Zahra speaks

Time is funny. Sometimes it goes by the pace of a turtle and sometimes a year seems like a moment passed by. It passes in a blink of an eye but one thing is for sure that every year teaches us something new. It's not what happened in the year. It's not about the achievements and failures or the highs and lows. It is about your transformation and what you learned out of it. Every year a new chapter initiates in your life. You begin the new year with a new version of yourself, the evolved version. For me, this year has been good and I learned a lot in this particular year. I'd call this year, the year of “the stranger”, my book. My first book got published from two platforms. As a writer, it was the biggest thing that could happen. The feeling of your book being out there for the people to read is an incredible feeling. A real sense of achievement. It felt very different but not for a moment I was apprehensive. I have seen people getting nervous about these things but for s

I have always been patriotic and very vocal about my opinions. As much as I love this homeland, I am deeply concerned and affected by the recent turn of events and their aftermath. I am not the person who judges people for their opinions and I have repeatedly talked about the difference in opinion being alright but recently, some people wrote comments on social media that moved me or should I put it this way, they shook me. I have never lost faith in my country. Even the thought of leaving this country used to haunt me but the first time in my life, the words that my fellow countrymen wrote broke my heart and I felt disappointed to be a part of such a society. People were spewing venom, literally. There is no discrimination in being compassionate towards people who are suffering, you just need to be human but unfortunately, the latest case of Dua Mangi made it very clear that people from our country have almost lost humanity, let alone being sympathetic. When such cases against w

Life is weird. Sometimes it takes to travel the world and experience the most beautiful places that exist on the face of the earth to have an encounter with the soul but on the other hand, there are times when you don't even have to move an inch to find your soul. I speak with experience. While I was bedridden, my world was limited, confined to my room. My world was no longer comprised of beautiful buildings, hustle-bustle of the city, social gatherings, it was just that one room. The time that seemed to be the most difficult time of my life now seems like the most significant period of my life. If I hadn't gotten that solitude, it is highly probable that I would have died before feeling His presence. I became an insomniac, it may be the effect of medicines or just the fact that my world was facing a whirlwind and it was difficult to swallow all the new realities. I don't recollect what I used to think about but I remember feeling a gentle warmth with me all the time.

The most underestimated and misunderstood power is love. In the world where materialism is everything, love has also lost its value and meaning but the only power that can lead us into a future with peace and prosperity for all is love, not the absence of hate but just love. There is a difference. We have to start loving ourselves first, stop loathing yourself for the things that you don't control or change. Most of the time we are so engrossed in hating ourselves that hate becomes the dominant emotion in our personality without even realizing it. Do not be hard on yourself if you don't want the world to be hard on you, you will be hated by everyone if you hate yourself. It is important to manifest the power of love first in your own life to spread throughout. It all starts with “ you” and many great people have already preached the idea of having the whole universe within, explore that universe and conquer it with love and the world around will start catching on! God ha

Creativity is a gift and when you embrace it in your life, everything seems clear. You realize the beauty of the simplest things like the amazing blueness of the sky. You get a new pair of lenses to look at things around you including the people who are closest to you, how they look or talk or behave. You notice. An artist has a mind of his/her own. They have something to say through their work as poets, they convey messages of love, hate, betray and even patriotism. It is like a code that is cracked by the people who conceive their work with an open heart. Either its a painting, poetry, film, story or any other form of art, each represents a part of the artist's soul. They are generous, not everyone dares to share a part of their soul with others. Being a writer, I feel, I notice stories around me. Simple yet profound. There are such great stories just out there, waiting to be told and known by the world, however, I fail to pen them all down. I don't know if I

Supporting Pakistan had been my priority ever since I started watching and following cricket, 10 years ago. I've witnessed some eras of the legends like Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi and Younus Khan. The energy and intensity that these legends showed on the field was eye-candy for the true lovers of the game. However, there has always been a lack of planning within the board which drove to a lot of blunders in the past and it was somewhat the reason behind our team's elimination from the World Cup, 2019. Image Courtesy: ACE NEWS The Setbacks This tournament suffered the biggest set back in the form of weather. Many of the matches were washed away and our points were compromised. In the match against India, however, the case was entirely different. The team's body language was very blue and that demotivated everyone. It wasn't about the performance or the dls, the team was very downhearted, for some reason. Rather than blowing up controversial theories, I'd on

We have to distinguish between education and knowledge. Any school or institute, however great or marvellous it is, does not always render knowledge. There is a clear difference. A person establishes the personality in educational institutes but knowledge comes from experience and it does not necessarily involve education. Children, nowadays, are so stuffed up in studies that they don't get any chance to get any real exposure to the world. The new technology introduced advanced video gaming which officially ended the physical gaming. This is one of the darkest aspects of technology. Previously, people used to send their children off to play various sports or learn talents in the summer vacations but now that has stopped too. The school applies too much pressure on the children in the form of holiday's homework. According to my thinking, this practise should stop. The children should be encouraged to learn new skills or sports for the holidays. The schools can even organiz