Greatest Traveler….

Recently I came across two videos about  one of the greatest travelers [ according to stats he was the greatest ] of all times….Ibn e Batuta, thought I should share

A BBC Documentary

and a new movie

 

Canada…101

Canada is one of the best countries on earth to live in yet there are many interesting things that are hard to imagine unless you have lived in the country for few years. I got this thing in the email, really liked it and thought I should share it.

Let’s face it: Canadians are a rare breed.

The Official Canadian Temperature Conversion Chart

50° Fahrenheit (10° C)
• Californians shiver uncontrollably.
• Canadians plant gardens.

35° Fahrenheit (1.6° C)
• Italian Cars won’t start
• Canadians drive with the windows down

32° Fahrenheit (0° C)
• American water freezes
• Canadian water gets thicker.

0° Fahrenheit (-17.9° C)
• New York City landlords finally turn on the heat.
• Canadians have the last cookout of the season.

-60° Fahrenheit (-51° C)
• Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
• Canadian Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.

-109.9° Fahrenheit (-78.5° C)
• Carbon dioxide freezes makes dry ice.
• Canadians pull down their earflaps.

-173° Fahrenheit (-114° C)
• Ethyl alcohol freezes.
• Canadians get frustrated when they can’t thaw the keg

-459.67° Fahrenheit (-273.15° C)
• Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops.
• Canadians start saying “cold, eh?”

-500° Fahrenheit (-295° C)
• Hell freezes over.
• The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup

Have you packed your bags for Canada?

Source : Forwarded Email

 

An opening….ضرورت ہے

وہی جواں ہے قبیلے کی آنکھ کا تارہ
شباب جس کا ہے بےداغ، ضرب ہے کاری

Translation

The star of the tribe is the man
who has blameless youth, efficacious blow

 

- Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal

 

To those….اُن کے نام

جہاں میں اہلِ ایماں صورتِ خورشید جیتے ہیں
ِادھر ڈوبےاُدھر نکلے، اُدھر ڈوبے ِادھر نکلے

Translation

People of faith live like the sun
Set here and rise there, set there and rise here

- Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal

 

The Poem by Iqbal:Shikwa & Jawab-e-Shikwa

Shikwa… ( 2 Parts )

Jawab -e-Shikwa ( 3 Parts )

 

Alhamdolillah…..الحمدللّھ

Praise to Allah who has blessed us with the existence, power and means to express our gratitude for the blessings HE has bestowed.

تیری تلاش میں پھرتے ہیں در بدر سارے
کہیں بے چین سی روحیں، کہیں کچھ درد کے مارے

کبھی جو بوجھ سا پڑتا ہے تو ہم کرتے ہیں شکوہ
لڑکھڑا کر کہیں ڈھونڈیں تیری رحمت کے سہارے

کبھی مایوسی کے بادل بھی گھر آتے ہیں ہر سمت
کبھی کرنیں تیری رحمت کے دیتی ہیں اشارے

کس میں ہمت ہے کہ سہہ جائے تکلیف ذرا سی
ہر چبھن پہ وہ رو رو کے صرف تجھ کو پکارے

شکر کرتا ہوں ہر سانس پہ نعمت کا تیری میں
تیری تخلیق بھی سب ہیں تیری قدرت کے نظارے

گرچہ بندہ ہوں، شاہکار ہوں قدرت کا تیری میں
مرتبہ میرا صرف سجدے میں ہے تیرے دوارے

یہ دنیا خوبصورت ہے“ سے “

Translation

Everyone wander in search of YOU
Some restless souls, some anguished beings

We complain when things do not go our way
when we stagger we look only for YOUR help

Sometimes despair overcast every direction
sometimes the rays of YOUR mercy give signs

Who has the courage to bear even a bit of pain
even at pin pricks one cries out for YOU

I thank YOU with every breath for every blessing
I see YOU in YOUR every creation

I am a human, a marvel of YOUR creation
I am exalted only when I bow down to YOU

From ” Yeh Dunya Khubsoorat Hai ” Copyrights Reserved

 

Tragedy in life….

There are only two tragedies in life. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.

- Oscar Wilde

 

The seeing see little…..

Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die to-morrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with a gentleness, a vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the epicurean motto of ‘Eat, drink, and be merry,’ but most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.

In stories, the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do.

Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.

The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our facilities and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.

I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.

Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. ‘Nothing in particular,’ she replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.

How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough, shaggy bark of a pine. In spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of awakening Nature after her winter’s sleep. I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me. Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song. I am delighted to have the cool waters of a brook rush through my open fingers. To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. To me the pageant of seasons is a thrilling and unending drama, the action of which streams through my finger tips.

At times my heart cries out with longing to see all these things. If I can get so much pleasure from mere touch, how much more beauty must be revealed by sight. Yet, those who have eyes apparently see little. The panorama of color and action which fills the world is taken for granted. It is human, perhaps, to appreciate little that which have and to long for that which we have not, but it is a great pity that in the world of light the gift of sight is used only as a mere convenience rather than as a means of adding fullness to life.

If I were the president of a university I should establish a compulsory course in ‘How to Use Your Eyes’. The professor would try to show his pupils how they could add joy to their lives by really seeing what passes unnoticed before them. He would try to awake their dormant and sluggish faculties.

- From ” Three Days to See “ by Helen Keller

 

In love with you… تمھاری محبت میں

اگر ہزار مرد تمھاری محبت میں مبتلا ہوں تو
یقیناَََ رسول حمزہ ان میں سے ایک ہو گا

اگر ایک سو مرد تمھاری محبت میں مبتلا ہوں تو
رسول حمزہ ان میں ظاہر ہے ضرور شامل ہو گا

اگر دس مرد تمھاری محبت میں مبتلا ہوں تو
رسول حمزہ ان میں سے ایک ہو گا

اگر ایک مرد تمھاری محبت میں مبتلا ہو تو
وہ رسول حمزہ کے سوا کون ہو گا

اور اگر تم تنہا ہو، اکیلی ہو
اور کوئی بھی تمھاری محبت میں مبتلا نہیں ہے
تو یقین کر لینا کہ
کہیں بلند پہاڑوں میں
رسول حمزہ مر گیا ہے

Translation

If thousand men fall in love with you
Certainly Rasul Hamza will be one of them

If hundred men are in love with you
Obviously Rasul Hamza will be one of them

If ten men are in love with you
Rasul Hamza will be one of them

If one man is in love with you
Then who else can it be except Rasul Hamza

And if you are lonely and alone
and no one loves you
then do believe that
somewhere in the high mountains
Rasul Hamza is dead

- Taken from ‘Shahpar’ by Mustansir Hussain Tarar

 

Ordinary men can do

“You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.”

- Sir Edmund Hillary