A quick glimpse of one life

 (shared by a friend at the dinner table)

Recently I met this Uber driver from Pakistan.

He was in Dubai for 2 years driving a cab.

Then in Jeddah for 14 years.

His Kafeel was charging him 300 Riyals a month.

Then 1300 a month.

He charged him when he went home for vacation.

He went to Azerbaijan for two years.

Went to Brazil and walked for six months to Mexico, beaten, robbed, and starved.

It took him

8 years to get a green card.

And he was grateful.

He was crying, and all I could do was hug him.

Race of life

The race of life; no one can predict how it will end....

 

Jis muhabbat main ilham na ho...

 I am absolutely sold to this truth. It is very true.

What happens after we die

 

On Marketing Holocaust

 

On Quran

جسٹس امیر علی کی کتابوں میں اسپراٹ آف اسلام بہت مشہور ہے-وه پہلی بار 1891 میں لندن سے شائع هوئی- مصنف نے اس کتاب میں صفحہ 395 پر پروفیسر جانسن کا ایک اقتباس نقل کیا ہے، یہ اقتباس قرآن کے باره میں ہے- پروفیسر جانسن لکهتے ہیں:

قرآن اگر شاعری نہیں ہے، اور یہ کہنا مشکل ہے کہ وه شاعری ہے یا نہیں ہے، تب بهی وه شاعری سے زیاده ہے- وه تاریخ نہیں ہے اور نہ وه سوانح عمری ہے- وه انجیل کے پہاڑی کے وعظ کی طرح مجموعہ امثال نہیں ہے- وه مابعد الطیعاتی مکالمہ نہیں ہے جیسا کہ بدها کے سوتر میں پایا جاتا ہے- وه موعظت بهی نہیں ہے جیسا کہ افلاطون کے یہاں عاقل اور نادان کی مجلسوں میں پایا جاتا ہے- وه ایک پیغمبر کی پکار ہے- وه آخری حد تک سامی اور عربی ہے، اس کے باوجود اس میں ایسی معنویت ہے جو انتہائی آفاقی ہے اور وه اتنا مطابق وقت ہے کہ ہر زمانہ کی آوازیں اس کو ماننے پر مجبور ہیں، خواه وه اس کو چاہیں یا نہ چاہیں- اس کی آواز کی بازگشت محلوں اور صحراوں میں، شہروں اور بادشاہتوں میں سنائی دیتی ہے- پہلے وه اپنے منتخب دلوں میں عالمی فتح کی آگ سلگاتا ہے- اس کے بعد وه ایک ایسی تعمیری طاقت بن جاتا ہے جیسے کہ یونان اور ایشیا کی تمام تخلیقی روشنی مسیحی یورپ کی گہری تاریکیوں میں داخل هو جائے، اس وقت جب کہ مسیحیت صرف رات کی ملکہ کی حیثیت رکهتی تهی- 

Man!

I am not a bar or club person. For some reason, I had to tag along with a few cousins to the club two nights ago. Overheard this conversation.

Girl (apparently drunk): "If I agree to go with you, I am sure, as a man you will take me."

Guy: "It would be more manly of me if I don't take advantage of your compromised state."

Words!

An african proverb

 

Love

 

bilocation

In classic Sufi descriptions, it s said that a person's soul can be at two location at a given time. (I wish I would have remembered the exact term). This sometimes made me believe in Mandela's effect.

2 Human Beings

 A quote from Icelandic novel “Independent People,” by Halldór Laxness:

“Two human beings have such difficulty in understanding each other—there is nothing so tragical as two human beings.” 

Types of Dreams

 

At the age of 88

Last week I had to drive my son daily to a community-organized youth camp during spring vacation. I had to sit mostly idle all day as no more volunteers were needed. I took my laptop and books to read, but I spent many hours with other parents and grandparents. I developed a little conversation line with an eighty-eight-year-old grandma from Bosnia who migrated to the USA during turmoil there. I liked her outlook on various issues in life. Last day she shared something very personal and threw a curveball at me. 

"In the context of marriage, relationships, and love, spousal cheating usually doesn't matter when you are 88. My husband was a perpetual cheater. I took it as he was a good father and provider and always treated me well. Unfortunately, I cheated on him, too, when we were separated due to war for three years. Eventually, we shared all details. At this age, what mattered only, we hung together till the end and raised good kids and grandkids."

(for some reason, this post stayed in draft for the last 10 years)

*

Na ho marna to jine ka maza kiya

I am not a big fan of Elon, but many times, I agree with his views.

 

Makafate amal

Kiya hamari zindagi main hone wale bohut se (budnaseeb) waqiaat kisi ke dil se nikli bud-duaoN ka mazhar hote haiN ya qudrat ka apna makafate amal ka silsilsla hai (kubhi foran aur kubhi der se magar burwaqt). - kiya kuch der ke liye hum aksar andhe, behre, gunge aur hamara dimag maauf 'ker diya' jaata hai. Hum 'robot' bana diye jaate haiN.

Kiya kahin koi notebook hai jis main sub kuch save ho jaata hai. 
Kiya insaan kabhi apni notebook dekh paaye ga?

Ye Naqs kis ki shokhiye tehreer ke faryadi haiN. 
Hamari zindagi ke waaqiaat ke in kaagzi perahan ki pekare tasveer kahan hai?

Ya hum log ye sub sochte huwe bus sirf aik "rationalization" kerte haiN?

(Kiya yahi woh sawalat nahi haiN, jo sadioN se insaan ke sare falsafe, dar, umeed, mazahib, samaaj, jang, rivayat aur har tarah ki zehni kawishoN ka mehwar rahe haiN).

Abbu

"Abbu aap 20 baras hum se dur america main rahe, aap ko kubhi hum yaad na aaye"

"Beta yaad to har lamhe aaye magar tum logon ki kafalat ki zimmadari thi. Tum sab ki achhi taalim ke liye ye zaroori tha - aur wese bhi betiyon ka to baRa bojh hota hai"

"Magar abbu, baap ke us haat ki shafqat hum kahan se laate, jo chup chap bhi sir pe rukh diya jaaye, to aulad main saare zamane se laRne ka aik hosla aa jaata hai".

Nostalgia

جھٹ ہے سب، تاریخ ہمیشہ اپنے کو دھراتی ہے

 اچھا، میرا خواب جوانی تھوڑا سا دھراۓ تو۔

Forgotten

Not sure, if its true.

 

Prayer as a password

Recently, our hospital asked to create long and complicated passwords. There is a wave of hacking of hospital records in the last couple of years and hospitals are paying millions for ransom. As we were sharing our frustration while every time we sign it takes an effort to click 15-18 unusual characters. One 75-year-old attending told me:

 - I put my prayer as a password with one letter and an exclamation mark (!) at the end. Every time, I have to sign in, I type my prayer - it calms me down and keeps my faith going.