Beware of nosey parkers

 “Don’t poke your nose,” every child is taught. Yet, many people have the habit of interfering in others’ affairs.

It is irritating indeed when someone interferes while you are having a serious discussion with your friends. It spoils your mood. Such people keep interfering without realising that they become the laughing stock.

Recently, I was talking to my friends about famous Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.

“But Imran Khan also met with an accident and was hurt badly,” said my friend.

Just then, my cousin joined in and said, “Are you sure? He played with me yesterday. He was alright till then.”

Surprised, we asked him, “How can it be, he retired 20 years ago?”

“He is not even 15. How can he retire?” said my cousin.

“Which Imran Khan are you talking about?”

“My friend. He loves cricket and insists I play with him,” he said.

We were baffled. We informed him that we were talking about the famous Pakistani cricketer. But we were not in a mood to continue the discussion anymore.

On another occasion, we were discussing the movie, The Hurricane.  The moment my friend said, “It was awesome. The stunts were terrific in The Hurricane, my cousin jumped in.

“Are you all mad? Hurricane is a disaster. Don’t you know? And you like it? You like something that harms others?” he asked.

All of us started laughing.

And, how can I forget my neighbour, Sachin! He always interrupted and used to disturb us. Without even thinking for a moment about the topic being discussed, he would ask, “What? Where?”

His habit of interfering became so irritating that we named him “What? Where?

(Published in The Gulf Today on May 18, 2013)

Celebrity interaction

Meeting a famous person, who is also your idol, is like a dream come true. Thanks to the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, I got the opportunity to meet eminent Indian author Chetan Bhagat. I am glad that I not only attended his lecture, but also interacted with him, took his autograph and captured those moments on camera.

Everyone, including me, was fascinated to see him entering the auditorium. It was the awaited moment. My joy was out of the world on seeing him. I felt happy, proud and lucky that I am a resident of Sharjah because not many people get the chance to have even a glimpse of this famous writer.

He was here to give a talk on “Challenges and Happiness.” He began by asking, “What makes us happy?”

Everyone replied, “Success makes us happy.”

After the talk finished, I asked him, “Uncle, are you writing any books for children?”

Perhaps it was a surprise for him. He asked, “How old are you?”

When I mentioned my age, he replied, “I must salute you for your confidence. So young but you have the confidence to ask questions.”

“Well, maybe one day I will write for children, but till then you won’t be a child. It is very difficult to write for children. You have to be a butcher to cut each word,” he added.

When he had started the talk, little did I realise what he wanted to say. But by now, I had got his point.

I was happy that I took a challenge and asked him a question. Later, I ran after him to get his autograph. I was glad, I didn’t only get his autograph, but also got a big compliment from him, which is an asset for me and will continue to inspire me throughout my life.

(Published in The Gulf Today on May 11, 2013)

Star connections

Birthdays are the time when we feel joyful. We get gifts and blessings. The whole world looks charming and people around us more cheerful. Those sweet memories keep lingering in our mind.

Contrary to popular belief, many luminaries also celebrate their birthdays. Sometimes their birthday falls on the same day or month as their fans.

After noticing that, some people begin to boast that he or she was born on the same day when a certain famous personality was born. Many of them also believe that they will definitely become as famous as their icons. But it rarely happens, because only a few of them notice the struggle made by their heroes, get inspired and try to become like them.

My birthday also passed by recently. My uncle came to wish me and said, “Do you know that many famous people like Victoria Beckham, William Shakespeare, Chetan Bhagat, Sanjeev Kapoor and Sachin Tendulkar were born in this month? That means you will also become famous like them, one day.”

For a moment, I also felt proud. But then I realised that if his observation was true, then everyone would have been successful by now.

Can we become famous only by sharing birthdays with famous people? I don’t think so, because I have met two people who were born on the same day and the same time in the same locality. While one of them is a renowned doctor, the other one is still living an ordinary life in his village.

If someone wants to become like a famous personality, what matters most is the hope and will and the hard work they do. One must be ready to face the struggle the successful people have passed through before getting the name and fame.

(Published in The Gulf Today on May 4, 2013)

Chetan Bhagat salutes Saamia!

 

Do you know I met the author Chetan Bhagat yesterday? I still can’t believe. It seems like a dream.

 

I came from school and according to the normal routine ate my lunch and slept for an hour. When I woke up, Mama-Baba gave me a surprise. They said we were going to meet Chetan Bhagat. At first I thought they were joking but then I realised that we were really going there. I was so excited I could not believe my ears!

I jumped out of my bed and got ready as soon as I could. I took out my autograph book and a nice pen.

We reached the venue about half-an-hour before the time and got the chance to sit in the front row. Meanwhile, Baba bought two interesting books of Chetan Bhagat – Five Point Someone and 2 States. By the time, Mamujaan also reached to interview Chetan Bhagat. Lucky!

At last Chetan Sir arrived. He was welcomed by a standing ovation. My joy was out of world on seeing him. It was all like a dream. He was going to share with us his idea of Challenges and Happiness. He asked us what makes us happy. Of course success makes us happy.

He said, “We need to be successful to be happy. And for that we have to face many challenges. I wrote my first book but it took me two years to publish it. That was my first challenge. At last it was published. I was very happy. I thought I was successful. I began to see my photos, articles of me, discussion about me in the newspapers as well as televisions. My second book was published and third. After that I felt it was same to me. I was not as happy as I was before. So I tried in Bollywood. I realised that the films needed stories and that was the thing that Bollywood needed. So the first film which was on my story was Hello. I was very excited. It was the same story that I wrote in One Night at a Call Center. Then the second film was 3 idiots on the book Five Point Someone.  The last was Kai Po Chi on the book The 3 Mistakes of my Life. Next year maybe another of Salman Khan’s film Kick will be realizing in April. It is on another of my book.”

He said that the first time he saw the actors he almost fainted. He said, “I was surprised when I saw the actors standing in a line of the buffet. I thought do they eat also because you would only imagine them as actors and nothing else. Suppose you see your class teacher in the supermarket. You would be shocked do they go to supermarkets also. And then it was regular for me to see the actors and still I was not as happy.

So I started writing columns in Hindustan newspaper which was the best newspaper of India. In between I came 

through many challenges. But I did not think of turning back. I had to struggle a lot but I had the will and hope so I was successful and happy. Let me ask you something. Why challenge? Why not chill? We can also live peacefully. 

We take challenges because we want to be happy. Right motivation is needed not energy. There are three types of stages of life – Exist, Fading and Alive. There are people who can never be happy. If you ask them you are in the job. 

They would say we don’t need to be working as our age is gone we are now 35-40 and it is youngsters time we don’t have energy. Then how can the politicians who are old enough have so much of energy. They are people who would press the lift button but would not want to step on the lift. Fading people are even worse. They are one who would not bother to press the lift button. While people who are in the alive stage seem really alive. You can feel their presence. They would do anything at any age and be cheerful. They are people who can climb walls, stairs, escalators, lifts, etc."

He soon concluded, “Challenge versus Excitement in Life. Unless you accept challenges, you won’t have excitement. Alive to Existing to Fading – it will happen if you don’t keep adding challenges to your life.”

My interaction

And then the Q&A session began. After two-three questions, I stood up with the mike in my hand and asked, “Good evening uncle, are you writing any books for children?”

He said, “Don't call me uncle! Call me Chetan! How old are you?”

I replied, “10”

He said, “Only ten! I must salute you for your confidence. 10 years old and you have the confidence to ask question."

He also said, "Well, maybe one day I will write but till then you won’t be a child. It is very difficult to write for children. You have to be a butcher to cut each word.”

He is very hilarious. The questions kept on coming one after another which marked the end of the programme. 

But I didn’t forget to take his autograph. As soon as programme finished, he ran out. I was prepared so I ran with my book and soon I got the autograph in my book with a message – Love lots.

 

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Don’t become a puppet

Puppets are fun! Puppets tell us interesting stories with emotions. Sometimes they act about how you feel. You can see the puppets with different feelings like sadness, happiness, anger...etc. 

Recently I visited the Majaz Waterfront to see how the Puppet Festival was going on. It was a wonderful show, full of entertainment. 

There was a group of dancers who performed first. Their dances were superb. They performed breathtaking acts. After this, we had a workshop that had been organised for children. There they introduced us to the famous puppets.

They even showed us Pinocchio, the Hand Puppet and lots more. They also showed us how to make your own puppet and how to use them. The workshop went for half-an-hour. 

Then the main part came — the puppet show. The puppets were a full entertainment box for the audience. Everyone had a belly laugh. It was a story which expressed different feelings.

When I was heading home after the show, I met a few of my friends. We started discussing the show. One of them said, “Everybody is a puppet before God.” Another said, “Humans also like to act like puppeteers.”

I didn’t approve of the first idea. I believe that we live in this world with our will. God has just given us a guideline and a free will. It is up to us if we like to follow that guideline or not. We do what we will in the world so how can it be possible? 

But I agreed to the opinion that certain people like to act like puppeteers. They like to make others dance on their fingertips. Many people fall into the trap, although God has given a free will to everyone with a brain.

I remember the famous quote of Steven Redhead, the author of the book The Solution, “Don’t become a puppet to other people’s desires, live and create your life as you intend it to be.”


(Published in The Gulf Today on April 27, 2013)

Learning Values

Value education is one of the important subjects taught in schools here. But, it is not necessary to learn values only through classroom teachings or from the prescribed books. We can also learn them through the incidents which occur in our daily life. I realised this when I got to notice a few interesting incidents in my surroundings.

One of them occurred recently on my way to school. I was seeing outside the window when I saw a woman in a great hurry to get somewhere. She was in such a hurry that she fell on the ground hitting a rock. Others rushed and helped her get up. I remembered the value we had learnt — haste makes waste.

I have also noticed many other incidents. Once, I saw two sisters playing on a see-saw in a park. The younger one was high up in the air when suddenly her sister left the see-saw in a hurry for some reason forgetting all about her. And she came down with a bump! I realised that the older girl should have been a little more careful.

Recently, one of my friends recalled her experience when she was made the group leader. All the members were best friends and kept talking only in their native language whether it was English or Arabic or any other period. They used to discuss in their language also for the projects.

I immediately recalled the lesson taught by my teacher, “You must respect the subject being taught to you and be in a team and co-operate with everyone in your group or your surroundings.”

The world is full of value education classes but we can learn only if we take note of them.

(Published in The Gulf Today on April 20, 2013)

Meaningful gestures

To communicate with others, you do not always need written or spoken words. Sometimes you can feel others’  wishes and emotions just through physical expressions and the universal language of signs.

I realised this during my recent holy trip to Makkah and Madina where I met many people of different nationalities.

My first encounter was with our bus driver, who couldn’t speak any language other than Arabic. Whenever he stopped the bus for a break, he faced great difficulties while communicating with us.

Once we reached Saudi Arabia, where Arabic is spoken everywhere, we had to communicate with others, either by using our limited knowledge of Arabic, or mostly by employing signs.

However, not knowing Arabic was not a problem while meeting people from other parts of the world, as they too used sign language to good effect.

When we started climbing the Jebel Noor (Mountain of Light) in Makkah to pay a visit to the Cave Hira, where the first few Verses of the Quran were revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), we knew it was going to be difficult.

Climbing over 600 steps to reach the cave at a height of about 900 feet was getting to be so difficult that I was losing hope. But a group of Turkish ladies kept encouraging me to continue with the climb, and by using signs conveyed to me that they could achieve this despite their old age.

I also saw a few others who were returning from the climb, who again through use of very easy-to-understand gestures, encouraged me to climb on.

While waiting for our turn to enter the cave, a woman came up to me and said something in her language, which I failed to understand.

She then showed me her fist with the thumb pointing upwards. Immediately understanding the common sign conveying the message: “I am thirsty,” I offered her my bottle of water.

Although I could not fathom her reply in her native tongue, I realised she had made dua (offered prayers) for me.

(Published in The Gulf Today on April 13, 2013)