On Twitter today, a dear friend suggested I write something about what I am thinking about right now. So here it is. Nothing.

The beauty of nothing, is that it is intensely absorbing. It can absorb and attract everything, annihilate substances and thoughts, yet, at the same time, be the source of so much more. The source of elements that become the substance that is happiness and joy, of elation and pleasure, of peace and serenity.

The nothingness of the moment, describes both the completion, and the absolute inexistence. No state of being, is as complete, as nothingness itself. You and I cannot add to the nothingness of something, the only thing we can do, is take away from it by adding something. A twisted paradox, if you may, is probably the best definition for nothingness.

When you have nothing to do (actually there is something or the other to always do, but let’s face it, quite often, we are just putting it off, possibly to relax), your mind can run free. You either create and evaluate new ideas, learn a new skill or art for that matter, or, you will just try to sleep it off. I unfortunately can’t sleep it off right now. I write this at work with nothing to do, except maybe think for a bit and relax it off. What you can do in a moment of nothingness, depends on how you feel about the state that is now.

A long awaited moment of nothingness, is welcomed, but mark my words, for the thinking crazy, that welcome party doesn’t usually last more than 30 minutes. After that, you start thinking of what to do, without focusing on anything specific. You tick things off the list and knock off things that might usually come in the category of work. You will treat anything work related as…work and then discard it. You look for something fun, yet you want it to be effortless fun. Nothing too challenging, or not too long, nothing like a movie for that matter. Just a quick sharp rush of happy hormones to get you back on track.

As this challenged 500 word part/article nears its end, I finally have something to think about. A picture to go with it. I have my camera with me today, so maybe, I’ll just take a shot of the nothingness on my desktop to go with it. Or maybe, I’ll just sit back and relax and use my trusty search engine to help me come up with a picture relevant to nothingness, or irrelevant to anything else. But at the end of it all. Nothing, can be everything at the same time. If you treat nothingness as a glass, it fits the old adage. A half empty could be half full.

We have another issue at hand, the fact that the government is trying to suppress the authentication processes of all degrees. Vice Chancellors of universities all over the countries are being threatened to confirm authenticity of degrees. In addition, the chairman of the Higher Education Commission has been put into a political crisis of his own. Attempts to fire him are also under way.

Many people will argue that the condition of graduation is suppressing the will of the people by putting a condition on who can run for the elections. I agree, in part. There are other conditions too. Honesty being one of them. I also believe that if you want to run a shop, you cant do it right unless you are atleast able to do some basic math. Similarly, the role of the parliament is to act as the supreme legislative council. They must know law and legislature. Agreed that we cant stuff the houses of power with lawyers, but atleast we can put people in who know how to read and write and debate these things if needed.

The political scumbags eloquently say that the graduation condition was put forth by a dictator and they do not accept the condition. But seriously, who are you kidding. The elections were also set up by the same one. If the election rules state that certain conditions need to be met, then they should be. These politicians escape all sorts of legal charges on “lack of evidence”, but certainly, the charge of cheating the state has been proven against many of them, and it has also been determined they do not fulfill the “honesty” criteria.

For discussions sake, lets just assume that you politicians love this country and are only working in its supreme interest, and that you have no personal interest in power what so ever.

Did you really, honestly, cheat to come to power so you could “serve” the country? Is that the height of your patriotism? Deceiving the state, knowing it is a crime to do so, just to serve the state?

Please take your crap some place else. Thank you.

First of all, my basic views on this:
Government should ideally, always be with the consensus of the majority.  I use this term because it does not necessarily mean democratic, but doesn’t almost always mean dictatorship either. These terms are relative. They change with time and circumstances.

In 1998, in a bloodless coup, a military officer took over the country. Whether with the blessings of the supreme court or not is irrelevant here. He violated the constitution of the time but was approved under “doctrine of necessity”. Whatever that means. HOWEVER, he was at that point of time, indirectly, representing the will of millions of people who looked to him with hope in their eyes.

Like our elected governments, he too made errors in his last 2/3 years which lead to a decline in his popularity. He broke some rules too.

Fast forward to the elections in 2008, a government was elected with a so called majority. I don’t realize why elected equated to democracy. We know how “transparent” our election process is…hence how “democratic” as well.

In the last two years of an elected government, we have seen the state of affairs go from bad to worse. Taxation is crossing crazy levels, power issues remain unresolved (actually getting worse), state institutions being used to “employ” political party workers, fired beauracratic officers being re-appointed with over 8 years in salaries, perks and bonuses compounded with market rate interest. So called “income support plans” and what not. An insane love affair with rental power, instead of jump starting the coal plans in interior sindh. No jump starts in gas import plans from Iran. Nothing. Barely any economic improvement, highest debt accumulation ever in a 2 year time frame. highest power tarriffs in the world, higher than ever corruption levels.

Is this what  we have elected/voted for? for God’s sake….there was one filter to make sure some degree of educated people come to power. But that was removed too. Why? The parliament is the law giving body of the country. Is it not prudent to have it run by companies who have the capacity to understand law and economics?

Now we have a parliament filled with people carrying fake degrees, but what is the election commission doing about it? False information in nomination papers makes the entire nomination process void ab-initio, hence the candidate is to be automatically stripped of office. Which is very much like the election of our beloved president. The NRO has lapsed and he had graft cases against him. His election, therefore, was void ab initio.

Why does the government need 5 years to do good? Why cant good stuff start in the first two? The dictator started reforms immediately didnt he?

What concerns me even more, that the so called dictator did greater things to improve the reputation and condition of the country than the democrats did.

The world generally tends to hate dictators because they disregard the will and state of the people and only do as they wish. Hating dictators is subjective too, because as long as the world knows a dictator can help them, they dont mind dealing with one.

This particular dictator continued ruling for 10 years, and barely any of his actions can be seen as those that harmed the common man.

Please dont say that people were affected by the judicial crisis crap, if a so called “free judiciary” mattered to people, its been restored now…and what has it done for the people? The number of pending cases  in the criminal cases would have been addressed, the political cases wouldnt take so long and credible action would have been taken instead of the CJ and company just being quoted in the papers making statements.

We are living in a banana republic. If we as a people vote for someone, that does not mean that we have signed off our destiny to the same person for 5 years. We should have the right to withdraw our support too.

You know whats most ironic? A Dictator had the honour of setting the standards for public service and sincerity to the nation, and the democrats are falling short.

wow.

A few days ago, Inspire-X was born again. This time with a new goal, a new idea and frankly, a new aspiration.

More details to come soon. But for now, find my new workspot:

http://inspire-x.com

I am uncertain. I hate uncertainity. Sure I don’t mind risk, but to an extent. I calculate my risks, or maybe I am under the false impression that I am good at it. I want to move on, I don’t yet know where. Where I will go, where I am. I need to see where I am, but I can’t find myself.

Of late I feel destroyed, but not explosively. Almost deconstructed, taken apart, bit by bit, helplessly watching myself, being eliminated, being wiped away.

I also need to try and find out the truth in my own thoughts. I am good at lying, but I think I’ve been lying to myself all along. I am only human. I hope I am.

This post has been about me. All about me. But where am I? What am I? I have just been eliminated. Maybe, there is somewhere I can find myself, somewhere i belong, somewhere I exist.

I am tired of searching for that place.

We live in strange times. Times that see us as humans crashing, colliding into each other, and at the same time, show us hope and joy and celebration.

Why does time affect everything? All that we think, all that we see, all that we do. Why have i started to become constantly disillusioned with the phenomenon called time.

I dont think I have time for this. But what do I have time for. Or is it the other way round? Do I mean anything to time?

Back to the topic of this post. Those who know a local band called Noori, they had a song called “Saari Raat Jaaga” in their second, but very oddly named album, “peeli patti aur raja jani ki gol dunya”. essentially the title circles around tobacco and its types and the (intoxicating) world it creates.

Anyhow…here is a link to the song in its original form, Id recommend you all to listen to this first.

Once you have heard the original one….please take a few minutes to understand the music that was played….and then, go for this one.

Please use good quality speakers….and if you like the song…do let me know!

I have been away from my blog for quite a while, mostly because I have been out of time. At times I feel like im kind of chasing time, or maybe, sometimes I am just too lazy!

So heres the story. about a couple of hours ago, I got done with recording for a show with Dawn News TV. Rabia Garib called me up a couple of days back asked if I was available on Sunday. While I initially suggested I’ll be at a strict time frame, by this morning I had done all that was needed and made sure I had time for whatever she had in mind. I seriously had no idea that the show would be so much fun to do!

When I reached T2F, I realized I was the last one to arrive. Farrukh, Fariha Ameer Hamza and Jamash were already there. I must say though, that Mariam and Adnan from Dawn made it all really fun!

Anyhow, once we got done with all that, as I was giving a self introduction, I had to use the terms “I used to blog….” etc….so I realize I have to get back to blogging.

Thank you Rabia, Mariam and Adnan, for shaming me into blogging!

Oh and I have a secret treasure….accumulated while we were recording :P That I shall reveal later!

I added this today and am trying to see what it feels like. Something tells me it is potentially a lot better than ScribeFire….maybe!

I have been busy, generally just plain busy. I shall deliberate on what all is going on at work and trust me it is quite a roller coaster ride! Insanely hectic, mind bending and crazy deadlines. By evening, I am mostly still thinking what I have achieved throughout the day.

In other news, I upgraded the firmware on my berry, am getting started in Twittering again (@inspirex) and am even thinking of setting up another blog driven project.

One other thing, I need to badly get started on writing again!! Help appreciated!

Very soon, it is at my neck, moving higher, slowly, to touch my lips. My mouth, which till now was used to exhale, is inundated with water, tasting sweet, beautiful. My throat, carrying the water down my stomach, flooding my lungs simultaneously and all the while, the level rising above my nose, touching my eyes.

My body keeps standing. It feels as if the water wants to consume me, at my comfort, at my satisfaction. The water does not sting inside my body, nor do I feel any restraint in my breathing.

I am now submerged, completely, my eyes are wide open, seeing through the once dark layers of water, now clear as crystal from within. I breathe the water, I move through the water. I live inside this world now, outside, very far from yours.

Its not the end, its just the beginning.