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Happily Ever After?Daddy`s Bank Account Begs to Differ

This is a guest post by Sarah Ahmad. The writer has done her MBA from University of Peshawar and is an avid reader of all things readable (yes, soap wrappers ARE readable :p) and a not so prolific writer (regrettably so) of everything writeable. The writer takes an active interest in culinary arts and feels like a pretentious fool writing about herself in third person.

Yes, it is the Rapid Fire round!

(No, it is not Koffee with Karan)

So what comes to your mind when I say these words?
1. Ceiling?
Fan!
2. Apple?
Doctor! (An Apple a day, keeps the doctor away, nai?)
3. Extravagance?
Weddings! (No??? ok maybe I forced this in, to set the stage for my write up :p ‘Politicians’ counts as correct too :p)
So my sister got married last December and whenever our utility bills arrived, everyone would say ‘just you wait for the December bills!’ That really made my father look forward to the blessed month! (He was aware there won’t be any surprise gifts from PESCO or SUI Northern or even PTCL btw).Utility bills are the least of miseries attached to this ‘most important day of their lives’ with them earning nothing and spending as if they earned it all!
However parents, in their efforts to out-do all others, load trucks and lorries and vans and even an occasional donkey cart with the “JAHEZ”

Why?
Because ‘The more, the merrier’
(Merrier being the larkay walay and more being supplied by the larki walay and yet these are people who cry when daughters are born). But I digress surely, let’s resume our game:
4. Marriage?
Kharcha!!!

Ok, Sorry! Um Happiness?

Yeah! That’s better!
5. Bride?
JORAA!!!!!

To be explicit, a ‘DESIGNER JORAA’ that nobody has ever worn or seen or even thought of and one that will outshine Cinerella’s and Diana’s and Kate Middleton’s combined and will mesmerize everyone and fill them with envy so deep that even the midlest accident thereafter can be attributed to their ‘jal ker nazar laga dena’.

The bride, however is not the only one in this desire, the whole household joins her happily. The family must look……ummmm…..well, ten times richer than they actually are.

Why? To gain mankind’s approval? But,

“…surely He does not love the extravagant.” Quran [Surat 7, Verse 31]

A friend of mine told me that her father is not giving her enough money to get an HSY wedding dress and she has to be contented with a sasta sa 70,000 rupees ka jora. I went ‘pooray sattar hazaaaaaar rupaaaay?!’

(Ever heard of the ghareeb awaam? Well, I must be ‘it’ because this sounds like a lot of money to me and only between you and me, it was me, that pepsi sasty karanay wali aunty :p)

It is my observation that we spend more time on putting price tags on other’s possessions than we do on appreciating our own and it really seems pointless to spend such huge amounts when we will still be looking and comparing and never satisfied.

We seem to look for excuses to spend money on, be them the hall decorations, the mehndi arrangements, the photographer or the special effects on the stage. The event planner told my aunt that we should have the ‘waterfall stage’, who, being her usual ghareeb awaam mentality wali self, replied. “je koi water wich dub ker mar gaya te utton janazay da we kharcha bhugtna paray ga” and thus politely declined the temptation offered.

Allah s.w.t  says of those He approves

“And [they are] those who, when they spend, do so not excessively or sparingly but are ever, between that, [justly] moderate.” -Qur`an [Surah Al Furqan, Verse 67]

Can one manage with a lesser amount? Absolutely.
Would one enjoy less with a smaller amount to spend? No, because there’s so much to do, there’s hardly any time to be self-conscious.

The Holy Prophet (s.a.w), while passing by a road, saw one of his companions, Saad, performing wuzu. He was using more water than required. So the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) said: Why are you wasting water, O Saad?

Saad asked: Is there any Israaf in utilising water also?

The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) replied: Yes, even if it is at the bank of a river.

Take a moment to think about how much you spend on this ‘magical day of union’, because when all is calculated and paid, the only magic fathers know is ‘crucio’!!!

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