Song

Song sung blue
Everybody knows one
Song sung blue
Every garden grows one

Me and you are subject to the blues now and then
But when you take the blues and make a song
You sing them out again
Sing them out again

Song sung blue
Weeping like a willow
Song sung blue
Sleeping on my pillow

Funny thing, but you can sing it with a cry in your voice
And before you know, start to feeling good
You simply got no choice

Song sung blue
Everybody knows one
Song sung blue
Every garden grows one

Ever?

Have we come this far
To have gone astray
I’ve been lost before
But not lost this way
You and me, thought we’d be, evermore

Do I know you
Did I ever
Thought I did
Now I know better
Saw the signs but not the danger
How’d you get to be a stranger at my door

Promises got left behind and reason fell between the lines
The words unsaid, we should have spoken
Both mislead and left us broken evermore

Have we said, it all
Is there more, to say
Thought we paid our dues
Is there more to pay
What’s to be, of you and me, evermore

Was it love or just illusion
All I see is our confusion
Came upon us, unsuspecting
Here we are reflecting on the last of it

If you think, of me, in a year, or two
Find that photograph, showin’ me with you
What you see, is what should be, evermore

Why, tell me why, don’t know why, oh why
Where’s the truth we took for granted
Walking out ‘s not how we planned it
Played it loose but stayed together
Thought we had the truth, but never knew the score

If it’s done for now, and it’s time to go
There’s one thing unsaid, thought you’d want to know
Love you still, guess I will, evermore
Love you still, yes I will, evermore

Human Show

A highly glamourised Cat Show is soon to be held. While I am aware that such shows are a global phenomena and have been a part of our lives since we can remember. However, has anyone ever stopped to think that it is a highly derogatory concept that allows living beings to treated as objects.

The concept of this particular show is on the lines of: “Flaunt your catty companions”; with all due respect, if they are companions, cats (or any other animal for that matter) should not be considered as a Gucci watch or an LV bag that is to be flaunted. They are a life form, who choose to be with us humans if we are kind to them.

A supposed Cat Lovers Society is said to be collaborating for the event; if there is indeed a Cat Lovers Society in our country, they should be helping stray, homeless, orphaned animals. We are in dire need of shelters for strays. How dare we kill stray animals in the same country where the so called pure breds are treated as royalty and a beauty pageant held in their honor. Is this not an elitist attitude?

How can us humans call ourselves “owners” of animals? They are our companions, our family. We can be owners of objects that we may have purchased but just because we buy animals doesn’t make us their owners. They have equal rights to choose between living with us or on their own. Secondly what are we preaching? One can only be proud if one has a pure bred animal? So if humans marry inter race/ inter religion, we should not be respected as well?

In the organizer’s ad, there is mention of terms like “epitome of purrfection” and “flaunt worthy feline” that project living beings in a manner no lady of respect would like to be addressed as.

This very concept of an animal show is insulting and as educated people we need to find intellectual ways of using our minds. Such shows do not separate us from the villagers enjoying a cock fight.

World Animal Day 2010

To catch a glimpse of what’s being done in just Asia with regards to commemoration of World Animal Day, you can click anywhere on the pink font

Sadly, a large number of countries are not even mentioned here. My question is, aren’t all of us around the globe sharing space with animals? It is not possible for any human (living outside a prison cell) to not have interaction with atleast one animal everyday. So why is it so easy to ignore the very existence of those who have equal right on this planet as us?

Is it because they can’t communicate to us or the fact that they don’t even know they have a right on this planet?

Each time us humans choose to cut down trees, these animals become homeless. Have we ever thought before cutting a tree that a bird might have its nest where its feeding is babies? We are all walking talking mafia dons when we act in this manner. We destroy homes and families of living beings because we believe them to be “inconvenient”.

We humans choose to exercise our right on this planet 364 days a year. Let’s start with giving one day to animals and be humane for a change.

Being humane vs human

Being humane

We share this planet with other living beings but being humans, only we can create paths to co-exist. Yet we choose to impose our liberty and a sort of ownership towards this planet.

Unfortunately, we cut down trees to make homes for ourselves. Do we realize how deforestation has not just left a large number of wildlife homeless but their very existence is becoming extremely difficult. How can we sleep in our beds in those very homes that have left others homeless?

Living in the suburbs somehow becomes an indication that humans have the right to trim bushes and tree branches to unnatural shapes and then show them off. How would we feel if those plants had the power to trim our bodies to look like what appealed to them?

And then the domestic animals most of us encounter in everyday lives…what makes us believe that this world belongs only to us? If a cat makes our staircase dirty in an emergency call of nature most people react with the plan of grabbing it and getting it removed or poisoning it…would we do the same if it were a human? Then why is it so easy to believe that animals have no rights on the space we share with them?

Its common practice to hit dogs with stones, simply because we are scared of being bitten by them. They too are scared of us and I’m sure more dogs have seen humans harm their species than humans have seen dogs bite their species.

Owners of donkey and horse carts cant even regard those poor animals though they are the very source of income for humans. Illiteracy is not an excuse for being stone hearted.

So from today, I stop being called a human because I am ashamed of what this species does to the ones who have equal rights on this planet. I am humane and proud of it.

If you open your heart to animals, you will be able to hear them speak to you and if you open your mind to them, you will be able to understand when they look at you.

True Survivor

This is Maano (maa-no); which is a loving way to address a cat in Urdu. Someone dropped her and her 2 week old kittens at our doorstep a couple of months ago.

While our naughty cats didnt let her in, we’ve been feeding Maano since then. She developed an infection that lead to a major wound in her back. With her living outdoors, flies were unavoidable and thus caused major harm to the wound.

We took Maano to the vet who took great care of her. Its been more than 2 weeks that Maano is living in a separate room on the second floor where she loves to chat with other cats. She loves to have conversations with humans and will always have the last word.

Her wound is healing but its still deep and medication continues.

Finding her kittens and taking them to her was quite a mission! If we found one, the other would run away. But now the family is complete and enjoying their vacation. They love to watch the rain pour down and I just love to watch them be.

If you would like to take part in helping Maano and her children, feel free to message. Serve Animals is a love chain that aims to help animals in need till the end of time; you can be a link to this chain if you want. God bless you with many reasons to purr your life away!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13935649455&ref=ts#!/group.php?gid=13935649455″>

Serve Animals

“These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Her five-year mission: To explore strange new worlds, seek out new life, new civilisations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!”

Those who are blessed with pets can relate to the meaning and joy they add to your life. I was blessed with a cat when I was in my early teens. When she came to my life, I wasn’t even sure of how to take care of her but time not just taught me to take care of her but appreciate the bliss of her presence in my life.

By God’s grace and the support of my family, I’ve been able to bring home strays for the past 15 years, take care of them and be blessed by their love.

While I’ve been managing my kitty haven all these years, I was severely disappointed when I asked an animal welfare organization for some help with a stray cat and didn’t get the quick action needed. While I managed to take the stray to a vet and get her the required medication, I realized that with my hands full with 10 cats (including four newborns) and 3 of the stray family, I will no longer be able to manage this task alone.

I am now looking for volunteers, donors, advocates, medical professionals…anyone who has the drive, the passion, the empathy and the realization that animals deserve better than what we are doing for them.

From my FB group titled Save Animals; that aims at creating awareness of animal rights, I am now starting a lovechain titled Serve Animals. The reason for not calling it a charity, organisation, volunteer drive etc is because I don’t believe in these words or their credibility. It is love that makes the world go round and it is my aim to create a love chain around the world for animal welfare.

Mahlaqa Saeed
Animal server (and loving it!)
mahlaqa@wildmail.com

“Beam me up, Scotty.”

What success doesnt teach

I remember the first time in my life I experienced failure. I was 13 and had only seen years of success. Thankfully, at that time, the only criteria of success was to be ranked first in my class; unlike how the wavering parameters of the term have engulfed the beings of many today.

I was an ace student, all thanks to Allah and the fact that I was an introvert, non social, loner who loved to read (also since I sucked at sports, arts or anything else children of the 80s liked doing). At the annual result day, everyone from my family to friends expected me to bring home an ace report card with a few certificates.

And then in 1992, I had to face competition for the first time. Someone more hardworking than myself came in my class. She and I became really good friends and for a while, I stopped feeling the competition. She’d call me and I’d dictate her my literature notes on the phone.

But I had to leave the country a day before my result day; this I couldnt change. Being an ace student somehow earned me the teachers’ pet label too and so my class teacher asked me to call her the night before my flight and she’d tell me the result. I was so sure I was going to beat my new friend.

When I called my teacher, my heart was pounding as hell but I was still sure I was numero uno. But then she said it: Mahlaqa, you came in second. I can still feel the rock that hit my heart when I type these words. I cried so much that I dont remember what I said or didnt after that but I vaguely remember my teacher saying I’m sorry.

Today, I’m not sorry that I felt that hard rock years ago. It might ve hurt a lot back then but now I wish I had faced failure much earlier in life, only to learn how to heal my heart and face each new day with the strength of my soul and belief in the Almighty.

if you believe

daisies and sunflowers
marigolds and tulips
fresh green grass
all on a floating ship

the calm blue sea
birds flying high
the soothing summer breeze
clouds drifting by

a voice calls my name
a voice i’ve been waiting to hear
i hold his hand and follow him
to a world thats not so near

a world where the sunshine dont hurt
where the moon doesnt feel sad
where wishes are like flowers
and i can feel this time is like what i never had

this aint no dream my friend
its only if you believe
that you’ll reach the stars one day
to meet the One whom you never leave

Reflection

There’s a hero
If you look inside your heart
You don’t have to be afraid
Of what you are

There are so many incidents in life when one is scared of revealing their true self before others. This may be because some of us are not comfortable with expressing our emotions or sharing our inner self or maybe it is the insecurity of not being understood and/or emphathized with that scares us. But, when we know that the only real hero is inside our heart, we are no longer scared of what we are.

There’s an answer
If you reach into your soul
And the sorrow that you know
Will melt away

So many wasted hours pondering and talking of what we like/dislike. But it takes a long hard journey to realize that the truest companion is our own soul. When we are able to connect with our soul, there is nothing left to talk to anyone about.

And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside
And you know you can survive

Our soul is our hero

So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you’ll finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you

It’s a long road
And you face the world alone
No one reaches out a hand
For you to hold

You can find love
If you search within yourself
And the emptiness you felt
Will disappear

And then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside
And you know you can survive

So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you

Oh ho, Lord knows
Dreams are hard to follow
But don’t let anyone
Tear them away, hey yea

Hold on
There will be tomorrow
In time, you find the way, hey

Then a hero comes along
With the strength to carry on
And you cast your fears aside
And you know you can survive

So when you feel like hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
And you finally see the truth
That a hero lies in you

That a hero lies in you
Mmm, that a hero lies in you