Life has got some strange ways and if I’m not overstating, interesting ways of testing your mettle. One moment you would be doing the rounds of heaven; with peace descending in, the environment dissolving your materialistic entity into effervescence untraceable and the other, grim reality suddenly smashes into your face without any embellishments.

Each morning, you begin with a new resolve of upstaging your admirable opponent, only to realize the irony at the fall of the day: your fate is at his disposal. At times, you are clueless and are made to laugh at your gullibility; why in the first place  you entered this ordeal. And to top all of this , your opponent never falls short of means. To give a face to means is not a very difficult task. It could be in the form of your neighbour, the ever spilling shopkeeper, the least concerned colleague or your very personal relatives; well past the saleablity date. Don’t feel intimidated by the long listing. The deal comes with an assurance; it would be one after another (Unless otherwise you are the chosen ill-fated). But your admirable opponent has its own ways. At the end of the day, with the final verdict against you: the tormented, the exploited, the disabled: it plays its master stroke. It takes umbrage in one of its many means and assumes the role of cherisher. The defeated gets up praising the divinity, yearning for the fresh beginning. Never does he realize for once, that the tarmac was purposefully laid and he is forced to act upon. Job accomplished: as you traversed the travesties and tasted the potion of hope and belief, it flashes a wry smile.

A gesture which does everything but disown. Yes, it signals the dreadful arrival of the night but along come the cool tidings of a soul resurrected in somber sleep. Its resonance a prelude to the vibrance of a sunbathed morning.  

Qazi Saad