Valentine’s day brings with itself a heated debate topic on whether we should celebrate it or not. This starts a series of forward messages mentioning that it is haram for a Muslim to celebrate it as it promotes indecency and that it is a conspiration against Islam etc. Some Muslim scholars say that it was started by a Jew, some say Romans started it. Some believe that as Christians and Jews started it so they should not be a part of it. From Islamic point of view having intimate relations with non-mahrams are Haram and since it promotes such activities Muslims are supposed to refrain from it. The fact is that though so many people condemn it on internet on basis of religion, on the other hand, most of them have such relations going on in their personal life (I am not judging anyone, just stating what I have observed).There are various historic events which people usually relate with Valentine ’s Day. I believe that Valentine ’s Day is just an excuse used by lovers to express their love and commitment and used by card making companies to generate profit.

There is no logical reason for celebrating Valentine ’s Day. You see, if you love someone you should be able to show it to them 27/7 all year. One day a year is not necessary to show love. Just like Mother’s Day and such other days which are celebrated internationally, they are nothing but profit techniques for big card and gifts companies. If you love your wife or anyone who you want to be your valentine, make them feel special every day. There is no reason spending loads of money on roses, chocolates and gifts just for one day. If you love a person you’ll show it all the time not at any particular date or time. You can use that money to give a homeless person a decent meal or can buy them some decent clothes rather than spending it on a special lunch in a luxurious hotel with your wife/husband/fiancée/fiancé/girlfriend/boyfriend.

Furthermore, from what I perceive, the younger generation is taking this day way more seriously than it really should. They are getting into practices which are not only condemned in Islam but also in the society in general. I don’t think that it is their fault, as the whole environment around them is filled with couples and hearts and roses, they think that it is normal to behave like that. We are ruining our own generation by promoting such events.

So, for the sake of the younger generation, I request you not to celebrate it with enthusiasm. Religious grounds are another issue but think of the whole society in general where your children are having a negative impact on their personalities by seeing those special heart shaped cakes and cards and beautiful roses being exchanged between two different sexes. Married couples say that since they are married so no one should question them, but the thing is that a kids’ mind is immature, by giving them an idea about the concept of Valentine ’s Day you are ruining them and their thinking. Kids are too innocent to know what is right and wrong for them. Gradually we are pushing them to cross the moral limits and do things they shouldn’t be doing.

My Plea: save our generation from moral and social degradation and avoid celebrating it

Last year about 10,000 people turned out on the event. This year Karachi Literature Festival and British Council have collaborated to bring to you the three most celebrated authors from the UK; William Dalrymple, Hanif Kureishi and Anatol Lieven. The event is also featuring sessions with German authors like Jurgen Wasim Frembgen, Stefan Weidner, and Navid Kermani as well as French authors like Michel Boivin, Anouar Benmalek, and Claudine le Tourneur D’ison.

 William Dalrymple is the author of seven acclaimed works of history and travel, including City of Djinns, which won the Young British Writer of the Year Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award; the best-selling From the Holy Mountain; The Age of Kali, which won the French Prix D’Astrolable; White Mughals, which won Britain’s most prestigious history prize, the Wolfson, and The Last Mughal, which won the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize and The Crossword Prize for Non Fiction. He divides his time between New Delhi and London and is a contributor to The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, The New Statesman and The Guardian.

 Hanif Kureishi  author of numerous novels, short story collections, screenplays and plays. In 1984 he wrote My Beautiful Laundrette, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. His second film, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, was followed by London Kills Me, which he also directed. The Buddha of Suburbia won the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel in 1990 and was made into a four-part drama series by the BBC. Intimacy, his third novel, was published in 1998, and was adapted for film in 2001. His work has been translated into 36 languages. He has been awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts des Lettres and a CBE for services to literature. In 2008 The Times listed him as one of ‘The 50 Greatest British Writers since 1945′ and in 2010 he was awarded the PEN/PINTER prize. Hanif Kureishi lives in London with his wife and children.

Anatol Lieven a professor in the War Studies Department at King’s College London, and a senior fellow of the New America Foundation in Washington DC. His areas of expertise include US strategy and political culture; Islamist terrorism and insurgency; contemporary warfare; the countries of the former Soviet Union; and the Greater Middle East, especially Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.  His latest book, Pakistan: A Hard Country was published in 2011-2012 by Penguin in the UK, Public Affairs in the USA and Oxford University Press in Pakistan. It is based on his time as a journalist in Pakistan in the late 1980s and extensive research on the ground in recent years.From 1989 to 1998 Anatol Lieven worked as a British journalist in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (for The Times (London) and the Financial Times), and is author of several books on Russia and its neighbours. From 2000 to 2007 he worked at think tanks in Washington DC and studied US foreign and domestic policies in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. His book America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism appeared in 2004, and an updated edition is to be published by Oxford University Press in 2012.

The Festival seeks to broaden the depiction and counter-balance the negative portrayal of Pakistani society by commemorating the diversity and dynamism of Pakistani culture. The Karachi Literature Festival has had as part of its Philosophy started putting contemporary writing and thought from Pakistan on an international platform, and bringing contemporary writing from around the world to local Pakistani audiences.
Karachi Literature Festival has come up with loads of activities for the attendees and their families, a few of them are: (a detailed list of events can be viewed here: http://www.karachilitfest.com/whatson.html )

• The Festival will be hosting many authors writing in English such as Vikram Seth, Shobhaa De, Ayesha Jalal, Ahmed Rashid, Kamila Shamsie, Mohammad Hanif, Mohsin Hamid, H. M. Naqvi, Siddhartha Deb and Mirza Waheed.

• In addition to this, many Urdu poets and authors will be participating. These include Intizar Husain, Zehra Nigah, Iftikhar Arif, Fahmida Riaz, Kishwar Naheed, Fatema Hassan, Harris Khalique, Azra Abbas, Imdad Hussaini, Sahar Ansari, Khwaja Razi Haider, Inam Nadeem, Kashif Hussain Ghayar, Shahida Hassan, Ahmad Fouad, Aqeel Abbas Jafri, and Ali Akbar Natiq.

• This year film screenings are being introduced to the diverse line-up of events at the Festival. Also being featured this year are puppet and muppet shows for children by the Rafi Peer group, a satire session with Saad Haroon, Banana News Network, and Ali Aftab Saeed of Beygairat Brigade, and performances by Nritaal and Salman Ahmed of Junoon.
• To mark the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens a group of young performers will showcase an example of immersive theatre based on Dickens’ non-fiction work ‘Uncommercial Traveller’ following workshops in Karachi conducted by Owen Calvert-Lyons from London’s Arcola Theatre and Peter Higgins from the UK theatre group Punchdrunk.

Date:  11^TH to 12^th February, 2012
Venue: Carlton Hotel Karachi
Sponsors: British Council and Oxford University Press
Website: http://www.karachilitfest.com/index.html

So get ready peeps for this epic literature filled experience..!

Many of the people reading this post might be let down or bored (or angry) by now but I intend to put pen to paper either to clear my own thoughts concerning the topic or to help in the thinking process of the readers.

Disclaimer: I am not questioning the existence, rather proving it with logic and reasoning

You just have to think for five minutes and let your brain work on it a little bit. Even if you do believe, you should be able to justify your belief rather than saying that “I believe because I’m supposed to believe”. I didn’t realize that the reason the topic of God weighed so heavily on my mind, was because God was pressing the issue. I have come to find out that God wants to be known. He created us with the intention that we would know Him. He has surrounded us with evidence of himself and He keeps the question of His existence squarely before us. It was as if I couldn’t escape thinking about the possibility of God. Everything around us seems to tell us the beauty and existence of God. If you want to know God, go and sit in a park and just observe the flawless-ness of the whole system. The earth, the sky, the sun…it seems as if the whole universe is smiling at you and asking you to just believe in God.

In the ninth century C.E., the Benedictine monk and Arch-bishop of Canterbury named Anselm was one of the first to confront what God is. Instead of taking the theological approach to the question, he decided to challenge it philosophically. He developed what is now referred to as the “Ontological Approach.” It is a philosophical approach to God that is still used today. Well, grab your thinking caps; it is a hard concept to grasp.

Anselm explains that “by ‘God’ we mean an absolutely unsurpassed being, a being that cannot conceivably be improved upon.” Essentially, he believes God is perfection. He then uses an example of a painter to explain the concept. “For it is one thing for an object to be in the understanding, another to understand that the object exists. For when a painter first conceives of what he will afterwards perform, he has it in his understanding but he does not yet understand it to be, because he has not yet performed it. But after he has made the painting, he both has it in his understanding and he understands that it exists, because he has made it.”

Finally, he sums up his argument:

“And assuredly, that then which nothing greater can be conceived cannot exist in the understanding alone: then it can be conceived to exist in reality, which is greater. Therefore, if that then which nothing greater can be conceived exists in the understanding alone, the very being then which nothing greater can be conceived is one than which a greater can be conceived.”

That’s a lot to digest right? I’ll give you a second to ponder over it…is your mind blown yet? Good. Here is what I think:

People thought that God is the greatest being in the world. Most of people have the “understanding” that God is this “supreme being” that cannot be improved upon. Therefore, because he exists in understanding, God actually exists.

Other than this philosophical attempt there are many proofs that God actually exists. You can prove His existence spiritually as He answers our prayers and helps us in the time of need. There are hundreds of proofs scientifically proving the existence of something so powerful yet so organised which is controlling everything. Not only Quran but also in Bible. You can easily think of a dozen of other things which are a proof that something exists which has command over things as small as atoms and molecules and as big as the stars and galaxies. All the things in this world micro to macro have something which makes them move/do what they are meant to do. The driving force which makes it all happen on all levels is more than some ordinary force which can be defined by physics laws etc. That force which cannot be defined but is so powerful that it is behind each and everything happening around us. From the sun glowing with its might, to the expanding of universe. From the miraculous union of an egg and sperm, to making a full human being from just two cells. Something which guides everything in some particular way let it be a chemical reaction or something like earthquakes or volcanic eruption. The guiding and driving force, I believe, is God.

Asking people if God truly exists is the equivalent of asking someone “is the sky really blue?”

I would like to thank the person who nominated me: Vision Keeper. I’m honoured to be thought as a nominee for this award. In life, everything comes with rules and regulations, and the Versatile Blogger Award is no different. Everyone being nominated is presented with the award and hence they have to fulfil their duties respectively. The rules are as follows:

1. Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 personal things about yourself.
3. Pass this award along to 5-15 recently discovered blogs you enjoy reading.
4. Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

At first I thought that it was one of those self-perpetuating scams like those chain letters that people used to get in the mail, where they were instructed to photocopy and resend the letter to 100 of their closest friends or a piano would fall on them (yes, spam existed before the internet era), or in this age they suggest that if you don’t post it on 10 other sites/posts you’ll die by mid-night or wouldn’t meet the love of your life!
Later I realized that “The Versatile Blogger Awards” are actually a useful tool for helping bloggers share their favourite bits of the blogosphere.
Moving on to the next rule, according to which I have to share 7 personal things about myself. Here goes:

1. My guilty pleasure: Chocolates.
2. I have a very bad sweet tooth. I can’t resist eating sugary stuff. Desserts are the highlight of my appetite :P
3. Whenever I feel the need to relax I re-read the Harry Potter books :P
4. Unlike many girls nowadays, I hate Twilight saga. Neither the story nor the characters seem to thrill me!
5. I’m more of an introvert person. I can go on for hours on some social issue but when it comes to me and my feelings I rarely speak out.
6. For me the most important thing, after my dear life, is my laptop. I can’t live a day without it!
7. I love to travel

Now, for nominating some awesome blogs which I recently reviewed:

1. My Favorite: The Pindi Boy
2. 1000 Awesome things
3. Mostly Bright Ideas
4. I Wrote This For You
5. The Solari Press
6. Live, Nerd, Repeat.

Do check them out !

For those who don’t know, I recently got the merit award at the Pakistan Blog Awards 2011 under the Best Youth Blog Category :)

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,800 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

A self-explanatory picture.
Found it randomly on a site and considered it worthy to share !

To me it seems to fit almost everywhere in Pakistan. Obviously every person has their own qualities and their own ways in which they out number the other person. One man, who is good in athletics doesn’t mean that he is good in chess or cooking too !

A fair judgement would be reached if you test them with respect to their personal qualities. You cannot ask a fish to climb a tree or an elephant to to swim across the Atlantic ocean !
I find this very relevant to the famous poem: A Mountain and A Squirrel by Allama Iqbal.

A mountain was saying this to a squirrel
“Commit suicide if you have self-respect
You are insignificant, still so arrogant, how strange!
You are neither wise, nor intelligent! not even shrewd!
It is strange when the insignificant pose as important!
When the stupid ones like you pose as intelligent!
You are no match in comparison with my splendor
Even the earth is low compared with my splendor
The grandeur of mine does not fall to your lot
The poor animal cannot equal the great mountain!”
On hearing this the squirrel said, “Hold your tongue!
These are immature thoughts, expel them from your heart!
I do not care if I am not large like you!
You are not a pretty little thing like me
Everything shows the Omni-potence of God
Some large, some small, is the wisdom of God
He has created you large in the world
And He has taught me climbing large trees
You are unable to walk a single step
Only large size! What other greatness have you?
If you are large show me some of the skills I have
Show me how you break this beetle nut as I can
Nothing is useless in this world
Nothing is bad in God’s creation

Everyone (at least in Pakistan) has read this poem in 6th or 7th grade. It’s a famous poem by Dr. Allama Iqbal and it teaches a great message to all the readers. Alas! we all forget that lesson and hence continue to live our lives in ignorance considering ourselves mightier than others.

…

Follow this link and vote for it here: Best Youth Blog: Rooha Tariq

Please click on the link (Best Youth Blog: Rooha Tariq) and rate 5 stars for this blog and comment if you feel like it :)
Instructions:
Right below the title of the name you can rate and comment. Please help !!!
and if you can share this with your friends I will be thankful !
…

Pakistan, like many other Asian countries, has a rich heritage. The variety of attractions ranges from the ruins of ancient civilizations such as Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa and Taxila, to the Himalayan hill-stations that serve as a magnet for those interested in countryside and winter sports. It is widely acknowledged that Pakistan has immense natural beauty.  No, I’m not going to give a geography lesson here!

When I think of Pakistan; it reminds me of the Mughal architecture, gorgeous ladies, scrumptious food, vibrant customs, extravagant weddings, stunning geographical wonders and Qawwali, Ghazals and folk music.

Every time you cross a busy road, you are bound to see flamboyantly decorated trucks and Rickshaws. To some of us, they are nothing but polluting vehicles which block the traffic, break the rules and have annoying automobile horns! I, on the other hand, see them as artistic master pieces! Due to their exceptional decor style, these vehicles are quite distinct in design from other trucks around the world. Each part of the truck is painted in a different way, with variations depending on the regional manner. Although the enhancing process is usually very expensive, it is still practiced throughout Pakistan with immense zeal and aesthetic zest. In Pakistan, a truck driver/owner usually pays $3,000 to $5,000 for their vehicle’s external embellishment.
This decoration includes structural alteration, paintings, calligraphy, ornamental decor and much more. Along with that some of them have some words of advice inscribed on them for the onlookers. So next time, if you find these moving artefacts bothersome, try to focus on the dazzling colours and patterns and appreciate the exquisiteness!

I regret the fact that the new generation fails to find the folk music motivating and inspiring. We happen to have the most sensational folk artists around the globe, people who actually understood the soul of music and presented in such a mesmerising way that no words can describe them. Pakistani culture is incomplete without Ghazals and Qawwalis. Ghazals are traditionally expressions of love, separation and loneliness. A ghazal can thus be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or parting of the lover and the magnificence of love in spite of that pain. Qawwali is a lively musical custom that stretches back more than 700 years. The moment you start listening to this genuine genre of music, you are carried away in a dreamscape as the music evokes the feelings residing deep inside yourself. Hence it promotes the feelings of pleasure, peace and love. You are not a true Pakistani if you haven’t heard the names of these people: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Nur Jehan, Abida Parveen, Alam Lohar, Shazia Manzoor, Reshma, Khailvi Shaukat Ali, Pathane Khan, Musarrat Nazir and Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi!

Pakistan is full of these vibrant cultures and many more! But we all seem to forget that though we belong to a nation which has 11 spoken languages, a huge cultural and regional diversity but yet we are all the same. Common faith is there and we only need a bit of discipline in order to be considered as one of the great nations in the world! No matter which party we support or which tribe we belong to. Whether we are Sindhi, Baluchi, Pathan or Punjabi; Shia or Sunni; Jutt, Rajpoot, Rai or what-so-ever, no one can change that we are Pakistanis and will remain that till the end and we have to be proud of our nationality, proud of who we truly are we just have to realise this to become a successful state. If we can unite and support our country in cricket matches against India then we can unite on many other matters too. We want America to respect our country’s dignity and yet we fail to respect our country ourselves!

Where do we stand as a nation? and the answer to that question, most sadly, is nowhere! And this is not because of America or India or any other nation. It is because we fail to acknowledge ourselves or present ourselves as a nation. We cannot agree on petty issues and it is no one’s fault but our own. Our biggest enemy is no one but us!

I remember my grandma telling me stories of how it used to be back in 1940’s when everyone was so much determined to bring about a revolution. They were all united towards one goal! All of us are more connected to each other than we know. We are all united by the same environment, customs, traditions, music, art, history, ancestors, religion (in most cases) and we all are facing the same problem. Rather than fighting the problem, we’re all fighting among ourselves for nothing!

The land of five rivers is pleading for help not from the Punjabi’s or Sindhi’s; not from Shia’s or Sunni’s; not from PML-N/Q supporters or PTI supporters. It is pleading from each and every Pakistani to unite again, to live again!

Photo-credits: Ali Jabbar & Shoaib E. Aftab

It was raining here in Faisalabad and I, subjected to sheer depression, was looking at a spider on the window (I’m not particularly fond of spiders). It was dead. My cousin came around and pointed towards the window and said: “it’s so beautiful outside”.

The same old pledges of change and revolution. The same old parties and their political dynasties, which are nothing more than parasites, they take with them everything and leave nothing behind! The lawyers spend more time on the streets protesting rather than in courts. Teachers, doctors, bureaucrats, every element of the society falling to pieces and all we do is to blame the government, forgetting that we voted for them to take charge and do something!

What’s happening now?

No positive change, ironically,  the destruction goes on…

Making a mistake is human; to blame the next guy for the mistake is even more human. Blaming others is an international pastime; most politicians spend more than half of their time and energy blaming others for their situation. Being human, we find it very easy to put the blame on others – and in this case – the government for every fault in our lives.

Well, we have to understand that blame game is the second most ancient game ever played by human beings, hide and seek being the first!

Indeed Pakistan is a state too significant to be allowed to fail. The strategic location of Pakistan, along with the title of being the “locus of terror” is significant enough for US. For China, it is useful for tying down India. While for India, a nuclear-armed Pakistan would likely set in motion a greater headache were it to go under!  For Pakistanis themselves, Talibanization would be most uninvited. Not that Pakistan is about to tip over, but well-wishers prefer it draw back from the brink.

Blaming is probably the only game which is universally played all over the planet. Almost everyone in this world plays this game, from the poorest pauper to the richest billionaire. If you are still not convinced just watch the TV or read the news paper, you will find talk show pundits and columnists making money blaming others. It is a tragedy that everyone is trying to find a target outside themselves for their failures and discomfort. We are the reason for our success and downfall! We ignore the rules, we prefer casts above character. We give/take bribes.

No one is responsible for this situation of our country, but us!

What can the government do? Government must invest for providing job opportunities to the unprivileged people who have suffered a lot due to the drone attacks, floods and earthquakes. If they are not helped in returning to the normal life, they could join terrorist groups. Youth living in the cities must be involved in technology related projects as internees. This will not only help them develop their skills, but also will be useful in the introduction of latest hi-tech in the country.

Pakistan is not a safe place for anybody to visit now, and if the authorities don’t institute radical changes, there is never going to be a Visit Pakistan Year. It is a pity, because it is a beautiful country and is blessed with the stunning Pakistani Himalayas, rarely visited now by climbers, trekkers or tourists.
Pakistan will also have to be safe, before it can save its economy. Its people are intelligent and industrious, but made redundant and disturbed by poverty. Foreign assets and investments in economy is hard to come by, and will be even harder now. A few more years in this seemingly insolvable imbroglio and Pakistan will surely become, like Somalia already has, a failed state. When Mr.Jinnah fought for an independent Pakistan, he cannot have imagined the chaos that it is tumbled down into now. Nor would he have envisioned it becoming a failed state!

If Pakistan is to be saved, it is now!

I’m better than you and you know it!

Think about it. If I beat you easily every time we ever play chess, I am better than you at chess. If I beat you at wrestling, I am better than you at wrestling, and so on. There is nothing wrong with that. It is actually perfectly normal and inescapable.

Everyone in this world is inferior to most everyone else on some level, and better than everyone else on almost none.

So get used to it. We aren’t equal. I am better than you. At least at something. If I am paid more, that means I am (quite literally) worth more.

The question is not whether one person is better or worth more or superior to another in any particular skill, or even in all skills together, though. Even if someone was better than every single other person in the world at everything you could possibly measure each other by, his life would not be worth more. He would be worth more, but his life wouldn’t. Our lives are all equal before God, each one worthy of living, each one equally free to be saved, each one equally loved by God.

So if I say I am better than you, I am not talking about in that sense — quite simply because you can’t say it in that sense. People try, but they are stating an oxymoron. The value of your life is not predicated on what you do with it.

But does that mean I should say I am better than you, even when I am referring to intelligence, or vocabulary, or wrestling or chess skills? Should I be proud of it?

Well, proud has a couple of meanings. It can mean justly pleased with something, or inordinately pleased with something. I can be proud of my friends for the way they help me around with everything, or even proud of the fact that I can handle situations even at their worst (no, I’m not exaggerating!). I can also be arrogant and condescending about both facts.

This arrogance, occurs, I believe, when we get the two kinds of worth that I just talked about mixed up. If we begin to imagine that our value makes our lives any more valuable than anyone else’s life, then we become condescending and arrogant. If we see everyone as having something that they are better than us at, and value them for it, then honest appreciation for our own value is perfectly healthy.

Here is the key: if your appreciation for your own skills or value makes you thankful — honestly thankful — then it isn’t arrogance. If it makes you condescending, then it is the bad kind of pride.

So yes, I am better than you, and proud of it, but you are also better than me. And you should be proud and thankful for it.

That was probably, honestly, the most confusing article I have ever written… hopefully you all will be able to understand it.

PS: My regular readers will have to wait for my future posts for a little while (till the end of my Final A Level Exams). Pray for yourself and me too..! If I do survive till the end of my exams, you’ll be lucky enough to hear more of my ideas/philosophies regarding life and my dear Pakistan (got loads of them popping in my mind!)

Till next time, be happy and keep others happy!

Let alone the right of expression and speech, people are denied the right to live! What we see are merely living corpses walking around without any dreams or aspirations. Women enslaved, child labor, domestic violence, all of this is nothing but the denial to their basic right of freedom.

Life is as it is. There are some fundamental laws such as you reap what you sow and the yin and yang; or, as the Beatles taught us, “Instant karma’s gonna get you.” However, one of the fundamental tenets of existentialism is freedom. As we see in Kashmir, Palestine, Egypt, and other places, people all over the world have a burning desire to be free. If there is a universal truth, it has to be the quest of humans for freedom!

And yet, humans are the only animals I know who are born free and then spend their lives imprisoning themselves. We are born free with more doors open to us than we can ever hope to enter and then we systematically close those doors by making poor choices.

We blame the system, the circumstances of our birth, racism, chauvinism, ageism, and the list goes on. I will not diminish those things and the other evils which swirl around us and tempt us and crush us and keep us from reaching our full potential. But all too often we are the authors of our annihilation. We unlock the door of failure and rush eyes wide open through it.

Make the right decisions and you’ll be te one enjoying the freedom of living! This freedom is the freedom to dream, freedom to live the moment, freedom to do what you want, freedom to think and change!

Freedom carries with it responsibility. We must work hard to protect our freedom and make the right choices. We must join in solidarity with those around the world who are struggling for their own freedom.

She went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about 20 minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what you see.”

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hardboiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. She asked her mother in puzzlement, “What does it mean, mother?”

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently.

The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.

The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?”

_______________________________________

Now ask yourself:

Are you the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do you wilt and become soft and lose your strength?

Are you the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did you have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have you become hardened and stiff? Does your shell look the same, but on the inside are you bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. Are you like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level?

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, is always done, all you need is the will to achieve and to do better than before! Have the courage to stand firm in the difficult times and have faith..!Be the coffee! 

(Disclaimer- I got it in an email a long time ago and though I tried but I was not able to find the authorised owner of this story) 

Disclaimer: This is my personal view about things, don’t take it too personally!

My Class !

I am sitting here tonight, a little sentimental and gushy, reflecting on the past five years of my life, and I am amazed at how much it changed. When I see my class-fellows giving such-and-such tests for such-and-such universities, I feel a rush of nostalgia sweeping over me.

Everything is going to end soon, and this “soon” is coming very fast!

For me, my class is something marvelous, divine, impressive, wonderful, out of the world (and all other synonyms :P) , with everyone being a precise and exceptional component of the class. Let me have the pleasure of introducing you to my class-fellows:

In my class, by the grace of God, everyone is intelligent, but even among the genius minded people there are some exceptionally brilliant people who emerge with the best possible results in everything they indulge into; Armaghan-e-Rehman, Soban Arif Maan and Aleesha Kainat fall in this category (see, I said that our class is full of whiz kids!)

There are some people in the class, who are always in the mood of enjoyment and exhilaration. These people are the core elements of the class; cracking jokes at the most unexpected and serious moments and making everyone laugh so hard that they are falling off their seats. Ayesha Zubair, Kisha Gill and Ammar Mehmood (as his “sober” talks are funnier than the punch-lines themselves) are one of them.

The aptitude of splendidly inimitable art is not possessed by many. In our class, Haseeb Jamil was blessed with that talent along with Fareeha Shahid and Rushba Tariq.

Some people are blessed with keen insight of matters, those who possess a third eye for every occurence and are keen to put across their expert views regarding every situation. They are (so-called boring) people who- like me – do blogging who include:

Hayder Sarfraz; www.aspiringwriter2010.blogspot.com,

Armaghan-e-Rehman Mansoor; www.expressingpakistan.wordpress.com ,

Shahzaib Bajwa;  www.justanothercommonblog.wordpress.com

Nauman Hafeez; www.brainponder.wordpress.com

And then there are these marvelous people who are always up-to-date with the latest music and movies, no matter what happens you’ll find every piece of info you need on hi-tech news from them. Quratulain Iqbal, Sunayna Amatu Rab En Nasir (phew, long name!) and Shumail Mohyudin are among them.

There are people who strongly believe in freedom of expression and they love to prove that they are right, no matter what! They can speak on any topic for hours with necessary justification, reasoning and many speculations on the way. Hamza Talat (with his trademark sentence, “ho jaye ga!”) fall in this catagory!

There are people who have the passion to travel the world!  They want to explore and discover. They have their own principles and can win any argument on the basis of logic and explanation. Sobhan Arif Maan falls in this category.

Yet there are people quite undaunted by the comings and goings. Those who can easily fall asleep during the lecture and yet get grand scores, my dear friend Aabia Islam and Hira Latif fall in this category!

There are people who act mysteriously and seem calmed in almost every situation, namely; Faakeha Islam, Hussnain Cheema, Raza-ur-Rehman, Zafar-ul-Iman and Adil Raza Chaudry (who is also a great actor!)

I’m sure many would disagree with my style of categorizing my class-fellows like this, but the thing here is, that no matter which university I go to, no matter which place or what time, these particular characteristics will remind me only of these people who made these years so wonderful and worth remembering!  Whenever there’s silence I’ll remember all those free periods during which we make enough noise to make anyone go mad. Whenever I’ll remember DMC, I’ll remember each and every one as the colours which made the overall picture so spectacular that there are no words to describe it!

I would thank everyone for all those memories and I apologize if, in the course of enlightening my soul with education, I offended them in any way!

This blog is dedicated to the whole of my class, which is indeed the Best Class ever. May Allah Almighty bless us all (Ameen)

So go ahead and live your life and become what you want to be,
But don’t forget the days you spent, when you were young at school with me!

Behind every army of protectors, behind every wall of security, there lies a human soul, a soul terrified and scared of the state of affairs. A soul running away from the situations rather than facing them fearlessly!

When we are visited by times of crisis, there’s an internal mechanism that comes alive within every human being.  It causes a reaction within us that cuts against the very fiber of our purposed creation.  Our Adam-ic nature comes fully loaded with such behaviors and responses.   And when times of predicaments come, we all naturally and instantly operate out of panic, fear, pride and egocentricity.  These “soul-ish reactions” manifest various negative physical actions.  And one such action is running away. We all tend to run away from tight spots, problems and crisis.  And although it’s a natural response, it creates unnatural consequences.  It requires integrity and character to face issues; unfortunately these are qualities that must be built up in us.

Running away is a temptation we all face every day of our lives.  Its main purpose is to either create more problems for us or destroy our character and credibility.

From far view we can see strong people, with their strong amours. Just like an eagle, they are physically powerful and gifted with enough intelligence to overcome any obstacle on ascend to their destiny. But as we look closer and deeper, they are merely chickens, running away and fleeing from situations which they cannot cope with. Big Bungalows, Mercedes in car porches and all other pleasures mostly attained by those possessing great power to satisfy themselves that they are successful. While in reality, they are avoiding contradictions and going with the flow and keeping up the trend of being a hypocrite and escaping from their obligations to their own small world!

Running away from problems is not only futile, it leads to a false sense of security.  The erroneous premise is that your problems can be left behind by utilizing one or more strategies.  The reality is, problems follow you until they are resolved. People attempt to run away in numerous ways.  Although the approaches may vary, they all have one thing in common.  None of the techniques help find solutions.  Instead, the problems persist or grow worse.

No one wants problems but everyone has to deal with them.  When they occur, you can minimize their longevity by handling them as quickly as possible.  Attempting to run away from them will just prolong your problems as well as enabling them to get worse.  Every problem has a solution.  Put your energy into solving your problems, not running away.

In the end, the choice is all yours, whether you chose to be a chicken or not!

2010 has been a really tough year for many people and people are hopefully being optimistic about the future. Many families have been dealing with some really scary issues. I can tell you from personal experience 2010 was the year that I really learned to count my blessings.

Another year gone. A whole lot of memories floating my mind; some bitter, some more than pleasant. There are some people I would thank for making me see the light when I was alone standing in dark and yet I would thank those who lead me to experience that isolation and making me strong enough to face the circumstances. Beyond the shadow of doubt, 2010 has been the most action-packed year in my 17 year life. Some friends left the scene while new ones made their position more eminent. I made a million mistakes yet I have no regrets.  So many memories for me to think and be pleased about, yet much more of them heartrending and gloomy. From my sea of memories, here are some which make me feel good…

I still remember…it was 10^th of February 2010, we just came back from our physics class. The feeling that day was so great that I can hardly put it into words. Three months, five people with the whole world against us; the Mission Impossible was made possible. That was the day Elixir Winter Edition-2010 was published (the one with me as co-editor)!

“Avada Kedavra”, I screamed in my dream to Voldemort. I suddenly woke up by the chorus of “Happy birthday!” and then there were a number of camera flashes. Rubbing my eyes, when I escaped from that trance, I saw three of my besties standing beside me in my muddled room with a delicious chocolate cake. I was on 7th sky that day!

When I signed up for FPAP I never knew that it would be a worth-while experience. It encouraged me to do more for human rights and made me realize how unthankful we all are for what we are bestowed upon. Close to reality stories made me come back to earth and take the responsibility of –if not reversing then-stopping more destruction and harm!

Ups and downs, success and failures, love and hatred, many relations were lost and new bonds formed as well… everything moving side by side! But 2010 would always be a gem in my memory; I found the meaning of my existence, I found love and friends, I learned lessons from my mistakes which people learn in an extent of many years! 2011 is here and it brings new opportunities to make up with old friends, expressing regrets and admitting mistakes. It brings another chance to all of us to reconstruct and regain ourselves.

My resolutions are now quiet different from what they were before. I now desire to be a more conscientious and responsible citizen of the society. I now desire to play my role in the evolution of Pakistan for I was previously oblivious to my duties. I now desire to be a better human being and a better Muslim! Success is not an accident; it begins with a well-conceived plan. You can and will achieve more in the next year than you have in the past ten with a disciplined plan of action. By investing your efforts into a New Year’s Resolution, you give yourself a launch pad for starting your new year and your new life!

Say welcome to success and achievement, say welcome to 2011!

Always think positive and beneficial; you never know who reads your thoughts. Oh no! I’m not talking about the marble-like-white vampire; Edward Cullen who can “listen” what people are thinking!

Every day, whether we’re pushing for praise, wrestling with the kids over homework, or judging whether a friend really likes our latest hair-do, we’re reading each other’s minds. Drawing on our observations, our databank of memories, our powers of reason, and our wellsprings of emotion, we constantly make educated guesses about what another person is thinking and feeling. Throughout the most heated argument or the most lighthearted chat, we’re intently collecting clues to what’s on the other person’s mind at the moment.

Mind reading of this sort—not to be confused with the infallible superhero kind of telepathy—is a critical human skill. It’s the way we make sense of other people’s behavior and decide on our own next moves. Mind reading enables us to negotiate, compete, cooperate, and achieve emotional closeness with others. It lets us figure out when we’re being manipulated or seduced. It’s how we know when someone finds our jokes hilarious or is humoring us out of politeness. Mind-reading ability is perhaps the most urgent element of social intelligence. The thoughts and feelings of others, including those closest to us, are far from transparent; that makes mind reading the only way to know someone beyond the mere surface. It’s the only way to achieve true intimacy. And the only way to love someone for who he or she really is. This delicate balance between perceiving and concealing has served humans well over our long history.

Of course, in order to advance our own interests, we still needed to conceal feelings from others at times, and even to lie. We didn’t always want to show exactly what we were thinking, because others could use that to gain the upper hand. Mind-reading ability is now on the decline in our culture. I find it difficult to point out who is the culprit behind all this!

Today’s obsessed-with-success parents? Who spend so much time stimulating their children with structured activities, noisy toys, and Baby Einstein DVD’s, they are not sitting still and being “present” with their kids.

The media? For showing so much bloodshed and hostility without any censorship, not realizing the effect on its viewers.

Or all the community? For constantly showing deceiving attitude and illusory.

As a result, children are denied the opportunity to learn how to get in tune with another person, physically and emotionally—that is, to develop mind-sight.  A reasonable degree of mind-sight is required, for a civil society in which every individual feels the pain and happiness of the other people in the society. Today, due to our insensitivity, we are unable to help those around us who are in need. We fail to perceive things around us and how they are affecting us and people around us. In a battle to do the best and become the best, we have become so insensitive that our actions and their effects on others is unknown.

My personal experience makes me believe that human beings are very strange. No matter how good you are with them, they are bound to hurt you (with only a few exceptions). Why is it that if you care for someone they just use you like a door mat, after cleaning their feet, they leave you full of dirt!

Drama is caused by exaggerated lies, unnecessary hatred, vicious gossip and pointless accusations. Some people make use of drama to get attention or sympathies while some use it to disgrace others; I, unfortunately, had to face both situations. Sometimes when jealousy and envy builds up, it causes man to change him into something so ferocious and troubling the he loses control over what he says and what he does!

The reason for sharing this with everyone is to show everyone that no matter how big the accusation, have faith in Divine Justice! If you face difficulties then be strong to deal with them. Learn to value your life, everyone has to face emotional stress, it’s just how you deal with it. Whether you use it to grow stronger or to use it as an excuse for giving up!

I’ll give you a tip, next time someone pisses you off or you think that “life is not fair”, then please think about those thousands of people sleeping without shelter, having nothing to eat , yet they live each day with a new hope…! Live your life, don’t give your enemies the contentment that they have accomplished in hurting you!

Or, like me, you can pray:”Lord, give me strength to accept psychopaths and annoying people I cannot change before I lose my temper and slap them! Amen!”

My “Fantasy Airlines” crashed when two small hands thumped on the windowpane of my car, and made me ogle in fright to the possessor of that scrawny and undersized hand. Another beggar.

I wonder what if the tables were turned and we were to experience this destitution..?

What if you were deprived of all of your luxuries and sumptuousness? No iPods, laptops, posh mobile sets, internet, profligate wardrobes and the list goes on.

What if you were physically disabled? You can’t see, feel, hear or speak. Maybe you have a missing organ.

What if you were mentally retarded? No one would be able to understand you and vice versa!

What if the biggest problem of your life is not the grade you get in your exams but how to earn enough to buy yourself a meal?

What if you were illiterate?  Unable to read or even write your own name!

What if you lost members of your family or friends, to bomb attacks or floods?

What if you were an animal whose life is even more erratic than man itself? Oppressed, caged and exploited!

What would you do then?

Engulfed in our own pursuits, we fail to remember to take a moment in time to Thank GOD for all the blessings we have. Someone rightly said that the best way to realize the importance of something is to imagine what it would be like when it’s gone. Take some time out to thank ALLAH Almighty for each and everything you have and you are now. It was never, nor would it be ever, difficult for God to make your condition the same as that beggar, or any other poverty-stricken person.  Gods’ infinite liberality will always exceed all of our wishes and thoughts!

“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.”

History shows that there is no end to decline; it’s more like a bottomless black hole!

I would like to quote an example from history here; in 14^th century, the Italian states were facing severe governing problems. There was economic crisis and the political downfall made the lives of people miserable. From time to time the area faced a severe epidemic which wiped out large number of populations. The Italian intellectuals decided to revolutionize the society by reconstructing it on the basis of new ideas and thoughts. It was not merely the revitalization of ancient Greek and Roman culture; creative ideas were produced to liberate the society from the grip of medieval ideology and transform it into a modern progressive one. They introduced a new educational system. A new set subjects were introduced which were; moral philosophy, rhetoric, grammar, logic, history and classical literature. They called it “humanities”. These subjects broadened the outlook and created the inquisitiveness to learn more in order to understand the society and its tribulations.

Poverty pushes people to either kill or rob. Religion, instead of uniting people, is dividing people on the basis of sects. Attempts to bring peace by force have also resulted in failure. We know that our educational system is obsolete and is not producing responsible citizens. If we want to change the society and arrest its decline, there is a need to introduce liberal education. Our educational system should be liberated from the shackles of ideology and include philosophy, history, literature, sociology, anthropology and psychology.

If citizens irrespective of their class and creed are educated, they would not only change the society but make it peaceful and prosperous!