I AM The Universe: Random Thoughts

“Yaar, tu ne kabhi socha hai ke tu zindagi mein KAR kya raha hai? Koi plan, koi goal shoal set kia hai?”

Pakistan: “Tch. Na kar yaar, aaj ke din mood kharab na kar!”

“Aray, serious baat hai yaar! Tu bara ho gaya hai, baghair kisi goal ke kaisay kaam banay ga, kya bas yehi karta rahay ga saari zindagi jo abhi kar raha hai?”

“*sigh* Socha to bohot kuch tha. Tarah tarah ke khwab dekhay thay, aik… tasveer thi aankho ke saamnay, ke zindagi aisi honi chahiyay, aur yaqeen tha ke zindagi aisi ho gi! Aur kyun na hoti! Tamam sathion ka jazba hi aisa tha! Khud pe yaqeen na hotay huay bhi un ke eemaan ki taaqat thi baazuuon mein. Aur unkay is bharosay ka, un ke eemaan ki maan rakhnay ki chaah thi. Ye niyat thi ke apnay liyay na sahi, un ki qurbanio ke liyay, un ke khwaabo ke liyay karna hai sab kuch – chahay kuch bhi qeemat chukaani paray us ki. Bhalay bhooka sona paray, khulay aasmaan talay raatien guzaarni parain, chahay tapti dhoop aur karkarati sardi mein paseena bahana paray, jisam chatkhana paray – kuch kar ke dikhana hai. Un ke khwab ko asliat mein dhaal ke hi rehna hai. Aur bus wahan theher nahi jaana – balkay unki umeedo se aagay aur mazeed aagay barhtay chalay jaana hai.

“Laikin ab lagta hai ke bas sab khumaar tha, aankho ke saamnay… saraab tha, khail tha tamasha tha. Haqeeqat wohi hai jo aaj aankho ke saamnay hai. Ke tamam waaday kamzor thay, jo umar-raseeda saanso ke saath toot gayay. Ke eeman ki taaqat eemaan walon ke sath afsurda, nakaam aankho ke sath rukhsat ho gai…”

“Aagay kya socha hai?”

“Aagay kya karna hai! Intizar.. phir usi jazbay ka, phir usi chaah aur khwaabo ki taaqat ka. Jo pehle bhi nizaam ke khilaaf uthi thi, aur ab bhi nizaam ke khilaaf uthay gi! Aur isay uthna hai! Isay uthna paray ga!! Is se pehle ke bohot dair ho jaayay!”

- x -

Salgirah Mubarak, Pakistan.

I’m a big advocate of free society, free culture. I believe that we should not be looking to others to break the baseless norms of society that have formed over centuries, and in recent decades decayed into more menacing rules, thanks to the glossy coat of educated words slapped across their faces.

But sometimes even I think that we take our free culture too far. Especially when it comes to public mannerisms. A few days back, I was with acuqaintances at a restaurant where, primarily, sea-food was being served. Now this one guy, he starts eating like he hasn’t eaten in ages. And then loudly begins to express his views on to-each-his-own. Why’re you looking at me when I’m eating? How is it any of your business? kind of arguments.

Please. Is this really what we’re promoting here? There should be some rules to exercise. I’m not asking you to pick up a knife and a cracker to eat out crabs if you’re an Arab – but please, learn from fellow Arabs how to sit at a table. Follow your own traditions, but stick to something!

In Karachi, my home is near the Sakhi Hassan Qabrustan. Which meant that when I went out, almost all routes from my home led me by the qabrustan – twice. Once on my way out and once on my way back in. And again, depending on where I was headed, I passed even more graveyards, and while passing every graveyard, I recited a few verses for the eesaal-e-savab of the deceased.

Here in Abu Dhabi there’s no graveyard within the city limits that I pass by regularly. Today, while praying for a friends father who recently passed away, I was just thinking how long it has been since I’ve gifted something to the passed. I should establish a routine for this kind of thing – two nafil every day can’t be too heavy on anyone, right? 

I think we should all establish this habit, even if very selfishly because if today we do this for others, then a few years ahead, when we have turned to dust, our children, and our children’s children will do the same for us.

Men have varied opinions about polygamy. I myself don’t find anything wrong with polygamy, and I hate it when people oppose the idea. Sure, the entire deal requires an outrageous amount of care in handling, but there is nothing wrong with the concept. In my opinion, men who refute polygamy should be – excuse me if I’m stereotyping any – man enough to accept that the concept is acceptable, and it is them who lack the capacity to handle the situation. No innuendo intended.

Anyway, that’s not what this post was about. After a recent conversation with a friend, I’m just thinking how even men who talk freely of polygamy crumple away at the mention of trading partners.

PS: I think there are going to be even fewer comments on this one than the previous one

Workplace diversity is an amazing thing, I have enjoyed my current job more because of the diversity than because of the actual job. Interacting with people from different regions, cultures and religions is more interesting than designing refineries or putting a new emergency shutdown system at a gas plant. But there are always those few ganday anday that spoil the picture. 

Yesterday I was attending a training session for Hazard Assessment, and I was the only Pakistani in the session. So, I was sitting up front, so I was the first one that the trainer introduced himself to. When he found out I was from Pakistan, he remarked that he had been on tour of Pakistan just last year. A guy from the back of the hall said “How did you come back alive?”. As I turned back to see who the bloody fellow was, the trainer jabbed back:

“What’s wrong with Pakistan? It’s a beautiful place! Where are you from?”
“Tamilnadu, India.”
“Never been there! Not even planning!”

Yeah, that really felt good!

Over the past year, I’ve had quite a few interesting interactions with people coming from different backgrounds. The first happened right after I joined my current job. We had to generate a report (Instrument Schedule, to be exact), and we had to segregate the instruments based on the system that they were connected to. So, nobody at the office knew reports well enough to generate that document directly from within MS Access. I figured it out, and please with myself, headed up to my boss and said “You are gonna love me!”. After seeing the look of shock on his face, I quickly let him know what precisely I was talking about It took me some time to realize that these people don’t do very well with metaphors, or common social phrases. I’m not kidding, it doesn’t matter how common it is, if there’s a plain-english word for it, say that. 

Before being exposed to this cultural, I had never known the different ways you can pronounce a word as simple as circuit. Sir-cute being my favorite pronunciation Oh, and another favorite is how many people here pronounce How. They don’t pronounce it How.. they pronounce it like Ha-ooooo On top of that, there is no arrangement to the sentences that you hear from them. So, it’s not Ha-oooo are you planning to do it. It’s Ha-oooo you will do itttt? :P 

But really as part of this diversity, over the past year at least my accent has been under constant assault. The most notable one when I was told by a foreign friend to tone down my accent because of the MTI. MTI being the mother tongue influence  According to him, people are more friendly if you speak in a familiar accent. My instant reaction was “Dude, if you want me to bob my head while I’m talking, and suffix all my sentences with ‘haan?’, that is so not gonna happen!”

Khair, I wasn’t trashing people who can’t handle diversity with dignity – I was only just talking about the training (and diversity, of course). The training session was going pretty well, until I sat down at lunch, and the same guy who had issues with Pakistan started actually sipping his rice. And I thought If you don’t get killed for this, then what else!?