A Very Nostalgic Memory! (Translated by Ishraq Ahmed Hashmi)

In Effingham, an idyllic town an hour and a half drive from St. Louis, we stayed at the tall and handsome Dr. Narendra Arora's villa. Dr. Sahib's family had gone somewhere, so they handed over an entire floor of their house to Inamul Haq Javed, Uzair Ahmed and Rakim Al Haruf, while practically we were in "possession" of the entire house. In the evening, when Dr. Arora returned from his clinic, he took a look at my downcast face and said, "You are looking at me with some concern, there is no problem?" ? How much you care about me, our family has never cared about us!" The doctor laughed and then said seriously, "You are hiding something from me" as if something suddenly came to his mind. They said, "You don't smoke cigarettes?" I hesitated and said yes, I am very much a victim of this bad habit. The doctor asked, "Where are the cigarettes?"

I replied, "Are they in my pocket?"

He said, "Then take it out and drink it, what are you thinking?" Although Dr. Arora said these words clearly, my ears could not believe it. Many of your friends may not know that, let alone Americans, Pakistanis and Indians living in the United States, who are "inherited" in the smoke and dust of their own country, are also like Americans. They do not allow anyone to smoke cigarettes in the houses, here the matter was even more "serious" that is, one is the house of an "American", from above he is a doctor and above all, a follower of the Sikh religion! It should be noted that in the Sikh religion, cigarettes are considered as impure as we Muslims know pork to be impure, so I thanked Dr. Arora in these "delicate situations" and asked him to avoid it, "I don't need it at this time." I'll drink later!

Dr. Arora said, "I know, you are saying this while passing my religion, but you should shake all these things from your mind, smoke a cigarette with complete satisfaction and relax." I will be happy if I see my guest happy". I thanked them once again and said "Don't worry, I will drink after a while" I appreciated their hospitality in my heart but I also didn't want to forget the hospitality. Although I was really anxious because of the lack of nicotine in my blood, I even tried to smoke a cigarette two or four times outside the house, but due to the severe cold, I rushed back home after taking a half-drink. I was forced to take shelter but still my heart was not ready to say yes to Dr. Arora's offer. To remove this mental conflict, the doctor once again assured me that my smoking would not harm his religion and insisted that I smoke now. So when I felt that there was no more room for lying, I took out a cigarette box from my pocket, put one cigarette to my lips and brought the flame of the lighter close to him. Then I took a long breath and closed my eyes with pleasure.

The joy that was on my face at that time, if someone took a picture of it, it could have been used as the monogram of Aman Alam. Dr. Arora is one of the dearest friends of my Dr. friend Naeem Kohli. Dr. Naeem Kohli brought us to his hometown of Effingham to spend a few days with him at the end of the "Camkana" convention in St. Louis. He was constructing a palatial house on several acres in those days, in which though he had taken up residence, there was still a lot of work to be done, so he arranged for me to stay at Dr. Arora's place, a walking distance from his house. And so we used to have breakfast, lunch and dinner at Dr. Kohli's place. Naeem Kohli is a very orthodox Muslim and same is the case with Dr. Arora. They are not Sikhs, but they are strictly bound by the Sharia of their religion, i.e. beards, turbans and bangles are prescribed, so my hesitation regarding cigarettes was for this reason. However, he "hooked" me on a cigarette and went back to his clinic and when he returned at night, he changed his clothes and sat with us in the living room. After chatting here and there for a while, he addressed me and said, "Qasmi Sahib, you are sitting in front of me smoking a cigarette, I know it is harmful for you and people sitting nearby are also affected by it." Yes, if I could get rid of this habit of yours in one day, I would definitely try for it, but as a doctor I know it will take a long time to quit, you only have to stay with me for three or four days, I will give you my Why torture for convenience?

I said gratefully, "That's your generosity." He laughed and said, "I know how generous I am. However, I was telling you that cigarettes are not only harmful to you and your "neighbors." My religion is also against it, but I don't want to impose my belief on you. Religious tolerance is decreasing day by day in our India and in your Pakistan, all of us each otherThey are forcing to adopt their own method. No religion in the world allows it, it happens only in fascism. You stand by your faith, I stand by mine, live the life you want to live. But don't force others to do it. Now you are smoking, I don't mind it, but my religion doesn't allow it, so I'm not smoking, similarly you shouldn't mind any of my actions...should it? I replied "No" after hearing this, Dr. Arora took a deep breath and said "It's only in the evening that the body starts to break down" and then walking towards the bar made in his house he laughed and said "Hopefully now you I will also have no objection to this process. And then they started pouring a purple drink into a glass.