Thursday, January 24, 2008
POOKIE MONSTER!
Monday, February 05, 2007
The Hypocrisy that Is Egyptian Hospitality.
Egyptians are nice, generally incredibly friendly and always willing to help (except of course for the taxi drivers, not the nicest of people). But this is my opinion, and i now am sure of the fact that this opinion is based on two distinct facts.
One. I am a Man.
Two. I am Muslim.
You see, the Egyptians practice an interesting type of racism - if your a Muslim, your treated with respect, people try to rip you off less, you have to fight with taxi drivers less. All iv ever had to do is mention the fact that im from Pakistan, when inevitably asked if i was Muslim or not my reply would be Alhumdullillah and most things would be pretty much settled right there.
But if i was not a muslim, and if God forbid i was a non muslim WOMAN in this country - its like a mental switch goes off in Egyptians heads - they are now "allowed" to do whatever they feel like. This is practiced to an extent where it seems like it is practically their right to do whatever they feel like to a non - muslim woman.
Even my landlord - has been incredibly racist with Miguel - he wont even speak to him, nor will he conduct business with him if im not around - though he will happily do everything when miguel is absent and its just me. In fact, he has clearly stated the only reason he has "put up" with us is because of the fact that i asked him the direction of the Qibla (the direction to pray) the day we moved in.
I found that just ridiculous.
Every day, i sit with people, mostly foreigners, and i hear them talk about how this effects their lives, how its disgraceful, and how its just absolutely disgusting for them to face this. They keep bringing it back to muslims. I just want them to know...
This isnt a traight of the Muslim World.
You as an individual - man woman or child, muslim or non - muslim not only deserve but it is your RIGHT to be treated with the same respect that any person would treat anyone. In fact, when i compare this place and i think of Back home, im struck by the fact that in pakistan women will always be asked to proceed to the front of the line, instead of having to wait. Women will always be given the right of way. Im not gonna stand here with a holier then though attitude and say that harrasment doesnt happen in pakistan - i think it happens in any country in the world to some extent. All i wanna say, to everyone out there...
This is just Egypt... not the muslim world.
As for Egyptians reading this - every day i sit with egyptians who talk about change that needs to be brought in this country, about all the problems that it faces from political to social to economic. I just urge you to always remember that YOU are the seeds of change... and it is the way you live your lives that will determine whether or not change occurs. We of the third world - educated and learned - dont have the luxury to be complacent. You and I, we are the vessels of change - if we want to be.
The saddest part of all of this...
the saddest part of it all...
is that somewhere in Egypt - i see a Pakistan in 20 or so years...
and it is not a direction i want to see my country going in...
One. I am a Man.
Two. I am Muslim.
You see, the Egyptians practice an interesting type of racism - if your a Muslim, your treated with respect, people try to rip you off less, you have to fight with taxi drivers less. All iv ever had to do is mention the fact that im from Pakistan, when inevitably asked if i was Muslim or not my reply would be Alhumdullillah and most things would be pretty much settled right there.
But if i was not a muslim, and if God forbid i was a non muslim WOMAN in this country - its like a mental switch goes off in Egyptians heads - they are now "allowed" to do whatever they feel like. This is practiced to an extent where it seems like it is practically their right to do whatever they feel like to a non - muslim woman.
Even my landlord - has been incredibly racist with Miguel - he wont even speak to him, nor will he conduct business with him if im not around - though he will happily do everything when miguel is absent and its just me. In fact, he has clearly stated the only reason he has "put up" with us is because of the fact that i asked him the direction of the Qibla (the direction to pray) the day we moved in.
I found that just ridiculous.
Every day, i sit with people, mostly foreigners, and i hear them talk about how this effects their lives, how its disgraceful, and how its just absolutely disgusting for them to face this. They keep bringing it back to muslims. I just want them to know...
This isnt a traight of the Muslim World.
You as an individual - man woman or child, muslim or non - muslim not only deserve but it is your RIGHT to be treated with the same respect that any person would treat anyone. In fact, when i compare this place and i think of Back home, im struck by the fact that in pakistan women will always be asked to proceed to the front of the line, instead of having to wait. Women will always be given the right of way. Im not gonna stand here with a holier then though attitude and say that harrasment doesnt happen in pakistan - i think it happens in any country in the world to some extent. All i wanna say, to everyone out there...
This is just Egypt... not the muslim world.
As for Egyptians reading this - every day i sit with egyptians who talk about change that needs to be brought in this country, about all the problems that it faces from political to social to economic. I just urge you to always remember that YOU are the seeds of change... and it is the way you live your lives that will determine whether or not change occurs. We of the third world - educated and learned - dont have the luxury to be complacent. You and I, we are the vessels of change - if we want to be.
The saddest part of all of this...
the saddest part of it all...
is that somewhere in Egypt - i see a Pakistan in 20 or so years...
and it is not a direction i want to see my country going in...
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
New Pictures!
Because Flickr Decided to Die out on me after 200 pictures (stupid flickr) i decided to move over to googles photo album service. Even though i know they only give me 250 MB of storage space and its gonna run out sooner then later its the best solution at the moment.
So if you wanna see my photos, go
HERE
URL: http://picasaweb.google.com/salmansqadeer
So if you wanna see my photos, go
HERE
URL: http://picasaweb.google.com/salmansqadeer
Friday, November 10, 2006
Pakistanis compared to the Rest of the World.
Just another random night just another random intoxicated conversation.
Miguel for some reason or the other is trying to rate the three of us (me, himself and Kent) along a scale... so hes like okay if the scale of humanity extends from the right to othe left - then Kent is on the absolute right hand side of this scale: Canadian to the core completely politically correct and always spot on about everything. Salman is on the complete left hand of the scale: the craziest out of ALL of us (he was quite excited at this point and crazy was elaborated in many ways that i will not go into here :P; And me (i.e. miguel) im somewhere in the middle...
so:
Salman ---------- Miguel --------- Kent
Now this was his opinion... but if you were to see the three of us a lot of people might agree with this.
BUt thats not the point at all.
The point is that back home... i wouldnt even be considered close to crazy... if i was to rate myself back home to all the other pakistani guys i know in about the same age group i think it would be something like this:
The Rest Of Pakistan ------------------------------ME -----A few people i know
And then, you put me in a room with a Mexican and a Canadian and all of a sudden im the craziest guy in the room.
I love my country.
Miguel for some reason or the other is trying to rate the three of us (me, himself and Kent) along a scale... so hes like okay if the scale of humanity extends from the right to othe left - then Kent is on the absolute right hand side of this scale: Canadian to the core completely politically correct and always spot on about everything. Salman is on the complete left hand of the scale: the craziest out of ALL of us (he was quite excited at this point and crazy was elaborated in many ways that i will not go into here :P; And me (i.e. miguel) im somewhere in the middle...
so:
Salman ---------- Miguel --------- Kent
Now this was his opinion... but if you were to see the three of us a lot of people might agree with this.
BUt thats not the point at all.
The point is that back home... i wouldnt even be considered close to crazy... if i was to rate myself back home to all the other pakistani guys i know in about the same age group i think it would be something like this:
The Rest Of Pakistan ------------------------------ME -----A few people i know
And then, you put me in a room with a Mexican and a Canadian and all of a sudden im the craziest guy in the room.
I love my country.
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