Maktub

Remember how, when we were all much younger, we used to wish upon the fallen thick hairs of our eyelids? We would wait for one to fall, and then place it on our palm or finger, close our eyes, make a wish and blow away the hair.

Today, I found a hair, and held it, inspecting it. I didn’t know what I was expecting, a whish granting factory or the truth I often failed to see. That our wishes are never granted because we wished for them at the right time. Not kingfisher or shooting star can make our dreams come true. Its not even luck! Things happen because they are meant to happen. Destiny is something not quite easy to understand or accept. Most of us believe in some supreme power that can change the course of things if we pray enough. But life doesn’t work that way. Things happen because they are meant to happen.

Thinking of all this, I tried to hold on to the hair. But it flew away. Maybe it had tired of waiting for my wish; a wish that would have never been made. Or maybe it flew away because I wasn’t meant to make a wish.

Maktub is a word I came across in the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It means, “It is written” and maktub is what we all must have faith in. Instead we waste our time making wishes on stars.