Traffic Mess and a donkey man

Lahore the city of 13 gates is a mess with traffic. There are donkey carts, cars, motorcycle and rickshaws. If you have got the international license you may not be competent enough to drive in this great city. You have to get another license in order to make sure that you can drive safely in lahore with all the persons living a healthy life. Yes I do mean that you don’t get hit by any of the vehicle driving in lahore. In posh areas you can drive your vehicle with much competency but if you are in the walled city of lahore here there is an exam awaiting for you. There is a unique hustle and bustle out there. So many hawkers and passersby are waiting for you to hit them. It is you who can make them walk safely. if a rickshaw is in front of you it is impossible for you to overtake it. And if you are lucky enough and a donkey cart with so much of load is driving, your vehicle should have the horn of a train. Otherwise the donkey is so wise and his master is wiser enough that he will not make you pass by his donkey. He thinks that his donkey is degraded in front of your vehicle. While passing by you should call the master with a voice oye khotay (O Donkey) because he has made your mind boiled up. He will then call you by names and claim that he was not at the mistake it was your mistake that you couldn’t overtake his so called speedy Donkey.

If you are going back to your home you should wash your face before entering in your home because no one will recognize you. yes I am talking about the condition of your hairs and clothes. Dust and smoke will make your face like a beggar who has not taken bath for a long time.  If by mistake you have entered your home without washing your face your family members may beat you up because they will think about stranger getting inside home without permission. If by chance you are driving a car in walled city then there is lot of time required for you to get out of it.

Enjoy your ride in Lahore.  

Mistake makes you......

It was my first mistake and I said ok no problem I will try not to make it again. I again made a mistake and said I will try my level best not to make third time. But mistakes came and mistakes gone and I am still making so big mistakes. If you are making mistake it is not that you are not capable of doing it. It is the tool that makes you perfect in that work. And at one time you are so perfect that you are genius in the eyes of the world in that work.

So make mistakes and make them happen as they want it. If someone says he was here with full perfection without making mistake he is a big liar. If I give you an example of a small child who cannot walk yet, he fells so many times while learning to walk. His back hurts so badly but he is still laughing coz he learnt something that made him laugh. And that learning was his mistake which he will try not to make it next time.

I had gone through so many situations that made me cry for the time being but now I realize that these mistakes had made me so much grown up and so much competent that I am ready to make 100 more mistakes to learn.

filling up plate at marriage ceremony

Marriage ceremony is the event celebrated all over the world. It differs from culture to culture and people to people. I would like to give a review about a marriage ceremony, well not marriage ceremony but eating ceremony on marriage in Pakistan especially lahore.

If you have been to a marriage of a loved one you would have probably experienced about the gentleness of people when dinner or lunch is made open to the guests. Not only gentleness but also the politeness and ethics and manners. If someone in the hall tells about the food is ready to eat everybody in the hall will try to get the lead over his partner and that is the time when No one is your relative, your friend or your sibling. You are just alone in this world at that time. None of the person will ask you about what would you like to eat and what have you eaten. Be careful if you are eating too much because cold drinks are not served yet. Look everywhere for it. Look here and there it may be in the hands of waiter and you might not get one. coz there are so many predators sitting there and none of them damn care about if you had one or not.

I have talked much about the ethics of people while taking food. How about telling something about getting plates filled up from bottom to top, from left to right and from right to left. I think that who so ever has designed a plate is such a fool. Didn’t he knew that its not enough for people to fill it up to their desire.

In such events plates are filled so much that they give the look of Himalayas Mountain and they are getting out of the plate. Well not each and every bite is finished from the plate. Just 2 to 3 bites and all the food is wasted away. I don’t know why people are so unsure about if they will not get it afterwards. If ice cream is served also it is just the milk you get if you are late. Your clothes will give a horrific look at the end with so much stew rolling out of your clothes. If any one could ever have a bite from it they wil not hesitate but unfortunately their stomachs are so much filled that only one bite can make them puke out.

Unbearable Movie review (Lollywood)

Have you ever watched a movie that has only one hero and hundreds of enemies? One riffle with hero and all the enemies have their own riffles. But unfortunately the riffles of enemies are just to show the hero. only one bullet of hero’s riffle can make the hundreds dead. But 100 of bullets from the enemy side can’t kill one hero. If the bullets are finished in hero’s riffle it’s not a big deal. When the enemy shoots the bullet hero catches the bullet with his own hand. Load it in his riffle and shoots back and enemy is dead. I think if James Bond watches this movie he will commit suicide at the spot.

All of the movies just circle the same story where hero has one gun a horse and hundreds of enemies. There is a heroine also who dances in front of the hero and the hero is trying to ignore it. His face depicts all the impressions. He is in full anger and throwing money on the dancer. The most funny things of all is that when a hero shoots the enemy, the enemy dies in such a funny way and falls on the ground that you can’t stop laughing. The film production takes place in a village where there are lots of buffaloes and cows with dung.

The villain always tries to blackmail hero by picking up the heroine and now the hero whose face was like of an angry men when she was dancing in front of him comes to an action and makes every move to save her. In the end the villain dies a very critical death and can’t even give a single punch on hero’s face. Before dying hero makes a speech in a very loud voice and as the speech finishes the villain does not waste any time to die.

A bowl Of Nihari

Nihari, a favorite dish of lahoris. It is basically made from various spices and meat of Cow, usually muscles of cow are used for this dish. It is served with ginger sliced finely, green chili and some lemon. It is mainly eaten with Roti baked in tandoor. Small pieces of roti are dipped in the stew of nihari and when they are soft enough you can enjoy this juicy dish along with some chili and ginger. It is also served with the brain of cow that is fried in desi ghee. When you eat the first bite of it a soft and juicy but delicious taste comes in your mouth and you want to eat more and more. Some of the points where nihari is sold in Lahore are Waris Nihari, Muhammadi nihari and haji. In Lahore people take this in the breakfast also. There are so many spices in it that a foreigner can’t eat it. My brother told me that he went out with a Chinese to have nihari and when he ate the first bite he was unbearable and was asking for a glass of water. My brother had a pity on him and brought him a shake. He got stable after a long time and asked my brother how you people eat this dish. Its preparation needs a full day. One of my brother’s Egyptian friend asked him Do you people wait for a day and starve to eat this dish. My brother had a big laugh and said YES. and the Egyptian guy stared at him in a meaningful manner. We lahoris can wait even days to eat this delicious dish. As for me I am so much mad for this dish that I can’t even wait to eat while cooking. My mouth is watering and my stomach is getting up and down to have this yummy dish.  

Have a try if you ever get it.

Charm of Friday.... nightmare of Monday

Waking up on Friday morning is not a big deal. You wake up with your full energy coz you know there is a long weekend ahead and you want to go to work and finish the work as early as possible. Going to work and doing work with lot of energy and joy is only on Friday’s. In other days you are dull, absent and lazy and trying to finish the work with no interest.

When you are free from work and go home you are having an inner joy that makes you feel that you are alive again after long and hectic work. Gathering out with friends, watching a good movie and sleeping are the plans of your long weekend. It is impossible to do these things in the weekdays even if you have got the time. The threat of going next day is always pinching your mind and heart and you never feel doing this kind of stuff in those days. After having a joyful Friday there is not any kind of burden on your mind and you say to yourself there are still 2 holidays left. Saturdays starts by getting up late from the bed, having breakfast and then making yourself lazy and useless person. You work and make plans for the Saturday night and eventually the Saturday also passes like a flash of light. Sunday comes and what you first think off when you wake up is that you have to go tomorrow to work and this thing continues to pinch as the day passes. At night when you go to bed after preparing for your Monday morning you are like a dead person. Same old routine, waking up early, going to work, meet the irritating boss, doing work and back home with frown face. And the worst of all and the most irritating thing is when your alarm rings and you see the time and say

“O Shit Monday Again, Only 5 More Days To Go”

A story of an empty minded

There are some moments in life when you think you are going to be a dead man. And that is true in case of you have an exam the next day and you don’t know even the ABC of that subject. It is my experience of life that whenever you have an exam like this you feel that you must die at the spot as the disgrace of failing the exam is worst than facing the death. Before further doing I would like to discuss my experience when I was doing masters of business and I had a final exam. It was my second semester and the subject was cost accounting. Well there were 5 holidays in between due to eid. I spent my eid with full joy wasting my 3 days. Well now it was the time to study. I woke up and got ready to prepare my exam. I opened the book and then I closed it. I had 6 chapters to do and no one was there to help me in complicated problems. I had always problem in doing numeric work. And this was one of it. Well I called my friend who was already with other friends sitting in a hostel and studying. I went there and I was shocked that most of them have finished 2 chapters and I was still blank. I begged one of my friend to teach me and tell me what to do. He explained me what to do, how to solve the problems but instead of my brain there was hay in my head. Well all day passed out and I was still blank. I went home back and was having a pitiful condition. All I need was sleep. The next day was Sunday and I woke up at nearly around 11 am. Had a breakfast and thinking of next day paper. After having it I went out to comfort myself. A neighbor met me and said what’ up buddy you are not looking good. I told him that tomorrow is my paper. He had a cunning smile on his face and wished me best luck. I went home and started doing what I could do easily. I had solutions to the questions but there was no use of it coz the paper was got to be totally different. I made up my mind that if I go through these questions properly I can pass the paper. I started again and went through all of my syllabus. But I was like I don’t know anything. All the day passed and in the end I thought I should sleep coz now nothing can happen.

The next day my heart was just falling out of my chest and confusion was clear on my face. I went in the class room and when I looked at my paper I was a little bit relaxed coz I knew 4 out of 6 six questions. But I was not confident that whether I was doing it correctly or not. I attempted all the 4 questions and then I asked my friend sitting at the next chair. Can you please help me to attempt the 2 questions. And he said ok I will tell you all of it let me solve first. He helped me in doing those questions and we went out of the class. I thanked him but feared about my result.

When the result was declared I was having second highest to the subjects I had given.

The Endless Battle

Roads and streets give a deserted look. No man and no shadow can be found on the road. Every person is sitting in his home and making prayers. But what is the matter with all of them. Well its Pakistan vs India cricket match and everyone wants to see the team win. It is not just game it becomes a war between the two rivals. A game that begins with the fight and ends up with the martyrs lying down on the battle field and the loser team is just trying to hide their faces with embarrassment and shame. The other team tries to taunt the loser. Not only the players but the people of both the country try to led others down. Social networking sites are full of abuses between the people of two countries. Big screens are installed on the public places. Special holiday is announced in both offices and schools. Blood pressure and heart attacks are the main cause of death in this game. Every ball counts in this game and no one wants to blink eyes. Not just the people of these countries enjoy the game but also other teams and people of other countries try to make their day by watching this big game between Pakistan and India. Whether it’s a world cup or a tri series, stadium is booked two to three days before in case of tri series and two to three months before the world cup match. The players in the stadium are not less passionate and aggressive. Hard comments are passed on and sometimes the situation is so critical that players push each other with force and raise their bats. In the end there is celebration all over the winner country and mourn and grief in the other one.

This is not just a game, it’s a battle, a battle which started when these both countries were separated from each other. The battle which has no end and which has no reason.  An endless battle that is due to hatred or due to some religious or political reason. But this can only be felt if you are a Pakistani or an Indian.

Tummy Out Lahore

You wake up early in the morning. And the first thing in your mind is to eat a breakfast. not only breakfast but a kind of mini lunch. Lahore a city of living people with living hearts where people cant live without eating the desi food whether in breakfast lunch or dinner. Usually people wake up at 7. And first thing they discuss is “What To Eat”. It’s a big question of the day for a lahori. If any American doctor comes to know how much cholesterol we lahori take in He will eventually die at the spot.

Some of the most popular dishes of lahore for breakfast and lunch and dinner are Halwa poori, Naan Chanay, kulcha with yougurt with some sugar in it, lassi, siri paye (head and legs of goat), taka tak (liver fried on a big pan with a small spade like thing), nihari, bar-B-Q, parathay and much more. On the big festivals such as Eid, katlama also called Punjabi pizza is one of the favorites of lahoris. In the month of Ramadan people of lahore eat double amount of food from the usual routine. During the time of iftar different stalls of food are decorated on the road side and there is a lot of hustle and bustle. Apart from this on the occasion of Eid Ul Azha goats, cows and camels are sacrificed and most of the lahoris eat so much amount of meat that they feel like they are going to burst out. Tikkas, kebabs and palao are the main food of this big occasion. I met a friend who went to Islamabad for a week was telling me that there is nothing to eat, and he was like going to starve from death. He told that there were no tandoors and no breakfast was there to eat. It was miles away from where he lived and when he got them he was going to vomit all of it. It was so bad and also very expensive.                   

“Lahore is Lahore” a three word sentence that tells all about the charm and feeling of being a lahori or living in lahore. If someone asks me to live outside lahore for a month, I would like to die instead.

The charm of lahore is something that could only be felt by those who are living in it especially from their childhood. the experience of living in this great city is like “you can take me out of lahore but you can’t take lahore out of me.

In lahore there are many small shops where drinks, paan and cigarettes are sold. If you cannot buy a full pack of cigarette you can ask the man to give you one. And one of the thing outside that shop is that it is red from outside. Not from the paint but due to the spiting of liquid after eating paan.

In lahore 12 gates of lahore which were built by the mughal emperors during their reign has a very different life style. Small homes, rush in bazaars, way the people speak and also the food which you get even at late midnight. There is non stoppable hustle and bustle of people and people are so soft spoken that you are going to love them. They are the lover of food with belly out. 

In the end i would like to say

 "Who has not seen Lahore, has not even born"

Rickshaw (A curse or Blessing)

This is rickshaw. Also known as machar (Mosquito) in Lahore. If you have been to Lahore you are very much familiar with its structure and its noise. people of Lahore are also called open hearted people. But I think someone has forgot to say Lahore a city of open hearted and closed ears. Not because they are not good in hospitality and insert their fingers in their ears when any foreigner speaks to them. The truth is that lahoris bear the noise of this ignitable mosquito with 3 seater on back and of course one at the front.

This vehicle is unique of its kind. First of all if a rickshaw comes in front of your vehicle which is I guess not a rickshaw, it would be difficult even for Michael Schumacher to overtake this vehicle and get out of its range. You might think that it has a very high speed with boosters on its back and can compete formula one racing cars. But I tell you that you are wrong. The fact is that when the driver of rickshaw comes to know that someone wants to overtake him, he increases the speed and then comes in the middle of road. If you want to overtake him from right, which he is watching from his rear mirror he will turn his mosquito to the right and same in the case of left. And the driver wants to tell you that his rickshaw is capable enough to compete your vehicle in the race competition. One of the very interesting thing about rickshaw is that its back is full of poetry or some funny stuff which makes you laugh on the road and people might think that you have gone insane. One of its kind which I read was “I will become aero plane when I will get older” (Main bhara ho kar hawai jahaz banon ga). There are so many others which I can’t even translate in English. You have to learn Urdu to read this funny kind of stuff.

If you have travelled alone you are lucky enough. But if you are a school boy or girl and a rickshaw is appointed to pick and drop you from school then I have a deep pity in my heart. 10 boys and girls sitting in the back with their school bags and the seat is only designed for three people. Well don’t forget the front seat there is lot of space with the driver. Two of the students sit with the driver. And if there was enough space the driver could adjust a student sitting on his shoulder. But what can he do. The rickshaw designer was having a small brain otherwise he would have not designed a ceiling on it.

Apart from noise there is another thing that it emits so much amount of smoke that it can fulfill your desire of 10 cigarettes in 3 minutes. I am not joking, believe me. Your face will turn black and you want to get out of its range but in vain. You are not able enough to compete the driver and his beautiful smoke emitting and noise making 3 seater mosquito. And if there are two to three rickshaws in a row you must stop at a shop and have a coke coz it will make you relax and calm otherwise it would not be a good day for your children.

In the end I would like to dedicate a poem to rickshaw   

Rickshaw on the left

Rickshaw on the right

Rickshaw on the back

Rickshaw on the flight

Rickshaw with the voice

Makes a Lahori

Beaten up by his wife

Disappointments Leads you to......

A feeling that make you feel that you will never succeed in any part of your life……..

A state developed by the people around you…. A state that leads you to the darker side of the life…. A state when all of your abilities are like drop of water in an ocean…. When someone disappoints you it feels like you are falling from height and falling and falling and the ground is still far away from you

Why people disappoints anyone….. it’s a big question….. in my opinion following are the reasons

People think that they are superior to you

People can’t see someone leading a better life than them

People always make comparisons with others and none of them see you as an individual having capabilities.

People think that you are one of the most dumb and fool guy on earth.

In some conditions the reason is You

And that is due to your continuous failures

Lack of confidence in yourself

You think that you are inferior to everyone and you are not comparable nor can you lead anyone

Sometimes a big scar on your heart is blotted and that blot can never be removed by someone unless you don’t try

Disappointments can even give better results….. it may make you someone who is unique and no can meet your capabilities…. But again its YOU who can change everything…. Coz you are the one who can understand yourself more than anyone can

There are many positive impacts on one’s personality but negative one out in numbers.

According to Martin King Luther

“We must accept finite disappointments but never lose infinite hope”

The graveyard, an old man and the leaf

Walking through the graves of people….. I was so tired… I just wanted to sit somewhere….. there was a grave with marbles on it and I sat there in a lying position…. the world here was so different….. so many humans around me and not a single voice….. a gentle wind was blowing with little voice of whistle…. The leaves of the trees were falling….. most of them were dried up….. I picked one of the leaf which had turned yellow… I was looking at it like I had never seen it before….. I smelled it…. Very light smell of leaf was left behind….. the sun had hidden its face and now there was complete darkness…. I looked around all over but there was no one…. In fact if there was someone I would have been frightened… I looked at the grave on which I was sitting…. Thinking of one day I would be in the same place like everyone else with no one to hear me

Suddenly I felt some one’s hand on my shoulder….. my whole body became cold….. I looked back, an old person with white beard and dressed in white clothes…. “Yes can I help you”, he asked……  no I need no help but I think you need help….yes sure …. he said I am digging a grave and the person to be buried is of your height….. if you can lie down in grave so that I can dig exactly the size of man…. Now that I was like I should run away…… ok I will help you I said in a shivering voice…. The man was walking and I was behind him…. When all of a sudden a white cloud appeared before me and there was no sign of graves or the old man….

I screamed a loud…. I woke up on my bed… with the leaf in my hand… suffering from high fever

My mom asked me what you were doing in the graveyard ….. I had no words to explain

except my silence and fear told all the story..........................................

Scheduling Up

Setting up my time table was always a difficult task….. from last 24 years I had been setting up my time table….. and It went opposite to time table….. during my 17 years studies I had been scheduling my tasks to be done…… and you know what….. It was never done in time….. and another funny thing about it was….. the day I had chosen for a subject in time table….. always on that day my heart felt like “What a boring subject”… I couldn’t understand the whole thing….. it matters not whether it was my favorite subject or not….. the next day when I had scheduled for another subject….. the previous day subject was looking more interesting…… and it looked like I was going to finish all of it……

Whatever the time table had been set by me….. it mattered not….. all the subjects were done on the 11^th hour….. when my exam was on the very next day… it was really tough….. and more interestingly I could understand those things which were so difficult that I wasn’t able to understand whole year….

Humanity

The Sorrows of Young Werther

What I have been doing for so many years…..

Nothing…. Just lock my room door……

and crying for hours….

Beating up myself…

swiping away my tears before someone comes....

coz I dint want someone to see me like this…..

not because I am bad….its because people think me I am unusual…..

I was not a boy with any extra capabilities…..

 but I was also not so bad…. I went out and people appreciated me… I walked in and people disgraced me ….. I can’t be like anyone…. I am just me and I want to be myself….

If people accept …. I’ll be happy….

If people don’t….  I shouldn’t be here anymore…..

 I made up my mind to finish my life…. But I didn’t…. coz someday I want to show people

What I am…

I want to serve humanity…. And that’s the fact that I can’t see anyone crying like me in a room with no one to listen and no hands to swipe tears away