Hope and despair

By Dr. Muhammad Hafizullah

“There are gusty winds, rain with thunderstorms in New York; the weather is terrible hence the flights delayed indefinitely,” was the warning from the lady overseeing the i-help kiosks for self-check at San Francisco airport at 6am. That sank my heart down, five hours of flight plus three hours time difference means sight hours in total and if this gets delayed we may be wasting a whole day.

Asfandyar, who got up early morning at 4.30am to drop us at the airport setting off from Fremont - fifty miles away, must have reached home. What do we do if the flight gets cancelled?  What if we take off, fly for five hours and then unable to land? Another possibility may be to travel up to New York and then land in one of the adjoining cities due to unfavourable weather. Worse, if we have to land in emergency in bad weather?

I remember, once flying to Peshawar from Karachi, the take off was delayed by three hours due to hostile weather at the destination. All scheduled flights destined for different locations took off except for ours. 

Absence of the staff at the counter and hence information irritated the crowd which soon became impatient and rowdy. The plane was allowed to take off after spending three hours in uncertainty - hope and despair.

All were excited on boarding the plane but the atmosphere became very tense as plane did not take off for another thirty minutes. People started raising slogans the pilot appeared from somewhere and the plane actually left ninety minute later than our arrival time at the destination.

The plane had to be diverted from Peshawar to Lahore and then eventually to Islamabad due to inclement weather at both cities. That was a physical and mental torture! Vacillating between hope and despair was most taxing on body and spirit!

Kathmandu airport is famous for its difficult landing as it lies in the centre of a cup hence offering a challenge to all landing and taking off pilots. Delay and cancellation of flight is a routine! Before embarking off the airport we checked and the flight was reported to be in time.

As we reached the airport, we were told in a matter of fact tone about the cancellation of flight, after making us wait for ninety minutes. Though people had flights to catch for their respective cities from Karachi and plans for the next day, they all took in a light spirit. We returned to the hotel and drew plans for an exciting evening to be back at the airport the next day!

The announcement from the staff about the permission from ATC to take off for New York was welcomed with cheers and clapping.

A little before that, everyone was calling relatives to keep them informed. Many passengers called their children to get an update from weather reports available on internet. 

Most people were dozing off having woken up early in the morning to catch the flight at 7.45am. To catch a flight, even a domestic flight, one is well advised to arrive ninety minutes before the departure time.

Giving a margin of fifteen minutes for the unpredictable freeway, one had to leave home for an otherwise thirty minutes journey forty five minutes before.

To be able to leave in time and be ready one had to wake up an hour before. This implied waking up at four and may be earlier for the people arriving from distant towns of bay area.  Everyone seemed apprehensive and tense. Uneasiness prevailed in uncertain circumstances. But the announcement was received with a sigh of relief! Hope after despair was most welcoming!

Our whole life is an unending series of 'hope and despair', one follows the other and tail hunting continues. We start a journey, road diversion due to an accident, series of red lights or last minutes road closures due to VIP movement dash hopes of arriving at time.

And then suddenly, lady luck smiles and things start happening in order - facilitating the journey. Someone near and dear falls ill and a minor ailment transforms into a major illness and when everything seems to be going in the wrong direction, suddenly things start improving and the person gets well. While flying on long haul flights, after the first four hours time seems to become static and minutes refuse to pass by. Sleep becomes an adversary- far away, reading becomes boring, movies lose their attraction, computer battery gets exhausted and one seems in the deep end of sea. But a few minutes later, everything settles down following an announcement from the pilot about the destination being two hours away. One tries to catch up on the half seen movies, starts finding the book attractive and food tastier.

The struggle called life needs important components of training for being not too optimistic in the hour of 'hope' and not too pessimistic in the time of 'despair'. Most clouds have a silver lining and most tunnels have light at their end - which may not be appreciable in the beginning. 

Self control on getting drowned in self pity and despondency is the secret of life and success. How and when those candles of hope have to be ignited and protected from the ugly winds of hopelessness is the real key to success.

And this perhaps applies to all fields of life: may it be day to day chores, travelling, studying - from kindergartens to PhD, performing religious obligations or attending to worldly pursuits.

In this competitive world abounding in physical and psychological thorns, the art of success lies in growing some lovely flowers of hope and protecting them from all adversaries. Even in the so-called no win situations, when everything seem destined to disaster, one has to believe in ultimate success.

We are in a similar situation today, clouds of despair abound and there does not seem to be any ray of hope beyond the clouds! Situation has, no doubt, gone from bad to worse! Our own country men are displaced in their own home land.

Those who were leading a respectable life, with shelter over their heads, have been forced to live in abysmal conditions in camps. Those who would take pride in feeding the poor have to depend on others to be fed.

Suddenly people have lost all their worldly possessions and worse, they have lost their peace and hopes for tomorrow. The worst aspect being the uncertainty of what future holds for them.

Insecurity is the worst enemy of tranquility and peace. Surrounded by unknown enemies, with unclear goals and no plans for the future, these poor people find it difficult to comprehend why this hell has been let loose on them. 

History will never forgive us, if we do not stand up to the situation and emulate the example of our ancestors - ANSARS! We have to help them, merely not because it's good, but necessarily for our own survival.