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!