O Canada !

Today (Sat July 1, 2017) we celebrate the 150th year of Canadian Federation. A beautiful country inside out.  A country that I proudly call my home. The inclusivity, the openness, the warmth, the compassion - that is what  being a Canadian is.

I came to Canada after high-school from Dubai -  place where I was raised but never for a second called or felt my home. I always felt my identity was always for a lookout as I kept oscillating between Dubai and Karachi as my forced homes.

For me , Canada is where I had my many many firsts - first job, first car, first house, etc and many other life-long milestones - getting driver license, getting undergrad and grad degrees, marriage, kids, etc.

I made life-long friends here and blessed to have my parents living 40 miles away.
Having travelled to 11 countries (including USA) at the end of every vacation we always feel fortunate and grateful of living in Canada.

Born in Karachi...raised in Dubai , I do not see myself living anywhere but Canada.
Always having a mini-tussle with my neighbours down the South. With change in both the countries leadership, we clearly have an upper edge ;)
Happy Canada Day ! :)

Keep Calm and speak British

This is a socio-educational initiative by our VP of Sales & Marketing to familiarise us with English Idioms used in every-day British language.

He sends out bi-weekly blogs communicating us about things going on in Insurance Distribution world with respect to Sales and Marketing. 

Unlike other enterprise-template email newsletter, his blogs have personal touch to it.  He is a dynamic and a charismatic leader who hails from England. His name is Paul Jackson. His blogs have the ability to connect with everyone. His narration style is short and simple with ingredients of humilty, motivation and humour. 

An important brand lesson - you have to be genuine and let your readers have a taste of it. I have had the pleasure of meeting him once and talk about wide gamut of topics: fintech, 'lovable fool' vs 'competent jerk' , Analytics in Insurance. Paul the blogger and Paul the person -  were same ! Be genuine !

Lesson for me: Be genuine and please don't try to fake Brit accent even though I love it ! lol

Below are some of the Idioms I have extracted from his blog:

• Grasp the nettle – If you grasp the nettle, you deal bravely with a problem. "Our competitors turn around commercial quotes in an hour, so we grasped the nettle and matched them!"

• Belt & Braces - Someone who wears belt and braces is very cautious and takes no risks. "This project is super important and we can't mess it up, so belt & braces folks!"

• Do a Lord Lucan - If someone disappears without a trace they do a Lord Lucan (Lord Lucan mysteriously disappeared in 1974). "Where's Ian and why didn't he come to this meeting? Dunno, looks like he's done a Lord Lucan"

• Damp squib – If something is expected to have a great effect or impact but doesn't, it is a damp squib. "That project turned out to be a damp squib!" 

• Over Egg the Pudding – to spoil something by trying too hard to improve it. "We need to be careful with this project not to over egg the pudding".

Alfredo Pasta

1) Add minced garlic and butter . add shrimps, parsley and salt and stir for 5 mins. Put the shrimps away                      
2) In separate pan...add butter , Milk and chicken broth. Add mozzarella and Parmesan. Also add all purpose flour (2 tbsp)                      
3) And after it thickens...add shrimps and add tomatoes                      
4) Add sea salt and fresh rounded black pepper                      
5) And then mix it with boiled pasta and put it in a high heat oven for 350F for 5 mins

Stuffed Chicken with Spinach and Mushroom

On lazy and snowy Sunday I decided to cook for family. The original recipe is by my mother-in-law. It is a low-carb, high-protein dish. It is Stuffed Spinach and Mushroom Chicken. Here is a quick recipe:

Ingredients:

Spinach (bowlful). one chopped onion, one chopped tomato, paste of 1 garlic and 1 ginger.

1) Melt some butter in a pan, add chopped onions. After few mins add other ingredients (tomatoes, spinach, mushroom). keep stirring it. Remove it after 15-20 mins as we don't want to completely cook the stuffing.

2) In a big skillet, heat some butter and then place 3 chicken breast (slit). Stuff 2 table spoon of stuffing inside each chicken and close it. Generously sprinkle salt and red chilli powder on top.

3) Cover the skillet and let the chicken cook in medium-low heat. 20 mins each side. Be careful not to let the stuffing fall apart. You can use skewer for added perfectionism. 

(Optional) Added by Chef Baig - Take garlic powder mix it with bread crumbs.  Dip the chicken in egg batter than coat it with garlic breadcrumbs and fry

4) After it turns brown on both sides, turn off the heat and sprinkle mozzarella cheese and cover it for few mins. 

5) Savour it. Eat it with green salad and garlic bread.

Below are the pictures I took while making it:

Wake Up Call !

This I mean a literal wake up call and not some romantic spiritual or social awakening call.

When I was young(er), I was notorious for my long sleep-ins. All alarm clocks would fail to deliver of what their sole purpose of existence be - to wake me up !

I have some interesting anecdotes about my sleep that I would like to pen down:

Bad Host

When I was in university, my (still)good friend Asif's elder brother had a baby boy and Asif wanted to drop mithai box at my place. It was during weekend, when my mom was not at home and I was sleeping. Later in the afternoon when my mom came back and woke me up, she said someone had kept a box of mithai outside our door. I was aghast - hoping it was not Asif! My mom played the voice messages on our home phone that was from Asif! He had come all the way by bus in the rain to my place, banged my door and called my home million times , left 'decent' voice messages and left with box outside while I was deep in my lala-land!

Past Fast

It was in winters when we had Ramadan which means days (i.e. fast) were short. After an all-nighter for some university work, I slept around 3 am and woke up at 8 pm next day! Satanically, passing the fast.

Dream Train

During my intern days at Pearson Airport, I used to take TTC East-West subway starting from first stop Kennedy to the last stop of Kipling. After work, I boarded the train at Kipling station that had not left the platform yet as it waits for couple of minutes to fill up. As soon as the train started moving I dozed off. Along the stops at different platforms and announcements at different stops I had my eyes shut. After a while, someone patted on my shoulders trying to wake me up. It was a woman who told me this is the last stop. I hopped off the train and saw it was the same station that I boarded the train. It was the Kipling station! I had slept all way long from Kipling to Kennedy and back. To put into perspective I had slept through 62 stops (31 stops times 2). 

Green Line below:

TGIF

During summer when my school was off, I was working graveyard shift (i.e. 12 midnight to 8 am) at Burger King. I would come home and just crash and would wake up around 5 pm when my mom would be back from work. This routine had made me miss my Friday prayers every week. I used to face my mom's wrath every week and used to promise her to go for next one. After missing 3-4 consecutive Friday afternoon prayers, I vowed to wake up for the next one. I had set multiple alarms. Lo and Behold - I woke up an hour later after the alarm! Feeling distraught and not to face my mom with another distasteful conversation, I decided to change things around. I prepared myself like how one would prepare for Friday prayers - wearing traditional shalwar kameez  and combed hair (yes, had much more hair then). When my mom came home and first thing she inquired - "Did you go for prayers?"Instead of lying, I just pointed at myself for her implying that I am all dressed up and all with my signature innocent smile. My mom reaction was blank; she passed by me and uttered in a fading voice "another miss".

 

Cover your wounds

Other day, my 8-year-old son asked me for a bandage. When inquired him he said he has wounded his finger and needs a bandage. Upon a causal look, it was a mere scratch in his finger. I shrugged off saying you don't need a bandage for that and it will self-heal next day. He was adamant saying "I need to cover my wound so that it can heal".

Cover your wounds (issues/problems) and keep calm. Focus on getting it fixed (healed) instead of exposing it to others to see.

No. 1 test Nation

Below is an excerpt of my friend Azam Farooqi's (not related) thoughts about the recently concluded test series between Pakistan and England in England. It is a turning for Pakistan cricket as they have been declared No. 1 test team in world cricket ranking. Considering last time they played in England they were involved in a humiliating game-fixing scandal which was easily the lowest point in Pakistan cricket.
Below is the post:

I’ve always wanted to write; start a blog. Given that I consider myself a voracious reader with multiple interests, I always thought writing should come naturally to me. It did at one point, or maybe it didn't, I don’t remember, it’s been that long. All this time I found comfort in a plethora of excuses and rationales as to why I can’t write. Sometimes I was too busy, other times I was lazy, couldnt come with a topic I felt passionately about; or lately, it’s just been that I haven't written anything for so long that there was this hesitation that maybe I can’t write or if I start now, I wouldn't know where to begin.

All these thoughts and fears simply died down yesterday when it became official that Pakistan are the number 1 Test team in the world after the 4th test between India and West Indies got rained out (After All, how can a Pakistani success not involve rain, and Intikhab Alam). I just realized this I don’t need to wait for the right time to start writing, this has meant so much that I felt compelled to share my thoughts and joy with anyone willing to read this piece. Although a lot of great writers have already contributed a lot about a team that reached its lowest ebb during their last tour of England in 2010 and how most of these players having played in Pakistan for the entirety of their careers and how there are a lot of reasons why this team deserves to be number 1.

So why do I want to add my two cents? What is is that someone like myself, who hasn't written anything out of fear for a long period of time would offer that is new? Nothing, all I want to share here is what this means to me, and probably to a lot of hard core Pakistani Cricket fans who over the years.

The evolution of this team over the past six years, led by Misbah and Younis Khan hasn't been spectacular but steady; in fact it has been so steady and Misbah (read tuk tuk) like that it probably caught lot of people in Pakistan by surprise that this team had a chance to be number 1. Most of the casual fans associate their team’s success based on their limited overs performance, where Pakistan have been found wanting. This forced a narrative that this isn’t good enough or they can only win in UAE in helpful conditions. Not playing enough abroad makes it worse, but whenever his team had an opportunity, they stepped up, weather it was drawing a test series in South Africa, beating Australia at “home” or now drawing a series in England. For fans who have followed this team closely could clearly see a team growing and a middle order stabilizing. Misbah and Younis Khan have molded this team into their identities, unassuming, low key, patient and effective.

Which brings us to the recently concluded series. A lot of pundits including former cricketers were adamant that these batsmen would be found wanting in English conditions. All four middle order batsmen scored a hundred, Sami Aslam proved why he deserves an extended run at the top of the order, while Sarfraz made a few useful contributions. After a long time, even the tail seemed to have found some spine and the ability to provide adequate support.

It’s been some experience watching this team, watching Younis Khan grow into a giant of Pakistan cricket, Misbah becoming the most successful Pakistan captain of all time. A few years ago, watching this team struggle in shorter formats as well along with an increased interest in  other sports dwindled my interest in cricket. The only thing that kept me from totally shelving cricket altogether was the success of this team. The growth in players like Azhar Ali, Asad Shafig and Sarfraz has been a treat to watch.

The manner in which this team has grown over the past six years feel more like a long winded test match that slowly trickled its way to a conclusion in a manner that could only have been conceived by Misbah. They’ve played a  brand of cricket one usually does not associate with Pakistan cricket. One of the best things they did on the England tour was to not abandon their style of playing boring but disciplined cricket and forcing the opposition’s hand. They’ve been consistent with the system they’ve put in place and have found players who are willing to play within the system instead of individual brilliance.

This is not to say that this is a perfect team, or how this team compares to the Pakistani teams of yester years, they definitely aren't as talented as some of the teams in the past, although statistically they are more successful.

Of course there are issues with this team as well, a perpetual issue with our openers, Amir making a comeback and still getting used to playing the longer format, Yasir Shah and how he makes the adjustments when the rest of world gets a book on him. Sterner test awaits in Australia later in the year. But no matter what happens from now on, what people say about this team or how this unfolds, especially as Misbah and Younis step away from the game, we can look back to this this day and remember that Pakistan were the best team in the world.