Status deferred
Rahim is still engrossed in his thoughts while sipping his coffee, there is an eerie stillness in the room .He is still feeling uneasy and loosens the knot of his tie. He couldn’t sleep well last night and still feeling the heaviness. Sohrab is not feeling good in the weird silence looming on the dining table; he never likes the strange silence. The insinuation that grown ups in the house are not feeling good about something. Waqar, the younger one is not aware of this gloominess and is busy making graphs on his plate using the spoon. Shelja is busy in the kitchen and is aware that all the boys on the table are busy with their individual thoughts.
Rahim is still not sure,what he is thinking when Sohrab breaks the silence and says “Abbu, are you flying to Bangalore”.Rahim responds while still staring blank at the his cup by saying yes. Sohrab never like the answers in monosyllables and adds “Abbu, can’t you drive your car to Bangalore”. Shelja, who is overhearing all the conversation comes with the glass of chocolate milk for Sohrab and pours a glass of juice for Rahim and places her hand on his shoulder .She answers Sohrab while standing on the side of his father. “Sohrab, Abbu is flying to Bangalore because Bangalore is far off .He will be back in two days and then we can go to dada’s place and son, that tragic accident happened in Mangalore and not in Bangalore”. Waqar who still isn’t sure if he should join the conversation started the chirping of a 2 year old “Abbu flying to Banglo,Abbu flying to banglo”. Both the kids started practicing the pronunciation of the word ‘Bangalore’. The newspaper kept lying on the table and today is one of those days when Rahim and Shelja wouldn’t read the paper.
Rahim drops Sohrab to school on his way to office. He reaches the office, unzips the bag and places the Laptop on his work Station. Laptop is glaring at Rahim and asking for the password.Rahim kept staring at the screen and didn’t want to enter the password because last time he did , he heard the bad news.
Rahim came to office yesterday on the same time and was feeling relaxed because the next week, he will be flying with his kids and wife to Srinagar, the place where his parents live. He updated his status on the facebook “Rahim, Waqar, Sohrab are taking Shelja to srinagar”All his friends were replying with best wishes and some with envy that why can’t they go to Kashmir and then one of his college batch mate Rida zaidi sent a message “Hey Rahim, Have you heard about the plane crash in Mangalore, I am afraid Shams is also flying today to Mangalore. Let’s pray he missed his flight”. Then all his friends forgot about Kashmir and its beauty and everybody was sending prayers for Shams.
Shams was Shamsudin fazli. Rahim and Shams were never friends but they were batch mates in the management college. Shams was a brilliant student and a pious and practicing Muslim unlike Rahim. Shams always excelled in the studies and also became more religious in the college. Rahim lost the Connection with Shams after college until they met at a Gurgaon office Of Cisco in 2004. They both were there for a meeting with HR. Rahim went through the meeting and was offered a job in San Jose, California.The same evening he got a call from Shams and informed him that he was also offered the job, they both would be working as a team and he was looking forward to that.The next day he got en email from Shamsudin
“ Assalamalekum Rahim,
I have thought about the Cisco offer,would have loved to work with you. I always considered you as a good fella despite being a non believer. I thought about this a lot and I don’t think I would be comfortable in America.I have made my decision not to Join Cisco and am going to Sharjah instead.
May God bless you and remember that we have to get back to Allah so start giving him some time of your day. Say my salam to babhi.
God Bless you and your Family
Shamsudin Fazli.”
Rahim was still staring at the screen and thinking about the last email from Shams when he got a message from Rida Zaidi.
“Rida : Shams’s name is confirmed in the Passengers list.There have been reports of survivors. Lets pray to God that Shams is one of the survivors.”
And then every body starting sending messages ‘lets pray that Shams is one of the survivors ’
Rahim finished his day and went home on the fateful day with the prayer of a non believer and kept mumbling while driving “Ya Allah, Shams is a good boy and a very good Muslim, save him”
Later Rahim got a facebook alert on his phone from Junaid.
Junaid: Shamsudin Fazli couldn’t survive the plane crash.May he rests in Peace and may God gives strength to his family.
And then Messages started pouring in again.
Rida says:“ Inna LILLAHI wa Inna Ilaihi Raji'oon”
Gurpreet says:” Surely we belong to GOD and to Him shall we return”
Rahim is still not sure,what he is thinking when Sohrab breaks the silence and says “Abbu, are you flying to Bangalore”.Rahim responds while still staring blank at the his cup by saying yes. Sohrab never like the answers in monosyllables and adds “Abbu, can’t you drive your car to Bangalore”. Shelja, who is overhearing all the conversation comes with the glass of chocolate milk for Sohrab and pours a glass of juice for Rahim and places her hand on his shoulder .She answers Sohrab while standing on the side of his father. “Sohrab, Abbu is flying to Bangalore because Bangalore is far off .He will be back in two days and then we can go to dada’s place and son, that tragic accident happened in Mangalore and not in Bangalore”. Waqar who still isn’t sure if he should join the conversation started the chirping of a 2 year old “Abbu flying to Banglo,Abbu flying to banglo”. Both the kids started practicing the pronunciation of the word ‘Bangalore’. The newspaper kept lying on the table and today is one of those days when Rahim and Shelja wouldn’t read the paper.
Rahim drops Sohrab to school on his way to office. He reaches the office, unzips the bag and places the Laptop on his work Station. Laptop is glaring at Rahim and asking for the password.Rahim kept staring at the screen and didn’t want to enter the password because last time he did , he heard the bad news.
Rahim came to office yesterday on the same time and was feeling relaxed because the next week, he will be flying with his kids and wife to Srinagar, the place where his parents live. He updated his status on the facebook “Rahim, Waqar, Sohrab are taking Shelja to srinagar”All his friends were replying with best wishes and some with envy that why can’t they go to Kashmir and then one of his college batch mate Rida zaidi sent a message “Hey Rahim, Have you heard about the plane crash in Mangalore, I am afraid Shams is also flying today to Mangalore. Let’s pray he missed his flight”. Then all his friends forgot about Kashmir and its beauty and everybody was sending prayers for Shams.
Shams was Shamsudin fazli. Rahim and Shams were never friends but they were batch mates in the management college. Shams was a brilliant student and a pious and practicing Muslim unlike Rahim. Shams always excelled in the studies and also became more religious in the college. Rahim lost the Connection with Shams after college until they met at a Gurgaon office Of Cisco in 2004. They both were there for a meeting with HR. Rahim went through the meeting and was offered a job in San Jose, California.The same evening he got a call from Shams and informed him that he was also offered the job, they both would be working as a team and he was looking forward to that.The next day he got en email from Shamsudin
“ Assalamalekum Rahim,
I have thought about the Cisco offer,would have loved to work with you. I always considered you as a good fella despite being a non believer. I thought about this a lot and I don’t think I would be comfortable in America.I have made my decision not to Join Cisco and am going to Sharjah instead.
May God bless you and remember that we have to get back to Allah so start giving him some time of your day. Say my salam to babhi.
God Bless you and your Family
Shamsudin Fazli.”
Rahim was still staring at the screen and thinking about the last email from Shams when he got a message from Rida Zaidi.
“Rida : Shams’s name is confirmed in the Passengers list.There have been reports of survivors. Lets pray to God that Shams is one of the survivors.”
And then every body starting sending messages ‘lets pray that Shams is one of the survivors ’
Rahim finished his day and went home on the fateful day with the prayer of a non believer and kept mumbling while driving “Ya Allah, Shams is a good boy and a very good Muslim, save him”
Later Rahim got a facebook alert on his phone from Junaid.
Junaid: Shamsudin Fazli couldn’t survive the plane crash.May he rests in Peace and may God gives strength to his family.
And then Messages started pouring in again.
Rida says:“ Inna LILLAHI wa Inna Ilaihi Raji'oon”
Gurpreet says:” Surely we belong to GOD and to Him shall we return”
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