That Adrenaline Rush Moment

Yes, it was March 15, 2015
the day that changed my life completely.

I hate myself for making decisions instantly, without thinking twice. On March 13, I made a decision to Tandem jump (Sky dive) from a height of 12,000 feet. Never afraid of heights, I just made a little prayer and clicked on the submit request button. My heart was racing when I made this decision, not because I was afraid of dying but the fact that I didn’t tell my parents about it.

The night we landed at Las Vegas (Sin City) I was too much thrilled for this life changing event. At 7.30 a.m. the very next day I left for the shuttle that took me at the center as I said goodbyes to my friends, and just started my journey with the name of Allah. The whole journey to the sky diving center seemed to be quite long. The only thing that encouraged me was that it was going to be the life changing moment for me.

There were only two options, actually three! Either I could die, break my bones or come out as a survivor and daring person and live my life without any regrets.

The moment I reached there, I saw people jumping off the plane and landing safely. There I met a girl just as old as me, in charge of folding the parachutes, so far she attempted 142 successful sky jumps. She was the one who was the real inspiration behind my courage at the moment. She gave me some useful tips and my training began. I was given a jump suit to wear, I was accompanied by one other person from Turkey. My instructor was a jolly good fellow. He just joked and encouraged me all the way to the plane.

The glider was small enough to carry two people at a time. All the way to 12,000 feet I was looking down the plane. The moment it stopped at that altitude, my heart was throbbing so fast, that I could hear my heart beat.

I removed the folds from the exit door and there came this ADRENALINE RUSH moment. Sitting at the edge of the plane I said my PRAYERS

And there I go. WHOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!

For the first few milliseconds, when my face was towards the sky, at that time my mind wasn't thinking of anything ! Everything seemed to come to a complete stop for a moment, but when i turned upside down, that moment when my eyes,nose and mouth could not move, the wind pressure was too high that I can't breath properly, free falling for 33 seconds at that time seemed to me like an infinite time.Can’t be explained in words.

The moment the parachute was opened, I looked up at the bright red color of parachute and said ALLHAMDULLILAH (Thank God)!

Gliding down with parachute and steering it with your own hands was such an amazing moment, seriously!

Almost 8 minutes of this adventure was hell of an experience for me!

The moment I hit the ground, I was so much excited that I could not find words. The Turkish guy just joked and asked me if I would like to do that again? And I screamed YES in excitement.

PHEWWWW ! The moment after that I called my Mom and I think it’s better not a good place to write what happened after that.

But all things apart, I checked off something very daring from my Bucket List. It was truly a

         ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA (Won’t get the life back) moment for me.

Now I can proudly say that

              “There are more number of airplane takeoffs 

                              than landings in my life”

Snow Sledding

It was Monday morning around 5 a.m. when my phone vibrated, I checked the email with my half closed eyes that read "Due to the extreme low temperatures, and the travel issues (roadways, sidewalks, etc.) in our area, I am announcing Murray State University will be closed on Monday" it was an official email for the closure of the school by the president. 

So happy to see this I jumped out of the bed, almost tripping over my roommate's stuff, I opened the blinds a little to see the SNOW! Yes SNOW ! It was the first time I was experiencing this, it seemed like the whole land has put on a white blanket. Everything (cars, trees, buildings) was covered in snow. It looked so beautiful , it was a breath taking scene indeed.

Absorbed completely in the beauty of the nature I soon realized that I had woke up too early.As I was lying on the bed, thinking of the ways to get out in snow, I got a text from my Taiwanese friend, she called me immediately to come near the hill to have some fun! I instantly jumped out of the bed and went to where everyone was snow sledding down a little hill. As this was my first time ever I couldn't even think of doing that but after observing 2 little girls of about 4 years of age taking a slide down the hill, I was quite motivated. I asked one of the person to lend me something for a slide. The only thing he had was a cover of a plastic bucket. Mustering up some courage I just took God's name as my heart skipped a beat while I was about to take off (take down). And there I went with a smooth landing. So proud of myself I took another turn and this time was even more fun as all the fear vanished.

Then one of my friend brought a garbage bag, and told me to sit in that and take a slide. This was very scary and fun at the same time. 3 of us use to sit in a single bag and after holding hands with each other went all the way down the hill. That is what we called a GROUP SLIDE. This was really fun as whenever a single person loses the balance, everybody loses their balance and fell down on each other with a CRASH LANDING.

I took almost 32 slides that day (Whoa!) trying different things like cardboard box, pizza box, garbage bags, large Frisbee, plastic covers etc. This was the best ever day of my life.
The next day we continued the fun with a snow fight, as the school was off for the rest of the week. Aiming at each other for a perfect hit, making larger balls than before to hit each other was too much fun. Making a snow angel, planning and plotting against a person to make him all covered in snow with a GROUP ATTACK.

Hands numb, legs numb, face numb. But how can we forget making a snowman? We had a snow man building competition and guess what? My team won! Making snowman is not easy especially when there are lots of people who are throwing snowballs to damage your snowman.

I had never came across a term like SNOW SLEDDING before! but trust me that thing just changed my life. It was the most daring thing that I did in my life till now.

Perhaps, the nature has different plans for me !

Murray-The Friendliest Small Town

A country that every person dreams of to visit! Some people calls it Amreeeka (Desi Accent) while others call it America (English Accent) .In short a whole world in itself.

The first day I came to Nashville after attending a superb workshop in DC (Cheers toIREX staff!) a girl (student worker) about 2 or 3 years elder than me was holding board saying "Murray State University". So happy to see that I instantly jumped and said "Hi" to her. She welcome all of us warmly. When going towards the parking lot where her car was parked, she asked me to give my backpack (It was really heavy) and carryon to her. At first I didn't understand why was she asking for it? But as soon as she got hold of it she started walking towards her car carrying all the weight herself. God! I was literally awestruck. Couldn't find words to thank her. Moved by such a kind act and not ready to receive another shock tonight, we approached Murray ,as soon as I reached the host institute my host advisor welcomed me with a big smile and hugged me.

                   One arm distance was the first thing that came to my mind at that time

Now, as I was having heavy bags, the same thing happened to me again, she took my bags and helped me to move them inside the residential college before I could utter even a single word. I was so impressed by their kindness and helping nature. I never saw such an elderly, respected, and woman of such a status doing that. Inside she helped me fill out some forms and then she left us with a middle aged person who was wearing a cap. My room was on the top floor and no elevators were there to move my more than 100 lbs. bags. The guy just told me to go upstairs, check the room and relax. "The bags will reach at your doorstep in a while", he said. Leaving my bags all alone in a new place was a scary thought, but somehow I mustered up the courage and left to check the room. After 10 minutes I got curious and just started to descend the stairs to check on my bags, I saw that guy panting and pushing my bags up the stairs all by himself. Embarrassed and thankful, I don't know what feeling was it actually as soon he told me that he is also an international advisor at Murray State University. I just can't explain that how much respect I developed for him and other people who I met in the past 5 hours.

Then that advisor just told us that some student worker is going to take us to Walmart for buying necessary stuff. The student worker took us there but despite of him being off duty (student hours for the day finished) he came back to pick us up and took us to MacDonald's for dinner in his own personal car. He had hardly met us, barely known us, no responsibility, no accountability for leaving us there but by his generosity and kindness, he gave us ride so we don't make any bad memories of the people out here and the way they treat us.

                 No doubt why Murray was voted as the friendliest small town in America.

From U.S Diaries

Murray State University (MSU) is located in a small town of Murray, Kentucky. It is almost 120 miles from nearest International airport i.e. Nashville. I was selected as an exchange student for one semester to study at MSU. Studying in USA and especially affiliated with an institute like MSU was a dream come true.

All the way from Nashville to Murray I was amazed to see the beauty of the country side. Little nervous of how people will react to the international students especially when you are not a good English speaker but all my nervousness just vanished after I was warmly welcomed at Murray State. It was too cold for me as it was start of the year and I was not used to such type of weather. The dorm which was temporarily given to me was quite nice, warm and clean place. The people I met during my first few days before the start of the college, were the friendliest people I ever met. It is rightly said that the

                    "First Impression is The Last Impression"

             I was already impressed by the hospitality of the student workers but when I saw the campus, I was too much amazed; the beautiful lawns, nice and big residential colleges, amazing libraries, well equipped labs, and classrooms were the real assets of the university. The dormitory system was very nice. It was close to the main campus and all the basic facilities. During my stay I lived in one of the nicest residential college. All the dorms had an excellent system. The residential staff was always there to help you. There were kitchens too in which we used to cook according to our own taste. I remember me and my friends cooking till 4 a.m. Playing pool and ping pong till my feet started to hurt and playing movies and songs to accompany all that. Sometimes taking crazy pictures and doing crazy stuff to make each and every second of our stay worth it.

 All the basic necessities like banks, grocery shops, and fast food restaurants were just a mile away from the campus, which made it very convenient for international students like me to go for a change of taste or to buy things at any time of the day or night.

 One thing I particularly loved about the university was that it had an excellent faculty and wide range of majors to choose from. The teachers are extremely supportive and ready to help you under all the circumstances. The course outline are well defined and everything is organized. Whenever there is some problem regarding academics or non-academics, the international students’ office is very efficient in solving those problems.

The dining halls had a variety of food to offer for all type of eaters. It had menu for Vegans, Vegetarians, and Non-vegetarians. The biggest treat for me was that it had special international food every day, representing different countries. The dining hall was a very nice place to socialize. I spent most of the time there with my friends. And believe me, half of the friends I made were on those dining tables that I will never forget.

The snow days were real fun. The management of MSU was very concerned and extremely supportive, the campus was closed for the student safety for almost 2 weeks during my stay. These sudden holidays were a blessing in disguise for me. So I along with my friends went for snow sledding, made snow man and snow angels and played all day and night in snow. At MSU I participated in almost all the major events, like Holi (Event of Colors) was quite fun. I also attended one of the traditional event at MSU i.e. All Campus Sing; the sororities and fraternities danced and sang the whole day. Which was one of the most memorable days of my life. Visiting Wrather’s Museum, which represented quite a lot of history was the real big asset for foreigners like me to learn. In short Murray State never failed to impress me.

            Never will those days come back, especially the time I spent on and off the campus, the meals I had, the fun I had in sun and snow, the exam days, the late night hangouts, movies, trips, gossips, breakfasts and dinners, but this has given me a whole new chapter for the book of my life.       

I am extremely thankful to MSU who provided me with this opportunity to explore a new dimension of life and most importantly meet new people and make friends with them, not only with the natives but also people from different countries. Now I can proudly say that I have international friends and a whole lot of new destinations to explore. This has changed my perception completely, I learned a lot about the world and the people that live in it. And trust me I started to think differently since I came back.

Goodbyes are never easy!

          The tears started rolling out of my eyes and I could not stop them. The day finally arrived when I had to leave such an awesome place. I cried and cried and cried till I reached the airport. I swear I never cried like that before but, I don’t know why was I crying? After all, I was going to my dear homeland Pakistan after 5 months. But that place was so magical that I can’t help it.

 I promise I didn’t buy even a single thing for myself, because I knew I was taking all those memories with me, which will remain with me to cherish forever, till the day I die.

     "You get a strange feeling when you leave a place, 

     like you will not only miss the people you love,

   but you miss the person you are at this time and place

                                     because you know that you will 
                                       never be this way ever again"

In the Pursuit of Happiness

5 years back I happened to watch a movie named "LIFE MA KABHI KABHI” It is a 2007 Bollywood film, directed by Vikram Bhatt. It was released on 13 April 2007. Produced by Baba Films banner movie.
The main plot revolves around 5 characters that got drunk on the last day of college and place a bet among them of total Rs.200 each claiming to be happiest in their life. They decided to meet at the same place after 5 years. One of the friends said happiness means success. He became the best entrepreneur of the country. Second one thought happiness means power. He became the youngest member of the Parliament. Third one said happiness means fame. She became a leading actress. Another friend thought happiness means money. She married a business tycoon. Last one was not a part of the bet. He wanted plain happiness, which he thought comes by itself. He kept the bet amount with himself, and was to judge the winner after five years.

Success

Does happiness really means success? Then are all the successful entrepreneurs, business man really happy ? Can someone be more successful than Michael Jackson “The king of pop”? Why did he take pills for anti-anxiety? He died because of the excess of these pills too as said by the sources.
All the successful people have threats to their life .They make their journey by crushing many people. As the number of zeroes in the account increases the responsibilities also increases.

Power

Does power is the only thing needed for happiness? Does all the powerful men and countries contented with their life? Then why does superpower like U.S.A not happy with the current circumstances? Why does the thirst of Power keep increasing? Do you really think all the powerful men such as politicians are happy? Don’t they just keep on insulting the inferiors now and then, in order to make themselves most powerful! But alas! They forget they can’t be more powerful then God Almighty! By being powerful they can bring changes in the country! And some sincerely tries to but unfortunately still such countries are in debt. The people are dying from hunger, thirst lack of shelter but they are busy filling their pockets. This makes me remember a Hollywood movie (Mirror Mirror) based on Snow White! In which the people are starving and the Queen is busy arranging parties from the taxes collected from the poor people.
I recently came to know that when Angelina Jolie visited Pakistan for funds for the flood victims, she was given a great leisure dinner in Prime Minister’s house, and when she returned she gave an interview saying that I couldn’t believe that I visited a country that is under such a great debt. She said that she felt awful at that time to see so much food at the table, be sufficient for hundreds of flood victims who were fighting like crazy to get a small bag of flour and a small bottle of water.
She was not at ease when she saw the interior of the lavish Prime Minister house and some of the government buildings and the chartered planes and other such luxuries, when there was so much misery outside.

In her report to the United Nations, she has recommended UN to ask Pakistani government to first cut down on its expenses and luxuries before asking the aid from the world.
Imagine that!
No one can be more powerful than the Mughals. But they were thrown out by the Britishers. Their power can’t save them. Bahadur-Shah-Zafar the Mughal emperor died in prison despite of being a powerful man, the emperor of the Sub-Continent. During his prison he wrote many poems of sadness.

Fame

Famous people as I said like the politicians, singers, actors are all suffering lack of happiness. They all are searching for the happiness. As I earlier mentioned about MJ's reason of death. Don’t you think that people also wants some relief from the fan following the receive on going anywhere. Don’t you think their children want to be like normal people in the same places where we go? Same way the ordinary children spends a day out with their parents. They also want to enjoy the ice-cream by running and hoping on the streets! Seriously if they don’t want that they are missing the most beautiful and memorable times of their life. Chief Justice of Pakistan “Iftikhar Chaudhry” once said that, his children also want to go to the public parks with their dad but unfortunately due to the safety purposes and the fan following they can’t enjoy the freedom and happiness as the same way the ordinary people do. How sad!

Money

‘Money Money’ isn’t it the only thing needed for happiness; well the answer is simply no! Nowadays money is considered everything but it can’t buy you happiness. Can money buy you people with loving heart? They can only buy you people who can serve you all day long but they can’t love you like your parents, family, friends and relatives. Money can buy you a pizza but not give you the same happiness when you fight for the last slice of Pizza among your friends. It can’t give your life back or give you moments to cherish when you feel lonely. Money can’t be everything. The inner peace and satisfaction can’t be bought with happiness no matter how rich you are. I bet that all the billionaires and millionaires are not happy at all from the inside!

Quest for Happiness

Then from where does the happiness come by? The answer is simple; it comes by itself.

Once a university professor challenged his students with this question. Did God create everything that exists? A student bravely replied, "Yes, he did!"

"God created everything? The professor asked.

"Yes sir", the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are then God is evil". The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor was quite pleased with him and boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question professor?"

"Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat."

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

It is supposed that the young man was - Albert Einstein

Similarly, HAPPINESS IS JUST THE ABSENCE OF SADNESS!

Our life is all about searching the happiness; we all work to gather happiness. Everyone works for getting happiness of their part but they forget it is not just Money, Fame, Power and Success that makes a man happy. It’s the love and peace which the man forgets to attain. I guess everyone is running behind Money, Fame, Power and Success in order to achieve happiness for their life. The man has forgotten the real source of happiness. This is the love to its country men and creating peace around the world. Just making the sadness disappear from this world will make it a happy and contented place to live in.

Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) said that even smiling is a way of charity.

Just spreading happiness is the way to get out of many problems of this world.

But the choice is yours! Who do you want to be the winner of the Bet?

Don’t forget to include your choice in the comments!

The blog is open for all the criticism and comments.

References: wikipedia , quotes , Alaiwah

Living on the Moon

Have you ever imagined a life on the moon ? Well the citizens of Pakistan are very lucky to make their mark by living on the moon ! but How ?

                        "Hayee  Light phr sa gai ?" ("Oh God the electricity's gone again ?") 

this is the most common dialogue observed among the citizens of Pakistan nowadays.

        The present condition of Electricity is just terrible ! There is a load shedding of 16-20 hours in city and even worse conditions in the villages.With the increase in temperature in all over the country the duration of load shedding has also increased.

       Imagine a life without no Fans/Air-conditioners, no Water , no Gas. Its just like living on the Moon with the additional feature of gravity.

       Unfortunately the so called leaders of the country only show their sympathies with the nation. They arrange conferences, have table talks but it bears no fruitful output. The citizens of the country are therefore forced to protest which in return just gives misery to the poor people. Few young protesters destroy the property of their own country without knowledge of its outcome. As a result the government imposes more taxes and it worsens the situation.

        Where the hell is electricity gone ? it was there few years ago ? it looks like someone just robbed it from the power cables ! No one ever gives the satisfactory answer !
Few says its just found in the Villas and palaces of the politicians , few says its just found in the government buildings , blah blah !

        But the major issue is the non-building of the dams to save the precious water. The reasons are many , but mainly it is just a political issue. There are many rich people , business tycoons all over the country who can give funds and plus this is my personal opinion that no one will ever deny to give funds if the government try to build the dams. But the government is stubborn and busy filling in their own pockets just as the previous one did.

        Where have all the policies , the vows , the pledges gone? To be honest no one is interested in the amendments in the constitution which is so-called the biggest achievement of the government so far.The people here are just interested to satisfy their own hunger. Their is no food to be found ! The prices are rising day by day. The poor cant even think of eating meat and chicken. The basic necessities are vanished. Everyone just desires to get the

       
                                                               LAMP OF ALADDIN

         The increasing terrorism attacks and all the suicide bombings have made the life hell. No one wants their loved ones to be in danger.It is said the biggest strength of the country is education. How can one even think of getting it when the target of terrorist are the school vans and girls schools/colleges. Students don't get justice in education. No one can assure that their children will come safely back to home after getting education.

         But still loving such a country and hoping the situation will be better one day ? Can you imagine ? Who are these people ?

Well yes these are the citizens of Pakistan called

                                                              "THE PAKISTANIS"

             They love their homeland despite all the conditions.

Now one who don't believe this please visit PAKISTAN ! and you will get to know how
LIVING ON THE MOON feels like.