Karachi Metblogs » In Other Blogs

Say you want a revolution?

Raja Islam — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:54:16 +0000

In other Blogs: “Help Guide For Relief In Thatta “

Jamash — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:35:41 +0000

The country is faced with the most challenging natural disaster, the recent floods have rendered more than 14 million people homeless. Thousands of which only a couple of ours drive away form our own city Karachi. And since a lot of small groups from Karachi, mostly students from various university are heading out to the various areas of Sindh here is a very useful blog post by Sana Saleem of FLP which explains what items are urgently needed to more effectively and efficiently help the flood affected people here in Sindh, and more specifically in Thatta.

Visit: http://asiancorrespondent.com/sanasaleem1/help-guide-for-relief-in-thatta

Image Credits : http://flp.org.pk/

SZABIST and Indus School of Art & Architecture – Keeping the spirit alive

MB — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 09:40:38 +0000

While the world is not willing to trust our government, the private sector, NGO, Social Org, Student Org, media and all others are still playing a crucial role in putting an effort to lessen the miseries of the flood victims, estimated to be around 15+ million all over Pakistan. [ How & Where i can help ? Click here ]

Every day I receive many email/SMS notifications/requests on flood relief work. Dawn captured these moments from a similar initiative taken by the students of SZABIST and Indus School of Arts & Architecture Karachi to raise money for flood victims. The student witnessed some inspiring moments. “One guy just dropped Rs. 10,000 – just like that” said one student. “What’s more interesting is that the people in the more affluent cars are not stopping yet continuously rickshaw drivers gave as much as 10 or 20 rupees” said another student.

Telenor Square Green Belt

Raja Islam — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:31:36 +0000

Environmental friendly initiative taken by telenor Pakistan. Geen belt has been created at Teen Talwar- on the concept of a thematic park.

Photographs by Telenor Pakistan

Feeding 50,000 people daily

Raja Islam — Mon, 17 May 2010 08:51:23 +0000

The photograph may look funny but for countless men and women it is a sign of relief and of some really good food, day and night. Saylani Welfare International, based in Karachi with their headquarters at Bahadurabad, is probably the largest NGO in the world in terms of the number of people it feeds daily: 50,000 with no full stop any day of any year. And this number continues to rise as people like you and me become aware of its workings.

Saylani’s un-written but much understood reason for being established was that they wanted ‘to feed all Muslims of the World’. But they have grown their charter and now wishes that no one, not only Muslims, go hungry any day, any night. This is a big ask but could have imagined them feeding 50,000 people daily. And meat everyday, despite it being a very expensive commodity. And no religion comes into play at their workings. Anyone can go and eat without the necessity of mentioning his / her religion. Nor it is asked.

But Saylani also does other things. They gift jahez (dowry) to poor women who cannot fund their daughters’ jazez; they help people with free medicines and doctors; they fund people with disabilities; they pay for the deserving patients in Karachi’s elitist hospitals; they help people set up their own push-carts free of cost; they manage monthly stipends for thousands of deserving, poverty-struck families; and they feed prisoners at City Courts. This surely is an organization worth helping.

Original Blog by Ameer Hamza

Social Responsibility from Agha’s Supermarket

Teeth Maestro — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:32:25 +0000

Found on Tanzeelism of a new initiative by Agha’s Supermarket definitely worth commending

Karachi’s famous Agha’s supermarket has come up with an interesting societal marketing idea. They are providing grocery and other day to day items to customers in nicely designed Newspaper bags made by needy women, these newspaper bags are provided to Agha’s by NGO Rana Liaquat Craftsmen Colony Welfare Program (RLCC), such newspaper bags would not only help women keep their homes running but at the same time address the conservation issue as well …. more…..

Foto of the day

Raja Islam — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 07:47:58 +0000

Shared from a friend.

Nokia Calling All Innovators (CAI) Competition

Afreen — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 12:01:51 +0000

One of the exclusive Nokia’s market research revealed that Pakistani Software Applications Industry possesses a huge potential and growth prospects and its local developers can do wonders in the industry if their exceptional piece of work is put forward at the global level. Thus, to recognize and promote the creative excellence of Pakistani developers, Nokia offers an excellent opportunity for them to participate in the globally launched, Nokia Calling All Innovators (CAI) competition by submitting their applications now and win the exciting rewards.

CAI competition is open to anyone in Pakistan with bold ideas and tremendous talent. Whether it is someone new to mobile or an experienced coder, Nokia is offering new opportunities for local developers to grow their business. The competition challenges mobile and web application developers to submit entries for locally relevant content in English or Urdu in any of these four categories; Eco/Being Green, Entertainment, Productivity and Life Improvement. Details about each of these categories are available here.

Talking about launch of Calling All Innovators Competition in Pakistan, Nauman Durrani, Services Manager, Nokia Pakistan & Afghanistan said, “We are very excited to bring Calling All Innovators Competition to Pakistan this year. There are some highly talented web developers in Pakistan and Nokia Calling All Innovators Competition will give them a great opportunity to inspire people all over the world with their creative ideas. Nokia Pakistan has high hopes from Pakistani developers and we are certain to receive some really wonderful applications”.

Submission deadline is 18 May 2010, with finalist being announced in June 2010 and winners being announced in September 2010. All eligible entries received will be judged by the sponsor and industry experts. Criteria for choosing the winner include quality and functionality; uniqueness and innovativeness; usability and creativity; and ability to fulfil users’ needs in terms of relevancy and customer adoption.

Grand prize winner will receive a special prize of 1,000,000/- PKR in cash; “spotlight” placement featuring the winning application for 4 weeks on the top page of Nokia’s Ovi Store; and paid travel and accommodation to demo the winning application at a Nokia specified event. The winning application will also be reviewed by Nokia for possible preload on future Nokia devices. Additionally, two runners-up will get 500,000/- PKR in cash and 300,000/- PKR in cash respectively; and “spotlight” placement featuring the winning application for 3 weeks on a relevant category page on Nokia’s Ovi Store. The winners in all four applications categories will also receive a one-year membership in Forum Nokia Launchpad, which is designed to accelerate mobile application development and elevate your business visibility in the mobile world.

More information about Nokia’s Calling All Innovators Pakistan, including how to submit an application and complete contest rules and requirements can be found online here.

Via Converge Weekly

Tariq Road – Once at the fore, but not anymore?

SwERveUT — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:13:22 +0000

What is the ultimate Karachi shopping experience? Some say Park Towers…. No. The Forum? Not really. Those places are too small to be worthy of being named the “Ultimate”. Once upon a time however, it used to be the Saddar area. Most especially, the Elphinstone Street (current Zaib-un-Nissa street) where you would find most upmarket and good shopping outlets in Karachi. But that was also the days of yore. For our current day and the recent past, the reigning position has consistently been occupied by the Tariq Road. This has most definitely been a go-to place for all sorts of families and all sorts of people to buy all sorts of things apparel related. For easily about two decades Tariq road has occupied the top spot on the Karachi shopping scene. And very rightly so. It is a bazaar-cum-market-cum-mall where you can find the best deals, the best bargains, the most variety and the most seasoned material. Could you say its Karachi’s Oxford Street or İstiklal Avenue? ummmm……

Nah, I wouldn’t really say that. Its much too dirty and overcrowded to be compared to elegant places like those. If I get any foreign visitors, I will definitely keep them the hell away from Tariq Road. So why has it really become like that? I remember when I was young, the name Tariq road used to bring to mind images of a very lively shopping scene. Now when I think of it, I only think of horrible traffic jams, broken roads, pollution, noise, and wayy too many people with nowhere to move.

And garbage on the medians?

I think our city government really forgot about this golden road. Oft trodden, but now forgotten. In the span of the past few years, the CDGK has carried out remarkable development activity in Karachi – something no other government could ever achieve – however it really needs to be reminded about the plight of this road before the current setup gets brushed aside and somebody incompetent ends up taking its place. There is much to be fixed here, and some of it can easily be done. However once done, it will make the shopping experience at Tariq road something to talk about once again. Here are a few suggested improvements:

Re-carpet the entire stretch of the road. The current road condition is very grating. The older carpeting had been greatly destroyed. There are holes, rubbly stretches, places to test your off-roading skills etc. all to be found in close vicinity of each other. Re-carpeting will make the road more drivable, pleasant, and will ease the traffic jams a little. And no, patch fixing will not help.
Make proper high sidewalks on both sides of the road, and repair the median. This is essential as both are broken beyond recognition, and both are in urgent need of repair. In the case of sidewalks, I think it would be almost a first time construction other than the sidewalks created by the mall builders themselves.
Build big parking plazas on the back streets of every block, and prohibit parking on the main road. Now this is a very lofty aim and I think it will not be accomplished easily – if ever. It must also be made obligatory for every new building / mall to construct underground or above ground parking floors to accomodate the amount of cars they aim to attract. For shopkeepers and shoppers alike. They should be allowed to charge for it so they can recover their building expenses.

Chaos theory originated here.

Make lots of pedestrian bridges along the whole stretch of the road, 2-3 per block, and screen off pedestrian use of the main road using decorated iron grills.
Make sidewalk zones where street vendors can display their wares easily and away from obstruction. However, the street vendors should be allowed to stay at Tariq road to maintain its ambience.
Have a proper garbage collection system set up. (— well actually all of Karachi would benefit from that).

Now I may be dreaming here with making all these extraordinarily wonderful suggestions, however due to the excellent performance of CDGK over the past few years, I am pretty sure it can accomplish this if it sets its mind on the task. Maybe send a link to Mustafa Kamal? I am sure however, that once this work is accomplished, this street will once again be able to regain the reigns of the Karachi shopping experience.

Say what?

Jazz SMS & Online Promotion to win Avatar passes

Afreen — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:26:16 +0000

The $1-billion-grossing sci-fi fantasy Avatar has currently seized the public mind with its beautiful yet dangerous world of Pandora and its natives Na’Vi with a well-thought out plot. Avatar marks Cameron’s first dramatic feature since 1997’s Titanic, which is shot on the proprietary FUSION digital 3-D cameras developed by Cameron in collaboration with Vince Pace, and will offer a groundbreaking mix of live-action dramatic performances and computer-generated effects.

Locally, the movie has been released in cinemas by Jazz Mobilink with the partnership of Paramount Communications and Mandviwalla Entertainment. Being Avatar’s official Mobile partner in Pakistan, they screened the movie in Karachi Cineplex and introduced an SMS Promotion along with their digital agency to win Avatar tickets and digital content (ring tone, wallpaper and screensavers).

If you are a Jazz subscriber do participate in the simple SMS quiz and you might just win free passes. Also, even if you are not a Jazz subscriber, you can add their Facebook App to participate in an online trivia for the same.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er0sKK0nlu4[/youtube]

Update:

Jazz Avatar Facebook App: Answer a movie trivia question and win a chance to get free ticket of the movie.

Trivia Terms:

50 pairs of tickets to be given away through lucky draw of correct entries on the 7th, 14th and 21st of January 2010.
Fans can only enter the competition once but their entry will be valid for all four lucky draws.
One ticket admits one only.
The tickets are non-transferable and non-refundable.
The tickets are valid at all cinemas playing “Avatar” throughout Pakistan.
Contest closes January 28 2010.

Source: Coverge Weekly