caught a ride with the moon

Textile Stories

I was browsing textiles and came across this amazing artist from Canada whose work is heavily influenced by Arab textiles.
Check out some of the canvases here but do venture over to her site. The first one I so want!!

Synchronisation...

Argh. I hate wordpress and I hate blogger and I hate tumblr and I hate facebook! I wish they would all work in harmony and do what I want them to do!!
Until that happens, or until I find out I've blindly missed something everyone else knows how to do, I shall have to use blogger and tumblr together.

Anyway, The Plan is to use the days I have off work (why, more of that later) to get this back up and running and get back in to the writing, sharing, connecting mode of things - all of which lends to introspection and reflection but now I no longer think that is a scary bad thing! More about that later too!

After many false restarts, I hope this time works!

A Summer of Love

Frank Luca and Aida Kawas fuse together modern and antiques sourced from Syria, Turkey, Kashmir and Morocco in a boutique that is a work of love… Orient 499 is a treasure cove based in Lebanon, I just wished they had an online shop! I could stare at the images for ages!

Quote of the week

“Be Nothing in order to be reborn into everything.”

- Sayings of the Prophet.

Got Swagger

Doshi Levien is a London based design office led by Jonathan Levien and Nipa Doshi. Nipa and Jonathan bring together two distinct and complementary approaches to their work. While Nipa’s work is strongly influenced by Indian visual and material culture, Jonathan’s approach is rooted in design for industrial production. Together, their work celebrates the cultural hybrid and explores the synthesis between technology, story telling, industrial design and craftsmanship. Doshi Levien was established in 2000 and their work includes installation design for the Wellcome Trust, interaction design for Intel, insight and design direction for Nokia, product design for Tefal, furniture design for Moroso and bespoke shoes for London based “aristo” bootmakers, John Lobb.

click here to see more of their work.

Finding time to make time

Life has changed. At one time, I would have furiously Updated The Blog Daily if not more; the Opportunity to Share Thoughts on a wide platform almost too irresistible for the dormant Extrovert Inside of Me. I seemed to have time to visit social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut and IRC and I had time to go to the gym regularly. I’m not sure if I have more work now or being married has changed my time demands and priorities. On the Work Side – yes, I feel more weighed down with work and so the times when I could Pen Thoughts is occupied by balancing several work and study commitments. On Being Married – so many people have said I Must Be So Busy Now I’m Married but the reality is that I feel I have more time, things I’d do alone are shared out and tasks which would be laborious and lengthy have turned to being Fun and Swift – and the time spent on social networking sites has almost vanished. Though I feel I have More Time On Our Hands – the Time Flies and so The Website Project seems to have got waylaid. I did use much of the time I spent on Orkut and IRC etc incessantly asking people for help with my Urdu, with finding rare books and coding for html and other such IT help. I now am putting this to use rather than seeking more help. I have been collecting materials and some sections of the website will involve a lot of work to be collated and formatted so lets see how it unravels, in the meantime, rather than wait for The Complete Website, I’ll start blogging in hope it will Nudge Inspiration and maintain some time aside for Building Dreams.

On a side note: a quote I heard and absolutely would love to identify with:

“Chase the dream like its the competition.”

Alice, Alice

I loved the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, Helena Bonham Carter absolutely stole the show! “She killed my jabber-baby-wocky” is a classic line. I’m also loving the Alice fever that has overtaken the cities across the world, in particular the Printemps display:

Check out more pics here, don’t miss the McQueen window. I’m mad about it :)

An Update

So none of this is going to plan. Not sure what The Plan was or even if there was A Plan. Nonetheless, I have proceeded no further than to put up basic html coded pages. What is not evident is the Amazing Ideas that have gone through my mind of What The Website Will Have! I will come back to that but right now, I have my expense claim forms to fill in going back to July 2008. I have been slaving over them for the past 3 hours and I am happy to share that I have reached August 2008!

Hello World!

A friend, who also happens to be an engineer type, once said to me that, "All my headaches begin with these two words - Hello World!." In my attempts to find my Perfect Template and write The Perfect First Post, I am beginning to empathise with him. I've been an avid follower of the Jamil Sisters' blogs, in fact, my weekends are not complete without a cuppa chai, mum's shirmaal bread and an unread post from one of their blogs - every post that emanates from their fingers seem Perfect - to me.

I have attempted to write before only to succumb to an Intense Personal Scrutiny of myself or dive into realms of fantasy fiction which leave me struggling, or even reluctant, to return to reality. Yet, I am totally at loss as to what to write about today and though I could fill pages with stories about my sister jaan's accident prone adventures in exile; her narcoleptic cactus; the dog who does not register her presence yet barks at every other moving being; her beautiful nursery; her flower-head chopping classes; her deep predicament over the Czech tutor who rarely turns up to class but passes her students or her amazing cooking abilities - I dare not. Only because I discovered this past weekend that she (whispers) Has The Power - and I can not be seen to do anything that may put me in disfavour to said Powers. For now, such stories will stay untold - for now.

So, I return to my own predicament of What To Write? A headache later, I am still no closer to solving this. However, in the quest for The Perfect Template, I have renewed my resolve to make My Own Website. Hence, this will be the start of many new things ahead and, as Life Has Taught Me to do so repeatedly, I shall take it One Step at a Time.

For now, I'll leave you with two beautiful words. Hello World.

Mashaallah Martial Law

In a time where there is no shortage of outside enemies, the self-destructive streak that Pakistan demonstrates is beyond rationale. History is a 12inch vinyl stuck on repeat... A party that alleges its basis to be that of democracy appoints a 19 yr old CHILD to lead them (and possibly the country). I saw his press conference and any doubts I had about his immaturity were washed away when he said "... my mother said democracy is the best revenge... " and half expected him to follow it up with a "'dig it, aye!" (and I think going by his own behaviour, he half expected the press to shout "aye backatcha!"). He passed up any opportunity to use his inherited status to appeal for some semblance of 'peace' from his own party supporters if not the rest of the animals. Why are we so blind? A country that has, in the name of the country, eliminated most of his family and a country he has never been part of, is one he now is pushed to feel part of. It is a sad mockery and as optimistic as one wants to be, one can't help thinking he's had a death fatwa issued against him. I wonder had Pakistan spent more money (than its 2%) on education, would their responses to such an assassination may have been very different. Instead the past years have seen more guns in the hands of people who don't deserve them let alone understand responsibility and power. After seeing their (equal) role in red-washing our home, its sad to see it happening there.

Prayers for the innocents... and (divine?) education for the ignorants.