Firaun aur Hum!

Saari duniya firaun (pharaoh) ko bura kehti hai magar main nahi kehta!

Firaun poora din khudaii ka dawa ker ke raat apne Allah ke huzur hazir hota, girgira ke muaafi maangta aur naadim ho ker so jaata.

Hum to aur bhi gaye guzre hain...Subah Allah ka naam le ker uthte hain, din bhar khudaii ke fa'el (acts) kerte hain aur raat apne zameer pe koi bhi bojh mehsoos kiye bagair khawabe-khargosh main kho jaate hain!

Mystery of Lucky Penny

I believe in fortune cookie. My daughter strongly believe in lucky Penny. She make sure I keep her given lucky penny. I found it strange that you seldom find dime, nickle or quarter but you will frequently find penny at unusual places at unusual times. I am sure people don't throw them for purpose. Explain this to me.

Tsunami

Is blog pe "Dreams" (khawab) pe kai post hain. You can call it my own psychotherapy. Urdu ke aik bare adeeb 'Mumtaz Mufti' apne bistar ke sarhane kitab pencil rakha kerte the aur apne saare khawab - is se pehle ke bhool jaayain - likh liya kerte the. Unka kehna tha: "Khawab kuch batain na batain, kam az kam andar ki zaat ka pata to dete hain". 


Kuch khawab is qadar 'personal' aur 'intense' hain ke bayan nahi kiye jaa sakte (aur kerne bhi nahi chahiye) - magar dusre kuch khawab yahan blog pr naqal ker leta hun. 'Interestingly' kuch khawab (jo us waqt to samjh na aaye magar) aage chal ker zindagi ke waaqiyat ka waze ishara ya tambih (warning) sabit huwe. Aese hi aik khawab ki roodad likhta hun.


Main kisi 'school' ya kisi 'community activity' ka aik 'teacher' hun. Hum sab kuch bachhon ko aik darya kinare picnic manane le jaate hain. Wahan har 'teacher' ko bachoon ka aik aik 'group' milta hai. Mere 'group' main chaar bachhe hain jin ki shaqlain to mujhe waze tor per yaad hain magar meri asal zindagi se unka koi taaluq nahi. Hum sab saahil kinare aik dari (carpet) daal ke beth jaate hain. Us roz bachhe apne saath aik aik khilona le ker aaye hain. Main bachho se kehta hun ke aaj sab aik dusre ka khilona adal badal kar khelain ge - taake zindagi 'share' ker ke guzarne ka sabaq haasil ho... Aas paas dusre groups apni 'activities' main masroof hain................


.........Aur phir meri nazar aasman ki taraf utthti hai to 300/400 feet unchi aik 'Tsunami' wave saamne nazar aati hai. Is se pehle ke main sab ko khabardar kerta - woh laher hum per aa guzarti hai. Main aik 'pipe' ko pakrta hun. paani mujh pe guzar raha hai. main paani se bachnne ke liye saans rokta hun. Mujeh bachhoN ka bhi khayal aa raha hai. Us guzarte azab ka aik aik lamha mujhe mehsoos hota hai. Saans rokne se mera dum ghoot raha hai ......


..........aur phir us dum ghutne ke aehsaas se meri aankh khul jaati hai.

Aik qayamat hui bedaar, khuda kher kare

Haram ki kamaii!

It is said that vulture is one of the most intelligent bird since birth but her genes have been designed to feed only corpses (as a measure to keep ecosystem healthy by all mighty). Despite its all intelligence he cant get away from his induced nature.

Similarly I found that all creatures and particularly humans have some innate nature, induced deep down in their DNA - which never changed despite their level of knowledge, social status or environment. The right word is called "khaslat" in Urdu. In this regard I always recall Qudratullah Shahab's "Shahab-nama" in which he describes the darknesses of contemporary international political leaders.

As Ataul Haq Qasmi once brilliantly said: "Tumhare bachhe bare aadmi bane na bane - magar bus ye koshish zaroor karo ke woh achhe aadmi banaiN".

Bare hone main aur achhe hone main aik umar ka fasla hai. Mera ye Iman hai ke agar aap haram ki kamaii khate ho to aap ki aulad ki genes bhi haram ki ho jaati hai.

I strongly advise my friends and students to read 'Raja Gidh' from Banu Qudsia.

Salute to Dollywood!

As summer vacation kicked in, last weekend I took my kids to theme park in Tennessee named Dollywood. Its a pretty descent park with good rides. But what really impressed me at this park - which was different from all other national theme parks was - most of their employees were senior citizens. Park was running as efficiently as any other theme park. Rather they were more courteous to people than many young people at other theme parks. (and I have been to plenty of theme parks in USA).

I always bragged to friends about respect and care for elderly people in our eastern culture but over time I am seeing reverse phenomenon. My hats off to this thought from Dollywood to keep senior citizens in work force (if they want to), providing self respect, self esteem and be productive members of society. It was worth mentioning - at least for me. 

Ranj Se khugar huwa insaaN....

Few time ago, I was at Lake Lure in North Carolina. It is an interesting and a very beautiful place. While boating at lake our guide told us few interesting things like it is 'cross' shaped and there is a church and cemetery buried below the lake and local people said to hear church bells at night etc. but another interesting thing is that lake is only one and half feet for a while from beach/shore but later suddenly first dropped to 55 feet and than to 135 feet. He said: 'It scares people as we go further towards the middle of lake but I fail to understand as there is no difference after you are drowned more than 10 feet"!

So true! It reminded me of Mirza Ghalib: Mushkilain mujh per pari itni ke asaN ho gain.

All mighty has created human or rather all creatures' mind and soul unique in the sense that after a while pain and suffering gets plateau - or may be even bell-shapped. It has no linear relationship afterwards.

The Great Gatsby

It took me a while to absorb the beauty of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" - and to understand that why it became a milestone novel in American literature. (It took Americans themselves many years to appreciate this work after his death). While I was finishing last pages of novel - tears floated in my eyes and I had to close the book to understand the emotional life and psych of its central character Gatsby. What amaze me more than anything is that he wrote this legendary novel at the tender age of only 29. He died at age of 44. No wonder many very sensitive and good people die early like Nasir Kazmi, Parveen Shakeer, Mustafa Zaidi and others.

There is so much written about this novel (you can google), I will just write my perspective shortly in Urdu as I felt this story is not based in America of 1925 but its a tale of India or Pakistan in year 2011.

'Gatsby' aik aesa kirdar hai - jise duniya ne kuch nahi diya magar usne sirf mohabbatain hi baanti. Ye kahani hamare ikhlaqi iqdaar ke us zawal ki hai- jisme aik saada dil shkas jeeta hai. 'Gatsby' zindagi ko bagair kisi muzahayemat (resistence) ke wese hi accept ker leta hai jese woh use milti hai - magar woh phir bhi halat ko behtar banane ki koshish kerta hai. Us ka dil mohabbat se pur hai. Woh badalti duniya ke saath chalne ki koshish kerta hai - magar uske chaaroN taraf daulat, anaa, be-wafaai, jhoot, aur munafiqat ki kaali chadar hai. Us main aurat se mohabbat kerne ka jazba to hai magar aurat ki be-wafaai ko samjhne ki 'chip' hi nahi. Use to dhang se jhoot bolna bhi nahi aata. Woh yunhi logon pe bharosa ker leta hai.

Gatsby un logon ka kirdar hai - jo hamare aas paas baste hain - hamari aankhon ke saamne - magar hamare 'blind spots' unhe dekh nahi paate. F. Scott Fitzgerald ka kamal yahi hai ke woh jhoot aur fareb ki dhund main - hame sache, meethe aur piyare logon ka chehra dikhata hai!

Achha writer novel ke shuru aur aakhir main poora 'theme' kuch lafzon main samo deta hai. I will put those 2 quotes:

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. 'Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,' he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.'..

"...They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. . . ."

You can read novel : https://www.planetebook.com/free-ebooks/the-great-gatsby.pdf

Ma ki Bad-Dua?

Posted as described

(Episode 1)

Us ne mujh se ye kaha...

"How can that even happen? I had no reason to lost my case. It was 'my hard earned' money. It was at least $ 300,000 and if you count legal interest on it, its about half million dollars. Even their attorney was sure, they will lost but jury went against and we lost. I could have paid my son's college. Its very depressing to see my own hard earned money to whisk away in front of me. I had best lawyers' firm in town and even its hard for them to comprehend why we lost..."

(Episode 2)

"Mujeh to yun lagta hai bete aur bahu pe bojh hun. Yahan 'basement' main pari rehti hun. Yahin pe kitchen, bathroom aur bistar hai. Din main aik dafa bhi ooper chali jaun to bahu ke tewar badal jaate hain. Abhi woh saare 'Disney' ghum aaye. Main 'maid' ke sahare pari rahi. Mujeh kaunsa 'Disney' jana tha magar main ne bete se kaha:-

"Neeche microwave kharab ho gaya hai. Naya lagwa do. Khana garam kerna parta hai".

Us ne jhirak ke mana ker diya: "amma aap ko microwave kiya kerna hai. Yunhi kha liya karain".

Yaqeen karo! gori naukrani apne ghar se purana microwave le aayi mere liye.

Main khud apni nazron main gir gai ke $100 ke microwave ke liye yun bete ke aage girgirana para.

Bus dua kerti hun jald mere Allah ka bulawa aa jaye".