Michael Jackson - the ultimate superstar!

This morning when driving to work I was listening to the greatest hits of Michael Jackson. I wanted to listen to MJ after hearing about his untimely death a couple of days back. Listening to his songs brought back a lot of memories. One of the first memories of listening to his music was back when I was only around 6 years old. I remember putting on the Thriller album which I had on a casette, in the ‘mini compo’ (as they called it) and playing it out loud so that I could drown the sound of music coming from our house mates downstairs. I remember playing the game we used to call ‘Thriller Thriller’ where we used to play out the music video of the song Thriller in a darkened room and pretended to be zombies. From the memories of playing the smooth criminal video game to the playing of Earth Song out loud in the mountains, not to mention the amazing music videos that impressed me as a kid, such as Jam, Black or white and much more…

Michael was a true super star, the likes of which we will probably never ever see again. In this day of digital music, people have shorter attention spans than before. We don’t have to make a special effort to go out to a music store and buy the music. We have so many choices and ease that we just don’t pay attention to artists as we did before.

Usually bands or artists stay around for approximately 5 years at their peak and then fade away only for the die hard fans to stay following them. There are only a handful of artists/bands in the world that have surpassed generations and time such as him. Think about this fact – he was in the public eye performing since he was 6 years old and at 50, he was preparing for his comeback concert tour, that’s more than 44 years in the limelight! I don’t think there are (or were) many that can claim they have done the same.

His fame was phenomenal, everyone I know has heard of Michael Jackson. Even on Facebook when I logged in the day of his death, my entire page was full of condolences and words about their superstar in their status updates.

Not since the likes of Elvis Presley had the world seen such a super star. I read an article after his death that talked about the ‘soft power’ of America. In it, the writer said that it was amazing to see that the icon of Michael Jackson transcended cultures, countries and religions. All across the world no matter where you came from, for once the world was united in grief and shock over the death. One example was the condolences being offered from all over the world. World leaders that hate each other and hate America were offering their condolences to an American singer.

It was a rare sight to see but it was good to see the entire world, for once united if not just for one moment.

The article goes on to mention that soft power is the power of one person to be the person someone else wanted to be. I remember people wearing tight red leather jackets and cutting their gloves to imitate the silver glove of Michael. We even used to have a singer/imitator back in Pakistan who used to pretend to be him and performed on stages all over the country.

In the end, it was a sad day for music and art as a whole. Whether you liked his music or not, whether you liked him for the things he did outside music or not, whether you liked him as a person or not…everyone can agree on one thing.

He was an extremely talented man and a mega star, and he will be remembered for generations to come.

Travel Diary - Middle East 2009

I recently made my way to the sandy shores of the Middle East on our first major trip as a family together. The flight there was going to be 15 hours long so I was quite anxious to see how the little one fared as he had never travelled for this long a journey in a plane before with me. Thankfully, it went relatively alright based on the fact that the customer service was good and he managed to get in some sleep, although we couldn’t get much sleep.

The journey into the Middle East began when we landed in Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE. I was quite shell shocked when we exited the plane and entered the main lounge. It was full of Indians, I mean literally. It looked like a place where people had been crammed somehow, felt more like a fish market than the tourist destination it had been promised to be. I had experienced Dubai airport before and was expecting something similar, but this was not even close to it. Anyway, we made our way to the immigration and saw that in every single counter there sat an Arab male wearing their traditional dress. It felt kind of weird to see that as coming from Australia it was a little alien to me, seeing people like that.

After collecting our luggage, we made our way out to be greeted by our family member who took us for the ride to Dubai, which is just over an hour’s drive. It was interesting to see the 4-5 lane highways fully lit from end to end. Immediately one could see that there was construction in and around the highway, and this was a sign of things to come as about 25% of all construction cranes of the world are in the UAE.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi used to be fishing

 villages in the past. There was absolutely nothing in these areas but deserts. It is primarily because of oil that these two places have exploded to the thriving cities they are now.  

The Sheikhs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi are very progressive and want the emirates to modernize. Sheikh Mohammad is the ruler of Dubai and Sheikh Zayed is the ruler of Abu Dhabi. One can see the different roads both cities have taken in advancing forward. One example is the greenery, where Abu Dhabi has lots of trees and grass besides the roads, Dubai doesn’t have any. Where Dubai has

 loads of sky scrapers, Abu Dhabi has only a few. Dubai in general is more com

mercial than Abu Dhabi; it has more people and is more business oriented.

We more or less visited all the main attractions in Dubai. Malls are a main attraction there and we visited the newly constructed Dubai Mall, the Mall of the Emirates, Ibn e Batuta Mall to name a few. The Dubai Mall is the largest mall in the world and is built right next to the Burj Dubai and I think holds about 1200 shops, any shop you can think of is basically in there and more to open in the future. It has malls within the malls as well with entire areas dedicated to different things, such as designer wear, jewellery etc.

It also features an indoor aquarium, which has the largest viewing screen in the world and has a massive ice skating rink.

What makes the Mall of the Emirates different from other malls is that it has an indoor ski slope! Ski Dubai is a massive skiing slope for people to enjoy skiing in the middle of the desert.

We also visited some amazing Indian/Pakistani food places. Not hundred percent sure about the names but we had places with amazing chaats, kebab rolls, chicken karahi, faluda etc. it was just a taste of Pakistan/India without being in those places.

The global village was on display during the time we visited. This started with a 3 month display of stalls from all over the world and is like a huge carnival. Based on its popularity, it is now permanently on display for 6 months of the year and plans to move it to a bigger and more permanent location to be displayed for

 the whole year.

The Palm and Atlantis is another site to see as one of the newest attractions there. All built on man made islands, it is just amazing how they’ve pulled this off. You basically have to cross a bridge and go through a tunnel to get there. Its got its own water theme park and of course an aquarium inside. This includes the main attraction the whale shark, which is an endangered species. The way they’ve built the inside is just a fantastic sight to see.

Abu Dhabi has been developing a bit differently to Dubai. Since Dubai has the first mover advantage in terms of inviting people from all over the world to come visit the place, Abu Dhabi had to position itself a bit differently. The Sheikh there is very much into art and culture, as a result a lot of new development is taking

 place in this direction, and examples include the Louvre and the Guggenheim to be opening in Abu Dhabi in the near future. There is more greenery in Abu Dhabi as well although I can’t say much about the traffic – people drive like nuts!

We paid a visit to the Sheikh Zayed mosque, which is being built and is almost finished. It is going to be the 3^rd largest mosque in the world smaller only to the two main mosques in Saudi Arabia. Its quite a unique and grand mosque and is pure white. The domes were very different to what I’ve seen and were an amazing sight to see.

Lots of good ideas, along with good management and implementation of these ideas have made these two cities the way they are now. From the looks of it, they still have the plans to progress even further ahead.

After visiting UAE, Qatar seemed quite small and felt a little less modern. Although in comparison, Qatar is developing like crazy as well. It was just because of the overwhelming pace at which Dubai and Abu Dhabi are developing that made it look the way it did. Qatar has been the fastest growing country in the whole of Middle East in the last year or so.

Main attraction here is the Pearl, which are man made islands like the Palm in Dubai. It is built in a crescent shape and will contain a whole city within; no one would have to leave the Pearl to do anything. Housing, shopping malls, restaurants etc. you name it, everything is going to be in there. Its probably about 20-30% complete, so still a way to go.

The wife of the ruler of Qatar is known for her ideas to develop this place into an educational and cultural hub of the Middle East. Emphasis on education has been so that a lot of internationally renowned universities have opened shop in Doha. Some examples are like, the Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown and Texas A&M. A huge Education city has been built purposely to contain all of these massive universities, along with schools, kindergartens etc.

Museum of Islamic Art has just opened its doors in Qatar which houses some of the best preserved pieces of Art in the Islamic world. It looks like there has been a lot of money spent on the actual architecture of the building.

One interesting thing we noticed in Qatar was that in every main attraction like the Pearl or the museum, there are small golf cart sized buggies that take people from the car park to the main parts of the attraction…is it because of the heat in the summers or people there are just too lazy, I really don’t know. The fact that the ride is only about 20 seconds is quite interesting.

Massive new developments are taking place where an entire mini city is being built on the coast called Lusail City. It will contain everything from resorts, accommodation and commercial stuff and will eventually be the main attractions in Doha. The Pearl is just one small part of this massive development.

It is sure to say that Doha will be a sight to see in a few year’s time when all of these new attractions and developments start seeing the light of day.

It was very interesting and eye opening to see Qatar and the UAE for the first time. Both of these places felt really young and on the go. Construction and development was the key word in everywhere we went. It was a better flight back considering the little one slept most of the time, which helped us in getting some sleep.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip and a memory never to be forgotten.

Australia Day 2009

I got on the plane in Karachi on the night of the 25th of January 1999 to come to Australia. The plan was to study for a few years and then return to my homeland. Never had I imagined that there would be even a thought of settling here.

The 26th of January 2009 marks exactly ten years to the day of my arriving in Australia.

A lot of things have happened during this time as one can imagine. I feel now that I’ve lived here for this long, I have been spoilt by everything that makes Australia so unique in the entire world. There are too many things to mention in this blog that make Australia so amazing, so I am leaving it to the experts.

The following gem is by Douglas Adams of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fame. It is an amazing insight into Australia - prepare yourself!

Australia is a very confusing place, taking up a large amount of the bottom half of the planet. It is recognizable from orbit because of many unusual features, including what at first looks like an enormous bite taken out of its southern edge; a wall of sheer cliffs which plunge deep into the girting sea. Geologists assure us that this is simply an accident of geomorphology and plate tectonics, but they still call it the "Great Australian Bight" proving that not only are they covering up a more frightening theory but they can't spell either!

The first of the confusing things about Australia is the status of the place. Where other land masses and sovereign lands are classified as either continent, island, or country, Australia is considered all three. Typically, it is unique in this.

The second confusing thing about Australia are the animals. They can be divided into three categories: Poisonous, Odd, and Sheep. It is true that of the 10 most poisonous arachnids on the planet, Australia has 9 of them. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that of the 9 most poisonous arachnids, Australia has all of them. However there are curiously few snakes, possible because the spiders have killed them all.

But even the spiders won't go near the sea. Any visitors should be careful to check inside boots (before putting them on), under toilet seats (before sitting down) and generally everywhere else. A stick is very useful for this task.

At this point, we would like to mention the Platypus - estranged relative of the mammal, which has a duck-bill, otter's tail, webbed feet, lays eggs, detects its aquatic prey in the same way as the electric eel and has venomous barbs attached to its hind legs, thus combining all 'typical' Australian attributes into a single improbable creature.

The last confusing thing about Australia is the inhabitants.
First, a short history:
Sometime around 40,000 years ago, some people arrived in boats from the north. They ate all the available food, and a lot of them died. The ones who survived learned respect for the balance of nature, man's proper place in the scheme of things and spiders. They settled in and spent a lot of the intervening time making up strange stories.

Then, around 200 years ago, Europeans arrived in boats from the north. More accurately, European convicts were sent, with a few deranged and stupid people in charge. They tried to plant their crops in Autumn (failing to take account of the reversal of the seasons when moving from the top half of the planet to the bottom), ate all their food, and a lot of them died.

About then the sheep arrived, and have been treasured ever since. It is interesting to note here that the Europeans always consider themselves vastly superior to any other race they encounter, since they can lie, cheat, steal, and litigate (marks of a civilised culture they say) - whereas all the Aboriginals can do is happily survive being left in the middle of a vast red-hot desert, equipped with a stick.

Eventually, the new lot of people stopped being Europeans on Extended Holiday and became Australians. The changes are subtle, but deep, caused by the mind-stretching expanses of nothingness and eerie quiet, where a person can sit perfectly still and look deep inside themselves to the core of their essence, their reasons for being, and the necessity of checking inside your boots every morning for fatal surprises. They also picked up the most finely tuned sense of irony in the world, and the Aboriginal gift for making up stories. Be warned.

There is also the matter of the beaches. Australian beaches are simply the nicest and best in the entire world. Although anyone actually venturing into the sea will have to contend with sharks, stinging jellyfish, stonefish (a fish which sits on the bottom of the sea, pretends to be a rock and has venomous barbs sticking out of its back that will kill just from the pain) and surfboarders.

However, watching a beach sunset is worth the risk. As a result of all this hardship, dirt, thirst and wombats, you would expect Australians to be a dour lot. Instead, they are genial, jolly, cheerful and always willing to share a kind word with a stranger, unless they are American!

Faced with insurmountable odds and impossible problems, they smile disarmingly and look for a stick. Major engineering feats have been performed with sheets of corrugated iron, string, and mud. Alone of all the races on earth, they seem to be free from the 'Grass is Greener on the other side of the fence' syndrome, and roundly proclaim that Australia is, in fact, the other side of that fence. They call the land "Oz", "Godzone" (a verbal contraction of "God's Own Country") and "Best bloody place on earth, bar none, strewth." The irritating thing about this is they may be right.

There are some traps for the unsuspecting traveler, though. Do not, under any circumstances, suggest that the beer is imperfect, unless you are comparing it to another kind of Australian beer. Do not wear a Hawaiian shirt. Religion and Politics are fairly safe topics of conversation, (Australians don't care too much about either) but Sport is a minefield.

The only correct answer to "So, howdya' like our country, eh?" is "Best (insert your own regional swear word here) country in the world!". It is very likely that, on arriving, some cheerful Australians will 'adopt' you on your first night, and take you to a pub where Australian Beer is served. Despite the obvious danger, do not refuse. It is a form of initiation rite. You will wake up late the next day with an astonishing hangover, a foul taste in your mouth, and wearing strange clothes.

Your hosts will usually make sure you get home, and waive off any legal difficulties with "It's his first time in Australia, so we took him to the pub", to which the policeman will sagely nod and close his notebook. Be sure to tell the story of these events to every other Australian you encounter, adding new embellishments at every stage and noting how strong the beer was. Thus you will be accepted into this unique culture.

Most Australians are now urban dwellers, having discovered the primary use of electricity, which is air-conditioning and refrigerators.
Typical Australian sayings:-
* "G'day!"
* "It's better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick!"
* "She'll be right mate."
Tips to Surviving Australia:
* Don't ever put your hand down a hole for any reason WHATSOEVER.
* The beer is stronger than you think, regardless of how strong you think it is.
* Always carry a stick.
* Air-conditioning is imperative.
* Do not attempt to use Australian slang, unless you are a trained linguist and extremely good in a fist fight.
* Wear thick socks.
* Take good maps. Stopping to ask directions only works when there are people nearby.
* If you leave the urban areas, carry several litres of water with you at all times, or you will die.
* Even in the most embellished stories told by Australians, there is always a core of truth that it is unwise to ignore.

Top ten movies 2008

I started this blog while thinking that I won’t write about anything which relates to politics. I can’t help it though, politics in my passion and I can’t really ignore it. But nonetheless, I write this blog to list my top ten movies of 2008.

It has been a good year for movies for me personally. Due to my train travel I get time to watch more movies this year than for a long time. Having a bouncing baby boy has stopped us from heading to the cinemas, but this hasn’t stopped me from watching movies on my trusted iPod.

Of course the list below is only a small list which covers only the movies I have seen and in no way is a representation of all movies and is not a best of 2008 list. It is just best of 2008 based on the movies I saw ….makes sense? Ok! Here we go:

10. Hellboy 2
Yet another comic book adapted movie. I hated Hellboy part 1 and was hesitant in watching this movie. But after reading all the positive reviews I went ahead and saw the movie and was thoroughly entertained.

9. Horton Hears a Who
Previous Dr. Seuss adapted movies had disappointed badly with the ‘Cat in the Hat’ and The Grinch. Finally they realised that puppets don’t work! In this day and age of animation, this is the time to go all out. The movie is interesting and nicely made. Jim Carrey has done well to play Horton and not go too overboard (like he normally does).

8. Iron Man
Robert Downey Jnr. comes back in this smart and edgy movie. I was a fan of Iron Man back in the day and the movie doesn’t disappoint.

7. Kung Fu Panda
This animation should have been up there if only Wall-E wasn’t there. This is a great animated movie with all the characters playing their parts really well. It is interesting to note that even with all the violence there is no killing. A very funny and entertaining movie overall.

6. The Happening
Shyamalan’s latest movie is a little different to his earlier movies as it doesn’t particularly have a twist. Even so, it is a chilling and creepy movie. He has once again proved that he is one of the best in the genre of horror and suspense.

5. Body of Lies
Leo Di Caprio and Russell Crowe – how can you go wrong. It tackles the sensitive issues of torture and terrorism in a refreshingly unbiased way.

4. Burn After Reading
The Cohen brothers’ latest masterpiece! This movie is really funny and also very dark at the same time. It has a huge cast and an interesting story with great results. The lives of different characters get connected in a strange way and it’s all in all a very funny and smart movie.

3. Taxi to the Dark Side
This documentary chilled me to the bone. Shows how some people’s lives can change so suddenly for the worse. This movie is a very powerful and disturbing tale of a common man in Afghanistan.

2. Wall-E
Pixar has done it yet again. They keep coming out with gems every time. The last time it was Ratatouille and this definitely is at par with that. For an animated movie to be entertaining without any dialogue for the first half an hour or so is certainly an achievement worth noting in this day and age. It is very a entertaining and a fun movie.

1. The Dark Knight
You can’t go past this movie in 2008. This has to be the best super hero I have ever seen. The story is smart, the performances are fantastic, the action sequences are out of this world and the direction and screenplay are just amazing. This takes the cake in 2008 by a long shot. I had a lot of expectations going into the movie and still came out overwhelmed by the sheer ‘amazingness’ of this movie. Of course Heath Ledger’s performance and his death had a lot to add on the phenomenon of this movie but that doesn’t take away how good this movie was overall.

As it is the award season soon, there are a few good movies coming out in the next few weeks as well as some movies I have failed to see this year which will definitely affect this list. Some of the movies I am looking forward to watching are:

- Synecdoche, New York
- My Winnipeg
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
- Milk
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Slumdog Millionaire
- Speed Racer
- Encounters at the End of the World
- The Reader
- Doubt
- Revolutionary Road
- In Bruges
- Frost/Nixon
- Valkyrie
- Changeling
- Man on Wire

Happy New Year!

The Pursuit of Happiness

Today I write about something which is quite different to what I have been posting recently predominantly (politics). I am writing about us human beings and how we perceive happiness. I saw this movie called 'Into the Wild' a couple of months back and had thought long about this quote which ended the movie, which was "Happiness is only real, when shared". 

It is simple yet powerful, which is why I love it. It made me think about what happiness means for different people. One of the things which I always am fascinated about is how us humans, no matter how different we are in terms of the country we come from, religion, age etc all react more or less the same way when we are truly happy. 

I remember the ending of the movie called "Love, Actually" (yes I actually saw that movie :P) where they have shown the arrival gate of an airport (presumably Heathrow) and it is funny as well as fascinating to see people who are so different to each other react the same way to see their loved ones arrive. It is a moment of sheer joy - smiles, hugs, tears of joy etc.....that moment is a true reflection of how similar we all are. 

All of us cherish the same things - being with loved ones, having good times with friends, living a peaceful life etc. Even people who are murderers do have a part of them leading them towards happiness.

I know I'm dabbing into politics again - but this reminds me of the video of Osama bin Laden in his son's wedding video where you see him all smiling and happy to see his son getting married. I also remember a picture taken of Saddam Hussein with his entire family and see him all happy and smiling. I point out these two recent figures because they have been portrayed to be or are responsible for murdering thousands of people. Even then one can see that these guys are at their happiest when around their loved ones. 

Returning to the movie I mentioned earlier i.e. "Into the Wild", the guy really wanted to live by himself in the wilderness of Alaska without anyone for hundreds of kilometres. Even though he loved the experience, in the end when he was close to his death he realised the fact that being with his loved ones was the one time he felt true happiness. He then wrote the quote I noted earlier and passed away. 

All of us want to be happy, fine there are different things that make different people happy and people have even killed in the pursuit of happiness. But I truly believe that all of us are trying to get to the same thing in different ways. 

We are too busy these days to think about these things, but we should all cherish the times with our loved ones.... I know I do!

US Presidential Election 2008

I have used the electoral vote calculator from the CNN website and have come up with the following prediction for the election in November.

According to my analysis - its going to be a tight race, even though I wouldn't like it to be that way.

Have a look!

The Downward Spiral to Anarchy

I write this blog today thinking about how my son will perceive this world. The world we live in today is a far more dangerous place than what it was when I was growing up. Granted, it was still quite dangerous living and growing up in Pakistan, but it was never ever this dangerous. We used to get occasional problems in the country, but never was it a place where your personal safety is at risk no matter what you do and where you go. I write this after watching the images and reading about what occurred in the last couple of days in Islamabad. I am referring to the cowardly suicide attack on one of the icons of Islamabad and Pakistan as a whole, the Marriott hotel. Some people may think that this is just another terrorism attack that has been going on since Pakistan stood side by side with the United States in the so called war on terror. But believe me; this is entirely different and very significant.

The Marriott hotel in Islamabad has been an icon of prestige and life at the high end. Its location makes it a special attraction for foreigners and of course a target for attacks like this. It was as guarded as a hotel can be, for a place where normal public can also have access. I make this point to note that this was not only a place for people to stay – it was a special meeting point, it was a place where people had coffee, enjoyed dinners, had weddings etc. Its location is merely a few kms from the Presidential and Prime Minister’s house, making it even more secure.

This is really worrying to me as this gives everyone the message that no place is safe anymore for normal people. People to eat out and not worry about safety, is not the case anymore.
The people who are in government and in positions of power have been stuck in power wrangling have done nothing to address the urgent need of fixing this major problem threatening to destroy Pakistan. People like Nawaz Sharif keeps giving deadlines for bullshit problems when there is so much killing and suffering in the country. How can these leaders get on with their lives when they are not even trying to address this urgent need? Why don’t these people at least try and put some of the effort they have put in to try and topple the previous leader into addressing this? This decease as Asif Ali Zardari called it in his address to the country has the capability of destroying the entire fabric of society in Pakistan.

I was speaking with a fellow Pakistani the other day who was talking about having some faith in Zardari who hoped that he puts some of his ‘business-man like’ effort into solving some problems in the country. As much as I hate the leaders of Pakistan – what can a normal person do? One has to hope in order to go on. The life of the people on the street is not getting any better – in fact with all these maniacs trying to blow things up, it has made Pakistan even more vulnerable and unstable, economically and generally.

One DOES need to hope that these people in power can try and solve the major threat faced by this country in its 61 year history. I pray that the leaders in Pakistan can take a lead in solving this, rather than worrying about their seats of power. I pray that the religious leaders of Pakistan can take the lead in eradicating this ‘cancer’ and tell people that Islam is a religion of peace and loving. It is a religion that teaches one to be a better person, by being forgiving and having love for his fellow human being. This is a religion that tells one to treat life with respect and shed no innocent blood. I pray for the people who lost their lives protecting other people. They are the real martyrs here not the people who carried out the attack.

Living in a western country you think how people of other faiths must think about people of the Islamic faith. They must think Islam teaches something which these fanatics are willing to die for and cause havoc and destruction. Why would western people even think about investing or even sending their cricket team for example to visit this dangerous place?

All I can say is that God help Pakistan – it is on a dangerous downward spiral towards anarchy

Change is coming

The US presidential election is in full swing. I follow this race to be the leader of the ‘free’ world quite closely and am quite interested in the ups and downs of this campaign.

First of all it is quite refreshing to see after a while (8 years) an American leader who looks the part. I mean the last 8 years have been quite bad for America – in almost all ways one can think of. Be it foreign image/policy and economy among other things. The last leader looked like a dumb spoilt brat who has been given something he couldn’t handle.

This new leader is talking about change, he is talking about real reform, and he is talking about engaging all leaders of the world in a more diplomatic stance to enhance the credibility of the United States of America.

The leader I am referring to is of course Barrack Obama.

It is interesting to note that he has been talking about change from day 1. Since the time he came from nowhere to beat Hillary Clinton, which no one could have ever imagined a couple of years back. Even in that contest, the mantle of change was tried by Clinton, but was forcefully taken back by Obama’s campaign. Even though their views were more or less the same on almost everything, the mantle of change was always trumpeted by the Obama campaign – and still is.

Now we see the Republican candidates, John McCain who is a patriot and a war hero. But the Republican convention did not spring anything new that they haven’t said before. It was all about the American hero blah blah – of course they steered clear from any of the current administration people Dick Cheney has been off the radar for some time now, George W Bush made a brief appearence. I won’t even talk about Sarah Palin as I think it’s just useless. And finally, the bombshell by McCain, ‘Change is coming’ he mentioned in his acceptance speech.

Now that is just ridiculous! I mean how can they be so blatant to actually say that they are for change. I mean first of all, look at McCain’s policies – his policies are exactly the same as the current administration. I was watching the daily show with John Stewart the other day where he made a comparison of McCain’s acceptance speech and George W. Bush’s speech at their conventions. It was funny to see that there were quite a few instances where they have simply repeated even the same words in their relative speeches. Even Sarah Palin’s speech was written by Bush’s speech writer – this is not change.

This is just the same old people with different leaders in front of them. It is the same policies and the same attitudes towards the people of the world.

I don’t proclaim myself to be an expert in foreign policy or even day to day American problems. But I do know from a person who is observing this race from an objective point of view, that these are the same Republicans who brought the world the most hated leader in the world. They can try to talk change, but they are absolutely not for change and for more of the same.

American people are one of the friendliest in the world as personal experience tells. It would be good to see an American leader also like these people and who is a leader that will lead the world to a better tomorrow.

I personally hope that the Democrats seize power and Obama is elected president. I guess I will have to wait and see what happens on November 4th when the American people are going to decide the fate of a lot of countries in this world.

From Prisoner to President!

Warning: Anger filled rant below

I cannot hold my silence much longer. I know that my words and my rant will make no difference to the world. However, it’ll at least help me with my frustration, anger and a sense of desperation that is going through me these days. I am in this state because of something that is about to occur in my homeland of Pakistan.

Asif Ali Zardari: The name synonymous with corruption is about to become the President of Pakistan. It is beyond this blog how completely flabbergasted I am by this event about to occur. There are umpteen articles and news pieces that show him as being a man who takes pleasures in accumulating huge amounts of wealth for him. A man who likes to appoint ‘his’ people in all the right places in the country of course after a minimal fee.
Living in Pakistan when the Bhutto government was in power, I myself saw and heard all this craziness occur in the city of Karachi. Travelling in private jets, building huge mansions were just some of the things you could see occurring regularly. Building a prime minister house which is probably as large as the presidential house and accommodating a polo field at the back, for Zardari’s love of horses and the game of polo.

The point is, this man was all the wrongs that people could see when Benazir was in power. Getting people killed, burning places where he didn’t get his way was just a few things that happened.

Now this man is going to become the most powerful man in the country of Pakistan. He will have total immunity from prosecution – no matter what happens. I don’t foresee him changing at all unfortunately. Now he will have access to do anything and everything he wants to the people of Pakistan. He will build palaces and empty the country’s wealth and fulfil his own ambition.

I really don’t know what to say – I really don’t know what is going to happen to my beloved Pakistan.

They say leaders of a country are like the most of the people of a country – which I don’t really know what to say about now.

I refer you to this article for further reading - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/world/asia/05zardari.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

Species above all species

The phrase 'species above all species' is one which I have taken from the Quran. Having taken care of our little one for the last 8 weeks made me think the other day, how this statement is very interesting.

Humans as a species are the ones with the largest brains. This of course has evolved over time and the brain has become an integral part of the human intelligence. If you believe the theory of evolution, the human brain has changed shape over time and has slowly evolved to its current shape over many years. First four legs then two….scientists believe that one day humans just started walking and became bipeds.

The human brain has been central to our evolution, if you think about it….the human body has not really kept up. The human body is and has always been fragile. It needs a certain temperature. It needs a certain amount of food and water. It needs constant maintenance; otherwise it gets ‘deformed’. Humans have used their brains to protect and survive.

The point is, the human body needs and has always needed constant attention for protection. If you look into the animal world, things have evolved a little differently; brains haven’t evolved much but the physical characteristics of the body have. Animals have changed how they walk/fly/hunt etc to survive the changing world. They always have done to their bodies what humans have done to their brains.

Interestingly, when animals are born, certain characteristics are fully developed. Take the example of a horse that’s off spring starts walking only a few hours after birth. Lizards that start hunting as soon as they are born, fish who swim right from birth. As compared to humans, the child can’t walk, can’t talk and is totally dependent on the parents for survival. Maybe birds are a bit close as they need the parent to feed and take a while to fly. I am not sure if birds have a problem communicating with their parents, but I know (and have experienced) that children can all but cry to communicate anything and everything at birth.

It seems these days that the flavour of the year is climate change. This threatens the very existence of humans on this planet. Humans have used their brains to get out of problems like this in the past, for the changes due to the normal evolution of this planet (re-location, warmer clothing etc). But now this change is due to our own development and progress. Humans like always will probably find out a way out of this crisis using their brains. Animals however will adapt and evolve again.

I heard something very interesting the other day, and I quote:

“Humans as a species use only a tenth of their brains, imagine if they started using another tenth and we would probably be worthy of God’s attention. Cockroaches for instance can survive for weeks without food or water, can survive radiation and even without oxygen in space. If God wanted to create an image of Him in a species highly evolved, then I submit to you that God, is a cockroach.”

Something to think about….

Dedication to my little miracle

On February the 8th, 2008 I was blessed with a little miracle of life. I still can't comprehend fully what exactly has happened, but I think it has slowly sunk in. Life will never ever be the same again. The little one has arrived with much anticipation and has already started to brighten it with his antics. When one sees a little life being born in front of your eyes, one can't help but be thankful to his Almighty and bask in the miracle of life. I cannot explain the way I felt when I saw the little one and gazed into his eyes (his eyes were wide open as soon as he was born), couldn't help but swell up with tears. A little version of me lying right infront of me looking up with a confused look. What could be better than this? I cannot wait to see him grow.... I wanted to dedicate the following song to this wonderful little bundle of joy.

My gift is my song
And this one's for you
And you can tell everybody
That this is your song
It maybe quite simple But now that it's done

Hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is now you're in the
So excuse me for forgetting
But these things I do
You see I've forgotten
If they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is well I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen

And you can tell everybody
This is your song
It may be quite simple
But now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words

How wonderful life is now you're in the world
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is now you're in the world

Your song by Ewan McGregor, Mouline Rouge 2001

Australia day 2008

Australia day occurred on the 26th of January 2008.

This day is very significant to a lot of Australians and has a lot of meaning in the history of Australia. It's even more significant for me personally as this is the day when I arrived in Australia for the first time. It was on this day back in 1999 that I came to Australia with hopes and dreams and great uncertainty. I had no idea what the future might hold for me and my time in Australia. Initially, I had planned on staying here for only 6-8 months as I wanted to head on to the US to pursue my educational goals. Taking a step back to give you some background, I had initially planned on going to the US for studies; however I was late in the application submission and hence missed the deadline. I was faced with the consequence of wasting about 9-10 months. I took the opportunity to come to Australia when my father was informed of a good degree program in Melbourne. How he got to know about this program is yet another story. Things just came to shape pretty quickly and I ended up in Australia in January to study till about July and then heading to the US. This was not to be as once I was here, I was settled in and enjoying my time in the culture and life here.

Since then it has been a long journey of 9 years. Quite a few huge milestones have been accomplished while living here.

• Finishing my studies and graduating from my Bachelor’s degree and then subsequently my Master’s degree
• Getting married and starting my married life
• Moving to Sydney from Melbourne
• Starting my professional career
• Becoming an Australian citizen

There are quite a few milestones in between all of the above, but I think the list above is of a huge significance to my life and the way it has moved forward. I am moving towards another huge milestone in my life, and Australia is in the thick of it.

In my previous post I mentioned that change is inevitable. Looking at the list above and what is going to occur in the future, change IS inevitable and it is our ability to deal with the change and make things happen is how we make our life filled with fond memories. I certainly have experienced many good memories in my time here in Australia and look forward to many great experiences in the future.

Change is inevitable

The word change is such an important part of all our lives. No matter how much we avoid it, it is bound to happen and is inevitable. I was particularly fascinated with this word as it has been brought up again and again during this year’s American election campaign. I saw a hilarious clip on the ‘Colbert Report’ where they showed a live debate between all of the major Democrats. The mediator of the debate asked a question and mentioned the word ‘change’. As soon as he finished his sentence (and I kid you not this is real!) all of the candidates like little children raised their hands up and started talking so that they could comment first and fore most on this topic.
Why is the word change very important in the American elections these days? Well I shouldn’t even go into that I think as that’s another topic.

Current events in Pakistan have also told the story of change. People of Pakistan in particular have a habit of asking for change sooner than many people. They get fed up with the same leaders who they elected with a huge majority and then support the same leaders if they are out of power to get them back IN power, weird.

These two examples are political in nature. There are many other examples where people want to have change. Change in scenery for a person going on a holiday, change routine, change of personal belongings etc.

Some people have to deal with change as just a part of life and come to people whether they like it or not. Some people deal with it well some people don’t.
I heard an inspirational speaker once and he said that change is something humans have evolved to deal with. Humans are probably the least evolved species on this planet to deal with the changing climate/temperature etc. If you compare humans with other species such as insects or others, you can easily see how well other species have adapted. Animals have developed extra layers of skin or have shrunk significantly in size etc. to survive. But in humans there is no change, humans have alternatively moved on to different places where they are suited better or have used their brains to build things that help in survival. This inevitably will be the cause of our demise as well, as we keep on consuming this planet’s resources, there will not be enough places to go to survive based on the rate of human growth.

Science fiction movies sometimes show the eventual evolution of our species. I think it’s a very valid thing and may happen in the future…I am not certain.

The same inspirational speaker said, it is the ability of the people to want change and adapt quickly to different situations is what makes them a cut above the rest.

My rant for the day is complete.

New year and new beginnings

Happy new year to you all! Hope this new year is better than last year. See I AM an optimist.

As for me, this year will be a new beginning to a different part of my life and I look forward to it and await it with open arms. Can't wait to start a new chapter of this life. I just hope that both of us cope with the transition well. Wish us luck!

God bless all of you :0)

Nine Inch Nails in Sydney (Part 2)

Two shows

15th September and 16th September 2007

It was an unbelievable weekend where we got to see Trent in action. These concerts were far better than what I have seen before. They were even better than the concerts back in 2005. Unbelievable shows with so much energy and passion. I don't know how they pull it off again and again with the same intensity.
The most amazing part of these concerts was that they almost played a totally different set list in both concerts. I took the decision of standing in the mosh pit for the first and sitting in the stands in the second. Unusually, Trent had a lot to say in the concerts. One, which has been reported all over the world, was when told us to steal his music until the record companies lower the prices of the albums. He also mentioned the fact that they are going back to the US now and will start working on the new album and will be back in Australia by mid next year, which I really find hard to believe...but here's hoping for the best.
I managed to take some pictures of the concerts, those will follow soon. Overall, an amazing experience which I'm sure I'll cherish for years to come....

First show set list:
1. hyperpower!
2. the beginning of the end
3. last
4. sin
5. march of the pigs
6. something i can never have
7. closer
8. survivalism
9. burn
10. gave up
11. me, im not
12. the great destroyer
13. eraser
14. only
15. wish
16. the good soldier
17. no, you dont
18. suck
19. the day the whole world went away
20. dead souls
21. down in it
22. the hand that feeds
23. head like a hole
24. hurt

Second show set list:

1. hyperpower!
2. the beginning of the end
3. heresy
4. terrible lie
5. march of the pigs
6. the frail/ the wretched
7. closer
8. ruiner
9. survivalism
10. piggy
11. gave up
12. me, im not
13. the great destroyer
14. eraser
15. only
16. wish
17. the good soldier
18. no, you dont
19. reptile
20. the day the whole world went away
21. hurt
22. the hand that feeds
23. starfuckers inc.
24. head like a hole

Liveability

Interesting index from the Economist

60 years and counting....

The people of Pakistan recently celebrated 60 years since gaining independence from the British Empire. When the new country was created, hopes and dreams were high. People looked forward to living their lives in a country where there were equal rights to all Muslims of South Asia in peace. Muslims of South Asia rejoiced at the fact that they will no longer be persecuted either by the Hindus/Sikhs or the British. Little did they know that the country will be set upon an uncertain direction, you see there were many kinds of Muslims who wanted to start their lives in Pakistan. You had the moderates, who wanted to establish a new democracy and start progressing towards the future inclined towards the west and modernization. On the other hand you had the Muslim far right who embraced the fact that the country was going to be founded in the name of Allah. (One of the only 2 countries in this world that were created in the name of religion, the other being Israel).

Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Islamic Republic, I always thought this term was a bit ambiguous. Rule of the people by the people living in an Islamic society. There certainly no rule by the people if you take it purely in Islamic terms.
Democracy is a system that has its roots back in the Ancient Greece and Romans etc. But true acceptance of Democracy only came after World War 2. Democracy emphasises the importance of an individual in the entire nation ie every person has a say in the overall country’s leaders/decisions etc.
Islamic society started with the Caliphate (at least the Sunnis did) which had the concept of one true leader ie the Amir Ul Momineen, who was mostly either assigned as the best leader/general or even hereditary. So you can understand where I am coming from, both really don’t truly mix.
Pakistan has been at this cross roads since day 1, whether to truly embrace the Islamic way of life or by modernizing itself fully. Should Pakistan be more like Saudi Arabia and embrace Sharia Law in full or modernize itself by completely aligning itself with the west like Turkey?
This has been the question all Pakistanis have faced throughout their lives. Its quite interesting to note that the people of Pakistan are truly divided. There is a big number of people that really want both and be Islamic as well as a true democracy for eg Indonesia; one can see how that is working out.
This is just one area where all the conflicts lie within Pakistan.

The country’s leaders have taken many a controversial decisions to make the country constantly unstable. The establishment of the language of Urdu being the official language alienated a large majority of people. The dismissal of the election results from East Pakistan effectively starting the independence movement for what is now called Bangladesh. The countless dismissals of civilian governments by the military right from the start of Pakistan’s history. Out of the total 60 years, more than half the years of this time were under military rule. This allowed for Pakistan to be left behind by its neighbours in terms of democracy and freedom.

The threat posed by its intimidating nuclear neighbour, India. The Pakistan military had to be powerful enough to ensure the country was safe from external threats. 3 wars with its neighbour over the jewel in the crown of either country, Kashmir, made sure that the defence budget was always high on the budget spending.

On top of this Pakistan found itself stuck in between the cold war. The bigger powers of the world offered support in return for access to the big fight occurring in Afghanistan. This allowed the military government to stay in power for more than a decade with support of the international powers that be.

Mind you the democracy in Pakistan has done its duty (even in its short time). By duty I mean people who have come into power have not only plundered the country, but have taken decisions that have made sure that the economy has gone from bad to worse. One that I remember being freezing all the people’s foreign bank accounts. What a good way for the government to increase the confidence of its people.

Corruption is common throughout the system, from the very low end workers to the very top; common all the way to the top office of the country. If you don’t have the connections and the right base, one will find it hard to make it in Pakistan.

Political differences, ethnic differences, religious differences are some of the conflict arising factors in the country. People are ready to fight and kill on all fronts. Sometimes crime is linked to all of these.

I can go on and on about problems in Pakistan. It is clear that the country has some deep rooted problems that won’t go away easily. It will take time and effort from the people and leaders of Pakistan to make a change and stick to it. But this goes back to my earlier predicament, moderate or extremist. Till the day the people of Pakistan don’t understand where they want to take their country and what future they would like to see, the problems would not be solved. All I can say is that Pakistan can only get better from this (maybe)

Happy Independence Day and God bless Pakistan.

The big come down

Its been a while since I have posted. What can I say it's been a couple of busy months. During the past couple of months I have come across many different things that I wanted to express my feelings about...unfortunately didn't get around to posting anything. One of the things that just happened last week is none other than the tour of Nine Inch Nails to Australia.

Warning: Groupie Alert!
Trent had given us a huge surprise right at the end of the With Teeth tour by saying that he had been working on the new album while touring. And then going ahead and announcing that the new album will be released in April and the whole Year Zero alternative reality game (ARG) kicked in. It was just unbelievable how quickly this was happening. All NIN fans were expecting a new album in the future....but never so quickly! Next came the tour dates, which of course started from Europe and then Japan and then came the dates to Australia. Come to think of it, this all happened in a flash! They announced 3 dates for Sydney and 3 for Melbourne, but they announced one after the other meaning if the shows got sold out they would announce another and so on. I purchased tickets for the two shows as soon as they were announced, I couldn't wait for them to announce any other shows. My wife being the accommodating person she is let me buy tickets to the first 2 concerts, but wasn't too keen in going to the third one, which is fair enough. So the dates we purchased tickets for were for Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th of May 2007. I couldn't believe that I was about to see them live again, considering how amazing the experience was last time around (refer to previous post Aug 2005).
As this time around both the dates were on weekdays, we had to figure something out regarding the work situation. Also the concerts were going to be held at Luna Park, which is not a very good combination with NIN. We caught the ferry from circular quay to get there as this was the fastest way possible. The doors were meant to be open at 7PM and we reached there at 6. I wasn't too fussed about the queue as I was a member of the Spiral, which had a separate entry.
Once we got in the venue, we were quite surprised to find out that there were no seats whatsoever, which was quite bad. We had planned on sitting in the comfort of seats for a better view, but had to settle for standing in the middle. The venue looked pretty small as compared to Hordern where the 2005 shows happened.
The band supporting NIN were called Sereena Meneesh, who are a Scandinavian band. They sounded pretty average in my opinion. I couldn't make sense of their music although I thought the drummer was pretty good. Once they were done with it was time for the main act. We were waiting in anticipation for Trent to come out and blow us away.
The Show:
It all started with Hyperpower! which is the first track of the new album and people just went crazy (along with us of course). Instead of me posting the set list, I reckon it's a better idea how the performances of each of them were. In total they sang 21 songs, it's amazing to think they can keep this momentum and energy up every time and still give amazing performances. In total they performed solid from 10 till 1130 non stop.

The Songs:
Hyperpower! ---> Great starting track really set the tone of the whole concert, combined with the theme of the whole album. The drumming on this track live is unbelievable. The noisy end to this song is just out of this world live. We could see the whole band besides Trent performing this one as this is an instrumental.
The Beginning of the End ---> Just like in the album, right after Hyperpower! I think this song sounds better live, it has a 'My Sharona' type beat which sounds great with all the noisy sounds in the background.
Survivalism---> Man! this song is a killer live. The sound is totally different to what it is on the audio track. The chorus was unbelievable!!! This was one of the best performances of the night. I like this song in general, but live its even better!
March of the Pigs ---> As usual this song really got the crowd worked up, showed how much energy Trent still has! Its amazing to think he has been performing this song for over 10 years now and he still gives it his all.
Heresy ----> One of my favorite songs off the Downward Spiral. I didn't have any clue that this would be performed live and it delivered. My wife doesn't like this song and doesn't like me singing it either as some lines go like 'God is dead and no one cares.. if there is a hell I'll see you there' and I think this line was sung even more passionately live.
Burn, No, You Don't, Suck, Dead Souls ----> I had heard these songs live before and they did not disappoint then and they didn't now. Before Dead Souls came on, Trent said "As you know we have a new album out which most of you have stolen, this song is not from our album and it's not even ours"

The Hand That Feeds, Closer, Gave Up, Wish ---> Star performances of the night

Help Me I Am In Hell, La Mer ---> Great interludes, Trent had a little trouble with the light over his keyboard during La Mer and had to abandon the song, it's so funny seeing Trent pissed! He just stopped the music and pushed the keyboard away
Me, I'm Not ---> The one performance I was expecting so much but didn't deliver. Maybe it was because of the fact that this was the first live performance of this song for NIN ever. Firstly, it had a little bit of problem getting set up (as this is totally computer generated) It was only him and Alessandro on stage for this. The tune of the song was not there most of the time. Trent said after the show in his blog, thats what you get when you make songs on a computer! I also believe just because these songs are so layered and so much work has gotten into them on the computer, they can't be matched live.

The Good Soldier, Only ---> I hadn't heard both of these songs live before and both were really funky tracks live. The good soldier had not been performed live ever before!

Mr Self Destruct ----> Mr Self Destruct was THE star performance of the whole show! It just went through the roof, the whole crowd was going nuts. I don't know why he hasn't performed that historically, but my compliments to him on that one.

Hurt ---> Out of the 3 NIN concerts I have been to, I definitely think that this performance was the best! He really looked as if he was totally into it and felt what he was saying. Unreal performance by him on the keyboard. It was so funny before this song started though. The roadie came and brought the keyboard to the center of the stage. Trent came and was jostling with the mike and ended up pushing it toward the keyboard which made the entire keyboard collapse. It almost fell toward to crowd! After all was settled, Trent said "Ever have one of those days?"

Head Like A Hole ----> Perfect ending to a NIN performance, it was full of energy and poise.

All in all it was a very different performance of NIN that I had seen. The lights were not that impressive, Trent said in his blog a couple of months back that he was really pissed at the lighting as he couldn't pay much attention to that part of the concert experience due to the whole album experience. I have seen better performances from him, but then again maybe I expect too much from them. I was seeing them perform 9 songs that I hadn't heard live before. Trent looked as if he was pissed generally and didn't seem his usual self, even though he looks pissed normally anyway, this time it was different. We had been wondering about his voice in some of the songs as he was sounding different?!?
As I mentioned earlier in the post, I had tickets to see them live on Thursday as well. We rocked up to the place the same way only to find out that the show had been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. Really disappointing as we had been anticipating eagerly to see them live again. They ended up canceling the 3rd Sydney show as well citing the same reasons. No one knows what happened and why they can canceled although rumors are everywhere. I suspect that he had a sore throat or something (as we did notice him sounding different) They did reschedule for the dates in September, which was quite a relief considering its not just a city in the US where they can just fly to. They would have to especially fly out to Australia to perform, but I'm glad they announced the dates. I had my heart set to see them live again and will have to wait another 4 months.
It's so weird to see so many NIN fans in the same place, normally I hardly ever meet people who are actual NIN fans. This time around I saw a far less goths though, maybe it was because I was in the spiral entrance?
As I said in the 2005 NIN concert experience, my wife was totally supportive and amazing throughout the experience. I definitely wouldn't enjoy as much if I had gone without her (which I noted in the Tool concert)
Can't wait for September!!!