🌈 1399 – Tuesday, 24 March 2026 | 21:21 London
Rather early for me to start writing, but the silence – the quietude – feels so still tonight. It pulls me to the desk, asking me to sit and write something, anything.
Today I spoke with my dear mother for two hours, from 18:00 to 20:00. I’m so grateful for that long catch-up – my loving mamma.
I woke early, to the first alarm at 04:30. Strange, funny dreams last night – picchi picchi things – though by morning I remembered none of it. I stayed in bed for a while and checked the home camera. Parents were already up, sitting together at the dining table, four and a half hours ahead of me. Breakfast time for them. Happy to see them all safe and content.
I drifted back to sleep. When I opened my eyes again, it was 07:52. I had slept well, but missed the gym. That meant I had to make an effort to look fresh for work.
Usually, a morning gym session does something magical – the face lights up, the heaviness disappears. Without it, there are alternatives: standing under the shower (cold water helps), letting it run over the face for a few minutes… or the third option – ice. Standing by the sink, massaging the face with ice, then moisturiser. Today, only the third worked. It took time, but eventually, I got myself ready.
Bright white shirt, cream trousers. The morning had started sunny, but by 9 it turned grey. Still, I wore a light corduroy cream jacket and headed out. The ride to work – from Mayfair to St James’s Park – was calm and pleasant. No rush, no stress. Just a quiet sense of peace in the mind. Bloomberg Daybreak radio was on headphones.
Work went well. Three meetings, all smooth. A productive day overall, and people seemed in good spirits. For lunch, I walked to the river and had a large tuna salad, was delicious. Since fasting for 30 days ended just a couple of days ago, eating lunch still feels unfamiliar, but I’m easing back into a normal rhythm. I also spoke briefly with a friend and managed to book a viewing for a place – hopefully something comes of it.
Logged off around 17:30 and headed home. Maghrib salah was at 18:30, and I was planning to go. I got in at 17:47 and saw a message from mother asking if I had reached. I called her back – and that turned into another long call until 20:00. Brother had just returned home with the kids. Dad was resting. Little Hamdu and Hawwa had fallen asleep in the car and would soon be in bed. I said my goodnights.
Some days feel like forgetting everything else, getting a lot of work done, leaving everything and doing only things that matter the most, then life happens daily, with mind games, spending time to learn from those games, somehow it supposedly improves oneself. The entanglement of dramas of life. The Shrusthi!
Nice food to eat, a beautiful roof over the head and a hand on the heart. I still have you in my senses. So thank you for this moment, and the moment that is yet to arrive, for the anticipation of what is next, to be the inevitable.
Goodnight, good luck!
Ash Khaleem