NED Alumni Convention 2007 The Founder if iScrybe - Faizan Buzdar is from GIK Institute of Technology. GIK is an institution that has produced a number of talented graduates.

NED Alumni Convention 2007 Dear Namkeen,

You should find a way to San Jose ... it will be a memorable event.

Here is some trivia about the oldest engineering institutions in the Indo-Pak subcontinent -

Guindy, 1794
Roorkee - 1847
College of Engineering Pune, 1854
Bengal Engineering College, 1856
NED (NadirShaw Eduljee Dinshaw) University, 1921

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NED Alumni Convention 2007 I certainly remember his name and do recall seeing him on campus. I graduated in '85 and was there during that time.

Are you an NEDian?

NED Alumni Convention 2007 Attique Shafaat is mentioned in - History of the Electric Automobile: Hybrid Electric Vehicles By Ernest Henry Wakefield

Page 227 - 228 describes Attique Shafaat and also have pictures of his automobile - The Solar Samba was the name of the car.

To read about it you can use Google Books as this book is a part of the library. You can also find it on SAE website - http://www.sae.org/technical/books/R-187

Pakistani Adoptions Testing

The Terminator Nice read.

Regarding your final question:

He is a great guy. I have only admiration for him. There should be more people like him at the top. His biggest quality is his consistency and fairplay.

Balochistan Militancy -- An Insider\'s View I went to school in Grammar School Quetta. Lived in Quetta for many years. In fact, that is where I grew up. I have numerous friends who are now in various positions of authority - and include Bugti`s, Marris, Rasianis and Mengals.

Any Grammarian from Quetta out there?

Interestingly, Jinnah spent his last few days at a place called Ziarat quite near Quetta.

The notion that there is a cohesive freedom or separatist movement appears far-fetched to me. Just a storm in the tea-cup, certainly not an insurgency. Baluchistan has a strong feudal, tribal culture that functions as vote banks for the feudals, and it is high time it is dismantled.

Given the political deals that have been cut over the years, the dismantling process is bound to be bloody and prolonged. In the interim, some new deal will be negotiated.

Rarely is anyone truly interested in the well being of the poor, disadvantaged people.

Songs of Dissonance Re: # 9

I respectfully disagree.

There are at least 3 variables here - Masses (people), Message and Messenger.

We all know which one of these has remained constant and never been questioned. It is high time we stopped blaming the masses for weaknesses in the message they follow.

Let me tell you something else - in abusive relationships, the abused invariably believes that they deserved the treatment meted out to them - look up studies done on battered wives, children, rape victims, etc. It takes a lot of effort and time before the abused start to accept that they have been used and abused.

Did Imran get the money? Imran`s heart is in the right place.

All he needs is a good PR company to help him learn how to communicate. He comes off as too simple minded.

Songs of Dissonance Religion follows demand and supply laws too. Be it large or small, cult or not, we have these mascots floating around to increase recruitment and spread the message ... Scientology has Tom Cruise, Madonna has her Kaballah, Christianity and Islam have many many mascots. Religions being practical, unleash these mascots at times of distress and tragedy - why shouldnt they? There are many TV cameras, many Billions of Dollars, many fears, unknowns, helpless children and ....

Poor J - he probably feels he is becoming less worthless by doing this.

The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry Saima,

This is excellent analysis. You have some very good and substantive arguments.

The US is a fictional reality or reality that is almost fictional? The next decade will be crucial to find that answer.

I wonder how Tom Friedman would react if he read this article. I suppose a square world has to be flat too? No?

thanks

Here We Go Again Re: # 23

Dear Mohar11,

Empress market and the general area is an extremely busy thorough-fare. The number of incidents of violence in Karachi are large enough to have left imprints on many of us who grew up in that ciy.

It does not surprise me that we have many people on Chowk who have either witnessed or been touched by incidents of violence in Karachi. Karachi in the 80` is what I remember well. It was much worse in the 90`s I am told. I would like to believe that Karachi is bouncing back from its worst period. I do hope it does.

In many ways, Chowk is a mirror-image of Karachi (or perhaps any large metropolis). Acts of violence, subterfuge, terrorism, compassion, love, peace, discord, dogma, harmony, philanthropy, hate, various isms, naivete and innocence are all wrapped into one. What you see is just a veneer, what you feel is what matters. What you see shapes you and what you feel paints it in recognizable colors. I dont want to digress so excuse my brief sojourn with words.

Bottomline is that violence against innocent people is wrong. Wherever it is and in whatever cloak it comes packaged in should be identified, understood and addressed. What NFP is saying makes sense to me -- indifference is worse than ignorance.

Here We Go Again Bomb blasts in Karachi are not a novelty - i can vividly recall the one in Bohri Bazar in the 80`s - over 200 people died in and around the busy sidewalks. I had for some reason that I cant remember taken a bus (2D or 2K) to get to the electronics market on Victoria Rd and ended up seeing the carnage from a distance. It is only now, perhaps 20 years later, I have been able to confront those tragic images in my mind and not go into denial and think of something else. The blast yesterday though smaller in comparison, reminded me of my own repressed memories. Strange. I am sure there were many people who have been shaped and changed forever because of what they must have experienced and seen.

The PIDC building for those who are not from Karachi is what we would call a historic site - there is a famous Panwala across from the infamous eyesore called Hyatt Hotel, which by the way, has remained unfinished since the 70`s. I drove to this spot with a dear friend (like so many of you from Karachi must do very often) on my last visit in September and parked my car next to the Panwala. It was probably 2 AM and very few people where there - i left after 3:00 in the morning after a long chat with the panwala and his crew of assistants that run towards customers (they are usually party goers and familes returning home) that drive through.

Our conversation was about everything and everyone. The wealth of Karachi, the women, the many families and some lovers who stop by for a pan (akin to an after dinner drink) and the eyesore called Hyatt. We avoided talking about the military government, America, Iraq, MQM, PPP, the Jamaat and the disgusting colored turban/Pagri people. Almost as if they were all natures creations that we could do nothing about.

As I look back, by avoiding those topics, I was and we are not doing anyone a service. In my opinion we need to start a serious dialogue on human bahavior that kills innocent people and ruins lives - we must ask why and when and we must do this analysis in our unique context of ethnic and sectarian history - what may be true for one region and country will not be true for another - even though we cannot directly blame God for this tragedy BUT we must also analyze the role divinity and its interpretations play in man-perpetrated acts of senseless violence against innocent people.

Growing Up Red Shukriya Saathi. Buhut Shukriya. There are generations of people who are proud because of a fleeting or indirect association to Faiz. I am very sure that your children will be very proud of their family legacy. I was once in the same room as Faiz for 30 minutes. I will be proud of that till i die.

HEC Juggernaut and Pervez Hoodbhoy Re: # 7

Hamidm2 - I wish there was a way to get Hoodbhoy to leave the benevolent land and embrace Starbucks. We would have so much fun out here, talking about science and other irreverent things BUT a little bird tells me that he has no intention to do that. The fool that he is.

HEC Juggernaut and Pervez Hoodbhoy Here are some comments in other places.

1/ These letters (2) were published on Dawn - http://www.dawn.com/2005/08/02/letted.htm#1

2/ Here is what Cowasjee had to say on this ...
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/20050306.htm

There is no doubt that some very qualified and well intentioned people are in the HEC - it is time that the displayed some character.

I think the HEC is at the point where if it doesnt clean its shop they could become just another useless government organization.