Refresh August 20, 2009

It has been a while since I blogged.

Because at some point there was too much happening, with my final year and then the numerous good byes *IBA, Saudi Arabia, Karachi, Friends, Lahore, Islamabad, Family* before I moved to what my friends lovingly call America’s Wasteland.

This is me going on a tangent, but I don’t think that Canada is that crummy. Yeah the job market sucks, but with this economy, tell me where it DOESN’T! Also, it isn’t the best place in the world. Still looking for that little stretch of heaven on Earth last I checked! So anyhow, moved here, looking forward to living with my own family after 4 years. Knowing that it was a risk career wise, *who wants to hire a fresh grad from a foreign country of pretty miserable repute*.

But I guess I am on some sort of track to where I want to be eventually. Studying HRM at York University. If I get done with all my courses this fall, I should be able to the first exam of CHRP (Certificate for Human Resource Professionals). My biggest peeve right now is the fact that there are barely any jobs out there right now. And they all want you to have lots of experience. And there’s already a lot of experienced, recently laid off people out there.

Being an ultra faarigh person and various technologies at hand *blackberry, iTouch, laptop, PCs at work and school* and then this sudden mushrooming in friends’ blogs *note to self, update blogroll* I decided I have really no excuse anymore.

So this time, lets do it right!

rahima academy =D February 21, 2008

its one of those things that everyone’s experienced…something everyone has been serious about…something that everyone SERIOUSLY wants to forget…but the thought of which still brings a smile to our face (probably because we’re glad about the long string of changes we’ve braved and excelled at today!)

for a while…just for the hell of it..and for the joy it brings…

rewind to that kiddie mode…when being 12 was *cool*…at least in my school it was…we got our own locker and felt really special swirling around those combination locks!

elementary : kg-4: the highlight of our lives was recess! our lunchboxes and choosing friends…kiddie cliques and cooties..rock paper scissors (yasmin always won there!)…loving your teachers…working on our science projects…fighting with the librarian to make sure that we got the newest books…hunting for treasures in the library…mrs fernandes..mrs valente…mrs taboy

5-6: the love hate relationship era…love hate ur family, girls, boys,teachers..EVERYTHING…preteens and puberty! my most distinct memory of this…dressing like the rest of my GIRLS…buying exactly the same overalls (black) and dressing alike with red shirts…and then we had the parallel clique which decided to wear blue…hehe…dumb kids we were…oh and getting told off by mrs marcos for chasing abbas around campus…playing basketball (even before kuch kuch hota hai)…seeing friends go thru their first crushes…do u remember sex ed and the strange looks we gave each other after coming back from those segregated classes! hehe…mrs vaz *and the way we threw her a baby shower*..mrs barrett and her resemblance to disney witches! kareem dabbagh and backstreet boys..and sana and divya! hehe..mrs sundar who made math so so enjoyable

7-8: getting together,dancing like freaks and spilling our souls *bonding*…shahrukh khan! (most people cant even understand this weird aspect of my personality..obsession with shahrukh khan…what can i say..a bit of my childhood is still alive in meee..hehe)…hira , yasmin, and sarah..do u remember how we fought about those posters zara got us…hehe…we wouldnt quite be the people we are today if we didnt (pretend to be) mature then! relationships and all the trash they bring…and about how pathetic it can be being in the middle of a relationship! making friends for life =) ….abbas…zeeshan..playing cricket…sneaking in class…cheating! (recall arabic culture and american history and algebra and *sigh* we cheated too much!)..flattering mrs oliveira…making fun of mrs khan and mrs james (she’s such a sweetheart she’s teaching my third brother Haseeb now and still remembers me!)…learning french and feeling sophistiqué!

and now this picture on facebook! life really does come full circle!

spot me if u can!

 

 

 

to abbas and the rest of my schoolhouse friends…from those i met in that trailer in mrs fernandes’ class till the ones i fought with next to the lockers! love u! wouldnt quite be the person i am today without u! and our secrets and memories stay in that group! hehe

hugs

life etc June 10, 2007

why are there limits…u know the thought crosses my mind every calculus class…sucha boring course that is, but apparently i have to get thru it to get my BBA…and the irony of it is that we have just one HR course in the whole bachelors program…as if i give a crap about why a line is curved the way it is and whats stupid function if applied would result in such a line…if it were upto me , i’d just pick up a piece of paper and draw squiggles…why complicate life needlessly

*sigh* mathematicians needa life…all that intelligence wasted away on the functions of a particular curve..yeesh

im still internship less..purely becasue i applied to a cpl of top notch companies and assumed that merit would reign supreme..so much for idealism..all that u really need for a job in pakistan is one good contact!

the heat is unnerving…and im lucky enough to have electricity most times of the day…my heart goes out to the poor souls who dont even have an operational fan in their homes..no thanks to the hyperefficiency of KESC…

budget’s out…and OUT  it really is…see a lot of idealism there…i guess the GOP prefers to ignore the corruption that makes every strategy void! the one thing they should really zero rate is power generating machinery…and they should lather a 200% duty on all the luxuries…cell phones, cars, air conditioners….if u want em, either pay the duty or buy local! or else sell your nation to the dogs…you know people whine all the time about what they are to do to get pakistan about this rut….how about u stand up for whats right! its infantile logic really…sach bolo! be true to yourself and be honest in whatever you do! defend the pakistani economy by buying local! why expect the government to do everything…try paying for your electricity bills instead of taking it illegally!

i saw for the first time in my life, riots, rights in the heart of elitist karachi *schon circle*…just because of electricity outages…and politicians have the nerve to harp about prosperity…

im getting too worked up. so fullstop to that.

im going to be more regular in my blogs now…purely because i need some sort of catharsis every so often. im all the more glad if reading my catharsis brings relief to others!

The Judicial Crisis May 12, 2007

           Light

                                               Shadows~
Sardar Mohkim Khan

The lack of time
And lack of breaths
Dying thoughts
And confined breadths
The length of all
And so does height
I climb and walk
yet no sign of Light~

 

I walk a countless miles (yet more)
And all around I see
The crying faces
The broken souls
Begging for Life
That can be whole
And not an answer to all the prayers

In darkened Light, lurk
Shadows of despair
And yet no answer comes
And not a smile stitched
I passby a countless teary eyes
And the rivers of sorrows; bridged~

Some call themselves masters
And some pretend to know it all
Many know nothing of Life but
It rises and its falls~

——————–

I fear not darkness
But search for Light
For darkness is it’s absence;
Which itself is undefined~

The wars that have been waged
The terror that through time has raged
Havoc all around
Life runs,
When Death lurks around
No reason to greet
With a smile,
A person strange
Nor time to lend
To age old friends
Coccooned within ourselves
Are we?
Unknown to Mind
To the Soul
The Heart is~

Random paths
Chosen
And puzzled
Words said
We are all followed
By all that we have led~

The brutality of today..the clash of egos..and then this beautiful poem by a very sensitive poet! Hail the conscience! and many thanks to my friend Sardar Mohkim Khan

i have a philosophy final tomorrow May 6, 2007

the course is called philosophy of islam…i don’t pay attention is class (like everyone else). but yet am getting a good grade in the course….there was that brief threat of an F after i got a 7th absence organizing a seminar….but the teacher has promised me that i won’t get an F…theres nothing worse than an F for a lameass course like philosophy of islam on your transcript….that too when you’re one of the better grades in the course in the semester

to those who are a bit lost, my University has a regimented attendance policy, one that says that if in the duration of the semester, you are absent for more than 6 times in a course, you are awarded an F, and thus bring your GPA down marginally…plus you have to repeat the course…

i have a bad headache, its really hot, i cant be bothered to study financial management cz the exam is on Wednesday and i only have one chapter left to do

and yes im not studying philosophy bcz the teacher is a kind old soul who tells us the questions beforehand, along with the answers…as long as we know them, and can bullshit about them, we’re good….you’d think everyone gets As….but see theres a catch…no one really knows what he grades on….even when two people have identical answers, he chooses to give one an F and the other an A….and its not related to class participation, or how chummy you are with him out of class…indiscriminate marking in every sense of the word

oh and i’ve booked my tickets with the new budget airline , air arabia…their tickets are computer printouts, they don’t serve meals on board *so yeah u grab a value meal before u get on board*…and their tickets are realllllyyy cheap

i really should be studying!!

http://tastyresearch.wordpress.com/2006/12/26/the-effectiveness-of-self-imposed-deadlines-on-procrastination/

guess who’s back in blogging action May 1, 2007

*yayy*

my blog’s back after a friggin 5 months

pakistani servers are weird…anyway…i dont have much tiem to blog…have lots of updates….but here’s the bulletin for the time being:

• semester almost over. ends in a week….projects still pending! i submit my last one on Thursday!
• finals start Monday….and i have a really spread out schedule…so hopefully I’ll get lots of studying done
• i leave for Saudi on the 16th hopefully…going for just 10 days..to get my iqama paper work in order
• get back end may, start with my summer course *calculus…which i conveniently dropped last year*
• still haven’t got an internship…then again..I’m not the only one…about 90% of my batch *including the top 10%* don’t have jobs to their name….

and in other news: ADP had a great gig that i missed once again…courtesy of the 80’s themed farewell dinner at IBA* which was a resounding FLOP and a tribute to the 8 people in asad khalil’s life…yeesh! *i mean fine your the BASC (Business Administration Students Club…think of it as a student council) VP but hello, public servant, can u PLEASE stop harping about your friends, how you won in the elections, and how generally you and the rest of your outcast friends are ALL that..no one gives a crap!*

find gig reviews, and links to the gggrrrreeaaat Aunty Disco Project on my sidebar

today just happens to be Labour Day..and its a public holiday in Pakistan…its ironic that the white collared people get to enjoy this holiday, but the true laborers: the farmers in the rural areas, the domestic help, the drivers, the construction workers….all of them are still working!

updated January 21, 2007

it so happens that as soon as i had typed up this delayed blog below, my internet stopped working..thus the late post!

anyway…since then i’ve attended meetings and meetings and more meetings….some of them personal…others to do with my society..and yet others to do with conference work

yes its a crazy life!

also gave *and passed yayyy * the P&G test…inspite of the discouraging attitude of teachers and classmates, i’ve applied for an HR internship..according to the P&G HR Manager “dont let them discourage u…among the five most highly paid business professionals in the world, two of them are hr professionals..and its easier to get a jet in this line before any one else”..thank u mr saad something or the other for being a beacon of hope!

lets see if i get an interview call..there are set to be five interviews by the way…and personally ht bit i was most scared about was the test…i think i’ll do fine in the interviews

over confidence? or just plain KNOWING what im capable of? *sighs* time will tell

also im planning something large scale for my society…something along the lines of a regional social policy dialogue forum…lets see how that works out

and in other news: *randoommm*

warid has put a cap of 250 sms on *zoom unlimited* MAKING IT UNLIMITED NO MORE..and to add to misery has inflated the price a rupee *yes im whining about a rupee*

i like the new talkshawk ad…think its got this very chhaiya chhaiya-esque cuteness about it

i also love the soundtrack for salaam-e-ishq

the sajania song and video score high!! love them!! *yayy i learnt how to post videos on my blog!*

the olpers ad, and the bigg apple ad are *WTF is going on in pakistan!! wheres the authority thats supposed to regulate advertising!! and the sad bit is that BOTH products are homegrown, not MNC

shilpa shetty has been crying her heart out in big brother…her poise is admirable, and that other nasty female jade has been voted off the show…since its celebrity big brother, the nasty females have lost business and contracts
catfight

i have to do laundry

oh i had two days off…and did nothing but laze around and read uber bizarre stories from the Roald Dahl book “Someone Like You”…

i havent read today’s newspaper

hira left!! without meeting meee…but yeah sarah’s in town so we should have a nice girly meet up cum shopping spree

my khala had a baby girl! and we’re soooo happy for her..i’ve yet to see pictures of baby zarmeena but my taz hasnt sent them to me yet….oh and the irony is that i have a cousin named zarmeen *female* on my fathers side…and this new cousin is called zarmeena…how confusing!!

and then theres the very sad news of my papa’s best friend being diagnosed with last stage brain tumor…have been horribly upset about that and that deserves a post of its own really..i dont want ot joke about it and play around with it…he is a great man..and to know that his days are numbered is downright painful :’(

delayed January 10, 2007

i travelled to karachi on the night of the fifth…we got there before time *just like the ticket told us* …the flight ended up being around 2 hours late…not as bad a wait as most flight delays are…bad weather was the *credible* cause cited…

anyway..got on the plane..haseeb sadi was on our flight *reading that haseeb* so nabeel sat with him…ohh it was a such a pathetic flight..not as bad as typical syrian air flights are…but pretty bad!!

the thing is that saudi arabian airlines had diverted all its karachi flights for the hajj season….and had sold all its reserved seats to syrian air…which means we pay for a great airline..and end up flying back and forth on a REALLY crappy one..one the way to dammam nabeel and i felt more like we were travelling on a stinky bus…it was overcrowded, filled with laborers who didnt abide by the no smoking rules…we had to sit right at the end of the plane…in the tail!..if anything at all, it had a great view…saw the sun come up over the clouds …

airplane food is bad…but this food is bad *font 72*…smells funny

on the way to saudi they gave us a tray which nabeel and i estimated cost the airline no more than 30 rupees…consisted of a stale slice of cake…an overripe banana…and a sandwich that seemed to have been made a week ago…oh and they also serve fake coke/fanta/sprite

anyway…i’ve gone off course! we had to verify that the baggage to be put on the plane was ours or not…hehe…before we got on the plane..we were made to walk out on the frigid tarmac and point at our luggage so that it could be put into the plane..i dont think ANYONE has ever had to do that…pathetic airline!

before that we had trouble finding the gate…the guy at the counter who checked us in told us one gate, the airport information board said another, and then there was a third one being announced on the public address system….now dammam airport is huuugee..rumored to be the biggest in the middle east..to walk from one gate to the other takes a good 10-15 minutes..in spite of the electronic walkways…so walking all over was quite annoying…liked the art on the walls on the way though..and also discovered the Royal VIP lounge..hehe…looked royal enough!!

by the time i got on the *almost empty* plane..i was realllly tired and sleepy…nabeel as with haseeb in the back and i saw this as a good opportunity to get some sleep..there isnt anything else u can do on the plane…except the girl next to me was very talkative…if i had met her some place else, we wdve become the best of friends…but in that stinky cramped plane where i was already cranky..her talk was just plain annoooyyyiiinnngg

anyhow…got off the plane and braced myself for the long passport/immigration line…the first 2 hajj flights had landed the very same time as us…so we found ourselves in lines with VERY pushy hajis..they seemed to have that attitude about them *get out of the way u worms…we’re hajis…we’re superior now*…not in my queue lady!!

got out of immigration…*sometimes i wonder how it would be to an immigration officer..looking at boring passports every day…and having to deal with rowdy crowds…i guess that goes for airplane stewards and stewardesses too…but the ones on syrian are actual vile..have a serious B.O. problem..and dont understanda word of english..its a friggin INTERNATIONAL flight…is the IAAA reading out there?!

got out of baggage claim and finally got outdoors…*”my favorite bit,” says haseeb, “i feel like a celebrity!”*…and indeed there were SWARMS of people outside…most of them there to greet the returning pilgrims *haseeb:”look all the girls with the flowers and garlands!! they’re all there for me!!”*…and for once due to the excessive rose garlands, entering into karachi smelt good…the terminal was so crowded they had personnel in place to let the luggage trolleys pass through…got out into the karachi morning air, and took a cab home..stayed there for half and hour..and the got on the point to university…

it felt good to see all my fwwends…also nice to see the returning BBA8/MBA batch, who were away for a six month internship..but since i was delayed by a couple of days i wanted to check out my courses and teachers…cant really complain much..the IBA Admin seems to be showing some genuine concern for our batch and finally giving us good teachers…though my seniors assure me that theyre all crap, i seem to think otherwise…we have 4 courses with the word management in them…and our teachers have started calling us professionals…for once we have a financial management teacher *Zia ul Haque* who knows his stuff…a managerial accounting teacher *Aman U Saiyed* with a southern accent and loads of anecdotes to match his accounting knowledge…a methods of business research instructor who cracks the silliest quirks in class and has taught us before *S.M.Saeed* who i like inspite of his BS *so far we have been told that “the best way to motivate your researchers is to give them a sweet danda”…! pretty outrageous*…a philosophy of Islam teacher who talks all airy and loves to rant *”language and words are mere breath!!” he says*…good old TJ *tic tac toe! third semester in a row*, who’s teaching us Management of Pakistan’s Economy and is so far giving out the same handouts to both us and the BBA 4s doing Analysis of Pakistani Industries…:D…we also have a Mr. Kamran *youngish* teaching us Productions and Operations Management…unfortunately he has to share the course with Mirza Sardar *who’s the head of the Management Dept at the IBA, and cant teach cause he recently had bypass surgery* who sits at the back of the classroom and acts all busy shuffling papers and gets up from time to time *”if Mr. Kamran would allow me to encroach on five minutes of his time, i just wnated to addd….” to which Mr. Kamran looks on helplessly to Mirza sahab and the clock for the next 10 minutes*

hehe..since ive pledged to attain nerd status, and subsequently get a presentable GPA this semester, im studying and paying attention in class..so far..!…its only my third day at uni so i cant see my promise going far…but lets be optimistic shall we

also practicing math questions like mad for the upcoming P&G test…i think id be ready to give the GMAT once im thru with the practice…my math instructor is ammar habib khan..and just happens to be a math genius…speeding thru questions while im still lost sumwhere in the last question…but i was very happy today when i did questions today and didnt get a single one wrong ..ammar, on the contrary, got a couple wrong..much to my glee, and to which ferial told ammar “doob maro ammar!!”…hehe…guess im soaking up his math knowledge..muahaha

u know this has turned ou to be a pretty long blog…but i had fun typing it up..dont care if u guys dont read it all..hehe

u know what i was going to start typing about meetings…but i guess i’ll put that in another blog! not meeting details…but mebbe minutes!

ms gowri December 20, 2006

one of the many pleasures of growing up in the middle east is the fact that u have access to all of the european consumer institutions so to say, while keeping the muslim ethos intact…be it malls or shopping centers or hypermarkets…we have access to the latest brands from all over the world…barr the abayas,add some pork products and an alcohol section and u’d be in europe

when shopping yesterday, drifting from section to section, i saw a head with the longest braid ever..just one sight of her head and i knew who she was…her long beautiful braid had caught my attention the first time i met her, and it had introduced me again to her yesterday

ms gowri just gave me a look, and as always, there was a big smile on her face…we hugged and screamed and wanted to know everything about each other immediately…i told her about doing my bachelors from the same institute of which i had shown her the prospectus of a few months before graduating, telling her “i’ll never get in!!”….and she always said, u will abeer, u will get in and do a lot more! yesterday she said with a twinkle in her eye “see, i told u u’d get in”…and then i saw a baby in her hands…she started telling me about rishi *her baby boy* and vaishnavi (vaishu) who was now a girl of 5-6…we saw her when she was much younger, so she didnt remember us…but meeting with miss gowri was such a pleasant surprise..brought on memories

i first met miss gowri when i was in 11th grade…there were only 2 a level accounting students *rafiqa and myself* and 3 economics students *rafiqa myself and nicole*…she taught us both courses…i remember all three of us girls sniggering in the back when we first had class with her..she was a shy quiet thing…smelling of curry, with a sharp indian accent…kohled eyes and the looong braid we always marvelled and nicky played around with

most of our classes we tried to distract her, trying to talk about anything but economics…forgetting that we had cambridge exams to give in a few months, and instead ms gowri confessing to us that she would never have another baby because she hated pregnancy and childbirth…telling us about weird south indian customs like never being allowed to cut ur hair…and her opinion about the *promiscuous* and downright *vulgar* arab students…”they cover their head and they still do like this?!!”

rafiqa and i went thru a phase when we used to imitate her accent and nod our heads similarly…we never did it in front of her…she was such a sensitive thing, she couldve burst into tears…we used to do it behind her back…and once, during accounting class rafiqa and i didnt realize but we were doing it in front of her…we gave each other a look and felt horrid about it…went upto ms gowri and apologized…she forgave us immediately, but gave us more work to do than usual

i loved high school…especially senior year *12th grade*..we were 10 students in one section *a level section* and 10 in the other *SAT section*…i can honestly say that be it teacher or our core of 10-11 students *shakir from the other section used to spend more time with us than he did with his section* we were the BEST of friends..teasing, confessing,talking, wondering about the life that lay beyond graduation

a disadvantage of growing up the middle east is that u leave ur international group, and u KNOW that its never going to be the same again…the probability of such a multiethnic group meeting up in the future is pretty slim…*sighs*

but u meet one or two people once in a while *like i do when i come down here every six months*..and u bridge the distances via the internet…but just isnt the same…looking at pictures of school on facebook the other day, i didnt even realize it but i was smiling and had tears pouring out of my eyes…they were such good days…at the time , we only used to whine about school and saudi arabia..but now that we’re away from it, we cherish those memories and miss it like hell

me , and nicole sitting on me, hajra sitting on nicole, and rafiqa sitting on hajra…the little *bye* u can see in the corner was ms demir’s *our math teacher* way of saying bye…she used to write on the walls

to all my girls, and my guys, and my teachers and friends from school…i know i have told u all..but i just want to tell u again..i love u!

thank u ms gowri, for reminding me about life’s most important thing…which in spite of this loooong piece, i still havent been able to find a word for *sighs*

im finally hooommmeee December 19, 2006

im finally hooommmeee

its very very very cold here in saudi arabia…but i wouldnt have it any other way

having so much free time after a period of nonstop work feels like bliss..i really needed my holiday!!

this would be my first actual post on my new blog…have put in quite some work into it…played around with the widgets

oh and do tell me if u like the music

i couldnt decide what to go for…the website gives me limited options when it comes to the songs i can play

found a song called
*uff yeh greencard* hehe

but in the end i was left to choose between a tabla piece and chinese classical music

since most of my contacts are of desi origin, and mustve definitely heard a tabla in their life, im going for the chinese classical piece

its not too long…wait for it to load in abt 2 mins…and then u can tell me whether i should go with it

i know its not in line with the mood of my blog…but its immensely sweet…chinese classical music, in my view is much better than that of any german composer…and i could be persecuted for that…but i think thats because german composers like bach and beethoven and all are pieces we’ve heard over and over again…they dont strike a chord….im sure they mustve been masterpieces and products of genius when they first came out…now theyre just *overdone*…

chinese music on the other hand is…unexploited…virgin territory so to say…hope u enjoy it and explore it on ur own

please leave comments!