Defence of Minhas Air base Kamra, 16 August 2012

On 16th August 2012, the minhas base of Kamra was attacked by a group of terrorist. PAC Kamra and Minhas Air Base are situated in the Attock district next to the GT road. Kamra is considered to be a very important strategic area for the air force. Fighter air-crafts like Mirages, Mishaq and JF-17 are built here.

There are many questions raised after this incident among the civilians. My friends used to argue with me why the airbases and cantt have so much security. According to them armed forces are supposed to take care of the country, and what they are actually doing is giving the security to themselves. I hope this answers their question. We are at the mid of the war against terrorist and there are many threats that the forces receive and face. The military assets are very important for the armed forces, they cost a lot in terms of time and money and to take care and protect them is equally important. If the assets are safe then the military can work on the safety of the country. This is the reason why there is high security check-posts at the entrance of the base or cantt. My friends who have visited the bases or cantt may have witnessed it.

The other question is that where was the security or were the forces not aware of it. There were 9 terrorists and all of them were shot dead. Only 1 security guard was shaheed and one injured. The security guard who become shaheed was the one who tried to shop the terrorist at the first check post and he opened fired when they didn't stop. He was shot dead on that occasion. Even the Base commander who is the senior most officer at the base also got shot at his shoulder. The terrorist were not allowed to enter beyond a limited area. They even tried to attack the residential area of the base but were stopped at the earliest. The terrorists could only damage one of the hangers only because that was the closest to the wall through which they entered. More damage could have been done if preparations were not made beforehand. What else the people want?

This kind of resistance is remarkable and worth mentioning in the defence of the forces. No one knows what their actual plans were. They might have come to destroy the factory or something like that. If anything get destroyed or damaged then its a shame for the country, its nation and its security forces. It should be taken into notice that those terrorist were also professional and they were fully equipped with weapon. They had also done their homework before the attack. Despite that, the forces gave them a tough day and failed their attempt to damage any further property. Without any preplanned preparation this would have been impossible.

We must think before saying anything about anyone. The soldiers of our forces are the ones who put their lives in danger in order to try to provide safety to our country and people. The reason behind any successfully mission lie in the leadership quality of the leader. In this operation as well we see that the base commander, Air Commodore Azam, led the operation from the front. When the hanger was set on fire, he himself ran towards it. At that occasion he got a bullet in his shoulders. The Chief of Air Staff called him and told him to go back home. Despite that order he returned to the field to control the situations. These kind of attitude by the leader greatly boost the morale of the soldiers. We must look at this before criticizing the senior level officers.

It is our country and our armed forces. We must talk and spread good about them. They work so hard for the protection of the country putting their lives in danger. What they need from us is our support and encouragement to boost up their morale level. In the end I would like to salute to all the soldiers of armed forces.

Long live Pakistan Armed Forces.
Long live Pakistan.
Pakistan Zindabad.

Written by:
Ahmed Ahsan Khan

Energy Crisis of Pakistan and its solution (2/2)

..... Continued from here

There are many ways by which we can resolve this problem of energy shortage. We need to explore more energy resources like wind, solar, biofuel, tidal, wave and geo thermal energy in Pakistan. Last year the students of SCME, NUST produced a biodiesel which costs only Rs.25 per liter which is roughly Rs.70 to Rs.80 cheaper than the original prize of diesel. It gives the same quality of performance as compared to normal diesel. According to the institute, all their motor vehicles and generators are being run by this biodiesel. The main advantage of this fuel is that it is a green fuel. The fast track process is used to produce this diesel in 5 minutes. The biodiesel is made from the oil of the seeds of Jatropha plant which is processed in order to produce the fuel. 1 hector of plant can produce 2000 liters of fuel. The plant is harvested twice a year therefore we can produce 4000 liters per year of biofuel from 1 hector of Jatropha plantation. If the government takes measurements to help these researchers then they can produce this diesel on a large scale to help overcome the energy crisis.

Other method include continuously updating the equipment i.e. dams and power generators, and developing new power generators. We are a confused nation. In one year, we have drought and after a month or so, when it rains, all the low-lying area starts to get flooded in big cities like Lahore and Karachi. We can use this flood-water to produce short term power supply and distribute to the surrounding houses for domestic usage. Not only this, we can store this water to make it of use in other sectors.

To conclude, I must say that we as an individual should stand up and take some responsibilities ourselves. We are to this country as a cell is to human being. We should make sure that we don’t waste water and electricity. We must run our ACs on 26 degree centigrade, for example. The completion of Thar coal power plant will bring a new revolution in the country. This would help us in the struggle to overcome the energy crisis. Pakistan has great potential and if exploited properly we can achieve any big target in front of us. I hope and pray to Allah that he help us bring prosperity and success in the country in years that follow. Ameen.   

Written by:

-         Ahmed Ahsan Khan.                   

Energy Crisis of Pakistan and its solution (1/2)

Energy crisis is any great shortfall in the supply of energy to an economy. This may include the shortage of oil, gas, electricity or any other natural resources. Energy plays a very important and vital role in the socio-economic development of a country. Energy is used by the agriculture, industrial, defense forces and on the other hand normal citizens are its domestic users. The short fall of energy not only affects the lives of the common people, but also our industry, commerce and defense sector, therefore can be safely termed as national security concern.

The reason for this shortage is many and all these can be solved by taking responsibilities and giving awareness to the illiterate public of our country. The main reason of this crisis is the high population growth rate which we have. The more population means that more energy resources will be needed. To meet this requirement of this increasing population is a difficult task for the government. Pakistan started with the population of roughly 40 million in 1947 and now after 65 years we have our population touching 178 million in 2012, which means we have an average of 2.12% population growth every single year. Pakistan has one of the highest growth rates in the region in the year 2011 of 1.8% as compared to South Asia’s 1.44%, India’s 1.37%, Bangladesh’s 1.2% and World’s 1.15%. Awareness has to be given to the illiterate public to make sure that we reduce our population growth rate.

The other reasons which become the factor of these shortages include aging of the equipment, unable to meeting the demands of new industries, high international market value of the fuel, wastage of energy and mismanagement of energy resources etc. We may observe in the big cities like Karachi and Lahore that the market places open after noon and they sit in their shops till late night. They use a lot of electricity after sunset. People should wake up early, do their business in the day light and spend some time with their families in the evening. This would reduce the huge requirement for electric supply. We can use this saved electricity in other sectors avoiding load shedding.

The government has also done a lot of work since our independence in the field of energy. WAPDA was created in 1959, before that energy was supplied by companies on regional basis. In 1959, the power generation capacity was 119 MW only. When WAPDA came into picture, by 1964-65 the electricity generation capacity rose to 636 MW in first 5 years of WAPDA’s operation. In 1970s, the capacity increased to 3000 MW with commissioning of Mangla and Tarbela dam. In 1990-91 the capacity was 9000 MW, but it was less than required, resulting in load shedding for long hours. In 1994, government invited IPPs to invest in power generation plants. They installed 6000 MW of generating capacity in a short span of time accounting for more than 30% of the installed generation capacity. As a result of IPPs, Pakistan once again turned into electricity surplus and even offered to export electricity to India. In 2002, national economy picked up and since then it has grown to an average of 5% for next 5-6 years. The demands of electricity increased, the country was once again facing serious energy shortages. The country is currently facing power shortage of approximately 5000 MW. Presently Pakistan has installed total capacity of 20190 MW, WAPDA’s share is 56.5%, IPPs share is 30.1%, Nuclear 2.4% and KESC 9.5%.

Continued....... 
Read more here

Short Stories of Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein, as everyone knows about him, was the biggest mad scientist of the early 20^th century. He has many achievements under his name like the theory of relativity, discovery of photons and the connection between mass and energy in the form of E=mc2. He was born in 14 March, 1879 in a German city of Ulm.

He was very romantic by nature. He was married twice and both of them were love marriage. The first marriage with Mileva was not very successful, after a separation of about 5 years they divorced and Einstein married Elsa. It was reported that Einstein promised Mileva that when he will win the Nobel Prize he will give her all of the winnings from the prize; this is because she was hesitant to sign the final divorce paper. With that offer she agreed to fill the divorce papers. When he received the Nobel Prize, he gave her all the prize money as promised. His level of romantic personality can be judged by one of his quotes which go on like this: “Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”

When he published his theory of relativity most of the public couldn’t understand it but they had fallen in love with this man for one reason or the other. They seemed to love the idea that his theory was so incomprehensive. As Einstien put it, “now every coachman and waiter argues about whether or not relativity theory is correct.” According to one story when Einstein’s theory of relativity was announced, Eddington, an astronomer who confronted Einstein’s theory was leaving the Royal Society meeting where it was announced. He was stopped by some fellow scientists who told him, “There’s rumor that only three of the people in the world understand Einstein’s theory. You must be one of them.” When the astronomer paused but didn’t say anything, the other scientist went on, “Don’t be modest Eddington.” Eddington simply looked at him and said, “Not at all. I was wandering who the third person might be.”

When Einstein was in Oxford an American Educator, Abraham Flexner paid him a visit and offered him a position at his new Institute. It was called the Institute of Advanced Studies. It was established near Princeton University, although not affiliated with the school itself. It was designed as a sort of haven where gifted scholars could work without the pressure of academic demands and teaching duties. In the course of their discussions, Flexner asked Einstein how much he thought he should make. Einstein suggested three thousand per year. Flexner was quite amused because he had more in mind. Flexner told him, “Let Mrs. Einstein and me arrange it.” When they were done, an annual salary of 15 thousand dollars was given to the scientist. They were on their way to New Jersey.

Einstein was famous for his absentminded attitude. He was most of the times completely lost in his thoughts. One famous story recounts someone calling the institute. The unidentified caller asked to talk to the dean. When the secretary told him he wasn’t there, the caller asked if he could give him Dr. Einstein’s home address. She of course said she couldn’t, at which point the caller whispered, “Please don’t tell anyone, but I am Dr. Einstein. I am on my way back home and I have forgotten where my house is.”

Einstein died at the age of 76. Newspaper around the world noted his death and the USA president, Eisenhover declared: “No other man contributed so much to the vast expansion of the 20^th century knowledge. Yet no man was more modest in the possession of the power that is knowledge, more sure that power without wisdom is deadly.”

Source: From the book “They called me Mad” by John Monaham.

By:  Ahmed Ahsan Khan.

   

Microprocessor: its working and concept of pipelining and superscalar

My last article was on microprocessors and the current and future trends of multi-core microprocessors and its drawbacks. I was pointed out by one of my readers that without the proper knowledge of the working of microprocessors, the concepts of pipelining and superscalar, it’s hard to understand the shift from single core microprocessors to multi-core microprocessors. So this is what this article is about. I am going to describe you the working of microprocessors then we will discuss about the concept of superscalar and pipelining.

Let’s first talk about the working of the microprocessors. A basic microprocessor has a CPU, Memory storage Unit and I/O devices which is connected through a data bus and an address bus. The CPU contains ALU, control Unit and a clock which describes the frequency at which instructions are processed. The execution of a single machine instruction can be divided into a sequence of operations called the instruction execution cycle. Before executing, a program is loaded into the memory. The instruction pointer (IP) contains the address of the next instruction. The instruction queue holds the group of instructions which is about to be executed. When the next instruction is called, the address is taken from the IP and the IP is updated with the new address from the instruction queue. Executing a machine instruction requires three basic steps: fetch -> decode -> execute. Taking the data from the memory uses two more steps: fetch operands and store output operands. Therefore there are six steps in the Instruction Execution Cycle for a single machine instruction:

Fetch instruction -> decode -> fetch operands -> execute -> store output operands -> next instruction -> fetch instruction again and so on.

Instruction Execution Cycle

After completely understanding the working of the microprocessors it will be easy to under the concept of pipelining and superscalar architecture. What is pipelining? Pipelining is the technique used to make CPU run faster. Pipelining is the implementation technique whereby multiple instructions are overlapped in execution. It takes advantage of parallelism where the instructions are not dependent on each other. The six-staged non-pipelined execution will take n*k cycle to process when n is the number of instructions and k is the number of execution stages. On the other hand, the six-staged pipelined execution will take k+ (n-1) cycles to process. The concept can be further explained using the following diagram.

Six Stage non-pipelined Execution

Six Stage pipelined Execution

A superscalar CPU architecture implements a form of parallelism called instruction level parallelism within a single processor. It can be thought of having 2 pipelines. It therefore helps provide a faster CPU throughput than would otherwise be possible at a given clock rate. The throughput of an instruction pipeline is the rate at which an instruction exits the pipeline. In a single pipeline execution if the execution stage requires more than one cycle then we have wasted cycles. In general for k stages (where one stage requires 2 cycles), n instructions require (k+ 2n- 1), cycles to proceed. On the other hand in 6-stage pipelined processors wasted cycles are removed, so n instructions can be executed in (k+ n) cycles, where k indicates the number of stages. This can be further explained using the following diagram.

Six stage single pipelined non-scalar execution

Superscalar six-stage pipelined execution

The concept of parallel computation is as old as 1958 when IBM researchers discussed the use of parallelism in numerical calculation for the first time. The difference between multi-core processors and superscalar is that superscalar architecture has multiple fetch, decode and execute block in the same processors whereas a multi-core processor is a single computing component with two or more independent actual processors (called cores). These multiple cores can run multiple programs at the same time, increasing overall speed of the computer. This is the main reason why there was the use to shift from single core to multi-core microprocessors which was discuss in the previous article.

Written by:
- Ahmed Ahsan Khan.

Microprocessor: Current and future trends in multi-core microproccessors and its drawback

 Intel microprocessor 4004

Microprocessors are multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to the instructions that are fed in its memory, and provides the result as the output. Microprocessors operate on numbers and symbol represented in binary number system i.e. 0 and 1.

The first microprocessor was created by Intel in 1971 (Intel 4004). And the first microcomputer was created in 1972. Intel was founded in 1968 by Gordon E Moore (Physicist and Chemist), Robert Noyce (Physicist and co-inventor of ICs (Integrated Circuit)) and Arthur Rock (investor). The company was named Integrated Electronics, Intel for short.  

Intel has shifted its design from single core to multi core processors in 2004. There have been some reasons due to which this shift has been taken. According to Moore’s law, the number of transistors that is used in the microprocessors would double every two years. But as time passes, assumption about performance and power consumption were also made and it shown to advance similar lines. 

During that period there was one more visionary at work, Dennard. He predicted that oxide thickness; transistor length and transistor width could be all scaled by a constant factor. The density of the processors also increased. This scaling is what gave Moore’s law boost. It’s the reason the general purpose microprocessors was able to overtake and dominate other types of computers. Due to advancement in circuit technology and performance limitation in wide-issue, super-speculative processors, chip multiprocessors (CMP) or multi-core technology has become the mainstream in computer design.

For the past 7 to 8 years, Intel and AMD have emphasized multi-core CPUs as the answer to scaling system performance. It’s a fact that adding more CPU cores never result in perfect scaling. A multi-core processor is a single computing component with two or more independent actual processors (called cores). These multiple cores can run multiple programs at the same time, increasing overall speed of the computer. Dual core processors have 2 cores, tri- has 3 cores and quad- has 4 cores and so on.

The main trend that Intel followed in their development was to make faster and smaller processors. The general trend in processor development has moved from dual-, tri-, quad-, octa-core to ones with tens and hundreds of core. In addition to that, multicore chips mixed with simultaneously multithreading, memory-on-chip and special purpose heterogeneous cores promise further performance and efficiency gains, especially in processing multimedia, recognition and networking applications. There is also a trend of improving energy-efficiency by focusing on performance per watt with advanced fine grain or ultra-fine-grain power management and dynamic voltage and frequency scaling.

There has been some reason why this shift has not been able to produce the desired result. One of the biggest reasons is that in any parallelized program, performance is ultimately limited by the amount of serial code. Serial code can only be executed by only one processor as the instruction is read one by one. This is known as Amdahl’s law. Other factors, like the difficulty of maintaining concurrency across a large number of cores, also limit the practical scaling of multi core solution.

The improvement in performance gained by the use of a multi-core processor depends very much on the software algorithm used and their implementation. The pace at which development of parallel programming has been increased is very slow as compared to the increased number of multi-core processors being made and brought into the market. Parallel programming languages have been introduced for example, Cilk++, OpenMP, fastflow and MPI that can be used on multicore platforms.

Having multiple cores on a single chip gives rise to challenges and problems. Power and temperature management are two concerns that can increase exponentially with the addition of multiple cores. If two cores were placed on a single chip without any modification then the chip would consume twice as much power and generate a large amount of heat. In the extreme case, if your processor overheats, your computer may combust. For prevention we run the multicores at a lower frequency to reduce power consumption. These are some of the reasons that were faced by the microprocessor industry while developing the multicore processors.   

Written by:

- Ahmed Ahsan Khan.

Alexander the great's 3 last wishes

Alexander the great was the Greek king during 300 BC. He is considered as the most successful commander in the history of man-kind with all unbeaten battles. His was tutored by Aristotle who was a Greek Philosopher until the age of 16. When Alexander was 30 years old, he conquered a large piece of land that stretched from Lonian Sea (now connecting Italy to Greece) to the Himalayas, northern part of Indian subcontinent. It was one of the largest empires in the ancient world.

During the time when he was dying while on his way back home he made 3 wishes to his general to be done after his death. The generals promised to follow his wishes after he pass away. The wishes were:

1.     “My physicians alone must carry my coffins.”

2.     “I desire that when my coffins is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard must be covered with all the gold, silver all the precious treasure which I have collected during my kingship.”

3.     “My last wish is that both my hands be kept dangling out of my coffin.”

It’s hard to believe that these are the wishes made by someone who conquered half of the world in such a short time. It shows the limit of modesty and down to earth personality of a person one can possess. There is some deep reasoning behind the wishes which he had made.

1.     He wanted physicians to carry his coffins because he wanted to show the world that no one can save anyone from death, not even his doctors and physicians. A man should not take his life for granted rather he should be prepared that one day he will face death.

2.     The second wish was to tell the people that despite a person collect so much of treasure in his life time, not a single bit of it will go with him once he died.

3.     And the third wish was to show the world that once a person is dead he goes from the world empty handed.

He is quoted to have said:
"I am dying from the treatment of too many physicians."

Written by: 
-  Ahmed Ahsan Khan

Living on the Edge

This is not about the "living on the edge" reality show. This is about real living on the edge. By edge I mean the two extreme points that every thing on earth have, (except the earth itself as it is round).

In the modern era everything is reaching its limits, or maybe close to it. The rich are getting richer and at the same time poor are getting poorer. This type of situation may occur when we have insufficient control on the flow of money. The country with corrupt government has their rate of corruption at its peak whereas the developed countries are busy in maintaining their rate of development. We have people who are travelling in latest automobiles and aircraft, using smart phones and laptops while at the same time we see news of people living without electricity for more than 24 hours and people dying because of hunger.

In case of religion we have the same story. When the month of ramzan is here, there are many group of people who are busy in the recitation of the Holy Quran, collecting and giving out zakat and donations and at the same time we have people who are avail the opportunity of late night talk-time/sms packages and daily iftar deals at fast-food restaurants. There are also companies who advertise their product with half-naked women in their advertisements and banner i.e. Boutique ads for eg. for marketing of their eid collections suits. Other than ramzan also we have increased number of jamaats that are going out in order to spread the words of allah. On the other side of the picture due to development of media we have increased number of tv channels showing movies of all types.

All the positive sides of the picture are because of the development in the private sector and the negative ends relate to the ignorance or non-implementations of the policies of government sector. These can get better if the flow of money can be controlled by the people who are given responsibility to do so. For that we need to choose correct people for the task to be performed. We can put sensors to eliminate vulgarity and nudity. I hope and wish all the best to the upcoming new government that they work hard to have a positive start in their tenure of the new 5-year session.

Written by:
- Ahmed Ahsan Khan.

Friendship

In your recent years or so you must have lost some of your very close special friends. People who were very close to you may have disappeared from the screen of your life. The relationship of friendship is simply very amazing. A single quality friend has much more worth than many so-called friends. Its amazing when Strangers become friends but its very sad when friends becomes strangers. You might never have thought that you would loose contact with your close friends. But its part of life. You make new friends now and then. The best thing about friendship is that you build up your golden memories with them which stays with you throughout your lifetime. Now when you sit back and think about those precious times which were spend with them like late night gossips, walking on the road and watching movies together to name a few and you smile and when somebody asks u the reason for your smile, u just say NOTHING! Its a funny little feeling like that.

Friendship is one of those beautiful relationship in which you don't hesitate to share any small secret of your life. There is no formality. Its a relationship in which you fight one second ago and then everything comes back to normal in just a blink of an eye. I have experienced some very good friendships in my life and I personally think its once in your lifetime that you get true friends in your life and once you get it, should not leave their hands. If you leave them, you might never get it back. Its actually very hard to find who is your true friend and who are just good actors. No valuable stuff is free of cost. At least not in this costly world. Not even true friendship. You need to sacrifice sometime out to find that. As one of the famous saying goes on to say "a friend in need is the friend indeed".

Have a nice day.
- Ahmed Ahsan Khan.

Stepping into the new era - Part 3 Message to the Critics

Now come to the critics of our country. People always try to criticize our country on issues like politics, education and poverty of the country. I want to tell them that if they really love their country then they should stand up and try to make a difference. This is our country and we are to this country as a cell is to human body. It is we who break laws, we are the one who break traffic signals, and we are the one who bribe the traffic police in order to get away from the traffic fines that otherwise we had to pay. I never said that we are the perfect nation. As mentioned above there is many room for improvement and it seems like we, the people of the country, have the potential to make this country a perfect one and shine to the world as a star shines in the night sky.

People don't avail their right to vote. More than 50 percent of the populations don't vote, according to the 2008 election statistics, only 44.55% of the population casted the vote. The people who don’t cast their votes are the one who have the correct knowledge of the current situations of the world and their country. If they don't vote then they don't have the right to criticize on the current situations of the country. They are the literate lot of the country who if cast their vote can certainly make a difference by choosing correct leaders for their nation. I agree that we have low rate of education. But it does not means that it stop us casting vote. As far as education is concerned it is also increasing day by day. The numbers of students’ intake in the universities across the country have increased by more than 200 percent in the last decade. These universities are providing some quality education to their students.

The point I want to raise here is that for any nation to prosper, its every single entity should work its 100 percent best towards contributing to the welfare of the country. The rate of development has been slow. Agreed. But this is not the end. This should be the start of the development and if every person of this country starts to take responsibility then we can overtake any country of the world. In order to improve our country we should always improve ourselves first. The start should start from I.  

Have a nice day.

Written By:

Ahmed Ahsan Khan

Stepping into the new era - Part 2 The way forward

The people of Pakistan have increased their living standards in the last decade. The increased number of vehicles with signal free fast flowing roads tells us the story all by itself. We have access to the latest hi-fi technology of the 21st century including I-phones, laptops, mobile phones and you name it. In the last decade we have increased our internet users of the country from 0.1% of the population in 2000 to 10.4% of the population in 2010. We have international brands across the country like Nike, Adidas, LEVI'S, Crocs, GAP etc. The internet provides us access to the latest books, news and information of the world. Though the numbers of people using it are very limited but it is gradually increasing every single day. We have one of the cheapest telecommunication services of the world, including cellular service and internet service. 68.8% of the population has mobile phones due to the work done by the private telecommunication companies like Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone, Warid,  Zong etc.

During my stay at South Africa I visited many shopping malls of different kinds. Every mall has its own interior design and architecture. And most of the shops were owned by either their local brands or international brands. As per my opinion malls are one of the most important tourist spots for shopping purpose. I visited a couple of malls here in Pakistan including Park Tower, Atrium and Dolmen City mall. When we went into the mall, it reminded me of the malls in South Africa. It had most of the international brands which we can find in any other mall outside the country including Nike, LEVI'S, GAP, Crocs etc. There were some local brands too like JJ's, Khaadi and Gul Ahmed. The interior of every shop was speaking for its own uniqueness. It was a good experience visiting the malls and it shows that we can provide some life time shopping experience for our public. The thing is that we need to maintain our assets which we have developed and go further from there.

Let's now talk about another latest tourist spot Port Grand situated in Karachi, located on top of the sea, where the waves of the Arabia Sea hit the logs that support the floor of the port grand. When we entered its premises, it reminded me of waterfront mall in Cape Town. Port grand was a great place to visit. A good tourist point that we have developed at the coast. The restaurants were also very nice. After walking around and spending some money in the shops we went upstairs in the open air to have dinner. The feeling was like sitting on top of the cruise in the late night under the moonlight. Food is one of the most important part of human life and to enjoy food in the night sea breeze is something a man can dream of.

Continued...

Stepping into the new era - Part 1

Entering into the 21st century every nation is dreaming to increase its rate of development and to become part of the 1st world country. I had visited several beautiful countries in the world. And every country has its own uniqueness and culture. Pakistan is no exception. There is definitely lots of work to be done but we have potentials to achieve that target and one day we can become one of the first world country if we work sincerely towards its development.

I lived in South Africa for 3 years due to my father's assignment at the capital city of the Southern-most country of Africa. I learnt a lot from my experience over there whether it be in my college or during the travel across the country. According to my dad traveling is the best form of learning a man can get and I think it is very true. I was very much impressed by the road network which they had spread across different cities of the country. They had malls, theme parks, safari parks, beaches etc. to attract the tourist.

After coming back to Pakistan after 3 years I discovered that we were never behind them. In a short period of time Karachi which is considered as the most populated city of the country, has developed bridges, underpasses and signal free roads. The road network had developed dramatically. May be our standards are comparatively low, but we haven't lost hope.

Continued....

A message of life by George Carlin

 George Carlin was a a comedian of 1970's and 1980's. This is what he wrote about the current conditions of the life of the people around the world.

"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways,but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. 

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. 

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. 

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We ' ve added years to life not life to years. We ' ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We ' ve done larger things, but not better things. 

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We ' ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We ' ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. 

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just ignore it... 

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. 

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. 

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent. 

Remember, to say, ' I love you ' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. 

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. 

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind. 

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: 

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

George Carlin

Human behaviour and its development through different stages of his life.

People are like countries. They have their own boundaries known as personal space, they have their own national and international interests known as personal interests, they make friends and enemies depending on their interests, if their interests matches then they become friends, if not then they become the opposite. A person should not try to empower his kingdom over another person's territory. It might destroy the person's personal relationship with him as it happens with the countries. Every person has different size of personal space according to his needs, will and satisfaction which should be respected at everytime of the day. The personal space should not be violated at any point as it can destroy the integral solidarity of a person. Like every country has its own geographical and strategical importance in the world likewise every individual has his own importance in his society accorrding to his talent and his actions. Everyone can't become a leader at the same time. There are some platforms which are important for one individual and some other platforms which are important for some others. For eg, a doctor would not participate in a forum which is organised for engineers or bussinessmen. Same is the case with the geographical structure of the world, only islamic nations would participate in a forum organized for islamic nations. The above details only apply for fully grown adults.

Psychological peace is neccessary for any individual to prosper and for its development to reach its ultimate limit. In addition to psychological peace a healthy family lifestyle is equally important. If you look closer these two terms are related. A child can never grow well when his parents are having quarrels and fights during his childhood. This also applies for an adult human being. Despite having all the wealth of the world it is his basic right to have psychological peace, which is also commonly known as peace of mind. For a person he might get utmost peace when he is all alone in meditation. By being alone he is free of all the worldly tensions and meditation can bring him close to allah which helps him get his peace to the utmost level. It also applies for any country, without having peace in its territory it cannot do proper development.

There are several stages which a person experiences while growing up in this world. A child when very young is very delicate so he should be handled with care and affection. He should be told what is wrong and what is right. An individual should experience every stage of life and he should go through the good and bad times of it. To have a taste of all the good and bad stages of life is very important for the psychological and psociological development of an individual. In our society we observe that the adults try to stop their child from going through the bad experience. This helps a child to stay away from those loses which their adults have experienced but in a longer run it does not help a child in his development. When he goes out in the real world tomorrow he doesn't know how to tackle with the hard times of his career. A child should be learned to tackle to the worst period of his career from his childhood and as time goes on.

In our modern society, people try to pamper their child so much that he is unable to face to the hurdle which comes in his ways. In short an individual should be known to love, hatred, jelousy appreciation, criticism etc so that in the real world he could be able to counter it affectively if it comes to his doorsteps. We see that in the modern era the children are given luxurious goods to fulfill their needs by their parent for which they had experienced the hard times of their life. The things which has become the need of the people today were bonus in the lifestyle for the people of the earlier generations. The children experience these things before their time has come. They can't value the worth of the luxurious gadgets which they are using because they hadn't experieneced the hard times of their life to achieve those luxurious lifestyle. It is their parents who had experienced the hard time. My point here is that there is time for everything. When a child start to value their products then is the time they should be given access to it. They should be thought their family traditions and culture and should be reminded of it now and then. People get so much involve in the modern lifestyle that they forget their religious teachings and their family value. At that moment of time starts the downfall of the nation when they become ignorant to their basic root.

I would like to conclude my article on a good note. Life is too short to be sad, there should be no room for hatred in our hearts, always try to make love and care for each other, who knows if he will be here with you tomorrow. Enjot the most as you will remember it for the rest of your life. Try to make people smile. One smiley face can lit up many sad faces. So don't move back. Spread peace and love. take care. Have a blessed day.

Copyright Reserve

-Written by Ahmed Ahsan Khan