Karachi Photo Blog

2011-12-13T22:17:00.000-08:00

If you ever wondered how amazingly young and energetic a 62-year old man can look like, go see Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur Idris Kothari. Thick eyeglasses might be a clue but his slender built, a relaxed demeanor, and the giggles he frequently lets out belie Idris Kothari’s decades of technology experience and an outstanding entrepreneurial career. In the last 33 years Kothari has started up multiple businesses and have sold them to others, only to move on to the next exciting venture.

From humble beginnings, both in terms of economic background—Kothari grew up blocks away from Karachi’s bordellos—and academic aptitude—Kothari was a mediocre student most of his early life—to the riches of the Silicon Valley, Idris Kothari has traveled a long distance and has been through thick and thin.

Mentorship breakfast with Idris Kothari, arranged by OPEN (Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs and Professionals of North America) on Friday, December 9, was as much about Kothari coaching budding entrepreneurs as it was about him reminiscing his journey. Recounting his life story Idris Kothari explained how he got into running his own business. He spoke very highly of his partner Saeed Kazmi. Kazmi was the only person who showed up at a morning meeting when at dinner, the previous day, Kothari, Kazmi, and several other friends decided they were fed up with their jobs and the bosses that came with them, and that it was time for them to start their own business. Since that morning meeting, attended only by Kazmi and Kothari, Kazmi has been with Kothari in every entrepreneurial step Kothari has taken.

In the breakfast meeting Kothari said he derives great satisfaction from the fact that he writes his own paycheck. Has he lost anything in the process of gaining so much? No, not at all, he replies vehemently. For him, it has been a journey of gain and gain. Unlike others whose businesses have been about personal hardships and strained family relations, Kothari runs his business believing being your own boss means you should find more time to do things you really want to do. One can see his face beaming with pride when he tells you he never missed his children’s parent-teacher conferences.

If a chance were given to him to go back and live life all over again, would he do anything differently? “No,” he assures you. Where does Idris Kothari see himself fifteen or twenty years down the line? Kothari says he would like to have grandchildren—other than that life is bliss and he is happy to live it, one day at a time.

Coming back from the OPEN mentorship breakfast I thought about the ingredients that make up Idris Kothari. Being raised in the tightly knit Bohra community—where education is highly valued; being the son of an Aligarh graduate—this is where Idris Kothari gets his refined taste in Urdu from; living a childhood of austerity, thus not only understanding the value of hard work, but also learning to cherish every blessing that would come his way; later being in the company of sharpest minds and be intellectually provoked; moving to a setup of great political tranquility, where entrepreneurship, focus, and hard work are greatly rewarded; and then finding himself at the forefront of the main technological current of the time…in a nutshell, this is what Idris Kothari is about and it would be hard to find someone living a more fulfilling life out of this background.

Listen to Idris Kothari’s very interesting conversation here:

http://www.archive.org/details/OpenMentorshipBreakfastWithIdrisKothari

2011-12-05T22:09:00.000-08:00

Here you see PTI SF Bay Area Coordinator Javed Tufail speaking to the audience.

2011-12-05T22:07:00.000-08:00

Elections in Pakistan are more than a year away, but PTI—Imran Khan’s party—is making it look like polls are just around the corner. After gathering big crowds in Lahore and Ghotki, Imran Khan is eyeing Karachi—a jalsa is scheduled to be held at Mazar e Quaid, on December 25, Jinnah’s birthday.

Imran Khan is mostly supported by young people who saw the Cricket hero winning the 1992 World Cup for Pakistan. The Pakistani Diaspora has a large number of people from that particular group. Consequently PTI presence is strong in the US. On Sunday, December 4, PTI San Francisco Bay Area held a dinner at Shan Restaurant in Cupertino. The purpose of the program was to convince people that PTI is emerging as a strong political force in Pakistan—attendees were asked to become PTI members (membership is just $10 per month). PTI dinner and membership drive was attended by over 50 people.

2011-11-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

Over sixty people braved the storm on Sunday, November 5, to attend the Lick Observatory Star Party--the program was a part of the First Annual Bay Area Science Festival being led by UCSF to educate Bay Area residents on recent advances made in the Sciences.

Dr. Graeme Smith gave a lecture on "Two Views of the Moon", and Dr. Raja Guha Thakurta spoke on "Astronomy and Cosmology (not to be confused with Astrology, Gastronomy and Cosmetology)."

See a short video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf6hxp9oUGo

2011-11-01T23:17:00.000-07:00

Bay Area Pakistanis support their flood-struck countrymen

You wonder why this year's floods in Pakistan are not as big a news as the floods of 2010 were. Maybe because the international media is tired of reporting the Pakistani floods. Maybe because 2010 floods had a greater area of devastation, from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the north to Sindh in the south; whereas this year's floods have mostly affected Sindh. No matter what the reason behind the low media attention to the recent floods is, hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by encroaching waters; those who were forced to leave homes are living a miserable life and deserve the support of people who can help these flood victims. Several Bay Area organizations and individuals who feel the pain of their fellow countrymen, came together to arrange a Pakistan Flood Relief Fund & Awareness Raiser, on October 29, 2011, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. The main people behind this effort were the same people who are active in OPEN. This worthy cause was supported by Raghib and Kanwal Family Foundation, Humera and Naveed Anwar, Dr. Mubashar & Farah Rana, Abdulrahman Rafiq, Moazzam & Aifra Chaudry, Nabeela and Noor Lodhi, Umair & Zareen Khan, Adnan and Aruba Lawai (FOLIO3), Idris Kothari & Saeed Kazmi, Nayeem Qureshi (AMANA), Asghar & Noreen Aboobakar, Dr. Tanveer & Sophia Sattar, Dr. Shahid & Bushra Abbasi, Javed and Shaheena Khan, Junaid & Malika Quraishi, Zulki & Rebecca Khan, Babar & Shama Khan, Aaref and Fariha Hilaly, Sarim Siddiqui, Rehan and Mariam Jalil, MASHAL, Zain and Farzana Jeewanjee, Dr. Sabir Khan, Dr. Noor-ul-Ain & Dr. Shakeel Khan, Dr. Aslam Barra & Dr. Fayyaz Asghar, Shuja & Nayela Keen, and Imran & Huma Qureshi.

Even before the October 29 program attendees had given their donations to relief organizations identified by the organizers. The program was focused towards increasing awareness about the flood devastation and giving another chance to donors to pledge more money for help. The relief organizations endorsed by the organizers included SA Relief, Shine Humanity, Islamic Relief, APPNA, Hidaya Foundation, Human Development Fund (HDF), Imran Khan Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, and others.

The event was emceed by Omar Khan (of 'Jaiza', a TV show) who started off the program by showing to the audience a presentation comprising of scenic images from Pakistan. Omar introduced Umair Khan as the mastermind behind the Us Now (if not us, who? If not now, when?) organization, the principal architect of the Oct 29 program. In his short speech Umair Khan said that along with Moazzam Chaudry, Shuja Keen, Dr. Mubashar Rana, and several others he decided to do this program not just to raise funds but to raise awareness. "The floods are there and they are real. People are suffering and we need to express our solidarity with them." He said the program was a thank-you dinner and that he was especially thankful to the Bay Area community that has always stood up when asked, 'If not us, who?' and has responded with, 'No one else but us.'

Todd Shea of Shine Humanity showed photos of charity work his non-profit organization has been doing around the globe including Pakistan. Todd Shea concluded his speech with a veracious acknowledgement, an observation that at least one attendee had in his mind. Shea said, " I have met Pakistanis who have been helping their people for thirty forty years and nobody knows about them, and New York Times does not do a piece on them, and Atif Aslam isn't their friend, because they are not a Gora and they are not from America. They are just as important, and they have done ten million times more (charity work) than I have done, so please support them as well."

An entertainment program followed the speeches. Legend, a Bay Area band, active in the 90s and a victim of the dot com bubble, had especially come together to perform at the event. Except for Syed Amin, all other band members (Manesh Judge, Asim Wali, Noor Lodhi aka Shonu, and Imtiaz Ahmad) were present. The Legend was supported by Mike Anand (guitar) and Devika Chawla (vocals). Devika Chawla is a gifted singer; her well-trained voice has a sultry tone that carries an immense gravity--this girl is going places.

Audio of the program is here:

http://www.archive.org/details/FloodReliefFundraiserOctober292011MountainView

A short video is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmh2Y593ZGo

2011-10-15T23:25:00.000-07:00

NED Alumni Convention 2011, Parsippany, New Jersey

These conventions are getting better every year. Of the four conventions I have attended so far, the NED Alumni Convention 2011 was the best. These conventions give me what I want from them: they take me back to my college days--for two days I am surrounded by people I was with at the NED University, we eat familiar food, and listen to music we grew up with.

This photo was taken on leaving Newark. Red Bull Arena is easily identifiable.

2011-09-11T23:35:00.000-07:00

Many in the US Government want every anniversary of 911 to be a display of misguided patriotism--an occasion for the jingoes to reason that grieving people are crying for war, for more bloodshed. But the anti-war elements are claiming back the 911 space. Friend of South Asia's 'Ten Years After 911: A South Asian Reaction' program held on Sunday, September 11, at the Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library was an occasion to remember all the lives lost on and after 9/11.
Audio of the program is here:
http://www.archive.org/details/TenYearsAfter911ASouthAsianReaction

2011-09-11T23:24:00.000-07:00

After the dinner Iqbal Qasim entertained the crowd by singing popular ghazals and songs of other artists.

2011-09-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

This year the Pakistani American Culture Center (PACC) and the India Community Center (ICC) worked together to hold a South Asian styled Eid celebration. Over 200 people attended the Eid program held on Saturday, September 10, at the ICC, Milpitas.

2011-08-28T01:03:00.000-07:00

Over 100 people attended 'Unheard Voices of 9/11 Hearing', arranged at the Mountain View Senior Center, on Saturday, August 27.

2011-08-28T01:00:00.000-07:00

The program was organized into various panel testimonies. Here you see one set of panelists--from left, writer Wajahat Ali, a Muslim representative (did not get his name), Veena Dubal, Zahra Billoo, Harsimran Kaur and moderator Amardeep Singh.

Farther to the left, from left, San Jose City Councilmember Ash Kalra; Catherine O'fa Mann, Bill Wong, and Dianne Yamashiro-Omi, all three belonging to the Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs (APIA); and Bing Xiang.

2011-08-28T00:57:00.000-07:00

'Unheard Voices of 9/11 Hearing', a program arranged by several civil rights organizations featured elected officials; victims of profiling, harassment, and discrimination; and civil liberties advocates. In this photo you see Congressman Mike Honda who represents California's 15th congressional district, California Assembly Member Mariko Yamada, California Assembly Member Paul Fong, and San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore.

Organizers:
• The Sikh Coalition
• Asian Law Caucus
• American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
• Arab Cultural and Community Center
• Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA)
• Council on American Islamic Relations – SFBA
• Muslim Advocates
• South Asian Americans Leading Together
• UNITED SIKHS

2011-08-14T15:12:00.000-07:00

Rows after rows of various cacti are what you would find on the roof of Fahim Siddiqui's house. I doubt anyone in Pakistan has a bigger collection of xerophytic plants than Fahim Siddiqui does.

2011-08-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a man I have learned a lot from: Fahim Siddiqui of FND (Fahim, Nanji, and DeSouza) Consulting Engineers. Fahim Siddiqui, or Fahim Sahib, as he known in the HVAC industry of Pakistan, has had his brain power behind many engineering projects in Pakistan, including the cooling and air conditioning systems of Pakistan's earliest nuclear facilities.

2011-08-12T01:13:00.000-07:00

London Riots coming to a neighborhood near you

What London riots? They are recession riots. Tea Partiers and others advocating drastic cuts in social welfare programs in this country should be watching the UK riots with educational interest. And we have seen this theme repeating over and over again, all over the world, throughout history. Marginalized people are easily drawn to riots, to revolutions. A group of people that does not have anything to gain from a system, does not have anything to lose from destroying that system.

Photo, courtesy of YourBlackWorld.com

2011-08-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

Ardeshir Cowasjee trying to read 'Aag Hawa Muttee Pani.' I am not sure how well he can read Urdu, but he still tried. Of the native scripts he probably reads Gujarati better than Urdu.

2011-07-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

Amina Jilani at Cowasjee's place. I started reading her columns when she wrote 'Jaywalker' for the Dawn. She is currently writing for the Express Tribune.

2011-07-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

Karachi looks very orderly from the air. Here you see the Seaview township, the Seaview road, Dolmen City, and Boat Basin. You can also see the Mai Kolachi Bypass.

2011-07-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

Manora and Kemari. The geographical features make Karachi a natural seaport.

2011-07-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

Leaving Dubai (earlier this year)

2011-07-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

Amir Khusro wrote poetry when Urdu was in its very early stages of evolution. Writing in a mixture of Sanskrit and Persian Amir Khusro was doing the very experiments which would ultimately make a 'mixture language' (Rekhta/Urdu) come into being. Hamida Banu Chopra, a Bay Area Urdu teacher, and her team remembered the life and work of Amir Khusro in a program held on Sunday, July 25, at the India Community Center in Milpitas. Here you see Deepti Warrier (at the podium), Hamida Banu Chopra and Dr. Nazeer Ahmed.

2011-07-17T01:36:00.000-07:00

Over thirty people listened to Abid Hassan Minto describing his association with Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Minto's views on Pakistan's current political situation.

2011-07-17T01:34:00.000-07:00

The staged-reading was followed by a talk given by Abid Hassan Minto, a prominent lawyer from Pakistan.

2011-07-17T01:27:00.000-07:00

Faiz Ahmad Faiz was a natural poet who innately knew how to use words in the most rhythmic fashion, and to coin new expressions when he would find the bag of conventional terms empty. Year 2011 is Faiz's birthday centennial. Faiz's centenary celebrations are taking place in Pakistan, India, and outside South Asia in Urdu understanding Diaspora. On Saturday, April 16, Friends of South Asia (www.friendsofsouthasia.org) celebrated Faiz's centennial by hosting a short play and a talk by Abid Hassan Minto.
A clever staged-reading--clever because the pages on which Faiz was presumably writing his poetry during his incarceration were used by the actors to read their lines from--of the short play "Dear Heart", written by Munib Anwar and Sam Lathem, featured Kashif Maqsood (as Faiz), Jessica Risco (as Alys) and Abbas Zaidi and Hemukumar Joshi as the two jailers. The play was directed by Saqib Mausoof and produced by Ijaz Syed.

2011-05-28T23:27:00.000-07:00

Almost ripe cherries at Homesteaders 4-H Ranch in Santa Clara.

2011-05-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

Young mayor of the City of San Carlos, Omar Ahmad (also spelled as Omar Ahmed), died this morning of a heart attack. He was only 46. I learned of him when he ran for public office in 2008. Later I watched a TED Talk video in which Omar explained why writing letters to politicians by hand was a good idea. See the video here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/omar_ahmad_political_change_with_pen_and_paper.html
[I took this picture of Omar at the OPEN Forum 2010.]

2011-04-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, April 23, Andrej Grubacic (Grubačić) spoke at the Saratoga Library. The topic of his talk was " Don't Mourn, Balkanize!" which is also the title of his recent book. Grubacic read passages from historical books that described Europeans' (West Europeans') idea of Balkan and its people. Grubacic argued for political disintegration of Balkan (and the world), that this political division should take place not from the top but from the bottom.
Grubacis is certainly not the only one unhappy with the current global political and economic setup.

2011-04-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

An adult Santa Cruz Garter Snake found on the PG&E trail in the Rancho San Antonio Park.

2011-04-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

What's so special about P. Sainath? He is listening to the village folks and telling their stories to the city folks in a language that is understood and respected by the Indian decision makers.
On April 10, Palagummi Sainath spoke to a small audience after the screening of "Nero's Guests", at the San Jose Peace and Justice Center.

2011-04-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

In the literary sitting attended by over 40 people, Nasl-e-Sokhta, Matti ka Baita, Mukalmay ka qatl, Shab Gazeedeh Sahar, and Aina Kahani written by K Ashraf (Dr. Khawaja Ashraf) were reviewed.

Complete audio recording of the program is here:
http://www.archive.org/details/ReviewOfDr.KhawajaAshrafsFiveBooks

2011-04-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

Prominent Urdu short story writer K Ashraf's recently published five books were reviewed in a literary meeting arranged by the Urdu Academy of North America, on Sunday, April 17, at the Chandni Restaurant in Newark.

2011-04-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Urdu Academy of North America, under the leadership of Tashie Zaheer, arranged a literary evening on Friday, January 14, to welcome Jameela Nishat and introduced her to local literati. Nishat read selected poems during the meeting. After each recitation English translation of the poem was also presented for the benefit of those not conversant in Urdu.

2011-04-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Jameela Nishat is a feminist Urdu poetess based in Hyderabad AP. She visited the San Francisco Bay Area in January of this year.

2011-04-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Snow on Andes

2011-04-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

2011-04-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

2011-04-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

2011-04-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

2011-04-06T08:03:00.000-07:00

2011-04-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

2011-04-04T08:08:00.000-07:00

2011-04-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

Many of this very creative filmmaker's shorts can be seen at YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/askalikapadia

2011-04-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

Ali Kapadia is a talented filmmaker from Karachi, living in San Francisco. On Sunday, April 3, Kapadia screened his short films at the Pakistani American Culture Center in San Jose.

2011-04-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, April 3, around 200 people gathered at the India Community Center, Milpitas to listen to fine Urdu poetry in a program called 'Gulha e Ranga Rang.' The program was arranged by Bay Area Urdu teacher Hamida Banu Chopra.

2011-04-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

2011-03-30T15:38:00.000-07:00

India-Pakistan Cricket World Cup 2011 Semi-final, Mohali, Punjab

The last stop was the Pakistani American Culture Center in San Jose. At the PACC around 15 people were watching the match on a projection screen. India beat Pakistan by 29 runs.

2011-03-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

India-Pakistan Cricket World Cup 2011 Semi-final, Mohali, Punjab

The second stop was the India Community Center, Milpitas. Around 400 people were watching the match there.

2011-03-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

India-Pakistan Cricket World Cup 2011 Semi-final, Mohali, Punjab

My first stop this morning was the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple. Over 250 people were watching the televised match.

2011-03-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Cartagena dancers

2011-03-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

Cartagena photography continued

2011-03-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

Back in the 60's and 70's, common folks of Pakistan got introduced to Faiz's wonderful poetry through the music of Mehdi Hassan. At Faiz's birthday centennial on March 19, two sons of Mehdi Hassan, Kamran Mehdi Hassan (vocalist on harmonium) and Imran Mehdi Hassan (on Tabla), along with Ali Shahabuddin on keyboard sang many of Faiz's ghazals originally sung by Mehdi Hassan.

2011-03-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

Zia Mohyeddin mesmerized the crowd for almost an hour reading an enchanting pastiche of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's prose and poetry. The prose was in fact a beautiful Urdu translation of Faiz's letters, in English, written to his wife Alice during Faiz's period of incarceration.

2011-03-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

Star of the evening was Urdu world's most famous narrator of this age, Zia Mohyeddin. Mohyeddin was introduced by Bay Area Urdu events organizer Annie Akhter.

2011-03-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

Ahson Rabbani of TCF gave a talk on education in Pakistan.

2011-03-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

Brigadier General (Retired) Feroz Hassan Khan gave the keynote speech.

2011-03-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

Farrukh Shah Khan, PACC Co-founder and President, spoke about the past and future events of PACC.

2011-03-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

The event combined Faiz's centennial with PACC's Pakistan Day celebrations. Irum Musharraf and Amjad Noorani sang the Pakistani anthem.

2011-03-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

Farah Noorani emceed the program. The event was sponsored by:
Computers and Structures, Inc. (CSI),
Amina and Javed Patel,
Tiny Prints,
Mubarika Foundation,
Nature's Basin Beauty Products,
Aesthetika Event Planning & Design,
Thru' the Lens Photography,
Curry Village Foods, and
The Pakistan Link.

2011-03-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

An excellent performance of classical South Asian music by Jeff Whittier (playing Bansuri) and Leslie Schneider (playing Tabla) provided an apt musical overture for the cultural evening.

2011-03-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Faiz's Birthday Centennial, organized by The Citizens Foundation (TCF) and the Pakistani American Cultural Center (PACC), held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View on Saturday, March 19 drew a crowd of around 400.

2011-03-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

Quenepa/Mamoncillo

2011-03-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

Twilight in Cartagena.

2011-03-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

A Guanabana eaten in Medellin.

2011-03-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

A lot of places to photograph, in Cartagena.

2011-03-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

Tree tomato

2011-03-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

More Cartagena

2011-03-12T08:01:00.000-08:00

Pitaya

2011-03-11T08:05:00.000-08:00

Cartagena

2011-03-10T08:03:00.000-08:00

Granadilla

2011-03-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

2011-03-09T23:51:00.000-08:00

Jashne Azadi was made by Sanjay Kak, an eminent filmmaker based in Delhi. The film was shot between 2003 and 2005.

An hour long Q&A session followed the March 9 film screening.

2011-03-09T23:45:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, March 9, the Culture and Conflict Forum (www.CultureAndConflict.com) arranged a screening of "Jashn-e-Azadi", a documentary on Indian-occupied Kashmir. The program held at the San Jose State University Engineering Auditorium was co-sponsored by the Humanities Department and the San Jose Peace and Justice Center. Over thirty people attended the event.

2011-03-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

Lovely Cartagena

2011-03-08T08:05:00.000-08:00

Cartagena beach.

2011-03-07T08:05:00.000-08:00

A hearty cereal bowl--the contraption was made possible because of an obsession with the idea of fewer and fewer belongings and multiple uses of everything.

2011-03-06T08:01:00.000-08:00

We bought this new year cake from a popular Barichara bakery.

2011-03-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

Barichara cathedral.

2011-03-04T08:03:00.000-08:00

Barichara is a pleasant small colonial town near San Gil.

2011-03-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

Bogota Terminal. "It is very safe inside," we were repeatedly told, even though we did not ask if it was or not.

2011-03-02T11:56:00.000-08:00

On January 13, Dr. Arshad Ali who teaches at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, spoke to a group of Silicon Valley professionals at the NED Alumni Association of Silicon Valley monthly meeting. Dr. Ali wishes to see more technical collaboration between students and researchers at his educational institution and the US companies.

2011-03-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

Cathedral in La Candelaria

2011-03-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

La Candelaria graffiti

2011-02-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

The historic neighborhood of La Candelaria in Bogota.

2011-02-27T08:01:00.000-08:00

Just outside the La Candelaria neighborhood in Bogota

2011-02-26T11:58:00.000-08:00

The last time I was in Bogota I was arrested at the airport by the Interpol, for entering Colombia without a transit visa. But that was then. This time I had my paperwork in order.

2011-02-25T23:05:00.000-08:00

Es para usted, German

I could not find Gabo in Bogota. He (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) spends most of his time in Mexico City. But I met with German Escobar Escobar--yes, twice, indicating that he is Escobar both from his father's and mother's sides--at the Platypus Hostel in La Candelaria. German (pronounced Herman) Escobar has lived a life most world travelers would like to live--to be on the road for a decade or more, every time they take some time off. And would like to take a break of a decade or two in between the trips the way German does: by opening up a hostel for travelers.

2011-01-29T20:44:00.000-08:00

So much behind in telling interesting things to the world!
By the time we reached the Mushroom Festival [A Celebration of Wild Mushrooms: 41st Annual Fungus Festival; Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley] on Dec 5, it was pouring. But inside the Lawrence Hall of Science hundreds of unfazed mushroom aficionados taught and learned almost everything one would ever want to know about mushrooms. The fact that mushrooms can recycle waste into edible protein, with little need for sunlight, excites me.
Why can't I spread spores on my compost pile and grow mushrooms there? I ask.
No, the compost does not have enough nutrition for the mushrooms. You need animal waste.
I am that animal. I can use my waste. That would be a perfect and most direct recycling scheme between me and the botanical world.

2010-12-24T19:39:00.000-08:00

Report on this event can also be found here:
http://pakistanlink.org/Community/2010/Dec10/24/01.HTM

2010-12-24T19:34:00.000-08:00

The OPEN and TiE jointly arranged program was attended by over one hundred people. Popularity of the speakers aside, TiE's outreach and OPEN's team of promoters-- Gulrukh (Gul) Ahmed, Moazzam Chaudry, AbdulRahman Rafiq, Shahab Riazi, and Mobashar Yazdani--should be commended for roping in so many people on a weekday evening.

Left to Right: Guy Hutchison, Awais Nemat, Rajan Raghavan, Prabhakar Sundarrajan, Babur Habib, Osman Rashid

2010-12-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

When friendship is tested in a business do you give more importance to the business or the friendship? Ravi gave an example of a situation where one of his previous businesses failed because of not listening to the sane advice of the board to fire his partner; he wanted to keep his friendship and retained the friend in the company. Panelists agreed that the best strategy in starting a business is to first find a good match for the venture and then make sure you can work with that person.

2010-12-24T19:26:00.000-08:00

Do investors consider previous friendship between partners as a plus point for investing in a venture? Answering this question Naeem Zafar said when investors put their money in a business they assume three types of risks: a market risk, a technology risk, and an execution risk; it is only the execution risk where good relationship between partners matters and is positively looked at by the investors.

Photos shows Faraz Hoodbhoy of PixSense.

2010-12-24T19:20:00.000-08:00

How is equity partnership decided between friends starting a business? The three sets of entrepreneurs had pretty much the same answer. It is decided by having open dialog and considering the strengths each partner brings to the business.

How are difficult decisions made in the business? Panelists said difficult decisions in a business involve defining success and failure of the enterprise and deciding the best time and price to sell the company for. Awais Nemat emphasized on having constant communication between the partners and deciding beforehand how the difficult situations would be dealt with. Panelists said agreeing upon the exit strategy was one of the tough decisions.

Photo shows Naeem Zafar, OPEN President.

2010-12-24T19:17:00.000-08:00

"Just Between Friends" panel discussion was moderated by Faraz Hodbhoy, founder and Senior Vice President of PixSense, a company that provides social networking platform for mobile phone users. Hoodbhoy said he too started his company with friends and still enjoys good relationship with them.

In responding to the question about how did the three sets of entrepreneurs meet their respective partners Awais and Guy said they worked at Cisco together and enjoyed good working relationship in that assignment; when Awais quit the job to start on his own, Guy knew he could trust Awais in the enterprise; Raj met Prabhakar when one day Prabhakar knocked on his door to find out about the neighborhood Raj was living in--later both worked together at Xambala and discovered their distant family connections; Osman and Babur went to school together and later found it comfortable to be in a business partnership.

Photo shows Murrali Rangarajan of TiE

2010-12-24T19:13:00.000-08:00

Three pairs of friends who entered the risky business of entrepreneurship and made it were Awais Nemat and Guy Hutchison of D5 Networks (acquired by Marvell Technology Group, in 2006); Rajan Raghavan and Prabhakar Sundarrajan of Ankeena Networks (acquired by Juniper Networks, in 2010); and Osman Rashid and Babur Habib of Kno, Inc. [working in the field of education with the conviction that the future of textbook is digital].

Murrali Rangarajan, a TiE charter member, provided the introduction of the program. Rangarajan said TiE had been teaching entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship to its members for the last eighteen years. Speaking of the South Asians in the US, he said "we have decided to settle here. We might as well be a strong community."

Next in line was OPEN President, Naeem Zafar. Besides being a successful entrepreneur Zafar is currently a faculty member at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, where he teaches entrepreneurship. Zafar said OPEN's sixty-percent programs were geared towards helping entrepreneurs and the rest were to help professionals.

2010-12-24T19:02:00.000-08:00

OPEN Ends Another Successful Year with a Well-Attended Program

It is a reality: Most new businesses quickly become part of statistics--bad statistics for that matter; these businesses join the ranks of failed enterprises. The conspicuous aspects of a flopped business are too obvious to miss: a vacant shop or office, a cancelled business license, a dissolution of incorporation filed with the state, and an occasional lawsuit. What are not obvious are the inconspicuous elements of the failure: marriages that are torn asunder, friendships that are strained, and other relationships that suffer an irreparable blow.

But OPEN, Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs and Professionals, in its December 8 event, kept its eyes on the positive aspects of entrepreneurship and produced three sets of entrepreneurs who were friends before they started their respective businesses together--the success of their enterprises were keeping their friendships strong. "Just Between Friends, Starting and running companies with people you already know ", OPEN's last event of 2010, was produced in partnership with 'The Indus Entrepreneurs' (TiE), a large group of South Asian entrepreneurs. The program was arranged at the TiE Conference Center in Santa Clara. OPEN can be considered a breakaway faction of TiE, but unlike the atmosphere associated with the obvious South Asian breakaway analogy OPEN enjoys amicable relationship with its parent entity.

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Riffat Sultana, Shiraz Ali Khan (Riffat Sultana's husband), and other team members entertained the audience with Punjabi and Urdu songs.

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Ferhan Majid Qureshi (Ferhan Qureshi--can be misspelled as Farhan Qureshi), an excellent tabla player, performed with two other musicians.

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A Kathak dance performance at the fundraiser.

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Umair Khan, cofounder of Chowk.com, ex- Clickmarks, and presently CEO of SecretBuilders.com, emceed the program.

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The pre-dinner program, most of which this scribe unfortunately missed, featured Matthew Keller [Matt Keller], Vice President of Global Advocacy, One Laptop Per Child [http://laptop.org], and Salman Khan (Sal Khan), founder of Khan Academy [http://www.khanacademy.org] , an Internet library of hundreds of short educational videos.
Members of Ishaara [http://www.ishaaradance.com], a California based dance troupe, performed briefly before the dinner, and for a greater length after the dinner.