SANOG – South Asian Network Operator Group, a specialized social circle and an NGO is holding SANOG VIII event in Karachi in end July / early August 2006. SANOG is the prime event to meet and interact with top social fabric of Internet in both technology and policy domains. The event (SANOG VIII) is not the yet-another-expo where IT kids go to collect spare promotion pamphelets – its a series of extensive interaction (see program details here: http://www.sanog.org/sanog8/program.htm) with industry experts on related topics. Online Registration is required with the international secretriate of SANOG to attend the event. Networkers’ Society of Pakistan (http://www.nsp.org.pk) is playing host to this grand event in Pakistan.

Courtesy: Tee Emm

Tee Emm : Such events are always good news! Any event promoting the exchange of knowledge and ideas is a welcome program and should be participated by as many people as possible.

Note: One of the biggest problems i had while being on the other side, was that i had a lot of topics which i thought would be good for KMB, however, had no way to have them posted. If any of you feel the same way.. please use the “Suggest a story” button on the sidebar and send us your idea or a complete post. If its relevant, we’ll put it up!

pedestrian bridges under contruction in Karachi has finally been completed and is about to be opened to the public near Defence Market, just after Kala pul bridge.

This initiative was taken by Clifton Cantonment board, which had started construction on about 3 of these bridges to facilitate pedestrians to cross the high speed road from FTC to Old Hino Chowrangi safely. Not only are these bridges practical.. they’re also good to look at. The only thing missing though, is the ability to transfer goods through this bridge (a feature built on the pedestrian bridges on Shahrah-e-faisal).

on occasion, a traffic jam from lasbela to nazimabad chowrangi can have its benefits. it can give you ample time to get acquainted with the political ideology of your rickshaw driver, for instance. which in turn can lead you to a greater understanding of what actually goes on in turbaned heads high on diesel fumes.

raees shah is 43, illiterate and drives his rickshaw from ten in the moring to midnight. he displays a political acumen, or siyasi shaoor as he would like to put it, beyond what i could ever have imagined. he has a formula for karachi. its simple yet sophisticated, possible yet impractical.

this is his way of getting things to work
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Part I: Pehli Awaaz
Part II: Doosri Awaaz

Pehli Awaaz

Ger hai yehi maslik-e-shums-o-qam’r, in shums-o-qam’r ka kya hoga
Raánaî-e-shub ka kya hoga, andaaz-e-saher ka kya hogaa
Jab khoon-e-jiger ber’faab bana, jab ankhaiN aah’n po’sh hooeeN
Iss deed’ah ter ka kya hoga, iss zoq-e-naz’r ka kya hoga
Jab shay’r ke kheemay raakh huay, naghmoN ki tanabaiN t’oot gayeeN
Yeh saaz kahaN sar phoraiN gay, iss kulk-e-goher ka kya hoga
Jab kunj-e-qaf’s maskin t’ehra, aur jaib-o-garebaaN toq-o-rus’n
Ayay ke na ayay mausam-e-gul, iss dard-e-jiger ka kya hoga

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Featuring:
Fuzon
Call
Ali Azmat
Ali Zafar
Atif Aslam
and more….

Hosted by: VJs Anoushey and Wiqar Ali Khan

Venue: Arabian Sea Country Club

Date & Time: July 1, 2006, 8pm

Tickets: Rs. 750 per person, available at Subway (Zamzama), KFC (Gulshan e Iqbal), Pizza Hut (Boat Basin), The Forum (Clifton), Ami’s (Deltons), Naheed Supermarket (Shaheed e Millat Road), Dreams (Bahadurabad), Laraib Music (Boat Basin), Sagar Books (Boat Basin) & Barbeque Tonight (Clifton), Levis (Next to Royal Medico, Karsaz Road)

Welcome to Karachi! You’ll have a great time as long as you have your own power plant and an endless supply of water.

According to a recent survey of 144 cities in the world, Karachi is one of the cheapest:

The cheapest cities in the world are Paraguay’s Asuncion, Zimbabwe’s Harare, Buenos Aires, Manila, Pakistan’s Karachi, India’s Bangalore and Uruguay’s Montevideo.

I haven’t been had the chance to visit any of these other cities, but I find it hard to hard to believe that Karachi is as cheap as the survey suggests. The devil is usually in the detail in surveys of this kind and the methodology used is often flawed; the result definitely belies my experience of Karachi. Anyone else bemused by this classification?

The Shadi season is ON and some of us might be having conveyance problems. Let’s face it, not everybody has a car and in some cases, even if they have one someone to drive it. This is such a time when we turn to other ways and taxi/cab is one option. So, there’s:

- Metro cab 111-222-787
- Karachi cab 111-572-222
- White cab 111-789-786

But, which is better? Are the rates similar or different? Those who have already some experience, share your two cents!

As we all know, recently a new act was instiuted in the city of karachi whereby shops were to be closed by 8 PM. The premise behind it being that shops were major consumers of electricity at night, which led to general loadshedding across the city.

As we have *yet* to see any improvements in the loadshedding schedule of KESC, even after two weeks of of shops closing down early.. what i saw yesterday night was the only solution left.

At 9 PM shops and malls across the clifton area were open and showed no signs of closing. There has not been any news reports (which i have seen yet) which confirmed this, however various rumors are circling regarding the repealing of this act.

If yesterdays schedule is to continue, we karachites can now once again enjoy shopping till the wee hours of the night and the city will once again start on the path to restore its former glory!

Update: According to unofficial sources, shops/malls can now remain open till 9 PM since its “too hot shopping” till 5:30 – 6:00. My observation is that shops were closed before 10 PM today, but im still not sure about the time.

Part I: Pehli Awaaz

Doosri Awaaz

Hastee ki mata’√°y bay payaaN, jaageer teri hai na meri hai
Iss baz’m meiN apni mash√°al-e-dil, bismil hai to kya, rukhshaaN hai to kya
Ab baz’m chiraghaaN rehti hai, ik taaq ager weeraaN hai to kya
Afsurda’h haiN ger ayaam terey, badlaa naheeN maslak-e-shaam-o-sahar
T’he’herney naheeN mausam-e-gul ke qad’m, qayem hai Jamaal-e-shums-o-qam’r
Abaad hai waadee ka kal-o-lub, shadaab-o-haseeN gulgash’t-e-naz’r
Maqsoom hai lazzat-e-dar’d-e-jiger, mojuud hai naymat-e-deed’ah ter
Iss deed’ah ter ka shuker kero, iss zoq-e-naz’r ka shuker kero
Iss shaam-o-sahar ka shuker kero, in shums-o-qam’r ka shuker kero
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