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What my father taught me

The life of this world is nothing, but a place for fun and games.

We all strive to achieve our goals in this world, but in that process life ends from within us, and the only goal remain is that final destination which is death.

No matter how much we try to act ignorant, and keep living this life as if we will stay here permanently. But nothing changes the sacred truth, we all have been sent into this world, to return back to almighty Allah.

But is that it? Certainly not. 

What we do with this life is actually the thought to ponder over. Well everything is clear and out there, we all know the difference between right and the wrong but why are we all struggling within ourselves? Why aren’t we happy?

My late father was 64 years old when his soul departed this world on 25th of March 2020, may his soul rest in eternal peace. Amen, I was right next to him, it feels surreal to see death of one of the most special person in your life right in front of your eyes.


It was mercy of Almighty upon us, by us i mean, my father's elder children including me, whom he blessed with the chance to be around him during his most difficult time, all because of difficult family dynamics, we always had two homes in our family and hence was brought up with the immigrant mentality.

The departure of my father's soul right in front of me, push start my journey as a seeker for my truth.

My father was a very diligent, honest and most humble man i knew of, i am not going to describe his physical traits here, but he was one of the funniest people to be around with, he had simple wishes, like; he loved well cooked hot meals, he enjoyed listening to ghazals and obviously kishore kumar was his all time favorite and so is mine. and the most bizarre and funny thing about him was, that he could just nod off anywhere any time.

I imbibed this discipline of staying healthy and fit, all because of my father.

He loved swimming, he was the finest swimmer, he always used to tell us that being under water is a different feeling; one realizes the blessing of most essential need of our existence which is to ‘breathe’,which we all almost take for granted during our lives. Don't we ?

As i am reminiscing about my father, it just feels that this life is very temporary, we all will have to leave this beautiful world one day, so we got to realize our reason to be brought into this world sooner than ever.

When he got diagnosed with third stage advance, soft tissue sarcoma of inferior vena cava in April' 2016, and the oncologist told me that he will not survive for more than 3 months, that is when his life paused for him. 

He could not just believe it. We all could not believe it!

Obviously we took a decision to start trial of chemotherapy on him, our oncologist did not assure us, that if he would survive for long, but he did, as he was a fighter and an optimistic and a very grateful man.

He happily but sometimes annoyingly took all the pain and discomfort of adverse affects of chemo on him.

Just before this diagnosis, he got retired from his 20 years of service at a renowned organization in Karachi.h
e used to love his work, he learned on the job, but what he cherished most was resolving everyone’s issues, and being there for anyone who is in need, even when he was in his worst condition.

It used to be so amazing to see him, doing his best to support anyone and helping others to the best of his ability.  

He always intended to help everybody no matter what, and he would try and do his utmost best to ease their discomfort, no matter how uncomfortable he used to feel and that kept him motivated and satisfied to continue living.

I wouldn’t be able to contemplate those last and most difficult moments of his life, which I got a chance to serve him 24/7, all I can say is he is gone, but, he is still here with me in every which way.

My father's entire life journey has taught me many things,what he healed in me is not merely by preaching, but how he chose to conduct himself in front of everyone by portraying a great example in front of us.

How a man who did not fall into the cliched criteria defined by this world which is; He was not rich, but rich at heart, He was not educated, but educated enough to empathize with other beings, He was not famous but he was loved by people around him. He was that impactful and simple.

Here is a list of few amazing life lessons, i strive to adopt from my father;

  • The secret to survive and to be happy is actually by being there for others.
  • To find peace and happiness is from within.
  • Offer prayers regularly
  • Wake up daily at 04:00am to meditate 
  • Be grateful and generous, as many times as possible.
  • Laugh unabashedly and have a sense of humor
  • Give, give and give even if you think you have nothing to give, rethink, you have a lot to give.
  • Eat, sing and dance like no one's watching!
  • Keep yourself as physically fit and healthy as possible
  • Live unapologetically.

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