Gamerz Heaven – A new beginning!

Gamerz Heaven! The name says it all. For now it seems it is really a heaven for us, but for how long it continues to be, is another question, an ominous one.

What GecKo had been saying over the period of one year or so at last got acknowledged this year *yet another win for GecKo =D*. When after one disastrous gaming the two teams swore they would not play at the Scorpionz again. He got the cue to make his move and he played the right cards. With a few other supporters he managed to provoked ALL *including a few of those who just can’t help it! =P* to come to the new GZ. The rituals began and a thread was started, which before the gaming, managed to gather in more than fifty replies in around four days, including replies from Jawaad =P *featuring for the first time ever!*. Well after the gaming, and another gaming the thread still continues *now standing at 400+ replies – the highest ever number of replies – another accolade for GecKo =D of course with the undeniable support from the Guys!*

The first gaming was doubtful, because besides a few no one had played at this Game Zone before. The presence of Ghost Rider-the scornful critic, made GecKo a little nervous, as people had complained *led by him* earlier that he made them buy accounts at Stadion *their previous home*, which he claimed was a false accusation. Anyways, he advised everyone to purchase codes, instead of getting accounts, at least for the first gaming. After a great hustle and bustle with people buying accounts or codes and the last minute team finalizing decisions, the guys settled into the match room. Equipped with LCDs, Optical Mice, Headphones *in working condition*, comfortable and fixed seats and properly working AC, the conditions were almost perfect for a healthy, fun-filled gaming. GecKo realized he’d enjoy gaming, at the very beginning of the warm up round. The teams were very equally poised; Robomani, Jaws, Hitman, GhostRider and Ladlaa vs. GecKo, Dr.Offender, Capt, Malangi and U. Perfect teams, perfect environment, the result was an almost perfect gaming. The final results unlike always are not with me, but the team GecKo performed well, and were victorious *assumed*. The after gaming talk was the usual, derogatory. But it was evident from the faces that everyone enjoyed the gaming and it made GecKo very happy.

On Sunday, the very next day after the weekly Saturday gaming session, GecKo played a match at the GZ with the old veteran Sameer and others. The gaming was a good one again. Even though they lost but the contended feeling of having a good gaming made up for the loss. The other team was not a pro-team either but was better than team GecKo which had almost no coordination between them.

Monday began with a fight that picked up when GecKo claimed that now at the new game zone SMG won’t be as effective as it used to be at the Scorpionz, and he had solid reasons for claiming this. Apparently the SMG kings were annoyed and felt insulted. The fight grew and turned into a war with everyone having a say about the topic. Dr. Offender and GecKo soon started taking on the guys and challenged almost every one on board. The offended ones kept warning them for not going over the line, because the duo was making it look like as if the others didn’t even knew how to play. Everyone dubbed it as mouth-firing and termed it to be nothing but bull-crap. This according to GecKo and Dr. Offender was nothing but just a little pep talk to pump up the players for the weekend’s gaming. But the others took it as pride, and kept asking the two to step down from it. This talk really does make the players play well, the accused and the accuser both want to show that what they say was not just a blabber but it had some substance to it. *An example of the fact that mouth firing isn’t just blabbering is that-some people who continuously termed this as mere Mouth-Firing were seen serious, almost about the same as much as GecKo himself, there are eye-witnesses to this. They did every possible thing (including camping) to make the accuser pay for what they said, but in doing so they themselves played well and this was the motive of all the mouth-firing.*

Just a few hours before the gaming this Saturday, July 28, 2008, an unknown number appeared on the screen of GecKo’s Broadcast station aka his cell phone. On the other end of the line was dada aka Sameer. He inquired GecKo about the gaming and informed him about his not-confirmed-availability. GecKo told him about the number of PCs and hearing this, just before disconnection, Dada added; do write in the BC “seats available on First Come First Serve basis” *>D hehehehe! Abay haan!*.

This gaming, the second one at the Gamerz Heaven was a highly anticipated one perhaps even more than the first one. The reason being, all the mouth firing that had been done by Dr. Offender and GecKo had made everyone to look forward to the performance of these two big-guns. The duo had to perform or it was going to be one rough ride down hill for them from there. This time the teams were even more balanced: GecKo, Hitman, RoboMani, Capt and Dr. Offender vs. Sameer, Ghost Rider, U, Ladlaa and Jaws. The gaming started with the usual warm up round and GecKo did not found himself up to the mark, this did concern him a little but not that much to make him loose it all. He kept his cool and kept playing. De_dust2 the first round went to team GecKo (~15-7), and it seemed the other team won’t survive the other rounds as well, as team GecKo seemed to be on a roll, with GecKo leading the first round score sheet from his side *perhaps from both the sides*. But what was coming after that was beyond their wildest imaginations. De_dust2, second round - 6/7-0 to team Hashmi, the scores made GecKo go crazy, he yelled, “Yaar zero sai to nahi harna hai!!” and the guys assured him that it wont happen! And surely it didn’t *you must have seen him at the first win, relieved he was, as if he had just survived a tsunami standing under an umbrella!* the second round went to team Hashmi (~15-4). Team GecKo was as much shocked as he himself was.

De_Inferno, short story, team GecKo just wasn’t in the groove that day, despite of an un-usually good performance by GecKo *accepted by the team mates! Which he greatly acknowledges*. Nothing seemed to be working, no combinations, no ideas, not anything! It has to be accepted that Team Hashmi played better of the two sides that day. Thanks to the loads of camping from Mr. Ladlaa, who is proud of the fact. Well let’s be honest, camping is not something forbidden, but it is something that GecKo hasn’t gladly acknowledged, and considers it as foul play due to his aggressive approach towards the game. During all this the one thing that stood out were the yells of triumph throughout the game from none other than Fahad Wali aka Ghost Rider. Residing at the bottom of the score sheet this valiant player yelled, whenever, he himself got GecKo or someone from his team got the chance to do so. Why he was doing so? What was the reason behind all this? And, why is he persistent that GecKo is not a PRO? These are the questions which GecKo can’t understand, better to say no one can understand. Over and over G.R. has been doing this, laughing, yelling, jeering when he gets GecKo, and when the vice versa happens; well I have seldom seen GecKo mock his opponent. So let’s say he shows mercy over him and that is so very majestic about him *=P*.

This loss was the heaviest of all the losses to GecKo, perhaps even more than his draw to Ghost Rider in a one on one combat. He knew he was playing well and if only his team had supported him a bit more *like they greatly did in de_dust2 round 1* they would have bagged the entire gaming. Anyways no good in shedding tears over what is gone. After the gaming the usual happened, GecKo’s team (especially him) was targeted. No wonders after all the big talks on the forum, they had lost. The blame game was played and for once GecKo had no one to blame. He was quiet and wanted to stay quiet for the day.

What was going through his head, nobody knows and nobody cares. What does he want from the gaming; again nobody gives a damn about that. GecKo has always taken CS very seriously. Why do the others not take it seriously? Why only he takes it like this? Well the answer is fairly simple, he thinks that this is one game he is really good at, and wants to play it seriously. Just like the team used to play in the cricket tournament at the University, seriously with dedication, similarly GecKo wants to play CS like that with zeal and enthusiasm. Cricket takes labor and takes more time too. CS is just about a matter of hours and one side emerges as a champion, unlike cricket where you had to wait for weeks. There are personal enmities in cricket and so exist in CS, but in cricket you got ten players besides the person having the feud. In CS if one out of the five players has a grudge against someone and keeps going after that person, well the game is quiet much over there.

Well I don’t know whether I should say this or not but when you are playing cricket matches *serious ones!* do you ever try to bowl with the wrong hand? No, why, cause there you have a motive for playing then why not have such a motive in CS? Similarly in cricket not everyone can bowl! Or perhaps bat, likewise, in CS not everyone can snipe, neither they should. Responsibilities are divided, in matches, captain, vice captain etc. Similarly in CS *talking about real teams* responsibilities are decided and divided. There are roles, bomber, assaulters, and snipers. When these roles are over looked, it results in chaos. When you not follow them, two people usually start sniping, or the bomber goes elsewhere. Decide who would be the bomber; make him the bomber in every match. His main responsibility would be to get safely and quickly to the bomb site and plant the bomb and then safeguard it. Once at the bomb site no body leaves it unless the bomb is about to explode. Try to save yourself if left alone there is no need to show heroics, your loss of life will affect the team funds. If PARTICULARLY a sniper is not able to snipe he should either swap the responsibility with someone or just leave it. These are just some points that could make the gaming better for players and playing both.

After the gaming last Saturday, GecKo, sent in this little email to me which goes like this: “I am no more interested in these Saturday night gamings. Now either I play when the guys get serious towards the game or I play the matches only, with Sameer, against other teams. I don’t have any problems in loosing matches; it’s with loosing matches due to lack of seriousness of all or due to one person’s mistake. I know I yell, I even sometimes make people go crazy but that is when I feel they are not performing what they are capable of. I have now understood the statement ‘Play Hard, Go Pro!’ Going pro is not what I want but playing hard for a few hours is definitely what I want. I keep playing hard the others just goofing around, well this ruins my efforts and sabotages my hopes. I have repeatedly said this thing that I won’t come to the GZ, I am saying this yet again. And yet again I don’t know whether I’d be able to do so or not. It’s the love of my friends and the love of the game that draws me back to the game zone. But for once this time I’d like to say that I am thoroughly disappointed not just with myself, like I usually am, but with the way we play the game, guys it needs to be changed!”

I believe the problem is not with you guys, perhaps it’s with him. You guys play for enjoyment and he plays for honor, glory and personal pride too *which is utter silliness*. His reason for playing the game is different than yours. I don’t understand that why you people play the game like him and I think same thing that why he can’t play like you guys. Complex. I remember him once saying, “When I am playing, I am not Saquib - I am GecKo, Fahad is not Fahad – he is Ghost Rider, Asif is not Asif – he is Hitman, and like this everyone is not themselves but what they appear as names on the screen. I am in a state of war when I am playing. I play the game as if I am in there!” He is one of the most serious persons that I have seen when it comes to game playing and it is evident when he is playing the game. I know you people enjoy it, but just consider yourself as a player inside the game and then think of it, when you get flashed unwanted, when you had come to the front backing on the person standing right next to you to cover you and do not get any backup, when you are planting the bomb and you expect a fellow to cover you and you get killed in the process because that someone had strolled away, when you had the call to rush in and only you are the one to get killed on reaching the rush site, just how irritating all these situations are! I am not advocating him but when I think like him I find these things quiet irritating too.

That's all from my side. Play Hard, Go Pro.

Adieu.

Zed-e

The Six Lone Vagabonds!

“Haan bhai Tariq road jana hai!”
“Lai chalayain gai bhai”
“Kitnay paisay?”
“150 ropay!!”
“Abay bhai tariq road jana hai, Keemari nahi!”
“Bhai to hum nai bhi tariq road kai hi bataye hain”
“Ja bhai, mein doosra rickshaw kar laita hoon”

“Haan bhai Tariq road chalna hai?”
“Lai jayen gai”
“Kitnay paisay”
“100 ropay”
“Yaar mein rooz jata hoon, 80 ropay lagtay hain”
“Chalo 90 dai daina”
“80 sai aik ropya zyada nahi”
“Chalo baitho”

Brrr!! Brrrr…RRRRRRRRrrrrr….RRrrrrrrrrrrrrr…

Life on the roads of Karachi starts in this way for many, for the other lot it starts in a fairly simpler manner.

“Jee baray bhai, karaya daina! Kahan jao gai?”
“Baloch Colony”
…
“Jee baray bhai, karaya hogaya?”
“Dai dia!”
…
“Jee baray bhai, karaya daina!”
“Yaar dai to diya hai!”
“To naraz kyun hotay ho yaar?”

Be it either of the two, the experience is the same, painful.

Traffic, pollution, noise and unbearable heat are what a normal karachi’ite faces in the morning, in his/her long/short commute to work. Left aside the pressures or tension he/she has to endure during the routine work, the journey from home to work and from work to back home is tiring enough to make one go mad within a period of few years.

Our professional lives have just begun. 2 years experience would be the most amongst us. With the increasing experience we get to take on more and more complex tasks. But not everyone amongst us faces the same music. The chat-mail that took all of us at once into a world of fun and frenzy have been left desolated. Efforts are made occasionally to reignite the passion with which we managed to score centuries of replies but all in vain. The reason being, that some of the guys started abusing the chat-mail. Result, many went away saying that this is utter madness and really to a certain extent it was. Also the new hype of “look-busy-do-nothing” made many go in to seclusion posing that they were very busy. They might be, but just by not being online or setting your status to busy does not make one busy. Anyways, back to the topic, for two particular people the schedule had been indeed a very hectic one. Office and then university, two back to back mind consuming activities. Mani and Zeeshan ghazi (hero of the last blog). These two people go to university after their jobs and return home late at night, exhausted. Zeeshan recently got some relaxation after he left his previous job, but that relaxation is a great tension on its own. Cut short, mani couldn’t bear it any more. He decided to get some Mental Peace and he consulted Boss about where to get some from. The boss came to his great-enemy-cum-friend, me, and asked me where to go to get some mental peace. He had already decided where to go and was doing the usual “Khana poori”. I, after careful analysis of the situation suggested that we can go to sea view at night time. Boss like always took it the other way, he said what I always wanted was girls, girls and girls. But he didn’t understand me completely. Sea-view is a very versatile place, I believe best place in town to pour out the inner-mental-tensions. The atmosphere is quiet, breezy, with ample amount and types of food available at easy reach. Besides, this you do get to see pretty girls and nice people and there are always spots available for sitting, with limited number of people around (not for the wrong reason you ******s) and lesser noises. But this is my point of view, Boss has his own. He decided that we go to Manora island or if not there then Thatta. I don’t know about Thatta but I know Manora is inhibited by one of the most noisiest of human kind, the Makranis. I am sure my yell would be lower than their whispers and I believe achieving mental peace at such a place is seemingly impossible.

Boss, Mani, me, Khurram, Chunnu and Asif were the selected ones. Jaws, was also requested but he declined the offer saying he was scared of the water. The program was planned for Saturday but I didn’t have the Saturday off. So the plan was shifted on to Sunday. We decided to go in my new Bolan, which was to be driven by Boss. Till the very last moment we were unsure of where we were going. Manora was the more probable of the options. On Saturday night, Chunnu also declined the offer coming up with lame reasons perhaps he didn’t had enough guts to accept that he was scared of the sea too.

The morning promised an over-cast day with cold breeze, which like everything else in Pakistan turned out to be a lie. It was a sunny day but the intensity of heat was considerably less. At 9:35a.m. Boss and Asif arrived at my place, when I was going through the morning paper. I was part ready and hence just put on my clothes and went downstairs. We got in the car and were at Mani’s place around 10:00a.m. Morning had another bad news for us when we were told by Boss that Khurram was not attending his phone. Now only four of the six were left, and it seemed that the plan is ruined. We started deciding whom we can get going with us. Once again Jaws was questioned, this time he said Ok. Five to go, when someone suggested lets ask Asim too, the Russian heart-throb. Asim was called and he accepted the offer without any excuses. We went on from there to have a “Halwa Puuri” breakfast near Disco Bakery. After the breakfast when we were about to move Khurram called. He said he’ll let us know in 5 minutes whether he is going or not. This was turning out to be an enjoyable event. But Khurram called shortly after saying his father had forbidden him from going there, since we would be going this Saturday again. We went to Jaws' place had a glass of Jaws' special Tang there (I got a beating too – was trapped between some Rock band fanatics). Asim arrived there and at 12:00 – 12:15 we left Jaws' home for the destination unknown.

In the car we started deciding where to go. Manora was disqualified as an option and Cape-mount was selected as the new mental-peace-providing spot. We got some CNG filled in the car and started out journey. I, for one had never seen any other beach of Karachi except the sands pit or hawk’s bay. We decided to take the new Lyari Expressway to get there. This was a first time experience for most of us, and it turned out to be an exciting one. Alongside the pretty Lyari river we cruised at a speed of 70 Km/h and were off the bridge at Gulbai in around 20 minutes. The expressway has strict traffic rules and we personally saw a person being rounded up for over-speeding, we also got to see many parts of the Karachi city unknown to us then.

From Gulbai we went to SherShah/ Mauri Pur and purchased a Frisbee, football, and some snacks for out trip. The journey was a very pleasant one with interesting discussions regarding how a fly stays in the car and travels with us at the same speed we are moving. The discussion continued till out way back to home. We reached a fork on the road and had to decide which way to go. We took the left hand and started moving along. On our way we inquired a few people about cape-mount and soon realized we were headed in the wrong direction. Took a U-turn and then started heading towards the right hand side of the fork. The sea somehow seemed more magnificent than ever before. The high tide caused big waves splash on the sea shore and create a magical atmosphere.

After a drive of around 20 minutes we reached a spot where we could sense cape mount was ahead. But a few yards before, we were stopped at a “chowky”, the new community police bearing banners reading that decree-144 have been imposed due to the high tide and cape-mount was out of bounds for everyone, except the navy people who had huts on the road ahead. We were very disappointed and had to turn back, and decided to stop at Paradise Point this time. Paradise point a famous recreational spot once had a very famous monument, a big rock with a hole in between. The hole was broken a few years ago when the top portion of the rock fell off. So, eventually when I got to see the place the monument was there no more. But the remains of it told me of the splendor that rock would have had a few years back. The water was very rough at that side of the beach, rougher than any of the beaches I have yet seen. It was both deep and fast and had throngs of people in the same water. The sea shore is not a very long one and has very less huts on it. Being a small beach the spot is not a suitable family spot but if you move towards the right or left of the main place you will find a peaceful spot with lesser people. But the lack of huts makes it a difficult place to camp at.

We sat there for around half an hour on a high rock, taking in every minute detail of the breath taking scenery in front of us. Then we moved on to have a closer glimpse of the water and moved to a rock that protruded in the sea and was part submerged by the sea. The cold sea water was splashing on our faces and refreshing us, replenishing us from the weariness of the long journey. We chased crabs and looked at the green turtle that was caught in the strong currents and washed ashore, the pathaan kids referring to it as the “Magar-much”. We then moved on from there to a quieter spot that we spotted from here. The peace spot was towards East from where we were standing.

We got in the car and once again started the journey, a few kilometers away from the spot where we were. This was a desolated quiet spot, right next to KANUP, where only two other families were present besides us. The beach was covered by big rocks on both sides and had clear rock-free shore. The water though had weeds in it. We started playing Frisbee, and soon took on football. I, like always, did not participate in the sport. After twenty, twenty-five minutes, the game was brought to an end after the players were exhausted. One more family joined us there. The players went over a big rock, and sat there looking for the perfect blind spots and enjoying the beautiful scenery. We took off after spending an hour or so-on that side and then returned to the car. There we consumed the snacks we had brought with us, and sat down to dry ourselves. We looked around and found another good spot worth visiting and that was the “Floating Umbrella”. We went there and found a Mister sitting there quietly studying something (budgeting). It was the perfect spot quiet and peaceful, till we got there. Initially we wanted to stay quiet but then discussions broke out and we blabbered and blabbered and blabbered to the great annoyance of that person.

We soon took from there, returned to the car and headed to an unknown destination again. Going from Shershah, Mauripur, Tower to Burns-Road where we decided to catch some food. We went to AFC which we chose because it had air-conditioners in it, but to our greatest disappointment it was not ready to serve us BBQ or Desi food by then. We went to another Burns-Road favorite. Got refreshed and then ordered the food. Quorma, Fry Kabab, Seekh Kabab and Chargha were the contents of the delicious menu selected. After a hearty meal, we went out and Jaws, Mani and Asim bought fishes. We got on to the car again and then came back to home at around Maghrib.

The trip was an exciting one, those who were invited and could not make it, I would say missed a major fun time there.

Pictures of the outing are available at Flickr.

Picnics – a Bane or Boon? --- III [The Last Part]

A Preliminary advise to those who have sympathies with the organizer of this picnic:
Please don’t read this but if you do then keep your FU*KING mouths shut, unless you want to praise the author of course. Thank you, now IF you have read this far my apologies for being disrespectful, lets continue.

Life at the university comes to an end, everyone gets employed and starts over a new leaf. Professional life is far more hectic and tiring than the life at university. The only source of entertainment together were the CS Nights®© gatherings on Saturdays. One fine Saturday perhaps at an eat-out, someone suggested the idea of having a picnic. When it comes to mere point-less discussions *a.k.a. Muun kai fires OR batein ch**na* no one can beat us. We can spend hours and hours, laughing at each other, mocking, jeering, regardless that we might hurt someone’s feelings, after that we do offer our sincerest apologies (which even hurt more), at least, Fahad Wali does that, always (goes to show that either he is TOO good or he wants to hurt the most, and we all know what of these two he wants)*Sigh!*. We take turns; everyone gets laughed upon, so that no one gets offended, this ensures the tight bond we have amongst each other, and is the reason of the attendance at the gathering. One who gets ridiculed this week comes next week with plans to ensure that at least one of the laughers get laughed upon this time. This takes week long research, plotting, planning, which we all do, gladly.

Ok, back to the last picnic. Don’t remember exactly but at least two weeks of discussion must have taken place for a picnic such as this to be planned. Like always we were as lost as a herd of cattle roaming the main roads of Karachi chewing on garbage. No one had an idea of where to go, until Zeeshan Ghazi, the Gay, the Savior, stepped forward. He bore the responsibility of arranging the picnic for the band of brothers. We all were thankful to him and still are, maybe. News came in that the farm was at a hill-side with a lake view, but this was ridiculed, later it turned out that it did existed on a hill (was a few feet higher than the ground level). The event started on a bad note with late arrivals (Haseeb won this race; he was like hours late and even had to run after the truck). This was not the last thing to have happened; the most exciting thing was that no one and I mean no one knew the way to the location. We looped around on the Main Super Highway, which was fun. Got lost (that you all must know by now), took wrong turns but on every nook and corner where we stopped for directions one person made sure he got off and had a good look at that place, correct, the Restless. He was so excited that he even jumped into mud and almost lost his slipper. Some more radicals (lead by sD) took to the roof of the truck. Correct again! A truck has no roof, well it has a little bit (over the driver’s seat) and he used it to sit on. Two or three were in the vent, as watch-outs. I guess this is why it is said too many cooks spoil the broth. At last, the team reached the farm house (of course lead by the caretaker, who was called upon after we had enough of lost-liness). Well we got there, went in, had fun, came home. The End. The people who had sympathies with the organizer, read the caution still read on, you are done here, good-bye.

Now there, the remaining people who still want to read, I will use graphics to depict the fiasco. Firstly I would like to introduce you to the mugger, Zeeshan.

A little pictographic view of our trip to the highway;

and a map of the farm house.

Now you all must have seen the images. Alas! What else left to say. We got there and instinctively went to the pool, D-shaped and lit, gloomily though and no covers over it. A few went to inspect the field, came back, shocked. Silence, people were walking quietly as if in a funeral procession. What is this place? Where are we? How much did I paid for this? All were thinking the same questions except Fahad Wali who was thinking “Kis ki loon?”. We went in to the room, a clean little one with a couple of sofas and a single bed, the chairs were good enough. So we decided to the best possible thing at our earliest, eat. Dinner was good and after that people ran off to the pool, to have a splash. A few went to the field to have a football match; both parties were not very pleased. The pool people; splash into the water, thud struck the bed. Wtf?!? The pool was deep enough for even The Bird to stand in it easily. They moved all around it to see if even anyone of the two corners available was deep. No Luck. The field people; run, run, run. Puff! Puff! Puff! Hey you guys down there, how you doing? The field was in a slope, which made it a hell of job to play football. The team having the goal down slope got scored every time and the team having the goal at the top, well, half the men fell in getting up there. 15 – 20 minutes of play and the guys were done. Back to the pool, which was heavily guarded. High voltage wires stuck out from the ground like cobras guarding some holy treasure in an Indiana Jones movie. Anyways splash, splash, the remaining ones went in. Water always manages to bring smiles to the karachiites, no matter what amount of it they get. When fun was about to start, hell broke loose, our biggest and all time rival K.E.S.C intervened in the simple and happy life at the farm house. Darkness surrounded us, we went out of power, we waited, for a few minutes, nothing happened, it was a bright night with an almost full moon, so visibility was restored in a few minutes. The caretaker returned to check on us, we asked him if there was a generator to get the lights back on, and he said the weirdest thing. “Bhai sahib generator tou hai, per petrol hai app kai pass?” No one knew that we had to bring petrol incase lights went out. So we decided to play in the moon-light, instead. Most of the gays, I meant the guys started a new game; “The Suspicious Train”. The idea was simple, see an empty engine (a “straight person” not willing to board over another engine), and get your wagon on. Surprisingly except a few all were trying to be wagons, weird (proves my apprehensions regarding the first picnic were some what correct). This was continued till one of the guys (most probably Jaws) yelled, “abay yaar! Pani sai bahar jao tou kharish ho rahi hai/ chub raha hai!!!”. Stunned by this new revelation the boys settled down. Then some water expert (Zeeshan Ghazi) analyzed the water of the pool and said “Abay is mein tou tyt wala chlorine para hai!!! Sahi lagain gai sab kai bahar nikal kar, ahahahahahahaha!”. Now the pool wasn’t safe either. One by one everyone got out of the pool. We kept talking to pass the time which was moving at a snail’s pace. The Restless had come up with another wild idea of having a Gaming session after the picnic, and his restlessness had caught up with the nothingness in the air and everyone agreed. A very wrong decision that was proved afterwards (read the blog entry: ‘Scorpionzz diaries - by GecKo’ on Sunday, September 2, 2007). The power was resumed, but now no one wanted to get into the pool as no one wanted to get skin-burn under the sun which was predicted by someone. Some reclined to playing cards and a few started a controversial discussion, which lead on to the morning. Now a few (surprisingly including me) spent hours lying useless doing nothing (and I am being told this picnic wasn’t bad! HUH!). Dawn arrived, me and the Russian started a little cricket match alongwith Chunnu. Soon everyone came in to join and a tournament started. Me, Russian and Jaws were in the same team like on many other occasions (Jaws apparently dissed said: “Abay aik tou yeh mujhay paat nahi kyun lai laita hai hamesha!!”). Unexpectedly we did reached the finals but lost there. An accident occurred when Zeeshan Ghazi was pushed into the water (I don’t exactly remember by whom either by Sameer or Khurram) along with his mobile phone which almost got ruined. We had breakfast and had tea (thanks for that Zeeshan!). Since the pool had no covers no one dared to get in. a few people retreated for a nap and the others continued with the cards. I, not surprisingly, once again had nothing to do. My! My! Did I have some fun there! If this wasn’t enough we ran out of drinking water, the whole lot of it. Thirsty, bored we sat, had a photo session, which did not have the Habitual Offender (who is famous for being in every picture taken on a gathering, even if you are looking at a picture of a crab on the beach and there is a shadow that would be him, Khurram! The photo-king! :D) as he had gone to have a nap, and only when the pictures were shared did he come to know that there were picture taken which did not included him, and he blames me for that to date as I was the person who took the photographs. Around 12, the truck returned to take us back. Here this picnic ended but the bad luck didn’t left us until hours later, the gaming was the worst thing to happen that day, but perhaps the Restless knew his CS days were about to be over so he made sure that CS was played on each and every possible opportunity.

That was the last picnic we had; another one is being planned currently at Cape-mount beach, on Saturday 24^th May 2007. Lets see what becomes of it. Well, truly, I don’t blame Zeeshan (the Gay) for the “Farm-house on the Hill” fiasco, and I some what do blame him for that. Unless you don’t know about somewhere don’t claim it is good (which I remember Zeeshan did saying that he had seen the pictures and it looked good). I know a few people and Fahad Wali (he is not people) think that unless I don’t do something myself I don’t blame anyone for doing it wrong. But the thing is I don’t do something, which I can’t do well. I can’t give you guys a good picnic so I don’t try even getting one. But I can write, not for you, not for someone else, but for myself, so I will write, because this is what I like to do.

This last paragraph, and this whole blog I dedicate to Zeeshan Ghazi, not because I was intimated by some one but because I feel like doing so and know that without Zeeshan Ghazi we won’t have anything to eat at picnics, which is very vital. Thank you Zeeshan, for being there, as a fellow, and as a cook, and I must a very good one for a cook. You have taken out time from your own activities to prepare tea and food for us (literally I feel like a Jerk, a Moron, while writing this, but I feel this so I write this). Your presence is (though not very enjoyable with all the bullshits you keep on doing) important and dear to us. Thank you once again for being with us.

Take Care everyone, Ciao.

Picnics – a Bane or Boon? --- II

The gang was least aware of what was about to happen on the next trip to the farm house, The Black Door farm house. As the picnic season drew closer the discussions increased deciding where to go. One day The Bird came up with a suggestion for a farm house, some relative of his had visited a few days back. Since, all the others had no better ideas or resources to arrange for a farm house, the suggestion was accepted without any investigation. The day drew closer and the preparations were completed. This time the mode of transportation was a Pakistan Navy truck (courtesy of Mr. Lt. Ghazi F/O The Gay). All set the gang left for the place from Jauhar, the 9-0 of the gang. Half-way through someone asked the bird now where to go and he came up with a rather amusing reply “Yaar black gate hai us ka!”. Voila!!! The mystery was part-solved, the farm house had a black gate. Now it was so easy to find a farm house with a black gate. Lost in the area of Malir (I remember the Bhains Para there :P) we roamed here and there and again there and here, until someone came up with a silly idea of calling that person at the farm house. After hours of wandering in the wild the gang was escorted safely to the farm house, greeted with surprises apart from the frogs. The place barely had a room, the pool was smaller than the water tank at my place, no place to play, and lots of vegetation here and there. The party started with the placement of the organizer “The Bird” in the pool along with his valuables, followed closely by a few others. Soon all were inside the pool enjoying however they could. Haseeb, the true successor of “Slash” played us sweet erotic music all night long on the guitar Jaws had brought with him. Dinner was served, dinner was consumed. Swim, swim, swim, until the dawn arrived. As the sunlight shone on the natural habitat surrounding the gang, the fruits on the trees glowed magnificently, in such a manner that it brought out the Charles Darwin’s monkeys in some of the fellows. Mangoes were the primary target, absconded in their early ages the little-not-yet-sweet mangoes dropped from the tress like rain after a flurry of things ranging from stones to “The Bird” were thrown over it to get more and more of the sweet delicacy which was not sweet yet. Before the gardener was awake his Mango tree was raped of its beauty by the brutes. The major share went to Ghazi brothers, who promised a mango party at their place which is yet to arrive. The pool had no top over it, but still the helpless youths of BU had to swim. They waddled in the pool aimlessly all day long, until it was time to leave for home. For me at least it was not what we call a successful picnic. From getting lost to swimming under a bright hot sun all are factors that make a picnic unsuccessful but not a disaster, as the presence of friends is the real spirit of the picnic and not the place.

The almost-disastrous picnic left a bad taste in the mouth and it was almost a nightmare to think of another picnic. Time flew by until “The Restless” could stand no more. “Abay Haan! Aik buri picnic hogayee tou ab kabhi nahi hogi kya?” The restlessness made it impossible for the entire university to stay in the premises of the campus and soon somebody handed the contact details of a leisure resort to the lot. Services of the Panchayat were launched and soon the picnic got planned without any hassles. The restlessness was in fact present in all the members, only that they knew how to keep it concealed. Royal Paradise was a farm house owned by some distant relative of His Majesty Ahsan Akber, after a little alligator tears shed by some of the gang members, the farm house was booked. Departure took place from the same spot in the same mode of transportation. The picnic started off on a bad note, when the beloved sheer-maals got dropped somewhere in the commute. But soon all the gloom was washed away when the sight of the farm house greeted the gang. Awed by its grandness the gang spent the first many minutes exploring the place like a group of excited nursery kids placed inside a play area. This was a dream come true, a big ground *as big as a rugby field*, swings, a well lit large pool, paittee *tabletop football*, spacious rooms, neat kitchen, clean bathrooms *until…HAHAHAH*, security, what else does a soul need for picnic? Since once again the troop got lost in its way to the farm house the whole lot was a pack of hungry wolves. Dinner was served first and then no one could be stopped, in the pool, on the paittee, on the swings, out in the ground, all spread like it was the first time they were left out in their entire lives. After a heartful dip in the pool, the group started a new game they started handing each other the most violent punishment known to the human kind, the “Saza-e-****”. The homo*exuality-triggered activity was started by the two most known people of the kind. The “Russian heart throb” and the infamous “Boss”, both after grabbing each others’ limitless times were bent upon feeling others’ unmentionable parts *:P*. Almost everyone had to go through this at least once, with the exception of the “Russian” who went through the process many times, enjoying each one of them to its max. After the pool football, wrestling, hockey, cricket etc. ended, the guys decide to hit the big field with lush green grass. Football was chosen as the sport, even though none of them knows how to play it. Customized rules, varying length goals, fouls, breaking fingers (especially foot), nothing with that match was correct, but yet it was played. With a few accidents the game came to an end. It was followed closely by a small-scale cricket tournament *which I don’t remember exactly who won.*. All moved on to less tiring activities Paittee and cards till the dawn, and then again in the water. Tired to the limits, some of the guys again tried to play cricket but it was as clumsy as anything wayward shots, wayward deliveries, dropped catches, made it more of a comic movie rather than a proper game of cricket. As the day proceeded the fellows fell one by one, here and there, sleeping the tiredness off. Then a mystery happened, one of the bathrooms suddenly got choked. All were suspects in the initial phase but then it came down to a few, namely the Pathaan, The Restless and the Germ Don Dirtoo. Who polluted the clean bathroom? This mystery can not be solved to date. The pathaan was infuriated after being accused for the wrongful act which he pleaded he was not guilty of (the catch here was the way of DOING THE ACT). He even got physical with the bird that had to fly to get support. But here ended a successful picnic on a beautiful location. Literally if there is some farm house I will like to visit again it would be this one.

To be Continued...*last part*

Picnics – a Bane or Boon?

For the Bahria University’s Fall-2002 batch, picnics have been the most difficult and troublesome plans to put to task. With a variety of people part of the group, the needs of each one of them had to be met to not to offend or make anyone angry. The schedule is usually revised twice or thrice to set a suitable date for the picnic. But usually some people have issues with that particular date too, but this is all part of such events as they involve a large number of individuals each having a separate life with commitments.

The “Panchayat” were usually the flag-bearer behind the whole idea. The Panchayat included the 5 most active caliphs of the section, namely, “The habitual Offender”, “The Restless”, “The Bird”, “The Kabab” and some fifth person usually “The Gay”.

The First Step was to decide where to go; yet again the problem of “too many cooks” came into play as each one had a different opinion of where to go and where not to go. Discussions sprouted all over the section. Everyone could be spotted trying to convince the non-goers to join the party to increase the amount of funds and also fun, but mainly funds. Usually one individual was approached by at least 6 to 7 people sequentially and by the time the last one arrived the culprit would usually have had said yes to the offer.

As soon as the date and place was decided the responsibilities were automatically allocated to each one of the caliphs as soon as the dates were decided. “The Bird” was responsible for the financial management of the event and calculating how much each individual will have to pay. “The habitual Offender” was usually responsible for retrieving the funds for the picnic from the going and even the non-going people *=(*. “The Restless” – well he usually remained so restless about the event that it was hard to assign him a duty, but still he was responsible for motivating and gathering more and more people for the event. “The Kabab” was responsible for the food and “The Gay” was usually responsible for the transportation.

Even though these events should be more people-managed then being panchayat-managed but just to play the blame game the management task was assigned to the panchayat. Out of the 6 picnics, the management had to bear criticism for 3 of them, as the participants included some hard-liners, like the GecKo and the “Russian heart-throb” who were very quality conscious and required that everything be perfect or not be there at all.

After all the fund gathering was completed the responsible took-off for their individual tasks. Food, transport and location all were booked and it was made sure nothing was left out, which always happened. Out of the six picnics to have been arranged to date 4 were on a farm-house and two were on the beach. The latest one was held in the mid of last year at a farm house. The picnic was not doubt the worst ever planned picnic. The fun was marred by something totally unexpected.

I have personally attended, 5 out of the 6 picnics. The First one was the one I had skipped as then I did not have enough faith on the boys whom I was going out with. The second one was also planned on the beach, which I agreed to go to due to the fact that I couldn’t avoid the “pressurize-to-wipe-the-brain” therapy and also because by that time the boys had earned a bit more faith and respect in my eyes. This picnic was carefully chalked out and had very less or almost no flaws at all. The only thing that gloomified the picnic for a
few was the announcement of the semester result. Besides this the picnic was enjoyed to its most and remains one of my most memorable ones. Unfortunately, like mentioned above there was no camera available to store the happy and content faces of the picnickers who executed a successfully planned picnic.

From there onwards no picnics were arranged on the beach. The gang apparently got enchanted by the charm of the farm houses and wanted to have a go at this particularly new mode of picnics. The new experiment didn’t went that bad initially, the four farm houses we encountered were Adeel’s farm-house (Al-Syed), Black-gate farm-house (Mithoo knows the name only), The Best farm-house (Royal Paradise), The Worst farm-house (only zeeshan knows the name and its better than only he knows it). Out of the four experiences the first one (Al-Syed) and the second last (Royal Paradise) experiences were out-of-this-world ones.

The first experience was the most well-planned as it was the first one for almost all. The farm house had three sub-farms A, B, C. We made a booking for farm A. But since the farm was experiencing load-shedding *thanks to our power-supplying-tyrant KESC* and we were routed to farm B instead which was a heaven in Karachi. It had this big grassy ground, a very big pool and a large hall-like room. The most exciting thing about this picnic was that it included all of us even Salman Shahid and Farhan Sana. After a hell-of-a-night in the pool (which also made very clear what The Kabab considered as “mazaq” and what “not mazaq”) and a double wicket tournament in the twilight the money was well received and all were quiet tired. But the excitement incited everyone to go beyond their usual powers. The morning was gloomified *this time for all of us* by the caretaker as he came and informed “Bachoo! Yeh tumhara hissa nai hai…udher apnay walay hissay mein jao”. With great reluctance the gang agreed, the journey to the other portion started and ended shortly. The day was ruined when the first person went up to the pool to have a peep in it. The water was green-colored, OMG! Moss!!!! Hopes went down and all started cursing the caretaker *a few (lead by The Restless) ran away back to the old pool to have another dip in secretly but their plan was foiled when the caretaker came back with a stick :P but the Restless one was in the pool much before that :D*. Alas! All were sitting beside the pool thinking what to do now. Started throwing things inside the pool *being a Pakistani it was our duty to destroy what is not ours in a riot!*. Here another fun activity awaited us, DABBU. Many engrossed in this dry activity and started having fun again. All were like zombies then murmuring FUN! FUN! Whatever provided fun the whole mob turned towards it. When one went back to the pool the whole came back to the pool. The Restless one kept running between the two until there became a path in the grass from the DABBU to the Pool. Then a surprising thing happened one of the zombies jumped into the pool. The others watched from the ledge whether he survived or melted in the polluted green water. But surprise he came out alive and started laughing, all were shocked, it seemed the water contained some chemical which caused a person to laugh like mad. But then the Flower Khan *the ganda zombie who jumped into the dirty pool :D* said “Abay the bottom of the pool is green colored!!!”. All were like WTF! Green colored pool bed. !@#%$, #$%$@ and then one by one almost all jumped in except the few moronic zombies who still had doubts. The day ended on a good note and all were happy after executing back to back successful picnics.

To be Continued...

An Ode to an enemy

The fearless GecKo® fears none. Until he is not dead the opposing team is not at rest, anxious every minute that the GecKo might come from anywhere and annihilate the whole squad in one go. This fear keeps the other team on its toes and causes them to camp here and there, which in GecKo’s gaming books is an unforgivable sin, or use automatic weapons like the SMG which in the gaming community is not considered as professional gamers weapon of choice.

GecKo® loves challenges but almost all the fellow-gamers are easy targets for him, except a few. One of them is now a goner as he does not come to the gaming much often. Besides that person the only person GecKo loves to face is ReaperMani formerly known as RoboMani.

Why ReaperMani? ReaperMani has the most extensive experience of the Counter Strike game. He has been playing CS for three or more years now. He had started playing up against bots which are computer-programmed players. This gave him a head start when the others chose/ started playing CS. Soon after all the fellows adopted CS as their favorite activity together, GecKo started playing CS too on his Local Area Network and it soon became his obsession. He learned and learned, played against the best of the players on the LAN and soon surpassed the skills of the fellow players.

Even having the LAN experience which the others lacked, GecKo revered two players most Sameer and ReaperMani, as somehow they always managed to get the better side of GecKo. Sameer too had been playing on the LAN but had been going on and off so his experience wasn’t as much as GecKo’s but his skills were at par with that of GecKo * =D.

ReaperMani has also been one of the most consistent performer on the CS Nights programs. He has not only played but also acted as an unsolicited captain for his side as he usually gives the call-outs to the fellow players. He has a complete skill set with adequate sniping skills and superb assaulting skills. Besides this the accurate and proper usage of supporting items like the Flash bangs and Grenades makes him an even more difficult and tough opponent to encounter. His gaming sense is very correct and utilizes hearing to his favor very effectively.

Every famous player like the GecKo has to face some criticism sooner or later. ReaperMani was accused of playing under the shelter of Sameer who was young and in his bloom those days =D. But soon this accusation was turned to a mere murmur as ReaperMani proved that his skills were what made him a tough opponent and not Sameer’s close association. He proved this fact the day he was cast in the team playing against Sameer. Besides getting Sameer, ReaperMani also managed to get the top scores in all the rounds. The people accusing ReaperMani had to admit his supreme skills and accept the fact that he was a better player. One of the accusers was GecKo himself.

“ReaperMani is THE best when it comes to backup.” - Sameer

“The only difference between the two sides was Mani.” - GecKo

At the last CS Nights gathering held on Saturday 12^th April 2008, ReaperMani yet again played his heart out to get his team close call wins over an equally placed opponent which had a superb sniping front lead by Capt. He not only lead his team very well but also managed the team mates efficiently, having the three most nagging players on your side and scoring even after that is for sure what we call skill.

A Perfect weekend – a set of 6 tragic stories

This is a highly satirical story and the author bears no responsibility if the person reading gets angry or mad or both. The writer just wrote what he felt was ok and gives a *uck if the readers mind it or not, so read it on your own. Enjoy suckers!

P.S. words tat you don’t get, either Google them or look for them in http://www.urbandictionary.com/

A Perfect weekend – a set of 6 tragic stories

Story # 1: Till death do us part…

*BACHELOR LIFE ANYMORE? HOSPITAL -- Operation theater* on a table lies a fat bellied-young man looking extremely exhausted and worn out, hair fallen off, seems as if a 30 something man is lying.

Looks at the sweet young strawberry colored nurse and smiles, the nurse smiles back but then looks at the wedding ring in the hand the smile fades away.

The operation starts, a famous doctor looks for signs of the bachelor life.

The bachelor-life-display shows little spikes which increase as the sweet young nurse comes near, and decreases when the nurse moves away.

The doctor sends the nurse out and asks for a male nurse.

As the male nurse enters the bachelor-life-display goes mad.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep…beeeeep…Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep…beeeeep…

Nurse: 300 Volts coming!

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep…beeeeep…Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep…beeeeep…

Nurse: 400 Volts coming!

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep…Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep…Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Nurse: 450 Volts!

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

*Silence*

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ---- *display turned off*

Doctor steps out of the room turns to the 8 people standing, says: “Sorry!”

*Silence! – A sob or two in the background*

Profile:

Name: Married-one
Age: 24 Yrs
Marital Status: Married
Cause of separation from the living: The impossible effort of living in two different worlds at the same time.

*Standing amongst the many mourners is, a Chief Justice, a student, a baingun, a shabbily dressed employee, a black-listed, a biased critic, a shop-keeper and the author.

The CJ looks down for a minute, looks up and says: “It was a pleasure meeting you all here, sorry but I have a press conference to attend”

The student says: “This is a sad thing to happen”

The baingun rolled away silently.

The black-listed: “Sigh! Atleast now I am not on the list”

The biased-critic said in an airily tone: “NO never”

The shabbily dressed employee said: “Baray hi farigh ho tum loog jo idhar agaye.”

The shop-keeper silent did not have enough credit to say anything.

The author *scribbling down hastily whatever he hears and sees.

Story # 2: STFU...Amadeus your symphonies are worse than a worn out carousel!

The biased-critic, sits down on his table littered with audio cassettes and CDs of famous bollywood singers. Two young men standing in front of the table looking slightly shaky. Outside chants of “Josh! Josh!” audible enough to wake a drugged patient.

Critic: “I-------have heard you can sing?”

Lead singer: “Yes sir, we can in fact we have recently…”

Critic: “So what genre-------do you do?”

The turbaned band member: “Sir jee, bhangra basically but we also do…”

Critic: “Sing something”

The turban man starts playing a little guitar, the singer: “Josh naal paa bhangra….”

Critic: “Stop! What is this…have you ever practiced singing in your life?”

The two stood silently ashamed.

Critic: “Sing something else”

The young men kept singing, but the critic kept interrupting and in the last said get out both of you. Useless pieces of shit!

The two singers scuttled out of the room.

The critic picks up the oldest model of a Samsung mobile and dials a number on it.

Tone, tone.

A harsh sound at the other end says: “Hello”

*Sound of traffic in the background*

Critic: “------------Hell---Lo”

CJ *at the other end*: “Yes what you say of the two?”

Critic: “No never!”

CJ: “Hmmm!”

Critic: “Hey, do you know the bus W-21 has a very strange route, it goes from Tariq Road, comes out from….”

CJ: “Abay tou mein kya karoon!”

*Line disconnected*

Story # 3: Chef’s Just-ice

CJ: “Hello commissioner”

Commissioner: “Kaun hai batameez?”

CJ: “Challllllllllllooooooooooooo!”

Commissioner *recognizing the CJ*: “Sorry sir, I thought it was someone else, sorry sir, sorry!”

CJ: “Okay okay! Listen two young men have left The Critic’s house just now, ask your men to arrest them and bring them to the PRESS CLUB”

Commissioner: “Yes sir!”

CJ: “Hello, do you know where the press club is????”

Commissioner: “Yes sir, near Zainab Market”

CJ: “Hehehehehehehe, no it’s on the Club road, and what about Singer chowrangi?”

Commissioner: “Korangi”

CJ: “No, Korangi Industrial area…heheheheheheh, and…”

Commissioner *now really pissed*: “Sir the two would escape I have to call my men too”

CJ: “Oh yeah, what the hell are you doing talking to me, go arrest them!”

*Line disconnected*

Commissioner: “Chu*ya”

CJ: “I am sure he would have called me a chu*ya just now, is ki bhi marni hai, secretary write down his name in the list too, driver what the *uck are you driving a donkey-cart?”

Driver: “Sorry sir, sorry”

CJ *silently under lips*: “Hehehehehehehe! Tight mari!”

*CJ in a press conference called at 1:15AM – the two young man handcuffed and flabbergasted standing in the front with the press taking there pictures*

CJ: “I hereby announce that I feel that these two won’t reach up to my levels expectations of performance and therefore, I sentence them to 12 years of prison-labor and after that 15 times death sentence and a penalty of US$100,000,000.”

Journalist standing nearby: “Sir but have you ever seen them perform?”

CJ: “No!”

Journalist: “Then how can you say that they…?”

CJ: “I said in the very first sentence that I feel...that they won’t be good”

Journalist: “but…”

CJ *apparently pissed on being questioned*: “and I also hereby sentence this journalist…” tries to look at his name on the PRESS card “whatever to the same penalty that I announced for them!”

Journalist: “But, sir...why?....no!...no!!!”

Police arrives handcuffs the journalist.

CJ: “The press conference is over!”

Another Journalist: “That’s it?”

CJ: “Do you want to join that person too?”

Turning to his secretary, says: “Do remind me I have two free lunches, three free dinners, and have a free concert to attend tomorrow evening.”

Story # 4: Azaadi Package

The black-listed got out of the hospital feeling very relaxed and eased and with a smile on his face.

The author: “Hey wasn’t he your friend?”

Black-listed: “Yeah he still is but since he’s gone now, the list is gone too, I am free now. Free! Hahahahahahahaha”

The author: “Ok, so what you gonna do now?”

The black-listed: “Celebrate of course”

The author: “How?”

Black-listed: “I am going over to The Student’s place have heard he’s got some new stuff.”

The author: “Hey I have heard that Josh is coming to Bahria, how about the concert, btw, I asked the student for some *** the student said a big NO. He said you had asked him not to give it away, have you? And yeah what kid of stuff has he acquired?”

The black-listed: “Bhai, your bro has left music, movies etc. so a big NO to CONCERTS and MOVIE NIGHTS. And yes I have asked him not to increase the damn of ***. And errrr…some new stuff you wont understand. Btw Jaws would be there too.”

The author: “Hmm good you left music and movies, pray we get rid of it too, and say my regards to Jaws.”

Black-listed: “Ok, see you around then!”

*Started the bike and rode away in the darkness*

Hours later, the author was walking down a quite road, he sees a person coming from the other end.

Story # 5: Hitchhiked

The shabbily dressed employee left the last cause he was the one best friend of the no-more-bachelor one. They claimed to know and be the best friends of each other since the first semester. The shabbily dressed employee came out and found the author standing alone.

Employee: “Hey author still here?”

Author: “Yeah was talking to black-listed, he just left.”

Employee: “Need a lift?”

Author: “Sure”

Employee *starting the bike*: “Hop on then”

Author: “I presume you are going to work?”

Employee: “Yeah! I am sure you guessed that by the way I look”

Author: “Errr…yeah! So what do you feel about the married-one?”

Employee: “Ah! He was my first semester friend, I am saddened by his loss.”

Author: “Hmm, I feel sad too, he was a nice person…sometimes!”

Employee: “Hahahahahahha…bahat tyt author…bahat tyt….hahahahhaha!”

Author: “Employee, I have heard there’s a concert at the university, interested in coming?”

Employee: “Haan of course kyun nahi...but we will go without paying the gate fee…4 saal ______ thori marayee hai Bahria mein…”

Author thinking why? Why? Not buy passes have they all forgotten the Alumni dinner fiasco?

Author: “You can drop me here, employee thank you very much.”

Employee *looking at the author lasciviously*: “Oh no author anything for you!”

Author: “Oh just give it a break! You couldn’t lay down a girl let aside a fully grown man, go to work!”

And with this the author started walking towards the dark corner which led to his home. From far away he sees a silhouette moving towards him.

Looking closely the author recognizes it was his friend Jaws.

Author: “Hey jaws!”

Jaws: “…………….oh! hey”

Author: “How are you dude?”

Jaws: “hmm good…BC Chelsea lost a lolly-pop game”

Author: “Hmm…so what up these days?”

Jaws: “Chu*yapa…Chelsea must have won tonight”

Author: “Okay! Hey you were at student’s palce where is black-listed?”

Jaws: “Abay itni dair sai baitha dekh raha tha *** ab kahan hoga…zahir hai bathroom mein hai!”

The two parted soon, the author walks away silently, jaws’ voice audible meters away cursing Chelsea.

Story # 6: The beginning of the end

The author reached home, feeling glad that the next day, Saturday, was off. Off Saturdays were authors’ most favorite days of the month, which he spent doing nothing but watching TV, playing CS and hanging out with friends.

He saw his brother preparing for the concert at the university next day. He felt a deep pang of pain inside thinking he won’t be going to any concert all thanks to his friend’s non-serious-about-the-damned–concert attitude. He sat down and thought about his friends;

1- Married-one: cant go he’s dead bachelorly.

2- The Black-listed: Ah! Khuda kai liay

3- The Shabbily dressed employee: Sure he would go, he SAYS so.

4- The Chief Justice: Only if I buy his tickets

5- The Critic: NO never

6- The baingun: *Thinking his brother is the security visualizes the baingun rolling away in whatever direction*

7- The Student: *Don’t know hadn’t asked yet cause he is so busy*

8- The Shopkeeper: Well one man ready besides me but his decision is depending upon the democracy. Will go when all will go.

Ah, so much for the concert. The author rolled over and went to sleep at an unknown hour of the night.

The next day starts, the author sees again his brother preparing for the concert his heart falls down in the pits of his stomach. He walks away, still feeling drowsy and feeling like spending the whole glorious Saturday sleeping. After having breakfast he sits down for the usual the TV and the Computer. After hours he thinks about something hey what about the usual Saturday gaming! Delightedly he picked up his cell phone and types in a question asking his friends whether they could make it to the gaming. The result as he was anticipating was poor. Half of the people questioned replied, and since the count of the pupil could not reach up to the desired number the program got cancelled. He texted all the members about the annulment of gaming.

Author: “SPLENDID!! NO CONCERT! AND NOW NO GAMING! *UCK”

His phone rings. He picks answers the phone, it was the student on the other end.

Student: “Hey friend, what are the plans for today?”

Author: “No plans dude!”

Student: “Why?”

Author: “No one going to the concert not enough people for the gaming”

Student: “Okay…then I am going to the concert, you coming?”

Author *thinks for a second, then he thinks about the previous occasions he calculates what percent of fun he’d be having with just the student and his new friends and the baingun*: “Ah! No thanks buddy you go ahead, you’ll have your class fellows there, I’ll stay home, when the electric power comes back I will sit down and play CS at home!”

Student: “Okay, Allah Hafiz then.”

Author: “Allah Hafiz”

*Line disconnected*

Have fun, the author thought.

The black-listed texted in, “Hey lets have a match we can be five, what do you say?” the author replied back that they’d be only four. The black-listed replied “Ok leave it then.” Soon the electricity came back, and the author went to the PC, but the issues with his network made him even madder and he went to bed early.

The next day started late and crept into the afternoon and then the evening. The author’s mobile rang, he had received a text message.

“Hey bhaioon ajj CS khailayn”

The author, pissed replied, “Sorry busy today!”

After pressing the send button the author thinks, I am giving away today’s opportunity and chance of fun too. He typed another message, “Do let me know about it, I have to attend a Soyem, will see if I can manage.”

He felt pleased thinking they might have a gaming now. His mobile phone rang again, he had a message. He opened it and read it as he read through the words his heart went from the darker-shade-of-maroon to almost black. The text message read “No gaming not enough guys!”. Ah what a perfect weekend I have had, voila! The author angrily sat down and thought lets write a blog entry about this atrocious behavior of his friends, the author wrote and wrote and wrote…

…and now he thinks at the end of this blog that, yaar if I had a boring weekend some of them must have had a boring weekend too. Anyways it was just this one weekend in the many past weeks perhaps a year. It is not as bad as I think it is. I did played some CS. For my friends who didn’t knew the concert on Saturday ended at 1:50AM, Josh performed well but the orchestra wasn’t playing they were playing to recorded music. Aarooh was the usual. Many outsiders, strict, rephrase Very Strict security, a private security organization was hired. Pass for outsiders cost Rs.500, student’s cards were checked, and since we have given away our cards therefore, we are officially outsiders, the pass we thought we’d get for 250 would have cost us 500 apiece. So Luckily I say you guys made a wise choice for once in your life. Here I end this story smiling on my self, for this story I have written, 9 page of MS Word. But we should have played the CS guys! Anyways, PRO Player GecKo would feel great pleasure in kickin’ your arses next week. Adieus.

...the best men win!!

I would like to start this blog with congratulations to Mani for his sister's wedding which took place this Saturday and a huge round of applause for Mr. Khurram for winning the challenge.

The last week was a very busy one for everyone. The new chatmail, has become the source of weekly entertainment for all. Two threads that were started, both managed to pull in 100 posts each. Free-flowing replies, colorful appearances and a conference environment, made it a perfect base to discuss important issues like, all gatherings, current affairs and other issues that need group discussion. All thanks to Mr. GecKo for the ingenious invention *though Mani claims that it all started somewhere else, but the real beginning of its true usage started with Mr. GecKo’s post “CS on Wednesday?? *Holiday on account of Hajj*, anyways, it is a speculation that Google might adopt and introduce it as a product soon!...Lol!*

The main topic of discussion last week was Mani’s sister’s wedding invitation, which concluded on a one on one challenge between the GecKo and Khurram *at Counter Strike!! =P*.

Due to wedding being held on Saturday, the CS Nights®© program was moved to Sunday evening. Hashmi as usual was ON the peak of excitement *I can visualize him jumping there too!! CS Dada CS!* for the CS on Sunday…though I am sure he wont like to remember it for much long. The fresh features of the Special gaming session were; A new line up and the Main Event “GecKo vs Khurram”. This gaming was a highly anticipated one, with many predictions and a great WAR OF WORDS *a little bit of gambling was involved in it too! Yeah who else except the corrupt Boss!* fought between the two adversaries and compatriots.

Late as usual GecKo reached the GZ panting, and was greeted with a big round of abuses and curses =P *wats new in it?*. Khurram was being handed a walk over, but some people thought it would be better to have the Match instead. Here I would like to mention one thing and that is, GecKo is not a very good pressure handling person rather I should say he is very poor at it. The main reason as I see it, that GecKo lost the match to Ghost Rider was the same one due to which he lost yesterday’s one on one challenge. Trembling, shivering, conscious, these are not the things you would want to have in you when you are playing a match publicly. And not very surprisingly all of these were present in GecKo to the extreme. As GecKo says, “I need to learn how to hold a mouse in a match without making it shake like a vibrator =P”. What Mr. Khurram said proved true, that he is a player who can handle the pressure well and I agree with that. It all comes down to one thing here and that is the exposure to pressure. GecKo being a very non-sportish person, has never appeared before a crowd *he did skits and even recited a naat, even though his voice sucks! And he says he used to give speeches in assembly in junior school, but since middle school it has been a no show for GecKo!*. Whereas, on the other hand Khurram is habitual of pressure situations as he is an avid cricket player *and a damn good one for that!*.

Trembling and shaking, GecKo managed to sweep in the first round of the 1o1 match with a score of 10 – 6, and got a huge push of confidence, which served him well in the upcoming team matches. He trampled the opposing team, with spectacular game play and demonstrated superb skills. The team Hashmi with one person lacking, never managed to put up a decent fight. They got outclassed in de_dust2 and the first round of de_inferno, in both of the rounds GecKo scored tons. GecKo then went downstairs to play with team Hashmi and it got proven that lack of one person makes a lot of difference for the other team. Team Hashmi managed to win the last round of de_inferno, and both rounds of the de_dust2 (limited rounds). The main point that was to be noted in all the matches was the low score of Mr. Ghost Rider, his rival “pronounced as re-val”, Seema on the other hand was in top notch and was leading his side very effectively. Mr. Ghost Rider’s claim that he is a slow starter claimed to be a false one as he never managed to get going.

After the team matches it was decided to wrap up the 1o1 challenge match. GecKo was not that much trembling but still was very nervous, Ghost Rider tried to pressurize GecKo with his nerve-breaking-shitty talking, but apparently he didn’t knew GecKo was extremely nervous already and had no room for any more nervousness. GecKo lost the second round of the match *played in afk_6killer* to Mr. Khurram with a score of 6 – 10. Mr. Khurram then suggested that, a tie breaker should be played between the two competitors. Fy_snow was suggested and a single round was played. GecKo started real well, 6 – 2, at one time, came down very heavy to 8 – 8. From there onwards, GecKo got the ‘shake’ back and lost the round to 8 – 10. Not a very surprising thing for him, as he was anticipating the defeat, he said the day he challenged Khurram, “I know I will loose this match, after seeing myself play against Ghost Rider. I might have a lot of moral support but I don’t need that, it’s the nerval support I need. But nobody knows I might pull it off too! But still I would say, May the better man win!”.

GecKo lost, Khurram won. This was not just the only 1o1 played that day. Another new thing brought to public attention by GecKo*what would they even do without him..sheesh!* were the 1o1s, matches between, Hitman and Chunnu, Ghost Rider and Chunnu, Abis and Capt, and Sameer and Abis, were eagerly watched and heartily appreciated. The results were as follows;

Macth - Winner

Hitman Vs. Chunnu - Chunnu

Sameer Vs. Abis - Abis

Capt Vs. Abis - Draw

GhostRider Vs. Chunnu - Chunnu

In all of these matches I would like to bring only one thing to your notice and that is; GhostRider is a very incompetent player, who relies heavily on FBs and camping, who also plays only for the points. This is said with no intention to hurt his feelings, this is just a general opinion about his game from my side. This fact was evident in his one on one against chunnu. He did not use the FBs in the first round of the 1o1 match and he lost that round. The very next round he used the FBs excessively and managed to Draw the challenge. The tie breaker to be played in fy_snow *suggested to chunnu by GecKo – he was going to start another round of afk* disabled Ghost to make any purchases. Thus, Ghost became helpless and was down 5 – 0, he then managed get a few shots but was outclassed by Chunnu, who indeed is a much better player and has a much better game sense. The defeat of Ghost was nothing new, you cant expect a man of his age to have lightening fast reflexes and ability to fight without paralyzing the opponent in front *FBs – Flash Bangs, wipes out the visibility of the effected person, making him/her blind*. A blinded opponent I dare say can put up a fight against a person with full visibility *Sameer lost to Abis because of FBs and Bombs*. And that is how Ghost managed to pull off the match against GecKo, though this is not the only reason GecKo lost, as he won the second round of that 1o1 match with Ghost flashing as usual. There have been moments when Ghost has surpassed all his team members with some superb gaming skills, but again those moments are not very usual.

In the end, I would like to say that, GecKo is perhaps a House-GecKo and there is no doubt that he has a much, much better game there. With very accurate sniping skills and one-two bullet sure shots, he is almost invincible. But perhaps this 1o1 match thing at a remote location is just a too big ball game for him to handle. But as he says, “I am sure, the CS would die soon if I stopped bragging about my skills, and as a Chief Organizer I have to make sure that does not happen, besides whose bragging you bi**h that’s the truth, I am the Game! So bring it on!”.

Saquib Hyder,
Official Correspondent to
GecKo™
Chief Organizer CS Nights®©