Wedding Anniversary

Nature at its best shows its splendor in pairs. Two halves complementing each other….  

Humans from time immemorial have been intrigued by this fact.

Right from birth, they wonder how they got a pair of hands, a pair of legs, and a pair of eyes …. but not a pair of hearts.

Very soon, they realize they need to look out for a matching heart. With God’s grace, our xxx and xxx have found their matching hearts in each other.

Congratulations on completing 15 years of marriage. 

In India, they say a woman cries before marriage and a man cries after marriage. As I look at xxx and xxx -neither are crying. Their lives are full of fun and laughter. Both have managed to find the secret to being not just married but being best friends for 15 years - and that calls for a toast!.

May God, the best maker of all great marriages, abundantly bless you with countless happy memories!

Happy 20th Anniversary

There are certain people who you meet...
Not often, not always, maybe never again

You meet them and in no matter of time, they overwhelm you
Overwhelm with their grace, their presence
Overwhelm with the fact that you realize that you can trust them
Overwhelm with the fact that you can depend on them

Make them a role model
What makes them so special?

Well, you believe it or not, call it Big Bang or something…
At certain celestial moments, the universe exhibits certain magic
Like it facilitated the formation and amalgamation of subatomic particles
and created the universe where we live

20 years back, the same celestial magic happened again
They made two hearts to meet, fall in love and build a family
They made friends to us, shared their joy, and made us proud and humbled

We want to celebrate that moment and say thank you
to these couple for making us part of their happy journey
Thank you for being our friend and above all being a good human being

May God bless your family.

Translation of Basheer's short story

A humble attempt to translate one of Basheer’s short stories.

Mango Tree

What you heard is not right. I don’t worship any trees nor any other living things. However, I have a special love for this Mango tree. My wife too loves it. This tree is a symbol of an unbelievable deed, a great love story. I’ll explain it. 

Now I stand below this tree. The tree is covered with a lot of mangoes. Its base is surrounded by neatly laid brick stones. Inside that, you can see blooming red and yellow rose flowers.  There are several other beautiful plants neatly arranged in red pots. The owner’s name is Rashid who is my next-door neighbor. He and his wife are both teachers in the school nearby. They have a teenage boy.

His wife sends a plate full of carefully cut mango slices via her son. I ate few pieces.  

Rashid: How is it?  

Me: Great… tastes like honey  

Rashid: We are lucky to have this tree here  

Me: Who planted it here? I heard there is something special about this tree. Can you please tell?  

Rashid: My wife Asma and I planted this mango tree. I’ll tell you that story. I have told this story to many people. A lot of them have since become great admirers of this tree. I am sure you will like it too.

My younger brother was a police inspector in a town 75 miles far from here. One day, I decided to visit him and planned to stay with him for few days. My brother went to work and I took a walk in the countryside. It was a hot sunny day. The wind was blowing with sizzling heat. There was a water shortage in that area.  

Far away, I saw a large banyan tree. I decided to take some rest there.  As soon as I reached the banyan tree, I saw an old man lying down in its shade. He seems to be in his eighties. He was looking very weak and very close to his death. As soon as he saw me, he murmured “Alham Dulilla”... give me some water. I was petrified seeing the plight of this old man. I looked around and saw a young lady in the nearby house reading a newspaper. I went to her house and asked for some water. She went inside her house and came back with a jug of water. I rushed towards the old man. She stopped me in her sweet voice “where are you going?”  I told her about the old man who is about to die. She said, “I am also coming with you”.  

We both helped the old man to get up and then gave the water jug to him. Then we witnessed an unbelievable act. The old man slowly stood up.  He started walking down the pavement towards a place where we saw a small mango seedling. He poured half of the water thereafter saying a small bismi (prayer). Some passerby might have thrown the seed after savoring the mango, I thought. It somehow grew a little. Most of the roots can be seen above the ground.

 The old man returned to the shade and drank the remaining water… again with a small prayer. He then said. “May God bless both of you. My name is Yousef Siddique. I am in my late eighties. I don’t have any family. I am wandering around this world as a fakir. I am about to die. Tell me your names”. I said “I am Rashid. Working as a teacher”. The girl said, “I am Asma”.  

The old man blessed both of us and slowly reposed to the ground. Staring at us calmly, he closed his eyes slowly. We both witnessed his last breath. I asked Asma to wait there and rushed to get a van. We took his body to a nearby mosque, bathed him, covered him in new clothes, and did his last rites.  All he had in his bag was 6 rupees and some old clothes. We put 5 more rupees each and handed over the money to the mosque and requested them to buy sweets for the kids in the adjacent orphanage.  

Later on, I married Asma. She took great care of that mango seedling on the pavement. Later on, we built this house. Before we even started living here, we replanted the mango plant here. We wanted to see it every day of our life. It reminds us of the day we first met and the magnificent deed of that old man. He watered the plant, even before taking a drop of water to quench his thirst.  

Thank you for telling this remarkable story. I said. I decided it is time to leave. I started walking towards my house. I stopped as I heard someone calling from behind. I turned back. Rashid’s son came running towards me with a handful of mangoes. Sir, please give it to your wife and kids. I looked at that handsome young man. What is your name? He said “Yousef Siddique”. Yes… Yousef Siddique.  

My War Protest

The sky is crowded by menacing vultures

Showering shrapnel’s at will

Hustling bombs and missiles

Hubris on innocent mass 

The hapless crowd runs astray

Women scramble to hide their kids 

Men jostle to hide from the barrage

Pale faces that are masked by fear

Poor souls…
They can’t cry as there are no tears left

They can’t pray as God is not theirs

As evil triumphed and the actions go unchallenged

I wish they perish

A soul that has no hope has no place in this world

But, remember there have been tyrants and murderers

and for a time they can seem invincible

but in the end they always fall.

How old are you?

I thought of writing this note after watching the movie “How old are you”.
This is a comeback movie of the legendary Malayalam actress, Manju Warrior who had to shun her successful career as she got married to another famous actor Dileep. True to her credentials, she did an awesome performance in this movie.

The movie illustrates the subtle realities a woman has to face as she gets married and puts her focus to build a family. Like any Indian woman, she had to let go of her dreams, submit herself to the daily chores of a housewife with little or no help from her husband.

One specific scene towards the middle of the movie summarizes all that happened to Manju. Her husband unexpectedly announces a dinner plan. With a lot of excitement, Manju accompanied her husband and teenage daughter to the restaurant. Within few minutes after they were seated, the husband asked their daughter to take a walk. Manju, like any mom, nervously turns her head towards where her daughter is going. At that moment, the husband callously announces his and his daughter’s decision to leave her in order to pursue their dreams in Ireland. That was the lowest point in Manju’s life. She suddenly realized that she is no longer wanted in the family. The very thing for which she tirelessly worked all these years faded in front of her eyes.
In the second half of the movie, Manju will rebound to her life. She will quickly realize her setbacks, rediscovers her potential (thanks to her old friend), and start pursuing her long-forgotten dreams. Her husband and daughter will soon realize what they missed while in Ireland. They request her to join them and she refuses. She will pursue her newly found business and become very successful. The movie ends where she finally decides to visit her husband and daughter for a short stay.

You may be wondering why I wrote so much about this movie. The reason I was so moved by this movie is that I saw someone similar at a tender age. She was my next-door neighbor. A 19-year-old girl with vivid dreams of her future was pushed into her marriage like any other girl in those times. She went into a large joint family where her daily dream was to get that day’s work done. Often ignored and unappreciated, she slowly got accustomed to her daily chores. She soon became a mother of 4 boys. She nurtured her kids with great care and hope for a bright future. She got wearied and exhausted. Her brother once visited her and left with tears in his eyes puzzled what happened to his beautiful big sister. She endured all that with one determination in her life. Her kid’s well-being.

The youngest boy was her best friend. He tirelessly helped her to finish her daily chores so that he can cuddle and cajole her. He loved to hear her stories. He consoled her hearing her daily whimpers. He learned to tell jokes to make her happy. He always promised to take care of her.

Did this mom become successful like the heroine in this movie? Did she get rewarded for sacrificing her dreams and spending most of her adult life supporting her family?

Recently, someone asked this mom what made your kids call you every day however busy they are and wherever in the world they are. What makes your children love you so much? She in her natural way smiled and gave no answer.

Long live our moms.

Who am I

I think I am what you think I am
You think what I am as I think what you are
Since you and I think the same, I am not what you think I am
I am what I think I am

Woods overlooking the Graveyard

Wanted to remind the grandiose of these woods obscure the vast graveyard behind
The tranquility of these trees holds the gasp of the bereaved
The permanence of it reminds the brevity of us mortals