Moving, Yet Again (Take 2) -Featuring: Marvin.

*Puts away her books for Medical College Entry Test for a while*

I wonder what would it be like for a passerby to witness an oh-so-random family like mines.
Aaaaah.. This time I won't be the narrator, I'll write the second part of the story of shifting from Karachi to Kamra from the perspective of a person who saw us the entire time. Observed us. Noted down our actions. Ok, this is getting creepy. But, I guess I've made my point.

So, here it is. 'Moving Yet, Again (Take 2)' from the eyes of Marvin :D

Note for the wise: This story is very real. Apart from the introduction of 'Marvin'.

I'm sitting in the corner of the Business Express Waiting Lounge in Karachi. It'll be my first trip in this train, the one train that will 'bring in a new era in Pakistan Railways'. I guess I am looking forward to the trip but I'll be travelling alone, so I'm not so sure. Even though I chose to go my train rather than an airplane myself. 'For the Spirit of Adventure!'. A 17-hour journey all by myself, well it's good I brought along Inferno. Nothing better than Robert Langdon for company :)

That's when I spot them. Two little children racing to get the spot in the lounge right in front of the Air Conditioner. I mean, isn't the entire room cold? Wait, what? Now their dad is giving them money so that they go and get snacks as he gets the seat in front of the Air Conditioner. This wasn't entirely it. The mom then stepped in and sat with the dad, following her were a dozen bags! There was a girl keeping watch on the bags, their daughter I suppose. Ok, so three kids and two parents, but what's with all the bags?! I keep my cellphone in hand in case they start threatening the people that there are explosives in the bags. But, that doesn't happen. Three other people, two guys and a girl who looks the same age as the elder daughter enter the lounge in a while, they're here to see off the family. To be honest, I thought they were a part of the family, which would've explained the gazillion bags but they didn't get on the train. So, yeah.

You know I wouldn't have been surprised if their bags
were strapped to the roof just so that their compartment
would have room to sit in.

Ok, before you get any second thoughts. I know who got on the train and that no bags were left behind not because I'm a stalker or anything, but because I got the compartment right next to this ummmm... 'different' family. No sooner were we all boarded and the train took off, there is a loud banging sound from the compartment next door. 'BANG!' I ignore, Langdon's in Italy after all. 'BANG BANG DUM THUSH' I ignore. I can't possibly leave Robert with partial amnesia alone. 'DUM DUM DHA DHA DHAAAAA!' Ok. This is creepy now. I open the door to my compartment realising that the noises are from the compartment of the 'different family' and the train's guard and the conductor are trying their best to open the door. Yes, the lock of the compartment wasn't unlocking. Well, the guard managed to pry the door open and the family decided to keep it open for the entire journey. I came out of my compartment and sat by the window in the hall way of the train, i guess that's what it's called. Only to find both the little kids stumble out of the compartment saying 'We want chocolate frogs? Where's the trolley guy with Bertie Bott's every flavored jelly beans and Chocolate frogs?' Oh, so they are Harry Potter fans too is what crosses my mind just as the 'trolley guy' turns up. Them both end up getting loads of board games, while the mom, dad and elder daughter are snuggled up reading books.

I bet the entire train heard the noises!

The dad closes his book and as if knowing that he's hungry the mom closes her book too and takes out the food bag. Ok, don't judge me. But, this was one family I couldn't help but notice. No sooner are they done with their lunch, the little two climb up on the upper bunk of the compartment, but they  look down every other second and tell their mom about what's happening on the upper bunk. 'Mamaaaa, Abdullah just drew a tree on his sketch pad' 'Maamaaaaa, I beat her in Checkers'.. and it continues. In the meanwhile, the dad starts on with his stories of the 'young days' when he used to travel by train all the time. Well, the little kids get bored with their board games and the mom and the elder daughter start their 'duels' of board game. Now, it's a duel because the entire family seemed in a state of war. The little brother had sided with the elder daughter while the little daughter had sided with the mom. The dad was the judge. Their compartment rang with battle cries! It was a LUDO match. 'KILL THE YELLOW ONE IN FRONT OF YOUUU!' 'LUBAINAAAAA! DIE! DIE! DIE' 'NOOOOOOO' 'Calm down, calm down, it's just a game' 'I WILL NOT GIVE UP WITHOUT A FIGHT'.. Oh well, the mom won at the end. Very soon, they were sleepy only to find out the there were no blankets left for their compartment. But, yeah. They had a bed sheet in one of their gaziilion bags and the dad got off at the next station and bought chaddar too. The elder daughter came out in the halfway, engrossed in her book again while the rest of them slept. But, the lights were only turned off only after the little brother got done with his 'Sock Puppet Show'..

World War III? Probably.

And, they closed the compartment's door. Where was I? Oh yeah, Langdon. He kept me company during the night while the elder daughter was lost in Cecelia Ahern's words. Oh, and know what? We reached Lahore two hours early the next day!

And, I thought I'll get bored. 

Note from Lubaina: We're two brothers and two sisters in reality. But, one of my brother's was already in Lahore. This story would have been more dramatic with him and his theatrical antics though :P

Next stop: Kamra. Finally :D

Note for the wise: the doodles above have been doodled by me. I'd like it if these are not plagiarized :)

Moving, Yet Again (Take 1)

Featuring: Barney Nutcase Family and Habshis. (What could be better? :') )
In case I forget when I turn eighty: both the names above are of the amazing-estestestest family and best-estestest group of friends I found at Karachi :)

So much to write, such little time.

To make it short: I’m done with my A Levels, no school anymore. *sigh* *And, another sigh* And, I moved, yet again, from Karachi to Kamra (Yeah, you might have to Google-ofy this city, it’s near Attock but unknown to even most of the Pakis) *SIIIIIGH*

The timetable and 'Past Paper Count' I had pasted on my wall during CIEs.
Won't be needing this anymore :D

 I’ll be starting off with my Out Of the Odds in a few weeks, but before that, this traveler owes the world a story. A story of all the sdfghjklgfdvbfrt-esses (Read: I do not have words to describe all that happened as we left Karachi and came to Kamra)

Note for the wise: If I were the reader and not the writer here, I would probably have closed this blog post by now and moved onto a read that actually makes sense.

Still reading? Well, no matter what happens, remember this:

My newest obsession: Hand-lettering :D

Yeah, before telling my friends or gulping down the news of ‘moving, yet again’ that was stuck like a huge bite of burger that refused to go in while making me seem like the most uncivilized person as the mayo plastered my face, and clothes too... Ok, this is a weird expression. But, oh well. I doodled this 'Life is but an ADVENTURE' poster knowing that whatever happens, does happen for the best. Sounds cliched, but oh well. I write' oh well' too much no? Oh well...

And then, I got down to texting my friends and letting them know that I’ll be moving the very next day of our last exam. Hahaha, yeah, many of my ‘Barney Nutcase Family’ members were ready to kidnap me and keep me in Karachi. You know, it’s not such a bad idea. And then, in came their tries of working out a ‘Farewell Party’ for me on the last day of our exam. Maaaayyyyyyyn, I love them :’)

Also, they made me feel as if I’m sick and going to die :3.. Yeah, that was the level of effort they were putting in as they wanted me to leave Karachi HAPPY-LY. And, I did :D

After the exam what is worth being remembered is the baffoonry at Amara’s home after exam, then the ultra-mega-acts-of-awesome-ness at the Grill House (them lot made a freakin’ tower of cans as the waiters and Manager of that place gave us ‘the eyes’. If only looks could drive us out of a restaurant :3) and then off to PAF Museum for the rides :D Too childish? Meh. We’re young B) We battled it out in the dodging cars SIX TIMES! By the end of it, most of us had aching arms and disoriented noses and rattled teeth and churning stomachs. (No, no, thankfully we had no accidents :3) Bbuuuuut, it was worth it.

By the way, this hangout had the largest turn up of all the hangouts of the two years!

See, I’m loved xD

The Dodging Cars all lined up :D
It's not a clear picture, but it sums up the essence of it :')

If this wasn’t enough. As soon as I got back home I had another group of friends ready to take me to the Arenaaaaa ^_^

Did I write how loved I felt that day? 

Oh and I fell during Ice Skating at the Arena. Lubaina has a good day and no accidents happen? Hahaha. Wait. HAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA. Never happens.

Buuut, the best part about the ice skating rink was GIRL POWER XD Mayn, I’ve been waiting to write this down since daaaayyysssss. The guys in the rink didn’t really know how to ice skate while us girls whizzed passed them in attempts of making them fall down (Yeah, call us evil.. But then, Meeshal and I did get paid back by falling down ourselves too, no?)

I had a good good day :’)

Only to wake up the next morning with high fever and a back ache ‘cause of the fall during ice skating. But, that story’s for another day. For now, I have stupid study to do to get an admission at a stupid medical college. They say, we need to stay positive. Soooo, I guess it’ll be ‘veerrryyy niiiccceee’ study to do to get into a ‘verrryyy niiiiiccceee’ medical college. Don’t judge, I’m not this two-faced the rest of the times.

P.S. FEELS SO GOOOD TO BE BACK ^____^
I’ve missed writing out everything random-ly-lame-ly-weird-no-matter-what-it-is at my blog :’)

Meeshal, Maheen, Kajol, Sadia, Mehraz, Moaaz, Khushhal, Junaid, Mehraz, Amara, Najam, Tooba, Saad Haseeb, Saad Rafi, Ubaid, Hassaan AK (Hassaan Akhrot Khan :p), Zeest, Wasti, Aqsa Bongi, Minahil, Rija, Iqra and Abdullah.

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME ^_^ 

I OWE THE LAST DAYS AT KARACHI KI HAPPINESS TO YOU GUYS ^_^
(Yeah, even though most of the above probably won't read this post 'cause they're 'too cool with the shades on' or too engrossed in the 'entry test studies'. But, this post would've been incomplete without their mention. So, yeah)

Urdu All the Way! - Umru Ayar Comic Book

Just when you realise that the passion for Urdu is going down the drain. And, the only Urdu Poetry stanza you know is 'Tuh Rah Naward e Shauq hai, Manzil na kar Qabool' (Translation: You are a traveler traversing the road of love, Don't settle for your current state) 

Sigh. It even saddens you to know that many would not recognise these as the words of ALLAMA IQBAL.

Anyways, with all our 'English Classy-ness' going on, the ones who take steps to initiate a 'Revival of Urdu' must be appreciated. Give it up for none other than 'Kachee Goliyan'. Yes, you've heard the news too? An 'Umru Ayar' comic book is going to be released by them very very soon :D

This calls for a SUPER-JGUUTHSNANNSJFGNSA-EXCITED-NESS cheer! xD

Oh. So, you still don't get what all mayhem is about? Well, then the points below are just for you.

Five Reasons why Umru Ayar Comic Book is worth looking forward to.

1. The dynamics have been revamped. It's not JUST Umru Ayar. Kachee Goliyan have been continuously posting questions like 'What other Alf Laila characters do you like?' and 'If Umru faces Batman, who'd win?'. Which indirectly directly hints at the possibility of our favorite characters other than Umru Ayar making appearances too! Just the kind of comic we need in Pakistan.

Oh look, BATMAN and SUPERMAN! :D

2. The love for Umru's ZAMBEEL and his SULEMANI BLANKET. Remember how in the stories, Umru would have everything in his Zambeel? For those of you don't know what his Zambeel is, it's a basket Umru used to carry everything and anything that he needed. This one time, he pulled out an entire army from it! Now, for the Sulemani Blanket, remember Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak? I bet you do. Sulemani Blanket is exactly the same as Harry's Invisibility Cloak. ^_^

An illustration of a Zambeel I found at zanbeel.pk
Looks all wizard-ish :D

3. The love for Sherlock Holmes. You can just skip this bit if you're not much of a Sherlock fan. So, basically Umru's second name 'Ayar' means cunning. And, that is exactly the kind of a character he has; clever, smart and cunning. So, reading the comic and smiling through out as you find your 'Paki Sherlock Holmes disguised as Umru Ayar' is definitely worth the wait :)

4. URDU. Been through those times when you longed to connect yourself to your mother language? (Disclaimer: This one's for Pakistanis only) And, no matter which Urdu literature book you picked up, it seemed as if you had just entered into a phase of a Reading Disability as the Urdu words whizzed past your ear like those annoying mosquitoes at night? Well, don't worry, you were not the only one. Now, reading an Urdu Comic will surely ease those nerves that haven't soothed since the time we got guilty about not knowing much Urdu.

A sneak peek from the Umru Ayar Comic Book
Oh, the colors *___*

5. Who's going to be the Arch-nemesis this time? I can not wait for the enemy that Kachee Goliyan create for Umru! Just because it's so easy to love the character when there's an enemy to hate ;)

Kachee Goliyan-Setting trends since 2011.
Founded by: Ramish S Mobin and Nofal K Khan.

Title-less

I remember how I had vowed to dedicate this blog to happy things and writings that make one smile. But when the unspeakable strikes, one is left with no other choice but to let it all out by words.

He passed away yesterday, he was my age, he used to be in the class next to mines, he was known for his athletic skills and his football game, he died in a car accident. Hamza Khatri.

Little did the ones who attended morning classes with him, laughed with him and joked with him knew what was about to strike that very day. It took just Three hours and Fifty minutes. That's it. Eighteen years that he spent in this cruel world, he had dreams for the future, he was the only child of his parents and his mom and dad had big plans in store for for him, were all gone as he had a car accident at 2pm, and soon took his last breath at around 5:50pm on the 9th of March 2013.

But Almighty's workings work in a different way. All that happens, happens for the better. Here I am planning to go meet Khatri's family in a while when I do not even know if I'll make it past the next minute. Death does not really give out a warning signal before it strikes, it just takes away the soul from the body and done. We're gone.

Khatri left us, and to all those reading this, pray that he is granted Jannat-Ul-Firdous.
But, he left behind gazillions who miss his smile, his company, his advice, they simply cannot bear to trudge on with life without him. These people who have a hole in their hearts need us now. They need shoulders to cry on, ears that would listen but not judge, company that comforts them and hands they can hold on to as they find the strength to go through this loss.

Every life matters, every moment is worth it, there are tiny problems that we face but those are hurdles to test us and prepare us as we go forward with zeal and passion. We spend our days looking forward to tomorrow, and at the end death awaits us. We do not leave when death strikes, it all does not end when death's hand strengthens its grip on us.

Khatri left behind his legacy.

Khatri left behind memories.

Khatri left behind hearts who will never forget to love him.

He didn't really leave, he lives within us, in our prayers, in our hearts and our words.

This life is not pointless, as we go forward, we touch souls in ways we do not even realise, and maybe, just maybe, that is how this is supposed to work. And that is how it has been working since the beginning of times..

He Became A Winner

I sit here, gazing out the window. Yes, a very typical scene. But it's not so typical right now because I'm not looking out the window. Heck, the curtains of my window are closed. And yet, I sit here gazing out the window... the window that might have been closed due to all the happenings around me, the window that had blurred my vision and derailed my focus, the window that had been painted black by my OWN misleading ways.

Yes, I mislead myself.

My being had changed its course after I let myself be carried away with the ways of this world. It did happen. It's disappointing, but it's true. This is where I stand up, not a moment longer am I going to grey away my youth as I trudge the ways of the apocryphal ones, I am who I am. I am going to create my own way. I am going to not please the masked ones for once. I am going to make history. My aims, my dreams, they have been ignited by passion.

A passion of doing what I love to do.

-Said the one who became a winner.

P.S. On a very very very serious note, I love Rainbow Ice creams ^_^

Mr.Time. You There?

Wait. I had started writing blog posts about winter vacations, right?
Wait another minute. I had written just one post about the vacations.
Is that it?
Yeah, I guess that's it.

I NEED MORE TIME.
There's so much to do... And I have done... Nothing?

Mr.Time,
will you be so kind?
Stop as you may,
as I hand you a dime
as you pause,
pause what we call time.

Ignore my poetic baldness, because I have lost it!

Shoot. I just wrote poetic baldness xD

And this is when Mr.Time was my partner. Yeah, during the vacations. All I had was time.
That's when I came up with picture-ising each day of my life.

All that happened from 8th till 19th December :)
Nope, I did not get to work on my 'picture journal' after this. :p

17th December-the day those mids ended.
Oh, that freedom :')
We were till 11pm, playing basketball :)

All the work done for LUMUN IX.
LUMUN IX, that's another amazingly awesome story.
That I shall write about... Someday... soon... Maybe... Hopefully...

Yes, I do try to make up my own quotes at times. Sigh.

BUT!
I know Mr.Time will knock at my door someday and it will go something like,

"Knock Knock!"
"Whose There"
"Mr.Time"
"Mr.Time who?"
"The one who doesn't exist"

Yes, I know I ruined the knock knock joke. Completely.

Oh, well. It is true.

THIS.LIFE.MAY.BE.EXHAUSTING.BUT.IT.IS.AMAZING.-LY.BEAUTIFUL. ^_^

Winter Vacations Take 1-Family

Hey Blog,
I've missed you :)

In all news, the winter vacations are about to end. School on 7th January, even though they seem as endless as those Egyptian Labyrinths full of treasure yet many dangers.

Treasures and dangers, that's how my winter holidays can be described best :D

Started off with family at Islamabad. You know how you feel lost and then you search the ground to find something to hold on to, I met my family then :) There's no happier moment than being with family after an entire YEAR! The khalas fussing over you, nani giving you sweet halwa to eat, mamoo taking you out for midnight ice cream and little cousins constantly screaming out 'LUBAINA BAJIII'; even though when you run over to them and ask 'What Happened?' the most common reply is 'Nothing' with a very cheeky smile. Oh well, the joy of being with family :)

Apart from the distant relatives, Mama, Baba, my brothers and my sister were all together after months. And mayyyn, I've missed our fights :D

Ok, so here's how a typical family conversation goes while we were on our way from Kaamra to Peshawar (Yes, I've travelled a lot in these vacations)

Baba: Alright everybody, it's going to be cold at Peshawar.
Mama: Well I've packed extra sweaters so it's going to be all good.
Lil Sister: My purple sweater is here tooo!
Lil Bro: I'm feeling cold already.
Mama: Well, we can stop the car and get out the sweater for you from the trunk.
The bro elder than Lil Bro: Yeah. I want my socks too.
Mama: What socks?
The bro elder than Lil Bro: The socks you packed to bring along.
Mama: You are wearing socks.
The bro elder than Lil Bro: I'm not wearing socks.
Lil Bro: Mama, he's not wearing socks.
Baba: WHY ARE YOU NOT WEARING SOCKS?!
The bro elder than Lil Bro: Because nobody told me to wear socks.
Lil Sister: Use your mind. We wear socks in the cold.
The bro elder than Lil Bro: But i was shouting and asking if I am to wear socks and nobody replied.
Me: You were asking about the dirty socks. You HAD to wear the clean socks.
The bro elder than Lil Bro: NOBODY ASKED ME TO WEAR WHICH SOCKS!
Baba: You're fifteen years old. Learn to take care of your self.
The bro elder than Lil Bro: I repeat. Nobody asked me to wear socks!

'THE' socks :D

Yeah. Well, that was just one sock story :D
I could write a book on the conversations my family has and the book will NEVER end.