A few months back I visited China, and reaslized the world can progress and advance in technology and other areas without particularly knowing English.
As it dawned on me, everything there was in their own language. The only thing I can understand and read there was numbers and digits.
They did not understand English, which is said to the universal language and the only way of communication was the sign language.
Ever since my childhood I have been studying and learning in English, as it was deemed necessary for my existance and well being and for getting better opportunities in life.
My parents and my teachers have often told me that I could not progress in life if I do not excel in English. Every subject in my academic life was in English, so much so that I couldnot understand the majority of the subjects and would only cram them to pass in Exams. Life without English was unthinkable.
There was no or very little sign of English in China, and still it has continued to dominate the world in every way. It is now the second super power of the world.
Train stations, bus stations, building names, hoardings, visting cards all were in their native language.
We are tilting toward English, neglecting our national language and hence we are neither excelling in English nor in our native language.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Fixing the fixture.
In the match fixing and spot-fixing allegation by the tabloid news of the world, several information bits were revealed by the alleged match fixer Mazhar Majeed, including the result of the Sydney Test of 2009 - 2010 , the match results of the Asia Cup and the forecast of the first two one days against england.
ICC nor the police has made any investigation in the first two one days which England Won, and which was also alleged by the book maker mazhar majeed that Pakistan would loose.
ICC was quick to ban the three pakistani cricketers from all sort of cricket.
However, niether the Cricket Australian nor the ICC has shown any real willingness in investigating the sydney test match or to change the result of the test match as suspected or under the investigation.
ICC has not carried our any investigation in Pakistan loosing the first two one days against england which the book maker mazhar majeed alleged pakistani will loose.
However, inquiry only started when pakistan won the third one day.
ICC nor the police has made any investigation in the first two one days which England Won, and which was also alleged by the book maker mazhar majeed that Pakistan would loose.
ICC was quick to ban the three pakistani cricketers from all sort of cricket.
However, niether the Cricket Australian nor the ICC has shown any real willingness in investigating the sydney test match or to change the result of the test match as suspected or under the investigation.
ICC has not carried our any investigation in Pakistan loosing the first two one days against england which the book maker mazhar majeed alleged pakistani will loose.
However, inquiry only started when pakistan won the third one day.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
raising up a child - the right approach.
A few days ago, I was dropping my son to his school.
As I came back to my car and was reversing the car, a child from no where came walking behind my car, such that he was not visible in the rear or side view mirrors. His height was too short to be seen in the rear view mirror.
His parents were standing on either side of the car, allowing the kid enough luxury and confidence to walk on his own , unaware that the car was reversring.
Finally the father patted my car to caution me about his son walking behind my car.
He then came over to my driving side and had a word with me, telling me that I should have seen the child walking behind my car, and should have stopped.
I had no way of seeing such a small child walking behind my car.
I told the father that he should have taken care of his son, as he is too young to be let alone , walking in the parking area.
As we finished our little conversation, I reversed my car and was about to drive away, I saw the father taking his son in his arms , and telling him if me (uncle) would have hit him with his car, he would have broken my car , and would have beaten me too.
This left me in a state of shock as to how we are upbringing our newer generation, and what education and ethics we are parting them.
As I came back to my car and was reversing the car, a child from no where came walking behind my car, such that he was not visible in the rear or side view mirrors. His height was too short to be seen in the rear view mirror.
His parents were standing on either side of the car, allowing the kid enough luxury and confidence to walk on his own , unaware that the car was reversring.
Finally the father patted my car to caution me about his son walking behind my car.
He then came over to my driving side and had a word with me, telling me that I should have seen the child walking behind my car, and should have stopped.
I had no way of seeing such a small child walking behind my car.
I told the father that he should have taken care of his son, as he is too young to be let alone , walking in the parking area.
As we finished our little conversation, I reversed my car and was about to drive away, I saw the father taking his son in his arms , and telling him if me (uncle) would have hit him with his car, he would have broken my car , and would have beaten me too.
This left me in a state of shock as to how we are upbringing our newer generation, and what education and ethics we are parting them.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Spot Fixing and Bob Woolmer
When ever there is a terrorist activity or attack anywhere around the world, it is link with Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Similarly, any match fixing allegating is linked with Pakistan and Pakistani players.
Bob Woolmer died after Pakistan lost the match with Scotland in world cup 2007. The Indian and the british media, specially the british media which flew to the carribean from the UK to cover this story was pressing hard to ascertain that Bob Woolmer was killed by Pakistani players who had a scuffle with him, or that he had links with book makers and he was killed by book makers.
Later it was ascertained that the he indeed died due to heart attack.
On the cricket field, Pakistan has a history of incidents with England starting from Imran Khan's ball tampering, illicit relationship with a british woman, Imran Khan and Bothom battle, Mike Getting and Shakoor Rana incident, ball tampering allegations on wasim and waqar, the forfieting of oval test in 2006 and now the recent spot fixing allegation.
These are still accusation but a major section of the media has already given their verdict and have already accused the players of match fixing.
If Pakistan comes out clean this time, it should be made sure that no such allegation are levelled against Pakistan, and Pakistan should file the biggest defamation case in the history of the world for playing with the sentiments of the Pakistani cricketers and the pakistani nation.
Similarly, any match fixing allegating is linked with Pakistan and Pakistani players.
Bob Woolmer died after Pakistan lost the match with Scotland in world cup 2007. The Indian and the british media, specially the british media which flew to the carribean from the UK to cover this story was pressing hard to ascertain that Bob Woolmer was killed by Pakistani players who had a scuffle with him, or that he had links with book makers and he was killed by book makers.
Later it was ascertained that the he indeed died due to heart attack.
On the cricket field, Pakistan has a history of incidents with England starting from Imran Khan's ball tampering, illicit relationship with a british woman, Imran Khan and Bothom battle, Mike Getting and Shakoor Rana incident, ball tampering allegations on wasim and waqar, the forfieting of oval test in 2006 and now the recent spot fixing allegation.
These are still accusation but a major section of the media has already given their verdict and have already accused the players of match fixing.
If Pakistan comes out clean this time, it should be made sure that no such allegation are levelled against Pakistan, and Pakistan should file the biggest defamation case in the history of the world for playing with the sentiments of the Pakistani cricketers and the pakistani nation.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Bank holiday on first Ramazan.
Over the years banks have been observing a holiday on 1st of ramazan on account of zakat deduction from account holders' accounts.
This was a practice when bank accounts were maintained manually in ledgers and books and there was no computerization, hence calculating and deducting zakat from the accounts was a tedious task.
Cant in this age of computerization, a simple program can be developed and run to deduct 2.5% zakat from all saving accounts who have a balance threshold required to pay zakat ?
With the type of complex tasks being done with computers these days, I am pretty confident that this excercise would not take more than an hour to run on all the accounts, and hence a day's holiday can be avoided.
This was a practice when bank accounts were maintained manually in ledgers and books and there was no computerization, hence calculating and deducting zakat from the accounts was a tedious task.
Cant in this age of computerization, a simple program can be developed and run to deduct 2.5% zakat from all saving accounts who have a balance threshold required to pay zakat ?
With the type of complex tasks being done with computers these days, I am pretty confident that this excercise would not take more than an hour to run on all the accounts, and hence a day's holiday can be avoided.
Friday, August 6, 2010
self exiled and travelling
As has been the practice, many of our politicians, beaurecrats and other top brass live in self exile to avoid arrest and cases against them.
They are labeled as proclaimed offenders and continue to be absent from the court, opting to live in another country for several years.
Yet these people continue to travel around the world throughout their exile period.
Presumably they would be requiring a Pakistani Passport to enable them to travel.
What is more interesting is that these people can get Passports from the Pakistani Embassies abroad, while they are still labeled as offenders back home in Pakistan.
Cant the government put a check and ban all offenders who are living in self exile from obtaining passports from Pakistani missions abroad ?
So that they could not travel elsewhere in the world, and would have to be forced to return to Pakistan to obtain their fresh passports ?
If they are offenders in Pakistan, then the government should ensure that such offenders do not get hold of the Pakistani Passports while living abroad ?
They are labeled as proclaimed offenders and continue to be absent from the court, opting to live in another country for several years.
Yet these people continue to travel around the world throughout their exile period.
Presumably they would be requiring a Pakistani Passport to enable them to travel.
What is more interesting is that these people can get Passports from the Pakistani Embassies abroad, while they are still labeled as offenders back home in Pakistan.
Cant the government put a check and ban all offenders who are living in self exile from obtaining passports from Pakistani missions abroad ?
So that they could not travel elsewhere in the world, and would have to be forced to return to Pakistan to obtain their fresh passports ?
If they are offenders in Pakistan, then the government should ensure that such offenders do not get hold of the Pakistani Passports while living abroad ?
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Credit card drop box facility - rbs bank.
All Banks offering credit card services, have a payment drop box facility.
All credit card payments are either accepted thru cheque which is to be dropped in the payment drop box or cash.
Making payment thru cash has an additional cash handling charges.
If a consumer drops a payment cheque in the drop box, he is not given any proof of deposit of payment.
If a payment is lost in the process the entire blame is put on the consumer and he is made to run from pillar to post and is asked to check the status at the branch the payment was initially dropped, and if the cheque is shown received by the branch but not presented then he is asked to contact the head office.
During all this process the entire blame is put on the card user for not making the payment on time, and no complaint is launced either by the head office or the call center, putting the entire blame to the consumer for missing the payment.
This I am telling thru a personal experience. Where my payment of Rs.435 to RBS card ending 9591 has been missed.
The shara-e-faisal branch of the bank claims to have received the cheque and have forwarded the cheque to the head office, advising me to check with the head office about the delay.
On contacting the head office I was told that the cheque was never received from the shara-e-faisal branch.
While the new month's bill has been generated and I am charged Rs. 1000 as late payment fee charge.
I am stranded by the bank as the bank will not accept my claim of having made the payment and is insisting on me that the delay has been on my part only.
I request the authorities concerned to streamline the process and the customer be issued a receipt if making the credit card payment thru cheque or some other system by which the payments are acknowledged by the bank.
All credit card payments are either accepted thru cheque which is to be dropped in the payment drop box or cash.
Making payment thru cash has an additional cash handling charges.
If a consumer drops a payment cheque in the drop box, he is not given any proof of deposit of payment.
If a payment is lost in the process the entire blame is put on the consumer and he is made to run from pillar to post and is asked to check the status at the branch the payment was initially dropped, and if the cheque is shown received by the branch but not presented then he is asked to contact the head office.
During all this process the entire blame is put on the card user for not making the payment on time, and no complaint is launced either by the head office or the call center, putting the entire blame to the consumer for missing the payment.
This I am telling thru a personal experience. Where my payment of Rs.435 to RBS card ending 9591 has been missed.
The shara-e-faisal branch of the bank claims to have received the cheque and have forwarded the cheque to the head office, advising me to check with the head office about the delay.
On contacting the head office I was told that the cheque was never received from the shara-e-faisal branch.
While the new month's bill has been generated and I am charged Rs. 1000 as late payment fee charge.
I am stranded by the bank as the bank will not accept my claim of having made the payment and is insisting on me that the delay has been on my part only.
I request the authorities concerned to streamline the process and the customer be issued a receipt if making the credit card payment thru cheque or some other system by which the payments are acknowledged by the bank.
Nigerian Film Industry - third largest in the world.
It was hard to believe but true. Nigerian Film Industry is the thrid largest film industry in the world.
While watching National Geographic the other day it was revealed on me that Lagos has only one cinema but still Nigeria is the third largest film industry of the world.
The filmmakers do not make the films specifically for the box office, but directly release the film on CDs and DVDs so people can watch it in their homes even.
The cameras and equipments they have are out dated and they do not try to copy from Hollywood or any other films but have their own stories based on their own social and culturals factors. Making a Nigerian movie costs an average of US$ 25000
While we find our filmmakers complaining about decreasing number of cinemas and the indian movies being released on box office and on DVDs hurting the cause of the local cinema.
May be its time to think out of the box and release the movie on box office and on CD at the same time.
With so many TV channels available, it wont be a big ask to market their movie thru the tv channels and tempt the viewer on buying the locally realease movie on dvd.
It is also to be understood that watching movie in cinema is not easy. A family of 5 will have to spend an average of Rs. 1000 to just watch the movie, while the entertainment that goes with the movie is a separate entity.
While the competition with Indian movies cannot be ignored, but trying to go out of the box may pay off.
While watching National Geographic the other day it was revealed on me that Lagos has only one cinema but still Nigeria is the third largest film industry of the world.
The filmmakers do not make the films specifically for the box office, but directly release the film on CDs and DVDs so people can watch it in their homes even.
The cameras and equipments they have are out dated and they do not try to copy from Hollywood or any other films but have their own stories based on their own social and culturals factors. Making a Nigerian movie costs an average of US$ 25000
While we find our filmmakers complaining about decreasing number of cinemas and the indian movies being released on box office and on DVDs hurting the cause of the local cinema.
May be its time to think out of the box and release the movie on box office and on CD at the same time.
With so many TV channels available, it wont be a big ask to market their movie thru the tv channels and tempt the viewer on buying the locally realease movie on dvd.
It is also to be understood that watching movie in cinema is not easy. A family of 5 will have to spend an average of Rs. 1000 to just watch the movie, while the entertainment that goes with the movie is a separate entity.
While the competition with Indian movies cannot be ignored, but trying to go out of the box may pay off.
city government road side cabins - karachi
The city government in good faith, introduced road side cabins to accommodate street vendors, to have a better looking, proper space for their business. This was as good as legalizing their road side business by giving them a proper place to conduct business.
These roadside cabins are already built on footpaths, which hinder the movement of pedestrians who wish to use the footpath and hence have to walk on the road.
The cabin owners have started abusing the space allocated to them, by encroaching at least 5 feet further out of their cabins, putting their shop stuff like display counters or chairs and tables, further blocking the road and leaving just little space for cars and people to pass by.
The city government should ensure that the cabin owners only use the specified cabin space and do not further encroach out of their allocated space, as this is causing longer term menace to pedestrians, cars and passers by.
These roadside cabins are already built on footpaths, which hinder the movement of pedestrians who wish to use the footpath and hence have to walk on the road.
The cabin owners have started abusing the space allocated to them, by encroaching at least 5 feet further out of their cabins, putting their shop stuff like display counters or chairs and tables, further blocking the road and leaving just little space for cars and people to pass by.
The city government should ensure that the cabin owners only use the specified cabin space and do not further encroach out of their allocated space, as this is causing longer term menace to pedestrians, cars and passers by.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Facebook banned in Pakistan till 31st May 2010
Facebook is banned in Pakistan till 31st May 2010.
So all the facebook addicts will have to start to learn ti live without facebook or may be turn to some other similar site.
So the presence of pakistani community on facebook would be at minimum.
So all the facebook addicts will have to start to learn ti live without facebook or may be turn to some other similar site.
So the presence of pakistani community on facebook would be at minimum.
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