What’s my DNA
Can you make it change
So I can gain new insight and take flight
And never feel any pain

When you’re not of this earth
You won’t know what you’re worth
You’ve just got to take the pressure together
Or you’ll never survive in this world

I love Katie Melua’s songs. They are different, intelligent and carry a thousand meanings. Tiny Alien is one of my favourite tracks, which I think could be a reference to the mysterious creature found in Chile. It was only 7.2 centimeter long with a large head, arms and legs. It was alive when it was found and remained so for around 8 days.

Or it could very well be a reference to a tiny creature found in Mexico (2007). It was drowned by a farmer out of fear. The corpse was handed over to scientists for DNA tests. The reports then claimed the creature to be unearthly. The farmer himself though died in a parked car, which caught fire. The UFO hunters believe he was murdered by aliens in revenge for killing their child. According to some reports published much later, the creature is some kind of lizard previously undiscovered. A very strange lizard if there ever was one!

Very far fetched stories indeed! I don’t think aliens mess around here though but we can never really know right? It’s a universe full of wonders and I’m a skeptic to the core.

We know for sure that Katie Melua does have astronomy as an interest but I have no way of confirming whether the title of the song has anything to do with the incidents I’ve mentioned above. Nonetheless, it’s a lovely song with a lot of philosophy. It captured my imagination otherwise I’d never have mentioned it.

At least 20 people were killed in shootings yesterday in Karachi. Nothing’s significant about this statement, right? It has just a number: 20; an action: shooting; a place: Karachi. It will be forgotten in couple of days. We are used to larger numbers. We are used to more cold blooded mutilations like suicide bomb blasts. We are used to the idea of ethnic and political violence. Unless. Unless, of course, if people killed are not just people but fellows we know as friends or relatives. Or unless… Unless we come across strangers directly affected.

I once happened to meet two sisters in Karachi’s psychiatric ward. One of them was in no state to talk because of a mental breakdown and was, therefore, hospitalized. The other sister was attending to her and she told us about their lives. They turned out to be orphans. Their father was killed in a suicide attack. Their brother, the only breadwinner of the family, was later gunned down by political terrorists in a random shooting spree. The loss had left them shattered and at the mercy of their relatives, who were not very kind because of their own social problems.

The girls support themselves by doing the household chores of fortunate families. Life for them is not easy. They are more exposed to abuse than average women. The mental breakdown of one then should not come as a surprise given the type of agonies one is subjected to.

This is the story of just one family.

And according to the latest reports, the number of people gunned down over the weekend has now increased to 29. Just a number?