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.
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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. Read more

Just heard confirmed news that a bomb blast has happened near the Saddar Police Lines. People driving through there, be careful and call in your homes if you are out and have taken the same route today.

Stay safe!

Update: Dawn adds, the explosion occurred on Sharah-e-faisal, one of Karachi’s busiest main roads at approximately 11:35AM. CCPO Wasim Ahmed confirmed that the device was a remote controlled bomb planted on a bicycle. However, it has not been confirmed if the bomb was specifically targeting the official.

This is the latest picture of last nights fire at Progressive Center, last night when I was crossing this area around 1:30am or so the fire was generally under control, a snorkel had apparently doused the flames and I only saw smoke spewing through the burnt windows.
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The stuff that’s roaming around in sewerage pipes cannot possibly be fun stuff. This isn’t the first time I have seen this - In fact, if you notice the sludge that these “cleaners” threw out to the left side of the photograph, that’s actually a construction site that has a pipe running into the sewerage pipe that’s been dumping the waste into the pipes.. The construction site has not only managed to cause this filth to be thrown out into the street, but has blocked the entire street so they can be a bit more comfortable in their building their project. Read more

If your office is located near I I Chundrigar Road (or Zia-uddin Ahmed road for that matter)and you are meeting friends for lunch on a working day, then choosing a place which offers quality food at a reasonable price, yet has a cosy ambiance where one can catch up on gossip, yet get back to office on time, can be a quite tricky.

An eatery like Elbow Room does the make the task easy. It is a small café tucked away on the lane adjacent to Faysal Bank on I I Chundrigar Road and is easy to miss if you take the wrong turn. Replete with flower beds under the windows on the brick wall and Victorian-style street lights, it also offers valet parking and WiFi. Stepping inside, the décor and ambiance were a pleasant change from the hum and drum of the nearby fast food joints. The café offers continental and Pakistani food items on the menu which can be viewed here.

I wasn’t going to post this up until later, but then I saw Afreen’s post on “Wake up and Smell the Rubble”… These were photographs I snapped when I was so frustrated trying to drive through the inner roads of Defence (the Green and Clean), where every major road was dug up.

You may want to argue that we live in a post-military dictatorship or in a crazy democratic state of mayhem, but the sad state of affairs is this - we’ve got more holes in the ground than the surface of the moon, and we seem to be okay with it. There are rallies and walks and protests to release the judges and make god knows what else right, but not one little picket when it comes to the stink and filth that is created around us. Not one worker, not one working bulldozer, and certainly not one protester screaming his frustration with what our streets have become. Read more

Photography Credit: Jawad Ahmed

This entry could be about any of our localities, where we spend our days and nights. The same path we trudge regularly to get home after long hours in school/university/office.

In Karachi especially, when we build/buy our houses, there’s always that personal touch, some extravagance on our part done to be different from the rest of the houses around the area. It is when we like to extend our lawns a bit more by encroaching outwards; make stretched parking slopes taking main footpath’s space. In such fervor some forget that they are building on the land which is not really theirs.

Then KDA comes in and during their drive of amnesiac building/re-building of roads and you see nothing but rubble when you wake up one fine morning. I found a live example in North Karachi, Sector 8 to 10. I investigated to discover that the concerned authority had issued prior warnings and were instructed to shift their electric & gas meters but nobody paid heed to the notice and on 31st May at 6 o’clock sharp, bulldozers came and did what they are made for.

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continuing my previous post about insane drivers with attitude, let me share an experience with you……

the occurred with an acquaintance a couple of weeks back, and shows the true form of “jis ki lathi, uss ki bhens!”

here’s how he puts the entire event in his own words:

“i ws driving bak home wen a car came 2 a sudden halt in front of me near the commercial area
the guy stood there 4about a minute not being able 2decide where 2go
i simply honked at him couple of times….guess dats what annoyed him
he followed me and while i was entering my home he came n slightly bumped my car from behind which sent me in a
fit of rage
i followed him n blocked his car a few 100 yards from my house and got out of the car to bash him up or give him a few slaps
the next thing i know he fired 3shots at me 1 of which pierced my knee n put me through an agonising ordeal to recover from”

guess nowadays, you can’t even correct anyone…..

as numerous navigate their way to work every morning and back home every evening, the Shahra-e-Faisal is probably the busiest road of our city. it has seen the sharp rise in traffic in the recent years, it has seen good days and horrifying terror attacks.

everyday, the traffic jams seem to tail end longer and more frustrating, and even if some car breaks down and blocks one lane, all hell is let loose.

regent plaza hotel is the examination center for O Level exams and that meant another half hour to cross ftc through regent patch.

although there were infinite amount of cars with kids rushing for their exams, with no parking spaces along the road and the drop-off area of the hotel full to the brim, the good thing was that the traffic police was doing its job to control the haywire traffic. another even more commendable effort was that i saw a couple of ‘off-duty’ traffic police walas in casual dress with wireless handsets running around and managing the never ending flow of traffic.

it is our duty as civilians to be patient and make life just a little bit easier for our police who suffers in scorching heat while we drive by in our air conditioned cars.