Dunya

Irshad was at the normal market that sell varieties of food and goods. He went there because someone at home asked him to purchase some bananas, apples and carrots. As usual, it was a normal Indian market that he went to, so it was crowded with people but things were so cheap as the hawkers were all from the village. Nobody could ignore the temptation of cheap foods that were sold there. 

One thing about Indian market is you have to be good at choosing what you wanna buy. You might be surprised by how cheap the food and the goods, as well as you are at the highest degree to be conned. Bargaining is a skill to master when visiting the market. Irshad tried to masked the hanky noises from the surrounding. He was not that kind of man who knows to buy food properly. He was there because he was forced to under certain reasons. He looked perplexed and confused but straightly walked near a stall where there was a guy wearing a slanky kurta standing. The man who seemed like had not shaved for months showed his best bananas and chikoos to Irshad. 

Irshad who was still confused, scratched his head, a sign of not knowing anything. The hawker bended down and helped him choose the best among the best bananas and apples for Irshad.

"Kitne rupees?" asked Irshad for the price.

"Das panch rupees", replied the hawker indicating it only cost 15 rupees.

Out of the blue, Adzan was heard. It was loud and so melodious that one who really understand every word of it would cry. 
 

"Allahuakbar, Allahuakbar..."

The hawker stood up after bending. 

"Sorry bhaiya, let perform our solah first", he said to Irshad. And he went away without letting Irshad paying for his bananas and chikoos first. 

Irshad put back his money into his pocket hurriedly, and followed the hawker to the nearby Masjid. The sound of Adzan was still in the air. As he reached the Masjid, he had lost track of the hawker. He stood still outside the Masjid for some time, thinking that he would only enter soon after the Adzan ends. 

Soon after the Adzan ended, as Irshad was about to make a step closer to the entrance of the masjid, he felt as if he was pushed a little on his shoulder. He looked back and he could sense a nice scent of a flower that he couldn't resist. So Irshad walked away leaving the masjid behind and followed the scent of the flower.

The scent brought him to a woman wearing full black long niqab. She was walking so fast but that made Irshad more eager to follow her. The mysterious woman looked back at Irshad, her eyes were big and pretty. Irshad couldn't resist it. As if the eyes were telling him to follow her. 

The woman continue to walk across the back of the buildings. Across those isolated pavements. Still, Irshad continue to follow her. The woman soon came to another normal market selling foods and goods. The woman was out of Irshad's sight in a sudden. Irshad was sweating all over. His heartbeat was becoming stronger. He looked around, but couldn't find the woman in that black niqab.

Irshad continue to walk around the market, searching for that woman. In his mind,  there were questions asking, who is that woman. He just have to figure it out by himself. Out of nowhere, he saw that woman again. This time that woman turned to walk faster. Out pace the speed that Irshad could. He was soaked in his own sweat. He seemed not to find a stop to what he was doing.

Again that woman's pretty smoky eyes looked straight to Irshad's. He was mesmerized and spellbind. Before he realized, the woman brought him to a graveyard. The graveyard was of those of flight of stairs. He followed her steps down the stairs. The woman stopped and looked at him. This time the sight was more stronger. Irshad stopped too. The woman didn't utter a word, so did Irshad. Both of them keep walking at the same pace, where the woman was in front and Irshad was at her back. 

There was a wall and a door when they both reached the ground. The woman opened the door where inside there was no light but darkness dimmed by a couple of candles. The woman finally voiced out. 

"Come to me, Irshad" her stunning voice pierced Irshad's eardrum

Irshad came nearer. He entered the dark small room where he had no idea what it was. The woman asked him to shut the door. 

"Now lock the door, Irshad. Then, throw the keys into the well" uttered the woman again.

Irshad was totally hypnotized. He locked the door literally and threw the ONLY keys into the well. 

"Come to me closer, Irshad" 

Irshad came closer to that woman. They were just an inch away, or probably less than an inch away among each other. They stood there upfront eye to eye. Irshad's heart pounded faster this time. The mysterious woman pulled off her niqab...

"ARTRGHHGHGHHGHGHHGHG!!??" screamed Irshad as loud as he can.

The woman face was not of that of a human. It was of something that was despicable to be looked upon to. It was beyond unbearable to see with a human eyes. Irshad quickly grab the door's knob. He tried to open but he failed. He forgot that he already threw the keys away. The ONLY KEYS for him to escape.

"Oh Irshad...come to me. Why are you afraid now?" asked the woman behind her laughter.

"Whooo...who are you?" Irshad asked, with fright.

"You really want to know who am I? My name is.....my name is ....DUNYA...and you followed me till here. Why are you so frightened? You were the one who followed me and LEFT behind your SOLAH...You left your solah just because of me, because of DUNYA, aren't you....!!!??" asked the woman again.

"And you know where this is, Irshad? This is your GRAVE!!" she added. 

"What??!! Ya Allahhh!" screamed Irshad; but it was just too late. 

He was trapped and 'killed' by his likeness more towards what is there in Dunya. Along his pathway towards following what Dunya had hold for him, he left his obligation for Solah; which is the most important thing to be obliged as a Muslim. Apparently, Irshad failed in his attempt towards reaching to Sirathal Mustaqim. He has been conned by Iblis. The woman named Dunya symbolized the Iblis; whom showed how 'the fake beauty' of this world could lead to a devastating fate in the here after. 

>>p/s: Surah Al-An’am :32. “Dan tiadalah kehidupan dunia kecuali hanya permainan dan senda gurau belaka. Dan sungguh kampung akhirat itu lebih baik bagi orang-orang yang bertaqwa. Apakah kamu tidak memikirkannya” 

and another verse stated from: Surah Ali Imran ayat 14:

“Dijadikan terasa indah dalam pandangan manusia cinta terhadap apa yang diinginkan, berupa perempuan-perempuan, anak-anak, harta benda yang bertumpuk dalam bentuk emas dan perak, kuda pilihan, hewan ternak dan sawah ladang. Itulah kesenangan hidup di dunia, dan di sisi Allah-lah tempat kembali yang baik”<<

 

 

Makan bukan senang

Hai peeps.

Guess what? In less than a month, I really made this start of year 2 as enjoyable. First is attending the hiking thing with the other coursemates in Kudremukh; and secondly; for joining the Aids Day trip to Pune. The trip to Pune was so relaxing. Had Prof KJ escorting us all along, and oh God, he's so sporting!

Basically, the original idea to visit Pune was to go to its Aids Research Center at a place I don't actually remember where, but it is called Nari. There, we saw exhibition and go all about Aids; how it is infected and how is it being diagnosed and how to prevent it. Actually, our trip was thought to start at 3.30 am on that Saturday; instead; the buses came exactly at 5 am. So, the trip to Pune which was 6 hours from Belgaum; resulting in all of us reaching to Pune quiet late while the Aids Day has already shuts its doors.

Haha. But while patiently waiting for the bus in the midst of cold morning; we asked Prof KJ how would the plan be if we arrived to Pune a bit late? He said: "Then we just head ourselves to the sight seeing site!" How cool is that? Hahahha

The buses we boarded were the first of a Non-airconditioned bus. However, it didn't bother us since along the way; it was freezing upon letting the outside air to come in. I had to sleep with gloves on my hands; couldn't stand the coldness. It was a semi-sleeper bus, but due to many whom with withdrew to follow on the last minute; we conquered most the free available seats and made a crony at the very back seat. Hihihi

Continuously awaken during the trip because the bus driver simply didn't have that basic idea of where we were supposed to go. I think almost 6 times I woke up and then sleep again. Then we reached to a small hotel which I forgot its name. Only an hour was given to get ready, to shower and to perform salah. The breakfast of toast and omelette that we were supposed to have has turn into our lunch instead. We arrived there at 12.30 pm. 

Did I mention that Pune has this really awesome shopping center. The name they called it Phoenix City Market, but woah, it's like a baby version of midvalley. I went to Zaraa to actually perform my prayers in the fitting room. Since we can't just go to the fitting room, my buddy and I grabbed this amazing silhouette trench coats and further headed to the fitting rooms. After solah, we tried on those beautiful trench coats, mine was red, and my buddy wore the white. I prefer red since it looked more bold. The price was affordable if we had our allowances that time. It was just 5000 rupees ! Other stores had the trench for 10 thousand rupees at least. It was so devastating that we had to act snobbish and put back the coats. 

Prof KJ and our warden Madam Vidya just gave us an hour and a half to stroll around the mall to find for food. Yet it ended up, we spent 2 hours there. After some dinner with momo, window shopping here and there, we finally made an exile whereby Prof and Madam Vidya both were there, asking us to walk faster, the bus was there waiting. It feels like a school trip once again, but in a more fun way. Bad news on the bus we heard was, another bus got smuggled. We were relieved that none of our belongings went missing.

Travelling via the non-AC seated bus in Pune was gooood. We didn't feel uncomfy at all since Pune was very temperate. The road was rocky of course but we slept somehow. Finally, reach the wonderful place called Mahabaleshwar. It was freezing!! We must do some hiking a bit to reach our bungalow. It was 2 am that time. Freezing and all sleepy-headness, we fastened ourselves to the bungalow. It was such a nice place. For girls, a room was for 6. It was just for one night, but they provided us with good beds and matresses, with hot water too! That morning, we had a purdy breakfast of soft bread with omelette. Yummy!!

By 9 am we started to find for good strawberry farm to visit. Sadly, most of the farms had their strawberries still ungrown. We ended up dipping into fresh fruits and cream. Mine was mulberry with cream, cost around RS110. Others dipped into strawberries with cream of course. But that was too mainstream. LOL. I sat a table where Prof KJ and Madam Vidya were also there. Prof said something that amazed me, which was:

"When we're in a holiday; doesn't matter whose late whose not, just relax and enjoy!"

WOHA! You heard this from a deputy dean hahaha. Gosh. He's so sporting when it comes to sight seeing. Like his style so much though. Then we went to this place where there's a chocolate factory as well as flowers. Took some time enjoying the flowers, bough a kilogram of strawberries, and headed up for lunch. So this is the part I want to emphasize. The Mahabaleshwar Lunch. Jeng4x...

Someone who had been to this place, suggested to have lunch at a hotel. The hotel is very extravagant from the outside, almost like a Greece-kinda look. We went inside this quite-luxurious looking hotel. Everyone got their seats and asking for the menu. The interesting part was that the restaurant served ham and bacon. We waited like a log, then knowing some of the students who were in charge for the trip, was discussing some things with main waiter. One person who discovered that the hotel served bacon and ham, went to see the other students who were discussing to tell that the place served such things that we cannot eat. But it was weird when they emphasized more on the fact that the chef wasn't there and they said that the restaurant didn't serve those food for six months already. Oh please!!

On the first place, it was a mistake to bring two buses full of students to such a luxurious luncheon place where one dish cost up to 400 Rupee. Secondly, it was so bizarre that the fact on the haraam food wasn't been taken into priority when it comes to consumption. Even if the restaurant didn't serve the ham and bacon for six months, then they really did proper washing (according to Syara') for the utensils and the plates? It was more bizarre that those who were discussing regarding the chef were supposed to be the ones who lead Islamic discussion groups back at college. 

After some conversation, some did object saying that in a place where there's no other choices, where the place do serve pork and then we don't have a choice, then it's okay to dine. But may I clarify, that sort of thinking only applies if we are staying or living at a place where, true, there's no other choice but THAT restaurant alone. Obviously, there are many other restaurants that served halal food like the one we had fresh fruits with cream before. Like a briyani stall one of us said was available at that time. I just want to say that we are staying in India where halal food isn't that hard to be found. Not like in those countries in Europe; where choices are limited. 

Don't play when it comes to food preparation and food consumption. Don't simply make Islam as that simple when other choices are there. The better choice is to have the most halal food there is whenever possible. Don't make our lust for food as a reason to dwell into something sinful. What we eat becomes our flesh, and our flesh is also our 'soul' that we use in everyday life to serve ourselves as servant to dear Allah AlMighty. Just wish that people take this as serious as possible, regarding food consumption. 

We ended up not to eat at that lavish restaurant and went back to our bungalow to pray and get things ready to go back to Belgaum. Another 6 hour journey and we were all hungry. Prof and Madam Vidya was kind enough to find for a good veg restaurant along the way, and alhamdulillah we found one. It was 10 pm and we reached to a RNR-kinda place where we can choose to have veg or non-veg dinner. We chose veg though, because we are cool! Lol. 

Last thing we did was to play at a playground nearby where Prof KJ also played. Hahahhaa! Cool isn't it. Contented and enjoy: we finally reached Belgaum at 5 am that other morning. How fun life is isn't it?