My Diary 2012 : Chapter 1

1

I first became familiar with 'Teach for Pakistan' when a friend of mine, soon after she graduated back in 2012, was offered a job with them. It was through her and another friend that had also been involved with 'teach' for a while that i got to know that 'Teach for Pakistan'  is a nationwide program in which graduates are offered jobs teaching in under-resourced schools for 2 years soon after they graduate. If you ask me, it is a complete win-win situation. Jobs might be hard to come by for some individuals and we know how much scarcity there is of teachers. This way everyone gets what they want plus you get that extra satisfaction of working with and teaching children and ,hopefully, ultimately bring a change in their life.

It's a sad situation in our country. You either don't have good teachers or you don't have teachers at all in some of these schools. This is an excellent initiative taken by the 'teach for Pakistan' team. These people are truly making a difference and whatever praise i give to them, won't be enough. Hats off to these guys!

For further information : www.teachforpakistan.edu.pk

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10100287601910352&set=vb.154909711221643&type=3&theater

My Diary 2012 : Introduction

2013. It's finally here! A new year with all its new promises.New resolutions, New dos and don'ts, new memories, new chances, new beginnings and a new tomorrow.

 But as I welcome the new year and bid goodbye to the old one, I have to stop and look back. I need to look back at 2012 with all its ups and downs. I am not talking only about my own life here though. Being a Pakistani, and especially a Karachiite, it isn't so much about my personal life as it is about the condition of my country. Yes, there were moments when certain own matters brought me down and there were occasions pertaining to my life that will always bring a smile to my face but they all seem to numb when compared to the things ,in general, that were happening around me. It has been like this for quite some time for us Pakistanis now. How can we be happy when we know that somewhere in our country, there are families that were grieving for their loved ones, who has been victims of target killings that day. How can the price of a dress matter when we know thousands are working day and night just to make ends meet. How can we rejoice when we are aware that currently in our country, the sadness excruciatingly outweighs the happiness. 

 It isn't like the way it used to be 10 or so years ago when the only time you watched news was the 9 o' clock bulletin. Nope. Now it is absolutely necessary that we keep checking the TV or the internet or that breaking news package you have subscribed to in your cell so that you are not caught off guard when the situation in the country takes its turn for the worse, which seems to happen almost everyday. The news is filled with dark and devastating things. And IF you're lucky, you might get to see a 1 minute segment on something happy happening somewhere in Pakistan. In a country when there is so much to be sad for, why dedicate so little time to all the good things and so much to the bad ones? I know it isn't because there is nothing good to report about. I mean just around me so many things happen that bring a smile to my face. Why not give equal amount of time to all those things as well? Why end the news on something dark and unhappy when we have the ability to end it with something that might brighten someone's day? Because, If you ask me, this is one nation that needs that very badly.

 Based on that, I've gotten an Idea. For the next one month, whenever i get some time (and i really do hope that i do) , i'll post things here about my Pakistan, that had made my day when I found out about them back in 2012. An act of kindness. A small story that made me laugh. An organization working for the benefit of the people. Anything. I remember so many bad things about 2012,but I want to end it by thinking about only the good ones =).

 And so starts My Diary 2012 ;)

5 Easy Habits to live more healthy!

With all the hype about "getting healthy" these days, I thought I would quickly just list out the five top most habits that I think form the pinnacle of 'healthy living'. I speak from experience here and if you google ,you'll see that a lot of other people believe the same! So, without much further ado.

1. Drink Plenty of Water!

I know I don't need to go deeply into this! Almost EVERYONE knows how important drinking water in sufficient amount is , which happens to be AT LEAST 7 glasses a day. In hotter climate or if you spend most of your time doing heavy activities, this amount should be raised proportionately.

I can't emphasize enough how important this is. 70% of our body is composed of water. To make sure our body works properly ,this amount is to be maintained. It helps keep you hydrated, keeps your skin fresh, maintains the composition of your blood and helps in proper functioning of the kidneys. AND these are only FEW of the benefits of the sacred drink know as H2O.

So, if you want to think healthy, think water!

2. Have Breakfast!

Super important! And I will tell you why. After dinner, when you go to sleep at night, all that food in your tummy is digested, used up and/or stored inside your body. So, when you get up in the morning and decide not to have breakfast suppose cause you want to lose all that extra fat you gobbled up yesterday, lemme just say here : bad idea!

Why? Cause your body, when you skip your breakfast, doesn't think that you want to lose weight and all those extra cals. What it thinks is that your are not eating because you don't have food TO eat! Hence, like the faithful little thing it is, it goes into STARVATION MODE. It lowers down the metabolism and starts using your own food stores but meagerly. So, instead of getting the result that you wanted , you get the opposite results!

Thus, say yes to breakfast!

3. Be Active!

Do not laze about. Be active! Go for a walk or a run or ,if that's too much, do some chores! Believe me, you'll feel much more healthier if you move about more as compared to being a couch potato!

Humans are built to be active. Any other way, just won't do.

4. Embrace Veggies and Fruits!

Fruits and Vegetables, they are your friends. Eating burgers and pizzas and sodas will only lead you down a long, unhealthy road. 

If you sit down and think, it's really stupid ,isn't it, that we opt for things that we KNOW aren't good for us and disregard those that we KNOW are good! And it is not like Fruits and Veggies aren't delicious! PLUS, they are a storehouse for vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and what not!

Make the smarter choice. Eat your fruits and veggies!

5. Smile!

Remember all those cheesy pictures on facebook and all those quotes 'turn that frown upside down' etc etc? Well, they are all there for a reason!

Smile is one of the best things you can do in your life and it costs you NOTHING, except for maybe a couple of calories, but, hey, who doesn't want to part with them, right?

A smile can not only turn your day around but also that of others around you. Its contagious! Sure, life is stressful and not always cookie 'n' cream BUT, despite all of that, or because of it actually, you need to smile!

Okay,so those are my 5 top habits that, I think, lead to a healthier life! :) 

Signing off now, Adious!

Hey, yeah, so I know i haven't had time to start on my previous ideas about the blog but i just had a new one!

I happen to be a medical student, currently in my 4th year and ,since, this blog is kind of a collection of my thoughts and ideas and chunks of my life ,i thought to myself why exclude out such a big part of my life from it ,right? So, I've thought to share basically ANYTHING I find interesting or ,otherwise, important or something that I just think people should know about.

Most of us are living a sheltered life. And even if we are not ,still then we don't know about the hardships of MILLIONS of people out there. But when you work in a government hospital ,you come into contact with these kind of people. People who BARELY manage to get by. And you see their hardships and you start feeling for them and, in the retrospective, you also start to appreciate whatever you have because ,you know, that whatever condition in which you are now, It's much better than what these people are going through.

Let me share a case with you here so you can have an idea about what I mean. This month I am posted in the paediatric ward. For people who do not know, that's basically a children's ward. And when you walk in, take a look around,it is immediately apparent that most of these children are no older than 5 years. And ,sadly, 90% of these >5 yr olds are admitted to the ward because they are suffering from Malnutrition.


Malnutrition is a pathological state resulting from relative or absolute deficiency or excess of one or more essential nutritions. These nutrients can be macronutrients (Carbohydrates, Fats and Protein) or micronutrients i.e nutrients you don't need in very large amounts. (Vitamins and minerals). Most people in western countries suffer from a different kind of malnutrition than the one seen in my country (i.e Pakistan). There there is excess intake of nutrients resulting in ,most importantly, obesity. Here, on the other hand it is mostly because of UNDERNUTRITION.

And,believe me ,if you see that state of what these undernourished children, it'll move you. Just today we saw a child, 1 year old, suffering from a form of malnutrition called 'MARASMUS'. The kid's arms and legs were matchstick thin. He was crying but there was no tearing. And ,even though, he was a year old ,he could do nothing but lie around and cry. =(

AND the saddest part is most of these conditions are totally preventable!

So,yeah, Just thought I would bring this topic up. Something needs to be done about this cause malnutrition is a deadly condition.

Anyway, that's about it for today. Until next time.

Our Baking Adventures, Part 3

Hey there..
It's been a long time since I last blogged, so I just wanted to update it ,since,i finally have some time off.

Thought to share what me and my sister baked today : Cream Puffs.

This was our first time trying them so they didn't turn out to be perfect. The Choux pastry was all fine , although it took way longer to bake than it was supposed to. The main problem came from the cream bit. It was supposed to be whipped into stiff peaks but ,for some reason, that just wouldn't happen. So, the cream was kind of runny. Other than that, I liked the way the puffs turned out, seeing that it was first time anyway.

Following are their snaps!

What's to come!!

Alright, so I've got university in the morning and I really wanna hit the sack right now but then an idea popped into my head and i just had to blog about it! :D


Ever since I was tiny little brat (and mind you, I was) I've been making these 'Things I wanna do before i die' lists (like so many other people in the world). Everyone has certain goals they want to accomplish in their lives, stuff they want to do, places they want to go and , as facebook has so cruelly been pointing out for the past couple of years, you are just as unique as the next person. Hence, I, being one of those not-as-diverse-as-we-thought-we-were life forms, have such hopes and dreams too :D (Surprise, surprise!).


So, just for the fun of it and lack of better things to do, I am gonna blog about that wishlist of mine! So, yeah, that's what is coming up next on the blog... soon. Sit tight!


That was about it then. Time to crawl into that bed of mine now! Adious!

Our Baking Adventures, Part 2

We got around to baking our first batch of cupcakes 2 days back :D
Following are a few snaps!

Our Baking Adventures , Part 1

I've been baking, along with my sister, for quite some time now. It has become a passion actually. A couple of days back we attempted our first apple pie :D My friends said it turned out real good, although it was a little too sweet for our taste. Here are the pictures!

Cards!

Alright, so , this other day a friend of ours had her birthday, so the night before ,me and my sister made a card for her! And while we were at it, we decided to make a few extra cards for these other friends, making it a total of 4 cards.


It took a really, reallyyy long time, like, 8 hours (no kidding!) but it was fun and we were really happy with the final result so it was worth it!


We took a few snaps of the cards before giving them to their recipients and i decided to post them here on the blog. The pictures will show both the outside and the inside of the cards.


So, here they are!


CARD 1:

The last picture in the pictures posted above is actually the inside of the card. What we basically did here was form a loop from a green ribbon and hang these 'tags' from it. Some we made ourselves while the other are really just tags that are attached to your brand new clothes. you know.. company names and all that stuff. These tags were then used to write messages on their backs by other friends!


CARD 2:

CARD 3:

Notice the random phrases on the front cover of this card here? They aren't as random as one might think. They are catch phrases and stuff, words that the person who got this card would know the 'inside story' about.. hehe. 


Also the blue flowers inside? Hand painted , that's why they aren't as artful as i wanted them to be.


CARD 4:

These are about it for now. Just wanted to post them on my blog, since this kind of stuff is what i wanted my blog to be about in the first place :D


Alright then, Later!

My 2012 Resolutions , Part 1

Alright, so I totally know now is a little bit late for coming out with some “NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS”, but this time I wanted to set up a few resolutions that I’ll actually follow through! So, I took my time, thought hard and then picked out the ones I am sure to stick to during 2012!

So, here goes :D

1.       Exercise. I’ve been making this resolution for quite some years now but, previously, this one came with certain limitations, such as, ‘exercise everyday’ or ‘walk for at least 20 minutes daily’. Not very difficult to see that I almost never followed those ones through. Something always came up and I do tend to procrastinate a lot, so this time ,instead of making a resolution that I know I just am not going to go through with, I’ve made a relatively ‘bendable’ one. EXERCISE! Recently, I’ve been net-surfing this issue a lot and instead of going completely ninja on myself, I’ve decided to make tiny little changes which will get me good results in the long run (being a whole year in this case), such as, taking stairs instead of the elevator, walking to places whenever I can instead of taking a rickshaw etcetera etcetera. Even these minute changes count as ‘exercise’.

2.      Being Tolerant. I happen to be a hothead. I tend to lose my temper a lot and when I do, believe me, I am not a very pretty sight. So, I am going to make sure this New Year sees a brand new me! Hence, I am going to start being tolerant. Again internet is a HUGE help in this matter!  I will try to overcome my anger and impatience. I know it isn’t going to be easy, seeing as Old habits die hard and all, but I am going to try extra extra hard! And when I know that I am about to lose it, I’ll just leave the room or put my headphones on or something. So, yeah, let’s see how this one turns out  :D

3.       Write. That, right there, is one my passions! I remember how back in school, I used to write, like, ALL the time! Then time changed and so did things and this hobby took a backseat! But, now, with this blog, writing is going shotgun again =D I know my writing skill shave gone a bit rusty and all but, hopefully, time will amend that!

4.       Get in touch with my ‘athletic’ self again. Again, sports used to be one of my all-time favorite hobbies back in the days. I intend to reinstate it to its former position. So, in 2012, I resolve to take part in more sports and be more athletic than I was in 2011. Done.

5.       Get Happier. See how that resolution right there doesn’t hold any limits? All I have to do is DO things that make me happy and avoid those that don’t. Meet up with old friends, watch movies, boost my self-esteem, stress management and all that. Just  do whatever takes me to that happy place, you know =D

Okay, so that is about it for now, but let me tell you that those certainly are not all of my resolutions! This will probably require another blog post =D

So, for now, toodles! Until next time:D

My take on Judi Picoult.

Let me start this by saying I am a HUGE book fan! I love reading! I am perfectly comfortable with spending my free time, getting snug on a couch, reading a nice long book and maybe a chocolate to go with it! So, these past 2 months, when I was FINALLY done with my exams and had a sprawling 60-day long holiday in front of me, I decided to take up an author that I had heard of but never got around to reading:  Jodi Picoult.

                                                                                                     

I started off with a book of hers whose movie had topped the box office list: My Sister’s Keeper. At once, I noticed that the topic Picoult chooses are not something you’ll find in many books. What is it like to be born into a family in a constant battle against cancer? How do you cope? How do you hope? Me, having read books from authors like J.K Rowling and Stephanie Meyer to Judith McNaught and Dan Brown, these new forays into situations uncommon, but in no way rare, were new and exciting!

 The same goes for her next book that I also took up to reading: Nineteen minutes. A book revolving around the idea of 'bullying'. Sure this concept is not something very dire over here in Pakistan but in west, bullying is probably the biggest challenge school-going kids have to face! For them, it isn’t something that you just ‘get over’ as you grow up. It’s a lifelong fight, one that can only stop if measures are taken to put a stop to it! Time and again, we see the failure of the educational system to eradicate this problem from the society, examples being the 2007 Virginia tech shooting and Columbine High school massacre. This book forces you to contemplate all that can go wrong if this issue is not taken up seriously. It compels you to play your part in doing something about it.

In essence, what I got from reading novels by Jodi Picoult is that she chooses to talk about things that need to be talked about. She picks up issues and, in a very unbiased and engaging way, highlights all their pros and cons. Picoult’s manner of not telling the story as just a 3^rd person , but make all the different characters narrate the fable themselves, give us a wide range of views to work on. Because of that, instead of getting to see only one side of the main focus, all the outlooks are highlighted!

So, basically, what I am trying to say here is that for all the avid book-readers out there, if you haven’t yet had the chance of reading any of Jodi Picoult’s work yet, it is high time that you go to the book store and get yourself a copy, because this is one author that you definitely shouldn’t miss out on!

Cheers =)

A Winter Morning in Karachi..

Karachi, the NYC of Pakistan, a bustling metropolis with a pace of its own. If you want to survive here, you have to go with the flow or risk being left behind. Every day, we get up and rush against the time, only to wake up the next day to do it all over again. Anyone, who has been a citizen of this sprawling, alive 24/7 city, knows all too well that Karachi doesn’t give you time; you need to take some out yourself.

 And, when you sit down and think about it, that really isn’t such a bad idea! It’s okay to let go, once in a while, pull the brakes, park to the side and let the others rush ahead of you. We are not machines after all! And so, if you ask me, what perfect time will it be to do that than on a cool winter Karachi morning? Here is how I would probably plan such a break out.

 For me, the ideal day would start with sharing a cup of coffee with a friend as early as 8 in the morning. Just making small talk, discussing nothing in particular, checking out the people walking up to the counter and sharing maybe a chocolate mousse cake on the side. A total 180 degree change from that everyday routine of gulping down of coffee with one hand while brushing your hair with the other, eyes continuously flicking towards the clock up on the wall, to make sure you are ready before time. It’s true, when you are leading as busy a life as mine, these tiny little pleasures can make all the difference in the world!

Maybe that relaxed little rendezvous with a friend in the coffee shop would then be followed be a long, relaxed, solitary walk in a park. No jogging, nothing fast, and absolutely no music! Just strolling down the pathways, looking at the trees, listening to the birds, and breathing in that fresh morning air as much as I can. Believe me, nature is the best spiritual healer you can find out there! Even better than music! It can take away the toll, the stress, leaving you as fresh as itself.

Maybe after that walk, I’ll choose a shady little bench, take out my bottle of juice, and take in the world around me. I’ll feel the cold morning breeze against my face, listen to the rush of traffic far away on the main road, smile at the little kids running towards the swing to get the first turn and try to catch the squirrels running beneath my seat.

 I’ll probably spend the whole of my morning there. And then when my watch finally tells me it’s 1, I’ll let out a satisfied little sigh, get up from the bench, smile at the whole world in general and then ready myself up to get busy again!