Today a post subject very different; different from the usual ones.

The reason for writing is partially personal and partially to ask you the gurus in the field a very simple question. Yet its answer may not be that simple.

There are many a times in one’s career when you feel that there is a need to do more, go an extra mile to achieve the set goals. Yes the loyalists do go an extra mile and succeed.

However there are times when the individual feels that “how many times does the employee go an extra mile?”. When should an individual be selfish ( read fair) just for once and think about his / her own career rather than about the company? How many times does the organization go an extra mile and do something out of the ordinary for you?

There are numerous articles on how the individuals contribute to organizational success. But is it a one-way action? Why do HR functions tend to overlook such situations?

Probably there are more questions to this post rather than answers. Someday, probably someday when I have answers to these questions, i will be able to paint a better picture.

A cross post from my telco blog (Point to Ponder @ Zumbeel). Happy reading and commenting.

http://zumbeel.net/blog/pointtoponder/2009/07/30/packaging-3g-4g-users-of-developing-countries/

This morning when I open up my inbox to check the salary slip for the current month, I am totally infuriated to see a new type of tax on my  monthly salary.

I for one somehow missed out the news of newly imposed tax (5%) on the Salary class. Yes there is no doubt in the misfortune of the people displaced due to the war on terror, but why a tax on the salaried class? What is the govt doing with the billions of Rs. they get from the salaried class every-month in the name of Income Tax? What are they using it on? As if the inflation has taken a nose dive that we are getting taxed more and more.

We a country of 170 odd million people are taxed in every way day by day. Yet the govt and their so called advisory goons are bent upon getting more from its people (most of them from middle and lower middle classes). What have the government done with the billions of Rs. they received in grant Aid they received from around the world? Are they taxing us for the food and water they are providing to the displaced? Is this food and water being imported from US, EU or where! To mention the details of few of the Aid sources

1) Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan

2) US Aid

3) Local Orgs

This is looting of the highest order! When was the last time some govt official came up to the media and shared with us Pakis what has been received, how much used and how much left!

When i shared this finding with one my friends earlier today he goes, this is not the only tax we salaried people have to pay. The Vehicle Registration Authority is also charging a tax on top of the yearly Registeration fee in Islamabad. I am not sure of whether this is happening in other cities or not.

I am simply speechless yet fuming!

کاش میں ماں  سے کھ سکتا کھ میں تھک چکا ہوں
 کاندھے پر سر رکھ کراس کے کچھ دیر سونا چاہتا ہوں
زندگی اس قدر کٹھن ہو جائے گی شمیم
انجانی راہوں پر چل کر بکھر چکا ہوں

Image Source: www.beatcanvas.com/

This problem wasnt life-threatening but sudden problems in the home / office computer really bug me a lot. Recently the office system was afflicted :p with MS word problems.

Older files did not open in MS word, normal.dot file kept on asking to be replaced/changed. Similar issues in MS Outlook (which uses MS word as the editor).

Finally i got hold of this link which helped solve the problem at the 2nd step only.

Thanks to the author!

Just saw this news item in today’s Dawn. Orascom has started due diligence for RBS-Pakistan. Now are we seeing another Telco-Fin Merger / take over in process?

Telenor Pakistan took the first step back in q4 2008 to close the deal with Tameer Micro finance bank (a relatively much smaller financial institute) and acquired 51% stakes in it. This is part of their long term plans to provide the end customers with better telecommunication and financial services to the length and breadth of the country.

The dynamics of the Pakistan industry are changing. This together with the effects of recession (read another article here) are rapidly affecting how organizations (SMEs, blue-chips) work now.

Lets keep our fingers crossed and see how the things shape up for the Telco and Financial industry in the next two quarters.

“I am planning to hunt for a better job, out of Karachi”. Probably these were the words that I said to everyone in my family somewhere in early 2007.  I was too frustrated while looking for a permanent position in my home city. Nothing seemed to work out. 

Suddenly one day an offer dropped in from one cellular operator for a positon in ISB and yet another one from another operator for a position in LHR. Things started to roll. Allah bestowed me with these opportunities. The moment of decision arrived.

I had to make a decision with the available choices – Stay back and look for something in KHI, select the position in ISB or the one in LHR.

“Its been two years since you left home and moved to ISB”, said my mother this evening. Countless questions roam my mind today as they have done so in the past couple of years. Some answered, others yet to be answered.

Life has moved fast, hours into days, days to months and months to years. I had never planned for that long a stay away from home. 

Lyrics from the movie Tera Zameen Par Song “Maa” touch my ears..

Have a read here at my Zumbeel blog.

Just checked out this interesting search pattern on my stats page. There was a time i was facing a situation of seeing the number 13 in different forms. Older post here at WP. So the image here indicates other people too are looking for similar phenomenon happening to them in their lives.

Yes, its packup time. Shifting to another location in ISB. Was looking for accomodation. But searching for a good enough and economical place in ISB is a nightmare. Sometimes the agents blast the deal and sometimes the landlord. It is tiring and at the same time challenging!

With most of the landlords greedy enough to bite your back and asking such ridiculous questions like.. Your company must be paying the rent for you? How many kids do you have? Whats their age? Agreed its their property and no-one likes to have his beautifully earned house destroyed. But then again it makes you feel and shout out loud.. “We are humans for Gods sake..”

But there’s another side to this story as well. Some tennants are really non-sensical and do damage to the property.

Finally our deal was struck on the eve of Ramzan with place and people nice enough to go ahead.

So finally its packing time!