Friday 9 December 2016

A Beautiful Life (4) - Shayeza Mughal


It's a lazy Sunday morning. I'm still in bed, scrolling through messages on my phone. 
"So you're a teacher?" I ask by way of small talk.
"I'm actually a student, Api. I just teach some kids in my spare time. Some of them have special needs, you know..."
"What?" I sit up. I'm wide awake now. "How old are you?"
"I'm twenty, Api."

 Twenty. She's only twenty. Takes time to sink in.

 SHAYEZA MUGHAL.

 Most of us know her as a diehard fan of Sonu Nigam. But what most of us do not know is underneath that star-struck exterior, lies a generous heart, an intelligent mind and a very mature and responsible individual. 


"Since when have you been teaching?" I ask.
"Sixteen, Api," she replies. 

 What was I doing when I was sixteen? I tax my brains. Ah yes - cribbing about the hostel food, watching cricket and reading Mills and Boon. Suddenly I'm ashamed. Ashamed of all the time I've wasted over the years.

 I try to conjure an image of Shayeza. A serious, geeky girl with her nose buried in a book 24/7, comes to mind. I couldn't have been more wrong. 

 She's a typical teenager with strong passions and interests. She's passionate about music. She adores,reveres, idolises Sonu Nigam. She cries buckets when a glass of water spills over a painting she's been making for him. But unlike him, she's not afraid of cockroaches. She can't afford to be. She's a Science student and has dissected them ever so often. She recently completed her graduation and will soon be studying for her MSc. 
Like a lot of girls her age, she loves nail art, sketching and painting. But there's a small difference. Unlike them, she doesn't while away her time watching telly and yakking about clothes and jewellery. Instead, she teaches those less fortunate than herself. 

When she first started teaching, she gave tuitions to children from wealthy families. Then she realised there were a lot of worthy students who could not afford to go to school because of the exorbitant fees. So she began teaching them instead. For free.


Currently, she's teaching fifteen kids, most of whom are from poor backgrounds. Three of them have special needs. One of them doesn't have any fingers on his right hand. "Each one of them is klose to my soul," she tells me with motherly pride. 


The kids in turn, adore her. 
Once one of her students asked her - "Baji you are our spiritual mother, right?"
"Yes," she replied.
"Then I will call you Ma from now."
Shayeza recalls how moved she was when he said that. It is one of the most cherished moments of her life.

And she's not even twenty-one. Not even an adult.

"Api, I have a dream..." she confides in me shyly. "To set up an institute for all those who need help, irrespective of whether they are men, women, kids, old, transgender, Hindu, Muslim or Christian..."

 I smile at her with affection. She reminds me of my favourite lines from a song sung by Abba:

 I have a dream, a song to sing...
I believe in angels,
Something good in everything I see...
I believe in angels.
When I know the time is right for me,
I'll cross the stream,
I have a dream.

Inshallah her dream will surely be fulfilled one day. And this Api's support and blessings will always be with her.


There's so much to learn from youngsters these days. My kids taught me patience, creativity, ahimsa. Shayeza taught me how to give. She reminded me of my own childhood dreams which have lain forgotten by the wayside for years. But more than anything else, she taught me love, music and friendship have no boundaries - be it age, religion or country. Just like:

Panchi, nadiya aur pawan ke jhonke,
Koi sharhad na inhein roke...
Shayeza means Noor. Roshni. Light. May she continue to spread light in the lives of many little ones for a long time to come.

What a gentle soul. What an angel. What a beautiful life.

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