open your eyes

By: Waqas Mahmood

hey

my name is Waqas Mahmood but most of my friends call me Kashy. i am 18 years old (go me) and currently living in Manchester. i am a Danish born, British raised Pakistani.

i am currently studying Fashion & Clothing and going into my 2nd year and hope to join a photography course later on this month.

My college is one of the most diverse colleges in Manchester getting people from Australia to America studying there So when a young Asian boy decides to study fashion is labeled "gay" and an "Oreo". i studied at Grammar school for boys and i left in year 10 to go on a holiday in Pakistan not knowing that my parents had decided to move to Pakistan. i had go back to using a none-broadband internet connection,speaking Urdu all the time (my little brother who is 9 speaks better then me), re-starting school (but its was a mixed school so WOOP) and pray all the time and the biggest thing of them all not seeing anyone white,black,or yellow (minus this boy who was from china who spoke better Urdu then me as well).

i really got to see how Pakistan had evolved from this place dad and mum told me about.

we moved to Rawalpindi a city fast becoming modern. All though i had made loads of friend i still felt a barrier to them. i would get a vibe that i didn't belong in Pakistan nor would ever be one. So when we decided to come back to england after a whole YEAR it was like music to my ears.

For the first months i had to sit home and do nothing to but gain and interest in art and fashion..........blah blah blah after 2 years

i have gained a GNVQ in art and on my 2nd year on my fashion course. last year i won a design competition which was an amazing experience because i used my arabic heritage to inspire my design. when i went to the festival TO COLLECT MY PRIZE and i noticed i was one of five asians there and the only asian person to win the comp with 4 others who were all white.

when people find out i am Muslim they think i am a Muslim by name, they truth is i love going to gigs and dancing and staying out late but at the same time i read the Quraan not because my parents make me, the fact that i want to read the Quraan and still have great feel of God next to me. i have always said if your going to go out to a gig and do drugs or whatever and then go home and be all yeha i am a Muslim blah blah even tho i dont pray and i dont read the Quraan ......DONT CALL YOUR SELF ONE THEN.

i have been asked if i am Lebanese, Iranian, arabic and mixed race just because i dress different and speak like a posh boy (sometimes i always pick up accents so right now its a thick Indian accent lol....serious) . i want to ask to every single person why is it we have to have a crew? why is it we have to certain taste in music and no other? why is it we are Muslim but have girlfriends on the side? and why is it loads of people have this thing which says "we are paki and we are staying"?

if people don't change their views now the young Asian society will be split in to different values and beliefs. parents need to sit down and speak to their kids and see what is going on with them and the world from their children's eyes and not only for them but for their kids as well.

i know what i want to achieve in the future and i am not ashamed of it but when you have people on the end of the road smoking cigs speaking all "ghetto" (bitch please) you have to think who is the victim here the kid or their parents? what can we do to stop it? why are they doing that?