Interestin' Friday evening

It's 1pm, Saturday morning, I'm terribly sleepy but blogging keeps me awake ;)

Friday evening was interesting. I left work around 6pm - half day WOOHOO! - as I made an appointment to meet a very old friend from uni. At the taxi stand, caught up with one of our consultants -- it was an interesting discussion we had about corporations, processes, people as commodities, challenges, weekend plans. It was nice :)

It started raining as soon as I got the cab, which I shared with Joy-cee. The cab ride was even more interesting. She told me of her plans to head for a Tokyo vacation - tomorrow (ie today!) - and we started talking about what type of film would make the best photos. We were both conventional film buffs, a rare breed! FUJIFILM on FUJIPAPER. Remember that ;)

The cabby starts talking about the different parts of Japan, he'd been all over Japan, including Okinawa. He learnt a Japanese type of martial arts, he taught that in Sydney - Randwick. He knew the history of Japan, at the back of his hand. He recommended Kyoto and Hokkaido for its picturesque scenery and traditional way of life. Kyoto was a must. Things you can learn from cabbies! :D

Caught up with my old, old friend, Gummy Gumdrops. It was one of those wonderful heart to heart talks, with someone I can connect with even after years of not meeting each other. About everything under the sun. Warm and spontaneous.

Headed for a talk by an old venerable history scholar at our resident mosquee - who spoke on wide ranging topics, from etymology of words in Islam, how language defined our sense of reality, how Muslims "Islamised" language across history, history of the spread of Islam, the historical point where the paths of Sunnis and Shiites diverged, knowledge and insight, the consequence of the divergence between Religion and Science, the atom -- and these were some of the only good things I was blessed to hear. It got highly academic and technical, factual at times. But the kernel of truth, essence was the greatness of Big G in all the small things.

After the talk, we hung around and chatted with people, mostly coz Gumdrops was a mega-networker (I have very little patience with small talks and meeting people these days - oh oh!). There is a reason for everything right? Yes! Well, the imam invited us to see his museum of treasures: hundreds of years old copies of the Noble Quran, one was written on bark of trees, some handwritten, all vintage. The imam had two 1917 editions of old and new testament bible, printed in Sanskrit. AWESOME. Truly a treasure trove.

Interesting evening is an understatement. Alhamdullilah.

NB: Food was served prior to the talk. For dessert, there was a yummylicious chocolate fountain, with strawberries and marshmallows to dip in choc :)