By Poornima Marh, TwoCircles.net
Navaid Alam, originally from UP, has been living in Bangalore for more than 20 years now. He spent 12 years of his life in UP, then moved to Saudi where he did most of his schooling and after that came to Bangalore to study engineering.
He is a software Engineer working with OpenText, a software company in Domlur. He also holds a keen interest in Astronomy and is an active member of ABAA (Association of Bangalore Amateur Astronomers), an astronomy club at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium.
He is also the co-founder and trustee, along with other members at the ILM Montessori, a school in Koramangala, that practices the Montessori method of teaching.
“This school was started in 2013, and for me, amongst all the things I have done this is probably the best thing that I have been a part of. We started thinking about this school a couple of years back, myself and the other members. There is a mosque here called Masjid-e-Imam ud in Koramangala. Every Saturday we have classes over there. That was our meeting point. We have known each other for the past 10 to 12 years now.”
“We learnt in the Quran class, the importance of moral values, and becoming better human beings. We realised the kind of education we have today isn’t really preparing children for a better, moral standing. The education system is not really nurturing that. The schools and colleges have become like factories for the industry. We wanted to do something about that and bring the focus back to values and morals, irrespective of your status in the society, or religion, or whatever standing you have, these are some fundamental things that we all agree upon, like truth, honesty, justice, and dignity. We thought we will do whatever little we can for this purpose. It’s been a great learning experience for me personally.”
About Ramadan he says “Ramadan is a great disruptor. You are sailing through the whole year, you are comfortable in your schedule and then Ramadan comes and disrupts everything. But, what it tells you is that everything that you have thought as being a part and parcel of life, or necessary, is not really so. You can change those things. That is what it teaches me, this is my own personal reflection on Ramadan, that you can break out of that schedule you have been so accustomed to and you can control your fundamental desires, control your hunger, your thirst, everything.”
“You go beyond your daily routine. It tells you there is more to life. you are here for a reason and to re align ourselves to that focus. I started fasting when I was about 8 years old. Ramadan actually moves by 10 days every year. In the lunar calendar instead of 365 days, we have 355 days. So it goes about one whole year in 36 years. In my childhood Ramadan used to be during the summer days. So, that’s when I had my first experience of fasting in April or May. Here it’s a pleasant weather so you don’t realise this, but over there it was a difficult time. Especially the thirst gets to you. Even in school when I was in Saudi. There too we used to have extreme weather, both hot and cold. Throughout my schooling I fasted. Infact I remember we used to play basketball in that weather. It used to be crazy, because you get so thirsty. But, as children you don’t realise that.”
TCN Series: Ramadan 1439