6 Jan
This January is the start of a new year and also the beginning of a new era for PAF-KIET College of Media & Arts Debates Society. The new look will be completed by the end of January. You can watch the CMA Debates Society pages over the web transform. We would appreciate your feedback!
Join us on Facebook and Google+
1 Jan
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
27 Aug
Pottermore.com is a website that continues the legacy of the Harry Potter franchise. Hopefully, you don’t live under a rock and you already know what it is all about. But if not, you could Google what Pottermore really is. I’m not here to bore you with those details!
I’m here to give you an inside look into Pottermore so you can know exactly how much you’re missing if you’re not already a part of it 
15 Aug
Pakistani Pop Stars singing the national anthem:
15 Aug
By midnight of the 13th of August, 2011 a huge crowd gathered at Defence Stadium, Karachi. The air was thick with national slogans, national songs and the cries of “Allah o Akbar” (Allah is Great). Bearing flags of green and white in hands, these Karachiites congregated to sing the national anthem of Pakistan in unison to create a world record for most people singing the national anthem simultaneously. But more importantly, they gathered to send a message to everyone over the globe that in times of joy and peril, Pakistanis remain standing united.
The previous record was held by the people of Phillipines who gathered together on the 1st of September, 2009 and a crowd 2948 strong sang the national anthem.
The new record has now been set by the massive effort of 5885 Pakistanis who sang the national anthem with enthusiasm and spirit. Watch these Pakistanis breaking a Guinness record and making a new one in the video below. Video courtesy of Sharaf Qaiser.
These are the words of the national anthem written by Hafeez Jalandhri (in 1952) and composed by A. G. Chagla (in 1950). Thus, the music was composed before the anthem had been penned down.
Every word in the entire anthem is a loanword from Persian or Arabic save for one word - “ka” ( کا, “of” ) which is a word from the Urdu language (the national language of Pakistan). Urdu is a mixture of many versatile languages, with a major influence of Persian, and it is because of its diverse origins that it is a fast growing and flexible language today. Also, at the time of Pakistan’s birth, Persian and Arabic were, and still are, considered the languages of the educated class in the sub continent.
The anthem lasts for 1 minute and 20 seconds, and uses twenty one musical instruments and thirty eight different tones.
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Listen to a remix instrumental version of the national anthem:
REFERENCES:
14 Aug
Art and Photography by: Tehreem Iqbal
Yesterday, after an Iftar party, I was discussing Pakistan’s Independence Day with my sister and sister-in-law and there seemed to be some confusion regarding celebrating it. This led me to research in detail on the topic of patriotism in Islam.
For those of you who are boggled by the same question, I am compiling my findings here. Hope this helps 
These are excerpts from various articles over the Internet.
Skip to the end for a summary (in bullet points) and reference links. The quoted words are from Quran or Hadith.
[1] So can one be a Muslim and also a patriot? It comes down to interpretation. If loving and defending one’s country means supporting and overlooking its wrongs and defending its sins and aiding its aggressions, then absolutely NOT.
[2] If void of fanaticism and extremism and if held as an evidence of man’s faith or disbelief, patriotism goes in harmony with the Islamic notion and never contradicts it.
2 Jan
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 4,300 times in 2010. That’s about 10 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 44 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 139 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 137mb. That’s about 3 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was October 24th with 101 views. The most popular post that day was In Memory of My College.
The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, twitter.com, levelx.me, mail.live.com, and alphainventions.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for faber castell, faber castell logo, qubee, still life drawing, and faber castel.
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
In Memory of My College October 2010
10 comments
Sketches – Still Life and Life Drawing September 2010
14 comments
Campaigns in spotlight July 2010
2 comments
Photography July 2010
15 comments
Graphic Designing July 2010
14 comments
28 Nov
If you’re looking for the most authentic and comprehensive database of Quranic verses and Hadith, look no further.
www.alim.org is the best website I have come across so far. The website has an extensive Index of subjects in the Quran and Hadith. It also provides facilities for reading the Quran on-line (script and calligraphy both), listening to the recitation, multiple translations, and very informative sections about Islam and Islamic history.
Read on about their vision, philosophy and brief history…
24 Oct
Photo By: Nabiha Zeeshan
So, today Project A – The Guild achieved an important milestone. The first ever Book Club in Karachi kicked off at 5.30pm at The Second Floor (popularly known as T2F). My friend, Tehniat, was kind enough (good for her ) to pick me up and we set off together to the T2F. I was going there for the first time and to be very honest, I didn’t notice it until Tehniat and I were standing right at the door and she said, “This is it. This is T2F, yes!” We hurried inside and whatever met my eyes then removed all doubts from my mind about the place – it was a one-in-a-million art heaven!
Photo By: Nabiha Zeeshan
The ground floor is dedicated to art exhibitions and other events. A carpet adorns one side of the floor, while paintings, photographs and the likes on the walls are a source of instant refreshment from the hustle bustle of daily life. There is a coffee stop in one corner.
Photo By: Nabiha Zeeshan
Ascending the twisting staircase, I sensed a feeling of casualness, smartness and uniqueness hanging in the air. I was taking photos with every step, much to the annoyance of my bestie, but there was no stopping me and I know that my bestie would never have stopped me for real, being a photo-addict herself!
We opened the door to the second floor seating area and behold! The first thing that caught my eyes was an arrangement of small square tables, capable of seating four and six, dominated by – and it’s very unusual indeed – books! Books on the shelves, books on the tables, books on the counters, books inside the rooms, books in people’s hands – it had a very strong impact on me. Not only that, but the counter had a Mac perched on it where our orders were being recorded. The walls were lined with black and white photographs and coloured paintings.
The balcony area, which is reserved for smokers, is furnished by one square table, a pedestal fan and four chairs. But the entire setting is given the ‘artistic’ look by the wall mural paintings by Ammad Tahir.
Photo By: Nabiha Zeeshan
So much for the description of the cafe` itself. Let’s move on to the Karachi Book Club. Tehniat and I waited for half an hour before realising (thanks to timely tweets by Tehniat) that a couple sitting at another table was also waiting for Karachi Book Club members to arrive. And that’s how it all began – first, it was the four of us and then soon people were pouring in. My friend had to get up time and again as familiar faces joined the party and she greeted them (having known them through Twitter).
Photo By: Nabiha Zeeshan
After twelve happy people were seated excitedly around three square tables joined together right in the middle of the floor, and after Kamil Rextin had finally figured his way to T2F after getting lost thrice, the meeting officially kicked off. Each member discussed briefly what book they had brought with them, what it meant to them, why it was their favourite and what was special about it. In all, ten books were reviewed and voting proposed “Welcome To Advertising, …Now Get Lost” by Omkar Sane as the most popular. So Saif Ali Khan went home pleased to have suggested what became the “Book of the Month”.
