Re: finding serenity
mamaof3
I think both him and I changed as years went by. he used to be a strict disciplinarian which i guess came with the territory of being a highschool principal.
As we grew older he stopped disciplining us and we stopped running from him. I dont think he had found serenity then either but in the last 6-7 years of his life. sadly that was the time I was the least in contact with him. I still recall the last time we met and i dont know if he sensed that we would never meet again in this life, but i had this strange feeling. he talked to me at lengths about his childhood and him growing up, college days career choices, sacrifices and loss of much of his family during migration to Pakistan after independence. I wish I had recorded it.
You know what a strange thing is, his serenity was contageous, as I sat with him, i felt so much at peace, so calm. I dont know what it was.
I often forget he is gone. I ahve not been to Pakistan since the last time I saw him, and in my mind he is still sitting on the chair in his home just returned from the neighbourhood mosque, drinking tea and talking to me about all sorts of things. I know that soon after i left his health worsened and he had a trying few years and even moved to a different place and that is where he passed. But I was not there to see him through those days. The only memory I have of his last days is calling my mother while she was with him at the hospital and him responding to her.
I stated he was a strict discplinarian, he stopped discipling us, but never stopped discipling himself, on his death bed, after a massive stroke he still prayed 5 times a day.