Saving the Pakistani drama

Nowadays Pakistani media industry is criticizing the airing of dubbed soaps on the local TV channels. They say that our local drama industry will be destroyed as these foreign plays will replace the domestically produced dramas if the matter is not taken care of. Specially they will occupy the prime-time hours which have a significant history of showing us some of the finest Pakistani dramas that gained popularity not only in Pakistan but abroad as well. Last night, I saw a talk show on a news channel in which celebrities from our drama industry were invited to discuss this issue. I was deeply touched by a statement of the famous actor, Faysal Qureshi. He said, 'I'm very surprised to see that we need to explain it to people to give priority to the Pakistani dramas'. That is the point. Apart from the debate about the quality of our dramas. We should have a patriotic feeling about our TV dramas. At least it is something of our own, of our own country. It belongs to us.   

Pakistani drama industry has a dignified and glorious past of producing the unsurpassed dramas like 'Dhoop Kinaray', 'Tanhaiyaan', 'Chand Girhan', 'Dhuan', 'Alpha-Bravo-Charlie' and the list goes on. These plays were famous for creating a pin-drop silence on the streets. Even in the recent past we saw some noticeable plays like  'Manay Na Ye Dil', 'Qaid-e-Tanhai', 'Meri Zaat Zarra-e-Benishan' etc. The DVDs of the aforementioned and many other plays were interestingly seen overseas not only by Pakistani expatriate community but other nationalities also. Pakistani dramas are also shown in the acting schools of the neighboring country as inspiration.

There was a period when an attempt was made by the Indian TV channels to invade this industry through their low-quality soaps that had weak concepts and senseless stories. Those dramas left negative impact on our society such as hatred, jealousy, greed and revenge. These behaviors entered our houses and females of our country were largely affected. These substandard plays also influenced the fashion sense of our people. Honestly, I never saw a man wearing a shocking pink embroidered suit before. 

Then enters the dubbed plays. Urdu1 ventured into dubbed programming with a Turkish soap 'Ishq e Mamnu'. Pakistanis loved the Urdu-speaking ladies of the Bosphorus and the play went viral as far as the ratings are concerned. For channels, this is a jackpot. With minimal production cost, just buy foreign content, dub it in Urdu and you are good to go. I've read some arguments on the web that dubbed programming is a common feature of primetime across the world. I say, this might be a trend worldwide but the countries where this practice is followed might not have their own quality content. Pakistan is a different case. Pakistan has a legacy of producing good quality dramas. From writers to actors, from producers to directors, Pakistan has a vast variety of talent which is increasing day by day. We don't need any foreign content to amuse our television viewers. I agree that there are some shortcomings in our dramas but those deficiencies could be fixed. 

I'm not against the screening of foreign content of on our local TV channels. People like change and I agree with that. But, it should be controlled, it should be limited. The prime-time should be reserved for the original Pakistani drama only. We should also keep in mind that local production of the drama is also connected to our economy. A huge number of people are associated with this industry. Display of too much foreign content on TV channels will ruin the careers of people (including many labor and low category technical staff) associated with the drama industry. Let us save our drama industry from foreign influence before it is too late.

The workplace transformation is taking place

Our working environment is swiftly evolving. The new generation is demanding freedom and flexibility so that they could work at office, at home or even on the go. Technology and the tech-savvy generation is changing the expectation of how we go to work today. Office is where you are. Going to work no longer means travelling to a certain place, employees can work where they are, when they want. Work has now become a task, an activity, rather than spending hours at some place. 

The vision of the 'future workplace' is surfacing. The employee is seldom bound to a physical location and performance is measured by the quality of the output submitted on a pre-decided timeline instead of the number of hours spent. Transforming the workplace to follow these growing trends in order to achieve high-quality performance in today's challenging and competitive environment is the top priority of the organizations and technology is playing its role to change the environment and work culture.  

The future workplace model follows a connected, collaborative and socially engaged work-space. So it is high time to say goodbye to permanent desks, cabins, structured meeting rooms and hence embrace a free and social workplace setting where employees are encouraged to choose between different environments that best suit their task on any given day. If people are working collaboratively and using technology instead of face-to-face they are able to meet more often and can make decisions quickly. 

It is already happening in companies and Microsoft's office in Amsterdam is an example. For instance, staff no longer have a desk, quiet areas are built for people who need to concentrate on their work, large open areas are made for workers who need to work with the collaboration of other team members, open refreshment zones like restaurants and coffee bars are prepared for meetings between employees. They are also encouraged to work from home. The bottom-line is to gain maximum productivity. According to Microsoft, the results of implementing the new way of working are as under:

- Reduction in real estate costs

- Increased productivity

- Benefits for the environment

- Satisfied and happier workforce

Microsoft is not alone in making the future work environment flexible and smart. Dell, Google and Unilever are also among the companies that are striving to make this world a better place to work. The new way of working is spreading all over the world with the help of technology to bring positive change in the traditional working practices, transforming the way people work, communicate, collaborate and finish their day-to-day tasks in efficient and effective manner. 

Environment is also a major part of the shift, helping companies reduce their carbon footprint. Also, consider the amount of pollution we produce by coming to our offices in the morning and by going back home, causing massive traffic jams. This could also help us save some money.

Finally, it reduces cost of business. According to Unwork.com, people will use other spaces to congregate and work outside the office. With around 45% of office desk space vacant at any one time, this could lead to significant savings. 

U.S. Elections - Lessons to be learnt for the Pakistani society

Before I start, let me make it very clear that I have no interest in United States of America, I've never been there and have no such future plans either. If this had happened in some other well-known country, I would had taken that as an example. Secondly, this is not a political write-up rather it is only about the ethics and behavior of a society.

U.S. elections are now over and Mr. Barack Obama has been re-elected as the President of the United States for the second term. There was a massive election campaign by the Republicans and the Democrats and there was a close finish between the opponents on the election day. During the campaigning we saw large public gatherings of the supporters of both the parties on several occasions but not even a single incident of riots, violence or injuries was reported. The candidates were seen in intense head-on debates but none of them lost their nerves on a single occasion and hence those debates ended with a positive and fruitful manner.

Again, on the election day the polling started peacefully throughout the country and no polling station was declared dangerous or any additional security deployment was seen. And again not a single violent event was reported. Instead, Obama was seen on media calling his opponent Mitt Romney to wish him 'good luck'. The polling suspended as planned, votes counting process was initiated and eventually the results were announced. No claims of rigging were made by the losing side (just a system malfunction was reported in one case). Instead, the losing opponent Mitt Romney accepted his defeat gracefully and passed on good wishes to Barack Obama for the next tenure. In return, the winning candidate promised to work together for the betterment of the nation.

We witnessed a flawless, smooth, peaceful and well organized elections in the U.S. while Pakistan has a history of violent and deadly elections on the other hand. The candidates can't even face each other face to face, passing good wishes is something out of this world. Bogus voting gets reported at several polling stations and not even a single losing candidate spare himself from the claim of rigging. Many polling stations become warzones and several injuries and deaths are reported in crossfire. In some cases in the past candidates were also shot dead or injured.

 

Keeping the ferocious history of elections in Pakistan, I do not foresee a dissimilar case in the upcoming elections. Specially when all the negative symptoms are evident around us. Law and order situation is at its worst. Ethnic and sectarian killings are on the rise. People killing each other for reasons they are not even aware of. Street crimes have become a norm these days. In a nutshell, morality is at failure in our society.

 

In my opinion, this is not a matter of politics. This is a matter of the level of tolerance and ethics exist in a society, which our society clearly lacks at the moment. We can't tolerate a simple difference of opinion whether it is a political, religious, sectarian or ethnic ground. This is not learnt overnight, instead, it takes ages for a society to learn and change.

 

But I wish all my predictions go wrong and we experience a dramatic change in the conduct of our society. I wish we see a nonviolent, peaceful and corruption-free election. When all the candidates, voters and supporters show positive energy towards each other and together as a nation we form a countrywide harmony to make a better Pakistan. I hope one day we will set an example of tolerance, acceptability and peace.

Pakistan Zindabad!  

    

My concerns after attending Microsoft Open Door event today at 11th ITCN Asia

Went to attend Microsoft Open Door event at the 11th ITCN Asia held at Karachi Expo Centre. The content was not that impressive because as a developer’s point of view most of the technologies discussed are already adopted by the developers community and are into the market for quite some time. And I strongly have this opinion after viewing videos of some of the sessions at Microsoft Build conference (www.buildwindows.com).

But my post is not about the technology and event feedback. Its about my concern over the collective turnout of ITCN and Microsoft event. I remember some previous ITCN events when there were delegations coming to Pakistan from all over the world to attend this event. The event being attended by the President, Prime Minister and top officials of the country. Presence of top giants of the technology world. To sum it up, an obvious excitement was seen in the town about the event.

I also remember some past Microsoft’s PDC events, used to held at multiple hotels in Karachi and Lahore at the same time, having all their conference rooms filled with attendees. Whereas, today both events being held together (I understand that Open Door is not as big as PDC but still it’s a Microsoft event) could not produce a noticeable crowd.

What is the reason behind this disappointing fact? Is global recession is responsible for this as companies like Microsoft does not have enough budget to spend on big events in countries like Pakistan? Is our security issues to blamed for this? let us find out.

Melbourne most suitable for accommodation

The Economist magazine's Intelligence Unit Liveability Ranking Report August 2011survey ranked Melbourne first, Vienna second  and Vancouver as third.

For the first time in almost a decade the Australian city of Melbourne has become the best city to live in the world after replacing Vancouver city of Canada.

Vancouver was on top since 2002 in this survey. However, after this year's survey it is at the third position.

Overall, seven cities of Australia and Canada are in the top 10 positions and Zimbabwe's capital Harare, Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka are on the bottom.

These cities were sampled at five points including stability, medical facilities, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

Melbourne and Vancouver were on joint top position in 2002 survey.

Britain's capital London is ranked 53rd among one hundred and forty cities. Honolulu is at the top among American cities.

According to The Economist magazine's Intelligence Unit, the financial crisis has affected the European countries, while Arab countries have been affected by the revolution. This can be witnessed from the fact that Libya's capital Tripoli on 135 from 107.

Top Ten cities

1. Melbourne
2. Vienna
3. Vancouver
4. Toronto
5. Calgary
6. Sydney
7. Helsinki
8. Perth
9. Adelaide
10. Auckland

Tokyo is world’s most expensive city while Karachi is the least

A survey released from the Economist Intelligence Unit revealed that Karachi, Pakistan’s economic hub is world’s least expensive city while Tokyo, Japan is world’s most expensive.

India’s Mumbai and New Delhi are also among the bottom 5 cities.

Worldwide Cost of Living 2011

European cities covers almost half of the top 50 having 4 of them in the top 10 including Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt and Geneva.

As Australian dollar is getting stronger, the cost of living in Australian cities is raising day by day. Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane are among the top 15 most expensive cities.

American cities rankings are generally on the drop with New York at 49th position among world’s most expensive cities.

Top 10 cities

1. Tokyo
2. Oslo
3. Osaka
4. Paris
5. Zurich
6. Sydney
7. Melbourne
8. Frankfurt
9. Geneva
10. Singapore

Bottom 5 cities

129. New Delhi
130. Tehran
131. Mumbai
132. Tunis
133. Karachi

The Sialkot incident

It was Sunday the 15th of August 2010, the first sunrise after the Independence day celebrations for this year. A crime was committed on the Sialkot-Gujranwala road and a man was murdered as an outcome. In a few moments, a mob gathered at the scene. Two brothers were passing by that area on a motorcycle. Someone from the crowd mistakenly or deliberately identified those two as the culprits.

The result of this turned out to be one of the most brutal incidents in the history of the country. Both of them were pulled off from the motorcycle and were beaten to death as they fell on the ground. The whole mob was yelling at them and some people were beating them with iron sticks. A man also dropped a brick on the face of one of the accused. When they were near to die, the mob dragged them on the streets and finally hanged them on a steel rod. Blood and wounds had made their faces unidentifiable.

This whole action was caught on mobile camera and later broadcasted by the media in the whole country. Both of them died and the crowd was jubilant, unaware of the fact that what an example of brutality they have set for the society. Even if those brothers were the criminals, was this a justifiable act?

Let me highlight one more important point here. The police of that region has set a practice by encouraging the people to kill the criminals themselves as soon as they find one red handed. This practice of quick-justice has turned out to be fatal and erroneous. And the people who introduced this act should be punished as well.

Why this happened? In my opinion, people have lost their faith on the policing and judicial system of the country. If a criminal is held by the police, the police takes bribe and releases the offender. If this does not happen and the accused are taken to the courts, it will take too long to solve the case that it becomes weak and the criminals may take advantage of the delay. Bribing the judges or lawyers is also an option.

Immediate corrections in the law and order and judicial system is the need of time. Corruption should be brought under control as soon as possible. Governement should also work on the areas that are causing frustrations in the society.

May this incident become a reason for the improvements in the system and the society in order to make sure that events like this will never happen again, instead of just leaving its marks on the history as a tragic and painful incident. Also, the family of the innocent brothers must get justice so that their pain could be healed to some extent.

Update:
20th September 2011 is the day when this incident got justice. 7 of the convicted got death sentence while 6 of them got life imprisonment. That's something to cheer about for the Pakistani nation as this is one the rare cases where we found justice. However, we should be glad about it and we should hope for good. May be this is a new begining for justice in Pakistan. Let's hope for good!