Brighter side - A conversation

(How things can be percieved differently. Here is one example. Recently one of my friend visited his child's pediatrician with his wife...)


"We are so worried. Our son is 5 years old and still not potty trained. We don't know what else to try. We tried every trick we learned from textbooks, internet and various magazines. He just don't get it. He just don't giveup to any prize or punishment either."

"Isn't it good?"

"What? is it good that our son is already 5 years old and still in diapers?"

"There is no human being on this planet earth who remained in diaper ever because he was not thought to be potty trained. Its a natural thing bound to occur sooner or later. But I think, your son is showing a trend in his personality that he doesn't give up to pressures. Isn't it good?"

"Yesss....but...."

"Rather concentrating on his potty training, concentrate on his positive personality trait and to conserve it from not going to other extreme of stubborness.."

Acceptance

Zindagi main insaan ki saari khushi ka daro-madar sirf aik lafz pe hai - "acceptance" (qabool ker lena).

Biwi saari zindagi is liye 'unhappy' rehti hai - kiunke shohar ko 'accept' nahi ker pati. Shohar saari zindagi biwi se nalaN rehta hai. Kisi ko haar (defeat) 'accept' nahi hoti. Aashiq ye 'accept' nahi ker pata ke mehbooba us ki nahi ho sakti.

Aur agar insaan accept kerne pe aaye to 'wheel chair' ko bhi accept ker leta hai - jese mera dost asif - jo jawani main hi paraplegic ho gaya. Jese koi majboor aurat apne tawaaiif hone ko piyar se nibha jaati hai. Parents aulad ki maut tuk seh jaate hain. Beti ke dukh pe pehle hi is blog pe kai posts hain.

Dil ki jalan se markatul-araa 'art, literature, poetry' janam leti hai, magar saali andar ki bechani nahi jaati.

Agar aap ne Rohinton Mistry ka novel 'A fine balance' parha ho (nahi parha to zaroor parhiye) to uska bunyadi khayal bhi yahi hai ke: "Jin halat ko aap tabdeel nahi ker sakte, un dukhoN ko accept ker lain" - zindagi sahl ho jaati hai.

I want to write few words from one of my prev. post: ".......Is kaainat main kub saare sawalon ke jawab milte hain. Koi formula nahi chalta. Kisi mantiq ki chul theek nahi bethti. Hum saari zindagi jaanne ki tag-o-do main lage rehte hain magar saara kuch is dil ke maanne se hai. Agar dil ko qarar aa jaaye to koi maujiza naqabile yaqeen nahi rehta. Kuch bhi namumkin nahi rehta. Falsafa chale na chale magar jo baat, jo cheez is dil ki dharkan ki ley(tune) se murtaish (vibrate) ho jaaye - wahi haq, wahi sach ! Sala ye harami dil !!.."

Drowning incident and dreams

Sheik Adil Kalbani is recently appointed first black Imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca. 2 years ago, he dreamed that he had become an imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, but he dismissed that dream.


This long weekend, I planned to take my son to a water park. A night before I dreamed that I have some kind of accident and I am all blue. Than its all dark in my house and my son is hysterically crying, and my mom is trying to calm him done (I am not there anymore)........I woke up with this dream and dismissed it as a mere nightmare.

On Sunday, I was with my son doing a water ride with double tube. My son was excited and little hyper. While we approached ride, he moved his legs inside the tube and that disbalance the whole tube. As I tried to manage, tube flipped upside down. I felt myself drowning (I don't know how to swim). Somehow - I was able to grab floating tube with one hand and my son with other hand. I kept floating inside water for a minute. Those 60 seconds were like 60 years. I kept my mouth annd nose shut. I was worried about my son. Meanwhile, life guard was there, he rescued me and my son. I was shaken and naturally my son was!

Probably, my mom's Dua saved me and my son. As I wrote earlier on this blog - yo can't dismiss all dreams.

paas aa kar koi dekhe

Alamgir singing one of my Nasir Kazmi's favorite

Duniya bhi ajab sara-e-faani

Duniya bhi ajab sara-e-faani dekhi
Har cheez yahaa'n ki aani jaani dekhi
Jo aa ke na jaaye wo budhaapa dekha
Jo jaa ke na aaye wo jawaani dekhi

(Mir Anees)

World is like a mortal motel
everything here is sure fatal (But)
saw never ending oldhood
and forever gone young puerile

Rizq

Ye koi 1988-89 ki baat rahi hogi. Main Medical School main tha. Parhai likhai to kum hi hoti thi, ziyada tar waqt 'canteen' main katta tha. Poora din lateefeh, shayerii, siyasat aur 'chai samose' chalte rehte the.

Aik roz main canteen ke kinare aik unchi pahari pe betha tha. Saamne 'bench' pe 'chai samose' rakhe the aur main ne 'bench' pe paun rakha huwa tha. 'Chai samose' mere paun ke saath pare the.

Saath hi thori dur aik baba ji khana kha rahe the. UnhoN ne mujhe toka ke: "Beta! rizq ke saath paun nahi rakhte - behurmati hoti hai".

Hum jawani ke zom main hote the. Main ne kaha: "O Babaji ! apne kaam se kaam rakho - ziyada maulvi banne ki zaroorat nahi hai". Babaji chup ho gaye.

Bus unhon ne ye kaha: "Allah tumhe rizq ki izzat kerne ki taufiq de"

Is baat ko 20 baras guzar gaye. Mujhe ye baat zara yaad na rahi. Itne barsoN main jub zindagi ki charkhi ki kaat lagi to ye baat samjh aai ke - rizq Allah ki taraf se aata hai. Insaan ki mehnat aik saanwi (secondary) si cheez hai.

Aaj sham main hospital se wapas aaya to mera beta sofe pe beth ke khana kha raha tha. Us ke paun saamne table pe rizq ke saath pare the. Main ne kaha: "Bete paun neeche rakho. Rizq ki behurmati hoti hai".

Mere Bete ne paun neeche to rakh diye, magar kaha: "Com'on daddy - what difference does it make?"

Mujhe aesa laga, jo thappar mujhe 20 baras pehle parna chahiye tha woh aaj par gaya. Khuda ki be-awaz lathi. Aik dum se 20 baras pehle wale babaji ka chehra yun saamne aa gaya jese do pal pehle ki baat ho.

Apni harkat ki saza khuda mujhe yun dega - socha na tha!

Allah hum sab ko apne rizq ki izzat kerne ki taufeeq ata farmaye - Aameen

Hear Attack

Another poem of Faiz Ahmad Faiz with my loose translation.

You may Listen this poem in Zia Mohiuddin voice here


Pain was so severe that night, savage heart
wanted to confront each vein
diaphoresed from each sweat gland

(my heart was)
Like far at your patio
each petal washed in my despondent blood
appear morose with grace of moonlite glow

Like in my deserted body
tents of all aching threads openly
start giving signs serially (of)
farewell of (my) passions' flock

And when appeared somewhere under smoldering lites of remembrance
one last moment of your affection
pain was so intense that (heart) wanted to pass it on

We did want to stay though, heart did not desire so

Meray dard ko jo zabaN milay

Faiz sahab ki khubsurat nazam - sorry for the loose translation 

Mera dard naghma-e-be sada

Meri zaat zarra-e-benishaN

Meray dard ko jo zabaN milay

Mujhe apna nam-o-nishaN mile

Meri zaat ko jo nishan mile

Mujhe raz-e-nazm-e-jahan mile

Jo mujhe ye raz-e-nihaN mile

Meri khamoshi ko bayaN mile

Mujhe kainat ki sarwarii

Mujhe dolat-e-do jahaN mile

My sorrow is a song of no voice 

My self is a grain of no sign (but)

if my sorrow finds a cry 

I find my (own) self

And if I find any sign of myself

I find secret of core of cosmos (and) 

if I find that open secret 

My silence finds (its) narration 

I get kingship of universe 

I find treasure of both worlds

Listen Nayyara Noor singing it here

Most immigrants' diary

(I should call it the diary of most immigrants)

".......In my son's eyes I see the ambition that had first hurled me across the world. In a few years he will graduate and pave his own way, alone and unprotected. But I remind myself that he has a father who is still living, a mother who is happy and strong. Whenever he is discouraged, I tell him that if I can survive on three continents, then there is no obstacle he cannot conquer. While the astronauts, heroes forever, spent mere hours on the moon, I have remained in this new world for nearly thirty years. I know that my achievement is quite ordinary. I am not the only man to seek his fortune far from home, and certainly I am not the first. Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have travelled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination."

From one of my favorite short stories -
- 'The Third and Final Continent by Jhumpa Lahiri

A quote

"Agar rizq aqal-o-danish se milta to jaanwar aur bewaqoof zinda hii na rehte" (Hazrat Ali)

Ameer Khan

Modern sufi ki post likhte huwe mujhe Ameer Khan bohat yaad aa rahe the.

Agar aap ko meri aik purani post Amma ki Dua yaad ho to - main ne aik American-Pakistani physician Dr. Saima ka zikar kiya tha. Ameer Khan unke shohar hote hain.

Peechle saal main ne Africa main aik charity project main participate kiya tha. Ittafaq se Dr. Saima mere saath thiN. Jub hum sab pehli dafa 'kampala' ke 'hawaii adde' pe mile to Ameer Khan se meri mulaqat hui. Bazla-sanj (witty) aadmi the, hamari achhi dosti ho gai. Pehle to main ye samjha ke Ameer Khan bhi doctor hain magar phir pata laga ke woh to 'computer engineer' hain. Main ne yunhi keh diya; "Aap aa to gaye ho magar aap poore 2 hafte hamare saath karo ge kiya?". UnhoN ne jawab diya: "Abhi socha nahi hai. Apne line ki koi cheez dhundh ker main bhi koi charity kaam ker lunga". Ab suniye unhoN ne kiya kiya.

Hum jitne din clinic aur hospital main training kerte rahe, Ameer Khan 'kampala' ki mashoor 'Owino market' se 3 computer khareed laye. Hospital ke IT department se internet connection lagwaya - Hospital se 10-12 burhe (65 years and above) jama kiye aur un ko ye training deni shuru kerdi ke 'email' kese kerte hain. Main ne kaha - 'aap ko ye khayal kiun aaya? aur aakhir is ka kiya faida?'.

Unhon ne jawab diya: "In burhoN ke bachhe in se dur hain. Aaj ki nasal bus email kerti hai. Koi in burhe ma-baap ko khat nahi likhta. Main ne hospital main announcement bhijwaya to ye 12 burhe mil gaye. Ye burhe agar - 'how are you?', 'call me' wagera jesi choti choti email kerna bhi sikh lain to in ke dil ko kitna qarar rahe". (Just a note - cell phone is very very expensive in Uganda). Unhon ne aage bataya: "Main ne yeh 3 computer yahan sirf isi kaam ke liye donate ker diye hain ke ye burhe apni aulad se ba-asani contact rakh sakain"

Khuda kay aashiq to haiN hazarooN,
banoN main phirtay haiN, maaray maaray
MaiN uss ka bunda banooN ga,
jiss ko Khuda kay bundoN say payar hoga

Log

A Beautiful ghazal of famous urdu poet Himayat Ali Shayer - who now resides in Toronto.

Modern Sufi-2

A week ago, I did a post on modern sufi. Somebody left a shair of Allama Iqbal on comment section and I think, this one shair describe what I really wanted to say

Khuda kay Aashiq to haiN hazarooN,
banoN main phirtay haiN, maaray maaray
MaiN uss ka bunda banooN ga
jiss ko Khuda kay bundoN say payar hoga

{God has thousands of his (human) lovers
roaming astray in jungles (to seek him)
I will be the disciple of one,
who would have love for humans }

Teenage nostalgia

In 1981, Lata Mangeshkar sung a song. That was the same time when we start having teenage rebellion against society, culture, values, dictators etc. but simultaneously were carefree about everything and not to mention pubertal attraction to other gender.

This song was an instant hit among youngsters and became a milestone song in Bollywood history. What a nostalgia