“… They should rather pardon and overlook. Would you not love Allah to forgive you? Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Qur’an, 24:22).”

It is clear i am a different specie when the waiter gives me a choice between  Chicken and Coriander Soup and Spinach and Egg Soup, and whilst everybody else on the table opts for the safe chicken soup, i choose Spinach and Egg. And i am not even vegetarian.

On another tangent the waiter could not pronounce, “coriander” and he was unintentionally put on the spot when someone on the table corrected him ( unintentionally of course). However, in all this unintentional mess, i saw a slight change in the waiter’s expressions. No! I will never put some one on the spot unintentionally…  at least i hope so.

Filed under: S Chronicles Tagged: chicken corriander soup, mispronounciation, soup, spinach and egg soup, waiter ]]> http://sapphirical.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/battle-of-the-soups/feed/ 2 SaFire Spinach and Egg Soup Chicken and Corriander Soup http://sapphirical.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/blogger-needs-your-help/ http://sapphirical.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/blogger-needs-your-help/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:30:29 +0000 SaFire http://sapphirical.wordpress.com/?p=1057 Continue reading →]]>

Today i reach out to all my wonderful readers. This female janitor/maid in our office is keen to learn how to read and write in order to be able to help her young children study. Her children are currently enrolled in school and she feels that there is only so much assistance she can give to her children with respect to their education.

 

She wants to learn for her children. She wants to learn how to read and write and is willing to enroll in a school and take lessons.

 

Do any of you know of any effective adult literacy programmes in the city of Karachi?  Do you know of any non governmental organizations or schools that i can reach out for in this regard?

 

Your help would be dearly appreciated. God Bless.

 

 

Sending an official letter to important folks dated January 4th 2011 when it is infact January 4th 2012. *Sigh* Epic Fail.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. And frankly by just writing 13 posts the past year, i have proven that i am definitely at  a turtle’s speed in the world of blogging. But then you know what they say, slow and steady, wins the race. :)

But what surprised me that people came to this blog to search for “inner peace”. Boy, the disappointment,  that must have brought across. *sigh*

And folks from eight countries in North and South America, five countries in Europe, five countries in Asia and Arabia, two countries from Oceania and five countries in Africa paid me a visit too. Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you !! This is incredibly humbling.

This year i shall strive to blog more and hope that i don’t fail. :)

Love you all. :) And thanks wordpress for making my day.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 8,400 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report

So this is the new year.
And i don’t feel any different.
The clanking of crystal
Explosions off in the distance.

So this is the New Year
And I have no resolutions
For self assigned penance
For problems with easy solutions.

(Death Cab for Cutie.)

A few years back on every New Years Eve, despite the fact that I was in my room and under the blanket on my bed, trying to sleep amidst the deafening celebratory gun shots ( that made me realize how a war zone would sound like) I used to be very optimistic. Brimming with energy, hope and very stupid faith and certainty, I used to declare to nobody but myself, “I am so sure the coming year will be different. Something great will happen. Something special will happen. Surely, this will be the unforgettable year of my life and I will achieve many milestones.”

So terribly naïve of me.

Fast forward a few years and now on New Years Eve, as I lie under the blanket and listen to the various types of ammunition being shot in the air, I have no feelings- nothing. – nada- zilch. To be honest, it does not even feel like it is the new year. Nothing feels different. Yes, AlhamdulilAllah I have achieved many milestones along the way, but somehow nothing in life motivates me anymore. I am after all running after nothing. Money? Fame? Success? Love? Contentment? Happiness? Do I have any of these things?  Hell NO! But still I don’t aspire for anything.

Maybe I have become a zombie- insensitivised by the bomb attacks happening every other week, frustrated by the country’s politics, tired of the meaningless social gatherings, disappointed by people to such an extent that there are no expectations at all, secretly depressed by the nothingness of life and most importantly resigned to my fate- whatever it is and whatever it may be.

But I am not unhappy. Just at peace with my self, the world and those around me.

So happy new year folks. My expectation level for this year is actually pretty low so bring it on. Love,  peace and Light as they say. <3
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Ps. Keep me in your prayers.

There is a blog post I have been meaning to write but I also want to go shopping. There are social commitments over this weekend too. But I want nothing of it. I just want to lie in bed , watch movies, eat chips, almonds and maybe some ice cream later and just sulk, sulk and sulk. Why can’t you guys understand I really don’t want to go out. :/ The only exception I would like to make is going out with immediate family. Now that makes me feel infinitely better. But for now, let me laze and sulk, please.

ps. i am so demotivated and lazy that is a sheer surprise i even wrote this.

I wanted to write about the degradation of the collective Pakistani Psyche, but then I would be generalizing. If I am a dissenting member, then I am sure others do exist or at least, I hope.

But then there are several things I do not understand:

(i)                 What kind of self-respecting Pakistani will fill up everybody’s facebook feeds with Veena Malik and her latest antics? Are, our brains slowly reducing to the size of peanuts? Is this all we can think?

(ii)               What kind of shameless Pakistani will send you texts and update their Facebook statuses and behave like twits (reference to tweeting! Sorry, I have no love lost with twitter), wishing death to the country’s President, a human.

For starters, I am not a Zardari fan. As far as I know no one is. But will I wish death to him, even if in the form of a lame joke?  No way! Not to him, not to anyone else. I feel sick at this moral decline.

And when Pakistani blogging pioneers and umm.. “social activists” like Awab Alvi ( who of course screams allegiance to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and whom many youngsters look up to) updates his Facebook page with a below the belt joke about President Zardari and how he wishes that his doctor behaves exactly the same way that Michael Jackson’s doctor did, I almost throw up.

We need to be better than this. I beg of you, my Pakistani brethren. We really should know better. Let our psyche not deteriorate into the gutter. :/

Abu Hurayrah stated that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said:

“The best day on which the sun has risen is Friday. On it Adam was created, on it he was placed in paradise, on it he left paradise, on it he was forgiven, on it he died, and on it the final hour will take place. Every creature on the face of the earth, except Adam’s descendants, awakens on Friday on the lookout fearing the final hour until the sun rises. And there is an hour on Friday in which Allaah will grant anything a believer asks, if he is in formal prayer (salaah) during it.”

Collected by Abu Daawood (Sunan Abu Dawud, vol. 1, p. 269, no. 1041)

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