the earth ink

The air, still and heavy with silence, oddly reminded me of the unused water cooler in the office today. An evening walk on the Abu Dhabi Corniche proved to be a beautiful idea during the first days of Ramadan. Traffic was infrequent, the walkway far less crowded than normal, and the air was less hot than the hair dryer heat that gushed at me between the office and my car this afternoon - now cooled by troughs of  evening  that floated inland from the Arabian Gulf. There is something different in these breezes that permeate the air: tinged with a sense of peace and a reflective atmosphere that accompanies the quiet street corners. It's the start of Ramadan, the Holy Month on the Islamic lunar calendar. The Islamic calendar doesn't follow an annual cycle directed by the sun. Rather, months are determined by the cycle of the moon. In the UAE, a moon siting committee stands watch over the religious holidays and announces them officially a day or two before the holiday arri...

I am sitting at London Heathrow International Airport, fervently folding paper stars and occasionally giving one away. A six hour layover, with a travel assignment, nearly complete that should have been done two days ago - and all I am doing is making paper stars. Once an origami pattern is learned, it is rather easy to recreate the same folds rather mindlessly. After several months of work deadlines and a social itinerary that increased as the weather cooled off in Abu Dhabi, I need the mindlessness. On this occasion, it gives me time to contemplate. I'm contemplating why I'm making paper stars. Usually, when I fly over the Christmas holiday, I have a quiver of candy canes delicately tucked in my carry on. I ask check-in agents, security, and flight attendants if I can give them a candy cane and it never fails to put a smile on every face. The small gesture seems to relieve that hectic holiday stress of navigating an airport and security in crowded queues and amongst wea...