Coming back to streets of lahore! i drive around at different place but when i come at any signal to stop my car, the beggars starts to come car by car for asking money. Well, in my heart i feel pain and help poor people asking for people, may be one or two rupee can do it. But as a society i have to think why these so many beggars are present at every signal and places asking for money. Are we really poor or potrait to be poor society.

The beggars on streets and roads of lahore are very organized and they are multiplying with time.
i define the lahore beggars in few categories.

1)Old Beggars
Amma jee and baba jee, the old people who come to you and ask for money.
these old people use to accept anything whatever you give but some dont take money less then
Rs.10 Rupee. This shows a new attitude in beggars due to high cost of living.

2)Family of beggars
One lady holding son in one arm and asking for money, once you give some money to her
her daughter will come to you, if you have given to her also, the son or another small child will come
for asking more money.

3)Smart Beggars
They come to you and asking for money by telling you a problem e.g.
One person on bike come to you and ask u, pls help me as i dont have money to petrol
Pls give me some money for bread or Pls give me some money for traveling back by home town
which is out of lahore.

4)Newspaper Beggars
The unsuccessful newspapers agency which no one bothered to read, they hired small boys for
distributing newspapers on signals, if you dont buy the newspaper, they ask you for some money

5)Glass cleaner Beggars
if you stop your car and the car is dirty, the small boy will come to your car and start cleanning
if you tell him to stop, he wont, untill you really get angry. So the small boy will clean your front
and back car window and come for asking some money.

6)Cursing Beggars
These beggars have their own terms, they can be old person wearing rings or some snake-man who
shows snake dances or it can be monkey-man, these low profile jugglars in early 80’s, earn money by show tricks but now they ask for money on signals or shops or coming at your home.

7)Accidental Beggars
These beggars have some physical problem like arm or hand is not present or they dont have leg
or burnt or some other physical or mental problem. I can understand, they might be requiring money
and prefered on other people.

8)Naked Beggars
These beggars are very few in lahore, few slices of clothes are present on their body and these old
men are walking naked on main roads. Once one man was standing in center of main road facing to
traffic and not wear clothes and yelling to the coming cars towards him. This incident recently happened few days back near link canal road joining Mall and Jail road.

9)Healthy Beggars
These beggars looks quiet okay, who can work but they are asking money as they find its easy to
earn money via begging.

Well, these all above people should be stopped, as they creating problems for themselves and us
due to them, traffic jams can happen and we should not encouraged them by giving money as i think
you can give money to really needy person who u know rather then on streets as these people play
with your emotions. The police present on signals should stop such people on roads and we can stop them by not giving money.

Suicidal Sale Offer

After all, this is what capitalism is all about i.e. whatever the circumstances be, one who exploits the right opportunity wins and makes good money. So what if we donot have ample electricity, hail those who manufacture and market generators, UPS systems; what if the security situation is deteriorating, it is benefiting the manufacturers of ‘bomb proof’ glass. Similarly, why can’t the kapra farosh shop-walas in Liberty, Shah Alami or Siddiq Trade Centre use ‘Suicide Sale Offers’ to lure more customers in…

After looking at fiasco that happened at Marriott Hotel of Islamabad, I am seriously concerned to know the current state of Emergency Response Services in Lahore. Are we ready? I am trying my best not to sound cynical but it is the reality of modern civic life that there will be natural of man made disasters.

These days, terrorism is a reality. Unfortunately, we will have to live with it for a considerable period of time. But as citizens of Lahore, we have to keep an eye on the civic services that are being made available to us by our govt. After all we pay all those taxes and its our right to demand a better civic life from them.

First Aid Kit

It was a pity to see the Marriott Guard trying to extinguish an explosive chemical fire with a CO2 fire Extinguisher. It was even more disturbing to see firefighters trying to throw water from ground to 4th Floor. What is this? 1920’s…. Millions of taxpayer Rupees have been spent on services like 1122 and CDA’s Disaster Management Cell & all we got was broken pumps and dead batteries. (more…)

There is absolutely no way you can make a heavenly taste like butt karahi at the convenience of your home. You have to move your ass to Lakshmi Chowk to feel the real deal. The picture above shows a desi murgh that was standing right next to me, alive .. and in all of its glory, around half an hour before I took this picture. However cruel it may sound, this means it is FRESH. The degree of yumminess is unbeaten. Read the full review at this link.

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Repeatedly, we have been reminded of the mess that our historical policies, weak political leadership, indifference towards sectarian plus extremist ideologies and the international security scenario have so elaborately designed to put Pakistan into.

Yesterday’s attack on Islambabad’s Marriott hotel is just another, add the most significant another, reminder of how nothing is well for our country at the moment. Why our leaders keep calling it the worst terrorist attack in Pakistan’s history? Just because three or four foreigners were killed or that one of Islamabad’s elitist symbols was destroyed totally and completely. A better explanation is the fact that it was just half a kilometer away from centres of political power, the Parliament, the Presidency and the Prime Minister House. And that scared the —- out of our ruling elite.

We are officially on high red-alert right from when suicide bombings no longer remained anything unusual; attacks on civilians, security forces, police, army continued all the way from last year when we almost became used to a bombing or two a week in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, just forget Wana, the Tribal Areas, Balochistan, Swat for a moment.

All for what? Fighting someone else’s war on something that they themselves are a physical and psychological persona of. And who cares for that matter? You? or Me? or any other ordinary Pakistani? Isn’t the President or the Prime Minister from Pakistan? Then, how are they so insensitive to such a gruesome incidence that both the highest seats lie vacant even before 24 hours passed after the bombings?

Who are we fighting? For whom are we fighting? For what are we fighting? How is it going to end and till how long can we last??

THOUGH Rudyard Kipling lived only five of his 70 years in Lahore, they were the most crucial years of his development as a writer. This rich confection of a city, whose great Mogul buildings and street life evoke the deep hues and sensuality of a miniature painting, was where the teen-aged Kipling cut his teeth as a newspaperman. Lahore provided the setting for some of Kipling’s greatest stories, as well as the raw material for his somewhat misunderstood view of East and West.

Though now obscured as a tourist destination due to its location 15 miles inside Pakistan, Lahore was the heart of Kipling’s India. Between 1882 and 1887, he worked there as the assistant editor of The Civil and Military Gazette, combing the back alleys of the old, walled city for stories and material for his later fiction. Like the Irish street urchin, Kim, the hero of his greatest novel, Kipling used Lahore as a base to explore the rest of the subcontinent.

Armed with the Penguin edition of ”Kim,” I set out for the Lahore Museum, where Kipling’s father, John Lockwood Kipling, had been the curator and where the first scene in ”Kim” takes place. The novel opens with Kim sitting ”astride the gun Zam-Zammah on her brick platform opposite the old Ajaib-Gher – the Wonder House, as the natives call the Lahore Museum.” It was while astride the gun that Kim meets a Tibetan lama, whom the boy then escorts into the Wonder House.

The Zam-Zammah (Urdu for lion’s roar) is known in Lahore as Kim’s gun, and, except for the brick platform that has been replaced by marble, the copper and brass cannon looks exactly as Kipling described it; a massive icon of imperialism over 14 feet long, mounted on wooden wheels that are well over six feet in diameter. And the Wonder House opposite is just that; in my opinion one of the world’s great underrated museums.
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Just a wee bit late. Oh well, better late than never. As always in Ramadan Diary we’ve decided to compile some appetizing recipes that are easy to follow and cook, yet jam-packed with aromas and flavors, surely to tantalize your taste-buds. Enjoy!

Supplication for today:-

Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate (from the truth) after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from You. Truly, You are the Bestower.

Today’s To-Do:-

Start reading and understanding Quran or learn some special Dua by heart, a something that you’ve always wanted to do.

Thought of the Day:

Rise above little things. Be a big thinker. You are what you think. So just think big, believe big, act big, dream big, work big, give big, forgive big, laugh big, image big, love big, live big. Carry that list and you’ll start feeling big. Be a believer and you’ll be an achiever.

Recipe of the day —Chocolate Brownies:-

Ingridients:-

Butter 200 g
Brown sugar 350 g
eggs 4
Cocoa Powder 4 tbsp
flour 250 g
baking powder 3 1/2 tsp
walnuts (optional) 85 g
milk 50 ml
Procedure:-

1. Preheat oven to 180 Celsius. Grease and line pan 9” into 13” .
2. Sift flour once and twice with cocoa and baking powder.
3. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat till light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs one by one and beat well.
5. Add flour and beat till well mixed.
6. Stir chopped walnuts if using.
7. Stir in milk.
8. Pour mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool in the pan and then cool on a rack.

I’ve tried out this recipe five to six time and comes out just perfect each time.

Happy baking,

Happy Ramadan!

Shahid Afridi, originally uploaded by Max Loxton.

Pakistan and India have been victims of huge number of bomb attacks this year. Yet…….Australia decided today to go ahead with their upcoming tour of India. Our Australian friends have canceled tour of Pakistan twice this year, earlier a test series and later champions trophy.

Is this not double standard on player safety? Or they simply get more money $$$ by playing in India twice this year as visiting team and in India’s lucrative IPL domestic league. Remember there were bombs going off in Rajasthan, where Shane Warne and rest of the Australians did not mind continue playing, earlier this year.

Conclusion: Money is more important for Australians than bombs or safety. All I say as cricket fan: Shame on you Australia.

Lahore, Sept 15 : Pakistan tops the list of countries as far as the number of deaths in suicide bombings during the first eight months of the year is concerned, figures compiled by an elite intelligence agency have said.

From January till August, there were in all 28 suicide attacks in Pakistan which claimed more than 471 people and injured around 713. Both the dead and the injured included a large number of innocent civilians as well as the armed forces personnel.

Iraq stood second with 463 people killed in 42 suicide attacks, while Afghanistan was third with 436 people killed in 36 suicide attacks. In Iraq, a total of 527 persons were injured, while in Afghanistan a totalof 394 people were injured, reported The News.

Iraq ranked first during 2007, experiencing over 150 attacks carried out by human bombs; Afghanistan stood second with more than 100 such attacks and Pakistan ranked third with 56 suicide hits. However, Pakistan had suffered more deaths than that of Afghanistan as a consequence of these suicide attacks.

Of the 471 people killed in suicide bombings across Pakistan in the first eight months of 2008, the number of the civilian casualties was 312. The number of the policemen killed in these attacks stood at 87, followed by 72 personnel of the security forces which have often been targeted in the aftermath of the bloody Operation Silence carried out against the fanatic clerics of the Lal Masjid (July 3-10, 2007).

The Pakistani security forces, especially the armed forces personnel, seem to be the main target of the human bombs ever since the Pakistan Army carried out the bloody Lal Masjid operation which allegedly killed hundreds, including innocent civilians.

Source: ANI

My two cents: I am simply speechless! I know these figures are staggering, but I wish some how we can also find out the number of civilian casualties in South Waziristan and border areas near Afghanistan? I bet there will be no comparison. Either way it was the life of a Pakistani. May Allah grant paradise to all those who have passed away and protect us from further casualties.