Humanity is dying

Progress.

The word appears to have been realized as sophistication in science and technology lead to leaps in my facets of life. More and more urbanization, a flurry of products and services, the optional turning into needs, there is so much happening these days.

We are all in a mad frenzy to acquire and consume more and more, not matter what the commodity/service is. The natural capital given to us by mother earth is being monopolized, consumed and diminished as each moment passes by.

Very little or no thought is being given to change our consumption patterns of natural resources. The path towards moderate consumption is very less trodden and that too by far too less.

Any human who has a patch of land has the sense to moderate his/her consumption, take steps to replenish whatever the land is giving him/her & to make sure not to damage the land, the source. Then was as humans; as one collective group do we not have the sense to be moderate, to conserve, to take care of the one piece of land that we have. Its not like we have another planet to migrate to in case this one dies.

Seems like its going to be too late before we open our eyes to the larger picture.

Following are some words echoing the same sentiment as above:

Is this the time?
The time of deliverance
The day of freedom

A new horizon beckons us
A new world awaits us

If only we could wake up
If only we could see
That there is a world beyond us
A world that does not revolve around us

We
The people
Hordes of zombies
Gnawing at this world
It screams…it groans
As we slowly consume it alive

Not aware
That we are this world
Without it we would be nothing.

No, this isn’t the day
Its just another day
Leading to our impending doom

Humanity is dying…

Pappu Saeen, Shah Jamal...a night to remember..

Since settling in Lahore, one of my cousins had been egging me on to go to Shah Jamal's shrine to listen to Pappu Saaen.

I had seen Pappu Saaen on TV performing with the band Overload so it didn't take me long to agree to the trip. As I was told, Pappu Saeen plays every Thursday night at Shah Jamal's shrine.

So here we were entering Shah Jamal's shrine on Thursday 23rd Aug at around 9:30 pm. We entered a small brick courtyard...nothing fancy...just a brick floor with a large oval marked with chalk...couple of dusty rugs for the audience to sit. There was a big tree inside the courtyard which was perhaps as old as the shrine itself...who knows how much it had witnessed and of what nature.

A small gathering of boys and men had assembled...waiting for Pappu Saeen and party. Pappu Saaen arrived a couple of minutes later, clad in his a large black kurta and dhoti...his oiled curly long hair and beard making him an imposing figure. 

Pappu Saeen was joined by one of his disciples and a young man with some sort of an african drum...a tamboora perhaps. Someone told me he was part of Overload but I wasn't sure.

The three drummers fiddled with their drums, tweaking them to get the sound just right and then it began..

The beat began slow and steady...building up into a frenzy slowly..the audience began to tap their feet and nod their head as the infectious beat began to take control. The air was heavy with weed smoke which was being smoked in abundance...soon the weed and the beat began enticing the audience to step inside the oval and then the frenzied dance began...men & boys...dancing feverishly...whirling around like turkish dervishes...lost in a world of their own...the beat of Pappu Saaen's might Dhol taking them to heights and places only know to them.

And suddenly at one point I felt like everything had slowed down...when everyone was engrossed and lost...whether standing passive or dancing...everyone was connected to that one beat...following the ebbs and cresendos..the whirling ones twisting and turning around one axis...perhaps connected...perhaps thinking about the One above.

What have we become?

Eid day...a cold morning...mosque...molvi sahib told everyone to forgive and forget...to embrace each other...I came home and turned on the TV....news strip....exchange of fire in Karachi between two rival groups...many killed..

We muslims...even of the weakest faith...what have we become? Animals? Or do we think of others as animals? We maim, shoot and kill without thought..on Eid day!

Have we totally lost it? Restraint, tolerance & peace...these aren't alien words/notions...these are the very things our religion taught us and still we blatantly move on in a fit of rage.

Its been too long and too many times...blaming India, America, Jews...how many times will be cover our shame with pointing fingers at others rather than looking at ourselves in the mirror.

Lord help us.....

Just a thought

A day sets and another one begins, the cycle of work and home continues. I feel like a hamster on a wheel...scrambling to cover some distance but going no where...stuck in one spot.

The world has plenty to offer apart from tv, music, food and other things that are a consistent part of our daily life. Watching a sunrise, a blooming flower, an ant going about its business or even water trickling down a leaf...these are all events that are taking place in this world but we fail to observe them, admire them...too busy in our routine to take notice.

Walden comes to mind when I think about these things but I admit my inability to do what Thoreu did.

I hope someday I can walk away into the wilderness, truly free, truly happy.

I Hope

I hope that:

• We can all be more tolerant of each other and religions other than ours.
• We can cast aside our irrational fears of things, people and concepts that seem alien to us just because we don't have much knowledge about the same.
• We can try to live in peace and make interfaith harmony an integral part of our cultures.
• We learn to shake off and reject absurd and irrational beliefs that have been passed down to us as tradition.
• We try to see this world through our own eyes and form our opinions based on our own intellect and not by notions that we've been handed down.
• We all accept and believe something we all know i.e. We are all equal, different from each other as the colors of a rainbow but each one an integral part of it, each one with its own radiance.