rahima academy =D February 21, 2008

its one of those things that everyone’s experienced…something everyone has been serious about…something that everyone SERIOUSLY wants to forget…but the thought of which still brings a smile to our face (probably because we’re glad about the long string of changes we’ve braved and excelled at today!)

for a while…just for the hell of it..and for the joy it brings…

rewind to that kiddie mode…when being 12 was *cool*…at least in my school it was…we got our own locker and felt really special swirling around those combination locks!

elementary : kg-4: the highlight of our lives was recess! our lunchboxes and choosing friends…kiddie cliques and cooties..rock paper scissors (yasmin always won there!)…loving your teachers…working on our science projects…fighting with the librarian to make sure that we got the newest books…hunting for treasures in the library…mrs fernandes..mrs valente…mrs taboy

5-6: the love hate relationship era…love hate ur family, girls, boys,teachers..EVERYTHING…preteens and puberty! my most distinct memory of this…dressing like the rest of my GIRLS…buying exactly the same overalls (black) and dressing alike with red shirts…and then we had the parallel clique which decided to wear blue…hehe…dumb kids we were…oh and getting told off by mrs marcos for chasing abbas around campus…playing basketball (even before kuch kuch hota hai)…seeing friends go thru their first crushes…do u remember sex ed and the strange looks we gave each other after coming back from those segregated classes! hehe…mrs vaz *and the way we threw her a baby shower*..mrs barrett and her resemblance to disney witches! kareem dabbagh and backstreet boys..and sana and divya! hehe..mrs sundar who made math so so enjoyable

7-8: getting together,dancing like freaks and spilling our souls *bonding*…shahrukh khan! (most people cant even understand this weird aspect of my personality..obsession with shahrukh khan…what can i say..a bit of my childhood is still alive in meee..hehe)…hira , yasmin, and sarah..do u remember how we fought about those posters zara got us…hehe…we wouldnt quite be the people we are today if we didnt (pretend to be) mature then! relationships and all the trash they bring…and about how pathetic it can be being in the middle of a relationship! making friends for life =) ….abbas…zeeshan..playing cricket…sneaking in class…cheating! (recall arabic culture and american history and algebra and *sigh* we cheated too much!)..flattering mrs oliveira…making fun of mrs khan and mrs james (she’s such a sweetheart she’s teaching my third brother Haseeb now and still remembers me!)…learning french and feeling sophistiqué!

and now this picture on facebook! life really does come full circle!

spot me if u can!

 

 

 

to abbas and the rest of my schoolhouse friends…from those i met in that trailer in mrs fernandes’ class till the ones i fought with next to the lockers! love u! wouldnt quite be the person i am today without u! and our secrets and memories stay in that group! hehe

hugs

delayed January 10, 2007

i travelled to karachi on the night of the fifth…we got there before time *just like the ticket told us* …the flight ended up being around 2 hours late…not as bad a wait as most flight delays are…bad weather was the *credible* cause cited…

anyway..got on the plane..haseeb sadi was on our flight *reading that haseeb* so nabeel sat with him…ohh it was a such a pathetic flight..not as bad as typical syrian air flights are…but pretty bad!!

the thing is that saudi arabian airlines had diverted all its karachi flights for the hajj season….and had sold all its reserved seats to syrian air…which means we pay for a great airline..and end up flying back and forth on a REALLY crappy one..one the way to dammam nabeel and i felt more like we were travelling on a stinky bus…it was overcrowded, filled with laborers who didnt abide by the no smoking rules…we had to sit right at the end of the plane…in the tail!..if anything at all, it had a great view…saw the sun come up over the clouds …

airplane food is bad…but this food is bad *font 72*…smells funny

on the way to saudi they gave us a tray which nabeel and i estimated cost the airline no more than 30 rupees…consisted of a stale slice of cake…an overripe banana…and a sandwich that seemed to have been made a week ago…oh and they also serve fake coke/fanta/sprite

anyway…i’ve gone off course! we had to verify that the baggage to be put on the plane was ours or not…hehe…before we got on the plane..we were made to walk out on the frigid tarmac and point at our luggage so that it could be put into the plane..i dont think ANYONE has ever had to do that…pathetic airline!

before that we had trouble finding the gate…the guy at the counter who checked us in told us one gate, the airport information board said another, and then there was a third one being announced on the public address system….now dammam airport is huuugee..rumored to be the biggest in the middle east..to walk from one gate to the other takes a good 10-15 minutes..in spite of the electronic walkways…so walking all over was quite annoying…liked the art on the walls on the way though..and also discovered the Royal VIP lounge..hehe…looked royal enough!!

by the time i got on the *almost empty* plane..i was realllly tired and sleepy…nabeel as with haseeb in the back and i saw this as a good opportunity to get some sleep..there isnt anything else u can do on the plane…except the girl next to me was very talkative…if i had met her some place else, we wdve become the best of friends…but in that stinky cramped plane where i was already cranky..her talk was just plain annoooyyyiiinnngg

anyhow…got off the plane and braced myself for the long passport/immigration line…the first 2 hajj flights had landed the very same time as us…so we found ourselves in lines with VERY pushy hajis..they seemed to have that attitude about them *get out of the way u worms…we’re hajis…we’re superior now*…not in my queue lady!!

got out of immigration…*sometimes i wonder how it would be to an immigration officer..looking at boring passports every day…and having to deal with rowdy crowds…i guess that goes for airplane stewards and stewardesses too…but the ones on syrian are actual vile..have a serious B.O. problem..and dont understanda word of english..its a friggin INTERNATIONAL flight…is the IAAA reading out there?!

got out of baggage claim and finally got outdoors…*”my favorite bit,” says haseeb, “i feel like a celebrity!”*…and indeed there were SWARMS of people outside…most of them there to greet the returning pilgrims *haseeb:”look all the girls with the flowers and garlands!! they’re all there for me!!”*…and for once due to the excessive rose garlands, entering into karachi smelt good…the terminal was so crowded they had personnel in place to let the luggage trolleys pass through…got out into the karachi morning air, and took a cab home..stayed there for half and hour..and the got on the point to university…

it felt good to see all my fwwends…also nice to see the returning BBA8/MBA batch, who were away for a six month internship..but since i was delayed by a couple of days i wanted to check out my courses and teachers…cant really complain much..the IBA Admin seems to be showing some genuine concern for our batch and finally giving us good teachers…though my seniors assure me that theyre all crap, i seem to think otherwise…we have 4 courses with the word management in them…and our teachers have started calling us professionals…for once we have a financial management teacher *Zia ul Haque* who knows his stuff…a managerial accounting teacher *Aman U Saiyed* with a southern accent and loads of anecdotes to match his accounting knowledge…a methods of business research instructor who cracks the silliest quirks in class and has taught us before *S.M.Saeed* who i like inspite of his BS *so far we have been told that “the best way to motivate your researchers is to give them a sweet danda”…! pretty outrageous*…a philosophy of Islam teacher who talks all airy and loves to rant *”language and words are mere breath!!” he says*…good old TJ *tic tac toe! third semester in a row*, who’s teaching us Management of Pakistan’s Economy and is so far giving out the same handouts to both us and the BBA 4s doing Analysis of Pakistani Industries…:D…we also have a Mr. Kamran *youngish* teaching us Productions and Operations Management…unfortunately he has to share the course with Mirza Sardar *who’s the head of the Management Dept at the IBA, and cant teach cause he recently had bypass surgery* who sits at the back of the classroom and acts all busy shuffling papers and gets up from time to time *”if Mr. Kamran would allow me to encroach on five minutes of his time, i just wnated to addd….” to which Mr. Kamran looks on helplessly to Mirza sahab and the clock for the next 10 minutes*

hehe..since ive pledged to attain nerd status, and subsequently get a presentable GPA this semester, im studying and paying attention in class..so far..!…its only my third day at uni so i cant see my promise going far…but lets be optimistic shall we

also practicing math questions like mad for the upcoming P&G test…i think id be ready to give the GMAT once im thru with the practice…my math instructor is ammar habib khan..and just happens to be a math genius…speeding thru questions while im still lost sumwhere in the last question…but i was very happy today when i did questions today and didnt get a single one wrong ..ammar, on the contrary, got a couple wrong..much to my glee, and to which ferial told ammar “doob maro ammar!!”…hehe…guess im soaking up his math knowledge..muahaha

u know this has turned ou to be a pretty long blog…but i had fun typing it up..dont care if u guys dont read it all..hehe

u know what i was going to start typing about meetings…but i guess i’ll put that in another blog! not meeting details…but mebbe minutes!

merry christmas December 25, 2006

…and happy birthday ms shiny..wherever u are!!

ms gowri December 20, 2006

one of the many pleasures of growing up in the middle east is the fact that u have access to all of the european consumer institutions so to say, while keeping the muslim ethos intact…be it malls or shopping centers or hypermarkets…we have access to the latest brands from all over the world…barr the abayas,add some pork products and an alcohol section and u’d be in europe

when shopping yesterday, drifting from section to section, i saw a head with the longest braid ever..just one sight of her head and i knew who she was…her long beautiful braid had caught my attention the first time i met her, and it had introduced me again to her yesterday

ms gowri just gave me a look, and as always, there was a big smile on her face…we hugged and screamed and wanted to know everything about each other immediately…i told her about doing my bachelors from the same institute of which i had shown her the prospectus of a few months before graduating, telling her “i’ll never get in!!”….and she always said, u will abeer, u will get in and do a lot more! yesterday she said with a twinkle in her eye “see, i told u u’d get in”…and then i saw a baby in her hands…she started telling me about rishi *her baby boy* and vaishnavi (vaishu) who was now a girl of 5-6…we saw her when she was much younger, so she didnt remember us…but meeting with miss gowri was such a pleasant surprise..brought on memories

i first met miss gowri when i was in 11th grade…there were only 2 a level accounting students *rafiqa and myself* and 3 economics students *rafiqa myself and nicole*…she taught us both courses…i remember all three of us girls sniggering in the back when we first had class with her..she was a shy quiet thing…smelling of curry, with a sharp indian accent…kohled eyes and the looong braid we always marvelled and nicky played around with

most of our classes we tried to distract her, trying to talk about anything but economics…forgetting that we had cambridge exams to give in a few months, and instead ms gowri confessing to us that she would never have another baby because she hated pregnancy and childbirth…telling us about weird south indian customs like never being allowed to cut ur hair…and her opinion about the *promiscuous* and downright *vulgar* arab students…”they cover their head and they still do like this?!!”

rafiqa and i went thru a phase when we used to imitate her accent and nod our heads similarly…we never did it in front of her…she was such a sensitive thing, she couldve burst into tears…we used to do it behind her back…and once, during accounting class rafiqa and i didnt realize but we were doing it in front of her…we gave each other a look and felt horrid about it…went upto ms gowri and apologized…she forgave us immediately, but gave us more work to do than usual

i loved high school…especially senior year *12th grade*..we were 10 students in one section *a level section* and 10 in the other *SAT section*…i can honestly say that be it teacher or our core of 10-11 students *shakir from the other section used to spend more time with us than he did with his section* we were the BEST of friends..teasing, confessing,talking, wondering about the life that lay beyond graduation

a disadvantage of growing up the middle east is that u leave ur international group, and u KNOW that its never going to be the same again…the probability of such a multiethnic group meeting up in the future is pretty slim…*sighs*

but u meet one or two people once in a while *like i do when i come down here every six months*..and u bridge the distances via the internet…but just isnt the same…looking at pictures of school on facebook the other day, i didnt even realize it but i was smiling and had tears pouring out of my eyes…they were such good days…at the time , we only used to whine about school and saudi arabia..but now that we’re away from it, we cherish those memories and miss it like hell

me , and nicole sitting on me, hajra sitting on nicole, and rafiqa sitting on hajra…the little *bye* u can see in the corner was ms demir’s *our math teacher* way of saying bye…she used to write on the walls

to all my girls, and my guys, and my teachers and friends from school…i know i have told u all..but i just want to tell u again..i love u!

thank u ms gowri, for reminding me about life’s most important thing…which in spite of this loooong piece, i still havent been able to find a word for *sighs*