One Step Forward, Two Steps Backwards

Hello friends,

Imagine if you were a school girl in a school here in Saudi Arabia, anxious to have that new gymnasium built on your campus, as you realize you and your friends would soon have sports to play, exercise machines to use or simply to have a class called Physical Education. Well, guess what? Tough luck! Because Saudi Arabia has not given permission to the schools to build gymnasiums in any of the girl’s schools in the Kingdom. No Physical Education for Schoolgirls! What a blow to the young school girls! I mean, come on, being in an all girls’ schools, playing sports in an enclosed building, what does that have to do with violating the religious laws here. “Two days ago the Ministry of Education stated that it “would not introduce physical education in girls’ schools” and requested that the media “respect religious, literary and national responsibility.” I mean, come on, give me a break!

Ironically enough, on the same front page of Arab News, there was news of a Saudi woman making waves because she was elected to be a member on the 10-member board of the Saudi Engineers Council. To read this piece of news seemed so funny because on one hand we see the immense progess women are making in various fields of social life in the Kingdom, which is in stark contrast to know that young schoolgirls will not get the opportunity to even participate in sports. An anonymous spokesperson from the Education Administration in Makkah said, “Religious men have a great influence on our education and the ministry listens only to those with certain views about women and their role and place in society.”

It may be one step forward for this particular woman to be elected to the board, but it’s two steps backwards for the schoolgirls of this nation! (I cannot help but think of the schoolgirls who were killed in the school fire in the city of Makkah, as the Religious barred them from leaving because they feared the physical contact between the girls and the firemen would be akin to a huge sin!)

Mansur

Photos Blocked!

Hello friends,

I am totally deprived of posting my pictures up here on my blog. Flickr.com is blocked. I tried posting pictures through Blogger, and the pictures are blocked. I tried using Photoucket and that is also blocked here. Does anyone out there know how to get my pictures up here on my blog? I have seen some bloggers with profile pictures that can be seen, and some pictures on their blog posts which are not blocked. What’s your secret?

Anyone out there who has bypassed this photo blocking thing? Help me!

Thanks a million!

Mansur

A Dead Cat and a Happy Christmas!

Hey everyone,

As I was driving down the road, coming back from Kanz Obhur– which by the way is an amazing place to have fresh fish on the Red Sea, on the coast of Jeddah– I was thinking about the two extremely cute kittens that were sitting next to our table, waiting for us to give them some of our fish. Well, lo and behold, as I was driving 80kpm, my sister and I both shrieked in horror as we saw a white cat darting across the road. A huge bump was felt within a millisecond, as we both realized I had driven over the cat! Our screams got my dad at the back to shout “what happened?” to which my sister replied, “Mansur just drove over the cat and killed it!”

I felt so bad for killing the cat, but I was helpless. Driving at 80kpm, I was below the 100kpm speed limit, and the cat had just decided to cross the road right when I came up to her. If I had braked hard, we would have definitely made a worse mess of ourselves. I felt really bad too because I am always so meticulous when driving, taking extreme care of the way I drive. Then I get a situation where I helplessly drive over a cat. This is not my first time though…I have driven over a cat once before too!

So anyway, today was Christmas. All the television channels are broadcasting their Merry Christmas to their viewers. One particular difference I am noticing on the Pakistani channels is the coverage they are giving to the Pakistani Christians celebrating Christmas in Pakistan. We have soap/ drama based on Christian characters. I remember reading an article in Saudi gazette, talking about how while Saudi Arabia doesn’t sell Christmas trees or other specific decorations for Christmas, there are shops selling other items which could be substituted for the trees and other decor. Dubai is in full bloom for Christmas, as malls are heavily decorated with Christmas trees, Santa Claus, Reindeers and in one mall, a band singing Christmas songs. The Dubai Duty Free at the airport had a huge Christmas complete with presents wrapped placed under the tree. These pictures here will reveal to you the full extent of Christmas decorations in Dubai malls.

Living in a Muslim dominated society, how far is too far? How tolerant should we be of allowing people of other faith celebrate their special occasions? I would not mind wishing someone “happy Christmas” because wishing someone else on their special day is a way to keep relations with them well. After all, other non-Muslims wish me happy Eid. If one has given me an Eid gift, then I would reciprocate their gesture on their their holiday. But I would not go as far as participating in church services or singing songs with them. I also personally don’t have a problem with a country like UAE celebrating Christmas, but I wonder why the same spirit and festivities are not there when it’s Eid? Why aren’t the malls decorated as heavily as they are during Christmas? Are the shopping malls so cash-hungry they will go to this lengths to attract customers?

In today’s time, Christmas is becoming more and more secular worldwide, as it has been turned into a very commercial venture. Shopping and eating has rid the true meaning of Christmas. Ask some Christians out there, and they don’t even know what Christmas is. They truly are surprised when I tell them “Christ”mas is birth of Jesus Christ. Dah! It’s the same case in Dubai and elsewhere in the Middle East: Christmas is a secular holiday celebrated with shopping, eating, drinking and partying.

However, there are still some people who celebrate Christmas with it’s true meaning. I know churches in Dubai have full fledge services as I remember getting caught up in traffic one time and realized the traffic jam was of huge wave of people going to church. So, to those who do celebrate Christmas for what it should be celebrated with, I wish you a Happy Christmas!

Mansur

Weight Loss

Hey you all,

When I was sick recently due to extreme dehydration, during which I had not eaten for almost five days and had to take in eight bottles of saline solution, I lost a lot of weight. I used to weigh 92kgs and….now I am down to 85kgs. That’s a loss of about 7 kgs. Within five days I lost 7kgs. I see this experience as an opportunity to keep my weight down. I am trying hard to maintain it, bt God, those chocolates….I just got to have them.

Mansur

Going to Jeddah, and Leaving Jeddah….

Hello friends,

Guess what? I am going back to Jeddah today!! I am so excited, I can barely contain my excitement. Everytime I leave Saudi Arabia I have to re-enter within six months in order to keep my residence visa. So, I had left on the 30th of June 2005, which means I have to get back to Saudi Arabia by the 30th of December 2005. But somehow, according to the Islamic dates, the days get less, so that means I have to get earlier than the 30th of December.

This trip will be somewhat a bit sad, because it cold very well be my last trip to Jeddah. You see my father is about retire soon and move back to Pakistan. That means, we will have to leave our home in Jeddah. I cannot even begin to comprehend this yet. I was a baby when I came to Jeddah, and I can clearly remember going to the kindergarten, the Arabic school, and the the two different British schools. I practically grew up here, and when I am outside of Saudi Arabia, I tell people I want to go back home, and I mean Jeddah. Although I am from Pakistan, my childhood was spent in Jeddah, and in effect, I get to have two homes!

It will be a very emotional moment for me, and for everyone of us in the family, because we have been there for 28 years now! Talking to my mom earlier, she said that we have a lot of sorting out to do in our house. What do we take? What do we throw? What do give away?

But for now, I am going to live every single day in Jeddah as if they are my last days. I just cannot imagine knowing that there will come a time when I know I will not get to go back “home” for my parents will not be there.

Mansur