Ramadhan and us

Well, “us”, here, means me n Waqas

Ramdhan, along with its blessings, brought a whole new schedule of activities, as it does every year.

As I am observing the longest rozey of my lifetime, so far, 16 hrs it is, time has suddenly run short. Before Ramdhan, we used to kill time, watching TV, browsing, FB and all that stuff. But, as the Ramadhan has started, we dont even have enough time to sleep.

The day starts at 3:30 AM, when we leave our beds with half open eyes. Parathas, eggs and tea, in the same order. Yougurt gets its place as a side order. Sometimes, left over curry from dinner also makes its to the table. We hardly make it to sehri-end time, although we are improving on this as the days are getting shorter.

Namaz etc takes it to around 5:00 AM, when we kiss the beds again, only to get up at 8:00 for office. I take half-an-hour break at lunch time, instead of normal an-hour break, and use the remaing half-an-hour in evening to leave early, so getting some touch of Ramadhan-in-Pakistan

On my way back home, I am nowadays reading Princess by Jean Sasson, which I borrowed from office’s collection of novels. I get sleepy again by the time I reach home, so, quite naturaly, immediately after reaching home, back to bed again for a short nap of around 30 minutes.

In the mean while Waqas gets back too, and we offer Asar, before starting to prepare for Iftar. If some meal is already cooked, we are quite relieved. We normally cook once and eat that for 2 days. So we get a day’s break from cooking. Iftar is normally fruit-chat, fruit-juice and samosas.  Sometimes, we do some ehtemam as well e.g. French Toasts yes French Toasts at Iftar. Try it, its fun. MUF is coming over this weekend, and we expect some home-cooked pakoras as well as some Rooh-Afza-and-milk kind of stuff, provided that we get hold of Rooh-Afza. So… delicious iftaries ahead

We are also planning to go out for Iftar over the weekend. Notting Hill Carnival is another attraction over the weekend, might go there as well.

By the time we get done with dinner, its time for Isha/Taraweeh. Although the time is 10:00 PM, we have leave around 9:40 as the mosque is a bit far. We return around 11:40, and after a bit of chit chat, get back to beds around 12:00 AM.

And another day starts at 3:30 AM …

قیمے والے چاول

کل دفتر سے وقت پہ آ گیا تھا. تھوڑی دیر میں وقاص بھی آ پہنچا. ادھر ادھر کی باتوں کے بعد وہی روز کا سوال: آج کیا پکائیں؟
میں: گھر میں کیا کچھ ہے ؟
میں (ہاں دوبارہ ): چنے ہیں. سبزی ہے. چاول ہیں.
وقاص: آج مرغی بناتے ہیں.
میں: لانی پڑے گی.
وقاص: چل نا یار.لے آتے ہیں.
میں؛ اچھا !چل.
دل بالکل نہی چاہ رہا تھا مگر …

قریب میں ہی حلال گوشت کی دکان ہے. شکر ہے قریب ہی ہے. دکان پہ تین قسم کی مرغی دستیاب تھی. ہم نے ایک قسم منتخب کی، ٢ بنانے کو کہا  اور انتظار کرنے لگے. ہم انتظار کر ہی رہے تھے کہ نظر قیمہ پہ پڑی.
میں: قیمہ لے لیں؟
وقاص: لے لے.
میں: یار دھونے کا بڑا مسلہ ہوتا ہے، پر چل لے لیتے ہیں.
میں (دوبارہ ): آج قیمے والے چاول نا بنائیں.
وقاص: اچھی تجویز ہے.

.جب گھر پہنچے تو ہم فیصلہ کر چکے تھے. قیمہ چاول.

گھر پہنچے، وقاص مرغی دھونے لگا اور میں

دیکھنے لگا. وقاص مرغی دھو کے ہٹا تو میں اٹھا اور قیمہ دھونے لگا. وقاص دھلی مرغی فریزر میں رکھنے لگا TV.

قیمہ دھونا میں نے شروع تو کر دیا، مگر اسے ختم کیسے کرنا تھا یہ مجھے سمجھ نہی آ رہا تھا. جی ہاں ہمارے پاس چھاننی نہی تھی. سو ہاتھ سے دھونا شروع کیا. اب پانی نکالنے لگتا تو قیمہ بھی پانی کے ساتھ باہر. قیمہ روکوں تو پانی بھی رک جاۓ. اب کریں تو کیا کریں. خیر کوشش جاری رکھی اور مٹھیوں میں قیمہ بھر کے، اس کا پانی نچوڑ کے، اور پلیٹ میں رکھنا شروع کیا. اب تھوڑا بہت قیمہ ہوتا تو شاید دھل بھی جاتا، مگر ١ کلو قیمہ ایسے کیسے دھلے.

کافی سوچ بچار کے بعد یہی ٹھہری کہ اگر قیمہ دھونا ہے تو دکان پہ جایا جاۓ اور چھاننی لای جاے. کوئی ٨ بجے کا عمل تھا، پتا نہی کوئی دکان کھلی ہو گی کہ نہی. یہاں ٦ بجے کے بعد کوئی چیز لینی ہو تو کافی مسلہ ہوتا ہے. Tesco کھلا ہو گا، مگر تھوڑا دور ہے گھر سے.قریب میں 99p سٹور ہے. جی ہاں ہر مال 99p  میرا خیال تھا کے ٩ بجے تک کھلا ہوتا ہے. سو .. چل پڑے چھاننی لینے. اب جو 99p پہنچے تو کیا دیکھتے ہیں، سٹور بند ہو چکا تھا. ٩ کی بجاۓ ٨ بجے بند ہوتا ہے.

وقاص بولا، قریب میں ایک اور سٹور ہے، وہ شاید کھلا ہو. وہاں بھی جا دیکھا اور اسے بھی بند پایا. اب کیا کریں. تھوڑا دور پاکستانی بھایوں کی دکانیں ہیں، وہ ذرا دیر تک کھلی ہوتی ہیں. سو ، کوسنے دیتے ہوئے اس وقت کو جب ہم نے قیمہ خریدا اور قیمہ چاول بنانے کا سوچا، چل پڑے اس بازار کی طرف.

بازار میں تھوڑا ہی آگے گئے تو ایک رسوی کے سامان والی دکان کھلی نظر آی. شکر کا کلمہ پڑھا اور گھس گئے. ایک خان صاحب سے ملاقات ہوئی. عرض مدعا پہ صاحب نے فرمایا کہ اب تو دکان بند کر رہے ہیں، اور آپ کی مطلوبہ، تھوڑی آگے پڑی ہے اور وہاں تک کے راستے میں سامان رکھ دیا ہے، لہذا پہنچ سے باہر ہے. اب چھا ننی ہمیں دکھ تو رہی تھی، مگر ہم اسے چھو تک نہی سکتے تھے. خان صاحب نے ایک مہربانی یہ کی کہ ایک اور دکان کا پتا بتا دیا، کہ کھلی ہو گی اور وہاں سے چھا ننی مل بھی جاۓ گی. ہم خان صاحب کو صلواتیں سناتے ، اور ایک بار پھر خود کو کوسنے دیتے، آگے کو چل پڑے.

جاتے ہوے دایں ہاتھ پہ ایک سردار جی کی دکان پڑتی ہے. ہم کھانے پکانے کا دیسی سامان وہیں سے لیتے ہیں. کافی بڑی دکان ہے. سوچا دیکھتے چلیں، شاید کہ گوہر مقصود ہاتھ آ جاۓ. دکان میں جا کہ جو نظر دوڑای تومایوسی ہوئی. سوچا دکان والوں سے پوچھتے چلیں.

کچھ خواتین مقام ادایگی پہ موجود تھیں. ہم نے ایک کو مخاطب کیا اور عرض کیا کہ ایک عدد چھاننی کی ضرورت ہے اگر آپ کے پاس ہو تو عطا فرماے تا کہ گھر جا کہ قیمہ دھویں اور قیمہ چاول بنایں. ان خاتون کو ہماری بات کی کچھ سمجھ نہی آی، تو وضاحت کی خاطر وقاص بولا، جی جیسے چاۓ کی پونی ہوتی ہے، ویسی چاہیے مگر قیمہ دھونے کے لیے. خاتون نے پہلے تو ہماری اس معصومانہ مثال سے لطف لیا اور پھر پیچھے مڑ کے ایک اور خاتون سے اس بابت دریافت کیا. وہ کافی بھلی مانس تھیں، جب ان کے سمجھانے کے باوجود ہمیں سمجھ نہی آیا کہ دکان کے کس حصے میں دیکھنا ہے، تو خود ساتھ ہو لیں.  برتنوں والے حصے میں آ کے دیکھنا شروع کیا مگر کچھ ملا نہی. تھوڑی دیر میں خاتون کی آواز سنائی دی، الله، وہ تو ختم ہو گیں ہیں. اسی لمحے وقاص کی نظر ایک ڈبے پہ پڑی جس پہ انگریزی زبان میں چھاننی لکھا تھا. جس پہ ان خاتون نے بتایا یہ تو آٹے والی ہے. ہم نے قیمت پوچھی تو  ٧.٩٩ پونڈ . ایک چھاننی کے لیے اتنے پیسے، ہمارے حساب سے تھوڑے زیادہ تھے، سو ہم نے ان کا شکریہ ادا کیا اور دکان سے باہر نکل آے. اگر تھوڑے کم پیسوں کی ہوتی، تو شاید ہم آٹے والی

چھاننی ہی لے کے اس سے قیمہ دھو لیتے، اس وقت حالت ہی ایسی ہو رہی تھی.
تھوڑی دیر مزید چلنے کے بعد ہم خان صاحب کے بتائی ہوئی دکان پہ پہنچے اور یہ جان کر خوشی ہوئی کہ نا صرف دکان کھلی ہے بلکہ چھاننی بھی دستیاب ہے. خان صاحب کو دعایں دیتے، چھاننی خریدتے ہم گھر کو لوٹے.

اس بار قیمہ دھونا کوئی اتنا بڑا مسلہ ثابت نہی ہوا.

قیمہ دھویا، چاول بھگوے، مسالہ بنایا، قیمہ ڈالا، بھونا، چاول ڈالے، اور تھوڑی دیر میں چاول تیار. لیکن جیسا کہ عموما ایسی روایات کا نتیجہ ہوتا ہے، کہ چاول اتنے مزے کے بنے کہ نہ پوچھیں، تو ایسا کچھ نہی ہوا. چاول بس ٹھیک ہی بن گئے.
ہم نے دہی کے ساتھ تناول فرماے اور الله کا شکر ادا کیا.

آج دفتر سے وقت پہ آ گیا تھا. تھوڑی دیر میں وقاص بھی آ پوھنچا. ادھر ادھر کی باتوں کے بعد وہی روز کا سوال: آج کیا پکائیں؟
میں: گھر میں کیا کچھ ہے ؟
میں (ہاں دوبارہ ): چنے ہیں. سبزی ہے. چاول ہیں.
وقاص: آج مرغی بناتے ہیں.
میں: لانی پڑے گی.
وقاص: چل نا یار.لے آتے ہیں.
میں؛ اچھا !چل.
دل بالکل نہی چاہ رہا تھا مگر …قریب میں ہی حلال گوشت کی دکان ہے. شکر ہے قریب ہی ہے. دکان پہ تین قسم کی مرغی دستیاب تھی. ہم نے ایک قسم منتخب کی، ٢ بنانے کو کہا  اور انتظار کرنے لگے. ہم انتظار کر ہی رہے تھے کہ نظر قیمہ پہ پڑی.
میں: قیمہ لے لیں؟
وقاص: لے لے.
میں: یار دھونے کا بڑا مسلہ ہوتا ہے، پر چل لے لیتے ہیں.
میں (دوبارہ ): آج قیمے والے چاول نا بنائیں.
وقاص: اچھی تجویز ہے.جب گھر پوھنچے تو ہم فیصلہ کر چکے تھے. قیمہ چاول.
وقاص

Des men nikla ho ga chand

Indeed.

Its my cousin’s wedding this weekend. We are really good friends, and most of the people in family still believe that I am going to give a surprise , as I can’t miss his wedding. Also my track record of going back home is not quite good, as I would run back on a 7-days vacation too, and that too with less than 3 months’  break in betwean Aaahh, but sadly enough, I have no such plans this time, for some unavoidable reasons. And BTW, days are too few now to give a surprise anyway.

I talked to my sis today, and she specifically put the phone near to dholki, “bhai awaz aa rahi he?” And I was like … haan aur jalao mujhe

All the usual stuff is in full blow. Almost the whole family is together, except me and another cousin. He has an interesting story too He had an official meeting in the second week of July, in Thailand, and this wedding was being scheduled in second week as well. So he convinced his bosses to move the meeting to first week, so that he can attend the wedding. For reasons beyond groom’s family’s control, the wedding is now scheduled for the first week too   He is furious … quite understandbly … and now has no plans of rescheduling. I think he had his flight today.

Khair …. life goes on.

My best wishes for the groom and the bride and both the families. May Allah bless you guys.

A day at Heathrow

It was a good day last Saturday, for Asif bhaee at least

Yup, bhabhi arrived from Pakistan. Flight was scheduled to arrive at 3:00 PM. Since the time we woke up in morning, he would not sit in peace, yar der na ho jaye, jaldi karo. I would tell him every time that he should not worry and we’ll be in time, but he won’t listen to anybody.

Khair, we left around 1:00 PM and reached Heathrow arnd 2:00 PM, yup  1 hour before time. I had nothing to say, except to give him a look, and he smiled back to me

We checked the board, and the 3:00 PM flight was coming at 3:25.I gave Asif bhaee another look and he smiled again

We had plenty of time at our hands.

My first shot was to have a cup of tea, as I didnt have one with breakfast.

Then we prayed.

We checked the board again and the flight was coming at 3:45

We still had plenty of time. So … we started exploring Terminal 3.

We looked around and saw a lot of people with black caps, similar to the Jinnah cap, but not exactly that. It didn’ have that dip in the center, might be similar to the one Ghalib wears in the picture we have, but shorter in length. They were also wearing black waistcoats. I recon them, they are mureeds of Eidgah Sharif in Pindi. We got near to them and asked an uncle why they were here in that number? It was Pir Saab coming, Pir Naqeeb-ur-Rehman sb, he told.

They were so many and all looking alike giving a good impression of unity. We stayed there for a while, and took some pictures.

We came back to the arrival passage, where some more mureeds were holding flowers to present to Pir Saab upon his arrival. We stayed with them for a while. Now I wanted to take a first hand picture of Pir Saab. So I told Asif bhaee to stay with the group awaiting. An uncle was trying to diciple the people, like side pe ho ke khare hon, rassta chor den etc. We obliged.

I think it was 10 minutes, when Pir Saab arrived. I tried to capture him, but right at that moment, somebody got in between. So it was a

Pir Sahab was now surrounded by a lot of people. I was about to lose heart when the G17 photographer inside me screamed, “You can still do it”.

And so I did

It was 3:40 PM, almost the time for the flight to arrive, so we headed towards the arrival passage again. We stood there, and stood there … and stood there.

While we were waiting, we saw a group of boys coming out, all in Green. Now that was Pakistan Hockey Team, we clapped and shouted slogans, Pakistan Zindabad, it was fun

We stood again, and stood … and stood there

It was around 5:15 PM, when finally bhabhi came out. The wait came to and end, and we headed straight to home.

Chal mere dil, khula he mae-khana

I was late from office in morning, so decided to make up my time, & leave late. Asif bhaee & Waqas were like, going home & coming back is a bit hactic, so we panned to go to shab-e-jumma straight from offices.

I’ve been being late, since last couple of weeks, since the time they have moved the bayan from after-maghrib to after-asar. So I was thinking to be in time, this time.

There was still some time to go before I was to leave my office, when some colleagues turned up on my table and were like, we are going to have some drinks, wanna join? I was like, no thanks. I have some work to complete, so … sometime later. They were like, c’mon man. They named the pub near to my office, and said we’ll be there for sometime, join us once you are done.

… and I was thinking to be in time, this time

They were standing outside, when I joined them. Outside is better, as inside there is so much noise and it gets difficult to talk.

We talked on diverse topics and in some cases, I realized they were quite comfortable talking about the stuff we, normally, would never talk about with our colleagues. I, most of the time, stayed quiet in those discussions and just observed. Its a difference of social norms. Its, obviously, a different society.

…

After finishing my drink, I headed straight, from mae-kadda to masjid

NONAME00

I dont know whats going on with me …

I cant even think of a reasonable title for my post, let alone do a post.

I think, staying away from internet for more than a month, is taking its toll. Yes right, I had access to internet throughout the day, but do you think you can actually use internet in office? If you do, I beg to disagree.

Life without internet is, rather, interesting, I must tell you. I joined the local library, and not just joined, visited it too

Talked to my friends more often, sometimes talking for almost an hour, yup boys can talk that long too

Spent more time cooking food, and I dont know if its just a feeling, but the food now tastes better than before

Had more time in evenings to spare.

I even visited a local park once or twice a week, it has a lake and boats are available. I even rowed the boat once, and believe me, its disgusting to row it alone

Life was almost getting normal …

… and just then … I got my internet working

The books I borrowed from library, are waiting for my touch. I dont even have time to return them, so I keep renewing the due date, as I can do so online

Aaahhh …. the curse of internet is back ….

The stuffy wars

Somedays back, I was trying to figure out something, at my workplace, concentrating at my screen, when something just passed by my head. It just missed me.

When I looked in the direction of sound, it was a stuffed toy, that fell few feet away.

No, there wasn’t any fight going on, a war rather … As I was looking in that direction, another stuffy toy was thrown back, by another colleague, who was supposedly the target of previous strike.

And it was not just that day. There are almost a dozen of such toys, on the tables of 3-4 guys, and you never know when something just falls over you, and you see the guy passing by as if nothing happened. If you look at him, he would be like, whaat? Ohh, where did it come from? May be from the ceiling …?

I haven’t been a target as yet, as I am not into the circle as yet, but it just makes you feel light to see the stuff flying around in a professional environment It reminds me of Ult-A, when we would fly the paper-planes in office

Those were the days …

London

Its been more than a week now, at my new place; at home and at office. I am adjusting, and have started to like & dislike things around.

London is different; You get halal Subway, well there are only two I guess, but there are. And I was recommended Subway’s Meetball Marinara by Haris, and it really is great. Although it gets a bit difficult to cope with the burger when it has meetballs in it, you can imagine, but it tastes great You get halal meat at ASDA, I saw at Leyton, I’ve got one of the largest mosques in the UK, East London Mosque, just near to my office, I’ve got the famous curry street, Brick Lane, at 1 minute’s walk from office, and there is another quite big mosque in Brick Lane as well,  and I have got an English guy, who is not Muslim, and who says Assalam-o-Aleikum to me in morning, and Allah Hafiz in evening when I get up to leave, in my office A nice guy he is.

And its busy. At peak hours, if you get out and look around, you see people all around, moving, and moving fast, and in all directions. Nobody has time to look up, except to see the traffic. There’s too much of traffic, particulary in Central London. Tube is the most convinient option to travel in the city. And inside tube, at office times, you again see, lifeless faces; there would be so many, but you wont see anybody talking. They are all quite. Either they are reading the newspaper, or watching a movie on their smart phone, or reading a novel most of the times.

…

At home, I am sharing the house with a Pakistani family. Well, if I say they are sharing the house with me, that would be more appropriate, as its their house They are also nice people, particularly the lady of the house, whom I conviniently call aunty, except that she always has a lot to tell, whenever she gets hold of me.

On my first day to office, on my way, I had a pleasant surprise. I was standing by the door of the tube, as is normally the case in morning and in evening, you never get a seat, when I saw a guy boarding the train. I could only see his side pose, and from that I was able to guess, he looks like Ahmed, yup apna Ahmed But I was not sure, so to avoid any odd situation, I waited untill he would turn his face. And finally he did. Lo & behold! It was Ahmed We both were surprised pleasantly. He lives nearby. On weekend he paid a visit to my place, and then we headed towards Green Street to eat Haleem. I ate Haleem after quite some time, and it was a good experience.

And today, I made Chicken Curry, and its quite good. I mean really, its quite tasty

… life is getting back to normal …

the new guy in dev

Today was my first day at my new job. Unexpectedly, a busy day, but a good day.

I only got introduced to dev and qa teams, and a couple of other guys , by my manager. Remaining introductions are scheduled for Wednesday. And yes this is what I heard from most of the guys, “ohh he is that new guy in dev” . I hope I didnt disappoint them

My boss was kind enough to take me to a halal food shop, where they sell currys, for lunch. And I was a bit surprized when he asked, “Do you prefer naan over chappati?”, when I was having a naan with chiken karahi. I mean he had quite good knowledge of Pakistani/Indian food, and he understood my concern for halal food, myself being a Muslim, by himself. And it was not just him, another guy from dev, with whom we sat in office-eating-space/kitchen, knew about a fine Pakistani restaurant recently opened somewhere nearby. I am feeling the difference between Bristol and London

The only strange thing I could spot was the printed charts over the wall, one for different kind of tomatoes, one for different kinds of cows and another for different kinds of corps,  just like the ones we used to do for inspection days in school And there was one with dogs as well.

I have a big table with two LCDs. Its a Core 2 DUO. I didnt check the RAM yet.

Anyway … lets see whats next for me here … and lets hope it be the good …