“Rain Over Manhattan” - IMRAN®

“Rain Over Manhattan” - IMRAN® 

One, I bought this raincoat the same year I started writing my first novel, “Happy Endings”, in Manhattan, in 1993. It took me 33 years to complete. I rarely used this beautiful deep blue London Fog raincoat in that time. 

Two, “Rain Over Manhattan” is the title of Chapter 2 of that novel. 

Three, it was pouring rain the day I was headed to Manhattan for what became an eighteen-hour workday. Long, but great. And fortunately it didn’t rain when I had to be outdoors. 

 

Four, In a season of surprises, July of 2026 has been my favorite summer month in 31 years of living in my blessed Long Island home, and nearly four decades in New York. It has provided beautifully mild, even cool, weather — thereby minimizing the need for air conditioning at home. 

I am grateful for everything.

© 2026 IMRAN® 

#IMRAN #books #Manhattan #StoryTelling #memories #HappyEndings #gratitude 

Honoring My Father - Part 1: Dedication, Studying Under Highway Lamps, New Homeland Haveli, 1947 Partition Legacy - IMRAN®

Honoring My Father - Part 1: Dedication, Studying Under Highway Lamps, New Homeland Haveli, 1947 Partition Legacy - IMRAN®

Christmas Day used to be my beloved mother's birthday, whom we lost too young in 1992. The time spanning December 21/22 in 2008 is when we lost my precious father.

When my friend Kyle recently shared his childhood memories of growing up in rural Kansas before electricity reached his family’s farm, it reminded me of my own father’s journey in Pakistan. Kyle’s story of kerosene lamps and battery radios resonated with me because my father too began life in places where electricity was scarce.

My father was a Partition‑1947 orphan. As a preteen, he survived a massacre of Muslims by Sikh mobs during a bus convoy from Jalandhar (now in India) to Gujranwala (now in Pakistan). Our new ancestral lands were about ten miles outside Gujranwala, in a village called Butranwali.

Even the family’s home, their village-landlord Haveli — a manor‑like house — had no electricity. Across the road stood a solitary tall electricity pole, one of few placed many miles apart along the single lane two-way ‘highway’ to Sialkot, a city still famous for its surgical goods and FIFA footballs. Behind the family Haveli were mud and brick huts where the farmhands lived, along with the fields and a twin‑bull‑powered mechanical primitive equivalent of a tubewell that irrigated the land before electric pumps existed.

While his brother and brother-like first cousins played, my father dedicated himself to studies. He would sit under that solitary lamp on the highway, studying late into the night. Each day, he rode his bicycle eight to ten miles to school in Gujranwala. His determination carried him far: he became a civil engineer, eventually rising to Chief Engineer in the Punjab Irrigation Department in the early 1990s, shortly before my mother passed away unexpectedly young, just before what would have been his retirement years to spend with her.

Today, Gujranwala has expanded so much that our ancestral Haveli and village are now bustling housing schemes. The Haveli actually stayed in the family, with my first cousin expanding his business into a real estate local empire. Even our family graveyard a short distance from the home still remains, a place where we pay respects to those who came before us and whom we will meet again one day.

(To be continued: how my parents’ focus on education shaped our lives, and how electricity defined both comfort and struggle in the towns where we grew up…)

© 2025 IMRAN®

PS I am in the AI industry, but have zero interest in people posting fake AI creations as real photographs. I do not mind using it to create infographics or images to accompany articles or blog posts. Since I do not have any photos of that time in my father's life, I used AI to create an image and then worked on it myself as homage to his dedication to which my family and I owe everything. 

#IMRAN #Pakistan #autobiography #family #parents #electricity #history #India #Partition #Punjab #education #development

 

When GRAVITY of Movies Becomes Reality, From Crystal Palace to SKYFALL! – IMRAN®

“A Collision With Space Debris Leaves 3 Chinese Astronauts Stranded in Orbit,” reports WIRED (link in comment).

This incident was not quite as catastrophic as the global disaster so brilliantly and realistically depicted in the great movie GRAVITY, but—like all cases of life imitating art—collisions between spacecraft and the tons of debris floating in the (literally) “high” seas of space were bound to happen.

Fortunately, this is a (somewhat) minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of superpower space programs, though certainly a serious challenge for the crew. Still, it highlights the importance of tracking and attempting to eradicate space debris—something I was privileged to discuss nearly 25 years ago with the top brass of the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

Flying from Long Island, NY for my first visit to Huntsville, AL, my excitement was already high at the literally incredible doors that were opening for me. I vividly recall being escorted into a super-secure facility—one so restricted that even U.S. Senators could not enter without prior vetting and authorization.

Having seen the great movie WarGames as a young electrical engineering student at UET in Lahore, Pakistan, you can imagine the goosebumps I still get thinking about visiting the real-life equivalent of NORAD and “Crystal Palace” from that film.

There, I met with Lieutenant General John Costello, the Commanding General at the time, to talk about EverTrac™’s solutions for “tracking people & assets indoors & outdoors”—including the greatest of all outdoors: the increasing number of satellites, rockets, tests of potential missiles for a future battle, and the resulting orbital debris in space.

That was a quarter century before today’s United States Space Force came into existence, complete with its logo that critics noted looked suspiciously like Star Trek’s Starfleet emblem.

Time flies, as do more rocket ships hurtling into orbit. With each deployment of an explosive bolt here, a breakaway fragment there, the exponential increase in risk becomes clear. The likelihood of a real-life drama—like the one Sandra Bullock and George Clooney endured on screen—rises dramatically.

I need to rewatch the 3D Blu-ray I bought a few years ago. What do you think are the chances of a true catastrophe, and in what time frame? What solutions do you imagine?

At EverTrac™, we have (bad pun alert!) plenty of space to track your ideas and present them to the right people.

© 2025 IMRAN® 

EverTrac™

#IMRAN #EverTrac #space #news #accident #disaster #Huntsville #autobiography #SpaceForce #USASMDC #defense #warfare #WarGames #Gravity #moviereference #gratitude #success

(At Home) A Million Miles (From Home) – (Never) Up In The Air (Even Up In The Air) – IMRAN®

 (At Home) A Million Miles (From Home) – (Never) Up In The Air (Even Up In The Air) – IMRAN®

I’ve officially crossed the million-mile mark with Delta Air Lines. The account summary today shows 955,805 miles, but I had redeemed 60,000 miles for a trip a few years ago.
My most recent roundtrip—Tampa to LaGuardia/JFK and back—pushed me past the million-mile threshold. I’ve been a Delta SkyMiles member since 1989, and every mile tells a story—from business breakthroughs to personal journeys across the globe.
This doesn’t even include the half a million miles I had with Northwest Airlines. Sadly, I lost those because I didn’t find the old paper ticket coupons until decades after Delta had taken over the airline.
It also doesn’t include my half a million miles on Pakistan International Airlines. I became the first in my family to fly at age 7—more than 55 years ago. I stopped flying PIA about a decade ago when it went from being one of the world’s great airlines to one of its most dangerous white elephants (though still better than Air India and similar carriers).
This is more than just my love for travel. It’s about loyalty, longevity, and living life fully—one mile, one flight, one day at a time.

© 1989–2025 IMRAN®

Berlin Aquarium — From Cold War Scaffolds 1987 to Peaceful Pulse 2012 – IMRAN®

Berlin Aquarium — From Cold War Scaffolds 1987 to Peaceful Pulse 2012 – IMRAN®

Aquarium Berlin, end of April, 2012. The crocodiles no longer flinch at sirens, and the jellyfish pulse in peace. But I still see the scaffolding of 1987—when West Berlin was a fortress of defiance, and I stood outside this very complex, a guest of a divided nation, predicting its impossible reunion.

Back then, as I was turning 25, the Crocodile Hall had only just reopened, scarred by Allied bombs and Cold War silence. Now, the glass glistens with quiet grace. The murals speak in color what the walls once held in tension. And the light post I framed in the foreground—whether original or reborn—marks the spot where I once stood, hoping one day they'd trace the light back to me.

I returned not to marvel at marine life, but to trace the emotional sediment of a city that once mirrored my own need to be set free from the shackles of the now-dead dictator General Zia's vile, fundamentalism-breeding regime in my motherland in the 1980s.

Over those 25 years, the two halves of Berlin reunited and healed. I too endured, and continued my journey through MySpaceTime. By the grace of God, I achieved great freedoms to be all I want to be. Although it is a surreal irony that now, in 2025, it is the United States that is losing its freedoms—to Nazi-loving, Russia-controlled enemies of democracy.

© 2012–2025 IMRAN®

#aquarium, #Architecture, #autobiography, #Berlin, #Clouds, #democracy, #freedom, #Germany, #History, #IMRAN, #memoirs, #memories, #Sky, #travelphotography, #travel

The Timeless Symphony Of Music & Technology - IMRAN™

The Timeless Symphony Of Music & Technology - IMRAN™
Timelessness of music and technology... playing ~220 years old Symphony # 5 by Beethoven, off a ~60 years old vinyl record, on a 12 hours old modern Bluetooth enabled Sony turntable (not Yamaha as I accidentally call it in the livestream), via a then-latest now dozen-years old Yamaha Music Corporation Aventage RX-A3020.....

© 2024 IMRAN™

#IMRAN #music #technology #sound #inspiration #memories #audio #Beethoven #Yamaha #Sony #orchestra #symphony #IMHO #Bluetooth #vinyl Pandora Top Gun #dangerzone

Tiara Condo Singer Island Former Florida Second Home Visit After 8 Years, 12 Years Ago - IMRAN™

Tiara Condo Singer Island Former Florida Second Home Visit After 8 Years, 12 Years Ago - IMRAN™

In my 35 years of American life, I have been blessed to have lived in Florida in parallel for about 20 of those years. My first "second home" in Florida was at this incredible building called Tiara Condo on the Atlantic Ocean, on Singer Island. I purchased it in 2003.

My condo was just a few floors below the rooftop spaceship like circular wraparound private restaurant and club. I sold it in 2004 and left early morning July 4th, 2004. I drove to Atlanta to be on CNN live that afternoon. And then drove on back to my New York home. 

Soon after I sold, the Tiara was devastated by two separate hurricanes. A lot of people lost everything they had in those incidents. It took years to rebuild. But I was living and working in Miami in those years. 

Eight years after I sold, I was blessed to be looking to buy another second-home. During that 2012 two-three months of driving every mile of Florida coastline, looking at possible places.

Obviously, my beloved Tiara condo was one of the places on that list. So, I was back there looking at mine, and other, condos. I also stuck around until dusk to experience that magic I loved at the start of this century. 

I made this short video of the building, from the wide beach outside it. The magical Atlantic Ocean colors were still visible in the near-dark conditions. The pink clouds above were beautiful. Ironically, you can see the lights on in the condo I so loved.

Much that I loved the place and that feeling, the seller's asking price of $650,000 for a 2-bedroom condo did not make sense to me. So, I left one more time. Maybe I will return another day.

A dozen years after my visit, and a full 20 years after I sold my condo, I am sharing these magical memories and story. I hope you find it touching and inspiring. 

© 2004-2012-2024 IMRAN™  

A Colorful Happy Life Is Whatever You Make Of The Canvas Of Destiny & The Paints Of Fate God Gave To You At Birth - IMRAN™

Sure, it looks like I ran through a glue factory into a flower shop and then through a paint store as the cans fell off the shelves! Life, like art, is what you choose to see, what you make of it.

 I do not know how much time I have assigned to me here on Earth in God's ledgers of time. What I do know is this, we are all given a blank cavas of destiny when we are born. We are provided an infinite supply of paints that family, education, travel, experiences, and choices bring into our studio. 

What we do with them, what we envision, what we conjure up with our imagination, what structures we sketch in, what conclusions we draw, and what motions we go through, those are all entirely up to us. We choose the paints. We choose the brushes, the pencils, the erasers, even the magic markers and spray cans. Every day of life we are coloring in the story of our one and only one life. 

We are working on a singularly unique canvas in the entire universe and through all of the infinities of time. It is the ultimate irony that the painting is only “complete" when our finite time runs out, when it is the end of the physical world for us. Sometimes paintings are left unfinished compared to what we imagined, when we do not get all the time we thought we would. 

The truth is, even with a hundred years, we could never run out of the new shades, strokes and layers we could have continued to add. That is why it is essential that we paint the best of our intentions into existence every day. 

We must do that and live life to the fullest every day, make the world a better place every day, speak out against injustice every day. Whether the painting is considered a masterpiece by anyone is not important. What is important is to know that regardless of what and how we chose to live, and paint our story, we did the best we could have.

That way, no matter how much time we have, and how much of our envisioned image is completed, it will still have been the best use of the gifts of life we were given by Allah, the One God, creator of everything and beyond. 

At the end, that is the only viewer who can award us the ultimate prize…. knowing that we lived the happiest, most colors-filled, joyful, love-spreading life we possibly could have. Thank you, God. 

© 2024 IMRAN™

#IMRAN #art #life #painting #style #philosophy #God #Allah #gratitude #blessed #LifeCoach #inspiration #nature #creativity #IMHO #farewell #universe

Voulez-Vous? Fabulous Time Watching Fabulous ABBA The Concert With Fabulous Shannon - IMRAN™ (Part 4)

Voulez-Vous? Fabulous Time Watching Fabulous ABBA The Concert With Fabulous Shannon - IMRAN™ (Part 4)

43 years ago, April 1979, I was preparing to go to the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan for my Electronics Engineering studies there 1980-1984, when ABBA released their album Voulez-Vous. It is French for a risqué-ish (for the era) song meaning "Do You Want?". At that time I was keen on learning German and French was lower on my list of interests, as an I Want To Learn It All. 

It was interesting that I got to hear ABBA The Concert (the ABBA tribute group) perform the song when I have been on a daily French lessons streak of nearly 800 days! Ironically, the beautiful, smart, and fabulous Shannon has also taken up French. We are both using DuoLingo on our Apple iPhones. 

Check out this iPhone camera video I recorded from seats quite far from the stage at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida when I took Shannon to this concert. I will also post a link to the actual masters of the game, ABBA, the original legend, performing this live with a dancing crowd at the start of the 1980s. You will agree how accurate this group is in honoring ABBA's sound and experience.

So, as I love to have beautiful blue-eyed blondes like Shannon ask me, Voulez-Vous? And, even without having learned French, my lifelong answer has been, Oui! 

{To be continued}

© 2022 IMRAN™

Real ABBA live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za05HBtGsgU

{Enjoy the story from Part 1 at https://www.facebook.com/MyIMRAN/posts/389250786536506 }. 

#ABBA, #artists, #autobiography, #blonde, #brunette, #celebrity, #clearwater, #concert, #Couple, #dating, #Florida, #IMRAN, #iPhone, #Music, #musicians, #nightout, #romance, #stage, #talent

Gorgeous Caribbean Waters At George Town, Cayman Islands Rocky Shoreline - IMRAN™

Gorgeous Caribbean Waters At George Town, Cayman Islands Rocky Shoreline - IMRAN™

My then-GF "K" had taken me on a 4th of July holiday weekend trip to the Cayman Islands. It had been planned for my birthday a month or so earlier. 

It was summer 2013. It was hot. It was the Caribbean. It was quite beautiful. I do have to admit, the Cayman Islands are not quite as exciting or beautiful to me as the Virgin Islands, or especially places like Eleuthera, also in the Caribbean. 

This trip ended up being a lot more drama than it was worth at the time. Fortunately, it accelerated my decision to clear my life of unneeded drama on returning to the USA. However, I savor my great memories. 

Regardless of how happy I can be to be rid of a few specific people in my life, I do always cherish the (good) memories and experiences we shared. Life is too short to erase those joyful experiences just because the persons with me at those times were not worthy of being kept next to me.  

So, despite the too frequent bursts of drama, and my literally almost taking an early flight home, we did have some good times. We spent a lot of time exploring the shoreline of Grand Cayman. 

During a long walk exploring the nooks and crannies off South Church Street, George Town, we found many beautiful spots to make memories, including this magical rocky place. Smith's Barcadere sandy beach was a good place to go snorkeling, as well as swimming in the absolutely stunning blue shades of water that surrounded the area. Very few people were around. 

This is an old 3D camera video so the quality is not that great. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to block out the irritating background sound. I did not want to kill the full audio of this clip because the sounds of water are always part of the magic of seeing a sea or ocean video. After all, it is just like having to tolerate negative people even during an amazingly positive happy blessed life!

© 2013-2021 IMRAN™

 #autobiography, #Beach, #BeachLife, #blue #sky, #bluewater, #Caribbean, #CaymanIslands, #GeorgeTown, #GrandCayman, #IMRAN, #ImranAnwar, #Lifestyle, #luxuryhomes, #memories, #rocks, #sea, #seaside, #shore, #shoreline, #Travel, #travelogue, #Turquoise

Red Hot Memories Of Heavenly Blue Views At Harbour Island, Eleuthera, Bahamas, Caribbean, At Romantic Getaway Spot - IMRAN™

Red Hot Memories Of Heavenly Blue Views At Harbour Island, Eleuthera, Bahamas, Caribbean, At Romantic Getaway Spot - IMRAN™ (PG13 text)
A low-resolution video taken in 2007, this has poor quality compared to what we see these days even in cell phones. But it is still enough to show the heavenly views of the Caribbean facing East at the beautiful Coral Sands resort in Eleuthera, Bahamas. The sand there is literally powder soft and pure pink.
One of my then beloved girlfriends loved to travel as much as I did. This was one of the great trips she took us on.
Of the primary colors RGB (red-green-blue), Red was the one that seemed totally absent in this scene. But that is where I come in to add color to life and love.
We made some remarkable red hot deep and intense memories as I had her desire more and more at this spot. The balcony wide open to see and to the sea, glass windows all around, sounds of other couples nearby, the ordinary balcony chair in that instant became a precious loveseat.
A throne for a precious princess to ride to glory oblivious to what public mores against public amore might demand.  And that was when the purest passionate pleasures came in unison...
I still recall seeing the blue sea and blue sky in her penetrating blue eyes as she melted in a puddle of desire. What a magical moment, leaving our mark wherever we went and came.
It is interesting how people come and go from our lives. That girl is an ex-GF for more than a dozen years but the memories are always to be cherished for a lifetime. Ironically, this is also where I met and became friends with Suzette who is here on FB and a beloved beautiful friend even today.

© 2007-2020 IMRAN™

 #Bahamas #Eleuthera #HabrourIsland #CoralSands #pinksand #beach #ocean, #travel #romance #beach #palmtrees #luxury #resort #gratitude #memories