How I Chose My Pen Name

My pen name Lady Asma is inspired from a fictional character of the same name from Tariq Ali's Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree. I came across it while i was reading the book. Lady Asma from the book was the young wife of the patriarch of Al-Hudayl family. She was a Christian convert and given the name Asma on her conversion. She received the title 'Lady' because of her marriage to the patriarch; Abdullah was his name as far as i remember. I liked my name mentioned in this Moorish Islamic book. The title 'Lady' is self-proclaimed :)

Sad

One day you come across something and realize that you may look and feel as much of a high schooler as you want but there will always be some things for which you are over-aged and/or short of time. And all the times you wanted to grow up quickly flashes through your mind; all the things you could do but didn’t do or didn’t get a chance. But you’re an adult now… and it’s all grim, downhill from here.    

Born Again

You must have heard the expression “every day is a new life” or something like that but have you ever wondered that might actually be very true? That it is not just a motivational saying? Compare the process of a day with the life cycle of a man. While you are sleeping, this is you in the womb; resting and waiting. Dawn is your queue of going out in the world. You wake up; leave the bed (i.e., the womb) and are cut off from the umbilical cord; which, in this case can be your warm blanket. The time until you reach the place of your routine activities (college, workplace) is the time till preteens while you are figuring out your surroundings, getting used to it, finding new stuff. The time until noon is the teenage. As the day progresses, so does your life and you enter adolescence. Dusk is you turning forty; your energy fully utilized but still you try to make the best of this time before night approaches. And then you feel tired after working all day, wanting rest and peace. In life, that is when you get old. Some don’t sit back even at this time… but then there are so many different kinds of people and we are only sticking to the basics here. And while you are lying on your bed, ready to call it a day, you look back on how your day went, very much like how when you get old you reminisce on your life. And then slowly but surely, sleep (or on the bigger picture, death) takes over and you give yourself over to it gladly.    

  

My City Part 2

Lahore is a changed city. Apart from the changes in time, situation, economy or the infrastructure; there is something else going on within the city’s upper-middle to upper society that has contributed to the change and needs our attention. Consumerism.  

Advertisement channels are flooded with promotions of consumer items luring masses with attractions that are nothing but worthless. My focus here is on three kinds of such items in particular; mobile networks, clothing and eateries. Every other day there is a new package offered from the major mobile networks claiming lowest call rates, fastest internet connectivity and as much as unlimited SMS. Each one of these packages is advertised grandly; and by grandly I mean TV ad every two minutes and on huge billboards all over the city. What’s most disturbing is youth as the target audience of such mobile networks specifically. It’s almost cheap and cunning. 

Flashing beside a mobile network advertisement you see a billboard announcing the launch of a lawn collection. What started as an exclusive thing by a few of the oldest and the most reputable brands like Gul Ahmed and AlKaram is now expanded to a large number of people calling themselves designers; launching crazy expensive volume after volume of lawn collection multiple times during a single season. The same can be said for clothing lines and brands of all kinds. 

And where do you go wearing your ‘branded’ outfits? Well, it’s all settled for. Every other day there is a new fancy restaurant opening with food prices that can make your eyeballs pop out. But the restaurant business thrive and flourish no matter how high they set the prices of their food because eating out is probably the most popular source of entertainment for us modern Lahoris.  

All of this makes you think what’s becoming of us. It’s like two alternate universes; one has a sheer deprivation of energy resources, basic human needs and peace while the other one revolves around how best to blend in and keep up with the rapidly changing trends. The contrast is absurd and random. And we are the pawns in the game of consumerism – glad and oblivious. It’s surprising how we don’t as much as bat a lash before taking out an outrageous amount of money paying for such stuff. Because we are doing as Romans did in Rome.

All around, there is a race of keeping up with the changes. No one minds it. We’re all in it. But this move towards modernity is making us materialistic. This wonderful city is shifting rapidly away from its roots, struggling to find a new identity while making no effort to hold on to or preserve its chastity and originality.  

Meh..

So i came up with this randomly at work while i was thinking about the weekend. Its crude but its a great metaphor :)

A week is like having sex. Weekend is the orgasm. You keep waiting for it, its great when it comes but passes too soon. And then you just look forward to the next one.