Sonya Syed

Burning eyes, heavy head, looking desperately for a place to sleep or even a simple head down would suffice under such circumstances; are all the wonders of insomnia. Yesterday I decided to loose myself in the beauty of slumber and getting to bed by 9 pm but no! mind had other plans. The more I focused on sleep the more resistance I faced so after a tug-of–war with me on one end and insomnia on the other, I gave up and decided to be awake as long as my mind wants to. There was just no point in fighting with it. God knows when I slept, may be it was 3 or 4 I have no idea. My night routine has been disturbed for months now, because when I get the signal to doze off I think its too early and I need to do other things rather than go to bed; therefore, the entire routine is messed up. Sleep is such a vital part of our lives and if we don’t do justice to it our entire immune system pays a very high price, we have zero concentration, everything including our perceptions become blurred....

Thank God for making Saturdays, they seem to have a magical effect on me. Irrespective if I work or not on Saturdays it is just simply one of the most fulfilling day of the week besides a little drizzle today in the early hours just gave it soothing touch.   Finally, I did manage to do exercise after a gap of I cannot remember how many months, weeks or days and the sort of aches I had afterwards in the muscles, which I never knew have existed, is beyond phrasing. I read that when doing any kind of workout one should change the exercise routine after every 4-6 weeks. If we continue to workout with the same speed or with the same routine our body being very intelligent quickly learns to minimally utilize the stored fat in those repeated movements. So it is advised to change the workout routine to trick the body and not let it get used to the same movements. For instance if you walk for 20 minutes daily then after 4-6 weeks change it 30 minutes or change your time and speed at the tre...

Some things never leave you irrespective of how much you try, hence once again I heard a remark about me, which was a bit annoying at first, but then I accepted it as it is. There was or is a general perception that I am very carefree person with unserious attitude towards life and its responsibilities. Although the person who said this later admitted that it was an entirely wrong perception. What can I say but laugh at such notions. The very first time I have heard about it is when I was doing my BBA; though I worked as hard as anybody else, was damn serious about my career, punctual about time yet I heard such comments. If you are the only child with self-sufficient lifestyle and if you prefer to be jovial then of course you are bound to be a careless person, to hell with the discipline or hard work. I guess people rather than actually understanding someone blindly follows pre-conceived ideas or whatever story their mind tells them. In response to such believes I decided to cha...

Goodness its been almost two weeks since I last wrote, although every single day I missed being with all of you but what can one do when life gets in the way to our most beloved things. I was struggling to complete a very important book, wrap up efficiently my daily chores, sleep early and if possible do some kind of exercise; consequently there was no time left in the day. By nine in the evening, I was so exhausted that I just barely managed to say my prayers and then it was rushing to the comforts of my bed. Since posts take normally 1-2 hours straight so I thought it was only prudent to write when my mind and body have some coordination. Yesterday after a while, I have attended the most organized mayeon (henna ceremony held before wedding for the bride-to-be) of my dear friend Sadia’s younger sister. Everybody looked beautiful, the food was appetizing, and the kebabs were succulent; over all it was a delightful event. Plus I got my Hershey’s dark chocolate, some great makeup and a ...

Before anything else, I thank Almighty with all my heart for saving all of us last night from the earthquake of 7.4 magnitude. I didn’t know until in the afternoon mainly because of my allergy to newspapers and no TV policy in morning. What could have been lost is just overwhelming to even wrap my mind around and all I can say that Thank You Lord.   Lord, Save Us, We Perish   Pilot of the soul, awake, Save us for thy mercies' sake; Now rebuke the angry deep, Save, O save thy sinking ship! Stand at the helm, our vessel steer, Mighty on our side appear Saviour, teach us to descry Where the rocks and quicksands lie.   The waves shall impotently roll, If thou 'rt the anchor of the soul: At thy word the wind shall cease, Storms be hush'd to perfect peace. Be thou our haven of retreat, A rock to fix our wav'ring feet, Teach us to own thy sovereign sway, Whom the winds and seas obey………………..Augustus Montague Toplady Then my little cousin brother had 105º fever last night and...

Life is getting too fast and the younger lot even faster, the speed with which they operate whether in life or in technology is a wonder in itself. Although I don’t actually belong to the 40’s or 60’s generation but still I cannot familiarize myself to these drastic developments. I was thinking just this morning that I am actually conservative and very traditional in every way. Now times are changing so are the values and standards of living and surviving in this world. In today’s time I often hear people saying: sab chalta hai! (everything you do is ok) For instance these days whether teenagers or people in their mid-twenties are far more candid as well as expressive about their relationships something which was and probably still considered a taboo in some parts of our society. Even when it comes to their lifestyles, professional ethics and values in general everything is different. Then there are also the ones who have different standards for themselves and when it comes to reviewi...

What could be worse than when in the midst of your favourite TV show the power goes off, although I am blessed to have a generator yet due to some technical reasons I was requested not to watch TV on its support. So what do I do then? I would now download the entire episode of Koffee with Karan Season 3, which had the interview of Rani Mukherji and Vidya Balan. It was such a pleasure to see such great talents laughing their way out and enjoying every bit of their interview, the chemistry between the two of them was simply awesome. Rani is such a wonderful and true actor and what can I say for Vidya she is the likes of Meena Kumari and Nutan. However, to see Rani after a long break was a pleasant surprise but I was also slightly upset to see her so sad, even though she was laughing and giggling yet her eyes are depressed. Somewhere in the pseudo glamour Rani Mukherji is lost, she has considerably lost weight and looks a lot older than her age. I guess bad relationships or our attach...

I have just opened my emails and facebook and to see the response for yesterday’s post I am overwhelmed, ecstatic with joy and the love which all of you very special people have sent my way. Thank you Sadia for being my inspiration and I always remember the good and bad times we spent together, our highs and lows, when I cried and shared my most vulnerable moments with you and especially when you, Aunty & Anzala were with me when Nani passed away; so thank you so much once again. I also welcome Nighat Qaiser to our little family here on the blog.   It feels like a gush of warmth running through the entire body instilling every cell and tissue and reaching my core, doctors call it adrenaline or endorphins but I call it love. I am astonished to experience this particular emotion in such huge amounts and with such intensity when I talk about friends and my loved ones. My family, my friends be it Sadia or Maria have always been an integral part of my survival and I am deeply grat...

I thought to write about something fun and exciting, something away from my usual ramblings, however; with an anti-allergic in the system one can hardly get thrilling. In the upcoming days I have plans to socialize, to enlarge the circle of my friends and desperately looking forward to meet my dearest friend Sadia, who is at the moment on her trip to USA with her son and hubby. So on her return it would be back to old gossips, catching up on all those months which have gone by and then also being a part of her younger sister’s wedding. When I think of her a sudden flash of our ridiculous adventures comes in. It was the time when we were doing our BBA and taking extra classes for accounting and on our way back she being the creative mind decided to visit couple of haunted houses one being in Saddar (a commercial area in Karachi) and the other located in Nazimabad. In Saddar, the alleged haunted house was situated adjacent to a petrol pump/gas station, so one fine evening...

Thank you so much all for your encrouraging comments with respect to yesterday’s post and Junaid Uncle I needed this guidance, so thank you once again. If not relatively but figuratively my life appears to have taken some shape; however, I encounter people on regular basis who believe that I have given up on life and simply taken a back seat by being extremely passive. Yes I agree this is how it appears from the outside, nevertheless; I have taken another strategy to live. To begin with I am not looking for some big bang purpose in my life because whatever I am doing in this very moment, which could be either writing this post or washing dishes or doing anything, is my purpose. I don’t look forward to some dynamic bombastic life goal, to me tiny steps in the present moment are taken for the future and it would be my peaceful relationship to these steps which would determine the quality of my achievement in future. Believe you me I have been an insignificant part of the neurotic power...

Coming down with flu especially due to my own carelessness (please read stupidity) is not an option when lot needs to be done, schedules are to be met and above all daily responsiblities are hampered. Yet I feel so privileged and grateful for having the luxury to take a day off without any serious consequences neither for me nor for anybody else. People I see everyday have such crucial responsibilities even close home that taking a day off is simply not an option. Yesterday I attended a sort of political gathering or say it was a party meeting of Tehreek-e-Insaaf (TI) with the crème de la crème and students. For those who are unaware of TI, it is a political party started by the renowned Pakistani cricketer Mr. Imran Khan some 16 years ago. Over the years this political party has not been in power yet somehow due to criticial circumstances all over Pakistan since past few years people are looking for alternatives mainly because we all are done with the same old, same old faces with th...

I can’t believe it, I am writing this post after a year. Yeh I know it’s a pretty stale joke but what can I do, this is the best my sense of humour goes. So its 2011, new year new beginnings or at least new hope. In 2010 I made a resolution to loose minimum 25 lbs weight and I can proudly say that not an inch has been reduced on my waist in fact I am afraid that there has been some increase. Last night when I was struggling to get into my old clothes I was heartbroken because nothing seems to fit. It is so sad... Therefore in 2011 I have decided to have some reasonable and achievable goals rather than wasting my time on stupid ideas. This year, I promise to keep up a healthy and disciplined routine, free my mind from the last year’s clutter and be proactive. Once you get an opportunity to meet lots of people of all minds, shapes and sizes, you then commit  to be amongst the people with positive attitudes and postive outlook on life; so one could learn...