What's in a name?

What's in a name?", asked a lovestruck Juliet. If she was Indian she would have said "Lot's in a name. tatabyebye." Dear friends, a name is not just a name. My mother will be first to attest to this fact. Mom's name is..wait for it.....Fathimathu Nazeera Begum Sherule. No, it's not a sentence, it's her full name. And she still hasn't come to terms with the consequences of this novel of...

Continue Reading 17 Dec 2015

Jabalpur Diaries- Part 4

After the excitement of our morning trip, we were famished. And there, in the dusty under belly of Central India, was The Indian Coffee house, nestled comfortably near the Tiger Reserve. ICH is staffed by a dozen malayalees. Proof that malayalees will find their way to any corner of the world.After a delicious brunch we were off exploring again in the same jeep with Uttam. Our first stop was the...

Continue Reading 13 Dec 2015

Jabalpur Diaries-Part 3

 spent the night before twisting and turning wondering whether the noise is a tiger growling or someone from the near by tent snoring. I am pretty sure some wild boars were circling our tent too...We woke up at the crack of dawn to get ready for our morning Safari. We realized the elephants were closer than a hundred feet to our tent. There was just a 3 ft high wall...

Continue Reading 12 Dec 2015

Jabalpur Diaries-Part 2

Today morning we were received by Colonel Seethi and family (Fathima Nisar) at the Jabalpur Junction. They were quite shocked to see Nazeera Faz and me standing there with four suitcases. We travel heavy. I almost convinced them we were here to overstay their welcome.I was nostalgic, driving through the army campus and seeing their "quarters", surrounded by a lovely garden.After a scrumptious east-meets-west breakfast of "mooli parantha" and apple pie (courtesy Zakeena...

Continue Reading 10 Dec 2015

Jabalpur Diaries- Part 1

I am blessed to have an uncle in the Indian Army who gets posted to amazing places that you wouldn’t think of visiting otherwise. He has been inviting us for years now to visit him and his family in the places he has been stationed at. Finally, after ages of planning and cancelling those plans, Umma and I decided to visit them in Jabalpur Madhya Pradesh. As usual, my trips...

Continue Reading 10 Dec 2015

10 Reasons I love flying (Not)

List of things I enjoy about flying, airports, and travelling in general, in no particular order.1)The hair bun squeezes over my hijab, when travelling to Europe/UK. Sorry folks, I am gonna disappoint you. I am too lazy to comb my hair while traveling, let alone fit a bomb in there. 2) Passport control. I am probably the most innocent person you know.I have no criminal record, no run-ins with the law....

Continue Reading 07 Dec 2015