How are you - an unanswered question

How are you? I am fine. This is one of the most important and fundamental questions we ask many people we meet daily. We ask this question no matter what our relationship is with that person, and we usually get the same answer. But is it really as simple as we thought?

No, it is the most complicated statement, which hides tones of emotions, thousands of feelings, and several untold words. If people who are close to our hearts understand this, I am sure many of us will easily come out of the untold and hidden depression. We are all facing trauma Behind the hidden laughs, smiling faces, behind the screens, and even behind the social media memes.

We all have a lot of social media friends, real-life friends, colleagues, and several people around us, but we cannot open up in front of everyone. Sometimes we have to hide our real lives from the closest people just not to cause stress, or we can say that we don’t have the courage to explain what’s going on in our lives or what we are fighting with. It is critical to determine whether your family, friend, or anyone you are with is actually fine and doing well in his or her life, or if they are just pretending to be fine in front of you and everyone else.

This life is really unpredictable and we don't know what will be the last breath of anyone's life. It is better to ask them before they give up on it. It is a harsh reality of our society that we do care for the deceased but ignore the feelings of a living person. It's all about our priorities because we usually get busy in our daily routine and ignore our loved ones or take for granted the feelings they are indirectly sharing with us through quotes, memes, social media posts, or even with the change of their moods and behaviors. It should get attention, and we have to respect someone's feelings, whether they are happiness or sadness, irritation or joy. 

What we have to do in this regard is to pay attention to the people we love, care about, and all those with whom we are connected in any way. It takes no money to be kind to someone. It just takes some of your hours and sometimes some of your days, but you can save someone who is going through the worst situation in his or her life. We, as a society, have to be patient and kind to spread positivity in this negative environment, and we have to realize that social media trolling, personal attacks, and comments on someone's personal life can ruin their lives. Just for our seconds of fun and enjoyment, we are actually destroying our society and our generation. Be kind to yourself and give time to those who deserve your precious time. Change is necessary, but change from the inside is the main change that has the power to prevent our society from more damage. 

Luxurious life - A different story

We are living in an era where brands have become needed and a symbol of supremacy in society. We all want to have the best lifestyle and, for us, what is actually meant by the best lifestyle? As I have observed in recent years if we talk about the best lifestyle, it definitely starts with a big house instead of a happy home, a branded dress with too much arrogance inside, a car which should be more expensive than our neighbors, a high school or college in terms of speaking English instead of a quality standard education system, get together at least every month in a sound restaurant, an air-conditioned room, office and even now a traveling mode should also be air-conditioned and even much more.

Have we ever thought that this is actually the best lifestyle? Not by default, we have confused this generation between a luxurious life and a happy life. We have all now become addicted to these luxuries and, undoubtedly, we have made these things our needs. We are all equally responsible for the bad behavior of our younger generation because we didn't teach them about right or wrong. Instead, we taught them class differences, and new modern use of YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. We all have smartphones and we all know what is happening in someone's social life, but we are far away from our family, from our close ones, from those who actually need our attention.

Now it's not about the smartphone, it's about which company the young boy or girl is using, it's about which brand he or she is wearing, whom they are following on Instagram, and how many followers they have on social media. Which YouTuber is their favorite, which is the recent restaurant they have visited. We have no concerns about the quality of education and we are not willing to make innovations in our educational systems. Our generation is not thinking about doctors, engineers, medical-related fields, business degrees, law fields, not even the film-making fields. What they are watching is a YouTuber making a fun video and he or she is easily earning a lot of money just by using a mobile phone, on the other hand, young blood has completed his or her graduation or doctorate degree and their initial salary is not even 40 - 50 thousand. They paid lacs and lacs to this educational system but what they got is depression, long-time workload, bad behavior from the seniors, and low pay with more than 8-9 working hours. A ticktoker is making more money than a professional degree holder.

Where are we going? We want an independent life on our father's money, and we want luxury, but we don't want to do a hard-working, stressful job. Our generation is looking for all the shortcuts for making money and a lot of social media influencers on Instagram and other social sites with millions of followers. We have no control over our talks and aggression. There is no patience level for anyone, whether it's about family or about anyone in practical life. We need to understand that a happy life is not about a luxurious life, it's only about a peaceful life.

Our new generation is talking about stress, and depression, as they have everything they need but they are not realizing the blessings they have in their lives. They are all unaware of the importance of education because when any graduate gets the degree, he or she starts searching for contacts because, without reference, getting a job is really tough in our country. We have to stop this trend of social media influencers. What are they doing? They are promoting a good face, branded expensive dresses and makeup products, and dance and new song promotions. What are their qualifications and abilities? No one is ready to ask them what they are doing for youngsters and why they call them influencers? It is the responsibility of parents, teachers, the elderly, and even organization heads to think about it. We are not working on the skills and quality but we are investing in limelight stuff. In reality, luxury is the time we spend with our family while being busy in our daily routine. Luxury is that space we give to someone to recover from the past, actual luxury is the happy moments we spend with our friends. It is that peace we find in between the laughter, it's the mindset for doing something new every other day.

We all have to make some boundaries in which we have to understand that a happy and family-loving, peaceful lifestyle is far better than materialistic luxuries. We have to tell the younger generation that luxury is in the time and effort they are putting into building their future. We need to understand this unless we face massive disasters in the upcoming generations.

WOMEN - THE REAL ARCHITECTS OF SOCIETY

Most of the people says that there should be no specific mother's day, women's day or any other day for anyone special to us. But can we get out of this negative perspective that controls our minds and drag them towards negativity? What is wrong with celebrating a day for the ones who make our every day so perfect and wonderful? Whether I'm talking about mother, sister, our beautiful daughters and wife, women working with us in any workplace, studies at any type of educational institution etc. What is the problem with treating them uniquely and differently and making them feel special for even a single day? 

"A woman is the one who is Wonderful, outstanding, marvelous and adorable. Make her feel like she is everything to you, everyday, every minute, every year and specially with every beat of your heart."

Women's day is not about just a day, but it's an amazing idea to acknowledge the achievements of the lady, from her professional experience to the lady who is a perfect housewife to the mother who takes care of us from childhood till age. This is not just a day, but an opportunity to change the world and make them realize what women are doing for the home, for the organization, for the country and all of the above, for building generations and the nation. 

As we are all busy in our daily life and do not even make much time for the people special to us, they all understand and support us. If we give them true happiness and attention even for a single day, they will remember it for their whole life. Women's day is, in my opinion, the perfect opportunity to make them feel special and all we have to do is to make them smile. We can spend some quality time with our mother, sisters, daughters and mothers. A husband can make his wife feel like the queen of his life. It's not about a day, it's about realizing what they are meant to us. We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries or any other events, so why not women's day? No matter how much money you have, it's the effort you put into making sure that our women remember it for the rest of their lives. Your one-day effort can also change someone's whole life. Women around us work with us all. All they want is respect, honor, acknowledgement, unconditional love from the family and support to fly high. 

"Where there is a woman there is magic."

Put all the negative sides of the story aside for a while and just think about what you can do by your side for the people you love and for the people who do everything for you daily. Just take a moment and think about it.

The month of march has begun, and on 8th of march women's day will going to be celebrated internationally. Make sure you will make some time for all the women around you at your home, at your workplace, at your educational place or any other. Keep remember that it's not about the day but it's only about she is special, she is unique, she is respectable and above all she deserves the true love and respect from all of us and from our society. Respect of her rights is the most special gift we can give her on this day. Happy women's day to all the amazing ladies all around the world.

FEAR OF REJECTION

 

Have we ever observed in our surroundings how much people are stressed about the word "REJECTION"? No sugar coat, but it's a bitter reality of society that one can easily reject the other person's perspective, wish, believe, stance on something just because that person is saying something that is against your opinion or ideas. Life is not difficult, but sometimes our own companions make it unbearable.

Rejection is not wrong. Sometimes it gives us new directions towards betterment, but the fear of rejection is stressful and, in numerous cases, it can destroy our mental health completely. But in what cases, fear of rejection harm us? It can be seen in all disciplines of life. For example, a young fresh graduate goes for an interview for a certain position with full energy but the interviewer rejects his or her just because of lack of confidence or looks. We all know how much our society is obsessed with skin color, English language, brands. These are all secondary or tertiary things. The first priority of judgement should be his or her education and working abilities. Another rejection we all faced once is the ignorance of opinions if we are not in power. It has been observed frequently that fear of rejection can damage many lives at certain points. The fear about how the other person will react to your perspective, thoughts, creativity, values and so on. The ignorance does not just come from people in practical life but also from our loved ones when we fail to convince them about what we want, what we feel, what are the dreams and goals we have set for ourselves.

The fear of rejection is reality and everyone of us should accept this to get over it. This is a very debilitating fear that significantly influences your daily choices, decisions, and actions. It is acceptable to disagree with someone's school of thought, but it should not be allowed to misbehave with anyone or let down anyone or make them uncomfortable by having a difference of opinion. 

Once we give regard to the other person's ideas or suggestions, we will start growing in a positive way. Even as an individual, we should think that another person's reaction is nothing but just a difference of opinion. Fear of rejection is not the natural psychology of human life as it grows with times when we interact with different people. We get close to the people we love of admire, we started over explaining them about our opinions but we have to understand that talk to people only when they are willing to listen us. If we show extra efforts towards anything unnecessary, people starts avoiding us. This will make a person an over thinker. The lack of self-confidence creates self-doubt and it can immediately change anyone's life in a negative direction. People started avoiding social gatherings, any public meetings, when people left their own family functions. The person starts assuming negative and illusive thoughts and observes everything in a negative direction. At certain points, people start comparing themselves with others' lives. But the acceptance of anything is the first step towards change. Once you accept that somebody's opinion is creating problems in your daily routine, you will come out of it. To gain your freedom back, you just focus on yourself and by acknowledging your own achievements, and giving value to your own journey, you will get your confidence back. And once you get it back, nobody will let you down at any stage of life. 

ONE NATION ONE DESTINY

On 23rd March, 1940 under the roof of Mughal emperor Shahjahan’s Badshahi mosque, in the city Lahore that has been known as the heart of Muslims of subcontinent for so many years and decades, a resolution had passed by a group of great Muslim Leaders with one point agenda ‘A separate homeland for Muslims of subcontinent'. The resolution initially presented with the name of ‘Lahore Resolution' but who knew that it will going to create a history in only seven years of time period.

The resolution was signed by the leaders of All India Muslim League that clearly reject the idea of United India because after British government, everyone knew that the powers will automatically go in the hands of Hindu as they were in majority and that will create a disaster for Muslims and other minorities, they will have to suffer for their basic rights religiously, on cultural basis, political and social basis as well. 

All the Muslims leaders including the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah have a crystal clear vision regarding the rights of Muslims and if Hindus came in the ruling position Muslims will face the undefinable limitless problems in all aspects of life. The resolution was named as Lahore Resolution and even it didn’t actually mention Pakistan anywhere, but after that resolution the struggle found a new life and energy. The resolution later called as PAKISTAN Resolution and it had become the turning point for Muslims of India. After 23rd March, 1940, Muslims of subcontinent never looked back.

In just seven years after the resolution passed, Pakistan came in to being on the map and became the world’s first Islamic Republic. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his other members, the leaders and companions lead Muslims from the front. The struggle and vision was real and only for the rights of Muslim men and women, for the generation and generation. 

The nation proudly celebrate Pakistan Day annually on 23rd March. The day starts with early morning parades in Islamabad and in all provincial capitals of the country. We all should be grateful to Allah for the independent homeland where we are free to perform our religious and cultural activities without any fear. Pakistan and Muslims of subcontinent will always remain blessed to have great leaders like Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Liaquat Ali Khan, Chaudhary Rehmat Ali, Fazlul Haq, Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar, Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, Fatima Jinnah, Begum Rana Liaquat, Jahanara Shahnawaz and many more leaders, personalities and people of subcontinent who have struggled for our better and shining future.

After the creation of PAKISTAN, Quaid-e-Azam spread the message of unity always and said,

“We are now all Pakistanis - not Baluchis, Pathans, Sindhis, Bengalis, Punjabis and so on and as Pakistanis we must feel, behave and act, and we should be proud to be known as Pakistanis and nothing else.”

The founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah always encourage people with his words of Unity , faith and discipline. If we want to see Pakistan a successful country we must try individually and play our own part for unity and betterment of the country and the citizens. 

PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!

THE LOCKDOWN DIARIES

“Twenty – Twenty”, this figure (2020) had always been exciting, thrilling, breath-taking for the ones who loves cricket. Yes, if you are a die heart fan of cricket then you are still refreshing your world cup sixes of Boom boom and surely my words had taken you back in to the memories of those huge houseful grounds. 

But why I’m talking about 20-20? The word Twenty-twenty have now become the most horrible and painful for the whole world. Yes, the time has changed. The table had now turned around and the most exciting word has now become the most tragic and unforgettable for all of us. The word which we only used to hear as a sport has now actually played it’s game in the stage of our life. The world will never forget the pain of these double zeros in two thousand and twenty! From the past six months, we are only loosing the lives of our loved ones, we are shattering into pieces but there is no peace. Everyday, the sun rises with the negative news of the positive reports and sets with the news of more and more lockdown, hunger, stress and much more. 

We have always heard that LIFE IS NOTHING BUT A SWEET FALSE WHEREAS, DEATH IS NOTHING BUT A BITTER TRUTH, but none of us had ever thought that we will face this and now we are living in the era where we listen thousands of deaths everyday from east to west and from north to south. The situation is same for the developed countries and for the developing countries. 

COVID-19 is not only a pandemic situation but also a lifetime lesson for humans all over the world. What basic lessons we should learn by this sudden world closure? There are some common experiences we all surely going through with:

Firstly, we all have to understand that we can’t buy health from money. This is one of the most important lesson the world has to learnt because all our wealth have become useless.

The other most notable one is that who we are? We are only a small and minute creation on Earth and can’t even protect ourselves from the smallest unseen creature of Allah. Allah is the only Creator and He is the only Power. Then another one which is specifically the most important one for our new and advanced cool generation is that no one can ever replace the value of a family. A friend or any other person can never invite us to stay with them as we are not from their family and can be dangerous in this Corona outbreak. That’s indeed a precautionary measure but take a minute and think if our own family, our grand parents, our parents say this to us. No we can not even imagine this, as we are a family. So always keep in mind that family should always be our first priority, if anyone of us are not sincere with our parents then we will never taste the true essence of any relationship.

Lastly, most of the people have realized that life is beautiful with hangouts and without hangouts as well. If we want to be happy then we will be, things and places don’t matter but our thinking matters a lot. In this lockdown, we all have discovered how much talented we are and also wondered that how blessed we are that we can still living our best lives. Some of us have discovered their painting qualities, cooking expertise, writing and singing abilities. Many of us have become such a good photographer but this time selfies are taking with family members not with friends. For the friends, we have found a new way to connect which is a sweet long video calls which needs no makeup just a lot of gossips in a bundle of laughter. This materialistic world is now understanding the values of true happiness which can never buy with branded dresses, heavy makeup, hangouts in big restaurants, but just a free WhatsApp call is also enough to stay in touch with our loved ones.

In the end, just remember that this situation will definitely end one day but all we have to do is to led all those positive habits with us throughout our lives and after this pandemic show each other that we have learnt something and we have changed. Try to value people not things and try to use things not people. This is the simple lesson which will make a mark difference in the world if we all apply this one rule. Stay blessed and stay safe, things will get better soon.

اور پھر ہمیں خدا یاد آگیا۔۔

زندگی کے شور میں ہم سب مصروف ہوتے ہیں اس دنیا میں اتنا کھو جاتے ہیں کہ بھول جاتے ہیں کہ دراصل انسان کے اس کائنات میں آنے کا مقصد کیا ہے۔ اس فانی دنیا کی رعنائیوں میں اتنے مصروف ہوجاتے ہیں کہ یاد ہی نہیں رکھتے کہ آخر ہم کر کیا رہے ہیں

اس دنیا میں بھیجنے کا حکم صرف اس لیے نہیں دیا گیا تھا کہ ہم اللہ کی عبادت کریں، نماز روزے کا خیال کریں، نہ صرف حج کریں کیونکہ مقصد اگر صرف عبادت ہوتا تو یہ بات ہمیں بتادی گئی ہے کہ اس کائنات کی ہر شے اللّٰہ کی عبادت میں مشغول رہتی ہے، فرشتے ہر وقت اللہ کی حمد وثناء بیان کرتے رہتے ہیں لیکن ہم نے یہ سوچ لیا کہ ہمارا ضمیر اسی بات پر متفق ہے کہ ہمیں صرف وہ کرنا ہے جس سے ہمارا فائدہ ہو، ہم اپنے مفادات کی دوڑ میں اتنے آگے نکل گئے کہ بھول گئے کہ ہمیں اشرف المخلوقات بنا کر بھیجا گیا تھا۔

آج دنیا کے تقریباً 199 ممالک ایک ایسی وبا کا شکار ہیں جس سے نہ کوئی امیر محفوظ ہے نہ غریب، نہ عرب والے نہ عجم والے، نہ مشرق کے انسان نہ مغرب کی عوام، نہ شمال کی ہوا نہ جنوب کی فضاء۔ آج خود کو طاقتور ترین ملک کہنے والے ممالک بےبسی کی اور عبرت کی تصویر بنے بیٹھے ہیں۔ اور انتظار ہے تو اس ربّ العالمین کا جس کی قدرت کو ہم فراموش کر بیٹھے تھے۔ حقوق العباد تو جیسے کوئی مذاق ہوگیا تھا۔ سب ایک دوسرے سے آگے نکل جانے کی دوڑ میں شامل تھے، ایک دوسرے کو ختم کردینے کے خواب دیکھنے لگے تھے، کمزور کو تو جیسے ہم نے انسان ہی سمجھنا چھوڑ دیا تھا۔ 

ہر کوئی اپنی الگ ہی جنگ میں مصروف تھا، حقوق مانگے جارہے تھے اس مذہب سے جس نے ہر چیز کا جواب چودہ سو سال پہلے ہی دے دیا تھا، کہا گیا چہرہ ڈھانپ کر نہیں رکھیں گے حجاب پر پابندی لگا دی گئی آج کیوں اسی قرآن کو کھول کر بیٹھے ہیں ہم کہ شاید کہیں کوئی علاج مل جائے۔ میرے پیارے نبی صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم نے بتایا کہ کلونجی میں سوائے موت کے ہر علاج ہے لیکن ہم تو سب کچھ بھلا کر اکیسویں صدی میں جو آگئے تھے۔ 

اس دنیا نے عذاب کو خود دعوت دی ہے۔ کیوں نہ آئے عذاب جب ایک چھ ماہ کی ننھی سی پھول سے لے کر ساٹھ سال تک عورت اس معاشرے میں محفوظ نہ ہو، کیوں ہم پر رحم کیا جاۓ جب ایک نوجوان کو اس بات پر قتل کر دیا جائے کہ وہ آزاد ملک میں اپنی شناخت کے ساتھ رہنا چاہتا ہے، کس غرور میں ہم کہہ رہے ہیں کہ ہم ناراض نہیں ہونے دینگے اپنے رب کو کہ جب ایک بچی مر رہی ہو بھوک سے اور وہ یہ کہے کہ میں جا کر اپنے رب کو سب بتاؤں گی تو پھر یاد رکھیں کہ جو حضرت یوسف علیہ السلام کا رب ہے جو میرا اور آپ کا رب ہے جو سمندر کی گہرائیوں کے راز کا رب ہے جو پہاڑوں کو پل بھر میں روئی کردینے والا رب ہے تو پھر جان لیجئے کہ اس ننھی کلی اور اس جیسے لاکھوں بےبس اور بے سہارا معصوم لوگوں کا بھی رب ہے۔

کیسے ممکن ہے کہ ہم چوری کر رہے ہوں، ایک دوسرے کے حقوق کو کچل رہے ہوں، جھوٹ ایسے بول رہے ہوں کہ جیسے کبھی سچ کہا ہی نہ ہو، ریاکاری کر رہے ہوں، ماں باپ کو بوجھ سمجھتے ہوں، اپنی طاقت کا غلط استعمال کر رہے ہوں اور ہر وہ کام جو اس رب العالمین کو ناپسند ہو وہ کر رہے ہوں تو کیا اس کو ناراض ہونے کا حق نہیں؟ وہ رب جس نے رزق کا وعدہ کیا ہم اس کے پانچ مرتبہ آواز دینے پر اس لیے نہیں جاتے کہ ہمارے کاروبار رک جائیں گے، تو پھر جائیے اپنے دنیاوی کام کیجیے اسے ہماری عبادت کی کوئی ضرورت نہیں۔ آج ہم تڑپ رہے ہیں کہ کسی طرح مسجد میں صرف فرض ہی پڑھنے کی اجازت مل جائے، آج حقیقت یہ ہے کہ اس کا گھر خالی نہیں فرشتےہوں یا پرندے اس کہ گھر کا طواف کر رہے ہیں، روکا ہے تو ہم انسانوں کو روک دیا ہے، آج ہم اس لیے نہیں ڈرے ہیں کہ ایک وائرس ہمیں نقصان پہنچا سکتا ہے بلکہ ہم اس لیے خوف کی علامت بنے ہوئے ہیں کیونکہ ہم جانتے ہیں کہ وہ رب جب ناراض ہوتا ہے تو رزق نہیں چھین لیتا بس اپنی عبادت سے محروم کر دیتا ہے۔ 

ظلم کی وہ داستانیں رقم کیں ہیں کہ اگر حساب دنیا میں ہی لے لیا گیا تو کوئی کسی کو چہرا دکھانے کے قابل نہیں رہے گا۔ عدل وانصاف کی جو جڑیں ہم نے کاٹی ہیں اسکا حساب تو دنیا کو دینا ہی تھا۔ ابھی تو صرف دنیا کو ہلایا گیا ہے، ابھی تو صرف ایک لوک ڈاؤن کیا گیا ہے، ابھی تو اس دنیا نے گھروں کے باہر موت کو محسوس کیا ہے، ابھی تو صرف دنیا نے ایک دوسرے سے فاصلہ کیا ہے، ابھی تو سپر پاور اور بہترین طبی سہولیات کا مزہ چکھا ہے، ابھی تو اور بہت کچھ یاد دلانا باقی ہے، ابھی تو بھوک و افلاس سے تڑپی نہیں ہے یہ دنیا، ابھی تو سوشل میڈیا موجود ہے اپنی آواز دنیا تک پہنچانے کیلئے، ابھی تو اپنے پیاروں کی خیریت مل رہی ہے، ابھی کیوں جاگ رہی ہے یہ دنیا ابھی تو صبر و تحمل رکھنا ہے نہ جیسے سالوں سے تلقین کی جارہی تھی، کہا جارہا تھا ہم ایک دن آپ کی مشکلات حل کریں گے۔ ابھی کیوں چیخیں نکل رہی ہیں؟ ابھی تو بس کچھ مہینے گزرے ہیں اتنے سالوں سے جو یہ دنیا اپنے ظلم کا مزہ لے رہی تھی اس وقت کیوں کسی کی آواز نہیں نکلی؟ آخر کیوں آج انسان  رو رہا ہے آج کیوں پوری دنیا ایک دوسرے کی تکلیف کو محسوس کر رہی ہے؟ ابھی تو صرف انسان کو اسکی اصل جگہ دکھائی گئی ہے، ابھی تو ہمیں ہماری اوقات بتائی گئی ہے، ابھی تو اس بابرکت ذات نے ہمیں وقت دیا ہے توبہ کا وقت، اپنے گناہوں سے معافی مانگنے کا وقت، اپنے اللّٰہ کو منا لینے کا وقت، اپنی ندامت کے اظہار کا وقت۔ خوش قسمت ہیں ہم کہ ہمارے پیارے نبی صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم نے ہمیشہ اپنی امت کے لیے دعا کی اور آج ہمیں ہماری اتنی ناانصافیوں کے بعد بھی اللّٰہ نے وقت دیا ہے۔ اللہ ہم سب کو محفوظ رکھے کیونکہ وہ ذات سب سے افضل ہے، پاک ہے، کریم ہے، وہ رحمٰن ہے، وہ رحیم ہے۔ ہم خاک ہیں اور اس کے ایک کن کے محتاج ہیں! یاالہی رحم فرما۔