What ever shall we call the children?

Life is currently surrounded by the sounds of little feet pitter-pattering on the floor. The homes of those proud parents are awash with lots of laughter, and a lot more tears; With spit ups and poop downs; with angelic gurgles and parental wails of doom!

All this brought us to ask – what ever shall we call the children?

And so the conversation went:

Q. What will we name our children?
A. Hmmm…how about ‘Chhichori 1′ and ‘Lafanga 2′?

Outrage ensued – questions continued.

Q. No seriously! Tell me na, what will their names be?
A. How about you worry about that when the time comes? In the mean while, I do have some super hero names you can peruse through – you know, like, Kal-el.
Q. Who was that?
A. Oh, Superman before he became awesome! *Gleee*

*Eye roll*

Q. Any other suggestions you might have? *wry look*
A. Actually yes – I was thinking ‘Hajooj Majooj! You know – little twin monsters!’

Q. Look, I’m SERIOUS! Have you thought of anything?
A. Ok, ok, I’ll be serious now. How about ‘Light bringer’ and ‘Morning star’?
Q. Oh, wow, where did you get those from? Beautiful! How about just translating them in Arabic, and using them, no matter what the names in Arabic are!!?
A. Oh, really? *evil giggle* Because those were the names of the Devil before he fell!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! No no no! Those names will never do!

And so the children shall remain unnamed until further notice!

R.I.P, Asim Butt!

“Golden lads, and girls all must,
As chimney sweepers, come to dust” – W. Shakespeare.

(View From Bhopal House, 2008. Oil and screen print on canvas. 60″ x 90″.)

One of my favourite pieces of art by Asim, ever.

There is nothing more horrifying than opening your Facebook one day, and see an email titled “Sad, sad, sad”. The group on the Stay on the demolition of Metropole sent out an email saying

“Many of you already know this – but Asim Butt, who started this group, took his own life last night at his nani’s home in Karachi. The funeral is at 4 pm from her house on Sunset Blvd.

Sad sad sad. Asim Butt. Artist. Activist. Karachi lover. Peace lover. Saw him last two days ago, exchanged hellos, “It’s all great,” he said, gave an “all’s well” thumbs up and huge smile. Funeral today 4 pm. Why?

The family has asked that Asim’s friends and well wishers do not call or question how and why he is no longer with us. Please respect their privacy.”

Now I didn’t know Asim Butt that well – A few chance meetings, a few conversations, a one-off photography session of a backdrop in progress of being set up – Nothing more. An acquaintance.

But suicide is the one thing that rocks all of our very foundations. It shakes our cocky confidence that life is forever, it disturbs our false reassurances that everything we take for granted is permanent.

Asim Butt to me is Ayn Rands Howard Roark – He stuck to his ability to stick by his ideals, and stood up for what he believed in . He worked long solitary hours, and painted the glory of his minds imagination. His long angular face reminds me of Howards Roarks toothpick like physique which stood strong even in the brute force of the world.

The Second Floor cafe got its mural from Asim – and it was always a greatly admired piece of art. I have some strong memories from the mirror in the mural – as do many others. Often, we would try and figure out different interpretations of what it meant, what was going on in the artists head…

What astounds me the most is – we clearly don’t talk to people enough. I remember feeling like I had too many people on my facebook, and so went on a major cleaning spree- I removed hundreds of people, for the sole reason that we never really spoke.

Asim was one of those people – and now, I really, REALLY wish I had taken more time to simply stop and ask, Whats up?! how are you doing?

We will always remember Asim as an activist, an artist, andthe guy whose awesome I heart Khi graffiti made it on to our t-shirts.

Hope you’re out there, painting giant murals in the canvas that is the sky!!! Rest in Peace. Amen. (Passed away on 14th Jan, 2010)