Sonya Syed

5 th October is a day when I celebrate my birth day. However this year it has been different or may be I made it different. On the night of 4 th October my life so far ran in front of my eyes; my success, my failures. I was reminded of many birthdays and several other occasions and for some peculiar reason I felt a very strong pull from within to seek atonement, to ask for forgiveness.    I thought I haven’t committed any major sins as outlined by my religion; a harsh word here or there, little gossip but nothing more than that so why am I asking for deep forgiveness. I thought may be my time is up and before going I am given a chance to seek atonement. It felt quite strange. However, with all the strangeness I continued for atonement/ forgiveness. While doing this strange activity gradually it changed from seeking forgiveness to becoming intensely aware of all my blessings. I wasn’t actually asking forgiveness to repent my sins but I was feeling sorry at mys...

Life is no easy game to play, although at times we believe to be equipped with the best of tools and strategy yet on occasions we feel defeated. Though I only like to talk about hope and positivity but once or twice its fine to speak about not-so-happy things, I guess it lessens the burden somehow. I am blessed with great friends and wonderful family who have been there for me whenever I needed them. However with time all of us get hugely busy in our lives, especially if somebody is married and have children. I know that I cannot have my friends with me 24/7 but then at times there feels a great need to speak with somebody. After a long time once again I am going through my lonely phase or more to say anxiety-cum-lonely phase. Over-sensitivity to certain situations provoke my condition. Situations that people handle bravely put me in somewhat anxious mode simply because I don’t want to deal with any confronting or uncomfortable scenarios. I want life to run smooth...

Many, many apologies for responding late, and so sorry to Star for delayed publishing of your comment. For some reason I was unable to open the blog site for two days. There is a lot to say but when I am finally sitting to write my mind is running over 100 different subjects. My job is to make sense of many things and try to make it presentable to you. Days are becoming shorter by the hour, and I have a new phone to add to my already chaotic mind. For the first time in my life I have become a bit of tech savvy and bought myself a smartphone. I know to many of you its not a big deal but for somebody like me who is intimidated by technology it’s a really big step. It’s a touch phone and I am struggling to learn its many functions. At the moment I am happy with making and receiving calls, I am not ready to handle that extra small keypad used for text messages. There is a list of missed calls & unanswered messages because strangely enough these smartphones have ...

Thank God the blog is accessible once again. Really it felt as if I couldn’t breathe. Even though I don’t write every day yet the very thought of loosing my posts almost took my breath away, literally.    Today I am writing very first post with my eye-glasses, it feels kinda funny. I like my new glasses and thankful that they fit properly but they are a strange creature. It’s like finding your first-love, initially there are hesitations but then closeness evolves. First there was a long search to find the right frame, most of the specs looked great but they fitted badly. Some shopkeepers were reserved, gave minimum opinions but some of them started to admire every glass which I wore. ‘This suits you the most’, ‘that is the perfect frame’; I appreciate their good salesmanship but few decisions are made without any sweet-talk.    Then came the lenses stage which is the most crucial one. Eye numbers are minimal but we had to focus on the light ...

Its a day of grief and humiliation for the entire nation. A factory in Karachi was ablaze killing more than three hundred people.   These are not merely three hundred people but they are three hundred families who have lost their loved ones and probably the sole bread earners of their entire family. We as a nation share their grief, and pray to God that may the departed souls rest in peace and their loved ones who are with us find some consolation and a divine way to receive livelihood.     Pain of loosing a kin in such accidents shall take time to heal, but this is also a fact that one day we all have to go. If God has decided that someone’s time to meet Him has arrived then we shall not grief too much because that would be coming in the way of His Divine Decision. However, we must learn from such disasters. We must learn that human life is not cheap, it needs to be protected, that someone’s negligence or greed doesn’t take away any innocent human....

“ Start a huge ,   foolish project   like Noah … it makes absolutely no difference what people think of you . ” Moulana Rumi … Its on few occasions that I drove in rain let alone thunderstorm but today it was one such day. Although it was not a very long drive, however I was nervous. Nervous not because I doubt my driving skills but the way traffic goes ballistic and we have hours long traffic jams. Roads were thankfully clear but everybody was in panic even if they were few minutes away from home. Then there were our beloved motorcyclists who would appear suddenly from nowhere right in front of the fast moving car. These rash bikers are not only teenagers but I have seen adults and people with their wives and little children driving frantically. All I can do is pray that they all get some sense and do not become a threat for themselves or for anyone else on the road.     Whatever may be state of affairs with the weather one thing i...

Before we get on with the main post I would address few queries regarding first chapter of the story which I published yesterday. Dear reader, if you would notice when Akev narrated the story he began by saying that Sheherzad was known for her beauty. You see it was quite common in earlier times that Queens became famous for their beauty or wisdom or both, and their fame was not limited to their country but it extended throughout the world, without any media. In fact in those days many wars were fought just to marry a beautiful queen. Cleopatra was and still famous for her beauty, Queen of Sheeba (Queen Bilqis) became renowned in her times for wisdom & Mughal Empress Nur Jehan was recognized for her ability to rule. Then there was Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi who was famous for her courage and rebel against the British Raj . History is full of such examples.  Likewise our Arhan was also aware of the beauty of Sheherzad as was everybody in the Kingdom of Prussia...