Signals!

When you've got a crush on someone, the mind sends you signals, you react in signals and the other person has to read those signals. Introspecting, first two years of college were cumbersome. It was in third year that we had a course on Digital Signal Processing!

The Burqa

Here is a first hand account of a Muslim woman living in France who just got the news that the Burqa is now banned in France.

“Umm! 'Elated' would be an understatement if I were to describe my present state of mind. How could I live in this black sack for so many years. How could anyone, for that matter. Now that people, rather government, have realized its negative effects I’d like to add mine. It blocked the peripheral vision and one could never know who or what was standing or lying on one’s either side. Several trippings over stones, railings and beggars made me oblivious to them. I had at least one of my knees always scraped, and now thankfully I’ll save on the medical expenses I incurred because of the burqa. I always had to see the world through a curtain, which was opaque from the outside, and translucent from the inside. This translucency has its own side effects – red changed to maroon, cyan changed to navy blue and the Pakistan cricket team looked like the Indian army. Pity our boys in blue.

We muslim girls have a limited supply of names. The good ones, in fact. While naming the newborns, we realize that there is one Rukhsar, one Fatima etc already in the family. So, we go for the second round. Repetition. In the end, every family has at least five Rukhsars, seven Fatimas and the likes. To say the least, I have five friends named Reshma and when one of the Reshmas likes a link in my Facebook profile, its impossible to make out which one was it because the profile picture is of no great help. They all resemble. Thanks to the great burqa.

There have been increased problems between me and my hubby. When I am troubled or under stress, he doesn’t get to know, even when I am sitting next to him. Meekly, I start crying and and making disgruntled noises under the veil. The mucous sucking noise that comes from the upper end of my throat calls for his attention. Yuck! It is not until he sees the curtain clinging to my cheeks because of the tears that he pulls up the my translucent curtain to see a tragic play going on inside. Roll sound, action.

The other day I went to Debenhams to check out the in vogue Burqa collection. Yeah, we do have the latest fashion trends for the not-so-black veil. Suddenly, my eyes caught a sight. They were giving free oxygen masks on the purchase over some specified price. What matters is how do the marketing people at Debenhams got to know about the air pollution in the completely impenetrable burqa that happens after a relishing treat on a few mooli ka paranthas. Maybe one of the marketing executive was burqa-clad herself. Trust me, the air inside gets real damp and pernicious after the emissions ensuing the meals. Though its impervious, but still we need to open the upper lid up and gasp for a deep breath of fresh air. Aaah!”

On a personal thought, we know what the burqa was intended for. Now it doesn’t live upto its purpose. We cannot do a thing but look at the positive side of it. Even if a guy gets a glimpse of a pretty face at the metro station en-route to his office, does it make any difference. Not to her at-least, but to the guy who saw her. Happiness abound. He witnesses divinity. God’s beauty. The sight of her makes his day spring to life. And he goes on to work.

My first - you liked.

I know someone. She used to be my love in school time. We used to be together, sit together and live together. I was always lost in her admiration. But, fate had its own way. She left me in second year of college. I was broken. I felt low and kept thinking of her. And then, as an answer to my prayers, she returned in the third year. But now, there was a change. Nobody liked her. She had turned horrific and disgusting. More so, intolerable. Just that people used to call it physics. I call it off.