Beauty, Revolution and Sufi Soul

The 0^th day of the Hammamet Conference begins. Like all British Council events, this is very much about Cultural exchange, and according to my understanding, this trip is about engaging with North Africans on issues of politics, youth activism and change. Themes of revolution place Tunisia as the perfect backdrop to the conference, yet ironically, 5-star treatment lends a curious lens to such discourse; am I acting like the same politicians I criticise for speaking about minimum wage and income tax over lobster dinners?

A 4:00 am insomnious start, and a 7:00 am flight later, I was quite blown away by the luscious skies of Enfidha.  I think about beauty all the time - objective beauty is a concept I attribute to divinity, and the divine majesty of the heavens makes me tremble. The wonderful blue skies patched with cool cotton clouds took me by surprise, as my experience of the Middle East has generally been scenic in a very different way. Much of the 0^th day was admittedly spent in a somnolent trance, but upon returning from my slumber, we had our first real opportunity to interact with the 45 (out of about 100) participants who had already arrived.

Dinner talk excited me. I was inspired. I have had many Arabesque political discussions over Moroccan tea and sheesha before (thankfully not mine), and one thing they are not, is inspiring. I was already humbled by the participant list which I had scanned beforehand, marking Oxbridge graduates, PhD candidates, CEOs and entrepreneurs –

If you are wondering what on earth I was doing in this company, join the club!

- but the discussions we were having were not arrogant ‘learn from the West and adopt our model’ discussions, nor were they ‘revolution has failed….revolution is the key’ discussions. They were very much discussions about the fabric of society, and where we have stopped questioning the systems and structures that govern our society. Discussions on educational reform, social equality, welfare, political engagement, activism, all seemed to point towards one direction; values. Our society was built on heart, and now the heart of society needs to be placed back in the system. One moment that almost led to me jumping off the table in excitement was when one lovely lady posed the question ‘who decided that elections are the best way to pick a leader in the first place?’

   

                                                       Crazy leftist revolutionist innit!

My recent interest in all issues of the world has led to a few stellar moments where I can genuinely say ‘Bloody hell, that opened my mind’. Day 0 provided me with quite a few of those.

The 1^th day of the conference is the still-not-started-but-semi-official-introduction day. A day trip to Tunis brought us to the British Council office, where we chose out of 4 focus groups to attend. Women’s role in Leadership seemed very tempting for me (and I hear it was quite the extravaganza), but I attended the ‘Youth Reflections’ workshop. A large number of speakers meant that we heard everything from a 19 year old prodigy seeking to revolutionise the education system, to twenty-something journalists, social entrepreneurs and youth activists trying to use their ‘new found freedom’ to contribute to society. 

The conference has not yet started, but perceptions seem to be that government bodies are too slow, not representative, and unreactive to the needs of the people. Albeit being tremendously interesting, the selection in the room made a very conscious decision to stay away from political parties and governments, and this was slightly alarming coming from a country fresh off ‘revolution’. I do hope the official start of conference will lead to a representative group who might present the ‘other side’ of the discourse as well, whatever that may look like.

A lovely lunch at Dar Zarrouk was very much overshadowed by the spectatular sea-side view seeping in through the large glass windows. We were then taken on a mini tour through the Roman Baths, Carthaginian ruins, and a lovely mosque facing a lovely cathedral, both names which elude me now. Hearing stories of the old mythology brought me memories of studying Hannibal in school. I also saw much of what seemed like Greek architecture, and undoubtedly, my lamentable awareness of history and geography did beg me to comment to myself,  'Dang, Billy Bob, I sure as hell din’t know Carth-auge was in Too-nisia.'

The return to Hammamet was met with the unclear-whether-it-is-formal-or-not official welcome dinner of the Conference, leading to a room full of suits, dresses, jeans and some t-shirts. A lovely dinner, followed by nice conversation once more lead to the optimistic conclusion about the thinkers of tomorrow. I have been frustrated by a lack of innovation in political and economic theory, and practical social structures, but it does feel like there are people out there passionate about the same things, and many of them are doing something about it, unlike myself.

The night ended with a live musical performance, starting with Arabic pop music, shifting to a much more cultural performance, and ending with a highly upbeat, highly Sufi extravaganza with drums, guitars, and crazy stringed-wooden-mallet type things that simulate the noise of falling rain. It was very reminiscent of my visit to Cyprus, visiting a Sufi master, and being quite taken aback by the intense back and forth swaying of everyone in the mosque, in a trance like spiritual state. The only difference between this and Cyprus, was that this had us at a formal gathering where top representatives in suits were sitting awkwardly on their tables, wondering whether to sway towards repetitive chants or not.

Somewhat inspired, certainly had some great discussion, opened up my thinking; not bad for the prelude to the Hammamet 2013 Conference. I feel infinitesimally blessed. Bring it on!

I want to be famous so I wrote a blog about Russel Brand

Russel Brand excites me.

It is strange when you feel an adrenaline rush from watching something completely non-static. Although describing a Brand interview as non static is a bit of a stretch. When I watch the Lord of the Rings, it is expected for me to want to jump up and scream at the screen like a lunatic; but unlike crazy rock music that might have a similar effect, words of change can spark wonders particularly when packaged in an accessible way.

I have a similar experience watching Aaron Sorkin’s work. ‘Moneyball’ got me pumped as hell, even though it was a film about people talking about baseball – nothing sounds less exciting. I’m a sucker for great writing, but reading aesthetically beautiful classical prose like Shakespeare does not have the same effect; that is because we want to relate. No one speaks Elizabethan English, so when someone makes an epic one-liner in Hamlet, it is very different from the effect of hearing a certain catch phrase uttered by John McClane.

Much like the reasons for political apathy that Mr. Brand speaks about, politicians do not represent the vast majority. For this reason amongst many, it can be very easy to ride off vote-seeking white, middle class males in suits who swear they’re looking out for your best interests.

Au contraire, it can be easy to fall head over heels for someone who comes out of the stereotype and hail them as the new messiah; the ‘Barack Obama’ effect, where the first black President is going to fix all the problems of this current unrepresentative system.

In Mahdi Hassan’s interview of Mr. Brand on Monday evening, when posed the question whether he would vote for someone that came from a poor background, similar to Russel’s own background, the glorious response was, ‘what is he going to do?’

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/11/05/huffruss-russell-brand-in-conversation-with-mehdi-hasan_n_4221633.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics&ir=UK+Politics

I don’t agree with some of his ideas, or methods, but boy do I want to jump up and scream at the screen when he rants about how our system is messed up and no one seems to care. He’s not a man with answers, but no one should expect him to be. In my opinion, he is providing solutions by begging us to come up with something better. All the social scientists, political activists, politicians, great thinkers, keyboard warriors perhaps: the onus is on you. Unless we have accepted that mankind needs to come to a stagnant plateau and that our current system is the best solution to addressing problems of economic disparity, and social inequality, then why should we criticise someone on the basis of wanting to make a change?

Sure, scrutinize his ideas, but he’s doing a hell of a lot more than many of us.

Mr. Brand represents an idea. Despite coming from a poor,  junkie background, he can sit down and hold his own with senior politicians and thinkers, without coming across as an idiot; and if he does, he makes the entire room laugh in the process.  He is highly eloquent, and is very much symbolic of the fact that being well educated does not mean solely scoring a double first class from Oxbridge. Much like a great film, he delivers ideas to us in a way that we, the masses, can appreciate and comprehend.

I have been critical of him in the past, and I am not jumping aboard the ‘Brand for PM’ bandwagon just yet,  but the next time he speaks, I will make sure I listen. That is more than I can say regarding most of the politicians in this country.

Sometimes you get some

It’s tough when you can’t put your finger on what exactly is wrong.

Sometimes you just have those days where everything is perfect; early start, productivity the entire day through, you have managed to accomplish more in a day than you would in 2 weeks!

…other days are like this; something just feels wrong; everything just feels wrong.

It is like that feeling when an activist has invested immense chunks of their lives devoted to a particular cause, only to come to the realization that all that spent time was fruitless – back to square one.

DISCLAIMER:  Good blogs take one theme or main point, and flesh it out succinctly. This is not a good blog.

People tell me I am talented. I know that some people look up to me. I am infinitesimally grateful for the blessings that have been bestowed upon me; but how much use is a jack of all traits, but master of none?

I dabble my fingers in a lot of pies, and I love it that way. Aside from a carb-loaded pot belly, it has led me to have some very diverse experiences and meet some incredible people. Yet, I am not exceptionally skilled at any one thing.  Lest it sound like I am being ungrateful, I do urge you to think carefully about what it means to be ‘GREAT’ at something; and if you still think I’m ungrateful, then shush! My opinions, MY OPINIONS, MY OPINIONS!!!!

I have been immensely lucky in life…immensely blessed.

People tell me I’m a social person. This can range from compliments on my public speaking ability (or inability?), to jokes-that-are-actually-serious-commentaries-on-my-life about how I just talk way too much. It is incredible how one’s perception of you might be so different to what you are on the inside. If one’s reflection revealed their inner character, I would walk around with a mirror just to remind myself who I’m truly not.

I can think of no better word to describe myself than an ‘introvert’. I was laughed at when I last uttered that sentence, but I know it to be true. It only became clearer when I took the Myers-Briggs test, and realized how people’s preferences might be completely different to what they externalize; because the system of work currently at play calls for a certain type of approach, many of us might be forced to adopt and possibly become good at a style/approach that we loathe.

I might elaborate on the above point in a later blog, as it is something I have given much thought to. I would not want to detract from the clear, take-home message that I am delivering to my ‘peeps in da club’.

I will conclude by saying that, sometimes certain experiences cause you to reflect upon yourself, and you might not like what you see. You might be an extremist (only used that word to get more hits on this post. Thanks for reading, CIA!) and hate yourself for not being perfect; none of us is. I’m not perfect, and if people expect me to be, then I should use that as fuel to egg me on towards my views of what perfection are (and not theirs).

I don’t know why I started writing. I don’t know if it made things clearer for me (like hell it made things clearer for any of you), but I do know that everyone has a story. We may think we understand someone’s psyche, yet we may land eons away from it and impose our paradigms on others. Sometimes things feel right, sometimes things feel wrong; sometimes you let things linger, sometimes things should remain what they are…JUST things.

One thing I can testify to, the feeling of engaging in long prayer at midnight as the city lays in peaceful slumber, will never cease to bring harmony to the most chaotic states of mind.

The Road to Success

I just saw an interesting video.

It spoke about how striving towards what our ideals in society have become, can have a rather isolating effect on people. In this modern age of connectedness via social media, we are under a constant illusion that we have tons of friends, that we are constantly connected with the world; rather, sometimes it catalyses the exact opposite effect, leaving one feeling completely alone.  It is almost as if you walk into a crowded masquerade ball, but quite soon the world around you starts dissolving away and the feeling of being in a completely separate dimension takes over.

Not that that has happened to me, of course; I don’t do balls!

I have thought about this point at great length. Namely, when one of my friends from abroad would be tagged in Facebook pictures, I would catch regular glimpses of what he was doing. In a non-stalking way, you probably get to see, in passing, status updates and pictures of people who you may almost never speak with. It is slightly creepy when you think about people who are actually actively ‘Facebook stalking’ you without your knowledge…(and the craziest thing is how completely normal people suddenly become crazy stalkers when it comes to Facebook). Anyway, this individual constantly appeared in pictures where he was partying, surrounded by attractive friends, attending great events, and seemed to be having the time of his life. I was completely shocked when I found out how miserable he really was.

This made me realize that what we have brought upon ourselves is the Celebrity culture. Where young girls (and guys) are still watching the brushed up actresses and super models, and getting completely unrealistic expectations of what a woman should look like; we have done the exact same thing through our virtual relationships. People may untag themselves in pictures where they don’t look flattering, they have the choice of deliberating their responses (and searching Google), editing/deleting before they reply to your chats or posts, and the glimpse into someone’s life that you get on a tool like Facebook is likely to be the equivalent of watching ‘Match of the Day’, or fast-forwarding through the highlights of a film.

I remember the three months after I graduated where I was unemployed, and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was lucky enough to partake in a leadership program at Oxford University, and I then found work soon after. One profile-picture change, and one status update later, I found that I was getting messages like ‘smashing it as usual, bro!’ and ‘you’re killing it after uni!’. My countless hours of going through an emotional rollercoaster in front of a computer screen simply translated into ‘success, success, SUCCESS!’. But what is success? What is happiness?

When I decided to become more observant of my Islamic faith, I was told by hoards of people that I was restricting myself, and missing out on life. When I started working for an NGO, I was told that I was not earning 40-50k, and so this will not lead to a successful career. When I don’t show anger or frustration at having missed a train, or a flight, I am told that I am irresponsible and that I do not care. My only confusion with this is…all these things make me happy. My faith, my attitude, my work; these are all things that give me purpose in life, and make me feel like I am living to the fullest. Yes, NOT drinking alcohol makes me feel like I am living to the fullest. NOT clubbing or having pre-marital sex gives me a sense of joy, and instills a sacredness in the institution of marriage for me. Being able to pay for a roof over my head, food to eat, and social events is more than enough for me at this stage. I do not need to be able to afford a Ferrari. If I could, would that make me successful?

To me, happiness is success. Period. If you can find happiness in everything that you do, the best of times and the worst, then you have made it. You are the top dog, the G, the legend, the Frank Sinatra, the don. From there, you can start to define your own successes and failures, but regardless of the result, YOU will still be SUCCESSFUL, because you will still be happy.

Funny thing is, the people who tell me I am restricting my life start getting agitated unless they have smoked a joint, or intoxicated themselves beyond the point of memory. The same ‘successful’ individuals who are making tons of cash are constantly trying to reach higher targets, without being able to fully enjoy what they do have. The people who start wailing over spilt milk….just aren’t using logic. The milk is spilt already; duuh! Freaking out, raising your stress levels, cursing, punching a wall, will not cause time to rewind.

Sometimes circumstances dictate our decisions; but everyone has a different measure of happiness. Some people might actually enjoy being bankers. True, they might share more genetic material with Martians and Venusians than humans, but they do exist. As a society, maybe we should not impose our ideals of success on people, but rather, encourage people to pursue the true road to success; and what success can there be, without happiness.

Be a Teacher

Be a teacher…

‘Even if you aren’t going to be a teacher, be a teacher’

This post is inspired by the viral graduation speech made by Tim Minchin. I thought it was phenomenal. I sometimes wonder whether real graduations actually have guest speakers like that, or whether it is some Hollywood fantasy that YouTube has concocted to make us believe in ourselves once more; obviously, Disney is behind it.

He gave 9 superb points of advice, but the one that really resonated with me was about teaching.

The type of society I was brought up in measures success by how high up the banking ladder one is, or how many 0’s one can write on a check (before the decimal point, that is!). Teaching as a profession is not the most extravagant job, there are not many prospects for massive bonuses and prestige, and so it is not regarded in the best light. If one wishes to become a teacher, most of the time, the talk of the town will be that said person did badly on their exams, or could not find a job, and hence resorted to teaching. Unfortunately, there is truth to that point, and some people do resort to teaching as a last resort. Thankfully, this mentality does not exist everywhere, but I was surrounded by it.

Naturally, when I chose to pursue a Bachelors in Mathematics, the first question I was asked was ‘Why? You want to be a teacher?’.

‘No, no… I would never degrade myself to teaching life skills to our future generations. It is far more important for me to wear a suit I can’t fit in, drive a car whose name I can’t pronounce, all the while, appeasing the same demographic of society that sets out to please itself’

Ok, I never said that! I won’t lie, I got this question so much that I usually had a  large list of professions ready to convince people that a Maths degree was for more than ‘just’ Maths teachers. I would pull out articles about Maths graduates earning high salaries, and how ‘demanded’ we would be. It was as if I were hell-bent on being seen as successful BECAUSE I wanted not to be a teacher.

I do not want to be a full-time teacher by profession. Although I am passionate about change within the Education sector, and I have always been open to teaching on a voluntary basis, locally or in third world countries, I do not wish to be a Teacher with a capital T. I respect the hell out of Teachers though. I admire them. I can remember almost every teacher I have ever had, whether they were horrendous, exemplary or just plain ordinary, because that is the effect a teacher has on a young mind.

That puts me in the category that the majority of us non-Teachers are in; a teacher – with a small t.

Education should never become elitist. It it does/if it has, then it is up to us to teach, and pass on anything we have learnt. Be that experience, skills or knowledge. You learn with each passing second. Even if you ‘never learn’, you learn.  A conversation with a smiting idiot will teach you a number of things: -

1)   Don’t engage in conversations with smiting idiots

2)   The best way to escape a conversation with a smiting idiot

3)   The smiting idiot might break character for but a moment in an impromptu departure from smiting idiocy, and you might actually take something beneficial away

4)   Who the hell am I to call someone a smiting idiot? Maybe I am being judgmental

Life really is about learning. To live is to learn, and philosophically, I fail to see how the concept of life, time, reality and learning can be separated whatsoever (that could lead to an interesting discussion if I weren't the only reader of this blog). What better way to express our life, our learning, but by teaching? To me, that is poetry.

Be a Teacher, or spend your life teaching