About Me — Fatima Imam. The metamorphosis from a Historian to a…
By: Dr. Fatima Imam
Tags: About Me, Introduction

About Me — Fatima Imam

The metamorphosis from a Historian to a Poet

Photo: Just Grateful to be Alive

After spending 50+ years on the planet, I am just living for myself and enjoying every moment. I’ll like to call myself a student of life. Being born in an intellectually wealthy family in India’s most culturally diverse cities, Lucknow, gave me a clear perspective that knowledge leads to success. I stuck to my path for the next thirty years: finishing degrees, making friends and getting married. Well! I gradually discovered that the universe would teach me invaluable lessons about trust, financial security, confidence, and self-respect. I failed to imbibe most of the lessons but got an incredible leap of faith when I got my self-respect back after coming out of a ten-year marriage.

I became a mother to two beautiful children who are a constant joy source during the fascinating turbulent years. I migrated to Canada, finished my PhD in South Asian history, polished my Hindi, Urdu language skills, taught at the University of Toronto, and moved to the US for a full-time job. I created numerous courses on Indian history, culture, politics, Islamic history, World civilizations, and World Religions, wrote academic articles, attended conferences, chaired programs, and took part in hiring committees and international admission initiatives. Following some personal issues and a lack of immersive research routine, my academic career as a South Asian historian ended. However, I didn’t have time to process it as my mother’s ill health kept me preoccupied. I diverted my experience to become an English as a Second Language teacher after completing the required certifications.

A special mention of my cat, Luke, is one of the best influences on my life; his unconditional love has brought me back from depression, chronic anxiety and loneliness. I have become a happier human being who has not lost her temper (no kidding) for the last eight years.

Photo: Luke on my desk

Photo: Luke working in our home office

One thing has been constant in my universe throughout my journey to different parts of the world- teaching, research and writing, and love for books. Problems just vanish when a topic has to be researched, a new book has to be finished, or a class needs to be taught. I have had the privilege to teach in India, Middle East, Canada, the US, and travel around the world as an academician. Fortunately, I could earn my living through my passion for teaching until just before the pandemic. Other jobs were tried as a challenge, but I was swiftly laid off.

Photo: View of Rome from Capital Hill

Photo: Taipei: Yehilu Park

Photo: City Palace, Jaipur (India)

The self-imposed isolation gave me mental clarity that my failures have solidified my core belief and strengthened my self-respect. I can say with confidence that I’ve been an excellent mother, a model daughter, a loyal friend, conscientious partner. Above all, each experience an episode of my life has been a learning experience. Since 2015, I’ve been wearing many hats as a teacher, historian, researcher, interpreter, translator, tutor, ESL, and IELTS teacher. Every job satisfies me tremendously, but I was missing being a part of an intellectual community, and Medium has opened that door for me.

Photo: Us in front of Taj Mahal, Agra (India)

Photo: Us on my son’s 30 birthday

Photo: With my Mom and Luke

When I sat down to share my thoughts with the Medium members, the words started rhyming together, and thus a poet was born a few weeks ago. I will continue to pursue my love of writing through poems, as ideating articles might take time.

I want the readers to know that reading, writing, teaching, and Luke keeps me satiated and satisfied. Books give me the freedom to travel to any universe of the past, present or the future, whereas writing enables me to create brand new ones. Teaching empowers me to become a part of someone else’s intellectual transformation.

Thank you so much for reading this.

© Fatima Imam

My poems on Medium: https://medium.com/@fatimaimam1964

My posts on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fatima-imam-historian/