Sorry but YOU ARE REJECTED!

Ever got rejected? Well join the club! SO, what was your rejection story? Got rejected after a job interview? Had your affections rebuffed by a potential lover? Did someone reject your merchandise after viewing? Were you refused entry into another country?....BINGO! I recently got rejected for that very thing :p My visa application for UK got rejected and somehow the reason for the rejection has left me writhing in fury and indignation!!! The UK border agency officials thought I was unable to prove my ties to my beloved Paki-land....hence they thought it very likely that I will beg for asylum once I entered the UK...seriously folks...Do we look that desperate??
At first I was mad and upset but then I decided I should get to the bottom of this and so I started digging around. I asked many people and browsed around only to discover that the past acts and events of Pakistanis has certainly marred our overall image and people in the UK have developed a stereotype about us that eventually anybody who tries to get a visa will disappear into thin air once on UK soil or will try something illegal. But is that fair? I provided all proper supporting documents, paid a hefty amount of money for visa application processing and in the end I got a slap in the face by being told that I am under suspicion that I may not be going to UK for the reason or duration stated....Hell lo!?! I could have been asked for further proof or documentation before being rejected so callously :( The officials did not even try to hear my side of the story and did not even give me the right to appeal against the decision and very blatantly told me to apply again and try to address the allegations against me with proof. So did I apply again? No! Not because I was guilty...but because I can't afford to spend another big sum of money and then again be rejected for some petty reason.
This made me realise that being rejected is no doubt a serious blow to anyone's confidence and self-respect. I have started understanding how it feels to prepare so hard for a job interview...go through lenthy selection sessions and tests...be filled with anticipation and hope and then get the door slammed in your face because you just didn't fit the bill. I feel a certain attachment to the one who goes to a person with their heart pinned to their sleeve...singing ballads of love and watching with bated breath and a starry gaze only to discover that your just not meant to be..
But don't worry if you didn't get this job...you are probably gonna find a better one that you always dreamt about. So what if the guy or girl didn't want your love? There is someone out there for you...with whom you will feel complete. Everything works out for the best they say...and it does! 

Electricty..oh electricity...

When the world seems dark and desolate....when the calm of the night is shattered by the whirring of machines...when you cannot find solace for hours...you know it is time...time to test all your patience and forbearance capacities...time to create a fan out of every available book or newspaper or in other words..time for the regular electricity load shedding :p Time flies by these days but the hour without electricity stretches to infinity. Small wonder that the load shedding timings have started increasing with the approach of summers! It is going to be epic, battling mosquitoes and tolerating the heat, while sitting in the dark. Those of you who do not posses a UPS, converter or electric power generator, my heart goes out to you.

It was a very big news last year that there was a power outage in North America that caused consternation among people and the loss of millions of dollars in revenues. The duration of that power failure was probably a week. So what about us??? We have to endure daily power outages that last from 8 hours to 14 hours in the big cities, while the towns and villages have to survive on just a few hours of electricity each day. The situation of commerce in our country is such that many factories have been driven out of business due to the power shortage and many have relocated to other countries (taking with them whatever slim employment opportunities they provided)! Our business areas are roaring with the deafening sound of generators during peak activity hours and the costs of using the generators has to be silently cut from the profit margin or passed on to the customer. Our offices are giving lower output due to inavailability of power for computers, internet, printers and other office mashines. Our educational institutions are facing hurdles in utilizing supporting multimedias and projectors for educational purposes. In short every activity that is of benefit to the economy of our country and necessary for progress depends on electricity and without electricity we are going in the backward direction.

When the public makes noise over their predicament, they are told the power production plants cannot meet the population's ever-increasing electricy demands, but somehow nothing besides small talk is done. No corrective measures are taken and the dependance on hydro-electric power and fossil fuels for power generation is seemingly not enough. Maybe a new alternative like solar energy needs to be explored because we do have a never ending supply of sunlight :p Some of our helpful neighbours have offered to sell us electricity at subsidized rates but that sounds like a national insult to our rulers I guess because neither of those lucrative offers has been accepted :( electricity oh electricity..wish you were here!

From a Disgruntled Fat Lady

There comes a time in your life when stepping on the weighing scale takes guts :p This sort of thing is happening to me these days, as I'm drawing closer to my thirties and honestly I'm freaking out! I've always been the sort of person who lives to eat and somehow it never did matter what I ate. But lately the weighing scale seems to creak and groan ominously when I step on it, scaring me that it might burst open and spew out its springs and gears like in cartoons...So now I gotta be cautious about the calories, do some serious workouts and cut down on the carbs blah blah blah...That sort of takes out the fun from life-atleast my life!
I know that obesity is the start of many health issues but gaining a few extra kilos should not be such a problem..right? Wrong!! It has now become a taboo to sport an extra inch of belly fat or have love handles that need handling :p Staying rake-thin is now becoming a norm and most of the women I see around me are either on a strict diet or are burning yoga mats in some gym. Not that I'm against physical fitness but what bothers me is the obsession with wafer-like bodies. Exercising has never harmed anyone and it's good to be active but has anyone ever pondered over the fact that excessive dieting not only leads to dramatic deficiencies in the body but also leads to dark circles under the eyes, hair fall and gastro-intestinal malfunctions. Dieting can become nasty if basic requirements of the body are not kept in mind.
So why the obsession? The answer can be found when you look at the average model or actress draped in a clinging dress that shows off her perfect hour-glass figure. The charm words like sexy, beautiful and attractive are attached to these images and when you are fed these images at a frequency higher than that of sound...you can bet that your mind will pursue the wafer-thin body with an obsession. The trouble with these perfect bodies is that behind the camera so much effort has gone into them. We are not told about the surgeries and liposuctions that these women undergo; we do not know what is their exercise routine or diet plan and neither do we know the amount of photoshop and airbrushing effects that have gone into sculpting that killer physique! And don't forget the efforts of the makeup artists and personal stylists who make them look gorgeous because trust me you wouldn't recognise them without the makeup :p
So next time you look in the mirror, don't try to find a likeness to a celebrity but feel good about yourself. You don't have to be like an actress to be called beautiful, nor do you need to resemble a skinny model to be considered sexy. You are great just the way you are because you are special in your own way :)