Condemn the evil doer, not the innocent

I wonder if it is really necessary to spread barbaric deeds in the name of religion? Acts of violence are purely personal acts, why should anyone defame an entire group of people or an entire faith in order to satisfy one's own lust. A criminal is a criminal, the end. His birth religion has got nothing to do with it. And most probably he is absolutely oblivious to his religion. If someone has brainwashed another group of individuals, for his own personal, political gains, then blame that individual, not the other unrelated innocent beings.
Yes, anyone who supports those acts of violence, should be condemned. Such individuals who support evil should be held guilty. If someone has been brainwashed, guide them. Show them the path of truth. If someone has committed a crime, punish them. If someone instigated a crime or abets it, punish them. If someone glorifies a crime, condemn them. But not those who oppose it, just because they have some ethnic or religious similarity. Don't kill the sheep just because the wolf is dressed like them. Help them and protect them from evil. They are equally vulnerable as the rest of the society, maybe more, because they don't have refuge anywhere.

Gone too far

You are, but a figment of my imagination

You once were mine, but no longer are

How much I yearn for you to come to me

But you won't, not in this life, you have gone too far

You were a breeze that was too feeble to stay

You were the shooting star, not to be seen again

Gone too soon, gone too fast

Gone before I could hold you again

An unknown woman

Today I saw a mother carrying her teen with muscular dystrophy and couldn't stop thinking about her. She has a son who is unwell. She has modified her car to accommodate his wheeled chair and his physical requirements. She carries him around for all his work. She loves him dearly. And above all, she turned around and gave me a smile. What courage lies in her heart and in her mind, is impossible for me to understand. All I know is that she is undergoing a lot of pain and yet she has embraced it all. And she has the strength to accept it and move on with it. She has the strength to shower love and happiness to all around her. She has the strength to smile at a stranger, who could do nothing but smile back at her and reflect. Yes, reflect that while we cry at small troubles, there are people who smile through even greater pain. Reflect that life is full of challenges and questions and difficulties and we do not know what other troubles will come in our lives in future. Reflect upon the fact that whatever we have been blessed with, is too precious, to cry over. Reflect that our trials are also a blessing in the long run. Reflect upon the fact that a smile is the most beautiful gift that we can give to anyone, to cheer them up, to wipe off their tears. Reflect that strength is not in going down first, but in standing till the end.

Stay at home mother or a working mother?

I recently came across a discussion about should a woman sacrifice her career for taking care of her children? Views both in favor as well as against the question were expressed. Both views were correct in a sense that it depends from person to person. Some women grudge the fact that they had to sacrifice their career and identity to raise their children and now those children don't respect them anymore.
It made me wonder is it better for a woman to leave her children behind and go back to work, is it okay to pursue career while the child is being taken care of by a nanny? Well, when I look around in my family and friends, I see both kind of mothers. My own mother was a working woman and during my childhood I used to dislike her leaving me to go and work. My aunts were all stay at home mothers and those who worked, did only after their children had grown up, or did part time jobs. All my friends had stay at home mothers. My sister, a dentist, left her job to raise her kids. In all these women I never saw a weakling but they all were inspiration for their children. I never saw a child not respecting his mother just because she was not a career woman. In fact I saw children asking their mothers' advice every now and them. My grandmother who never went to school was a role model to everyone who knew her.
I don't know what choice I will make in the future. Though I do want to work and study some more but right now I am raising my four month old, future still lies untold.

Beta tere gham mein maa ko hosh mein aana bhool gaya
Tu jo iss duniya se sidhara, maa ke dil se chain choot gaya


Acchi thi ya buri thi, jaane kaisi meri kismat thi
Jisko dil ne pyaar se paala, saamne uski turbat thi

Strange land

I feel as if my tears would never stop
I feel as if I can cry forever
While my tears can't bring you back
I know neither can my prayers
I held you close to my heart
So close that when you went away
It broke a piece of my heart
A piece that you took away
You went to the land of no return
You went and left my empty hands
I do not know how and where you are
How far away is that strange land

Hurt

My sorrow is my own and none even tries or even pretends to share it. Even those who claim to be mine, do not care about it. How do they expect me to be a machine. What am I supposed to think or do, I do not know. I know I am all alone and nothing, not even my shadow is mine.