Digital Divide Web-site Uploaded

After spending nearly 7 hours on this web-site trying to fix it's numerous glitches, I have given up. [Tada!] But the web-site is almost complete, and I've been able to paste the hard-work of my group-mates [and myself] on the numerous web pages. I must mention this project is worth 30% of our grade, so it's a big deal for us.

The research on the topic [Digital Divide] is quite informative for the unaware, so if you're interested you might want to go through that too. The web-site design is totally my work, A-Z, so I don't mind if you click on the image above to check it out, and give me some feedback.

The issues with the pages [so far] are:
1. The top bar with the title "The Digital Divide" and the placement of background images. [A major issue with most web pages.]
2. Placement of the pie chart on the Survey Analysis page. [Changes when viewed in different browsers - I tried IE and Mozilla.]
3. On the Reasons page, the footnotes that link [1] and [2] are not working properly. They're reversed, which means you go down to the footnotes, click on [1] and you're back to the top; and I can't figure out why. Neither can I understand how to fix that - my html is very out-dated.
4. I haven't even TRIED using different screen resolutions. I imagine that to be another blow-up.
5. Only two pages WITHOUT issues: the Introduction, and the Appendices pages.[Hurrah!]

A testimonial...

This is a tribute to the man who birthed the man that birthed me: my grandfather. In a series of heart attacks reckoned as other chest pains, Dada-Abbu [paternal grandfather] passed away yesterday at Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Lahore. It is a sad and unexpected demise of someone so close at heart (but so many miles away). When I got the news, it took me a while to digest the fact that he was really gone; for good. I regret I will not be able to attend the funeral that will be held today and I feel stupid and cheated for coming all the way to Singapore to "enhance my career", so far away from home, when I can't even make it to the Namaz-e-Janaza (funeral-prayer) of someone I love.

There is no doubt of the complex relationship I had with my grandfather, but I always felt close to him somehow. He often used to complain that I do not spend time with him and that he will be gone some day... I used to argue over this, giving excuses. I guess the time has finally come, and I didn't spend enough time with him.

He had an interior decoration shop in the famous Liberty market of Lahore by the name of "Bajwas", where he used to go everyday whether in sickness or in health. My friends [and friends' parents especially] used to go up to him when purchasing lamps from the shop [what it's famous for] to ask him for a discount by mentioning they're related to me, and he always used to give them great discounts. I regret passing-by the Liberty market area so many times in a day with hardly ever stopping for a few minutes to say hi to him. But I did visit him a couple of times before coming to Singapore this July, and that's the last time I met him.

Inna Lilahee Wa Inna Ilaehee Rajeoon. "We belong to Allah, and it is to Him that we are returning." (2:155-56) May God bestow His blessings on Dada-Abbu and his entire family, and give us patience to absorb this loss.

Student of the 21st century

"Student of the 21st century!", my mother exclaimed after I explained to her in detail about my experience using a computer notebook to take notes. I told her it didn't feel too out-of-the-ordinary here, since everyone uses it. Of course, back in Pakistan a person bringing a laptop to class was deemed as a show-off, since most people don't have one.


Here's a picture of a Singaporean girl in my lecture using her notebook in class - she's NOT taking notes. Rather, she is watching streaming videos from YouTube.com. (The picture quality is quite bad but if you look closely she's wearing her headphones to listen to the audio.)

Can someone explain to me why she came all the way for lecture? She's not listening to the lecturer. She might as well have stayed home. Might I add here, she's not the only one who doesn't pay attention in class. A number of students in my lectures are either chatting with their friends through an instant messenger or sms, or they're browsing the Internet for stuff irrelevant to class, or just sleeping.

So what is it that the information revolution is bringing with compact computers and wireless networks? Better ways of fooling your parents into thinking you're studying? Manual note-taking was so much better. [Not to mention 'doodling'!]

Of Black Eyed Peas, Insects & @OGX

I often say "slow and steady wins the race", and today was no exception as far as being slow is concerned. I survived the first 4 hours after waking up by drinking Milo - was too lazy to cook, and there was nothing else to eat. I have been having cravings to have lobia [Black Eyed Peas] with roti [called Chapati in Singapore and South India]. So after much procrastination I ventured into 'cooking project Sunday'. Usually I like to cook as much as I can on weekends so that I spend time eating rather than cooking on weekdays.

Lobia takes 4 hours to make. Roti involves hard work. [You knead the dough, clean the marble surface, use a rolling pin to flatten the dough, make sure it doesn't stick and get spoilt, then cook it on a tawa. Cooking on metal plates rather than burners is a challenge in itself.] An added challenge in making lobia today was the fact that the black eyed peas my mother had sent me from Pakistan more than two months ago had become infested with insects. Tiny and brown, pea-sucking, thin and long insects. I practically checked each grain testing if it was hollow, or had a hole - and many times I came across holes through which I could actually see these insects lodged inside the lobia-grain/pea. I stood there for an hour choosing and selecting which peas to throw out while they were soaked in water. Some insects would float on to the top, others [more healthy ones] would just sink down and get lost amid the pea-grains. It was a frustrating job, but on the plus side my aim for throwing stuff in the waste-bin has improved three-fold. At the end of the entire excercise I just shut out the 'doubts' section of my brain, and told myself the extra protein from the insects would only do me good - I need to gain weight! Also, lobia needs to cook in boiling water anyway, so 100 degrees Centigrade would be enough to kill the germs.

The meal I had afterwards was my treat for the day, since the mind-numbing session with Mayas regarding @OGX [AIESEC Outgoing Exchange] SNRD [Student Nominee Recruitment Drive] drained all the energy I had to do anything else. I've signed up as the Organising Committee President [OCP] for SNRD in NUS and let me be honest here, it's a lot of work and responsibility. But I'm lucky I have great team-members, and I hope that makes my job easier. There are three teams, one each from NUS, NTU and SMU, and they're all headed by Mayas [extreme left in the picture below]. We're all going to help AIESEC attract people from our universities to go on internships anywhere in the world! So we need to work on a very specific timeline; getting our research done, segmenting the internships available and identifying our target students. And then of course there would be marketing and advertising for our talks that require us to get hold of good speakers, book venues etc.


Sitting there talking about what we'd be doing over the next 3-4 months really freaked me out because I had to think about my finals which are just a month away now. I didn't even know what dates they were. So I cheated during the meeting and got my finals' datesheet together. Turns out, as it does in such circumstances, that it's the worst type of datesheet ever! I don't have two exams on the same day, thank goodness no! But this is pretty bad too: I have my first one on Tuesday 28th Nov', next one on Wednesday, then Thursday, Friday and the last one on Saturday. Five days in a row! I can bet Nescafe and Redbull, BOTH will report hiking share values once the week is through! I need to get my act together... Don't want to lose this race. Slow but steady always wins! It has to.

Violence in Singapore Mosque

It is indeed hilarious when some people are more sensitive about issues most people wouldn't care about. Like one of my friends, HH, gets very aggressive if you try to crack gay jokes on him. Or when some guys are very secretive about their usage of 'feminine' products - curl relaxants, for instance. Or how some feel complexed or 'unmanly' about not having enough facial hair. And how some women go on and on about their weight issues.

But sometimes it is not hilarious, rather downright serious. Last friday, my friend AR was breaking fast at a mosque near the NUS campus and he felt more thirsty than hungry, so he decided to have a drink [Bandung] to break his fast. It may be noted here, that it is a custom among most Muslims to break fast with either a date or water, since that is our Prophet's [P.B.U.H.] tradition as it has been passed down over centuries. As AR got up to have the drink, a Malay-Singaporean man stood up and told him to "break fast first!". AR tried explaining to him that he had already broken it and just wanted to have a drink. AR's response was returned with a glass bowl full of hot porridge being thrown in his face with such sheer force that it broke as it hit!

Luckily for AR, he didn't suffer from any serious injury and keeping in the spirit of the holy month of Ramadan, he controlled his rage. He left the mosque immediately. Then he called the Police, which claims to have an 8-minute response time in the NUS area, but arrived 45 minutes later in this case. A policeman and woman got out of the car and started interrogating AR in a manner that made him feel like he was the criminal instead. He felt a vibe of racism since both the inquirers were Malay-Singaporeans. AR explained the incident to them exactly as it had occurred and they got similar accounts confirming the episode from bystanders in the mosque.

Eyeing AR's friends who had accompanied him, the Policeman asked him, "Why you bring so many friends, you want to do riot haa?" They didn't listen to a word from AR's friends and dismissed all of them, while they continued to converse with other spectators in Malay language. As it turned out, the offender was also a major donator to the mosque, which further changed the attitude of the Police. After much speculation, the Police presented AR with two options: sue the offender, or drop the case. It seemed the Police were not interested in taking any stringent action to justify the physical assault against AR.

It was also unclear as to what the offender was sensitive too; maybe he didn't believe a fast could be broken with a silent prayer; or with Bandung rather than a date or a glass of water. Or maybe he just didn't appreciate foreigners coming and eating for free from the money he had donated to the mosque. [AR has enough money to break fasts by himself - he just prefers going to the mosque because the reward is higher for praying at the mosque.] Some say the man was just being racist. Racism can never be hilarious.

AR told the Police he wanted to sue, but in addition said he wanted protection, feeling rather out-numbered by the Malay-Singaporean majority. To this one of the Police-persons said, "Forgive and forget lah!", and added that they could not be liable for AR's protection. He was advised by them that he would be better off dropping the case.

Seeing that the Police were not interested in taking an action against the offender, and partly pertaining to the fact that AR had been visiting this mosque since more than two years, and also after apologies from the Imam himself, AR did the only thing a sensible guy would have done in his shoes: he dropped the case.

AR didn't feel it was a personal issue; "It could have happened to anyone at that time. Breaking a glass bowl at my face could have injured me to any severity. Allah saved me at that time." He had a point there, what if next time someone has a similar outburst and another person is injured violably. It has been suggested to AR that a formal complaint be registered with Majlis Islam Singapura and the Pakistan High Commission.

One of AR's well-wishers said, "Had this happened to an American or a Brit their embassies would be all over the Police by now."

Personally, I am intrigued by the whole episode. How is it that one person can feel the right to impose his views on another? The holy month of Ramadan is about patience; about tolerance; about having control over your desires and your anger. But still I would never tolerate it if a random person tries to 'correct' my beliefs. Beliefs are personal, and the actions that originate from those beliefs are as personal. My oldest friend is a Shiya Muslim and our actions in the way we say our prayers vary greatly, but neither of us have ever tried to impose our views on each other. If a person you know since 18 years doesn't have the right to advocate his beliefs, how can a complete stranger have the right to enforce his views? That too, I might add, in such a violent manner.

All in all, many Pakistanis feel let down by the Singapore Police Force. It seems that in Singapore, any person can approach you, smash a glass object in your face, and get away with it. Most of the Pakistanis do realise though, that their impression of Malay-Singaporeans as friendly and easy-going people is not going to change because of the action of just one individual in the Malay community.

Another conclusion that can be drawn from this incident is that Singapore is mostly neutral to all religions, yes, but when it comes to conflicts within the same religion's sects, you can expect some form of discrimination against the minority.

Fact: Islam has two major schools of thought or denominations - Shiyas and Sunnis. Sunnis are further divided into four sects, of which Shafi and Hanafi are two. Most South Asians follow the Hanafi tradition, while the Shafi tradition is followed mostly in Southeast Asian countries.

Friday Ramblings...

Friday was a good day in many ways. I woke up after 8 hours of sleep around 3:30 am. I started off with a shower. I prayed extra because it was a special night for us Muslims. I had a hearty Sehri [Masar and half a loaf of bread] to close my fast. I fasted. I completed the proposal for my IT project - the web site I need to make. I also held a meeting with my group members. I attended a tutorial. I called my friend who wants me to be his guarantor for a laptop loan, but he was asleep and didn't pick up. So I gave him 4-5 short missed calls so that when he woke up he'd think I tried my level best to wake him up. Heh!

Then I put a date in my pocket and left for Little India. I had to break fast in the bus - so I used the date. I smiled at the "No food, No drinks, $500 fine" sign as I had it. A Chinese lady and some Singaporean school-girls stared at me intently as I mumbled something [a prayer to break my fast] and put the date in my mouth. Perhaps they were expecting the bus to blow up as I did that. What else do people expect of bearded Muslims in most first-world, culturally diverse countries? Then I had peas+corn+minced-meat [Mutter Keema] with Chapati [what WE call Roti] for Aftari at AB Mohammad Restaurant when I reached Little India.

One lesson I learned today - know your exits from MRT stations. I got out of the wrong exit and had to walk a good 25 minutes to get to the ABM Restaurant near Mustapha Center.

Then I went to Mustapha Center for my monthly grocery shopping. Got tissue papers, a glass bowl, atta [wheat flour], Alpen breakfast cereal with extra sugar added, Weetabix, Irani dates, Nescafe 3in1 coffee sachets, roti pratas, canola oil, full-fat Farmhouse milk, apple juice, 4 litres of ready-to-drink Milo, tomatoes, lady fingers, and ginger. People would look at my trolley and then look behind me, as if looking for someone. Some would look at my forehead, perhaps looking for a red mark of wedlock. I don't know. I've never liked shopping alone. Those people's looks made me feel like I'm a miserable old bachelor who has gotten too used to being alone. I'm not. I don't mean not a bachelor - that I am and I'm content with that. What I mean is, who would want to be considered miserable? And I'm used to the fact that I look old. The first time someone called me 'uncle' was when I was only 13, and the person who said that was 17 himself. Sad?

Anyway, I expect my supplies to last me at least 3 weeks. When I got back Omer was waiting to play snooker, so we went to the KE VII Hall's Cue Sports room. It was a good game. I was 'in the zone'. But alas! The Cue Sports room had to be closed down at 12.

There was a stall from Sheares Hall at the entrance of PGPR and they were selling a variety of food. I ordered an excuse for a waffle, which arrived 30 minutes later, but I was so hungry I gobbled it all up within minutes. Aren't waffles supposed to be crispy and crunchy? Definitely not soft and dripping.

When I got to my room my MSN messenger stopped working after some time of chatting with HB, so well, here I am, bored as hell. Maybe I'll delete this entry when I wake up tomorrow. Who wants to know what I did all day anyway? I guess why I'm writing about it is solely because I think I achieved a lot of things today; that I did most of the things I set to do at the beginning of the day. I hardly have any days in a week when I actually get to do that! Now I've planned to clean my room this weekend, so let's see how long I can procrastinate on that; and on studying as well!

Ruminations in French

I think there's nothing that brings me greater pleasure than seeing something I've written being translated into another language. [Even if it is done by a computer!]

Check this blog out in French.

(Also available in Dutch)

My Love for Angelina...

"I like girls soft and voluptuous - the opposite of what I want in a man."

[Angelina Jolie]

I fell for her the first time I saw her as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. I had to see that movie at least 10 times to get over it. Then I saw her as Lisa, in Girl Interrupted. She even won an Academy Award for that movie [apart from three Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards]. And then she went to Islamabad as a Goodwill UN Ambassador while I was in Lahore, 5 hours away. One of my mother's colleagues was working with her at the time and she didn't know my obsession with Jolie [or should I say Pitt? :S]. If she'd known she could've given me a chance to meet her! I pulled out half my hair when I realised that.

Here I made a short movie by uploading some of my favourite wallpapers to slide.com from her modelling days [before she became an actress in 1993] - some pictures are more recent though.

Love you Angelina, always.

Get Your Own! View Slideshow

*Blink*Blink* Day Over!

Today has been one of those university days for me when you realise you have taken up too many activities, and all the dates and deadlines are starting to jar. I was working on part of a group research paper on the Yellow Ribbon Project till 4 am. Without being able to complete it due to my somnolence, I did my Sehri and went to sleep for hardly four hours. After attending four hours of New Media lectures, I rushed to Jurong East for my medical checkup. They did this test where you have to blow really hard into a pipe a few times, and that triggered my asthma [the test is called spirometery]. As I was getting my check-up done, I was missing an important group meeting for my other research paper [on Digital Divide]. I fear they will refer me to the instructor as a "free-rider" case. Let's hope not.

When I arrived in NUS, I rushed to the IT Co-op to get my laptop's beeping sound fixed. Turns out, the microphone was unmuted, and that was all. Now it's 18:10; I need to break my fast [Aftari] at 19:00, then reach Lavender for my Snooker training, which is a good one hour of travelling. And Cluster Leaders have to do roll call for the fire-drill at PGPR today - thankfully my Resident Assistant was kind enough to allow me to skip that.

So I'm swamped. Not to mention I have to submit my parts for both the research papers when I get back to NUS, which would be around 23:00 [One group member has actually given me a deadline for submission to her at 23:59!]. And there goes another day when I hardly remembering blinking...