The Real Truth

He held his hand and stroked it gently. He felt the wrinkles as he caressed the skin. The Face had aged but it appeared so serene. He remember the day this man helped him ride his bicycle, work with him on his Math Homework, showed him how to tie a tie knot; the memories just kept flowing in as his thoughts slowly drifted towards the bad times between the two of them. The needless bickering over pointless matters. He remembered the tone of his voice. It was very high and how he regretted that today. How immature and foolish he felt now? How apologetic and repentant he felt inside.

The Man on the bed gently opened his eyes.

“Zahid is that you!!”

"Yes!! Dad it’s me”

A faint smile came across the face of the old man.

"Zahid I am sorry if I ever hurt you. I tried my best to be a good father. Forgive me”

With those words all the ill feelings Zahid harbored within himself drowned. He was overcome with emotions. Things were clearer now.

“What are you saying Dad!! Don’t say such things. I want you to get well soon so we can go for that trip you always talked about”

“Which trip? The one you thought was boring”

“I think its not going to be so boring after all”

Sometimes we don’t realize what things are truly precious to us. No matter how successful we become we can never undermine the love & caring our parents put into our upbringing. There are always differences but if we have really matured we shall never let them overshadow our affection towards our parents.

I almost lost my father and that experience has made me treasure his presence more. It has given a chance to me to eliminate those differences and show him truthfully that he means a lot to me.

Unsung Melody

Her Head sulks, a tear appears at the corner of her eye. She reflects upon her keenness and how confident she was that this was IT. Tears began to pour down her cheeks as she began to find her composure. She has to find the strength to get up and open the door & let him know.

As the door opens, his anticipating eyes look for signs of elation on her face. He lingers impatiently as she slowly saunters out. No words are spoken; he glances at her and discerns how brokenhearted she is. He embraces her in his arms and she hides her face in his chest and starts to weep. He places his hand on her head and tries to console her.

“It is not the end, we shall try again”

“Amir, I am tired. It’s been 10yrs. Maybe God hasn’t blessed us with a child”

“Don’t say such things, Zohra. It will happen one day I know it will. We shall carry on trying and pray for his Miracle. Remember most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”

When does one realize that there is no hope and that it was never meant to be ? How long should the anguish lasts before someone is blessed?

Is this religion?

Two men stood at the side of the road waving an empty bottle. Thirst was killing them and the Heat was showing no mercy. Because they were poor construction workers motorist just drove by them without given any heed to their plight. As I drove by, I saw it surprising that they waved their bottles, as there was evidently a mosque a few distance behind them. I braked, rolled down the windows and one of them came running up to my car.

Him: "Arbab! Can you be so kind as to give us some water"?

Me: "There is a mosque behind you why don’t you get the water from there. Its just 10 minute walk."

His face showed of signs of despair as he answered,

"We are Hindus and are not allowed in the mosque. We were told be the caretaker not to enter."

Me: "You could have told him that you needed water. Your being Hindu does not deny you the right to water."

Him: "He said there is not water. We didn’t want to cause a fuss so we walked here."

I told him to sit in the car and I drove up to the mosque. I walked into the mosque and I could see the caretaker sitting in a corner. I located the Cooler, which was just 10 yards from the entrance and filled the empty bottles. As I made my way back out I approached the caretaker and inquired about the incident. He reiterated his point that they are Hindus and their admittance is prohibited in the mosque.

Me: "Where in the holy Quran does it says to not give water to Non-Muslims? How do you know that I am a Muslim?"

Caretaker: "You don’t LOOK like a non-Muslim. I could have filled the bottle but it had their sweat on it and that is NAJIS. Such an item would definitely breach the sanctity of the mosque and it’s my job to see that never happens."

The tone of his voice had increase and he was very adamant in his beliefs. I just shook my head. He was never going to see the errors of his way, so I just asked him to inquire about these matters to a learned man and hope he can understand what he did was wrong.

Sometimes we forget the real purpose of religion. How can you stand before God asking for forgiveness when you have hurt his creations. When you have denied them of his most precious gifts onto us human beings. I apologized to the men about the incident. I explained to them that the fault was clearly of the caretaker and such practices were prohibited in Islam.

The terrifying part is that when I spoke about this unpleasant incident amongst some Muslim acquaintances there was a minority who saw the justification in the actions of the caretaker.

Are U Satisfied?

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.

2006 has not been my year; each day has brought additional hardship, which I have aptly accepted as trials from my creator. I wish I could meet the astrologer who said it’s going to be MY YEAR. Do people really believe in astrology and various other things that claim to foretell our fate? I feel its nothing more than being able to develop a state whereby we satisfy ourselves with notions that all will end well. The world would be a better place if we escape the shadows of our inner demons and confront the reality of why we exist.

Can anyone exist within an ethical and sympathetic existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror intrinsic in life, when one finds obscurity not only in one's culture but also inside oneself?

Fallen..

This is something i wrote a long time ago, I wonder what i felt that day :

maybe its me..
maybe its the demons who have come to haunt me..
maybe its just the time.. maybe its not right..

My existance is secondary..
my passion is obsolete..
my refuge has been burnt..
my pride has been hurt..

..fallen

Slaves to our Dreams

Each night i lay on my bed reminiscing what i have accomplished today and it’s always nothing to be proud of. I envision that tomorrow is a NEW day and duly set out the same goals but with more determination and hope of imminent triumph. We all have problems, I believe God created us to observe how well we can handle ours. Some of us go a step further and help others sort theirs.
There are so many things that i want to do but somehow i always falter at the last step. There is so much to learn and so little time :)

Fly me to the moon

Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words hold my hand
In other words darling kiss me

Fill my life with song
And let me sing forevermore
You are all I hope for
All I worship and adore
In other words please be true
In other words I love you

Sinatra is good for summer heat..just close your eyes and drift far away.