Short Story: The Mullah Nasruddin is trapped in his own house.

Yes, the father-in-law tells his son-in-law, that giving up smoking is easy, though. He gives it up every night, when he goes to sleep, each night, but then he starts the habit again, every new day, each morning, as soon as he gets up. Even the relationship with our wife can be tough too, if she takes the side of her own father, as she always does here too, with the Mullah, in my stories too.

@innertalks That reminds me of what my good friend told me years ago. It was obvious his two young daughters were very attached to him. He agreed, but added when he had some disagreements with his wife, they always took the side of their mother! Better to remember, we come alone, leave alone, and are mostly alone here too.

@Shiva49 Yes, at the end of the day, it is all mostly up to our own little lonesome self. Not too many other people will ever stand around, in the thick of our trouble, to share it with us, for real, yet alone, to try to help us out of our trouble, or to help us to solve it, and to find an answer.

Yes, what fits itself between such prayers, (morning and night prayers) is blessed by God then, even if we cannot always understand the way things take place in our lives, during the ensuing day, between our prayers.

The Mullah may well be fundamentally broken in the end. The slow, relentless grinding of the wheel against his back, is causing him much angst, and he is in danger of losing his own mind at times. He has been trying to do that for all of his life though, so his final step to enlightenment might come to him in a totally unexpected way now too. The Mullah has been almost enlightened for a long time. He has great knowledge, compassion, a kind heart, and the patience of a cat, waiting for a mouse. There has been something stopping him from taking the final step past his mind though. He lacks in social skills, and is not really good at interacting with people, always using humour as his way out of any situation. He gets bullied easily, and he does not know how to alleviate his position, when a bully strikes him, verbally so. He is a good public speaker, but does not receive criticism well either, especially coming from those who really haven't got a clue what they talk about.

@Shiva49 The Mullah is noticing a lot about human nature here though. He has even noticed that, if he is not careful, he will also take on, mindlessly, the traits of his father-in-law too. They are catchy! The Mullah, then has noticed, that sometimes, he too, has started to leave lights on in rooms, that he has just vacated, and he too, is starting to leave the on switch on, on his appliances, at times too. The kettle, or toaster is "off" in the appliance, which auto-switches off after the toast is cooked, or the water is boiled, but the switch on the wall stays on, unless you switch that switch off manually at the switch. Electricity stays in the appliance, if you do not switch it off at the wall, still consuming a small amount of electricity. So, the Mullah, is being doubly aware of his doings now, and he has sharpened himself up considerably so, as he needs to be sharp for both himself, and for his father-in-law now too. The Mullah has always called a spade, a spade, but he has trouble using it to shovel away the dirt from his path...lol...he needs to become more forthright, and clean his own path, of other's dirt, sometimes too, otherwise, other's dirt, will start to rub off on him, as in my scenario above.

@innertalks I was like the Mullah during my early times. I used to worry what others thought of me. However over time, I put my foot down - thus far and no further. In a way, Mullah's predicament is comparable to some who work from home, especially the women. They are at the beck and call of others at home especially the children who cannot understand they are working from home. The Mullah is in the same boat having to baby sit someone who goes berserk, out of control. It is clear he is being taken advantage of and he should not allow this to continue. It is time to call a spade a spade to get things under control.