`in the land of shawarmas`

24 June'09.
Assalamualaikum folks....

So i've safely landed in the land of desert and shawarmas alhamdulillah..
My competetion was quite tough but...Allah is kareem..let's c.
My journey was very smooth by the grace of Allah, and since my young sis was with me we quite enjoyed it.The immigration official at the desk asked us soooo many questions..

Official- Where are you going? Why? When will u return? who's there? Where do u study? Are you married? Then why do u wear niqab? oh ! so unmarried girls can also wear niqab?....
And the girl who checked my face (to match with the passport) was very sweet..May Allah give her hidaya..ameen. I met one of my junior Mariam at the airport..we sat talking till our flight's departure was announced..the air hostess thought we were Arabs and greeted us quite cordially.
the plane was almost empty..I slept the whole way..Mum and my bro were there to recieve us.In fact, my bro and me started laughing on seeing eachother (for no reason at all..hehe..).
Me n my sis gobbled up chicken nuggets,twisters,laban..ah! the delicacies of arab world..no tension of halal or haraam...yesterday we went to a mall..Quite HUGE and i didn't like it..too much flashy, guys with gelled hairs, girls all in HEAVY makeup...Allah it makes me sad and WHY do girls wear makeup?? i never understand,...it makes them look horrible..
Man! i saw so many obese people here...they all should be sent to india to pull rickshaws all will slim down..eating junk,sitting in AC's , always sipping soft drinks ..what do u expect??
anyway bought an abaya today and also ordered one more....Alhamdulillah...Am on a spree to buy a new cell phone ...one which looks girly+sober+with a memory card+cheap....Actually, buying anything makes me feel guilty i dunno why..though my bro doesn't but i feel so..there was a red silver mobile which i liked but a bit expensive..i just passed by..my bro prompted me and when my mom herself said "the price is ok"..i was like yipppyy alhamdulillah....i wanna buy it before umrah to record the athan there and stuff.inshAllah.
Thats for now....will write something constructive soon inshAllah,...

See ya.
take care
~Cool Muslimah~

Ramblings of Cool Muslimah

Assalamualaikum..
So i'm off to join my parents and bro in a muslim country and then will be going for umrah in the first week of july inshAllah.....

Yesterday as I had promised my old maidservant that i would stitch her clothes if she would stay back with us...I sat down to sew..Now , firstly I don't know AT ALL how to sew clothes...u might be wondering why i promised? Actually, she being old and a bit cranky got angry that day with my aunt and refused to eat whole day...MashAllah what will power!! She didn't eat from morn till night..Keeping in view that she works very hard and has a good apetite it would have been quite difficult for her!..She doesn't have her 10 fingers whole..i mean they got cut in a grass cutting machine one day ..so they are chopped in half..hope u got it..Anyway still she does all her work and is so active that if i die and live 100 lives i wont be able to do so..Well after my lots of coaxing and cajoling she finally ate food in the dead of night at 1am..Alhamdulillah! So in that coaxing i had promised fearfully that i would sew your clothes..

Since I had promised i took up the sewing machine..Alhamdulillah i was able to do almost the whole pyjama..but in the end I unfortunately, went up to my aunt to ask how to add a belt to it? Allah...my aunt looked at my sewing and started "is this how u sew child? Today's girls are so..come on open all the stitches and do it again"...AARGH!!!!!!.. well i did as she told me..My aunt is a perfectionist and finally I did till noon and once i banged at the sewing machine coz its thread was irriating me........Alhamdulillah work done!

The maid who cooks chapati for us has two small boys who come to read Quran from my mom..since my mom's away my aunt has taken up the task..Anyway i had lured them that if they leran the "durood" I would give them a big chocolate each+ to the young girl who lives at our place and would help them in memorizing.

Now it happened that one of them learnt it and I sent the girl to a nearby shop to buy a choc. and it wasn't available..i felt so bad..and the young one who's so irksome at times kept on ranting" where's my elder bro's choc? he has memorized it!The next day my cuz bot 3 chocs..i ate the one for the younger kid coz he wouldnt memorize at any cost and kept on giggling,running,peeping and all chilsih activities..Anyway at night the kids came to ask for some ice..I asked the elder one to recite the durood..as he recited i gave him the choc + to the girl who had helped..Now the younger naughty one on seeing this quickly memorised and said "listen to mine too"..I listened with apprehension and to my horror he had learnt in no time..man why had i eaten his share?? glutton!.. well he was stumbling at one part..I said learn properly and i'll listen tomorrow..yesterday i bot for him and today InshAllah will give him...

tomorow i have a major test..250students are competing for just 30 seats..do pray i qualify it..its very important that i get in!! PLZ DO DUA FOR MY TEST..

Moreover, I'm very much apprehensive that should i wear my black gloves at the airport or not...you see i have since the past 3 or 4 months started wearing gloves too, accompanying my abaya +niqab..now will gloves be ok at the airport or it would be too risky?? Do give me suggestion i dont know what to do?? pray for my safe journey...

Will post after reaching the land of desert inshAllah.....
Till then..adieu
take care
~Cool Muslimah~

FacEBook Ruins...HELP!!!!!!!!

PART 1.
Once upon a time in the age of Orkut,Blogs and Facebook there lived a girl called Leena..A very pretty and a bright girl, full of fancies and imaginations which best suited a girl of her age..Just like her other contemporaries, she was also hooked by the "net mania" and was an active member of Orkut or Facebook..Just like her brothers and sisters did toothbrush in the morning she checked her account and upated her profile..Wherever her family and friends went she had a digital camera to take pix of herself or the family gathering to be posted on her profile..You see she lived in the world of facebook..it was how she was connected with the world and retrospect on account of other people's comments..(after all real people judge you by your apparent looks and she was quite honest on the internet..she hated lying!) Her pics were quite decent...the usual ones that all have but being a beautiful girl her friends list was equal to the fan list of J.K.Rowling...

If you calculated where her whole life was spent till date, maximum time from her teens was devoted in taking the various quizzes on facebook..( u know quiz is made for people to check their IQ and knowledge, so being a masterbrain she took innumerable quizzes..)..But these were not the usual quizzes where you answer questions like "whos' the president of Zambia?" or "Where are the headquarters of UNO?" instead they were much more juicy quizzes ..You know much more about yourself.(who cares about the damn world! just know yourself, enjoy and live your life)...questions so intelligent...man they make you puke! but like other people Leena loved doing them..( u know people get so bored nowadays..its the latest trend..its cool to say "I'm bored" and ironically, they also dont hav time..ha!) She was happy to know the answer of "how bitchy are you?" , "What psychiatric disorder do you have?", What's your swear word?"what does your eyes say? " "How common is your name?"Now doesn't Lena seem so self obsessed of herself? no she was not. Coz everyone she knew did that..So when everyone is so self conscious , what's the use of caring for someone? But wait..they were not so concieted..they were concerned about their frenz..they used to please eachother and
display thier affection by answering a questionnaire "How well do you know him/her?"..

These quizzes affected people badly which other folks were unaware of, like for instance-

Sam, a very brilliant and a straight A student much admired by his teachers after taking the quiz "Which psychiatric disorder do you have?" got the answer "you are a NERD"....He could not get over the shock and this got so embedded in his mind that he could not concentrate on his studies and finally dropped out of school much to the despair of his parents...And today he can be seen polishing shoes of people in front of the White House.

Alia and Cindy were best mates since childhood..they had grown together and people used to give example of their friendship..They always supported eachother no matter how dire the situation may be..but one morning it was observed that Alia and Cindy were shooting deadly looks to one another and in lunchtime they sat on different tables (quite a record breaking news for the big city) ..both sat stony faced passing cynical comments on eachother...When enquired the reason of this breakup was - Alia had scored a mere 33% in the quiz -How well do you know cindy?" on her Facebook..

Not only this the facebook has magical powers and can tell secrets which great sorcerers of the world could not do...It can answer questions like" When will you die?" "Who will be your future boyfriend" ..Now that's superb science and technology..grreat!! ( Man what do people get by getting involved in such baseless quiz...May Allah guide them..)...(What is the use of taking quiz such as "What pets do you have?"..If you have them already then WHAT IS THE POINT??

*back to story*

TO be continued...............

~WhEn I wAs A kiD~

14june'09.

"For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;"

Assalamualaikum....

Alhamdulillah I had the opportunity to visit my ancestral town a few weeks back...the place where i spent the best part of my childhood days..

As soon as our schools would be closed for summer vacations in around april we all would gather there (my relatives from all around with kids of all age groups)...

We have Old fashioned , traditional and big havelis connected with the homes of various relatives..so that we need not go anywhere outside to visit someone's place..Moreover the women of our household there don't cross the threshold of the mansion..The men's area is outside where our grandfathr,uncles and their guests would sit in the evening discussing about various topics and we as children (who were not bound by the rule till then and were allowed to venture out there) would play all sorts of bizarre games till dinner time...From morn till night we would play,play and play... at night all the servants' kids would also come and play with us...they had a wide range of unusual and eccentric games..(we would be around 20 kids mashAllah)..

ah! i still remember those moonlit nights, the serenity of the small town,the calmness pervading the air, eating the sour ripe mangoes which came from our fields,reading the Quran in the morning, rushing to our grandfather's bro's place the moment we got the chance (as half our cousins used to reside there)...then till lunch our abode would be the terraces and then in evening we would go out to the menfolks area palying in the vast adjoining field till dinner, the frenzy of action, sitting near the traditional chulha, (a mud stove used for cooking with wood as its fuel) watching the chapatis being made, hearing stories from our grandmother, going (rarely) to see our meadows and fields and eating mangoes,peaches,jamun.....etc.., the small fights and childish quarrels we use to have on petty matters, our younger siblings irritating us...aargh!! it still makes me angry to recall how they would forever tail us and would want entry in our games..i never culd comprehend why they couldn't get to play their own games!! On top of it they would go complaining to our elders who in turn scolded us and also forced us to let those annoying nitwits enter our sacred premises..(ok i'm getting a bit touchy..)

My ancestors all being very practising and pious muslims mashAllah had many rules which were slowly detoriating by the advancement of time..As i told u before the womenfolk of our household don't venture out of the threshold of the women's quarters which comprises of the whole big house..and if we want clothes to buy then a servant is sent to a shop and she brings all sorts of clothes in the house ..then all gather round and select their favourite piece...the money is sent and the shopping is complete...haha...we are so free from the hassles of the outside world there..no need to go anywhere..big mansion sort of houses connected with other relatives places.And in earlier days when my aunts were young they tell us that they would go in palanquins to a nighbourhood followed by a male member of the family..lol...

Television was a rarity as it wasn't allowed..so we would sneak to an aunty's place a bit far off and watch TV there...only on sundays..and tell our elders that we are going to wed our doll with the male doll there...we were so stupid that we thought we fooled them!! Alhamdulillah our home there, here at my place and at my paternal uncle's place still doesn't have the root of evil-the idiot box (television)!

When it would be the time of everybody's departure at the end of summer we would run after the rickshaw of the cousins leaving first and waving our hands like mad as if we would never met again (man .. we were so stupid...............hahaha).( in the pic is the road leading from our door till the far end which we kids couldn't even step ahead) ..and those were the bright days which coloured the pages of my life withe sweetest memories..alhamdulillah.mashAllah.

Some more pix of my recent trip-

these were the pix of one part of women quarters

one of the terrace where we used to play and our cousins when not allowed to join our game would climb up from behind the other adjoining terrace and jump down onto the terrace from the shade visible at the far end of the pic..

the house which we as kids believed to be haunted and never dared to come here alone even in broad daylight...lol.

Freshly plucked peaches which came from the fields..yeah they are not ripe but we ate them anyway..hahaha...

~~ That's all~~

JazkAllah

~Cool Muslimah~

Simple moments with rich memories......

Assalamualaikum.......


It has become a mammoth task for me to sit and do any work on my computer..mashAllah I have 13 people right now in my home...aunts and cousins.Though i'm not complaining..its soo much fun specially when we go to sleep with all 6 or so cuzins stretched out on the floor..fighting for the Cooler Fan to be turned in their direction and recording our voices by singing wedding songs and in the midst as some one bursts out giggling all start laughing uncontrollably (for no reason at all)..ah! the fun in stupidities with your loved ones is so cherishing....But no fun is complete without the presence of a dictator who is feared by the mischief makers and this role is rightly played by my dear Mother..
the moment footsteps would be heard on the staircase all of us would just dart here and there and lie in a sleeping position with the plug of recorder pulled mercilessly by the sensible one.And never did it turn out to be mother ..always it was someone of our group whom we hadn't noticed missing and was kind enough to bring a bottle of chilled water for everyone(it soo hot nowadays that we r forvevr thirsty and its a daunting task to leave even a second of excitement amidst a game going on - to go downstairs and fetch a bottle of cold water from the refrigerator so all lazy fellows wait for someone to go down for some work and come along with water )...Ever heard of Murphy's Laws? Well i would like to add one more law to them..whenever we thought it was some kid coming up and kept on talking till late hour ..we found my dear mom standing in the doorway and we all sheepishly scurried hither and tither....
Some moments are so simple yet with rich memories...which always make you feel fresh when you recall them..like- Long talks on the prayer mat..(then realizing how late it was quickly getting back to pray)...listening to nasheeds,islamic lectures and recordings of our cousins and uncles when they were kids (and some who are no more in this world)...going to a cuzin's place coz we got the news he's got engaged and without any notice all reached his place and sang songs and whatever our aunt bought we just wiped the plates clean despite my dear mom glaring at us..hahaa..(no no we r not spoiled brats..just coz all were togethere after such a long time all were going bonkers).
Then by Allah's grace in the past few weeks the weather used to become so pleasant in the evening with cool breeze followed by rain and POWER CUTS...it was soo heavenly...all playing "chinese whisper" and getting punishments...One cousin of mine had come to study shakespeare from me and in a span of 15 days we studied i guess for hardly 10 hours..the moment we started studying ..we drifted from "othello" and "CAndida" to childhood days, sharing our problems and stuff! We also had sessions of tye and dye ( dying clothes in different colours with beeautiful designs emerging)...Pulling eachother's leg and teasing my elder cousin who is to be engaged inshAllah...... Going to the railway station to see off one cousin who was going back,(i'lll post the pic of the old station in my next post inshAllah)..man! these past days were so good mashAllah....thanks to Allah...btw 6 of my cuzins left today....it seems so bad...but still Alhamdulillah there are many people...and finally on 11th of june all will leave , even my mom, and only my younger sis , me and my aunt will be left *sniff*.
But on 23rd my younger sis and me will also leave and join mom,and my bro INSHALLAH..yippppeeeeee.

Well....i guess this is the most silly thing i've ever written...sooo childish is my style in this post...but i'll publish it anyway and for those of you who have been bored to death by going throught the ardent task of reading it till the end..i appreciate your patience..mashAllah.

TAGGGEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

I have been tagged by Ambareen
so here goes:

1. Do you think you are hot?
Nah Alhamdulillah i have a normal temperature..not running from fever!

2.upload your favorite picture of you?
Ah! this beauty is hidden by the command of Allah ...

3.why do you like nature?
Becoz it gives me a feeling of peace and brings me close to Allah as i ponder on Allah's creation..

4.when was the last time you ate pizza?
maybe 5 or 6 months back...

5.The last song you were listening to......?
"Sing Children of the world..."- Dawud Wharnsby Ali Sing Children Of the World

6.What are you doing right now besides this?
writing a mail to my friend, chatting with my cuzin and listening to nasheeds

7.What name would you prefer besides yours?
I just LOVE my present name alhamdulillah!

8.people to tag:
Pen Marks

9.who is no.1?
My younger sis.

10.no.3 is having a relationship with?
no.3 is very pious and a practising muslim ..mashAllah..he doesn't get involve in haram raltionships muhahaha

11.Say something about your best friend?
She is someone with whom i have shared the best of my sweet memories an who's always there for me with a sound advice.............LOVE YA MATE..Alhamdulillah...

12.how about your enemy?
enemy...i have no enemies Alhamdulillah.

13.who is the best person in the world?
Prophet Mohammad (Salallaho Alayhi Wassallam)

update

Assalamualeikum people,
this is just a quick (instant) post to say that I'm going for a trip to my grandmother's village, where i have spent my best childhood days and which hold my most cherished memories.....will be back soon inshallah, so hoping that i bring some more memories back with me and have some of them to share with you............ah, it's nostalgia time.......catch you soon again, friends.
until then,
wassalam.