Shakarparay

I’ll go down the memory lane and share two memories with you. While writing this post I’ll relive those moments and you will probably reconsider the fact that we live in an eventful world and one life is too short to experience everything. That’s why we tell stories and that’s why we read 🙂

In a small village an elderly man lives in a small house. Every afternoon he makes around 20 Kilograms of “Shakarparay” (It’s name of a sweet) and opens a door of a room in his house that opens into the street. There isn’t any board, nameplate or wall-chalking to attract people. When he opens the door, smell of the fresh sweet fills the streets of the village and everyone knows what to do. Like roses and jasmines attract honey bees, this smell attracts people towards this opened door. I passed through that village one afternoon and was lucky to stop and buy warm and fresh “Shakarparay”. Unfortunately I don’t remember the face of the person who makes the sweet as it was a bit dark inside that small room from where I bought the sweet however the smell, taste and that small street is still fresh in my mind.

It was a cold morning – I was traveling on an old bus that was cruising through small localities. It stopped every now and then because either someone wanted to get off or board it. It was an annoyance but I was also observing the people as well as enjoying the fields and houses on the sides of the road that were flying past my eyes so I wasn’t that annoyed 🙂 Eventually it crossed a long bridge on a river and the driver parked it in an open area beside the road. People started getting off the bus, I had no idea what’s going on as I wasn’t expecting this stop at all. Probably it was well understood by the people who traveled through that bus that it stops after crossing the bridge for a while. Anyways I came down to be welcomed by the cold winter morning – my hands quickly went in the pockets of my jeans and my chin started exploring the possibilities of hiding itself in my sweater but to no avail. The river was covered by a thick sheet of mist and far in the east the sun was about to rise. The warmth of the first rays of the sun that rose there after a few minutes, are a source of warmth and joy for my heart till this day.

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WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Well, i admit that it’s indescent to shout in capital letters but I don’t know what the Guninness people are waiting for!!!

they should have awarded the title of “Most funny state in the world” to my  country by now

Isn’t it interesting that one day you wake up to know that there would be unscheduled power outages and then these outages keep teasing you many times a day but you don’t have any single idea whether the authorities have a workable plan to solve this problem or they’ll just keep enjoying the handsome pay and luxuries which the government is liable to pay to this lucky lot.

Politics, judiciary and the Mother of all; Media have created such a havoc in the country that even the most careless people have started to think about these issues

some of them have even decided to do a detailed blog post on this mayhem

I am not interested in shedding more tears over this spilt milk at the moment but i am more than sure that Guinness people are biased for not considering us for the award 😉

Anyways… today i got an opportunity to sit with a 90 years young man. We talked about various things

i’ll quote some of his sentences, it’s upto you how you interpret them. Sorry for inconvenience if you don’t understand Urdu. (It’s the language that we speak in Pakistan)

“qanoon tou moum ki naak hae, jis taraf chaho maror lo”

“janwar bhee apni jins ko nuqsan nahee pohnchata”

“hum ney sub kuch apni ankhon se dekha hae, abhi hum zinda hain magar log din diharay jhoot boltay hain, such ko chupatay hain”

Normally aged people are not a nice company to be with but exceptions are always there. In my opinion aged people are a treasure. It depends on us whether we get benefit from their experience or not.

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verb: desire

The bridge was as dry as ever. Who can say that water passed over this bridge two days ago. We crossed the bridge and drove towards a village.

I met a person there; who was very rich but he didn’t use his wealth, even on himself. I felt sad for him and came to a conclusion that power and wealth without the desire to use it for one’s good is pitiful.

In my opinion, a person who lives in his present, works hard all the day and keeps trying to excel should not be condemned if he dreams high about his future; logically or illogically.

I would tap his back if he rules an imaginary kingdom when his aching back settles on the bed at night. At least he has the desire for elation, sweet smell of his half baked dreams soothes him and who knows, what; tomorrow is bringing for him 🙂

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Tale of a Travel

I sit there
and think
talk to myself
smile
and stare like lunatics

i am not alone
yet alone
on a sorrowful vacant station
as i wait for the train

seeing
feats of
lights and shadows
at a distant wall

“seeing is believing”
but beware!
and differentiate
shadows from the real images

in the world of possibilities
impossibilities are possibly impossible
therefore
realities need explanations
to be advocated

in the meanwhile
wind starts blowing
breaking the quietness
as leaves rattle
with the tingling pushes

they roll over and over
telling the stories
of their pain
and alleviation
rise and fall
life and death
to the
conscious ear

then it starts raining
filling the void
with drops of rain
which playfully chase each other down
until they hit the ground

tiny droplets
with less choices
and short life
less sufferings
but who knows

one of them passes by my eyes
and hesitantly
i ask him
how do you feel?
“cruising towards your doom”
he mumbles’
its not destruction
its destination

clouds murmur
and laugh boisterously
when their fellas crack a joke

official cameramen of Gods
ride the clouds
rakishly thrashing their flash-lamps
capturing the panoramas
of mortals
and their washed abodes

moths start dancing around me
as i grab a corner in the corridor
just under the tube light
there i experience
funny Intrusions and sneaky interruptions
voices
ringing cell phones
rising anticipation
and there the train comes
it’s few hours late

people rush towards it
boarding it
cursing the higher authorities
and smiling
as they don’t have to wait any more
looking for vacant seats
settling down
after adjusting their luggage
feeding their curiosities
by probing the passengers
in their range
judging them from their apparels
then taking a deep breadth
and staring outside
from the half open window
feeling the cool wind
and submitting their selves
to another journey

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A late eve, excursion

walking along a narrow road; full of cruising vehicles, scares me. I rather enjoyed this experience today. The weather, rain and wind were all amazing with the blinking sky lightning in the far left.
The cool breeze said in my ear that Only those have the right to enjoy life; who dare to confront set routines. I agreed; and wandered along the snake curls of the road towards a vivid destination.
It’s so awesome when you enter in a contest without the fear of loosing it. You are at ease and you enjoy the process. you laugh at those who are desperate for success and afraid of defeat.
When you wander and let the soul of the path corrupt you, only then you encounter interesting things.
we talk about what we want to have and what we don’t have but why don’t we talk about what we have? i think that seems awkward. How conscious we are of not to look awkward.
A friend came to my room and mocked “weather is so good outside and you are sitting here” i asked him well; how are you enjoying it? he had no plans but as workable plans don’t take a long time to set them, we agreed on a plan and headed for it.
whenever we go outside in a different surrounding, a different environment than that we live in; we find chances to experience new things. A new taste was waiting for us in our way. we were going for fish but we ended up with spicy “chapal kababs”. life is full of surprises.
We passed by a shop where two guys were playing carom and also walked besides a jam packed restaurant. Curiosity led us in and we found that where people were gambling on cards. Feeling conscious eyes we found our way out as soon as possible. Why we don’t understand that a bird in hand is better than two in the bush. Why do people gamble? I read somewhere that history of gambling dates back to dark ages.
An ancient king; who was also fond of gambling, made his prisoners to gamble for their life, looser’s head was chopped of then and there.Human nature is complicated.
we came back chatting and gossiping in the pleasant rain trying to catch rain drops in our mouth. Friend! If you haven’t enjoyed the rain, standing beneath a road lamp, i bet; you have really missed something.

The most amazing part is that we met an old man who shared his crux of life, told few tales of his hunting experiences and served us with brown sugar tea. He also invited us on a special party. The date is yet to be decided. i wish it is not scheduled in the coming week as my exams are starting from monday. And i am not scared of exams 🙂 Thanks to Abu for not raising me a coward. In between; sometimes i am scared of cats 😉

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