OHMYGOD... HAILSTORM...

Well waddaya know... it was raining cats and dogs with big blobs of ice raining down from the skies straight onto my pretty blue civic... as each blob pelted it mercilessly, my heart jumped into my throat and ... well... thankfully stayed there and didnt try anything further...

But like OHMYGOD... the last time i remember seeing a Hail storm in lahore was when i was in 4th grade... that would be ... ok let me calculate.. 1986... yup that was it.. it was very freaky since our main atrium has a fiberglass ceiling and man.. it sounded like thunder..

i love the new blogger system.. now i can upload pictures and all.. :) so i thought i'd share a few pretty ones i have collected of Lahore thus far.. Lahore lends it self to photography even more beatifully than Karachi ever could.. everything is like a postcard for the PTDC.

Here are a few of the more famous tourist spots through my Sony Cybershots lenses..


Minar-e-Pakistan, Lahore, Pakistan © Fariha Shah 2004 


Noor Jehan's Mausoleum, Lahore, Pakistan © Fariha Shah 2004 


Sunset and Minarets, Badshahi Masjid, Lahore, Pakistan © Fariha Shah 2004 


Badshahi Masjid, Lahore, Pakistan © Fariha Shah 2004 


Holy Sunset, Badshahi Masjid, Lahore, Pakistan © Fariha Shah 2004 


Hiran Minar, Lahore, Pakistan © Fariha Shah 2004 


View from Cuckoos, Badshahi Masjid, Lahore, Pakistan © Fariha Shah 2004 


Twilight@Cuckoos, Lahore, Pakistan © Fariha Shah 2004 


Holy Twilight, View from Cuckoos, Badshahi Masjid, Lahore, Pakistan © Fariha Shah 2004 


Glowing Mosque, Badshahi Masjid, Lahore, Pakistan © Fariha Shah 2004 

:) i love me...

Princess of the GemWorld

*****************************************************
I dare to dream... so sue me.. :p
GemWorld

Copyright © Fars - FS 2004

I feel old...

Just heard today that an old friends itty bitty little brother is getting married... the child is about lets see... 5 years younger than us i think... im in shock :)
 
Anyway.. i was at work today... on a sunday.. sad.. i know.. an i hopped on down to zouk to have the New England Seafood Chowder for lunch which i now have any freaking chance i get... so there i was the only lonely person in the entire restaurant.. apparently the rest of lahore doesnt come in till 2:30pm on a sunday for lunch.. so i had my food and then i was sitting there looking through the Zouk window.. the Zouk window now is covered with this swiss cheese steel frame and if you look at it long enough all the holes merge together to give you a fly's eve view of the world outside.. which somehow reminded me of this movie i'd seen when i was 12... Empire of the Ants.. on PTV.. the ants also have compound vision and kinda see the world through a conglomeration of convex lenses all bunched together.. 
 
 


An Ant's Eye View: Through the Looking Glass made of Swiss Cheese, Zouk, Lahore - 18th July 2004 © Fariha Shah 


Glimpses of Life, Zouk, Lahore - 18th July 2004 © Fariha Shah  

Just the thought is enough to give one a headache...
 
sigh... So there you have it... i felt like a fly on the wall.. this would be the first time i have expressed these thoughts before putting them in a blog... it was a surreal feeling.. sitting there just staring at the steel swiss cheese and zoning out the rest of the world as it bustled about in gay abandon in my immediate surroundings.. excessively loud indian remixes played in the background... kinda irritating... but even they faded into the distance as my focus slowly shifted to the bits and peices of the picture i could catch glimpses of through the holes in the well... caught a bit of a Pakistani flag in one segment... saw a little boy walking past in another.. several bits came together to form the image of a large oak tree...
 
AND i discovered Picasa & Hello thanks to Umy... and will try to add pictures to my blog through that.. thanks umy..
 
too much thought can cause confusion instead of clarity.. my philosophy of not thinking overmuch is the perfect one.. except... i keep second guessing myself which kinda defeats the purpose... :) this too shall pass...
 
take care people
 
Princess of the GemWorld
 
*****************************************************
I dare to dream... so sue me.. :p
GemWorld

Copyright © Fars - FS 2004

Glory be...

i was in a funny place

went rather numb in an attempt to separate myself from all that was transpiring ... an attempt to shelter my self from the enormity of pulsating reality... but theres always the fear that turning off the emotional switch may become a constant habit rather than just a conditional response to be activated only under great & dire circumstances.

Its a little unnerving to be able to distance yourself from emotional extremes... sooner or later the condition manifests itself without any incitement from within... its a double edged sword... theres never any hurt... but conversely theres never true joy either..

When someone considers the ramifications of cutting themselves off from the emotional forefront of what makes humanity so unbearable and simultaneously so glorious, you can just imagine what they're pondering deep within themselves... its a rare occurance, but one that could happen to anyone..

imagine the overwhelming peace... the unrelenting silence within the soul.. the absence of chaos.. of fear... of disappointment... the sound of silence permeating the core of your spirit... beautifully serene... and as barren...

everything comes at a price.. can love come without pain... is that really the price.. is it possible to be constantly happy... doesnt that come at a price.. is the price worth it... really? is it?

Its hard.. being happy... all the time... its easy finding joy in all small things..
the big things that go wrong are usually so overwhelming they dont even register on the emotional scale.. its the threshold of pain concept.. if the pain exceeds the limit, it wont be registered..

it'll just leave an indelible scarring that will remain for life.. but that will be it.. Its the little things that kill you... the little barbs.. the little thoughtless comments and snide remarks.. and you can control your response to those as well..

But at the end of the whole self defense program... you're left safe and yet very alone... because you've become very selfish..
the ongoing endeavor to shelter yourself from the wrath of the raging world makes you focus solely on survival of your own soul.. your own corner of the big wide world.. and you lose perspective of everything else.. even the people closest to you...

And thats where Prozac and a damn good therapist can come to your rescue :)

sorry... humor.. its a defense mechanism... control nahin hota..


Life is for the living... and if it takes being a little deaf, dumb & blind to make it bearable.. i guess i'll go the extra mile..

tc guyz
Princess of the GemWorld

*****************************************************
I dare to dream... so sue me.. :p
GemWorld

Copyright © Fars - FS 2004

Monsoon Weddings

Blech!.. wat a predictable title.. im too bleched to think of anything less cliched..

weddings are fun.. i had fun this weekend.. was dead tired.. but it was fun... old friends... good fun..

i dont like wasting my time anymore.. with two-faced people who bitch behind your back.. i dont even bother calling people on it... and it has less to do with my passive agressive non-confrontational nature than it does with an utter and absolute disgust for their hypocritical selves..

yeah we're all hypocritical.. we all lie once in a while.. we all fake allegiences.. been there done that... no one can hurt you unless you let them.. and since all of us have sometime or the other been there or imparted the feeling, it stands to reason we're all as much to blame as the next person.. but i've decided... today... not to waste my time anymore..

i have lost the motivation for being nice... now i just do things because i think i'll have fun doing them.. letting go of any expectations of expecting anything similar from anyone in return.. its each man for himself and thats the way its always been...

im ok with that.. and im having fun in the meantime.. so there we go...

c'est la vie..

Princess of the GemWorld
*****************************************************
I dare to dream... so sue me.. :p
GemWorld

Copyright © Fars - FS 2004