nEEbz Blog

One of the interesting phrases which we often use in football is

shrugs off the dust and starts running again.

It refers to player’s stubborness to keep on track regardless how unfair the opponents or maybe the referee is dealing with him.

We see a lot in football that referees taking wrong decisions or opponents playing hard and over-physical style reminiscent of rugby. As much as everyone despise such scenarios but the true genious of a player is recognized to be one who even after a harsh unfair tackle doesn’t stand up and start complaining , you know on the ever so dramatic line ‘yeh asool ki baat hay’ (it’s the matter of principle) but infact simply shrugs of the dust and start playing again. He has an obstacle defying the basic rules of football but rather than crying over that he keeps his focus. Knows where his vision leads to and puts his concentration on achieving the aim rather than getting lost somewhere in the middle.

One of the biggest regrets I had in my life is that in my third semester in FAST, due to some differences with the advisor I quitted Quran Society. It was a non-existent society with minimal influence but the idea of quitting simply disgusts me even after all these years.

I see this a lot in Pakistanis here. They loose the plot very easily. They have a vision, they start off for it. The find some challenge and they simply get lost with it. They totally loose the focus. Either they’ll complain that we have no electricity, the system is too unfair, the politics etc. or they’ll simply quit under the extravagant yet laughable idea thinking ‘they stood to the principle’. While all they actually did was to shrug off the challenge and step back. They totally jumped out of the race because they were too much of a chicken to accept the unfair obstacle as a challenge and face the chin music.

I remember Steve Jobs saying somewhere that he was actually kicked out of the company he very much created himself. He tried to counter it, couldn’t do it. Simply shrugged off the dust and created a new company which was eventually bought by Apple. It’s a small anecdote but it’s gives a massive insight how vision is not to be confused with the issues/obstacles in the path no matter how unjust they are.

Complainers will complain all their life and no one will budge. Quitter will remain quitters thinking they stood for a principle while all they did was fooled by their egos which eventually corrupted their visions (if they had any).

This is how good and great is differentiated, I believe.

sorry I just got the confirmation

It’s tonight 11:00pm. Technically two hours from now.

Sorry guys, due to some technical issues, the radio is down. I’ll let you know the new time.

Who would’ve thought one day I’ll be an RJ ?

Some Luminites came up with an idea of having an in-campus radio and with some help from the administration they did a pretty cool job in setting up one. You can listen it online.

So they wanted students to run their shows and I volunteered for one too. I couldn’t come up with a topic (and considering music crap was out of question) so I came up with football. And considering my favourite topic is usually to go off-topic, I think I’ll most probably drift frequently. Heck who cares about footy, I just wanted some air time. I know I can blabber a lot and a wise man once said

Good RJ is the one who blabbers

Yea, that’s my own quote but anyways tune into http://radio.lums.edu.pk (Updated Time) tonight (Wednesday) at 11:00 pm. I literally have zero preparation and considering my routine, I know I won’t do any. Lets see how it goes.

Don’t forget to setup your microphone. It has an option of calling the host. It’ll be cool if you can share some blabber. Would really take the burden off. People all around the world (like Sharjah ;)) would be listening. Yes, this is your moment of glory and shot for fame.

And check out the banner below which I posted outside the canteen :p

do I sound a tad desparate?

picture credit: Hafiz Rizwan

ps: iPhone 2 is out. It rocks and it’s cheap. I’ll be waiting for it.

Imagine; Your nikah being done in Madinah. Inside Masjid-Nabvi, infront of the Rauza-Rasool(SAW). Surely a dream.

but apparently Idrees just hit a jackpot. It’s been worth the wait.

Congratulations Man !!! Looking forward to a treat (not known as Walima )

but considering the fact I’ve enough time and interactions with Idrees to talk about the event and eat his head (unless he goes AWOL in Dubai ) I’ll reserve this space for bhabee. A few good words, as they say.

Hi bhabee,

Ok without exxaguration, I think you are friggin lucky. I have known this jerk for like 7 years and I don’t think any of his other friends know him better and it has been an absolute joyride. I have seen people who just get married for the sake of it. Half of them infact don’t even want to. They just think it’s part of the whole life cycle but Idrees has always been looking forward to this. And I think it’s great news for you. As he aims to make it special for you and does not consider you just another also-ran as more than half of our current generation has the atttitude towards their spouses. And Idrees is unique in the regard that he is extra damn caring. Like even at times when I’ve acted like a jerk but he has always been a true friend. Always caring and sincere. And it’s sublime in the context that he’s been like this to us (Well atleast to me), I can’t really imagine what he would be to his life partner.

I really hope you guys have an awesome time together. And may every minute you spend together becomes a memory forever to cherish.

Good Luck !

‘woha very impressive…that reminded me of my MIT days’
- Faculty member after going through our presentation last night.

Good work Omar, Inam !

Driver: That’s pretty nice glasses you got there.
Hostess: Yeaaa, my brother got it for me ..cool eh?
Driver: Aww that’s sho shweet.
Hostess: Well not really, someone gifted it to him but he later realized that it’s for ladies so he forwarded it to me .

This is what you get if you get any of the first four seats in Daewoo :D.

However all other flirt mania which took place for the resounding 6 hours of my travel has not been mentioned for the sake of decency of this blog.

I still remember one the of best teachers I had during all my academia was some Sir Farrukh in my school. He used to teach us Physics. I had studied different subjects from pretty decent teachers but there was one thing striking about Farrukh. He used to teach with a passion. As if his class was a part of some theatre (apparently he was a part time actor in a local tv as well :D) and it followed a whole sequence of acts. It was like a joy ride. Physics was never this much fun before. One day he told me he loves to teach. And I was like what kinda nimkumpoop would love to, of all the fiery things in world, teeeaach. I always thought teachers as some kinda lousy has-beens. Its like people study from them and move on and do big things and they are still stuck inside the 4 walled rooms, teaching the same crap again…and again …every damn year. But Farrukh’s passion for teaching did open a new avenue for me.

I am pretty lucky that I’ve gone through an insititute i.e. FAST which contains an amazing faculty. Say what you say about their administration issues, their lack of research and all that but they know one thing. How to teach. How to put the stuff down students throat in such an effective manner, that even if he ends up getting a F in the course, he would’ve learned way more than the toppers of other institute. And that’s not exxaguration, it really happened. As much as they are notorious for giving the patheti-est (if that’s a word) grade to their students (Once I scored the highest marks in a Graduate level course and ended up geting only an A-) but Belal Hashmi, Shafiq-ur-Rehman, Qaiser Durrani, Sarmad Hussain etc. they were the masters. And I’ve seen in LUMS, apart from a few, most of the Phds who are pretty awesome in their respective fields, making publications etc. but they know jack shit about teaching*. Their classes are a snooze fest. They should be stucked inside their dorm-like-offices and should never be allowed to teach again. They simply can’t teach and they shouldn’t. I spent all my classes, from a certain Phd, playing PSP (and made a few records on the way ).

And all this broad up did ignite one thing in me. The passion to teach. I loveee to teach. After only a couple of years in FAST, I knew that this is something I would love to do. Standing in front of drooling almost sleepy group of crappies, you take them for a joyride. Like in a cinema. I know the art, I beleive. How to keep their attention. How to make them think and enjoy even the crappiest of stuff.

Too bad it requires a Phd (which apparently I have no chance and skill and ability and patience of) or I would’ve jumped straight into it. Maybe after hands on experience in the industry, the universities would accept me. You never know how it works but teaching is surely something I’ll end up one day.

*Umar Saif is not of them