the world according to channie

  • Amna Channie

    So You Think You Fell From a Coconut Tree?

    The other day, my friend and I had a long insightful gyaff. We touched on many things – health, kids, politics, and one that was of most interest to both of us — our genealogy. I know she had begun work on her family history but had been confronted with many obstacles, not the least […]

  • Amna Channie

    In the Windmills of my Mind

    Almighty God says in The Quran: “And some of you are left to reach the most feeble stage of life so that they may know nothing after having known much.”. It is once again Fall here in Florida – cool mornings and fresh winds with accompanying bird-song – most suitable for long morning walks. For […]

  • Amna Channie

    On: The Colonized Mind

    I believe we are a people who want to be colonized. Here we are, after the diaspora. We dusted off the grime of colonial rule and set up our tents in a new land in an effort to escape the consequences of our colonized past. We, who know full well the shame and the rigors […]

  • Amna Channie

    Village Psychology

    I heard this story from my grandfather who used to help those villagers coming to him from near and distant villages  for advice. He was the Imaam in the village, wise and well respected by old and young. So well respected was he that the villagers followed his advice to the letter. “Beti”, he  tell […]

  • Amna Channie

    On “The Food We Eat”

    There was a Time… I read and listen to the “now” generation talking about food. I see that there is a slight shift in the things they want to eat and the ways they think these should be cooked. They talk about “plant based” food. As opposed to what? I ask myself. “Animal based”?  We […]

  • Amna Channie

    On The Tired Wives’ Resort

    The things we do. Cook, cook, serve, clean, sweep, vacuum, wipe, make up beds, do laundry, pay bills, shop for food, keep an eye on appointments, clean the yard, trim the bushes, sort the mail, put out the garbage, …. It has just dawned  on my foggy mind that tired wives need a place where […]

  • Amna Channie

    On: Being Content

    I am contentAre you content too?Look!There’s a pair of us.  To spend our days bemoaning For what we do not haveTo wish for things impossibleIs tiresome and sad. To be held a vile and vengeful prisonerBy poisonous discontentTo share a cell with greed itselfIs not the soul’s intent. We two have freed our jealous heartsContentment marks our […]

  • Amna Channie

    On: Leisure for the Old.

    Or as Davies puts it…… “What is this life if full of care We have no time to stand and stare No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep and cows?” If William Henry Davies were my neighbor, I might see him on my morning walks as he stops to […]

  • Amna Channie

    Rural Legends & Stories : # 4 and 5 “Charow-Charow” (An allegory) and “Trial by Water”

    CHAROW- CHAROW: A metaphor for kindness. Listen and sing if you remember dis song. 🎶🎶🎶🎶 Charow, charow mere bhaiya Tum tum mein ya -tum Bookh mere, mere bacha Tum tum mein ya-tum 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 She was a little bird. She did juss lay she eggs and dem hatch out into lil baby bird. The baby dem […]

  • Amna Channie

    Rural Legends and Tales – #3 : The Almost Virgin Bride

    THE ALMOST VIRGIN BRIDE: True Story Hear this one. In the villages, when a girl get married, she got to be a virgin. If you is not a virgin, if you mother-in-law nah see a spot of red virgin blood on the bed sheet on the morning after the wedding night, you just got to […]