People please use the sidewalk

Since I started driving about two years ago, I realized what an utter waste sidewalks are in my city. They gobble up about a quarter of the road's width, and the pedestrians simply do not use it. At rush times they take up another quarter, leaving motorists a twisted maze to find their way through.

True many of the pavements in the city have been gobbled up by hawkers and shop keepers, but it is so annoying to see, that people simply do not use them even when they are empty. Take my lane for example; fortunately the sidewalks have yet not been taken up by any hawkers. A good thousand people use it in less than an hour to reach jamat khana (our mosques) at prayer times. But it is so damn annoying to see that no one uses the pavements, everyone walks on the roads, hardly leaving enough space for one vehicle to pass through. I wonder if this is the predicament outside Karachi too.

Was wondering where is one supposed to be disciplined in road manners? Is it the school, the family, or what? Am actually thinking of somehow addressing the issue in at least my community. The problem is, if people understood, wouldn’t they be doing t already? Or is it that they yet not realize?

The Fate Equation

Back again from hibernation, though hardly the season to hibernate. The temperature's been rising for a while, though its worse in other parts of the country. I guess moderate climate is one of the most underrated benefits of living in coastal towns.

Though debate between destiny and free will has been there for ages, a new perspective of looking at it struck me a couple of months ago. Had been meaning to think this one through properly, but this one requires real thought and the grey cells weren’t quite up for the exercise J

The idea involves an attempt at mathematical modeling of fate. Every individual is part of the system, as is all existence (for simplicity sake lets restrict ourselves to humans at this stage). 'Fate', 'fortune' whatever one may call it, is a complex mathematical function or formula; in which all individuals are variables. Each variable has a different bearing; as in they may not all necessarily have the same effect over their entire ranges. Thus the reality which I experience is a function of my actions as well as those of others. The degree of influence on my reality by other individual actions would depend upon their proximity to me and my circumstances (call this proximity the closeness of relationship and interaction); as well as the general reality sequence that has been going on. These could be both personal and on a macro level. Say on a personal level I am going through a crisis; then the actions of maybe different set of individuals would have a greater bearing on my reality than those who normally would have an effect when my life is going perfect. Similarly on a macro level say if the economy is going through a recession or there is a war or a natural catastrophe, then a different set of individuals would affect my life in a different way (say maybe the relief worker who evacuates me out; or the politician whose particular action in that hour of crisis changes all our lives).

In essence what I have attempted above is to try and hint at the possibility of mathematically modeling 'fate' in terms of mathematical functions; the dependent and the independent variables; the domain and ranges. But this one requires proper thought and refinement and research.