catsnip22: Conspiring clouds

catsnip22: Conspiring clouds

Conspiring clouds

A beautiful moonlit night it was till a few minutes ago.
It shone with full force....and then,  the clouds took over, with envy, stealing away the thunder from a glowing, silvery moon. ...turning the aura into a mundane dark night. Ahh.. I heard a sigh inside. It was a sigh for the moon. Something had saddened my happy heart suddenly. Just when it had started to show-off its' beauty, something evil conspired in the sky. It was as if its full glory and force was deliberately taken away from it.
 From glorious to helpless, the full moon, right on a night to shine, could do nothing. An usurping thick layer of dark shoddy clouds had covered the beautiful face of the moon to hide it from the world.

So rightly said... Jealousy knows no boundaries!!!

An event from 2015 ....Zia Mohyeddin Reads

He climbs up the stage in a boyish fashion, in the most unassuming way.  Running up the stage taking all three steps in a quick succession,  he emerges from behind the rostrum. Except for some slight signs of age, it is the same recognizable face. A face that we've seen, on and off from the 60's, on the television screens of Pakistan.

The lights of the hall are dimmed intentionally to give him the entry in a dramatic way. Only light  glows on his face making him appear like a silhoutte in silver.

 Everyone goes quiet as if a magical spell has bound them suddenly. Like a teacher upon whose entry a rowdy class goes quiet. Here we were the audience, chattering away to the loudest din till a few seconds, instinctively shushed to a pin drop. Without anybody's command we were all ears eagerly.

It was a hall packed to its capacity, with 300 plus audience,  with each one feeling the luckiest and surreal.

A literary event of letters and words, a 90 minute session with Zia Mohyeddin's readings, turned out to be an evening of enrichment and enlightenment.

Arranged by Ashfaque Hussain, a distinguished Urdu poet and author, based in Toronto, this eventful night in a Toronto hotel, brought together people sharing the same literary taste and love for Urdu literature. A night to feel proud and lucky.

In the city of Toronto, and in some of its suburbs where Pakistanis are in bulk majority and are always on the lookout for gatherings of this nature, events like this are a 'sold -out' if ones not on top of news.

Our evening started promptly at 7.30p.m with dinner making it quite an appropriate prelude to the real show. Everyone was in a mood to comply and go by the book. Willing to stay seated without being told. After all, getting an opportunity to listen to Zia Mohyeddin read to his audience, in person, is like a prayer heard.

Zia Mohyeddin began reading in his clear voice and distinct style,  a selection of excerpts of famous authors of Urdu literature. He narrated, both, poetry and prose taken from writings of Mirza Ghalib, Maulana Azad,Faiz, Ahmed Faiz, Noon meem Rashid, Ibn E Insha, Intezar Hussain, Mushtaq Yousufi, Shan ul haq Haqqee and Ashfaque Hussain.

In a combination of his dynamic voice and impeccable pronunciation, Zia Mohyeddin rendered all his narrations and poetic verses without a break for 90 minutes.
Not a breath broke , not a word faultered. Throughout he amazed the keen listeners  with one piece after another.
Some personalities have no comparables. Here it was this slim figured man, rolling in his eighties, displaying a stamina and agility of a young man in his voice and demeanor both. Standing and reading  unwavered and unweathered to an audience already waiting to be taken on an emotional roller coaster.

Zia Mohyeddin made the written words cajole and touch the hearts of his listeners. One narration after another and he would continue  with the same ease  reflecting the passion in what he does for his living or out of his love for Urdu literature and literatures of other languages. He validates his theatrical repertoire with his flawless and  authentic pronunciations , phonetics, diction and voice dynamics.

The show must stop and come to an end when it's meant to end. So ended this one, a two hour session of consecutive readings by this miraculous narrator. A clear nasal voice  echoed till much after in our ears.

May Zia Mohyeddin continue to enthrall his audience and continue to captivate us, his fans, eternally.

Breaking those cycles

"We had joy we had fun, we had seasons in the sun".... I still sing this song from the '70s quite often. Some songs never get out of your memory all your life, while some get stuck in your head on a daily basis. Meaning, you go to bed singing that song and wake up the next morning singing it while brushing your teeth. I read somewhere, recently, this has been diagnosed as a disorder. Strange. What would they call it ? A musical disorder? Will have to research about it more thoroughly when I come to believe in the condition. For now I'll stay happy with my musical disorder.
Which makes me wonder, why must we have labels and diagnosis for all and any normal, natural symptomatic conditions. For instance, if one feels gloomy in winter the experts say you have S.A.D..... (seasonal affected disorder). It's those sad feelings because of the cold weather. It's the lack of sunshine and frigidity that gets to us. Hence, S.A.D . Wouldn't worry about it too much as plenty of distractions around for therapy. Besides, nothing stays forever and Spring is in the air though arriving tardily.
Change is good and is in the nature of things. It's healthy and is good for us in may ways. Life evolves through change as it breaks the monotony of things. Stagnancy in life which can slap in negativity and cause redundancy in activity, change breaks those cycles. A constant by nature and definition, change happens when it has to happen.Nothing can stop it from happening. The only difference we can say is that for some it happens consciously as they strive for it and make it happen. While for others, it keeps happening unconsciously whether they try to bring about it or not. For better or for worse it all depends upon how it is given an entry into life and what's the mission. Planning and preparing for bringing about a good change in life is healthy. The struggle must go on and the excitement for achievement should be nurtured. It  is challenging but in a good way.
Winter withers, comes spring, then summer, and then fall. All this is related to change and challenge. A seasonal change brings an air of a renewed sense of hope with it. The challenging part is the suspense in waiting to know the result of ones toil by the end of the season. A silent promise to oneself of staying committed to the cause, living it up under all circumstances, and facing the music of life with courage lands trophies eventually.

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/18571/a-mothers-reflection/

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/18571/a-mothers-reflection/

A frosty moonlit night

...A frosty moon adorned the sky ,
it was last night,

a powdery crunch covered the ground,
snow we call, it was so white.

 I tried to touch the icy wind, it cut like blades
 the chill went through,

I opened the door to let it all in, but the skin turned numb as the coldness hit.

Reluctantly I shut the door on the scene of a beautiful moonlit night,
I rushed to the window to see it from there trying not to lose the sight of it all

A thankyou note but I left in prayer, a gratitude for the  best we have,

I felt content with a few deep breaths, while stolling away on this frosty night

Sometimes it's not too much we need
 when the getaway is just right here!!

RANDOM FEELINGS,,,,

ROLLING OVER

 

Playing roles... multiple roles.....a daughter, a kid sister..... a wife.....then a mother. Happy moments, lovely memories...pleasant thoughts.. A treasure chest never to be found by anyone... deep in my mind, pages unfolded ....beat with my heart.

GIVER’S INTUITION

Thirty years.....too much to give .. Still not enough,,,, searching souls? Wasted life? Demise of a soul, breaking of a heart... loss of words... not enough to say... tears in eyes.... questions ring.... pounding head.....loss of love... never enough.... void too big ?

BROKEN THOUGHTS

Sudden happiness... a sudden leap... another moment .... another day... a golden time.... . a brighter time.. Higher spirits..... sweetness all over,,,no discord....harmony all over.....peace and  calm....

COMFORTABLY NUMB

hurtful cries....questions unanswered....unsaid word!!.