Is LIfe Bigger Than Death?

I carry a signature saying, "Life is bigger than death." These are hope-filled comfort words.   When I long for my Mom's hug, and miss loved ones who have left this world, I nestle into this truth.  

The other day I were low, missing many around, and I don’t know if God knew it? While driving that day I tuned in to a radio channel where the speaker was about to share some live events which let you believe that life is really bigger than death. It sounded like this;

It is about:

Writer of many films such as: Aawara, Shri 420, Mera Naam Jokar, Bobby, etc.

Producer and Director to some offbeat films namely: Saat Hindustani, Do boond Paani, etc.

Khawaja Ahmad Abbas, popularly known as K.A. Abbas, also a column writer in Blitz Newspaper, which use to be liked and appreciated hugely by readers.

The days during which he realized that there are not many days left to his life, then he called his secretary Abdul Rehman and handed over him his will. Which, as per his last wish, was decided to read in front of everyone including his relatives and friends only after his demise.

On 1^st June 1987, he said his last goodbye to life. And as per his choice and desire, the will was read after that in front of his loved and dear ones. Some of the paragraphs of the same are as follows:

I, Khawaja Ahmad Abbas, age 73 years, in all my senses, but in the bad health phase of my life, would like to share my thoughts about my life. Many people do not even live for 70 years but fortunately, I lived 3 years more than that. Please don’t grief or mourn on my death. Please don’t shed any tear.

While laying me to rest, please take care of the fact that when you take me for my last journey, from home to graveyard, play Maharashtra Band in front of it. When you pick me up from home, it should be on my friends shoulder. Bring my body to Chaupati near Mahatma Gandhi’s Statute, and entomb me next to my wife.

I don’t know anything about hell and heaven, but in this life I have already experienced what heaven would be like and also I have skilled how hell would be. And that is why I request you all to celebrate my death and not feel sorry about it. And I really want that the people mentioned below should not speak for more than 5 minutes.

1.   Editor Biltz: R. K. Kalanjia (Rustom Khurshedji Karanjia)

2.  Prolific and versatile Urdu writer: Ali Sardar Jafri

3.  Indian film dialogue and screenwriter: Inder Raj Aanand

4.  V.P. Sathe

5.  Roshan Fayal Maulvi (Muslim), Brahaman (hindu), Essai (Christian)

They were the closest to him but they all were allowed to speak not even for 5 minutes, may be because he never wanted his closed one to suffer in any way, neither emotionally nor physically.

Alright my dear friends, please accept my blessings and love.

When do we meet next, or don’t know if we ever meet again or not, but if you want to meet me and speak to me then please turn the pages of books written by me. I promise to meet you there in those books. Alright! Good Bye! Good Bye! Good Bye!

Rest only Love, Love and love.

And that day I could not ask the God to expand my knowledge on the idea more. I’ve graciously offered some keys to more fully comprehend the greatest gift God has given each of us.  The gift of LIFE:

1. Life is a Person, death is not.

2. Because Life is a Person, there is relationship. Another way to describe death is the diminishment or cessation of relationship.

3. Life exists without any reference to death, but death cannot 'seem to exist' except in reference to Life.

4. Out of Life emerges all of creation, death has created nothing.

5. Life is pro-creative and co-creative, death is sterile.

6. Human beings introduced death (un-created Life); it does not originate in God.

7. God, who is Life, defeated death and did so as a human being.

8. Death can be un-done and swallowed up.  Life can only be lied about.

9. Life continues after 'death'.

10. Death will ultimately be eradicated; Life promised!

Some coffee, birds and lessons

While sitting in a fantastic place with the blue sky above, sprinkling water over your head to keep you cool and the delicious food to keep you away from hunger I observed few things today. These are the things which we generally overlook but when we dive into the deep meaning of every small little detail of these, then we come to know that they usually teach us those lessons which otherwise we ignore.

“Hey, do you want to grab coffee soon?”

It’s a text that regularly lights up my phone; it’s one I’ve sent many times. When I moved to this present job, shortly after finishing my PhD, I knew none in this government land. And later got to know just few, rather just two who can be asked for coffee or Friday evenings’ celebrations, because my initial concerns were adjusting to my new job and not  knowing many as I have always been choosy on the people whom I love to conversant with. I will get to know people gradually, I thought.

There was new job, there was work, there was other stuff — and there was plenty of “grabbing coffee” with new acquaintances in the midst of it all. (Can we also briefly acknowledge how weird of a phrase “grabbing coffee” is?) Yet as the months and then years passed, I still felt like I only really knew those same two people or may be two more now. I’d just left a campus where I felt like I knew everyone, and this sense of loneliness — of missing something — became heavier and heavier.

What was I doing wrong?

Good news! I’m not alone in this eternal cycle of lattes and small talk now.

And thank goodness science is here to explain why: In the 2012 New York Times article “Friends of a Certain Age,” Alex Williams references the “three conditions that sociologists since the 1950s have considered crucial to making close friends: proximity; repeated, unplanned interactions; and a setting that encourages people to let their guard down and confide in each other.” This combination of factors, according to sociology professor Rebecca G. Adams, “is why so many people meet their lifelong friends in college.”

But now college is over, and Williams writes that “it’s time to resign yourself to situational friends: K.O.F.’s (kind of friends) — for now.”

“Kind of friends” are those people with whom you set up a meeting at Starbucks or any other (in a series of texts that include an appropriately cheerful amount of exclamation points). They’re the friends who ask about where you’re from and where you went to school, and they try to find anything you might have in common. The coffee may be hot, but the conversation is lukewarm at best. Time together usually ends with “we gotta do this again soon.”

I love coffee and I love a good conversation that’s accompanied by good coffee.

Coffee invigorates the senses, boosts concentration and serves as a great backdrop to a number of different scenarios. When meeting with a friend, someone who's more than a friend or a potential employer, a batch of coffee can go a long way. Keep a cup on hand while you discuss love, life and opportunities.

"Once the mug is empty, it's time to go."

Hence my take away to sum up is, it gives you exact time with exact taste to discuss the exactly the relevant things or may be to bring in the feeling of lighter you.

Also, while sitting with the coffee in hands and observing the birds flying in one particular direction, behind them I could only see the light orange sky which absolutely looked like a blue lady, wearing a light colour saree draping some magical light in her flap making it look orange. It was a sun set effect, the sign of an end to a super day but also the start of the hope for a better tomorrow.

I also feel that since the earliest times of men, birds have inspired our deepest imaginations. Fearless and free in the sky, birds make us wonder, what would it be like to fly?

While none of us can sprout wings, we can all simply observe and learn from these beautiful creatures on how to create a beautiful life. Here are life lessons I could sum up today:

1. Be confident.

Birds learn to trust themselves before they take off in the sky. So have faith in your abilities and know that you will find a warm current to soar in.
 

2. Let your colors shine.

Different birds have hundreds of different hues. Be bright and make sure you aren’t hiding what makes you one-of-a-kind.
 

3. Show up early and often.

The legendary early bird gets the worm for a reason. So find something worth showing up for, and then show up every day.
 

4. Go with the seasons.

Birds thrive despite changes in their environment. Be fluid and go with the flow, trusting your ability to always find a branch to land on.
 

5. Flock together.

Birds seek strength and sustenance from one another. Keep friends and family close by as you navigate the days.
 

6. Spread your wings.

Eventually, all birds must leave the safety of the nest and become what they are meant to be. Have no fear of falling, and start flapping.

7. Always come back to nest.

Wherever you go, whatever you do, but the home and the family is the ultimate place where you belong to and should come back to is the final lesson, none other than birds, can teach you better.

And my additional take away sums up like this: you can’t keep the birds of sadness from flying over your head, but you can keep them from nesting in your hair.