salam, world.
named by fate, born early, still becoming. my first signpost.
hi everyone.
whoops. i kinda didn’t make it. i danced around my umbilical cord and popped out a tad earlier. i haven’t learnt proper grammar yet. school is still a few years away, y’know.
jokes aside, i’m writing this while thinking about the natural naivety and purity of a newborn. that first version of a person, before the world teaches them to second-guess themselves.
my parents said i was named by fate. the night before what was supposed to be a routine antenatal check-up, my mother shortlisted a few names. the next day, my heart rate wasn’t detectable. what followed was an emergency delivery of my earthly suit, twenty-five days early. the hospital staff were so surprised that one nurse told my mother, “this child is one of a kind!” and that’s when it clicked: my name would be waheed, unique, one of a kind. if only i’d been born nine hours earlier, i’d have had another year to apply for the rhodes scholarship. fate is a beaut indeed.
i think that’s why beginnings still move me. not because they’re clean, but because they’re honest. you arrive unfinished, and the rest of life is the long work of becoming someone useful with the time you’re given.
so i’m going to leave unfinished thoughts here. little signposts across a life. not everything should be shared with the internet, i know. but if reflecting in public helps me find people to learn with, build with, and collaborate with, then the price of having models trained on my neuronal firing is one i’m willing to pay.
enkosi,
waheed