11.23 seconds

For those who have time to kill
or
who take it as a challenge and make it a reason for time killing!

Balance it!

*honk*

Islamic Republic of Pakistan:

Crossing the road used to be a bit of an ordeal for me, and still is for a few people I know who don't have to do it on a regular basis. I, however, have now mastered the whole process, at least in Karachi, Pakistan. The trick is to know just when to stop and when to go. If you're good at it, you'll be several yards away by the time a car whizzes by the very spot you were stationary in five seconds ago. If you're really good, you'll feel the slight pressure of the wind from a car that just scraped by your side and you're still alive. *experienced*

It happens almost everyday during my summer breaks that I have to cross over numerous times within few hours for various reasons. The closest intersection is far away and much more complicated so I cross the road from wherever I want to. The way I describe it, “you must cross roads in pieces in Karachi”. There are rarely any lanes unless you get to the road that leads to the airport. When there are no lanes, cars aren’t really following any lines either so all you see is a mass exodus of all sorts of vehicles ranging from trucks, cars, public buses, motorcycles, bicycles, rickshaws, gadhagaris (donkey-carts), and, if you’re as lucky as I am, numbers of thelay with thela drivers exhausting themselves, trying to compete against each other and keep up with the speed of others on the very freakin road where all other vehicles are running. My two cents If you wanna cross a road are as follows: what you do is cross two imaginary lanes, i.e. 25% of the road at one time, stand in the middle and wait to cross the next 20% as soon as you see an opening. Once you’re done with 45%, you work out the rest of it the same way. If you’re really really lucky as I have been sometimes, you would be able to cross the rest of it within one piece, I warn you, that’s very rare though. For those who don't get to do it that often, you are certainly missing out.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Being a nineties-kid, there was never much traffic in the Eastern Province for me to deal with. There would be proper traffic lights - just like it is supposed to be around the world - and less need of crossing roads every now and then. It was rarely a bit of hassle. If you got yourself into trouble often even then, you really needed to learn how to walk basically.

Now, there are more cars and much more traffic but it is quite organized at least in the cities. Highways are ridiculous and are infamous for fatal accidents but who in the right mind would cross highways as an everyday task. To say the least, roads over here are extremely boring with people minding their own businesses and just driving along.

United States of America

I would say the safest but meanest of all. In Pakistan, if you violate any “road crossing” laws, the driver just takes out his frustration on the spot and moves on mumbling under his lips. You think that it was the driver’s fault anyway and you move on. Everything is fine and you forget about it. In Saudi Arabia, it rarely happens that you need to stop at the Xing. In Detroit, Michigan, and quite a few places elsewhere all the way to the western coast I’ve been to, *sometimes* even though you’ll get a “go ahead” eye contact signal from the driver, the look would be so mean that makes you feel guilty that why did you even step on the ground at the first place? As amusing as it is, at least for me, the driver keeps on staring until you cross the road. I have learned not to look back in such situations and keep walking onwards. Overall, it is really safe physically :)


In general:

The one thing that I still haven't been able to master about crossing roads, though, through sheer distrust of the “human” species as a whole, is the easiest trick of all for most people: having a car actually stop and the driver give you that vague "go ahead" signal. Most people would take the driver's word and start crossing before the car has even slowed down, much less come to a complete stop in the middle of the road. I can't bring myself to do that. My initial reaction is much like my reaction at those insistent "Win a FREE iPod" ads that keep popping into my inbox from time to time: "yeah RIGHT!”

So there we are, me still safely at the side and the car, slowing down, but not quite at a standstill yet. The driver hesitates. He/she wants to drive without slowing down or stopping to allow me to cross, but is now honor-bound to prove to me that my distrust is unnecessary and he/she did plan to stop instead of run me over. In the end, the driver will actually come to a complete halt in the middle of a busy road, with several cars honking behind him/her. We have reached the proverbial stalemate. I'm wondering if I dare risk it to cross even now, lest the irate driver may decide to run me over for being such a distrustful dumb head. It is, at this point, that I give in and actually cross the road very quickly and embarrassedly for having caused all the bother for the now half dozen cars in a line behind the benevolent soul that stopped.

I know what's next!

Is it really all about the treadmill? Is it really about running each other out? Not exactly. More truly, there are perspectives and perceptions. They may not necessarily be all true but they certainly hold some credence in them to be looked upon often times.

They say, “to succeed at what you do, and to do it right, you need to fall in love with what you do. Unless you love it, you're never truly satisfied”, I add, “it’s then that you tie your satisfaction to salaries, designations, and fame....” It’s not about maximization of profit really but it’s more about the realities and practicalities that you’ll encounter on your way.

I wanna say that I think of something that is unrelated to financial gain but still influential to the world as more important that soulless maximization of profit in the name of progress and in an attempt to gain recognition. Of course, one can never deny the monetary compulsion factor out of one’s life but one must see it with multiple perspectives.

My passion is perception. I love to know what people know, what people think, and what people learn with their knowledge and thoughts. Doing nothing puts me to death or even repeating the same familiar routine for long also annoys me. I love to push the limits further, create the next challenge, and test myself if I can get through it. I might not be successful every time but it definitely gives me an idea of my own abilities. This is what I think I wanna do. Use my abilities to do that something extra for people out there and putting my interests on a lower priority level than theirs. This, of course, comes after you are satisfied with your desires and wants and it’s a vicious cycle but we, or at least I, want to achieve this before the end. "The End" being the satisfaction of one's desires. Or rather I want to lower the bar of my desires and pursue them alongside my aim.

When we put our faith in something we believe passionately, we are more likely to devote ourselves to make it happen. However, before that, we should have something very clear to set our beliefs upon. Instead of working out for ourselves throughout our lives, we should really set an aim and work towards it - a realistic goal. It's about time that we should get off the treadmill and start thinking in terms of training together and producing together and leaving an impact together.

I think I do see it happening or is it totally flawed?

What could be next?

There must be more to life than this constant faith vs maximization of profit debate. Sometimes it just depresses me when I have nothing to do or I am exceedingly bored without much interesting happening. This is one of those very moments and whenever they strike, they force me to think about the aforementioned debate.

What is it I want to do now? What’s next? It seems really arbitrary how my future will look like but I have always envisioned life to have some essential meaning to it, some creative channels by which one could potentially change one’s surroundings. Make it happen for someone. Put some real effort in it that gives you satisfaction. Satisfaction that is beyond material satisfaction as it is understood, by me at least, that we can never be satisfied of material satisfaction. We need something beyond than that, perhaps something that we have our faith in.

How can you change the world when your primary concern is maximization of profits? Let’s say I do become one of those ultra-creative people and might do something worthwhile. What’s next? Is that brief moment of glory within and without going to have to be the nourishment for my soul for the rest of my monotonous life, which I would spend, most probably, trying to duplicate the past successes and most likely not being able to? Is that what life is supposed to be about? Flogging yourself to exhaustion to leave your mark and then basking in the brief glow of recognition and appreciation, only to be relegated back to the end of the line so that the next person can have his scheduled 15 minutes of fame? Would that fill in the void in my life? If yes, then I must say that it is a much discounted reward we get for prostituting our own creativity, our own art, and our own life to satisfy that yearn for public recognition. Is that who I want to be? Is that who I already am?

When thinking about this debate, it brings to my mind the image of a long line of treadmills with corporate employees on each one, trying to outrun the others all their lives, not realizing that it’s a fruitless endeavor. In the end, they are so caught up running for their own sakes, to keep their ranks up in the millions that they don’t even accidentally tumble upon something else and eventually, they fall off the treadmill. I don’t want to be on that treadmill. I want much more than that and I think I know what that is. Just maybe.

The "new-killer" deal?

A joke for you my lovelies:

A father and son are walking on the beach when suddenly a wave comes and takes the son away. Shocked, the father looks up at the sky and says: "God, I have been a good man please bring back my son, I will be forever greatful!" The next second, another wave comes and suddenly his son is standing ..alive and in the exact same spot where he was before the first wave hit. The father took one look at his son and looked up at the sky and started crying his eyes out and started cursing God..after a minute or so he stopped and he shouted up to the sky and said: "God, you forgot his hat!"

Aren't we like that often times?
Whining err...criticizing (excuse me for that horrendous blunder) is a collective property of individuals who belong to a nation or anything that is established basically. More on that, we are seeing a whole lot of self-criticism nowadays in Pakistan. We are whining as to how the leaders in the past used politics to gain power and money earlier and how they are doing right now without sparing a thought or two for the awaam under this "fully democratic functioning government". As falling stars hit the ground in Karachi, another file of arguments has started as per the responsiveness of the government of Pakistan to such incidents. Especially before the security-heightened romantic meeting between the leader of the closest ally of war on terror and the man in charge of war on terror. Apparently, it can be known by pictures of some random security camera at the location of the incident that who the suicide bomber was. This isn't the first time so we don't have much hope but what people/organization it reveals is still gonna be interesting. My deepest condolences to those who've lost their loved ones in this incident.

They say "curiosity kills". What is certainly bothering me is the timing of this nuclear deal with India by George W. Bush. Whatsup with that? That too when he plans to land in the borders of the military foe of that very deal-struck nation just days after. Iran cannot use its own resources to exercise its power ability but on the other hand, India gets a deal for its appetite for "energy". Care if I use the word "hypocrisy" in here. Anyhow, I am still unable to guess the rationality and reasoning behind it from Pakistan's point of view, which happens to be the "closest ally of United States in an ongoing war on terror". Drop me a line on this query, if you can please.

In other news, Muralitharan has completed 1000 international wickets and blogspot has been banned in Pakistan:)