Wadiblog

Scientists reported Thursday that there is such a drug

Wouldn’t this be nice?

Since this speech by Obama is already getting old, (it was delivered last week in Berlin,) I wouldn’t want to waste time by asking people to come together to listen to it. Everyone should listen to this speech, and hear a citizen of humanity speaking for himself and others, countless others, including me:

[Excerpt:] “… Partnership and co-operation among nations is not a choice. It is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity. That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us again. ..”

My stance is the stance of one who stands the test of fire.
My drum the raging force of burning, over-come desire.
I march to the beat of my own raging beating drum.
I dance my fire-dance like only few can but inspire.

People dance with fire, yet I dance to my own flame.
My fire is my turban, and my flame is my own name.
In this crazy world, I choose to play yet I refrain,
from playing any game but the one I find insane!

The game I choose to play is the game Allmighty One,
has made for us to learn with every daughter every son.
The game of learning more; of seeking out our truth galore.
The game of finding who we are, whatever makes us run.

This - , my crazy world is seeking not in sanity.
Living mass delusion, preaching MASS insanity.
Thus insane, the game, pulls my burning heart to play.
To seek out my own answers, to make out my own way.

Danced my heart out here - a gift to a friend - click here to see it.

If number of attendees and their active participation in a program is the litmus test of an event’s success then OPEN Forum 2008, Silicon Valley Chapter of Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America’s annual event, held on June 14, 2008, was hugely successful.

Here you see evening keynote speaker Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, speaking on ‘Leadership and Empowerment.’

See more pictures and report on
http://karachiphotoblog.blogspot.com/

Across the finite chasm of separation - recognition beckons me.
Can thy mind receive me - and _does_ thy heart conceive, see?
Can we give in and allow what can become, to be?

..
This place we stand in now, blessed one - is ripe with opportunity..
How to express the hope, of seeing where this leads?
How to discover, the highest branch of this tree?

Are you the island - souls could find a continent worth exploring?
Have you the waterfalls, that nurse and rejuvenate those who discover thee?
Do you have the desire to explore, to see, where this NOW could lead?

…
Are your passions, and intensities of outrageous proportions -
ready to back against a counter deep and solid in its foundation?
Are your curiosities, the infinite wonder of thee, ready for more - to feel?

Have you suffered enough, my love, to help belittle the suffering of me?
Do you desire enough, aay jaan, to know that I too desire thee?
Do you wonder, as I do, if you should be sitting here with me?

Allow me to rid this game of the mee and the theee, habeebti! *
Enable me to explore the real essence of HOO, ya WaHEE.. **
Permit me the partner, sojourner, on this journey - to nahEEN! ***

~ Aaas (deeply held desire)

(* |habeebti: beloved {feminine specific}, in Arabic.)
(** |HOO: That Which IS. |WaHEE: That ONE. |Ya Wahee: O - that One!)
(*** |nahEEN: Negation of all things, including desire.)
This poem is akin to a response to my first post on this site, below.

The Tragedy of TIME. (Fear written in, upon realizing my limitations: 1993)

The TIME I don’t have - the time I don’t have..
deterring me from LOVE itself, is but the time I don’t have.

What I would do, to be with you - to teach you, guide you, help you through.
What I would pay to hold your hand - my legs would crumble, help me stand.
What I would give to see your sighs - to hear your laughter and your cries..
to share with you the little time - I WISH I HAD, that I don’t have….

When comes the day I EARN this time: I’ll fly your way, to CLAIM you mine..
and there DISCOVER - to my horror - that there is time, that YOU don’t have..

[The piece above bothered me to no end. I desired a way to undo the spell
of those sorry words. What came below, in Nov ‘04, -while playing with my firstborn- was a birthday present pre-packaged as a self-realized response:]

The Ecstasy of TIME! (Fear transmuted as the Power of Letting Go took hold.)

The time I do have, ooh, the time I DO have!
BRINGING to me LOVE itself, is but the time I DO have.

The work I do, the time I earn - is all done to be with you.
The things I yearn, and all I learn - are just better done with U!
The gift YOU are, All-Thanks is not, enough said for knowing You!
The Path is now so very clear - a loss for words you put me to!

The day has come I LEARN that time, is only what I DO with mine.. ~!~
.. and here discover, to my honor- that HERE is TIME, that I can have!

The love of seeking Destiny =*= marks the Greatest wish in me,
which DESIRE, for a better.. Future =*= created in me.
Which can be attained by us =*= ‘AS U COMPREHEND YOURSELF**
U UNDERSTAND WHAT RULES U’ =*= since the begining’s in WE.

What this mortal does desire =*= is to win goodness within.
What dreams and aspirations are =*= to achieve them, as we win..
Leave no mark of his own SELF =*= on a single speck of earth,
which he may not set alight =*= with the goodness found here-in!

A conqueror of hearts and words =*= has this gripe to pick with thee.
Without the love to conquer all =*= what’s the joy in what we be?
Oh ‘Desirer’ for thy sake =*= spoke the ‘Poet Of The East’
“Raise thyself to heights so great =*= Fate my seek Thy Destiny.”

———————————————————————————————-
**
This is a famous, mystical quote attributed to the source of most mystical, sufi traditions: Ali KAW, son of Abu Talib (|Abu Talib: father of the seeker).
The original: “Man Arafa Nafsuhoo, faqad Arafah Rabbuhoo.”
The simplest translation: Know thyself, and know thy Lord.

I now think of me as I am..
a maturing thought - yet realizing itself.
I have always seen myself as I envision -
a reality coming about in its own time.
Altering destiny in its wake, more than the story of me.
It’s beyond what we see; the story of a past yet to be.
~
I remember, as a child, wanting the non-existant..
desiring toys uninvented, that were to become my tools.
Wanting to play with model airplanes, and the mind,
with flight simulators and grand opponents, strategizing.
I recall longing for that chess partner, no longer around.
And friends distant I wish I could chat with, and confound!
~
And I look back and realize that my dreams are ..
no longer dreams anymore. So many of them.
My dreams have the ability to alter reality, see?
So many toys I have today are the result of wishes.
So many joys of mine are outcomes of dreams -
and these dreams - children of desires screamed!
~
I remember grieving over the Commodore 64,
and now what do I play with? Mac OS X galore!
Windows 3.1 showed possibility, but left me wanting more,
So I asked for it to change, and it became Vista via M.E!
I desired the means to share thoughts across time,
and now we have the web & blogging, beyond MIME.
~
I remember missing my baby sister, beloved she.
And now I am blessed to be father to a her and a he!
So now that I know that my dreams create -
they create the future and the history of time..
Why don’t I then employ them to Liberate -
this future, so beloved, beyond the curtain blind?
~
Help the new age that arrives, as yours and mine,
straight from the Source, through intention divine!
Which we are! You can see: it is so! Here are we.
And my desire -my burning need- I say is One.
I wish to attain that single most worthy of goals..
I seek to KNOW -to remain in union with- ALL *.*
~
So that when I go, its not so much a departure..
as it is an arrival - to the place of my desires.
And what, do you ask, is the place of my desires?
It is the state of connectedness to the source of ALL *.*
And what, do you think I mean by these elusive words?
I mean exactly what Rumi meant, when he spoke of being more.
~~
*.* = All-Wisdom, All-Grace, All-Knowing, All-Love!

Across the vast chasm of time, this message I send to thee.
Do thine eyes believe, and did thy mind learn to see?
Have you become - all you know you can be?

This place you stand in today -
Meri Jaan, (ooh love of mine!)
leads doors into UNTOLD wonders..

How I ache to know - which door you opened..
What I’d give to know - which path you chose.
Yet how I look forward - to the adventures that await me!

This seed of life -precious gift- I know I’m blessed to share.
How did _I_ Water my tree?
How did I grow? How do you be?

[ Across time I ask.. .. ..]

Are you the islands your children know as playground?
Have you the fountains that enliven those who love you?

Made you that abode in rare mountain skies,
of clouds and long-held dreams come true?

Have the stars today become more than beacons?
Are they destinations along your journeys?

Did you find that treasure you’ve lived for,
beyond the wildest dreams you ever knew?

[ Across time answer me!! !! !!]

Do your children, apples of your eyes,
adore you as their best friend alive?

Did the mood you awoke to this morning,
resonate with the feeling “you’ve arrived?”

Does she - Oooooooohhh S - H - E,
does she live you, and breathe YOU, and in your love - thrive?

Did you succeed this life, Meri Jaan?
Did the song in your heart become the dance of our lives?

In you, O Beloved, do I survive?

Trip to Lahore

I went for the first time in Sep 06’. Lahore appeared to be a combination of Karachi and Islamabad. I found it to be between the over commercialized hustle & bustle of Karachi and the super quiet suburbs of Islamabad.

I was staying at my step dad’s uncles house. A day after exchanging pleasantries I left our hosts and mom to venture into the city. Abassi was a friendly fellow who was overly eager to show us a good time. He was to be our driver for the trip. You would just have to ask and Abassi would have the job one. I asked Abassi to take me to all the popular tourist spots. First stop Badshai mosque. This colossal structure was built by a mogul emperor in the 17^th century. The month was September and had just started Ramadan. As a traveler I was not fasting because I would make them up when I came back to Cali. The first thing I noticed about the mosque was its sheer size. The courtyard in front of the mosque was massive. Red tiles paved the entire ground. We walked towards the mosque in the merciless Lahori sun. The inside of the mosque was cool. There was a feeling of serenity as people prayed while the fans pushed around the cool air. I also found locals casually taking refuge inside.

I peered from the mosque and saw a maze of neighborhoods. Abassi said that the convolutions of alleys and houses that I was seeing was Heera Mandi (Diamond Market). Heera Mandi is a notoriously famous red light district in Pakistan. The irony was that I could see a gate which led from the Badshai mosque directly into the sordid Mandi. The average local could sin and cross the gate for immediate atonement. How convenient. I had just finished a book “Dancing Girls of Lahore” and had become acquainted with the history of the area. I took Abassi and ventured into Heera Mandi. For a foreigner like me it was pretty hard to detect that I was standing in an area whose primary business was prostitution. The tall skinny buildings and garbage strewn alleys seemed completely in place in Pakistan. At the base of the tall houses I saw the usual businesses like tailors and meat shops. Yet, I was aware that behind the walls of these tall houses, there was an entirely different type of business going on.

The next scene of attraction was Lal Qilal “The Red Fort”. There is some ambiguity when this Mogul structure was constructed. This fort is insanely huge. It’s so big that you could fit a small city inside it. Walking one end to the other could be considered a cardio activity. Abassi hid me from the admissions officer so that I wouldn’t be charged double as a foreigner. The inside of the fort was fairly nice. A lot of the structure had deteriorated. When I went the Sheesh Mahal (Glass palace) was being renovated. I suppose the fort looked better from the outside then the inside. There were so many chamabers and rooms that it was hard to distinguish what was what. I did see the king and queen’s chamber. I wish there was some type of guided tour. I let my imagination decide what was what. “Oh here is the look out post to see advancing enemies”. “Oh, this must be the courtyard where the king chilled.”

The day was coming to an end and I had completely forgotten that poor Abassi had to break fast. Even in a historic city like Lahore, I could not help but feel the American come out in me. Next stop, McDonalds.