Something that might interest you all...

http://creatively-frustrated.blogspot.com/

Congrats Sadaf and Rayika!

This might be old news but check this out. http://thelastwordbooks.blogspot.com/search/label/Life's%20Too%20Short

Staying Focused

It was 8:35, and the class was supposed to start at 8:30. It wasn’t the first time I was getting late for college and it wasn’t going to be the last, but I wished I’d spare myself the embarrassment every once in a while. The Mor Samnabad bus stop wasn’t very far from home, but the Monday morning traffic wasn’t going to make life any easier. I was climbing up and down the little steps on the shop fronts and trying not to fall as I balanced myself on the sloped ones while guys on bikes maneuvered through what was left of the dirty sidewalk by the slow moving traffic.

As I walked past a closed shop, I saw a little kitten sitting there. A very little kitten. Not the cute cuddly, aww cute thing kind of a kitten, rather a weak dusty, aww, it’s probably gonna die kind of a kitten. I obviously didn’t have time to feel sorry for it;’ If it’s strong enough, it will make it. These things are tougher than they look or else they won’t have been here. If it’s not good enough, there isn’t much anyone can do to evade natural rejection. And what do I know, its mother might be out there, killing sweet little sparrows to make sure she can feed it’

I always manage to find reasons to approach the things I see in a way that allows me to do absolutely nothing about them. I feel that actually caring for those around you, is a privilege only the naïve and the ignorant can fully enjoy. I try not to feel sorry for the little pieces of rug I see on the roadside every now and then, which on close inspection, reveal to be little animals flattened by the traffic, like a cartoon character that’s been run over by a steam roller and then puts its thumb in it’s mouth and inflates itself back into shape.

And then it came to me,’ Why don’t I try and help the kitten?!!’ No, seriously. I could give it a try, see what happens if I actually try to make a change and don’t give up because I think too much. Who knows, I might just achieve true happiness, see what that’s all about!

But it was quarter to nine, I really couldn’t be any more late from college. And what would be my excuse for it? No. Don’t even think about telling the truth!! See, that’s the whole thing, I couldn’t afford to get carried away by my little emotional decisions, because as I said, I didn’t have time to feel sorry for the little kitten.

Then again, I was thinking too much, ‘I’ll never get to know what it feels like to really do something good if I don’t commit to it’. Yeah, I was committed and I was going to…... uh…... get milk for it!?

But the couple of dairy shops in the front were yet to open. The only option left for me was to buy a quarter pack of milk from the big bakery around the corner. Or I could just go to college…. Never mind that thought. I had to stay focused.

As I walked towards the bakery, I picked up a disposable cup, and removed its top half to make it shallow enough to stay balanced as the little kitten, hopefully drank from it. And right before I entered the bakery, I saw another poor little kitten, I said to myself ‘No, this one isn’t part of my agenda, I have to stay focused’. I wasn’t going to spend all day feeding kittens, I really couldn’t. I had to stop thinking too much and just do what I had set out to do.

I bought a quarter pack of outrageously expensive packaged milk and left the bakery. I was starting to feel pretty silly by then, and on my way back I saw yet another kitten, slightly larger this time. By then I had decided that I was only going to feed the first one I saw and get the hell out of there.

‘Aw, come on, how am I going to make any sense out of this whole thing?’ I couldn’t stop thinking too much. I wished I was more focused like the rest of the people.

I hurried back to the spot where I had seen the first kitten. It wasn’t there.

There was a long passage next to the shop that led to a street, but the kitten couldn’t have walked so far from the way it looked, and it could have went in any direction.

’Will I have to search for it now?’ I thought for a moment, ‘No, I think that’s enough for today. I guess I failed because I didn’t try hard enough, lets keep it that way.’

I climbed into a wagon with the quarter liter pack of milk in my hand; I can’t quite recall what I did with that.

another contest for short stories.

http://www.lifestooshort.pk/

well said mariam :) osman gives himself too little credit. what he doesn't tell you is the enormous praise he gets from his editors and how people (i.e big bad companies, writers, other editors) are lining up to get him to work with them!




can't belive it's been a year! hope the whole gang is well. dont get to hear from anyone much except a few of them.

How's about another book by the bol group? haha.

been long

heyy everyone....
how's it going....its been real long since we'v heard form each other....really hope all of you are doing good and i hope things are not too bad at everyone's end with whts been going on in the country since yesterday....and hope to hear from you guys soon...

tc
ciao