October 2011 – Ayaz Ahmed Siddiqui

Nadia Ali has Pakistani lineage?!

Published on October 24, 2011 by SidLeave a comment

So, I started blogging to talk about some of the amazing things I find over the internet in my free time. Pictures, music, comments ,work of art etc and these days I have been getting a lot of free time yea, the workload is low and its seems like everyday one of my buddies leaves this country to pursue a better life outside the subcontinent so my socializing has been reduced to a terrible extent as well. POINT BEING, I have been browsing the internet a lot and yesterday I came across this picture:

Spectacular! — Anchor in the Divine Ocean

When I first saw this I just couldn’t help but stare in wonderment. A little snooping around the internet and I found that in the world of art these images come under the genre of surrealism. Beautiful ain’t it….

Check this one out, its my favourite:

Elephant trumpets — The cybernetic zoology of Vladimir Kush

This piece was made by some Vladimir Kush fellow if you click the picture you can find more work by this very artist and much much more. If for some reason the maker of that previous photo (‘Anchor in the Divine Ocean’) catches onto this blog apologies before hand for no credits buddy, I kinda forgot who you are. Needless to say I do not lay claim to any of these works. Hmmm… I wonder if any Pakistani artist have worked on this genre.

Ok this last picture. Its not surrealism, its not art, neither does it contain the usual mumbo jumbo ‘FAMOUS’ pictures are usually known for, the shade of light, the one in a million smile or gesture. But yet the picture is very powerful. If you like trance and progressive music even remotely you will understand what I mean:

28277_445275305658_173854580658_6488507_735679_n — Armin Van Burren with Nadia Ali

Two biggest name in transcendental music Armin Van Burren and Nadia Ali. And they look good too. You might recall the famous dance number rapture by iio most urban Pakistanis have heard this song. The lady in the song is Nadia Ali. I believe at the time she was making electronic music with a couple of other people and going by the name iio before taking of on her own. Yes and check this out you might not believe this but one of her parents is apparently a Pakistani, no bullshit 😉 ain’t that something! Now there were rumors that she studied at Karachi Grammar School for a little while but I don’t think that is true because if it were, Karachites would be aware of that and on doing a little online research I didn’t come across anything to indicate otherwise. Anyway being an avid house music listener its an honor for me as it should be for all you Pakis out there that Nadia Ali has Pakistani lineage.

Ok so lets end this post with this 90’s classic:

Zia’s Spawn: The Generation X

Published on October 22, 2011December 15, 2012 by Sid1 Comment

Wow you must be wondering that the title looks like it came straight from a WWE match and whether this post will stands up to its claim. Well this will be my first serious (well partly) post and I hope it will shed some light about our parents. Yes you heard correct. Parents 🙂

What is the Generation X? one may ask. Although there have been debates on the exact definition of the term most people regard Generation X or Baby Boomers as the people born in the 60’s and the 70’s. You can find out more about them here. You might recall this era in North America and Europe as one marked by extreme changes in social order,mistrust of the government, the Vietnam war and the hippie counterculture which bloomed as a result among other things. In the West this generation thus became very open to change. Our dearly beloved Steve Jobs was attending college at this time.

In Pakistan at the time there was a sense of security, yes it was from what I have heard through popular accounts minus the one shameful war in ’71. There was another phenomenon taking place in Pakistan one which would have disastrous consequences for us. The Afghan War. We found ourselves caught up in the fight of two most powerful countries in the world.

Everything seemed to be going right for us, Aid came pouring in from USA and Saudi Arabia, Pakistani’s felt that they were the sole guardians in the fight between God believing ‘good’ and UnGodly communist ‘evil’. Massive petrodollar came from Saudi Arabia due to fresh job opportunities and the heavy industries which Bhutto had founded had matured now and Pakistan moved from a basic agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy.

The Dictator rose in Popularity, massive popularity non of which I believe can be truly credited to him. Sharia laws were imposed, Pakistani scientists were asked to conduct research on ‘jinns’ and holy spirits and the influx of foreign Aid was proclaimed as the Dictators success in improving the economy. Truly the fortune of God falls on those who lead their lives according to the arcane and outdated rules of the Holy scripture. The Jihadist were considered as indispensable national assets able to infiltrate the enemy in Afghanistan, in Kashmir and in India.

Now had the Dictator been wise he should have dispensed with the Jihadist once the war was over. These guerilla soldiers are undisciplined, brain washed and treacherous. They believe in a delusional and fantastic ideology which is very dangerous as it draws strength from, poverty, illiteracy and as of late the phenomenal success of the Jihadist dictator in filling Pakistani begging bowl with cash! The Generation X became the pious Muslims they always thought they were. Even people who believed in freedom, human rights, democracy etc realized that maybe there is something ‘Magical’ about ‘Leaving Everything to God’. Thus the foundation of a misinformed guardian of the universe Islamic state were laid down.

And then Aid was gone. The war was over and there was no more middle eastern oil boom. The Generation X realized that they will actually have to work to make a living. The decade that followed is known in economics as The Lost Decade. The ’90s was the most f*****up time in Pakistan’s history. Maybe all the problems can’t be mentioned here but I will summarize it all by saying that The Generation X got confused as hell. Their unwavering faith in God as they had been led to believe was perhaps wrong after all or was it? This is also the time when hippocrisy grew in earnest. We learned to survive the 90’s by cheating and squabbling while having a firm faith in God. We blamed the world for our problems while ignoring fundamental flaws like pseudo-feudal culture, high illiteracy rate, poor law and order situation, extremism and intolerance.

All was not bad though, another dictator came to power. This one was brighter then his predecessor. And knew what was going on with our society. He even made a solid effort to try to change the direction the nation was following. But I think by this time our Generation X had gone beyond repair….

Please don’t get me wrong. I love my parents and I know you love your parents as well. I get my mom flowers every now and then and help my dad with his work anytime he asks for it. But we need to realize that their believes are outdated. Their version of Pakistan and society is very twisted for the reasons I have shared above. They did what the thought was best for us maybe we would have done the same have we been in their shoes. But that doesn’t make it right yea? They are the spawn of General Zia as I like to call them.

A feeling of change is in the air now. I think the worse mistakes and their consequences are over. Our time is here now, we are the Generation Y. My only hope is that we do not repeat the mistakes our parents and others their age made. That we give priority to education, freedom, human rights, women empowerment rather then the teachings of the shariah which are open to thousands of interpretations. That we renounce the Jihadis once and for all. That we quit this hippocrissy plaguing our daily lives. That we stop blaming the world for our problems and just think logically to their solutions.

I will end this post with a classic rock anthem from The Scoropions:

Our List of Experiences’

Published on October 21, 2011October 24, 2011 by SidLeave a comment

I look at this world as a fathomable list of experiences. I believe that if one is able to cross everything in this list that person will know the meaning of life.

With each passing day, every second I get the chance to explore something else, feel something different and cross out one more experience from my list of experiences. The funny thing with the list is that its ever so changing, it has a will of it own, it morphs, it adapts with age, it is influenced by my surroundings the people I know, the friends I love, the women I admire, the things I hate. Its a hard job trying to do everything there is to do in life isn’t it?

However I have realized that the best moments of clarity come when you are in this nice little place called ‘Ease’. It could be your own room, it could be the beach or maybe you are the social sort and can only be at ease among the people you know. For me it comes when I sit down over a cup of tea, light a cigarette take a sip followed by a drag and then i’m in a good place. It is in this relaxed state that I am hit by new and strange ideas that help me understand life better.

And so this is me ladies and gentlemen. And this is my quest in life; Lead a long fulfilled existence and not die before taking everything it has got to offer. On this forum I will write as I move up in my mental list of experiences and perhaps know you better too. And what better way to talk about it but over a mug of tea and a cigarette.