Wrestle mania - What the worrrrrrrrrrrld is watching

I was just watching wrestle mania. It wasnt Bret the hitman Hart, or the Rock, and it certainly wasnt on TV. It was on the street. Near a traffic light, the car in front of mine dead stopped and so did the one in front of that one. The guy on the driving seats of both vehicles in front of me popped out of their seats like springs and ran to each other. Long lost relatives? They ran to each other. But, wait, they started wrestling each other. There was no referee. A semi-hot dogess popped out from the front most car screaming, desperately trying to sooth down her driver and to avoid conflict, but she wasnt cutting it.
Both men looked like drivers. She seemed surprisingly concerned about the safety of her "driver." No, wait a minute, how can I be sure he was her driver. Maybe he was her car driver, though. Maybe she was worried about how she'd get to the market to do the late night shopping or explain to her husband the bruises on the driver's face or his torn clothes.
Anyway, people started gathering to try and separate the two fighting, to no avail. About real-life fighting, have you every noticed, that none of them kicked the other in the groin. That'd have been an early ending to the fight. ;-P
Well, the traffic light was only a short distance from me and it had turned green. I came that close to sending one of them where he belonged as the other one threw him to the asphalt as I pulled out to the fast lane and drove right past them and unfortunately, the one eating dirt dropped close to my left rear wheel. On second thought, though, I didnt want any red stains on my white car, either.

Design document submitted

OK! So, tonight at 8 pm was the submission deadline for our software engineering project's design document. That was the toughest document of them all in terms of required hardwork. The weightage of this document, though surprisingly, was amongst the lowest of all deliverables at 15%. I dont know why. Me and my group mate spent all day today and yesterday and some time day before yesterday to prepare the document. I have uploaded it for enhancing your freeloading experience. Enjoy! I am sure there'll be shortcomings and errors in it due to the hasty work done.
Hey, what am I doing online! I have a mid term day after tomorrow and there's little preparation. Off I go!

CIS Batch 2003-2004 doing me the honors on (probably) our last day together 

Project functional specifications and STP

I have uploaded the functional specifications document for online ariline reservation system project for my Software Engineering course. I have also uploaded the simulation code for Spanning Tree Protocol. The STP file contains the simulator object file, alongwith the Visual Studio 6.0 project and workspace files. It is ready to compile and run. The assignment handout which contains the description of the topology and scenario files as well as a brief of the spanning tree protocol are also included. Enjoy!

Bumper sticker

I've seen a few cool bumper stickers lately. One at the back of a really battered ugly looking Mehran said:
This car is a status symbol: It symbolizes my status of being poor
By the way, I like the license plate numbers down here. While I drive, I am mentally making up pronounciations and acronyms out of the alphabets. Here are a few:
LOV Love
LUV Love
LRE Lahori
LRU Least Recently Used
LRA Least Recently Abused
LZB Lazy Bee
LZS Lazy Ass
LZA Lazy Ass
Too many to mention, but just a sample. Dont miss my rants about "(lost) opportunity"

Of (lost) opportunities

Disaster, if you look real close, brings with it strange opportunities. On September 11, 2001, when a certain locality of NYC was completely in rubbles, Cisco won hearts by bringing its IP telephony to life in the snap of a finger in that area which had lost all communications infrastructure. Technology, to solve human problems.
That's what technology is for. Technology is not for the sake of itself. It is there to solve human problems. That is a point we (as a nation) do not understand. We become engineers or doctors whatever the else hell we become without knowing why we're doing it.
We talk of IT, but all we have done in the name of IT, truly, in all these years, is:

• establish shops that sell computers
  
• establish shops that sell computer CDs
  
• establish the so-called software houses, who are for the most part not doing so well
  
• establish call centers, train jobless graduates and throw them in to take pizza orders
  
• establish so-called IT "universities" in bungalows, churning out IT degrees to anyone and everyone who happens to be interested in an admission there
  

The reason everything is faring badly, except for the shops (well the universities are making lots of money, too, but if you look at the output they are producing, I wouldnt call it success) is that we are thinking IT for the sake of IT. Computer to play games, chat or whatever. We're not solving the real problems that we should've solved. Few banks in our country are tech savvy. Airlines and civil aviation is only so much IT enabled. We are way far behind where we should be because we are not moving at all, let alone in the wrong direction. Well, we are moving in the wrong direction on every other count, but as far as IT is concerned, we arent even doing that.
So, back to my point, the disaster, the tremors. IT could be an enabler for so many things here. IT could do wonders here. Saving lives, speeding up so many other (sometimes life) critical processes. But, look at the situation, the million dollar telecom investors are riding people's shoulders by providing telephone booths and stuff in those areas. In the end, people will remember Telenor for they enabled them to call some disaster "relief" center to find out about the well being of their loved ones. IT, on the other hand, will go unnoticed. If IT were to take the lime light, as it should, because compared to IT, even telecom takes the back seat, and telecom wouldnt be anything if it werent for the computing infrastructure, then our society would begin to give IT its proper place and see it as an enabler of sorts, and not as a laptop that seth sahib wants to buy because it's a status symbol.
But unfortunately, that is not going to happen. PASHA is running around to do something. Several other people are talking about what should be done. Zohaib Hassan talked about building a website. One person on a mailing list that I subscribe to, wanted to build a similar website. 100 different people and organizations will be interested in it. A few of them will develop unconnected, uncoordinated solutions, that no one will really use, and the golden opportunity will be lost. Hasta la vista, IT!
Too bad!

Imama-e-White House

The supreme religious spiritual leader of the muslims, George W Bush has called upon all "responsible" muslim leaders to reject terrorism. The "responsible" muslim leaders were invited to an iftar dinner at the holy white house. I'm sure the leaders would, after iftar, have praid Maghrib behind their imam, George W Bush.

Halt! You cant take that tent!

Major General Farooq Ahmad Khan said that there are 37 units in Punjab that can manufacture 75000 tents a day. Well, for a layman like me, at that rate, the requirements for tents should have been fulfilled within one or two days of the tremors. Oh, the press releases they give!

More irony

Well, well, what do you know. Pakistan is amongst the largest producers of tents, and guess what we need worst these days. And, guess what, we're short of it. Why is the stuff most badly needed always "short" in our market, RAM, tomatoes, brain cells you name it. The person who owns the company producing most of these tents is under trial for murder. And guess where all big shot Pakistanis under serious criminal trials are? Abraod. So, he's been living with his entire family for three years in Emirates. Now, our government needs his tents. He's telling our government that they'll have to buy them. Seems like he's going to bargain the trial for the tents. That's so cool!

Charyay online!

More and more dumb asses are online on TV telecasts these days. I was watching the iftar transmission yesterday and the stupid anchor on the show said about the recently earthquake orphaned children, "Yes, there are so many parents who dont have kids, (pause, when she realized her mistake) and they can adopt them." Hello Madam Curie, how can someone be a parent when one is childless? Who picks these idiots to put them on TV? There are so many great live show anchors in Pakistan and all of them have lately been sidelined. Idiots are hosting shows in their idiotic ways. One of these days, I'm going to smash the TV set. I hope I would be at someone else's place at that time.

Careful what you do!

I believe that one should be careful what one is doing. Donating drug money to the disaster relief fund, for example, is no achievement. Like, doing a striptease show for charity, like holding a concert for charity, I never could get that. One could go gambling and send the proceeds to the fund. Or, like a (in)famous political party, donate one days worth of bhatta (extortion money) to the fund. These are buildings on weak foundations and wouldnt stand for long.
Imagine the extent of naroow mindedness of some people in the so-called "city of the educated" in Pakistan. Someone called up a television show and mentioned that there was so much going on in Karachi for disaster relief, while Lahore and other cities were not doing anything. That's the same bullshit extremism that a certain party has engraved in their minds over the period of more than a decade. I pitty these narro minded people, for education doesnt seem to infect their minds.

Rustam

"Rustam hostel say aya, to josh utha pitnay kay, main lay aeee, Sufi Sunflower." Excerpt from a cooking oil advertisment. Now, why does Rustam want to get beat up?

More disaster (relief)

I was watching CNN today. Last night, the big guy President (George W) Mush spoke on TV. I didnt watch it, of course. I wonder why it is immediate speech when the opposition announces a strike or when there is some importance incident related to the oh-so-important war against terrorism, but it took till last night for him to make the speech. I guess he was waiting for power to be resumed in the disaster struck areas. In that case, I think he should've waited for another month or two.
CNN told me that he acknowledged that the relief efforts (if there is such a thing) have been slow. The CNN report termed the disaster struck areas as "one of the most difficult to reach areas on the earth." Granted, but I've already spoken on that issue. The only considerable relief effort that is going on in the remot northern areas is by an NGO led by the leader of the Agha Khani community. With one chopper, they are doing whatever they can. I again say, shame on us, that we dont have the slightest of infrastructure or organization to do anything in the name of disaster recovery. The reason is obvious: People dont matter, if they die, so be it. We'd sell them off to the FBI as false suspects anyway.
All this while, they've been lying about doing their best, and the relief efforts were concentrated in the federal capital on the Margalla Towers. Why? Some foreigners used to dwell there, and, of course, it is the federal capital. The few "important" people in Pakistan live there. Now they admit that they have been slow. So, will there be any accountability? Well, keeping with the past, a few government employees might be suspended, with full pays and perks with nothing to do in the name of duties, or transferred to some remote place where they have to do even less amount of work (and they do nothing as it is already, so maybe they'll do negative work). What a punishment! I guess that explains why some people are dying for government jobs and CSS and stuff. So that they could be deputed at the so-called disaster relief hotline.
And, our beloved Chaudhary sahib was in UK to attend his son's wedding, and still is there. Of course, that's where the life is.
You know what I think we should do? I think we should take this moment to take the law into our own hands. Whoever we find as a black sheep, people selling merchandise for more than necessary, truckers charging more for the disaster relief area commute, hotline operators not receiving calls, or not doing their job right, catch these bastards, beat the living shit out of them and hang them on the roundabouts. That is the only way we will ever learn a lesson. The legal system just doesnt cut it.

The dark side of disaster relief

OK. I am back with my nagging. I've been watching, listening and hating things for several days now. Let's talk about the present disaster relief effort in Pakistan, if there's such a thing. Here are a few observations:
1- Coffin cloth that was being sold for Rs. 150 is being sold for Rs. 300 per head
2- Want to rent a truck to send relief goods to the affected areas? Guess what, the rent just went up!
3- People are offering their private aircraft for rent. Damn these bastards! If they can afford to buy an aircraft, they can certainly afford to operate it on a few relieft flights
Yes, I know you're thinking, look at the bright side. There are people who are actually giving reasonable profit margin prices to those buying relief goods. Yes, most of the nation is out to help, to do what they can. So many volunteers! But all these volunteers are not going to be effective, as they havent been as effective as they could. Why? Because:
1- They are not trained. There's such a thing as boy scouts. In this country, the boy scouts movement (and anything but the armed forces) was never given any importance. I bet if just the boy scouts were put to motion in Pakistan, given the number of boy scouts in Pakistan, we would be in a much better position today in the disaster relief operation. Trained boy scouts know first aid, stretcher making, tent pitching, cooking, you name it.
2- No coordination. There are more than necessary logistics at certain places and nothing at others. No coordination, no control. Exactly, what the fuck was the major general assigned chief relief commissioner for anyway? How difficult is it to track who's going where in terms of volunteer relief workers? There is only one highway through Pakistan. There are only a limited number of roads heading towards the affected areas.
3- We were not prepared for this. All the above should be able to give you a hint, that we dont mean shit to our regime, and we dont mean shit to each other either, if you would read my earlier blogs about our nature and ethics (or lack thereof). So, dont expect anything from the regime. They havent been able to restore power to the affected areas. I know the terrain is difficult, but in times of crisis, man is supposed to do the impossible. It's been five God damned days, for heaven's sakes! The civilians are too caught up in themselves to be prepared for a disaster condition. Where can you buy a gas mask? Where can you buy a helmet with a torch? Where would you buy something to ensure uniterrupted, restorable, sustainable light on consecutive nights of rescue missions.
We've got Edhi foundation and the like for every day accidents, but nothing at all for something like this. We were asleep. Almost 60 years now.
Look at the disaster relief help lines. They were exposed today on local television. The anchor person called the disaster relief numbers and got the following responses:
1- No response, no one picks up
2- Someone picks up and puts the phone back on hook
3- Person answering the phone gives you another number to dial
4- Some other stupid response
What the hell else do you expect. I've been saying this for years, it's the same God damned bullshit people, as the traffic cop, as the doctor, as the enterpreneur, as the teacher, as the telephone operator, you name it. If they're this way, the reason is, we are this way. If we want this put right, wake up. From now on, we have to mobilize an NGO/volunteer organization that specializes in disaster relief. They need to have multiple aircraft at different locations in the country. They need to have light and heavy automobiles. They need to have other forms of transportation when the weather is rough for the aircraft and road transportation is impossible, like, boats, skis etc. They need to have fuel and ways to transport it safely to other places, too. They need to have skilled doctors on their list their for the beckoning 24 hours a day on the relief center within 15 minutes to be transported to the hot spot. They need trained volunteers or paid workers, again there for the beckoning all over the country. These guys must have people management skills, how to handle distressed people and to have them work productively to your benefit. These guys must have skills to use available resouces to do miracles. They must be skilled in the use of hand and machine tools. They must be skilled in vehicle repair etc. I'm not saying everyone knows all these trades, but the people management skill must be common, and then first aid. The rest can be coped by different people.
Do you think that is too expensive? Look at the filthy rich people of this country. They sign a million rupee cheque just to get it off their table without caring what it is for. Money is not the issue. Are we motivated? Do we want to do this? The real question is: Do we care about ourselves? I dont think so. Go back in time and recall the befitting comment by an American about us, "Pakistanis! They'd sell their mother if the price was right." Shame on us.

Freedom

"While I was fighting, I heard other people speaking in the name of freedom, and the more they defended this unique right, the more enslaved they seemed to be to their parents' wishes, to a marriage in which they had promised to stay with the other person 'for the rest of their lives', to the bathroom scales, to their diet, to half-finished projects, to lovers to whom they were incapable of saying 'No' or 'It's over', to weekends when they were obliged to have lunch with people they didn't even like. Slaves to luxury, to the appearance of luxury, to the appearance of the appearance of luxury. Slaves to a life they had not chosen, but which they had decided to live because someone had managed to convince them that it was all for the best. And so their identical days and nights passed, days and nights in which adventure was just a word in a book or an image on the television that was always on, and whenever a door opened, they would say: 'I'm not interested. I'm not in the mood.'"

Tremors

I've got stuff to blog about but not enough time right now. I am making this entry so that those who heard of the tremors in Lahore and other parts of the country know that I am well. No damage at our side. One or two buildings in some areas of Lahore were allegedly reported damaged.

Good question paper

So, my first mid term at LUMS for software engineering went OK. I was very impressed with the question paper. While we were all expecting definitions and description, there was nothing of that sort at all in the question paper. A couple of case studies and decision makings of what process model we would choose in which scenario, drawing of DFDs and ERDs. The timing assigned to the exam was so accurate that I was clearly impressed. This being the first exam for me, I was unable to finish in the alloted time, and in the end, no one else was, either, so the teacher assigned 10 minutes extra, which was wrong, but I'll talk about that later. So, if you ask me, if we were in flow, we would have finished the thing in exact allotted time. I am clearly impressed by the paper setting. She's not an experienced teacher, but she has done what even I cant do with five years of teaching experience under my belt. I'll make it a point to tell her how highly I think of her paper setting skills. Now, as for the extra ten minutes, someone might have been able to finish in time, which would mean that he was ahead of the rest of the class, which he would deserve given that he had finished early. Now ten extra minutes, wouldnt do him any good, but would enable at least two or three others to catch up to him. That is unfair. I wouldnt have given extra time. Maybe one minute for the darkness while the power was switched from LESCO to generator and back, but not more.

Software Requirements Specification (SRS) submitted

We hurriedly put this thing together and submitted it. Comments are welcome. I myself am not very satisfied with it, but it's a starting point.

Cached profile

First of ramadan, and I am in one of the comptuer labs at LUMS to submit my software engineering SRS, here. I'll post it on the web,too. The machines were refusing login complaining that the roaming profile couldnt be loaded. I spotted the error and immediately moved to one of the machines that I had logged on to earlier and bingo, I was able to log in immediately. Others kept wondering and struggling. One lady sat on the chair next to me wondering what was going on, I told her to try a machine that she's logged on to earlier. She walked out of the lab. Another lady came up and asked how come mine was working, I described the scenario to her. Two others came and tried the machines next to mine, faced difficulties. When they talked to each other about it, I told one of them to try logging in on one of the machines they had used earlier. They walked out of the lab.
What? Is that too difficult to grasp? Or are the scared of why I am suggesting them to go to a certain machine. I dont know which, they do. Are they scared I've got something installed there? I dont know, but I dont care either. It was my good will to try and make them aware of what to do about the problem. If they wouldnt take the advice in good faith, they can suit themselves.

May I help you?

One evening back in summer of 2001, I was coming back from my TA office at Wichita State University going to the mosque well in time for Maghrib prayers. On my way, I saw a young lady trying to post a poster onto a pillar. She was struggling with the size of the poster, the wind, and trying to paste the tape at the same time as cutting it. Not humanly possible. I stopped by and held the poster for her and she was easily able to accomplish her task. She might've been scared with my eastern looks and the post 9/11 era, but I did what I did.
Today, I was coming out of the Pepsi Dining Center when I saw another young lady, trying to post a poster at a notice board or bulletin board of sorts. She was struggling just like the lady I mentioned earlier. I walked up and held the poster for her to find any pushpings from the board and put the poster in place. In the end, she couldnt find sufficient number of thumb pins to hold it in place. I recalled that I had just bought a stapler which was in my bag. I offered that to her and I stapled the poster in place for her. After that, I walked away, neither of us, said anything. I guess I did my scout's good deed of the day. If I had a scout's scarf, I would've put a reaf knot on it.
Deja vu.

WARNING: This entry for adult males only

Dont sneak in here if you're not a responsible adult male. I've done my part by warning you, so dont call me obscene or anything.
I've been blogging about my wife here. For those of you who think there's not much to the similarity between a car and a wife, I have this golden saying from a friend of mine. Give your wife or your car to someone else, and you will get both of them back in similar condition. I know this sounds obscene, but there is a very important lesson in it for those who ponder.

New pair of shoes for the wife

Anyone who knows anything about women would know that it doesnt matter what shoes you're wearing, but you must ensure that she's wearing good ones. That rule is modified slightly if you're married to her, because, then, whatever you're wearing is her problem. People look at you and either appreciate the handiwork of your wife, or pitty you for having married a "you know what."
So, I discovered last night that the rear right shoe (tyre) of my wife (car) was deflating. I took it to the mechanic who fixed it and made that remark about worn out shoes that I've been hearing and ignoring for so long. But last night, I decided, oh OK, OK, already! She's been very nice to me and has given great service. At least she deserves two pairs of nice shoes. So, tonight I went and got her two pairs of radial tubeless shoes. I can tell she likes them very much, by the way she's hugging me and the road.
Talking of wives, 2 Fast 2 Furious was on HBO today. I liked the stupid motor stunts and the cars were fun. How that car spitted fumes from near its front wheels was nice. I wanna do that some day, but with a different car. But that's wishful thinking based on the inflation and the way oil prices have already gone absolutely absurd and continuing the northward climb.
But one thing I noted with a smile was how much they were showing the drivers changing gears continuously. That was fake, only for creating a drammatic adrenaline feeling in the beholder. It was unreal given the situations on the road. And it made it seem as if there were 12 gears in the cars. I dont think so.
So, if you have a wife, or a girlfriend, be nice to her. Keep checking her oil and radiator water. And dont miss that brake fluid unless you wanna bump into some thelay wala, like the motor biker keep running into your rear bumper multiple times every day. Geez, why dont they get their brakes fixed? The only thing working on these motorbikes is the horn.

Be Pakistani! May be

Here's an article in a local newspaper about how depraved we are as a nation. There are few rare exceptions. Otherwise, you can see how those of us within and abroad looted this individual.
I am way past pitty for us. We will change. We definitely will. But not for the better. Count on that.

Free online document management

I have been thinking that we should maintain the documents we are preparing for our software engineering project in a version control/document management system. The only problem is, it needs to be available to all of us at the same time, which means, it must be online. I searched on google, but I was surprised, that I didnt find any free online document management system. Some of them are giving free trials for a few days, but nothing beyond that. Strange!!! If you know any information that suggests otherwise, do comment.

Project proposal

Oh, well, I thought, why not post .doc format. So, here is the proposal template that we were given, here are the rought requirements that we were given, and here is the proposal that we came up with.

Software Engineering Project Proposal submitted

We submitted the proposal for the project assigned to our 3 member group. The project is really lame. Online airline reservation system. What can I do, it was assigned to us, we didnt choose it. I have the proposal on me, but I dont want to upload it in .doc format. I'll upload it after converting to PDF, which I can not do right now, because Acrobat is not installed on my laptop. Some of the CDs that I burnt in Karachi on my desktop are not readable on the laptop's combo, so I couldnt install Acrobat 6 Professional.
Now the approaching deadline is the SRS (Software Requirements Specification). I'm finding it rather enjoyable and interesting to do all this study and documentation. Apart from that, the assignment to implement STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) for bridges in C is also due on Monday next, so I am working on it as well. There is some sort of a simulator compiled as an object file, which is available for various OS platforms on the course website. The object file expects to see implementations of certain functions that are prototyped in bridge.h, and we implement them in bridge.c. We are given when the functions are called by the simulator, but we are expected to know what those functions would do and how to do it. Once I'm done with it, I'll post it somewhere, too.

An admirable friend

The conviction that Adnan has, is absolutely admirable. He will soon be in Seattle to attend the MVP global summit 2005. A gathering of some of the finest people of the world as far as proficiency in Microsoft's tools and technologies are concerned. After getting back from India in July, we started worrying about our trip to Seattle. We were concerned that we wouldnt get the visa in time to make it. We means me, Adnan, and Vaqar Kahmisani. Adnan was convinced that we would. He had a feeling that we would get the visa. Later on, we also discovered that Microsoft will bear every single penny of the trip. Only Adnan applied for the visa. I didnt because I was about to join LUMS and going to Seattle in the middle of the semester would be suicidal. A few days earlier, Adnan got his visa and has left for USA about 24 hours ago.
I admire his conviction, his instincts, and determination. Have fun out there, my friend. My priority is PhD, so I cant say, I feel sorry to miss it. As for me, if I do well, conference paper presentations would given plenty of opportunities for sponsored foreign trips.

Suha Arafat is interested in me

I just got an email from Suha Arafat the widow of Yasir Arafat. A flithy rich widow. Here's what she had to say with detailed headers for information. Oh my God, she asked me to keep it secret. Now they'll surely kill her, and then come after me.

X-Originating-IP: [140.98.193.23]
Return-Path:
Received: from coolre41174.com ([192.116.81.20]) by hormel4.ieee.org (8.12.11/8.12.11) with SMTP id j8MNZR3s023954 for ; Thu, 22 Sep 2005 19:35:38 -0400
From: "MRS. SUHA D. ARAFAT"
Reply-to: suharafat@uymail.com
To: msaqib@ieee.org
Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2005 16:35:52 -0700
Subject: CALL FOR AN ASSISTANCE
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6900 DM
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
X-UCE-Filter-Settings: maverick007 redirected to 90_OPT_OUT
X-Spam-Score: undef - spam-scanning disabled
Content-Length: 1348

From: Mrs.Suha D Arafat
Paris France
Reply Email:suharafat@uymail.com

Dear Sir,

I am Mrs. SUHA ARAFAT, the wife of YASSER ARAFAT, the Palestinian leader who died recently in Paris. Since his death and even prior to the announcement, I have been thrown into a state of antagonism, confusion, humiliation,frustration and hopelessness by the present leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the new Prime Minister headed by MAHMOUD ABBAS. I have even been subjected to physical and psychological torture.

As a widow that is so traumatized, I have lost confidence with everybody in the country at the moment. You must have heard over the media reports and the Internet on the discovery of some fund in my husband secret bank account andcompanies and the allegations of some huge sums of money deposited by my husband in my name of which I have refuses to disclose or give up to the corrupt Palestine Government.And they are not relenting on their effort to make me poor for life. As you know, the Moslem community has no regards for woman,more importantly when the woman is from a christian background,hence my desire for a foreign assistance.I and my late husband deposited the sum of 6.5 million dollars with a Financial firm in Europe whose name is withheld for now until we open communication.I shall be grateful if you could receive this fund into your bank account for safe keeping and any Investment opportunity.This arrangement will be known to you and I alone and all our correspondence should be strictly on email alone because our government has tapped all my lines and are monitoring all my moves.

In view of the above if you are willing to assist for our mutual benefits i promise to give you 30% of the $6.5m that will be kept in your position for a while and invested in your name for my trust pending when my Daughter ZAHWA,will come off age and take full responsibility of her Family inheritance.
Please note that this is a golden opportunity that comes once in life time and more so,if you are honest. I am going to entrust more funds in your care as this is one of the legacy we keep for our children. In case you don't accept please do not let me out to the security and international media as I am giving you this information in total trust and confidence I will greatly appreciate if you accept my proposal in good faith

Yours sincerely

Mrs.Suha D.Arafat
Reply Email: suharafat@uymail.com

Who's illiterate?

When returning from the mosque today after the Friday prayers, I saw an old man walking a few feet ahead of me. He didnt look well off. He was wearing a wrinkled white kameez and a dhoti. He had a white cloth tied around his head in a worker-type turban. I didnt quite catch what (if anything) was in his feet.
Anyway, with that description, you can see that he looks like the stereotypical paindoo, un parh jahil. As I walked, he bent down, picked up a banana peel that was lying on the road, and threw it off away from the road. He missed a piece of it, so he bent again and subjected the remaining bit to the same fate.
I kept walking, but in my mind I paused, and thought, would I have done the same with that peel or would I just have avoided it. Except for a few people you can count on your fingers, most people would've just walked by. If I had a choice, I'd pick that jahil over all the educated people. Shame on us!

September rain

It rained yesterday. It was all sunny and hot, and then suddenly cloud cover, and within minutes, the street was flooded with water. So much rain. And then the temperature came swiftly down to 26 C with a nice breeze.

More on Dr. Zartash

I forgot to mention that he still remembered that I had sent him an email in 2003. That was the only time I emailed him, and he still remembered it. He mentioned that several of his students while working with him on research projects were offered full funded admission to leading US universities. They're doing some good work down here, for sure. International recognition, which enforces my belief that it is your work that speaks for itself, the institution is of secondary significance.

Met Dr. Zartash

I went to see a faculty member here at Computer Science and Engineering, Dr. Zartash. He has an MS and PhD from Stanford University. He is doing some great stuff here in computer networks with the students working under him. We discussed PhD in general, and the work he is doing and about to do, in particular. I found the present and future work very interesting. He is very friendly and very helpful. I'll be meeting with another faculty member and then I'll decide whom to work with. I'm about ready to get started. Dr. Zartash said that given initial guidance is the advisor's responsibilty, so once I decide what I want to do, he will tell me what to read and how to proceed with my literature survey. Later, I will find my own problem. He said that he can give me some problems right now, but he wouldnt do that, because I wouldnt be able to appreciate the problems much. Later on, when I have progressed sufficiently is when that will happen. I am about ready to get started, so let the games begin, the sooner the better.

Probability

In the course Stochastic Systems - I, we have, till now, been dealing with probability. Well, in fact, a very small portion of our course actually deals with stochastic systems as such. And it is justified, because these are the foundations of stochastic systems. I've been a bit rusty with probability, so in the first two homeworks, I had difficulty putting a finger on how to solve the problems and when I did solve them, on some of them, I wasnt very confident whether I got it right or not. I saw the TA for the course a couple of days ago and discussed homework # 2 problems with him, citing my solutions, and that seems to have helped a lot. Plus, prior to that, I had visited one of the faculty members here, Dr. Sohaib Khan, who is like a friend to me. He had suggested that I just need a lot of practice. I need to get a few books others than the textbook and practice. Schaum's series, while it sucks, does have a lot of questions and solved examples, so it is good for gaining the expertise of attacking problems. Prior to going to Dr. Sohaib, I was shaky, but today, when I sat down to solve the problems, I found myself solving the problems, seeing my mistakes and correcting them. I am sure the TA's discussion helped me. I really look up to Dr. Sohaib, he is an incredibly intelligent person, so his advice also boosted my confidence, and I have asked my neighborhood bookstore to get me three books on probability.

• A frist course in probability by Sheldon Ross


• Probability and random processes for electrical engineering by Albert Leon-Garcia


• Schaum's outline of probability, random variables and random processes by Hwei Hsu

In higher studies, probability is a tool that you can not live without, whether it is at masters level or PhD level. So, if you're thinking of doing masters or PhD, and nearly everyone is doing it these days, then my sincere advice to you is, get your probability in order. Most of the contents of this course had been taught to us in a course Telecommunications and another course Computer System Modelling at undergraduate level, which is a testimonial to the technical level of our undergraduate program, compared to most other universities.
I went to my neighborhood bookstore and he told me that he found the books, but since they were quite expensive, Rs. 500 and Rs. 700 for two of them, for instance, he didnt buy them wondering whether or not I would want to buy them. I mean, hey Einstein, I need those books. And books, dont have a price, they pay themselves off. So, I asked him to kindly get them for me irrespective of the price. He will get them tomorrow. I hope he doesnt make any mistakes, because I am about ready to get my hands dirty asap.

IT

I went to National Bank of Pakistan at DHA Lahore Branch to get my account opened. It reminded me of the time when I was in Wichita, Kansas USA, at Bank of America branch there on a street called Fairmount. I think my memory isnt as poor as I think it is. So, when I was there, an alien, on student visa, it took only a few minutes to open my bank account. I didnt have to fill out any forms, didnt have to bring any photo copies, no attestations, and I was given a few cheques until my cheque book would be ready, and a temporary ATM card. All within a few minutes.
Compare that to National Bank of Pakistan. I've been trying to open that account since Thursday last week, and one requirement or the other was always missing. Which brings me to the point that most of us are also kum zarf, so when we get a position, we see the authority in it, and not the responsibility or that we can facilitate people. So, the person checking your account opening application is going to look for ways to refuse it, or delay it somehow or the other. Is that culture? Anyway, I was talking about the automation. And to think that a majority of us morons think "computer khatam ho gaya g, jobs naheen hain, betay ko telecomm main admission dilwain, ya MBA kara dain." Geez, you morons, get a life. We in pakistan are living in the stone age compared to even the least developed countries. We have a long way to go, and computer is the key to doing it. There is no avoiding it. Either that, or we'll be annihilated by the nations of the world, in which case we wouldnt have any worries at all, as UN C-130s would air drop food to us, and we will have tribes with nothing to eat, but definitely guns to kill others and taking the dropped food into our tribe leader's custody. A reflection of some African nations, except our complexions would be different, and we wouldnt do those funny dances they do, even when they are mourning.

Recruitment criterion

Last week, we were discussin in class about recruitment criteria. What candidate would you hire. What is it that you look for in that candidate, given that we had listed a lot of qualities that differentiate between individuals who may be candidates for being part of a certain team, which inlcude:
Domain experience
Platform experience
Programming lnaguage experience
Education background
Communication abilities
Adaptability
Attitude
Personality
Some jobs dont require high caliber graduates. But more importantly, you are recruited on the basis of your abilities. While the criteria may vary from person to person, the accepted formula is: attitude * ( experience + background )
So, I would think that attitude is a big key.

NED

Towards NED, I've always felt I have a debt. Having been through my four years of study, with no real processes, no real direction, I feel that there are voids that I realized and those that I didnt and havent. The voids that I realized, some of them I could fill, some I cant because they are beyond my control. So, I've worked to fill whatever I can, doing my part, regardless of the results, particularly not interested in recognition, especially not from the administration.
That does not mean to say that I didnt get any, I got more than I deserved. Being away from NED, for the second time, one might get the idea that what NED could get from me has come to a stop or an end. Not so, I am probably more effective when I am away from NED, and able to do more in other ways. So, let's see what I can do this time around. It's all in the mindset. Never feel handicapped by distance or whatever. Just do whatever you can, and leave the rest to the Almighty.

Screw up

A "wise man" said, "behind every screw up is a misunderstanding."

About needs

Yesterday, I read Adnan's blog here. It's amazing and fascinating when you learn something that unwraps a secret of life to you. Education is about discovering the meaning of life and its mysteries. It's quite amazing that I learnt something in my class on Software Engineering tonight. We talked about motivation, in which we talked about personal needs. This is what we studied:
According to Maslow's heirarchy of needs, a person's needs are organized in a pyramid:

 ------------------------
| Self-realization needs |
|------------------------
|     Esteem needs       |
|------------------------
|     Social needs       |
|------------------------
|     Safety needs       |
|------------------------
|  Physiological needs   |
 ------------------------

What this means is that a person is fundamentally concerned with the satisfaction of his physiological needs, such as food and clothing. Once that is satisfied, he would be concerned with safety needs. If the physiological needs are not satisfied, he would not give a shit about his social needs.
So, those kids risking their lives just to salvage some piece of steel or iron from a life threatening environment, the reason is that there safety needs are no where in their minds. It is only their physiological need that is the onlly and supreme concern to them. So unfortunate that 99% of our country's population struggle day in and day out just to secure their livelihood, whereas only 1% of the population controls most of the wealth. What good is their wealth if it does not go towards any real development. What good is it if they keep it away from risky investment. Niche areas are risky, so our wealthy will continue to deal in used tin cans, paper and printing using antique machines.

Beautiful day

Well, technically speaking, it is day before yesterday, even though, since I havent slept yet, it seems like yesterday, when after some rain, I was walking to the mosque at LUMS after a class, when I was struck by the captivating beauty of the sight. Clear blue sky, a few white clouds here and there, sun shining down brightly, a gentle breeze blowing, lush green grass and trees, thanks to the hard work of all the gardeners, and red brick buildings. No camera in the world can capture that beatuty of the moment, cause they dont have almost 180 degree vision, and can not capture the mood of the beholder, or the colors in their true bloom.
A sight I wish would last every day.

Let's celebrate!

Recently, at the end of the academic year at NED University, where I was teaching until recently before coming down for my graduate studies, there was a lot of "celebrations" by the students, not only of final year, but also in certain cases, of some other years.
They celebrated because they thought they are about to graduate. Well, many of them, and the most celebrating ones will have to stay back because they will fail some courses. People who cant get a decent grade are the foremost in celebration, which is sick. Having been in the US, myself, I saw the gora saheb working hard and with dedication and honesty toward their job, and on the weekend, or the holidays, he wouldnt work even if you shoot him. A well deserved celebration indeed.
I saw some of the third year students shouting slogans along with the final year students, and I saw one of them in particular and the whole episode went through my mind, when after the last class in their section, I had given them a lecture on responsibility, about self regulation, about all things good, about changing ourselves to change the society, about how important they were to our nation, and after that lecture, he had come to me to apologise for coming late to the class, and endlessly chatting with his friends in the back row because he couldnt (or didnt) understand jack about what was going on on the blackboard. Maybe he would rather spend time at the gathering of the activists of the student group of his favorite political party who damage public property. I saw this young man, doing exactly what he had apologised to me for. That was my last day at NED University before coming to Lahore. An eye opener indeed. All my time there, seemed completely wasted. All this time, banging on ears that refuse to listen, and if they listen, the refuse to understand.
Look at us, our employees start showing up at 9 am when the working hours start at 8:30 am. Then, they need 15 minutes for the tea. Then, the lunch hour starts at 1 pm, and the employees disappear at 12:30 pm. In the US, if you were at an office before 1 pm, the employees would deal with you before they go on the break. As students, we sit in the class, dishonest to our studies, looking for excuses for the class to end quickly.
Such lethargy! If you ask me, we dont deserve to celebrate. We are already at least 50 years behind the rest of the world. (If you ask me honestly, though, we are at least 100 years behind and counting.) I dont agree when we call ourselves "developing" nation. We are a "degrading" nation. Look around you and you'll see why I say that, and if you dont, dont even bother reading the rest of this entry, and might as well, not read this blog again. Let's face the facts.
If we are so far behind, and the gora saheb work 8 hours a day, and we work 8 hours a day, quick, how many years until we will be able to catch up with them? Never. We should be working 16 hours a day to catch up with them in 50 years. I'm not asking you to work 16 hours a day. All I ask is be true to yourself.
One of my students had said to me that the American is being bred and raised by the goverment, so they are true to the state. They arent true to their parents, because they are not the ones raising them. He said, that we are not true to the state. I dont care if we arent true to the state. I dont ask you to be true to the state. All I ask is be true to yourself. Have some justification for your actions. Have some sense of responsibility towards yourself.
We are at a very dangerous juncture of our nation's history. I'm not talking any 9/11 bullshit. It is now or never. If we dont improve now, we're history. We have great examples. We are a nation of individual achievements, and we dont play well as a team. Look at the individual achievers, so many of them. Few nations in the world have so many individual achievers. Hakeen Saeed, Edhi, Imran Khan, the list goes on. People who alone built empires, because they were true to themselves. We need to have them as role models, and not some dumb ass singer, actor or sportsman.
So, wake up, take a deep breath, look around, realize and see the death of the nation staring it in the eyes. Would you rather do something about it, or would you rather be consumed with the rest of the nation. Oh, no, wait, maybe you would just use the proverbial parachute. Canadian Immigration, Australian Immigration. Easy solutions to all problems, you might think. But you'll realize soon, like so many others have realized, only too late. So, keep kicking while you can.

Poem

If you're thinking I've taken the advice to start writing and am going to post one of my poems here, think again. Well, however, I've featured in one. Find it here.

A few quotes

I found this blog entry from a student of mine which includes a few qutoes, and on the comments you can notice a discussion on them as well. On the point of not being too honest, I think I should clarify things a little bit.
By being not too honest, I dont mean being dishonest, or lying at times. I dont endorse lying at all. However, being too honest means being too open, too frank, to clear. At times, you should keep your feelings, emotions, opinions to yourself in order to avoid being in a tight situation later on, which often can not be predicted. People you trust, sometimes end up having a grudge that you dont know of and harm you in a bad way.
About diplomatic behavior, I recall a saying, "A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell and leave you feeling happy to take the trip."

Update

Got a homework with about 15 questions yesterday, which is due on Sep 15. I started working on it yesterday. Most of the questions are about set theory, which are already done. Will have to do the counting theory and probability principles.
So, now I have a Software Engineering class this evening. The weather has improved. It rained a bit and the temperature is down, which is nice. More updates later.

Weather improvement

My car's radiator fan motor went dead last night, so I got it fixed first thing this morning. It had been quite hot up here in Lahore. Today, in the afternoon, clouds came around and it got cooler, there was a nice breeze. After my class at LUMS, I came back home and opened up the doors and windows to cool off the house, so my room right now is nice.
Got one homework today to do with set theory, probability, conditional probability etc. I'm considering somehow or the other uploading my solutions to it on the web, probably on the blog so that some poor soul later on could use my work to get hints etc, or downright freeload on it. Some questions are rather abstract and its difficult to get a start on them. Then even if you solve them, you're still wondering whether or not you're doing them right. That's where a teacher's edition of the book, aka, manual comes very handy. At least you can compare your work for correctness.
My brother was telling me yesterday to get a good idea of the way to LUMS. It should become instinctive to me before winter, so that I should be able to drive blindfolded, since that would be practically what I would be doing given the amount of fog that is expected. I claim that I could still today, if transported to Dallas, or Wichita, drive blindfolded there. Let's see if I can do the same here. The road to LUMS isnt too treacherous. Just a 15 minute drive.
By the way, I think the traffic lights here stay closed for longer than they do in Karachi. At least that's my feeling. I wonder when we will be down to intelligent traffic lights that operate on the basis of traffic load. Often you see a traffic light that is green and there is no traffic, and where there is traffic, the light is red. With the use of road load sensors, it can be easily made intelligent. The intelligence inside the cars, however, is another story. I havent resumed my driving lessons on the blog, so stay tuned, I'll get to that soon insha Allah.

Bad politicians

Adnan told me that someone said, "Bad politicians are elected by good people who do not vote." I agree!

Everyone has there interests - well, almost everyone!

Amongst so many other remarks that Adnan has made for me over the past year or so, this one stood out. Way out. He said, "Everyone has their personal interests, except one guy." He was referring to yours truly in the latter part of the sentence. Come to think of it, he was actually right. Why, though, I dont know.

Write a book

After reading my blog entries, at least two people have suggested that I write a book. Well, I dont find myself fit to do that right now. I think I'll probably write a technical book once I graduate. But fiction, maybe. You never know. Life takes unexpected turns and takes on unexpected shapes. Let's see!

When you want something

"And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."
Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist.
Finished that book very quickly. Thanks Faisal.

Forget top five!

Being amongst the top five in the MS/PhD selection process at LUMS for this quarter, I was offered a stipend and full fee waiver. When I went to see my faculty advisor today, he told me that I was number one. Wow, forget top five!

Hasta La Vista, Karachi!

My bags are only just finished packing and I have half an hour before I leave for the airport. Probably my last blog from this desktop PC, unless we transport it over to Lahore later on. So much has been happening and so little time to blog. I'll blog in back date once I get to Lahore and get some online time.
Hasta la vista, Karachi!

Bye bye!

Today, I firs to NED University to print, seal and submit the question papers for the courses I taught this year to the Chairman, said a final good bye to all the teachers and staff. I went to final year, to see Sir Shahab. In that round, some other students also saw me go by. After that, I went from one lab to another saying good bye to whoever was there. I was glad that Ali Ismail wasnt there because he is very passionate and it would've been a real tear jerker. When I met Anis, the technician, he hugged me with strength and for a long time. He is also very very nice and passionate and I'll miss his straightforward nature.
I then said good bye to Dean ECE and drove over to Hawksbay Road to give my wife (my car) to the transporter for being sent to Lahore. My father was coming on our bike from home. The traffic was very bad as most roads are being constructed. The only relief were the big trailers, otherwise everyone else was driving like a moron.
Once I saw the transporters places at Hawksbay Road, you can not imagine my joy to realize that I was there.
I left the car at the transporter's place. Took one last look at it, saying a silent good bye and then rode back home with my father on the motor bike. Getting home, we had lunch. My mother had cooked my favorite mutton rice. After having done that, I packed the rest of my stuff and got ready to leave for the airport.
There was a surprise there, as I was told that the 20 kg excess baggage that was approved for me being an Awards+ member was not available to my class of Awards+ members. I was surprised and explained that I had made a call a few minutes ago to the call center and they had confirmed that it was approved. The shift incharge however, let go of 14 kg excess baggage as good will and I paid for 10 kg which was Rs. 800, and I didnt mind as long as it got there.
So, now, here I am in Lahore. With so many possibilities, uncertainties, fears and happiness all through my mind. Let's see what tomorrow holds.

NOC

I went to the HQ of ACLC (Anti Car Lifting Cell) near Gujjar Nala yesterday around 5 pm and the cops told me that I should get the NOC to transport my vehicle to Lahore between 10 am and 2 pm. I went there today at that time and had my vehicle inspected for accuracy of engine and chassis numbers and history. I paid Rs. 100 fees, deposited copies of car documents, and my NIC and was advised to collect the NOC at 3 pm. I went back to the University to attend SCONEST 2005 and a person from O&A was also waiting with my Toshiba Tecra S2 laptop for me.
I opened the seals on the packing and inspected the laptop. He upgraded the RAM to 1 GB in front of me and then I made him the payment. Then, we went to the conference lunch. It was good. While we were having lunch, some students from some unknown department came and intentionally broke some plates and bottles. That is so unfortunate! Such misbehavior from the most educated lot of the country! We had plenty of food by the way.
Then, I returned to the lab to hand over IEEE Student Branch stuff to Ahmed Faraz, INETA Pakistan stuff to Fahad Abdel Kader and Lab Coordination stuff to Shazia Bano.
Having done that, I went to SCONEST for some minutes and had photographs with a few students and then left to collect my ACLC.
I took my NOC and drove to Tariq Road to the shop where I had purchased my car's security system to have the horn replaced which was malfunctioning after a car service.
Then, I took the car to the place where I had purchased the CNG kit and had it tuned. Then went back home for five or ten minutes before going to Lal Qila for the dinner with INETA Pakistan folks. It was unfortunate that the person who master minded that dinner, Hammad Rajjoub didnt show up and his cell phone was not responding. Me, Fahad and Adnan had a very nice dinner there, and took a few photos. Then, we left with Adnan standing in front of my car trying to stop me from going away to Lahore. He is really sad to see me go.
I then returned for a few hours of sleep.

Smile!

On anger management, I forgot to mention one more point, smiling. In the US, people have the good habit of smiling at the other person if eye contact is made whether you know the other person or not. They say that a smile is contagious, and the other person also smiles at you. Just a harmless smile brightens the mood, diffuses tension and what not.
I try to follow that. Whenever someone says assalamo alaikum, I try not to just say walaikum assalam but I try to say it with a smile. It never hurts, makes the pther person feel valued and happier, and brightens my mood, too. In our society, maybe smiling at the opposite sex would give wrong ideas to the other preson, so maybe this is not very universal, however, as far as why I dont get angry is concerned, I think this is probably another one of the reasons, so if you want to be cool minded, try to do this. Smile!

Of anger and me

Hmm, on the repeated asking of why I dont get angry, how do I manage it, which was asked by my sophomore class, both sections, I thought I'd post an entry on my blog.
Some people are clam by nature, some are not. I guess I'm more in the former than in the latter. I do get angry at times, which I'll explain later. But the students have said on their blogs, and in the questions they asked me in class that I dont get angry at them when they do stuff that other teachers get infuriated at, one of them even said, I'd just smile at them in return. As far as these sophomore kids are concerned, they mean something else to me, so except for, I think one time when I sent three or four of them to see their class advisor from the class, and even that, very calmly and then one asked them to be quiet and stuff, I havent really shown any anger towards them. I guess it's because I love them all so much for some reason. Even the so called back benchers. The first batch I've taught for two years straight. Maybe that has something to do with it. Even if I only did labs with them in first year. But you get angry at someone you care about, you dont get angry at someone you dont know, and I just love these kids, so at times I did get angry at them, but the reason was that I wanted the best for them.
Other than that, I think you get angry when you think you're something, and I dont. I'm just an ordinary guy. No matter how good you are, there's always someone better, so dont be proud of yourself. At the same time, look below you. There are so many less privileged than you and you did nothing to deserve to be more privileged than them. It's just Allah's scheme of things that we are who we are. One day, driving back from University on a Friday afternoon, I saw a man, with his wife and three small school kids walking along the road, apparently taking his kids back home from school. He had some fault with his leg and he was limping. His motor bike also appeared to have broken down and he was dragging it along, too. That scene is still in front of my eyes and I can see him vividly limping along right now, as I saw him that day, and the tears come to my eyes just as much as the tears had dropped on that day. Think about it. A father who loves his children so much, wants to comfort them, with a ride on the motor bike back from school at least. Imagine his agony to know that his little boys and girls are walking the dirt track with their little legs and backs tiring from the heft weights of their school bags and there's nothing he can do about it. I felt so strongly for him and I feel so strongly for him today. I thanked Allah then and I thank him every second that I dont limp, I have a car bigger than I need, I have a house bigger than I need, I have every luxury that I could imagine, and do I have anything to do with all that? No, it's all blessings. I could've been born in his place and he could've been born in mine. We cant change that, but at least we can thank Allah for that.
As insignificant as we are, we can not change who we are, we can not dictate what or who we are, then do we have a right to be angry? I dont think so. Well, sometimes you get angry, everyone does, but beyond that, having the anger on your nose, so to speak, I dont agree with that.
I guess that's how I would answer that question.

Pakistan railways

Back to my rants for a while. Is it just me or there's a reason why there are frequent railway accidents conspriatoriously close to Pakistan Railways' privatization?
Also, if the local body elections were non-party basis as the government was claiming again and again and again, why did the pres and pm make foreign congratulation calls?

Limb detached from the body

No you wouldnt even understand what I mean here. It is not a physical detachment of a limb from a human or animal body, it is just a matter of describing an event, that I'll just have haunting me when I return to this blog entry.
A limb has been detached from the body. The body is sad, but the detachment was necessary because the limb was infected. The infection and the limb are still together, happily, they might think. But I'm sure the limb and the infection are not going to be happy for long. Too bad for them.

What a day! Remaining

Well, well, it aint over till its over. After the class, I went back to the lab to touch up the sessional marks excel worksheets to fix a few errors. Sabrina had given me an autograph book for an autograph, so I wrote a few words in it after getting back from the class, on priority. Then, I went to see Dean ECE about Monday's seminar, which now stands cancelled. We discussed what was to be done and all the while my cell phone (on meeting profile) was beeping with Mr. Khawar from Microsoft Pakistan looking for me on campus. I begged my leave after finalizing the arrangements discussion, and went to meet Mr. Khawar and took him to see the lecture theatre. We discussed where the banners would be placed. I got a message from a peon to talk to Dean ECE urgently. I called him up and he told me that he was very upset by the way Mr. Vaqar of Microsoft was taking things and he wanted me to send him a two liner and cancel Monday's event. Still seeing some hope, I took Mr. Khawar around the classrooms corridor, Research Lab, Parallel Processing Lab, AI and Robotics Lab and then to the staff center where we were supposed to have refreshments with Dr. Kentaro on Monday. In the end, I told him about what the Dean had said and we decided that Mr. Vaqar should talk to Dean ECE. Later I got a call from Vaqar and I suggested that he talk to Dean ECE. Unfortunately, however, nothing seems to have worked out and the seminar is now cancelled. It was unfortunate, as I had spent a lot of energy and time coordinating this thing, and this thing had affected our plans for SCONEST, as well as .NET Day. I feel sad that nothing materialized in the end.
So, after seeing Mr. Khawar back, I sat down to finalize the sessional marks on the printed proforma, edging the sessional marks up for almost everyone. I hope I did justice to everyone. I dispatched the sheets quickly because the Chairman was under pressure to display the sessional marks urgently for at least one week.
All this while, there was a group of students from Electronics Engineering that was stuck on NS-2 simulations because their advisor who was supposed to help them get ZRP running on NS-2 had left the country and they found me somehow. Unfortunately, I have no schedule, my schedule is dictated by the arrival distribution of students, phone calls, vendors, and employees. While they installed NS-2, all of the above and more was going on.
Then, there were a couple of groups from third year working on their software engineering projects on ASP.NET who needed some help. I felt committed to help them because I was the one who encouraged them to do it and gave them ideas about how to organize code etc. One of them had a missing pair of quotation marks in a query, and the machine was so slow and I was kind of stressed by all the activity and confusion arising from the canceled seminar.
The other group had all items in a selection list set to selected, we changed that and discovered that one of the list's contents that they were trying to convert to integer was a string that could not be converted to integer. While I was trying to help them, a final year student, Imran, came with his trouble. I gave him a few hints, my visiting card, and had him on his way. Then, the electronics engineering student came back complaining and seeking a different appointment. I explained to them that I had no schedule at all, and if I would give them an appointment, I might not be able to meet it again. So, I advised them to just drop by on Monday and try to catch me some time. He said that they just wanted me to run a simulation and generate a nam trace. That's a piece of cake. I told him that if they had NS-2 running, I could do it for them in a minute, but it would take me 15 minutes before I was free.
Meanwhile, the lab staff had requested a farewell lunch with me and had already set the tables with the food ready, and were trying to get my out of the students mouths. I told the ladies the solution and went with them, and discovered that they were for some reason, all stuck on a phone. We soon went to the prepared area, where a bouquet and a gift was presented to me. We took a video and snaps of it with my camera and then we sat down to eat the already cold food. Well, I'm not complaining. With the kind of work day that I have mentioned above, it is rare that I even get to eat lunch at all. On Thursday, all me and Farhan had after our breakfasts was a broast at 7 pm. So, after eating, we opened the gift, and it was a lovely painting of Ayat al Kursi. I love it, and we took it back to my office. Already, there were final year students waiting outside for me. They were to take me to the classroom. I went with them, they tried to catch Sir Shahab, but he was busy preparing for his evening class and excused himself. So, it was me, the final year section B students, a really long knife and a delicious coffee cake that I loved at first bite. While I was escorted by the students to the venue, there were people with cameras at the other end of the corridor capturing videos of us approaching amidst applause. After the cake was cut, one student fed me a piece of it and then I encouraged them all to eat it quickly. A bouquet was presented to me and photos and videos were being taken continuously. We then went out to the lawn to have group photos and videos taken of us. We had a splendid time. Then they asked me for a few departing words of advice. I just advised them to practice professional ethics once in practical life and went back to my office.
I met Adnan who was waiting for me to arrive before he left for Sir Syed University for the INETA seminar on Project Ideas. He did not take what I wanted to give him and Fahad didnt want to go there instead of me, so he went on his way deciding that we should meet on Monday or Tuesday.
After that, I collected my stuff, thinking of all that remained to be done, and headed back home. Still, several occurrences I have left out, such as the returning of the books at the library.

What a day!

What a day! I didnt get a breather. What a start to it, as I loaded lots of stuff into my car to drop off at the University, filled the gas up on the fuel station and got to the campus, dropped the bag off in the lab, picked up the course file, a piece of chalk and went straight to class. Second year, section B. The venue of the expected toughest good bye. Before I could even start, Shehzina rushed up to me and gave me the most beautiful card I've ever seen. Such a pretty little card, hand made, just for me. I didnt read it there, but thanked her and went on to erase the green board. The card had such nice words in it. I'm going to blog all the wishes I have received till now. And it'll take a while to do that.
Again, I bored them with a bit of OOP, and then I opened the floor for any rants or questions, giving them my word that the question paper had been made, and made real easy, the sessional marks and anything else would not be affected by anything they say, and invited them to say whatever they want, personal, professional.
First off, I answered the frequently asked questions, that were asked in the other classes as well. I am very happy that our youth in second year are so confident and vocal about everything. I am happy to see them that way. I try to edge them on in this, by trying to encourage them to say whatever they feel. To correct me if I'm wrong and stuff.
So, there was this question from Shehzina as to how am I so calm? Why dont I get angry? Such a nice and innocent question. I just smiled and said, well, yea, I do get angry sometimes, but it generally doesnt last long. Perhaps the reason I dont get angry at her class is because they are the first batch that I have taught for two years, even though I only taught them in the labs last year. This leads to an affinity, and they have no idea what they mean to me. I often wish I could remove all thorns from the paths of each one of these kids, but I know that there's no practical way to do that. Nonetheless, I dont think there's anything I wouldnt do for anyone of them. They're "my" students. The ones I am truly proud of. The ones I feel so, well, fatherly, towards. The ones that I wish I would teach, and have them grow professionally, personally to strengths that I could never reach. Once again, guys and girls, you mean more to me than you could ever imagine, more than I could ever say. I wish there was a way to show it. And if ever an opportunity arrives, insha Allah, I will show it. You are more to me than any other student I have ever taught. And I love all the others very dearly, so try imagining what I feel for you.
I guess that's the "dangerous" good bye that I'm saying here, instead of the class, and the good bye in class that I thought would be the toughest was so easy. Even though letting go isnt easy, but saying good bye felt so easy with these kids. I guess when you're amongst your own people, your own family, surrounded by that enormous, invincible shield of love and respect that these kids somehow have for me, there wasnt a chance a teardrop would fall. Perhaps the fear that I would break other dams of tears if I show moisture on my face emerging from my eyes was what kept me going strong. I'm a gemini, and gemini are supposed to be good with words. Give me the right amount of motivation and I will give you the likes of the words above, and I'm sold to these kids, for all the love and respect they have given me. I just cant describe it. If I had to teach them every single course in an year, I would do it and never tire, even though I would have to learn so many strange subjects, I would do it for them.
Then, Sarfaraz asked me why I had returned from the US and I told him why. Since it had to do with my brothers' weddings, someone immediately asked me when I was getting married, and I told them it was expected in December, and told them about the arranged nature of it, too. Then Preeya asked whether they should go for masters after graduation and I gave her the (I hope) comprehensive answer.
I took a bit longer than was alotted to the lecture. If I would've stayed the whole day, we would've talked and never tired of each other, but there were things to take care of, so I reluctantly took leave and wished them all the best.
55 minutes of pure joy. They joy of giving and being loved. They joy of being exposed and probed so, well, I dont know, intimately by people that I could perhaps trust to operate on me, even though I know they are not trained to operate on people. I salute you all! I salute section A, I salute final year, I salure third year students. I salute you for being the saviours of tomorrow, the champions of the nation, the enablers of change to come, those who will do what I could not, those who will succeed where I have failed, those who will surely, rule the world. I salute you all, the great students. A salute from someone you might think to be a great teacher, but who does not consider himself to be one, for I have so many faults in me, so many ways to correct myself in, so many defects to remove, so much more to learn before I can even consider myself fit to teach people of your stature. More than anything else, I salute you for accepting one with so many faults and considering me as what you see as a good teacher. I wish I could some day look at myself in the mirror and say, there's a good teacher. Until that day, or until the air continues to enter and leave my lungs, until the day that the blood is still rushing through my arteries and veins, as long as the RAM in my grey cells is working, as long as my nerves enable to as much as twitch a finger, I promise on our admirable, wonderful, cherishable times together, that I shall not rest the desire to improve and to correct myself. With tears literally flowing from my eyes, I pray Allah bless you all. I love you more than life itself.

Good Year

No, we're not talking about GoodYear Tyres. First, let me tell you today's account. Today, was another one of those unbelievable days. This time, it was Second Year, section A. They had the green board with some nice word art of good byes when I went to class. I bored them for a while with Object Oriented Design and then opened the floor for any rants, comments or questions.
They asked questions, I went around, answered them. There were all sorts of questions ranging from my date of birth, to why I wasnt going abroad for PhD, to how I would like being in Lahore etc. Then, they announced, that there was something stuck at the gate and it would take a little while. I was fine with waiting for a few more minutes, with the suspense of what was about to happen. So, we kept talking.
Then, they presented me with several greeting cards, and a lovely bouquet. It was just as good as the one the other section had given me. Once again, I have taken photographs of it and will upload them soon, I promise.
They took photos of me, too, with Gosphy and her class fellow (I keep forgetting her name, I'll edit this blog once I remember it. Sorry if you're reading it yourself). There was lots of clapping, too. They thanked me and wished me luck etc. Nice, wonderful words that anyone would wish for. I was touched and lost for words. There was another gift for me, too. Unfortunately, I didnt have enough carrying arms for everything, and there was no way I was going to leave the bouquet behind, so the gift is still sitting wrapped on my desk. I'll open it tomorrow and blog about it.
Anyway, after that, they requested a photograph, and I was all for it. They said they had a frame already and would place the photo in the frame and give it to me tomorrow. That'll be so nice of them. We went outside to the lawn and line up, ladies standing, the gentlemen sitting down, and me (do I fit into any of those categories ;-p) standing behind the sitting boys, the ladies behind me. There were photos. Then I went in to collect my gifts and several students wanted me to write something for them in their notebooks, and autographbooks. I wrote some in Urdu, some in English.
When I was going back to my laboratory, some boys for some other department passing by whispered to each other to look at the pretty flowers. It was truly an incredible bouquet, and its not the only one I have received, each one just as good, each time, the same amount of love with it, each time the whispers of appreciation for the bouquet in the hands of a guy with an identity card hanging around his neck indicating that he is a teacher.
It was all so incredible. So much love, for so little that I have done for them. That's why I say that this has been an incredible year. So much travel, so much honor, so much love. Turkey, India, PDC 2005, admission at LUMS, such love at NED. I'm lost for words. There's more coming up tomorrow. There's a good bye to be said to Second Year, section B. It'll probably be the toughest one. Then, some ladies from final year have requested my company for some informal refreshments any time tomorrow, so we'll have that, too.

Second instalment in Lahore

The second instalment of myself has arrived in Lahore today. It was 65 kg worth of mostly books, a few CDs containing backups of all the junk I've been collecting or authoring over the past two or three years, and some clothes. I'll start packing my clothes and stuff soon, leaving only the bare essentials for the few days left.

Another good bye

Well, today there was another farewell for me. It was lunch at Pizza Hut thrown by some students from BE(CIS) A. I feel very sorry that I couldnt attend a lunch that was thrown by some of their class fellows purely because I had forgotten that I had a meeting at Microsoft Pakistan that afternoon. It was a coincidence and no prejudice.
The event was fantastic, and I had a very good time with the students. The environment was very light and we talked about all sorts of things ranging from doing MS, doing PhD, doing job, doing MBA to what kind of music I like.
Before the lunch, they presented to me a very beautiful bouquet, and I promise I'll post photos of that bouquet soon. I have put it in the vase on my desk. The feelings of the students are present in that bouquet in the form of color and scent that is independent of time. The flowers may fade in the vase, but the memory will remain.
In the end there were lots of photographs, too. I'm just an ordinary man, but they treat me as if I'm some kind of a celebrity or something. I just want them to know that they are my heros, the leaders and builders of tomorrow. Looking at them, I feel relieved that the future is in good hands.
Then, we said good bye and four of them dropped me off on campus because I hadnt brought my wife (read, my car) along today, as she was getting some rubbing polish job. She looks very good, by the way.
So, when they dropped me off, they wish me all the best, thanked me very much, while it was all my pleasure. One of them, Farhan, said something that was enough to blow anyone away. He said, "Sir, waqaee aisa lug raha hay jaisay koi cheese chin rahee hay." or so I remember, meaning, "Sir, it really feels as if something is being snatched from me/us." Very touching words. I'm sure he saw the moisture in my eyes at that moment, which I did my best to hold back, wished them all the best and went back to my office.
Then, there was a Masters Student from SSUET who was supposed to come see me regarding her thesis and she was expected to arrive at 4:00 pm. It was past 5:15 pm when I got back, so obviously, she had already left. She wasnt me, after all, who waited two hours outside Dr. Irfan Haider's office on appointment and didnt utter a word because it was for my good that I was there. ;-P

Touching

Just ran into this nice litte thing that is so cherishable. Fond memories! It's good to know that you're loved so much by so many people.

The end of it

Well, as the moment draws closer, the thoughts of endless possibilities, the unknown that may lie ahead, of what might come, for instance, what will they offer for the meal on the aircraft keeps me on the edge.
I've been put on 26L on PK 306, so if you're reading this, and they try to put you in an adjacent seat, take my advice, decline, revolt, call the terminal manager, whatever. Otherwise, I'll bore you to death on the hour and thirty minute flight. I wouldnt tell you the date, though. It's next week, so let there be travel advisories and stuff.

Independence Day

Yea, well, Independence day is long gone now. I know that, but a naughty thought just came to my mind. So, here goes:
We were not celebrating "Indepence Day", we were celebrating "In Dependence Day."
ROFL, LMAO

Nicest little thing

It was the nicest, cutest little thing. I went to my sophomore section B class at 12 noon. They were waiting for the arrival of some key elements. Shahab Saheb also dropped in, and so did Mr. Zafar Qasim. Students gathered around as we chatted very informally and cordially. Some other faculty members couldnt or didnt come. They missed it. Then the cake arrived which was stopped at the gate by security (no surprises). There was comment about the security person at the gate boasting about being a special services group guy while my fellow faculty member Anita asked them to clear it in.
All this while, there was a knife in front of me, and we were joking about hypothetical scenarios about it. Then, the knife was put to the cake and I cut out two pieces from it. The students were impressed by my expertise. Well, two and a half years, cooking and what not, in the US didnt go to waste. I still remember those days and I loved cooking. I just hope no one tells my in-laws to be, whoever and wherever they are, otherwise, my wife to be would have frequent headaches asking her better half to cook instead.
Anyway, the ladies did the rest of the honors to the cake. Oh, and it was also the birthday for one of my students, and she sliced the cake, too while we wished her happy birthday. We ate the cake, there were photos taken. Then the biggest and sweetest bouquet that I have ever been given was presented to me and I was touched. Then another nice and pretty bouquet was given to me by some other students and I appreciated their gesture, too. As I carried them over to my lab, I was spotted by many people, I'm sure they'd been envious, and why shouldnt they, as not everyone gets so much loving and caring. As for me, I dont know what I did to deserve it. I wonder what I ever did to deserve a lot of other things I've earned in life, and the pointer always points to the never ending prayers that my parents, my friends and my students give to me selflessly.
I brought the bouquets back to my place and photographed them to save and cherish the memory forever. I'll upload them soon. So, thank you everyone for this gesture of your love. I couldnt repay you for your feelings, actions and words for me.
Oh, and I was also asked to say how I felt, but I had already decided to save the emotional speech for the last class. I just hope teardops dont break the dam. So, my students, wait till Saturday morning. I love you all, and pray and await for your successes in life.

Driving 103

Good boys and girls! This time you're not running for the keys. Now you're learning. Some more points:

Ever seen those sometimes broken (dashed), sometimes solid lines on the road? They're not done to spend tax payer's money for kickbacks, well, at least that's not the only reason. Those lines mean something. Yellow lines are placed on the edges of a road. For instance, on an undivided two-way traffic road, there would be yellow lines on the sides and the middle to show drivers from both directions what their territory is.

White lines divide the road into lanes. The laning on Pakistan's roads, especially Karachi, are absolutely pathetic. I've seen lanes suddenly get created out of nowhere, and lanes ending without proper signage. Think about the (ex) intersection at Nursery, where they now have an flyover. A lane suddenly emerged on the right handside. It used to be for right turns only, but people would use it for going straight as well, which was very very wrong, because that lane was ending on that intersection and was not continuing on the road ahead at all. Being in that lane for going straight is extremely selfish, and if you're like that, read lesson number 1, driving is a responsibility, not a privilege. So, be particular about right turn and left turn lane. On almost every intersection, you'll find a guy towards your right who wants to turn left, and a guy to your left who has his hand (which should be chopped off immediately) sticking out making a gesture that he wants to turn right. You're going straight and he drives in front of you and goes around you. That is very very wrong. Dont ever do that. Petrol is expensive, but it isnt that expensive. It wouldnt cost you much more if you were to just drive courteous and safe and go straight instead, move into the fast lane when the opportunity arrives and then make a U-turn when you come to an intersection that allows right or U turns.

Driving 102

Second lesson

What? You're running for the car keys again already? Go and read the first lesson thoroughly.

Know your traffic signs. Well, we dont have many in Pakistan, so its not difficult to know that, and actually know what they mean. A few important points:

Geen light means, go, amber means, get ready, red means stop. No, no, no, RED DOES NOT MEAN GO! If you have entered the intersection and the light turns amber, go ahead and go through the intersection. If the light is already amber before you have entered the intersection, do not proceed. Stop! Read the last three sentences again and understand what they mean. If there is a car stopped at the other end of the intersection, you should not enter the intersection even if the light is green. Do not block the intersection. What if an ambulance or fire engine comes from the other road and you're in the way? We dont care, right? Let the sucker on the death bed die, right? Sigh.

Driving 101

The first lesson in driving

No, no, no, boys and girls at home, dont run off to get your car keys. Not yet, sit back down. The first lesson in driving is the toughest one, and it is this:

Driving is a responsibility, not a privilege.

What does that mean? It means that if you're driving it is not because you have a certain prestige to own (or rent) a car. It means that you have a responsibility towards other vehicles, people, protruding poles, animals etc on and around the road. So, understand "the road." The road is a road, it is not a joke, it is serious business. That goes for pedestrians, thelay walas etc as well. I'll elaborate.

If you're driving wrong way, bang, you're wrong, there is no excuse for it. You're risking life and property, you are constituting a "traffic hazard." You should be taken off the street, license suspended, and put behind bars immediately. If you're backing up on a road for a short distance, fine, otherwise, you are again becoming a traffic hazard. Trust me, it doesnt cost a lot to drive forward a kilometer or so and the take a U-turn back to where you want to go, and it will be a hell of a lot safer, will cause fewer traffic blocks and will be convenient to everyone, including you.

For pedestrians and thelay walas, being on the road is a big no no. Off the street, right now. You're not risking anyone but yourself. Think about it, you are weighing your life against a little bit of dust that will be on your pretty little shoes if you would walk on the earth off the road. What is better? A bit of dust or a few feet underground? You're lucky if you get away with it, but is it a gamble worth taking? Only a matter of time until someone comes up driving behind you, who is as reckless as you are and is lighting a cigarette and doesnt see you until it's too late, and then two days later, others will be eating biryani in front of your house, but you wouldnt be there to hear them saying "Yaar, achchee see botian to lay ker ao." Yes, the driver would be to blame, but you would be to blame more, because you were doing the first wrong, he only helped you on your way, by doing the second wrong thing. The first error is always the culprit, other errors will immediately, automatically follow.

So, be responsible, think about it, be safe. They've wasted a sh*t load of money on building walkways in NED University and everyone is still walking everywhere from one end of the road to the other. Maybe they should now just build ramps on the walkways so that at least I could drive my car on them.

Driving me crazy

Yesterday when I was driving back from the INETA Pakistan Executive Committee's meeting, at NIPA intersection, I was in the fast lane, and there was a white Civic to my left and slightly ahead of me, being driven by (in Adnan's words) a dogess, such that my car's hood was flush level with the tip of her nose. Thrice in five seconds she drifted her vehicle towards mine, each time I honked at her. And then she's staring at me as if I was doing something wrong. To hell with you, dogess! You may be cute, you may have a nicer car, but that doesnt change traffic rules, princess! One day, when I have lots of filthy money, I'll buy me a big, bad, mean, Dodge Ram truck. Their slogan is, "If you cant dodge it, ram it!" And then, I'll ram into and drive over all these idiots, and they couldnt ever catch up with my ride! Eeeeee haaaaawwwww, cowboy! Those who wrong others will pay!
I've decided that I'll blog a few entries about how to drive, on my blog. Why not, right? I've blogged about everything but the kitchen sink. So, stay tuned for some driving lessons.

Some people never learn

Friday afternoon, some students (boys and girls both) from final year came down to the ground floor corridor, made some noise gathering their friends, and then reportedly the lady accomplices went to first year section A and asked a few girl students out during the Pakistan Studies lecture. All the noise disrupted my lecture and I stepped out to see what was going on. There was chaos and students were leaving the class and hurrying away while the students from final year taunted the first year students.
The entire episode reflected how they were brought up and what happens in their homes every day. Such a sorry lot. Some people never learn, no matter how you preach them to tell right from wrong.
If that's their idea of enjoyment, then enjoyment befits those who do their job full well, and not to those who rely on twenty sessional marks just to pass the exam. And then, enjoyment does not mean behaving like idiots. Oh, but wait! I forgot that they were muslims and Pakistanis on top of that. Their satisfaction lies in hurting others. My mistake.

Huge resource on web services security

A huge resource on web services security. Lots of papers and stuff.

Elliptic curve cryptography

Mr. Athar Mahboob, a very respected name in computer networking in Pakistan was working towards his PhD with interest in Elliptic curve cryptography. I reckon he would've finished by now, but no confirmation. I checked what elliptic curve cryptography is. I quote from Microsoft Research's website:
Ever notice when you're shopping online how as you enter that secure cash register zone where you give the merchant your credit card, your connection to the Internet seems to slow down? That's because the information you're sending back and forth is encrypted using public-key cryptography.

Now a modern computer can perform the several complicated mathematical operations on 128-digit numbers necessary for ordinary public-key cryptography in about 1/100th of a second. That seems fast, but a server computer on a busy merchant's site has to reply to thousands of requests every minute. Those hundredths of a second add up pretty quick when you're waiting for your real-time stock quotes.

The merchant can't compromise the security of the transaction. He either has to buy more servers or let the customers wait. So the challenge for the cryptographers at Microsoft Research is to strike a balance between speed and security. The fewer steps in an algorithm, the faster it works. The question then becomes, does a fast encryption message provide enough security for the data? That's always a judgment call.

Here we go again!

Right outside my window is a loud speaker. The loud speaker is connected to a music player of some sort. The music player is inside a canopy (shamyani). Someone is getting married in my neighborhood. It's 9:50 pm, and they've started test playing the player now. The speaker sure is loud. There is no one but a few kids in the canopy. I'm sure people would start arriving for the ceremony of "hina" after 11 pm. I'm an early sleeper and early waker, so its sleeplessness tonight. It's not my fault that she is getting married. Nor is it that of the other human inhabitants of the neighborhood. Some of them would be ill. But even though I can't hear them say it, the bride's family is saying "To hell with you all." to us all. Well, actually, they're saying something much more nasty than that, but I cant post verbal abuses on this blog. See, I wasnt kidding when I said there should be a ban on loud speakers in residential areas.
I'm sure the bride is only about to be taken to the beautician now and the celebrations will continue way past midnight. If it wouldnt mean that I would be sleeping without a fan, I would wish there were a power breakdown. But even then, I am sure they wouldnt spare us and would fire up their power generator.
When you do something good, base it on solid and good foundations. Starting something good (such as married life) by subjecting dozens of people to unrest?
When I get married, I'll specifically arrange for a voice over IP link all the way down from the city where I get married to Karachi in my street and have the loudest available speakers bang the shit out of my soon to be ex-neighbors. Revenge! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

More on the nation of shortcuts

Well, we are a nation of shortcuts, (which basically translates to the word "corrupt", but I wouldnt use exactly that word to save some of your ego), and I was watching an interesting show on TV last night. I hate talk shows, but this one was nice. There were three learned people and a jerk of a host (who reminds me of that stupid, idiot, stubborn O'Reilly from Fox), who was behaving for once. They talked about the way our youth celebrates Independence Day by riding bikes without silencers etc. I'm glad that unlike other talk shows they didnt catch every tom dick and harry from the streets, because we love to talk, and try to sound intellectual when we actually dont even know what we are saying, and dont mean what we are saying, dont follow/implement what we are saying. Adnan Farooq was pointing out a show a while ago on TV in which a lady on the street was urging everyone to come out and "cast as many votes as possible." That is stupid!
Anyway, the discussion on last night's talk show was quite intellectual as there actually were learned people talking (for a change). They cited a number of reasons for this behavior, one of which is lack of healthy or constructive release of energies, which in turn goes out negatively. I agree. For instance, an Islamabad Police Psychiatry Doctor suggested that we build racing tracks for cars and bikes and give an opportunity to our skilled riders and drivers the opportunity to try out their skills and prove that they are the best. Maybe someone would actually get international recognition. He cited that less deaths occur on the international racing tracks in an year than on Lahore streets due to wheeling in one day. Also suggested were other competitions of theatre, sports etc, and roadside arts galleries.
They pointed out the lack of organization amongst us. The police is not going to provide that, we should have it in us. Let's be fair, what would you do, if you had an adolescent son, who was caught by the police doing something nasty like snatching a lady's purse or wheeling (I'm not saying the actually nasty things through self sensorship)? Wouldnt you call up everyone of your "influential" relatives and friends? Wouldnt you try to get the sucker out of the lockup asap? Why? Are you above the law? Like the Federal Law Minister? See, it's in us all. You cant blame the Law Minister. You would've done the same thing if you were him, so if he's a criminal, so are you. (And me, too.) What do we complain of then? We have no right to complain. We are the wrong doers ourselves. Why not let the sucker stay in the lockup for a change amongst the sewer stuff. It'll do him/her some good. What do we do when we are stopped after a traffic violation? We try to avoid the proper punishment and try to escape by greasing the palm of the traffic cop. Once again I say, we are a nation of shortcuts, and what stinks is that the shortcut is always longer than the regular route. Wake up, we've slept way too long.

Data (objects) between ASP.NET web forms

I dont know if you've noticed or not, but I stink at web forms. A group of students were asking me how to pass object data between web forms, and I showed them one way of doing it. I found another one on this page. Feel free to comment.

Decoupling ASP.NET UI and BOL

Found that a lot of people are usually doing it wrong, especially when it comes to web applications. Here's an interesting article that we could perhaps learn a bit from. I know there are many more articles better than this one, but I think it's not a bad place to start. Seems compact enough.

Irony

Irony, if you dont know what the word means, first read this definition of the word. Then, read this editorial from the Daily Dawn of Sunday, August 14, 2005. We are a nation full of irony. The son of the Federal Minister for Law, is above the law. The brat beat up a citizen that asked ASF personnel to searched the Minister and his son. What a shame! What is happening to us! The ASF people should have shot that citizen first. Why did the Minister's son had to be troubled to beat the stupid idiot. I think that a standing committee should be formed immediately to review the training process for ASF personnel.