Reminiscing 1961, Peshawar, Queens visit, and later day memories!

My Op-Ed on Prince Phillips & life today, in Daily Times, Sunday 11/04/2021

1961 QE II visit to Peshawar & an anecdote from 1972

Dr Qayyum & I talk loss & coping

Terrorism, loss, trauma, stress, recovery, mental health, closure.

Words we hear and usually ignore, but do we know their impact on sufferers?

Listen to this talk and join us to lift the taboo on mental health issues in Pakistan!

https://youtu.be/LHpwbEtKDvg

Lahore – the names old & changed

Over the years the names of roads & localities in Lahore (as in other cities) have been changed on a whim to align to some idea of ideology!

Yet the old names stick & many old & new are used interchangeably!

Attaching a list based on on ground & friends of my genre & some good neighborly chat with oldies sitting chatting on “tharas” outside their homes!)

Please jog your memories & talk to contacts to correct/add/comment so this becomes a work in progress so we can remember the Lahore of our yesteryears!

lahore-old-names-and-nostalgiaDownload

Ramblings on a rainy morning (from 2006)

I got up this morning at 3:30 am, and it was raining, all was dark, aik tau raat thi, dosra street light band thi, aur tesra – kalay badloon aur barish ka andhera.

Aur abhi bhi bahir sarkoon pay its pools and pools of water, all awash with muddy and dirty running streams and some rivulets, thanking man for his lack of social sense and responsibility and for trashing the rain water drains with their produce of uselessness!

People huddled under trees, cars running along, not bothered to slow their speeds, so as not to splash these standers by with dirty rain water, as if the cars had a taken on a mind of their own, and an evil one at that, which had in turn taken possession of the senses of the drivers and they had become mechanical automatons.

Many did not even turn their lights, or hazard indicators (blinkers for many) on, and were converted into running rammers, like the rammers of old used to batter the doors of castles during a fight! Wonder what our fight is with?

And I sit and see out the window, knowing that soon I too will have to brave this storm, and leave the haven of the house for the battle ground of the road, and fight the insanity till I go to the office and then once again, relax inside and wonder at he plight of the nameless many who will still be on the roads.

May you the keeper of the keepers, keep them all safe, till they are once again back within the comfort of their own four walls.

July 24, 2006

08:55 hours

New year’s eve 2021

Let’s get warm

You and I

A log fire betwix

And the night to reminisce!

Lahore – New year eve 2021

Lahore – a lament in paradise

Lahore the city of my heart!
These words brought out the anguish I feel at the changes Lahore has been brought to bear!

Lahore hun Lahore vich nahi disda

Kiwain labe ga vich jannat dae?

Rab ve hun eh kendha hoyaw ga

Ja hun Lahore vi ronda hoe ga!

Lahore – 15:00 hours – 10-02-2021

Umaima writes – A Suicide

Umaima Ahmed, Pakistan

A Suicide

When red tickers splash the screens

There is a blast it means

Death toll increases

Everything around freezes

Hospitals are filled with withering lives

Husbands holding on to their wives Mothers wail the child lost

“Why me?” oozes out of each wound Alas! ‘Voters’ questions have no sound ‘Haves’ halfhearted promises

Their flowers, compensations

Can’t dampen

The ‘Have nots’ will to still live These are not video animations Angels sitting on clouds are waiting To enter the world they are debating! Oh Mother!

Price of a coffin is too dear to afford Please cut off the umbilical cord

I am safe inside

Save me from his suicide..

___________

Author ́s Note:

For many of us, the terrorist attack in Lahore (March 27th, 2016) was a repeat of APS. A large number of women and kids were killed and many others terribly injured. The play ground that once echoed with laughter of kids had turned into a pool of blood, agony and silence. The terrorists have ‘proudly’ accepted this inhumane act and have promised to carry out more attacks in the near future..

Umaima writes – Karak & the Hindu Temple issue

R Umaima writes about the Karak Hindu Temple demolition by a Muslim mob recently

Unending intolerance & hate, poor governance & courts rulings led administration is becoming the norm rather than the exception!

RiP James Bond – Sean Connery

The names Bond, James Bond

We grew up posing to be 007 and our cycle was the Aston Martin DB

Rest in Peace Sean Connery
Happy hunting all those you missed here!

Kabul school attack 24/10/2020

Been there, seen that!

The heart bleeds,

The eyes are dry

Senselessness prevails

Baited breath

We wait

For the next carnage

And another outpouring of grief

That gives no relief

To the survivors left

In their disbelief

Not comprehending the brief

Till the next call to recall!