I had an interesting wakaeya back when I was in matric. Back when Pakistan Studies was a compulsory subject and I simply loathed it. Partially because our teacher was way too fast at covering the course but mostly because of the way we had to prepare for exams and tests.

It really wasn’t all that bad now that I, as a university-going student, think about it… but back then, when I had five other subjects to work on and limited time, memorizing all fourteen points of Quaid-e-Azam and all dozen or so “salient features” of not one but three separate constitutions (1956, 1962 and 1973) did not seem like a pleasant idea at all.

One day, me and my good friend Faseeh were out cycling around our cantonment when I realized that we had a big, big test on Constitutions of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan the next day and I wasn’t prepared at all for it. I asked Faseeh how to prepare said chapter in one hour and this is what he replied:

Whao indeed.

It did actually help me. The points about “rights of minorities” and “equality for all” and “no nepotism” were not forgotten after this little event.

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Koi haal nahee hai mera. An entire journal post dedicated to just another quirky dream! Wah Awais, wah!

Thankfully, this ‘quirky’ dream was a short one, so penning it down shouldn’t be too time-consuming (unlike other dreams which span different continents and eras of time)…

–

Note: Posts titled “Pages From My Journal” have been taken straight from my personal journal. Yes, like all people who grow up to change the world, I keep a journal where I pen down my thoughts… and, as one of my kEwLx classmates would say, “feEl!nGxx”. This entry was added on 28th September, 2010 when I was having major problems deciding on a career path.

–

The Dream

Steve and I are sitting next to each other on a table that seems to be taken straight from the Round Table Conferences of 1930-32. He’s busy talking to someone on his iPhone 4 while I wait for him to end his call.

While waiting for him to end his call, I remember some real-world noise annoyingly waking me up from the dream. Many of my most epic dreams end up like this, one minute I’m as rich as Bill Gates and the next minute, I’m in my bed at home, waiting for the alarm to go off so I can go to school.

I wasn’t going to let my first (and perhaps, only) chance to meet Steve Jobs go away like that. I had to bring something back. I had to ask him that one question, “What have you learned from life?”*.

I don’t know how I managed it, but I did go back in to the dreamworld** after a couple of tosses and turns…

Steve gets off his call and we start to talk. iDon’t remember precisely what we talked about, but I believe it was philosophical shit and just about life in general. iDo, however, remember him saying “follow your passion, Awais”.

I know he said that because when I woke up, I really, really felt like writing a post for Redmond Pie (I love writing for them). A few minutes after waking up, I realized I had completely forgotten to ask him that one question. *sleepy facepalm*

Oh wait. He did answer the question! :’O

Follow your passion.***

Footnote

*Aap Ne Zindagi Se Kya Seekha is an artsy-fartsy project I’ve been working on for the past couple of years where I ask senior people what they have learned from life. Their thought-provoking answers are kept in a folder which I regularly revisit every time life hits me in the face with a sandbag. Listening to people who have gone through some major ups and downs help me pick myself up and get back in the race. If enough people push me, I just might make a website out of this.

**Yes, I can do that sort of stuff when it comes to dreams. I’ve seen Quaid-e-Azam in one amazing dream too, so you should read that post!

***I did follow my passion after all (sort of). You can read the full story here.

You may also like to check out A Trip Through The Life Of Steve Jobs [PHOTOS]  which is an article I wrote yesterday. There are NEVER BEFORE SEEN photos of Steve in there which I’m sure you’ll love to see.

You can follow the writer on Twitter, join our Facebook page or subscribe to our RSS feed/email feed to stay updated! Be sure to read our Must Read Posts!

It’s that time of the year again… winters… teen-teen tuition’ein… staying up late, waking up early… dophahar ko ghar aate saath hee sou jaana.. ek routine set hogaee hai: College. Home. Lunch. Sleep. Up for Physics tuition. Go for Chemistry. Then Math. Home. Chai. A little internetz. Parhai till 2AM. Sleep. Repeat until Finals.

I feel so productive. Learning something new everyday (at least in subjects which don’t start with a “C” and end with “mistry”). Acing tests like a boss.

I find it strangely.. fun.

Note: Posts titled “Pages From My Journal”  have been taken straight from my personal journal. Yes, like all baray-baray-log, I keep a journal where I pen down my thoughts… and feEl!nGxx. This entry was added on December 2nd, 2010 after my 2nd year Send-Ups (which I barely passed due to reasons that I’d rather not disclose).

My Name Is Bond… Ionic Bond

Today was my first day at Chemistry tuition. The teacher told me a week ago that I would be studying with a gurrrll from my batch. I, being the co-education-deprived student that I was, was quite hopeful and, to be frank, had trouble thinking clean thoughts the whole week…

That was until I actually saw the girl. -_-

Anyway, the walk back home from first day at tuition was a mazaydaar one. Khaali sarak. Chamaktay sitaaray. Pocket say mowseeki ki dhun. Thandi-thandi maanind-e-<urdu word for knife> huwaein. It was nice walking alone. Walking under the brilliant stars that we never really give the attention that they deserve.

Chal oye philosopher! Go prepare that test on Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry! Prove, once again, that it does not matter how much you’re actually learning… marks, of course, they matter more! After all, these marks will get you into a respectable university, then you’ll automatically land a respectable job and, ultimately, a loving, attractive khatuun will agree to marry you and bear your children.*

I wish our education system were more flexible. If it were so, I’d have opted for Intermediate Computer Science (ICS) in HSSC-II instead of Pre-Engineering.

Chemistry is an interesting subject, but the way it is presented in HSSC-II makes me loathe it. There are over 500 chemical reactions in our textbook and we are forced to memorize all of them, physical and chemical conditions included. Kon karay ga yaad yaar!?

(image via laurenmarek)

*I absolutely hated Chemistry in HSSC-II. That is why the second last paragraph is so bitter in tone.

All is well that ends well though. I scored 77/100 in Chemistry-II. Not bad!

Shukar hai I’m done with it!

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It is time.

I write this the night before my Orientation Day at NUST-SEECS. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long, long time. The story, my story, from Garrison Academy to National University of Science and Technology’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (kaafi lamba hai ye tou [that’s what she said]) is quite interesting.

It involves crying man-tears up in my bathroom (confused over which career path I should choose), taking evening classes at a entrance test preparation center, studying for 12 hours straight in preparation for the entrance tests, getting into FAST-NU and, finally, getting selected for SEECS.

Read the full story, after the break.

—

I won’t get into mundane details about how I prepared for the tests and how I actually did at the tests; that shit is boring. Instead, the primary focus of this post shall be on the juicier bits.

Also, the title of this post is “inspired” by this piece from Express Tribune.

Aap Baray Ho Kar Kya Bano Gay?

Discussions over which field of engineering I should get into started as early as SSC-II. I always wanted to do something related to computing. I live and breathe computers and have a little experience with programming. Keeping this in mind, the only fields suitable for yours truly were Computer Science or Software Engineering.

My parents and my g-parents, of course, suggested going for Electrical Engineering since it has the highest scoring requirements (from which, it was incorrectly concluded that it has the best after-graduation job scene). Other fields, such as Accounting & Finance, Chartered Accountancy and even Mass Communication were considered but ultimately struck off the list.

This confusion, of whether I should go ahead with my parents’ choice or go for CS/SE, was unusually stressful for me. There were days and nights where I’d silently cry man-tears since, well, I just couldn’t make my mind up. I had the academic record that was needed to be an Electrical Engineer, but had no real interest in it. Computer Science, on the other hand, would, I thought back then, be riskier because it has less “scope” in Pakistan (this turned out to be false; there’s plenty of scope if you’re skilled).

Computer Science has never been considered a good field in Pakistan. One of the prime reasons for this is that it has one of the lowest merits in universities like GIKI, NUST, UET so it is automatically assumed that students who go for CS are those who couldn’t get into any other higher-merit waali field (I have found this assumption to be mostly true, sadly).

Still, after a lot of convincing and some pretty heavy research, I finally managed to convince my father. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to do it, thanks to considerable help from friends and older relatives. CS/SE has plenty of scope: it is a skill-dependent field, where employers tend to  focus on your skills, rather than the university from which you graduated.

Matric-FSc waalay read this: Choosing which field to get into can be very difficult. If you’re in Matric or have just started FSc, visit the websites of different national universities to see what programs they offer and see if anything ‘clicks’ with you. Take your time, look around different blogs, ask people older than you, shortlist the programs you like and, once it is decided, work your butt off so you can get into a good university which offers said program.

Life In The FAST Lane

I was selected for BS(CS) at FAST on July 23rd. Classes started on August 8th. Ramzan k din thay, so getting through the 7-hour day felt quite difficult at the beginning, but I made friends pretty quickly and, as such, time kaafi aasaani say pass hojaata tha.

I was sent to Section B, where I met plenty of great people: I would particularly like to mention Qabas, Raees, Saad, Shaan and Zeeshan. Despite thinking k hamari class farigh si hogi and that I’d find no one who I’d able to share interests with, I found folks like Sachal (he likes hacking Android smartphones), Saad (writes dukhi English poems) and Maria (writes great anecdotal articles, one of her posts was published here).

As you all know, NUST’s Entrance Test for Engg/CS students was leaked out and so they decided to take it all over again. Because of this, I spent a whole month at FAST (instead of, you know, a week or two MAX). This turned out to be a very good thing as I got a taste of the semester system (which is radically different from the annual system) and had the experience of, what is often called, life in the FAST lane.

The teaching ishtyle at FAST was quite different. There was a pretty strong focus on building concepts which, honestly speaking, I wasn’t all that used to in FSc. Students’ knowledge was heavily tested by putting them in different scenarios, out of which they could only pass if they had solid concepts.

I R NUSTIAN

I was selected for NUST on August 29th. There was a minor screw up, sadly, as I was selected for Computer Engg. at EME and not Software Engg. at SEECS. The reason behind this was how I, back in May, selected CE-EME as my first program preference because back then, I had this plan to go for EME’s legendary CE program.

Thankfully, after a little guidance from I R NUSTIAN, Muneeb Khan and Irteza Ubaid, Baba and I went straight to the Registrar the next working day to get my preferences changed. He wasn’t too hopeful about it, saying keh janaab, you got your first preference and that NUST’s “computers” won’t entertain your request to go for 2nd preference.

The next seven or so days proved to be quite difficult for me. The thought that those five seconds that I took to choose CE-EME would potentially change where I spend my next four years disturbed me deeply. Bhai sad-sad sa hogaya tha. As a consequence, my first sessional at FAST didn’t go well (yes, I like playing the blame-game ).

The Moment

Still, Allah ka shukar hai k, against all sorts of odds, I was selected for Software Engineering at NUST-SEECS in the 2nd list that was published on September 13th.

I remember the exact moment: I was hanging out with my chuddi-buddy Mujtaba at Gelato Affair when I received a text message from fellow NUST hopeful and my 6th-7th ka dost Ahmad which read, “start jumping up and down ” and another one, “Check NUST result”.

I did actually start jumping up and down… like a little girl. Mujtaba was the only person around me at that moment, so I picked the bastard up and started shouting, “YES YES YES, HOGAYA MUJTABA. HOGAYA. I GOT INTO SEECS!!” while he said, “Put me down kameenay, log dekh rahay hain”.

Awwwkwwwarrrrd.

After spending a week down in depths of despair, I got what I wanted. It was the happiest moment of my life.

Choosing NUST over FAST

SEECS at Night (via Bibrak Qamar)

Choosing between a university known for its Computer Science program and a university which is still relatively new to the Computer Science / Software Engineering game but is ranked in the top 300 Engineering & IT universities worldwide wasn’t the easiest decision to make. Both universities had their set of pros and cons… I just had to choose the set which suited me.

I eventually went for NUST. Besides having plenty of personal reasons for this, just way too many people both in the industry and in higher academic positions suggested I go for SEECS. Some of these people include: a PhD (CS) student in Stanford (who did SE from NUST-MCS), an MBA student from University of Toronto (who did CS from FAST), a Nuclear Physicist who once served as Rector GIKI, friends who are themselves doing BS(CS) from national universities and a handful of folks who actually work in the industry.

I start my four years in NUST-SEECS’ Software Engineering program this Monday. I’ve already made friends with a couple of seniors who, I hope, will save me from being ragged like I was in FAST (where, on my first day, I was asked to pole-dance in front of three senior ladies).

There’s a lot to look forward to in life. And that is as good as it gets. Shukar Alhamdulillah.

Reader Discussion: If you’ve already decided on a field, it would be great if you’d tell us how you made up your mind. Looking forward to your comments! (Also, be sure to click on the ’like’ button if you found this article interesting) :)

You may also like to check out:

• List of Must-Read Posts
• Of Child-Birth And Pre-Adolescents
• Dope Translation of Star Plus Drama Titles
• Us Magazine Publication! “A Quaid’s Dream”
• My First Bike Ride – And How It Ended Up Being A Scene From A Jason Bourne Flick

You can follow the writer on Twitter, join our Facebook page or subscribe to our RSS feed/email feed to stay updated! Be sure to read our Must Read Posts!

Saad Hamid is one of the pioneer professional bloggers of Pakistan. He started blogging at the ripe age of 19 at Sizlopedia.com, was the youngest blogger in Pakistan of his time (I believe I currently hold this title ) and currently runs iPhoneism.com along with Adnan Farooqui. He graduated from Bahria University last year, where he did Bachelors in Telecommunication Engineering and is currently working at Mobilink.

I spoke with Saad on how he started blogging, the difficulties he faced, the mistakes that he made, what keeps him blogging and what advice would he give to young bloggers.

Read the interview, after the break.

NOTE: This timeless interview was taken back in early 2009 when I used to blog on waisybabu.wordpress.com and Saad used to blog on Sizlopedia. A lot has changed since then, I’ve become a writer on Redmond Pie (alongside maintaining artsy) and Saad works at Mobilink as a Digital Media Executive.

The Interview

Awais: What inspired you to enter the (as it is known) blogosphere? And what were some of the hurdles that you had to face at the start?

Saad: I started blogging back in early 2007. Back then, I lacked awareness; it is owing much to my own research and knowledge that has helped me throughout my journey.

I faced a lot of difficulties in the start. Asking my father to get me a credit card was – without a shade of doubt – the giant standing between me and blogging. That was the only way for me to register a domain.

Apart from that, there was the hurdle that no one was there to guide or help me. I had to do it all by myself. But I would say it was constructive in a sense as doing it all by myself has helped me learn a lot.

Awais: As you just said that you faced quite a few difficulties on your way up the blogging ladder.. who were some of the people who helped you come to the point you are today?

Saad: My family, my friends and a couple of bloggers from India. To be more specific, I would like to say that Badar Khushnood has been a great help and has helped me in making connections with a lot of other bloggers in Pakistan. I take him as my Guru.

Be focused and treat all set-backs as steps to another door of success.

Awais: How is the blogosphere of 2007 different from today?

Saad: The blogosphere, as we all know, is a part of the Internet. The standards of the Internet change at a very fast pace which naturally affects the blogosphere.

There is quite a difference between the blogosphere of 2007 and the blogosphere of 2009. The most distinctive difference being the way information is now spread among blogs. Bloggers are more responsible today than they were in the past.

Awais: Besides the luring smell of money, what keeps you coming back to blogging and maintaining Sizlopedia?

Saad: Products by Apple and my pure passion for technology.

Awais: Parents tend to worry about what their sons and daughters are doing on the internet. What do your parents say when you tell them you blog?

Sidenote: My parents were (and are) quite apprehensive about me blogging alongside studies. Thankfully, through experience (and some very close-calls), I now know how to manage time so I can continue blogging as a hobby and maintain studies. You can follow the adventures of yours truly on Twitter here.

Saad: *Smiles* For all I know, they believe that their son is doing the most brilliant and fun job on the planet.

A blog has the same importance in today’s world as human-messengers in the era of Pharoah.

Awais: If you could change one thing about how you handled your “ladder climbing” from the start to where you are today, what would it be?

Saad: I would have made my blog more focused towards a particular subject. Readers tend to consume specific content released on a consistent basis, I wasn’t up to speed on the specific content bit.

Today, I write about everything from the iPhone, to general software, tips and tricks related to computers, hacks and all things Web and Gadgets-related.

Awais: What advice do you have for a budding blogger such as yours truly and many others who have just set foot in weblogging?

Saad: Focus on your passion, rather than the money you’ll make. The revenue is always a by-product of your ability to give in to a particular subject. Concentrate more on information and being creative with it. That is the factor that decides whether your blog will eventually fail or succeed at what it does.

Driving traffic to your blog is no different to standing in middle of a busy street and attracting the crowd from around to watch your show.

Awais: What are some of your plans for the future?

Saad: Right now I am on a hiatus, getting more dissolved into the real world. Have plans to work on amazing new projects in the future (some web related and some non-web related).

Awais: Thank you for your time. *attempts shaking hands*

Saad: *bearhugs*

</interview>

—-

As you can see, Mr. Hamid has a bit of an obsession with Apples.

That last past may not have actually happened, but it was absolutely wonderful interviewing Saad. You can sit down for a couple of minutes around him and learn so much, your brain arteries* just might explode and hit the ceiling fan and be chopped into little pieces of minced brain keema.

Wait. That was too graphic.

Anyway, you can learn more about Saad by following him on Twitter or visiting his website Sizlopedia/iPhoneism.

*mein ne matric mein biology nahee parhee

You may also like to check out:

• List of Must-Read Posts
• Of Child-Birth And Pre-Adolescents
• Dope Translation of Star Plus Drama Titles
• Us Magazine Publication! “A Quaid’s Dream”
• My First Bike Ride – And How It Ended Up Being A Scene From A Jason Bourne Flick

You can follow the writer of this post on Twitter, join our Facebook page or subscribe to our RSS feed/email feed to stay updated!

A really funny thing happened today.

My brother Ahmed, aged 6, was in my room. All of us had changed into our night suits. I was putting on Mehndi on my little cousin’s hand and Ahmed was in the room with us, drinking water from his mug. Drinking water from his mug felt quite peculiar to me, normally he would use your average transparent glass through which, well, you could see what was being drunk. Nonetheless, I asked him what was drinking:

Ahmed: Nothing, just water!

Me: Kahan se liya?

Ahmed: Fridge say, yaaar.

Me: OKAY. *eyes suspiciously*

After our conversation ended, I continued mehndi-o-fying my little cousin only to stop suddenly in my track when I realized that there was Sprite® (A big attraction for Ahmed) in the fridge!

Read the rest of the amusing story of childhood innocence, after the break!

The Secret is Out

I don’t know but, as I was looking down at the mehndi, I caught Ahmed glancing into his glass and smiling to himself from the corner of my eye. You really can’t hide things from your elder sister

A few minutes later, he goes out of our room to put his glass back. He left the door open so I hear him laughing to himself in the lounge. Now when he comes back, I again the see the very indifferent casual look on his face which would suggest, to other people, that everything was normal and this is all routine.

Me: Why were you laughing when you went outside?

Ahmed: *passes that I-think-she-knows look* Paani bauhat acha tha…

It was all but confirmed at this point that my kid brother was actually drinking Sprite® instead of H2O. A couple of seconds later, Ahmed goes “BUURRRRrrrp!” and boom! The secret is out!

We all start laughing like maniacs, I’d even say we were “ROFLing” or “Rolling on the floor, laughing”. After all, the master secret was out! Ahmed was particularly happy that he managed to keep a secret for so long.

Happy, Innocent Children

The thing that amused me the most about this was how little children can be so, so very happy and get excited over the littlest of things in life. It makes me wonder how we “grown-ups” were like back in the old days; choti choti sharartein here and there and we would be happy all day long. Little innocent gossips, chit chat, getting scolded at times from parents… life back then was pretty, pretty awesome.

This article is dedicated to all those people who were with me when I was that teeny tinny girl, to all those people with which I’ve had the honor of playing oonch-neech, to those with which I’d have little water fights at chutti time, to those I used sit with in congested van on trips… those ice cream parties, birthday parties… to all those people with whom I have shared moments from my early childhoold and now meet each other as grown-ups. Just so you know, I LOVE YOU!

Finding That Silver Lining

We should must fund something for us to smile about, each and everyday of our lives. Find happiness in the people and things that surround you. Find that silver lining and live life to the fullest!

Every man dies. Not every man really lives.

~William Wallace

You may also like to check out:

• Of Child-Birth And Pre-Adolescents
• Dope Translation of Star Plus Drama Titles
• Us Magazine Publication! “A Quaid’s Dream”
• My First Bike Ride – And How It Ended Up Being A Scene From A Jason Bourne Flick

You can follow us on Twitter, join our Facebook page or subscribe to our RSS feed/email feed to stay updated!

I’ve become a bit of a Facebook druggie lately. Who is a ‘Facebook druggie’? Well, if you check up on Facebook every half an hour (which sometimes involves taking your phone to the bathroom), if you love it when people like your status updates, photos etc. and if you have this habit of feeling overly disappointed when seeing photos of people having fun on Facebook then, my friend, you are an addict and you need help.

Read the full article after the break!

Note: This post has been lifted from my journal. I was, in fact, acting like a depressed teen in the summer of 2010 when I used to sit online on Facebook all day, looking for ways to get more and more people to comment and like my stuff. I used to feel all beychayn when people didn’t like the stuff I shared, which, you may have guessed, isn’t a very healthy sign.

A Serious Problem

This is actually a pretty serious problem among today’s teens. I may sound like an overly-possessive mother saying this, but it has been proven that “overdosing on the Facebook Drug” leads to serious psychological effects which can only be shaken off by you yourself.

I wrote an article for Redmond Pie a few weeks back where I talked about this study conducted by this Dr. Rosen chap at California State University wherein they researched on some of the harmful effects of social networks on teenagers and young adults.

It was found that people who check Facebook regularly (down to visiting the service every 15 minutes) end up developing psychological disorders like anxiety, depression and narcissism.

I’m not making this shit up. It’s becoming a common phenomenon because of Facebook’s increasing popularity. As of writing, there are over 700 million people actively using Facebook.

The anxiety and depression reportedly comes from seeing all those photos of Bilal and Ayesha (everyone has an Ayesha and a Bilal on their friends list) checking in to hotel resorts in Nepal, uploading photos of them skiing down snowy slopes up in Switzerland while you sit at home in your mom’s basement refreshing The Sarri-alist Movement‘s wall till 3 in the morning after which you proceed to crying yourself to sleep, depressed for not having a life.

You’re not the only one who gets affected, by the way. Bilal and Ayesha themselves become chronic narcissists which, in turn, leads to a whole bunch of other problems.

I can assure you that this sort of stuff where people develop depression, narcissism etc. from Facebook actually happens. But don’t worry, because the fact is (and I learned this rather late) that people create this cool image of themselves on Facebook while in real life, they are nowhere near how they appear on Facebook.

Mid-Teenage Crisis

My mid-teenage crisis, thanfully, was just a phase. Now I’ve learned how to, well, not give a shit and be content and happy with who I am. That’s how you should be too. You’re the most awesome person in the world, and dude/chicks (depending on a certain reproductive organ you may or may not have attached) dig you.

I just stood up (or really just sat down) one day and decided to limit myself to only 3 visits to the social network per day without Facebook mobile access as well as ensuring only those things are shared which I felt I absolutely needed to. It worked like a charm.

If you liked this post, be sure to leave a comment below! We look forward to your thoughts on how undisciplined use of social networks affect you or the people around you.

You may also like to check out:

• Of Child-Birth And Pre-Adolescents
• Dope Translation of Star Plus Drama Titles
• Us Magazine Publication! “A Quaid’s Dream”
• My First Bike Ride – And How It Ended Up Being A Scene From A Jason Bourne Flick

You can follow the writer on Twitter, join our Facebook page or subscribe to our RSS feed/email feed to stay updated!

Salaam dear readers, we have formal announcement to make: artsyHANDS is back in action!!

Over the past year, we here at artsyHANDS have experienced, well, a lot of, new experiences. These experiences have had a lot of effect over us and we’ve learned a lot from them and, of course, we’ll be sharing them with you in the coming weeks. We apologize for the sporadic activity from late 2010-mid 2011.

Starting from tomorrow, we will have at least one new article published on a Friday or Saturday. These articles will be based on personal experiences with a touch of that signature tunz-o-mazah that our readers have come to love so very much.

Looking forward to your comments.

Your artsy admin,

Waisybabu

P.S. Follow me on Twitter or join us on Facebook to stay updated!

P.S. 2: If you aren’t familiar with what artsyHANDS is all about, read some of the bestest articles here.