Wakeup Pakistan

2007-12-27T23:07:00.000-06:00

Benazir Bhutto: Brave, Courageous, Daring

You will always be missed!

(1953-2007)

Hi - Part IV

2007-03-19T11:01:00.000-05:00

Previous parts: part I, part II, and part III.

Dear SD,

Well I hope the mental exercise is healthy.....

I really liked your analysis of evolution. I was a student of hostory and reading such a simple yet true description of the process of evolution was a treat for the mind. But again, there is something that i don't think I agree with, that is ur case history of Russia and China. Do u really think they emerged powerful after revolution? The Csars were thrown out and there was the hege revolution in USSR in 1917. What was the result??? Chaos and ultimately the disintegration. Try reading Alec Nove's works or for that matter the novel We the Living by Ayn Rand to understand the destruction that revolution brought along with it. Again, China, I believe is not a healthy example. I will again refer u to a book, Wild Swans written by Jung Chang. These countries may be powerful now but the price that they paid was something don't approve of. To become powerful we cannot destroy the lives of onwhole generation and sadly that was what happened in these two countries.

Yes evolution through education is what is the need of the day. But where is it happening? We are either too stuck up with the past or we don't want to come out of the traditional and archaic beliefs. We just don't want to progress. Even today we apply reason only when it suits our convenience. You will find educated people opposing love marriages, inter caste marriages. A woman smoking is still considered taboo in many parts of this country although situation is diff in the big cities although a man doing the same is quite ok. But thats not the point. What I am trying to convey is that inspite of education our archaic beliefs cloud our reasoning. We never tell a girl to not smoke because its bad for her health but because a girl shouldn't do so.

SD, I really wish that we get the education that opens our mind and liberates our spirit. Something which allows us to REASON. It is only then that we can reach the zenith.

As always,

Awaiting your reply,

Natasha.

My reply:

Hi Natasha,

You are right about the bloodshed that took place in China and the USSR. And if you read my earlier response, I agree with you that this sort of bloodshed is unnecessary if the evolution is taking place naturally. It is simple, if evolution is stopped, revolution would take place naturally and you can't prevent it. Post-revolution process should be evolution again and not faked or aritificial evolution - the case for USSR and partially China now. France, on the other hand, after the revolution started the natural evolution process. Like I said earlier, we should try to follow the evolution taking place in the U.S. and the U.K.

Sadly, in today's day of age, the education we get doesn't teach us to nurture REASON. We are expected to learn to make more money and be successful at job. Our reasoning is clouded by our beliefs, cultural values because we have not nurtured REASON enough. We feel that we are making the right decision based upon our reasoning, but it is not the true reason, I was talking about earlier.

Natasha, I was wondering if I could publish our email conversation on my blog. I would only publish it if you approve of this request.

Last thing, I am not a psychology or a world history expert. Whatever we have discussed is something what I feel about human psyche and world politics. You may or may not find all my arguments in any books.

S.D.

Please feel free to comment. Final part coming soon.

Hi - Part III

2007-03-01T08:34:00.000-06:00

First two parts are available here: Part I and Part II.

Kindly, read the first two parts to understand the conversation presented below.

Dear SD,

First, I never asked for your name all I had asked was to whom should I address this mail to and I got my answer. Thanks. U're right. Our culture inspite of having so many similarities are very distinct. The kind of liberties I have here as a girl I would not enjoy there. And this I am not saying from mere presumption, my best friends have just come back from Pakistan and it was keenly observed by them. Our cultures have become very different. Our outlook towards life, society, religion, women.... everything is different. I dont know if we have been able to preserve culture in India. U know what we are doing??? We are preserving what is not necessary and sadly forgetting that what is necessary. As it is the advent of Victorian morality has made us a bunch of hypocrites.

To be friends what is needed is sharing the common bond and accepting and realising the changes that has come in 60 years. We should accept and respect ur culture and vice versa.

As with regard to religion, I always believe that it should be very personal. The moment religion is made public or it becomes ur sole identity there will be problems. At the end religion is just a means to do good and be a nice human being. Then why is it that we fight over it? Does fighting in the name of religion make us good humans? Does any one... Christ, Allah, Ram, Buddha teach us to fight over who is better. Sadly even the educated fail to realise this. Thankfully India being a secular country we don't face any torture as a minority community although there are communal strifes, which I as I said earlier just another perversion of human mind.

SD, I again ask you who decides what is right and what is wrong? What is right for you may be wrong for me.....

As always,

Awaiting your reply,

Natasha.

My Reply:

Natasha,
Your questions are good mental exercise :)

We all are aware of the process of evolution. This is not only true for living organisms but for situations as well. People, cultures, societies, situations adapt themselves to better suit the environments around them. Environments or conditions are generally the first instinct the mass has towards an incident. For example, in some cultures, having a homosexual relationship can cause some concerns, because that is what the instincts dictate. Human instincts, from the recorded time, has had two outcomes in general - FLIGHT or FIGHT. When we educate ourselves, we try to nurture a third instinct outcome - REASON, and this in turn leads to either NEGOTIATE or COMPROMISE. And it gets complicated now. Basically, how we react as a nation/community/group to an incident is what creates the situation, leading to our response of either FLIGHT or FIGHT and if we are lucky to be educated, then, hopefully, to REASON/NEGOTIATE/COMPROMISE. This is the evolution cycle.

Now the counter-part of evolution is, quite obviously, revolution. Revolutions take place when the evolution process has stopped and the progress is stagnant. Revolutions try to speed up the evolution process artificially at the expense of murders, civil wars, etc. Three out of the five permanent security council members have gone through a revolution in the past - i.e. China, Russia, and France. In recent history, Iran also had a revolution too. Revolutions cause a lot of bloodshed, but countries emerging from a revolution are more stronger, healthier and unified.

Two countries that didn't have a revolution from the security council are the U.S. and the U.K. Now they went through a healthy evolution process. And that is something we all should aim for - i.e. that is the healthy evolution process. We shouldn't start copying or following their footsteps. For evolution to take place, we would have to educate ourselves, rely on REASON, and learn to grow on our own, rather then copying.

I have tried my best to make it simpler for you and I hope this helps.

S.D.

Again, Part IV coming shortly.

Hi - Part II

2007-02-16T09:40:00.000-06:00

If you have not read the first part, kindly do so here: Part I.

Now, lets begin with part II:

Hi,

To some extent I agree with you. Ours is a civilization which is 5000 years old and we were the most developed. We can boast of doctors like Susrut, Charaka, mathematicians like Aryabhatta, Ramanujan, architectural wonders like the Taj Mahal or badshahi mosque,etc. But do u know where did we lose all that? Our internal, factional, communal and religious strife. The sad part we never thought of ourselves as a nation and fought for it. There was a Punjab, a Maratha, A hindu kingdom or a Muslim Kingdom..... But there was no feeling of nationality... no pride in our achievement because we were too consumed by internal bickerings. And the British took advantage of this lack of unity and pushed us 5oo years back. It is sad that the two countries which have the same history, the same culture are sworn enemies today. But tell me honestly how many of us relate to this hatred. It is again a result of our internal strifes. Those who drew the lines went ahead and divided our thoughts and action.Do let me know if u agree or disagree..

And, yes. I agree that a fusion of culture is needed but whoo decides the degree of this fusion. Who decides what is got of the East and what is good of the West? It is again a matter of perception...

Awaiting a reply again,

Regards,

Natasha

PS. Was wondering whom should I address this mail to, I mean I dont know your name.

My reply:

Natasha,
I agree with you to a certain extent. Pakistan and India have been separate countries for almost 60 years now. During these sixty years, the animosity against one and another gave birth to a different culture and mind set. Now, we are, believe it or not, almost 60 years apart. I praise your country for taking the steps necessary to preserve your culture to a certain extent. We sadly lack that here. Now, the right thing to do is to preserve what we have now and then start building bridges with other cultures, countries and religions, rather than, jumping ships and instantly doing what we are told to do just to prove that we are good friends. This causes a huge side effect of loss of self-respect. Now, I am talking of Pakistan alone right now. I firmly believe that we can be two separate countries (India + Pakistan) with our own identity and values and still be good friends and we won't be the first ones in doing so. Take, for example, England and France or China and Japan. Similar, yet distinct cultures, but they are still friendly nations.

I have seen best outputs and results when people from different countries and religions work together. Diversity is indeed power. I am proud to be a Muslim, but that does not mean that I start blaming Hindus or Christians. Sadly, this exact thing is happening - that is, the use of blame game and division on the basis of diversity.

And for who is to decide about the fusion? It is up to us, the collective us, to make this fusion happen. We as people decide what goes in and what stays out. As educated folks, we should be able to make clear distinction between right or wrong - regardless of eastern or western culture.

I am extremely sorry, but I can't give you my real name. I have been in deep trouble before for expressing my feelings and beliefs, hence, the reason why I have started using a pseudonym. Although, I don't try very hard to hide my real identity, but it is one of my stupid rules, where I try not to give my real name out. I hope this won't disrupt our discussion over such important matters. You may address me as `S.D`. :)

Regards,

S.D.

Part III coming soon. Comments are welcome!

Hi (an email conversation) - Part I

2007-02-05T09:31:00.000-06:00

I recently was engaged in an email conversation with a (new) friend from the neighboring country - India. Her name is Natasha and she decided to contact me with few questions after going through my blog. I am posting our conversation below, in parts due to its length, without making any changes to the original content - except for correcting the typos (in red). As always, contact me for further clarification.

Hi,

i accidentally came across your blog and after reading it I felt that I had to ask you certain things. We are a world apart although we are hardly some hundred kms apart. So I believe our views will be very different.

I am actually mailing you because I was a little confused. First, why are you against foreign songs and movies (esp.Indian), what is un Islamic about liking Indian or any other foreign movies or songs. Second, why are you so judgmental? And third, why are you contradicting yourself? You talk with genuine hatred about people havin amreekan accent and english and western culture. But, you write ur blog in english and I must say good english, you actually have a post which has the lyrics of IRIS...... I am confused..... Would like to know what are actually your views??? And how many of these do you stick to....

Oh, Congrats on your wedding!!!!!

Awaiting a reply from your end.

--
Warm Regards,
Natasha

My reply:

Natasha,
I am glad to see that you took the time to contact me and understand
my point of view. Natasha, I have nothing against Indians, Americans,
or for that matter any other culture or religion. As a matter of fact,
I have friends from all over the world, including Jews, Christians,
Hindus, Muslims, Indians, Palestinians, Israelis, etc. You ask why am
I contradicting my own thought process and beliefs? May be, I am just
not good at writing this, but my problem is with people who just
blindly copy. Simply put, we have become a nation of followers then
leaders that we ought to be. Our civilizations (yours and mine) were
centuries ahead from the rest of the world. And rather than producing
scientists and mathematicians, now all we produce is dancers and
actors who lack creativity on all fronts.

You asked me that I write perfect English, yet I am sort of against
the use of it. Actually, I am not! Surprised. Well it's simple. I use
English, because I have command over the language unlike most folks
who are again just copying or just following what they are taught.
Even if I assume that the entire nation has gained command over the
language, still I believe that we should still try to protect our
cultural values. The fusion of both cultures, and I mean a true
fusion, where we also have to offer something, rather then just
copying, would only bring a great future.

I hope this clears things up. Please let me know if you don't feel
satisfied by my answer.

Sincerely,

Some Desi

Second part of this post coming soon but I would love to see your comments.

History lesson

2006-12-18T04:37:00.000-06:00

No, I am neither dead nor have I been kidnapped by Martians. I am still very much alive and kicking, AlhamduLilah - الحمد لله (Praise to God). Well the history of the past few months is:

1. I have become an openBSD user at a limited scale and I love openBSD.
2. I got married.
3. Unix rocks.
4. I am NOT activily involved in the OSX86 project anymore. Sorry folks, but can't help you with OSX86 problems anymore.
5. I am and have been saving money to get myself a new MacBook Pro. Donations are welcome ;)
6. I am STILL activily invovled with Asterisk and its implementation.
7. Got myself a DSL connection and a US landline number - DSL is paid for, US number is free.
8. BIND is cool.
9. Went for an Umrah with my family. Got married there, by the way.
10. If you have not guessed it by now, I love wikipedia.
11. I have collected a huge library of e-books and try to read them all at a consistent pace.
12. Vista is okay, but OS X is better. Obviously, Unix/Linux are the best.
13. My hard drive almost crashed on my Mac. Good thing, I take backups regularly. Got a new 100GB HDD - 20GB more than the last one.
14. I have had my current job for over two years now and that is the longest period I have worked for any employer. Got a promotion and a raise as well. Getting job offers, waiting for a good one.
15. I got myself two HTC Universals -- see pictures.
16. HTC Universal is a good device, now, only if I can put linux on it.
17. Someone stole my 1GB SD Card from one of my HTC Universal.

Please don't hate me. I will try to blog regularly.

Think Different - Use Apple

2006-02-28T08:18:00.000-06:00

Question: How difficult it is to use Apple products?

Answer: Not very difficult, because:

my Powerbook G4 has a wide screen, so I can watch movies when I am free.

and trust me, I really enjoy watching movies and doing work on it. Look, how focused I am.

I can listen to my iPod when relaxing.

With a few clicks, I am able to log into the most advanced and secure operating system.

Hmmm, may be it is time to get the new MacBook Pro, since, I am such an advanced user :)

HowTo: Dual boot Mac OS X86 and Win XP

2006-02-26T09:45:00.000-06:00

You will need:

1. SSE2/SSE3 enabled processor: Download WCPUID application and run it. See if your processor is supported.
2. Mac OSx86 'Deadmoo' image: If you can find it, then you can install it. Google for torrent and pheNIX. Find the Marklar-Tiger.dmg. A .dmg file is a disk image of Mac OS X.
3. DVD Burner and DVD ROM
4. UltraISO: Download it from here. Trial version works for us.
5. A Patch :) - Google for Generic_OSx86_Install_DVD_Patcher_Release1.rar and download this file.
6. Partition Magic (or any other partitioning software)
7. Windows bootable disc: Your Win XP installation CD works and we need this just to be on the safe side.

Creating the DVD:
After downloading the DVD image, convert the .dmg file into an .iso file using Ultraiso. Launch Ultraiso, go to tools, select convert. Find the .dmg file and save it as an .iso file.

Unrar the patch file (point 5 - see above) and Marklar-Tiger-patch-release1 file inside the original rar file. Run ppf-o-matic3 and select the newly created .iso file and select Marklar-Tiger-patch-release1.ppf file in the Marklar-Tiger-patch-release1 folder. Click on the Apply button. Now you have a patched version, that should install on most hardwares although you would still need SSE2/SSE3 enabled processors.

Now burn the .iso file onto a blank DVD.

Creating Partitions:
Make sure you have two partitions and also make sure that the Mac OSx86 partition has more than 6 GB in it. If you already have this setup and Win XP installed, then you can proceed to the installation step. Otherwise, you can google for creating two partitions using Partition magic. This is basic stuff and anyone should be able to do it.

Installation:
Insert the burnt DVD in your DVD ROM. Make sure your BIOS is able to boot from DVD before a hard disk. Now you will be presented with a boot menu, that looks something like this:

Press enter to proceed. After the spining ball, you should see the Mac OS X installation setup.

Click on Utilities in the top menu and select Disk Utility. This would show you two partitions in it. Select the non-WinXP partition and format it as Mac OS Extended (journaled) - PLEASE NOTE: Make sure you select the correct partition. If you don't (and in some cases, even if you do) you might lose all stuff on the hard disk, so be very CAREFUL. Don't blame me, if you lose data or if your computer starts acting wierd.

Once you have completed the formating of the partition, you can quit Disk Utility (press alt-Q on the keyboard). Now you will be back in the setup. Now you can simply do a next, next, next to complete the installation. Advanced users can choose not to install printer drivers by clicking on the customize button during the setup. Once, your installation is complete, your computer would reboot.

Boot from the Mac OSx86 DVD again and hit enter at the boot menu. When the Mac OS X setup starts again, goto Utilities (in the top menu) and select Startup Disk. It would show three disks - Win XP Partition, Mac OSX Partition and the DVD Drive (your options might differ). Select the Win XP partition and reboot the computer. Remove the Mac OSx86 DVD and let your computer boot normally. Now, your computer would boot into Windows XP. Login with an administrator account. Goto Start menu --> Run --> Type "compmgmt.msc" and hit enter. In the left hand column, under the storage menu, select 'Disk management'. Now right-click on your WinXP partition (most probably C drive) and select 'Mark partition as active'. The last step allows you to boot to Windows XP without a bootable disk.

Now go to 'Start Menu' --> Run --> type 'cmd.exe' and hit enter. Now type the following:
1. c: [hit enter]
2. cd \ [hit enter]
3. debug.exe [hit enter]

Now paste the following:
N CHAIN0
E100 fa 31 c0 8e d0 bc f0 ff fb 8e c0 8e d8 be 00 7c
E110 bf 00 e0 fc b9 00 01 f2 a5 ea 1e e0 00 00 66 31
E120 c0 66 a3 91 e1 a2 95 e1 b4 41 bb aa 55 cd 13 72
E130 0e 81 fb 55 aa 75 08 f6 c1 01 0f 95 06 95 e1 b0
E140 01 31 db 8e c3 bb 00 10 89 de c7 04 00 00 c7 44
E150 02 01 00 66 c7 44 08 00 00 00 00 e8 b2 00 72 08
E160 bf be 11 b4 00 e8 0f 00 fe c2 f6 c2 04 74 af be
E170 7b e1 e8 f6 00 eb fe 51 56 81 7d 40 55 aa 0f 85
E180 8b 00 89 fe b9 04 00 80 7c 04 ab 74 0f 80 7c 04
E190 a8 74 09 80 7c 04 af 74 03 e9 2b 00 b0 01 bb 00
E1a0 00 8e c3 bb 00 7c e8 67 00 72 1c 81 bf fe 01 55
E1b0 aa 0f 85 58 00 66 8b 44 08 66 03 06 91 e1 66 89
E1c0 44 08 ea 00 7c 00 00 81 c6 10 00 e2 ba 89 fe b9
E1d0 04 00 8a 44 04 3c 05 74 11 3c 0f 74 0d 3c 85 74
E1e0 09 81 c6 10 00 e2 eb e9 23 00 b0 01 31 db 8e c3
E1f0 bb 00 12 e8 1a 00 72 e9 08 e4 75 09 66 8b 6c 08
E200 66 89 2e 91 e1 fe c4 bf be 13 e8 6a ff 5e 59 c3
E210 51 f6 06 95 e1 01 74 0a b9 05 00 e8 24 00 73 0c
E220 e2 f9 b9 05 00 e8 06 00 73 02 e2 f9 59 c3 60 8a
E230 74 01 8b 4c 02 b4 02 cd 13 73 05 31 c0 cd 13 f9
E240 61 c3 60 89 e5 1e 1e 66 8b 0e 91 e1 66 03 4c 08
E250 66 51 06 53 30 e4 50 68 10 00 89 e6 b4 42 cd 13
E260 73 05 31 c0 cd 13 f9 89 ec 61 c3 bb 01 00 fc ac
E270 3c 00 74 06 b4 0e cd 10 eb f5 c3 0a 0d 43 68 61
E280 69 6e 20 62 6f 6f 74 69 6e 67 20 65 72 72 6f 72
E290 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
E2f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa
RCX
200
W
Q

Now close the command-prompt window and open up C:\boot.ini in notepad. At the end, add this line:
c:\CHAIN0="Apple Mac OS X x86"
Save and close the file now.

Now you should have a dual-booting machine with Win XP and Mac OS X on it. When you will boot your machine, you will be presented with two operating systems. Note: If you select 'Apple Mac OS X x86', it will give you another boot menu. In this boot menu, you will have to select Mac OS X again, otherwise it would move back to the first boot menu.

If this breaks your computer somehow, please don't blame me. This set up worked perfectly for me and in most cases it should work for you too. If you are stuck and need help, google the error message or the problem you are encountering. You will find a lot of information at osx86project.org and their wiki site. If everything fails, drop me an email and I can try to help you out. If the problem is trivial and easy to solve, I might not reply to your email. I do welcome feedback.

PS: You will find some more screenshots and photos below, in my last post.

And we have a mactel in the house

2006-02-16T09:30:00.000-06:00

And this time, I was successful in installing Mac OS X on my work IBM Thinkpad R50e - hence, a Mactel (Mac - intel). It is a dualboot machine with Win XP and Mac OS X. I, originally, had Win XP and (K)Ubuntu on this machine, but for the sake of science, I decided to put OSx86 on the (K)Ubuntu partition. I am attaching some screenshots for interested parties. Feast your eyes, ladies and gentleman:

I will write more about once, I have more time.

Past, Present & Future

2005-12-04T08:11:00.000-06:00

1947:
Muslims of India gain independence after seven years of struggle. Motivated by the dreams of Iqbal and Jinnah, the Muslims of India decide that they need a seperate country to practice Islam freely while embracing the changing times. Jinnah and Iqbal dreamt of a country where democracy was the way of the government and Islam would be of prime importance. Both of them believed that this was acheivable without hurting Islam or democracy. They believed that there was a reasonable logic behind getting a new country rather then muslims living in India after the Britons have left. They sincerely believed that we should create our own culture- a more Islamic culture. In my opinion, they were right, and this was our past.

2005:
Muslims of Pakistan are very advanced. If Jinnah was alive, he would have cried and most likely commited suicide. Pakistan is nothing what he dreamt of. Now, you see women without Dupattas and scarfs and wearing sleeveless shirts and low-cut, skin tight jeans. Perhaps, today's pakistani women is forgetting how Ms. Fatima Jinnah observed her dressing? Sorry, if I am very explicit, but the pakistani women are being used for selling products that otherwise won't sell. I can point several billboards in the city of Karachi alone that have explicit and very embarassing images, but, I will let you find a few. Specifically, you will find a few on Shahrah-e-Faisal.
Turn on the radio and you will only hear Indian songs on Pakistani FM Channels. Specifically, FM 103 is the one that play indian music 95 percent of the time. It is sad to see how we are destroying our younger generations and making them a slave of indian culture. Another notable channel is FM 96 which only plays very explicit english songs. Songs that would be censored in the United States, are freely broadcasted without anyone taking a notice. Sadly, some lady (I believe her name was Mrs. Sheerazi) wanted to listen to Black Eyed Peas - My Humps. I won't tell you what the lyrics sound like, but be warned they are very explicit and shouldn't be aired on free waves, SPECIALLY in the ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN?
Geo Network is trying to revolutionize the television experience by broadcasting indian dramas and shows. ARY's Fashion TV Pakistan is yet another slap in the faces of the people who fought for this country in 1947. Indus Vision shows cartoon shows for kids around 5 pm every day with dubbing in hindi - yet another innocent attempt at corrupting the young pakistani generation and sadly, Urdu. Musik TV broadcasts a program called "Bang tu Bajega", which has teenagers discussing and idolizing indian actors and fashion. Once, they showed an episode where one team (boys) were arguing with another team (girls) about skin tight clothes and fashion in general in Pakistan. I guess, by now you get the picture but I have listed very few examples. You will find countless attempts of corrupting pakistanis (young and old, man and woman, etc.) minds, destroying our heritage and historical past, and Jinnah's dream of a modern democratic and yet Islamic state in newspapers and print media, television and radio, and pathetically educational institutes.
Future:
I will let you decide the future. I, personally, believe that we are a dead nation. We have reached a point from which a return won't be easy. Perhaps, most people already know all of the above and are anticipating the outcome but then again most people who are reading this are well educated and learned. What about the majority of the uneducated and illiterate nation that believes and practices what it sees on TV and hears on radio? You be the judge!

PS: I wrote this article last week and since, then a lot has changed. Cable networks have stopped broadcasting Indian channels due to certain restrictions put forward by PEMRA and their seems some unrest on this issue. Cable networks are broadcasting telephone numbers for PEMRA so that people can call and beg them to put the indian channels back. Truly, PATHETIC.

Some Desi - Teddy's Middle Name is Techno (vol.1)

2005-10-24T04:19:00.000-05:00

Song: Some Desi - Teddy's Middle Name is Techno (vol.1)
Artist: Some Desi feat. Teddy
Composer: Some Desi
Download: Link
Podcast: Link

Earthquake Footage from Lahore

2005-10-17T13:20:00.000-05:00

I am uploading the footage of October 8th earthquake in Lahore. I got this footage from a person who doesn't want to disclose his identity. You can download it from here also. This video would get downloaded if you have subscribed for the Wakeup Pakistan Podcast.

(edit: Unfortuanately, iTunes fails to download this video as a podcast. You can still download the file from the link provided in the post)

Help the earthquake victims

2005-10-10T12:15:00.000-05:00

Please help the earthquake victims of Pakistan, India and the Kashmir region by giving your donations to the following organizations:

AmeriCares - http://www.americares.org/
(800) 486-HELP

The British Red Cross - http://www.redcross.org.uk/
(44-20) 870-170-9240

The American Red Cross - http://www.redcross.org
(800) HELP-NOW

The International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies -
http://www.ifrc.org/
(41-22) 730-4222

The Indian Red Cross - http://www.indianredcross.org/donation.html

The Pakistani Red Crescent - http://www.prcs.org.pk/

Canadian Red Cross - http://www.redcross.ca/
(800) 418-1111

CARE - http://www.care.org/
(800) 422-7385

Concern Worldwide - http://www.concern.net/
(353-1) 850-410-510

Direct Relief International - http://www.directrelief.org/
(805) 964-4767

International Medical Corps - http://www.imcworldwide.org/
(800) 481-4462

The International Rescue Committee - http://www.theirc.org/
(877) REFUGEE

Habitat for Humanity International - http://www.habitat.org/
(800) HABITAT

Islamic Relief - http://www.islamic-relief.com/
(44-121) 622 0622

Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders - http://www.msf.org/
(212) 679-6800

Mercy Corps - http://www.mercycorps.org/
(888) 256-1900

Muslim Aid - http://www.muslimaid.org/
(44-20) 7377-4200

UNICEF - http://www.unicef.org/
(800) 4UNICEF

UNHCR - http://www.unhcr.org/
(800) 770-1100

More details are posted at: http://quakehelp.blogspot.com/.

Please pray for the deceased and the survivors. Send as many donations as you can to help the devasted people of the earthquake tragedy.

IslamiCast - Islamic [Pod]Cast

2005-10-04T15:09:00.000-05:00

AssalamuAlaikum Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am starting IslamiCast.blogspot.com as a Islamic Podcast Feed. If you are not sure what this means, then please read this. To make a long story, short, if you subscribe to this podcast, your computer (or more specifically, your Podcatcher - which probably would be iTunes) would download the podcast shows (which would be Islamic Informative Shows or Quranic recitation) automatically. All you need to do is fire up your Podcatcher (e.g. iTunes, iPodder, etc.) and be connected to the internet AFTER you have subscribed to this feed.

I welcome other people to join this noble cause and contribute their own shows and ideas on this podcast feed. If you need to contact me in this regard, please send your emails to wakeuppakistan[at]gmail[dot]com.

IslamiCast will also get a better look as soon as I am done with the design, although, I welcome people to design this site and let me know. Frankly, I am not very good at designing websites.

If you want to subscribe to this podcast, then please kindly drag the image in this post into your iTunes and you will be subscribed automatically.

Regards and AssalamuAlaikum

Some Desi

Googling Earth

2005-09-23T06:42:00.000-05:00

I have been using Google Earth to find a few places all over the world. I have gathered a few screenshots and I will let you guess these places. (Click on thumbnails to view images)

Now, this is not Area 51 or CIA headquarter but the place I work in

This is where I went for my A-Levels. I am sure a lot of people recognize this place :)

This place is where I went for kindergarten, junior and middle school.

Below is the place where I live. Guess where I live, and may be you can win a visit to my house for free chocolates :oP

This is where I spent 3 years of my life. I will give you a hint: this city is also known as the windy city.
Courtesy of: Google Earth

A diamond

2005-09-12T09:59:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you are moving through the fog and you can't see anything clearly. But, then suddenly the fog clears up and you see the most beautiful thing in your entire life. You want to live this moment forever but its short and you know it. You want to capture it, but this most beautiful thing disappears, forever. All your left with is memories and regret.

These memories and regrets are the most valuable things left with you and they help you turn from coal to diamond. So has been the case with me.

Not a single night passes by without her thoughts but I have learnt a lot along the way. Its amazing how the human brain evolves and you start learning more and more as time progresses and your experience grows. But, no matter how hard I try, she is gone- never to return. I know she reads my blog, sometimes, but I don't want her to feel bad about me. It was all my fault.

If you read my blog regularly, you would remember my post about forgetting her and moving on. But, I guess some things are just so beautiful that you just can't forget them and move on. And this is what I have learnt recently. I have tried to keep myself busy in doing things that would take my attention away from her, but, alas, I keep failing.

I know she is happy and she should be. Atleast, thats what I want for her. She has every right to be happy and my prayers will always be for her well-being. And, I guess, I will be missing her and cherishing her memory, always. The beauty of here eyes and the glimpse of her face would always help me become a diamond.

As for me, I am at a difficult cross-section. My mother wants me to get married (or engaged, atleast) and I can't do that. That would not be fair. I can't turn down my mother and I can't break my promise (remember: If not the one, it should rather be none). No matter how hard I try to forget HER, I will fail and that would be not be fair to my wife-to-be. You don't do love, it just happens and it happened to me only once.

Pluto: 75th Anniversary

2005-08-30T11:56:00.000-05:00

I am sending my name to Pluto. You can too: here.

Chain blog comment ... continued!

2005-08-18T09:18:00.000-05:00

comment on this post, and....
1. I'll respond with a random thought I have about you.
2. I'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I'll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle with you in.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me (or so we think).
5. I'll tell you my first memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what intoxicant you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal.**** Not really, but it would be nice to continue it on. :)

[via Dinky Mind]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is what Dinky Mind says about me:

1: Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
2: your own compositions/ gone in 60 secs.
3: mmmmmmm...I'll tell you later :)
4: OLPM! (I know you must have forgotten it) :P
5: *recalls* my memory ain't that good :). the one who was always seen studying something.
6: B&H.
7: Why are you so intelligentttttt? And why don't you become angry??????

Tell you the truth, I am not very good at these things, but now I can't turn down my neice, can I? :)

These hands

2005-08-17T09:26:00.000-05:00

These hands go up in prayers, when I am sick
These hands wipe my tears, when I am in pain
These hands feed me, when I am hungry
These hands work hard, to see me happy
These hands are beautiful, for they are my mother's.

I love you Ma for everything you have done for me. Indeed, you are the greatest Ma and I thank God for giving me the best mom in the world.

Interview: Meet Dan

2005-08-13T10:41:00.000-05:00

Folks, my first interview. Dan - an awesome guy from the U.S. Like most Americans I have met, this guy is just full of energy and is very accepting of our cultural values. He even tries to sing pakistani songs and is picking up Urdu real quick. He was kind enough to give me some time so that I can hear his thoughts about Pakistan and Pakistanis.

This interview is available us a podcast. About podcasts, read more here.

(Being my first interview, it has a lot of mistakes here and there. So, help me correct them by pointing them out in the comment box below).

Can ye'all handle this?

2005-08-08T12:27:00.000-05:00

Motivated by what Absar had to say about podcasting and me, I decided to make a button for my podcast. And would you believe it, it came out rather good. I mean, I am not very good at graphic and web page designing. But this button did come out pretty good. In fact, I was planning not to change the current blog template, but it seems, I might work on something along the same lines as the button I have designed for my podcast. The button has nothing special to it, but it just looks, whatchamacallit, coool =).

Goo Goo Dolls - Iris

2005-08-07T16:51:00.000-05:00

I have just fallen in love with this song. The lyrics say it all.

Goo Goo Dolls - Iris

And I'd give up forever to touch you
Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything seems like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know your alive

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am

Introducing: Some Desi - Rap-art

2005-08-07T10:10:00.000-05:00

I am releasing my third number. Hope you will enjoy it. Do let me know if I should make any changes to it. By the way, this work is also under Creative-Commons, so feel free to play with it!

You should be able to download this songs by right-clicking on the title field and selecting "Save target as...". You can also click on this link to download this track.

People who have subscribed to my podcast, shouldn't have any problems downloading. If you are unsure about the podcast, please read this post.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For some reason, I am unable to publish my podcast RSS feed in iTunes. It keeps on saying that my country in AOL doesn't have an iTMS (iTunes Music Store). I am not buying any music from iTMS, but I just want to publish my RSS feed there. I will figure out something for it.

will the real Some Desi, please stand up?

2005-08-05T11:48:00.000-05:00

I want to clear some confusion in this blog post. One of my reader (A.S.) decided to put up the URL of Wakeup Pakistan on his MSN and his friends thought I WAS HIM! LOL, no I am not him. Mr. A.S. is a very nice person but not me :) . Poor guy sent me an email requesting me to clear up things. =)

-----------------------------------------------------

It is also sad to see that Musharraf has lost it completely when he says, "The campaign has to be sustained and has a number of facets. It is not only expulsion of foreign students (of seminaries). It has a number of directions to work on and that is what we are doing.” Pakistani Office of Foriegn Affairs is supporting the idea of expelling international/foriegn students. I mean what is wrong with these guys? New York city and the United States were the victims of 9/11 but still they didn't expell any international/foriegn students outta their country. In fact, American people supported me and protected me from people who were pissed at Muslims. But to see something like this coming from the President of Pakistan, just makes me hang my head in shame.

Latest additions in my book collection

2005-08-01T12:47:00.000-05:00

This is my moment of pride. I have finally recieved my original books from States and I have already started reading them. I had ordered:
1. Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X (by Aaron Hillegass)
2. Programming in Objective-C (by Stephen G. Kochan)

Apple/Mac/OSX is one of the rarest platform that has actually intrigued me into programming for this platform. I have been a windows user for quite some time now, but I never wanted or felt like programming on the Windows platform.

So be prepared, here I come with my Mac OS X applications :o)

The Slashdot effect

2005-08-01T02:10:00.000-05:00

Wakeup Pakistan was hit lightly by the slashdot crowd this weekend. Roughly sixty to seventy hits were received from Slashdot. Now, if you don't know what slashdot is than you better check wikipedia for slashdot.

Due to the slashdot effect, the brower data for the hits were interesting for me.

Kaboom

2005-07-24T09:58:00.000-05:00

I haven't been honest lately.

I have been telling people at home that Americans are not bad people at all and killing of innocent men and women on September 11th was wrong. Killing a person is just wrong. No matter if that person is a soldier, doctor, engineer, Jew, Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist.

I have been telling people in America that Muslims are not bad people and bombing Iraqis won't help them get anywhere.

I have been taking sides of both parties. I have been shouted upon by people who believe that I have become "too westernized" for taking sides with American and I have been labeled as "fundamentalist" and "backwards" because I am a Muslim. So, now I will make it clear to everyone. I am on my own side now. I am not going to support killing of Iraqis, Palestinians, Kashimiris, and Muslims anywhere on Earth, BUT at the same time, I am not going to support killing of American or British people. God damn it, I don't support killing anyone.

One more thing, I believe that suicide bombing is wrong and unacceptable in Islam, but one must understand the thinking of these poor bastards who blow themselves because they can't get justice anywhere. There is just too much in it and people should just seriously think about educating themselves rather than believing what BBC, CNN or Fox News tells them.

Its sad that muslims are facing hostile conditions in England and France because of the recent bomb blasts in London. Poor people were killed because someone wanted to put some retard point accross and now innocent muslims are facing the reprecussions. It is also sad to see that British Law Enforcement is too be blamed equally for killing innocent man just because they were suspicious.

Enough of this bullshit. Stop killing innocent people who are just trying to make it through another day. God damn it, I am so confused.

Mission accomplished

2005-07-23T10:30:00.000-05:00

Upgrade is completed and now I am restoring all my music and data. Tiger seems pretty stable, although it did break my garageband, norton antivirus, virtual pc 7 and few more software. So now I have to fix my broken software and make them work again.

Now this is what I call cool, eeh?

A few changes

2005-07-10T16:30:00.000-05:00

I have made some changes to the existing template.

Now this site is under a Creative Commons License. Basically, all work on this site, unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license. This kind of license is also referred to as copyleft.

I have also removed some images from the side column. I will let you notice, what I have removed and what I have added :)

I am currently working on a new template, but just can't get enough time to finish it. I am also working on a new track, but again not getting enough time to finish it.

I have to clean install Mac OS 10.4 after taking a complete (bootable) backup of my existing hard drive. This also means that I have to re-partition my hard drive so that I can make my machine dual boot- with Linux (either Yellow Dog or Ubuntu or may be both :) ) and Mac OS 10.4. Now the problem right now is that I don't have a hard drive big enough to hold the entire backup of my existing system.

My podcast feed doesn't seem to work with iTunes 4.9. Please use this url, if you wish to add "Wakeup Pakistan Podcast" in iTunes 4.9: http://feeds.feedburner.com/wakeuppakistan
I will try to fix it when I get some time.

Oh, I am playing with comments by Blogger. So feel free to comment wherever you feel comfortable.

Tiger is roaring now!

2005-07-10T13:26:00.000-05:00

Finally, today I got my original copy of Mac OS X (10.4) - code named "Tiger". I had to wait such a long time to get my copy of this OS. So, where do we go from here? We install OS 10.4 after making a bootable backup (image) of my existing OS. Till then, enjoy these pics:

I have not added any effects to any of these pics. These pics just came out like this naturally.

New Direction

2005-05-21T09:15:00.000-05:00

Roughly this time last year, I proposed to someone (obviously through my family). We talked about our likes and dislikes. About climbing walls and playing chess. Kids and divorce. Democracy and Islam. Education system in Pakistan and how we can fix things. Basically, we talked a lot. Since, I had read and heard a lot about this person, I had asked my family to approach her family. Things were going pretty smooth but then everything took an unexpected turn and today I am sitting all alone writing this blog.

When things were going great, I started to like this person a lot and for that reason as much as I tried to forget her, I failed. I have failed till now.

I was never the guy who would fall in love and get married. LOL, I never believed in love, till it happened to me.

I never met or spoke to this person in real life. I didn't even see her. And before I had read/heard about her, I was the geeky type of guy who would only be concerned about work. I never remembered birthdays or anniverseries, but I did try to keep a good relationship with others- specially my family.

After meeting (virtually, that is) to her, I become a different person. And after things ended amongst ourselves, I become more restless and miserable. I want to end this misery once and for all.

I have decided that I would become the same old geeky guy I was and try to keep myself busy with stuff that I like. We are still friends and I do value our friendship and I do believe that she would help me come out of this whole ordeal. I pray for her and for myself for happiness and success.

Oh, since I am trying to be the same old me. I have also decided not to get married, because I never wanted to get married. I wanted to work hard, be succesfull and die rich and single :) . Always wanted to die rich and single so that poor people could benefit from my wealth. Well, thats just a dream till now.

I have made stupid mistakes and sinned a million times and I ask for forgiveness from Allah Al-Mighty (Ameen).

From the Homely Sister

2005-05-07T06:47:00.000-05:00

This is in response to Abez's May 5, 2005 entry: From the Homely Brother. She also explained herself in her May 6th entry about "From the Homely Brother." If you have any doubts, questions and/or concerns about my poem, please read her explanation first and if that doesn't help, than feel free to email me.

From the Homely Sister

You express your feelings
In such a perfect way
So brother, I accept the distance
For every single day

I appreciate your devotion
For my honor being foremost
I don't know about my merits either
Only Allah knows the most

I stood there all alone
But saw the concern in your eyes
Brother, when he blocked my path
For me you were willing to die

When he with his thieving hands
Tried to open my scarf free
This was a test from Allah
Brother, for you and for me

As you stood in rage
I stood in virgin shame
You'd come to my defense
If I would've called your name

If only you would see me
As more than just my scarf
If only you could think of me
As more than religiously harsh

Due to respect, I know Brother
You don't call my name
I respect you too brother
So I will also do the same

It's not that you consider me inferior
Because Allah's command you fulfill
By not looking at my face
When with love our hearts are filled

Without my heart missing beats
Without forgetting to be 'sister'
Without wishing your love
Was for me, and no other

So until Allah, He blesses ME
And you become my other half
I will ALSO close my ears
From listening to your lovely laugh

I know you close your eyes
To the beauty of my face
And this is why I pray to Allah
We are together in the coming days

I know for me, you quit smoking
And left your city and your job
But this way you came closer to Allah, so
When remembering me, please don't sob

I will always remember
What you said once
If not the one,
Than it should rather be none

For you primary is Islam
Secondary, your family and myself
So if you can't get me
Read the Qur'an and calm yourself

You express your feelings
In such a perfect way
So brother, I accept the distance
For every single day

- Some Desi
(May 6, 2005)

How to: Set up your blogger for podcasting!

2005-04-18T09:24:00.000-05:00

Another tutorial! Yay!
If you want to podcast and don't want to set up another blogger site, then you should read this
tutorial. This tutorial will allow you to have an RSS (Rich Site Summary) feed for podcatchers (as ipodder, etc.). The code below will add a small text box in your blogger site and an example can be seen in the left column. I have tested this for iPodder and it works prefectly. I can't get it to work with iPodderX and I haven't had enough time to check it in detail. I welcome people to test it with iPodderX, iPodder, nimiq, doppler, etc. and test it on other platforms. It successfully worked on Windows and Mac computers when iPodder was used. Please insert the code given below in a suitable place in your blogger template.

<form name="rssData">
<textareaname="textfield">
<?xmlversion="1.0"?>
<rssversion="2.0"dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
<channel>
<title><$BlogPageTitle$></title>
<link><$BlogURL$></link>
<description><$BlogDescription$></description>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright></copyright>
<lastbuilddate></lastbuilddate>
<blogger>
<item>
<blogitemtitle><title><$BlogItemTitle$></title></blogitemtitle>
<blogitemurl><link><$BlogItemUrl$></link></blogitemurl>
<description><$BlogItemBody$></description>
<pubdate><blogdateheader><$BlogDateHeaderDate$>
</blogdateheader></pubdate>
<blogitemurl><enclosureurl="<$BlogItemUrl$>" length="666666"type="audio/mpeg"/></blogitemurl>
<guid><$BlogItemPermalinkURL$></guid>
</item>
</blogger>
</channel>
</rss>
</textarea></form><br>

Please goto your "Settings --> Formatting" tab and select "yes" in the "Show Link Field". And then goto "Settings --> Site Feed" and select "no" in the "Publish Site Feed". Save all settings and republish your blog. Then open your iPodder and subscribe to your feed by adding your blogger URL (e.g.: yourBlogSite.blogspot.com). If you don't know how to subscribe in iPodder, then please read this.

The original code was taken from Tom Higgins blog. I tweaked it to make it work with *almost* any blogger template (or your own template). Please feel free to distribute this tutorial and give due credit where possible. If you wish to make it work with no hassle, then please register on FeedBurner.com. To learn how to do it, please read this.

If you don't have webspace available where you can upload your podcast, then you should try IMC Radio Network. You can upload mp3 for free and link to your website. Just click on "publish" link in the top left corner and fill out the information.

UPDATE: IMC Radio Network allows the following file formats: Max filesize: 100M; total size limit: 100M; 120 minutes upload time Accepted filetypes: 3GP, AVI, GIF, HTM, JPG, M3U, M4A, MOV, MP3, MP4, MPG, OGG, PDF, PLS, PNG, RAM, RM, SWF, TORRENT, TXT, WAV, WMA, WMV. That means you can also upload videos on it!

How to: Set your PC to receive podcasts from Wakeup Pakistan

2005-04-11T21:05:00.000-05:00

Dear Readers,
today is a tutorial day and I will tell you how to set up your pc, if you wish to download audio shows from Wakeup Pakistan. I will also tell you how to do it automatically and even sync it with your iPod (or any other portable mp3 player). This tutorial will be constantly updated, so please keep checking it. Anyways, first you need the right software to receive the podcast. There are several podcast recievers (or commonly known as podcatcher), but we like the following:

iPodder: Probably, the best podcatcher on Windows, Mac, and Linux and it can be downloaded for free. Currently, I will just publish a tutorial for Windows, tutorial should be coming soon. Just download it and install it. Installation is pretty simple. After installing and running iPodder, select the "Subscriptions" Tab and click on the "+" sign. This will open a box, titled "Add a Feed". In the URL box, enter one URL from the list below and press "Save":
a.) http://wakeuppakistan.blogspot.com (if this doesn't work, try the option (b) ),
b.) http://feeds.feedburner.com/wakeuppakistan

This will subscribe you to the "Wakeup Pakistan Podcast". To check for latest podcast, press "F5" on your keyboard or goto: Tools --> Check all . You can also set up a scheduler. To learn advanced features, click here.

Some Desi - Waves in my mind

2005-04-10T21:29:00.000-05:00

My second creation. Again, please click on the Title field in order to download/listen to the file. This is also my favorite creation. Oh by the way, this is a test post. I am just testing to see if my iPodder (podcatcher) is getting the feed. :)

Pod what?

2005-04-06T22:06:00.000-05:00

I have been trying to enable wakeup Pakistan for podcasting. This means that I have to read a lot to understand podcasting, learning german, searching google, act like a n00b, etc. Anyways, for those of you who have no clue what podcasting is, read this. If you do know what it is, then you might want to add the this link, to your iPodder - Podcast receiver. If you want to get iPodder, please check ipodder.org. For those of you who are still interested in downloading my music, without understanding podcasting, please check the following links:

Some Desi - Real Fast.mp3
Some Desi - Waves in my mind.mp3

These compositions aren't complete yet, but you are lucky ones to listen to the preliminary files. Once they are completed and part of the album, I will upload that too. Anyways, enjoy the show.

Huh??

2005-04-04T01:15:00.000-05:00

Finally, I found the time to work on my own template for Wakeup Pakistan. The template is up and running and now I can also audio blog, thanks to blogger :o) . Currently, this blog requires a "Agency FB" font. I found it on my computer, but I am sure if you look for it on the internet, find it and intall it, this blog would look even more pretty. I do hope to start updating on regular basis, otherwise you guys are always welcome to kill... ooops I mean shout at me. If anyone of you knows how to make Agency FB font the only font available, please feel free to let me know in the comment box.

PS: If the blogs acts funny in any way, please let me know!

Update: Agency FB can be downloaded from here and here.
Directions: Download the font and place in any directory of your choice. Then, open C:\WINDOWS\fonts and then drag and drop the font files into the C:\WINDOWS\fonts directory. You will see a quick installation bar. That means the font is installed successfully. If you need help, mail me or leave a comment.

2004-12-24T22:07:00.000-06:00

A good friend (A.S.) of mine brought this to my attention.

There is a community on Orkut.com called "International Relations" and there are having a debate about Quran and Hadith. A person named Fahd is actually defending Islam there.

The following is my input.

All of communities, societies, countries, and religions have a set of rule to govern themselves. These rules are generally based on what the majority agrees on, or what their religions says about it. If these rules are broken, a certain punishment is given to the transgresser. Some people like the punishment part and some don't. But again, the liking or disliking of these punsishments are dictated by the rules which were set in the beginning. The set of rules are designed in such a manner that no outsider can come and destroy that community or for the sake of self-protection and self-preservation.

Similarly, Islam has its own set of rules and laws. If a person is muslim and he/she drinks, he will be punished by the Islamic Law. Now, that person has the choice of either remaining a muslim or converting to someother religion. If you have to live in the Islamic society, you mush follow the rules. Otherwise, you will destroy the society and yourself. Islam has the quality of giving you the power of understanding yourself.

Islam was never meant to be preached like alot of Christian missionaries. You don't go to Non-muslims and tell them that their religion is flawed, and Prophet Jesus (PBUH) was a savior. Islam spreads through observation. If I am a good muslims, following all the tenets of Islam and try my best to be a good person, than others observing me will realize that I am doing something which is unique and perfect. And thats where you have the choice as an individual to be a muslim or not to be a muslim. You as a human being have the right to do something that you feel is right. Thats where free will comes into play.

Now, if marijuana is banned in the US but I caught using it, then I will be punished for commiting a crime. Whether I like it or not, I have commited a crime. I can argue thats its my personal life and I have the right to do anything to my body or my life. Why should be punished for that? I should be punished because it is not just harmful for me, but it is harmful for others, as I will be setting an example for others. And by punishing me, the self-enforcement authorities are setting an example out of me to deter others from doing something similar.So, I WIL BE DESTROYING THE COMMUNITY BY DOING MARIJUANA! Remember, laws of self-protection and self-preservation.

In a similar fashion, Quran and Hadith provide guidelines that tells us, what we should do and what we shouldn't do. And if I go against these Laws, then an example must be set out of me, to prevent others from doing something similar. Similar guidelines and rules can be found in the Old Testament (Torah) and the New Testament (Ingil). You must be aware of the lex talionis (the law of retribution, i.e. eye for an eye, hand for a hand, etc.) in the Bible :

1.) Exodus 21:23-24 - If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
2.) Leviticus 24:19-21 - When a man causes a disfigurement in his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has disfigured a man, he shall be disfigured. He who kills a beast shall make it good; and he who kills a man shall be put to death.
3.) Deuteronomy 19:21 - Your eye shall not pity; it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

This is not to prove that Christianity or Judaism are wrong. It just shows that these laws were present in those times also and are still present today in *developed* countries like US, Denmark, etc.

Now the question of Jihad comes into play. When, why and whom are muslims suppose to fight? I will just qoute Karen Armstrong over here:
"In the Koran war is held to be abhorrent; the only just war is a war of self-defence. Sometimes it is necessary to fight in order to preserve the decent values, as Christians believed it necessary to fight against Hitler." [Karen Armstrong - A History of God - p. 156]

So when a muslim is at war, he is fighting for self-defence. But mind you, I am talking about a muslim and not someone who claims to be a muslim. I would give examples of muslims in Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, and Chechnya who are fighting for their survival.

(Sorry, the post is still incomplete. Something urgent just came up. InshaAllah, I will finish it soon!)

Muslim Social Activist Network

2004-10-06T09:04:00.000-05:00

(I recently recieved an email requesting me to post this on my website. I am fulfilling that person's request by posting the ad of an invitation. Although, I don't know these people personally, but it seems their cause is genuine. I won't be able to make it, though, I would love to be there.)

Muslim Social ActivistNetwork: You hear it all the time. Concerned Muslims expressing their rage/sadness/helplessness at the state of the world. The Muslim SocialActivist Network is the solution. We meet to share our concerns about poverty, war and oppression and to discuss avenues for effective activism. We are a LAHORE based group, but no matter where you are,whether you’re in Lahore, London or Louisville, KY you can sign up atour sight at Meetup.com to stay current.

Let me clarify though, at the risk of disappointing Lahore’s party-going elite, that the "social" in "Muslim Social Activist Network" has nothingto do with polo matches and pedicure parties. Instead, it relates to the oft forgotten definition of the word, which is "Of or occupied with matters affecting human welfare; i.e. social programs" or "Of or relating to human society and its modes of organization."

So, if you're angered by the cancerous growth of McDonald's franchises; if you're concerned about ongoing political imprisonment in Pakistan, or about feudal and corporate excesses; if you're worried about the rising tide of sectarian violence, or about religious extremism or secular fundamentalism; if you empathize with the Palestinians or the Chechens, or the Sudanese; if the sight of someone less fortunate stirs emotion in you; if you are, in other words, a Concerned Muslim, then MSAN just might be the answer.

Tell a friend.

Reasons

2004-09-22T13:08:00.000-05:00

Ok, I have decided to start another blog. I just felt that I was mis-using wakup up Pakistan, so I decided to start something for my own thoughts and life. Stuff related to my life which is not related to wake up Pakistan.

http://somedesi.blogspot.com

Although I love blogger without any doubts, but I am just disappointed how difficult it was for me to create another blog. No no, the directions and links were visible and clear, but the blogger website was extremly slow.

Past few weeks whenever I sat down to update wake up Pakistan, some of the following things happened:
1.) internet connection dies,
2.) computer freezes after I have typed out everything,
3.) power (electricity failure)
4.) can't login to blogger because they are updating or down,
5.) blogger is very very slow,
6.) earthquake,
7.) tornado, and
8.) near death experience!

This post is my last hope to try to post something atleast. I hope this makes through my slow connection.

Do me a favor?

2004-08-30T16:18:00.000-05:00

Original post has moved to:

somedesi.blogspot.com

Some of the early comments are still below.

Me, me, me!

2004-08-23T02:52:00.000-05:00

I eat words when I talk,
I skip steps when I walk,
I forget the key when I lock,
I wear my shoe before my sock,

I give a dollar for a dime,
I look at clocks, not for time,
I write poetry, my words don't rhyme,
What I do is always a crime,

I paint the floor not the wall,
I bring the goal to the ball,
I try to swim when I fall,
My name's Ed, they call me Saul!

Ok folks, may be this isn't the best place to write poetry, but the past few months I have been going through alot of experiences. To analyze so much information together is really really hard. But again "an update is an update is an update....."

(P.S.: Better read this. You might find this helpful)

Sorry

2004-06-23T12:02:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not posting. I am/have been really really busy lately. Busy doing what? I have been re-evaluating everything. Everything around me and inside me. SORRY :( .

For I am, what I am.

2004-05-09T23:29:00.000-05:00

I am sad today. I feel like crying. I feel like screaming. I feel like breaking something. I am so helpless. I am so useless. I am so small. I wish I could change things. I wish I could do something. Something for this pain. This severe pain. This pain, which is making me feel like screaming, crying, breaking,and so
insignificant. I want to fix this pain, but how? HOW?

This pain which is in my heart, my mind, my eyes, my ears and in each and every single cell of my body. This pain which is caused by the humiliation of my brothers. This pain which is caused by the rape of my sisters. This pain which is caused by the murder of my nephews. This pain which is caused by the torture of my father and mother. This pain which is growing as a cancer, but no one can help me. Because no one can see it.

My brother was arrested and beaten up in Abu Gharib, Iraq. His nude pictures were taken and were printed on the cover pages of New York Times. He was deprived of sleep. He wasn't fed properly. He wasn't even allowed to pray. He is trying to cover himself from being watched by a woman. A woman who once wanted to be "a storm-chasing meteorologist." This same woman is holding a dog leash but there is no dog at the other end of the leash. Its my brother. She has a big grin on her face because she is victorious. But my brother is watching helplessy towards her. His eyes wanting mercy from his woman captor. His bloody body lying on the floor while dogs bark at him. They say my brother is a terrorist. He doesn't look like a terrorist. How can he be the terrorist when ninteen guys, five dogs and one girl are smiling at him, while his body lies aching on the floor?

(since 9/11, according to U.S. officials and former prisoners, detainees under U.S. supervision in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at undisclosed other locations have been stripped naked, covered with hoods, deprived of sleep and light, and made to stand or sit in painful positions for extended periods. Some have been drugged. Sexual humiliation is not unheard of. Even the Federal Bureau of Prisons has lent a hand in this enterprise. According to a Justice Department inspector-general's report, Muslim detainees at the Brooklyn, N.Y., Metropolitan Detention Center after 9/11 were physically and verbally abused by some staff members. --- Time Online Edition)

My sister was raped in Gujrat. The details are violent and pathetically sad. She was also dragged in the streets. My sister, Sabah, mentions: “We ran in different directions and hid in the field. But the mob found some of us and started attacking….I recognised two people from my village Gano Baria and Sunil– pulling away my daughter. She screamed, telling the men to get off her and leave her alone. The screams and cries of Ruqayya, Suhana, Shabana, begging for their izzat [honour] could clearly be heard. I could do nothing to help my daughter from being assaulted sexually and tortured to death."

My nephew was murdered by the Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem. His father, scrambling, tries to save his son but to no avail. My nephew, Rami Jamal al-Durra, was just twelve years old when he was shot dead by Israeli bullets. His father was begging Israeli soldiers from not shooting. I can never forgive myself for what happened to him. I feel so bad for myself for not doing anything for Rami. His eyes had hopes, dreams, fear, and questions when his head rolled into his father's lap. He gave up his life because we don't have the courage to stand up for him. He gave up his life because I am a coward. His hopes, his dreams and his questions will always haunt me. He died in his wounded father's arms, because the ambulance was held up at an Israeli roadblock.

(The Western mainstream news media will always report the devastating effects of an Israeli bus or caf‚ blown up by a Palestinian suicide bomber, with due condemnation by Western political leaders. But we rarely, if ever, see pictures of the young Palestinian girl shot by occupying Israeli soldiers as she walks home from school, or the Palestinian child shot dead in her home by Israeli sniper fire. [Click on images for more details---www.greenleft.org.au)

My father was shot dead in his own olive groves because he, mistakenly, was straying too close to an Israeli military checkpoint. Similar others were killed because "the Israeli occupation army said it will continue its policy of extra-judicial killings of the Palestinian activists."

No, all the above were not my bioliogical family members. But they were more than that. They were all muslims. They were a part of a bigger family. They had something common with me. Something that made them my brothers, fathers, mothers, sisters, neices and nephews. I am responsible for their deaths, because I was ignoring them. I was more interested in buying Calvin Klein T-shirts, Tommy belts, Nike shoes, nokia phones, chrysler cars, DKNY pants, nice house in Orange County or Hollywood (or Defence/Clifton). I paid for the humiliation of my brother in Abu Gharib, rape of my sister in Gujrat, death of my nephew in Jerusalem, and death of my father near Israeli military checkpoint. May Allah forgive me, for I have been ignorent from my own people all this time, while they have looked at me for help. For I have been selfish and self-centered. For I wanted better homes for myself but funded for the bullets that killed Rami Jamal al-Durra. For I AM A MURDERER of my own people. For I am a pathetic creature who runs after money and other earthly things. For not doing anything against the murderers of humanity. For allowing these murderers to veto every single resolution in the U.N. which tries to help muslims around the world and still claim they want peace in Palestine/Iraq/Afghanistan. For not being able to "WAKE UP PAKISTAN." For I am, what I am. May Allah have His Mercy on me. Ameen.

(I wrote the above after watching pictures of muslim detainees in Abu Gharib. I just decided to direct my anger into words. When angry, I don't write really well, so please excuse my bad english. Last picture shows some muslims offering prayers in Abu Gharib, Iraq)
(I want to thank the following websites: 1.) CNN.com, 2.)Time.com, 3.)AmnestyUsa.org, 4.)ArabicNews.com, 5.)ekklesia.co.uk, 6.)hoffman-info.com, 7.)ict.org.il, and several others. These websites allowed me to be more informative while I share my thoughts and ideas.)

Will be back soon!

2004-03-09T19:30:00.000-06:00

News: Pakistan tests it long-range missile, Shaheen II aka Hatf VI. Following details are from Dawn:
"Sources said Shaheen-II "is described as two-stage, solid fuel 2000-2500 kilometre range missile" capable of carrying 1,000kg payload. Pakistan flight-tested solid-fuelled Abdali (Hatf-2) and Ghaznavi (Hatf-3) missiles, as well as liquid-fuelled Ghauri (Hatf-5) missile in May 2002. The Shaheen-I (Hatf-4) solid-fuelled missile was flown in October 2002 and the Abdali missile again in March 2003. In October 2003, Pakistan launched another series of tests in which it flight-tested the Ghaznavi and Shaheen-I missiles again."

The News mentioned it in the following manner:
"Pakistan on Tuesday successfully test-fired long-range surface-to-surface two-stage ballistic missile Hatf-VI (Shaheen-II), bringing entire India within its striking range....Indigenously-developed Shaheen-II missile can carry all types of warheads up to 2,500 kilometres. The range of the missile can be enhanced, and some more tests of this highly-sophisticated missile will be carried out in the future."

Sorry for the delay, but I am doing some research before publishing my next post. Please stay. Comments on the past posts will be appreciated.

1947: 'Pakistan ka mutlab kya, La Ila-ha Ilal-lah' 2004: 'Pakistan ka mutlab kya, Jaa baita nai hindi movie lay kay aa'

2004-03-04T16:44:00.000-06:00

So last week one person asked me why do I believe that Pakistan is on its path to self-destruction. I told him that either I have gone crazy or every person I talk to on this issue is blind. Blind by the so-called prospering economy, technological advancements, better relations with our neighbors (specially India and Afghanistan) and our developing friendship with the U.S. We will call this person Mr. P. So Mr. P told me that Pakistan's economy is going up and doing better than it was in the past. My answer: "Are we still mass-producing our own cars, I mean our own pure Pakistani car? NO. Are we mass-producing our own jet-fighters? NO. Are we even making a pure Pakistani TV? NO. Lets forget TVs, is the poor is doing better that he was doing in the past? May be he used to sleep on the foot-path in the past, but now he sleeps on a bench in a park. A park that was recently made so that rich people can go for jogging in them. And sometimes they even have gaurds watching out the park. So having a park is a sign of us prospering!"

Mr. P: "Okay, aren't we making our own tanks and long- and short-range missiles? Atleast we are technologically advance today than yesterday."

Me: "Yes. We are making these tanks because China helped us. We now produce our own missiles, but I should thank Korea for their help. We believe we made these because we want to believe. Was U.S. building jets and air-craft carriers with the help of France, England or any other nation in World War I or II? Have we ever come up with any of our own theorems. I don't see any theorems named after any Pakistani. We have not been be able to design any sort of new technology that will revolutionize the world, although Indian scientists are discovering new stuff almost everyday. No doubt, we did that in the past. There were great mathematicians, chemists (Dr. Salimumzaman), physicts (Dr. Abdul-Qadeer), biologists, etc. who did revolutionize the world in some way. But we are so proud of them that now we don't even bother to try to come up with something new."

Mr. P: "Why do you hate Pakistan?"

Me: "I hate Pakistan! No, I don't hate Pakistan, I actually love Pakistan. Yes I do hate majority of people who live in Pakistan. I don't hate the pakistani people. There is a difference. Pakistani people are proud of Pakistan but majority of people who live in Pakistan are Muhajjir, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pushtoon, Siraiki, Pathan, Balooch, Kashmiri, etc. I don't understand why they still have such affiliations. In 1947, we were suppose to forget all these affliations and become one nation. But in the past 55 years, instead of uniting, we have become more divided. Now we are divided because you are a shi'ia and I am a sunni. We need to wake up from our sweet dreams of our glorious past and face the present world. We are so divided amongst ourselves that when the government tried to shutdown Indian channels on cable networks in Pakistan, almost every cable network went on strike. Why? Because, we have become a dead nation now."

Mr. P: "Ohhh come one. Stop it already. You are telling me I am not a proud pakistani because I am Sindhi, and we are a dead nation. I don't believe you."

Me: "Aren't we a dead nation? We are not asked but ordered by the U.S. Why is that? Because we have stopped respecting ourselves. We went and begged president Clinton to stop in Pakistan for 3 hours because he spent a week in India. We wanted to him to balance his view of both India-Pakistan conflict, but by begging him to come to Pakistan we lost the self-respect ourselves. What was the point of having him in Pakistan for 3 hours or so when he wasn't even prepared for the trip. We are dead nation, because we prosecute our own scientists because the world power told us to do so. We do as we are told do so, without thinking of it ourselves. arent we dead?"

"Recently, president Musharaf said that we must fight religious extremism and fundamentalism in Pakistan because that is the goal of the International Coalition," I continued, " My question for president Musharaf is, has he ever stopped for 30 secs and think who defined the term Islamic extremism and fundamentalism. Do we have an active debate or research going on which actually draws a line between this so-called Islamic Fundamentalism/Extremism and just being religious.Again we are doing what we are told to do, because we are a dead nation."

Mr. P: "Well, then its the governments fault, not the nations. Why are you blaming the whole nation?"

Me: "Because has anyone tried to make the government do the research? Has the public or the private sector has started its own research on similar grounds. No. Even people in pakistan are afraid to call religious scholar to tutor their kids, because the same religous scholar might be a member of Taliban or worse Al-Qaida. We gained independence from the British empire and India in 1947, but now we still proudly wear jeans, speak in our amreekan accent, goto pizza hut, drink a coke and watch an Indian movie every night and listen to Indian songs in our cars and buses. God, we even speak hindi words, without even realizing what we are speaking, and you don't want me to call us a dead nation. Go for a drive through Karachi, or any major city in Pakistan, and look at the advertisments, shop signs, road signs, etc. Ninty-nine percent of shop signs contain atleast one word of english, e.g. 'AbdulHameed clath shap', 'Qadri Juice services', 'Muneer Kitab-ghar aand stationary shap', 'Junaid's Fride Chiken and snakes', ' Al-Ashrafiya Madrassah and Trust'. Please tell me I not telling the truth. I would like to know that I am dreaming and wrong. After your trip, go watch the Indian Channel 'Aaj Taak' on your cable network and tell me if you see anything in english? Its a pure Hindi channel and very popular amongst Indians, because they are proud of what they are, unlike us, who are ashmed to be pakistani and sometimes even more ashmed of being a muslim. Aren't we a dead nation, Mr. P?"

Mr. P: "What is your political affiliation?"

Me: "I do not affiliate myself with any political party. I hate Nawaz Sharif as much as I hate Benazir Bhutto. I hate Altaf Hussain as mush as I hate Musharaf. I hate all of them because they all believed in divide-and-rule policy. Mr. Musharaf has new plan though. I really liked him and his enthusiasm in the beginnning. But now I have learnt that instead of dividing us, he has a new policy. He believes that if we paint this false image of prosperity and make people feel happy by involving them into music and other worldly matters, then we can rule easily. But this comes at the expense of self-respect and loss of cultural, traditional and religious values."

... to be continued!

2004-03-04T16:43:00.000-06:00

I will be posting my apoligies from time to time. I am not a good writer. I am not a good speaker either. But I am good at talking. I can talk and argue and try to make my point clear. I am more like a teacher who likes to argue with his students. I never was a good speaker or a leader. I am even worse at writing. But this is the only medium that is feasible and easier for me and widely read by people all over the world. Please feel free to ask any questions because I am sure my writings are very in-coherent, non-clear and confusing at times. Thats why I have a comment box also. Thanks for reading my blog.

As long as the HOME is prospering!

2004-03-03T16:32:00.000-06:00

So I turn the TV on and switch to Prime TV. It displays in big bold letters "Prime TV: Takes you home". Hmmm.... home, its been while I have been to HOME! This should be fun! Lets watch Prime TV. Next thing on is a song by Ali Zafar. Okay since I haven't been to HOME, lets listen to Ali Zafar and see what HOME 'sounds' like now. To my surprise, HOME sounds alot different and it even looks alot different! "Ahh, nothing has changed", I am thinking, "I have grown old now." After all, times change and people also change. Then there is another song. Then another song, another song, another song... it goes on until it is 8:00 pm CST. Then there was khabarnama. I said, "Wow, they still show khabarnama!" After 20 minutes of Khabarnama, there WERE MORE SONGS! Have I grown too old? I never knew that after I left HOME, things changed so rapidly that people back HOME are having the best times of their lives. They seem happy, singing, dancing, and jumping around. Asking stupid questions on the road and calling it "Road Trivia". Wow, things must be going really well back HOME. Economy must be doing great, people are getting wealthy, poor people are getting their basic needs fulfilled and orphans don't sleep on a foot-path after trying to beg some money! Wow, may be I should go back HOME. So much prosperity. But I must do mention, when my HOM-IES ( :o)) are celebrating, they don't forget the Adhan. They announce the Adhan times regularly on Prime TV, though they start the songs right after they are done announcing about Adhan. So my HOM-IES are still religious, I mean kinda religious, but I guess thats okay. As long as they are prosperous.
So now we have the latest technologies at HOME. Every person has cell-phone, a good TV, with a good cable connection. And they pay Rs. 500-800 a month for this cable connection which includes 48 Indian Channels, 1 CNN, and 1 BBC. On those 48 Indian Channels, all we hear and see is what happened to Sas when the bahoo was dieing. Then 2 indian movies a day on each Indian channel. Now thats a good deal. Two indian movies everyday! And the rate they make Indian movies in bollywood, I am sure if my HOM-IES watched two Indian Movies everyday for the rest of their lives, there would still be a whole lot left as unseen. Then every kid and teenager is glued to the TV, because "its a good family (indian) movie." Then this teenager goes to school next day to tell his friends, what happened in the movie last night and he is looking forward to the new movie of Jaa-rukh Khan. "Man, you should see Jaa-rukh in Angoor bana Langoor. He looks so amazing! I am thinking about getting the same shoes as Jaa-rukh is wearing in this movie." So this teenager is telling his friends about Angoor bana Langoor, when his cell-phone rings and He is delighted to find out that his girl-friend, Zalima, has called and she is ready to watch Angoor bana Langoor at his place this weekend. But then again its okay, because HOME is prospering.
This teenager tells Zalima:"Yaar, tum meri baat ka 'wishwas' karo, main Angoor bana Langoor do ghantay pehlay la kay rakh doon ga"
Zalima: "Okay my Jaa-rukh, main tumhari baat ka wishwas kerti hoon. Acha why don't we skip school tomorrow and go to Pizza Hut?"
Teenager: "Sure, sounds like a good plan!"
But again, its all good, as long as the HOME is prospering.

Ahhh, this is getting long now. But I guess you are getting the idea where I am going. The bottom line: we must sacrifice everything, including religious, cultural and traditional values, as long as the HOME is prospering! I will let you be the judge of whether this is right or wrong!

This is just a beginning. Yes, I am here to point fingers and raise the changing cultural values. I am a proud Pakistani and a more proud Muslim and I never doubted myself, but I must speak the truth to open the eyes of my own HOM-IES. Please comment.

The Beginning (or is it?)

2004-03-03T16:25:00.000-06:00

So I am suppose to let my thought flow. My thoughts- which I believe will wake up Pakistan and its people. Will I be able to do so? May be I will be able to wake up a few people. But is that acceptable? I don't know. But I will atleast try. Then people will call me unpatriotic. Am I unpatriotic? Just because I say the ugly truth. But I believe it is my responsiblitiy to start the process. God please help me and give me the strength to speak the Truth!