Diary notes: July 5, 2009

June ended on a most sorry note. Yes, I loved MJs music too -- grew up with it; learned to dance on it; fell 'in crush' on it; was initiated into the first music video with it -- aah, there are just too many firsts and personal milestones intertwined with MJ's music genius for all existing generations to keep a count of. Even my pre-teen sons debuted their public dancing on Thriller last year! And I truly mean it when I say -- may he rest in peace, finally.
It's been a unique week in which I've seen Toronto deal with the annoying strike of city workers that has mainly crippled city's garage disposal system besides closing down a number of other facilities. Never have the garbage carriers' service been so appreciated. And thank God I live in an apartment building where down the shoot it al goes and then it becomes the management's headache!
In the papers many interesting editorials followed Sarkozy's remarks on banning the burqa. Some lucid, some totally uninformed and shot from the hip. PAsting two of my articles published today and last week, which revolved around the issues in the news.
Will be back next with tips on survival for new immigrants..keep watching this space!

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http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/in-paper-magazine/magazine/the-man-in-the-mirror

Man in the mirror


The king is dead; long live the king’s music. While the pall of gloom that had engulfed the world at the shocking news of Michael Jackson’s death has abated, his work, life and idiosyncrasies continue being extolled, hashed and critiqued. And since his death has become those rare, ‘Where were you’ moments — like Princess Diana’s death and 9/11— I can’t help but include him in my comment.


Michael Jackson was never ‘just another great singer’; he was and will be remembered by each one of us who grew up with his music as the defining factor of our lives. I remember exactly what phase of my childhood I was at when, ‘Don’t stop till you get enough,’ came out and who my first crush was when Thriller — the album — came into my life in the form of the first ‘LP’ I was ever to posses sent in 1983 by my brother from Fresno. ‘Beat it’ became an anthem and music attained a level of spirituality.


That’s what Michael Jackson has been to all of us whose ages hover in between 35 and 50 years. Remembering his songs is the same as reliving our own lives. The shadow cast on his own genius by his phases of lunacy will never take away the pleasure of his work. And with that kind of mega stardom, how can one expect to escape from insanity? Success of that kind — spreading from the vast expanse of North America to the shanties of Lyari town to the jungles of Africa to the remotest regions of Russia and China and far beyond — becomes a disease which can consume the strongest of minds. It is amazing that none of it has cast an iota of doubt over the un-surpassed greatness of his work. His antics might have disgusted the world many times, but his music and dance form never failed to mesmerise. An analyst at The Star wrote very correctly; Michael has been imitated but never duplicated.


Everything that can be said about Michael Jackson has been said many times over in the past week, yet newsbytes and articles keep pouring in and heartfelt accounts keep appearing on websites. In the moments after his death many prominent websites reported a crash — Twitter; AOL messenger and Wikipedia included — as everyone wanted to be a part of his life or rather, death.


In some parts of the world though, his death was rather timely, as it instantly shifted media focus from many uncomfortable flashpoints. The highest relief was for the Iranian government where post election protests hogged international news and kept world attention focused and mounting. After Neda-Agha Soltan became Iran’s movement icon following her gruesome death, the international press vigilance had gotten even more intense with reporters streaming incendiary reports from the streets of Iran and the crowds rising to an even higher crescendo. But by Thursday evening following Michael Jackson’s death, all news channels had stopped every other news except the life and times of MJ. It seems that a little break of media focus was just what Iran needed. Now the regime has come down hard on all

international reporters banning them from reporting from the streets and relegating them to their closed newsrooms only.


Someone at a dinner actually voiced the suspicion that Michael Jackson’s death was a rumour allegedly instigated by Iran to remove world attention just as Clinton had waged the four-day bombing campaign on Iraq — operation Desert Fox — supposedly to take the focus away from his scandal with Monica Lewinsky! But let’s just put that down to a heartbroken fan’s misplaced hope in the face of denial at Michael Jackson’s death.


The other ‘affectee’ of media diversion has definitely been Mr Sarkozy, the alternately sober and drunk President of the Republic of France who just two days earlier had gone public with the bizarre statement that “the Islamic burqa is not welcome in France.” It quite baffles one as to what ignited this need in him to come out and brand the burqa as a symbol of “subservience that suppresses women's identities and turns them into prisoners behind a screen." It is impossible that his model wife would contemplate wearing it so why rake coals unnecessarily at a time when easing tensions with the Muslim world is more the order of the day for western governments? I am undecided though whether he has benefited from the media diversion or has lost out the attention which he hoped to gain by picking on Muslim women’s bone of contention. The dress might be ugly to look at and cumbersome to wear in summer, but to disallow anyone the right to wear what they please is perhaps a daft discriminatory act. Heck, some of the ungainly women exposing skin with their bulging tummies jutting out and falling out of their tank tops and low rise pants is offensive to look at, can we ban them too Mr President?


France must be thriving beyond belief, unaffected by the recession and other ensuing problems for its President to submit this legislation proposal on a priority basis to the lawmakers. Or perhaps a couple of pre-speech lethal cocktails are to blame (in case anyone doesn’t remember, Mr Sarkozy’s G8 debacle, it is still a prominent watch on YouTube with a star rating of 4.5 out of five — just click and watch). Discrimination comes in all kinds of garbs and the French President should realise that ethnic assimilation will not take place by forcing indigenous cultures to shed their traditions.



Acceptance and tolerance is the first step towards any kind of liberation. Incidentally, it is MJ’s song that comes to mind at this point. And again I am amazed at how profound all aspects of his work were — despite the sorry state he left this world in. He sings about making a difference in the lives of others;


I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have
Been any clearer
If you wanna make the world
A better place
Take a look at yourself and
Then make a change.


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From the masjid to the mall

The downside of ‘being Muslim on western land’ lost its edge when Obama-mania broke loose. Now it’s probably going to turn into, ‘Ooh, you’re Muslim, how nice!’ Jokes apart, while Obama has tried to take the western bite out of Muslim persecution which was unleashed after the Twin Towers debacle, there are still multiple identity issues besetting Muslims all over the globe.


While some emanate from societal bullying and prejudiced laws, many have been created by their own complexes (inferior/superior) and complexities resulting from diverse cultures.


Addressing all these issues, Natasha Bakht, an assistant professor of law at the University of Ottawa, has come out with a book or rather a compilation of articles which document the travails of ‘being Muslim in Canada.’ Titled Belonging and Banishment, in it some 11 experts, related mostly to the realm of print and publication, have expostulated on the ‘Canadian take’ on immigration.

(To read the rest of the article go to http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/in-paper-magazine/books-and-authors/from-the-masjid-to-the-mall)

Diary Notes -- June 2009

June was such a happening month. I met Jasmine D' Costa, authour of 'Curry is thicker than water' at her book reading at 'The Host' downtown. Met many new people from the South Asian community. (Hey, I'd rather call us all 'desi' and hope no one minds.)
So yeah, here were people who had never looked back after entering this great country and single-mindedly having worked towards success had achieved their dream and a position of comfort.
The event was hosted by My Bindi.com and is headed by the very energetic Syerah Virani. If one wants to know the latest news, views and events in Toronto's desi-land, mybindi.com is where you'll get the most info.
I also went to the desifest at Dundas Square (details of which you can read in my article -- 'Being Desi'-- http://www.dawnnews.net/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/in-paper-magazine/the-review/being-desi); the Luminato at the Harbourfront and then to the Mosaic festival at Square One Missisuaga.
Luminato was a real treat because I got to see performances of Cirque du'soleil' FOR FREE (it averages $150 per ticket) and then took a short ferry ride also for free.
Aah, it reminded me of my childhood days in Manora (an island in Karachi where I grew up and about which you will gradually be reading in my posts when i start the very boring exercise of reminiscing!).
I am still organizing my blog so bear with me if the entries become either too rapid or too delayed. But the plan is to treat visitors with a little something every week or even twice a week if I don't fall into the occasional lazy stupor that I have a tendency of.

Diary Notes- May 2009

I need to get off my high horse, say my friends if I want to adjust to living in Canada (specifically Toronto). Let me explain the state of my ‘High horse’. I don’t find anything in common to discuss with others from my home country, hence I am snobbish; I don’t find pizzaz in anything touted to be upscale and glamorous AND guzzling down the pricey fare from LCBO is so not my thing – so, here it is not aboutbeing on my high horse -- it is about adjusting to a style so very different.
I am from a big city too. A city with high velocity living and which stay awake 24-hours -- have you ever experienced a traffic jam anywhere at 3:00 am in the morning?? In Karachi, I have.
But that is not to say that Toronto has no charm. It has a unique peace which when you get used to, Karachi's din and clamour seems alien when you go back for a visit.
So now, I am at that in-between, neither-here nor there, stage.

Diary Notes- Jan 2009

The months have now definitely turned into years (1.5 to be precise). And the circle goes round and round and round. Oh, right, it’s a circle, it’s supposed to go round!

Well, some retail jobs and a few other temp jobs later, the question of ‘finding my feet’ still hangs in the balance. I would happily get into school which I am told is the best way to enter into the ‘mainstream’ (whatever stream that is, only these Torontonians know!) but that brings one back to the question of funds. Does one run a family or spend on education. ‘Take OSAP, take OSAP!’ screams every man Jack (and Jane) – and then happily spend the rest of your life in blissful debt! Really, cant understand these guys. The clamour to get loans and then spend them on fun and frolic in between some studies and THEN curse the Canadian government the rest of their lives for putting them in so much debt. Do they have warts on their brains or what. Loan, you know, it is spelt L.O.A.N. (Lending of assistance now – is the way I code that acronym!!) and which obviously concludes PAY LATER!!

So now (on a totally conjectured statistics) – I would say that 99.9 percent of Canadian citizens over 18 are in debt. Student loans, credit card debts, mortgages, car financing, store credits…you name it – they’ve run it up.

And guess what, all the time the Canadian government is to blame. I wonder which official comes to them regularly to go buy that home theatre or the shiny new SUV standing in the garage of their mortgaged home.

Diary Notes- Jan 2008

I can’t recount how many years (or is it still in months…?) it’s been since I too was an F.O.B. Suffice it to say that there’s been enough water under the bridge to make an optimist cum manic depressive cum workaholic cum egocentric out of me. I really could add a lot of other ‘cums’ to it but people might thing I’m saying the wrong thing and, well…let’s not make this messy!

The initial technicalities over with – the SIN card, health card, Pr card and whatever other cards etc that us lesser mortals need to get till we are logged into the official database – like all newly landed sould the fever pitch frenzy of job search gets underway. “Arrey, telemarketing kar lo”; “Nahin, retail sales is better and less stressful;” “Have you checked out Monster yet…” and on go the sages with advice of every kind. And it ends up becoming a monster in itself when the savings start disappearing by the dollar guzzling market and the emailed resumes only get an , “Thank you for applying for the position of blah blah blah. We appreciate your interest and will contact you should we decide to pursue your application…blah blah…”

ARTICLE ARCHIVE (FROM THE TORONTO SUN & Dawn) Is this the beginning of the End?

Though conflicting reports regarding the actual cause(s) of Benazir Bhutto’s death continue to mystify us, one fact remains: that Ms Bhutto is dead and Pakistan is facing the worst crisis of its 60-year existence. In fact, Pakistanis in Toronto feel their country’s very existence is now at stake and the turmoil in the aftermath of BB’s death is just the beginning of the end. While such doomsday predictions are not going down well with strong nationalists, it cannot be denied that all roads to sanity at this point remain barricaded by violence from within and without.

In Toronto, there is a large presence of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) supporters who are devastated by their leader’s death. Yesterday, when the party members congregated at the Islamic Centre in Mississuaga for a memorial service following Friday prayers, the despondency was tangible. While the service was quiet and sombre, passionate feelings could not be restrained, “all is lost,” a mourner lamented. Malik Qadeer Awan, a senior PPP member in Toronto whose family back home is involved in active party politics talked of the dismal scenario now facing the party and in turn the country’s politics. “She was the only one holding the country together and the only national leader who transcended provincial boundaries in Pakistan to lead the country on. Now there is a vacuum within the national political arena. It is impossible to fill the gap and that void in national leadership will take the entire country down.”

While it was expected that Benazir’s supporters would end up rudderless without her, to call her the only hope for Pakistan is not an opinion easily digested by her opponents. “Why was there no successor prepared for such an eventuality?” Questions Asif, a senior software engineer from Pakistan who still supports Musharraf above all political leaders. “The main reason was that she was only after the power and hence this so called ‘void’ in the party leadership. What good did her government do in the two terms that it ruled the country besides looting national wealth? Pakistan has gone through many turmoils and I, for one, do not feel that one person’s death is going to break the country. The new General might take over but the country will still survive, Inshaallah,” he sums it up with a prayer to the Almighty.

Adding salt to injury for Pakistanis here is the ever-ready propaganda unleashed by the US media of everything being rotten in the state of Pakistan, which angers all nationalists and patriots. And if conspiracy theorists are to be believed it was Ms Bhutto’s open acceptance of towing the US line – regarding the nuclear bomb as well as its maker – that led extremist factions to ‘do away with her.’

Sami, who works for an energy company in downtown Toronto, left Pakistan seven years ago, but he still feels passionately about the country’s fate and follows its politics avidly. He says, “There is no doubt whatsoever that the US powers have a huge hand in manipulating Pakistan’s politics and politicians. Of course, it is mainly because our politicians are corrupt that this manipulation works, but nevertheless, it is extremely disturbing that my country in the end is a mere puppet in their hands. Hence, I feel that it is indirectly the US which is responsible for Benazir’s death because they convinced her of their support and urged her to return, holding the beacon of democracy. But look what happened? It now makes me feel that even this chaos was part of the grand plan.”

There are others like Sami who feel that her return was on US insistence. And while they lament her return to embrace death they also wonder if eliminating a political process in Pakistan is part of some covert agenda resembling that of Iraq.

However, apart from speculations on a covert agenda and variance in political opinions, there is no denying that Benazir Bhutto’s death has been a tremendous shock, reverberations of which are strongly being felt in the entire Pakistani community in Toronto. And seeing their country literary in flames, the distraught Pakistani expatriates can do little but make daily calls home to ensure that their family is safe and then stare in dismay at the grisly scenes of destruction relayed from home.

Justice takes a sweet course

It’s been a refreshing past two weeks in the media. The tonal change in the North American papers ever since Obama’s Cairo oratory is tangible. So perhaps one day we’ll forget the term ‘Muslim Terrorists’ ever existed and will be using instead the phrase, ‘Bush Crusades’ to describe post 9/11 scenario.

Whatever may his reasons be, we definitely owe Obama this one. ‘He needs the goodwill of the Muslim world for economic stability,’ says one analyst while another points out that ‘he wouldn't be addressing the Christian world, or the Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist worlds so why the exception for Muslims?’

For my part, the heck with such pontification! He came, he spoke, he conquered and he definitely left a lot of goodwill in his wake. But he was bound to. With charisma oozing out from every facet of his personality; knowing the art of oration to the last effective pause and above all, with the vast team to work for him (which reportedly was grammatically analyzing and evaluating every syllable in his speech for its combined effect from Jerusalem to Tehran to Washington!), success was bound to be his. One die-hard Republican almost sneered at me and commented, “Obama should stop giving speeches as if he’s still campaigning!”

What would be amusing if it wasn’t so distressing is the sudden eruption of newly established opinions of many latter day news analysts on television and in print. Ever since Obama has taken up the Palestine-Israel conflict as a major foreign policy issue it has become the urgent business of the newer breed of reporters to educate themselves on the conflict. But when you are living in an environment where the Holocaust is the most-repeated historic fact and where only Israel’s ‘beleagured residents’ can be seen being ‘fired upon with rockets by those terrorists Hammas,’ it eclipses the predicament of the Palestinian refugees unable to return home, living under siege with no supply of food and who are made to look like petulant but dangerous delinquents. The easiest argument becomes the anti-Semitic chant which the neo-analysts allege is the same as anti-Zionism which the Palestinian and other Muslims are using to persecute Jews. The western media really needs a few home truths and some history lessons to be shown.

One thing is there though, that Obama has proven himself undaunted by disagreeable consequences of his decisions. While his sangfroid to the rather pithy backlash from Conservatives at home following his salaams to the Muslim world is one case in point, his take on the closing of Guantanamo is another example. Despite the monumental issue of what to do with all those detainees following the closure of ‘Gitmo’ (as Guantanamo is now called in more loving terms!) and its multiple legal ramifications, he went ahead to seal his first presidential order and is now coming up with solutions for it too. And in a true ‘happy ending,’ the first batch of prisoners were relocated a little over a week ago landing from there hellish abode directly into the lap of heavenly luxury.

Four Muslim Uighur detainees from a group of seventeen – ranging in age from 30 to 38 – were sent to Bermuda after UK and Canada refused to keep them and when proposals to resettle them in the United States ended in a political furor. The Uighurs’ background is rather heart-rending. They were a group of men which had fled Chinese persecution of Muslims in western China and landed in Afghanistan in 2001. But as luck would have it, they had to run for their lives yet again when the Americans bombed their camp. Despite being unarmed, they were thought to be dangerous with terrorist links and were eventually turned in to the authorities by Pakistani villagers in return for American prize money.

When a litany of accusations was created for all Guantanamo detainees, the Uighurs were accused of training at Al Qaeda-linked camps too.

Now, after seven years of life in the Guantanamo prison – the conditions of which is public knowledge – these four detainees have officially been cleared by American officials and courts of any ties to global terrorism. Their obvious reaction at this point should be outrage and a barrage of legal suites filed for violation of human rights. Instead, they have said, “There's absolutely no hard feelings toward the U.S.” Because the ex-prisoners are happy to just (literally) bask in their freedom – under the Bermuda sun – diving deep into the blue waters to cleanse themselves from all their past worries.

Reports of their release and landing in Bermuda were reported in detail in Canadian papers particularly because Canada had considered them as a threat to national security, refusing to accept them. Incidentally Britain is still seething because Bermuda is the self-governing British overseas territory and the UK maintains that Bermuda’s Premier, Ewart Brown should have first consulted with the UK government before accepting the men. As for China itself – which incidentally wanted them back – it would probably have been the worst end to their nightmare because they would doubtless have landed to face extreme accountability (torture or execution).

The Toronto Star’s National Security Reporter, Michelle Sheppard, who met and spent the day with them on their island retreat, gave a touching account of their reactions. She wrote, “After almost eight years of captivity, each step of Khelil Mehmut's freedom is a little overwhelming… People call him by his name, not 278, his internee serial number… they seemed insulated in their ocean-side pink cottage, enjoying a fish lunch, a sunset swim and fielding the occasional media call,” (not to mention getting accustomed to the bikini clad damsels who roam the resort island!).

What with the turning sentiments against Muslims and now this miraculous change of circumstances for condemned individuals, I have become a believer again that justice will be done; it just takes its own time coming!

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