Tag: blogging

Just writing

Would You Take The Risk?

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If you had a choice to play the big gamble in your life, to stand still before a fully loaded gun save one of its chambers, listen to the click of its trigger, and wait for the bullet that might be fired and hit you dead, or for the one that would never come out. You might end up lying dead on the ground, or you might go home with a million pounds. What would you do?

That was one of the oddest and simplest questions I never expected to be asked during my converstation exam in my final year at university. To be honest, I was pleased to have this one, and I felt so blessed.

Do you want to know why?

Simply because my answer slipped off my tongue without giving it a second thought.Things wouldn’t have been the same if any of my friends’ questions had been mine. It wasn’t because theirs were harder, but because, sometimes, you just can’t talk genuinely about everything.

‘No, I wouldn’t risk my life.’

‘But, it’s a million pounds. There’s a chance you could get it.’

‘Even if they paid me the money in advance to enjoy and spend my life before making the gamble, I wouldn’t take the risk. My life is priceless, and my God didn’t bless me with a divine soul to gamble with it.’

That was my answer, and that year I got the best mark of my converstation exams over the four years of my university studies.

Money will come anyway, whether a little or in abundance, but you live once, and this once can be millions lives, both imaginary and real. Would you risk all that for just a million pound that might worth nothing in the next hour?

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

P.S. I think nowadays the million pounds prize should be, at least, a trillion.

Just writing

A friend to all

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… is not a friend at all.

Have you ever heard this saying? It makes sense, doesn’t it?

Isn’t it odd that one can be your friend and your rival’s, your opponent’s, even your enemy’s? You can, of course, be kind to all, but not a friend to all. I am not talking about social media friends, for in this case you can be a friend to millions. Online frienhip is exactly what it implies “online”. I am talking about real, close friends who you can trust, love, agree, or even disagree with. Perhaps that’s why true friendship is a rare gem, too hard to find and too precious to keep.

In fiction, and in real life, true friendhip could take you by surprise. An old man might be a young child’s best friend, a man of the world might be a saint’s, a prisoner might be his keeper’s, and an animal might be a man’s. In all cases, its the quality,  not quantity that makes unique friendships.

Wouldn’t it be better if this friend of all should be a passerby after all?

Perhaps you can change the saying and add whatever you like.

A friend to all …..

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

memories

The honest

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Honesty is a noble, human trait, and I believe that, along with  kindness, it will never die out. But, honesty is truely unique when it is genuine and touches your heart. I am not referring to the type of honesty that comes with formal interrogation or businesslike settings; I mean honesty that simply slipped off the tongue when you feel you compelled to be honest at that moment, regardless of any costs or requirements.

Last summar, just before moving, my eldest son, my daughter, and I went for a long walk by the seafront. It was a  clear, hot day, with overfed seagulls soaring and screaming all of the sky. They looked as much happy and busy as all the people walking along the parade.

What could be better than having a fish and chips meal on such a summary day? We headed towards a fish and chips takeaway restaurant which was so busy with long queues waiting to either make or collect orders. I always tell my family what I’d like to order and wait outside as far as possible becuase I can’t bear the smell of frying oil, especially on boiling days. However, on that particular day, my son insisted that I go inside with them. Perhaps that was becuase it was so busy outside.

I walked inside with them, and we were waiting for our turn to make the order. As we were talking, I noticed the chef glancing at me once or twice, as if he wanted to say something. When it was our turn, my son gave the order, but then the man looked from my son to me and said: ‘ I just want you to know that we fry pork, sausages, fish and chips, all with the same oil.’

The three of us stood still for a while. It was the first time someone had given us this piece of information without us asking. When we thanked him and declined the order, he said. ‘ I  know you have laws, and I respect that.’

We stepped out hungry, but so happy.

‘Oh, mama, that’s becuase of you,’ my son said.

‘And what have I done?’

‘Your hijab, mama. It’s the first time you came in,’ he laughed. ‘You know how many times we ordered fish and chips from there, and no one told us that before. Such an honest man!’

‘But mama what about the other fish and chips we ate before? My daughter seems more interested in whether we had been making a big mistake.

‘We are allowed to eat fish, so we make an order for fish and chips. God knows that we don’t know it’s been cooked with pork, and in that case we are pardoned. But, from from now on, as we know how things are, we’ll ask every time before having any takeaway.’

I will remember that day forever. This is not only becuase, since then, we know about the frying process, but because of the honest man you come across once in a blue moon.


With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Books

The promise

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Have you ever promised someone something?
Of course I have, we all do.

Have you been true to your promise?
Hmm … sometimes, most of the times.

Have you ever broken any?
Well… I can’t remember

Can you trust someone who breaks their promise, who couldn’t stand by their word?
Never … but unless it was inevitable.

Would your answers be any similar?

You might forgive once, but when things happen twice or more, nothing can heal the wound of mistrust. It’s better not to give a promise at all than to give one with any possibility of being unable to keep it. It’s not only unethical to break a promise, but also heartbreaking, disappointing, and deceiving.

However, what if the promise itself is impossible, dangerous, or unethical? Would you blindly, stubbornly fulfill it? Or would you listen to your heart and reason, and break it? 

That’s what the new book I am currently reading is all about. A girl, in her early twenties,  gives her bedridden mother a promise to move and live with her aunt after her death. From the very beginning, starting with the cold letter she receives from her aunt, to the long, miserable journey she makes, to people’s fear and shock about her destination, to the first sight of her aunt and her husband, everything seems to be shouting at her to break her promise and forget about it. If her mother were able to rise from her grave, she would do, so just to tell her daughter to forget about that mistaken promise and flee from her Aunt’s house. But, the girl, full of curiosity and stubbornness, stuck to the promise all the same.

I’ll let you know more when I finish it.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

P.S. The promise is not the title of the book

Just writing

The actor

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I once heard that an actor’s testimony can not be validated. I have no idea whether this notion has any reference, but I suggest it’s merely a point of view, likely as a reference to the lack of credibility.

Acting is a talent before being a profession. How many actors are there in the world? Countless, right? But how many are truely talented? Just a few, wouldn’t you agree?

The talented will make you weep, scream, laugh, hate, love, and sympathise with them. Above all, they make you believe whatever they’re giving you. The untalented will make you neutral, if not bored.

Perhaps, this is why some think that a real actor’s testimony might be considered invalid. After all, the courtroom can’t be a stage, and truth can’t be dramatised. Truth has to be proved with competent, relevant, credible, and unbiased testimony.

Have you ever noticed how many writers make it clear from the very beginning of their novels that it’s all fictional? They don’t want to mislead their readers, to bear no responsibility if things were not accurate. While the story and characters may reflect something or someone in real life, it’s all based on imagination.

Truth can’t be imagined, but imagination cam help us see the truth.

What do you think? Are you still reading? Pray tell, you are!

By the way, there are many unknown actors who perform better in real life than on the stage. They are professional, but not talented. Ironically, they can’t be exempt from giving testimony. Hopefully, the judge, would never be one.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Books

Obsession

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I wonder if obseission is a psychological, complex problem? In fact, I believe it is.

It is like idolization, you fall for something or someone and make them like air and water in your life. Both are desturctive, but I think obsession is even worse. This is because idolization, sometimes, is out of true love which can be blind or selfish. But, obsession is mainly about possession, fear, and greed.

In both cases, either in idolization or obsession, you can’t see the truth, you can’t listen to reason.

Perhaps, that’s why this quote makes a very good sense: “Truth was something intangible, unseen, which sometimes we stumbled upon and did not recognize, but was found, and held, and understood only by old people near their death, or sometimes by the very pure, the very young.”

Do you agree that only the old, the very young, and the pure can sometimes see the truth? Do you think that might because they are no longer obsessed or have not yet become obessessed?

My Cousin Rachel  by Dephne Du Maurier  can tell you more about obessission. Here’s a link for my review.

/https://nh825.wordpress.com/2025/01/20/my-cousin-rachel/

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Just writing

My one-of-a- kind reading strategy

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While reading, I sometimes come across mentions of authors. Immediately, before I forgot, I check their brief biography and pick one of their books in my want-to-read list. Occasionally, though rarely, the book is a suggestion or a recommendation.

Honestly, I am not always loyal be to my want -to- read list. But the good thing is that once I make my mind to read a book, I will read it all. It’s something like challenging  myself, or out of curiosity to discover what this book has for me.

How long does it take to finish a book? That depends on how I like the book. If it is boring, and I feel like I won’t enjoy it, I read it when I am bored or when I don’t bother interruptions. For example, at a  café or when I am waiting for my daughter to finish her clubs.That’s why some books take much longer than others for me to finish.

On the other hand, I will read the books I like when it’s all quiet, espcially at home. I will finish them before I could even know it. With this strategy, I might have two books to read at the same time, one like a player on the bench waiting to be in action, and another scoring a goal after goal on the pitch.

Sometimes I wonder, you might too, why I just don’t return the book I don’t like, or keep it unread on the shelf? Honestly, I just feel there’s always something hidden there to learn. The only exception, when my mind won’t work this way, is when I’ve watched its adaptation which, for me, means all the fun of reading is blown into thin air.

I am sure you haven’t heard of this strategy before, or have you?

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

daily prompt

Not a toy story person!

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Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?

Take care of your stuff, son. Nahla will bin anything she thinks is of no need or use.” My mother warned  my husband, laughing, when we married years ago.

I don’t get as attached to things or places as I do to people, and sometimes animals. Perhaps that explains why whenever we move to a new place, I adapt quickly, and feel more excited than nervous.

On the other hand, getting attached to people is such a hard, painful experience because that’s life; always changing, always full of surprises.

One day, during the last year of my high school, my best friend’s mother knocked on our door around seven o’clock in the evening. I was surprised to see her as I had barely seen her when I visited my friend. But then, I understood that she was looking for her daughter (my friend) who left the house early in the morning after having a big row with her older brother. Shocked and trembling, I told her I hadn’t seen her at all that day. The mother left, her face full of anger and disappointment. I wept buckets that evening that my sister felt sorry for me and suggested we walk to my friend’s house to see if she had gone home. She did return, and I hugged her so long when she opened the door.

A week or so later, when I entred my class at school, I found another girl taking my friend’s seat next to me. Before I could ask about my friend, the girl gestured to one of the back benches and told me my friend wanted to swap places from now on. As I turned back to see where my friend was, I saw her laughing with one of boldest, most talkive girl in our year group. It hurt so much, more than the day I thought she would never return home. That day, I wept hard, but she was no longer my friend.

From that day on, especially after years of living abroad and meeting different people, I have enough of experience that my attachment to others has become less and less emotional. I have been training and teaching myself to be cool and practical, and expect less than more from others. And, things turn out to be much easier this way; simply like exchanging hellos and Goodbyes.

No strong attachment, no more expectations.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

daily prompt

Let’s play with the word

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What is your mission?

I read recently that the word ‘impossible’ can be also read as I’m possible.

What about the word ‘mission’? Can we play a bit with it in a different way?

I don’t know about you, but I think the word itself sounds so formal, complicated, and too rigid and narcissistic to relate to everyone.

Certainly, when you say ‘I have a mission’, or ‘I am on a mission,’  you are already announcing to yourself, first and foremost, that you have set your mind on doing a specific target, reaching a ceratin goal, and gaining a certain reward. “Mission fulfilled,” you would burst with pride when it’s all done. Unfortunately, in this formal, complicated context, you might have to say: “Mission failed,” with a broken heart, and full of despair.

Therefore, why not simplify the word ‘mission’ to a  plan, a task, or even a dream? At least with its simplified version, you might feel less pressured, less stressed, and less burdened. Some priorities might surface along your mission, requiring you to consider some humane appeals, some sensible decisions, and some simple needs. These changes and possibilities might let you open the door to making adjustments, diversions, or even finding peace.

On a mission, you can turn a deaf ear to your conscience and avoid seeking other possibilities. But when think of it as plan, a task, or better yet, a dream, you can listen to your heart, and see the possible in the impossible.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

daily prompt

Blue and Sky

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What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?


I have two cute parakeets for about three years now. Their story at my house started when my son’s colleague asked him if I could take care of her bird while she was away for a week. Of course I welcomed the tiny creature. Since it wasn’t mine, I never let him out of the cage but it was a torture watching him inside. Though, I liked him, I also couldn’t wait until he would go back to his friend. His short stay visits became frequent, and one day my son wondered if I would like to keep him for ever. Of course, I agreed, but I asked him to get a companion for my little friend. He did, and since then we have two: Blue and Sky.

‘How long do you expect birds would live?’ My son usually asks, teasing me.
‘Why does that matter? Today, they are alive, chirping, fighting, playing, eating, and flying around.’ I answered, making a face at him.

Do you think birds care about how long they are going to live? I don’t think so. But they do, of course, care about their life and take good care of it.

There is a common saying in Arabic:  “The soul is so precious.”

Every breath counts, every day counts, and every moment counts.

That’s my concept of a very long life.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla