it’s been a busy weekend. with the premiere of ‘being black in america’ by @voicesproj @jackiephotographyroc at the voices rising film festival @lovewinsfilms in islip on saturday and a lovely get together/lunch at our house followed by a walk at the beach with our rochester fam on sunday. so good to see u @jackiemcgriff @bycocoarae and @taurussavant
it’s been a busy weekend. a dholki on friday and a beautiful shaadi on saturday – the kind of wedding where everything is planned to perfection and the bride and groom’s love for each other seems to fill the air with poetry
the sky over west meadow beach today. such majesty and ugliness in our world, all at the same time. sending my love to palestine and lebanon. may the sky be safe and beautiful for all of us
finally a picture from my last trip to rochester in aug, where i attended a beautiful wedding, spent hours having profound discussions with friends in their lived-in gardens (thank u karen, ruhi and tom) and their welcoming homes – sometimes until after 2am (thank u matt, molly, maysaa, mazin, ayesha, tabassam, erica and rajesh). #grateful
lunch with the lovely kiran on tuesday. she took these beautiful pictures of our house. so much fun to hang out with another lover of abbas kiarostami’s film work
downtime and karaoke with friends last night and a meeting organized by @phototrouveemagazine where we got to meet in nyc and exchange photos today. a much needed break <3
in a world full of violence and death, some stories manage to sparkle like drops of sunshine and make one’s heart sing. look at imane khelif who grew up in an algerian village and sold scrap metal to pay for bus trips to the city where she trained as a boxer. her dad is a welder, her mom sold couscous to support her daughter’s dream. now arshad nadeem from a small village in pakistan, who built his skills in javelin throwing by practicing tent pegging, has broken olympic records with a stunning throw of 92.97 meters. his dad is a mason who makes as little as $1/day at times. when gas bills got too high, the family was forced to use a coal pit for cooking, but they made sure arshad continued to have the diet he needed. to rise from such humble beginnings and become the best in the world, to compete with athletes trained by states and given an abundance of resources, to come from the global south and win in colonial empires – what incredible power and audacity! u make us proud!
btw still boycotting the olympics. come across these stories on social media and in whatsapp groups 🙂
for the wedding i wore my mom’s french chiffon sari.
photograph by our daughter <3
why south asian weddings are the best! so much love, loud music, nonstop dancing, and good food at mehndis. a lot of the songs and colorful rituals come from the beautiful province of punjab, the land of five rivers, which extends beyond and across the pakistan-india border and for centuries has been the center of music, literature, art, and sufism. nothing sets the tone of a wedding better than the double-headed dhol or noisy drums that signal the arrival of the groom’s family.
ran into missy by chance this morning as she was picking up coffees for herself and her husband at the village bakery. another serendipitous meeting in roc, and then a vibrant discussion with my fam (rajesh and muna) about activism and palestine. got interrupted by a white lady sitting nearby who tried to police our convo and left in a huff. white fragility and tears are the flip side of white privilege, trust me. should write more about this.
in rochester for a wedding and oh, how beautiful it is here. not as hot as on long island, with gorgeous blue skies and greenery so abundant it takes one’s breath away. a walk in cobbs hill park, dinner at sinbad’s, and best of all randomly running into our friend johannes as he was taking a turn on his bike – what are the chances, right? only in roc.
happy father’s day to my dad who gave us a hunger for life! this might be in austria a long time ago, on one of our trips across europe.
happy mother’s day to my beautiful mom! a ravian who studied english literature at the prestigious government college lahore in the 1960s (tariq ali studied there at the same time), she always set the bar v high for all of us. love u ammi and thank u <3
a full day in rochester yesterday before i drove back home: with kate, carol and laura at spot coffee, some gupshup and tea with shahida, and finally a splendid home-cooked afghan dinner with the beautiful marzia and fatima <3
sunday: lovely breakfast with ted at hydra coffee, lunch at sinbad’s with andrea who is working on a fascinating project about river cultures and collective memory, a visit to ruth and russell’s old home on crosman terrace (russell’s garden looks as splendid as ever), finally, ‘newtown’ the play about sandy hook at geva theatre (thank u laura) with my friend muna, followed by some late night gupshup at java’s.
