NED Alumni Convention 2026, Stamford, Connecticut

 

What are these annual NED Alumni conventions truly about? More specifically what was the 20^th NED Alumni Convention held in Stamford, Connecticut about?

Was Convention 2026 defined by the first day's welcome program, which recognized sponsors and organizers and was elegantly emceed by Arif Mansuri despite technical sound issues? Or was it about the wonderful performance by Fizza Javed, whose passion for singing passed pure enjoyment onto her audience?

Or was the Convention 2026 about Saturday's full-day program? About the insightful discussions and the speeches that took place in the morning, or about the heartwarming keynote speech in the evening, by Payactiv CEO Safwan Shah, or the impressive performance by pop artist Ali Zafar that left the crowd dancing with joy by the end of the night?

Or was it about the Sunday morning breakfast, where people said their goodbyes, never quite knowing who will return next time?

Or was it about something bigger, much bigger? Was it about rejoicing in a deep sense of belonging, being in the presence of the people you grew up with, and seeing familiar faces like Rashid Ali Baig, Amir Ul Islam, Aslam Siddiqui, Asma Ali, Kamal Mehdi, Tanveer Alam, Anis Paya, Arif Sattar, Mike Zaidi, Ahmed Ali, Shahid Khan, Sohail Bashir, Farhat Adil, Sarosh Lodhi, Asim Tirmizi, and many others? Was it an attempt to relive a wonderful past, to cherish the memories of the golden era of your life, and to remember friends lost along the way?  Or was it simply a celebration, unexplained-- a few days of joy to break the monotony of everyday life?

 

 

Early morning flight from DMK, Bangkok’s smaller airport?

Early morning flight from DMK, Bangkok’s smaller airport?

 

 

Stay near DMK, the Don Mueang area.  There are several inexpensive options available on and around the street called Thanon Song Prapha.  Better to book in advance but walk-in rooms are also available.  Rooms on and around Thanon Song Prapha are walking distance from the DMK airport.  In the airport, look for signs pointing to Amari Hotel.  Amari Hotel is across the freeway from DMK.  An elevated walkway connects Amari Hotel to DMK.  You can take the walkway and before reaching Amari Hotel, get off the walkway, go down to the side street walkway and walk to your room.

Bangkok’s MRT is now even more tourist friendly--just use your Visa card

 

Bangkok’s MRT is now even more tourist friendly--just use your Visa card

 

 

No need to buy tokens for Bangkok’s MRT (metro system).  You can use your Visa card to enter and exit (make sure to use the same card); the fare is calculated based on your entry and exit and the money (converted into the currency your Visa card transactions are) is charged to your card.  Very convenient!

Summary of Marco Rubio’s speech at the Munich Security Conference

 

Here is the summary of Marco Rubio’s speech at the Munich Security Conference:

1. We must retain whiteness: Americans are actually Europeans; we share the same culture and the faith in Christianity. We can preserve the European demographics of these two places by putting strict control on immigration.  We must not allow browning/blackening of Europe and the United States. [My ancestors were from Southern Europe--not quite Anglo-Saxons, but still European.]

2.  Human rights of the weak don’t matter: [Post Renaissance] The Europeans explored the world and used their better technology to subdue other people.  That is the path we should continue.  [The wellbeing of the Cherokees, the Navajos, the Aboriginal Australians, the Maoris, the Zulus, and other indigenous people must not burden our consciousness.]

3.  What Conservation! :  [Global warming/climate change is a hoax.]  We must not curtail our progress by trying to abide by laws that restrict our use of oil and gas.  We must unscrupulously exploit whatever resources we can get our hands on. 

 

Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images via New York Times

  

Have you seen the world?

Have you seen the world?

Last year I traveled a bit but did not go anywhere new.  This was disappointing because the world is full of wonders and traveling to foreign places you always find enchanting things. Staying in Karachi for most of 2025 I found myself reflecting on the idea of ‘seeing the world’ and what people normally mean when they say they have seen it all. 
At a wedding, I sat at a table where I knew some people but did not know others. I was keenly listening to the conversation taking place on the other side of the table. A man in his fifties had recently returned from Oslo; his colleagues were impressed by his travels and asked where else he had been to. He told them he had been all over and  claimed he had seen the world. 
This was impressive! I interjected. I told him it had always been my dream to see the world; I was genuinely impressed to meet someone who had already done it. I asked him how he found Burkina. He looked at me in astonishment. “Burkina?”  
“Yes, Burkina Faso,” I clarified. “Was it easy to travel in that country?” 
He paused, then recalled his geography. “Oh, Burkina Faso, close to Mali!” he said. 
I pressed on. “Yes. Burkina Faso. How was it?”
“Who goes to Burkina Faso?” he asked. 
I was a bit disappointed by this answer. Surely anyone who claimed to have seen the world would go to Burkina Faso. But out of politeness I kept that thought to myself. Instead, I asked him which country he found to be most alien. He said he enjoyed visiting Cuba. 
If he found Cuba to be an interesting place, what did he think of the DPRK. No, he had never been to North Korea. From there, the conversation went south. Obviously infuriated, he said ‘seeing the world’ was just an expression, and it did not mean he went to every single country. I learned that his ‘world’ comprised most of Europe and North America; Costa Rica alone in Central America; Argentina and Brazil in South America; most of East Asia, and a couple of places in Africa. We got busy with dinner, but the conversation stayed with me and made me think about people’s desire to see the world. Does seeing the world mean visiting every sovereign state? But some countries are so big there are vast differences between their various regions. Can someone claim to have seen China if they visit only a couple of major Chinese cities? Going by the count of regions with distinct cultures and languages, the ‘world’ to be seen would keep expanding. Add to this the constant transformation of places. The South Africa I saw in 2023 was quite different from the one I saw in 1992. Perhaps the desire to ‘see the world’ is nothing more than chasing a rainbow. That nobody ever saw the world, and nobody ever will.

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