World’s Most Generous Vegetable Seller

You’ve probably never heard of her, but Taiwanese vegetable seller Chen Shu-chu has done more for the needy than many of the world’s rich and famous. Earning a modest living selling vegetables at the market, the Asian hero has so far managed to donate over $322,000 to various charities.

“Money serves its purpose only when it is used for those who need it,” Chen Shu-chu once told a newspaper, and throughout the years, the dedicated philanthropist made sure her hard earned cash was indeed used for the right causes. Inspired by her own difficult and impoverished childhood, Chen decided to dedicate her life to helping those less fortunate than her. Even though she earned a modest income selling vegetables in Taitung County’s central market, in eastern Taiwan, the 61-year-old led a frugal life and donated almost all of her money to charities. You’d think there wouldn’t be much to give away, but Chen Shu-chu has so far made substantial donations, including  $32,000 for a children’s fund, $144,000 to build a library at a school she attended and $32,000 to a local orphanage where she also offers financial support to three children. In total, the world’s most generous vegatable seller has so far donated over $300,000, and she’s not planning on stopping.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century, he was awarded the 1972 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature. He pursued a self-directed education that resulted in his leaving law school for a career in journalism. From early on, he showed no inhibitions in his criticism of Colombian and foreign politics. In 1958, he married Mercedes Barcha; they had two sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born in Arataca, Colombia on  6 March 1927. Soon after García Márquez was born, his father became a pharmacist and moved, with his wife, to Barranquilla, leaving young Gabito in Aracataca. He was raised by his maternal grandparents, Doña Tranquilina Iguarán and Colonel Nicolás Ricardo Márquez Mejía. In December 1936, his father took him and his brother to Sincé, while in March 1937, his grandfather diedAs a child, his grandmother told him fantastic stories of magical events, relating them as if they were fact. These early stories helped shape his own signature writing style, later known as "magical realism."

Younis Khan: A Man of Steel

Few reactions these days capture better the ceaseless, aimless churn of cricket than those to a cricketer reaching 100 Tests. It is an exhausted celebration. Another? Already? Young parents know the feeling, stuck in the grind of countless birthdays a week in their toddler's class. These days a cricketer has barely debuted before he's playing his 100th Test (for example, Alastair Cook). Once the landmark must have felt like climbing Everest. Now? Now, it's that speed bump to zip over unthinkingly.

Very occasionally, as when a fast bowler gets there, we are reminded of the true weight of the achievement. Today in Colombo, when Younis Khan gets there, we'll know once again, because there hasn't been a harder-earned century of Test appearances than his. Today it may be not so much that he has scaled Everest but that he has climbed the sky itself.

Last year in the UAE, Michael Clarke said he was "surprised" to find out that Younis had played only 92 Tests, given how long he had been playing. Clarke's was a genuine and generous tribute but it also revealed the blind spot in which Pakistan and its players exist for bigger opponents. Anyone who has followed Younis' career, after all, would express surprise that he had got that far in the first place.

Wazir Khan Mosque

The Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan, is famous for its extensive faience tile work. It has been described as 'a mole on the cheek of Lahore'. It was built in seven years, starting around 1634–1635 AD, during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan. It was built by Hakim Shaikh Ilm-ud-din Ansari, a native of Chiniot, who rose to be the court physician to Shah Jahan and a governor of Lahore. He was commonly known as Wazir Khan, a popular title bestowed upon him (the word Wazir means 'minister' in Urdu and Persian). The mosque is inside the Inner City and is easiest accessed from Delhi Gate. The mosque contains some of the finest examples of Qashani tile work from the Mughal period. Within the inner courtyard of the mosque lies the subterranean tomb of Syed Muhammad Ishaq, known as Miran Badshah, a divine who settled in Lahore during the time of the Tughluq dynasty. The tomb, therefore, predates the mosque. A lollywood movie was based in this very Mosque. "Khuda Ke Liye (For God Sake)", it is based on what Islam allows and what people think what Islam allows. This movie has two sides of what people think about Islam.

Decision Review System in Cricket

 
The Decision Review System is a technology-based system used in the sport of cricket. The system was first introduced in Test cricket, for the sole purpose of reviewing controversial decisions made by the on-field umpires in the case of whether or not a batsman had been dismissed. The system was first tested in an India v Sri Lanka game in 2008. The system was officially launched by the International Cricket Council on 24 November 2009 during the first Test match between New Zealand and Pakistan at the University Oval in Dunedin. It was first used in One Day Internationals in January 2011, during England's tour of Australia. The ICC initially made the UDRS mandatory in all international matches, but later made its use optional, whereby the system would only be used if both teams agree. The ICC has agreed to continue to work on the technology and will try to incorporate its use into all ICC events.

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This is for the people I could not get back to, so just writing this in short because I can't reply everyone individually. It is amazing how easy it is for anyone to say anything and people believing everything. This must be the 4th or 5th time it has happened with me and I find it extremely funny to be honest.  I am me. As simple as that, you guys can trust me on that. Let me come back. I know how to deal with this, so kindly just relax. Though It hurts a little (it actually does a lot) I have been nothing but nice with everyone, respected everyone from the heart and well just my point of view you may not agree, but..I kind of deserved better than this. Thanks to some for being a friend and standing by me means a lot and you guys mean a lot to me as well, also thanks to others for pretending to be a friend or hating but want to curse all those who reported my instagram account and I have realized that too much interference in life by people who mean nothing. Again, most of you do know I have a surgery in few days and that is why I have been away from social networks, so please give me some space right now, if all goes well, I will be back soon to flood your timelines as usual, Happy Ramadan if you are not caged. 

Time-travel through special relativity

Written By: Shummas Humayun 

NOTE: I wrote this essay based on the assumption that the reader has no prior knowledge of the basic implications of special relativity, which for our concern is Time Dilation. In my text, I tried to be as simple as I could while covering the underlying concept. For that reason, I divided the essay into 5 sections.

-[The relativity principle]-

At the heart of special relativity lies a simple fact, that the laws of nature are invariable. The principle of relativity, which is often wrongly credited to Einstein and actually dates back to the time of Galileo under the title ‘Galilean relativity’, states that the laws of physics will work the same way both in the state of rest or of uniform motion. This forms the backbone of special relativity and this simple sounding fact has very far reaching and counter intuitive consequences. It also suggests that any experiment conducted by us in our frame that is either at rest or in uniform motion, will give us the same experimental result in both cases. Another way to put up the relativity principle is to say that the states of rest and of uniform motion are actually indistinguishable from each other. Both of these states are equivalent in all aspects and because you will get the same experimental results in both of them, there is actually no way to test whether you are absolutely at rest or absolutely in uniform motion. The concept is totally relative. If I say that I’m driving at 40 m/s it would mean that I’m moving at this speed in relevance to the trees, buildings and roads which are themselves not at rest but in a state of uniform motion all the time due to the earth’s orbit. (Earth’s motion is not fully constant but it has a negligible angular acceleration due to it’s slightly elliptical orbit around the sun). Hence motion is relative and absolute state of uniform motion or rest does not exist. Only change in motion can be absolutely measured which in scientific terms, is called acceleration. Furthermore, If I’m moving at a speed of 40 m/s to the right from your perspective, it is equivalent to say that you are moving at negative 40 m/s from my perspective (opposite direction). This is simply because none of us can claim to be in a state of absolute rest in the the entire universe. In the above case we both happen to be in relative motion. Similarly, if we both move at the same speed in the same direction, it is logically equivalent to say that we both are at rest with respect to each other but at the same time, we both are in motion with respect to the earth. Thus in order to understand the basic implications of special relativity, one has to unlearn the false concept of absolute motion and absolute rest. As you will later see that even though one will get the same results for experiments conducted in his own state of rest or of uniform motion, he will not agree with the experimental results of someone who is moving with a relative velocity. One of these disagreements will be regarding the passage of time. Time may seem to pass slowly for one person who is in uniform motion with respect to the other person. Because the relativity principle asserts that none of them can claim to be in a state of absolute rest or absolute uniform motion, time itself is not absolute for them under these circumstances.

Comfort in Pain

Written By: Maham Shahbaz

Do you notice how everyone gives us signs of anxiety, happiness, love, grief, heart break…emotions? Do you see how an introvert kid tries to extend his hand forward to feel the rain fall on him? Do you notice how it’s all just prefect but then suddenly it’s just…not there? 

Do you notice the breaks in your breath when you think about things that make you forget your surroundings? Well, pain can do that. Do you see how when you feel that pain, everything in your body gets numb? As if it is all just trying to comfort you, to mask away all the disappointment? Or do you notice how a bright day gets dark when you lose all hope because now you do not have any escape from this pointless breathing…again and again and again, so tiring.

Walking Pride

Written By: Mahnoor Waqar

No matter how tentative I will be 

You come in my life to see 

To glance and feel that I'm stuck in what a mess 

Like some rookie trying to play chess 

I trying to get out of this abyss 

But quiver with fear instead 

As there is no other blood to be shed 

But i'll rise from the plain ground 

Nothing to be bound even if you try to surround 

Cuz I'm a walking pride with no shame 

A simple girl with a pocket full of aims 

A prisoner with much to claim 

A firework with no greed for fame 

To go from this world 

With all that I came and aim.

Splashing Waves

Written By: Tahreem Naseem

Our heads are dangerous places, our thoughts are like a choppy, rocky sea, pushing back and forth, waves splashing against the sides of our skulls and screaming won't help because you can't drown your thoughts if you are drowning in yourself and they're filling up your arteries with anxiety. The waves crash and that's the sound of the whispers in your head the ones you hear thought your ears silently and in your heart, the ones that tell you that you aren't good enough and that falling asleep to never wake back up is an option when it shouldn't be. Help, it's overflowing, it's high tide in my head. The waves are spewing over, I have to let some water out. And I feel the tears they are streaming down my face like saltwater in the most beautiful beach. Rough are the tidal in my brain when I'm trying to concentrate and when I'm trying to live my fvcking life but I'm distracted by the crashing of the ocean in cranium-- full of all the things I have never said and all the things I want to write down but I can't find the time to bleed out these things that bother me. There is a sea inside of me, full of wonder and depression excitement and anxiety, and quite frankly, I'm slowly forgetting how to swim • "seasickness while standing up straight; there's a sea inside of me"

The Road between Social Responsibilities and Own Happiness.

Written By: Nazah Nawaz

We live in a society where we are bound by our culture. We have great influence of our cultural norms. Whenever a kid wants to do something the first thing that worries the parents is, what the society will think? What the people will say? Either its about choosing a profession or simply wanting to marry someone you like. We are always bound by some unseen social ties.

Few days back, I got a chance to work at a public hospital for community work and that was an eye opening experience for me. For the first time in my life I got to see the ugly side of our society. First day at work, we were sent to OPD where we had to take histories of the patients and ask them about their problems. There I met a lady who was sitting as if she is going to fall down. I thought she might be suffering from something serious so I went to her and asked what is wrong? Does she want anything to drink and if there is anybody with her? She started crying and told me that she came here alone because no one was ready to take her to the hospital and when I asked why is that? She told me, it’s been 1.5 years of her marriage and she lost her first baby in September 2014 who died because of diarrhea just after 4 days he was born and now her in laws are forcing her to conceive a baby again or they will get her husband married to an other girl. It was quite shocking for me because it’s been merely 9 months since her first baby died and she can have one in few more months, why are they threatening her to get her husband married again? To which she replied that it was her love marriage and she was really happy, everyone was happy but now her in laws including her husband thinks that she can never be a mother again so she should go back to her parents, as she told me and I’ll quote “ My mother in law said, what good a woman is without kids? Go back, Go back, no one needs you here anymore” and with this she started crying harder.  I wrote down her history and took her to the doctor myself and told her if she needs any help, she can tell me. Two things that I learned from this, first, we have so much social pressure on ourselves that we have forgotten how to stay happy  rather we kill our dreams, our happiness to keep everyone around us happy. Second, a simple act of kindness does the wonder. I can and will never forget the way she held my hand while crying and telling me how thankful she is just because I listened to her story.

It merely took my 15-20 minutes but she was so grateful and I was so ashamed for everything she has to go through. All this time I have been thinking its us who make the society, we intentionally or unintentionally do the same things that everyone else does. If we can’t bring a change or break the social ties, the least we can do is to give someone our shoulder to cry on, be there for people, not because what they mean to us but because how greater the feeling would be to be there for someone. But my question still stays, Can we change the society by changing ourselves or is it going to be like this forever?                                                                                                                                                     

Explaining Colors to Blind

Written By: Sana Tariq

How would you explain color to a blind man?

Hold his hand, tell him the warmth he feels is the color yellow – encompassing, vibrant and free.

Kiss his cheek, tell him the softness on his stubble is pink – feminine, sweet and fragrant.

Walk with him barefooted on the morning grass, tell him the freshness under his feet is green – unique, healing and kind.

Make him love/hate you, tell him the passion he feels is red – frenzied, out of control yet beautiful.

Take him to a beach someday, tell him what he hears is blue– clean, transparent and strong.

Let him help someone else for change, tell him the happiness he feels is white – pure, innocent and serene.

Hold his hand and leave him stranded on a lonely place, tell him the helplessness he felt was grey – confusing, dull and out of hand.

Make him close his eyes at last, tell him what he sees is, is black – deep, dark and infinite.

Icarus, who art thou?

Written By: Maham Ali Khan

Original Article was published here.

I have loved the ocean for as long as I can remember. Being someone who was born into the house of the people who felt their soul connected to the sea, I didn't have much of a choice. But unlike the rest of my family, I loved the sea from a distance. Like anything unknown to man, the sea scared me almost as much as it made me love it. 

My worst fear when it came to the waters was not as childish as some people who think that something might pull them under ..or that they will get bitten by some oceanic creature. My fear doesn't even sound normal now that I come to think about it. Have you ever heard of Icarus? We all know bits and pieces of the story but not the complete version so let me bore you a little and tell you.

In Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of the inventor Daedalus and a slave named Naucrate. King Minos of Crete imprisoned Daedalus and Icarus in the Labyrinth to punish Daedalus for helping the hero Theseus to kill the monster called the Minotaur and to escape with Minos’ daughter, Ariadne. Daedalus knew that Minos controlled any escape routes by land or sea, but Minos could not prevent an escape by flight. So Daedalus used his skills to build wings for himself and Icarus. He used wax and string to fasten feathers to reeds of varying lengths to imitate the curves of birds’ wings. 

When their wings were ready, Daedalus warned Icarus to fly at medium altitude. If he flew too high, the sun could melt the wax of his wings, and the sea could dampen the feathers if he flew too low. 

Once they had escaped Crete, Icarus became exhilarated by flight. Ignoring his father’s warning, he flew higher and higher. The sun melted the wax holding his wings together, and the boy fell into the water and drowned. Daedalus looked down to see feathers floating in the waves, and realized what had happened.

Funny Pakistani Street Banners

Only reason of sharing these pictures is for a good laugh, there is no intention of hurting someone's feelings or making fun of anyone specifically. So just enjoy the funny things about Pakistan, we all love our country so much.

Dedicated to the People of Karachi with due respect.

Don't throw rubbish or you will get insulted.

Science and the Perception of Reality

Written By: Shummas Humayun

Nature blessed us with the remarkable gift of consciousness.

Even though our collective age of existence as compared to the age of the universe seems negligible, we as individuals try our best to make sense of everything we experience through our senses. Hence it is natural for one to ask, Who created the universe?

The answer to this innocent sounding question is actually so complex, so far fetched and so out of the reach of our current understanding that even the brightest minds cannot answer it certainly with simply ‘this’ or ‘that’. I think it is the responsibility of a conscious human being, to have the audacity to keep aside the conventional beliefs and to ponder over ‘why is there something rather than nothing?’. The notions and hence the answers that which we acquire through childhood indoctrination in my view are highly unreliable. Since most of us believe what we have been taught since birth and somehow, we happen to accept it as the absolute truth. As a result of which there is no reliable method through which people belonging to different belief systems could genuinely decide, that whose explanation is more real than the other and hence the perception of reality in this case, turns out to be completely relative to a specific group of people.

Priceless Smiles

It is a short life, a busy life, we don't get time for ourselves let alone others. Then there are small acts of kindness that matter a lot, just minor things that can make someone's day. Helping someone or bringing a smile on someone's face is not that easy these days but if we are capable enough, Allah has given us enough, and gives us the opportunity to do something like this we should make full use of it. Because you know, that's how you can change the world one person at a time. Always in search of good things in life, here is one of those.

By: Jannat Mir. 

So today, I did something that not only made me happy but also the people I helped.

I went out today, and I saw this family on the footpath. They all were sharing ONE roti with a small plate of daal. It hurt me so much.

Hundreds of people pass by them, every single day. Does any one of them bother helping these people?

I don't know. I wouldn't know.

So I thought, maybe I could do something for them.

I went around, looked for a small tandoor from where I could buy something for them. All the tandoors near my house were closed because of Jummah. So I went a little farther away from home. Found a tandoor. Bought 5 rotis and 3 plates of daal.

Believe me, the smiles on their faces, when I gave them food, were priceless.

When you help someone in need, not only that person becomes happy but Allah does too.

'Bhola Kia Kare' by Jawad Ahmad

My revolutionary song 'Bhola Kya Karay'. @HamidMirGEO aired it in Capital Talk today. No TV channel was airing it as it talks against tax policy of Pakistan
Posted by Jawad Ahmad Official on Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Jawad Ahmad video song “Bhola kya karey – Wo jiay ya marey” on indirect taxes on poor was launched at National Press Club Islamabad. The Network, Indus Consortium and Oxfam are jointly working on tax reforms in Pakistan. 

It is an admitted fact that the richest ten per cent of Pakistanis have accumulated colossal assets in the last three decades without paying due income tax. Exemptions of billions of rupees have been given to the rich and mighty through executive orders (SROs), whereby incidence of indirect taxes on the poor have increased—they have been forced to pay 17% sales tax on many items of daily use. 

The rich in Pakistan are either outside the tax net or do not pay personal taxes in accordance with their actual ability to pay. As a result, the poor are overburdened with indirect taxes and withholding income tax as well as 17% sales tax on most of the items consumed by them and excessive withholding at source even where income is below threshold limit of Rs 400,000, the tax ceiling. Those who control 90% of resources contribute less than 2% in total tax revenue.

Savera

By: Manal Aijaz 

Everyone, meet Savera. She sells balloons on streets all day long and for a job as tough as this; she was lively and seemed quiet happy. I got a chance to converse with her today and we both had a good time.

"Kya naam hai aapka?"
"Savera."
"Kya karti hou aap?"
"Gubaron se khailti hun rouz raat."
"Khanay mein kya pasand hai?"
"Aam sabse zyada."
"Aapke baba amma kya karte hein?"
"Amma jhaaru lagati hain aur sadam (younger brother) ko sambhalti hain aur baba raat ko lene aatay hain."
"Aapke baray behen bhai hain?"
"Aek bhai hai."
"Kitna bara hai aapka bhai?"
"Uss uncle jitna."
"Savera, aapki aek tasveer lun?"
"-blushes and smiles widest-"
"Acha aam khanay chalein?"

And she was the happiest at this.

Jawad Ahmad, my inspiration.

There are people in your life who inspire you a lot, people who change the way you look at things and change the way you yourself are, for me Jawad Ahmad is one of those personalities. Everything about him inspires me. Be it his music, his social work, him as a human being or all his struggle for a classless society. I can proudly say that I look up to him whenever I need some advice, am confused about something, need to motivate myself for something, whenever I am sad, whenever I miss Pakistan, whenever there is an important Cricket match or when we lose a match, Jawad Ahmad is there.

Oh and also just to add an already known fact, he is one of the best singers Pakistan has ever produced.

He was born on 29th September 1970 in Faisalabad to parents who were both professors. (His mother passed away in 2008-09) belonging to a family where studies were of utmost importance it showed in his life as he went on to become a Mechanical Engineer from one of the top Universities of Pakistan, UET Lahore. He also was the captain of cricket team and part of several societies including the music and literary society which later on became the basis of him choosing music as a career field instead of engineering.  He joined the local music band Jupiter which gave Pakistan several famous singers, and started performing at different local concerts.

M.M. Alam - The Little Dragon

A pair of American-built F-86F Sabre jet fighters streaked through the skies above the Punjab region of Pakistan on September 7, 1965, holding formation as their General Electric J47 Turbojet engines sending them hurtling through the air at speeds in excess of 450 miles an hour.  In the lead aircraft, Squadron Leader Muhammad Mahmood Alam, commander of Number 11 Squadron, Pakistan Air Force, kept his eyes peeled, straining to make out shapes of enemy aircraft somewhere on the horizon.  He and his wingman had been scrambled fifteen minutes earlier, when the Combat Air Patrol over Sargodha issued a distress signal requesting immediate assistance, and Alam had an uncontrollable urge to kill everything in sight, an overdeveloped need to satiate his blood-lust on a tasty dish of murderous vengeance, and an itchy trigger finger hovering over a six-pack of Browning M-2 .50-caliber heavy machine guns embedded in the nose of his aircraft.

His wingman came on the radio with a sentence that wouldn't have been more beautiful to Alam's ears if it had been written as a Beethoven concerto:  "Contact.  Bogeys, one o'clock low."

It only took the excellently-mustached, awesomely-sunglassesed Pakistani fighter pilot a moment to notice the five Indian Air Force Hawker Hunter jet fighters screaming through the cloudless sky, maintaining perfect formation just 200 yards above the Punjabi treetops.