Facing Cold Water is Nothing Less than Valiance

The geyser in my house has been broken for quite some days now. Since it is winter, taking a bath with cold water is simply out of question. Also when the water is so freezing it eats through the flesh, all the way down to the core of the bones. (Ok I am exaggerating a bit, but really, the water is really cold these days.)

To get hot water, we all have turned to the conventional methods of heating it on a stove and then using it in the washroom. My mother had been helpful in this regard and was heating water for us all. But yesterday, I stepped forward and made up my mind that I will perform this task myself. And so I did.

I took out Mum’s largest utensil, filled it with water, lit the stove and carefully placed the water filled container on the fire. It was a painful one hour wait before the water boiled. When I did I felt happy at my achievement. I took a bucket to the kitchen, poured the boiling water in it. I then took the bucket to the washroom where I turned on the cold water tap on it.

Just when I did that, I remembered that had not brought my clothes from the closet. So I left the tap of the gushing cold water just the way it was and ran to my room. I thought that I would be quick enough and would get my clothes in a wink of an eye. Thinking I was successful in my endeavor to act like “Flash” I returned to the washroom with my clothes.

And as soon as I went in, a piercing scream filled the entire house. It was nobody else’s but my very own. Most of you would have probably guessed by now the reason of my powerful shriek. But for those of you who are still baffled, let me explain.

Well my over efficient self had left the cold water running in the bucket. Since the water was boiling, I needed to mix ample amount of cold water to make it fit for taking a bath. What had happened was that the tap water was flowing very fast, and by the time I reached it, most of the hot water was gone. Instead of turning to a nice warm temperature, the water had turned cold. *Shudder*

I felt really stupid at that time. At the same time I burst into laughter as well at my dim-wittedness. It took me a couple of minutes to decide my next move. I opted for going into battle. And so I did. And when I got hit by the first cannon, i.e. a mug of cold water, another screech emerged, only to be silenced by ability to self-mute.

The battle was ferocious. Many a wounds were sustained by the brave soldier. She narrowly escaped from getting frozen, however, she survived. ;-)

Commitments

For quite some time now, I am finding myself in situations where I am unable to meet my commitments. Small or big, made long ago or a little while ago, I am failing to meet them lately. I don't know what is wrong with me. And due to all this i keep landing in awkward situations. Sometimes I am hurting people and sometimes annoying them.

Maybe the problem is becasue of the reason that I commit without thinking that whether I would be able to fulfill the promise or not. Or maybe I just need to learn to say 'No'. I am trying to figure this out. Hope to keep the commitment breaking damage to a minimum till I find a solid solution.

Benazir Dead!

I heard this news in the evening but was unable to believe it. In this case i implied the rule of 'seeing is believing'. I wanted to actually see a body or something on the TV to be sure of this. I hadn't seen any body but the news blurted out from all the news channels made me realise that this was true. And finally they showed a coffin as well but that didn't matter at all. I was already in shock at what had happened. Not only me but my whole family and the whole nation. It was a very unpredictable event, an unfortunate assassination.

I was not a Benazir supporter but still i feel very bad at what has happened. I am truely sorrowful at heart this time. I just hope and pray that may Allah rest her soul in peace. I also pray that may Allah have mercy on our country and keep it stable. Otherwise a civil war is just around the corner. May Allah keep us all safe! Ameen.

Find Yourself

These are the lyrics from a song by Brad Paisley. And all I could say after listening to these was "How true!". I wonder how many of you out there agree with me.

Where you go through life
So sure of where you’re headin'
And you wind up lost and it's
The best thing that could have happened
‘Cause sometimes when you lose your way it's really just as well
Because you find yourself
Yeah that’s when you find yourself

All Alone

Today I am all alone in my department in the office. Two team member have already resigned and the third one is not present. Am feeling really strange. This is reminding of my early days in iENGINEERING. At that time I was not only the only one in my QA department but was also the only girl in the office for quite some time. Then another girl joined and proved to be a breath of fresh air for me. :-) A new team member was supposed to join today, but she hasn't showed up yet. I am guessing she is not coming today, if at all coming. ;-) It is not that there are no people or no other girls in the office right now, but I have a feeling of being alone. There are pleasures of solitude as well, but right now all I am feeling is lonely. Wish another breath of fresh of air would come soon. ;-) hehe

A Dash of Pink in My Way

Yesterday I had to walk for a couple of minutes before I could reach my ride to the office. On my way I saw a pair of lovely pink roses. A shutterbug that I am being these days, I couldn't resist myself. I didn't have my digital camera with me but had my mobile. So i took not too many but just two shots of the flowers. The flowers in real were really lovely but the snapshots are also quite cool. Take a look and decide for yourself:

Pink Roses (Portrait)

Pink Roses (Landscape)

B is for Bubble, G is for Gum

So, how many of you like making bubbles with a bubble gum? Well for one, I love to do that. Whenever I am chewing gum I am on to the task of making bigger better bubbles. I don’t always succeed in making my bubbles very big, but I sure do enjoy the activity. Doing this, I do end up with aching jaws and a hard-as-stone bubble gum between my teeth, but I still never give up on trying achieving bubble perfection. ;-)

It’s something fun for me to do and I don’t even stop even when I am in my office. Maybe the people watching me do this get irritated. And maybe the pops of the bubbles irritate people more. But what can I do? Every time a gum is in my mouth, getting chewed, I have to make a bubble out of it. I guess it’s in my blood.

Recently I saw a video clip on the Internet in which a girl was making bubbles inside bubbles. She made a huge bubble, and then she made another bubble inside that one. And just like this she made 4 bubbles, one inside the other. It was a cool sight. Now that is my next target. Wish me luck! ;-)

My Commando Action

I have never actually felt scared of being alone, traveling alone or being alone in the dark somewhere outside. But since the episode with the purse snatcher has occurred, I do actually feel a bit scared when going out towards my car at the end of office hours.

I am calling my ‘routine’ of going up to the car ‘commando action’. When I get out of the building I survey the parking lot from afar. I look here and there, as far as I can, to spot presence of any humans, especially males. Then I enter that area slowly, still looking around (literally looking around). As soon as I enter the parking lot, I start walking as fast as I can towards the car. While doing my run-walk I do turn completely around, at least once, to see if I am being followed. Meanwhile, I take out my car keys and keep them in my hand. When I reach the car, I unlock the door, and literally jump in with all my stuff. I quickly close the door and lock it with my elbow.

Once I am secure inside my car, I put my stuff aside and settle down. Then put on my dupatta-crumpling seat belt on, start up the car and speed away.

Doing all this makes ma laugh inside. Finding myself in a cowardly role is hilarious for me. But then I console myself by saying that better safe than sorry. ;-)

Seat Belt is Hazardous for my Dupatta

Since the day I got a speeding ticket and was instructed to wear a seat belt, I have been paying heed to this and regularly wearing it. It is a good thing that now I obey one more law of traffic.

But there is only one problem with it. In the morning the seat belt completely crumples my dupatta. :-) hehehe When I get out of the car, it seems that I have worn an un-ironed dupatta and it looks very untidy. I struggle to make it look as neat as possible but I feel I do not succeed much.

If only they would design such seat belts that would not destroy the ironing of my dupatta so much. Or maybe I should look for a portable iron. :-)

My First Chalaan aka Speeding Ticket

Last week on Wednesday, the day I met the first ever purse snatcher of my life, I got a speeding ticket too. It was in the morning when I was going to my office. I was on the newly built road called 7th Avenue. I thought that the speed limit was 80 KM but it turned out I was wrong. I passed under a bridge and had to slow down as I was instructed to stop by the traffic policeman. I stopped like a good girl. Though I do think that I could have fled the scene of the crime, easily. ;-)

When the car came to a halt, the policeman came to me and said, "Madam, you were speeding". I asked if the speed limit was 80. He corrected me and said it was 70 KM. Then he asked for my license that I handed over without any resistance. He took it, noted something from it on a form, asked me to sign it and then gave that 'ticket' to me. And as he handed over that paper to me, he also instructed me to wear the seat belt as well. I obediently gave in and put on the seat belt. And then finally sped away. No I didn't go over the speed limit. For God's sake I had just got a "speeding" ticket. ;-) hehe

This was my first ever ticket in the 10 year driving history of my life. It made me an 'offender'. But I am sad at only one thing. I got a "speeding" ticket at the speed of 80 KM only, which I feel is a disgrace to all those speeding people on the roads. *sniff sniff*

My Driving Ticket

Flower Bush

This is a lovely flower bush, planted in the garden of some neigbours. I do not know which flower it is but it looked so lovely that I had to take a picture. If any of you can tell me the name, please do.

Flower Bush

Sunbathing Cat

Today it is a bit chilly. The heater is turned on which is helping warm me up. But the farther I go from it, the colder I feel. At this time, I am looking at the following pictures of the fluffy cat enjoying the sun and enjoying myself. You take a look as well and tell me what you think.

Cat Sunbathing Under the Rose Bush

Cat from the Front

Cat from the Side

Funny Unsolicited Text

Being a girl in Pakistan, very often I receive unsolicited texts from unknown people. Those texts contain a variety of items including jokes, poetry and even things like ‘I want to have friendship with you.’ Or ‘I like you.’ But recently I received such a text that was hilarious. You must be wondering what it said.

It said, ‘I miss your sister.’

Now isn’t that funny! ;-)

Daewoo Kisses a Truck ;-)

I spent the weekend in Lahore. I went there by the Daewoo bus service and came back through it as well. For the return I got the seat at the very end. It was the 2nd row from the last and I got the window seat. The journey was smooth. But towards the end of it there was a jolt that everybody felt.

It so happened that we came to a curve on the road. The bus was in an inner lane and there was a truck in the outer one. As the bus over took the truck, I was looking at it closely and felt that the bus was going to hit it. And right in front of my eyes the left back end of the bus hit the side of the truck. The point of collision was right under the window where I was sitting.

I was off course startled because I not only heard the thud and felt the jolt but also saw it happening. There was a commotion in the people sitting nearby. Somebody suggested stopping the bus seeing what happened. But since everything was fine, neither the bus stopped and nor did the noise last long. My sister who was sitting right beside me jokingly branded me as being ‘jinxed’ and we moved on.

When finally the journey ended and we got out of the bus, I went round to the bus to see the signs of impact. There was a deep horizontal scratch and nothing more.

At this incident I just thanked Allah that it was not such a strong impact so as to cause much damage. All passengers of the bus as well as those traveling in the truck remained safe.

Now all I am wondering about is that am I really ‘jinxed’ these days ;-)

Wish I Had a Horse

And while I was stuck in the traffic jam, I spotted this man on a horse. He seemed to be moving faster than all of us as he could pass through places from where cars couldn’t. That time I wished I had a horse too.

Horse

Traffic Jam on November 28, 2007

Yesterday was a troublesome day. There were many small bumps on the road.

I was already a bit late in going to the office. When I finally set out to go, I got stuck in a traffic jam. I couldn’t get out of Chaklala Scheme 3 because of the heavy traffic. All the cars were moving like drops of water trickling down a narrow opening. There was a continuous need of applying brakes and the starting off again. Inch by inch I moved along with the surge of the cars. And finally when I got out of that mess and crossed Ammar Chowk, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I cursed the president a bit for all this choked traffic as it had occurred due to the fact that he was supposed to take off the Army uniform and take up the charge of the country as a civilian citizen.

Take a look at the following shot of the jammed cars in a row. It does not provide a clear picture of the traffic clutter, but you can get an idea:

Chaklala Scheme 3 Traffic Jam

An Encounter with a Purse Snatcher

This always seemed like a thing that would only happen in movies or dramas. Or a thing that would happen to ‘others’ but never ‘yourself’. But yesterday it was proven wrong when I had an encounter with a purse snatcher. It all happened really instantaneously but left me with a racing heart for a couple of minutes and lots of alarming thoughts.

It was 8 P.M. at night. With a shopping bag in my left hand and my purse on my right shoulder, I was walking towards my car in the parking lot. The parking lot is right beside my office building (Green Trust Tower). It was dark there as always, but I could make out from afar, where my car was parked.

As I walked towards it, I felt two guys walking into the parking lot as well. I didn’t pay much attention to this fact as I had seen people pass through that area before. When I walked a bit further I felt those guys were a bit far but right behind me. I was alarmed a bit but not much. By this time I had taken out my car keys and just reached the car.

I was about to unlock the door when I noticed those guys split up. One went further away towards the left of the car and the second one walked right towards me. This literally rang loud bells in my ears and I was extremely alarmed. This movement alerted me as there was no particular reason for that guy to walk in my direction. There was no special path there. No car parked there. No motorcycle.

I quickly unlocked the door and opened it so that there would be some light (the light we get from opening car doors). I couldn’t sit in the car that quickly. By this time that guy was very near me. I turned my back towards the car, slid a bit behind the open door and looked at him as he passed by. As I was looking, he looked at me, extended his hand, grabbed my purse, pulled it and started running like hell, pulling me along with it. Thank God the strap of the purse was strong so it didn’t break. And as I pulled my purse as well so that guy failed at getting hold of it.

At that instant all I could do was scream some random words like “What the hell is wrong with you!” The guy ran like hell after his failed attempt and I quickly sat in the car and locked the door. I sat there for a couple of minutes as I tried to catch my breath. My heart was racing like a charging Ferrari at that time.

I wanted to start the car instantly so that I could follow the purse snatchers a bit and maybe scare them. But as I had turned the ignition off while it was converted to CNG, in the morning, I was unable to start it. It took me a few minutes before I somehow managed to start the car. But by that time I guess it was too late. I sort of patrolled the parking area a bit to try to spot those thieves but didn’t see them. Then I moved out of there, towards the road where they were running to, and tried spotting them but didn’t see anyone there either. Then I decided that they would have long gone far away or would have hidden somewhere so I would not be able to find them. On thinking this I moved my car in the direction of my home and sped forward.

Many thoughts raced through my mind. What if the guy had succeeded in snatching the purse? I would have lost my mobile, wallet, ID card, ATM cards and credit card. What if I had fallen due to his pull? I would have been bruised. What if the guy actually struggled with me for the purse? I would have surely lost the battle along with the purse and some other valuables. What if the second guy had come back to help his accomplice? I could have been badly hurt and molested.

Since all of this had not happened, Thank God, I thanked Allah and kept moving. The only ‘injury’ that was inflicted upon me was a small bruise near my wrist. I got it due to the friction of the purse strap against my arm due to the pull by the snatcher. But it was something microscopic and not worth consideration.

I must admit that I did get scared a bit. But then I brushed my fears away and thought of all this as a ‘bad’ adventure. I even thought of a fun side of all this as the idea of putting it all on my blog came to my mind. ;-) I guess I have done that now and even dragged the story a bit. So I guess its time to stop now.

Let’s pray that may the world be rid of such purse snatchers.

My Nokia 3100: May Its Soul Rest In Peace

The first ever mobile phone that I bought and used was Nokia 3100. I saw it in the hands of a friend and fell in love with it instantly due to its blue colour. Looking up on it on the Internet revealed that it was also available in pink and white colours but blue was the one I wanted. I afforded it at that time as well, so went to the market and got it.

I kept it safe for more than a year, using it with care. And then I wanted to buy a newer better one. So I did and put this one away. Then my father needed a phone so I offered this one to him, to use for a while, till he got his own (which by the way he never did ;-) hehehe).

This weekend my father had gone to Lahore. On reaching there he called us and reported that he has lost the mobile. He was not to sure how. One guess was that some pickpocket did it. The other guess was that the phone bounced out of his waist coat’s pocket due to the extreme jostling of the rickshaw on the bumpy roads. (Even if the roads are not bumpy, a rickshaw would still jostle you and make milkshake of your internals, not to mention shatter your ear drums.)

Whatever the cause of the loss was, I was not paying much attention to it. All I could think of was that my Nokia 3100 was no more. It had embarked on a journey from where there was no return. May its soul rest in peace. *sniff sniff*

Big Words, Little Action ;o)

There is a plethora of ideas in my apparently empty mind for my blog posts. And I also have a seemingly growing collection of incidents and anecdotes that I want to scribble about. My mind is brimming with all these blog thoughts. But alas, there is so little time. And at times, so little presence of mind that it is a hurdle in the transformation of the random thoughts into solid blocks of text. Wish I was better at time management. :-)

...And it Spread

There was a time when I had 1937 e-mails in my Outlook inbox. I paid little attention to this. And now see what has happened.

The tides are high
The plague has spread
Now I have 2480 e-mails, in my shed

My 2480 E-Mails

I, The Dholki Player

I never knew I could play the dholki. Yes off course I tried my hand at it on the weddings of my younger aunts. But that was more than 15 years ago. I was a kid at that time (Yes, I was once a kid too). And at that time when I played it, only we kids sang to its beat. As soon as elders and more expert players would arrive at the wedding, the dholki used to be snatched away.

But yesterday (November 13, 2007) I had been to my friend’s ‘mayoo’ where I played it once again. I had been playing for the past so many days, rather trying to, but was not succeeding. I was missing out on beats and loosing the tempo and all. But then I got a hint about it from my friend’s mother. Then I started and I couldn’t believe myself that I was actually playing.

I had a lot of fun doing that. Playing the dholki, trying to change the tempo and beats according to the currently sung song and succeeding, joining in with the singers with a loud voice in singing, and doing it all at the same time. But my hands suffered. ;-) That time I didn’t realize anything. Felt nothing even after getting home. But the very next morning I knew that had actually ‘used’ my hands. Fingers of my hands, especially of the left hand were sore and I felt a tingling pain in the joints of my hands and fingers.

Just for a second I thought what would I do today on her mehandi. Would I be able to play as forcefully as before? The answer came as a big YES and put a huge smile on my face. Now I am all set to go to her mehandi event today (November 14, 2007) and play the dholki till nobody can take it anymore. ;-)

It does not matter if my hands hurt after the mayo or would hurt still more after the mehandi. But I wouldn’t have missed out on all these wedding celebrations of my friend Munazza for anything.

Congratulations Munazza! Hope you have a blessed married life! May Allah shower his blessings on you always!

Grow a Gift

Many of you would agree that that after Orkut, Facebook is the latest rage. And i even feel it is a far bigger blast than Orkut too. The ones who have already got their hands dirty with Facebook would know that there are many add-ins (applications), that can be added to one's page to show different angles of the personality to your friends or to merely have fun.

One such application is 'Grow a Gift'. In this application you can send a 'seed' to your pal, which in reality is a flower pot, that grows some kind of plant, tree or item in a duration of 4 days. I for one am completely in love with this application. I have 'gifted' so many 'seeds' to myself that i now don't even need to add the 'garden' application. I have a garden of my own.

I wish i had a real garden like that. I am sure i will have one really soon Insha Allah :-D

A little Dilemma

It's going to be almost two whole weeks and it is still not here. We are still left to fend for ourselves from the baddies in the dark. Well come to think of it, the darkness itself proves to be a baddie for us. No peace of mind for us as soon as the dark shadows start eating up the otherwise visible paths, sites and articles. The days are still the same without it, but the evenings and nights are completely changed.

We are pushed to fumble that adds up to our disgruntled mumbles. We long for a little shimmer available at the touch of our hands which exists no more.

Enough of the mystery I guess, so let me raise the curtain and introduce you to the tiny item, the absence of which is causing nothing less than a dilemma.

It is nothing big but something small. It is something that can bring light to our temporarily blackened lives. It is not an expensive item if purchased but is of invaluable status to us.

It is a small light bulb that we are missing in our office washroom. Somebody please donate one to us so that we would be able to regain the peace of mind. It will allow us to get rid of the shadows of confusion, dissatisfaction and hesitation that come upon us with the dawn of the darkness.

Can somebody help, or do I need to write an “e-mail”?

Butterfly Wants Wings

As cowardly as I have been lately, I am looking for ways to escape instead of looking for solutions. Maybe I want to escape as I cannot think of any solution. People have tried to help and advise but I cannot seem to convince myself on their suggestions. Maybe I do not want their solutions. The result of all this is a total chaos in my mind. And the chaos is not only in my mind, but in my life as well. And not only in my life, but in the lives of my near dear ones as well (which I regret immensely).

I wish if only I could be removed from this equation, things would not remain so bad. I wish this butterfly had wings and it could fly away, taking all the sorrow and pain away from everybody.

A Little Bit of Courage

Some people have the courage to face the difficult situations in their lives while having a smile on their faces. Some have the strength and courage to make difficult decisions, and not only do they do this but they also stick to those decisions no matter what.

I always thought I was one of those people; full of courage and strength. I thought there was nothing in the world I cannot face. No mountain seemed high enough and no river seemed deep enough. And I guess I did face some difficult times myself and came through fine. But some recent changes in my life have pushed me to think otherwise. I never knew I was such a coward. I feel like laughing at this fact as well as crying on it. But whatever I do I am unable to find a solution to the ups and downs in my life.

I am just longing for a little bit of that courage and strength that I once thought I had. May Allah help me in this as I know now for sure that no man can.

Signatures

Signatures are very important. Everyone should have some or at least one. After all, one needs to sign the timesheets and leave requests. Then there is the “Peeluu” register, the “Key out” register and the Item Requisition Form. I for one have to sign the Document Change Requests, Interview Evaluation Forms and Performance Appraisal Forms in addition.

What if there comes a “Gate Out Pass” register? What would one do if one does not have a signature? A thumb impression would not do. Such situations only call for signatures.

What is a signature by the way? According to me signatures are doodles that uniquely identify people at least in their own relevant documents. Signatures may help you to represent yourself uniquely. But at the same time someone else can also easily forge and ‘represent’ you. So if is so unsafe why use it? It has been the way of our ancestors, so I guess we have to follow.

Green Parrot near Green Trust Tower

Today when i reached my office building and got out of the car after parking it in the parking lot, i heard a very sharp sound of a bird. I looked around and spotted a green parrot, perched up on a tree and "talking" its bird talk. It was a refreshing site as i didn't know we had birds, let alone parrots, in the parking lot of Green Trust Tower. I thought parrots only "visited" guava trees and attacked the just-ripe fruit. Since we have no guava trees near the building, it was strange seeing the bird in the surroundings.

It would be great if more parrots can visit. They would be totally camouflaged with the building because of the matching green colour (the glass of the building is green too and that's how it gets its name) and would be a rejuvenating site for the sore eyes of everybody locked up in the building.

Here is an open invitation to all parrots. They are welcome to visit any time they want :-D hehehe

Parrot in the Tree (Look closer and you will see it.)

Silly Idea: Paper Embroidery

On the day after the Eid, i had a holiday. (I was the only one who had one holiday, the rest of my family got two :'( boo hoo hooo) Anways, so rested a lot that day. But when i got tired of resting, lying down and lazing around i started thinking of some activity to help move my muscles. Exercise, no chance! TV, it's so boring during the holidays! Read a book, oh well i want to move muscles and not my pupils.

Then suddenly i got a strange idea. I had some paper in front of me along with my sewing needle and some balls of coloured thread. And i said to myself, "Eureka! Paper embroidery!". I just took a piece of paper and embroidered a little pink flower using lazy daisy on it. And then i made a stem for it with the stem stitch. It was nothing but was my achievement as i did all that on the paper without letting the paper get torn. ;-) And since it was my achievement, and i am telling you about it as well, so "naturally" had to show it to as well. Take a look!

Paper Embroidery

Not a very good image i guess and maybe u can't make out if it is really paper or not. Here is another snapshot my work and this time i made sure you can see the "lines" of the paper as well ;-)

Paper Embroidery - Proof it IS Paper

So there you go. Now you know i can come up with silly ideas and am capable of executing those as well. Keep on the lookout for more of my paper embroidery art.

Eid ul Fitr 2007

Sunday was Eid-ul-Fitr here. I am using the word "here" to use it in a broad sense as i can't say "here in Pakistan". In Pakistan we had Eid on Friday, then on Saturday and then finally on Sunday as well. Funny we Muslims are in majority in Pakistan and we call ourselves a nation but cannot get united even on celebration of joyous occasions like Eid.

I got some consolation when i heard that this time in the USA as well as in Europe, Muslims celebrated multiple Eids. I just hope this "multiple Eid" virus did not originate and spread from Pakistan. Now considering it did, how shameful would THAT be!

1937 E-Mails

See how many e-mails I have in my Outlook Inbox:

1937 E-Mails

One thousand nine hundered and thirthy seven!
Woah! I better get myself organized! Soon!

Trap for the Innocent

Just a few days ago, i received this e-mail on my Yahoo account:

A Trap for the Innocent

I am wondering how many more would have got this. And wondering even more that HOW MANY would have fallen prey to this!

My "Reduced" Drawer

This is what my drawer has been reduced to after the rat attack:

My "reduced" Drawer

Thank God it is this small, otherwise it would have been a pain carrying it around.

Massive RAT Attack

On Thursday when I opened my office desk drawer, I was devastated by the sight I came across. My drawer had come across a massive attack by the rats the night before. They had not only nibbled on my stuff but had also left some “goodies” there. *sick* I was really angry to see all this. Angry at the rats, that why in the world did they attack only my drawer and not anybody else’s. And angry at the office management that why can’t they make proper permanent arrangements to prevent entry of rats. *grrrr*

Well I cleaned up my drawer, put all my stuff in a small box, and since then carrying it to and from the office. It’s a burden carrying the stuff, but I guess it’s the only way to keep it safe from the sneaky naughty rats. I wish my management would do something “solid” about the problem without me making it into an “issue” yet again.

Attack of the Rats

Poor me! My desk drawer in the office has once again been raided by a rat or two. I don’t know what to do. The rats not only chew up my papers but also sharpen my pencils for me. Somebody please tell them that I already do have not one but THREE sharpeners, so I don’t need their services. Maybe they are social worker rats. They feel it an obligation to come and “clean up” my stuff.

Once they ate a sugar sachet in my drawer. Then they nibbled on my grape-flavoured Mentos. They didn’t even eat it. Just devoured the wrapper and crunched away the flavour coating. I had to throw the whole pack away, in fear of getting contaminated eatables into my system.

One thing I have noticed. Rats don’t like tea. Now you would be wondering, how I came to this conclusion. Well, while snacking on all my “eatables” in the drawer, the one thing they didn’t even touch were my Lipton Yellow Label tea bags. Strange but true! During all their little sneaky visits, not even once did I find a torn tea bag in my drawer. Maybe they think caffeine is bad for their health.

Whatever! I just want rats to be out of my drawer for ever. Can try setting up a mouse trap right under my desk, but wouldn’t that look funny?

Suggestions anyone!

Personality Analysis :-D

I went for a personality analysis ont he basis of hand writing. ALready i have a B.A.D. handwriting and then on top of it i wrote using a touchpad (not even a mouse, let alone a graphics tablet). You may well imagine the output piece of writing. Here is what it looked like:

(The blue text is in the top left corner on white background so the image is looking so silly)

But even for that i got fairly good analysis. (Being talkative bit being particularly true.) ;-) hehehe. Read up!

Your personality analysis based on this drawing:
You are well organized. You plan each step carefully to avoid mistakes. You are efficient in your work.good concentration, detail oriented.You are diplomatic, objective, and live in the present. You are cool and reserved.You are a talkative person.You are an independent person and do not depend other peoples' opinions.

Why don't you guys go to http://www.bored.com/drawthings and try for yourself and share with me what you got.

Get Me to the Work on Time

Today was 5th Ramzan and my 3rd rooza at work (after the first there were two holidays). And i am getting better and better in reaching my work place. The first day i reached at 9:30 am. The 2nd day i reached at 8:30 am. And today i eached there at 7:30 am. I guess i need to tone down the progress a bit otherwise the day after tomorrow i will be having my 'Sehri' there. ;-)

Touchpad and Visio DO NOT Go Hand in Hand

Today i was home and most of the time watched TV, browsed the Internet, played Text Twist on Yahoo Games and helped a friend with a UI in Visio, all at almost the same time. Did take some time off to 'eat' which is a favourite thing for me to do.

The thing i was doing in Visio was to making a UI. It invloved dragging of different UI elements from different 'stencils' on to my page and arranging those. Dragging and dropping is no big deal but when doing this with a touch pad it becomes a hell of a task, at least for me. That is exactly what i was doing, working on Visio with a touchpad. And believe me it was no piece of cake. Simple tasks were taking much longer to complete and in turn i was making my friend late as well. (Appologies dear pal!)

So i conclude, and many would agree, that a touch pad and Visio DO NOT go hand in hand. :-D

By the way, is there somebody out there who actually is a fan of doing this sort of work with a touchpad? If yes do let me know. Maybe i would ask for a tip or two about harnessing the power of a touchpad, for Visio. ;-)

Nawaz Sharif Returned, Nawaz Sharif Deported

Today there another drama took place in my country, Pakistan. Rather the military government made a fool of us all.

A former prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, was supposed to return back after 7 years in exile. He twice elected as the prime minister of the country. He was supposed to land at the Islamabad International Airport. It was also speculated that he will get a really warm welcome here and a big crowd would be there at the airport to greet him.

The military government also suspected that. And to prevent all these activities from occurring, the government made preparations. Sitting and old ministers of PML-N (political party of Nawaz Sharif) were arrested by saying that they were being arrested for their own safety. The roads to the airport were blocked. Almost all entrances into Rawalpindi (the twin city of Islamabad where the airport is located) were blocked. Many people who tried to pass through the barricades were arrested. There was tear gas shelling at places.

Due to all these measures taken by the government, it was impossible for many, like me, to reach their work places as the roads were blocked. Even if some were not blocked, there was the fear that the standing-by army might intervene and unnecessarily harass the passers by. All this made me stay home too. Rather I was strictly ordered by my father not to set a foot outside the house today. And I obeyed. Watched the happenings on the TV.

And then came the time when the plane of Nawaz Sharif landed. That too was shown from a far off place as the entry of media was banned in the airport. After about 5 hours of speculations the final news came that the former prime minister has been deported to Saudi Arabia. A fully fueled air bus was standing ready on the airport which was made the final transport for Nawaz Sharif that flew him away from the country.

It was an extremely sad news. I was really hoping that he would stay in the country and work towards achieving democracy in the country. I was even willing to vote for him in the elect ions but alas he had to meet such a fate, yet again. I do not know how he felt whilst being taken back. But I for one felt a grave pain deep inside. I kept wondering what had just happened. What was the military government trying to prove? Why was it so scared of a political leader? And most of all I thought that what will be the fate of my motherland, Pakistan.

Overhead Bridge Collapsed in Karachi

Today an overhead bridge collapsed in Karachi. It was a brand new bridge and was only recently opened for traffic and was inaugurated by General Musharraf on 2 August, 2007. The construction was done by NLC.

This has happend in Karachi. An overhead bridge is also going to be constructed in Islamabad. Seeing the Karachi situation is making me wonder if we would ever be witnessing such a situation in Islamabad in future. Its a scary situation. May Allah help us all!

Dream Skating

Last night i had a dream. And in that dream i was skating. First on the regular skates and then on ice. And i was so balanced that i even amazed my own self :-D hehehe I wonder what the meaning of this dream could be. I wish i really could do all this, some day!

Home, On a Holiday

Today I am home.

Why?

Because I am on a holiday! :-D

Why?

Because my sister asked me so.

Why?

Because she is here from Norway for a short while and wanted to spend some time with her elder sister. ;-)

Why?

Ummmm I guess you have to ask HER that. I am going to go and enjoy my holiday some more ;-) hehe

Look! It's Me!

Hey! Look! It's me! Reading my "own" blog. Now isn't this funny! :-D hehehe

Me reading my own blog ;-)

Candy Floss Clouds

Today the weather is really superb. Its cloudy with slight rain. I don't know of others but i love this type of weather. I have to admit that people traveling to places are facing difficulties, but the ones indoors must be enjoying. I am sitting here in my office at my desk, waiting for the ordered lunch to arrive. Somebody had moved the blinds of a corner window a bit. I could see the 'yummy' clouds outside. They looked just like white candy floss, white little chicks and fluffy cushions. I felt like reaching out and catching hold of some.

I can see a part of this view from my seat.

Clouds: As seen from my office window

I went up to the window and took this picture to show you all. :-D

Here is another one. You can call it the bird's eye view from my office; third floor of the building.

Bird's Eye View from my Office

Somebody just pulled the blinds back on the window. I have a strong urge and undo that action. wish me luck!

*ay

Today
Do play

With clay
Your way


Note: This is the tiniest ever poem by me. Will try to write a microscopic one next time. ;-) hehehe

Gobbledegook??

Its 1:30 a.m. and I am wide awake, surfing the net while listening to newly downloaded music. The track that is being repeatedly drummed into my ears by the Media Player is More Than a Woman by Bee Gees. Cool song I would say.

It all started when I embarked on a search to locate the name of the singer of a Punjabi track 'Lak Da Hulara'. I searched for just a little when google pointed out that the singer is called Sarbjit Cheema. [hmmm I remember I once had a Cheema in my class too. Oh well this can't be him. hehe] Being a fan of this track, and finally aware of the singer's name, I set out on another errand, and that was to find and download more songs by this person.

I turned to Limewire for help which as always was a dear and threw bundles of related tracks my way. I picked and chose several songs and marked them for download. I was happy that I was going to have a 'good' collection of 'cool' bhangra songs. But no sooner that I had seen a dream, it began to collapse. I started trying out the downloaded chunks of songs. Man! they left a really bad taste in my mouth. I was forced to stop all downloads. And so I did.

But I was really in the mood to DOWNLOAD. So I looked up the phrase 'more than a woman' that I could remember listening just a few days ago in a movie. Wallah! The song was found, and I was surprised that it was by Bee Gees [I was damn sure it was a woman singing ;-) heheheee] Anyways, I succeeded in getting it transferred to my PC over the 'pathetic' dial up, in about 20 minutes. It’s been quite some time now, since I got the track, but its playing over and over. I am not getting bored of it. ;-)

And now I have added another freshly downloaded track to my 1 song playlist, making it a 2 song playlist. ;-) heheheee The song is Ragamuffin Girl by Apache Indian. That's a cool one too! Well at least I think so.

Enough of the gibberish, right? Want me to spare you? ;-) Ok I will do exactly that. But don't think I am being generous to ya all. I want to go catch some sleep too so I am actually being very very selfish >:-) heh heh heeee

Sweet Dreams, Catch ya later.

A Train Passed Over Me!!!

Can you believe it! A train passed right over me yesterday!

Hard to believe, right? ;-) Well it did pass over me, in reality, but...

...between me and the train, there was a bridge as well. ;-) hehehe

It rarely happens but it did yesterday that while i was driving home and passed under that bridge near Chaklala Scheme 1, a train passed over it. I pass under that bridge every day, but yesterday at that time it was quite thrilling. Now if only somebody could have taken a picture of that moment. ;-)

That Motivating Search

After a really long time I logged on to sitemeter.com to see the traffic details on my blog. There was this entry at the bottom of the page that caught my eye.

The rest of the entries showed that people have viewed a single page on my blog for 0.00 seconds, which means they didn't actually stay on my blog. But this entry showed that the person had actually seen 7 pages on my blog and had stayed on it for 13 whole minutes. *WOW*

I probed the entry further. I was surprised to see that someone had actually looked up my name along with the name of my company in google. And that search had redirected that person to my blog. :-D

Whatever this whole thing was, it was very refreshing for me. It motivated me to keep blogging, without fail. It made me very happy inside as well. I felt happy because it made me realise that there are people out there who want to stay in touch in some way or at least want to know what's going on in my life. The other thing that made me happy was the fact that google can actually find me. ;-)

Emerald Tower

Today I could not think of many words to say so I thought I would say something with a picture. :-D It has been a long time since I have been blogging but have never had a chance to show all you guys my office.

Ta daa! Here it is:

my Emerald Tower

The building is actually called ‘Green Trust Tower’. But since it is all green, I like calling it my ‘Emerald Tower’ and thinking of myself as ‘Dorothy’. ;-)

This is a 14 storey building with my office on the 3rd one. There are two ways to reach up there. One is by elevators and the other by stairs. I prefer the stairs. It is not that i am afraid of elevators or have 'Claustrophobia' (a fear of enclosed places) that i use stairs. I just think of climbing 3 floors as a little exercise. ;-)

Will try to tell you some more about my office building after a while, in perhaps another blog. Will catch ya all later.

Diseased?

I don't know what's gotten into me, but I feel I have 'temporarily' lost interest in all the ‘fun stuff’ I used to do online. I seldom blog. I rarely check my Orkut. I simply never log on to Hi5. I am not sending out e-mails, and the ones I do are very short & to the point ones. I don’t play Dominoes online anymore. I probably downloaded some tracks from the net ages ago.

Can someone tell me what could be wrong with me? I really wish to be ‘cured’ of all this. :-D