(219) જાણે કે મિ. જેફ (Jeff) જીવિત જ છે!

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આ આર્ટિકલને લખતાં હું શબ્દાતીત વ્યથા અનુભવી રહ્યો છું, કેમકે મારા અગાઉના બ્લોગ “A full circle swallowed 22 years” (એક સંપૂર્ણ પરિક્રમા ૨૨ વર્ષ ઓહિયાં કરી ગઈ) ના નાયક (Hero) હવે આપણી વચ્ચે નથી. લેખનું શીર્ષક વિશિષ્ટ અને તત્વજ્ઞાનીય રીતે ગહન અર્થ ધરાવનારું છે, પણ અહીં તેનું અર્થઘટન કે તેની ચર્ચા કરવાનો કોઈ અવકાશ નથી.

હું લગભગ અર્ધી સદી સુધીના ભૂતકાળ તરફ પાછો ફરું છું, જ્યારે કે અમે બંને પ્રથમ વાર વોલિબોલના મેદાન ઉપર એકબીજાને મળ્યા હતા અને એ પહેલી જ મુલાકાતે અમારી વચ્ચે મિત્રાચારીના અંકુર ફૂટ્યા હતા. વર્ષો વીતતાં જતાં અમે એકબીજાના ભાઈ સમાન બની રહ્યા અને અમારી દોસ્તીની સમગ્ર સમયાવધિ દરમિયાન અમે એકબીજા સાથે હૃદયના હર્ષશોકને વહેંચતા રહ્યા. આટલા લાંબા સમય દરમિયાન છેલ્લાં સાત વર્ષને બાદ કરતાં અમે ભાગ્યે જ એકાદ હજાર દિવસ સાથે રહ્યા હોઈશું. મિ. જેફ પરદેશમાં અને હું અહીં ભારત ખાતે જ રહ્યો હોવા છતાં અમારી વચ્ચેનો નિયમિત પત્રવ્યવહાર એવો રહ્યો કે અમને કદીય એવું લાગ્યું ન હતું કે અમારી વચ્ચેનું ભૌતિક અંતર અમને એકબીજાથી વિખુટા પાડી શક્યું હોય!

 

(211) મરહુમ જનાબ ‘સૂફી’ સાહેબને નિવાપાંજલિ

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મારા કેટલાક વાંચકોએ જુન ૧૨, ૨૦૦૮ થી મારા બ્લોગ ઉપર મારા કોઈ આર્ટિકલ ન દેખાતાં મને પૃચ્છા કરી હતી. મારા કારોબારના આ દિવસોમાં મારી વ્યસ્તતાના કારણે હું મારી બ્લોગીંગ પ્રવૃત્તિમાં થોડોક નિષ્ક્રીય હતો. એવામાં મારા એક મિત્રે અચકાતાં અચકાતાં મને મેઈલ કરી હતી કે હું મારી તબિયત બાબતે સ્વસ્થ છું કે કેમ! આ મેઈલનો ગર્ભિત ભાવ એવો હતો કે તેઓશ્રી કદાચ જાણવા માગતા હતા કે હું જીવિત છું! ઈશ્વરકૃપાએ હું તો અહીં છું, પણ આજે ‘કોઈક’ સર્વશક્તિમાન સર્જનહારના સાન્નિધ્યમાં છે. મલૈકુલ મોત (યમદૂત) દ્વારા કદાચ કોઈ ભૂલ થઈ હશે કે શું (હું લોહીના ઊંચા દબાણનો દર્દી છું), પણ આજના દિવસે આપણા વ્હાલા માનવંતા મહાનુભાવ જનાબ મહંમદઅલી પરમાર ‘સુફી’ સાહેબની રૂહનું આ ફાની દુનિયામાંથી અનંત અને અજ્ઞાત એવી દુનિયા તરફ પ્રયાણ થયું છે. બ્લોગીંગ જગતના નભોમંડળમાંથી આજે ‘સુફી’ નામનો એક ચમકતો સિતારો ખરી પડ્યો છે.

 

(193) એક સજ્જનનું મૃત્યુ

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હું આજે એક એવી પ્રતિભાશાળી વ્યક્તિ વિષે વાત કરવા જઈ રહ્યો છું, જે આજે આ દુનિયામાં હયાત નથી. ટૂંકમાં હું કહી શકું કે તેઓ પોતાના સમયના સ્થાનિક Hero (નાયક) હતા. મારા તેમની સાથેના સંબંધોની કોઈ વ્યાખ્યા ન આપી શકાય, તેમ છતાંય એને ‘મિત્રતા’ એવું નામ તો જરૂર આપીશ. તેઓ હતા કાણોદરના વતની શ્રી અહમદભાઈ પલાસરા કે જે માત્ર 44 વર્ષની યુવાવયે અવસાન પામ્યા હતા. એ વખતે મેં મરહુમના સંયુક્ત પરિવારને સંબોધતો એક દિલાસાપત્ર લખ્યો હતો. મરહુમના કુટુંબીજનોની પૂર્વ સંમતિથી હું એ આખોય પત્ર અહીં રજૂ કરું છું, જે મરહુમને સારી રીતે સમજવા માટે સ્વયં સ્પષ્ટ અને પૂરતો છે.

 

Dr. P. J. Shah, a tender-hearted Physician will be missed

My endeavor of expressing words of gratitude for the Late Dr. P. J. Shah who was born in 1936 may perhaps look like to be deficient while piecing this eulogy. I am afraid of failing to justify properly the medical services as a competent Physician rendered by Dr. Shah for the last 45 years to this village of Kanodar and surrounding villages as well as far wide distant areas. He offered his services of initial 15 years to the local Trust Hospital known as Shermohmadkhan Dispensary and the rest as a Private Practitioner.  

On January 12, 2009, Dr. Shah died at Mohankheda, near Ujjain (M.P.) when he was on a pilgrimage tour to various Jain temples of India. During his life time, he had never been out of his dispensary for more than a week as he was devoted to his duty and ‘work is worship’ was his motto. Here, we can see the miracle of God in Dr. Shah’s last day of his life that a man who had no time of performing any religious services had died in his worshiping garments in the innermost part of the temple of Adishwarnath while worshiping. He was attacked by misfortunate fatal heart stroke and was no more.

The news of the demise of Dr. Shah spread like lightning throughout the area and within no time thousands of his patients and admirers gathered at his residence-cum-dispensary here at Kanodar. Patan (N.G.) was his land of birth, but Kanodar was the land of his actions. In brief to say, he was a surpassing native of Kanodar and was proud of identifying himself as Kanodari (Resident of Kanodar). His funeral service was held on the next day at Patan and a large number of people from his field of actions here had rushed forward there to attend the service to bid him last farewell with tears in eyes, sobbing and heart-burst crying. The people mourned his death as deeply as though they would have lost a family member or a close friend.

 

Paying Respect to the Late Mr.’Sufi’

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Some of my Readers inquired of non-appearance of any Articles on my blog since June 12, 2008. Being these days very busy in my business, I was silent in my blogging activity for some time. A friend of mine mailed me in hesitating words whether I am o.k. by health. The hidden tone of mail was to know whether I am alive. With the grace of God, I am here but ‘somebody’ is there in proximity of the Almighty Creator. The angel of death might have mistaken and in my place (because I am a high B.P. patient), our dearest personality – Honorable Mohmadali Parmar ‘Sufi’ – has been lifted from this mortal world to endless unseen world. A shining star named ‘Sufi’ crumbled down from the sky of the planet of blogging.

A devoted group of Gujarati bloggers, led by Mr. Vijaykumar Shah and his many other friends, is very active in Houston (USA) serving Gujarati language, its literature and its community. Mr. Sufi was one of them, a popular figure known to all, dear to all as an old hand man of 85 and the noblest of the nobles. His blog in Gujarati was titled as “Adhyatmik Kavyo’ i.e. Spiritual (Mystical) poems. My Readers may visit his blog – http://mohmadparmar.gujaratisahityasarita.org (which is still live, but alas! Mr. ‘Sufi’ is not alive) for the detailed information of his creations as well as his life.

My Readers will be surprised to know that the Late Janab Mohmadali Parmar and I happened to know each other only before three months to his demise through our blogging and a very little communication by e-mails. My photograph was already there on my home page and he would have seen me, but it was my hard luck that I could see his face only when his son – Mr. Siraj announced the Late’s celebration of life arranged at Houston with his photograph. A proverbial slogan is very popular that a man is known by the company he keeps. In case of our relationship, I could know him through his poetry. Now, it would be appropriate if I say that a poet is known by the poetry he writes.

While mentioning our brief acquaintance, I remember a poem written by the renowned poet Ben Johnson on comparison of a tree of oak and a flower of lily. Oak lives for about 300 years, but life of a lily is hardly a day. The central idea of the poem is that how long we live does not matter, but how well we live is important. Here, it is the matter of proud for everybody who knows Mr. Sufi that he lived long and at the same time well also. In brief to say that his life can be measured by both years and good deeds.

When we refer his introductory and disclaimer page on his blog, we can see that he was really a ‘Sufi’ saint of the time. His words written in Gujarati are meant as “My poems are spiritual. They are aimed to the welfare of the people, to prevent them from falling down morally and to create the feelings of universal brotherhood into their minds and hearts.” He further explains that all the religions of the world are just like ladders to reach perfection. By the way, it is the matter of worth mention that I had put a comment of support for his some lines in my words as “Silence of good people encourages evil indirectly.” To be good is not enough. Good people should encourage others also to be good.

Summing up, let us pray to the Almighty God to rest the Late’s departed soul among those who enjoy the mercy and pleasure of Him.

With deep affections,

-Valibhai Musa
Dtd.: July 20, 2008