Happened as Rumi said!

Rumi said: "Words will reach to you when you need them". The last couple of weeks were somewhat of little despondency and stress. A good friend sends the following poem at the right time, and it helped me.

*جو تم مایوس ہو جاو*،

*تو رب سے گفتگو کرنا*

وفا کی آرزو کرنا

سفر کی جستجو کرنا ......!!

یہ اکثر ہو بھی جاتا ہے

کہ کوئی کھو بھی جاتا ہے

مقدر کو برا جانو گےتو 

یہ سو بھی جاتا ہے......!!

اگر تم حوصلہ رکهو

وفا کا سلسہ رکهو

جسے تم خالق سمجھتے ہو

تو اس سے رابطہ رکهو

میں یہ دعوے سے کہتا ہوں

کبھی ناکام نہ ہو گے .........!!

جو تم مایوس ہو جاو،

تو رب سے گفتگو کرنا ......!

کبھی مایوس مت ھونا.....

وہاں انصاف کی چکی......

ذرا دھیرے ھی چلتی ھے.....

مگر چکی کے پاٹوں میں.....

بہت باریک پستا ھے.....

تمہارے ایک کا بدلہ.....

وہاں ستر سے زیادہ ھے.....

نیت تلتی ھے پلڑوں میں...

عمل ناپے نہیں جاتے...

وہاں جو ہاتھ اٹھتے ہیں۔۔

کبھی خالی نہیں جاتے۔۔

ذراسی دیرلگتی ہے۔۔۔

مگر وہ دے کے رہتا ہے

*جو تم مایوس ہو جاو*،

*تو رب سے گفتگو کرنا*

Pardah aur Gawahi

"Sir! Zindagi ka aik kaRa imtihan aa paRa hai

Merri zindagi ke sab se achhe dost - jo meri har mussebat ka saathi raha - jo bhaaiyyoN se bhi baRh ker hai - us ki biwi, dost se chup ker, har kisi se paise udhar leti hai - aur kabhi wapas nahi kerti. Main is se pehle bhi choti moti raqam murawwat main udhar de ker bhool chuka hun.  Aesa hi baqi log kerte rahe hain - halanke sab jaante hain ghar main har tarah ki aasahish maujood hai. Dost ki naik naami, achhe chaal chalan (character) aur har dilazizi ki wajah se sab hi chup kerte rahe. Waqt ke saath saath us ki biwi ki himmat  ab itni barh gai hai ke us ne lambi lambi raqmoN ka taqaza kerna shuru ker diya hai. Barson se ye silsila chal raha hai - nahi malum dost ko is baat ka kitna ilm hai. Batata hun to us ki azwaji zindagi pe bura asar paRta hai - nahi batata hun to dost se be-wafaii ka gumaan guzarta hai - Kiya karun?"

"Dekho jis cheez ka pardah Allah ne ab tak rakkha huwa hai - tum kaun hote ho us ko faash kerne waale? Itne barsoN se agar ye baat chupi hai - to is main mere rab ki koi maslahat hai - ya dost ne hi darguzar ki rah pakRi hui hai. Mashwara to yahi hai ke khamosh raho. Haan! agar kabhi aesi nobat aa jaye ke gawahi deni paR jaaye - to phir apni puri imandaari se sach bol dena".

On "Obligations, Entitlements, and Responsibilities "

(The following post is controversial, but the idea is to ignite the thoughts of understanding human behavior).

Over the years, I have learned that we are neither obligated to do any good to anyone nor entitled to someone to do good for us.

Yeah, pretty blatant! - But let me explain.

The only obligation we have - is not to do any harm to fellow humans! This is the most considerable good you can do for humanity. That speaks of your character if you rise and go beyond to help any other person without expecting anything in return.

Conversely, you are not entitled to any other human to do good for you. You are responsible for your well-being. But if someone has helped you, you should be highly thankful to that person. If your spouse makes soup for you in your sickness, you are not entitled to it. You should be grateful to your spouse!

Fortunately (or unfortunately), innate human nature, as we call it in Urdu 'sarshast,' goes beyond this primary tenant of behavior. Humans can't resist helping another human, but on the same token will not take a second to turn into a selfish, harming pig to benefit themselves.

 ~ aur bus yahin se saara khel shuru ho jaata hai

Now, it turns to talk about responsibilities. When we voluntarily sign up to become a parent, teacher, physician, artist, politician, or whatever - we sign up to fulfill related obligations, keep the decor and norm of such roles, and remain to adhere to basic ethics to weave the threads of the society. Again, the primary obligation is not to harm!

~ magar aesa hota nahi hai

I understand religions, philosophies, ontologies, epistemologies, arts, literature, functionalists, reformers, revolutionaries, etc., have gone to extremes to create ideal humans, their bondings, and societies.

 - par  insaan ki guddi ab tak koi nahi pakaR paya

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Prisoners of taste buds

This is one observation I gathered over the years while working as a physician, and near to deathbeds of many human beings. Patients who know that death is imminent for them (like hospice patients), love to ask for their favorite food and desserts.

Compounding that, a few years ago, I met a physician who worked at a prison where they execute death row prisoners. He told me that one reason we provide food to those prisoners of their own choice before their execution as it makes their death more palatable to them. While they consume food, they forget about their incoming death or at least become numb, and sometimes even hopeful that death is not that near.

One of the consultants in our hospital regularly brings donuts, food, and snacks for house staff and nursing staff. Last week, he jokingly informed me that, humans are prisoners of their own taste buds.

I pondered on this for many years. This is like an anomalous observation in the present-day paradigm of psychology science, for which at least at this point, I don't have any clear explanation!



This link may be of interest to you: Last meal requests:: https://cbsn.ws/2wgUNKa

Leenah Nasir blog

In the last few months, life has taken a toll on my time and I don't blog regularly (though many times I really want to). Meanwhile, I browse various 'desi' blogs while waiting for my flights or in between my other work. I came across this beautiful blog of a Pakistani lady. As I love real-life stories, her blog attracted me as a mirror image of my blog, but she is more refined and has a gift of writing skills. I was in ave after reading her stories: Survival and "Rahat ke Intzar ka Rog".

http://leenahnasir.blogspot.com/

An important lesson

It took me decades to learn this simple lesson as a physician. Modern medicine tends to train the physicians to treat the diseases, not to heal the humans. There is a huge difference.

Racism and Prejudice

Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, including the USA, racism is taking a toll on everyday human lives. I am very concerned and worried about the world we leave behind for future generations. My only hope is that our children are more intelligent than us and will figure it out in a better way. Today I talked with an African-American woman who further educated me on it. I met her while waiting to get my car fixed at the local dealership.

"I am 67 years old. I have been a teacher at a local community college for 30 years. I raised two daughters into functional professional members of this society. I experienced the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the racism in America firsthand. I learned that there is a bigger curse than racism in society and its prejudice. As far as you have this notion in your head that your white, black, brown, yellow, red, pink, or blue skin - or - your faith is better than the other person, it's tolerable. It's OK and may be acceptable as we all have been made to believe in it. You can go on in your life with it. But once it climbs the ladder of prejudice, it becomes blind. It kills your power to logic. It becomes violent. It justifies any harm to other humans under various pretexts. And, when and if your kind does not agree with you, you even turn against them. We are suffering today not merely racism but very quickly climbing the stairs toward prejudice." 

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