A Long Absence

I am writing this after a long absence (more than three years). There was no particular reason for this, except being busy in my professional tasks (Translation from English to Urdu). Quite a number of incidents have occurred at home, country and international front. Honestly speaking, I am now fed up of reading newspapers because these are nothing but a source of increasing the tension. There is hardly any day which is without a bad news. Budget is hanging like a sword these days on the heads of Pakistani people. The poor sector is afraid of being subject to a harder life because of commodoties of daily use expected to be more expensive after the budget. The hoarders are hiding the goods to make more bucks as a result of budget. But why to worry, nothing is going to change. All this happens every year!

I can't read my own blog!!

As published at BBC News site that after the publication of Prophet MUHAMMAD'S (PBUH) controversial and blasphemous cartoons on a section of the www, the Govt of my country, has blocked about 12 websites which have been confirmed to be showing these cartoons. Blogspot is one of them. So me alongwith all my fellow citizens who publish their blogs on this blog site, are unable to reach and see their blogs. Isn't it a pity that due an offence committed by a few people, whole the comminity is being punished. I don't know how long this situation will prevail.

Why don't they block those filthy pornographic sites which are within the reach of school going children on the Internet cafe's ? What a hypicracy!!!

A timely Sign of Protest

There have been 4 deaths and 35 people injured this morning as a result of two consecutive bomb blasts near the American Consulate in Karachi, just 2 days before the arrival of President Bush in Islamabad. Although this attempt of protest against his atrocious policies is very timely but I wonder how much it will succeed in bringing any change in the situation because 4 or 5 innocent deaths are nothing as compared to hundreds of people who have sacrificed their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and virtually have had least impact on the hostilities by America at both these places.

How long will it take?

I am really fed up now waiting for the result of my M.A. English exam from Punjab University . It is now more than 8 months since I appeared in the exam. There must be thousands of poor people like me who are waiting desperately for the result so that they can apply for some job etc. I wonder how long the University requires to compile and announce the results!!

A Journey to attend a Wedding

A journey to attend a Wedding

Yesterday, I went to Rawalpindi (180 KM from my place) to attend the wedding ceremony of my friend’s son. It was a pleasant journey although on reaching there, I had to walk about half a KM in rain after getting off from the coach. Due to ban on lavish spending for numerous food dishes on weddings, imposed by the provincial government, the guests were served with the cardboard lunch boxes containing a sandwich, a kebab, a fried chicken drumstick, a boiled egg, a small burger, Gajar (carrot) halwa and a cup of green tea. As far as I can estimate, all these items plus hiring of the premises must have cost a handsome amount (almost equal to 2 or 3 traditional dishes). Thus the very purpose of prohibition of serving the meals in order to discourage the overspending by the rich appeared to be totally negated. In my opinion, such policies introduced by our so called planners serve no purpose but to create unrest in the society.

Regards to all.

Not the Proper Way

Dated 25 Feb 06

Before I write something else I want to comment on the current wave of rage spreading throughout the Muslim World after the publication of those caricatures in many European papers. Being a born Muslim, I too have it as an important part of my faith that after Allah, the Creator of this universe, the human personality to be most respected is our Prophet MUHAMMAD (peace be upon him) and one is not considered to be among the Muslims if, to him, the Prophet (PBUH) is not more dear than his family and children. In fact we (the Muslims) believe in and respect all the prophets like Adam, Abraham, Noah, David, Jacob, Jesus, Moses, Job (to name a few, and 124000 in total, in our belief) and our faith is not considered to be complete if we don’t believe in them as well all the divine books along with Quran, like Bible, Torah and Zaboor (Psalms of David).

Having said that, I want to express my reservations on the manner which the Muslim community is displaying their respect towards their Prophet (PBUH). I firmly believe that bringing out howling processions, burning Government/Private properties and getting innocent people killed is not a sign of being respectful to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and it is neither a source of pleasing Allah and His prophet (PBUH) nor is it going to serve the purpose of restraining the continuous desecration of Islam by the mischievous people like these cartoonists.

Instead, we should try to show to the West how sacred, dear and beloved that great personality is to us by changing our lives in accordance with the life he lived and following all the golden principles of his ‘Sunnah’ (way of life). I am sure the wrong image of Muslims being a violent nation which is being wrongly depicted by a small minority can be changed if all of us follow the ethical teachings of our prophet who was ‘Rahma-tullil-Aalemeen’ (the Beneficent for all the worlds. (Peace be Upon him).

Regards to all.

First Entry

A retired person in our part of the world doesn’t prove to be as useful as in the developed western countries. It is very difficult for him to cope up with the change from a busy routine life of so many years, to a living style with ample free time and no particular duty to perform. Retirement from work or minimizing of social activities has negative effects on the life of an individual who is getting old. The problem of adjusting to new circumstances is likely to generate anxiety and tension. Men, in particular, are faced with the task of finding a meaningful use of time as they retire from their work. Within the community the aging person can readily detect that as far as the new generation goes, he is no longer viewed with the respect and attention that he commanded during his active and productive years. Society tends to look ahead rather than into the past, and is more youth-oriented than interested in looking at the needs of the old. Thus the aged person is confronted with a situation of social isolation, rejection and uselessness.

Facing a similar situation myself, the computer has proved to be a bounty for me and seeking refuge in this wonderful pastime, I have succeeded, to a great extent, in overcoming my day by day increasing depression which I was being subjected to, after my retirement. Although learning computer operation is considered to be somewhat odd for a person of my age here, yet I have acquired from my children, many skills which are quite sufficient for me to operate the machine independently.

During my net surfing, the areas which I have found the most interesting are the news, the science & technology, religion &history and my native Urdu and Punjabi language sites. But I have recently come across these blog sites which I feel are a very nice place where one can express him/herself in whatever way he/she likes. Skipping away from a lot of filth scattered here, I have found some very nice contributions by the bloggers which are a very healthy food for thought and addition to the knowledge of people like me.

So friends, I have tried to start my very simple blog here and hope to contribute on it regularly. The comments will be welcomed with utmost pleasure. Best regards to all the readers !!!