Arfa Karim Randhawa was an IT genius. She created a prominent place for herself in the IT World at the age of nine when was declared  the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) by the Microsoft Corporation, USA. Arfa was born to a family in  the village Chak No. 4JB, Ram Dewali in Faisalabad, Punjab, in February,1995.

All children have dreams about one day doing something extraordinary, but as we grow older, what we call the realities of life slowly start setting in and at some unknown point in our lives, we become afraid to dream big. That’s one thing Arfa never did. She always knew if you don’t dream big, then what is the point of dreaming? At the age of 9, Arfa said that she would like to go to Harvard University or MIT, and then either work for Microsoft in its developer division, or become a satellite engineer.

She was a brilliant student and a genius with computers. After stunning the entire world by becoming an MCP at such a young age –the youngest in the world until 2008—Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft Corporation, USA, extended Arfa an invitation to visit Microsoft’s Headquarters in Redmond, Washington, USA. Undoubtedly, her visit to  Microsoft’s Headquarters was a matter of immense pride and honor, not only for herself, but for the entire Pakistani nation. This was a great achievement, but even greater an achievement was doing so much at such a very young age.

Arfa received numerous awards and honors during her very short but extremely illustrious life. On August 2^nd, 2005, she was awarded the Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal in the field of Science and Technology. This award was conferred upon her by Prime Minister of Pakistan himself on the occasion of the 113th birthday of Fatima Jinnah in On 2 August 2005. She also received the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award again in August 2005 by the President of Pakistan; she is the youngest recipient of this award. In recognition of her achievement, Arfa was made brand ambassador for Pakistan Telecommunication Company’s 3G Wireless Broadband service named EVO in January 2010.

On 22 December 2011, Arfa was admitted to Lahore’s CMH hospital after suffering cardiac arrest. After some days, doctors said there is no hope for her survival, and that her life support could be switched off ‘at any time’.Aarifa’s father, Amjad Karim Randhawa told that she had suffered an epileptic attack, which caused severe brain and heart damage. Unfortunately, the little genius won’t be able to fulfill her dream, for Arfa Karim, Pakistan’s pride, died at the tender age of 16 sending her soul to heaven. Arfa karim may be gone, but never forgotten. May god rest her soul.

This post was brought to you by one of Allshore’s .NET developers, Kashif I.

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Pakistan is returning to normalcy after protests this weekend stormed through Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi against the misguided and insulting YouTube video, Innocence of Muslims.  This video caused a wave of protest in many countries across the Middle East, Africa, and South East Asia. Although the protests in Pakistan were mostly peaceful, they still left their mark in the cities which hosted them.  This video has caused incredible backlash and pain, but as often happens in times of turmoil, what brings out the worst in people can also bring out the best, and citizens in Pakistan are certainly bringing their best to reclaim their country with ‘project cleanup for peace.’

http://dawn.com/2012/09/24/owning-the-city-good-deed-after-the-bad-ones-2

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Table tennis, also known as Ping Pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis paddles. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial serve, players must allow a ball played toward them only one bounce on their side of the table and must return it so that it bounces on the opposite side. Points are scored when a player fails to legally return the ball. Play is fast and demands quick reactions. A skilled player can impart several varieties of spin to the ball, altering its trajectory and limiting an opponent’s options to great advantage.

The game originated as a sport in Britain during the 1880s, where it was played among the upper-class as an after-dinner parlor game. It has been suggested that the game was first developed by British military officers in India or South Africa who brought it back with them. A row of books were stood up along the center of the table as a net, two more books served as paddles and were used to continuously hit a golf-ball from one end of the table to the other. In the 1950s, paddles that used a rubber sheet combined with an underlying sponge layer changed the game dramatically, introducing greater spin and speed.

Allshore/Datum has had a table tennis court inside the office since June 2011. Employees most often played Ping-Pong during break time or after signing off for the day. Both singles and doubles matches take place every day, and many of employees have had the chance to perfect their game. Allshore/Datum hosted its first ever singles Table Tennis Tournament in August 2011. The organizers managed the tournament and setup matches. The semi-finals and the final round were especially exciting as some very strong players came face to face to try to win the title.

After the success of the first tournament, Allshore/Datum organized its second table tennis tournament in September 2012, but this time it was a doubles tournament. Teams were created and then through drawings the brackets were made and matches were set.

The most enjoyable thing about this tournament was that many players had greatly improved since that last tournament, and the matches were very entertaining to watch as the teams collided. The prize money this time was set up in such a way that every match had prize money for the winners with extra prize money for the top 3 positions.

The tournament went great and there were a lot of spectators who stayed after hours to watch and cheer; in fact we would leave about 2-3 hours late every day. People really enjoyed themselves both watching and playing. These events are a great way for the employees to enjoy time together and have fun and relax after a good days work.

This year’s teams were able to choose a team name. Some of the names included the “The Thunderbolts”, “The Courageous Falcons”, “The Titans”, “The Avengers”, and many more. The strongest team of the tournament who managed to take away the title was “The Gladiators”, guys from our Sales and IT department who were really brilliant and deserved the prizes they earned. The “Dragon Smashers” came in second, a team composed of members of our PHP and IT departments. Third was “The Dangs,” both of who were from our .Net department.

The most enjoyable part for the spectators was during a match when they would encourage or make jokes at teams in between plays. All in all, the tournament went really well and we really had great fun and will be eagerly awaiting the next tournament, which may be in the first quarter of 2013.  Let me leave you now with a few snap shots from the Final Match between the “Gladiators” and “Dragon Smashers.”  Enjoy!

David takes a dive for the ball.

Jeff and Junaid are in the zone.

Alex is presented as the champion, by Nabeel and Adeel S.

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Business has a profound effect on people’s lives, and in our increasingly globalized world, this has never been truer or more important. Business spans great distances overcoming barriers in range and location, yet as the world becomes metaphorically smaller, there is no guarantee the individual pieces will fit together into the new whole with ease. Cultural differences still permeate many facets of civilization, and, as distances are bridged, conflicts are no longer found only at borders, but now cross oceans and insight hatred half a world away. These cross-continental feuds can be especially corrosive, because they are often waged between populations that have had little real exposure to each other; they are based on speculation, generalizations, and ignorance and they have real, and at times tragic, outcomes. Suspicion and mistrust can breed violence and hatred and all are built on a platform of dehumanizing ignorance. We have witnessed the tragic outcomes of jingoistic discrimination too many times in our history, but in the age of information, this does not have to be the case, we have the ability to reach out and connect with people, sometimes we just need to be given the chance.

Terrorism and America’s subsequent war on terror is unlike the big wars of old in ways that make them difficult for the civilian population comprehend and it has caused serious backlash for the populations of what is widely held as the offending region and even more broadly, the offending religion. Unlike the world wars for example where the enemy nation organized on a national level, terrorism is not a national effort and the citizenry of the nations with which we have gone to war cannot be held collectively responsible. This fact has made the war more difficult to fight, but it has also made it more difficult to understand. It is unfortunately too easy to forget that we wage war against terrorism, against a small extremist and violent minority, not with the average citizen of the countries in which these terrorists dwell. Those citizens are affected by those terror organizations every day, forced to live with instability, in fear of violence and forced to live with the consequences of the international perception that that minority has created. Ignorance breeds hatred and creates enemies of what could be friends.

Terrorism takes conviction, and responding with blind animosity and solidifying the “us vs. them” mentality they thrive off of only helps them convince others of their stance and gives life to their cause. We have the ability to choose what kind of relationships we have with the Middle East and the Islamic world, we do not have to make them our enemies; they too are victims in this war and if we had the chance to get to know them, we would see we share more commonalities than differences.

Here, I come back to business: it remains the foremost globalizing force and, as it brings cultures together, it can also be a force toward peace by uniting people toward a common goal and bringing the humanity back into our global perspective. Sometimes all it takes is the chance to get to know someone, and providing that opportunity in an environment of cooperation and mutual respect is a rare chance that business can provide, and should not take for granted.

When I first began my career with Allshore, I admittedly took for granted its vision statement: “To promote cultural understanding and build international relationships through a trusted, compassionate and profitable IT staffing experience.” But overtime I witnessed this in action and began at last to understand the depth and importance of this statement and the incredible opportunity at hand. It is more than just good business, it is business doing good by bringing people together and fostering a unique environment in which people half a world half a world away with whom they thought they could share nothing in common are made approachable.  It is a small start, but right now these personal relationships are more important than ever.

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Friday, May 25:

Today was our last day in the office.  Before work the managers came to our hotel to take some group photos. The shoot was a lot of fun and we managed to draw quite the audience by the end.

On the way to work Bryan and I asked Raheel if we could drive around Islamabad a little bit and see more of the city. I recorded a lot of video on the drive, most of it fun, but some of it sad. For example, there was a woman holding a very young baby at an intersection begging for money. We were told this is a common sight in Pakistan and were instructed not to respond or even look. I am not used to seeing this so out in the open and it was heart-breaking to witness. Against the wishes of our driver, I rolled down the window and handed her $20. As we kept driving, we saw national monuments, parliament buildings, the presidential palace and, the Faisal Mosque. They were all such beautiful buildings, a few of which I hope to tour on Monday.

Work today was awesome, the guys held nothing back in making our last day there really special. Around 7:15 PM our PHP department ordered a ton of food and invited Bryan and I to their “high-tea” function.  I video Skyped with my wife on the iPad and sat the iPad in the corner of the room.  She watched from Norman, OK as I cut the cake and then smeared the toppings on Bryan’s face.

In honor of the company cricket game we had planned, Bryan and I were presented with Pakistani cricket jerseys that their team wore in the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Thrilled, I immediately donned my jersey and then went into all the department rooms to show it off to thunderous applause. We had planned to play a large match between the PHP department and the .NET department around 6 AM, however a large rainstorm had rolled in and forced us to cancel it.  

Disappointed with the weather, we decided to make due and after hours we played a minor cricket match in the office. I got up to bat and practiced hitting the ball as it bounced off the ground, slowly gaining confidence as I got the hang of it and began connecting better and better. My turn ended however when I hit the ball so hard back to the bowler (pitcher), who was our Pakistan Sales Manager, that it gave him a bloody nose. I felt awful and tried to assist him, but he took it like a man the game continued

After that, I went up to the roof top and joined a large congregation of the workers there where we talked for about two hours as we watched the sun come up.  This was probably one of the neatest and most satisfying parts of our trip. We got into deep discussions about American perception of Pakistan and Pakistanis, and how badly the Pakistani people want this perception to change.  This explained why we had not been harassed at security check points, the police are under strict orders not to harass any foreigners so that they will do what I have done and spread the word about how accommodating the police are here. We talked about American and Pakistani laws and cultures and found many neat differences as well as a lot of similarities. We talked about extremists in all religions and the unfortunate backlash those few individuals can have on a group. And we talked about what role this company could play and that I hope it will play in helping to change some of those negative perceptions, at least within the community in which we work. The work they do here is much bigger than the code they write; they are ambassadors of Pakistan to the United States. Most of our clients have never spoken to a Pakistani person before, so our employees get a unique opportunity to represent Pakistan in a very positive way to the international community.

Similarly we have been lucky enough to represent the United States to this wonderful group of people. Everyone has told me how refreshing our visit has been as well as our passion for our business and our vision statement. They see it in our faces, in our body language and they see it because we came all the way over here to spend time with them.  It’s been our pleasure to spend time in this country with these amazing people and to be able to strengthen our bonds further face to face. It is truly amazing how loved we felt over here.

I ended my evening with a group of guys in a motorcycle race with Adeel S.  Don’t tell my wife!  Thanks, Khurram for letting me borrow your wheels!

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Thursday, May 24:

Our day began with the usual eventful ride to the office.  Each day Bryan and I sit in the back seat of the car giggling shamelessly at how out of control street traffic feels here.  It’s like a near death experience every second of the trip, not for us, but for the crazy motorcycle drivers weaving in and out of traffic. They are usually small motorbikes with a 70cc engine carrying two grown men without helmets and people don’t seem to care about the lane markers on the roads.  The moment a light turns green every car five rows deep immediately lays on their horn and the chaos resumes.  Our driver is excellent and keeps right up with the best of them, but Bryan and I always look behind us every time we swerve, swearing that we just side swiped a motorbike into the concrete barriers that surround the roadway.  To my surprise, we always turn back and see the rider still upright and motoring along.
 
Today’s focus was on changing the perception of our office in the Pakistan market place to try and make our company attractive to the local developers.  Since our developers work the night shift, landing the top notch developers can sometimes be challenging.  We are working on overcoming that hurdle by making Allshore cutting edge in the Pakistani business culture as well as an exceptional place to be employed.  I have been gathering ideas from my one-on-one meetings with the developers about what they would like to see in the workplace and further discussing these ideas with the managers.  We discuss ideas big and small, from giving ice cream treats to the developers each month if they do an extraordinary job, to ways of building unity within each team and their team leader.

Another important step in making our company more appealing is remodeling the office itself to really “WOW” new prospective developers that come through the doors.  This might not seem like a huge thing to us in the U.S., but it will make  a big impact over here.  We also want to make a cooler work environment for our employees by creating a lounge area with a TV and a gaming system where the developers can hang out after/before work hours and enjoy each other’s company.
 
After the management meeting, we went around and greeted all the developers as they were coming into the office, and I noticed all the guys wearing their CoreVault baseball caps around the office.  They really enjoyed this gift from one of our clients and it was cool to see them wearing it with so much pride.  At this point in our visit the guys are really starting to loosen up and relax around us which has been really rewarding.
 
One of the greatest cultural experiences has naturally been our exposure to Islam.  I was invited to observe a prayer ceremony today graciously accepted.  Yasir, one of our dedicated developers, is a very religious man and leads prayer here in the office.  He has given me a lot of insight into this part of their culture and helped me understand it just as he has taken the time to better understand my religious culture.  This free exchange of ideas and customs has been an amazing part of this journey and something I am so thankful to this international company for giving me.  It is interesting seeing the way the religious culture fits in with the overall culture too.  The building the office is housed in has an amazing rooftop view of the city and every day the surrounding Mosques play prayers over loud speakers throughout the city.  So when we are upstairs we can hear different prayers from all the Mosques around the office.  It’s quite a surreal experience!
 
I had a great “small-world” moment this afternoon.  As it turns out one of the interviewees that came in today not only knew where Oklahoma was, but had been there!  He attended UCO for a semester before transferring to the University of Houston.  We chatted for a very long time about Oklahoma, Texas and the U.S. in general; he even knew about the OKC Thunder and their awesome playoff run this year.  I never expected to meet a new prospective employee over here that even knew where Oklahoma really was on a map!
 
After work hours tonight, everyone asked to see a head to head Ping Pong match (it’s called table tennis here)  between the two head managers of our offices.  Raheel and I took our paddles and set up on opposite ends of the table while the crowd gathered, cheering, and started placing bets on who would win.  I managed to get the first point, but quickly fell behind until all the guys starting cheating for me, making up the score so I would always be ahead.  It was by far the most fun I have had getting my butt kicked in in a game of table tennis.
 
Before we left for the night, Bryan and I went around and took pictures with all the developer teams that are working with clients so expect those soon!

Thanks for following my updates, and I hope they’ve been insightful.

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Ramadan is a challenging and rewarding time for Muslims around the world, and they are rewarded for their devotion with a holiday that all but mandates festivity and cheer. Eid ul-Fitr begins the day after Ramadan ends and marks the start of the month Shawwal and, like Ramadan, is officially begun when the moon has entered the proper phase. Eid ul-Fitr is the most widely celebrated of all Muslim holidays and espouses family, celebration, and above all, unity.

During this 3 day celebration, all Muslims are be viewed as equal and united under their common faith, putting aside differences in social status, wealth, and even citizenship in order to join together in celebration. Thus, all men will pray together and embrace one another, regardless of any differences between them. In this vein, it is common practice in Pakistan for wealthier people to give money to charities, or even directly help a family who is less fortunate so that they may also be able to celebrate. Eid is also a time for forgiveness: Muslims are encouraged to put past animosities behind them and resolve conflicts that have occurred throughout the year.

Eid ul-Fitr has many traditions that cross all national lines, but celebrations are also unique from country to country and regional celebrations are combined with those traditional to the holiday. Festivities in Pakistan often begin the night before Eid is set to start, an evening called Chaand Raat (Night of the moon), when Muslims visit bazaars and shopping malls to do their Eid shopping. Women often apply traditional Mehndi, or hena, on their hands and feet and don bangles. During the early hours of the next morning, Muslims rise before the sun and bathe, brush their teeth, apply perfume, and dress in new clothing. Many in prefer to wear traditional garb, such as the shalwar qameez, and it can become nearly impossible to find a tailor in Pakistan who has a free moment leading up to Eid. Once everyone is ready, families go together to the location where prayer will be offered (typically in a large hall or open field). After offering this special Eid prayer, men will often embrace one another as a sign of solidarity and well wishes.

Many traditions center on family. Families prepare meals together and invite family and friends into their home to share a wide variety of dishes to celebrate the ending of the fast. Eid ul-Fitr is also known as “sweet Eid”, because sweet dishes such as kheer, sheer khurma, and pulao are typically served. It is common practice to bring a cake when visiting someone’s home, meaning ambitious hosts can end this celebration with as many as 20 cakes in their kitchen! Children especially enjoy this time of year because they can expect to receive small gifts and “eidi”, money in the form of new bills, from the older members of their family which they collect and eagerly spend in the markets which are often decorated for the holiday with lights and flowers. TV stations air many special holiday programs and there is a large outpour of new movies into theaters for families and friends to enjoy together. Family is of the utmost importance during this time, which is why everyone in Pakistan enjoys time off work and school during this time so that they can put their busy life on hold and spend time with their families, eating, shopping, and celebrating all together. It is a time of merriment, celebration, and unity. As a Muslim state, Eid is of incredible importance to Pakistan and the country rises as one to celebrate: unity of family, unity of faith, unity of nation.

Pakistani Muslims buy balloons for their children after offering Eid ul-Fitr prayers outside the Red Mosque during the first day of their religious festival in Islamabad (August 31, 2011)

(All photo credit belongs to The Express Tribune, Pakistan)

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In his blog post about summer, Ahmed mentioned the importance of mangoes in Pakistan during the hot summer months. This got me thinking about what watermelon meant to me growing up during the summer, and it conjured images of a little Ahmed sitting by a pool eating a mango and throwing the rinds at his siblings. When I started looking into Pakistan’s love of mangoes more closely however, I discovered mangoes are much more to Pakistan than the summer treat present at every picnic. Available only during the summer, from May until September, mangoes are a symbol of the season for Pakistan, but they may also hold the key to international markets and increased trade, requisite tools in a globalized world.

Pakistan is the world’s third largest producer of mangoes and the fifth largest exporter. In fact, Pakistan is home to over 125 varieties of mango, which is known locally as the “king of fruits.” If you’re a casual mango consumer like me, you may need a moment to process your astonishment that there exist that many different varieties, and that all of them can be found in a single province of Pakistan called Sindh. The produce comes primarily from the province’s capital and Pakistan’s financial hub, Punjab. Sindh is the third largest of Pakistan’s 4 provinces and is located in the south eastern portion of the country in a tropical region enclosed by the Thar Desert to the east, the Kirthar Mountains to the west and the Arabian Sea to the south. Although the region receives a mere 7 inches of rainfall annually, the territory overcomes its relative scarcity through reliance on the Indus River, which inundates twice yearly by the melting of the Himalaya snows and monsoon seasons. While the majority of the region is arid, the Indus River Valley is wonderfully fertile and, thanks to irrigation, supports and wealth of fruit trees, including a unique variety of Mango called the Sindhri that has been deemed one of the tastiest in the world.

Mangoes are more than just a tasty fruit for Pakistan, they are an avenue to new international markets and increased agricultural trade. Punjab’s local government and the Sindh Board of Investment arrange Mango Festivals at home and abroad in order to open up new avenues of trade, both domestic and international, and to increase production in Sindh. This year’s festival in Punjab was held in July and hosted a myriad of Pakistani officials and mango growers. According to Punjab’s Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, the hope of this and other festivals is to “give access to mango growers and exporters to international markets and also help introduce other agricultural items from Punjab to the world”. Pakistan has gained international exposure for their produce with a Mango festivals hosted in Doha, Qatar in 2010, Beirut, Lebanon in 2011, and in Dubai, UAE just last month. Pakistan also reached out to European markets by showcasing their agriculture at the International Green Week in Berlin, Germany earlier this year. In 2011, the Pakistani consulate in Chicago threw a mango party to celebrate the first shipment of mangoes allowed in the United States, a feat which Pakistani ambassador, Husain Haqqani called “a culmination of two years of strategic dialogue with the Americans”. America is the world’s largest importer of mangoes, and Pakistan is hopeful that the fruit may create new bonds between the two countries. 

N Senator Ishaq Dar at the Punjab Mango Festival (Credit: http://tribune.com.pk)

Pakistan has made great strides in introducing their produce to international markets, which could be vital to the nation’s ability to remain competitive. In our era of globalization and internationalization, trade is vital to the growth and prosperity of a nation. Mangoes are only the beginning for Pakistan; the country is home to a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, and they hope that with the growing popularity of their mangoes, that they will soon be able to introduce produce into the market and broaden Pakistan’s international trade. So next time you sit down to beat the heat of summer with a cool mango smoothie, or maybe a scoop of delicious mango ice cream, consider for a moment that you may be sharing a fruit from the same tree as our friend, Ahmed.

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Wednesday, May 23:

Today, we took a different route to the office so I once again recorded our trip.  At one point, a police caravan drove by us going in the opposite direction and on the back of the truck there was a mounted 50-caliber machine gun and a guy with his finger on the trigger.  That was pretty eye opening for Bryan and I and we were happy that they were going in the opposition direction.

When we reached the office we were greeted with a happy surprise:  our Lahore branch manager, Ahmed, had just arrived.  Ahmed had a huge part in setting up our accommodations here in Islamabad and he’s always so helpful in making sure we are well taken care of.  It was great to finally get to meet him in person, but I didn’t feel as if I was meeting him for the first time; it felt like the first time in a few days.  We do a lot of face time videos via Skype so he and I both felt as if we’ve known each other for many years.  The only surprise was how tall we both are since we can’t see that on Skype!

We headed upstairs to begin our daily management session.  Nearly everyone showed up on time today, which is a huge improvement from Tuesday’s mandatory meeting where half of our guys were late.  Punctuality is a cultural difference we are working hard to overcome—it is culturally acceptable in Pakistan to be tardy, while Americans put a high value on punctuality. We are trying our best to show them the importance of being on time for work and meetings as a sign of respect and so that they don’t risk missing valuable information which then must be repeated, wasting time.  These meeting have done a lot to clear up many misunderstandings like this and really helped all of us understand each other’s perspectives and how we can work better together and fulfill our roles.

We also managed to clear up another point today that I found really interesting.  Yesterday, a developer asked me if he could wear shorts and flip-flops to work.  Since Bryan and I wear that regularly, I couldn’t see why not.  I want everyone to be comfortable at work. However, when he arrived in shorts and flip flops today, our upper managers were very angry with him.  We had another management meeting at the end of the shift tonight to discuss relaxing the dress code for these guys.  I told them, that on the way to Pakistan, I considered changing my clothes in Abu Dhabi to more professional attire since I had only ever seen men wearing pants here.  I even asked one of our receiving party members if it was ok for us to be in shorts and flip flops, and he said it was, because we were foreigners.  So, you can imagine my surprise today when I saw that developer arrive in his very hip looking shorts and flip-flops.  It is fascinating to me to see Pakistan transforming along more typically western lines, in many different ways.  In Pakistan, we are a cutting edge software firm and I told our managers that in 5 – 10 years when these younger guys get older, you are going to see many more software houses allowing shorts and flip-flops. They understood and agreed.  It looks like Allshore is going to be a leader in changing fashion over here!

This trip has also allowed the guys to see me as who I am, rather than as just a title.  When sitting down with my laptop in one of the developer halls, I overheard: “Whoa, the CEO is sitting with us.  Wow.”  I recognize the rift that a title can create and I am thankful for this opportunity to bridge it.  I want these guys to know that I am not a normal CEO that they need to be nervous around; I am a guy that really enjoys working directly with them, and really wants to have a personal relationship with each and every one of them.

After our meetings, I had an opportunity to message with my wife, and she linked to an article that had caught her attention:  a headline on the Huffington Post that said, “PAKISTAN’S REVENGE” with a photo of Osama bin Laden.  It was about the doctor that helped carry out the vaccination plan to capture bin Laden’s DNA; Pakistan has sentenced this man to 33 years in prison for treason.  Naturally, being the inquisitive person that I am, I pulled up the Huffington Post and showed the new developer sitting beside me and asked him his thoughts.  He agreed with his government’s decision regarding the doctor and we had an incredible discussion about the case and bin Laden and his presence in Pakistan.  We were able to discuss the situation openly and honestly, and it allowed me to understand it in a way I never thought possible from a perspective I had never before been given the chance to consider.  It was an eye-opening opportunity and showed me that deep down, we share a common understanding that runs deeper than I had ever imagined.

Goodnight.

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Summer is the warmest season of the year. For some, it is their favorite season but for others who can’t stand the heat, it is not nearly as enjoyable. But if you like outdoor activities, then summer can your best friend.

First, let’s understand the science behind seasonal weather and why summer may be more pleasant in some places than it is in others. It’s all about how earth rotates on its axis and the location of the given place. If the northern hemisphere of earth is tilted towards Sun, then it will be summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in southern hemisphere. Similarly, if the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun, then it’s winter there and summer in the southern hemisphere.

The United States of America and Pakistan are both located in the northern hemisphere of the Earth which means that both countries have the summer around the same time. The only difference is that Pakistan is much closer to the equator (a horizontal line that divides southern hemisphere and northern hemisphere) giving it more extreme and extended hot weather in summers. In the U.S.A., states that are located in the south are warmest, for example Arizona, Florida, California and also Oklahoma. Even these southern states cannot compare to the heat of summer in Pakistan, and this disparity can make a big difference in the enjoyment of summer.

Summers are the best time in the United States for outdoor activities. Zoos have more events than in any other season and you can do a variety of activities that are most available in the summer:  camping, fishing, boating, bicycling, hiking, water surfing, and jet skiing are top of the list of many attractions in summer.  Summer is also a good time for family get-togethers, like barbeques set up in the backyards so families can enjoy the pleasant weather with their meal.

Camping near the lake is a great opportunity to consider in the summers, it is full of adventure and you can get in touch with nature. Most people do not realize the importance of it unless they are working downtown, surrounded by high skyscrapers, unable to connect to nature, beautiful lakes and thick forests. At the peak season or at the long weekends, it is almost impossible to be able to book your favorite cottage or even rent a car, but there is nothing more delicious than catching your own fish and cooking it on the bonfire with your friends and family.  Summer also brings outdoor activities like concerts at the beach, car shows, and long weekends on a cruise. Parades are also observed in the summers mostly in the highly populated areas and basketball hoops are drawn out on the driveways, and garages sales and lemonade booths are can be seen in action.

For many northern states, relief from shoveling snow for hours and hours from their driveways is enough of a reason to love summer. Summer won’t last long though, soon it will be fall in US, but the humidity and warm weather may stick around in Pakistan for a little while longer.

Summers in Pakistan can be very warm; the daily high can even reach 122 degrees F (50 C) in the main city of Lahore. During this heat wave, all outdoor activities are put on hold and people go on vacations to the northern areas and find relief. Those who can’t afford to go on vacation spend some time swimming in a man-made water canal, which mainly serves for irrigation and runs through Lahore’s main highway called the Canal Road. I take the Canal Road to work every day and I see people of all ages beating heat with the fresh and cold water of the canal.

A favorite in Pakistan during the summer is the mango. For the US, most fruits are mostly available throughout the year, but in Pakistan the mango is a special fruit that only comes during hot summer. It is the most popular fruit consumed in Pakistan and surrounding countries and this fruit needs the warmest weather on planet to ripen. Large quantities are exported to the US every year and consumed by Pakistani communities living aboard. It costs $20 for four mangoes in Pakistan making it a very expensive fruit, but it’s worth it. People wait for mangoes to come to the market and make all kind of delicious dishes and smoothies, or just eat them raw.

I must say that summers in Pakistan are no match for the attractions that one can enjoy living in Northern America during the summer months. I remember the summer I went to New York to meet with my family up there. I was staying at Commack, Long Island and I went to a beach near Stony Brook University; it was little warmer than I had expected since I was traveling from Canada. I spent most of my time during that trip walking in the downtown Manhattan at the Times Square. It was an incredible trip.

If I ever go to United States of America again, it would be during the summer so that I could have all the fun and enjoy all the outdoor activities.

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