Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Let there be light... please?

After true despair, the kind that spares not a glimmer of hope hidden in that corner of your mind you daren't even look for fear of getting your hopes up, comes pure acceptance.

For all my friends living in countries where basic necessities like electricity are fulfilled without fail on a daily basis, I envy you and all the electronic items in your homes that remain unspoiled by the constant comings and going of the electricity at the whims of the KESC.

For those who live within Karachi, sit back and think long and hard about the fact that there has been no electricty in most parts of the city, off and on, for two days now, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. No amount of complaints to the always helpful KESC helpline, no volumous angry letters "edited for conciseness" to Dawn, no praying for relief from the heat will do a damn thing to change it. All those plans of development and underpasses and no electricity. This is probably what heaven would be like if it were run by government officials.

And now, I shall switch off my PC just in case KESC is not quite as satisfied by providing us electricty for four hours out of the past twenty four and decides to cut us off yet again for a few more hours.

Misha at Wednesday, April 26, 2006

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Sunday, April 23, 2006

We have all the time the world

We have all the time the world
We have all the time the world,
originally uploaded by Tsunami Notes.
We are oh so young and reckless. Life is going to take a turn towards the absolutely inconsequential and ordinary soon and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Changing the world is for the unreasonable man, the man who chooses to change circumstances instead of resigning himself to them. I am among the reasonable people of the world. The ones whose existance is justified by the fact that they provide a foil to the unreasonable, special ones, the ones who will truly change the world and remain in memory while the rest of us are dust again.

The most we can hope for is those little things that keep us going till the next little thing. Don't expect grand passions for me, those are for the naive.

I am not your autumn moon.
I am the night.

Misha at Sunday, April 23, 2006

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Friday, April 21, 2006

23

Nixie, skidoo
Nixie, skidoo,
originally uploaded by fatllama.
It's official, I'm old. So proclaimeth the lights in the photo. Unluckily, I also have two finals today, so today may just suck.

Misha at Friday, April 21, 2006

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Sunday, April 16, 2006

tota

tota
tota,
originally uploaded by Mishaone.
The newest addition to our family, the parrot currently known as "tota". Little brother fancies it would be fun to bring up a parrot and teach him to talk and so on, so now he has his parrot, whom he carries around in his unnaturally large pockets and I have Sheru, whose claws dig new holes in my shoulder everytime I attempt to carry him around.

Misha at Sunday, April 16, 2006

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Saturday, April 15, 2006

Relativity

Another death in the family as of late. My favorite cousin's (a title which simply means she's the only one I can stand) grandmother passed away, thankfully peacefully in her sleep.

I normally detest and avoid funerals and weddings, both having become a contemporary faux stage to show off our acting skills. I can provide nobody with any consolation. What would I say? Hey, at least she's happy up there, right? Funerals are for the living, and I can do nothing for the living. For the dead, I can pray, although I think it's fairly futile.

Getting back to the point, my cousin and aunt (cousin's mother) were crying at the funeral. I felt sick, looking at my cousin, pillar of strength, honor student, sitting there inconsolable. So this is how normal people behave when a relative dies, I couldn't help thinking. At my own grandmother's funeral, I tried really hard to cry, I really did. Couldn't do it. When my aunt died, I felt like my waxen face was melting, so heavy were the corners. I mean, to be honest, my aunt wasn't ever very nice to most of us, but she was my aunt. She probably loved us in some dark corner of her heart. Recently, a good friend Lou passed away. Couldn't cry. Instead, all I could do whenever I remembered him was smile, that was all I would ever do when he was around, his energy was so contagious. Apparently, I have issues, so I have yet to lose someone without whom I would feel so lost and alone that I would cry for myself at the sheer injustice of it all. How can you cry for someone who's passed on? They're obviously in a far better place than we are. All we can do is cry for ourselves, mourn the fact that the rest of our lives will be that much more ordinary without them around to brighten it up.

Sometimes, pointless rambling helps get it all out.

Misha at Saturday, April 15, 2006

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"Lasts"

So the gloominess has set in again.

It's another round of last times. I have no reason to be down, since I am finally going to graduate. Yes, you heard it first right here folks, the woman who did not know when or if she would be able to complete the mountain of courses ahead of her has finally managed to do it. Two more this summer and I am an official BS(CS) graduate! That keeping in mind that I still have to clear the comprehensive examination. You're only allowed to take it thrice and the first time I took it, I knew very little, having not taken most of the subjects involved. The second time, recklessly, I took it with a little preparation, but this time (the last time) I shall going all the way. At least I hope so. It would be highly screwed up to hold someone back for not clearing their comprehensive exam when all the other requirements for their degree is complete, but it has happened, to a classmate of mine, in fact. Poor guy remains just an Inter graduate to this day despite having done everything right except clear his comprehensive examination. This whole 3-strikes-and-you're-out deal strikes me as ridiculous. What do you care how many times someone attempts the paper, just as long as he clears it in the end, right? I will never understand the random and senseless rules of educational institutes.

Anyhow, pointless randomness aside, I worry about this city. One of these days, mass panic will break out and we will all kill each other, just like that incident where a horde of women started panicking when someone up front fell down and screamed and in the resulting pandemonium, thirty women were trampled to death. As it turned out, there was nothing to stampede about in the first place. Sad, senseless, pointless deaths. When will they stop?

Misha at Saturday, April 15, 2006

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Thursday, April 13, 2006

3-Day Mourning


,
originally uploaded by Cerys Conner.
So it's day two of our forced three day mourning period. I wonder how forcibly shutting down businesses and insitutions means the city is in mourning? My university, however, insisted on opening its door today, forcing people out of their homes on a possibly dangerous pilgrimage through the city so that they wouldn't miss a class this close to finals. I arrived at my university this morning to avoid just such a travesty and found five other students lounging around in the air conditioned reception area while every few minutes the administration would confirm yet another teacher was unable or unwillimg to make it to their classes.

How do you bring a city to a standstill? Close off the petrol pumps for three days. By the end of the second day, you'll have lines as long as the roads at a tiny roadside petrol station hoping to get a decent price. I can't say I'm surprised, though, at the typically captalistic ventures the smaller fish are upto, since I've gotten several offers to get as much petrol as I want at Rs. 100 per litre, substantially higher than the going rates, but without the wait and hassle of going to a petrol station.

Three days of this, tomorrow being the third. Already there is a record number of users logging into the WorldCall hub to pass the time and complain about the lull the city has been forced into. I must admit after two days of entertaining myself mostly stuck at home due to the instability outside, I'm running out of ideas, too.

Misha at Thursday, April 13, 2006

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Tuesday, April 11, 2006

More blasts, more violence, more deaths.

God help this country, this world.

Misha at Tuesday, April 11, 2006

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Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Glide

glide2
glide2,
originally uploaded by ts88mhs.
I want to by a hangglider and just glide till the end of the earth and then glide some more and never stop. I want to leave the world of deadlines and muselessness behind and just fly off, glide too close to the sun and see what happens.

I'm astonished to find people still visit this blog, even after I've been so horrible about updating. What can I say, nothing worth writing about happens to me nowadays. Not that I don't prefer an uneventful life.

Misha at Wednesday, April 05, 2006

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Sunday, April 02, 2006

FMA

"Don't Forget..." (FMA)
"Don't Forget..." (FMA),
originally uploaded by Nahuel31.
So I started watching some Anime out of curiosty. One of my classmates over at SZABIST is a huge fan and is even having a sort of Anime Fanfest over at SZABIST on the 15th of April. Details over at the Pakistani Anime community at Orkut if anyone who reads this happens to be into it as well.

Upon the advice of a friend, I started off with two series, Bleach and Full Metal Alchemist. I have to admit they're pretty addictive. I'd recommend the excellent FMA to anyone interested in starting up watching some Anime. What bugs me, though, is this elitist attitude most Anime-enthusiasts have. Very few would be willing to share their terabytes of Anime with others unless the other happens to have a similarly large collection to tempt them. Khair, Anime is a welcome change from the usual Television programs that I watch since they appear to be takink breaks every few weeks.

Misha at Sunday, April 02, 2006

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