Stories that Change Things!

On Eid evening suddently Scheherazade, the 'new' wife of Persian King with a preconceived notion of ingrained infidelity among women, came to my mind. The King used to kill all the women he married on the next day of his marriage. However Scheherazade had a unique craft of story telling and when she begins a story she continued the conclusion for the next night and this goes on for about 1000 days! Thus postponing her death thereof! This collection is also referred to as ARABIAN NIGHTS. In Indian TV context these stories have been manifested in the form of television series by Ramanand Sagar with the name- Alif Laila, the same guy also gave Ramayan! Alif Laila was in my view instrumental to develop my interest in muslims and their language,Urdu which mr. sagar never compromised for the sake of lucidity. This development of sensitivity and religious tolerance gave me my 2 muslim friends which other wise may not have been possible. Asif and mustafa met me at the age of 10 and 22 respectively and gave me enough chances to have siwayian every Eid.

However i would remain closer to the issue which this piece of writing deals with i.e. Sories. There are many people including me who some or other times make mistakes. Afterall mistakes and process thereafter develops a character. Accepting mistakes requires guts because it hurts ego for some people. For we are very concious of what others might think we in general hide our feelings and dont even show love or anything else when it should have been done. 9 out of my 10 friends have never hugged their father and said i love you dad. Of course its not girlish to do that but we come to the conflict of what other might think. Some relationships dont require explicit confession of such feelings but dude seriously if you have the opportunity and resource why not express it; whats the harm!

Marlon Brando was excellent when he says " I coulda have been a contender; I could have a class" in the movie On the Waterfront is one of the best dialogues i came across ever. This guy accepts the guilt and makes serious effort thereafter to correct them. I know many of bums who in their zest for self-righteousness have always thought that what they did at a particular point of time was correct and they also go to the extent of involving God when they say it. Its merely a self satisfying tactic to prove ourselfs to us and nothing else.

When i used to comment in the class and hallways i always thought i was cool. People laughed at my activity and i thought i was a hero. But it was later i realised that i was nothing but a coward because i was not able to look at people in the eye whom i mocked off. This was a fact i cannot bear because its very important for me to look people in the eye it helps me to know what they are thinking! I realised this when the first time i stood on the stage for morning assembly to give a weather report and i failed miserably because some people were doing the same what i used to do. I said to myself-" You couldnt read some numbers written on a piece of paper in public when you thought you can tell some stuff behind their back!" Soon i accepted my fault in public and decided i will make public speaking my best point. And surprisingly it did work.

So what does the story of Brando's character reminds me. Every one makes mistakes, may be some make them more but what makes them bigger is to have guts to accept them quickly without thinking of what they or others might think and rise up to fight back whats lost because that's what winner's do.

Thanks Brando you are the man!