American Dream--Transcontinental Railway

Earlier i discussed the Local transport network in Stockholm, This blog is in continuation of that.

I believe transport network of any country is an indicator of the development and growth of that country, Countries which lack in transport infrastructure struggle to manage there resources. Railway holds a vital place in transport system and Pakistan need a hell a lot of improvement in there Railway network, I wish one day Pakistan will be connected to Europe, China and Russia through Railway.

Two historical events that changed the course of history, that definitely changed the life of a common man and country, that changed the dynamics of economy, trade, market and sociology are linked to railway, this blog is about the first one, second will be discussed later, these two events are source of inspiration for me, i want Pakistan to focus on it transport set up.

American Dream-Transcontinental Railway   

Complete Route L-R (California-Nevada-Utah-Wyoming-Nebraska-Iowa.

Americans should be thankful to Chinese and Irish, The dream of Abraham Lincoln was fulfilled by Chinese workers, the dream was to connect the east and west of USA with the rail road 'TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILTRACK' history tells us that American labour ran away when they were asked to start the work on one of the most difficult terrain of that time, the western part of the track in California.

Tunnel Start-Sierra Nevada

It all started in a town called Sacramento (capital of california), Train route started from Sacramento and it had to cross the mountain ranges of Sierra Nevada to reach the great American desert. Beyond the summit of Sierra Nevada they had a clear run of hundred of miles worth millions of dollars for those involved in the construction.They worked for around six years to dig a tunnel through Nevada mountain and to reach the other side of summit, and they did that, just imagine the happiness when they would have seen the light on the other side of tunnel, i can imagine the joy you get on the completion of any task which is laborious. Chinese labour worked hard on this western patch and they did a marvellous job, New york tribune (1865) says

'they are a great army laying siege to nature in the strongest citadel, the rugged mountains look like stupendous ant hill, they swarm with chinese workers tunneling, wheeling, carting,drilling and blasting the rocks and earth'

Chines Labour-look at there Hats,they arr Chinese not Irish :)

Eastern patch-Nebraska-Irish Labour

Work on eastern patch was also in progress most of the labour was Irish, they had relatively easy terrain but they faced continuous resistance from the Indians and other insurgents, but they killed almost every native who came in there way while moving towards west, for sure the track in central america was built on the bodies of  native American but sometimes you have to take stern decision and when it is national issue than one should go for it.

 It is said that chief engineer responsible for this patch Grenville Dodge manipulated the route to favour his land holdings, but what they achieved at the end worth a lot more than that little corruption.

Congress decided a common point known as Promontory Point in UTAH, and now the race began between the western and eastern team that who will reach the point first, interestingly it was the western team with chinese labours who got there first.

 i think after two or three days eastern team reached there and honestly speaking no one can measure the joy on the faces of those who worked for so many years and who lost many of there friends.

We did it Men at there best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They changed the world, they changed America they connected the east and the west, they connected pacific with Atlantic, what else you ask for....................Great Job.

Formula1-----Engineering Marvel

Formula 1, a very popular brand of car racing, i guess it is the only sport in the world where engineering skills and knowledge matters most. Every team on the circuit put a lot of efforts and spend millions and billions of dollars just to have that extra edge of few seconds. . Remember they have very strict rules and regulation and teams have to work within that frame and you need  an extremely  creative and innovative team that can put you ahead of others.Most important members of there teams are fluid mechanics specialist or aerodynamicist and solid mechanics specialists.

I am particularly interested in the aerodynamics of Formula 1 car, a feature of a formula 1 car that makes it quite similar to any aircraft ,is the wings. Formula 1 cars have wings but they are inverted wings so instead of generating positive lift, they create negative lift, and it is due to this negative lift that cars stay on the ground, other wise at that speed they will fly off.

There are two types of road grip

1.Mechanical Grip

2.Aerodynamics Grip.

Now the interesting fact is that teams can not change mechanical grip largely, mechanical grip is due to tyres, and every team uses a similar type of tyre, so this factor is almost same in every car, But team can change aerodynamic grip and that totally depend on the design of your wings, shape of the body, under body of the car and maximum amount of budget is spend on the aerodynamics design, wind tunnel testing, simulation and all that type of stuff.

overtaking is extremly difficult in F1, specially before 2009 it was almost impossible for the drivers to overtake, why?

a lot can be written to answer this why, in short car following, receives turbulent (i should not write turbulent, but lets live with it) air from the car ahead of it, that reduces its aerodynamics grip, its just like if you are the first one than you will receive fresh air, otherwise get ready for bad air.

This is a very exciting field for mechanical engineers, F1 has helped car manufacturers to test some of there wildest ideas and then to implement those on the other auto mobiles, its just like space agencies around world spends billions on there space program, and research carried out there is then implemented in other fields,  

And it is mandatory to mention grid girls as well, other than cars they are the most beautiful things on the circuit.

To add spice to this boring blog.

Somiani--Place to visit.

Usually jub ap pakistan mein samandar ka ziker karein tu her kisi ke dimagh mein jo pehla nam atta hai wo hai Karachi, or karachi mein jo beach sub se ziada popular hai wo hai clifton, or muje ye kehna pare ga key iss see ziada ghatia or gandi beach mein ne aj tak nahi dekhi, pani ka rung neela lagnay ke bajai kala lagta hai aur kisi be angle se app us ko khobsurat muqam nahi keh sakte. even the crabs at clifton are scary and dark black in color.

Karachi mein rehtay huay muje apnay dost Karrar Naqvi or Umer Latif ke sath aik bar baluchistan ke aik chotay se area Somiani Jane ka itefaq hua, Somiani mein Pakistan ka Satellite launch centre hai, that was developed by NASA in the year 1962, it also has a firing range operated by Pakistan Ordinance factory.

we went to somiani beach and i was amazed to see the sandy beach and  colour of the water, it was Greenish-bluish, and i must say that so far i have not seen a more beautiful beach than somiani, i am saying this because in the past i had the opportunity to visit few beaches of East china sea which is a part of pacific ocean, Mediterranean and some beaches of Baltic sea, and without any doubt somiani was best among those.

How can i rate somiani ahead of Mediterranean, people all over the world rush towards Spain, Greece, Italy and other coastal cities which are on Mediterranean,   you might not agree with me but you have to go to somiani and then you can realize the beauty of that place. and yes one more thing Crabs are white in colour and they are in abundance, pick, cook, enjoy delicious Crab, free of cost.

unfortunately i do not have any pic, i could not find it on net, may be its because that hardly anyone knows about somiani in Pakistan.

Majlinda kalmendi---Kosovo

I like to read and keep myself updated with the ongoing sports events around the globe. 
Few days ago I watched a  video on BBC about an athlete from Kosovo, her name is Majlinda kalmendi. She is a Judo player and she has won quite a few junior and senior tournaments.She has a bright chance of winning Gold Medal at London Olympics in 2012. The problem with her is that she does not have a country to represent at olympics. She is passionate about her sport and she dearly wants to represent Kosovo at Olympics but Kosovo is not recognized by majority of the countries in the world. European Union and USA have recognized Kosovo but Russia and China are against its recognition. Pakistan is also among those who didn't recognize this small  and only Muslim Majority state of Europe.
Now Majlinda kalmendi is planning to represent Albania, and she said number of times in her interview that she would love to represent Kosovo but if not than she is willing to be part of albanian or any other team. Surely she is never going to represent Serbia even if they pay her big money as they fought against Serbia for so long.  I liked the way she talked during the interview, she was confident and determined to go to olympics. May God help her....Come on Majlinda we support you.......here is the interview link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympic_games/world_olympic_dreams/9386477.stm

Stockholm-Metro-tube-Ubahn

Stockholm ke jo chez muje sub se achi lagi wo yahan ka transport network hai, agar muje ye option ho ke mein yahan ke koi aik chez pakistan shift ker doon too i will go for there transport network.(waisay blonde bachian bhejni ke be option buri nahi).
stockholm transport network consist of

buses (red & blue colors)
under ground trains-Metro- (in swedish Tunnelbana),
above ground trains (in swedish Pendaltag),
Trams (in swedish LocalBana),

Inner view of train

Access Card

And yes you need a Transport access card to use any of the transport facility, you can not purchase tickets on-board, so better buy an access card  (ya phir ap atleast train station per chalang maar ker barrier cross ker sakte hain agar app ke pass ticket ya acces card na hoo, checking is a rare incident so agar ap ke pass ticket nahi hai to just Chalang :) ya phir ap tang be maar sakte hain that is a special techniques can not explain here, waisay mere pass access card na hoo to mein chalang marta hoon, sir is good in tang, alot of practice is required to be good in this trade of opening barrier through Tang)

once me Aamir and sir we went to the one of the last stop of a commuter train, station name was BALSTA,, khair hum station ponch ker bahir niklay aur thori der tak ghomtay phirta rahe, jub hum wapis jane ke liye station per ponchat tu our card did'nt work, we asked the person there tu us ne kaha ke you are out of stockholm zone C, now you have to purchase 40 kron ticket to get in, hum ne ussay kahan ok, or phir hum ne aik dosray ke tarf dekha and beghair koi lafz kahe aik dosray ko, we jumped the barrier and ran to the platform, wo banda humay dekh raha thaa and we were laughing madly..shuker hai wo humare peechay nahii.

stockholm city mein hotay huway kisi be thoray bohat parhay likhay insaan ke le ye mumkin nahi hai wo rasta bhool jai ya ghum ho jai, her jaga bus stops tu nazar aa he jain gay per near every area you can find a Tunnelbana (underground train), bus app ko thori bohat nazrein ghumana parein gee and you can find a T sign some where there, just go in and than the life is easy.
Transport ka koi be mode use kerain app ko bus ye pata hona chahii ke ap jis stop per ja rahe hain us tarf jane wali bus ya train ka akhri stop kya hai this will help you in determining the right direction, some time it happen ke you know the bus number but you dont know the direction ke kis tarf janay wali bus mein bhaitoon.

Kehtay hain ke Moscow key Under ground Train stations kisi Art gallery se kam nahi, and it is also termed as longest art gallery and same is the case with stockholm metro stations, every station has its own unique style, you can find different paintings, graffiti, carved out rocks, statues and other such stuff, stockholm metro stations are quite deep as well.

Above all you can always trust stockholm transport system, app stockholm transport ke website per jain and enter you current and final destination and you will get the shortest possible route to your final destination, note down that route and go ahead, or ye baat mein app ko yaqeen se keh sakta hoon ke app ko her bus ya train website per mentioned time ke mutabiq he milee gee na aik min pehlay na late.

Stockholm 2010-Summer cycling trip

Last year August mein mein ne, Hassan aziz( commonly known as Sir among inlivings of DE-24) or aik aur dost ne jo EME college mein hum se aik saal junior thaa ne cycling or camping trip ka plan banaya, decide ye huwa ke hum south of sweden mein aik city hai Nykoping wahan tak cycling karein gay, destination decide kerne mein humay kafi waqt laga.

Huts& barley fields

Khair it was an unforgettable trip, we did around 210 Kms in 3 days and had alot of fun on the way, kutch patches tu bohat he zabardast thee, pehli bar europe ke village life qareeb se dekhnay ka ittefaq huwa, sweden ke population intehai kam hai, rastay mein jo chotay villages thee wahan per be 15 se 20 gheroon se ziada abadi na thee, horse stables and cattle forms are common sight, landscape is beautiful, or ap ko akser angraizi films ke wo scene yad a jate hain jis mein charoon tarf pehlay huay fields ke centre mein aik hut hota hai, ya door kise chimney se dhuwan nikal raha hota.

Scene from our camp, 

Pehli raat we camped at a Natural reserve, we were extremly tired and exhausted when we reached at the camping ground, had some sandwiches and snickers, and then we started looking for some spot to place our tent, akhir kaar baltic sea ke aik kinare hum ne apna camp thoka or machli pakrnay ke liye rawana huay, unfortunately koi be machli na paker sakay as expected, humare pass soup ke packets or kuch aur chezain theein jo hum ne wahan aag jala ker prepare kein.,

FISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Met a german couple there they were a planning to go to Extreme North of Norway, than back to sweden, from sweden to finland and finally to Russia. you might have to look at map to understand this route.

Next we went to Nykopping, had a lunch there at McDonald, and at a Pizza shop, bought bread and other stuff from Hemköp, Lunch zabardast thaaa, 

Nykoping Centre

Nykoping mein shaid wahan ke abadi se ziada kafi cycles hoon, khas toor per summer mein you will find everybody on cycle.

Aik Interseting fact ke jub ap kafi speed per cycling ker rahe hote hain to it often happen ke honey bees strike you, and you can even listen the striking sound, or wo akser strike kernay ke baad gir jate hain but some time they stick to your skin, and there bite is painful, sir experience that!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ali Khan,  Gohar Khokhar

Hassan Aziz

Start Of Last Leg, 

Pakistan-sweden

Mein intehai nashukra insaan hoon, ye meri raai hai apnay bare mein, shaid dosray loog be aisa he sochtay hoon apne bare mein, Mein apni bare mein likhonn ga ke jub mein NUST mein tha tu mein kehta thaa ke yar kab meri jan chotay ge iss parahai se, parahai khatum hotay sath he muje Fauji Fertilizer Bin qasim (FFBL) mein job mil gai, magar mein wahan jane per be khush nahi thaa, khair na chahtay huay wo be mein wahan chala gya, aur wahan kuch arsa guzarne ke baad muje ihsas hua ke yahan anay ka decision sahi thaa per sath he sath university ke La parva life shadeed yad anay lagi, roz subah jab 8 bajay uthna aik azab lagne lug gya, karachi muje apne gher se bohat ziada door lagne lug gya, mess kay khanay be booray lagne lug gai, in short muje wahan per kafi chezain aisi mil gai jin per mein aitraz kerta rehta thaa.

Then i joined Fatima Fertilizer, shru shru mein bohat khush thaa, ke chalo yar now i am close to my home, karachi mein bahir nikalte huay jo gun point per lut jane ka khof thaa wo be nahi raha, per kuch arse bad i was fed up with the nature of my job and i started comparing my job scope at Fatima with that at FFBL, muje Sadikabad ke garmi per shadeed ghusa anay laga, Fatima ka mess be muje bura lagne lug gya (Although at start of my job at FATIMA i used to say ke 'yahan ke mess quality tu bohat achi haii), fatima ke administration ke sath muje kafi problems rahi, muje wahan rehtay huay ye ihsas honay laga ke agar mein yahan raha to mein maximum Middle east tak he ja sakta hoon,  than i started saying ke yar Pakistan se bahir nikalna chahii (bahir se meri murad US ya Europe thee) or bahir ke duniya dekhni chahii, iss ke haq mein i used to say many things like bahir janay se apka vision broad hota hai, u meet and interact with people from different background and races, learn about other cultures gharz mein her wo baat kehta thaa jis se ye zahir hota thaa ke agar app bahir nahi gaii tu zindagi ka koi faida nahii, so i decided ke mein bahir jaoon ga or bahir jane ka sub se asaan rasta thaa study visa

USA ka visa reject honay ke baad mein sweden ponch gya, and believ me yahan a ker kuch he arsay bad mera bahir anay ka bhoot utar gya aur ab muje Pakistan kafi shidat ke sath yad ataa haii, pakistan mein sadikabad ke germi, or  banay banai khany or bani banai rotiyan :), job ke maazay, mahinay bad zaroorat se kahin ziada milne wali pay ::)), friends, colleagues, apni zaban mein galian or barey he strong kism ke jokes, Rahim yar khan mein ke hui hotelling, or shopping or sub se barh ker ye ihsas ke hum first grade Pakistani citizen hain na key kisi aur mulk se aai huay 2nd grade citizen.