... the Land and its People in monochromatic colors, a personal dedication to Pakistan.

Pakistan Zindabad! My heart belongs to you ....

You! With the land drenched in sunshine and smiles, guns and confusion, party flags and silly profusion's; the never ending beauty with its occasional hidden beasts that use her, abuse her and then leave her for a brighter future aboard. I wish you well, with a cool canopy of Islam & a single flag flying higher than high. “Ameen”

These images were captured in Karachi and Lahore’s city & suburbs and Swat. Presenting “Sepia stories” of the ordinary folks in a third world country, who still find time to smile and be. Plus the natural beauty has a certain calming effect on the nerves. There are times when things are projected by the media in a certain way, which can be misinterpreted by people on the outside. If only you could see the world from this end, madness seems to be elsewhere. We don’t have it all good here but then again we don’t have it, all so bad either. The unfair insane politics and policies of the world can throw the whole lot of us into mayhem.

So what does one do with the irrational world? Here is an idealistic thought in a nutshell, it works for me maybe it will for you too? Try to be good citizen, be patient with the underprivileged, grateful, honest, get educated and above all, love people and respect and their beliefs. If and when in a position to make differences for the better, make it - be it worldwide or in your neighborhood. A good endeavor done today can spread extensively in unimaginable ways.

We are the guardians of His Beauty
We are the protectors Of the Sun.
There is only one reason
We have followed God into this world
To encourage laughter, freedom, dance And love.
Let a noble cry inside of you speak to me
Saying, "Hafiz,
Don't just sit there on the moon tonight
Doing nothing - Help unfurl my heart into the Friend's Mind,
Help, Old Man, to heal my wounded wings!"
We are the companions of His Beauty
We are the guardians Of Truth.
Every man, plant and creature in Existence,
Every woman, child, vein and note
Is a servant of our Beloved -A harbinger of joy,
The harbinger of Light.

~ Hazrat Hafiz (r.a) "The Subject Tonight is Love" - Daniel Ladinsky

All life is voyaging, all things in motion,
Moon, stars, and creatures of air and ocean.
To you the champion, the lord of battle,
Bright angles offer their swords' devotion-
But oh that blindness, that craven spirit !
Of your own greatness you have no notion.
How long this bondage to darkness? Choose now:
A prince's sceptre,- a hermit's potion.
I Know our priesthood, how faint in action,
In sermons pouring a languid lotion.

~ Ghazal No. 12  Muhammad Allama Iqbal (1873-1938) “Poet of the East”

Hill and vale once more under the poopy's lamp are bright,
In my heart the nightingale has set new songs alight;
Violet,violet, azure, azure, golden, golden, mantles -
Flowers or fairies of the desert, rank on rank in sight ?
On the rose-spray dawn's soft breeze has left a pearl of dew,
Now the sunbeams turns this gem a yet more glittering white.
Town or woodland, which is sweeter, if for her unveiling
Careless beauty love towns less than where green woods invite?
Delve into your soul and there seek out life's buried tracks;
Will you not be mine ? then be not mine, be your own right !
World of soul - the world of fire and ecstasy and longing :
World of sense - the gain that fraud and cunning blight;
Treasure of the soul once won is never lost again :
Treasured gold, a shadow - wealth soon comes and soon takes flight.

~ Ghazal No. 10  Muhammad Allama Iqbal (1873-1938) “Poet of the East”

BEYOND the stars more worlds
Love's grace, has other trials yet to face­
Not void of life those far-off deeps,
Where thousand caravans run their race;
In other gardens other nests­
Be not content with earth's embrace;
Why for one lost home mourn,
When grief can find so many a lodging-place?
You are a falcon born to soar;
Still with your wings new heavens keep pace;
Let day-and-night not snare your feet,
Yours are another Time and Space

~ Ghazal No. 10  Muhammad Allama Iqbal (1873-1938) “Poet of the East”

May your soul be happy, journey joyfully.
You have escaped from the city full of fear and trembling;
happily become a resident of the Abode of Security
If the body’s image has gone, await the image-maker;
if the body is utterly ruined, become all soul.
If your face has become saffron pale through death, become a
dweller among tulip beds and Judas trees.
If the doors of repose have been barred to you, come; depart
by way of the roof and the ladder.
If you are alone from Friends and companions, by the help of
God become a saheb-qeran [lord of happy circumstance].
If you have been secluded from water and bread, like bread

~ Hazrat Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi (r.a) (1207-1273 AD)

Mystical Poems of Rumi - A. J. Arberry The University of Chicago Press, 1991- The Abode of Security seems to be an reference to heaven which is sometimes called "the abode of peace" (dar-al salaam) by Rumi as against "the abode of pride" (dar-al gorur) i.e., the world..Saheb qeran is a person who is born under a happy conjunction of the planets.

Here is a sweet little story to remember

A great king summoned his wise men. He ordered them, “Create for me a saying that will stabilize my inner state. When I am unhappy it will bring me joy, and when I am happy it will remind me of sadness. It cannot be to long as I want to keep it with me always ”.

The wise men consulted and contemplated deeply the King’s command. Finally, they returned to the king bearing a small box. In it there was a ring, and inside the ring was inscribed the following words: “This too shall pass.”

~ Sheikh Faridu'd-Din 'Attar (r.a) (1140 – 1234 A.D)

Say Yes Quickly

Forget your life. Say God is Great. Get up.
You think you know what time it is. It's time to pray.
You've carved so many little figurines, too many.
Don't knock on any random door like a beggar.
Reach your long hands out to another door, beyond where
you go on the street, the street
where everyone says, "How are you?"
and no one says How aren't you?

Tomorrow you'll see what you've broken and torn tonight,
thrashing in the dark. Inside you
there's an artist you don't know about.
He's not interested in how things look different in moonlight.

If you are here unfaithfully with us,
you're causing terrible damage.
If you've opened your loving to God's love,
you're helping people you don't know
and have never seen.

Is what I say true? Say yes quickly,
if you know, if you've known it
from before the beginning of the universe.

~ Hazrat Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi (r.a) (1207-1273 AD)