Welcome to the web presence of Anas Imtiaz. These pages are the dump yard of most of my erratic and geeky thoughts. To know more about ME or this website hit the 'read more' link below.
// March 3rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Life
I checked in to work today, ran a simulation which took 4 hours to finish. After the end, I was informed that the files have been updated and the sim needs to be run again – another 4 hours. And the day ended. In short, a boring day waiting for the results to appear :/
// March 3rd, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Life
Now that I look back at the events that left be sad, devastated, heart-broken and all those sorts, I laugh at myself thinking “I was sad for THAT?!!!” And I also realize how those apparently bad events have made me stronger and just to kill time I also pondered upon how life would have been different if a couple of them had happened as I wanted them to only to conclude in the end that life would have sucked!
So, dear God, thank you for making the right decisions for me even though I complained a lot at those times.
// February 16th, 2010 // 8 Comments » // Life
While I am on the topic of Halal food and the meaning of Halal there is another issue that I’ve learnt of after coming to the UK related to a food item being declared as Halal or not. Now there are atleast two Halal certifying authorities in the UK (that I know of) and both do not accept each other’s way of accredition.
One of them says that meat (for example of chicken) is halal only if it is slaughtered in the name of Allah and that it has to be alive and kicking at the time. However, normally the animals are stunned (low voltage shock) before being killed in UK and many other countries and that former group considers that those animals are not halal mainly because there is a doubt that the animal may die while being stunned. Another authority which certifies for halal meat considers the practice legal as it says, that such low voltage shocks cannot kill the animal and that slaughter while being stunned is therefore legitimate as long as its done in the prescribed way. Then there is another group which says that even if the recordings of Allah’s name are being played while the animal is slaughtered and not recited, it is fine. (This may sound funny, but its true. I was shocked too).
Those were the disputes within UK. Now lets come a bit to the Muslim world. Scholars from prominent institutes in the Arab world have issued fatwas that if the meat is not haram i.e. not pork and those sort, it is halal. And just recite Allah’s name before eating it, that’s fine. I was surprised at this too, but quite a large number of people follow this. And why not, when they have fatwas!
So the question really is…what is Halal? Personally, I don’t know. I’ve grown up listening that slitting the throat after mentioning Allah’s name is a necessity for permissible meat. Now, we don’t even have a consensus on this!
However, the verse I found in Quran that explains the issue is below.
Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than God; that which hath been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by being gored to death; that which hath been (partly) eaten by a wild animal; unless ye are able to slaughter it (in due form); that which is sacrificed on stone (altars); (forbidden) also is the division (of meat) by raffling with arrows: that is impiety. This day have those who reject faith given up all hope of your religion: yet fear them not but fear Me. This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. But if any is forced by hunger, with no inclination to transgression, God is indeed Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful (5:3).
Now, all the opinions that I mentioned above are based on this verse. Its all too confusing. Who is right and who’s not. Personally, I go for alternative whenever in doubt, to be on the safe end.
Will dig more info on this soon inshAllah. Any legit source and opinions will be appreciated.
// January 26th, 2010 // 12 Comments » // Life
Today was my first payday! First pay from a full-time job feels … new. Obviously, never felt before. All the freshies were waiting for this day at the company. There were jokes yesterday about how each one will be keeping an eye on the online bank account page for the first glimpse of something being credited in. One of the guys actually checked it before leaving for work and called us to check as well. LOL. It was kinda funny in a nice way. Actually, we were told that the cutoff date is 15th of every month so we didnt know how much we would be getting, but the cutoff is apparently to make claims and stuff and so we got the full month’s pay (minus the first few days we didn’t join) and that was unexpected. Oh and also the tax that I am supposed to pay was expected to be deducted but since its our new job with no previous UK earnings and tax year coming to an end there … which means something something…blah blah..[i dont understand such stuff]…anyway, a small amount got deducted only (for now).
So we [3 of us] decided to go out and have dinner with the mehnat ki kamai 
I noticed today that everyone looks happy on the payday..lol
Apart from that, work has got really interesting this week. Have to probe a lot of stuff in the coming days as I’m slowly being pushed into real design. So no more look-busy-do-nothing. Not true infact some hardware synthesis takes ages to complete so I still have to sit there wait for the result which usually isn’t what I wanted it to be. But hey, thats what I am being paid to do 
// January 22nd, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Life
It was so easy in uni. Don’t feel like working? Just get up and go home, no one cares! Feeling drowsy? Well, there is always tomorrow to finish off the work. This luxury is perhaps snatched away when you start fulltime work. Take an example, I stared at the gap between the two monitors that I have for about one hour trying hard to get out of sleep-mode. Two mugs of coffee were absolutely worthless. Had this been uni, I’d have gone home the minute I felt I was not doing anything (or maybe do something else). At office, I was just hoping that the posture looked as if I was doing something. Then there is this thought that people may actually be watching you since you’re new here. But I don’t think people care a lot as long as you get the work done.
So far, I think, apart from the manager I am the person who leaves the room most often, either going for coffee, tea, chocolate, lunch, accompany a smoker friend, toilet, or just a quick walk in the hall. But hey its not all because of sleep and not having *that* much to do now…sometimes the compile/synthesis stuff take so long (it may take days too later when the designs get big) that it gets boring to watch the screen hoping to get the result soon. And sometimes the software that you need is not available because all the licenses are being used by important people for REAL work (unlike a freshie who just wants to play with it).
Apart from getting up for short breaks, I also use the e-mail quite a lot to communicate with my friend who sits couple of meters away, and another friend who sits in a different office. Mostly, its not work-related stuff that we discuss.
In the uni there was an option to miss lectures and just sleep. No, that is not the case at work. Whether you have work or not, you are being paid to be there! And if you don’t have work, then find something substantial to do!
Something that was kinda bothering me lately is that there used to be a target always at uni. A deadline. After which things would subside, and you could breath a sigh of relief. Then there was the knowledge that this will end in a certain number of years. Now at work, if you’re done with something, you will be given something else. And there is no forseeable end. There is responsibility though, and suddenly you start feeling that a lot of work done by others may be depending on yours.
One good thing that has happened in the past three weeks is that I’ve got a hang of the Scottish accent. In the first week, I didn’t understand much of what my manager said. Now its getting better.
It may appear as if I am complaining. But that is not the case actually. I am just figuring out myself what changes I have to go through. I am helped by the fact that our office environment is really relaxed. The dress code is casual and apart from proper hot food, you can eat/drink at your desk even if its not the lunchtime. That is more like the uni! You can plug-in earphones while working and that’s quite normal. There is no difference between seniors and juniors and you can just walk to anyone and ask them to explain anything to you. People are very helpful indeed.
On that note, I met the very limited number of Pakistanis that work here. There is this guy from Lahore who has a twin brother working in the same company at the same position. Both worked for the same company back in Pakistan too and obviously both have the exact same education from the same institute. I met one of them because the other one is on leave. All of them have been here for a while and I went with them for Friday prayer today. Again, nice people!
Next week I will be tasked with more interesting (and important) work and I shall also be receiving the first paycheck
Anyway so worklife is very different from all the years I’ve lived before and its kinda nice too. There will be many more things that I may like/dislike later but for now I think His Mercy is really being showered on me. Things seem nice and easy. I hope this continues for long.
// January 10th, 2010 // 17 Comments » // Life
So for the first time in my life I am no longer living in a major city of the country I am residing. The current location I chose after considering multiple tradeoffs where travel time to work took priority.
So I moved to this place in Hemel Hempstead (Apsley) which is just outside Greater London and takes an hour or so by train which is something I really didn’t like. I moved here on Sunday (a week ago) and suddenly everything changed. Living alone in a 1-bed flat which I graciously selected to satisfy my needs of large space is a bit hard for two reasons. One, it gets lonely. Two, its expensive (but .. well.. I’ll be earning right?). Slowly I am getting used to the place..but more on it later..
Next came the big Monday, 4th of Jan..my first day at work (of my first job). Just to remind I have been drafted in as a Digital ASIC Designer at Imagination Technologies, the company that virtually drives the graphics market of portable devices. Seven other guys were also joining in on the same day with one in the same design team as me. The day went past like a breeze with intro sessions, form filling, setting up the computers and all that sort. I was given a Linux box and a PC, couple of monitors, a nice chair, some stationary and then we (me and the other newbie) had lunch. An introductory session with the manager then followed who explained some of the work his team has done in simple words and the day ended. Second day was boring and we spent time drinking coffee again and again UNTIL we were asked to read something that just was a bit hard and we sat until 7 instead of 5.30 to understand that. There was also a group meeting that we attended on that day where progress on the projects were discussed and I didn’t get anything what was said except that perhaps there was a stringent deadline to meet. The next three days were quite good…some of the colleagues taught us how to do little things and we kept practising. Using linux is also something I have to get used to in order to run the simulations and also must be able to write some scripts to perform some tasks. It will take time. But the last three days were good in terms of learning although I did a lot of screw ups while setting the environment variables in linux (whatever they do 
). On Wednesday I was given my extension phone which I’m yet to figure out how to use. I traveled to central London for the weekend and now its almost over. I hope the next week will be good too. An attraction is that one of my classmate from Imperial will also be joining on Monday … but in a different design team…so it should be fun.
Oh and something really interesting that happened on Wednesday. I was sitting in the morning as I checked in early and one of my colleagues who interviewed me came up to me and gave me a cap of USB stick. I was a bit confused until she reminded me that I left this when I came for interview about 6 months ago! LOL
Ok…With this I also announce my return to the blogging world! Stay tuned for tonnes of complaints and whines
// December 28th, 2009 // 7 Comments » // Life
Thirty years ahead if I live and someone asks me to recollect the best days of my life, the year 2009 will most likely be in contention. Such goods this season has brought that I’m considering skipping some to make this post brief. There have been moments of sadness (and madness) but overall the success rate has been tremendous this year.
On the academic side, it was perhaps the best year. I worked really hard and got much more than I expected, thanks to Almighty. My prayers were not only answered but I think I was showered with blessings. Anyway, here is a list of the goods this year.
The bads this year….well..being away from the family is one but that is also good because it has made me realize how important they are to me.
That’s all for the highlights of 2009! Oh and my blog turned 2 yesterday…
One wish I have for the next year is the improvement of security situation in Pakistan. It really saddens me (and all of us ofcourse) that innocent people have to die because of some ignorant people. May Allah protect the people of Pakistan and guide us to the right path. Ameen!
// December 5th, 2009 // 24 Comments » // Life
The news of Bilal Riaz’s shahadah took me by surprise last night to such an extent that I almost lost control of myself. I sat idly for a good one hour or so trying to figure out if this really did happen. Its not very easy to believe that a guy you just met a couple of months back before his departure to homeland has also departed from this temporary world. Its not easy at all. Granted, life and death is in Allah’s hands and that death can and does take you by surprise, the way in which Bilal passed away is really the point that is disturbing.
He came to the UK last year for his masters in communications and signal processing, a parallel course in my department. We didn’t interact much until we had a common module and after that we used to discuss all the issues in Pakistan, especially cricket. I walked in the lab one day, and he was sitting in his usual far end seat. It was the day the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in Lahore. We were the only two guys in the lab early in the morning and the look on his face showed his concern and disgust. We sat for an hour or so discussing the deteriorating security situation in the country. Obviously, we shared similar concerns on the wave of terror. Sigh, he has fallen victim to the same wave. His words about the incident and his take on terrorism kept reverberating in my mind all night yesterday.
We may have not interacted for very long but when you live abroad, you do share a special bond. I cannot even consider myself as a very close friend of his, but we did share a lot of our frustrations during the time of our final thesis. We had some lunches together and as usual, all the Pakistani guys in the department used to meet after every Friday prayers at the College. Again, its the Friday prayer in which he passed away.
Ironically yesterday as soon as I entered the uni building I saw BBC showing news of some attack in Pakistan. I turned away. I’ve been doing this for the past one month. It hurts to see so many people losing their lives for no reason while the leaders continue to condemn it. Anyway, and again we discussed Bilal out of the blue just as soon as I reached the lab. And that he was about to get married.
What troubles me most is what the heck is happening in the country? Who’s after all this? When will the conspiracies end? If the army knows, why don’t they tell us? If the politicians know why are they quiet? And why does the President get 80 cars for his security and common man nothing? Why is there injustice amongst ourselves? Why are innocents dying and culprits living lavishly? Who is our enemy? Why doesn’t anyone ever get caught? It is impossible to think that no one knows what’s happening. For us, we are bombarded with so much of information that we cannot even decipher which is the true one.
My heart weeps for Bilal, for my country. But I also hate myself for being so helpless at this point….
Returning to the subject of Bilal, I keep on picturing myself in his place. It could just have been me praying in the mosque and blown up in to pieces. Bilal was courageous enough even at that moment. The fact that he not only lost his life while in a mosque where he went to offer Friday prayers, but also that he sacrificed himself to save another life (his nephew) makes him much much special. May Allah grant him an exalted state in Paradise and give strength to his parents to be patient in bearing the loss of their beloved.
// July 19th, 2009 // 12 Comments » // Life
This is yet another random post of things that are just crossing my mind right now. I’m consumed in preparing for a theory test for my driving license on Monday. Its sooo stupid! Some questions are silly. Take this for example:
You are driving a car and some driver cuts harshly infront of you. What will you do?
A) Sound your horn
B) Accelerate and curse the driver
C) Stay calm
D) Show a hand gesture
Obviously the answer is C. But I’d rather do everything else than C
Also I’ve to learn hundreds of traffic signs which are in use in this country, even for trams despite them not being in this region. And then there is this hazard perception test – which is actually good – where you are shown video clips and you have to identify hazards before they develop into danger. The early you sight them, the more points you get. A can of red bull before the test is a certainty
Elsewhere I’ve had a lazy project week. Got some EEG data of epilepsy patients to work on. The data looks like rubbish. Seriously! Have a look at one of them:
I’m loving N97 and Nokia in general. They have made Ovi Files free which makes all my files on computer accessible via phone. Syncing via the new Ovi Suite is very cool too. N97 is really the step in the direction of future mobile computing. With the likes of iPhone, N97 and some others some people wonder what is to come next? Well, a lot more can come. What I’d like to see is an inherent USB connector on phone which can be just pulled from inside and connected to the USB port of computer rather than having a USB connector cable I know its gonna take valuable space on phone but maybe if we can reduce the size of USB ports on computer that won’t be an issue? Why have separate cables! This is one thing I dream of seeing in phones 
Jumping to Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif is acquitted of plane hijacking case. So now the CJ thinks hijacking can be forgiven – for the sake of democracy. He should’ve rather been hanged. The suspicions of Sharif’s investments in the lawyers movement have grown exponentially and ofcourse the truth will never come out. One of noon-leaguer was arguing that how can someone hack a plane from sitting outside, the hijacker needs to be in the plan…i think it was Hanif Abbasi (former Jamati who couldn’t stand that JI was boycotting elections and suddenly changed his Quaid from Qazi to Sharif). Well, in literal terms, that’s true. But then you can never blame the PM/President for anything. They don’t do it themselves – they always get someone to do it for them!! I was never a fan of CJ, but the way he was restored, I thought to myself that I was wrong about him – but now I’m forced to revert to my original thoughts.
Credit card fraud by an MPA in Pakistan has captured some space in news and despite the CCTVs recording the event, the lady is adamant and claiming a conspiracy is being hatched against her! And also got a pre-arrest bail from the court. What a great system of justice! This incident brings up two thoughts:
1) Why are credit cards so insecure? I mean, anyone can take my card and shop with it! Why aren’t there PINs associated with them? Even better idea that comes to my mind is fingerprint recognition on card readers – don’t tell me its hard to implement. Seriously, credit card security needs a complete rethink.
2) How on earth can she deny those charges? And why is she not in jail yet?
And finally, some cricket. Ashes is going in full flow and Aussies are set to lose the second test. Pak threw away two games against Sri Lankans. And why does Misbah even play in the team? Also I don’t think Fawad Alam can be a permanent opener. Shoaib Malik doesn’t deserve a test place. He doesn’t even bowl, not that he should. So why not have a pro batsmen instead? I won’t be too harsh though, the team needs time. And besides, we’re the champs
// June 20th, 2009 // 9 Comments » // Life
I have always wondered how people are able to manage their life – work, home, friends, family, etc. I think its just impossible. Those who say they have a balance are lying, or at least that is what I believe. Just imagine working in an office (or in university) and you’re stuck at some point. How can you go back home and not think about work while watching TV, or while having dinner, or maybe while sitting in the toilet or taking a shower? How can you even manage to go out and just not think about your earlier problems?
Personally, I have never managed to do it. I almost envy people who have this ability to swing their thoughts (if they really do) like they have some switch in their brains which they can control and turn off while leaving work. Its almost unbelievable. Even since my childhood, academia has remained on top of my priority list and nothing else got enough attention. I come across as a good manager to people, but I think I suck in this game of balancing when non-academic things come up. This is one reason my social life sucks, the other being my love for loneliness. The love for loneliness is another consequence of the mind being stuck on some work and these lonely sessions are needed to find the solutions.
An incident that I fondly remember that occured in 2002 probably when I was doing A-levels pretty much summarises what I’m trying to say. I was stuck on some calculus question and then just had to leave it there to go and attend the Isha congregational prayer. On the way I kept thinking about that particular problem and the way of solving it. The thought never left me during the prayers and I came up with something in the middle of prayers (sadly, the concentration on prayer was very low). I couldn’t wait for the imam to end it and go back home and try out my new idea. It did turn out to be the solution, but the point of interest here is the lack of ability to come out of that domain.
In Pakistan, the four years that I spent, being the only man in house and also the only driver I was responsible for many things apart from my own studies. That, in hindsight, did help me to understand this art of balancing to an extent but as soon as I left that phase, I immediately returned to the old routine of being stuck at something.
Obviously, I’m normal when there is no such problem
So can someone explain how exactly do people with problems manage to maintain a nice balance in their lives?
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