simplistic

there is something to be said for the simple joys of the not-so-simple life- yesterday i watched as my friend pressed a button titles clean on her remote and a little disc called rhumba buzzed and came to life, cleaning the floors like w robot possessed-feeling its way around via sensors-she pressed stop & it meekly went back to its corner and buzzed out- This morning i clicked a button & enjoyed recorded tv programmes on her little tivo-type gadget. i can watch all the satellite channels on the laptop wherever i want because that was her husband’s weekend project this time-

chicago designed

Chicago is a gorgeous city-with a great design team who is responsible for selecting a design theme every year-the entire downtown area is then artistically accessorized with installations & other fun design elements- the theme of this year seems to have been spheres/circles, and every park area, & the entire strip of Michigan avenue had these either on the ground or hanging from the trees- I thought it was a brilliant idea-the best part was there was no pseudo analytical vision behind it, (what does it mean?) it was just exciting, aesthetically pleasing & good to look at, and there is nothing wrong with that.

We had lunch at this beautiful restaurant called the Grand Lux Café in the middle of Michigan avenue-we managed to bag one of the window tables, which had a stunning view of the magnificent mile. Our order of the grand appetizer platter was too much to finish even for my friend-little piglet. When we walked out, I realized my sweater coat-as predicted by little piglet-was pitifully inadequate for the chilly winds, but the red coat handed over to me by its owner was a size big for me, and it wasn’t me therefore my severe reservations with wearing it-a blast of wind and that settled the matter for me-

hello holiday

in chicago- big city lights- camera & action–let the games begin

first flurry

woke up to see germantown turning white-it looks so beautiful! serene & energizing all at the same time-lovely lovely lovely. i wish we could have the beach, the wind, & snow in karachi- i wish-

so much space-so little space

its been 2 days of displaced thoughts & me/ There is no constant/only randoms/moving images, changing ideas, rapid eye movement/unsettled am i/weirdly the work trip in the philippines seems to have been more therapeutic/maybe its just a matter of getting used to the time zone, adjusting my sleep cycle or maybe its just that after 2 weeks of personal me-time, so many people, so much of family is taking away my sense of holiday?

space is an elusive thing- sometimes with no one around you, it feels like space around you is filled with rich experiences, moments, but sometimes with so much space too, its almost like you are being suffocated-its claustrophobic/you find yourself desperate for some air to breathe in/something to keep you alive/thats when you miss your hours of being alone/of being you/& of cliched-ly dancing like nobody’s watching.

in the land of the free

after 25 odd hours of travel through time & space, finally reached america last night- its -10 here so very free-zing-my all words & no action jacket did not help me much, neither did my stilettos-Its amazing how things work out, when i got off at d.c, i suddenly felt this wave of exhaustion, so i got a porter-the porter apparently had chosen me because he saw my pendant, which had bismillah on it- he was a fellow pakistani from pind-i. he was so happy to see me, he took me out to the airport pickup without realizing there might not be a pick up for me yet- it was bitterly cold- the advantage of listening to his stories about his sisters & mom & the bahut nice american people and their systems, his questioning on why pakistan bad-and we peoples no good at work-was that i made a number of calls from his mobile. he kept me company for 25 minutes-5 minutes of which was an authentic punjabi phone call with his sistah from pakistan.

illustrative-the way to go

I was introduced to the music of one cynthia alexander-she is a well respected singer in the philippines & she is an illustrator as well-the cover of her cd is her own work- this is the kind of personal art which inspires me more than more standard forms of art & design- this almost feels like an intrusion into someone’s journal. she reminded me of sabrina ward harrison a bit-her music is very soothing-i am trying to buy a copy
for myself so i can keep the cover.

A colleague here called sam baja co owns a bar across town jointly owned by musicians & artists. Cynthia is one of the owners too. Apparently all
underground musicians (thinking dusk) and other not too mainstream type of artists meet here regularly to jam, connect, eat and drink. many groups have come together here apparently.

Another colleague joey is part of a band called twisted halo-i am now proud owner of 2 original signed cds-one of twisted halo and one of colour it red. exciting na-

man from stan

heard through the grapevine that there was apakistani who had just joined the call centre- today i walked out of the building on my way to get coffee when this guy comes and stands in front of me- excuse me i have a question for you, so in my mind i am thinking jesus this reminds me of pakistan and he says where are you from. from pakistan i say. oh i knew there was someone from pakistan and a friend pointed you out. i am from pakistan too. i said oh wow really how are you here. so he says its a long story. so i say make it short. he says well i am married to a filipina. aaaaaah it clicked into place and for a mo an evil thought went racing through my mind-married to the maid eh-and before i could catch it and spank it the thought had flown the mind.

so now i sit here with my banana bread remembering stan and espresso afternoons.

on a positive note though, we have to go set up the booth for an event which starts tomorrow and i just heard its in a hotel which has its own mall-famous for shoes- GASP.

costa love message 

official love

I think the last valentine celebrations i had in an organized fashion-as jammie reminded me was 10 years ago- today was another one. It was valentine’s day -THE ROMANTIC GROOVE- for employees at TRG Philippines. They participated in singing competitions, find your heart game, date a managing director & other very loud & hysterical games. All pariticipants got vouchers from starbucks & figaro which i was thought was great. It was really sweet- and hey i met a pakistani guy who has just joined as a call centre agent-name ali-

I had been asked to belly dance- what with being from the subcontinent- but i politely refused claiming my moslem morals 🙂 hahahaa..what a laugh as anyone who has seen me dance will tell you-

going out for a valentine’s day lunch now with my temporary colleagues- i dont leave tomorrow, i leave friday and its actually an exciting thought- i have had a brilliant time here, though i was very stressed about it before i arrived. i keep reminding myself this was supposed to be the stressful part & now i am going for my holiday-