West Coast Diaries - 3. Los Angeles

Where San Francisco was beautiful, Los Angeles was dirty. Where San Francisco was small, Los Angeles was huge. There is a highway called Pacific Highway One that leads from San Francisco to Los Angeles and hugs the coast of the Pacific Ocean and passes through picturesque towns. I rented a car in San Francisco, and we drove partly through this highway, before switching to the faster interstate to head down to LA. With traffic, the total drive was about 8 hours. My uncle lives in LA, so we bunked at his place, ready to explore the three big attractions of LA.

Hollywood

I already knew Hollywood was dirty but even then I was unprepared for how dirty it really was. The weather was a bit gloomy, rainy at times, and the whole area had a run down look to it. It was hard to imagine, standing next to the Kodak Theatre, that this was where the Oscars take place. Just opposite the road was a hobo urinating against the wall. Some tourists passing by took a picture, I don't know why.

There are some famous buildings and monuments in Hollywood, such as the Capitol Records building above, and of course the Kodak Theatre.

It's fun to walk along the Walk of Fame and see the numerous stars and trying to find your favourite actor or actress, but that soon gets tiring after a while. The only fun thing in Hollywood is the Hollywood Museum (where they have the set of USS Enterprise with the Captain's chair!) and the tour of the Kodak Theatre.

The famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre (above) is right next to the Kodak Theatre, and you can see this building when a famous movie premiers on Hollywood.

Universal Studios
Now this is the fun thing to do in LA! I honestly had a really great day at Universal Studios, and not just due to the weather which the day before had been gloomy but on this day the sun came out in full force!

What we in our group did was to upgrade to "Front-of-line" passes when we purchased our tickets online, back in November. It was marginally more expensive as we purchased online and it allowed us to skip ahead to the front of every line at every ride or show, as well as get preferred seating at the shows. A fabulous buy, especially when the weather is great and the lines are long! Oh, for a whole day we were VIPs.
The beautiful San Pedro valley, as seen from the tram ride at Universal Studios.

They have a tram ride (which shuts way earlier than the park) that takes you on a studio tour. The ride is not just a sight of the buildings however. For example, when they take you to a bridge that broke in the movie King Kong, you are ON THE BRIDGE as the driver is narrating this and then the bridge breaks! When they are explaining how they create flash floods in movies, suddenly a flash flood erupts right AROUND THE TRAM (see below).


The best, however, is when the tram passes through the plane crash set used in the War of the Worlds.

They destroyed a whole Boeing 747 for this movie!

Then they take you around Wisteria Lane (the sets for Desperate Housewives) as well as other famous studio sets. Other than the studio tour, there's lots of rides and shows that keep one occupied. I really enjoyed the Terminator 4-D show, where the Terminator actually shows up in front of you in a person and takes you INSIDE the movie.

They also have a show involving lots of sounds, special effects and oh, explosions.

Again, the lines were huge, but we cut everyone across and got the best seats in the house!

Disneyland
What can I say about this place that has not been said! Truly, the Happiest Place on Earth. The employees were literally smiling all day. Everyone was super eager to go out of their way to help us in case we needed anything.

Mostly though, we stumbled upon a secret. December 24 may be the best day to go to Disneyland if you want to avoid crowds. Seriously, rides that have 2 hour waits, we just waltzed through and went on again if we liked it! We covered both the parks and had a great time. After Disneyland, Wonderland does not even compare!

An African boat cruise that featured elephants and tigers and cannibals!

Elephants taking bath. You don't want to get too close!


A spook at the haunted house.


Pirates of the Caribbean


High School Musical 3's cast performing


Mrs Incredible during a parade


Pinocchio waves us goodbye

The "Muslim" World is Praying for Gaza

Saudi Arabia is praying for Gaza. Whenever the residents get some free time from debating on laws about women driving and punishing rape victims, they pray for Gaza. Even some of the Princes took out time from their busy schedule of partying in Monaco to pray for the Gaza victims.

People in the Emirates are also praying for Gaza. The small country may be facing hard times due to the financial crisis and borrowing too much, but they are still praying for Gaza. Even the labourers, some of whom haven't been paid in months, take time out from cleaning their leaking septic systems to pray for Gaza. Some of the locals have even stopped going every day to the bars and nightlife in sympathy for Gaza.

Bangladeshis are also praying for Gaza. They may have elected one of the most corrupt ladies to power, who is busy literally killing her opponents off, but they are still praying for Gaza. The average person feels their pain through their own, every time they are paying a bribe to get a phone line connected or the policeman when caught driving without a license. Even in these hard times they are praying for Gaza.

The average Pakistani also feels for Gaza. Despite raping a woman every nine minutes or passing laws that get women gang raped, they are enraged every time Israel kills another woman or child from Gaza. Even their President has stopped drinking wine apple juice and prays for Gaza.

Qataris feel strongly about Gaza - and Iraq. Every time they supply food to the American military base near Doha, they get angry about Iraq. Every time they invite an Israeli representative to party in the capital after some conference on interest, they get angry about Gaza.

Egyptians too feel strongly about Gaza. They are angry at the inhumane way Israel has butchered the Palestinians. Of course they will fire rockets, they say, look how Israel has blockaded their tiny country! When reminded it is Egypt that is helping Israel enforce the blockade, it is still a Zionist conspiracy.

All in all, the "Muslim" world is very angry, and are ready to pray again.

... Allah does not change a people's lot unless they change what is in their hearts. But when (once) Allah willeth a people's punishment, there can be no turning it back, nor will they find, besides Him, any to protect (13:11)

West Coast Diaries - 2. San Francisco

San Francisco is possibly the most beautiful city in the United States. I was there for 3 days and it remains my favourite city of the tour. San Francisco is a nice, scenic, beautiful, and very friendly city. Second, we met Baraka and Muse!

Our group stayed downtown, near Union Square (sort of like our Nathan Phillips). Surrounding this area is a bunch of designer shops (Prada, Fifth Avenue, Saks, etc.) - supposedly where Sarah Palin went on her shopping spree.



One thing you have to be prepared to do is to walk a lot on your first day.
The best route to take is to walk north Grant Street (right next to Union Square) all the way, taking in Chinatown, Cable Car Museum, Lombard Street, Ghiradelli Square, and finally Fisherman's Wharf on the way.


As our group started to walk, the first area we crossed through was the famous Chinatown of San Francisco. I was amazed at the scale of this Chinatown. Our own Toronto's Chinatown does not even compare. What's more, it was really authentic Chinese stuff that stores were selling, not just cheap Dollar Store stuff.

Note: don't bring women on this route as they will shop crazy.


One of the icons of San Francisco is the cable car. These cable cars are part of the only existing ground cable car system in the world. San Francisco kept theirs as other cities moved to electric transportation and it is now a tourist attraction in its own right.



A few blocks west on Grant and up north from Chinatown is San Francisco's cable car museum, which is also the place from where the cables that run the cable car system are operated. You can actually see the gears and motors and pulleys and engineers working on them! I was amazed to see they still use the same instruments for the last hundred years!



After finishing the museum, it's a bit of a walk to Lombard street - also known as the world's crookedest street.



The view from the top of Lombard street is simply fantastic, you can see the Bay in one direction, north to Alcatraz in another, and down to the city in the third direction! I also ran into a tourist couple there, from Israel, who simply were taking pictures after every 5 steps. They asked me to take a picture of them, where they pretended to hold up the Alcatraz Island!

For chocolate lovers, there is a small plaza close to Lombard Street called Ghiradelli Square. They used to have a chocolate factory there, but now they sell their brand of chocolate there (and trust me it is super tasty). If you visit during the day, they even give free samples!



A short walk away is the Fisherman's Wharf. This is a famous area where piers jut out into the Bay area (and Pacific), fishermen return with their boats and you can sample fresh seafood (crabs too!) right at the dock. It's a pretty touristy area. I had crab legs there, fried, and very tasty.

Right at Fisherman's Wharf is a World War II submarine.



Entrance is cheap and it's quite interesting, especially for those that have never been abroad one, to see just how congested a life submariners lived - and this is a famous one, having seen action against the Germans.



Ever seen the movie The Rock? It was primarily after seeing that movie that I had always wanted to visit Alcatraz Island, the site of America's most notorious prison, where they once held famous prisoners such as Al Capone.



We took a ferry from Pier 33. It takes about 10 minutes to get to the Rock.



As I got closer, I could feel the air getting colder, the sea a little rougher. It was easy to see why prisoners here felt isolated from the rest of the world. We took an audio-guided prison tour, and one of the best ways to see the prison.



Pictures can't do justice to the gloom that is Alcatraz, and similarly, the magnificence that is the Golden Gate bridge!



If you watched Roger Moore in A View To A Kill battle the villain atop the Golden Gate bridge, you would know the thrill I felt when I was actually walking on this bridge. It's massive!

San Francisco will hold many memories for me. It was in many ways the most pristine American city. Alas within the city we still saw signs of Americanism (a guy was beaten by some thugs on the street while we ate inside, hobos everywhere), but in many other ways, a city I loved visiting.

West Coast Diaries - 1. The Trip

It was a fabulous trip. I flew in to San Francisco and flew out of Phoenix and in between drove nearly 1600 miles on the road. America is a great country to visit and the cities I hit on the way each had their own unique attractions and history.Here's a few of my general observations of my last fortnight in the United States of America:

Tea is a luxury. I was seated at a breakfast when the waitress asked me if I wanted coffee. I said I would prefer tea. She smiled and went to get that. It was when I got the bill I realized the coffee was complimentary, tea was $2.76 a cup. At least in San Francisco we could get tea, desiring it at pit stops on the road at those service stations was asking for the impossible.

People would ask me, "so where are you from?" When I would reply "Canada" they would then say, "no, originally?". I don't know why, but that bugged me.

At least the above people knew Canada. One guy asked me if it snowed in Canada. I mean, of all the times I got irritated at people for thinking it ONLY snowed in Canada, here was one person who had no idea where Canada was. This was in Williams, Arizona.

There are some good people in small town USA. I had a flat at 9 pm near Williams, Arizona (where they didn't know Canada was another country). One grocery store opener told us to come inside and offered us coffee while he called for a mechanic to fix our tire. Another brought us fries. The mechanic didn't rob us blind for having to drive 50 miles to fix a flat.

For some reason people assumed I am a) Indian and therefore b) vegetarian. "Bangladesh" made no sense to them. This was on the whole useful because I didn't have to explain why I was not eating the meat at restaurants and having to go into the whole Halal / Haram issue.

The United States has an amazing selection of consumer goods of every type, far more variety than what we get in Canada. I went to a Macy's which was 11 storeys tall!

Everyone thinks our healthcare in Canada has problems and praises the healthcare they get from work, but then talks about how they worried about visiting the doctor when they didn't have a job. Nearly EVERY one I met would talk about healthcare at some point.

Spanish has become the de-facto second language of the USA. In Disneyland and Universal Studios, every announcement and every sign was in English and Spanish. There were times when every worker I met on the road driving between cities was Hispanic.

People are really hoping Obama delivers. I was eating a local diner at Phoenix and some black women were watching the TV. When Obama came on screen to give a speech, they started to applaud.

American cars are shit. I am sorry for those of you that drive them, really. I once drove a Honda Civic all the way to Florida and back, no problem. Drive a Dodge Calibre to Tusayan from Vegas, problem!

Despite all the hospitality, there's nothing like home. Even if we have snow and bad weather.

SF bound, iA

So I am excited. I am leaving for San Francisco iA in two days, and not only will it be a break from the grey days here, we plan to head to other cities further south as well. I also plan to meet up with Baraka, iA.

Speaking of Baraka, she messaged me the other day, "SF is now cold and rainy!" Well, cold I can handle (Canadian), but rainy I don't want to (even if I am Bengali!).

I love visiting new places. I feel if people visited other places they would gain an appreciating for each other and know each other and perhaps that would lead to world peace.

As long as they understand their accent! I am booking a car and I called this car rental company and I guess their call center is somewhere in the South.

"Sow, you would like to reeaaant an ow-tow?" The girl goes in this extreme Southern drawl.

"Er, yes, I would like to rent an auto." (Pardon me, but I DID call the car rental company!)

Moreover, it made no difference what I said to her, she would just extract the information she needed for the particular question and then ask her next, even if I already said it.

"I would like to rent a standard auto from Dec 18^th to Dec 23^rd at this location," I said.

"Okay!" She was very cheerful. "What size auto?"

I thought I said it, so I repeated, "I would like to rent a standard auto from Dec 18^th to Dec 23^rd at your SF location."

"OK. Standard auto. Now when would you like to rent it from?"

I answered, "I thought I just said it. From Dec 18^th to Dec 23^rd at your SF office."

"Good," She typed and then, "and when would you return it?"

*I shake my head*

At least she had a nice voice!

On another note, I was envying my British cousin the other day.

"You guys are so lucky. Two hours and you are not only in another country, but another culture! Another hour, another country! So much to see!"

And she goes, "And you guys are so lucky. So many great cities to see! New York. Montreal! Toronto! Las Vegas! Boston! I mean, what do we have?"

Truly the grass being greener on the other side of the pond!

ADDED LATER:

I noticed my blog friends Baraka (Rickshaw Diaries), Haleem (Captain Chaos) and Suroor (Achelois) are up for the Brass Crescent Awards this year. I won this award two years ago, and I am glad they chose these three worthwhile bloggers this year. So if you have the time, please go here and vote for Baraka, Haleem and Suroor (last date Dec 18). Good luck to them!

Rab Ne ... Sucks

Dear Shah Rukh Khan,

Why? Why? Oh, why?

For nearly 15 years, you have given us movies that while wasn’t good all the time, was entertaining. And then you gave us those true masterpieces, the movies that never age, the movies that became the big blockbusters and the movies through which I remember my childhood. And then you do this.

I remember watching an old print of DDLJ, finally released in the Arab country I lived in. I cheered for you when you said you wanted to marry your love, but with her parents’ blessings. I cheered when you beat up those baddies. And finally, as Simran clutched your hand and leapt on the train, I cheered for the general goodness that a great love story brings on the cinematic curtain.

I am a writer. I love emotions. I love movies that tug at emotions. I loved most of your movies. I remember the scene in KKHH when, years after graduation, Rahul (or Raj, can’t remember) returns to the campus, plays with the basketball, and remembers with fondness the frivolity of youth. Every frame of that movie is brilliant with context, rich with emotions and superfluous at tugging at your heartstrings. And then you do this.

For eight years, we waited. Aditya Chopra, for eight years. Great directors almost never follow a truly epic movie. James Cameron waited nearly 10 years to release Avatar following Titanic. He knew it was hard to match expectations, again. Mr Chopra, you waited just two years after DDLJ and released Mohabbatein. We said, oh, well, ok, fine. He’ll get it next time. And so, eight years we wait. And then you do this.

I mean, how *splutter* is this even believable. A guy shaves off his moustache and the wife doesn’t recognize him? In one second the character turns from geek to hero? And then? Suri becomes a sadistic person willing to take into weird corners his experiment in testing the wife’s fidelity? Is this even believable? What a horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE, movie.

I am truly disappointed. It’s been years since I have seen a truly Bollywood love story. C’mon, Bollywood, we love you for what you are. Goofy love stories, choreographed dances in the middle of the desert and dense forest (in the same song!). We like the stereotypes. But overall, we like the emotions. We like the love story. We love the hero being a hero and the heroine being the quintessential heroine. I hate Bollywood when they try to churn out “English-like” movies. But you know, a general believability would be nice! You made *splutter* a story that is so ridiculous it is beyond logic. It is … an insult to logic.

Rab Ne Bana Di Waste Of Time indeed!

A Simple Inspiring Story From South Africa

Every so often, as a minority Muslim living in a non-Muslim land, we are tempted to take the easy way out. I was surfing my regular feed of cricket news this morning when I read about an inspiring story from some unexpected quarters.

I was reading about South African batsman Hashim Amla. He is a Muslim and a Test cricketer for South Africa, and one of their rising stars. This year his performance for the national team has been outstanding.

In a story where he condemned the Mumbai attacks, I also read this:

More so because while his teammates have a beer sponsor blazed across their clothing, Amla does not.

"It's nothing new. Since I made my debut in 2004 it was an issue then but fortunately South Africa is a country that is very understanding," he said before training this week. "We do come from a difficult past with racial prejudices.

"So our country is very much accepting to differences. I put in the request to the United Cricket Board at the time. They accepted and the sponsors were very accommodating as well. For me the issue is dead and buried with the team and the South African people." [Source: Fox Sports | Rediff]

Now this is truly inspiring, if only in a simple way.

I know most people, myself included, if offered a position on the national team of your country for the sport you love, would not have objected to a beer's name on your T-shirt.

It's just a name, right?

I mean, we are not drinking the beer?

Amla, however, had stuck to his ideals, and Allah made the rest easy. He did not shy from taking the difficult first step and writing that request to abstain. Maybe the South African cricket board could have refused his request. But he tried. And so he succeeded.

I salute Hashim Amla for this.

Eid, Er, Moooobarak?

Monday is Eid, iA. I have to admit I am feeling a bit like Scrooge - I am finding it tough to get myself hyped up for this Eid.

It's called the Bigger Eid, but I don't know why. I enjoy Eid-ul-Fitr more. A lot more. There's so many traditions with that Eid. A whole month you are in another world, and suddenly you are back. Gifts. Clothes. Visits. So much.

What about this Eid?

Someone told me there is of course the slaughtering of the cow. Er, I can almost hear the song:

Jingle Bells
The slaughterhouse smells,
Cow has had its day ....
In comes the butcher,
Saying ALLAH-u-AKBAR!
And the cow is dead .. hey!

Too bad we don't have any real Eid songs that are popular, eh? I am not even considering some of the childish Nasheeds like A is for Allah ... (c'mon, get more imaginative man!)

My dad does his sacrifice at a farm with another family friend, so in the morning after prayers they head off north for that. I have outsourced my sacrifice to our local butcher, he calls me when it's done and I just go and pick up the meat. My mother has further outsourced it to Bangladesh.

I wish Eid ul Adha could be more .. fun.

Oh well, Eid Moobarak.

Tis the season to be jolly
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Go forth and attend Qurbani
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Slumdog Millionaire

Along with Geeki and Mousehunter, a couple of weeks ago I attended a special screening of Slumdog Millionaire. I had been meaning to post on how awesome a movie it was. Don't worry - no spoilers below.


One of the great problems I see with Bollywood is that people won't see a movie without any big stars in it, no matter how good it is. And when there are those big stars, the public demands a certain story, even if that story has been played a thousand times.

It is for those reasons that I attended Slumdog Millionaire with absolutely zero expectations, and found myself not only blown away by the story, but absolutely enjoying every minute of the movie. Anil Kapoor has a special role in the movie, and there is one "item song" at the end credits.


It is better you go into this movie with no idea of the story, as you will enjoy it more. It's not your typical Bollywood movie (first of all it's mostly in English), even though it is a love story. It's also very deglamourized, and it's refreshing to see a girl not wake up looking like a million bucks!

5 stars for Slumdog Millionaire.

What rally?

I don't understand this at all. This "market meltdown" makes no sense whatsoever. Look at today's Toronto Star.

The headline in the centre says "Toronto stocks rally".


Yet, look below to the TSX figures. They are all down! Er, where is the rally?


Then you have the main headline:

"Toronto inflation rate tumbles"

The caption says "Canadian consumer prices hit a 50-year low in October."

Yet we are in a recession and are supposed to be too poor to buy anything!

And we are told the Canadian economy are stable while the US economy is in deep trouble, yet it's our dollar that's down!

Someone is getting rich by trillions and it's not me.

Kazi Nazrul's Prophecy

Kazi Nazrul Islam was a great Bengali poet who wrote, more than 50 years ago, on the condition of the Muslims. This is what he wrote in Bengali:

Bish-sho jokhon jach-che chaad-e,
Amra thaki Bosh-ey
Bibi talaaq-er fawta khuji,
Ketab Quran chosh-ey!

What it means, roughly translated, is this:

While the world is reaching for the moon,
We remain too busy,
Thumbing through the Quran,
Debating fatwas about Talaaq.

Nazrul's poems seem prophetic today, and ironically, even more applicable. Today, India has landed a satellite on the moon. Meanwhile her cousins Pakistan has gone to the dogs and Bangladesh is not far behind.

Pakistan now has Asif Zarderi in charge, which should be argument enough, but Zarderi recently promoted Israrullah Zehri to national cabinet who had this to say about five women buried alive in Baluchistan because they wanted to marry according to their wishes, and not that of their elders:

“These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them.” [source]

Bangladesh meanwhile looks headed back to one of the two thieves back in charge: either Khaleda Zia or Sheikh Haseena. If there was ever an argument against women leading a nation these two would be it.

In the end, the following poem of Kazi Nazrul, much more powerful in Bengali, remains sadly true.

Yesterday was feast in the mosque,
A lot of bread and meat
Are left, the mullah is very happy for that.

At this moment a traveler came wearing tattered clothes,
Said, “Sir, I am starving for seven days”
The imam shouted with annoyance, “What a nuisance!
If you are hungry, die at the dumping place.
Do you say your prayer?”

Traveler said, “No, sir.”
Imam shouted, “Then see your own way.”
Taking the bread and meat, locked the mosque.

The traveler goes back
While walking, says
“Eighty years have passed; I didn’t call you, my Lord!
But you didn’t stop my food or hunger!
There is no right of human in mosque and temple,
Priest and devotee locked all the doors of them.”

Where is Ghenghis, Gazni-Mamud? Where is Kalapahar?
Crush the locked doors of those temples.
Who shuts the door of the house of God?
Who locks the house of God?
All the doors of them will be open, use your hammer and crowbar!

Canada's Remembrance Day

Canadians pause and reflect on Remembrance Day, which is held to commemorate the services of her soldiers and veterans. It is held on November 11 to recall the end of World War I in 1918. From early in November, it is usual to see people around the country wearing poppies.I pass the University of Toronto on the way to work and this morning was surprised to see something on the Atheletic field. It seemed to be a sea of white.Upon closer inspection, I realized these were crosses, or mock-graves, all 628 of them, to mark those students, staff or faculty from the university who had gone off and died fighting for Canada in World War I.
Around 10.30 pm, there was a service at the University of Toronto, beneath the Soldier's Tower. It was very well attended, despite the chill now prevalent in our November mornings.

I always had a thing for bagpipes (maybe it had something to do with Braveheart) but the music is so sombre, reflective. I saw some people with tears in their eyes, and some young people had come with their grandparents, some of whom had army uniforms on.

After that, I walked over to Queen's Park, where our provincial parliament sits. There, at 11.11 and onwards, they do a 21-gun salute with these cannons.

Memorial Day is a holiday in the USA, but I think it's right that it's not in Canada. Otherwise, it would just become another Long weekend with people taking time off to enjoy and party, rather than reflect on the country's long history.

In the service, they had a Jewish prayer and a hymn recited. I didn't mind, as this was more of a tribute to World War I soldiers, but in future wars, as Canada grows more and more multicultural, expect to see Quran and Islamic prayers incorporated into future prayer services.

Obama Wins

I remember, eight years ago when news filtered of Bush winning the 2000 election. Most of my Muslim friends in the US had been ardent supporters of the Republican ticket, driven mostly by anti-semitism (I fear) caused by the Gore-Lieberman ticket.

It was a long fight, but ultimately Gore conceded. I remember it rained on inauguration day. Thousands of protesters lined up to snarl at Bush's parade. Under black umbrellas and dark clouds, Bush took the oath of office, and an equally dark chapter began in America's history.

I remember, four years ago, when I stayed with CNN late in the night, hoping the result would turn, and then, on getting up in the morning, finding that Kerry had conceded the election. My mind thought the thought that an English paper The Daily Mirror had printed so eloquently - "How can 59,054,087 people be so dumb?".

Yesterday, at 11 pm, as CNN made the historic projection, it seemed as if America had finally laid the ghosts of the Bush regime to rest.

Whereas the night had been dark and gloomy eight years ago, last night was crisp, bright, clear. The weather, as if on cue, was brilliant and unseasonably warm.

The celebrations - I have seen nothing like it following a political election. It was as if a team had won the World Series, or a country had won the World Cup. A colleague remarked to me this profound though, "I think the American people, whether they knew it or not, were oppressed. And they could feel it. For the last eight years, their freedoms have been suppressed, and their many rights slowly taken away, and their nation pillaged. Yesterday, something changed."

Now, as the USA embarks on a new era, I am reminded once more as to why, despite its many faults, America still remains a leader amongst nations, a truly great country, and a shining example of its ideals to the rest of the world.

Golmaal Returns

Is a very funny movie.

Regardless of whatever the critics say.

It's just, too, funny.

That is all.

Cuddle Your Wife for $1 Million?

May I never have Nasser Hussain's mentality.

Here is the story summary. Allen Stanford, a rich Texas billionaire, has organized the richest cricket match in history. This weekend, the winner of the 3-hour Twenty-20 cricket match between England and West Indies (or Stanford Superstars, as they are branded), will take home a cool $20 million. Imagine that, for three hours of work, provided you win, the $20 million is yours to be split amongst 11 people.

Yesterday, Allen Stanford apologised for his behaviour after being caught on camera flirting with players' wives and girlfriends. Er, he was not just flirting, he had his arms around two of the wives and another wife (of Matt Prior) on his lap [Cricinfo].

Stuart Broad, who was bowling at the time, commented: "When the pictures came up on the big screen there were a lot of gobsmacked people in our side. Matt Prior was in a state of shock, especially as his wife is pregnant."

After the apology though, here is what Nasser Hussain, the former English captain and now a commentator, had to say.

"It was pretty harmless, to be honest, and the wives must remember that their husbands are potentially earning a fortune by being here and they are in a lovely place having a lovely time in the sunshine.

If the man who is putting up all the money wants to give them a quick cuddle for the cameras is that really a big problem?"

Updated: Video.

Vacation Question

So I was surfing Facebook and then I noticed one of my hijabi friends posted her vacation pictures.

With nothing to do at lunch I clicked on her album. It seems she had gone there with a few of her girlfriends, all of whom are hijabis, and very conservative Muslims too.

Where did they all go for their week long vacation?

Er, Las Vegas.

So what does a bunch of hijabi wearing, Quran-toting, non-gambling, non-drinking, non-sex-show-attending Muslim chicks do in Las Vegas?

Seeing her online, I messaged her.

"So, you don't drink, you don't gamble, you don't attend burlesque."

"So, what exactly did you gals do in Las Vegas?"

And she, after a brief pause and with what I can only imagine in a beautiful smile on the other end replied with that famous line,

"Mezba, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!"

Er, something's wrong in the picture, methinks. :-D

Powell Endorses Obama

I'm also troubled by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said, such things as, "Well, you that know Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is: What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I could not help but applaud when I saw this video and this statement of Colin Powell in his endorsement of Obama. Make no mistake, this is no black solidarity. Powell is a strict Republican. But at his heart, he is what we call in Canada a "Red Tory", a fiscal conservative, center-right, someone not comfortable with the hard, right-wing, evangelical turn that the social conservative Republican Party has become. And so the endorsement of Obama.

However, Powell went further than that. In his explicit, well thought-out, statement, not only did he defend Muslim Americans, he even raised the story of the soldier who served, and died for America.

I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. - [Full transcript here]

Powell was referring to this photo (photo #16 on the link).


One can have opinions of his support for the Iraq war and his role in the Bush administration. By the same token, when the man takes guts to say the right thing, one can only say bravo.

By the way, completely unrelated, and strictly for 'entertainment' purposes, here's a study on Playboy models and recession.

Of Elections in USA, Canada and Dubai

No, no, there's no election in Dubai. But I do want to talk about them in a bit.

First, my prognosis of the final US debate is up. It's been a long circus process, but finally we should see some closure in about 17 days. Unless something big happens, I expect Obama to take this election comfortably. Of course, at the back of my mind lurks the unpleasant feeling that the Americans can fuck this up again - after all - this is a nation of whom 17% believes Bush is doing a great job, and where scare tactics apparently work.

Second, our Canadian election was over on Tuesday. It was a disappointing result for us Liberals. We had a decent and honest man of integrity as our leader, but it turned out he wasn't the politician we needed him to be. I wonder what it says about us as a nation when decent men can't win in politics by taking the high road. Although I suspect a faulty tax plan, a team not ready for an election, not speaking English well enough, and other factors also played a part. While I am glad to see Gerrard Kennedy and Ruby Dhalla win their seats, I was sad to see Omar al-Ghabra lose his seat. I hope he is back the next time.

Coming to Dubai, I was informed by a reader (Musa) that an interview with me was used in an article of the National.

South Asian professionals forsake West for Gulf jobs

Aaditya Tangri, 23, and Mr Mezba Mahtab, 27, both moved to Canada from the UAE with their families when they were in high school. Mr Tangri came back last year and Mr Mahtab is hoping to do the same.

Mr Mahtab would like to stay in Dubai for five years, “make lots of money, save as much as I can and then move back again”.

He is not put off by the hot weather and finds the intrinsic Muslim culture that flourishes in the cities most attractive. “In Dubai, when everyone is fasting during Ramadan, you don’t feel out of place.”

The interview was taken almost a year ago, before I started my Masters program and before many other developments in my life - suffice it to say I am not that attracted to returning to Dubai (or Abu Dhabi). Moreover, I distinctly remember saying to the reporter I was thinking about returning, not planning it. Not only do I not like the treatment meted out to Asians, but it seems Dubai is a big bubble waiting to burst.

However, when I see the house prices here, and then I calculate how long I will have to work before I can pay off my mortgage, suddenly 4-5 years in a sunny, tax-free earning country doesn't sound so bad, does it?

US Presidential Debate 2 - Live Blogging

I am live blogging the second US presidential debate town hall on my political blog.

Eid Mubarak with Shadher Lau

Eid Mubarak, every body!

We went down to Rogers Centre (a stadium here, hired for the day by Muslims), and prayed with over 10,000 other Muslims. It was a bit different from the usually intimate environment at the mosque where we used to go previously.

My uncle had come over and he had a special gift for us - a lau (Bottle Gourd).

Now I showed you guys our previous examples of laus before, but my uncle's was in another league by itself. I leave you with those pictures, and hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday.

Laus in his garden.

Labelled laus for everybody.

Our lau.

My uncle with the lau.