Lahore the most impressive city in Pakistan and inhabited by friendly people.
I was fortunate to visit this place to study B.Ed., I lived for a year and had the best experience of my life. My classmates were the best I’ve ever met.
by wikipedia
History of Lahore: It is the second largest city district in Pakistan. It is originally the largest city of the Punjab region. Since its creation it has changed hands from Hindu,Buddhist, Greek,Muslim, Sikh, and British rule to becoming the cultural capital and the heart of modern day Pakistan.
A mythological legend based on oral traditions, states that Lahore was named after Lava , which means” particle,” son of the Hindu god Rama who supposedly found the city.
Ptolemy celebrated astronomer and geographer mentions in his geographia, a city called Labakla, situated between the Indus river and Patna.
The oldest authentic document about Lahore was written anonymously in 982 and is called Hudud-i-Alam it’s an original Arabic phrase which means, “The Limits Of The World.” It was translated into English by Vladimir Fedorovich Minorsky and published in Lahore in 1927. In this document is referred as a small city with impressive temples, huge markets and huge orchards.
You’ve been granted the power to predict the future! The catch__ each time you use your power, it costs you one day(as in you’ll live one day less). How would you use this power, if at all?
If I use this unbelievable power that I’m granted to predict the future, I will live one day less is the catch.
My question whose future am I supposed to predict. If it is the world, there is not much to predict, everything is pretty obvious, the Americans will elect a new president. Canadians are getting ready to perhaps elect a new prime minister, probably not from the same party.
India and Pakistan are not sure who deserves to have Kashmir added to their country. This controversy will continue for a very long time.
Bangladesh is not sure how long their PM will last.
The stock market will go up and down for ever.
The prices of food will continue to rise.
Global warming will continue to mess up our weather.These are not predictions these are some hardcore facts. I’ve only written what is true, so I shall not lose any day of my life,I hope. 🙂
Pinpoint a moment in your past where you had to make a big decision.Write about that other alternate life that could have unfolded.
When I was in Dhaka, Bangladesh, I saw an ad for a teaching job in Islamabad, Pakistan. I applied for the job,the headmistress of the school came to Dhaka to interview the applicants. There were six of us competing for that one job. I was called in first, the headmistress was a nice lady, she asked me about my experience,where I taught and how I learned to speak Urdu.
I told her I lived in Rawalpindi Pakistan, where my father worked. We left the city after my father passed away.
I was immediately offered the job, though there were other applicants yet to be interviewed. I thought about the distance I’d have to travel from Comilla ,Bangladesh, to Islamabad Pakistan. I asked her if there was a hostel nearby where I could stay.
When the headmistress told me the nearest place to stay was forty miles from the school, I was concerned, I wasn’t sure the distance from the hostel to the school would be convenient for me to travel everyday. I asked my sister, she told me it was a bad idea to take this job.
I declined the job and carried on with my job in the school where I was already employed.
Had I taken that job the alternate life that could have unfolded for me would be frustration for accepting a job so far away from my original home, I’d probably dislike myself for taking a stupid decision. Eventually I know I’d quit the job and come home.
As promised I am writing a biography of Khurram Ali Shafique:
He was born in Karachi, Pakistan. His father was a lawyer and his mother is a retired Mathematician.
He studied in various schools in Karachi,he also feels fortunate for the opportunity to study in Lawrence College Murree, it is one of the best schools in Pakistan. The experience in this school had a very positive effect on him.
At the age of nine, he got interested in Allama Iqbal, who was a very famous Poet and Philosopher. He is not quite sure how he got interested in Iqbal, perhaps it was Iqbal’s poems caught his attention.
On his tenth birthday his parents gave him a collection of Iqbal’s poetry. He was very pleased with this gift, he spent a lot of time reading the poems, and before he was fourteen he could recite most of these poems from memory.
His father who was very fond of Iqbal’s writing, introduced him to Iqbal’s poetry. His father never forced him to learn about Iqbal.
The adults who inspired him were his parents and some uncles. Some of the subjects he was interested in were, History and English, Urdu and Persian Literature , from a young age he was influenced by his father and seemed to like the same subjects as his father. His mother being a Mathematician helped him with Math. His favorite in math. was geometry, he was delighted to solve the theorems in Geometry before they were taught in school.
After he completed his master’s degree, he tried to get enrolled for M.Phil or PhD.the university told him clearly that original research is not acceptable and one must follow some framework which was already approved among the academics.
He is also an author and has written biographies of some famous people ,Allama Iqbal is one of them. He has also written textbooks for schools and a number of books both in Urdu and English.
He has just completed a biography of Waheed Murad, who was an actor , producer and director.
Of all the books he has written and published , his favorite book is ,Iqbal: His life and our Times.
He has developed the Marghdeen Learning Center for Iqbal Studies, to promote the ideas of Iqbal within the existing systems of education.
His ambition is to spread the message of Iqbal widely. He feels The poet and Philosopher is appreciated but not understood by the people.
What he wants to do is challenging , he wants to find connections between cultures , ideas and personalities.
I accidentally knew about Khurram Shafique when I was looking for Iqbal’s poetry. Mr. Shafique had already started an online course on Iqbal in 2011.
I was interested to join the course and he helped me to register. I have taken all the courses he has offered so far, and intend to continue.
The year is 2214, and your computer’s dusty hard drive has just resurfaced at an antique store. Write a note to the curious buyer explaining what he or she will find there.
Dear Buyer,
I’m pleased to know you’re curious about my antique computer. The hard drive of my antique machine though dusty works like a charm.I have stored a lot of interesting posts in it. It ranges from our famous poet’s song lyrics, translated by me and the video of the songs, if you’re not quite convinced, let me try to assure you about the fabulous posts I’ve written of some of the beautiful mosques in India, Pakistan and the middle east.
Those buildings are worth reading about.
I’ve written a few poems and prompts prepared by our famous WordPress.Please do not waste another minute,just grab the machine before someone else does!
Waheed Murad Was born on October 2nd , 1938. He died in November 1983. He was a Pakistani actor,producer and script writer.
He was the only child of Mr. And Mrs. Nisar Murad.
He studied in Marie Colaco Grammar school in Karachi. He received his Masters Degree in English literature from Karachi university.
He married Salma on September 17 1964. They had three children one died in infancy and the other two were daughter Aaliya and son Aadil.
His father was a film distributor, at an early age he was exposed to film producers,actors and directors, which probably enabled him to choose his career when he grew up.
He produced a few films, one of them was Armaan. He had the main role in this movie. Armaan was a box office hit,it made him a super star overnight, so much so that he was compared with Bollywood greats e.g. Dilip Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand to name a few.
At heart he was a devoted citizen of his country, early on he felt the tension between East and West Pakistan. His movie Armaan, meaning hope was produced by him, his aim was to somehow stop the the split between East and West Pakistan, although he was not successful, through this movie he managed to make a lasting impression on the minds of people both in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
He believed in the message of Iqbal which he used in some of his movies.
Mr. Shafique the facilitator of Iqbal studies online courses explained to his participants in the courses, the importance of Waheed Murad.
I personally admire the work of Mr.Shafique. Our latest title of our online course is, “Action”.
In my prompt yesterday, I chose my guests of whom I know more than others, one of them was Waheed Murad. One of my good friends Sonya wanted to know about him and the song in the movie, “Armaan”(Hope).
This song I thought was the highlight of the movie. This is for you Sonya, if you hadn’t asked me I wouldn’t have written this so enjoy!
The song lyrics is in Urdu, posted and translated by Ranu
When I see two people in love
I wonder if they’d have the same fate as me
will their passionate love fail
I also had the occasion of someones head on my shoulder,
I remember the song she sang,
That song was my lifelong earning
Now in my confused state of love
I’m looking hard for that song
Those of you looking for shade you’ll beat your head
against the wall
Like me you’ll also be called crazy in the city streets and lanes
I went out to look for happiness
I received only heartache and sighs!
The lyrics of this song is not the story of love as is normally defined, it is about two states that were united with love once but were split by misunderstanding and push from outside source. The end result they now have a more firm bond of spiritual love which is what Iqbal had defined. It makes the two parts a whole,we learned this from Iqbal Studies how the parts become whole.
Thank you Mr. Shafique for your hard work. I finally understand you ,Iqbal and Waheed Murad how a part becomes a whole.
I blog for many reasons: 1. To come in contact with awesome people.
2. To learn what I don’t know.
3.To know about different people all over the world.
4.To see what is common between us
Blogging has brought me closer to some awesome people I’d never have known otherwise. Imagine how wonderful it is to interact with some amazing people sitting right in front of my laptop. My few months of blogging was kind of disappointing,I didn’t know very many people and had no idea how to contact them. Then came my most delightful moment,Leslie whom I didn’t know started writing comments on my post, I was excited, I complained, no one reads my post,she told me to visit other blogs and write comments. I did that there was some response but nothing overwhelming.Then I discovered pingbacks, I was in touch with many of them and had a great time interacting with them.
I started reading all the posts, while doing so I hit Alienora’s Blog. It is one of the best ones I’ve read. When I read her posts I get the feeling how lucky I am to find her. I already am pleased to know different people from other parts of the World, Leslie from Us ,Ali from Uk., Samir from India, Rainee from Australia, Su Lian from Japan. There are many from US and India. I know a few from Pakistan.
On my blogging journey I found out,we all think alike,we are kind, friendly and willing to help,whenever the need arises. What more can anyone want. I find contentment here.
There was a movie made about Lahore,back in 1949. I studied there for my B.ed degree. I loved the city.I had wonderful friends. When I saw this on youtube, I decided to post it.
Before playing the song,a brief introduction of the city is given. This is what he says: I rambled a lot in the lanes of Delhi and Indore. We did not forget the lanes of Lahore.
This is Lahore, heart of Punjab. Lahore brightens our eyes, and palpitates our heart,when we think of it. Its name stirs our imagination of awesome pictures. The secret of its beauty is not the historical buildings or immaculate gardens.The citizens make it beautiful by their sheer presence.
It is a true story of a family. Real names are not used.
Surfing the internet sometimes helps to find rare gems. I found one such personality. It’s a young woman from Pakistan. I was thrilled to hear her speak. Her name is Fatima Bhutto, I watched it on YouTube. She happens to be Benazir Bhutto’s niece. I liked her not because of her family name. She is really a very intelligent woman. She talked about her country, so many young educated people who can do a lot to improve the condition of her country.I was amazed to see the number of journalists present.
She can do quite well, without her famous relatives. She makes it known right away. Is highly educated,has a very good command of English. Is very impressive ,I hope some day she’ll be able to help her country. She certainly has the potential to do so.
I started the on-line Iqbal studies in November 2011. I have almost completed one year. The final date of one year completion will be next week. My interest to do the course was only based on a poem I had read. Being naturally curious I took this daring attempt.
I had no past experience . I knew nothing about the poet,philosopher. I took one course in the first semester. The first few assignments were challenging for me. I started to feel a bit more comfortable as I was going along. There were a wide range of topics introduced. I realized then I would have to train myself to start studying from the very beginning,there did not seem to be any room to procrastinate. This is what I did from school right through to college and university. Soon enough I realized if I want to know about Iqbal,I would have to leave my bad habits behind.
I must have really gotten rid of them.One day my daughter remarked,”Mom I never saw you working so hard.” I felt this is a positive comment from my kid. I felt good about myself and thought,no one forced me to do this. I was interested I should therefore make sure I am up to the task.
I may not know as much as the others,they know a lot more because they have studied about him in school and college.I did not.
I am finding it very interesting. There are a variety of topics in this course,there is philosophy.psychology, religion,politics,poetry and many others.We are given assignments by email,we study the text,and answer the questions and write our comments.
The course provider is Mr. Khurram Ali Shafique. He is an authority on Iqbal the poet and philosopher.He has written several books which are already published.He is writing some more.I guess in order to excel in life,this is what one needs to do. He is a very dedicated person. We are lucky to have him as our course facilitator.
In a year I have gained quite a bit of knowledge about Iqbal. I am thankful to Iqbal Academy,Pakistan, for providing this course, also Mr.Shafique for his hard work and dedication.
It has also helped me to be a blogger.It is something I did not try before. I have picked up some very good habits.I love to read, write and I do not waste my time watching television,or watch movies on youtube .I watch some television shows that I like. I also watch movies that are good.
Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), a notable Muslim philosopher, poet and scholar from India (then British India) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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