Have you been given a second chance to live? I certainly have...

Indeed, God Almighty works in mysterious ways and when I sometimes sit and ponder over my life events, I can't comprehend how everything fits together like a jigsaw puzzle...One event leading to another for the betterment of my own life. Sometimes we experience grief and sorrow and we wonder why certain things do not occur in our favour and yet when we ponder over the same situation years down the line we realize that what God Almighty had ordained for us was in actual fact a blessing in disguise.My life has been pretty interesting in a sense that I was granted a second chance to live. When I was a kid, whilst mom was in the bathroom I opened up the medication cupboard and drank a full bottle of camphorated oil. When Mom came out of the shower, she found me on the floor with my eyes rolling and she could smell the oil on my breath and of course she noticed the empty bottle.Mom could not drive at the time. However, our neighbour came home for lunch and so he rushed me to the nearest hospital..Naturally it was a trying time for the family but through the Grace of God Almighty I was discharged from the hospital after a few days. The irony here is that years down the line I landed up working in the very same hospital as an intern and assisted in saving the lives of many infants and kids who came to the hospital with accidental poisoning.

I guess I was always meant to be a pharmacist considering my early experimentation with medicinal products..LOL..When the realization set in that I was granted a second chance to live, I decided from that day onward that I should lead my life to the best of my abilities in terms of positive outlook and positive attitude..I try my best to live each day to the fullest and I strive to go through each day doing some kind of good or spreading good to those around me.

Life is very short and I wish to leave this world with a legacy behind. I wish for people to remember me not for the clothes that I wore or the car that I drove but rather for the person that I am in terms of character. For as the saying goes, be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.As a human being we are all riddled with flaws and weaknesses, but trying to achieve an exemplary character is better than not striving to achieve at all. My advice to all my friends out there is this...Live each day as though it is your final moment.
Try doing one good deed for the day. A simple smile can make someone else's day. Open the door for a colleague, help someone carry their packets...By helping someone else you would find inner peace, happiness and contentment within yourself. And last but not least, "Life is n’t a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, latte in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming Woohoo WHAT A RIDE!"

Black Magic, Sorcery and Peer Babas

Have you ever come across this type of advertisement whilst browsing through television channels?" Are you having marital problems, are you divorced, do you want your lover back, did the doctor say you can't have children. Do not despair. Peer Baba Haji saheb blah blah blah will resolve all your issues within twenty four hours. Contact so and so on so and so telephone number." Whilst I do not believe in such hocus pocus nonsense I know for a fact that there are many people including members of my own society that firmly believe in these peer babas who they pay large sums of money to in order to supposedly extract information they require or carry out a wish that they desire. In Islam, fortune telling, sorcery and black magic goes against the principles of religion and hence very often within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia you would come across news of women being sentenced to a number of years in prison for practicing black magic.
Moroccan maids are beautiful but they are also noted for sorcery and black magic according to Saudi women.Hence, some time back , Saudi women were up in arms about the Ministry of the Interior allowing Moroccan maids into the Kingdom. There could be some truth in the tale as a close Saudi friend of mine told me that her mom found talismans, nails and strands of hair in their Moroccan maids bedroom. When questioned about these items, she revealed that the hair and nails belonged to the eldest son of the house who is still a bachelor. She was hoping to entice him and make him her husband. Whilst the family decided not to lay any charge against her, she was of course asked to leave.Many people in the western world do not believe in 'sihar' or black magic and hence when the Saudi newspapers print a story of people punished for practicing these dirty activities, the news is of course mocked and laughed at. Personally, I have seen the effects of sihar and black magic and its not a pleasant thing at all. It is absolutely shocking to see a healthy individual suddenly become so ill and yet medical reports will conclude that the person is well and healthy. I believe that people who engage in such activities are evil and hence they deserve the sentences and punishments meted out to them. Away from Saudi Arabia and moving closer to home, I heard the story of a woman whose husband decided to marry another lady that he worked with. The first wife could not handle the situation and hence she resorted to am Egyptian soothsayer residing within the Johannesburg region. After paying the man a large sum of money at his house and carrying out a few rituals,the lady was asked to cut two chickens in a certain way immediately when she arrived at her home. According to the soothsayer, the husband will leave the second woman within a day after the chicken sacrifice was done. Needless to say, the spell backfired and the husband became closer to his second wife, even giving her a child by the following year. This was bound to happen as it is not mankind who is in control of this universe. It is God Almighty. If you turn away from Him and seek assistance from a human being that He created, He will not assist you, but if you have full faith and full conviction in your heart that My Lord is with me and He will assist me and that whatever He has written out for me is the best for me, you will find that your life becomes filled with happiness and contentment. The reason I am writing about this is because I am disturbed over an inbox message and conversation I had with a facebook friend. I also happen to know this person from way back in my past during my schooling years. We never chatted or interacted before. So the facebook message was pretty much the first time we conversed.I can not believe that anyone would choose to explore the path of fortune telling considering that this person is from a good practicing Muslim home. What surprised me about out conversation was the fact, that this individual started mentioning things to me that was really personal. Small details that no one else other than my immediate family would know of. As the conversation ensued further, I was told that he would collect every post from my blog and store it on his computer. He became addicted to my stories and would log on every single day to read what I had to say. He enjoyed reading my posts. He then decided to tell his Peer or Sheikh about me and also asked his Sheikh to tell him more about me on a personal level. They apparently met at a cemetery at midnight where the spirits apparently told the Sheikh all about my activities whilst in the Kingdom. He gave me bits and pieces of information and when I asked to know more I was told to transfer money into baba's banking account and then all will be revealed. Over my dead body am I going to pay anyone to reveal my own life story to me. I was then told that a tokoloshe will be sent to me and that " remember, I know what you did last summer." Total rubbish. I am not afraid of anyone except my Lord, Master of the universe and the King of Kings. The fact that this person is so obsessed with his Sheikh is actually very scary. He supposedly trusts his sheikh with his own life. To me this is moving away from the fold of Islam. We all commit mistakes, we do wrong.. we are human... But we still pray and we still look for guidance from our Creator. But believing in some Sheikh who communicates with the jinn is just ridiculous. As Muslims we should be believing in the concept of the Jinn and also we should believe that sorcery and black magic does exist as explained in the Quraan, but chatting to spirits to find out about someone else's life is just downright absurd. To this person I just want to say that I hope God Almighty guides you towards the straight path. If you wanted to know things about my life, you could have just asked, but snooping into my life in this manner makes me feel violated. You have meddled into my private affairs without me even knowing. If you wish to remain in the fold of Islam, I urge you to stay away from such Sheikhs and Peers. They work with deception. They will tell you a few truths and the rest of it is lies. They do this to create rifts and to break up relationships. This is all mentioned in the Quraan. Rather direct your energy towards having firm faith and conviction in God Almighty alone. To Him do we belong and to Him do we return.On a lighter note, may be he did send the tokoloshe to me as I had two hard falls last week causing bruising to both my legs. Were they giving me a warning? Perhaps they were or perhaps I am in store for even weirder activities..So if I start behaving weirdly or start writing absolute crap, you now know the reason why...Don't blame me, blame the Peer baba.....

A blogging milestone

Picture courtesy: www.solar-aid.org

YIPPY.....HIP HIP HOORAY...ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON, I FINALLY HIT 50000 HITS TO MY BLOG. WHAT STARTED OFF AS A JOKE IN DUBAI HAS ACTUALLY MATERIALIZED INTO SOMETHING BIGGER. THE BLOG IS NOW BEING READ BY PEOPLE FROM ALL ACROSS THE GLOBE ESPECIALLY INDIVIDUALS FROM AMERICA, RUSSIA, CANADA, SAUDI ARABIA, INDIA, PAKISTAN, SOUTH AFRICA, SLOVENIA, FRANCE AND THE UK. I WANT TO THANK ALL THE BLOG READERS SINCERELY FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR THEIR CONTINUED LOVE AND SUPPORT. MAY GOD ALMIGHTY BLESS ALL OF YOU IN ABUNDANCE AS ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE BLOG GOES TO CHARITY. IT IS MY WAY OF GIVING BACK TO THE WORLD. THE BLOG IS A PLATFORM FOR CROSS CULTURAL DIALOGUE AND THROUGH IT I HAVE MADE SO MANY WONDERFUL FRIENDS. PLEASE DO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE ME WITH FEEDBACK. BOTH POSITIVE AS WELL AS NEGATIVE CRITICISM WILL BE WELCOMED. PLEASE DO CONTINUE INBOXING ME AND SHARING YOUR STORIES WITH ME.LOTS OF LOVE AND BEST WISHES ALWAYS..DESERT MOON...:)))))))

Sophia book event at the University of Johannesburg

As I drove off into the sunset yesterday evening heading back home, I couldn't help but ponder and reflect on the lovely afternoon I had at the Sophia book event held at the University of Johannesburg. What was discussed at the event was absolutely relevant and typical of what is happening to many women in South Africa including Indian women from rich and affluent homes. Gender based violence or violence against women is definitely a topic that society needs to bring to the fore. A few days ago a lady cashier at one of the shops mentioned to me that she was surprised to see a well known woman from within the community arriving at the shop with dark glasses on. Upon further investigation she realized that the woman was beaten up and hence the area around her eyes were blue. The abused woman however stated that she knocked herself into the door covering up for her husband. Hence, this woman has stuck in this abusive relationship for many years whilst her husband walks tall in society. Women are selfless creatures. God has made us this way to endure pain and to sacrifice for the sake of our families. But, then I wonder.. why should we be always sacrificing. No matter how powerful a woman is in terms of education or if she is a successful business woman, the minute a woman steps into her house she is immediately taken over by a patriarchal system whereby the husbands rules and regulations take over. Frankly speaking, I do not agree with this. Whilst a man is the head of the house, the wife should be his equal and she should have a right and a say with regards to the running of her home. This issue of gender based violence is prevalent across the globe. In countries like Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan women are abused to such an extent that acid is thrown on their faces, thereby disfiguring them for life. Hats off to Shafinaaz Hassim, for her involvement in gender based violence and for creating an awareness about this issue through her books. South Africa needs more women like this to support and encourage these abused women to come out of the closet. Every human being has a right to lead a happy and fulfilling life. If a man has dreams and aspirations so too do women. A woman's dreams don't just fade and wither away the day she marries or becomes a mom or a wife or a daughter in law. My advise to all women out there is this, if you are in an abusive relationship please please please, seek help. Talk to someone..go for counselling. We only live once, so let us all enjoy this life that God has blessed us with. Live your life to the fullest and follow your dreams.