Sonya Syed

Sunday morning sets in motion a little late than usual followed by an equally belated breakfast and then lunch. The evening invites bright yellowish sun radiant in sky and its rays nourishing every being upon which its cascades itself. Karachi’s climate is changing rapidly from chilly to warmish with frequent cold breeze, warm clothing is being returned to the storage. Voices of children playing cricket outdoors instils a sense of life. Activity level gets a bit accelerated with the aroma of tea and deli in the air. Since I am not much of a tea drinker so it is not possible for me to elucidate on the qualities of tea, my forte is coffee. Although at times I only sheepishly admit my coffee drinking ritual because for some strange reason coffee is considered as an elite beverage and people assume that I am some kind of a prima donna whose tastes simply are too high to be met. Whenever I asked my Dad to bring me some coffee jars he would invariably inquire from me as to why and how I sta...

12th Rabi al Awwal, one of the most auspicious day for the entire humanity that existed or are existing or would ever exist. Yes, I am not limiting the beauty of this day for Muslims but it is expanded for the whole human kind whatsoever be their religious believes. This is the day when we Muslims celebrate the birth of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (May Peace Be Upon Him), who was born to Hazrat Abdullah and Bibi Aaminah on the 12th of the month Rabi al Awwal i.e. approximately August 570 C.E. This day is celebrated by praying, reciting Quran and Durood Shareef as much as possible. Prophet Muhammad (May Peace Be Upon Him) was the one for whom the entire universe was created, all gifts from Allah, His Divine Mercy, Peace, Love, Knowledge, Wisdom, Discernment were first showered upon Prophet Muhammad (May Peace Be Upon Him) and then those gifts were distributed through him to others, to us. If you would like to enhance your knowledge about Prophet Muhammad (May Peace Be Upon Him) Quran ...

Whoopie!!! I made it to the 40th Day.. Taking 3 cups of green tea a day is taking its toll on my sleep patterns, nights are mostly restless and in case I manage to sleep it is short termed and disturbed. Negligence especially when done deliberately shall always generate severe consequences. No error can be rectified unless we acknowledge a mistake as a mistake. Illness can’t be cured if we deny its very presence. Would escaping a problem ever help, I think not. I read somewhere that parents these days are opting for unique names for their children. The psychologists conducting this study explain the rationale behind this trend is that parents now want their children to have individuality and to stand out from the rest of the crowd. However, psychologists fear that this trend would also lead to narcissism, i.e. an abnormal and excessive love and admiration for oneself. In yester years parents were more inclined toward giving their children most popular names of the time and this t...

Stillness and solitude of night for some strange reason instigate the thinking process; ideas become clear expression become lucid. As we become noiseless both from within and outside we could come across answers to questions that we have asked God at some point in our lives when things didn’t work the way we have wished for. Consequently for a brief moment, a door to consciousness opens up and out of the blue we stumble across the missing pieces of puzzle. On occasions when I was confident either personally or professionally that I will definitely get a certain thing but then I had an entirely different outcome. Of course when things do not turn out the way we wanted them to it upsets us we ask questions and want to understand God’s objective. Today I received answers to some of my pending questions. There were certain people who were fully aware of my professional capabilities, my sincerity and dedication towards my work and above all the excellent rapport that I had with them yet ...

There are some days which completely drain out the process of thinking, you want to speak but are unable to find right words to express. Another Friday went by with sheer swiftness; the pace with which days are passing is astounding. There is so much to do, so much to say, alas! Time surpasses us. News channel are increasingly becoming an integral part of our daily lives, no dinner is considered complete without the familiar sounds of anchor persons and political debates in background. Few days ago I accidentally but fortunately, while surfing channels heard a song which attracted me magnetically towards it, Noor a Pakistani film actress was dancing on the beats of that song with somewhat of a fusion of modern moves and our very traditional Punjabi film oriented steps. I just stayed on the channel for hardly 3 seconds but I couldn’t get off that one line of the song from my mind. So today I finally looked up for that song on our Godsend internet and voila! I found it....

Chirping of birds, wintry breeze titillating against your body and familiar voices of talking laughing pour aliveness in ears. Taking a moment to breath, to feel, to hear and to absorb all that is around brings in a stream of sudden intense peace which connects something within to something without. Initially, awareness of another dimension enters and then as the time goes by a gateway is opened into Nirvana; making it effortless to perceive animate souls in that dimension. Neither there exist any limitation nor hindrance of either time or space. There is a red broadleaf tree just outside our home and I can to enjoy its presence from the window of my mom’s room. Few days ago its branches were full of brilliant red leaves and then the leaves started to fall off gradually leaving the tree leafless. But then tiny green leaves began to sprout and today when I looked at the tree it showed signs of new life and the branches are once again born but this time with green leaves. In summer all...

I was speaking with a lady yesterday who advised me to pay attention to my skin, hair as much as possible before I get married and marriage I could relax because then sab chalta hai i.e. anything and everything goes then. If you advise any married woman to look after herself there is always a routine reply ab iss ki kiya zaroorat hai . Since I am on the other side of fence I am unable to comprehend the truth behind these statements although there is huge pressure on me from all corners to cross over to the wonderland of matrimony. Still these are nonetheless interesting points to ponder particularly when Valentines Day is around. I would only try to limit my views to fair-sex since I have no precise idea how guys feel about this issue. I would welcome any thoughts though. Well it’s true that quite a few times I have seen brides-to-be to exercise regularly, to look after themselves in every possible way before getting marriage and once the wedding bells ring they loose interest or to...