Life as Sid knows it...

My meet-cute with Ayeza was out of any professional and academic settings, we met at a mutual relative's place and instantly clicked. She was a year younger than me and yet her take on life inspired me at that point in time too. We then lost touch of each other only to meet again at IBA, where we used to pass occasional glances and smiles as we both were too occupied to make a decent conversation. Today, when I searched among my Facebook friends for an inspirational marketer, Ayeza's named popped in my mind and on my screen almost immediately,I reached out to her, not expecting her to message so promptly as I knew she is a busy young lady. But, this bright person made me awe struck once again, by the very manner in whichshe welcomed the idea of "The Placement Office", I could feel her giddy with excitement as she answered all my questions pain painstakingly detailing as much as possible.  I hope our conversation with Ayeza today, can inspire hundreds and tho...

In the light of the poll that we had on the group regarding professions you would like to know more about I was wracking my brain to find the right person on board. One who talks not from the books but from the invaluable experience of working in the corporate sector. Humayun Shan, Regional Head Sales (North) at Mondelez, Pakistan has been in this field for over ten years now and today he shares with us some tips that will help kindle that salesman spirit in all of you here.   What are the key 3 things that you look out for in a candidate when hiring new entrants? There are two sets of candidates that come to us, one group is the experienced lot who have worked in the industry for quite some time and know it inside out so for them the metrics to gauge are totally different, what's more pertinent to this group are the fresh candidates. These are the ones aspiring to enter in their first profession. I look out for  1)  Persistence  2) Positive...

Today was a good day when my nagging self got hold of Dr. Usama Basit, who gave in to my constant messages and some thought provoking questions regarding the professional exams in the field of Medicine. For all of you out there who what to save lives, do have a look at what our life saver  right here has to say about the much dreaded PLAB examination, a professional exam which helps you make way into the medicine in the UK. What is the PLAB exam and how does it help in initiating a medical career in UK? There are many routes of entry into the UK for doctors who wish to train here. The easiest and most common one is to take the PLAB  (or Professional and Linguistics Assessment Board) exam and become GMC certified. Let me tell you a bit about this - basically any country that you work in has their own authority that confirms that you are good to practice in that country. For Pakistan, that authority is the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, for the UK it is the Ge...

I was lazily surfing my newsfeed when this video caught my attention  study session  this video shows a mother is force teaching her daughter..people are m a making all kinds of comments on it..some even have the audacity to find the video "cute" and entertaining!! The sight of that child wailing and crying and trying to remember simple counting brought back memories flooding back to my mind of a friend who had to go through to the same ordeal. I was among the cool kids who would spend a good one hour at a task and there you go.it used to be etched in my memory, when teachers would ask  us about the task we would raise our hands up  high to answer the question and get some brownie points...but there in the corner would be my buddy...the uncool one. The one who would sink in the back benches to escape the wrath of the teacher who would miss no chance to sham that poor kid in-front of twenty others just because to her things didn't come as easy as they did to ...

Just like the year gone by,I sat down again staring at this blank white space which always makes me jot down all that I ponder...I witnessed yet another 14th of August..yet another day of jubilation, girls dressed in green, boys eagerly blowing vuvuzelas...people swaying to our evergreen mili nagamey ... fighter jets hovering around our heads doing the fly past coloring the sky green and white...but even today,amidst all this festivity...I felt hollow...  I wanted my two year old to learn that it was Pakistan's birthday today (which learnt pretty easily), I was trying to muster all my pride and transfer the same to her by showing how amazing we as a nation are, but I kept questioning myself if we really are that great..... We are the people who saw news of the Quetta attack just days before the 14th of August, we are the ones who heard about the valor of the Major who embraced martyrdom while tracing terrorists in Malakand, we are the same nation who witnessed th...

I was standing in my kitchen admiring the lush  greens that Islamabad offered me after a short spell of rain...the soothing scent of the first few water droplets hitting the dry barren earth was like magic to my nostrils.....lost in my reverie ...the rain and the weather somehow made me nostalgic, took me back to memories of 82.5. 82.5 was my room at Warwick...the one place where I want to go back to again and again..the one place that set me free from the confines of my own personality...gave me a chance to explore...to create memories that I can always look back to...I still remember my first trip to my room..one of the most hectic journeys for me. I was accompanied by my dad that day, back then we were both new to the English weather..had just left all our family exactly two weeks ago to shift to a land where it never stopped raining! (hailing from Karachi,this seemed like an abnormality to me).  The killing walks Anyways as you can very well imagine we both ...

It was on a chirpy morning of the 21st of April when a little birdy came and snuggled in my arms. I don't remember much from that day except for the fact that to me she looked exactly like her dad...and I smiled at this thought as slumber engulfed me Today as I see my daughter chirping around I feel a strange emotion, one that can't be put into words...my love for her is strange..part of me want her to grow up fast and achieve all the milestones I have in mind for her..the other part longs for that biiig hug and a wettest possible kiss that smears saliva all over my face... (I'll always miss this)...but my bond with her is innate....we were meant to be friends,rather best friends..its just how God programmed us..embedded love in our biology...love that can never ever fall weak... However whenever I see her longing for her dad all day long with a sullen look, my heart goes out to her...when I see her eyes sparkle at the sight of her baba jani..my heart ski...

It was a fateful day of February the twelfth when two people hailing from backgrounds as diverse as day and night had a meet-cute...( I call it this, as to me those 60 minutes were as transient as a mere 60 seconds..someone said it right..when you are having a good time,time sure flies!) I,Sadaf Zahid back then, always considered my self as a Big City girl,fast paced,shrewd..looking for big opportunities...successful and established people impressed me..and that was exactly what I was fishing out for,in my to-be. But fate had other plans in store.I met my, The-One a complete opposite of what I had in mind. He wasn't dressed in a suit, too ironed to not let him ease up (lol I had my eyes out for a Mr Harvey Spector heheh), His tie wasn't there on his neck,so stiff and crisp that it made him choke..His cologne didn't sweep me off my feet immediately...it took its sweet time to work its magic... My Mr Perfect was far from the picture perfect guy that I had in mind. H...

A couple of months ago I came across a great inspirational flick;Hidden Figures (much of a dark horse to be honest!).With some low keyed actors yet powerful story line...this one really inspired me at a time when I was in dire need of it...a story of how three black women fulfilled their dreams against all odds really made me ponder on how sometimes our dreams are bigger than anything else in the world....that day I decided to start learning from people who have raced against time,who work against all those pulling them down...who sometimes put smiles on  their faces even when things are looking bleak..all this for their dreams... And so I decided to look around me..people whom I knew..people  who are are unknown to the rest of the world...yet they are everyday heroes making one step of a thousand more, towards fullfilling what they yearn for..... truly,madly,deeply... One of the many such individuals is my very own uncle,Faraz...its been 29 odd years since I first...

For reasons unknown..I always tend to define life situations through music...(you might have figured this one out by the musical touch that every post of mine offers....) There have always been songs that make me happy...make me vengeful..make me giddy...and yes my utmost favorite are the ones that are mellower...make me sad..make me ponder...somehow sorrow brings with it a barrage of points to ponder over for me...a recent entrant to this list of mine is Mera Pyar Tum He ho ..... Zaki created this piece of  art at the prime of his short lived  career....although I was still too naive back then to really understand the true meaning of the song ...(superficially it seems to be for a beloved...for whom Zaki must have been head over heels...)..but today as I hear this song...just to remember him once more...I feel he sang this song as an ode to his passion..and his passion was nothing more and nothing less than the six strings tied to a piece of wood...something that I ne...

As a student, I always failed to understand Pseudo codes…I still remember how my computer teacher would try to make me write these codes to understand programming better (only me and my God knows how I passed those courses…gulp!) After almost 20 years now..I came across the term Pseudo Muslims…and God was I amazed or what...I wondered in awe if the word “pseudo” can actually be paired with Muslims…but the times that we are living in made me believe   this is what it has boiled down to… It was past 4 am..I was about to put down my phone and resume my sleep after the hectic Ramadan chores when the BBC headlines caught my eye…A UK based Chinese friend of mine had shared the story..and ironically she didn’t even take my “stay safe comment”, well…I don’t blame her…I am sure she must be thinking that after destroying their peace….I am trying to console them…(not that I was remotely even related to it all..but my Muslim tag was enough to put her off….).. I go...