Just look a little closer

I'm here with my confession, Got nothing to hide no more, I don't know where to start, But to show you the shape of my heart. Shape of my heart Backstreet Boys - Black & Blue

Parse Trees made easy

NoClasses -> exams | chutti

 

exams -> mids | finals

chutti -> strike | IllTabiat | NoMood

 

So 9j, we can construct a parse trees for these days as follows:

 

NoClasses -> exams

exams -> mids

 

Yes, I have mids starting from Monday!!!!

Mids

The Mids are starting from tomorrow. And here I am, playing CS, chatting away, wasting my time in general. Its Compiler tomorrow, then Marketing, Software Engineering II and Psychology. All in a week's time. Would somebody enlighten me on the correct word for the plural of Midterm? Is it Midterms, or Midsterm. Know what I am talking about? Ponder over it, and you'll eventually get to the puzzled state I am in. PS: I am only wasting my time because I've studied this time around! ;) So CS, here I come!

The people of yore...

They aren't exactly what the title suggests yet, but soon, they will become the people of yore. The Senior year at the university (yeah, JonyDada, I study at the university!!), will pass in a blink of the eye. And all that would be left are memories. Memories of the good, the bad and the pretty....

So here are some of my pals, excluding the girls :( They'll always be in the better part of my memories. Anybody, if left, need not to worry because you have a place in my heart and will soon find some in a future post.

The mazloomest dud, the only guy I'll marry if I turned gay ;)

The Vamp, Tension Singh, whatever you may say, this guy's got a nerve (really?)

Punjab da Munda, Gandasa-bearer (atleast looks so, but he isn't)

Mein maafi chahta hoon judge saaab!

Yeah, what you wanna say? Uhumm?

Mr. Nice Daddy, Bunty and Bubbly wala Bunty :P

Jack of all, master of none, and looks really ruddy!

Murghiiiiiiiiii! Where's my fair n lovely?!!

And last, but not the least, the Cheetah (informally nahin, formally!) He is actually what he looks like... with a 3.9 CGPA!

And if anyone of you seem to know any one of these, please dont feel free to contact them. Please dont inquire about me, as I am invisible to them, and they are invisible to me. Hehe, just kidding :)

Holla there Miss Balance!

Called up Warid Balance Check. The ever sweet lady comes up: Your account *pause* balance *pause* is *pause* eighty-six *pause* (A smile creeps on my lips) paisas! Turns out the balance was all nullified by the bold attempts. Khair, forget it. Hope the Warid people get some sense and fix their system so that people might not get heart attacks :(

This is one of my favouritest picture from the tour.... Friends are like these!

And, our Chinese friends, at the world's highest border, skittled among the most scenic of all places, better than Switzerland, or Germany, or whatever. This is Khunjerab Pass on the historic Silk Route.

Ahhh, so now on more important things. This would be my 150th post. So bid me luck. And no thanks, I am not being introspective, nor I intend to shoot off emails to Mr. Blogger or someone :P (I know he wouldnt reply in any case ;))

And that brings to mind that JonyDada's blog isnt working. Or I am getting redirected to some Mobile Resource Management site. So finally we hear a case of a blog getting hacked :P

Interesting... Ahan!

WhoTagsMe?!

Well, somebody did. And since I have nothing on my hands (and mind) right now, and that I must break through my self-imposed fear of relaying information about myself, so here I am succumbing to the tag-o-mania... 5 years ago: A college going kid, who believed in himself. A computer whiz, a little bit of intelligent maneuvering of the computing abilities (called hacking, but a little on the better side). Had firm belief in the goodness of everything. 1 year ago: A computer whiz, still. Improved skills, yet the interest has waned somewhat. An ardent gamer (CS Rocks!), confused about his future, and his companions. The belief was still strong. 5 songs I know all the words to: Hmmmm, lets see... These number more than 5, lets talk about my some of the "most favourites". They'd be Yaad nahin kya kya dekha (Jagjit), Koi yeh kaisay bataye (Jagjit), One Love (Blue), No I (Raghav), Desert Rose (Sting), Dekho Kaisay (Strings), Woh Chali (Bombay Vikings), Tehzeeb & Yakeen (Atif), Rabba (Meekal Hassan), and the list goes on.... 5 Snacks I enjoy: Chaaat! (especially chana chaat from the thelay wala and the fruit chaat that my mom makes!), KFC's Zinger (recently developed addiction), French Fries, Nimco, and Chips!!! 5 Things I'd do w/ $100 million dollars: Buy a BMW M5, buy a Lamborghini, buy a webfarm, build a villa somewhere near Skardu, invest and live off (thats another) the earnings :P 5 places I would run away to: Karachi! Okay, Skardu, Babusar Top, Shaucer Lake aka Deosai Plains, Kashmir and Paris! 5 things I would never wear: Anything sleeveless, anything skintight, anything chamakdaar, anything with Salman Khan on it, anything shocking pink/golden! 5 favorite tv shows: Dexter's Laboratory!! Kon banega Crorepati (The English & Hindi versions), Fear Factor, America's Most Wanted, Friends. Another hot favourite was MTV Select with Nikhil (Remember anyone?) 5 greatest joys: My life is constant enjoyment :) 5 favorite toys: My Nokia 3220, my Apple iBook G4 (yeah I ve got one! :P), Bhaiyya's 6600, my pc, 9j's 6030 (I am starting to love it)! 5 People I am tagging: 9j, Extiinct, JonyDada, Manav, Khargoshh (Are you alive?).

What you wanna?

So girl what you wanna see Wanna see my get down on my knees Wanna hear me begging, "Baby, please" Wanna see my crying for mercy? So what you wanna see exactly?

Rain, rain!

Rain, rain, go away, Come again another day! OMG! What is with this outpour! Everything is drenched! Nature has a way of playing nefty games with us. First it was the hottttt weather, with temperatures climbing steadily upto 38 degrees Celsius, then making us long for rain with sporadic cloudy days, and now, in the middle of September, when you have finally given up hopes of rains, it rains! And it rains, it rains, it rains! (Yeah in that order, put about a half-hour, an hour gap in between :P) Although it came as a welcoming relief in our lives, there were a little annoying things. The first drops falling, and the Internet connection goes *bang*! Called up to the cable wallah only to get the response "Bhai, barish ki wajah say switches jal jatay hain, isliyeh band kiya hai. Warna 6-7 din ki khuwari hojati hai!" Oh my God! Thankyou for the far-sightedness, Mr. Cable Wallay! Endure a little for the larger good. That's your logic. But please, when would you upgrade your systems? Make them rain-proof? Typical Pakistani! Khair, annoying things aside, its time to enjoy the rain! Imagine waking up in the morning, only to find gray clouds all over, bidding for rain. And just when you finally get ready to get off for the university, it starts to pour! Pour like it has never before. So that happened on Saturday. I called 9j up and told her that I am not coming, turned out she cancelled her plan too! Enjoyed the rain for a while, and then, went to sleep! Ahh! The benefits of bachelor life! The rain is fine if there aren't ankle deep puddles on the road, and the cable wouldn't go pop. I love barish too :)

The Ghost Train

It would have been a gruesome sight, when the three trains collided at Ghotki. Well, not exactly collided, but still the destruction was one of its kind. There is a little station called Sarhad, just a few miles off Ghotki. Sources say the accident actually happened there. When we reached Ghotki we actually saw one of the victim trains. It was exactly what the title suggests, the Ghost Train. Dont believe me? Check out the pictures yourself. And its odd, I've been trying for the past few days to blog about it. Every time there occurs some problem, the electricity going off, Blogger not responding, connection problems; its eerie. The train itself was eerie. I didnt get the chance to record its name, but here it is. You must pass this on, or refer 10 people to this post, to escape the wrath of the Ghost Train. The more people you refer, the better are your chances to get the student's discount on this ride. So don't hesitate, or this train will haunt you for years to come...!

A new start

Same old faces, same old places. Same old feelings, same old grudges.

Same old people, starting a new life...

Is it that easy?

I hope so, and if it isn't, we're still gonna go through it. Together. Forever.

Tour ki kahani...

Finally, the tour pics are here. Talk about the fast-paced world, information at the fingertips, digitizing everything, blah blah blah! I got the *digitized* (there were absolutely no conventional cameras, only digital ones!) pics after three weeks. Hrrrrmmmppphhh! So in the phirst fase (or is it the other way round? I am sleepy) I am going to put up a few of the pics taken by me, by my very old and faithful, Nokia 3220 (sheesh, it aint that old anyway!). And I had forgotten my camera at home. :P

The Shah-Faisal Mosque. Grandeur.

Again! We offered the Isha prayers here. TallGuy, Murghi and Khatri. Lower Kachura Lake; the little red huts are the part of Shangrila Resort.

Believe me, the place is stunning!

Upper Kachura. This place is unmatchedly serene, peaceful and beautiful. Could sure live here, but the track to this lake is a half-an-hour hike.

There are more, but I think they'll have to wait till the context in which they were taken is under discussion. Watch the pics, and let me know how'd they turn out!

More on the way!

:(

Aaaarggghhhh! I just hate myself!

New skin!

So here it is! The long awaited, hotly anticipated, duly feared new skin. Lol, just kidding. I liked the layout on some site, but it took a coupla hours to tailor it to my blog's needs. And I think its pretty much done now. What do you guys think? Its cool, right? And if you dont like it, then shut up. I dont want to hear I've wasted all my hardwork! Hehe, kidding again. I know I can improve on the header image. But still, if anybody thinks there are any flaws (font, colors etc) can just tell me. I ll pretty much try to improve on it :) Tell me its nice naaaa!

Inside story!

Its not that inside a story, but still, if anybody of you people is hooked up on huqa.com, then try to start forgetting it. They are launching the site (officially) in a few days, and WHAM! It will be off for all Pakistani/asian users. Shocking? Yeah. Atleast for the time being. They build the site in Pakistan, with Pakistani talent, hardwork; and they close the doors on Paksitanis! All Pakistani IPs will be blocked, and it will be launched in the US, cause they say, its made for US! Duhhh! *speechless* PS: If you havent yet seen the site, dont bother at all. Its pretty crappy.

Ghazal Freak!

Confession: I am a complete ghazal freak. I can listen to hordes of them, and never (NEVER) get bored. Be it Abida Parveen, Jagjit, Nusrat Fateh Ali, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan etc. Jagjit's ghazal "Koi yeh kaisay bataye" triggered this, and I had nothing worthwhile to post about. The tour pics aren't in yet (Damn Ash!), and I want to talk about the tour with the pics! So here is one of my all time favs:

Rukh say parda utha dey zara saaqia Bus abhi rang-e-mehfil badal jayega Hai jo behosh woh, hosh mein ayega girnay wala hai jo, sambhal jayega Tum tasalli na do, sirf baithey raho waqt kuch merey marnay ka tal jayega Kya yeh kam hai maseeha ke rehnay hee say maut ka bhi irada badal jayega Rukh say parda utha dey zara saaqia Bus abhi rang-e-mehfil badal jayega

Lollywood Rawks! Absolutely!

Last night I was forced to see a Lollywood flick due to the insistence and rock-hard determination of the maid. Although the story was pretty bearable (sic) I was particularly amazed by the movie itself, and it made me rather nostalgic about STN and the Shabnam/Mohammad Ali movies. They were waayyyy better than the stuff Lollywood is churning out now. So what does it take to make a movie that people will instantly recognize as a Lollywood flick? (Glaringly stupid mistakes/ways to accomplish things):

1. Title: Choose the stupidest title you can think of, like Gujjar Badmaash, Haseena 420, Puranay Mujrim. The movie last night was called "Mr. Fraudiay"!
2. Stuff as many lead actors/actresses as you can and your budget allows. Anything below three couples is highly susceptible to failure.
3. Get the weirdest choreographer and ask him to bring his weirdest best out, so that there is some interest in the movie. Come on, the Pakistani audience isn't decent.
4. Emphasize on all your actors to talk in Mustufa Qureshi/Sultan Rahi accent. Even actresses, yes. Everything should be "Roabdar" for the movie to succeed. Anyone who attempts to do a natural act, should be stricken off from the cast.
5. Project the villain as a Dr. Evil type, with superhuman abilities.
6. And the hero, as a superhumannatural (new word!), larger than life prude.
7. Use computers (in the movie) to show the actors are doing really important work, but make sure that they keyboards are not connected and screen savers with "PAKISTAN" written are activated.
8. Shoot everything indoors, and use age-old boards for sky-effect.

So these are only few of the things I think are necessary for a movie to be called a Lollywood flick. For instance, in the movie last night, Meera was supposed to be stranded in a boat in the river, shouting for help, and I couldn't help seeing a very distinct rope tied to the aft of the boat. So much for authenticity!

I saw a Lollywood movie after a long time, and I hope I wont have to see another one for a long time too! God help me!

KFC Pakistan!

Date: August 12, 2005. Venue: KFC, Lahore. The restaurant is decorated very lavishly in green and white buntings. The servers and managers are wearing the Pakistani flag on their shirts. There is even a special deal on the event of independence. "Free Nation, Free to choose". But there is a problem right there: Me: (beckoning to the lady who seems to be the supervisor) Excuse me? She: Yes! Can I help you, sir? Me: Ofcourse you can. You see, I am a little puzzled. (Meanwhile my friends are surprised why exactly I am talking to her.) Me: (in the most innocent of tones) Why is your restaurant decorated? She: (eyes me suspectingly) What do you mean? 14th August is coming up. Our Azaadi celebrations! We are proud Pakistanis! Me: Ahhhh! I see. Aur yeh gaanay konsay chal rahay hain? She: (looks stumped) Errrr, Indian! Me: Wow! We are proud Pakistanis! She: (is obviously stumped and embarassed) Just wait a minute, sir. I'll go change the songs. And the songs get changed from "Dus bahaney" to "Dil Dil Pakistan". She comes back to me, "Is it okay?" I guess yeah, it wasn't really a problem with me, girl. It was your image that was getting tarnished. So yes, its very easy to brag, but very difficult to hold to values. To actually do what we say. Let's try to be a little more honest. Let's love our country as it should be loved. Let's be Pakistanis, and proud ones at that.

I'm back!

Yes, I am back. To my city, to my love, to my home. Karachi is heaven, believe me. I've realised its value on this trip. There'd be no place in the whole world I'd like to live but in Karachi. So how was the trip? Um, thats a difficult question to answer. It was fun, it was tiring, it was hot, it was dusty, it was rainy, it was gloomy, it was full of life. And yet it was sickeningly sad. These kind of tours always teach a lot about life. And I learnt a lot. Many funny things happened along the way, and many sad things, too. I'd update all of you in a few days, a day-by-day account, inshALLAH. For now I think I should take a nap. If you read this, and can call me, then do call. See ya all!

Getting Back

16 days have passed. The tour is finally coming to an end. The sights and sounds of rural Pakistan have subsided and the hustle bustle of metropolitan Pakistan have taken their places. And so it heralds the start of my miseries. The realizations that I am not perfect. That I am the one at fault. That I am not convincing enough, and that you need proofs that I really have some feelings for you. So that it is. You got the proof. And I am miserable. I hope you deduce the correct results from them. I am waiting till then. God bless us all!