18 Years Of A Million Tears. Mother's Memory 2/2

18 Years Of A Million Tears. Mother's Memory 2/2 - IMRAN™, uploaded by ImranAnwar.

2/2. The saddest day of my life, 18 years and a million tears ago.

I flew out of JFK the night of February 1, 1992, headed to Pakistan - where it was already 2/2/1992. I was going to see my beloved parents in Lahore. But, I was en route via Karachi. My Mom had insisted I stop there to condole the death of a relative and a friend's father there, the previous week.

The powerful PIA Boeing 747 jet engines hurtled me over the North Atlantic, erasing 600 miles per hour between my mother and me. But, there was an invisible infinite eternal distance of space and time growing silently, a cosmic chasm that no known power in the universe could shorten.

As the plane was flying towards Europe, life was flying away. As the aircraft was coming in for a landing, unknown to me, my mother's soul was taking off into the heavens beyond this world.

Landing in Karachi, I was smiling and happy, when I disembarked, clueless about what tragedy had struck me but I was unaware of. I went to the airline counter to check the status of my connecting flight to Lahore that was supposed to be for a few days later.

I was flirting with the young lady checking my reservation, asking for a nice window seat. She looked at me in a puzzled manner that I did not understand then. As she quietly typed on the keyboard my curious eye made me read a telex message on her desk, facing her.

As I read the upside down text, my breath left me, my heart stopped. I felt the hand of death clutch my heart...

"Please give priority seating...
Passenger Imran Anwar needs to be on next flight....
Has to attend Mother's funeral."

That is how I found out that my mother had died, just over 50 years old.

Instead of seeing my Mom to open the bags of gifts I was carrying for her and everyone, I would barely get home in time to carry her body for burial. Instead of her pinching my cheeks as she loved to do, all I got to do was touch her cheek one final time, as I fell on my knees next to her. She seemed just to have fallen asleep.

18 years later today, to the day, not a day goes by when I do not shed a tear for my beloved mother. Tears roll down my cheeks as I write these words, and every time I relive that moment.

Ami, I will love you forever, even after I die.


© IMRAN
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Parasurfers Line Up Against Miami Sky(line)

Parasurfers Line Up Against Miami Sky(line) - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

Matheson Hammock is a lovely park in the swank Coral Gables neighborhood of Miami, Florida. It is also a marina where I kept my yacht for about 2 years. On the other side of the marina, parasurfers' lines can fill the sky against the backdrop of the downtown Miami skyline with shades of blue that change hour by hour, day by day. Taken with a pocket Nikon S6.

Check out this interesting alignment of chutes.

© 2010 IMRAN
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loc: 25.68012,-80.256715

Flying By, Days Of Our Lives, Melting Into Sunsets

Flying By, Days Of Our Lives, Melting Into Sunsets - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

This photo I took reminded me of this most moving picture I captured one year ago - when too I caught 2 birds flying away past a sunset, soon after I lost my beloved father.

You will appreciate that image, and sentiment, a lot when you click the link above to view it, especially if you cherish your parents.

This one was a reminder of how we fly by the moments that make up our lives and how the days of our lives melt into sunsets of yesterdays that, moments ago, were our todays. Dad is now gone over one year, Mom coming up on 18 years (b. 12/25/1942, d. 2/2/1992). Too soon. Too soon. Also check this stunning image of 2 birds in front of the sun.

Make the best of the time you have, as I too resolve to do so.

© 2010 IMRAN™
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Cruising Off Into The Sunset

Cruising Off Into The Sunset - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

The lovely lines of a moatorboating cruiser sailing into the sunset, towards the falling red sun at Biscayne Bay, Miami, Florida.

The camera caught the red reflections on the water beautifully, making the waves look like a beverage of beautiful nature the soul can get drunk on.

Shot with a Nikon S1 pocket camera from my Sea Ray Sundancer 360 traveling South East towads the marina in Coral Gables.

© 2010 IMRAN™
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Like Godly GoldenEye, Red Yellow Molten Sun, Melt From Red Black Sky, Into Black Sea It Run

Like Godly GoldenEye, Red Yellow Molten Sun, Melt From Red Black Sky, Into Black Sea It Run - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

Like Godly GoldenEye,
Red Yellow Molten Sun,
Melt From Red Black Sky,
Into Black Sea It Run


You will fall in love with this amazing image.

Playing with over and under-exposure as well as metering of the scene while trying to minimize my exposure to the cold wind at my beach, I was able to capture this moody shot.

It was taken with the Nikon D300 with NO editing or color changes or processing in Photoshop, except adding a frame and making it square as I do not do too many square photo uploads.

Words & Photos
© 2010 IMRAN™
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How Many Statutes Does It Take To Change A LightBulb In NYC?

How Many Statutes Does It Take To Change A LightBulb In NYC? - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

The Grand Central Terminal's beautiful statute seems to be reaching out across the width of 42nd Street New York City to touch and change the light bulb. Like New York work crews, one seems to be there to work, two to stand/sit and watch like, ummm, statutes. :-)

An interesting fact of history will intrigue you. The Grand Central Terminal was a target of foreign terrorists on September 11... in 1976! Croatians placed explosives that could not be defused, killing an officer and wounding many people. This was a full 25 YEARS before 9/11 2001 happened.

Several other things to note about this photo. That really is how blue the sky was captured by the Nikon D300. See the sky reflected color in The MetLife building, that I still think of as the old PanAm building behind.

And you can see the freezing day's burning sun reflected in the globe of the light fixture. It is amazing how closely the blue sky matches the blue in the clock, which I happened to catch at nearly 2 PM.

© 2010 IMRAN™
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Living Las Vegas. Nice Cage, No Nic Cage

Living Las Vegas. Nice Cage, No Nic Cage - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

The Palazzo in Las Vegas, rises up as a tower of gold in the desert of Nevada.

A shining star in it's own right, the image depicts none of the boring melodrama that Nicolas Cage's movie Leaving Las Vegas tried to evoke. Ironic that he is almost as self-destructive in real life as his character in that movie was. Neither elicited any sympathy from me, or the audience.

See another great view from the previous night.

© IMRAN™
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loc: 36.123669° -115.170367°

Nature's Prime, Light Paths Cross Signals On Boardwalk

Nature's Prime, Light Paths Cross On Boardwalk - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.

If the sunset light reflecting on the nature preserve in my backyard were a little more Red, this would simply be an RGB colors collection. Compare it to the same place as a Winter Wonderland!

The lower half of the image was as the camera saw it. I played with the colors of the sky and clouds to highlight their edgy two-toned nature that day.

The Note box above shows sunset light from my neighbor's windows (to the left of me) reflecting on the boardwalk. That light is passing over the sunset light falling on the grass through the boardwalk rail coming from the right.