Maa!

Ma, Maa, Mom, Mother.

For some reason, I was just missing Mom today. I was watching, "Wake up, Sid!", yes I am a big Ranbir Kapoor fan. That scene, where Sid (Ranbir) is taking pictures of his neighbour and her son and he forgets to click as he watches the mother-son love through the lens which he was obviously was missing with her mom, reminded me of you, Maa!

Its been so many years it seems. We used to be so close, with my Baba away travelling on his sea voyages for 6 months, back for 2 months and then back again, was I your best friend? But then, I wasn't even there. But for me, you were always there.

Walking me to school, driving me to school, ensuring I got on the school van, you were there. You were there when I was a little baby, when I grew up into a boy, teens and then a young man. You know all my secrets, you know all my school and university crushes. You supported me in my downs, you celebrated my successes.

But was I there for you? Have I been there for me? I know, I wasn't.

Even with my lovely wife, my 2 lovely daughters, you will always be my favorite woman in my life. I am not naturally somebody who expresses a lot, but I am learning to do this, my daughters need me to be. They need to be told how beautiful they are, how amazing they are and how lucky I am to have them. They need assurance from a man, who better to give this than their Baba. I have to be that person so they don't look for this somewhere else.

You are a woman, did you need assurance, support, recognition when Baba was away? Sorry, I didn't know. I was too young. Do you need this now?

I am sorry, I wasn't the perfect son. Did I grow up too soon? Did I move away too soon? Get married too soon? Were you done with me? I was just being selfish, just thinking about myself. I went away too soon to run my own family and I didn't look back. Of course I visit on and off but is that quality time with you? Is that enough?

My heaven is beneath your feet. My success of life and hereafter in your prayers. Please don't forget me ever OK? Always keep me in your prayers.

Maa! I love you. Alhumdulillah!

The Deathly Hallows

No pun intended with the title, Harry Potter fans. The inspiration for this post is a question that popped up somewhere, I can't remember now if it was a movie I was watching, a book I was reading or a podcast I was listening to.

What if life is a dream and death wakes us up?

One can find inspiration in the oddest of places. A question of the above sort can do something similar but more from a "reflection" perspective and this question did make me think.

Religiously speaking or not and whether you believe in the day of judgement, life after death or not, think of the what if? You can deny a whole pile of Holy revelations and still stick to the theory that this life is pretty much it. Make of it what you can, how you can and then that's it, you are done.

On the other hand, think possibilities, what if it is not the end. What if this whole thing going around us, is a dream, a virtual reality or whatever you want to call, but something that is not real. Ever woken up with a sudden jolt, realizing, that what you were experiencing just before you woke up, wasn't real. What if life was exactly that?

All the effort we are spending here trying to make the best of life, would be in vain at the end. What have we done for life after death, which begins when we wake up from this life? Death is the only real truth and as that has come to every single human being ever born and will come to every human being that is alive or is yet to be born. Everybody will die. Just on that belief, there has to be more to come after death, a lot more as its a universal fact.

This world is cruel, unfair, unjust. Where the good path is more difficult to follow, the evil route easier. The evil ways result in prosperity in this world vs. the good path, which doesn't give that good a return on investment compared to the wrong ways. How can this be fair? There has to be a place where the equation is more fair. Where good gets good and bad gets bad. Right?

This just has to be a dream, good or bad, but this has to be just a dream. Death will wake us up, are you ready? Are you prepared?