The Morning Light

"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail."-Robert Schuller

An MBA Degree

I have done it! All those hours, days and months of slaving away at the desk, burning lamps, waking nights, having exam related nightmares for days on end when I was supposed to be dreaming of things a new bride dreamt of, all those days of hard rigorous work has finally paid off. I have passed my exams! I am a certified MBA graduate now. How happy my dad would have been to hear of this news! There was a different sort of satisfaction and joy that came from making my dad happy over the tiniest form of achievement in my life.

Perhaps because my dad was one person who had always made such noise over every trivial achievement. If he was still around, the first thing he would have done was to call all or most of our relatives and his friends telling them of the news with a deep brusque tenor. When I was younger, this particular trait of his had never failed to embarrass me. Now, I realise how much it had meant to me nevertheless. There was a happiness that stemed from knowing how I would have made him gleam with enough pleasure to be willing to proudly blow the horn to others about the smallest success of any of us kids in the family. Two days ago, Asha in her mail to me wrote "Nothing is accidental - the smiling picture is perhaps the way your dad wants to be remembered.... Though dad is no longer physically with you , but his love and wisdom will always be felt. He's just like one of those bright stars in the sky, watching over you all the time..."

I thought of her letter for a while, than I walked to my mom to tell her, after which, I promptly picked up the phone and dialled Emon to tell him the good news.

Privacy- An Issue

Privacy is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone of a democratic society. It lies at the foundation of the rule of law, the secret ballot, doctor-patient confidentiality, lawyer-client privilege, the notion of private property, and the value our society places on the autonomy of the individual. But, if we see it in a more basic form, privacy is required in an individual's life at much more minute issues than the ones given above. Bangladesh is one country where an individual's privacy is invaded as an aspect of general curiosity and it is expected to be exploited at all times as another's basic right of action, or thats the way they see it.

After my dad's demise more than a month ago, we have been asked a lot of questions. What are going to do, what are our next five year plans, what should my mother do, will my brother leave the country soon? What are we planning to do with my dad's business? And so on and so forth it went. Suddenly we felt very surrounded. We were surrounded by concerned friends and relatives providing us with moral support, ideas are flooding in, thoughts shared and discussed, as if suddenly our lives are all up for public discussion and debate.

A few ideas are good, most are general, some are infuriating. All in all, everyone comes in to keep tabs on which direction our lives are leading now. Its interesting because thats the answer I would like to find out too.

Friendship Day - My Father My Friend

Another incident rocked my conscious mind today as I opened another book to read. It was the Dan Brown's famous book "Da Vinci's Code" which I hadn't finished the last time I had started reading it more than a year ago. As I was flipping the pages, a picture fell out, I picked it up and stared at my dad smiling back at me in print.

In the beginning of the previous year, I had gifted my parents a holiday voucher for their marriage anniversary to the beach. This particular picture was taken with a young boy from the hotel, who had helped him and mom get beach chairs and ran small errands. The photograph was taken on the beach with my dad smiling and the boy smiling beside him. Somehow I had ended up using this picture as a bookmark for this particular book.

Now, all I could do was gape in surprise at the picture and wondered if he was trying tell me something. I looked at the picture for a long while and than carefully tucked the picture in my purse.

For now, I am adding a poem in memory of my dad on this friendship day. A day to be with friends and celebrate love, friendship and happiness. For me, I lost a great friend a month back, a friendship that is totally irreplaceble. This poem was sent to me today by Asha, a friend I had recently made in Hong Kong. I read the poem once, read it twice and reread it again thinking how true.

Those who have a father, love him while you may. For we wish with all our hearts, that ours were here today. A heart of gold stopped beating. Two laughing eyes at rest. God broke our hearts to prove, he only takes the best. For what it meant to lose him, no one will ever know. Love in death should let us see what love in life should always be !