Fourteenth Moment

Its been awhile since I last wrote, mainly because I am too lazy to do things on regular basis and secondly because I am too dumb to remember things from my past. So today I decided to write something from whats going on currently in my life, to share some of it with you guys.

Everybody is well aware of the recession and unemployment we are facing these days, not only in Pakistan but all over the world. And I who graduated a couple of years ago with lots of ambitions and motivation also faced the harsh reality in search of job. In last two years, I have worked at several places but none offering a long term career growth or enough monetary benefits to survive in this inflated world.

So almost a month back, I was offered this Job at National Bank of Pakistan with great monetary benefits and also the attraction of Government Job means your job is almost secure for the rest of your life. And came one of the hardest decision of my life to decide whether I would like to join this Job or not.

Just so everyone knows why I had it tough in deciding about such a good job and why did I apply in the first place if i was gonna have second thoughts about joining. Well for the first Bank works with interest and Interest is Haram (not permitted) in Islam (my religion) however many argue with this fact, its a long debate and secondly I applied only because Dad forced me to apply for it. Well there was also this small thought in my Mind that I just have to get selected and prove the world that I can get this Job its just I don’t like it thats why I don’t bother with it.

So when I received the letter of appointment, I started receiving congratulations from all over my family and friends. Everyone was as excited like I have found some gold mine or something. The fact which hurted me the most was not even a single person said to me that this isn’t right and you should think or try something else.

Whenever, I received compliment from someone, I told them I have yet to decide whether I am gonna join it or not and they were like I am mad to even think like that. But I made up my decision and decided not to Join it. Almost everyone is against my decision, even my family especially my dad and going again the decision of your loved ones is really hard.

I won’t deny that somewhere deep in my heart there is a little voice that wants me to take on this opportunity, to not to lose it. But I decided to stick to my decision. Now what comes of my decision, I don’t know. Maybe I will get even better opportunity or maybe I would never be as successful and this decision would also be one of my moment of madness., I would just have to wait and see.

P.S. I just learned that this statement is so very true

“Allah day ker bhi azmata hay aur lay ker bhi”

Thirteenth Moment

OK seriously who doesn’t wish to learn how to ride a Motor Bike or how to drive a Car. Well I was just like every other kid on the block, young, passionate and restless. I had a couple of lessons from my cousin on how to ride a motor bike when I was in 10th grade and as usual my over confidence made me believe that I have mastered the Art of driving the Motor Bike. We didn’t own a motorbike at that time so I couldn’t practice it.

So the story is from the days when I was in the 12th grade. Me and my friends were standing on the road in the college after our daily classes and was just chatting and killing off the time. One of my friend had a car at that time and one had the Motor Bike. So I asked my friend that I want to borrow his motor bike for a moment, to enjoy the ride. Which he gave me without asking another thing.

In our college there is a big stretch of road about 400 meters long which is usually empty as it been only used by college people. We were standing near to the exist gate. I took the Motor Bike and went to the corner of the road. At that time I knew how to ride a motor bike but I had no control over it. But as usual the over confident me came up with a plan that I got a big stretch of empty road I should Run the bike on a fast speed and should pass as near to my friends as I could just to give them a scare.

Well as usual I didn’t waited for another moment to consider my plan whether it is feasible or not and just went along with it. I Rushed the motor bike towards my friend and I could see them from a distance busy in their talks. I gave the motor bike a little more speed I was going at about speed of 60km/h  which was impossible for me to control since I couldn’t even control the motorbike at the speed of 40.

The moment I reached near my friends I tried to take the motorbike as close to my friends as I could to ensure that they get scared for a moment. But I lost control of the motorbike at that time and I crashed into one of my friends bicycle with him on it….. He flew to one side of the road while the motorbike dragged me to the other side of the road for the next few meters. Weirdly at that time I didn’t felt scared or anything. I had just the feeling that damn I failed at my trick.

After going a little further the bike stopped and luckily enough I was without a single scratch. But since i was dragged alongside bike, my shoes got all torn off after being dragged with the road. A couple of my friends rushed towards me to see how badly I am hurt. Others went towards my other friend whom I hit with the bike. They were relieved to see that I was unharmed, but my other friend got a dislocated wrist because of this.

The motorbike and the bicycle were badly damaged in result of all that. So we all brought our pocket money together just to make the motorbike and bicycle moving. And it all ended with a fail stunt.

P.S. None of my friend actually hated me for this. Rather they were like dude you need to learn how to drive before you do any such stuff. And i did borrow their bike in the future and they still lent it to me.

P.S.S. Never try this guys, totally not worth it.

P.S.S. I got a great lecture from home for ruining the new shoes.

Twelveth Moment

Going to another city far away from your home for whatever purpose expect business always need a lot of preparation. You plan your whole trip days ago and keep making changes and thinking of ideas on how to make it more interesting. Since going so far away costs alot of money and you want to utilize it to the maximum. Whenever I had to go on such trips I would also make early plans but there was one time when I went without any plan and just on the spur of the moment.

It was just another normal weekend and I was using internet at midnight. The time on the clock was showing about 1 a.m. means that sunday had already started. I was talking to two of my friends on the msn and was totally enjoying the conversation which was based on Food. One of my friend was in Islamabad (another city) at that time about 400km away and the other one was in Lahore same as me. During the discussion my friend who was from Lahore mentioned that there is a restaurant in Islamabad where the food is totally Awesome and that one should try it atleast once in their life time.

I as a Food Lover immediately said that I will surely try it. But my friend joked that yeah everyone says that but nobody does. Its not like you gonna go to another city just to try out a new restaurant. Well since she put it like that I felt it was my duty to prove her wrong and kill this thought that people only say stuff and never do it. And also it was another chance for me to showoff that yes I do the unexpected. So, I told my friend who was at that time in Islamabad that I am coming in the morning and we are going to have a lunch in that restaurant. He was like dude calm down its not such a brilliant place that you are gonna travel that much just for it. But I had made up my mind and as I am stub born I told him well I am coming and its final.

I went to other room woke up my mom and told her that I am going to Islamabad early in the morning. First she was like what happened is everything alright and I assured her yes everything is alright I am just going to try out a new resturant and will be back on the same day. Then she got suspicious as to why is her son suddenly made up his mind to go to Islamabad just for lunch. But I assured her that there is nothing else to it and no I am not going there to meet some girl, just gonna have some lunch and will be back. So after telling her to wake me up at 5 A.M. I messaged my friends that mom allowed and the plan is on. After that I went to sleep.

Mom woke me up as I asked her to and I took up some stuff and made my way to the Bus station to catch a bus to Islamabad. The bus station was pretty much deserted since not many people travel so early in the morning on a sunday. I bought a ticket and got on the bus and after almost 5 hours of travel I reached Islamabad at around 11 a.m. My friend met me there and we set off in search of food. During the conversation he mentioned that the food you came searching for is not as good as you think and i don’t know how but somehow he convinced me that there are better places to eat than that. And he took me to another restaurant to eat. We had lunch there and since I had to get back home on that same day. We both head back to Bus station, took a bus back and reached Lahore around 10 p.m.

So after more than 10 hours of traveling, spending a lot of money, I went there but never ate at the restaurant I intended to. And even today that restaurant is still on my go-to list.  Lets hope one day I actually visit it.

P.S. When my friend in Lahore learned what I had done, she was all laugh and kept saying that you are one crazy guy.

P.S.S. I never told at my home that I didn’t ate at that restaurant.

Eleventh Moment

I have mentioned in my previous moment that some of my friends wrote some poems when they were trying to write a “Love Letter” for Alia. So as promised I am going to reproduce those poems here for you.

“Old McDonald had a Farm

e-i-e-i-o

And on that farm he had some cows

e-i-e-i-o

With a moo, moo, moo, moo here

and a moo, moo, moo, moo there

here a moo, there a moo

everywhere moo moo moo

Old McDonald had a farm

e-i-e-i-o

And on that farm he had some chicks

e-i-e-i-o

with a chick chick chick chick here

and a chick chick chick chick there

here a chick, there a chick

everywhere chick chick chick

Old Mc Donald had a Farm

e-i-e-i-o

And on that farm he had some Ducks

e-i-e-i-o

With a quack quack quack quack here

and a quack quack quack quack there

here a quack there a quack

everywhere quack quack quack

Old McDonald had a farm

e-i-e-i-o”

“Constant As the stars above

Always know that you are loved

And my love shall live in you

Will help you make your dreams come true.”

“I can show you the world

Shinning, Shimmering, splendid

Tell me princess now what when did you last,

Let your heart decide

I can open your eyes

take you wonder by wonder

Over sideways and under

on a magic carpet ride

A whole new world.”

P.S. I have nothing to do in writing these poems.

P.S.S. And yes I believe one of them is being taught to little children in school.

Tenth Moment

It was just another day with me in the University lurking. Classes were finished for the day and I was just spending some quality time with my friends. I remember I was sitting with a few of my female friends of mine on the front floor of the department. As usual I was talking the same old crap in order to annoy them. Suddenly the topic changed to Alia (my imaginary Girl friend) and I asked them I want to write her a “Love Letter” to express my undying Love for her but no matter how hard I try I cant think of anything good to write so help me out plzzzz.

Well at first they were like Fahad you are very good at writing and you can do it easily. But eventually they agreed and we all got our heads together to do some brain storming. First they wrote some stupid poems which I will share some other day. After that they wrote something which I am not sure what to call, I will write it over here and you guys can decide it for yourself.

“Remember when I said I don’t miss you. The truth is that I do. I never stop thinking about you.

We are meant together. The two of us are bind. And it seems like forever. I can’t get you off my mind. If I could wish upon a star then I would hold you in my arms, then we will be just right where you are. If I could turn the hands of time then you and you Love would be mine. Then we will be just right where you are. If I could wish upon a star.”

P.S. Nothing of the above was written in any serious mood. It was more of a joke

P.S.S. I have strong reason to believe that second paragraph of it was stolen from some song.

Ninth Moment

Some classes during student life are plain torture and staying awake in them is just like winning a contest of Survival for the toughest. And students use several means in order to win that contest. Some do it by playing “tic tac toe” with their neighbour, some test their artistic skills on the notebook, some play games on cellphone and some do it by sending booring useless text to rest of the class etc. Well as a student I did all that and many more in order to survive. But one time I did something which is extreme and rarely done and was unfortunately caught by the teacher.

It was just another day in the university, with me sleepy as hell thanks to watching movies all night long. It was the second class of the day and I was having a real tough time keeping myself awake. Well pretending to be awake and focusing on the lecture while doing something else was not so easy. Since the class was auditorium style and teacher could easily see everyone of the student activity. So even if I were sitting in the last row I couldnt hide behind the guys sitting infront of me.

So as usual I went to my regular seat in the middle of the rows and started testing my Artistic skills on the facebook while pretending to be taking notes.  The friend sitting next to me took out playing cards from his pocket. These cards were almost 1/3 of the original size of playing cards, china made and especially designed to be used in the class without getting caught. Well as we were getting really boored we decided to start playing the cards with the guy sitting on my other side also joined the game. The first round went pretty well and we easily avoided the teacher eyes, which gave us confidence.

As we were going to start the second round, the guy sitting next to the guy on my right, asked that he wants to join in too. And as we got a good heart we couldn’t deny the request of our friend, since we felt bad that why should we be the only one to enjoy why one of our comrade suffer. So the next round started with four people on the same row playing cards. I guess adding the 4th one was not such a great idea and as we started the 4th round the teacher noticed us.

Normally the teacher is very kool and I dont remember ever seeing her getting angry or annoyed by anyone. But at that time she was so angry that its hard to describe in words. She is generally a good teacher who teaches properly and tries hard to make sure every student learns. She asked the three of us (she didnt noticed the 4th one who actually brought the cards) to leave the room immediately and we replied quietly.

Once outside we started feeling genuinely bad about it in our hearts, since we really respected her. And well there was also the question that she might report us to director for disciplinary behavior, which could turn into trouble. So we waited outside the class for it to be finished, Keeping a bold front while scared and embarrassed from the inside.

After the class, as she came out we immediately went towards the teacher with innocent teary faces and honestly apologized for our improper behavior and promised that this will never happen again. She as the great person she was accepted our apology and forgave us. And it all ended in good.

P.S. I was the second highest scorer in that class thanks to the class participation marks which I get after showing more enthusiasm in the class. And a special gift from madam as well

P.S.S. I Love you Madam. Stay Blessed and Happy for the rest of your life.

P.S.S.S. Here is a pic of that awesome class where it all happened. So you guys can have a better idea of how it looked to her.

Eight Moment

During all my life I have been blessed with Good Luck.Whatever I have achieved so far in my life is less because of my hard work and more because of my Luck. And I have my parents and grandmother (deceased now) to thank for that, as their continuous prayers kept my luck intact.

But as the people who are the best in their trade have off days, I have my own fair share of those off days. Those were the days when my luck was just not there for me when I needed it the most. Its the story about one of those days.

During my school days we used to have 3 official holidays on EID. When I was in 7th grade the Government only announced holidays for only two days. And we were suppose to attend the school on the Third day of EID. But as we were so used to having three days off that we thought those two holidays were for only Government employees and we student can take the third day off as well. I some how convinced my parents to let me have a day off.

The next day I went to school as per routine. As my teacher came in the class the first thing he asked was that everyone who was absent yesterday stand up. The whole class (about 80 student) stood up except for one single guy. He was the only one who came to school the previous day. The teacher then asked does anyone here have a valid reason why he was absent yesterday?? The question was meet with complete silence. So the teacher asked us all to go out and become MURGHA (Chicken).

Those of you who dont know what Murgha is. It looks something like this…..

Murgha Part

Our class room had two doors. One was generally used by everyone which was at the top right side and second was at lower left. Our teacher always used the Top right door to enter or leave the room. So me being overly clever and smart decided to become Murgha near that door and rushed to become Murgha very near the door. As I thought teacher will start punishing from here and I will be in the first ones to get the punishment and back in the classroom.

So almost all the 80 student were in Murgha position outside the class room. But as it was not my day Sir started punishing from the other side. He would ask everyone to stand up straight and ask why they were absent yesterday and then a couple of slaps and send them to the classroom. While on the other hand I was praying that my turn comes fast as my legs were really tired and I was having hard time staying in that position.

After almost 77 students and half and hour my turn came, with only one more student left apart from me. Teacher asked me to stand straight and I obliged. He said so Fahad Siraj (my complete name), Siraj means Sun and where was this sun yesterday. And Tapakhhhhh a heavy palm hit my face bringing tears in my eyes and as I was just trying to shake off the effects of that another hit on the other side of my face, making sure that I could see the stars in the day. After getting my share of punishment I dragged myself back in the class and cursed myself for being so creative rather being in the middle a more safer option.

To be honest as a Student i really hated getting beaten but now a days I kinda miss it. Since it was a good way to keep us on the right path.