A Final Call, a Third Year

نِداء

root: ن-د-و / noun / plural: نِداءات / definition: call, public announcement

If you saw four dishevelled passengers racing through Istanbul Airport to catch their transfer flight and making it just before their gate closed on Saturday evening… that was me and my family.

Gate F1—why did you have to be so far.

A delayed first flight. A gate at the other side of the airport. A hold-up at security (over my sister’s water bottle, how menacing). Then: FINAL CALL on the board and me—running ahead—nearly flinging my cabin bag (and self) down the escalator.

That—and a positive Covid test upon my return—rounded off our family trip to Cyprus, the homeland I’ve been estranged from my whole life.

And I’ve landed now firmly in September, an academic’s January 1st, where university re-enrollment forces me into the third-year mindset.

This third year of my PhD feels like autumn actually, but my muscles are aching too much to elaborate. I do need to set down my summer whimsy and pick up some books now though.

I’m looking forward to the inevitable routine of autumn. At the same time, many of my plans haven’t been pinned down to the calendar yet and hang, instead, on incomplete forms lost somewhere in the admin chain.

So, we’ll see.

I’ve been saying that a lot lately. But that’s why I’ve always loved autumn: it’s the season of possibilities that blusters in, even as the year feels like it’s coming to an end.

Oh, and I’ve been missing the Arabic dictionary these days. I think we need another dictionary-related post soon. What do you think?

.في أمان الله