“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
Mark Twain
Think of a plot, a scene, a situation; where you have just got free from all the hustle bustle, panic and tension of exams; and specially the exams of high school where you know it is now or never situation from every side, be it school, be it parents or friends. Now let yourself flow in the calmness of that student’s context….
Ok! Picture time’s up. Let’s come back. It was that same moment for me when I met with my friend “Google maps”. My parents had gifted me an android that day and I was so curious about all the fuzz and all the fun. I had a curiosity to find out, what is what? Who is who? Where is this country? Where is that country? How do the seven wonders look like? Although I had access to internet back then but it was the excitement of having access on the palm of your hands. (I still got chills writing about that :D)
mausoleum of the father of the nation, M.Ali.Jinnah, Karachi. The place where my journey started.
It was approx 4-5 years ago, I had just reached my home from a fine dinner and a pop-up came on my mobile, “How was that place?” and my journey as a local guide began that day.
From being Novice Reviewer to Master Reviewer, from being Novice Photographer to Master Photographer and from being Novice Fact Finder to Master Fact Finder; It was absolutely an incredible period of time for me in which I learnt, fed my passion and had a wonderful journey throughout.
A collage of badges earned by me.
What does Local Guides program mean to me???
A group photo of Pakistan local Guides members.
Oh boy! That is one tough question and the easiest one at the same time.
To me Local guides program means inspiration & motivation, teaching and learning, it means community, it means family, and most of all it is all here. I mean talking about what my focus point on internet is, I.e. photography, travelling, and fooood, and infotainment. It is all here. See!
After this many years of being a local guide and being on Local guides Connect , I often think "What does Local Guides Program mean to me? What I achieved as a local guide? I’ll tell you what it means to me.
- I got friends.
- I got an enlarged social circle.
- I got improved imagination.
- I met a creative guy inside me.
- I met a knowledge seeker in me.
Friends and companions:
One of the best things I got from LGC is the friends who are as passionate as me for the cause.
I mean literally LGC is the place where you can find the best people, people who are always ready to guide me, teach me and be with me at the times. There are friends whom I have met and there are those whom I’ve not met personally but we are connected through LGC. There are teachers, mentors, guides and followers and best buddies.
What my achievement was these fellows who were by my side.
@OSAMA , @Osaka78forTRUMP and @AlejandraMaria these were my first connect mates along with @Haseeb and @KashifMisidia .
My other friends include @user_not_found , @Muhammad_Usman @Hassan_ali30 , @AIMAN_SAEED @sheeraz @OmerAli … And the list can go on and on, I can write many names here. These are the bunch of people who are the main reason of me being here.
Apart from that, @KashifMisidia @user_not_found are the real deal here in LG community. They are like “ just give me a text and I’m in.” that’s my kind of guy.
social circle and activities:
I am at that stage of my age where everything looks amazing, one takes risks, does not care about consequences and just want to enjoy. I myself am a traveler and have travelled through major cities of my country. When I met @kashifmisidia in a meetup back in 2018, I found my wandering partner and as of today I can proudly say that I’ve visited every part of my city. (and believe me Karachi is a home of almost 30 million people, that’s big yeah.) We have visited schools, Collages, Public Libraries and Universities together to share the knowledge. And every time he is like one expert on accessibility, volunteering, knowledge sharing and I’m always learning from him.
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
Confucius
vision and realization:
I was just a common guy like many others, but after it happened, it was a life changing experience for me. Having a wider vision is core basic of being an LG I think, and that’s what it did it to me. The things I got from here are beyond the imaginations; the great exposure, larger audience, the diverse cultures, selflessness and the most important the joy, that feeling you get when you feel joy, the chills.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
Helen Keller
I did not know how to meet others the complete strangers and talk to them without their interests in my talks; I did not know how to improve accessibility, speaking of that I did not have the confidence to go out and talk to people. But when we (me and @KashifMisidia ) started meetups, accessibility walks, map editing walks, photo walks and much more other sittings, I am all over that lackness. Now I know what is in doing some voluntarily work, whats in it being selfless, whats in it to invest your time and resources to help others.
Imagination and Creativity:
I have always admired photography from childhood, be it nature, be it architecture or artificial things, or yes be it food, I love capturing them on my camera roll. After being an LG, I got healthier odds to express my abilities with an added benefit of helping others, that’s a win-win. Yeah! And recently I met @TravellerG a very humble and awesome guy on connect and I’m starting to think about astro-photography too.
As a writer, I was fond of writing stories for children. Ten years back I started writing for children magazines here in my country both in Urdu (national language of Pakistan) and in English. But by the passage of time it was reduced due to other involvements and studies. But when I got to review the places option it was like problem solved for me. There was a spark of a writer hidden inside me which came out after that.
My timeline as an LG.
In simple words my journey here is endless, it’s the core of my social life which gives me motivation and inspires me to do some good for others,
as the famous poet of East, DR. Allama Iqbal said :
ہیں لوگ وہی جہاں میں اچھے
آتے ہیں جو کام دوسروں کے
(Only those are good in this universe,
Who help others in the time of their needs)
Because what I think that it may be a little contribution from us but it can help thousands of people.
Before it ends I want to say that, “The Local Guides program” has given me hope that y"together we can."
"We can build a society where care, love, help and family exists. We can be together apart from the diversity of cultures, languages, customs and traditions, we can do it. It has changes my perspective of things and perceiving information. Saying thanks here is like thanking to your family and in family there are “No SORRYs and No THANKYOUs”
So in the end,
Question : what does the local Guides program mean to me?
Answer : it means a lot.
Thank you wonderful people.
Thanks for being with me.
Ciao.
Gracias.
Khuda haifz.
شکریہ۔ خدا حافظ
