I am in love with a pair of eyes….

Last Friday was a good day. My students were out on a donation drive and that left me with precious free hours. I was tempted to take some time off to catch up on some badly needed sleep. I get barely 4 hours a day of sleep and despite the inadequacy, I seem to function rather well but not at my very best.

That was the initial plan until I walked over to my colleague’s workstation and I saw a DVD sitting ‘pretty’ on his notebook, every pun intended. It was “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” and the cover had the picture of two of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. One was essentially uncovered while the other was covered in Arab- Muslim dress, face covered leaving only the eyes. Masya-Allah, those eyes. They haunt me.

I sought permission from the owner to borrow it and had to endure numerous good-natured ribbing from my other colleagues who thought that I had suspiciously gone soft to even want to watch it. I will provide the synopsis and analysis of the story in another post.

I ripped the movie and then proceeded to watch it in private. I only got to watch 20 minutes of it before Friday congragational prayers. Prior to the ritual of Friday evening soccer matches at my school, I watched the next 30 minutes or so of the movie before finally completing it later that night at 1 am together with two other teachers who were staying back for a school camp.

From that day onwards, I have watched the movie for a grand total of 10 times. Every time I watch it, I seem to learn something new about the movie, beyond the superficial theme of polygamy. Opponents of Islam would have a field day nit-picking about that point but my opinion is that you are blind to the truth if that is the only thing you can see. Of course, those eyes…those eyes.

I was told that the book in Bahasa Indonesia is excellent. I really wonder if some kind soul could lend it to me for some time?