One day as Azam entered the house his sister was sitting on the ground, the whole house was silent as dark, despair was eating him from inside, he came close to his sister and courage to ask her about their old diabetics' patient mother. She cleaned her teary eyes and stood in front of her brother, and said; “Azam! Ammaa (mother) was very serious, Shoaib and Zubair took her to the doctor in the nearby hospital.”

Azam rushed out of his house towards the hospital with teary eyes and ragged clothes. He continuously ran about a half-mile and finally reached the hospital. As he entered the hospital what he saw was not less than a scene of doomsday for him. “She is no more!” The doctor revealed this to Shoaib and Zubair. As Shoaib saw Azam standing inside the gate, he came close and hugged Azam.

“She left us!” Shoaib said.

Zubair also came nearer and Shoaib and Zubair both hugged Azam simultaneously, for they were only his friends in the town. “I was born unlucky, I was born unlucky,” uttered Azam with eyes filled in tears and with a broken heart. This was the second time that he had feelings of being the unluckiest person in the world. He felt inferior, despair, broken, and unlucky the first time when his father had died three years ago. When Azam was only eighteen years old.

Azam was the only brother of his only sister, living in an old deteriorate house in the city with his sister and mother. After the death of his father due to cancer, he shifted his family from the village to a small town near their village. But now their mother also left them both alone.

After the departure of the mother, Azam was caught by inferiority and desperate feelings, and he was cursing his fate every single day. Crying alone in the dark rooms every night, feeling broken and ill-fated for being an orphan. But his brave and debonair sister would always stand beside her brother, every time encouraging and motivating him not to feel broken and desperate. Whenever she saw her brother crying lonely in the room, she would always clean her brother’s tears from his cheeks and would kiss his forehead affectionately. For being the elder sister, she was playing the role of mother for her sorrowful brother.

One day, Azam became weary of these dismal thoughts and decided to meet his luck. He wanted to meet his luck to know why luck has bestowed him with dreary life. So, he left his home in the search of luck. In his journey to find luck, he met with several renowned philosophers, teachers, scholars, psychiatrists, and religious persons. When did he ask where he can find luck? Philosopher answered, “You can’t find and meet luck, and you have to create your luck it’s inside you!” The teacher told him to search for luck in classrooms and books. Scholar uttered; “Go and search for luck among your fellowmen.” The psychiatrist said; “feed your mind with positive thoughts and you will not require to inquire about luck.” Religious persons told him to search for luck in mosques and other places of worship. He became bewildered with all these answers and quicken towards bushy paths that were marching to a forest. He entered the forest and sat under an oak tree. He was very thirsty and tired, he looked here and there to request any shepherd for water, but there was no anyone. Thirstily he reclined the oak tree and fell asleep.

Azam opened his eyes when an oldster touched his shoulder. He looked at the oldster with listless eyes and again rested on the trunk of the tree. Golden ager sat beside Azam took his hand and said; “you seem to be a pedestrian and you are very tired, come with me it’s lunchtime.” Azam followed the aged person and he took him to a small hut on the other side of the forest. He gave Azam water to wash his face and hands, and they both sat on a cot. An old woman carried rice meal and butter to them. Azam requested the old lady for a glass of water for he was very thirsty. She fetched a glass of water from a pitcher. After having lunch old man inquired Azam for wandering in the forest. He replied; “I’m living an unhappy and miserable life, I lost my father and mother both, I don’t know why I’m having this bad luck. I worked hard patiently and waited for my good days but they never came. I became bewildered and left my house and sister alone to search for luck. I want to ask my luck why it has bestowed me a life full of tears. Can you tell me exactly where should I search for luck?” The old man stared in the eyes of Azam, cleared his throat, and said; “Well, I don’t know where you can find luck but I have something for you that will make you feel proud one day for having such a wretched and piteous life. And that day you will feel that how foolish you were in the search of luck.” The old man opened a coffee and took out a silver bowl from it. He gave the bowl to Azam and said;

“Take this bowl with you and return to your home.”

Azam asked; “What should I do with this bowl? Will that bring light in my darken life?”

Old man; “Yes! It will bring light in your life but you need to wait for that.”

Azam; “You are making flout of me. How can a bowl bring light into one’s life?”

Old man; “Take this bowl with you and whenever you feel broken, hurt, or desperate and cry, just put your all tears in this bowl.”

Azam; “What will happen by doing so?”

Old man; “I want you to see practically what this bowl brings for you. I will not tell you what is going to happen as this bowl gets filled with your tears. Be patient and carry on with your stunning life.”

Azam took the silver bowl from the oldster and returned to his home. He started earning his and his sister’s bread by selling tea near a tire shop in a doorway of his town. He would always keep the silver bowl with him for whenever he had tears he would put them in the bowl. He lived in this way for three years, and whenever he felt downing and cried lonely he didn’t waste a single drop of his tears, he always put them in the bowl. And, a night came when this silver bowl was filled with tears. He slept, and when in the morning he awakened, what he saw was a miracle for him, that was like magic, and it seemed that the bowl was not a common bowl, but it was a magical bowl. Every single drop of tear in the silvery bowl was turned into a pearl. And the whole bowl was full of pearls. It was an amazing scene; Azam was hovering over the clouds of happiness in the sky of luck. He was very happy, and hence bowl now had filled his darken life with the flicker of pearls!

Moral: Your efforts, your struggles, your stunning life, your tears are also filling the magical bowl of your life. Work hard and put every little bit of effort into the journey of your dreams, be patient if you encounter any setbacks, and trust your Creator. One day you will be better paid for all these tears and efforts!
|By: Jahan Zaib Brohi|
The writer is a blogger and student at the University of Engineering & Technology. He can be reached at jahanzaib.writer@gmail.com