Video: The pair of Peacocks and Frodo Baggins the Puppy:)

When we went to visit our aunt this spring, we met a beautiful pair of pet peacocks and a cute little puppy. Frodo the puppy was just a little baby, hardly a couple months old.
. He's so shy! He wanted to be with all the kids playing together, but only managed to lie in a corner and meekly observe the riot they created in the garden:D

        The peacocks on the other hand, refuse to stay in their very spacious cage and prefer to observe mankind from atop the neighbourhood's rooftops, only checking in occasionally to reinforce their status as residents of the house. They only came in for a couple minutes and I only had my camera phone on me….so apologies for the video quality…but their majesty had to be captured. So enjoy!

Is Domain Parking a fair means of Making Money?

The web money making community is ever expanding, with creative minds coming up with new, effective methods to improve advertising and trafficking, and consequently, increasing money making revenue. It must be admitted, that some of us come up with better solutions than others. However, sometimes, we need to step back and review whether our solutions fall within ethical criterion.

Domain parking is to register a domain, without placing any content on it, i.e., without developing it. This may be done for various reasons, for example, preserving a domain name for future use, preventing cybersqatting, etc.

A new trend is now being promoted: the monetization of parked domains. For domain owners who need to maintain ownership of their domain, perhaps this is not such a bad idea. While a page full of advertisements may be uninviting to a web surfer, it is perhaps better than a "page not available" error, and PPC will help pay the cost of maintaining the domain name.

However this idea, as any other positive idea, has begun to be misused, now that it is on the table. It is gaining popularity as a "make money without ANY effort" technique [that sucks right there] that actually works. So we have lots of people registering domains and leaving them undeveloped on purpose to fill them with nothing but advertisements that are in reality quite frustrating to the average user, who is browsing the web for useful information.

I believe if a domain owner really needs to maintain ownership rights, making the website relatively profitable should be a personal, not commercial, effort, to which he has every right; registration for the sole purpose of domain parking and earning 'easy money' seems undesirable and unethical.
Do you think such "monetized" domain parking should be stopped? If yes, how? and if not, why not?

Design your own signature outfit

All it takes is a little creative effort to design an outfit that says who you are. The way we dress is an important statement of our personality. While a neat and friendly outlook create a positive effect on the people we interact with, a unique touch in your outfit can often bias people with appreciation for your creativity and individuality. Here I will give you some ideas on how you can add a personal touch to your wardrobe.

• Many of us have a rich cultural background, and love it. If you want to flaunt your traditions, well do it! Its great to break away from the usual and do something new! To wear something not many people around you do. You can add flavour to these traditional dresses by mixing them with modern ideas. A classic example is the use of embroidered kurtis with fashionable pants in Pakistan.

• If you're feeling adventurous, you can add something from an entirely different culture, and mold it to your own taste. Examples are Kaftans embellished with stones, or a doch embroidered scarf or shawl on top of tie-and-die top and plain trousers. 

• Something I love to do is hand paint my casual dresses with my own designs, using fabric paints. It gives me more freedom to create diverse designs. Inspiration can be from everyday life, abstracts and patterns, or traditional designs--and that's up to you! You can even create a signature pattern that you can weave into all your designs. Mine manages to find its way into almost all my designs. Yours will too, if it really defines your taste and you love it. 

• Similarly, you can stitch peices of different colours, prints, embroideries, etc, in varying patterns across the front of your dress, around the neckline, sleeves, etc.

• Artistic use of laces (crochet, gota-kinari, cutwork, etc) can add uniqueness to the plain old edge of a dress and make a fashion statement!

Of course every time you create, it will be something new, something different. Yet you will find a similarity in all your work, a certain pattern, or simply just one style or design you really love to wear and recreate. It's because your creative work reflects your soul. Very soon, you too will discover your signature style!

My Sweet Baby Sister

"Can I please have an ice cube too? Do you know? Ice can even turn into water when I put it inside my mouth!!" That's what my baby sister said to us while we were gathered in the lounge this evening, sending us into affectionate giggles that endear her to us every day.

She's the youngest of four sisters and a late child; so naturally, she's the shinning star of our eyes, and the ray of happy, innocent sunshine that radiates our lives with joy. She is as naughty as can be, yet manages never to hurt, and will never be scolded, ever. She can have every toy she points at, and as many ice creams in a day as she chooses---there's always a stock in the deep-freezer---and I assure you, she chooses to have a lot. She can demand to be taken for an outing at 10:00 p.m., and no one will object (though I do wonder my parents let her get away with that one). But is she spoilt and cheeky? (She is cheeky). Not as much as she should be. That is to say, she still loves doing her homework and getting a star by her teacher---every time. Maybe it's something more than her being a cute baby. She's just somehow artlessly irresistible.

Growing up with adults or teenagers, she hardly considers herself a baby. Oh no! I'm just as old enough as you to have coffee and wear makeup and to go to your 'big school', she tells me:) And if I'm not allowed to watch cartoons whenever I like, why can mama watch her channel? We had no answer for the last one so now she gets to watch cartoons exactly whenever she likes =P

We love her, and she knows it. Takes advantage of it too, but she loves us as well-- and no matter how old she gets, she will always be our baby.

Medical Education System

The education system I've been introduced to in my graduate medical college is different, to say the least, to what I've been used to. 
Having affording parents who were willing to spend on their daughter, I have spent 5 years studying in the Cambridge system, which is in my opinion quite different from our own board. So the greatest challenge was probably accepting the fact that cramming is more important than understanding, because understanding alone won't get you marks, but cramming alone can. I still cannot, cannot, cannot, get over it. The few girls who I shared that with in the beginning couldn't understand what I meant by 'understanding' (honestly, they looked at me like I spoke a language they knew little), so I refrained from mentioning it ever again. My ever practical parents and uncle think I'm overreacting-- its a fact, no one else is complaining are they? Live with it. Plus I figure the only way to change this system is to do CSS later, so till then, I may as well keep my head down and cram, cram CRAM!


I've always preferred self study, which is a great help now, as I can build my own concepts as I go, and am not dependent on my teachers for the concepts part of study. My disbelief was not to be masked when I first realized we would be cramming biochemistry for the tests!! Never in my life has it crossed my mind that it was possible to cram chemistry! Yet here I am, doing it. For me, it is like massacring the dignity of chemistry as a science. 
The thing is, that no matter how objective they make the paper, there is little problem solving or any kind of application of concepts. The main requirement is the description of concepts, which is best crammed word by word from the respective teacher's favorite book. So when one of my classmates was asked to tell us what she knew about optical isomers, her answer was excellent, yet when I asked her why the isomers behave as such, she was absolutely speechless...she could not understand why I would want to know that. 


By talking to her, I realized that most of the girls who made it into medical college have never been introduced to the word concept before, and if any of the teachers mentions it now, it is only as an ideal, not expecting it to be implemented. Any understanding is an achievement on the students' part, not the undergraduate education system's.

The first month of medical studies!!

Hey Everyone! This blog was initially meant to be a diary of sorts, an account of my experiences as I step into professional graduate studies as a medical student and beyond. It has been almost a month since I joined medical college, and I tell you the amount of study I've done this past month is more than I've ever done in an entire year ever before!!! My, has it been hectic!! Today is the first day since I joined medical college that I've come online at all. Weekdays have been spent worrying about assignments and weekends preparing for tests...it seems like I've lived an age since the 3rd of January, 2011.


 It feels like I'm in class prep again...what with daily homework, keeping copies for every subject and getting them corrected by teachers, and everyone treating 'first years' like babies. I guess I don't really mind all that, but the fact that everyone assumes we are too naive to follow simple instructions is just salt over injury!
Every teacher began her class by briefing us about the format she expected us to follow in our journals, which was necessary if she wants to correct our copies like kindergärtners; but to give painfully obvious details such as drawing margins and column widths was almost an insult to our intellect!! People approaching 20 should be expected to be able to decide these things on their own. To top it all, a month into the system and they still don't trust us to do it right X)) I could die with the shame XD


I've also grown fat, sitting on my gluteal region all day, studying. I tried the age old method of walking while cramming, but it didn't work out for me. I was too busy navigating to concentrate and understand, let alone cram, and I ended up tripping over my  own feet... luckily I only fell on the soft mattress on the carpet in front :\ Plus all the worrying makes me so hungry! =P I ate so many chocolates for the nerves... I'm sure some of you will understand.


The best part about joining medical studies though, was getting a bone bag! At first I thought we'd get the whole skeleton and I'd be able to assemble it all by myself and hang it in my bedroom. But I'd also thought the bones would be plastic! We got real human bones--only lower limb for now, but its cool anyway!!


The weirdest part is that there's hardly anyone in my class who seems to be enjoying their graduate study in medicine. Like they're not doing it because they want to do it. Fatima Jinnah Medical College, Lahore is an all-girls college. For most of them M.B.B.S. is another burden of life. Something they need to do to get marriage proposals from respectable and rich families. Only a few are likely to choose to pursue a career in medicine later on, which is a great pity. They have interest in the title but not in the work that comes with it, so they are not committed, and not likely to excel later in life. And yes, when I say I'm doing it only for the sake of the noble responsibility, no one believes it, or at best they think I'm immature to the reality of life.


Well, enough with the dark reflections for now. I really need to go do some biochemistry cramming for yet another test. But I've still got lots to share about my 'new class prep'. So 'later!

Update: Finally....I have passed a Biochemistry test...cuz it was all mcq's:P....Cheers!!! :-) 

Life as a Beggar

Have you given a single thought to the beggar who came a-begging at your car window yesterday? You, in your glittering black Mercedes, with a chauffer to drive you home. Probably you have not. Well, why should you? You have everything life has to offer: a magnificent home, an air conditioned office, and dozens of servants at your service.

In the morning your driver drives your children to the best school in the city. They study, have friends and make merry. They have tea at home, and nothing to do but study and spend a good time. You go shopping and throw dirty looks at street rats like me, whose only job is to spoil your lovely time by begging at the mall.

Have you ever placed yourself in my shoes? Have you tried to feel the misery of hundreds of poor little wretches like me, who are struggling to survive? Have you ever felt your soul sink with despair when you are faint with hunger and people like you pass by scornfully? You have not.

I live in a tent house—merely a shelter for the night. I have parents, yet live the life of an orphan. No one takes care of me. My father is a drunkard and my mother has so many children that she forgets our names. She works hard all day, but cannot earn enough to feed us all. I have neither education nor skill. I am forced to go begging for a living.

I live a wretched dog’s life. Each day I wake up before dawn. There is no water near our tent to wash or bathe. Not that I mind; bathing is not my favorite activity and I have got used to remaining dirty.

I wander the city streets, begging for breakfast. I find some stale bread in a dust bin and devour it ravenously. I prowl the roads aimlessly, often getting into a fight with other children over food or money or for no reason at all. We fight like wild animals, and I rarely get away without a sore eye or a bleeding lip.

I beg at signals and I beg at markets. I take delight in aggravating the well-heeled, stiff necked ladies at the mall. They ignore me, but I hang about them. They try to shoo me away, but I stick to them. It gives me pleasure to irritate these haughty ladies, whose well-dressed children give me hateful looks. Of course, I might get a penny or two as an added bonus.

I am often tempted to steal and do. I have a right to all the privileges the rich enjoy. If they do not give me my right, I will snatch it from them.

I have neither opportunity nor goal in life. My future is blank. I am already an addict and my condition can only grow worse with time. I have neither hope nor dreams for the future. I spend day after day of my life without purpose. My existence is useless. I will grow up as a beggar and criminal and at last will die alone by a roadside, with no one to cry over my dead body.