Halloween

"By words the mind is winged." - Aristophanes

No other show can parallel in freshness and originality than kids' innocent acts and talks, as whatever they do, they do mostly spontaneously (with heart). And of course, our responses are also spontaneous. I was reading the writings of kids on this page that the following post made me laugh spontaneously, 

As Aristophanes says, mind is winged by words. My mind was winged by the analogy of egg to unborn and thought of Alferd Packer who was accused of eating five prospectors that he was supposed to guide. It is not the act of cannibalism by Alfred Packer that is connected to above post, but the comment of the judge who sentenced him (Most probably, the judge's comment was spontaneous). The judge passed the remarks, "There was only six Democrats in all of the Hinsdale County and you ate five of them" (Source : John Train's Most Remarkable Occurrences: p.24). Reading the comment of the judge (My reaction wasn't spontaneous here), I am scratching my head, "who was the sixth democrat in the county ? the judge or the Alferd Packer himself?" If it was Alfred Packer himself, then after his sentence, there was no democrat out there in the county"...

These days the Halloween-themed decorated front yards constantly reminding me that, this is Halloween season and I thought, OK, this light post justifies its place in this season.  

Two Comments

Usually, I shy away from reactionary comments but sometimes a news is so important to me that I just comment on it anyway. So here are two news that I wanted to comment on,

For long, I have followed the debates of socialism and capitalism just to understand their functioning but all along, I had a firm belief that a healthy mind and healthy body is a prerequisite for proper functioning of any person and hence education and health services should be available to all, either free or with a price tag so low that everyone could easily access them without suffering. I really have a bad feeling when there is a price tag in these two areas because it creates classes of mind and bodies based on the affordability that give advantage one over other (and make a large population suffer for things that are beyond their control: like their birth in a poor family or community). It doesn't matter you call it partial-socialism, hybrid, or whatever else.

President of Third Way, Jonathan Cowen in his article "Middle Class Gets Wise" provides the statistics from National Center For Educational Statistics for his argument that in current economic recession, the American Middle Class, instead of waiting for system to rescue them, has turned to education to cope with this hard economic time. For me, it is a big news because I am getting more convinced that memory (and in case of society, collective memory) is more real in making decisions than paradigms. To me, turning of Middle Class American to education for help is indicative of a core memory that education is more plastic and adaptable to situations than systems and beliefs sets. I hail it with all my heart.

The second news is related to Mr. Muhaqiq's reply to Mr. Fouladi. Irrespective of differences in point of views, and right and wrong discussions, it is in itself a very important event. It is important as it informs people and make leaders more responsible. I hope this trend grows on as conversations increase understanding and it is the most needed thing in a society where egos are bigger than lives and welfare of poeple. 

Happy Eid

Ink on Paper 

These days, it is neither cold nor hot, a perfect weather just like spring season. The most notable part of this time of year is the change in colors of leaves that gives one a tingling sense that Nature is falling in Love (Changes in fall seasons are like changes during loveria. Changes are mostly resisted except the changes, when one is falling in love. The changes are rapid and beautiful, and these are shared properties in both fall season and loveria). She has started wearing different colored leaves, at times, she dances in wind and spread leaves all around, as she cheers the feelings that are making her restless. If you are walking in woods, you feel as if, Nature is in playful mood and she winks at you regularly by blocking and letting sun rays passes in narrow bands through tree canopies. Your ears make you slow down your paces, while you are walking on dry leaves, as it feels like, you are walking on Nature's apron. When you reach in creek, you feel like you are in arms of Nature as the cooler shades make you feel the fresh breaths of her making your forehead shrink, your eyes expand, your brain alert and spines stiffened.  

I pray that this Eid will be blessed with safety and joy, and everyone will enjoy the sensational touches of Nature.  Ameen. Happy Eid to all friends and visitors :) 

Owning a piece of art

Yes, it is political but it is not a political commentary or a political opinion. It  is simply a statement about the events that are making people concerned and seriousness is not always a good response to the concerns ....  (Ink on Paper)

So Yesterday, Bansky was out to surprise New Yorkers  by selling his original arts anonymously just for 60 dollars. Bansky and Robbo's rivalry and their graffiti war on the streets of London evolved the counter-culture graffitis into street art. New Yorkers who appreciate street arts, might be sad by losing the opportunity to own a piece of Bansky's original art. Well frankly speaking, I loved to be there by chance and could own one, but there is a Hazaragi saying, "Fish is fresh, whenever you fish it out water (means, no time is late enough). I thought, well, if I really want to have one, I can create one for myself? What can be more pleasing and original than a piece of painting that is born out of my own idea, time and by dirtying my own hand? I spent an hour to have one for myself. Here, I REALLY own one for free (if free means just money , as time is not free at all) that will stay on my blog's wall and it is an Eidi to myself. Happy Eid :)

Dolly Bird

One thing that surprises me again and again, is the comfort and security that I get from my mother. If I am feeling down and is talking to her, I try very hard to conceal my feelings (try to pose very strong) just to keep her happy, but then I don't know, how she senses my unexpressed feelings and makes me open up my heart and get comfort and a new energy. Whenever, I feel down, I know where I have to seek refuge. Whenever, I need  an inspiration, I know, where to get energy. In no one else presence, I feel more of myself as in her presence. May be that is why, I have formed this idea that love is where one starts acting as a kid. If an adult behaves as an adult in front of another, to me, that means there is partial trust and they don't feel comfortable enough to be themselves in front of each other. Sometimes, I encounter with real examples that strengthen my faith that even modernity has not shaken up that affection called motherhood.

It was the afternoon of first day of Ramadhan and I was returning home. Having one of the worst days of life accompanying with exhaustion from long travel, walks, long waiting, thirsty and hungry, I took the train 7 to go to Time Square (From where, I had to take bus to binghamton). Most of people looking tired and busy in their heads. I too was staring to rapidly passing buildings and then I was not seeing anything. My mind was rebooting itself to settle down the restless thoughts that were keep rushing in, and in the process, it was avoiding information from my eyes. Then like, one awakes from dream, I start seeing things again. The first thing that I saw were a woman in her fifties (apparently) and a girl in her twenties. May be, I felt that my looking is not normal, that is why, I put down my head to not see the girl. I was fasting and it is required from one to maintain a reasonable control over mind and body. But more than control over body and mind, it was strange fear from beauty of the girl that forced me to avoid seeing her. She was unbelievably, so beautiful that I got scared that I may get a permanent image of her in my mind. Her beauty was not a customized beauty as poets build out of perfect parts. It was more like a play of good proportion garnished with a comfortable smile that were emitting freshness and satisfaction from her face. In contrast, the woman in her fifties had a prominent history of hard life that were visible in all of her appearance. She had tightly covered her hairs with a kerchief and had rolled back her sleeves. Sun-tanned, frowny face and heavy arms were giving her an impression of a strong woman who has been wrestling with hard realities of life since her early times. I looked up again to this pair of ladies, forgetting my own worries for a while. The pretty young lady had squeezed herself against older lady and was rubbing herself against her like chicks hid themselves into feathers of hen. For me, it was really interesting to see a pretty young lady relies so heavily on an aged woman. Again, to avoid that pretty face, I renewed rebooting my mind to keep it able, to cope with the reality of my own life.

With strong jolts, train stopped and a lot of people started moving out. Without reading name of the station, I stood up and followed the crowd and just close to the door of the train, a hand took my arm, "Are you going to Time Square?" ... I looked back. It was that dolly bird. I just nodded my head. "The next station is your stop." and then, "Let's go mom" and both ladies stepped out (May be she had guessed from my exhaustion that I had come out of city). She was a totally different girl, unlike the girl in train who was looking insecure and dependent on her mother, she was a confident girl (apparent from her body language was not a chick but of a dolly bird). Just the image of a mom really freshen up my mind. Mother is the only one who creates an ecosystem around her that lets her kids stay kids. No matter, how confident and smart one grows into, her presence let that kid show up.