Sonya Syed

It is always a joy to see the children following the footsteps of their elders, learning from their experiences, doing what the elders did and avoiding whatever they avoided. It is also fulfilling to witness children finding their own paths in life independent from their elders, sometimes making mistakes on the way and learning and succeeding. Nevertheless, it is painful to witness the conflict between the elders and the youngsters. The elders desiring that their progeny should follow them under any circumstances, irrespective of the latter’s interest. Parents have the instinct to protect their children; they simply cannot bear the thought of their younger ones getting hurt in their way to life. However, this protection could, at times turn into possessiveness. If the offspring does not have the desire to follow the lifestyles or profession of their parents then serious conflicts arise within the family. It is understandable that the parents desire their children to follow the profes...

Finally, the day came when I shall have a tête-à-tête with you all. Quite a few days have passed since we last came together. I cannot give any excuse for my absence besides that I was mostly overwhelmed by sleep in the late hours of the evening and to concentrate on anything was rather tough. Moreover, one should have something proper to say or else the post would be full of the ramblings of a sleep deprived mind who is writing merely for the sake of writing and there nothing significant to share. Craziness of cricket due to the world-cup is in full throttle in Karachi these days. Everyone is glued to their TV screens whether they are at home or at work. Luckily Pakistan has won two matches and the air is filled with joy, even the people like me who are not sport enthusiasts or have almost negligible knowledge of cricket are very much affected by the intensity of attachment with this particular sport. It is also amazing to witness that how the country of roughly 170 million peopl...

What would you call this condition, when you want to do something, has time to do it but when you actually sit down to do it you simply lack the drive; when 10 things are on mind and you end up doing none if it. Anger, frustration & irritability are undeniably the obvious outcome of such a perturbed mental state. I have taken up few tasks and the depth they require overwhelms me and simply drains my energy. I could not escape from whatever I needed to do so I stopped doing everything all together, prayed and then focused all my attention on my breathe. At first, the breathing was so irregular that I could hardly breathe. As I concentrated on my breathing within seconds I noticed it becoming soft, regular & subtle. I knew that now I had a proper supply of oxygen to my brain and everything was handled rightly and in much less time than I estimated. I did whatever I had to, plus I had the time to watch my favorite TV show and do a host of other activities. You would have not...

Missed missed two days of the blog and the kind of guilt pangs I get are inexplicable. What to do when choices are need to be made between rest and my favorite activity, the blog. I had to see the bigger picture so I decided to make some choices, hence rest prevailed. After clinging on to my clothes for some time now, both old and new ones, I have finally cleared up almost 75% of my wardrobe with another 10% due. I could not believe how much lighter and joyous I feel. I have been stocking some clothes since college years, the ones which promised durability and wear-ability. Now all I am left with are few modest belongings in my closet, and it feels superb! Early morning after having breakfast I was sitting in my balcony enjoying the sun and a phenomenal weather and absorbing vitamin D or whatever it is suppose to give; relaxing and thinking that it is a perfect time to go to the beach. Alas, not every wish is to be fulfilled. I had a person in my mind and I was t...

I am thrilled to see how perfectly girls and ladies have their hair these days, at the same time I am scared to observe what kind of irreparable damage they are doing. Blow drying and straightening have become a norm these days hence unrealistic standards are being set for beauty. I cannot comprehend is this due to the bombardment of beauty images prevalent in the visual media today or is it because we are not happy with what we are blessed with. Slight curls or waves in hair and there comes a social pressure to straighten your hair and even worse to re-curl your hair and that to using hot curling irons to give a certain type of curly look. Being the daughter of a dermatologist, I unfortunately on regular basis come across girls with either extreme thinning of hair or partial baldness and especially in the front portion of the head, a look which people with hypothyroid have. It’s a regular to see teenage girls with such destructive attitude and I apprehend that when they’ll be in their...

Tired, sleep deprived yet in full spirits; I guess it would be futile to raise my concerns on this issue repeatedly. Since my insomnia is the highlight of my life these days and since all of you also share a bit of my life, so there we are. When insomnia is at its peak, life seems to be dull; emotions and thinking move at the turtle’s pace; entire system turns lethargic; lack of focus perseveres. Although you are there physically and responding to every chore/query mechanically; yet you merely speak so that you don’t fall asleep in the midst of a gathering nevertheless your mind is shut down. I also believe that insomnia is just the tip of an iceberg of some other issue, which my sub-conscious mind is probably working on. However, consciously the more I try to look into the matter the more I am bewildered. Couple of things pop-up though, which I think I may have wrapped up in my conscious mind but they keep on coming. May be they need a final resolution and I am not allowing it resol...

Colors and more colors I’m seeing everywhere since yesterday’s evening. Finally the bride has ventured into her new life may it be filled with million joys & lots of marital bless. So we are done with the wedding ceremony of Sadia’ s sister and what can I say it was again a great event, the bride & groom looked just perfect and the family joyous. There were colors all around and especially with me. If I have to review my dressing it was nothing less of a tutti frutti. I also happened to meet Sadia’s school buddy and what a coincidence it was, that both of us were wearing Saris. We have actually met for the first time in more than a decade of my friendship with Sadia. It was wonderful to witness the rapport and intimacy they shared, there was so much easy in their relationship something which we have with our childhood friends. Like a relationship I share with Maria who is my childhood pal, we practically grew up together, went through our teenage and finally we all grew up...