When the Stars met #thebigmuslimwriterscontest2016

2

"Remember Allah during times of ease and He will remember you during times of difficulty."
Sunan At-Tirmidi

Waleed

I am getting discharged today.

One part of me is happy because I can leave the hospital and people looking down at me with pity but the other part of me was unsure.How well will I cope up with things I usually do everyday with only one arm?
I think I can do fine. InshaAllah.
Allahu Musta'an.
I got out of the hospital room in my favorite plaid shirt and blue jean.I dodged towards the parking lot where Qamar was waiting for me in his Car.

"Salam,Sup bro?" We did a Brofist like always and headed home.
My hand swayed dramatically in my shirt.I paid no heed.
There's no need to think too much on things on which destruction was already done.
We reached home in sometime,Qamar dropped me home and left for work.
Me,like always,went inside,greeted everybody and slumped into the couch in front of the French Windows overlooking the gardens.I have always been an aesthete.Such places gave me time to ponder on the blessings Allah had blessed us with.
Alhamdulillah for everything!

My Dad would reach home in sometime.He could not take leave to come and visit me,so he sent Ummi first.My Dad and Mom were in Dubai,I was too,until I finished my high school and shifted to India for my further studies.
Alhamdulillah I had graduated around 2 years back in Engineering.
Don't ask me how it was,Only Allah knows how I passed it.

Just Passing was the key word at for us.There was no passing with flying colors in our dictionaries.Staying in a Dorm with crazy boys and then passing the finals is actually something to be proud of.You see,I was never a studious boy.
I loved procrastinating.You could call me a Master-procrastinator if procrastinating was a real title.My Roommates were equally crazy,so to put things in place,we made the craziest bunch of engineering students.Well,all engineering students were crazy but we were the pinch of salt in the Rasmalai!

I had 3 roommates Qamar.
We were actually allotted roommates and rooms but everybody prefered to stay in whichever room they were comfortable.
Like for instance, I loved the electricity room as it had a window overlooking the backwaters, so I tag Qamar along and we play dumb games and fall asleep there.
Some people would even sleep near the Canteen of the Dorm as they thought inhaling food smell could make them happy!
Crazy i tell you.
People say that University and Schools bring out the worst in you. And it was partly true.
So many Projects, Unending Exams, Loads of textbooks and what not!

The first year of my University as I remember, was a big disappointment. You know how the seniors play around with the 1st years.

One word, horrible.

If you do not know who seniors are and what seniors do, 'Seniors' in  the Indian context depicted monsters and were talked about with great horror. The next move of the Seniors would be totally unpredictable. The whole of first years would be terrorized even with the idea of mingling with them. Usually Seniors consisted of the Final year students of the University.

My first encounter with the Seniors was when a senior had come to me with his girlfriend. The girlfriend came close to me and was like "Am I pretty?" and me being me, lowered my gaze and didn't say anything. And I also knew that if I said that she was pretty, i would have to face the consequences from the boyfriend and if I say she wasn't pretty, you know what would happen!
"So you think I'm not pretty?" She made a sad puppy dog face towards her boyfriend and his fists clenched. Too much drama, i was suffocating.

"No, I didn't say that!" I stammered.

"So you have a crush on me!" She squeaked.

"I didn't say that either" I countered.

"What do you think of yourself ha? At first you go all blushing looking at me and then you say that I don't look pretty. Such a jerk!" She screamed.
I seriously did not know what her problem was. She had a boyfriend and she still comes after every other guy.
"I'd rather be a jerk than drool over some used piece of rubbish." I said calmly realizing that I was a bit too harsh.
She gasped and frowned.
"You are dead tonight!" Her frown almost immediately changed into an evil smirk. She then sniggered looking at her boyfriend. And they hi-fived. Little did I know of the events that would follow that night.
That night was the worst night of my entire 18 years of existence. The things they made me do were..stupid to be on point.There was this one task which was the most embarrassing one. It was not worth getting embarassed but I got owned.

Whole of the first years were asked to assemble in the common room of the Dorm.

"Hey Lambu, come here!" I obeyed like a child dreading another horrible task.
"Blow out that bulb" he said pointing towards the bulb on the ceiling.
I looked at him confused.
"I said blow out the bulb."
I just stood there not knowing what to do. What the hell was this guy even saying? How can I blow and turn off the light? Are these people Ill?
"I didn't ask you to prepare an equation, BLOW OUT THAT BULB!" he screamed.
So I looked at the bulb, tilted my head up and started blowing facing the bulb.

What even is this?

"Harder!" He screamed and I blew harder.
I could hear fits of hysteric laughter.

Only then i realized that it was so much fun and there was loads to laugh about. Note the sarcasm.
I blew on the bulb for around 15 minutes i.e, till the laughter died. I was embarrassed to death.
I was asked to stop blowing so hard since it looked like i might actually break the bulb. Finally,I was done.

"Eey Chashmish ,come here" 

"Show me your hand."
What the guy did next shocked me. He pulled out Qamars pinky fingers nail!
Can you believe it? He freaking pulled out Qamar's nail!
I was fuming.
I slapped the guy.
Senior or not, who cares.
How could they be so heartless? God,what was this guys problem?
The guy looked at me angry, "You had the audacity to slap your senior? Your life is going to be a living hell!" He gave an evil smirk.
"I think I can bear your drama for another year, Allah is with me!" 

"We will see!" He shouted and I left the place with Qamar in tow.
Qamar is a person who wouldnt even hurt a fly and nobody would/should even feel like hurting him.

Nobody messes with my best friend.

Nobody!

So meet Qamar, my best friend since childhood. We were polar opposites, he was calm and studious which I never was. He was hardworking throughout the year,
When I hardworked only on the exam eve imagining it to be the beginning of the year.
He rarely spoke but when he did, his words would tickle you to death.
The list is endless but we remained the best of friends. Alhamdulillah.
He could accompany me with all my crazy ideas and not get caught!
His calmness and maturity was a muse to my Ummi to let me go on a trip with the rest of the bunch of losers.
Um..by bunch of losers I mean my other close friends Rayaan, Junaid, Laazim and Nooh.

I was so indulged in relishing on the thoughts of my Engineering days that I didn't notice that my dad had already arrived and was sitting beside me.
"Assalamualaikum Son, how are you?" He asked with genuine sadness in his eyes looking over to my arm.
I hadn't let the doctor amputate it.I let it stay there knowing it would only cause pain.
Because something was telling me to let it stay.
"Walaikumsalaam Abba, I'm good Alhamdulillah!" I hugged him awkwardly.
Hugging dads can be awkward I tell you.

And then the feast began.

There was so much of excitement and so many children around. I hadn't noticed that so many people were invited for my home coming. I sound like a war hero coming back after the war!
But Alhamdulillah everything is cool.
The love of my life was there. No,not Lamiya.
BIRIYANI!