I Am Asif

Ashique was probably my first close and best friend in school, in life. We used to be inseparable. He left school after class 4 or 5. We last met in 1996. After 11 long years, we met again yesterday. He called me a couple of days ago, he got my number from another school friend. He remembers everything about me. I used to miss him a lot. From his words it seemed to me that he missed me all the while more than I missed him. He went through some tough times but now he is in a stable condition. It's great to find him again. Hope we will stay in touch from now on.

From 31 January I had the privilege of being present at the second largest Muslim gathering after the Hajj. Yes, I'm talking about the Tongi Ijtema. I anticipated it since the last one. I didn't stay at night, but I regularly attended the lectures of the elders. The place is huge, infact, if you haven't been there yourself, you have no idea about the magnitude of the place. The huge space is actually not enough for the magnitude of people who stay there. When I look around there, I see people from all over the country, from all fields of work. I see people who work in huge multinational companies, who earn tens of thousands, at the same frame I see people who live from hand to mouth. I see students, doctors, engineers, politicians, beggars, businessmen. But they are all living in the same state there. They are having food from the same plate, drinking water from the same glass, standing in lines to get to the toilet. They are living the same life there. The rich have left t...

Friend. Isn't that someone who's supposed to cry for your sorrow, rejoice for your happiness? Isn't that someone who would share the same views with you? You probably have a lot of friends then, who you can share your life with. There is always some chief goal in your life, a chief concern or target. A subject that drives your thoughts and guides your life. To some it's music, to some it's politics, or to some it's love for a 'special person' etc. This is the center point around which one's life and thoughts rotate. A friend is someone who you share these feelings with. I see most of the friend circles sitting and chatting about music and movies, or gossiping about their love lives, discussing what their loved ones said to them last night, or how they looked. So they have a common center point around which they themselves move and they share it with each other, so they are friends. Now, in this generation, if your center point of life is Islam, you...

It was a huge party. Really huge. Not only in arrangements, but also emotionally huge. It was the 50 years celebration of our school. It was an all day program at the best convention center of the country. It was great. All of my friends were there. As well as known schoolmates from different batches, and most importantly our beloved teachers. Me, my elder brother and sister all three passed from this school, we belong there, I belong there. The program was mostly a typical cultaral event. It ended with performances from professional musicians (popular bands of the country). To most of the people, it was just what they wanted. But I've retired from listening to music, so I was just passing the occasion just for being present in the huge event of my school. I should be there. I loved my school, my teachers, my friends. I was there, but did I belong there? Really belong? At the closing stages of the band show I looked around. Boys and girls of all ages dancing, hand in hand, banging ...

The 2nd semester of my studies is becoming too much to take. Everyday I'm having to give exams, submit lab reports and assignments besides a heavy schedule of classes. This semester is of 23 credits! Which means 23 classes per week. Isn't that too much? Within such a schedule how can one find some time to spend with family and friends? How can one give some time to do some work for Islam? Don't know about the others, but I'm finding it really hard to keep up. May Allah make my days easy for me. Ameen.

I don't know why I'm writing this. Sometimes I go through real tough times (actually, most of the time), and sometimes something really pleases me or amazes me, or shocks me (the latter happens frequently). May be I can write about those things here. I know no one's gonna read my stuff, it's just for myself. May be after a long time I'll be able to look back at me life through this blog. May be that's the only reason why I'm writing.