Banned From Holy Territory

Ok this is too much for me to take. Ban juices because they are manufactured by 'non-muslims'? How much more selfish, cruel and bigoted can we become? Did anyone of those staunch, parsa and faithful Muslims stop to think, for once, that those non-Muslims provide employment to hundreds of our Muslim brethren, something that these rational and patriotic citizens of this Land of Pure have failed to do? That hundreds of families depend on this company's profit because it pays their salaries and provide them a living? No, such things can not occur to people who travel in imported cars, drink mineral water processed by multi-national Jewish companies, send their kids to study abroad with Christians, Hindus, Jews etc. They can never understand what it's like to live on a paycheck. 


How much more can we punish a group of people simply because they are not Muslims? Didn't the Muslims in Prophet Mohammad (p.b.u.h)'s time co-existed peacefully with non-Muslims? Can any one please stand up and quote one incident where anyone was discriminated against because of their religion? How convinient, to justify our insecurities and hatred for someone by quoting religious values which we've invented ourselves. No wonder the world calls us cruel and unjust. Where there's discrimination in the courts, how can anyone expect justice? Our religion does not give us the right to hurt someone's feelings, to degrade somebody or try to put a full stop to anyone's living because they don't agree with our beliefs. 


But this is not altogether surprising. Didn't we do the same thing to the only Pakistani who won a Nobel Prize who went to the ceremony wearing his national dress to represent his beloved country. We didn't allow him to work here because he was an Ahmadi. Just because we are too busy excelling at murder and robbery in the name of our religion, doesn't mean we should stop others from doing anything worthwhile. It's shameful that while we claim to be Muslims, the spiteful non-Muslims adopt the values that we should be following.


Pakistan was not built to give Muslims freedom to do to minorities what was done to them in India before partition. Jinnah clearly said in one of his legendary speeches: “You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the state.” But it's irrelevant to quote him since we don't really want to live in the tolerant state he envisioned. Go ahead then, ask your peon to get you a can of coke and a bottle of imported mineral water, while you order strict action against anyone bringing in a locally-made quality non-Muslim product.

Blocked

Have you ever experienced the frustration of not being able to do what you want to do, what you know you can do but aren’t able to. Like wanting to write about a gazillion things for days but can’t. There you are holding a pen with a paper in front of you and all you can do is stare at its blank state while your mind buzzes with a hundred words but you don’t know you to channel them through the pen in your hand. I refer to the traditional pen and paper because that’s the way I write. Writing directly on a computer feels....alien. I’m incredibly old-fashioned in that respect. Anyway, back to the topic. Only, I don’t know what the topic is. All I know is that I’m sitting here, watching people come and go, with music blaring in my ears to keep me awake, and scribbling meaningless sentences.

While I stare at the messy page with useless scribbling and many cut-offs, I get articles from several people, who’ve written with such flawless ease that it’s envious. The frustration is almost spilling now, more because of the fact that I don’t know what’s stopping me.

Writing is my expression. Whatever I feel it comes down on the paper. And now I’m frustrated but I can’t take it out because my pen refuses to ink anything comprehensive. I don’t know what I’ve done above. All I know is that, at the moment, I feel completely useless. And I can’t explain why. Maybe someone’s done black magic on me so I can’t write anymore. Maybe it’s PMS. Or maybe it’s just an infuriating writer’s block.

Farewell Cowasjee

Only a few sane people are left amongst us today. People we need most but don't really deserve. These are people who've maintained a straight head in all the chaos and have been telling us to do so too, but alas! we've sworn not to listen to any rational voice. We've turned so ignorant that the voices which persevered for years in the hope that someone might listen to them have lost it and have finally started to give up. Ardeshir Cowasjee became one of them when he announced his retirement on 25th of Dec 2011, expressing his disappointment in the nation at the same time.

I've always been impressed by him, always admired him for some reason. It may be his writing skills, his clear understanding of any issue he wrote upon or his desire to see Jinnah's dream Pakistan. He truly is a pioneer but he's decided to back off before I was capable enough to learn something from him. You have been unjust to me and many others like me Sir by leaving before we even started.

Sometimes I really feel that our generation is an unfortunate one. Whenever we spot someone who can guide us, they back away at once and decide to leave it to us to guide ourselves out of the mess we are in. Why? Why don't they understand that we need a genuine person who can tell us how to solve all the problems surrounding us without any self-interest? Are we that hopeless? This sucks *stomping feet like a stubborn kid while eyes shine with fresh tears*

New Year's Resolution

For the last few years, all I say at the end is, I hope the next year is better than this one. But I never really try to make it better. My laziness takes over and whenever I try to put my 'resolutions' into action, the thought that I have a whole year to achieve my goals holds me back. But I've finally realised (however late), that a 'whole' year is never long enough. However, it is still a phase of life and has its effects, whether you make an effort or not.

So what did 2011 do to me? This question is confusing. So much happened and yet everything seems the same. I understood a lot about myself, but I didn't change. I realised a lot about my surroundings but that didn't stop me from doing what I wanted to do. How will all these changes, which have led to nothing, affect the 21st year of my life? All these questions need reflecting and this is one thing that I haven't been able to do and still am not. If anything has changed in the past year, it is my level of activity. With almost no time for myself, I have been unable to think straight about anything. As time is ticking by, I'm getting stuck up in life and can't see any way out. It's all a bit surprising if you sit and think about it; with all that has been going on around me, with everything that I (and all Pakistanis for that matter), have seen in the past year, one would have thought that we'd feel compassionate enough to sit back and wallow in the bitterness of what we've went through for a while, if not for long. But sadly, none of this sort happened.

Some would say it's a good sign. We've moved on with life despite all that many of us have gone through. It is true; life does move on and no matter how much you loose, you have to keep living till your heart is pumping blood in your arteries. There's no escaping life. Better live it with a smile instead of immersing in sorrow. But I don't think brave face is the case any more. If I speak for myself, after hearing so much bad news, after watching so much violence and death around me, I have kind of become immune to the severity and dreadfulness of it all. I do feel sad but it's for moments and then I 'move on'. Few incidents have the ability to shock me now, to make me realise the magnitude of what has happened. In short, the feeling of sorrow isn't new to me any more. It is happiness that is rare.

This year I hope the situation turns opposite. With all my heart I wish, the bleak atmosphere of my homeland brightens up. The feeling of compassion, of love comes back to me and happiness takes over. A bit too optimistic? I don't think so, especially when I hope that it is me who makes an effort to bring back the old smiles back to at least a few faces around me. I hope I actually try to bring the change I want to see.