Alexander’s Garrison in the Salt Range
Wednesday, 12 August 2026
This article appeared in Daily The Nation
The Salt Range derives its name from extensive deposits of rock salt. The Range stands as remnant of forts with bastions and temples. Exceptionally, this region maintains an almost continuous record of history that can define the evolution of society. Forts and temples surviving along the range are a reminder of how untouched many of the ancient remnants are. Alexander from Macedon came to this Range twice; one from Taxila and later when his forces refused to go any further from the banks of the River Beas. From here he marched towards the Arabian Sea on his way to Babylon. And, now an NGO is constructing a monument of Alexander near Jalalpur town in the foot of the Salt Range in district Jhelum.
The Salt Range derives its name from extensive deposits of rock salt. The Range stands as remnant of forts with bastions and temples. Exceptionally, this region maintains an almost continuous record of history that can define the evolution of society. Forts and temples surviving along the range are a reminder of how untouched many of the ancient remnants are. Alexander from Macedon came to this Range twice; one from Taxila and later when his forces refused to go any further from the banks of the River Beas. From here he marched towards the Arabian Sea on his way to Babylon. And, now an NGO is constructing a monument of Alexander near Jalalpur town in the foot of the Salt Range in district Jhelum.
For those who take their first chance to the area, the landscape all along the Salt Range is rock-strewn, lacking in softness and loveliness. In many parts, it becomes barren and uninviting. But, in truth, the range is dotted with historical wonders, romantic legends, archaeological remains, and varying geological formations. The surroundings are very quiet. Urial is also found in the Range though facing extinction. A journey along the range is exciting as well as informative.
Read more »Labels: In Print, Nation, Travel
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, August 12, 2026,
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Throne of Origins
Thursday, 16 July 2026
This article appeared in Daily the Nation
The actual “Road to Swat” bifurcates from the great Grand Trunk Road near Nowshera. About a kilometre below the highest point on the Road to Swat, the commuters can see the Takht-e-Bahi Mountains in the middle distance from the road. The ruins of one of the grand monastery of the past are situated on the top of a 152-meter high hill, about 80 kilometres from Peshawar and 16 kilometres northwest of the city of Mardan. While Swat is famous for different reasons now (rise and fall of the Taliban), some interested people still visit Takht-e-Bahi - a Buddhist monastery developed between the 1st and 7th centuries AD.
Read more »Labels: In Print, Nation, Takht-e-Bahi, Travel
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Thursday, July 16, 2026,
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Reliving Memories
Tuesday, 27 May 2025
This article appeared in Daily The Nation
There are lessons in the first landscapes of every one's life. Mine is a vista of green paddy fields, smoking with Salt Range mist, against a setting of ribbon of River Jhelum which from distance looked like a shore of another land altogether. The rough, rugged hill range appears very inviting against a sky withering with the morning, interrupted by the dawns’ red and blue brush strokes. My first learning in life is also rooted in my village.
There are lessons in the first landscapes of every one's life. Mine is a vista of green paddy fields, smoking with Salt Range mist, against a setting of ribbon of River Jhelum which from distance looked like a shore of another land altogether. The rough, rugged hill range appears very inviting against a sky withering with the morning, interrupted by the dawns’ red and blue brush strokes. My first learning in life is also rooted in my village.
In rural areas, people still live without accessible roads or other civic amenities of this modern age that are taken for granted in the urban areas. No telephone or the Internet, (in our village) even electricity is a recent phenomenon; so many villages are still without it. You see one village and you have seen all. This was the setting where I spent the first twenty years of my life savoring the freedom of adulthood. It is where I decided what (and how) I wanted to do with life. It is where my mother, brothers, and friends live. It is where I return whenever my active life allows me to. It is where I want to settle and spend my future.
Read more »Labels: In Print, Nation, Traditional Culture
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Tuesday, May 27, 2025,
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Going back to nature
Tuesday, 29 April 2025
This article appeared in Pakistan Armed Forces' Monthly Magazine Hilal (Urdu section) in July 2011 issue.
Labels: Environment, Hilal, Housing, In Print, Urdu Blogs
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Tuesday, April 29, 2025,
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Texting
Tuesday, 15 April 2025
We are living through texting times. It is time when the surgeon performs a life-saving surgery in Africa with instructions texted from a friend in London, the trucker crashes into a pool because he was texting while driving, the 15-year-old girl wins 50,000 for texting – in a championship, the Finnish author writes an entire book in text messages, the teenager girl falls in a manhole while texting, the Brit woman sets the record for world's fastest SMS texting, the man sets the world record for the most text messages sent in a month – over 180,000, the two men get a $26k bill trying to set a text messaging record, the girl sends 200 messages to help Haiti, the mobile company tries to set the record for world's fastest texting while skydiving and more, when Christian Lander, author of Stuff White People Like predicts that “there is a good chance that all great stories in the twenty-first century will be told via text message and when books like Texts From Last Night: no one remembers sending are creating waves.
Share your revealing, funny, substantial, and engaging text messages in the comment section here. I will publish them while concealing the identity of the sender and or receiver.Read more »
Labels: In Print, Nation, Technology, Texting
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Tuesday, April 15, 2025,
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Emoticon impact
Saturday, 12 April 2025
This article appeared in Spider.tm
The idea of graphically depicting human emotions is not new. BBC claims that “the original smiley was created in 1964 by commercial artist Harvey Ball.” Russian writer Vladimir Nobaokov, who authored Lolita, answered a question in 1969 and was quoted by Scott E. Fahlman as saying, “I often think there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile—some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket.”
Labels: In Print, Information Technology, Spider
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Saturday, April 12, 2025,
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Shared applications
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
This article appeared in Daily the Nation
The advent of shared applications is a new way to meet some or almost all aspects of information technology (IT) needs. Concept of application service provision has come a long way since it first came on the scene in the late 1990s. Hi-tech developments and changes at a fast rate are moving towards convergence of the software, information, technology carriers, and computer engineering. Result: IT structural designs are shifting from desktop and mainframe environments towards Internet based structures. Similarly, software applications are altering from made to order and separately owned solutions towards pre-packaged and Web based solutions. It is in this context that ASP business model is getting more interest as a hot trend.
IT business model that offers end users – small and large businesses, government organizations, non-profits, and membership organizations even individuals -- an access to applications and services over the Internet is known as application service provider (ASP - not to be mixed with Active Server Pages. It also is an abbreviation of as soon as possible). It is sometime called software-as-a-service, on-demand computing, apps-on-tap or utility computing.
Read more »Labels: Business, In Print, Information Technology, Nation, Technology
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Tuesday, April 08, 2025,
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What is Gujrat famous for?
Thursday, 3 April 2025
This article appeared in the Daily The News
Pass the River Chanab and one starts thinking of romantic folklore Sohni Mahiwal, the last and decisive battle fought between British and Sikh forces. These saints left their marks in this part of the world, micro encephalic children called 'Daulay Shah k Choohay' (rats of Shah Daula) or world class industries that are Gujrat’s claims to fame. But what you see while travelling on Grand Trunk Road passing through Gujrat is the nerve jarring rattle of auto rickshaws, tangle of tongas and donkey carts vying for space with mechanical transport, vendors and shoppers and second hand cloths (landa) hung on the walls. Even the lately built bypass is as crowded and encroached upon.
Read more »Labels: Gujrat, In Print, News, Travel
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Thursday, April 03, 2025,
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Descent into Crime
Saturday, 1 February 2025
This article appeared in the Daily The Nation.
Violent crimes have been at historic up nationwide; they are rising sharply in all cities. The rise seems to have been set off by something more bewildering.
Imagine Lahore only ten years ago: It was a different city; socially cohesive, closely knit. Young children could go visit neighbors or to nearby shopping centers to get groceries and other things but not now. People then knew each other personally and had strong social bonds; hence courtesies for each other.
Things started changing with an exponential increase in urbanization. A large number of outsiders started moving to Lahore to live and or work. Now even the immediate neighbors do not know each other and people act like total strangers. Garish housing societies have come up on all the open spaces inside the city and Lahore has expanded much beyond what used to be municipal boundaries. The crime rate has grown at a much faster speed than the city.
Labels: Crimes, In Print, Nation
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Saturday, February 01, 2025,
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Why Social Media
Tuesday, 31 December 2024
This article appeared in Daily The Nation
The big deal is that personal information spreads fast on the Internet. Result: Email Inbox privacy is one of today's most sensitive and intricate issues affecting nearly everyone – individuals, businesses, and Internet systems alike. Clued-up users who are in the know of the matters want to protect their email inboxes though beginners or those who have lots of free time on hand usually do not care until later. The majority of the Websites first ask users to register and give some personally identifiable information including email addresses so that they can reach out to potential customers and people with particular interests. "Over 90 percent of Websites ask visitors to register," as per an estimate, for those 'great benefits' -- full use of the Website, membership to certain services or communities, subscription to newsletters and alerts, and more.
Read more »Labels: In Print, Information Technology, Nation, Social Media
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Tuesday, December 31, 2024,
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Mud Construction
Monday, 30 December 2024
This article appeared in monthly Techno Biz
The future lies in mud architecture. Though this sweeping statement may sound prehistoric, but it is very relevant to modern times. Building living spaces with mud is a tradition dating as back as the start of civilization. Some excellent examples from the Great Mosque - the world’s largest mud building and UNESCO’s World Heritage site – to the oldest surviving mud specimens found in the Harappa, Pakistan, show the continuous use of mud buildings.
The future lies in mud architecture. Though this sweeping statement may sound prehistoric, but it is very relevant to modern times. Building living spaces with mud is a tradition dating as back as the start of civilization. Some excellent examples from the Great Mosque - the world’s largest mud building and UNESCO’s World Heritage site – to the oldest surviving mud specimens found in the Harappa, Pakistan, show the continuous use of mud buildings.
Having grown up in mud house myself (before I moved to urban center), mud buildings have a special place rooted deep in to my cultural consciousness and this personal bond encourages a more intimate relationship between me and the mud as the material transformed from formlessness to form. Hence my interest in mud architecture and how I see its future in Pakistan.
Labels: Construction, In Print, Mud
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Monday, December 30, 2024,
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Pothohar Plateau
Thursday, 26 December 2024
This article appeared in Daily The Nation
The discovery of fossils, tools, coins, and remains of ancient archaeological sites gives enough historical evidence about Soan civilization and its continuity in the Pothohar (also spelled Pothwar, Potowar, or Potohar) Plateau. The people, colourful landscape, lakes, hill ranges, flora, and fauna are sufficient reasons to explore the land, which is largely off the beaten track, and one does not see many backpackers in the area.
Some of the world history has started from this region. The first residents of the land we now call home were Stone Age people in the Potwar Plateau. They were followed by the more urbane Indus Valley (or Harappan) civilisation which flourished between the twenty-third to eighteenth centuries BC. Some of the earliest relics of Stone Age in the world have been found in the Potohar region, with a probable antiquity of about 500,000 years. The crude stone implements recovered from the terraces of the Soan carry the account of human grind and endeavours in this part of the world to the inter-glacial period. The Stone Age men produced their equipment in a sufficiently homogenous way to justify their grouping in terms of a culture called the Soan Culture. Around 3000 BC, small village communities developed in the Potohar area and began to take the first hesitant steps towards the formation of society.
Read more »Labels: In Print, Nation, Plateau, Pothohar, Pothwar, Potohar, Potowar, Travel
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Thursday, December 26, 2024,
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Cycle of vulnerabilities
Tuesday, 24 December 2024
This article appeared in Daily The Nation
When rivers were raging and floodwater was submerging more areas down the country, I was in my village situated in the beautiful basin (called Bela) of River Jhelum about three kilometers downstream from Rasul Barrage. Most of the green swathe in Bela, where I remember looking for ladybirds as my earliest memories in life, is under flood water. Our location makes us vulnerable to floods more than anyone else.
Read more »Labels: Flood 2010, In Print, Memories
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Tuesday, December 24, 2024,
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The Fad That Fades
Monday, 23 December 2024
This article appeared in daily Dawn
Sending greetings on occasions is a traditional part of our culture, and people from all age groups, particularly children, revel in sending and receiving greetings. With Eid around the corner, the custom is once again triggered, but unlike earlier many years, when it was greeting cards that ruled the roost, this is now the age of electronic messaging.
Sending greetings on occasions is a traditional part of our culture, and people from all age groups, particularly children, revel in sending and receiving greetings. With Eid around the corner, the custom is once again triggered, but unlike earlier many years, when it was greeting cards that ruled the roost, this is now the age of electronic messaging.
While greeting cards hold a charm of their own, most young people prefer the ‘techie’ way of exchanging greetings, since it is far more hassle-free, and definitely more affordable. And hence, the this age-old custom of paper cards gave way to e-greetings, courtesy, the hundreds of site which offer free e-greeting cards with spectacular graphics, funky, innovative messages and background music. But the latest fad today is greetings via text messages on cell phones.
Cell phone mania has taken over the entire nation and has become an inseparable part of everyday life almost everywhere in the world. Their usage is exponentially growing, thanks to the tough competition among many cell phone brands; the word is that more companies are coming in operation soon. And while the gadget may be used for other purposes as well, like listening to music and capturing pictures, the most popular function – other than talking of course – remains messaging, which comes out full throttle during Eid.
Labels: Dawn, In Print, Technology
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Monday, December 23, 2024,
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What is Gujrat famous for?
Saturday, 21 December 2024
This article appeared in daily The Nation
While cities are dynamic centers of creativity, commerce and culture, these benefits are often undercut by environmental problems, lack of civic amenities, inefficient governance, and administration. Centuries old historic city Gujrat is a classic example where one can see all the hazards of urbanization’.
Commuter who prefer to drive on familiar and congested Grand Trunk Road rather than going on isolated Islamabad-Lahore Motorway pass through Gujrat city that has stretched from bridge on the River Chenab to the bridge on Bhimbar Flood Stream.
Read more »Labels: Gujrat, In Print, Nation, Travel
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Saturday, December 21, 2024,
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The Future of Surveillance
Thursday, 19 December 2024
This article appeared in daily Dawn Oct 11, 2003 issue
How does biometric technology work? Any of the biometric identifiers of a person is measured. The sensing device checks all possible dimensions like length, width, thickness, and surface area of the identifier. Resultant unique characteristics are processed and stored on computers as a sample. A mathematical representation of the identifier is retrieved when the user’s identification is required and verified by comparison with the pre-held records. In addition, the sensor updates the configurations every time identifiers of the same person are read. The results are automatically processed to cater to different changes over time. A database of biometric identifiers may be stored at a central location, at place where it is to be used, or on electronic devices.
Biometric in desktop computing has been around for some fifteen years now but it still is a relatively newer concept for the general users to grasp.
Biometric in desktop computing has been around for some fifteen years now but it still is a relatively newer concept for the general users to grasp.
Labels: Dawn, In Print, Information Technology
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Thursday, December 19, 2024,
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Khate-e-Ra’ana - calligraphy script invented by Ibn-e-Kaleem
Friday, 13 December 2024
This article appeared in the weekly Friday Times
In the past few decades, perhaps no calligrapher has created more waves in the field of calligraphy than Ibn-e-Kaleem – the inventor of new script Khate-e-Ra’ana, which literally means beautiful. Ibn-e-Kaleem already stands above the streams of calligraphers who have come before him.
Today he works in his father’s studio where he grew up. Experimenting with the styles of Nastaleeq, Kufi, Riqa, Diwani and Naqash, he is churning out master pieces and achieving greater recognition by the day.
Read more »Labels: Arts, Calligraphy, In Print, Khate-e-Ra’ana, The Friday Times
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Friday, December 13, 2024,
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Gogera Insight
Thursday, 12 December 2024
This article appeared in daily the Nation
Situated on the bank of river Ravi on Okara Faisalabad Road, Gogera Sadar was once an important and dignified town in the plans of Central Punjab. The town is reduced to a shabby and sleepy suburb of Okara today. Gogera still boasts its importance when it was British power centre and district headquarters from 1852 to 1865 and the part played by the resilient people of the area during War of Independence in 1857. The stories of the war that was fought around Gogera echo in the pages of history books. While traveling, off the beaten tracks, not only do you travel in soot-free and serene environment but you also see what normally remains hidden. I have had a chance to explore Gogera along with Dr. Norbert Pintch - a German architect by profession and a volunteer by choice – who is working on an idea to convert the ruins of the British Court building into a monument. “Remain of British Court are important signs of built heritage of Pakistan and should be preserved for next generation,” Dr. Norbert says.
Read more »Labels: In Print, Nation, Travel
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Thursday, December 12, 2024,
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Plagiarism, Prove it!
Wednesday, 11 December 2024
This article appeared in Daily The Nation
"If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism - if you steal from two, it's research," writes.
American screenwriter Wilson Mizner
Broadly speaking, plagiarism, as per the popular literature on the subject, refers to using another person's work without giving credit. This dangerous trend is not new, but the advent of the Internet has facilitated the speed and methods used.
It is a chronic problem greatly facilitated by the resources rich Internet. Students (mostly those who are not Internet savvy), who plagiarize, do it the old-fashioned way here -- finding some relevant article printed somewhere and getting it typed. In case one article does not cover all dimensions of the topic, a wary student may get some old book on the subject (perceiving that the teacher might not have read it), mark apparently relevant paragraphs and give it to the typist to prepare the assignment. The source material is commonly known among students' fraternity as chappa or nuskha. Some may proof read the typed paper, correct mistakes and clear irrelevant references in the text while some other may not take the trouble of reading "their work".
Labels: Education, In Print, Information Technology, Nation, Plagiarism, Students
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Wednesday, December 11, 2024,
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My Urdu Blog - Social Media
Sunday, 8 December 2024
Labels: In Print, Roznama Pakistan, Urdu Blogs
posted by S A J Shirazi @ Sunday, December 08, 2024,
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