End of a long tour

Pakistan team has returned from a four month long tour of England. Several things stand out from this tour.
I think that the first noteworthy point is Afridi's incompetence at captaincy. He's been in and out of captaincy and he's been playing cricket for a long time now. He should've learnt his lessons by now. Granted Pakistani fielding is not good, but he has thrown away bowling advantage over and over due to defensive tactics. Time and again, when the batting side can be taken under pressure, he has applied defensive tactics, concentrating on saving runs instead of attacking to take wickets.
Second, I think Shoaib Akhtar staged a nice comeback. I didn't expect much of him, but he bowled well out there. For the first time, I am of the opinion that he should be included in the side consistently. I think he has shown signs of maturity.
Thirdly, no need to even mention the childishness and unreasonably defensive response shown by Pakistan Cricket Board over reactions to as yet unproven match fixing allegations.

Upcoming Microsoft community events in Pakistan

Microsoft is bringing a community event to Pakistan. It is called Open Doors. It will be held in Karachi and Lahore next month, i.e., October. I'm contacting the source to update the dates, which seem to have changed (based on inside information). Stay tuned!

The idea behind Open Doors is to bring Microsoft Professional Developer Conference (PDC) and TechEd quality content to a wider community's doorsteps.

To fix or not to fix

Today's edition of The News carries this interesting news item. The item is based on a correspondent's conversation with former Pakistan test cricketer, Aamir Sohail. Aamir Sohail has done a really thorough and interesting analysis of the issue.
Aamir's analysis has strengthened my hunch that the Pakistani team is unfairly caught in a mess they did not create. According to Aamir, the whole thing is based on a war between legal and illegal bookies. He says that the former are pissed off that the latter are scooping up lots of their profits. The legal bookies, he mentions, pay taxes and sponsor cricketing events and are not happy at losing millions of Pounds (Sterlings, not in body weight).

IT ka-BOOM

The IT sector has lately bloomed creating lots of tech jobs in Pakistan. Foreign projects also brought diversified experience to Pakistani IT workers and added valuable expertise to their skillset. However, this report in today's edition of The News about a trend of foreign companies closing down their business in Pakistan is alarming.

Of course, it is not completely unexpected on two accounts. First, you need first class connectivity to the rest of the world. While Pakistan's Internet connectivity is several times better than what it used to be ten years ago, but it still can not be termed reliable and first class. The Internet connectivity business is not where it should be. Second, we can not guarantee uninterrupted business operation due to the prevalent and consistently deteriorating condition of law and order.

Unfortunately, proper heed has not been paid to these alarming conditions. One can only hope that some urgent attention will be paid to these trouble areas, soon. Otherwise, I'm afraid that the IT boom will go ka-BOOM.

World can't fully pay

According to US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, the world can't fully pay for Pakistan floods disaster. But the fact of the matter is, believe it or not, Pakistanis alone are enough to take care of the whole mess.

Sialkot water

Both of my parents were born in Sialkot. My father used to point out to me that most Mr. Pakistan title holders are from the Gujranwala district, which is where Sialkot is situated. He used to tell me that it is because the water in that district is very good. We used to notice how we start feeling hungry when we drink water in Sialkot whereas Karachi's water fills one's stomach leaving no appetite.

Yesterday, during my recent visit to Sialkot, I noticed how yellowish the water was. Alas, Sialkot's water, it seems, isn't what it used to be. The baltis, maggas and floors are stained yellowish. Lots of people fetch drinking water from a water filtration plant.

Who's in control

I am wondering, who is in control? Not philosophically, but in Pakistan. Is the President the ruler? Is the Prime Minister the ruler? How do I check? I guess if I asked them to get rid of the shortage of gasoline in the country for just one hour, if they were in control, they could do it. Or maybe at least for fifteen minutes. Heck, if they can get rid of the shortage for even one minute at will, I'd accept that they are in control. But they can't. So, who really is in charge?