So where do we go from here?

... to be fair, I don't really know ...

No one does. 

The exploration of possible answers to the question I start with requires much more than 240 character Tweets or to browse though Instagram pictures. Certainly we need much more stamina to sit, read and explore than seems to be the trend on many (most?) social media platforms. Blogging, perhaps is viewed as slightly old school, so much change has happened in the way we spread and share information over the past few years. 

I know that I have changed; my priorities, day to day worries and concerns have changed.  The way I interact with the world; be it the real world or the virtual world has changed. People around me have changed and I have lost people whom I thought would forever have been there. 

As I've soldiered on through my 40s, some things have become very real - mortality, uncertainty and illness, questions around long established relationships, new relationships, personal ambitions, identity politics, political populism and media influence, culture, tech surveillance and as I write - global pandemics. So how do we deal with these issues? Where do we stand? Where should we stand? 

Essays, conversations, snippits, therapy and social media - I've continued share. I'm not altogether sure I am anywhere nearer the answers, but I know that I am not alone in my thoughts. So when the gloves are off, and I'm free to speak, I shall return to this space to explore - my outlet and my connection. 

Stick around.

Six Degrees of Separation

... Musings from Tor Khan ...

Who is Tor_Khan and why do I have this name? Do I exist as an Internet ID only or do I have another self - a real one, in which I am known quite differently? Another name; another life; another family and another community that I belong to?

Clearly yes, though I'm not sure that I need to dwell on this much beyond those initial questions. There are reasons. See, this blog has provided a genuine place in which I have been able to explore my thoughts, and make my own statement ... some of this I hadn't much thought about when I started. I didn't even really know much about the direction it would take. I was never sure who would read, who would chose to follow and who would "stay the ride". These continue to remain unknowns.

... Musings from a Distance ...

Occasionally, the real and the virtual meet in one place. Yesterday was such a moment. A friend, whom I have mentioned before, stumbled across this space and mentioned it in conversation. Should he chose to visit again, then this is my dedication.

Interestingly I have always been interested in the human chain of connection. When I think of many known people who's names appear in the media and so on, I often trace a connection with them in the usual six, (or even less) degrees of separation (the "Human Web"). E.g. I know of someone, who spoke with someone etcetera, etcetera.

There are many proponents of the idea of a "shrinking" world, but perhaps the architect was Frigyes Karinthy (Hungary, 1887 - 1938) who popularised the idea of six degrees of separation in his 1929 short story, Chains. Celebrity is one thing, but just ordinary people around the world are said to be just six people apart. If this is so, then the possibilities, and the responsibilities are much more significant than we first imagined perhaps.

More so in today's Internet age and with the advent of internet-based social networking (e.g. Facebook). It's rather ironic, because I, Tor_Khan am perhaps less the "Dark Prince" mystery blogger and someone the Reader knows about already. Maybe, therefore, my musings are not that distant ...

Tor_Khan تور خان

The Colour of Blood

I have a friend* who has a done a most wonderful thing. A month ago he added to his family by travelling to Africa and adopting an orphaned child.

There will always be the argument about taking children out of their cultures - but there can never wholly be an absolute right or an absolute wrong when what stares you back in the face is a two month old child, severely undernourished, sick and weak. What choice do we make when faced with this dilemma?

Perhaps the 'ideal' solution is to move to the country so that a child can be raised amongst their own cultural kind, but it is never that easy - conflict zones have their own dangers and people often make the choice to move to places where opportunities and resources are more plentiful.

Anyway, here in the UAE, there are the usual immigration rules. The child was allowed in, but yesterday, the now three month old child had to leave the country to make a border crossing to revalidate his visa. Three months old. This would not be the case had the child been a British, US, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand national.

Intercontinental adoptions aside, one day, I hope, that extra privileges are not determined by things like colour of skin, passport or national identity. After all, African, Asian or white European cut the surface and then observe underneath - we all have the same colour of blood.

*he is a Pashtoon, point of fact

Crossroads

I'm at a crossroads - I ponder, quite often, where I will be next. I don't mean where I will travel to, although that does come into it. But what I mean is where in the world, does someone like me consider home? I'm really drawn to do something positive for my people - so I would like to make a positive impact in the Pashtoon heartlands. But I'm a British oddity and I think of things like career and schooling for the children. I'm also very affected by the security situation and the availability of basics such as electricity and clean water. Where exactly, can I find my bit of spiritually - to whence do I belong?

The places that I wanted to travel to this summer - Swat and Afghanistan - I am now being warned against going to. With the war, I am affected again. I had hoped to spend time in the villages in Lower Swat, to take in the environment, to give my children the opportunity to keep up with their Pashto and to look, interact and learn. Of course, the same can happen elsewhere, but this was going to be different.

This summer is something of an open-book. The Swat refugee crisis created something of an emergency so the wedding that we had intended to attend in the valley was brought forward and took place in Karachi last week. My wife and daughter flew there for a couple of days - it was her brother's wedding after all. I still intend to travel to Pakistan, and our initial plan is to stay in the family home in Karachi. I'm still keen on going to Afghanistan, but will need to judge the mood. In any case, very shortly we will be travelling to Toronto, Canada where I intend to "land" as an immigrant.


... InshAllah, a whole new chapter awaits to be written ...