Circumspecte

This is not an apology. For whatever reason, I feel it's important that this not be an apology, because then it would be premised on my not fulfilling some agreement or another. It's not an apology. Rather, it's an admission. Or better yet, a confession. I'm back in school for what shall inshAllah be the final year of my MA program with Johns Hopkins SAIS. I could very well make the excuse that I'm extremely busy , which I am,  but that wouldn't be the entire truth. The core truth is that for a while now I've been struggling to (re)find my "voice" in the bevvy of activity that the blog world has become. I've been caught in a storm of "should be's" that was not there before, and since we're spilling all the truths, many times I've contemplated shutting this whole thing (blog) down. Why? I wish I could give a one-sentence response, but it's complicated. Believe me though, it's not you (the reader), it's me....

Nor say of anything, "I shall be sure to do so and so tomorrow," without adding, so please Allah!" And call thy Lord to mind when thou forgetest, and say, "I hope that my Lord will guide me ever closer (even) than this to the right road." - Surah 18: 23, Al-Khaf (The Cave) This is undoubtedly one of my favorite chapters in the Holy Qu'ran . It tells the story of some young Muslims and their dog who came upon a cave when fleeing their enemies. Allah caused them to fall into a deep slumber, sealed the cave and saved them from their pursuers. When they awoke they wondered how long they had been asleep, and God commanded them to go into town to find out. They literally woke up in another time/era, the exact of which remains unknown to all but Allah. Why I like it? I can't pinpoint one thing. Maybe it's the comfort of knowing that God protects his own, or that He lovingly guides us to the best path/situation. Perhaps I find it amusing that what seems ...

An attempt at describing the indescribable experience of inspiration and poetry writing It is often said that the mystical happens at the crossroads between time and space With its crescendo undulations of past, present and future, the beach is exactly that Walking along the breadth of such on a lazy Sunday morning, you encounter the known The grainy touch of micro bead stones, sandy to the touch The shelly capsules of vast underworlds unexplored And saline airy kisses brushing against your face as you walk on Often left unsaid is the fact that those unique time-space continuums spring upon you Reminiscent of African thunderstorms upon the land But how could they? Even they fall victim to its mysterious power And so it happens; your turn awaits and so does it arrive Pocket of mysticism sucking you in One minute sturdy land, the next gooey, spinning and comforting all at once And in that moment an eternity occurs Flashes of your entire life unfolding before your eyes ...

"Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death." - Anais Nin At different points of the earth, there once lived two oysters. Both were oysters, true. Yet one hailed from a small, pond in the middle of a grand forest, while the other rode the waves of the Atlantic. Conspicuously the same, inherently different, it so happened that the currents decided to let chance take course. -- A fisherman, well known for his skill on the high, reined in his net on a particularly promising day. However, try as he might, he caught naught but a single oyster. 'What a curious thing', he thought to himself 'The light is right, the winds on course, the shrimp is particularly fresh, yet the fish resist' Out went the nets again. And a second. And a third. But each time, only the oyster remained embedded in the criss-cross of coiled twines. 'Ver...

To days when yes was yes, and no was no, and maybe made sense even when the month wasn't May and there were no bees to be found. To the final run of teeth through school girl hair in anticipation of seven o'clock when cartoon network assumed its rightful place on GTV. To afternoons watching "Hindi Movie" while munching on rice and beans, with salad, spagetti, gari and everything in between. To vacation classes that had less to do with science and math and more to do with mingling with boys-boys, girls-girls and a cross-section of the two. To waiting in restless anticipation for the weekend in order to escape school. And then waiting in anticipation for Monday to return to school. To kingsbite chocolate, nkate boga, and coke; worthy prizes for good behavior, hardwork, and treats from visiting family and friends. To times when internal rivers gushed over things like who got to sit at which dining table chair and who got to be (claim) which power ranger To ...