A fine Friday feast

The visual enjoyment, in my humble opinion, is loftier than the pleasure these items can afford while consuming them to satiate our hunger or quench our thirst since consumption has an element of annihilation in it which, though permissible on the ground our existence , is not there in visual gratification


It was a fine Friday morning around 8.30 A.M . In lieu of lying in my bed tightly wrapped in my acrylic blanket and attempting to protract my somnolence in the artificial cooling of the air conditioner , I thought I would go for a shopping. Most of the Doha residents would be still sleeping . Since there would be a few vehicles on the road and a not so clever driver like me could drive unscarred of those impatient and unruly drivers, I decided exploit the situation to  my favour. Though there are a large number of supermarkets and hypermarkets in this oil rich country, one always finds long queues of customers in these shopping centers waiting to pay their bills . There will be a great rush on holidays in these supermarkets , but Friday morning is comparatively convenient for a shopper for obvious reasons.



Aalippazham

The ad display board in front of this hypermarket was unique since it said “ A BIG HALE”, not sale . In the business world , aesthetics have little role to play. It might be the work of an anonymous language lover trying to display his creative talents.. But  the word hale , thoough slightly different in spelling, reminded me of the hail stone in Doha in late eighties when one evening all on a sudden crystal like hail stones , as small as pebbles, began to fall on the roof our house. The Malayalam word for hale stone, ‘Aaalippazham’, has a special taste because of the word ‘pazham’ in which in our language means fruit. When we opened the door , the veranda was full of hail stones . My wife and myself began to pick and enjoy them as if we were plucking fruits from a tree .Our three kids, the youngest one being around one year old, were staring at us being some what scared.

How blessed are those who can convert every activity in their lives into a pleasure! Customers, pulling their shopping trolleys and baskets, were enjoying the items displayed ; pure red apples , bright yellow oranges, ripe mangoes, bananas, different types of fresh and lush  green herbs, beverage bottles of different designs, colorful packs of  food items, what else do they need to constitute a feast for their eyes? The visual enjoyment, in my humble opinion, is loftier than the pleasure these items can afford while consuming them to satiate our hunger or quench our thirst since consumption has an element of annihilation in it which, though permissible on the ground our existence , is not there in visual gratification. The customers’ movements were very slow and some of them were choosing items like a housewife separating the corn from the chaff.




Indian gooseberry- a remedy for diabetes

 My shopping was namesake because I had to buy only one item , gooseberry, which I can say, is very essential for my existence .It is the  fruit that came to my succour and saved me from depending on the allopathic tablets I was taking to cure diabetes I was afflicted with some years ago . It so happened that one of my friends advised or rather compelled me three year ago to take green Indian  gooseberry with turmeric powder early in the morning before breakfast. Thanks to that person and the grace of God , I have stopped taking medicines since then and my blood sugar is still normal . I have been, instead, eating gooseberry daily with turmeric powder before breakfast and avoiding sugar and carbohydrates . The other day when I met a diabetic patient I advised him to take goose berry telling him not stop medicine suddenly but reduce its dose gradually and stop taking medicines if gooseberry is found to effective in his case as I had done  three years ago . I also told him to drink 8 glasses of water, if possible, when he wakes up and before brushing his teeth as I had been doing and admitted that it might be very difficult for him to drink 8 glasses of water at a time especially before brushing his teeth but he could drink as much as water he could provided that it does not cause strain to his urine bladder.

When I googled I was surprised to find that gooseberry contains insulin which is why it is capable of controlling blood sugar. It is only one of the numerous  gifts of God. We,however, very often take them for granted and fail to realize how valuable these  gifts  are and how merciful God is.

By the father

Masjid in Manali

Recently I read an article in yahoo gallery about the Great Mosques Around the World (http://my.news.yahoo.com/photos/images-great-mosques-around-the-world-slideshow/lakemba-mosque-sydney-australia-photo-1345276815.html#crsl=%252Fphotos%252Fimages-great-mosques-around-the-world-slideshow%252Fmazar-e-sharif-mosque-afghanistan-photo-1345276816.html) . It showed pictures of 55 mosques from all around the world  from Afghanistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Germany, India and Egypt to Peru, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. I was happy to see even mosques from my place, Kerala like Ponnani and Kodungalore among the list. All these mosques  beamed with beauty and heritage. The images  showed the towering minarets  that bearing witness  to the architectural magnificence of the Islamic culture.This article reminded me one of the mosques I recently visited.



Nature at the Best - Road to Manali



During last Eid Al Fitr, I and my friend decided have a trip with our families to the famous hill station of North India, Manali. Since the day of Eid is only finalised after sighting  the cresent, we were not sure when to leave for Manali. Since we had only limited  time  to  leave, we decided to celebrate Eid in Manali. We started our journey from Chandigarh by afternoon hoping to reach there by night fall so that we could spend the Eid next day. Since it was monsoon, we had intermittent rain and the road was treacherous. But the picturesque mountains and valleys made us forget the toils of the journey. Just as we crossed about 150 km our car broke down and we had to wait about 2 hours for another vehicle to be sent. Even though this decreased our morale a bit, the green carpeted mountains topped by cotton like clouds and the pleasant weather urged us forward. We reached Manali late night a bit tired. Manali being a famous tourist spot we expect to find a mosque to attend the Eid prayer without much difficulty. I tried to search in the internet during the journey for mosques in Manali. But to my dismay, I could only find one reference to a masjid at Manali , that too without much details. However, we were optimistic to spot one in the early morning.

 

Cloud topped valleys



I and my friend woke up early and took the cab to search for the masjid in Manali. The first person we asked didn’t even understand the word masjid and we had to explain to him that is was a place of workship of Muslims. But he was unaware of any such place. We then proceeded  through the narrow road of the valleys in Manali and found a person who knew of a mosque located about 8 Km away. We were happy to hear this as we were  getting worried about missing the prayer. We travelled forward looking for minarets which are a common architectural symbol of mosques world-wide. My friend was fascinated by the apple orchards by the road side and expressed his desire to pluck one and eat it fresh. We passed 10 Km without seeing any sign of the mosque. When we asked another person, he told us that we passed the mosque about a kilometre. So we returned the path and as we reached the mentioned site we were told to just to go a little forward. As we proceeded we saw a man in kurtha and beard with a muslim cap standing in front of a gate. However we could not see any sign of the mosque. We enquired him about the Eid prayer and he happily invited us inside. As we entered there were a group of kashimiri looking people crowded in front of a small shed. They wore the traditional kurtha and sweater, some of them wearing caps. Their dresses were shabby with dust and dirt and many of them were torn and stitched at many places. I remembered arguing with my colleague for not buying new clothes for Eid as it is a tradition to wear new clothes on auspicious day. In my childhood, my father used to send money to buy new clothes and my mother took us to the readymade shopping centre to buy the latest designed dresses. Eid was a busy time for the cloth shops. In my place every person would wear new dress that the usually barren mosque turned into a carnival like state. The frangrance of costly perfumes filled the air. The youngsters indulged in various leisures and spent most of their time in enjoying. I learned that these where labourers mostly from Kashmir who have settled in Manali to earn their livelihood. Their daily wages would only suffice to be sent home to their families. Most of them had the tiredness of previous day’s work on their faces, let alone the dust on their bodies. The stench from their bodies made me wonder whether they had a bath or not. I felt sad for them, for they had to celebrate Eid away from their families.

Apple yard

Apples

The shed in front of which we were standing was the famous mosque of Manali we were searching for. It neither had a Minaret, nor the Magnificence of the great mosques, but was truly one of the greatest mosques in the world. It was the not only the only mosque in Manali , but also the only place of light for those poor souls. Even though it did not have the glitter and glamour, the presence and prayers of these people made the mosque beautiful. More and more people came in buses from various parts of Manali and slowly the scene gathered momentum. We made ablution and entered the mosque. Even though it was a small hall, the inside was beautifully arranged. The small room quickly filled and the rest of the devotees had to pray in the mats laid outside in the drizzle. The prayer was delayed for about an hour as more people had to come from distant places. It was understandable as there was no other mosque around for them to pray. After the prayer people started hugging each other which is a common practise. I felt reluctant to hug them as their shabby appearance repulsed me. However, I shook hands with them to share the happiness. In between the crowd I could see some children who were dressed in pretty frocks. An announcement was made that a Hajji, who owned the mosque had arranged free breakfast for all who came. We prayed for the person and for the people and their family and left place with a heavy heart. I had earlier planned to join my parents in Qatar for Eid, but could not renew my passports in time. I was a little disheartened due to this. May be God wanted to remind me that there is Eid beyond the new cloths, sweets and carnivals.

By the eldest son

Inside of the mosque

People hugging each other after the prayer in front of the mosque

Entrance of the mosque

By the eldest son