How to be productive while baby-sitting?
(Alternative titles:
How to efficiently use your baby-sitting time? Things to do during your baby-sitting hours. Efficient use of your baby-sitting time.)

This is how the morning started. I did a Google search on efficient use of baby-sitting hours. I baby-sit on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I am a firm believer in multitasking, that with computers and other automation it is possible for you to do more than a couple of things concurrently. But when I am baby-sitting I fall short of my parallel processing goals. I put a child gate at the door to my garage office and start working on the computer, but the children strongly disapprove. They start with loud protests and then go on to throw their toys in the office; if I still don't pay attention they tell me they need to go bathroom, right away--just about anything to disrupt my work. I have also tried taking a nap during my baby-sitting hours especially when the children are busy playing with each other. I thought I would refresh myself and when children would take their afternoon nap I would be full of energy to do my work. But that scheme did not work either. The children might have been playing with each other but as soon as they saw me reclining on sofa and closing my eyes, they smelled foul play. They rushed to me and told me that they too needed to take a nap, when actually it was not their nap time. One other thing I tried was to write my diary during my baby-sitting time. These days I mostly write on computer, but since working on computer while looking after the babies was not practical I thought I would discreetly use my diary to write my thoughts, and would later type the stuff on the computer. But discreetly writing diary while baby-sitting did not work either. The children realized I was up to something. They came close and discovered my diary and the pen; then they wanted to snatch the pen off my hand and tear off pages from the diary. I wonder if I should build myself a cage. I sit in the cage do my stuff and occasionally accord a glance to the children. I am afraid they would use their 'need to go the bathroom, right away' trick to get me out of the cage. Oh, I have also tried watching documentary films while looking after the babies thinking I would efficiently use my baby-sitting hours to gain knowledge and nurture my soul. But babies don't like documentaries, and when I tell them to play with each other they normally go but very soon there is a big fight; I have to get off the sofa and intervene. And the most important part of the documentary is aired right at that very instant.

But my baby-sitting ordeal has not gone completely unfruitful. I have finally discovered a prescription that works, although I am not too big a fan of it. It is retail therapy. Well, actually I don't buy anything I just take children to a large store and look at things with them.
So, this is where I was this morning: looking for new ideas to put baby-sitting time to good use. My search took me from one web site to another, and then I saw this:

http://psychcentral.net/2006/05/12/am-i-crazy/#respond

"Where do I begin? I am 47 years old, a male with a lot of issues that I don’t seem to ever get any warning before they explode on me that serve to wreck my life and the lives of those around me. I had a lot of emotional issues as a youth........."

The narrative moved me. I wanted to write a response, but the web site didn't let me post a comment. Here is what I wanted to say:

You have come to the right place. Write more, pour your heart out. It would heal you and would ultimately set you free from your demons. Being suicidal is stupid. Life has to end one day; why end it sooner? Learn to look at your life from a distance, as if all that has been happening with you is actually someone else's experience; as if you are reading your past in a book. Keep going through life one day at a time. Make little doable goals for every day and get those things done. And remember that you are not the only owner of your life, the rest of the world, all 6 billion of us, are connected to you in one way or another.

Bulgaria

It rained today. I was on my baby sitting duty. In the evening when the children were busy watching TV I remembered 1992. I was about to leave on a long trip. One Sunday evening I was headed to my office when I stopped to fill gas in my car. Going to office Sunday evening was my routine remedy to fight the Sunday blues. It is like taking head-on what you are actually dreading. I put the nozzle in the gas tank and while waiting for the fill thought about the places the upcoming trip would take me to. I thought of very tall, old, kind, shade trees. I thought of wild animals. These most probably were the images from my childhood storybooks. But no matter what the origin of these thoughts was, the imagery made me elated. Few months later I took off. I went from one country to another for a duration of eight months, till I was out of money. That backpacking trip set me up for life. I made friends of all kinds of people and saw life in its thousand hues. I learned the frivolity of our existence and found the tools to keep life interesting. I mastered the art of subsisting on little, and learned to revel in abundance when it is chanced upon you.

Karachi Doctors and Quacks

Karachi is full of quacks. They include people who apparently have medical degrees, but still end up hurting people more often than healing them. A good friend of mine, who wants to remain anonymous, has compiled a list of doctors who have good reputation (information collected through first-hand accounts). Here is the list. [Very shortly I will also put here the list of doctors you should avoid, along with their sordid tales (once again, knowledge gained from first-hand accounts.)] So, here are the good ones, along with their fields of specialization.


List of Consultants
May 04, 2005
SN Name Of Doctor Clinic Address / Phone No. Remarks
01 Anesthesia
Dr. Wajahat Malik at Anklesaria Hospital
Dr. Sadeea Hayder at Civil Hospital

02 Cardiac
Dr. Khan Shah Zaman at Medicare
Dr. Asad Pathan at OMI Hospital
AKUH (Agha Khan Hospital)

03 Children
Dr. Aysha Mehnaz at Civil Hospital
Midtown, Bahadurabad
Dr. Habiba Hasan at Medicare
Dr. Zeenat Esani at Mehran Clinic

04 Dental
Dr. Rafeel at Seven Day Hospital

05 Diabetes
Dr. Tahir Hussain at Remedial Center

06 Dietitian & Nutritionist
at Seven Day Hospital

07 ENT
Dr. Umer Farooq at Anklesaria Hospital
Faiz-e-Aam Hospital
Dr. Aleem Kadir at Jinnah Hospital
Private Clinic, Garden, Above Café Mubarak
Dr. Abbas Zafar at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital
OMI Hospital

08 Eye
Dr. Misbah Aziz at Hashmani Hospital
Dr. Kashir Haider at Hashmani Hospital
Dr. Muneer Qureshi at Taj Medical Complex

09 Gynecology
Dr. Nighat Shah at Murshid Hospital
Dr. Yasmin Wejahat at Star Hospital
Dr. Shareef Bhutta
Dr. Aziz Kapadia

10 GIT
Dr. Hamid Manzoor at Qatar Hospital
Dr. Waseem Jafri at AKUH
Dr. Zaighum Abbas at AKUH

11 Hematologist & Oncologist
Dr. Tahir Shamsi
Dr. Zafar Hashmi at Liaquat National Hospital
Dr. Narjis Muzafar at Ziauddin Hospital

12 Medical (Internal Medicine)
Dr. Tahir at Remedial Hospital
Dr. Rauf Memon at Faiz-e-Aam Hospital
Dr. Shaheen Bhatti at Civil Hospital
Mamji Hospital
Remedial Hospital
Dr. Hamid Manzoor at Qatar Hospital

13 Neuro Surgery
Dr. Junaid Ashraf at Civil Hospital
Liaquat National Hospital

14 Neurology
Dr. Sarwar Siddiqui at Civil Hospital
Rehman Plaza Hospital (near OMI)
Dr. Shiraz Hyder at National Hospital, Defence
AKUH

15 Orthopedics
Dr. A.R. Jamali at Jinnah Hospital
Faiz-e-Aam Hospital
Dr. Zaki Idrees at Liaquat National Hospital

16 Pain Management
Dr. Shakil Baig at Mehran Clinic

17 Phulmonary / Chest
Dr. Nadeem Rizvi at Jinnah Hospital
Medicare For Adult & Children

18 Physiotherapy
at Seven Day Hospital

19 Plastic Surgery
Dr. Tahir Sheikh at Anklesaria Hospital
Dr. Atia Hussain at Taj Medical Complex

20 Psychiatric
Dr. Shifa Naeem at AKUH
Dr. Amin Gadit

21 Psychologist
at Institute of Clinical Psychology, Gulistan-e-Johar

22 Radiology
Dr. Anees at National X-Ray

23 Peeds Surgen
Dr. Mohsin Azher Ali at OMI Hospital
Dr. Shahab Akhtar at Garden Medical Center

24 Skin
Dr. Zarnaz at Civil Hospital
Mehran Clinic
Dr. Badar Dhanai at Regal / Rimpa Plaza
Dr. Hamid Zaki at Ankle Seria Hospital
Faiz-e-Aam Hospital

25 Surgical
Dr. Saeed Qureshi at Anklesaria Hospital
Dr. Badar Siddiqi at Anklesaria Hospital
Dr. Nahid Sultan at Taj Medical Complex

26 Ultrasound
Dr. Tanveer Zubari at Haroon Chamber
Dr. Shahida Zaidi at Private Clinic, Kashmir Road

27 Urology
Dr. Aziz Abdullah at Seven Day Hospital
Dr. Altaf Hashmi at Burhani Hospital

28 Vascular Surgery
Dr. Khalid Mukhdomi at Liaquat National Hospital


List of Renowned Hospitals
SN Name Of Hospital Address Remarks
01 Agha Khan Hospital Stadium Road
02 Liaquat National Hospital Stadium Road
03 Seven Day Hospital M. A. Jinnah Road
04 Chinniot Hospital Korangi

World Social Forum 2006 Karachi kicks off with gusto

Heartwarming speeches and a palpable spirit of solidarity between delegates from all continents helped World Social Forum Karachi commence with vigor. Over three thousand people attended the program. Many local labor and farmers’ parties had their representation in the KMC Sports Complex stadium where the first session of the six-day program took place.

Pictures are here:
http://karachiphotoblog.blogspot.com/
A short video is here:
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/192342


C.

PS. There is a big contingent from India--so glad to see them here.

Thinking of living off the land? Read this:

http://www.thehammer.ca/content/2004/0430/rugged_outdoors.html

Did Osama Bin Laden survive the earthquake?
C.

Making banners and placards is easy and fun

Some people like hand-written banners and placards. I believe I have graduated them. I like billboards with neat writings that appear to have come out of a professional print shop.

With trial and error I have developed a method of making professional looking banners and placards. Here it is.

1. Based on the available space on the intended placard or banner calculate the approximate height and width of each letter of the publicity text. I say approximate because you will be doing some adjustments later.
2. Use WordArt in MS Word software to generate large sized letters of the text. In the Word environment, WordArt is opened by clicking on the tilted 'A' icon, normally present in the toolbox at the bottom. [For a banner I recently made I printed each letter on 11X17 paper. Used text height of 16"; let the program take care of the width--for the same height, each letter has a different width (e.g., 'W' is wider than 'U'; read the previous sentence again and see the difference for yourself). In WordArt environment I kept the letters hollow and used dotted, faint lines to be the outlines of the letter--this saved me printer ink. I used just one Word file. Once I settled on the height of the letter, the page borders, the outline of the letter, etc., I printed the first letter and then kept changing the letter in the same Word file.]
3. Once a letter is printed out cut the paper around the letter. In case of placard directly paste the letters on the placard; use a straightedge and a marker to thicken the outlines (if you have printed hollow letters). To make a banner, pin up the letters on the fabric; using a marker, trace the outline of each letter on the banner fabric; remove the pinned up letter; fill the outlined space with the color of your choice.

There you have it, publicity material that looks adorable.

Soz e Jigar
Soz e Jigar, a literary gathering to celebrate the work of great Urdu poet Jigar Muradabadi, was held at the Indian Community Center on June 25, 2005. The program was arranged by Bay Area Urdu teacher Hamida Chopra.
The Urdu report that I just posted on this blog was written by a participant who wants to remain anonymous.
C.

Soz e Jigar Report--Page 3

Soz e Jigar Report--Page 2

Soz e Jigar Report--Page 1

Review of Urdu Adab monthly, from Canada

Just received the June edition of Urdu Adab, an Urdu
literary magazine published in Mississauga, Canada.
Read the whole magazine in one go--well, the prose
part, as I understand prose better than poetry.

First and foremost, the Urdu speaking Diaspora settled
in North America really needed a quality Urdu
magazine.  Kudos to Urdu Adab's editor Munir Saami for
taking the initiative!

The June edition--the first one--is dedicated to Jaun
Elia, the Howard Stern look alike Pakistani poet who
died not too long ago.  I was hoping to find some
biographical information about Jaun; the only write-up
that came somewhat close to being personal was
Peerzada Salman's article, originally published in
Daily Dawn.

"Afsanay kee naee aawazain" by Asif Farrukhi is a good
read but it does not provide the kind of information
one hopes to find in an article of that title.
Farrukhi gives us, in the last third of his narrative,
names of only five new Urdu short story writers!  Only
five! 

"Allama Iqbal, aik mehbooba, teen beeviyan, char
shadiyan" by Dr. Khalid Sohail is the kind of articles
I love to read more of.  Excellent research!

Short stories presented in the June edition of Urdu
Adab:

Karamat Ghouri's "Safr e Na-Tamam" seems more like a
true story--a story that the writer heard in one of
his travels and found it worthwhile to beautifully
transform into an Urdu afsana.

Rahim Unjan's "Do Monhi" provides a representative
sample of that genre of Pakistani nationalist
literature that feeds on its own venom.  This is the
kind of literature that makes sure that the animosity
between the peoples of India and Pakistan is kept
alive.

Abid Jafri's "Koi aur hoga" is a creation of a very
sensitive mind.  It is the story of our time when we
hear of the bombs dropped on people like you and I,
when we hear of blasts killing sons and daughters of
people like you and I--but we seldom come out of our
apathy to raise a voice of resistance.  And one day
when the misfortune falls on us we complain of others'
indifference.
An alternate title of Abid Jafri's story can be "Giree
hai jis peh kul bijlee."

The price of the Urdu Adab magazine is not indicated
anywhere but its austere look--the magazine is printed
on scrub paper--gives confidence that the production
team understands the economic realities and that it
won't let its efforts go financially bust after a few
publications.  [Many like myself must be willing to
pay the subscription.]

Well done, Urdu Adab team!