Stupid Muslim

Have I written this before? Sometimes all I wish these days is to be a stupid Muslim. You know, the kind who follows without question. What was the meaning of the word Islam again? Aye, submission. Submission without question. Total, complete submission.

Well, honestly, I've always believed in God though I sometimes fashionably call myself agnostic. I am not agnostic; I have only tried to question/ prove/ resolve the enigmas of my faith. If that looks a bit like agnosticism, it may be because it is at least far removed from stupid Muslim-ism. Which I now pine for.

You know it's very - what shall I say? - intellectual to do things like determine how the universe was born, and whether it's actually multiverse. Artists and writers also worry about parallel universes. Did the universe explode and grow itself, or was there something before it? Who could have started all this, or have we just taken a form and substance of our own? Was it evolution or creation (by the way, I think both theories are true at once)? Is there any theory which can further befuddle the whole humanity about whether there is a God and what's the God's gender?

Is Dan Brown all factual in Da Vinci Code? And whether there's actually some sort of female goddess out there? Will science bow to religion, or religion give in to science?

A whole lot of issues for the humanity.

But honestly, what will these theories - proved or unproved - do? After all, it doesn't hurt to treat your family well. Or to clear a stone away from the path of the people. Or to help the needy. Or "have faith" in the time of distress. Call it think positive. Call it thinking about the future. By another name, it's called having faith. All these things make pretty common sense.

So what care I whether the universe is expanding or shrinking?

I just want to be stupid.

Applause!

The first performance/exam at the end of the first semester of the third group of the first batch of the Academy went great, thought the audience. Even Zia Mohyeddin applauded. He pulled the group aside after the performance, and said, "Thank you!" I was glad everyone was happy and they responsded overwhelmingly positively. But, ugh, I expect much better theater. I don't know, I didn't hear myself errupting in applause inside. Very me, me, me to say this, - but I really did amazingly better theater in school more than a decade ago. Do we really decline mentally after school? Eh?

Still, I enjoyed the fact that our first endeavour was appreciated. I would have been mortified had it not turned out that good.

I was glad only that my mind was there, and intact. Thanks to memory, I remembered the good lesson, "No matter what the circumstances, you can!" After a series of strange, unsettling events one after another, I am glad that I can. I do. Actually, I enjoy the thrill of creating my own reality. Someone up there really was acting!

This is where we'd rather be

For K.



Taken with thanks from meanwhile, here in france.... Thanks, Ruth/Julian!

Just when I came across this bicycle resting against a row of lovely poppies, which are perhaps my favorite flowers, we had been dreaming of a place like this - rustic, serene, and idyllic. Serendipity led me to this image, and I said, Aha! This is what I was looking for. Goose bumps of excitement erupted on my neck, and I thought, oh, this is where I'd rather be. This is where we'd rather be.

Time travel has fascinated many of us, and I am not exception. But why hadn't it crossed our mind to invite a future traveler in time back to our home, right now? Amal Dorai of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) thought of just that.

He's invited any one from the future to a Time Traveler Convention - if they have a cure for cancer, a home on Mars, or anything to prove they really are back from the future!

Location: MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) East Campus Courtyard (42:21:36.025 degrees north, 71:05:16.332 degrees west)
Date: Saturday, May 07, 2005
Time: 10 P.M. sharp for the time travelers

I can't wait to hear about any guest who turns up!

Note: First published on NEXT> by Ramla.

Square 1

One ends up where one begins. I am happy to have done it sooner than later. Unable to stay away from my love for education, non-profit sector, and IT - I am back to doing what I love best: beign an independent citizen of the world who indulges in the trends of her times. After working out a new work arrangement at my office, I am freer to get more involved with my real passions.

• * Going to teach entrepreneurship at a local university! I put my foot down on this one when there was the slightest of chance I'd be steered away to another cource. In retrospect, I hear myself building an absolutely convincing case of why should I teach this course - and how well could I do it. Reminds me, one does best what one does with passion. Golden rule for work!
• * Have rekindled my participation in the non-profit organizations I work for/ with/ in. I've found a couple of real cool non-profit portals. TakingITGlobal is one of them.
• * Building up a website of my own. Eventually, and very soon so, it will be a people's website. It's going to be about art, culture, and media. There is a very rough front page that I have put up - in the process of gathering resources and working on it. Now that I have the freedom to!
• * Going to read up Seven Habits - and finish it! And implement the best of it!
• * Doing my writing work. I have to get organized to get better productivity out of me. See above!

Yes, what time is the clock showing right now? Thank God for things small and big. I am going to hit the sack now. Thank God for the sack (actually I sleep on the floor, but thank God for choice still!).

Response

Hmmm. The SMS's, emails, phone calls, curses on social network - wait! virtual social networks - are all going unattended. I know I haven't responded. I am taking my time off.

The only real joy in the world is watching myself metamorphose. Other, lesser, joys are watching BBC Food and inventing my own recipes in a moment of inspiration.

The portrait of a young woman as an idealist

She knows the value of everything, and the price of nothing!