An online community for students in Karachi – http://karachi.pakstudents.net

I have been away for quite a while… sorry, but I had my reasons. However, I had been thinking for some time that we need a forum for students in Karachi so that they can share information, experiences and ask questions related to their school, college or university. I am working on such a forum for Pakistani students and particularly students in Karachi. The website is in its infancy but I hope it will turn out to be a very useful tool for the academia. This is the least I could do. Here is the link: http://karachi.pakstudents.net

Considering the number of comments I received for my posting: Admit cards and exam date for Karachi University External Candidates Examination (2006), I am sure the forum on my new website will provide a useful way of communication for students in Karachi…. especially University of Karachi. I request all students to contribute to this forum and make it a success. Any suggestions are most welcome.

M.A. Final Results (External/Private 2005 – Karachi University)

M.A. (Final) External Annual Examination 2005 results have been announced by Karachi University.

Sorry about posting this a little late. I was not able to find out which newspaper published the results. However, the results are available from the Karachi University website:

http://www.uok.edu.pk/ann_results/other_res.php

You will notice that the website address for Karachi University has changed from http://www.ku.edu.pk to http://www.uok.edu.pk. I found the new address from Wikipedia (God bless them ).

The following 3 results were listed (as of writing this post):

M.A. (Final) External Annual Examination 2005
Final Profession B.D.S. Supplementary Examination 2006
M.A. (Previous) External Annual Examination 2005

I will post an alternate links here as well, because the Karachi University website has a habit of going down for several days. I love the new website though, much better layout and much more informative. Good effort!

Nokia 6070

 

I have been out of touch lately, but its time to start getting back into the groove. I will start with a review of a cell phone I just bought.

Choices
I had been searching for a good mid-range phone and had been on the lookout for the new series of phones Nokia launched – the Nokia 6070 and 6080. I was undecided about buying a new phone but when my old 6100’s loudspeaker started malfunctioning it become a necessity.

I had already done my research regarding my choices and they were limited to these two sets (6070 & 6080). I was not going to go for Sony Erricsson, Motorola or Siemens.

After spending hours searching the internet and downloading official user manuals I was not able to find out the difference in 6070 and 6080 except for the visual appearance and slightly more battery life in 6080, and mono vs. stereo headset (and of course, the price). The rest of the features were exactly the same. So I had to see the two phones in the market to help me decide what to take.

In the market
Off I went to Sakhi Hasan mobile market (did not have time to go to Saddar). Some bad news for me there, 6080 was not available yet. The price difference between 6070 and 6080 was about Rs. 2000/-. You don’t get any extra features for it, so it was not worth the price. I went for the 6070. The best deal that I got for Nokia 6070 at Sakhi Hasan was Rs. 7000/- and that was the one I took.

The 6070 experience
I like the features that the set has and its good value for your money. The specs of this set are not that high (remember that it’s a mid-range phone) but the feature-set is good. It has a bigger screen (65k colors, 128×160), camera (VGA), FM radio, 3.2 b user memory (hey, its no walkman player), mp3 ringtones and lots more (you can always look for the detailed specs at the Nokia website: http://mea.nokia.com/A4204147).

Navigating in the menus can be a bit slow at times. For example, the user interface becomes sluggish at times when you are scrolling through the contacts. This could have been due to graphical themes that you can install. I reverted to the minimal ‘Basic.nth’ theme to avoid this and felt a lot of improvement. Menu navigation speed can also be improved if you use the following settings: Options->Type of View->List. This one problem is definitely quite irritating. Maybe if a firmware update for this set might solve the problem in future.

The set comes with a mono headset “Nokia Headset HS-5”. It’s not very good for listening FM. I would be upgrading the headset. I wish 6080 was available though, like I said, it comes with a Nokia stereo HS-23 headset.

Eye Witness Account of Power Riots near Qayumabad (Hino Pak Chowrangi)!

While passing through Korangi Expressway and on the way to DHA on 12th August, 2006 around 9:30 pm (Saturday night) I got stuck in the worst of traffic jams on Hino Chowrangi. I was with family, including a 3 year old child. I got to know that people had blocked the traffic (both ways) and we were stuck in between with no way to turn back or head forward. The experience was horrible.

To cut a long story short, Qayumabad residents had blocked traffic to protest against KESC power outages. Armed with guns and rocks, they were warning the vehicle owners not to move – “agar jaan pyari hai”. Anyway who switched on their headlights or started their car was a potential victim. People with families, women and children … all were trapped. It was like hell. It sort of reminded me of the situation in Lebonan.

11:00 pm and we were still making no headway. Police and traffic police seemed helpless to resolve the situation till that time. I could see groups of illiterate, frustrated and angry people caring rocks and steel pipes moving through the vehicles and gathering at the blockade spot. I was just 2 or 3 rows of vehicles behind the action. The atmosphere was very tense.

Finally, the last straw… these crazy people started shooting at the high tension cables running over the KESC grid station. Everything happened so suddenly… I started choking, my eyes started stinging, my nose started burning. First I though it was some smoke coming out of the grid station.. but it got so unbearable. It dawned on me… the police had fired tear gas shells. I rushed to close the car windows frantically to stop the burning but a bit too late.

As if by magic, the whole crowd disappeared and there was a moment of hesitation before I stepped on the gas and sped away through the rock strewn road to DHA…. phew.. finally it was over… a horrible experienced.

Postponed: Karachi University External Candidates M.A. Final Examination!

Edit: Ok, just confirmed. The timings are 10 AM and 1 PM on July 23, 2006.

The last M.A. examination, supposed to be held on Friday, July 15, 2006 was postponed due to unrest in the city. The new date for the examination is July 23, 2006. According to The News (Sunday, July 16, 2006) the exam will be held between 10 AM and 10 PM on July 23, 2006. The timings sound weird. I would suggest everyone to confirm the timings directly from Karachi University. I will be posting any updates if I find that out myself.

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Delivered at my Karachi Address!

Finally got the package I had been waiting for! 20 CDs of Ubuntu Linux delivered at my doorstep by good ol’ guys at Canonical. According to the Ubuntu ShipIt service, the package was “sent to the shipping company on 2006-06-06”. So it takes a little over 4 weeks to be delivered to Karachi right after that.

Here it is what the beat-up package looked like after I received it in postage:

Here is what all the 3 CD covers look like:

I have a total of 10 x Ubuntu, 5 x Kubuntu and 5 x Edubuntu CDs. Order your set now! Think about it… this can save you the painful downloading and CD burning process. Happy installing

M.A. Exam Duplicate Admit Card and Date Sheet: Karachi University External/Private Candidates

I went to Karachi University this Saturday (1st July, 2006) to get a duplicate Admit card. I reached the place at 10:00AM. Fortunately I had taken all documents and an extra photograph with me. In-spite of that, the people in the office were so miserably slow that I had to stay in line till 1:00PM! I finally got the admit card, for which I was very thankful! According to them, they have “computerized” the department, but it was taking a hell of a long time.

Here is what you need to get the Admit card issued (make sure you have this stuff with you). I would suggest taking ALL documents and one set of photocopies (get the photocopies done before-hand, its a pain to get it done from the University because of frequent power failures and too many people). The following is the bare minimum that you will need:

1. One Photograph (attestation does not matter here, but if you want to play it save, by all means get it attested)
2. Registration Card (Original and one photocopy)
3. Fee payment receipt/voucher (original and one photocopy; this is a receipt of the examination fee that you gave at the bank a few months back)

Attestation of photocopies does not matter, because they will check with originals. Make sure you have the three items (given above) with you.

The timing for the examinations has been changed to Morning (10:00AM to 1:00PM), so make sure you cross-check the timing on the date sheet that you will receive with the admit card.

Date sheet is as follows:

M.A. Prev.
05-July-2006 (Wed): Paper-I
07-July-2006 (Fri): Paper-II
10-July-2006 (Mon): Paper-III
12-July-2006 (Wed): Paper-IV
14-July-2006 (Fri): Paper-V

M.A. Final
06-July-2006 (Thu): Paper-I
08-July-2006 (Sat): Paper-II
11-July-2006 (Tue): Paper-III
13-July-2006 (Thu): Paper-IV
15-July-2006 (Sat): Paper-V

Furthermore, here is a scan of the date sheet summary. Get your admit cards ASAP!

Admit cards and exam date for Karachi University External Candidates Examination (2006)

After waiting patiently for the Admit Card with no luck, I called Karachi University today and asked them when the examinations will start. They confirmed the following on phone:

1. Exams will start from 5th July, 2006 onwards
2. Duplicate admit cards are being issued by the external examination department

I would suggest that instead of taking the risk and waiting till the last moment for the admit card, it would be better to get a duplicate admit card issued. Be sure to take photographs, registration card, etc. with you – because you never know! I will be going to get a duplicate card issued tomorrow morning and will post details here about my experience. Best of luck!

Edit: For further discussions about the University of Karachi you can visit: http://karachi.pakstudents.net/

Morning Traffic Jam on Korangi Express Way!

There was a severe traffic jam this morning (around 9:00 am) on the Korangi Express Way (the road connecting Baloch Colony flyover to DHA). A trailer-truck carrying a container had overturned and heavy machinery had been brought in to carry the wreckage away. Traffic and regular police had closed the road and all traffic had been diverted to the adjacent lane. So the adjacent lane was now carrying twice the amount of traffic. You can imagine the chaos!

Tortured by KESC

Yesterday was the longest day in the year and the longest night. It was hot, humid and hellish! Well, I thought of going early to bed and turned the lights out at 10:30 pm. Less than half an hour later, as soon as my eyelids started feeling heavy… KESC pulled the plug.

I cursed and cursed. Being a poor guy with no UPS or generator, I was left with no option but to curse and wait. I took a shower, opened the windows, took off my shirt and lay in bed. There was no wind. The leaves were motionless. The clock was ticking away but there was no sign of life from our electricity department. Electric supply was finally restored at 2:00 am. I couldn’t sleep a wink till that time. I breathed a sigh of relief and no sooner had I finished rejoicing, it went out again! It was like this for most part of the night. I mean, if its load-shedding its still better, at least you know that when the supply is restored its here to stay… going on and off randomly is pure torture!

Well, today I am going to buy a couple of rechargeable fans – that is the cheapest way of staying cool for at least a couple of hours. One fan just won’t do, it has to be two or more. I had bought a rechargeable fan a couple of years back but it went dead and repairs on it did not work. I will post my experience with the new fans later here.