• Letters,  Motherhood

    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…

  • Letters,  Motherhood

    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…

  • Letters

    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…

  • A to Z April Challenge

    Zero to Hero !

    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. The digit which in itself has no value yet increases the value of another digit manifold, when placed after it. Yes, I finish my A to Z Challenge with ZERO ! (I shall catch up on all the comments and blog posts in the next few weeks, iA! Thank you all for stopping by over my blog and leaving your encouraging comments)

  • A to Z April Challenge

    Yemen

    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. ….we are nearly at the end of this long 26 days Challenge ! Today’s post is about the name of a Middle Eastern country. (Possibly,  the name suggests the georgraphic location of Yemen on the southernmost tip of Arabian Peninsula. Another tradition suggests the word derives from the expression al-Yumn which means grace and blessing.)

  • A to Z April Challenge

    Xebec, it is !

    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. X-day might be one of the most difficult one in the A to Z Challenge. I am quite surprised to find an actual word beginning with X which has an Arabic origin. (Initially, I was planning to be cheeky and use X-ray for today, connecting the Algebraic X And Arabic origin :P) Xebec – a small three-masted Mediterranean sailing ship.

  • A to Z April Challenge

    Picturesque Wadi

    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. Wadi al Sail. Wadi Rum. Wadi al Seer. Wadi Musa. Many towns and places in the Arab world have their names beginning with Wadi. Apparently, Wadi is an entry in  the Oxford English Dictionary too ! Wadi – (In certain Arabic-speaking countries) a valley, ravine, or channel that is dry except in the rainy season (OED)

  • A to Z April Challenge

    V for Vizier

    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. Vizier – The only place I have come across this word commonly is while reading Akbar and Birbal stories as a child.