WHY ARE PARENTS SO WEIRD?

Ask your mother if you could order in a pizza tonight and she will tell you how they are already wasting money on your tuition. Tell her your throat is sore and she will tell you it’s because you were on your phone all day. No, your complexion isn’t going darker because you were out in the sun all day; it’s because you don’t eat what she gives you. Is it just me or does your mother also tell you how ugly you are getting because you don’t sleep early at the night? Tell your parents how you scored 99.9% and they’ll tell you how it’s not 100%. "What do you mean the whole class failed the test? Those who passed are not anybody’s children?" What even?

“Hey mom, can I go out with my friends today?”

“Ask your dad.”

“Dad, uh-“

“Ask your mother.”

When did you guys plan this move?

Ask them to plan an outing and they’ll tell you they are busy making money to throw in the garbage. It’ll take you a while to realize that you are the garbage.

You know how they say women always win the argument? Pfft, have you met a desi dad?

Freedom of speech this and freedom of speech that, bruv I am a desi kid, freedom of speech to me is as real as Santa and unicorns.

“baita, it’s your life, do whatever you want with it, just be a doctor, marry the spouse we choose, come and go at times we tell, eat what we say, sleep when we ask, beat Abdullah sahib's, Kamal sahib's , Auntie Naseem’s child and all the children that exist in the same grade as you, round the globe…*silence*, you can go to the bathroom whenever you want, though, it’s your life after all.”

Tell your parents you want to make a decision for yourself and they’ll remind you how you pulled a door that said push. I am not saying you won’t be allowed to make decisions, but they won’t be for you, they’ll be for your kids. That’s how it goes in here.

You know, I had a test recently and my father asked me why I wasn’t worried about it. The next day he said. “No pressure baita, stay calm” ...

You know how cute it is, when your parents tell the most embarrassing incident from your childhood just to amuse a bunch of people and they stare at you with such judgmental eyes measuring on a scale of one to ten, how red is your blush?

You break a glass, you break a glass. They break a glass, “Who put that glass here?”

“I am bored. Let me call a kid and give him a lecture about something.”

You know what’s funny? They won’t remember your birthday, but what they will remember is the thing you said to them 7 months ago. Apparently, that one made its way to the long-term memory and not your birthday.

Believe me, every parent, every single one of them thinks his/her kid is the worst child on the planet. If you arrange a debate on the topic "whose kid is the worst?" Trust me; they will kill to prove it’s theirs.

“Time is money and laziness is a crime, but puttar come downstairs and hand me over the glass of water that’s lying two steps away.”

“When I was your age….” And a superheroic movie begins.

 The green land of the crops

Water from tube well drops,

Buffalos around the stand

A boy from never land

Does all the chores of home

Before the rise of dawn.

What a heart-wrenching story.

They slam the door, they slam the door. You slam the door, you’re freakin’ dead.

Do I even need to mention what happens while they are trying to sleep and when you are?

“MAMA PLEASE DON’T CRY I WILL BE ALRIGHT”

“I DO NOT HAVE TIME, GET OUT OF MY SIGHT”

I can go on all day but this will never end. The weirdness will continue and you’ll keep asking; Why in the heavens and the earth do they have to be this weird.

And when you sit down to gather stuff like that, it’s like a never-ending list; Things peculiar yet familiar about them. Actions that bug you and then the other time amuse you. After all, they are your parents and this is what makes them special, the way they are, the WEIRD them. You might say sometimes that you don’t like them but you love them always and they love you, more than anything. The reason that makes them strange and odd is that they helplessly adore you. Know it or not, but that’s what makes your day, that’s what gives you a reason to smile and laugh and even cry. They are the reason you are in this world. They are the reason you have grown up this much. That’s what parents are. That’s why parents are so weird!

IN HIS DISMAL

The dark alley that hides the monsters,

Now accompanies a man as he sits in dismay

All his hope vanishing in the gloom,

He stares at the sky but little does he see,

That everything is by his side,

Fear grips his heart, oblivion, as he sees

The shadow lies beside him,

Beaming at the moon,

How stupid is the human? Ponders the nature

With all that's around him yet he thinks he's alone

The earth that holds him,

the sky that shelters

the stars that guide,

 the moon that illuminates,

Yet his heart wails aloud as hears the nature,

Dribble down the drops as the thunder breaks the sky

And cries the nature for the human that tries

But fails to see what marvels await him,

A step, all he needs.

But the human never moves,

As the destiny awaits him,

The signs are there yet he's unable to see

Oh human, leave desires, set yourself free

Sometimes it's dark that gives you the answer,

A little pain it takes to reach the glory.

So try again human, and trying's all will it take

The future is yours and only yours to make!

50 SHADES OF OUR SOCIETY

"HONOR"

“Why did you kill her?”

“For the sake of honor”, came the reply.

“And you think it was justified?”

“She brought disgrace to our family.”

“And a murder doesn't bring disgrace?”

“Not when it is done to save the honor.”

“And you think the honor is restored.”

“No, but no one will say we raised a characterless woman.”

“And they wouldn’t care about raising a murderer?”

“I saved the honor.” The persistent voice replied.

“But you already said it couldn’t be restored.”

“Sometimes we need to make amendments, something we don’t have a choice.”

“So you think there was no other choice than to kill her?”

“Precisely.”

“So you think humility she brought was worse than taking a life.”

-Silence.

“And if it were your son instead, if he had done the very same thing, would you have killed him too? For the sake of honor?”

"No."

"Why not?"

“Because the society never questions the honor if it’s a boy.” The answer was heard.

50 SHADES OF OUR SOCIETY

"BECAUSE SOMEONE SAID SO"

Like usual she greeted her father as he came home, but that day he didn’t reply. It was nothing unusual; he had done that many times before. Worried about what she could possibly have done, she returned to her room and busied herself. For quite some time she could hear him talking to her mother harshly but it was hard to grasp what the matter was.

After an hour when he had had his dinner, he called for her. With unease in her heart, she went to his room and followed his order to sit. Glancing at her mother, she tried to figure out what this was all about but her mother’s cold expression did no help, instead, it added to her discomfort.

“When I sent you in co-education, did I not tell you that my dignity is in your hands?” he shouted.

Scared of her father’s wrath and surprised of what was going to follow it, she clutched the sofa beneath her hands, as tightly as she could.

“You ruined my honor today, I can’t face anyone in the society now, I am ashamed I raised such a characterless girl”

A wave of anger passed through her and in a moment she felt tears rolling down her cheek.

“What have I done?” She couldn’t keep her voice down.

“Don’t raise your voice” her mother shouted.

“Look at her, now this is the way she talks to her father” she heard him yelling.

“What you have done hasn’t left us to face anyone, you filthy disgrace to this family”, the yelling continued.

“Can you imagine what I went through when I had to hear it from someone that this filth had been fooling around with guys?”

“That is an accusation” she tried to argue.

“You think I am lying? You think my friend is lying, that man is such an honorable person.”

She was shocked to see her father trusting an outside source than her.

“Who was the guy at the bus stop?” her mother inquired.

And it all became clear; she recalled waiting for the bus while a class fellow walked over to her discussing some stuff related to class. So that was what disgraced her family. She couldn’t believe this was happening.

She remembered the mockery she faced as she tried to avoid her class fellows, how she was called rude and her behavior inappropriate.

Out of the door, her brother stood listening.

Tired and shocked, she left the room but from then on she did not try to avoid anyone. What good had it done to her? She befriended boys as well but did her best to stay out of her family’s sight.

One morning, they found her dead in her bed. Her brother was gone. But a note lied beside. “FOR THE SAKE OF OUR FAMILY’S HONOR”.

HOW DID WE END UP HERE?

So as we see, Ramadan is almost over. Have you earned your place in Jannah yet? Have you earned redemption from your sins yet? Have you purified your soul yet?

Well, it should have been easier to accomplish as the "Shaytaan" is locked up. But it wasn't easy at all. You still had bad thoughts, you still slept through some prayers, you still got distracted while praying, you still lost your temper. People still did evil. People still kept killing, they still kept stealing. Why?

The devil wasn't there to drive you, to lead you astray. It was all you. Every time you sinned, it was all under your control. It was all you. You can't blame the devil this time, can you now?

Have you realized how lost you are? Because all this time it had been only you. What does the devil need to do nowadays? I wonder. I wonder and wonder. And my answer is "absolutely nothing". At least it doesn't need to work on us at all. Look at us. We are so lost. We are ruining ourselves. We don't need someone to pump us into doing evil. We are so enslaved by out heart that we follow everything it wants. We know the things we are doing are wrong but we keep going anyway. We know that death is unpredictable and we may die before our next breath. We know we are going to be held accountable for our deeds. So where is our fear?

You know what I think the devil does nowadays? He sits with popcorns in his lap and watches how we nail the job he was supposed to do. Have you wondered where have we reached?

We are lost, in darkness. Doomed in nothingness. We have fallen into an abyss wondering how we ended up here.
How do I know all this? Because I am one of them. I am lost too. I have seen people who have a bit left in them but the rest of us, we are just lost.
You know, no one but you can change that. But I feel, we lack motivation. Once in a while if you sit in an Islamic lecture, you feel your soul connecting again. You feel it coming back to life again. But we don't try. We are just waiting for something. But that something will never come. You have to take a step before it's too late. We all have to.