Signature.
knicq posted in Knicqisms on March 26th, 2006
One of my all time favorite albums is Amir Zaki’s Signature. It was almost eleven years ago, when I had first got my hands on this album, and I have since been addicted to it. It is more than an album to me, it is a part of my life. It brings back memories of days that were so long ago, and were perhaps some of the best days in my life. Frankly speaking, I have been blessed with a wonderful, wonderful life, and it seems unfair to label any part as better than others, thereby implying any part of my life was less than another. Perhaps, what I wanted to say is that those were the days when I was at my best behavior. Unfortunately, I lost my way too soon, and have since never been able to get it right.
I remember little of consequence from my childhood. Like all children in an average middle-class Pakistani family, education took up all my time. My parents are hard-working, honest and simple people. My father is a simple man, often accused of being too blunt and tactless. He is also the wisest person I know. For as far back as I can remember, I do not recall having seen him discussing politics, sports, or anything that did not directly concern him. Blabberers like yours truly, and passionate opiners like yours truly’s spiritual ‘misguide’ Jalali Baba know only too well the futility of those discussions. Yours truly probably knows the futility better than Jalali Baba, since yours truly is often subjected to those futile rantings by Jalali Baba, and through him and his rantings yours truly has been able to see just how futile and feeble yours truly must seem expressing those opinions, since unlike Jalali Baba, yours truly is not blessed with even the half baked theories that Jalali Baba passionately advocates … theories, which can only result from an indepth knowledge of superficial matters.
My father had come into the UAE soon after he had graduated with his Bachelors, and had started working with the UAE armed forces. For almost three decades, he worked with the same employer. I am still not very sure what his job responsibilities were, but he was the only one in that office who spoke, read and wrote Arabic as well as English with about the same level of ease/difficulty. He had learnt the local dialect early on, and set about practicing whatever others he could. He even had a signature in Arabic, complete with the trademark calligraphic appearance of an arabic signature. Come to think of it, his signature looked better than those of our Arabic teachers at school. We used to show off his arabic signatures to our friends whenever we were required to get our poor scores in arabic tests signed by parents; those signatures came after much soul searching, the search part being undertaken in our souls by parents; a small price to pay for the moments of glory during recess.
It seems like it was in another lifetime…the listening to Aamir Zaki’s Signature, as well as the showing off of Walid Sahab’s signature.
I am old.
March 29th, 2006 at 9:55 am
You are not old. Not yet anyway. Let October roll in first and then we can have a discussion on the merits and demerits of being old, the intellectual baggage that comes with it, the badge of honor being old bestows on anyone, and whether or not you are up to such a daunting task.
So you are not old. Walid Sahab’s old, but that would only be because he perfected an Arabic signarure. Since you have not even started on the tricky task, you are not eligible for the old mantle and mentality.
So you can only be old if you have an Arabic signature your crown prince can also show off in class, or have anything at all about your person that T can be proud off. And/or if you can see any white/silver hair on your head by the time October arrives, that is assuming there is still a sizeable amount of hair on your head by the time.
(Don’t say anything to me, you are the one who goes about claiming to be bald.)
How are things, how’s the ahle khana?
April 2nd, 2006 at 4:31 pm
April 3rd, 2006 at 6:57 am
i know i’ve missed being here.lol!
will checkout the album soon.& what’s up in october?you’re visiting pureland or A’s coming down to d desert?& why doesn’t she blog anymore?!
& i think you should better get to work on that arabic signature that I’m sure T & A will enjoy showing around just as much as you did, if not more!& hey, even I don’t really discuss politix/sports/stuff that doesnt directly affect me, but i’m sure that doesn’t mean anything…?!lol!im sure it shows something else in my case…lol!i really wish i could speak arabic thou.my little bit of malay doesnt get me around other than with some malay/indonesian chickas,umm, people.neither does my 5-sentence-limited bangla.(yes, people think i should be able to speak it coz in india v stay in the state that speaks the language).
Oh, how’s the weather?its so wierd here.its like they just have 3 months of nice warm weather here.spring & autumn are almost like winter itself!ok, guess I should stop rambling here now…hope all’s well in knicqistan?!
April 4th, 2006 at 1:28 am
A: Gracias for helping me with the “I am Old” phase. It comes and goes; but with the parameters as you have defined now, I know I am at little risk of feeling old…so much so, I have stopped with any kind of signatures just so I become timeless. Next time around I swipe my credit card, they are going to have to provide me with one of those ink pads!
As for the hair part, I have adoped a hair style where the receding hairline is least noticeable, and when eventually I do go completely bald, there will be few, if at any, who notice the absence of hair…silver or white. T has my girth to show off.
Saadie: I got more than three years of Arabic at school, but the third grade text book was as far as we got in those six odd years…I did not think I had learnt anything at all, and it was proven when I could not get past stating my name when I was leaving UAE for a 5 year hiatus. Upon my return, I found those arabic lessons at school of great help…I had some basics covered and they came in handy when I started subjecting people to my arabic. In the past seven years, I have been able to build on that to the extent where I can order two shawermas for self, or four for wifey and self in arabic without making a complete fool of myself…in a nutshell, there’s hope for you.
Saeed: I have missed having you here. October is the time when I pass into the next decade of my life. I have stopped working on any signatures now, lest I become old after getting one perfected in Arabic, or really really old if I perfect one in Hebrew, since hebrew is even older than Arabic.
I am working on perfecting my thumb impression these days.
I know exactly what you mean with that knowing as little as nothing of a language, it gets you nowhere, but it raises the expectations all around. i tried my hand at Malayalam, and never got past vainda, Baingre, adipoli, and nanni (pronounced correctly with the tongue between teeth), and it hasn’t got me anywhere either.
The weather’s been nice here. No sunshine, and lovely clouds all over. Pleasant breeze. Any day now the hobo clouds will leave, and the sun wil come out roasting…:(
knicqistan does well. How does you?
February 10th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
[...] Jalali Baba is eccentric, Chillate is chilled (and bitter), Aamir Zaki’s Signature is brilliant, Hot cakes sell like Toyotas; and I am full of facts, no one is interested in. I am also full of posts no-one offers to put up for me. Jalali Baba has accused me of being full of certain other organic compounds, but we have a difference of opinion there. That is saying a lot about how strongly I feel about the subject, since I am not one to differ with my own spiritual misguide on matters less important than life and death. If there is one person who can actually afford to entertain a difference of opinion with Jalali Baba, it is Saab; and I am not Saab. Saab is hardly spiritual. Saab is absolutely misguided, hence the difference of opinion with Jalali Baba. [...]