Walk-through

Assalam-o-alaikum!

I'm blogging at Wordpress now and here's the link to the new blog: Between Dusk and Dawn. That's right, point that little pointy thing on the link and click!

'See you there. Jazak'Allah khair!

Like a Yoyo

Assalam-o-alaikum.

Back from the dead? Oh, sure feels like that! This really makes no sense to me that my blog should suddenly start working again. I've been trying off and on to get it to work but I couldn't manage to log in. Yesterday, however, we bought an LCD monitor and I decided to check out Blogger again, while surfing. The webpage loaded just fine and I was able to sign in without a glitch! Morever, I could even access other blog comment pages and leave my own comment too.

I'm really lost for words. It's a very confused Alhamdolillah that I can say right now, more due to the fact that I've already started a blog at Wordpress and was in the process of giving it a test run before making it public. So who decides the fate of young 'Between Dusk and Dawn'? *Sigh* Make new friends but don't forget the old, remember that saying? Or should it be, make new blogs but don't forget the old. Or perhaps, make new blogs and if the old one comes alive again, whack it on the head with a hammer?!

What do I do with two blogs?!

Technical Finale

Assalam-o-alaikum!

It is with great regret that I break to you this news: I will no longer be able to blog at this specific blog, Ethereal-Melodies.blogspot.com. This time, things really have gone out of my control.

I switched over to Beta about three months ago and I haven't been able to log in anymore. I've tried a different server, a different browser, deleted cookies... everything! The only solution is to open a new blog somewhere else, or the normal version at Blogger itself. However, since Blogger says that it will eventually move all its blogs over to the Google-owned version, things don't seem too good for me. Infact, this is an issue plaguing bloggers from, both, Pakistan and China. Censorship isn't the likely cause - just incompatibility with the new version of Blogger! *Sigh*

I have created a new blog but I'm not too happy with the title right now. I'll leave another message about the new blog as soon as I'm over with my final exams, inshAllah, by the end of December.

Whenever my blog seems to recover from one virus, there's always a new one waiting. I know the inconvenience caused when someone visits a blog and finds it "dead", apparently abandoned by the owner. It's also bad when you link to a blog on your own site to find out later that blog is "dead" ...the embrassment!

I offer sincere apologies to everyone who linked to my blog and now has to remove the link. I'm also barred from commenting on your posts so I must commit the "Blog-crime" of being the "silent reader". Sorry for that too (Blogger is trying to turn me into an "apologetic")!

This post has been possible through another blogger whom I could trust with my password, heheh (just kidding). Directions to a new blog will be posted here in the same way, inshAllah, as soon as I get over with the aforementioned exams *cough*nightmares*cough*!

May the peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you, and rewards for being very patient with long periods of silence here at Ethereal Melodies!

Assalam-o-alaikum!

Ramadan Kareem!

Missing

Have you ever felt sad with a strong sense of having lost something precious, something so very close to the heart that now that it's gone, there's a void that can't be filled by anything else?


Sometimes, when you come across old photographs, familiar yet forgotten faces smile up at you... people you didn't realize you were moving awar from, heading in the other direction until the last thred of connection between you snapped. Great friends are almost impossible to find, I've now realized. You can't just set out looking for a friend. The only way we come across these amazing people who leave their marks on us forever, is by pure chance. It's only when - and if - you lose such friends that you realize that they couldn't ever be replaced, no matter how hard you look.


I had a great friend in school. We'd talk for hours if we could, about everything on the face of Earth, just like girls do. We'd giggle, we'd laugh, tell each other silly stories. We'd go around together, and while to others we were 'close friends', we never ventured to refer to each other as a 'best friend' ever. Maybe that had something to do with a sort of fear our generation has of fortifying relations. We always want to keep the backdoor open, just in case.


Still, that isn't what happened in my friend's case. After school ended, we parted ways - she stayed on at the school for A-levels while I went into the Pakistani Intermediate system. Somehow, we kept contact during those two years, but it was mostly because I could relate to her stories of school, some common friends who had stayed back, old teachers and school events. Alongside, I'd keep hoping that she'd be serious about a common University... dental surgery... so we could go together and pick up where we left off in school.



I don't know why I wasn't perturbed when she decided to head towards textile designing. Well, maybe it was because she loved talking about clothes, designing them, accessorizing... not that I wasn't too, but I wanted to pursue science as a career. She went on to another University and it still didn't pinch me that I was really missing something.

Maybe that was because I thought I'd make new friends. Yeah, make. It's very easy to make friends.

'Assalam-o-alaikum!'
'Walaikum-Salam.'
'Are you new too?'
'Yeah, what's your name?'
'Ameera, and yours?'
'XYZ...'
'That's a nice name, what does it mean?'

You could have dozens of XYZs and not one single good friend...the good friend you left somewhere in the past. Sure, I know lots of people in University, I go around with a group of two old college friends but there's always something missing there.

I've been thinking about that great friend for a few days now. I called her after I returned from Hajj in January and since then, I've maintained a policy of 'it's her turn, she'll call'. Is that right? Should we be so rigid, so strict, so lost in protecting our own delicate ego that we let go of something much more valuable?

I even saw her in a dream, where I was making her feel guilty about not calling me and I actually made her pick up a phone too call me right when I was infront of her. Pure selfishness, some would say. Maybe they're right. But then, I also wonder, she's got loads of new friends... cool new friends in her textile design university. Why would she want an old friend when she's got so many around already? There's sadness there, with some of that hateful green tint - jealousy.

I've changed in soneways too... I guess that was a different me back in school. A religious awakening during college rid me of some Islamically undesirable things in a person... it certainly changed, to some degree, my view of things. Exchanging romantic novel story-lines, listening to music, being purely materialistic... these became things of the past. Did I become a dull, serious person? No, not at all... but to those who knew me as I was in school, I was different. Too different to integrate.

So, it ends like this. I miss this friend so much that I've thought a lot about her these past two days. She was online on MSN but my mother was chatting with my father, so she left a message: 'Hello.....' That was it! Just one word, no more. I was annoyed but I was touched too. She hadn't forgotten me completely and she couldn't find any words to say anything either.

Now I've made her a card and I'm going to write her a letter with it. I'm going to send it to her as a surprise. We used to write silly letters to each other in school. It won't be the same as it used to be but I'm not going to make the same mistake again. I'm not going to let ego and silly things like that get in the way of a chance to talk to her again.

If you've got a friend you know you should have called a long while back, and if you feel the slightest pinch of missing that friend... pick up the phone and call right now. You won't know it and it would be too late. All that you'd have left would be a few photographs of happy times, all in the past.

Ramadan's here! Nothing else matters...

Yaaaaay! It's almost Ramadan! Tonight might be the first Tarawih in the Middle Eastern countries. I've got a new moon down there on the right side of the page so tomorrow, in theory, could be the first of Ramadan in Pakistan, inshAllah. (edit: First Ramadan is on Monday here, because the teeny moon you see on the moon phase box there wasn't visible to anyone but a few who said they might have seen something...)

Another tiny bit of news I wanted to pop in here was the statement the adorable, roly poly former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage made to the director of Pakistan's intelligence agency in 2001. Now that's something you don't get to hear everyday.

To make things clear, I still don't support Musharraf's policies or the argument that he had no other option but to do what he did after 9/11. When three-hundred-and-thirteen men defended their cause against an army one thousand strong, they didn't say, 'We have no choice but to give in and join their ranks.'

May Allah reward and raise the ranks of the men of Badr - both, the first and the last.

Not even funny now...

Yes, this isn't funny... it never was in the first place.

Everytime I say, 'I'll be back in a week' or 'I'll do so and so in two days', something always goes wrong, even though I make a point of punctuating almost each word with 'InshAllah' (if Allah wills).

"And say not of anything: Lo! I shall do that tomorrow, except if Allah wills." (Surah Kahf 18:23-24)

All I can say in my defense is that things really did go beyond my control.

• First, I came back to Karachi to discover the monitor, which had been making cracking sounds before we left, was now in a worse state. It emitted three loud, hair-raising cracks before failing to function altogether. By the time I was able to borrow one from my Mamoo (Uncle), we discovered the CPU wasn't working either. It took almost a month to get this contraption up and running again. InshAllah, it'll work okay now... though there's a problem with drive F.
• A few days after we returned from Tabuk, it rained heavily in Karachi, with thunder and lightning (which are rare here), and in two hours, water was standing upto four feet in our area, and adjoining parts, of the city! We watched from the balcony as water rose in our building's parking about ankle deep. The famous Three Swords round-about and all roads are around it were inundated for the next three to four days as water slowly receded and the footpaths became visible again! The problem was due to the recent construction of an underpass in the locality and laying of small drain pipes during the work. The storm water drains, almost non-existent or clogged with trash, failed to function and as such water accumulated in our area. Needless to say, the electrcity disappeared too for about 30 hours in our building itself, with just a single one hour break.

These days again, there's some power outage occassionally. The silly thing is that all this happens in Karachi mostly. Other cities of Pakistan rarely complain of such weird things as long powere outages in this day and age. However, Karachi inherits a hoard of problems from every out-going government and despite contributing a whopping 60% to the economy, it gets very little back in terms of services and attention. Fellow Pakistanis in the northern parts, for example in Islamabad and Lahore, are suprised when we talk of power cuts and water shortages!

One can only pray that the problems in this city are cleaned up for good. These days, the city government is digging in a posh locality, Bath Island, visible from my balcony. They're uncovering a large drain canal that crosses the locality, to clean it up and lay proper drain pipes. They say next year, "Karachites will enjoy the rains!" My response to that: InshAllah!

• I'm also studying for my final exams - the 'Proffs' - that commence in December. They do seem far away but with a load of Anatomy (the upper and lower limbs, and the thorax region), Physiology and Biochemistry to master... that's a short time, especially with Ramadan just around the corner. I've loved every bit of M.B.B.S. so far, and I hope I always will, inshAllah but the exam time is indeed testing.

And guess what? We've got to attempt BCQs... that's Best Choice Quesions... instead of the MCQs that normal, sane human beings attempt all around the world. It means that I'll have five options, A through E, all correct! The trick is to pick up the most suitable answer. Imagine that! We got a taste of BCQs in our Biochemistry second stage test paper... and it was a cute little nightmare in itself. Check this our for example...

Q. Cats...

A. Are quadrupeds

B. Are Carnivorous

C. Have slit-like eyes and can see in the dark

D. Have sharp hearing

E. Make 'meow' sounds

Choose the best answer. What is the best answer? Wouldn't it depend on the examiner on what he thought was best?!

So, to sum it up, that is what's been going on for the past month. During this time, I'm also trying to prepare for Ramadan in some way and strenthen my Iman. I'm also trying desperately to not be angry or irritated, especially with my mother, when something unpleasant happens. InshAllah, it'll be okay. The new channel, Peace TV, that I've been watching has really helped... some good character-building and Iman strengthening programs broadcasted by the Islamic Research Foundation owned channel.

Several interesting new debates and programmes on the channel by famous Muslims such as Bilal Philips, Abdur-Raheem Green, Ahmed Deedat, Yasir Fazaga, Dr Zakir Naik, Dr Israr Ahmed and Suhail Baghdadi are broadcasted throughout the day, making for good, quality TV. The only alternative before this channel was QTV, which, I'm sad to say, failed to supply authentic programmes in accordance with the spirit of Islam but rather turned out to be promoting a special kind (not that I say there could be a different kind) of Islam, with their own interpretations instead of sticking to the pure Deen.

Got to go for now. InshAllah, the blog should be back on track now. It feels great to blog, to be able to write down what one observes, and I've got a lot of statements to make here. Upcoming topics...

- Taking the Public bus in Pakistan... a unique experience!

- Innovations in the Deen: Khatams... being invited, forced to attend and sit in one!

- What to do when Da'wah/Islah fail to reform?

Assalam-o-alaikum wa rehmatullahi wa barakatohu!