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. The song is f

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

One thought attracts similar more thoughts; a discussion about someone else’s childhood magnetically attracts our own early life experiences. I am not much of a nostalgic person anymore I find it difficult to dwell in my past. I don’t miss my childhood or school days or college life or any other instances of past, I guess I have exorcised the ghost of memories or at least it does not come to me with intensity. But it’s nice to wonder onto memory lane sometimes; my childhood was quite simple and straightforward however being the only child had some attachments. I had one family friend to play with but she could not be always there so I got engulfed in my own world. I hardly played with dolls, I had a habit of setting up a mini tent in our living room and I used to live in it for days. Then mostly it was cooking time with my friend, we cooked rice and chapatti on small sand stoves. Another favourite was playing with a secretarial case that my dad got for me; it had the cutest phone, car

Dark sky, slightly chilled air, frequent light rain is the perfect recipe of my favourite day. This time disappearance from the scene is not due sluggishness or indiscipline, rather I consciously abstained from writing because my vibes or energy was not quiet positive and it is only unfair to spread negativity. Past few days, as Pakistanis we have heard some of the appalling news of injustice, ridicule and torment. There is no point in repeating or discussing them any further since all the efforts of such sort would not bring any benefit to anyone, besides we do not have power to change anything simply by speaking about the problems so it is better to stick with SOMEONE who absolutely possess the Power to bring any change and the modus operandi to invoke that Power is to pray as much as possible. Dear Anonymous, as much as I would love to elaborate on the topics nevertheless the vastness and explanation those subjects require exceed my writing capability and I fear that I might not b

Bright and sunny, always help to get a good start for any day. Sun invoke and elevates something inside our system giving us absolute joy and freshness; it’s a very subtle feeling and could only be experienced if we take a minute, take a breath and absorb the light. I was having a tête-à-tête with myself and with the sole intention to challenge myself I asked me, what would be your ultimate dream or wish Sonya ? Honestly I’m not very much of a spendthrift but it was a challenge so I decided that I should give it ago. I have 2 rather 1 ultimate dreams/wishes. Primary and the most significant wish is to have peace, love and joy for myself, my family and friends and for everyone around me. Seeing people happy and healthy just makes my joy multiplied by tenfold. And now the secondary wish is to have at least 8-10 bedroom house in Switzerland it can be in Geneva, Bern or Zurich for my family vacations. Having said it aloud, my mom got a bit concerned for my mental health but tried her bes

Before beginning I would like to thank everyone from the depth of my heart who takes out time to read my blog, who email me, and who encourage me. It’s extremely fulfilling to know that I am able to contribute in some way. Once again Thank You!!! Mondays are usually devoid of enthusiasm but the pace of activity we have to keep up with compels us to get in the stream of life as quickly as possible. For me the best start is with good breakfast which always consist of roti (wheat pancakes) and a curry of any kind and a cup of cold coffee. I must admit that it sounds bizarre to have cold coffee even in winters but this is what is. Delicious as this breakfast is, also creates trouble for me during my out of country visits. The very first time I travelled with my dad to USA was a travelling nightmare, food wise. Although Pakistani food was served during our flights but the breakfast was the real deal breaker. I just cannot stand bread, butter and cereals I needed a complete meal, so for 2