Fatema's Wedding Pictures

Fatema and Tarah at the Mehndi Party.


Tarah and her mom at the Mehndi Party.


Fatema all dolled up.


The groom, Mansoor, all dolled up.


Tarah posing with the newlyweds.


My family with the newlyweds.


Seth and Tarah in traditional garb at the mosque.


Seth and Shabhir get reacquainted at the reception.


My sister, Rehana with the wife (Marsh) and the kids.


Haji Husein-Bhai Paryani and Nuru-bai Paryani at the reception.

Rehana and my nephew, Shabhir at the reception.

Shuddap!

I am tired of people talking for too long. Can't you fucking see I'm bored.

Fatema Gets Married

My blog would be incomplete without mentioning that my niece and friend, Fatema, is getting married tomorrow.

Fatema was raised in a Khoja Shia-Ithnasheri Muslim family and is marrying a Khoja Sunni Muslim. Crime of crimes!! And in attendance will be a Khoja Shia-Ithnasheri man married to a WASPy-Canadian woman. And, myself (born a Tanzanian, a Canadian by naturalization, raised a Shia-Ithnasheri, and culturally a Gujarathi Indian)married to a Christian Black woman. And, as if all this doesn't make my point, there will also be a man (Indian, Khoja Shia-Itnasheri) who is married to a Jewish woman. And only God knows how many other subtler permutations of the different strands of humanity will be present.

Suffice to say, all marriages are mixed. What matters is the bond between two people and the commitment to overlook our differences and revel in our commonality: The need for love, acceptance, growth and encouragement.

So shine on you shiny diamnonds! Grow on and live! Change your mind later if it suits you at that time! It's good! It's all good! Fill your lungs with air and jump!

Rest Your Eyes

Open Letter To Johnny R.

I am currently in the middle of a bout of food poisoning which is 99% likely the result of eating luke warm chicken from Swiss Chalet.

In response John Wrote: "Are you serious? First Conrad Black and now this?! Please don't tell me that one of my last, great Canadian institutions is collapsing. There is so little else for me to look forward to when I visit."

My reply to John's reminiscing follows:

This is only my second brush with the Chicken Death. Seven years ago I enjoyed a wonderful meal (Quarter-chicken-dinner (white meat) with fries....and that gravy....yum yum!) on a summer afternoon in a park. And the very next day...as you used to say, "nausea, nausea, puke, puke."

I must have shit myself at least 16-17 times in a matter of a few hours. And while I sat (or should I say shat) I also puked into a bucket. My knees were sore from resting my elbows while I sat on my seat and held my head in my hands and my back and stomach muscles were so tight I had to have a narcotic at North York General Hospital to relieve the pain. Which, by the way, I happened to have gotten to in an ambulance.

Fucking Swiss Chalet!

By the way, the Festive Special is on again and they are offering Lindt chocolates instead of Toblerone. I believe Lindt is Swiss for stool softener.

Birdy Num-Num

Doddering Old Aunt Jessie

Thought this was funny and wanted to share. Lifted it from OCHLOCRATIC OSCULATION.

Then again, unseasonable weather shouldn't always be chalked up to climate change. Maybe it was just an unusually warm November; after all, when you blame every quirk of weather on carbon emissions, the argument loses is punch over time. Scientists get pissed when people hysterically shout "Katrina! Katrina! Global warming!", and then don't do a damn thing.

Still. It's a lot like having an aging relative who may or may not be entering a state of dementia. When your doddering old Aunt Jessie forgets to pick up the pickle loaf at the store, maybe it just slipped her mind. Maybe it's just her eccentric personality (it was always eccentric, remember?). But, it's hard not to interpret every previously innocuous quirk of behavior -- every too-temperate fall day -- as ominous signs of imminent Alzheimer's.

Now imagine that once dementia DOES kick in for Aunt Jessie, she's going to trigger regional wars, cause massive famines, and permanently destroy entire ecosystems. Easy there, Aunt Jessie!

Also, go read this: Crazy Aunt Purl. Her tag line is, "The true-life diary of a thirty-something, newly divorced, displaced Southern obsessive-compulsive knitter who has four cats. (Because nothing is sexier than a divorced woman with four cats)." Å published author too!

Honour God - Kill A Daughter!

Muhammad Parvez, 57, is to appear in a Brampton court today after being arrested for strangling his 16 year old daughter for wanting to cast off her scarf.

The Prophet's (PBUH) namesake was unhappy with his daughter for wanting to dress in western-style clothing. That is, without a scarf covering her head. At the risk of wading into an endless, he-said-she-said, argument about Quranic texts, it is sad to see believers of Islam conveniently forgetting the words of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH): "Ask for the verdict of your conscience and discard what pricks it." Or the forgeting of one of the pillars of Islamic jurisprudence, namely, Aql (reason).

In an online article at Islam for Today, Ibrahim B. Syed, has written a lengthy overview of the origins of the purdah/hijab/chador.  Syed writes, "In the matter of hijab, the conscience of an honest, sincere Believer alone can be the true judge."

Recall your Quran: “There is no compulsion acceptable in religion. The truth and falsehood had been made distinct from one another.” (al-Baqarah 2:256). "Let him who wants to believe, believe; and let him who wants to deny, deny” (al-Kahf 18:29)

Ostensibly, Muhammad Parvez killed his daughter in order to preserve the honour of his family and protect his religion. Surely, it wasn't to protect God from the act of a young girl not wearing a scarf? Preserving the honour of the family would be the only reason to kill a female of any household. Which makes one wonder, in God's mind, which is more un-Islamic: to discard one's  hijab or to kill your own daughter?

I propose, with tongue firmly in cheek, that it is every self respecting Muslims duty to kill every person (man or woman) who they come across who, once told of their proper and Isamic obligations, refuses to adhere by Islamic norms. That's right, Karim, don that knapsack, fill it with whatever weapons you can gather and walk to the nearest mall. Explain the religion of Islam and if your audience does not see the light - Kaboom! In the name of all that is holy - Kaboom! Better that no one should live than they dress inappropriately

Just don't forget that there are two branches of Islam and within those two branches are sub-sects, and those sub-sects further divide down lines of ethnicity. And those ethnicities (let's say Indian) are then known by their particular regional identities (Gujurathis) who are then further divided into smaller groupings (Khojas) and on and on.  All these divisions can not all be right at the same time.

There are four main branches of jurisprudence in Sunni Islam -- Maliki, Hanafi, Sha'fi'i, and Hanbali schools.  In Shia Islam, I believe there are two.  Which side do you fall on?  Pick one at random as your own.  Now, are the other schools of thinking wrong?  Of course, they are.  Kaboom!

Pretty soon, you and your very particular brand of Islam will be the only ones standing.  Yes. Because you killed every one else off -- they were wrong and you were right.  And one Kaboom! led to another.

Unfortunately, after killing everyone else who was not exactly like you, your sons and daughters and your extended family now have no one to marry without the dishonour of incest. Thus, your clan dies off.  And you allow the extinction to occur because it is your ultimate show of piety.  You have finally shown God that you are indeed a good Muslim.

Congratulations, you provincal, myopic, parochial, moron!

iMac heaven

My dad recently replaced his old Mac with a new "all in one" 2.4 ghz iMac, with a 20 inch flat screen. Drool, drool.
All you microsoft/PC types visit the above link cause: It's a thing of beauty, a marvel of engineering, a work of art, a cutie pie and a peach, to boot!

Rest Your Eyes

Lucian Freud
Girl with a Kitten
1947
oil on canvas
ca. 16 x 22 in.
private collection

What's This Need to Read?

Hmm. Just picked up another book by Ronald Wright entitled, "A Scientific Romance."

So I'se been thinkin'...What's with the insatiable appetite for reading material? I really can't remember everything I read. And I'm not engaged in any purposeful act of research. Honestly, I have 2-3 books on the go at any given time. I will surf my usual sites and many others besides, hoping to come upon a beautifully written, lengthy article to keep me occupied. Magazine? Sure. Scholarly? Yep. Blog? Sure, why not?

Am I just idly curious or just idle? Is the constant need to read an indication that I am, perhaps, avoiding something in my life? I do know that I would like nothing more than to spend my days sitting in a library getting to know a subject - any subject - thoroughly. Ahh, research and synthesis. Hunting and gathering.

Anyone out there willing to let me spend my days looking up, sussing out, picking up and sniffing out the inner workings of some subject I have never heard about? I am easy and cheap!

Worth Repeating

Excerpt from "A Short History of Progress," by Ronald Wright.

Patriotism may indeed be, as Dr. Johnson said, “the last refuge of a scoundrel,” but it’s also the tyrant’s first resort. People afraid of outsiders are easily manipulated. The warrior caste, supposedly society’s protectors, often become protection racketeers. In times of war or crisis, power is easily stolen from the many by the few on a promise of security. The more elusive or imaginary the foe, the better for manufacturing consent. The inquisition did a roaring trade against the Devil. And the twentieth century’s struggle between capitalism and communism had all the hallmarks of the old religious wars. Was defending either system really worth the risk of blowing up the world?
Now we are losing hard-won freedoms on the pretext of a worldwide “war on terror,” as if terrorism were something new.