Cairo Time

Whenever I think of Cairo, I find myself smiling to myself with a kind of sadness deep inside. It has been more than a year since I was last visited Egypt. Before Tahrir, and before Twitter. I don't know how it has changed now. But I do know that I left a piece of myself in Cairo.

Cairo is dusty and damp. The dust of the ages and the dampness of desire. Desire for love, companionship and sex.  As I landed at Cairo International Airport, it was crowded and clammy. Men everywhere offering everything and anything you could imagine. I had a connection to Alexandria some six hours later. I waited for my friend to come take me out for dinner. By the time he arrived, I had been told I was beautiful some 8 times. But you've never really heard that sentence enough times. Every now and then I feel like I want to pack up and move to Cairo. Watch Cairo Time the movie if you haven't done it already. Cairo is more than just the pyramids - it is a love affair with love and life.

Small Towns and Big Hearts in The Mid-West!

Happiness is a huge pumpkin!

It has been less than a week since I came back from the US. It was three weeks long; coast to coast; Mid-West to South trip that seems short in retrospect The trip was an initiative of the US State Department fort a group of young leaders from South Asia including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan as part of the International Visitors Leadership Program for Civic and Political Engagement.

On the itniairy were major cities like Washington D.C, San Francisco, Chicago and New Orleans. The schedule also said that we would visit a small city outside of Chicago - Freeport - where we would learn more the election process in the US. Being a complete city slicker, I thought thank God it’s just two days in a sleepy, small town – one of which would be spent at home with a local family. But it turned out this small town offered me more than I had ever hoped for – friendship, joy and just some good old-fashioned fun.

As we reached Freeport from Chicago, our ‘families’ were waiting to pick us up. I have to admit, I had the prettiest host (as the men in the group told me later) – the lovely Miss Kelly Epperson, a writer. We seemed to click instantly as I told her that one of favourite American holidays was Halloween. And she knew just where to take me – but not before some shoe-shopping! Oh yea! I knew Kelly was the one for me as we browsed through shelves, picked up bargains and then headed for The Pumpkin Patch. As we drove around in Kelly’s super-cute, smart car we talked about our work, loves and lives. And realized that there was not much of a difference between a big-city Pakistan and small-city America dweller. We were two girls on a mission – to have fun! Please bear with me as I gloat over how much I LOVED The Pumpkin Patch! It had big pumpkins, small pumpkins, corn on the cob, candy, a petting zoo, llamas, a porcupine, a coatamundi (?), kids, adults…and….wait for it…..a corn shooter and pumpkin launcher! Kelly and I had a blast – literally, as we shot cob after cob, further and higher from what seemed to be a simple push and blast machine and launched small pumpkins from a sling-shot. I should add that we missed the target every single time but what the hell, right? It was so much fun!Exhausted by our corn and pumpkin blasting ways, we headed for dinner at The Irish Rose – a quaint little bar and restaurant in Rockford. The music, the food and the ambience was just perfect. Seriously. Just perfect. Just the right number of people too. And a really cute Indian doctor, who just happened to be dining alone J

Kelly blew me away with her hospitality, kindness and general awesome-ness. She is beautiful and quite simply a joy to be around. We talked about boys, shoes, food, Halloween, Paris, Facebook and much more. It seems that the only difference between people is quite simply that of ‘good’ and ‘not-so-good’ perhaps. The good ones seem to cherish the same values no matter what part of the world and what time of life they are in – love and happiness.

Here’s hoping for more love, happiness, common ground and most importantly joy between countries and people.

For added joy, click here!

Hear No Evil, See No Evil...

I'm surprised I'm even allowed to log on to my Blogger account, my emails and perhaps my personal cell phone also. Its no news story anymore that Facebook is gone, followed promptly by YouTube and I hear Twitter is on its way out now as well. What purpose has this ban served? I really don't understand. Seriously.

So the story goes that the 20th of May was declared 'Draw Muhammad Day' by a group of mentally delayed people on Facebook in protest of the protest against the return of Super Best Friends on South Park which featured a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). And then some ardent Musalmans in Pakistan took this as personal affront and declared 20th May as a day when all God-fearing Muslims should boycott Facebook. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, the judiciary was a step ahead of the 'needs' of the people and decided to ban Facebook until further notice - followed promptly by 800 other websites.

Lets just make one thing clear. There is no excuse for curtailing the people's right to information. - however, offensive it may be. Furthermore, Pakistan is already in a bit ( read huge) PR nightmare - labelled as an extremist, terrorist nation - and to ban Facebook in the midst of all this in the name of religion is only going to do us more harm than good.

Also, the whole story is a bit ridiculous. However, thought of a 'Draw Muhammad Day' is obviously looking to get a rise out to the Muslim community and we're giving him/her exactly what he/she wants. Let's not. Please.

Come on be a sport...

Congrats Sania and Shoaib for finally bringing some sizzling scandal/celebrity culture to Pakistan! We have always had dodgy stories about our film actresses and cricketers, but the Sania-Shoaib made headlines like never before. For the first time in many months, the media spotlight was not on our beloved politicians but on the fit (unfit), young couple.

The pair tied the knot today at swanky Hyderabad hotel. Sania wore her mother's wedding saree. Shoaib wore a designer sherwani. And I'm sure they looked resplendent. Finally news outlets in both countries can start talking about something else. For example, the nuclear summit currently underway in the US.

It's interesting to note that the story has appeared in the 'sports' section of many newspapers and news websites. Does this really count as a sports news item? They are both sports stars - agreed but this had all the elements of a story to be featured on PerezHilton.com. It had ex-wives, secrets, lies and a woman who stood by her man. Now that's a news item! It was also political and religious implications. Sunni clerics in India have condemned the couple for living together for a few days before the wedding. The Shiv-Sena announced that in order to retain her Indian nationality, Sania should marry a nice Indian boy.

Maybe, we - the people of South Asia need more entertainment stories in our headlines. The same goes for Pakistani media. There is a severe dearth of quality, entertainment based media in comparison to news media. The state of the nation is an important piece of news. But it’s a simple formula – happier people makes for a happier nation. And human interest stories of love and humanity in definitely make me a happier person.

Blasphemy or Bust...

I came across the following blog on my usually trolling of the internet. Killing innocent people is always wrong. It is important that you read the blog before going further on this blog

What has caught my interest on this piece of work is not the tragedy of innocent lives lost but that is a very emotionally charged, 'finger-pointing' piece of work. It is only natural to let our emotions get the best of us when we feel so strongly about a certain issue such as religious persecution. But what about the facts? In my opinion, the language used is inflammatory. And the Pakistani government is the usual suspect.

The writer talks about two different laws - Ordinance XX and the blasphemy laws. Ordinance XX forbids Ahmedis to call themselves Muslim or pose as Muslims. While the blasphemy laws are targeted against those bringing insult to The Holy Prophet and The Quran. The enactment of these do not have the same effect. And in my opinion, blasphemy commited in a Muslim country is a considerable offence - it will and should remain the same. In the same way that when Iran denies the existence of the Holocaust, it is offensive to Jewish people - so is an insult to The Prophet and The Book of Islam. Ordinance XX on the other hand is a discriminatory law that needs revision.

How far can a journalist go in supporting what is right?

The President Is Black

..and that's great news but President Obama is more than just Black. Its about time we got over. Jay-Z - as probably one of the most successful and powerful men in the world - should by now have realized that being Black and successful are not mutually exclusive. Here's a Jay-Z song anyway...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ucn-I7Lne4

Aliens In Our Midst

Music is a world in itself, with a language we all understand, with an equal opportunity, for all to sing, dance and clap their hands – Stevie Wonder

Sci-fi fans will remember how humans and aliens communicated with one another using a 5-tone musical motif in the movie ‘Close Encounters of The Third Kind.’ The movie was also one of the first to portray space aliens as friendly neighbors – albeit, a bit different – and not as enemy invaders. As the concept of a so-called ‘clash of civilizations gains currency and defame simultaneously, it is perhaps time to reconsider how we build relationships between peoples and cultures, beyond traditional diplomacy.

Over the last year in Pakistan, I have come across a variety of musicians and artists from the United States on state sponsored or charity driven missions to collaborate with and educate local musicians and artists – including jazz quartets, film-makers, choreographers, painters and even a classical sitar player. The efforts of these artistes first spiked my interest in cultural diplomacy – the exchange of cultural representatives as a means of improving relationships and understanding between nations. And when Bill Schaefer, a US journalist, Chiranjibi Paudyal, UK based journalist of Nepali origin and I teamed up on a cross-cultural reporting project – I knew I had one thing in common with them; an appreciation for each other’s diverse culture and the arts. At a time when most Pakistanis and Americans hold a plethora of stereotypes about each other – cultural exchanges of the simplest kind will go the furthest.

Last year I had the privilege of experiencing intimate performances by two jazz quartets from the US – The Ari Roland Quartet and Cultures in Harmony – each one in time for the American and Pakistani independence day celebrations respectively. Both groups performed at several venues, jammed and trained with local musicians, and put a jazz spin on popular Pakistani classics. The difference between the two groups was their reach among the Pakistani audience.

The Ari Roland Quartet went on tour for the US State Department in mid 2009 as part of their ongoing "Bi-Communal Jazz Futures" program, sponsored by the US Embassy in Cyprus and Islamabad. Besides performing American jazz music for a variety of Pakistani audience, the Quartet held classes and workshops for Pakistani youth and music enthusiast and held discourse about the similarities between jazz and South Asian music. A commendable effort on part of the US State Department and the Quartet on all counts – except that the reach of the program was severely restricted due to security concerns. The quartet performed at the 4th of July celebration in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad for the crème-de-la-crème of the city’s elite – a social class only too familiar with the ‘real’ America – many of them having spent their definitive years in the US as students. The magic of the Ari Roland Quartet really came alive in the CityFM89 radio station studios as they broke it down for a live jazz performance for the station’s jazz show – Take 5 with Zahir. They took a Pakistani pop classic called ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ and made it their own with cellos and saxophones. Their version of the classic gained a fair amount of airplay on CityFM89. A Facebook video of their performance during the show garnered a great response from an audience much younger than the listener ship of the same show. The quartet brought a typical American art form to Pakistan and let us make it our own. In Ari’s own words ‘The history of jazz has to do with taking songs that everyone knows and making jazz performances of them.’ The same melodies, different instruments. The same thoughts, a different language. Translated.

A few months on, just in time for the Pakistan’s Independence Day – 14th August – a local charity focusing on education called The Citizen’s Foundation brought to Pakistan a jazz quartet from the NGO Cultures in Harmony. Cultures in Harmony is a US-based NGO led by Julliard graduate. Accompanying Harvey were Ethan Philbrick, Chris Jenkins and Emily Holden. The quartet performed at schools run by The Citizen’s Foundation in some of the country’s poorest areas and collaborated with some of the most acclaimed and popular musicians of the country. The quartet traveled extensively in Pakistan and gained much media coverage and a great response to their music. In fact, their string quartet version of the Pakistani national anthem is now available as a cell phone ring tone in Pakistan. And when they performed the national anthem for radio – I felt my eyes tearing up. What resounded in my ears was a passion for my nation that was shared by four Americans.

The coming together of cultures does not mean that one be overpowered by the other. The exercise of American musicians performing along side Pakistani musicians creates both the perception and reality of Americans wanting to learn from Pakistanis and their culture. In recent times, Americans have traveled abroad only to tell people what to do. Cultural exchanges help foster the notion that Americans are respectful and willing to learn from their Pakistani counterparts.

I make no tall claims in favor of cultural diplomacy – music will not stop a war. But there is hope that when Pakistani school children think of America, they will remember William Harvey and friends who played Pakistani music for them – at the same time that they of drones and the CIA, and their view of the US will be complex enough to keep out the emotion of hate. At the same time when Americans hear of Pakistan in the news, they will remember Roland and Harvey’s stories of an intelligent, hospitable people of a beautiful country, not terrorism.

At the core of our existence, Pakistanis and Americans share a common bond. We live in countries we chose to make our homes. Every Pakistani and every American has an ancestor who chose to take on the identity. In the same way that we chose our past, we can choose our future. We can allow it to be overshadowed by mistakes or come together as citizens of the human race and chart a new way forward.