Sonya Syed

WARMEST EID MUBARAK…to all my friends, family and all my blog readers (who have now become my extended family). I wish all of you tremendous joy, love, peace, health & prosperity today and for all the years to come.   Many Happy Returns on the Birthdays this month. There are so many of us born in October that it is difficult to keep up with the counting. October used to be the hottest and driest month of the year but this time it is quite pleasant, at the juncture of summer leaving us and winters soon approaching.  I always used to think that the people who are born in this month, popularly known as Librans are quite pleasant, talented, creative and well balanced in their nature so why is the month of their birth dry and dull.  What is most interesting that I share my birthday with Kate Winslet. Waheed Murad, Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha, Will Smith are amongst many of the other famous Librans. Of course the underlying intention here is also to highlight...

Thank you Mehreen Khan for all your love…. I am ecstatic, happy and grateful to Allah beyond any words. Today Mehreen Khan, one of my students of Corporate Law presented me with something very special that I have never imagined in my life to receive. This young lady presented me her love and respect. On 5th October every year since 1998 World Teachers’ Day is celebrated, highlighting the significant role which a teacher plays in providing quality education at all levels. And today I have been honored with my very first gift on Teachers’ Day. I have no words to explain how I felt in that moment. My student excitedly told me, ‘ Ma’am you are the first person in my life to whom I have said I love you…this gift is my token of respect for you.’ Speechless and humbled with the love and honor yet at the same time felt a tinge of confidence in my heart that I have done something right. This moment is also very special because this is the first gift I received right before my birt...

Hajj- the beauty of this Holy Pilgrimage is one of the most soul enriching experiences and today millions of Muslims are being blessed with the divinity of this spiritual journey. People who are blessed to have experienced this journey are considered the luckiest ones, and the ones who have not yet embarked on this journey wishes that if only once in their life time they can make this Pilgrimage then their lives in this world and the Hereafter shall be blessed with the Mercy of Allah. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) delivered his last Hajj sermon (known as Khutba-e-hajjatul-Wida) in the valley of mount Arafat. It was the best example of eloquence, brevity, conciseness and the content of the message was as humane, rational and favorable to justice and equality as any message could be. The message delivered in the sermon was delivered more than fourteen centuries ago, but, it was still inclusive of all bases of equality and justice and is an essence of the true message and philosophy...

  I saw this amazing quote by Albert Einstein and I think it explains in one brief sentence the entire of discipline of teaching. We have either direct experiences or indirect experiences when we met teachers who are wonderfully educated, and I say this with the deepest respect for all the teachers, but some of them start from being moderately complicated and end up being extremely complicated.  We always think that it’s us who are unable to understand the complexity of the subject but today I realize that the concepts of that particular teacher are unclear to her/himself. If you do not understand anything clearly yourself, you simply cannot explain it anyone else, rather it is in teaching or any other subject. I am not a numbers person and honestly my mathematics is pretty scary. In tenth grade when I had to prepare for maths exam, I wasn’t exactly feeling happy. One of our family friends recommended to us a Mathematics teacher.  I do not k...

This morning while I was getting ready to begin my day, I started recalling one incident few years ago when I had a series of dreams about my early childhood. In those series of dreams, which continued for a period of almost two weeks, I saw a very significant event of my childhood unfolding bit by bit. I was amazed to see very clearly all the tiny details i.e. from the colour and type of clothes that people in my dream wore, to sounds, smells and feel even the winds. They were all full-sensory series of dreams narrating one particular story. Later, I tried to verify the information which I saw in my dream from the people who were with me in those dreams, without spooking them of course. To my surprise most of the things were positively verified. At first, it was a fun experience to remember my childhood memories in great detail and in a dream; I felt like a Protagonist in some Hollywood psychological thriller movie. Yet, in all honesty I can recall bits of information shown to me in...

I wonder if this ever happened to you, that you are searching for your wallet or an important paper in your room but was unable to find it. Then you call your Mom “Ma, did you see my wallet I can’t find it in my room”. Mom tells you to look carefully because she has kept that article in its place, nevertheless, after your recurring failure to find your desired object your Mom finally enters the room, go straight to the drawer and within blink of an eye finds your wallet. And of course, while handing over your wallet she is going to give you a solid piece of her mind simultaneously pointing out your complete inability to ever find anything If you observe closely you would notice that this is so true for everything in life. You see, most of the time the things/answers/ solutions we are desperately searching for are mostly right in front of our eyes; but we are unable to see them. Same problems keep on showing up repeatedly, disturbing emotions continue to rise, and you ...

I couldn’t resist the temptation of writing, of saying something, of venting out what has now been buried for months in the mind. Not to worry, not everything that is on my mind is going to be published but whatever I can say remaining within the safe and sane parameters shall be said. These days my life has so many new adventures that I am unable to focus on blog. In fact I am unable to focus on myself. My regular readers have written several emails and had personal  inquiries  about my prolonged absence from the blog, but all I can say sheepishly is that there is issue of time management on my part. The so-called discipline that I believed I had, was merely a myth. I start making preparations for beginning my day at the crack of dawn and still I found myself running around trying to get everything done in time. I have now become a certified late comer. Most probably my slow motion-ness, too much concentration on the minor details, following all the protoco...