on one hand you have the time – juma prayers. theoretically the time when all the muslim brothers will be praying together and symbolizing peace, unity and the islamic way. this is the time of the week when people put on their finest clothes, starched and ironed, leave from their homes or work places with nothing but good thoughts in their minds. on the other you have the place – the seat of learning in the metropolis, karachi university. and on top of that we’re talking about the islamic learning department. the one place even in a university where you would expect nothing but moral and spiritual doings.

but then you have the perversion that attacks our people like a plague, corrupting their minds, polluting their souls.
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Designer RizwanMoazzam‘s TV Commercial (TVC) is continuously airing on GEO TV announcing a 50% discount sale at their three outlets in Karachi, but does this commercial really convey the message the advertisers want to send out? I don’t think so, but that’s just me.

How do you see this TVC ? Voice your thoughts.

the Post Secret book

Originally uploaded by atrophying.

Dont know how many of you are familiar with the website Post Secret – this extraordinary blog has images of post cards with secrets on them, sent in by contributors from all over. Images from the website have also been featured in the music video ‘My Dirty Little Secret’. The Post Secret book, which is a compilation of some of the post cards that have been featured on the website, is available at Liberty Books for Rs.1495. While the book is priced on the higher side, it is worth every cent, because the book truly moves one to tears.

I went to the store Yellow today, and waltzed up the stairs to the women’s section, only to find a saleswoman huddled up on the sofa, crying her eyes out. At first, I fell sorry for her to be at work while she was obviously upset, but then a calm rage descended – we walk into a store, expecting to get good customer service, something that is part of the entire ‘shopping experience’, not to find someone in such distress that they can’t even answer a simple question like, ‘what items are on sale?’. I might come across sounding insensitive, but if you’re that upset, honestly go home or go cry in a loo, don’t make the customers get so turned off the idea of shopping that they storm out of the store. This is something that stores like Levi’s even needs to work on – their sales personnel is rude and unhelpful – what is it with sales personnel in good stores here, are they THAT miserable that they have to make harried customers even more angry?

An institution by now in Karachi and perhaps the most famous of all the liquor stores aka wine shops in the city, Azaad seems to be the place where half of Defence and Clifton make a stop every Saturday night. What I particularly like about the place is its egalitarianism: you don’t need to shell out a couple of thousand to a bootlegger nor do you have to wait to chill your beer. And best of all it reveals the demand for alcohol in this country, making a mockery of Bhutto’s self-serving ban in 1977.

as reported by them and reported here.

Read the complete article for more info, heres what caught my eye…

The Capital City Police killed 304 dacoits in 1,592 encounters from January 2002 to July 2006, in which 9,254 bandits were arrested while 106 police personnel lost their lives and 310 sustained injuries.

Of these 1,592 police encounters, only one was doubtful while rest of 1,591 proved genuine after the probe and inquiries.

DIG Administration of Capital City Police Karachi, Zafar Farooqui, said this while addressing a seminar entitled “Police Encounters: Allegations and Reality,” organised by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) at its Vicky Zeitlin Media Library on Thursday.

“During the same period, a total of 226 cases were registered against police officials under Police Order 2002 while 59 cases were registered against them on orders from the courts for violating rules and regulations, misconduct and negligence,” he said.

And on the issue of ‘fake encounters‘

DIG Farooqui rejected the allegation that most encounters were fake, saying that hardly one per cent of such encounters could be termed “fake or illegal” adding that probe has been ordered to look into such cases.

“Like in the recent encounter in which the police claimed to have killed notorious dacoit Mashooq Brohi, IGP Sindh had ordered an inquiry into the matter and a criminal case was registered against some officials involved in it,” he said.

Interestingly… on the same day, another article was also published in the same paper bashing the police service for its investigative skills.

Arrest of criminals, is not anything, but none of the investigative agencies have explored in-depth to reach the masterminds and financers of terrorist activities.

When Syed Kamal Shah, was the Provincial Police Officer (PPO) Sindh, Intelligence Collection Unit (ICU) had been established at the police station level. Those ICUs are very active even now, as whenever and wherever construction of a house starts, area police reach there and to collect their share.

When NAPA Occupied the beautiful historic building of Hindu Gymkhana, we thought this cultural and historic landmark of our city will be protected by the owners of NAPA, but it turned out that NAPA has illegally demolished the open air theatre which was a part of the Hindu Gymkhana. NAPA is planning to construct a three story, 53 feet, high modern theatre to accommodate NAPA students where as the adjacent main building of Hindu Gymkhana is just 20 feet above ground, the new structure has already harmed the originality of the building and once fully constructed, it will mask the main Building of Hindu Gymkhana.
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Someone asked recently about the status of the unfinished building opposite PIDC.. which was supposed to be Hyatt Regency Hotel in Karachi. This building was sadly never finished, and has since become a momument in its own right. Recently, it was acquired (land and all) by the National Commodities Exchange Company, for their head office location. Its been almost six months i think since the takeover, but no results have been shown yet as to its make-over or reconstruction. Here’s what this building looks like today.

Still the same as it did 20 years ago i believe.
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An exhibition of paintings by eight famous artists at the Majmua Art Gallery opened a few days back. Paintings on display comprise of highly skilled and fine work of art making the exhibition a must to visit for all art enthusiasts.

The participating artists are: M. Ilyas, Shehla, Shammi Ahmed, Amjad Naeem, Naheed Raza, Iqbal Azeem, Akram Spaul and Kazim.

The show will remain open for general public till 9th of August 2006.
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So it seems that KESC is completely utilizing the beautiful weather that we’ve been having for the past week by shutting down the power supply regularly. According to Dawn, while the CEO of KESC was briefing the President on it’s “improved” performance…a lot of places in Karachi were without electricity.

In my area the electricity is playing hide and seek. We have no electricity for 2 hours…then we have a 45 minute respite and then we’d be without electricity again. You’d think it was running hurdles while it was gone and is taking a break when it comes back on.

According to the CEO of KESC;

The vision of the KESC management is to win consumers’ trust by providing excellent service.

Big words from someone who has yet to show any of the promised improvement.