Sofia Khan is Not Obliged

by Ayisha Malik

‘We write to taste life twice.’

You should never change is the culmination of all your flaws made necessary: the imperfect sum of an imperfect past, which turned out to be a good thing for someone.

‘Some people like shopping, some people like therapy, I happen to like praying.’

Listen, you do what you have to do, and leave the rest up to God. That’s what we do. Action followed by a substantial leap of faith.’

Ignore people who blame us for the actions of a few, because a person who has faith is never separated from hope.

I can sit here and argue about the implications of polygamy until I’m no longer brown in the face, but no one’s allowed to contest matters of the heart. Unless the heart wants religion – in which case there is no shortage of people to tell you that you’re a nut.

The idea of getting married is so ingrained in us that even when one decides to be alone, all a person has to do is say ‘keep an open mind’ and the notion leaks out of some unknown fold.

The worst thing about people who are oblivious to what they say is when you’re really pissed off and then have to explain why you’re pissed off. So you’ve been walking around, seething, and they’ve been pottering about without a trace of excess emotion.

I felt myself getting ever closer to that cliff’s edge. The problem with edging forward is that your steps sometimes quicken without you realising. And everyone knows when it snows there’s ice – a person’s bound to slip on ice.

Cozy,holiday time

‘This is just in-between stuff. That’s when the best part of life will begin,’ she replied.

‘Bhai,’ Mum replied, ‘if you were a mother you would know that she stands in front of her daughter so bad things happen to her before her child.’

‘I’m merely highlighting the injustice of it all. No one ever told men to be patient.’

Hollywood has ruined an entire generation of women.

I never realised that the weight of disappointment rests mostly on your heart.

Anyway, when you’re of such a disposition of you know, being pissed off, you tend to like the thing that kind of, well, gives you . . .’ I fiddled with the end of my scarf. ‘Like, you know. Peace.’ He looked at me as if he were trying to catch me out in a lie. ‘Also, you can’t help what you love.’ ‘Peace?’ ‘Mhmm.

When I was a child and my parents argued, I prayed. Then, the more I read about it, the more I believed it. Sometimes I think I’m a lucky cow because how many people can say they have something to lean on. So that even when you have nothing, you always have that. You are never alone.’

If this is better for me in this world and the hereafter, then make it destined for me and make it easy and a blessing, and if it’s bad for me, my religion and faith, for my life and end, in this world and the hereafter then turn it away from me and turn me away from it and whatever is better for me, destine that for me and make me satisfied with it.

To have not realised that nothing lasts for ever. It’s the mistake of humanity itself. Common, stupid, humanity.

Always be around the people that see the best in you. Gives you a fighting chance of maybe one day being that person.

Note for life: when you write a book, don’t do it for money . . .

The swinging doors shut and he was now on the other side. Gone. Now I’m sitting here, alone, and I’m thinking about what I might have done with one more minute. How can you fit a lifetime of ‘I love yous’ into a minute?

There will always be something missing. There’s nothing you can do about loss, except fill the hole as much as you can with memories of the people that have been left behind.