Pigeon-holed Billboard on Shahrah-e-Qaideen Bridge

The first time I saw this pattern being made on a billboard near Marriott (on the Emirates-wala Billboard) I wondered what new marketing campaign was being planned for Karachi, but it wasn’t long when we started seeing the same pattern being cut away on a large number of billboards across the city. It must be an attempt to make these billboards lighter, while at the same time be better designed to withstand the gale force winds that Karachi saw a year back. Good move, though I would still have preferred a billboard-free Karachi

An auction is currently under way for a watching the movie “Taare Zameen Par” on 24th May ‘08 at Nishat Cinema, Karachi from 12 noon - 3 P.M. ExtraCorp is giving away a ticket to special child (mental and physical disabilities) for every purchased ticket.

Approximately 10 percent of the population has some form of disability and more than 14,000,000 people of the country sleep with some disability. Keeping this in mind, a philosophy was stimulated for people with disability to discover and utilize their unquestionable ability to elevate their lives. ExtraCorp, (a project of School of Leadership Foundation) creates opportunities of entrepreneurship for people with mental and physical disabilities. The School of Leadership Foundation is a non-profit organization. It is the goal of SOLF to economically enable persons with disability to lead independent, entrepreneur ventures by providing attitudinal, vocational and managerial training and long term interest free funds.

Taare Zameen Par was previously discussed on KMB by Afreen here

I was going through my regular G-reading when this news took my attention. Its about a blogger being Jailed for undermining the prestige of the state and weakening national morale. It is not the first time that I have heard such a news. I then did a minor search for such cases over the internet and what I find is astonishing. Russia, Bahrain, Malaysia you name it! all are in the list.

We say what we want to and write what we want to and we feel like it is our right to be able to speak up our minds. We debate on politics, criticize the government, comment on the hopeless laws and anything and everything. Not just that we speak on every aspect of life where we live whether its good or bad, fun or frustration.

What I’m wondering is from a perspective of a third person. Imagine yourself in a place where I was when I read the news. Did you notice that the Location of the accused is the first word of the heading of the news? First thing I came to know was that it’s something in Syria, then it’s a Jailed blogger and the last was the name of the person that appears in the last paragraph. I’m thinking! and thinking hard that the laws in the country, the watch on people is strict enough and good enough that they actually care about someone badmouthing about them. They are even tackling the situation in a decent lawful manner rather than blocking every blog across the country!

Sentenced to jail, is something we can’t even imagine in Karachi or Pakistan, do you think we (citizens and the politicians both) have enough “Prestige and National Moral”? Forget about national moral, does a single man have a moral or are we just typing out our guts in order to “expose” everything and prove we are free? Don’t say that the country and us are two different things, it is one thing. If you (we) don’t exist, Pakistan don’t exist and if Pakistan don’t exist we are no one from no where! Everything is related to one and other. The reason for saying this is that we are writing about ourselves whatever we write. In our “social” circle we may be recognized as us, but on a global scale we are only “Bloggers from Karachi, Pakistan”

My point is simple, the “outsiders” reading the blogs would be having what sort of a perception about us and our nation? For instance, if something happens in Karachi, I get tired of explaining the situation to the people abroad. They seem to be under an impression that we are all ‘dying’ here, how can I tell them that only 10 to 20 percent of the city is affected and the “rest is fine”! That is because they hear what the media tells them. The media tells them right or wrong is not of a concern, the concern is that the media can never report on every street situation of a the entire city where the riots emerge - it can never report a hundred percent.

The same way, we are ‘creating’ history of ourselves writing what we are writing. No matter its good or it is bad, it is what it is and the world is reading it. Now I am personally at the toughest of time to form a judgment about my observations and thoughts.

Should we again be blaming the “government” for not implementing proper laws, take us towards advancements, create a national moral and prestige? or Should we blame the writers for writing it all down for the world to read and laugh at us that these people have no “national moral” or prestige?

Founded in 2004 the “Karachi Vocal Ensemble” has appeared regularly at various events, including at the Alliance française. Its repertoire varies from madrigal to musical. They are accompanied at the piano by Ayesha Tariq and Hiroko Yasunori.

Program:

1)Waltz in F major (F. Chopin)
2) Sonata no. 17, 2nd and 3rd movement (W.A. Mozart)
3) Se lontan ben mio tu sei (W.A. Mozart)
4) Plaisir d’amour (J. Martini)
5) Consolation (F. Liszt)
6) Habanera (from ‘Carmen’ by G. Bizet)
Short Interval
7) None but the lonely heart (P.I. Tchaikovsky)
8) Etude no. 4 (F. Chopin)
9) Scherzo no. 1 (F. Chopin)
10) Veris leta facies (from ‘Carmina Burana’ by C. Orff)
11) Tourdion (P. Attaingnant)
12) Gnomenreigen or Dance of the Gnomes (F. Liszt)

Participant list:

Piano: Ayesha Tariq, Hiroko Yasunori
Conductor: Ayesha Fiaz Uddin
Sopranos: Iris Yang, Kazuyo Arae, Maartje Fiaz Uddin, Magdalena Khan, Sanam Saeed,
Altos: Ayesha Tariq, Hiroko Yasunori, Mrs. Lee, Ruth Bavington, Saman Shamsie
Tenors: Michael Menezes, Momin Zafar, Omer Jamil
Basses: Austen Freitas, Dr. Graham Platts, Arthur Rodrigues

On: Saturday 03 May, 2008
Time: 8:30pm
Location: Karim Administrator Alliance Française de Karachi Plot, St. 1, Block 8, Kehkashan, Clifton, Karachi.
Admission: Free passes available at the reception prior to the concert.
For more call on 5873402, 5862864.

Continuing in the vein of my previous post, I would like to express a similar thought related to the electricity crisis we are facing these days.

Analysts keep predicting that Karachi needs 500 more megawatts or 1000 more megawatts, whereas my belief is that what Karachi needs is a swift cleanup drive. KESC should put their act back together and get rid of all ‘kundas’ and ‘direct connections’. I know for a fact that quite a few of my neighbors are utilizing direct connections, as they have both their ACs’ on for almost 24 hours throughout the summer. And I am sure most Karachiites have seen those notorious ‘kundas’ (illegal connections) that plague the city. They are not only a safety hazard, but also result in the KESC not getting money, or worse, getting it from the wrong person.

Once all the illegal connections are gone, and people are really paying for what they are using, not only will the revenue of KESC increase, but people will be more careful of their electricity usage. Here’s to hoping that we are able to see a kunda-free Karachi in the near future!

Thanks to our (all) governments whose incompetency in providing basic necessities of life one of which is clean water we have seen tremendous growth of companies selling mineral water and they are using the indifference of the gov. for their profiteering. As one of KMB author said “if our gov. doesn’t do anything NOW there would be a DAY when WE WOULD BE BREATHING OXYGEN by paying to companies”. His comments seem like a joke for now but so did the mineral water issue 100 years back that was considered free along with oxygen ever since we heard it.
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There are times when you get frustrated with the system. Things are not delivered in time, post in slow, traffic sucks and consumer services too. It’s too hot and weather is killing you. You’ve a bad headache and do not want to go to office. If you’ve reached it, you want to take an early off. Problems, frustration, part and parcel of a karachiite’s life.

Clearly, we do get frustrated over a lot of factors happening around us. However, seldom one gets saved from a looming issue. This account is of such an incident.

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While car owners may have (arguably) gained a lot from the flyovers and signal free corridors that the government seems to be intent on making, it is the pedestrians who have ultimately lost. I remember a time when the road below baloch colony bridge was considered one of the most dangerous roads to cross. Now it seems university road, gulistan-e-jauhar, a major stretch of shara-e-faisal and i don’t know how many roads have become just as dangerous.

We definitely need a LOT more footbridges. But one more important thing that we need is driving etiquette. Footbridges can be built if the government has enough money, but how does someone teach driving etiquette?

The May 18 Memorial Foundation in Gwangju, Korea proclaimed Mr. Muneer A. Malik a Karachi based practicing lawyer as the winner for the 2008 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights and the award will be conferred to Mr. Muneer A. Malik on May 18th 2008 in a ceremony to commemorate the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising (Wikipedia: Gwangju Massacre) The prize award includes a gold medal, a certificate of achievement and US $ 50,000.00.

Mr. Muneer A. Malik was the former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association who has played an enormous role in the struggle of the lawyers, judges and the rest of the citizens of Pakistan for the independence of the judiciary. Under his leadership he was able to mobilize lawyers and the people to fight the repression imposed by President Musharraf when he declared an emergency and ousted several chief justices and judges. In the 1980’s Mr. Malik had been in the forefront of the struggle against the military rule of then President Zia Ul Haq. Mr. Malik was recipient of the 2006 Dorab Patel Award given by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The Gwangju Prize for Human Rights is an award given to individuals, groups or institutions in Korea and abroad that have contributed in promoting and advancing human rights, democracy and peace in their work. The award is given by the Gwangju people in the spirit of solidarity and gratitude from those whom they have received help in their struggle for democratization and search for truth.

Links: 518 International Solidarity Blog | 5-18 Memorial Foundation | Teeth Maestro

On Tuesday April 8, from 2 pm to 5 pm, Vickram Crishna conducts a discourse, at the Mahnoor Room, Karachi PC, about the world of fascinating opportunities that have opened up in applying IT and communications technologies inclusively. Addressing the needs of communities currently less well served, such as rural dwellers, urban persons who do not use computers, and persons for whom computers are unaccessible primarily because of physical design issues. Accessing business needs in such circumstances can be rewarding in many ways – both commercial and non-commercial.

TOPIC: INTELLIGENT CHOICES: Opportunities in Non-Traditional IT areas

DATE: Tuesday, April 8 2008
TIME: 2:00 – 5:00 pm
VENUE: Mahnoor Room, Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi
REGISTRATION IS FREE: Register at secretariat@pasha.org.pk

Read more details on P@SHA blog