The route that some take

I have never been a fan of Junaid Jamshed. In fact Dil Dil Pakistan is the only song that I ever liked & I’ve never been interested in Pakistani music as such.

Ever since JJ has become maulvi type, I’ve noticed that countless folks have problem with this. I think it’s a personal choice. People should mind their own business, but I’ve even heard this singer saying on TV that he would never choose the path taken by JJ. That’s not just ridiculous but also immature on the part of someone to say it on TV. Be honest, if you have the charm to be one. And then no one is asking you to choose the path of a clergy.

Recently JJ has been giving this public service message on Lays. That PSM has been taken by many as an endorsement. I even went through certain comments where my sister writes & I was like what’s the big deal about it? It has been alleged that Lays is not halal. Only a religious scholar or some genuinely knowledgeable person could tell you whether a thing is haram or halal. Fine. I admit the style of JJ is a bit funny, but the message was clear unless you have serious problem with JJ or Lays.

I know 2 ladies who were ultra mod but now they observe pardah & they have changed a lot. In common language, they have become maulanas. Mostly people are shocked out of their wits. Everyone one was like…how could this happen? Such out people can never become religious. People I know also say that they don’t know what others mean by the word religious. One word can have thousand definitions as thousands of people define it in different ways. To my mind, a person who is doing a noble work is also religious. Even a person who prays just 1 time can be religious in the eyes of God. We can’t say anything on it.

“The Lord knows very well who goes astray from His path; He knows very well the right-guided.”

The Holy Quran

“Are the blind & the seeing man equal? Will you not reflect?”

The Holy Quran

That’s a very important question. We need to think about it rather than throwing dirt on others. Moreover, it has been written in the Quran a number of times that God does not guide the people of the ungodly. And God also doesn’t guide the unbelievers either. God shows the path to anyone He wants to.

“To God belong the East & the West;
He guides whomsoever He will to a straight path.”

The Holy Quran

The Last House On The Left

Yesterday I had the misfortune to watch this movie with my siblings. The history is a bit funny. A friend of my sister recommended this movie calling it horror. I suppose the violence was too much & can be described as horrifying, which is why this movie can be called horror. Well there is no element of a genuine horror movie in it though. Anyway, the story line was okay. If you have nothing else to do & you don’t have any other DVD, then you can watch it.

My brother also pointed out that it was not the last house on the left; it was the only house. Anyway, Tony Goldwyn has been a cool dad in this movie. There’s one good thing about this film. You know nothing is useless. It forces us to ask this question: if bad people hurt your loved ones, what would you do? To what extent can you go to avenge your loved ones?

In the movie, both the parents kill those 3 people & I guess it was the right thing. We all have heard that an eye for an eye would make the world go blind. Although we are not purblind as yet, but people are stumbling every where! And in almost every corner, someone is ever ready to lecture you. Revenge has always been taken as a negative thing. In Utopia, anyone can afford to be civilized. We live in the real world where ugliness can be seen almost everywhere. Revenge may not seem to be the right option, but when someone rapes your daughter, what step would you take? Would you let the bastards get away with it? Can you forgive such people? We all know the answer; it’s another thing many would prefer to stay quiet about it or pretend to be civilized.

Some impulses are stronger

Some impulses are stronger than we are, have proved themselves so throughout the world's history. Is it not rather our ideals of conduct, of Right and Wrong, our ethics, which are unnatural and monstrously distorted? Is society not suffering from a case of the evil eye which sees evil where there is none? Isn't it our moral laws which force me into evasions like the one which you have just found fault with?"

Eugene O’ Neill

Cat of the week

“Maybe God put a few bad people in your life, so when the right one came along you’d be thankful.”

Andrea Kiefer

The book that is not on the shelf

I usually don’t like my writings, because I’m never satisfied. The only factors that stand out in my writings are most probably honesty & the fact that I write things with finality. Anyway, I really liked our book & I was not supposed to write on it today. In fact, I didn’t want to, but my sister is on the net & I have nothing better to do. And I’m certainly not in mood of reading right now. So, I’ll talk about our book ‘If mortals had been immortals & other short stories.’

Well Z & I had loads of fun while writing this book. We started off in 2006 & finished the book after a year. Writing a book is not anything easy, as many presume it to be. Try it & you will get the picture. We worked really hard. 1 & a half year was wasted in waiting as one of my brothers said that he would get it published in America (anything can be published in the land of opportunity) where he lives, but somehow he never had the time.

Our book is far ahead of time & it is experimental writing. Naturally America seemed to be the right place. Somehow we got it published online & here I would like to thank those 5 people who bought our book in which no one believes. We tried to get it in hard copy, but we haven’t succeeded so far, as it’s not about partition or music or some kind of art that the world can relate to. I really don’t know the reason as I don’t live in the minds of people. And just come to think of it, what a sad abode that would be! Maybe it’s not the right time, but when is the right time to start thinking? When is the right time to look at a thing from another angle? If it’s not now, then when? Do we need thousand more years to wait? Maybe they can wait. It suits them.

Writers like D. H. Lawrence have suffered & who are we? Exactly nothing! Rejection is not a new phenomenon for Z & I. In a way, I feel good that it’s not typical writing & that’s why people aren’t ready for it. Moreover, it’s available on the net. Even when we die, our book lives. The words we have scribbled aren’t being wasted. That much I know.

However, people drink piss because they have to & they start shitting in their pants when they hear of something extraordinary. I don’t know if it’s ever going to change. I still believe in my work & I was asking Z the other day that we should go till the end. We just can’t give up, cause people are not ready for something far ahead of time. Just because they are scared doesn’t mean the work is a piece of shit. And we see countless books that aren’t even readable & yet they are in the market. Quite frankly, I mostly read classics, cause these new books are rarely readable. Sometimes it seems paper has been wasted. I’m so sorry for being blunt, but this is how I see it. And I don’t think our book falls in that category.

I’m not saying Z & I are the best writers of this century. I can’t say that. But I know how we write & I don’t think anyone can demoralize us. I still believe in our work & I just can’t give up on it, cause not a single soul believes in it. In fact, I want to work on another book with my crazy partner. I look forward to it. I really do.

Nadira Rahman

Would you sleep with anyone to climb the ladder of success?

While playing Q &A, I asked this particular question. Naturally whoever took the test said NO. I also don’t happen to be friends with anyone who is screwing to get ahead in life. And people I know who are into all these things wouldn’t answer my questions, in the 1st place.

We haven’t been able to play Q & A lately as my sister has too many weirdos in her circle & they have nothing better to do than to read what we have to say & then they put up stupid questions. Dealing with stupid questions is also an art. My sister can deal with them, but I can’t.

Catharsis is something that purges (Oh really?), but if you think writers are here to pour out each & every story…then you are wrong. I only talk about things I want to talk about…I never go further than that. Now why the hell am I writing on this? But I’m sure it’s not yet clear as to what I’m writing about.

Coming back to those who sleep in order to get ahead…I would only say: It’s your life & you make your choices. Frankly speaking, I don’t really care & I’m not into writing moral stuff. To me sex is a sacred thing. The only questions I can throw at them are: Are you living for your fleshly desires? Has the big O happened? Are you having it right now? Or do you just fake it? I would be the last person to ask them: how could you insult sex? Because I don’t really know…maybe they are enjoying it. If not, how saddening!

My favourite question has always been: Do you fantasize about sex? I do, but I hardly come across people who say yes. Honesty is but a rare thing.

“Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.”

D. H. Lawrence

Now I’m going to tell why I have written all this. One such lady asked my sister: who is the guy Nadz fighting with on the blognetwork? That was one dumb question. She could have asked as to why I got into that silly argument with a retard. That would have sounded hilarious at least. And see what I have done today.

On a serious note, I’ve seen the world doesn’t have problem with people who sleep in order to gain something. But the world has problem with those who raise their voice against an atrocity or a crime that shouldn’t be mentioned. As long as people keep mum about it, that thing doesn’t exist. Is there anything in this world that escapes corruption? Isn’t it corruption that you stay quiet when you should speak up against something that isn’t right?

That’s what I don’t like. And you don’t have to approve or disapprove of it. I’m not asking for your opinion.

“If I speak a little bluntly – well, that's my way. I don't mince matters. I say what I think."
Moliere

Nadira Rahman

Rock of Agony

“To the pure, all things are pure; not only meats & drinks, but all kind of knowledge whether of good or evil; the knowledge cannot defile, nor consequently the books, if the will & conscience be not defiled.”

Dionysius was an extremely respected Bishop of Alexandria. He used to read the books written by heretics in order to refute their arguments. One of the priests told him that it was a wrong approach. Naturally he was perplexed but then a vision from God told him to read all those books, because he had reason & judgment to choose.

“The Lord will know what to forbid & what to allow without your help.”

George Bernard Shaw

“Knowledge is always good whether it pertains to good or evil. If the mind & the will are not already corrupted, books & the knowledge derived from them cannot corrupt them.”

John Milton

We have often come across people who presume everything & they also think they are always right. On top of it, they have the audacity to impose their silly opinions on others. George Feydeau rightly describes them for us:

“Some people are born pests. You can never get rid of them.”

And more importantly, “One doesn’t write for slaves.” Jean-Paul Sartre

Anyway, the thing is…people are entitled to have any kind of views whether others approve of them or not. When they go around forcing opinions & what they think is right on others, the situation becomes all the more ugly. Everyone should know their limits, that is, they have no right to go around bullying others.

Lately we have come across aliens who themselves don’t do any research, but drag in Dr. Zakir. Dr. Zakir is a scholar & knowledgeable person no doubt & he has worked very hard, but to presume that he has all the answers is wrong. He’s not a prophet. I’m sorry to say but being a Muslim, it’s a sin to raise someone to that level. They ought to be ashamed of themselves, but no, they create hurdles in other people’s path & ask them to follow the same thing blindly. What losers! Just by denying a problem, they think it would disappear. The Holy Quran is the primary source & it is incumbent on every Muslim to go through the translations & interpretations.

Again it is explicitly mentioned in the Holy Quran says:

“Clear proofs have come to you from your Lord. Whoso sees clearly, it is to his own gain, & whoso is blind, it is to his own loss.”

“The Lord knows very well who goes astray from His path; He knows very well the right-guided.”

The Holy Quran

It has been so that people with vision are invariably rare & those who can understand them are even rarer. However, there are always people out there who just hate & they can’t help hating & fueling their hate. You can’t pour sense into their senseless heads & we don’t have to either. They are so, as God intends them to be. This is just not our headache.

“Good & evil we know in the field of this world grow up together almost inseparably, & the knowledge of good is so involved & interwoven with the knowledge of evil & in so many cunning resemblances hardly to be discerned, that those confused seeds which were imposed upon Psyche as an incessant labour to cull out & sort asunder, were not more intermixed.”

John Milton

Nadira Rahman