25

Few days ago I celebrated my 25th birthday. It’s now been 25 official years, since I landed in this world. It just seemed like yesterday when I was a kid. It just feels like last Thursday, when I used to wait for my favorite cartoon show on television. It just seems like last Wednesday, when my English school teacher has given me an assignment to do. It just looks like last Friday, when I used to hurry back to home from my college, so that I can read my Jumma prayers in a mosque situated nearby my house. It just appears to be last Tuesday, when I used have a hectic university schedule. 25 years of life; so many memories; so many people: family, friends, fellows, strangers... Some were good and have made positive impact on my life... Some made negative; so many incidents; ups and downs; the reminiscences of joy, carefree, freedom and memoirs of sadness, pessimism, betrayals; My life wasn’t been perfect as I used to desire for. There were many imperfections left during this course. I mostly never got what I desired for. And what I never thought of , it was given to me. I might not have the best of best human beings around myself; I might not have the absolute happiness or the absolute pleasure throughout; I might not have the best shoulder to cry on or the most beautiful face to fall in love with. But, I know that in fact, these little imperfections in life actually make a life perfect.

So, I am a happy man and am thankful to my God for His blessings and the wonderful gift of life that He has given to me, and the wonderful people in shape of my family and friends with whom I have shared my life with.

A Joy to Share

I have a little believe. It is: “If there is something written in your destiny: if its written that you will achieve fortune in shape of either success or a special person or any riches of world, then you will get it in life. When? Well, it all depends on you when will you get it. Life will show you two paths. You have to choose one of them. That path can either shortens your distance or may be it prolongs it. But you will definitely meet your destiny sooner or later”. Sometimes some things come in life late. They don’t arrive when you have wanted them to. However when they do come, then the joy of having them is greater than the joy of the having them then. Let me share one of such experience of my life today. I graduated from my university in 2003. My batch was pioneer batch of my university in the subject I chosen. I have a distinction in my batch for scoring the highest CGPA. I was expected to receive the gold medal and roll of honor as recognition of this achievement, but alas on my convocation there was no such acknowledgment. Let me be very honest, I was hurted. Infact pretty bad because it was a dear dream of mine. It was among those some of the things, which I wanted in life deeply. I could have voice my concern then in front of college administration but I chose to remain silent. Because of my little believe. Even tough I regret it later, that I should have raised my voice, why did I remain silent? It was a regret, which I knew would remain with me throughout. Why couldn’t I muster up the courage then? After that incident for about more than 2 years I didn’t go back even a single time to my university. However, few weeks back, I went back to my university with my friends to submit the form for old students union. There, one of my teachers told me that the toppers of the batches that followed were honored with the recognition from university. I should check too whether I am entitled for it or not. But it was already late that day. Next week, I couldn’t find much ample time. The following week I went to university to query them about myself. I was delighted to know that my name was on the list of awardees of roll of honor and gold medal. Infact, a year after my convocation, the university decided to give me recognition, but the university didn’t had my new address, therefore they couldn’t contact me. They kept my gold medal and roll of honor safe from past 1.3 years. At last, I had it. Definitely, it was among the biggest joys of my life. One thing, which you want so much, and then you get it all of sudden one day; the joy is marvelous. It’s not a piece of metal for me only. It’s an achievement of my life; A fruit of my hard work and dedication; it’s the answer of unspoken prayers; it’s a blessing from my Allah and His way to tell me that Life never leave any balance; it always does it math sooner or later and its math is never wrong and at the end it always cut down to zero.

How do you mend a broken heart ?

I once got this in a mail. I just want to share it with you here. May be it will help you if you are in need ;)

We get a lot of prayer requests asking to simply pray for their broken heart.So what do you do when you've got a broken heart?Here are four steps that will help you up that mountain.
1. Occupy 2. Gratify 3. Sanctify 4. Glorify.

Occupy:Occupy your time, don't sit around moping. Do something. Idleness is the soil of self-pity and depression. Get busy. The best thing that you can do is to do something that helps others. It's a universal principle that when you start focusing on helping others, your own problems are diminished.Don't just stand there, DO SOMETHING!

Gratify:Write a list of the things you like, then pick three of those things and put those things in your life - now. Make sure you can afford them and that they aren't harmful. When our hearts are broken, we often deprive ourselves of the things we enjoy. Make an effort to put enjoyment in your life.

Sanctify:Do good. Don't return evil for evil, hurt for hurt, pain for pain. Don't wish something horrible would happen to the other person. Hope for their good fortune in your spirit, and it just may release your good fortune in your world.The easiest way to forget someone, is to truly wish them well.

Glorify:Life is not over. You can live without them. Not only can you live without them, you can live even happier without them. It is a matter of perspective. Even with the negative in your world at the moment, there is something to be thankful for.There is plenty to be thankful for actually. Give God the glory for what you have.You can't be sad and thankful at the same time. Tell heartbreak to move over.

A famous comedian said, "A man isn't a man until he's had his heart broken." It's not really broken, it's just tenderized.

Excerpts from "The Notebook" by NICHOLAS SPARKS

My life? It isn't easy to explain. It has not been the rip-roaring spectacular I fancied it would be, but neither have I burrowed around with the gophers. I suppose it has most resembled a blue-chip stock: fairly stable, more ups than downs, and gradually trending upward over time. A good buy, a lucky buy, and I've learned that not everyone can say this about his life. But do not be misled. I am nothing special; of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.

The romantics would call this a love story, the cynics would call it a tragedy. In my mind it's a little bit of both, and no matter how you choose to view it in the end, it does not change the fact that it involves a great deal of my life and the path I've chosen to follow. I have no complaints about my path and the places it has taken me; enough complaints to fill a circus tent about other things, maybe, but the path I've chosen has always been the right one, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Time, unfortunately, doesn't make it easy to stay on course. The path is straight as ever, but now it is strewn with the rocks and gravel that accumulate over a lifetime. Until three years ago it would have been easy to ignore, but it's impossible now. There is a sickness rolling through my body; I'm neither strong nor healthy, and my days are spent like an old party balloon: listless, spongy, and growing softer over time...

I realize the odds, and science, are against me. But science is not the total answer; this I know, this I have learned in my lifetime. And that leaves me with the belief that miracles, no matter how inexplicable or unbelievable, are real and can occur without regard to the natural order of things. So once again, just as I do every day, I begin to read the notebook aloud, so that she can hear it, in the hope that the miracle that has come to dominate my life will once again prevail.
And maybe, just maybe, it will.

The Prologue from the book, The Alchemist...

The Alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought. Leafing through the pages, he found a story about Narcissus. The alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a youth who daily knelt beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty. He was so fascinated by himself that, one morning, he fell into the lake and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower was born, which was called the narcissus. But this was not how the author of the book ended the story. He said that when Narcissus died, the Goddesses of the Forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed into a lake of salty tears.
"Why do you weep?" the Goddesses asked.
"I weep for Narcissus," the lake replied.
"Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus," they said, "for though we always pursued him in the forest, you alone could contemplate his beauty close at hand."
"But..... was Narcissus beautiful?" the lake asked.
"Who better than you to know that?" the Goddesses said in wonder, "After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each day to contemplate himself!!"
The lake was silent for some time.
Finally it said:
"I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected."
"What a lovely story," the alchemist thought.

Bye Bye 2006 - A New Day Has Come

Today is 01 January 2007 and the time showing on my pc is 10:03 am. It’s the first day of New Year and also there is another special occasion too. Today is Eid-ul-Azha. I just have finished texting messages to all the people in my contact list and now finally I found some ample time to spend on my pc. I could feel that today will be quite a busy day. I am going to meet all the relatives and friends. Also soon qurbani will be started. But still I guess I have time to write something from my heart again.

Since yesterday was the last day of the previous year, in night on my way to sleep I was thinking about the previous year. Recounting all the memorable events of 2006, which were either good or bad and had affected me in any way. I was thinking how much of my life was changed in that year. 2006 year started on a good node. I had many hopes and dreams for the New Year. Professionally it was a kick back start and I was shifted to a new project, quite challenging and exciting. During summer, I visited Murree and Abbotabad with my brother and cousin. Everything in life was going smooth. There was work, fun and laughter. However gradually it soon began to fade away. The hope was replaced with despair. The fun was replaced with sickness and laughter was replaced with troubles. It all started when I couldn’t make into admission in MBA at LUMS for third time at row and this made me to re-think, what I really want in life? Also there were tensions growing on between me and my friends. In the third quarter of that year I started feeling dejected. One by one the incidents in life made me more and more depressed and I lost interest in everything. Another reason was that I was surrounded by very much negativity around myself. Since I absorb from my environment, therefore the negativity affected me deeply inside. I just wanted to run away from everything. I became very lazy and weird. And then the last month came.

I took 10 days leave from work in the last days of the year and those 10 days were quite memorable. In these days, I realized that my life was actually back on track again. I came to know about lies which a person was telling me from quite a long time and I actually believed them. It hurt me to an extent and first time I realized probably people can be fake. In spite of it, I was content and feeling positive. One of my best friends got married and I was very happy for him. Another of my best friend shifted back to Lahore. The misunderstandings between the friends were resolved; bought a new car. A whole new professional direction was in front of me. Had fun with some old friends and I was becoming more and more ready to face my fears once again ;)

In short, if I could sum up the year 2006 for myself then it would be “Just few days can change the whole course of your life. However always take them in right spirit and never lose hope”.

May God Bless You All.