Death of a Storyteller and the Rebirth

When a storyteller runs out of stories to tell, it is her or his death. Not being able to do what you are best at, is devastating. When the creativity flow stops, everything stops. The brain never comes to a stand still alone. It brings down the whole world of a person along with it. 

So have I run out of stories to tell? Nope. Am i facing hindrance in doing what i am best at? No. Have i stopped being creative? Wouldn't say that. Has my brain come to a stand still and halted all operations of my little world? Not really. 

So what was all THAT about. Well i don't actually believe for any of the above to be true, but for a while it did feel that way. I did feel frozen and blocked. I did have a feeling of being chained and not being able to break free. My brain did feel like being on a hiatus as far as story telling was concerned.

But now everything is turning back to normal. The stories are dying to be told and the blog is longing to have posts.

I once again want to thank the handful of regular visitors for continuously visiting the blog and believing in my storytelling abilities while i myself had some doubts.   :-)

Montalista

I was promoting this page at all the possible places. But the one most important page i forgot to promote this on was my very own blog :-P How absent minded can I be! Well now that i am awake, here is the link:

Montalista Facebook Page: 
http://www.facebook.com/montalista

It is a page selling jewellery (as a start). More items are being added gradually.
 
Do take a look and hit "Like" if you like what you see there. Don't forget to leave feedback so that the page can be improved. Thanks in advance for your support :-)

Happy New Year 2013 :-)

Today was the first day of the new Gregorian year 2013. The most significant about the day was that it is my sister's birthday. But other than that it was pretty much like any other day. Come to think of it, it was even slower than my normal days. I was supposed to be in office which i wasn't. I was supposed to be a 100% healthy person. That i wasn't also. I was supposed to start out with some kind of a bang. Never heard even a rattle, let alone a bang. I had wanted to do lots on this day thinking that whatever i do today will have an impact on my whole year (the full year would be kinda reflection of my enthusiastic efforts and achievements of this day). Nothing of the sort happened. 

I wonder if that or something similar happened to you too. Perhaps you all also wanted to mark this day in some way and were not able to (or perhaps you were able to tick all the items in your New Year Day check list).

But no matter how this day passed, i wish everybody a very happy and blessed new year. May the new year bring lots of joys and fulfillment of aspirations. May Allah remain kind on us all and bestow upon us all the mercy and kindness. :-)

One of a Kind Picnic Trip

Wife: Honey! Would you prefer peanuts or almonds?

Husband: I don’t know. I don’t like either.

Wife: Ok I guess I will pack both for myself. I’ll get some Chilghozay (pine nuts) for you. Would that be ok?

Husband: Sure.

Wife: Hmm I need my muffler. It could get really cold like the other night. Should I pack one for you? It would keep you warm.

Husband: Don’t know.

Wife: Ok I’ll pack one anyway. And I’m also taking an extra sweater for myself. I think your jacket is already in the car, right?

Husband: Hmm yeah.

Wife: Would you need anything else? Think, think, think!

Husband: Nope.

Wife: Let me think if I’d need anything else. I’ll take my knitting, in case there is a long wait. Should I take some sweets and toffees also? Or perhaps some crisps and biscuits? Are there any bananas in the kitchen?

Husband: Forget them dear and lets go now.

Some Random Relative: Looks like you guys have packed for an overnight picnic trip? Where are you going?

Husband & Wife: To get CNG! 

*GIGGLES* 

PS: I wonder how many people would relate to this. ;-)

Dulha Tayyar Kea Jata Hai

Hair Dresser - Dulha Tayyar Kea Jata Hai Originally uploaded by Monazza Talha

Hoshiyar, Khabardar - Zimadari dulha tayyar kernay tak mehduud hai. Baad kay kisi nuqsaan ka idara zimadar na ho ga. Apni zimadari per dulha tayyar kervaaeay. Shukria

Manjanib - Sakoon Hair Dresser

After reading this display of this one additional service provided by the hair dresser (as seen in the picture above), i just couldn't stop laughing. I know that just like brides, grooms also get themselves ready from a "parlour" or "salon". But the wording was just hilarious. Apologies to the ones who can't read Urdu. Hope the rest can fully enjoy the picture and the photographed writings. :-) *giggles*

PS: The disclaimer in italics was a creation of my own naughty mind. The Hair Dresser had nothing to do with it.  Iss paigham kee waja say honay walay har qisam kay nuqsan kee zimadari fidvi ko qabool hai. *giggles*

Ghost Writing Equivalent to Plagiarism?

I friend of mine recently made a point that I should not project myself as a “plagiarist”. She added that since ghost writing is like steeling, it is nothing but plagiarism. She also said that she considered me to be an honest person and did not think I would EVER do such a dreadful act. (She was reading my Intro on this blog of mine.)

For me ghost writing is any piece of text that you create with which you cannot tag your name to acknowledge the world of the authorship.

When I think of Ghost Writing, several things come to my mind that can be considered so (some help taken from Wikipedia's topic "Ghostwriter" in compiling my following list):

• Writing articles for a blog or publication.
• Contributing to a book.
• Helping someone not good in a language to express their ideas in a decent way (for a blog, or forum, or Facebook status etc).
• Drafting or editing somebody's autobiography
• Preparing a speech or public statement for a politician.
• Preparing a presentation for an administrative or managerial person.
• Writing profession or career based articles for consultants of respective domain.
• Preparing a technical document for a client.
• Compiling a project proposal for someone.

I consider all of the above points ethical and am willing to indulge in this, provided I am not exploited to do so. If due compensation is paid, I would be more than happy to do any and all of the above (and more too).

Now I can think of some other ghost writing tasks also that are unethical in my opinion: 

• Writing a thesis for a student.
• Preparing a paper or report for a student.
• Doing an assignment for a school, college or university student. 

I never have done this and nor do I plan to do so even if it is a highly paid job.

People are ghosting almost all the time. The work we do in our office is not always tagged with our name. Artisans who prepare beautiful items seldom carve or embroider their names on each masterpiece they create. I have never seen workmen like carpenters, tailors, carpet weavers and cooks leaving their initials on the items they prepare and the work they do. The compensation everybody is getting in almost all of these cases is monetary. People are getting paid to do all this. They are providing their expertise and creating their respective contributory substances in exchange for wages or payments. We can’t label all these and similar people “plagiarists”, now can we?

Anybody can have their own views about anything. And mine about ghost writing are that it is not equivalent to ‘plagiarism’. One just needs to set the right ethical limits according to one's beliefs.

I finally Blogged!

I finally blogged today, after a hiatus of many months and took some pictures too! Yay!

I took some pictures. Used those pictures in a blog. Am using that blog link here to increase my post count on this blog also. (How clever of me!) Will share this post on my Facebook to increase viewership and my blog visit count. (How super genius of me!) And someone might share my Facebook post on their timeline and their friends would read and re-share the link. And this might go on and on and on till the traffic on my blog would crash the visit counter and servers. And then i would be featured on notable forums for causing such a chaos. And i would feel so proud. And then and then and then.........and then i would roll over, fall from my bed with a great thud and wake up. *Ooppss*

Oh i almost forgot to share the link of that blog. Here goes ;-)

http://islamabad.metblogs.com/?p=3336

Masoom Sharaa'it

(Originally published on Facebook Notes on September 10, 2009.)

 

Kaam Asaan Ho
Ho ja'ay, chahay jahan bhi dehan ho

Dimagh ka kharach ho kam say kam
Warna roth kay bath ja'ain gay hum

Koi muddat muqarrar na ho us ki
Chahay abhi ker dain, chahay badd aik sadi

Ghalti ke gunjaish barabar mojuud rahay
Farishtay to nahe akhar ko hum insaan hain

Manzuur hoon ye sharaa'it to theek hai
Wagarna hum bhi banday baray shareer hain
 

{These are the terms a person is dictating to a manager about the kind of work to be assigned. Read and enjoy!}

 

Stop Sending Me Random Messages, O Random Stranger

IMPORTANT: My family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances, who forward text messages (SMS) to me are not supposed to take this piece of writing personally because it is NOT about them :-) Some other “menace” has been addressed here.

Oh I wonder how much time do these “idiots” have to pointlessly spare; and also how much money do they have to spend. They keep sending text messages, day in and day out, regularly, without fail; and lots of them (they flood the tiny memory of my mobile phone). The length of one message could even extend up to 4 or 5 text messages (or even more, gosh!). They never fail to say Good Morning to you. They tuck you in your bed at night with the Good Night message. Occasionally there are Good Afternoon and Good Evening messages as well. Sometimes there is a quote and sometimes the message contains poetry. The limits are crossed when such imbeciles send religious messages. Are they trying to prove their piety or something to me? But WHY?

Who the hell ARE these people? They are not family. They are not friends. They are not colleagues. They are not even acquaintances. I don’t even know them. They probably also don’t know me. They are just some random strangers who accidentally came to know that a particular mobile number belongs to a female (am cursing all those moments when I picked up the phone even when I saw an “unknown” number flashing on the screen; thinking they could be someone I know who changed their number; or thinking it could be an interview call or a reminder to pay my Internet dues or a call from my photographer about the photos).

I wonder what pleasure do these people get out of mass messaging to random females in the cellular sphere. Those messages only get deleted instantly, followed by uttering of some heavenly adjectives in honour of the random sender.

Many of you would be thinking of me as a fool and wondering why have not subscribed to any “blocking service” yet. To set the fact straight, well I have subscribed. With a heavy heart I let that service deduct monthly charges too *gulp*. But they allow me to block only a handful of numbers. And in the community where every individual possesses a big handful of SIMs themselves, it is hard to fit them all in the block list. My limit is already used up! Aaaaarghhhh!

I don’t want to throw my mobile phone away. I don’t want to close my mobile connections and cut off ties from the world from this mode of communication. I don’t want to put my phone on silent at night so that a random message from a random sender sent at an ungodly hour could wake me (and my roommates) up. I don’t want to keep using my precious adjectives in honour of the senders (I am running out of words now!).

But I REALLY DO want to get rid of these random messages. Really truly madly deeply! Yes I do! Please tell me what can I do. But don’t send me suggestions from “new” or “changed” cell numbers; or I will accidentally brand you as brazen like the ones who are not being named but are being discussed here *giggles*

When Ideas Flow, You Glow; But Jot Them & Don’t Let Them Go

One thing I have learnt while “writing”, “blogging” or “trying to write” is that there are times when bursts of ideas are crossing my mind. And then there are silent times when I am not able to write even a single straight worthwhile sentence. The times when the mind is blocked are painful. But the key is not to get depressed. Instead one should try to cash the moments when brainwaves, thoughts, words and phrases are flowing.

To benefit from my “fertile moments”, what I do is that I keep making a list of blog ideas. This list grows with time. Whenever I think of something to write about, I jot it down so that even if I am short of time at that moment to expand the idea, at least it is preserved. I have made endless lists like that so far and it feels like I have a treasure of inspiration to last me a life time of writing.

Here, a word of caution needs to be uttered. Just as food goes stale when kept in the refrigerator for a long time, ideas also decay like this if kept unattended for long periods of time. I have gone through the routine of house cleaning several times myself. Many a times it has happened that if I kept a list for a long time, I completely forgot the purpose of the listed topics and the supporting spark to convert them into meaningful pieces.

So keep writing ideas down so that they are documented and not lost in the mist. Hit while the iron is hard and your brain is on fire. But attend to your ideas timely as well so that they don’t turn to dust.