Category: Life
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Love of Research and Books-Prof Ahmed Saleem
I went to meet Professor Ahmed Saleem at his home library. His house is in Judicial Town near Chhattar Park in a very picturesque setting at the foot of the hill with stream flowing near by. His library consists of his personal collection of over 45,000 books and a collection of newspapers since 1947 of…
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Growing Up in the 1960s-70s: Recollections of Rauf Mamoo by his Daughter
Recollections of Faryal Osman daughter of Rauf Mamoo (Major Shah Mohammad Ismail, Artillery SP3), while growing up in Nowshera when Rauf Mamoo was a Captain and later in Hyderabad where he was posted as Major before his retirement. The chronicle is interesting because it describes the life and times of junior army officers during those…
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Zauq-e-Aagahi, Quresh Pur and PTV’s role in Inspiring a Generation of Knowledge Seekers
Once upon a time on PTV we used to have quiz competitions of the highest order. I grew up with many such programs that made me look up to the contestants as the wizards of knowledge. Unfortunately today on TV we find nothing except crass, gross, coarse and vulgar competitions like programs where they are…
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Exemplary Inspirational and Collaborative Leadership – Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad
Today (Sep 10, 2018), with the departure of Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad for the hereafter. I lost a mentor, a guide and a trail blazer who exemplified what does it mean to be an inspirational leader. Inna lillah e wa inna ilaihi rajioon. A loss that seems more acute because I could have learned much…
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Flight from Bedar when Hyderabad Deccan fell to Indian Invasion in 1948
This post describes my maternal family’s flight from Bedar Hyderabad at the time of the annexation of the Nizam-ruled princely state of Hyderabad Deccan by Indian forces in September 1948. See podcast of my mother’s sister Arsalan Khatoon who was among the group that had to run empty handed with her mother, brothers and sisters. …
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Dr Muhammad Mahmud of IBA: A Self-made Industrious Faculty Member
Dr M Mahmud expired early morning of July 12, 2018. Inna lillah e wa inna ilaihi rajioon. May Allah reward him with the best of abodes in the hereafter. Aameen. Allah blessed him with 27th Ramazan night to start this journey. He was an alumnus of IBA. His association with IBA started in 1967-68 in…
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A Tribute to Cricket for Spearheading my English Language Acquisition – Sports and Language Learning
I often see parents worrying about language skills of their children. A closer look at the hobbies of such children will indicate that they are not passionate about any hobbies especially sports. Here I would detail the role of cricket in spearheading my English language acquisition. As my interest grew, with cricket and started following…
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Role Model of Forthrightness, Calm and Resourcefulness: Daud Khaloo
I can still hear the distinctive sound of Daud Khaloo’s Java motor cycle coming from afar in 1970s calm and quiet Khawaja Nazimuddin Road portion of F-6/4 of Islamabad near China Chowk. It was the time when Shahrah-e-Quaid e Azam and the adjoining buildings now known as the Blue Area had not yet been constructed,…
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Sardar Mamoo – Reliance and Tawakal on Allah- Life is to give and not to take
“Shah M Mubeen ur Rehman known in the family as Sardar was my ماموں and veteran of wars of 1965 and 1971 (Baluch Regiment) and passed away with metastatic cancer in 1992. He along with his brother Shah M Ismail, served as رضا کار during Hyderabad Indian army action in 1948 and narrowly escaped death…
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A Tale of Two Live Performances of Pastoral- 6th Symphony of Beethoven and My Musical Journey
Here I recall the two experiences of my life while attending two live performance of Beethoven’s 6th Symphony, “Pastoral” and how they stimulated my love for Beethoven and classical music. The two experiences are spread apart by nearly thirty years. First was at UT Austin’s Bates Recital Hall in 1989 conducted by Louis Lane and…
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Agenda to Ensure Supremacy of Law and Constitution in Pakistan
My agenda is simply to strive for supremacy of rule of law and constitution. I am pained to see people hurling invectives, slandering, and condemning people as traitors without due process of law. Even if I know that someone is guilty, I have no authority to take law in my own hand and dispense justice…
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Sir Najmul Hasan of IBA and How to Determine the Extent of Your Success in Life
Yesterday, during my PhD class with students I was trying to explain the complexity of real world and how models (and theories) help us in making sense of this complexity by focusing on a few concepts and their relationships. The discussion moved towards perception and reality and from there to this phenomenal lesson by Najmul…
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Smoking and Childhood
The closest I had ever come to smoking was when I was 6years old when my neighborhood friend introduced me to the dried branch of “turai” (torai, gourd). It has perforations that allow to be lighted and smoked. Did smoke that for a few days. Got caught, and somehow my mother logically convinced me to…
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How to Measure the Quality of Your "Parental Relationship"
Quality of “parental relationship” : اپنے بچوں سے تعلق قائم کریں قبل اس کے کہ کوئی اور ان سے تعلق قائم کرنا شروع کر دے ۔ Following parameters indicate quality of your relationship is NOT good and you need to be concerned if: If you don’t trust your child, then there is a “trust deficit”.…
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An Indecent Obsession: Of War and its Futility
Reflections on “An Indecent Obsession” a movie and book by Colleen McCullough (author of “Thorn Birds” which I read in Pakistan around 1985-86). This is a page from my diary written on September 25, 1987. I was 25 and this was my first semester at UT Austin, and was residing at Riverside Apartments. ——————- For…
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To Kill a Mockingbird: A Personal Journey
I was around 10 when I saw the movie “To Kill a Mocking Bird” on PTV in 1971-72. That was the time when I didn’t focus on the dialogues but used to only concentrate on the emotions and feelings depicted. We didn’t have access to Internet or magazines with briefs about the programs or movies…
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Why I am a Faculty Member
Why I am a faculty member: (1) Meeting a student who graduated a long time ago and who comes over and tries to make me recall him and his batch. Then reminds me of one of my lesson that he remembers to this day and that has changed his life. This is the great fulfilling…
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Recollection of an Unforgettable Recitation of Majaz’s Nazr-e-Aligarh
Today on Facebook I saw a video of some old students of Aligarh University reciting the official anthem in New York with a great deal of energy and lilt. This brought a recollection of a day in 1990s when I was dusting the bookshelf of my father Syed Ahsan Hyder and picked “Aahang”, a collection of…
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How to Create Love for Poetry: A Tribute to Sir Ghalib Raza of ICB
Over the last 25 years as I desperately try to connect my students with the joy of reading and poetry, at universities and at schools , I realize the worth of what Sir Ghalib Raza was achieving in my school days. He was making us “feel” the poetry, not “understand” it. Poetry is meant for “feeling”…
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Essential Law for Masses: Perry Mason and my Learning
Would there be court room drama in upcoming SC JIT trial of Nawaz Sharif? Would there be arguments, counter arguments, counsels for the defendants and the prosecution? Would there be dissection of the evidence using the fine lens of law and constitution? Are there any Perry Mason (Erle Stanley Gardner’s lawyer) enthusiasts of the fiction…
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Ethical Standards of 1940s. Due Diligence for writing Recommendation Letters: A Deputy Commissioner’s refusal in 1943
I came across this 1943 letter from a Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Kumaon Division which shows the high ethical standards of that time. The DC refuses the request from a friend to provide recommendation for his son on the grounds that the DC has never met his son and does not know the son personally…
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Family Tree Shajra of Sadat e Nehtaur: A Case Study of Compilation of Social History
Sadat e Nehtaur Shajra Compilation Effort Syed Mohammad Khurshid Alam Zaidi Khursheed Alam Zaidi in his keynote address at a get together of Sadat-e-Nehtaur on 7th May 2017 related the impressive history of compilation of “shajra” of Sadat-e-Nehtaur. The shajra documents their history in India from around 1175 AD when the ancestors moved from Tirmiz…
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Mukhtar Masud’s Awaz-e-Dost and Love for Literature and History
A literary social autobiography that is poetry in prose; beauty in words and imagery; each sentence contains a world of meaning, ideas, conflicts illustrated through metaphors, and references to deep historical events, people, places, contrasts, arts, architecture, insights, classics, writers, leaders, historical figures…. A book that gives a personal view of Pakistan history through hopes,…
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How do I lift thee from the mundane: Musings of a Dean
How Do I Lift Thee From the Mundane What a fleeting time is youth! that beckons the future that walks in beauty that gallops with force that exudes energy in every motion that dances with the daffodils that climbs every mountain that explores every valley that aspires for the stars Ah, the Youth, whose purpose…
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5 Phone Behaviors of Employees who Need to be Fired
Based on my experience with dealing with people over the last so many years, I have identified the following phone behaviors that should raise a red flag about the ethical values and personal responsibility of an employee. A manager can use these phone behaviors to identify the employees who need to be fired or got…
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Struggles of a Conscientious Government Servant: Lessons Learned from Memoirs of Irtiqa Zaidi
I felt honored when I was asked to review the book of memoirs of Mr Irtiqa Zaidi that is about to go into publication. The book is exciting, enjoying, and often a thrilling account of his photographic memory of the events spanning the expanse from his childhood in Quetta to his rise as a senior…
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Dr Wahab and IBA of 1980s and 1990s
Dr Abdul Wahab went to meet his creator on Sep 6, 2016 morning, inna lillah we wa inna ilaihi rajioon. The news brought flashbacks of several memories from my association with IBA; first as an MBA student from 1985 to 1987, and then during my stint as a faculty member from 1995 to Dec 2000, the last…
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Youth Leadership and Dave Ulrich-Orientation for University Students
[Presented at IoBM Orientation Session for Fall 2016 intake on Sep 3] Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending a workshop on leadership at Karachi Marriott by Dave Ulrich, who is considered as the father of modern Human Resource Management. Ulrich is a professor at the University of Michigan and a consultant to top companies…