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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Lessons on the drive

I was never an elitist. Yet I had some reservations about certain people and communities. I say this as my opening line because I need a hook to hang out my nurtured perception.

So each day when the person who drives me to work [I’m not a racist, I refrain from mentioning his name. If you guess his nationality, I will not call you one either] speaks to me, I participate with the reluctance of being forced to greet a creepy boss.

For the last five years, when Inshaallah [meaning God willing] has been his one-word explanation to any query of mine that put him in a spot, I’m pretty sure you will hang out with me on that hook.
Here’s a few of our Q& A drives…

Me: “Don’t tell me you are going home to arrange your son’s wedding. Isn’t he just 14?”
He: ‘Inshaallah’

Me: ‘Why are you the only earning member for a family of 30?”
He: ‘Inshaallah’

Me: Can you drive me to the mall this Friday?                     
He: ‘Inshaallah’

Me: Why don’t you visit a doctor, instead of popping Panadols with each meal?
He: ‘Inshaallah’

Me: The A/C isn’t cooling enough. Why don’t you have it checked?
He: ‘Inshaallah’

It’s not only when I corner him. Check this out…
He:  “You are working on your day off?”

Me: “We are short-staffed.”
He: “They will pay you extra?”

Me: “No”
He: ‘Inshaallah’

So FM music has been keeping me company on the drive with him while his monologue continues unabated in the foreground.
Recently, when my health took a beating, he assured me with his trademark reply. “You’ll be Ok. Inshaallah.”

Two weeks later, he said: “You should stop worrying. Inshaallah, after the weekend you will be OK.”
The fourth week, when I got into the car, he sat looking at me. A minute later, he spoke… “I know you do not consider what I say. I’m uneducated. But I request you, this one time, just listen to what I say...”

His first sentence hit me, so I was alert .
“Don’t say you are sick. When someone asks you, ‘how are you?’, say you are great. You know why? Because the One who’s up there always listens to you. So if you say you are sick He will ensure you remain sick. Whoever your God is, just trust Him and keep saying you are fine. Inshaallah, He will make you fine.”

Yes, it did work. Trust me!
I gorge on wisdom literature. ‘The Power of Your Subconscious Mind’ by Joseph Murphy has been my favourite and yet…

Inshaallah, I now trust his words.

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