Happiness

You are a King.

You know of the other countless kings as well. You are the king of the universes. They are the kings of other things. You don't understand their purpose of existence, though. What is it that they are king over? That's the way it works. That's the way it has always worked, and will always work.

You are able to see the millions, billions, and trillions of universes that has existed in the past and exist in the present. You'll be able to see the universes of the future. The infiniteness boggles even the mind of such as you. You watch over the Omniverse, and you are there to observe the changes that befall them and occur as time moves along.

Varying degrees of order and chaos. You've seen them all. You've seen wars fought for the right reasons and the wrong reasons. You've seen innocents put to death and you've seen the guilty run free. You know the difference between right and wrong, and you're indifferent to it. You've seen them all except Order and Chaos. It was not because you did not want to see them. It was because they do not exist.

But, fortune is upon you - a universe has branched off; a universe bent on recognizing the dream of complete peace, harmony and happiness. You observe it. For hundreds of years you observe its progress when finally the dream becomes a reality. You peer closely at it, and watch the worlds unfolding, slowly and gradually, until you spot the little green planet known among its inhabitants as Earth. You choose a person at random and you were there, watching the world through the eyes of a mortal. Is the vision worth falling so low? You are about to find out.

The man, through whose eyes you are observing, is a simple man. He has a wife, a son and a daughter in school with good grades. The first thing you see is the wife's smile. You smile, too. You see man freshening up, and as he shaves himself infront of a mirror, you notice his smile. This startles you some. The man finishes with washing, the smile still present in his face.

Later on, you see the children. The same smile and same happy outlook. You are shaken, confused. You become even more so, when you see the wife again, with that same smile. You do not think on it. As the man finishes his breakfast, the smile, ever slowly becoming horrendous, is still present on his face. And on that of his family. You shudder, as the man leaves for work, dropping off the children at school, smiles never leaving. You notice the other people the same painted smile. You begin to tremble.

You search around the world. Everywhere, it's the same. No one is poor. No one is rich. No one is in better health, or in bad health. Thousands of people are dying. At the same age. No mourning. Just smiling. Just happiness. And harmony. And peace. Thousands more are born. No tears of joy. No tears of sorrow at the loss of a mother or a child. Just the bleak smile of monotony. All false.

No striving to do better. Each and everyone are content. No one needs more. The world is in a stand still. Men meet and smile at each other, lifting their hat, talking of home, and work, and the weather all bleak, all the same all nothing. Nothing matters. No pain, no heartbreaks, no sorrow. No joy, no love. No sympathy. No empathy. No apathy. No life! All pointless.

You utter a cry of pain, of sadness, of misery. Emotions not felt in this universe for uncounted years. Progress is meaningless. Love and hate are non-existent. They are nothing. Not even the smiles matter. The fake smiles, that is so horrible and ugly; so gross and wrong. Peace is an illusion. In their fanatic revolution, they have abandoned peace and war, and everything that matters. They've settled for a compromise no progress, no war and no peace. Existence Just Is. No vice. No virtue. No creativity, no fantasy, no depravity, no corruption. No emotions. No evil. No good.

You yell out in horror at the bleakness of the universe. Nothing. Never will there be anything… You race back to your kingdom, the strange void-like place from where you observe it all. You observe the infinitude of other universes thriving for life, thriving for existence. Meaningful. Love and hate. Despair and Hope. War and Peace. Life and Death.

Evil cannot exist without good. Good cannot exist without evil. There can never be a single perspective. But that… that sad excuse of existence somehow, it has only one side and it won't matter, anymore, soon. Could you have done anything, if you were to know? No. The infinite number of possibilities they must all occur. There is an eternity of time for it. It had to be. There'll be a Chaos universe. It'll exist, and you'd have to deal with it.

You close your eyes, and you take in a deep breath of air, something you've picked up from the humans you so love, the humans you so hate and the humans you are so indifferent to. You focus on that bleak existence. And with a gesture of your soul, you make it disappear from existnece you make way for a more fruitful universe to be born.

You sit on your throne. You wonder about the future. You're not omnipotent, nor omniscience. Only omnipresent. You revel in the creations of man, in the destruction of man. Everyday brings a different dawn with new possibilities and discoveries… Angels and Devils… Good and Evil…

Peace and Happiness themselves are illusionary.

By SS Emil

It was a typical summer day and as I walked out of the bathroom after a refreshing shower, the fluttering curtains caught my attention. Nearing the window, I narrowed my eyes to the blinding rays of the sun. Slowly, I sat on my bed, still staring out. I looked at the rickshaws, the tea-stalls and people on the road below. I felt my mind wander. A few minutes later, I found myself looking at a tree. It had a nice brown trunk and such beautiful glossy leaves. The leaves were so green and so mesmerizing. This got me thinking, how could God create such lovely things with such minute details? I mean all leaves are so nicely cut and shaped, as if someone had taken out the time to actually make every single one of them. Not only that, the way the leaves change color every season from green to pale yellow, red and eventually brown; the manner in which they go away with the wind, and promise to come back next season. They always stick to their word. Wouldn't you say that they are extremely trustworthy? Did God give all humans such quality traits? Why not? There had to be some reason, right?

However, as I thought about it more, I realized that leaves were not only a man's best friend; they were a great support too. Without leaves, where would we be standing? Leaves give us oxygen, a primary source of survival. Man, leaves are so selfless; they give us life and never ask for anything except for our wastes in return. Instead of trying to keep them happy and pampering them, what do we do? We chop their whole family down, brutally murdering them. What has this world come to?

Leaves are sympathetic, friendly and so kind. Times when you are caught in a downpour, these lifesavers protect us, give us shelter. They are so caring…I think I am almost going to cry. The leaves look after us all the time; they are not friends- they are like a mother to us. They keep on giving us all they can their entire lives.

I think it is high time that we do something for the leaves. They deserve to be loved and treated like royalty. We should be doing things for them, whatever they ask for. But having known them my entire life, I know, they will never ask for anything. Have you ever heard a leaf talk to you? Neither have I. The reason is that they do not want to. Of course they know how to. It is more like a choice they made. They know that if they open their mouths (or stomata's…whatever!) we will see the sacrifices and sufferings that they go through for us. Such noble beings (?) they are. It is time we give them a standing ovation and salute them for their achievements. Let us have a day called “The Leaf Day” to specially honor leaves of the world. Three cheers for leaves!

By Nayeema Reza

Windy Potential

The very idea of using the wind for daily and required services might seem like fantasy, but it isn't a fantasy at all. Given the progression we would soon be able to harness the services of the wind and explore a potential that people thought was impossible to explore. The wind may seem insignificant and something that we take for granted, but it is there for a reason.

Scientists have come up with uses for the wind that people would find extremely helpful. The ideas and the research conducted are 106.78% authentic and 95.32% accurate. Here are some of the uses that scientists believe can be acquired via the wind.

1) Pizza Delivery Service, Postal Service etc- Documented events show that wind has the capability of traveling at the speed of 318 mph. That will effectively destroy everything in its path, but come on, if we could use half of that speed to deliver stuff, everything would happen in a hurry.

Cons- We would miss the excitement of impatience and never ever get a free pizza as it won't be 30 minutes late, but still, getting my money in the mail-box when as soon as possible, is a blessing.

2) Weapons of Mass Destruction- Picture owning tornadoes and tsunamis. Yes, once we enslave wind, we will own the disasters that come with it. But as the saying goes, it isn't wise to tame snakes; some people would find this idea appealing.

Cons- A powerful president of all powerful country, I am just reading survey notes, our country doesn't have this weapon of mass destruction and warring us and taking our gas will not help you. Sit still, we'll give it to you peacefully; just keep sending the crooks and prizes.

3) Agent 0000000000075635- The wind can travel anywhere without being seen. This is one quality that would help the wind to go and learn about whatever is going on in the whole world. It could be trained to be a spy and it would secretly gather classified information and pass them own to its master. Or it could take an actual spy to the terrorists den and spin him around so fast that he would be a blur and would be mistaken to be dust.

Cons- What you can do, others can do too. So be careful because you are being watched too. Rumor has it that the wind is too fast to read so write, burn, write, burn and destroy all the remaining trees.

4) Noise Pollution- Wind can help you with noise pollution actually. It won't make really loud sounds all the time but it can create embarrassing sounds. Squeezing wind in-between a tiny space crushed by two things (don't imagine the space, please) can create a noise.

The more the ferocity of the wind, the more is the noise. This can also help scare away robbers, armies, dogs and celebrities.

Cons- It usually results in embarrassing moments and once people understand the way its done, you might be the next victim.

That highlights some of the more important uses of wind. These ideas are on the brink of being administered. However, due to red tape after red tape and people considering the findings “baffling” makes everything even more difficult. But let's hope people wake up, I mean they did laugh at Magellan, but he did prove that the Earth was round and thus I will also prove that wind can be used for our benefit, believe it or not!

By Osama Rahman

Sheep



Sheep are furry cuddly creatures who become subjects of poems once in a while("The Lamb" by William Blake) and occassionally get themselves slaughtered.

Once upon a time there was a sheep who was bought for Qurbani Eid. He happily complied to be fed, washed and was generally having a great time being tied to a pole in the ground floor of his master's home. However, on the day before the Qurbani Eid, his master decided to show him the magnificent view of earth from the rooftop one last time. Now when the sheep reached there, he suddenly felt like running around, making his overweight master run around him

.He ran faster, and in his athletic endeavours, decided to cross the boundary and fly around. So off he went, flying from the rooftop, falling, falling, falling.................. an unusual case of a sheep commiting suicide. This sheep successfully proved what Douglas Adams had been trying to prove all along( "It's not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the end.") He valiantly gave his life for the welfare of the human cause.

P.S. The following story was heard by the author, though it is not known to what extent the true version has been distorted through countless narrations.

Conclusion: Sheep are much more athletic and selfless than men.

By Anika Tabassum