SCARECROW!

What? Scarecrow?
You are talking nonsense!
Listen; I’ve been living happily in an absolute peaceful environment
No one dares disturbing me unless I permit one to
Own a comfortable room with two windows, so what, if it is small
Enjoy looking at the bustling traffic down in the street
The lights coming across the windowpanes shimmer my room at night, makes it romantic
Life is in complete harmony with the nature

Keep listening!
I possess all the modern electronic gadgets within my four walls of the apartment
Television, computer, DVD, musical system, Cell phone; just name it, everything is around
Find it difficult to assign time slice to each device within every 24 hours
A variety of good nutritious food is also served here, at least once a day

Gossip?
Surely I do, with all surviving friends through internet
Never like visiting them, neither they do; you know, we can’t do it ourselves without help
Grand kids like to chat but their mother thinks they need to concentrate more on their studies

Family?
We all live together. My son, Bahoo (daughter-in-law) and their two kids.
That’s why I don’t feel scared being alone in this room
My son visits me whenever I wish but you know he gets tired after a long day at workplace
BAHOO and children also turn up when I call them for helping me locate my medicines, spectacles, etc.

Missing someone?
I and my wife had a bet as to who would survive last!
My wife won it a few years back. That was the only thing I feared the most to happen
Still unable to adjust without her. Perhaps, a woman has more adaptability to the changing times!

Sleep?
Of course I stretch out a bit but I prefer to remain busy in my world
Love to spend hours at window enjoying the life down in the city
Like to throw smiles and wave at kids, men, women, even some bikers
Have made many late night friends who also wave at me

Recreation?
They take me outside sporadically, just because I get exhausted quickly
Besides, my BAHOO says one family member must always remain at home all the time
It prevents ghosts from dwelling in the house
When all go outside, I prefer to be left alone here

It’s like being SCARECROW?
Whatever! I’ll have to be here until I join my wife, there!

Dialogue with Conscience

Feeling a persistent pinch in the heart!
Human Being: Who is it? Are you there once again interrupting me?
Conscience: Yeah. But let me correct you, I’m here to guide you.
Human: Not now, please. I feel completely drained and exhausted after a day’s hustle and bustle. Commuting was tiring as usual; undisciplined traffic and worst of all, the traffic signals. The moment you touch a red signal and your car is surrounded by a variety of professional beggars disguised in selling tabloid newspaper, garlands, holding fake medical prescriptions that either they or their family members are in dire need of surgeries for which they are short of money. Some would pretend dying of starvation, while others would make plea for donations to build Madaris (religious schools).
And yes, I hate the signal boys flocking up the car to clean windshield.
Conscience: This is what I needed to point out. You snubbed the boy that was about to clean your vehicles’ windshield, refused unkindly to buy newspaper, and rolled up the glass to avoid listening to the plight of a beggar. When the beggar insisted and banged the window pane, you scolded him harshly. Wouldn't have been nice had you turned down their pleas in a decent way without hurting their ego?
Human: They have egos? It’s unbearable. My mind simply doesn’t accept helping deceits.
Conscience: Don’t make your mind a scapegoat; it has nothing to do with these acts. It’s the heart that reacts in these situations. Must be feeling a heavy heart about your unruly attitude?
Human: Truly speaking, yeah! I always feel like that afterwards. How could I get away from this situation?
Conscience: When caught up in a situation like that, just listen to your heart while ignoring your mind completely.
Human: Is there any guideline that helps distinguish a deserved one from the fraudulent?
Conscience: There are no instant yardsticks. It’s your heart that communicates and responds to what it listens to from the requester. Speaking gently and offering a dime to even a deceitful would not diminish your wealth. Your penny may become a source of quenching thirst & hunger, and buying much needed medicines. Do help them without pondering the consequences because it’s out of your jurisdiction.
Human: Are you trying to say that heart is better than mind when it comes to decision making?
Conscience: Heart makes far superior decision when the sentiments are involved.
Human: How come?
Conscience: How do you feel in extreme joy and grief? Who reacts, mind or heart?
Human: You are right. It is the heart that pounds heavily.
Human: Where do you reside?
Conscience: I dwell in the hearts. Good people keep me awake every now and then, while bad people stopped listening to me anymore. Sadly, I’m in deep slumber over there!

Early Encounter with Akram Masih

Officer: While entering the office premises. Hey! Put aside your long broom and let me enter the building.
Akram: Jee Sahib.
Officer: Why don’t you come early in the wee hours and clean the office before we arrive?
Akram: Sahib, I try the best and reach quite early but its large office and takes time to clean it completely. He follows the officer into the office room.
Officer: I’ve noticed that you don’t take the work seriously. Corners of the rooms and stairs always remain stained with colored spitting. When would you remove the PAAN KEE PEEKEN?
Akram: Sahib! I always rub the walls and floors but its relentless job. Why can’t all of you give up chewing the PAAN?
Officer: Shut up! Do your work.
Akram: Sahib! I’m matriculate. Can you please help me getting a respectable job like peon, chowkidar, driver or a clerk? I don’t like working as a sanitary worker. I can easily do what all others do here like coming late, taking cup of tea every now and then, reading newspapers, passing comments on the news, gossip, and relocating the files from one table to other.
Sir, one thing I can’t do that you all frequently do.
Officer: What’s that?
Akram: Backbiting of senior staff.
Officer: BAKWAAS BUND KARO. You are destined to do what you have been doing.
Akram: Sir, may I ask something?
Officer: Hurry up! I’ve to begin working.
Akram: Sir, who does the cleaning in the US and Europe?
Officer: Immigrants, like Africans, South Americans, and some Asians too.
Akram: Sahib! If immigrants work everywhere, why do we do so in our own country?
Officer: You talk too much! Leave the room and let me do my work.
Akram: Sir! Last question. Can I go to Saudi Arabia, in fact Makka for doing the work?
Officer: How come? Non-Muslims are not allowed in Makka.
Akram: Who then sweep the streets, clean the toilets, and carry the garbage?
Officer: Sudanese, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian Muslims, etc.
Akram: If Pakistanis do in Makka, in America and Europe, then why can’t they do in their own country?
Sahib smiles sneeringly and says; Because you are cheaply available, because we can exploit your poverty, illiteracy and your inability to switch over to better & respectable vocations.
Akram: Sahib, you can exploit whatever you like but let me reveal to you that we are neither lazy at work nor starving and never go begging for food, cloth and shelter like millions of people do here.
Officer: Shut up and get lost.