women under siege

14 May 2012

For me, Spring 2012 has been about Women Under Siege, a Voices Breaking Boundaries production, which I’ve been working on since December 2011. We had an intense Part 1 on April 28, packed with videos, installations and performances. A large number of community members showed up to express their views and respond to the art, and many stories were recorded.

Part 2 was held just this past weekend, a quieter production that was an opportunity to digest and reflect on the art and conversation from two weeks ago. Pictures can be viewed on VBB’s Flickr site. Videos and other documentation will be uploaded soon.

Meanwhile, you can read some of the press about the show by visiting CultureMap’s coverage as well as a Houston Chronicle editorial.

exploring the neighborhood...

21 March 2012

We’ve been driving by the gates of Villa de Mittal for more than five years and I’ve often wanted to explore the greenery beyond. After meeting Sister Paulette at a gathering, I set a time with her so Minal, my mother and I can actually see what lies behind the gates.

On the guided tour, we explore the graveyard, the forest, the actual building where the sisters live and also the chapel. As we walk through the forest trails, we see many trees that are marked to be cut down because of the recent drought. Even still, there is shade and this visit with nature — in an enclave created in 1920 — seems distant from !-45 just half a mile away.

“There are very few sisters here now,” explains Sister Paulette. “When I started here, I had to live in a dorm. We have private rooms now.”

Ever curious, Minal asks: “Why?”

“I don’t know,” responds Sister. “Would you be interested in joining?”

I’m relieved to hear Minal’s response.

stuck in traffic...

9 March 2012

On our way home from Minal’s school, we find ourselves in an obstacle course. All roads leading east are blocked off. President Obama is landing in Fort Ellington and there’s no way to get across the freeway to our side of town. Ninety – NINETY – minutes later, the police finally open up the roadways.

I thought this only happened in Pakistan.

op-ed in the houston chronicle

28 January 2012

On January 27, 2012 my op-ed Observing social change, in Houston and Karachi appeared in the Houston Chronicle.

why aren't there any women?

16 January 2012

“Why aren’t there any women leaders being remembered today?” Minal asks. She’s happy that she knows more about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but is also curious about pieces of history that she still hasn’t learned.

We talk to her about Rosa Parks and play Thank you, Sister Rosa,” the Neville Brothers song that I was introduced to years ago by my friend Robin. If she were a little older, we could plan to take her to see Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock that will be playing at Rice Cinema in a few days.

a room of one's own...

15 January 2012

Collaboration can be fabulous but working alone is often under-rated. Susan Cain’s op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times reminds us of how creativity is connected to solitude.

departure...

27 December 2011

I head to Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport on December 27, the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, who was murdered four years ago. Buildings and cars were set on fire that day as the country shut down to mourn. Check my blog entries from December 2007:

- 2:00 pm, Friday, December 28, 2007;

- 7:00 pm, Friday, December 28, 2007;

- 9:00 pm, Friday, December 28, 2007;

- 29 December 2007;

- 30 December 2007.

performing for "the people"

26 December 2011

Yesterday was the much-anticipated PTI-Imran Khan rally in Karachi. I watched some of the performance on television and was amused to see Khan’s speech punctuated by pop music – a good distraction from the mixed messages embedded in Khan’s campaign. (Check Newsline blog.)

a trip to the interior...

25 December 2011

I catch a ride to villages outside of the rural township of Sujawal with architect Shahid Khan, CEO of Indus Earth Trust, an NGO that’s working with the coastal rural communities in Sindh and Balochistan. Shahid Khan is training villagers to reconstruct new hutments using indigenous materials after the flooding that devastated Sindh over the last two years.

Part of the organization’s efforts involve education and support of traditional art such as the creation of rillis using cotton rather than polyester that has permeated the region. Other forms of art, drawings on clay, also appear in spaces.

"security"...

21 December 2011

On an afternoon visit to the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi, Karachi’s patron saint, I am not surprised that we have to go through a security gate, or that the main road outside the building is surrounded by barbed wires.

memories...

19 December 2011

I always enjoy visiting the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi. Today, I spend some time with Tazeen Hussain, who will be helping out with VBB spring living room art productions.

As I leave the building, I visit the IVS Alumni exhibition and walk through the beautifully constructed building. The basket installation catches my eye, and I am reminded of the times when Dadiamman dropped her basket into our courtyard, and Ammi sent her the garlic or onions she needed to complete her dish.

Her basket was not exactly like the ones exhibited here, but just seeing these roped objects throws me back to a childhood on Jamshed Road.

daily living

17 December 2011

We go for a walk late at night at General’s Park. I always cringe when we name the park — Pakistan certainly has a strong history with generals, and to stamp that name upon a great space for families, kids, and multiple activities is a sad reminder of our history. I’m happy, though, to see that roller-skating rink is still in action. On the trail, there’s a good mix of fast-paced walkers, joggers mixed in with a sprinkling of hijabis. They must have been sweating quite a bit.

Earlier in the day, I stop by Ashiana shopping center to pick up a few gifts, and as always there’s a guard at the entrance.

taking off again...

15 December 2011

I’ve landed in Karachi after a fairly painless 24-hour journey.

I fly out of Houston Intercontinental Airport’s Mickey Leland international terminal. At the security gates and am asked to raise my arms so guards can take a full body x-ray. This is the first time I’ve had to undergo that process. But I’m luckier than others.

As I buckle my belt and shove my laptop into my backpack, I watch officers escort an older West African woman to a private area to undergo a full body search. Her husband’s gaze is fixed on his wife as she’s led away from him. They exchange words in a language that I don’t understand. I can only imagine what they must be saying to each other.

ideas are bullet-proof...

11 November 2011

Graffiti along Allen Parkway.

another minal-ism

30 October 2011

Minal stares at a pink bag in a grocery store. She reads the words: Buy me now. Save Texas – purchase your own grocery bag.

She turns to me. “Actually, you can save the world if you don’t cut trees.”

art and rain...

19 September 2011

Minal and I start out the day by attending the Houston Fine Art Fair, where we see exhibition booths set up by galleries around the US. One of the highlights for Minal is an inflated sculpture by William Cannings which she can actually touch.

We spend the second half of the day grocery shopping at Central Market. As we sit down on the upstairs patio to eat a fast lunch, we witness a rainstorm, the first in Houston during one of the worst drought periods in the history of the state. In the meantime, though, we are profoundly aware of more flooding in Sindh, which still has not recovered from the monsoons of 2010.

morning meanderings with minal

7 September 2011

I love the early hours when I drop off Minal to school. She always has new philosophies that she’s exploring, and we manage to cover a large terrain during our 12-minute drive.

Today, she asks me, “Ammi, is there a king in China?”

I respond with my standard question to her questions: “What do you think?”

She shakes her her head. “No.”

“Why do you think?”

“Because they have a president,” she says.

I lower the windows and a cool breeze blows through the car. Together, we observe the growing numbers of cars, buses and pedestrians along West Gray Street.

She pipes up again: “Why are there more poor people in Karachi than there are in Houston?”

“Hmm. Why do you think?”

This time she does not have a handy response. “Just tell me!”

We then talk about what “poverty” means and how we can identify who’s poor and who is not.

This time she has an answer: “People who are poor have sad faces. And their faces are also long.”

We have reached her school by now, and before she hops out of the car, she reads a passage from a Magic Tree House that she’s been reading. I don’t remember the details, but there’s something about how once in China scholars were valued, and then people stopped supporting their words and their learning.

Long after I’ve dropped her off, I find myself thinking about messages that are embedded in children’s books. It makes sense that the Magic Tree House series, published and widely read in the US, would underscore mainstream US readers’ views about China.

This conversation gets me thinking about another children’s book, a Newbery Medal winner that I recently purchased for Minal, but one I gave away after re-reading: Island of the Blue Dolphins centers around a young girl abandoned by her family on an island that’s invaded by enemies in a red ship (Russians). She’s ultimately saved by sailors on a ship with white sails (no surprise: Americans from California). The book was published in 1960. As a young child reading the text in Karachi, I didn’t quite digest why an indigenous girl would be shown as being “saved” by sailors on a white ship or what the red vs white conflict meant – even though I was raised in a politically aware family. But now, I certainly do understand. I would rather Minal read this book at a time in her life when we can talk about all aspects of the text.

eid on hillcroft

30 August 2011

This year, Minal participates in Chand Raat festivities. We meet friends at Hillcroft, and Minal gets mehndi on her palms. On Eid itself, I cook up a feast, and Minal collects both rupees and dollars for eedhi.

gearing up for VBB's season opener

20 August 2011

We are gearing up for VBB’s season opener. The flinging of my chappals across the electric wires on Dowling Street is the formal launch of the project. Don’t miss the show – October 22, 2011.

my essay in dawn's books & authors

14 August 2011

My essay “Devouring Mangoes with Gusto” appeared in Dawn Books & Author’s special Independence Day issue.