March 16. A little more worth added to the already worth-living life! I say a little, because this is the beginning, the idea. The implementation would need more effort, more time and more sacrifice. Yes, it has been a long long march, indeed! Given our collective moral discrepancies, it was kind of a far cry that we could actually make a bit of a difference. But one should never be completely hopeless. No, never! The much-awaited announcement has given a boost to the flickering flame of hope, no matter what the cynics say or feel or assert or try to do so. Yes, people do still have reservations; they still are sceptical about the issue, but at least this is a historic moment: a change finally has taken place in Pakistan, no matter what the ifs and buts and ohs are.

Fondly do I remember Aadil’s coming a little before the expected date, and my Father saying: “Aadil has arrived early because he knows Pakistan is in dire need of ‘Adal’”! Thankyou Allah, for Aadil, and thankyou for the restoration of ‘Adliya’. Here’s to hoping we can be better humans and better Pakistanis in the days to come, leaving our always-critical-n-cynical-n-loser-like argumentations aside, and learning to be positive at least for once. Here’s to hoping we can actually leave differences aside, and unite to weave a strong socio-political fabric where injustice and corruption find no gap to seep in.

Long live Pakistan!

Ha...
NO blog entry for such AAAA long time! Couldnt have imagined that. Lack of literary activity makes me physically lethargic too, i guess. So many happenings, so many stories, so many experiences have I had in the recent past, that it is difficult to put them into neat categories.

Good old Ramazan in Pakistan...It was my first one after marriage, and a good one too. It always does you good, this holy month. I don't know which future Ramazan I will be able to spend in Pakistan again! I will miss the daily gatherings and discussions on the Quran that we used to have over there.

And after that, the major party time, December, the season of innumerable weddings and match-makings! So many overlapping invitations, and you sorting out same-date functions, deciding where to land first and where next. Eating up to your full, all the Chicken, Fruit and Veggie Salads, Biryani, Chicken Qorma, Chicken Karahi, Mutton Qorma, Paaye, Kebobs of all kinds, desserts of all kinds and what not. Yummy! But the tummy needs to be looked after too. So I always had to remind myself to 'eat moderately' when going to a wedding banquet  :))

Bhai and family's visit was another major event. Its always fun to have him around, his stories and jokes never letting anyone bore. And it was lovely to meet his wife and kids, the little one barely 3 1/2 months old! So the dinners and parties in his honor also kept us busy.

The mixed feelings on the announcement of our immigrating to Canada were very understandable.
Of course, when you have spent your whole life with your parents and loved ones, you do feel very very sad to leave them and go so far away, and the feeling is two-way. However, there was hope and exploration waiting too. So we finally decided to surrender to the second option for the time being. It has been the fullest experience of life this time. Together, Ahsan and I used to go out without any guidelines, finding bus routes, subway stations, offices and Chachoo's apartment, thanking our stars that we are together. Exploring Greater Toronto all alone would indeed have been a spirit-dampening experience in such harsh weather conditions, with snow storms and gusts of cold winds.

Today I opened an old mail, which I really don't know why / how I missed before. Asad Bhai's constant probing made me WRITE this today! He says he sees "no harkat" in my blog...yes perhaps, you're right when u assume that there is no "aamid" nowadays; no muse is inspiring me to write the way I used to write before hehe :). But, well, although there IS a great deal to write, I think so many others write so much better than myself that I sometimes feel its useless to raise my little voice in the din of all those cries that we are hearing nowadays.
About two months back, a statement by Musharraf really spurred me to write, but I wrote my heart out on a little piece of paper which is again lost I-don't-know-where. The statement was outright funny I'd say; 'funny', I repeat. While political bodies and lawyers were having full strike, Musharraf was heard saying: "There is no chaos in the country at all". HAHA, what did you mean by that, dude???! The statement really angered me, but then I thought k politicians ko kya paRee hai k unki statements ka kya reaction hota hai.
This coming and going of american gods (ponte, boucher) is another sign of the fact that politicians have no concern about you and me. And Nawaz's deportation, no comments really. And BB's deal, what can anyone say about that. Nobody knows where we are heading; probably going to be another Iraq, another Afghanistan. Probably another France of 1793, waiting for a massively bloody revolution which 'might', just might 'save' the country...
Asad Bhai, perhaps you were expecting something better than this, but as I have written after a long time, only the rotten stuff could be expected to come out this time...Thanks anyways for all your encouraging comments, I really appreciate it :)
Fz

I was listening to a speaker on T.V. a couple of days ago while working. Initially it was just like listening to any other speaker, but by the end I had completely left my work and had my eyes glued to the screen, my ears attentive to what he was saying.

The speaker was most probably a psychologist. He talked about how people have started to HATE, and they are to be 'taught' how to LOVE otherwise they don't know how to!! He also talked about how people have stopped being tolerant towards the others. Then he gave the example of common man who has this most common complaint: "My problem is, I can't forgive my family. I can't forgive my friends. I can't forgive so and so. And because of this attitude of mine, the world doesn't like me". He talked about how people lose self esteem because of their hatred-filled attitudes, and eventually become regressed individuals whom nobody likes to talk to.

Speaking on changing attitudes and love-hate patterns, he narrated the story of a poor boy, who saw a beautiful car on the road. The boy admired the car, and was looking at its splendor when the owner of the car arrived...(The story below is my version of the story/real incident he quoted.)

A village boy was walking down the street one evening. Off the road, he saw a beautiful car. He was enamoured by its splendour. He walked around it, inspected it and praised its beauty. The owner of the car, a middle-aged man, soon arrived and observed the boy's fascination with the car.

"Do u like my car?" he asked in a friendly manner.

"Yes! It's very beautiful!" The boy exclaimed.

The owner said, "my brother gifted it to me", and he gave the boy a smile.

You know what the boy said? Can you guess? The most probable guess would be: "I wish I had a brother like yours". But you know what he actually said? He said, "I wish I was like your brother".

 

The owner was moved beyond words. Seeing the longing in the boy's eyes, the man offered him a ride in his car.

"Would you take me to my village?"

"Sure!", said the man. He must be feeling really proud sitting in the car, the man was thinking. Now he would gather his friends and show off that he's riding such a wonderful car. Off they went to the boy's village.

There was no sign of little boys playing in the street as the man had imagined.

"Would you kindly wait for me? Just for a few minutes, please?" the boy requested as they reached the village.

The man couldn't refuse. A few minutes later, he saw the boy returning. It seemed as if he was carrying something on his back. The man couldn't see clearly was it was until he came quite close.

He couldn't believe his eyes. He couldn't believe his ears.

The boy was carrying his brother on his shoulder, his brother who was crippled. And when he came to the car, he said to his brother, "One day I will get you a car similar to this one. You like it?"

"Yes!" came a small voice.

And he was happy.

******************

This is how a Muslim should be. The incident with the little Muslim boy made the man realize the worth of true love, a feeling worth appreciating, for it is fast vanishing from our collective behaviours; as nations, as countries, as families and friends.