Thank you Sadath Bhai for inspiring me to “be my word” on that rainy day! That’s one of the many things I learnt at that wonderful workshop!
By Nigar
Some people living in a city may never bother to visit its beautiful gardens or monuments because they assume that “one day, some day” they will see them, and they land up never doing so! They take them for granted and do not to value them.
It was quite the same with me, working as associate editor with “Islamic Voice” for several years and yet not taking the trouble to discover the “Discover Yourself” workshop which Sadath Bhai, editor of our magazine, launched more than a decade ago. All these years, his workshops were just another page in the magazine for me to edit every month! On a few occasions, I would scamper to the workshop on the last day to collect some good sound-bytes from the participants for the page. That was the most that I took interest in the workshop, besides having attended it only once, many, many years ago. And so it remained till last month, when I participated in a two-day workshop that Sadath Bhai conducted at Bangalore’s Al-Ameen College.
Of the many gems of wisdom that Sadath Bhai shared with us at the workshop I’d like to mention two brilliant ones. One was about the state of “La””looking at things, situations, events, incidents and people from a state of “nothingness”. A second gem was “Being your word”.
On the concluding day of the workshop, Sadath Bhai told us that putting into practice the wisdom of the workshop was the way forward. I got a chance to try to do just that the day after the workshop got over.
That day”it was a Sunday–I discovered that the cat food at home was almost over. A team of cats regularly come over to our home, and I love feeding them. Being Sunday, the pet food shops I knew of were closed. I took a chance and called up another store for pets, and I was told that they were open, up to 8 pm! That was a great relief! I thought I’d go over in the evening to pick the food up. I spent the day doing various things, and as evening descended, I felt a sense of laziness coming over me”¦. “Oh, the cats can drink milk tomorrow, instead of cat food,” a voice inside me said. “Why go all the way now to get the food?” To add to my dilemma, clouds were gathering in the sky, heavy and dark. I knew it was going to rain. “What if I don’t get an auto-rickshaw?” I began to fret. My mind began to swing!
Just then the workshop wisdom prevailed over my “reasons and excuses.” I recalled what Sadath Bhai had said about “being your word”.
Love for the innocent cats overflowed just as the clouds opened up in a heavy shower of rain! I dashed out of the house and into the lashing rain. An auto-rickshaw sailed towards me. I hopped into it, and off we went to the pet shop. I hadn’t been to this shop before, but we managed to get there. I fetched a bag of cat food, and came back in the same auto, down roads that had turned into a sea of muddy water.
I felt so joyful! I held the cat food bag close to me like a treasure, protecting it from the rain!
I was joyful! God had helped me to keep the word I had made to myself! I knew the cats wouldn’t growl at me for not giving them cat food for one day and giving them milk instead. Yet, I felt committed, no matter what”rain or sunshine”to fill their bowls with the food they so dearly loved.
When I see the cats munching their snacks up so happily and looking so content, it’s a slice of heaven on earth for me!
Thank you Sadath Bhai for inspiring me to “be my word” on that rainy day! That’s one of the many things I learnt at that wonderful workshop!
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