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THE MUSH REGISTER

LOVE MEANS HOPE Ashraf and Humera

Humera

When he was 12, elders in the family decided he would marry his maternal uncle's daughter — in the distant future. The idea had been drilled into his head so much that when the girl fell in love with someone else, he was in great distress. When he met me, he had graduated from the school of hard knocks. He had lost his father at an early age and been through a few disasters in business.

Aware that my mother was keen on a groom who was in Government service, he made it clear that he would quit his job (with the Corporation of Madras) anytime and seek his fortunes elsewhere. True to his word, he started a life education centre that teaches the power of positive thinking and techniques to anchor one's life. We had to practise the lessons ourselves. Our first child — a male baby — was a stillborn and this happened just five days after he set up the centre.

Ashraf

"We probably are not ready to be parents," I reassured her. "This child will be returned to us." Because of her poor health, the doctor said we should not attempt to have a child for one year. I knew from experience that difficult situations bring out the best in people. In the first two years at Central Polytechnic (Adyar), I was way behind the top rankers. I was not a poor student; my poor ranking had to do with the high level of competition. My father gave me a copy of Napolean Hill's "Think and Grow Rich." Hill's path-breaking ideas kindled a new hope in me — the book's central message ("Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve") impressed me. I visualised my name splashed on the notice board, under a title that announced the class topper. The mental picture took real form. I fixed a picture of a male boy in my mind. Whenever the thought of the stillborn caused her emotional anguish, I would tell her the boy child we lost would be returned one day. Two years later, Armaan was born around the same time (second week of June) our first child should have entered our lives. We named him Armaan, because it means long-cherished desire.

AS TOLD TO PRINCE FREDERICK

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