LESSONS IN LIFE

 

First

 

The first thing I have learnt is that we must always begin with our strengths. There is an imaginary story of a rabbit. The rabbit was enrolled in a rabbit school. Like all rabbits, it could hop very well but could not swim. At the end of the year, the rabbit got high marks in hopping but failed in swimming. The parents were concerned. They said, 'Forget about hopping. You are, anyway good at it. Concentrate on swimming.' They sent the rabbit for tuitions in swimming. And guess what happened? The rabbit forgot how to hop! As for swimming, have you ever seen a rabbit swim? While it is important for us to know what we are not good at, we must also cherish what is good in us. That is because it is only our strengths that can give us the energy to correct our weaknesses.
 

 

Second

 

The second lesson I have learnt is that a rupee earned is of far more value than five found. My friend was sharing with me, the story of his eight year-old niece. She would always complain about the breakfast. The cook tried everything possible, but the child remained unhappy. Finally, my friend took the child to a supermarket and brought one of those ready-to-cook cereal packets. The child had to cut the packet and pour water in the dish. The child found the food to be absolutely delicious? The difference was that she had cooked it! In my own life, I have found that nothing gives as much satisfaction as earning our own rewards. In fact, what is gifted or inherited follows the old rule of 'come easy, go easy'. I guess we only know the value of what we have, if we have struggled to earn it.
 

 

Third

 

The third lesson I have learnt is, in Cricket, no one bats a hundred every time. Life has many challenges. You win some and lose some. You must enjoy winning. But do not let it go to the head. The moment it does, you are already on your way to failure. And if you do encounter failure along the way, treat it as an equally natural phenomenon. Don't beat yourself for it or anyone else for that matter! Accept it, look at your own share in the problem, learn from it and move on. The important thing is, when you lose, do not 'lose the lesson'.
 

 

Fourth

 

The fourth lesson I have learnt, is the importance of humility. Sometimes, when you get so much in life, you really start wondering, whether you deserve all of it. We have so much to be grateful for. Our parents, our teachers and our seniors, have done so much for us, that we can never repay them. Many people focus on the shortcomings, because obviously, no one can be perfect. But it is important to first acknowledge, what we have received. Nothing in life is permanent, but when a relationship ends, rather than becoming bitter, we must learn to savor the memory, of the good things, while they lasted.

 

Fifth

 

The fifth lesson I learnt is, that we must always strive for excellence. One way of achieving excellence, is by looking at those better than ourselves. Keep learning what they do differently. But excellence cannot be imposed from the outside. We must also feel the need from within. It must involve not only our mind, but also our heart and soul. Excellence is not an act, but a habit. I remember the inspiring lines of a poem, which says that your reach must always exceed your grasp. That is heaven on earth. Ultimately, your only competition is yourself.
 

 

Sixth

 

The sixth lesson I have learnt is, never give up in the face of adversity. It comes on you, suddenly without warning.. Always keep in mind, that it is only the test of fire, that makes fine steel. A friend of mine shared this incident with me. His eight-year old daughter was struggling away at a jigsaw puzzle. She kept at it for hours but could not succeed. Finally, it went beyond her bedtime. My friend told her, "Look, why don't you just give up? I don't think you will complete it tonight. Look at it another day." The daughter looked with a strange look in her eyes, "But, dad, why should I give up? All the pieces are there! I have just got to put them together!" If we persevere long enough, we can put any problem into its perspective.
 

 

Seventh

 

The seventh lesson I have learnt is, that while you must be open to change, do not compromise on your values. Mahatma Gandhiji often said, "You must open the windows of your mind, but you must not be swept off your feet by the breeze." Values like honesty, integrity, consideration and humility have survived for generations. At the end of the day, it is values that define a person more than the achievements. Do not be tempted by short cuts. The short cut can make you lose your way and end up becoming the longest way to the destination.

 

Final

 

And the final lesson I learnt is, that we must have faith in our own ideas even if everyone tells us that we are wrong. There was once a newspaper vendor who had a rude customer. Every morning, the Customer would walk by, refuse to return the greeting, grab the paper off the shelf and throw the money at the vendor. The vendor would pick up the money, smile politely and say, 'Thank you, Sir.' One day, the vendor's assistant asked him, "Why are you always so polite with him when he is so rude to you? Why don't you throw the newspaper at him when he comes back tomorrow?" The vendor smiled and replied, "He can't help being rude and I can't help being polite. Why should I let his rude behavior dictate my politeness?" 

attribute

what makes us; humans superior from angels? what makes us superior from animals and all other living creation present on the planet? what makes us the supreme creation infront of the supreme creator? the anwser to all this is fairly simple; the right and the freedom of choice to accept or reject; in other words the will to adopt someting.Don't be perplexed instead if we ponder over these attributes of ours we shall get to understand this answer.

If one thourghly looks into the purpose of creation of angels; one would get to see that their sole purpose is the worship of Almighty and to convey His message to His messengers and prophets; they do it on as is what is basis. Whereas husmans have been blessed with the power odf reason. The Almighty has installed a mysetrious wallnut in the clavaria of humans; the magnificent wonder of Almighty; the brain and to top it of the human soul which has the power of faith. The animals are also blessed with such such attributes but still the intellect has only been blessed to humans.

Lets look at what has man done with such powerful, worldchanging attributes and greatness of ALmighty. At the time of creations of Homo sapiens the angels were ordered to prostrate infront of us(Adam). Satan refused and was over thrown from the paradise and then he provoked Adam with curiosity to taste the forbidden fruit but Adam and Eve choose to eat it and thus started the downfall of humanity (as in human beings). yes, curioisty is an attribute which has been man's pivot to rise and fall at different occasions.

The origin of good and bad is from the time when Adam and Eve set foot on Earth. Infact these in clearer terms are characteried as Almighty's path and Satan's path. The greatness of Almighty is that He has before hand enlightened us both the paths and also highlighted each path's consequneces with the help of His messengers and propehts and now its upto us to choose which path we adopt. Most of us through out the histroy forget that it is not just a simple choice that we have but we have a test from Almighty; the power of decision that He has bestowed on us is infact a great responsibility, as it is said with great powers come great responisbilities.

Recently man has abused this power and over excised them globally; interms of invasiona and terrorism, corruption and nepotism, dishonetsy and resepctlessness, even the Holy scriptures are used and manipulated for a specific agenda; an agenda which serves the cause of a few and humanity has been derailed into shackles of animosity and brutality along with ignorance  by installing fear; the greates weapon that brain has to face. Since brain works in terms of logic and fear is just like a tsumnami that sweeps away everything that comes in its way. It is rightly said in Urdu language "insan agr apni khuwhishat p qabo rakhey to farishtah aur agr nah kar pai  to janwar" Then again we the Pakistani youth are blessed with an enormous potential and talentand the attributes of belief and faith; so intead of us Pakistani's being a depressed nation we should should realize and understand ourseleves and where do we stand infront of God as humans and as a nation and at the sametime undersatnd the value and power of the word "i believe..." because it is the the belief within us and the voice inside our heart and soul that will atke Pakistan's prosperity to palces unimaginable and reachable.

Pakistan Zindabad.

Unlucky Pakistani Circus

There was a lot of hustle and bustle and level of excitement amongst us kids was limitless as we kids were going to see a cow slaughtered in front of us for very first time as it was Eid-ul -Azha; we kids were getting restless of waiting and waiting and we were thinking : "ab aah bhi jain uncle takeh hum gai ko zibah hitey hue dekh sakein." well i couldn't wait that long so i went to uncle's house and asked him why was there a delay everything is ready; on coming to know the reason of uncle's detention that his nephew was afraid of slaughtering the cow so i started talking to him, the kid was reserved anyway we were talking; during the routine introduction he asked me who are I said Pakistani, he re framed his question and asked me where are you originally from I was confused as to what was he trying to ask me; I said Islamabad and Rawalpindi so he said you are basically a Punjabi; I said; yes I speak Punjabi, then I asked him the same question, he said that I'm an Urdu speaking; I live in Islamabad but my grandparents and the rest of my relatives are based in  Karachi and we are muhajirs; I was perplexed after meeting so I told everything to my mom as every class three child would do so; my mom in her sense of humor said everyone that speaks Urdu is Urdu speaking and everyone that migrates from one place to another is a muhajir and now go and enjoy your Eid.

As  time passes by; looking at the current affairs of the country nationally and internationally my childhood incident sets foot deeper into my mind, as I see such incidents practically happening  in our (the whole of Pakistan) beloved city of Karachi and that too at higher and violent magnitude.

Pakistan is very unfortunate that it was orphaned on 11th of September, 1948; which makes about a year and two weeks after her birth or in other words her creation ( I say this because I believe that something cannot be independent unless it is present and yes I believe that it was India that got independence since at that time the sub-continent was known as India) but at the same time I also believe that the basis of creation of Pakistan was that Muslims would be allowed to practice Islam and keep their moral and cultural values intact which was the sole basis of her creation on 27th of Ramadan/14th August,1947. This was the sole basis of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan's Two Nation Theory; Muhammad Iqabl's dream of Pakistan and Muhammad Ali Jinnah's mission to lead the Muslims of India to safety and prosperity; then how can a particular school of thought say that Pakistan is a secular state meaning that the basis of  creating Pakistan was secularism which is totally incorrect, similarly how can anyone believe in the notion that Jinnah was secular and liberal person, if you take out his bio data he was born in a practicing Muslim family, he got his early education from Sindh Madrasa-tul-Islam which if you go back in history at that time was highly a practicing Islamic institute and then the biggest of all proofs was the incident of Lincoln's Inn where Jinnah took admission on the basis that list where our beloved Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) ranked top in that list. It is the narrow vision of people that they say Pakistan should be a secular state just because a few of us have  misinterpreted Jinnah's statement that you are free to go temples and churches, if one closely observes Islam teachings one would realize that we should respect other religions and now coming to liberalism Islam is the most liberal religion on Earth and yes Jinnah was an open minded person with new age thoughts but with his limitations to Islam  and the biggest example to me is; according to Jinnah the constitution of Pakistan was Quran and Sunnah. If anyone disagrees with me search the internet for the excerpts of Jinnah's address to Gaya Muslim League Conference in January 1938, his September 1945 letter and above all his United States radio broadcast (http://members.tripod.com/no_nukes_sa/chapter_5.html) and then kindly define liberalism to me as I am very poor at English since it is not my mother tongue.

It is quite true that the most powerful weapon on this earth apart form fear is the tongue, most of us have heard of the folk tale that once upon a time there lived a king who ordered his chef to bring the worlds pious-est thing to eat the chef presented him with a tongue the next day king asked for the worst thing present on this earth again the chef brought tongue the king was angry and asked him what is this nonsense the chef replied if someone knows how to control his tongue he is the most pious person and if not able to control his tongue he is the worst person on earth,  the main purpose of this folk wisdom was that tongue is the most skillfully  and powerful operated weapon on earth. If someone knows how to control the tongue it can make a wrong a right and there are many people on this earth who are master at this art for example scholars, speakers and debaters cum politicians. Up till here a person can bear anything but once someone starts using Quran as an object and starts to swear and make it a public issue and a circus of emotions that is intolerable to any respectable Muslim especially singing and performing actions in the presence of Quran regardless of who ever is involved and started  such an act, its literally disgraceful to use the Holy scripture of Allah for one's benefits either political or individual and  we as present day Muslims are weak in emotions and lack in faith and it is about time that we must start accepting this fact because who so ever swears of Quran we have a tendency of accepting that as the truth as we have lost the power to think and deduce for ourselves as empowered individuals; we leave that for the journalist and opinion makers of  media. Its an irony that we live in an independent country but our minds are not fully independent maybe this is how life goes.

The conspiracy of breaking Pakistan has already been started and the living evidence of it is Bangladesh and like wise things are now shaping up as our leaders are telling us but I believe that biggest hurdle that will stop Pakistan from breaking is Pakistani and the biggest ally in breaking Pakistan will be the hierarchy and the propaganda of division and discrimination on the basis language and regionalism cum nepotism which is practically been seen in the city of lights which has become city of bloodshed and terror and it is a fertile soil to brain wash the youth for one's own interest, according to my knowledge Karachi is seventh largest metropolitan of the world and according to Nadeem Parcaha the potential New York of subcontinent is sadly becoming Beirut of Pakistan and politically and economically it is Pakistan's heart and everyone knows that Karachi alone holds a major share of Pakistan in every aspect as mentioned already but at the same time Karachi does not belong to anyone in particular and there should be no single stake stakeholder.

The media is most powerful and intellectual weapon present in today's world and who so ever controls media controls half of the public as most of us are hungry for power. Media has it's responsibilities which it is performing and at times voiding, like every thing  has its pros and cons the media has its too. A lot of good work is seen in the media especially when someone sees journalists like Nusrat Javed, Talat Hussain, Hamid Mir, Kamran Khan, Sana bucha and Javed Chaudry these people are an asset to us and especially the program Hasb-e-Hall as well. Both the heart and the mind are pleased to see a non biased work when displayed on screen but at the same time over media has become insensitive by competing for its ratings and popularity. Media  has become a total business just look at the news headlines and the new bar and you will get to know what I mean leave that and look at our family entertainment; our dramas that were the identity of Pakistan in the 80's and 90's because of their reality based content have now drifted to fantasy and upper class lifestyle which is not what Pakistan truly is most of the Pakistanis are middle class rural cum urban settled population and the content is now sub standard as the crocodile of private channels has to be fed so quantity is preferred over quality.

The youth of Pakistan is most talented youth in the world but it is time that the youth should play part in nation building by studying getting vocational training  rather than becoming a prodigy for different political parties and their mandate. The youth should understand that it should not leave the path of righteousness and it should read and learn from Quran like the non-Muslims are doing and are progressing rather than following our leaders tradition of swearing Quran. The youth seems depressed as to whom to follow as for leader I sternly believe that we have great ideals in whom foot steps we should follow namely: Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H), Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Muhammad Iqbal. Yes the three Muhammad's of Pakistan prosperity and solidarity, their lives are an institute to us if we can only inculcate their teachings and cultivate their ideology in our minds we don't need anyone then. One more thing to the nations pillars do not abandon Pakistan by settling abroad, this is the biggest dilemma that Pakistan faces; its Pakistan that sows the crop and the other countries harvest the crop which immediately weakens Pakistan.

To all the pseudo Pakistanis leave hippocracy and become well wishers of Pakistan; yes it looks great when you people say nice things about Pakistan but practically don't do because we all are brothers; leave aside brutality and consider humanity; we all are Urdu speaking and we all have been active in creating Pakistan and all of us have migrated from one place to another some time in our lives and to the Pakistani start empowering yourself, start making your own decisions and stop looking at chief justice for every second thing after all he is a human being; he is performing his duty but the question is are you standing on the grounds of unity, faith and discipline? May Allah Almighty give us Hidayat and the power and ability to spread happiness.

Pakistan Zindabad!

Personality Cooking Show

Welcome to the personality cooking show; with your host and chef; life’s experience, in quality kitchen. Today’s recipe is a very rare one and much in demand from the society’s point of view, aspired by medical students and hyped by the media with its fictional portrayals in the form dramas like House M.D; Greys Anatomy, Scrubs, Private Practice and any more.

I’m sure by now you have guessed today’s recipe: a good doctor, don’t be perplexed, I know it sounds a bit strange; the difference between an average doctor and a good doctor, the best way to define the two is well take an example of an under cooked rabbit and a well-cooked; tender rabbit that’s pleasant to the taste buds.

A regular doctor aims at getting the most number of cases treated and tries to get the most diagnosis instead of catering for the patient’s emotions, for him; the patient is a just another case or a number or a set of symptoms and not an empowered individual with feelings, a regular doctor is cold in emotions; trying to be the best professional he can be at the time of his work.

As all of us know, that an astounding; evergreen dish is pleasant to all human senses and acceptable to the catered and targeted customer. A dish that stands the test of time, your eyes might be attracted to a street vendors nicely presented but an undercooked burger but at the end of the day you might end up with diarrhea.

The ingredients required to make one good doctor are, a freshly enrolled medical student and a batter of humanity, to make the batter; we will need, one teaspoon of generosity; one tablespoon of empathy, a pint of kindness, four tablespoons of patience and tolerance, each respectively; 2 eggs of confidence; a few cups of humility; one bowl of mixture of awareness and adaptability; one piece of concern, now place all the ingredients in big bowl of reality and stir all the ingredients with compassion till all of them are mixed well at will and the spread the batter over the medical students span of lifetime and at the same time preheat the pan with a quarter of tenacity under the flames of responsibility and accountability then put the complex (medical student+ batter) into the pan for frying; when the complex becomes mature that is slightly golden brown your good doctor is ready to be served at will, a lot of people ask me for how much time we should fry the complex the answer is simple fry it conscious takes over and then serve it with a chutney of love and for presentation; garnish the good doctor with the leaves of  smile and for that extra flavor you can use the juice of happiness, serve it to every deserving  and suffering person in the society, enjoy! J

 

Ask Not

Ask not what this life has given you,

Ask yourself what have you done to make your life better?

Ask not what your country can do for you,

Ask yourself what can you do for your country?

Ask not why you have failed,

Ask yourself what you have done to succeed?

Ask not what you are miserable,

Ask yourself what Allah has blessed you with,

Ask not for glory,

Ask yourself do you have peace in your life?

I'll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

Hello Everyone, For those of you who are married and those of you who are in love and planning to get married i have something priceless to share with you!

Please take just 5 Minutes of your time to read the following post and i
100 % Guarantee you that you will never look at marriage the same way again!

Its a story about a married couple, Continue reading below...

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I've got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly.
Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn't know how
to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce.
I raised the topic calmly.

She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn't talk to each other.
She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn't love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company.

She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see.
To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which
had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at
the table. I didn't have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane.

When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but needed a month's notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month's time and she didn't want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day.

She requested that every day for the month's duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Jane about my wife's divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said
scornfully.

My wife and I hadn't had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don't tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn't looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning.
This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me.

On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn't tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but
could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger.
I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.

Suddenly it hit me... she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart.
Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it's time to carry mom out. To him,
seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn't noticed that our life lacked intimacy.

I drove to office.... jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind...I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a
fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won't divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart.

Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed
the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away.

At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife.
The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote,
I'll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed - dead.

My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to
even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the divorce.-- At least, in the eyes of our son--- I'm a loving husband....

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse's friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy.
Do have a real happy marriage!

Fear Not

Fear not that you might make a mistake in believing your dream.

Fear rather that if you don't go for it
You might stand before God and he’ll tell you
you could have succeeded had you had a little more faith.

Fear not that you might fail.
Fear rather that you will never succeed
if you never try and if you are unwilling to take risks.

Fear not that you might get hurt.
Fear rather that you will never grow
if you wait for painless success.

The old man said to the young man,
“Why not go out, on a limb,
After all isn't that where the fruit is.”