Times are changing fast. The world is going through rapid change. There is a way, still, to master change: by mastering one’s Intent - as it is one’s own intent and attention that shape the world.

PERSONAL EXCELLENCE WORKSHOPS

Personal Excellence is a one-day program aimed at providing an examination of the key elements of personal excellence.
Read more

yet another MNA who thinks he is above law. Spotted this car at teen talwar which has no number plate, just an MNA plate in PPP colors. Looks like parliamentarians cannot be bothered with following law, they just make them.

3rd Annual ” Machar Art ” Exhibition opened it doors to public yesterday evening at The Elephant Ware House, Clifton. But this is not just another exhibition, the kind which is the usual feature of the city. This one is far more different because there is a cause attached to it. Organized by Concern For Children, the exhibition is comprised of 175 artworks mostly photographs created by the under privileged children of the Mohammadi (Machar) Colony and some of the work of country’s most prominent photographers and artists including Yousuf Bashir, Amean J, Tapu Javeri, Adnan Lotia, Kohi Marri, Arif Mahmood and Izdeyar Sethna. With a promises that the proceeds from this exhibition will go towards CFC,s Machar Colony Community Driven Project which addresses issues related to health, sanitation and education for the people of Karachi’s largest unofficial Kachi Abadi.

Read more

Asad was just another child until at school he started to trip off and fall down too often, a few visits to the doctor revealed that Asad has Friedreich’s Ataxia a hereditary disease which causes progressive damage to the nervous system. At the age of 20 Asad was told he couldn’t walk any more and has been dependent on a wheal chair ever since.

But asad is a brave man, and he refused to give up on his dreams, he decided to beat his disability. Today, Asad is the head of the corporate social responsibility department for a technology company. He is also working to change the mindsets of people towards people with disability and has been giving speeches and holding talks in social gatherings, Schools and educational institution. He was present yesterday at a local café t2f where he shared his story, the difficulty he faced in the beginning and those he face today with a small group of people gathered at the venue.

When Asad was first put into the wheel chair, he says ” The wheal chair felt like a prison to me”. It took some explaining from the doctors and motivation from friends after which he decided to accept and learn to carry on with his disability.

During the session Asad pointed out that Pakistan is not very friendly to the wheelchair-bound people, as physically challenged people need to socialize freely, he said there is a need to improve their accessibility by changing the mindsets, changes which are required at hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, educational institutes and even at clinics as most of these places almost never have ramps that would allow such people to enter their premises. He further emphasized that laws are needed to bound builders and commercial shops and businesses to facilitate wheelchair bound people.       

Present among the audience one of the team members at CMPHR added that her organization too is working for the issue and students of a certain school constructed a wooden ramp to allow people in wheelchairs to enter the school, the students also donated another wooden ramp to a nearby medical clinic.

It was also mentioned at the event that The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol was adopted on 13 December 2006 at the UN headquarters in New York which was open for signature on 30 March 2007. The Convention adopts a broad categorization of persons with disabilities and reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. At present there are 119 signatories to the Convention but sadly our country is not one of them. CPHR has a petition available to sign here in this regard.

Also present at the event was Sabeena Jalal who is running a facebook based cyber support group called Beat Disability. The group is open to anyone who is either taking care of some one with disability or is living with any kind of mental, physical disability her/him self.

The session although a brief one was sure an eye-opener as 10% of our total population consists of people who are cooping with disabilities but they are almost never seen around because usually they are kept confined to their houses as they cant get on a cab, or board a bus on their own, they cant even enter any restaurant or park without someone’s help. They feel like they are not welcome in society. We should facilitate for them, we should keep them under consideration when building parks or clubs so they can socialize and do some of their daily tasks independently.

( I request readers to spread the message so more could join the noble cause).

Fellow A. Hamza shares this story about Kashif Iqbal Thalassaemia Care Center Karachi, a facility in the country where Thalassaemia patients are treated free of cost. This trust came into being when the 16-year old boy of Mr. Iqbal died from this dreadful, genetic disease. Today, he along with his highly dedicated family and staff members work day and night to save children from dying. And they don’t ask for donations. People, rich and poor, pour their bank accounts and their sympathy to this organization.
Read more

Yesterday, January 29, 2008, The Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS), in collaboration with the National College of Arts (NCA, Lahore), launched “Salahuddin Mian, Retrospective” exhibition of Pakistan’s first modern ceramist Salahuddin Mian.
Read more

Yesterday, to celebrate and honor the lively of sprit of Gulgee’s art and to pay condolences to his family, artists and art lovers gathered together for an evening organized by Nukta.Art and “The Second Floor” at T2F. Among the speakers were Mohammad Ali Siddiqui, Naz Ikramullah and Niilofur Farrukh. Also Present at the venue were Gulgee’s son Amin and two of Gulgee’s sisters who have yet to grasp the fact that the loving couple, the lively Gulgee and his wife Zarrin are no more amongst them.
Read more

While Commuting on the streets of Karachi I have noticed that the bike riders often don’t care much about their safety and that of those riding along with them in a quest to save a minute or two or to reach their destination in the blink of an eye. Here are the four dangerous situations bikers often put them selves into without even realizing the dangers they may be getting exposed to.
Read more

I am sure the picture above is a familiar scene in Karachi. Getting stuck in crazy traffic jams is an everyday story now.

There are people who say traffic jams in Karachi is not a big deal as it happens in all big cities of the world.

Granted.

Observe the picture of a traffic jam after the jump…
Read more

“Lifehacking” refers to productivity tricks that cut through information overload and organize life in general. They include tips to plan your day, making the best out of your time and resources etc.

We Karachiites face many issues that, if tackled properly, can improve our social as well as individual lives. In this series, I will try to address many such issues, mostly related to our social lives, that affect our fellow citizens, but also others that can help us “hack” our lifestyles for the better.

Here’s the first episode of how to navigate your way through busy traffic!
Read more