استیو

steve.

إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on." ~ Steve Jobs

این کجا و آن کجا

 

جای موسی کوه طور و جای احمد تاق عرش
هر دو یک معراج اما این کجا و آن کجا ؟ 

دانة فلفل سیاه و خال مهرویان سیاه

هر دو یک خال اند اما این کجا و آن کجا ؟

The city as a sacred place

At the end of the third Punic war, when invading Romans stood ready to raze ancient Carthage to the ground, one citizen pleaded with the victors in the poignant appeal below, recorded by Appian. For Yi-Fu Tuan, this is a telling account of a primordial relationship between a society and the places it has come to love. The city, through intense, sustained connection, through the memories and stories we weave around its familiar alleys, can achieve a sacred, personified character.  

"This is what we have to say concerning the former treaties and those made with yourselves. If you do not care to hear it we will omit it altogether and have recourse to prayers and tears, the one refuge of the unfortunate, for which there is ample occasion in the greatness of our calamity.

We beseech you, in behalf of an ancient city founded by command of the gods, in behalf of a glory that has become great and a name pervading the whole world, of the many temples it contains and of its gods who have done you no wrong. Do not deprive them of their festivals, solemnities, and sacrifices. Deprive not the dead who have never harmed you, of the offerings which their children bring to their tombs. If you have pity for us (as you say that out of pity you yield us another dwelling place), spare our shrines, spare our forum, respect the deity who presides over our council, and all else that is dear and precious to the living. What fear can you have of Carthage when you are in possession of our ships and our arms and our hateful elephants?

As to a change of dwelling place (if that is considered in the light of a consolation), it is impracticable for our people, a countless number of whom get their living by the sea, to move into the country. We propose an alternative more desirable for us and more glorious for you. Spare the city which has done you no harm, but if you please, kill us, whom you have ordered to move away. In this way you will seem to vent your wrath upon men, not upon temples, gods, tombs, and an innocent city."

And to this, Yi-Fu Tuan adds a thought provoking commentary: "Suppose that Martians have invaded America and are at the gates of Minneapolis. It is hard to believe that our city councilors will plead with the Martians to kill us but save Nicollet Mall, which has done them no harm". Even if we can't relate to the sentiments of ancient urbanites, with their patron gods and foundation myths, we can still reflect on those places that evoke intense emotions, even when we know they are probably imaginary constructions of "homeland"

بلخی

یہ عشق نہیں آسان، بس اتنا سمجھ لیجئے
ایک آ گ کا دریا ہے اور ڈوب کے جانا ہے

چوپان

 

گر بدین سان زیست باید پست

من چه بی شرمم اگر فانوس عمرم را به رسوائی نیاویزم

بر بلندِ کاجِ خشکِ کوچه بن بست

 

 

گر بدین سان زیست باید پاک

من چه ناپاکم اگر ننشانم از ایمان خود چون کوه

 یادگاری جاودانه بر تراز بی بقای خاک

 احمد شاملو

Occasions

"Intimacy between two persons does not require knowing the details of each other’s life; it glows in moments of true awareness and exchange. Each intimate exchange has a locale which partakes in the quality of the human encounter. There are as many intimate places as there are occasions where human beings truly connect. What are such places like? They are elusive and personal. They may be etched in the recesses of memory and yield intense satisfaction upon recall, but they are not recorded like snapshots in the family album, nor perceived as general symbols like fireplace, chair, bed and living room that invite intricate explication. One can no more deliberately design such places than one can plan, with any guarantee of success, the occasions of genuine human exchange.” - Yi Fu Tuan, Space and Place