End of the World in 2012

Lots of people have written about the doomsday scenario which awaits us according to the Mayan calendar in 2012. I couldn't help but think that whether the world reaches its doomsday in 2012 or not, Pakistan probably will because of acute water shortage. The statistics are staggering. The per capita availability of water has already come down to 1200 cubic meters (one of the lowest in the world) from 5000 cubic meters at the time of independence. And before we reach our end because of the water famine, which would be severe enough to kill every Pakistani of hunger, we seriously need to start conserving water.

Due to climate change, increased heat and lesser rain, the water level of our rivers and lakes has become pretty low. The average global temperature has increased by 0.5degrees centigrade in the past 100years and the annual rainfall in the Potohar region alone has decreased from 1702.9mm to 1691.3mm i.e 15-20%.

There are only 3main reservoirs (Tarbela, Mangla and Chasma), which are storing our water, but they too have become filled with silt thereby reducing the efficiency by more than half. It is high time that we realize how important water is going to be in the next few years.

The future of water is the future of mankind, which calls for establishing sustainable ecological policies, developing and implementing new technologies and harnessing available expertise. An often quoted fact is that “water is one resource that cannot be generated, it can only be preserved.” therefore we should start saving every drop of water or be prepared to face wars, famine and the end of our nation.

Save water to save yourself!

To read more blog posts, visit http://yello.pk/profile/blog

Abu is no more

Last year on this date my world shook and i had nothing to say about it. I was devastated and shocked. I was shaken really hard by life. I did not know how to react and i could find no words to describe my loss. I had lost abu.

I never mentioned his condition that he was in for the past two years, and i could not mention his death either. I just did not feel like it. Mentioning about his brain hemorrhage and coma and then his death on Facebook seemed like i was making fun of him somehow. It seemed too personal to even ask for people to make dua for him. It was my grief and i knew it could not be shared with anyone.

So many people posted messages about him, wrote beautiful obituaries about him or their memory of him and updated their profile pictures with him on his death because they loved him and wanted to show it but it only hurt and angerd me more like they were disrespecting him somehow.

I could not believe it for at least 4 to 5 months that he is gone and would not return. It did not settle in that i will not be able to hear his voice again and will have to only cherish my last phone call with him to remember his voice. I still felt he was there in his room and us in the hope that he will wake up from his coma.

After it sunk in that he's really gone, i realized that i have to meet him, i have to hear his voice again and talk to him again. And so i have to be like him, pray 5 times a day and do zikr of Allah n everything else i am supposed to so i go to heaven and meet him. I don't know if this is the right motivation for Jannah or not but i am living for it now. I am far away from being a good muslim but i want to get there and become one so i can meet him and talk to him.

I miss him. Bragging about him is another thing i don't want to do as he never did it either but his duas for everyone after namaz went on for at least half an hour mashallah. He spoke softly, loved children and was mostly smiling :).

The last two years of his life were certainly a gift from Allah, for us to prepare ourselves of what was to come on 24th feb 2014. HE knows all and he knows best. Had it been a sudden death, neither of us could have come out of the shock. We would not have been able to take it. And Allah only burdens us with what we can bear.

Soon after his death, Salik got a great job, I conceived Alina, Haseeb graduated and got himself a job too.. It was all good things and like salik says lagta hai abu ne jatay hi hamari sifarish kardi. Even though there could have been nothing better in this world had he been alive to enjoy the success of his kids and joy of his grandkids but l think he's still looking after us.

May Allah grant him the highest place in Jannah and i meet him again on the day of Judgment and we walk together to Jannah! Ameen.

My family - my existence

I was trying to figure out what my family means to me and somehow when i started thinking about my mom, brain came to my mind. She is the one who guides me, who makes me think about the positives in life, see the light at the end of the tunnel and basically always make me think and feel positive. Even after so much advancements, brain transplant or creating a totally artificial brain is impossible just like a mother. She is irreplaceable.
My father would be my eyes. He helped me see the world for what it really was. Took us to foreign lands so we could see and observe other people and cultures. After he passed away, I literally felt the shine and light fade out of my eyes. There seems to be no life in them now; no laughter, no sheen. It’s like I’m looking but not watching anything. I’m smiling a smile which isn’t reaching my eyes.
My husband is my body. Without him, I’ll be paralysed. He is my hands and feet. He backs me up and supports me to move forward and catch things that come my way. He is extremely critical for my existence and by taking care of my body, i feel inner harmony. He gives me balance. In short, my body and soul are inseparable till death.
My kids would definitely be my heart. The only organ that decides the death of a person. A person maybe blind or brain dead or paralysed but if his heart stops beating, he’s considered dead. Hearts are amazing organs, they never stop pumping and never take a break, just like in motherhood and that’s what i feel my kids are to me; My heart.
My brothers are my backbone, my support, always trying to make me comfortable and the reason I stand so tall n proud.
May Allah protect my body n soul and keep each organ healthy and intact. Ameen.

Pakistan is no Less!

I just came back from Istanbul, Turkey after a short vacation and i already feel ready and refreshed for some serious work. No doubt Turkey is beautiful but I realized Pakistan is no less. Except for the organization part, where Turkey and Pakistan can not be compared, Karachi and Istanbul are very much alike. The kind of infrastructure that Istanbul has is similar to that of Karachi, even the landscaping is kind of similar like having a sea shore like Karachi's. The only difference between Karachi and Istanbul is that Turkish people have developed their tourism industry.

Look at Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, their economy is completely based on tourism when they only have beaches to boast about. They are a poor nation or should i say were a poor nation while Pakistan on the other hand has everything from beautiful sandy beaches to highest mountain peaks and yet we don't market them well.

Being a marketing person, i would say it is all about packaging and promoting it well. Only if we have proper sites and information related to all the things we have to offer then foreigners would know how beautiful and full of natural resources our country is, just like we found everything online from hotels to tour package to places we should visit for Turkey.

However for that, we must also update and improve our hotels and facilities available there because if tourists come and find things differently, they'll have a bad image about us.

Anyway, right now the kind of instability that is prevailing in Pakistan is making its inhabitants move away then foreigners who are so panicky, why would they ever come here. The stock market went down by almost 500points the other day as well and Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs) is also being pulled out.

This was not the way how i wanted my blog to go. I wanted it to be a little ray of hope for everyone and just to create awareness that we really need to develop our tourism industry but sadly the situations of today simply make it impossible to be positive about anything!

I'm Proud of you Pakistan!

Congratulations Pakistan for creating a Guinness World Record yesterday by planting the most plants in a day. Earlier records of Mexico and India for planting 348,493 and 447,874 plants respectively were broken down by a great margin and 532,887saplings were planted in a single day.

I would like to commend the ministry in cooperation with the Sindh forest department, the local
people and the sole sponsor National Bank of Pakistan, on their efforts to organize such event. The event was organized in Keti Bander near Thatta district where Mangrove Saplings were planted. 300 planters belonging to the community living in the Keti Bandar area
began planting mangroves with the sunrise and continued till the sunset. I would've loved to attend the event but couldn't do so because of the distance.

The thing i liked best about that event was that only natural daylight was availed and no artificial lights were used. The event, besides winning an esteemed position in the record book, was
aimed at involving the nearby population in eco-conservation and income
generation.

18th August 2009 has already been red-marked on my calendar, when another such event would be held. The day would be declared as National Forest Day and all segments of the
society would be mobilized to plant as many trees as possible throughout the country. Through my blog i dare to hope that people reading it would plant trees in their city or at the least near around their neighborhood.

To read more blog posts, visit http://yello.pk/profile/blog

End of the World in 2012

Lots of people have written about the doomsday scenario which awaits us according to the Mayan calendar in 2012. I couldn't help but think that whether the world reaches its doomsday in 2012 or not, Pakistan probably will because of acute water shortage. The statistics are staggering. The per capita availability of water has already come down to 1200 cubic meters (one of the lowest in the world) from 5000 cubic meters at the time of independence. And before we reach our end because of the water famine, which would be severe enough to kill every Pakistani of hunger, we seriously need to start conserving water.

Due to climate change, increased heat and lesser rain, the water level of our rivers and lakes has become pretty low. The average global temperature has increased by 0.5degrees centigrade in the past 100years and the annual rainfall in the Potohar region alone has decreased from 1702.9mm to 1691.3mm i.e 15-20%.

There are only 3main reservoirs (Tarbela, Mangla and Chasma), which are storing our water, but they too have become filled with silt thereby reducing the efficiency by more than half. It is high time that we realize how important water is going to be in the next few years.

The future of water is the future of mankind, which calls for establishing sustainable ecological policies, developing and implementing new technologies and harnessing available expertise. An often quoted fact is that “water is one resource that cannot be generated, it can only be preserved.” therefore we should start saving every drop of water or be prepared to face wars, famine and the end of our nation.

Save water to save yourself!

To read more blog posts, visit http://yello.pk/profile/blog

What is wrong with us?

The blog "True or false" inspired me to write this piece. As per a news, a christian guy was beaten up for drinking tea at a dhaaba withouth declaring his religion to the owner who had put up a sign board asking customers to do so...

Can anyone believe it? I most certainly can't!!! I would certainly term this act as CRAZY. It is too odious and monstrous an act to stab that poor person with kitchen knives, hit him with rods and clubs just because he mistakenly drank tea in a muslim's cup!

This is the problem of Pakistanis, we don't have any patience left for any deviation.This problem could've been easily resolved peacefully. If the owner was such a fanatic and didn't want to share his burtan with non-muslims then he could've quietly thrown the cup away without demeaning the christian guy for being of a different religion.

Pakistanis have always been very egocentric and it is our intolerance to other cultures that turns us in to such radicals. We believe that our culture is the best and all other cultures and religions are below us while we are superior to all. I feel this is the reason we lost a major part of Pakistan in the form of Bangladesh too; because we wanted Urdu and English as the official languages of Pakistan even though Bengalis were in majority. We always took them as below us even when they were providing all the rice, cotton and sugar for the west Pakistanis to consume.So of course they retaliated and got a seperate country for themselves.

There is a dire need to understand and accept other cultures otherwise Pakistan would further divide into five more countries; Sind, Karachi, Baluchistan, Pubjab and Pakhtoonsitan.