Wish I Had a Horse

And while I was stuck in the traffic jam, I spotted this man on a horse. He seemed to be moving faster than all of us as he could pass through places from where cars couldn’t. That time I wished I had a horse too.

Horse

Traffic Jam on November 28, 2007

Yesterday was a troublesome day. There were many small bumps on the road.

I was already a bit late in going to the office. When I finally set out to go, I got stuck in a traffic jam. I couldn’t get out of Chaklala Scheme 3 because of the heavy traffic. All the cars were moving like drops of water trickling down a narrow opening. There was a continuous need of applying brakes and the starting off again. Inch by inch I moved along with the surge of the cars. And finally when I got out of that mess and crossed Ammar Chowk, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I cursed the president a bit for all this choked traffic as it had occurred due to the fact that he was supposed to take off the Army uniform and take up the charge of the country as a civilian citizen.

Take a look at the following shot of the jammed cars in a row. It does not provide a clear picture of the traffic clutter, but you can get an idea:

Chaklala Scheme 3 Traffic Jam

An Encounter with a Purse Snatcher

This always seemed like a thing that would only happen in movies or dramas. Or a thing that would happen to ‘others’ but never ‘yourself’. But yesterday it was proven wrong when I had an encounter with a purse snatcher. It all happened really instantaneously but left me with a racing heart for a couple of minutes and lots of alarming thoughts.

It was 8 P.M. at night. With a shopping bag in my left hand and my purse on my right shoulder, I was walking towards my car in the parking lot. The parking lot is right beside my office building (Green Trust Tower). It was dark there as always, but I could make out from afar, where my car was parked.

As I walked towards it, I felt two guys walking into the parking lot as well. I didn’t pay much attention to this fact as I had seen people pass through that area before. When I walked a bit further I felt those guys were a bit far but right behind me. I was alarmed a bit but not much. By this time I had taken out my car keys and just reached the car.

I was about to unlock the door when I noticed those guys split up. One went further away towards the left of the car and the second one walked right towards me. This literally rang loud bells in my ears and I was extremely alarmed. This movement alerted me as there was no particular reason for that guy to walk in my direction. There was no special path there. No car parked there. No motorcycle.

I quickly unlocked the door and opened it so that there would be some light (the light we get from opening car doors). I couldn’t sit in the car that quickly. By this time that guy was very near me. I turned my back towards the car, slid a bit behind the open door and looked at him as he passed by. As I was looking, he looked at me, extended his hand, grabbed my purse, pulled it and started running like hell, pulling me along with it. Thank God the strap of the purse was strong so it didn’t break. And as I pulled my purse as well so that guy failed at getting hold of it.

At that instant all I could do was scream some random words like “What the hell is wrong with you!” The guy ran like hell after his failed attempt and I quickly sat in the car and locked the door. I sat there for a couple of minutes as I tried to catch my breath. My heart was racing like a charging Ferrari at that time.

I wanted to start the car instantly so that I could follow the purse snatchers a bit and maybe scare them. But as I had turned the ignition off while it was converted to CNG, in the morning, I was unable to start it. It took me a few minutes before I somehow managed to start the car. But by that time I guess it was too late. I sort of patrolled the parking area a bit to try to spot those thieves but didn’t see them. Then I moved out of there, towards the road where they were running to, and tried spotting them but didn’t see anyone there either. Then I decided that they would have long gone far away or would have hidden somewhere so I would not be able to find them. On thinking this I moved my car in the direction of my home and sped forward.

Many thoughts raced through my mind. What if the guy had succeeded in snatching the purse? I would have lost my mobile, wallet, ID card, ATM cards and credit card. What if I had fallen due to his pull? I would have been bruised. What if the guy actually struggled with me for the purse? I would have surely lost the battle along with the purse and some other valuables. What if the second guy had come back to help his accomplice? I could have been badly hurt and molested.

Since all of this had not happened, Thank God, I thanked Allah and kept moving. The only ‘injury’ that was inflicted upon me was a small bruise near my wrist. I got it due to the friction of the purse strap against my arm due to the pull by the snatcher. But it was something microscopic and not worth consideration.

I must admit that I did get scared a bit. But then I brushed my fears away and thought of all this as a ‘bad’ adventure. I even thought of a fun side of all this as the idea of putting it all on my blog came to my mind. ;-) I guess I have done that now and even dragged the story a bit. So I guess its time to stop now.

Let’s pray that may the world be rid of such purse snatchers.

My Nokia 3100: May Its Soul Rest In Peace

The first ever mobile phone that I bought and used was Nokia 3100. I saw it in the hands of a friend and fell in love with it instantly due to its blue colour. Looking up on it on the Internet revealed that it was also available in pink and white colours but blue was the one I wanted. I afforded it at that time as well, so went to the market and got it.

I kept it safe for more than a year, using it with care. And then I wanted to buy a newer better one. So I did and put this one away. Then my father needed a phone so I offered this one to him, to use for a while, till he got his own (which by the way he never did ;-) hehehe).

This weekend my father had gone to Lahore. On reaching there he called us and reported that he has lost the mobile. He was not to sure how. One guess was that some pickpocket did it. The other guess was that the phone bounced out of his waist coat’s pocket due to the extreme jostling of the rickshaw on the bumpy roads. (Even if the roads are not bumpy, a rickshaw would still jostle you and make milkshake of your internals, not to mention shatter your ear drums.)

Whatever the cause of the loss was, I was not paying much attention to it. All I could think of was that my Nokia 3100 was no more. It had embarked on a journey from where there was no return. May its soul rest in peace. *sniff sniff*

Big Words, Little Action ;o)

There is a plethora of ideas in my apparently empty mind for my blog posts. And I also have a seemingly growing collection of incidents and anecdotes that I want to scribble about. My mind is brimming with all these blog thoughts. But alas, there is so little time. And at times, so little presence of mind that it is a hurdle in the transformation of the random thoughts into solid blocks of text. Wish I was better at time management. :-)

...And it Spread

There was a time when I had 1937 e-mails in my Outlook inbox. I paid little attention to this. And now see what has happened.

The tides are high
The plague has spread
Now I have 2480 e-mails, in my shed

My 2480 E-Mails

I, The Dholki Player

I never knew I could play the dholki. Yes off course I tried my hand at it on the weddings of my younger aunts. But that was more than 15 years ago. I was a kid at that time (Yes, I was once a kid too). And at that time when I played it, only we kids sang to its beat. As soon as elders and more expert players would arrive at the wedding, the dholki used to be snatched away.

But yesterday (November 13, 2007) I had been to my friend’s ‘mayoo’ where I played it once again. I had been playing for the past so many days, rather trying to, but was not succeeding. I was missing out on beats and loosing the tempo and all. But then I got a hint about it from my friend’s mother. Then I started and I couldn’t believe myself that I was actually playing.

I had a lot of fun doing that. Playing the dholki, trying to change the tempo and beats according to the currently sung song and succeeding, joining in with the singers with a loud voice in singing, and doing it all at the same time. But my hands suffered. ;-) That time I didn’t realize anything. Felt nothing even after getting home. But the very next morning I knew that had actually ‘used’ my hands. Fingers of my hands, especially of the left hand were sore and I felt a tingling pain in the joints of my hands and fingers.

Just for a second I thought what would I do today on her mehandi. Would I be able to play as forcefully as before? The answer came as a big YES and put a huge smile on my face. Now I am all set to go to her mehandi event today (November 14, 2007) and play the dholki till nobody can take it anymore. ;-)

It does not matter if my hands hurt after the mayo or would hurt still more after the mehandi. But I wouldn’t have missed out on all these wedding celebrations of my friend Munazza for anything.

Congratulations Munazza! Hope you have a blessed married life! May Allah shower his blessings on you always!

Grow a Gift

Many of you would agree that that after Orkut, Facebook is the latest rage. And i even feel it is a far bigger blast than Orkut too. The ones who have already got their hands dirty with Facebook would know that there are many add-ins (applications), that can be added to one's page to show different angles of the personality to your friends or to merely have fun.

One such application is 'Grow a Gift'. In this application you can send a 'seed' to your pal, which in reality is a flower pot, that grows some kind of plant, tree or item in a duration of 4 days. I for one am completely in love with this application. I have 'gifted' so many 'seeds' to myself that i now don't even need to add the 'garden' application. I have a garden of my own.

I wish i had a real garden like that. I am sure i will have one really soon Insha Allah :-D

A little Dilemma

It's going to be almost two whole weeks and it is still not here. We are still left to fend for ourselves from the baddies in the dark. Well come to think of it, the darkness itself proves to be a baddie for us. No peace of mind for us as soon as the dark shadows start eating up the otherwise visible paths, sites and articles. The days are still the same without it, but the evenings and nights are completely changed.

We are pushed to fumble that adds up to our disgruntled mumbles. We long for a little shimmer available at the touch of our hands which exists no more.

Enough of the mystery I guess, so let me raise the curtain and introduce you to the tiny item, the absence of which is causing nothing less than a dilemma.

It is nothing big but something small. It is something that can bring light to our temporarily blackened lives. It is not an expensive item if purchased but is of invaluable status to us.

It is a small light bulb that we are missing in our office washroom. Somebody please donate one to us so that we would be able to regain the peace of mind. It will allow us to get rid of the shadows of confusion, dissatisfaction and hesitation that come upon us with the dawn of the darkness.

Can somebody help, or do I need to write an “e-mail”?

Butterfly Wants Wings

As cowardly as I have been lately, I am looking for ways to escape instead of looking for solutions. Maybe I want to escape as I cannot think of any solution. People have tried to help and advise but I cannot seem to convince myself on their suggestions. Maybe I do not want their solutions. The result of all this is a total chaos in my mind. And the chaos is not only in my mind, but in my life as well. And not only in my life, but in the lives of my near dear ones as well (which I regret immensely).

I wish if only I could be removed from this equation, things would not remain so bad. I wish this butterfly had wings and it could fly away, taking all the sorrow and pain away from everybody.

A Little Bit of Courage

Some people have the courage to face the difficult situations in their lives while having a smile on their faces. Some have the strength and courage to make difficult decisions, and not only do they do this but they also stick to those decisions no matter what.

I always thought I was one of those people; full of courage and strength. I thought there was nothing in the world I cannot face. No mountain seemed high enough and no river seemed deep enough. And I guess I did face some difficult times myself and came through fine. But some recent changes in my life have pushed me to think otherwise. I never knew I was such a coward. I feel like laughing at this fact as well as crying on it. But whatever I do I am unable to find a solution to the ups and downs in my life.

I am just longing for a little bit of that courage and strength that I once thought I had. May Allah help me in this as I know now for sure that no man can.