The Blah Blahs and the Yada Yadas

‘Ma arif‘… It is arabic for ‘I don’t know‘… It is a phrase I’m capable of expressing in seven different languages… possibly the handiest phrase of them all. It is a multipurpose, multi-utility, trans-cultural univeral time-saver, usable and reusable across different categories of questions. Personally, I use this phrase most frequently to combat with direction [...]

It takes a minute to say hello, and forever to say goodbye. Perhaps this is why it has taken this long to get this post up and running. Perhaps it’s because I have been kept busy with work. And then again, perhaps, these are just the fall guys who are taking the hit for the [...]

I couldn’t believe it. It simply refused to register… The lobby was air conditioned. And I don’t mean they had slots on the walls for ACs. They had actual air conditioners. Working ones. The lobby was clean, the lines orderly, and even the glass planes looked like they got washed regularly.
I do realize that these [...]

Namaste, somebody said. It was followed almost immediately by another cry of namaste. Pretty soon, I had a cackle of namastes from both sides. I looked up from my seat. I was getting some shut-eye in the backseat, being driven to my work in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and the popular Hindi word wasn’t something I [...]

The English language in Nigeria has a life of its own. Especially when spoken to an outsider. I’ve heard them speak to each other, and it doesn’t have the same awkward twists and turns they employ when they speak to me. The difference, I noticed, is the way they pace the words. The accent is [...]

Some of the so called ‘motivational phrases’ don’t address the full picture. When going gets tough, sure, the tough gets going, but what about the rest of us? It’s not good tidings for the rest of us, but nobody talks about that, do they? We’re people too, you know. And while the tough gets going [...]

Ever since mythical aviation enthusiast Icarus glued on feathers and jumped off a cliff, man has been trying to answer the quintessential question of ages - Is man meant to fly? And if he is, who should keep track of the frequent flyer miles? It has been one of the most common dreams through the history [...]

Hullo, wotcha, and an ay-up to everyone. No, I don’t really know what they mean, but from ye olde English writings, I understand the words were hot stuff yonder in London. And it felt mot juste to start off this account that way. Mot juste, FYI, was one of the phrases frequently peppering Wodehouse novels. [...]

By all accounts, it was a brief trip. Even Charles Dickens would have said “It was the briefest of trips, it was the longest of … hell, who are we kidding. It was a short trip.” Leading travel writers would be quick to declare that spending two days in Singapore does not give the sensible [...]

I would never ask that they cut back on airport security. I wouldn’t, and you know I wouldn’t. I am just asking that they try to be smarter about it. While I still hope that terrorist organizations are not the smartest ones out there, it’s too much to hope that they are in fact dumber [...]