By Taryana Odayar, Executive Editor.
Don’t let the title of this Editorial put you off. I am not usually one to express grief so openly, and being only 21 years old I can say that I haven’t experienced too many instances of heartbreak or angst. But last week caught me off guard completely, because last week Adhil Bakeer Markar, a friend of mine who had just started his Masters at LSE, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.
There is nothing that can prepare you for the death of someone you care about, and there is very little people can say or do to console you once they’re gone. I would much rather have Adhil back, and I would much rather be writing another upbeat and news-related Editorial than the one you are currently reading. And I would have given almost anything to not have to write the tribute I wrote in memory of Adhil this week (page 18-19).
It will sound extremely cliche to say this, but life really is fleeting and uncertain. A mutual friend of Adhil’s recently sent me the following story, which I think reflects this statement well. So I shall leave you with this;
‘There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions, and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, “Master, just now when I was in the market-place, I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Now, lend me your horse Master, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there death will not find me.”
The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went.
Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, “Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?”
“That was not a threatening gesture”, I said, “It was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”’
