I always have had this thing for clouds. And it's not just for Their fluffiness.Maybe It's that texture they've got. I just look at them and feel a soft, silkiness curved inside my palms.
And the delight of it..
The feeling I just crave to explain to someone but I know I never can. And there's an innocence to this fact that I cherish. the satisfaction to have that child-like craving for the mysteries of nature. It's almost exhilarating to know that struggle as I do to lose myself in the rat-race I've chosen to join, there's something deep inside that I've not been able to pervert.
 Clouds..
They're one of those things that make me stop in the way of what I'm doing and just stare in wonder. There may be a world beyond them, there maybe a world within. I've not yet proceeded beyond the mystery of their contours and that's not even the bottom of the staircase. I wonder whether I'll ever climb those steps, from marvel to realization. Not everyone does. Not everyone's destined to decipher the complex encodings of his fate in this temporary life. Yet, not everyone has the blessing of the desire to know conferred upon him. Few people realize how blessed they are to know that there are things for them to understand in their life. A life of ignorance where one simply never finds out the wrongness of his direction is the thing to be feared. A shiver runs down my spine every time my thoughts meander down that lane. Wretched, Doomed to never even know you're wrong.(Shudders) I seek my ALLAH's refuge.
And then, as it happens, all the simple thoughts climb back into the memory attic.
Sometimes I think what I can do with this wonder thing. It gives me pleasure to be lost in its realms purposelessly. There're some things u may be able to clarify with a try, but u simply don't want to. U want some aspects to be left unexplored. Maybe it's the laziness that holds u back. Or maybe ur amazement is just weighed down by the fear of the unknown. I fear that the reality may not be as amazing as I picture in my mind. The world beyond my clouds may be just a flash of light that'll finish it all off. I can spend a lifetime in hoping it's not but may never put forward my hands to lift the curtain. I simply won't and there's never a logical explanation for anything u simply won't do.
Maybe some people live at the rostral end of my marvels, above my clouds. If they do, and if they're like the people I find around me, I hope they never look down. A man above the clouds may look down to find no ground to put his feet upon. No ground to hold him down to the gravity of life. They may look down and find simply clouds- the innocent, silent lot to be trodden down upon. And people like us have the burden of their existence held high above our shoulders. I'd not like that.
I like the clouds with a silver lining. The ones who hide a smiling sunshine peeking from above their shoulders.(Sighs)
Another day, another rainstorm, and my clouds return in full glory. They may never know how many smiles of my life are linked to them in my happy days and they should never know what baseless fears I attribute to their mystery. I hope I'll rise beyond them someday and find the good I wish for.:)

As I was walking between the trees,
I knew I was dreaming for sure. 
Cuz the place where I was standing, 
I had never been there before. 
I wanted to stay there for the rest of my life. 
The beauty of the place had had me mesmerized. 
The green leaves were unusually rich, 
And the dew drop were shining to my eyes.

Suddenly, I realized I could hear 
A stifled voice crying so miserably. 
I followed the sound at that instant, 
Getting concerned very deeply. 
Then I spotted the poor thing. 
So hard to tell what it was. 
Face like an angel, so beautiful, 
But the clothes were as if ripped by jaws, 
The wounded hands bled. 
As i reached out to help it, 
The figure seemed more dead.
I asked who it was and why so 
Sitting in heaven where smiles are showed, 
Why its hands bled and eyes flowed.. 

And then with a trembling voice it said, 
"O Earthling! You know me well, 
I'm PEACE escaped from EARTH, 
Since you made my home hell. 

I ,once, ruled but ,now, I have left
For so much has changed in these times . 
People are now deceivers, cheaters and thieves, 
But i'm too pure to feed on crimes. 
When the sun rises, it lightens the Earth,
Illuminates corpses heaped at every place.

Bullets aimed at the men hit me all the same. 
And I fled for there's blood on Earth's face,
Now, it's war that prevails in heart,
I've been vanished from the view. 

A few were left who wanted me around, 
I knew i had to flee at this cue. 
I cry, missing the helpless earth, 
Where once i used to exist and fly,
But, now, i have to live in this place 
For good beings come to HEAVEN when they die.... 

Strange.

From the lips of a newborn
Which has never been pricked by a thorn
Comes out an innocent wish
A humble longing to cherish
What would keep him intact?
Oblivious of every bitter fact...
He idealizes his existence
With time, he learns persistence.
He thinks he could remain as such
Pure, cute, without an evil touch...
Yes! It's my childhood story
Aspiration to carry the glory
A dream to be milk
Unadulterated, unalloyed, urbane like silk


But now, you have me
Like a cut tree
Like broken pieces of mirror
With shackles around, full of terror
My couch is despair
Now I have grey hair
I couldn't prevent my desire
From wearing a hypocritical attire
O world! Let me scream
For I had a dream
To dream the ideal purity
But now my tears give no surety.


(Syed Ahmad Raza)
(5th position at KELS English Inter-class short story and poem writing competition, 2013)

I hate small talk.
I hate it when people talk about meaning-less things like the weather while the more important conversations lurk deep inside, unsaid.
And I hate the fact that most of the haikus are about autumn.

So heres my try at coming up with a decent haiku.
At times I have followed the 5-7-5 , at times I haven't.

Suicide is too main stream

(Dedicated to all those who thought and are thinking about suicide)





Suicide is too main stream.Yeah.I mean people like me do suicide all the time.Its damn too easy.And way too boring.So lets do something else but of essentially the same nature.Not the old fashioned suicide.I mean what use is jumping from a building or cutting my wrist off?I'll probably make a small news at the last page of a newspaper"King Edward Medical University ke talib ilm ne nakami se dil bardahsta ho kr Khud kushi krli". I mean what use is that?If I am to die,why not make a big head line at the front page?So lets make an alliance.With living and passion.And turn the tables on.Make them commit a suicide with their own hands.Lets live and make it so extraordinary that people envy.And then laugh at their envy because what they really are envying is the absence of suicidal thoughts,

Why not die 90 years later?Yeah!And do everything that falls in the category of Legen -Wait for it -things other people don't even consider being possible -dary.!Why not become the ultimate human being.Or watch my grand children's children grow?(OK,that's a way too optimistic)And here is a good one,Why not sing a Mehdi Hassan ghazal in Rock and shock the world?Bizarre?Exciting?

But the point still remains.Its important to do a suicide once in a while.Yeah!Its inevitable.But the question is,Who should do it?As some psychiatrist who knew me would probably tell you,I am an inch away from split personality disorder.Lesser,I suppose.And I really don't know how many these splits are?. So why not let one of them do a suicide?May be 2?Three sounds good to me!Just take them at the top of Arfa Karim tower and push them.So here we go,three coffins ready.!

Now who to kill?Lets see.You there,yes you!The one who lives the bitter past over and over again.Time's up,mate.You will be dying tonight and I will personally do that.But don't fret about the pain.It will be lesser than the pain you have given to me.Oh,don't cry.I am, not that merciless.You won't be alone.

You will be joined by the one who beats the shit out of me every time I fail.Who tells me how worthless and gutless I am at the slightest possible mistake or incident.Well,I have had enough of you too.Pack up your outgrowths of depression and low self esteem.After tonight,you will rest in peace.

What is that?You two asking who will be joining you in this suicide expedition.You people do value companionship.So now lets see.

Yes,you.You can't get away this time.I know you too well to let you escape or hide.You kept me back all those times when I knew I could have done better.You stopped me from living my life to the fullest by scaring the hell out of me from the imaginary consequences.You never let me dream big and made action more painful than doing nothing.You,fear,are destined for the third coffin.

 .

.

.

.

And the massacre begins! 

By HRK.

Unsa Athar (1st Year)
I was given a piece of advice by a senior recently
"No friendships in professional University. Just professionalism works here. People are fake. So beware"
Okay. So the senior must have had a bad experience. But for me things are different!