Home and some self-reflection

"Home is where the heart is". Whoever said that must have been the most loved man or woman in his or her time in the world because he definitely knows what he's talking about. After spending my time callously before my first finals and ending the year as a 'freshman' as they call it in the States, I came back home after being away for almost 9 months. But to be honest, and I know everybody says this, but it feels way longer than that. Meeting old friends, friends who I have known from Year 7 and spending time with them after so long made the occasion ever so special, as they are truly becoming family as each day passes. And of course, meeting my parents after so long definitely made me shed a few tears. As you can tell by the time I publish this blog post, it will have been the first one in quite a long time and it's all because I was busy having one of the best summer vacations in my life.

My first blog post in a very long time

Hi, Wimpy Asian here. I know it's been pretty long that I have posted anything, and in the meanwhile I have garnered some followers and if any of you are seeing this, then welcome to my blog. I know I haven't posted anything for a while. Well, I don't really have an excuse for that, I had all the time in the world after my exams ended and have been leisurely spending my summer vacation sipping ice tea in the comfort of my home back in Bangladesh. The blog was really an excuse to get away from my studies for my finals in the first year as an undergrad at City University, which I think I should've spent more time preparing for than blogging. Well, I always had to be the hard worker to get the results, and well... I didn't. My parents were disappointed at first, however they were comforted by the fact that my results were still 'first class', but they were expecting a bit more. I am saying all of this now because I have openly shared my convictions with the world. I mean, I know that this blog hasn't really gotten much traction in terms of traffic, but I stopped caring about that after I had decided that I would write this post

I guess we just need to get some of our thoughts off our mind, and sharing my stupid dreams and ambitions on the internet always helped me calm me down. I kind of realize now that I started this blog because I felt alone in this new environment by doing an undergrad abroad, something that I did not experience this summer vacation back home socializing with old friends I went to school with for around 6 years. Now that most of my closest friends have gone to pursue their studies in America, I am going to staying an extra 2 weeks alone. Maybe that's why I'm deciding to post all of a sudden.I guess people are very simple in that aspect, it's always the simplest of reasons why we do things


I know all of these thoughts are not coherent, but I my intention was to say that I want to try and blog more in the future, with whatever interests me. I have been reading a lot of books while I was gone, so hopefully, I will be posting a review of the 'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel pretty soon (haven't finished reading it). I think by now people would understand that if you want content from me, consistency will most definitely not be the 'it' factor about this blog. However, if I do post content, I will make sure that is "quality over quantity". I still do hope to entertain anybody who stumbles upon my blog and spares a few minutes to read what I have to say.

What type of person do I want to become?

At this stage in my life, I have no idea where I'm heading. To be completely honest I have never wanted to take responsibility for my actions and always relied on mother to decide what to do for me. On that note, I would like to shower my mom with appraisal as I would not be where I am today if it wasn't for her support and constant nagging about my college applications. I would've wasted an entire year of my life doing nothing, which in this very competitive world would've been a disadvantage when getting a job. But I am to blame for my own lackings, and no matter how much someone's mother cares, it is his or her responsibility to take decisions seriously when it is regarding one's future, which I did not at all. My own brother, who is well-established in my own family's eyes, is a good role model to look upto and I - no matter how much I tell myself I don't - hate him for that as I feel the overbearing burden of keeping up with the expectations from my parents, even if they won't admit that.

So, as the title says, what do I want to become? There's one thing I want to do, and that's to help people. Now, you may think that is indeed a very 'noble' of me, but to be completely honest, I only want to help people because my idol helps people in his adventures. My idol is a fictional character from an anime called 'One Piece' and in short, he is a pirate who goes from island to island and ends up saving the island's peoples' problems he visits... with his fists. But that's not what I'm going to do, but I want to help people in some sort of way to prove to myself I care. I'm not impeccably selfish, but I feel like I don't care about the people around me as much as should. My friend, on the other hand, the one I made at uni, is a person who cares about other people when he doesn't have to. I am glad that I met him because, to be completely honest, his interactions with people even in chicken shops is something I learned as he didn't act cold when placing his order, he asked about her life, and she opened up to him about her whole life story. I felt annoyed at first because I was having a bad day, but then I realized that I would have never asked how she was doing, let alone be able to start a whole conversation. Having him around has really helped me dealing with some personal problems, as he is a genuinely down-to-earth guy that just wants the best for his friends, and I think that's the only thing that matters and am really happy that he is in my life (no homo XD).

So, back to my initial question, what do I want to become? Well, in terms of getting a job I still have no idea, but I really hope that my family's pride will not be shattered if I want to do a job that will help people around the world, even if it may have low pay. Coming from a South-East Asian family a 'socially acceptable' job has to be taken like being a banker, engineer, doctor etc. which I do not care for at all. I guess the point of writing all of this is to say that I don't want to become some corporate drone that works from 9 to 5, and with a promotion can afford a Rolex working over time so that he can show it off to friends and family. But when you spend so much time working, who will you show it off to? I would rather make aggressively medium money and spend it with my friends and most importantly family. Research even shows that people are tend to be more satisfied with their lives if they are around good friends and family.

Hopefully in the future I can be caring like my friends and be socially adept in awkward situations. I wish I had realized sooner, but there is so much you can do in your life, so I guess following your ambitions is the least anybody can try to achieve. I guess it would be better to be failing in doing the right thing then succeeding in doing the wrong.

At the end of the day, I may end up becoming a corporate sellout, funneling money directly or indirectly to the wealthiest people in the world, but there is enough wealth in this world to go around. I think, being part of the generation which has the responsibility to solve the energy crisis and promoting sustainable development, we should be worried about saving our lives and God forbid maybe our children's and grandchildren's. Money can't save the world, or buy freedom and peace. I recently heard a quote that had resonated with me and would like to end this post with it:

"When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money."
-Cree Indian Proverb

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Hope you enjoyed this one, if you like what you see you know what to do! ;)

-Saquib

Why I inspire to be like Luffy

This is a post I have really thought about and have edited considerably given the nature of the topic I'm about to discuss. The man I idolize is from a fictional world, but can his aspirations be a conduit for 'Wimpy Asians' like me to succeed in life? What does Luffy (loo-fi), the future Pirate King do so differently that makes me want to be like him? I don't want to delve into a deep psychoanalysis of my self or anything, but I think that the titular character from the show, 'One Piece' is just not another hero figure, but I think there is something more heartfelt about the character's story.

The most important thing that makes me feel that he is different from the stereotypical heroes from cartoons and all that is the fact that he doesn't say much. Luffy is probably the only character in the show, if you think about it carefully, isn't really known for being smart. He barely has any common sense, and unsurprisingly being a pirate he lacks manners, which is from the fact that his guardian had left him to be brought up by a pack of thieves in the middle of a forest! Apart from that, Luffy has had no formal education, and the fact he understands what he does is kind of surprising to say the least. But his unique quality springs from his simple but very relatable quotes in context of the moment. To be honest, the most amazing thing about this protagonist is the fact that his actions literally speak louder than words in the sense that although being the main character of this vastly expansive world 'One Piece' is set in and thus may not get enough "screen time" due to the many subplots that into the overall story arc, his impact on the story is widely received with awe as his actions are somewhat unpredictable.

Even Luffy (as awesome as he his) had a role model who initially sparked his interest in becoming a pirate, the warmhearted 'Shanks'. When this pirate was visiting Luffy's hometown when he was young, the boy had interacted with Shanks and became quick friends with the humble person that he is. One day, a bandit had entered the pub that the captain's crew had usually had sake (japanese beer) in and made a fool out of the kindhearted pirate by spilling sake and embarrassing him in front of his crew without knowing that the bandit was infinitely inferior to that of Shank's crew. The bandit soon left, and the captain and his crew laughed it off which had left Luffy enraged that Shank's did not fight back. Shank's simply replied "he just spilt a little sake". This led to Luffy confronting the leader of the bandit to protect Shank's honor at a later time, who kidnapped the little boy to drown him in front of the whole town to see. The reason I am saying all of this is because of the quote that had inspired Luffy to become a man like Shanks when Shanks had confronted the bandit, "You can spill drinks on me, even spit on me. I'll just laugh about it. But If you dare to hurt my friends... I WON'T FORGIVE YOU!". From that moment on Luffy had learnt what it means to be a man, to protect your friends and their honor rather than your own.

One of the many anecdotes from the manga would give you an idea about the type of person Luffy aspires to be, but in the end the author also highlights the fact that Luffy is a pirate, and thus being a hero is not his 'piece of cake'. No matter how dumb the meat loving pirate is, he will always have a special place in my heart as the anime had really instigated my own downfalls when it had come to friendships and all that, when I realized that I had not become friends with the right people at school; people who genuinely might have not wanted the best for me.

Quintessentially the main thing I wanted to say was that Luffy is a person who does what he loves, and loves the way he does it. That may sound very stupid, but from all the real world people like linguists who are congratulated like my friend who idolizes 'Noam Chomsky' or another more cynical friend who actually praises Donald Trumps best moments, these are the people I don't really see taking the world by storm. People like these... they are but words and no action, no matter how much dilly-dallying one does will not justify a certain politicians rude and consistently inconsistent statements. A man like Luffy may not exist in our universe, I do understand that, but the basic spirit of a man's dreams will always be the same - same fiction or non-fiction. All these politicians, journalists, lawyers and even what I could become - an economist - just talk (a lot). In my mind, real people just go and change the world without hesitating, something I wish I can do.

I am not undermining the use of language to make a difference, but in my perspective I have learnt a lot about life lessons and unwavering conviction from a man who is possibly 'below average' in a fictional world than I have from people in the real world. Our world breeds contempt, hatred and jealousy but in a manga for kids I have understood about loss, pain, and sorrow than I ever would from a real life story. The story of a 19-year old teenager who knew no better is probably the best story I have ever read and am forever grateful to have stumbled upon it. In my earlier post I had mentioned about becoming Pirate King as my dream, and no matter how stupid it may sound, it seems possible week by week as the story progresses because at the end of the day your idol is supposed to make you feel like you can do anything. And if Luffy can become Pirate King, then so can I!

-->Please excuse grammatical errors and mistakes, I stayed up at 3 AM to write this even though my university assignment deadline is only a very few days away which should be spent more productively! But as always, please do leave a comment on what you think about whatever I rambled on about and share this article if you liked it. Also, please follow my blog if you would like more!

-Saquib

My very stupid dream

THOSE OF YOU THAT DON'T WATCH ANIME OR THINK IT'S FOR KIDS PLEASE SHY AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE

The epitome of my life was probably the year 2015. It was probably the year with great ups and downs; an emotional roller coaster if you will. But it goes without saying that the 'ups' were definitely much more favorable than the downs, but this post is not about that. This post is about my dream, my dream of becoming the Pirate King! Yes, pirate king! I never have told this to anybody except a few friends whom I deem to brothers but even they could not take me seriously and laughed it off and now I will be sharing my ambition with the rest of the world. Truth be told I didn't take it seriously until I pondered what it really means to be King of the Pirates, as there are still mysteries surrounding the moniker and how to become it in the show. If you have read up until this point and have not been discouraged by the ridiculous amount of 'jargon' terms in this post, I will try to make it as easy to understand as possible but without reading and staying up-to date with the manga, or Japanese comic book "One Piece" (which has been adapted to a very successful ongoing animated series), the rest of the article maybe hard to follow.

The story mainly follows a teenager, Monkey D. Luffy who wants to be Pirate King, which had been done 20 years or so prior to the storyline which was an unprecedented achievement by the likes of the very enigmatic pirate Gol D. Roger.  Now, the full details of his exploits have not been revealed in the story so far, but from what we have seen in flashbacks, he seemed to be a very awesome guy in short. But the type of person that the Pirate King was is not who I want to become, but the type of person that the Luffy perceives the Pirate King to be, and his conviction to hold that title, is what had me hooked to the show from the very start. Granted, the first few episodes were not so entertaining, but the reason I keep on watching every Sunday morning is not just for the engaging storyline and amazing action sequences, but because of the main character's conviction to, and to quote "I don't wanna conquer anything! It's just that the person with most freedom on the sea, is the Pirate King!".

The reason for saying all this is because in real life, I really didn't have an idol to look upto, but when I started watching the show I became inspired by Luffy's drive and his 'never give up atittude'. I was going through a tough time in 2014, of which I do not want to share with the rest of the world at the moment, but watching Luffy's adventure and his inspirational quotes, although they may not seem so 'classy' or thought provoking, had helped me battle my greatest fears and given me e bit of self-confidence in myself and restored faith in myself and in my abilities. The main thing I wanted to say was that to be honest anyone can aspire to become Pirate King, since the world of One Piece does not apply to our world and there is no title such as the 'Pirate King', if we aspire to become the Pirate King we may be able to become more proud of ourselves and whatever we deem fit a Pirate King should be in our eyes. When I was going through this tough time that I had mentioned I kept my held high because of Luffy's determination, willpower, and spirit and the anime had reminded me about some very important things about friendship and loyalty, in addition to a lot of other important life lessons that we know about but seeing it unravel in our own eyes in the form of a story that we really understand the drudging hardships of life in general and that we must, no matter what, always hold our head held high to see past it. This is what Luffy has taught me and I hope will continue to teach me so that I can become a Pirate King in a sentimental way. Since I am in the first year in university and have not decided a career path, 'Pirate King' does seem to be a more fulfilling way to go.

That's about it from me from my end. If you have managed to read all this please do leave a comment about my thoughts, I will try to reply as soon as possible. And I know that you may hear this often, but please follow my blog as I intend to post more in the future and if you haven't guessed already, I love anime (!) so I will try to posts related to my favorite shows.

-Saquib