MuslimFest 2011

On Saturday, we headed to Celebration Square, Mississauga for MuslimFest, 2011.


There were various activities throughout the day, but there were two main highlights of the day.

First up ... as the trailer promised, there were camels.


Second, but before we could get to that, it started to rain. And boy, did it come pouring down!



However, the star of the evening, Pakistan's famous Junaid Jamshed, wasn't going to let a little thing like a torrential downpour stop him. Though his popstar days were behind him, the nasheed singer knew how to work the crowd.


Soon, people were singing to "Dil dil Pakistan" with him in the rain.



The rain stopped, and the sun then started to shine brightly on the crowd, which Junaid regaled with stories of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), interspersed with hamds and nasheeds in his praise.





It was great to see a lot of volunteers at this venue, helping run and coordinate a smooth event for the 10,000+ attendees over both days.


Other than the performances (such as comedy, free movies) and attractions (such as Reptile Exhibition), there's also the famous bazaar scene.





Over all, it's a great event, and best of all, this year it was FREE.


So next time you are in town during this time, do check out MuslimFest.

A Visit to the Toronto Zoo

The Toronto Zoo is a world class zoo located in the Scarborough area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At 710 acres, the zoo (one of the largest in North America) is currently home to over 16,000 animals.


As you can see, admission is not cheap. A family of four can easily spend more than $100 (including parking) for a day's visit.

Here's a tip: the zoo is really, really big. And it involves a lot of walking from one area to another. Therefore, start early, preferably when the zoo opens (after all, morning's the best for photographs). We decided to follow the suggested trail, which leads one through all the different areas of the zoo, starting with the Australasian section.

A tree kangaroo

I was really surprised by the huge diversity of animals that were there in the zoo. From the fishes of the Great Barrier Reef ...


... to the jellyfish from deep in the Pacific Ocean ...


... to the ostriches from the African savannah ...


... the zoo had them all.

Here's another tip: check the feeding times of the animals from the zoo's website. Visiting an animal enclosure during feeding time allows one to see them in full activity, especially on really hot days when all they want to do is sleep.

Clearly the wrist band policy was in effect

Not a sight you want to see if you are just out for a stroll in the jungle

Er ... hi?

At an exhibit - can you spot the creature?

One exhibit I found surprising was "African Penguins" - I did not even know they had penguins in Africa!

The original cast of the 3 Idiots

It was a really hot day, and this bird was cooling off.


Here's another tip: do NOT visit the zoo on a hot day! It was 40 degrees yesterday with humid-ex, and most of the animals were lazing in the water rather than running around being active. I felt really sorry for the polar bear.

Can you read the Hindi script?

The giraffes were at ease with the heat - perhaps it reminded them of home.



The tiger was as majestic as promised (and we will ignore the fact that this was the Sumatran tiger, the Bengal tiger was fast asleep!).



Over all, on a nice cool day, if you have the whole day to spare, visit the Toronto Zoo. It's a bit pricey, but a full day's educational and fun activity rolled into one. You will be surprised at the huge number of animals they have there from all over the world, and for the shutterbug it's a time well spent.

Facebook Appeases Muslims

Recently it has come to many people's attention that Facebook has stopped growing in Canada. This story about Facebook's fall in numbers was repeated throughout the Western world.

As a result, Facebook has refined its growth strategy to target Muslims in the developing world. Following detailed customer analysis, Facebook has made the following changes to its interface.

Events:

It felt that the original Event attendance with its three buttons was completely blasphemous to Muslims.


After all, when you click "I'm attending", how do you know you will attend an event, in the future? Only Allah knows the future, and therefore, the button was changed.


Marital Info:

This was targeted more towards the wealthier Arab market in the Gulf. In the original interface, Facebook allowed for the following setup.


This has now been changed to recognize the reality that upto 0.1% of the Arab men have more than 1 wife.


Poking:


Poking has been controversial ever since the feature was launched. According to Sheikh A'anta Majnun, "poking led to touching which led to dancing which led to haraam yaani boking is haraam". However, the feature could not be disabled for the Muslim world as it was discovered that many Muslim men liked to be 'poked' by non-related women. Therefore Facebook arrived at a compromise and allowed men to poke a women's "waali" (guardian) back if he was so inclined.



The feature was disabled for Muslim women, as their 'poking' responsibilities were delegated to their "waali". On a related note, most women have not yet 'friended' their "waali" (this is yet to be solved: one solution recommended delegating all 'friending' requests themselves to the "waali" but that is being debated).

Pictures

Photographs and tagging friends has long been Facebook's unique features, and this was tweaked slightly for the Muslim users of Facebook. An app titled "Muttawafy" automatically scans and ensures that pictures conform to strict guidelines followed by Muslim women.



As an aside, for some reason this feature, while it was introduced a while back with default setting "on", was found to be disabled by most desi men.

Moving Out of Parents' Homes After Marriage

This applies more to people from Eastern cultures, but ...

When do you think a married couple should move out of their parents' homes?

The culture in the West is that kids move out of their parents' place when they go to university, and stay on their own from then on. With the increasing trend of later marriages, when the kids marry, they have their own place (either their own or rented) and this is where they stay post-marriage.

The trend in the East is of joint families (or extended families). The kids may go MUST GO away to university, but post-completion they stay with their parents as they work. If it's the son, when he gets a wife, the girl moves into her in-laws' place. The grand parents, the kids and the grand kids all stay at the same residence.

Which approach do you think is better? In both of these practices I find a lot of good.

1. Independence

In Canada, I see kids growing up with summer jobs (such as mall stores, or even yard work, or at the beach) earning their own money, and thus developing an independent streak develop early. In life, they are better able to think on their feet, have street smarts, think like an adult, and take on their own responsibilities a lot earlier (just not on Saturday nights).

In our Eastern culture, kids are NEVER independent. And this rule applies especially if you are the son - you are always a momma's boy. I have seen even grown men with their own properties call on their dad to fix every little thing in their place as they have no idea how to do it. Life is 'leaving it to parents' while you enjoy.

2. Family Values

In the Western culture (and especially North American culture), parents don't play much of a role in one's life post-adulthood. Sure, they are always there (especially during Christmas) or you visit them regularly (hopefully) but you are your own man (or woman, or er, both). People usually settle down once they reach thirty (with a string of boyfriends/girlfriends since then). Yes, I am generalizing a bit. But post-30, once they find "the one", they inform their parents, hold a wedding, and then again continue their own lives.

In our Eastern culture, a family is very important to us. Even if our parents don't choose our spouses, it is important that the new addition to the family "fit in" with everyone - so consequently people give a lot of thought about their families when choosing a spouse, and our parents have a lot of say in what we do (where we stay, our jobs, our marital life etc.). There is a bond of family that is stronger in many Asian cultures than in the West.

So again, when do you think a married couple should move out of their parents' homes?

I think ideally, a new couple should have their own place. It give them privacy and a space to grow on their own as a couple (free from other influences). If you are Muslim, it seems religiously, it is also the right of every wife to have a home of her own according to the standards of her own social group. In many instances it is encouraged for the new couple to be given privacy and be left alone. This of course doesn't happen when you have a joint family system where the morning after your marital night you are expected to get up and help make breakfast for 20 people.

On the other hand, from experience, I can say a new wife living with her in-laws helps get her and her new family closer. It helps develop strong ties between her and her husband's siblings, and respect and love towards his parents. Moreover, not everyone can afford to have their own place right away.

I think therefore, giving some time, if you have to live with your parents, you should put a time limit of two years, and strive to get your own place in the meanwhile.

And when you do, it should be close enough so you can still visit them often, and take care of their needs, because as a child one has obligations towards the parents, especially if they are old and vulnerable.

And your Lord has decreed that you worship none save Him, and that you be kind to (your) parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honour. And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say, "My Lord! Bestow on them your Mercy even as they cherished me in (my) childhood." - (Quran, 17:23-24)

Why Are (Some) Religious People so Rude?

I was at a wedding recently. As usual with weddings, there's lots of people taking photographs, and I was one of them, especially with my DSLR. And when the couple has spent more than $80,000 on the wedding, you want to take pictures.

And then I ran into one guy.

"Hey, don't take my picture!" He was adamant! So I replied, somewhat knowingly, "Why, religious reasons?"

"YES!" He practically shouted. "It is haraam (forbidden) to take pictures. So DON'T TAKE MY PICTURE!"

Alright! But then get the HELL OUT OF THE WAY THEN. Stop standing next to the bride and groom if you don't want your picture taken!

I don't understand one thing - why do people who don't want their picture taken always assume everyone WANTS to take their picture? I mean, you are not Angelina Jolie.

And another thing, have you noticed that these people, who often claim to be more "religious" (translation: taking things to extremes) are always ... RUDE!

In another wedding, I met someone else who did not want their picture to be taken. Do you know what he did? He threatened to break the camera of a 10 year old KID who was taking pictures!

"Taking pictures is HARAAM and against Islam and if you take my picture again I will BREAK your camera do you understand?"


Way to go... be Islamic, threaten kids. Nice slogan. Recently, someone left the following comment on another blog (of a Muslim sister who also has a dog).

"no disrespect, but ..."

As soon as you read those, you know that the person has LOTS of disrespect. And what's up with the bad grammar and typos! It seems all our "Islamic friends" online didn't graduate high school English. The commentator goes on to berate her for caring for her sister's dog. Seems like they totally missed Imam Malik's point of view on dogs. Not to mention the story of the People of the Cave (and their dog) from THE QURAN!

On my blog's facebook page recently, someone commented, "IS IT ALLOWED TO SHOE QURANIC VERSES IN PICS....KINDLY GIVE THE ANSWER".

Now I don't think it's ever allowed to "shoe" Quranic verses, but the ALL-CAPS and the weak English immediately told me this person wasn't interested in a civil debate. Nevertheless, I gave him (or her) the references on Muslim artists, pictures etc. And just as I predicted, the person was back with the following gem:

"i am totally dissatisfied with the references you given. plz u give me the true reference after which u r showing it in pics or i will start a compaign to dis like your page....sorry for that"

I like how they apologize .. lol. And then they start spamming the web page, posting rude messages, after which I simply kicked and banned that user. There's something therapeutic about selecting a user and clicking "Remove and ban user".

I would put this aside, but this user is synoptic of a lot of Muslims. They hold fast to some ritual or practice, and anything that is SLIGHTLY different from them - HARAAM! KAAFIR! DOOMSDAY!

I think it's time to tell these people, "your haraam-ing is haraam!" Grow up.

Why the Liberals Lost

Canada is awake today to a Conservative majority government, with NDP forming the official opposition and the former traditional governing party, the Liberals, reduced to a small rump. My quick analysis is over at Crescent Canuck, do visit and comment over there.

South Asia Diaries - Dhaka

Dubai | Abu Dhabi | Kolkata | Delhi | Agra | Jaipur | Rongpur | Dhaka

Note: Unless otherwise mentioned, all pictures shown are taken by me.

After returning from Rongpur, there wasn't too much time to go touring Dhaka, as we got busy with meeting with family. However, we still found time to do a little sightseeing and of course, lots of shopping.

One thing about Dhaka, while being much cleaner than Kolkata, it was also a traffic nightmare. The infrastructure doesn't seem to have grown since 1980, but the population has. It took us 2 hours to go 4 km once. We had to attend a wedding at 9 am, and started at 8 am. We reached there at 10 am. And no, the return drive wasn't much better. It's faster to walk.

A traffic jam in New Elephant Road, Dhaka.
Picture taken by my cousin Asrar Chowdhury.
©Asrar Chowdhury, 2011.

Dhakeshwari Temple is an old temple in Dhaka, and we were lucky enough to witness a Hindu wedding done in authentic style on our last visit here.

A front view of Dhakeshwari Mondir.
Picture taken by my cousin Asrar Chowdhury.
©Asrar Chowdhury, 2011.

Another beautiful temple in Puran Dhaka (Old Dhaka)

Hindus and Muslims live together in Dhaka, and you don't have the ethnic ghettos that is a strictly "Muslim" area or strictly "Hindu" area, unlike Kolkata. The Moghuls had left signs of their presence in Dhaka. The Lalbagh Fort is one such place (the photos are from my last visit). The area is a favourite with couples, who all pay the entrance fee and engage in amorous behaviour away from the prying eyes of their parents. Each alcove in this complex was occupied by a couple! Reminded me of the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata.

Lalbagh Complex

Life along the Burigonga river, Dhaka.
Picture taken by my cousin Asrar Chowdhury.
©Asrar Chowdhury, 2011.

Of course, you can't go to Dhaka and not shop! While many Bangladeshis go to Kolkata specifically for shopping (like we Canadians go to the US for the same stuff but cheaper), Dhaka does have scope for lots of shopping too.

Interestingly, I found Dhaka to have a higher cost of living compared to Indian cities. Now I don't know much about rent, but food, electricity, shopping (clothes), transportation was all MUCH more expensive in Dhaka. For example, a four course meal sent up to our hotel room (room service!) in Jaipur cost the equivalent of $10.

Dining out at Pizza Hut

Here, dinner for four people at Pizza Hut cost us 3000 taka, or about $45. The middle class of Bangladesh seems to have grown, and they now have money to spend.

We made a stop to Boshundara City, one of the most Western-like malls in Dhaka.

The rotunda of Boshundara City

Clothes shopping in Mirpur

For saris, you have to go to Mirpur. It's a suburb of Dhaka (where they played the Dhaka portion of the 2011 Cricket World Cup matches involving Bangladesh). A lot of Urdu speaking people live around Mirpur (you wouldn't know it by listening to their Bengali though). This is the "factory outlet" of saris. Saris that cost 20,000 taka in malls in Dhaka can be bought for 3000 to 6000 taka here.

AND OF COURSE THERE IS THE FOOD. AND FISH. NO ONE DOES FISH LIKE BENGALIS.

Lunch 'dawat' at my chachi's - you can see Tilapia, Koi, Chingri amongst the fish!

Dhaka's unique "Chinese" food (a little too sweet for my taste) is quite famous

Dinner party at my mama's - can't be Bengali without rice ...

... or chicken korma!

A "small" lunch thrown in our honour (as farewell) - see the koi mach!

Not to mention, the giant shrimp!

The food we ate before our flight!

A good place to visit is the Shohid Minar, a tribute to the martyrs of the Language Movement. As my cousin told me, "Bangladeshis have died for their Bengali" - so no wonder Bengali is on the decline in Kolkata but not so in Dhaka.

Shohid Minar

A statement outside the Shohid Minar - it has the famous like from a famous song about 21 February, 1952

A place not too many people visit, but everyone should, is the Museum of the War of Liberation. Right now it's in a tiny house, but I got the impression that they got some money from the government (they should!), so they are moving to a bigger place. Photography wasn't allowed inside the museum. In fact, I had to leave my expensive DSLR with the custodian at the gate (and that made me quite nervous!). My cousin however didn't seem too worried, and our camera was still waiting for us when we left.

Liberation War Museum - a tribute by Hillary Clinton who had just visited some days ago

Flags at the Liberation War Museum

The museum had lots of stuff (artifacts, documents, weapons) etc. from 1971, with LCD screens (yes!) displaying information, and you can spend an easy 2 hours there. What made it better was that we visited with my cousin who knew a lot about 1971, so he was giving us a guided tour (and even an official there asked him a question!).

Soon though, amidst all the fun of relatives, cousins, music, weddings, food, shopping - it all had to end and we had to return to our lives (and snow!) back in Canada.

Fitting everything we had into the 2 suitcase limit per person (and 22 kg limit per suitcase) was going to be mission impossible.

Time to go - suitcases galore!

Heading back home (via Dubai) - a view of Dhaka from the air

Now you know what I do when I return from a vacation? I can't wait until it's time to plan to the next one! And now, regular blogging should resume in 3, 2, 1 ...