The Cyclone that hit Myanmar today has killed over 22.000 people
(update: death toll has risen to 100.000)
There are THOUSANDS still missing
The death toll is rising.. the numbers are rising
It's strange how human beings with their own lives, family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, work places, hobbies, stories, pictures, houses, pets etc etc.. become NUMBERS..
May God be with them..
To him at least, they will not be just NUMBERS..
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
i would like to know
-i would like to know where in my brain did i hide the books i have read in my life?! i remember the times i was reading them,, but i don't remember what they were about or even what they were called!!!
-i would like to know if moments that embarrassed me in the past were to happen all over again now, would i still be embarrassed?!!
-i would like to know if i have ever seen the lady sitting next to me on the bus anywhere before and just don't remember because i just don't care???
-i would like to know what it would be like to live in Japan..
-i would like to know how some people can just leave without saying good-bye?
-i would like to know why i am so scared of spiders when others think they r tiny harmless creatures??
-i would like to know why is it that when i'm angry at someone i can never remember why i was angry in the first place and i end up apologizing for something i don't know!!!
-i would like to know why i don't write poetry as much as i used to!!
-i would like to know how it would feel to know everything!!!
-i would really like to know what the hell i am going on about?!!!!!
-i would like to know if moments that embarrassed me in the past were to happen all over again now, would i still be embarrassed?!!
-i would like to know if i have ever seen the lady sitting next to me on the bus anywhere before and just don't remember because i just don't care???
-i would like to know what it would be like to live in Japan..
-i would like to know how some people can just leave without saying good-bye?
-i would like to know why i am so scared of spiders when others think they r tiny harmless creatures??
-i would like to know why is it that when i'm angry at someone i can never remember why i was angry in the first place and i end up apologizing for something i don't know!!!
-i would like to know why i don't write poetry as much as i used to!!
-i would like to know how it would feel to know everything!!!
-i would really like to know what the hell i am going on about?!!!!!
Sunday, 20 April 2008
An artist today. Maybe a legend tomorrow!
He was a young boy when he made his first portrait. It just came naturally to him.. With tiny fingers wrapped around a brush which seemed just too big for a hand that small, he had it, the world!!
He was barely 17 when one of his scribbles was called a master-piece and people from all over the country came to see it. And the ones that didn't, surely wished they could..He was given a crown, a throne to sit on. They waited anxiously for anything he would create..
As he grew older, he had many shoulders to help him lift the world.. Friends, family, loved ones, and even strangers who loved him for being him.. They were all there..
As time passed everyone by, he decided to face time. He did not want to be passed by. He challenged time and decided to live in different times at once, to have his own world where he could create many worlds. He needed to stand out!
Bit by bit, the shoulders began to fall.. They could not carry his burdens anymore, they needed more space for their own weights.. The human being is only as kind as he can get.. Here comes humanity!!
He told me once that in order for him to absorb reality, he needed to make some space within him.. At first, he dropped playing cards with his friends.. When there was still much more to take in, he dropped even seeing his friends.. Gradually, he dropped running, he dropped reading, he dropped laughter until one day, he dropped painting!
At first, his subjects still had hope, they clung to whatever they could find of him.. But none of them was strong enough to knock on his door and lend him a shoulder..
He was empty inside, trying to absorb life.. His lack of being him made his world go still.. The dust was settling, he did not care to push it off.. What was the point? He thought.. The people have left me to my solitude and no one would be there to see what lies under the dust.. I am still here, he said.. But no one listened..
A funny creature, the human being is..
Don’t let the dust cover beauty.. Why do we need to wait for ages until we are appreciated?!! The painter will have his day! He will become a legend! There will be people who would have wished to see him.. Tomorrow, that is.. Today, people will just let time pass them by..
He was barely 17 when one of his scribbles was called a master-piece and people from all over the country came to see it. And the ones that didn't, surely wished they could..He was given a crown, a throne to sit on. They waited anxiously for anything he would create..
As he grew older, he had many shoulders to help him lift the world.. Friends, family, loved ones, and even strangers who loved him for being him.. They were all there..
As time passed everyone by, he decided to face time. He did not want to be passed by. He challenged time and decided to live in different times at once, to have his own world where he could create many worlds. He needed to stand out!
Bit by bit, the shoulders began to fall.. They could not carry his burdens anymore, they needed more space for their own weights.. The human being is only as kind as he can get.. Here comes humanity!!
He told me once that in order for him to absorb reality, he needed to make some space within him.. At first, he dropped playing cards with his friends.. When there was still much more to take in, he dropped even seeing his friends.. Gradually, he dropped running, he dropped reading, he dropped laughter until one day, he dropped painting!
At first, his subjects still had hope, they clung to whatever they could find of him.. But none of them was strong enough to knock on his door and lend him a shoulder..
He was empty inside, trying to absorb life.. His lack of being him made his world go still.. The dust was settling, he did not care to push it off.. What was the point? He thought.. The people have left me to my solitude and no one would be there to see what lies under the dust.. I am still here, he said.. But no one listened..
A funny creature, the human being is..
Don’t let the dust cover beauty.. Why do we need to wait for ages until we are appreciated?!! The painter will have his day! He will become a legend! There will be people who would have wished to see him.. Tomorrow, that is.. Today, people will just let time pass them by..
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Edge of Arabia
Hello people
I just got back from a great weekend in Paris. It was a business trip but it was very very interesting.. I am volunteering at an educational company called The Offscreen Education Programme (http://offscreened.com/). It is based in London and it basically offers a new kind of arts education for kids in school. basically what they do is educate through real life experiences rather than studying the arts solely from books and trips to museums. They fly kids out from the West to the East and vice versa in order for the kids to experience their counter-parts education first hand. It is a great way to create lasting ties between the cultures and broaden the younger generation's horizon.
At the moment, we are organising an exhibition for contemporary Saudi artists to be held in the UK in October 2008. The exhibition is called 'Edge of Arabia: Art and Identity in The Land of The Prophet'. To all the people out there who don't really know much about Saudi Arabia other than the stereotypes of oppressed women and terrorism; you will be amazed with the talent we have found in the different corners of this massive country. And for the Saudis who are going to see this, you will be very very proud!
The artists include both male and female ones. We have sculptists, painters, photographers and everything you could imagine. From the different parts of Saudi, not restricted to one social class, gender, religious, or even professional back ground; we have come to create a ground breaking exhibition which is the first of its kind in London!!
These artists include regular people like you and me. We have a Police-man from Khamees Mushait who is really into the environment and works with that to create his art. There is also a doctor from Abha who uses X-Rays as art. Also, we have a female photographer who is the creative director at ARAMCO. As you can see, these are samples of the diversity within the artists we have chosen for this exhibition.
The exhibition will also include a book which is unlike any other exhibition book. It will not only look at the work of these artists but it will go further in looking into the lives of these people who created the art. What inspired them? Where they are most inspired? and their day to day routines. It is nothing like you have ever seen before coming from Saudi Arabia and i hope you will all be able to visit when the exhibition is on between October and December 2008.
I will leave you with some pictures of the art
I just got back from a great weekend in Paris. It was a business trip but it was very very interesting.. I am volunteering at an educational company called The Offscreen Education Programme (http://offscreened.com/). It is based in London and it basically offers a new kind of arts education for kids in school. basically what they do is educate through real life experiences rather than studying the arts solely from books and trips to museums. They fly kids out from the West to the East and vice versa in order for the kids to experience their counter-parts education first hand. It is a great way to create lasting ties between the cultures and broaden the younger generation's horizon.
At the moment, we are organising an exhibition for contemporary Saudi artists to be held in the UK in October 2008. The exhibition is called 'Edge of Arabia: Art and Identity in The Land of The Prophet'. To all the people out there who don't really know much about Saudi Arabia other than the stereotypes of oppressed women and terrorism; you will be amazed with the talent we have found in the different corners of this massive country. And for the Saudis who are going to see this, you will be very very proud!
The artists include both male and female ones. We have sculptists, painters, photographers and everything you could imagine. From the different parts of Saudi, not restricted to one social class, gender, religious, or even professional back ground; we have come to create a ground breaking exhibition which is the first of its kind in London!!
These artists include regular people like you and me. We have a Police-man from Khamees Mushait who is really into the environment and works with that to create his art. There is also a doctor from Abha who uses X-Rays as art. Also, we have a female photographer who is the creative director at ARAMCO. As you can see, these are samples of the diversity within the artists we have chosen for this exhibition.
The exhibition will also include a book which is unlike any other exhibition book. It will not only look at the work of these artists but it will go further in looking into the lives of these people who created the art. What inspired them? Where they are most inspired? and their day to day routines. It is nothing like you have ever seen before coming from Saudi Arabia and i hope you will all be able to visit when the exhibition is on between October and December 2008.
I will leave you with some pictures of the art
Saturday, 15 March 2008
chitchat with the taxi man
so i was in a cab today and the taxi man and i were chatting (as one usually does when they're alone in a cab) he asked all the usual questions: where are you from? are you here on vacation or do you live here?
so i told him i was from Saudi Arabia, and that i came here to study..
taxi man: what are you studying?
me: politics
taxi man: why?!!! there ARE no politics in Saudi Arabia
me: why would you say that?!!
taxi man: you have a King don't you?
me: yeah, so?
taxi man: what the king says everyone does. for example: if he asked everyone to wear red shoes every Sunday, that is what everyone would have to do!
i tried to explain to him that we do have a monarch, and yes, we are not a democracy, but that doesn't mean politics does not exist. he then went on and on about how HE knew the solution to all Middle Eastern problems.. and that was.. yes ladies and gentlemen, you guessed it,, the ideology that is the essence of peace, happiness, equality, freedom etc etc.. DEMOCRACY :)
Democracy: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
in theory, this system is Utopian. an ideal dream created by the West working for the West. i say this because for some odd reason, when these Western post-modern missionaries come to spread the joys of democracy in third world countries, they use bombs and fighter planes to spread the peace. they force people into new political systems to promote their freedom to choose. they kill young and old in "friendly fires" to ensure happiness for the rest.. and they will do that to anyone who stands in their way to confirm equality.
i tried to explain to the cab driver that there was no such thing as absolute rule, as there is no such thing as absolute democracy. and that i study politics, in order to understand this horrific phenomenon that conducts the world and try to find a way around it!
i personally think it is very narrow-minded to assume that just because a King reigns over Saudi Arabia, he is in charge of everything within the borders of this massive country.
I mean think about it, if you are the head of a household, you cannot control the every aspect of the lives of the people living under your roof.. let alone an entire 1,960,582 sq km of land and 27,000,000 people!!!
but lets say, hypothetically.. what if an actual absolute dictatorship existed. and i, one of the citizens of this country decided i would like to know how the leader of the country ran his country.. would i not have the right to?!! just because somewhere, someone out there disagreed with my country's system of rule.. would that make me unworthy of the knowledge i would like to gain?!!
When it comes to politics, why is it easy for people to dismiss all views other than theirs even though the ideologies and assumptions are endless?!!
so i told him i was from Saudi Arabia, and that i came here to study..
taxi man: what are you studying?
me: politics
taxi man: why?!!! there ARE no politics in Saudi Arabia
me: why would you say that?!!
taxi man: you have a King don't you?
me: yeah, so?
taxi man: what the king says everyone does. for example: if he asked everyone to wear red shoes every Sunday, that is what everyone would have to do!
i tried to explain to him that we do have a monarch, and yes, we are not a democracy, but that doesn't mean politics does not exist. he then went on and on about how HE knew the solution to all Middle Eastern problems.. and that was.. yes ladies and gentlemen, you guessed it,, the ideology that is the essence of peace, happiness, equality, freedom etc etc.. DEMOCRACY :)
Democracy: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
in theory, this system is Utopian. an ideal dream created by the West working for the West. i say this because for some odd reason, when these Western post-modern missionaries come to spread the joys of democracy in third world countries, they use bombs and fighter planes to spread the peace. they force people into new political systems to promote their freedom to choose. they kill young and old in "friendly fires" to ensure happiness for the rest.. and they will do that to anyone who stands in their way to confirm equality.
i tried to explain to the cab driver that there was no such thing as absolute rule, as there is no such thing as absolute democracy. and that i study politics, in order to understand this horrific phenomenon that conducts the world and try to find a way around it!
i personally think it is very narrow-minded to assume that just because a King reigns over Saudi Arabia, he is in charge of everything within the borders of this massive country.
I mean think about it, if you are the head of a household, you cannot control the every aspect of the lives of the people living under your roof.. let alone an entire 1,960,582 sq km of land and 27,000,000 people!!!
but lets say, hypothetically.. what if an actual absolute dictatorship existed. and i, one of the citizens of this country decided i would like to know how the leader of the country ran his country.. would i not have the right to?!! just because somewhere, someone out there disagreed with my country's system of rule.. would that make me unworthy of the knowledge i would like to gain?!!
When it comes to politics, why is it easy for people to dismiss all views other than theirs even though the ideologies and assumptions are endless?!!
Thursday, 21 February 2008
Mika, put your money where your mic is!!
there are times when you need your alone time.. and others when alone time makes you claustrophobic! does that make any sense?
i mean, don't you sometimes just want to run away from the noise?! and at other times silence just becomes too noisy?
i don't mean any of this literally of course! but i guess what im trying to say is that when your alone for too long.. your thoughts turn into screams.. too much is going on in ur head.. ur feelings are all over the place.. you have a million things to do.. and another million things you wish you had already done!! it's just too stressful!!
Mika.. I'm sorry but it's too difficult to relax and take it eeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaasyyyy..
maybe they'll invent a button to put your brain on snooze for a while!!
you know what, it's times like these that i regret not being a crack-head!!!
i mean, don't you sometimes just want to run away from the noise?! and at other times silence just becomes too noisy?
i don't mean any of this literally of course! but i guess what im trying to say is that when your alone for too long.. your thoughts turn into screams.. too much is going on in ur head.. ur feelings are all over the place.. you have a million things to do.. and another million things you wish you had already done!! it's just too stressful!!
Mika.. I'm sorry but it's too difficult to relax and take it eeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaasyyyy..
maybe they'll invent a button to put your brain on snooze for a while!!
you know what, it's times like these that i regret not being a crack-head!!!
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
one-way ticket please!!!!
Don't you just dream of a world where social responsibility ceases to exist?!!
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