Eid Blessing !

This blog has always been a reflection of the extremes of my emotions - happiness or sadness !

...and , so I jot down here the exhilarating feeling of the past few days. No words can ever do justice to completely comprehend the depth of what I feel now, but then I shall try.

The past few days again teaches me : Every prayer gets answered at the most perfect of times, as and when, willed by Allah. Alhamdulilah.

I became an aunt to a beautiful baby girl born in the wee morning hours of the day of Eid al Adha. ( Dhul Hijjah 10 1433/ October 26th 2012). Alhamdulilah Ya Rabb.

Alhamdulilah, sister and baby are doing fine :-)

A blessing so tiny in her size yet has already captured all our hearts. A blessing for us to turn back to Him to say the word  of Shukr for His cloak of Rahma , always on our family. A blessing where we have already fully enveloped and embraced another new person into our family and our lives, as though she has always been a part of us, all this while. A blessing whom we have loved even before she was born.

For me, personally, a blessing to always remind myself, to never lose hope. No tears go unseen by the Almighty.

I know, I have made dua for this particular blessing in the early morning hours in Tahajjud, during the time I break my fast, in the nights of Ramadan, while I travel, while it rains, in the evening hours on a friday - every occasion where we have been promised our duas will get answered... & I know, every member of my family has done the same. Alhamdulilah, a million times , for our prayers being answered.

There comes a time in every family, when the kids have finished school, left for college or got married and a silence descends. A grandchild changes the entire dynamic of the family and brings in a whole lot of ''welcomed noise'' :-)

To my baby niece : I shall forever remind you how much of hope you brought to me at a time when I thought I shall have none anymore. I could sit all day gazing at your peaceful sleeping face.

May Allah bless you with the best in this world and the next.
May He make you, a coolness of your parent's eyes.
May He make you a blessed member of Our Ummah who helps in carrying forward the flag of our Deen
May He keep you protected,always - Ameen

...and, alhamdulilah, since you are blessed with your dad's good looks, I pray that you are blessed with your mom's intelligence ;) - Ameen        

( Ma sha Allah, Tabaraka Allah )


Sometimes, photographs can never really capture the entire moment. Words start failing. Yet, they are the moments truly lived.

Cousin Gyaan!

On having many ''adventurous'' situations during my flights between Doha and Bangalore over the years, one of my cousins remarked, " Everything in my life, be it job or personal, is similar to yours. There is always always a setback initially. But eventually, everything straightens itself "

Today, he is working in a top firm in Makkah, being able to pray all 5 times in The Haram.

I have hope.

Alhamdulilah

Tick Tock - 2

“Believe that this way of living, this focus on the present, the daily, the tangible, this intense concentration not on the news headlines but on the flowers growing in your own garden, the children growing in your own home, this way of living has the potential to open up the heavens, to yield a glittering handful of diamonds where a second ago there was coal. This way of living and noticing and building and crafting can crack through the movie sets and soundtracks that keep us waiting for our own life stories to begin, and set us free to observe the lives we have been creating all along without ever realizing it.

I don’t want to wait anymore. I choose to believe that there is nothing more sacred or profound than this day. I choose to believe that there may be a thousand big moments embedded in this day, waiting to be discovered like tiny shards of gold. The big moments are the daily, tiny moments of courage and forgiveness and hope that we grab on to and extend to one another. That’s the drama of life, swirling all around us, and generally I don’t even see it, because I’m too busy waiting to become whatever it is I think I am about to become. The big moments are in every hour, every conversation, every meal, every meeting.

The Heisman Trophy winner knows this. He knows that his big moment was not when they gave him the trophy. It was the thousand times he went to practice instead of going back to bed. It was the miles run on rainy days, the healthy meals when a burger sounded like heaven. That big moment represented and rested on a foundation of moments that had come before it.

I believe that if we cultivate a true attention, a deep ability to see what has been there all along, we will find worlds within us and between us, dreams and stories and memories spilling over. The nuances and shades and secrets and intimations of love and friendship and marriage an parenting are action-packed and multicolored, if you know where to look.

Today is your big moment. Moments, really. The life you’ve been waiting for is happening all around you. The scene unfolding right outside your window is worth more than the most beautiful painting, and the crackers and peanut butter that you’re having for lunch on the coffee table are as profound, in their own way, as the Last Supper. This is it. This is life in all its glory, swirling and unfolding around us, disguised as pedantic, pedestrian non-events. But pull of the mask and you will find your life, waiting to be made, chosen, woven, crafted.

Your life, right now, today, is exploding with energy and power and detail and dimension, better than the best movie you have ever seen. You and your family and your friends and your house and your dinner table and your garage have all the makings of a life of epic proportions, a story for the ages. Because they all are. Every life is.

You have stories worth telling, memories worth remembering, dreams worth working toward, a body worth feeding, a soul worth tending, and beyond that, the God of the universe dwells within you, the true culmination of super and natural.
You are more than dust and bones.
You are spirit and power and image of God.
And you have been given Today.” 

― Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life

Read the first part here