Professor Sid

One evening, I noticed that my neighbor’s windows were closed, which was unusual. They typically left them open, even when they were out. Their father and stepmother lived across the street, so I wasn't overly concerned. The next morning, I noticed their laundry hanging out to dry. It remained there for several days. Coincidentally, around the same time, I learned that the family had moved to the U.S. It was strange to see the laundry still hanging in the balcony, seemingly forgotten. It was as if the owners had left in such a hurry that they hadn't even considered packing or removing their clothes. The laundry, hanging there day after day, seemed to symbolize a forgotten life, a piece of the past left behind. I couldn't help but wonder how long the clothes would remain there. Would the owners ever return? Or would someone else take them down and put them away? For days, I observed the laundry, feeling a mix of sadness and helplessness. The fact that the owners had seemingl...

Every city has its own smell, or so I like to believe. Something of its culture that's spread out in the air. Something that you breath in and make a part of you. Istanbul's air is full of warmth. Even when the temperatures are low the air is warm with the smells of the welcoming city.  The most distinct smell I encountered walking on the streets was the smell of Roasted Chestnuts. Chestnuts are a popular street food in Istanbul and you'll be able to find several of these carts roasting and selling them. Some of them also sell you roasted corn. The smell of that wood burning is a smell that dominates the streets, you can just smell the air and tell there's a chestnut cart close by.  Coffee is the most distinguishable smell in the air of Istanbul. It is the first fragrance you are likely to recognize the moment you land at the airport. The streets are crowded with coffeehouses and the fragrance of coffee is a constant invitation to have some.  Throughout my trip in Istan...

To be content and joyous in life one should spend more on experiences than on materials and quantifiable items. That’s what most travel experiences begin thinking about - mine too. I heard somewhere that you are likely going to experience a different culture 100km away from yourself and I have noticed this time and again, the farther I go the more different people start sounding and behaving.  I am a keen observer of people, and getting a chance to observe them in different places is a treat for me. Everywhere I go, especially if it's beyond 100kms away from my surroundings I look for how people are different from where I come from and the differences fascinate me.  Turkey is the first country I travelled to by choice, it was an amazing experience. In Turkey I stayed in Istanbul for 7 days and during these days I experienced some of Istanbul. I’m going to talk about this experience with the help of the 5 senses and tell you what Istanbul looks like, smells like, tastes like, s...

 "All happiness depends on is a leisurely breakfast" They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but we all function pretty well without it. i can't really afford a leisurely breakfast every morning on weekdays like most of the others, there's too much to do and too little time early mornings, and in all the rush the poor breakfast goes down in the priority. Most of the time, I skip it all together! Yeah I know bad habit sorry! Anyway skipping to the interesting part, this weekend  I went over to my uncle's place, besides other things breakfast was on the agenda; ad he took me to a place that turned out to be serving really yummy breakfast. We had kachori that morning. Now what is kachori you may ask? A kachori is a little poori or flat bread deep fried, the difference between a poori and kachori is that the latter is filled with daal. These kachori that I had for breakfast were served with Aaloo ki sabzi (potato curry) and dahi (yoghurt). The dahi e...

At the beginning of 2020 I had 2 main things on my list to do, one was to finish reading at least 40 books in the whole year; at the end of 2018 with my university and office and life I was able to read 36 books in the whole year which was the highest number of books I've ever read in a whole year, and thought of upping my game by reading at least 40. Although, I've always wanted to read 50 books a year, but really pushing myself wasn’t on the agenda so from 36 to 40 wasn’t such a big deal I could do it. But then guess what happened? Covid-19 happened and we were locked down in our houses for months, all my other entertainment outlets were closed and all I had left was a TBR list.  So I kept on reading and reading and here towards the end of the year I'm at 60 books which is now the highest number of books I've read in a year, almost 1 book a week! And that is my biggest accomplishment for the year.  Oh wait, the second thing I had planned for 2020 was taking two trips ...

We’ve all given interviews at some point in our lives, haven’t we? We’ve spent a considerable amount of time fretting about it, doing internet search about the company who’s looking forward to meeting us, sometimes exchanging a dozen or so emails with the recruiter to figure out what we should expect at the interview, and sometimes we even ask our friends to help us out with the answers to some of the regular questions.  Don't ever get someone else to write your resume - as lousy as you think you may be at writing a resume, you may have slept in your communication class and missed the whole lecture on an effective resume for a great job, DO NOT have someone else write it. Every time a recruiter finds discrepancies on your resume and what you say, you lose points in the interview. Although the interviewer may not comment on it but they can pick up very easily when a resume was self-written and when it was not. Here’s how the find out: (a) They’ll ask you directly or indirectly abou...

You were fair company but a bad companion. You stabbed me with your lies, in my back. While I was the only one who was ready to stand with you forever.  Was everything between us a lie? Did you ever love me at all? Did you find happiness? I hope not, I wish never. I want to see you miserable always. You are the most selfish person I've ever met, you couldn't see anyone beyond yourself. I'm glad I no longer have to see you.  You made me cry, you have made me cry so much and I was stupid enough to believe you were the reason for my happiness. You made me cry.  I've walked in the waves seeing them come and go, they are in a journey like all of us. I've written words, they remain, long after the person is gone, words are more permanent in history.  What about me threatens you? Why can you not look me in the eye and talk. I never wanted to hurt you. Your happiness was most important to me. You've come to hold my hand at a time when I least expected it. I didn't w...

While we're bored and locked down with almost 0 socializing, it can get overwhelming to be indoors all the time especially people like us who've been used to heading out to the office everyday at least 5 times a week. But here are a few things you can do while you're quarantined that'll help you get through all this extra time you may have found on your hands: Read a book - yes now's the time to pick up that book you've been thinking of reading since forever. just open it and start reading, there's no better time than now to do it. Reading can be more fun than watching tv (how much of it can you watch?), so go on pick up a book and read it! if you're a slow reader aim to read at least 25 pages, and if you're a quick reader aim for at least 100 pages a day? But then that's just me being me, pick your own pace, the important thing is for you to pick up a book and read! Clean up and organize - with a wardrobe like mine (automatic I lik...

About time this came out don't you think? It's strange no one reminded me about this 😀 but am i going to forget about this? Absolutely not! i have a lot of things that i want and and here goes the list: Uno Cards (coz maybe on day i will play with them) Scarves: (coz i am a hoarder) A Vanilla Scarf A Black Scarf A Blue Scarf An Ajrak Scarf Books: (coz there is no maximum limit to them EVER) Life of Pi - Yann Martel Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn In the City By The Sea - Kamila Shamsie Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro The Architect's Apprentice - Elif Shafak The Gaze - Elif Shafak Songs of Blood and Sword - Fatima Bhutto Daughter of Destiny - Benazir Bhutto In the Line of Fire - Parvez Musharraf Becoming - Michelle Obama A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khalid Hosseini And the Mountains Echoed - Khalid Hosseini Perfumes:  Bloom Flora Bags: (coz one can never have enough of those) Brown Bag Off White Bag Blue Bag P.S. there's a sale going o...

I smile when I think about you, I feel positivity, I feel something is coming; I’m waiting for you to arrive. When I think about you I feel a glow from within as no one has ever been able to ignite this flame within me. I don’t even know what to call this flame. It burns within me bright and warm yet it does not burn me, it makes me happy! I am happy when I think about you. I want to be with you, for only you are the light I see that shines around me to make things bright, I see you as the moon in the dark night, I see you as a cloud on a scorching day. I see you as the person to hold my hand and guide me in to maze where I’ll be able to find myself by losing myself. I want to be lost, to be found by you. I want you to find me for I am lost. I want you to guide me and take me where I belong. I have lived a life that has fulfilled me but a moment with you has left me incomplete; I want you to complete me. Find my broken pieces and put them together. Make me whole, I want to b...

It’s a strange time to go out to the beach with the family, like who goes for a picnic to the beach after sunset? Oh well what I can say I come from The Addam’s Family! We’re all stuffed in our car and driving to the beach, there are too many people here, why does half the city want to come to the beach at this hour? Oh damn! I just noticed a whole bunch of people I know, I think I’ll just avoid eye contact and no one will come over to say hi to me. I can’t see the water from here; did someone say the beach is further away? Oh shoot I have to walk up to the water then. The sand feels really cool and smooth under my feet I think that’s the best thing about a beach the sand, its soft and moulds under you foot and takes the shape that makes you most comfortable. There are too many people I know, are they all waiting or something to happen? Looks like there’s a party going on, no body invited me to this party! Fine I’ll just ignore everyone and head out the water, I’d like to take...

They had just moved into a new house; the wife was not so excited, something was bothering her when her husband asked what it was she was unable to tell him clearly what the reason was. The new house was just new to them, in architecture the house had been standing proudly for over a century, with a lively history of past owners. The husband and wife didn’t know these stories; they never inquired much before moving. In a hurry to get the house before someone else did they hurried around with the paper work to become the owners of a spectacular house that was the reason for envy among all their acquaintances. The house was old, the outside was strong and could withstand time but the inside had a gloom that didn’t leave even when the wide windows were left open to allow the sunlight to wash over the rooms. The wife mentioned this in passing to her husband who told her that she was being paranoid, and basically just missing her old home. The old house came with a few pieces of ...

It’s sad to lose your sister to distance; for a person who stays by you day and night, gets married and moves away and then all you are left with is a void. A void that no one else can fill, there are times when you want to share the tiniest of things with her and she’s not around. The only thing that keeps you connected is Whatsapp and Facebook and Instagram. When through social media you are able to keep tabs on her, you know what’s happening in her life, although you want to be part of everything that happens in her life you realize that that’s never going to happen and you just have to distance yourself from her, because her priorities in life have changed, she’s got another family to take care of and your own urgencies can wait. You will continue to be a part of her life that has taken a cyclone turn and although you’re glad you’re not part of the whirlpool, you’re a sidelined spectator watching her from a distance. Our connection now just remains limited to the mobile ...

With just about a few weeks left in my birthday, I’m already making plans for the party and of course to ease all your issues of what to gift me here’s the list that I normally share around this time of the year. Before we begin let’s remind those people who may be gifting me something for the first time on my birthday; I create a list of things that I expect; I want in the following year and all those lovelies who want to gift me can choose from that list; this way I get what I want and you don’t have to put too much effort in time and see a solution that’s pocket friendly for you. Once you choose please leave a comment so I can cancel it out and we don’t have a repetition of any items. Bookshelf - I think I’ll be gifting this one to myself coz Papa isn’t taking the initiative.  Books -   Red Bird – Muhammad Hanif Reflections of Man - Amari Soul Bitter Fruit - Manto - Translated by Khalid Hassan The Remains of the days - Kazuo Ishiguro Flesh & Bloo...

Come sit with me and see the sun set within the depths of the earth, don’t fill this silence between us with noise, just sit here and enjoy the moment, just live this with me. Don't ask me any questions when I turn to look in your eyes, I search for my depth in them. Don't silently question my smile; Believe that you’re my happiness always. I see the last shades of the day change color on your face and your golden is becoming my gold your glittering eyes turning into my gem The sun and sea will remain here forever you and I are just a fleck in time in the thousand centuries after, nothing of us will remain, it is just this moment, this tiny moment until the sun is gone. I find you within my reach and yet I'm afraid to touch you for the fear of breaking the charm that makes this moment so magical I'm afraid of distorting the perfection I see in you I'm afraid time will never return to this I can see the universe in your eyes; I can...

Words heal, they heal a broken heart Writing them down or reading them out Is a medicine for a damaged soul They fix the wrong, they heal a broken heart Within each word spins an individual story, Each word alone on its own, Yet when put together each word creates power The power to heal a broken heart I wrote your story, with all the words I knew I read your story, with all the words I learnt Your story entwined mine to create ours And stories can heal a broken heart Our story was beautiful, like a fairy tale written A princess in a tower, A knight in shining armor And all the charm to heal a broken heart Some words were left unsaid Some words were left unheard But the magic was complete To heal a broken heart Wordless conversations Woven into silence Completed several tales of joy Chapter by chapter to heal a broken heart All stories end in good or bad Ours did too a little too soon But destiny gave me words To heal...

Push yourself to do something… if you do something, the whole chore will make progress towards completing or else it’ll just sit there looking huge and in time looking impossible and you’ll give up on it. That’s how most of the things around look like, evening writing for this blog is something that I keep thinking about and not able to complete in actual while my excuse becomes writer’s block. Although there is no such thing as a writer’s block; or maybe there is but there is a really easy exercise to get rid of it as well, all you have to do is write something and the block lifts its self. The whole idea behind that is also do something. But the question is how do you manage to take that first step? How do you get out of your comfort zone into that scorching sunlight of reality, where everything is really tough? I’m no expert in self help; I’m no philosopher, no guide so I’ll just tell you what I do. I make lists! Yes that’s right as simple as they are Lists are a great help i...