Eid update !

Boy was it a hectic eid ! Even though we did n't go out much, cleaning up and managing the meat was a pretty tiring ordeal.Not much for me, but more so for my mom since she had to clean, organize and make packs of around 6o - 80 kgs of meat to be given to the needy in town and also make bigger packages to be sent to some poverty ridden suburbs of Karachi where there is a lot of poverty and people cant afford to buy meat.We retained some of the meat for our own consumption and did a BBQ on the second and third day of Eid.And this BBQ was special because I did it pretty much on my own (For the first time ever :)) Check my previous post Festivity and Celebrations for more info on Eid

This eid is mostly about the sacrifice, sacrificing an animal (goat,sheep,cow,lamb etc) .In the cities people just buy an animal few days before eid while in the rural areas where people mostly have farm and farm animals,a reared animal is sacrificed.Its a sacrifice and not just slaughtering because one tends to develop an emotional attachment with that animal overtime, but then, due to God's order one has to sacrifice it.And this sacrifice is the entire concept of this eid.It teaches one to put one's personal love and desires aside for the greater interest of the mankind ( as the meat is mostly given to the poor and needy).

Festivity !

Its Eid day today.The last eid I posted about , a few months back, was Eid ul Fitr, which is to celebrate the completion of the month of Ramdan.This eid, Eid ul Azha is celebrated as the Hajj is completed.Hajj is the muslim annual pilgrimage to Makkah and consists of a set of rituals to perform in accordance with with Allah's ( God's ) orders. On this Eid muslims are supposed to sacrifice an animal (cow,lamb,sheep,goat,or camel) in the remembrance of Prophet Abraham's exemplary act of dedication to God.When he was ordered by God to sacrifice prophet Ismail,his son, in God's name, prophet Abraham and Ismail both showed their obedience to Allah by agreeing to the act. But just when Prophet Abraham raised the knife, prophet Ismail was spared by god and a lamb took his place.This was a test by God for both the father and the son who not only passed the test (obviously !) but also left a great example of loyalty to God.So in remembrance of that grand example of patience and devotion, muslims all around the world perform the sacrifice, and distribute the meat among the poor and needy.After that is the usual festivity and everyone wishes eid to everyone else and people go and their meet their relatives etc.. I'll be updating my activities of Eid day soon :)

The past two to three days have been very hectic, because not only was there my elective to manage, but also eid preparations, some reasearch work I'm doing, and to top all that was my friend Rita's sister's wedding (hehe sounds complicated does n't it ?) .I was more than excited about the wedding because not only were all my friends going to be there but also it was to be the first time I'd attend a Hindu wedding.I just love getting to see and experience different cultures and different religious rituals, and what better event can there be to do that than a wedding.I believe weddings can tell you a lot about the culture, and that proved to be right yesterday ! It was a whole new experience and pretty intriguing too..The wedding was pretty different from the traditional muslim Pakistani wedding. They had a fire around which the couple had to move 4 times, thrice with the bride in front of the groom and in the last round with the groom ahead.All this time the hands of the groom and the bride were tied and the brides face was covered . The wedding arrangement was distinct too, with there being a central square area, on the four corners of which there were pots mounted and in the centre was the fire for the couple to go around. There were to be more rituals after the round but I had to leave since it was getting late.But it was a lot of fun to witness something new for the first time.

The circumduction around the fire .


My best wishes to the bride and groom !

okay so here's a song by Shiraz Uppal, one of my favourite singers, even though he proves in this music video that he clearly is'nt a good actor.At times the scenes just seem more funny than romantic.But overall its a very good song to listen too.Light and pleasant to the ears with nice lyrics.Enjoy !

Reflections

We just got to know that our vacations have been extended for two more weeks ! So yeah I'm more than happy at the feeling of having a lot of time to spend on everything I've been craving to do.Currently I'm doing an elective in the neurology department at the Civil Hospital Karachi.A public sector hospital. All I have to do there is be with the doctors as they examine the patients and take their history.
Its all very basic at this stage as we're still in the very early stages of learning but the doctors there are very cooperative,they make sure they involve the students in every step of the diagnostic procedure.Its a great experience, I am learning a lot.Its a two weeks long elective and I'm thinking of applying at some other ward for the upcoming two weeks , its better than sitting at home doing nothing !.My best friend Uzma is doing her elective at the cardiac surgery department, she's very much into cardiology and I guess is enjoying the elective more than anyone in her department..I just hope she turns into a cardiac surgeon one day and proves her mettel ! All the best for that Uzma :)

Other than that Eid ul Azha is just around the corner (Saturday)..I'll be posting the details on it in my upcoming posts Inshallah ( God willing).Till then.. Chao !

Papa- Master of disaster !

The broken cookie jar !

Being around Papa (Dad) is never safe .He has this extreme innate tendency to cause destruction around him. 99% of the broken crockery at our home has been a direct result of Papa doing nothing.Yeah I typed that right, nothing !. He is just a little careless with his movements.One simple hand motion and there goes the glass on the floor, shattered into a million pieces of nothing but insignificant remains of a perfect piece of crockery that fell victim to papa's carelessness :)..Just yesterday he came home from his clinic and extended his hand to hang the keys when he somehow struck the cookie jar ! It was a pretty jar with clown faces on it !.My mom was particularly very upset because it was rather new and very handy..But thats just the usual routine, something breaks, my mom gets upset, papa gives a sheepish a smile, I just laugh, mom tries to complain and laugh at the same time, her dissappointment cum laughing look makes us laugh even more, and then we make papa leave the destruction scene to clean up before he wrecks something else :)

Aah the ghosts are gonna get me !!!

Well first of all I'm in the happiest of moods this season.My practical exams are over too and so this marks the end of two years of studying basic medical sciences.Plus we have a months vacation before we start our third year !!!

Anyways there's this interesting incident I've been wanting to share for the past week.A few days ago while I was in my room studying for my physiology test I heard my mom call me from her room across the lounge in a somewhat panicky voice.She was looking out of the window, calling for me and saying something about someone being ill.But before I could reach her she rushed towards me and said that the security guard of the property in front of ours had fallen of his chairs and was having some kind of tremors.She was cleaning the windows when she suddenly saw him fall off .He was on duty with just one other guard who just stood beside him with no idea what to do, he was obviously too startled by what had just happened.Then mom looked at me and said "I think you should go tell the guard to get him to the hospital and see if you can do something to help him in the meantime,you're a medical student they listen to you !". Okay, I know I'm a med student and people expect a lot from me but truly speaking I haven't even passed my second year yet and have no past experience in dealing with emergency situations on a practical level.Reading about emergency management is one thing but doing it is another.But nevertheless I rushed out of the house towards him across the road while making up the multiple possible diagnosis and first aids in mind.By the time I reached the spot there were many people gathered around him and he had almost normalised by then, he did seem a little dazed but the tremors had gone.I asked him how he was and he just looked at me.The other guard told me "Isko mirgi hai bajji' (he has epilepsy)

After that there was nothing much I could do but I asked him again if he needed something but before he could respond I heard someone calling my name from a distance, when I turned I saw a few housemaids from the adjacent homes all gathered togethor on the other side of the road at the corner,the one who had called me had once worked at our home and hence knew my name.I thought she was calling me because my mom had asked her to from the window or something I gestured her to wait. I turned to the guard again but before I could ask him or hear his interrupted response one of the men among the people gathered around him (the house maid's husband) looked towards me and went " go child go,you should go" he did n't seem to like my standing there and wanted me to leave asap.I just said "I hope you're better to the man" and rushed back to the maid to listen what all the rush was about.What I heard from her was the most shocking and annoying thing I could hear in that situation.

" You should n't have gone there, young girls dont go near people who're having seizures, who knows he might just have spirits on him, what if they got you ?"

These housemaid's usually come from rural areas to live in the city and make a living.They have minimal education and can barely read and write.Ofcourse with illiteracy comes a lack of awareness a whole lot of taboos,superstitions and false made up stories about logical things which they fail to understand.It took me a few seconds to register what she had just said, but thank god I was quick enough to say " those are all stories ! , he has epilepsy and besides ghosts and witches dont exist"(in a stern voice) ..I must say it took me a lot of self control to hide my annoyance.I mean there's a man who was seizing and needed help and here across the street were standing four ladies making up ghost stories !!!!

Even though my initial response was shock it soon turned to pity for those woman, may god help them and the other women with her to differentiate fact from superstitions !

The bitter sweet lollipop !

Wow it feels so good to be writing a post after such a long time.Its been ages since I last posted anything , well not exactly ages but the past two weeks did seem like an eternity to me.My life went all stagnant and boring,every thing was at a stand still, I just couldn't have written anything even if I would have tried to publish anything on my blog.The main reason for this was none other than my fourth semester exams.

As might have been evident from my previous posts, I just hate exams, I hate the feeling of being examined and I just hate the whole idea of having my entire semester's worth of hardwork judged and graded within a painful fraction of two hours. Its just the state of mind you are in within those two hours that determines your GPA for the entire semester.How unfair!.But anyways thats the way life is and I'm happy that I'm over with the theoretical part of exams.Our OSPES (Objective structured practical exams) start next week. Two of the three thoretical exams I took went really well but I cant say about the third one, Human anatomy i.e. But I'm hoping and praying that I get a good GPA.I worked really hard this semester.There were times in these two weeks when I spent 13 hours of the day studying !!.Glued to my chair with a pile of books in front of me and an endless list of tasks to be completed the only thought that made me go on was 'hard work bears fruit'.

I know I'll have to go through a lot in life to achieve my dreams and make my mark in the field of medicine,being a doctor is just one of the dreams I had.I joke with my mom that I'm licking a lollipop thats really bitter but has a candy filling deep down inside, all I 've gotta do is lick away the bitterness :)

Heres's what I have pasted in front of my desk, it surely gives me the inspiration I need in life

"For some sky is the limit but for some its just the very beggining"