Another Bend in the Road....

It was a bright morning, sunny yet cloudy the rare may mornings in Karachi... As I glimpsed from my window to the sky upwards just for a second or less may be, it was blue- clear blue with floating clouds hiding sun.... it was beautiful!

The van was late this morning and to get ahead with the running minutes our driver decided to take the M. A. Jinnah Road route instead of the usual Stadium Road bend to Karsaz. I groaned slightly at this alteration I don’t agree with our driver, that route is more polluted and takes almost the same time.

But nearly every time it has given me something to think, something to ponder... either be it my old school dear S.T. Patrick’s (with delight), my childhood, sometimes the traffic sometimes the bazaars of Sadder, the painting of Frere Hall, and much more, every time I went there Sadder seems like a town out of the Alif Laila... my Alif Laila!

I was unaware what the other bend in the road might bring along. As we took a turn around the little roundabout at diagonals with Mazar-e-Quaid heading towards Sadder my gaze went up to the doom of the mausoleum.

It sounded distant yet gloomy, sort of sad I thought can buildings be sad yes may be they could, the once marble white tomb now gray with the impurities of the air defiantly looked wistful, it wasn’t just the doom, the beautiful and majestic garden, the graceful trees bending low seemed bend with a sort of weight just like the weight of conscience, that doesn’t shows up but bends and wrinkle the bearer with passing time! These trees just like the doom have witnessed more than a 50 years pass by! May be, I thought, may be all of them share the Quaid’s sadness at seeing his nation grown up but still so weak. As we passed the last grill faring the garden from the footpath I saw thick clouds of smoke wafting from a old overflowing dumpster filled with garbage…. Just in neighborhood of the Quaid’s resting place… what a shame I sighed…

The beautiful dream whose realization Jinnah and his comrades have fulfilled for us is fading away; we have forgotten our destiny drifted away from our path, the lust of more has paralyzed our minds, our conscious. We can toss an empty crisp pack from our seat out on the road but we don’t think for a moment to stop and pick up the torn carton dropped on the middle of a very popular road!

We have passed Sadder in this musing of mine, and were now taking the road via PIDC to Clifton Bridge as we neared the bridge the sun thwarted the clouds and shone with all his might scorching the mortals. Same is with our lives I realized. There are trying days just like the scorching of sun but there is always the cool shelter of the trees(our parents, our loved ones) on the way and then there are good times like the cloudy mornings and cool breeze blowing the worries out of your mind to relax you, there are dark times like starless nights when we feel we couldn’t reach the end but these similar starless nights grow up into a celebration of the full moon in its prime, there is the rain to quench the thirst of the lands and everything that lives on it, to heal, to revive and there are storms and stones on the way but all these are mere milestones towards our destiny, milestones because every time we encounter them we learn a simple yet extraordinary lesson from them, each time it makes us more accomplished to achieve our destiny!

We were nearing our destination and as we reached a familiar bend across the road I thought the need is to wake up from our slumbers, to leave our holes and evaluate ourselves, take up the challenges. To begin fearlessly and ambitiously because every little drop makes the mighty ocean. Every action no matter how little matters, it leaves its affect on those around you it’s a chain reaction, once started it’ll grow spontaneously!

We love what you gave us dear Quaid we’ll build it strong and firm, we’ll make you and ourselves proud of Pakistan. InshaAllah we will!