French Sundays in Karachi

Have you ever dreamed of spending quality time having famous French cuisine? France is famous for a lot of things, and it happens to be one of my favorite visited countries in the world. I had been longing to eat here for many years.Croissants, cheese, crepes, ratatouille and the snooty waiters are all just impossible to forget while living in Karachi.

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to an event hosted at The Pantry. I was ecstatic by the invitation, as I am a stay-in-Sunday kind of guy so going out for a friend’s birthday was just what the doctor ordered.  After giving her a surprise and an expensive present, it was finally time to order. I started with a Caesar salad: Grilled chicken pieces were dressed with lettuce and parmesan croutons, cut length-wise, and presented like a wedge salad. The salad was followed by Egg Benedict, English muffin and turkey bacon with poached eggs along with a hollandaise sauce. It was decadent, over-the-top, and exactly what I expected but the show stealer was the Ice Vanilla Frappe, a shot of Monin syrup created a burst of delicious flavors.While we were eating, I got a chance to meet Pantry’s owner, who told me a little bit about his inspiration for the menu – he wanted classic French dishes, with simple yet elegant components. I say he nailed it.

After I reached home, my brother who came from France after a year made us lunch. Hence the consumption of French meals continued!  He first amused me with what they call “The queen of soups" Soupe à L’oignon. If you're trying to pronounce it, I’d suggest don't! None of us were able to say it right. So this little magic bowl of soup was the no less than a life changer. I felt as if I had a taste of heaven. As dramatic as it sounds, it really was flavorsome. The soup was not an easy fix as it required a long tiresome procedure. After a lot of pleading, my brother told me what all he used to make it. Baguette toasts were spread with butter and layered with grated cheese, sautéed onions and tomato purée. Then, salted water was gently poured in. The dish was then simmered and baked. While he was using all the technical terms, it took me back to math class, trying to pay attention but understanding next to nothing.

For the main course he presented "Hachis Parmentier" which made my jaw drop. It seemed light and appetizing at the same time. A layer of mashed potatoes and a layer of juicy ground beef (or, as I like to call them, two layers of heaven). Hachis Parmentier is often described as a French version of shepherd’s pie. It is French comfort food at its best and it is fairly easy to prepare. According to some research, (which was of course limited to me asking my brother again) I found out that the secret to this dish is braising the beef, After which tomato paste and potatoes are mixed and then the cheese is used as a topping.

At this point, I was so full that even before my brother could offer me a dessert, I quietly left the table pretending I was going to go the washroom and quickly went into my room. I felt like I owed three hours of extensive workout. None the less, the food was extremely scrumptious and the day was somewhat a short glimpse of the country of culinary experts, France.

GROUP MEMBERS

• M.HammadAslam ( Leader) – Writer
• Rashid Saleem – Writer
• Mussawer Ali – Research
• Hasan Agha – Editor 

How to Have Effective Communication Skills

We have gone through this word (communication skill) several times, either at work on the internet or somewhere else. The basic definition of it can be: “The ability to convey information to others, effectively and efficiently is known as communication skills.”

Communication is a basic skill. Our ability to communicate largely determines our happiness. When we communicate effectively we make good friends, we’re valued at work. It also increase our social support, if we’re not good communicators, we’ll find our life deficient in one or more areas.

I still remember, when I was a young teenager my poor communication skills was a barrier in my every achievement. I used to feel awkward to go out of my house. During my school life, I was quite dumb. I was not extraverted, that got me bullied many times in school. After some time I questioned myself, is this how I want my entire life to pass? The answer was always ‘No’. But unfortunately I was not working for the progress of this question.

When I joined college I made new friends. I started feeling comfortable, and started communicating with my new buddies. I joined new social societies through which I was able to improve my social interactions. I also started enjoying my life. The question might arise that, how did I start being so confident? The answer is my dedication towards it and my Self awareness. After completing my school, I made up my mind that I don’t want to suffer in this manner any more! I started working for my skills progress by attending several motivational sessions. By interacting with people around me and being a little gregarious. I often say to myself, why to feel shy when you have a tongue and a good tone of voice?

These days, everyone is so occupied with their own struggles that, they cannot contribute in easing our struggles. To improve our communication skills, it has to come from within. I believe each one of us possess the ability to convey their thoughts effectively, all we need is motivation, courage and will.  Communicating really well isn’t necessarily innate, but, it can be learned and improved. Hard work is the key to success. Trial and practices is what make things perfect.

There is a high probability of success when people develop right communication skills. Statistics have shown that about 85% of our success is directly dependent on our communication skills. This research proves that no matter how ambitious, how committed, and how highly educated one is, one has to improve his/her communication skills in order to gain success. When a person gets a privilege to be free and to expand his reach beyond his inner circle, communication skills play a significant factor to determine results.

“The quality of life is the quality of your communication.” ~Tony Robbins.

All the important aspects of life require communication. From relationships in personal life to group works in professional life, communication is the element that cannot be ignored. Having such significance, below are the steps that will help you improve your communication with others.

1.      The very first step for effective skill is to look inward. To realize in what scenario are you comfortable and uncomfortable? How can you make that style work for you? Pay attention to how others perceive you. Express yourself positively and clearly.

2.      The second step is to be you. Don’t try to copy any other effective speaker. Everyone has different tactics of communication. It is better to be yourself rather than being second version copy of someone else. Simply, realize your tactics and strengths and start working on it.

3.      In order to want people start listen to you, you have to first start listen to others. A good listener is someone who can concentrate and don’t lose focus on the subject.  Listening is what connects people together.

4.      Third step is body language, art of expressing without words. Body language conveys lots of expression of our inner feelings and thoughts. As what I have noticed in my presentations is that, holding a pen or a pencil boost up your confidence up to 30%.

5.      Label yourself positively. Give your listener the impression that you’re enthusiastic about talking to them and care about them. This phenomenon can make your listener feel better.

6.    Ask open-ended questions about their interests. When you help them gain a new, positive perspective about their situation, they can feel a deep sense of connection with you.

Hopefully these few pointers will help you to enhance your communication skills as they have helped me.

Group members:

1. Zeeshan Ali
2. Faizan Junejo

Mean Girls - Chick Flick!

Movie Name: Mean Girls

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Release Date: April 30, 2004

Writer: Tina Fey & Rosalind Wiseman

Director: Mark Waters

Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Tina Fey, Amanda Seyfried, Daniel Franzese, Rachel McAdams, Lizzy Caplan, Jonathan Bennett, Lacey Chabert, Rajiv Surendra, Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler, Neil Flynn.

STORY OUTLINE

Cady Heron, daughter of the two Zoologists is the lead character of the story, who had never known the true meaning of “high school”. The early fifteen years of her life were spent in Africa, where she was home-schooled and lived a life only with her parents and animals, knowing the rules of survival from the wilderness of the animals. However, after her reallocation from Africa to US, she had to learn the rules and regulations of high school which in itself was a jungle. 

After floundering   a bit, she instantly got friends with two sweet teenagers of her class, Janis and Damian, who in terms of high school were among the “out crowd.” Later on, she got introduced to a group of three beautiful, crude and popular girls who were adduced as Plastics naming Regina, an offstage leader, Karen,one of the most foolish person you’d have ever met and lastly Gretchen, Regina’s all-time stooge. Cady had immediately became a part of Regina’s group but was unsure whether to keep her first friends rolling or not, but Janis and Damian convinced Cady to keep her friendship bustling with "Plastics",only with the intention to insidiously know their dark secrets.

However, the situations turned worst when Cady got a crush on Regina's ex-boyfriend, named Aaron Samuels.

Aaron too started taking interest in Cady but as soon as Regina found out about Cady’s crush on Aaron, she sought revenge from Cady by bringing Aaron back to her. When Cady got know about Regina’s intentions, what had begun as a game to reveal the secrets turned into a game of destroying Regina's prestige.

As Cady, Janis and Damian had started working on to bring Regina’s reputation down, Cady had to spend most of her time with Plastics, so she ended up becoming one of them and got into a serious ruckus with Janis and Damian. Aaron too got dispirited due to Cady’s evil actions and she was also grounded from the school for bringing down Regina’s image, (which was not a true story as Cady had just accepted that she was the one behind the contents of Regina’s Burn Book stating things against Regina although it wasn’t her but Regina itself.) However Cady deserved the punishment for all her cruel ballgames.

During all this, Cady’s math teacher Ms. Norbury, who knew Cady’s real temperament, elected her for a Math contest which Cady cracked eventually and won the competition.

The evening was followed by Spring Fling Dance, where Cady was chosen the Queen of college for the year but she felt that all her competitors equally deserved this award so she broke the crown into pieces and gave each of the girls a piece of crown so that they could feel themselves the winners of the contest and ultimately got friends with Aaron, as Cady had overcame all her bad deeds and was back to her real good. 

                                                                                   

SYNOPSIS

v “Mean Girls” is a movie worth watching, which is full of drama, comedy and thrill. With an excellent execution of media technologies including the tremendous contribution of visuals to telling of the story, “Mean Girls” is one of the most quotable movies of the 21^st Century.


By,
Areeba Nasir
Dua Shah
Sarah Arshad

Cricket World Cup 2015

Cricket, one of the most popular sports of the world, is watched and played by many countries. It is one of those few sports which is considered a gentleman’s game. It was started internationally in the late 1780’s and England and Australia are considered the pioneers of this game.

Cricket was invented in the vast fields of England, supposedly by shepherds who herded their flock. Later in this game was shown benevolence by aristocrats, and now has the stature of being England's national game. After a century now, cricket stands in the international sport stadium, with a place of its own.

Cricket World Cup takes place after every 4 years. Some of the greatest rivalries and matches take place between great teams of the world. And now the year 2015 is also going to be a world cup year. These matches will take place in Australia and New Zealand. Fourteen teams are going to fight for the world cup and the winner is subjected to get $3,975,000, which is double the prize of the last World Cup which was played in 2011. 

All the cricket fans are really looking forward to these matches as it is going to be the most expensive world cup tournament throughout the cricket history and since New Zealand and Australia are also considered one of the most expensive countries of the world, so the expenses of teams are also going to be huge.

The environment and temperature of both the countries are cool and calm. The greenery of these countries is marvelous and the crowd of Australia and New Zealand is also amongst the passionate cricket lovers. It is considered that some of these matches will take place in the Melbourne stadium, Australia, which is the largest cricket ground of the world. The record of having the largest crowd in any cricket match was also set in this stadium. It is one of the finest grounds of the world, equipped with all the latest technology. 

As I talk about the pitches of these countries, they are considered tricky and bouncy. On these pitches the teams belonging from different regions, especially the sub-continent teams will face quite difficulties because sub-continent grounds usually have flat track pitches which give an advantage to the batsmen but there will be no such benefit to them in these grounds. So, they will have to work hard for this.

Now a days, many teams are busy with different series matches with each other in the practice of the World Cup and also for finding out the best in them and submit their final combination of players before this big event.

India will be seen defending their title in this World Cup. In my opinion, it would be difficult for India to defend their title because India has been playing most of their series in their home ground so it does not seem as if they are practicing for Australian pitches or not. As the condition is totally reverses there, Indian batsmen may face difficulties while performing. This time they will go with 3 or 4 seniors in the team.

This World Cup will start with the thrilling match between Pakistan and India. All the tickets for this match have already been sold out, just after 12 minutes of their availability.

I think this world cup is going to be a total entertainment as there are less senior players in the teams as compared to the previous cups, but some of the greatest players like Virat Kohli, Mohammad Irfan, Chris Gayle, Ross Taylor, AB DE villars and Dale Steyn are all taking part in this event will represent their respective countries. So, there will be very unpredictable moments in these matches which will give absolute pleasure to the audience all cricket fans are expecting some exciting and unpredictable moments from this world which will enhance the splendor of this game. I think the teams which are favorites for this cup are Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan.

                       

After a long time of 22 years, Australians have got this chance again to host this important event of the cricket world. Both the audience and the players will get entertained from the beauty of Australia and New Zealand. This thrill, fun and entertainment are going to begin just after 69 days and the excitement is increasing day by day and we all, as cricket fans, are waiting anxiously for this power-packed event.

                    

Who is most favorite to win ICC Cricket World Cup 2015?

                

India: have long since struggled overseas and this will probably be no different. They have great ODI players like Kohli, Rahane and Dhawan but their bowling (especially death bowler) lacks quality. However, India have decent pace bowlers this time and more adapting spinners and they are going to rely on them as they have a poor record when defending. Overall, they have a decent chance in their title defense.

Pakistan: anything can happen. They have good bowling and batting stocks and history is in their favour. The last time a World Cup was held here, it was won by Pakistan led by a  40 years old captain Imran Khan. Now, they will most likely be led by 40+ year old Misbah-ul-Haq. I think they should try out Razzaq one last time in a series before the World Cup, then consider whether to select him or not but the rest of the squad seems set in stone.

By:

Muhammad Waleed

Abdul Moizz

Aakash Mandhan