Aik Hain Hum Aur Aik Hai Pakistan!

WE are ONE and so is PAKISTAN !

Last night, I was coming back from market; It was a Saturday night, and oddly, streets were empty, the small food shops were deserted, bakeries abandoned even the beggars were out of sight. We stopped at a tandoor to get some naans for dinner. Unusually, the lights were dimmed and the Tandoor seemed closed. As our taxi stopped, I noticed 3 shadowy figures move hesitantly. They wore prayer caps and had tasbeeh in their hands; they seemed alarmed with our presence.

When our driver returned with Naans, he told us that the shop owner is Phakhtoon; they are so terrified with latest incidents of Phakhtoon killings that they have camouflaged themselves in the gloomy darkness of the shop and prayed to find solace and to be secure!

A sharp twinge traveled deep into my heart. We keep on hearing such news, but witnessing the reality was awfully agonizing. News is not always false its not always aggrandized. Our own people are not sensing protection within their own domains. Our streets are no longer an extension of our homes. They have become corridors of crime.

We have always been one.. We have always been Pakistanis. Then what happened? Did we fell asleep and became ignorant of what has been happening in the background? Or we were well aware of noiseless movements, those invisible objects being re assembled.. We did hear those whispers but were not able to make out the meanings. We did notice those changes but that dint affect us, and how could it when we already had so many other things to worry about.

These thoughts invaded my mind. I could hear the classic national song “Sindh, Sarhad, Punjab Baluchistan…Aik hian hum aur aik hai Pakistan” and could see all those childhood memories of school assemblies, in which four students enthusiastically represented four provinces and lovingly hugged each other under Pakistani Flag... Just like brothers.

At least that’s what we saw and felt as children but will our children be chanting the same song? Will they still have same four friends to inspire them? Or will they see one shooting all three one after the other and then painting the green and white flag his own?

I am not trying to portray the worst picture here. But I think it’s about time that we should open our eyes and ears and confront the reality.

If we don’t want those four buddies to kill each other, we must notice those extras, unwanted characters on the stage; some are behind that curtain at the back… who are whispering in the ears of the friends, who are trying to edit the script. They are going to ruin the show! As soon as one of the friends is left behind, as soon as their strength weakens, these characters are going to stab him as well. They will shredder the flag and now the stage will be their own along with the silent, stunned audience; us!

Let’s wake up! Let’s pull that curtain down! Lets unmask those faces! Let’s rise up and swamp the stage, push those uninvited characters off the stage. Encircle those young brothers and let them be ONE!

~ Zahra

photo source:

ISHQ : The Sea of Love

نیک خواھانم نصیت می کنند... خشت بر دریا زدن بی حاصل است

شوق رابر صبر قوت غالب است ...عقل رابر عشق دعوی باطل است

My friends advise me that a wall can’t be built on the surface of water

Desire overrules Patience---Claim of wisdom in Love is false.

Verses by Sa'adi

For the Sake of Welfare

Rumbling train, trembling walls and shivering floors, were the few things that I noticed when I reached a private welfare school here in Karachi.

It was a fine morning; my heart was filled with excitement to visit a welfare center along with a group of O level students who wanted to spend a day for others. Sadly that feeling withered away as we reached the venue.

A slim door opened into a narrow, congested and a ceiling-less corridor. Right beside the door was a confine bathroom with a dented door. Facing it was a huge blue drum with a tap attached, beneath that an empty paint bucket was placed. On my right was a tall rack stacked with little dusty chappals. Some dead plants added to the depressing ambiance. 

As I took few steps inwards, it was heart rendering to see a whole row of tiny chairs with broken seats arranged adjacent to a wall. Classes were being conducted in room with partially covered ceiling and with walls encrusted with dust; students were settled on floor mats.

On one side of the picture was a tear jerking sight of innocent kids with little, bare feet, muddled hair, inconsistently uniformed and variably placed in classes without chairs, space and even without a proper roof and on the other hand was the discourteous attitude of the principal with volunteers who went to help them out. Well, I rather not go there.

Principal’s filled to capacity workplace, served multiple purposes. Besides being an office, it was a library, store room, dining room and even acted as a staff room. One door opened into a classroom, the other one into a small passage that could be called an exit. This passage was divided by a curtain into half; on the other side of the curtain was a filthy, fetid bathroom.

 While talking to the teachers, I made some astonishing discoveries. The teachers there had to go through a series of 2-3 year Urdu pronunciation program before they could teach students of KG! According to one senior and the most qualified teacher, she had to spend 2 years just to work on Urdu pronunciation and it was a tough course!

My heart sank and I felt I was sitting in an adobe whose base was so vulnerable, pillars too brittle; I felt the roof will rumble down anytime taking all of us with it.

Every second that I spent there made my heart heavier, partially, to see melancholy of young people; primarily, because misery was being imposed on them.

My pption of the scenario was at polarity with the common point of view. I was raged to observe that such welfare organizations are just portraying these chaste children as a symbol of misfortune, for me the organization it self was disparage in the name of “welfare”. It is no more than bandwagon.

I fail to understand the purpose of useless, broken chairs placed at the entrance when they have low desks and floor mats for the class. I can not comprehend the logic behind Urdu pronunciation course as compulsory for teachers of kindergarten. I can not grasp the purpose of such institutions. I can not foresight the future of students of such schools.

 If an organization is so impoverished and penniless, why in the world they open tens of branches all over the city with same pitiable conditions? Wont it be better to have only one center but with standards of education and teaching? A safe and pleasing place with uplifting milieu... There is no point of such schools if they can not provide something better for the kids.

I urge the government to fortify the educational standards and I request such welfare organizations to have an infrastructure and not to initiate such projects if you are already broke. It is a good thing for all of us to give something to others; every one should contribute, but let’s not embark on something with a hope to get funds.Please don’t play with the lives of these kids. They are going to so called schools but are they really learning anything? What ever people contribute dose it affect kid’s live at all? 

Let’s taste the bitter truth. It dose not!

                                           

BUDGET TIPS: Cheaper By The Dozen

January 08, 2009

Zahra Ali Syed suggests some simple ways to beat the food crises

Let’s face it; the whole world is going through a riotous food-price crisis. The best way to cope is to face it!

Large sum of our budget is spent every month on food items; before we know it, the budget is out of control and we either spend too much or we end up compromising on the quality and quantity of food that our families require.

In both cases a little planning and some simple steps can help ease the burden without compromising on the quality of life.

BUY SMART

Always keep your self updated with the changing prices of food items. Your shop keeper might be selling at a higher rate than the market in the next neighbourhood.

Make a list and stick to it

• Check for expiry dates. An item may be marked down because it’s close to expiry

• Buy in bulk. Buying in small quantities throughout the month costs twice as much, apart from increased fuel and time cost.

• Keep an eye open for discounts and special offers

• Keep a record of the bills. This will help you evaluate your monthly food cost

• Do a survey of local stores in your area; communicate with friends about different stores and their prices. You may be surprised to find high quality at cheap rates in small, low-profile stores.

STORAGE

Storing and saving food is an art in itself. Here are some ideas:

• Slice, dice or chop your vegetables, blanch them and freeze in trays for few hours. Then transfer them in air tight bags and refrigerate for two-three weeks. This comes in handy if you buy vegetables in bulk

• Make puree out of tomatoes and freeze

• Meat and chicken can be stored for weeks without any hesitation. You can always make portions and freeze in separate bags

• Use an old ice-tray to freeze ginger and garlic paste; you can use it a cube at a time

• A good quality airtight container goes a long way. Herbs and spices can be stored in these for easy use.

COOK SMART

• Buy fresh poultry rather than the pre-frozen packs. It’s cost effective and probably healthier, too. As a bonus you can ask your butcher to pack those bones left over from boneless cut chicken pieces to make stock to use in cooking rice, lentils, vegetables or soups

• Pickles, jams and chutnies can be made at home. Rope in the kids, and maybe even hubby, to clean and chop the vegetables and experiment with different varieties

• Don’t throw away leftovers. Exercise your ingenuity and try to come up with interesting combinations• One can make potato, vegetable or lentil burgers instead of beef or chicken; they are equally delicious, healthier and definitely cheaper

• You can learn to use less oil while cooking; it will not only be better for your health but also your budget.

• Go back to the old-fashioned way; replace tea bags with tea leaves. Yes, it will be a bit of a hassle but after a while you’ll realise that this makes a far more delicious cup of tea

The list can go on and on… once you get in the habit of keeping an eye on your budget, you will automatically find ways to save the pennies.

Happy budgeting !

Ever Wander?

As the Car stopped at a signal, I gazed at people, waiting for the green light to flicker and to continue their journey. My mind started wandering in a valley of thoughts. Where are they coming from and where are they going?

It is perplexing how man has homogenized in this world.
A middle-aged man tiredly waited on a motorbike with bread hanging in a plastic bag on the handle of his bike perhaps he was going home after a frenetic day. Behind him was a bus packed with jadedly standing people returning from work, students and generally people traveling, a family was in a jovial mood in their air-conditioned car. Some beggars prattling in a group. Traffic was rushing on the next road. People were standing at the bus stop lost in their lives. The market was glittery with lights and busy as usual.

I marveled how man has envisaged his existence. How he learned to live here, found activities to do, to keep him busy, learned tricks to showoff, yet this assumingly free creature is bond to do only what he is allowed to!

After centuries of existence and using wisdom that was nurtured by hundreds of generations, and by achieving heights of advancements, he is where he started. Man is helpless in changing key things that comes with the package!

He has to eat when he is hungry, he has to sleep when he is tired, he must open his eyes to see, he ought to breathe to survive. He cannot break the chain! Coming here was not his choice, nor would leaving this world be.

He still plays with things granted to him; he cannot make something new without using material already present. Yet strangely, he stands swollen with pride of his intelligence. Just like a child who is given toy blocks to play with. Sometimes he makes house out of it, some times a bridge, and flamboyantly displays his creations.

With given resources he cannot look beyond the blue sky that covers his world. With inventions, there is always an endless universe to discover. There is no end or the limits get as far from him as close he tries to get to them!

Living in an illusion, he has convinced himself to be in a reality.
It is strange how man owns something that previously belonged to people before him. He dwells on the land where people before him lived and died just like him! Thing he owns today will belong to someone else tomorrow yet he is busy in planning for future exhausting himself in the process just like his ancestors.

Nothing is his, not even he himself, yet all belongs to him. He has a house, a family whole world for him, yet he is a stranger to himself. He sees some one else inside him when he looks in his own eyes in a reflection. He wants to live forever and ever yet an infinite life scares him.

It is mystifying that he breathes in the air that the first man inhaled! He lives under the same sky; sun that shines on him today has scattered its radiance in the worlds of the past too and have seen the nations rise and fall. Dazzling stars that shine tonight have glistened the nights for societies before him.

He feeds on what grows from earth, and drinks water that skies sprinkle. He wears wool that sheep produce, and cottons that a flower offers. His most treasured possessions are stones that mountains veil, just like a child who while digging the earth finds an interesting looking twig or a pretty seashell along the seaside and keeps it in a secret place and guards it with his life.

He feeds on what grows from earth, and drinks water that skies sprinkle. He lives in world already garlanded for him, with exactly all he needs and nothing more or less.

What is he doing then: Perhaps just playing with the toys, frittering his time?

Mysterious Coincidents

During a stroll in Karachi University today, I came across these beautiful dancing trees. I am sure I have seen these before...spellbound with the mysteries of coincidents...

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Its raining outside.. dont know why I am captivated by these lines...

کتنا پانی یے جو بےوقت برس جاتا ہے

اور کہیں قفلا پیاسوں کاترس جاتا ہے

~Zahra