Hang on!
I wrote the following long ago (to be precise, 7 years back) and now want to share through this site. The melody of encouragement and hope!
Hang on my friend!
For the dawn is yet to come.
You may fear the night,
But do not be in fright.
For you have to fight for the right.
Hang on my friend!
For the dawn is yet to come.
You may see darkness all around,
But do not be frightened.
For you have to win on every ground.
Hang on my friend!
For the dawn is yet to come.
You may feel you are all alone,
But do not be forlorn.
For you have to end this storm.
Cling onto hope, keep looking on,
For your destination and good days are yet to come.
Computers for Everyone
Recently, I was sorting some old books when I found a piece of newspaper dating back to 1997 and containing an interesting article. This article was published in The News and is about creators of Pakistan’s first multimedia interactive CD.
You can also download the full sized and high resolution picture (3723 x 2536 pixels resolution and 9.47 MB size) from Rapidshare.
The man in the center is Zaheer Kidvai. He has been a regular contributor to Spider magazine. The girl on right side is Jehan Ara, who is now president of PASHA. Both of them are one of the founders of IT industry in Pakistan and part of one of the first IT companies in Pakistan known as Enabling Technologies.
Note: The company Enabling Technologies discussed in this post was based in Karachi and it has no relation with an Islamabad-based company with the same name. The Islamabad’s Enabling Technologies was founded by Safi Qureshi and specialized in VOIP technologies whereas the Karachi’s Enabling Technologies dealt in multimedia)
Resurrection 2.0
Who says that resurrection can happen only once? It’s not true at least in the case of my blog. Three months back, I committed that I’ll be regularly writing here but who knew that one of the worst CMS will snatch away even the few hours of free time I get weekly! That CMS is known as Expression Engine and after experiencing it in one of the projects, I wish to bow to the developers & contributers of Joomla and Wordpress. The two most annoying things about Expression Engine are:
1. 90% of web searches on it leads to its official site only because very few people uses it. So, at the end of the day, the developer is dependent on its official documentation and the official forum only.
2. The worst thing is that you need to have a paid & commercial license to even post in the forum.
My apologies to those who sent me angry mails that I’m not updating the blog (I wonder if anyone really reads this blog).
Pakistan getting bankrupt?
The Forex resevre of Pakistan shrunk from 16 Billion to 8 Billion. It’s the result of the “efficient” policies of the gang of looters called PPP, that is ruling Pakistan under the command of a mentally sick person called Asif Ali Zardari.
The puppet PM Yousuf Raza Gillani and his team will try to justify the decrease in Forex reserve by putting blame on Musharraf’s government and with promises that they are doing their best to control the situation.
It’s over 6 months this new government is in power and this time is more than enough to at least show some positive output, that is beneficial for the common people. Apparently, they have taken some steps to satisfy the people but even the, why our reserves decreasing? Here is a dissection done by a person Jaad Syed in one of the Orkut communities:
1- Govt raised Tax on Petroleum products [yes the Govt just increased tax, not the price for the dealer or Oil company, which actually were reduced]. Net Increase in Millions of Rupees.
2- Govt raised GST from 15% to 16% , which applies to virtually & Practically every thing you buy , be it chalia , Bread, milk , or anything, . Net Increase: Billions of Rupees
3- Govt raised Tax on telecom Services to 21% from 15% . Net Increase: Millions
The one thing it will not hurt is cell phone companies, since they already advertise their charges as rate+tax. Also the Telecom Taxes in Pakistan are highest in the region , well needless to say, other taxes are also one of the highest.
4- For the first time in Pakistan, GST was imposed on Govt Service,i.e. Electricity bills, that means if u were getting bill of 1000 Rupees now u will get 1160. Net Increase in profit = in factors of 10 Billions
5- Rates per Unit of Electricity has been Increased, with our Govt saying that it would not effect those poor and middle Class consumers which consume 50 or less units. JOKE OF the CENTURY!! a single bulb and a fan usage results in more than 60 units month! Net Increase in Millions
6- Newspapers reporting that agriculture exports have increased (due to ban of Exporting Agricultural Items in India to control Food Inflation). Our govt is promoting it so that people starve to death from the food inflation!
7- Asif Zardari accounts get released by the Swiss Government, 60 million dollars!
Now the Grand Finale, even after so much Tax Increase, with Agricultural Exports up , the Forex Resevre of Pakistan shrunk from 16 Billion to 8 Billion.
Ironically no questions asked!
President of Pakistan: Drunk or Mentally unstable?
Ardeshir Cowasjee wrote about President Zardari’s visit to tomb of Quaid-e-Azam, that he made on 11th September 2008 marking 60th death anniversary of the founder of Pakistan. Zardari also signed the visitor’s book there and wrote some “words of wisdom” there. That’s what Mr. Cowasjee describes:
They then all moved on to the visitors’ book in which those who go to pay public homage record their innermost feelings. Recorded by Asif, in illegible handwriting resembling that of a stressed physician, were the words “May Gaad (sic) give us the street (sic) to save Pakistan.” Space precludes me from recording the lengthy ramblings of the other two.
Following is the snapshot of this masterpiece:
I’m speechless!!
