Asha

Pause

Maybe this is futile to say now but this I haven't been writing on this blog for a while and unless this posts disappears I won't continue for some time.....

posted by mir @ 12:36 PM 0 comments

me back...

Have access to Blogspot from here (UAE). Btw India is thinking of blocking this site too.

Some thoughts...

Realizing that getting research started on an issue noone wants to talk about or gives a damn can be frustrating.

Realized, that we all have a way of sometimes taking ourselves too seriously. The world would be pretty fine without me for example.

Realized, that I have no freaking idea how I would live in the US again.

Realized, how I have no idea of how I’ll live without the privileges I’m used to.

Was having a pedicure the other day (my first and last) and was like shit yo…I can pay someone to clean my feet.

On a brighter note,

Young kids have a way of making the world go around them and can be so beautiful.

posted by mir @ 1:59 PM 0 comments

Travelling...

I wonder if most of you have even stopped reading this blog because of a lack of update. Soon after exams finished, I left for Syria and Jordan and then came back to Cairo for like a day and then headed out to Pakistan. Well not really in Pakistan at the moment. I’m in Abu Dhabi right now.

Don’t even know where to start. Well I’ll just take the chronological approach. Ok so after exams a friend (Sauleh) and I left for Syria. The Syrian embassy in Cairo had been nice about our visas so were like oh…this will be easy breeze. Landed in Damascus and the dude at the immigration just told pointed to another officer and asked us to go there and that other officer just held our passports for a while he flirted with another female officer and then went to this other office with Sauleh’s passport. To cut a looong story short, they decided that they weren’t going to give Sauleh back his passport. Said they’ll keep it and we’ll have to go to the Department of Immigration (from now on referred to as hell hole) to get it. So I was like hold on, wtf? I mean we have a visa and everything. So there is me trying to put on my Arabic charm and asking them to at least give us a freaking receipt for the passport. So we got the receipt but as I was making too much noise for their taste they decided they were going to keep my passport too. Also we landed on a Thursday night and the weekend is Friday, Saturday and we had tickets for Amman leaving on Monday (early morning). The dude at the airport said that our passports would be at the hell-hole on Saturday and that it was open that day. A great beginning to our trip,eh?

However, the horror doesn’t end here. So the next day we’re in the Ummayad Mosque in Old Damascus and we’re at the Shrine on Imam Hussain (the Prophet’s grandson) and guess what happens. My wallet gets stolen out of my freaking purse. Not only did it have quite a bit of cash in it. It had my credit card as well (the ONE time I didn’t take it out before going to somewhere unfamiliar). So I ask the care taker there if he saw anything and when he said nope….I just plopped on the floor and balled my eyes out. The whole passport deal had been stressful enough and this was the freaking last thing I needed. A lot of people came around and asked Sauleh what happened. Most of them were Shia travel groups from Iran and I guess they were pretty appalled that someone would do such a thing at a place like that. Sauleh then saw my wallet tossed in a corner. All the cash was gone but I at least I had my credit card. However, after seeing me ball my eyes out, this old couple comes up to us and the old dude practically offers us all the money he had in his pocket and then this other dude comes up and talks to me in Arabic for a good 20 minutes, trying to calm me down and such and then offers us some money, and says it was a gift and we couldn’t refuse. So there was humanity alive somewhere.

The next morning we went to the Hell-hole and the dude just said, "come tomorrow…we don’t have your passports" and I was like aaaaaaaaaaah. So we go back the next day (Sunday), and they finally have our passports but they were like oh there is some stuff we need to do. And guy 1 gives our passports to guy 2 who gets guy 3 to sign this register and then guy 3 tells us to come tomorrow and I was like "NO, I have a freaking flight and I NEED my passport." So guy 3 sends us to guy 4 and 5 who tell us to come in about 1.5 hours to get our passports. And then when we do they tell us to come tomorrow and then you can imagine my reaction. So after talking to guy 4,5 and 6 making photocopies, getting some papers, getting stuff written, getting signature from guy 6, we go back to guy 4 and he is like., "Ok your passports will be sent to the airport." At that moment I thought I was going to shoot them in the head instead I started crying and shouting hysterically saying, I needed my passport now. So guy 4 freaks out, the entire office is looking at me and the bajillion other people who are there. So guy 4 takes me to the top dude and he sends us somewhere else and that dude sends us back to the top dude and then some more stamps and signatures and me crying like anything…..we get our passports. Oh ya, to add to all this, no one spoke a word of English. I have no idea what people who don’t speak any Arabic do in a place like this.

Needless to say this was not a pleasant experience. But to add to all this we had a flight in a few hours to Amman but no visa…and we couldn’t get visas at the airport and the last thing we wanted was to lengthen our stay in Syria. Now what happened after will be another really long story but to cut it short we landed in Amman and got out of the airport due to the extensive network of my friend’s dad in Amman.

Ok, so I do realize I’ve only given you a horror story version of Syria. Obviously there were good parts too but I guess the stress of the bad parts overshadows the good ones. Btw I have a question….why do dictators have their pictures hung up everywhere? I swear you couldn’t turn move your head 180 degrees in Damscus without seeing a picture of Bashar al-Assad, I even know how his kids look like!

Some quick good things about Damascus… so much less traffic and pollution than Cairo, fresh juices are great, people on the streets are friendly and don’t bother you or shout "antee min fain" every 2 minutes (where are you from?) and no doubt old Damascus is nice. Also, for those who know what this is….got a chance to go to Syedda Zainab’s moulid for a bit which was interesting.

About Jordan….went to Amman, Dead Sea, Petra, Jerash, Mount Nebo and Madaba. Mount Nebo is the place where Moses is believed to be buried and also the place where he ‘promised the land.’ Standing at the spot with Israel/Palestine about 46km away from you and other parts of Jordan stretched out…you once again start thinking of what land and home and the idea of landless people means and how that fits into Arab nationalism in general. In Jordan we were staying with a friend of mine from high school and no doubt had a lovely time.

These are the last 10/11 days in a nutshell. Have more to say about every experience and obviously have a lot of thoughts about the condition in the Arab world and it future. Oh ya, was in Jordan when Zarqawi was killed. People were actually celebrating that. Jordan and Syria no doubt very different from each other and from Egypt (also the change in dialects can get pretty confusing).

Talking about Egypt, around the time my finals were going on there were huge protests in Cairo regarding the trail of two judges (who basically had said that Mubarak rigged elections) and the trial of the dude who dared run against Mubarak. About 400 people were arrested and detained including lawyers, journalists etc. While all of this was happening the White House was welcoming Mubarak’s son (a likely future president). Needless to say I have plenty of frustrations about American policies and the workings of USAID in Egypt.

Ok this entry is getting looong. I’ll end here. I’ve been told by friends here that blogspot doesn’t work from Pakistan as it was restricted there after the Danish cartoon’s controversy so if I can’t post I’ll e-mail and if you read this and don’t get my e-mails and want to get them…lemme know.

Salam.

posted by mir @ 11:23 AM 0 comments

Random assortment of thoughts

So why haven’t I been writing more regularly?

1) I’m always thinking…oh I should write that on my blog….but then when it actually comes time to write I don’t feel like I have much to say.

2) Exams….All you folks who get reading period…..believe me bow down to God and thank Her (I’ve decided the female pronoun is more apt for the Almighty). Seriously, I never knew fully realized what a blessing it was. It is HORRIBLE having to write term papers, go to class, do regular homework and study for tests and then exams…all at the same time. We don’t even get one day as reading period. Last day of class and boom the very next day finals start. So basically I’ve been slaving away to academia (or atleast pretending to).

3) Sometimes I come across things that I want the whole world to know but often I’m so frustrated by all of it that my articulation goes down the drain. It is at times like these that I send e-mails to some friends who can put up with me sending them a long e-mail filled with frustration and expletives.

As for why aren’t there any pics from spring break? Because internet at home is not very fast and it takes me ages to download pics.

I’ll talk to you about what I’ve been reading quite a bit about outside the realm of class reading. …. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). I attended a lecture about it a few weeks ago and since then I was moved to read about it more and more. And the more I read the more frustrated and disgusted and helpless I feel. I had always known that the concept existed and that it goes on but it had never hit me in the face as much as now. Anywhere between 50 to 97 % of women in Egypt undergo FGM. It is practiced in 28 countries over the world including countires in Western Europe and North America (mainly due to immigration patterns). However, 18 of the 28 countries where FGM is practiced are in Africa. An estimated 135 million of the world's girls and women have undergone genital mutilation, and two million girls a year are at risk of mutilation - approximately 6,000 per day.

The most sever form of FGM is infibulation, also known as pharaonic circumcision. An estimated 15% of all mutilations in Africa are infibulations. The procedure consists of clitoridectomy (where all, or part of, the clitoris is removed), excision (removal of all, or part of, the labia minora), and cutting of the labia majora to create raw surfaces, which are then stitched or held together in order to form a cover over the vagina when they heal. A small hole is left to allow urine and menstrual blood to escape.

At the lecture, the lecturer started his presentation with showing us a video of a girl undergoing FGM. And I couldn’t watch it at all…..and had to go throw up after. This was when the girl was undergoing FGM under local anesthesia and hygienic medical conditions. I couldn’t even imagine women undergoing it without any anesthesia. On a rock behind a bush with the cutting actually taking place with pieces of glass, knife, razor blades or even biting off some pieces. Can you imagine the pain? I certainly can’t.

I read of this case in NY where a father turned up the stereo and then cut her girl’s genitals with a steak knife.

This is what women are….a piece of meat?

A book I read which is the autobiography of Waris Dirie, a Somail nomad becoming a super model…talks about her experience with FGM. She wrote that it would take her 10 minutes to pee just because the hole was only big enough for one drop to be let out at a time. Many women who have undergone FGM experience extreme pain during their period and you can imagine the complications during child birth.

Now I don’t want to portray that all women undergo this under force. Young girls in many parts of the world pester their mothers about undergoing this procedure because they want to be considered grown women and clean and obviously to be considered marriageable. They boast about how small their hole is.

And all this for what? To keep a woman chaste? For man’s pleasure?

Can you imagine the pain the woman goes through the first time she has sex? Isn’t that violence? A man is likely to cut her with a sharp object and then penetrate right after……this makes me want to castrate men.

Issues like these are rampant when among refugees in this part of the world and this is by no means the only thing refugee women have to face, and also this isn’t only a refugee issue….

posted by mir @ 5:24 AM 1 comments

Spring break

As one of my friends (MH) have been grateful enough to point out...I haven't been writing much lately. The reason for the recent abscence was because I'm on spring break and am travelling around. Mom's here which is lovely. Was in Istanbul for 5 days and a lovely city no doubt. Would never live there though but that is more because of the language barrier than anything else. Clean and smog-free....and you appreicate that so much after living in Cairo.

So about Istanbul.....think of it this way, it was the capital of the Ottomans for a loooong time and the Ottomans ruled a hella lot and for a centuries too. So there is this grand palace in Istanbul called the Topkai palace and then the museum within in....WAO!! Seriously the grandeur of the royal Ottomans is amazing. They had coffee cup holders with diamonds on them!!!

i knew that Istanbul is called the City of Mosques...but didn't imagine that many mosques. SO MANY! And plenty of pretty old ones. The city is a pleasant mix of different religions (mainly Islam, Judaism and Greek Orthdox) and different levels of conformity or orthodoxy to religion.

Also, saw a performance by the Whilring Derishes...beautiful. I mean you can't go to Rumi's city and then not see that, right?

There is obviously more to say but don't have the time right now....also I think pictures would speak better than words. Though God knows when I'll be able to put them up (now now Habib...calm down!).

Off again tomorrow for 3 days or so...where? You'll find out!

posted by mir @ 3:07 AM 3 comments

Nothing much...

Nothing too exciting happening. Occupied with mid-terms and such.

Watched the movie "Munich" yesterday....liked it.

posted by mir @ 1:03 AM 3 comments

Long due photos...

1) From a restaurant in Luxor, overlooking the Luxor temple.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/rgmir/Egypt%20Spring%2006/d6256015.jpg

2) Luxor temple lit up.

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3) Luxor again.

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4) Inside a tomb, in the Valley of Kings. The pics here were beautiful. So not allowed to take pics...actually got into a bit of trouble. The stuff Ancient Egyptians did is mind-blowing. Very pretty.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/rgmir/Egypt%20Spring%2006/192dba7b.jpg

5) Inside a Pharoahs actual grave...i.e. where the casket used to be. So not allowed to do that but the guard suggested it with a little something in return!

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6) On our way to the Valley of the Kings.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/rgmir/Egypt%20Spring%2006/d3154731.jpg

7) Karnak Temple. The coolest thing on the planet. It has 134 GIANT columns in it along with some other pretty kewl stuff. My favorite historical site.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/rgmir/Egypt%20Spring%2006/b0fa248b.jpg
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8) Kitchener's Island in Aswan. The whole island is a big botanical garden.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/rgmir/Egypt%20Spring%2006/22b276fe.jpg

9) Looking onto the Nile from Kitchener's Island.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/rgmir/Egypt%20Spring%2006/1e3e8f3e.jpg

10) Nubian tombs on the way to Kitchener's Island. Also a majority of Nubians were displaced when the Aswan High Dam was built. Around 80,000. Its amazing that Nubians have lived as an ethinicity for a gabajillion years.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/rgmir/Egypt%20Spring%2006/7bcab819.jpg

11) Birthday lunch

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12) Midnight on my birthday.

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13) Chocofilo on my birthday. They had like 40 differnt chocolate things on the menue and you could even do chocolate shots..yummmm.

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14) The birthday cake.

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15) Black henna on my hands

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/rgmir/Egypt%20Spring%2006/b3e4a8b8.jpg

16) Omar Khayrat's concert.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/rgmir/Egypt%20Spring%2006/b57b816f.jpg

17) Valentine's day.

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18) A castle/fortress in Alexandria.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/rgmir/Egypt%20Spring%2006/997c26b9.jpg
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19) Overlooking Alexandria from the fortress.

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20) A Roman theatre in Alex.

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21) From the hotel in Alex.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/rgmir/Egypt%20Spring%2006/e3d63666.jpg

posted by mir @ 2:32 PM 2 comments