“IF I HAD…”
Things would have been different.
The question now is: DO I WANT IT TO BE DIFFERENT??
Maybe. Maybe not.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
IF…
Insanity and Life
Its been almost a whole year and I am still not over my USA year. I still miss my time. I am going crazy. Insane. I wish I could relive it all again. Just once. Please.
I am lucky to have met some of the most beautiful people in the year 2008. I wish I could bring it all back. I wish I could be with them forever. First of all, I had the loveliest Host Parents ever. Ryan and Peggy. My American PARENTS. Even though at times I know I annoyed them but they never said a word. Ryan Dad always took care of me like his own true son. Peggy mom always cooked the most delicious meals and not to forget the mouthwatering Desserts she made. They just had a wonderful family who took me under their wings in an alien land. There is so much about them that even a whole book would not be sufficient.
Then comes Luke Kneeshaw (Homo Gayshaw). The one person I admire more than anyone. I still do not know how a popular ASB president came to be friends with an insignificant Pakistani exchange student. I still don’t know. I remember the first time I met him. Then I remember the night I made him and others run away from our house through the backdoor. That really pissed my host family. But my intention was to not disturb them. All the small mistakes I made in USA were always unintentional and I got to learn a lot from them.
I will not say much about Marcelo because just by thinking about him I get tears in my eyes. Still. That may sound gay but I miss him a lot.
After them comes a long list of people I miss extremely and would do anything to be with them again. Luis, Jenny, Franzi, Teresza, Sara, The Exchange Student Gang, The Hauser Family, The Church Folks, everyone related to the Egerdahls.
I am going insane. And I do not know what is the cure to this malady.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Excruciating Pain
(This poem was my way of getting over some recent events. It didn’t help as expected. But it did lighten the burden. Thanks Osama for the suggestion. Here goes another depressing piece of writing.)
This excruciatingly unbearable Pain.
Makes any sane man go Insane.
Please Be Gone. Be Gone. Be Gone.
Leave me on my own, all Alone.
I try to Hang-On with Patience.
But my body Burns with Abhorrence.
My heart Bleeding. Bleeding. Bleeding.
My Soul Sinking. Sinking. Sinking.
No more Candles of Hope are Lit.
The Agony corrodes me bit by bit.
This Depression Termite eating.
Slowly Consuming. Contusing. Killing…
The Sound Of Death?
(I was going through my drawer when I came across this poem I wrote in Grade 7. I was a much better writer then than now. But I was all “EMO,” haha. All my writings from my past have always been incomplete. This one too. I will not finish them. You can notice that my old writings were more “artificial” than being close to my real life.)
I hear a sound.
Wolf’s Howl?
Or Death’s Horn?
But it soon came around!
Indeed it was death.
To take away my soul.
For Deed’s Toll!
And shut down forever my breath.
I begged for one more day.
To live and love one last time.
To give away things that were mine.
And tell my family that I cannot stay.
(Incomplete)
Saturday, June 5, 2010
God versus Man
“The only biggest difference between God as a Creator and man as a creator is that God does not “lose” Himself in His creation.”
Friday, June 4, 2010
My State of Mind
(When I was talking to my buddy Osama Malik we discussed love and relationships. Only he can understand what this poem actually means and what is veiled behind these words.)
I know it's you
I'm sure it's you
The one I‘ve been waiting for
The one I‘ve been dreaming for
Love? I never believed in.
Fun? All that is to life.
Then How did it happen?
I'm putting my wrist to knife?
Ozzy transformed
Shehroz long gone.
A new being in making.
Old habits breaking.
This new being, a boon?
Only if his heart satiated.
This new being, a bane?
If his love killed and mutilated.
A plague I will become.
My emotions will be numb.
Like a statue deaf and dumb.
For all. Specially for some.
A rising tide
With unbelievable might
None will Oppose me.
None can fight.
Save me. Set me right and neat.
In my making put some sweet.
Or there will be no more beauty.
But only the mighty beast.
Olden Golden Days of Sunshine in the Rainy State
(I wrote this while I was waiting for electrical power to come back. Images of USA life flashed before my eyes. In memory of all the beautiful people I met there.)
Alone. All alone.
In the darkroom.
Thinking over time,
Long passed and gone.
Those days of laughter.
Glittering diamond days.
Eyes full of tears,
During final departure.
I look back with longing.
Those beautiful people,
To be with them,
One final time, once again.
Life moves on fast
Like a horse with wings.
Now I know for sure,
Good times never last.
Friday, April 30, 2010
The Million Dollar Question?
“L.O.V.E is just another word [OZZY] never learnt to pronounce. (Starstrukk by 3OH!3)”
Few days ago, some friends of mine posed the ultimate question: Can Ozzy ever fall in love?
Everyone laughed and replied in the negative. Wow, that is not new. This is not the first time people judge people. And this is definitely not the first time OZfuckin’ZY and “love” and “relationships” have been discussed.
In last few months, something happened. Something unexpected. Something so UNOZZY-ISH. Ozzy fell in love?? Maybe. WHAT? SINCE WHEN? Ozzy himself does not know! It just happened. Happened just like that unheralded.
Yes, “I think” I am in love. In love with someone I have been spending time since October. It happened SLOWLY. But I am still not sure what is the difference between infatuation and love. That is why I am waiting before I take a step further. Plus, I don’t want to risk our friendship so maybe I will never make a move. OZZY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE IS NOT GOING TO MAKE A MOVE? No. Because she is just too innocent, just too simple, just too beautiful to deserve something like “Ozzy.”
I think I should know how to make love to something innocent without leaving my fingerprints out. (Starstrukk by 3OH!3)
Ozzy is changing too. No more flirting. No more playing. Which means that a time will come when Ozzy will CEASE TO EXIST. I have to make a decision after exams immediately. To sacrifice love or to sacrifice Ozzy. The ULTIMATE DECISION!
She is just too precious to lose. And that is why I will wait till the right time comes. For now, EXAMS ARE IMPORTANT for her as well as for me. But YES I am in love and it is the most painfully beautiful experience!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Inside
To Live With Strangers!
And
To Become A Part of Them!
Now I Want To
Live With My
Own Flesh And Blood,
With My Own Kith And Kin!
To "LEARN" To
Live With Them!
And To
Become A Part
Of THEM!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Bombs and Blasts and Blood!
That one blast took it all away
People die mothers cry every moment every day.
It was a city of joy and a city of fun
Now it's a city where most carry a gun.
It was a city of life and a city of lights
Now it's a city of dead and no more delights.
Same is the story of one survival
It cannot be put into words But I won't forget the fable.
Ask me not what this fable was
For he struggled and fought and lost for a mighty good cause.
All he wanted was to bring a change.
None supported him, calling him a fool and his ideology strange.
He still fought and fought bravely.
But the enemy opposed him with violence gravely.
A suicide bomber tried to bring him down. Many died
Miracles happen. He survived.
A second attempt to blow up his car was not foreseen.
His body bloody and only few helpers on the hostile scene.
He survived yet again. God is on the right side.
United we stand but why always we divide?
Dad I love you and will always remain by your side. I am ready to face the gruesome consequences. I am ready to die. For a death on battlefield will be far more sweeter than a death on bed. A death in action will be far more glorious than a silent death. A death for a cause will be far more honorable than a death in vain!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
That Morning and That Gun!
As I leave the house front door one early morning, I can feel the
chilly wetness of the morning breeze on my cheeks. I hang the two shot-guns on my shoulder and step into the SUV. There is nothing more exciting than some serious, adventurous fun. There is nothing like hunting. Hunting not humans but animals.
It is said that like a woman's jewelry, a Pathan man's jewelry is
his gun or sword. And there is nothing more beautiful than a polished, shiny gun. It's beautiful cuts like the muscles of a horse. As you hold it in your hands, it fits in your palms like the reins of a horse and gives a sudden rush of unexplainable energy. You feel powerful. You feel wild.
A gun is not for every commoner. Not many people can cope with the
energy a gun provides and cannot handle the tremendous amount of that energy and thus lose their marbles. They go crazy.
Death of a Love
(This poem shows how complicated a simple love can become. A simple poem composed of simple words since i am no fancy poet.)
My world was dark.
And my life was gloomy.
All the happiness and joy
Went right through me.
Then a light shone far away
A light of hope and happiness
Piercing the darkness
And riding towards me.
As the light halted
A few spaces from me
My eyes squinted
But I could clearly see.
The light was something else
Something non human
Something non worldly
The light was from the angels.
Among the angels all departed
But one stayed behind for me
She was magical, mystical.
The angel was itself beauty.
She showed me the world
She showed me life
She made me her world
She made me her life.
A day came for her to depart
Tears rushed down like rain
Oh the agony and oh the pain
You are the Beat of my heart!
If you leave what will happen to me
Are you going and letting me be?
I never knew angels could be heartless
If you leave my heart will be beat-less.
She replied: I have to leave.
An angel must not love a human.
I brought you hope and beauty.
And just fulfilled my duty.
You are my hope
You are my beauty
You are my life
Why such cruelty?
She left me.
My breath left me.
My soul left me.
My body lay lifeless.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Not Human
If you can squeeze out tears from me. Try it. You will not succeed. For I have a heart of stone and emotions imprisoned.
If you can scare me. Try it. You will not succeed. For I fear nothing and Not even death.
Sometimes I think. I think that I'm not human. I think I have no feelings and no emotions. I think I am a statue with no life! The only difference between me and the statue is that I can move. Which makes me dangerous for the world. I think one day I'll be seen as a plague for humanity. For I'm not human. Not human at all...I think.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Relationships!!! Boon or Bane?
How can two people fall in love just through text messages? How can two people simply fall into a relationship just after knowing each other for a few days and that too through phone calls and text messages? This is not love. This is not what a relationship should start. Relationships are not a game or a toy for two young teenagers to play with! It is supposed to be a life long commitment built brick by brick over a long period of time.
There is no such thing as love at first sight because if there was such a thing, every guy including me then would be falling in love thousand times a day.
I was faced with a situation where I had to decide if it was love or just an immature infatuation between two youngsters. This one girl I knew through texting started getting too close to me and it was ll through text messages. It came to a point that we were almost in a relationship. It was too short a period to be falling in love and too unrealistic a way to get to know each other. And I came to a conclusion that it was definitely not love. Maybe it was my ideology mentioned above or maybe it was that I am already in love with someone else I know for a long time. I am confused. For me, people don't fall in love in a second, it happens over a period of time and no one realizes it. I think I have started realizing that. I am in love with some one else. I am in love with some one I had never imagined. Maybe its not true and maybe this is also infatuation. Maybe this is also an immature crush. But im confused.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Who Am I?
Who am I?
I am the eye that searches for the unknown. The lost.
I am the lips that speak the secrets. The untold.
I am the soul that is trapped, craving for freedom. The imprisoned.
And you still ask me who I am?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Government Gang
My Life???
Monday, August 24, 2009
The Secret Ingredient
Whatever it was, I still have not found the answer. I may never find the answer. But this secret may make go crazy. I am getting insane. How to? How to? How to?
How to beat these people? How to???
Friday, August 14, 2009
Past Memories, Unforgettable!
"Hey, I will call you in a while when I get back home, I think my workers are having fireworks in the rally. Bubye."
I remember when my mom left home and I turned on the television to see a RED ALERT NEWS BULLETIN saying: A bomb blast on the rally of a candidate for elections for Member of National Assembly in the area of Parachinar.
I was thinking it couldnt be. Not possible. We just talked to my dad. His rally was over and they were having fireworks. But then the The News Bulletin said: Bomb blast on the election rally of Dr. Syed Riaz Hussain Shah NA-37.
This was enough to sweep me off my feet. The rest was history. 61 people dead and 232 injured in the Suicide Bom Blast on my father's rally after he was done with his speech. His closest workers were among the martyrs. My dad cried. He cried because he is such a guy who cannot even see an insect dead.
We all mourned for the dead but I remember what happened two weeks later. I still remember:
"Shehroz! Were you asleep? I am so sorry to hear about your dad!"
"What? What happened to him? Must be a mistake my friend."
"No No, turn on the television and watch the news. There was an attack on his life."
"I will talk to you later!"
News Bulletin: A roadside, remote-controlled bomb blew up the SUV of Dr. Syed Riaz Hussain, candidate for Member of National Assembly from NA-37. No further details.
This time I felt like I was dreaming. No one in my family knew about it as it was morning and everyone was busy with their house chores. I call on the cellphone of my father and a voice tells me that the number is powered off. I was shocked, scared, shitty, and could not even cry. I took out the power cable of the television so that no one should see the news. My mom was not home. I call her just to hear her crying because someone had told her already.
"Mamma, I saw the news. It cannot be. It is a lie. It is a mistake."
"Shehroz, then why isn't your father picking up his damn cellphone?"
"Mamma, relax, mamma we need to be careful, he must be busy. I will call his workers and ask them. Mamma, don't cry. Please mamma, I cannot handle this alone. Please mamma, keep it a secret from others till we contatct Baba. Mamma, for me, please stay strong, I am coming for you, stay there. I am coming right now!"
It took us another four hours before we talked to my father who was in the Operation Theatre after the incident. In a caravan of SUVs of my father and his workers plus guards, no one knew in which SUV my father was sitting and yet the enemy had the information. The SUVs in front had passed by the bomb and when my father's SUV approached the spot, someone with a remote control blew up the bomb. My father's guards and driver were severely injured and the SUV became a pile of rubble. They were taken to the hospital. Who could be so merciless to do such a thing to my father who never meant harm to anyone? He never even meant harm to his own enemies!
My father was injured and so were his closest workers. As one worker gave the account, he said "when we reached to the spot and were looking for your father, we saw a body full of blood. The head and face was so bloody that we thought that your father's body got separated from his head and one of the guys started screaming LOOK FOR THE HEAD LOOK FOR THE HEAD!"
Before we could get in touch with my father, people started pouring in our house. All worried. All waiting for the news. Prayers were answered and myf ather survived the second attempt on his life. But those four hours before the phone call from dad were the most difficult moments of my life. My mom crying, my brothers crying.
"I am okay son. I am okay. I am perfectly fine. I will talk to you later, right now I am going to an undisclosed location to rest. I will call you in a while again."
I will never forget that one month full of election excitement and then full of bloody depression. The memory still haunts me! Haunts me every second of my life, yet I can do nothing. You cannot even imagine!!!
When I say I HAVE SEEN THINGS AND I HAVE EXPERIENCED THINGS, I am not lying. All this changed me. Made me stronger, harder and WIERDER. I may have a friendly mask on me but I am different from inside.
Monday, August 3, 2009
The same Moon!
It is funny how some people think this moon is such a romantic object. I thought so too and had so many romantic nights just sitting under it and staring at it.
Then it is funny how you hate and blame everything when you are angry. I was angry that day and I blamed this same moon for a lot of things. But then I saw that there is a lot more to this whole shebang.
This same moon watches over the lovers of the night. But this same moon also watches over the hungry and poor of the dark, the forgotten.
This same moon watches over a baby sleeping in his craddle. But this same moon also watches over the homeless and the sick, the forgotten.
This moon watches over the lush green valleys full of life. But this moon also watches over the dead deserts, craving for for life, the forgotten.
This moon watches over all the things we know. But this moon aslo watches over all the things we forget, THE FORGOTTEN!
When the whole world is asleep and forgets that life has two sides, the good and the bad, this same moon is awake watching over what we forget! This moon is not like us humans that it forgets. We are a flawed creatures and we forget. One day we will oursleves become the FORGOTTEN and then even the moon will close its eyes on us!
The Famous Girly Laugh
"I don't know, it has never happened to me before!"
"Ozzy, you are creeping me out!"
"I never laughed so hard that it became like a girl's laughter!"
"Ozzy, stop it! Its freakin' me out! Your laughing fit is getting scary now!"
"I can't stop!"
"Ozzy, breathe, breathe! HAHAHA, you can't even breathe now!"
Oh I miss those days when I used to have those laughing fits where the final level of my laughter would be to laugh like a girl! It all started a week after I met my twin brother Marcelo. We were both ready to sleep in our beds with lights turned off that Marcelo made a small racist joke. It was a pathetic joke but I started laughing. And after about ten minutes, I reached my final level of laughter and started laughing like a girl. I just could not stop. Marcelo was scared. He got out of his bed and turned on the lights to find me lying upside down on the floor and laughing so hard that my face was red and eyes wet and popping out! He had to slap me to get me back to my senses! And after that my girly laugh became famous in the whole school as well as everywhere else. I would laugh in school, in car, in gym, in pool, on road, in bus...EVERYWHERE!
"Hey just wait, Ozzy is gonna laugh like a girl now!"
Oh only Marcelo could make me laugh like that! No one has ever been able to do that. None of my friends who I knew since birth could do that. Even I never knew that I could laugh so hard. I had never reached the full potential of my laugh to see that it is a GIRLY LAUGH!
Ever since I came back, I have not been able to laugh. THE REAL ACTUAL UNFAKE LAUGH. I have yet to experience that in Pakistan. I wish I could laugh again among all these miseries. I wish I could laugh again like a girl and have the time of my life. I still regret accidently deleting a video in which Marcelo recorded me laughing like a girl. Alas! Those days are gone. I have always been known as the SERIOUS SHEHROZ WHO MINDS HIS OWN BUSINESS. But only my true friends in America knew that THIS SERIOUS SHEHROZ is just a mask. OZZY'S LAUGH MAKES US LAUGH!
That is when it became clear to me that SHEHROZ HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED TO OZZY. And when I came back to Pakistan, OZZY'S EXISTENCE BECAME IMPOSSIBLE.
Marcelo, I wish I had known you my whole life; I would have been such a different person. Marcelo, I wish God had made you my ACTUAL twin brother. Marcelo, I wish you were here right now to make me laugh. I MISS LAUGHING. THE REAL ACTUAL UNFAKE LAUGH. THE GIRLY LAUGH.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
ME ME ME & Friends
"Now you have changed"
"You were better before"
"So wierd"
"Mr. Flirt"
"What happened to you?"
"Hey this is Pakistan now!"
And all I could say to myself was FUCK IT! Yes! Fuck everything! I do not fucking give a shit about anything!
All my friends who I trusted with my life came out to be fake. BLOODY ASSHOLES! I would have given my life for them for I am not afraid of death (if you knew). I am not afraid of death but these fake friends gave me a thousand deaths. If I have changed for them, then don't they even love me to accept me no matter how different I am? Can't they understand that people change? Well, I am what I am and that is enough for me.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
I WISH I WISH I WISH
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Why Bother??
Pakistan is my home and America was just a small fantasy ride. But when I came back, I was all pumped up to bring a change in my area and make a difference. Now I realize that no matter what I do, it won't make a difference at all. Poor people will still sleep hungry, sects would still fight on, government would still steal, prices would still go higher and higher, soldiers would still die and country would still fall further. SO WHY SHOULD I EVEN BOTHER? We heard of Edhi and NGOs and many welfare organizations that do a lot of volunteer work but let us just sit and analyze the whole situation and ask ourselves DID IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?? Did any of those eradicate poverty or brought social changes to our country? I am afraid the answer to this is in the NEGATIVE!
Pakistan was carved out in the year 1946 and its no better than it was then...Countries proceed ahead while Pakistan walks backwards. Every time someone raises his voice to rebel against the system is pushed back and killed or his voice muted!
WELCOME TO PAKISTAN! A MIND-TOORTURING PLACE FOR ME!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
No More The Same!
Now I know how a soldier feels like when he returns home. Now I know how a mother feels like seeing his child after bearing him for nine months. Now I know! Now I know alot of things. More than anyone. I have changed. Changed so much that nothing will be the same again. Never!
I have realized alot and seen alot. I have experienced alot and felt alot. I have seen both sides of the story, the inside and outside of a stone. I had lived inside a stone and always wondered how the outside was. Now I know. Not inside anymore. Things have changed. Nothing will be the same again. Never!
Corporation and Gender
MEN! DO WHAT YOU WERE DOING!
WOMEN! DO WHAT YOU WERE DOING!
Do not mix up your responsibilities in the name of EQUALITY as a Finance Manager cannot be the same as a Marketing Manager because they both are different but equal in status.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Humans
Things have changed. I have attached myself to so many people who I am sure I will never see again. Even if they do promise to come to Pakistan, I do not know if I will be alive to welcome them. Who knows God's strange way of working! I have made friends, fallen in love and had fun and now it is all going to become just a memory. Everything will become just a memory or an internet discussion. I am called a pessimist for thinking like that, but actually I am just being realistic. I have bonded with people here and I have bonded with people from other countries even though I knew and they knew that we would never see each other again. Human nature. Wierd, isn't it? I never expected this. But now I have to survive the pain of letting it all go. I have to endure completely leaving behind my this life and never seeing it again! How will I do that I do not know because I am usually fragile emotionally! I do not express emotions but I burn from inside.
Bye my friends. Good-bye and forget me not, for I will never forget you!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Pakistan Zindabad?
Pakistan created itself out of the dust of an insignificant imagination. It pierced through the impossible and became the possible. And now it is being pushed into the abyss of destruction, the hell of disaster and the fire of doom. Who is to blame? The government or the people? I would blame Muhammad Ali Jinnah for creating a land for these undeserving, useless people who are the fuel for all this trouble and chaos. People blame it on the religious laws or the government policies but seldom would they accept that the fault lies in them. Why not get up and shout against anything that one may feel is worng? Why just sit in front of a television and complain? WHINE WHINE WHINE, that is all we are capable of. Our civilization is old and unique, why have we failed to compete in the world? Are the ideas of Social Darwinism true that one race could be superior to another? If it is, then we have proved inferior to the world and our time is short. Why not rise together and show the world who we are? That will probably not work because you are all busy with your selfish lives in front of your televisions and radios.
I dream of Pakistan as a nation not following some other nation like a pet but a nation of power, might and authority. I feel so small, insignificant and useless to do anything about Pakisatn. I have to wait for now. But I am scared that Pakistan will not survive till I am capable enough to actually do somethng about it. It has reached its critical level when other countries' eyes pop out to take over! America has shown concern over our nuclear power and in near future may attack it with this excuse. Why cannot other countries have nuclear technology and America can? Probably because America wants to stay as the world power but why cannot everyone be equal?
Pakistan is sinking and with it my heart! All Pakistan needs is a Messiah!
Friends?? Where??
Since I came here, I have found out how true my friends were to me all my life. They stabbed me right in the heart so many times that my heart is completely numb now. Who to trust? I am no longer what I was in my school in Pakistan. They all turned their faces away from me. ALL OF THEM! Now, I have to go back and I will again be surrounded by people but will I ever be able to trust anyone enough to befriend him/her? This has surely changed me enought to become cruel and rude. I was always nice to EVERYONE and never selfish but now SHEHROZ has changed. It will not be good for my social life but atleast my heart will be satisfied that I will never be betrayed. If I am bad enough then the friends I will make will not love me because of my position and status but because they would know me deep enough to see why I have become so rude and slefish.
And as for these hypocritical so-called friends, I will show them who I am and make them realize that they have lost my valuable friendship. I would have taken all of them in my boat but now there is only one boat and only one seat for me. I RIDE ALONE NOW!