More Bark

This picture really represents our world no?

Ana al-Haq

Not believing in God, or Gods for that matter, is strangely liberating. My actions are my own - in more than one sense. I act because of my own will, and at the end of the day, I justify my actions to myself. I have multiple judgement days, multiple passages through hell, and multiple hours in paradise.

More importantly, I am no longer constrained by what the Qur'an says, or what the Vedas and the Smritis say. What I am is what I believe, and what I believe is what I am. As al-Hallaj would say - ana al-Haq.

Idiocy

I find it idiotic that all of the newspaper articles I have read on Pakistan recently, which deal with how Musharraf came to power, emphasize how he wrested control from then PM-Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup. Why the coup occurred is never a topic of discussion, nor are the non-democratic deeds of Sharif.

I feel like I already wrote about this in a previous post....oh well

Trousers and Dhotis

"'One way of defining diversity for India,' the poet and critic A.K Ramanujan once wrote, 'is to say what the Irishman is said to have said about trousers. When asked whether trousers were singular or plural, he said, "Singular at the top and plural at the bottom".'But Indian natinoalism before Independence was plural even at the top, a dhoti with endless folds."

-Sunil Khilnani's The Idea of India

Hmm...maybe I should have actually followed my prof's advice and read this book during class, and not 3 months after it.

that's it for now...ciao, adios, au revoir...and remember...to be born again, first you must die...

The Wonderful World of Picasso

I got a Nikon D40x for my birthday. As I take more and more pictures, I can't help but want to take a year off after my B.A and travel around the world, taking pictures.

I call this shot Zebra Bark.


ps - I name inanimate objects - cameras, iPhones, skeletons....D40x's name is Picasso

A Punch to the Head?

It's very weird - I've gotten to a point where I've started forgetting doing a couple of things. I was speaking to someone on msn and doing some other things at the same time. Then I went back to the convo to say something to them, and realized that I'd already said goodnite and that the conversation had been over for about 10 minutes. The other day, yesterday I think - maybe the day before, I woke up pretty early and went to get some water. Coming back to my room, I realized that I'd set my alarm for 30 mins before I was actually supposed to wake up. Sleep deprived, I decided to set the alarm for the actual time. And so, my mom came into my room as she was leaving for work (because I've told her to come into my room if I'm not awake by the time she leaves since I have to be out of the house at a certain time and require an x-number of minutes to get ready) and forced me to get up - thankfully. Then I got to class, and I was sitting in my Foreign Policy lecture and felt like I'd been punched on the side of my head. I used to do kickboxing, so I know what it actually feels like - that and being kicked in the head and being winded by a punch to your stomach.


I think I'm tired - well, exhausted is more like it. I just want to sleep - but I need to finish writing this paper; it's already late - the first paper I'm handing in late in 3.5 years - the first I'm handing in late at university....sigh...I guess there's always a first time.

Anyway, back to work - tbbafymd

and if u dont understand that acronym here's a hint: #1

N

Of Politics and Paki-land

So I'm back, for another stint of writing on Selfistan. Yes I know I haven't written in about a month - you'll have to forgive me as I've been excessively busy - conference organizing/executing, paper-ing, midterm-ing, assignment-ing, sleep-ing (well for the past week that is). So my break is over (boohoo) and I have to be up in 9 hours to get ready for class (I hate having to commute) - and I have a paper due tomorrow - so I thought what better time to post on RFS than now??

I think this post will be about Pakistani politics (I have to - I'm sorry if you dont like politics), but I'm not sure. I'm not sure if I want to write about how funny I find it that Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari are back in power, how 'democracy' has been upheld by non-democratic individuals (not-so-Sharif Nawaz and Mr. 10 percent), how the only guy who's actually done stuff for Pakistan is going to probably be impeached and maybe even tried for treason by not-so-Sharif (the same guy who tried to force his then-army Chief's plane to land in India a couple of months after a war with India because he wanted to appoint a friend to the post - guess who the army Chief in the plane was), and how the USA is now scrambling to keep its ally in power while pandering to its false claims of democracy.

It's so idiotic. On the other hand - kudos to the country for having free elections - maybe the first ever - and to General Kiyani for not getting the army involved in any capacity.

I'm still laughing. Oh Pakistan....hahahaha