Path to Salvation(Personal Excursions)

One of a leading record stores in Karachi's elite business area Zamzama, Ground Zero used to release a compilation of songs named as "Path to Paradise" which has inspired today's article header.Though pirated but the compilation attracted a lot of Asian music lovers.
Obviously they meant paradise by greatest songs and music pieces in least known genre which is called "Asian Underground" or more specifically "Asian Electronica".

But the salvation i have mentioned above doesn't comes from my personal excursions which have been dipped mostly in dark and intriguing music landscapes which were and are quite inspirational for me at every time.I have been very lucky whole of my life by getting inspirations at times when i needed them most.

As soon as i started developing my career as in path and goals i have been into music and media nevertheless i knew that people think that this kind of thing just don't help you raise some bread and butter for your family and for your own sake.I guess that was the reason i sticked myself in doing Hons in Physics which was a big sign of relief to my parents and well wishers when they saw my career whereabouts were secure.

I have been into music since stone age i guess....shaping my skills by spending nights scoring(creating background music) a pre edited movie or by making short movies by using pictures and thoughts altogether or using a lot of junk samples for crafting a whole lot of wicked tunes for my own pleasure and prosperity.

Apart from all of the above activities i have been heavily involved into church related activities.From Sunday school days to the youth fellowship days, God has granted a lot of opportunities to discover myself in various ways.

Recently i switched my job which deviated my personal career a bit by pushing me into audio/video arena rather then just audio.This was actually a turnover for my obligations and concerns.I inclined myself more towards my social responsibilities.

I have been a keen researcher on how the things have progressed in Christianity and other religions and how one can co-relate other religions with ours.This has really been a quest for me for so many years and until now i have noticed there is a powerful change in my knowledge of religious wisdom(just flattering myself thinking the world of knowledge is so vast to be gained completely).I have never declined an opportunity to let a non believer come to me and discuss what he don't understand in Christianity(perhaps most of the time everyone is blaming Christianity of false prophecies and scriptures).

When i was on verge of releasing a bootleg of my personal musical works i thought of postponing it coz i wanted to release a work of religious importance before that which may serve as a cornerstone of my career.

I was into study of parables for so long and i wanted to make relative dramas and stories out of them which can really serve as a medium of self study and information.But due to less resources i tried to venture out a deal with a studio-ministry based in Spain for releasing their produced videos of parables of Jesus in urdu language here for our people to witness.But as these kind of deals take too long to shape and finalize i started a self produced project which may not get a wide release but still can be prolific in relating our religion while keeping myself more closer towards my media oriented thoughts.

Though this may not be a suitable place to account my personal projects but i feel me being a part of this fellowship makes this project OURS rather then just mine!

I started preparing for this project somewhere near end of last year when i was collecting thoughts and ideas on how i can accomplish which i have in mind.I was happy to know through web that there is a ministry based in America by the name "GNN International" and "Visual Bible" who are the founders of the word to word bible movie series.They have produced three volumes until now which includes "Gospel of John", "Gospel of Mathew" and "Book of Acts". These movies are word to word versions of the Bible books containing no non-bible material making them the only movies closest to the Biblical scriptures.

I got my hands on the Gospel of John(Box set version)which i personally found interesting to start off with my project.Due to the non availability of the movie in Pakistan i had to order it by Amazon.com one of the largest online shopping hubs operating in America.The movie itself is a true example of master production and flawless cinema and while watching it for the first time i noticed a lot of verses which i never understood by reading but they made a great impact on me while i was hearing them with visuals.This made me a lot happy that i was about to recreate something meaningful and thought provoking for our society.

I have been fortunate enough to have good and intelligent people around me.Mr. Micheal John Abid is one of those men who has always inspired me.He is a priest by profession but i would rather call him a virtual library of biblical resources.He is truly a passionate and captivating preacher and has the ability to make impact through a lot of ways.Moreover he knows my tendency to convert ideas into music tracks and vice versa(We did a small project last year "The Nativity" for their sunday school tableau).I invited him into the project giving him the most important jobs in the project, the Narrator.He has to narrate a big chunk of the Gospel of John which i would have to sync with the moving stills.Rest of the gospel would be recorded in dialogue format due to the nature of the film we are using.He is always willing to accept challenges and this time i gave him a much harder challenge to meet.Now i am thinking to give the role of John-the baptist to him as well because of his willingness in recording his dialogues.

As is his habit, my brother comes of a lot of help whenever i do something new and challenging.This time around he has promised to help me with CD artwork(though i would just be lending him the stills from movie rest of it will be done on whole by him) , he is also working on opening credits for the movie which he would be doing in flash and lastly he would be lending his voice to the movie.

On the whole the project has reached its 25% mark with around 25 minutes narration recorded and 10 minutes movie edited with final score(background music) which is at most kept the way it was in original movie but at places i have added new laces and decorative buttons into the mix which may give it a more Asian touch(obliging to my favorite music genre - Asian Electronica).I will be doing the whole soundtrack of the movie and the post production stuff(includes recording, editing, mixing and mastering the project).

What we still need is voices, a lot of voices to be featured on the movie though i have put forward the word to a lot of people so that i may get some valuable talent which can also be used in forth coming projects(we intend to do more project of same kind if succeeded in tying up a deal with the producer to officially launching the movies for release in Pakistan).

So here we go inviting all the media hungry and multi talented persons who always strived for doing something more meaningful then just doing what it takes to earn their livelihood(roti , kapra or makaan as in bollywood which is i guess more important for our people specially STAR PLUS) and offcourse entering into a new phase of religious obligations.

So lets join hands and make this project a reality so that this may act as a piece of definate path to salvation.The salvation which came to us easily by the wounds Jesus has on his cros.But we the most ignorant yet acting as the sophisticated society always tend to make it complex by the help of our less competent political and religious circumstances.

May God bless us in all our endevours in life!

There is a way to be good again

One of my very good friend in South Africa, Karen suggested me a novel, The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseni.The novel is all about "Friendship". She insisted me to read the novel but me being a stubborn self never had time to get exposed to that gem.
When i heard they released a movie about the same novel i was happy, I watched that by much anticipation and believe me i was not expecting that.
What a masterpiece and the tag line line was even more inviting " There is a way to be good again"

I have been thinking ever since what exactly does it mean to be good again?
Like a child who did something wrong and then asked for sorry from his mother/father.
Does that corrects what he did wrong?

Like a husband who ditches his wife and then asks for sorry? does that means the heart of her very wife which he broken would be the same just like it was before?

This is what is known to be something very difficult for a human being to offer but that's again a question, Are we, human beings in a position to offer something to others?

A straight "NO" would be the best answer!

But we have learnt that there was a person named "Jesus" who offered himself and his LIFE for all of us so that we can be easily given salvation for the sins we have committed all of our life.

This came straight to me as i progressed into the movie. At the same time i was thinking what i have to do for showing our people "The Empty Tomb". As we had agreed that after recreating the crucifixion scene we will be recreating 'The Tomb" because the feedback we got from everyone was thrilling and very appreciating.I was thinking my choices to recreate the scene with much optimistic approach and ease of mind so that the people can easily relate.

The first and foremost aspect of the whole project was to keep it simple and easy to understand.
So i started collecting thoughts for what we will be doing.My brother and friends from our fellowship came of great help.

We created a lot of ideas for how we will do it.We even thought of creating a wooden wall for the scene but we all were not satisfied.

But the movie made me think in a whole new direction for the set and props.I guess this is a bit weird when i say just by knowing a tag line my ideas changed.But this is what happened.

We wanted to experience the essence , spirit and soul of what have it been for the people at that time when Jesus was crucified and buried.

A lot of people ask me what exactly Easter means and what are Easter Eggs for.
Off course they want to know the significance of these which not everyone, even in our own community know.

"Easter is the day when we celebrate the rising of Jesus Christ from dead as we believe"
"and Easter Eggs are prominent in Easter festival because they symbolize the empty tomb and new life.New life as in Jesus rising from dead'

With all these festive things in mind we came up finally with our plan on how to do it.

Below is a glimpse of what we did to show the empty tomb.



After a very hard working night spended in church with a lot of Tea Breaks and Andaa Paratha (Fried Egg and Chapatti with Oil) we finally ended our project in time.

It was almost dawn when i left the church , the feel was amazing , the props were giving a real look and suddenly it again came to my mind " There was a way to be good again"

So literally it means that we can be good , we can be clean of all our sins and bad deeds we have been doing our whole life and this can be done only by meeting salvation which can come in not so much expensive if we believe in Jesus Christ , our lord who gave his life for all of us, so that we can be free, free of sins, free of troubles, free of worldly problems.

Don't want to write too much but just want us all to know that "
"THERE IS A WAY TO BE GOOD AGAIN"

Peace , love, light and blessings for all , now and always!