A while back I blogged about Pakistan’s very own Hugo Award winner, Farah Jamaluddin here (http://drowningshadows.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/pakistans-hugo-award-winner/) and her documentary on Polio, “Walk towards Hope”. Well, the talented director has done it again, and the Polio documentary “Walk towards Hope” has won 8th place in the Acia Pacific Child Rights Awards! Read details here http://www.childrightsaward.org/other_winner.html

Other entries included ones from Australia and India, so big kudos again to the talented Farah Jamaluddin for churning out quality work and for portraying Pakistan in a positive light in the international media.

Head over to http://www.brandchannel.com/features_webwatch.asp for a Web review of Gillette Pakistan on Brand Channel!

It’s a common adage, “Make your own rules”, as a precursor to success and confidence. It recently struck me how it reflects the spirit of the large majority of Pakistani drivers on the roads. Here is something that happens regularly, you stop at a red light, and a number of cars wait behind you, while a few maneuver their way around and break the red light (as if it never even existed) and speed their way to whatever destination they were headed towards. Sometimes, when you’re stopped at a red light, and the road in front of you is clear, the cars behind will start honking, frustrated that you have chosen to stand in front of a red light despite their being no traffic in front of you.

 The epiphany came when a big 4WD vehicle crossed and me and broke the signal. It struck me that the driver was actually “making his own rules” and disregarding any other rules. Must be quite a successful person; making his own rules and hence living in his own private world. I mentioned this to a couple of friends, and of them came back with a witty response asking me when my flight had landed in Pakistan, insinuating that I was irritated as if I were a foreigner to this country. That’s the other problem: we have gotten used to it so much that we take the lack of rules for granted. (To be fair, the very good friend who made the joke always stops on lights).

 So here’s what I suggest, let’s not go on making our own rules, or creating our own roads. It’s just a pre-cursor to the corruption within our system. If your work is not being done, “make your own rules/roads” and grease some palms; if you can’t get a job get someone who’s big to tell someone who’s big to get you the job. It’s all about making your own luck and being successful.

 Well it’s utter crap. Let’s start by being patient enough to stop at red lights and hopefully everything else will follow. Let’s follow some rules… after all they have brought success and sense to developed nations.

Below are links to a short documentary on Polio, from Pakistan’s very own Hugo Award winnner, Farah Jamaluddin! This a must-watch for both students of film and connoisseurs of Pakistani media, as it showcases the immense potentioal that Pakistan has in terms of communication media. Kudos to the producer/director!

My only criticism is for Samaa TV, who can not refrain from trying to turn a serious problem (Polio) into a PR campaign.

Part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9kKOodMLSI

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdaZa98YlhA&feature=related

Enjoy!

So, I haven’t blogged in a long while. There have been various reasons for it… some of these reasons have been because of my being busy, others have revolved around my sheer laziness and the fact that I thought I didn’t have anything to say.

Well, here I am now. In a strange role, in a different city… I call it Nod. Don’t ask me why! I’m not too sure myself.

But anyway… was reading about U2’s brilliant performance in Barca… and it kind of brought it all home. I was planning on being there for the second show in Barca, but then here I am. In Nod.

I find myself wrestling with a crisis of faith… of sorts. I want to believe… and I even have reasons to believe… but the sheer uncertainty and certain non-events from the past haunt me. “What if you faith is worthless,” they say. What if what you have reason to believe in, does not materialize. What if…? And that’s a dangerous thing to do… a dangerous place to be at… and well… dangerous to think about.

But I guess, soon we’ll know. And hindsight is such a lovely gift, isn’t it?

Haven’t read or written anything (well actually did write an article) for a long while now. I feel a little blocked… and a little stifled. Shackled even.

Good things have happened too… I’ve visited a number of foreign destinations, and enjoyed myself. Pakistan won the T20 World Cup.

But here I am now, in NOD, going through a question of faith. Time will only tell what the answer will be.

Join me every week on http://webstudio.ciopakistan.com for my show Hat Trick, which takes a humour filled look at the world of 360 degree Marketing and the various vehicles that can be used for reaching out to your consumers!

Click on to http://brandchannel.com/features_webwatch.asp?ww_id=412 for my review of Nestle’s Everyday Soul-Mates at Brand Channel!

TeethMaestro’s Blog has been nominated as the Best South Asian Blog in the 5th Brass Crescent Awards 2008! The nominee with the most votes will win, so go and vote! A vote for TeethMaestro is a like a vote for Pakistan! Kinda!!

I do.. Head over to http://www.buzzvines.com/i-still-love-pakistan-do-you and show your patriotism for Pakistan!

The blogging movement in Pakistan has been gaining a lot of ground in the recent years, and we have a number of excellent blogs out there that are worth regular visiting (will be updating my blog-roll soon). The good thing is that Pakistan is finding a voice in the World Wide Web, and it’s beginning to be a voice that’s worth listening to.

As a further boost for the bloggers, CIO Pakistan and Google Pakistan recently caused a stir by holding Bloggers Meet-up Events in Lahore (at LUMS) and in Karachi (at the Royal Rodale). Both events were resounding successes, and more than a hundred bloggers attended (loads more had registered) the Karachi gathering. The events were excellent opportunities for networking and exchanging of ideas within the blogging community. For people new to blogging, it also afforded an excellent introduction into the area (presented by Badar Khushnood of Google Pakistan) and how to potentially make money from it (as illustrated by two of the speakers, Haris and Saad). Sabeen Mehmud and TeethMaestro were also present in the earlier discussion which was masterfully moderated by CIO Pakistan’s Rabia Garib.

All in all, it was a great get-together, and leaves one looking forward to the next one!