Praise the Lord

Rushdie's coming

I think I'm going to cry with joy

A Little Thing Called Faith

I get spoken to randomly on the street. Sometimes it creeps me out - actually, most of the time it creeps me out. I guess I'm not used to the attention, or whatever you want to call it, from random people. Back at home, people would smile, pet your dog (not that I had one), or just say mornin', but here it's different. Here, people try to have conversations - but not necessarily conversations that I want to have.

I was in a good mood today. I think it was the sunshine. I like sunshine. Having grown up in a city that is perpetually cloudy and rainy, being able to bask in warm, unadulterated, yellowness makes me sort of giddy with joy. So I was in a really good mood today. I even called home as I was walking to the library (something I rarely do - I usually call at night) and spoke to my parents for a while.

Point of this post. There are some people who creep you out, and then there are the others who stop you and say 'God bless you.'

I got that twice today. First from a guy I bought a kid's book from (rainbow fish anyone?), who looked at me with amusement as I gushed with glee at having seen a book from my childhood sitting in a bucket on the street, and rushed to look through it. And second from some guy walking along the street as I headed home after a night with friends.

People are good. People are nice.

And yes, Shalimar. Laugh as much as you like, I still have faith in Humanity.

(I dunno if this post makes any sense. It does in my brain...)

Best Job Ever?

One that offers opportunities even after it's over; that isn't limited by the job description or the job's location. That offers potential benefits even two years after handing in the last assignment.

It could be wonderful.

Or it could be tragic.

Wait and watch I guess.

Updates later...

Thought du Jour

I haven't written much of note in the past little while. As you may have noticed, if you've been reading RFS for long enough, my rate of blogging varies considerably. At times, I'll blog multiple times in a week; at others, I won't blog for weeks. Then there are those times, during which I'll blog about issues that seem not only inconsequential, but also unimportant. Emphasis on seem.

I guess, I haven't been doing much thinking outside of the world of academia these days. It's not that I don't have significant issues to deal with, I do, but I just haven't been inspired to actually think them through in a manner that's conducive to writing on RFS. Let's just say that a lot of what is going through my head, and my life, is stuff I want to keep out of the realm of RFS. That being said, if I'm able to write about them in a way that is cryptic (i.e. complex and odd) enough to not be completely understood by those involved in the various issues of my life (censorship - yes), then I may post about them here. Candy dreams, is one such post.

Today, I had a bit of a thought explosion. It was quite grand - or seemed grand in my head, at least. I realized the following. Take what you may from it. It started off while I was thinking about the number of languages I know, and how I'm not actually completely fluent in all of them (which is a shame), and how my fantastic Urdu professor once told the class that, apart from those in extraordinary circumstances, multilingual people will never be truly fluent in any of their known-languages as one who only knows a single language. Oh polylingualism...sigh.

And then the thought expanded to my multiculturality -and this issue of identity that I've always grappled with.

Anyway - so at the end of the thought process, this is what emerged.

In my multiplicity is my nonexistence...

Candy Dreams

I had a dream about you the other night. In it, you saw that I was upset at you and decided to make amends. So you bought me candy. Lots of candy. Different types of candy, including Cherry Blasters and Fuzzy Peaches and those green gummies that sort of look like flat apples. You showed me the candy and I got all excited, and then you sat in your chair - that looks exactly like my chair - in your house that's across the street from my other home here, swivelled your chair around so I could only see your profile (which is nicer than your face front-on by the way - I want to photograph you properly), and proceeded to eat all the candy.

I still don't understand if you're rude or just confused. For your sake, I hope it's the latter...

Wisdom from a Wise Man

A wise man once told me - and yes, you are both a man and wise. At least, according to my conception of 'wise,' which is Sheikh Sa'adi's conception: buzurgi ba-'aql na ba-saal ast.


He once told me, and rightly so, in much more eloquent terms than these, that sadness is easy to live with, loneliness not so much.

Not-So-Khumaar

Du'a:

That you have the capacity to understand what you desire, the sagacity to find it, and the means and blessings to obtain it...