Zainab's Writings

I do not know what really triggered it, but I think it was the world of books which inspired me to write. I had always been an avid reader since the age of three, and at six I read-an abridged version of- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , at seven I read Jane Eyre , and began reading Harry Potter . Of course, I understood only a fraction of the words used in them, but that did not prevent me from reading them. I marvelled at the rich vocabulary, and the unique way the authors used to express their feelings and describe a scene. Thus, inspired from books, I began to write as well. At first I wrote only stories, but the list grew rapidly. I was soon writing poetry, which began from simple, childish poems such as ‘I have a cat, It sits on a mat’, but grew to more thoughtful works of poetry. As I started school late-at the age of five- I had a lot of opportunity to write before that, and it was unrestricted, free writing. I had the freedom to let my ideas flow free, and nobody pointed ...

Only recently I was looking at an old notebook of mine, reading the English essays I wrote before my English papers. At the end of the notebook I had copied down Creative Writing topics from past papers. As I read the list of topics, I came across one I found increasingly interesting. The topic was: 'Write a story in which loosing a passport OR an identity card plays an important part.' I found it so interesting that I began working on it straightaway. I thoroughly enjoyed myself writing it. It was days  after that I had written anything other than my history, geography, and Islamiyat answers! “Ahem. Your ID card, please,” said the plump, moustached guard at the entrance gate of the university. “The ID card?” I blurted out. “Uh, yes, I do believe I have it somewhere in my bag” I said, half to myself. Just looking at the grim-faced guard made me nervous. I unzipped my bulging hand bag which I had purchased only three days ago at the start of the university session. The g...