Muskurahatey

With some of the most disturbing and depressing incidents in recent times and our super busy schedules, there are very few things which makes you happy and gives a sense of peace and one of them is giving back to the society in whatever manner one can. It is not just giving humongous amount of money into charity but something as small as planting a tree will also give the same sense of being a responsible individual and giving back to the society in whatever way one can.

Organizations as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility also carry out such practices as consumers are becoming more conscious now about how socially active the companies are and even though the concept of CSR is not as popular in Pakistan as it is in other countries, the MNCs here are making it a point to give back to the society somehow and carry out their global programs in Pakistan too. Because of this, the local companies are also becoming socially active and have started playing their part in giving back to the society too.

Subtle grins or squeaky giggles or a burst of laughter of children is all what we need at times to catch on the positivity and if you get to be the reason which makes them smile, nothing is better than that.

Recently, Shield Corporation Limited carried out a small CSR campaign by the name of Muskurahatey in Kachi Memon School which is a school for children from not so economically stable families.

Muskurahatey was carried out to carry out a small interactive session with kids and make it a fun experience for them and at the same time tell them the importance of oral care and water conservation at the same time. It also propagated how smiling automatically makes them happy healthy individuals and how they should continue smiling with healthy teeth.

Also, as part of another activity by Shield in SZABIST, they collected messages from university students to give to these underprivileged students and eventually get their voice across that they are equally important to the society and their happiness is equally valued.

Hopefully other organizations in Pakistan also adopt some sort of CSR and make it a point to give back to the society in whatever way they can. The consumers should also become aware of the responsibility of the organizations and prefer the ones which are socially active while taking business decisions.

For A Greener Pakistan!

 

The other day I was talking to my colleagues about the rapid increase of the number of cars in Pakistan and how much of a hassle it has become, not only in terms of traffic but also in terms of the pollution levels in Pakistan.

All of this got me thinking about how we’ve all become so busy in progressing in our lives and “industrializing” Pakistan, we’ve completely ignored the effect it is having on the environment of Pakistan. Pakistan, of all the countries, have become less “green” then before. There should be a balance between everything that we do, be it work and life, healthy and junk food, family and friends or even the big things like progressing as Pakistan both industrially and environmentally.

I personally am a strong believer of the saying “little drops make up a river and little rivers make up an ocean”. So by doing our part, collectively, we can have a big impact on the environmental conditions of Pakistan. I say that now it’s finally time to change and give this issue a thought before it gets out of hand.

I have personally started taking great interest in gardening and have started spending some time with my ‘Maali’. After talking to him about what was on my mind he began educating me regarding the benefits and the necessity of plants around us. He clearly understood how important plants are in our lives and why we need to take care of them all the time. They’re sensitive beings and they need proper care and they pay us back heavily in return for that amount of time you invest in them.

Most of us know instinctively that being close to greenery makes us feel more at ease with our surroundings. We experience less stress when there are plants around us. Buildings are quieter and more relaxed but, at the same time, more stimulating and interesting. Other than that, they also have immense effect on our health. The plants around us produce the most important thing for our survival; oxygen. They clean the air around us nullifying the negative impact of pollution that we, as humans, create. Namely, they get rid of harmful gases like benzene and nitrogen oxide. They even lower the temperature around us and we all know how important that is living in a country like Pakistan that falls right on the equator.

The basic purpose of writing this blog was to bring to our attention how we’ve overlooked the environmental aspect and are conveniently moving on with our lives. I want to propose to everyone that by doing small things towards the betterment of the environment we can eventually have a greater overall impact. I live in Phase 8, DHA, Karachi and I’ve started planting small plants along with my Maali in nearby areas where possible. I have also asked my neighbors to pitch in their ideas and support so that I can achieve much more. A few have agreed to help out, others have offered financial support. I have set out towards a better, environmentally friendly and, most importantly, a “greener” Pakistan. You guys should too.

Start small with planting at your homes and making at least your surroundings healthier. You will notice a soothing and a healthier environment around you and we all know that if we’re all healthy then we’ll have a healthy Pakistan.

Hash Tag Death!

I’m new to Twitter but I am eager to learn so I’ve been doing some research on how to properly use Twitter. Actually, the basic idea behind my research was to get to know of all the functions of Twitter.

Anyways, I came across a rather weird post while looking up the usability of hashtags on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. Here is the post that left me a little confused and yet amazed at the amount of effort this guy put into thinking of this Facebook status.

If #YOU had to #change in order to #succeed with #YOUR#social media efforts – could you?

If you answered YES to this question….congrats! If you answered NO – HOW CAN I #HELP YOU? Change, despite being necessary at times, is not easy!

There are so many levels on which this post is wrong.

Firstly, there is the misuse of the caps lock option or maybe this guy’s keyboard wasn’t working properly. I don’t know. We don’t know his side of the story. If that is the case I’m sure his space bar is also not working. If only he wrote his statuses first on MS Word, he would’ve known how many errors his grammar alone has.

Then we move onto the hashtags. People ‘normally’, or let me say ‘normal’ people use hashtags to put emphasis on some special words or to let the readers know what the post, status or whatever you are writing is about but this guy… Wow! This guy has randomly put in hashtags in the middle of the status or maybe… maybe he was talking about everyone since he’s written #YOU and #YOUR. Then he is also talking about all the #HELP that he is not getting while putting up statuses.

The point of this post is just to tell people that everything should be done keeping in mind that everything should be done to a certain limit. A post like the above post does not only confuse the reader but it also takes the focus off what you’re really trying to say. Don’t overuse the hashtag option.

If any of you have any other such examples do share with me. I love a good laugh. 😉

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