21 Lessons

The starting point

It was a sunny day in the winter. Asghar along with his grandfather was sitting under a tree and watching his granddad peeling the oranges for him. Though it was sunny, still the breeze that blew was quite chilled. Asghar loved Quetta, his hometown, all surrounded by the shape of mountains, he always thought these were shapes, except the times he would visit the mountains himself with his grandfather. He loved his grandfather and used to call him baba. The word was usually used in the area for fathers but for Asghar, it was the whole source of existence, "baba" for him was mother, father, caretaker, and lover.

Asghar lost his parents at the age when a child is not even conscious of the word or the relation of parents and since then all that he knew about the world was the word "Baba". For others, it was just a word but for him, it was whole existence. Munir who was his grandfather loved the child, he would often console himself with the thought of Asghar growing up so quickly and becoming the person of the dreams of the generations. Munir's wife died young during the birth of his only child Anwar, the moment was so confusing for Munir that neither could he be joyful for the birth of his only child, nor could he lament the demise of his only love. Since that day Munir left the emotions of lamenting and happiness, rather nourished his emotion of "love" because he knew that even at the moments when he wasn't sure either he felt happiness or pain, the only feeling that stood out was the feeling of love for both, the soul that was departing from this world while at the same time the soul that was entering the illusion of this globe. Munir who was a shepherd never married another woman, he knew that reason for relations in this world was to realize what everything was for, which was "love", he understood the whole point of being and didn't need another relation to dig more deep down. Firstly, it was the upbringing of his son that completed his existence, and later after a car accident in which his only son died with his wife, it was looking after Asghar his only grandchild and family.

Asghar loved oranges and more than that he loved sitting under the tree with his baba and peacefully monitoring everything while the breeze blew, though he was just 8 and didn't have many responsibilities in his life still this moment of stillness gave him peace, it seemed like a part of the heaven that his grandfather always talked about in the afterlife for a good soul of Allah. Oranges were seasonal, they would just come during winters all the way from Punjab to Baluchistan. They would come in heaps and for that reason were cheap too, this made things easy for Munir, as it was something Munir could bring for Asghar and that too in abundance.

While peeling oranges Munir looked at the sight of a kid coming from far away towards their house, houses in Quetta were open, there would be a building that could be closed but the outside garden would be considered part of the house too though it had no doors. Munir's house was called Haji sahab's place, since Munir went to Mecca which was a gift from his son as he began his employment, he was called Haji sahib (a person who has done pilgrimage of holy place).

"Oh, Baba! That's Shaleem coming towards our house, I didn't know he live close by." Screamed Asghar with excitement as soon as he saw the familiar face approaching the house. Little did Munir know that Asghar started walking towards the face while screaming about him to his Baba. This made Munir very content, seeing friends or people loving each other instinctively was very pleasing for Munir since for him it was the only essence of living and the only reason this world was created for.

"Shaleem! Where are you going yaar(friend)?" Said Asghar.

"Nowhere Asghar! I just live close by and went out to get some chips, u know my father gives me 10Rs every Sunday after the church prayer in the morning, and I get to spend that before lunch. See here are the chips packets, have one of them." Asghar who really wanted to grab one from his friend instinctively got his hands on the packet but then all of the sudden stopped with some confusion in his mind.