Just saying Hi… & I’ve some news!

Heya fellas! 

How are you all? Long time, huh? I’ve been busy making iftaris in Ramzan and after iftari, I just didn’t have the energy to blog (itni zooooor ki neend ana shuru hojati hai magically, wtf). And then Eid, jis se yaad aya….

***fireworks***

EID MUBARAK GUYS!!!!

***fireworks***

Nah, I won’t ask did you reach your Eidi targets, because apparently, Eidi is a touchy topic nowadays. Even more touchy than asking a girl on her period, how she is. I know right? So damn serious.

Anyways, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I should start writing about. I’ve had different ideas and very cool ones. (NOT bragging!)

I’m thinking of introducing my recipes here. I’ve found many people on the internet who, like me, enjoy cooking and love eating new dishes (desi or foreign). So it’s kind of good, sharing your ideas and recipe with others (takay mere kuch friends food k bahanay se hi bn jayen 😥 Yeah, I’m a broken devil). I love experimenting with food. And the thing about my cooking is, I just can’t stick to one recipe with the same ingredients. Gosh, it gets so boring. I keep trying new ingredients and new sauces, which to be honest, produce delicious results most of the time.

I’ll add a category here, with the name of “Accio Food!” For those who don’t know, ACCIO is a summoning charm used in Harry Potter. Haha.

Okay then foodies, see you in the cafeteria! Take care!

 

An evening walk along the beach side

I have always loved a long, solitary, evening walk along the beach side.

That cool feeling of the damp sand, as it crawls around my feet, tickling my skin, when I dig it with my toes as deep as I can.

That fragrance of the sea weeds, the fish, the salt of the water, lingering in the air around me, a rather refreshing change of air from the daily toxic environment.

The sound of the waves, in rhythm to which, I let the elating memories of my life, splash across the rocks of my mind.

The feeling of freedom I sense in the birds soaring high above me, reminding me that the world isn’t as small as it seems, when we’re drowned in the daily tasks binding us to our miserable lives.

The hearty laughter I hear, when the young kids run about, carefree, with high hopes and innocence, which brings out a whole new colorful world in front of my eyes.

The beauty of the anthropods, scuttling here and there, as fast as their appendages could carry them, avoiding the towering humans, open new doors of natural beauty for me.

No words of mine can ever do justice to the beautiful scene at a beach that my eyes see and my mind perceives. You can only truly feel it through your heart.

 ~~~

Image credits: http://www.basbasbas.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/12-09-08-033.jpg

Care is in the air, but are you aware?

Maybe, they do care about you. But, they’re afraid to make it obvious and don’t dare to make their move. You know why? Because you’re already surrounded by trillions of others, who are pretending that they care about you. And those pretentious ones, somehow, make those who truly care about you, feel unwanted and a waste. And why not? You’re already happy with the ones you have around yourself, you’re drowned in their flattery, you’re blinded by their fake smiles, so yes, the ones who do care about you truly, feel that you’re satisfied and thus, stay away from you. They can’t bear to look at you among the pseudo-adorers but they are afraid to show you their reality, at the same time. They are afraid you’d take them wrong and annihilate every chance they’ve, to be a part of your life and to make it better in some way, by throwing just one cold glance in their direction.
And they are right, in doing so.

A platonic lover

A platonic lover,
Is what she craves,
Who wouldn’t want her,
For intimate love making,
Or to satisfy his own thirst,
Who wouldn’t mind,
If she wasn’t in the mood,
Who would simply enjoy,
Her company,
Who would love to cuddle,
Watch movies late in the night,
Who would take her out,
For long rides,
Who would be there,
In the day or nights,
Who would buy her little gifts,
To see her million dollar smile,
Who would hug her,
When they hit a rough time,
Who would calm her,
During pain and torments,
Who would hear, not her voice,
But listen directly to her soul,
Who would arrange little surprises,
To see her getting excited,
Who would enjoy her cooking,
And help her manage her life,
She worries though,
Is it too much to ask for?
Aren’t these simple little wishes?
She seeks no handsome prince,
She seeks no glory,
She seeks no wealth or riches,
All she wants is a partner,
A true partner,
Who would be her best friend,
Her lover,
And her guardian,
For as long as they breathe,
And beyond.

Rant # 4

I’ve been coming across many homosexuality related blogs lately and honestly I believe it’s high time people start taking this issue seriously.

Remember this: nobody has any right, to point their fingers at a person who is homosexual and there is no need to demean them in front of public or to feel embarrassed because of this issue. People, just try to be a little realistic, this is 21st century, if you can watch frigging without-dupatta, half naked women/men on tv, this is just as normal then. So quit being such bigots. You are a Muslim, act like one. Instead of passing derogatory remarks at them, try to come up with a solution for this. Being “incomplete” Muslims, which means having inadequate religious knowledge, the only solution we common people have is to kill them, burn them alive etc. Seriously? I’m sure you don’t even know the 6th kalma, so just freaking shut your mouth and leave it for the actual Muslim scholars to decide what their fate should be. Which now, brings me to the other huge problem: Why haven’t the Muslim scholars taken this matter seriously as yet? These people are dying, they need religious guidance at the moment. They need an answer. Whatever the Quran or religion says in this regard, it’s about time scholars bring it out for the public. Do these scholars have any solution for this:

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/26400/life-as-faiq-by-day-aashi-by-night/

OR this:

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/26741/if-you-are-gay-and-muslim-change-your-sexual-orientation/

Whatever the verdict is, just tell the people, specially the homosexuals. If there is no place in Islam for them, just tell them and it’s over then. But at least stop the brutality they are facing by their families and others. This is inhumane & every good Muslim should condemn brutality. I won’t speak in favor of their “marriages” because in Quran, Allah has strongly pronounced judgement against them. But, at the same time, I would say that they shouldn’t be simply killed in cold blood or brutally burnt alive.

This matter calls for a fatwa & ulema should come up with one before it’s too late.

Hold it, you’re a “kill joy”

 

You’re a kill joy.

Yes YOU.

Why do you have to just butt in with sickeningly depressive verbal thoughts every time someone shares their happiness with you?

Why do you have to decapitate their moment of glory and bliss with the axe of melancholia?

Why do you act like the black-magic trick that vanishes their open mouthed smiles by punctuating what they tell you with your never ending sighs?

Why do you have to brandish your hate, possible ill-fate at their face & block their cheerfulness with morbidity every time they try to take a turn in life?

There is a special place in- , nah, I’m not even going to tell you where you belong. Doesn’t matter to you anyway, does it? As if it’ll ever change you.

You know what I think? People like you are God’s test for us. Yeah. You’re just born for our “use”. And we know how to deal with dirt like you. We won’t scrub you. We will ignore you even exist. We will ignore your unkind uttering and keep patience close to us. That would rot your insides even more. That would actually burn you up, then at last, maybe, you’ll know where you’ll end up after we’re through with you.

We will surely do so. And just keep this secure in that brainless skull of yours: if you even once dare say “the world doesn’t care about me…” that would only mean ‘more burning.’

Rant # 3

I have always loved reading magazines. Whenever I went to some relative’s house or a clinic, I’d search for a magazine and start flipping through it. Even now, if I ever come across a good magazine, I HAVE to buy it. There was a time, when I had this huge crush on “Young Times” (don’t confuse it with “Young World”, totally different), but all of a sudden, the hawker said they were not getting it anymore. I was devastated (honestly!). Then someone introduced me to “Smash” (I hope you’ve heard of it). It was a great mag. Typically for teenagers. I was entering university life but still, I was addicted to it.

It was 2012. One day, I came across this article about different e-mags in Pakistan and a little introduction about them. I instantly fell for one. I opened their website, filled up their joining form and started waiting. Few days later, I got the e-mail and I got in! It was pure volunteer work. Naturally, people around me were like “What? You’ll work for them FOR FREE? Pagal. Gadhi. Psycho.” Whatever. I never cared. I just wanted to be a part of them.

They were my second family. I met LOADS of people there who are great friends of mine. I was initially their ambassador (promotion stuff) and their graphic designer (you know what they do, right? Drawing and stuff).

Ab asal kahani yahan se shuru hoti hai.

I knew as much stuff about graphic designing as a doctor knows about engineering. Seriously. I only knew the basic programs used like PhotoShop, Devian art, Photoscape etc but nothing else. I started working on them, day in and night out. I actually made many graphical stuff for my own self, judging my own self and then I chose the best ones and sent them to the heads. They usually loved it. Alot. They used to get featured and I can’t tell you k us se mera kitna khoon barh jata tha. It was honestly a miracle.
Months went by. I left graphic designing because it was taking up a lot of time and I had to focus on my studies as well. So I switched as their columnist and events reporter (they used to be the media partners and then I as a reporter had to cover that event). It was fun.

So one day, our head sent us to an event. It was a big one, held in the National Museum. There, I met this girl, whom I had never ever met in my life. She introduced herself as the head of a volunteer group that organized events and said “Are you Sabika? You are their graphic designer, right? God, I love your work.”

And that was the moment when I had to literally control my tears. A few others came up and told me they knew me. Still, whenever I think about that day, I can’t believe it actually happened. (people coming up to you, telling you they love your work, honestly, me? Ha-ha)

The whole point of this story is not that I’m bragging or wanted to tell you how good I can be at graphic designing (which of course I am not), but my point is, that if you seriously believe in yourself, you can absolutely do it, no matter how many people smirk at you, no matter how irrelevant it is to your career, if it’s something which you are enjoying doing, then it won’t be a fuck up. My second point is, that each and every one of you (yes, you there, with a dark complexion and you, with dandruff filled hair and also you, shorty), all of you have talents. All you need to do is realize what your strengths are and play up to it. And then, you’ll find the whole world congratulating you on your success. Seriously guys, all it takes is a strong belief in your own self, confidence and dedication.

“You can’t be good at everything, but you can NEVER be good at nothing.”

(this is a quote by me, it isn’t anonymous, okay?)

So yeah, after reading this, take a moment (or think about it while you’re in the washroom), thoroughly analyze yourself and find what you’re good at and start working on it. Then share your story with others. 🙂

Be a “real friend”, get a “real friend”

Most of the people you come across nowadays are often whining about monetary issues, bosses, families and what not. This is all usual. We can expect ‘absurdities’ when it comes to these things. But the most recent grumblings which compelled me to compose this blog were “I don’t have any real friends” or “Only if I had some good friends…”

First of all, everybody has a friend. Full stop. There should be zero arguments about this. There is no question that you can survive in this drastic world without somebody by your side. This friend might be your sibling, a neighbor, someone from your institute, a colleague or some e-friend.

Secondly, who exactly do you consider your ‘real friend’? Someone who cooks for you daily? Someone who buys expensive gifts on your birthday? Someone who plans midnight surprises on your birthday? Someone who helps you dispose off a body of a person you just murdered?

If the answer to any one (or, to my utter horror, all) of the above questions is affirmative, then you, my dear, are entirely at fault. You might be just shoving your real friends away by being selfish or expecting a lot, I repeat, ‘a lot’.

Before I say anything on my own, let’s see what lessons Hazrat Ali (A.S) has taught us regarding friends:

“A true friend is one who upon seeing a fault gives you advice and who defends you in your absence.”

No doubt!

“Ask your heart about the condition of friendship, because it is such a witness that does not accept a bribe.”

So beautifully stated, isn’t it?

You see guys, you can’t have everything you wish for. You can’t expect to have a superbly intelligent nerd who helps you to secure at least a B in every test by constantly coaxing you for group studies, as your friend and at the same time expect him/her to go with you for a game five times a week or shopping (whatever suits the gender). You need to realize that “perfect personalities don’t exist, at all.”

Following are some points which can a) make you a good friend for others & b) help you realize who your true friends are. Chances are that they might just be lurking around you and you only need a nudge from me to see them.

• Simply, lower your expectations, for a start.
• Don’t be materialistic, it’s obviously not an attractive personality trait.
• Try to cherish your moments with your buddy by having a good laugh, a good gossip or talking about some serious issues concerning your/their life.
• Be a good listener as well as a good speaker. Mutual interests are extremely necessary to be good friends with someone.
• Once in a while, engage in a talk that concerns families. The more you talk about people close to your friend, the more he/she will trust you. And obviously, vice versa.
• Presents are important, yes, but not as effective as sweet and sincere words. Your gifts should never indicate that you’re impressing or flaunting neither they should show that you’re gifting grudgingly. But a sincere wish, will too, go a long way. It’ll be etched in their minds.
• While we’re discussing wishes another important point to keep in mind is to make sure you convince them that you’re genuinely concerned about their happiness and life.
• Never compare your own riches or money with your friend. NEVER.
• Be sincerely happy at their achievements.
• Relationships can distance you from your friends. If this is the case, do let them know you want to help them and then give your friend the desired space. If he/she comes to you, great! If not, he/she never did consider you a friend.
• Occasionally, sharing personal secrets is healthy for your friendship.
• Avoid backbiting. Entirely. This cracks the basis of trust.
• Help them in their time of need. The thing is, there might come a point in your life when either of you may not be available for each other at the time of need. No worries, if the friendship is strong, you will find at least a moment to inquire about them through a simple phone call. Even that is enough.
• Friendship is not about going to lavish restaurants for lunches. It’s about making your own lunch and watching a badass movie in your room together. (Oh and washing dishes later).
• Better is, not to discuss your friendship matters with strangers.
• Your real friend won’t go on 3 days in a row without talking you. Bear that in mind!

Your friend won’t have a tattoo on their forehead to prove to you that he/she is your friend. There is no test for proving the strength of friendship. It depends on your own notions. You’ll just feel a connection.

Friends are necessary. Your parents and siblings will not be around forever. Relatives, are a totally different story. During your rough times, when even your closest cousins might scarper, only your real friends shall be there. Make sure you cherish your friends, be a good companion and find good companions for your own selves.

Cheers!

An unusual playlist

 

 

Some lyrics or some tunes of a song touch your soul. I never quite understood the power behind these musical notes that can even make you fly. I believe music works as a great therapy. It can charge you up, produce positive vibes in you and make you feel and see a completely different dimension of yourself. Music helps you in discovering who you are, what you can do, what your life circulates around and what not.

Basically, the key to the above mentioned lie in the choice of music you have. True, everyone likes different type of music. Everyone has different favorite genres. And wonderful it is, how many varieties there are in this art. It can be a tune that is meant to rattle your brain from the core as in hard rock and make you forget every thing bad that has ever happened to you, or, it can make you dream of green lands, rivers, birds, cool breeze through soft romantic tunes. Music has the power to turn up your imagination, in short.

My music playlist, to be honest, isn’t appreciated much. The basic reason is, I have very very few favorites. I can count them on my fingers. So the variety is pretty thin. Secondly, on the whole, people mostly tend to listen to the typical shining stars like Linkin Park, Calvin Harris, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, The Beatles etc, but they are not my type, just to be clear. I discover the undiscovered and I go for the tunes. Because of this reason my playlist is full of the unusual ones and people make the awkward-est faces possible at the names I take. Hah!

Anyways, today I thought of sharing some songs which are a part of multiple playlists I’ve made in my life till now. Before staring though, all are equally my favorites.

• Butterfly (Karl Wolf)
  This song was one of the first few I listened to and it played a vital role in attracting me towards music. I love the tune and the lyrics…well just hear them out! You’ll decide.

• Tales from the South (Tiesto/Estuera)
  The first trance track I got addicted to. It has been over 5 years and I still listen to it whenever I want to treat myself with a soothing song. It’s marv!

• So fly (Git Fresh)
  Most of the people don’t even know about this band. They’re awesome. The beats in their songs are fantastic. *So fly* has beautiful lyrics.

• Elements of life (Tiesto)
  The music of this song will touch your hearts! It’s from the same album as the above mentioned Tiesto song.

• Love comes again (BT/Tiesto)
  Haan Haan dubara Tiesto! I’m one big trance fan. The vocals of this song are sung by BT and they are out of this world. I don’t know why but I fell in love with the lyrics first and then the tune.

• Elements (Lindsey Stirling)
  LS is one person you should definitely listen to if you are a fan of a) trance & b) violin. Gosh this is the first one of hers that I added to my playlist and God knows how many times I’ve listened to this.

• Dragonflies (Slangor)
  A perfect combination of beats to make a groovy trance track. A must listen.

• Careless whispers (George Michaels)
  If you’re up for some sad lyrics and a touch of 80’s, this is your song. Beautifully vocalized. And the music is breathtaking. (okay this is a secret: I’m not a dancing person, specially couple-dancing, but if there’s one song I’d dance at, this would be it!)

• Still in love (Amos Milburn)
  Oh so you still want to hear sad songs? This will blow your mind. The lyrics are so heart touching, they made me cry. Sigh.

• Take my hand (Simple Plan)
  This song is going to produce such strong positivity in you that you’ll be surprised. Honestly, this song has extremely powerful lyrics. “Take my hand tonight, lets not think about tomorrow”… isn’t this what we all want?

•  Peace of mind (Modjo)
  Our of 100 not even 0.1% would know about Modjo. If you like a couple of old English songs in your playlist with strong vocals, he’s your man! And this song *peace of mind* has the most mind-blowing lyrics ever. You listen to this, it’s like your life story.

• Lady (Modjo)
  Making-her-your-girl-tip: And this song, dear guys, you should play when you’re about to propose her. Lol,jk! But this song is really very beautiful. Trust me. It can make any decent girl, melt.

• Who knows (Massari)
  I’m not doing justice with Massari as I’m mentioning him so late, but seriously, he is one of my top favorites (I’ve been made fun of multiple times because of this fact! Duh). Hear this song when you’re having a mood swing and it’ll make you smile. I personally love this one.

• Real Love (Massari)
  Dude, sing this song for her, and she’ll be yours! (oh please, don’t take my advice, I don’t know shit) The tune of this song is so heart touching and the way Massari has vocalized the song, no one could’ve done it better than him.

• Angel in the Night (Basshunter)
  A beautiful song with sweet lyrics. Basshunter is so amazingly talented, I came across his songs just last year and my oh my… I instantly followed him.

• Now you’re gone (Basshunter)
  The lyrics of this song will make you like yaar, imma cry…but you wont. The music wont let you.  Well-balanced darkness and brightness of this song.

• Palma Solane (Estuera)
  Trance makes you forget that melancholic mood of yours for some time. Palma solane will help you achieve it more easily.

• Mellomaniac (DJ Shah)
  I came across this while stumbling and I was like WHOA! YE KITNA ANTH HAI! A must listen. A soul touching tune.

• Shadows (Lindsey Stirling)
  I was torn between mentioning either of two other songs of LS in my playlist and I’ve chosen shadows. This one is different from Elements b/c more beats.

• Piano HipHop (CallumSwift)
  He has only 4 uploads at soundcloud and it bloody disappoints me. This one song grabs my hand and takes me into a whole new world of imagination. Lovely tune!

• Souls (TroyBoi)
  I found this song on soundcloud. It’s different from the usual tracks and it intrigued me from the start. By the end I’m always like “Never heard some bad-ass music like this before!”

Of course, there is no end to music. I keep coming across lovely songs every now and then. So if there are any other additions to my playlist in the future, I’ll definitely share them.

And hey, do let me know if we have some similar favorites, haha.

Rant # 2

You know people, I’ve concluded in these 23 years (well, actually it’ll be 23 in July, but anyway) of my melodramatic life, that the reason of our constant failure and lack in attaining some greater position in the world is in reality, very simple:
“We are not sincere to ourselves.We jump onto different conclusions without considering the circumstances of the situation and also, we lack the ability to be confident and give confident answers.”
I asked someone close to me, a question regarding marriage and differences in religion. Although I wasn’t expecting a straight reply, but I knew that person had knowledge of religion. What really bothered me was the conclusion drawn from my question and it compelled me to rant here. Cutting the shit, here’s the question I asked:
“Marriage of Muslims with the Ahl-e-Kitaab (believers of the four Holy books) is okay in Islam but marrying a Hindu is not. But what I’ve observed is, that some Hindus, are much better than some Ahl-e-Kitaab, some Hindus do consider sex before marriage wrong, they consider drinking wrong, they follow many rules which we Muslims follow as well. They fast, they have their religious ceremonies. They do not eat pork. And they support Muslims and Islam. But most Ahl-e-Kitaab, they don’t even believe in God, they’ve literally twisted the Holy books, they eat pork, they drink, Pope doesn’t get married (that’s defying the laws of family), how is all that acceptable but not the Hindus?”
I hope you guys get the gist of my query. But what’s more important is the answer:
“Read it yourself, go research. And why are you even asking this question? Are you planning to get married to someone who is not a Muslim?”
Really? RE-FUCKING-ALLY? This was just a simple query that popped up in my mind and now people are thinking I’m inclined to getting married to some Hindu/Believer.
I’m so done living in this world really. I don’t even have nay words to express how furious I was after hearing this. No wonder we are so behind. We let our judgemental minds take over the good side. Keep up with this attitude and in no time Pakistan will be a forgotten state, mark my words.

p.s: I’m not talking about the general Hindu/Believer communities, these are the people I’ve observed, my observations might be deviating from the reality.