National Mathematics Talent Contest (NMTC-3)

It was really the most astonishing day of my life. I was sitting in my chemistry class with Mr. Errol Fernando when Ms. Sumera came running in the class to give me the news that I had qualified the first phase of National Mathematics Talent Contest. I nearly fell off the chair. I didn’t believe her first but when she took me to Mr. Abdan’s office to show me the results, I started to believe. Everyone was shocked because there were three other students, with three straight As, who also gave the test but didn’t qualify.

Well what was next? I had to wait for the invitation letter to arrive at my home which happened in late August. As soon as I received the letter, I was into the mathematics courses of Intermediate and A-Level.

Finally the day came when I had to leave Karachi and say hello to Lahore for the first time in my life. Although alone in the train, I wasn’t bored at all. In my compartment, there were two newly-wed couples ready for their first honeymoons! Listening to their conversations was the most difficult, yet an entertaining, task. As I didn’t have anyone to talk to, I started studying from some books I had brought, but couldn’t concentrate. During the whole one day o travel, I had to listen to their discussions on how they would celebrate their honeymoon!

I reached Lahore the next day in the morning and my father’s friend came to receive me. He took me to his office where I refreshed myself in the washroom! He offered me to use his computer with a high-speed broadband internet which I couldn’t reject. So the first three hours went just like that. After the lunch, he took me to my destined place, School of Mathematical Sciences, a department of Government College University. There were already ten other students waiting for others with whom I exchanged greetings. It was definitely going to be an exciting week!

When we were taken to the hotel, everyone was tired and immediately went to sleep. The next day, we had to wake up at 7:00. The bus was waiting for us to take us to the school at 8:00. Just after we reached the school, a whole lot of never-read-before Masters Level Mathematics was thrown at us! Our trainer was Mr. Dan Schwarz who was also the trainer of the Norwegian team. It continued till lunch and after that we went in the computer lab to refresh ourselves. Just after half an hour, Hell broke loose on us again! This continued till 9 o’clock in the night when we were again taken to our prison cells (hotel) to rest so that we would be able to break stones (school) again in the morning! During the whole week, we just went once outside the parameters of the school to Anaarkali Bazaar and tasted some of the fantastic foods of Lahore.

The nightmare of Mathematics continued for the whole week. But then came the finest moment of that trip, the last night! Everybody was relieved of the tensions and the two tests that followed. We met a guy who was Philippine by nationality, was born in Germany, had a British passport, and worked in Australia! Intriguing isn’t it?

That night we played cards till 2 o’clock in the morning. After we got bored of the cards, we went to see a movie but didn’t like it. Switching off the TV, we went on to dirtying the whole hotel. We emptied every bottle of oil and shampoo in the main hall and sprayed water all over the hotel. Done with that, we went on making fireballs with a matchstick and deodorant, and damaging the neighbour’s property. Obviously no one noticed it as everybody was sleeping. Well, after all these menaces, we also went to sleep but just for three hours.

The next day was the closing ceremony when we were taken to the main university campus of Government College University for the distribution of certificates at the hands of the Chancellor of the university himself! After the ceremony, we had lunch with the professors and the Chancellor of the university. At the end, we bade farewell to everybody and I went to the train station to catch the train to Karachi. This time I wasn’t alone. Two others were also there to accompany me in the travel. The next day we had to stop at Hyderabad because the heavy rainfall had damaged the tracks. We took the bus from there and at last reached home!

I was expecting a good result and even a chance to be at the final, but, unfortunately, didn’t qualify the second phase. There was a bit of disappointment but then again, the time I spent there was the best and the most memorable week I ever had!

Plans of government for eradicating street crimes

What a joke! Well if it was meant to be a joke then it wasn't a good one.
The most recent STRATEGY formulated by the government to fight street crimes is the shoot-at-sight order. The question which arises is will the police force attack their own people, the people who steal and then pay certain fixed proportion of their earnings to the police force as COMMISSION? This is the bitter fact of this country which we have to accept.

Why do we hear people say that in USA and other western countries the crime rate is very low?
Maybe because in those regions there is a fear of law. Pakistan is a nation with no fear of law-enforcing authorities. We know that if we are caught, even red-handed, doing a wrong act, we can easily free ourselves by giving some "Quaid-e-Azam" to them; the piece of paper with the picture of Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah on it. Alas, this is the deplorable condition of this country that the founder of the nation is being used as a bribe, as a currency for getting away with crimes.

Well what to say. Maybe the problem will solve if this question is answered. Are the law-enforcing forces actually the law-breaking agents themselves?................................

The so-called government institutions

It's really pathetic to see the government institutions which are established to help and aid the general public are a source of frustration and problems for them. Is this the way our government is developing?

One of the government educational board forced me to change the name on my Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) just because it didn't match my A-Levels Certificate. The name on my A-Levels Certificate appears together with my Father's name while on my CNIC it appears separately. The officials said that I'm a different person and so I should change my name on CNIC.
I explained them a thousand times but the only reason they meant to give was SECURITY PURPOSES. That time I took it as a valid excuse; but the cycle of ignorance doesn't end here.

Recently i went to the driver's liscence office to renew my learning liscence. At first, I was amazed to see the new changes which included the taking and printing of photograph then and there. I filled the renewal form, submitted it to the concerned person and waited my turn. After 15 minutes my name was called and i went for the picture taking. Again I waited for the renewed liscence to print but then it was lunch break and I had to wait for an hour. At 2 o'clock, they gave me the renewed liscence with my name as Kashif and my father's name as Feroz. I told them that I had changed my name on my CNIC and now it should appear as Kashif Feroz. They refuesd to change it because the software doesn't have an edit, replace or delete option and is retrieving the same old data. I said that I've attached the changed CNIC and had also filled the form accordingly but they refused it saying again and again and again that my data cannot be renewed and it will print the same old data as filled by me when I first made the liscence in 2006.
Now what type of renewal is this? Saying it again and again that I'm unable to understand what they are trying to say, they just kept on frustrating me. I went to talk to the DSP in charge there and asked for a solution. He said if you've cahnged the name on CNIC, fill a new form instead of a renewal form. So, now I had to go through that hectic process again. I filled out the NEW form and went straight to the DSP office. He called an officer who took me to the concerned person for submission of form. Well they again said that the form could not be submitted because the CNIC number is the same and the software is retrieving the same old data again by following it. The officials went to the DSP and told him the situation. These were his dialogues: "It's your fault, not the fault of Kashif Feroz. So, if the software doesn't have an editing option, create it and solve his problem immediately". The officer and I were laughing heartily at his statement because there was no possibility of finding a software programmer and creating an edit option then and there. Then I gave a suggestion that I correct the name manually with a pen and the concerned official may sign it with his personal stamp to authenticate it. I had to get the name changed so that I could show it in my exam for name verification with CNIC. The concerned official seemed to be understanding as he immediately understood what my problem was and signed the manually changed liscence. Fianlly, I returned home.
You might have guessed by the now the reason for not creating an edit, replace or delete option. Yes, the same old SECURITY PURPOSES. What will happen of this security in Pakistan? Isn't there anyone to address this problem? Maybe there hasn't come any good leader who guide the way towards proper development.
I truly agree to the statement: "The misfortune of this country are its LEADERS"!