Visit to Bank Alfalah

Caution! This is a real-life event. Story below is bit lengthy with audios embedded in the text. Be patient whilst reading and listening.

Never thought March 6, 2014 would switch sides so rapidly for me. It was another darn dawn of a day where after doing up with my routine chores I had been handed over an errand by my mom which was the rent deposit to the landlord. Thanks to the slow and lousy virtual banking procedure of my country, I couldn’t do an online transfer sitting at home from the computer.

As usual I ride up to one of the bank Al-Falah branch, park my bike, out-gaze the bank building and notice the iron-caged shutter is halfway up which obviously means my arrival is a little early. I reach for my cellphone from my pant-pocket and look at the time, it’s 8:50 a.m.

Damn! I have to wait outside for a whopping 10 minutes. I situate my butt on my parked bike and wait in despair seeing Al-Falah and other banks’ staff walking-in to secure their attendance right before 9:00 a.m. my clock ticks 9, I move and leap onto the bank gate.

With the iron-caged shutter still halfway up, I ask the guard why are you not opening the gate, he responds, it’s not time yet. I tell him it is 9:00 a.m. Jack! Open the door so I can go inside. He says sir I cannot open it until the staff is free from their morning meeting. I sense my mind send raging signals to my nervous system and in a dominant voice I man-up to the guard and argue as follows “if their meeting finishes after 10:00 a.m. will you still make the customer wait outside?” He responds, yes sir, sometimes their meeting can take up to 2:00 p.m. and if they wish and order the security to keep the gates shut – so shall it be. I really feel disrespected after getting such a verbal insult form a mere security guard. I tell him, to have a solution for this there’s only one way; a complaint letter to bank’s head office. He laughs and says “nothings gonna happen.”  I nod, guard goes inside the bank, walking away a few steps from the bank’s pavement I reach for my Samsung Galaxy Ysmart phone in my pant-pocket and click a picture of the bank’s banner with the intention to lodge a complaint to their reporting office or line manager.

Fast forward, I go to another branch of the same bank close in the vicinity. Get my work done and decide to pay a visit to my first branch this morning and settle some unfinished business. Thanks to technology that we find everything on the tip of our fingers these days.

Riding again to the first branch, I take my cellphone out, take off my helmet and walk towards the gate. This time the iron-caged shutter is finally up and I see the guard standing for security check. When I open the gate to walk-in, he expresses empathy and speaks “sir you’ve come again”. I tell him I’ve come to complain and see the branch manager. I switch on the recorder in my phone and walkup to the counter. I ask the teller, where can I meet your branch manager? He inquires what’s the matter? And below is the audio version of the conversation that took place.

[Unfortunately, had to remove the audio to avoid any unforeseen litigation]

After getting the name of the branch manager I head to work.

Taking my own sweet time to start my daily tasks and browsing through various websites at around 10:00 a.m. my phone Samsung Galaxy Y S3560 buzz. Seeing a local PTCL number, I reckon it has to be from Bank Al-Falah and it sure is – upon answering guess who calls Mr. Shabbir Hussain, the branch manager. He apologizes and assures the déjà vu is highly unlikely with you. And extends an invitation to visit his branch and meet him. Here’s the audio.

[Unfortunately, had to remove the audio to avoid any unforeseen litigation]

I accept his apology and tell him to stick by the timings what you’ve advertized at the main gate. By not opening the gates in time you’re simply piling irate customers to your unsatisfactory list.

Conclusion

In spite of being of timid nature, I don’t understand the force behind which emotionally charged me. I learned a great lesson from this event i.e. addressing what is wrong with the intention to make it right.

The emotional charge is rare with Vincent Michael. Anyway, the courage I took to address the issue to the bank officials turned out fruitful. And in the end I said to myself – it was worth the commotion!

My question to you my dear readers is have you encountered a similar event? If yes, please share your story, I'd love to hear your experience.

A Good Cause (helping animals)

Dear viewers today I want to share something very vital. I’m so happy that I encountered this informational article on international publication news agency DAWN run by “Pakistan Herald Publication (Pvt.) Ltd. Before heading to the crux of my post let me build the awaiting anticipation by my mind boggling techniques.

               Have you ever seen abuse on animals? You passing by a valley and sighted cruelty on a poor dumb animal? All you could do was to see the little creature beat up and then walk away. Thinking of it whole day, questioning yourself what if I would have done something? Isn’t there a welfare who looks after such animals?

I’m here to inform you, think no more! There is an organization who you can approach. Two personalities Maheen Zia and Mahera Omar (film makers) and resident of Karachi took this initiative to establish this institution titled PAWS (Pakistan Animal Welfare Society). They do not have any office yet but operate and help spread the voice of the voiceless by WORLDWIDEWEB. Further details are down for your notation.

Web: http://pawspakistan.org
It contains all the necessary information that you need to help those poor animals.

Vet clinics: a list of VET clinics in different cities of Pakistan along with address and doctors’ name is available at this link.

Emergency contacts: helpline of Edhi 115 and PAWS is available for any CALL OF DUTY.

 Nevertheless, how can I forget the most important part, one can adopt pets by contacting this organization. They have mix breed of animals and types too. Stray and pets. Do not be shamed if they are stray, even we are stray when born, and our parents teach us how to live about. In the same manner you parenting the poor animal can make a difference.

The information is good enough my dear readers for you to equip and make a difference. It is my request to my readers to promote the initiative of this organization. Animal lovers out there would be vigilant I hope after reading it.

I would like to share a proverb which I read at the link of the DAWN article, it goes like this.

“The measure of a civilization is how it treats its weakest members”

BE PATIENT & FORGIVE

There could be hundreds of events to reminisce, where you were in a state to testify your patience. By testifying I don’t literally mean that you were aware of the incident, rather, it was a moment where you had to show your real self. My friends, do you know when the reality of a person can be brought to light? It’s when the subject is in rage, is lashed out because that’s the moment we realize the true character of the individual.

Don’t take me wrong when I say can be brought to light. I firmly believe that no one has the authority to judge. But, I say, JUDGE, TO WHAT IS RIGHT. That is my interpretation. If you sit all your life thinking whether to judge or let go, you will then be unsound in life. Sometimes decision in life are just to be made because after living that decision you realize if it was worth making that choice.

My post is related to these paragraphs. I have had good and bad experiences in life. Everyone does. What improves you from these events is to take the best possible tragedies and count them as your experience good or bad that’s up to you.

Someone once told me: no matter what transgression come your way, stand and face; if you find the environment negative, fine, but force yourself (because you are capable) to grasp 1 positive outcome from that dead, absurd event and keep it. You will be sad for some while; however, upon recalling memories you will notice how graciously I believed in that 1 positive outcome trick and it really worked out. So you see how intriguing patience can be. I’m sure there are situations where forcibly we have to be patient – take your job for instance.

I term forgiveness a calamity for the ruthless. Not everyone receives this grace of forgiving, it is not easy for a normal person to forgive. I myself have learned this mystery over the past decade. It was not easy for me either to just let go of the bitter hate casted against someone. But I realized keeping myself that way was changing me, change which was apparent and expeditious. I noticed in what beast I was transforming myself into. Being small when I watched SPIDERMAN cartoon I always wanted to portray a personality similar. He was my all-time favorite – an inspiration. And seeing myself drifting away from this goodness was changing me into something I didn’t want to. Anger, hate, competition led me to destruction even pride submerged my character. It was as if I was decapitated. People talk about self-control those who walk around wearing a mascot of intellectuality – I have a question for them. What happens if you find yourself into a mess that you created? You display to be an intellect right! What happens when you are at the peak of your career but still find remorse, regret in life. Situations arise where you lose that self-control. You want to show yourself all good to everyone but later show your colors especially that red color which represents hate, anger anxiety, rudeness and all of that falsifying agreement you present.

People talk about self-control these are all modern behaviour which our society has introduced they are so behavioral that the society who inaugurated this charism does not follow itself. My point is don’t be caught up in this society which destroys you instead be a different voice. Be yourself, live as you are without human boundaries and you will see the freedom; our thoughts and creativity depletes if we follow set rules. What makes you unique is to follow yourself and you will be someone.  

Quotes by Christopher McCandless:

[If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed]

[The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences]

And here is the masterpiece:

[You are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things]

Do Not Delay Good Errands

Ever thought of thanking someone? Helping someone? Or even something of service clicked your mind, but you felt restrained and said "not now - it isn't the right time". And what happens later is that you come to know that someone anonymous done that job; don't you take that as a blow to the face? When you had the presence of mind you did not avail and now someone stole the show.

It started happening with me not very late, that I had certain ideas to fulfill but me like an idiot kept delaying and I suffered the same fate :-( as described above.

Time teaches you many lessons, doesn't it? Friends, I was intuitive enough a week back to decipher this amazing thought. I'm sorry, I will not be outlining it - as it's CLASSIFIED.

Now don't target me that a writer is an OPEN BOOK and since I happen to fall in that category I'm equally the same. Come on... don't writers get to keep their secrets? You agree with me on that DAWG :-)

Coming back to the thought I had. This time I took the opportunity to be the first one taking the initiative. I performed that errand. I still do not know the outcome. How and what is going to happen. But I know, what I did, I felt a positive freedom inside. I felt a free bird. Certainly, the result (bad or good) I will share here with my viewers. Maybe somewhere someplace this post inspires someone.

I learned a golden principle from my godfather, that is: "SHARING". May it be food, wealth, merchandise, the sky's the limit.

The intuitive milestone I achieved was to quell the doubt of doing or not doing the errand. Guess what! I'm happy today by fulfilling it!

TRUE HAPPINESS IS ACHIEVED BY SHARING TOO

So junkies don't hold up yourselves for those good thoughts, or someone will steal the show.

Thankful – to you

I write this article today due to various events taking place in my life - events that have been miraculous for me in every way possible! I did try to ponder how/why/when these luxuries accompanied me in the journey and then I determined it was someone superior who blessed me with all of it. I was living a simple life with just work, family and religiousness. But suddenly my life took a tragic turn and things changed. What these things are will be discussed in the latter segment of this post, for the moment I want to confess this:

The one whom I have always entrusted gave me a platform where I found success with reputation. Before experiencing the almighty in my life I use to run behind success, money, a good job, a secure career…. Not knowing that what dwells in me is something much more than my desires. However, I switched my life-route then, I started relying on God, and instead of taking matters into my hands I designated him (God) to take control of my life. Sure enough! He entered and then I was tested at some stages where I knew I was weak, I would dangle – and that’s how through these events I learned that money is not everything. Let’s face it; money is the most important phenomena today worldwide. Each individual craves for it, if you lose a 1000 bucks your heart starts sinking as to why I had to spend it, why I had to utilize it, couldn’t I just save it? Each one knows his own response… but I now see life really satisfying… though trials would never end lest as I continue my journey – sufferings would arise and that’s where I got to stabilize myself. That said I would just like to share a small miracle of my life with my blog readers.

It so happened that I was running after money, saving had become an important part in my life, although I couldn’t save a single penny due to major expenses arising each month; but still had the greed to secure some in the bank. I did so; after some days an event came up and my life savings :0( had to be withdrawn it was like a blow in my face, anyhow, I managed to suffer this trauma :-s repeatedly as these events took place and I lost courage. It wasn’t late when I sat in one corner and thought calmly what is missing? Why such happenings are outpouring on me alone? Various questions were swirling around my head; but being religiously involved in religious practice I learned that one should rely on God and he’ll grant you everything! …

I confided in him and soon started getting results it’s not it was my first time that I trusted or relied on him; but it was just through my heart that I accepted his providence in my life. Ever since I have been really blessed with wonderful surprises even I do face losses every-now- and- then, nevertheless the feeling to lose money or letting go-off it doesn’t bother me anymore. I just live a simple life; if the money has to come it just comes, it goes like this fellas “THOU PROVIDE IT FOR SOME CAUSE – ONCE THE PURPOSE IS ACHIEVED IT VANISHES”.

I would just like to thank all my loved ones for helping me struggle in life, being there for me in hard times. Always standing beside to support me unconditionally…

I had?

A recent guest post on Zen Habits caught my attention; it is a terrific experience to be in the writing field. It gives me comfort, peace and helps me to be steady in my goals. I always thought that I had to be a hard-worker to survive in the online world. When my friends  saw my strength and abilities in writing field they insisted me to write – to start a blog however, I was unsure if it’ll be a success since I was not a blog savvy nor I had had any experience. Many of my friends were in the writing field already; one of them gave me a platform to walk. I decided to start my own blog, the journey as always wasn’t easy, and it took me several months to design one of my own. The complex attributes were tough initially as to how to organize daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly posts, how to generate ideas –  were some of the queries swirling around my head. I had to read a lot – and the thought which helped me to pursue this dream was a quote by John O’hara he says: “becoming the reader is the essence of becoming a writer”; isn’t that a wonderful quote, well after analyzing myself I made the following table to groom in:

Read daily: Although it does get boring at times but I had to somehow develop this practice so that it may benefit me in the long run. However, just like the others I was unable to do so, to keep up the pace for reading was disturbing my mind because to read one sentence repeatedly use to irate me. For instance, I started off reading an article in the newspaper soon after the first paragraph I lost interest and track of the story and just kept reading. It was such that my mind was not grasping anything but my mouth certainly was exercising for nothingL.

            I had to reproduce another idea to overcome this obstacle and so I surfed on the internet read motivational blogs and ultimately got some ebooks downloaded. That was my homework for the month to read atleast one page of that ebook. Luckily, to my surprise there were some more interesting books recommended in the ebook which boosted my enthusiasm and with a positive attitude I marched. This is how I got rid of my downfalls. Ever since, I have not been honest with my ‘Read Daily’ routineJ; nevertheless, I ensure that at the end of each month I come up with one post. This keeps me going and I don’t even lose interest whatsoever.

The guest post on Zen Habits: “11 Creative Ways to Avoid Becoming a Workaholic” is such that you would want to read it nonstop, the material written is so true and attractive that you’ll fall in love with, plus the authenticity is 100%. Some points in this post were really rejuvenating such as:

4. “Spend time in nature”

5. “Make time for friends, family and your partner”

9.  “Constantly question your goals and life purpose”

I strongly believe in point no. 5 it is so true. Recently I have observed that being organized so much into my writing career I have given up my family life. Surely, you are to achieve goals but in a timely manner - not sacrificing your social life duhhh!. I have been so busy in my schedule that I don’t even have a good talk with my family, it’s just that if I’m doing my work and they are sitting in the same room so we discuss, otherwise I don’t see myself putting-in the effort that I should, to be with the family.

As for the point no. 4 yes! That is absolutely correct. I have experienced it, that when I’m alone in the garden my mind is swamped with loads of thoughts, ideas, new inventions.

So this goes out to all the work freaks – not waste time or be caught up in your passion that you tend to fall apart from your loved ones. Remember your loved ones are the shadow of comfort when you feel down; their support is consistent throughout your life.

Spend a day with your family with no workaholics’ provisions; your family truly deserves it this time.

Fill in vs Fill out

In today’s modern trend we do not acknowledge the importance of usage of the English terms. It has rapidly increased in recent years gone-by. How often has it been that without having the proper etiquettes of phrasal verbs one just keeps on pursuing himself in the same direction. It is important to understand the fundamental differences between such terms as it will improve your phrasal vocabulary.

I have researched on one of the phrasal verbs’ term that I will be classifying in this article. Hope you get something out of it. The motto of my research was a brief conversation I had the other day with my colleague, and this led me to conduct an extensive research; our topic was “why do the terms FILL OUT & FILL IN - not the same and if they are, why don’t we use only one of them? I was perplexed at this query - paused for a while, thought of an answer and responded but I had not achieved the satisfaction within. It was just not it, and thus, I intuited to delve into these terms as to what could be the difference, finally surfing on the internet I came across thefreedictionary.com website which cleared my confusion.

Look below and you will see a concrete difference between the two:

The encircled picture (1.a) illustrates the phrasal meaning of ‘fill in’ i.e. (to provide with information) whereas circle (1.b) elucidates ‘fill out’ as (by providing required information). Hence, we see a significant difference between these two. See the explanation below:

Fill in: represents to provide with information, e.g., you go to a bank, and request for an account opening form now the teller would ask you to fill out the form, on the contrary your obligation is to fill in the blanks – P.S. you are at liberty to provide additional information. Hence (you are providing to the bank with information).

Fill out: definitely has a slight difference it denotes to filling out only the required information (which have been asked in the form). For example; if we take the above scenario while filling out the form the task what we perform is to fill out the details only which are interrogated in the form. Therefore, we just fill it out as per the requirement.

Thus, these terms hold a contrast between - however, both are used as variant in place of another. So next time when using these terms you might need to reconsider!

Writer's Block

Introduction:

Writer’s block simply illustrates an unprepared mind not having a precise interpretation of your desired topic. It occurs to every writer when plotting his/her novel/story or any self generated idea. This has significantly changed each writer’s prospective about writing – as how to start their writing streak. The beginners are usually intimidated by this criterion – they have this contemporary style of writing which mostly at initial levels dangles. No matter how much research work they have been optimized into, when it comes to smudge-the-ink on the page for their first article their brain is automatically diverted to writer’s block. This is natural indeed.

Phases:

It does sound awful being suffered by this disease; however, if you run a diagnostic test you will see there are some favorable good points which could be advantageous:

• Firstly, vaccinate yourself with this intention in mind that a block would not overwhelm your dreams or your writing sphere. It certainly will disappoint you at start, however; once the practice is obtained you will soon find it enjoying that’s what called (brainstorming) racking your brains for quite some time will enable you to have a brief or detailed comprehension of what you want to portray and this practice in time will ultimately take your writing skills to another level perhaps a famous writer.

• Secondly, most important, just sway with the flow – when you start spilling the ink on your journal/diary do not stop for reiterations or flaws just go with the feel it will surely enhance your writing skills and better the chances to prevent a writer’s block; remember too many corrections/iterations will evoke a block.

• Writing contributes great knowledge of vocabulary. On the contrary connotation of an irresolute mind should be avoided, since irresolution will adversely affect your writing caliber.

Thus, writing objectives can be achieved by reading books, newspapers – following a personality you’re obsessed about. I have a list of my writing favorites which are of a great deal to me; speaking from the prospect of (MOTIVATION). Primarily for me a great reforming source is: 'Procrastinating Writers'.

Self Determination

If you enjoy doing something, but still have a conscious (whether right OR wrong) just keep on corresponding with this habit, eventually you will intuit a result and trust me a DECISION will occur from within.

It is usually said, that a person is mentally devastated when he is unable to comprehend his present state of life.

However, if you apply the introductory verse of this post in your life, I say you will not be disappointed. That's what it is (conscious & constant flow of repetitive attempts). If I sit in a corner and ponder as to what events were subject to my very own self determination I would end up with a blank page :-( I would hardly even jot down a single word. I see 'Self Determination' as a constant process of confusion which ultimately result into a virtuous verdict for oneself (yes!, why I say virtuous verdict for oneself, because; obviously your own interpretations won't be fruitful for the other) lets face it, isn't it true?

What events have self determined you? OR your character? You possibly have a personality today, due to your persistent efforts towards self determination.

Damage

"I would be happy to live-up another day rather killing myself by reminiscing on a grievous past". (Vincent Michael)

I find life completely open, I could say unlimited opportunities to mingle with different personalities. I usually encounter 10s (tens) of people with humorous psyche; everyday. Alas, its my character, it is what I'm that I prefer keeping myself reserved but its nothing I intend to do intentionally, it's just my conscious as I have the tendency of not trusting people at one glance, sometimes never.

How would you possibly describe a damaged moment of your life? How did you feel; remorseful right? I guess so.

It's not easy to recover instantaneously after getting damaged. It is a timely process, to some people it takes years sometimes a lifetime.

Procrastinate

This is a major mental dysfunction which is apparent in every human being, however it varies from person to person. Weeks back I was surfing on the internet and came across this blog of Jennifer Blanchard the above subject is motivated through her blog only.

Isn't it true if one starts procrastination it would cause a major downfall for his/her career?Eventually; the individual would say to oneself: I have deserted my life.

Just to give each of you a thought, I wrote this article :) its too short though but just a start-off ! I urge everyone reading this article to start reminiscing and treasure out the adventurous ideas which you procrastinated in your early life (young, teen, adult and so on...)