Pets

Interesting reproduction from Sohnee's blog with her permission. Personally, I have no opinion about cats, but earlier I wrote my taya's story tota and jinn- 2. For 2 nights in a row, 2 of our dogs died before he died. Hamari dadi amma kehti thin..."Do din tuk kutte farishton ko apni jaan de ker rokte rahe..." 


"Today was fun. We attended our friends’ (a lesbian couple’s) daughter’s birthday. They have 20+ cats - no snickers, please, though our friends would be happy to giggle about the lesbian cat household. Our friend rescues cats; they just rescued a pregnant cat, took her to the vet for a C-section, helped deliver her kittens (of which one survived). She told me today that she talks to cats and that when she met this cat, she found out she was pregnant even though she didn’t look it (the cat is very very small). I told them my mother says that cats “take” your illnesses. They agreed enthusiastically; they said that two of their cats who don’t get near anyone, sleep around the cat-lover’s chest (she has cardiac disease)."

Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy (administration) is like a big tree with many branches full of monkeys. Monkeys at the top see other monkeys down the tree, but monkeys below see only assholes above! - author unknown

This is the best description of the management hierarchy I have ever read.

Halaku when you will come to Baghdad

Here is my loose english translation of Hasan Abidi's poem -
Halaku ab jo tum Baghdad aaoge


Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time
'Dajla' would have cleaned her shore with wetness of blood
Here one more army, an army of blaze-n-rock would have camped
For many hundred years this city of angst
which never slept, would have been slept this time
Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time
You will find corpses, but without head
A tower of skulls would have been built before your enter
streets, lanes, inns, sanctuaries, cafes
would have been standing their hands bagging their shadows
Ashes of libraries would have been drifted
Antiques would have been distributed in bags
Valued copies of god's book and divine scrolls
whose sights kept chests lighted
woud have been burned

Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time
Nights of "alif Laila" (Thousand nights) will have escaped from tales
wearing sheet of sunlight, sitting on sand's cliff
would have been waiting
for tale-tellers, merchants, travellers, con-mans and princes
(to see when night will fall on city)
But now no dawn will come, or any night will fall
Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time
(from) Ali Baba's treasures of gold, (to) tents and field, all would have been looted
Where vougish-n-astucious Marjeena lived,
there now lived young warriors of some other world
Here is a magic in soil, earth bears gold
(but now)there is smell of oil
Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time
you will come for not to go

Halaku ab jo tum Baghdad aao ge

Poem of Hasan Abidi

core problem

Everyday when I read newspapers, Bertrand Russell is so right when he said:

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts".

Middle age

While doing "Halwa Puri nashta" at local desi restaurant, I read this quote of the day:

"Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle" - Bob Hope

OOPS !!

Poverty

Poverty is a bigger curse than wealth - Spend wisely!

Accidental?

Read this news and tell me: Do you still think that days of our life are accidental?


Store clerk’s mistake results in her winning $200,000 in lottery

CONOVER, N.C. - A Conover convenience store clerk inadvertently won a $200,000 Powerball prize after she rang up duplicate lottery tickets. Wadburn Allen accidentally printed the two tickets for a customer Tuesday. At the end of the day, after she was unable to sell the second ticket, Allen paid for the ticket herself. The next day, Allen returned to the store and found the ticket matched all five numbers — earning her a $200,000 jackpot.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18234638/

Neend

"Tum itni asani se takye pe sir rakhte hi kese so jaate ho?"

"Main badan dheela chor ke, khayalat ko dimag main band kerne ki bajaye, dimag ko khayalat ke qaaleen pe chor deta hun".

Dil

Ye kese ho sakta hai ke main ne tumhe yaad kia ho aur tumhare dil ne tumhe bataya na ho !

Ajmal Sahab ki bebasi

Meri internship main geriatric service ki rotation ka pehla din tha. Mere attending ne 'skilled nursing facility' main mujhe patients assign kiye. List main pehla naam dekh ker main chonk giya. Naam tha "Ajmal Khan".

Jab main kamre main daakhil huwa to bister pe aik kamzor sa insaan leta tha jis ke pet main feeding tube aur groin main foley catheter (urinary tube) lagi hui thi. Ajmal sahab ko 2 saal pehle stroke ho gaya tha aur is baar bedsores ke infection ki wajah se admit kiya gaya tha. Ajmal sahab chalne phirne se maazur ho gaye the. Baat kerne main bhi taklif mehsoos hoti thi. Main ne unse baat kerne ki koshish ki magar unke lafz meri samjh main nahi aaye. Main ne unhe examine kiya. Nursing station pe aake unka chart (file) khola. Nazar social service ki report pe ruk gai. Us report ka bohut sa hissa aaj bhi mujhe yaad hai:

"Mr. Khan is a 62 years old Pakistani male with CVA causing left hemiplegia two years ago. He is bed bound and unable to take care of himself. He resides with his elder son. He has three other sons who reside out of state. His son and daughter-in-law work full-time and requested permanent placement at the nursing home. I had a conference call with all sons yesterday, and they are willing to cover expenses if needed. Mr. Khan appears to be depressed, and besides CVA, his major problems include back and heal wounds, frequent urinary tract infections requiring hospitalizations, and malnutrition. He does not participate in physical therapy sessions. He is cleared for transfer by his primary care physician, who agrees to continue care at the nursing home. Acceptance from a nursing home is pending until his son signs the agreement".

Main dubara Ajmal shahab ke kumre main daakhil huwa to woh bed ki railing pakare sidhe haat ki taraf let ker, khirki se bahir kuch dekh rahe the. Chehre pe bebasi ka tassur numayaN tha. Mujh main baat kerne ki himmat nahi hui. Main kumre se niklne laga to table pe pare 'Get well soon' ke card per nazar pari. Neeche unke char beton ke naam likhe the. Magar lugta tha Ajmal sahab ke liye woh card be-maani tha aur woh maazi ki kisi yaad se apni la'chargi ka madawa kerne main masroof the.

Jub bhi Ajmal Khan yaad aate hain to main dur sa jaata hun !

Khamoshi - 2

Kuch dinoN pehle inkashaf huwa tha ke Khamoshi na sirf hazar blain bulke hazar gunahon ko bhi taalti hai (here).

Ab ye bhi pata laga ke Khamoshi, hazar bewaqoofion ko bhi taalti hai.

Daulat

Aazma ke dekh lo! 
Daulat bantne se baRhti hai.

Thrown in with the Wolves

Taken from, sobia, an american 'gori' married to a pakistani dude and writes about inter-culture clashes, problems and shock. (I trimmed the whole post to fit the length, you can read whole post here)


Fellas who live in the US, when you marry a girl from Pakistan and bring her over, DO NOT THROW HER IN WITH THE WOLVES.

I met a very lovely woman, we'll call her Mary, straight from Pakistan on Sunday. Her husband has lived in the US for over 20 years, he's a doctor, and his parents arranged his marriage with her a few months ago, and she's been living here for 4 weeks. She's from a very small town (read village) in Pakistan. They were married and lived together 7 days before he left back for the US. She lived with his family for a few months, and then moved over here to be with him.........

We had invited them over for dinner b/c they are newlyweds.........

I'm happy to report she was quite lovely. I enjoyed her company very much and she was shocked to say she enjoyed mine as well ha. She'd never met an american before. An hour into the conversation, Mary really opened up to me. She told me she was having a horrible time adjusting. Her husband was gone early in the morning until late in the evening, she didn't have a drivers license, she wasn't able to leave the home, she was missing her family, bored and horribly depressed. I asked if she'd spoken to her husband about these things and she said she had and he told her she'd have to "figure everything out on her own."

WHAT THE HELL ? How's she supposed to "figure everything out on her own"? I'm sorry, but Pakistani culture is VERY different from life in the US, I'm surprised that girl hasn't had a nervous break down yet. In PK she'd be surrounded by family..they are very social..meet with their neighbors...here that doesn't happen. She's all alone. She was pulled away from everything and everyone she knows (she doesn't even know her husband that well) and expected to "figure everything out on [her] own???" What an ****** thing to say.

Then she said he told her not to bring anything from home b/c she wouldn't be able to use it here so she brought nothing but salwar kameez and that was it. She was asking me where she could buy an epil lady, and I had to tell her I had no idea b/c we don't generally use those here b/c we don't remove the hair from our arms. But that I'd show her how to shop online and then she could buy everything she needed from her home. She'd never even used the internet before people. How the hell is she supposed to survive and get what she needs if she can't leave the home and she can't shop on the internet? ..... I asked if she had a credit card...NOPES. I told her to ask her husband for a credit card so she could get some personal things she's missing from home...... Then I told her I'd take her shopping soon to get somethings she needs. She said she doesn't know how to use the money. I told her I understood b/c I had a hard time in PK learning how to use the money, and that I'd help her and told her to keep to carry a little card with the conversions on it to make it easier for her.

Now, she's met one other lady who we both like, she's a christian pakistani lady and she has taken Mary to the mall twice and Target once, and she bought some american clothes, but the lady didn't have her try them on...just guessed at her size b/c she'd never bought american clothes before..and they were all the wrong size. I told her to leave the tags on so she could take them back and I'd take her shopping next weekend. Anyway,

NOW HERE'S THE PART WHERE I'D LIKE TO STRANGLE HER HUSBAND MYSELF! Mary had all the sudden had a second heavy period within two weeks. She was thinking it was from the stress, I agreed those secretly suspected something else: miscarriage, but asked if she'd made an appointment with a doctor. She said she'd told her husband and he made an appointment with a doctor for her to see the next day. I ask if it was with a lady doctor, b/c there is one here, and she said no, her husband told her she'd see some doctor he knew. Then she said she'd never been to the gynecologist before and was wondering what they would do. My children were around so I said, "well, it's not fun, but it's necessary. Once the kids step out I'll tell you." Well, the kids never did, and so next thing in the morning I gave her a call. Unfortunately, she didn't answer.

FOR THE FELLAS, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GO TO THE GYNOCOLOGIST: They make you strip down completely naked. You put on a gown that comes to your knees and opens up completely in the front. The doctor will come in and have you lie back, will expose you completely and feel each breast for lumps to check for breast cancer. It's really embarrassing but necessary. Then you have to slide your but down to the end of a table, place your feet in stirrups and they take this big ass bright light and shine it on your ass. Then they spread open your legs and slide a calibur inside you, swab with a big cotton swab, stick their finger in to feel around and then it's over. It's extremely embarrassing to go to a man...especially if you have never been exposed to anyone but your husband, and more so if you are a newly wed from Pakistan. Ok, don't be an asshole...take your wife's feeling into consideration and atleast TRY to make an appointment with a woman. Don't just expect her to "adjust" to male doctors if she's never been to one....

I told you I called right? Well, she didn't answer...seems she got so ill that night that her husband took her to the ER and she had to have a DNC (surgery) to remove her miscarriage. I called again the next day to check on her, and she told me what happened. I felt so sorry for her. She said she woke up and didn't even know she'd had a procedure/surgery bc she couldn't understand the doctors. She woke up and asked her husband what was wrong with her. Can you imagine??? Having a procedure/surgery and not knowing it? (or atleast understanding fully).

If you bring your wife over from Pakistan to live in the US..you should expect some serious culture shock. You should take some time off from work to help transition her in. You should help her learn how to use the money, give her a cell phone, help her study for her drivers test, help her shop, give her a credit card and teach her how to drive. You should NOT leave her at home to be alone. This is a recipe for disaster. If you have done this, I promise your wife is at home crying her eyes out miserable right now and just not telling you. You should help her make friends, give her a life beyond sitting at home waiting for you. Make sure she's happy. It's hard moving to a new place. Heck, it's hard even visiting a new place. But don't throw your wife in there and tell her to "figure it all out on her own.

When I got off the phone with her today she said "Sobia, you people are very lucky that you have love marriages." My heart broke for her.
( Poor thing..there's more she told me even..but I think I'll stop now..you get my point).

Ulat Rang

رنگي کو کھے نارنگی

چلتی کو کھے گاڑی

پاوے تو کھے کھویا

دنیا کا الٹ رنگ دیکھ

کبیرا بھت رویا

۔

Rangi ko kahe Narangi

Chalti ko kahe gaari

Paawe to kahe khoya

Duniya ka ulat rang dekh

Kabira bohut roya

Explanation:

In this verse, Bhagat Kabir beautifully explains about this erroneous world.

Orange has a color but we call it Naraangi (no color)

Car - or mode of transportation per time - moves (chalti) but we call it Gari (means buried)

When we obtain butter after so much hard work from milk (paawe = to obtain), we call it khoya (lost). Khoya is a kind of milk product like butter needs special way to obtain.

After seeing this wrong color of world, Kabir cried a lot.

Parveen ki Kahani, New York Times ki zubani

Sanctuary for Sex Slaves

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: April 3, 2007


"...........When Ghulam Fareed proposed marriage to Ms. Parveen, he fingered prayer beads and seemed gentle and pious. Ms. Parveen didn’t know him well, but she and her family were impressed.
“The first month of marriage was O.K.,” Ms. Parveen recalled. “And then he said, you have to do whatever I tell you. If I tell you to sleep with other men, you have to do that.”

It turned out that Mr. Fareed was running a brothel and selling drugs, and he intended Ms. Parveen to be his newest prostitute. “I said, ‘No, I don’t want to sleep with other men,’ ” she said, but he beat her unconscious with sticks, broke her bones and at one point set fire to her clothes. Finally, she broke and assented.

Her “husband” locked her up in one room, she said, and the only people she saw were customers. “For two years, I never left the house,” she said.................................

Finally, Ms. Parveen was able to escape and return to her family, but Mr. Fareed was furious and began to torment her family, saying he would let up only if she returned to the brothel as his prostitute. Then Mr. Fareed’s gang pressured Ms. Parveen by kidnapping her younger brother, Uzman, who was in the fifth grade. Uzman says that his hands and feet were shackled, and he was raped daily by many different men, apparently pimped to paying customers. The gang members explained that they would release the boy if Ms. Parveen returned to the brothel, and she contemplated suicide.

After six weeks, Uzman escaped while his captors became drunk and left him unshackled. But when Ms. Parveen and her parents went to the police, the officers just laughed at them. Mr. Fareed and other gang members worked hand in glove with the police, the family says. Indeed, the police even arrested Ms. Parveen’s father, who is one-legged because of a train accident (that is one reason for the family’s poverty). Apparently on the gang’s orders, the police held him for two weeks, in which time he says he was beaten mercilessly. The police are also searching for Ms. Parveen’s brothers, who have gone into hiding.

Mr. Fareed also threatened to kidnap and prostitute Ms. Parveen’s younger sister, Naima, a 10th-grader who was ranked first in her class of 40 girls. Panic-stricken, the parents pulled Naima out of school and sent her to relatives far away. So her dreams of becoming a doctor have been dashed..........

“If I had money, this wouldn’t be happening,” said Ms. Parveen’s mother, Akbari Begum. “It’s all about money. In the police station, nobody listens to me. The police listen to those who sell narcotics.” “God should never grant daughters to poor people,” she added. “God should not give sisters to poor brothers. Because we’re poor, we can’t fight for them. It’s very hard for poor people, because they take our daughters and dishonor them. There’s nothing we can do.”

......................

Strange Book

Tum kehte ho Quran main laraii jhagre ki batain hain magar main ne jub bhi ise khola to "sulah" (compromise), darguzar or nazarain neechi rukhne ki targeeb paai. Ye bhi aik ajeeb kitab hai, har shaks ko us ki aik alag tashreeh ker deti hai. Jis ka jesa piyala wesi rah dikha deti hai.

Sabar

Agar koi mujh se pooche ke 'Islam' ko sirf aik lafz main bayan karo to main kahunga woh lafz hai 'sabar'. Maang ke dekh lo, jab maango ge, 'sabar' ki talqeen hi paao ge. Kuch ajab to nahi ke, zamane ki qasam, sirf wahi log khasare main nahi,  jinhe 'sabar' ki taufeeq mil jaaye...

yahi taaif wale mohammad ki shariat,
yahi suli wale eesa ka shewa aur
bimari sehne wale ayub ki tariqat!