A mild earthquake (4.0 on richter scale) was reported on sunday evening at 5:49 PM. I dont recall feeling anything (thankgod) but anyone out there did?

I went to the startup insiders Islamabad session held at LMKR on the 31st of Jan, and posted the experience on my blog here.

The event expected 15 to 20 people. After the phenomenal success of the Karachi event, the expectations were raised to around 70 or so, At 6:20, we had a full room, with people standing in the aisle, and the number of participants being 100+. Not a bad turnout for the sleepy city of Islamabad.

The event was scheduled as a series of questions and answers from a panel of six successful entrepreneurs, and we got right down to them. From how to set a vision, how to know if your vision is even correct, how select a team, who to have in a team, and ups and downs of a writing a business plan, the event covered a large majority of concerns budding entrepreneurs have.

 Visit the blog to read about some of the lessons learned from that night.

_{Those magical city lights: If you’ve been up in the hills at night, you know just how lovely Islamabad can look from above. (Disclaimer: This photo is not mine. Click here to go to the page from where I ripped it off.)}

We human beings are terrible at conserving things. Water, forests, food, electricity - we are wasteful of all the things we most need to save. But that’s not something about ourselves we can’t change. And change it we ought, because the people of Pakistan are among those nations of the world that are all too familiar with the finite nature of all things on earth.

Just one of the most current examples of this is the electricity shortage in our country, and the resulting routine of loadshedding in our daily lives. Our government says that citizens must do all they can to conserve electricity. It neglects, as it always does, to apologize for not doing its own job - for it is the responsibility of the state to ensure its citizens have all the basic resources they need. Loadshedding aside, how frightening it is that in this day and age there are villages in Pakistan that do not have any electricity at all.

So yes, we are victims of really lousy administration. But even if we were not, we would still have our own civic duties to fulfill. We owe it to ourselves, to each other, and to the Earth, to do our part for electricity conservation. And there’s really no better time to start than now.

Now, I’ve developed some pretty bad habits, with regards to electricity consumption. But lately I’ve really been trying to mend my ways at home, and I’d like to share a few simple things on here for you to consider as well. Most are obvious, others are novel, but nearly all of them are things that need to be nurtured as habits - for a more energy-efficient lifestyle. Here they are:
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That seem’s to be the dominant answer to the question “why wont you vote”. However, it brings up an interesting question. Who is the candidate?

From the previous discussion we’ve had on why wont you vote, it appears the ‘candidate’ is the leader on top of each political party. However, i ask you this. Who *is* the actual candidate? The leader on top might go ahead to be Prime Minister and make decisions for the functioning of this country, but s/he is not determined by you. They do not represent you, they do not even know you exist for the large part, and they are not the ones asking for your vote.

You vote for your local candidate. The one who’ll be representing your constituency, the one who’ll be fighting for or against laws which directly affect the people in their area, so that they can get another term. They will have an agenda, which i agree largely follows the party agenda which is nothing currently but ‘continue the policies set forth by the previous government’ in most cases, but still, there’s is a more localized one. Your local candidate is the one who ’should’ care about you, should care about getting your vote and should care about getting your voice heard in the assembly. They will not do it, unless you make them realize that your vote is not free, and they’ll have to work towards it.

To all the readers, i put forth this one question, which constituency do you belong to? And who are your candidates?

This post in part of a series of posts to understand the current apathy our visitors feel towards elections and democracy.

From the poll that we ran recently, 37 people voted, out of which 48% said you will NOT cast a vote, while 30% said they will. The rest of the visitors were not from Islamabad, hence not eligible.

All the reasons you guys have NOT to vote in the upcoming
elections. The most logical reasons, i’ll make a poll of and we’ll see
how many people share your view.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Have your say! Would you in Islamabad go out and vote on Feb 18?

Everybody screams about having the rule of the law enacted to counter rampant lawlessness we’re witnessing in the country. But when it comes to their own backyards, these people are the first to say “to hell with it, i’ll do it MY way!”

Take building codes for example. There’s a reason different area’s are zoned as either commercial, residential or industrial, so that necessary utility services and amenities can be given to them. Consider parking issues, supply of gas, water and electricity and so forth to these areas, and you’ll understand what i mean. E.g. commercial zones are normally closer to transport networks, have provisions for parking, and are easier to get utilities in. While residential zones are farther away, and generally built to have a sense of quiet, calmness, and recreational areas. However, that doesn’t stop people in our part of the world to denounce these zones and build up whatever they wish, where ever they wish!

Residential zones are the first to be converted, which have relatively larger areas and lower rentals, these properties are the first to be commercialized in the form of offices, embassies and schools, creating havoc not only for the residents of these areas, but to the thousands who must commute here everyday.

And when the authorities do step in , what happens? Fines are disregarded and business continues as normal. Where are the proponents of justice now? Where are the enforcers of law now? And more importantly, if no one gives a damn about laws, why scream in the first place?

As is clear from the title, this is a follow-up to my earlier blog Pakistan - The world’s most dangerous place. In that blog I just told the readers about an article in The Economist and did not go into detail about my opinion on the issue. Many people read that article and commented on it. Soon after my fellow blogger A for [pine]Apple posted Peace of Mind: Where art thee?, a very thought provoking article along the same lines.

First I’d like to comment on A for [pine]Apple’s car getting stolen. Islamabad, even in its most crime-free days, had a handful of car thefts. I will not be quick to reject the argument that this may be one of those handfuls. Nonetheless, I hope that the author may regain possession of their vehicle.
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Backpacker normally is a good one to consult about hiking stuff.

But I recently went over to Pir Suhawa through trail number 3 (not it’s fire exit, for a change).

And it was marvelous.

You can check out the rest here.

The aspect that Islamabad does not have an identity and culture of its own is adequately highlighted each year as Eid draws closer and the rush normally seen in the run-up to the festival culminates with the town becoming virtually deserted.

Considering the fact that a large majority of the inhabitants belong to other cities who leave towards the end of Ramazan to celebrate the event with their families, this Eid too is not going to be any different.

From government officials to businessmen, from bureaucrats to politicians, everybody who is anybody will be heading to their hometowns many miles away. Islamabad, which has been their base throughout the year, would have to take a back seat for the few days of Eid.
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