I find that when you are in the middle of the very thing you once prayed for, you forget to appreciate it. Instead, you are already praying for the next thing. That is very much what this edition feels like to me. An intense labour of love, from the Honi team to you, but also a labour of my faith and my devotion, which I have allowed to go unappreciated in this busy year.
When I first started at university, everything was intimidating. I would walk past the Honi stand in Fisher, terrified of pitching, never imagining that a few years later I would be editing. Yet, it is only now, writing this editorial on a random lawn somewhere, that time has finally slowed down long enough to remember that this paper has brought prayers to life.
This edition is about ‘faith.’ It is about finding ourselves in positions which we had only ever dreamed of. It is about devotion, not only to our Gods, but also to ourselves, to our communities, and to our writing. It is my whispered prayers from some years ago come true.
As you read these pages of laboured-love, I ask you to consider what faith means to you? Who do you inherit it from? How does it drive you? How do you hold it?
Within these pages, on page 16, Audhora Khalid goes looking for God to understand the phenomenon of faith. On page 12, Khushi Chevli unveils the history and truth of the buildings we romanticise on this campus, and, on page 17, Shayla Zreika finds the beauty in the everything little things. On page 14, Pia Curran reflects on the loss of religion and atheism.
My piece in this edition, on page 16, is about loss. It is a diary entry about all the people I miss, the people who I may no longer have but continue to exist within the truest parts of myself, my writing. It’s also about love. A letter to the people who have helped me heal, those who have made themselves at home in my heart. This edition is dedicated to those people, both who I have lost, and those I continue to love. I keep you in my prayers.
With love,
Purny
COMPANION PIECE: Dana Kafina
This piece is probably the most complex art request I’ve ever received. Faith, to me, is diligence and discipline – and I really tried to practice this while creating this artwork. I drew inspiration from both Islamic architecture and architecture from Muslim cultures, where it feels as though two extremes, geometry and organic nature, are the two most prevalent themes, and tried to blend the two. Oftentimes faith isn’t one or the other, it is fluid, like you, and your spirit. And it is the most radical thing you can practice!
