Sonya Syed

On my way to work I switched on FM 94, Government of Pakistan’s radio channel. I must say it is an experience in itself; the RJs make some so much sense when they speak, and there is always sharing of useful information on a new development in science, technology and medicine. Sometimes it is pure sensible chat about life, our tradition and culture. It seems that moral values and culture of Pakistan is only restricted to Pakistan Radio because in our everyday lives we have forgotten most of our shared values. I have come to realize that no matter how much technically savvy we have become, living close to nature is the best way to live life. With the advent of smartphones and social media all of us have really lost touch not only with our bodies and mind but also our near and dear ones. Everything is so easily accessible that it has become meaningless. We now feed all of our contact numbers in the smartphone that we are unable to remember numbers of our brother, sister, friend

Yes, I am also part of the movement and I think that every woman and also all the men should be too. This wave was generated when renowned Hollywood celebrities Ashley Judd, Angelina Jolie and Gwneth Paltrow along with few others came forth to tell their stories of sexual harassment. Since then this little wave created a tornado and many bigwigs were swept away. Charging a man with harassment accusation, especially if he holds power is no easy task for any woman whether she lives in United States or in Pakistan. The first hurdle which women face in every society is victim-shaming, which means, that in some way the woman was responsible to attract the negative attention of a man because as they say, a man is a man- he cannot control his impulses. So it is entirely the duty of a woman to not provoke those impulses. But then my question is, how does a seven year child who was molested two days ago have provoked her perpetrator’s impulses? How do woman covered in their chaadars sitti

This was not at all how I wanted to start my first post of 2018 but regrettably traumas and painful events have become norm of the day. Once again a seven year old child has been brutally murdered and molested in Kasur, Pakistan. This news had its predecessor few years ago when hundreds of children were molested and their families were blackmailed. Everyone on social media is rightfully protesting to arrest the criminal(s) behind this heinous offence. I don’t think it is a random secluded crime that just happened. Whatever we are seeing today in the form of this news is just the tip of an iceberg, an effect of something that has a profound grave cause lurking in the darkness. The society we proudly present as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has nothing left in it which is either Islamic or republican. We are a society with a torn moral fibre. These kinds of unfortunate events are the direct reflection of not merely state failure, but the failure of humanity. This is

It has been longer than I thought, but yes too many months have passed by, so here I am and I hope that this sharing and writing would take a continuous momentum. These days my life has been consumed by immensely pressurizing mental work of completing my PhD thesis.  After hard labor of two years things are finally taking shape but it has been far more complex than I have ever thought. However, when I see something that should be shared along with my personal experiences then remaining silent is unforgivable. Today I want to share with you a video of a lady named Rujuta Diwekar, she is a nutritionist and health advisor to celebrities in India. The reason why I have selected her work because it has hit a very personal cord with me and I don’t want anyone to make the health and diet mistakes (read, blunders) which I have made in my life. Rujuta was unknown to me until I accidentally opened a video of Kareena Kapoor’s interview on youtube. I wanted to close that video and really

Time has come when we are compelled to reevaluate our idea of success and power. Financial stability and security are very important for our existence, money is required to buy food, medicines, to handle uncertainties, to get education and so on, it has its place in our life. But is it all that there is to life. Our society measures success by the length of numbers on our bank statement and the square feet of land we possess. Success is also evaluated by our power and ability to influence others. Nevertheless, what is the cost that our society is paying to achieve heights of success, both individually and collectively? A study of German doctors found that nearly 50% of physicians appeared to be suffering from the ‘burnout’ reported that they feel tired during every single hour of the day and that the mere thought of work in the morning leave them feeling exhausted. According to a  Finnish survey  m en and women deal with burnout in different ways, male employees who reported exha

Finally, the Punjab government has realized the health risks and zero nutritional value of trans fat like margarine, and banned Blue-band margarine as it is made with vegetable oil that does not have quality of either butter or something similar to butter. Trans unsaturated fats or trans fats are mainly produced industrially from plant oils for use in margarine, snack foods and packaged baked goods. While saturated fats come mainly from animal products, such as butter, cows' milk, meat, salmon and egg yolks, and some plant products such as chocolate and palm oils. For decades giant businesses heavily advertised the greatness of margarine and degraded the nutritional value of pure butter. Butter, ghee, cheese, rice, whole milk and wheat have been demonized for decades, accompanied by health research and studies informing the consumers that pure butter and ghee are responsible for obesity and weight gain, heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension.

Yesterday for no particular reason, I watched Shahrukh and Mahira’s starrer Raees movie song. It had all the ingredients which a typical Shahrukh songs contain, a beautiful heroine with long flowing dupatta or a sari pullo, and of course Shahrukh himself. Shahrukh Khan and Mahira   I felt that with him, Indian film industry is on the verge of losing its last batch of ‘Heroes’. Let me explain what I mean by this, I grew up at a time when Indian films slowly started to make a big impact on Pakistan’s society, culture and households through their films released on video cassettes. Besides my family, the people I saw every weekend at my family get-togethers were Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, and Shashi Kapoor.     Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor Left to Right: Amitabh, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar & Amjad Khan Till today the images of these heroes/ stars are engraved on my mind and for me the terms ‘good looking and handsome’ are defined by these actors. Th