try, try again, repeat

  

  

sequence, series, repetition, rigour, discipline, persistence, perseverance.
contain, encapsulate, compartmentalise.
samples, variables, permutations.

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fragments

 

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material matters, devotional matters

Soumaya Mauthoor, a young muslim materials scientist completing her PhD, has agreed to show me around the materials department and introduce me to her friends at midday congregational prayer. The sisters of Imperial’s Islamic Society gather in a large empty meeting room and catch up over a quick lunch before preparing for the prayers and sermon. They have a hi-fi system connected to the rooms in which the men gather – at once connected and remote – hearing though not heard. I sit to the side, trying not to get in the way.

These women are warm, welcoming, broad-smiling, respectful, interested. Soumaya introduces me to everyone, including Zobia Gundkalli, a medic, who promises to show me around her department soon. I am struck by – and slightly envious of – this kind of sisterhood. It clearly runs deep – doesn’t dwell on distractions at the surface. It doesn’t matter if I get on with you, if we have the same interests. We sit side by side, we perform the same ritual actions, sitting, standing, bowing, standing again, sitting once more.

I feel closed off by comparison, and now slightly ashamed. Afterwards, as we walk and talk, Soumaya switches easily between my questions about visual representation in mosques and the specialised x-rays and microscopes in the materials labs. As each day passes on the Imperial campus, I feel more and more like a tourist in the land of science, and more painfully aware of the paucity of my intellect. More humble pie for dinner tonight, methinks. Humbled but inspired, a good place to be.

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