British People Be Like I Know A Spot Then Colonise It

Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.

- Claude Monet

Afghanistan in 1950s

Normalize science academia

Okay, we get that dark and light academia are mostly associated with social and language studies. But what about the people who study physics and chemistry and math and who have adopted the light/dark academia aesthetic? Give me the physics scribbling notes on the 123nd notebook of the month and gazing at discs turning, springs springing and pendulums moving incessantly. Give me the aspiring chemists being careful and frantic at the same time while they measure all kinds of substances and turn the pages of books, with dirty glasses slightly broken to the side. Give me the mathematicians who are writing quickly like there is no tomorrow on the chalkboard and when there is no more space they continue on walls and notebooks. Give me all those scientists who, once at home throw their robes in the washing machine and sit down with coffee and a book and turn their radio to the classic station. Maybe the book is a classic or a piece of poetry, maybe it is related to their subjects, but they make notes on the spaces of the page. They may not be able to analyze it like an English major but they are devoted to their purposes and absolutely love their occupation.

Arabic dark academia consists of drinking black Arabic coffee while listening to um Kalthoum and learning about constellations.

Light Arabic academia is wearing white loose conservative clothing, sipping sweet mint tea, and humming 'ahwak' to oneself in a sunny garden.

Dark Academia for Brown People

 Most people, when they think of dark academia is books (that’s the whole point) and ancient languages such as Latin or Ancient Greek. I’m here to tell you that you all are SLEEPING on brown culture. Love that is conveyed in the languages of Persian and Urdu (my native language) crosses borders. Sure, Shakespeare and Sappho wrote great pieces of literature but the stories and poems of Rumi, Manto, Hafez and Iqbal have a special place in my heart. 

Some of my favourites are:- (all are translated)

Sit at my grave with wine and a minstrel in a trance, so your smell will raise me from the dead.

HAFEZ

My lover’s sadness lit a fire in my heart that burned my chest, there was a fire in his house that burned the nest.

HAFEZ

O the day turned night, what a shame, a gazelle of kindness a lion became, my partner and lover grew tired of my words and prayers too.

RUMI

These are my personal favourites. I can always make a longer post if you all want.

Female poets deserve a whole other post.

As someone who goes to an English-Medium school, we are always taught to converse in English, see the language as a part of yourself but deny a place to Urdu. As I grow older, I have come to appreciate my identity and so should all my fellow brown people. Take pride in your mother tongue.

some things i’ve learned while studying in quarantine

drink more water instead of more coffee.

weekly goals are bullshit. set yourself 3-day goals. you’ll be less laid-back.

don’t just mindlessly stare at words. before you start studying, know your approach to it. have a plan.

summarizing the concept in your own words is the key part of taking notes. don’t just copy things down, convert them into your own way of talking, your own vocabulary, no matter how dumb and unprofessional it sounds.

don’t let the “studyblr aesthetic” fool you. studying doesn’t have to be pretty. summaries and notes can be messy as long as they’re comprehensible. you can always rewrite and reorganize them later. (honestly, you better do. and you better keep them.)

don’t throw away the papers you’ve solved your problems in. staple them to the fucking textbook. you need to see them constantly. cause you’ll need reminders of how far you’ve came, when you’re feeling discouraged.

don’t be an armchair analyst for your issues. if you have an idea then act on it.

remember: the exact point where it becomes difficult, is where your growth begins. take a deep breath, and try to focus on the paragraph in front of you.

get off your high horse and understand that if you’re a zero, you won’t go to 100 in a couple of days. first, you’ll need to reach 30, then from 30 to 60, and then from 60 to 90. nobody is 100 everyday. that happens very rarely.

you need to have fun everyday. you need to have peaceful time every single day. even on exam night. especially on exam night, actually. so make sure you’ve studied enough so you can have some time to yourself.

once you’re on a roll and in need of some challenge to stay on track, start writing down your studying hours. tell yourself you’re not allowed to do less than 80% of what you did yesterday. whatever the hell it was, even just one hour. so if yesterday you really studied for like, say 8 hours, today your goal is to study for at least 6 and a half hours. if you can’t keep up with that, make it 70%, or 60%. 

be forgiving of yourself. be kind to yourself. even if you bounced back and lost your streak. start again. as slowly as you did before. take your time. it’s okay, you were there once you can get there again.

Kabul in 1968.

Two Pashtun men greeting

Location: Kado, Nortwest Frontier. Pakistan

Photographer: Michael Freeman

Na manam, na manam yara! Marg anjaam da hastay na de.

Khlasidal sharab pa jaam ke, ikhtitaam da mastay ne de.

Nah! I dont believe, i dont agree with it, death is not the end of existence.

Finishing up a cup of wine, is not the end of joy.

- 𝑮𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒊 𝑲𝒉𝒂𝒏

Image source: we heart it.

Poetry: malghalari by pashtoscoop

Dark Academia Outfit Inspiration