I had taken a week off to attend a wedding and visit my siblings in the East Coast state of Terengganu and the bus ride both ways to and from was brutal on this aging body. However it was well worth it even though with no transportation of my own while being there was a handicap I was able to cover all bases as far getting all that I had intended fulfilled. I mostly stayed home with my nephew and his children at the bakery shop. Mohammad Rafi bin Israil, my nephew and his wife were most accommodating towards my being a guest a their home despite the daily routine they themselves has to go through with their daily lives with taking care of their children and running a bakery / mini market. I got to experience what it was like being a part of their lives for a week and it was no Sunday picnic. My nephew as I might have written in the past is the one who suffers from a a gangrene type of wound on both sides of his legs at the ankle that never seems to heal for over thirty years of his adult life. He has been to all kinds of hospitals and traditional healing places even to India to find a cure but no such luck. Being a very devoted Muslim and having a great intellectual mind perhaps kept him going and not loose hope. Every night i watched him remove the bandages and wash his wounds that looked like some monstrous virus had eaten away most of the flesh and expose the bone on his leg, and it is beyond me to imagine his suffering after all these years. Rafi is the oldest among all my nephews and nieces and I used to carry him around when he was a baby.
Perhaps it was destined that i was to stay with this family whose father, my brother in law died practically under my watch and the third son died in the most sorry state from drug addiction and the youngest boy died from a motorcycle accident and I was at the hospital on both occasions to claim their deceased bodies. Yes on looking back I did have a very close psycho/emotional ties with my nephew's family and circumstances would have it, am still forced to bear witness as to how they have faired over the years. Rafi and his wife has six children, two boys and four girls. The eldest girls is now an architect while the next boy will inherit the bakery business, one of the older girls is on the way to becoming a lawyer while the next boy is jumping from one job to another and the last two girls are still in school. Briefly speaking Rafi has a close knit family from what i experience having spent a week at their home and closely observing their lives from morning till time for bed. The odd thing about the family is that they are very healthy when it comes to the spiritual side of life but almost all suffer from one form of ailment or another that warrant visits to the hospital every so often. With Rafi and his gangrenous legs and lately affections in his eyes, to his wife who had abdominal operations for one reason or another and their son Farouq who has abdominal problem including stomach bleeding, and the then there is the eldest daughter with a torn ligament in her leg and the list goes on.
I spent most of my time listening to Rafi's wife Rubina who loves to talk about anything and everything and cared for me like I am her own father. I followed her to the market where just about everyone of the sellers would greet her like she is one of their relative giving her special attention more so than other customers. Rubina was originally from Islamabad and was married to Rafi at a young age and she is a very beautiful lady with a charm and wit about her that is genuine and sincere. The most attractive character about her is that she is a great chef especially cooking the Indian dishes that is my favorite and she is obsessed with making sure that I eat well when I am living under her roof. Despite their shortcomings when it comes to physical ailments, Rubina exudes a life of love and care that makes it all natural, the good and the bad that life has to offer. As for my nephew, Allah {awj} has given him a jewel of a lady for a wife whether he realize it or not and this gift I feel almost makes up for his suffering in this life. Along with this bounty Rafi also inherited from his father the bakery among other properties that helps to keep the family afloat. Adding to this is the fact that Rafi has a younger brother who is very well to do financially as he has a successful career and is ever ready to help his elder brother out in times of need.
Almost every time i visited Kuala Terengganu if only by myself i would stay with Rafi's family even though I have many other places that i could choose to stay with among my siblings. I would sleep on a narrow sofa not the most comfortable and i would sit and meditate almost throughout the night which was fine with me. I find peace amidst all the discord of life that revolves around me and allow myself to intervene only if and when I felt the need to with what is happening around me. When you sleep in some one's living room you learn to create your own privacy by submerging within and finding that space within where no one can impose their presence upon you; this is when meditation comes in handy.
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