It goes without saying that the ability to spell words correctly is definitely as much of a skill, as are reading and writing. At first glance, it does seem as if learning to spell and becoming a wiz at spelling is a piece of cake, at least when compared to writing. However, in this day and age, spelling is an art in itself.
This is mainly because of two reasons — firstly, more and more young people are exposed to both British and American spellings, and it has become ever more important to learn to distinguish between the two. And, secondly, the age of the internet and cell phones means that the correct spelling of words is one of the major casualties, as young people resort to shorthand as much in their SMSs as in their examination paper.
And yet, it is the internet which comes to the rescue when it comes to improving one’s spelling skills. There are a myriad of websites out there that can do wonders for you. Whether you are a beginner, looking to start improving your spellings, or an expert, who just wants to revise, there is something for you in the form of a whole collection of websites out there and they can easily be categorised under the following sections.
When someone starts talking about the internet or computers in general, how do you join in? What are the first few phrases which pop up in your mind? Can you spot your likely response among the following?
“Ooh, are you going to tell me about a new game?” “Do you know of a website from where I can download free essays?” “I need a really unique poem for my elocution. Can you search it for me?” “My teacher makes me write all my assignments — we can’t submit a typed one.”
Complains, grumbles and requests — when it comes to technology, don’t you all just love to complain that your teachers cannot keep up with you, or that your friend took the elocution poem from the website which you wanted for yourself? Or maybe, your parents don’t give you enough time for gaming, and you are always itching to go and play at every odd time. Interestingly, while games definitely top the list of things which you love to do over the internet, there are a lot of other things which you can do in order to benefit from technology. After all, there is a lot more to the internet, or any communications technology for that matter, than just games.
Here are some of the ways you can use the technologies available to you, and improve your skills in the classroom.
Those of you who have read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, will fondly recall the scene where Cho Chang chances upon Harry in the Hogwarts Express when he is covered with Stink-sap. What does Harry think at that point? He wants Cho to run into him at a time when he is surrounded by cool people laughing at a joke he just cracked.
The incident is indeed very close to real life and J. K. Rowling has aptly captured the mindset of most highschool students of today in that chapter.
These days, it is considered highly cool to be able to crack jokes every minute and make people laugh. Students, who have witty one-liners at the tip of their tongue, are usually the centre of attention and the object of much awe and admiration from those who lack that kind of confidence.
The question, however, is that whether “cracking jokes every minute” and “making people laugh” are synonymous with one another other. The answer is both yes and no. While on the one hand, well-timed and well-placed jokes can make people laugh, on the other, they can irritate, annoy, disappoint or even offend a person.
So where does one draw the line? How do you decide which joke to narrate and which witty remark to keep to yourself? Here are a few questions you need to ask yourself before you make your final decision.
A typical day in your life as a student basically involves some or all of the following: school, homework, getting together with friends, watching television and of course, browsing on the Internet. All through day and night, your prime concern is getting to school on time, attending all your classes, finishing your homework and catching up with your friends.
So where then, you ask, do you find time to fit books in?
Yes, books. And here, the reference is not to your textbooks, but to an assortment of classics, novels, contemporary fiction and the like. Of course, you have heard loads and loads of lectures already on how important it is, at this stage of life (or indeed any stage of life) to read good books, so you’ll be spared here. But nevertheless, one can simply not emphasise enough on what reading does for you — from expanding your ideas and outlook on life to improving your language, expression and vocabulary.
But unfortunately, in the fast paced life that you as students are currently living in, books have taken a back seat. You can try this out yourself. Ask anyone what books they are reading and the most common excuse you will get to explain one’s lack of reading is “We don’t have time to read books.”
And really, if you think about it, you will realise that they (or you, if you fall in the same category) do truly have no time for books — which by the way is the excuse of a lot of adults as well. Go back to your routine: you wake up and rush to school. You attend classes, enjoy a recess, attend more classes and then rush back home. Then you either take a nap or go for your tuitions. Then when you return you finish your homework, watch television, check your email or talk on the phone with your friends. Soon, it is time for dinner and following that, time to turn in. So really, when people say they don’t have time to read books, they have a point, right?
Wrong! If you start thinking about your schedule as a whole, you will definitely come to the conclusion that each day is full and you have no time to read. And if you try to fit an hour of reading each day, chances are that after a few days, you will revert back to your schedule and the books will lie on your shelf, neglected and forgotten.
But where there is a will, there is definitely a way. If you are serious about reading, and really want to read a few books, there are many small ways in which you can do that. In this case, don’t try to change your schedule or routine as a whole. Just make a few modifications to your activities within the schedule and you will realise that you indeed have quite a lot of time to read.
Confused? Let’s look at a few examples.
Suppose you are one of those students whom the van driver picks up really early in the morning. The time it takes you to reach school will depend on how far your school is from your house and how many students go in your van. But if you are one of the first people to step in your van, it can easily be assumed that it will take at least half an hour to one hour for you to reach school. Well, then why waste this time? Keep a book in your bag and utilise this hour to read something interesting.
A book in your bag at all times can easily ensure that whenever you have any free time at school, you can take it out and start reading. For instance, on the occasion that your group of friends haven’t turned up and you are bored during your recess, a book can easily be your companion.
Take another example. You are online. You are supposed to be checking your email and browsing a few websites. But your Internet is impossibly and agonising slow. All the web pages are taking eons to load properly, and you are left gritting your teeth in front of the computer and trying not to hurl insults at your cable guy or dialup service. In such an instance, why not keep your cool and pick up a book? You can easily read at least a few pages while your web pages load. And trust me, if you are reading a book, you won’t even notice how long your connection is taking to load a simple gmail login window. Whenever your window finishes to load, you can put the book down and go back to your work. Yeah, so you are sure to get a lot of questioning looks and weird stares at this, but there is a good term for this kind of work. It is called “multi tasking”. You are just giving it a whole new meaning.
Another very constructive thing that can be done pertains to television. All of you must be having at least one thing or the other which you watch on a daily basis, whether it is a soap opera or drama serial or sitcom. Watching television these days can become quite a trial owing to the numerous advertisements that one is bombarded with. Of course, with the remote and the cable channels, it has become easier to avoid these advertisements by channel surfing whenever the commercial break begins in the programme that one is watching. What you can do, however, is that instead of channel surfing, mute your television when the advertisements begin, and pick your book. Muting will ensure that you will know when your programme resumes after the break, so you can go back to it. An ad break goes on for at least five minutes, and there are quite a few of these breaks throughout the whole programme, so you can easily fit in a few pages of your book during this time.
So there you have it — you don’t really need to make any drastic changes in your lifestyle to ensure that you have healthy reading habits.
You don’t have to compromise on any of your work or activity to make time for books. All you need are some minor amendments to your routine activities so that you have the best of both the worlds. After all, considering the numerous advantages that reading offers, making these amendments will only benefit you in the long term.
Finding Good Books For those of you who are just starting out trying to make reading a daily habit, finding out which books are worth your time can be a harrowing task. At such times, many students decide to opt for books which have the least number of pages and go for books like The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Animal Farm by George Orwell, without bothering to go into their depth, context and history. So how do you start?
a) Browse through your library at school to see what type of fiction novels are available and which authors appeal to you. You can borrow the books from the library only, and then search for more books by your favourite authors at bookstores.
b) Browse online to see which books — fiction and non fiction — you are interested in.
c) If classics put you off by their sheer length and language, read their abridged versions first. If you like the story, then definitely go for the original unabridged versions. Try this for all the books of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and other classical authors.
d) Find out which movies are based on books, and watch them. They can motivate you to read books like Gone with the Wind, Rebecca and Anne of Green Gables as well.
It was a typical week day. The mini bus was jam packed, mostly with university students. When this bus screeched to a halt on the next stop, two school-going girls boarded the ladies section. With huge bags on their shoulders, it was clear that they were having trouble standing amidst so many people. The size of the bag was also making it difficult for others to stand hence a lot of under-the-breath grumbling began. When these girls had to get off, there was a huge hustle and bustle as they made their way towards the exit, the bag hitting quite a few people yet again.
Whether students are school-going or college-going, conveyance is one of the main issues to be dealt with. When the students are very young, parents prefer that they pick and drop children from school themselves; sometimes, a driver is hired for this very purpose. As they grow older, some parents rely on the transport system of the school itself. Hence, the school vans come in the picture.
However, all families are not as privileged. They either have one car which cannot be spared for the children, or they cannot afford to buy and maintain a car in the first place. There are some families which cannot pay the exorbitant fees of the private vans month after month. For the children of such families, public transport becomes a more convenient and affordable means of travelling to and from their school.
There are quite a few choices when it comes to commuting in public transport. And of course, each form of transport comes with its own share of advantages and disadvantages. What’s important is that if you are going to and from your school in a public transport, you must know some basic safety and convenience measures to follow with each. Let’s take a look at each in turn.
Buses
The main advantage of travelling in a bus is that the fare is considerably lower than other forms of transport. Also, it is a very “public” form of transport — there are quite a few passengers in every bus so even if you are travelling alone, it is a relief to see at least some people headed in the same direction as you are.
However, travelling in buses requires a higher degree of caution as well. First and foremost, if you are a school-going girl, and you’re travelling alone, it is better not to board a bus which has an empty ladies section. It is preferable to board one which has some ladies already travelling in it.
Also, you must avoid getting into a bus which is full. It is a common occurrence that students push their way in, bags and all, even if they only get some space on the very last step. This is highly dangerous, especially if you’re carrying a heavy bag. Bus drivers are notorious for travelling at unusually high speeds and applying brakes quite suddenly. So make sure there is at least some space to stand inside the bus before you get on.
Moreover, once you board the bus it is better to take your bag off your shoulder and carry it in your hand. This is mainly because of the scenario described above where students move about in the bus, totally oblivious to the fact that their bag is hitting quite a few people. Even if you find a seat, take your bag off first and put it in the lap. It is again quite common to see that when students sit on the seat, they don’t take their bags off. The result is that the bag occupies the entire seat and the student in question is almost falling off.
Another major reason to take the bag off and keeping it in your full view is that there have been too many cases of bus robberies. Cunning pickpockets, both male and female, are known to carefully zip open bags and purses of oblivious owners to quietly pilfer the valuables — money and cell phones.
And this brings us to another very important safeguard while travelling in buses. Cell phones are now quite common even with school-going children, in spite of many schools having enforced a strict ban on the same. It often happens that the minute anyone gets a seat, he/she fishes out the cell phone from the bag and starts messaging or playing games. Nothing can alert a potential thief more easily to the fact that you possess a cell phone which can easily be taken away from you as well.
The best thing to do if you are carrying a cell phone, is to place it in the inside pocket of your school bag, and only take it out to attend a very urgent phone call. Also, it would be advisable to have it on silent or vibration mode when you are travelling in a bus. This will ensure that even if it rings in the bus, you will be the only person who hears it.
Taxis
Travelling in taxis is definitely more comfortable, even if the taxi driver takes a huge amount of money for that comfort. But if you’re a female student, it is advisable to travel in taxis only when you’re with an adult or if you’re travelling with a large group of girls. As elders say quite often, taxis are closed spaces and hence, not quite safe if you’re alone.
Rickshaws
Rickshaws are probably the most convenient if you’re travelling alone and have to cover a short distance. Apart from the noise and, of course, the exorbitant fare that rickshaw drivers often charge for even the smallest distance, rickshaws come in handy when the bus stop is at a good distance from your house.One thing which is quite noticeable with reference to school-going children hiring rickshaws is that when they stop a rickshaw, they go right in the middle of the lane to talk to the driver, give him the directions and settle the fare. Crossing to the middle of the road or lane is highly dangerous because that is the time when even lanes are filled with school vans and cars. So whenever you stop a rickshaw, make sure it comes towards the footpath where you are standing.
Yes travelling in public transport may seem like a big hassle. But the truth is, these different forms of transport are quite convenient. They reduce your dependence on private transport, and ensure that you learn the different areas and routes more quickly. Also, you get to learn how to travel alone right from your school-going age. Pubic transport also toughens one up. This is because you really get to rough it out outside your sheltered home and school environment. So at the end of the day, public transport is quite advantageous in more ways than one. But one must learn to exercise certain precautions in order to travel safe in more ways than one.
The winter season is upon us. Though most people argue that this part of the world hardly enjoys the full blast of winter. Common phrases heard with reference to winter include something to the effect of “You call THIS winter?” or “The temperature is not even below zero degrees Celsius.” But it would be a tad inaccurate to state outright that there is no winter to enjoy. True, the season comes for a relatively short period of time as compared to the summers, but it does come nonetheless. And winter has its own charm.
First and foremost: come winter season and there is an onslaught of warm clothes, sweaters, blankets and quilts which are taken out of the trunks where they are stored for a major part of the year. For warm clothes, there is a major spring cleaning of wardrobes under the supervision of mothers. Summer clothes are folded away and put at the back, while the warm ones are brought out to the front.
It is quite interesting to note that even though it is quite fun to step out of the house each morning and pull one’s sweater tightly around oneself to guard against the chilly winds, there are some young people who take immense pride in not wearing any warm clothes at all. There must be at least a couple of such people in your own school if you look around carefully. One cannot imagine what is so cool about not wearing sweaters, especially if the temperature is indeed quite low. But not wearing sweaters is something that is bragged about to no limit.
Of course, winter is also the time to bring out and wear fancy shawls. They can be worn at all occasions and several varieties of shawls are available to choose from. In fact, there are some people who have genuine allergies to wool and they end up with rashes on their arms if they try to wear one. Shawls are indispensable in such cases. But, as with any item of clothing, shawls too sometimes become a fashion statement and hence, the “cool factor” comes in again. However, if you compare shawl-wearing-for-fashion to non-sweater-wearing, the less desirable option is quite clear.
Apart from warm clothes, a major charm of winters is the delectable selection of dry fruits. Yep, there are all those peanuts, walnuts and cashew nuts which your mother doesn’t allow you to eat the year around stating that these shouldn’t be eaten during summers. Well, now is your chance to gorge on them. You can either gather around a heater with your family after dinner and enjoy these delectable items, or curl up on your favourite arm chair with a bowl of mixed dry fruits. Or you can have a sleepover with your friends or cousins, and make a midnight snack out of these dry fruits. The choice of food, however, is not limited to dry fruits. There is a wide variety of winter food which you can enjoy from coffee and hot chocolate to bars of chocolate and simmering chicken corn soup.
And who can resist the hoards of juicy oranges? If kino is a bit sour, you can enjoy the sweet malta. Eat it or savour the frostly squeezed juice — the choice is yours.
A close synonym of food at least in the Pakistani context is a wedding. Come the more chilly weather and suddenly there is a spurt in the number of wedding invitations. Winter weddings have their own charm and their own issues. First and foremost, there is the extreme reluctance on the part of most young people to wear something warm over the fancy dresses. Then, there’s a very annoying yet regular sight at most of the winter weddings. When dinner is served, people pile up their plates with food only to discover that it goes cold within minutes. Hence, they go fill up their plates again.
Alas, all isn’t totally hale and hearty when it comes to winters. It is all too well to snuggle up in blankets with a book or munch on dry fruits after dinner. However, the beginning of the winter season also means the start of a dreadful flu. For some, it is a routine sinus problem. For others, it is the change of weather. Whatever the reason may be, you are sure to hear quite a lot of sneezing and sniffles around you as people brave through a bout of flu. And if you happen to be one of those people, then all you can do is wait patiently for it to run its course as this flu is usually viral. Of course, if you are into home remedies, then honey and white pepper combined does work wonders.
Another very difficult thing to do during winters is to wake up in the morning. Nothing is more irritating than the sound of the alarm clock on a winter morning. It is an absolute torture to pull oneself out of the warm blanket or quilt, and then stand shivering in front of the basin, waiting for hot water to wash one’s face.
Woes aside, there are some things which seriously constitute a to-do list for winter. If you haven’t already tried some of these things out, then take this winter season as an opportunity to do the same.
• Make a list of books to constitute your winter reading. When the temperature drops to the extent that you don’t feel like doing anything, it is always a good idea to curl up with a book.
• Don’t miss out on a winter walk. Even if it is just a stroll around the neighbourhood park, do make it a point to go. Winters are one time when early morning walks can be enjoyed to the fullest. Of course, dragging yourself out of bed and then willing yourself to step out of the house may require a huge effort, but in the end it is well worth it.
• As the winter season approaches, there are calls for donations by many welfare organisations. Find the one which you can trust, and do give some of the warm clothes for those who are not as privileged as you are. For the poor people, winters are a trial and your spare blankets and quilts can do wonders.
In short, try and make the most out of the winter season instead of grumbling about how cold (or otherwise) you are and how your flu is making it impossible for you to do anything else. After all, winter does come for only a very few months, and before you know it, it is summer time again. So be positive and make this winter season a truly fulfilling one, not just for yourself but for others as well.
I magine the following scenario. You are sitting on the Internet and you cannot wait to join a really fascinating website your friend told you about. You are really keen to make your very own profile, list down your hobbies and your likes and dislikes, join new forums and interact with people of your age and interests. After you have sat down and filled out the detailed forms on the said website, a webpage comes up which asks you to upload a photograph to be displayed with your profile. You hunt down your latest and best looking photo from the ones that were recently snapped with your digital camera, and in no time at all, you have a profile ready with you smiling from ear to ear in the photograph alongside it.Then, you discover that there is actually an option to add an entire album. Well, you access the photographs of your latest class get-together and put up the entire stock of photographs complete with captions.But wait a second. Should you be using that photograph option in the first place? If you look closely, it is not at all necessary to display a photograph. You can easily skip that step. But why should you? Why should your profile look bland when everyone else’s is looking so sophisticated because of the lovely personal photographs?The question of whether you should or should not put up your photograph online is, of course, something that you have to answer yourself. But there are a few things that must be kept in mind at all times. Many websites ask you to display your photograph, but the issues remain the same. Let’s take a quick look at some of these issues with the photographs.The first issue of course, is privacy. It is important to realise that this is the Internet one is talking about. Anyone and everyone who has a computer and an Internet connection can log on to the same website. And hence, anyone in the world can view your complete profile and photograph. And maybe it does not concern you if someone from somewhere across Africa sees your photo, but what if people in your city come to recognise you?There can be many people not just in your city but the area in which you live who use the same website and interact with you online. Would you like it if someone stopped you in the supermarket and demanded of you as to why you wrote something on a community or why you never replied to his/her message? If your profile is without a photograph, no one would be able to recognise you by face. You would have a protective shield around you. But once you reveal what you look like, well, then you pretty much give yourself away.Closely related to the privacy issue is the security concern. As mentioned earlier, your photograph is your basic identity. There are many people on the Internet who would simply glance at your profile and hence your photograph, and then move on to do their work. But there are many others who would not have such noble intentions.Over the Internet, it is really easy to save just about any photograph on one’s own personal computer and then manipulate it. With new and advanced photo editing software available in the market, it would be really easy for anyone who is good at graphic designing to save your photograph and do just about whatever he/she wants to do with it. The scariest part is that you will never know who did it or where does your photo reach or for what purposes it is used.And if you think this is exaggeration beyond measure, here is a little incident to reinforce the theory. Some months back, there was a message floating around a popular social networking website, Orkut, that there are many spammers on the lookout for those female members of the website who have put up their photographs so that they can save and manipulate their photos for their own not-so-noble intentions.Another point to consider is the privacy policy of the website where you are putting up your photo. The fact is that these privacy policies, which are freely available for you to read on their websites, have very cleverly written a few things which you can only find out when you go through them very carefully. At the start of the policy document of course, they tell you that they will protect your information, but many of them clarify somewhere in the middle that any information you share on their website (along with the photograph) can be exchanged with third parties. Very few websites actually define who these third parties actually are, and how this information will be used.So basically you should be considering these basic issues when deciding whether or not to display your photograph for public viewing online. Of course, there is a great temptation to put up photos like everyone else, and sometimes you just have to stop yourself from doing what everyone else is doing. But there are a few things which you can do which would address your safety concerns and ensure that you enjoy your time in cyberspace.First and foremost, you can avail the picture option on websites to show off your photography skills. Take photos of your plants or the sunrise, and put those up. You will have an exotic picture to go with your profile and it won’t be a personal picture either. There are loads of possibilities once you have the digital camera, and there’s no reason why you cannot experiment by snapping different photos and putting them up online for everyone to see without compromising your privacy and security.Of course there are times when you want to share your photos with your friends. There are times when there is a family event and you need to show the photos to your relatives living abroad. For such purposes, you can use websites like Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com). On that website, you simply need to make an account, upload your photographs, label them as private so that only those who you choose can see them and then of course share the link with your family and friends.The privacy policy of Shutterfly clarifies that “In order to provide quality products, the Shutterfly employees and third-party service providers fulfilling your order or providing Customer Support to you may see your pictures.” Of course, this means that your photographs are not completely private here as well, but this is definitely better than everyone and anyone being able to see them off a website.Certain people trust websites like Facebook (www.facebook.com) to put up their photographs because the viewer ship is restricted to friends only. When asked, students had a similar take on this issue, as far as Facebook is concerned.“Yes, I am concerned about privacy issues and I don’t trust the websites,” said Azmat Ashraf. “But I think that it is relatively safer to put up photos on Facebook because only your friends can see them and not everyone else, unlike Orkut where whoever clicks on your profile, can see everything about you.”Rabya Ali agreed: “I think it is safe to put pictures on Facebook. I’m specifically talking about the pictures in my albums because only my friends can view those pictures. Putting up my picture made it easier for my old friends from school/college and elsewhere to recognise and contact me.”Once you find a website which suits you, another thing to bear in mind when putting up and sharing photos is that the photos must be of you only. You must absolutely make sure in this scenario that you only share photos of yourself. It would be an act of courtesy to respect your friend’s trust in you, by not putting up your friend’s photos online, irrespective of whether or not the concerned friend has an issue with it.So basically it is not just the privacy paranoia which has to reign. All that is needed is some vigilance rather than a lax attitude towards these so-called non-issues. If you take the necessary steps to ensure your privacy and security, and learn to go through the privacy policy of whichever website you are trusting to share your photographs, it would ultimately ensure that no one abuses or manipulates your photos. And at the end of the day, you can enjoy a hassle-free experience in cyberspace.
It was a scorching afternoon. Two students got off a mini bus and stood at the pavement to cross the road. It was a busy street and at the peak of the rush hour, all forms of vehicles were zooming past, making the task at hand seem rather difficult. One of the students would put a foot forward and then hurriedly withdraw it in the face of a speeding car or a racing bus. These students stood there for quite some time before they were finally able to zoom in and out between the fast-moving traffic to reach the other side of the road. Had someone nearby stopped to sympathise with the plight of these students, the sympathy would have turned to incredulity at the sight of a pedestrian bridge right above where the students stood.
And this is actually the real plight. Most of the students love to believe they are immortal. Why else would they race their bikes on a busy road, or put up a show of resistance whenever they are asked to hand over their cell phones? However, no one and absolutely no one can beat those who choose to cross a road in spite of the pedestrian bridge right over their heads.
All major roads of Karachi are filled with vehicular traffic at all times. The problem in crossing these roads is increased by the fact that there is no traffic signal nearby. If a traffic signal is present, then there is at least some hope that the flow of traffic will stop for some time, hence allowing some of the lucky ones to reach the other side of the road.
This is where pedestrian bridges come in. There are many pedestrian bridges in Karachi. All of them have been constructed at key locations i.e. roads that have a heavy traffic flow at all times. At places like Hyderi and Shahrah-i-Faisal to name a few, these bridges should ideally ensure that people cross the road safely without risking their lives. After all, that’s why they are there in the first place. However, when it comes to effectively using these bridges, the situation is exactly the opposite.
Most of the students view these bridges as a sheer waste of time. It is quite sad to observe that the pedestrian bridge in front of the Ayesha Bawany Academy at Shahrah-i-Faisal, for one, is vacated most of the times. In spite of the heavy traffic, these students think it is actually quite thrilling to zoom in between rows of cars to reach the other end.
So why do people stay away from the pedestrian bridges and choose to cross the roads? There are many explanations given on that front. Time obviously is the main issue. The fact that the time to climb the stairs of the pedestrian bridge and get off at the other end is exactly the same, if not less, than waiting for the road to clear a bit so that it can be crossed safely, is lost on most people. The common perception is that crossing the road instead of using the bridge takes less time, which of course may not be entirely true all the time.
“It’s our mindset. We love to take shortcuts,” says a disgusted Hina, a student of a reputed business institute. “The thought of doing things the right, fair and socially accepted way never enters our minds. No wonder we are in the mess we are.”
Fatima, an ‘O’ Level student, also attributes this to the mindset. “Students don’t make use of the pedestrian bridge because they’re too lazy to climb the steps. They think it’s a waste of time and energy. And then it’s all about how we think we can just cross the road as and when we wish and it’s the drivers’ responsibility to stop when they see us. It’s all about mindset, I tell you.”
This does actually apply to those who cross the road while a bridge is above them. Obviously those who cross the road in a hurry because the bridge is at a considerable distance or isn’t present at all in that area do have some excuse. No wonder certain people have actually written letters to newspapers requesting more bridges to be constructed on roads like Shahrah-i-Faisal for the convenience of those who do use these bridges.
Back to those who don’t, another reason why students think it is better to cross the road than use the bridge is because pedestrian bridges aren’t perceived as “safe” in the first place. Most of the times, the stairs are wobbly and seem to sag under one’s weight. The considerable empty space between one stair and the next also seems to be a bit too much.
“I have been a regular user of the pedestrian bridge at Shahrah-i-Faisal. But it is a frightening experience every day,” revealed Saira, a student whose school is around the bridge. “I am always afraid that the stairs or the bridge itself will give way under me. Even when I am on the bridge itself, the floor isn’t stable enough. No wonder there are only a few people really making use of that bridge.”
Another main issue doesn’t really have anything to do with the pedestrian bridges themselves, but is related to the demographics and characteristics of the individual. For instance, if someone has a phobia of heights, then it is unlikely that he/she will use the pedestrian bridge to cross the road. And there are many young people who do genuinely have that phobia.
Similarly, it is thought that the elderly people would also have a problem crossing the bridge as there are quite a number of stairs leading to them in the first place. But surprisingly, they are the more cautious lot, with the younger lot being more reckless and daring.
“My grandfather, who is of age, uses the metal pedestrian bridge to cross the road, but would definitely prefer to do it directly, because it gets very tiring for him. Following from a simple science explanation, metal has more gravity working on it than cement or stone, so while climbing the bridge only, he gets tired enough,” explained Javeria, a student of Karachi University.
Javeria, who herself is a regular user of pedestrian bridges at Nursery and Hyderi feels that bridges can sometimes be a source of embarrassment not to mention untimely injuries. “I have slipped twice while getting off these bridges. Believe me, slipping on the steps of a pedestrian bridge brings a lot of embarrassment together with a lot of bruises, sprained ankles, and broken backs,” she adds vehemently.
An interesting point to note is that when there is a railing dividing the two sides of the roads, almost everyone uses the pedestrian bridge. The bridge in front of the Federal Urdu University is a case in point. That bridge is almost always crowded and of course, this is not to undermine the fact that the students are socially aware that they must cross the road using the pedestrian bridge. However, one cannot help but notice the divider between the two roads which means that crossing it on foot is futile, as one wouldn’t be able to get on the other side anyway.
In spite of the problems, one cannot deny the importance of pedestrian bridges. There are periodic announcements by the city nazim that more bridges will be constructed, and one can easily see quite a few bridges under construction in different parts of the city. This is of course welcome news to a sizable majority that plays safe and doesn’t make an issue of crossing the pedestrian bridges.
People who do not seem to realise their importance do have a point, but at the end of the day, it is advisable to use something that has been constructed for your convenience only, even if you have to spend some extra time or effort doing so.
It was a typical wedding being held in the middle of June. Guests were jam packed in a lawn. Apparently, the hosts had underestimated the number of people that might turn up. The result was that members of the groom’s family arrived to find no empty chairs for them to sit. Without missing a beat, they cheerfully made for the stage and sat down on the sofas. Others perched themselves up on the tables, for dinner was a long way from being served. With the temperature already soaring, the multitude of people made the heat all the more difficult to stand.
To add to the confusion, the electricity went out. The entire hall plunged into darkness. One would have expected the generator to start functioning immediately, but apparently it was a low-budget hall, and consequently it took some time before power was restored. Till then, one can only imagine the chaos which reigned, with children crying out for their parents, and harrowed guests groping their way around tables and chairs, trying to find their way around.
The above was only one of the many anecdotes which are the hallmark of weddings held in the summer. As it so happens, the summer season is more of a pre-Ramazan season, so loads of families cram in as many weddings as they can. At an average, one family might have two to three weddings to attend each summer. And if there is a wedding in the family, then it might take up the whole summer.
Summer weddings have their own issues. From venues to timings, and from menus to power failures, there are some things which are an inevitable part and parcel of summer weddings only.
We’ll start off with food —an integral part of most weddings. When it comes to deciding the menu, very few families actually take the weather into account. The fact that some food items are suitable in summers, whilst others are more appropriate for a winter wedding, is quite true. Unfortunately, you easily find families choosing the traditional greasy biryani and fried fish as a summer wedding meal, whereas, a Chinese menu would be lighter, more sensible option.
Of course, the fact also remains that at most weddings, dinner is served really, really late. Eating a hefty amount of heavy food at such an unearthly hour can easily lead to indigestion the next day. When asked, teenagers had much to say on this issue.
“I suffered indigestion once as I ate two whole plates of biryani, and there were other dishes too which I definitely tried. Yes, the menu at weddings should be light considering the heat,” said Taha Baig, an O’ level student.
“I’ve suffered from indigestion many times from the food at weddings,” complained Zeenat Razvi, an O’ level student. “Sometimes it’s because of eating so late, but other times I think it’s because of the dodgy food itself. But I do think the menus at weddings should be light considering the heat. It also depends on the kind of food. Some heavy food items taste good, others less so. It all depends upon your taste buds really.”
Zainub Razvi, her sister, had a different take on the issue. “Indigestion from wedding food, in my opinion at least, is a result of either overeating (which is very common in our society, especially when you get food at 1:00 am, by which time you’re starving), or because the food has gone bad (either because of the excessive heat, or because it got contaminated, which is not uncommon, given the standards of hygiene prevalent in our society).”
When it isn’t food, it’s the phenomena of dressing up. This may sound quite interesting, but many girls are simply not willing to have their weddings in the summers because putting on layers of makeup, and dressing up in designer clothes becomes a trial in itself, with the rising temperatures. And obviously, telling such girls to tone things down is an exercise in futility.
However, even female guests don’t really seem too bothered, considering how overdressed most of them are for the occasion, anyway. But, the normal folks who find nothing fascinating about dressing up, and promptly being drenched with sweat, wear light clothes to weddings, and they are therefore the object of much disdain among the ever-gossiping aunties. Yes, it’s a wonder how people don’t have anything better to do with their time.
Moving away from aunties and their gossip, summer brings with it the monsoons. And rain. Rain is one of the best ways of jazzing up a totally boring wedding, but the fact remains that it can totally ruin things for the families concerned. It so happens that many families choose to hold weddings in open spaces because of the heat, and the next thing you know, the guests, as well as all the furniture, is drenched.
Zainub Razvi narrated the following incident: “Last year, we went to a wedding of some distant family friends. It was fairly early in the summer, and the monsoons weren’t expected, so the event was arranged in a massive outdoor park, covered with net-like overhead covering. But suddenly it started raining, and before we knew it, it turned from a harmless drizzle, to quite heavy downpour. As the rain got heavier and heavier, panic set in. Many guests started leaving in a hurry without even having the food in order to avoid being completely soaked. Unfortunately I don’t know what happened eventually because we also left once it started raining that heavily,” she concluded.
But it’s not all that bad. The greatest advantage of summer weddings is that if there is a wedding in your own family, you can enjoy it to the full as there is no worrying about homework or assignments or projects. There is definitely no hassle of going home and getting into bed early so that you can make it to your educational institute in time the next day.
Fizza Hassan, an O’ level student agrees. “Summer weddings are good in a way because the late night weddings do not affect us. We can spend the next morning sleeping, and we can stay at the bride/groom’s place and have lots of fun.”
Considering what a late affair weddings in Pakistan usually are, it is no surprise then that if they are held in summers, it is actually a convenience for the younger guests, not to mention that their mothers also remain more at ease.
Overall, summer weddings can become more bearable as well as enjoyable, if families pay attention to minute details like holding weddings in halls/lawns which have proper generators and a good overhead covering. Light menus for food items are a definite plus, not to mention punctuality to ensure people don’t have to eat late at night. Till then, we will be simply “braving” the wedding, instead of “enjoying” it.
Ok, so you have decided that you want to write for a publication. You have loads of ideas and you can’t wait to sit in front of your PC, sort out those ideas and get those creative juices flowing.
But, wait a second! Are you just going to write something at random, and then search for a publication to submit it to? That’s not such a good idea. When you’re a freelancer the best approach towards writing is: write for a publication. Even when you’re thinking out ideas, you must have a certain publication in mind. So how do you come to know so much about different publications in the market and the kind of stuff they publish?
The basic question to ask yourself in this regard is: have you actually done a thorough study of the publication(s) that you want to write for? Or is it that you saw a certain publication on a newsstand, got attracted to the name and cover and decided to write for them? To ensure that you give the editor something worth publishing, it is always a good idea to study a publication thoroughly before sending something to be considered for publication. And this is one of the main tasks which will give you a very thorough and accurate idea of the different publications that are out there in the market and the material they publish.
Here are some different ways in which you can carry out such a study:
1) Subscribe to the publication: If you don’t already get that publication at your home, then it is a good idea to subscribe to it. Or if that isn’t possible, you can try to purchase a few back issues or get them from the library. You must have a few issues in hard copy.
2) Visit the publication’s official website: Some websites carry full text material of the contents of the publications, while others carry only a brief outline of the articles published. You can get a print-out of some of the issues’ contents if you cannot lay your hands on any copy of the publication.
3) Read carefully: Once you have laid your hands on the publication, the next step is to go through it. If you are seriously interested in writing for a publication, then you must read it carefully. Flipping through or reading only the by-lines and summaries will not help in any way.
4) Notice the different sections of the publication: If you simply cannot read everything, then look at the different sections which the publication has been divided into, and go through the ones which appeal to you. For instance, you may be very good at writing poems and so you may want to look at the poetry section. If you want to write reviews, you can go through the reviews section.
5) Note the topics: Once you have selected your section, the next step is to look at the different topics. If you are looking at the reviews section, you may notice which type of books, movies and websites have been reviewed. Are the books bestsellers or latest releases or classics? Are the movies those which have recently been premiered? Are websites related to a specific issue, or you can review fun websites as well? If you are looking at the articles section, you may want to note down things like whether or not articles are fiction or non-fiction, time-specific (related to Earth Day or various “Days” which are celebrated) or issue-specific (related to current news items like cricket or natural disasters).
6) Write down the guidelines: It is always advisable that you jot down some of the points you have discovered while going through your favourite section. You can later compile them to form your own writer’s guidelines. You can add or delete from these guidelines as you study successive issues. In fact that is precisely why you should study a number of issues rather than relying on one.
7) Look for official guidelines: Some publications have their own guidelines — this may include the email address to send the work to, the details you must supply when you’re submitting anything and/or any other things you need to take care of. Include this in your writer’s guidelines as well.
8) Sample writer’s guidelines: Here is an outline of some important details your writer’s guidelines must contain:
a. Section name
b. Topics covered
c. Possible new topics
d. Approve outline from the editor?
e. Word limit (approximate)
f. Email address to submit the work
g. Details to give when submitting work
Finished? Now you are ready to write down your article or outline. Keep those guidelines in front of you as you go to your PC and begin writing. Best of luck.
I-mood A really fun titbit to put on your blog in a virtual mood. Yes, you can show your visitors how you are feeling at the moment by creating an account at http://www.imood.com and selecting a mood (anxious, depressed, relaxed, elated) plus an emoticon to go with it. You can change the mood daily or weekly, depending on how it changes. Hence if you are not in a good mood, your visitors will be forewarned not to incense you further.
Blog Linker http://www.bloglinker.com features a very useful titbit to create a mutual link exchange between yourself and your visitors. This simple tool allows your visitors to add their link to be displayed on your blog and in return, if they use this tool as well, their blog will link back to you. A hassle-free method of generating some extra traffic, the website has a FAQ section for troubleshooting. Both of the above websites will give you the relevant HTML code to insert in your blog’s template for the two titbits to show up.
With reference to the article “Steps to Good Writing” I’d like to add a few pointers to those who aspire to contribute, freelance to different magazines and newspapers:
1) It is always advisable to discuss your ideas with the editor of the publication first. It may happen that you do extensive research and write a really good article only to find out that it isn’t really the type of stuff that that particular publication publishes. So unless a publication specifies that it will never reply personally to emails, you can send in a brief outline of your article and start working only if the editor approves it.
2) Make sure that you read various magazines/newspapers before submitting anything to them — this will give you a very good idea as to the kind of stuff they publish, the different sections they have, their guidelines and most importantly, the address/email address to which you have to send in your work. Some publications have different email addresses for different sections and if that is messed up, your contribution will never be read.
3) When you are sending your article as an attachment it is always a good idea to specify in the body of the email: the title of your article, and the section of the publication for which you think that article is suitable. An editor once pointed out to me that they are a bit wary of opening attachments so if you take care of these little details there is more of a chance that your attachment will be opened and read.
While watching “Mastermind India” and “University Challenge” on BBC World, ever wondered where Pakistan comes in the picture with similar competitions? Nowhere! But not anymore. The Asian Management Institute/IQRA University organized a “Young Mastermind” Competition, which spanned for months in the effort to select and crown a Young Mastermind amongst 200 plus students from all over Karachi.
In the first round, the participants sat for a written test in English, Mathematics, IQ and General Knowledge. The top 50 scorers in that test qualified for the next round, which was group discussion. The participants were divided into groups and each was given a different topic to have an open discussion in front of a panel of judges. The 10 people selected, qualified for the grand finale which was held in the Defence View Campus of the Iqra University. All 10 participants had been given a wide range of topics such as science, technology, current affairs, etc. on which they were to be questioned.
On the final day, each of the ten participants was called on the stage in front of a panel of 10 judges. First, they had to give an introductory speech, outlining their plans for the future. Thereafter, each of the judges asked the participant a question relating to the topics given. All participants were to be judged on the relevancy of their answers, debating qualities as well as personality and grooming.
In the end, Madiha Saeed of DHA Degree College for Women was awarded the title of “Young Mastermind.” Ayesha Zehra Ali of Foundation Public School A’Level was given the second position while the third place went to Unaiza Ahsan, also of Foundation Public School A’Level. All the ten participants received some very lavish prizes sponsored by LG and National Foods.
