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Calls to Him – Duas
I find myself in darkness. Unable to move. Tears stream my face. Light, I need Light. I think of Younus in the belly of the whale. عليه السلام In the depth of the ocean. In the darkness of night. He cried out, ‘There is no God but You, Glory be to You. Indeed, I have been of the wrong-doers.’ His darkness vanished. His prayers were answered. I think of Ibrahim, they swept him into the fire. عليه السلام Blazing fire. Melting heat. Burning day. He cried out , ‘ Sufficient for me is Allah and He is the best disposer of affairs.’ The fire cooled down. His prayers…
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Pediatric emergency centres – Qatar
Your baby spikes up a fever of 39°C at 1 AM in the night. What do you do? Voila! Pediatric emergencies to the rescue. Qatar is well endowed with Pediatric Emergency Centres in almost all the corners. The main Pediatric Emergency is located at Al-Sadd. Quite busy but well equipped. Easily accessible for people in Doha area. For people in Mesaieed and Wakrah, there is Wakrah PEC located in the Wakrah Hospital. Go to the Emergency Gate, and go up the bridge. The first door is adult emergency and go a little further, there is the pediatric emergency door. Procedure at Wakrah PEC – Go to the receptionist for token.…
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Qatar.
Qatar is the place where… I spent my childhood. My brother was born. I did my schooling. I made forever friends. I had opportunities to fine tune my public speaking skills. I got my first works published in a newspaper as a child(Peninsula/Gulf times). I spent every vacation during college days. I struggled through my severe quarter life crisised year. I learnt to drive. I got my first job (and the second job). My niece was born. I met my better half. We set up our first house after marriage. We had our tiny mini-honeymoon. Our daughter was born. Qatar is home. Participating in the…
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Review – Popolini One Size Fitted cloth diapers
I have been cloth diapering my baby for 4 (out of 6) months now and must I say, I am a cloth-diaper-addict mom now 🙂 My go to diapers for both day time and night time is Popolini One Size Fitted diapers. Here is a review of this great product. It is a fitted diaper made of 85% Organic Cotton and 15% Polyester. It comes with a snap in booster (also made of organic cotton) which can be used for heavy wetters or night time. This diaper is marketed as a birth to potty diaper though it could look a little bulky for newborns/very lean babies. For using it on…
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An ode to my daughter.
01/08/2015 16:55 I heard your first cry. ‘Everything is fine! ‘ Traumatic ordeal – forgotten. Alhamdulilah Months of waiting and praying In my hands finally. So tiny. So precious. Alhamdulilah Your birth taught me the strength of my body, the resilience of my mind, the power of prayers. Alhamdulilah Two strangers united in love and faith to bring forth the perfect miracle of Allah. Alhamdulilah Words do no justice to the multitude of emotions. Photographs donot capture the essence of my feelings. Alhamdulilah Your name is a reminder to me to praise The One who blessed me with You. Alhamdulilah https://instagram.com/p/7suwNJvx0TNfyhPYJA-nPHuVCoyG145icHOps0/
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Death and grief
(I started this series ‘Letters to my unborn child’ during the April A to Z Challenge which sadly I never completed due to all the stress and workload I was under back then. Here I am trying it out again since this is something I really want to document. Hope I am successful this time around.) Dear baby, Death. How can I talk to you of death when you haven’t yet experienced birth? I ask myself that absurd question. Yet this thought lingers in my head. I experienced the pain and grief due to the death of a close one at the age of 15 only – My maternal…
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Creator’s creation
This post is part of the A to Z April Challenge. My theme for the month is ‘ Letters to my unborn child ‘. Dear baby, Did you know a pencil cannot be formed on its own? Neither a computer nor a leaf! So there has to be some one who made it, right? What about the human body? Who made it? I have been thinking of when and how I should introduce you to your Maker, your Creator, your Lord? The answer is given in the Holy Qur’an itself. Kul huwa Allahu Ahad. Say, He is the One. ( 112:1) The Oneness of God. He is unique in His…
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Beauty-talk.
This post is part of the A to Z April Challenge. My theme for the month is ‘ Letters to my unborn child ‘. Dear baby, Of late, I dream of your features. Your smile. Your face. Your eyes. Who will you resemble? Me, your dad, your (late) paternal grandpa? What will the shade of your colour be? As much as I hate to bring to your attention about the concept of ‘skin colour’, being from the Indian community, I know I should be the first one who should teach you to appreciate all 64 shades of human skin. Being on lighter spectrum should not make you feel privileged neither…
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A beginning
This post is part of the A to Z April Challenge. My theme for the month is ‘Letters to my unborn child’. Dear baby, The first word I, your dad and grandma uttered when we came to know of your existence inside me is “Alhamdulilah” All Praise be to God. Merely that knowledge of your two-cell existence has bought immense joy and happiness into our lives. When you are 16 and feeling lonely, remember there were two people who have prayed for you even before your were born…even before they had met each other! Nearly four years ago, after going for a routine check-up to a gynecologist, she uttered the…
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Theme reveal – A to Z Challenge
As like last year, in the whim of a blogging frenzy I signed up for the A to Z Challenge. Last year’s theme was A to Z of Arabic words in English. It suited my tagline and the exact reason of why I started this blog – my love for words. Much has changed in my personal life over the gap of a year. It has been an exhilarating roller-coaster ride. Alhamdulilah. Hence this year’s theme will be more closer home. More personal. More intimate. I have tried to keep my personal life away from the online world. Yet it is words that calm me. So I come back to…
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Strangers in our life
Excitement and anxiousness creeping in, I went with my better half for a blood test to know if I am pregnant or not only to be told by the lab technician, ‘The tests can be done today, but you will receive the results only tomorrow!’ 24 hours is too frustratingly long to know a simple yes or no. The next day I called up the hospital to know the result via phone only to be told the test results can not be revealed over the phone. I coaxed, cajoled and pleaded with the receptionist to let me know the result. In a soft voice she says, “M’am, I am not…
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Curtains down, 2014.
2014. I have so much to write and express about this year yet words fail me when I am deeply emotional. “There are years that ask questions and years that answer” – Zora Neale Hurston. Definitely this has been a year of answers. Alhamdulilah. I wrote this on Jan 1, 2014. It’s wonderful to look back at your old posts and realize you have everything you wanted back then. 2 out of these Three wishes have been granted. Alhamdulilah. Yet, Scotland Dreams did not materialize. But then, that is how life is. We achieve some dreams, we fail in some of our goals and sometimes we lost track of some…
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The sound of “M”
Out of the blue, my affairs are being set alright. The professional life I so dearly wanted. The personal life I have yearned for, for so long. Everything is just turning out as the way I want it. Alhamdulilah I know, there is someone praying for me, early morning or late night. Near me or across the oceans, I know her duas are there for me. Maybe, all my achievements are due to her sincere plea to God. I wouldn’t be here if not for her. Mother. A dua from a person under whose feet lies Jannah is never unheard by the Lord. Alhamdulilah for mother’s duas. Alhamdulilah for mothers.…
