Closing Pandora's Box

I have always been a last minute person. Actually that’s a lie. There was once a time when I used to be extremely efficient, getting things done waaaaaaay before time. But now I’ve realised when it comes to even the most important of things, I leave them till the night before or do them on the day they were due. Essays are one prime example of this. Last year, I can’t recall the number of times I rang or texted the General, telling him how I was having a panic attack because I still had to write 1,500 words of an essay and was going at a rate of 80 words an hour. That’s just a little more than a word a minute. The same happened with my dissertation. Anyway, the point I was trying to make is…yeah you get the picture. This post will not be too long (I always say that and end up writing loads) as I plan to just pass on a few awards I have recently received. Without more beating around the bush, and before I forget due to my laziness, let’s get down to business.

I love This Blog:

This award was given to me by the most lovely Vice Versa (@Cryptic Crap). Ulti Pulti (as I shall call her, with her permission that I still need to get), is relatively new to blogging having only started in April while she should been busy revising for her A-Levels. Her blog is excellent and I very much enjoy reading whatever her fingers type. Apart from the awesome text, her ability to use paint to create stunning (and hilarious) pictures always amazes me. So much so, that you may soon be seeing some of her artwork on my blog. In the mean time, I would highly recommend you visit her blog and see for yourself.

I wish to thank you Ulti Pulti for bestowing this award upon me, for which I am very much honoured!

This is a very difficult award to give, seeing as I only follow blogs that I thoroughly love and enjoy reading. I shall therefore make sure to give this to those people I have not awarded before:

• Reverieriver’s (@Reverie River) blog is excellent. It is like a chest full of treasure in which you know you will always find something of great value; the glittering golden currency of knowledge, rich rubies saturated with thought that get your grey matter going and other pearls and sapphires and emeralds that keep you captivated for a long time. There are very few people out there who when they go to the sacred house for Umrah, remember strangers in their prayers. She is one of those few and I think that speaks volumes about her great personality.
• Welcome to Random Town by lil-bee is a blog that I have recently started following. Her verbal “diarrhoea” is always amusing to read, thought provoking at times and straight to the point. Though she has been blogging since the day she was born, reminding me of Stewie from Family Guy, her ability to write good posts has not declined (maybe because the average length of her posts is about 6 lines). Being Bengali, she reminds me of the General who is awesome thus I make the assumption she is too.
• I don’t think I have ever awarded normal.is.overrated. (AKA Dr R Neo) who is owner of the blog Conceal your thoughts. Contrary to the name of the blog, her posts saturated with her views, questions and comments, all of which are really worthwhile reading, thought provoking and extremely well written. Witty, wicked and worthwhile are just three words I would use to describe her blog. We were recently given a sneak preview of her creativity with words and I can honestly say the manner in which she is able to command words and captivate readers is startling. I think hers is one of the blogs in which you are bound to find a post or topic that will make you nod your head in agreement or smile in amusement. Don’t believe me? Go check it out for yourselves!

Influential blogger:

I have never believed myself to be a good writer and so was genuinely amazed when I discovered Hamza (@Teenage Mutiny) had awarded me with the Influential Blogger award. It is truly speechlessnessising to know that one person at least thinks that. Hamza’s blog is always excellent to read, dolloped with humour, clever and punctuated with more puns than a errrm *insert appropriate word here*. I’d like to offer him my heartfelt thanks for giving me this award, and I hope and pray that my blog can continue to influence, if not people, at least one person.

While thinking of who I should pass this award onto, the first name that came in my head was Leah’s (@Leah’s Treasures). Why you ask? While thinking of the why, I realised one of the main reasons I thoroughly enjoy reading this blog is because of the person that writes it. A truly lovely person whose good nature is infectious. I don’t think I could say a single negative thing about her even if I tried lying. Her blog is just as amazing as she is. The quality of her posts is second to none, each one giving the reader food for thought, giving the reader something to relate to, and each one is just so human. The beauty of this blog lies in its simplicity. Coupled with the fact that at the time of her 1st blogiversary, last Thursday, she had in excess of 400 followers which speaks volumes as to why she is a worthy recipient of this award.

I hope and pray that you all have an excellent, productive and enjoyable week ahead. Stay amazing, stay smiling.

PS
This post was written in a bit of a hurry so please excuse any grammatical and or others errors that make your eyebrows hit your hairline.

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Title: I thank you – Sam and Dave

A few weeks ago I was at a youth meeting at the mosque and the person who was meant to give a talk was unable to attend. Thus, literally at the last minute, I was asked to say a few words on defending the honour of the Holy Qur’an. With about 5 minutes of preparation, here is what I had to say:

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, ever Merciful.

It was not too long ago that an unknown pastor of a small Church in the US gained worldwide fame overnight after organising Qur’an burning day. It makes little sense to judge a people by the amount of freedom they have as that is usually out of their control. But instead it is more logical to base the judgements on how people use that freedom once reigns are cut. The actions of Pastor Jones were an example of abusing of that freedom by disturbing the peace of society and intentionally causing hurt to many people. Freedom and responsibility are directly proportional to one another and as one increases then so does the other. Freedom and responsibility is a topic of its own and I shall delve into it no more.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Holy Qur’an:

Verily, we have sent down this Exhortation, and most surely we will be its Guardian [15:9]

Previous verses contain the mocking demands of the disbelievers that if the Qur’an is really a divine book sent down by God, then it should have descended under the protection of angels. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala emphatically answers their ridicule that He Himself will protect it from any corruption and or change. When the Qur’an was being revealed, it was committed to writing as soon as possible. At the same time, it was committed to memory by countless individuals and this practice has increased to such an extent that today there are many hundreds of thousands of Muslims who have memorised it from beginning to end and are able to recite it when so ever required. The recitation of the Holy Qur’an during the Salah was made an obligation and thus helped in the memorisation of the sacred verses.

There are many miracles of the Qur’an. One being the sea of knowledge and wisdom it contains. The immeasurable depth is full of riches, solid facts heavy in philosophy. In an age where there are some people or groups of people who wish to spread the fire of hatred, and cause division among communities by spreading adultered truths about others. There are many ways of combating this, but as believers, the first and foremost should be that we try to extinguish these fires with the tears of our prayers. If fires are to be lit, then they shouldn’t be those of anger; burning flags, and tyres and embassies. For these fires are temporary and last no longer than a few minutes. What good is that when the fires of the mischief makers continues to burn? Instead we should light the fire of the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in our hearts, and the love of His prophets, and the love of truth, and the love of justice. True love can move mountains. I’d like to finish this short talk by telling you the story of someone I recently met, who converted to Islam. He told me that for most of his life he didn’t really care much for religion and believed it to be the root cause of many of the problems of the world. God he believed was a figment of man’s own creation. Karl Marx’s famous quote "Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes" summed up his attitudes to religion. I asked him then, what was it that changed your mind? “My neighbour. I hurled abuse at him in my drunken state, and he would give me the greetings of peace. I would keep his family awake at night and he would be awake praying for me.” This went on for a few years and something caused him to ask his neighbour why he put up with the problems and didn’t just phone the police. “I believe in Allah and the last day,” the neighbour replied. “The rights of the neighbour are given such importance in Islam that I didn’t want to barter my faith for a little peace.” The man was so impressed, he began to study about Islam and today Islam has become his opium. The conviction of his faith is astounding masha’Allah.

There’s a simple message to this story. Practice what you preach. The Qur’an says:

“O children of Adam! We have indeed sent down to you raiment to cover your shame, and to be an elegant dress; but the raiment of righteousness — that is the best. That is one of the Signs of Allah, that they may remember.” [7:26].

Let us cover ourselves in the teachings of the Qur’an for that is the best we can do. Just like the neighbour, if we too wear the perfume of the Qur’an, then it will not go unnoticed. After all, we don’t have to shout if we’re wearing an expensive perfume. Its scent travels far and wide, and people themselves will ask you about it.

The fear of failure is something that haunts many people. It leaves some people so traumatised that they don't even try. "What's the point? If I'm going to fail in the end, why should I even bother?". There have been many times in our lives that we have failed; a lot of which we seldom remember. The first ever steps we took, were after many times of landing on our backsides. The first ever bike we managed to ride without the stabilisers, was after many times of losing balance and ending up on the floor. The first ever time we managed to float and swim, was after drinking many litres of water while drowning. The first time we hit a home run, or a six, or the goal, was after swinging and missing many times. But we kept going, and today we can not only walk, but run and dance and skip.

While cleaning up some of my stuff that I still have from high school, I came across my school diary. On the deep blue front page, underneath the golden logo it had the words "Vincit qui patitur" written in the same colour. He who perseveres conquerors. Life is full of many decisions, many choices, that we consciously make regarding whether we should invest in something and pursue a particular goal. There are times when obstacles are laid in our paths and we are hindered in our progress. Sometimes it's people who leave us with so many problems and headaches that we begin to question our own abilities. You may be used and you you may be abused by others. Keep your head up high, and keep moving on. Giving up doesn't help anyone, especially as we will be held responsible for our successes and only we will be blamed for our failures. If we never try, we will never know whether we can or can't do something. When faced with a difficult task, rather than wishing it were easier we should wish we were better and strive to be so. "Failure is an event not a person," Zig Ziglar. It's okay to fall, but it's stupid once having fallen a person does not realise why they fell and continues to fall repeatedly, again and again.

I remember posting a PowerPoint presentation earlier which my dad once sent to me. It was full of quotes and examples of many individuals who continued to persevere against all odds and whose names we remember today. "Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all," Dale Carnegie.

Be not afraid of failing and worry not about it. Instead, worry about the countless chances we let slip through our fingers when we do not even bother trying.

In the words of Sir Winston Churchill, "Never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." (29 October 1941)

Persevere, and you can conquer it all. May you all taste the sweet syrup of success.

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Title: Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics

Giaus	I have no choice. I’m sorry Gwen.
Gwen	In life you always have a choice. Sometimes it’s easier to think you don’t.
Giaus	Well then, my choice is to leave.

We make choices every day of our lives, every hour of our days, every minute of our hours and every second of our minutes. Our lives are replete with decisions and many of these choices we make consciously, spending minutes, hours, days, weeks and even months on them. Others are made in a split second, things we say in conversations, things said when high on the drug of happiness or low due to a lack of it.
There are some instances when due to circumstances we choose not to choose. But is it not paradoxical that when a person has a decision to make and does not make it, that in itself is a choice? And why do we do that? In such situations where we feel we have no choice and thus are indirectly forced to do something, we do it to protect ourselves or those really close to us. In doing so we may trample on others, the truth and much more to make sure we are safe. Blinded by our fear and that of the consequences we make ourselves believe what we are doing to be right. But is it ever right?
One way of defining a person is by their choices. People are commonly described as being reckless, driven by passion, logical (and the opposite), sharp-mined in regards to the choices they make. A person can be sweet to the core, full of goodness for others, mentally strong etcetera and yes those things do matter, but unless those internal qualities are expressed externally, no-one will be able to appreciate them or experience them. Never a judge a person on what he can or can’t do, but by what he does or doesn’t do. We all have ability, maybe not the same but ability nonetheless and some people choose to use that ability whereas others choose not to. Humans have been given free will, thus each and every day we can choose to bring light to the lives of others or take it away from them. We choose whether our actions do good or evil. It is that which raises you in the eyes of others, or condemns you to the scum of society.
Our choices shape our lives and subsequently our ourselves. This process only ends with our last breath. We are free to make choices, but we are not free to decide the consequences of our actions which may reverberate for many many years to come. Our choices are ultimately our own responsibility. Many of us have seen how sometimes we make detailed plans for our lives but our choices burn them to ashes. After all life is nothing but the sum of our choices; some good and some bad. A person learns to make good decisions after having experienced the consequences of bad ones previously made. Though none of us have the ability to see into the future, we have been given understanding which is especially important when making decisions. Until we take responsibility and accountability for our actions, we will never make worthwhile choices. ”We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them,” (Khalil Gibran).
All animals choose. It is our ability to consciously think and understand before we decide something that makes us different from animals and other organisms. But choosing to be a good human is one of the hardest choices to make. A wise person once said, “You (always) have a choice. Live or die. Every breath is a choice. To be or not to be.”
What do you choose?
Title: Anyway – Martina McBride

A few days ago my dad brought home a lot of cherries. He shouldn’t have bought a lot because it turns out that only mum and I eat them. Though I passed a cursory glance over each of them before sticking them into my mouth, I realised that what we see can be deceiving.

It looked succulent, a deep purpley red colour and so I gave it a pass in my short quality check test. Just as I popped it into my mouth and bit into it, squishing juice everywhere, I realised I had made a mistake. It tasted horrendous, as if someone had injected mud into the centre (Yes I know what mud tastes like. I had a fun childhood). I was speaking to Rosaline about it, and she said something that dragged me down memory lane. Rewind to..

Primary School Assembly, Year 3

I always enjoyed assemblies in which a class gave a presentation or a teacher did something interesting. I remember once Mr Bristol was going to be taking the assembly. After the announcements were read out and the general business dealt with, he walked onto stage and began talking.

“I know it is against the rules to eat in assembly, but the head teacher here has said I can. Just this once.”

We were all curious. I sat there stuffing my face with polos.

The head teacher walked over to him, a tin and fork in hand. She opened the tin, stuck the fork inside and fed whatever it was to Mr Bristol. Those children who were sitting at the front, and so had a better view, let out noises of disgust. “Ewwwww!”

“What is he doing?”

“That’s so disgusting!”

“She’s feeding him dog food!”

“I’m going to be sick, how can he eat that stuff?”

As news spread to the back of the hall, the disgust and a fair share of disbelief got louder and louder and louder. The head teacher continued feeding the other teacher. As the contents of the tin were about to finish, he began talking again.

“If any of you would also like to eat some, please come to the front.” He was replied by silence. Not a single child spoke. He pointed to a girl sitting at the front. “Do you think what I was eating is nice?”

“No! I would never eat it,” the girl replied.

He pointed at a boy, “Would you ever eat it?”

The boy replied as the girl had done, “No. I’d not even touch dog food!”

The teacher smiled. “Many of you think that the tin I was eating from contained dog food in it. It didn’t.” He proceeded to remove the label off the tin and revealed another label below that showed it was actually pineapple. Everyone gasped. We had been fooled completely. It wasn’t even April yet. “The lesson I want you all to take away from today’s assembly is that we should never judge anything or anyone on what it or they look like.”

*****

Each and everyone of us portrays a certain image. We all hide behind masks so that others don’t take advantage of us, or know what really goes on beneath our skins. It is usually a protective measure. Only very few people see us with our masks off and barriers down, but even then some of them may not see our naked skin. We are quick to judge. A person that doesn’t conform to the norms, or doesn’t look good is left out, marginalised and the last one to be picked. But the surface is never really real as we only see that which our eyes are capable of seeing. People cover themselves up with make-up to hide the cracks, others distract attention from their sorrow-filled eyes by their beautiful smiles and some people walk tall even when they are broken.

I’d like to end this post with another incident from the past. Back in high school, year 10, the first year of GCSEs a guy dramatically changed. I wasn’t really friends with him at the time, but he was in my maths class and so we occasionally spoke. He was known as being a social, easy to get-along-with type of person, but as time went on he became less and less so. His friends started falling out with him because he no longer took part in their past-times and no longer shared their interests. At lunch times he would sit in the school library immersed in a book or would walk aimlessly around the school building lost in his own mind. “Neek” they called him, “they’re just stupid exams and still 2 years  away. Why is he being like this?” He became quieter and quieter and quieter. No-one knew why, and so people used it as an excuse to spread rumours and taunt him. He wouldn’t reply. One day we discovered his mother had been involved in a serious car accident and was in intensive care. The penny had finally dropped. “Oh s**t, I didn’t know.” A bit late for saying sorry don’t you think?

Unless you’ve crawled inside the other person’s skin, taken a look around, seen the world from their eyes and have some sort of idea about them, the real them and not the mask they wear, be careful of what you say or do. You will never know. Just like they don’t know about you.

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Title: You’re a better man than I – The Yardbirds
Picture of cherries Dee taken from here
Picture of pineapple taken from here
Picture regarding masks was one sent to me by a friend. I do not have a link for it.

As my drought for words continues, I asked another of my lovely friends to write something for me. This time it was Max. After reading what she had written I’ve decided the ‘write whatever you want policy’ is not going to work. You’ve probably heard a lot about me in the last few posts and will hear more in the next part of the interview. So next time, there will be no writing about me. Anyway, without further ado, let me share with you Max’s piece:

*****

Dee Dee (My name for Nas) asked me to write a blog post about anything I wanted. I’m not much of a writer; I find it hard enough to write essays. The only “writing” that I probably do is texting (LOL) and rambling in my diary. But anyway, I said I would do it for him so here I go.

Firstly, I want to tell you why I call Nas ‘Dee De’. It all started when we met, about 5 years ago (crikey) through the world of MySpace. His screen name on msn was ‘Red Devil’, so I began calling him ‘Devil’ for ages. That is until I got really lazy of saying and typing Devil so it got cut down to a single letter, ‘D’. One day we were talking about Dexter the cartoon, and I wanted to name Nas after ‘Dee Dee’- Dexter’s sister! =P. And thus Nas came to be known as Dee Dee.

When Dee Dee said that I could write about ANYTHING, only one thing came into mind; the time when he helped me through the hardest part of my life. In my darkest hour, he was the only one I could turn to. Even though he was in the opposite side of the country, every word he said made such a big difference. I was ready to give up, give up on life, give up on the future that I now have and give up on everything for the sake of others. But Dee Dee showed me that I would never be happy and in turn the happiness of others would fade fast too. I was so low that the only solution I could think of was to disappear. Literally, disappear from this world. But he made me realise that would be selfish and made me think about the ones most dear to me, like my little brother and sister, my best friends but most importantly, ME. He made me love life again, find my happiness and gave me strength to stand up for myself. He pushed me to strive and pursue my future goals. He reminded me of who I should be, not who I could be if I gave up.

I owe Dee Dee my life. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here today. Even though we are yet to meet in person, it does not make a difference to how true the friendship is. He is one of the few people who I would call a true, real, honest and genuine best friend. There have been ups and downs, but without the downs, it wouldn’t be real or honest. Having problems only helps to make you stronger as a person and gives a chance for you to learn and strive; just how Dee Dee once said to me.

If you are one of the few who have met and or know Dee Dee, you are as lucky as I am. He is one to love, cherish and keep close to your hearts.

I would like to finish by sharing a story with you that I read a few years ago, which has become tattooed onto my mind. I hope those of you that read it are able to learn something from it and also enjoy it:

The Emperor Moth & the Struggle

The emperor moth is the most majestic species among all the moths. It has wide wings spanning out majestically when it flies. Before it can become a full grown moth, it has to be a pupa in a cocoon. Now, the interesting fact about the moth’s cocoon is that the neck of the cocoon is very narrow. In order that that it becomes a moth, the pupa of the moth must squeeze its way out of the narrow neck.

One day a man found a cocoon of an emperor moth. He took it home so that he could watch the moth come out of the cocoon. He sat and watched the moth struggling to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further. It just seemed to be stuck.

Then the man, in his perceived kindness decided to help the moth. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The moth was then able to emerge easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shrivelled wings. He expected that the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shrivelled wings. It was never able to fly. A few days later, it died.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening was the way of forcing fluid from the body of the moth into its wings so that it could be ready for flight, once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Freedom and flight would only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth of a struggle, he deprived the emperor moth of health.

You see, the struggles of life, heartaches and pains are necessary if you want to be great. Instead of cursing them, understand them while you are experiencing them. They are part of the making of a man / woman.

*****

I’d like to thank Max for the extremely kind words, but more importantly for sharing such a beautiful and inspiring story from which we can all benefit. There are times when we all feel like the emperor moth, helpless, unable to breathe  and trapped with no way out, but with perseverance, struggle, and continued effort we can break free from our bondages and learn to fly. The last paragraph of the story sums it up rather nicely.

[This is a scheduled post]

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Title: Hey there Delilah – Plain White T’s
Picture of Dexter and Dee Dee taken from here
Story of the Emperor Moth taken from here

[The Interview - Part 1]

General	Hello everyone, this is the realities forgotten blog…
Me	The blog is called Closing Pandora’s Box you twillop.
General	Haha okay, my bad. I am the guest interviewer, the General. Today I shall be asking Nas some questions to discover who he really is. So Nas, why are you called the Red Devil, as illustrated by your msn screen name?
Me	Okay. Well. When I was young, pre 14 years old, I used to be a menace. A bit like Dennis the menace but the Asian version. ‘Sharaarti’ was my middle name. I would play pranks on people, my attitude was carefree, and thus people would call me ‘shaytaan’, a devil. I remember once when I was 11 I stuck a spider in my teacher’s coffee because she was picking on me. Classic moment! Red was my favourite colour and hence I became known as the red devil.
General	What does ‘sharaarti’ mean for our non Urdu speakers?
Me	Ummm.. mischievous I think?
General	Would you describe yourself as being a menace to society still?
Me	Nah, I think I’m past those days.
General	Okay so how would you describe yourself now?
Me	I don’t even know.
General	Everyone knows dude. It’s like when you’re writing your CV. Just describe yourself in a sentence.
Me	Ugh. I dislike you for asking such difficult questions!
General	No problem. Difficult is my middle name.
Me	You have so many middle names you could be Sri Lankan.
General	For all the Sri Lankans reading this, Nas is not trying to be offensive. He is just telling the truth as always. Now back to the question…
Me	Haha. Okay. I like to think I’m nice, pretty good smelling and have awesome eye lashes.
General	I concur. Please describe your strengths and your flaws but not in a job interview mode, but like a raw onion.
Me	Raw onion?!
General	Yes raw onion. Like kalunji with emotion man.
Me	My strengths include that I’m clever but my weakness is that I don’t take advantage of it. I try hard at being a good friend, a good person to all, and pride myself on that. But at the same time in doing so, I become attached to people and that is a weakness.
General	Nicely said. Now, who was your first crush?
Me	I was thinking about it a few days ago and realised my first crushing happened in year 4. No I didn’t physically crush anyone. Anyway, I used to have a HUGE crush on the teacher of the other year 4 class. It lasted about a week because she went and married another teacher. I even remember her name. Well after she got married, I was heartbroken which also lasted about a week because I got occupied with other things and totally forgot about her.
General	Oh that is so sweet. Did you ever go back and see that teacher again?
Me	Well I stayed in that school till the end of year 5 till we moved house, so I did walk into her here and there. But she fell in my eyes after she got married.
General	Who or what was your first love?
Me	One love, one United. Manchester United. Though I don’t believe in love at first sight, that was a case of ‘head-over-chappals-at-first-sight’. *sighs*
General	Haha. Now lets get ready to business.
Me	You mean down?
General	Yep I meant down. What are the characteristics that turn you on in person, be they male or female. I meant that in a non-sexual way.
Me	I like people that are honest. Who have only have one face and are not like a coin with two. I like people with humour, who can make jokes and take jokes. I like people with opinions and beliefs and so the strength to stand up for their beliefs and opinions. I like people that are different and random. Oh and I also like people who give me cookies.
General	Haha! I hope cookies that have not been a part of a contest.
Me	I’m not even gonna comment on that. You filthy, disgusting, cookie ruining boy.
General	So what characteristics would you like in your ideal partner and why do you think you would make a good husband?
Me	My wife. I would like her to have at least half a brain. That is to say she must have some knowledge. She must be religious. She must be a good cook but doesn’t have to be perfect. If she can make haleem and biryani that would be a 1000 point bonus. I’d love to bake with her and make cakes and cookies with her and help her with the cooking too. She has to be understanding of my love of football and it would be an infinite point bonus if she also liked it!
General	This is like an advert for shaadi dot com, but in the General style.
Me	As for  being a good husband, I was thinking about this in the bath this morning.
General	And what would be your answer? Apart from the great love life.
Me	I think being the nice person I am, don’t cough…
General	*coughs*
Me	As I was saying. I’d be willing to compromise. I understand that people from different backgrounds will have different upbringing and standards. Just because she’s a village girl it may mean her habits, her way of living will be different to say a city girl. So, I’d understand that and also everyone has shortcomings because none of us are perfect. But I’ll never lay a hand on her. You know you hear about husbands who after a week or so of ‘be-nice-time’ go all narky and get the danda out? I would never forgive myself if I happened to hit her. I wouldn’t make her do or force her into doing anything she didn’t want to. If she made a mistake or was doing something wrong, I’d try and teach her, and I hope she would be able to teach me too. I’d also help around the house as much as I can.
General	That is spoken like a true gentleman.
Me	*does that thing with the tie people do when others are praising them*
General	So let’s move onto blogging itself. Why did you begin to blog?
Me	Well it was Supz who forced me into blogging. After Charley passed away I started writing my thoughts about the whole thing. You may remember the title was ‘For Your Story’, which I got from the pen you all gave me for my birthday that year with those words engraved on it. Well Supz saw some of those ‘reflections’ and said that I should blog about them so that other people could read and share.
General	I see. What inspired your writing style?
Me	I don’t think I have a set style to be honest. Some posts are written factually, others with the odd bit of humour, others are chatty and some are just conversations.
General	Why do you write so good?
Me	I don’t believe myself to be a good writer and therefore cannot answer that question.
General	You are too modest dude. Also why is it called Closing Pandora’s Box?
Me	Not modest, just honest. When I first made the blog, the hardest thing was the name. I just didn’t know what to call it. I wanted it to be clever and not something standard like ‘through Nas’s eyes’ or ‘Nas’s narrations’. I wanted it to be different. I remember reading through my brother’s history text book and came across the story of Pandora, and the box she was given by gods and told not to open. But her curiosity got the better of her and she did. And that is how suffering came into the world. And that is also where the name of the blog originated.
General	What is your most favourite quote?
Me	That’s really tough, I have diaries full of favourite quotes, but the first that comes to mind is one that Charley told me many many years ago. “If you cry because the sun has left your life, your tears will stop you from seeing the stars”. I don’t know who it’s by though.
General	That’s a sweet quote. What’s the most important thing in your life? Is that a hard question?
Me	All your questions are hard! I think apart from faith and all that, people. Especially my family which God chose for me and the family that I chose for myself, my few really close friends.
General	You didn’t even mention football. Ah I feel quite emotional now.
Me	Dude! You can’t have a breakdown!
General	I know, it will ruin my mascara.
Me	Haha! As you have all just heard, the General wears makeup.

There’ll be more questions going up soon, The General wasn’t going to let me off so easily! Have YOU ever wanted to ask me anything? If so, this is your chance. You can ask me any question you like (yes just the one) in a comment or email and I promise to answer it honestly, if I can, in the next interview post.

And with that I say Au Revior  and wish you all a very happy weekend.

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Title: Who are you – The Who