My experience while maintaining a blog!!

Well, the time when i was managing a blog and writing posts on the current events and affairs happening in our society, it was an interesting task for me. I personally liked posting on the blog and it give me an idea and effort to put forward my views about things which i could never portray in front of the people. Moreover, it gives me a way which was quite simple to share my ideas and beliefs on specific issues, news, and other related things. I got a nice experience while writing blogs and it gave me an inspiration to put forward my views and ideas. 

Moreover, the reader could also get more involved in the discussion by commenting on the posts. If you’re writing a book you need to go into a lot more detail when it comes to quoting people, describing situations and facts, or making footnotes. But by writing on blogs, the outcome is that we have covered a topic from many different angles and brought many other different ideas to a specific article, which the article writer himself/herself did not cover. However, the information we are presenting has a shelf life and we can’t include as many aspects that are new and up-to-date as when we are blogging.

Break ke Baad - Movie Review!!!!

Break ke Baad, an Indian movie directed by Danish Aslam is basically about a couple and the film portrayed quite an unconventional pairing by casting the dashing Imran Khan as Abhay Gulati and Deepika Padukone as Aaliya Khan for the first time. The film basically explains the relation of a boy and a girl, and they both were used to be friends since they were four years old. Their friendship turned into love when they were 15 years old, and this thing was realized by Abhay that Aaliya was the right girl for her. Whereas the purpose of Aaliya’s life was to become an actress and she is unmindful of what or who comes in her way. Abhay was still unsure that whether he should disclose it to Aaliya or else he should compete with Aaliya’s unceasing plans and projects to fulfill her dream. So their relationship blooms due to their personality differences, both the people go in a mode to be silent. Things turned worst when Aaliya decided to go to Australia to study and Abhay has to deal with the long distance relationship with her whereas on the other side he was secretly feared of losing Aaliya forever. This time Abhay decided to leave his life on fate and luck and parted away from Aaliya. The choices Abhay Aaliya made lead them to test their relationship. Aaliya risks everything and everyone she loves only to realize that there is no joy in achieving one's dreams if one has no one to share it with. Abhay risks losing every shred of his ego, dignity and self-respect only to realize that there is no bigger high than seeing your dream come to life, brick by brick. They make mistakes, deal with disappointments, even lose each other – and become stronger individually. Break Ke Baad is not just a coming of age film, but a film about couples growing up - together. In a fickle world where relationships break up on the smallest of differences, Abhay and Aaliya manage to save theirs despite geographical ones. Overall the movie brought a new idea of having a break up and living apart from the ones you love.

Harry Potter and the Death Hallows Part 1 bringing a new turn in his Movie!!!

The latest version of the Harry Potter basically named as: “Harry Potter and the Death Hallows: Part 1” brought a blast among the youngsters and in the Hollywood film industry. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, the tone has completed its change, the initial innocence, playfulness, and fresh discovery of magic is long gone and the horror now prevails in the movie. It's essentially a horror movie, set in the belly of the beast, almost literally: The film's not 10 minutes old before a giant constrictor opens its fanged jaws and swallows the camera lens - and us - whole, plunging the screen into darkness. The new arrival of the Harry Potter move is simply one of the best Potter movies so far. David Yates as a director has grown with each movie and in this one he brings the love of the subject to the screen. The movie begins with torture and a scary snake, features the deaths of major characters, constantly reminds us that others are being massacred, and generally as our heroes feeling hopeless about 90 percent of the time. Much of the film revolves around a road trip, as the trio travel around Britain to try to stay safe, and focuses on the close friendship between the main characters, in particular the budding romance between Hermione and Ron. Therefore, the overall movie is said to be a great hit and is considered as the biggest box office debut of the entire boy wizard series and the fifth largest ever making 61 million dollars on its first day, so the movie is going to go a long way further bringing many parts of the movie. So wait for the next release Harry Potter’s movie with fingers crossed, thinking it would bring again a blast in the industry.

Social Injustice and Democracy in Pakistan: Way towards Peace!!

In context to Pakistan social injustice is a prevalent feature which is seen in the country. Social Injustice is a concept relating to the perceived unfairness or injustice of a society in its divisions of rewards and burdens. The concept is distinct from those of justice in law, which may or may not be considered moral in practice. Social Injustice arises when equals are treated unequally and unequal are treated equally.

The concept of Social Democracy has also not been promoted in Pakistan. Social Democracy is basically that includes a society where all get opportunity to rise, a society without strong class system, policies and programs to reduce unemployment, welfare society, respect of labor irrespective of their level of education.

The most important step towards peace is bringing the correct means of social justice and democracy. The reason for Pakistan not being a peaceful country is that according to the active peace theory, the order and means of social justice should be implemented by correct and right means.

Unfortunately, Islamic Republic of Pakistan stands on the top of those countries where social injustice prevails at every level of the society. Citizens of Pakistan are unaware of social justice concept and its effects on society. Pakistan’s civil and military rulers and elite class have been plundering this country since independence. They have always been claiming that they are pious and others are corrupt. Military ruler assertion is completely wrong. The fact is that country’s condition has been deteriorating under all regimes.

Today, Pakistan is standing at extremely dangerous and appalling point where there is a genuine fear that the country might vanish from the map of the world if corrective measures are not taken. The harsh fact is that poorer is getting poorer and richer is getting richer but policy makers are unmoved. All governments of Pakistan have always played with the statistics and tell the nation that we are better off under their regime than the previous ones. Instead of providing justice, improving economic conditions of the masses and decreasing the class difference in society, they are busy in finding legs to stand upon their lies as truth. The other issue which goes hand in hand with the social injustice is the social democracy. The concept of Social Democracy has also not been promoted in Pakistan. Social Democracy is basically that includes a society where all get opportunity to rise, a society without strong class system, policies and programs to reduce unemployment, welfare society, respect of labor irrespective of their level of education, respect of people irrespective of their family background, culture of honesty, a strongly progressive tax system, generous government provision of non-cash benefits such as education, health and housing, honest and independent judiciary, patriotic society where interests of collectivity are supreme, constitution is considered a sacred document, religious tolerance, honest civil and military bureaucracy which act within their domains, military finds no room in politics, high standard public sector education, provincial integration, acceptance of Pushto, Baluchi, Panjabi and Sindhi as official languages along with Urdu, independent foreign policy.

Therefore, Pakistan should look into the democracy issue and promote it in the right way so that violence can be eliminated from Pakistan because the main reason for violence is the unjust system and the wrong concept of social democracy. In Pakistan, there has always remained a difference between classes which is the main issue of violence. Therefore, the only way to remove violence is to bring equality and social justice.

Meal on Wheels!!

Shaukat Ali Qazi, who spent most of his life working as an accountant is better known today as a man who supplies home-cooked food to shopkeepers at Gul Plaza on M.A. Jinnah Road and Arshi Shopping Mall in Azizabad.

While recalling history about his small business Qazi was well known as Shaukat bhai at that time; he said, “I still remember the incident that gave my wife this opportunity some ten years ago. My brother-in-law was given an opportunity to work at an office in Gul Plaza and was given the responsibility of arranging biryani for an office party once day. So he asked my wife to help him out, a task for which she was paid. The recipe was such a hit that the very next day orders for home-cooked meals started to pour in from his colleagues, followed by some from the shopkeepers in the vicinity”.    

At that time, Qazi a dual degree holder was content at his accountancy job. But since the popularity his wife Abida’s food accelerated rapidly, she succeeded in persuading her husband into helping her manage the orders. Soon after some period of time, the number of orders entertained per day went upto 50 which was difficult for her to manage alone, so she wanted her husband to accompany him in managing the orders and wanted him to leave his job. At that time, it was a difficult decision for Qazi to leave his job as he was afraid of the impression it would create about him being an educated professional but he managed to leave the job and started helping his wife.

Every morning, the couple started the preparation for the day at around five a.m., preparing food for approximately 200 people daily. The menu of the day varies from haleem to meat items, karahi to biryani, traditional daal chawal to vegetable dishes and many other food items were ordered by the customers during the six working days.  The delivery takes 30 mins and is free of cost. Many customers also demanded their food for their families. By a very short period of time, their business as home-cooked food flourished to a great extent and became a very good prosperous business for the family.  

The business which started through word-of-mouth is expanding with time making room for more customers with innovative ideas. "I do not mean to praise myself, but it is the truth that people like our food quality, said Shaukat with pride." They keep demanding that we want food only from Shaukat Bhai's place." This is no idle boast, the owner of a small school uniform shop at Arshi Shopping Mall, Asif Memon, humbly acknowledged that he is a regular customer of the couple like some other shopkeepers in the market. "The home-cooked food that we get for lunch is really appetizing and healthy", confessed Asif.

Meanwhile, the couple has planned to launch a small restaurant, with the same brand name as their delivery service, besides plans to expand their current business.

Domestic Violence and Honour Killings

Pakistan has a high incidence of honour killing in the world. This is a major human rights issue that has received little attention outside of human rights groups and women activist networks.  In order to deter honour killing, more stringent punishment of offenders is advised to invalidate traditional justice and counteract the private use of violence.

Karo-kari is a type of premeditated honour killing, which originated in rural and tribal areas of Sindh. The homicidal acts are primarily committed against women who are thought to have brought dishonour to their family by engaging in illicit pre-marital or extra-marital relations.    

In order to restore this honour, a male family member must kill the female in question. Although legally proscribed, socio-cultural factors and gender role expectations have given legitimacy to karo-kari within some tribal communities. In addition to its persistence in areas of Pakistan, there is evidence that karo-kari may be increasing in incidence in other parts of the world in association with migration.

Moreover, perpetrators of ‘honour killings’ often have motives outside of female adultery. Analysis of the socio-cultural and psycho-pathological factors associated with the practice of karo-kari can guide the development of prevention strategies. Violence against women further adds to restriction of mobility and pursuance of education and job, thereby lowering prospects of womens’ empowerment in society.  

Anjana Anjani - Movie Review!!

Anjana Anjani is not a typical “Boy Meets Girl’ love story; it is unique in its own way. This is a love story between two strangers who meet under unusual circumstances and manage to find love. Anjana Anjaani directed by Sidhaart Raj Anand, is a romantic comedy, where Priyanka is playing a lead role in the film named Kiyara and Ranbir Kapoor as Akash doing the role of young man who is extremely introvert by nature. Akash and Kiara meet in NYC under in bizarre situation and travel across cities. They both meet on the circumstances where both wanted to commit suicide as they were fed up of their lives.

They both tried to commit suicide together, but luck never let them die and every time they survived. The movie is filled with a lot of comic moments, which although predictable but still manage to gather quite a few laughs from the audience. The dance tracks and song sequences are a high point of the movie. Coming back to “Anjana Anjaani” - both are trying to find success in their own lives - after several failed attempts to be hit the right chord in their careers and love - life. A very basic truth has been dealt with in this movie. Which is; Love happens between strangers, and that’s absolutely true. At the beginning of each ball game called love or whatever, the boy and the girl happens to be strangers to each other. They both went on a journey towards Las Vegas to enjoy the last wishes and moments of their life. The two strangers go on fulfilling their last wishes on their bicoastal road journey, which is packed with a lot of adventures and then- there is a twist in their journey.

Get Organized...Time Management!!

It is so easy to waste time because you feel you have enough of it until you run out of it!

So why not set your personal clock right and organize your life and time for a shot to success?

The youth of our country is mostly regarded as dis organized beings as they are always not lazy in completing their pending work. Life is measured in time, so those who master the use and allocation of time, they master life. In many aspects, especially when we are students ascending the academic ladder, time management is the key to getting the results you aspire to.

Considering ourselves as a student, we are always late in submitting our assignments, reports, presentations and other stuffs. So in this regard, we must learn this lesson too late to benefit from it, but others are able to give enough time to studies while managing to take out time for other important activities and chores. We should keep a balance in our daily activities and carefully plan the schedule for a healthy and happy life. However, while following  the path we feel we are meant for, we need to remember that our future happiness depends on our progress psychologically, intellectually, physically and socially. This is best accomplished by taking out time to groom all these areas of our personality. 

In order  to maintain our life timely, we should be the early bird; waking up early in the morning makes the most of what life has to offer, or the early worm that suffers due to the challenges it's not prepared for. We should time everything accordingly; there is a time for work and time for play- this is a formula you should remember all your life because it applies to almost everything you do.

Increased prices of essential items!

The government of Pakistan which is now engaged in the post-flood situation, besides striving hard to save the current setup, has not taken any serious measures to stable food inflation and the prices of the essential items are increasing day by day leading the consumers struggling with the high prices. The prices of the daily use commodities have been increased and have reached to the skies which are leading the ordinary people of Pakistan to face difficulties in order to survive their lives.  

The price of tea bags of 20 grams which was used to be sold at Rs. 55 is now being sold at Rs. 66; an increase in 20% has been made. Moreover, the prices of spices, pulses and vegetables also skyrocketed. Recently, the price of potatoes per kilogram is Rs. 40, onions are being sold at Rs. 80 per kilogram and garlic is being sold at Rs. 200 kilogram, which shows a tremendous increase in the prices of basic necessary vegetables just after the Eid. This increase in the prices of the vegetables after Eid leads the consumers to use these essential vegetables limited. The reason portrayed by the producers and manufacturers is that the growth of vegetables and pulses has stopped due to the heavy flooding which was the main reason behind the increase of prices. The people have to get ready to bear the huge storm of inflation.

Pakistan's Victory in Hockey after 20 years!!

The latest hockey match played between Pakistan and Malaysia struggling for the Gold Medal was played on 25^th November in China.  Pakistan and Malaysia both performed really well in their semifinals, where Pakistani beat Korea ream by 4-3 on Penalty Stokes and Malaysia beat India by 4 goals in their semifinals. So the final between Pakistan and Malaysia was a very tough game and both the teams were looking forward towards the Gold Medal of the Asian games. Pakistan by their outstanding performance won the match and fortunately leads them to have a glorious victory after 20 years. The Pakistani Hockey team ended the year on a glorious moment, of happiness giving the nation a reason to smile and feel proud of them. It was Pakistan’s eighth Asian Gold Medal towards hockey contribution after so many years.  The players gave rise to hockey after a long break and brought it back on the tongues of people.

Pakistan hockey after so many years came into existence and the youth of the hockey players gave their stunning performance in the final match against Malaysia, who in turn gave a thriller performance in the semifinals while defeating India. Therefore, it was a great shock for the Malaysian team as India and Malaysia both gave a stunning performance in their semifinals. Pakistan came into this match and defeated Malaysia by 2-0, the victory truly belongs to the man of the match Salman Akbar.

Pakistan blocked Facebook in collaboration with Saudi Arabia!

The administration of Saudi Arabia’s communication declared that it has blocked the most popular social networking site: Facebook as it does not complies with the conservative norms and values of the kingdom. The site was blocked by the administration of Saudi Arabia giving an error message when internet users try to access Facebook from their computers. The officials of Saudi Arabia declared that the Facebook has crossed the borders with the traditional norms, ethics and morality of their country, but blocking the site was a temporary measure. Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam and religious leaders have strong influence over policy making and social morals. Therefore, Pakistan and Bangladesh both also imposed temporary bans on Facebook this year in co-operation with their Islamic country. And when Facebook was blocked from Pakistan, the daily internet users had to face many difficulties as their businesses runs over Facebook and some people also used proxies to access Facebook from their country. Crazy users of Facebook and their addiction!

Spirit of Eid-ul-Adha!!!

The end of Hajj marks the beginning of Eid-ul-Azha as this “Festival of Sacrifice,” commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Ismail, on God’s command. Cattle, goats and camels are slaughtered the morning of the festival and the meat is shared with the poor.

Eid-ul-Azha brings joy to the rich and the poor alike. Even the poorest Muslim tries to wear new clothes, shoes and perfumes, before going for the congregational prayers and sacrifices an animal or takes a share in a cow, bullock, buffalow or a camel, on his return from the prayers.

The livestock sellers decorate the animals with colourful beads, garlands of artificial flowers and tinsel to attract the buyers. On arrival, the animals are feasted in the houses with chopped or unchopped green or dry fodder, grain husk and gram that the animal might not have got to eat earlier.

The nice thing about this Eid is that every family has their own traditions. Some sacrifice the animal on the first day, others on the second or third. On that day, the butcher is brought in and a prayer is said before the animal before it is cut.

The celebrations of Eid-ul-Azha in Karachi begins with the setup of bakra mandi. This year at least two hundred VIP tents will be installed in the upcoming Super Highway cattle market on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha. In Pakistan several dinners are hosted and people tend to go to the homes of relatives and friends to share the happy times. Bakr-Eid is also very famous amongst children as they tend to keep animals for a week or so before they are slaughtered. On Eid-ul-Azha folks of Pakistan wear new dresses and purchase new shoes to match their lovely dress. The women of Pakistan also wear mehdi on the hands to give celebration flare to the occasion.

But the thing to be noticed this time on Eid was that there was comparatively less livestock in Pakistan as most of the livestock was affected due to the floods that occurred in our country. Moreover, the prices if the goats, sheeps, cows and buffalows reached to a very high price and these prices were not affordable to ordinary people of Pakistan. Though many people of Pakistan were restricted from providing necessary obligations of Eid.

Target Killings in Karachi!!

In the recent days, the people of Karachi have lost more than 50 lives due to the target killing. More than 5 dozen families have perished and police in this regard have failed to protect the people. There is no chance of positive outcome of security measures that are being taken in the city. The question which is mainly raised by the ordinary people living in Karachi is the reason for target killing in their city. The answer to their question is the lack of political tolerance.

The city is suffering from target killings which are mainly affecting the city to a great extent and the reason for it is difference of opinion on political, social, religious and sectarian issues which later equates to enmity. All these target killings are the result of absence of tolerance among the people of Karachi, every person has the right of disagreement with certain point of view but that doesn’t means they have no right to live. No security system can stop this target killing unless we should politically decide that we can live in a well-defined democratic manner. Security will only be efficient when we as citizens of Karachi promise to live together with different political point of views as people in developed democracies do.  

Aisam-ul-Haq as a Peace Player for Pakistan

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, one of the great talents of Pakistan as a tennis player. In September 1988, he started his career as a tennis player and now up till date he struggles hard for his career and gives fame to Pakistan by being one of the world’s famous tennis player. He proved to be a true Pakistani by promoting our country through his heart touching performance in tennis.  Moreover, while playing in the U.S. Open doubles final, he delivered a speech that being a Muslim Pakistani, he feels proud to be a player of Pakistan and play for the finals. Moreover he said, “I want to say something on behalf of all Pakistanis. Every time I come here, there’s a wrong perception about the people of Pakistan. They are very friendly, very loving people. We want peace in this world as much as you guys”.




He is now a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 40 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Monaco-based international organization Peace and Sport. In relation to Aisam-ul-Haq as a player of tennis from Pakistan, a statement issued by Peace and Sport said, “The Peace and Sport Image of the Year Award will be given to India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi – two tennis players who managed to bring the political authorities in their respective countries closer, through their own history of personal friendship and commitment”.

Early Marriages in Pakistan

"Everyday they beat me for pretty issues apparently in revenge for the murder"

Zainab Bibi, victim of a compensation marriage at the age of 1, from Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province

Throughout the world, the problem of early, forced marriages of children is considered to be a violation of basic human rights. In Pakistan most marriages are arranged by families. The boy or the girl is seldom allowed to exercise his or her will in choosing a life partner. Woman has the right to accept or reject marriage proposals. Her consent is a prerequisite to the calidity of the marital contract, according to the Prophet's teaching. It follows that if an 'arranged marriage' means the marrying of a female without her consent, then such a marriage may be annulled if the female so wishes.

In 1990 Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Child, which prohibits child marriages. In addition, under the Muslim Family Ordinance the girl and the boy must have attained the ages of 16 and 18, respectively, and both need to consent before the marriage takes place.

Historically, there have been no measures taken by the state to ensure that marriages are consensual and that in many instances the age of a girl will be changed on her marriage certificate in order to avoid questions raised over her being under-age. The ability of individuals to bypass the law without any fear of repercussions has also perpetuated customary practices of selling girls into 'marriage' in exchange for money, settling disputes with the exchange of girls known as 'vani' or 'swara' and the use of girls or women as compensation for crimes. 

This ancient  custom, prevalent in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, Afghanistan, and parts of Middle East, refers to the practice of forcing girl children into arranged marriages as compensation for a murder perpetrated by her family, to offset debts, or to settle other inter-clan or family disputes.

While formal laws in Pakistan do not condone these practices, courts do little to address them, allowing informal justice systems to implement a law of their own.

High levels of economic hardship and social inequality often lead families to sell their young daughters into marriages as a means of earning money. Bride prices ranges from Rs. 80,000 to Rs. 200,000 and younger girls receive higher prices.

Such sales are not legal and are not done with the consent of the girl. In some cases the decision is made by one member of the family without consulting any other members.

The recent case of the forced marriage of an eight year old girl in Karachi indicates that this custom is very common in the country, particularly in the rural areas. In the cities too, unless someone reports the incident to the police, the culprits are not punished.

Zulqarnain Haider Missing

Another shocking news for the people of Pakistan in the field of cricket came just after the match fixing scandals, and that was one of the best wicket keepers being missing during their test matches with South Africa which was held at Dubai. Zulqarnain Haider, the wicket keeper of the Pakistan cricket team, did not turned over for the final ODI match with South Africa at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The last message conveyed by Zulqarnain Haider himself was done by updating his Facebook Status message saying that “leaving Pakistan cricket because get bad msg fr 1 man fr lose the match in last game”. According to the cricketer after being interviewed by several news channels, came up with an excuse that he was getting threatening messages and calls. He was even bribed for losing the match, and according to him he was out of his mind and he didn’t know what exactly to do at that moment. That’s the reason he left everything without even telling anyone. And was found in England with his family after few hours of his departure from Dubai. According to my opinion, the reason for all this was just to give a bit importance to oneself and to be famous. Otherwise if he was even getting the threats so he must have informed any faithful person from the entire team. But he just kept everything to himself, so it means there was something wrong and fishy with him. Moreover, he said in an interview with a well-known news channel that he would attend the press conference and would talk to the team administration and would hopefully resolve all the issues and allegations which they are thinking about.    

Loadshedding: A Curse Or a Blessing???

Pakistan which were affecting the nation to a great extent  by a lot of major issues like inflation, poverty, terrorism etc were not enough that now load shedding has become the most discussing. Pakistan which was once called city of lights, has now known as city of candle lights, just because Pakistan is now suffering from load shedding and it has become the most important issue while living in Pakistan. Pakistan without load shedding is like a tea without water, and nowadays irrelevant of Ramadan load shedding continues to exist in each and every city or area of Pakistan. The people of Pakistan are still facing difficulties because of load shedding. Though there are also some benefits of load shedding but disadvantages of load shedding are more prevalent; like load shedding helps us to save electricity which leads to the reduction in the net bill charges, which in other sense helps the lower class families of Pakistan to cope with their electricity bills. It is also seen that students are more likely to study at the times when their electricity is not available, so that they could not get distracted by the TVs, computers, and other electronic stuff. In Pakistan, specifically city of Karachi is facing 4 to 5 hours unscheduled load shedding and the people of Karachi are waiting desperately for electricity.

Women at work in Pakistan

Eeman is the Global Marketing Manager for INTTRA, an eCommerce shipping platform.  With an MBA from Karachi's Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Eeman is strengthening the ranks of Pakistan-educated professionals achieving success in corporate America. Born to Zafar Samdani, a well-known journalist, and a mother who teaches psychology at Government College.

With the rise in level of education, career aspirations, economic uncertainty, availability of career opportunities and denuclearized family units, society's structure is rapidly changing and more women are entering the work force and getting empowered. However, this empowerment is accompanied with great responsibility and demands dexterity, as working mothers have to encounter and resolve a myriad number of challenges and conflicts every day.

Therefore, considering the factor of mother in Pakistan, mother is no ordinary being but a working mother is mostly regarded as a super woman in the true essence; she has been endowed with super natural abilities to balance domestic and professional life. An ordinary woman has the primary role in her child's care and nurturing. So the women in particular have many responsibilities accompanied with her as a wife, sister-in-law, mother and many other relations. My main focus is the role of mother in nurturing her children and side by side maintaining the economic balance with her family.

After going through different news stories and articles i found many case studies which indicated that a mother focuses on the health of her children as well as maintains her job and other such responsibilities as cooking and looking after the house. Considering the facts and figures suggested by some articles, it was recorded that the percentage of working women in the field of economic stability is increased to a great extent as compared to 10 years.

Mothers in general and working mothers in particular are always juggling multiple responsibilities and expectations. For a single and
and working mother, the challenge gets raised a few more notches as she has to be a bread winner as well as the care giver, a sole guardian and a role model. Thus, whether a woman chooses to stay at home or work, she deserves the support and cooperation of those around her; husband, in-laws, parents and bosses.

Peepli Live .. Movie Review

Peepli Live, the story brought up by Amir Khan resulted to be one of the best movies in the history of India which highlighted the issues about the people living in the village.  The main idea of the movie was to bring the real issues that the villagers usually face due to poverty and to highlight the issues concerning about the rate of killing of the farmers at recent time. The whole movie revolved around the two main characters namely Budhia and his younger brother Nathan who owned a piece of land which was taken by the bank since they couldn’t repay the loan. Therefore, Budhia heard from somewhere that many villagers who tried to commit suicide got money from the government, so according to him if he would spread the rumor in the village about himself or his brother committing suicide will lead them free from the bank debts and would no more be poor. So they did everything according to the plan. After the rumors being spread all over the village, many journalists ran after this news and brought it up in the breaking news factor and in this way the farmer became famous. And in almost every news channel his story was being casted and shown. And the audience was anxiously waiting for him to commit suicide and in this way this rumor became a big problem for Nathan. Therefore, the whole movie showed the role of journalists and how they run after getting the latest news. The movie depicted the story of hundreds of poor Indian farmers who commit suicide from debt, the consequent reactions of the media, and the vote-thirsty politicians.

Inception - Movie Review!

The movie “Inception” directed by Christopher Nolan assumed to be a great science-fiction thriller movie.  After the success of his movies “”The Dark Knight” and “Batman Begins”, Nolan started to write about Inception which describes the dream state.  The main idea of the movie is the sleeping mind of the people and the way the dreams of people are stolen.  It is about purposely entering dreamscapes, evading gun-trotting consciousness, by-passing inscrutable physical laws and committing corporate espionage by a mission.

“Never create places from your memory. Always imagine new places”, says Dom Cobb, the leading mind miner in Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Inception can basically be described as “the process of planning the idea”, the movie needs to be watched with great attention. To a layman, the movie basically means going to sleep, and in that dream, enter another fresh dream and so on. The movie basically talks about Nolan’s dream world are too over-thought and logical to be dream like. Inception is a complex mind and overall it is a logical movie.  The film will force you to brainstorm and start dreaming.

Here comes Veena Malik..in Match Fixing Scandal!

After being publically announced about the allegations on the three cricketers of Pakistan, the existence of Veena Malik comes into the media introducing Mohammad Asif, the fast bowler to be a match fixer.  Veena Malik came up with all the bad things she could say regarding Mohammad Asif, she even accused him of fixing the Australia-Pakistan series and had brought along a sheaf of papers as proof. And the reason for doing all this, as given by her is the love for her country. So if I ever got a chance to meet her, the first question I would like to ask her would be ‘where were you before these allegations?’ When I saw her on the media proving the allegations were true, the first thing which came in my mind was if she was so loyal to her country so why didn’t she revealed this secret before and why she kept the cat in the bag for so long?

Katrina and Salman : split aways!!

The famous Barbie doll of the Bollywood nonetheless Katrina Kaif got separated from Salman Khan also known as Sallu. After Salman Khan’s confession a fortnight back that he and Katrina had split, Katrina tried to seal her lips for a while, but then she also publically announced that they both are not together anymore. So the long going couple in the Bollywood at last came to end their relationship but the reasons are still hidden of their separation. According to my point of view, this couple never looked perfect, the old 44 year old six pack shower Salman Khan never goes with stunning beautiful Barbie doll of Bollywood.

So on august 24 Katrina was at a five-star hotel in Mumbai where she was declared the international brand ambassador for an airline. It was pretty natural that the news would hurl questions at her regarding split, so the same thing happened which was assumed. After a bit humming and hawing, Katrina confessed, “I am single. But beyond that I don’t think I need to give too many details”.    

It's not just cricket

 

While playing with England in the Third Test Match and constantly losing the match, Pakistan was already having a shock of the continuous loses of the match. But at the same time, four famous cricketers of Pakistan were found victims for the match fixing case. In this way they also lost their respect and dignity towards their career as cricketer. While reporters claimed that in the Scotland Yards, detectives visited the Pakistan dressing room immediately after the third day’s play and found some cricketers with the bookie. The cricketers included the captain of the team Salman, the fast bowler, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif and one of the wicket keepers Kamran Akmal. The 'News of the World' alleged that a Pakistani man Mazhar Majeed, who is now under arrest, had paid bribes to the players to bowl no-balls and wides in the series and the Lord's Test. Therefore, my opinion towards this allegation on Pakistani cricketers is that it was a conspiracy towards the people of Pakistan. Whoever was intervened in this conspiracy, had some great problems with the cricketers of Pakistan and they just wanted to bring the cricketers in the bad books. Otherwise, all these players were good at cricket and they always helped and inspired a lot of people of their country. All the allegations which were put on them were either wrong or it was a pre-planned thing to destroy them and put a wrong image of Pakistan cricket towards the people.

Child Violence in Pakistan



Children are not only the easiest to intimidate, they're also the cheapest workers. Twelve-year-old Tariq, one of thousands employed in Pakistan's soccer ball industry, which produces five million balls a year for the U.S. market, stitches leather pieces in Mahotra. He earns 60 cents a ball, and it takes most of a day to make one (Schanberg, 1996:38). 





Child Labour done in factories and industries



Akbar, 12, makes drums for washing machines in a factory in Pakistan.  

Children being used in small hotels of Pakistan as waiters and providing other services.

One of the major issues related to child violence that is being faced in Pakistan and other Asian countries is Child trafficking. Child trafficking is the illegal transport of a child from one place to another. It could be within the country or across the international borders. Child trafficking is done by deception our other form of illegal method for the use of exploitation. Exploitation includes child labour and transfer of child’s organs.

Child trafficking is present in all the provinces of Pakistan but according to SPARC Sindh is the major source and Karachi being the destination of child trafficking. The nature of child trafficking is different in NWFP where female children are the victims and are sold for marriages. Now in NWFP it is a custom to sell female children under the age of 18 as brides. When going across the borders, children are trafficked for recreational activities such as camel jockeys. People involved in child trafficking make false promises and take them abroad for camel jockeys and other sports related stuff.

Sexual exploitation is the worst form of Child Violence in Pakistan, and the most painful thing is that in spite of forming so many laws and policies for its prevention it still exists. The exact magnitude of the problem is difficult to ascertain as there is gross under reporting because of the shame associated with it.

"One child below 16 years is raped every 155th minute, a child below 10 every 13th hour, and one in every 10 children is sexually abused at any point in time."

 (HAQ 2005)

Pakistan being a developing country and having an illiteracy rate reaching sky heights, more than half of its population does not understand the gravity of this form of violence. Even if people do, they just do not care. According to facts, most abuses have had been a victim of this crime themselves. If an individual is emotionally affected or disturbed, they stop to think rationally and often give no value to anyone’s dignity or innocence. Hence if such violence prevails, one can only imagine the rapid rise it would give to potential abuses. However no matter what the amount of abused children is, even if it’s one percent, no child deserves such a life, it should come to a halt.

Azaadi Flood March

The year 2010 saw Pakistan being the victim of heavy Monsoon floodings; which have taken hundreds of thousands of innocent lives so far, with thousands more on the verge of dying. Earlier the 2005 earthquake completely shaked up the northern areas of the country, the aftermaths of which wasn’t fully recovered yet that the country suffered another major natural disaster in the form of "Floods". Due to this 2010 would be remembered as one of the most disastrous years in the history of Pakistan. An estimate of 20 million people has become homeless with no clothes to wear, food to eat and water to drink. In addition to this high levels if standing water in the streets have resulted in the breakout of many fatal diseases, most common ones being cholera and malaria.

In such times of hardships, the people of Pakistan have shown great support for the flood affected people in face of the slow moving government. They have continued to carry out relentless efforts in collecting donations for those in need. However it would be unfair here to mention the efforts of the youth of this country, who are working day and night to help these people in whatever way they can, especially the students of SZABIST.

Dressed in green and white, the national colors of Pakistan, the students of SZABIST UNITE took the pioneering lead in organizing three Flood Marches to raise funds for the flood victims. Each March was a combined effort of the students.

Bemisal Iqbal, one of the leads students in the organizing of Relief Camp is reported to have said, "Szabistians have always been involved in such initiatives. We've had numerous collections in the form of cash and good, and we now plan to leave to the affected areas as soon as possible to make sure that all this collected gets delivered to the right people".

The first Flood March was organized on the 14th of August, from Szabist to Dou Talwar Clifton. More than 300 students participated and in only two hours collected Rs. 112,500. At the end of the march, the students were joined by "Rahnuma" the student organization from Indus Valley. The day ended with students forming a circle around Dou Talwar and singing the national anthem. The second March was carried out the very next day on the 15th of August although this time a lesser number of students were witnessed. Even with a few students short, in less than two hours' time more than Rs. 200,000 was collected. However the third March was carried out on the 18th of August, was perhaps the largest one in which not only Szabistians but also students from other institutes participated. The March was a huge success and in just over an hour Rs. 302, 250 were collected.

The students of Szabist are an inspiration to all institutions of this country. This is proven by the fact that students of schools and colleges from all over the city started relentless efforts in helping the flood victims by collecting donations on all the major spots of the city such as Park Towers and Forum. Together, we shall rise above in this time of grief and sorrow for the millions who have been affected.

Conclusively, it is important to note that today we are in a similar situation as we were in 1947; the only difference is, at that people were in need of a nation, now nation is in need of its people. So come, let us join hands together to help rebuild Pakistan.

'Let us rise above and donate our hearts out'

Youth-Hood . . . An Unforgettable Journey of Our Life!

In this lifetime we all experience different and exciting journeys. Childhood-the beginning of our life where one lives a dependent and totally nonchalant/heedless life, Adult Hood-an independent stage of life where one’s worn-out tools are experience, wisdom and maturity. And in between these two stages comes the most memorable and enchanted journey of life- the “Youth Hood”. It is, after all, just a moment, but it’s the moment, the spark, that we always carry in our heart.

Youth has no age span, it can stay in you as long as you feel young. It’s in your heart and in your mind. Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty and anyone who has the ability to see beauty never grows old. As Henry Longfellow has said, “How beautiful is youth! How bright it gleams with its illusions, aspirations, dreams! Book of Beginnings, Story without End, Each maid a heroine and each man a friend.”
So, what is “Youth Hood”?. Youth is when you dare to look into the eyes of the world, when you look at life from your point of view, when you try to solve the problems your way, when you have too many  questions but no answers, when your life’s moto becomes “Do or Die”, when pleasure is in climbing the walls rather than using the open gates, when “Whys” and “Hows” keep popping in your mind, when you think your parent’s are the ATM machine, when “cool” and “hot” are the only adjectives you remember, when FASHION becomes the first priority, when flying without wings seems worth a try, when you laugh in the face of danger and of course when Love is everywhere and studies. Nowhere! If you start experiencing all this then….Hey Welcome to Youth Hood!!! A lifetime to go flashing from one end of the world to the other, to hear the chimes at midnight, to see the sunrise in town and country, to wait for the dark and gloomy night just to see the twinkling stars, to run a mile to see a fire and to take the sunny side of the road instead of the shady one….This is what we call Youth hood.

Youth are always challenging and daring. Young men desire to invent than to judge, to execute than to counsel and are more fit for new projects than for settled business. But then again, youth is not a time period of life, it’s a state of mind. It’s not a matter of rosy and pink cheeks and red lips. It’s a matter of will, quality of imagination, a vigor of emotions. It’s the freshness of the deep springs of life. It does not require reasons for living. It only needs pretexts.
 
As a whole, youth is the one who keeps its country alive, determined, sound and prosperous. It is surely the strength and hope of a nation. We live in an age when to be young and to be different can no longer be synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims of the future are represented by suffering millions; and the Youth of a nation are the trustees of prosperity. Youth is the first victim of war; the first fruit of peace. It takes 20 years or more of peace to make a man; it takes only 20 seconds of war to destroy him.