Nisbah Magazine Nisbah, Winter 2013 | Page 81

I invite her for a milkshake on the way home. I recall what I have understood from my teachers about addressing people according to their status and circumstances. I turn to her and say,...‘Let me tell you Sumayyah’s story’. She leans forward, attentively. ‘Sumayyah is very unhappy. She needs to drop about 40 lbs. She has had enough of being the ‘fat girl’ at college. The other students seem to look at her with disgust. She knows the excess weight is bad for her health. She can’t even get to her third floor science lab without panting breathlessly-hardly a dignified entrance. It’s difficult enough trying to keep up with her studies let alone the pressures of the latest colleg