Fields Of Joy Thanks Che.

Taurean:

You are too kind. I'm not gifted, just hard working. Writing really is a laborious process for me. And no, I'm not from Sarhad but from a little boring city called Faisalabad in Punjab.

A genuinely serious question. The fact that I am a Punjabi, does that change your attitude towards my work in that there's sometimes a rivalry of sorts amongst Pukhtuns/Punjabis. Thanks.

Umer M.

Confronting Ahmadinejad in U.S. The thing about disrespecting a leader of a country is that you are disrespecting the people of that country. Iranians should bear that in mind.

Umer M.

Little tales from the Staan Thinking storm:

Thanks. That was awesome!

Umer M.

Little tales from the Staan Hey guys:

Augustine, how do you get hold of the remaining 96? You post your email and ask :)

Lemon:

Nah yaar. Not my thing. Just what I tend to pen on the long train journeys. Keeps the mind sane. But thanks for the encouragement. P.S. How the hell do you know I dabble in paintings?

Ally:

Kiddha paa ji, you, I and the little one need to go to another stand up. By the way, howz your own routine coming along? You know, Mullah, Hoja, Hoca nasruddin, naseeruddin, nasrettin is such a popular character in that part of the world. Does anyone know if he was real or fictitious?

Umer M.

Little tales from the Staan Aw thanks for the charity post, lemon.

Umer M.

Why Not Hate All Types of Terrorism? Ali,

The only way to prove any point in this world, on an international level, is to have weapons, money, and an intelligent sated population. If we can work towards the latter, the former two will come about and then people will take you seriously even if you told them that pigs could actually fly.

Umer M

Re-Imagining Pakistan Dear Mr Hoodhbhoy,

Your article brought a smile to my face. Here`s something I wrote to the Pakistani High Commissioner a little while ago. Yes, the below praises and gives too much credit in some areas but regarding your idea on creativity, I think I was sort of aiming for the same thing...

[On 14th August 2007, Pakistan will mark its 60th year of existence. It would have, as its code and catalyst, the personalities of Iqbal and Jinnah - one a mystically inclined renaissance man; the other a successful lawyer responsible for altering the course of history, modifying the map of the world and creating a nation state.

If Pakistan were a river, its stream would emerge in the time of Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan, gain recognition in the partition of Bengal and define itself in the rejection of the Cabinet Mission Plan.

If Pakistan were an animal it would boast 150 million brains, 300 million arms and eyes of all shades, and 96,000 million muscles of all strengths. Nuclear intelligent, it would carry battle scars of three wars and its arteries would throb with the blood of those who have fought, and defeated, both ancient and modern superpowers. It would express itself through 150 million beautiful faces and experience all four seasons. Karakorum, Himalaya and Hindu Kush would constitute its spine. Pakistan would beat to the drum of 150 million hearts: hearts expressing the humanity of Bilquis and Abdul Sattar Edhi, the resilience of Mukhtar Mai, the courage of Major Aziz Bhatti, the ambitions of Imran Khan.

It is the birth place of Guru Nanak, Waris Shah, the Nobel Prize wining Dr Abdus Salam, and the resting place of Sayyid Data Ganj Baksh. Pakistan is the bearer of a Road that had welcomed a Macedonian called Alexander and a Turk named Babur. And now that Road, the Grand Trunk Road, bears colourful trucks displaying poetry painted by the most wonderful of hands.

It is home to the ancient Mohenjo-Daro, Harrappa, Taxila and the world’s earliest University. There are grand Mughlai mosques adorning cities whose skies come alive during Basant. And there is Mela-e-Charaghan, and Eid, and Nauroze and the Utchal of the Kalash too.

And there are the Gulgees, the Sadeqains, and the Mantos and the Chughtais. But it is the spirit of creativity within the millions of artisans, the every day people, which commands respect. It is within the grooves of wood; it is in the curve of a pot; it lies within the paintworks adorning trucks, it is in the richness of the blue of a Kashi tile that never fades. And if you looked carefully enough you would see in that fanaticism for detail something of their makers. Within the creative act they are, at once, warriors, scholars and truth-seekers.


...I am driven by the belief that our societies do not fully value or capitalise on their creative people. I believe that every organism - every organisation - must change with time in order to survive. It can only do so after it has been presented with viable ideas. Ideas are the work of creative people. Any collective which does not appreciate its creative souls is headed for extinction because it denies the very fundamental mechanism, rooted in life itself, by which a living cell, a tribe or a civilisation survives and competes.]

Umer M.

Don’t Shoot the Messenger Ooooh,

Look everyone, Harimau`s trying to show he`s tough. LOL.

Umer M.

Let\'s Kill All The Moslems Look,

The truth is somewhere in between all the opinions expressed here. I think we all need to have plenty of sex. That`ll chill us out. Comerades, return to the fertile land of your wives and plant your flagpole into their mounds.

Umer M.

Science, Psychology and Spirituality This is interesting although I’ve always found the ‘creative right side and the cold and calculating left side’ model a little simplistic. Western scientists have a bad habit of trying to modularise everything. The uncontrolled firing of the dopamine neurotransmitter in and around the temporal lobes and its association with epilepsy is well found. They say it has a genetic basis and the so called ‘faulty’ genes leave the individual susceptible, such as Van Gogh, to suffering from epilepsy.

The question arises, if such genes are so faulty why do they remain within the gene pool? And the answer comes that there are also the lesser faultier genes which code for the more stable and controlled dopaminergic neurones. And this leads to controlled madness, i.e. creativity – the ability to think outside of the box without disengaging from the fundamental laws of this world.

Art and science, and the artist and the scientist, are usually considered poles apart. The former is a divergent thinker, the other is convergent. One is logical and calculating, the other is turbulent and colourful. Creativity and madness is usually considered the domain of the artist; yet some of the most profound moments in science have come from people having visual inspirations.

Einstein’s temporal lobes were 15% bigger than the average males and he is said to have arrived at his Theory of Relativity whilst imagining himself sitting on a train running faster than the speed of light. Kekule, the man who discovered the ring structure of benzene, is said to have gone through the creative thought process which any artist is well acquainted to. Conversely, some of the most creative pieces are designed very scientifically to hit and affect the viewer in a very certain way.

Is it any wonder why the comical mad scientist and the mad artist look so similar? One has a eureka moment and the other has an inspiration. What is fascinating however, and this ties in with one of your points regarding divinity, is that both take a leap into the unknown when progressing forward – that is an act of faith.

Umer M.

Iqbal, Ghalib, Amir Khusraw: Three Masters, Three Poems Asif, echo,

I was recently exhibiting a couple of numbers in the recent Islam expo held in Alexandra Palace, London, when a lady enquired about the yellow painting with lots of sphere’s and sticks. She pointed at a blue sphere.

‘That’s oxygen.’

She prodded at a ring structure.

‘Noradrenaline.’

She then moved back and with her finger traced Muhammed in the air.

I had, so to speak, painted a chemical ‘portrait’ of prophet Muhammed. When she asked why I had painted the chemistry of the man I told her that this was the chemistry of every human. And these chemicals weren’t just the cogs and cams of a corporeal creature. These were the retainers of knowledge, providers of motion and energy, transformers of body states, enforcers of love. Chemicals affected moods; moods were linked to emotions. And if ever she had experienced moments of profound truths she would know that they were associated with intense emotional states.

‘There`s a superhuman inside you and I and all those around us. We`re living in a time when we have no choice but to bring him out.’

And it dawned upon me that I have been fascinated with the superhuman concept without ever fully realising it. Iqbal without a doubt is a great influence and there are other paintings which have been inspired/influenced by a sentence or two from a work here and there (but what I have read is not even a fraction of his work).

If you folks can give any directions towards writers/poets/works who deal with the superhuman, I’d be forever indebted. Many thanks.

Umer M

The Reality of the Looking Glass: Seeing Muhammad Harimau,

I`ll tell you what`s a joke: a higher organism worshipping lower organisms.

Umer M.

Varanasi Explodes Ramanujan,

What I`m saying is that it could by anyone, and that includes the RSS but it also includes the ISI. We`ll never know.

The point is, you didn`t bomb the Varnasis and neither did I. The only two things you can actually do is 1) send money and consolations to the victims and 2) refuse to fuel any flames towards anyone.

Anything else and you`re a puppet.

Umer M

Varanasi Explodes PZ,

My point was that people, i.e. cannon fodder, will demonstrate a Pavlovian-like response to what has just happened. Some of the words which will lodge themselves into the froth coming from their collective mouths will be what I`ve just written.

The sad fact is, you and I are Joe fodder. We make no decisions but we are the first people to undergo migrations, massacres, apartheids, holocausts, exodus, rapes, killings etc. etc. etc. We make the most noise yet we have the least power.

You and I are collateral, just like those Hindu worshippers and every other common man. It’s got nothing to do with Hindu-Muslim animosity. Someone has an agenda to fulfil and they will rile up the feelings of stupid people by blowing something here and burning another person there. We will only find out what that agenda was when we learn the outcomes of the explosions.

It’s like the British government. They want to introduce the ID card system into the public not because of terrorism but because they do not know where the taxes are going. The government doesn’t have a hold on Joe Brit’s spending and they can’t ask the public to voluntarily opt for this scheme because the public will turn around and say F-U to the office (like they did so with Poll taxes during Thatcher’s era).

Sooo…

On the pretext of terrorism, they create fear, induce a Pavolvian like response, nudging the public into coughing up cash and getting themselves hooked into the id card scheme. British Muslims are the collateral, the cannon fodder, because frankly speaking they are not important/intelligent enough and have a weak identity. Blacks will not take this kind of $hit from anyone. Indians are an economical/cultural asset to the country. Turks/Chinese and other minorities are not visible enough.

But the fact is, while those at the top do not suffer the least bit, they are playing a dangerous dangerous game with common people’s feelings. The common man is manipulated, the common man hates or becomes hated and he is led to kill his neighbour. I have read plenty of Chowkies expressing anger over Pakistani religious party leaders sending other people’s sons to fight wars whilst their children enjoy the best of education. I don’t know very much about the Khalistan movement but some of the elements who called for Khalistan now enjoy a comfy life in UK.

But who got killed in ’84. Joe-inder Singh Fodder.

This happened in Godhra and it’s going to happen in Varnasi too. But power does lie with people (whether they realise or not) and it is as simple as not doing anything. And this explains why Coke’s share process are 20% less and MacDonalds has closed 25 of its shops in the UK (and trying to become healthy).

On this page, the best way that people can exercise non-cooperation is by not falling prey to their biases and by conducting discussions in a civil manner.

Umer M

Varanasi Explodes On a serious note,

My consolations to the families, friends and loved ones of those who suffered and will now suffer.

Umer M.

An Alternative Spelling of Eed Very disappointed in you, farzana. Dare I say your Ismaili roots are showing.

Umer M.