To the simple things in life

I believe in soulmates. I do. I know there is this one  human being looking out of his window,eyes fixed on the gate, wondering when will the day arrive that i enter through. A guy looking around on the street for a familiar face.A guy who wakes up to my thoughts. A guy who talks to his friends about me and smiles in sleep  dreaming about me.  However, i also know that movies are based on fake and fictitious ideas. And all the above is basically a lunatic and romantic based movie scenario(in case you haven't guessed it already). No one has the time bro! No, i am not against marriage or love. Not at all. In fact i wait for the day when i meet my soulmate wherever he may be. But i don't look out for him. I believe universe has this mysterious way of  bringing two beings from totally different walks of life together, whenever the right time arrives. I believe that if your previous relationships haven't worked, they were not meant to. There is a thing called destiny,...

The war between the two neighbors has always been the highlight of living in the subcontinent ( as  formerly known). Be it with the ammunition or the words. The flying pigeon with a "fuck off India" tattooed on it or an attempt to ward off Pakistani actors from India. Not to forget the incredible memes circulating in the social media. How do they even think of these? I quietly wonder. I also wonder if things will get any better anytime soon or the hostility is never ending. In the midst of this anarchy, i have a story to tell. A story that will redefine this rivalry and may just make you think that things aren't too bad after all. My father received a letter recently from one of his acquaintances. The letter was from India. It was from a guy named Harinder who was in the quest of finding his 90 year old father's family friends who got separated at the time of independence. Fortunately, the letter reached the right place. It was my family they were looking for. Unc...

My unfathomable fight to begin a day. The incalculable desire to just shut away, from the world and its beings. I fight a war within. Every day, it seems. Puts on a pretentious smile daily. Laughs away the deep rooted sadness miserably. Keeping up with the hustle that surrounds me. I fight a war within. The hardest there has ever been. Fighting away the emptiness. Fighting away the loneliness. The bleakness, the gloominess. There is a war within, i fight from my own being.

Weddings in a country like Pakistan have become such a top notch affair. If you are a photographer, an event manager, a designer, a caterer or even a company who excels in providing a good music band, this is the right time to flourish. Trust me at this point of time, yours is the best profession one can ask for. The wedding affair by all means have become a collaboration of "it's a family thing" and "let's show the world how we do it" . I personally believe if you have the money and desire, you can always look out for the fairy tale wedding and if you don't, avoid making hate comments on the photographers' official pages. You know who you are! I have a wedding coming in my own household next year. So, as the tradition goes the plannings began long  time ago. Since there is a list of events accompanying the most important nikkah, the plannings are pretty much very meticulous. Pretty detailed. Pretty lengthy. Ah! The patience. A friend of mine i...

I fear the fear. The fear of the starless night. The fear of the dark that transcends  as the clocks tick away. The fear of the moon that gazes back at me. Its silence and its mysterious vibe, so strong, so feisty.  I fear the fear.  The fear of the howling street dog. The fear of the staring owl. The fear of creepy crawlies whose noise won't let the sleep embrace, my mind and my soul. I fear the fear. I fear the nightmares that follow. Triggering the fear of falling into an  abyss so hollow. Struggling to escape,breathing so shallow. I fear the fear. I await the sun to rise. And take me away from the deep down sadness that resides. To a sunnier day, to a brighter life, away from the fears I fear.

My head is churning, my stomach is growling. Not because of the heavy jewelry on the head or an empty stomach since afternoon. The situation is far more weirder, far more scarier. There are uncountable familiar faces in the room,looking at me as if i am one of Picasso's painted piece. The awe on their faces and their complimentary gestures have failed so far to make me any less curious. Curious about the next minutes. Curious about the life ahead. I am the bride and i will be  marrying a complete stranger in the next few hours.Yes, its a total arranged affair which mostly is a case in a Pakistani household. Not that i never met the guy. Well i did.He got the looks, he speaks well and loves biryani very much. (I know the biryani part because he has asked me to learn to cook a good biryani for him.) That's about it. Basically.  I went with my parents' instincts majorly because i trust their choice with all my zeal and zest. Atleast, my family believes so. They approve...

I have once walked on the grass so green, in the meadows so beautiful, the terrains so smooth. I have once chased the birds so bright, seen the sky so clear, swam in the river water so blue. I know  how bright a child's eyes get when they laugh. I have felt a mother's love and witnessed a father's pride. But haven't they? Because now i have seen that all vanish. Vanished into the smoke their bombs created. Blown into dust, into tiniest of particles. into making me believe they never actually existed. I step into the dusty  roads  surrounded by the debris of buildings that once stood so tall. Their mammoth structures once awed me. Now they are only a symbol of despair and destruction. The bloodied pathways, the unrecognizable human bodies, the chaos, the anxiety and  the horrifying silence. Don't they see that? Don't they feel that? They don't murder a mere human.. They kill a family. They kill their any chance to survive. They kill them while they are ...

  What if i tell you it's all a dream?    Your life,my life,    Are nothing,but a mental picture,    Whose existence is anything but concrete,    What if i tell you it's all a dream?        The mountains that rise so high,    The seas that run so deep,    Are merely there to distract you from  what lies beyond,    Beyond the sky you see and beyond the earth your feet feel,    Listen! It is nothing but a dream.    The war they fight, the money they chase,    Will only satisfy their temporary haste,    There is a reality above all this evil,    A world so beautiful and surreal,    Where all the nightmares come to end,    Where all that was once a fantasy becomes a fact,    Believe! Your life is a dream.           ...

  Twenty-five . A very complex age. A point in time where you leave behind your casual,happy go lucky self to pursue a responsible and humble you.Somehow the dignity buried deep inside emerges and there you are holding it tight,not letting it go now. You think you are smarter. More courageous to face the world but, are you?! You think or in some instances, you know that you have experienced a lot. You can judge people by looking at their faces. It has to be true since twenty five is a lot of time. But,hey! Stop! You forget all this time it was you who was being judged. You were being judged by your friends since they were still indecisive of whether you are a worthy friend at all. You were being judged by your parents since the last few  years of you home-away had already made them inquisitive of you naturally (sorry, that hurts). And now you are being judged by the society over your achievements in life so far.They will judge and let you know if you have or have not made...

When the brain cells fail to contemplate the situation that has surfaced, when the deep limbic system malfunctions and  all the negative emotions suddenly erupt like a volcano, an uncontrollable, unstoppable volcano, there my friend, your brain's a mess. Irrespective of how unnatural the emotions may feel to you, they can't get more natural in the real sense of the word. You may find yourself a loner, an alien whose thought-process is completely disintegrated with everyone's around but alas, its as temporary as life itself. The situation however has not dawned upon yourself only. It has on me and it has on several people around us. So stop presuming you are special. In fact, we all are in the eyes of Al-Mighty.  We all face our share of bad days, the way we deal with them shows the strength we are made of. Never turn away from a situation, and i repeat, Never because the situation or a problem never really leaves you. It will come in another form on another sunny day...