arbitraire

Jordan-London

[thereadingsaef]

The phrase ‘climate change’ is always going to be a bit misleading. It is sterilized. It describes a symptom but divorces the subject from the verb. It’s passive and unassuming. The phrase will forever remain policy speak. It doesn’t tell you who is causing the climate to change. Unless you specifically mention the causers of climate change and the destruction of the environment which you will immediately be labeled as hostile, you’re always going to have to point out this huge problem while using this appropriate, docile speak. And this is just a huge irony of our whole situation.

[thereadingsaef]

I still think about you

I still think about you. After 4 fucking years. Sometime way back when I was getting over you, I had thought that I just needed to ride the condemnation out and perhaps one day you’ll become just a figment of my memory. But no. 

Sometimes my brain cooks up some imagination about me finally getting to you, and we would walk together and I’d be able to apologize for what I did. I guess what pains me the most is not the fact that you left, it’s the fact that I drove you away because of the way I acted. And I’ll never be able to fix that. 

There will never be a second chance at an alternate ending. There will never be a closure. And you will forever remain a cliffhanger. 

[thereadingsaef]

Dargah of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, a place drenched in hope and wistful longing. The site, notorious in the charades of Bollywood, made me reminisce instantly the iconic A. R. Rahman song 'Kun Faya Kun': "Take a step forward, destroy these distances. Come into this void, the home of your beloved. Without you there is emptiness, come into this void.' Although the rituals practiced by Muslims here are sweepingly disregarded by mainstream views to be incorrect and perverse, there is pureness in being so ashamed of one's own position in the eyes of God that the only way to secure one's hope is through the help of the enduring mediating soul of the auliya. "Kadam badhaa le, Hadon ko mitaa le, Aaha khaalipan mein pee ka ghar tera, Tere bin khaali aaja, khalipan mein, Tere bin khaali aaja, khalipan mein ..." (at Hazrat Nizamuddin Aauliya Dargah) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtkpPFfg_R8/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=2zqzfy5i286p

[thereadingsaef]

Dargah of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, a place drenched in hope and wistful longing. The site, notorious in the charades of Bollywood, made me reminisce instantly the iconic A. R. Rahman song 'Kun Faya Kun': "Take a step forward, destroy these distances. Come into this void, the home of your beloved. Without you there is emptiness, come into this void.' Although the rituals practiced by Muslims here are sweepingly disregarded by mainstream views to be incorrect and perverse, there is pureness in being so ashamed of one's own position in the eyes of God that the only way to secure one's hope is through the help of the enduring mediating soul of the auliya. "Kadam badhaa le, Hadon ko mitaa le, Aaha khaalipan mein pee ka ghar tera, Tere bin khaali aaja, khalipan mein, Tere bin khaali aaja, khalipan mein ..." (at Hazrat Nizamuddin Aauliya Dargah) https://www.instagram.com/p/Btko4RtANPt/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1icoa0v38z595

[thereadingsaef]

Mughal brilliance #throwback #delhi #mughal (at Humayun's Tomb) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtkbLJLA-y3/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=mccepvipf3zq

[thereadingsaef]

Thinking about what might have been, had a people not been interrupted by an annexing power should be a responsibility of the mindful observer, despite the voluminous presence of the colonial structures. Especially when it is proven that the cultural produce of the people are commensurately marvelous. #throwback #Delhi (at Chandni Chowk) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtirDqNgEMg/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ap38r20ho99z

[thereadingsaef]

A fantastical omnibus of Victorian splendor. (at Kolkata) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtioZqog7is/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ikwmtdrpw4at

[thereadingsaef]

Frenzied movements interspersing the city silently strangles its concrete history, steadily defamilliarizing their awe, and waning their charm. #throwback #kolkata (at Kolkata) https://www.instagram.com/p/Btimb2LAjMW/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=15lu5x3wrol7a

[thereadingsaef]

A juxtaposing Victoria Memorial sits idly in the city of Kolkata welcoming innocent visitors every day, contemplating its displacement and unbelonging. #throwback #kolkata (at Victoria Memorial,Kolkata) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtihTUFgBWO/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=19ofda2hl4heg

[thereadingsaef]

Domineering colonial remainders towering over local activities as life continues to go on on the very grounds that are still healing from a chilling past, Kolkata. #throwback #kolkata (at Kolkata) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtifQ6jgPBK/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1bzq1wc4htux9

[thereadingsaef]

Kolkata for me was perplexing, beautiful and problematic (the last quality I assume being part of its addictive quality begging wanderers to return). Elemental to its problem are definitely the Victorian edifices infesting the region, creating a contradictory panorama of a people and a place. #throwback #kolkata (at Kolkata) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtiaYvJAG4T/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=4kayb12pcr9

[thereadingsaef]

The main gate of Jama Masjid, Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi. Looking down you could see the curious remnants of what must have been strict security gates used to examine items that visitors were carrying into the mosque, for political reasons one could vaguely but assuredly imagine, given the diverse and complicated history of the place. (at Jama Masjid, Delhi) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtiUfcFAQ5b/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1edbe8fgrb5su

[thereadingsaef]

I'm posting photographs that have been stowed away in my hard drive since 2 years caused by my indolence of trying to create meaningful posts out of them. Since the start of the year I promised myself I'd try and do something with the unedited raw photos. I thought posting them somewhere could at least provide a spectacle into the somewhat quaint quotidian Indian life, so they could be appreciated by the world. This was taken from atop the stairs of the Jama Masjid where I was waiting for a friend to come out and exchange his proper sized pants with the shorts I was wearing since one of us (I forgot who) was denied entry at the front gate. @amarmalik_ #majorthrowback #oldcitydelhi #oldedelhi #delhi #india #jamamosque (at Old City Delhi) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtiSwPsgzUFdmEFbdH-x7c_jIdiApmDFkQ7BZs0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=v9ezmta4n1b4

[thereadingsaef]

"Memilih nilam antara suasa, Ditempa molek jadikan pualam; Baik-baik memilih nakhoda, Salah gerangan habislah karam." (at Old City Delhi) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtiKawLAg8xYtjmRb0lTrbkj5XabmFKQbat3gw0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=7rh0zslvm96c

[danger]

Angelina Jolie

[thereadingsaef]

“Being here is a kind of spiritual surrender. We see only what the others see, the thousands who were here in the past, those who will come in the future. We’ve agreed to be part of a collective perception.” —Don DeLillo

“We are accustomed to use our eyes only with the memory of what other people before us have thought about the object we are looking at.” —Guy de Maupassant

“After all, what is reality anyway? Nothin’ but a collective hunch.” —Lily Tomlin

[thereadingsaef]

“So whatever I happen to think, that's irrelevant. The answer to your question is: if you remain marginalized, there's not going to be much his­tory to worry about. Whether people will react or not, who knows? You know? Everyone's got to decide.”

—Chomsky