When I started this blog, I thought I would keep it to humour stuff only. There are two many broken hearts and broken dreams in the world and I was not in mood to add some seriousness in the cyber space. Something happened this week that changed my theory of blogging. In fact, this reason stopped me from blogging for last 3 days.
It was a minor accident that I suffered on Tuesday morning this week. I was having all the fun at my work place .To some extent some funny scenes going on that place were compelling me to go back to my laptop and blog it .And so it happened that while working happily; I injured my middle finger badly. I didn’t know it was broken or not at that moment .All I could feel was the enormous pain and I felt that my senses were gone.I was released from work to take rest and get some medical assistance .It took me around next 8 hours to feel normal and get use to throbbing pain in my hand.
Next morning, when I woke up, I realized something very important. One can call it a great discovery of my life. I exactly remember how much comfortable with the job I was, how much I was enjoying. But the moment that accident occurred;I was so much in an unbearable pain that all that I could think about was just anguish of this piercing pressure of tissue breaking .Those 5 minutes were the longest moments of my life. I felt as if my eyes were just opened; into a world of pain. And previously I was in a world of joy that had ended all of a sudden. Those 5 minutes were heavier than the rest of the fun that I ever had at work.
Just thinking about that accident next morning I looked at my finger and thanked God Almighty that it wasn’t broken .I still had a chance to live with it .Just then ,my mind switched to this biggest reality of life that we call death. Had it been my neck instead of finger, you would be freed from the bearing my blog any more :) :) Life is a chance .We don’t know how long we live it. And when we are lost all in enjoyments, smiles and achievements, suddenly we die .Then our eyes open in a new world ,not being an optimist and being realistic ,I believe that we will all have to pay for our deeds. A small crush of pain made my 5 minutes longer than my whole life. So how would I bear an eternal life after death, If God forbid, it’s filled with pain. How many of us think about this gift of life that we are spending every day? .I could blog about my pain at duty but would I be able to blog from my grave? .I could not even hold a pen straight in my hand for 2 days .Would I be able to even move my hand, if I want to ,after I am gone? .Like those people around me who were worried and scared to see me injured but they couldn’t feel my agony. Would people who love me, know my agony after my burial. I got my medical expenses covered, thanks to Canadian health laws. But would I be able to cover my loss of time ,the time that I could have spent positively ,doing some good in this world ,but I didn’t. Would this loss be covered being a Canadian ,American or British citizen ? .Name any passport ,would it guarantee us heaven .Would it assure us a better living in the life after death ? .The more I thought about it ,the more I felt that may be our life is just a chance ,or just a dream .With a swift switch we will one day open our eyes in a place where nobody will accompany us .No money ,degree, nationality, profession or relation will help us. I could not bear pain for 5 minutes, how will I survive hell, if I were to thrown into it? .
I once watched a movie .There was a scene in which Morgan Free Man and his wife were standing in front of a mirror. They both were portrayed as an old retired couple. Morgan Free Man stared at his wife’s image in the mirror for a long time .So long that his wife asked; what are you looking at?
‘Nothing; I was just thinking that we are together today, but someday from now we will be gone’ he replied.
His wife asked ‘So what we can do about it?’
‘We can love each other as much as we can, until this life is over’. He answered.
I never forget those dialogues. In truth we all will be gone one day .And we all should love this life and people around us as much as we can, until this life is over. Do something for tomorrow my friends! Do something for the time that will never end!
Dont wait for another chance .Because it will never be given .We will be gone .Sooner or later .But we will be gone .Do we care about it ?
May we all live a blessed life here and in world after... Amen.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The day the Earth stood still;
Can you imagine the frustration an immigrant feels when suddenly he is lost in a world of all new intersections, crescents and boulevards? .Funny things happen when you don’t know the location and you plan your trip. Any trip planner would tell you from which bus stop you are supposed to begin and where to end. Well! The first one is the not a big deal. We all manage to reach the bus stop from where commutation begins. But as soon as the journey starts, your heart starts pounding,”Am I there yet? “Am I there yet? .Some transit buses display the stop name and your problem is solved for the day but when there is no display and when there is no audio assistance either. You will feel like standing in a maze. After bus stop number 0147 your bus will turn left and to your horror you will find stop number 2000 just around the corner .Your mouth will turn dry ,your head banging .But, But! Where is bus stop number 0190, it’s supposed to be in the natural sequence isn’t? You will try to run inside a running bus, just to disturb the decent bus driver; “Excuse me! Do you know where is bus stop number 0190, I’m new here!” .So if you are new here, what difference would it make if the driver even tells you where is stop 0190, you have never been to the place remember? Some times déjàvu occurs and your bus stop is found without any problem. Otherwise ,whenever you see two frightening eyes ,clenched fists and a troubled face almost stamped on the transit window, staring outside as if his either memory or eye sight has just recovered .You may stay assured that the poor guy is a new immigrant.
There are maps off course; they are to guide you the way. But if you are confused already, you will face the biggest enigma of your life, paper map doesn’t say “you are here” .First you have to find where you are standing at the moment. Sometimes bus stop number hides behind an arrogant tree branch and your world is doomed for the day .You will roam here and there, praying, wishing that your destination will appear miraculously. People and bystanders try to help you but your amazement will reach no bound when you realize that so many people living in the same area aren’t familiar with the street name or bus stop number that happens to exist in the same block. With the passage of time you will understand the reason, life is so busy here, when you get a car ,you don’t need bus for commutation any more ,then you don’t remember places with bus stops and address, you follow your routine for life .Home ,job ,mall, friends, kids school etc. At that time in your life, if somebody jumps in front of you out of nowhere and asks you with tears in his eyes, “Excuse me! Do you know where bus stop 1234 is? , I am sure you will also say that you don’t know.
Then how will you find your way? You have three options. Besides common sense, either you spend extra fare and keep a friend with you as a guide or you get your GPS system. Black berry is fun but normally you wouldn’t want to use it until you get a good job. So if you have either, common sense, human assistance or GPS, you will reach your destination hassle free. As much as human error is common, so is technical one. One of my relative and his family set off for OHIP card facilitation centre. Lost in the beauty of Canadian summer as well as unfamiliar routes, they were truly relying on GPS. How philosophical it was that their car just happened to stop in front of a cemetery and shrill female voice of GPS announced: You have reached your destination! .Indeed. That’s where everybody reaches his destination in the end. Speaking of a trip to OHIP facility vs. cemetery was an ironical co incidence. But that’s not enough.I have even seen a miserable GPS who constantly announced; “you have reached your destination” in middle of Highway 401.In Canada, reaching a place is a not an issue, reaching a place in time is important. You might miss a wonderful job opportunity just going through jigsaws of maps .The best thing is to visit the place one day before your interview so that you can reach there in time on the following day. Sometimes you just need to follow your heart and you will reach your destination. It’s not that roads and addresses are difficult here .It’s just that our mind takes its time in order to get accustomed to new routes and numbers. I got lost almost three times in the beginning, but then I realized that the routes were simple, it was my state of mind that was making them complicated .Once ,I started to feel easy with the new place. Everything became easy.Every day,you will see some new faces on the roads and in transits,totally lost and breathless ! looking at everything ,as if they have seen it for the first time.Yep ! This is their first time :) welcome to Canada !
There are maps off course; they are to guide you the way. But if you are confused already, you will face the biggest enigma of your life, paper map doesn’t say “you are here” .First you have to find where you are standing at the moment. Sometimes bus stop number hides behind an arrogant tree branch and your world is doomed for the day .You will roam here and there, praying, wishing that your destination will appear miraculously. People and bystanders try to help you but your amazement will reach no bound when you realize that so many people living in the same area aren’t familiar with the street name or bus stop number that happens to exist in the same block. With the passage of time you will understand the reason, life is so busy here, when you get a car ,you don’t need bus for commutation any more ,then you don’t remember places with bus stops and address, you follow your routine for life .Home ,job ,mall, friends, kids school etc. At that time in your life, if somebody jumps in front of you out of nowhere and asks you with tears in his eyes, “Excuse me! Do you know where bus stop 1234 is? , I am sure you will also say that you don’t know.
Then how will you find your way? You have three options. Besides common sense, either you spend extra fare and keep a friend with you as a guide or you get your GPS system. Black berry is fun but normally you wouldn’t want to use it until you get a good job. So if you have either, common sense, human assistance or GPS, you will reach your destination hassle free. As much as human error is common, so is technical one. One of my relative and his family set off for OHIP card facilitation centre. Lost in the beauty of Canadian summer as well as unfamiliar routes, they were truly relying on GPS. How philosophical it was that their car just happened to stop in front of a cemetery and shrill female voice of GPS announced: You have reached your destination! .Indeed. That’s where everybody reaches his destination in the end. Speaking of a trip to OHIP facility vs. cemetery was an ironical co incidence. But that’s not enough.I have even seen a miserable GPS who constantly announced; “you have reached your destination” in middle of Highway 401.In Canada, reaching a place is a not an issue, reaching a place in time is important. You might miss a wonderful job opportunity just going through jigsaws of maps .The best thing is to visit the place one day before your interview so that you can reach there in time on the following day. Sometimes you just need to follow your heart and you will reach your destination. It’s not that roads and addresses are difficult here .It’s just that our mind takes its time in order to get accustomed to new routes and numbers. I got lost almost three times in the beginning, but then I realized that the routes were simple, it was my state of mind that was making them complicated .Once ,I started to feel easy with the new place. Everything became easy.Every day,you will see some new faces on the roads and in transits,totally lost and breathless ! looking at everything ,as if they have seen it for the first time.Yep ! This is their first time :) welcome to Canada !
Monday, August 2, 2010
Maple Leaf Calling
No wonder, Canada is regarded as immigrants ‘haven. I mean where on earth would you find a generous country like this, where every day hundreds of people land, who in most of cases don’t even know the name of 13 provinces of Canada. But voila! You are here. And No sir! You won’t go back, unless you are deported or have received your citizenship.
Once upon a time, people were familiar to American dream .Now the latest dream is the Canadian One. I asked many of my friends why they chose Canada. And their answers, on average were same all the time.
“You get E.I. for not working......”
”You get paid for being a baby boomer........
“You don’t need to worry about English, you can speak whatever the language you know, and there are a lot of people like us here.....”
“If your husband is ugly and you want to leave him, just hit your head with a base ball bat, then call 911, Canadian Govt will send you in a shelter, you will be easily divorced with lots of compensation (paid from the pocket of ex-yours truly .......)”
”When you rent a house, there is already a refrigerator installed in it for you, for free.....!”
And the list goes on. All of the things that will make you atleast obtain PRC from this country. It’s funny how people who don’t know anything about western world, start their lives here and after 3 to 4 years become quite settled, (although everything is settled on the base of mortgage and credit cards).A woman who used to be my colleague once told me that until she moved to Canada, she used to think that Pena Colada is the name of an African dance! .And that, cold calls to an employer can be made in winter only.
Name one foreign item that you won’t find in shops and malls of Canada. From Sari to skirts, Herbal medicines to turtle’s eggs, from coffee maker to lota! .Every things is here. All you need to do is to find an area where you can find your own community and you are set to go. I arrived in GTA in the month of March. And believe me, I found more Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis, Philippinese and Jamaicans here on roads, malls, and in transits, then the natives. I was taken aback. It wasn’t like what I saw in Holly wood movies. It seemed as if I was in my own country and real Canadians looked immigrants to me being so few .Where are the natives? I asked our hosts who kept us at their home on arrival. “Ummm, they will come out in summer!”
I am not sure who came out first, the green leaves or natives? .But it seems there is some correlation between summer and original Canadians. Suddenly they were everywhere. And finally! I was able to take my pictures with a back ground that excluded my immigrant majority and showed some real stuff.
Very soon after your arrival in Canada, you feel like you are going through a process of transition. Now ladies wearing saris and shalwar Kameez all their lives, start reconsidering jeans and long skirts. And those who were already wearing jeans and skirts way back home, they get out of control! .Teen agers, who used to have lots of friends in their country of origin, now will be seen with a bunch of buddies here, and off course! all of these buddies are referred with a common name ,i.e. .Yo ! .I wonder ,how do you differentiate between so many Yos ? .Shouldn’t they be named as Yo1,Yo2,Yo3 .... ? Your kids will soon start to forget how they used to walk in their home land. Now they will walk with their shoulders following Newton’s Law of Gravity. Duplicating each arm with a simple pendulum, you will see them walking (rather tumbling) on roads and walk ways, in a rhythm of right side up, left side down ! .Then left side up, right side down. Looks funny though, but not scary .Yes! You are right. Scare begins when you look at their hands while they walk .These hands now moves with a twists and turn and those miserable fingers attach at their ends seems to be turning in all 360 directions. No! it doesn’t have to do with any sudden loss of calcium due to Canadian weather. It’s just due to the fact now your child tries to adopt this mega culture environment all in one chunk and ends up being another Yo.
There are more changes to follow, such as change in your accent. You see people speaking English in Indian accent , You see people speaking English in Chinese accent, You see people speaking English in Mexican ,Arabian and Nigerian accent .And then you come up with your own customized accent ,which is neither yours ,nor theirs. Some times when you speak, It’s only between you and God Almighty to understand what you are saying.
The reality show begins when you go to find a job. You see that you end up mostly working labour jobs, security duties and cab driving. It’s a well recognized fact that comparative to rest of the world, Canada has the highest number of Phds serving as cab driver .You begin you search with big sites like monster, workopolis, yahoo jobs. You go to their search engine and proudly type in your once profession; engineer, surgeon, professors .You name it. And when you apply, you never qualify. After few months of spent savings,now you don’t visit big sites and big agencies any more .Now you open kijiji.com, and type ‘general labour' in search engine. So much for a Canadian dream. To people back in your home land, its a paradise, where dollars hang upon a tree .All you have to do, is to grab them, spend them and in some cases send them back home. They don’t know that here, dollars don’t hang upon trees. Its immigrants, and is in an upside down position!
After 6 month of your arrival you stop taking pictures of greenery or snow fall. You stop drinking Coca Cola and Pepsi like crazy(They are very cheap here to buy) .One of the Wall Mart employee told me that the simplest way to guess if the customer has newly arrived in Canada ,is to see how many litre bottles of beverages he is buying in food items. Now you don’t get excited with the name of Niagara Falls .Ladies, who were previously dragging all skeletons out of their friends’ closets, only because land line to line conversation is free. Now use phone when they need to check if their husband is still loyal and not having an affair in the office. Men turn bald and worn out. Women become artificially blond, their eye brows get thinner than ever and waist line grows like US military budget (thanks to BBQ tradition) .It’s rightly said that “more than 45 is an atomic waist". But as long as obesity is not taxed in Canada, nobody will seriously think about it.
It’s a long story to tell but I am keeping it short for the convenience of readers. No matter, what happens to you in this country, you will never want to leave this place. No! Not because of baby booming benefits. It’s due to the heart touching fact that Canadian grounds and people accept new comers with openness and true warmth .They won’t discriminate you, they won’t disrespect you. You will be among them with same level of regard and treatment. No matter which ethnicity, geography, or religion you originate from. If you are in Canada, you have Canadian rights .Besides; you really get E.I being unemployed :) :) ............
Once upon a time, people were familiar to American dream .Now the latest dream is the Canadian One. I asked many of my friends why they chose Canada. And their answers, on average were same all the time.
“You get E.I. for not working......”
”You get paid for being a baby boomer........
“You don’t need to worry about English, you can speak whatever the language you know, and there are a lot of people like us here.....”
“If your husband is ugly and you want to leave him, just hit your head with a base ball bat, then call 911, Canadian Govt will send you in a shelter, you will be easily divorced with lots of compensation (paid from the pocket of ex-yours truly .......)”
”When you rent a house, there is already a refrigerator installed in it for you, for free.....!”
And the list goes on. All of the things that will make you atleast obtain PRC from this country. It’s funny how people who don’t know anything about western world, start their lives here and after 3 to 4 years become quite settled, (although everything is settled on the base of mortgage and credit cards).A woman who used to be my colleague once told me that until she moved to Canada, she used to think that Pena Colada is the name of an African dance! .And that, cold calls to an employer can be made in winter only.
Name one foreign item that you won’t find in shops and malls of Canada. From Sari to skirts, Herbal medicines to turtle’s eggs, from coffee maker to lota! .Every things is here. All you need to do is to find an area where you can find your own community and you are set to go. I arrived in GTA in the month of March. And believe me, I found more Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis, Philippinese and Jamaicans here on roads, malls, and in transits, then the natives. I was taken aback. It wasn’t like what I saw in Holly wood movies. It seemed as if I was in my own country and real Canadians looked immigrants to me being so few .Where are the natives? I asked our hosts who kept us at their home on arrival. “Ummm, they will come out in summer!”
I am not sure who came out first, the green leaves or natives? .But it seems there is some correlation between summer and original Canadians. Suddenly they were everywhere. And finally! I was able to take my pictures with a back ground that excluded my immigrant majority and showed some real stuff.
Very soon after your arrival in Canada, you feel like you are going through a process of transition. Now ladies wearing saris and shalwar Kameez all their lives, start reconsidering jeans and long skirts. And those who were already wearing jeans and skirts way back home, they get out of control! .Teen agers, who used to have lots of friends in their country of origin, now will be seen with a bunch of buddies here, and off course! all of these buddies are referred with a common name ,i.e. .Yo ! .I wonder ,how do you differentiate between so many Yos ? .Shouldn’t they be named as Yo1,Yo2,Yo3 .... ? Your kids will soon start to forget how they used to walk in their home land. Now they will walk with their shoulders following Newton’s Law of Gravity. Duplicating each arm with a simple pendulum, you will see them walking (rather tumbling) on roads and walk ways, in a rhythm of right side up, left side down ! .Then left side up, right side down. Looks funny though, but not scary .Yes! You are right. Scare begins when you look at their hands while they walk .These hands now moves with a twists and turn and those miserable fingers attach at their ends seems to be turning in all 360 directions. No! it doesn’t have to do with any sudden loss of calcium due to Canadian weather. It’s just due to the fact now your child tries to adopt this mega culture environment all in one chunk and ends up being another Yo.
There are more changes to follow, such as change in your accent. You see people speaking English in Indian accent , You see people speaking English in Chinese accent, You see people speaking English in Mexican ,Arabian and Nigerian accent .And then you come up with your own customized accent ,which is neither yours ,nor theirs. Some times when you speak, It’s only between you and God Almighty to understand what you are saying.
The reality show begins when you go to find a job. You see that you end up mostly working labour jobs, security duties and cab driving. It’s a well recognized fact that comparative to rest of the world, Canada has the highest number of Phds serving as cab driver .You begin you search with big sites like monster, workopolis, yahoo jobs. You go to their search engine and proudly type in your once profession; engineer, surgeon, professors .You name it. And when you apply, you never qualify. After few months of spent savings,now you don’t visit big sites and big agencies any more .Now you open kijiji.com, and type ‘general labour' in search engine. So much for a Canadian dream. To people back in your home land, its a paradise, where dollars hang upon a tree .All you have to do, is to grab them, spend them and in some cases send them back home. They don’t know that here, dollars don’t hang upon trees. Its immigrants, and is in an upside down position!
After 6 month of your arrival you stop taking pictures of greenery or snow fall. You stop drinking Coca Cola and Pepsi like crazy(They are very cheap here to buy) .One of the Wall Mart employee told me that the simplest way to guess if the customer has newly arrived in Canada ,is to see how many litre bottles of beverages he is buying in food items. Now you don’t get excited with the name of Niagara Falls .Ladies, who were previously dragging all skeletons out of their friends’ closets, only because land line to line conversation is free. Now use phone when they need to check if their husband is still loyal and not having an affair in the office. Men turn bald and worn out. Women become artificially blond, their eye brows get thinner than ever and waist line grows like US military budget (thanks to BBQ tradition) .It’s rightly said that “more than 45 is an atomic waist". But as long as obesity is not taxed in Canada, nobody will seriously think about it.
It’s a long story to tell but I am keeping it short for the convenience of readers. No matter, what happens to you in this country, you will never want to leave this place. No! Not because of baby booming benefits. It’s due to the heart touching fact that Canadian grounds and people accept new comers with openness and true warmth .They won’t discriminate you, they won’t disrespect you. You will be among them with same level of regard and treatment. No matter which ethnicity, geography, or religion you originate from. If you are in Canada, you have Canadian rights .Besides; you really get E.I being unemployed :) :) ............
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