A TRIBUTE TO MY MOTHER

                                                                   MY AMMI (Mother)……….

The word mother is something which is loved and respected in every religion, culture and in every part of the world. The only reason attached to it is the selfless love and affection that a woman has towards her children. Every woman , has been , inbuilt with a motherly instinct , at one point or another a woman wants to bear children and to have something of her flesh and blood to hold and love for life ."It is your mother's right towards you that you should remember that she carried you in her womb for nine  months and nourished you with the sap of her life. She employed all her essence to keep and protect you. There are women who have to fight against all odds to bore children and to protect them, A woman can bear cruelty, hate, hunger, thirst, violence, any and every hardship for her child. Mother are to their kids ,superheroes.

"To all Mother" is such a simple word,

But to me there’s meaning seldom heard.

For everything I am today,

My mother’s love showed me the way.

I’ll love my mother all my days,

For enriching my life in so many ways.

She set me straight and then set me free,

And that’s what the word "mother" means to me.

                                                                                                             (Joanna Fuchs)

My mother died exactly 10 years ago and today I am writing this blog as a tribute or one can say as gratitude to that amazing personality. She was my Superhero; I was lucky enough to be born and raised in Lahore with a wonderful woman like my mother. She really was a free spirit and her guiding principles were to be as happy and loving in life as possible. These ambitions I feel she has passed on to me. She very much knew her own mind – and I know mine. She believed in justice and never doing wrong to anyone. I am stronger and more confident because I always have my mum in my heart, and she is with me every day. Whatever I do and whatever decisions I take, I know she is right there, too, alongside me. My moto in life before taking any decision is that I think carefully if that act of mine will alleviate my mother’s status in Jannah or not , will it make her proud of me doing the right thing or sad if I slip. I do not feel I have lost her. I feel she is with me. My family likes to tell me that I have a lot of my mother about me, and that makes me so happy, and so proud. She was with me physically when I needed her in my life till she was alive, and she is now with me spiritually to guide me in my hard times and difficulties. In short, she is there with me all the time.

My mother, Jamila Isa Khan was born in India, married to her cousin at the age of 16 a few months before partition and came to Pakistan immediately after. She was especial in her own way. She was a dedicated housewife and mother, loved dressing up, wearing garlands in her hair and hands. Applied kajal and redden her lips with missri, wore pearl necklaces and loved pump shoes. I never saw her hands without bangles. She loved to cook and made the most amazing aaloo, keema and daal wali rotis. Loved watching dramas and had strong political opinions. Her best friend was our neighbor Bano apa , every morning she used to come over and my mother and she used to sit and talk for hours .My mother’s obsession was her children, she was overly possessive to the point of annoying people with praises of us. She was always smiling and loving person was usually quiet and observing but loved with all her heart.  My mom was an amazing personality because she truly exemplifies a sacrificial spirit: There is nothing she would not do for those she loves. ... She is well-known for her random care packages, arranged with love, containing everything from much-needed toiletries to most bizarre wishes of ours. She is the best example of true love and sacrifice, never seen her eating before everyone in house had their meal, she was there standing in the balcony waiting for us if any one of us get late, she was there to fulfill our wants and demands putting aside her essential needs. She was all the time to protect us from all sorts of hard time natural and worldly. To me she was an angel who was there to protect us all, as long as she was there we don’t have any fear but with her death it seems that we have lost a cloud that was hovering all the time on our heads and was protecting us from all the evils and hard times.

The biggest thing that one must keep in mind is that a mother is someone who wants her child to grow up to be a happy, healthy, successful adult. A mother pays attention to her child's particular nature and responds to the specific needs of each child. A mother accepts her child for who she or he is, and forgives her child for their mistakes, big or small. Beside all this it is also consider that a mother's role is to love her children with all her heart. It is also the role of every mom to understand her children. ... Because of our mothers' love, we learn to love, as well and we feel God's love more profoundly. Mothers are trusted by God, because souls are entrusted in their care. At the same time we forgot that we also owe a lot to our parents especially our moms for all that she has done for us.

To me every mom is a special person and a heavenly present to human race. If you still have your mother with you respect them and take care of them. Because once you lose them that void can never be filled. If you truly respect your mother, you be respectful to all women, that is the power of a mother’s love……

"Heaven lies beneath the feet of mothers". (Prophet of Islam)

Love you Ammi (Mother)   and miss you very much!

Written By:

A loving Son

Ovais Asad Khan

CHILL WHILE IN QUARANTINE!!

MAKE IT A HAPPY QUARANTINE!

With the outbreak of Pandemic COVID-19 nearly entire world is facing some sort of lock down, isolation situation and under self-imposed or forceful quarantine.  Which is creating a mental distress, emotional fatigue and physical tiredness amongst people of all ages, races, nation, color and creed. Every day we are bombarded with tragic and dangerous news coming from every cornet of the world. As a whole the entire life is becoming gloomy and sad. My today's article is not going to increase all these feelings amongst my readers as today I will try to highlight the positive side of this COVID-19 and being in quarantine. Here I will discuss few things that you can do being in quarantine and chill. These things will surely help you in overcoming the gloomy side of COVID-19 and will surely help in having a happy, contended future life. As this is the time that you can realize that God has blessed us with so many capabilities  but we were just wasting our time and life being robotically monotonous and were just following a routine pattern in life and never thought that there is a lot beyond that in life to do.

Once China started placing a series of their cities under lock down in January to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, experts warned that other countries may not be able to implement the same policies. But over the past few weeks, cities, states, and countries around the world have similarly restricted people’s movement in order to stop the virus’s spread. Now corona-virus is spreading through the World, and many countries have made emergency declarations. The World Health Organization has declared it a pandemic.

As a result during a pandemic like this one, quarantining some people and asking the rest to stay at home is necessary for public health. But officials can structure isolation in ways that minimize the psychological impact of those policies — for example, by not promising that a quarantine period will be for one length of time and then extend it for longer. A bad quarantine means people don’t get good information about what they’re doing and don’t have a good rationale for why it’s needed. They don’t have access to basic supplies or health care and don’t have good communication. If people suffer financial losses and feel like they can’t afford to carry on with their lives that can have a bad impact.

The worst situation that almost all the countries of the world are facing these days is, You are stuck home, feel like this is going to be a long 14 days, maybe even longer. But as we all know that there is always a bright side of everything so cheer up, here is a list of positive outcomes that will and might come out of this quarantine. Positive things have come out of the worst crisis. The Corona crisis is going to change some of the ways we think as individuals and in society and that will make some things collapse and others rise. Some food for thought on making this a positive journey for you too, lets me put down some positive things that will result out of the COVID-19 and how we can pass out quarantine time something positive, chill and constructive.

Ø  You are saving money as you will be spending lesser by being in quarantine, although it will be having a bad impact on your businesses.

Ø  We will be having a good, cleaner and greener planet with less pollution.

Ø  You will be having ample time with your children and family thus will help in creating a rebounding with them which you may have lost because of your busy schedule.

Ø  You will be having more and more opportunities to cherish your elders. As is situations like these we realizes as how much we love our elders and our families in general, and don’t want to lose them.

Ø  Polishing your cooking skills with creative cooking, as you will be having all the family members around to appreciate your creative cooking with no outside food around.

Ø  Spend Time With Your Furry Friends. Do you know what the best medicine is for busting stress and depression? It’s playtime with your pets. Pets could pick up on your feelings, so avoid getting all sad and lonely around them. On the other hand, you could use this quarantine break to do some activities together.

Ø  Spend time on Decluttering. You can do all the things you never have time to do: sort your old clothes that you want to give away, clean your home, read those books lying on your shelf for a year. Take that online course.

Ø  Don’t Forget To Stay Active At Home.  Let’s not make “staying indoors,” one more excuse to skip exercise. If you are cooped up and stressing out, we would say to stretch it out!

Ø  Spend your time in reading a rare book and read your bookshelf, pick up a new instrument, Get Groovy learn dancing, Learn An Eccentric Skill during Quarantine, Make masks, Learn a new craft, hobby, Learn to draw, Build a Lego, Play some poker or Uno too, Listen to podcasts.

Ø  It’s the best time to get in touch with your friends, message, call, whatsapp, skype or zoom with them as all are mostly available these days.

Ø  Appreciate Those Who Are Working to Keep Us Safe, by writing blogs about them by posting videos acknowledging their services etc.

Ø  It’s the best time To Redecorate Home with (Do It Yourself) DIY Stuff

Ø  Bake, Bake, and Bake Some More.

Ø  If you have ample spaces in your home then have a campfire in the backyard.

Ø  Focus on yourself. You can start being creative again: start writing that book you’ve been talking about for years, or start drawing again. Start doing yoga every morning and meditating.

Ø  Have a backyard “drive-in”, Find a sheet, get a projector and let the movie light up the night after the sun goes down.

Ø  Go for a walk, get outside, just practice social distancing.

Ø  Fix your home. You can fix things in your home.  Repair that squeaky kitchen door. You can even start making a small project to build shelves or other things you need.

Ø  Mentally and physically prepare yourself that now you will do more remote work in the future. You will have good points to show it to your boss that it is possible and does not impact productivity.

Ø  Last but not the least rethinks your life. I know this sounds far-fetched, but I do believe this crisis will have many impacts on us that we do not even foresee yet. Maybe you will have time to rethink your career path. Maybe you want a more rewarding job even though you might earn less.

Ø  Good luck! And keep your eyes open for positive impacts of this crisis.

Closing Words:

In the last I would like to highlight one thing for sure that its true that whole world is facing a deadly pandemic that has already eaten up 150000 live so we have to be very careful about it. The best protection about it is to “STAY HOME AND STAY SAFE”. I understand that these are hard times for every one of us. But, it is for our good and safety that we stay indoors. But, one cannot stay in isolation for long by sitting idle and going on a movie spree. We hope some of these self-quarantine activities would help you dodge off stress and anxiety. On this note I will end my today’s blog, so cheer up and “MAKE IT A HAPPY QUARANTINE.”

By: Ovais asad khan

A CHALLENGE TO MANKIND

COVID -19 A CHALLENGE FOR MANKIND

We are living in a world which most of us use to call as a global village with technological advancement we all are closely connected virtually but just a little germ a virus that we can’t even see with naked eyes has created self-implicated barriers between us. Siblings living in the same city, same area or even in same neighborhood are not visiting and meeting each other now for days.  No social life, no hassle bustle in the street all across the globe. City size shopping centres are all closed down, no clubs, bars, even church, mosque and holiest places of every religion are devoid of their devotees. YES, there  are places like hospital and graveyards are there where we see all sorts of activities 24/7 with patients and dead bodies of COVID-19 patients are coming in and going out.

There is no doubt that the world is facing a global health crisis unlike any in the 75-year history of the United Nations — one that is killing people, spreading human suffering, and upending people’s lives. But this is much more than a health crisis. It is a human, economic and social crisis. The corona virus disease (COVID-19), which has been characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), is attacking societies at their core. Thus leaving us to ponder how little, small, minute and in other word helpless we are although we claimed to have mastered each and every aspect of human life and had learnt the truth about the whole universe.

Later part of December 2019 is the start of the outbreak of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which has created a global health crisis that has had a deep impact on the way we perceive our world and our everyday lives. Not only the rate of contagion and patterns of transmission threatens our sense of agency, but the safety measures put in place to contain the spread of the virus also require social distancing by refraining from doing what is inherently human, which is to find solace in the company of others. The pandemic coincided with the Chunyun, a major travel season associated with the Chinese New Year holiday. Many Lunar New Year events and tourist attractions were closed to prevent mass gatherings, including the Forbidden City in Beijing and traditional temple fairs. Hong Kong raised its infectious disease response level to the highest and declared an emergency, closing schools until March and cancelling its New Year celebrations. The demand for personal protection equipment has risen 100-fold, which led to an increase in prices of these items up to twenty times the normal price and also induced delays on the supply of medical items for four to six months.

Now the whole world is facing questions like, where will we be in six months, a year, 10 years from now? I lie awake at night wondering what the future holds for my loved ones, my vulnerable friends and relatives. I wonder what will happen to my job, even though I’m one of the lucky ones: I get good sick pay and can work remotely. I am writing this from a part of the world, where I still have self-employed friends who are staring down the barrel of months without pay, friends who have already lost jobs. Corona virus is hitting the economy bad. Will anyone be hiring when I need work?

With this pandemic going bizarre, there are a number of possible futures, all dependent on how governments and society respond to corona virus and its economic aftermath. I am a wishful thinker and hope that we will use this crisis to rebuild, produce something better and more humane. But we may slide into something worse. I think we can understand our situation – and what might lie in our future – by looking at other crises. I always focus on the fundamentals of the modern economy: global supply chains, wages, and productivity. In the face of Covid-19, this has never been more obvious. So it’s high time we should try to rebuild our society on stronger footings with central objectives be love, care, humanity, brotherhood and space for others.

It’s an established fact that in a normal crisis the prescription for solving this is simple – the government spends, and it spends until people start consuming and working again. It has surely proven that how false our believes about our Markets and socio-economic set ups. All these changes that we will shape in after Covid-19 may even hint at the possibility of longer term change that makes us happier and helps us tackle climate change. These changes will give me hope. They will give us the chance to save many lives. But the questions still remain the same as what will be these changes and how long will take us to get there? Why many countries of the world were so ill-prepared to counter a crisis like covid-19?

With the spread of this virus now all across the world it’s time to work on a proactive bases as how to help developing countries prepare, respond and recover and doing so in a way that is not only about health, but is about the fabric of societies, and the resilience of countries and communities. If COVID-19 exposes vulnerabilities, for that we must work to build resilience, beyond healthcare in businesses, government capacity, contingency planning, transport networks and much more. In our insurance and risk finance work for example, we should  look to both short-term measures to protect the most vulnerable and long-term integrated solutions, where pandemic risk is actively managed, reduced and transferred, alongside and at the same time as other risks.

As it is true that COVID-19 respects few boundaries, of age, class or financial status, ethnic group or political stripe therefore support work must be carried out across the globe not in just limited and specific areas. I am afraid that as corona virus disease COVID-19 spreads further, it will continue to expose the inequalities that exist in our health systems. It will expose the exclusion of certain groups from accessing care, either because of their legal status or because of other factors that make them a target of the state. It will expose the under-investment in free public healthcare for all, which means that access to quality care will for some be based on purchasing power and not medical need. It will expose the failure of governments - not just health services - to plan for and deliver services that meet the needs of everyone. It will expose the life-threatening vulnerabilities caused by displacement, violence, poverty and war.

What I see is this pandemic is exposing our collective vulnerability. The powerlessness felt by many of us today, the cracks in our feeling of safety, the doubts about the future. These are all the fears and concerns felt by so many in societies who have been excluded, neglected or even targeted by those in positions of power. I sincerely hope COVID-19 not only teaches us to wash our hands, but makes governments understand that healthcare must be for all. Lock-down is placing pressure on the global economy. We face a serious recession. This pressure has led some world leaders to call for an easing of lock-down measures that too will result in an unequal treatment for those who can’t fight the pandemic on their own.

In the end I would like to highlight the challenge which country like Pakistan where I was born and brought up is going to face and that will badly hamper its growth and development under the influence of COVID-19. Control of infectious diseases in a country like Pakistan with one of the highest population density in the world and insufficient healthcare facilities is nothing less than a nightmare. The country has no trained quarantine experts and no training program for the medics’ paramedics and laboratory staff in order to handle patients according to internationally recognized protocols. Visuals coming out of healthcare units clearly point towards the fact that there is complete chaos at all levels due to lack of proper training and facilities. The spread of the most dangerous contagion via untrained lab technicians, medics and paramedics therefore can be an impending calamity. Therefore what I suggest is that either its Pakistan or any other country of the world we should think as one human race and should not creed a divide between us on the bases of colour, creed, race, nationality, social status ancestral linage, political affiliation, economic strata, and above all gender biasness. It’s the time that Allah has shown each one of us no matter whatever religious belief he/she have that with all our development, growth and advancement if we cross our limits, someone is there to warn us, warn us before destroying us, therefore it’s high time that we start working on building a society which is totally opposite to one we were living in and should be a true replica s HE (the creator of world) wants.

BY: OVAIS ASAD KHAN