December 2016 – My Random Ramblings

Using Mobiles Phones for Socio-Economic Development

Mobile phone users world over are increasing at a fast pace. According to the ITU statistics there are over 6 billion mobile phone connections and over 3 billion users world wide. With newer technologies like 4G the mobile phone penetration is only going to increase in the coming years. It would not be incorrect to say that not technology has affected us like the way mobile phones have. Today the smartphone is used for multiple purposes; it’s your Ebook, wallet, reminder, fitness companion, email system, web access gadget, news medium, blogging tool, music repository, weather forecasting tool, entertainment system and banking tool; to name a few. While these all benefits may not be available to everyone everywhere, still the mobile phone with basic text and voice features are today available to a larger part of the world populace.

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Remembering Junaid Jamshed; JJ

“Kiya haal hai bachoon”, (how are you kids?), somehow these words still ring in my ears, the venue was Bahria University (or was it school), Islamabad somewhere in 1992, and Vital Signs was there to play their magic, the band rushed to the stage and that’s when we heard JJ say, “Kiya hall hai bachoon”. Alas the man is no more. I distinctly remember Vital Signs introducing “Awaz” a new band at that concert. Speculations ran high “Awaz” will grow up to be big, it did, but not as big as Vital Signs or JJ. Vital Signs and specially JJ shot to fame after their hit song “Dil Dil Pakistan” was released. Those in their teens in the early 90’s should be able to recall “Dil Dil Pakistan” being only second in popularity to the National Anthem. The Zia era had ended, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was in power and Benazir wanted to promote liberalism. Before the “Vital Signs” era only Zohaib and Nazia existed on the pop music scene. For someone like me in his teens in those volatile times, it was like finding an oasis in the midst of a desert. Music, specially good music was what we craved for, and we got it in drops, thanks to the “Vital Signs”, also called as the, “Good Looking Music” the daily fix kept increasing on a large scale, by the tap in full flow.

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MOI License Modification (Change of Weapon) – A Saga

Getting a weapon license modified (for change of weapon) from the Ministry of Interior (the infamous MOI) is no easy task, this I learned the hard way. A dear friend called me up and asked me to do it on his behalf, he sent me his old MOI license, with a request to change the weapon on it as he had recently bought a new shotgun. Frankly, I didn’t know where to take a start from. A few phone calls to the MOI (weapons section) told me this wasn’t going to be easy. In writing this I’ll be frank and honest, to the point of being impolite and brattish, in that I hope someone somewhere with enough brains, a little sense of humor and lots of patience minus the red tape and bureaucratic “babooism” in him will take a serious or half serious note of it, and so help out a larger populace who is wont to suffer from the present “computerized” and (in)efficient system that is present today.

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