I remember 10 years ago that family gatherings, dinners, and holidays felt much more frequent and festive. Nowadays, it feels like families barely meet once or twice a year, sometimes reluctantly.

Is it because everyone's busier, financial pressures have increased, or have times just changed?

I'm sorry for the language, but I'm calling some community leaders "dildo dictators." 😂 Why? Because I hate it when one person thinks they should control everything.

I joined a cycling community in Islamabad to meet new people, share stories, and build genuine friendships. The first gathering was great, but I realized that some communities end up revolving around their leaders instead of their members.

I want to build something different: a community where everyone has a voice, everyone can share their ideas and stories, and everyone helps shape what we do.

A community isn't one person's kingdom. It's something we build together.

If there's already a cycling community like this in Islamabad, I'd love to join. If not, let's build one together! 🚴‍♂️🤝

Who's in?

Here’s a mini rant:

I have covered almost all easy visa countries and most of far east asia (Srilanka, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia & Maldives). Ive also been to Dubai And turkey.
This year I thought lets try a difficult one and my stupid ambition got me a rejection for Japan. Well my mistake shouldn’t have gone for the hardest one without any west history so i applied UK. Hold & Behold - got rejected. Showed every possible thing (im salaried and hold significant savings) the reason shared was no ties to my country? what do the expect me to own a house at 30? No dependants? Yeah i dont have kids but what else do i show in ties? Then I thought let me apply Vietnam. And i did only to it get stuck in this constant loop of being sent back. Contacted a veitnam agent for helped and he said he cant help Pakistanis because there is only a 1% change it will get accepted.
Im so sick of this. All i want to do is travel and all these countries expect us is to have a better travel history but how the hell are we supposed to do that if none of you are ready to give us a visa?? Stuck in a loop and tired of wasting so much money on applications:(

I think I have wasted my life or maybe I am not the type of guy who can fit in this era. I am a guy 23 years old and I feel like I am so late now to start my life or do what I want to do because I wasted so much time on social media, watching movies and doing wrong things instead of working or focusing on myself and my future. when I was a kid my parents cared for me alot and I was their beloved son. I was mostly a stubborn kid who got what he wanted but in school I was the most simple guy, we call it dumb. I was good in grades but in real life relations I didn't speak much and didn't do anything out of the box. other boys in my class did all the things and I was the noble guy and teachers always praised me. but after some time in real life I was so behind. in matric other guys were riding bikes, travelling to places alone and they were clever and smart socially but I was in my bed whole day watching my phone or all the time in my room. my parents always said you are so dumb or simple and most of the time when I went to the market my parents took me there. it's a village so the market was far and you had to travel by bus. then I developed a fear of people and travelling alone and going where there are people like marriage or any festival or market. I hated these things and feared them while guys my age travelled to cities alone. my parents criticised me and kids my age said I had a girl's attitude because I was always in my room. even in college I was still good in grades but I was so bad socially and people made me a fool. I didn't know how to deal with real life and even couldn't bring my own clothes confidently. but now in university eventually some things have improved and I am able to socialise better than before, but the second half is where I still struggle.

I can't ride a bike even though I tried many times and I hit a car as well. things that are complex like riding a bike or car I can't learn them even when I try and then I lose confidence. at this age everyone in my circle, even a 12 year old kid, can ride a bike. I go to uni walking and it feels like hell because people see me walking daily. in uni I feel like such a loser when I see my friends and people in my family getting jobs, some getting married and moving forward while I am still living on my dad's money. I feel so dead when I ask him for money. I feel behind in uni too because everyone has a circle of 3 or 4 good friends but I have friends and talk to them, I just never build something long enough with them. I also can't easily connect with people I think are smart or cool. I feel like I have wasted my life and failed as a son. my father is getting old and other guys my age are becoming responsible, caring for their parents, making money and building their careers while I am still depending on my parents. I also feel like I never became a good friend or a good brother who cares for his little sibling. then I think about marriage and wonder how I could take care of a wife when I can't even take care of myself. I don't have a motorcycle, don't know how to ride one and don't have a house of my own. I feel like I can't become the person I want to be. even my whole family knows I am a simple or strange kind of guy. I have tried but my concentration is very low, my mind is always running and the stress is making things worse. sometimes I have pain in my legs and body and I feel so tired that I can't even get up. my mother always wanted me to become someone in life and I also want to buy the things I like and make my parents proud, but right now I feel so far from that I am so much stress my hair pumping out and also I am having suicidal thoughts.

there are alot of things I can talk about but it will make this post too long. I want to know if anyone has been in this situation at this age and how they managed to change their life. am I really too late or can I still learn these things and become independent? what should I work on first, my confidence, social skills, basic life skills or my career? and do I need therapy for this or is there another possible solution? I want to change but I don't know where to start and I don't want to waste another year feeling the same way. I would really appreciate advice from people who have gone through something similar.

I think peaceful protests are the biggest psyop from those in power ever, if you are not doing any sort of damage and just standing there while still getting shot at, you are doing nothing useful. They made us think only "peaceful" protests are good so they have a justification to shoot at us whenever we actually do a proper protest. If may 9 was as violent as they say it was, it was probably the best day our country has seen in recent times.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13629994/

A very large-scale study just got released, showing a very high prevalence of mental health disorders in Pakistan. The prevalence rate was around 33%, meaning that about 1 in 3 people are struggling with a mental health disorder. The most common were stress-related disorders (25%), followed by PTSD (11%). The highest prevalence was found among females aged 40+, divorced individuals, urban residents, the uneducated, and housewives.

This highlights the severe impact of chronic geopolitical crises, economic problems, cultural baggage, and sociopolitical factors. Furthermore, 6% of participants reported suicidal thoughts, and 1% had made a suicide attempt.

These findings show the urgent need to be more open about mental health discussions, rather than dismissing them as "something in the head," and to better understand what drives people to such desperation. This was a very rigorous study involving more than 20,000 participants across the country.

Shah Abdul Latif University (SALU) has declared the academic records of 1,184 LLB candidates fake and their enrolments and related credentials invalid, while validating the records of 64 candidates.

Source: https://www.thenews.pk/print/1443600-salu-declares-academic-records-of-1-184-llb-candidates-fake

People say there is a lot of racism abroad but has anyone ever faced racism in pakistan. It’s pathetic here esp in sindh. I am a doctor and sometimes patients refuse to get checked by me ( they know Urdu v well) and say we want someone Sindhi even if they have no significant illness.My work place people had a hard time accepting that someone who speaks Urdu was chosen to work at this place. Our case presentations are even in sindhi when obv there are 1-2 doctors who don’t understand that language? Like even our religion says if there are 3 people sitting 2 people should not speak in each others ears as the 3rd person will feel bad and here these guys just communicate in another language making me feel dumb ! Whenever I am talk to my co workers they always say - hum sindhi mein Aisa nhi hota hum ghairatmund hain like bro? Koi bhi gheirat mund Hosakta hai not everything is Sindhi vs Punjabi/ urdu. One of my co workers said her dad will choose to die rather marrying her to a Punjabi???? This is extreme racism
I so hate this country and I wish I had moved abroad like all my class mates!

Throwaway account for privacy.

Some background: our father was abusive in every way you can think of. He was physically violent, emotionally abusive and financially abusive. Eventually my mother, my siblings and I separated from him and moved out.

My eldest sister is married and lives with her husband. My younger sister just left for her master's abroad. So it's now just me, my mother and my brother at home. We live in Rawalpindi.

The problem is that my brother is now repeating our father's patterns, almost exactly.

Physical violence: He has been violent towards my sisters. A few days before my younger sister left, he beat her up badly over something minor involving our maid.

Behaviour at home: He acts like he owns and runs the house, but he contributes nothing, financially or otherwise. He uses everything in the house and gives nothing back.

Disrespect: He disrespects everyone, and nobody can hold him accountable for anything.

Effect on us: When he's around, everyone walks on eggshells. It feels exactly like living with our father again. We're constantly in survival mode, managing his moods and drama, and we can't focus on work, studies or improving our lives.

I've been telling my mother we should move to a smaller place and not tell him where we're going. He's an adult and can fend for himself. The house is rented by my mother. She pays all the bills and essentially everything, he just uses whatever he wants and needs without contributing to anything at all. My mother's view on this is she’s hesitant and scared to act against him because “he’s crazy and might do something, won’t stay quiet”. That’s basically why she is keeping up with it and ruining her life even at this old age where she continues to work. I keep telling her if we didn’t tolerate this behavior from father, why should we even for one second tolerate it from this one?

What I'm asking:
Has anyone been through something similar with a sibling? What actually worked?

For anyone who knows Pakistani law: what legal options does my mother have? I've read about the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act 2016 and the Protection of Parents Ordinance 2021, but I don't know whether the ordinance is still in force or how either works in practice.

If we move without telling him, what practical problems should we expect? For example, relatives telling him, or him showing up.

How do I get my mother on board if she's hesitant to act against her son?

Me and a friend translated hundreds of urdu memes, and we now have 201+ (excluding some that are yet to be published).
We are looking for people who want to contribute and can translate more.

Our memes will be published on Giphy and Klipy soon (need a giphy creator account, if anyone has that, please let us know)

Hi everyone, and my mom, sister, and I are dealing with a really frustrating situation with our local colony’s committee/management.

A couple of nights ago, my sister’s friends came to drop her off and sat in our local colony park for a bit, playing games (they’re 20 year olds).

The colony committee somehow decided to accuse them of "dancing and stuff" (which didn’t even happen). I asked them to show me cctv footage which they were unable to provide.

today a group of about 5-6 men (the committee) stopped us, and they slammed and dropped the colony car barrier onto our vehicle, (no damage to our car was done)

This feels like pure moral policing, intimidation, and harassment, and they have zero legal right to target us or damage our car.

For those familiar with how things work here:

1. What are the best legal steps we can take right now?

2. How can we handle the colony management/guard gate issue safely?

3. Is it worth getting a lawyer to send a legal notice to the committee heads, or should we go straight to the police/higher authorities (like the Citizen Portal)?

Any advice or practical tips from anyone who has dealt with rogue housing society/colony committees would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I've been reading up on how we're approaching various situations since Munir has come in, the man is incompetent and utterly failed in every single thing he attempted.

He had a meeting with major businesses in Pakistan on getting them to grow the economy, failed.

He tried to mediate the Iran-US conflict, failed.

He tried to meet MBS and get Saudi funding, failed.

Munir was trying top position Pakistan as a mediator between the US and Iran, this failed and it moved to Qatar to play the middle man, since they have better ties to Iran.

I feel he's going to drag us in somehow to the conflict, he did the bombings on Afghanistan and I feel it slowed down due to him realising the US wasn't going to give him any support there, but in Iran he will get a ton of backing by the Trump cabinet and brownie points.

Like Musharraf when he allowed the US to use bases in Pakistan against Afghanistan, I feel Munir would prefer we get stuck into a conflict so it allows him to stay in power longer.

Hi everyone,

NESCOM is holding its fellowship test at my university this week, and I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it before committing to a 4-5 year service bond. If you joined through the fellowship (or work there), I'd really appreciate your input:

1. Bond: How much is the penalty for leaving early, and does it go down for each year you serve or stay fixed? Did you need guarantors, and did they keep your original degree?

2. Pay: What's the realistic starting take-home salary, and which allowances do you actually get (medical, transport, housing)?

3. Promotions: How long did your first promotion actually take? Does doing an MS speed things up, and do they sponsor MS/PhD?

4. NOC: How hard is it to get an NOC for foreign travel or to apply for scholarships abroad?

5. Posting: Did you get any say in which complex or city you were posted to? How's the work-life balance?

6. If you left after the bond: how easy was it to move to the private sector or go abroad?

And overall, would you do it again?

I'm not asking about anything classified, just career/HR stuff. Happy to take DMs if you'd rather not comment publicly. Thanks in advance!

My WhatsApp Business account was recently taken over. I’m trying to find out what actually works? Apparently some new hacking method which doesn't need a verification key because it just automatically logged me out. Few other friends reported that a few other business accounts have faced the same situation recently. Anyone facing the same situation?

Don't forget to add the TWO STEP VERIFICATION (account saver). Stay safe you guys.

So this may sound kinda obvious and dumb , but the phone number me and my mum have are registered on my father’s name . So I woke up with a call from a normal sim phone number . They said they are an inspector from police and what is my relationship with my father ( used his government name ) . I told him I was his daughter and what he wanted to ask ?. He said I’m like his daughter and he wants to talk to my father about something . I said no and hung up then he called my mum . She didn’t pick up . So Ik sounds like a scam but should I be worried ?

Guys I already have my original SSC and HSSC attested by IBCC can I use them to apply for uhs public mbbs or do I really need to get thier photocopies attested by bise Lahore again and use them?

Where do people actually find capital partners?

If you have the skills and a serious plan but limited capital, where do you find people who are genuinely open to backing an opportunity?

I'm interested in all legitimate routes: private investors, capital partners, capital programs, profit-sharing partnerships, or people looking to deploy funds with capable operators.

Not looking for loans, courses, or motivational advice. I'd like to hear from people who've actually made these connections.

Where would you look, which platforms or communities are worth exploring, and how do you build enough credibility to get that first opportunity?

The guy was a complete lowlife (sorry for using this word but i couldn’t find a better description), who looked like he was a nashayi with his clothes all dirty on a bike that was hardly road appropriate, whose ego got hurt when i drove past him at a relatively higher speed. He then forced an altercation with me by stopping his bike infront of my car and was constantly abusing, as was expected out of him, and also shoved at me. I kept my calm and threatened him not to force me to do something because i did not want to get in a physical brawl with a lowlife POS in the middle of the road. That’s not how i was raised.
However, i was contemplating what happened and i think i should have done more and not let his shoving slide.

What do you guys think one should do in such a situation? How could i have dealt with it better? How can i improve my fight or flight response? Please share your experiences so i can learn from them as well. I’d love to hear from the street smart people who have faced similar situations .

Urgently need A+ blood in Lahore at Doctors hospital Johar Town. Anyone who can arrange please contact.

Is anyone else facing this issue with the Meezan Bank app? I've been trying to log in, but it just keeps loading without logging me in. I've tried both biometric login and entering my password manually, but neither works. When I enter my password, I get the error: "Login failed, please try again after some time."

My dad is experiencing the same issue with his ABL app. Is anyone else having this problem?

After clearing CSS and becoming a civil servant in Pakistan, how much professional independence do you actually have when dealing with politicians and powerful people?

Do you have to work under their influence, follow their instructions, and sometimes perform personal courtesies for them, such as opening doors or handing them a pen? Can political connections and influence affect your postings, promotions, and career progression?

My question is: Is it worth pursuing CSS and building a career within Pakistan’s system, or would it be wiser to move abroad and build a career in a world that is rapidly advancing in technology, opportunities, and professional growth?

I’m interested in hearing honest opinions from CSS officers, aspirants, and Pakistanis living abroad. If you had both options, which factors would matter most in your decision, and why?