Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Friday, October 13, 2006

Moved... http://uxuf.wordpress.com

Finally it was time to bid adieu to Blogger, and all its eccentrities.
The Regulatory Authority in Pakistan has not helped either…

The final nail in the coffin was the blocking of the beta.blogger.com
domain. That helped break down the entire comment system of my lil
blog, prompting me to take immediate action…

This WordPress account was created by me some time ago because I
wanted to test their service. Turns out I'll have to use it from now
on… Please update your bookmarks and blogrolls and feeds accordingly.
Additionally, the uXuf.blogspot.com address would redirect you to the
new place.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Tagged by Maria

I am thinking about...
ramadan in hot weather and that it'll be the same way for the next 12 years!!

I said...
I'll be late tomorrow

I want to...
go home, hit the bunk and sleep my heart out

I wish...
Pakistan could somehow majically shift to the southern hemisphere

I miss...
university! Friends, foes, bullies, begaars, webmasters, cafe, dhaaba...

I hear...
the a/c whirring (but there's no chill), Buzz's typing on the hard mac keyboard and Rubab talking to someone on the phone

I wonder...
how could they be so dumb!

I regret...
not many things in life

I am...
a lot different than what I was

I dance...
very rarely now, headbanging is more like it these days

I cry...
over my misdeeds that I cannot undo

I am not always...
myself

I write...
on bus ki seats (not really :P)

I need...
paani

I finish...
*most* of the things I start

I tag...
JonyDada, Raheel and whoever else still alive...

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Armstrong finally gets the moon quote right

Armstrong's popular quote:
 
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

has been the subject of much debate among the "correct" grammarians (or whatever they are called) because he (apparently) missed the "a". According to them the sentence should've read:

"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

and that in its present form, it sounds as "That's one small step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind." But now, thanks to advanced sound processing techniques, an Australian programmer claims he has found the "a" that has eluded researchers (and listeners) for decades. According to him, it's there alright. Seems like the amreeki equipment at the time weren't sharp enough to transmit the whole thing in clarity...!

Read the whole story here.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Plethora

I've been meaning to blog lately, but the problem is exactly that, I don't know what to blog...

I was disconnected for a few hours from the outside world as, again, the curse of the red cellphone descended upon me. Though I must admit, that it was a lot different this time. There were no Prosmetics, no kids in cool gear, nor any motorcycle wala, neither any handguns...

Just a plain old mini-bus and lots of people stuffed in it, and I was one of them.

Though I was the chosen one, to lost my phone yet again...

With this phone goes my companion in long and electricity-less nights, the FM radio. The GPRS, with all the games and ring tones I had downloaded and the hours that I have billed on to Warid people, all go down the drain.

This was the third cell. Maybe I oughta call up the Guinness Records people now...

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Why Materazzi earned Zidane's headbutt...

Italy's Marco Materazzi finally disclosed what exactly he said to incur the wrath of Zinedine Zidane during World Cup 2006 Final. During an interview, he told Gazzetta dello Sport:

"When I held Zidane's shirt, he said: 'If you want, I'll give you the jersey later.'"

"I responded that I preferred his sister, it's true," Materazzi said.

"It wasn't something nice, true. But luckily there have been dozens of players who have confirmed that a lot worse things are said on the field."

Seems like Materazzi also has Pakistani leacher tendencies, always referring to other people's sisters and mothers... Any self-respecting man would be proud to execute that headbutt!

Go Zidane!

Source: Yahoo! Sports

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Environmentalists Alert!

The people of Karachi who have no semblance of placid natural environment in the city, yet again are being deprived of another natural asset, and nobody is concerned enough to keep a check on this atrocity. Yes, the pond that came into existence under the FTC bridge thanks to the incessant rain, is drying up fast. None of the conservation bodies are interested in this issue, so it becomes our duty to save our city's environment.

Just think of it... This pond offers a fantastic view when you take the turn from FTC towards Kala Pul. In addition to this it will also kill a whole generation of mosquitoes, that we have so lovingly bred on puddles and our blood. So I suggest that we get mobilized over atrocity, and work together to SAVE THE POND!!

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Blogger Babes

It turns out Blogger beta isn't a wasted effort at all! For one thing, you get the "dog" (looks to me so) replacing the B of the Blogger. I realized only today that using the beta is a privilege accorded only to a few lucky ones (I didnt notice because privileges are so natural for me *snicker*).

As I said somewhere, it is good for the non-tech people, as it uses those AJAX enabled snippets to arrange layouts according to the user's taste. The general population (who doesn't even have the desire) wouldn't now have to get their hands dirty with HTML and CSS. Adding custom code for statistics is just drag-and-drop, keeping the flow intuitive.

Close to hell for us techies, 'cause you cannot live if you cannot customize; and that's just what Blogger doesn't let us do at the moment.

The better thing is that, with the beta release, Blogger marks the shift to the dynamic web. Wonder why it has taken them so long, all the rest of the services are long established on it.

By dynamism of the web, I mean that you no longer have to publish your blog every time you make a change in the template. Old blogger used to publish pages of your blog to its server, and serve the appropriate pages whenever a request arrived. With the beta, the pages would be created on the fly, no more publishing.

All the bitching was due to the fact that I had recently delved into the Blogger codebase, and had come up with really interesting tricks like customizing the individual pages, recent comment box on the sidebar, intuitive layouts; and then *poof*... Blogger beta strips me of any right to modify my template.

These snippets are available if any of the old Blogger people (or the beta users who haven't switched to layouts) want them for their blogs.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

The Craze Beta

What is with everyone coming up with the beta editions of their offerings these days? Starting with Gmail Beta, we get Windows Live Mail Beta, Yahoo! Mail Beta, Yahoo! Photos Beta, Flickr Beta, and now, sweet Blogger goes beta too!

For many services, going beta just means getting AJAX-ified, with little or no improvement in features (Windows Live Mail leads the contest), only getting a face-lift and incorporating oh-those-cool-functions on the page that have nothing whatsoever to do with cutting the round trip time...!

With a sense of loyalty to the technology and the tech community (not to mention the need to be the first in trying things out - izzat ka maamla), I have officially switched to the new Blogger Beta. Switched - 'cause, ummm, beta could be exciting; officially - 'cause Blogger Help says you cannot opt out of the Beta!

So what does this beta has to offer over the old version? For one, the "privileged ones" now have a separate, red carpeted entrance at http://beta.blogger.com. Ordinary mortals should stick to their filthy swamps and keep using the lowly Blogger home page to log in.

The Blogger people have added support for tags - or "labels" as they call them. Der ayed durust ayed is the only thing that comes to mind.

And there is this supposedly cool Layout feature, that help you manage the "template" of your blog. Beware, the "template" word is hushed now, if you're cool, you'll have a layout.

So the layouts help users "drag and drop" widgets, or little snippets (previous posts, profile, description etc) on the page. Intuitive it is, but couldn't achieve its full potential until the "Edit HTML" option starts working. Gives us "power users" that creepy feeling of helplessness!

That means my little blog page has some AJAX elements in it. How I have been dying to have a little Ajax, that would keep my dishes clean... Who said God doesn't listen?!

Oh, and by the way, you'll have to comment by choosing the "Other" or "Anonymous" option on the comments page, your logged in nick wouldn't work here. Of course, what did you think? Its Beta!

Besides that, all the functionality is unchanged. They have tried to spruce up the Dashboard a little, with cramming the various blog-specific options, and the Blogger Buzz posts. Heck, they even forgot to fix the bug that occurs in the Rich Text Editor that it doesnt convert line breaks to hard line breaks :\ So it'd be better to stick to posting via e-mail!

Buss ooper say make-up kiya hai, under the hood its all the same!

Returning to the Craze Beta, I forgot to tell you: Flickr has gone a step ahead, its now Flickr Gamma!

And that gives an excuse for procrastinating office work too. Whenever somebody wants to take you to task, just claim that you've gone beta!

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Sm**ing the night away...

Meeting with an important client in the morning, and I have just smoked the night away...

Dam Maro Dam.. Mitt jaye gham!

Rings and smoke and despair, acting as a warm blanket over me, taking me in their arms, cajoling me, killing me. Must get around it somehow, the day is already doomed.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Blogger Reds

There seems to be (yet again?) a problem with my Blogger template. It somehow magically decided to just fly away, leaving me with a bunch of useless code. The backup of my customized template was in my puked up PC, which refuses to connect to the LAN.

So I have uploaded a temporary template, a very stripped down version. But hey, it would load faster, isnt it?

Bear with it for a few days. I'll bring up a rocking new template!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Sending mail with System.Web.Mail (.Net 1.1)

If you thought that it was a serious shortcoming that .Net framework 1.1 wasn't able to send email through SMTP servers that used authentication, you are in grave ignorance. On the surface of it, yes, you cannot send an email with the standard System.Web.Mail.MailMessage class; but you can of course play tricks on the Exchange server (yeah, that's what I get out of it that this things works only on an Exchange server) to make it authenticate you.

There is a namespace called http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration that does those funny (and highly interesting) tricks. First we would check how to use a simple SMTP server (no authentication), and then we will use authentication to send a message.

//using System.Web;
//using System.Web.Mail;

//The simple SMTP Server
MailMessage message = new MailMessage();
message.From = "src@someone.com";
message.To = "dest@someother.com";
message.BodyFormat = MailFormat.Html;
message.Subject = "This is a spooky mail!";
message.Body = "Heheh, just kidding!";

SmtpMail.SmtpServer = "your.server.address"
SmtpMail.Send(message);

Now lets check out a server that uses authentication. Microsoft provides the CDOSYS object to achieve just that. You wouldn't think they were so dumb that they didnt incorporate some lousy authentication mechanism! Add the following lines before the SmtpMail lines.

message.Fields[
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserver"
] = "your.server.address";
message.Fields[
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserverport"] = 25;
message.Fields[
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusing"] = 2;
message.Fields[
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpauthenticate"] = 1;

//Most of the times the @domain is necessary with the username
message.Fields["http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusername"] = "username@domain.com";
message.Fields[
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendpassword"] = "urpassword";

//If only the server uses SSL, in this case, the smtpserverport field would be different too
message.Fields["http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpusessl"] = true;


And that would do just fine. There you go, I just saved your time and money!

[P.S. To those whom these lines look like Greek, I must say that this post appears as a record!]

Sunday, July 23, 2006

The day

It inches near, slowly but confidently, until it's looming right on our faces.

I know I should be happy, *must* be happy, but I dont know. Our wishes are about to be granted, we are finally going to achieve what we're striving for the last three years, but I don't know. There's a big smile plastered across my face, but I don't know. People think I am the luckiest man on earth, but I don't know.

I wouldnt know it until I learn to overcome my shortcomings. Isnt the first step in problem-solving the identification of the problem? I have taken the first step, I need help through the rest. I dont want to feel I am trying for everything without any rewards. I dont want to be left alone.

I was an introvert, maybe somewhere deep inside I still have the tendencies, but I am trying to come out of it. I cannot be at gregarious the very next moment, it should be a gradual process.

I feel miserable, but I am shedding my skin. I am changing, and I want people to appreciate.

I accept my mistakes, and of those who are related to me. In no way I'd do anything to hurt anyone, nor I'd indirectly encourage any such activity. People have the tendency to misunderstand situations, and things do not always go exactly by our wishes.

Still, I love you, and I dont want you to feel alone.

So girl, welcome, officially, to my life. We are an irresistable team, and we will always be. Thanks for making my life technicolored!

Monday, July 03, 2006

It'll just take some time!

On my player and my lips these days:

Raghav, Lets work it out

So we had another date another fight
you break down, and cry
and you swear that its over
it seems you pack your bags like every night
girl I know inside
we can be so much more
but..
everytime the smallest thing goes wrong you're out the door
you dont wanna deal with this pain anymore
why dont you understand that some things wont come so easy in life
work with me girl, it'll just take some time!

I'm not letting go
yeah girl thats for sure
wont catch me walking out
so okay, lets work it out!

at every single point you turn around
say I've let you down
that I no longer know you
how can you say to me that I've lost my way
when you're walking away

Once again here we go through that old procedure,
you scream that it's over between us
but I don't believe ya, (nah)
what you want an argument? well I aint speakin'
we come too far now, 'n i aint leaving
and if we got a problem let's get on top (of it)
we aint gotta (split), we can conquer (it)
but we gotta quit over reacting
imagine just last night we're romancing
false passion now we be clashing
i dunno what's happened, you go on a tantrum
as a man I'm making the first move,
u know i never do nuthin to blatantly hurt you,
we got a situation to work through
but patience is a virtue, well baby it takes two,
so..

I'm not letting go
yeah girl thats for sure
wont catch me walking out
so okay, lets work it out!


....

Friday, June 30, 2006

Armageddon

Yes, it will be armageddon tomorrow. The final battle between truth and falsehood, the good and the bad, the bad and the ugly, the ugly and the horrifying... Uhh whatever!

Tomorrow is the last paper of my last finals. The course was called Operations Research, something that I hated with a vengeance. Well it isnt only with OR that I have a problem, but with all maths-related courses. No matter what amount of time and effort I put into practice, the final exam NEVER went well. Woh to ALLAH ka shukar hai ke I havent flunked in any of them, managed to save my face (beizzati kharab hotay hotay reh gayee bus), and my grades.

But kismat plays amazing games with our lives. Now it will be a final showdown tomorrow, my chance to have a last laugh facing my nemesis. Pray to God I be successful in my endeavour. This David should slay the Goliath tommorrow!

Wish me luck!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Worldcup funny/ridiculous jerseys award!

I have been busy with my exams, and of course, the world cup. Though I am not getting enough time to follow all the matches, I usually manage to catch some of the interesting ones.
The World cup is in full swing. It is an honour for any player to wear his national colours on a world cup pitch, but hey, what were the designers of the jerseys thinking?
Here are my favourite funny/ridiculous national jerseys of teams that we see in action:

On 7th place is the 'design' of the world cup. I seriously dont have an idea of who ever came up with this design, a white looping out of the neck and burying itself somewhere in the armpits...

Next at 6th place is the Italian Away jersey. I admit it looks cool on the mannequin, but in action, the V of the neck is a little too-low, drooping like a well-worn V-neck sweater!

Whoever thought of draping Paraguay in their national colours, obviously was sleep-deprived. The jersey looks like a sleeping gown! Well-deserved for 5th place!

At number 4 is the Netherlands with their away shirts. I must say, retro is definitely not in. Seems to me they lifted the design straight out of a Boris Becker tee.

There was stiff competition for the last three places, but their are shirts more ridiculous than the ill-fitting Mexican shirts. How on earth would people feel wearing THAT shirt? The designers obviously forgot testing how the 'thing' would look on their players.

Giving a pretty hard time to the judges was the France Away jersey at No. 2. Though the base design of this jersey is pretty neat, the bold spectrum that runs on the chest makes the jersey looks like an ill-designed Flash presentation. Is it necessary to get so different as to make a mockery of yourself?
And the most funny/ridiculous World Cup jersey award goes to.....

ANGOLA!



The Home jersey bears the colours of the flag of Angola, with black representing the African nations, the red depicting the blood of the Africans that died fighting for their homelands, and the yellow stands for something in their flag. All is well, but who asked you to keep the base colour RED?


So that was the World Cup's most funny/ridiculous jerseys awards, tune in again for another set of awards soon!

Monday, June 19, 2006

Errm...

Though I didnt comment, and never said anything even after you reminding me so many times, but since you know I was tangofying you the whole time means...

You were looking great!

Thanks for yet another great cake :)

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

The Cake Factory

Check out the new Cake Factory... Konsa pasand aya? Do I want to place an order? Oh I just might, I want to order.. umm... the cake maker! ;) Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks for everything :D

Monday, May 29, 2006

Birthday Boy

Indebted to all my friends and loved ones for making this birthday a really memorable one :) A large part of the day went seeing me loll around but then, what the heck? It was a good day and it always is!

Thanks abba for the excellent dinner
Thanks cb for the gelatos
Thanks to my people for filling a void, oh that was a cellphone :P
How can I forget my friends, I am lucky to have you people around me :)

  • - one has promised to bake a cake for me
  • - another wouldnt bake one for me, cuz she doesnt know how to 'cook', she put up a picture of the cake for me though
  • - yet another one has promised to buy me a Mclaren when she starts earning enough
  • - and the last one checks me up if my nose is running :P


And then thanks to the rest who wished me luck, and made my day!

PS: There's still time, if you didnt know it was my birthday, you can still wish me...

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Happy Birthday :)

YEEGA DEEGA DEEGA HEEGA DEEGA HOO DEEBA LEEGA HEEGA PEEGA DEEBA HOO JINGA LINGA HINGA PINGA BINGA PINGA BUU IT'S UR BIRTHDAY N I'M CUMING TO U .... :)

Saturday, May 27, 2006

...

Into my dreams you came

and across the soft carpet of my reverie you walked

with hobnail boots...

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

I seriously wouldnt give a f...

Monday, May 22, 2006

Why Blogspot got banned....

I was puzzled at first, but while posting a comment on Evil Dan's blog, it dawned on me just why Blogspot was banned...

Check out the Word Verification Image for proof:


:P

Thursday, May 18, 2006

There you go!


Abdullah :)

Vaanya - Taking pictures of herself :P

Something mischievious?

The P&G people had postponed the interviews because we were having our mids. Not that that would've made any difference to me, but some of the more parhakoo peers had protested on the interview schedule. Now the interview is scheduled on May 23, next Tuesday.

I have been offered a place at the University of Essex. Isnt that exciting?!!! The International Officer was wholly impressed by me, as, uh ofcourse, I was at my charming best *winks*

The semester starts in October. Lets see if I take it up or not. And this was one of the main reasons I wasn't interested in P&G, but lets wait and see what comes out of it. I think I am gonna discuss it with the P&G people. Or maybe not.

Oh and did I tell you I am deeply in love with Soha Ali Khan, with her most stylish dresses in Rang De Basanti. I am rarely impressed by actresses, but she scores a large one with me.

*aankhon mein heart wala emoticon*
Go Soha Go!

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Wish me luck...

The last mids of my Bachelors officially start tomorrow. And as always, I dont have the slightest temptation to study :(
 
Going back in time, I dont remember I have ever studied seriously for my mids. Maybe except for the days in the third semester, when I got kinda serious in studies. Got a nice B+ in that semester, though even that didnt motivate me enough to study harder :P
 
No, I couldnt be serious enough. I dont want to end up like Sherry, who has this constant expression of worry on his face about mids and marks and quizzes. He would worry even if he'd get nice marks in some quiz or mid, about the upcoming exam. Come on, why couldnt one just chill?
 
Oh well, I might be exaggerating. You have to excel in just one dimension of your studies to get a decent enough GPA at the end of the semester. I am well versed in tech-related courses, Sherry couldnt boast of any such thing. Maybe he is right if he is worried!
 
So wish me luck for the last mids of my last semester :)
 
The P&G people finally woke up and they have asked me to come out for an interview on Friday. Hope it goes fine, although I am not too positive I'll take up their job offer. Just to keep my options open.
 
Going with the flow right now...

Monday, May 08, 2006

I think, therefore I am

Loitering on Faraz's Blog, I spotted Descartes' infamous phrase "I think, therefore I am" (Cogito, ergo sum). Rattled off a train of memories of the various places and events where we used this phrase :)
 
Oh, and I remember a joke about it:
 
Descartes is sitting in a bar, having a drink. The bartender asks him if he would like another. "I think not," he says, and vanishes in a puff of logic.
 
:P

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Blogspot unbanned?

Working with Blogspot XML feeds, I just noticed that the blogs are working without the pkblogs.com prefix. Is the ban on Blogspot removed or the PTA people are sleeping with their systems turned off?

Rejoice!

Friday, May 05, 2006

Again... :\

Two cell phones in two weeks, am I bound for the Guinness or what?
 
Last time I was kidding about the Karate classes, now I am seriously thinking of joining them. Or might enrol at the local Sector House...
 
The next time I ll be pooling money to buy a new, no, not a cell phone, but a gun! Contribute whatever you can to this noble cause!

Monday, May 01, 2006

What song is it? 2

Jesus never let me down
You know Jesus used to show me the score
Then they put Jesus in show business
Now it's hard to get in the door

It's the stuff, its the stuff of country songs
But I guess it was something to go on

So where is the hope and where is the faith?
And the love, what's that you say to me
Does love, light up your christmas tree?
The next minute you're blowing up like a fuse
And the cartoon network turns into the news

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Revelation

The girl was absolutely fair, fairer than anyone I have seen before. An epitome of beauty, a symbol of perfection. The eyes were hazel, a well formed nose, high cheek bones, rosy lips complemented by the obligatory til (mole).

I got thinking, why is a til obligatory on fair faces? A horde of pure black on an otherwise fair face, what has it got to do with it, apart from completing the beauty?

And then it hit me like lightening... that those tils are necessary on those fair faces, to remind them to thank Allah for granting them such beautiful faces. If He would have deemed appropriate, the whole face could've been a huge black til....!!

Monday, April 24, 2006

Vaanya's got a baby brother!

Oh well, I was so busy and so tired that I forgot to tell you guys the very important news. Yeah, I am now a chachoo to two kids! The newer one is Vaanya's little cuddly muddly brother, Abdullah :) Born on the 12th of Rabi-ul-Awwal, 1427 H MashALLAH, i.e. on April 10, 2006, in Riyadh. Pray that he'd be a source of joy, contentment and the harbringer of jannat to all of us. I'll post up the pictures in a few days. Blogger seems to be messing with me abhi!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Snatched

What else it could be? Ofcourse, my cell phone got snatched. At gunpoint.
What's amazing is that the snatcher has the nerve to call up my friends!
 
Whoa, thats what I call nerve.
 
BTW the chors were in a Civic Prosmatec, just for the record. And the cell they were so intent on snatching was a SonyEricsson K700i, a cameray wala mobile! :P
 
I hope I was as brave (or foolish?) as Zag, I might have yelled and they'd have left me alone. Foolishness that might be, but atleast the cell would ve remained intact :(
 
 
--This post appears as a record only. But it might also serve as a warning for future chors who might be thinking that I am an easy prey. I must assure you that I am not, I have been taking Karate classes religiously. And this goes also for the current chor to stop calling up my friends. Or else...  

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

And so I thought...!

..that this was a hot blog _frequented_ by many readers..
..that I was a _celebrity_ blogger..
..that people would _miss_ me so much they ll _inundate_ my inbox with requests to come back..
 
THAT I had friends who'd be trouble by my absence!!!
 
Ah well.. merey sapnon ka mahal dharam say neechay agira!!!
:\
 
Never mind, I have been busy shifting the house, and the fact that the phone system is a little edgy at the new place doesnt help much! Plus, the Procom thing, its keeping me busy as hell! Thank God its scheduled for this weekend, ie Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd April 2006.. I ll be faarigh after that :) and back to blogging business!!!
 
Meanwhile you can check out my (team) work at http://khi.nu.edu.pk/procom.
 
Make me happy :(

Friday, March 31, 2006

Moving!

So we are moving, no, not moving the world, but shifting to another place. Dont worry, it is in Karachi, and it is VERY near to where I currently live. I presume the absence would not be felt very strongly though :P (as if I wasnt absent long enough)!!!

Have fun guys!

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Sorry for inconvenience

yahan, in Pakistan we are ubale to use this stupid blog for some stupid reason ..... isliyeh ho sakta hai meri site nahi chalai aur agar chali bhi to us pe koi new post nahi hogi kuch arsai k liyeh jab tak pak mai yeh prob fix nahi hojati :) abhi luckily its working so m posting :P MISS ME buddies :)

Monday, February 27, 2006

What song is it?

And still those voices are calling from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...
 
..................................
..................................
 
Mirrors on the ceiling
The pink champagne on ice
And she said 'We are all just prisoners here, Of our own device'
And in the master's chambers
They gathered for the feast
They stabbed it with their steely knives
But they just cant kill the beast
 
Last thing I remember
I was running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'Relax', said the night man
We are programmed to receive
You can check out anytime you like
But you can never leave!
 
??

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

I soooo love Pakistan :D

Well yes, I do. Seriously. No kidding. No sarcasm either.
 
I love Pakistan :)
 
Realized it last Saturday after the uncourteous man behind the counter didnt tell me the exact documents to be attached with the form, and rudely asked me to come back on Monday.
 
Realized it when the "Information Desk" person was more interested in hearing the grievances of the fairer sex.
 
Realized when the issuer of the document unashamedly asks for 300 bucks upfront for an "urgent" issuance.
 
Realized it when the two-hour long wait in the queue (throw in the sweltering heat for a good measure) was offered to be cut short for only a meagre Rs. 100, and the submission promised to be completed in only 5 minutes.
 
Hate myself for succumbing to the offer, and dishing out 200 bucks to get my stuff done.
 
Guess thats life...

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Razr-mania hits again!

Yeah, its back. The Moto V3 Razr is back in the market. Umm, not exactly in the market, but with me :) But dunno why I dont feel that elated :( The old and faithful Nokia 3220 is on for a little rest. For those who dont know what the heck I am talking about, can read this, this and this.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Tagged and Tagging

Succumbing to the insistence of mayya, here is the tag that she bestowed upon me...
 
Four Jobs I've had in my life
Oh well, I am not particularly a kaam-wala banda, more interested in extra curricular activities :P but still, there are a few ;)
1. QA Manager at Nadra, Karachi
2. Teaching stints at various times
3. Software Engineer
4. Tour organizer (if that classifies as a job)
 
Four Movies I could watch over and over
Umm, it is a girlie tag if it asks that, isn't it? But lets see...
1. DDLJ
2. Dil Chahta Hai
3. American Wedding (oh)
4. The Chronicles of Narnia/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory/Monsters Inc/Finding Nemo :)
 
Four Places I have lived
1. Karachi
2. Karachi
3. Karachi (this makes it three places I ve lived permanently since my birth :P)
4. Naran/Chilas/Sost/Islamabad/Lahore
 
Four TV Shows I love(d) to watch
Grrrr! Again?!
1. Dexter's Laboratory
2. MTV Select
3. F.R.I.E.N.D.S
4. Who wants to be a millionaire/Top Gear/Johnny Quest/The Mask/Any thing else thats of my interest :P
 
Four Websites I visit daily
1. Hotmail
2. My university's webmail
3. The Procom site, since I am building it :P
4. Blogs/MSDN Forums (got an idea what is it?)
 
Four Places I'd rather be right now
1. There
2. Here
3. Where?
4. Nothing rhymes with it anymore :P
 
People I tag:
I dont know, everybody seems to have done this. So if YOU havent done it, I tag you.
 
mayya, ab khush? Waisay you can go through my previous tags if you want more of em :P

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Happy Valentine's Day :)

Luv ya :)

Prediction of Mohammad (SAW) in Hindu scriptures, Part II

Continuing the discussion that has ensued as the result of my previous post, while many people think that this is a controversial topic, I have a few reservations of my own.
Iranian Premier Ahmedinejad might say that this is a conspiracy of Israel, but we need to get a few of the facts straight(but I hope I wouldnt be offensive to any Hindu readers).
 
Most of the religions in the world worship ultimately one God. Although the Hindus ultimately believe in Brahma (the creator of the universe), they worship Vishnu (the preserver of the universe) and Shiva (the ultimate destroyer).
 
According to the mythology, this is the age of Vishnu, and since Brahma's duty is done and Shiva's era not yet arrived, they worship Vishnu.
 
Vishnu visits the earth often when there is much lawlessness, and restores the order of justice. When he has to do a really impressive deed, he gets into the form of an avatar, and there are 12 avatars in all, the last one being the Kalki Avatar that has caused all this furore.
 
You can read about the avatars here.
 
Although the first avatar story bears a strong resemblance to that of Prophet Noah (AS), it is, indeed, a very distorted view of it. If we take the view that they think of prophets as avatars, we cannot help but wonder why the prophets should appear in the guise of animals (naouzubillah). And that also a boar?
 
The origins might have been straight, but the Kalki avatar comes after the delibrations of 10 intermediate avatars (if we assume that they have distorted Hazrat Noah's (AS) story). None of this I found very credible, but they were indeed interesting.
 
But then, interesting are the myths of Greece too, and that of Romans, or the people of Oceania, or wherever.
 
The Kalki avatar is believed to be a "machine-man". I have no idea what a machine-man is, and what I think it means, never fits accurately to our prophets. All of our prophets were (thanks to God), human beings. 
 
All of this was a case of adapting a personality to a pre-held notion. Like the recent blasphemer in Larkana that made people believe that he is actually Imam Mehdi. He forgot about the seal, and is languishing in jail with a death penalty on his head.
 
Regarding this whole thing as true (not discarding it in its entirety), is a case of accepting the present form of Hinduism as a true religion. Tantamount to that of thinking the Greeks were on the right path...

Friday, February 10, 2006

Prediction of Mohammad (SAW) in Hindu scriptures

I got the following mail a few days ago:

Pundit Vedaprakash Upadhyay, a Hindu professor, in his stunning book claims that the description of the" Avatar" found in the Holy books of the Hindu religion, matches the Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). Recently in India, a fact-revealing book has been published. The Book has been the topic of discussion and gossip all over the country.The author of this book, Pundit Vedaprakash Upadhyay, is a learned and famous Hindu professor. The book is Kalki Avatar. Pundit Vedaprakash Upadhyay is a Hindu Brahmin of Bengali origin. He is a research scholar at Allahabad University. After years of research, he published this book, and no less than eight pundits have endorsed and certified his points of argument as authentic. According to Hindu belief, the Hindu world awaits "the guide and leader", named Kalki Avatar. However, the description as given in the holy scriptures of the Hindu points only to the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) of Arabia.Therefore, the Hindus of the whole world should not wait any longer for the arrival of Kalki Avatar (the spirit) and should readily accept Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) as Kalki Avatar. These are the FACTS verified and supported by eight other eminent pundits. What the author says is that Hindus, who are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of Kalki Avatar, are simply subjecting themselves to never ending pain. Because, such a great messenger has already arrived and departed from this world fourteen centuries ago. The author produces the following sound evidences from the Vedas and other holy books of the Hindu religion in support of his claim: 1. In the Puranas (Hindu scriptures), it is stated that Kalki Avatar would be the last messenger of God in this world. He would be for guidance of the whole world and all human beings. 2. According to a Hindu religion prediction the birth of Kalki Avatar would take place in an isle, which again according to Hindu religion is Arab Region. 3. In books of Hindus, the names of the father and the mother of Kalki Avatar are given as VISHNUBHAGAT and SUMAANI respectively. If we examine the meaning of these names we shall come to some very interesting conclusion. VISHNU (meaning God) + BHAGAT (meaning Slave). Slave of God = ABDULLAH (in Arabic) is the name of Prophet's (PBUH) Father. SUMAANI (meaning peace or calmness).Aamenah (in Arabic means peace) is the name of Prophet's (PBUH) Mother. 4. In the religious books of Hindus, it is mentioned that the staple food of Kalki Avatar would be dates and olives and he would be the most honest and truthful person in the region. Without any doubt the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is acclaimed to possess these qualities. 5. It is stated in Vedas (holy book of Hindu Religion) that the birth of Kalki Avatar would take place in an honorable clan. This perfectly fits the Quraysh where Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) belonged to. 6. God would teach Kalki Avatar through His messenger (angel) in a cave. Allah taught Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) through His messenger Jibraeel (Gabriel), in a cave known as Ghaar-e-Hira. 7. God would provide Kalki Avatar with a very speedy horse to ride and travel the whole world and the seven skies. Indication of burraq (Horse) and Me'raaj (the night when Prophet [PBUH] travelled the seven skies). 8. God would provide Kalki Avatar with divine help. This was particularly proved in the Battle of Uhud. 9. Another dazzling account given about Kalki Avatar was that he would be born on the 12th of a month. Whereas the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) was born on the 12th of Rabbi ul Awwal (Hijra Calendar). 10. Kalki Avatar would be an excellent horse rider and a swordsman. The author here draws the attention of Hindus that the real days of horses and swords have gone and the present time of guns and missiles. So it would be foolish on the part of those who still expect Kalki Avatar, who should be an excellent rider and swordsman to come. In fact, the divine book, the Holy Qur'an, contains qualities and signs attributed to Kalki Avatar reflecting on the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)

The author has made a convincing case out of it, but there are various discrepancies. For one, if you decide to believe it, you are indirectly asserting that Hinduism is a true religion, and that their books are infact on the same level as Bible or Torah or Quran.

This proves to be the single most disconcerting thing that puts one off. And this is how, it proves itself to be a hoax. For more information, please read this.

If you get a similar mail, please avoid forwarding it in your Islamic euphoria. Islam is the greatest religion, and it doesnt need substantiating claims from Pagan Scriptures.

Monday, February 06, 2006

Blogger blues!

I am sorry but I can see there is something acutely terrible going on with Blogger. The last post isn't showing up in the Dashboard, and that's why the comments window won't open. I hope this post shows up fine, and all of those, who wanted to comment on the previous post, can comment here :)

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Another Book to Read n Learn


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Now a days am also trying to prepare for the GRE test . God just help me out in finding my way out, I need your help badly :) and friends I need your wishes too, so pray for me :)

I don�t know which university to enter or which country to enter for my Masters ,so these days am only searching for my best future :)


 

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

The epitome of tennis-beauty

And I thought Hingis was it!

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Now its Compiler Time! :s

A compiler is a program that reads a program written in one language - the source language - and translates it into an equivalent program in another language. As an important part of this translation process, the compiler reports to its user the presence of errors in the source program. In addition to a compiler, several other programs may be required to create an executable. Structure of a Compiler is in Red Colour: My bad luck .... even after my finals, am stucked with my compiler project and my group members!!! aaaahhhhh ..... i hate them .... they are not even interested!!! ...... have to summit it on Monday, so lets pray k ..... all alone, i can make it till Monday!!! :(

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Diversity?

In the country, where 60% of the population doesn't know how to read and write even in their mother language, there is a sufficient number of people that makes two institutions hold the IELTS thrice a month in almost 10 cities across the country!
 
I just hope I get a decent score. The test went absolutely fine, but I think I might've screwed up on the writing test. The Speaking Test gets held on Thursday, where I get to show off my speaking skills! :D
 
Bring it onnnnnnn!

Friday, January 20, 2006

You know when...

You know you've become an expert at typing when you can type the weird "Verification Words" on the comments window without looking at the keyboard :P

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

My "new" New Year Resolution

Although its a little late, but since the original resolution was broken, I have decided on a new resolution.
 
My new year's resolution is: 1024 x 768.
 
I hope I stick to my resolution. Pray that I do.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

A milestone

Did I tell you that my blog has crossed the 200 posts mark? And this one, actually, is the 210th!! Ah, I think its high time I should write a letter to my blog ;)

Friday, January 13, 2006

My second-last finals of the bachelors!

And they have officially started!
 
I have been through Compiler and Psychology, only Marketing and Software Engineering II remain!
 
We have reached to the conclusion that the person teaching us Compiler does not know a thing about exams, how should they be structured, what topics to cover etc.
 
Psychology wholly sucked, not because I am a sucker at it, but because all the Eid preparation and then the nikah, and the various shadis preceding it... But then I think considering my mids marks, I would get a decent grade in it :)
 
Haan I attempted it like a logical paper, so you dont have to show off on me :P
 
Baqi logon ko eid mubarak phir say, aur gosht kha kha kar gosht mat ban jana, thora ghareebon k liye bhi baant dena!!!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

BakraEid Mubarak

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So my all dear friends .... I hope u had fun with your bakras :) and now its the time to cut them n miss them forever because on the next Eid you will buy another bakra, who will be your friend for a week or so and then same story will repeat until you are alive :)

Lado sabun, Gaye sabun, Baboo Berii, Mughal Steel, Coca Cola, MetroMilan agarbatti, Hashmi surma, Tibet cold cream, Roohafza, Shan Masaleh aur meri taraf say tamam karamfarmaaon ko dili eid mubarak!

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Pukaar

Tere bina, zindagi laagey ek saza
Tera saath ho, yeh saza laagey ek jaza
 
To barhtey jaayein
Rastey saaray.....
Duniya peechay
Hum hain aagay....
 
Dil haray, pukaray tujhay
Man ja re, mana ley mujhay
Sun pyarey, laga le galay
Kho ja re, tu gaa re sang re....
 
Aankhon Se,
Atif Aslam, Jal Pari

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Resolutions

On the last day of the first week of the first month of the new year, the first and most important resolution gets broken. Ah well, as they say, resolutions are made to be broken. I know I am an introvert, an extremely lethargic person, with no interest whatsoever in things around me. But what made me that? I wasn't so. I was a fun-loving, outgoing, extremely cheerful chap. And these sudden change of events? Blame me. You are exonerated. The fault isn't yours.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Guriyia Rani ...

..... must b waiting for her bublo!!! ;)

Happy New Year!!

New Year has started with a clean slate and someone says: "Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it." so stop crying and regretting ..... because it is over and smile for good things which had happened, because it happened!!! :)