a. “Google+ settings” from the top right menu after going to your google plus page.
b. Click “Profile and Privacy” from the menu on your left.
c. In the “Google Profiles” section, click on “edit visibility on profile”. You wil be taken to a view of your profile by external people.
d. Right next to “Send a message” you will see an icon. Click that to make changes. Un-check the “Allow people to send you a message from your profile” and select “only you” (or any other combination that you prefer) in the area below.

Done!

Its been a while since someone has asked my blog URL despite the fact that I did tell in advance that my blog is dormant.

So i know you will read this, and this goes out to you….a new beginning maybe…now that I have time to think more, read more, rant maybe…. I do not know what I will do next…where the ball ends up landing, red, black, odd, even…what i shall make….what i shall lose. But i now know i am free….for how long though, that is yet to be discovered.

one of my biggest problems is being free…..i just cant remain idle….and while i was looking forward to moving on….the fact that i dont know what i will do now…is a bigger shock that is going to hit me….and after 2 days of nothingness….ill be begging for something to do…hint to all of you out there….

till i see you again…have a wonderful time all around.

When this so called shift happens, we undergo a seperation between our concious and subconcious selves, its like a person, with a single mind and body, yet split into two spirits. Fact is, you can split everthing else but the spirit. But who gives a fuck about facts. My world, my views, my way. I dont care if you agree or not.

You tend to undergo certain introspective moments, times that we want to be alone to ourselves and away from everyone and everything as we know. Times you wish the world would bloody well stop spinning, that the wind froze, that time stopped passing by, that things remained static, till you saw yourself come back.

And then, when the dust settles, you see whats left, where you are, where you should be, and then you realize, that in all the time that has passed, that in all that time, you have been waiting, silently waiting. You realize that you are close, yet far. Sometimes too close, yet very far at the same time and when everythings seems perfectly normal, serene, calm and cool, you are always, always, one step too far.

1 – Go to “wikipedia.” Hit “random… Read More”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 – Go to “Random quotations”
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3 – Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 – Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.
5 – Post it it. And if you are reading this, you are tagged!

It is not the disturbance that bothers me most, it is the state of not know what it is…not knowing what to do, not knowing where to be, and not knowing what to think.

To be lost in the moment and enjoying time as it comes has become rare. To look sensible and put up with things, life and people around me is more a farce than it is reality at times.

I have this weird desire for silence, for peace and nothingness around me. It is as if i want to just take a step out of my body and for a moment just look at what goes on, how things are, how people are, maybe just fix things to whatever extent I can and then just vanish. I feel less. Lesser and lesser of me with the passing days and moments in time. The shadows of the walls around me fail to hold back the sun, and in the open, there is no sun. The day is now the night.

Things that I want to say, cannot be said, what I want to do, cannot be done, what I want to be, just cannot be.

I feel like I am cheating my family, my friends into saying that things are fine, that I am fine, for I am not. For I have never been. Criminally insane, in perpetual disdain.

A slow rot eats into me skin, my flesh, succumbing, my mind, eroding, my thoughts, just flowing, disappearing, maybe evaporating. My life, just fading.

He died the year before. She didnt know, she still doesnt know, but knows that if he still lived, he would have been there for her, with her, holding her as they stood atop the cliff, breaking the continuity in the breeze, peacefully.

She knows from his words that he is no more. He wrote to her once that he would be amongst the thousand or so men that would probably confess their love to her in her lifetime. He would be the only one, if only one person did so, but if she was ever alone, afraid, broken, he would have been dead.

I have, somewhat decided to slightly move out of my shell and actually start practicing something that I have been a great advocate of.

I have always been in favour of using blogs etc to spread ideas, views and exchange many things that might come across to all of us.

Today i have purchased a new domain name, and with time, I will, with some help from friends, evolve it into a site aimed at ideas and interaction.

All the best to all of us!

There are times in our lives when we are faced with challenges, questions and conditions that require the firmest of our human courage, strength and discipline. Times when we, human mortals are trusted by our own kind, and those who that hold a special place in our hearts and minds.

In a professional and personal capacity I go through situations everyday when I am required to share my views, opinions and maybe allow someone to trust me. Today I was asked of an opinion, which was maybe too great for me to explain. When happiness and lives hang in balance, and at one hand there is a friend who you care dearly about, on the other, is the strength and courage required to be completely objective and fair and insightful.

To be trusted to that extent is a painful experience, but a pain that is taken with a hit of sense of pride, of being honoured, and to a even greater extent, a degree of fear. The fear of misleading, a fear of destroying the hopes, dreams and ideals of those that you care about.

I am, maybe not ready for a challenge of this sort, but with what limited knowledge and understanding I have, I gave my views, afraid. I am still afraid. I am still nervous, confused, maybe a bit shaken at the extremity at the fairness and impartiality required. The weight on my shoulders is tying me down. I feel heavy, my back, my head, my senses, failing me.

Such is the privilege of trust, such is the honour due to a friend.

I hope, I pray, that I still hold your trust.

I hope, I pray, that you live your dream, and in the best way possible for us.

Forgive me.

Every political party claims to be the most popular one and
claim to have anywhere between 60-100% of the total vote bank in a particular constituency.
An interesting yet disturbing facet is that the nation and election commission
is in a weird fix. “Heads I win, tails you lose” seems to be the stance of all
political parties. Some are warning of “consequences” which keeping in view the
recent unfortunate events, means strings of violent days. Thankfully most areas
will be well guarded, but miscreants will still look for chances to create
trouble. We can only wait to see what happens; and by the time you read this,
it will all hopefully be over.

Taking a step back, what surprises me is how political
parties and the media have projected democracy in the first place. Democracy
indeed means a system of government that is set up through the wishes of the
people. But people need to be empowered to make the decisions in the first
place. Contrary to how some human rights groups and TV channels tend to define
democracy, empowerment of the people does not mean taking them to a polling
station and making them go “eenie meenie minie mo” to place a rubber stamp on
an obscure picture which will result in a particular candidate gaining a vote.

The problem starts with the person deciding to vote. Many
things influence how a vote is cast. In our country, approximately 65% or more
of our country’s population lives in rural areas, which means they are in some
manner or the other, their lives are affected by the decision of some feudal
lord. So much for independence of opinion.

Coming back to opinions, assuming these people are free to
make their decisions completely, how would they go about doing it? What gives
democracy its power by definition is not the fact that we put up a leader of
our own choice, but also the fact that the leader is, at the end of it all,
accountable to their supporters. Democracy is a system in which people are
aware of their rights and powers and take liberty of that awareness to elect
leaders, live their lives and tackle injustice.

We are a nation with a literacy rate of something
optimistically in the 50% range at most. Literacy by the UN’s definition is the
ability to interpret alphabets and write one’s own name. Assuming a 25% rate of
completing basic schooling; we are still left with a very small number of
people who even understand their own rights (or even know what the word
constitution means).

Those that are capable are based mostly in the urban parts
of the country, which account for less than 30% of the seats in the national
assembly. What is weird about our electoral system is that despite voting for a
particular candidate, we as voters have no control over who we give power to.
We enable certain people who make deals and put someone else in power.

People living in rural areas have very simple sentiments.
They live in those areas; they deal with the landlords on a daily basis. They
toil their farms. Their lives are dependent on many of those feudal landlords.
How much independence and freedom of choice do these peasants have?

Another area that does cause concern, is that the
“registered voters” mostly constitute males. Why are voters not registered the
moment the NIC is issued? If being 18 makes a person eligible to vote, why is
voter registration essential on a secondary level?

It is surprising that many of these human rights groups,
media and international observers do not consider these facts before they rant
endlessly about how elections should be conducted in our country. I agree that
power should belong to the people, but with power comes responsibility, and the
a massive responsibility that is. We as a nation will never be able to shoulder
the burden of this immense power unless we start learning to accept our
mistakes and be accountable for it. Every politician blames his predecessors
for what went wrong and clearly sweep all responsibility to others.

Our leaders should learn how to lead, instead of taking
advanced courses of mudslinging.

People who aspire for power should not be “professional politicians”.
Countries should not be run by people who seek power and engage in a chess-like
game to make others look bad. Rather they should be people well versed with the
affairs of the state, the people, the laws, and our internal and external
obligations. Parties themselves should be democratic to start off with.

On another random note, in some rural areas, many people do
not even recognize the face of the Shaukat Aziz, Gen. Musharraf, Nawaz Shariff
or Benazir Bhutto. They only reason they actually recognize Quaid e Azam is
because his picture is prominent on our currency.

 Today, I have no option but to use this term, however, I hold my highest respects for others in the banking community.

 I decided to open my bank account today, since the month is drawing to an end, the company will need a means to deposit my salary.

 It turns out that I am dealing with MCB Bank, and after filling out the requisite paperwork and doing a million and 25 signatures at obscure places, I was informed that my account will be opened tomorrow…i.e. the next working day.

 Why I asked, and I was informed that my NIC will be required to be verified from NADRA (the issuing authority here). Seems logical, only it has already been verified a gazillion times.

Plus, I need to pay 10,500 as a minimum deposit amount and when I told them I already had a relationship with their branch in clifton, they tell me they don’t really care and that all info will have to be re-verified and I will still need 10,500 minimum.

Why on earth? Would the person who makes these banking policies please atleast keep consumer convenience in view?

Oh did I mention? I need to pay 250 to close the account too if I wish to. (which might be needed because I dont’t see the point in keeping floating balances to the tune of 10,000 in each account just to meet their conditions).

 MCBC bank indeed!