Rocky's Fear

The ROCKY series of movies comes on the top of movie lists of all-time. There are not many movies that have come close to what the 6 ROCKY movies have done. From the character to the fights to the dialogues to the emotions, everything can be applied to life. People consider not seeing it saying its a boring set of boxing movies. I will always correct that misconception. I don't think those are boxing movies. Those are all movies easily applicable to anybody's life. The boxing ring and the fights are just metaphors.

Anyway, today I will share one of the best movie scenes of all time from the movie Rocky III where he is just not focused to fight his next fight. To be able to take back his title from the Clubber Lang (Mr. T) who was no doubt much more faster and fitter than him at the time. He loses his title early in the movie.

However, Rocky beats him in the end of course while concentrating on taking him the distance to maximum rounds as Clubber Lang, though fit, didn't have the stamina to go that far. After fighting Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in the first two movies, Apollo becomes his trainer replacing Mickey (Burt Young) who dies in the movie.

Anyway, the following is a dialogue between Rocky and his Wife Adrian (Talia Shire). I ll now let the stars take over,

[Source: Rocky III - Wikiquote]

During Rocky's training, he's is haunted by visions of the first fight with Clubber Lang and doesn't even try in his training causing Apollo to give up on him. Adrian confronts him on the beach.

Adrian: Can I talk to you? I want to ask you something important and I want you to tell me the truth.

Rocky: What?

Adrian: Why did you come here?

Rocky: I just don't want it no more.

Adrian: If it's over because you want it to be over, I'm glad.

Rocky: I do.

Adrian: It's just, you've never quit anything since I've known you.

Rocky: I don't know what you want me to say. I mean, what happened? How did everything that was so good get so bad?

Adrian: What's so bad? Tell me, what?

Rocky: I wrecked everything by not thinking for myself. I mean, why couldn't Mickey tell me where I was really at right from the start? He didn't have to carry me and lie to me and make me think I was better than I really was when I wasn't.

Adrian: He never lied.

Rocky: Those fights weren't right. They weren't, Adrian. I never fought anybody who was in their prime. There was always some angle to hold on to the title longer than I should have had it. I mean do you understand what I'm saying here?

Adrian: I understand, but you've got to understand that he loved you and that was his job-protecting you!

Rocky: Look, but that protecting don't help nothing. It only makes things worse. You wake up after a few years thinking you're a winner, but you're not. You're really a loser. So we wouldn't have had the title as long. So what? At least it would've been real Adrian.

Adrian: It was real!

Rocky: Nothing is real if you don't believe in who you are! I don't believe in myself no more don't you understand? When a fighter don't believe, that's it! He's finished, it's over, that's it.

Adrian: THAT'S NOT IT!!

Rocky: That is it!

Adrian: Why don't you tell me the truth?!

Rocky: What are you putting me through Adrian?! You wanna know the truth? The truth is I don't want to lose what I've got. In the beginning I didn't care about what happened to me. I'd go in the ring, I'd get busted up, I didn't care! But now there's you, there's the kid. I don't want to lose what I've got!

Adrian: What do we have that can't be replaced? What? A house, we got cars, we got money! We got everything but the truth. WHAT'S THE TRUTH DAMMIT?!

Rocky: I'M AFRAID!!! ALL RIGHT?! YOU WANT TO HEAR ME SAY IT? You want to break me down? All right, I'm afraid. For the first time in my life, I'm afraid.

Adrian: I'm afraid too. There's nothing wrong with being afraid.

Rocky: There is. For me, there is.

Adrian: Why? You're human aren't you?

Rocky: Look, I don't know what I am. All I know is I'm a liar, and because of that Mickey ain't here no more.

Adrian: You didn't push him into anything! He was a grown man and he did what he had to do! And you have no right to feel guilty for what happened. You don't! 

You were a champion, and you did what you were expected to do, and you did what I and everybody else thought you should do. And you wanna tell me that those fights weren't real, that you were carried? Well I don't believe it! But it doesn't matter what I believe because you're the one that's got to carry that fear around inside you, afraid that everybody's going to take things away and afraid that you're going to be remembered as a coward, that you're not a man anymore. Well, none of it's true. But it doesn't matter if I tell you. It doesn't matter, because you're the one that's gotta settle it. Get rid of it! Because when all the smoke has cleared and everyone's through chanting your name, it's just going to be us. And you can't live like this. We can't live like this. Cause it's going to bother you for the rest of your life. Look what it's doing to you now. Apollo thinks you can do it, so do I. But you gotta want to do it for the right reasons. Not for the guilt over Mickey, not for the people, not for the title, not for money or me, but for you. Just you. Just you alone.  

    

Rocky: And if I lose?

Adrian: Then you lose. But at least you lose with no excuses, no fear. And I know you can live with that.

Rocky: How did you get so tough?

Adrian: I live with a fighter.

Rocky: I really love you. I love you. [they hug]



You can get more dialogues of the movie from the Source: Rocky III - Wikiquote

POLL - "Minglish" for Official Language

I am sure many of you are aware of the term "Minglish". If not, it is very common amongst South Asians where we tend to mix a bit of Urdu or Hindi while still basically speaking in English. Its a very easy method to mingle with the crowd who is speaking English and very YO at it, I must add. In fact, its very recent that many people have started speaking good correct English otherwise, until recently, I must confess, I also was of the Minglish crowd. Not everybody gets to speak English at home and even in schools including English medium ones, you only do so in class maybe. Hence, Minglish gets you into a conversation where you can easily move out of English and step back in when comfortable.

Minglish however remains one of the most HIT languages in the world still and my post is about ensuring that it enters the list of languages that appear on almost each website which gives you the option to choose your Main Language. I recently joined a few Sharing sites which are,

1. StumbleUpon


2. Digg


3. Delicious


4. Technorati


5. Newsvine


6. Mixx

P.S. Yes, I took the opportunity to let you know, I am on the above websites now and you are free to find and link up with me. Thanks.

Anyway, while doing the continuous exercise of creating accounts there, this thought came to my mind as to which language should I chose which could be the official language of my blog. English is what everybody chooses but is it really English? I do tend to use some Urdu or Sindhi words in my blogposts always ensuring that I translate it as well for my "Wilaiti" (foreign) readers. I have seen others do the same. So, I decided if Minglish were an official language on the list, then I am sure lots of us would choose that as the main language for the blog.

We could suggest the following official definition for "Minglish":

"Minglish is a language famous with South Asians which mix Urdu or Hindi while basically speaking English on the outlook. It is a combination of Mix or Mingle with English to come up with the Portmanteau Word , Minglish"

P.S... 

I am trying out POLLs on my website so please VOTE here for whether you would like Minglish as an official language on all websites on the Internet or not. You can also vote on the sidebar Polls widget on the right.

I will keep the poll open until enough votes have been cast and we have a direction. Thanks, as always.

Indo~Pak Cultural Commonality?

Got the above comic in an email circulating through some of my Indian friends. Imagine? They don't feel too differently. It just hit me so hard that I had to post it. Its so true, isn't it? Who are we really? Have we lost our identity? Maybe its not too late yet. Lets think about this and do something about it.

P.S. Friday Funnies is going to bring you something funny yet meaningful on your Fridays. Yet another regular on UTP from now on. Enjoy.

The Problems Associated with Being So Hot!!!

This guy is HILARIOUS....with ALL CAPS...I guess I already did that...ENOUGH SAID!!

I am too busy laughing at this hence no more words from me...here it is...ENJOY!!!

The problems associated with being so hot…

Read more posts on Trackback Thursdays

The Sandals

I have always enjoyed an audience. I mean, I crave for an audience to listen to me and for that I have to be ready with some good stuff to make them go home satisfied. Its a crazy whole cycle really considering I keep myself ready for anything that could interest the people I am interacting with and take it out when I get the chance and yet such an audience is not something that is available on my beck & call.

One aspect I really want to improve about myself is the ability to inspire people. To motivate them and in many ways influence what they do as compared to what they would have done if they hadn't interacted with me. This is something that I want to learn and improve about myself.

I would die really satisfied if people remember me as someone who inspired them and somehow made a difference by motivating them towards something that worked out for them. In the same direction, I have decided to name my Monday posts as Motivational Mondays. Since, I am always on the lookout for inspiration for myself and find it through the strangest of ways, I decided I will be posting a regular Motivational post on Mondays to share some of that magic with my readers.

One can find motivation in the most stereotypical of ways such as reading quotes, books or listening to a speech. Or one could find motivation in the strangest of places such as watching a chick hatch from an egg, listening to somebody and hearing a sound from within oneself. I know and you would know also that when that happens, its one of the best feelings possible in this world. The breakthrough!! Eureka!! and the feeling of "Now it makes sense..." and " I want to change the world..." These all come from being inspired to a level that your blood rushes. Anyway here is the first post in a humble effort to make that difference in your lives.

The Sandals

I heard this story in a Toastmasters session, a club which I have recently joined and am very happy to do so just to add. I ll write more about that in some other post. A fellow toastmaster did a speech on "Dare to Care" and started with this story.

She was travelling with her spouse for her honey moon and while getting on the moving train which was leaving, one of her sandals fell off on the platform. While thoughts of having sheer bad luck and "why me?", ruled her mind for a little while, there was the deeper thought which made her do something different in quick time.

She took off her other sandal and threw it to the platform. Her husband asked, "Why the hell did you do that?"

My friends, she replied that whoever poor lady who finds the one sandal would be happy to find the other one as well. There is no use of one sandal for me anyway, just like there would be none for her.

A nice & sweet short story to make you think and ponder upon how such a simple thought and a simple act can make such a difference. I think in today's world its these little things that we are missing out or have forgotten to do. We can blame it on the society, the time, current affairs, financial crisis and whatever comes to our mind. But deep down inside, we know its only ourselves to blame for the misery around the world. What have we done to change the world other than criticizing and pin-pointing?

Think again. There is always time to change and do something about it. Cheers!!!

Miracles - Do you believe in them?

Miracles are something that change something so unexpectedly in the norm that one is shocked or surprised. Usually miracles are remembered for good reasons however one man's gain and another man's loss at times. I can assure you the miracle would be remembered by the man who gained in that situation.

I think miracles are a very important part of our lives. If you believe in them, you believe in hope. Where one should not live and take decisions based on hope only, it is something that gives room for something that can still happen also. As humans, we have our own limitations.

"Miracles are there to cover the gap from where your limitation starts to the Eventual Infinity. - UTP (:P)"

As for myself, I am a firm believer in Miracles. I'll steal a line from a senior colleague of mine where he said, "I don't just believe in miracles, I pretty much rely on them." He has many stories to back his claim but as for me, I know I have gone to sit in many exams during school, college & university life where I have asked for "Ghayabi Taaqat" (unseen strength) to come in and put the answers in my head. It has worked many times during multiple-choice questions.

Apologies for the people who know me and think I am a genius (:P) and a really nerdy sort. I have only become who I am because of many miracles which have supported me throughout my career. I know I should reduce my reliance on them a bit and start doing something more real and tangible but its just such a great feeling when miracles take over your life and things happen. Isn't it?

Do you believe in miracles? I know I do.

Americans mistook 'Lotas' as weapons

Trackback Thursdays is the name of my new weekly attempt and doing something regular on my blog. Nothing confusing about this one. I will trackback some blog, blogpost, article, basically anything that I found interesting on the web and make a blogpost out of it.

Some people may call it finding the easy way out for creating a post, some might even call it plagiarism, me...I call it sharing the love. I mean tracking back is something that increases popularity of the website which is being tracked back and it gives something good to read for the my readers here, so why not?

Maybe someday my posts could reach a level where I would be tracked back also. Doesn't happen too much these days. Anyway, here is my first attempt at something I found interesting this week,

Americans mistook 'Lotas' as weapons

The Americans saw Lotas on their satellites and Lotas were something that didn't match anything on the list so they believed a new weapon has been invented. Imagine that this can also happen. Actually many people had different comments on the same. I think this could actually be a weapon if used correctly especially the steel and silver ones. Just like an apple a day can keep the doctor away...if you aim it correctly...hehe...

Everybody is after Jama'at-ul-Dawah it seems. Just yesterday I heard the news that even the president of Pakistan, Asif Zardari has agreed to act upon the advice of the US team who says that this Jama'at may look like a charitable organization but has links with terrorists. I have really no idea whats going to happen in the near future. Its really gloomy if I let my imagination run wild, so I just live with whats happening and keep my faith in Allah. I think that is best thing to do right now.

Finally - UTP in a KTN Music Video

OK Fellow readers...I give in. There is no way better to make a comeback with a big bang. Here it is, the much awaited and much wanted... UTP in a KTN Music Video.

There is much more to the above which I have posted on the video on youtube.

The story shown in the video is more about worldly love, making it more commercial because that is what sells. The story is of a son of a zameendaar (landlord) who returns from his studies from out of town and comes back to his village and of course the "Gaon ki Gori". This particular girl from the village is also a childhood friend who he does not recognize immediately because she has grown up. Of course the girl has been waiting all her life for him to come back and recognizes him at the first outlook. She teases him throughout the video eventually making him realize that this is the same girl he used to play with when young. There is of course the filmy element of a necklace that the guy gave as a child to her and which she saved till now. The video ends with her showing it back to him, completing the happy ending.

Of course the story could have continued further considering the girl is the daughter of a haari (farmer). The jori (pair) is almost impossible to end up together eventually. But the good news is that there was no second part saving both me and the couple in the video from any further misery hehehe...



The song of course is a tribute to Abida Parveen & Baba Bulley Shah. Re-sung by Mehar Seemi. If you want to listen to Abida Parveen singing this live in a Sufi-er Version, I won't dissapoint you just because you are so loyal and keep coming to read to my posts no matter how much gap there is in the middle of two posts. You have no idea how much that means. Here you go,

I had written about a little excerpt from the same Sufi poetry in an older blogpost as well which can be accessed through the link. I am sure its quite obvious by now that there is a strong influence of sufi poetry and music in my life. It always brings me a little closer and back to the true love of Allah and more strength to my Faith.

Anyway, I have also created my youtube account - UTPirzada as well where I plan to share some good stuff and make it available here through the blog as well. Enjoy...!!!

SKYFIRE - The Next Best Mobile Browser

I think I have found it. After trying out different mobile browsers including Opera Mobile, Opera Mini, IE (sucks) & Minimo, I think I have found what works for me. SKYFIRE!!

I mean just the name does it, doesn't it? Hehe...

No really. Speed matters a lot when u r trying to transit over to the mobile way of browsing from the traditional PC way and I have found SKYFIRE as the fastest option available to date. I was reading about it and found out that they concentrated on this particular aspect of speedy browsing and have found a solution by re-routing traffic through a US-based proxy server by default. This works great as the speed has drastically improved. It is even faster than OPERA Mini, which was boasting the speed game as of now.

Skyfire is going to compete with Opera Mini as it is basically the Mobile browser which becomes your main browser on your Mobile. It is not in the league of Opera Mobile as it doesn't have tabbed browsing which Opera Mini doesn't either and hence that is not the direct competition. Mozilla is coming up with the Mobile Firefox version to join the party but no news on that one as yet which should compete with all of em.



Skyfire is the new thing as it covers all previous issues faced by Mobile Browsers like content viewing such as Youtube and also comes as a non-java midlet as compared to Opera Mini. You can view the website as you would on your PC with the option of a Mobile version as well if required. Not all phones in the market have got the processing speed to handle Java midlets such as Opera Mini and Skyfire addresses the wider market of phones. So the Skyfire team can actually hold up their claim that you can open any site on your mobile just like you would on your PC. This is what does wonders for sites such as Youtube, Flickr, Facebook etc.

I am putting it in trial for the moment as it is still launched in beta but I love the initial outlook and approach taken by the developers of it. If speed is what you want, then this one is for you. If Skyfire becomes tabbed and gets a feed reader, I don't need any other browser on my phone.

Get Skyfire from their website. You wont regret it. My websites look good on it also :)

I have got pretty much my whole Internet life on my HTC TyTN II now. This is what I can do on my mobile currently, 

1. Check Gmail through the Gmail Java Midlet


2. Check Hotmail & use MSN Messenger through the Windows Live application


3. Use FRING for IM and VoiceChat with Gtalk, Skype, Yahoo & MSN Messenger contacts


4. Use Google Maps with the respective Java Midlet (excellent application)


5. Check all other pop email from the built-in messaging application


6. Browse through sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Wikipedia & Google Search for anything through the Skyfire browser


7. Read my fellow blogger's feeds through Google Reader on Opera Mobile (need the tabbed browsing advantage while reading blog feeds and commenting)


8. Read all other news & sports feeds on Opera Mini's built-in feedreader (liked it).


9. Play RealDice MC Texas Hold-em Poker :$ online (no money involved). Will switch to Facebook's Texas Hold-em soon.


10. And last and most importantly manage my blogs UTP & UTP's Sports Blog and UTP's SportsTalk Forums.

I don't think I missed anything that I do other than the above online. I am happy and content with my HTC TyTN II. Gets the job done. Alhumdulillah!!

P.S. I am going to be on leave for a little while and be back after my CFA Level 1 exam & EID Vacations. Pray for me and my exams and miss me :) Thanks for sticking around readers. Each one of you means so much.

Abhi Na Jao Chor Kar

Here is a Golden Oldie that no one can hate. A beautifully rendered number even in those days bringing out the purity and innocent side of love, which is hardly found anywhere these days heheh...

Abhi Na Jao Chor kar...kay dil abhee bhara nahi...



If the above doesn't work and you are just DYING to listen (yes I will post this line in the exact same way every Tuesday)...Click here

Enjoy...

Man Benefits from the Economic Crisis

I wouldnt write a long post today. I ll keep it simple. Here is something I recieved in my email a few days back...

"The financial situation at the moment is so bad that women are now marrying for love...!!!"

All Positive Energy needs is Direction

So it was a day when Pakistan was facing West Indies in the final ODI of the series held at Abu Dhabi (read Abu Dubai by the pakhtoon taxi drivers...). Also, the Lahore Baadshahs were facing the Hyderabad Heroes in the rebel version of IPL, ICL. Guess which one got more attention? OK I have taken enough frustration out on the new form of the game called 20-20 so won't waste another post on it.

Anyway, this post isn't really about cricket.

A few friends came over and we were having tea while enjoying the cool winter breeze of Sharjah when we noticed the big crowd outside a shop. This was the local satellite shop which usually has a similar rush when matches are on as he puts the tv ON showing the LIVE match while cricket crazy fans watch jumping over one another outside his shop. He should actually sponsor his shop-door when matches are on hehe...that is some quick money...

Being the true sports fan, I thought I'll also see where the Pakistan & West Indies match has reached and how is our team performing. I was disappointed to see that the rush was about the stupid 20-20 game. Anyway, it was more like Pakistan & India considering the Lahore baadshahs had pretty much a better team than today's Paki international team and the Hyderabad Heroes were no short of superstars. That is what money can do and has done. It was not a nail-biter but people enjoyed the boundaries.

The wonderful thing to note was the positive energy.

All people around the shop in the worst of crowds. Jumping on top of another shoulder and trying to get a glance at the game. Discussing strategy, buzz. A smarter guy had brought 2 big bricks to stand on and watch the game. At the end of it, he smartly took them and went back to hide them from where he had brought it. Obviously, this was obviously a regular thing for him.

The whole crowd would clap at a big six or a great catch. I mean its TV guys. But that's how enthusiastic we are about the game. I saw a guy actually cheering the replays as well. That's how deprived he was.

Anyway, I stood wondering. So much of positive energy. So much of will to do something. All it needs is direction. Our religion and our history has made us very emotional & sensitive about the smallest of things. The politicians have used that to run student unions, election campaigns and win elections. They have used that energy to create more monsters out of the student lot which could have been directed to something more positive.

I believe it is never too late. All our country needs is direction and leadership. I wonder who will provide it. Will it be me? Am I up for it? Will I be able to do something? or will I just buckle under the pressure and become one of them. Just another part of the corrupt system.

Can I actually get up there at the most powerful chair in Pakistan and run the country? Make that difference? Re-direct the positive energy for the betterment of Pakistan? ....NAH...Its too big a risk. Enough what ifs come rushing through ....in a blink of a second.

But that is the solution. All we have ever needed and do need right now is the right leadership. Who will provide it? Who will bring the revolution? Not me...will you?

Kuch Na Kaho

If there was a law against what I am trying to do, I would probably be hanged till the death for even thinking about posting what I am today. "Kuch Na Kaho...Kuch bhee na Kaho..." by Lata jee in 1942 a Love Story.

Singing is one difficult art medium which requires lot of dedication and effort which I certainly have not put in. I am not looking for acclaim at all, just sharing my traffic jam pastime with my readers. Here it is...



If the above doesnt work and you are just DYING to listen (yes I will post this line in the exact same way every Tuesday)...Click here

Enjoy...

The Man Who made a Difference

Dear Sir,

This is to thank you for all your efforts of bringing me up when I needed most. Since the day I was born and you tried to name me Eid Mohammad or Eidu (considering I was born on Ramadan Eid) till the day that I last I saw you heading towards peace and tranquility underneath this tough world, you made a difference to my life in every possible way.

From teaching me how to walk, how to talk. By telling me what is wrong and what is right by showing. It was not about lecture when you were teaching it was more about practicals and real-life situations. Doing things from one's own hand. I owe you the biggest thing that you ever did which was get me on to a computer at the tender age of 6. I wrote my first piece of programming code when I was in Grade 2. From there on I had no fear of computers which I believe a lot of people did have until recently where the new generation has taken over. I am using the same strategy for my daughter as well who is progressing great Alhumdulillah with her own laptop as well.

What else can I say? You have and will always be by my side as I tread towards future goals and aspirations. I so want to share with you my success and my happiness. Try and thank you for all that you have done for me. I am fooling myself. I can do nothing that can ever come even close matching what you have done for me.

Grandpa, tussee great ho!!! [You are great]. Miss you.

Regards,

EIDU

--------------------------

Dear readers - It's been 12 years since my grandpa passed away and I can't help writing a post around end of each year. He was my mentor and I intend to be someone as straight-forward, truthful and honest as he was. If I reach even 1% of that, I think I would have done much well for this world.

You can read last year's post as well if interested. I must say that was much much more emotional than this one. Maybe I am maturing and have learned to cope with missing him so much.

Kuch Tum Socho

Continuing with the tradition and great success (:$) of last week's post, I present to you a song that played a part in making Sonu Nigam famous and hopefully which will do the same for me also?

Kuch Tum Socho...Kuch Hum Sochein...Phir Khushi ka Mausam...Aaaye...



If the above doesnt work and you are just DYING to listen (yes I will post this line in the exact same way every Tuesday)...Click here

Enjoy...

How to "Ensure" that the Boss Is Always Right

This is not a 10-ways-to-ensure-that-your-boss-is-always-right post. I have not reached that enviable level of blogging as yet. There are actually bloggers around who constantly produce top-5-ways, best-7-methods, etc etc.

My post has just a 1-point agenda which will always work to ensure that your boss is always right.

OK before going into it, why should you be interested? I ll give you a simple answer. Because...the Boss "IS" always right. The only thing that you need to do is to get in line and make him know that you are absolutely behind him and whatever he needs will get done.

So when I use the word "ensure", it doesn't mean that you played any role in making the Boss right. Please don't think you had anything to do with that. He has been and will always be right. "Ensure" is more about how you can let him know that you did as required and the objective was achieved. This may or may not be the project's or the task's objective but it certainly was the required objective as far as the boss is concerned. Isn't that what really matters in the end?

So now that we have realized the importance of ensuring that your Boss "IS" always right and also learnt indirectly how to climb the corporate ladder, lets get down to the lesson.

I ll explain this with some illustrations. For any project you can really have just two methodologies. Yes this is a post on the theme of 1) What not to do... and then a drum-roll...and voila...2) The RIGHT way to do it. NO gimmickry...

Ok here is the first illustration...

As you can see, this the traditional way of doing things, not always successful. In fact mostly unsuccessful. In this approach, you would set up your project plan, time-lines, get approvals at different milestones, keep working hard which is synonymous to painting the target. Your boss will shoot the arrow at project closure which may or may not hit the bull's eye. It mostly doesn't. If it gets within the 20% range of the bull's eye, it would be a successful project cos there is no such thing as a perfect project.

There is a variant of the above strategy where you would be holding the board and trying to catch that arrow after the boss has already thrown it . Agility plays a big role here. You have to follow the arrow and try to catch it at the center. Tough job.

If your project has multiple drivers or bosses, I wish you luck. You will need all of it. Such projects if applied with the above strategy could easily end up as the following....

So is there any better way? Something that is applicable to all projects? My friends, I am happy to tell you that there is and it might as well be the best management lesson you may ever learn. Thanks to a senior colleague of mine, I have a great solution. This will work perfectly in the worst of situations and will yield a 100% result. Yes 100% !!! I am not holding anything back. Do you want to know? Here it is....

Yes people. This is a proven and tested method. Build your project around what your Boss wants. Leave everything on one side. Your project management skills, plans etc. These are all irrelevant to the eventual goal. Follow the standard practices and show your sweat but ensure that you are drawing the bull's eye around the arrow rather than hoping that your boss's arrow hits the created and placed target board.

There you go. One of the best management lessons you could learn. You want to thank me? I am sure you know by now how you can do that? What are all self-employed part-time bloggers really looking for? I hope you get the message ;) I can't give any more hints or I wont get paid.



Thanks MAYG for the wonderful work with the illustrations and of course many thanks to one of my senior colleagues for yet another brilliant management lesson.

See you all at the top of the corporate ladder soon...I ll be waiting... :)

Aitebaar

Let's bring back some great memories from one of the pioneers in Pakistani Pop Music, Vital Signs. I am humming away to their super-hit, "Aitebaar".



If the above doesnt work and you are just DYING to listen (yes I will post this line in the exact same way every Tuesday)...Click here

Enjoy...

Maradona is back? Watch out WORLD...!!

Argentina's greatest hero is back. This time in a different role though, as manager of the Argentinian side. It seems one cant keep the legend away from the field. I believe this man has enough genius and passion about the game to turn the Argentinian side back to being world beaters and more importantly champions of South America where it has got a bit boring with

Andy Murray - Almost there at No.1?

I have always rated Andy Murray very high and definitely among the top prospects after the usual 3 of Federer, Nadal & Djokovic. I wrote about him being top five material much before he was even in the top 10.

He has now already questioning the top 3 players and may even make it to the top 3 before end of 2008. He is young and

Massa vs Hamilton - Fight till the END

I don't think F1 - Motor Racing fans are too much used to close finishes to the season. Its usually been one guy taking the throne pretty much in the middle of the year with clear dominance. There have been close ones in the past but not been as close as this year where the last race could decide either way between number 1 and 2.

Even though Lewis Hamilton is

David Beckham - Headed to Milan... Money Making?

When the rather unknown LA Galaxy signed up David Beckham to play in the Major League Soccer in US, I know many serious sports fans called it a stupid money move. I mean what a waste of talent. Of course there was a lot more involved than just that. People talked about how Posh Spice, Victoria Beckham, his wife wanted the LA life style and glamour and the husband

The Fly "IN" the car

Ok I might be a computer scientist, if that is what you call a MS in Computer Science, and I may have studied the higher level of mathematics and physics and what not but one thing baffles me even today? Okay let me lay it out in my language (layman's :P get it...lay? )...

Why doesnt a fly stuck inside a car going at 120km/h not get splashed on the windscreen? or back screen depending no whether the car is going forward or in reverse :P?

Can somebody tell me? The fly is definitely not flying at 120 km/h. Neither is it staying still in the air at while flying at 120km/h...

It baffles me. What phenomenon of physics is this? Is this inertia? Wasn't inertia about the front push we feel when standing in a bus and it comes to a halt?

Too many questions...no answers.

Dear readers, can any of you solve this mystery for me? Really appreciate it. Professor UTP is confused...

Kaash Aisa Koi Manzar Hota

Leading from the post about UAE Traffic Jams, I thought I'd bring in something which could be a regular post every week. I have come up with the title Traffic Jammed Tuesdays for which I will use the MAYG-recommended short form, TJ-ed Tuesdays. No its not a podcast, which is something that I learnt very recently. Why am I always the last one to know about "in" things?.

Anyway, the idea is that since I have such a beautiful voice (NOT!) and I have a phone that can record sound and just to reiterate my traffic jammed life while going and coming from work, I have decided to record my singing (self-proclaimed) talent and make a blog post out of it every Tuesday. Thrilled? Of course you are not. At least all of you readers get a blog-post out of me every week? And one never really knows if there are people who like my kind of music and my voice you know...baysura (out-of-tune).

The songs would be sung in the most casual-est of ways of Radio/Stereo Humming with the song playing in the background and UTP trying to catch up and sing correct lyrics. There will be elements of SUR here and there in the middle somewhere. There would be beats off my thighs, there may be the infrequent motorbike passing by and the police siren as well but I assure you I will try to make my "performances" as entertaining as possible. Ignore the occasional yawn, burp, fart...apologies. I wouldn't be able to pause recording due to those natural elements of life.

Anyway, this is a done deal and I am not hearing any negative criticism for this. Its my blog, I am allowed to do what I want right? Bear me on tuesdays and hopefully you will continue to come back to read the other stuff that I write from time-to-time. I mean if I keep at this, I should start to improve right?

Just to get started, here is the distorted version of "Kaash Aisa Koi Manzar Hota..." (Sorry Hariharan...:$)




If the above doesnt work and you are just DYING to listen...Click here

Enjoy...

UTP's Sports Talk Forums [BETA]

Calling all Sports Fans out there. Being a wannabe die-hard sports fan myself and never passing on a sports discussion without having my say, I have finally decided to get a forum going. I already had UTP's Sports Blog which I plan to get going again more regularly, I now present to you UTP's Sports Talk Forums.

A few of my friends have been asking to work on some sort of a forum to have some serious discussions on various different sports. That always sounded like a great idea considering so much of heated discussions take place on sports while at work or while meeting up in the evenings with friends. I have always been exploring various options to get something of the sort going. The result is UTP's Sports Talk Forums.

It is still in a BETA version as I didn't want to delay the launch too much. It will be under constant improvement as it grows. I know how so many people love talking about various different sports. I can assure that you should be able to find your particular section of the sporting world and get started with a discussion. As the idea is in it's nascent stage, feel free to get in touch with feedback or suggestions at sportstalk@umarpirzada.com

My main objective is to get together some serious sports fans who really want to speak their hearts out. This is by no means a commercial stint and I do plan to manage the people involved in discussions. Guests can come and read but the contributors will really be some die-hard fans. That should automatically mean some very timely discussions all around the year.

Spread the word and let it reach the people you know who would love to be part of such discussions. Lets help make a serious sports fans community. Looking forward to some action at UTP's Sports Talk Forums.


 

 

Fun with Adsense

Sometimes it can get really funny with Adsense. I am sure people who have it on their websites would know what I am talking about. The question is whether you can REALLY trust the inteligence of Adsense on your blogs or not.

We were first hit by the shock at Mayg & UTP which is by the way the couple's blog with Mayg being my better half. Adsense brought up advertisements for Divorce Lawyers...

I dont remember bringing up any such topic in the post and we ensure that we bring out the lighter side of the married life so that particular topic was completely out of the blue...and quite embarassing just to add.

Wherever you use the word Love you are bound to get a dating or get UAE girls...ewww... ad...

If you write about mobile phones or anything to do with it... you would be getting iPhone mobile covers advertisement from I dunno which company. I remember it has an Italian name.




Let's see what comes up there. I have mentioned some really popular ads so that should confuse the Adsense engine a bit. Hehe... let's see...

Somehow My Sports Blog gets a lot of Citibank for NRI ads. I have no idea how that links up with sports. It works well though on most occasions so not really complaining. In fact I think I am doing ok on the Adsense part considering I have been on and off from the blogosphere. Working hard to increase revenue though... somehow...

Do you have an Adsense story?

A typical ironic situation in UAE

If you have heard of UAE which you would have probably, you couldnt have done without hearing the miseries of traffic.

In the absence of a useful transport system, most people who work here travel by cars. Since Dubai is so expensive to live most people come from neighbouring Emirates like Sharjah, Ajman & Ras-al-Khaimah... add both together and the equation spells TRAFFIC JAM. Today's post is dedicated to this aspect of living in UAE which everybody pretty much gets used to and accepts as a given for living and working in the UAE.

Emirates Road is the route for most people coming from outside Dubai. Its a great idea of a freeway connecting all the Emirates. However it to has not stood the load of thousands of cars going in the same direction at the same time. The speed limit is 120km/h... officially.

One would expect the next line to read that people dont follow that limit and race through... hehehe...sorry to disappoint you. Remember that this post is about irony.

So what I really was trying to say is that if you get stuck in a a jam which I was a few days back... in front of a sign board saying maximum speed 120km/h and minimum 60km/h should they penalize me for driving slow?

That is one ironic spot to be in. Almost like someone played a joke on you...don't you agree?

Celebrity Branded Real Estate in UAE

With the financial turmoil and recession effecting everyone from rich to poor, it is amazing to see how everybody manages to bring out the survival instinct out from within and somehow manages to make the now much more difficult extra buck that was flowing like anything early this year.

All industries have taken a hit with the banking and mortgage side of things being hit the worse. Who would have thought names like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch could be threatened? Nobody has been spared. Take AIG, Morgan Stanley some serious role players in the market. Governments have come out with bailout and rescue plans to save the favoured organizations.

UAE has not been at the worst end but it has felt the heat also. The big boom in UAE has been the Real Estate market in recent times where there have been many people who have made millions in months with a simple strategy. Buy at the property launch and sell at double, triple price. Just these turnover investors who had the initial investable capital have been able to raise the prices. Unfortunately, the low liquidity has hit those now and to add to that some scandals and increased regulations to stop this unnatural price hike has led to the property boom just mellowing down a bit.



So the recommendations for people like me who have grown up playing monopoly till fajr on weekends is to just sit and lay eggs on your money. For me that is pretty much butt on the cold floor. The advice is to play safe and if really wanting to invest then do it in good property. So how does one define good? Good stable company with government backing preferably and good financial standing. Since the average person wouldn't know what that would mean, the marketeers have come up with a new & brilliant concept. Celebrity Branded Real Estate...

The Trump Towers had a great opening boasting a AED 35 million pent house and The Tiger Woods golf community something and Michael Schumacher theme park. I know Pamela Anderson has something here as well and just yesterday I heard Mr. Antonio Banderas is launching Spanish Ranches. The way things are we should pretty much have all housing schemes named after some celebrity. So that is what is selling these days. The "Novelty" element. The amazing thing is that it's working. People are wiling to spend on branded property even in these days of a credit crunch and liquidity crisis. These people are obviously the money kings of UAE and probably some european investors who are moving here after being financially body-slammed in their own countries.

Owning a home in UAE is an even more distant dream now and I have actually stopped thinking about it. Just save the extra penny in savings bonds and put some maybe in gold and thats that. Its time to stay put for a while.

The most important thing in life

Take it your profession, your studies, anything whatsoever that makes you do something. Something that is close to you, something that you wish to achieve. The most important thing in life is ..."Showing Up..."

Sounds simple but it is the one thing that can be the difference in landing that dream job or cleaning the streets the next day. I mean who says opportunity knocks again? No one. Opportunity never knocks twice...I mean the great quoter didn't say thrice or phrice [utp word invented] just twice. So opportunity only comes once and you have to be smart enough to avail it at the time or regret forever.

For example, its not only about literally being present for the dream job interview call, its more about being physically and mentally present there. Lots of times, since interviews and recruitments are a whole day affair, at least we tell our current bosses that, the late night preparations and the sleepless night and the early morning wake-up leads to the mental and social self-presence still in bed while the freshly groomed person is sitting the waiting room for the interview. That is what I am talking about. One has to SHOW UP in the full costume to have the best chance.

So I have decided to show up more often here. With a blog post here and there.

Where have all the Cowboys Gone?

I mean what I actually meant was, where have all the readers gone? I know I am being stupid by writing something like this. I mean of course people would have given up one me. Wrote me off from their feedburners. Nobody likes a dead blog. I dont blame you at all.

But...yes..there is a BUT. I am back. Yet again.

I will start letting everybody know that I am back. How? Of course by coming on to their blogs and starting to read again...I have been out of the scene. Blog posts due. Enough said.

Wordpress Blogger Recommendations

As one could expect I have been spending a lot of time exploring the new gadget and also how I could have all the tools to get my blogging experience in place.

While doing the same I have come across two great wordpress plugins.
1-WPHONE
This one gets the blogger a much more useful wp-admin interface on the PDA. (this post is being written using the same)

2-WORDPRESS PDA & iPhone
This one helps better viewing of your wordpress hosted blog on a PDA.

So the second one is something that is recommended for all wordpress bloggers as it will help you get a much wider audience (including me) who use PDAs to browse your blog.

The first one is for people who write and manage their blogs from their PDAs.

You can find them both on wordpress plugins directory.

Testing new blogging tool

I finally got it. My very first qwerty based piece of gadgetry. Yes people. You are looking at the new generation blogger who blogs from his phone. To be more precise, a PDA...

After evaluating many options I finally went ahead and got myself a HTC Tytn II. To explore the neat piece of machinery that I am holding in my hand, you can head to the HTC website. Its the ultimate business tool and has an arsenal of options which pretty much meet my requirements.

Anyway, this is my first post from my phone. Let's see how this goes.

P.S. Actually it didnt go as well as I would have liked and had to edit it a bit from the laptop. There are a few things to learn I suppose. It will come back. The bottom line is I am very happy with my purchase.

Didnt feel the urge to write...

Hello - this is UTP. Yes still alive.

OK the urge was there but honestly, I don't know what happened, but I just switched off from blogging mode. It may have been real concentration on my studies which are looking quite difficult now with the exam day coming near quickly. It was going fine until last week where I switched off from studies as well. Then there is Ramadan also which took up a lot of time and for the good reasons also. I am hoping to get back to study routine from tomorrow.

I think that is something that I lack. Consistency. I need change too soon. Some people call that immature. I don't think I am immature but I may be in denial. Sounds strange coming from a married, father of a 2.5 year old. I know, that is quite strange.

In the midst of buying a mobile phone cum blogging machine. I am trying to decide between a Nokia E90 and a Nokia E71. I have spent hours on the Internet this past week reading on the options. HTC Touch Pro, Blackberry, Nokia, etc. Am down to these 2. I want a good phone with good web browsing, wi-fi and easy typing abilities.

Any suggestion on the above considering lots of people still come to read here? I am amazed by the dedication of you readers. Seriously amazed. SALUTE you while feeling all embarrassed to not keeping this blog up-to-date. Please accept apologies and don't give up on me.

I will be back soon. Do let me know your opinion on E90 vs E71? or any other recommendation. What do you use to blog and browse? Thanks so much.

Ramadan Kareem

A wonderful thought follows,

Allah always has three replies to our Duas,

1) Yes

2) Yes, but not now

3) I have something better planned for you.

There is never a "NO". If one can just build his faith on the above, this life becomes the easiest. May Allah help us extract the most of the infinitely available blessings from the Holy Month of Ramadan. Aameen.

Remember me in your prayers as well. Ramadan Kareem to all of my Muslim Readers.

US Basketball Team Wins Convincing GOLD

The US Basketball team ensured they live up to their promises and they finally delivered. It was a men-at-work Olympics for best team on the world. With the strongest and most famous league in the world, they should be winning each year and were surprise losers last Olympics. The only flaw identified as Leadership. As mentioned in another

Cricket in Olympics - Will it ever be?

After watching many type of sports at the almost concluding Olympics at Beijing last few weeks, I was thinking what would it take to bring the game of cricket to it. It took a long while to bring in baseball to the Olympics and only because it had the big names in it.

Big names being USA, Japan, China

Pulling my hair...

I have noticed that my last few blogs reflect a bit of a different mood. I was thinking about writing something in a changed mood, something more lighter. The thing is that when you feel in a certain way then that's how you would tend to write as well. Anyway, I realized that if you really want change your mood, something will happen and will help you do that. For me all it takes is a 10 minute chat session.

So I was talking to Social Geek and the guy said that he has been "Pulling his Hair" due to more and more work. I will not be posting the whole chat conversation but just those 3 words led me to thinking that's how most men lose their hair. That phrase was invented because that's what work would have done and then you start pulling hair.

So hair-fall is not the right term, hair-pull is more like it.

So then us men think about opening our own companies. Once we are tired of pulling our own hair, we decide to run the show and make other workers pull their hair and the chain continues. If the new firm is a joint collaboration and partners then none of the owners pull their hair. Also if the company pays well and the work is good, the workers don't pull their hair anymore. The hair pulling in those cases moves to the client.

I mean the "Pulling my hair" term is too good to be left out of the business process. Take any business process, process cycle, SDLC... Take any industry and whatever process is involved. At least one user/party/entity pulls their hair. Its just amazing that after so many years we have not been able to take these 3 words out of our industries. In fact, I think we should now be documenting it in our Standard Operating Procedures.

Since the clients don't want to pull their hair, they pass it on to their customers. Its a whole chain anyway. So who is at the end of it? The common man of course. All bad things end up happening to the common man. Now if that common man is a person who owns a company or is a worker which he most probably is, the chain just starts again. So it is basically a never-ending chain which leads to pretty much most people start getting bald at a very early age.

Why do you think women are in the fray as well with problems of hair-fall [hair-pull]? They have just entered the work field, the market. Standing toe-to-toe with us men. Welcome to the party girls. But nobody told them that what is a given. "Pulling your hair" is inevitable.

Then come the shampoo companies coming and telling everybody how the weather, hard water and using soap on the hair etc is the root cause of falling hair. What if I tell you there is no such thing as hair-fall? Its all pulling my hair stuff people. In fact that shampoo product idea is also by somebody who wanted to stop pulling his hair for a while and pass it on.

This post has gone in enough circles to end it right now. As abruptly as possible with no summarized....formal end. So there you go...

Usain Bolt - Like Lightening on the Tracks

Now you see him, now you don't. That is how Usain Bolt has been on the Beijing Tracks this Olympics. After the 100m dazzling performance, he lives up to his expectations by breaking the 200m record as well. He has been nothing short of his name, the "Bolt" of lightening.

He has achieved what only one other person in

Paki Cricket Management in Doldrums

After such a long process of Pakistan Cricket Board trying to prove to the ICC that the Champions Trophy can be held in Pakistan. The security situation is good enough to have the tournament and amidst so much speculation and worry, they were able to somehow convince the ICC to serve some international cricket to the starved fans. They succeeded and

Nadal - No.1 in the World...Fully Deserving...

Rafael Nadal beat Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 in the Beijing Olympics Final to finally achieve what he had been chasing for 160 weeks, the No.1 ranked player in the world. His consistency has finally made him achieve what no one could even dream of coming close to last year with Federer as dominant as it gets.

However, Nadal has played great tennis all this year

Phelps - Simply Amazing!!!

Michael Phelps. I am lost for words. 8 Gold Medals in a single Olympic Games. 7 world records. 1 Olympic record. All his personal bests. WOW!!!

I do watch the Olympics but never really remembered any names, not of any swimmers anyway other than Ian Thorpe. But this name is going to stay for a while in my books.

What moves me...

I am a very sensitively emotional person. I am very easily inspired. I have been pretty much an introvert for most of my life. There was a recent phase where I deemed to give an impression of a completely open person but it was all an act. I enjoy being a closed box and the little extrovert that people get a glimpse of is just my way of hiding the real me.

Hence, being sensitive, emotional and a natural introvert at the same time leads to being someone who gets moved very easily. It leads to goosebumps, shivers and sometimes even a watery eye or two also. So the other day I thought this could become a great blog post.

A list of things or events or situations that would make me really emotional. So here they are. See if you could relate to the same. This is in no order. Just a random sequence. Enjoy.

- Sufism. Any kind of poetry or verse or music that links this world with the world above. The double meaning poetry that can move you towards the path of right. Which could make you repent and correct your ways. Abida Parveen, Aziz Mian Qawwal top the list for me in this regime.

- Making my parents proud. Who doesn't? I believe that is the greatest achievement in life if one can make his parents feel proud and head held high because of him. I mean you have to feel it to know how it feels. Nothing better.

- Reaching the much awaited goal. Sometimes so much is sacrificed for something and so much waiting is done. Sometimes the result is dependent on someone else's efforts. So a joint team effort where so much was given up individually for a team goal and then you reach it...the team reaches it...

- Patriotism. Representing your country outside the country and doing something good. I have been lucky to actually represent Pakistan in a field of sport when I was very young. Singing your National Anthem while everyone stands and respects it in a foreign country. Anything that reminds me of my roots. Which refreshes the love for my country, moves me.

- Mother of a martyr. The moment of the hearing of news of martyrdom of his son to a mother, always overwhelms me. I have seen enough dramas and movies to enjoy the feeling again and again. Its just takes over my emotions. There is a story in every instant of that emotion. So many words in that quiet solemn look of that mother.

- Overwhelming joy. Sometimes, a much awaited event happens at the right moment of time. That could hit the weakest point of emotions. Tears of joy.

- The innocence of the unaware. Everyone has their own experiences but if I have gone something and learnt my lessons in the hardest possible way. Then I see someone going through the same. They wont listen to my advice just like I didn't. Everyone wants to go through the experience.

- Music really moves me. In fact any kind of creativity moves me. I was watching one programme and on that live program, a poet wrote a few quick yet beautiful lines and a music composer immediately composed it into a beautiful tune. That moved me.

- Related to music only. The true Sur (note) when hit in the saddest of emotion. I do not really understand the raags or science of music but I know that when that particular note is hit either through a singer's voice or sound of a flute or sitar, that moves every bit of me.

- Any kind of creative effort in an art form. A story behind a painting, a classical dance reflecting a story, a stand alone story told by a great narrator such as Zia Mohiuddin.

- The traditional love stories such as Heer Ranjha & Laila Majnoo and the similar lot. The basic emotion of separation of lovers and the agony felt. I am an old-fashioned person and such events move me in the most poetic way possible. The separation, the anxiety and then the meeting back leading to the overwhelming joy as mentioned above. If all of it done in some stage play or music or classical dance...WOAH!!!

I just realized that each one of the above could have made a blog post in its own but I have summarized it under each point. Anyway, this is a new kind of tag [even though I HATE tags]. Try it out, it would make a good keepsakes post to keep in your archive.

How do I change my opinion about someone?

We as humans complain so much about the unfairness of life and the way things are. Have we ever realized its only because being unfair is one of the easiest thing for us to do?

I think the biggest drawback of having the ability to have an opinion for us is that we can be judgmental in the most negative ways possible. The famous line of "First Impression is the last impression..." wouldn't have existed if we didn't have this ability of holding or voicing our opinion.

There are very essential good points of being able to change the world for good and making your thoughts count. If we didn't have the chance or ability to voice our opinion then the world could never improve. Our natural tendencies of evil would lead this world to become hell in no time. Its only that there are so many opinions that people question and raise their voice on things. The "questioning" aspect of life is what makes the other humans think and leads to discussions and dialogue and the best possible solution comes out as accepted by the majority.

Just imagine if that weren't there. We know ourselves very well. It would have been disastrous.

We can easily be really rude and biased when it comes to creating opinions about people. The few bad instances especially the early ones in an interaction with somebody are good enough for us to start judging people. Is that fair? I personally think, everyone deserves multiple chances. Who are we to judge people and "not forgive" when the Almighty gives us as many chances to correct our image as we want?

We are very quick to create our opinion about somebody and start judging them for the rest of our and their lives. That is the biggest negative of having opinions in the first place. No matter how forgiving you are and no matter how much you want to refresh the button and re-create the image, its just not possible for us. Its just not natural for us to remove something from our memory.

We don't have a delete button in our memory. We only have auto-archive option but no delete. This is a bigger-than-any mailbox than was ever created. Where do you think Google got the Gmail idea of unlimited mailbox storage? heheh...

Anyway, so what can we do. I want to start liking somebody and want to forget the bad image I have about that particular person. How do I rewind and let him restart? We do want to do that many times in our lives. Here is something that I tried and well I think it is possible.

Find 3 things good about him/her and dwell on it for a while. Live it, while initially deciding that I will create a good opinion about that person. Set your mind to ignore every bad thought that comes and create a good image. Its something like the"not guilty unless proven" theory. Let him/her try to be a good person for the new image.

That should initiate the process of the change of opinion. I use the word "initiate" as I know its much easier said than done. It is going to take some time and a lot of flawless good stuff for a while to change an opinion. We can be stubborn with our mindsets. But if one is successful in the approach it can be the easiest way to like everybody, a big asset of an ability. There has to be something like-able about anybody. If your answer becomes "NO" for that and you can't find anything like-able in the process, then trust me you are not trying hard enough. A big change of attitude is required.

See even though I believe memories can't be erased but I believe that if you have enough good things about an event or a person in your head as compared to the bad things, they can be over-written or at least the feel of things can be changed from bad to good.

I am sure everyone who has done a bit of self-evaluation as a human being, which by the way is an essential part of being successful in life, would know how bad we can be. The potential of reaching the highest level of ruthlessness is an in-born quality of us humans. We can be really unfair when we want to be.

If we are aware, we can do something to counter it.

Reach for the SKY but...

We have all heard this one many times before also.

Reach for the skies. Its a metaphor for trying your best, to aim for high targets and then working towards them. Aim for the sky. Fly high.

When a bird's egg hatches and the baby chick comes out, it is already looking up. It may be because it is hungry and is going to get some worms from mama or he may already be aiming for the sky. I like the latter definition better.

Since a bird is supposed to fly, it already starts looking up from the day its born. Once you start looking towards your goal you start thinking about it. Trying to make it your target to focus upon. To set all things in such a way that your road of life heads towards that.

I believe in aiming high. High targets stretch you further than you would have otherwise gone if you had kept your targets easily attainable. They say that one should keep their targets and goals as stretching. They should not be too high that you could never make it. They should be achievable yet stretching. That is one of the job functions a manager has for his people too. Setting such kind of goals so that the people under him constantly strive to improve.

Anyway, reaching for the skies is a good thing but...yes it has a "but" and its a huge "BUT"...

It is very essential that and I quote, "You keep your feet on the ground".

You can only reach for the goals set if you succeed in keeping your feet on the ground as well which means considering reality. Keeping the practicality in perspective as well. One who strikes the balance succeeds.

I mean whats the use of reaching your goals if you can reach there but cant stay there cos there is no solid base. You can fly and reach the stars but it would be more useful if one keeps his bond with the basics. When one has a solid foundation it is very probably that all achievements will be everlasting.

So that one can build from his achievements to achieve even more. Set new goals. Set new limits. So there it is friends, another lesson from life.

"Reach for the skies, but keep your feet on the ground..."

Bryant & Kidd - UnAnnounced Captains

With the preparations for the Olympics in full flow, the US Dream Team has the missing element this time around. Last time in Japan, the Dream Team had only in the dream which was shattered in the semi-finals. They had 3 announced captains. All youngsters Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade & Lebron James. We all know it doesn't work that way.

Life 2-3 generations ago ~ Was it better?

I feel reading other blogs and commenting on them opens up my mind to newer horizons and blogposts. It has happened many times and this post came up while I was writing a comment here.

I was wondering, with the slightest of problem we have, we have a tendency to rush to the doctor to find out whats wrong. If you go to the doctor, you are bound to find something wrong. I mean with the advances in medical science everybody has got to have something wrong with them.

But, the question why are we so concerned if a little fever comes up or a little cough? 2-3 generations ago, medical science was still developing. People did not even know what was going on in their bodies and I feel that they were happier. With so many news circulating around us of death due to so many different types of illnesses, we tend to worry more.

People say that it is because of the good diet they had and the clean water and the purity of anything that they ate. I somehow tend to disagree. I have lived for a while in a place where fruits and vegetables are grown in front of your eyes with the same canal water that has been used for ages, with the same seeds and have seen Allah's work in front of my eyes. How the seed sowed into the sand grows into a beautiful plant, tree etc and yet, people who eat them do get more sick now than their ancestors.

So, I come back to my question. Was it that our ancestors didn't get sick or was it that nobody identified that they were sick?

The logical reply would be the latter that nobody could identify anything wrong and they were not worried about the petty things. So, I wonder, were they better off? I mean everybody is going to die one day. If somebody asks me that would you like to know whats wrong with you, each and everything, I would probably say yes. But do I really need to know?

I sometimes wonder what life would have been like if I were born a few 100 odd years ago. I know, I wouldn't have been blogging that's for sure. I would probably have a salary of 2000 rupees and would be living like a millionaire. I somehow feel I would have been happier and more content.

I am not complaining. I am very happy now also, Alhamdulillah. I just wonder, are we really worrying too much about our and our family's health. People who go on dieting to lose weight get a very stern lecture from me most of the time. Not eating is not dieting. Eating and exercising is.

Now what is good eating? I say eat everything in a balanced manner and then exercise. That is the secret and nothing else. And of course stop taking too much tension of your health. There is a million things going inside your body. Somebody has been taking care of that even before you were born. Don't try to do too many things by yourself.

Its been a wayward post touching on multiple aspects. I guess my thoughts are a bit distorted on the same as well. But tell me, did our ancestors really live a better life while being unknown to the fact that so many illnesses were there or were they really not unwell at all...?

M & Ms - Murali & Mendis

It was one delicious spin performance. The best batsmen against spin, the Indians playing the best spinner in the world today, the Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan. But he was not alone this time. He has a new partner, the new sensation, Ajantha Mendis.

The scene was set, 1st Test, Colombo and the Sri Lankan posting a mammoth 600 runs on the board before coming on to bowl for

Mother's Name ... Baba?

Yes. That is what my daughter said yesterday.

My daughter is 2 yrs, 6 months and a few days above that old. She just got back from my home country where she got the opportunity to move on to the next step of using her language skills. When she had gone she had already got her 1-word and 2-word replies going and after only a month or so she has started speaking sentences. It is simply amazing to see her have conversations now and I know that soon they will turn into intellectual ones as well.

As I am already weary of her growing up too quickly, it is still a difficult thing to absorb but on the good side of things, I am really enjoying our philosophical conversations.

Yesterday, we turned up another philosphical question which made it to the Blog Title Hall of Fame on UTP. We were having a normal conversation and the words mother and father sprung up. I asked her, "What is the name of your mother?"

Now the little one knew who her Mama was but her Mother...she had to think for a while...

Being the diplomat that she is, she had to make the questioner happy. That is her basic strategy that if you don't know the answer, ensure that you make the person who asked it feel satisfied with whatever you reply. So there it came...

"Baba..."

So there it is...Baba is the Mother of the little one....and that is why my friends...daughters are the cutest...especially when they have just started making sense out of their sentences...

Robo-Whistle!!! You are Off-Side, Sir!!!

With the amazing improvements in technology over the years, many sports have been trying more and more ways to get the right decisions at the moment rather than relying on the referee's decision who is only human. It has always been a question of bringing technology in without hindering the fun and sanctity of the sport.

Whether it be cricket which used the 3rd umpire

Beings of Heaven

I was writing a comment somewhere and it led to a series of thoughts in my head. It was about how "Unsatisfied" we are. We come into this world crying. Somebody had a very good explanation for why we come to the world crying.

He said, "We are beings of heaven...and the stuff that we left behind while coming here...its certainly not matchable to the things in this world...."

So even though it may be a happy moment for the parents and the family around that a child came to this world, its not really a happy moment for the child. We human beings have been made for Heaven. Heaven... a place where desires will always remain fulfilled. You think it, and you got it. With the great explanations of how Heaven is and what goodies are there, its not unreasonable at all that we keep complaining about almost every other happening in this world.

Coming from a perfect world, this world is only filled with flaws. Oh the electricity!!! Oh the economy!!! Oh my pay-cheque!!! Oh the neighbour's dog!!! No matter who you are or where you are from. You have a list of rantings that you go through every other day and the list only grows with time. We are quite spoiled in that sense since we are not used to having things not go our way.

When I moved from my home country into UAE, friends used to ask me, "Don't you get homesick?" I used to wonder, I should get homesick but I really didn't. Well my wife and kid were here but people still do get homesick and can't adjust to abroad. That led me to another thought.

Since its heaven that we have come from and eventually we will go back there, isn't that our ultimate home? I mean OK I was born in some-body's house, in some town & in some country. I call my home "sweet home" in this world but is it really my true home? What is home anyway?

Home is a place where you feel protected from the atrocities of this world. You feel relaxed and free. You feel in control. OK so that does justice to the worldly definition as well but isn't Heaven a more appropriate definition of HOME?

Only if we could understand that truth. Only if we could actually feel homesick for our true home? Imagine how we would just change our lives to be able to get back to our real home quickly. Then everybody would be walking on the right path to make the road to home more smooth and more brisk.

We are after all, beings of heaven. Heaven is where we came from and Heaven is where we will end up eventually & hopefully quicker than we deserve. Lets pray, may we all become homesick for our true home and start leading our lives accordingly on a path which leads to...Home. Amen

Andy Murray - Is he Top 5 material?

Andy Murray looked great as a complete tennis player when he came back from 2 sets down against Gasquet in this year's Wimbledon. The emotions, the heart and the skill, everything was there as it should be. He has a great serve which can only improve. He is young and the fans can expect some big things in the future from him.

However, the match against Nadal just proved how

Danish Kaneria - Forgotten, Ignored, Wasted yet again

He broke open in the Paki cricket scene in Late November of 2000 against the visiting English team in a test match. He was then known as Danesh Kaneria. With the likes of Abdul Qadir & Mushtaq Ahmed already set the tone of great former leg spinners of Pakistan, the standard was set. Warne and Kumble being in the competition when it comes to practicing the googlies and

Chitika - Alternate to Google Adsense

When I wrote my post on Google Adsense and Mozilla Firefox, a lot of comments came through asking me if I knew any other good alternates to Adsense. Even though it is one of the most popular advertising networks on the Internet, there are other people who are working hard in competition as well.

I had come across Chitika in my early days of my birth as a blogger while I was searching for alternates to AdSense. I was thinking maybe I can put in two different advertisement sources and earn from both at the same time. I hadn't read the Adsense Terms and Conditions though and when I did I found out that you cant have any AdSense competition on the same website, I threw an over-smart giggle. I was becoming money-minded.

Anyway, when I came on Chitika's website, the first article they have on their page is that Chitika is allowed with Google AdSense on the same page. That was all that I wanted. I tried different things on Chitika and was quite impressed how they are not actually competing with Adsense as their products are much different. You will find out the difference when you sign up and start exploring. Their priorities and their target market is pretty different.



The first thing that impressed me was their variety of products. They have items to use for the area on the right and left of your site if a viewer has a different resolution on their monitor. These are called Whitespace ADs.

They have got Multi-Product Units (MPUs) which will have multiple items for sale in the same AD Unit. They also have Chitika Premium which they themselves say is useful if you have lots of visitors from the USA.

However, their most popular is eMiniMalls and Linx where you can earn on the traditional Cost-per-Click (CPC) or Cost-per-Impressions (CPI). Lot's of good stuff.

So, there you have it. For the people who wanted an alternate to AdSense, Chitika is one.

Xavi - The difference between Under-Achieving and Champion Spain

Euro 2008 ended with a quiet finale with Spain beating the Germans 1-0. The two best teams of Europe met in a jam-packed stadium on a lovely evening filled with happiness and an air of friendliness. The same attitudes were carried to the pitch and it was one of the cleanest finals ever played.

The tournament was one of the cleanest ones played with

ATP Calendar - Survival of the Fittest

Time and again we have heard some of the famous names in the game of tennis complaining about the rigorous ATP calendar. Whether they are right or not, one has to consider that every sport in this world talks about making money. From the ATP committee's point of view it is very clear that the more tennis tournaments there are the more sponsors would get involved and

The Day when I grew up...

It was back in Grade 6, Karachi High School and the new academic year starting in August 1992. We had moved to the Secondary section by crossing over from Class 5. It was a very small school hence it shouldn't have been a big deal if a 20 odd children moved on to secondary section cos nothing "really" changed. Its not like we moved to another location altogether or a different block.

Of course there was the convocation/graduation ceremony...hehe...yeah we used to have a convocation when we moved (graduated) from KG to 1 and 5 to 6 and then from 10 to moving out of school. 3 convocations in my life at School. Our principal was really interested in seeing kids in their gowns and square caps.

Anyway, going off topic. The biggest change from Grade 5 to Grade 6 was the change in uniform. Long Sleeves and Trousers. It was such a big change to wear trousers even in Summers. I was one of the children with a better than average height and it was embarrassing wearing shorts almost all year long.

The even bigger change...was the TIE. Yes people, this post is about the day I learnt how to TIE the TIE. Tie the knot...umm...no that was much later...how do you say this...? Tie the TIE...ok whatever...

See, with the long sleeves and the trousers came the big switch. Its not really a big change from short sleeve to long sleeve because you still wear the shirt the same way. There is also not a big difference in the switch from shorts to trousers because you wear them the same way. The only difference being that your legs come out much earlier in the shorts than the trouser.

The significant change is the switch from the ELASTIC TIE to the Full TIE. The one that needs the knot. No longer some bully pulling on your elastic tie. No more playing elephant by pulling up the tie to the nose. It was the day, I grew up, a little more.

The first day, when I was going to school in the new wardrobe, I didn't know how to do it. Tie the TIE. My mom didn't either and my father wasn't around, well he usually wasn't around for such little yet important stuff. His work was away from home most time of the year. My sweet mom, tried her best to get some kind of a knot through so that at least it is not embarrassing but couldn't manage. Finally, she said go and learn from one of your friends. Somebody would know.

So, little UTP, all sad but in a crisp new uniform reached school with no TIE around his neck. I was assuming there would many other like me and there were. But there were many other unlike me who actually knew how to do it. Some had really nice triangle (samosas...) knots who had jealous people around them. Girls talked to them more on the day just to talk about how they tie their knot. I mean it was the talk of the day. We were the outsiders cos we didn't know how to look smart.

In comes Abid Nisar. I want to write the name of my best friend (from the school days) here. This guy was a genius, one of those all-rounders. Studies, extra curricular, sports etc. He was in everything and...of course he knew how to get the perfection in tie-knotting. I didn't even have to plead. He knew how I was feeling and he left the swarm of girls around him and came and helped me out. He was patient and taught me the single as well as double knot. Then all I needed was practice and I became pretty good at it in a few days.

And that was the day I grew up. That was what was the actual transition to 6th grade. Learning to tie the knot. I mean...TIE the TIE-KNOT. How do you say this?

I am amazed to end this post by saying what a wonderful feeling of achievement that was. At that time, those were the little achievements that made the day. Those were the little happiness moments that I still cherish. Why has all that changed? I wanted to tie my tie every morning then. I now keep my ties all knotted up and while taking them off I don't break the knot. I don't have time in the morning to spend time in making a tie knot. I wonder why? When it was one of the most important things to do back then.

Similar was learning how to tie shoelaces...but I ll keep that story for another day. I ll give you a preview though...I DIDNT learn...heheh. I went for the Velcro shoes almost all through school and still avoid laced shoes. But that will be another day and another story.

Collingwood - Give him some time to prove as Captain

Paul Collingwood has come a long way in quick time under the Captain's hat and even though his recent ODI ban of 4 matches is something that will raise a lot of questions on his holding the fort at this time, I think he is still the man for the job. He may not have had the ultimate head turning start to his English captaincy career but he has got the right kind of

Ronaldo's Ransom at Man Utd - Is it fair on the fan?

Christiano Ronaldo is by far the best player around the world currently and can be matched with the Ronaldinhos of the world. He has no longer a new sensation and has made his place amongst the fans and the experts. Its not only skill but also some leadership qualities that one gets to see in small instances at such a young age. He was definitely the difference this year with

Getting Famous...

A wise man once said...

"Its not the quotes who make people famous, its the people who make the quotes famous."

That wise man is me, UTP :$

Being a Leo, I was told by people that some of the personality traits that I am born with is Leadership, Curiosity and Dying for the Spotlight. I have always died for the spotlight. Attention seeker is something that has always been attributed to me. Its not the best trait in the world, trust me, cos many a times I have been left embarrassed by my antics.

I mean talk about a guy who wouldn't get off the stage once he got a chance to sing. They had to pull me off. Ah! The university days. There was not a single year when I didn't perform while being there. I wasn't the best singer around but who cares. Spotlight is all what I crave for. After graduating I stayed behind and worked a few years in the university as well. Even performed in those years. I was in love with the stage. I think I still am.

I would chat with strangers, force upon some philosophy. I would not make sense more than make sense (did that make sense?). But the times I did make sense, I made a note of the thought. I would use that thought wherever possible.

I even went and shot a video as a model (imagine, I bet nobody knew about this one!!!). I could never make it through to competition of handsome and hot models on the private Urdu channels so I gave my try at a Sindhi channel. I had actually gone for a singing audition and maybe a little towards acting at max. But the person who was taking the audition immediately realized, that with that Sindhi accent, I would make a joke out of it. So she asked me to do a bit of walking here and there and that's that. In a few days, I was a Music Video model. Now that would have been something that should have been kept under covers until I die but not me. I had to go share the copy of it with almost everybody I deemed appropriate (that is everybody). And no, I am not posting a copy of that video here.

When I entered the blogging world. That was it. I mean what a combination. I could write what I wanted and people can come and read. Imagine. That is the perfect solution for the Leo in me. It has taken quite a few years to become a regular blogger and I am still a long way to become a good one but who cares. I go around reading and commenting on people's blogs and they come back returning and getting a chance to read my lousy hither-thither stuff. I just love networking whether it be business or social. I just love the attention as well as the interaction.

Today, I shared a very important part of me. It was important for me to let this out on my blog. Its not really something I really like about myself. Maybe now that its out and everybody will start criticizing, I will try and improve on this and become the introvert that I was born.

Oh yeah, the quote at the beginning of the post is invented by me. You are free to use it wherever you want, just give me credit. Oh shucks...there I go again.