well. yesterday was fun. I went over to hang out with haniya and zeb (www.khamakha.net) . This friend of ours KV also came along and we had an audience of like maybe 3 other people; zeb's bro . her friend and her cousin who came in, and told me he was in gauher's batch. everytime that happens i go 'oh no'. haha. anyway. we didnt jam as much as we talked but i generally had a great time. KV is a really talented guitarist and so is haniya man. going to berklee feels great but i will really miss being with my people. Excited about pink floyed at the Live 8, kv is pulling togther a cover of comfortably numb, featuring haniya, aamir alvi and myself. lets hope we get it done and not jinx it like most other projects. we'll either be appluaded for a great rendition for years to come or just be subjected to worldwide criticism by angry pink floyd fans. muahaha. so be it.

what is wrong with people on orkut. no batista the champion i dont want to add you as a friend

people who think that musicians are just a source of entertainment really piss me off. really they do. they need to be shot. i decided to humor this child who interns at dawn. and he went on and on about how musicians, and artists were talented but were just entertainers and could do nothing for the country. this kid wants to be a politician and change pakistan. he even went ahead to say that in the end, it takes one man and a sound conscience. and what is the problem with debator bachas? i mean who is the idiot at camp teaching them to blindly argue with everything anyone ever says to them. its wrong i tell you.

khair, so i explain to him that while most musicians in pakistan do entertain, they do infact portray pakistan in a positive or negative light. this is because the common man, who doesnt know much about economics and gdp... will obviously assess his country in terms of media representation. like you know, when i was watching ray charles i realised that i didnt know a thing about him before i had seen the movie. so credit goes to the west for paying tribute time and time again to its greatest musicians, politicians, poets, writers, painters and all. that led me to think how well thought out they were. if you try making a tribute film in pakistan no one would get it and itd be a waste of money.
Thus I, without having consulted any gdp figures, concluded that people of the west had a constructed, far more evolved, manner of thought. Just because of the movie.

Similarly, as i explained to the boy. Poeple all over the world are silly. They honestly believe that pakistanis are extremist, terrorist, violent, people. But here they read, The Bost Globe. About this totally normal girl from pakistan. who likes music and wants to pursue it. Its a simple thought. But just the representation as a pakistani who wants to attempt something as soulfull and passionate as music - changes our impression. It's so normal. So pakistan isnt all that scary. These people are human, just like us. THAT is the difference made.

This is where the kid got really pointlessly argumentative. saying things like, 'Is one article in a foreign newspaper going to change pakistan.' Buss phir I dismissed the child here.

You cant just sit back and be selfish saying oh fine im going to get my degree and earn lots of money and start a family. sure i mean a lot of people do that but the majority of them shouldnt. SS majors, or political science majors, music majors, engineers, doctors, drama, art, im not leaving anything out. people shouldnt be saying, oh whatever youre doing a degree in art and thats no good. oh you arent an engineer, thats no good. all of us who are working right now should be working with a goal. As people of this country I think all of us are responsible for recognizing this duty.

anyway. so that is the thing. musicians are generally percieved to be selfish or narcissistic. i mean why shouldnt they be. everyone wants your interview. they ask you about your music. they tell you about your talent. they pay you money. your opinion matters to people. its so easy to become selfish and acquire a bloated head. But. The trick is to not be selfish. and to not have a bloated head. I really do hope that kids like the one above can get some sense into their heads; and everyone else who think that we're here for fun and games will grow up and start thinking progressively.