Australian Cricket Attitude

Courtesy: http://www.harrowdrive.com/the-australian-cricket-attitude/

Batting Tips

1. Play straight with full face of bat.
2. Look at gaps not fielders.
3. Build partnerships.
4. Almost every ball that hits the pad is a run.
5. Running between wickets. Look for singles and try to convert every run for extras.
6. Almost impossible to run out if both batsmen go.
7. Take on fielders - push them into errors.

Fielding Tips

1. Want every ball to come to you.
2. Plenty of encouragement.
3. Relax between deliveries.
4. Look at the keeper, be positive but don’t ‘burn’ in throws when not necessary.
5. Outfielders, back up and come in to stop overthrow singles.

Bowling Tips

1. Don’t rush when under pressure, make the batsman wait if necessary.
2. Forget bad balls, the only important ball is the one you are about to deliver.
3. Never start to run in if you haven’t decided what to bowl.
4. Change of pace.

Sledging of a Subtle Kind

Courtesy: http://www.harrowdrive.com/readers-question-do-you-sledge/

Indirect Comments. I’ll often make a comment (just loud enough) to a team mate about the batsman’s technique. If he drives well I’ll note he likes to flash outside the off stump or seems weak on the leg side. Backing this up by moving a fielder away from the leg side or into the slips works well too.

Distractions. A great way to get the batsman in a negative frame of mind is to distract him with talk about unrelated things. The idea is to get him out of concentrating on the moment and thinking about stuff that is putting him off. It’s subtle and easy to go too far though, so take care!

Chirping. This is an easy one for the keepers when standing up. I will often go on about anything to just get the batsman thinking “shut up”! Take care not to wind up your own team too. There is a fine line between being lively and annoying.

Bluffing. This is my favourite. Telling new batsmen its turning square then putting in another close fielder is a great ploy. On the other side of the coin, you could say it’s gun barrel straight when it’s swinging all over. Less is more with this tactic though. Even the slowest players catch on quick!

Where to hide your bad fielders

In swing: cover point or third man.
Out swing: mid on, midwicket or fine leg.
Off spin: short third man, cover point or square leg (saving one).
Slow Left arm or Leg spin: Midwicket or square leg (saving one).
No swing/movement: Slips.

The principle is pretty simple: Put the fielders in places that are against the natural movement of the ball because its very tricky for the batters to hit it there.

NB. Really confident captains can also use bad fielders in a positive way. For example, if you are trying to get your opponents back in the game enough for them to go for it and get bowled out you use the bad fielders to quietly leak runs. Sneaky.

Changes in values, lifestyles

An excellent article on how life is changing in Karachi.

Changes in values, lifestyles
Arif Hasan

CHANGES in the social values and lifestyles of the elite and middle classes in Karachi are all too visible. However, the changes in the social values and lifestyles of the lower and lower middle classes are hidden from view. The most visible expression of the change that has taken place in these classes is the emergence of young couples holding hands or sitting with their arms around each other on the benches in the parks in the city.

This behaviour is surprisingly tolerated by the other visitors (even bearded ones) to the parks and has led in some cases to the segregation of spaces among families, male visitors and couples. As one waiter at Hill Park put it, “There is nothing you can do about this. You cannot quarrel with the zamana.”

In an attempt to understand this phenomenon, I have over the last five years interviewed or had a questionnaire filled by 100 young couples in parks and at the Sea View beach. They all belong to the lower and lower middle classes. Of these, 28 couples were married. Of the 100 women, 32 wore the hijab and 68 wore a black or grey ‘aba’. Only 18 couples were interested in politics and/or read political news in the newspapers. Eighty-three were interested in migrating to another country towards which seven married couples and 16 unmarried men had taken some steps.

The reasons for wanting to migrate were in order of importance; one, there was no justice in Pakistan; two, they would never be able to own a place to live in; three, married couples were afraid that they would not be able to educate their children properly; four, there was no affordable entertainment and recreation; five, there were too many family disputes often related to behaviour patterns of the young which they considered hypocritical; and six, they lived, worked and travelled in terrible environmental conditions.

These couples certainly do not constitute the majority of young people in lower and lower middle-income settlements in Karachi but they are definitely trendsetters as their numbers are rapidly increasing.

What has brought about this very visible change apart from TV and the “trickle down” of the lifestyles of the more affluent sections of society? I feel that the most important reason is that for the first time in our history we have a very large number of unmarried female adolescents. In the 1981 census, 37.54 per cent women and 13.14 per cent men in the age group of 15 to 24 were married. If we project the 1998 census figures to 2007 then less than 20 per cent of women and six per cent of men in this age group are married today.

Also, the low-income settlements that I knew in the 1970s and 1980s have changed. Then they were purely working class settlements and women did not work. Today, there are doctors, engineers, formal sector entrepreneurs, persons employed in the corporate and IT sectors, bank managers, college and school teachers (the majority of them women), living in these settlements. This is a sea change.

In order to know more I discussed the changes that I have noticed with older residents and the more upwardly mobile community members of low-income settlements. They agreed that the major change that has taken place is the break-up of the extended or joint family and this has played a key role in the change of values and behaviour patterns. Among the reasons given for the break-up of the joint family is that previously there was one earning member and others were dependents. Today, there are many earning members and hence the patriarchal structure cannot survive.

Money from abroad was also cited as a reason for the break-up of the family since it created jealousies and the nuclear family of the person sending it broke away from the rest. In addition, working women have also adversely affected the joint family system for it has led to quarrels and disputes. My friend Mansoor Raza’s survey of people sleeping in the streets revealed that the majority of them consisted of young men who had run away from home and old men who had been abandoned by their families.

People are not conscious of the changes that have taken place and as a result are confused. For instance, one person reported how, after much heartburning and violence, he agreed to let his daughter marry out of his caste and how terrified he was of what the reaction of his clan would be. However, there was no reaction except for a few elders being sarcastic — his peers did not particularly care. “The traditions are gone but we do not know it for out of fear we do not discuss these things,” was his conclusion.

Older residents agreed that an increasing number of youth are “undisciplined” and violent gangs are emerging in their localities. One of the reasons given for this is that parents have become more liberal because of a “change in the times”. Other reasons given are unemployment and the terrible state of public education and its uselessness. An increasing number of young people are doing their Matric and Intermediate and after that they are not willing to do manual labour.

Meanwhile, jobs that are available in the market require technical skills and more and more of them require formal “sanads” and not just experience with an ustad. These jobs are mostly in the textile, medical and construction industry. However, there are no educational centres where one can be trained for these jobs. Those that do exist are too few and far too expensive. For example, there is a great demand for male nurses but there are only five institutions that one can apply to. Admission fee to these institutions is between Rs30,000 to Rs40,000 and the monthly fee is between Rs2,000-3,000.

The rising gap between poverty and wealth is a major factor in the social and political alienation of the young in the lower and lower middle income groups as aspirations increase but resources and opportunities do not. The solution lies in the development of good public sector educational institutions equal to those of the elite and in the teaching of English. For example, it was mentioned in one of the discussions that at a private school a normal female teacher earns about Rs1,500 to Rs3,000 a month whereas someone who is good in English can get up to Rs8,000 to Rs10,000 a month.

Private schools are expensive and often a family has to choose which of its children it will send to them. In the absence of an affordable and useful public school education system more and more students are being sent to madressahs. “At least they learn how to read and write there and without reading and writing there is no future today.” “In a government school they learn nothing but corruption from their teachers.” “These are not schools, they resemble aasar-i-qadeema. No water, no toilets, no furniture, broken floors and collapsing roofs.” These were some of the comments that were made during the discussions.

I conclude from the discussions I had that we will have a very different society in Karachi in the next decade. It also points to the need for a major reform in the education and social sectors and in state culture along with corresponding changes in city planning priorities. If that does not happen, political and social alienation will increase and so will the chances of conflict and further fragmentation.

Nawaz Sharif's Exile & Re-Exile

Nawaz Sharif visited the elders of Tableeghi Jamaat in Raiwind, while he was still in power. He asked them make dua for him to stay in power so that he may serve Islam. The elders asked him to make Pakistan ‘Interest Free’, since its an open violation of Islam and as per Quran and Hadees, a ‘war’ against Allah and his Prophet (peace be upon him). Nawaz Sharif said that he cannot do so. The elders replied then you may not remain in power for long as people at war against Allah and his Prophet (peace be upon him) cannot be victorious. Nawaz Sharif was removed shortly in a coup by Pervaiz Musharraf in a game of political chess, when the knight decided to upgrade himself to King.

How much hand the statement of the elders played in his removal depends upon the level of faith you might have, but Nawaz Sharif, while being in power was no saint. He openly violated the rule of law to make his base stronger and/or to fill his pockets and that of his cronies. The medals on his uniform contains amongst others the following.

1. He arranged a raid of his party workers on the sacred Supreme Court, which was hearing a case against him.

2. The buying of judges for removal of Chief Justice of that time, Sajjad Ali Shah.

3. The dollar account freeze after Nuclear Tests. But only for normal citizen. Him and his friends took out and bought dollars a day/night before and made huge amounts of money as the dollar price soared up.

4. Removal of duty on luxury cars for 1 day. Which was a day when the luxury cars of his close ally Saif Ur Rehman were to arrive in Pakistan.

5. His official vacation, on state expense, with his cronies and family to America with luxuries such as Limousines and Five Stars. After seeing their vacation, which even a Saudi Prince would envy, the Western Media rightly noticed ‘Is Pakistan a poor country?’.

6. In the end of his tenure he was trying to become ‘Amir Ul Momineen’ and having a system of Royalty rather than democracy, with power remaining within Sharif family.

7. Finally fresh from the confidence he had after removal of the Chief Justice through bribes and a military chief General Jahangir Karamat he tried to do the same with General Pervez Musharraf. Little did he know that the Pakistan Army had other plans.

Thus a coup was organized by the Punjabi dominated Pakistan Army for the Urdu speaking Army Chief who was still in air, showing the depth of loyalty the Army had for its chief. Nawaz Sharif was removed with the country almost nearing bankruptcy. He was sent to jail with loads of cases against him and his brother.

As the story discloses itself lately, prison life was far too much for him and with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s example fresh in his mind, he might have cracked. As now truth discloses itself, he arranged through his friends, to contact the Saudi Government through Lebanease politician Rafiq Hariri, who was on good terms with the Sharifs, to intervene and arrange a safe passage for him. A request was sent to Musharraf to release the Sharif family and send them on exile to Saudi Arabia. Pakistan, as a country, nation and government, is so indebted to Saudi Arabia that Musharraf couldn’t say no. He agreed to a 10 year exile for the Sharifs and sent them to Saudi Arabia.

Immediately the Sharifs and their workers vehemently denied any such deal or agreement had taken place. They kept on shouting that they were sent to Saudi Arabia by force. This stance of theirs continued till just a few days ago. When the newly empowered Judiciary gave a verdict in his favor and rejected the legality of any such document. Incidently Sharif’s lawyers told the Supreme Court there there was no such agreement.

Nawaz Sharif decided to return back to Pakistan and overthrow Musharraf. This resulted in the, till now secret, negotiators of the deal to come forward, arrange a press conference and request Mr. Nawaz Sharif to abide by his agreement. They showed the whole world a copy of the agreement, on which Mr. Nawaz Sharif had signed. In a tit for tat press conference Nawaz Sharif, agreed that there was an agreement and that it was only for 5 years and not 10 years. Nawaz Sharif had lied to his supporters and public.

Anyhow in the wake of Supreme Court’s verdict, Nawaz Sharif decided to land in Pakistan to gain political mileage. Vary of his declining street support after the arrest of his wokers, he decided to leave behind his brother Shabaz Sharif. On arrival, he was allowed entry in Pakistan and the pending cases against him, were opened once again.

After this, there are 2 versions. One from the Government and one from Nawaz Sharif. The truth might be revealed in sometime.

Nawaz Sharif’s Version

Nawaz Sharif was sent to Saudia Arab forcibly. He chose the option of Jail. PML (N) would file an application against the government in the Supreme Court for contempt of Court.

Grary Areas: (1) No mention of involving Saudia Arab in the case, which is a party in all that has happened. So much so that Shabaz Sharif has openly declined that he would even involve the Saudi government if he files a case in the supreme court. (2) No answer as to why the Sharifs lied to his workers and on media. And why can’t he be lying once again? (3) No answer to the contempt of court committed by their lawyers, when they told the Supreme Court that there was no such agreement between the Sharifs and the government of Pakistan and Saudia Arab. (4) Why no contempt of court application filed by Shabaz Sharif when he tried coming to Pakistan and was sent back?

Government’s Version

Nawaz Sharif was allowed entry into Pakistan as per the orders of court, so there is no question of contempt of court. On arrival, he was given the option of Saudia Arab or Jail. He chose to go to Saudia Arab.

The government’s position is pretty awkward, since now the Courts (because of the action against the Chief Justice) and media (because of action against media in the Supreme Court and May 12 crisis) are against them. Therefore the government is countinously being or at least being tried to be painted as a villian. The courts, if the case appears in front of them, would have to decide what is the position of a written promise given by Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arab to stay there for 10 years.

Some of the truth has appeared in this story of ‘The Exile and re-exile of Nawaz Sharif’ and some truth is pending.

In the end, I would come back from where I started, with the addition of a Hadees of our Prophet (peace be upon him), whose central theme is, ‘Your Rulers are nothing but your actions’. So if our actions are good and as per Islamic Principles then we would have good leaders otherwise craziness would prevail, be it Musharraf, Benazir or Nawaz Sharif.

Emotional Abuse of Children

An excellent article on preventing emotional abuse of a child. Although modern research comes up with some pertinent points on how to prevent, its good to know that our Prophet (peace be upon him) closed the door on child emotional abuse 14 centuries ago. If we can follow his life, like we have been told to do, we will close the door of child’s emotional abuse forever. Some examples from his life are

1. He never even once talked to a child in anger, even when the child has directly disobeyed by not doing an errand which he had asked the child to do.

2. He treated his grand children in particular and all children in general with great love by playing with them. The example of him giving a ride to Hazrat Hassan and Hazrat Hussain (may Allah be pleased with them) on his back are very popular.

3. He also didn’t allow un-necessary stopping of children so much so when some of his companions (May Allah be pleased with them), tried to take away children from the place where he was praying, he stopped them.

4. One another instance, which I have heard, is that once he was giving a ride to one of his grand children on his shoulders. He came near a mosque and decided to offer Nawfil prayers. He started praying with the child on his shoulders. While going in Rukuh and Sujood, he put the child off from his shoulders, and when he stood backup, he put the child on his shoulders once again.

All this modern research, as mentioned in the article below, is great as it only strengthens our belief that the life of our Prophet (peace be upon him) was perfect and should be followed both in letter and spirit. The article appeared in the Sunday Magazine of Daily Dawn in September 2007.

An invisible plague

Parents need to realise that emotional abuse is as harmful to their child as any other form of it, writes Sharifa Lalani

Emotional or psychological abuse is the most common yet difficult form of child abuse to define. I remember one example of it which occurred when I overheard a mother scolding her daughter for getting a C grade in her class. “You are such a dumb girl,” she told the sobbing child, who could not have been more than five years old. “It’s the same every year; you shame your daddy and I and sometimes I can’t believe you are my daughter.” Although my stomach churned with rage on the child’s behalf, I said nothing because I thought if I said anything the mother would tell me to mind my own business, but I had no doubt that I had witnessed a case of emotional child abuse.

According to Kairys & Hanson, (2002) “Emotional abuse is a repeated pattern of damaging interaction between parents or caregivers and the child that becomes typical of the relationship and conveys to the child that he or she is flawed, unloved or unwanted.” From the outside of that young body, you can’t see the bruises, but inside, the little child’s heart is wounded. This trend is getting very common in Pakistani culture and society. Many times, parents don’t appreciate their children. They restrict the use of sentences like “Hey you have done a great job”. Instead they always try to find their weaknesses or compare them with other children.

Byron, (2000), a psychologist, who has conducted many studies on parenting and early childhood development, says, “The effects of emotional child abuse may be at least as devastating as those of physical abuse.” His research suggests an even greater decline in mental and physical development as emotionally abused children grow older than in physically-abused children. It is because emotional abuse affects the child as a whole and destroys his self esteem. The words which were used by the mother were not of a woman who had spent a bad day, nor was she prompted by the child’s behaviour, but by her own psychological problems.

Dr Jay (2001) a psychiatrist, refers to the “four Ds” of emotional abuse: deprivation, distancing, depreciation and domination. Abusive parents may use one or all of the four Ds to play out their own psychological conflicts and avoid facing up to the real pressures of child-rearing.

Deprivation and distancing: The children are so deprived that they start distancing from their parents and find other alternates, a teacher, aunt or uncle for emotional attachments. Psychologically, unavailable parents rarely cuddle a crying baby or express interest in child’s development. As a result, their babies fail to develop a secure attachment with their parents. A physically-abused child will avoid the caretaker for fear of being abused, and an emotionally-abused child does the same thing, because of the disappointment of not being accepted. Think of a normal parent’s reaction when their baby takes the first step: it’s a celebration, a reason for praise and excitement, but in homes where emotional unavailability is the standard, the milestone is ignored and it is viewed as a demand for closer supervision.

Depreciation: Words like “always” and “never” (implying that the child invariably fails to live up to a parent’s expectation) are keys that distinguish a consistently abusive parent from one who criticises occasionally in anger and frustration. In ambitious middle class families, one of the most common forms of emotional abuses is unfair criticism for any achievement that does not meet the parent’s expectation, such as, when child’s secures a B grade instead of an A. Dr Jeree Pawl, director of the infant–parent programme at San Francisco General Hospital states that “Perfectionist parents may display irrational expectation. They have completely unrealistic ideas about how long an infant or toddler should wait to be toilet –trained, or be expected to be quiet.” The normal behaviour is seen as a deficiency on the part of the child and failure on the part of the parent.

Domination: The use of extreme threats to a child is a common form of emotional abuse. In Pakistani culture, statements loaded with words analogous to ghosts are used to frighten them. Children are often disciplined by saying “Allah Baba” will come or a “Jinn” will take it away. The invisible boundaries are built between child and parents. The child is told that it will not be in his/her favour, if he/she violates the parent’s orders. All parents try to dominate their children in a certain way, by either setting standards of conduct or by imposing parental values on children; but there is a big difference between domination through education, and domination through cruelty. Abusive parent gets his or her way by frightening the child about following his or her wishes. Mullen, Martin & Romans (1996) write: “A study of suicidal behavior reported that a history of physical abuse increased a subject’s risk of suicide attempt fivefold, whereas a history of emotional abuse increased the risk by more than 12 times.”

For some young adults, the experience of having been emotionally abused as children have made them determined to become good parents themselves, but problems do not show up until they have had children of their own. In such types of cases, the therapy involves every member of the family as the problem can not be solved in isolation. Once a parent realises something is wrong, this can open up the whole matter of how the family works and other family members can be brought into the therapeutic process.

I often think if I did the right thing in keeping silent when I overheard the mother calling her child “dumb”. I feel I should have spoken up and said something like, “every one has some strength and weaknesses and nobody is worthless.” I asked a psychologist if she thought that a comment from another adult might have made her treat her child even more harshly. The psychologist replied, “That’s possible, but may be the mother is not able to understand that she had harmed her child in any way.”

According to Rostain (1999) “parents may not be aware that their criticism has reached a point of harm to the child. They may acknowledge stress or tension in the family that contributes to their lack of support.” Sometimes children are able to survive abuse if they find a support system other then parents, like a teacher, an aunt or uncle who makes them feel worthwhile in spite of what their parents say. People should mind other people’s business when a child’s life is in danger, and that means the child as a whole physically, mentally and emotionally.

The treatment of emotional abuse includes counseling and psychiatric therapy. Play therapy and therapeutic day care programmes are available for younger children. Limited attention to the issue of emotional abuse and limited availability of psychiatric therapies for children present major obstacles in managing this problem.

Evolution of Internet

An excellent article on where the internet and television is headed. Appeared in Daily Dawn’s Magazine in September 2007.

Is it the end?

By Bobbie Johnson

Dr Cerf, Godfather of the Internet, predicts the death of the traditional broadcast TV channel in favour of new interactive services, reports Bobbie Johnson

Thirty years ago he helped create a technology that has revolutionised millions of lives around the world. But recently the man known as the “godfather of the Internet” laid out his vision of where our online future might be, including a time when we download entire TV series in seconds – and even surf the web from Mars.

Talking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Vint Cerf – one of the handful of researchers who helped build the Internet in the 1970s –– said that the television industry would change rapidly as it approached its “iPod moment”.

The 64-year-old, who is now a vice-president of the web giant Google and chairman of the organisation that administrates the Internet, told an audience of media moguls that TV was rapidly approaching the same kind of crunch moment that the music industry faced with the arrival of the MP3 player.

“Eighty-five per cent of all video we watch is pre-recorded, so you can set your system to download it all the time,” he said. “You’re still going to need live television for certain things –– like news, sporting events and emergencies –– but increasingly it is going to be almost like the iPod, where you download content to look at later.”

Dr Cerf, who helped build the Internet while working as a researcher at Stanford University in California, used the festival’s Alternative McTaggart Lecture to explain to television executives how the Internet’s influence was radically altering their businesses and how it was imperative for them to view this as a golden opportunity to be exploited instead of a threat to their survival.

The arrival of Internet television has long been predicted, although it has succeeded in limited ways so far. But the popularity of websites such as YouTube –– the video sharing service bought by Google in 2005 for $1.65bn –– has encouraged many in the TV industry to try and use the Internet more profitably. Last month the BBC launched its free iPlayer download service, and digital video recorders such as Sky Plus and Freeview Playback allow viewers to instantly pause and record live television.

Dr Cerf predicted that these developments would continue, and that we would soon be watching the majority of our television through the internet – a revolution that could herald the death of the traditional broadcast TV channel in favour of new interactive services.

“In Japan you can already download an hour's worth of video in 16 seconds,” he said. “And we’re starting to see ways of mixing information together ... imagine if you could pause a TV programme and use your mouse to click on different items on the screen and find out more about them.”

Some critics, including a number of leading Internet service providers, have warned that the increase in video on the web could eventually bring down the Internet. They are concerned that millions of people downloading at the same time using services such as iPlayer could overwhelm the network.

Dr Cerf rejected these claims as “scare tactics”. “It’s an understandable worry when they see huge amounts of information being moved around online,” he said. But some pundits had predicted 20 years ago that the it would collapse when people started using it en masse, he added, “In the intervening 30 years it’s increased a million times over ... We're far from exhausting the capacity.”

Dr Cerf also revealed that he has been working on future developments for the Internet, taking it beyond the confines of planet Earth. With other researchers he has been developing systems for using the Internet to communicate and control space vehicles, including interplanetary landers sent to explore the surface of Mars.

“Up until now we've been using the so-called Deep Space Network to communicate across space with radio signals. What my colleagues and I would like to do is use a version of Internet,” he said. He said the problems encountered by the project –– such as having to wait 40 minutes for a response from a space vehicle 235m miles away –– were proving awkward, but predicted the system could eventually be used to enhance Internet communications.

“I want more Internet,” he said. “I want every one of the six billion people on the planet to be able to connect to the internet –– I think they will add things to it that will really benefit us all.” — Dawn/Guardian News Service

My Life by Bill Clinton – The Starting Chapters.

Most recently I have started reading a book called ‘My Life’ by former US President Bill Clinton. It’s a 700 page book and as with all long books by the time you reach the end, the beginning seems to faze away. Therefore in order to remember, I plan to write what I feel as I go along.

I have read the first 5 chapters. And for someone who has read a lot of books, I can confidently say that they are the most boring chapters I have ever read. These chapters contain his childhood details with a brief mention of all his friends and family. His never ending list of friends and family is told in the most boring of manners. But a wise move anyways since those people who he has mentioned in his book would have bought the book straight away. Come on dear blog, how often are you mentiond in a book by the former President of United States. And being a politician that he is, he has mentioned everyone, including his usually drunk step dad, in such a good way that everyone looks like angels.

Another thing which has amused me is the way he mentions, without any worries about the boy friends of his mother! I mean this is their way of life, which I truly respect, but anyhow it did result in loving my way of life, all the more.

That’s it for now, if I read anything other than the mention of his friends and family I would certainly let you know.

Noor and the cot

Noor Ud din would be 1 year in a few weeks and daddy can’t help but notice and enjoy his antics. Nowadays its rumble in his cot. The poor cot is deep enough to allow him to stand without him falling over. I think it’s the biggest mistake that his cot can make.

Allowing him to stand, allows him to have a rumble inside of it. He holds the sides and shakes them so heavily that if it had wings it would start flying. You can see concentration in his eyes and his face has so much intensity in it, that it feels like he is fulfilling his life long mission. He pushes and pulls the bar with so much power that the cot starts moving and takes him close enough to his target.

Sometimes my precious would hang himself on one corner of the cot. Where two ends of the cot rail are meeting, he would hang his arms over the edge and rest his chins on the edge. This is his relaxation pose. After a day of hard work shaking his cot, he rests in this fashion. The best pose is when he does the same and stares outside of the window. Totally relaxed and at ease.

But sweetness at its peak is when he, while playing with his toys inside the cot would sleep with thumb in his mouth. Just curled up and head resting where ever there is space and thumb in his mouth. Oblivious of any worries and pain. May Allah give him such peace of mind and heart forever.

Ruet-e-Hilal

A very comprehensive article covering all aspects on Ruet-e-Hilal. Published from Dar Ul Uloom Karachi.
Courtesy: http://www.deeneislam.com

Commander of the Free World !

School or shooting gallery

A nice article which appeared in the Daily Dawn Magazine of 2nd September 2007, primarily targetting Convent Education. The writing is pretty good and justifies her wish to take out the school newspaper. I am sure the Headmistress would be biting her nails.

School or shooting gallery

By Maryam Musharaf Shah

I’ll come right out and say it: convent schools must be banned. There should be a human rights association against such breeding grounds for stupidity and bad English.

I myself attended a convent in Karachi, one of the better known ones, and more likely than not, many of this magazine’s readers’ children are probably enrolled there too. Out of the 13 years I spent there, 10 were sheer bliss (since I didn’t know any better) and the remaining three proved to be a sort of educational hell.

As an avid reader and aspiring writer, by the time I hit the eighth grade I had decided on journalism as the perfect career for me. After all, I was getting straight As in English Language and Literature and I was more of a people person than a lab rat. Medicine, the field my parents had chosen for me as The One, didn’t seem as glamorous as being a desi Christiane Amanpour. Burdened with their disappointment and tut-tut-ing, I turned to school for comfort. I figured starting up a school newspaper would be ‘oh so much fun’.

The school administration, however, turned out to be worse than the bureaucracy my father has to face at Nadra. They wanted a prototype of an issue of the newspaper; eager as I was, I spent two months working on one, forcing my unfortunate father to drive me to page-makers and printers and collect estimates and so on.

One fine school day, I submitted it in to the headmistress’s office. It came back to me through a lowly secretary, a harsh ‘unacceptable’ scrawled all over the front page.

Unacceptable! Can they say that to you? Was my work ‘unacceptable’? Did she not know how utterly impeccable the spellings and grammar were in all those articles I personally typed up and laid out on all those pages? Has there ever been another eighth grader in the history of that God-forsaken school who had come up with a whole newspaper on her own?

There was no accompanying note saying ‘Tone it down, and I’m sure we can work things out’. Nothing else at all. I was simply unacceptable. I cried that night, having learnt a harsh lesson: school would not get me far in achieving my ambitions.

Three years later, as I was leaving the institution for my A-levels at a high school situated in Old Clifton, I faced the headmistress once more. She asked me why I wasn’t applying for the A-level programme at my beloved convent, my alma mater, the school that had given me ‘everything’. I merely replied, “I deserve better.”

It’s not common for students to dislike their learning institutions to such an extent. It scared my parents, to say the least. They thought I was a sadistic little thing, relishing the thought of the day that hell-hole would burn down.

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Acquiring education at a convent school may not be as fruitful an experience as many of us assume it to be

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But exactly what had my convent given me? An education? I could have gotten better, much better, at a number of other schools in Karachi. Discipline? My supervisor in my last year at school once ordered a security guard to ‘jail’ us in a confined area beside the reception. We were a dozen girls who had come to school for extra classes before taking our O-levels; our supervisor, who doubles as a receptionist at some random hospital and who for some reason called hair ‘hairs’, thought we were being rowdy. Might I inform you that three of those girls were student council members, including yours truly. And as far as I could see, we were far from rowdy; we simply couldn’t find our chemistry teacher.

People argue, “But St. ---- must have given you something you cherish!” I must admit it did, but without knowing it. I met my closest and oldest friends there. We hung onto each other through the worst years of our school life, collectively rolling our eyes at teachers who couldn’t teach biology to save their lives. We perched protectively on our own little bench in the vast school ground, helping each other get away with breaking rules. The school didn’t seem interested in cultivating our talent; one of my friends was a wonderful singer, the other a writer, another could speak perfect khaliss Urdu and had the potential to be the star of our make-believe drama society.

But no. The entire student body was treated as one big teeming mass of potential criminals (please recall the aforementioned make-shift ‘jail’). Extracurricular activities were limited to sports and that again was limited to the boys since we had nobody on the sports staff willing to coach us basketball. Girls strutted around school making goo-goo eyes at them, while debating what kind of wedding they would want. Believe it or not, no less than four different teachers lectured us in our last year on the importance of marriage and children and how we girls must ‘understand our limitations’.

I’m all for finding a husband and raising a family but you simply DON’T insert this message in between lectures on biotechnology. On top it all, an Islamiat teacher in our tenth grade class quite subtly told us of her views regarding the Taliban and basant (‘it is HARAAAM!!’)

Get real. Our teachers had a responsibility towards us and that solely referred to teaching us the syllabi and encouraging us in our strengths. Instead, we got Marriage 101. Even at the age of 16, when the rest of my brainwashed classmates were giggling over potential proposals and picking out their rishta pictures (I’m not exaggerating, I saw some that robbed me of my sleep at night), I realised that something was grossly wrong at this institution. I had teachers who were intimidated and even suspicious of my fluent English while I stumbled on without any help in Urdu. I was targeted in a vicious character assassination campaign by a teacher who, and it delights me to give you this information, was fired once my mother got through with her. Admittedly, I got justice but school isn’t supposed to be like a shooting gallery with the students being vulnerable pigeons. Rather than working for us and with us, our beloved convent worked against us.

‘Mr Bean’ dubbed into Pashto a big hit in Pakhtun areas

Courtesy: Daily Dawn of 3rd September 2007

By Sadia Qasim Shah

PESHAWAR, Sept 2: A dubbed version of a popular English comedy serial has been gaining popularity among the fun-starved viewers in Pakhtun areas.

The mostly silent and bumbling “Mr Bean” (played by Rowan Atkinson), one of Britain’s most successful comic characters from a serial of the 1990s, has recently become popular in the province and neighbouring Afghanistan due to the dubbing of its episodes into Pashto. The episodes are available on Compact Discs.

Zahirullah from Bughdada in Mardan district has been dubbing episodes from the serial and chunks from “Shrek” films in Pashto. He has dubbed 15 CDs since 2002. The public ratings of “Khrash Prash Durha Dabao” and the recently-released album “Ma Mah Shmera Dar Gadyam” are high as both are comical. “I have sold more than 100,000 copies,” Zahirullah told Dawn.

A graduate of the Mardan College, 28-year-old Zahirullah, who wanted to become an actor, could not fulfil his dream due to his family’s conservative views. But now he has found a way to satisfy his taste by using his voice.

Kids like the antics of Mr Beans whom Pakhtun viewers know as ‘Babuji’ but adults also can’t help laughing at the Pashto slangs and comic dialogues of Babuji.

He said that he got inspired from one of his neighbours named Babuji who walked and behaved like Mr. Beans and so he named Mr Beans as Babuji in the dubbed version.

“People of all ages can watch my dubbed CDs as they are not only pure comedy but also has colloquial Pashto which Pakhtuns are slowly forgetting now,” he said.

He said that even a Maulana of one of the mosques in his village asked him for copies with a request to remove all music first.

Babuji, Nana Patekar, “Shrek” and “Donkey” are the most favourite characters to Pakhtun viewers after Zahirullah’s dubbed CDs introduced them in the villages of the NWFP, Afghanistan and even Pakhtuns living in Middle East countries who don’t understand even a single word of English.

Zahirullah said: “I am not in it for money. I am doing it for fun now although I started doing it to fulfil the dream of becoming an actor.”

Zahirullah, who knows how to use the computer, writes the scripts spontaneously to synchronize the slang words with the spoken words on film, he then mixes voices and edits it on his own.

He said: “I can demonstrate my skills in 42 different voices, including both male and female voices.”

He holds premier shows in different villages of the NWFP and the Middle East where a large number of Pakhtun immigrant workers live.

His religious-minded father relaxed rules and let him produce such CDs on one condition that he would also do something for his people.

Zahirullah has recently set up a ‘Saya Trust’ to help needy children and plans to set up a burns unit and hospital in Mardan district.

He said a private production house in Charsadda used his name and his picture on their production which had ‘abusive language’.

He said: “I have initiated legal action against them for violation of copy rights.”