Since November

Since I wrote last quite a few changes have come about and had a somewhat more or less profound effect on my life. I have moved house so am now a happy city girl. My sister is pregnant :) I have broken my right index finger. I have a new boss at work. I have killed the one and only orchid that was living a bright life in our living room window :( I am eating porridge every moring. I cooked a whole turkey for the very first time. I turned 32.

Breaking my finger which happened in the most unexpected way made me realise how much we take our bodies for granted. Eyes that can see clearly, a heart that pumps blood and keeps us alive, muscles and tendons that enable us to stretch and relax, a brain that enables us to think, analyse and process thoughts, legs that can take us on the most interesting journeys, the sense of smell, touch, taste, hearing... nerves that give us a multitude of feelings. Toes that we are able to wiggle. Bones that keep us strong. Fingers that enable a strong grip, the faintest of touches...

SMS

New sms just in: 'A busy life makes prayers harder, but prayers make a hard and busy life easier. So keep praying. Love, Mama'

Vienna and Gustav Klimt

I spent the last weekend in Vienna with my girlfriends. The trip was a wondorous combination of walking tours in the old city, trips to quaint cafes, a traditional Viennese meal, Beethoven and Strauss, grand palaces and a few hours experiencing ' the kiss' in its full splendour amongst others by gustav klimt at the Belvedere.

My friend Fatima introduced us to Klimt and I returned with a fine reproduction which will find its new home just above the toilet :) as soon as I have had it framed. It fits well there and this way I will be able to see it every morning when I brush my teeth.

'The Kiss is a fascinating icon of the loss of self that lovers experience. Only the faces and hands of this couple are visible; all the rest is great swirl of gold, studded with colored rectangles as if to express visually the emotional and physical explosion of erotic love.'

I appreciate and agree.

Amid Pakistan's Mayhem, Fashion Week Comes to Karachi

I pray for the day I see less headlines of the former type and more of the former. Click on the link to see Pakistan through the designers eyes.
Amid Pakistan's Mayhem, Fashion Week Comes to Karachi

...

I come from a country where the majority live in poverty, and spend most of their life seeking employment that will cover all the bills or worse pay the bare necessiteies. I come from a country brimming over with talented people who are not given the opportunity or the environment to realize their potential or a better future. I come from a country where religion is being twisted and mis-used to justify people's frustrations and helplessness.It is with my heart heavy and my eyes full that I see my country go down a road stained with destruction, pain, and disgrace.

I live in a country with one of the best standards of living and where money is a plenty to do as you wish. You work for it ofcourse but the compensation makes it worth your while and you even learn to appreciate paying taxes becuase the system will work for you when you need it.
I live faraway, yet I feel the same sadness, even more for I know what could be.
It breaks my heart, it punctures my soul.
I carry it around, this little hole in my heart, that few understand around me.
I go about my daily life and forget that it is there.

A family diaspora

List of places all us first cousins now call home:
1.Rawalpindi, Pakistan
2.Islamabad, Pakistan
3.Karachi, Pakistan
4.Germantown, Maryland, US
5. San Francisco, US
6. Oswego, NY , US
7. Melbourne, Australia
8. London, UK
9. Nottingham, UK
10. Stuttgart, Germany
11. Oslo Norway

So technically we will be a bunch of Pakistani-American-Australian, British, German-Turkish, Norwegians in the family.

One Nobel Peace Prize to go please.

And the Nobel Peace Prize goes to....President Barack Obama.... for:
not being George W Bush
being the first black president of the US
making a few great speeches
reaching out to the young, unemployed, uninsured, and muslims (in an attempt to win back the hearts and minds)

I think that about sums it up...no?

He certainly did not get it for:
the countless deaths of civilians dying everyday in the ongoing war in Afganistan and Iraq,the people suffering everyday in Gaza the casualties inside the border in Pakistan caused by American drone attacks and if thats not enough..the fanstastic concrete, achieveable plans the President has come up with to stop the death and destruction, caused by the above mentioned offensives,
I commend the Nobel Peace prize committee for degrading the Peace Prize and for being so naive as to bestow such a prestigious and regarded award in the hope that peace will come as a result of a few diplomatic efforts and good intentions (I must sayI am not even sure what the intentions constitute really)

Bravo Thorbjørn Jagland.