Triple Minded!

This is not a specific post, rather a post to keep the blog alive, as I have been pretty busy these days. I am pretty confused about a few important things and it'll require time to straighten things up. The confusion is based upon a triangle: Current Work - Own Business - Game Programming.

The project I am working on in the office has now picked up some more pace and hence I couldn't write from the office much. Moreover, once a day's work at the office finishes, I get involved into game programming. For those who don't know my relationship with gaming, I am an addict when it comes to game playing and am pretty passionate about game programming.

As far as game playing is concerned, I have done much of it, so internal satisfaction is there, whereas in game programming I haven't still done much of considerable or recognitive amount. Thus, I have got hold of a person from our office to develop a game as a part-time activity. I hope the situations ahead don't limit me and the game completes. The aim is to achieve the rookie level in game programming so that opportunities of getting into the gaming industry start to open. Still, there are a lot of considerations e.g. money, opportunities, time, etc. but the motivation is there, which for me is the essence in achieving anything.

I also went on a trip to Karachi this weekend, as I started to miss family and friends, it's really hard to live away from one's family.

Luck vs. Details

Over a year back, I along with 4 others were travelling in a Suzuki Mehran on Clifton Bridge, Karachi. The road had 2 lanes for each way without any separator for the opposing traffic. It was over midnight, we were driving in the fast (right) lane and all was going well. A Civic coming from the opposing side's fast lane suddenly switched to our lane for a couple of seconds travelling at a speed of over 100 kph. Omar's reflexes were sharp and he turned the car on the left side trying to avoid a collision, but the car went out of control. It went on the left side towards the bridge boundary, then on the right side all the way into the opposing lane and again on the left side back in our lane, finally stopping by in such a manner that we were 180 degrees from the original position, thus facing the traffic behind us.

For a few seconds all of us were shocked watching the traffic behind us stopped 15 yards back amazed at the scene. We got out of the car and made sure that everything was alright. Everything was fine, the car didn't even get a scratch and neither did any of us.

Consider the fact that there was traffic from the other way (without any separator), there was traffic following us, the traffic we were following and there was the left boundary of the bridge (bridge being over 50 ft above the ground beneath), and our car being out of control. How much was the probability of: the car not touching anything, not even getting a small scratch? Was it luck? Generally, everyone would say that it was our good luck that we survived, let aside the fact that there was not a single scratch on the car or on any one of us. Let's examine a few details:

• What's the biological reason behind the fact that Omar's reflexes worked perfectly? Maybe he ate something that helped him or maybe he ate nothing. Or maybe he had pretty good sleep, maybe he didn't had a fight with someone, maybe his concentration on the driving was wonderful. Details!
  
• What if the architect of the bridge planned it the way that it had only 1 lane for each side? Details!
  
• The traffic behind us stopped, they looked like pretty educated people. The same people would probably have collided with us from behind if they weren't educated people. They may have gotten education from an institution built years back by some person. That person would probably had worked hard to earn that money. He might have spent that same money on something else. Details!
  
• I am pretty sure something else would have happened if it were raining. Luck! Good luck!

We are a part of the system and the events that occur produce some output and trigger something which might be the input for any other event, and there are thousands of factors involving in the triggering and the execution of an event. We, as humans don't have enough processing power and memory that we can take into account even 5% of the factors and thus ignore the rest. Generally, we term these ignored factors, these details as luck. If the factors sum up to be positive for someone, they term it as good luck and when they turn out to be negative it's called bad luck.

In other words, the more detail we know the less usage of the word luck and the lesser the detail the more the usage of this word.

I don't agree with the general perception or the usage of the word luck, or for that matter the concept taken about it. The point is that luck is there, but not everything unknown is luck to us; only those factors which cannot be controlled by a human being at that point in time, such as the speed of wind, the tide of sea, the clouds, the amount of oil in an oil well, the running of time, etc. can be taken as luck. On the other hand, the amount of pollution, the number of trees, the profit in business (mostly), the questions in exam, prediction of the amount of oil in a well, etc. are all details and can be controlled to some extent by us.

Simultaneously speaking, if one human being can control something doesn't mean that other human being can do it as well e.g. a mechanic cannot control an aeroplane if he doesn't know about flying. Moreover, if he flies one with hundreds of passengers and crashes, it is not bad luck for the hurt. On the other hand, it can happen that the best pilot in the world might crash a plane if the weather becomes unlimitedly harsh. We can term it bad luck.

I had been thinking about this for a long time and there is no input taken from anything else except for a discussion or two with a friend. Hence, one may or may not agree to this perception, any ideas are most welcome.

Weekend in Lahore

Jal, a Pakistani music band, who has recently released an album "Aadat", is going pretty good. Their music is entertaining and the lyrics are fine as well, but the vocalist(s) need to improve. Take a look at these lyrics (from song Panchi):

Panchi hoon, urnay do, urney do; hawaon se larney do,
Rastay galian, chor aaya mein; Bhoolay waaday tor chala main
Yeh raat abhi, dhal jaye gee; yeh baat abhi, badal jaye gee
Tanha hoon, rehnay do; rehnay do; ansoo hoon behnay do, behnay do

Got back from Lahore this morning at around 4:30 am driving a Suzuki FX through the Lahore-Faisalabad-Islamabad Motorway covering around 360 Kms in 4.5 hours. I had gone through the same journey on Friday night, but in the opposite direction, to meet Ali & Ahsan from Karachi. They reached Lahore on Friday night to work on a project for Warid Telecom who have recently setup their office in EFU House, Jail Road, Lahore. It's a simple office with average ambience and spacious desktops.

A city well known for its unique traditions and environment, Lahore is a must see for a Pakistani. A few of the areas to visit are Liberty & Fortress markets & Race course garden, not to forget Minar-e-Pakistan & gardens such as Shalimar Bagh & Bagh-e-Jinnah. Then there is M M Alam road where there are a few good restaurants such as Village, Cafe Zouk, etc. Other dining out areas are the main Food Street and Lakshmi Chowk (famous for Karahi). There is a famous pan shop called "Barray".
Lahore has a few good universities like UET, University of the Punjab, LUMS & FAST-NU, with good spacious campuses. The major roads are Mall Road, Jail Road, Abbott Road and the road beside the famous canal (don't know its name).

Though, I have heard a lot from the people living there and have read a few things about Lahore as well, but my experience so far is not that good. For one, taxis are hard to find as opposed to the superabundance of congested rickshaws (which are sometimes a headache). The city is not that well structured as compared to Islamabad, but again same is the case with other cities in Pakistan, such as Karachi.

Summary: If you are new to Lahore, you have to have a friend and a car in order to enjoy Lahore's atmosphere.

About my trip, we didn't do much besides staying in the hotel room, watching tv, talking and travelling in rickshaws! I hope to see Lahore's positives on the next visit.

Syed Humair Mudasser Qadri (Kadri with a Q :-p) and Danish Moid have started blogging as well, though they haven't written much, but I am sure we'll get some unique writings pretty soon. You can check out their blogs here:
Syed Humair's Blog
Danish Moid's Blog

inshaAllah, the true meaning?

Around 8 months back, I along with a few other people took a Time Management Workshop organized by TimeLenders. It was lectured by Suleman Ahmer and was a very informative week. He is an impressive personality with his concepts and communication skills outstanding many others I have experienced. The selection of his words and the relation with Islam & the happenings is awesome. He is an NED graduate and a Masters from US, at that time working in the HR department at a multinational in Karachi. He is also the writer of book "The Embattled Innocence: Recollections of a Muslim Relief Worker". Suleman has also conducted Time Management Workshops in USA and currently in Pakistan and has also written a book on Time Management which I guess would be in the market now.

During one of his lectures, he told us about the happenings in Chechnya a few years back and his involvement as a relief worker there followed by a short story (please spare me as I don't remember the exact wordings, just grasped the concept):

"During this period, the Chechnyans were to build an hospital in such a vicinity which wasn't pretty far away from the place where the Russian army was at that moment. The Russian army was pretty large in number and thus the hospital and the locality had very little chance to survive. All the plan was made to build the hospital and to start the construction, when I approached an engineer and a few other concerned people and raised my concerns. To my surprise it didn't matter for them and one of them said "inshaAllah, the hospital will be built and will remain". I pondered on their attitude and at the end after concentrating on their response it just struck me through the mind. The true meaning of inshaAllah!"

Then, he explained to us what came to his mind and he told us the definition that the Chechnyans used, which is close to "If God doesn't stop me/us" as compared to the definition which is pretty common "If God allows me/us" or atleast is taken this way. Both the definitions mean the same, as far as my knowledge is, but the new definition shows much stronger commitment and healthier will than the old one. I hope I am not inducting any confusion in one's mind, but if you think closely and deeply it is what a Muslim's character should be, commitment & will being considered as one of the most important thing in his/her life. Summary: You should only use inshaAllah when you know you will do it and nothing can stop you except for Allah.

Let's take a few examples:

• You have lent some money from a business relative and you have to give it back in a month. At that point in time you either know that you can't return on time or you don't. If you know then there must be something wrong, right? Will you use the word InshaAllah? I wouldn't have!
• On a busily scheduled day, you are to meet your close friend for something he needs and you have to squeeze some of your activities in order to meet him. He asks for your commitment one day before and at that point in time you know that (because of your priorities) you have little chance of getting out some time. Will you use the word? I wouldn't have! Why? Out of your control! Priorities!
• A new software project comes up and you have to work on such technologies on which you haven't worked upon, but trend says that you are pretty adaptive. You are being asked whether you take the challenge or not. You know that if you work a few extra hours weekly, you can do it! Will you use the word InshaAllah? I would have! Why? Simply because given the scenario, I know I can learn quickly and my dedication would outstand the challenge! In control!

To everyone's surprise, the Russian army backtracked and the hospital was built and is operational since then. The result of the commitment and will is there, no matter how severe the conditions would've been and no matter whether there was hope or not, the planning was done, effort was made & it was finally built! What an awesome exhibition of faith, will & dedication and leaving the rest on God! God didn't stop them, so how can the Russians?!

Since then, one question has been disturbing me, "Do I have the same spark?". Do you?

---

Here are a few links of writings by Suleman Ahmer:
http://www.geocities.com/mutmainaa/story/city_girl_doll.html
http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0795/9507012.htm
http://islamicbookstore.com/a4237.html
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0111/S00023.htm

Body Builder Redivivus

red·i·vi·vus (adj.): Come back to life; revived: “defenders of the Imperial Presidency redivivus” (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.).

Till around 12 years back, I used to play cricket pretty regularly. We used to play near our home; I was the captain of our team and the key player may it be batting, bowling or fielding. During that period, we had a match with a team of some older guys. I still remember when I was batting and the opponent wicket-keeper wasn't really happy with my batting, he passed a comment on me to other person "Look at how skinny he is". I looked at him for a moment, looked down and my concentration returned back to the game.

But that was not it! From that day onwards realizing that it's true, my nature disturbed me not to give a chance to anyone else. I increased my diet and after some time started a few pushups daily, not proper exercise just a bit here and there.

After around 6 years, it was time for me to carry out a full work-out plan. I joined a gym and since then, I have been in & out of it. As far as my fitness and shape is concerned I have came a long way through. The people who are with me from that time back say that there has been a major change.

During this period of around 6 years, there had been many gaps with a couple of gaps even going upto 10 months, hence effectively it has been a 2 and a half years exercise. The last good work-out period I had was a year back, with Humair & Shahg, lasting around 6 months effectively in a span of around a year. It was a pretty consistent era, both technically and weight respective, at least relatively. But after that, I have not been able to settle in with some good consistent exercise.

Recently, after thinking about it too much and examining my daily activities, I decided to join Bodyonics Gym, F-10 Markaz. The registration fee is Rs. 1000/- (negotiable) followed by a monthly fee of Rs. 1000/-. It's pretty expensive as compared to Karachi, but it's very good & nicely maintained, though there's nothing else apart from the exercise apparatus.

As I write, I have already skipped 4 days exercise, but I am confident and hopeful that I'll carry it out for some time and break the barriers in inducting some consistency. The force inside me will revive and I shall become the Body Builder Redivivus!

Mountainous Weekend

Back in August we had a trip to Kaghan Valley, plan of which also included a trip to Nathiagali. But due to lack of time, we had to drop it. Consider it luck or consider it a result of sequence of events that I got an opportunity to be there this weekend.

In the previous week, Ahsan Ashja (currently at connect2web), Haroon Atiq & Danish Anjum (fastians batch of 1998) came to Islamabad from Karachi to attend Zulfiqar Naqvi's (fastian batch of 1998) Wedding ceremony. The plan was already made that a tour would follow the events and that they'll leave Islamabad on Thursday and I had to join them in Murree on Friday night.

I booked a seat in a 14-seater Daewoo van which costs Rs. 80/- from Rawalpindi to Murree. It's a nice van providing a comfortable journey. We reached Murree in around one and a half hour and as soon as I got out of the van, a taxi driver approached me to get me to the hotel. After a few words he recognized me as the one who'll be joining the rest of the crew from Karachi, interesting yeah?

It was very cold there that if it had been raining it wouldn't be water coming down. I reached Faran Hotel at which the rest of the three people were already staying and waiting for me. Then I came to find out that there was another friend of theirs with his wife staying in a different hotel and they'll be with us for the whole tour. A thought came to my mind that the tour would be ruined, but it proved wrong in a few hours.

After a couple of hours, we got out for a cup of coffee at Popeye, followed by a dinner and yet another coffee. At around 12, we were back in the hotel room and started playing cards (game being Court piece, also known as Double Siri). Haroon had to goto a school for a speech at 8 in the morning, so we decided to limit our games, but due to our fun-loving and adventurous nature we didn't sleep at all!

The next day, after having some sleep in the morning, we booked a land cruiser for Rs. 2800/- for a whole day at Nathiagali. In our way, we visited Ayubia where we also had a cable car ride. An airgun/balloon game was also played by me, though not knowing the rules, I was off for emptying the whole board, though I requested him to discontinue in the middle, but he resisted. In the end just 3 out of around 40 balloons were left which I couldn't finish (somehow!), thus I had to pay Rs. 100/- to him.

At around 4 pm we reached Nathiagali and started finding a nice hotel. This time of the year you won't find many people staying there, hence hotel rates aren't high as well. This is because of the v. cold weather and no snowfall (hence not a win-win situation). We got hold of an average hotel (Afaq Hotel in the main market) for a reasonable rate and had lunch cum dinner in an open restaurant at around 5. The scenery was great!

At night, when an era of boredom started, a request was made by Zaid's wife to have a small trip to Donga Gali, but to our surprise it was closed down and there wasn't anyone there. We returned back to the hotel, played cards till 12 and slept. At around 6:30 sunday morning, we returned back to Islamabad in our land cruiser.

All in all, it was a very good, though short, trip and everyone enjoyed everything about it, may it be cold weather, the comments passing, the journey, the sight seeing or friendship building.

Work when people are watching!

I met one of our batchmates living in Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Tahir Masood, a few days ago. We have been to a few places since we met. A few days ago, we (plus Zahin & Khurram) went to Hot Spot, an ice cream parlour which is at a place mostly covered with trees, resembling a hide-out style. It's a pretty good place to visit after dinner, especially for couples, located in the area opposite to Jinnah Super. There is also a Hot Spot in Karachi near Evolution.

Getting back to the topic (genre being humour with some message), I shall start by mentioning that there are four types of people usually found at work:

1. One who work when there is work and chill out otherwise
2. One who don't work much even when there is work and it shows
3. One who don't work much even when there is work and they pretend being busy (at times extremely busy)
4. One who work when there is work and even otherwise

I belong to the 1st category and a very few times to the 2nd & 4th one . The main focus of this post will be the 3rd category and I am using this as a chance to embarrass them!

I have seen many people who belong to this category and I assume you have also experienced such observations. There are a few characteristics of these people, some of which I have noted are:

• They usually come pretty formally dressed and are showy (I guess 50% of their salaries go in presentation).
• They don't get out of their seats much.
• Whenever you approach them, they open up something of which they don't have any idea about but, they assume it would create an impression.
• At lunch or tea or any other casual meeting, when asked about work, they try to impress everyone around by using diplomatic words about their work and they'll only be specific on things which everyone else doesn't know about (and they thought we won't realize this?).
• At times they'll murmur or position their hands in such a way that the person watching them gets an impression that some rocket science is going on (I laugh at most of them).
• They'll try to talk in English many a times not realizing the talent they possess in talking rubbish (talking in English -> in Pakistan)
• They'll try to impress the higher management and they'll do anything for it. Then they'll impress their peers exaggerating about their relationship with the management (They don't know that the management discusses about them with other people).

Enuph! Let's move ahead with the reasons as to why they do this? I think it's due to their lack of vision & sincerity, purely materialistic approach and the misalignment of their focal point, and they think they are too smart! They don't seem to understand that sooner or later everyone (or at least a person) will find out what they are made of.

Due to human nature, which is very complex to me, people tend to attract towards a high profile job not realizing the pre-requisite capabilities. But no! They think they are some sort of a Superman and take up the job even when they not know an atom about it. Hence, when it comes to fulfilling the tasks, most of the time they use their nominal creativity and skills to transfer the ball to other's court (in Urdu we say "topi transfer").

It might take a day or a decade to realize the incapabilities of the person and it depends upon the talent of the subject, but as far as I have seen, the curtain is raised sooner or later and everything becomes clear to the concerned. This leads to the discontinuation of responsibilities at the current location. But the story never seem to end, there comes an era of job hunt, during which they are successful in impressing some other employer through the usage of their Mastery in Bullshit Arts.

And the same story goes on and on, everywhere (a theory). It's a strange world full of strange people finding strange ways to produce strange results (this is not related to everything else...or is it?).

I would appreciate comments on this post, so that we all have a clear understanding of such people, who knows I might end up writing a research paper :P

Vacation in a Flash

"Ahhh!" was the feeling when I reached the Karachi airport. Finally, the long awaited, though for a short period, vacation was about to start. The weather was hot, the sky clear and the friends & relatives near. As soon as I reached home, I started communicating with all the friends and made plans for the whole stay. My agenda also included shopping for the cold weather.

From friday till Wednesday, it was a total of 5 and a half seconds in a true sense. The attraction of parties with friends and relatives didn't allow me to think twice before attending them. It's really weird how such lively & joyous moments pass by this fast. All of this left a rule for me to follow for the moments to come, Enjoy every bit of the happy moments because they may not be available for the majority of time and you might regret even a lost second. And once you get to avail these spans, pay thanks to the Almighty for them.

On the last day, I went out for shopping, with a very limited time. I got hold of a woollen sweater from Bonanza, they have a pretty decent variety with an affordable price.

Then came the time to say goodbye, which was the only thing I hated during this tour, for I had its fear from the very beginning.

"Ahhh!" was the feeling when I reached the Islamabad airport. I sighed and moved forward establishing yet another concept about life.

Vacation to the hometown, finally!

"Seat belts, please!", the van driver said when we, the participants of the orientation at our office were seated, to be taken to the company's warehouse. Shahg was right in his views about Islamabad's people, I must say that this guy has killer analytical skills.

I have tasted the nature of people here at Islamabad and I can easily say that they are friendlier and more helpful, relaxed & satisfied as compared to the people living in Karachi. Of course there are exceptions everywhere. Though, Karachi has its own advantages which I'll formulate soon.

As I write with only 6 hours to depart for Karachi, my hometown, to spend Eid Holidays, I am filled with anxiety and the excitement to meet the people whom I have been with a long time. It's only 15 days since I am here and it already seems a long time. Now I can imagine the mental strength of the people living far away from their countries.

I am planning to be back here in a week and would try to post something in the meantime, if the time & situation allow me. Eid Mubarak!

Nothing but Creations!

This would be a very strange post to most people and I guess would be pretty relevant to the rest.

In our daily life we observe many creations of God e.g. the sun, moon, stars, trees, animals, mountains, clouds, sea,....the list never seem to end. But because of the everyday norm, we don't think over it much and are careless, except for a few people. A few questions might elaborate the point:

-While going to work would you stop by and think over the energy of the greenery around you?
-Would it sound sane to you if someone stops in the middle of the road pondering over the sky?

Have you ever thought what lies underneath the earth's surface? What lies under the sea, above the clouds or inside an atom? On the highest level we might easily derive that it's a whole world with a system of its own and with smaller components who work together in the system. Think over it for a couple of minutes, imagine the world inside, imagine its hugeness!

Being human beings, the best of all creations, we have the brains to understand almost everything. What really is our end? What can we do? What is our worth? Can we overcome our basic constraints e.g. eating, drinking, sleep, etc. and let's not talk about controlling our minds. We basically mould ourselves according to the constraints we are living in and that's all we can do. In other words, we can't get out of our constraints.

Some of you might oppose by saying that humans have even gone into space, oil exploration under the sea is in progress, etc. My question would then be, what is the limit? Have you still reached the limit? What then, when the limits will be reached?

This all arrives to the realization that we might be the best creation, better than any other creature, we can invent rockets and control animals, but we can't overcome our own limitations and constraints and that we are nothing but just creations.

Though, the conclusion isn't really what it looks like and I hope you are not demoralized by these words. The ideal conclusion would be the realization that a) we are just creations and b) hence should imply more closeness to the Creator.

1st Day @ LMKR, Impressed, but..

Islamabad reminds me of the memorable tour we had in which we covered Kaghan Valley, NWFP (areas like Naran, Shogran, Thandiani, etc.) as well. This we included four males:

Syed Humair Mudasser Qadri- FASTian, Batch of 1999 (Working at EzValidation (formerly Dreamznet), Karachi)
Sarfaraz Ahmed - FASTian, Batch 0f 2000 (Working at ITIM, Karachi)
Muhammad Ali Shah - FASTian, Batch of 2000 (Studying at Chalmers, Sweden)
& Myself

Memories!

I had already skipped the bus which comes to pick up at around 6:45 am. It was around 7:15 am while I was waiting for Khurram Majeed (batchmate from FAST and a very old friend) to pick me up from the hostel for office, when I thought about my recent past life and compared it with the present. Man changes a lot with the environment! A few of the people reading this will understand my exact point.

The office is located in F-5 sector, just beside Marriot Islamabad, 3rd floor of Software Technology Park I, and is around 15 minutes drive from the hostel. We reached the office at around 7:45 am, my first day at LMKR. After spending sometime at the reception, which is pretty spacious and quite nicely decorated (especially the wall clocks showing different country times) I was taken in the interview room to sign on the employment contract. After that I was taken to the cafe on seeing which, I was impressed. It contains a seating area like every cafe has, a kitchen, a smoking area, a pool table area, an internet access area and a TV lounge area (having approx 60" TV), all covering somewhere around 175 sq. yards area. Not kidding, but this much space can contain around 2-3 normal software houses of Karachi.

The office is structured in a way that different departments are partitioned accordingly. The decoration & ambience (love this word) is good, music played adding value as well, in the work areas as well as the washrooms. The dress code is formal & most of the people wear a tie and a few of them wear suits. Almost everyone has a flat screen thin LCD monitor, a good seat to sit on and a spacious desk. The scenery from the office windows is a good one with Margalla Hills view.
Etc.
Too much for a software organization in Pakistan, yeah?

As far as culture is concerned, the management is pretty strict about employees following the right timings in everything, dress code, body odour, office looks, employee behaviour, etc.
The operations management, also I guess in the board of directors, as far as I have perceived, think differently. They don't start thinking from the finance perspective. Take e.g. LCD monitors, I heard from some guy that when asked a board of director the reason for replacing normal ones, he was told in order to improve the looks of the office. Of course they aren't placed there for that only, but it gives the idea of the management's style, believe me I have seen the other extreme. There are many other examples of stylish stuff without which work can be done by the employees, but with which things beyond can be achieved, things which most of the software organizations in Pakistan fail to achieve, things which tend to motivate average people to reach the levels of excellence.

Just finished with our orientation sessions. Everything seems structured in one day's experience here, hope it stays the same but common sense should previal sometimes. When is the key!

F-10 Markaz (Center), Islamabad

The place I am writing from right now is an internet cafe located in the vicinity of F-10 Markaz, Islamabad. The place I am living in currently is LMKR's hostel, a large house, with shared rooms and what else, it's very near to the market here.

About the hostel, there are some facilities/services provided such as cook, TV, table tennis, badminton, ACs & heaters, etc. There is a cemetry just beside the hostel, in an approx. 1500 sq. yards area, I wonder what's a cemetry doing in a residential area and that too in F-10. Strange!

The F-10 markaz is a good place to shop for daily consumed items, there is almost every bank's branch in it, but there seems to be a lacking of good restaurants, cloth shops, gaming arenas, etc. My favorite outlets here are Best Day Super Store & Bodyonics (gym) plus I am trying Paradise Tailor here, if he's good he'll also add in my favorites. I have heard some good things about a couple of bakeries as well, one's Bakewell, though haven't been there yet.

Tuesday:
I found a gaming arena (finally!), it's called Striker Xes Gamer. There is a kid and his father who are running the shop and they can't speak Urdu much, the decoration is not that good, but the PCs are good enough. Whatever! It's a gaming arena after all.

Packing up the stuff!

With a day remaining in the departure to Islamabad, to join the new company, I am already feeling the loneliness which is waiting to haunt me for a few initial days. Nah, it's not that bad! Maybe it is. Exactly, this is the confused state of my mind currently so I am better off being somewhat careless on these thoughts.

Karachi is one of those places which have people who make maximum use of what is available, depending upon the constraints. The same applies to the social life and the people conducting the socials. Hence, I will surely miss this social life there in Islamabad, at least for a few months. Though it's pretty obvious that other aspects of life are better in Islamabad than the hometown. E.g. the corporate culture as far as software industry is concerned, the standard of life, city structure, atmosphere, weather, profile of the dwellers, etc. and what else, it's the capital!

Having said that, there are a few things which can be counted as cons for a person like me. Firstly, the social life, then we have the lack of outing places, the standard & profile of people living there (it seems hard to get good company), the distance from family and most of the time being lonely. I hope there are good gamers out there in Isloo.

Packing the stuff these days physically and mentally, yet to give final touches to my baggage.

**Next: Will be writing the things learnt in the new city, from one of its internet cafes.

Myself

Family name being Kasbati which means "Hardworker" my full name is, as you might have noticed, Muhammad Salman Kasbati. My hometown is Karachi, Pakistan. I am a computer science graduate, degree being BCS (Dec 2000), from one of the better institutes in Pakistan, FAST.

After graduation, I joined CresSoft Karachi, one of the leading software houses of Pakistan, as a Software Engineer and during that completed my MCS degree. In late 2002 I joined another company named connect2web, Karachi. Have been working there till the mid of October 2004. Recently accepted an offer from a company in Islamabad by the name of Landmark Resources, I'll be working as a Senior Software Engineer there from November 2004.

My activities include solving problems, computer gaming (Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike, strategy games), sports (football, table tennis, weight training, etc.) and providing help to all sorts of people in sorting out their problems :), depending upon the time left from work & sleep.

States of Mind

It's funny how a person performs same action differently at different times depending upon the state of his/her mind. This happens with me all the time and I am at this point in time assuming that others experience this as well.

The things which get affected may include the confidence level, sharpness, reactions, communication, etc. Like e.g. my verbal english fluctuates from really-bad to above average in almost every english conversation I have, may it be an interview, a meeting with directors of our company or just a chat with a friend. In this particular case, I have noted that the confidence level fluctuates which creates a confusion in expressing words in addition to the confusion in selecting them.

Having said that, there's this other concept "Practice makes perfect" and which at some extent is true for many situations, but really the baseline in my opinion is the state of mind. This arrives us to the questions such as what makes up this "state of mind"? What effects it? Can we control it or get a grip on it?

***Let me think over it..I'll be back in a few days on that.