author

Cima Bokhary-Khawaja Richardson

      Someone finally making

their own choices

To my readers, I wanted to see how well I thought the story accomplished what I wanted.

My Process included memories, notes, letters, and pictures.

I time-traveled into the historical origins of my family as told to me by my parents and their parents.

Then I revisited and traced my choices in life in the backdrop of my gene’s, upbringing, and astronomical sign

After which I picked anecdotes of interest for my targeted audience. 

 I dedicate this short story

to the fairies of koh kaf

Decades ago, there lived a little girl in a faraway land, who loved to fly, but her biological mother would not let her fly after she realized her daughter had a sunny personality, she was very engaging and matched by inner and outer brilliance and beauty of mind and body.

Her father was a WW11 Veteran and transferred to an ancient, magical city of Lahore, this little girl was Cima Bokhary-Khawaja Richardson, she was born in this ancient city, where her father was stationed at the time of her birth, and from there life for little Cima was controlled by the cities her dad was stationed in. One such quaint place called “Wah[1]”; an otherworldly enchanting jewel, originally named[2] by the Mughals[3], off of the historic Grand Trunk Road, approximately eighty miles from the Pakistan/ Afghanistan border and the Koh Kaf mountains in the Himalayan mountain range. This quaint jewel of a place was built into a wonderous place of rest for the emperor’s party heading north to Afghanistan. The village is host to the most fascinating mix of natural lakes, in between houses, and the sweetest of centuries-old organic fruit trees planted in and around the lakes. Cima remembers standing on a rock in the lake and picking fresh fruit while her bare feet were ankle-deep in the lake. Not too far from it was the convent Cima went to and a few miles away was her father’s office, located in a British colonial-built cantonment, where everyone lived in red brick homes. Security was tight, as the cantonment was home to the then, sole ammunition factory, Pakistan possessed. Her father was the Liaison for the British and Pakistan Government, due to his master’s degree in English Literature and command over multiples languages.

This was Cima idyllic growing up, brought up on stories told to her by her cooks and maids; of supernatural creatures like fairies; and genies (jin’s) who lived in the mountains of Koh Kaf and the invading conquerors from the north; the predators from the south, still mad at Pakistan for seeking independence; in the safety of the lakes and mountains Cima knew she could reach the stars if that is what she wanted….well… until the time her mother snatched that dream from her. One such story was about a green fairy who falls in love with a prince and the prince falls madly in love with the green fairy, coupled with that, was Cima's idea of romance, as guided by Princess Diana’s stepmother, a teen romance novelist known as Barbara Cartland. There was not a single book Barbara Cartland wrote that Cima did not read. To say that Cima was born into a combination of unique cultures, perspectives, circumstances, and personalities and had some of the richest academic genes from two parents who brought a unique set of contributions to the making of this little girl, would be an understatement. looking at her genealogy, one would think she of all people would make all the right choices in her life’s continuum, what with both parents bringing British with a mix of half a dozen other cultures to her gene-pool; alas that was not to be; her mother had her way!

Both families worked for the British Government. Cima’s father, Asghar M Khawaja, a WW11 Veteran, was transferred to colonized India and Pakistan, where he met his future wife and Cima’s mother, named Dolly Mokeem Bokhary, her father had transferred as a Police Chief to similar areas as Cima’s young father, who had just graduated with an MA in English Lit., and joined the British Army as a Lieutenant and Dolly Mokeem Bokhary was going for her MA in Pol Sci. They met at a wedding in Lahore a city wooed by the Mughals, the Hindus, the Sikhs, and the British, not to mention a dozen or more northern conquerors. Her dad was a guest from the groom’s side, and Dolly and her siblings were guests from the bride’s side. Fast forward they married, and death separated them eventually. Cima was their first-born child and the apple of her father's eyes.

The story of Cima’s birth as told to her by her mother goes something like this: “You were born on 14, February[4] an Aquarius per your zodiac sign.” Unbeknownst before that to Cima was the role her mother played in ensuring the baby’s date of birth was February 14^th. Cima’s mother controlled her life even before Cima's birth. Upon learning of the baby’s approximate arrival date, Cima’s Muslim mother, (raised in private Catholic Boarding Schools/Convents made it her mission to ensure it was a valentine baby, and the result of this persistence influenced and shaped Cima’s life The choices she made and even the man she married; resulting in Divorce and leaving Cima a young divorce with two kids. Interesting to Cima was the story of this Muslim Mother - crossing her legs like a good little puritan Catholic and refusing to allow her baby to come out until the birth coincided with the baby’s 14^th February delivery. Not surprising- her belief in Valentine’s day was a product of her Irish Catholic schooling in the backdrop of her exotic Muslim Ottoman Empire Judeo Catholic Bokhary and Soviet Moghul era home life, where religion was fluid and not a governing factor. But that is for another day! 

Cima remembers listening to her mother tell how she fought the doctors to ensure her date of birth,, much to their frustration, at some point it later struck her how that persistence molded her own personality and the choices she made, whether that was the mother's intent; is above Cima's pay grade. What Cima remembers is Dolly implying she wished Cima the quiet type, who smiled and raised with the motto: "ladies are seen before they are heard” or perhaps seen but never heard; if truth be told, her mother was in shock when she realized what giving birth to an Aquarian meant...one thing is for sure vivacious, gregarious, innovative, artistic, curious who believed she could fly and rule the world one day, was not one of them. She could not predict her daughter believed she was one of the fairies of her maid's tales, and the more she denied Cima the right to dream the more Cima got lost in her dreams where she was an invisible fairy. Sometimes to spare herself the misery of being around “killjoy” as she referred to her mother, she closed her eyes to see herself fly above her body soaring above those who made her mad she would zap them with all her might, and for those who she had a soft spot for like her father, and boys she had crushes on she would bestow them with hugs and kisses, making sure that they would never know who was behind these actions; actions that she took in her invisible state. Her favorite pastime was to soar, but for some reason, she always had to plunge downwards before she could lunge upwards; sometimes to her peril as when she plunged downwards, she went too close to the earth and its inhabitants and in that instant,, she noticed the bad guys could almost touch her; which became a metaphor for her real-life moving forward. For if she lost her invisible form, it could put her in danger of getting injured by the very creatures she was escaping from. As she grew older she realized the times when she was a fairy and no one could see her, was reflective of her own life when her choices were ignored by her own mother. It was only when she became a widow, at the age of sixty, did the ancient Legend of: “The Dawning of the Age of Aquarian” kick in with realizations of the power she always knew she had but others would not allow her to realize.

On one such day her mythical fairy self, revisited her after her second husband passed away; but before we talk about that visit let’s check the signs of the zodiac influence on her choices. Aquarius is the 11th sign of the zodiac with a Water Bearer as its symbol, signifying God’s gift of nourishment to Earth. with a water Bearer as its symbol and Uranus as her ruling planet and air as its Element; Amethyst was her lucky stone. She now has a slab of Amethyst guard at the entry of her house, against evil and is now backed by centuries-old Astronomers and Philosophers' research to guide her in her life’s successful continuum in an effort to finally making the right choices.

.

So to that end let's circle back to her mother one more time, a woman who was assertive, educated, and brilliant, who raised her to be whosoever she could be, until she became whosoever she wanted to be, and then the mother turned into a religious zealot and said she did not want her daughter to be outgoing, assertive, or brave. Everything that her daughter became sinful, laughing was sinful when there were so many hungry people dying with hunger, going out with boys and girls was a sin because young people did sinful things, getting too educated was a burden as you became unfit as a wife. Using herself as an example where she felt she could not assimilate with other housewives as they talked about onions and her mind was on world affairs and Shelley, Byron, and Keats. So Cima was told not to pursue higher education and forced into a loveless marriage; because if she had a successful spouse, there was no need to study or work, and thus, Cima sacrificed herself and married a Dentist!

Her mother told her, the world was hers to rule from the day she was born until she turned twelve, at which age she told Cima, she was nothing without a man. Cima’s first marriage ended in a divorce with two kids, and the second ended leaving her a widow in her sixties. Wow, she wondered how was she going to be blessed if she was not with a man? She woke up sweating and shaking not knowing the future. Her heart was pounding, her vision blurry due to horrendous vertigos, she wanted to cry but could not. She got out of bed very slowly, slipped her feet into her slippers, slowly and deliberately she headed to the shower and turned it on. For an unknown time she stood under the showerhead motionless until it dawned on her, she was still in her nightclothes. She continued to stand motionless in the warmth of the steaming shower, allowing its flow to hold her in its warmth until the pounding of her heart slowed down, and vertigo became a distant memory. She covered her eyes with her hands, it felt as if she was waiting for a sign or symbol, and it was then she came face to face with the entity she had been waiting for. Yes! The entity she had been waiting for – why, was the image so familiar, could it be she was staring at her alter ego/ mythical fairy self; yes, “the same fairy from her childhood dreams; was standing right before her, with outstretched arms to lead her to her future destination, where she could finally make her own choices and soar on her own two wings. Cima remembers walking to her wardrobe and pulling out her navy-blue power coat dress by a famous designer; she remembers putting it on and pulling up her power boots, dabbing a specific bright plum red lipstick as she walked into the unknown, all alone engulfed in the support of her protector, she felt strangely in control.

She allowed her mythical self to guide her to the car, and she turned the key in the ignition as she heard a sound telling her, it was time to reach her academic potential. What was her academic potential again? A voice said it was infinite! It was her choice; The higher the education the more money would follow! A cold chill ran thru her spine, she could taste salt-drenched water on her lips, she was crying! She did not need her mother's permission or a man to go back to school, in fact, she was heading to the same college she had left decades ago when her then dentist spouse, had made her quit with the non-verbal message echoing her mother's message, ‘if a spouse can give you everything, why would you worry about completing your education..’ So, in 1977 despite being awarded multiple academic achievements[i], Cima dropped out to become a wife. Fast forward on or about October 22, 2018, as she headed in the very same direction she had traveled decades ago to quit, but this time she was taking her first step to independence to start a new life as a student with unlimited life experiences and time on her side. She was traveling that path to re-live her life on her own terms..

After all those years of life experience and time spent devouring Ancient Greek and Mystical Eastern Philosophers research of her own zodiac sign was paying off, just as a soothsayer told her when she was nineteen. Today that knowledge as her Talisman, in her imaginary locket, concealed from the world, together with the energy of a newborn, with her fate clenched in her little fists, armed with life’s lessons and experiences, backed by her genetic wealth she is finally making her number one choice on her own terms and on a path to obtain a Ph.D. in Communication. She wants to become a public Orator and travel the world sharing her life’s experiences; She is not entering the arena to retreat! Not with her secret weapon, her mythical self aka her “fairy-self” guiding her by the hand! A better friend Cima could not have asked for on her path to her new future, and Cima was not going to let her down. The same Cima who had been there for her sister, brothers, children, and her two spouses and watched them succeed but never raised her hand to help herself, what with everything else, there was no time for herself, until today.

Oh, by the way, Cima do you know why your mythical being left you? She left you when you left yourself, she stopped appearing in your dreams when you stopped flying! So, on the count of One, Two, Three, Come Fly with me I am your mythical self1 Together let's make the right choices to make yourself whole.

BACK-STORY

“Roughly every 2,150 years, the sun's position at the time of the March, or vernal, equinox moves in front of a new zodiac constellation. The Age of Aquarius begins when the March equinox point moves out of the constellation Pisces and into the constellation Aquarius. Lyrics of this song were based on the astrological legends that the world would soon be entering the "Age of Aquarius", an age of love, light, and humanity, unlike the current "Age of Pisces" I offer you the lyrics to enjoy:

 “Dawning of the age of Aquarian

The Lyrics to the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius by The 5th Dimension go as follows:

When the moon is in the Seventh House

And Jupiter aligns with Mars

Then peace will guide the planets

And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius

Age of Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Harmony and understanding

Sympathy and trust abounding

No more falsehoods or derisions

Golden living dreams of visions

Mystic crystal revelation

And the mind's true liberation

Aquarius

Aquarius

When the moon is in the Seventh House

And Jupiter aligns with Mars

Then peace will guide the planets

And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius

Age of Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Aquarius

Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in, the sunshine in

Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in, the sunshine in

Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in, the sunshine in

Oh, let it shine, c'mon

Now everybody just sing along

Let the sunshine in

Open up your heart and let it shine on in

When you are lonely, let it shine on

Got to open up your heart and let it shine on in

And when you feel like you've been mistreated

And your friends turn away

Just open your heart, and shine it on in

Citation:

Hannah Muniz | Jan 2, 2020 11:00:00 AM, The 7 Aquarius Traits

James Rado / Gerome Ragni / Galt Mac Dermot, The 5th Dimension, Publisher, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

 [1] It is now referred to as Wah Village and the Pakistan Government has taken over it maintenance as a historical symbol of the Mughal Dynasty.

[2] Legend has it, when Noor Jehan the Mughal Princess saw this village on her way to Kabul seat of the Mughal Empire, Delhi, India, the first word that came out of her mouth was “Wow” translated into Urdu, Persian and Hindi it means “Wah”

[3] The Rulers who built the Taj Mahal.

[4] Valentine day,

[i] No attached awards Cima won due to privacy.