This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. My theme for the month is A to Z of words in English with an Arabic origin. My childhood was filled with magazines like Young Times, Reader’s Digest, Children’s  Digest and comics like Tinkle and Archies and Enid Blyton books. Thus started my love affair with the written word. Today’s word has by far the most interesting etymology and also shows us the way words change in meaning over centuries and borders. Any Enid blyton fans here? Or old readers of Young Times? I leave you with a front cover of an old issue of Young Times. Kids who grew…

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. My theme for the month is A to Z of words in English with an Arabic origin. Who doesn’t love a chilled lemonade on a sunny afternoon? The more I research for this challenge,  the more I realize how many common words in English are of Arabic origin.

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. My theme for the month is A to Z of words in English with an Arabic origin. Way before MAC and Maybelline were in trend in the West, Eastern women used to line their shapely beautiful eyes with black Kohl. To this day, Kohl remains a cosmetic necessity in many Eastern cultures. Kohl is usually applied with the help of a stick and requires practice. What is your favourite eye-make up?

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. My theme for the month is A to Z of words in English with an Arabic origin. Way before MAC and Maybelline were in trend in the West, Eastern women used to line their shapely beautiful eyes with black Kohl. To this day, Kohl remains a cosmetic necessity in many Eastern cultures. Kohl is usually applied with the help of a stick and requires practice.   What is your favourite part of eye-make up?

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. My theme for the month is A to Z of words in English with an Arabic origin. Another post about unique aspects of wedding in my culture (Kerala, South India) is the jasmine garland and jasmine braids on hair worn by the bride. Little girls await eagerly for weddings so that they too can wear the “poovu – mala” (flower chain). Fun fact : Another word with ‘J’ with an Arabic origin is “Jinn”. Thought I will mention this due to the recent release of the movie by the same name.

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. My theme for the month is A to Z of words in English with an Arabic origin. You might have most often come across titles such as Imam and Shaykh when referring to Muslim Scholars. An Imam is a Muslim spiritual leader or the person who leads the prayer in congregation in a mosque or an honorific title applied to eminent doctors of Islam, such as the founders of the orthodox schools. One of the unique aspects about Arabic is it’s well-ordered grammatical system and derivation based morphology of words. Read more here.

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. My theme for the month is A to Z of words in English with an Arabic origin.   In Desi and Arab cultures, before the wedding, the bride’s hands and feet are often coloured and beautifully decorated with exquisite Henna designs. Children and ladies adorn their hands during festivals and other celebrations too. What is unique about wedding celebrations in your culture/country?

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. My theme for the month is A to Z of words in English with an Arabic origin. It looks like it’s an animal week for me. The long-necked Giraffe is always a favourite for the children while at the zoo. How has the A to Z Challenge been so far?

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. My theme for the month is A to Z of words in English with an Arabic origin. I begin this week by introducing a cute furry fox, commonly called as the fennec –  a nocturnal fox found in the deserts of Sahara. Or better still, we would know ‘fennec’ as the code name of the Mozilla Firefox for Mobile web browser !  

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. My theme for the month is A to Z of words in English with an Arabic origin. Paulo Coelho is one of the contemporary writers who has introduced Arabic words like Maktoob and Zahir to the mainstream English readers. Yet, there is a common English word, used in the book ‘The Alchemist’  which too has an Arabic origin. Any guesses? Opinions on the book ‘The Alchemist’?