Misconceptions About Life in the UK

A week ago, I obtained my UK driving license. It's tough to get one. But it's not the toughest thing that I have came across since I came here 1.5 years ago.

The three biggest fallacies about life in the UK for me have been:

Fallacy 1: British speak English and their accent is what we hear on BBC.

Nothing can be far from truth than this one. British speak in all kinds of accents incomprehensible to an outsider. The truly shocking one for me is the Cockney accent, and the one that I have to live with is the Yorkshire one. Listen to some of the British (and a few other) accents by Amy Walker in the following video and you'll know what I mean.

Fallacy 2: Britain is an expensive country to live in.

Wrong! Britain is an extremely (read "prohibitively") expensive country to live in. The basic tax rate is 20%. It raises to 40% as soon as you cross (approx.) £35,000 per annum salary (which is merely a "good" salary for middle class in my opinion), and it goes up to 50% as soon as you enter the £150,000 onwards bracket.

Let's compare the price of the recently launched Kindle Fire HD in the UK and the US. Intuitively, they should be priced approximately the same; isn't it?

The price of Kindle Fire HD 7" is £159 for the 16 GB model (source: amazon.co.uk [1]). The same is available for $199 in the US (source: amazon.com [2]). It's the same company selling the same product and the difference in price is 55 US Dollars! Why!!

It's not just the Kindle; almost everything is more expensive in the UK than the US. Compare the tax system and you can readily see the difference---the lowest and highest income brackets in the US put the tax at 10% and 35% respectively; in contrast it's 20% and 50% in the UK!

Fallacy 3: If you know how to drive, you can pass your driving test after taking a few driving lessons.

It's really tough to get one. Three attempts to pass a driving test is pretty common. Leeds (Harehills) has a pass rate of just 28% [3]. 

There has been one lady who has failed the test 90 times [4]! Yes, it's not a typo, she has failed the test 90 times! I am happy that I passed in my second attempt.

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[1] Kindle Fire HD on amazon.co.uk

[2] Kindle Fire HD on amazon.com

[3] UK Driving Test Pass Rates

[4] Woman fails driving theory test 90 times

A Year in the UK

It's been over a year now. Several things have changed, and it's best to categorize the positive and negatives to analyse the overall impact. And the analysis is important to steer life in the right direction, irrespective of the amount of control we have on our lives.

I would like to rate the impact of moving to the UK in various areas on a scale of -3 to +3 where -3 indicates that something has been a complete disaster and +3 indicates that something was so good that I "couldn't have asked for more".

Personal Level

I work only 7.5 hours a day. None of my office colleagues contacts me outside work hours. I never check my email when I am not in office. And I walk to office---it takes 7 minutes. Isn't that amazing?

On a personal level, more than myself, my family got several opportunities to live life in a meaningful way. My wife started working as a volunteer with the local council, and got a chance to explore things on her own. Our daughter has been seeing a child-minder 3 days a week, for 5 hours each; she has started picking up English as an additional language, and has gotten involved in creative activities which wouldn't have been possible in the Pakistan. Overall, I would rate the changes at personal level as +2.

Financial Aspect

Financially, it has been almost a disaster, especially considering the fact that I had been doing very well in financial terms back home. A huge amount of money has been spent in UK entry visas and more will be spent this year in getting an extension; additional expenses have been borne related to travelling and settling down.

The income tax starts at 20% for basic pay, and goes to 40% for most of the highly skilled professionals. The highest bracket is 50% for people earning more than £100,000 per year. Whatever is left is taken up by city council as the council tax, BBC as TV license fee, UK Border Agency as visa fee, and insurance guys in various "mandatory" insurance schemes.

I would rate my financial standing as a -2.

Health and Safety

Perhaps this alone was the sole reason for temporarily leaving the homeland. Compared to Pakistan, I would have rated life in the UK as +3 but the fact is that it's been less than ideal mainly due to lack of leading an active life style (in terms of working out, running, etc.). However, there are lots of positives, and some of the changes are amazing: I have much lesser head-ache; I no longer have Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI); I am generally in much better health.

When I buy something to eat I know that the expiry date is correct, and the ingredients are really what's written on the wrapper. It feels immensely bad that I can't say the same for Pakistan; not even for life-saving drugs and children vaccines.

Overall, my rating here is +2.

Career

Nothing extra ordinary career-wise, however. The plus side has been an experience of working in a mature economy. It has taken me a good 1 year to understand what the British work values really are; how the economy works for the common man. I would rate it as a 0.

Experience

Rare things that happen in your life impart you the most knowledge. I have stated it earlier that the amount of knowledge obtained from an event is inversely proportional to the frequency of its occurrence. Life has been truly enriching, and I would rate it as +3.

Overall Score

So the overall score is +2-2+2+0+3 = 5 on a scale of {-15, 15}. Perhaps, not bad but certainly much less than ideal.

Thirty!

Today, I turn 30. When I was a teenager, I thought of 25 years to be the ideal age (as in the most enjoyable time) in one's life. The rationale was that, at the age of 25, one has completed his studies; should have a reasonable job (at the least a car, a rented apartment and some cash balance); should be independent in making his decisions; and should have earned a good name amongst the people around him/ in his field. Aah...my 25 was much different than I thought.

Later in the years, when I realized that life is a rat race, I made a decision to drop out of this race. But the transition had to be gradual---as lots of people depend on you as you grow older, and especially so if you get married. So, another life milestone was set to 30 years of age---the time when I should stop worrying about day to day issues, and start looking at life in a broader perspective---a time when I should stop worrying about survival and start thinking about "leaving an impact on the world around me."

And here I am, at 30, still not too far away from where I started. I may have made all the wrong decisions (wrong in terms of doing weird things with career and life) but let the form not deceive you. The actions of a jaywalker might appear wrong but if there is a reason for jaywalking, the whole world should stop and let the jaywalker cross the road.

Things I rejoice about the last 5 years are:

• I finished my Masters from Sweden in 2005
• I worked for a year in Dubai in 2006---I experienced what being in presales meant, and I also successfully closed a completely disastrous project---the project was kind of a nightmare which I survived.
• I visited several Middle Eatern countries in 2006.
• I later learned driving, and bought my frst car in 2007.
• I got married in 2007.
• I visited Malaysia in 2008, and loved this country; if there is one place where I would like to spend my post-retirement life, it's Malaysia.
• I was blessed with a daughter in 2009. I named her Sakina Ali.
• I perfomed Hajj in 2009 along with my parents.

And finally, it might not be obvious but I have a plan. As they say about Noah Bennet in Heroes, "you are supposed to be the man with a plan."

So, here is a formal announcement of the transition from "the jaywalker" to "the pied piper." Follow me.

Was sitting on a wall, and now having a great fall; who am I?

I am still in Bahrain and don't know when I'll go back home. The last two and a half years have let me set foot in Gothenburg/ Stockholm, Oslo, Skagen (Denmark), London, Sheffield, Dubai/ Abu Dhabi, Doha (Qatar), Kuwait and lately in Bahrain. Every place is very different from the other. Dubai, for example, amazes me with how much its residents are impressed by the construction going around them -- which they have little to contribute to. Bahrain, as another example, amazes me when I see hordes of Saudis driving into it every weekend. There are many interesting things about Bahrain. Chan'ad Bahraini and Bandar Gate Scandal could be a good start to know more about the politics of the country.

The year is about to end. Amongst the targets for this year, I have achieved only the following: got a driving license & saved more money then I spent on my education in Sweden. What I couldn't achieve includes learning Arabic, arranging a trip of the family to Dubai and of course, being a better human being.

Somehow, I feel that it's time to move ahead with life. Where to? I don't know. I need to re-analyze my priorities. By the way, The Rhythm of Life is a nice book. Get hold of it.

An Eid in Dubai

Officially, Eid in Dubai was on Monday, the 23rd. The Shia community celebrated it on Tuesday (24th), instead, claiming that the others had missed one day of Ramadan by starting the holy month a day earlier and not following the moon properly. In Pakistan, there were claims for each of the three days - 23rd, 24th and 25th! Amid all this confusion, I preferred to stay in Dubai for I had got hold of a car.

The first thing one does after getting an employment visa in Dubai is to open up a bank account. The second goal is to get a driving license, which according to some people, can be quite challenging. For me, it was even more challenging because I had to learn to drive from scratch. Somehow, I got my driving license on my second attempt, but I couldn't get a car uptil now. Whenever I was about to start looking, I had to go out of Dubai for some official work. At last, one of the colleagues had rented out a car here, and since he was going to Pakistan on Eid, I got hold of his car.

This turned out to be a good decision as I shall not be able to buy a car in November as well. I am leaving for Bahrain for a month, insha Allah.

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Meanwhile, there are two interesting Dubai based blogs: A Secret Arabian Journal and Secret Dubai Diary. Grapeshisha is another worth visiting website.

A Get-Together

I am in Karachi once again. It's an official trip to discuss the roadmap/ integration of a few of our products.

Meanwhile, I got a chance to organize a dinner for FAST 2000, last night. The venue was Pizza Hut (Tariq Road) and the timing was 9:30 pm; though people were awaited till 10:15pm (that's still pretty decent by Pakistani standards).

It was fun. At the least, I had some pretty good time after a long gap. The following members were present: Salman Kasbati, Yours Truly, Faizan aka Dexter, Umar Siddiqi, Ali Safri, Sarfaraz, Imran Gaya and Cassim Bharoocha.

Just for the sake of letting everyone know, Imran Gaya is at State Bank; Umar Siddiqi at TPS (Business Development); Faizan @ UBL (product manager of mortgages); Ali Safri and Sarfaraz are senior software engineers :) at PWC Logistics working for Pakistan Customs; Salman is at LMKR Karachi and Cassim is at Metropolitan Bank working as an IS Auditor. Surprisingly, many of us have to do with banking in one way or the other.

The most interesting part was the conversation b/w Dexter and Umar; ranging from the usability of Nokia 1100 to "Winning" by Jack Welch. We are very happy to find someone who can handle Dexter.

But within these lighter moments, I learned a lot as well from Dexter's remarks on Basel II to Imran Gaya's recommendation "The World is Flat." You guys rock.

Work, RSI and UAE

Recently a friend showed concern if I was alive. I wish I didn't have to devote that much time to work. Actually, I do get some free time everyday but I don't want to spend that punching keys on the keyboard, i.e., replying to emails, updating this blog or working on the many volunteer projects I had opted for.

I have developed Repetitive Strain Injury; something I was suffering from before leaving for Sweden. But studies had the good affect of keeping me away from my computer. I'm back to work and thus, back to RSI as well.

For the sake of completion, here is Dubai's Dark Side.

Chalo Chalo Dubai Chalo!

I am now in Dubai, once again with Avanza Solutions, working in close relationship with the Financial Division of NCR here.

People rightly say that Dubai is overflowing with money. There is construction going on everywhere. High speed cars and skyscrapers make it very different from the peaceful city of Gothenburg, where I spent the last 1.5 years. Property prices and apartment rents have risen sharply. Many people living on rented apartments in Bur Dubai are now considering subletting a room. Many other are moving to Sharjah. This, however, means going at snail pace in the morning hours to office due to the huge traffic, and same for the evening. It usually takes people more than an hour to reach office in Bur from Sharjah and even more if the office is located in Dubai Internet City or Jabel Ali.

The next major goal of life: I have to find an apartment to live!

The Journey Continues...

I have reached where I belong but the stay might not be a long one. In two weeks I have visited places as far away as Khorwa (Tando Muhammad Khan), Lahore, Peer Mahal (Toba Tek Singh), Chunian (Qasoor) and Gunda Singh (Indian border at Ferozpur Road). If I had time, I would have gone to Islamabad and Kashmir as well. I am back in Karachi now.

Things are only a little different. The media and friends had given me an impression that a lot has changed in 1.5 years. While most of it turned out to be true but a major part of it is just hype---progress that won't be able to sustain itself unless infrastructure is developed and more importantly, there is change in attitudes.

There is a lot to do and a lot to say. I leave it for the coming weeks.

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In side news,

• Umar Siddiqi got engaged with Unaiza Nasim. She was in PAF Degree College, Faisal in 1997. I'm sure she doesn't know me. A small world, isn't it?

Dreaming of the Homeland

I saw my parents visiting me in Sweden and as they were about to go back, I started crying. Just at that moment my phone rang and I had to wake up!

So, it was a dream. But where was the phone call from? Pakistan! It was my father--an unusual call at 7am. He enquired about my health and if everything was alright. "Yes," I said. He handed over the phone to my mother. She enquired about my health again. I told her that I just saw both of them as well as my grandmother in my dream. And she said that she had seen me crying in her dream! That's why they were calling me.

Miles away yet so close to each other!

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On a related note, I shall be leaving for Pakistan on 25th. Amongst friends,

• Humayoun has started his internship with Xerox, France.
• Rizwan Hussain Ravjani secured a gold medal in MBA program at CBM for the highest grade point average.

You guys are the best!

"You are research material!"

Somewhat similar was the feedback after my presentation. I was flattered but I know that I am not worthy of the praise. The presentation itself didn't go very well because of several reasons: Firstly, it was quite a technical presentation where even a slight slip of tongue could mean several different things; secondly, it would have been very boring for the people who didn't have sufficient background in Dynamic Logic and preferably KeY; thirdly, telling simple things to people who have already spent their life in the field is stupid as well. A good presentation would have required me several iterations of rehearsal (recording and replaying each one of them to see what could be improved, which is of course infeasible). I am glad that it's over.

Perhaps, what was impressive for the professors was the amount of work and the complexity of the problem itself. It seems that students are not used to working a lot here because I think I worked one fourth of what I usually do (only if I could motivate myself enough) and yet they were very happy.

I was told to reconsider my decision to go back to the industry instead of choosing research as my career. I don't think I'll change my decision but I must say that the Formal Methods Group at Chalmers consists of some of the nicest people I know. This could be a dream team for anyone interested in research in practical applications of logic.

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I'll stop updating the blog with such stories and think more about writing something useful from now on, since I am a bit relaxed.

On Fellow Human Beings

I saw an ad in Swedish on the department's notice board a few days ago. When translated to English it meant something like, "I need help with Haskell. If you are very good in Functional Programming, I can pay you upto 150 kr per hour."

I was desperately in need for money and the offered money was approximately Rs. 1100/- an hour. Despite the fact that I am not good at Functional Programming and my Swedish is not better than George Fulton's Urdu, I thought of contacting the person. It turned out that she had failed the course exam 9 times.

I feel sorry for people who want to be successful in something yet there is some fundamental problem with their approach. With individual attention, they can succeed - just if somebody is there to guide them. I find it interesting that in this culture of pubs and discoes, there is someone struggling with a course and nobody is there to help her.

There would be many people in a similar situation around you and you could easily be their savior. Why do we put in day and night with an intention to become as famous as Alonzo Church or Alan Turing with sheer brute force, when there are friends/ colleagues whose lives would change just with a little help?

But there is another face to this picture. There are people who can be quite troublesome: When I was in Karachi, I once received a phone call at 1 am from a friend in England, asking me to do a programming assignment for him, which he had to submit in the morning. I refused. He said the he would fail the course and I told him that he MUST fail. He was not pleased, of course.

So, who is genuinely in need for help? Somebody who fails again and again but doesn't let it go as well as somebody who is suffering from health or financial problems. I quote from a talk on "Major Threats to Humanity" by Dr. Inayatullah, reported by Dawn:

... 1.3 billion people survive on less than one dollar a day and 840 million people go hungry when alleviation of income poverty needs roughly $80 billion — less than the combined net worth of world’s seven richest men.

I am not sure if the statistics of Dr. Inayatullah are accurate because if you combine the wealth of just two of the US wealthiest, it amounts to $91 billion. But a more shocking statement is, "Around 30,000 people in the world die every day because they are too poor to stay alive."

مرزا

یوں تو میرے دوستوں کی تعداد اب اتنی بڑھ چکی ہے کہ میری یاداشت کا ایک خاصہ حصہ صرف ان کے ناموں پر مشتمل ہے، مگر ان دوستوں میں مرزا کو ایک نمایاں مقام حاصل ہے۔ مرزا کی خصوصیت یہ ہے کہ میں اس سے نو سال سے واقف ہوں مگر جاننے کا دعوی میں اب بھی نہیں کر سکتا۔ شاید مرزا کو خود بھی علم نہیں ہے کہ وہ ایسا کیوں ہے۔

حال ہی میں مرزا اور میری بات چیت ایم۔ایس۔این پر ہوئی۔ وہ کراچی میں اور میں سویڈن میں تھا۔

مرزا: علی بھائی ! میں نے مو بائل فون لے لیا ہے۔
میں: کیا بات ہے! مبارک ہو۔
مرزا: انٹرنیشنل رومنگ ہے۔
میں: ہوں۔
مرزا: کمپنی کے خرچے پہ۔
میں: ہوں۔

اس کے بعد مرزا نے مجھے اپنا کراچی کا نمبر دیا اور میں چونکہ فارغ تھا، میں نے اسی وقت اس کو کال کیا۔ خیر اسے حیرت بھی ہوئی اور خوشی بھی۔ تھوڑی دیر بعد ہم پھر چیٹ پر تھے۔

مرزا: علی بھائی ایک بات بتائیں۔
میں: پوچھو؟
مرزا: یہ میرے پاس انٹرنیشنل رومنگ ہے، صرف اس لیے ہماری بات ہو سکی ہے نا؟

Google Code Jam 2005

I have become interested in puzzles and problem solving. A few days ago, a friend emailed me details of Google Code Jam; the registration of which is closing today.

I tried the practice tests and got ranked at 113 out of 1000 participants after solving 1 of 3 problems. I have to do 2 more but I feel very tired for that.

In fact, the last 800 coders have 0 score (it might be that they have not attempted any problem at all?) while the top coders have astonishing scores. The speed at which the top coders have solved the problems is more than average earthling's typing speed, i.e., even if an average typist already knows the solutions, he can't type that fast. Or it might be that they have cheated by solving the problems once and then re-registering with a different id; then, you just need to copy-paste your old solution.

At some point in time, I didn't like these competitions. I was always bad at coding against time or perhaps, I was afraid of losing. Now, the situation is very different.

But some people enjoy programming competitions! See Mansur's Trash Can, for example. I am trying to motivate myself to the level where I start enjoying such activity.

From Tower Bridge to the Chamber of Horror

I came back from London yesterday. It was wonderful; thanks to the hospitality of the friends. I stayed a few days with a batch-mate and a few other days with my ex-team lead. Shahid Suri, FASTian 97, was my immediate supervisor/ team lead in Avanza Solutions where we together wrote everything from eAI tools for banking to camera-based security solutions for ATMs. Hamid Shahid was my batch-mate. He is one of the toppers in our batch (grads of 2000) at FAST. Both are now working at The Logic Group.

Amongst hundreds of things that we discussed, the most prominent was the need or rather benefits and practicalities of starting one's own business.

I also met other batch mates: Atif, who is now a proud owner of a BMW, as well as Abbas and Faiz. All of these guys are doing freelancing in the UK alongside regular day time job. I also met Sarah Salahuddin who is currently a PhD student at the University of Sheffield.


I and Hamid, by River Thames (not shown in picture)

The most interesting thing that happened over there is our visit to the Chamber of Horror at Madame Tussaud. Faiz and I were roaming inside Madame Tussaud when we reached at the Chamber of Horror. "Scary on the left and Very Scary on the right," a worker instructed us. Being bold, as we thought we were, we made a queue on the right. I looked to the left and people with children were standing in the "just scary" queue. "Of course, how could they go to the very scary section with children," a thought came to me. Later, we observed that we were the only two in the very scary part. Hearts fainted a bit.

We entered the very scary section - it was a lightly lit passage with hanging statues of tortured people. There was occasional thunder and scary sounds as any one would expect before entering such a place. It was fine uptil that point. Just then we saw a girl with blood on her face, coming out of a dark corner. Faiz was behind me; he jumped and held tight to me. It was not a statue, rather an actor. I was a bit disturbed as well. She came close and said something which I couldn't understand; perhaps she just growled. She took a few steps back and climbed up a fence sort of structure. "What is yet to come could be worse," another thought struck me. I was reluctant to move forward. Meanwhile, Faiz clenched to me very tightly. The girl could see our situation and asked in the same scary voice, "Do you want to go out?" Both of us at once replied, "Yes!" She escorted us to an escape route.

We laughed a lot when we came out!

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It was loads of fun. I treasure my friendship with all of you.

Aqil Sajjad, Arslan Minhas, Hasan Amjad...

When I got my FSc. result (1997), I came to know that one of the position holders in the FA exam was actually blind; I could hardly believe that. Recently, a friend forwarded a link to BBC Urdu page. Aqil Sajjad is doing PhD in Physics from Harvard University and he is totally blind. I think he is the same guy. Some people's determination is enough to put me to shame - especially because of the way I (mis-)manage time and other resources.

Then I came to know that Arslan Minhas (ex-Engineering Manager Clickmarks/ gold medalist NED University) is working as an intern in Microsoft Germany. When he left Clickmarks, they advertised the position and I got selected there. I didn't join, however. He left for Korea but later got Siemens scholarship and dumped Korea in favor of Technical University Hamburg, Germany. He is in the list of people whom I would like to meet.

Yesterday, a few students from KTH Stockholm met me. One of them has come for his Masters thesis in Ericsson and another one in a company working on SVGT (Scalable Vector Graphics Tiny - for mobile phones). An interesting thing is that students from Gothenburg looked for these kinds of thesis and couldn't get any, while students from Stockholm are coming to Gothenburg after getting this work. Though, personally I never tried for thesis in the industry, this whole situation makes me a bit sad.

To add fuel to the fire, yesterday, I searched for Pakistanis working in Formal Methods for Software and Mathematical Logic and I found out Hasan Amjad at the University of Cambridge.

Now, I feel pathetic, as if I am wasting my time, doing nothing. This feeling is good for me in fact because, as Pakistanis, we don't work hard unless there is some kind of competition/ comparison or threat. There are no "personal standards" of excellence as such.

Six months left; get, set, go!

Alpha Bravo Charlie

Adeel Suleman visited me this weekend. He has been in Copenhagen (Denmark) for the last 3 months for a project on behalf of his company.

I met him first time in 1991 when we moved from Lahore to Rawalpindi and I got admission in F.G. Sir Syed Boys' Secondary School, The Mall. That was 7th grade (I was 11 then) and we studied together till matriculation.

FG Sir Syed (as we used to call it) was one hell of a school. There were about 3500 students and being an FG school the fee was minimal - we used to pay Rs. 26.75 a month (and I actually paid a reduced fee, perhaps Rs. 16/-, as my elder brother was also studying there). As you can expect, the standard of education was horrible. But the competition was enough to keep us giving our best. There were about 400 students in 10th grade divided into 5 sections. Our section had 80 students and about 60 chairs, which meant some of us had to stand the whole day (or had to sit on the floor). We used to steal chairs from neighboring sections and then they used to come to us in search for their chairs.

Not only there was shortage of furniture, there was shortage of drinking water as well. There was only one water tank for 3500 students and on top of that they had this PTI who used to beat us with a stick if we drank water after recess. Of course, the water tank and the water itself were unhygienic.

One of the other regular features of our school was that some students bunked classes and used to go to video game shops or to a cinema in Pindi Saddar. The principal had a Suzuki Bolan in which he used to go and bring them back. Our teacher of Biology, for example, hadn't studied Biology himself. He had done FA and was preparing for BSc. There were countless other amusing things: I still believe that if you recorded a day's proceedings of the school, it would have been a hit TV serial.

Despite all of this, the fee as well as the location of the school were very attractive. Almost every middle-class family in Rawalpindi wanted to send their children to this school. This meant too much competition for us. In our section only, there were 5 students who competed for 1st position and an equal number for the later positions. Some of us were very jealous of others. We studied day and night to get more and more marks. Not only we had to compete amongst ourselves, a few students were sons of teachers and they used to get much more marks than they deserved.

There was Kamran Ashar Siddiqui who had got 1st position in Federal Board exams of 5th class and later got 2nd position in Federal Board in 8th class. He later joined PAF Academy Risalpur and became an Aeronautical Engineer - the most brilliant guy I know.

There was Usman who got 1st position in FSc exams in the entire Federal Board (which comprises of all the colleges in Islamabad, some in Rawalpindi, all Pakistan embassy colleges, all Fauji Foundation, Army Public, Bahria and PAF colleges anywhere in Pakistan and many other colleges). He was awarded a Gold Medal then. He later topped UET Taxilla as an Electrical Engineer.

Zubair Khalid got Gold Medal in Matric. He is now with Army Signals. Then there was yours truly who got 2nd position in Federal Board in FSc. General Science and later topped FAST ICS, Karachi.

And in this race was Adeel Suleman who graduated from FAST ICS, Islamabad and is now working in Pisigma.

Then there was a second lot who competed for the position after these 5: Abdus Sammad who is son of Col. Ashfaq Hussain (who wrote Gentleman Bismillah, Gentleman Alhumdo Lillah, Fatih-e-Suboona and he was the man behind Sunehray Din and Alpha Bravo Charlie with Shoaib Mansoor). He joined Army and last time I heard of him, he was fighting in Siachin. And then my elder brother, Akbar, who got medals and scholarship in BBA and MBA. He graduated from IBA and is now Sales Category Manager at Reckitt Benckiser. Salman Iqbal, Saqib Gillani; the list goes on and on...

We were all class mates!


Adeel and Me

I wonder how Adeel would have reacted if the professional jealousy were still between us. We discussed at length what we had been doing and what we plan to do next.

Are we still running for something without knowing where we will end up? Or do we see life in a bigger perspective?

آنکھیں دیکھتی رہ جاتی ہیں
سپنے دور نکل جاتے ہیں
اور سپنوں کا پیچھا کرنے والے
اپنے نام گنوا دیتے ہیں۔
کبھی الفا، کبھی براو، کبھی چارلی۔

(Theme Song of Alpha Bravo Charlie by Shoaib Mansoor)

Summer of 2005

I'm done with the exams. The result will be announced within two weeks. The only thing left is my thesis work and the final presentation. This will take at the least three months. Following is a hypothesized conversation:

You mean you will be holding a Masters degree in a few months?
Yups, baby!

But you don't know the ABC of computing!
That's a separate issue. And if I learn everything now, what good would be a PhD degree? (psst...that's only to impress you, I don't have any plans to become a PhD)

What do you plan to do next?
Same old coding...what I was doing before coming here.

Then why did you take all this pain to pursuit a graduate degree? It would have been better to do a certification in a programming language, perhaps C#.
Can't you see, I'm a changed man? I've studied in one of the very good universities of Europe and I've topped most of the courses in my program. I've secured the maximum possible grade in all the courses. I know what exactly the difference is between ours and their education; what exactly we are doing wrong; how academia helps industry; what is true research; how to read research papers; etc.

How does it effect you, your life or your future?
hm...I don't know. But you see, I have found out my own limitations! I've learnt to live alone! I've learnt to cook! I got time for silent meditation!

Have you learnt how to drive?
You ask too many questions. I'm off.

Alas, I couldn't find work for summer; nor do I have money to visit back home. This means that I'll have lots and lots of time to kill at my hands. You'll find some interesting things over here in the coming days.

For now, check these out: Urdu Word and I've Learned.

ragamuffin v4.0 aka the jaywalker

Almost a decade ago, a friend asked what the best time (as in age) in a person's life was. I replied, "25." He was surprised that I didn't say childhood. My opinion is that only those kids enjoy their childhood who are boisterous and have the previlige to act rude - they do what pleases them without caring what the elders say. But I was a "nice" kid. And I have always felt that being a kid is very hard; everybody is your boss.

As a teenager I used to think that being 25 would be the most enjoyable part of my life. After all, it's an age when one has finished his education; has a job; owns a car and perhaps even a house of his own, and above all he is independent - he could be a support for his parents!

Today I turn 25. But I have none of these. And after spending my savings, now I am shamelessly spending my father's pension in one of the most expensive countries of the world. My total assets are

• a laptop
• a few dozen books
• a few dozen CDs+DVDs
• 46 USD

Happy Birthday to me!

---

Too bad that you couldn't see, see the man that boy could be
There is more than meets the eye
I see the soul that is inside
(Sk8er Boy by Avril Lavigne)

And Life Moves On

We went to Oslo (Norway) on Thursday. The reason for selecting Oslo was that it was very cheap (220 SEK = $31 for Göteborg-Oslo return ticket via Säfflebussen). It was a trip of the poor/ students so you can guess that we avoided everything that would have made us pay money. We saw the Royal Palace, the Parliament and a military base. The first shock for me was that there was no border at all; not even a sign board. I've traveled a lot between Rawalpindi and Azad Kashmir; there at least we say "Welcome to Azad Kashmir" and Jehlum River acts as a natural boundary. And the other shock was that a military base was open for public; not the offices but the general area.

We came back the same day. Yesterday, I got result of the exams for the third term. I got 5's in all the courses, Alhumdo Lillah. This means full GPA in 3 terms, 8 courses. There are 2 courses/ one term left. Despite taking all these courses and working on some exotic stuff, I feel as if I haven't learnt anything. Since our undergraduate from FAST was of 3 years, it seems more like a 4th year of my undergraduate to me.

I topped Software Engineer using Formal Methods course and Reiner Hähnle congratulated me. I have almost decided my thesis to be based on Deductive Search for Errors in Free Data Type Specifications using Model Generation, which means that I need to study a lot, because at present I don't even know what a Free Data Type is.

Time runs too fast. Last term inspires me to make full use of my time, which I haven't been able to uptil now. Let's see. Today is the first day of the rest of my life.