Spin Your World

Photos of Rajesh

As the year 2007 fades like sunset folds with night

It brings the new year 2008 with first sun strike

A morning of new day

To all May this year

Unfolds news doors

Opportunties to spark your world

Being in the peek of it

Hope you will sail with new year in good health and happiness

Happy New year

Nasra Al Adawi

Courag's Smile

Words Nasra Al Adawi
Photo Eric Lafforgue and Ahmed Al-Shukaili

~Hena Designs~

~Hena Designs~

The question was going around
"Are you ready for Eid?"
"Eid" my voice echoed the word
Carrying a surprise tone
Work was piling on me
So Eid preparation was last on my list
How come the spirit of Eid had missed me
I missed the spirit of my niece
Giggling away as she gets persuaded
To stay still as her tiny hands gets Hena designs
Would not be Eid without our little precious
Having hena in her tiny hands

copyright 2007 Nasra Al Adawi

~To all my family and friends Eid-kum Mubarak~

Eid is celebrated in every Islamic household. Growing up, Eid is incomplete without hena for girls, we wanted the best design for our hands and feet. It was so exciting having to sleep with other girls in the family and with our feet in hena. Early morning our hena would have dried, then getting prepared in new dresses and colorful hair style. Then off we go greeting elder members of the family, the first question would be "show us you hena design) and after we had sweet, we eagerly wait for the money treat which we call Ediya. When I was growing up becoming a teenager, my hobby was to draw my hands trying to master the art of drawing designs of hena. Usually, I would do that with pen, so I use to get a bit of scolding from my father.

Before I end here, I also would like to wish all of you my blogging friends who are celebrating X-mas ..A happy X-Mas...Dont miss the spirit of it ...

Photo by m.raghu @ flickr.com. He has huge collection of hena designs, click the photo to veiw his work on hena ..

~The Islands of the Moon~

~The Islands of the Moon~

This is not a travel journal
And I'm not a travel journalist
I'm simply a woman
Who is all exploring
In actual I stand so far away
In what it seem pebbles of Indian Ocean
I came to find the remaining of my soul
Buried in the womb of a soil
In the Islands of Comoro
Peeled out my sorrows
Many emotions erupted with years
Frozen lava became an island interface
Listen to the rhythm of Ngazidja
The Islands of the Moon

Copyright 2007, Nasra Al Adawi

What do I remember of Comoro Islands, I recall that my dad was so proud of being Zanzibarian with roots of Mgazija (meaning Comorian) and he will be talking about the lands in the Comoro Island where his father had left him I suppose. The first time I had set foot in Comoro Islands, I was a teenager but till now I recall the scene of the road which was constructed on frozen lava. Clearly it was evidence that the island at one time had perhaps tremendous volcanic activities. It was so amazing how the dark lava created a silence rhythm. The Islands of the Moon is how it is called in Arabic (Juzr Al Qamar), I like how it sound, exotic feel. I recall the people of there; the surrounding feel had a mixture of French and Arabic Culture and of course Comorian Style. I was so amazed that many spoke proper Arabic; indeed they conversed in Arabic Fus-ha (meaning they did not speak colloquial Arabic). I also recall growing up in Dubai, that the most valuable gifts receiving from those who visited from Comoro Island is the vanilla stick, the aroma of vanilla was fresh and sense tantalizing. I'm really missing that …

This following link gives a bit of history and tales about Comoro Islands

http://www.comores-online.com/mwezinet/histoire/islandsofthemoon.htm

A Walk To Beautiful

I was inspired by Sokari who has a blog titled Black Looks at http://www.blacklooks.org . She wrote about new documentary A Walk to Beautiful which is about five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries that results an obstetric fistula, a hole in the birth canal. The story speaks about how these women embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame.
The trials they endure -- and their attempts to rebuild their lives -- tell a universal story of hope, courage, and transformation. Please visit the website to learn more about it http://www.walktobeautiful.com/film.html

~Beautiful Walk~

I had fallen
Over different kinds of trails
Not all the journeys' are even
So I have taken my share of falls
There days my solace is tears
That unexpectedly heavily rained
It just felt that I'm all alone in rain
So I whispered within myself
On this instance, my crying days is over
Silently I instructed these hands of mine
To hold me through, as I took a stand
Trembling feet on persuasive stand
Here I am stepping back to live
Claiming my destined life
A walk of life is beautiful

Copyright 2007 Nasra Al Adawi