Story of the Lamp

“Useless Obedience”

Not very long ago, my friend from Australia (Actually Pakistani but recently shifted there) sent me a lamp as a gift. He also sent the same to another common friend of ours. Australian friend’s strict instructions were:

“Do not fix the lamp by yourself. Wait for Raja (The Other Friend) he will come at your place to do so. You might break the lamp.”

Raja never came because the Australian friend sent both the lamps without bulbs. So first we needed the bulbs for the lamps. According to Raja:

“Bulb for this particular lamp are not available in Pakistan.”

Australian friend responded to this statement of Raja and tried to convince Raja that bulbs are available in Pakistan.

Raja replied with the problem:

“Maulvi likes warm light, and I have ordered warm light bulbs from Dubai. Let them come and then I will set both the lamps before Ramzan.”

Raja never came before Ramzan due to official trip to Karachi, and after Ramzan he got married. I waited for him but that lamp did not get lucky. Before Ramzan it was 1^st week of June and after Ramzan July was almost hitting its 20^th. August, September, October passed away; eventually I forgot about setting the lamp.

Finally, November arrived, my sister told me about a lamp store that should be visited. I needed a lamp for my writing table so I went to that store. The moment I entered that store I saw the exact same lamp which my Australian friend gifted me with strict instructions.

I asked the shopkeeper about the bulb. And he replied with a smile:

“No sir no special bulb and especially not from Dubai. Just simple energy saver Osaka or Philips; not the pin one but the one with bangles (Choori Wala). Get with cool or warm light, depends on your choice. I can fix your lamp if you have any doubts”

From the same store I bought another lamp for my writing table. On my way back home I stopped by an electric store to purchase energy savers of my choice. I set the new lamp on my writing table when I reached home and after that I unpacked the gift from Australia and ignored the strict instructions.

I assembled the lamp within 15 minutes. Now the bulb, when I looked at the holder it seemed different and I thought my friends are right; this holder might require that bulb especially made for this particular lamp. But Thank God, I recalled that lamp in its operational form in the store where I was like half an hour ago. I fixed the energy saver fine and switched the lamp on.

Amazing light, that took more than six months to glow. Really, it made me very happy. I placed it properly and I truly liked the lamp’s everything. The gift was perfect. Thank You Omer! (The Australian Friend). Amazing Warm Light.

Also I thought for a moment that someone has ordered bulbs for the lamp from Dubai. And they are on their way…I still got no news about the lamp sent to Raja (The Other Friend) if it’s working or still packed under some bed. Because, mine was, but not anymore.  

The Man With a Special Sight

There was a guy we met in Raiwind who told us a story of a man who attained the Special Sight through piety.

Special Sight means that the Invisible Veil in front of the eyes is somehow removed or not there anymore.

The guy continued his story;

“That man never used to have food from market. He used to grow vegetables by himself and was careful in arranging meat and chicken whenever he felt the need. After a while he started seeing other people not in the usual way but in the form of animals and other creatures. Some people got the head of donkey and some are dogs. Rest of the body is like normal human beings. Basically he got free of the Veil in front of his eyes. He could not believe it and got very much stressed. Also scared, he reached somewhere before time. There might be some other reason. He consulted this issue with his senior; the senior smiled and asked his servant to bring my brother a cup of tea from the market (Bazaari Chai). After having that tea that man became normal and the Veil was back on like the way it used to be. Finally, he started seeing everyone the usual way.”

During the times of Moses (PBUH), we know that people used to get transformed in to non-human beings due to their sins. Especially we remember the incident of “The Butcher & His Parents”. But afterwards, it stopped happening due to the Prayer of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). We should be grateful to that.

I realized the importance of Bazaari Chai after hearing this story from that Raiwind guy, and also wondered, what if I had met that man in the time of his special sight?   

Literature Fever

“Dear Talha Anwar,

Thank you very much for your interest in the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

The Admissions Committee has reviewed your application to attend the Spring Semester 2015-2016 at LUMS as an Auditing Student. We receive a large number of applications for the limited seats available and entry to the programme is highly competitive. We are pleased to inform you that you have qualified for the admission, and everyone in the Social Sciences Department are waiting for you.

We also wish you success in your future endeavours.

Sincerely,

......................."

This is how you read a letter in excitement and you still can’t believe it.

Let me tell you the story from the very beginning.

Punjab University

“You are an MBA Graduate but not with the required GPA. You should have a CGPA of 5. 4.9 will keep you in the waiting list. The literature department has its standards to maintain. Basically we don’t give admissions to humans. Hope you don’t mind being one.”

Government College

“Everything is more than good except you did not appear in 200 marks English Exam in your Bachelors’ Programme.”

“Sir what’s the Solution?”

“Take Admissions in our Bachelors’ Programme and appear in 200 marks English Exam.”

LUMS

“Today is 12^th October and it’s the last day to apply. Please apply online before 5 O Clock. Otherwise…”

“But ma’am the course offer list is still not released by the Social Sciences Department.”

“Can’t help it. It’s your fate, so you have to bare the loss. Go to the Admissions Office and sort out this issue.”

The Admissions Office was quite cold but still they came up with a solution.

“Get the code of any course in order to proceed with your admission procedure. You can take the course code from the Social Sciences Department. You better hurry up. Just 2 hours left. After that admissions will be closed.”

The Social Sciences Department took a print out of the previous year course list and handed me over the course code.

I took the code to the Admissions Office. Only 20 minutes were left. They took the code and entered the information; helped me out in applying online with the shortest fastest possible way. Really appreciated that. After all I was hanging around their heads for the past two months and they were not at all bothered. What they did in 10 minutes seemed unusual of them.

At 4:50 PM my online application was submitted. It felt like something heavy on my head and shoulders got unloaded. I thanked them and they handed me over the Admission Processing Fee Voucher.

Next day I deposited the fee and thanked Allah in my heart that all went well.

After about a month I got a letter from the Institution and I opened it with excitement. In fact, the letter was like this:

“Dear Talha Anwar,

Thank you very much for your interest in the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

The Admissions Committee has reviewed your application to attend the Spring Semester 2015-2016 at LUMS as an Auditing Student. We receive a large number of applications for the limited seats available and entry to the programme is highly competitive. I regret to inform you that you have not qualified for admission, and I am sorry for the disappointment it will inevitably cause you.

We wish you success in your future endeavours.

Sincerely,

......................."  

Abdullah

"Hello."

"Yeah."

"I'm a father now to a baby boy." Salik broke the news over phone. An old friend.

................................................

Not very long ago, I was heading home after Esha Prayers on foot when Salik pulled up his car on my way back to home at the end of the street.

"Hey, come fast we got to meet Imam Saab."

"What's the rush?"

"Just need to return him his books. We'll just drop them, say Salam and then head back home. A matter of 15 minutes."

"Have you informed Imam Saab that we are coming."

"Yeah I did."

I joined him on the Imam Saab tour. Within three minutes we reached at the gates of Imam Saab's Masjid  where he is responsible to lead the 5 times Prayers. Salik parked the car outside and in a rush he pushed the gates and entered into the hall of Masjid. 

I followed Salik in the hall and found Imam Saab sitting there under the white light of energy saver with two other men. Imam Saab greeted us with pleasure and the other two men just smiled at our arrival.

"You can keep the books if you want to."

"Thank You very much." Salik did not take the books.

"What else?"

"Nothing, we will leave now. I got to visit the old city tomorrow morning."

"You may leave but, if you want to see a Jinn you can stay. Party will be here in a while."

Salik looked towards me with excitement.

"Talha, you got time? I can't leave without a watching a Jinn."

"Plenty of time. No issues."

"Just sit tight then, I'll drop you home in a while."

I still can't believe why I agreed with Salik that time to watch a Jinn. The moment they mentioned it I thought it was a joke. And I thought it will be over in a while but that wasn't really a joke. I realized that fact the minute I said "No Issues.".

After some minutes few men arrived with long beards and no caps on their heads wearing white clothes (Shalwar Kameez). Along with them there was a little boy around the age of  7.

"It's with him." The men in white clothes pointed at the little boy.

"No worries. Just relax and sit there and make the lad sit in front of me." 

The men in white sat with a distance after literally placing the little boy in front of Imam Saab. I was sitting right next to Imam Saab and Salik with happiness out of this world was on the left.

"What happened to you? Tell me your name." Imam Saab asked the little boy this question but he was dizzy. I realized this fact after Imam Saab's question. The little boy could not answer. He was not in his senses. 

"Bring water...!" Imam Saab ordered one of the two men who were already here before our arrival.

Imam Saab read some verses from Quran and made the little boy drink some of it. Imam Saab kept on reading. After drinking that water the little boy looked better. He was stable this time.

"What do you see? A Door or a Hole? Imam Saab asked the little boy this question. I was still not believing it.

"It's a Hole." The little boy replied. His voice did not seem like little ones'.

"Is it a Black Hole or you see White Light coming through it?"

"It's Black." The little boy replied to Imam Saab.

"It will come now."

Imam Saab kind of announced. Right that moment I saw a jerk in the little boy's body. Imam Saab took out a stick. He held the little boy's hand and made the stick go through his fingers.

"What is your name?" Imam Saab asked the little boy this question once again.

"ABDULLAH." Little boy kind of howled his name. He was so loud and so not that little boy apparently. He started looking at Imam Saab with a very evil look.

The moment he mentioned his name "Abdullah" I got terrified. I noticed that none of the other people in that particular gathering got scared. Except me. I guess for them it was something very normal. But, at that time, it was not at all anything that should be called normal to me. In fact, you take many things in life non seriously and you are kind of a non believer. All Hollywood films I recalled that very time were not really some craps. They all flooded up in my memory, after all they got something true. Not entirely but some part of it that I used to consider a lie before this incident.

I also got shocked the way my heart reacted to this incident. I felt weak and kept on trembling in terror. Obviously I tried to cover that and pretended that I am very brave and I am not at all affected but, you all should know that so called Jinn "Abdullah" was hardly at a distance of 1 to 2 feet. If Imam Saab was not sitting right next to me I would have run and run till I reach home with maximum speed.

"How many are you?"

"FIVE."

"Why are you disturbing the little boy?"

"JUST FOR FUN......HAHAHAHA."

Imam Saab squeezed the hand of that Jinn (Little boy) and pressed the fingers beneath which the stick started to hurt. "Abdullah" got terrified...

"You better leave this place for good along with your friends. Next time if I ever see you anywhere causing such trouble, I will lock you down in a place from where you never be able to escape. Consider this as a last warning."

Imam Saab made "Abdullah" very clear. And that was evident from his reply.

"Okay."

"Before you leave shake hands with our brother Talha."

"Abdullah" the Jinn moved forward towards me to shake hands with me. Though he was that little boy apparently but, I was about to faint. The moment he shook hands with Imam Saab smiled. I'm sure he knew that I was shit scared the whole time. Still I shook hands.

"Now go...."

The little boy fainted after the procedure. "Abdullah" was gone. Imam Saab sprinkled that water over the little boy whose real name I still don't remember.

"He will be fine in 10 to 15 minutes."

Later we left the Masjid and headed home. Salik was more than happy. It was like his dream came true.

A few months later all was normal but this whole event or anything related to the event brings some amount of fear in my heart. At present that small amount of fear has wiped out but it was there or remained there inside the corners of my heart for quite a while. And the last I felt it when Salik called me to break the news...

"I'm a father now to baby boy."

"Congrats...so what name are you thinking for the newly born?

"Abdullah." 

The Wish-List

“I love Camry.”

“I want 7 series!”

“I just don’t understand when I will be able to buy one.”

“Whenever I’m on the road, I become sad.”

“Yes, same happens to me, my heart starts burning.”

I meet my friends often and they are always discussing cars. It’s their passion, their dream at individual levels or simply something to achieve in their wish-list(s). As a matter of fact; cars are the most desirable stuff in their wish-list(s). Their love, I hope it’s not final. 

Once in the love of cars one friend said:

“I want to become a Driver, so that I drive my favourite cars all day long and when I get tired I just go to sleep and when I get up, I get back to driving, my dream cars.”

One of my friends in frustration even stated that:

”I’m unable to accept those creatures sitting at the driving seats.”

Another said:

“I do not want to get my favourite car at the age of 50 or 40, not even at the age of 30. I want it right now.”  

And another:

“There is no use if I work all my life and when I become an old man then I finally get the car I’m dying for.”

I just thank Allah that I don’t have cars in my wish-list. It is very hard to see the thing you love in front of your eyes flowing here and there and you are unable to be with it.

“I like Suzuki Swift it's cool.”

“Oh shut-up.”

“BBC Top Gear stated that if you have don’t have money to buy Mini Cooper then you should not be worried and go for Swift. Plus it’s economical and fuel consumption is awesome.”

“Really? How much in 1 Litre?”

“I did not check like that.”

“Then how did you check it?”

“I checked it from the needle (Fuel Indicator).”

“NEEDLE???”

“Petrol Needle, when I come from Islamabad to Lahore in Civic it comes back to point E really fast and when I come to Lahore from the same city in Swift it comes as slow as you want it to be.”

Personal Learning Experiences: The Right Colour of the Heart

Personal Learning Experiences: The Right Colour of the Heart: “This is my website. And here are the pictures. Ask Fat-So to upload these at his earliest.” My friend wrote down the web address...

The Right Colour of the Heart

“This is my website. And here are the pictures. Ask Fat-So to upload these at his earliest.”

My friend wrote down the web address on a piece of paper and handed me over a USB full of pictures related to the content of his website that he opened up with the help of Fat-So. 

Fat-So

Fat-So with a little voice was huge; used to work with me in some company. He used to work in the IT department.

If you have any issue related to computers, hardware, software, web or networking; then Fat-So is the right guy to solve it. He still works somewhere in the IT department. And if not, he still is known as the IT Problem Solver.

Common Fact

Old colleague but still had terms. Known him since more than 7 years by now. As we all know:

Fat is Friendly

 

So, he is that kind of a guy. The big with the baby voice. Some other friend needed help in making his website so I had no one else in mind to contact, except Fat-So.

Delay the Task - The Bad Habit

As per other friend’s instructions, I delayed the task and decided to do the favour later.

We have a major problem in here that whatever we are assigned to do we do it later. In an instant we delay the task.

“I’ll do it in a while.”

“Tomorrow.”

“You don’t understand; I’m just stuck.”

“Housework.”

“Out with family.”

“I do remember the task. I never forget.”

“Consider it done but first let me get free.”

“I got a lot on my mind.”

“Busy busy…”

“Tomorrow…for sure.”

And you all must have experienced the similar situation dialogues/excuses as listed above. 

Follow Up

“Did you convey my message to Fat-So?”

That was again my friend after a gap of 6 months with the follow up. I assured my friend that I will convey his message to Fat-So. As I did delay the task earlier. This time I was determined not to do it again.

Adversities You Face When Doing the Right Thing

So I contacted Fat-So the moment I got free:

“I got the pictures for the website. Can you pick them?”

“Brother (Bhaiiii)…why don’t you drop those pictures at my office or at my place?”

“I can’t. No conveyance.”

For another 6 months we both (Me & Fat-So) waited for the conveyance. After 6 months we dropped the idea of conveyance.

“Brother (Bhaiiii)…try emailing me.”

And after 6 months I realised:

“I can’t email you this is too heavy.”

“Brother (Bhaiiii)…your website is shutdown. Re-open it.”

I informed the other friend about his website situation and he got it re-opened in almost 3 days.

“Fat-So, it’s open now.”

“Okay. Let me get free.”

Finally We Met

As usual Fat-So never got free. And, it took another 6 months.

“Where are you?”

“I’m just leaving my place for office.”

“Come to the petrol pump near your place. I got the pictures with me in the USB, take and copy them in your system.”

Thank God Fat-So did not take 6 months to reach that petrol pump, he reached within 5 minutes. The moment I saw him; the Elephant Foxy Jokes started revolving in my mind.

Weather Complaint

It was good to see Fat-So. He reached my car on his motorbike along with the revving. Took off his helmet and complaint about the weather.

“It’s so cold; let’s get the thing done quickly.” Fat-So was right. The weather that day was cold. Also gloomy. No sunlight.

“There will be sunshine, in a day or two. But remember, these are the best days in the whole year. Just grab some dry fruits and carry on with your usual routine. Wear good clothes to feel the breeze. You just have to be brave to enjoy winters. Picture summers in your head. It’s cruel, and the sweat you get, you got to bath all the time. Accept these days the way they are, these days will vanish anytime. Just a matter of 15 days. Then you can complaint about summers throughout the year.”

“Yeah man you are right. HEHEHE!”

Fat-So's Nature

Fat-So was already late for office. He was in a hurry but with no worry over his face.

“I’m already late but it’s alright. Let’s sit in the car.”

“I don’t think that you will be able to fit in my car.”

“I can what do you mean. I’m flexible. HEHEHE!!!”

Fate & Job Done List

He really was flexible. I could not believe he adjusted himself in my tiny car and opened up the lid of his laptop in the front-seat, inserted USB to start copying the files. I was relieved that finally it will be over and the job will be done. Petrol pump was empty. Just the workers waiting for customers.

That day I never had the intentions of meeting Fat-So. Fate. The other tasks were still undone. After meeting Fat-So, I could not imagine how long the other tasks would take to enter the Job Done list.  

Joke

“When I saw you approaching my car; you reminded me of the Elephant Foxy Jokes.”

“What joke?”

“How do you know there are 4 elephants in that building?” I pointed at a random building in front of us on the other side of the main road.

“Is that a question or a joke?”

“It will be a joke if you answer the question.”

“I don’t know.”

“You see, if their Foxy is parked outside the building; it means the elephants are in that building.”

“4 elephants in a Foxy?” Fat-So’s eyes got bigger while asking that question.

“Yeah four elephants in a Foxy. Tell me how easily in a Foxy 4 elephants can sit?”

“Is that a question or a joke?”

“It will be a joke if you answer the question.”

“I don’t know.”

“You see, 2 in front, 2 at the back. So simple. You could have answered that.”

“Stop playing with my head. Take this USB. I got the pictures and will upload them as soon as possible.”

Still Fighting the Bad Habit

Now, another 6 months are passed away and the job is still undone. The task has been continuously delayed at Fat-So’s end. Whatever Fat-So still is doing, at least I stopped doing that by now.

I don’t delay any of my daily tasks whether it’s personal, family oriented or some friend related business. Finally I got rid of this habit. And now, I face what I was earlier or more clearly, my past. Everywhere. Fat-So is just 1 example.

The Right Decision

To make others (family and my social crew or anyone) get rid of this Delay the Task Disease; I’m left with only 1 option (Strategy) and i.e. to

Never Give Up

on them.

The Only Way-Out

Consistency is the key when you want to do something. But like everything happens for a reason, things also happen at their own destined time. And you never know when the heart embraces the Right Colour.

What Fat-So Learnt that Day?

“Okay fine. Tell me if this petrol pump got a washroom?” I asked this question to Fat-So while he was getting out of my car.

“No there is no washroom here.”

“How do you know?” I literally saw a joke coming through his eyes that time. He sat over his motorbike, kicked it to start and then he roared a line along with his big fat laugh:

“Because, Nature is not calling ME!!!”  

P.S. Fat-So asked for FOOD just once during the whole incident which is still in process.