The Big Move

2007-01-12T09:38:00.000-08:00

To learn about the Pashmina scarves and shawls I am importing from Pakistan, visit http:/www.shalimar-designs.com

I'm also taking suggestions for a spring and summer collection.

2007-01-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

Ode to the Gym Contract Guy

What I learned from you is to give people a chance to look around without being too pushy. You explained to me your services, showed me around the gym, and explained the terms of the contract. You even said I can take free classes next week to try things out. You did not push me to sign a contract.

Maybe we can take some lessons and apply them for making someone commit.

2006-12-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

As per my father's suggestion, I want to write about what I learn on the job, but this will focus on the how's rather than the substance of my work.

- If someone does something wrong, you don't always have to tell them about it. This isn't like real life where there is a desire to get someone back for doing you wrong, or when you are with someone you are close to you'd like them to be aware of something wrong. When working on a team, sometimes its better to be the first person to drop the issue and then just focus on your own work. Sometimes its irritating when you know you are right, but then again, you have to see these people everyday, so then it becomes a question of is it really worth it. Sometimes it is worth it and sometimes its not. Particularly its not worth it when it just becomes a cycle of personal revenge.

Its not because these are your bestest freinds, its that in this situation, you just want a semblance of peace, especially if you are going to be there for a year and don't want to waste the time getting each other back. Mostly its also because being the complaint raiser, even if I'm right about the complaint, I usually am the outspoken one among diplomatic "discreetness" so its ends up hurting me. Rather, I could be fueling my anger into my own achievements.

In my experience decent people often realize their mistakes anyways when I am silent about it, and try to make it up to me.

I have seen other people address problems by coming up with positive suggestions for the team or organization, and they often get credit for that.

- When in a place where people hold views you don't always agree with, you might be in a situation where you want to ask a speaker a question. Because I work in an international relations think tank, we deal with controversial issues all the time and being from Pakistan, I sometimes get afraid of how I will be perceived. Its better to frame your opposing view in the form of a question rather than a confrontational statement. It makes the person think of what you said as well as eliciting a response. Also, a question prevents you making an incorrect statement and reminds you of your limited capacity to know all the answers.

- People actually respect boldness nevertheless...somehow that still happens. One of the most quoted experts in this organization is the most blunt in his assessment of the administration and pentagon...but I dont know if that applies to newbies.

- When someone is harassing/bullying you by asking a bunch of intefering questions to micromanage your work, just answer quickly and move on. Don't waste time on a sharp response because you'll feel bad and they, being in a more powerful position, will be in a better position to get you back if they feel like it. When you socialize with friendlier types of people, the person gets the message that they could also be one of those lucky people you share your charm. If they are one of those clever types who tries to make connections, they learn it would be behove them to get on your good side..fast. This is especially true if you've been getting good at your job instead of focusing on them.

- When faced with a difficult situation, instead of being reactive and focusing on how to react to the negative...come up with a strategy. A strategy by definition puts the reigns in your hands, is proactive and preventative, and focuses you on how to take advantage of windows of positive opportunities.

-

2006-09-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

I'll put it simply.

Something is bothering me. There is a pebble underneath all my mattresses.

In a way I'm happy. Life is near- perfect and I thank God.

But lately I've been feeling some type of emptiness. I'm searching for my heart's content though. Lately I haven't been able to place my feeling of emptiness.

It may be homesickness. I left everything in Florida, I left my parent's home in Syracuse, and I left my aunt's home. All this was necessary but it was all in one year.

All I have left is my ambitions, but they aren't enough. I'm near the centers of power in Washington DC and in my job, but my proximity to them is not capturing me.

I want to go here and there to search for it. I am finding glimpses of it here and there - in my chai tea frappacino, for instance..

I feel like a person in a desert searching for water to quench my thirst. Its a literal reflection of my fasting in Ramadan, but on a differnet level I'm searching for something else.

2006-01-14T21:22:00.000-08:00

The Medieval Influence of Arabs on the Western Renaissance as Exemplified by The Scholar’s Guide

The monastic ideals of the tenth century, the time of the historians Roswitha and Dudo, seem foreign to most Westerners today. The Renaissance is known to stand between then and now, idealizing the attainment of human skill and potential. This was due to the rediscovery of humanism and the ideals of the Roman past. However, there was also a significant contribution from the Arab Muslims, and historians talk about this as the twelfth-century Renaissance. Remarkably the Muslim contribution also included translations of ancient Greek and Roman texts.

Jewish scholars played a major role in translating Arabic writings for the West. The Scholar’s Guide, which will be discussed here, was collected and translated from Arabic oral traditions into Latin by Petrus Alfonsi. The guide puts forth ideals of balance between the worldly and spiritual: One should attain wisdom as well as skill. Wealth should not be despised, but rather attained and used wisely. A legal system is needed since Divine Intervention cannot always settle matters on the spot.

A Renaissance man is one who has a well-rounded set of skills and interests. Similarly, in The Scholar’s Guide, the ideal is to possess a variety of skills as well as wisdom. A father tells his son,

“Aristotle, in the letter which he wrote to King Alexander, who had asked him whom he should choose for an adviser, answered him thus: ‘Choose’, he said, ‘one who is instructed in the seven liberal arts, learned in the seven principles, and master of the seven gentlemanly skills.’ I consider this to be true nobility.” (pg. 48)

The seven arts are enumerated by a teacher in the guide as dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, physics, music, and astronomy. (There was a debate about the seventh one). The seven gentlemanly pursuits are riding, swimming, archery, boxing, fowling, chess, and poetry.

Most Westerners do not despise wealth, an attitude different than the monastic ideal of self-denial. One precedent to this attitude is also illustrated in The Scholar’s Guide, which advises that wealth is good but should be used wisely. For example, a son responds to the question of whether he preferred riches or wisdom by saying, “Each of these things needs the other.” (pg. 43) Another teacher in the guide says, “Certainly; make money; but spend it wisely and on good things, and do not hide it in a vault.” (pg. 85)

In Roswitha’s morality plays, miracles helped win justice for the Christians. Although the Muslim creed reaffirmed miracles could occur, The Scholar’s Guide does speak of settling judicial matters with human efforts, much like the post-Renaissance era. There are examples of just men who were unjustly accused and not instantaneously helped by Divine Intervention. For example, in “The Parable of the Ten Barrels of Oil” a man is wrongly accused of stealing a rich man’s oil while burying his barrels of oil for him. A philosopher said, “I will help you, with God’s aid” and goes before a judge to help decide a case. (pg. 72) To determine whether the oil was really stolen the philosopher tells the judge, “If you find as much sediment in the half empty barrels as in the full barrels, you will know that the oil was stolen;” (pg. 73) The philosopher used his logic to help find the truth. If the rich man himself removed the oil in the beginning and made the barrels half-empty, he would have also taken out some of the sediment since it would not have as much time to reach the bottom of the barrel. If the accused man had taken out the oil, more time would have passed before he had gotten to the barrels so that just as much sediment would have sunk to the bottom of both the half-empty and full barrels.

Today, many people value the human potential, pursuing knowledge, skills, and wealth, often utilizing these capabilities towards justice. From The Scholar’s Guide, it can be seen how the Arab Muslims contributed to and set precedents for the Renaissance as early as the twelfth century.

Note: This essay was written in one of my introductory college courses which focused on medieval European history. I recently rewrote it and found it relevant to current events. As my professor intended, it disproves the idea of Western and Eastern cultures and religions evolving separately from each other. The lines of distinction are blurred so that one can find more cultural commonalities than expected between the West and the Muslim world.

(Now that's hot)

2005-11-19T18:02:00.000-08:00

I am Gori! I am Chitti! I am Gori Chitti!
(Translation: I am White! I am White! I am White White! )

Its true, living in the north makes my skin lighter, actually more like how it was when I born. This is making my mother excited, but she is not alone, because plenty of South Asians think that fair is lovely. In fact there is a knock-off of an REM song that I remembered some freinds singing as a joke: "That's me in the corner. That's me in the sun light, Losing my complexion."

I explained to her that its no big deal. My skin adjusts to the sun. When there is less sunshine, less of a tan is needed to protect me. 'So does this mean black people have dark skin to protect them from the sun because they come from the African climate?'. This made me think, isn't it funny that people live in whole separate neighborhoods based on their skin's ability to filter out sunlight?

OK its the culture thing, I'm all for celebrating ethnicity. I really like Iman's new book "The beauty of Color", because it reaffirmed my belief that in order to be beautiful one must take care of, nurture, and bring out their unique, natural God-given beauty, instead of trying to change to look like a different person. In one of the chapters she said people in her Somalian village used to make fun of her long, long neck. Later, at a photo shoot, the photographer looked at her and exclaimed "Now that's a neck!". The book has a picture of her with her neck outstretched like a swan, and a hairpiece of feathers!

I took this approach of just taking care of what I got and I got a lot more compliments. People are easy to sway, don't let them sway you into thinking you are not beautiful.

(Aisha is just about ready for her wedding.)

2005-11-18T15:46:00.000-08:00

According to this website, Syracuse, NY has the biggest snow plow in the world. When I was in Florida, Syracuse seemed like hell frozen over.

But so far, it hasn't been too terrible, and they say that winters have been tamer lately. Also, the weather here is actually cyclical with warm fronts followed by colder air, and the 4-5 winter months are followed by a long promenade of spring and summer months with very nice weather. We had a relatively moderate first half of November, with beautiful red, yellow, and brown leaves everywhere we looked, as well as cherry and cranapple trees.

Today, November 18th, was the first day we saw snow accumulate. As I walked to Walmart yesterday, with wind and light snow blowing on my face, my Florida sandals and awkward socks, I had a sudden flashback of my hometown Publix shopping center on a warm breezy day. I missed the days when I could just wear a simple outfit, and use it the whole year.

Recently in my flamenco group I met a Greek lady who had such very passionate nature, that she reminded me of "Zorba the Greek". She made me think of winter in a whole new way, describing it as "sumptuous". She loves the snow, taking walks, and drinking her cognac as she sits on the porch (Although I read at: http://international.syr.edu/syracuse_weather.htm, that drinking alcohol isn't that warming in the winter after all, but other foods that produce heat like cocoa and spices do warm the body). The way she described clothing made me look forward to dressing for winter - the feel of velvet, knits, fur and other variety of fabrics that can be worn.

So to welcome the winter I bought white fuzzy angora gloves, hat, and a scarf. I put on my blue felt skirt, topping my tank top with a cute knit blazer. I opened the blinds, letting in the view of the snow covered trees, drinking chai and listening to music. In the evening, I went on a brisk walk with my mother, seeing dear in the way.

Welcome my Syracuse Hell, my sumptuous time of white angora, hot cocoa, crackling fireplaces, and tasty snow.