Sonya Syed

Long time no see! Fits perfectly in my situation, though there was a strong desire to write but the fatigue of the passed few days surpassed it all. Sometimes doing nothing significant tires one down. The weekend passed with its complete glory, Friday 8th January was definitely a Good Friday. I met my long time best friend Maria after a gap of many months. It is always a delight to be with her and her family. Her parents’ a.k.a. Uncle and Aunty, her younger brother Shakir and his lovely wife Saani, their beautiful daughters Fatima and Alizey. Shabbir Chacha & Chachi their children & her cousins Haani and vivacious Zakira who was also visiting with her equally sweet children Zain and Zara. Last but not least Mohsin Maria’s son, I call him a Miracle Child. Yes, truly he has been a miracle for all of us and especially for Maria and her Husband Qasim. Maria has always been an inspiration for me, I feel proud and blessed to be her friend. It was after years I had the opportunity to...

Miracle! An early post. Its stupendous to see how life surprise us. When we don’t expect much to happen something shines out of blue to give us joy and pleasure, another inherent miracle of life. Finally I’m out of my gloom and with a bang. Although I still wish to get hold of a magic wand so I would change the face of the world into sheer prosperity and joy for every soul living. One significant lesson that I have learned in 2009 is to always and under ever circumstance watch out and be on guard for the words I speak and the emotions I feel. Because what we have thought or spoken once at some point in our life even for a brief second but with all the sincerity shall always come true; good or bad, negative or positive. My Naani used to invariably remind me that there is a moment in day when whatever we say will come true . I now know that it’s not merely limited to a single moment in a day but this charm extends to the entire day. So speak well, hear well and see well not for your...

Italians greeted 2010 by jumping in a river in winter. Australians had the biggest and the grandest fireworks to welcome this New Year. 2010 has come to all Pakistani’s as a year of improbability. This year started as never before with a strike in the major city Karachi followed by the most brutal bombing at a playground in Lucky Murrwat when a huge crowd was enjoying a volleyball match between local teams, killing almost 95 people with many injured. All attempts to remain positive prove to be futile. I have always failed to understand the logic behind this large scale devastation, in ancient times whenever a nation was destroyed the destruction happened once and then there was a new start for the remaining. However, Pakistan has defied all the odds. Although I am not acquainted with any of those who died as a result of terrorism; nevertheless, I can feel their pain their anguish to a certain degree, if not completely. Regardless, of what I try to do to keep myself bus...

Life is a bizarre phenomenon, one moment one day we are radiating joy and ultimate optimism and the other we experience something distressing and the paradigm of life starts to vary. I hope to find a formula so that life can remain constant and be just as it is . But change is inevitable and so as the anticipation or fear of unknown and new. Today has been wonderful I had an early start; especially the winter morning was simply splendid. All chores were completed in due time, particularly exercise which takes mental willingness and energy more than the physical energy. Its almost midnight and I now plan to get my sleep and I pray to greet the coming days with similar zest and zeal not only for myself but for everyone around me. Until tomorrow… Sonya.

How wonderful it is to talk to friends. Friends- they always give us pleasure and a sense of comfort and security. I sheepishly feel proud of myself that I have exquisite taste in human beings and inherent gift to develop nurturing relationships with my friends. It’s a blessing. Today I feel better though not completely out of the effects of the catastrophe of yesterday, a suicide attack followed by putting on fire several hundreds of thousands of shops and businesses in Karachi. It gets frightening in Karachi when huge scale devastations occur as the ripple effect to one main incident. Nowhere else it is seen in the country where atrocious crime like a blast takes place that immediately the entire city starts to burn and comes to an abrupt terrifying halt. Many have lost their lives, even worse to know that so many families have lost 2 or more members, their loved ones, in an instant. But there is a consolation to know that all who lost their lives though suffered unimaginable ...

25th and 27th December holds very special spot in my heart, these are the birth dates of not only a great man called Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah who with the grace of God made possible for us Pakistanis to have this beautiful and magnificent country brimful with natural resources, perfect 4 seasons, gems and so on; where we can exist in freedom. How far as a nation are we successful to realize our founder’s dream and the hundreds of thousands of unnamed heroes who sacrificed their lives to give us, their future generations a gift of independence; is debatable. But I think what is required from each one of us is to have a vision intention and the absolute willingness to see prosperity, education, safety, health and freedom of expression blossoming in Pakistan. All that is required from us is to sincerely and honestly carry out our functions in whatever capacity they are assigned to us , be it of a politician, a doctor, a technician, lawyer, teacher, student or a parent. The...

Faces, many faces that came and went from my life, some of them made guest appearances while others decided to stay for the long haul. In the solitude and stillness of night when everyone is asleep and the road outside my home have swathed itself with the drapes of quietude. I cannot but cease to think of all the people that I ever had the opportunity to be with, some being my childhood pals, others from school/ college/ university and many others that I have worked with. Time is a fantastic sieve of relationships and has an amazing characteristic of filtering people from and into our lives. For some reason we possess a tendency to forget some faces and remember others while some leave indelible mark on our minds. I cannot rationalize this theory but we do become subconsciously connected with some individuals. They teach us a lot about our self, mostly unintentionally; they prove to be beneficial for our existence, they become our Buddha experience. It’...