Growing media industry needs more and more competent writers, reporters and editors.

For those who want to write for the media or join the profession as reporters or editors, here is a workshop on how to become a good writer/ journalist/editor. It will be conducted by M. Khalid Rahman, former senior sub editor, Dawn.

“Good writing is difficult; writing good prose more so,” says Khalid Rahman. “It takes special writing skills to make your writing so interesting that a reader loves to read all of it. Writing for a newspaper or magazine is different from what you learn to write at school or college; it becomes all the more challenging when you are competing with several writers for media space.

Duration of the workshop: Three days (Fri-Sun Sept 19-21; 10:00 am to 2:00 pm). Six sessions of two hours each.

Entry Fee: 5,000 PKR (including course material and hands-on training) per participant.

Venue: Institute of Media Skills M-5, Office Floor, Avanti Terrace, Allama Iqbal Road, Block 2, PECHS, Karachi.

Contact: 021-4534719; 0321-9229331. Registrations have already started.

Last night when i was in gulshan sitting late night with friends we were discussing how the whole city seems a frustrated psycho mob. And yes politics had to be the center topic. Going for a change, i was searching for some serious jokes in newspapers this morning and here i found one (“The minister assured the governor that the water and power secretary would be in Karachi on Monday and take steps to improve the situation“). The minister hoping something even a prophet wouldnt commit. Because Prophets dont commit on abnormalities. Moving on, here is one MASTER JOKE i found from past. This post is just to share some such serious jokes about KHI in political context since i find there is hardly anything worth smile in this city these days. And the price hike in Ramazan was just the last nail in coffin we were waiting for.
NEWS, July 2005 :[ The water plants would also be installed in Karachi, said the president who was confident that the entire country would have safe water by 2007. He told the gathering that provision of electricity in all parts of the country by 2007 was among the government’s priorities . . ]
In coming days (weeks,months) i am very hopeful that the same statement will be repeated by Mr. Zardari (who is by the way much worried about Kashmir than Karachi these days) whenever he visits Karachi. The circus goes on and on . .

Since yesterday, the Karachi weather has gone really hot as the humidity level has really plummeted from our comfort zone to a whopping 19% – Source BBC Weather

Though the forecast have the humidity rising to roughly a comfortable 40% on Saturday onwards but the temperatures are expected to remain the same. So if these weather gurus are correct [?] so we only have to outlive todays’ dry spell.

A day before havoc was created when a stray monkey went berserk near Regal Chowk and Electronic Market area – the news report published by Daily Times its hilarious to see how the incident played out

A large number of people, including shopkeepers, customers and area residents, gathered to watch the monkey walk around and perform a variety of antics. Several children came out of their homes to watch while many women looked from their balconies. The crowd blocked several vehicles when they followed the monkey onto the road.

Eyewitnesses said that the monkey tried to climb on to cars and the women in them started screaming. Traffic police rushed to the scene and attempted to catch the monkey. However, the monkey slapped a policeman and climbed on to the advertisement board of one of the shops. “Nobody informed us,” said ASI Tariq, the duty officer at Preedy police station. “We would have done something if somebody had made a complaint.”

After some time, the crowd started playing around with the monkey by throwing bananas and other fruit at it. Some children threw stones at it, annoying the monkey, which then injured five people with its paws. Nobody knows where this monkey came from, said a shopkeeper.

Later, when the crowd dispersed, the monkey calmed down and climbed into the balcony of a residential flat. It slept there till evening. Officials of the Sindh wildlife department were also unaware of the event. “I was out of the city on a personal assignment and will see to this myself on Wednesday morning,” said Game Warden Rasheed Ahmed Khan.

A very interesting development has taken place where the World Wildlife Fund Pakistan and Dawood Corporation in Karachi have signed a memorandum to collaborate for the establishment of a regular beach cleaning mechanism at Sandspit Beach.  Soon the City District Government Karachi will also be taken into confidence for the proper disposal of collected solid waste.

Sandpit beach is a globally nesting site of two endangered species of marine turtle, the Green turtle and the Olive Ridley, that visit the beach for laying eggs between June to December each year.  Due to the pollution the number of egg laying nests has continued to decline over the past twenty years

News credit – The Nation

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Usually when Ramzan starts the streets of this city, or the main shopping streets at least light up with festivity. Eid which follows the month of Ramzan is basically one event which every single family in Pakistan celebrates according to their own means.

However such is not the case this time as people in Karachi whatever class they belong to are so badly hit with inflation (around 27% since june) that they can hardly afford to make ends meet let alone go around spending on new things for Eid.

This off course translates into disaster for the retail sector of our cities economy as ramzan is supposed to be peak season for everyone from the corner grocery store to the bangle walla to the shoe shops to the brand name stores etc etc.

We have already lost almost all of our cities industrial sector due to bad governance and a worsening security situation plus high costs of doing business. If the retail/consumer sector follows next I wonder what will be left in this city of ours??

The streets are deserted at night and the city of lights is darkened by despair, will there be someone to save this dazzling metropolis???

If you are a regular traveler of local busses of Karachi you must have seen these cards. Have anyone ever tried these babas? Kindly share.

On the first day of Ramadan it’s 3:30, although more then four hours before one opens the fast with a soft, sweet date still everyone on the road is impatient. Switching lanes, blaring horns, and motorcyclists rushing as if they are on a mad race in a virtual dimension where they have several lives before it’s game over. And cars Screech-halting on every signal and a few even running through the red light. (more…)