We bake our own bread.

Hmm..so finally i started dieting.. Did i ever narrate the story about the sweet tummy of mine.. The story starts in summer of 2003 , when i realized that there is nothing wrong in continuing eating when all the others have finsihed their food... People dont mind it ...I also realized something about eating the left overs of others..there is nothing wrong in it..infact, it looks kool... so I started it with these two rules ..Later i developed others like:

• Rule 1: When you are involved in physcical activities, you dont get fat if you overeat....
• Rule 2: Eating food makes me happy..
• Rule 3: Happiness is a gift of God and i must always be celeberated it....by rewarding myself with a good food..
• Rule 4: Home made food is good for health and eating home made food wont make me fat..
• Religiously..it is better to fall in love with food as that keeps a believer away from the love of other sins.. (This is not mine... It was literally said in a religious gathering i once attended long ago..honestly...)

These new rules messed up somwhat..and mutated into some stupid logic: Description follows :

• RULE1--> When i am standing , i am doing a physical activity..so i wont become fat if i overeat while i am standing..This means that if i keep sitting the whole day working or playing warcraft 3, i wont get fat if i momentarily stand up to eat something
• RULE2--> I have lived past few years shifting many jobs and places....that made me sad...:(..so i had to do something to make me happy... and beleive me eating a cup of vanilla icecream takes away all my tension..(Btw..this property of vanilla flavour has been proved scientifically)
• RULE3-->At times it was difficult to get out of the cycle of rule 2 and rule 3.. i.e ....eat ---> become happy----> celebrate the happiness by eating more---> become happier---> celeberate more by eating more.----> REPEAT..............
• RULE4-->The rule 4 got messed up when i found that MAMA ICECREAM is a 'home made icecream'.. the rule says that the home made food never makes me fat...so i ended up in having Mama icecream as frequently as having atleast one cup daily for a very long time...(After all!! Whats wrong in having just one cup a day!!! ??) There are nearly 36 flavours of the icecream..Offcourse i have tried all of them...'Cookies and Cream' is the best one..This year i had one cup on on 20th Jan and the other on 9th Feb... .. :(.. without MAMA, I am really missing all the fun of life......
• RULE5-->Well.. I used to be very religious..and at that time i made it for sure not to fall in love with anything but food..It somehow became my prayer.....a prayer that i regularly offered to keep myself away from the horrible wordly sins.. It was basically an attempt to get Sawab.. so that i may go to heaven.. To have the delicious food available there..

These were the 'few' logical mistakes that transformed me from a slim and smart Sameer of 33'' waist to a fat but smart Sameer of something between 38" and 40".. (Please note the intentional use of smart in both the descriptions)

Anways, i was talking about the story that started in Summer of 2003... The story has different episodes..telling different phases of my life.. telling that i have lived alone for a long time...When you are alone you try to find things that can keep you happy.. For me the search resulted in Computer games and Food... So i fell in love with Starcraft , warcraft 3 along with Rahat Bakery and Mama's icecream.. I used to have lunch in office.. and then at night i wondered like zombies in search of any new 'untried 'bakery or a new good restaurant...It really feels like a loser When you go and sit all alone in a restuarant to have food ..but who cares!!!......Intially my bicycle used to be my partner in crime... These days my princess Subaru is carrying me to far away lands for the sole purpose of trying a 'NEW' taste..... Most of the times i am already full when i TRY something new, .. but ....well!! you know ...curiousity !!!!....It even killed the cat.. ...

My food story also tells about my improper knowledge of food constituents ..i.e i have never able to learn what is protien , what is fat , what is a carbohydrate...etc..etc..( now dont be surprised..i cant even differentiate between chicken and beaf sometimes ) ..so many times i ended up in eating a FAT rich diet that i thought was a PURELY PROTEIN diet.....Impressed.. :).. example: many times I have had maionese rich salads thinking they will help me in dieting.. (Chicken pineapple is still my favourite)

My food story marks 1st April 2004 as the day...when The desire to look smarter.. (Note: I intentionally used the word 'Smarter' and not 'smart')..made me start a daily walk from my the then office..PTA..to my..the then home... It was a long walk from from F-5..(near secretariat) ..to G-9 .(.Peshawar moore)...Now thats a long walk...a really long walk of 2.5 hours... I used to take the blue area route ...walking continuosly along the busy jinnah avenue used to be fun.... This continued for 3 months..... Did i lose any weight.......No.!!! .... really??.....Yes.!!!...Why???Wasnt it too much of a physical activitiy.???... ......Oh!!..! i guess i forgot to mention that there used to be a stop in my walk.. Accidently at Rahat Bakery.. It 'somehow' happened to be exactly in the center of my walking route..... So a stay at Rahat Bakers for half an hour simply balanced the equation..and so i remained in my shape even because of the 3 months of walk..

My walk ended with a foot infection that made me rest on bed for 2 weeks.. :(

After the foot infection recovery, i joined a Gym..October 2004... Gave some 4000 bucks for 3 months period.. went there for only 4 or 5 times in those 3 months.. It was really boring ...and when there is anything boring .. i have to keep myself happy....you know the rule 2..which results in rule 3 ..which results in rule 2...which results in rule 3..which results in...............................

The story recently had a new episode .. I joined a Martial Art club ( Its called Kyo Kushan).. and i also started wearing a weight-reducing-belt regularly.. I had seen its ad on TV... The ad shows a houswife working in kitchen and mysteriously a sales woman enters into her kitchen and asks her to try the new belt.. The housewife wears it and after an hour of wearing it , says she has lost an inch of her waist... so now I am trying the belt..and mind you..this is different from the infamous Suana belt whose ad is shown a lot these days on TV.... The very idea of Suvana belt is quite pathetic...One is supposed to sit near a power plug all the time while wearing it as it is not battery operated.... I heard some people got burns on stomach because of it...

Anyways, i was narrating a story...The story now tells you about this weekend ...25th and 26th Feb..

FRIDAY NIGHT (24th Feb)

After my kyokushan class, I made a visit to SUBWAY on the firday night.. You know!!!..they bake their own bread..they happen to have a board of neon lights saying so.. It was the first time i was 'trying' it.. When i ordered, the guy asked..Which bread will you like to have... At first it seemed a stupid question.. then i got the idea that they probably serve different types of breads..and i just guessed that if there are different types of breads then there will be a 'plain' one among the too....so i said.. the plain one.. it was a fluke...a correct one.... They guy took a long bread from oven and asked me wether i would like to have 6" or 12".. The question had the potential to offend an innocent person like me....but i remained kool and told him to give me 6"..He cut the bread into half and made me a 6" long burger.. (and i was thinking of having a burger 6" in height..:( .. )..It was really fun watching the guy fill the chicken roasted burger with a chutki of chicken pieces and then flling it with all kind of vegetables and sauces. The act of picking precisely three slices of tomatoes .. then putting only two in the burger .. throwing back one..then picking up three cucumber slices..putting two in the burger and throwing back one..and then repeating the same act with all vegetables .. did not make much sense to me..but i guess thats an art of burger-making which an amateur like me can never understand..

Anyways, i had the burger..It was good..really tasty... though i believe that with all those vegetables and sauces, it would have tasted the same had i ordered someother burger... The burger didnt really fill my mighty stomach..but i liked it...and it did gave me an idea of starting the search of this new type of food.. The diet food..

I went to DWATSON.. had a look at the shelf of diet foods... bought skimmed milk powder..and an expensive cereal (It was Bran Flakes:Post Healthy Classics) that promised to make me lose 10 lbs... :) ... Later , i read that it promised to do so in 12 weeks.. :(.....i.e if you eat only and only this cereal for that long.. along with increased physical activities...

SATURDAY (25th Feb)

From morning till night , I had the cereal some 6 , 7 times..though it is supposed to be taken only twice a day..and that too as a complete replacement of food.. Good dieting right!!!.. but i suppose it is rich in fiber so i wont be putting up by overeating it.. At night, i had another Subway burger ..This time i ordered a different burger and as expected had the same identical taste...this time i looked at the ingredients carefully.. On my way back , i brought frozen shami kabab, brown bread and some vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, salad kay patay, onions, Shimla mirch etc)...and at home i made a real wonderfull Subway sandwitch .... ate two sandwitches...(reminder: i had just returned from Subway).... Good diet right!!! .. and then I had a cup full of cereal before sleeping..

SUNDAY -(today -26th Feb)

Sunday morning..I changed the whole shape of my room.. How!! Oh i just cleaned all the mess..The process took my whole day.. Had the left over Shami Kababs and a lot of Diet Cereal as lunch......... At night , i went out and brought some more vegetables and 'K&N chicken patties' assuming they wont have any fat.. ....Made and ate two mighty SUBWAY style sandwitches..Made two for tomorrow ..which i will have at lunch ...

And i forgot to mention that i bought two sauces to help me continue having this diet food ..These are Mustard sauce and Mitchells Mexican Salsa ..Mustard Sauce is my all time favourite...I didnt like its taste ealier but there was a time ...a GIKI time...when i made it bound on myself to eat the 'Double Hot Dog Burger' ...Since it had double i.e two sausages so i always opted for it..As a result I got very much familiar with the mustard sauce which was alway more in the Double Burger..

I didnt like the Mitchells Mexican Salsa..yukh!! its a mixture of onion, garlic and chillie cooked up in vinegar..

OK..now i am leaving to make a cup full of cereal ..with the Skimmed milk of course ...i will have one now...This will be my night cup...and one in morning before going to office.. that will be my morning cup.

May God bless me and my dieting.. May my story have a good end..

And yeah!! i really hated the Mitchells Mexican Salsa sauce so you can have it from me anytime...

Protests in islamic world against the cartoons

This is the first time i am writing about my views on something..It might be somewhat difficlut for me..as the thing i am going to write about is very sensitive and i do not want to hurt anyone.. I believe in freedom of speech but not in insulting people.. All human beings should be respected..

One very important thing: I am not going to comment on the act of the Danish News paper.. Whatever they do is their act.. My views are about the reaction to it.

Ok.. here it goes..

If any body ever disgraces me or my beloved... then this is my nature to get angry.. so i do get angry...Every human being does...but , if i love the targetted person, than i try my best to keep the insult secret..I will not go out in the streets yelling and telling everyone that i or my beloved has been called with such such words .. This will mean that i am adding more to the the initial insult. What the muslims worldover have done is that they made so much cry that the cartoons become the talk of the town. and thus it became possible for those millions of people to see the cartoons who would not have seen it otherwise. We told everyone that we have been insulted...adding a lot more to the initial insult..


Islam is a religion of peace and it orders the followers to control their emotions at all time.. Our prophet was a great person.. someone who had a very difficult life... Giving a paradigm shift to people is really a very difficult job ..and people always get offended when someone tries to do that..but the prophet kept doing it his whole life...... Moslty he used to go for preaching alone.. ..and this made him face all kinds of people , all kinds of comments and all kinds of tortures.. People said him bad words..people said him nasty words..people threw garbage on his way..on him...People tortured him as much as they could...and it used to be his response that made him win hearts of his opponents...He was able to withstand all kind of tortures and was able to respond to it gently..There was once a time when he went to Taif , gave his message there, told the people about what they never wanted to hear and then faced the most torturing time of his life. When he returned from Taif , he was completely wet in blood....from head to toe.. An angel appeared in front of him asking his permission to destroy the whole of the Taif.. Taif is a valley ...located between two mountains.. The angel offered that he can crush the valley within the mountains... Considering all the humiliation, the prophet could have desired for a complete wipe out of the people who had given him so much pain but..the prohphet did the best thing with the people...He forgave them..


I understand that there are people who would say that there is no comparison in the two situations.. though I see a complete mapping...The incidents of the Prophet (SAW) are there to guide us ..to make us understand the kind of behaviour we are supposed to adopt in different situtations.. Prophet (SAW) would not have responded to the Danish Cartoons.. He faced worse things in his life and his responses were really great . We are supposed to follow his examples and not the wild beast within us.. Religion is all about taming our wild instincts .. If we can not tame it , if we can not make it behave the way the religion wants to then there is no point in praying to God.. He is not in need of our prayers . The kind of people He likes are those who can make his religion prosper by doing good and great.. through their actions...and not through their words..

Preaching doesnt mean standing in the middle of an already selected group of people to talk about the pre-agreed facts of the group to get attention and a temporary respect. In my opinion , preaching is done through your actions in extremely bad conditions... your behaviour in anger shows what you are .. like the prophet who preached by forgiving the people of Taif after all the torture and humiliation....Thats the real act of preaching...the real person hidden within us comes out when we are angry...and it is this person who preaches the true teachings .....It is the sound of actions of that 'real person' who effects the hearts of its audience..

There is an important thing about the difficult situations that we face in our daily lives... the way islam wants people to interpret thier difficult situations is to consider them (the situations) as a test... Its like a question paper in an exam.. He makes easy questions and he makes diffcicult questions.. so no matter what kind of question you get..you are supposed to answer it...you are not supposed to make angry comment on it...cause Cursing the situation is like cursing your examiner... whenever you are giving a paper and you get a difficult question, You do not curse your examiner ...instead, you try to answer it , making sure that you get the best marks for it..thiking about it more than the other easier questiona..but you do not yell on the question.....Parallel: The current situation is something from God for the muslim..with the sole purpose to think of an answer to it.. not to go out in the streets to complain about it.. The rule is that you accept the God's given situation and then you see how are you supposed to behave... ...Complaining never helps.. Muslims are supposed to see the whole matter with an open mind.. They must see where they are going wrong.. What do the cartoons mean.. Why arent they . the Muslims, being respected... .. Based on the analysis , they must correct themselves... They must set their paths straight... every criticism leads to an oppertunity to become a modified being.. so the criticism should always be welcomed..

The cartoons accuse mulims of violance..They do not say anthing against the prophet..(Infact, i believe there is nothing anyone can ever say against the prophet(SAW)...but that is a whole seperate issue)....and what the muslim do is that they come out in the street , burning buildings , cars , markets and killing their own people... Thus, showing violence ..proving the point ..


The whole Islam's philiosophy (or perhaps all religions') is to refine oneself....to get better and to act in the best way possible.. Islam doesnt dictate us how we should be treated..it tells us how we should treat others....so the rules are for us.. The world outside the muslim domain is allowed to do whatever they want, they have not been given the responsibility.. We have been ...We are the responsible ones... It is us who have to set things straight.. Not them... It is expected from them to make mistakes ...but not from us.. 'cause we are the muslims and we come packed with a whole set of responsiblities..


When you properly follow a religion for sometime , a time comes when the religion becomes a part of you.. You start doing the religious acts without even knowing them.. At that time, you dont have to follow the religion... why? because then there is no need to.. You become the religion..

I wonder why we are failing to reach that level.... May be because it requires thinking and the way we are brought makes us stop thinking..We are clearly told not to think on the religious issues as that can make us go stray..in reality, when you think about something with an open mind you become more clear about it.. Seeing something from both perspective makes us see the real thing... It does not really have to take us to the wrong side... And those who are afraid to take such a risk are afraid and are not sure of their religion.. They are not sure that the religion is strong enough to pull them back..

I say..if the aim is to have people having such kind of a religion ...then there is no need of such religion..a proper understanding of the religion is what makes people able to make decision at run time..in their angry moments...in their frustrated moments.. in their down times...thats what makes the inner person behave like a human being ..

I said earlier ..that i wont comment on the act of Denamrk's press..I should not..They are not muslims and they are not supposed to act the muslim way.. but its us who are supposed to act in the muslim way... Islam does not tell us how we should be treated...Islam doesnt dictate to non-muslims about what they should do and what they should not..It is for us.. the muslims...It gives orders to the muslims only ...

One thing that really amazes me is that we are full of hate against west.. ..we are told in our childhood that west is evil.. When i grew up and when i joined a big religious organization , i was repeatedly told that life of the people in west is like some shit packed in a shiny tin container.. The container shines from outside , looks attractive but from inside it is shit... (A lighter note:later i used to think: wow!! so there are people who are attractive.. atleast from outside.)

I am not very much in favour of the west life...or the west people...cause I have never seen how is the life out there...but i am strongly in favour of the realization of the idea that the Muslims are responsible for every thing here.. They are supposed to bring peace here..they are supposed to spread islam by preaching through their acts...they are supposed to show how to forgive and to sacrifice and to win respect for themselves...that is our purpose ...thats why we are here...

Me busy

In the past few weeks ..time passed like a moving bullet .. Too much do to.. Too little time.. Sitting late in office has become a habit now... A few things that have happened to me are:

• I passed my first Teradata paper...There are 6 papers which everyone in NCR has to pass; i passed the first one.. gave a test after a very long time..It was my first CBT (computer based test) ever.....I was EXTREEEEMLY TENSED before the paper..(getting tensed is my habbit since the time i started appearing in exams)... but i got 97% marks..WOW..!!! will be giving other 5 papers soon. After that i will become Teradata Master and i will be awarded with a Jacket (not with my name on it , but 'Teradata Master' on it) by the company.
  
• I was able to 'maintain' my body figure and weight for an year.. I remained 95 Kg heavy and enjoyed a 38-40" waist ...but now once again my weight has become directly proportional to time so i joined a Kyo-Kuschen club as an equal and opposite reaction .It is a 'mixed' martial arts club..where i will be working out 3 days a week for nearly an hour..I have been to such clubs before but couldnt continue..I have been to only 1 class uptill now..and i really enjoyed it...
  
• I am getting emotionally connected to the cartoon protests that are being 'performed' all over the country.. It was shocking to know about the destructive steps that people took in the name of religion. I have developed very strong opinions about the whole Cartoon issue which i will write later whenever i'll get time..
  
• Most important: i finally managed to configure the world's smallest camera (the shop from where it was bought ,claimed so ) after 2 years of buying it in 2004 ...Its not that I had been working on it for all that time ..I just got enough time on the Muharram vocations ...This means that my blog will be having pics soon.

Thats it.. I plan to give the next NCR/Teradata paper on the next saturday so i might not be able to have time again..cause this next paper is more difficult and has 2 books and a web based course to study..Apart from that i have my laptop harddisk full of movies (KingKong, Scrubs Seasons etc.)..so i will remain busy for a long time..

3 cups of tea , partition magic and Papa`mon

The name of this post has its inspiration from Chronicles of Narnia:The lion, the something-i-forgot and the wardrobe.

But since i always try to make sense with things.. (though some may not agree) so in this case too, i have some sense..I intended to write these three posts at their specific times , but couldnt manage it..so i am gonna write them together with different headings ..

3 cups of tea.

This is the 2nd time i am writing all this thing.. reasons will be explained under the next heading "partition magic" . I had a busy time on the weekend before Eid.. I had planned to shift my place and the plan did manage to wear the practical shalwar (<-- wearing practical shalwar means amli jaama pehnana). i woke up on Sunday , the 7th January 2006. Started shifting at 11:30 am.. prior to shifting i had to get my things organized. The packing had to be very optimized keeping in view a few things like:

• The place from where i was shifting was on the 3rd floor.
• The place to where i was shifting was on the 2nd floor..............of an other flat....... :( i.e i will be going three floor downs and then two floors up for a complete transfer of a single package.
• Each time i will go up or down the stairs i will be carrying my tummy with me. (read: carrying some extra weight)
  
• I will be doing the whole shifthing alone... :(

so based on this criteria, i made packets. My monitor's coverbox came to the rescue by swallowing most of the stuff..I was able to fill my car with the first batch of luggage in evening at 5:00 pm.. I had been continously working on an empty stomach (this was my attempt : to reduce the weight of my tummy atleast for that time) . So i went to the nearby Khooka and had three cups of tea along with the mother-of-potatoe (mother of potatoe = Aaolo Qeema ). It gave me all the energy i required at that time but the real effect was felt at night at 2:00 am when i went to bed after completing the transfer of the 3rd batch of luggage.

I kept trying to sleep till 4:00 am. After that I stopped trying ..had a few warcraft 3 games (againse computer offcourse) , waited till morning.. remained unable to sleep..... went to office at office timing....had some sleep attacks but was able to understand the CMM training lecture completely.... Laughed like hell at the receptionist when she told me about a guy who was absent (i usually keep laughing the whole day if my sleep pattern ever gets disturbed , besides that i usually do not need a reason to laugh) ....... left my car at my cousin's place in the evening.... made it to Daewoo bus stand... managed to get a Chance ticket after a lot of Khuwari ...had an uncomfortable trip to Peshawar but the deep sleep during the travelling made things easier for me..

Moral of the Story: I am never going to drink 3 cups of tea again...

Moral #2. I am never going to travel in Daewoo again..

Partition Magic

I am getting familiar with my laptop and thus i am instlling all the things that i use frequently on it. the list includes Mozilla FireFox and my favourite Google Desktop 2. My increasing familiarity with the laptop made me catch the 64mb unallocated space before the C drive. I decided to allocate this irritating non-allocate piece of space using partition magic and bingo!!! my operating system was gone..

I had written my blog, the 3 cups of tea, in detail and had left it on the desktop...had so much other information stored on the Google desktop's scratch pad.....had some office related things there ....all was wasted.... My plan to complete my SQL courses couldnot wear the practical shalwar because of the OS failure. I did install the OS later but a lot of time was consumed in 'trying to retrieve the old OS again'.

Moral of the story: I am never going to use Partition Magic again.

Papa`Mon

What will be your expression if i tell you that i can heal you by simply placing my hands on your injury... yeah! i joke a lot, but this is a real thing. I learnt Reiki last year while i was doing the workshop of Silva Mind Control in Lahore . I am into such stuff since 2001 . I believe in things which most of the people around me deny. so i usually learn these things alone without a supporting group. My mother is the only person around who appreciates my learnings and on this Eid she made me give Reiki to her mother (my grandmother), the results were good. The next day i gave Reiki to my grandfather's brother. The results were so great that the next day they came to my home especially ...just to get the second treatment. The same day my mother brought my father's sister home for a treatment..and the next day , it was my father's brother who came for it..

so my mother has done a great job as my marketing manager. i am getting popular...:) .. as the family has got a peer from inside the family. Me and my little cousins brainstormed to get a name for me...I wanted it to be a bit modern so we decided the name "Papa mon-they" which is basically Papa-monday with a suppressed 'd'. The word gets its root from the urdu word "peer baba" and my excellent translation skills.

Reiki has given me a chance to be closer to my family after a long time. It gives me a confidence in learning more mind-sciences related things. It is motivating me to go Lahore next weekend to repeat the Silva Mind Control workshop.. It gives me the confidence that the 50K + money that i have already spent on all similar courses has not gone to a waste. I will write a detail of all the stuff that i have learnt in some post later .

Moral of the story: Keep believing in your beliefs even if the world around denies them.

but ...one must take some time in a while to question one's established beliefs... Thats how we refine them.. and that is a very good excercise to develop strong beleifs.

Bonus Track

I planned to come back to Islamabad a day before the end of vocations to set my new place. Since i had vowed not to travel in Daewoo again , i reached the Peshawar bus terminal on sunday, stayed there for half an hour , finally went to Daewoo , stayed there for an hour for a chance ticket, then went to the bus terminal again , stayed there for an hour....but couldnt get any vehicle.

I was lucky to finally find a neighbour who was going to Islamabad. I had a really nice trip with him.

Moral of the story. I am always going to get my seat booked at Daewoo two days before any trip.
Comment on the moral: there is nothing wrong in establishin beliefs but they must be continously revised and changed on getting any data that contradicts your earlier experiences.

A new life

A new year greeted me with a new hope.. A hope that i will be happy in my new job now..Finally.. A place where i may have temporary mental tensions for a few moments but where i have a long term peace of mind at last. Life has got a fast pace. This week passed so quickly without letting me have enough time for many things..I cant even properly recall as to what happened which day in this week. I cant properly earmark the day when i left the car keys inside my car (Have i written about my princess Subaro in detail..I guess not!!! The car really needs an introduction as it is going to be mentioned a lot in my coming blogs.. For now, i will just give my very frequently said quote on my late arrivals i.e i would have come earlier , had i not been owning a car) and then i had to bring a key maker to unlock it , the day when I had to make two two trips to Aab Para to get the keys for the place i plan to shift and even then i had to go to Sitara Market the next day to get it made again,the day i kept playing warcraft 3 till 1 at night, the day(s) when i left my Princess Subaro on road in front of ZTBL bank cause it was not in the mood .....memories are overlapping....seems i have had a good workload in the previous days...but i enjoyed it...

We finsihed the first major training of our training month today. It was a boring course but our instructor was able to keep us enjoying it the whole time. We covered a good amount of theory as well as practical work in a very fun way. As a class, the 9 of us have become very close to each other now so the time is going really great. The loneliness feelings that i tolerate at nights are compensated by the greatness of the quality of life that i enjoy at my office.. Once again i am having a life that is familiar to the life that i had as a TA in GIKI ;the best time of my life.. The job switching seems to be one of the best decisions of my life.

I plan to shift my place on this weekend (once again ...this will be my 6th place in Islamabad since Dec 2004) even though i havent got any security from current place's landlord... The guys is delaying my money for reasons that are beyond my understanding. I have always hated getting my security back from my landlords..... The new place is going to be expensive as i am not going to have a roommate which i had earlier planned to.. but i hope that either i will get someone as a roommate from office or I will get satisfied by the expenses depending on my life quality .

The query runs

My early days in NCR are like early days of GIKI.. Too much assignments with no knowledge of what to do and how to do what we think we have to do.. The day we got our laptops , we were assigned some 14 web based courses without enough information on "HOW TO DO THEM".. much of the time (in hours) was spent in "how to learn" instead of "learning".. and there were some other BIG delays (again in hours) which were caused by "OH! how to set up things on this laptop" .."I am having some difficulties in installing the Easy SET UP CDs".. "Do we have to study the courses told by the HR guy or the courses recommended by the NCR University" , "Err.!!! I passed the course test but my course status is still the same"... so in the start things were really messed up.. Now , things are going on a good track , still there is a problem of "OK... i know how to write this SQL statement, but does any one here know how to run the program that runs it..and how do i start the database server on my PC"..there are so many things/tools which we have to use for our learning but we are not very clear on how to use them and it is expected from us that we will not be needing any time to learn the these tools ..and if an instructor uses a software tool in a flashy speed then we are supposed to learn all the configurations and names etc. that he changes in some microseconds..

Anyway, the training is going good.. The teacher is great...only problem is that he says that we are not supposed to believe in every thing that he says..as he can be wrong in telling us many things.. so we are roughly getting the idea as to what is important and what is not by getting the idea of our instructor's amount of knowledge about it. but then there are times when we have to hear "ok.. now this topic is really important but i am skipping it for you people"... argh!!!!!..

The training is not without regular evaluation. We had a test two days ago and then we had a test yesterday..

FIRST TEST

The first test was to write an SQL query.. We had to do it in teams (not of our choice).. I was grouped with the only bearded guy of the batch who bluntly says that he doesnt know how to write the basic SQL commands.. .. The time provided to write down the given query was spent in understanding how to open the software required to run the query , how to run the server for it , understanding the reasons of getting the USER HAS NO ACCESS PERMISSIONS TO USE THE DATABASE error and searching the right table in the database that could give us the revenue generated by the customers...arghh!! We had to find the coulumns that could give us the revenue and we were not sure wether to multiply the product id with its price or the order number with the discounted price...Me and the bearded guy aka Naveed had a tough time together as we started fighting each other initially .. the fight ended when i told him to do things individually.... :). The marks that we got at the end of the test were only the grace marks.. as we were not able to run the query till the end.

SECOND TEST

We had the second test yesterday. Me and the bearded guy , Naveed "had to" team up again..and this time things went great.. We did ok in the verbal testing section..and later My little practice in SQL along with Naveed's efficient searching of the functions used in the end part of the query saved the day ... It was really fun.. Both of us couldnt really believe that we had really executed a query completely written by us... The test was annouced a few days ago and we were not afraid of the test as we were both sure that we will fail it..but in the end the query executed perefectly and not only that it gave the required output , we were also able to give its justification .. The test has given me confidence and it has also made me to realize the importance of team work.

with time i am learning things....and i hope i will do great in NCR.. people seem good.....The daily ranking of all the people in the batch is shown in the class daily and it gives me a real hope.. i am improving... :)

Life is tough but seems under control

Well.. even though there is a laptop , there are two very important requirements that go along with it to be a regular blogger: Free time and peace of mind...am not having any of these two these days.. so my chronicles from 23rd Dec continue in an integerated from follow :

24th Dec Saturday

I went to Giki to attend the alumni reunion. was accompanied by OC , my Final year project partner who is currently doing an MS leading to PHD degree from Sydney , University of New South WAles..

I had a good time in Giki. The new rector seems to be a good person and it seems that finally someone caring has taken the high post at Giki.. Giki is still the same old peaceful place that made me fall in love with it years ago..

25th Dec Sunday.

Laziness prevailed the whole day. I went to see Champ , Javaid , a batch mate who is suffering from TB. spent the whole afternoon with him . Later i took Vix , who had come to champs place to see him, to Nomi's place as they had to go to Amir Farooq's Marriage. It was really fun finding the way to F11 from G-10 . I had to do some heavy reading on this weekend but it ended too quickly.

26th Dec (Mnday) till 29th Dec (Thursday)

The days pass very quickly once the working days jump in life..with not much social activities , my main focus remained on learning things in NCR... The training is still going on..I had a real tough time in giving the SQL paper.. and now that i have passed it today, i still need a lot of practice work to get it fluent on my fingers. My princess subaru (my car) is giving me real tough as it refuses to do anything at all everymorning. and this makes me make a travel to the office on taxi. On monday and tuesday, i had to leave it near a busy road as it wasnt starting in the morning and i had already availed all my oppertunitites to go late to office. Even now , the princess is there at home and now that i will go home i will try to start it again.. My flatmates have started to call "Suba ru, Sham ru). translation: Shed tears in the morning , Shed tears in the evening.. The name does go with the kind of feelings one gets as the owner of the car.

Islamabad rocked again last night at 3 am. My night was disturbed realy badly . one of the flate mate lost his senses and started shouting..It was a terrible scene..I am not sure what really happened as i didnt get this chance to inquire anything later as my flatemates were asleep while i was coming office this morning.. ..These day I am bumping into a lot of people having psychologic disorders. and what my research tells me is that motst of these cases always have an association with some kind of disturbance in sleep-wake cycle. When human mind doesnt get enough sleep , some harmonal balances occur which make the brain to malfunction.

I too get some strange feelings when my sleep-wake cycle gets disturbed ,these include extreme sensitivity to the weather (i.e extreme coldness in winter , extreme hotness in summers) , pain in knee (coupled with the 'in.travel ' condition ) , and the best one is that i keep laughing the whole day.. yeah! its true. an insufficient sleep really makes my day sometimes.. :)

Life seems to be going somewhat tough

I changed my job and this became a very big change.. which is effecting my personal life a lot.. After serving in PTA for an year , i shifted to NCR to get my self occupied in work all day.. Since they have provided a laptop now, i guess it will be easy for me to update my blogs.. but then again there is a fear that i might not be able to continue my routine things , let alone this rarely practiced blogging activity...

Anyways, i had planned to start my blogging during this switching from PTA to NCR.. could'nt do it on time as internet access and free time is a pre-req to it. Roughly , i planned to write the following things in my daily blogs.

12 Dec 2005 Monday

Today was my last day at PTA. Am going to join NCR on 15th so i am leaving it 2 days earlier so that i may have some rest .. My resignation has been accepted and my notice period of one month has been waived off as well.. Thanks to the Chairman. I also got this chance to meet the Chairman.. This being my 2nd and probably last meeting with him. I told him a few things that are not right in the PTA He listened to me in a manner that i really felt that he was listening, noted some points and the meeting ended. I was happy that i told him ab out all my frustrations that i had in PTA during all the time there.

13 Dec Tuesday.

Well.. It came as no surprise to me that i had to go to PTA again to clear a few things about my job of "type approval" to Noman Jelani, the guy who is going to get the heay burden of all my job responsibilities along with his own.

14 Dec..

had some rest.. did some important stuff that was pending for long..went PTA at night when every one had left and only Taimoor was there helping Umair in making his presentation on "Network Security".

15 and 16th

Today I joined NCR...along with 6 other people.. All software guys...5 guys two girls.. The first day at NCR was great..No work to do.. We all chatted the whole day.. Topics Ranged from Animals to type of people to Jinns..etc...

17th (sat) and 18th(sun)

In my effort to be very efficient , I Read the Teradata Student Manual 1.. Just read it without understanding. Though i know something goes somewhere and is retrieved later at some stage.. spent my whole weekend on it .

19th.. (mon)

Again some free time at NCR.. setup a laptop for another guy..as they had not provided me mine..
Two more guys joined our batch at NCR ..again...both are software guys...

20th (Tue)

Got my own laptop...It was a real problem installing things on it.. really took the whole day.. also started NCR University courses. which are web based courses and one has to do it through flash based menus that involve testing along teaching..

21st and 22nd

Continued with NCR University courses . Most of the time was spent in learning things related to our login , our laptop setup and courses completion procedures.

23rd Dec Friday

Tera data factory started.. Its a instructor led class..which has got humongous amount of knowledge..an amount that a sane human brain can not store normally ..

The workshop ended near 6:30..and by now all the batch has got the idea that things are not going to be too easy..especially for me as the electronics background and no proper software background is really gonna make me put nights efforts...I guess its a bad time for me to start blogging.. but i guess now that I have got a laptop i should make a real proper use of it by enjoying my writings.

What to speak..What to blog!! ??

I feel like a person who is standing on the top of a mountain..silently looking at the massive audience.. full of the desire to speak...full of energy...but unable to decide where to start from? unable to give priority to the mental contents..unable to give the very first push....Its been so long that i am here on the blogosphere but cant post anything cause i dont know where to start from.. no idea at all... completely confused

I want to speak..I want to type..I want to see my ideas , my thoughts turning into words through my typing fingures..but then which idea..?? which thought?? Sharing life becomes too much a trouble sometimes ... I guess i am not ready...I want to share things but i am afraid ..of whom??.. i dont know... or may be i am not afraid at all.. Perhaps i am having the same feeling which people usually have before going on a stage in front of an audience..I guess that is the most accurate representation of my position. I am just hesitating... and the only way i can overcome it , is ...by taking a start..

so here I go..with nothing preplanned in mind..i am sitting here in my office ..The official time is over..had been working on an assignment for quite sometime and now I am free a bit ..

but i am getting confused again.. What to write... Whih topic to chose..Should i go about my job..Should i go about my life..should i go about my friends... What to choose and why to choose that.. but then... since its just a start ..let me start with any random thing...

Let me start with my friends.. People i really cherish in my life.. Let me talk about bodi... Kashif Bhatti...Waqar Nabi.. Momin.. Dasa.. Alvi..Rizwan Pirzada..Saleem Gul.. Farhan..Noman.. Yasir.. My mother ,... Aman.. I start thinking and find that there are so many.. Names keep coming in mind.. they keep popping in..although many of them wont recognize me as their friend anymore as much time has passed since we were last in contact... but they remain in my thoughts as people who i once interacted with...and being somewhat unsocial i happen to have a very small circle of people around me..so my relationships become very precious for me..

I want to write about all my friends...and i know when i will write ..i will miss many.. but i must not let the fear of the effect stop me from writing about them..That is a hesitation that i have to overcome..

but hey!! whats the time?? Its 6:42..I have to catch my Taekwondo class at 7:30 ... joined it to reduce my weight..had been two months..and there is no different in that bulk of mass that I carry above my waistline... i guess all those people who were giving my advices on reducing my diet were right.. I should reduce more...i.e although i already changed it from "overdieting" to "enough dieting"...it needs to go one step below.. and that means a decrease in the revenue that Rahat Bakery is generating from my regular visits.. :)

bye..me getting late for my class..
will write again later..

My details

Ok...now that i am getting some idea of blogging..I am going to start by writing about me.. I have read a lot both in favour and against blogging..and I am going to blog as an experiment to develop my own opinion about it.

My name is Sameer Shaida Durrani..and people have this habit of reading the middle part of my name as 'Shahida' thinking of me as a lady..but let me clear that i am a man..am 25 years old.. am nearly 5'9'' tall...my weight keeps on changing so i dont keep track of my weight very much.. :)

I belong to Peshawar..a city of Pakistan which has been proposed for Nobel Peace Prize.... u can check the link for details.. I have a negative opinion about this proposal but I will prefer to reserve it.. :)

I spent my very early childhood in cities like Islamabad and Karachi but I studied in Peshawar mostly.. ..After 12 years of eduction , i made it to a very good Engineering institute of Paksitan...The Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI).. I did Bachelors in Electronic Engineering from GIKI and i guess I really fell in love with the place during my studies... There are some places which you can never get out of your mind..GIKI is one such place for me.

After my engineering, I did different jobs... but most of the times i was involved with teaching...and I guess in future i will join teaching as a career...

Currently, I am working at Pakistan Telecom Authority as an Assistant Director...I am in Islamabad Headquarter... My duty is to deal with different issues in the Engineering Department of the PTA... My boss wont appreciate it if i write any thing about my job responsibilites...

I think that in order to develop a good understanding of life one should reflect one's idea about it more often... I have started blogging with this thing in mind..I want to refine my idea about different issues in life...and i really appreciate getting corrected by people, only if they use the rarely used tool known as logic..

My first blog ever

This is my first blog ever. so lets see how things go...... am just trying it..............