Web Television Launches in Pakistan
From the Blog Sonya Rehman's Archive: Web Television Launches in Pakistan - By Sonya Rehman Beginning last month, Pakistanis with Internet access can now tune in to a web-based TV channel that highlights the concerns of marginalized citizens. With a focus on recruiting women and youth as reporters, "Maati TV" seeks to offer an alternative to mainstream media outlets. A new media outlet is joining Pakistan's burgeoning … Read more . Read Full Post
Could there be a liberal resurgence in Pakistan? Lawmaker Sherry Rehman says she's working on it.
From the Blog Jahane Rumi: Could there be a liberal resurgence in Pakistan? Lawmaker Sherry Rehman says she's working on it. - By Issam Ahmed – Fri Jan 28, 6:39 am ET Karachi, Pakistan – Liberal Pakistani lawmaker Sherry Rehman left a comfortable life researching a book in London to fight for liberty in her homeland. Now she's under siege, confined to her Karachi home ever since the assassination of liberal icon Salman Taseer three weeks ago. Rehman and the former governor of . Read Full Post
Some photos, videos, and notes from the Chicago blizzard
From the Blog Five Rupees: Some photos, videos, and notes from the Chicago blizzard - Well, that was certainly an eventful 24 hours, eh? Let's start from the beginning. This past weekend, Chicagoans were made aware of the fact that Tuesday would be a bad day. We were told in advance that there would be about 20 inches of snow, winds of about 60 miles per hour, and evidently 25 foot waves crashing in from the lake. I even read somewhere that this was supposed to be one of the ten worst snowstorms in the city's history, which is really saying something, given this is Chicago. All I can now say is that I'm very thankful I wasn't around for the other nine. It started in the middle of the afternoon. It had been snowing steadily since about midday, but by about 3 p.m. the wind really picked up. I took this picture from my office on the U of C campus; it gives you a little bit of a sense of how blustery it was. The view from my office As for the temperature, this video taken on the lakefront should convey how cold it was. Anyway, I had to go to a workshop at 4 p.m. by which time the wind had well and truly gone berserk. Here's a video I took as I walked from my office to where I was supposed to be. U of Cers (past and present) are welcome to try and guess where this is. The workshop ended at 6 p.m., after which some of the workshop attendants had a formal dinner to go to with the presenter. I was included amongst the formal-dinner-eaters. We got out of dinner at around 8:45 p.m. And here's where the trouble really started. The presenter was an out-of-towner, and needed to get to her friend's place downtown, where she was staying. A couple of students, including myself, also needed to get out of the neighborhood. But there weren't very many ways. For those who don't know Chicago, the U of C campus is on the South Side of the city, about 5 miles south of downtown. It is not an area terribly well-connected with the rest of the city (for reasons that will require a post on its own to explain). At the best of times, it takes 40 minutes by public transport to get from the South Side to downtown, and then maybe 20-30 minutes from downtown to where I live further north, in a neighborhood called Lakeview. Now, this isn't a problem usually, but yesterday the buses weren't a fantastic option for obvious reasons. Getting to the subway station, on the other hand, was basically impossible from campus, because it was too long a walk, and the only way to get to it would require an alternate mode of transportation, like the #55 bus. But, like I said, the buses weren't a great option in the first place. We even called a bunch of cab companies, but they either (a) did not pick up the phone, or (b) picked up the phone only to tell us they were not sending cabs on account of the weather. Long story short, we took the Metra, a suburban train line to downtown. One point to note is that just to get to the Metra station, we had to walk for about 20-25 minutes in a frigging blizzard. And it's not like our night was over once we got to the station and got on the train. Because the Metra station where we got off isn't next door to where our presenter needed to go. In ordinary circumstances, the Randolph station is about a 15 minute walk from where our presenter needed to go. Yesterday it took about 40 minutes. 40 minutes of walking in a blizzard, with howling winds and crazy snow. This was a video I took as we walked up Michigan Ave. The thing to note for Chicagoans is how you can't actually see Trump Tower even though we're right next to it. The thing to note for non-Chicagoans is that Michigan Ave is perhaps the most well-known and busy in-city street in Chicago, with lots of pedestrians, cars, public transport and what not. It's kinda/sorta our Times Square. But last night, around 10 p.m., this is what it looked like. There's no one and nothing there! So surreal. Anyway, we trudged along and dropped the presenter off on Pearson Street. I thought some of the downtown buses might still be running, so I decided to wait alone at the bus stop (my colleague had gone his separate way after we dropped off the presenter). By the way, this would be a good time to tell you that I forgot my phone at home yesterday. So I'm waiting for a bus, and no bus is coming. I wait 5 minutes, then 10, then 15, then 20. Now, 20 minutes may not sound like a lot, but I promise you, it wasn't a pleasant experience. Plus, there weren't any cabs either. I mean, there were some cabs, maybe three or four, but they were all taken. As you can see in this video, where my yelling "aye!" does nothing whatsoever to help my cause. (Note to Chicagoans: I was trying to catch the #146 from Water Tower place to Belmont and Sheridan). Also please note the intensity of the wind. This was some serious "Day After Tomorrow" stuff right here, let me tell you. Just to be clear, here was the situation: 1. The temperature was about -10/-15 Celsius, the winds were about 50 mph, and it was snowing like hell. 2. My socks were wet because of walking in all that snow. 3. I had no phone. 4. There were no buses or cabs. 5. I was three and some miles away from home. 6. It was about 10:30 p.m. 7. We do not own a car, and even if we did, the W does not (really) know how to drive (it should be noted that she was at home this whole time, alternately worried about me and fascinated by what she was watching on the news). It is only now in hindsight that I realize that I could've taken the subway — it would've entailed a total of about 20 minutes of walking, hardly a huge problem — but I guess this goes to show that the cold does weird things to your brain and you forget common sense solutions to problems. Either that or I'm an idiot. Anyway, I finally got a cab, sharing it with a woman who was also at the bus stop, and I ended up home — not before the cab got stuck in the snow, causing a minor jam, and not before I saw all of Lake Shore Drive blocked to our east. On that note, here is a truly awesome picture from NBC News of Lake Shore Drive: Photo: NBC News As a point of comparison, this is what Lake Shore Drive normally looks like: Photo: Kelly Martin I also saw a bunch of abandoned buses on my way home. None like this one though: Photo: E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune The next morning (i.e today), things were a lot better. It wasn't snowing like crazy, and the wind had basically died down. Instead of an emergency-style situation, today was more jovial. Kids were playing out in the snow, people were taking pictures of the craziness, and most everyone I saw on the street was either smiling or laughing at the absurdity of it all. I took some pictures too, mainly of our street and the block or two around our apartment. Hey, blizzard! I’m still around. Nice try though! . Read Full Post
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