Don’t tell my mother ..

that I am in Afghanistan.

 

Not me .. but Diego Buñuel who hosts this very elating documentary on the National Geography channel exposing the unusual lives lived in countries like Afghanistan, North Korea, and Colombia.

(picture by crazymag)

 

Speaking of which, a close bachelor friend of mine just recently moved to Kabul, the 3000 year old capital city of Afghanistan. I admire his courage for leaving his family, friends and comfort zone, wanting to share his expertise and knowledge to help rebuild this unstable country torn by 2 decades of war.

 

I know it was one of the most difficult decision he had to make in his life for his career advancement. And truth be told .. it was slightly driven by the fact that he needed to console his heart. But what the heck, we all have to start somewhere .. be it a failed business, a broken marriage or the death of someone we love.. we all have to start somewhere .. to change ourselves or the world for the better.

 

Life is scary! We have to get use to it and there are no magical fixes so it is all up to us. And when we make mistakes, we should correct them, learn and move on.

 

Nothing in this world that’s worth having comes easy.

 

34°03′N 74°23′E

While pondering on an international crisis and having lunch, I also had a conversation with a friend who is pregnant with her fourth child the other day.

She enlightened me: Usually women who are carrying girls - they tend to look beautiful - dewy and glowing. Their bellies are more pointed.

Me: ... and women carrying boys?

She: Bellies are more round and oooh they look tired, have swollen legs and feet and if they are unlucky they also have rash and strange pigmentation.

Me: I heard that boys also take up 10% more of your energy than carrying a girl.

She: Yes … men … from the very beginning they just suck the life out of you!

…

No pun intended.

Peace guys ;)

Reminding myself

 

 

If you make intense supplication

and the timing of the answer is delayed,
do not despair of it.

His reply to you is guaranteed;

but in the way He chooses,
not the way you choose

 

and at the moment He desires,
not the moment you desire.

 

--The Hikam of Ibn 'Ata'llah--

 

 

Today

It is 2005. It has been over 15 years since she last saw the love of her life. Sometimes she receives telephone calls that crackle and echo her greetings. She would stare at the telephone and put it down. Crazy Telekom.

 

Her children are studying overseas now. They are good children; when they have money they send some home. Her days are taken up with another venture, and religious classes. She has taken to wearing a scarf loosely these days.

 

In the privacy of her home, she is Josephine Baker, and when she feels like it, she dances as she recalls a song from her youth.

 

She tells me this:

 

“ For as long as I have God and my prayers, I know that one day, we will be together again.”

 

(Dina Zaman: I am Muslim)

Guilty of neglect

I am.

 

But I have concrete reasons. I got the calling to brush my tajweed, improve my tasawuf and also trying to learn 3 languages. The opportunity and hidayah doesn’t come very often. Thus for this whole month of October I am focusing on this.

 

I heard this is what they call the soul's self-reproving.

 

What ever it is .. I’m loving it. Ok.. I just sound like the McDonald’s advertisement .. but you know what I mean :)