دعا
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Freedom is taking responsibility
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درد کی گاہک ہے چشمِ ناز اسکی
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Our greatest lacking is our incapacity to acknowledge the partiality of our truths
They washed wounds with vinegar. They ran generators for incubators on cooking oil. They carried out operations under mobile phone lights. They covered the Israeli atrocities putting their lives at risk. They shot on cameras when missiles hit. Not once, not twice. ALL THE TIME.
When this all gets over, which it will in sha Allah, and someone makes a documentary on this period, the only redeeming representatives of humanity will be the medicos in Gaza, the journalists, the bakers, the social service staff, the volunteers, the ordinary Gazan.
My son has an exam tomorrow, he messaged his teacher asking her a question. A moment later she video called him, to explain to him the solution while having food!
She's a senior teacher & I've a few colleagues who have been taught by her. Such teachers are a rare breed now.
At Tehzeeb Islamabad, I asked the salesperson to pack me some baqarkhaani. He pointedly looked in the direction I was indicating at, and chewed out his words:
"B U T T T T E R - P U F F, ma'am!"
😂
I immediately remembered I am in Islamabad!
My mother passed away when I was 25. Some months before her death, she sensed that I was going through a tough phase and sat me down.
"Har relationship ki struggle ka end point aik hi hai. Har insaan ko aik cheez chahiay: mohabbat. Tum denay main kabhi kanjoosi na karna."
The day my nana abu passed away, he was restless.
My mother was sitting next to her 78 yo dad, kabhi sir daba rahi, kabhi paoon...
Fearfully looking at his restlessness, suppressed groans and continued silence, she suggested trying to keep him tied to here and now, in a voice
My khala widowed in her 20's.
Her youngest son was a little older to me.
Whenever we visited Lahore Amman used to be very clear in two instructions:
- do not mention your dad in front of him
- do not flaunt what toy you've just got.
Why? I'd huff. To a child me this was unfair.
13 years ago, somewhere around this time, beta broke his favorite toy watch.
I was out at work. He was devastated.
When I returned, he brought it to me. My dad saw it and chuckled,
"Ye hota hai faith!"
Turned out that he had first taken his broken watch to my dad. Father had
Hazara sat in freezing cold with their unburied dead in the reign of PPP. The same happened under PMLN. And we are witnessing the exact same again in the age of Tabdeeli.
They're voiceless, so no one loses anything by not listening to them.
And by God this is the scariest bit!
I might delete this later but I need to get it out of my system.
I don't know how safe people in your circle feel about their lives.
I talked to this guy who's uncle *aped him thru his age of 5-13. He is 32 only and already has had two divorces, both due to his baggage.
4 Fun facts I discovered tonight:
1. CMH charges civilian patient strictly in cash
2. The payment receipt says in bold, "not admissable in court of law"
3. Treatment and tests can not begin unless you make the payment
4. There's no ATM inside CMH.
All of my life's experiential knowledge can be summed up in a single quote of Hazrat Ali Ibn AbuTalib:
Life consists of two days: one for you, one against you. So when it's for you, don't be proud or reckless; and when it's against you, be patient; for both days are test for you.
I don't know why but Saffron seems to me more than a flower, a prophet.
The desert pours all the longings of its barren heart in raising its gold core. The tender mauve petals tell stories of hands we will never get to kiss. The guardian of the memory of sun, in white winters.
All I mean to say is you've no clue who's carrying a hell in their soul 24/7/365. Allah ka waasta hai thora dheema raha karain, please. Please. Please.
Please find avenues in life where your edginess can benefit you in expanding your mind. Choose gentleness around humans. Please
Ex PM Shahid Khaqaan Abassi didn'tlive in the PM house, and drives his own car.
What's pissing people off is using simplicity slogans as cheap publicity stunts.
Delusion is totally a choice.
If IK can successfully manage a simple life style as PM, no succeeding PM will ever be able to go back to the pomp and show. This is what's pissing them off.
Now, decades later, as a social media user, sometimes I wonder if I am half as watchful about how my posted content is going to make a reader feel?
Do we understand the implications of having (any size of) following?
It is a damning realization. Ngl.
My 6 yo beta was at the relatives. My father at death bed.
My sehri used to be a biscuit ticky pack and a quick disposable cup of hospital canteen tea. My TL was meanwhile loaded with parathas from cozy home corners.
You get the point
The memory has stayed. So has the reminder.
"
صوفی گلوکار پٹھانے خان مرحوم سے اپنی واحد ملاقات میں میں ن�� پوچھا کہ ’’سئیں یاریاں آپ کی ایسے ’کمیونسٹوں‘ سے ہیں اور سنا ہے آپ مجلسیں پڑھنے بھی جاتے ہیں۔‘‘
وہ تھوڑا ہنسے اور کہا کہ ’’سئیں، لوک امام حسین کوُں نئیں روندے، اپنے ڈُکھاں کوُں روندے ہن۔‘‘
"
Today is the death anniversary Hakeem Muhammad Saeed Shaheed. He was killed 22 years ago in Karachi.
The only icon I knew I could trust with my eyes closed, whom I'd want to imitate in life, with whose degree of integrity I'd like to grow.
May Allah raise his status.
As the only female in senior management at this tech setup, I've two observations:
- 'Women talk more', is factually false.
- Men are the real drama queens.
"My wife doesn't do anything; she is just at home," he'd always introduce his wife.
His 9th grader son painted, 'My Mother & Mothers in the Neighbourhood'.
The painting has been selected as the cover of the Gender Budget document of the Government of Kerala for the year 2020-2021
We post all day long about our food escapades; about our maddeningly free time.
Love for others would make us mindful of those who don't have the luxury to afford being in quarantine. Love would keep us busy enlarging our tables, not raising our walls higher.
Perhaps.
"Betay, uskay abbu hain?
Us kay dil main shikayat ho gi. Wo ya maa kay aagay roay ga, ya Allah kay aagay. Maa ka dil dukhay ga. Aur Allah say nashukri ho gi." She'd explain in different ways.
It rarely affected me emotionally. I executed it though, as a command by her.
Seriously dude? Seriously???
It's not even been a week when your Bani Gala Mansion survived what the Kachi Abadis could not.
What fucking imbecile of a momin you are!! Nabi ka naam bechtay ho?
Let me share an example.
One thing I'm particular about is trying not to post my food pics. Since that lesson has been quite strong.
It was 2013 and my father had a heart and a stroke attack. I had stayed with him at the hospital for over two weeks. It was Ramzan.
"We were not shaken awake by wars or injustice across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the poor or of our ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick."
- Pope Francis 27.03.20
Walked out of an abusive marriage.Returned to starting point,traumatized,penniless, & without work/experience.Borrowed money for beta's clothes & education.
Spent a year sorting myself out & 10yrs later now fund a number of students;run a langar & am the support structure for f&f
I entered the neighbourhood grocery store to get some supplies & this young girl of 6/7 beamed at me & giggled.
I smiled back and thought that she mistook me for someone else.
A moment later she was panting into her mom's ear, "ammi, ohi aunty! Claver grrl wali!"
My idealist self readily believed. In the dark night of faith that followed a little while late, I was disillusioned.
Now, over a decade later, I realize how little had I understood.
And how much more it is about the basic human decency we owe each other.
So first response from government to Murree situation came only after the UN approached it because a UNICEF convey was stuck in the blizzard as well.
Amazing!
Your tv screens were showing you the inside of an airplane when Balochistan was picking her sons.
Don't moan when the Baloch shall hate you. You earned it.
You know what is warmth?
A call from your kitchen help from 10 years ago, from another chapter of life, getting in touch first time in 10 years, to tell you in his pure sindhi accent that Allah has blessed him with a daughter whom he has named after you!
😪😊💖
This guy I know is getting married tonight, the third time in past four years.
Both earlier marriages resulted in divorce on the same account: "Meray parents ki izzat nahi karti thi. Kehti thi meray bhi haq hain!"
I am not attending. Don't have the heart to be a part of this.
Baita saw pics of my childhood basant. He's never flown a kite, doesn't understand the associated hype so I assumed that kept him silent.
A few moments later he asked, "how did u color the sky so clear blue in these photos?"
Turns out he doesn't know a clear Lahore sky either. 😢
Shame on everyone, EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has played this dirty game.
Atif Mian wasn't asking for this.
If you didn't have the spine to stick to your decision, you shouldn't have dragged him into this mess.
This is not some khairaati langar. This is Suffuse Bridal wear shop in Gulberg.
On the day Lahore recorded it's HIGHEST EVER Covid infection rates.
(Image via FB)
We deserve to be wiped off.
Not everyone wears their struggles on their sleeves.
Not everyone brings their battles to the coffee hangout.
Not everyone shares when the sand beneath their feet is sinking.
Exercise kindness whenever you can. Please.
Your gentleness can bring someone a reason to survive.
@LahoreMarquez
Ask them, first thing on Monday, maintaining a direct eye contact, if they received the feedback.
When they reply in negative, say 'main nay bhi usi format main bheja tha jis main ap nay essay submit kia tha.' (*insert laugh*)
In honour of Sabir Nazar, today is the day we relive this historic moment:
Rehman Malik quote RTed his own tweet with a "Well said", and then retweeted the quoted tweet.
"Hum tou skool nai gaey baji. Ye jati hai. Ye kehti hai ap ne angraizi main iski bot tareef ki. Bot khush thi. Is ne apnay pyo ko bhi bataya hamari baji ko bhi. Iski skool ki miss ko bhi pata hai k is kay hisaab pe isko aik aunty ne kaa ay... claawaar!"
I'm the happiest person.
@Fatmounh
And the fact that she says she told her mom, yet it continued. And the mom now says she never knew about it.
A 14 yo full term pregnant child, and her mom says she didn't know any of this.
Today I visited Beta's school after six months.
Met the half blind school guard, I used to support before the school had shut. He is the oldest one, not physically fit, and from what I've gathered looking at the other guards, maintained only as an act of kindness.
Tonight is "Shab-e Yalda" (Persian: شب یلدا), the "longest and darkest night of the year."
In some darkly metaphorical way, it seems to resonate so strongly with where we are, now.
Each Shab-e Yalda, however, surrenders to a new morning. Please don't forget that.
چلے چلو!!
Main. Worldcup. Porn. Main. London main 22 Saal. Shadi-talaaq. Main. Jinsi bay rahrawi. Main. A distorted historical fact. Main. Maghrib. Main. Bollywood. Main.
Banda boojhain, focus pehchaanain.
Did you guys notice how Xulfi stood with his head bowed, hands tied, in presence of those two music maestros?
Everything, unless it augments that which is already great, must resign to the background.
Who then decided that this track needed this phakkarpun of dance?
Tonight when you lie down with the satisfaction of knowing that your family has their bellies full and is safe and warm, please spare a dua for all those who don't have any of these.
This is a prolonged spell of extremely harsh weather conditions.
Allah Apna reham farmaey!
I decided this evening that I've a beti now. I'm calling her Husna.
You can see her in the images.
Beta just shared, "I'm a little nervous to see how far this joke can go!"
🙄
The harassers, the molesters, they are out there as well. And probably there is no fucking way to distinguish one from the other.
Your online crush could be a rape survivor or a harasser himself, what do you know?
There's no logical explanation for how my mind settled on this, but right now it feels to me that I've found a very functional, very workable summary of life. For me, at least!
These are three verses from two different surahs:
لَقَدۡ خَلَقۡنَا الۡاِنۡسَانَ فِىۡ كَبَدٍ
Verily,
I don't know why but I wanted to cry.
I gave my slip to Krishan Laal. And said, "I'm sorry."
"Koi farq nahi parta madam. Thank you." The sepoy smiled kindly. And I don't know how to carry the shame.
Has anyone wondered how the protestors set fire to Jinnah House & then travelled all the way to Askari Tower to vandalize the "elite", yet didn't dare touch Mall of Lahore which is exactly facing the Jinnah House.
Because Mall of Lahore is owned by Malik Riaz. 😂
It's been so many hours but I can still taste the bitterness of her story in my mouth. I don't know how long it will last, but it isn't going away any time soon for sure.
We work at the same organization. She is 27 years old.
5. Second night of my stay, and after shifting through 4 different units, at 2:00 am CMH guys realize that they don't allow female attendants to accompany male patients.
Job market situation is so shyt, every day HR forwards me such solid, experienced profiles for a couple of entry level positions that it makes my heart ache.
Allah sab kay liay halal rizq kay waseeloN main barkat aur kushaadgi ata farmaey. ameen
I talked to this bandi whose Bhabhi is molesting her teenage brother, and both brother and sister know it and stay quiet because the power balance at home is tipped in favour of bhabi.
I talked to this bandi whose HR sexually harassed her, & when she resigned is still stalking.
There are a few more stories.
All of them sharing these, ALL of them are working professionals. They live with this baggage. Day in day out. You see them at work, in malls, at coffee shops.
Probably the weird dude who never smiles, the angry woman...
All them men replying to Zara Shahjahan's tweet (& the subsequent experience sharing by other women) with 'this is not true' / 'this is the universally accepted procedure'... You guys have no iota of understanding of the hellhole that Government machinery is towards single women.