Aur Duniya Kehti Happy Birthday to you

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So I complete my two years of blogging!

It still seems a lil weird that I actually started blogging and have also continued it long enough to be writing this exactly two years later cuz I have never liked writing, I have never been good at it and still dont think I have gotten any better even after 166 posts on this blog only. Still, I know there are certain people who have been kind enough to visit my blog regularly and read all the crap that I not only write but am also audacious enough ( ) to publish them. So for all those people who have over time become buddies, acquaintances or prefer to remain strangers/silent readers and also those who practically always have something negative to say and yet come to the blog everyday…I have to say I wonder at you being here. Through blogging, I have been able to meet some really wonderful people and although I still do not consider my blog to be a mainstream one, I know there are people who wait for me to update it.

The blog says….Thank you

Randomness of my life

Time to finally update the blog and wat can be better than a tag, especially one which I have churaofied from PD’s blog

Anyway, here it goes:

Rules:

Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. If I tagged you, its because I want to know more about you.

Now as I have not been tagged by anyone, I will not be tagging anyone either

1. No surprises here, I love to talk and I can actually talk for hours on fone.
2. I can be a great listener, just dont ask for suggestions
3. Blogging has become an important part of my life and I often thank God that I blog.
4. I just hate it wen ppl ask me weird questions about my hijab.
5. Call me rigid, I love the way I am. I believe its more important to be real than to pretend to be perfect.
6. I always wanted to be married (if I HAD to be married) to someone I would have known inside out from before….as in before considering him for marriage. Instead, I am married to someone I least expected to be married to.
7. At times I wish I could change certain things of the past but then I realize that those are the things which define me today. No regrets Alhamdulillah.
8. I cant stand the sight of blood.
9. I am dreading the time wen all I’l be doing would be behaving like a doting housewife.
10. Damn, I hate the term ‘housewife.’ Can we call that something else?
11. I am a bad planner. Almost all my plans fail but I still love making plans
12. I hate to admit this but I cant whistle
13. I would want to remember my dreams once I wake up. I hardly ever remember any of my dreams and even if I do, they are usually outrageous.
14. I like collecting useless information.
15. For some reason, I have been unable to wear my emerald ring since my wedding due to ring rot. Its weird cuz I had been wearing it for years.
16. I have always dreamed of living in a house with a huge, lush green garden.
17. I can only sleep if its completely dark.
18. I seriously need to start reading a book now.
19. I am usually really good at guessing the time….the difference is usually just 2-3 minutes at max.
20. I love food. Seriously. Dont be misled by the way I look, I have just learned to control wat I eat.
21. I dont see things as completely black or as completely white.
22. I am usually very curious. If I know a bit of something, I’d want to know all that I can about it.
23. I laugh a lot and I tend to get excited quite easily.
24. I’d rather be the driver than be the passenger.
25. I actually enjoy my time in the kitchen. Cooking is a way of releasing stress for me.

Honest Confessions

Although I have done a post out of narcism which had so many confessions, I thought of taking up an interesting post on minerva’s blog as a tag few days back. Haris has now tagged me with something similar so I’ll just mix em both

Here’s the deal to do the Honest Tag:  tell your readers 10 things about you that they may or may not know, but are true. Tag ten people and be sure to let them know they’ve been tagged (a quick comment on their blog will do). Don’t forget to link back to the blogger who tagged you.

Confessions of a Believer

• I was born in a family which is half strictly barehlvi, half strictly deobandi. I am trying to find where I stand.
• Asking questions about my beliefs make me a ‘nonbeliever’ in eyes of a lot of people. People can call me anything they want to, name calling only makes me more determined to find answers to my questions.

Confessions of a blogger

• I started blogging for myself but I soon realized that a lot of people do read what I write. It did make me omit some of the content that I would love to have here but that still doesnt change the way I see a lot of things. Just spamming a particular post with negative comments, making personal attacks on me or any other reader of mine only makes me think of that commenter/stalker/spammer as a retard.
• I have made a rule to myself that I will only allow bloggers to leave comments on my posts…cept for a few people who have been coming to my blog for a real long time.
• I dont consider myself a writer and perhaps thats the reason why I find it so difficult to do the write ups for anything at all.
• I have met some really wonderful people through this blog and I am glad that I opted to blog.

Confessions of a friend

• The word friendship doesnt mean much to me anymore. I have been stabbed in the back so many times that I dont know how I still end up trusting people; I still trust people quite easily.

Confessions of a woman living in the 21st century

• I know my weaknesses and although I complain about them a lot, I know I can handle things a lot of the things myself.
• I check my emails at least 20 times every day.
• Google is my wedding planner.

If you are reading it, you are tagged

Block

So I shall I finally admit this: I am going through the worst blogging block that one can imagine.

I dont know what I should be blogging about…well, thats an exaggeration. I do have certain things in my mind but I just dont feel like writing. I know I said this before, but its still the same.

The block has now gotten so bad that I am not even visiting other people’s blogs! I am sorry folks for that.

Off the Wall

EDIT: I have edited this post to talk about MJ’s funeral

You dont have to be his fan to mourn his death. In fact, you dont have to be a fan of music at all to mourn his death.

The death of MJ marked the end of an era, an end to a phenomenon, an end to the life of the real celebrity, a musical genius, the true King of Pop.

I was dancing on his tunes before I started walking. Sadly, my children will never know who this man was.

He was an icon who had seen the worst in his life, his career marred by controversies, always coming back as a real hero. Lately there had been rumors that he had reverted to Islam, if that is true then he was not only accepted wholeheartedly by the people, he had been honored by Allah (SWT) too. If that is not true, he will still remain a worldly legend that people of the coming generations would look up to and admire.

He left too soon but his mortality has made him immortal.

EDIT: MJ’s funeral

I didnt watch the funeral. It was heart wrenching. I couldnt watch people converting MJ’s funeral into a concert. It was too much for me.

Just a while back, someone sent in MJ’s children’s pics and I got tears in my eyes. I dont know how these kids will cope with this. They are soo young and all this attention is completely new to them. MJ tried so hard to keep them away from the spotlight so that they would be able to lead a normal life….now he’s not here to help save his kids from this anymore.  May Allah bless them.

R.I.P. Michael.

I’m lovin it

Note: This is a purely girlish post. I am not trying to pretend to be an oh-i-know-everything-about-cricket-mandira-bedi at all

Shani: ager tum cricketer hoti tou kya hoti?
Me: Hansie Cronje (with a wide grin)

Ok, this was way way back in ‘98. A time wen all my class mates had crushes on hollywood actors, footballers, tennis players….my favorite man in the world was Hansie Cronje. And No, it wasnt a crush. I just adored him for the clean image that he had, his intelligent looks, his prowess and his success.

The admiration was not only limited to Cronje. I quite liked the whole South African team and was an avid supporter in all their matches if they were not playing against Pakistan. I was actually quite sad wen they screwed up their chance of playing the final against Pakistan in the ‘99 world cup.

And then came the shocking news of Cronje being involved in match fixing in 2000. I felt betrayed.

Just two years later he died while he was trying to rebuild his life with dignity. I once again felt sorry for him.

In the meanwhile, South Africa continued being the best team around and yet losing all the big games.

The only knowledge that I have of cricket was thru the galli cricket that I used to play with all the boys of the muhalla during the summer vacations that we spent in Karachi back then. Still I am a keen spectator of cricket.

But lately, I had not been following cricket the way I used to. I didnt even feel thrilled about the World Cup. Frankly speaking, I didnt even know that T20 World Cup was about to start till around just two days before the World Cup started. The way Team Pakistan had been playing for a while might have been a reason.

I watched a match after a loooooong time (the last I watched was the One day that we lost terribly to Sri Lanka a few months back) and thank God I did watch it. It was a sure treat after the 18 hour electricity break down. It was simply an awesome match. Obviously, u gotta feel for the South African Team. They always lose the biggies but hey, wats more important is that we won.

Now, the result could have been completely the opposite. We won merely by 7 runs. Another bad over after that of Fawad Alam’s could have costed us the match. Obviously, a few more chokkas and chakkas during the last 5 overs of the Pakistan inning could have made life a bit simpler for the bowlers….and oh how can we forget the dropped catch by Umer Gul *ouch*

What the hell, why even think of what could have happened otherwise! For the time being, I’m lovin it

The biggest dream of my life

I know that I did not add this in the list of 10 things I want to do before I die. I thought of doing that. But then I was already planning to write a post on this and that is why I started with the Iqra wali discussion a few months back.

I dont know whether Id ever be able to achieve this or not but this has been my dream since I was a young child. I always wanted to develop a Hi-Tech research center in Pakistan….specifically since the time I started reading about Bells Research Labs. You know, wouldnt it be just so cool to have our very own journal of International Standard, something like the ACM or the IEEE!

Khair, I think I am getting a lil carried away and better get back to the real reason. It is my faith that Allah (SWT) wanted man to study that he has created and come up with things that could benefit him, something which man has been doing for centuries. Whatever we might have achieved so far, the inspiration has always been the nature itself: Be it the aeroplanes or submarines, dams or the seemingly petty idea of camouflaging, the origin is nothing but Allah’s (SWT) design and artistry.

We all know that muslims have had a great victorious past not only in terms of military advantage but we have had some of the greatest mathematicians, philosphers and artists. Today, we are lagging behind in every field. We only talk about the golden era and that it should be brought back, completely forgetting that during those days technology was usually not defining the course of wars, strategy was usually more important and studying all the wars we can very well say that muslims were strategically correct in all the wars that we fought and also won. Secondly, the muslims were quick to adopt new weaponry and technology.* But look at us now. Its been two centuries since we last won decisively in a war.The reason is that now we are not only lagging behind in technology but also in strategy.

Looking at our academics side, have you ever noticed how hugely dependent we are on non-muslim sources? We hardly write our own books? When was the last time you picked up a book on a technical topic that was written by a Muslim author? I cant remember a single book. This is so shameful. Look at your system, do you know of any component (hardware or software) that was developed by Muslims? None that I can think of. So many of the luxury items that we have now started considering a our basic needs from the television to our cell phone, they have all been developed by non-muslims too. What do we do? Boycott the products which we do not consider as bare necessities and keep using the ones which we consider as bare necessities (convenient boycotting!)? Torch their flags on the streets of Karachi, ending the demonstration with burning down the nearest KFC killing 6 innocent young men (who also happen to be the sole bread earners for their families)? Keep day dreaming that Allah (SWT) is on our side and if we will throw an onion towards a fighter jet, it will become an anti-aircraft missile? Or try to come up with something of our own to truly compete with them?

*There are two incidents that I would like to quote here:

1. The trenches were a concept used in Turkey Persia during wars and was completely alien to arabs. The Prohet (SAW) adopted the idea tactfully during ghazwa-e-khandaq.

2. The Arab Muslims had never seen elephants and once in Persia and thus the muslims did have a setback initially. The muslims were quick to adapt and found a way to overcome the beast during the war. It wasnt long before the elephants were being used as tanks in wars by Muslim armies.

Narcism

I have churaofied this tag from here cuz I found it really interesting.

Ten Things You Wish You Could Say to People, don’t take any names

1. Just stop keeping track of me you bloody stalker!!

2. Yea, I love myself, any problem?

3. Just mind your own business for a change!

4. Your girlfriend is not that naive (I know the guy I want to say this will most probably never read this!)

5. If he loves you, he should respect you and make sure that everyone else in his family respects you too (Again, I dont think she will ever read this)

6. Just stop judging me or anyone else! You are not better than anyone else…just stay in your limits.

7. I am worried about the way you live your life….slow down a bit.

8. Dont try to act like Mother Teressa, you are only making a fool out of urself.

9. Stop bashing your ex.

10. Stop under-estimating yourself!!

Nine things about you

1. I like to have my space.

2. I love the smell of books: new, old, photocopied, pirated…

3. I didnt know what broccoli is till I was 14, its my fav vegetable now.

4. I believe in para-normal activities.

5. I dont have a favorite color, the only color I dont like wearing is yellow.

6. I think too much.

7. I dont like girls who think they are weak and helpless.

8. I dont like winters.

9. My name is actually a word in Hebrew

Eight ways to win your heart

1. Buy me a book…simple, aint it

2. Be knowledgable. Know wats happening around you, not only wats being aired on TV the whole time but also wats happening with the people who care about you.

3. Have your own opinion, dont get influenced too easily by other people’s opinions.

4. Talk to me!

5. Dont think of me as a customizable software package.

6. Do not try to be my satellite: trust me, I’l tell you what you would need to know about me.

7. Read!

8. Respect women.

Seven things that are on your mind a lot (random ordering)

1. Religion

2. Politics

3. My work…..and my research

4. My fiance

5. Books

6. Food

7. My family

Six things you wish you never did

1. There have been times wen I have been really nasty with my family.

2. I dont basically regret much in life. I own my mistakes….perhaps the reason why I think so much. If I do something, it is cuz of a decision which I take after a lot of consideration. If things dnt work out, I dont regret it.

Five things that turn you off

1. Smoking..biggest turn off! Hate is a really harsh word but I really hate smokers.

2. Behaving like a demigod.

3. Being judgemental.

4. Showing off.

5. Tantrums

Four turn on’s

1. Confidence.

2. Sense of humor. Yea, I am cheap and you should be able to understand my jokes without trying to judge me.

3. Intelligence…although intelligence is just a relative term.

4. Be yourself.

Three things you want to do before you die

1. I have done a similar list here.

Two smileys that describe you

1. :S

2.

One confession

1. I dont like doctors.

Phew. This was more difficult than I thought it would be and thus, I wont make anyone’s life difficult.