Hello Everyone,

We all wish that new year brings something new in our life, some change, something real nice and good that could make this new year special But it happens very rarely right?

I guess 2009 is an exception for me (2008 was good too but 2009 is just great as of yet) I am sure you guys are wondering what I am talking about

Well first let me tell you about how our blood camp went HORRIBLY WRONG why? We had a target of 100+ pints, but we could only get 49 pints it’s just not cool you know anyways now let me tell you what YPP is

YPP is Youth Parliament of Pakistan, a non-profit, non-political, non-religious program initiated by Abrar-ul-Haq This organization is inviting Pakistani youth to come forward and work for Pakistan in whichever field they are comfortable with They want the youth to identify problems and give solutions for them

They have started a reality based show called “Kaun hoga naujawanon ka Wazeer-e-Azam”, and they are inviting interested groups from all over Pakistan for this show We (me, Ayesha, and YLap) were invited too

I didn’t want to be a part of it, but after severe convincing from mom, ayesha and Hina aapi, I agreed But I requested for “Airplane” tickets, they surrended and agreed to pay half amount (or more?) ofthe tickets after Hina aapi pressurized them 😀

On 14th we reached Lahore, and at 12:00 PM we arrived at Ali Auditorium (where recording had to take place) When we arrived they were getting ready for the first session, we were sent to a Focus Group discussion, it was organized with help of British Council, I was really hesitant there but it actually helped a lot

After focus group, we had our recording but we were sent to KFC (thanks to Abrar bhai for that), After that we (me, Ayesha, Qasim, Waqar, Sir Asif, Arsalan, Saad [my cousin]) and there was one more person from Karachi (his name was Musawwir – I think), we all were teamed against each other Sir Asif V/S Waqar, Arsalan V/S Qasim, Saad V/S me, and Ayesha V/S Musawwir

Everyone of us had to give 2 minutes of Speech (about what we see as problems in our country and what are the solutions to them) in front of live audience and judges, Most of us were thinking that Sir Asif will win easily, Qasim has no chance, Ayesha will be victorious against Musawwir and I (and my lack of confidence) will ruin this chance for me so Saad will easily win BUT I guess it was time for unexpected things to happen

At the last moment we were told that we can’t deliver our speech while reading from a paper, so we have to remember our speech most probably this affected everyone, including me anyways I decided that it’s useless to try to remember the speech instead I will just speak about the things that are important to me, if they are important to me why would I need to prepare right?

Well then program was started, Waqar gave a very tough competition to Sir Asif very few points separate them, then Qasim was GREAT, he was simply GREAT, and Arsalan unfortunately received very low score (most probably the lowest score of all) You must be thinking why we had thought that Sir Asif or Arsalan would get more points? well because they are usually more confident and comfortable (in communications/discussions) then Waqar and Qasim

Anyways after that it was me and Saad, Saad as expected had a very good speech, then I gave my speech and somehow people liked it so much that I got standing ovation for that (thanks to Waqar :), he was the first one who got up from his seat on stage) everyone was clapping and I was like “uhh what did I say, what did I say”, then Abrar bhai hugged me and said “Thalassemia will be the first thing we will discuss on first Youth Assembly” I was ahead in Audience scores but Judges score evened us (me and Saad) quite nicely

After me, it was Ayesha and Musawwir, unfortunately since me and Ayesha both had to talk on same topic and we were right after one another she got a little emotional (due to my speech) and lost her train of thoughts while talking so she ended it very quickly Judges liked it but Musawwir received more points 🙁 [I wish Musawwir was against me :D]

Now we are waiting for march, when this will go on-air on ATV channel Viewers will be allowed to vote via SMS for participants who they think deserve a chance to sit in Youth Assembly (that will be organized in Islamabad, I think)

And now about me (or that’s the “main” part from topic) I feel great, why? because we had to walk on 14th the whole day and even though I had to take 8-10 tablets that day I was just fine! I was walking, carrying luggage and everything was fine That’s just so good! I FELT GREAT

Well that’s all for now, talk to you laters 🙂

-Salman

Tags: abrar ul haq, blood camp, british council, kfc, lahore, new year, pakistan, standing ovation, wish, ylap, youth, youth parliament
Posted in: Family, I like.., Personal, Thalassemia Related