As the dusty, weary, thirsty pilgrims approach the blessed house they fall into orbit around it, eyes full and hearts yearning, hands outstretched towards the magnetic black cube towards which they prostrate back home. This lonely brick structure in the middle of an uninviting desert, unremarkable save for its symbolism, continues to attract longing souls… Continue reading Vignettes on Hajj
Author: obaidf
A Letter to Mohsin Hamid
Dear Mohsin,Mr. Cook made us read a lot of books my junior year of high school, but the book that stood out the most to me was yours, The Reluctant Fundamentalist. I had read books that I had seen bits of myself in before: The Power of One, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part… Continue reading A Letter to Mohsin Hamid
What Tech Can Learn From Public Health
The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has thrust the field of public health into the spotlight, and it’s been fascinating to observe how it drives towards better aggregate health outcomes in the face of unprecedented challenges. It serves as an interesting lens through which to view societal problems in the tech field, which also deals with… Continue reading What Tech Can Learn From Public Health
What It’s Like to Write Software on a Team
Imagine you are on a team tasked with writing a novel. At first you all huddle together and figure out what it’s about. Who is the intended audience? What will readers take away from the book? You hash out the arc of the story, the characters, how they’ll interact with each other to drive the… Continue reading What It’s Like to Write Software on a Team
A Beautiful Place to Die
The long, winding drive down the California coastline along Route 1 was hypnotizing: the constant zigzagging of the road through cliffs and mountains, the vastness of the Pacific ever to the right, the cool air, scented with a splendid saltiness. Only the clouds dampened the scene, but even they were beautiful in their grandeur. They… Continue reading A Beautiful Place to Die
What Icarus Learned
Perhaps the biggest charm Rabat has is its border with the Atlantic. There is a Kasbah atop a hill that overlooks the sea, shielding the gardens inside from the elements. There is a lighthouse that almost looks like a minaret; like one, it aspires to be a beacon of guidance and respite to wearied travelers… Continue reading What Icarus Learned
An Old Wives’ Tale
She sat near, but not at, the head of the table, her soft, wrinkled hands quivering as they brought the glass of water up to her thin lips. She sipped slowly while conversation continued around her. And then she coughed. She brought the glass down as she shook, her frail body trying desperately to remove… Continue reading An Old Wives’ Tale
Kismet
He walked through the snow, mouth wide open and eyes focused and half closed, trying to land a snowflake on his tongue. All kinds of flakes made their way down from the heavens, fat ones and tiny ones, all moving too fast for his mortal eyes to make out, much less appreciate, the intricacies of… Continue reading Kismet
The Walled City
The old city of Fes is a world unto itself. It’s one of the oldest Islamic Medinas in Morocco and one of the best kept; sans light bulbs, radios, and the odd television, it is easy to imagine it would have been the same centuries ago. The alleyways of the city are narrow: come during… Continue reading The Walled City
Infinities
“The last computable infinity,” he said, “is the biggest infinity that we can work with. Beyond that is a host of infinities, infinitely incomputable and yet infinitesimally out of our reach. There are infinities greater than other infinities, ones that we can classify and construct and others that are a magical mess of numbers and bits, stretching on… Continue reading Infinities
Obaid Farooqui 
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