Went to Lake Louise and Banff today. It was a beautiful day with occasional showers and a generally overcast sky (which makes me happiest!). The mountain ranges on both sides of the road mingled with the clouds at the mountain tops to form a unanimous whole. They were all covered with evergreens and other trees as in all parts of what I have seen so far of Canada, giving the mountains a whole pallette full of hues ranging from greens to blues in a flawless mixture till it gets lost in the ash and white of the clouds. Some of the tallest mountains were covered in snow at the top giving birth to streams and waterfalls rushing down the mountainsides. Amazingly it took me back to trips in Sikim and Sylhet.
The Sangu lake, high up in the mountains of Sikim, emerging from the mighty Kanchanjangha, was sorrounded by high peaks which were covered in snow all the year round and melted a little daily to gather in the lake which then overflowed to give birth to the Tista river - beautiful, clear greenish blue waters rushing over rocks and stones sorrounded by trees on both sides till it sparkles and giggles and makes you laugh out loud as if you have had a little glimpse into heaven! Lake Louise was similar but somehow not the same. Perhaps I am not so much in love with the crowds that infest tourist spots. Perhaps I like the untouched and rugged beauty of nature as I found in Sikim but not in the well developed lakeside of Lake Louise.
The thin streams on the mountains on our way to Banff reminded me of the numberless waterfalls we saw descending from the mountains in Sylhet under the influence of the monsoon rains. The human mind is like a stream too and does not follow any particular direction. From streams I was suddenly lost in the memories of our journey to Jaflong with Mawla Bhai at the helm. God bless the man! Allah alone knows how many songs he knows by heart and under his skillful and humurous leadership we all sang and joked as one, the whole busfull of people had turned friends who could share their thought with everybody! Yet as we passed by the mountains running down in waterfalls with torrential clouds and shower drops hanging overhead, he led us all in a praise of the One Almighty Allah who had created all this beauty, Tabarak Allah!
That reminded me of our trip to Madhabkunda where I felt something unique for the first time but could not perfectly express it (as I always found it difficult to bare my soul) though Mawla bhai thought there was somehting more to what I had begun to express and abruptly stopped. I was sitting on a rock (like a villain as Riaz Bhai took photos to prove to everybody later on!) and watching everbody in their various pursuits in the lap of nature (God bless the man who invented sunglasses, particularly large ones!). What overwhelmed me was how the people I knew to be important or selfish or proud or with some such disease of the heart were all cured by the proximity to nature. I knew it would be shortlived (what good thing in life isn't?) but it felt good for those few moments to see everyone in their prime quality - innocence!
That reminded me of my second trip to Sylhet which was not as colourful but two incidents made it meaningful.
I could not sleep the whole night as various people were passing through a bogey full of girls whose parents had entrusted us with their safety. After Fajr, looking at the beautiful sunrise which Fahmida text messaged me not to miss (as if I would miss it for the whole world!), I felt quite sleepy and pulling my shawl over myself, dozed off. When I woke up, I was feeling quite refreshed, warm and comfortable. I saw my girls quietly scurrying around, talking in a hushed voice and myself covered in at least four more shawls! My students thought I looked cold and took care to give me a few hours of perfect sleep! May Allah bless them all!
The other incident I remember is going to the kitchen of the hotel where we stayed to cook for my few months old son. On the last day there were some complications with rooms and the eleven rooms we were occupying were reduced to four for the remaining day. My room was also axed. As I could not go out for the day's trip with the rest due to illness, I decided to leave the room at twelve as required. I went to inform them at eleven that I was ready to be removed to one of the four remaining rooms. The staff came frequently and talked and inquired about our wellbeing and brought lunch at one, but nobody showed any interest to vacate me. I fell asleep waiting for someone to get me out. Woken at three by a clamourous group of girls, all desperate to use the bathroom ( imagine 75 girls with 3 bathrooms to share between themselves!), I went to ask them what they were doing about what was technically no longer my room and guess my own desperation when they said I could keep the room till I left that evening! I did not have enough money to pay for it! They said they would not charge me which was even worse. I could not let IIUC pay for my room beyond the budget! Then they explained to me that they were giving me this facility for free because they liked the way our girls were polite and well trained! They were all there to say goodbye with tearful eyes when I was leaving (how can people be so generous to strangers they met for no more than three days?) and they took special care to bring my son's food to my room before we started off in spite of the pressure of packing food for all of us for the train unbidden and unexpected! They called me on occasions from Sylhet after that till I left Bangladesh to ask about our well being.
It all makes me believe, people are naturally good. It is only when there is a conflict of interests that Shaitan lends us a hand and makes monsters of us. If only we could defeat him at that point ............. if ...........
The Sangu lake, high up in the mountains of Sikim, emerging from the mighty Kanchanjangha, was sorrounded by high peaks which were covered in snow all the year round and melted a little daily to gather in the lake which then overflowed to give birth to the Tista river - beautiful, clear greenish blue waters rushing over rocks and stones sorrounded by trees on both sides till it sparkles and giggles and makes you laugh out loud as if you have had a little glimpse into heaven! Lake Louise was similar but somehow not the same. Perhaps I am not so much in love with the crowds that infest tourist spots. Perhaps I like the untouched and rugged beauty of nature as I found in Sikim but not in the well developed lakeside of Lake Louise.
The thin streams on the mountains on our way to Banff reminded me of the numberless waterfalls we saw descending from the mountains in Sylhet under the influence of the monsoon rains. The human mind is like a stream too and does not follow any particular direction. From streams I was suddenly lost in the memories of our journey to Jaflong with Mawla Bhai at the helm. God bless the man! Allah alone knows how many songs he knows by heart and under his skillful and humurous leadership we all sang and joked as one, the whole busfull of people had turned friends who could share their thought with everybody! Yet as we passed by the mountains running down in waterfalls with torrential clouds and shower drops hanging overhead, he led us all in a praise of the One Almighty Allah who had created all this beauty, Tabarak Allah!
That reminded me of our trip to Madhabkunda where I felt something unique for the first time but could not perfectly express it (as I always found it difficult to bare my soul) though Mawla bhai thought there was somehting more to what I had begun to express and abruptly stopped. I was sitting on a rock (like a villain as Riaz Bhai took photos to prove to everybody later on!) and watching everbody in their various pursuits in the lap of nature (God bless the man who invented sunglasses, particularly large ones!). What overwhelmed me was how the people I knew to be important or selfish or proud or with some such disease of the heart were all cured by the proximity to nature. I knew it would be shortlived (what good thing in life isn't?) but it felt good for those few moments to see everyone in their prime quality - innocence!
That reminded me of my second trip to Sylhet which was not as colourful but two incidents made it meaningful.
I could not sleep the whole night as various people were passing through a bogey full of girls whose parents had entrusted us with their safety. After Fajr, looking at the beautiful sunrise which Fahmida text messaged me not to miss (as if I would miss it for the whole world!), I felt quite sleepy and pulling my shawl over myself, dozed off. When I woke up, I was feeling quite refreshed, warm and comfortable. I saw my girls quietly scurrying around, talking in a hushed voice and myself covered in at least four more shawls! My students thought I looked cold and took care to give me a few hours of perfect sleep! May Allah bless them all!
The other incident I remember is going to the kitchen of the hotel where we stayed to cook for my few months old son. On the last day there were some complications with rooms and the eleven rooms we were occupying were reduced to four for the remaining day. My room was also axed. As I could not go out for the day's trip with the rest due to illness, I decided to leave the room at twelve as required. I went to inform them at eleven that I was ready to be removed to one of the four remaining rooms. The staff came frequently and talked and inquired about our wellbeing and brought lunch at one, but nobody showed any interest to vacate me. I fell asleep waiting for someone to get me out. Woken at three by a clamourous group of girls, all desperate to use the bathroom ( imagine 75 girls with 3 bathrooms to share between themselves!), I went to ask them what they were doing about what was technically no longer my room and guess my own desperation when they said I could keep the room till I left that evening! I did not have enough money to pay for it! They said they would not charge me which was even worse. I could not let IIUC pay for my room beyond the budget! Then they explained to me that they were giving me this facility for free because they liked the way our girls were polite and well trained! They were all there to say goodbye with tearful eyes when I was leaving (how can people be so generous to strangers they met for no more than three days?) and they took special care to bring my son's food to my room before we started off in spite of the pressure of packing food for all of us for the train unbidden and unexpected! They called me on occasions from Sylhet after that till I left Bangladesh to ask about our well being.
It all makes me believe, people are naturally good. It is only when there is a conflict of interests that Shaitan lends us a hand and makes monsters of us. If only we could defeat him at that point ............. if ...........
