Best Moments in Reading

"The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come out, and taken yours. " (History Boys-The Movie)

Respite

With the call for the Morning Prayer his eyes groggily let themselves open.

Lying in bed with that distinct smell of hospital ward all around felt strangely soothing. It seemed justifiable to find himself there; a necessary conclusion to all the nonsense that was piling up in his mind. How during the past few weeks he had wished to fall ill just so he can get a break from life itself. It always felt like as if a stage is being set for something far worse or like sitting in trenches just before a massive war is about to be waged; the deathly silence before the first shot is fired.

There was no familiar face around except for that nurse engrossed in a women’s digest, leaning comfortably in her chair. They had got acquainted as he had shifted from consciousness to unconsciousness during the past week.

“Allah will suffice thee, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing” (2:137), he loved reciting this verse from Quran. It was the verse on which blood was spilt when trying to save her husband; a wife’s fingers were chopped off. He was not sure what made this verse so special to him. Was it the words which consoled him even in depths of despair or the impact of that event where love made someone parry a sword with bare hands?

Lying there in the bed was like being in a state of deep meditation; the lying Buddha. For quite some time he had wanted to shy away from daily routine and spend some quality time all alone. He envied the saints for whom the worth of this world reduced to nothing. What a blessing that could be, he wondered.

The television was muted and one of those nauseating political talk shows was up; Pakistan’s way to tackle Indian soaps. The incessant prattle was getting on nation’s nerves. At least the world hasn’t changed since he was admitted to the hospital.

He had regained consciousness and it would not be very late before doctors discover that. He closed his eyes ridding his mind of all that was past, present and future. He had to cherish those few moments of bliss before he was discharged and flushed out into the world.

Birthday Betrayal

Memories can be like those obstinate candles on the birthday cake, refusing to blow out. Flickering and reducing but relighting all the same.

In a final showdown they are extinguished and taken out but leave the cake eternally marred.

Mind: Look! What mess you’ve gotten us into.

Heart: You could have stopped me; it’s not my fault that your reasons failed.

Mind: I admit failure but why do I have to pay for your mistakes?

Heart: As if I have never paid for yours.

Mind: With you safely ensconced in that chest-box, I don’t see a way out.

Grey Wolf - Mustafa Kemal by H.C.Armstrong

Fundamentally a revolutionary and with no respect for god or institution, Mustafa Kemal was a true fighter. List of his achievements can easily confound the mind. From epic victories against fierce enemies to taking out Turkey from dregs, his strength and stamina were unmatchable. Single handedly he fashioned the entire nation on new grounds and paved way for a better and prosperous future. “Turkey for Turks” was the only aim throughout his life.

Conservatives might flinch at most of his actions but there is no denying the fact that he was a mountain in the face of an alarming number of external and internal problems. Abolishing the caliphate and putting an end to the centuries old rotting system was not an easy job. He had to change the whole mentality and induce a new spirit in the nation. Arts were modernized and Arabic characters of language were changed to Latin to end the superiority of handful of priests, remnants of the historical relic, the caliphate.Eons of oppression and manipulation at the hands of degrading clerics had shut all avenues of change. It needed an overhaul, a revolution.

Revolution did come; founded in blood to ensure its permanence. “Some of you may agree or may not nonetheless it will happen, only some of your heads will fall in process”, Mustafa said to the Grand National assembly, on their refusal of his proposal that the sultanate should be separated from the caliphate.

He firmly believed that there are no oppressors or any oppressed; there are only those who allow themselves to be oppressed. With this notion he led his people by hand along the road until their feet were sure and they knew the way.

In an almost story like manner the author, H.C. Armstrong sketches the life and works of Mustafa Kemal, the founding father of modern Turkey. The somewhat boring details which are usually part and parcel of such books are engulfed in such a manner that you feel like reading a great novel. It was certainly a wholesome read.

About Belonging Somewhere

Binoche: Don't you ever think about belonging somewhere?
Depp: The price is too high...You end up caring what people expect of you. No?

(Chocolat)

Jadu ki Japphee - The Magical Hug

In the 5th season of Grey’s anatomy, Virginia Dixon, the cardiothoracic surgeon with Asperger Syndrome required a tight hug to relax the sympathetic nervous system and slow the heart. It calmed her nerves.

I guess there is a scientific explanation for the magical hug after all :) We can never have enough of them.

What Crime? What Punishment?

Four school children shot dead and six wounded.

Crime: Dared to get an education and belonged to a different sect

***

Woman's nose, ear chopped off

Crime: Suspected of having an affair

***

12 year old girl and an 11 year old boy found dead. Boy had received a bullet in his belly while the girl had received a bullet in her head form the rear. Girl's head was also found smashed with a blunt weapon after being shot to conceal her identity.

Crime: Unknown

***

Dogs let loose on a fisherman. His face was mutilated and injuries due to dog bites could prove fatal if not treated properly.

Crime: Refused to give fish free of cost to a feudal lord

***

We need to reconsider our claim on being called humans.

Dr. O'Malley: Is it possible ...do you think...to love two people...at the same time?

Dr. Burke: I don't know...I am still hoping it's possible to just love one person.

(Grey's Anatomy S03E23)

Compassionate Capitalism

My nana abu once told me that there are only two ways that a person is going to listen to you; if you can benefit him or you can harm him. I remember my father and I looked at each other and shifted disagreeably in our seats.

The points of view are understandable though. Nana abu has lived his life dealing and negotiating in the business world and definitely the Hippocratic Oath which my father took, couldn’t have given much insight into the ruthless minds of businessmen. My dad thinks that if any member of our family starts selling hats; children without heads will be born (such is the extent to which we could suck in business).

Different fields require different attitudes but do businesses have to be completely deprived of compassion? I guess they need to be. When profit is the goal, leniency and mercy take the back-seat and in our part of the world even honesty goes and sits beside them.

Where running businesses could be a cold-blooded affair, it is nice to see that many companies in Pakistan are realizing their social responsibilities and fulfilling them in a remarkable way. Some of the examples I have seen and heard are

* Depilex - Smile Again Foundation
* Bahria Town – Muft Dastarkhwan
* KFC – At some branches all the employees are physically challenged
* Gourmet – At the end of the day bakery items are sent to Shaukat Khanum Hospital.

These and many more examples of compassionate capitalism are certainly praiseworthy and can make a huge difference if all the money making giants start to chip in.

Seeing a loved one leave for another country...

N : Can't I hibernate till he returns?

Make it a double!

Watching an Indian movie in cinema and joining facebook in one day; that is how impulsiveness is defined in my dictionary. Interestingly even a month ago if someone had offered me any one of them I would have politely declined with a 'never'.

Indian cinema with its slapstick comedies and redundancy of dance numbers has become unbearable. Of course there are a few classics once in a while but usually it's the same run-of-the-mill, two and a half hour long agony. So, I always managed to find a better use of the two hundred bucks I was going to spend on it.

The surprising part is that I actually enjoyed the movie or was it Ms. Monteiro; either way with this new multiplex just around the corner, it would not be a bad idea to drop by in the future. At least it made me realize that we can very comfortably bade farewell to lollywood forever unless there are more Khuda Keh Liyais.


Secondly, I know facebook is something so common that getting excited over joining it seems absurd or in the words of Moni Mohsin, paindoo pastry. Well, it's not the case if you're the person who is destined to become that old lady with hundred cats. Like that social experiment in which a girl who was raised in jungle was brought back into the human society; she was never able to acclimatize herself and eventually died. I am not dead but yes, the feeling has been mutual.

Facebook is actually managing friendship virtually but I guess that is the way to go. My boss at the last internship was truly taken aback when I told him that I’m not on facebook and still manage to survive somehow. Then on the last day of my internship my immediate supervisor in his farewell talk also pointed out that this whole introvert thing doesn’t work anymore; you have to take initiatives.

Thinking about this, other than feeling like an intruder there is a major reason why I dislike these initiatives. I don’t know what I’m afraid of? Maybe that it would break the spell once I get to know more about a person or even bad, it would bring out the worst in me. We can be so stubborn about our points of view that no matter how many facts and figures you present contrary to our views, we won’t budge. It is considered a bistee(insult) to change one’s views. People who can kill their children in the name of honor; how they can ever digest so much humiliation?

Similar Yet Different

While waiting at a car-wash I was thinking that at times two people like these keys can look very similar...

But on a closer inspection we realize that they are destined for different fates altogether.

Justification?

Is there any justification not to love those who are so dear to us just because they will leave us eventually and it would hurt so bad?

A random verse from my diary. Unfortunately this and many others were jotted down during the period when I didn't bother to write the name of the author. So, i'm clueless about the origins.

There goes the nirvana

The bike breaks down in the mid way with mercury kissing 48 °C; I have to drag it to a repair shop hardly half a kilometer away and the rest of the day I am looking around for someone to acknowledge the mega task I have achieved…

Its lunch time and the greasy baingans don’t show much prospect. I don’t have to think twice before I ring up the pizza guy. Well, at least I have to reward my self for the Herculean task earlier that day.

As a matter of fact as I pass through my life, I hardly think about these things for which people have to adjust their budgets for the whole month and still I am capable enough to be critical about the softness of the pizza’s crust. From buying clothes to dining out in a fancy café, it is never a major point of consideration. The ease with which life is being lead is a blessing beyond all measures. Still, I somehow find time to complaint about issues which are worthless when compared to all of these perks.

These sudden realizations make you feel blessed; sitting under the sacred fig you feel tantalizingly close to unveiling the mother of all veils but then you bite at the slice of pizza and to aid its movement you sip the chilled and bubbly coke and with it goes the nirvana.

Infectious Laughter

I just had to post this video. It has never failed to cheer me up and it just might bring a smile on your face as well…

Decoding or Creating Mess?

It was perhaps Marina Khan, who once said on a cooking show that when we are in school we crave to enter the university where we would have unlimited freedom and once in university we pray to enter the practical life and for the studies to finally end. Unfortunately when we face the pressures of that life we wish to go back to school again.

True, although in my case I want to take an about turn before I have tasted the practical side of life. Life has been good in theory. Internships have been more than enough glimpse into that world. Either I have made a major boo-boo in selecting finance over marketing or it’s just this darn boring internship I am doing.

Either the case, basking under the school memories is soothing, when the biggest worry was that instead of one; two exercises were given for homework. Moreover, 90s were less complex. I don’t blame our elders for remembering their simple yet less complex 60s and 70s.

Between the incessant vibration and ring tones of this age peace and calmness have lost their way. In our effort to decode life, we have created a huge mess and I don’t think we remember which piece is going to go in first.

A will for all seasons

Hazrat Sheikh Khutli's (R.A) will to Hazrat Ali Hajveri (R.A) ...

For the past few weeks I have involuntarily kept repeating these lines to myself. People have cried defeatism and whole lot of other things. The initial fear being becoming less ambitious but these words don't really have to hold you down as you kick start rather they can also sooth you once you have crossed the finish line. Not necessarily if you are the last one to cross the line but even if you are the first, this piece of advice can be helpful. Ramifications and interpretations of this will can be endless and profound.

Cry what they may, life does become less complicated.

The Portrait of Myself

‘Only once I have been made quiet and it was when somebody asked me, who are you?’

This statement can be interpreted in equally plausible ways but from personal experience it is like someone holding a mirror in front of me. Like the picture of Dorian Gray it shows all the vileness inside me, the hollowness of my own soul…the fake fat life form.

The moment you think about criticizing someone or even raise an eyebrow, that ugly reflection sneers back at you. Dispersing the illusion of your worth and slaughtering the chimera of being separate from the rest of the world.