Owais Mughal, Adil Najam, Darwaish, Asma Mirza
From all of us at Pakistaniat.com, and on behalf of all our readers too, we wish these two children in the photograph a wonderful New Year and a prosperous and peaceful 2009.
These children may be shoeshine boys to the world. But they make all our worlds shine with their smiles. May the authenticity of the smiles that dance on their faces never lose its sheen. May the sullenness of the world they inherit never keep them from enjoying the simple pleasures of life. May their fears be few and their enthusiasms be great. May all their aspirations be high. May all their hopes be fulfilled. May their futures be defined by the heights of their potential and not the constraints of their circumstance. May they rise to the challenges of their times better than we have to ours. May they create for their children a world better than the world we created for them. Beta, jeetay raho aur hastay raho.
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Adil Najam
News sources around the world are reporting that, however, that we will have to live with the 2008 a full second more than we thought! The way it looks to me, however, in the case of Pakistan – and of all regions ‘ahead’ of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) – we are actually going to lengthen 2009, not 2008, by a second!
Since the world’s atomic time will be reset on December 31, 2008 at 23:59:59 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) – or Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) – by the addition of an extra second, that would be 4:59:59 AM in Pakistan on January 1, 2009. The scientific consequence of the additional second are profound, but the practical implications for most Pakistanis will relate only to curiosity and trivia since “Pakistani time” runs to a rhythm entirely its own. However, personally, given what 2008 has been like, I would much rather take my risks with a longer 2009 than stand 2008 even a second longer than needed!
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Adil Najam
Our ATP Poll on ‘What events from 2008 will define Pakistan in 2009?’ continues. However, as promised, we bring you a second companion ATP Poll which asks a related but different question: What do you think might be the big news coming out of Pakistan in 2009? (You can mark multiple choices).
If you have not voted on our original Year in Review Poll yet, please do vote here.
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