Wings!

This Poem is Written by Maham Shahbaz :)

See that bird over there?? In the cage?

She wants to fly away..

Into the wilderness , into the open air.

She wants to feel what was made for her,

but she cant..

She tries , she cries , flaps her wings and thinks.. 

“are they meant for flying or for beauty?”

She looks outside to the breaking dawn.

Hope floods through her cage..

“maybe today he might let me go”

she thinks..

On the orange sky she looks at others fly,

Her heart skips a beat for she knows 

her wings are really meant for flying.

She flaps her wings again, trying to break free.

Her master thinks she is hungry,

so he gets her food and water,

Imran Khan's Autobiography 'Pakistan: A Personal History'

Note: These are the few parts of the book which are published just so that people can get to know about the book more and the more and interesting detail is present in the book itself. This book has been published by Bantam Press. All the views are of the writer itself. For this article I have taken help from Wikipedia, Imran Khan’s book, Daily Express Pakistan.

The Old Man and the Sea is a novel written by American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951. It is a story of Santiago, an aging fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream but he never lets go hope. At one place Santiago is quoted as saying “But a man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” Imran Khan the famous Pakistani cricketer is a true example of this quote.

Before starting his political career, Imran Khan was famous because of two reasons. Cricket and Shaukat Khanam Cancer Hospital are those reasons. The place where he stands today has been achieved after intense struggle and hard work and one can only applaud the great man.

Marketers create Artificial needs.

There are many arguments and contradictions that marketers create artificial needs. Well as far as my opinion is concerned i do agree with the statement that marketers do create artificial needs. Its basically without which we cant survive. Everyone is hungry of fulfilling his/her desired needs. The best example can be of coke. Consumer today want coke rather water at some cases. I have seen lots of people those who prefer to drink coke apart from water which is an argued statement that what led them to be that way. 

Erzurum: The Historical City of Turkey

Erzurum is the Turkish city of Southern Anatolia. Its name has originated from the Arabic language words “Arz-E-Room” meaning, the Land of Romans. This city was famous in the Roman as well as Persian reign and was given the name by the Turkish emperors who conquered this city in the year 1071 during the war of Manzikert.

According to the census of year 2000 the total population of the city is around 361,235. According to the non government surveys the current population of the city is around 367,250. It must be noted that Erzurum is the largest city of the Erzurum Province which in fact is the biggest province of Southern Anatolia. The city is situated 1757 meters (5766 feet) above sea level and has the code word ‘The Rock’ according to the NATO forces. It also served as the Air Base for the NATO forces during the cold war years.

Mad People!

Written by Maham Shahbaz! :)

“How is she today?” he asked from her parents..
“Fine, she didn’t talk to the walls today”..
“Good” he said, going to her room..

He saw her sitting by the window looking out with a thread in her hand, as if deep in thought. Her psychiatrist knocked on the door and entered with a cheery atmosphere and said “well last appointment…makes me sad…what's going on?"
She kept on staring without answer. He was used to such patients but she somehow seemed different…he looked at the thread on her finger and asked “what's that?”
*No answer*.
He asked again.. on that she answered “this finger” .. 
She held out her index finger:

“suppose this finger is me, the segments are the stages of life,child,adult,old age..and this thread…” she  held out the thread and said” suppose it is is life now see..” she started to coil the thread on her finger the lower had less turns but the upper tip had more turns..the turns increased with stage. In the end she looked at me and said “it will turn purple,that shows pain and finally death…due to pain”.

He looked at the finger, thought for a while then held out his index finger and said “that’s me” he started to coil the thread in such a way that he had half of the thread on his finger: “we share the pain, now you have less pain” he smiled at her “life is good or in your case less painful if you have people or who care about you and that can make you happy or less purple” on that they laughed..

she thought then said “we can never die..we just change forms, sand then plant then animal then human again and so on…” she uncoiled the thread and said “see? the finger remains…if I can see two of me without a mirror, if I can go to places without moving, if I can see things , which according to most of you don’t exist , the I can surely not get finished.”

You are Unique just like every cloud on the sky is..

 “I have a soul in me, when I feel it , I feel supreme power and no worry and when I see my reflection I get scared , because that is my body , which is the devil, which can feel pain…”
he smiled impressed and answered “well I'm going to miss all the philosophy, you have recovered well, now I wont be your psychiatrist, official appointments are over, but as I promised you I will come meet you…unofficially” he winked at her and left.

While he was on his way home he thought “how can a mad person know all this?... maybe they aren’t mad…they are just unique…”

Cricket Time!

Pakistan vs Srilanka cricket series may not be a mouth watering prospect for many but I guess this is the perfect preparation and confidence building step that Pakistan needed before the big series against England early next year as that series will decide the direction towards which Pakistan cricket is going.

Pakistan dominated throughout the five days of the first cricket test between the two teams, had it not been the drop catches Pakistan would have won easily. Winning the toss and bowling first was a risk but Misbah was right in taking the initiative of a fresh pitch as the only assistance bowlers had was on the first day of the match and Pakistani bowlers did not let their captain down when they bowled out Srilanka for 197 with Junaid Khan picking up his first five wicket hall in a spell of 14.1-3-38-5. Pakistan reply was a strong one as Taufeeq Umar with his 236 helped Pakistan to a strong total of 511/6 wickets, the only negative was that Pakistan took 710 minutes and scored the runs at the rate of 2.9 per over. Srilanka's second innings was no different as they were struggling at 233-5 only until the drop catches, six in total, cost Pakistan the match. They were able to bowl out Srilanka with 21 overs remaining but sensibly did not chase the target due to Srilanka's negative field setting. Kumara Sangakara was given the man of the match award which was surprising for me :)

Spot Fixing Verdict Announced

A jury found former Pakistan captain Salman Butt guilty of both charges in the spot-fixing trial, while fast bowler Mohammad Asif was found guilty on one charge, after they took 16 hours and 56 minutes to debate the verdicts.

The judge, Justice Cooke, then retired the jury to deliberate further on the second count against Asif. Both players will remain on bail until sentencing on Thursday and Friday.

Butt and Asif were unanimously found guilty on the charge of 'conspiracy to cheat' and Butt was guilty by a 10-2 majority on the charge of 'conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments' following the Lord's Test in August last year when they allegedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed, teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-determined no-balls. The charges were levelled after allegations made last September in the now defunct British tabloid the News of the World, which carried out an undercover sting operation. Majeed was recorded by a secret camera, saying when no-balls would be delivered by the bowlers.

Butt, wearing a velvet jacket and shirt without a tie, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out. He just stared at the jury stony-faced. Asif, wearing a grey winter coat in the dock, was equally unmoved as neither player said a word or made any obvious facial expression.