Aug 25, 2010 Posted by saaleha

A bit of a bastard

Tweet I always thought I’d be writing books, not designing them. My first reaction on seeing the announcement was, “Nee vok.” I have no idea why I was channeling an Afrikaans man at something-past-eleven this morning. I was so chuffed at making the short-list, that I sketched out no scenarios beyond having my design right up there alongside... read more

Aug 23, 2010 Posted by saaleha

A bit of the same ‘ol same ‘ol

Tweet For a long time, things have been kind of cluttering up around here; fiction fried up with food, poetry jamming along with n00b executions and bits of carby-blogging in between. While the idea of having all my stuff in one place seemed sensible at the time, it now feels like chyme; chewed up and sludgey. So, I’m going back to the old formula: Food... read more

Jul 27, 2010 Posted by saaleha

My name is Saaleha Bamjee

Tweet I could have been a Sakinah, a Qur-atul-Ayn or a Naseeha. Had I popped into this world Y-chromosomed and cocksure, I may have been named Dhul Qarnain. My folks settled on Saaleha; pronounced Saw-li-ha with the h sound emanating from the throat, exactly like when you have to hock up that annoying bit of phlegm. The name Saaleha means Good even Pious. My... read more

May 27, 2010 Posted by saaleha

[electric spaghetti] In my reductionist world…

Tweet …there is no honour killing, only honourable living. No woman is forced in to or out of a burka. The mind is valued over the mob. We celebrate the fi6nah in our mothers over the fitnah. We walk our own paths towards the Divine, without pissing on the roadsides of others. We do not take knives to the genitals of our daughters. We allow everyone... read more

May 9, 2010 Posted by saaleha

Ummi

Tweet My parents would have been married 28 years today. I wonder if I would have truly known my mother’s strength had my dad not been taken away. Widowed at 27, she shouldered her world so squarely, so boldly. She is my daleela, my minaret. I turn 27 this year, nowhere near the woman she was then and the woman she is now. read more