Atypical Wanderer

Hamka is a renowned religious figure as well as an artist of language. I first read his book back in 2016, if I'm not mistaken, called Tafsir Al-Azhar . It was not like I wanted to read it but more because I had to as to finish up my assignment for the Islamic Studies class and it involved using the book for research. As many other students, I searched only for the information I needed and did not finish the whole book. Although that was the case, Hamka did not fail to impress. That first read really made me think that all the recognition he received, whether when he was alive or after his death, was very well deserved. His words. Oh my. His words are like you are listening to a storyteller who knows where he is heading to and he is well aware that he is not on the journey alone; he has the whole crew of readers to be led to the destination. His words are poetic but not to the extent that laymen cannot understand; some literature pieces are very heavy with their words that sca

I don't know why but quite a number of my friends willingly open up to me about their love relationship without me asking. Some are married while others are not.  To the friends who are married, I usually just listen to their stories. I don't give opinions. I just listen. Maybe because they are normal marriage problems and do not involve any kind of abuse that requires my intervention. And I do not want to cause more issues in their marriage just because I give my two cents in that matter.  However, it is a bit different with my unmarried friends who share their stories and hope for my advice in return. The problems are mostly about how the men treat them badly but they still choose to stay because of ... love. Truth be told, I don't really like to get involved in this kind of relationship. But thinking that my friends are in need of me, I try to be there for them. I might be quietly listening most of the time but my heart hurts and my inner voice keeps asking questions

............ She hates it. She hates it when it comes the moment when the daily "What are you doing?" or "I miss you" become awkward. She hates it when the long messages before becomes a forceful short answers now. She hates it when she wants to talk but doesn't know what to talk about. She hates it when she worries if she's a being a nuisance. She hates it when she wonders if they still care.  She hates it when all she can hear from the other side now is only silence.  .............

The idea of giving back always intrigues many of us. It is not necessarily that we give back to people who first give to us, but giving something that we might buy ourselves to other hands once we do not need them anymore is also a kind of giving back I suppose; we are giving the things another chance to 'live' and 'serve' the new keeper.  It was always a sad thing to see when I was at school or university that students happily threw away their notes once the examination was finished. They threw them high up from the two-storey building to the ground below and while watching them falling they screamed and laughed hysterically because the one-semester burden was no longer a load they needed to carry. They did not care whether they might need them one day. They did not care if there were possibilities they had to repeat taking the exams again. All they care about was the pleasure of being free from the responsibility that the notes 'demand' of them.  I do

Go Set a Watchman was the second book from Harper Lee that I read (considering she just published two books in her entire life, so this was surely the last book from her I could get my hands on). Originally, I was to read this book first before To Kill the Mockingbird because I just bought the book and the mere fact that the book is basically mine while the   Mockingbird is my brother's. Then, my brother said that Go Set a Watchman was considered a lacklustre piece from the well-known Lee and that she should not have published it at all. I asked him had he read the Watchman but he said no; he just read others' reviews on the net (that's my bro, you just don't know what he reads). Thankfully, I read the Mockingbird first because the Watchman is a continuity from the Mockingbird (though Watchman was initially the draft of the Mockingbird . Well it's pretty confusing so mind yourself to check it on many websites that talk about these books). The pro