew how our days ebbed away, an evening anchored beside the quintessential Mangla lake and we (Nadir Mir, Maqsood and I) started back. Hamid (Toni) was singing and it seemed as water and wind‚ hull and rig were singing a perfect note.

Most of us are still reliving 55 PMA Annual Get Together 2011 that was held at Mangla while Karachi Chapter got together in Creek Club to celebrate their association of past 36 years and to formally dine in Zaheer ul Islam and Zafar Iqbal Durrani.

Wasif – a moving spirit of Karachi Chapter – had organized a wonderful evening for Karachi Chapter in Creek Club, Karachi. He had even ‘discovered’ Asif Ameen and brought him and his family in  (and he was the man of the evening).  Iqbal Badar and the Course Secretary Asif (with souvenirs) had come from Islamabad. Family of late Mumtaz was also there. And above all, the multi-courses dinner was very sumptuous.

Double click to enlarge - Images by Dr. Norbert Pintsch

The question is not, what is technologically and scientifically possible, but what is reasonable and sensible from a social point of view.

In the previous article Extreme Housing (Technobiz Dec 2006) already a comparison ha been made between the traditional culture, the current situation and the future developments. The global situation require a completely new approach, because the housing of the future, including the necessary construction structures, will not take place at the current level.

The biggest brake for the future developments is the economy itself, which is today considered to be a solution for all problems and which is characterized by utopian construction models, which are far apart from the expected changes of the future.

New production locations, increasing infra-structure costs in the suburban areas, increasing unproductive sector, increasing productivity of the individual work place.

Limitations created through titles of land and property, the necessity to establish integrated production facilities and so on are indications of the lower structure as described in this contribution.

If we follow the economic-scientific works of current times, we find it clear development of moving the production to these areas where the cost of production is the lowest. Uneconomical entities are closed down, the fusion of entities is a logical result of decision, because the Market determines the happenings. Thanks to todays communication and information systems, quick decisions can be taken to produce and to market more cost-effectively. Under the term Market one understands all possible things and refrains from defining the same. The Market is supposed to react , and so it will be in future and so it is at present, because sufficient number of theoreticians have engaged with the practical aspects. And that development is taking place in the prescribed manner is absolutely undisputed, because: it is the opinion of all the competent leaders.

Complex happenings are explained with the help of mathematical models. If there were a God of Mathematics, it would probably offer thunder and lightning to quickly clean the theory-pollution taking place!

To verify the assumptions and to compare with the realities. But what if the assumption and the reality are the same? A clear case for correcting, which is however the greatest danger, because exactly the correcting here is the error, which is not recognized. In this way we proceed in a manner, which is wrong but which we assume to be connect.

We refrain in the following examples intentionally to indicate names. Critical readers will anyway understand, what and who is meant:

Concluding, we allow yourselves to refer to a communist leader in XX. century, who, unfortunately, promoted an economic system, which can be seen as a twin brother of the capitalist system. It recommended the theoreticians unlimited field work and other practical work,- historically we speak of the cultural revolution, a measure, which is today’s western oriented system could have interesting consequences!

On my big day, Deb Sistrunk started a party and made my day. Family and friends at Facebook and Twitter sent their best wishes; generous, emotional and touching. And to top it all, Jalal Hameed Bhatti wrote a very engaging post asking people everyone do you blog?

Please answer his question here.

I am indeed overwhelmed by powerful display of emotions by online community – my own bloggy fraternity. Thanks to everyone for king’s treatment.

Happening at Lahore School Now

A strong online presence is important for businesses in today's high-speed and competitive world. Blogs have already become a new are a new buzz marketing. Marketers are blogging for organizations, products, ideas and or for other organizational goals and achieving.

That has not started happening in Pakistan yet. An overwhelming majority of local consumers who do not (or cannot) use the Internet and even marketing professionals still ask what is Blog?

To understand blogging as a corporate communications tool, we must understand the nature of blogs . Here is a short definition, "Blogs - an abbreviation of 'weblogs' - are published on the web, typically as microsites standing by themselves but today also as parts of traditional web sites. They reflect the interests, thoughts and opinions of the person, sometimes persons, publishing the blog. Blogs are characterized by frequent updates, an informal tone and many links to other blogs and web sites."

A business blog is a blog published by or with the support of an organization to reach that organization's goals. In external communications the potential benefits include strengthened relationships with important target groups and the positioning of the publishing organization as industry experts. Internally blogs are generally referred to as tools for collaboration and knowledge management.

Blogs can drive visitors to existing web site and help find new customers and engage the ones organizations already have. Blogs are prevailing and cost-effective marketing tools. As far as businesses is concerned, there are clients and potential clients. A blog will create a dialogue between the business, present client base, and potential buyers. Communication has never been easier and user friendly.

Once an organization has a blog, it offers immediate and high impact interaction with its target audience. As more people have online access, they'll want more than the standard online newsletter or typical PR response (we are so averse to existing PR stereotypes). Long gone are the days when companies simply fed information to their customers. Now everyone asks for a dialogue - a meaningful exchange of information. People also want to know that organizations are listening to them and paying heeds to what is being suggested, and blogs allow just that -- responding quickly and openly.

From a business point of view there are several potential reasons to blog particularly in less connected country like Pakistan. But, as always, it depends on what businesses want. Blogs are no different from channels like video, print, audio, presentations and even word of mouth marketing. They all deliver results - but of varying kind. The kind you can expect from blogs is mainly about stronger relations with important target groups.

Who should blog for the businesses? Ideally, front line people who know the business in and out should blog about it. Marketing professionals can also use this powerful tool. Organization can hire professional writers to blog for them under company's name or blog under their own. Depending upon the feedback and information provided by audience, an inside blogger can develop the ability to write in his or her own voice and create content for business blog. Outsider bloggers can view business with an objective eye and offer fresh marketing ideas and strategies.

Outsider blogger can study company's marketing materials, reports, other collateral information, and meet key people in organization to learn about what organization does and how best to market the product through blogging.

In developed world, blogging is being taught in most business school as a part of business studies and or part of mass communication courses.

Bloggers can post material written in editorial style and voice, updating at least once a day, three-to-five days a week. The content may also include company news, events, and information about new products and services relevant to your business.

Earlier, online marketing and web sites never picked up in Pakistan because of obvious "digital divide that exists due to individual disparities in levels of income, education standards, psychological reasons, age, gender, rural urban divide, and quality of life or collective deprivations like lack of physical infrastructure."

Pakistan corporate world should look at blogging as an opportunity to reach out but sadly, this has still not started to happen.

Related: Fine Art of Paid Blogging - Making Money Online

I am glad to be a part of beautiful tradition of 'one baby one tree' being practices by Thatta Kedona in remote Punjab village Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka (aka Dolls' Village) located at the bank of River Ravi near Gogera. The NGO AFA presents one fruit tree on the birth of a baby and one flower tree on a wedding. Results: almost every household in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka has a fruit and flower tree in their yards (in addition to their own kitchen garden). And it looks so good; refreshing.

This year the beautiful ceremony of handing over fruit and flower trees and celebration of 18 years of tradition was held in BHU on March 25, 2011. Here are some of the images of the event. Everyone missed Dr. Senta Siller, the originator of the tradition, who could come due to her engagements in Germany. Thanks to Dr. Norbert Pintsch who is still carrying on the work and traditions in the village.

Related: One baby one tree 2010