Butterflies

The much-anticipated Graduation day has finally come. Tomorrow I will be walking on stage, most likely tripping and tumbling on my gown, making an embarrassment of myself, and finally receiving my long awaited certificate.

Understandably, I am quite anxious. This is a very big step to take. Throughout the next year, everything around me or what I’ve been USED to, will be radically changing. People, lifestyle, routine and responsibilities. I'm saying goodbye to student hood, farewell to full-time education for the very last time (or not). ;)

Tomorrow, I'll have left Queen Mary. The past three years here have been very good to me. They've shaped me into someone yearning to get the most out of life: motivated, optimistic, and enthusiastic and I couldn't be more thankful for this. I’ve learnt a lot about myself, my deen and what I aspire to do in the future. I have made friends with wonderful people who I will keep in contact with and met the most amazing sisters who have taught me a lot and who have shaped me into who I am today. My two close friends who have made my university life all the worthwhile, with the jokes we shared and the moments we cringed at. And then there’s the blue shop…the famous PFC! WHO could forget PFC? Or meds? Come to think of it, I probably have a record for being the customer who orders the same meal every time!

And then there are the memories of my final year and living out with the girls. My sisters. Sure we can call each other on the phone and talk, but it's definitely not the same thing. No more late night watching movies on our laptops (half the time spent trying to find the correct movie and the other half trying to upload it), and laughing at the stupid things that seem funny at two in the morning. No more last minute rush in the mornings, queuing for the bathroom and shouting at each other for being late to class. No more waking up for fajr altogether and praying. It was real sobering to walk into our house and see all the boxes lined up against the wall. There's no going back now, we're all ‘grown up’ and shouldering true responsibility - unemployment. :p

Being a student really wasn't all that bad. Sure, sometimes it got to be annoying and tedious and hard work, but with friends by your side it was a real good time that left us with a lot of memories Alhamdulillah.

So, now with all that off my mind, here's to a suspenseful summer full of anticipation and uncertainty. I embrace the butterflies.

Zombie land!

Unlike many football fans (including my brothers), I can’t get on board with this utopian vision of the FIFA world cup evoking ‘a collective sense of English identity and unity, infused with positive energy’ – in fact I despise it! Flags everywhere, nationalism left, right, and centre, people screaming for their players to score that most important goal whilst they stay glued to the couch for an entire season! I refuse to get excited about some wealthy misogynists tossing a ball around in the name of patriotism and product endorsement. As I walk contentedly along a quiet street, I refuse to see the point of cars jam packed with oversized people thrusting themselves out of the windows and roofs, waving scarves and yelling triumphantly….as if…..as if…..something huge and significant had been accomplished. Would I see these very same people screaming with joy if a child had been saved from starvation in Darfur or if the convoy ships full of aid had reached successfully to Gaza? They wouldn’t even notice let alone be happy about it!

Everything about the world cup is exaggerated. It’s cry baby million dollar worth players, joyless managers, its blokish supporters, its whistle-peeping referees and excitable commentators and - perhaps most of all - its unpluggable ‘analysts’ who seem to find satisfaction in sitting and examining a players every move. Argh! And what’s even more depressing, all this excitement, this glory and support, ends with a MASSIVE crash as England fails to beat Germany with an embarrassing score of 4:1.

It is hard being a world cup loather, an unfan. I sometimes feel as lonely as the sole survivor in the last reel of a Zombie movie, as, one by one, old friends reveal themselves, with their blank lifeless stares and outstretched arms, to have succumbed to the lure. They too are infected with the world cup disease!! People I had always assumed were strict anti world cup football supporters suddenly start jabbering incoherently about how Rooney should have shot that goal or writing up ‘viva la Algeria’ status’s on facebook. And then one look at them as they utter those words, I suddenly realise that it’s too late, that all is lost! They too have caught the deadly world cup virus! It’s crazy how the most unexpected person pops out to be a football fan!

The fact remains, however, that there are more pressing things to worry about over the World Cup season than the state of Beckham’s unexpected injury and consequent withdrawal from the World Cup. This country is in crisis! The world is in crisis! The reality is, there’s a lot of money expended in constructions for the World Cup – A LOT of money. How can we support the notion that people may invest more in 'fun' of a ball game then things like misery, hunger and many other things? No wonder the world is in this state.

Inspired quotes

'If a man like Muhammad were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems that would bring it the much needed peach and happiness.'

- George Bernard Shaw