دهكده جهانى

اين همكار پاكستانى ما، امروز به ما يك ايميل فروارد كرد كه ما به مناسبت عيد فطر هر سال يك ناهار سر كار داريم و امروز اين ناهار هست و غذا خوبه و خلاصه دعوتمون كرد كه بيا (احتمالا بلكه به راه راست هم هدايت شوم چون من هفته قبلش وسط ماه مبارك رمضان  ناهار ايرانى سر كار ترتيب داده بودم، بماند كه از ماه ها پيش رفته بود توى تقويم بدون توجه به ماه رمضان و بماند كه ايرانيان عزيزهم با روى باز شركت  كردند ).  من هم سر ظهر بلند شدم رفتم و آنجا خواهران و برادران مسلمان از اقصى نقاط دنيا، از بنگلادش تا هاييتى حضور داشتند، و من تنها نماينده كشور عزيز اسلاميمون بودم!

همينطور كه همكاران را ميشناختم و خودمون رو به هم معرفى ميكرديم، خانمى هم گفت كه اسمش آينور است.  من هم كه يك پا ترك شدم ديگه، با ذوق و شوق پرسيدم، اهل كجايييد شما، تركيه؟ چون اسمتون تركى هست و يعنى مهتاب و از اين حرف ها.  و جوابمان داد كه كجاى كارى من اهل "تركستان" هستم،  ما جد و آباد ترك ها هستيم و اصيل تريم و از اين حرف ها.  كاشف به عمل اومد كه مملكت اينها از سال 1945 جزو شمال غربى چين هست و اين خانم مسلمان با حجاب ترك اصيل، شهروند چين هست و در مدرسه چينى ياد گرفته و زبان مادرى در تركستان اوى غور هست، اما تركى هم دارد ياد ميگيرد و عربى هم بلد است.  خلاصه خيلى جديد و جالب بود برام و دلم ميخواهد يك روز تركستان هم بروم !  بعد هم فهميدم اين همان توران  توى شعر هاى ماست.  يك خانم پاكستانى هم به من گفت كه در مدرسه بهشان فارسى ياد ميدادند و فعل آمدن را برايم صرف كرد و با من به فارسى احوال پرسى كرد.  خلاصه خوب بود، خوش گذشت :-)

Dedication

Love and dedication is the care and attention s/he gives to every single sentence of any paper or presentation I email them with the same care, patience, and urgency that they used to when I first entered grad school, years after earning my PhD.  I am a spoiled child that never graduates from her lifetime mentors' and professors' classes.  How lucky and blessed I am for having such academic parents, and how wise I am to know how lucky I am to never let them go ;-)

Thank God for them.

Sweet Natalie

When grown-up Natalie looks out for aunt Nargess:

"Does he qualify to be your boyfriend? Is he high up in society?" :-)

Relax!

This was sitting in my drafts, a note I wrote a while back when I was juggling so many work, personal, and family tasks and get togethers.  It is good not to forget this note. 
 
I have recognized an issue recently that I need to resolve for myself: I tend to create so many personal deadlines and obligations for myself that I then try to fulfill with a sense of urgency. I stress myself over the self imposed deadlines and tasks, and then get upset when people involved in those tasks do not even care.  For example, if I have not seen a friend or a family member for a while, I feel guilty, I feel it is my duty to make a plan, make things happen, or that it looks bad if I do not.  I compromise the much needed alone time, time to relax, do the errands, or even work, just to realize later no one really cared if I did that or not, and the whole thing for me to stress over was such a mute point.

I know the problem, but I do not know how I can make myself care less, relax, let go. Maybe like B tells me sometimes: "Do not create work for yourself!".

آب روان

عاشق آب زود مى آموزد،
كه راهى جر روانى و زلالى،
براى همراهى با آب نيست،
واى به روزى كه سد راهش شود،
تا از او مردابى بسازد،
كه بماند و بگندد.
آب پر ميشود و لبريز،
و از سد ميگذرد،
بدون نگاهى به پشت.

Simplicity

A while back I saw a post on facebook suggesting people not to complicate life by following some simple guidelines and then it ended up by saying "It is that simple".  Then a whole discussion started about how life itself is complicated, and even if you follow these things, the outcome might not be as expected,  concluding there is no simplicity in doing those tasks.  I confirmed by saying yes, it is constant hard work yet deep down thinking the suggested steps were really simple to do (e.g. calling someone if you miss them, telling them you love them if you do, inviting people if you want to see them, etc.).

Last week I took a project management training, teaching us guidelines for tackling huge projects, one step at a time, eating an elephant one piece at a time.  It was in the middle of that training that a sentence clicked and made me realize both my friend and I were correct in our previous discussion: "Simple is not easy".

Just because something is simple, it does not mean it is easy.  A huge milestone may be achieved by taking hundreds of steps, each of those steps might be very easy tasks, the whole thing might be very simple, not requiring an innovative solution, a breakthrough, and maybe even not much expertise, but doing them all in order, in time, within budget, to achieve that milestone requires discipline, perseverance, planning,  and most importantly actually doing each task.  Simple means the recipe, the algorithm, the steps are well defined, clear, and  achievable.  Achieving that milestone might in fact be very difficult and hard while each required task for achieving it, as well as the whole thing, might be very simple to do.  For example, walking is a simple task.  Everyone knows how to do it.  Walking 40 miles in 1-2 days, still requires doing a very simple task, over and over.  It is simple, but not easy.  Simple is not easy!

There is another way to read that sentence too.  Keeping things simple, being simple, not adding complications, is not easy either.  "Simple" itself is not easy!

Social incentives

It is crazily hot and humid here. I went out to run some errands. Surprisingly, I enjoyed having enough time to do some mundane tasks at leisure: get battery for my watch, buy tooth paste, water, other ordinary house stuff, and most importantly pay a visit to the local library! I realized how much I had missed it. After having listened to an audio book last week during my commute to work and back ( which I will write about later), I decided I should go back to library and check out and read one audio book a week at least this way. That is the only way my commute time will be spent well, other than the usual listening to NPR or catching up with friends on the phone (Disclaimer: hands free with speakers, if you think this is a good idea and want to do the same ;-) ). Plus, who was I kidding? Why was I so stubborn wanting to read paper books that are collecting dust in my shelves and I can hardly find the time to open (I still have hope for travel time on planes though). Anyways, I am digressing. On my way out, in my neighborhood's shopping center I saw a couple of men at intersections holding signs, which were ads for two close by shops. I thought how inhumane it was to have them do this. Stand in such a hot weather in middle of traffic to advertise there is such and such store in the corner? Could not they post the signs on a pole or board?  I passed them by and went to my destinations and hours later when I was coming back, they were still there. I dread walking to and from my car for that short distance. Do they get water or  ice? Are not there labor laws for some minimum working conditions? Are they being paid off the record and is what those stores are doing illegal? Worse, even if someone complains, would not this deprive those workers of probably the only job and income they could get? I mean, who wants to do this?  They really must need the money and have no other means of income.

I come home with these thoughts fresh in my mind.  I turn on the TV to catch up with some news.  A bunch of commentators and lawyers are discussing conditions of prisoners in some jail in Texas.  Apparently, due to lack of power and extreme heat there, the temperature in jails there had become above 100F.  They were discussing whether that condition established unnecessary hardship or some sort of torture and inhumane and illegal way of dealing with prisoners.  I could not help thinking that those prisoners were in a better condition than those workers in my neighborhood.  They had a roof above their head, which they did not have to pay for, they were being fed, and more importantly, they were under the roof's shade and had lawyers making a case for them.  Those workers were under direct hot sun in humid weather, with no one speaking up on their behalf, in the middle of the street, without water, food, or toilet.  Something was wrong with this picture.  There was more incentive to be in jail than to earn an honest living through hard work!

As if this was not enough, I went to a friend's house for a dinner gathering later that night.  People were sharing how they survived last week's storm, whether or not they lost power and for how long, etc.  Someone said in her neighborhood there was an animal shelter that did not have power for days.  They asked people in neighborhood if they could each sponsor a cat or a dog during the power outage due to extreme heat.  Cats and dogs in the shelter were also protected against extreme heat (which is a good thing by the way).

I could not stop thinking "something is wrong with this picture"!