8 BOLLYWOOD MOVIES YOU PROBABLY SHOULD WATCH

PhotoCourtesy: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Mondal

If you are thinking that bollywood is all about romance then you are getting it twisted. There are many moral and life lessons to be learnt but well, it all depends on your kind of thinking. Do you spend one/two hours watching something just because it was a hit and worth your cinema ticket or do you really try to analyze what is to be learnt from it? That's food for thought but for now let's get back to our topic. I am not always on track with the latest movies and most of what I've watched is many months or even years after it's release. Nonetheless, I am critical in what I consider a good movie worth my time. These are just a few of which I think even if you aren't a fan of bollywood, perhaps you should give a try to. They are quite some years old but their effect never get old on me. I am sure there are several more that have inspiring after-effects but this is what I could come up with for now.

1.Taare Zameen Par: My all time favourite. I have probably watched it a dozen times now. It still moves me. It still makes me cry like it's my first time. The story revolves around a young 'naughty' boy who has a major problem in reading and writing. His father is very hard on the boy and keeps comparing him to his older brother who is just the 'perfect son'; perfect grades, perfect cricket player. The young boy; Ishaan grows with a very low self esteem and becomes a loner. Only for his teacher to break it to his parents that he has dyslexia; a mental condition yet still a very talented artist. Coincidentally, Ishaan has several features like my baby sister. His height, slimness, the shape of his face, his teeth. Perhaps that is why it always gets to me but it has inspired me a lot. This is especially a good movie for parents (for teachers too); this exactly shows how scolding children really brings them down and how their support can make the best out of a student. How children should be allowed to persue what they can do best and for Ishaan, his art was simply spectacular! I'd just like to mention what the teacher told Ishaan's father about a certain island called Solomon's island where people don't have to cut down the trees all they have to do is go in front of the trees and shout at them, insult, scold...and the trees die on their own. (Another food for thought).

I previously wrote an article about dyslexia which is also available on this site. That is how much this movie inspired me. You can always have a look at it! Well, to cut the long story short; it is definitely worth your time if you haven't watched it already.

2.Bhaijang Baijarang: Well who hasn't watched this?! A story about a very honest man trying to return a dumb girl back to her country Pakistan after getting lost in India. The obvious is that without anything this is already an awesome plot and a great story but there is about sacrifice here. How far do you go to helping someone even when you know you will be risking your life and not getting anything in return? Especially when you are dealing with a dumb girl and communication is such a struggle?! Crossing borders illegally is not exactly 'an honest man's way of doing things but he still tries his best to make it 'right.' I particularly like the similar ending of this movie and of the previous movie that I mentioned on Ishaan. The teacher throwing his student on air and in this, the saviour throwing Shaheeda (the dumb girl) on air too. Very moving! Very inspiring! Oh yes, stories involving children are simply the best! So, how much can you sacrifice for any human being?!

3.Ek Villain: Okay okay, it is a great love story alright but there is such a great lesson to be learnt from Aisha. Aisha is suffering from cancer and the doctors see no hope in her living any longer. So she has a bucket list that she wanted to empty before her death. A very interesting bucket list if I may add. But there is so much we learn from her. How her bucket list involves making other people happy more than herself. She keeps putting up very inspirational quotes on path ways. She is like a shining star that's slowly falling. She smiles, she laughs, she has hope, she dedicates herself to fulfilling other people's dreams even when she knew she was dying. But what I loved the most is how she taught her husband (who was filled with rage and pain over his alarming past) that darkness can never drive out darkness, it is only light that can drive out darkness. She was able to change her killer husband into something amazing. She was able to teach him that in life there is day too besides the night. We learn from her the art of being happy, of creating change in others, in being the light at the end of the tunnel for others. It is such a sad story and how it ended (or rather, started) wasn't exactly what the viewers wanted but I like stories that beat the ordinary; unpredictable. Worth the watch, worth your time.

4.Three idiots: Ohhh boy. Amazing, simply tremendous! If you love stories about school life then this is definitely it. So much humour, adventures and craziness. But besides all that, this story evolves about three friends who invest all they have in their relationship. The kind of friendship that lasts forever. There is so much sacrifice, laughter, smiles, tears, sorrow, standing up for one another. Well, with our current world filled with fake friends maybe we can borrow a few 'real friendship' tips from these guys. Perhaps then we can start having the right definition of friendship.

5.Mary Kom: A tough girl who dreams of being a boxer and the obvious is that her father was totally against it. But she was persistent, still persued boxing, went training, had her many challenges but still became a champion. The twist of events happens when she gets married and gives birth to twins of which one was sickly. She had to stop boxing and training for a while and when she decided to come back to boxing it was like starting from zero again. But she still didn't give up and struggled her way up once again. The perfect story for the saying, 'where there is a will there is a way'. It's all about dedication, courage, bravery, hard work and determination. You have a dream? It's never going to come easy.

6.Baghban: Another very touching story of an old couple and their grown up children who decide to separate their mother and father after their house was sold. Really sad story in how it vividly potrays how children poorly traet their parents when they are of old age. The two parents are neglected and are hurt several times by their children and their spouses. The husband and wife miss each other but are miles apart and all they do is lie to each other that they are 'okay'. Something interesting about this story is that their adopted son is the one who comes back to them, brings the two back together and treats them well more than their own children.  Yes, the story very well highlights that another man's son could be better to you than your own family.  This is the 'treat others right' call. You just don't know who will be good to you when you least expect it and who will be bad to you when you never expect it. Be good unto others, you just never know!

7.English Vinglish: Many of us take for granted our 'illiterate' parents and not just that, we rub it on their faces that they don't know a thing. Well this is the same thing here. This story evolves around a very loving mother and wife who doesn’t know English. Her husband and daughter treat her awfully and mock her for being uneducated. When she travels to America for a family wedding, she secretly joins an English class. She gets to meet new people who really appreciate her and consider her delicious cookery as art. She starts loving herself for what she is and does all her best to learn English, which she does at the end. It's a light story, perhaps not a super hit but one you can learn from. Again, where there is a will there is a way. She breaks all stereotypes around her and makes herself appreciated. The issue of parents come again; perhaps we really underestimate the damage we cause in our parents when we make silly jokes, mock them around or treat them misappropriately because of their weaknesses. Do only what you would want your own children to do to you!

8.BLACK: Being both blind and deaf from a young age is not any easy thing. This story talks about a young girl who becomes blind and deaf after recovering from some illness at the age of two. She becomes trapped in her own darkness and becomes a frustated and violent girl. Then comes this new teacher who is very hard on her at the start but he becomes the main reason of her learning and becoming better mannered. He teaches her to express herself. The teacher walks hand in hand with her in this journey until she is able to join university. She keeps failing but still continues persuing her dream until she finally graduates. At that time her teacher is already succumbing to alzheimer's disease whereby he starts forgetting her and other memories too. On her graduation she ensures that her teacher is the first one who sees her in the gown and when he sees her he starts remembering bits from the past. They start pronouncing the letters together. It's the teacher now learning from/with his student. Another inspiring story for teachers especially those dealing with special needs. What we learn? Teachers really have a great impact in our lives more than we assume.

FATE (part 2)

Photo Courtesy : Salem_Beliegraphy

"You are still poor. Why did you come back now? Today precisely?! Just when I was leaving to UK?! Do you know what it meant to me? That scholarship?!" He snapped.

"Please forgive me my son. I came back so that I can see you, see how you've grown and...apologize to both you and your mum. I have countable days remaining..."

Rashid staggered out of the hut. His mum was standing there, her forehead formed lines and her eyes were squinted. She was nervously playing with her hands as if it was her judgement day. Rashid looked at her for a while before pulling a stool from the side of the hut and made his mum sit down. There was a moment of dead silence. Then he started;

"How..." he looked at her in the eyes, "how did you survive after he left?"

She sighed loudly.

"Mwanangu (my son)...You know what they say? That when you truly love someone you let them go. You let them be happy...but it's a lie. It means making a tough choice; a selfish one. It's either they remain happy and you don't, or you stay happy and they don't. It's a sacrifice no one wants to make especially when another woman is involved...and letting him go cost us our happiness. .." Darkness had filled the compound and all that could be heard were random voices here and there from the neighbours. Rashid could see the tears forming in his mother's eyes. He held her hand tightly and nodded at her to go on.

"For many years after your father left, I neglected my entire life. I neglected myself. I neglected you...I neglected you Rashid. I gave up on life. I was like a dead woman walking. Like a miserable zombie. I never worked and we survived on the money that your father left behind but also that came to an end. We had rent arrears and debts from shops. We had to shift here. We were too poor, too messed up. You grew up like an orphan child yet you had your mother with you," she rised her hand and touched his face.

Rashid swallowed a bitter lump of bile that was now on his lips. How could he forget all those days he would beg his mum to take him to school and those nights he would cry out of fear yet she would turn on her bed like she was suddenly deaf. He would push her body back and forth vigorously calling out 'mama'...all in vain.

"Perhaps you don't remember everything...but came the day when I carelessly left hot ashes outside the house without warning you and you stepped on them. I still remember your shriek. It was like a wake up call for me. It was a reminder that I had a son. That I had a gift from God. That I had something worth living my life for...."

"Everything changed after that incident," she gave him a weak smile. "Your feet were horribly burnt and you couldn't walk for almost one month. I decided to re-start again. It was not too late. It never is. I got a job in the market to help a friend sell her vegetables while she went on with her other businesses. I took you to school and we had a new life altogether. It wasn't the best kind of life but it was the best I could offer. I worked as a tailor after that, then a house maid, then sold viazi karai (fried potatoes), mahamri and mbaazi. After that I worked as a mchoraji wa piko na henna (henna tattoing) and finally was able to get my own kibanda (small stall)....You know it all from there..."

Rashid leaned forward and hugged her quickly, picked up his bag before disappearing out of the compound without a word. He stopped by a palm tree and leaned on it to support his weak knees. His eyes were wet when he heard some footsteps coming towards him. He quickly rubbed his eyes with his arms and disappeared once again. He didn't come back until the next day.

Rashid walked into their home compound just to see his mother in the arms of their neighbour mama Fatuma. They were vividly in tears. He fastened his steps as his breathe got heavy.  They both turned around, their eyes red and tired.

"Rashid!!" Mama Fatuma said loudly, her eyes suddenly popped out like she had just seen a ghost.

"Mama...what happened?!" He said as his heart beat furiously..."did something happen to...dad?"

Rashid's mother rushed into his arms and cried on his broad chest.

"We thought...I thought...you are gone...You have never slept outside before and you took your bag with you."

"Rashid! I am so relieved you are back! We thought you had gone after the bus to go to UK...the bus crashed last night," mama Fatuma said.

Rashid swallowed a rather huge lump of saliva.

"The bus crashed?!"

"Yes...we heard it on the radio this morning.  16 passengers passed away and the rest are all injured."

"Whoa! That was a close shave!" He exclaimed as he stood still in his place; pertubed.

"Nyamaza kulia sasa mama Rashid (Stop crying now mama Rashid)...haven't you already seen your son? He is fine Alhamdulilah," mama Fatuma said as she dabbed her eyes with her leso and blew her nose loudly.

" I was at a friend's place mum. I just needed..."

"It's okay...I'm just grateful to have you back. Oh Rashid how would I live without you?!"

Rashid patted her back and led her inside the hut. She needed some rest.

Four days after, Rashid's father passed on. Rashid sat next to his silently weeping mother throughout the funeral. He didn't cry. Not a single tear. At least not for someone whom he considered a stranger. But there was that irresistible heart ache that was banging on his chest. Whatever the case, the deceased was still his father. Whether he liked the fact or not, he had to deal with it.

Right after burying him, an old limping man came towards him. He was leaning on his bakora as he took small but rather quick steps. His head was entirely grey which immediately gave Rashid the instinct that he could be one of his father's associates.

"Assalam aleikum.  You must be Rashid right?"

Rashid looked at him in puzzlement before replying the greeting and saying yes.

"You have really grown my son mashallah..." he said as he gave him a broad smile.

"Pardon, I haven't recognized you."

"You can't remember me. You were too young. Come, come my son. I have a message from your late father." He led him into a more silent corner and they sat on large rocks. They were quiet for a moment, staring at the scattered bushes and green grass around.

"I couldn't risk waiting any longer to talk to you. I am very old and my grave is calling me." The old man smiled weakly. Rashid never said a word.

"My son,  once upon a time I was your father's lawyer. I was in charge of all his dealings and his wealth. Those days your father had started building his own empire and your mother had his back always...well, that was until when Salma, his second wife appeared in his life. I believe you know about her by now?"

Rashid nodded.

"I'll just try to cut this story short. After Salma left with all his wealth, what she didn't know is that he had an offshore secret bank account. There was no much money in it but it was enough to make him live comfortably for a few more months or perhaps a year. But he decided that that money should be kept for you as a gift from him."

"Strange...Why didn't he mention that to me when we talked?"

"Because he didn't want you to think he is buying you back. He just needed you and your mother to forgive him."

Rashid was silent.

"Here," the old man handed him the parcel. "This is exactly 500,000 shillings and God knows I didn't deduct or add a single penny on it."

"500,000?!"

"Yes."

Rashid's mouth was agape. He had never touched even a quarter of that amount.

"But why? He died so poor...he sold all his property to survive. Why didn't he use this?"

"Because he regretted what he did to the only woman who sacrificed her entire life for his sake and to you...his only son. He cleared all his debts before he died and doesn't have much left remaining, just a few clothes, shoes and such...but I will surely come to your home and deliver what is rightfully for you and your mother."

Rashid was speechless. He stared once again at the horizon then at the skies. Perhaps trying to understand what was happening to his life.

"Son, I have done what was upon me...goodbye" he patted Rashid's shoulder and started walking away.

"Excuse me...what is your name uncle?"

"Ibrahim..." he smiled again then continued, "I was not just your father's lawyer,  he was my childhood friend and a brother to me. Perhaps you doubt this but your father...he was a kind man; a good man. He may have made his mistakes in his youth but he really loved you, and worried about you throughout."

"Why didn't he ever search for me then?"

"Because he was ashamed...I hope you find it in you to forgive him. Take care of yourself son. Meet you soon in shaa Allah. "

Rashid watched the old man limp away. He looked at the parcel in his hand and sighed loudly.

"Oh God!" He thought to himself.

He recounted all the recent events in his life; mum's phone call, his father, the lost scholarship, the bus crash, his father's death and then this...He could have died in the bus crash. He wouldn't have met his father. He wouldn't have known the truth. He would have left his mother alone. He wouldn't have gotten this fortune. He sighed again. His mother would be shocked about the money...but this would help them greatly.  Perhaps start his own business, work while he pays his own college fees. It is better to stay around with his mother. He needed her more than anything. For once, he remembered to thank God for the cancelled trip to UK. For sure better things were yet to come.

"Truly fate is full of surprises. .." Rashid said to himself as he walked back home. He had a lot to tell her.

A LETTER TO THE ONE FEELING LOW

Photo Courtesy: https://www.pinterest.com/

Hey Assalam aleykum  

If not Muslim, hey buddy!

It may be one of those rough times in your life. Perhaps you are undergoing a financial collapse, a family conflict, a heart break, bad marriage, betrayal, identity crisis, quarter life crisis, mid-life crisis...you name it. Perhaps you are just feeling lost and confused. Perhaps you don't exactly understand why you came to this world. Perhaps you don't feel your need existing in this world. Perhaps you think this pain is too much to bear. Perhaps you wish you could disappear. Perhaps you can't stay hungry anymore. Perhaps you have no strength to work one more day. Perhaps you are undergoing writer's block. Perhaps things are just not working out. Perhaps you feel the very urgent need to explode. You feel low, stressed and depressed. But perhaps...all this is not as bad as it may seem.

One thing for sure; you are going to over-come this and it is going to remain as a memory. Perhaps a bad memory but it will all be in the past and what's in the past no longer defines us.

Be rest assured, there is nothing abnormal in the kind of pain we live in. Everyone is experiencing some kind of battle, maybe not at the same time as you do but they surely do. Don't see happy faces full of smiles, walking on the shores of the beach and going for shopping sprees and you start thinking 'why the hell is my life like this? And not like that?' The only difference comes in how we deal with that pain. You are the one to choose whether you are going to let go of what is eating you up, whether you will forgive others and yourself and whether you will stand up after that terrible fall.

Sometimes too many things collapse at the same time especially when you are in your 20's. This is the time when just almost everything seems to be falling on your head. Identity crisis; you don't even know what you want in your life, betrayals; you start seeing the claws of the dearest people to you, University's chaotic life, financial problems, Career search that never ends, transition into marriage life etc etc. This could be like "hello! Welcome to the real world" call. You start seeing truths you'd never want to know but you are forced to stare into that horrible reality for some time and maybe for a longer time than you expected. But hey! Don't despair.

I am just going to tell you 3 things that I hope you can take note of.

1.Dear, you are not alone. You are definitely not alone in this. Perhaps you consider yourself such an awful person or you feel so lonely and don't expect anyone to even cry if you died this moment. Maybe you think that you are better off six feet under with only soil to hug you. Do know this; people do love you. It may be one person, three, ten or even a dozen it doesn't matter the number. What matters is that this person or these people can cross oceans for your sake. However many your flaws may be, these people truly and sincerely care for you. Some even look up to you, they probably even consider you their mentor and role model while you are just not aware of it. Do know that to someone out there, you are really needed in this life. Your existence is crucial for them so don't let the sadness sweep you off your feet forever. Don't disappoint them by letting yourself sink in that wavy ocean. They need you to stand up NOW. You are Needed.

2.You are allowed to feel the pain. It is just a phase of life. It is okay to experience it and embrace it. Just don't allow yourself to stay too long in the darkness. Cry, mourn, talk it out if you need to but don't let it take over your life. Just take enough time to grieve but not too long to make sadness and loneliness a part of you. It is all about learning how to stand up after that great fall. You can do it 

3.I'd like to give you an example here. Let's say you admire some girl out there (or the vice versa) and you really want her/him to talk to you. You want the attention. So what do you do? You create a problem for them so that they can come to ask for help from you. If you know that she can't fix a puncture you intentionally prick her car tires so that she may ask for your help. You know that she may ask for help from her other mates but sometimes no one can help except you. So she will come, eventually; sooner or later. Patience here is crucial. When this problem is over you make her computer crash. And then maybe put a virus in her flash disk. It could go on and on. It depends on how much you love that person. The more you love them the more you want them to talk to you and thus, the more difficult situations you create for them. It doesn't mean you want to harm them does it? It just means you love them so much that you would want them to know how much you are crucial in their lives. This is the same thing with God. Well not exactly but almost. God doesn't need your attention in fact, you need His! But when He loves one of His creations, He keeps testing them again and again. He knows you will go to your mother for assistance or your best friend or your neighbour but eventually you realize that no one can help you except Him. Now look at all these problems you are whining about. See how God loves you? See how much He wants you to talk to Him? See how much He wants you to seek help from Him? For He is more than ready to help you! He is just waiting for you to call unto Him. What are you waiting for buddy?!

With that said, please rub off those tears. Please be patient. Please have faith in God. Please believe in yourself. Do your best and let destiny take you places. Do not under-value yourself. Be happy and grateful with the good things in your life. Do not worry too much over what's going to happen next. Let the flow flow! Keep talking to Him and you'd be amazed what great plans He has for you. Better things coming buddy! In shaa Allah. Now don't let that smile fade from your face. You just don't know how pretty it makes you look! 

WHAT IS EID WITHOUT CHILDREN?!

Photo courtesy: lifeinmombasa.com

Celebration season comes with a lot of merry but we will all agree that without children, our events just seem incomplete. It is always very interesting to see cute and sweet children everywhere with those banana smiles full of excitement.

Since time immemorial, children would always anticipate such an event, get excited over their new clothes for the occasion and would go to the extent of hiding the clothes till the D-day as if a thief would take it away from them. When the day finally comes, we would be the first ones to wake up without our mothers having to drag us out of the bed like on school days. We would be anxious to bathe quickly and be fully dressed before anyone else and start showing off how pretty we look. The most interesting part of all this affair though is going visiting relatives whereby the children are keen enough to ensure that they greeted every single relative in order to get ‘good cash.’ I remember during my childhood when my older siblings would get more cash and my mother would always console me that when I grew up things would get better. Only to realize that, the older you grew, the less you are given. This however has been changing in generations and the lucky, remained so. Before the end of the day, the children would all huddle together; the siblings, cousins, neighbours and each would start boasting of the money in their pockets and of the long lists of things they would buy. Trust me, children turn into very skillful accountants on this day!

The unique thing in our coast region though, is the gwaride that goes round different parts of old town and Mombasa with their musical instrument as they move from one household to another. The team is quite interesting and entertaining in their red and white uniforms, sometimes red, blue and black uniforms, some in ugly masks as the trumpets and drums calls for attention everywhere. You would never miss a group of children following behind and jumping up and down to the rhythm of the drums. My very young niece was there singing all time ‘mama nataka gwaride! Mama nataka gwaride!’ and could barely eat well at the anticipation of the gwaride.

What follows next after the gwaride is the ‘makadara’ chorus by the children whereby they would whine and whine until they get a volunteer to take them to the swings playground at makadara grounds. This has been an old tradition at the coast and for the children, eid is not eid without going to makadara. The playgrounds would stay for as long as a week so that everyone equally has a chance to enjoy their days in the playgrounds.

With all that, eid would not be all that interesting without all these pretty children everywhere. If we imagine a scenario without them, then the adults would probably just visit the elders and just after having their lunch, they would probably go back to their beds for a nap. So cheers to all the cute children who just make our days!