Water colors

Vande Mataram

We have come a long way, we still have a longer way to go.. to be a nation representing honesty, justice, prosperity, unity and love. 

We have made mistakes, and we have to be the ones to correct them. Each one of us represent the world we want to be living in.

An ideal world would be where we could be people before being citizens. Lets act responsibly and free ourselves from the baggage of borders. That would be total independence!

This day I again remind myself that I am in debt to all the freedom fighters of India for this breath of freedom that I fill my heart and mind with.

'Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. - MK Gandhi'

A very happy independence day to all of us.

London 2012 - Get Ahead of the Games!

Since the time I moved into London, I have unwillingly and unknowingly brought into the countdown and excitement for the London 2012.

I remember seeing the counter put on Trafalgar Square and also on my company homepage which showed ‘X’ days to London 2012 daily till the day it actually started. The mayor of London addressing the travellers almost every day and encouraging people to ‘Get Ahead of The Games’, and our Business Continuity Departments making advance preparations of ensuring their employees make it to work wading thru the predicted sea of people and choked public transport!

Today is the 1^st real working day after the games have started, and I use one of the important lines of London tube (the Jubilee Line) and the DLR which connect to the core London 2012 areas with Central London, and quite surprisingly the city was less crowded than usual J .. Maybe people have been scared into making alternate plans – working from home or getting out of London all together!

In this post, I wanted to write about the Olympic opening ceremony, which will be talked about for several years, at least until the next Olympics.   

Danny Boyle was the main man behind the Opening ceremony, which was commendable and lovely in many ways, very British in its essence and feel.

The opening began with showing pre industrial revolution Britain where the main occupation was farming and animal husbandry. Traditionally dressed men and women were shown working on the fields with herds of cows, sheep and ducks grazing the green grass, Britain appeared to be like a picture from an Enid Blyton story -- it so wonderfully showed the romance of country life with splendid views, water mill, maypole dancing and all the brightly lit faces and energies. Then came in the industrial revolution and there stood tall smoke expelling chimneys and all the lovely greenness was quickly replaced by coal, and tar and steel. Am not sure if it was supposed to signify greater prosperity and happiness, but the feeling it had on me was very dark and stressful – people with grease on their faces and arms working hard on wheel pulleys and coal factories and smoke dispensing towers with '1900s English style' suited rich looking men walking around giving orders – to me it almost seemed like the era gone by was nicer and happier. Anyway, that’s my view, maybe because I am more of a country person than being a city girl..

Then came in other sequences portraying the pride of UK, the National Health Services (NHS).. the sequence only focussed on comforting children in distress.. as if no one, but children, fall sick.. *giggles* .. Naah, without being too critical, it was nice to highlight the NHS, irrespective of the fact that it is really not the loveliest health services – but then again it is free of charge and functional in its own way, and I, coming from India, should be the last person to complain about it. Characters from the famous children books, Voldemort, Peter Pan etc were brought in during the NHS show which highlighted the British contribution to world children’s books. Post this was a rather silly ‘text’ based romantic story brought in with dance and music.. Did not quite get the purpose of that..

The best part of the games was undoubtedly the funny sequences by Mr. Bean and the wow factor brought in by the female drummer (Evelyn Glennie), Mr. Bond (Daniel Craig) and David Beckham, the felicitation of inventor of www, Sir Tem Berners Lee, the bringing in the torch, the fireworks and the lighting of the petals in the end.. J

Needless to say, the English were also tripping on the sportiness of Her Majesty to agree to act in a sequence and say ‘Hello Mr. Bond’ (or was it, ‘Good Evening, Mr. Bond’??) ..

You  know, it was a nicely done opening, however, I thought since this is Olympics which is existent because of world participation, it would have been nice if a host country could have the courage to get out of ‘self boast’, ‘self projection’ or ‘I, Me, Myself’ mode and do a unified show – especially a place like London, whose world supremacy does not need any further proof, and also because London in itself is a such a multi cultural and diverse place with people from all over the world sitting next to each other in any compartment of any tube.

There were many parts of the show which was only for the British eyes and sensibilities. But don’t all host countries do exactly that? They just don’t leave any opportunity to talk about themselves. London, alas, was no different.

Nevertheless, a good show which certainly will be talked about in many years to come.

International Refugee Day 2012

House of Commons, The British Parliament

Room No. 12, International Refuge Day: Palestine Refugees Issue at British Parliament

The meeting commences:

Sir Gerald Kaufmann, MP Manchester, hosts the event.
Tells us that the newspaper 'The Jewish Chronicle' writes about this meeting saying 'Hamas gets a hearing in House of Commons'!! Jokes, and asks the hamas amongst us to stand up!

Mohammed Al Hamid (Chair of PRC board of Trustees) 'No one chooses to be a refugee'.

Dr Arafat Shoukri, Director of the Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR), talks of 'Right of Return'

Dr. Tariq Tahboob (Association of Palestinian Doctors in Europe) delivers a compelling speech and sings 'We Shall Overcome Someday'. Inshaallah!

 

Andrew Love, Labour and Co-operative Party Member of Parliament for Edmonton, talks of how there is hope that Lebanese authorities are considering review of conditions and rights of Palestinian Refugees.

Ms. Linda Ransom, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (http://www.icahd.org/), provided astounding statistics, 536 villages were destroyed in 1947, 26 million palestinian homes have been demolished since 1964...

A palestinian now living in Manchester tells the story of the one time he went to visit his family home in Tel Aviv

An Irish supporter of Palestinian Cause - says the Irish need not go to Gaza to understand their plight, they know it since they tasted it in the past. People of Ireland prevailed, People of Cyprus Prevailed and People of Palestine shall also Prevail. Solidarity with Palestine.

An israeli supporter who thought 'palestinians in refugee camps do not want their situation to change, since if 'right to return' was assured then UN and its relief would be pulled out, which they don't desire'.

Andy Slaughter, Member of Parliament for Hammersmith

Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP for Islington North, says the way to peace is only thru justice. And admits that due to Balfour Declaration of 1917, UK had special responsibilities.

 

A palestinian girl, now residing in UK talks of her family in Gaza. 'We exist, whether you recognize or not. We shall be free. Justice shall prevail, whether you like it or not'.

 

A palestinian from the Shatila camp in Lebanon speaking about his experience

Speaks about Arabs and how Religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam were born in his soil.

UK Diaries

                 

                     

                     

                                     

Live the dash!

Its been more than 3 months now that I have moved to London on a work related assignment.
Have finally taken up a studio apartment in the dockland area and have almost settled down.. Afterall I have to be here for the next 9 months or so.
So far so good, however I do miss my country's sunshine and of course my people.
Here I did not buy a television for myself for a few reasons, one the house did not come with one and so it meant i would have had to buy one just for a few months, and two, the house is too small for me to keep a decent sized TV, and invariably i have seen if you have a television, you land up just watching something or the other -- so there would be no motivation for any reading, writing, painting or doing nothing. Instead, I have got myself a high speed internet and I have ordered painting material. Hopefully you should see me get on with my brush again sometime soon.

Meanwhile, these days I have been watching a few documentaries. And today I happened to watch this brilliant documentary called 'Into the Abyss' by Werner Herzog, you can see it here and here.

Once you see it you will be able to understand the meaning of the title.

Maybe then we can have a small chat about it.

Flip on one side

When was the last time you had to take a decision? And what did you choose?

Lets start this year...

... with some valuable lesson passed to me by my mother.

Under Any Conditions, The Key To Achieving Happiness Lies In Being Confident That One Will Definitely Not Be Defeated, That One Will Win.

ps: My mother has not written it.. I think it comes from Buddhas teachings.

Ki dasan ki baat sunava ishq dia..

Ranjha Ranjha Kardi Ni Mein, Aapay Ranjha Hoyi
Ranjha Kaho Saheliyon
Meino Heer Na Aakho Koi


Daastane-e-Ishq

The wave of change

After bringing in a significant change in Tunisia, the wave of revolution reached Egypt on 25th January 2011.

The Egyptian Revolution of the masses against the pseudo republic nations former-President Hosni Mubarak, met an interim victory when Mr. Mubarak stepped down from the throne he had held for nearly 30 years , since 1981. This revolution has taken a fresh turn when thousands of protesters and activists took to the streets and occupied the historical Tahrir square once again last week demanding an immediate handover from its current military management to a power in the hands of people (read, a democratic form of government) and revoke the emergency laws once set up and never lifted by former president Hosni Mubarak – an act which they are calling as ‘reclaiming the revolution'. So what made these million people take to the streets in the first place? After the indecent exposure of the vested interests of powerful westerners had been researched and disclosed and hugely talked about, it has almost become a trend, to very conveniently turn and look at them the moment anything happens anywhere in the world. Of course, there is no denying that someone who is the mighty and powerful, will certainly have something to do with most things happening – good or bad, but at the same time, one cannot just get up and say, ‘You did it.’ All the time, mostly just out of habit or mere suspicion. Additionally, I think it is not possible for any power to bring a million people from the civil society on the streets to stand up against one of their own, just because someone wants it that way. Nah, because if that was possible, then probably those 1 million people had to be some sort of robots for that particular someone to program! And most importantly, this is a revolution, not a war. And there is a fundamental difference between what a revolution is and what a war is. A revolution needs passion and intent and is prolonged (unlike an uprising). A war on the other hand could be instinctive and needs money and power to sustain itself.

Now the question is that is this Egyptian revolution really a revolution? If yes, then what were the most significant reasons for this to happen?

Now since this mass uprising of civil society against the government has been continuing homogenously in a peaceful and defined manner since the past 11 months, and their intention has not wavered, this most definitely can be called a revolution. Now for the reasons,

Post the revolution of 1952, in 1953 Egypt turned a republic from being a monarchy. Since then there had been 5 presidents. Hosni Mubarak was the 4th (the 5th one was assassinated). Even through Egypt was termed a republic, but actually it used to practice a very authoritarian form of government. Unrest, resentment and anger against prolonged unemployment, mistreatment, police brutality, lack of freedom of speech, corruption, inflation, misdemeanors under the wraps of emergency laws etc had been long brewing in the Egyptian society. Stories of oppression under the hands of Mubarak can be easily found and researched, so I shall not site them here. In fact you can find a lot of the prime reasons for the discontentment here .

But it was only when another Arab country, Tunisia stood up against its’ tyrant, that, Egypt got the much needed push to break into a revolution themselves. And as David Remnick rightly wrote in his article ‘Judgement Days’ , I quote,

Egyptians, secular and religious, poor and middle-class, flowed into the public square to express their outrage after years of voiceless suffering; they protested injustice, the endlessly documented incidents of torture and corruption, the general stagnation and disappointment of their lives.

These people were there because each one of them had the misery and hopelessness which engulfed them since the past so many decades. These were the people who witnessed or heard stories of Egypt once being the trend setter of the Arab world to what it is now – a country besieged with poverty, corruption, illiteracy, unemployment and injustice.

Were these men and women sent by America? Most logically not, at least not for Egypt. I am saying so since Hosni Mubarak was still very pro-America and also it was the first and probably the only Arab nation who agreed to the peace treaty with Israel, much to the disapproval of civilian Egyptians themselves. Additionally the only oil relation Egypt has is the Suez Canal, and the Suez Canal is anyway too small for large oil ship tanks to pass, hence the Oil Prices wont be majorly affected by any change in the current administration of the canal. So, I really do not see any obvious reason why US would have any direct advantage in getting Hosni out and getting someone else in.

The revolution in itself should not be surprising. It is a known fact, that the concentration of absolute power together with prolonged unchallenged duration is a perfect recipe for corruption, brutality and injustice. Anger, under those circumstances, is nothing but obvious. Today the people are being vociferous in a bid to reclaim their freedom, their right to have free/honest elections, equality, justice, and opportunities etc., most of which seem impossible to them if the Mubarak regime continues. Moreover, the 1952 revolution in Egypt was done to overthrow a monarchy and establish a republic, and with Gamal (Hosnis son, who is even more disliked than Hosni himself) being prepared to become the next President of Egypt, was almost reestablishing the anarchic form and going back into history.

This is also the reason why most of the countries with authoritarian form of government have a need to worry. Because sooner or later, it will be their turn and chances are that the need or desire for democracy will arise from within the civil society rather than thru intervention of foreign nations or western capitals (!).

The next obvious question is, will this revolution bring a significant positive change to what life has been in Egypt, or will it further damage the country. To this, I feel that any change, especially when brought about very quickly with force and out of frustration, does not lead to instant gratification. But what I do believe is that tomorrow whatever happens in Egypt, it will be known that the civil society of Egypt had re-woken and the people took charge and tried to be the catalyst to the change they wanted to see. Whatever will happen to them now will be because of something they did, or tried to do today.

To be in control and to be able to make a choice is a huge freedom. And that makes a whole lot of difference.

 Find an entire series of photos from the revolution, here.

I remember..

A beautiful poetry by Md. Iqbal

Aata Hai Yaad Mujhko

Aata hai yaad mujhko guzara hua zamana

vo baag ki baharen vo sab ka chah-chahana

Aazadiyan kahan vo ab apne ghonsale ki

apni Khushi se aana apni Khushi se jaana

Lagati hai chot dil par, aata hai yaad jis dam

shabanam ke aansuon par kaliyon ka muskurana



Wo pyari pyari surat, Wo kaamini si murat

aabaad jis ke dam se tha mera aashiyana


I was reading about Dr. Iqbal and I learned that the two nation theory was in fact his brain child. It was he who visioned a separate nation for the Muslims. I am not sure of this information. This has opened a new area for me to read and explore.

Anyway, today I am writing this entry on his 134th birth anniversary in the memory of him as a great poet.

Ps: You can find the english translation in the comment section.

What a shame!

The double standards of a few western countries like the 'great' US of A is so shameful. On one hand they passionately guard their human rights and claim justice to be prime for themselves, however, on the other hand they don’t treat people of other countries the same way. It is such a shame. This boy could have been someone from our family.

Women on top!

I am a photo enthusiast. I love to browse through tastefully clicked pictures. There are many photographers whose work I really appreciate, but this post is not about them.

In so many years of following pictures clicked around themes of portraying different emotions, life, beauty, sins, indulgence etc, I have noticed that photographers pre dominantly use a woman as their subject.

I have very rarely seen men being the posers, especially when it comes to shooting an entire series around a certain theme.

I being a woman am quite proud if we have what it takes to be an artists muse for every emotion, however I really want to know why men are less preferred when it comes to photography.

If any of you have any links to some interesting pictures of men (not single picture -- I am looking for a series) depicting human emotions (not jails or wars) then please do share.

What keeps India Busy?

Rural development minister, Jairam Ramesh goes for an official work to Bikaner where he was welcomed by cotton spun garlands. Mr. Ramesh keeps it on the table and later uses it to wipe out something off his shoes.

Now the entire nation is offended because of this. The BJP leaders are saying that this act was an insult to Gandhi!!!!

This is totally insane. It just could be a one of situation where someone wipes something off their shoes or dresses with the most accessible linen that s/he finds at that point of time.

To add to this drama, they now demand an apology not only from Jairam, but also the CM!

Linking this to national shame is not really the most intelligent thing to do. Especially when the same news paper has reports on 2G corruption and India being one of the top most depressed nations of the world.

Numerously bitten, never shy!

There were bomb blasts in Mumbai yet again, and I think we (Indians) are responsible for this mayhem. Our basic attitude of tolerance of injustice, ignorance of the politics around us and our 'I don’t care till I am not directly affected' is bringing us to this pitifully dangerous existence.

This culture of inappropriate aloofness is also allowing the government to take our homeland security for granted.

Imagine the Rupert Murdoch incident happening in India. No one would have batted an eyelid. But since this happened in UK, the entire world is talking about this and it and this news is making world headlines. People abroad are sensitive about their privacy and rightly they should be. But the same thing if it happens in India, no one would have really cared much, maybe there would have been a little murmur but nothing when compared to the scale of what is happening in the western world. If you come to think of this, then maybe the only reason I see is the culture. It’s the culture and conditioning of our people where firstly it is difficult to clearly establish what ‘privacy’ means at a personal individual level and secondly we are made to believe that invasion into our lives is no big deal. This ‘adjusting’ culture in this super transient world of complexity, survival struggle, disparity, technology and access (or the lack of it), is allowing injustice to take place without an appropriate remediation or response.

The response is and can never be violence. It can only be solved if the root cause is addressed.

If each of us do our part of the duties honestly – be it awareness, education, health, knowing and demanding our rights, working for a living, paying our taxes, take into politics, be compassionate and learn to fight against injustice – to self or to others.

It is difficult for me to accept that if a nation is firm, honest and compassionate, it will still be subject to atrocities.

If we are dishonest ourselves, if we cannot look at ourselves in the eye, we are not doing our bit.

It’s time we should stop giving leverage to India saying its big, populated and diverse. Security is basic. And no one’s got any excuse. Including us.

May the souls of the 21 people who died yesterday rest in peace, and may their families get the strength to bear the loss which can never be compensated.


PS: Yesterday there were 3 bomb blasts in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. 21 people were killed and over a 100 injured.

Almost my end of stay in KL

The 2 months i spent in this fast city of Kuala Lumpur was full of food, taxis, learning about a different culture and ofcourse lots of work. A picture of one of the most prominent structures of KL.

Learn, Unlearn and Learn Again

Since quite some time, my actions appear unexplained to none other but me. Yesterday I realized that how shallow I had begun to think. How I had started to silently put myself before I put others. I was never like this. The only pleasant character that I knew in myself was humility, kindness and the ability to put others happiness ahead of my own. But I realized last night that I was being my antithesis. I was slowing giving in to the powerful force of self.

A friend shook me out of the spell, told me how I forgot the definition of love and I realized that it was nothing but true. I have been in fact doing this since quite some time and I did not even realize when an action became a habit. I owe an apology, to this person. I am sorry. And I am shameful that I disrespected the greatest emotion in this world.

But as they say 'Jab Jago, tab Savera' (i.e. If you have woken up, then this moment is morning for you'). Thanks for making me realize. I have started my conscious effort to change the ugly habit that I had slowly imbibed.

Incidentally I had been listening to this song called 'Hor vi neevan ho' by Noori from the Coke Studio (Pakistan), since the past couple of days. Yesterday I figured out the meaning. And I fell in love with the song all over again. Sharing it with all of you. (The translation I picked up from some lyrics website and I hope its accurate).


Hor vi neevan ho
Bow your head even further down (in humility)

Hor vi neevan ho fakira
Fakir, bow your even head further down (in humility)

Uccha saroon gharoor mein
There is great pleasure in holding the head high in arrogance

Kaddi naa phall paiye, fakira
But, that pleasure will never be fulfilling

Hor vi neevan ho fakira
Fakir, bow your head further down (in humility)

Paiye gaa deedar sahib da
One day you will be bestowed with His presence

Hor vi neevan ho
Bow your head further down (in humility)

Ho rabba koi meray dil diyan kadraan pachanay
Lord, if only someone could understand the deliberations of my heart

Mein sawali jinna naeen koi sawal
I am a seeker who seeks nothing

Mein jogan ban dar dar phir diye
I am a wanderer, roaming from one land to another

Koi na meriyan, ramzaan pachanay
No one can unravel the secrets within me

Mein jogan ban dar dar phiriyaan way
I am a wanderer, roaming from one land to another

O koi na meriyan, ramzaan pachanay
No one can unravel the secrets within me

Mein jogan…
I am a wanderer

Chal meray naal
Come along, come with me

Hor vi neevan ho
Bow your head further down (in humility)

and time goes by

Chasing Cars

I can never know what I want. Maybe someday things will be different.

The Ignored Monkey

I was actually searching google pages for a tattoo that would fit to my liking and then I saw one which had the famous ‘3 wise monkeys’ – just that the monkeys were replaced with frogs.

As far as I remember I always thought these rules depicted by this sculpture (it supposedly came from a Japanese folk religion) were brilliant, but yesterday, I had a different take on it.

I thought, if I were to build a fresh sculpture of these monkeys, I would have kept only one and fired the other two. They are not required and you will see why. :-)

The monkey that I would have kept would have his hands placed on his heart depicting acts of love – with a meaning that ‘DO NO EVIL’. If people don’t do evil things then no one would have had to shut their eyes, ears or mouth. :-)

As I was writing this post I was trying to find out if these ‘wise-monkeys’ had any specific name. I did not find any name, however I found out that there indeed was a fourth monkey which had his hands crossed depicting the same idea – and hence I decided to title this post as The ‘Ignored’ Monkey.

Just for a laugh: Maybe the artists of the sculpture were hard core communists, they could not allow 1 monkey to take away the job of 3 others, so instead they chose to omit him and keep the other 3!