like a fish needs a bicycle...

exams and me

so i took an exam yesterday. i have one friday, and then one wednesday. and then i'm done with my first year of law school. i really can't believe it. i totally don't even feel like i'm at the end. i'm so not in exam mode. i'm scared of my exams, but i don't have the fear, the determination, the focus, and the adrenaline that i did last semester. i just hope i can push through and do reasonably well. at this rate, i'm not too sure about that last part. but we'll see.

meanwhile, glad someone finally figured out how amazing i am.

seriously though, speaking of my name... i've been reading midnight's children by salman rushdie. i like salman rushdie just fine. i read the satanic verses a few years back, just to see what all the fuss was about. i didn't think he was a fabulous writer, and i also didn't see why that book so controsversial as to cause the ayatollah to issue a death sentence. i really didn't think it was that big a deal. but then again, fanatical theocratic leaders have never been known for logical, sane, or proportionate reactions, now have they?

anyway, when i have the patience to follow his narrative, i find salman rushdie's writing amusing. nothing earth-shattering or anything -- a bit too self-conscious and self-righteous for my tastes. but still, i like it, and it's been a nice escape from school to read for half an hour every few days. the interesting thing is that midnight's children is the first time i've encountered a character with my name in any book ever. it's so weird to me. everytime i read my name it looks strange on the page -- especially since it's spelled exactly like i spell my name. i imagine there are plenty of people out there with common names, like john or katherine, who read their names in books all the time. but i never expected to do that. so when i first encountered naseem ghani a few pages into the book, i was definitely caught off guard. of course, she's vastly different from me in many many ways. but some people would say there are few striking resemblances:

"naseem... unleashed a basilisk glare which was already becoming a legend. hands clasped in her lap, a muslin dupatta wounder miser-tight around her head, she pierced her visitors with lidless eyes and stared them down. their voices turned to stone; their hearts froze; and alone in a room with strange men, [naseem] sat in triumph, surrounded by downcast eyes."
p.43

i've heard about my look of death more than once. maybe i'm not the only naseem who has one...