Fellow of Royal Geographical Society, Salman Rashid is author of several books including jhelum: City of the Vitasta and The Apricot Road to Yarkand, Riders on the Wind, Between two Burrs on the Map, Prisoner on a Bus and Sea Monsters and the Sun God. He is the only Pakistani to have seen the North Face of K-2 and trekked in the shadow of this great mountain. His work – explorations, history, travel writings – appears in almost all leading publications. Salman Rashid blogs here.

Odysseus was a very simply choice, says Salman Rashid, “He travelled, either driven by storms or by his will to discover strange and wonderful lands where he met all sorts of people. Though I never met a Cyclops, I too have travelled to wonderful places across the length and breadth of Pakistan. The Odyssey lasted twenty years, mine is still ongoing – though it is not in one stretch and there is no danger of returning home and not being recognized by anyone. It was Odysseus’ spirit of adventure that made me adopt him name.”

Follow Salman Rashid on Twitter, also find on facebook.

A state of the art metro bus system – brand new and unique in Pakistan – should make every Lahori proud of their city today.

A lot has been written and said about this system. And as is the case with almost everything in Pakistan, the points of views are poles apart. Many people regard this project as a major infrastructure breakthrough, while many call it excessive and useless.

More often than not, both sides have politically affiliated, if not motivated, line of reasoning.

I do not have a political affiliation. I have also not personally researched much on this project. Hence I will not endeavor to put forward my own take on it right now. I will, however, attempt to summarize the arguments I hear from both sides, and will point out some obvious flaws in both sides of arguments, wherever i can. Maybe this stirs up some constructive conversation on this mega project on this site. (i.e. if many people still visit this site!).

So lets start with arguments against this project:
a) It is excessive. Lahore doesn’t need such an elaborate transit system. Just some investment in usual buses would have been enough.
Flaw in the argument: For a city of almost 1 Crore people, no investment in infrastructure can be termed ‘too big’… we desperately needed good infrastructure and commute system. Agreed lahore is already much better off than rest of the cities in Pakistan in terms of roads etc. but that doesn’t mean we cannot/should not do more.

b) Money spent here could have been used for education, healthcare, anything else.
Flaw in the argument: Infrastructure is as important as other necessities. It is the backbone of the economy. Also, while everyone has limited funds, a choice in basics (which includes infrastructre) cannot be termed as a wrong choice. e.g. what would you do with good education, when you cannot provide a robust economy to your educated people to prosper in.

c) Maybe some corruption?
Flaw in the argument: I don’t know. No strong supporting argument / evidence has been put forward (at least I haven’t come across any) in this front.

Arguments in favor of this project:
a) It will modernize Lahore.
Flaw in the argument: Obviously it will not. Just one transport system alone wouldn’t do the trick, specially if many other basic necessities are not there yet, including energy/electricity, law & order and not to forget cleanliness.

b) The project will make Lahore an economic hub
Flaw in the argument: Lahore already is an economic hub in the region. While the project makes things easier, it wouldn’t suddenly spur new economic activity from near and far. THAT will happen only if a wholesome economic program covering all the bases is launched

c) The project makes lahore commuting easy and cheaper
Flaw in the argument: Yet to be seen; how much burden these busses will / can take. Would it move some segment of population away from private cars to busses? Would the busses continue to run efficiently. Would the project be managed well?

Too early to make a final call… Any comments?

Its been an astonishingly long time since I last wrote for this site. In fact an astonishingly long time, since I even actually visited this site. Don’t even know who from the days past is still here, who is where, and who is gone. A lot of water has… wait, the entire bridge has been replaced by a newer bridge…. Life goes on nonetheless.

SO I decided to pick up from where I conveniently left… to maybe write a literary gem or two… about my beloved city of Lahore… :)

Even though I don’t live in Lahore… but i know where it is… and that makes me a true Lahori!

So watch this space :)

Hi fellow citizens and Lahoris. I’m finding it difficult to believe how I have managed to let nearly 5 years slip by since my last post!

Hassan and co. – hope you all have been well.

Promise to be back soon with yet another thought provoking piece.

Peace-

Dolls, Toys and More by S A J Shirazi was launched in Lahore on April 28, 2012. here is a foreword by Khalid Javaid, the Executive Director, Lok Virsa

Pakistan’s folk culture is a living tradition practiced by a dominant majority of its people. Pakistanis, therefore do not have to go looking for folklore, it is all over. In fact, it is so common place that an average rural Pakistani may have no awareness whatsoever of his folkloric culture and the richness of his folk heritage, just like a fish in water.

Pakistan with its rich and varied heritage has a craft tradition of more than 9,000 years dating back to the Mehergarh civilization in the Balochistan province which reveals the earliest evidence for pottery production. The Indus valley civilizations of Moenjodaro in Sindh and Harappa in Punjab, 5,000 B.C. indicates impressions of woven cloth production from cotton and wool. The dominant historical influence still to be seen in the form, design and colour of Pakistani handicrafts is essentially Islamic, a fusion of Turkish, Arab, Persian and the indigenous Mughal tradition. Read more

I’ve been blogging for long time now but have never really, until last week, looked into “buying own domain.” I have been using Blogger, and always assumed that “I am doing at BlogSpot what others are doing with own domains. It did fine for me. Was I handicapped?

Friends and fellow bloggers have been telling me that getting your own domain name is a must for a long time. Reasons: You don’t really own your Blogger blog (as per Blogger’s ToS, the domain and the platform are properties of Google though you own content). And it has serious consequences. Having your own domain gives you more credibility (and yes, an ego boost – sajshirazi.com looks much better). And of course it gives you more flexibility.

Above all else, here is another reason. Those who are looking forward to making money from blogs now need own domain. Initially BlogSpot used to be the best way to get your adsense account approved, but later now it’s getting harder to get your adsense account with blogspot. News is that Google may pull down all adsense account on BlogSpot blogs any time. Similarly other paid posting platforms are also offering less and less on free platform blogs.

While I move to sajshirazi.com, I owe big thanks to all my awesome readers. Many thanks to you all for reading, sharing, liking and leaving valuable feedback that kept me going since 2003. Do please come and join me there. Internet (and blogging) is so lonely without friends.

Blogging is a way to express one’s thought. it is probably the best thing happened to human society since the invention of printing press. Blogging takes many forms.

It can be as simple as twitter account, tweeting micro blogs. It can be a facebook update. It can be a free blog on wordpress, blogger or even tumblr. It can be as complex as having your own domain and hosting with a Content Management System.

Some take it even further and have a whole network of websites and blogs. (some folks also include mass SMS as a form of blogging) Whatever form a blog may have, Its basic idea is simple. It is to communicate what is happening around us and our opinion and feelings about it.

Blogging was seen as political/economic threat

Blogging , when it starts reporting on current issues, steps on toes of some existing institutions and professions. These institutions (media houses, newspapers, information cells of governments)  enjoyed either a monopoly or  some degree of control over the information and its presentation to masses. With introduction of Blogging in equation, they no longer enjoy same degree of control over their most important commodity. Information! Read more

S A J Shirazi