The Ridiculous Social Message of Yeh Na Thi Hamari Qismat

Let's talk about this new Pakistani serial that is taking the desi world by storm.

Yeh Na Thi Hamari Qismat

It is a story of two sisters who get married in strange circumstances. The marriage episode (or circumstance) itself is the ultimate in cringe worthiness but let's skip past that to the premise of the story. I will come back to it, I promise.

THE GOOD STUFF

First, let's talk of the two good things about this serial. The acting is good, and there IS something in the direction of the story that makes you want to watch the next episode ... just to see what happens. That is good in any TV drama where it can capture and hook an audience (sadly lacking in The Fame Game or How I Met Your Father). Now let's come to the ridiculousness.

The story is of two sisters - the "good" sister and the "bad" sister. Now why is the good sister good? Because she serves her in laws, tolerates all their insults, goes to office and earns, and then comes home and does ALL the domestic chores, and all the times remains silent at any injustice done to her. And why is the bad sister bad? She is stubborn, and does not speak to elders with respect, does not tolerate any insults tactfully, and is too lazy to do any housework. Oh, and she is 20 years old.

THE BAD STUFF: ALL WOMEN ARE EVIL

The show is very popular amongst women, which is surprising when you think that ALMOST EVERY woman portrayed on the drama is shown as a scheming villain, except the main character and her mother. EVERY WOMAN is bad. Almost EVERY GUY is good. One has to ask, is this realistic?

I know Pakistan is a conservative country that likes to promote joint families, but if reality is that in every joint family all the elderly women are villains who make the life of the new wife hell, then why is the young girl who wants to live on her own shown as a bad girl? And how does this show purport to promote family values when your mother-in-law, aunt, cousin etc. are all evil, all the time?

THE BAD STUFF: JOINT FAMILY IS IDEAL AND ANYTHING ELSE IS EVIL

This is particularly nauseating. Granted, it's a desi show, so they are likely to toll the virtues of a joint family. But the talk of having your own household is treated as toxic (whereas the family itself is shown to be the ultimate toxic one, but you have to "tolerate" it like the 'good' girl). Even Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)'s own daughters lived in their own household with their husbands, but this is shown as something only the 'bad' girl wants. How hard is it to show reality, that different families have different needs?

THE BAD STUFF: THE MARRIAGE EPISODE

This is really stupid. I told you I will come back to the marriage episode. The elder sister is supposed to be married to Yaser, who, by the way, has the hots for his fiancée's younger sister. On the day of the marriage, the 'good' sister meets with an incident and is unable to get to the venue on time. As you watch this, you ask yourself, DOES NO ONE HAVE A PHONE? Not even the police, the ambulance or the hospital, to alert the parents? And then this lady - who by the way was robbed at gun point - is branded characterless for showing up late to her own reception. And again, everyone seems OK with this! Even the parents of the girl, while not wondering where she is, decides it is better for the younger sister to get married in place of the older sister, because "log kya kahenge" or what will people think. 

Again, she was robbed at gun point and is late, but somehow this is a big disaster and the young  sister must save the day. And of course, Yaser is behind himself with glee, telling his new younger wife that God stepped in to make him marry her…..essentially saying that God had the older sister attacked to please Yaser. But hey - the men are supposed to be religious here, and the women the villain. 

We are not done. As the older sister appears, the family keeps worrying about her reputation and her "dagh" (mark). WHAT MARK? WHAT REPUTATION? SHE WAS ROBBED!!! So she has to get married immediately to the first available guy, because, you know, who else will marry her!! I don't know ... someone who has a bit of sense? But because she is the 'good' girl, she has to tolerate this.

A GUILTY PLEASURE

I accept that drama always get a bit exaggerated because you know drama. But this over the top ridiculousness. My post is not just about how ridiculous it is, but how it is pretending what is pathetic behaviour (forced marriage , tolerating toxic abuse , age old fashioned thinking) as good, progressive and religious. This show, while remaining a guilty pleasure, certainly does not deserve to be called a good show.

The One With The Friends Reunion

The Friends TV show ended its run on May 6, 2004.

The blog's first post was July 16, 2004.

I had been blogging for 17+ years. And yet, Friends is older than that.

Today, May 27, 2021 - 17 years to almost the day the show ended, HBO Max telecast a special Friends reunion show. Despite the hit-and-miss nature of the reunion show, with its mixed format of an interview, a behind the scenes look at the show, the actual eavesdropping of the casts' reunion, and the cast reading some of their favourite lines, this special reunion show is going to be widely watched. At close to 2 hours, it's definitely struggling to hold your interest. Yet, it's a good mixture of nostalgia and cheerfulness. This is Friends. It is THAT popular. Even now. Especially now.

Why is that?

Though I was slightly younger than 20 when Friends began, I soon caught up. The TV show Friends is supposed to be about that time of your life when your friends are your family i.e. your 20s. And I can say that I thoroughly, really, absolutely, enjoyed my 20s. I had a blast. And I was at that perfect stage of life where I could relate to the show - they were showing the good times with friends that I, a person in my 20s, was having. If I could go back in time to that time, I would tell my younger person one thing.

Savour every moment. Enjoy every moment. It's not going to come back. It'll never be like this again. 

(And oh, buy Apple and Google stock.)

The 20s are that stage in your life when you are unshackled from the responsibilities of education and college, and yet have to take the responsibility of an adult, while still remaining young and energetic to have fun, and you actually have some money to spend to enjoy that fun. The first crush, the first love, the first heart ache. All of that. It all seems to be so innocent a time. A simpler time. Yet, we know ... a lot was going on.

All that emotion, the feelings, the drama comes packaged into this show, and this is even before we get to how GOOD the show was.

The show was perfectly CAST. Every actor was their character and you cannot imagine any other person playing those roles. The writing was fantastic. It was funny, it was good physical comedy and never did the show become boring, even during the tenth season's Rachel-Joey segments. The chemistry amongst the cast was really there to be seen. People often compare Friends to How I Met Your Mother. While HIMYM had its good moments, it started to tank after season 6 or so. Friends however maintained that good writing and the standard throughout its run. And partly I think because of its competitors - Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond - each brilliant shows in their own way.

So how was the Reunion episode?

Even if it was not that good, it was still good. But it did highlight one thing.

Aging.

Everyone ages. Some better than others. Some, not so good. And for others, there's always Botox.

This is something we don't like to admit to ourselves. We who watched Friends live in our 20s are now in our 40s. The TV may still show those characters as they were, but that's not who the actors are now. It was tough, for example, to see Matthew Perry. His struggle with substance abuse and addition are now well known. It's a reminder that whatever your youth may be, sometimes life takes you down a road that's different from others. Bad things happen. Suddenly the cheerful world of one's 20s is not so cheerful any more. Your responsibilities may start to weigh down. Things may not look so promising.

Welcome to your 40s. 

And that's why people tuned in to this show. It was a reminder of simpler times. Before social media, smart phones, and before a global pandemic. And yet, I felt at times, the reunion show dragged. The stars' conversations seemed forced. They harped on about their chemistry and the good times they had as if to remind us. Could they BE any more rehearsed? And what was the whole point of having Malala Yousafzai or David Beckham on the show. 

Yet, just like a Friends episode (or a pizza slice), even if it was bad, it was still good. The show was both scripted and unscripted. It was long and dragging, but still managed to entertain. It serves up a heavy dose of nostalgia to a time before the present, when all was good in the world, simply due to the brilliant and stellar cast who, after 17 years, still slips back so comfortably into their roles that you don't feel like they had taken a break. It is comfort food, and it is fine dining. 

After all, since March 2020, when we feel like we are stuck in second gear, when it hasn't been our day, our week, our month, or even our year ... this show reminds us of a time when our friends were there for us. 

The End of Ertugrul

This Wednesday, after 5 extra ordinary years, an almost perfect television series came to an end with an almost perfect finale episode. Yes, Diriliş: Ertuğrul was over.

Diriliş: Ertuğrul, also known in English as Resurrection: Ertugrul, or simply Ertugrul for short, is a Turkish television serial that has become a worldwide phenomenon. It tells the story of a 13th century Turkish warrior called Ertugrul who, by a series of extra ordinary actions and events, becomes the father of Osman, who in turn will found the Ottoman empire that will rule as a world super power for the next 600 years.

Ertugrul is a straight forward man who loves to fight for justice and truth. He is loathe to compromise on ethics, regardless of the consequences - facts that sometimes lead to conflicts with his brothers and others in his tribe.

The first two seasons sees him emerge from under the shadows of his father and his older brothers, and come into his own. His father respects his ideals and ethics, but his brothers are more practical and less loathe to endanger themselves or the tribe for the sake of justice. It is this schism that leads to Ertugrul heading off with his own followers, breaking away from the rest of the tribe, to follow his own destiny.

Along the way he and his people manage to establish themselves near the Byzantine borders. The Crusaders, the Greeks, and the ever present Mongols are all enemies that Ertugrul has to constantly deal with, along with the troubles of his own people.

The characters that surround Ertugrul are extremely appealing and well fleshed out. Sadly, despite his many enemies, the worst enemy is usually someone close to him who is backstabbing him for petty cash or worldly powers. The show effectively portrays the many layers of such tribal society life and the schemes that go on on a daily basis.

One of the attractions of this show was the presentation of Islamic ideals, values and morals in a very attractive (and entertaining) manner without coming across as preachy and verbose. These people LIVE the Islamic ideals.

Verses of the Quran are mixed along with parables and stories of the pious from whom Ertugrul and his band of heroes draw inspiration from. The story contains a heavy dose of Sufism that was a big influence of the early Ottomans. The plot was, for the most part, riveting and the script well written, particularly seasons 3, 4 and 5. This is when Ertugrul comes into his own as a man, as a leader, and as a power broker.

There's ample tragedy in the series as well. Good people die, sometimes as result of cruelty of their enemies, and other times due to betrayal and a moment of weakness. The story does not shy away from these moments, but sometimes lingers on them.

Each episode is long - almost 2 hours! There's 30 episodes every season. That's 60 hours per season, and at 5 seasons, you have almost 300 hours of Ertugrul. Yet most people who watch it love it, and watch it slowly to make it last even longer. The show is now a cultural phenomenon, watched not just in Turkey but around the world, particularly after Netflix picked it up.

The show has successfully drawn its inspiration from modern times. Just like today, in the 13th century the Muslim world was badly divided, broken, and weak, and seemed to be on the verge of oblivion under Mongol cruelty. Yet along came a hero, chosen by Allah, who led a resurrection. Within a short span of time, these same Muslims were now on their way to conquering Constantinople. It's not hard to see why this show is so popular amongst today's Muslims. It gives them hope.

You will be missed, Ertugrul. Eyvallah!

Hardik Pandya and Rahul - Hypocritical to Blame Them Only

I hardly ever don't watch Indian Television. I find it full of crap, and the shows that are supposed to be comedy are anything but. I do however follow cricket. So recently I read about how two cricketers went on Koffee With Karan and the Twitter verse erupted on how sexist , misogynist and racist these men all were.

You can read about it on Buzzfeed, News18, and Bollywood Hungama, amongst others. Now, interestingly at first Buzzfeed actually published an article on how hilarious, vibrant and open the interview was. However, since the Indian feminist Twitterverse started to rant about the episode, Buzzfeed suddenly decided to be "woke" and criticize the episode as well.

Here is where I find the whole ranting of the Indian viewers hypocritical, especially the feminists (yes, I have no love lost for them).

1. The guys talked about sex and women as if they were conquests.

Well, blow me down with a feather! If Pandya and Rahul were "conquering" women, what were those women doing? These ladies followed the cricketers around, and if they slept with them, proudly bragged about the sex to their friends.

"I slept with that cricketer!"

If you have to blame one side for sleeping around, what about the other side? Why do women get a pass for being sluts? It is a hypocritical attitude.

I am not defending the guys. I find this culture of one night stands and just sex for the sake of pleasure without any strings attached abhorrent. Yet it has become the culture of the day. If so, why blame only the guys. The women weren't forced to do anything, so why should they get a pass?

2. Pandya was called a creep for watching women "move" in the clubs.

Now, once again, the double standards. You are at a club. Men are watching women. Women are watching men. And I guess some men are watching men and women are watching women. Yet only one of these is offensive. Why?

Once again we ignore the materialistic, YOLO, pleasure seeking culture of the modern youth and focus on "wokeness" where a man should never admit he is checking out a woman.

3. Pandya was also called out for appropriating black culture.

Now I am never one who agreed into this "appropriating" bullshit, be it Halloween costumes or otherwise. If Kim Kardashian wants to put on a Princess Jasmine costume, I don't see it as an affront to Arab and Islamic culture or appropriating what have you.

This is what Pandya said.

"I like to watch and observe how they (women) move. I'm little from the black side so I need to see how they move."

Now if you were to ask an average person three things they know about Black culture, they will tell you hip hop, booty shaking women in said hip hop videos, and basketball. Some may add a gangster culture. bling or low slung jeans.

So my question is, if it's offensive to identify "black culture" with "women moving", then perhaps rethink that whole booty shaking women in music videos? Pretty much it seems that's all that is glorified in black culture music. Or stop referring to themselves as "from the hood".

The articles (and the Twitterverse) are long and there are many more issues. However I have no patience to go through ALL of them. Suffice it to say that it takes two to tango, and if you find these cricketers' behaviour uncouth, unbecoming of a gentleman, and a bit like a 'fratboy', remember there's women who are going along with them specifically because of this. Criticize them too, and you have a point.

Otherwise, take a chill pill.

How to stretch a Hindi TV serial

So yesterday I was studying downstairs while my mom was watching some Indian serial.

How to stretch a Hindi TV serial into 600 Episodes:

Introduce some new long lost relative who suddenly becomes the most important person in the family.

A misunderstanding occurs between the mother-in-law and the elder wife, causing the wife's husband to tell her to leave the house.

The husband is some business magnate. Apparently there is no shortage of business magnates in India.

A new character in the shape of another business magnate is introduced. This one is a she. And she wants to make a deal (business or otherwise) with the husband over "lunch".

The separated wife now gets a job at ... the new lady business magnate's office.

This long lost relative suddenly becomes the good guy and wants to reunite the husband and wife. Or... does he?

And the saga continues ...

Why did Archie choose Veronica?

Today, Archie Comics revealed that in issue # 600, fans can see who Archie will pick between Veronica and Betty, finally ending the over-70-year old love triangle.

*drum roll*

He picked Veronica! I know Obama is not worrying over this issue (yet) but Archie has been a staple part of our pop culture - and now I feel something is over... an end of an era *sob*

So, in any case, why DID Archie pick Veronica? I ran through some possible reasons:

It's the economy, stupid.

He will marry Veronica, then have Betty on the side ("best friend" *wink*).

Jughead was already taken.

Archie joined an MBA program.

A secret xxx-rated video featuring Betty Cooper was released on Youtube.

Archie wants to run for President and needs Change ($$$) he can believe in.

Betty moved to Canada (I always thought with her goody-two-shoes-boring nature, she was a secret Canadian).

Archie's no gentleman ('cos we all know what they prefer!)

I also find it surprising when people sympathize with Betty and why everyone says she is the girl next door. Sure, Veronica is rich, but Betty is a blonde! She has a voluptuous figure, is young and hip. That's Pamela Anderson to you... whereas Veronica would be Carmen Electra. And we all know, on Baywatch, who wins between Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra!

PS. Pamela's Canadian too...

In any case, the sad part is, it's now over.

Or is it?

*drum roll*

Ekushey Celebrations and Slumdog Millionaire

February 21 is an important day for Bengalis - we mark this day in celebration of our language and the Language Movement. The UN also celebrates this day in honor of Bangla as International Mother Language Day [source]. Bengalis have a deep pride in their language and February 21 is often marked with passionate events about language, culture and 1971.

In Toronto, the Bangladeshi community is very strong and mostly educated. I attended one event "Liberation 1971" in Scarborough on Friday. Bengali readers of this blog know I have a soft spot for university Bangladesh student associations and usually attend their cultural shows. This show was held by Bangladeshi Students Association-Scarborough (BSAS) and focused on Bangladeshi's struggle for independence.

[Photo Credit:Shahryer Ahmed]

The skits were fabulous. The whole show was mind blowing. The actress pictured above played a mother who receives a letter from her son who went to fight the war. She starts reading the letter, and starts to break down into tears as she reads on. At the end of her skit, she falls down to the ground in tears, and there was not a dry eye in the audience. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant acting.

[Photo Credit:Sharihan Bhuiyan]

There were songs, all brilliantly placed and sung. These are revolutionary songs and evoke strong emotions, and the participants who sang the songs, particularly the singer pictured above, did full justice. Again, they were just superb and the show was fully worth a lot more than the $5 admission they charged.

The Oscars often inaugurate the cultural show season by the BSAs here in the Greater Toronto Area, and this year the bar has been set very high by the BSAS. The downtown St. George BSA usually has the best show, but they would be highly challenged to surpass BSAS's content and performance this year.

There was another event at the Danforth (the hub of the Bengali community here) and they even had their own Shohid Minar!

[Photo Credit:Spriha]

Again, there was singing, dancing, and all-in-all a good celebration of Bangla. The real Shohid Minar is of course in Dhaka.

All this celebration of Bangla underlines the fact how important our language, culture and music is to us! I in fact know of couples where the girl was non-Bengali and the first questions people ask the guy is "Does she know Bengali? Will she learn? Make sure she learns!" Not your "what does her father do?" or "how did you guys meet?" for us! You will find in Bangladesh even religious people send their daughters off to classes for music and singing. Preserving the Bengali identity is a very big thing.

* * *

Speaking of the Oscars, yesterday was perhaps the first Oscar I watched almost, almost, in its entirety. And no, it was not for Hugh Jackman as some girls seem to be doing!

I was cheering for Slumdog Millionaire and it won big time, especially Best Director and Best Picture awards. It truly is a good movie. I attended this movie long before it was released widely and long before it became a "big thing" so in some sense (strange, I know!) I have a special fondness for this movie and am glad to see it do so well. And of course, a Muslim brown man winning TWO awards for music AND invoking God on Hollywood's big stage was just a bonus!

It's actually funny (not to mention strange) to see some Indians' reactions to this movie.

On one hand are all those proud of the movie and glad that "they" made it. Well, it's not an Indian movie! It's made by a British director, written by a British writer, and produced by a Hollywood studio. Granted it has some Indian actors (even the leads are British) and set in India but in the end - it's a Hollywood movie. But, you know, I am happy for them and understand their pride.

And then there are the other Indians who hate the movie and think it promotes cliches and doesn't show the "real" India. That's a stupid debate and this movie not only shows how MOST Indians live but raises poverty on the big screen - a subject many Indians would rather not talk about.

In the end, it's best not to take it so seriously and just enjoy it as a good tale and yarn. It may also be the first time a movie that has cricket in it (the children playing in the airport and one of the questions on the game show) as Best Picture at the Oscars so that's something!

JAI HO!

OK I Admit, Star Trek = Geek

I recently realized why a Star Trek fan is held as the ultimate geek. I was watching TV with a female Indian friend and suddenly Voyager came on. Being a Trekkie - I naturally switched to that channel.

"Uffo, what is this? Is that Obama?"

"Er, no." I replied. "That's Tuvok. He's a Vulcan."

"A what? And why is that... my God! A talking fish!"

"That's not a talking fish." I tried to explain. "It's a Talaxian."

I then launched into a "history" lesson.

"Vulcans are a race of intelligent aliens who control their emotions, while Talaxians are a group of another aliens in the Delta Quadrant."

"I see." Probably did not. "And that man with the triangle on his forehead?"

"That's Chakotay. He's an Indian."

"A what?"

"Aboriginal Indian." I hastened to explain. "Not your Indian Indian." I did not add that I have yet to meet a native Indian who had a triangle tattoo on his forehead.

"What's happening here?"

"Oh," I was recalling the episode. "It's a time warp field. Their ship has encounter a, er, anomaly in the, er, space-time continuum ..."

"You know, if they are going back in time, why are they going back to Earth? You said they are 75,000 miles from Earth...."

Not miles dear, I thought, light years.

"Er, I don't know!" (cheaper to shoot episode in LA I guess).

You know what, Bidaii now sounds much more interesting.

Didigiri

Somewhat disturbing, somewhat funny, and politically very incorrect.

Dadagiri is a new reality Indian TV show on a youth channel called Bindass. One of the segments of the show feature contestants withstanding verbal abuse by a female anchor dressed as some dominatrix. In this episode, it seems someone forgot to give the guy contestants the script - they were unmoved by her tirade.

What then followed, the girl lost her temper.

And slapped the guy.

And the guy ... well, you'd better watch the video.

I find it pretty surprising that such television shows now air in the same land where Richard Gere cannot kiss Shilpa Shetty.

Of course the TV network then did not air the scene but completely left it out of the final cut that made it to the air.

And then conveniently released it on Youtube.

Sneaky, these Indians.

Four Biwi, So Fight With TV

So.. there's this, like, Saudi sheikh, who hates TV.

So he said, like, TV is bad.

TV producers are also bad. And they should be killed.

Anyone on TV, even Mickey Mouse, should also be killed.

And he says all this .. while BEING ON TV.

Anyone beside me find this ironic?

A New Drama

Imagine my shock.

A friend had forwarded me the link to a Bengali natok (or a short TV series) on Youtube that was being aired in Bangladesh right now. The series is based on Bangladeshi-Canadians living in Ottawa.

OK, this sounds interesting, I thought, and clicked Play.

My cousin's face stared right back at me.

After having gotten over the shock, I quickly started to enjoy the play. It was actually not bad.

Of course the funny part part of it was my cousin is playing one character whose friend is interested in the neighbor lady and my cousin's character has to tease his friend about it. The haha part - the neighbor lady is being played by my cousin's wife! Some uncomfortable smiles there.

I still can't believe my cousin and bhabi are on national TV!

All in all I am actually surprised I didn't hear anything about it - but here it is - if you follow Bengali you will enjoy some of the characters while cringe at some of the others - it's all here.

Amader Shopnoloke

Episode 1 - part 1 of 3.

Episode 2 - part 1 of 3.

Episode 3 - part 1 of 3.

They even have a blog!

Sex and the City - Rant 1

What's the big deal with Sex and the City? I mean, Brian Griffin (Family Guy) apparently summed it up best after watching it with some gay friends: "... so it's a show about three hookers and their mom?"

I admit I watched a few episodes - no, I didn't follow it - just watched it when I switched on the TV and it happened to be on. It's a funny, witty show but if you listen to women everywhere, it has been made out to be some ... Movement ... something bigger than what it is, really.

At it's heart, Sex and the City is no feminist manna - the girls are obsessed with guys and their life is defined by who can successfully get which guy, and if all else fails, you can cure your heartache by buying an expensive pair of stilettos.

For me, Friends was more of a realistic portrait of 30-somethings who are single or leading single life. At least they didn't pretend to be happy and proud of their "love life is DOA" at 30.

In the end, Sex and the City is just another TV show, more often than not funny and entertaining, but just a show nevertheless. It is not meant to be an ideal of how 'professional' women should be.

For pure fun, take a look at the Sex and the Matrix parody.

On The Big Brother Controversy

If you have followed the news over the past few days, you may have heard of the big controversy of alleged racism on the British show Big Brother. For the uninitiated, Big Brother is a house where almost every room has a camera, and the house mates live there for three months, every moment of their lives in the house captured on camera, with highlights being shown every evening. Every so often, viewers get to vote and evict one member from the house.

To spice up the house mates for the current run, Big Brother persuaded Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty to participate in the game show, with the added bonus of having a South Asian audience tune in as well.

It didn't take long for the other members of the show to turn on Shetty, allegedly calling her a "dog", "Paki", asking her to "fu** off home", as well as making comments about the Indian race as a whole. The controversy blew up spectacularly when South Asian members of Britain's Parliament brought it up in parliament to discuss racism. It also became a diplomatic incident with members of Britain's government on a delegation to visit India being asked about it. More than 40,000 complaints were registered against the show and they lost a major sponsor. Effigies of the show were being burnt on the streets of Mumbai (some people have too much time on their hands).

As I read through all this, I can't help but think "any publicity is good publicity" when it comes to celebrities. Shetty's career wasn't going anywhere and this puts her in the public spotlight, that too in a sympathetic manner. She is now likely to win the game show. Big Brother becomes the most watched show on TV. Viewers vote the alleged racist off the show and all is good with the world again.

I am also surprised by the slew of commentators from India slamming Britain. "Oh I thought Britain was a tolerant country," said one (a government MP!). "Now I know what is really under the surface."

Oh please! As if India is such a tolerant country. Not just India. The whole subcontinent. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. We discriminate daily based on caste, skin fairness, gender, religion (or inter-religion as in Sunni/Shia so on). Yet we are always the first ones to criticize. Ever looked into our own souls? You can make a whole Crash movie out of just the South Asian / Arab community.

Links:
Goody fights to save career

Shilpa fears racism

India seeks UK racism probe

Row not to impact India-UK ties

Let's vote for Shilpa: Brown

Little Mosque, Advice and That Video

As if a relatively balmy 12 degrees in what is supposed to be winter wasn't enough to remind one of the middle east, there were camels in downtown Toronto! It was all a promotional event as the CBC was giving out free chicken shawarmas to celebrate the launch of a new TV series, Little Mosque on the Prairie.

With signs like 'You say tomato, I say tabouleh', the clips of the TV show so far are funny and hilarious. This is one pilot I am eagerly awaiting, and my only complaint so far (already!) is that the Muslim characters are mostly Arab or African. I mean, we do have some Bengali Muslim bloggers ...

* * *

I am not usually accustomed to giving advice. Yesterday a friend asked me for some advice as she was about to graduate. I hope what I said made sense, as the last time someone asked me for graduation advice the situation went a bit like this:

I was eating with a friend who was just about to graduate. As I am in the middle of tackling these mouthwatering scrumptious tiger shrimps in a noodle dish, he tells me, "I am so conflicted."

"Uh-uh." I mumble. The shrimps were so delectably juicy.

"I want to work and earn some money you know," my friend remarked, "but my dad wants me to apply for med school. Our whole family is into medicine and he wants me to continue the work and be another doctor."

"Right, right." I said in between bites. "Man try this, this is good."

"Ya," he didn't even reflect on my oh-so-generous offer of one shrimp. "I am so torn. On one hand my dad left his practice to be here to give us the opportunity, and now I don't want to be a doctor."

"Well," I realized he was not going to give me any peace until I said something. "It's all about following your calling you know. The heart knows what it wants."

I didn't know what I was saying. I just sprouted some rubbish and went back to eating. The next thing I know he is staring at me with his wide eyes.

"Man that's so profound. Wow, that's really deep."

"Ya?"

"You have a way with words man. The heart knows what it wants. That's awesome. Thanks man."

So he didn't become a doctor, and is doing quite well otherwise. His father doesn't return my salaams at the parties.

And I still like tiger shrimp.

* * *

Has anyone seen the Saddam execution video? When I first came to know of its existence I did not want to view it, but then morbid curiosity (the kind that draws you towards the scene of a traffic accident) got the better of me, and I viewed the graphic footage. How can I sum up my feelings? Oh yes, shock and awe.

Shock that a state execution, what is supposed to be a sombre and solemn affair, turned out to be a mob lynching, and awe about the apparently fearless way Saddam died, with the kalimah on his lips. And utter amazement at the fact despite the knowledge of his heinous crimes and tales of his brutal oppression, his executioners have actually managed to provoke sympathy for that man.