A September Update

There is a young woman sitting next to me on the tube. She is in a grey Islamic coat and black headscarf. She has an innocent face but not very beautiful. She is reading Glamour – a women’s monthly. “Why?” was the first thing that came to my mind. Who is going to benefit from the fashion and beauty tips you are reading? What’s the use of knowing this season’s colour in eye shadow when you don’t put on make up?

That was about Aldgate East. By Farringdon it hit me… All my life I’d been reading these magazines (even if not very frequently) for others…to put on a more beautiful and attractive show for others! Men I suppose. The irony is that I don’t really follow most of those tips cause I don’t think they’ll work for me…I must have felt such a lost-cause!

The young woman in headscarf, on the other hand, is perhaps the ultimate example of someone who puts on shows for her benefit alone (she looked like a single woman to me); the ultimate example of someone who loves herself and someone who doesn’t feel the need of approval by others..or perhaps just a wannabe of a different sort.

I am not going to cover my head over this. And I doubt if many of those who do think about it this way. But I sure had a revelation that morning…yet another example of how many secrets I am capable of keeping from myself, or rather perhaps, what a surprise I am to myself. I am sure I am not alone in falling into my own traps.

How funny that this happened on the 27th anniversary of the 1980 military coup in Turkey (12th September)…I didn’t think of it all day. There are hundreds, perhaps even thousands, who must be remembering it every day…

Recently, I can’t even remember what the date is most days. Life is so fast and furious. How does that Chinese curse go? “May you have exciting times”? Did I upset a Chinese person? No, I think things that have been waiting on the sides, ideas that I’ve been harbouring for years are finally coming to fruition. “Enjoy the ride” I keep saying to myself even if it’s hard to relax enough to enjoy a white knuckle ride!

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After finishing this, I watched Michael Palin travel through Edirne, Istanbul, Ephesus and Capadoccia for his current documentary about Eastern Europe. What a great episode and I like his positivitiy and realism about Turkey and the Turks…and about his future revealed to him from a coffee cup…Ne demisler fala inanma ama falsiz da kalma (don’t believe your fortune told but don’t go without it being told either).