The pub experience

Last evening, I for the first time entered a pub.

A lets-have-a-drink party was offered by my manager. Infact it was our weekly team meeting, and as I have moved to a different project, I have been excused of the weekly meetings for a while now. So I was a bit surprised last evening when I got a message on internal IM, for a meeting in Meeting Room “P”. And I was wondering if they changed the meeting-room-names again ? as we dont have any meeting room named “P”, when my manager disclosed P is for Pub

As xmas holidays are almost there, it was a just a goodwill gesture to say good bye to 2008, as it was our 2nd last day in office before 2009.

Pub is more of a social place. Where you can sit, have a drink, and chat. Yup, thats it. This provide a good hangout for everybody, at reasonable prices.

It was a nice big cafe, serving only drinks. The place was quite cosy, keeping the outside temperature in view.  We sat there for 2-3 hours I guess, and chatted about almost everthing.

I was thinking about Pakistan. OK if we talk about Rawalpindi Saddar, how many decent places can you  name where you can get to with some friends in evening, and have a cup of tea, for a decent price. None, I am afraid. And its not just Saddar, its the same all over. And its not just pindi, its the same all over. Islamabad may have some good places to sit, but I repeat, decent price is also a concern.

Then there  are those chotay-ka-hotels, the small tea shops, where you can always get tea. Some of them also offer place to sit, but that is by no means decent. Its not clean, its not calm, and a lot of other concerns. So, not an option.

No wonder, we dont get anytime to sit with friends for a while, let alone socialize.

PS: Just to keep the records straight, I had an orange juice, and a coke-with-lemon. Yup, on rocks 

The security has been tightened …

upto a dangerous level.

While looking at “Guzashta Hafte ka Pakistan“, at BBC Urdu, this image seemed a bit odd.

I mean its fine, we have lady constables, and they carry MP44 (im not sure but it seems to be)  while patroling through the crowd. What seems odd was the position of fingers the ladies have, particulary the one ahead. If you see, its quite dangerously placed. Just a little push from side, which is quite easy to get in a crowd, and there you go …  Yeah, rite, its normally locked, but even then the guys are trained not to put it there, unless they intend to fire. I guess they might be posing for the photo. But if this is not the case, they need a bit more training may be …

The shoes have been traced …

I received this today on my class’ mailing list, and couldn’t help posting it here

The pair of shoes which was thrown at Mr. Bush in Iraq has links to
Pakistan, said a statement from Pentagon. They have the following
proofs:

i) The journalist had visited Pakistan earlier this year. There he was
inspired by the shoe throwing at former CM Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Sher
Afghan Niazi.

ii) He received his training of throwing shoes by a Pakistan based
Jihadi organization.

iii) The DNA sample of leather has revealed that the animal whose skin
was used for manufacturing the shoe had traces of grass which is grown
in North of Pakistan and this skin was collected by a Jihadi
organization on Eid-ul-Adha this month.

Hearing this, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf
Raza Gilani have decided to ban the Jihadi organization and launched a
country wide crackdown against all the cobblers in Pakistan

Yeah, its funny, but contains some food for thought …

Commercialization ???

I was looking for some literature regarding sufi saint Hazrat Ali Hajveri (RA) and I stumbled upon this site. The site is maintained by some Dr Zia al Hassan. There are just a couple of pages, with no useful information or anything. But what caught my attention was the ads present at every available space. And ads too, a little unsuitable for a saint’s site:

One ad is for Slumdog Millionaire, and others take you to dating websites. And the web master is so blunt that he explicitly asks the visitors to click on ads.

Now if this website is run in good spirit, which it is not, then if you dont have money to run it, dont run it. Such good spirit is uncalled for.

And if you are tying to make money out of it, which you surely are, you better be ashamed of yourself, of being so cheap.

I wonder why an educated individual, who places “Dr.” before his name, has no respect for morals.

Ilzamaat

Saw a qita’a by Anwar Shaoor in today’s Jang and found it to be quite interesting

Allahuma Labbaik – ﺍﻟﺎﻬﻤ ﻠﺒﻴﻙ

Away from all the meat-ish activities that sorround Eid Al Azha, ranging from arranging sacrifice animal to butcher-hunt, and distribution of meat and to all the way eating it, it happened to be an oppurtunity for me to have a look upon the non-meat-ish part for a bit.

Hajj.

Its such a big event of the year, Muslims from all corners of the world, in one dress, for one purpose, shouting one slogan; Labbaik Allahuma Labbaik. I am present, my Lord, I am present. I am here for You, and You alone. I have traveled from the other part of the Earth, to see You alone. I have left my family, my business, my people, for You alone. And here I am, helpless as I am, hopeful of your Rehmat, hopeful of getting clean of my sins, hopeful of being granted the commitement to my Taubah.

I wonder, the way we stand together, without any discrimination, in front of our Lord, how come we become different, once we are out of Ihram. How come we become Pakistani and Indian, Irani and Iraqi and Arab, from being a Muslim. Its us, the same us, a unity for 40 days, and then again its us, the same us, who dont bother to look at each other for the rest of the year.

Dont know, what goes wrong, the moment we come out of Hijaz.

If we were to sustain this unity, if we were to be the same for rest of our lives, if Hajj Sermon could bind us together and serve as the strategy for rest of the year for us, God knows, what can we become. But alas !!! who cares.

Khair …

This was my first Eid away from family, and was as boring as expected. The friends here in Bristol, are back to their homes. MUF :@

After saying Eid Prayers at 8:30, headed straight to office, talking to my family all the way along. One thing common to Eid in Pakistan, was the SMS part. Although the frequency was comparatively low . The moment I was out of masjid, to my delight, texts started pouring in. Even there was one during namaz. From friends here in UK, from guys back in Pakistan, and from family. And that was among the few good things about the day.

I had prepared Laziza Kheer and Liver Curry a day before , yes in preparation for Eid. Kuch to pata chale Eid he. In evening, was quite excited before reaching home. After putting everything on dinnig table, I sat there …  and I couldnt eat. There was nobody I can share a meal with, and it was Eid. Aaahh … goodness.

Khair, wishing you guys a very happy Eid and I miss you people.

The Christmas Party

The christmas season has already begun. Parties are getting in swing and ours, at my workplace, was last evening. Office parties are normally organized before hand, as people do not want their holidays disturbed. Party was arranged at a nice restaurant, by the bank of the river. Meal was pre-ordered. I had only one option in mains that was suitable for vegeterians. I am definitely not a vegetarian, but you know dayar-e-ghair men halaat kuch aese hen keh …

Party started in a sober mood. But as the time would pass by, things started getting into a different mood   Low laughters got louder, and more louder. And was not quite late yet when I saw a senior guy trying to lift a colleague on hands. The other guy was a bit heavier, so he fell down from his hands.

You actually get to see a diferent persona of people you daily meet at office, at parties. And you are amazed by that.

Anyway, I was lucky enough to find a guy who didnt like to drink. And amid all the stuff going around, while sitting in almost center, we were able to dicuss the similarities and differences between Islam and Christianity A religo-philosophic kind of discussion. Yes he is a christian. And I was quite delighted to see that he had a good knowledge of things. Uptill this point we are same, and here we differ, he was very clear.

Dont ask about the meal; I mean orange juice was good, as an alternate to all other stuff, but eating a veg-dish, that you have never eaten before, yes it was vegs, but a different mixture, the kind we never do, with an acceptable taste, when the guy sitting next is eating lamb etc, dont ask. And that too in Zul Hajj, when Eid is a day after, and you know you are not going to eat all that meat, as you did on last Eid, aahhh. You can imagine …

Khair, it was a good evening