The nice glossy ads with Shan and “beautiful wife at home”, the great PR and marketing strategy, shiny white teeth, smiling and laughter – all this is the indigo world of Mobilink – but beneath the shiny, glossy world of Shan & Co is a deep dark sinister underbelly that is the corporate scams of Mobilink.
I recently took my blackberry phone to get it activated from the Mobilink HQ in Roshan Plaza (downstairs is the Merc showroom…. tooooo expensive). I got into their trendy lift up to the 3rd floor to meet a Ms Annie (?) who was going to activate my Vodafone Blackberry so I could receive my emails without loss of further hair… she agreed that I could activate the Blackberry on the Mobilink service, all I had to do was take out a postpaid connection – easy I thought – but then we were rudely interrupted by an underling from the next cubicle who warned her that she could lose her job if she did that !…. how? well this is how Mobilink make an absolute fortune from you and I who just want to use thier Blackberry to get emails..
It transpired that even if she gave me a connection and activated my existing phone, Mobilink carries out a monthly scan of IMEI numbers (that ridiculous long number stored in your handset which only phone geeks can remember by heart) to check if all the activated units using their Blackberry service have been BOUGHT FROM MOBILINK… if they find the handset was not bought from Mobilink they will cancel your connection – what a ripp off I thought… So they make sure they sell you THIER Blackberry handsets and make loads of money in the process…. now I understand why they have their HQ on top of a Merc showroom, they can go downstairs and buy one.

At night, roads of Islamabad buzz-up with sounds of one-wheeling. Though this is a day capture where the youth, oblivious of dangers, tries his hands on pulling the bike up; mocking at the face of Life (and authorities).

How do you see these adventures in life?? Have you ever done so?? If you get a chance of one-wheeling on a bike or zig-zagging the path on a car – would you be a part of it??

Image Courtesy: Dawn

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We saw first Junaid Jamshed, then Yasir waheed, then Vaneeza’s V9, and Muhammad farooq’s designer lawns in Mariott.

The last of all Mausummery’s exhibition starts today till 13th and they are the most reasonable ones … so hurry sale’s up – stock’s down :-)

ps: it’s not “woh waali” sale, gals are usually fond of :>

A few weeks back I went to the police station located between F-8 and F-9 park. My friend had to get his learner’s driving licence so I thought I would go and see how things happened( I still have to make one for myself. I haven’t even got my ID yet as I am not officially 18 right now). The whole view of the station at first sight had a bad impression on me and showed the typical ineffectiveness of a pakistani system. Due to the different ques that could be seen on different sides of station we couldn’t guess where to go first. After asking several people we finally found the booth where we had to go. My friend got hold of some forms which had to filled. After filling those we had to go to another booth where he was given another form.
When he filled that one out we came to know that one of the earlier forms had to be signed by the docter. The docter had to confirm whether the person acquiring the licence had a good I eye sight or not and to check if the person had any disability. Without checking anything he just signed the form and asked stupid questions such as, “In which school are you studying?”
To submit all the forms you also had to give a photocopy of the CNIC. Unfortunately there was no power in the station so the photocopier couldn’t copy the CNIC. After waiting for sometime for the restoration of the power supply we finally left.
My point here is that why can’t the registration process can be more simple? Why can’t the authorities make an online website where atleast a learners driving permit can be obtained? More over why can’t they buy a generator???

Pillion riding has been banned in Islamabad from 24th January to 1st February. The order has been issued under section 144 to prohibit the use of motorcycle for pillion riding to avoid any threat to public peace and tranquility.

I feel sorry for the poor bike riders. Looks like the administration still over a period of so many years is resorting to primitive methods to avoid violence. I guess such laws work to choose between the lesser evil. But they cause a hell of an inconvenience to the public.

In my opinion, all the government owned, green number plate vehicles should be snatched from the bureaucrats and should be used for public transport to help commuters travel to their offices and places of work.

For those who know now, please make necessary arrangements.

I never knew how important counselling was, until I realized its advantages. Here I’m talking about counselling in a student’s life where he is given information on his future studies and career. Where he also figures out what he really wants to do in life. That makes him stick to one field and not get confused.

I recently had a chance to talk to an Indian girl, who was 15 years old. I had nothing in common with her, so I had to start a topic. I asked, ‘what do you wanna be when you grow up?’. And to be honest, I was expecting the answer to be ‘a pilot’ or maybe ‘a doctor’. But she said ‘First, I want to do B.Com. Then, ill do masters but im not sure, if I’ll choose Hotel Management or Banking. Then ill have to hunt for a job, which im sure ill get, depending on what subjects I take in MBA’. This was the reply of a 15 year old.

In India, she said, they’re given counselling in the 10th grade when the kid is 15-16 years old. 3 days of counselling where the students are given information about future studies, jobs and how to find out your aptitude towards life.

I’ve seen people around me, who chose Computer Studies in 10th class, took Chemistry in Intermediate and started Accounting after that. Only if someone helped him decide what his aptitude was, he would’ve stuck to it. Even in Beaconhouse, which is considered one of the best schools of Pakistan, there is no such thing as counselling. And parents till this day have the same three careers for their kids. Mera beta baray ho k doctor banay ga, or maybe engineer ya lawyer.

Most schools and colleges here, rely mostly on rote. And all they want is the better result of the school, by any means. They even beat kids when they don’t learn the topic, but they don’t realize that he can’t learn it because his mind does not accept it. It’s not what his aptitude is. It is one of the things, schools in Pakistan really need to look forward to.