10 ways i learned about Hyderabad

Monsoon Spell

While driving through a raging monsoon spell...

Bari *excited*: Mama look! Everyone is enjoying the rain outside. They are all splashing around and playing in it!

Me: Baby...those are people on bikes and foot. They aren't playing in the rain, they are running for shelter so not to get wet or hurt..

Love the quiet innocence of children.

#Mommysgirls

Harvey

I was reading about Hurricane Harvey this morning, and it's worse than anyone could have ever imagined. The aerial pictures of Texas, specially Houston, are devastating.

Yesterday, hubs called up an old friend living in Victoria to check up on him and his family. What he told me later on was alarming. His friend was forced to evacuate their home and restaurant at the very last minute by guard troops. Once shutting down their restaurant, they rushed home, packed couple of necessities and important documents, and drove as fast as hey could to Houston downtown. 3 hours later their house and restaurant was leveled by a tornado and gone under water in torrential floods.
It's impossible to understand the fear and pain that Texans are going through right now. But from this far away the least we can do is pray from them.

Therefore I request everyone outside of Texas to please take at least 10 minutes out of your time and pray for the health and safety of people going through the hurricane right now. Prayer has a very powerful effect and diverts calamities.

For people inside Texas, specially Houston, my heart goes out to you. Please recite 'Astagfar' as much as you can to cool Allah's wrath. May Allah make it easier for you and your families. And our families.

The world is in trouble. And the only way to save it is through prayers.

- TMR

Chaat Love

 

Me and Bari are serious chaat fans.

Mirchili NEVER disappoints.

#Mommytruthbombs

Work you Woman

Nowhere in the world have I seen women as sharp and talented as in Karachi.

It's amazing really.

Specially when you think about the amount of time and brain power they waste on useless stuff. Like gossip and TV serials.

The first few years after I moved to Karachi, I was baffled at how the women here 'worked'. All I saw were a number of talented brains being unfairly consumed for chit chat and cooking. There was occasional cleaning too when the maid(s) weren't available in extreme cases. And yes, those lovely invented committees that are just an excuse to eat more food and waste more money while gossiping about women who actually put their brains to a better use.

I say this once, and I say it seriously. You HAVE to put your talents to a better use.

If you know how to write, then write. Write blogs, write articles, write a book. Write to help the minority. Write to diminish the unjust. Write to expose the truth. If you know how to cook then cook for others. Cook to feed the needy, cook to win competitions, cook to earn. Cook to teach. If you know how to speak then speak for religion, speak for morals, speak to bring hope and happiness.
I have seen women who have an amazing sense of fashion but can't sew, women with great memorizing skills but have no motivation to learn, women with awesome debating skills which are simply used to win arguments against there in-laws.

Put your talents to a POSITIVE use! And I can't empathize that word enough.

Use your time to fine tune your skills. Use your hard earned money to invest in what you are good at. Use all that pent up energy to perform with passion.

And as soon as you start using your talents for the good, you'll watch your life change. You won't be the victim anymore. You'll be your own woman, standing on your own feet, powered by your own brain.

A self sufficient woman.

And nothing is more beautiful than that.

- TMR

A Lobster Story

While cooking dinner one day..

Choti: Mummy, can I pweezzzzeee have a lobster?

Me: *Trying to figure out which one of us could have passed down the avid sea food lovers gene*

Umm...sure baby! But...when did you eat a lobster?

Choti: I ate the yellow one yestevday...and it tastes like peep (peach*). Can I have the ved one today??

Me: *Mentally going over the lunch and dinner menus from yesterday* Baby, we don't have a lobster at home..

Choti: Yes you do. It's in your side dvawer! *points towards my bedroom*

Me: *Shocked at the image of a huge dead lobster decomposing in my side drawer* Alright, can you show it to me?..

Choti: *Walks to my side drawer, opens up my secret candy stash, pulls out a box of Gobsters* Here it is....lobster!

Me: *Doubles on the floor laughing*

I love my kid.

#Mommysgirls

The way of Salat

Thank you Allah for giving us Salat.

For forcing us to stop running 4 times in a day, and to sit and reflect for some of those precious minutes.

For the instant calm and peace that washes over us as we perform it. Without which, we would have mentally collapsed a long time back.

For reminding us every single time that you are there to help us through this race of a life. That you are the one holding us up and helping us push through.

Thank you Allah, for making us pause our mental load for a fraction of time and helping us circulate the blood in our veins physically.

For helping us wash our sins of the day away with every drop of water that touches our skin. For cooling our over-heated bodies.

For refreshing our brain every time our forehead touches the ground. For helping us realize that we are not in control of everything.

Thank you Allah, for waking us up in the middle of the night, to help us absorb the freshness and tranquility of a new day. To think through in the quietness of an early morning.

For giving us an opportunity to ask you for things we can't ask any human. For sharing with you to our hearts content.

For reminding us day in and day out that we are running out of time. That this dunya and its problems are tiny and temporary.

Thank you Allah.

Over and over a million times.

- TMR

Khao Suey

One lazy Sunday afternoon.

Me to Hubs: I need some vegetables from the market. Can you please get them? You are free today..

Hubs: Sure. But a bit later on.
(We all know what that 'later on' means)

Me: I just need some chili and lemon and potatoes and cilantro...

Hubs: Yeah keep that list ready for later on.

Me: ...and I need them all for lunch cuz I'm making khao...

Hubs jumps out of bed and dons a super mans costume: HAND ME THAT LIST AND I'LL SWING IN THOSE VEGETABLES IN A JIFFY.
*background superman music plays*

Me: ...suey.

Yup, Khao suey is the deal breaker in our house.

#ohmoments

Game of Thrones

This is what happened when I watched ONE episode of Game of Thrones.

1. My anxiety escalated times hundred.
2. I realized this is how the population of the world balances.
3. Some communities (other than the one I know) have no morals whatsoever.
4. I can burst out into tears randomly.

I should just stick to PLL.

#Mommytruthbombs

The Alien Rant

I swear sometimes I feel like the girls here secretly go to an 'Inlaws Training Camp' before they get married.

It's a given that the local girls are completely different in frequency than me, but they have this capability to interact with every member of the family and general public in ways I can never depict.
And I always end up thinking ends on how they do that.

Is there some sort of 'cheat sheet' available that I've missed out on?

Granted I've found it very difficult to 'mesh' into the Karachi society, and mainly I had no weapons that I've unveiled, but I've never, in my history of living, known any different strategy of being than my own.

I am just my quiet, logical own self.

I don't know how to talk people into doing something, I don't know how to make people believe me blindly, I don't know how to butter people into loving me. You either like me for my own self, or you don't. I just cannot, under any circumstances, pretend to be what you want me to be. Because I just am not.

I've lived in different countries over my life span. I have interacted with people from cultures other than mine. But never in my life have I felt so different and incompatible with than the people that live in Karachi.

There has to be more people like me surviving here.

There just has to be.

- TMR

Social Evils

Social media has become such a powerful force in our lives, it can make or break a person.

Anyone, just anyone can attack anyone. Huge companies crumble under defamation online. Celebrities commit suicides when there personal lives are exposed. Good personalities can be destroyed with just ONE lie.

And what makes it all possible?

That tiny camera on everyone's phone.

All they have to do is click the red button to start recording that one side of the story, ready to hurl it across the internet to put across a point that is very well biased. And the dumb masses believe what they see.

It's comments over comments, piling on the base embarrassment that eventually topples a system. Be it a human or a corporation.

This type of cyber bullying should not be accepted at any level!

We have to have a higher panel who decides what should go on the internet and what shouldn't. Humans have the capability to misuse power. And this has happened in every generation. And now with information and media available at the click of a finger, people have misused technology in horrible ways.

My message to you is:

1. DON'T believe everything on social media. That information you see is usually one sided, and yes humans have the capability to be very very evil.
2. Be careful what you put up there. A lot of lives, families and innocent businesses can be affected because of your two sentences.

On the other hand, not everyone posting online is a bad a person. A lot of lives have been saved because of social media, a lot of evil plots exposed too.

You just have to pick the right out the sea of wrong.

- TMR

Current Read - Spell Bound

Reading has always been my sanctuary. My heaven away from heaven.

It's that feel of rough pages between your fingers that instantly calms every tiny atom in you. Every page filled with thousands and thousands of words to pleasure skim through. Like watching a beautiful waterfall in the midst of a rainforest.

Just for a little bit you can disappear off into happy endings and true love.

I remember I had a window chair back in Toronto that looked out over the city. I would get piles of reads from the local library and a huge bag of Lays ketchup, and spend hours and hours there. If the weather was colder, a mug of home-made hot chocolate was essential.

Needless to say I gained a lot of weight that way.

But just for those few hours, I would disappear into a new world, with new people, letting the emotional words coarse through me at every cliff hanger.

After getting married, my books stayed with me loyally. Always there to support me through stressful times. I always kept a new read on my table, right at the corner. Ready to be grabbed whenever needed.

There is comfort in knowing that a whole new world of dreams is right beside you. You can change reality whenever you want.

My current book is 'Spell bound'.

This is my pleasure read.

I was never really into magic and spirits, but The Harry Potter series changed my mind on that.
I also read non-fictions, autobiographies, romance and religious books. All depends on my current mood.

Pleasure reads are for when I need time-off at the end of the day. Usually at bed time.

I would love to know what books are you reading right now. Always open for suggestions and reviews.

So far 'Spell Bound' has quite been entertaining. It's about a witch with big emotional problems, looking to hunt down troublemakers. A bit of family drama here and there.

I could totally relate with her on the 'emotional problems' part.

- TMR

Sweet Norms

Chocolate in any form is a gift sent from heaven.

Specifically for women.

Choti and I both have realized that.

#Mommytruthbombs

Women Empowerment

Two words. Women Empowerment.

Every morning while walking home, I come across a lady near my residence. And every single morning she inspires me as a woman.

What so special about her?

She rides a bike to drop her kids to school.

It may not be a unique thing for many countries, but it's definitely a courageous thing to do in the male-oriented Pakistan. This country where female drivers are mocked constantly and lone women are harassed on the streets. And wives and daughters are oppressed just for the family's 'izzat'.

But this woman is brave enough to face the daunting stares, the evil sneers and the crude comments every single morning just to drop her kids to school.

She is the living definition of feminism.

She inspires me to be just as fearless in the face of this male-dominated community. To fight for my rights. And to prioritize my responsibilities over culture.

And what better way to bring ourself forward as a gender but to support one another through hard times. To cheer on the women entrepreneurs with a united front.

I asked her if I can take her picture so I can write about her. She said 'yes'. What she didn't know was that she would become an instant inspiration to a million girls out there to be just as strong as she is.
I support all women out there fighting to be heard, fighting to succeed. I will always try my best to support them in any way I can.

Here's to women.


- TMR

I am a Third Culture Kid

I'm a third culture kid living in Pakistan.

14th August has always been confusing to me. I don't feel like I legit belong here. Sure I was born as a Pakistani. But I was born in a different country, a different hospital and definitely pinched non-Pakistani vaccines.

I was schooled in an Arab school, where we sang 'Ishi Biladi' every morning. I celebrated 2nd December with red, whites and blacks, and my dinners included hummus and shawarmas.
Pakistan was just half my nationality.

The only time I rather felt patriotism was during Indo/Pak matches where you have to pick a side to cheer on. Always got those pakistan badges at home to bring the friendly fight on.

But I never got to know the country that tagged my name from the start. The place that my parents lived a good part of their lives in.

Love for a place stems from deep profound memories attached to it. My love will always be AbuDhabi. It nourished me, it raised me, it gave me beautiful memories to cherish. It is my happy place.

And then I see that love in the eyes of every Pakistani individual here. Every person waving the Pakistan flag with 'jazba', adorned in greens and whites. Every person singing the national anthem with their head held high. I see it deep in them.

Love for their country.

One day, It will grow on me. One day.


-TMR

Patriotism

While watching patriotic boys slathered in green & white paint and wild dancing to Pakistani songs on the streets.

Me to Hubs: So how do YOU celebrate the independence of Pakistan?

Hubs: Sleeping.


#ohmoments

Bari and Choti

What better rant than getting to know the centres of my universe. Here's Introducing Bari and Choti!

So Bari is a reader (like me!). And a screener. Which yes is another subtle word for 'IPad addiction'. But then who isn't right? If it isn't the smart phones, it's definitely the laptops. Or the TV's. At least we haven't got elders breathing down our necks when we've had too much screen time. Leave the kids alone yo!

Choti, is the 'ronak' of the house. She's the one who you hear the loudest at home. She's the one that probably has your phone hidden in her mountain of toys. And then hands it to you calmly after you have torn the house apart and blamed your weak brain for the failure you are.

Second borns are stereotypically the most prominent ones, isn't that proved well here?

Since I do have an appreciation for even numbers, 'the perfect 4' does a pretty good job of describing us crazy lot.

Good enough for hotel rooms and family tickets. And skipping queues at restaurants.

And then there is Hubs. He should be awarded the golden globe for controlling my rather dramatized outbursts day in and day out.

We all need that ONE very stable anchor in our lives, don't we?

Alhamdulillah a million times.

-TMR

The first Mommy Rant

Today is the day I finally decided that I'm going to put heart and soul out there. That's how my favourite blogger described blogging. Not that I'm new to blogging, I've been doing it for many years now.

But anonymously.

Now, I've decided to take off my mask that I've been hiding behind for so many years. My biggest fear was being judged. Judged for my different background. Judged for being too open minded. Judged for avoiding gossips and hanging with the guys the entire time.

This time, I'm going to explain myself.

I'm going to tell you why I am so different from you. Why I do not mesh easily in the Pakistani crowd. And why I don't like bun kababs.

Here's to venturing into new realms.

Cheers!


- TMR