Facebook You SOB!

[[[[Are you looking for a Muslim women to befriend,marry or date?]]]]]]]]]]]]]


So I am using Facebook with little or no purpose behind it. Scrolling up and down the page trying to waste time on trivial things so that I can later complain how little time I always have. and suddenly to my utmost amazement and surprise I see this add which seems like a brilliant attempt by Facebook to show me adverts that are tailored made for me. and that's funny and here is why

I live in Berlin now, installed my windows here and heck even have my Facebook in the German language now but even then I see this add. and for the record I do not think it is a result of mere chance that I am seeing this and neither do I think that Facebook shows this add to all other people here. Just goes on to show how much and to what extent social media knows about us and how much it controls things that we are exposed to, what things we see, and in this instance what things do we react to.  

There is however this little thing that has been overlooked by Facebook. Which is quite a reprieve actually. or maybe not. Facebook knows. It just doesn't want to tell me it knows.

Disclaimer: I have not been paid by Facebook or another group for the publicity(if any) that may be the result of publishing this picture on this blog . Moreover I do not, will not, shall not, and can not take any responsibility for the use ,distribution, digital or otherwise of this picture under any circumstance whatsoever and shall not be liable to pay any damages incurring as a result. (if the disclaimer was read in the news , it would be done at such a pace that the audience will not be able to understand a single word)

On thoughts that come to your mind

"The proceeds from the sale of this cigarette will go to the advancement of research for the cure of lung cancer and related illnesses" said no cigarette packet cover ever in the history of the cigarette consumption.. But imagine if it were to do that would the sales of cigarette increase? or decrease?

In other news, recently I have been thinking how powerful our minds are and how they create analyse criticise and distort the perception of reality around us. They say money is everything these days( pretty certain it has always been like this). Studies suggest only 15% of the population of the world comprises the ultra rich and people living below the poverty line. Then that means that 85% of the people in the world have virtually the same monetary resources at their hands. If both of these things are true then how come people end up having such different lives?

I feel not really as much attention and care is given to the development of the faculties of the mind as there should be especially compared to how much attention "how to look good" gets in our society. but by this I dont mean formal education. I mean teaching people how to think. Channelling their mental focus. Teaching them to choose the thoughts they want to think and discard others. Because alot of times things that bother us are nothing more our distorted perception of how things are, or how they are not, of what someone said , or didnt say. It is such an immense waste of mental faculties. 

and I fall prey to it again:(

"Do not have prejudices, Do not judge, get details before forming an opinion about an issue" is what I find telling myself often and yet I cant help but fall prey to these evils on some unconscious level.
Case in point is several point of views I got from people and the internet about the the division of Berlin and the erection of the wall and Germany's eventual reunification in 1989.

A quick google search and you know how dismal and disdainful the plight of the east Germans were and how  "all" of them wanted to go the west and all that.
"BUT thats not enough to have a point of view on something" sherry tells himself.
Because I had never met an east German/Berliner before. and now that I have I can safely say that its just another one of those times where one keeps hearing one point of view and starts to think its right. ahh whats the word for it? oh yes propaganda. Its everywhere. We all do it . We do it even without knowing we are doing it. 

Connecticum; The Career Fair

So at the career fair I am trying to look for anything that may come my way. Going here and there in search of the light which was supposed to be at the end of the tunnel but isnt. There are many workshops going on and on several of these they are giving out free drinks and snacks. Since I have my trusted backpack along, I make sure I eat some and put many in my backpack. Around the time I think I have had enough I see this.  

I apologize to the fair maiden although I think in hindsight she is the one who should have done it. and the video above leads me to do this. 

The guy who is making the video now actually starts the commentary for the match. but unfortunately what he says eludes me, for now atleast. 

The Holocaust Memorial

 

Well I knew it was only a matter of time that something along these lines will be written and here it is. The picture above is a real life full scale artist's rendition near Potsdamer Platz Berlin, of the massacre of the Jews during the 2nd world war. These are concrete slabs shaped like tombs which revoke the events of the ghastly memory. When you enter the maze(the war begins) the slabs are a mere 2 or 3 feet high(people step on them kids play around them, couples kiss and hug and what not) and as one continues to move inside, the ground beneath starts getting lower and lower and slabs start to  become conversely higher. Then one reaches a point where the slabs stand 12 to 15 feet high. There one can actually feel quite trapped lost scared and isolated within the field(when the war and holocaust were at its peak). and you continue walking and you step out of the maze(the war and the holocaust ends)
This memorial has been criticised for being too abstract and many would agree with it. I however feel that its quite a smart/intelligent way to depict the gory events of that time without the use of imagery or forms of communication.

And there is a museum under it which has stories, biographies, diary entries, pictures, souvenirs and other memorabilia  For people who are interested in history this might seem like a goldmine. I feel a disclaimer would be quite fitting here. The events the stories and their representation in the museum is not for the weak of hearts. It is a brutal and ghastly reminder of what humanity has suffered to reach where it has, today. I fashion this blog, a feat of immense technological advancement itself, in a restive neighbourhood  in a quiet room, on my super fast computer, but behind the calm on my face there lurks a deadly violent and grotesque history that I as a human am a part of.  

The Berliner Dome

Not being a Christian is no reason for me to not visit, with some consistency, this beautiful building called the Berliner Dome near Alexanderplatz Berlin. Today was the third consecutive Sunday that i went there for service( if I go at other times I will be charged for it ). I could tell the reader some details about the dome but I will not dare because the internet definitely has more literature on the subject. 

I cant help but notice the remarkable similarities that exist between all religions around the world. The "liturgist" of the church spoke about so many things that I can personally relate to being raised as a practising Muslim that I was. The "prayer" at the end of the sermon is the same, asking for suffering of different people to alleviate, the sick to be cured and the hope that the heavenly father will forgive us our sins. The church has an organ and when it plays it creates an aura of religious fervour which is quite missing in mosques.

"In these secular times" and in this city I find it quite hard to believe that people still follow religions so avidly as they do. It comes as a startling "revelation" to me:)

On Words

Learning a language can be great fun because alot of reasons. Firstly bla bla bla this build up is boring me now. I will just jump right into it

So living in Berlin and being around Germans has taught me much already. Firstly they are quite proud of their language and they connect with it on a different level than most Pakistanis do with theirs. Not only that apparently anyone who comes into direct contact with Germans and the language gets affected by it pretty hard. Case in point are three people two from England and one from Ukraine. Because these three people have lived in Germany for quite sometime they have adopted German as pretty much their own language. I can see that because when sometimes even they are speaking their own language( or any other language) the "fillers" in their sentences are often German.  This amazes me because they feel there are no words in other languages that would fully explain that thought. As I like to call it. They have become one with the language :)


In other news I was talking to a friend and I told him/her that I think I have full proficiency over the English language because there are no feelings or ideas that I can think and not express in English. and just when I said it I knew I had struck some chord with nature. I mean how is it that all the thoughts I can think can be expressed by words. I mean cant I think or more importantly feel anything for which I have no words? This forces me to ask the question that could it be that words don't follow feelings and that in essence feelings follow words.?

I can only wonder if I were to learn another language will I start having more feelings to express only because that language will have a word for it?

The Receiving End of Racism

"To talk about things is one thing but doing them is another" is something we "talk" about quite often. I often find myself discussing issues pertaining to idealism realism metaphysics tolerance patience and what not. but in Pakistan the life I had lived was royal to the very core. and thats someting I can not boast of having here in Berlin. I mean its not bad but I am subjected to things I have never been to before( the voice in my head tells me thats the reason why I am here).
So the reason I write today is because of a conversation that took place between me and a random salesperson at a random pizza parlour in Berlin
I go there with a bunch of other people whom I have known for little more than a week and we really dont know where from what and why people are who they are.
Me(trying to order in German): wie gehts . ich mochte ein "chicken" pizza bitte
Random Guy: where are you from ?
Me: Pakistan !, I exclaim. ( feelin happy because he seems turkish and thats muslim and bla bla)
Random guy: Taliban Taliban?
Me: Obviously you have not been taking masters classes in intercultural managment
Awkward Silence( or not but am just saying because there should be one here)

With hindsight I think that was the first time I was subjected to the brilliance(read horror) of racism. Based on where I come from and how I look( yes people say I look exotic here) I had been judged. and judged ruthlessly. However I tell myself that its not their fault they think the way they do thats all there is about Pakistan on the news. But now I am here. and I hope when I leave I leave the people that come in contact with me with a different outlook on the type of place Pakistan is and the type of people that live there.