silence

silence... in my soul. my advertising agency just told me that two dots at the end of a sentence dont mean anything. its either one or three. u learn something new everything day.

ive been silent for a long time. was too busy to be able to say anything. once u start typing u cant go back to writing in a copy coz u know eventually u'll
have to type it. thats enuff to take the joy out of it. ive been telling people that ive been having dreams that the time has come when all i have to do is think and it converts into words. i cant wait for that time to come. it just proves even further that i am supremely lazy.

i havent been 100% in terms of health. my bilirubin was twice wat it shudve been. went to a liver specialist and he told me that i had gilberts syndrome and one of my enzymes was lazy in clearing out the dead red blood cells. damn. now even my enzymes are lazy. its a system wide error. sigh..nowmyspacebarhasstoppedworking.imgoing.

google happy

on an extremely solid ego trip, i decided to go googling myself to see what cropped up..

so i tried fariha shah... the two things related to me were my old press releases on the Philips website and the following article i had written for NetXpress many years ago on the proliferation of technology in our lives..

 

Technology Sucks

and basically thats it..

i tried "realm of the soul"
i tried "gemworld"
i tried "gemworld fars" AND I HIT THE JACKPOT!

Gemworld Fars combination popped up all my links to my blog, my yahoo profile, my flickr photos... i mean everything..

Basically that means i have been effectively re-christened "gemworld fars" by cyberspace.. or atleast by google.

interesting... from now on my name is GemWorld Fars... lol..

ok .. i'll catch you all later...

 

Princess of the GemWorld

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Fariha's Thoughts of the Day:

Access from Pakistan for Blogspot  http://www.pkblogs.com/gemworld  

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FLOODED

ok i wrote this like three weeks ago. and now its three weeks later.. but basically the story sounds the same..

 

1st Aug 2006 - Tuesday
______________________

hello world.. i am me.

 

Today karachi is flooded. actually its started getting flooded from saturday onwards.. which is around the time i left the country... and the two days i was gone apparently karachi decided to disappear under the raging seas like Atlantis.. or in this case the monsoon rains..

 

i watched this silly Amanda Bynes movie called Lovewrecked.. i have still retained the ability to actually enjoy mindless romantic comedies even if they have no head or tail.. thank god for small mercies..

 

i had pasta (spinach & cheese ravioli with bolognaise sauce) and minestrone soup at Bella Donna at Mercato. its one of my favorite dinner places.. the foods very nice but the service could use some help.. on the way back ....

__________________________________
18th Aug 2006 - Thursday

 

Many people will remember this as the day karachi was swept away.. people were stranded for hours.. hours and hours and hours.. more than 80mm of rain flooded the streets of karachi.. cars swimmed.. traffic jammed and life came to a standstill.. for 14 unfortunate people.. permanently.

 

120mm of rain in lslamabad and the city doesnt even blink.. less than that in khi is enough to shut the citty down..

 

im in lahore right now.. im supposed to fly back tomorrow night.. i WAS supposed to fly back tonight.. but thankfully that plan changed.. but its unbelievable.

 

the entire city is dug up as it and now it'll just be big holes filled with water. sighhhh...

i went and bought slippers yesterday from Liberty.. lots of pairs of sparkly sitaroun wali slippers.. how will i wear then if the entire city is flooded.. ok bad pet peeve.. but there you have it.

also bought two very very nice and very very fresh looking swiss voile shirt pieces and lovely laces to go with them.. and i am seriously tempted to go back tomorrow and buy one more which i really liked.

 

i am pretty sure my tailor will not be able to come to work after the rains for atleast a week. even then trying to get into kehkeshan centre is a task and a half.. i seriously need knee high galoshes for karachi these days.. and i dont know where to find them..

my friend anie's been on my case to write her a testimonial on orkut.. i havent had time to think really so thats why i havent gotten around to it. i like her.. shes funny.

 

theres so much work to be done all the time. i spoke to a friend of mine recently on whom life had really let loose.. personal & professional upheavals happening continuously unabated for a bloody long stretch.. its enough to make some one black out... i can take one stress inducing factor at a time. it takes too bloody long for me to sort things out in my head..

 

like right now my laptops battery is about to start announcing that its dying and i know that its going to happen.. but i dont want it too and somehow i feel that it lies about the time thats left.. like it say 26 minutes but it'll actually die in about 7.. its irritating. you dont expect your hardware to lie to you.

 

i have alot of presentations to make. i dont like presentations anymore. i dont know what i like anymore. i like shopping. me n anie went to zouk yesterday. she had soup, i had mushrooms, we both shared a farfalle shrimp salad. and a couple of cool passions. i like zouk, but i only like the Seafood chowder. no other soup will do.

 

i keep thinking of abu.. on planes.. in cars... at night.. in the morning... i keep thinking and remembering.. when im away from karachi he seems more alive.. every time i land at karachi airport, when i start reaching the exit doors at the arrivals hall, my eyes start searching for him.. yearning to see his face standing patiently outside the doors.. my steps slow down, unwilling to cross that barrier and face the reality that he wont be standing outside those doors.. i step out forcing myself not to scan the crowds still searching for his presence.. usually the avis guy steps out of the shadows by this time and i just handover the laptop and start walking to the car..

 

its a painful homecoming each time.. takes the whole ride home for the feeling of irreparable loss to subside to a tolerant level..

 

been trying to call my hubby.. but its 1am and he's dropped off to sleep.. i should too.. its a long long day tomorrow. not sure how its going to play out considering karachi's flooded i had serious work that needed to take place between today and tomorrow. lord help us.

 

i saw Lindsey Lohans Just my Luck. cute.. teenage romantic comedy flicks are my favorite. they're no brainers. they take nothing away from you and just give away a fluffy happy feeling at the end of it all. why cant life always be like that.. i'm not one for experiencing all the joys and sorrows of the world.. i'll take the fluffy happiness anyday of the week with or without the candy floss..

 

i love CTC.. that coffee tea & company.. not only do they have the BEST spring rolls (which are ALWAYS sold out).. they are also 24 hrs.. in the process of opening a restaurant... have the ONLY good iced teas served in Pakistan.. and their banana nut muffins are to die for.. love them.. i LOVE CTC.. thats one of the major things i miss about lahore.. actually if they ever came to karachi, it wouldnt be the same cause for me Lahore is all about Liberty dupatta gali great shoes and CTC.. i LOVE CTC... (they should really pay me for all this free publicity).

 

i find myself yearning to fix people up or to force them to realize that true happiness is an elusive pursuit and they must put their best foot forward if any prospects are available that may result in the attainment of said pursuit. somehow most people dont appreciate my doomsday scenario tactics.. especially the part where i use negative reinforcement by stating "and you'll be 30 (or 40 depending on the specimen) soon.. and the clock is ticking".. males and females alike are starting to shun my company since its the only thing i keep bugging them about and im not very subtle about it.

its my most deepest heartfelt desire to fix up two nice people. there are very few nice people in the world. very few nice girls and even fewer nice guyz.. i want to bring them all together.. considering i dont know that many nice girls and guyz, you'd think this would be a piece of cake.. i mean if they are all that doggone nice, they will either just listen to me out of pure niceness and follow all my instructions regarding life and how it should be lived... but unfortunately thats NOT what actually transpires.. the actual play by play includes ego trips, pride attacks, overanalysis and the worst .. "FEAR of Failure.. "

 

those who dont dare.. DONT!

thats the truth in this matter.. i'll be very honest on that count.
my husband dared and hence i'm married..
if he'd been a wus.. i wud've been pushing 40 and still wouldnt have found a realistic match..

I know God has a plan.. and that was my motto till the day i tied the knot..
now i believe that God want us to make an effort towards achieving the end like Abu used to say.
thats the lecture i give and it makes me very happy when it has an effect.
i get depressed when it doesnt.. its like watching a good muffin go to waste... sacrilege!

ok i'm going to sleep now.. i'll see you guyz later.. :)

 

Princess of the GemWorld

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Fariha's Thoughts of the Day:

Access from Pakistan for Blogspot  http://www.pkblogs.com/gemworld  

Outside Pakistan just type http://gemworld.blogspot.com

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shocked

16th Jul 06 - Sunday

 

i went to my cbm dhabba on saturday..

i was SHOCKED..

our dhabba wala sold out to some biryani making chap whos tiled the entire dhabba and made it look like a bathroom..
our wonderful unda tamatar making dhabba wala decided to retire and go into the tea making business.. and now he only serves tea to that entire market place.. why .. why ... WHYYYYYYYY..

i will never be able to taste the tastes of my youth... i am soo depressed .. its not even funny.. i still remember the garam garam unda tamatar with green chilies with a hot hot paratha and a doodh patti.. aye haye haye.. ufff.. sawad aa gaya badshahoun..

 

i have searched high and low for the same concoction but once i went to the dhabba near julie khussa ghar (schon circle ) and they told me that we dont make unda tamatar.. we only make omellettes.. salay angraiz pata nahin kahan sey paida ho gaiy..

sorry.. i didnt mean to get all down and dirty but dammit.. my patriotic paindoism has been ignited to red hot fury.. and sadness...

 

sigh... i miss the days of yore.. the things of yore and the people of yore...

 

my day to day existance is exactly that.. day to day.. dammit.. day to day to day till its 20 yrs later and im dead and its all over and no one will know who i was cause all i did was work and sleep.. and work and sleep.. and work and sleep..

 

ive been filling out excel sheets and making powerpoints in my dreams.. i wake up at 4am in the morning cause i suddenly remember deadlines.. my mind is redoing VOs and editing video footage while i'm talking to vendors and negotiating prices..

 

i think this is called burnout.. wheres that stress relief program that sends employees on fully paid forced leave to Rome for a month so they can recoup and add better value to their organizations..

 

Doesnt exist? dammit!... WHYYYYYYYYYY..

________________________________________________________
26th Jul 06 - Wednesday

 

If you tell me i'm a lazy bum, i'll believe you. Its been more than a week since i started writing this blog. the invention of the laptop has made it impossible for me to write anything down on paper when i get hit with inspiration due to which many moments of instrospection pass away with no evidence.. and hence while on the plane recently i decided to write in the back of my notes notebook with a vengeance.

 

******* ive started watching all my movies in planes. It started with the NY Emirates flight early june when i saw 8 movies in a row. I didnt sleep. We'd taken off 8am from dubai and it was a morning flight for me. i saw Aeon Flux(Charlize Theron), The Best Man(Stuart Townsend who happens to be Charlize's boyfriend and Amy something), Cheaper by the dozen(Steve Martin, Bonnie miller & the cute guy from Smallville), Elizabethtown (Kirsten Dunst & Orlando Bloom), Casanova (Heath Ledger and apparently Sienna Miller.. I couldnt recognize her.. the mum however was from Alias).. and some Bridal magazine saving movie with heather graham and some random cute guy. there were a few more but i'll have to nab  the emirates entertainment guide on my next trip to keep track. :)

 

Then i saw Little Manhattan on PIA on the KHI-LHR sector, started seeing Bee Season, but didnt get to the end and the plane landed. Bloody confusing movie waisey.. i didnt get half of it.. Saw Matchpoint (scarlett johansen and the guy from Bend it like beckam .. saw An Unfinished Life with Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman & JLo.. and very very recently saw Yours Mine and Ours with Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid...:) a totally cute Disney romance.. they dont get better than that...

 

Otherwise my staple TV diet these days is Mountain Dew Survivor... I love watching every single transmission of every single episode... it rocks.

 

I remember the joy of discovering movies without really expecting to.. like when i suddenly flicked a channel and came across Butterflies are Free... that was one of Goldie Hawns very first movies.. and i LOVED it.. it was beautiful.. and i also loved Barefoot in the Park.. it was beautiful..

 

Abu loved it too.. he used to rent every single movie under the sun and enjoy every last one..
i love him and miss him sooo much...
he brought me Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, Jason and the Argonauts.. and he brought me Awara, chori chori, mughal-e-azam, aan... he taped Tanhaiyaans last episode for me.. he watched Thundercats, Thundersub, Voltran and Transformers with me...
i love him... i miss him...

i go now...

 

Princess of the GemWorld

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Fariha's Thoughts of the Day:

Access from Pakistan for Blogspot  http://www.pkblogs.com/gemworld  

Outside Pakistan just type http://gemworld.blogspot.com

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introspection

there hasnt been a second in a day that i havent thought of abu. every living breathing moment i think of him. i dont know wether i think of him so i dont forget or because i cant forget. i dont want to forget. that would be more painful that remembering..

 

i remember every moment, especially in the last three weeks.. every expression.. every word.. every sigh.. it kills me.. when i think of his face when the first doctor snatched away all hope.. it killed me.. when i saw him staring at the doctors face yearning for a slim wisp of hope and it didnt come.. i wanted to hit the first one..

it killed me when he turned to me in the car after one of his blood tests and told me that we will fight this.. i want to live to see my grand children he said.. i cried tears of blood that day.. because i knew.. but i hoped and i prayed like no one else for a miracle.. i prayed to god to use abu as a miraculous example of his Almightiness but Allah didnt need to prove any thing .. least of all to me..

 

i remember his last breath.. i remember his hope down to the last day.. and i know that his hope was there for our benefit.. he was at peace with himself and his life..

 

i dont think i'll ever stop crying.. i dont know if i can.. i miss him sooo much.. it hurts every day.. every single day..

 

i find myself zoning out in the middle of conversations and my own thoughts.. i start remembering at the slightest provocation.. i keep looking for remnants of his qualities in the people around me.. but no one can measure up to the man that was my father.. he was sweet and soft and yet tough to shelter his family.. he was so well read and so knowledgeable yet he still retained his sense of childlike wonder with everything from a new show on National Geographic to a new software or online service like google earth..

 

he loved me.. unselfishly... for no other reason but because i was me.. he never wanted anything from me except for me to be happy and he gave me soo much.. i cant forget..

 

i wont forget.. and i'll cry every now and then because thats what people do when they suffer an irreparable loss..

 

i feel so self righteous. i expect constant sympathy from everyone around me.. friend or stranger.. i want people on the street to stop and say they are sorry for my loss just so i can stare them in the face and feel numb... im going through every living breathing moment feeling sorry for myself.. i feel so wronged.. and i feel so detached.. sometimes i think this couldnt be happening to me.. things like these always happen to other people.. no one's father just dies in 3 weeks after being healthy all his life..

i keep feeling like i deserve all the sympathy the world has to give and more just because my father was my father and my loss is the worlds loss.. its a loss for those who knew him for they loved him and its a loss for those who didnt because they really missed out on something in their lives and they'll never have a chance to know it now..

 

i was in defence market with ami and at the Bismillah Milk Corner, the sales guy recognized abus car and gave us extra malai because abu always used to get extra for nani.. and as we were leaving this traffic constable pulled up on his motorbike and paid his respects and said that abu was a wonderful man and very very good and always would be helping other people wether he knew them or not... the other day one of the rent a car drivers told me how he and his son used to go to abu when abu was in DHA and how much he helped them...

 

so many people came to us and cried in our home because abu had touched their lives in some way.. it makes him seem more alive when we hear them.

 

i went through another one of my phases where i stared at the streets of new york and just wondered what the hell the purpose of life was all about.. i remembered 1997 when abu ami and i had tripped along all over manhattan and seen the city.. that was abus first international trip... his second and last was to makkah and madina for haj... for a man who loved to travel sooo much.. he only left Pakistan twice.. but he saw the whole world through National Geographic..

 

i feel so scared sometimes because hes gone.. i can feel him when i remember the last days when i hugged him.. in the TV lounge i just put my head on his chest and just held him.. i knew i was making a memory at that time.. i just never thought time was as short as 3 weeks.. no one thought that.. it was unfathomable..

 

i dont know if i'll ever get over this.. if i'll ever be able to go 2 minutes without a glimmer of remembrance for my wonderful wonderful father.. if the rock solid lump in my throat will ever really disappear.. its been 2 months and so far its still there.. sometimes it hurts so much because i cant just burst into tears every where i go.. sometimes.. i wonder if im clinically depressed...

 

i have my wonderful happy moments.. its only when i'm alone that i give in to the waves of sadness that engulf me.. when im around people i draw on their energy to give to me strength.. i actively look for reasons to laugh out loud.. and then i feel guilty about it.. i keep feeling like i should always be sad.. like its the respect i owe to his memory.. but my father told me not to cry after he was gone... he told me to take care of ami and not to cry..

 

i will never stop... i love him and miss him and will always always remember him.. no matter how old i get.. or how busy my life becomes.. my father will always be a sanctuary for me.. his memories will always give me strength inspite of the tears.. there will come a day when i may write about something other than my loss..

 

time is short.. appreciate what you have today...

 

Princess of the GemWorld

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Fariha's Thoughts of the Day:

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of cabbages & kings

no i dont know why thats the subject line..

 

i have had various interesting discussions today... life is interesting..

 

im in lahore. the hub of stagnant air, and good food. my familys in khi. i miss my mother.. i miss lahore too when im not around..

 

after being unceremoniously kicked out of my prior office space, i have now taken residence in borrowed space and am waiting for someone to kick me out of there as well.

i like cabbages. its suddenly turned in to one of my favorite vegetables. i dont know why

 

we went to the minigolf yesterday night. it was strawberry juice, aaloo kachoris, chai & good company. its the best combination. Also since the aandhi & toofan the night was ok and not blistering hot, so i actually had a decent happy time. you cant do this in Khi. you'd end up sweating buckets and buckets. so thats not fun.

 

i like typing on my laptop keyboard. its soft. and quietly clicky. not overt like the larger keyboards. keyboards can also be a cause of inpiration. if you dont like typing on one you wont be able to write.

 

i think i'm developing allergies. sometimes i feel like i cant breathe. its a funny feeling. i think its because im not exercising and need to seriously take some action. seriously. no i really mean it. i had trouble sleeping yesterday night because i think i had pent up energy and i basically am dormant at my desk all freaking day long. i read this article the other day about something thrombosis. basically it means that sedentary work situations lead to the development of clots in the blood which leads to.. well six feet under to put it succintly.

 

how am i supposed to deal with all these varied symptoms and causes. its a scary proposition. but i really like my laptops keyboard.. mashallah.. mashallah...

 

i like my work. i like my workplace. i like the people. i like my home and the people there. i dont know what Allah Mian has in store for the future. But mashallah right now i feel safe and protected both at home and work. its a blessing knowing good people. its a blessing i will never forget to thank Allah Mian for.

 

I miss abu. today is a friday. he always called on fridays... "assalamalaikum beta.. kya plans hain.. aa rahey ho?".. and i always used to say "jee abu.. raat ko".. "acha acha.. chalo we'll see you tomorrow"..

he never missed a call.. sometimes he used to call a day early on thursday just to be on the safe side..

does it ever stop hurting.. i guess not... sigh...

 

i still have no fluidity in my life. im still rattling back and forth between punjab and sindh. and im doing it by choice.. it helps me not think. its distracting and slightly tiring and both those things are acceptable as long as i can sleep at night. i am still waiting for life to start making sense again.. when i lived in khi earlier.. there was no formula.. but now i need to be more organized.. the whole balance exercise will well and truly be required now. and i frankly and too disorganized on a personal level to achieve it currently. working from home has translated to checking my email 24/7 365.. i dont think thats the right approach either.. but somehow it helps me keep a semblance of control. when the work gets done, its like closing a chapter.. i guess im looking for closure in some form or the other...

 

but i like punjab... :) and sindh :) i love life.. i love food.. i love good people .. i love my friends.. i love my family.. i love people who care about the humanity of other vs their tag value.. i love Allah mian.. and Allah mian loves me... i cant ask for much else..

i hope he keeps my family and my friends safe and in his keeping.. inshallah life will always be a bubbling stream and not raging oceans..

 

Princess of the GemWorld

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rememberance

we went through all the clothes today. i nearly stopped breathing so it wouldnt register. sometimes when you dont breathe it feels like nothing will affect your memory because you're restricting oxygen in your brain and then you stop feeling stuff. all his ties.. his uniform with the emblems and the medals all intact. all the shirts id bought him.. the kurtas.. some so new he'd never had a chance to wear them after haj..

 

ami and him had had so many plans.. everything was "we'll do this after haj"... ami is so sad... i cant even begin to feel the sense of loss that she feels..

one of abus staff from his national guard days called today.. he cried on the phone.. and told ami abu was a wonderful wonderful man and that he even used to go to DHA to meet him and he really looked up to him. he said abu really love his daughter and was always talking about her.. i felt like ... u know what i felt like. i am so thankful to Allah mian that i knew exactly how much my father loved me.. many people never find out these things till its too late.. but i knew... every single day that i lived i knew exactly how much... abu never failed to tell me how much ..

in his last few days after EVERY SINGLE phone call he would end with i love you janu.. i love you beta.. every single call. he knew.. he knew.. yet even one day before his death he still asked did you call china.. i now realize that he wasnt asking for himself.. he was asking for us.. so WE wouldnt feel like he had given up.. but he knew..

i dont think i will ever stop remembering him.. loving him or writing about him...

 

i think every single one of my blogs from now on will be an ode to my father..

i love him and miss him so very much..

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its finally over

my life is over. its finally over. its come to a head and its shattered into a million peices. my life is finally over.

we're all born with a shadow over our heads. its a shadow that protects. its a shadow that envelops with love and warmth and never lets us feel alone.

my shadow was my father. and hes gone. hes taken it all with him. my life is finally over.

its funny when at 28 you suddenly realize that life is over and from now on each day will be a hard sun scorching you with its heat with no reprieve till you die and go under.

i will never see my father again. i accept that truth. i will never see my father again because the people in this world dont let me stay good and polite. they make my blood boil and make me lose my cool and i know Allah Mian doesnt like that. i will never see my father again. even death has now lost its appeal with that fact in mind.

at this very moment in existence i have no reason to live and i have no reason to die. its the most contradictory reality i have ever had to face.

i dont want sympathy. i dont want unsolicited advice. i dont want false tears being shed to show how sorry people are. their lives will go on. my life is over.

i dont want anything from anyone. no one will ever ruffle my hair again.. no one will ever buy me three ice cream cones in one go. no one will ever wake up in the middle of the night to take me to the airport. no one will ever come to the airport to pick me up and be there waiting with a warm smile on their face ever again. from now on it'll all be metro cabbing and me alone in a sea full of strangers.

i dont have anyone to love me unconditionally anymore. only my father knew the meaning of that emotion. everyone else has an objective. my life is over..

i was happy... for a brief moment in time i was happy again as i had been in my childhood. now i have no room for mistakes and no room for failure... which means i'll will experience both.. my life is over...

i thought i'd live til 60. now i know i wont. sunday 7th of May 2006. let this be known as the day i truly died. i may not have a tombstone. i may not have a grave. my body may still wander the earth aimlessly trying to find nourishment and shelter in the unforgiving harsh heat of the world.. but this is the reality of my life now.. As Allah Gives, so does he take away...

 

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reality

i keep expecting him to come back home..

when i suddenly realize that he wont my heart feels like it will burst out of my chest and die..
i keep feeling like he's gone to get some groceries or for some work. in the first few days the illusion remained.. now its starting to come apart at the seams.. along with my threadbare hold on my tears..

i dont know what to do anymore.. i want to just curl up and die.. i keep thinking that when i die i'll be able to see him again.. to hug him and feel protected... but i dont even know if Allah mian will let me do that.. i dont even know if Allah mian will send me to heaven.. and i know that's where abu has gone.. because whatever his little foibles.. his goodness far exceeded everything else..

we got a letter from Chitral.. from a gentleman who used to be his PA and stenographer.. it brought tears to my eyes.. abu was so well loved by everyone who came into his sphere.. it was because he cared so much..

i have none of his patience.. i can only hope that Allah mian lets me see him again because of his own goodness, because i dont think mine will amount to much..

people keep telling me to be brave and do sabar.. after a while it all turns into one long drone.. and you just end up nodding without really hearing..

will it ever stop hurting...

********************************************************************************************

Fariha's Thoughts of the Day:

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my father

As i answered one of the condolence messages from one of my far flung friends, i mentioned that i was sure that baba was very happy in heaven and had already started making structural improvements and having a lively dialogue with God and Gallileo...

 

i wasnt joking... abu is the consummate Kaizen practitioner. Continuous improvements ideas for every thing from water supply networks to governmental reform to the state of my hairstyle, would be running in his mind at the speed of light.

 

he is an exceptionally intelligent person and his capacity for absorbing and retaining information is absolutely immense and mindblowing. There isnt a subject in the world that he cant have an informed and passionate discussion about.

 

But baba never loses his cool. he is a thorough gentleman and courteous to the core.

 

on sunday we got him an oxygen tank. he didnt feel it was giving oxygen with enough pressure. he made me and faisal take him at 12:30am midnight to the edhi centre office at tower so he could check the cylinder out himself. we called them first and while i was talking to the technical support gentleman abu is insisting that i ask him his name. because thats the courteous thing to do... :) even at that time politeness and courtesy was a lesson he wanted me to remember.. my father insisted on talking to the technical support guy whose name was Ramzan, and was asking him what effect does oxygen have on the body, what should a person feel. Poor Ramzan was thoroughly confused and asked if he could speak to the patient, at which abu boomed out that he WAS the patient. I think Ramzan was stunned into silence.

 

We went and got the cylinder changed :)

 

on Monday afternoon we took him to the hospital. he loved it. the quiet peacefullness of the executive room. he took one look at the Split and said the filter was dirty. so now he's insisting to the technical support guy that the hospital was being charged a higher electricity bill because the filter was dirty. the poor guy was trying to explain that only the vents had some dirt but the filter was cleaned every week, but baba wasnt happy until he made the guy take out the filter and show it to him.

 

he had an entire conversation with khala where he redesigned the hospital bed for added comfort. he said the bed at home was lumpy and the bed at hospital wasnt the right angle and totally redesigned the bed and how it SHOULD be...

 

One of baba's favorite passages was by John Ruskin. He liked it so much he even kept a printed copy with him all the time and he would quote it as often as possible.

 

"You are not true soldiers, if you only mean to stand at a shop door, to protect the shop-boys who are cheating inside. A soldier's vow to his country is that he will die for the guardianship of her domestic virtue, of her righteous laws, and of her any way challenged or endangered honour.

 

A state without virtue, without laws and without honour, he is bound not to defend; nay, bound to redress by his own right hand that which he sees to be base in her. So sternly is this the law of nature and life, that a nation once utterly corrupt can only be redeemed by military despotism never by talking, not by its free effort.

 

And the health of any state consists simply in this; that in it, those who are wisest shall also be strongest; its rulers should be also its soldiers; or rather, by force of intellect more than of sword, its soldiers also its rulers."

 

Apart from that he loved my mom, me, good food, internet, and technology.

 

i love him with all my heart

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it's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning !!

http://gemworld.blogspot.com/  Fariha's Thoughts of the Day..

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