Professor Sid

“What?!! No Mom it’s my bachelor’s party!” he groaned at his me.   But I just had to go along with him. Her son was getting married shortly and his brother and cousin and wanted to take him to the beach for a full day of some fun. I thought of changing it into a family picnic and insisted that I go along. “If it is any compensation she’ll be coming along too” I told him.   “You mean Maria?” he asked unbelieving “Yeah! And her mother too” I added And I wanted to invite his best friend from childhood Anna along as she was sensible enough to control any sort of situation.   It was a short trip to the beach. The drive there was a little stuffed as we were kind of squashed in.   We had more people than space in the car but then that’s what stays in the head after the end of the picnic. Anna is a sweet person she lived with us like family for a very long time. Her mother had passed away when Anna was very young so she took on the responsibilities of home and eventuall...

She was in the kitchen and her mother had just come to ask her to do something, her mom said something and went back to the bedroom. Just as her mom walked out of the kitchen, she heard thunder and turned her head to look out the window… She saw an unbelievable sight, thunder clouds were as low as her second floor window and far into the horizon she could see the sun shining, but the clouds were talking over really fast and they were rumbling and screaming and there was lightening. The darkness was talking over She turned around and called after her mother ‘Ma!’ she was frightened, she wanted to be with her mother, tell her there’s nothing to worry about and to hear the same! But as she walked towards the door she heard the biggest rumble and turned around to look back at the clouds and she saw it began to rain but when she looked closely it wasn’t water they were icicles. The angry, dark clouds were showering icicles and as she stood mesmerized by the enormity of the situation, eve...

Children are such a beauty to look at, they’re soft hands, cute feet, chubby cheeks, angelic chuckle are all such an invitation for you to hug them really tight and kiss them crazy. But as these tiny people grow up they become unbearable, annoying and at one point you lose your patience with them and you want to toss them out of your house (of course I don’t refer to your own kids – we’re talking about little angels that belong to others). However, these angels that belong to someone else are your devil. How often has it happened that you return home to find out that that cousin of yours is coming to dinner the next day; yeah the same cousin who’s got 3 kids and the ones that drive you crazy when they’re  there. I know there’s no need saying that you love your cousin; you guys had been partner in crime through out your childhood but as you guys grew up you decided to make your career in the corporate world while your cousin decided to get married and make an increase in populati...

This may sound a bit weird coming from a ‘woman’ but I’m sure loads of ‘women’ out there will agree with me that fashion for women is sometimes way too impractical and goes beyond nuisance. Only this Eid I figured that sometimes we go to extremes trying to look our most sophisticated and in the end we end up being uncomfortable. My biggest worry these days are shoes. I am very choosy with them. I won’t pick anything that’s not flexible, I want something that is tied, zipped or closed from behind. I hate it when my feet slip driving! And obviously you don’t get this combination in female shoes! Really most of what women sections hold are sandals with heals high and sharp enough   to puncture holes thru the bottom of your car, or some of those shoes have such inflexible soles that I might as well drive like Mr. Bean with a brick! Then there is the problem of the gaudy flashy stones that you are terrified to wear coz the thousands you’ve spent on the stick stones that the guy sold...

I’ve said this a zillion times and I’ll say it once more… if people could be denoted by colors in life, Basma would have been my rainbow. She has added every color to my life; the brightest for all my happiness, the deepest for all my other emotions, the coolest for all the pleasures and the hottest for all the fun. Before she was born Ma and I had a conversation one afternoon before going to sleep. A general discussion to what I would like a baby brother or a baby sister and don’t know why but I chose a baby brother. I wanted a baby brother; but mom explained to me of what sisters could actually be. They could become your playmates, your confidantes, they become your secret keepers, they become your best friends and then I began to hope for a sister. I won’t ever forget the smile Ma gave me when I told her I’ve met Basma for the first time. I don’t even remember the emotions I felt when she was born but just seeing her there made me an older sister, responsible for her. Maybe that w...

Three-year old and I don’t know the concept of divinity. I don’t know if there is a God above us making decisions about us, I don’t know if Allah is the creator of all and we are but puppets of a show He’s directing. All I know is there is no one mightier than my Father and the world is a secure place as long as I’m holding papa’s finger. When he held me in his arms the world was a smaller place, it began with him and ended with him. I never needed another friend because he completed my world and I took the place of his friend. Twenty four years later I still feel the same minus the concept of divinity. When he’s around there is nothing in this world I can’t face. He is the faith around me, the force behind the belief in my self. As buddies, when I was younger we enjoyed the same sports… wrestling and yes we had our own mock fights where I tried new tactics on him and unsurprisingly I won them all. We didn’t need another person for our company, as father and daughter we were a te...

Read a Judith McNaught after a long long time… she’s been one of my favorite authors for the last 10 years ever since Kinz got me introduced to the fascinating world of Novels, prior to which I was stuck with the likes of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. My first ever Judith McNaught was ‘Something Wonderful’ and to admit it, that book was something wonderful. It was funny, clever and full of emotion. Sometimes the emotions were so strong they came out thru the pages, went thru your fingers and touched your heart. I felt the same thing after reading ‘Whitney, My love’. I’ve read several of her books after that but reading the best sets a bar that the rest of have to reach, unfortunately I haven’t come across a book that can yet beat SM and WML . My most recent read was ‘Once and Always’. This book gave me two sleepless nights (couldn’t put the book down – have a reading problem), two days full of nostalgia of reading and crying over my first reads of Judith McNaught, spent two days of mi...

The perfect place to hang out with friends, particularly when you want to have a lot of fun in solitude happens to be Café Lamore. Sadiya discovered it and took us there for lunch one Friday afternoon. We had no idea we’d tie the nuptial knot in the privacy of the place. Went there as singles and returned as a pair. I’m never going to forget how crazy I behaved that day. It was a after a long time that I did something that amazes me till date. Of course my late night mamzar beach exploitation is the other adventure I can never forget; we were after all under the scrutiny of the CID who believed we were fugitives from an asylum. But nevertheless I was short of a few minutes from turning into a werewolf that night I had begun howling at the full moon. I did however become a rabbit and hopped across half the beach I’m sure Rabia and Samirah remember the time, they are after all my partners in crime :P So coming back to my wedding afternoon with Sadia and Saamia; zamzama is really not ...

An evening out with my buddy Sadiya Khursheed, to celebrate her freedom from office we decided to go to Butler’s Chocolate Café. It inaugurated last month and since then we’d been there twice hoping to find the time to actually come back and try the chocolate. With our routine it’s hard to get out and indulge in parties of the sort. We have to wait for an occasion to celebrate; we need a reason to make ourselves happy. Freedom from the office is just one of those reasons to celebrate. So we walk into a very crowded place, mostly youngsters out with friends, colleagues or some very young people out with their parents. We were guided to a corner, where we settled down and requested for a menu coz in the rush of things the attendant forgot to hand them to us. We looked thru it and decided to order their specialties potato wedges with sour cream and Butler’s Club sandwich along with a vanilla milkshake and a strong cappuccino. After we ordered we decided to catch up on some stories of ...