A pair of gloves.....

Our people are simple, and sometimes this simplicity touches our very core and for those who feel and think it is food for thought. I am one of the people! The other day i was traveling in the bus on a cold December evening and it was jam packed, like any other bus in the evening rush hour and there is this thing about the environment in a bus it just gives you a complete picture of what the people think, how things affect their mood, what events were most important to them and what they are from the inside. They say if you want to know someone, travell with them, so to know these people, our people, travel with them. Among all the rush, chatter and political debates, i saw a small child with his parents all packed up in a sweater and a shaggy jacket, but he was still cold! a broken window was the culprit, so he asked his mother to open the pack containing gloves which they had recently bought, the care with which the pack was opened and preserved was proof enough that it was a prized possession for the family, and then one glove was taken by the child and he putt both his hands in it while the mother put on the other on one hand while rubbing the other against it to keep warm. My head shook and relived the many images i have seen over the years, people scavenging for food in junk piles and sleeping under the open sky! While on the nearby road cars fly by throwing out half eaten burgers as if they were pieces of junk. Many would say those who suffer have a responsibility to improve their lives but not all of it is their fault. In a country where the cost of staying alive has become unaffordable it is a miracle that people are clinging on to modesty, but they are being stretched and beware of the time they break. May be i see the empty half of the glass, may be i am wrong and the society is at peace. Each of you has the right to disagree, because i am just me and i'll say it as i see it!

We are all warriors

War is one of the most hideous evils known to mankind, yet it is unavoidable. Even with all its vices and fears war is still glorified and warriors celebrated, because it represents victory of an idea, triumph of a passion. Wars are fought over land, for pride and for self glorification, yet the ones that occur every day go unnoticed. The wars we fight, the battles we wage, against our fears, our inner demons, our insecurities and our weaknesses. We are all faced with a battle a challenge everyday of our lives and as in battle when push comes to shove, we have just two options either we stand or fight or we run away and find a way to escape. And as in every battle it’s the warriors who get remembered, either they live or die because they fight because they try because they represent the triumph of an idea of never giving in, the ones who take the hard way and decide to stand and fight are the ones who are remembered.

We are all warriors, we all fight our battles but the important thing to remember is that every battle cannot be won, no matter how hard we try. Yet it is important that we try, that we fight for an idea, for a purpose. There are times when the going gets tough and one feels like giving up. At that moment what keeps us going is the idea we fight for, the purpose we stand our ground for. Find your purpose, find your idea and then learn to stand up for it, fight for it. Be a warrior, fight your battles, and be remembered for standing up for what’s right. I heard these lines sometime ago, " you don't confront your demons and defeat them, everyday you confront them, then you confront them a little more and then you confront them a little more everyday", only now do I really understand them!

Decide to be a warrior and maybe someday you'll understand it as well.

What we lost to the floods!!!

For 3 days the rain kept lashing down! No mountain, no river not even the smallest of ponds were spared. It was as if somebody was hellbent on not stopping the rain dance until all was washed away. and then when the rivers, lakes and ponds could take no more, they burst their banks and all that was visible was water! dark and unrelenting. the basis of all life had suddenly become its worst enemy, an enemy that strikes swiftly and without any remorse.
Villages after villages were swallowed as if they never existed. men and women were at the mercy of these torrents like twigs floating in the river. And when the rain finally seized and the picture got clearer what became evident was that not only were towns, forests and populations wiped from the face of earth but also the fake mask of humanity covering evil faces was wiped off. In times of distress and destruction, the human race is divided among two extremes,and to explain these two extremes no fancy words no metaphors are required, its all plain and simple we either become good or we become bad. either we feel the pain and try to lend a helping hand or we try to exploit the pain. Humanity either steps up to the next level or it discovers a new depth to which it can fall!
When the recent rains and floods swept across the country, unfortunately what we saw was that humanity had found yet another bottomless pit to descend into. we have not only lost lives, homes and a part of ourselves to this destruction but more importantly what we have lost is our humanity as a nation. We stand naked in our shamelessness and utter disregard for our fellow country men's plight. I have always believed that each one of us has a dark side but this darkness shook me to my soul, not even the largest black hole that could swallow light itself would be comparable to the darkness that has been put on display by us as a nation!
don't blame the leaders as it is our silence that has allowed them to have their way and run this country as they wish. But their silence and blame game tactics have meant that while they sit safely in their strongholds, people were left with nothing to eat, not even a single cloth to cover their dead. The media reporting day and night from the affected areas and blaming everyone yet not thinking for a moment that if they have access and have unlocked the secret passage to these ruined people why not carry a few sacks of wheat, a few bottles of drinking water to help these people.
The last ray of hope, people caring for other common people which has always saved us in times of distress even with the lack of leadership, dwindled today, the news shook me to my soul,"thirty rupees for one roti". we can surely fall down no more! but there is no limit to human greatness or the shallowness of human character. It is high time we pick ourselves up otherwise this bottomless pit is going to swallow us. We as a nation will look to salvage towns, villages, cattle and our belongings from the floods but what we need to search for in this wreckage is the humanity, hope and soul that we have lost!

The Forbidden Fruit & Forced Exiles

Ages ago man was living happily in heaven enjoying the fruits and delights that were countless, he was free to enjoy all but one fruit, not allowed to taste it he became curious! They say curiosity killed the cat but this time a mix of curiosity and trickery lead to exile from heaven to fend for himself on earth, to grow the forbidden fruit and to forever struggle for it.

He plowed the land, mixed his blood and sweat with the grains of sand to be able to taste wheat and was caught in the vicious circle for all ages to struggle and endure pain to harvest the fruit that lead to his exile from heaven.

Man may have been foolish and allowed his curiosity to get the better of him but The Almighty and All knowing God created a system where some would be given power and ability to fend for others to be the providers. This gift of power came with a burden of responsibility, some chose this path and sacrificed their own meals to feed the masses yet there have been more who chose to misuse this, today we live in a time where those responsible have turned deaf ears to the cries of the masses, their eyes cannot see what drama is unfolding on the greatest stage of all.

The exile from heaven was in search of the forbidden fruit, it was abundant on earth but today it has been made scarce, unfordable and once again forbidden for man by men who pretend to be gods! This time man is forced to seek exile to the depths of his lonely grave!

The vicious circle of the forbidden fruit has caught up with us once again!

I am going somewhere....

I want to write, i have been trying to write but whatever i am feeling, comprehending and learning everyday from life just brings me to one conclusion i am going somewhere i am in a journey! In a state of transition, like a drop slowly crystallizing, like a comet moving through the vastness of space! Continuously moving, just knowing its going somewhere.

Don't know when the journey is gonna end, don't know when the next milestone will arrive, when the next small stop to get directions will appear on the horizon. Like a caravan moving through the chilly desert night just navigating its way by looking at the stars without surely knowing where its heading i am moving through each day.

You know when the chilly winter breeze blows past your face, it creates that chill, but if you stay in it long enough, slowly you'll adapt, slowly your senses will numb, you may catch a cold later but for that brief period of time your senses, your body and your mind adapt! May be the winds been hitting me long enough, may be i am adapting. But i will walk till i reach there, don't know where i am going but i am going somewhere...

Invisible Strings in The Puppet Show

Most of us have gone to a puppet show and watched those characters, they come in all shapes and sizes each different from the other but one thing that is common to all of them is the string attached to them that dictates what they will do and when! A slight adjustment of lighting and the background and even that string disappears and they seem to be doing everything by their own free will.

Shakespeare said "this world is a stage and we are all actors". With all due respect to that talented man, may be he didn't look closely enough. This world is a stage but we all are not actors we are all but mere puppets! with invisible strings attached.Look around you the greatest puppet show on earth is unfolding before your very eyes and you may even be a part of it.

The strange thing is that at the end of these strings there is no puppeteer! Our actions are dictated by our emotions,affiliations, affection, hatred and ambitions. Without even knowing it, it is us who are pulling our own strings. Yes there is a Puppeteer who's at the helm of all the strings attached to us but it seems some control has been passed down to us.

We move n dance to the tune of the music composed by our own will without even knowing it. An amalgam of feelings, experiences and our physical and spiritual needs forms the invisible string attached to every puppet.Those who let this force swing their pendulum of life remain puppets tied to the invisible string.

If i had 24 hours hours to live how would i spend them....

this is an essay i entered in a competition its mostly fictional..how i would really spend them well i'll tell that some other time......

Saturday night, I’m walking home… the moon is shining with all its glory and the cool breeze is making the night just perfect! The small pieces of cloud moving here and there remind me that we are all in a journey always in a state of transition. Just as I take out my cell phone to call a friend, a message pops up, it’s from somebody I don’t know but it contains strange information for me, it says that when the clock strikes midnight I would have exactly 24 hours to live, I laugh n walk on home. There was package at the door waiting for me I opened it and it contained the same news, and just then the phone rang and the unknown caller tells me the same thing. So now even I start thinking that well all this may be true! Now its 24 and something hours to the end! I start thinking if I indeed have just 24 hours to live how I would spend them.

My plans don’t include bringing everlasting peace to the world like a miss universe winner’s speech, neither could I invent a miracle drug to rid the world of disease nor I can find a way to bring consistency to Pakistan cricket team, I leave these tasks to superman for his last 24 hours.

Now I have two ways of spending these moments to lock myself in a virtual cage of sorrow and grief and think why me and then just die like a loser but that’s just not me! Lets see firstly I would not let anyone linked to me know about it because it’s the end of the line for me not them why should I make these last 24 hours sad for them why not spend them like a normal day rather live every moment to the fullest because that’s all I’ve got left. So I just set up a nice bar BQ fire and get to work and enjoy a nice meal under the moonlit night. Then I go to a store and buy a few post cards for some very special people in my life and a nice gift for my best friend and the most important person in my life, by the time I’m done with all that the clock strikes 12 and the countdown has begun. Now I write those cards and pack the gift which I’ll post in the morning and trusting the great postal system of ours I know it would take at least a few days for these gifts to reach them and so I would be reason to make them smile even after I’m long gone! After this I turn on the music and Tina Sani and Nayyara Noor with their usual accomplice Faiz Ahmad Faiz take me on a journey, I close my eyes and my life unfolds before me like an epic only this time I’m in the lead role.

I wake up the next day I had a fulfilling sleep, and I think when all the fear is taken away how much peace there is to life! Now I enjoy my favorite breakfast of fried eggs with parathas and a cup of tea. Then I take out the car and drop the cards and the gift at the post office, get the tank filled up and go for a drive moving through the cities and head towards the countryside I stop near a field and the yellow blossoms announcing the arrival of spring I just sit there and watch the birds flying the sun shining and the breeze containing the scent of my land and then as the sun begins to set and the birds fly back to their nests I decide it is time for me to return to my abode. When I get back home its almost dark and a few hours to go, for the first time I start to think what would happen to the people whom I meat everyday for them I would be a memory may be a reason to smile and that would be enough for me! But for the few very few people for whom I’m a part of their lives their dreams what would happen to them, I close my eyes and pray to the Almighty not to give me more time but to give them more strength, the will to live on and the courage to carry on their lives and be happy, I trust the Almighty will take care of them and that’s the only prayer and request that I have.

I have a nice dinner then go to my room and write a note about how I have spent these 24 hours and by the time I finish its almost 11:50 PM, just 10 minutes to go. I smile sit on my chair and close my eyes once again I pray for the special people in my life, for my friends, I’m not afraid to go I’m just worried about those special people but then I remember a line I read somewhere,

“Chalo k Mout sey Kartey hain Aghaz-e-Mohabbat...... Zinda Rahe tou Bicharney ka Dar sa laga Rahe Ga”

And then the clock strikes midnight!!

Carrot & Stick story...

People who read my blog often conclude that i'm bit of a sentimental emotional guy which i frankly am in some ways and i don't regret it. And to set the record straight my creativity if i have any isn't only brought into motion by emotions but then again every thing you feel finds a link to one or another emotion....so there you have it even i can't conclude that i'm not the emotional sort of guy!

So let carry on with the blog then, so what do i have to say today well its an old story yet it's so simple to relate to real life in more than one aspect. The title of this piece might get you thinking that there are just two characters to this story, namely the carrot and the stick......ahh well they are just the support cast so now lets get to the lead roles, played by each and everyone of us one time or another.... well there's a donkey and a person riding the donkey.

And as per the old custom the carrot is tied to the stick and the poor donkey keeps moving forward trying to get closer to the carrot while the wise rider always keeps it at a distance where the donkey would have to exceed all expectations to even get a small bite on the carrot. In old times the donkeys sometimes got the carrot at the end of the journey, other less fortunate donkeys got some fodder but not the carrot, not yet said the rider! With time information technology advanced enormously, and the news spread that the donkeys will keep moving irrespective of the fact that they get the carrot or not..... and after long discussions between the riders a donkey performance model was made which dictated that only horses or some mules got the carrot at the end of the journey where as for the donkeys a pat on the back and some fodder was enough......

The success of this model was noted by all and sundry and to further improve the performance model the riders decided that at the end of the journey it was they who should have half of the carrot keeping the other half safe as a motivating factor for the now depressed and tired donkey for the next journey. And the justification was simple it was the riders who were making the decisions and so it was they who should have the carrots..after all carrots are brain food and not meant for the donkeys whose job it is to just keep moving!!