Memory

It is a pleasant coincidence that the world has changed a lot, and so did I. You might think, well that happens all the time. What is the news in it? Yes, change is the only constant but when one sees the world from his/her history of changes, he becomes aware of the transitions that is happening and wait for the right moments (even if the experience is bitter sometimes). Let me give an example to clarify. I come across of a lot of debates regarding religion and secularism (and also evolutionary science/rationalism), and sometimes I want to jump in, but one thing stop me of doing so, and that is the reactionary kinds of comments. On "global" level of debates, I watch/read "Richard Dawkins and Co, Mehdi Hassan and Slavoj Zizek who have a clearer perspectives on issues. On national level, I watch/read Hassan Nisar, a range of conservative/religious scholars (not mentionable name because of lack of a clearer perspective, so better in put in group) from moderates and sometimes extremists. Although each are on opposite side, two things are common among them, being largely reactionary and a reductionism of core concepts in their relative fields.

To elaborate, how a personal history of changes provides a perspective, let me share my personal experience. Teenage is a very sensitive time in any person and experiences in this time of age determines his personality. The first time, I encountered with serious social concepts, such as individualism, existentialism in philosophy, cubism, surrealism and dadaism in arts and deconstructionism in literary criticism, my immediate response was "yuk". How sick are these ideas and only sick minds must have thought and developed them. Then I was wondering, how people have welcomed these concepts? Although my curiosity was pushing me to immerse myself deep and deeper in whatever writings were available to me to understand them better, but at the same time, I had to develop a personal paradigm, so I not only save myself, but also have a reasonable ground to counter them (I didn't throw my these early efforts and gathered them in the form of an ebook- To Socrates- I made it available on this blog. Although, it is poorly written and poorly organized, but I cherish it the most, as it provides me a baseline so I could track my mental development. It is like a personal history). My

The knol is under construction, please check back to read the rest ...Thanks 

Helplessness

There were a total of four people working in the workplace, two shoemakers and two apprentices. It was a tradition in the handcraft shoemaking business that each shoemaker had apprentice/s learning the trade. The business owner was a self-made person. He had started as an apprentice and had spent many years to learn the trade, many more years worked really hard to save enough money to start his own business. He had hired another shoemaker to increase his productions. That afternoon, they had a friend visiting them. The cozy shop, hot tea and casual talks had created a pleasant environment. Their conversation was interrupted by entrance of two men. One of the man was the father of business owner and the other man was his friend that he had brought to show the achievements of his son. 

The father introduces his son to his friend, "The one sitting in the center is my son."... Then he points to the other shoemaker and tells his friend, "He is my son's servant, and the guy sitting next to him is my son's servant's servant"... Out of respect for the elderly man, others stay quiet (despite of getting offended by the introduction) but the visiting friend replies back, "Uncle, even if this guy is servant's servant, still he is in the business. Look at poor me, I am not even in the business!!!" .... 

I don't remember any passing week in recent years that Taliban haven't blooded it with lives of innocent people in the Af-Pak region. This Sunday, the Christian community at Peshawar was their target. Beside anger and grief, one more thing that is common in the aftermath of attacks is helplessness of the citizen. They protest for the killings but they know well that, the government is either complacent or scared of Taliban.Taliban is free to attack at their will at any place and any time. People are helpless against both government and Taliban but they have to channel their anger anyway, so they express their anger in unique ways (that hold some truth in them). A general expression of anger is cursing Taliban, especially calling them, the servants of the servants. When I hear that Taliban is servants of gulf states, that in turn are the servants of US and UK, I remember the introduction in the shoemaking shop. At least, Taliban and government is the servants of servants. The people are not even in the business. All they can is to curse the attackers and their government and helplessly wait for the next attack. 

Never Mind

 

Hassan Nisar

 

Imran Khan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Subjects

Flowers, 19 x 12 cm, ink on paper 

Roses, 21 x 16 cm, ink on paper 

Birds, 18 x 13 cm, ink on paper

Today, I went to Walmart, to find some sort of quadrate for my upcoming field trips, and there I stuck at crafts sections ending up buying colors and brushes. As soon as I came home, I couldn't resist but trying them out. When I was kid and got my first bicycle, I couldn't wait for the morning out of excitement. Identical feelings were there, so I let the color celebrate it and chose the simple childish subjects :) The surreal artists let their unconscious take control of their hands. I guess an unexplored area is painting the meditativ perceptions. The childish subjects are meditative in the sense, children have less distracting thoughts and their imaginations are less judged by their rationale thoughts. These are not meditative paintings, but I may try out soon. Let's see ... 

Sunflower

Sunflower  : Ink on paper 21 x 27 cm

Sunflower seeds are considered to be useful in improving short term memory by providing essential Vitamin B complex, however, my fascination with this plant is more than its seeds. I was always looking to its flowers as majestic flowers that get their inspirations from sun. At its core, its flower is simple like old black and white photographs, yet open and highly productive (large number of seeds). Despite of having shallow roots and hollow stems stands tall and give big flowers. In short, it deprive its roots and stems to reach out sunlight and maximize its productive parts, the flowers and seeds.