Jashn e Azadi Mubarik - August 2010

Fern: Shades of Green Originally uploaded by Monazza Talha

I would like to wish all my country people a very happy Independence Day. Would also like to thank Allah for bestowing such a gift as of "azadi" on us. I pray that may this country and its inhabitants be blessed by Allah as we are all in dire need of blessings.

May we have the strength to face all the troubles, and the courage to help others in the time of need. May these troubles vanish from the face of our country soon.

Helping Hands

Helping Hands Originally uploaded by Monazza Talha

On July 28, 2010, an Air Blue passenger plane crashed on the Margalla Hills in Islamabad, claiming 152 lives of all personnel on board. This number includes the flight crew. The plane was flying from Karachi to Islamabad. Though many speculations are in the air, the exact cause of this crash is still not known.

The picture shows one of the rescue helicopters, flying away from the crash site the same evening.

More Photos:
You can see photos of the crash in my friend xtremeracingzone's photostream.

Am I a Blasphemer?

All that being said in the previous post, I am now moved to think if opposing this ruling (and that too so vocally) makes me a Blasphemer. I was one of those people who did not believe in the boycotting/banning of Facebook previously. Now I am part of the clan that objects on a similar ruling on banning of another set of web sites. So does it mean I am not “Muslim” enough? Do I not love my Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) enough? Am I some kind of a “Murtid” or “Mushrik”? Am I an “ultra modern” person, just born to Muslim parents, who doesn’t care much for religion? What am I?

If believing in tactically handling delicate matters instead of irrationally or violently, then yes I am a blasphemer. If considering actually doing what our Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) actually said more important than unnecessary discussions and unruly processions, then yes I am a blasphemer. If having faith in peace than in violence, then yes I am a blasphemer. And I am proud to be one.

May Allah show all Muslims the light; the right path; and rid them of all darkness; the ignorance.

Lahore High Court Gone Bonkers

I think the Lahore High Court has gone bonkers!

On May19, 2010 they issued a ruling to block Facebook and 800 additional sites; the reason being display of blasphemous content by these web sites. That time the ruling was strictly adhered to (within a few days) and the sites were blocked. Some from those 800 blocked sites were Twitter, YouTube and Flickr too. Soon after being banned, the sites started to get unbanned till the final bone of contention; Facebook; was unbanned too in about two weeks time.

Now they have again passed an equally ridiculous ruling (almost a month after the initial absurd ruling, on June 25, 2010) to block the following nine web sites:

• Google
• Yahoo
• MSN
• Hotmail
• Bing
• YouTube
• Amazon
• Islam Exposed
• In The Name Of Allah

If you look at the list closely, you will see that most of this list comprises of search engines. An internet savvy person would instantly know what a search engine is and how important it is for the Internet users. However, I am seriously doubting the knowledge of the judges of LHC of this term. I am also pretty sure (now) that none of them ever logged on the World Wide Web.

They say that these sites are promoting blasphemous content. If this is true then why not ban the whole Internet in the country. People can after all access ANY kind of content even with sites banned. And while they are at it, why not ban the TV too as it is not all holy. Let’s spread the madness and confine all Pakistanis to their homes. The world is after all a dirty place and displays/promotes blasphemous content in some nook and corner.

Let’s all go bonkers! I know I will definitely join the club if any more sites are banned in the country in the name of Islam and the love for our prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

Miss You Nani Pyari :-)

Yesterday was the 8th death anniversary of my maternal grandmother, my “Nani Pyari”. I have never seen a more loving, caring and giving soul than her. She was a such a wonderful person whose goodness cannot be described in words. Anybody and everybody who knew her says that she was such a wonderful lady, passionate about everything in life and most of all a truly courageous woman.

Yes she was courageous. Widowed in her mid 30s with five children to take care off, she never lost hope and kept going. She not only managed to educate her children well but got them settled in life in also. She did fairly well, I would say. She was a lady that was always taken care of and pampered by my grandfather. She did not have to work or had any financial burdens while my grandfather was alive. But when he went on his final abode, Nani was left to deal with the world on her own. And she fought well.

I remember my Nani Pyari to be the most loving person on earth. Every holidays we all would be dying to go meet her and stay with her. She would treat us with stories, yummy tit bits and lots of love. Sometimes I used to sleep in her room at night. And every morning I woke up, I found a little treat beside my pillow. Sometimes it was a toffee, sometimes a chocolate, but no matter what the treat was, it always used to be scrumptious.

Nani Pyari was fond of cooking and used to cook delicious, finger licking food. I loved her cooking. Maybe she put in all the love she had into the food that made it so great.

She was an over all fun loving person and never stopped anyone from having some too. She used to watch movies and go out on outings with the family, and there never was a moment of boredom when she was around. When we used to go to Murree, she would march right along us. When we used to go to Chattar (long before the park got “developed”) she used to get in the water with alongside all of us. The first time I went to my favourite Chinese restaurant, Chung Pa (Bank Road, Rawalpindi), it was with Nani Pyari. She loved the bollywood movie “Hum Aap Kay Hain Kaun” and probably had watched it more than a hundred times.

She was a calm person and I had rarely seen her angry. She might have scolded us a couple of times but never spanked anybody. She did get a bit cranky in her last years but that was only due to the pain of illness she was enduring. She had suffered a “stroke” a few years earlier and it was taking its toll. And one fine day she left us all in this world for the journey to the hereafter, to meet “Ihsaan Jannati” (as she used to call him), her loving husband, my Nana Jan.

I could keep on talking about her and trying to praise the grace she had and to pay homage to the type of person she was, but I wouldn’t be doing her any justice. Her goodness is unexplainable beyond words. I am not sure if I learnt too many lessons from her or from her life but I will always remember a few things, that are never to lose hope and keep striving for what you want, keep enjoying life, continue doing good deeds of all kinds and spread love. I wish i had the same passion in me, towards everything and everyone, that she used to have.

May her soul rest in peace and Allah’s blessings always be showered on her. Ameen.

PS: My mother is her mother’s daughter. I just wish I can rise to that level to be truly my mother’s daughters, and my Nani’s “Nawasi”.

Coming Back to the Blog After a Long Time is Like.....

Writing as blog after ages feels like meeting a relative or acquaintance after a long time. It also feels like the first day at school (not to mention collage and/or university) or at a new job. It feels like entering a huge expensive store; knowing you have only this much money in the purse which you wouldn’t be using to buy anything in there any way; with a fear that somebody might guess you are just window shopping and throw you out. It’s like meeting someone for the first time and making friends.

When I come back to my blog to make a contribution after a really long time (months even weeks), the levels of apprehension are really high in myself. I wonder if I would be able to take things from where I left off. Would I be able to write something worth writing or would just “doodle” silly stuff. Not that I don’t like doodling, but doing it all the time doesn’t seem right at times. *Doodle Alert*

I keep checking my site stats regularly to see if I had any visitors or none at all. But coming back always makes me wonder if any old visitors would still be there or not. It’s always a nice thrilling feeling to be back (even if it is for a day before the next long pause). Except that some tiny fears tag along too. I am not sure if anyone else would share the same feelings or would even remotely understand what I mean. But I had to say what I had to say, so I did. Have a nice day everyone! :-)

The Moon

The Moon Originally uploaded by Monazza Talha

I wish I had two returns tickets to the moon and someone to share that other ticket with. :-) *giggles*

PS: This photo was taken by me about a week or so ago. Hope you like what you see.

May the Light Never Fade Away

Some days are not as bright as the others. Different elements cloud the brain, thought and perspective. It becomes easy to get lost and lose the way in such a situation. But there is always a tiny light at the end of the dark tunnel that keeps things lighted enough for the sight beyond all this. The light may be the ray of hope for betterment or the shining silver lining amongst the dark clouds. It may be the warmth of love or the tenderness of care. Whatever this light may be for someone, I pray that may it never fade away for anyone.

Raging Menace of “Routes”

The ones who know English but are not familiar with the situation in Pakistan will never ever be able to come up with the definition of this word “route” that is currently being used all around the country (and especially Rawalpindi and Islamabad).

“Route” is basically the hold up of traffic. The conditions that turn the hold up into a “route” are as follows. It is initiated by the police as well as the military police personnel. It can also be initiated by police of any other military discipline too. The traffic must consist of the vehicles of commoners. To qualify as a commoner, the following traits are required:

• One does not belong to the Army.
• One is not any kind of minister of the ruling party of the country.

Note: There could be a few more traits but can’t think of any right now.

So there you have it; the perfect setup for the hold up. Any time a non-commoner (be very clear that this is NOT you) wants to commute, the rest of the traffic commotion is brought to a halt.

To actually put this into action (by obviously killing the rest of the action) several methods can be used. The police personnel can come in the middle of the road and stop all traffic with a wave of their hands. Or they could block the road altogether with police vans and/or bikes. For extreme measures, huge crates and even trucks may also be used as road blocks.

Once this is done everybody waits for the royal carriage to arrive, carrying his and her highnesses. The “carriage” will generally be a state-of-the-art car with tinted glasses and bearing a flag of some kind. It could also have some stars as well but that is only if the royals belong to the Army.

The hold up may last from minutes up to hours. It starts with a little jumble of cars, getting in line one after the other with some cars trying to squeeze their way in through the small gaps in between other cars (which is very annoying). The longer the hold up lasts, the bigger the vehicle mess gets. When the hold up is finally over, the vehicles rush forward, just like gushing water coming out of a broken dam. That gushing water usually causes floods as it breaks out of the defined banks. This congregation of vehicles, on the other hand, causes everything to choke as it already exists in every nook and corner within and outside the defined boundary of the banks (read roads).

Traffic of all roads literally comes face to face once the road blocks are removed. It then takes a lot of patience (not to mention time) to get the entangled vehicles released and let loose on the roads. All this while, from the start of the “route” till the time one’s vehicle is freed from the clutches of the traffic jam, one tends to “curse” (and a LOT). Road rage rises to unexpected levels. Barrels and barrels of fuel get burnt during the idling activity. Horns are honked and voices are raised. All of this presents a scene as if hell was let loose. Just as one gets out of this mess, ones comes to peace with the rest of the surroundings. All kind of noise dramatically changes to serenity and tranquility.

I wonder when will we get rid of this menace of “routes” that will allow us to drive in a serene and tranquil way on regular basis. I guess I already know the answer. It is “probably never”. And with this answer I pray that may Allah help us all “commoners”. Ameen.

Year 2009 Coming to an End

The year 2009 is about to end in a few days. When it started I had no idea that it would pass so quickly. But just as the previous years, it did.

I have had years that held some misfortunes for me (and in which I was the cause of misfortune for others). But each time, by the grace of Allah Almighty I had recovered fabulously (and perhaps so did my victims). This year didn’t serve up any major setbacks. It was pretty calm on the calamity side. On the other hand, it did bring to me some wonderful things. And for each and every blessing of Allah I am thankful from the depths of my heart. Really. :-)

I made new friends, learnt new stuff at work, got a year older and stepped into a new decade of my life. All this is little stuff, but come to thing of it, it is the real great stuff. Big things seldom happen and rarely matter so much as the little everyday stuff.

Since this is the end of the year, I am once again motivated to ponder over the past happenings of this year. Would be looking to find out what good did I do and what bad; did I achieve anything or was the year completely fruitless; did I do anything new or was the whole year a repetition of a monotonous routine. Endless questions are popping up like bubbles on a bubble wrap sheet, waiting to be popped.

This is a dangerous exercise as I usually always end up with all the negative answers. I would conclude that the year was good as a whole but there were no significant achievements or good deeds. There were no misfortunes per se but there were no landmarks or significant endeavors either. Sometimes it seems like a useless exercise that apparently brings less joy than apprehension.

But it is not completely futile. It does bring one great thing to me and that is the will and pledge to do better in the next year. Even if I feel that I have not achieved much, I still always have the hope that I will do it in the coming time, in the next year. I fully understand that death is inevitable and nobody knows when it will come. Still, moving on to the next calendar year draws a lot of positive energy.

Right now I am just praying that may Allah enable me to use this positive energy positively to achieve something positive. :-)

PS: I never ever do it, but I wonder if I should come up with a list of New Year resolutions this year. *wink*