the b. files: an escape from the mundane

the b. files:

She was the B-ness, and only she was that......

Monday, June 02, 2003

I don't think things are going too supergalactically well for me... as they usually do. Maybe I shouldn't complain. A few hiccups and ups and downs in life isn't anything to really get upset over... but I guess...
Small things and big things. Small things like just dieting for a couple of weeks to tone down a little... and ending up gaining a bit more weight (even physics, or biology, or astronomy whatever works against me). And drinking LOTS of water because it helps your skin feel fresh and hydrating... and getting pimples for the first time in your life.
And big things................. [edited]
And my sister's getting married... and my friends are moving away to another college, and...
Oh Well. Allah does not burden a soul with more than it can bear... Although I don't think that is very proper to say here because it's just the little nitty gritty of life... when your whole life has been perfect to the point of perfection (?) and a few topsy turvy's happen to remind you to be thankful for all the good and sunny days...

*==> Sorta in reply to some posts on my comment box, which I can see but you can't... thanks to FusionRays. =)
Through life's ups and downs, joys and sorrows, fears, trials, tribulations... one thing that always remains consistent is Islam. You can't really describe the feeling, can you, the feeling of peace and serenity that seeps through you after you finish a prayer, the feeling of being in complete harmonity (?) with the rest of creation... you see the leaves swaying outside and you remember "And no leaf falls without the permission of it's Lord... And you bite into a juice mango and think... Subhanallah...
I love Islam.

From: the b. filer | 4:45 AM |

Friday, May 30, 2003

So it's the 30th today. I've had a consistent 4 day gap between posts for the last few days. Wow. Maybe it's because I've actually been using my time constructivly. (get this: 2 months of vacations and I sleep through them and exam time.. and I start to involve myself in something else). Daily swimming (aaaah, bobbing along in the beautiful briiiiiny sea (or pool)), going to Mum's newly set up primary school and helping out with management and coordination and decorating (ouch those thumbpins!!), and YES! Finally we chose my sister's wedding clothes.
To elaborate.
a) Swimming: A fun sport but not very feasible because of the complete care you have to take in ensuring proper cover, both of yourself and the pool. Mom's totally against my swimming, but I have managed to persuade her that I'm wearing a full costume and the pool is ALL women and nobody from adjoining areas or buildings can see the pool. That said and done, swimming is hecka fun. Splashing and blowing bubbles and I did a perfect dive!
b) School. I've just been running around decorating softboards and drawing and pinning up stuff and etc. Now the problem is... Mom would love me to start as a full time teacher for 5 months from the term starting August. Alongside I could do a 3 month Montessori training course, which would be constructive and polish my skills etc. And then January is starting University. I don't mind, but thing is I was planning on doing a 3 month Quran course (well Quran, Ahadith, Fiqh etc) before starting University. I'm not sure. Should I go for the job or the course?
c) Wedding shopping is fun but Time Consuming!! It's ridiculous, getting the whole trousseau together and haggling with the shopkeepers and etc etc. Hafs had a post on difficulties in desi culture in getting married, as in dowry etc, but Alhumdul'Allah we don't have any such problem AT ALL. Normally the guy's family asks for a lot of stuff, inclusing house, furniture, appliances etc. Ridiculous demands of money and culture. But nevertheless we've had to do a lot of running aroun for just the wedding clothes, considering the makers like a 2 month time period for making the clothes. And that's minimum. Well anyway... that's done... thank God. Thing is in this country it's hard to find one bloody honest person. You can't get anything done because the contractors are always making promises and fixing deadlines and then disappearing for weeks, and then turning up with a non carish attitude. Mum told the dressmaker, who promised wedding dress delivery on 10 July, that if he delivered it that very day she'd give him an award for being the first honest person in Pakistan. And when we went home we saw on the bill the figure had miraculously risen. Cheats.
And then I wanted to make a white skirt with my pink-and-lilac sequined top but my best friend was like, no way about the white.. so now I have to rethink. What a headache. And then OH! Just remembered. Sister's bro-in-law (dewar? his Mom wanted to send a proposal for him to me but thank God.. it was too late) Anyway so he was over the other day with his Mom (another VERY pakistani thing... they were 2 hours late) and he was telling these stories about his army escapedes. He's in the Pakistani Army and stationed in Siachen, this glacier up north where it's so cold you live in igloos.. honestly... and then in Chol, a desert (talk about extremes). Anyway so he's a "Mujahid" (according to his Mom) and he was talking about how they in the army have it instilled into them that the country (and religion, for some), is more important than their individual selves and how to sacrifice and give up little luxuries and face extreme conditons etc. It was interesting. Subhanallah.

Sis has made yummy fish fingers for lunch (one advantage of sister getting married... she finally learns how to cook!) and I'm hungreeee... c ya =)
~* continued later, after the fish have stuck to my insides for a while and made me feel like I weigh 73 kg. Everywhere I go on blogistan, I find that most of the blogging circles me and my comrades travel in are desi. I wonder why. We don't particularly mention how yummy bun kababs are and how comfortable khussay are over sandals. Or talk in Urdu and discuss chai recipes and the perfect boiling point of rice for biryani and Pakistani weddings and how non-cute desi guys usually are. Or even much about religion. But nevertheless most people on my blog are Pakistani.
Anyway. One other thing I was thinking is how quickly the United States of Amnesia jump from country to country. After the Taliban were gone and forgotten and languishing in Camp X-Ray jails, it was time to start the whole Weapons of Mass Destruction rhetoric and Saddam is evil rants. When the war was over and the truth revealed, they decided they had to act fast and shift attention. (Btw, now they claim the WMD wasnt the main reason for war.. it was "beaureaucratic" purposes) So now it's Iran which should be preparing for coming under fire. And then? When Iran will be found to not know how to spell Al-Qaeda, who will it be? Pakistan?

From: the b. filer | 12:54 AM |

smilies out to everyone =)

From: the b. filer | 12:54 AM |

Monday, May 26, 2003

Hmm.. 4 days have elapsed since my last post.
Some people have not agreed with me when I have posted rants about the uselessness of economics. Let me illustrate a point.
I was drifting off over my Economics journal last night (only the hallucinogenic florescent images I had scribbled all over plus the effects of 3 cups of tea kept me awake) reading the chapter on Marginal Utility. FOr those of you who have suffered through an Eco. class, you'll know what that means. For those who spend their days reading about Eye Optics and other more potentially useful and lifesaving stuff, Utility is basically the satisfaction you gain from consuming a good. So we were in class and the teacher was explaining to us the concept of how it is applied to Economics theory.
Suppose hamburgers give you thrice the satisfaction as Shami Kabab, but cost twice as much..
The rational consumer, to maximise utility (because, ofcourse, that is our sole mission and aim in life...) will: keep consuming more hamburgers than shami kababs until the Marginal Utility of Hamburgers will fall.

So okay, I'm like really rational and I want to maximise my benefit. I'm sitting there in Burger King (actually not, I avoid American Fast food places, but just an example) and thinking.. okay if I have two more hamburgers, it'll give me the satisfaction I would have gotten if I had spent the same amount of money at Karachi Kabab House instead... DUH! Obviously not! More likely I'll be thinking, enough junk food for today, I can just feel my cholesterol level going up... and i need space for an icecream..

As they say in R&G: What has Economics done for us... has it made consumers more thrifty in their spending? Has it reduced the huge income disparities in the world and made the redistributed income and wealth? Has it helped to feed the starving and avoid wastage in opulent societies? Has it done anything except figure out a way for governements to make more money and hide a recession by bombing another country and diverting attention? Argh.

anyway. I was online yesterday when my khala signed on.

RK: Salam beta, how are you?
(i'm alerted.. I can TELL it's not her because she never says that. It must be my cousin or someone.. not the same cousin btw!! I decide to play along)
B: Alhumdulillah good, how are you?
RK: I'm confused... beta I have just been itching to tell you something for a long time.
RK: My mother didn't want me to tell you but I cannot live a lie.
(oh brother, it's definitely him)
B: Yeah?
RK: YOU WERE ADOPTED!!!!
B: omgggggg!!! Seriously!!!!!
RK: Yeah, listen dont get upset...
B: Upset? No way! This is fabulous!!! That means I have THREE families! My real, my adopted and my step!
B: That means I get thrice the pocketmoney!!!
B: And yay! and a cooler side of the family maybe! like way cooler cousins and siblings and.. heido ho who are they? I'm excited!
RK: Obviously not the response I was expecting
B: No really, this is supergalactically cool. It opens up so many new avenues of exploration for me!
... this goes on for some time
RK: Okay enough. This is Mamoo. I'm just the typist. It's T's idea
(T's the evil cousin)
B: Surprise, surprise =)

ps. OK, who goes to USC here???

From: the b. filer | 12:20 AM |

Thursday, May 22, 2003

I JUST came back from school after giving my English General Paper. There are 15 essay topics, out of which you do any two. Sounds easy?
I went through the topics, slowly crossing the ones I didn't want to write on out.
I ended up crossing out 14.
The topics were awful! Honestly... it wasn't as if I wasn't prepared. In Sociolgy, I can easily do all 12 of the questions and we only have to do three. And General is easier, because it's just your knowledge and opinions on which you write. It should be a breeze... which it usually is. But the questions were really weird. Does everyone have a right to become a parent? or, Is history all about progress? and In what ways can modern techonology aid learning? and one, which I didn't even know the meaning of: How important is numeracy in our daily lives? What's numeracy?
I finally wrote on Should a country allow all it's citizens to own a gun? And this is the girl who sees someone wielding a gun on TV and changes the channel. Or has banned games like Resident Evil and Diablo because of the blood. NOT FAIR!

Anyway.
Last night my cousin was over... my "gangster cousin" more like it... a kid, who a couple of months ago was my "baby brother" and now is about 80 pounds heavier (hehe). Anyway so he took a shower in my bathroom... and walked out the room, locking the door behind him. And I don't have the key!!
I was going out for my daily 45 minute walk when I discovered the accident. I know it's not such a big deal but for some reason I totally blew up. As it is, I spend 99% of my day holed up in my lair. And I had a paper the next day, which meant my school ID and all the documents were locked up inside. And worst of all... I had just put my cell phone to charge! If I waited till morning the whole battery would probably blow up! AND Mum was flying to Larkana (another city in the province) to give some lectures so she had all her transparencies and everything in my room. God.
So we ran for the gatekeeper who got a mechanic who huffed and puffed to blow the door down.. well not really... for half an hour the poor guy hammered and twisted and blew the edge of the door (my poor wood) and finally had to break the whole solid metal block when the door opened. (He was so apologetic about the damage he didn't even charge us). By that time I was ready to throw my cousin out of the window - he wasn't even admitting it was his fault!!
There's only one other way into the room and that's through the adjoining window of the next room. Jump out the window, cross the ledge and jump in. Two hitches. a) One of the ledges was struck by lightening and is wobbly. b) It's the eight floor. They didn't let me jump.
I was soooo ticked off... man everyone was joking how I'd be forced to sleep in the alley and about how the door was as stubborn as me and blah blah. To top it off, my whole day had gone blah-ey. I went for swimming and discovered I had forgotten the swimming gear. All that way for nothing.. so I went to the aerobics room instead... hmm actually that was pretty good.The equipment was sooo cool! All these exercise bikes and treadmills - all computer programmed. Select the program you want to do (eg uphill, weightloss, etc) and enter your age. It maps out a whole course for you and adjusts the pedals as such.. mmm fun. And you can keep checking time, distance, speed, calories burnt, etc. It was fun.

Oh Well. Hope the rest of my exams go better.

From: the b. filer | 5:37 AM |

Monday, May 19, 2003

Gosh.
I decided to finally include the word "discipline" (dis·ci·pline, n. Training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement.
Controlled behavior resulting from disciplinary training; self-control.
Control obtained by enforcing compliance or order.
A systematic method to obtain obedience: a military discipline.
A state of order based on submission to rules and authority: a teacher who demanded discipline in the classroom.
Punishment intended to correct or train.
A set of rules or methods, as those regulating the practice of a church or monastic order. )
in my life, ie... get down to studing for the A's (again, I remind you, the most important and formulative exams of your career... pshhh...). So I dug deep into the cavernous recesses of my drawers and managed to excavate a couple of moth eaten doodled sheets, brand new untouched books and pencil sharpenings, along with a stuffed away copy of the exam timetable.
Syllabus 9695 D. Literature in English: 06 - 20th Century Texts. 23 May. pm

I read that over. 23 May Whaaaaaaaaaat! I thought that paper was on 7th June!!! What the hell am I doing blogging?
But before your hearts start to melt in pity for me and my equally pitiable books (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead [Tom Stoppard] and An Artist of the Floating World [Kazuo Ishiguro]), one reason why I got so complacent was, without having attended more than 20% of my classes this semester.. I got the highest in the mock exam in this subject

Anyway, I kind of like the "Artist" book. It's a good read for a rainy day, very instructive I may add. Autobiography+history+fiction fans, it's a must read. =) And there are TONS of notes for lazy literature students all over the internet! Ciao.

From: the b. filer | 1:25 AM |

Sunday, May 18, 2003

-

From: the b. filer | 2:45 AM |

Last night there was a fire in my house...
I was curled up in the living room armchair reading The Sealed Nectar, one of the most beautiful biographies of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) ever, when I could hear something burning, and then a loud pop, followed by screams. The tubelights in the drawing room, right above the computer infact, had caught fire after a temporary shutdown in electricity and high flames were shooting above the plastic encasement of the lighting tubes, which then shattered, spraying glass all over the room. It was scary. We woke up Mom, who rushed to put out the fire with heavy blankets while sis called the neighbour and I called the gatekeeper (chowkidar) to get the fire extinguisher. Then we turned off the main electricity supply switch of the house.
Alhumdulillah it was all under control. The important things to remember at this point is, a) don't panic, b) take no risks. How long do you think it takes for a whole room to catch fire? 8 minutes? 9? The startling answer is... 2.
"Work for the fire according to your endurance in it" - Hadith.

From: the b. filer | 2:45 AM |

Thursday, May 15, 2003

The comment box below can continue to get stuffed. I need to get on with golB!
The trip to Balochistan last week was supergalactcially fun! Balochistan (for those geographically ignorant :p) is a huuge province on the west side of Pakistan, bordering Iran (yay!), comprising mostly of several mountain ranges and desert sands and in largely uninhabitable. (For those of you interested, Pak.'s nuclear tests took off in Chaghi, a mountain range in upper Balochistan. A replica of Chaghi sits on my desk =)
Anyway after a nice hearty lunch we set off, driving through acres and acres of vast desertland, and it was amazing contrasting with the complete hustle bustle of Karachi where you see more faces daily than sands on the beach. Here, we drove for miles and miles and didn't see a soul. Driving through the cities of Hub (where the huge suicide-industry of Pakistan, Hubco power plant is located..) and Lasbela, we headed for Gaddani, a seaport, and stopped at the seaside where we frolicked in the water for a while and collected sea shells and had pebble throwing competitions (mine landed at my feet). We passed massive ships which had been bought inland for breaking up.. wow subhanallah they were massive. I dont think Ive ever seen a rea-time ship, it was just HUGE. I marvel at its engineering that enables it to stay on water when a single pebble we throw sinks (ok, I dont know a thing about Physics so I'm going to shut up). Anyway then we went further on and saw these HUGE marble hills, like WOW... (um yes I'm out of words today) and then these stretches of sand hills, sand dunes I mean which we climbed and walked across hehe... it was awesome fun. The company could have been vastly improved though.. I like being alone.. =( but khair. The quietness and serenity were lovely.

I have a crick in my neck.

From: the b. filer | 6:07 AM |

Sunday, May 11, 2003

I found an interesting post by Gaurav, a Hindu blogger in India who questions “faith”.
Do humans have an inborn sense of the existence of God? Would a person like Mowgli, brought up in the jungle, have any idea that there are supernatural forces out there controlling the world or will all he be aware of comprise the jungle, leaves and creatures? He concludes that we are aware of God only because we have been taught it, to be accountable to him and be aware of His presence.

Islam teaches us that all humans were born in the natural state of fitrah, or “norm”.God gave mankind an inborn natural predisposition which cannot change, and which exists at birth in all human beings, called in Arabic as fitrâh; (instinct). This fitrâh is the small voice inside each one of us which tells us this does not feel right.When we pick up a gun for the first time in order to kill someone, we have to fight mightily in order to overcome our fitrâh which tells us that killing is wrong. In a similar manner, all mankind is born automatically knowing that "God is one". There’s a wonderful article on this concept here.
Islâm is also called deen al-fitrâh, the religion of human nature, because its laws and its teachings are in full harmony with the
normal and the natural inclination of the human fitrâh to believe in and submit to the Creator. Islam recognises that within this Fitrah there are motivations that influence a man's role on earth e.g. a desire for good food and drink, to have a home, a desire for love, to protect and be protected and to be successful and strong. However, without some form of control and limit, all of these legitimate motives could prove very dangerous. So what constitutes the perfect control for the Fitrah? It must be a method that provides an organised yet practical demonstration of how to balance all these natural human desires. It cannot be something that goes against the Fitrah, by placing on it extra burdens. Likewise, it cannot be something that allows the human desires to run
wild without any form of control. Read more on the fitrah and Islam’s solution in this

really good article. As the Holy Prophet (SAW) said, “Every new-born child is born in a state of fitrâh. Then his parents make him a Jew, a Christian or a Magian, just as an animal is born intact.” The believer will realise that his spirit acknowledged
Allâh in pre-existence, and that the debt that he must return is his self, and this can be done by service and submission to Allâh. This return implies a return to man’s inherent spiritual nature, to his fitrâh. The one who submits to Allâh is called ‘abd (a slave) of Allâh, and his service is called ‘ibâdah (slavehood or conscious submission to the will of God). By worshipping Allâh in such a manner, man in fulfilling the purpose of his creation and existence. " I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me." (Qur'ân, 51:56)

Another point was made here: Islam is called the religion of nature because its teaching is acceptable to the human mind when
the human mind is freed from illogical thinking and superstition. When a person is freed from illogical thinking, he can easily, just by looking at the order of the universe, conclude that the universe has only One Creator. It is easy to accept a teaching that calls upon us to believe that the over-four-billion-year-old universe had been created by an Infinitely Old Creator. But it is neither simple nor easy to identify that Creator with a mortal whose birth took place four billion years after the creation of the universe.

Furthermore, I quote from a book by Alberto Moravia, one of Italy’s finest contemporary writers who depicts the devastating impact of materialistic civilization upon the mind and soul of a boy just beginning his transition into manhood. Like many modern parents, Luca’s, a boy in Milan, parents assume they have done their duty by indulging their son with material possessions, a home, love etc. However, as the book progresses we see that Luca has needs beyond these; a need for higher ideals, a quest for values and
principles, a purpose and meaning of life. Around the same time a well known Roman Catholic English Playwright – Graham Greene, wrote a drama entitled “The Potting Shed” about a fourteen year old boy who commits suicide by hanging himself after his father tells him there is no God. Although the story is pure fiction, it portrays a great universal truth that without God, life is meaningless.

I hope my fellow Blogger G. gets his answer from that.

I know this is out of topic, but just reminds me of something funny.

Muslim to Hindu friend: "Man, I could never be a Hindu."
Hindu: "And why’s that??"
Muslim: "I have such trouble following ONE God.. how would I ever follow 37 thousand gods??"

Seriously. I mean I don’t know. I’d be confooozed if I thought there were multiple gods. Which one made me? Which one do I pray to? Who gives me life, sustenance, happiness and everything in the heavens and the earth? Do they fight? If I obey one… am I disobeying the other? Who do I turn to in distress? Which one will judge my actions? And forgive me?

I love Islam.
Upon serious thought, one can easily accept a religious teaching which declares the following: There is no God but the Almighty Who created the whole universe; none is worthy of worship but He; He is the Lord alone, without partner, associate, or son; He did not beget nor was He begotten, and nothing is like Him; He is the Just, the Merciful, and the Powerful, neither anthropomorphic nor physical; and His power encompasses the whole universe.
Such a simple and uncompromising monotheism is readily acceptable to the human mind which seeks an explanation to the existence of the world. It does not confuse the human mind by stating that God is One and that He, at the same time, is more than one. Nor does it represent God as a human being born out of another human being. "If there were in them (the heavens and the Earth) gods besides the Almighty God, they would have been in a state of disorder. Glory be to Him. He is above what they describe. "
21 :22

"And know, my son," the Imam Ali, son of Abu Talib, said to his son Al-Hasan, "that if your Lord has a partner, the messengers of His partner would have come to you. But He is only One God, alone without partner." Nahjul Balagha
Lovely!

Anyway, I’m glad he posted that. I got so many awesome articles while searching for something to write about his post. You must read this one:
Just why did Islam spread so fast??? *Blinkity blink* I just found some awesome articles. C Ya later!

From: the b. filer | 10:26 AM |

Friday, May 09, 2003

My sister came up to me yesterday. (yes, arshe, it's that sister).
"Bush!" (oh, how i hate that nickname...) "Cool! You're going to Balochistan!"
Me: Uh-huh...
Sis: Oh, that's cool? When, for what? I wanna come! You always get to go places...
Me: Oh, yeah I'll give you the details later. By the way... how'd you find out?
Sis: I have my sources.

Now this seems like a very ordinary, everyday conversation between us. The weird thing is... I didn't know I was "going to Balochistan". After she finally left the lair I was like wondering.. Umm, I'm going where? why? with whom?
It's funny that way in my house. It's one of those taken for granted things that B's always free, take her along, as a volunteer, helper, or simply cos you need to fill the extra space. So often I'm told one sunny Sunday morning.. "Oh, didn't you know? You're coming with us!" All good though. I love my family. They are the best.
So about Balochistan. I did some discreet enquiries and found out that some of Mums friends are going to a farm for a picnic on Sunday (yes, a farm with a swimming pool). And obviously.. the kids need a big sis to handle them. So yeah.. me wins hands down. Thank you, thank you. I'm honored.

I have a blogitch to blog about my recent subject of rants. Coeducation. But it's 9:15 am and I'm sleepy. Later. That means I have three tentative topics lined up. No, Four. a) "Part II" lol

, b) Me and my fascination with criminology c) Coeducation d) My recent deep reading of Imam Al-Ghazali. He's awesome!

==> back later and didn't want to put up a new post.
I just remembered something I wanted to golB about. I went to the hospital yesterday to visit a relative who'd just had an operation. It was wayyy freaky and weird! I mean I can thankfully say that I've never, ever been to a hospital Allah ka Shukar, (okay, maybe a clinic for a checkup or some vaccination but nothing I remember really). And I haven't even given a second thought to it, that I've never experienced any health problems or sickness. But yesterday when I went it seemed as if the entire Karachi was ailing. Room upon room full of sick, helpless people, it was so sad, I just felt weird because when you close yourself up in your own world of beauty and health and happiness you forget that ugly (or imperfect) things do exist outside. And this was a reminder to me how we take for granted little things like perfect bodies, all our 5 senses (ok, so I have sinus which means my nose is clogged half the year. It still doesnt count though) and forget to be grateful to Allah (swt) for all the blessings and.. just everything we have!

From: the b. filer | 4:13 AM |

Thursday, May 08, 2003

"I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree
But not until the billboards fall
Will I ever see a tree at all"
-Ogden Nash.

From: the b. filer | 9:21 PM |

Tuesday, May 06, 2003

I've got some news for you guys (and gulls)... but that's a little later.

I promised myself on the first of May (half baked promise, as usual, just like, "no more chai", "no more westlife", "be nice to (sister)", "get up and do some constructive work", "atleast pretend...") to start studying for my A'levels. In case you don't know, A Levels are the most important, defining exams of your career (that's what they said for Kindergarten and O'Levels too) But seriously... like 99% of the world, I'm totally clueless at exam time. Once you get into the studying mdoe, it's easy to immerse yourself into your books, the world of Jane Austen and Othello, intricacies of mpc curves (which, by the way look just like the Nike tick) and the multiplier and accelerator theories, and discoveries by world renowned Criminologists. I'm interested in becoming a criminologist though. It's just fascinating. Maybe one day I'll post up different sociologists theories of why people commit crime, and who commits crimes (eg, some think it's in the physiology. Broad jawlines, insensitivity to pain (physical) is an indicator. Unfortunately my best friend has both) It's just stepping into the mode that's hard, actually opening books and leafing through coursework. I don't mind studying though.. considering my subjects. I mean sociology is just... me. It's fascinating (I dont mean I'm fascinating. I mean I'm fascinated by it), unless I get to THAT chapter... feminism! Then it's roll-eyes-all-the-way-through. A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle. The least Gloria Steinem, the worlds most famous feminist, could do was make sense!
I agree that women have been exploited through the ages. I agree they have been abused, not given their rights, not treated as equals.What I don't agree with is the solution. Radical feminists like Firestone say that because women oppresion is due to their biology, the answer lies in conquering their biology.. ie, for eg having babies in test tubes, to reduce their dependance on men. Some others say there should be a separatist society where there need not be male female interaction. Or my most hated lady.. Anne Oakley says that because boys learn their roles from their fathers and girls imitate their mothers... the obvious solution is to breakdown the family as it now stands. The whole instituion should be abolished.
Family as I see it, is the cornerstone of society, the groundwork, the foundation. Only when members of society are stablised inside their family system in a safe and warm comforting environment can they go out into society and contribute to it. It is the values inbued in them here that they carry on generation to generation. Neither do I believe that one parent families are as successful as "normal" ones. I'm not saying they don't work.. they might. But the love and affection and support that a whole family with father and mother give, the training and the stability, are just not there in lone parenthood. What will a child grow up like when he sees a string of "fathers", when he comes home to an empty house because Moms working, how will the whole discipling process be complete?
Oppression of women has been done through the ages. Aristotle believed women had no soul. The Greeks threw their female populace into pits. In Christianity, Ever committed the original sin and therefore all women are doomed forever to misery and childbirth. Plato believed true love existed only in men. Greek mythology was anti women. Etc etc... in America, Britian and other western countries like France, women weren't allowed to vote, own land, money, anything until very recently. So understandably the West has taken a huge stand for feminism and it's gained considerable ground.
Why has the Islamic world taken it up? I don't understand. As a Muslim woman, I believe I am to be envied. I have rights and priveledges that women through the ages could never have thought of. As early as 14 Centuries ago Muslim women were given rights of voting. The right of inheritance. The right to hold money and dispense with it as they pleased. The right of divorce, the right of choice in maritial partner. They were to be treated with dignity and respect. And while Islam says men and women are euqal, it also says that equal does not mean the same thing as identical. Everyone has their roles and duties and characteristics... I for one am thankful that the burden of earning for my family does not rest upon me AT ALL, and it is wholly and solely my (future) husbands' responsibility.

I am thankful that Islam does not treat me like an object used for selling goods and I am an entity in myself and deserve respect and not a toy to play with; my hijab ensures me that. BAH to feminism. They need to get their facts straight. Throwing myself into the big bad world of corporations and lugging away earning money day in day out is not my idea of fun.
Anyway, enough of my pseudo-rant. I read a letter in the newspaper the other day about the Ptolemy theory which stated that the earth was a stationary object and the other heavenly bodies like the sun and other planets revolved around it. This theory was widely accepted for a couple of centuries. The writer wanted to know how the Muslim astonomers of that age responded to it and what theory did they propound. I'm just researching that. Might post it up. One day.
As for the "bad news" (hehehehe)... I'm thinking of taking a blogging break. Maybe for a while. Maybe. If I've got nothing better to do.

From: the b. filer | 12:45 AM |

Sunday, May 04, 2003

WHY in the world does this have to happen to me? I'm strolling around the house trying to gather all those horrendously heavy medical textbooks of my sisters to throw into the study,

stealing a chocolate chip (or two) from the cookie jar

and wiping off that ONE more layer of sand from almost every unlittered surface (talk about summer sandstorms aaargh)... anyway yeah, and then come up with some incredibly insightful, intelligent and breathtaking somethingortheother to blog about. And then... i come to blog (later, when the jar is empty ofcourse), and I go blank. What was I blogging again? Now... according to Christop, some people're so obssessed with blogging they have a notepad to write down stuff they have to blog. Now while that IS ridiculous.. I can sympathise. Blogging is fun. It's addictive. And well.. there must be something to it, if, according to Blogger more than a million folks use Blogger alone.

It just seems weird diarying now.

Mmm... So I don't have anything to say..

except post up all these cute images I found off some mail. Anyway so yeah. I get this msg on my cell from Saf., an online friend, and guess who happens to read it.. Mom. And it goes like, "so i met the hunky chunk" and she's like what?? whats that? huh? How do I explain to Mother dear about my weird vocab... Saf and I were discussing her proposal, which was from a guy who was tall and good looking.
Me: Oh is he a hunky chunk? or a chunky hunk? Or a...
Saf: Oh, shut up!

Great! I've just wasted one whole post on.. nothing at all. I could have baked one more flat, hard and not-at-all-scrumptious chocolate cake in the meantime. On second thought... not.

From: the b. filer | 10:22 PM |