It's only just personal experience but somehow anytime a conversation starts with the words "How religious are you?" it tends to travel a well-worn path towards personal belief and faith. It weaves its way through these and onto societal construction of roles and norms. Then it ascends to the more profound discussions on Love and its manifestations. Finally, it descends to the mundane "Who-here-do-you-think-is-good-looking?" mindlessness. The surprise is not the conclusion to this conversation--which in most cases is a rather naive speech about accepting the problems that came your way, standing firm with your beliefs, screw society and live your own life and "Chill karo yaar"--rather it is the beginnings which are often a source of shock.

When this begining includes Mams Mustafa sitting down next to you and looking at you with the most childishly confused expression on her face before nuking you with the religion inquiry, it's more a life-altering experience then your typical everyday conversation. When it lasts almost 90 minutes, it likely to induce long-term trauma. So I suppose I should express the gratitude some of my friends are bound to feel when they discover that you have put me closer to my death Mams. Some of you out there are possibly getting the funeral sooner due to the actions of the freak of nature that is Maryam!

On a more serious note, thank you Maryam for a fantastic 2 hours. It was well worth the possible repurcusions on my health.