Originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
Last Wednesday, I went to a Mohja Kahf poetry reading at Mudraker’s in Berkeley (it was rocking, by the way!), and ended up seeing some old buddies and making a couple of new friends. One guy I shook hands with towards the end of the evening exclaimed, “You have a really firm handshake!”
I laughed. “I get that a lot.”
His friend said, surprised, “Oh, yeah?”
“Here, I’ll shake your hand, too, so you can see.” So, I did.
“Really strong!”
“I have to compensate for my short height in some way, you know,” I joked. “At least I have strong handshakes.”
A few minutes later, the first hand-shaker asked curiously, “How old are you?”
“How old do you think I am?”
He thought about it for a minute, then confessed, “I can’t really tell. You’re short.”
SIGH. As my friend, Hashim, says of my photography, “You seem to be looking up a lot (trees towards sky) - or down (at grates or odd pink cemented things). This implies you are short…”
Someday, I will grow up to be tall, and Hashim will stop making basketball-related jokes at my expense, bastid. One can only hope. Meanwhile, I’m content with lots of fist-shaking.
24 responses so far ↓
1 Z-Man // Mar 22, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Are you sure you don’t mean twelve years old :-)
2 the sister // Mar 22, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Nice bellbottoms! ;)
3 the sister // Mar 22, 2008 at 8:03 pm
haha I almost typed belly buttons! HAHA
4 fathima // Mar 22, 2008 at 8:17 pm
why does that make you laugh, el sister? i’m sure she has OUTRAGEOUS belly buttons.
5 bdr // Mar 22, 2008 at 9:13 pm
This make my top 3 of cool pic’s you have taken.
6 iffat // Mar 22, 2008 at 10:42 pm
dude! yaar!
even though i know i can’t grow any taller because of silly biology, i still hold hope/wish to one day suddenly grow to 5′ 8″.
sigh.
7 asad // Mar 22, 2008 at 10:53 pm
i wish i was shorter than i am, and less ungainly. shorter people are cute, and can hide more easily. that’s always a plus. =)
8 AyeshaZ // Mar 22, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Though I never wish about being shorter but asad has a very valid point.
9 ruqayyah // Mar 23, 2008 at 1:50 am
and you give really strong hugs too! ;) i can still feel them :P
10 maisnon // Mar 23, 2008 at 9:57 am
My uncle has called me Shorty my whole life. Yeah. I’ve been taller than him since I was 14. (He still calls me Shorty.)
I wouldn’t want to be shorter, but it would be awesome if I could buy PANTS instead of floods/capris.
11 knicq // Mar 23, 2008 at 1:01 pm
…and NOW look what you have done!
Suddenly, I have been led to the realization that I am short, which basically means JB is not all that tall, and that is some compensation. And all this because I have a firm handshake… a firm handshake that came from years of practicing, because they taught us in MBA this was the mark of a confident person, and a good salesman. The fact that you never got around to shaking hands with ladies in Pakistan - back when atish was jawan - and that they never brought your attention to this detail got me into trouble more than once once I arrived here and went around being introduced to my colleagues… I had to explain myself to three fiancees and two bosses in the space of two hours. The ladies got a day day off to nurse their hands, and made a habit of hiding their hands in their pockets when walking anywhere on my floor - even when I was on sick leave. :(
12 Owl // Mar 24, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Being average is boring. I like having a gag, and as I’m not tall or short, I’ve got to pick something else. Like my face. 0_0
13 ayan // Mar 25, 2008 at 8:02 am
That whole conversation was a ploy to shake your (a girl’s) hand. Watch out for ploys!
14 rawi // Mar 25, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I’m not sure if I agree about your photos tending to look up, or down. Rather, I think they’re often about the detail, the right moment. It’s less about the vertical, or even the spatial…more about the timing. Or time.
Someday, I wanna wake up to take photos like you do…
15 mcpagal // Mar 29, 2008 at 6:40 am
Good things, small packages!
And short people are usually more spunky, to make up for the whole vertically challenged thing. Maybe I’m just making that up though, I’m biased…
16 BAQ // Apr 9, 2008 at 7:40 am
At least short people do not usually develop that awkward stooping body frame, and yeah, they dont go banging their heads on low door frames when going in or out a little less carefully. *rubs head at the memor(y/ies)*
17 Saadat // Apr 10, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I only know that my wardrobe is stuffed with loads of trendy clothes, which just grew small in a matter of weeks.
Still, I love being tall. Nobody dares to give me a firm handshake because of it. :cool:
You are invited to a blogiversary, by the way.
18 Dreaming of Beards // Apr 11, 2008 at 7:03 am
Your titled reminded me of Shel Silverstein’s poem “One Inch Tall”
If you were only one inch tall, you’d ride a worm to school.
The teardrop of a crying ant would be your swimming pool.
A crumb of cake would be a feast
And last you seven days at least,
A flea would be a frightening beast
If you were one inch tall.
:)
19 Owl // Apr 11, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Yasminay, you ARE 12 feet tall. Didn’t anyone tell you?
20 perplxintexan // Apr 20, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I’m said you left blogger. But, still it shows growth…apparently not physically but mentally …you got this !
21 May // Apr 30, 2008 at 9:57 am
Shadows. Are very cool me thinks.
22 Aisha // May 14, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I havent been around the blogs in a long time and I come and see you haven’t updated in forever!!! I hope you are okay and I hope you will be back to blogging very soon. I am bookmarking you again now (old computer crashed)
23 Hussain // May 20, 2008 at 3:33 pm
It’s May, it’s summer, do you not get annual leave to blog?
Hope you’re well…
24 yasmine // May 22, 2008 at 12:00 am
=) thank you all for the comments, and for checking in, rockstars! life got in the way, and i’ve been highly slackerish about updating. i’ve missed you, though. new post up for you all, and more to come, definitely. let’s hang out again? it’s been too long.
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