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Storm hits twin cities
ASIAN STUDY GROUP With the summer heat transformed into an autumn chill overnight, men and women roamed around enjoying the live tabla and flute, greeting friends after the long hot (and boring) summer. Set up in the lawn of the Islamabad Club, the evening was the reopening of membership for the Asian Study Group, a volunteer organization that has become a part of Islamabad’s cultural activities. According to their interest, members were seen signing for various sub-groups, a long list to choose from such as adventure, cuisine, gardening, natural history, hiking, literature, photography, environment, performing arts and trips. The sub-groups give an opportunity to learn as the groups take up various activities according to people’s interest. The new president, Saleha Butt, narrated the calendar of events and programmes for the coming year and introduced the committee for the present term. Parveen Malik, popularly known as Parro, who has been the moving spirit behind the ASG, shared her sentiments with new and old members alike, and introduced the speaker of the evening and the theme of this year — Water is Life. Later, Jehanara Moeen, radio and TV newscaster, gave an interesting presentation on water in the auditorium. A voluntary organization, the AGS was formed in Islamabad in 1973 for people of the city to learn more about culture, geography, history, religion, environment, crafts and customs of the Asian region in general, and of Pakistan in particular. One aspect that made it different than any other cultural institute was that the group had more members from foreign community residing in the Capital than Pakistanis. However, over the past couple of years, the expatriate community in Islamabad is getting thinner and thinner. CAR REGISTRATION NUMBERS As Islamabad changes its status from a dead city to a live one, traffic jams become a common sight as the cars on the roads multiply each day. The car registration numbers, which were only ID and IDAs a few years back, are on IDM these days. The demand of good lucky numbers is always high as some enthusiasts want to be registered on their date of birth, a single digit or any lucky number. These numbers cannot be obtained for free anymore, as the Excise and Taxation department conducts an auction for single and double-digit numbers. IDN 1, the first of a new series of motor vehicle registration numbers, is said to have earned a record Rs1.15 million in the auction in which a total of 100 VIP vehicles registration numbers were auctioned, fetching Rs8.811 million. The amount generated in the IDN series was more than the amount ever collected in the previous auctions. IDM 1, sold last year for Rs0.6 million, was said to be the costliest number sold in Islamabad. The total vehicle registration numbers from IDN 1 to IDN 9 were sold for over Rs0.150 million, while IDN 50 fetched Rs0.091 million. The two-digit numbers were auctioned for Rs30,000 each only. If the gap between the haves and the have-nots keeps increasing at this pace, one wonders how government and civil society efforts for poverty alleviation will bear fruit. | ||
“IT was strongly reminiscent of the movie Twister. I was driving home from work at 11:30pm when I saw a steel disc flying towards me. I stopped my car, waiting for it to pass by, but as it came closer I realized it was a dish antenna that had become airborne,” said a friend who had never seen such a high velocity windstorm as the one that hit the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Wind velocity was recorded between 101kms and 167kms per hour.|
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