I’ve truly had fantastic teachers throughout my life. Right throughout school, through religious school, during my association with Toastmasters, at my first job at KPMG all in Dubai and right now in Bangalore I’m extremely fortunate to have got highly intelligent, most sincere and extremely dedicated personalities giving their best to me. Issac Newton had once written, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” How beautifully put. I feel just the same. If I’m anything today, it’s because of God, my family and my teachers.

Looking back, here are a few additional skills that I’m really glad I picked apart from formal education. Many of the below skills have had significant positive impacts, some have even been life-changing.

1. GTD
Regular readers would’ve noticed that we regularly write about GTD on this blog. That’s because GTD is a truly phenomenal system that would greatly improve the performance of anybody. Be it a school going child, an office-going executive or a house-wife.

As Muslims if we happen to miss one of our Daily Prayers, we don’t get off the hook that easily, we first have to make up for it by completing that very same prayer with the intention of it being “Qazaa” (ie late/delayed), as opposed to it being “Adhaa” (ie on-time). I’m not a pristine, pure soul and have a few qazaa namaazes to complete. Sometime back, I had made a firm intention to make up for my back-log. I do it by praying an additonal prayer together with my regular prayer.

Prayer as a Burden
Rarely (read that as Ver Rarely) it does feel delicously wonderful that Allah SWT has given the “Toufiq” (awareness), strength, and time to make up for my qazaa namaazes and I get to do it. But many times it feels heavy and burdensome too. Just when I finish my daily set of prayer, I have to drag myself to get up and pray it all over again. Just yesterday the thought did cross my head, “Oh God, why have You made this so difficult?”

Every old friend that I meet these days, the conversation usually goes like:

Old Friend: Arif, Hi man! Long time no see. What’s happening?
Me: Old Friend! So good to see you. Life’s wonderful. Busy as usual. Nothing new really.
Old Friend: Hey, it’s been 2 years since you’ve married right?
Me: Yes, so?
Old Friend: So? So, When’s the good news???

It’s not only friends. But co-workers, colleagues, family, even my cousins who are light-years younger to me.

I’m sure they all have wonderfully angelic intentions. They are enquiring about my future off-spring because they genuinely care and want me to experience the sheer bliss a brand new parent goes through. The bliss explained by Melvin Durai in this excellent blog-post.

Below are excerpts:
Until I became a parent, I didn’t know how challenging it could be. I thought it would be easy, like driving in New York City or getting all my teeth pulled.

There’s spring cleaning happening at home, because of which once a while a a golden old memory in form a photograph await me, daddy and Ali when we return home from work. Have a look at the picture on the right. That was me 10 years ago, delivering a speech at a Toastmaster club (click here to see a complete picture). I was 76 Kgs+ in weight, with a 36 inch+ waist line and be it motu, fatso or fatty I’ve been labeled it all. The picture of the right is a much recent photo. Today I’m 67 Kgs, my 34 inch trouser falls off occasionally and now I get told again and again “Gosh Arif, you’ve lost so much weight.” and you know what…I can’t get enough of it ☺.

There’s magic in persistence. When the same mundane task of exercise, or learning or teaching is repeated over and over again, those are necessary ingredients of the potion of success being brewed by the gods in heaven.

Dad was rummaging through his old briefcases and guess what we came across? A treasure trove of memories. The oldest photographs in the history of Vakil Family. I saw pictures of my mothers School Farewell party. A really young looking picture of my grandfather attending some lecture. A kiddy picture of my Mom holding my baby aunt. I saw pictures of dad before he was married, even a picture of mum when I was in her belly.

How time flies and flies and flies. How slim dad looked, how much more handsome my uncle looked and oh how similar mum’s farewell picture looked to mine . The only difference was that her pics were in black & white but it still contained teenagers with aspiring looks yet without a care in the world. I would love to share those pics here but most of them are quite personal. But if there’s any lesson I learnt from old pictures it is that you should…

It started with a newsletter that I fondly called “Your weekly dose of inspiration.” Which over time metamorphisized into the Vakil Housing Blog. And now say hello to the Arif & Ali Blog. Why this change? You see, whenever we would want to post on the Vakil Housing blog, it would rarely be on Vakil Housing itself. So one lazy Sunday, our fingers were getting itchy and what started as a chat over breakfast on “what would be the best way to stay in touch with friends” led to the total redecoration of our Blog, complete with the change of the name too. Well, what do you think? You like?

Besides staying in touch there’s a tremendous amount of terrific material out there that me and Ali come across and look forward to share. Hence this blog became the perfect platform to do that. So, once a month, we shall dutifully ensure that all subscribed to our blog, shall receive the best of our posts packaged in nice little email with a pretty pink ribbon tied around it. :-)

They say that one doesn’t really plan to go for Hajj, but one is called to it by the Almighty. I certainly hope that’s true, because if so, myself, Arifa (my wife) and Ali (my brother) have graciously accepted the Lord’s invitation and would be taking off for Madina from Mumbai 5 AM, Monday morning.

We’re certainly looking VERY much forward to it. No doubt Hajj is an highly spiritual uplifting experience. In fact that’s an understatement. To witness the prostration of two million people simultaneously, each one bowing his head till it touches the ground and that too doing that 5 times a day is an image that can shake one’s inner-self to tears. Ofcouse it’s not all prayers and supplications. There’s a whole lot of socialising too. I think it’s only on Hajj that one actually gets the full flavour of diversity present in mankind. From the Africans, to the Europeaons, to the Chinese, to the Turks….all present in full glory. Each wearing their best attitude…smiling, greeting, hugging at every opportunity. I made some of my very best friends on my last Hajj trip 4 years ago and I’m eagerly awaiting to make some this year.