I could not guess where this Pakistani friend of mine got his crazy idea about remarkable Dosa experience. In down town Manhattan New York, there is a huge verity of restaurants near Lexington Avenue and 28th street. Regardless of his train of thoughts, I sensed uneasiness on his face as I hinted why he never walked into one of those south Indian restaurants and ordered a Dosa. Even though with similar identities by which the world distinguishes us, like the way we dress, the language we speak, the food we eat and how we look in a global arena, there is some where deep down a split of opinion about each other among us. In every child born in that subcontinent there is an anger or caution that spouts and deepens as they grow which breads a lack of confidence and trust between the nations.
Our beliefs are based, built and influenced by men who lived in this same fancy little planet. Many brains have riddled to set barriers among human beings for there benefit and few cared breaking them for common good. Every age had its own challenges, to look away from it is a betrayal of once conscience and reversing the change the new world expects. It's high time for the generation of this millennium to think if they should be building new boundaries or breaking them for better human foundation. Life mostly is nothing but a balance of satisfying yourself at the cost of others and satisfying others at yours. But like every rule in this world, there are always exceptions. This narration is one of those experiences that concur with the exceptions and proves that there is enough happiness in this world for each of us to conquer and to look beyond the partitions that we have made in our own hearts and chats.
Many times people overlook big similarities and concentrate on small distinctions keeping in mind a vengeance of some ill-mannered act that happened jubilees ago. Friends should not sacrifice friendships just for that, but to evolve from it a new and better understanding that is more stable reconsidering the circumstances that prevail. On 28th of December 2001- I felt it was very brave of him given the hostile situations that was flooding Indo-Pak border to invite me to his house for a sleepover. Without any reluctance and believing in our friendship I accepted his invitation and went to his house in New Jersey. Putting my self in unusual circumstances then reacting to it and adding those experiences to my intellectual capital is one of the thrills that I do to feel myself alive.
The PATH train took us from Pennsylvania station to Hampshire, New Jersey. We walked to his house which was two blocks from the railway station. His mother greeted me at the door patting on my back asking "kisa ho bata" (how are you son). I was so overwhelmed that I couldn't think of an appropriate way to answer. There is some thing about mothers - yours and mine included. They find no fences in holding there love. My friend and I sat in living room chatting and watching TV for a while until his mother called him to help her bring tea. One of the catching decorations on the wall that I remember was a plaque inscribed with hundred and one names of Prophet Mohamed. While I was going through those names he came back with tea and cookies. We talked about things in random while his mother was preparing dinner. The sweet smell of curry busted my nostrils and flooded my mouth with water. Few minutes later dinner was served with aloe matter, chapatti, dal and rice. It was at that dinner table I promise to grand his wish to have a dosa feast with him on his next birthday.
After dinner we went bowling. It is an amazing game but a bit expensive to the silly concept. The whole game entails rolling a ball down a lane in an attempt to knock down pins that are arranged on the other side of the isle. One game consists of ten frames. Each frame gives every player two chances to hit all ten pins. The points are awarded for each pin that gets knocked over. If you hit all ten pins with one ball you have earned a strike, you will be awarded extra points for every pin you hit in a frame after getting a strike. It's not as complicated as my explanation but rather simple and fun to play. Even though I lost the game I felt good because of the realization that it was my first bowling experience and I didn't finish far from my friends who had been bowling for years. Experience is built from inquisitiveness and positive attitude to test new things. After a long analysis I figured my problem with the game was not the aim but I have chosen a heavier ball. It was towards the end I understood, although the balls had the same size they are not all the same weight. Some times it's ridiculously funny to look back and realize the unnecessary hardship we endured. We played three games and returned back home. By then I was tired and ready to retire. I slept holding on to one hope in my heart that the military standoff between India and Pakistan will not result in a nuclear war
My friend had to work next day for a Broadway show ticket sales company. When we stepped out of the house, none other than his mother was awake. I thanked her for their generous hospitality including the wonderful dinner and a unique experience. It's been said that a trip to New York is incomplete unless you have been to a Broadway show. To relinquish me of that guilt I got two tickets for 'The phantom of the opera'. It was my choice to ask for his company since he knew a lot about Broadway shows. We had eighty-dollar ticket that reserved us the seventh and ninth seat of row F on mezzanine at the famous Imperial Theater. Usually Broadway theaters have same seating arrangement. The most expensive box seats are on either side of the stage. The level closest to the stage is called the orchestra seats. A level up is the mezzanine and above that is the balcony. When entering the theater you are given 'Play Bill' a pamphlet carrying the names of the cast. Audience usually keeps it as a souvenir. My friend pointed out historic difference between Broadway and off Broadway shows. He also explained the relevance of a lit lamp on the stage. It's pronounced that the stage is haunted and the lamp is supposed to scare the ghosts away.
At times I try to peer over boundaries to see what the other side see and feels. Mind is the only place where we can hide from one's greatest fears. There buried is a fear that out growing once crowd will only make one an outcast. But we have to challenge our own beliefs to protect our own truth of existence. Breathing the fact that everyone is a great patriot of his or her Homeland there is no background to think of a divided loyalty inside me. All I am doing is to project that there should be some way of coexistence, nourishing the concept of universal brotherhood than a nuclear war. As time flows, experiences change, views change, perceptions change, concepts change but those good and bad memories remain the same. It's that experience down the line of life through which we filter and judge others. Can men be impartial since they are bound by their own interest then by ideologies? Knowing that no society can exist without a common action or belief, how can u expect freedom for every one unless it's a streamed goal that is common to the World? What I am trying is to create a small ripple by raising questions that gives everyone an opportunity to think impartial than leading them to a possible conclusion. Let us see the world with an evolved human character and do what seems right. Writing this is my part of doing right, yours will be to think right and finally let right be done.
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