Sonya Syed

Playing with children is one of the most charming activity, revitalizing every cell in your body and today I had one such ecstatic experience. Its been a long time since I had this experience, I played hide and seek with this amazing little girl at home Sana. I started with doing the counting so she can hide but with some cheating I found her in few seconds, then it was decided that I shall not find her the next time. We played for quite some time and every time she won, of course. When our game ended she was thrilled and happy to beat me in every round and her joy filled laughter was priceless. As a child I could never understand why my adults got so easily tired within few minutes into the game but today I finally get it. A child has abundant energy because there is no stress, no anxiety and definitely there is no thinking so you are always enjoying every bit of life with full energy. When you are a child there is just this present moment for you, there is no past for yo...

Yesterday I went to University of Karachi to get copies of my degree, it was hot, humid and it felt as if my head was boiling so much that you could fry an egg over it. I was in my complaining mode of how hot it is, how thirsty I am and why is it taking too long to finish the work here. With all this going in my head I came to my car parked in the ground where the students were sitting, standing and chatting in the sheds. There I saw this girl who stood right in front of me with her white stick, she was blind. However, there was a strange beautiful smile on her face even in that near-boiling-point heat. She was standing alone there but I strangely felt that she was smiling at me. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing because the way she was focused on me and smiling, for a moment I thought she is playing around posing to be sightless. I was bewildered as to why she had that peculiar smile, in my heart I was also thanking for my eyes and the fact that I can see, protect mys...

I didn’t intend to write today’s post but here I am magnetized to you all and saying a word or two. First things first, Thank you Thank you Thank you to many of this blog’s silent readers and Star, Masood Uncle and Mom for visiting the blog and giving your appreciation. Mom & Masood Uncle being family are genetically programmed to like and support me, but honestly it is so wonderful that you and many other readers of this blog take time out from their busy schedules to read my wanderings and give me your amazing feedback. There was so much to write about Nazia Hassan and her work but due to the paucity of time I just gave some highlights yet still with my own means I have tried my best to do justice to her. And yes Many Thanks to all the readers who visit the blog in their quest to know about the mysteries behind Sarwana Cottage. Since my earlier posts F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Sarwana Cottage there has been a great input on this topic from many of the readers. Today someone, wh...

April 3 rd 1965, a Pakistani Pop and Disco music legend Nazia Hassan was born. More than a legend she was the first iconic figure of Pakistan who along with her brother Zohaib Hassan revolutionized music and introduced Pop music in both Pakistan and India. She recorded her first song App jaisa koi meri zindagi mei aay (‘If someone like you comes into my life’) for the Bollywood movie Qurbani in 1980 produced by Feroz Khan. She was only 15 years old then when that song’s success sky-rocketed. Both the brother-sister duo made musical history and sold over millions of copies of their albums Disco Deewane, Young Tarang etc. – not just in Pakistan and India - but their popularity spanned across Latin America, the Middle East and South East Asia.  Nazia was the first Pakistani singer whose song made its way into the British charts. The English rendition of ‘Disco Deewane’ called ‘Dreamer Deewane’ acquired immense popularity in the West. Regrettably, while this broth...

I was in conversation with a friend and we were talking about desires and reality when she said that I should be prepared to compromise on few of my wishes because nobody in this world gets everything. Although I have profound respect for her guidance but a voice inside my heart said “No! I refuse to accept this theory because this isn’t true”. I agree that at times we wish for one thing and something completely different appears in our life. However, what we fail to realize is that we receive something that is actually wonderful when compared with what we wished for initially. Why we fail to realize that, is because we cling to our desires by standing in our own way thus we become our own enemy. In 2005 I saw for the first time in my life a colored laptop by Sony, I was in love with it immediately and decided to buy it. However, the colored series was unavailable in Karachi at that time, so I had to wait for the right time. In 2006 I went to Singapore and planned to buy the...

It is so wonderful to have the time to meet friends, to talk to share. This is what I have done today, I had the opportunity to have a tete a tete with my reiki master who is my Acupressure teacher and a dear friend.   Although it was not a very long session of our chit-chat but whatever time was there we utilized it to the optimum. You can’t have too many friends, there are some with whom you share one aspect of life and there are others with whom you talk about different array of things. With my reiki master Dr. Mahjabeen Bhaiji I always talk about spiritual stuff which I normally abstain from discussing with my mom and other friends, simply because they reach a threshold where they have difficulty in digesting my wanderings. Although everyone is extremely patient and supporting to my ideas but it is better not to test them beyond a certain measure. In few minutes I have to complete this post and watch the TV serial “Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma” a comedy serial...

Unexpected holiday in the early part of the week could suddenly halt all activities, something which only Karachites would understand and agree with. You plan to do few things and there it is right out of nowhere, a holiday. Since I am in the gratitude mode for everything in my life, I took this event as a time off a time with family. Having nothing much to do, I watched one of my favourite TV programs a property show on BBC Lifestyle “Fantasy Homes by the Sea”. In this program people who would like to own a property by the sea contact BBC team and the BBC people show them the properties within the buyer’s budget range. Mostly the properties are located in the countryside of UK, Spain, Italy or even Morocco and they range from £200,000 to £ 1 million. Breathtaking lush green landscapes and sea-views right in front of your lounge window, what more to ask from life. More than the properties I love to see the views; in fact it is also my fantasy-cum-wish to own a big property,...