Loud Thinking

Archive for June, 2014

@nayyarahmad: Mian Nawaz Sharif Sahab kindly step in to stop the loot and plunder of parents by the private schools…! Enough… http://t.co/nQR04NLHNQ

My letter published today by the “Frontier Post”.

An urgent appeal to the PM

Posted on 2014-06-07 05:05:12

“An urgent appeal to the PM”

For the glory and projection of Pakistan’s soft image, kindly issue immediate necessary orders, for display of banners in the entire Brazil (particularly airports) and at all football stadiums, saying “Made in Pakistan footballs welcomes you to the World Cup”.

Such opportunities to build the image of our motherland only comes in decades and must not
be missed.

Moreover, Pakistani coloured shirts which should have written (Pakistan the bronze medal winners of the street children football World Cup2014) should also be distributed free in Brazil.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad
Lahore

Mian Nawaz Sharif Sahab kindly step in to stop the loot and plunder of parents by the private schools…!

Enough is enough.

Kids asked to bring Rs6000 for parents’ day, Rs3000 for sports gala

A “Pakistan Observer” news.

Friday, June 06, 2014 – Islamabad

—What will be your reaction as parent of four or five kids all studying at private school(s), when each of them comes to you and demands Rs6000 as Parents Day charges. Still more, how will you digest hard (and of course bitter) pill when you come to know that delay of a week or two in payment of your kids’ fee has cost you Rs5000 extra? Most of the ‘high profile’ private schools turning a deaf ear to the murmurs of protest by the parents keep raising fees under various heads.

Besides charging annual tuition fees, they keep demanding huge amounts under one pretext or the other and there is no one to check them. Perhaps, those who can fix it enjoy fee relaxation or their kids study abroad. Thus entire burden is shifted to common families. Pakistan Observer in a survey grabbed a number of summer vacations fee slips/receipts of the junior class students of some of the high-profile schools. Interestingly in the fee receipts of June-Aug 2014, (usually schools are closed these months due to summer vacations) “generator charges” have been included.

Talking to Pakistan Observer a number of mothers complained against the private schools’ unfair arbitrary decisions of raising fees and including extra charges in the regular bills. Fee raise has become an everyday matter, said one of the distraught mother of a class 2 boy. They (the private schools) have already charged three-month (June-Aug 2014) tuition fee that varies from Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000. However, in the same receipts besides exorbitant tuition fees and unfair “generator charges,” various heads are given under which huge amount s are charged. These are: Advance Tax: Rs8000, Parents Day: Rs6000, Generator Charges: 900 and many similar expenses, she said. Another interesting addition is that of “Miscellaneous.” One can ask what is left in this head to charge from the already drained charge, she said. About the stationery charges she said a school of very famous nomenclature has strictly asked the students to return the books to them after they move over to new grade. “We have asked them again and again why our kids need to return the books to them despite the fact we have paid stationery charges. However they have no reply to this,” said she.

“We have to pay a total of around Rs55,000 to Rs60,000 fee every three months,” said the distraught mother. Most of the parents with limited means, drain away all their savings on excessive school charges, said another mother. “I know a number of families where mother of a private school going child has to work along with her husband only to be able to share the financial burden,” she said.

However, the situation worsens when some families have two or more kids, said a lady teacher. “Many couples that live in Islamabad have to work day and night without thinking of their own rest or respite. They are chasing one dream, one goal i.e. to give their children the “best” education,” said the lady teacher who teaches at a famous private school of the federal capital.

She admitted the private schools are more of business houses than centres of learning and excellence. According to her, every teacher in the private school she teaches— from principal to the staff members—is directed by the administration to impose maximum fine on students. “We are compelled to carry out the orders,” she said adding “when some of us resisted they were plainly told that they could lose their jobs.”

Pakistan Observer when tried to contact principal of a private school, she assigned the “duty” to her vice-principal (VP). When this scribe inquired of the VP why heavy fees under bizarre heads were being charged from students, she said Advance Tax was refundable while the Parents Day is a mega event of colourful activities. Usually, we hold various stalls and arrange food for the guests as well as the students and teachers on this occasion. It is therefore we have to charge some amount from students as well to meet our expenses, she said. When she was asked why the school did not look for other sources of income rather than putting burden on already financially-pressed parents, she refused to speak further saying she had to attend a meeting.

On the other hand, officials of the Ministry of CADD and Federal Directorate of Education are least bothered about the private schools’ affairs. An office-bearer of the Association of Private Schools of Islamabad on condition of anonymity said the association receives huge funds as support from these private schools. This makes us obliged to them and you cannot expect from us to move against our benefactors, he said.

According to a senior retired teacher, giving best education to children is every parent’s top most priority. Even middle class families’ first choice is some English-medium private school of repute. Until a few years ago, even the low-income families could afford to send their boys or girls to some prestigious English-medium school. However, the situation has entirely changed for last couple of years. Now even well-off families are not able to afford the school (private) fees, he said.

Younis Khan: A legendary match winner

(But a B grade player in the eyes of the Nincompoop chairman PCB and his cronies)

By Umair Qazi Published at the Express Tribune : September 10, 2013

Can you even imagine where Younis Khan would be today if Pakistan played as many Tests as Australia, England, or India?

When Younis Khan helped Pakistan out of a precarious situation in Pakistan’s second innings of the first Test against Zimbabwe, you would have known that you were in for a Younis Khan special.

When it comes to Test cricket, Younis Khan is arguably the best batsman Pakistan has produced. He always delivers when the team is in need, he is better than all when it comes to second innings performances, he saves Tests, he wins Tests and he is a team man. His exploits and relative standing compared to other batting greats of the game have been well documented. Now, we attempt to figure out where he stands among Pakistani batting greats, as well as the other modern batting greats.

Performance away from home

Everyone can score at home on pitches they are familiar with and where they have spent batting their entire life. The true test for a batsman comes when he is placed in unfamiliar conditions and tested by an unknown environment that requires him to adapt appropriately. A majority of the batsmen in this world have a better home record than an away record, but great batsmen have as good an away record as their home record. That is what distinguishes the greats from the good.

Younis Khan’s century in the first Test against Zimbabwe was his 22nd. He is still behind Inzamam (25), Yousuf (24), and Miandad (23), but more importantly, it was his 15th century outside of Pakistan, overtaking Inzamamul Haq’s record of 14 centuries away from home.

During his unbeaten double century against Zimbabwe, Younis Khan also became the second Pakistani batsman to score 5,000 runs in Test matches away from home. He is now only 66 runs away from Inzamam’s record of five 120 runs scored in Tests played away from Pakistan.

Younis Khan also has the best away average among all Pakistani batsmen who have played at least 10 innings away from Pakistan. With an away average of 49.54, one that is among the top 10 averages for batsmen who have scored at least 5,000 runs in Tests away from home, we can safely state that he is one of those batsmen we should take pride in.

Performance in wins

Another benchmark for great batsmen is how well they perform in matches won by their team, or rather how many matches are won on the basis of the particular batsman’s performance.

Sachin Tendulkar is notorious for scoring irrelevant centuries; those that do not help India win. In contrast, Inzamamul Haq is popularly known as the biggest match winner produced by Pakistan, as a majority of his Test centuries have resulted in Pakistan wins. Inzamam is leaps and bounds ahead of any Pakistani batsmen when it comes to match winning performances, but Younis Khan also sits proudly at number two for Pakistan.

Younis’ match winning 200 against Zimbabwe was his 10th Test century in a win, equalling Javed Miandad’s 10 Test centuries in wins. While it’s far behind Inzamam’s 17 centuries in Test wins, Younis averages in the 70s like Inzamam did.

During the course of his double hundred, Younis Khan crossed 3,000 runs in Test matches won by Pakistan.

Among all batsmen who have scored at least 3,000 runs in matches won by their team, Younis has the fifth best average; a true match winner!

Performance in wins away from home (excluding Zimbabwe and Bangladesh)

Many batsmen are often criticised for scoring easy runs on flat wickets at home or against weaker oppositions. Considering this, I believe that the ultimate benchmark for a match winning batsman is the performance he has given in Tests played and won away from home against a strong opposition.

Taking out Zimbabwe and Bangladesh from the analysis, Younis Khan comes out to be the best performer in Tests won by Pakistan away from home, with a Bradmanesque average.

(Qualification: min 10 innings)

When compared to other batsmen around the world, Younis Khan has the fourth best average in Test wins away from home. I believe that one can safely say that Younis Khan is not only one of the biggest match winners produced by Pakistan, but he is also one of the best match winning batsmen in the world. Among contemporary batsmen, only Alastair Cook has a better average than Younis Khan.

(Qualification: min 1,000 runs)

Note the kind of names missing from the above list – no Sachin, no Lara, no Ponting.

It really is a shame that Younis Khan has played only 25 Test matches since the start of 2009. During the same period Alastair Cook has played 61 Tests, Kevin Pietersen and Michael Clarke have played 54 each, and Sachin Tendulkar has played 42! Can you even imagine where Younis Khan would be today if Pakistan played as many Tests as Australia, England, or India?

He would have not only been Pakistan’s leading scorer in Tests, he would have been among the top five in the world!

“Everything that happens to you is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.”

— Wayne Dyer

IMPORTANT CIRCULAR

6th June 2014

THALASSAEMIA CAMP

The Pakistan Thalassaemia Welfare Society – GlobalGiving – (managed under Lt Gen Fahim Ahmed Khan (Retd), Patron in Chief Westridge-1 Residents’ Society) will set up a camp as under :

1. Date: 8 June 2014
2. Day: SUNDAY

3. Time: from 11 a.m. onwards

4. Place: 30, Khurshid Alam Road, Westridge-1, Rawalpindi Cantt.

Thalassaemia is a dangerous life risking disease which can only be found in the newly born children who inherit the blood disorder from their carrier parents. In thalassaemia, the disorder is caused by the weakening and destruction of red blood cells (hemoglobin) that the body makes Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that carries the life giving oxygen throughout the body. People with thalassaemia make less hemoglobin and have fewer circulating red blood cells than normal, which results in mild or severe anemia. The patients need frequent blood transfusion to stay alive.There are over 100,000such patients in Pakistan. Another 5000 are added to them each year. Gobal Giving has 6,000 such children under its care who need the same number (6000) of bottles of blood each month.

Quran says, “Anyone who saves ONE life is like his saving the ENTIRE humanity”.

Please come and donate a pint of blood and who knows that may save a life.

There is great misunderstanding about giving blood. Kindly note the very first principle and ethics of medicine is NOT TO MAKE A HEALTHY PERSON SICK INORDER TO CURE AN ALREADY SICK PERSON. It is an established medical fact that a healthy person can give a pint of blood every three months. It will not harm his body in ANY way. On the contrary it could improve his/her health.

The ideal age for giving blood is from 16 to 60. Though even the persons with higher age have also been giving blood periodically. Lt Gen. Dr. Kamal Akbar (Retd) is a living example amongst us. He has donate blood 120 times and still does . He is 72 and enjoys a very good health.

Please do take part in this noble cause of saving the life of others. Do give Zakat of your body in this form for the coming holy month of Ramazan. May Allah Ta’la bless you and accept your offering, amen.

Kindly contact the undersigned for further inquiries/details.

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)

Secy Gen. WRS

Cell No. 0300 8546 334
Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
30 Westridge 1
Rawalpindi 46000
Pakistan
Tel: (051) 5158033
E.mail: jafri@rifiela.com

Does the Prime Minister relax at all?

A times of India Report…

NEW DELHI: Don’t give theories, give practical doable policies, come thoroughly prepared for meetings, make bullet point presentations instead of bulky ones, be ready for followup meetings, and keep your offices clean — these are the highlights of Narendra Modi’s working style, as seen by ministers and senior bureaucrats. ET spoke to a number of ministers and officials — all of whom spoke on the condition they not be identified — to get a sense of how PM Modi, already known for keeping a punishing working schedule, is in his office. Wednesday’s morning meeting between the PM and senior ministers on the President’s address to Parliament was typical of Modi’s working style, a minister said.

“We were asked to bring specific inputs that can be incorporated in the address, not general policy suggestions,” a minister said. He also said Modi is “not in favour of theories … he wants action points”. “He has questions for all ministries… and expects good answers,” this minister said. “You can get shown up if you are not well-prepared”.

Modi wise to common tricks of babudom

Another minister said, “If you are making a presentation , make sure you have a smart bullet point summary … don’t offer a big, bulky document … he dislikes vague generalities as much as he does red tape and procedural hurdles.”

“He insists on follow-up meetings when points are not clear or when his questions have not been answered fully,” another minister said.

“We have to get back to his office fast … it’s like a board meeting of a big private sector company,” this minister said. “Our working schedule is particularly hard now because of the budget,” a minister said.

Working hours are particularly long now for ministers and bureaucrats in finance, industry and commerce, and infrastructure ministries. “Hopefully, once the budget is presented in July, we can have a somewhat easier existence,” said one minister. But most don’t think that’s likely.

“All cabinet ministers have been asked to reach their offices by 9 am. Meetings with senior bureaucrats and others begin at 9:30am sharp. This goes on till after the lunch break. Modi himself has meetings in the evenings as well,” a cabinet minister said. This working style is unlikely to change in a Modi sarkar, the minister said. “I walk into my office at 9am and have rarely left before 9pm. Since I am new to the ministry I have to put in extra effort to understand the issues and finer details and so I have to spend another four hours at home,” another minister said.

“Officers cannot leave till the ministers are in office. Following in the footsteps of Modi, ministers have started calling babus late evening and even early morning to discuss issues,” a senior official said.

Cleanliness is another Modi trait that GoI is slowly learning it has to adopt. Last week, Modi did the rounds of South Block, where the PMO is located. The result — a message for cleaner offices.

“He found one of the offices filled with smoke and politely told the officers that there is a ‘no smoking’ board outside. In another room he found several dirty tea cups littering the desks. He just mentioned them and walked out but that was enough for us to get the message,” a bureaucrat said. And the PM, babus say, is wise to some common tricks of babudom. “He knows what tricks babus use to shirk work or not do a job. So it is not surprising that he effectively counters them,” an official said. This official said during another tour of South Block, the PM, after visiting ground floor offices, took the elevator straight to the fourth floor — “word hadn’t reached the fourth floor that the PM was doing the rounds, the PM knew he will catch some officials by surprise”.

Treat Your Next Work Interruption like an Opportunity

The laundry list of demands at work keeps growing. Meetings, phone calls, email, texts, videoconferences, etc. It can feel like there’s no time to get “real work” done. But these interruptions aren’t keeping you from work, they are work — and looking at them this way opens up a world of opportunities. Every “interruption” offers a chance to illuminate an issue, clarify expectations, or resolve a problem. By training yourself to see these moments as real work instead of distractions, you can lead more effectively. When someone interrupts you, listen intently, help frame the issue, and respond with positivity. Remember that even people who aren’t present may be affected by your words and actions, because whatever you say or do will be relayed to others.

Adapted by HBR from “ Turn Your Next Interruption into an Opportunity” by Douglas R. Conant.

In a ” Mental Hospital ” a TV reporter asked the Doctor:
How do you determine whether to admit a patient or not ?

Doctor: Well, We’d fill a Bathtub & give a Teaspoon, a Glass & a Bucket to the patient & ask them to empty the Bathtub.

Reporter: Oh, obviously a normal person would use the bucket because it’s bigger…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Doctor: No ! A normal person would pull the drain stopper.

Please go to bed No.49; We will start further investigations”

You also thought that normal person will use a bucket…. Now please go to bed no. 50

Bravery…

A British SAS squad and an American Marines squad are together in the middle of a city. The commanding officers of each group are discussing the merits of SAS vs Marines: these officers have reputations for being the strongest, toughest and most feared men in the whole of the armed forces.

The American squad leader turns to the British officer and says, “My Marines are so much braver than your SAS.”

“I doubt that very much,” says the SAS officer.

“They are much braver,” says the American. “Watch this.”

The American squad leader turns to one of his Marines and shouts, “SERGEANT!! Climb to the very top of that building and jump off.”

“SIR, YES SIR,” shouts the sergeant. The sergeant runs inside the building, runs to top and without a second’s thought, jumps off the top of the building and smashes into the ground. He survives but is very badly injured and gets taken away on a stretcher. The American leader turns to the SAS officer and says, “Now that’s bravery.”

“Yeah? Well watch this,” says the British officer. He turns to his men and bellows at the top of his voice, “YOU, PRIVATE, CLIMB TO THE TOP OF THAT BUILDING AND JUMP OFF.”

The private looks at the officer and says, “Sir, GO SCREW YOURSELF, Sir.”

The Officer turns around to the American and says, “You see? THAT’S bravery.”