A lazy morning

Funny how every morning i come to office and i think 'back in the office'...it's like all my life revolves around this one place now. Yesterday was a very good day Alhumdulilah. I went to my University, had to meet up with Ahsan and Sajeela. Ahsan has been short-listed for Fulbright MashaAllah. Sajeela had brought my birthday present...doesn't it feel good when you keep on getting birthday presents well after the actual day? i just really like getting presents and flowers. I also had to pick my Detailed Mark sheet which i should have gotten some 18 months back but was just too lazy. I got a full 1% more marks than i had calculated....!!!

It had hardly been fifteen minutes in the uni when An called and asked me to come back. A gentleman from our head office was here and the Ramadan transmission meeting was due to start in 10 minutes. so i just rushed back. The meeting was very interesting. I like working with Boss because he allows you to give free reins to your ideas. three of my ideas were approved. Meeting finished at 1 and i rushed to have lunch with Ahsan and Sajeela. At pappas. we met Nida, our senior in Uni who is now MashaAllah married and working with UNDP. i had not seen her for two years. then i met Izzah, and just when i was kidding with Ahsan that he hadn't called his best friend. Ahsan and Izzah were on rather friendly terms in Uni and just as i said that, Sajeela pointed in Izzah's direction...and there she was! she had come with some colleague of hers from IDS. He was cute but he actually had a beard, which is not in Izzah's usual style. anyhoo, we had lunch. I came back for another round of brainstorm session. worked till late at night, had to take some of my work back home. On my way home, i stopped in super and bought Paulo C's The Zahir. I am a fan of Paulo C. and have been since the Alchemist. then i ran into Muhammad Ali, another classfellow from Uni and then i ran into this junior from Uni. I forgot her name...darn this memory that remembers all the bad things and forgets all that should be retained.

Anyhoo, she and i exchanged pleasantries. Then she asked mE "AUR AAP SHAADI KAB KER RAHI HAIN?'...i said 'sweetheart! you find me an educated guy who is brave enough to have a beard in this day and age, muslim enough to observe all basic fundamentals of Islam and open-minded enough to accept me as I am, scarf, name and all! and i will marry him on a minutes notice'. and she burst out laughing and said 'aap kai bhi merai walai halaat hain...mujhe bhi koi nahi milta'. then we both agreed that hum itnai burai nahi hain, log andhai hain;). so i met six quaidians in different places in a day.

I have to go to a wedding today where the guy who is getting married is my age. augh!!! why is it that this marriage business is that concerns people our age and parents who have kids our age? Ammi had stopped mentioning my marriage after the debacle of my engagement but she has sort of started again!

I am truly looking forward to RAMADAN. I usually plan my prayers and Eibadaat because i view it as a month when i feel like i am a muslim. My most memorable time was when i went for Haj in 1999. I felt like a muslim and i lived like one. I miss the days i spent in Makkah, i especially miss the night of 27th Ramadan when it rained in Masjid-ul-Haram and i just stared at the raindrops falling. It's a vision that has stayed with me over the years.

I plan on giving up on music in Ramadan. I do that every year but then i pick up the habit again. Its a habit alright and i need to break it. I hope i succeed this year, InshaAllah.

I wanted to buy boxing gloves but my hands are too small and fragile! I mean is that fair? well life's not fair and that has worked very well for me so far, so basketball it is for the time being!