He opens his eyes realizing he overslept on his first day at college. Thinking about the strange dream, he decides to skip the morning lectures and tell his friends how precious these four years will be.
The Saints Are Coming
Scroll down for blessings!
May 6, 2012
END OF DAYS, IT’S JUST THE BEGINNING!
He opens his eyes realizing he overslept on his first day at college. Thinking about the strange dream, he decides to skip the morning lectures and tell his friends how precious these four years will be.
July 27, 2011
From Gaza to Switzerland
Every year I wait for the best time of the year that is when the sun is baking the deserts of Middle East and concrete Jungles of Dubai, expats like me are busy booking their tickets and buying gifts for their loved ones preparing to go back to their home countries for a much awaited summer vacation. While students in my college are busy planning their trips to Europe and America, I count down the days till I reach home because for a fact I know the lure of ancient and romantic cities of Europe and the scenic Swiss Alps are not much of an attraction when u have been brought up in the valley of Kashmir.
The promise of a peaceful summer vacations at my home is what keeps me going through all the ups and downs and challenges of our otherwise easy college life. The promise of a perfect summer in the midst of snow capped Himalayas, the gushing waters of Aharbal, the glaciers of Sonamarg, the lush meadows of Gulmarg, the dense forests of Pahalgam, the sunset on Boulevard, and the infinitely many other equally beautiful places still to be explored.
Unfortunately for last three seasons, all the plans just remained a piece of writing on a white sheet of paper. Three consecutive summers of unrest and turmoil, it was as if Kashmir was on the verge of a breaking point either an unlikely revolution or a terrible civil war. And I didn’t know which side to be on, whether to think of the uprising as an ‘instigated’ violence by some vested interests against the system or whether to think of it as a genuine call for freedom against a foreign rule which has killed more than 100,000 innocent lives of our own. I didn’t know how to react, whether to be angry at my people for ruining otherwise a perfect tourist season and with it the livelihood of many locals or to stand tall shoulder to shoulder with my people and participate in this fight against injustice and oppression. In the end, inherited selfish human nature won over me and I preferred to stay inside the safety of my home cursing the people for ruining my hard earned summer vacations and did nothing while hundreds more sacrificed their lives for a just cause which may seem impossible and futile to a keen observer.
This year like the previous years we waited for the summer with same impatience and excitement although a fear of one more ruined vacation seemed to take hold of my sub conscience every now and then but I always pushed away the thoughts by planning trips hoping for perfect holidays at home. And then the time came for all of us to pack our bags and leave for our homes. As usual most of my friends flew to various parts of Europe while I boarded the same Air India flight which would take me to my beloved home, Kashmir.
To my surprise I was one of the only 4 or 5 Kashmiris waiting in the queue to board the flight whom I could recognize easily due to very peculiar characteristic traits and sharp facial features inherited in our race! Rest were from different parts of not just India but whole world as it seemed. It was clear from the excitement on their faces that they were tourists on a trip of their lifetime. I could recognize hearing German, French, Russian and even Persian being spoken by people sitting behind me and I myself sat with a bunch of Indian tourists. I didn’t know what to expect when my flight landed at Srinagar International Airport because if it was anything close to last three years than it would be a long journey home. I remember travelling from airport to home last year under immense protection as if a VIP travelling in the war zones of Gaza, Palestine.
But to add to my surprise there were no hartals or curfews, no calls, no demonstrations, no protests, no burning of tires or shouting of slogans, not even any pelting of stones. Every single native seemed to be occupied with some work of their own and the youth busy with their colleges and schools while a crowd of tourists happily passed by them. The smiling faces of foreigners clearly explained the excitement and pleasure they felt in just being here as if a chance of a lifetime. Maybe they had waited so long to see this land in all its glory for it had been famously described as being the heaven on earth. I could easily imagine them exclaiming in their minds…’’Heaven!’’
Elders of my family often used to tell me about the glory days of Kashmir before the violence broke out. How alongside the crystal clear waters of Dal and Nigeen, Boulevard would be crowded with the foreign crowds. When all you could see were people equally as fair as local Kashmiris but with various shades of hair color. They used to tell me of the days when everywhere your head turned you would recognize Bollywood stars posing for their shots and yet it was treated as just being a very ordinary event. They used to tell me of the days when people with blonde and red hair used to come from the various parts of the world just for a breathtaking sunset on Dal Lake, or for the exciting skiing on the slopes of Gulmarg, or for the challenging treks of Mahadev, Haramukh and Kolohoi, or for a taste of Wazwan and Kehwa,or to buy themselves the treasured handicraft furniture and rugs or simply just to stay here and enjoy the hospitable and warm nature of a typically cultured Kashmiri family as if this was the closest thing to heaven in this world.
All I could see today was something which reminded me of the same days of the old that my elders used to tell me of. Tourists from all parts of the world had lined up boulevard, the hotels were fully booked, shikaras loaded with tourists floated on the sparkling waters of Dal, Houseboats were getting some of their dedicated foreign tourists back after a break of two generations. And in the midst of all this I happened to meet a group of French, Swiss and Austrian tourists who after a brief conversation stated that even though their country is very beautiful and the Alps are glorious but it is nowhere near to what they had seen in the past 2 weeks in Kashmir. I even met some young tourists from Southern India who were otherwise very rigid vegetarians but couldn’t resist tasting the famous Wazwan of Kashmir!
I have never seen such perfect summers in Kashmir since the year of my birth which happens to be the most unfortunate year in the history of this land. Although it might be nothing new to elders to see the tourists crowding the valley as if Kashmir was the centre of world tourism but for people of my generation this might be a very rare sight. Comparing the current tourist season with any of the 80s or 70s the elders might shoot down the current season as just a rare and very small scaled glimpse of old but for people my age it is the best we have seen in past 20 years.
Seeing the vast contrasts of two summers separated by just 12 months is remarkable. It was as if just a year ago I had left my home in a war like situation where the people had stood up in unison against a power much greater, as if I had spent my last summer’s in a safe house in the heavily disturbed Gaza of Palestine and yet just one year later I come here as if coming to the serene and peaceful Switzerland of the East.
One just can’t resist but give in to the temptation of imagining what a peaceful Kashmir would look like. A booming economy, the tourist centre of the world, prosperity and peace to its people and once again a cultural and religious hub of the whole region in large. Once again a land of mystics and Sufis, untouched valleys and unseen treasures of nature. Even a possible centre of world adventure sports. Unmatched potential for progress and prosperity co existing with our old age customs and traditions of brotherhood and hospitality. A coexistence of the prosperous and modern new with our very unique old. Ahh… How I wish!
What an unfortunate generation I belong to, I never got to see the Kashmir I imagine in my dreams, which was a reality my elders lived. Dream it truly is and coming back to the actual current reality of today where an entire generation has been led aimlessly by leaders who themselves have failed to recognize an actual aim for struggle, a realistic goal. A rational mind tends to think that accepting our destiny and fate lies with the might of our foreign ruler may be the best option for a fact that no blood would be shed, no innocent lives would be lost and tourism based economy will once again boom. But for a passionate lover of his land it is very hard to accept a personal life of prosperity and peace when his land is still not free and the sacrifices of his brothers have been forgotten.
Personally, I still can’t decide what the future of my land should be. Peace and prosperity of my valley at the cost of true freedom or freedom at the cost of our economy and more importantly many more innocent lives. This is a question that can’t be asked because it can’t be answered. The answer can’t be asked from our leader or our ideal, it lies deep within our own patriotic souls. All we need to do is look deep into ourselves with a patriotic and yet very rational mind and see for ourselves what truly is the best for our mother land. I believe, God will answer.
For the time being I enjoy the very brief period of peace and prosperity that this summer is and take as many digital pictures as possible for my college so that when my Europe return friends meet me, they all will exclaim in unison…”Switzerland wasn’t this beautiful !”
August 3, 2010
Starry Night
It is early August and the beautiful summer season is into its maturity with flowers blossoming in my garden. Tonight the sky is clearer than usual and exposing all shinning wonders hidden beyond imagination. The stars appear brighter than they usually are; something is different about this night. Maybe they have assembled to bear witness to how paradise will burn into ashes.
Turning the head other way, and there they are moving in the sky as if being summoned by God himself. A cluster of shooting stars moving across the dark sky and slowly fading away behind the mighty mountains which limit my vision. I keep searching for the horizon and the shooting star but the farthest I see are the peaks of the snow clad Himalayas.
I hear voices echoing in the valley, this is nothing like I have heard before. An entire population singing in unison; singing as if charmed by the Pied Piper himself. They sing of their brotherhood, they sing of their patriotism, they sing of their nation, they sing of their freedom, they sing of their sacrifice, they sing of their martyrdom, they sing of their valley.
Decades of anger and frustration, an entire generation of oppressed and tortured unfortunates on the streets. A generation of my peers, a generation I have grown up with. A generation which has seen their fathers murdered, their brothers tortured, their sisters raped, their mothers widowed. An entire generation of youth which has grown up in fear of the men in camouflaged army uniforms. ‘
They gave up guns and bullets for a promise of better future, a future where they saw their freedom and prosperity. A promised ‘azaadi’. Twenty years later and the promises still remain unfulfilled. They have had enough of their leaders and their so called country. The limit has been reached and breached; they will no longer remain mute spectators to oppression. The fear of death is no longer a fear, they accept death as if martyrdom. Children, men and women all hand in hand, an entire population of ordinary unarmed Kashmiris protesting on streets for their freedom, fighting for their basic human rights, for their right to democracy and self determination of their nationality.
The bullets fail to deter their march past Indian paramilitary camp after camp, one falls and three more take his place and this time only with louder slogans and harsher tone. Young blood gushes through the gutters and smoke fills up the air. The frightening memories of losing their beloved to the men in uniform still haunts them, maybe this is what has made their hearts so strong that even the bullets don’t seem to stop them. The memories which never seem to die, reminders of their sacrifices. They ask of the 90,000 brothers which they lost to Indian forces, the 7000 brothers that disappeared in Indian custodies, the 100,000 children that have been orphaned, the 22,000 women that have been widowed, the 10,000 women that have been raped. They ask of their childhood which was spent hiding in the closet and now their youth which is lost in pelting stones at an enemy which was supposed to be a friend.
This is an entire generation which has been misunderstood by the rest of the patriotic India, which sees stone pelting as riots and mobs while ignoring and overlooking the basic causes of this anger and frustration.
Suddenly a massive explosion wakes me up from this procrastination and deafening screams of my brothers being murdered are heard from all directions; and yet the mountains refuse to stop the echoing voices in my ear”Sarfarosho Chalo...Cheenke lenge Azaadi Azaadi”
This time I see a shooting star blazing the night sky and I close my eyes and ask God for myself.
As I get ready to go inside and have a nice dinner with my family; tears fill my eyes and I can’t make out if it is the tear gas explosion which is making me cry or my inner conscience which asks of me what I have done for my valley.
August 11, 2009
On a brain vacation
And yet sometimes the brain has not been polished enough to take up the ‘art’ or maybe sometimes it goes on a long vacation tired of burdening itself for making out logic from absurd…and every time come up with a new passage of genius thoughts to write, leaving behind scars from the brutal war between inherited ignorance and earned knowledge…
These scars can even become a reason for losing sanity…they need their time to heal…
Sometimes it really needs one hell of an effort to convince the brain to ask the will of your hands to sit in front of a keyboard and ask the fingers to start pressing some keys…!
And yet even after such a long vacation of slumber, the bloody brain (my brain!) still didn’t forget the places the fingers used to visit to meet their beloved…THE KEYS!(I mean the placing of keys on the qwerty keyboard…!!!)
It’s almost as if a love affair between the brain and the keyboard through fingers as an intermediating body…Or maybe a love triangle…!!!
Such crazy thoughts are just a few symptoms of this ‘brain block syndrome’ which has kept me away from my passion…passion to write my heart out
A rusted rough mind which has lost the skill and touch needed to take up the art of polished writing…!
The cerebrum might be partially damaged due to the continuous overburdening of its think tank in the past or maybe the tank might have fired a few missiles back at the thoughts which used to fire it up…!
This brain vacation is something as difficult to fight as it is to comprehend the last few paragraphs of utter bullshit…!!!(Gosh sometimes even a sleeping cerebrum can come up with such authentic sounding, praisworthy bullshit! )
This mind vacation is so difficult to overcome that not even the will power of the brain itself is strong enough to create a way for a passage of thoughts to flow through…Maybe sometimes where there is a will there ain’t a way…(What if the will itself is corrupt and has sided with the brain…!!!)…Now really it proves my point…I am on the verge of losing sanity…!!! (and I am so unfit to write!)
Dear folks, it’s called mind block syndrome…!
Hey folks…You may go ahead and shout out loud at this waste of time…the confusing, meaningless BULLSHIT…start cursing me or do what ever you want to, but I hardly care because my brain has stopped taking any offences…The offences which made it write when the paradise (valley) burnt or when a true spirit was murdered or when a divine intervention never happened…!!!
Maybe this imaginary vacation might never end and I will never ever see the old brain which used to give me some ideas thoughts and inspiration to type on this beautiful keyboard (there it goes again…told you “it’s” totally hitting on this keyboard !!!)…
Maybe the mind is trying to play some mind games…(here I go again with another insane thought…!!!)
Really it pisses me off to see such an immense talent for writing being ruined by an insane brain vacation which has kept my fingers away from the beautiful keyboard since ages…(almost a year now)
Let’s pray and hope for the reunion of the romantic fingers and the beautiful keyboard…A short lived marriage which made me blog for a year with some virtual success and imaginary fan following…
And there it goes again….ALL BLANK…
“I can’t feel no pain for others anymore, I am occupied with my own agony…I can’t see no injustice anymore, I am blind with my own dreams…I can’t raise a voice anymore, I am speaking only for my own sake…”
Maybe unknowingly we all are on a brain vacation...
May 1, 2009
One day to live
"Uno Dos Tres!"...It kept me waiting for almost three long months, and here it is...finally one more blog to add to the already other two on "BITS and PIECES" from fellow batch mates...Although it took more than four long months but the first hatrick being completed I expect many more blogs to follow (hopefully in this lifetime only..!!!)...So here it is a beautifull poem by a fellow class mate
One Day To Live
One day, a butterfly emerged from its cocoon,
And thought of all the things life could give,
It prayed to god to be with her,
Because she had only one day to live....
She wanted to see the whole world
She had many wishes to fulfil,
But all she had was one day with her,
And the day was at her will
She went from every flower to flower wishing everyone,
She met every plant tree
She left no one...
The morning passed peacefully
And slowly afternoon came
She sang and danced with the others
But in heart she knew everything was not the same
And as the night started,
To light its bright silvery stars
The butterfly bid goodbye to all
And started its journey afar...
And everyone had tears in their eyes,
Cause nobody had as much to give
As the little butterfly had given,
Who had only one day to live...
By Manshila Adlakha
(Manshila is also a fellow class mate and a computer programming genius...A master in C++ and a passionate novel addict...A really sweet person to talk with...And still somehow NOT a 'NERD'..Infact something totally opposite..!)
April 10, 2009
In Gods lap
And if you still can’t...then head for the mountains...!”
The famous Sufi saints of the valley drew their inspiration from the mountains...The mountains form a part of the famous legends and myths and an integral part of the mystical world...
It was during my famous and rigorous Biscoe school camps that I got curious to know why some people give up all their worldly wealth and come to mountains, leaving behind their ‘few’ friends, families and desperate enemies...giving up all the earthly pleasures and luxuries and all the glory just for the sake of sitting on a mountain peak and gazing at the sky...!
It all seemed so inappropriate and crazy for such successful people to give away their fortune and take up the life of a homeless wanderer with nothing to lose...Maybe they were possessed by the demons or maybe they were insane...Whatever it was, it never made any sense...
The good old Biscoe days when we were made to scale the traditional tough terrains with heavy haversacks on our adolescent backs and wood for camp fire in our soft hands...
And that something was something we were never aware of...All the while I used to wonder the point of punishing our bodies and going beyond limits into unknown terrains and territories...Maybe it was the lure of conquering the mighty mountain and the treasured feeling of standing on the highest peak as if proclaiming our superiority over all other creatures or maybe it was the adrenaline rush of walking the treacherous and most dangerous narrow paths...I believed it was the natural greed of the human nature for glory which kept us going even in the worst situations...
But how wrong could I have been...!!!
Having passed all the physical endurance tests and conquered all the mountains...Still the same question haunted the adolescent mind...
The question which had no answer...Some gave up and moved ahead into a world of unsatisfied accomplishments where they would always find something missing from their lives, an internal peace and satisfaction which would haunt them for the rest of their mortal life...
But some persevered and resisted until they lost their sense of existence in search of the answer...
Sometimes what you see is hard to believe...and sometimes such truths shake your soul inside out awakening it to an unbelievable reality...!
Many monks climb the steep slopes in search of the eternal Shangri-la and many Sadhus wander in hope of finding the mighty Shiva in the mountains...
The tough treks up the steep mountain slopes and the uphill battle against the elements... Maybe I used to interpret such voluntary self torture as the human nature of ambition and greed for power...But the truths hidden in the mountains never lie and they speak of the divine...
When the mountain finally beats you down to earth...tired and beaten...ashamed of the unsuccessful efforts...defeated and broken, having lost to the mother nature...then for the first time in your life you start looking around yourself, admiring all the gifts that nature has bestowed on us...contemplating and reflecting on how the water always manages to break through such massive rocks and make its way forward...how the weakest of creatures manages to survive in the most hostile environment...how each and every creation is unique and wonderful as if designed by God himself...humbled by the experience, you watch the tall mountain in awe and wonder...
And finally a DIVINE intervention....!
The spirit is awakened...a divine satisfaction and peace blesses the soul...
A soul which suddenly wakes up after years of slender and wakes to the voice of nature...The Gods nature....you give up and let yourself be defeated and feel like having achieved all that was to achieve...you no longer want to win...
It’s the feeling when you realise how small is your existence...how powerless are your most powerful attributes...a true realisation, as if you have conquered death itself
this feeling of being mortal and weak makes you lie back and enjoy the painful moment of your defeat...the moment when you look up at the sky, close your eyes with the last bit of strength left in your body...you see yourself elevate to a land unknown to this world...a land of the pure and divine...a land of freedom from desire and ambition...a land of fulfilled promises and wishes...a land of peace and satisfaction....a land of perfection and blessings...a land of joy and justice
Sitting on the peak of the mountain and looking at the world with a changed perspective, praising the God who created you from dust...
All the achievements and all the wealth are of no value any longer...All the ambitions and desires disappear into thin air...Finally you have found the answer, an answer to all your questions... you bow down and gaze with utter humility at your own humble soul...
Opening your eyes, you find yourself lying back in Gods own lap...
The mountain is no longer a question of intimidation...it’s no longer a challenge...you move on with respect for each and every step that the mountain allows you to take on its back...the soul has finally awakened to the reality of this world and the world after...
God always gives you traces of his existence...it’s we who need to open our eyes, awaken our humble spirit and start admiring God in everything that has been created...it maybe the mighty mountains or the vast plains or even a simple rock lying by a river...God flows through all his creations
A divine realisation of our mere existence and a divine creator of all...a humbling experience...an eternal peace and satisfaction found in the magical mountains and mystical valleys where you find yourself lying in Gods own lap...
Your own Shangri-la, an answer to all the questions...
February 28, 2009
Mystic woman
Enchanted and captivated in the imagination of witnessing the holy, he stared at the mirror asking for forgiveness....Forgiveness of witnessing something so pure that even his white soul seemed black...
His love was true...but unheard and untold it remained locked in the upper left side of his humanly body...Silence prevailed...Despair crept in, choking his already tight throat...The voice no longer seemed to come from the same old man, a man of confidence and accomplishments...The ‘weeds’ were of no help any longer...He was truly in a spell...Unable to express and incapable to feel the sense of being loved...
Hidden from reality a curse that made him to hate his own human soul...The spell that had taken a toll on his ordinary human body...choking himself to death and unable to gather the strength to express his feelings...
The miserable soul never realised the reality of his short mortal life that he wasted in a mere pursuit of something he was never destined for...Heartbroken he choked in silence till the day God decided to end the agony and take him in his divine arms...
Spell of the mystic woman which made him to stop believing in his own God given talents...A spell which only death could end...
“But It was too late to realise the curse which made him to hate himself actually never existed but it was just a mere fabrication of his own shy soul...”
And he never got a second chance to take his diamond and place her in his crown of pearls.....................The spell of the mystic woman...
Blog Archive
About Me
- Musadiq Ali
- Fresh college graduate trying to restart blogging after 4 awesome years.