Today

Today I turned 26.

∀(♂|♀)∃ ♥

more of Ghani Khan

Not translation this time though, except for the last verse.

But this is the truth O Mighty God,

You do not get jokes.

But the whole poem is amazing.

Ghani Khan

Ghani Khan is a famous Pashto Poet. Below is presented one of his poems. The video is from YouTube, and the lyrics and translation by me. (Hence prone to mistakes, Suggestions/Corrections welcome)

Lyrics :

Khudaya Akal che wo zru day walay rakro?

Pa yo mulk kay dwa khudsara badshahan

O God, why give me a heart when I had wisdom?

(Its like) two selfish Kings in a kindom.

baadchai au fakiri day walay yo kra?

da jwandoon pa hara saa kay marg pinha.

Why have you made Badshahi and Faqiri the same?

In every breath of life, death awaits.

walay gham laka asamman pa jahan khoor day?

khudaya walay khushalli day kra nayaba?

Why sorrow looms over the world like the sky?

Why have You made happiness so rare?

wala joor day kray nanage da gul da paaroon?

khudaya walay nasha bya ae da shahraba?

Why have you made (my beloved's) cheeks out of flower petals

and then Why its Nasha like wine

walaya rang au khaist day dwara khoor au roor kral?

walay walay day jahan kro dak pa rang?

Why have you made color and beauty siblings?

Why have You made the world full of color?

walay kurn day ze paida pa janan na kram?

khudaya walay day awaz kro post da chang?

Why was I not born deaf to the world?

Why is the voice of Chang so sweet?

walay mata day ata kro fikr aur khyal?

walay walay pa rana razay khoobna?

Why have you granted me thinking and imagination?

Why then all the day dreaming?

khudaya walay day zwani har cha la warkra?

khudaya walay day paida kral umeedona?

O God, why did you give youth to everyone?

O God, why did you create expectations?

walay joor day da yaar stargo kay jannat kro?

walay treekh day kro biltoon aur khoog wisal?

Why did you place heaven in my beloved's eyes?

Why have you made separation bitter and union sweet?

khudaya walay day spogmay la rarna warkay?

che zangai may da mastay pa maheen taal?

O God, why have you given the moon its shine?

It rocks me a delicate swing of Masti.

walay joor day kral azghi da gul pa khuwa kay?

walay zru main paak wo jism mai na walay?

Why have you created thornes near the flower?

Why my heart was pure by not my body?

walay ma la day da walay takat rakroo

khudaya walay, khudaya walay, khudaya walay

Why have you give me the ability to ask "why"?

Why O God, Why O God, Why O God?

--Ghani Khan

Wisdom Tooth

A few weeks back I realized that one of my wisdom teeth (the lower left one) has a cavity. Of course I only found out when all the damage had been done. I went to the dentist and he agreed with me saying that they will have to take it out.

Yesterday was the day we had agreed upto for the extraction. I went in, the thing started and took about 1.5 hours, but at the end, I was left with 30 teeth. They had extracted two rather then one. Apparently, the second last tooth had managed to pop out on its own as soon as they started the procedure. It broke near the base and only the roots were left inside the gum. So they had to dig in and take the roots out as well. The wisdom tooth also broke during the extraction, so more digging in for the dentist.

It did not hurt as much as people had me scared. But I took a day off, relaxed and wasted time in general. There still is some swelling in the left side but that would subside soon (hopefully) and I will be able to eat everything that I want to once again. Currently I am unable to completely open my mouth, let alone chewing and swallowing.

Independance

Source

Today I talked home for a very long time [~ 3 hours]. A lot of topics came up and some of them had to do with religion and how is it followed. In my view, there are two ways of doing something. You can either do it out of love ( or respect) or out of fear. So basically, if I ask you to do something for me, you can either do it because of the love/respect you have for me (or for our relationship) or because of the fear that if you don't I am capable of doing something bad to you. If you do it for the first reason, you will be happy and so will be I. If you do it for the second reason, you will still get the job done, but you will not be happy doing it as it will feel an extra burden on you.

Along similar lines, we can follow a religion for two reasons. Either we love our creator and will do good deeds in order to prove our love and get love in return. Or we can follow it cause we are afraid of eternal damnation without relief. The conclusions also carry over from the above argument about the reason that you follow. If one says I am afraid to die and hence I will do not such and such thing, then all they are saying is that I am more afraid than thankful. What do you think is the better way to follow? Is life pessimistic or optimistic in your view?

In all there is to life, I am sure that love (if it exists) is a far more powerful tool than fear. Love tames the wildest of animals and fear turns a coward into a rebel. They both have the power to change people for better or for worse. Love can change you to be a better person, fear can only take you to the negative side.

A new look

I have worked on the new look of my blag since I got bored with the last one. I hope this one looks fresh and green. 

Moreover, I have been blogging very infrequently which I realized last night when I was going through my blag. Will try to amend this from now onwards.

PS. Here is why it is blag (and not blog) 

Lighter side of life

Clouded by stress, tension and uncertainties, we lead our life in the form of a constant struggle. We love the past, curse the present and long for the future. But on happier note, there is a lighter side to life, where every day is a Sunday, every person is a gem and every thing that you want is yours. The only problem is that we have to look through all the worries to find that place in our hearts.

On a completely different note, all day long old (and I mean really old) tunes have been playing in my head and I have been singing along with it. Am I finally losing it?

Thanks Ahmar

Thank you Ahmar for everything :)

Difference between fiction and science fiction

Science fiction tells you not what is but what can be. Fiction is just a pack of lies telling you how good things will happen to you once the worst tragedies are over. Science fiction is imagination at its purest, fiction is hypocrisy.

A new Hitchhiker's Guide

So that is what Kindle is all about .. dint know :)


source : xkcd

Happy 1234567890 day

Hello all,

Our clocks just struck 1234567890 a few seconds back. Happy 1234567890 day.

This is the image that I took of the event :)

A poem

A poem I picked up somewhere..

I know of a place,
Where the sun rises slow,
And the don't roosters cry,
So that people when they get up,
Are happy and in peace.

I know of a place,
Where the children still laugh,
Making fun of each other
And running for no reason.

I know of a place,
Where flowers live in homes,
And smile all day long,
Just looking at you.

I know of a place,
I think I remember.
There was love everywhere,
But I forget its name.

--by Anon.

Life

One of my favorite topics is Life, always have been always will be. Its the small things in life that push me to write something. Life with its ups and downs is the bumpy road that we all travel each day, in parallel to each other , making our own paths. Some of these paths bring us closer to one another and some of these paths take us away from each other to such large distance that a return seems impossible. I think about lies, and how they makes these come back very difficult.

In myself, I have always though of myself as someone who does not consider "people" (an euphemism for society) as a factor when talking decisions or when forming my opinion about something. I take pride in such freedom. For me people are not even on the list of merit/demerit that I have to consider when I have to make a choice. People can go to Hell for all I care. But I hear that it is not like that for normal people (  yeah i am not normal, i get that alot). The fear of people, in specific the phrase "Log kia kahain gaye... " [translated : "What will the people say/think .. "] is the one which makes me lose my temper every time. To hell with people and to hell with their opinions. I hate people and I hate their opinions. If you are one of the normal people, let me tell you, its okay to be not normal. Break free, live for what you are and not what people expect of you.

We give more weight to those opinions which are inline with our thinking model or our opinion. We don't even stop to think for a minute about the person who is saying it. If its something that we like but comes from a person that we do not like, we gladly quote it anywhere that we want. But if its something that is not in line with our thought process and is said by someone very near to us, we simple choose to ignore it. What is this about? Does nobody see the inbuilt hypocrisy in that or is it called "just being human"? If this is the latter, I refuse to be labeled a human any more. I refuse to be a being who joys himself in the sufferings of other and denies help to them when they need it most. I hate to be the part of the gossiping circle that is called "family" these days. If you are family, act like one. This is not a Star Plus Soap Opera for God's sake !

Many times I have been told and I know for a fact myself that I am asocial. I don't mix with people that easy. I have my reasons for that, and I don't think that I have the need to explain them to anyone at ALL. This in no way means that I am "proud". Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you otherwise. Live and let, that's what I believe in.

Trying to make some sense of all these random thoughts? Well don't. At least I can't.

شام

اس طرح ہے کہ ہر پیڑ کوئ مندر ہے

کوئ اُجڑا ہوا ، بے نور پرانا مندر

ڈھونڈتا ہے جو خرابی کہ بہانے کب سے

چاک ہر بام ، ہر اک در کا دمِ آخر ہے

آسماں کوئ پروہت ہے جو ہر بام تلے

جسم پر راکھ ملے ، ماتھے پہ سندور ملے

سرنگوں بیٹھا ہے چپ چاپ نہ جانے کب سے

اس ترح ہے کہ پس پردہ کوئ ساحر ہے

جس نے آفاق پہ پھیلایا ہے یوں سحر کا دام

دامنِ وقت سے پےوست ہے یوں دامنِ شام

اب کبھی شام بجھیگی نہ اندھیرا ہوگا

اب کبھی رات ڈھیلگی نہ سویرا ہوگ

آسماں آس لیے ہے کہ یہ جادو ٹوٹے

چُپ کی زنزیر کٹے ؛ وقت کا دامن چھوٹے

دے کوئ شنکھ دُہائ ، کوئ پایل بولے

کوئ بُت جاگے ، کوئ سانولی گھونگھٹ کھولے

فیض احمد فیض

English Translation by Agha Shahid Ali from The Rebel's Silhouette.

Evening

The trees are dark ruins of temples,
seeking excuses to tremble
since who knows when–
their roofs are cracked,
their doors lost to ancient winds.
And the sky is a priest,
saffrom marks on his forehead,
ashes smeared on his body.
He sits by the temples, worn to a shadow, not looking up.

Some terrible magician, hideen behind curtains,
has hypnotized Time
so this evening is a net
in which the twilight is caught.
Now darkness will never come–
and there will never be morning.

The sky waits for this spell to be broken,
for history to tear itself from this net,
for Silence to break its chains
so that a symphony of conch shells
may wake up to the statues
and a beautiful, dark goddess,
her anklets echoing, may unveil herself.

Found here.

Enough is enough!

Enough! Enough is enough. Stop terrorizing our nation. Enough with suicide bombing and enough with blowing up schools. We, the people, are innocent. If you have anything against the government, why take it out on people. Find an outlet for your anger and your protest that does not involve killing people. If you think this is bravery I have news for you otherwise. If you think that you will enter Jannah cause of giving up your life for a noble cause then let me ask you, "What is so noble about killing innocent people?" If you kill one person it is like you killed the whole of humanity. May Allah condemn you to the worst part of Hell for committing such atrocities against our people. May God give you wisdom and intelligence to understand what is right and to realize that you are being manipulated, you hopeless fools!

A thinking mind

We go about our everyday lives and we never stop to think, not even for a single moment. When I say "think" I don't mean "Let me think where I want to have lunch" but rather "Let me think why this is so". Life is suppose to mean something and make perfect sense. For a thinking man, it sometimes does.(It can never make perfect sense to anyone no matter how thinking). But lets first see what happens to a man who does not think, who takes life as it comes to him without noting down anything from it and without adding anything to it.

Meet Mike. Mike is a grad student like most of us. He wants to earn alot of money, fame and all the rest that the world has to offer. Mike also knows that in order to obtain these things, he will have to work real hard. Mike is a very normal person. Like most of us, he does not think. He assumes that life will someday offer him a path that will take him to the destiny that he does not know anything about yet but is sure that its there waiting for him. His life is governed by uncertainty and confusion. We are all like Mike.

One day Mike came across something that really puzzled him and forced him to think. Think! think! the problem said. Mike, being unaccustomed to the tradition, tried. But thinking did not come to him naturally and instead what he thought he was thinking and acting on was his gut feeling. Gut feeling is more related to emotions than to mind. Man is mind and emotions, the former being more emphasized. So Mike being an emotional man went with his gut feeling that he "thought" was the right thing to do. We are all like Mike.

Wiser men have described the path to God as being along the thinking road. Think and ye shall find God. Think and ye shall find yourself. Know thyself and thy shall know God.

Take a look around you and ask yourself, "Am I living in a place where people think?" If you happen to be a normal person who is not a part of philosophical and literary circles, you answer would most probably be no. You might as well ask "Why think?" or  "What would change if I think?" or "What can I do I am only one man?" or God forbid " What should I think about ?"

Let me give you something to think about. Think about us. Think about what we are doing  to our fellow human beings. Think about life not as you know it but as how other people experience it. Think about the world around you. Think about your body and what an amazing machine it it. Think about your parents about your children and how you can help them become better humans. ( better does not necessarily mean rich !) Think about the people who are losing lives just cause you did not pay attention when you were voting. Think about Africa, Asia and the Middle east. Think about life, about how short it is and about how would you like to be remembered. Think about doing something to make the world a better place. Think, not about people, but about ideas. Ideas are immortal, ideas change lives, people just help in the process. Think about why you are here and finally think about Life. Observe people as the pass you on the road or in the train. Think of their stories and their lives. Think, for the love of God, think.

On a similar note, thinking about things that do not matter is like thinking about Superman.(Superman does not exists by the way). Avoid any thinking that is not fruitful. Thinking about something that does not exists (this includes all the super heroes) is a waste of time and talent.

Life is very short. The moment that is passing will not come back. If you have to come up with a great idea, the time is now. Great ideas wont wait for you to take some rest a think anew tomorrow morning. Live you life to the fullest does not mean crazy driving and loads of girls. Live you life to the fullest means to explore all the potential that has been bestowed upon you. Human mind has uncapped potential, all that we have to do it to tap into it.

What are our options?

Pakistan is a sovereign country. We are a proud, resourceful, independent nation. We have options. Zardari is not an option. Sharif is not an option. The army is not our one and only option. The mullahs have not become an option yet. There are close to 200 million of us: I'm sure we can think of something better.

Fatima Bhutto

ناصر کاظمی

مسلسل بے کلی دل کو رہی ہے
مگر جینے کی صورت تو رہی ہے

میں کیوں پھرتا ہوں تنہا مارا مارا
یہ بستی چین سے کیوں سو رہی ہے

چل دل سے امیدوں کی مسافر
یہ نگری آج خالی ہو رہی ہے

نہ سمجھو تم اسے شور بھاراں
خزاں پتوں میں چھپ کر رو رہی ہے

ہمارے گھر کی دیواروں پہ ناصر
اداسی بال کھولے سو رہی ہے

Today

Today, I turn 24.