Robert Langdon visits Canada

Robert Langdon chuckled to himself. Just how much longer could he fool Harvard into thinking a symbologist was a real professor's title? Thank God for good publishers. And Wikipedia.

He surveyed his latest landmark. He was in Toronto, Canada. In front of him was the CN tower. Langdon chuckled. Unknown to most Canadians, the number of letters in "The CN Tower" was 10 - the same as the number of provinces in Canada - truly befitting a national symbol.

It did not escape his attention as well that Alberta and Ontario each had 7 letters, symbolizing the symmetry of political bipolarity of Canada. Whereas Alberta was Conservative, Ontario was Liberal. Many people thought the bipolars of Canada involved Quebec - they were wrong. Quebec had only 6 letters.

Langdon focused his attention on The CN Tower. Not many people knew a sinister fact about the CN tower. It had 6 elevators, each capable of moving at 6 metres/second, while the antennae at its peak was 6 ft. Together, they formed the numbers 666, which, affirmed mankind's desire to speak to God by the opposite of The Good - The Evil - again having 7 letters, same as Ontario, same as "CN Tower".

Langdon was to meet his friend, Moses Abraham, the chief tour operator of the most visited tourist attraction in Canada. And Abraham was late.

Langdon had first met Abraham at a seminar he had given at Harvard on Canada.

"Do you know," Abraham had asked the American audience, "that the USA gets most of its oil not from Saudi Arabia, but Canada?" Langdon had nodded, and added himself, "Yes. All cries about our oil crisis in peril is a tad alarmist as our greatest source of America's oil is a stable country, given that the world's smallest jail is believed to be in Rodney, Ontario, Canada. It is only 24.3 square meters (about 270 square feet)."

Abraham had also nodded, and thus the two had become best friends. And now, he was late.

Suddenly, a small boy tugged at Langdon's jacket. He was young, seemingly one of the many tourists. "I saw a man being kidnapped," He said, obviously breathless from the encounter. He dropped this." He handed Langdon a Blackberry, yet another Canadian invention. Langdon's heart skipped a beat as he recognized it was Abrahams' Blackberry, through the unique telephone number of the Blackberry that was also the Date of Canada's Confederation. 647-107-1867.

Langdon did not question why the boy did not go to one of the 11 policemen always present at the base of the tower. He did not think why a man who would kidnapped would, instead of using his Blackberry to alert 911, instead write a brief SMS that held the code to a puzzle that pointed the way to the enlightenment seeked by half the world at one time in the world.

Langdon was on the case.

The Funeral

It was just yesterday I was attending Eid prayers. Today, I have just come back from attending a funeral prayer.

After a whole Ramadan when Allah was always warning us to take death seriously and in the rush for this material world not to forget the hereafter, it was a shock to have some one quite near to you suddenly leave for his heavenly abode. It was all very unexpected.

If you have the time, please say a prayer for my friend's father-in-law, who unexpectedly passed away yesterday morning.

When a person passes away, it's usually polite or customary to embellish the deceased's good qualities and forget the bad ones. Here, no embellishment is necessary. This person, who we all called 'uncle', was a genuinely nice, kind, good and simple hearted man, who was always jolly, jovial and had a smile on his face. He was a pillar of our small ex-UAE Bangladeshi community, and played in role in organizing any and every festive occasion or gathering.

He was someone whom if you met, and then learned he was Muslim, you would then develop a very favorable opinion of Muslims. A testimony to his good nature was the huge, huge number of people, well wishers and mourners, who gathered at a Scarborough mosque for his janazah (funeral) prayer, on a rainy Monday, at an odd time of 2 pm, on a work day.

I always thought the beauty of Islam is its simplicity. There are people who are bent on making things complicated, usually by a too literal interpretation or not adhering to the spirit of the law - and in my eyes it is against those people intent on making this hard on themselves that Surah Baqarah is aimed at. Today, in the funeral prayer, I witnessed the final rites of a Muslim on this world, and marveled at how beautiful and divine this simplicity really is, when my friend's father made a heart touching speech before the prayer, about his son's late father-in-law.

There was no need to extol what a great man the late person was. Those, who were his friends, knew. Those who were not but were just present in the mosque, all that was needed from them was their prayers. That's what my friend's dad asked for. He also asked if anyone had any claims against his estate. And, finally, with his voice breaking, he also asked anyone to forgive any mistakes his late "brother" may have done against any one. And after those two simple minutes, it was time for the prayer. With his family saying their final goodbyes, the congregation headed to the cemetery.

In the end, all that was left, after everything was over, were a few quiet moments of personal reflection.

"O my people! Lo! this life of the world is but a passing comfort, it is the Hereafter that is the Home that will last." [Quran 40:39].

The Completion

There was something different in the air. There was a buzz.

I looked at the crowd. The place thronged with people, and still they kept coming in. Tonight, I thought, we would break the occupancy limit for sure!

The leaders of the crowd were there. Was it my imagination or was their clothes freshly ironed, cleaned for a special occasion? Did the tunic look new? The turbans looked freshly unwrapped.

There was a smile amongst them, a lot of back slapping and a jovial mood. Yet, I knew, soon, these men would be crying.

It began, as it has always did, for the last 26 nights, with The Opening.

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful.
All Praises to Allah, Lord of the Universe.
The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Sovereign of the Day of Judgment.
You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help.
Guide us to the true path;
The path of those on whom You have bestowed your favor, not of those who have earned Your anger, nor of those who go astray.

It would end, like it had ended for every year for 1400 years. If the Opening was about God, the Closing was about Mankind.

Say, I seek refuge with the Lord and Cherisher of mankind.
The King of Mankind.
The Judge of Mankind
From the mischief of the Whisperer (of Evil), who withdraws (after his whisper)
(The same) who whispers into the hearts of Mankind
Among Jinns and among Men.

It ended a journey for the last month, all over the world, and signalled a new beginning.

This is the Book which contains no doubt; it means guidance for those who do their duty.

Let us hope we all have been able to do our duties in this last month. Tomorrow, a new day dawns.

Too all my readers, a very happy Eid Mubarak.

On Bicyclists in Toronto

This week, one day, as I was crossing the street, my eyes glanced towards a cyclist who seemed to be veering down the wrong way on a one-way street. Only too late, I realized he was trying to beat the streetcar that was veering down its lane.

WHAM!



Of course it was totally the cyclist's fault. Not only was he going the wrong way, he ran the light and crossed the streetcar when he should have stopped and yielded. And now, he lay motionless on the street.

The streetcar stopped, everyone exited. Other streetcars on that line were now useless. The passengers would have to walk to the next line. The ambulance was there within 5 minutes, and traffic was stopped for sometime. All because one cyclist decided he, and his time, was above the law.

I later read on the news that the man succumbed to his injuries. I felt sad for him. A needless life wasted.

Driving downtown in Toronto has recently become very risky due to cyclists. At times, it feels like Beijing, with the amount of bikes on the road. It would be great if they kept to the side of the road or in the bike lanes. However, they never follow stop signs, traffic laws and ride haphazardly in rush hour traffic. Toronto has 3 near deadly collisions between a bike and a car everyday.

In my opinion they should register cyclists on the road, and force them to pass a basic knowledge test. Drivers are always taught to check their blind spot for cyclists when making a turn. Too bad the cyclists are too busy trying to outrun them instead. In a collision between a three ton vehicle and one person on two wheels, there can only be one winner.

And sadly, one loser.

A Summer Ramadan

This Ramadan has been strange.

On one hand, I miss the early days of my life in Canada, when Ramadan was in the winter, iftar was at 5 pm (I had to eat a date on my way back from school/work), and you were done Taraweeh at 9.30 pm.

Now, Taraweeh starts at 9.30 pm!

Ramadan signs at a local No Frills store.

On the other hand, the long day of fasting has proved to be a blessing in disguise. There's no mad rush to complete iftar on time. You have lot of time to get ready, read some Quran, do some gym on the way home from work (and be half dead!) and still be at the dinner table in time for iftar.

However, the late ends to Taraweehs does mean my sleep schedule is severely affected. At our mosque, Isha prayer starts around 9.30 pm and full Taraweeh ends around 11.15 pm. By the time you are done exiting the mosque, driving out through the mad hordes all getting away, and reach home for bed, its midnight.

And lo, one has to get up around 4.45 am for Sehri. I usually go straight back to bed after Fajr before waking up again around 8 to go to work. Somehow, the body has adjusted to all this.

I think Ramadan is just perfect at 30 days. If it was longer, we wouldn't have been able to give it the respect it deserves - it would cease to be special. If it was shorter, it would have been meaningless.

One thing I have noticed this Ramadan, especially at our mosque, are the effects of recession. First, the iftar has been of dubious to seriously low quality. This mosque used to set the standard, and now you get next to nothing. I attended a couple of iftars and the turnout was quite low. From reports from the ladies' side, the volunteers were rude, foods wasted, etc.

Second, the turnout at the prayers. Is it my imagination or are less people attending the night prayers? One reason could be the availability of many more mosques in the GTA, but still our mosque is nowhere as crowded as it should be. Again, it's a blessing in a way that parking is easier to find even if you go late.

This mosque has a school attached to it that appears to be doing very well. I wonder if that is the way of the future for mosques - have a viable commercial arm generating cash for much needed mosque expenditures to get away from the donation model.

Furqan

One of our friends, Furqan Muhammad Haroon, has been kidnapped at gun point. I am still in shock at the news, the story just gives one the creeps, and I can only imagine what his family must be going through at this time.

Furqan was an active member of the MSA at our university. I saw him often during prayer times and Ramadan iftars. We have quite a few good mutual friends and all of us are hoping wherever he is, he is safe and well. Furqan was a normal lad, quite well liked by everyone, and whenever I met him he always had a smile on his face.

Please pray that he is able to return to his family as soon as possible. If you have any news, please call Crime Stoppers (they accept anonymous tips by phone) at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com or by texting TOR and a message to CRIMES (274637).

Toronto man missing after gunpoint kidnapping

Anguished family seeks help in finding son

Facebook Moon Sighting

It has been an annual debate amongst North American muslims come every Ramadan. Do we follow Local Moon sighting? Or do we follow Global Moon sighting? Or how about the new ... Computerized Moon sighting? Which one is condoned by the Fiqh Council but for some reason not our local mosque (because the imam wants to celebrate Eid on same day as his relatives in Pakistan so everyone in the family can use the same Skype account).

And now, a new revolutionary way to determine the start of Ramadan.

For now, we bring you ...

Facebook moon sighting.

Ramadan starts when two reliable Facebook account holders, belonging to religion "Islam" with gender set to "Male" claim to witness the new moon on Facebook. In place of one "Male" account holders, two witnesses with "Female" gender can be (rarely) substituted.

How to sight the new Facebook moon?

Common Facebook holders do not have enough information to know they have spotted the Facebook moon. Such matters of strict important religious jurisprudence are best left to learned few (preferably gender set to "Male") Facebook account holders, who will then, based on their knowledge and experience set out the new "divine" sighting fatwa (also known as a "poke-wa") that impacts everyone else. Common Facebook holders are requested not to question the decision of these learned few (also called Administrators) as doing so would be tantamount to questioning God - weather conditions be damned.

If you are interested in knowing whether the new Facebook moon has been sighted, please login to www.facebook.com, join the group "Facebook Moon" and click refresh until 3 am at night (although it has been noted a new Facebook moon theoretically cannot rise after 11 pm).

Looking for a Little Spirituality

Toronto is a diverse and multicultural city - a fact I repeatedly realized on my travels. New York may be more multicultural, but Toronto is diverse. You get everyone from ANY where here and they feel right at home.

This morning, I was driving to work and was stopped at a light. I saw this middle aged gentleman walking on the pavement with a walking stick, who looked to be from South Asia / Sri Lanka.

Suddenly, he paused, and then raised his hands clasped together in the traditional Indian prayer position - namaste. He looked at the sun and then prayed, then touched his hands to his eyes, three times. Then he folded his hands in a dua ritual, prayed again, and then was off back to walking on his path.

I don't know about others, but that little touch of spirituality made my day. I think we could all in North America use a bit more spiritualism. Here in Toronto, we are especially blessed with all the comforts of the First World, plus a REALLY low crime rate for a North American city, and with all our social benefits and healthcare, but yet I think something is missing and that something is a bit of spirituality. I think people in Canada would be even happier if people were a bit more reflective.

As I went to work I again wondered as how that bit of act by that man did not look out of place here. When sometimes we are stuck out in times of prayer and we pray in the car, we don't worry about what anyone walking by will think. We know, that they will know. Those little things matter.

Eurotrip Diaries - Rome (Part II)

Continued from: Eurotrip Diaries - Rome (Part I)

Day 15

Tomorrow is Sunday and the Vatican attractions are closed, so we have to do Vatican City today. This would be our fifth country on the tour. We are there early at 9 in the morning. The square is very empty.

Another obelisk, with St Peter's in the background.

For fans of Angels and Demons, this is AIR.

When we got to the Vatican we saw one long line snaking its way along the columns. A couple of people tried to get us to join a tour group.

Since the line was moving fast, and we really were not interested in the Vatican museum, we declined their offer.

The Vatican basilica is huge. It is unlike any other place of worship in Christendom I have seen.

And everything somehow feeds into the basilica.

When we got there, we were lucky there was some special service going on, with some cardinals and some people in white clothes – so part of the front of the cathedral (is that what it’s called?) was blocked.

The site where the Camerlengo burnt himself to death, in the movie - you guessed it - Angels and Demons.

Some of the pictures in the cathedral were really extensive, and I am really in awe of the artists - could have taken snaps of the pictures all day!

Since the service was going to take another half hour and we had to wait till then to see the front of the cathedral, we decided to climb the cupola.

The cupola. You can climb to the very top.

And so we do. Here's a view of the church services going on from way up.

As far as I could learn, some cardinals from Asia were visiting, and this was some service to honor them as well as induct new members into some order.

You can climb up the basilica dome (we paid a bit extra to use the elevator – but even afterwards the top part still had to be done by stairs - and it was another Pisa climb for us) – the view of St Peter’s Square and Rome from the top was something to be seen. It wasn’t as high up as the Eiffel Tower or as precarious as the Leaning tower of Pisa, so we moved around and got some great pictures.

The Vatican Gardens

We then headed down - the service was over so we could explore more.

Michelangelo's Pietà.

I found it strange as to why they had closed it during the prayer service. Unlike some of the other painting and sculptures in the Vatican, this one had no nudity.

Then it was time to visit the Gretto (or the place where all the Popes are buried – so it’s their tombs). There was quite a crowd in front of John Paul II’s tomb – it was quite well lit and highlighted too – but there are no photographs allowed and the guards hiss at you if your talk. After this tour, the exit (called "Uscito" in Italian) leads back into the basilica.

We were now quite tired, it was 1 pm and still we were to do the Sistine Chapel!

The Sistine Chapel is part of the Vatican museums which are different from the Basilica so we had to exit St Peter’s square and walk for 10-15 minutes along the Vatican Wall until we got to the entrance of the Vatican museums.

We literally walked around an entire country!

Remember the first scene in Rome (Angel and Demons) where Robert Langdon is met by Olivetti?

On the way to the Museum, we met many tourist guides offering their services for the museum. Neither of us was really interested in the museum, only the Sistine Chapel and a tour guide through the museum would take three hours. There were reportedly thousands of rooms and nothing (no exhibit) was labeled, so that’s why guides were needed.

As it is, our own tour last nearly two hours. The Sistine Chapel is right at the end of the guided path, so you HAVE to go through the whole museum to get to the Chapel.

Every few minutes we encountered a sign that said “Sistine Chapel” and pointed at one way. It became a game to spot another such sign. There must have been more than 50 such signs on the whole tour.

Which was shame because by the time we got to the Chapel our feet were too tired and body too numb to really appreciate the chapel. The Vatican forces everyone to go through the museum and after sometime, all naked paintings and sculptures and art pieces and ancient rock collections start looking the same.

FINALLY ...

The Sistine Chapel.

WOW - heard to believe ONE guy painted ALL of this!

There was a strict no photography policy at the Sistine Chapel but everyone seemed to be taking pictures while keeping one eye out for the guards. I also took pictures as well as a video!

Swiss Guards

The concluded our tour to the Vatican City. When we had gotten back to our hotel after lunch, the plan was to just rest for an hour before heading out. In fact, we slept for nearly three hours, before heading out around 7 pm to the Spanish Steps.

Another obelisk.

There was a bunch of Bengali hawkers there and suddenly they started to run! We turned and saw some police chasing them.

Chiggi Chappel (again, for fans of Angels and Demons) and its obelisk.

Day 16

Castel Sant'Angelo - the the secret lair for the Hassassin and was seen as the last existing church of the Illuminati in the movie Angel and Demons.

Hmm - maybe the Rome post should be the Angel and Demons post.

The castle took around 1 and half hours to finish. We got in free due to our Roma Pass. We then had the whole day left with nothing planned to do, so we decided to head to the Vatican again (our bus left from there). As we approached, we saw it was highly crowded.

It was Sunday, but still ... why the crowd?

It was the POPE!!!

The Pope was giving a speech (or celebrating Mass). We got blessed by the Pope, for what its worth.

Our last night of our Euro trip. We were elated to have done it, and happy we were going home, but yet a bit sad to leave.

And so ended our Euro trip. It was 16 days of non stop fun and excitement and walking and sight seeing and gorgeous sun (sometimes too much sun!) and beautiful sights we had only read about or seen in books.

I can't wait to return someday.

Eurotrip Diaries - Rome (Part I)

This is the final installment of the Eurotrip Diaries series. I split Rome into two parts as there was a lot to cover. We visited London, Paris, Basel, Lucerne, Zurich, Venice, Florence, Pisa, and now our final destination Rome. We knew our next destination was back home and it meant the end of our holidays, and back to the grind. But, let's start at the beginning.

Day 14

8.10 am. Early morning check out. At this rate everything for the last few days have been early morning. Amazing how loud a dollar store alarm clock can be!

9.00 am. Eating breakfast (Chef Express at Club Eurostar, la di lah, I feel so grand) and still no sign of which platform our train to Rome will be on. The notice says platform 12 but unless the numbers come up on the big screen at the top we can’t be sure. This is Italy. Things change at the last minute.

9.23 am. Our train is at 9.33. Still no sign of the platform. We go and wait at one end of platform 12.

9.30 am. A train pulls into platform 10. Lo! They announce this is the 9.33 train to Rome! We rush madly to platform 10, to find our coach (no. 1) is at the other end. Never have I run so fast with a carry on in tow. We needn’t have rushed. This being Italy, the train is 10 minutes late. Or as they say here, “Ritaro”.

A bit sad as this is our last rail trip in Europe. After this, our Eurail pass is good no more, having been all used up. It indicates our vacation was close to an end. It was a bittersweet realization.

11.20 am. Rome! We arrive at Roma Termini station. We buy the Roma Pass (which gets us transportation for 3 days in Rome, plus free entrance to any two sites on a list).

12.00 pm. We are at the Coliseum!

Oh la la, there’s a special line for Roma Pass. We buypass all the millions of people waiting to get in, and we use our Roma Pass to get in free. Take that suckers!

12.15 pm. This is just amazing. I am a history buff, and I can just close my eyes and imagine the scene thousands of years ago. Crowds streaming in the entrances by the hundreds. The hot, sticky atmosphere inside the Coliseum.

The thousands baying for blood. The emperor silencing the crowd with a wave of his hand, and then, as a the flag drops, the gates open. Horses, chariots rush in. There’s lots of dust blown about. A tiger. A lion. A few gladiators. Blood everywhere.

In front of me are the ruins of what was once the highlight of the city on a weekend (did the Romans have weekends?).

This is the view Caesar would have enjoyed.

Down below, once can see the remains of what was the holding pens where they kept slaves, prisoners, and animals.

A cell for prisoners.

The sky is picture perfect blue with a puff of white clouds.

Amazing when you think the Romans knew the technology to cement and it was lost for hundreds of years when the Roman empire fell, until it was reinvented in the modern era. The Coliseum’s still standing.

1.30 pm. We have exited the Coliseum and are now walking in Fora Romano, the ruins of ancient Rome. There’s actually a wedding going on here!

The bride looks nonplussed with thousands of onlookers snapping her pictures.

The groom looks like her chauffer!

2.00 pm. Man this Fora Romano’s big. The ancient Romans should have built their cities keeping tourists from 2000 years on in mind!

This is so cool. It’s like a history lesson coming alive.

The Greco-Roman columns, the Forum, Palentine Hill, arches, it’s all here.

Arch of Constantine

I see the arch existed since the time of Rome. Wonder if the arches in Islamic mosques etc. came from there.

Rome is hot! It took us back to our London and Paris days, full of heat, lots of attractions, walking and hot underground railways.

5.00 pm. We are at the Pantheon.

This used to be a pagan temple until it was a Christian church. Interesting to see how much Christianity, particularly it’s imagery and traditions have been influenced by pagan rituals and customs. No wonder Islam is so strict on bidah. The Pantheon’s huge! It looks decrypt from outside but it’s really nice. Despite seeing what seems to be thousands of churches, basilicas and cupolas, the Pantheon’s in a class by its own. We didn’t see the French one so can’t compare.

We make sure to see the parts covered in the movie Angels and Demons as well as Raphael’s tomb.

Again I see some people praying. It IS a church after all. Again I wonder how can you pray with all this commotion!

Obelisks! Already we have seen two obelisks. One’s outside our hotel near some fountain. There’s one in front of the Pantheon.

6.00 pm. Piazza Navona. Another obelisk!

We are at the Fountain of Four Rivers – of special significance to fans of Angels and Demons again.

Man, there’s lots of tourists here!

7.30 pm. After walking back to the Pantheon, then navigating the maze of streets of Rome (why do European streets never go straight?) we finally arrive at the Trevi Fountain.

We can hear its roar from far away, but what really took our mind away was the sheer number of tourists and people just thronging the fountain. It was PACKED! They tell me if you want the fountain to yourself come at 4 in the morning but er, safety is a concern. We see plenty of people throwing coins (even, gasp, one whole euro!) into the fountain. We do a ‘pretend throw’ picture.

Yet another wedding shoot

One thing I have to say is the sheer number of Bangladeshi hawkers I have run into in Rome. At Trevi fountain, they held what seemed to be dollar store cameras, trying to get people to pay them to take their pictures. We fight our way to the front of the fountain and grab a cool seat for some GREAT pictures of our own.

8.30 pm. Back at the hotel. Dinner is pizza and pasta. I think I had more pizza in this last week then I had in my life total!

Continued in: Eurotrip Diaries - Rome (Part II)