To Whom It May Concern

Since everything is under control, and we are a happy, already-flourished democracy moving towards progress and development, here's what I have to say about General Elections 2018 in Pakistan and here's to whom it may concern.

O Leader!
Thy lips spill hate.
Thy heart flames rage.
Thy words spit insult.
Thine eyes shoot anger.
Thou call me insane
and treat me low.
Thou call me an ass
and call thyself true.
Thy friends call me names
and call my elders too.
And I, the less
I, the unclean
Shall choose Thee, the only;
The only and the clean.

While I hope the best may win, I also know it is not a a world cup final and there is no best out there. Recent incidents of terrorism has taken leaders from us, once again. And while i had this urge to not cast a vote this time I contacted the most sane of my friends hoping she will convince me to drop the idea. But in all honesty, neither the one man show we are watching on media despite the huge criticism from rest of the political parties and the nation itself is disappointing, nor is the fact that he continues to speak a language loaded with inappropriateness that discouraging.

What aches the heart here is that the supporters know everything. They proudly claim what even the paid thinkers won't utter under their breath. And despite knowing the possibilities of the sources from where all this power comes, they continue to support whoever they support, calling this huge damage a collateral one "for a greater good" as they like to put it.

Suicides in Khana Kaaba and Grand Mosque of Mecca: Depression Suicide and Religion

It all started with treating depression as a mood swing and not an illness.
One of my friends from Karachi is suffering from depression. And along with that she is dealing with people telling her how she is not "trying enough" to get out of it (as if there is a threshold which she can cross to step out of it). At times she would swear how hard she has been trying and the extend to which she has gone, including the humble acceptance of being mentally unstable (which the rest of us are afraid to accept about ourselves) to help herself.
Another friend of mine who is now a doctor, has suffered from depression during her last two years at medical college. She had no signs of depression as such, but she gained a lot of weight and had a terrible skin condition and only upon finding out her high level of stress hormones, her dermatologist concluded that she was in depression. She worked on herself starting from praying, meditating and exercising to medicines and the right diet. And she miraculously recovered in months.
While this was happening with two of my friends who were diagnosed with depression, I wanted to peak into the matter, to know what causes it and whether or not could depression be called a disease. Our entire group of friends dedicated some time out of our weekends to look into the reasons, symptoms and cures, and most importantly, definition of Depression - the disease.
Recently, I stumbled upon an article sharing this sad news of a guy committing suicide in Khana e Kaba in the holy month of Ramadan during Taraweeh prayers. And the discussion about depression took a traditional turn where people started calling him a sinner, a dumb guy and what not.
As if this was not enough, I saw news about another suicide, again in Mecca, at a holy site for Muslims. The reaction to this incident was more inhuman than the previous one.
And only yesterday, I saw my friend's WhatsApp status where she shared a new article by someone whose best friend committed suicide, while he was continuously advised to Pray the Depression away.
The entire concept of finding a solution for a disease in praying alone is very emotional, irrational and nonsensical. Depression is a disease and should be treated like one. Just like we can't pray Cancer or a bee-sting or a dog-bite away similarly we can't cure depression with prayers alone.
Most of today's practicing yet moderate Muslim brothers and sisters in Islam are getting their guidance, motivation and knowledge from YouTube. Hence I'd quote Nauman Ali Khan from one of the videos of his speeches where he says "Du'a is not Amazon.com". If nothing else, it means that we can't necessarily escape a problem or get instantly something out of our du'as/prayers.
And praying in Depression may actually help the patient (as they may feel more connected to their Lord and hence find some inner peace), this is usually the first thing the victims try. Even an atheist would initially go for meditation, spending time in Nature and trying anti depressant diets. However, only these patients would know better whether it works or not.
We need to understand that it is one thing to have a bad day or go through a thin patch or rough time, and it is completely another to be "sick", to suffer from a disease. Very "praying" and "happy" people can go through this.
Besides, Depression is not just the so-called "bad mood", that is just one of the symptoms. I have seen my people loosing their sleep for months over nothing, and that too is just another symptom.
We need to try to think broad when it comes to medicine - the field. Just because there is no tumor. wound or bruise doesn't mean it's not a disease. However this can still be a topic open to discussion.
But what is more important is how do we deal with someone who's suffering from depression. And respecting the patient, not judging them for being a "non-praying" person or a "sinner" would be the least we could do for them.
And if we must preach (because we love it) than probably sharing our touching story with a holy moral of "Pray it away" would be a nicer way. But emphasizing on the similarities, forcing them to call our story theirs or accept both as identical will just not help and we may come out as a self-absorbed entity. While it would be nicer if we could be there for others without being about ourselves. 

The Change

I was recently having a discussion with my professor on social media about change. According to her the problem with us is that “We take on change as a catch word without clear conceptualisation. Hence it becomes a very attractive word to cut a discourse for intellectualism that is actually directionless and has no clue of what exactly does it imply.” She also said that while we are so fond of using words like “system” or “change” they derive from a theory or an ideology which most of us seem to have never understood. Both of these points are valid. Hence it got me into thinking. I am not a learned human, wouldn’t even count myself in the reader community of the globe.  I have no idea which philosopher said what about what. But still I’m driven by the need and the desire of change. I’d even cast a vote for someone who will promise me some change. And after I saw no change that I expected, while the claims of the big change echoed, I was left to think about what then actually changed? And there I think I realized that the kind of change that I wanted to see, was supposed to start with me. Starting with me thinking about how it was going to come into being, rather than just wanting an end product.

As I already mentioned that I know nothing about theories and philosophies of change, but I still think of it, desire it and even sometimes make it by taking out that garbage, the smell of which has got on everyone’s nerves but is too heavy for others to move, so I thought I’d write about my layman notion of change, system and the change in the system. I think “change” is easier to deal with because no matter what I write as my definition of this word, it will be different than the next person’s, who comes across it. Still I will start with “system”.

While Google defines it as “a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network; a complex whole” and “a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized scheme or method”, these are too flowered for me to understand. In my understanding, a system is a process or a processing body or the individuals networking in a processing body or the way those individuals work to get the process going. Also I believe there is more to the word.

A change in the system then would be a slight difference made, by replacing (or changing) an action or even an actor, in an ongoing system. If the entire system renews itself or is renewed somehow, it will not be a change in the system. Rather, it will be a system changed. And while this might sound confusing to highly intellectual people, this is simple and understandable for a layman like myself.

An illustration of me being a component of an ongoing system might help those who are still confused. For example if I am a student of a college where there is a tradition of teachers not coming to the class on time, and I want it changed, I can daydream about the authorities getting raged because my personal little self is in trouble but this might never really happen unless I go and report. Now that still doesn’t mean the authorities will take a notice but for someone who tries after me would surely know one of the many ways that wouldn’t work, which to me is still a contribution to the desire of the long term change of teachers coming to the class in time.  Here the authorities, the staff, the students are all part of a system, including the processes like hiring the teachers, maintenance of discipline, exams, results and other such things. Then my demand of teachers coming to the class on time would be the desired end product or the change that I want to see. And me taking an action that aims at that particular desired change (here the teachers coming to the class on time) would be me trying to contribute to make the change happen. The change in the system would be if teachers start coming to the class on time. And if this eventually becomes the new tradition and every teacher is on time, then it would be the system changed.

My narrow mind could not get out of the student life I live and so I had to make it about some problem students would face in a college. But it goes the same for other “changes” and “systems”. And while I think I should make it clear again that it is the wrong use of such words that result in endless and directionless discussions, (since almost everyone is attracted to these terms), the only thing that can sort an end out of such an intense discourse is the understanding that words like these can be relative and personal.