The Pakistani Spectator

Safiullah Hussaini here and I maintain a blog at safiullahhussaini.wordpress.com. I am currently leaving Pakistan to pursue higher studies in Engineering at Nanyang Technological University Singapore.

I m quite new to the blogsphere and I was introduced to it by my very good friend Absar Shah (blog.absarshah.com). My blog is about what I find unique and interesting in the world. I m a quiet and dumb type as opposed to the quiet and contemplative type although I aspire for a higher IQ and an articulate voice.

Could you tell us what made you decide to blog, and what was the inspiration behind it?

I was introduced to the blogsphere by Absar Shah, I once wrote an article for his blog. Sometime later I realized I was using his blog too much to propagate my ideas on various subjects so I decided to make my own, combined with the fact that I was bored. So it was more out of necessity (everybody needs a place to vent out) thus not much inspiration behind it (thats the truth!).

What do you think sets Your blog apart from other blogs?

What I have mostly seen people write on there blogs are more about themselves and their lives (at least the people from Pakistan) apart from a few exceptions. I m not a very sentimental person so I try to write about things that I find interesting in my view of the world, not about my day or about my feelings throughout the day. But that doesn’t really sets my blog apart from any other that I visit, does it? so I think it is fair to call my blog “just another blog around”.

If you could choose one characteristic you have that brought you success in life, what would it be?

Resilience leading to stubbornness leading to obsession. Actually it has brought me various things in life and I (don’t) think success is one of them. It is also my greatest weakness. But if I m not in that obsessed freak mode I m a pretty sane person who thinks logically and rationalizes most of my actions.

What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?

Hmmm… That is a hard question! The happiest would be the day I brought my first paycheck home, the smile on my parents face was right out of those stupid tv commercials about cooking oils. I have this bad this habit of checking cash a gazillion times before buying anything… well no more, actually no, it stuck with me to this day, but still, the feeling of having money just for myself was like a high that I have never felt again. Now the gloomiest moment I would not talk about cuz just the thought of it brings shivers down my spine! So please don’t make me! *making bambi eyes*

Urdu Blogs have got huge potential, when do you think they will really take on the online horizon in Pakistan?

Well I haven’t been across any great urdu blog. Maybe because we as Pakistanis don’t take Urdu very seriously, at least most of us don’t. And the trend seems to be increasing with the upcoming generation, my youngest sibling who is in the seventh grade has difficulty reading urdu literature while he can read the unabridged version of Moby Dick in three days. But still, I don’t think Urdu can ever be extinct from our tongues, after all it is our mother tongue. Lets just say the future is pretty uncertain and to improve it we , this generation needs to start taking charge of a lot of things, including Urdu.

If you could pick a travel destination, anywhere in the world, with no worries about how it’s paid for - what would your top 3 choices be?

• Metallica concert,
• Intl’ Space Station.
• Behind the steering of a Shelby Mustang GT500.

What is your favorite book and why?

Am I supposed to talk about one? Ok, hands down Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. It is my most favorite book ever mainly because my father gifted it to me for getting into a university. Now you would say that why would a person like a book on war, but that is the thing, this book is not about war, but strategy. It dictates pure logic and sets  some very well defined rules that have been time proven over centuries. I could go on and on about his book and you ‘ll get pretty bored by the time I stop. I ll just recommend that everyone should read it, that book is a gem.

What is your favorite meal, dress, and sport?

Favorite meal: biryani!!!,
dress: I hardly wear anything other than a blue jeans and a black T-shirt.
Favorite sports: basketball and swimming.

What’s the first thing you notice about a person (whether you know them or not)?

The way they carry themselves and the way they speak, it tells me all that I need to know to confront them when I have to.

Whose Future is more bright in Pakistan; English blogs or Urdu Blogs?

I think it is a tie, but no doubt English blogs will give Urdu blogs a hard time. I usually need my mother’s (who is pretty much an Urdu-daan in our house) help to read most of the Urdu literature related blogs. But the thing is, I, like many of us would like to know more about Urdu literature and improve our Urdu. Urdu literature is very fascinating and it transports you to a time where things used to be much simpler. Plus it is so cool to quote ash’aars!

How Pakistani bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?

I have no idea.

Do you think Pakistani bloggers tend to remain somewhat self-centered and really don’t go out of their shells? Is it the oriental style of blogging, or they are still unsure about it?

For most Pakistani’s the blogsphere is a place to hang out and socialize. I think this makes their blogs revolve around themselves rather than a specific cause or topic. But I would n’t go as far as saying that this style is the ‘oriental style or blogging’. Mainly because Western blogs went through a similar phase during the start of blogging. There were more personal blogs around then too. I would just say that the Pakistani blogging community is still pretty young and it ll take sometime for it to switch to more subject centric blogs. We can already see a shift towards this currently. More blogs from Pakistan are starting to appear which have a subject centric theme.

What do you think where the Pakistani blogosphere is right now?

Like I said in the previous question, it is still pretty young and immature (for the lack of a better term) but it is growing fast. The good thing is that the bloggers from Pakistan and very bright and intelligent if not intellectually quite mature. Many of the blogs I visit post some very interesting topics every now and then. But there is still much room to grow.

Who are your top five favourite bloggers in Pakistan?

Hmmm, I m pretty new to the blogsphere so the blogs I visit are usually my friends’ or a friend of a friends. Plus there are only few blogs that I regularly visit, so I don’t think I am in any position to pick out the top five favorite blogs (My blogroll has only four links!)

Have you ever become stunned by the uniqueness of any blogger in Pakistani blogosphere?

Yes, I recently stumbled onto a blog maintained by Status qu0 (http://statusqu0.wordpress.com/). If you visit the blog, you ‘ll see what I m talking about.

What is the future of blogging in Pakistan?

(Duhuhude, you must think I have a crystal ball!!!). Pretty bright as per the current trend. Heck, I started blogging!

You have also got a blogging life, how has it directly affected both your personal and professional life?

Surprising to say, not much, Blogging is more of a recreation than a chore for me. so I think it has not affected my personal or professional life in any way. But then I don’t post as often as I should.

What are your future plans?

Complete my higher education, get a job, and get married (My mother is nagging me about that even after I left my previous job!). A Pakistani’s life usually happens that way, not that I m complaining or anything.

Any Message you want to give to the readers of The Pakistani Spectator?

I had a very zen master like qoute memorized but it just slipped my mind. Keep blogging, who knows may be we ‘ll one day inspire the rest of Pakistan to wake up and smell the coffee.