Cliche.

One of those nights, starling herself from sleep, she slumbered into her black flowery slippers. ‘Hmm, sleep suits you lady’, she thought to herself and lay calm, tweaking the blanket truthful on her little sisters tiny disabled legs. Awesomeness of wisdom Yaara was, right when she was three. Currently, on a daily basis, we are getting bombed by her questions and way of answering. Allahumma barik laha!

Now I did not know why I got up early. Usually he shake me up after the Adhaan goes bang, for the past a week or so anyways. This night I saw myself jolt up, awake and smarty. Giggling myself in excitement, checking for the airplanes out of habit, I go visit myself in the washroom. Tanning day by day, are you not lady, she asked. Do I care, I riposted :D

Actually, she do. The powder and paints has to come up for the knock. For the knock from the ________ freezing out my window. Much of the nautanginess throughout the day from her dada and mama, sigh!

Okaaay! So its Thahajjud time.

Now before you think I’m gonna publicise my religiousness and level of piety, lemme remind you son, I AM a zero, the smallest one you can write. I write this for a purpose and i write this to make this a memory, so may He , the Exalted, make me better than what you think of me.

I prayed for the lady who accompanied me to Kumarakam, crossing through Chennai express, eating the best possible combo of a Subway supper. And for a many others including airplanes, marines, Splash, Pondichery, Bangalore, whoever I can remember passed thoroughly. Quite the ritual ah? The sense of selflessness at that time is ah-may-zing. I want to marry myself at times like those, tayyib!

But this particular day, some minutes before Fajr her wits told her to upload a picture with a ‘One Day, In Sha Allah’ caption. She obeyed brightly.

*************

Jabba  fidgeted in her sleep. She would catch an hour, or its half and fidget again. That night wasn’t easy for her. Truth be said, there were trials upon trils raining over her head since that October. Shades of uncertainty, fears and relentless cycles of tension had been an uninvited guest to the residents of Rose Mount. Looking upon to her, being her was always my target. That search of truth, that charisma to know the realm of our Deen and implement it, her persistence and the way she carried herself in a college flooded with fitnah, is com-mend-able.

 I mean, whoa, that won her an immaculate brother of awesomeness too as a match, Barakumullaahu feekum!

But this particular night- time, she squirmed it out. With a stoke of luck, Land of Nod welcomed her to a deeeeeeeeeep delve of siesta and opened the doors of dreams for her; sadly, or rather gladly in my case, of me.

I texted her apparently, gliding in a state of euphoria probably, that things worked out with the ‘seaman’. She wondered why I mentioned the month of Shawwaal though, because I turned a fully fledged 22(today, duh!) and Shawwaal is at a year distance. 

And then she asked me a killer question.

“You know from where?”

My lousy mind had wandered off in the land of pearls in between. I mean, I did not know there would a ‘Where’ question so I had taken off from the harbour the moment she mentioned ‘SA’ with the end syllable rhyming with a fee. Wallaahi, where else, I thought. So listened on and not a second did I guess, in my wild dramatic mind, that she would answer,

“From Medinah”.

And then, I let myself in to the shock. That I prayed for her, ten hours ago this conversation and she dreamt of me, ten hours ago. And quite coincidently, she happened to Insta a Medinah picture, ten hours ago.

That day, I bumped into the clip of Mina flags. It got into my Whatsapp icon with a status suffixing gush of water emoticon, saying,

‘Cliche attacks, Cliche attacks’.