The Key To Life Is Honesty And Hard Work

Nazokat Faizullaeva

THE KEY TO LIFE IS HONESTY AND HARD WORK

Omonulla Fayzullaevich Fayzullayev was my grandfather’s name, for us his grandchildren he was our beloved dodajon.

When I remember my dodajon, the first thing that comes to my eyes is the way he used to welcome us. Sitting in the garden when the weather was good or in his chair when the weather was cold, he always used to start clapping as soon as he saw us, getting extremely happy that we came.

He was a man of great intelligence and integrity, who lived his life to the fullest by always being vivacious and straightforward. He always taught us that honesty is the key to life and that each person should always be honest to those around him. His encouragement to study, to read a lot of books and always aim to learn new things was first directed to his children and then in turn to us, his grandchildren. He used to say very often “Never talk bad about other, never talk behind peoples back, because that person will eventually hear about this”.

From a very small age, I can remember always seeing my grandfather work with his glasses on the big table with papers all around him, if the weather was very good he would take the necessary papers with him and work in the garden on the table. When my little sister and I saw all these papers we always thought it was such a mess and wanted to tidy things up. We came in time to understand that even though they may look like a muddle to us, it had its own special order for my grandfather. If by any chance we touched those papers or tried to clean up a little bit, no matter how subtle the change was, granddad would always notice and tell us not to touch them again.

I remember the day when I got into university more then 3 years ago; I and my father went to check my results. After seeing that I entered at one of the top spots for scholarship, the first person my father called was my grandfather. Coming out from the university we went to see my grandfather, he came out to greet us with tears in his eyes, this was the first time I ever saw him crying. They were tears of joy, he was so happy that I got into university and had been anxious about the results all the time but never showed his anxiety to us until this moment. He hugged me and said “I knew you could do it, you are very smart, study well and achieve great things in life”.

Granddad always used to ask what grades I was getting at school and at university, always using the same phrase “Is it 5 my daughter, is it 5?” He was always interested in what I was studying and what books I was reading. We would have discussions about the modules I was taking at university, and if I had any problems especially in mathematical questions I would always ask him. Even if he had the most important work to do, he would always put his papers aside and explain what I didn’t understand to me.

My grandfather loved his family extremely and in my memories the happiest moments for him was when we would all gather together on holidays or birthdays. He would become extremely happy looking at the table full of food and ask everyone around him “Mazza a?” which meant “this is great isn’t it?” It became a tradition that granddad would go into his room, take some money from his last salary and distribute it to all his children and grandchildren saying “this is the money I earned from my honest work at the age of 87, I hope you will also work hard like me also at my age”.

He worked both at home, published more then 55 books and 500 articles and gave lectures in both Russian and Uzbek at different places until the last days of his life. His work was his passion and what kept him going in life. He used to tell us that he will retire when he will be 100 years old and write a big book of memoirs.

Dodajon always used to teach us that hard-work is what will keep us going and help achieve our aims. “Nobody ever died of hard work” was the phrase he used, telling us to always work on intellectual growth. He often repeated “Aqlli odam bo’linglar” which meant be smart, always use your brain throughout your life. He always used to try to show us the correct path in life because as he said God gave us life but what to do with it is up to us.

In my memories, my grandfather was a very intelligent, strict but kind and loving. Hard-working, honest, compassionate and disciplined is one of the many words that can describe my grandfather. He was and always will be a person we admire extremely. I hope in the future I will be able to achieve as much as he did and become the kind of person he was.