Dear diary,

I hope you are doing fine and fresh as ever. Today I have  something more to share with you again. I had been planning to write to you since last Saturday but it is only now that I find time to speak to you. I hope you will enjoy it inshaAllah.

Oh yes, and before telling you what was special about the London trip, I want to talk about Monopoly game.

Yes, you read it right 🙂

When I was little,  I was fond of the Monopoly game. You know, in Pakistan there are some traditional board games that are very easily available, like Ludo, Chess etc. Monopoly was one of those.

My cousins taught my sisters and me the game but I could never fully comprehend it. We still used to play it, nevertheless,  making our own rules whenever convenient. I played it so many times that I had memorised the names of the places along with the colour of its property cards and even the prices.

I am not too sure if you have ever played it. I am putting up the picture of the game for you to have a quick look too. Maybe you can recall.

Monopoly Board Game along with its cards and cash

I am sure you are already wondering why is it that I am talking about Monopoly all of a sudden. You see, life is strange.  Last Saturday when I went to see London with my husband, rather being mesmerized by the beauty, what caught my attention more was that the places in Monopoly actually existed in reality! I don’t know how many people are aware of it, but it was a mini shock for me at least.

There were two things that my mind started wondering about.

First of all, I could never ever  have imagined in my childhood while stopping at different places on the board game that  one day I would actually be stopping at these places in reality. Old Kent,  White Chapel, King Cross Station, Pentonville, Pall Mall, White Hall, Trafalagar Square, Leciester, Picadilly, Regent street, Oxford street, Bond street, Parklane, Mayfair and the list goes on and on.I never knew these places existed for real, let alone asking Allah to make me stop at these places for real and even then He extended His favour. Praise be to Allah who has bestowed us with innumerable  bounties that He bestows us with blessings without even our asking!  Allah Himself says in Surah Rehman ‘ Then which of the favours of your Lord will you deny?’

 


It reminds of a beautiful passage I read on a facebook page some time back. May Allah reward the person who put the effort in compiling it. I will share it with you here, my dear diary…

A man reached 70 years of age and he faced a disease; he could not urinate. The doctors informed him that he was in need of an operation to cure this disease. He agreed to have the operation done as the problem was giving him much pain for days. When the operation was completed, his doctor gave him the bill which covered all the costs. The old man looked at the bill and started to cry. Upon seeing this the doctor told him that if the cost was too high then they could make some other arrangements. The old man said “I am not crying because of the money but I am crying because Allah let me urinate for 70 years and He never sent me a bill.”
…and if you try to count the blessings of Allah, never will you be able to count them… {Surah Ibrahim}

Allah states that the servants are never able to count His blessings, let alone thank Him duly for them. In Sahih Al-Bukhari it is recorded that the Messenger of Allah( Peace and blessings be upon him) used to supplicate;

«اللَّهُمَّ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ غَيْرَ مَكْفِيَ وَلَا مُوَدَّعٍ وَلَا مُسْتَغْنًى عَنْهُ رَبَّنَا»

O Allah ! All praise is due to You, without being able to sufficiently thank You, nor ever wish to be cutoff from You, nor ever feeling rich from relying on You; our Lord!

It was reported that Prophet Dawud peace be upon him, used to say in his supplication, “O Lord! How can I ever truly thank You, when my thanking You is also a favor from You to me”
Allah the Exalted answered him, “Now, you have thanked Me sufficiently, O Dawud,” meaning, `when you admitted that you will never be able to duly thank Me.’

 

It was a beautiful feeling while I was looking at these places and thinking about the times I was competing with my sisters and cousins to buy that property and later on becoming rich after putting up houses and hotels. Alhamdolilah.

There was also a simultaneous feeling.  A feeling that was bound to occur since I have this love for entrepreneurship. And that was if Monopoly game was a marketing tool for the places in London, why can’t we do it for any city in Pakistan, say Karachi? Did I tell you how much rush was there at these places in London? There were far more visitors and tourists than the locals. The different stops & stations in the game, the value of each place (Old Kent being the most cheap and Mayfair being the most expensive) the mortgage and rent cards of the game.. everything was translated from real life into little board game pieces. Maybe we can have a board game for Karachi that has Saddar, Tariq Road, Defense as places and a ‘Stuck in traffic’ place instead of free parking and even Clifton, HawkesBay or Paradise Point instead of the stations  Ofcourse, there are thousands of other ways of commercializing a place but having your own cultural board game really works.

Atleast, it did it for me.

I hope an aspiring entrepreneur is reading this.

Until next time then.

-Nida

On my way to London in a boat

 

 

http://www.calltowardslight.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/IMG_6326-682x1024.jpghttp://www.calltowardslight.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/IMG_6326-290x290.jpgZauja Muhammad AlifeaturedSwindon DiariesAllah,board game,entrepreneurship,Hazrat Dawood,London,Monopoly,Pakistan,Saddar,ShukrDear diary, I hope you are doing fine and fresh as ever. Today I have  something more to share with you again. I had been planning to write to you since last Saturday but it is only now that I find time to speak to you. I hope you will...The Diary of a Muslimah