Weren’t we already expecting Bombs today?

One of the most frequent tragic causes of headlines on Pakistani news channels is bombs. Bombs in the mosques, bombs at religious or political processions, bombs at other gatherings and even hospitals…

What is the common thing among them all?

Doesn’t take a second to get it – all these situations are heavily populated.

Here, a few e-clippings illustrate my point.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7181042.stm

http://www.newstatesman.com/2010/03/suicide-attacks-busy-city

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/01/pakistan-lahore-bomb-blasts

http://www.samaa.tv/News24920-YaumeAli_procession_ambushed_several_injured_.aspx

Today, I was feeling absolutely fine, yet I didn’t go to office. Simply because I was warned by my family and of course my own memory that today being 22^nd of Ramadan wouldn’t be safe day. There is nothing wrong with 22^nd of Ramadan absolutely of course, except that on this date, a culture to take out a religious procession prevails in Pakistan.

Since, the increase in frequency of bomb blasts in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad and even in the northern cities of Pakistan for the past three, four years, quite many a sensible people have started avoiding initiating or attending large gatherings. Avoiding such events isn’t a sign of cowardice, but as a way of protecting life, which is an asset from God, something we are bound to protect.

Given the situation of our country, I wonder what logic drives people to still plunge into processions, that too of the ritualistic sort, and jeopardize their own lives and their families’ future.

IBA-Course-Registration-Blues

One whole week of going to West Wharf, a place hundreds of light years away from my home, while fasting in this surprisingly hot week of August and going to field work to slums, hospitals, etc, made me desperately wait for that one Saturday which I could spend at my discretion.

  

But, it seems like IBA doesn’t like that idea. The course registration was supposed to take place on that very Saturday morning starting at 8 am. But what I call course registration here actually means…

...Waking up with sleepy, swollen eyes on a Saturday morning :’(…

...Refreshing the URL bar of your internet browser again and again and again for four continuous hours to find error messages of various kinds…

...Exchanging sms’s, talking to friends on the phone and discussing each others experiences with the system…

...Reading Facebook status uploads by fellow-ERP-victims, sympathizing with them and feeling better …

...Feeling that you have been placed in an unfair marathon – one missed course and there you see your perfectly orchestrated timetable burning to ashes.

.

.

.

.

And after five hours of indescribable tension, frustration and failure – the whole system crashes totally. And we get to know that we will have to relive this e-nightmare again some day soon, and the very thought of it makes me want to return back to the traditional ink and paper and to escape IBA-Course-Registration-Blues!

IBA 'blues'

Event : Seminar on Osteoporosis followed by Iftar, at Marriott - for Free!

Assalaam o Alaikum All! :)

Good news for you! :) I am sure you must have heard of osteoporosis. Have a look at the diagram...

Since prevention is definitely better than cure, especially when it comes to health, proper education about how our bodies work, what happens in them when we age and how we can go about it to prevent greater loss.

Luckily, Novartis is arranging a seminar on Osteoporosis at Marriott on September 4, 2010 (Saturday). It will begin about at 5:30 and will be followed by Iftar, and that too for free!

People above 50 are invited. Also, they can be accompanied by people who they live with such as the their child or spouse. Let me know if any one you know who might be interested at my email address which is maryam_zahoor[at]hotmail[dot]com.