Lahore Metblogs » reallyvirtual

SriLanka Cricket Team Attacked by Terrorists

reallyvirtual — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:18:54 +0000

A few hours ago, the SriLankan team was ambushed and attacked by a dozen terrorist gunmen from three sides, who are also being reported to be carrying rocket-launchers and grenades. A few of the guest team’s players were injured, but all of them have survived the attack, while 8 security forces men are reported to have died while protecting the guest team players.

A news report (in Urdu) with video footage from surveillance cameras can be found HERE.

You can follow twitter reports and opinions on #lahore as more facts (and fiction) unfold HERE.

Traffic is being diverted from the Gulberg area to other roads, and the Sri Lankan team is being transported back home immediately.

Stay safe fellow Lahoris.

Pakistan Palestine Solidarity

reallyvirtual — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:38:57 +0000

Many youngsters from the Pakistan Youth Alliance have started a campaign under the banner of “Pak Palestine Solidarity Movement”. They are holding a Charity drive in Lahore, The PYA office is in Defence, near Masjid Chowk, and they will be putting up booths at the following places:

Friday 9th January 2009: 3:00 PM after Jumma Prayers @ Main Market Opposit Jalal Sons.
Saturday 10th January 2009: 12:00 Noon – 5:00 PM Regal Chowk, The Mall, Near Masjid-e-Shohada.
Saturday 11th January 2009: 06:00 PM – 11:00 PM Main Market, Opposite Jalal Sons.

Besides donations, they are desperately looking for volunteers to man their booths, so if you feel you can spare a couple of hours, do get in touch with them. The collections will go out to help the Palestinian affectees through Muslim Hands. If you are a blogger, you are especially invited to join in and cover these drives on your blog.

You can contact the following for further Information

Maryam Kanwar: 0346-5084265 & 0331-5105916
Ahsan Tariq: 0346-4117787

You can also make direct donations to
Muslim Hands: http://www.muslimhands.org/en/gb/
IFRC: http://www.ifrc.org/

If you are related to the medical profession, the letter pasted below is another opportunity to reach out and volunteer to help the Palestinian victims.

Assalamualaikum.
I’m working with some people from the the ICRC and the Qatar Red Crescent and they’re setting up a field hospital in both Cairo and Gaza. They’re currently recruiting staff for those hospitals. The work in Gaza itself will obviously depend to a large extent on the amount of access possible through Rafah over the next few days and weeks.
There are 2 week to 8 week (or even longer) stints available there now and they’re recruiting able volunteer doctors from anywhere to go. They need anaesthetists, neurosurgeons/cardiac/orthopaedic surgeons, ER docs, ICU docs and nurses, obs/gynae docs, ID docs and public health doctors.

Flights/transport/food/water/cups of tea and shelter will be arranged and provided for by the ICRC and the Qatar Red Crescent.

Even if your specialty is in some other relevant area or your experience is somewhat limited please send in your applications all the same if you’re keen.

For all those interested please send a copy of your CV, with details of your nationality(include a copy of your passport) and the length of your availability to salam.obaidi@gmail.com

Selected volunteers will be contacted in due course.

Jazak Allah

Dr. Osman Dar
SpR Public Health,
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Earthquake in Lahore

reallyvirtual — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 20:43:32 +0000

We just experienced a strong earthquake in Lahore and Islamabad 10 minutes ago (1:30AM approx.) that is being reported to have a 5.9 magnitude. The news was almost instantaneous on twitter though we are still waiting for the ‘old media’ to provide more information. We hope everyone is safe and sound (asleep).

World Usability Day 2008 – Lahore

reallyvirtual — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:51:16 +0000

At the occasion of the World Usability Day, the Interaction Design Center has organized an event at the UMT Campus on Thursday, November 13th. The event will consist of a series of talks, case studies, and a documentary screening. Every year the event has a theme and this year’s theme is transportation.

Three reasons you should attend:

Lahore is home to a lot of “interesting” means of transportation not found anywhere else in the world
“Helvetica” is a great documentary
Registration for the event is free

So if you have some time to spare this Thursday, and are intersted in “Usability” either as a user or a creator, head over to the registration page and let IXDC know.

Lahore Electric Shortage Company

reallyvirtual — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:15:24 +0000

Yesterday, the Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf said that there would be no unannounced loadshedding across the country during “Sehr” and “Iftar” time, adding that people can contact him on his cell number 0333-5210000 in case of loadshedding during Sehr or Iftar. He failed to mention our options for ‘announced loadshedding’ during Sehr and Iftar, or ‘unannounced loadshedding’ during the remaining 22 hours of the day, but we won’t go there.

I am a big fan of loadshedding and consider it a permanent part of the Lahori lifestyle, but I just HAD to try to call our minister during today’s three hour long unannounced loadshedding spell between 6PM to 9PM (which is Iftar time) in the Cantt area. I tried dialing for 20 minutes but his cell (0333 5210000) was turned off.

All I wanted was an opportunity to thank him for being so approachable and open, and for giving us the unplugged time that we Lahoris desperately need. I also wanted to thank him for turning me into a prolific Realist painter, which is a miracle as I have had no formal training.

Here is my masterpiece from yesterday, called ‘Starless Night in Lahore’:

Starless Night in Lahore

and the one I did today – I call this one ‘Lahore by Candlelight’:

Lahore by Candlelight

None of these are for sale, sorry! – but you might see them in an exhibition titled ‘Lahore in the 21st Century’ in the near future.

Anyway, besides our beloved Minister (0333 5210000), I also tried

the LESCO “Electric Supply Failure Contact” 042 9220425
the SDO’s number 0321 4951542 and
the cell number 0321 4951540 for the “XEN” (which is probably the coolest title abbrev. ever).

So I hope that you will write these numbers down and spare some time to call them the next time you experience an ‘unannounced loadshedding’ time. If you manage to get through, please share your experience here. Meanwhile, I’ll be out there, working on my next painting.