You lit my way in the dim paths of life

" Ek hi saf mein khade ho gaye mahmud-o-Ayaz,
Na koi banda raha aur na koi banda nawaz." - Allama Iqbal

Nana was very fond of urdu poetry, and the one given above was one of his favourites. Whenever he recalled it, he used to ask me, "do you know what it means?"and I well aware of its meaning used to ask him to repeat it again...and then came out the words which were another important lesson in life, he replied," it means, that every one is equal in the eyes of God, when we stand for prayers, every one stands together, be it a mason or a rich landlord and we pray, we pray to the Lord who made all of us and for whom no one has a higher or a lower rank, everyones equal."
Yes everyone is equal in the eyes of God, but we humans have carved out such boundaries that have solidified in the harsh heat of time.
Nana was very fond of all those who worked for him, be it the person who prepared his hookah ( an eastern smoking pipe designed with a long tube passing through an urn of water) or the neighbourhood barber, each one had a special place in his heart and each got his problems solved through their favourite babuji ( thats what they called nana).
"This is what would go with you, nothing else..nothing else, its the way you treat people and the things you do for them that would fill the account of your deeds..an account that opens as soon as a person gains maturity." He used to hate the term servant, "whose servant?" He would question, " we have sent on this earth to serve each other, to help the other in their times of need..no one's below us..no one's our servant...we should be greatful for their services, its because of their hardwork that we lead a comfortable life."
The words ones told turn into the greatest lesson for life, even when I am angry the voice whithin asks me to calm down so that I don't have to regret my deeds. I sometimes wonder, can someones absence be so strong that it can guard our presence and take it towards the right path? Today I believe that it does, coz the voice within is our greatest guiding light...its a blessing of a pure soul and the love that ignites.
This Eid wont be the same as he's no longer there, but his words and values would celebrate their existence in my heart for ever and would be passed on so that they find a home in every heart :) A very happy Eid to all, May our life forever celebrate the goodness within.

Travelling through time,
it struck me once,
each passing day is a short sojourn,
they come and go like a flash of light,
leaving a mark, gracing my mind,
and all these marks turn into the lessons,
that lit my way in the dim paths of life.

Distant Affection

I don't know what I see in the moon, but it has quite a gripping effect on me. Big, round and beautiful...sans words. It also seem to give me a silent feel since I fall short of words when I sit to describe it. I don't know what attracts me the most, its beauty, its pristine simplicity or the innumerable stories for which it has been a favourite abode.
A prince on a horse coming straight from the moon and taking the princess away :) I grew up listening to such stories, which my grandma used to describe in a beautiful way as we lay below the mysterious night sky, covered with a black veil studded with stars, where imagination played its games. Her stories were a bridge between my world and my dreams, tenderly putting me off to sleep.
Truth, purity, love and affection, these are the qualities that I relate to my beloved moon. The halo around it teaches us as to how we can outshine our troubles, however hard they might try to hold on to us. Our optimism would dampen their spirits.
This indeed is my distant affection, and I like a nomad wonder who do I like better, is it the pole star that shows me the way or the moon that lights up my path.