Why Does It Take Time For Some Prayers To Be Answered?

We pray, all of us; intentionally or unintentionally. You may wonder 'unintentionally? how?' Well, I think when we say "Oh I really hope blah blah blah happens" that's really a prayer in disguise.

We pray for and over everything but sometimes we wonder why does it take so much time for some prayers to be answered? And I am talking about the important prayers here, the urgent ones, the make-or-break situation/prayers, life defining ones.

We pray for our sick parents, dying parents, siblings, our family members who may be in distress, who may have an operation, have a crisis on-hand. We pray for ourselves. We may be sick, we may be dying, we may have a really tough paper the next day, we have the result coming of  a very tough yet a very important exam. We pray for friends who may be going through similar situations as mentioned.

We turn to God, we pray. We have faith and we really wish for these prayers to be answered. Why wouldn't we? These are matters of utter urgency. A dying parent, anyone in surgery, exam(s) that determine your entire career. And sometimes we see a delay; everything at a pause. Nothing happening. Your parent is still sick, the family member still making no recovery, the bad grade, the distressed friend and we question why haven't these been answered? I wasn't asking for an iPhone or a new house, this was beyond urgent and important and God knows that. And we pray again. We wish. We hope.

We often pray in grief, and there are 5 very well knows stages of grief. Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance.

We pray when we are in denial, we turn a blind eye to the truth and get into the 'wishful-miracle thinking' mode. We become angry; we question God, we question His ignorance, we question our motives, we may stop praying but we never cease to hope. We bargain, we offer up everything in exchange, we offer up our souls for a chance of our prayer to be heard, for God to change His plan and grant us the lifeline. We become depressed, we start to understand the failure but we never lose hope, our strong hope and willpower keeps us at it. We accept, we say He knows best but we are secretly angry and secretly depressed, we don't prefer the loss of a parent, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a career or a year of hard work, we just can't.

Some things make sense, some we understand; some are just down dead hilarious and unacceptable.
The loss breaks us. We may lose faith,w e lose hope, we don't find a way to continue.

Picture Credit: berlin-artparasites on facebook. Artwork by Harriet Lee-Merrion Illustration

So why is it? Why does it take time for some prayers to be heard? We prayed. We have/had faith at the highest of degree known to us, we offer up our souls.
-Nobody knows. If you have answers other than 'God's plans' and 'God knows best' please let me know.

Just A Theory

So I have this theory, it may not make any sense but what gives!

Nothing is absolute. Not people nor their attitude towards life (in general), there is this constant change, and time is the factor.

Time makes us travel, makes us see things; and we change, willingly or unwillingly and the people around us too; sooner or later, for better or for worse. Its sort of inevitable. But the thing is that they should be understanding enough. Not a bad thing if they aren't because its understandable, good if they are.

Because they may really not know what caused the change in them or in you but they can try, stick around, accept the change and accept the change as time takes them, together. Because as much as we say that we don't need anyone, we sort of do. And if we really don't, then its at least pleasant to have someone at your back who will slap you, taunt you, make sense to you, hug you and give cake to you!

                                           Picture from Facebook page: berlin-artparasites. 
                                                            Artwork by Alex Stoddard


So, there is bound to be change, big or small, we just have to be open about it. And for what would we like, for people to understand it, bear with us, understand us, we should do the same to them. In the end, we may have each other, as humans; and acceptance is the key.

Patari, Pakistani Music's New (Mazaydaar) Platform

Patari in the words of Patari:

"A revolutionary platform for discovering and streaming Pakistani music in an exclusive invite-only beta"

Pakistan is a country of music lovers and the country has seen and felt great music. Unfortunately there has nothing been happening to give it a boost. SoundCloud doesn't have all the Paki music, YouTube is still an eid ka chaand for us, concerts and gigs rarely happen and do we even have music channels?!

In the midst of all this, Patari may be our ray of light. Although it's just a new born baby (venture) it has generated a good buzz. Patari is a very cool initiative to have (almost) all Pakistani music available for the people to discover and stream. All the way from Nazia Hassan to Hadiqa to Ali Zafar to new, emerging indie bands, Patari has them all. If for nothing, let's appreciate the decades of records they have for us to enjoy!

Currently it is at beta version and works via an invite-only service, but I am sure that is to change as they grow and find more stability.

The founders of this mazaydaar cheez are Khalid Bajwa, Humayun Haroon, Iqbal Talaat and Faisal Sherjan. How they came up up and what drove them could be read in their Dawn and Tribune interviews.

 The Founders. (Picture from Patari Facebook page)

What strikes to me, as a music lover and an active user of Patari is their dedication for the venture, for music lovers around them and how they balance the culture, being hip and of course, the music in this new cocktail.

Having used Patari for some time now, I always wonder what's next for them. Currently, they already have some good compilations lined up for us in their 'sections' of Genres, Top Charts and Moods; all three having some real good tracks, equally as good as the names and creativity of those 'sections'.

Any new venture requires a good push and capital, financed by the founders only and with help from Plan9, a Punjab government initiative to help start up businesses. And with the passage of time and their growth, I only wait for they hold for us in the future.

And another great thing about these guys is their fun, funk and interaction with their users. Having done no advertising, they got popular solely with the word of mouth and their applause worthy media team. I'll get back to that in a minute, but just look at their work space!

Patari Office. (Picture from Patari Facebook page)

 A good job requires a good space, I am sure and this is where all the 'magic' happens from the programming to the interaction.

Speaking of interaction, I am a fan of their social media (considering how I shamelessly almost flirt with patari) and how much I mention them with each song. And they respond back in the funniest/cutest/mazaydaar ways. I think that's the trick! Knowing your users, knowing what they may want and shaping it up. Kudos!

Patari also holds music gigs in the cities, had one in Karachi recently and having one in Islamabad too, and this allows them to engage with the audience and for the audience to get to know the new music scene and the upcoming bands. (I personally love Siknader ka Madar). And I think this what we need. As we go revive our cinemas, we need a platform for music, something simple and easy yet effective.

I would say that Pakistani music lovers should definitely give Patari a chance, by registering at www.patari.pk and waiting for an invite (works better if you bribe the kitties with milk). And once you're in, you'll understand the world they created and how much it would mean to them, to us and music itself for Patari to flourish.

Being a fresh venture, they have had good success, but sky is the limit I reckon. Only time will tell what the kitties have in store for us. I wish them luck, funds, consents, more luck and milk!


*This piece was written using the information from their Dawn and Tribune interviews.