Visit to Berlin

Wikipedia Says “Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country’s largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union.[2] Located in northeastern Germany, it is the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan area, comprising 5 million people from over 190 nations’

Few days back, I got an opportunity to visit Berlin City; I stayed there for two days and following is what my experience says

1.    Euro is the currency used in Germany. There is no Germany pound / dollar
2.    Germans know English as well but they speak it only where they have no choice
3.    Taxi is not the option for travelling through the city. Trams / Trains are the cheapest means of transport. Let me say it loudly, Berlin has THE BEST railway system.
4.    Berlin is a tourist city and has got lot of places to visit. Even diplomatic embassies are worth seeing and can be seen unlike Pakistan
5.    Germans speak high of Einstein (off course) and they are still angry on Hitler
6.    It’s easy to find and book cheap hostels in Berlin for 15 Euros. MEININGER City Hostel & Hotel is one of them.
7.    Germany city tour on bus and Night cruise tour by Berlin City Tours is worth visiting.
8.    Walking in Berlin at 19oC is fun when you have tour guide with you for free
9.    You cant help shopping souvenirs when you are in Berlin

It was pleasure to see visit Germany and Thanks to Berlin City Tours for arranging a free tour for me. You can visit http://www.berlincitytours.com/ for further information.

Done with Vietnam

In February 2009, I had to go to Hanoi, Vietnam to attend IEEE R10 Meet 2009 for 3 days. I had two options to take for flight, either Emirates ($1500) or Thai Airways ($800), I opted for Thai Airways to save the money . This time I had to go via Bangkok, following are few of the points worth sharing

1. Hotel within the Bangkok airport was awesome, though it was very costly.

2. Foot massage was good at Bangkok airport, my feet were shining like diamond , and I will try other massages next time specially face massage

3. While landing at Hanoi, I thought there would be Rikshaw coming to pick me up, but it was Camry :)

4. Hanoi is full of motor bikes; they have 2 million motor bikes and 5 million population in total.

5. I had in my mind that traffic sense in Pakistan is worse, but Hanoi proved me wrong

6. Motor bikes are also used as taxi . They charge 100 Dong / KM

7. They have currency called Dong. 1 PKR = 216 DONG. People get salaries in millions over there

8. Hotel Melia Hanoi was wonderful; I didn’t expect such beautiful hotel. It exceeded my expectations.

 9. Its fun shopping there. When you bargain they give you such weird / cute looks that makes you smile / angry and pay them whatever they ask / run away

10. They have lake in the center of city, which is the dating point. I used to walk around that lake every day to get the tips

11. Halong bay was awesome place to visit. I liked the nature & it was drizzling and I enjoyed it more than anything.

12. In just US $35 package, I had 3 hours drive one side(To and Fro), 3 course meal, 2 hours boat ride and a tour guide :)

I also had an opportunity to visit Thatta and Keenjhar Dhandh yesterday; I will hopefully share the details…!!

Macau Explored…!

These days, I have been very busy with my office work. The project I was working on finally came to an end and went live on Feb 6, 2009. After project cutover, its taking time to fix & streamline the processes because its very huge for organization, specially my team. I got an opportunity to visit Macau, China to attend IEEE R10 Ex-com meeting this January & finally now I have sometime to write about it

1. English Language is an issue with Macauians…!

2. Lot of lot of bridges around & Very narrow roads

3. 0.5 Million population only

4. Its Expensive, Shopping will cost twice and Macauians are not as hospital as others.

5. Currency note colors are really good

6. Girls are good , I don’t know why but chinese looks very beautiful to me

7. Visit visa is required for poor Pakistanis

8. Casino is in every street of Macau Gambling is one of the hobby for Macauins

9. Weather was supercoool

10. I saw a Rolex watch for 7.1 million PKR and I wish to purchase it

11. Food was an issue

12. Currency is MOP = Macau Pataca

I hope I wont be dead again…!

…..

Woh jazboon ki tijarat thi yah dil kuch aur samjha tha….
osey hansaney ki aadat thi yah dil kuch aur samjha tha….
mujhey oss ne kahaa aao naiee duniya baasatay hain…
osey soojie sharart thi yah dil kuch aur samjha tha….
hamesha os k chehray pe dhanak se raang hotay thay…
yah os ki aam haallat thi yah dil kuch aur samjha tha….
woh meray paass bethtie, aur ghazlaien meri suntie…
osey khud se mohabat thi yah dil kuch aur samjha tha….

Transportation in Pakistan

These days due to some issues with our TV and suspension of GEO TV channel, I have not been watching much TV and have been giving more time to my professional work and don’t remain fully up-to date.

I went to train reservation center to enjoy my Eid holidays at Ghotki but I saw hundreds of people outside cantt station before 1 day of holidays, which is surprising because many people leave for Eid at least 2 days before Eid. I joined one long queue at center and observed many people having ticket in their hand, on inquiring I got to know that “A train has been de-railed in Sindh” which has taken around 500 lives (un-official number) and many got injured and no way for me to get into train because train was not cleared till then and was supposed to happen on the next day.

I waited for one day and on next day I went to get the ticket in train but I have been roaming around at least for 2 hours to get the ticket but couldn’t get appropriate reply from concerned authorities. Reservation center said “Chart has been released, we can’t issue ticket now, please consult Train guard’. I consulted train guard and he said “I don’t have ticket chart”. Then I tried to travel through bus and they charged me double fair because of the rush.  But again this was not comfortable because in bus “Staff is the POLICE, staff is the LAW and staff is the COURT” They can make you sit on any seat they want, they can ask you to leave the coach at any place if you don’t listen them. Almost on every trip to Ghotki I see at least one fight.

When I look at these kinds of scenarios, following questions pop-up in my mind, can someone answer to these?

Why train accidents have become a routine? Why don’t Pakistan railways improve the system?

Who is the controlling authority for bus transportation in Pakistan? Do they care?

Why they hell they can do anything they want, why they double the fair without any permission and don’t decrease when there is no rush??

Why they don’t feel that passengers are humans and they shouldn’t push people more than capacity?

What does motorway do in this? What are they far?

What can we do to stop these frequent train accidents and this annoying attitude by bus staff?

What mode of transportation should be used, If not bus and train having no airport at my hometown?

Shayari…!

Teri Nazar mein tera pyar ham nahen
Kaise kahen k tere talab-gar ham nahen
khud ko jala kar khak kar dala, mita dala
lo ab tumhari rah mein deewar ham nahen
jis ko sanwara ham ne tamanaon ke khoon se
gulshan mein us bahar ke haq-dar ham nahen
dhokha diya hai khud ko mohabbat ke naam se
kaise kahen k tere gunhagar ham nahen

Saying No

Few months back, I read a post at my friend’s blog “Saying No” and I heard that an special lecture in my company was also conducted on ” The Art of Saying No”, that time I couldn’t feel the importance of this, but Now I can because I am not even good at saying No to unknown, Sounds stupid?… Yes, Now It does to me.
For last three months, I have been doing the extra work in my company which I shouldn’t because of not saying NO. That work isn’t in my job responsibilities, it will not affect my career at all and others will get the credit of it. It really hurts when you are questioned for the mistakes by others and because for your involvement in that for not SAYING NO. Well, I was involved in few cases like this but I got out of this smoothly and promised myself “Not to take other’s responsibilities at any cost and have to SAY NO If it’s not related to me”.
Last month, my 2-Up Boss came to me and said “Om, I have been hearing good comments from others for you but you sit late in office, it’s not good. You know I don’t feel Sorry for you on this, because Its you who don’t shout on other’s mistake and work more to compensate that, Its you who don’t say NO to any body and work which isn’t in your job responsibilities, Its you who is not doing Work-Life balance. Remember Om, we are not here to win the popularity contest, so better stop being nice to every one”
A friend told me yesterday “One dis-advantage of doing others’ work is one become powerful and other weak which is not good for any organization and when you take other’s responsibilities you make your life tough uselessly”

Moral of the Story: Don’t Involve in the works which is not for you and say NO straight forward and make your life easier. Let every one do his/her job.

Iftaari and Accident……

Saturday is working day for me, I go to office on time but this Saturday it was month end and I had to stay till 10 in night at office, I thought to go office a little late. I got in to office while other colleagues of mine were about to leave for their homes. Time was passing slowly and finally it approached to 5:30pm, I with my colleagues had a plan for Iftaari at Nandos but due to reservation issue we shifted our plan to KFC. After Iftaari, we had an Ice-cream session at Movenpick. While getting back to office our car hit a person badly, whole wind screen was crushed; I covered my face at the time of accident since I was sitting at front seat. I got out of car and was shocked to look the victim, I was not able to see the head of that person but Thank God his head was covered with his Kameez. At that time public was pushing me to take this person to hospital since they thought I am the driver. My driver asked me to Run and after few minutes he did the same but I didn’t since I thought person is dead / running is not feasible. Though it was not the mistake of driver but still I don’t know why he ran away. Well I stood on a side of road waiting for others colleagues to give input on handling this issue and was also trying to call the transporter; suddenly a person and a policeman were running towards me, I was like OMG, Why are they coming to me??? Person looked like a labor but was mad at that time, he slapped me twice very badly and I got angry and tried to slap him back but Policeman requested me to please take the victim to hospital first and leave that stupid. Well, my colleague was also slapped by that mad person, then one of my colleagues went to hospital with them and I with another colleague approached to office. There I made a few calls and was praying for the life of victim. I was happy to know that my colleague has got freedom from this case and now our transporter is handling this issue. Later on, I came to know that victim is also OK and is not serious condition.

It was pretty hectic day for me, while getting back to home I asked my driver to keep the speed slow and was sitting at back side.

Moral of the Story:

God forbids, if you get involved in any accident, don’t wait for stupid public to come near you, take that victim to hospital (if required) and finish the case.

Random Facts

I have been tagged by Prerna and Its good idea to write some random facts about myself.

Let me start telling you some facts about me

(1) I love my family and can do everything to make them happy.
(2) Friends are very important to me, I am nothing without them; I love to pass time with them and try to help them out when they are in need.
(3) I love to laugh and try my best to make others happy. I don’t know it’s good or bad but I can’t hurt/ remain angry with any one for long time.
(4) I love music specially the motivating and sad songs ( I don’t know why) and watching movies (Science Fiction and comedy specially)
(5) I can’t help sleeping, expressing my emotions.
(6) I am very emotional person and I don’t have control on my anger
(7) Some people say I am annoying, may be I am. I am Sorry for that.
(8) When someone don’t fulfill his responsibility or show negligence without any reason I get mad on him/her.