“I don’t want people to do jobs; I want them to become entrepreneurs” said Badar Khushnood, Country Consultant, Google in his presentation at P@SHA Career Expo, Avari Hotel, Lahore. “Everyone must do any bussiness, whether; big or small and blogging is one of them” he added.

He was addressing a session, yesterday, on how to earn a good living by blogging. Being a Google Guy, his focus was on Google’s products like Blogger, Google Adsense and Google Analaytics but his tips were universal to all types of bloggers.

Badar Khushnood presenting "Earn a good living by blogging"

It was more like a group discussion where many people shared their experiences and asked Badar different questions regarding blogging and Google’s applications.

“For blogging, you need to know your passion. It can be your hobbies, your profession or anything you like” added Badar. He continued,” Making money by blogging is possible but there’s no shortcut. The content must be unique while, regularity and patience are must needed abilities.”

There were two case studies of earning blogs maintained by individuals. One, Sizzled Core by Haris Nadeem and second AMLaw by Tanseer.

“I used to visit forums and used to read tips. Then I thought of having my own website where I could post these tips” said Haris Nadeem, a Matric (SSC) graduate, who is earning about $600 to $700 a month without having any computer background. :-)

The session lasted for about one and half an hour. Different examples were cited and Badar cited Google Webcentral a useful source for bloggers and webmasters.

The whole session was great but I couldn’t cover the rest of the event due to shortage of time. I hope the people who visited the event must have gained a lot.

If Metblogs is a city, hub.metblogs is the playground. We kept hearing from people that one of their favorite parts of Metblogs was meeting and interacting with readers and writers from other parts of the world, as well as getting requests for more ways that readers could be involved besides just posting comments. We thought about this for a while and decided that with a network like this, a giant community area where folks from all over the world could hang out, post photos and videos, talk with each other, form groups, play games, send messages, and do about a million other things was probably a pretty fun idea. The Hub is that.

If you have any tech ideas or suggestions join this group and speak up. See you on hub.metblogs!

Stumbled across some very beautiful shots of Lahore and thought it would be nice to share. You can see them on

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/182/426532140_6d3ff2049d.jpg?v=0&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/asadahmad/426532140/in/set-72157594540599510/&h=356&w=500&sz=106&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=Llzu8fP4Jx4VWM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=130&prev=/images?q=lahore+lights&um=1&hl=en&sa=G

On a side note, I have heard it is sizzling in the city and my sympathies go out to all the people who have to bear the intense heat alongside constant power cuts. I must admit I have been meaning to post my thoughts on the Pakistan Energy crisis so stay tuned to hear my views on that.

Ever tried googling Lahore and found nothing but the standard wikipedia entry and perhaps some news item related to British Asian terrorists? Sad but true.

To be honest, I gave up hope long ago when I initially attempted to look up Lahore on youtube during my initial enthusiasm for the video sharing site. Little did I know that it would bring up an array of bizarre clips of school girls in a street fight; tacky sing along versions of Lahore Lahore aye; and a somewhat fazed swede-Pakistani girl videoblogging about her recent visit to the city. And not to mention a string of so called lewd dances featured in Lahore Defence Party videos … dare I say it is pure class A trash.

Anyway, the point being that our beloved city is no where portrayed on the internet in a positive and candid light. On my last visit to Lahore, I was set to create a series of video blogs where my aim was to visit old and new Lahore and post/share my creations with friends and family in London. Unfortunately, the events of Dec. 2007 simply ruined all my plans of walking freely around the city. Anyway, I am sure someone will take it up as a task to perhaps create a regular weekly/monthly video link on LMB with tours of old and new Lahore. For instance, we could have a tour of Wazir Khan Mosque one week and a videoblog focussed on a walk through the bustling Liberty Market. For people who don’t exactly possess a Sean Connery voice, then I suggest adding text via subtitles along the video. I am sure there is clever video editing software out there to achieve the desired effect.

Hope this has inspired a few people to put on their creative hats and go and direct/act in a video about Lahore. I enourage you to do so, so that overseas Lahoris like myself don’t have to go through the agony of watching the dancing girls of Defence and that annoying Swede-Paki.

G’luck!

Hello Lahore! Let me commence with a note of appreciation for Hassan and Co. for welcoming me to the LMB team. It’s great to join the fold :)

Whilst I don’t live in Lahore per se, I do have a very strong bond with my birth place. Since leaving the great city over 8 years ago, I have made every effort to return and explore its past and present. Needless to say, my family and friends provide a constant urge (and reason) for me to return to Lahore. So for my first ever LMB post, I think its apt that I choose one of my overriding memories from my most recent visit in Dec/ Jan 2007-08. Here goes…

Having arrived days following the shocking assasination of Benazir Bhutto, I was struck by the low mood of the nation and indeed how it had negatively impacted the generally boisterous city of Lahore. The whole episode had somehow crept into the very conscience of the people and sucked out their usual optimism.

Having booked my tickets well in advance, I had been looking forward to my Pakistani adventure with ambitions to visit sights and sounds of inner Lahore and meet and greet the ‘real’ Lahoris who crossed my path…gawwalas, drivers, cooks, pan wallas, you name it. On the contrary, I found myself increasingly restricted by constant advice not to drive at night or visit public places. To top it off, the sense-defying ‘loadshedding’ crippled the city and most of my plans to be productive. It was funny how a few days of being in Lahore, my London pragmatism turned initially to frustration and later into helplessness.

Behind the glittery facade of glass offices and neon lights, there was an evident lack of the spirit of Lahore. It was as if the city had decided to disassociate itself from its inhabitants by falling into a deep slumber. Most of my ill-tempered thoughts were directed to the social and educational deprivation of the society. Having an upbringing in a household where a core focus was on high moral values and education, I was a bit disappointed that the so called educated in our society had done nothing but better themselves and line their own and friends pockets. All this at the cost of a crumbling nation whose financial and natural resources cannot sustain the rising needs of the burgeoning population. But some will argue this can be the case with most of the country so how does it relate to Lahore?

Well to answer that question, I think we need to search for the soul of Lahore. If we chart the course of the city and its majority Muslim population through history, it’s little more than a fraction of the centuries when the city stood as a melting pot of culture, religion, education and commerce. Ask any visitor to Lahore about their lasting memories of the city and chances are they would say it was its Mughal architecture, the Royal Gardens or the cross section of religious shrines. In all my life, no one has ever truly praised a post-1947 symbol. So I believe there is a message in all of this. We need to rekindle the soul of the city and transform it back to its rightful place: to be a seat of great learning, architecture, culture and religious and social tolerance. With the right focus, maybe us Lahoris can all act as a beacon of change for the rest of the country to follow.

…for Breaking News Photography, to be specific. Adrees Latif has been awarded this prestigious award for his dramatic photograph shown above, which he shot during a street demonstration in Myanmar. The photograph shows the Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai lying fatally wounded on the street, who later succumbed to his wounds.
With the world media highlighting only negative news emanating from Pakistan. this comes as a very welcome news - not only for the fact that the photographer was a Pakistani (and a Lahori) but also for the fact that the recognition accorded to this photograph would make the world, in the words of Adrees, “remember this story long after it has disappeared from the headlines”.

A bit more about Adrees Latif from SAJAforum:

Born in Lahore, Pakistan on July 21, 1973, Adrees Latif lived in Saudi Arabia before immigrating with his family to Texas in 1980. Latif worked as a staff photographer for The Houston Post from 1993 to 1996 before joining Reuters. Latif graduated from the University of Houston in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Latif has worked for Reuters in Houston, Los Angeles before moving to Bangkok in 2003 where he covers news across Asia.

Source: Reuters

For those who are unaware of this, ICL (Indian Cricket League) has introduced a new team in its latest ongoing 20-20 tournament. The team is called “Lahore Badshahs”.

Now I understand that many of LMB readers are not from Pakistan, or this region entirely. So for their benefit in particular, let me first explain what ICL is… no wait, let me start with explaining what cricket is.

The Webster’s dictionary (named after the famous linguist, Thomas Dictionary) describes cricket as a form of insect that trots in the outdoors when one wants to have a good night sleep. Off course Webster’s dictionary says the same thing about lollywood. So we can’t take Webster’s dictionary too seriously.

Cricket in fact is a form of sport, run by a governing body called ICC. Now for those who follow the game closely on an hourly basis, you must have noticed an immense conflict these days between two major forces in Cricket…. the batsmen and the bowlers. This is pretty much all one has to know about cricket to get involved. Off course once you do get involved, chances are that you will be fed with so many intricate nitty gritties of the game, that football (another major sport) will seem like a mere prank, against the overwhelmingly complicated game of cricket.

ICL is one such complication in the game these days. So now that you have gained enough raw knowledge to comment on this post, let me get back to the main point; ICL has a new team, called Lahore Badshahs.

Captained by our ex captain Inzy, Lahore Badshahs comprises all those Pakistani players who have left the lucrative (hint hint) careers as “test rejects” to join the wannabe rebel league. And there are plenty of them. In fact, Lahore Badshahs has assembled a cast of quite a few ex-match winners, that it can, in fact, create a major upset in the tournament… such as Pakistani players winning matches… The batting line-up comprises Inzy himself, alongwith Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umer, Hamayun Farhat, Navid Latif and Hasan Raza, as well as the wicketkeeper batsman Moin Khan. But it’s actually the bowling line-up that makes the team strong, including fast bowlers such as Mohammad Sami, Shahid Nazeer, Riaz Afridi and Rana Naveed ul Hasan alongwith old (by age) spinners such as Mushtaq Ahmed, Arshad Khan, and (not so old still) Saqlain Mushtaq. All rounder Azhar Mahmood also makes the 16 men squad.

Granted, most of these players are not actually from Lahore. But then Chris Cairns in not exactly from Chandigarh and Marvan Atapattu and Shane Bond are not from Delhi either. So it’s the name of the team that’s important rather than who plays in it.

In the first round of current series, Lahore Badshahs are right now right at the top of the table, having won all 3 matches they played, securing 6 points.

Now what happens if Lahore Badshahs go on to win ICL? How would PCB react to that? Will the ban on these ICL players be lifted if they bring home some glory? and where exactly is Abdur Razzaq? are some of the questions which are yet to be answered. Till we have an answer to these, lets watch some more cricket!!!

Today’s blasts in Lahore are just the latest deadly attacks in Pakistan. At about 9.30am, the whole city was literally shaken by the sound of two explosions. They were so intense that people reported hearing them and feeling the windows shake as far as five kilometres away. At least 25 people are dead and another 150 or so have been injured.

Whether you blame it on the post-9/11 world, Pakistan’s internal political instability or its rulers’ decades-old policy of supporting the agenda of foreign powers at the expense of Pakistanis, things have gone from bad to worse over the past two years. The bombers have spread from tribal areas in the north-west and Baluchistan to target major cities, mainly in the form of suicide attacks on government and army targets.

One of the targets was the headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Temple Road, near major businesses and government offices. The first suicide bomber cleared the way for his associate by bringing the entrance gate down, while the second blew up his car inside the complex.

The second blast, unlike earlier incidents, happened in the upmarket residential area of Model Town, in front of the offices of an advertising agency. While the first attack could be attributed to the sensitive nature of the agency, the Model Town attack had no understandable motive - apart from the fact that it took place just round the corner from Bilawal House, home of the late ex-PM Benazir Bhutto and her party’s Lahore headquarters.

Lahore is Pakistan’s cultural capital, and during he bloody months of last year it remained largely peaceful compared to Karachi. But 2008 brought a deadly attack on city policemen guarding the Lahore High Court during a lawyers’ rally in January, followed by an attack on the prestigious Navy War College earlier this month.

Read more at The Guardian Blog

Ok. This post, the first post, does not have much to do with lahore. Some might argue that this post does not have much to do with anything. I should have posted it in my personal blog, but for some odd reason I can’t find where I left my personal blog. Plus I am quite, in fact very, excited about being able to log-in to LMB that I thought why not post here.

Therefore in case you find this post useless, senseless, unreasonable, irrelevant, uncouth (hain ji), and un-cal sargam, please keep in mind that a) this post mentions Lahore 7 times and b) I am getting used to nasty comments so please feel free to leave one.

Having said that, here are the few things I wanted to post / announce.

First the new design / structure of LMB: Good news for iPhone users. The new metblogs sites (possibly due to wordpress) get automatically adapted to iphone sets giving you a very easy and user friendly navigation control. In fact its much nicer to access LMB though iphone than through a regular PC. (I dont know how many LMB readers use iPhone… maybe its just a guy named bilal)

Second: I hear that the wheat crisis is over. so no need to switch to cakes anymore. One less thing to worry about.

Third: The global community is quite surprised that Pakistan’s elections went ahead, peacefully, freely and fairly… and everyone accepted the results. Heck with global community, even our local population is quite surprised.
Fourth: Someone at LMB must write a post on basant and must do it fast. And someone from his/her home must write a nasty comment against basant (ban basant) and must do it fast.
Thats all for now. Hopefully i will be back soon with more useful posts in future. Even though being optimistic is weird… i have been told.

Every language has idioms, they leave a mind-boggling impression on the recipient. Idioms are ‘one of a kind’ and indicates that a phrase is being used with a special meaning that can be very different to the literal meaning.

Most of us use idioms, we don’t just use them, we use them alot! So, if you are one of ‘us’ grab some pen and paper as there is a new idiom in town. See you at malta!

So, when you see a lame/lousy post, a something that is just ‘a fool’s errand and ‘hit the roof’, beacuse it’s just ‘one of those days, be ‘as cool as a cucumber’ and be kind enough to leave a nice response because you don’t want me to ’see you at malta :)
‘Food for thought’, isn’t it? no? :) Hell no!