The Last Rectangle Page 15
From 1975 - 1977 worked on various projects inside and outside Lebanon. In 1978, established Database Sarl, Beirut, a computer consultancy and software company. Carried out a variety of projects: consultancy, software development, management training. Most of the work was in banking and finance.
In 1982, Akram established Infotech, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), to cover a variety of IT projects in the UAE and Gulf countries. Most of the projects were in trade, industry, education, healthcare, banking, construction and media/advertising. Several projects were completed in the public sector. He was also active in delivering various Quantitative Management seminars.
In 1995 to date: after his move back to Beirut, Lebanon in 1995, he left the software development field and concentrated on IT contract work: IT consulting, computer project integration, project management, software application design and management training. He also shifted into the field of business technology concentrating on strategic planning (for both private and public sector organizations), project management framework development, business process reengineering and process mapping.
In 1997, he established InfoConsult Sarl, in Beirut, Lebanon.
In parallel with his consulting work, Akram focused on management In parallel with his consulting work, Akram focused on management training developing and conducting workshops for the above subjects. This and other books are based on the experience acquired in these workshops.
Earlier than that . . .
When Akram was 15, he had the luck of being moved to a special class of accelerated English. It was not a language as much as an introspective class. The teacher concentrated on analyzing fiction, one novel a week. He also pushed the few in the class towards writing. They had the choice of developing any subject in their weekly essays. In time, Akram reached a zero point, a point where he felt all meaning was drained from any expression he wished to write. Worried, he tried to convince his teacher to return him to the regular stream. The reaction was: “Look here, I got you into this course so that you can reach this stage, and you will be reaching it many more times in the future”.
This dual exposure to literature and introspection stayed with him and in spite of becoming an IT professional, he retained his love for philosophy and literature often being more involved in them than in his technology. Akram tried his hand at different literary genres: poetry, plays, novels. None felt natural to him as much as the short story.
His other literary works are detailed on their dedicated website:
www.marginalstories.com.
His technical eBooks are fully detailed on his website:
www.marginalbooks.com.
His puzzle eBooks are also detailed on their dedicated website:
www.thehiddenpaw.com.
These sites list the links to the online stores where the eBooks can be purchased.
End Notes
1Hakawati: comes from the verb Yahki which means “to recite” or “to tell”. The derivative is a noun describing a person who tells stories. The Hakawati is a professional story teller, often found in taverns. He (mostly male) would tell stories for a living.
2Jahiliyah: is the period in Arab history that came before Islam. It means the period of ignorance. It is a period with a major output in poetry and epics.
3 Antar: is a hero in Arab folklore, a fighter and a poet, he was in love with Abla. He left many lyric poems extolling her beauty and his love for her. Being a great fighter, his legendary conquests became part of Hakawati lore.
4Baidar: a stone paved circular patio where oxen turn around in circles, pulling behind them a hard wooden slab. The bottom of the slab has knobs. As the oxen turn around, the knobs run over the spikes of wheat and break them into smaller pieces so that farmers can collect the grains. As the slab needs pressure to break the spikes, children used to often ride on it, partly for fun but mostly for result.
5Madrasa: the term comes from the Arabic verb “darasa” which means, “to study”. The term was reserved for large buildings used as schools and universities. The buildings, whose style was established in the late Abassyd period, were usually rectangular and made up of three or more floors. There was always a large court inside the building. Recently, a major architectural study was made of Tripoli in Lebanon. (Saliba, Robert, “Tripoli the Old City, Monument Survey - Mosques and Madrasas”, Beirut, Department of Architecture, American University of Beirut, 1994.) Many Madrasas turned up with fine architectural principles and beautiful rendition. Madrasas are found in many parts of the Arab and Islamic world, particularly in Morocco.
6Masbaha: comes from the verb sabbaha, which means to extol or glorify God. The word denotes prayer beads strung together on a string and used originally in a religious context. Arab Masbahas have a set of 33 beads separated by two stoppers (Shahbiyat) 11 beads apart. Sometimes Masbahas with small beads would have 66 beads with the stoppers 22 beads apart. Very rarely, you may find Masbahas with 99 beads. There was a reason for having 33 beads, or a multiple of 33. Islamic traditional has it that God has 99 names and one way of praying to chant out the names of God saying: Allah Ghafour, Allah Halim, Allah Nasser, Allah Rahman, and so on. However, Masbahas started being made of precious stones and other valuable material so that the religious function was slowly forgotten as Masbahas became items of jewelry. A Masbaha is nowadays used as a hand pacifier. A person would hold the Masbaha in one or two hands and would pass the beads from one side of the string to the other. The Arabic proverb that says “Karret Al Masbaha “ means that the Masbaha string is broken and the beads have fallen on the ground. The image is that of an unstoppable process, very true if you’ve ever had a Masbaha string break while holding it. The beads fall all over the place, bouncing in different uncontrollable directions.
7 Abaya: an Arab dress that is made up of one main rectangle which covers the back with two rectangles that cover the front on the right and left side. You can think of it as a jacket without sleeves. Some Abayas will have a string to tie the two smaller rectangles together at the front. Others are large enough for you to simply fold one on top of the other. An Abaya is not a Dishdasha or a Jillabiya which are closed and are slipped into from the head downwards.