First visit - Writing Center

Last week, I went to observe the tutoring sessions in the writing center as I am going to be doing the same in a few weeks. They had an interesting case where a student's paper was due in half an hour and he needed some quick proofreading. Although the tutor did help him make his sentences flow, she could not spend a lot of time in correcting due to lack of time. There was a sense of urgency from tutee's side and so the tutor had to rush as well to read the whole paper at least once. Personally, I think she did a good job by staying calm and pointing out the grammatical errors and tutee corrected them right away. It was a quick 20 mins case because the tutee had to turn the paper in within 10 mins anyway.

Later, I got a debriefing from the tutor how these cases are somewhat rare and it does not happen all the time. They take appointments ahead of time so they can have a tutor available even prior to the tutee walking in. It certainly was an interesting observation and I was trying to imagine myself doing the same and how would I deal with it. I suppose we start tutoring in a week or two and we shall know then :)

Sport for entertainment?

As we are witnessing the frenzy of a quicker form of cricket, experts are also arguing on whether this form of cricket is taking out the spirit of the sport for entertainment or is it really going to become a regular part of itnernational tours all around the world? Will we be able to incorporate twenty20 tournaments as often as we have ODI tournaments in a two team series or will it just be a game or two before the beginning of ODI series between two international teams? A lot of questions will be answered after the end of World Twenty20 Cup, that's for sure.

But for now, we had an amazing game just recently that was a treat to watch. I am sure this tournament will not lose its interest anytime soon unlike the World Cup earlier this year. There haven't been many upsets except that West Indies just had to go out because of their poor performance and Bangladesh deserved it.

Ahh well, we shall wait and see what is in store for the cricket fans in upcoming days. Another unpredictable clash between Pakistan and Sri Lanka tomorrow will really test the potentialities of players in the contest.

President asserts again!

And so the drama ended and President wins once again in getting what he wanted. Perhaps not exactly, but he will be satisfied nevertheless. On the other hand, dreams were certainly shattered for Nawaz Sharif who might have been expecting a Khomeini-like homecoming yesterday.

In a display of power and some brutal dictator-style decision making, President Musharraf really cornered former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by crashing all possiblities of exiting the airport. Arrested leaders, jammed cell phones/telephone lines, baton charges, tear gas, and presence of commandos are just some highlights from yesterday's saga at Islamabad Airport. It was certainly exciting for the viewers to watch it all unfold on tv as it were the script of an Ishtiaq Ahmed's novel.

Most likely, reporters would cite this "incident" un-democratic but I am curious to know what other options President Musharraf really had? I was certainly impressed by the preparations the government had made at the airport. It really showed that they have learned from past mistakes and hence, blocked all the possibilities of being humiliated on a short-term.

Preparations included a large number of paramilitary Rangers, Elite Force commandos, Punjab Police and intelligence agencies’ officials who were deployed at the airport, which had been put on red-alert since Sunday. Very impressive.

More importantly, not only the decision of the appointments of Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) is expected soon, but also the arrival of Daughter of the East, Muhtarma Benazir Bhutto plans to land soon annex another episode to the recently viewed saga. All in all, Pakistani politics definitely looks very exciting in the upcoming months.

back yet?

After speaking to an enthusiastic blogger friend today, I came to the realization that I miss blogging. The process of actually seeking the interesting in your life and times, condensing and refining it in your head until it sounds like something you may yourself want to read if you were to ever encounter it on a blog, and finally, the blurry movements of the fingers trying ever so hard to keep up with racing ideas. I do think I wish to start blogging regularly again, if just for the sake of talking out loud in a dark room that may potentially be empty or filled with people. We shall never know unless we speak out and wait.

...and so I intend to start again with the ramblings and political predictions amid random comments on randomest things. Stay tuned as there is much more to come folks!