The news of the arrest of a Bahraini blogger has really sent shivers down my spine.

Boy... this is scary. I really don't want to be in his shoes...Forget about the charges which could be levelled against him, but being cross-examined by those half-wits is no easy task.

Anyway.. silly me thinks it is time to stop being cheeky and admit the truth: I am not responsible for any opinions or silly ideas appearing on this site. All entries written by SBG have been written under the influence of alcohol.

I also pledge full allegience to the leadership: look: it is not only lip service: I am actually going to do something about it:



Now those are the official pictures...So I don't think I have committed a felony by doing this. Read more»»
Remember Wilfred Owen ?

Well, he wrote this during the WW1:

ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?-
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Haitham next door has posted those horrific photographs which sum up the terror Iraqi children are being subjected to:



Can you imagine? A little child suffering all this terror?



What do we tell this one ? What has he done wrong ? Why are his eyes shut and his hands tied ? Is it one of the games Iraqi children should become used to playing ? An Iraqi-American version of hide and seek perhaps ?



And this can't be the morning exercise class for those children, is it ? There is something about American education which we don't seem to have grasped yet.

And Haitham is asking: Why are the Americans seeing all this and keeping quiet ?
And SBG would like to ask: Why have the Arabs gone deaf, dumb and blind to the suffering of their neighbours ? Read more»»
School days are a far cry away.

Many many years ago SBG used to go to school in piggy tails. As she grew, SBG became more are more rebellious, carrying her "unruly" mane at full length with her to school daily.

Teachers couldn't do a thing: she was a top student. They advised. They complained. They made SBG do extra chores. They made SBG move from her favourite seat in the back row, where eating chocolate bars were a national passtime, to sitting right in front, under the teacher's nose.

This made SBG sit up and listen. Science subjects were a waste of time. SBG never bothered with those and never will.

Literature classes were a boon. This really is an over-statement. It wasn't the class as such because some of the teacher's were DULL, it was the doors literature opened to me which made me yearn for more culture and art.

In the age before Internet, we had to get the actual books to be able to read something decent. The end result today is a dusty collection of hundreds of books, some with my scribbled notes on the side, but all religiously read and cherished. While I wasn't a nerd, I must remind you all, I was a book worm.

I don't know why all those memories came flooding today. Is it Aalman teasing me with his poetry ? Is it nostalgia to a time when I was carefree, rebellious and unblemished by all that life has brought me.

I don't know.

Before I leave... Here are the Seven Commandments from Animal Farm.

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill another animal.
7. All animals are created equal.

Without cheating, can you remember how they were all changed and tarnished with time, greed and the lure of power?
Read more»»
Why would or should DIB be in trouble with me?

What has he done wrong? Nothing.

He has posted this nerd test on his blog and curious me tests it and discovers that I am nerdy.

Well, I was never a nerd. OK, I always scored the top marks in class but I had lots of friends and I thought I was popular among my colleagues.

Apparently, DIB's test says no...

So this is my first test score:


I am nerdier than 24% of all people. Are you nerdier? Click here to find out!

And I try the test again, and I score this:

I am nerdier than 27% of all people. Are you nerdier? Click here to find out!

What do I make of it? Read more»»
This appears on my screen every time I try to log on to www.mahmood.tv:

"A fatal error occurred while serving your request.
We are sorry for this inconvenience.
If this is the first time you see this message, you can try to access the site directly through index.phpIf you see this message every time you tried to access to this service, it is probable that our server is experiencing heavy problems, for this reason we ask you to retry in some hours.If you see this message for days, we ask you to report the unavailablity of service to our webmaster. Thanks.
Technical information
Xaraya has failed to serve the request, and the failure could not be handled.
This is a bad sign and probably means that Xaraya is not configured properly.
The failure reason is: xarDB_init: Failed to connect to mysql://mahmoodtv@localhost/mahmood, error message: Too many connections"

This really leaves us cut off, bereft...
Mahmood, we can't even wish you a Happy Birthday!
Help! Read more»»
"Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!
One thing at least is certain - this Life flies
One thing is certain and the rest is Lies;
The Flower that once is blown forever dies."

[Rubaiyat.] Read more»»
We must have all heard the story of the hare and the tortoise.

The hare was running ahead in the race and about the reach the finish line. Way way behind was the sluggish tortoise burdened by its heavy shell.

The hare decides to take a nap...the tortoise beats it to the finish line.

End of story.

For the unfortunate souls in Bahrain who have not heard of this fable...wake up and smell the machbous (stolen without permission from Mahmood ;))

The fable doesn't matter now though because we have all lived it, witnessed it - year by year, day by day and if we missed to notice it, then tough!

As we slept, others beat us to the finish line.

I'm just back in Bahrain after a week of sunshine, beach, lavish surroundings and shopping.

White elephant ? Nope. Dubai is a 45-minute plane journey away.

Here are some pictures I clicked to make you all go green:

Construction still on going all over Jumaira: The skyline changes almost every month and I am not exaggerating.



Here is the view from the balcony of The Palace Hotel in Jumaira, which was opened in September and overlooks Burj Al Arab: A real little Venice which came up in no time unlike the Amwaj which we have been hearing about for years:



The story goes that Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoom heard criticism over the fact that all the architecture going up in Jumaira was modern...so overnight he ordered this massive resort to be built - complete with its two hotels (The Palace and The Fort, creative names I may add) and a shopping complex designed like an old suq and lagoons and swimming pools and greenery... well let the photographs speak for themselves:





And yes...apparently their circuit is also ready and they are planning to host an F1 race in September ?!

Sleep well Bahrain ;) Good night. Read more»»
The morons in Parliament are oblivious to what is happening in the real world around them.

Their latest challenge is to make amendments to a 1976 law to allow people to carry daggers !!!

Now without having daggers around their waistlines, the number of people who have been stabbed over the previous few days makes living in Bahrain feel surreal.

There is no way the Ministry of Interior would come forward and give us statistics of the number of people stabbed or threatened or terrorised at knife point because Bahrain is a country which loathes the idea of hanging out its dirty underwear for all to see.

Lemme skim some of the news in my favourite (die you spiteful lot out there!) paper the Gulf Daily News:

** This appeared on February 2, 2005:

Stabbed, beaten and tortured

POLICE were yesterday hunting three Bahraini men following a brutal attack in which Filipino hairdresser Albert Gayo was beaten, stabbed and tortured.Mr Gayo, 44, is in Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) with multiple injuries, after jumping from his second floor flat window to escape, on Sunday night.

He landed on a car roof and crawled across the road to the Umm Al Hassam Police Station.

"I'm lucky to be alive, but I am still very scared that these men will come to finish me off," Mr Gayo told the GDN from his hospital bed yesterday.

One of the attackers was an acquaintance who called Mr Gayo on his mobile while he was out for dinner with Filipino friend Jaime Dineros, earlier in the evening.

He asked if Mr Gayo was interested in decorating a planned restaurant.

"Unfortunately, I do not know his full name, I know him only as Mohammed," said Mr Gayo, who is also a fashion designer, interior decorator, photographer and impresario.

He and Mr Dineros agreed to meet Mohammed that night at the Dolphin Park in Manama and followed him to the restaurant.

Mr Dineros told the GDN that he didn't think Mohammed was "in his right frame of mind".

"I told Albert that we better leave because Mohammed looked suspiciously drunk or maybe on drugs and he wasn't making much sense," he said.

"There were also two men with Mohammed, who didn't leave the car from the time we met them. They weren't introduced to us."

Mr Gayo dropped Mr Dineros home at about 9.30pm and was home in bed by 10.30pm.

He was woken by his seven-year-old Yorkshire terrier dog, Kanufa, barking.

"The door to my room opened and I saw the silhouette of a man and he turned on the light and it was Mohammed. He was holding a long piece of wooden board and demanded money," said Mr Gayo.

"I told him I had no money and he screamed at me and called me a liar. He started hitting me and I used my arm to shield my head. He took out a knife and told me to get up and open the front door."

When Mr Gayo opened the main door, the two men who he had seen earlier that night walked in, while Mohammed dragged him to the spare room.

"He kept on demanding I give him money," said Mr Gayo.

"He then pulled my hair and started slicing large portions of my hair off."

The dog kept barking, which annoyed the attacker.

"He said to wait in the room while he went to kill my dog," said Mr Gayo.

"He also said he was going to put the knife through my heart, cut my neck and leave my head in the room.

"He started stabbing me in my arms and I started bleeding profusely. He also slashed my arms.

"When he left the room to go after my dog I went straight to the window, opened it and jumped."

Mr Gayo landed on his side on a neighbour's Pajero roof. The impact left him with a three broken ribs, a dislocated right shoulder and his right arm, wrist and hand were also broken in several places.

Seven of his teeth were also broken when the side of his face slammed against the vehicle roof.

He crawled to the police station, where police called an ambulance which took him to the SMC, where he underwent emergency surgery.

Police yesterday got a new lead when Mr Dineros recognised the car Mohammed was driving.

It was found still parked outside Mr Gayo's flat.

Mr Gayo is too frightened to return to the same address and will be moving home.

"My life is never going to be the same again. I never expected anything like this to happen to me, not in the 22 years I have lived in Bahrain," he said.

Philippine Embassy officials yesterday visited Mr Gayo, offering to help.

Friends found his dog alive in his flat yesterday.

It is thought the attacker climbed in through the kitchen window, which opens on to a balcony at the back. There were shoe prints all over the kitchen sink, counter and floor.

Nothing was stolen, but the attackers left behind a pack of three sandwiches.


**On Thursday, February 3, 2005, this appeared:


Worker is stabbed to death

MANAMA: A Thai man has been stabbed to death in an argument with a workmate at a Bahrain labour camp, reports Vinitha Viswanath. Samran Khalswan, 47, was stabbed in his stomach and heart, said sources. The attack happened during an argument with the workmate at company accommodation in Ma'amir Industrial Area, at around 9pm on Tuesday. Mr Khalswan was declared dead at the scene by ambulancemen.



**On Saturday, February 5, 2004, this followed:

Worker murdered with metal bar

Fifty-five-year-old Mohan Lal, a construction worker, died of haemorrhage after suffering fatal head injuries. The suspect, who was stabbed in various parts of his body, is in critical condition at Salmaniya Medical Complex's intensive care unit.

The incident allegedly happened yesterday afternoon at their flat in Zinj.

------------------------

Now, what I am trying to say in plain and simple English is that carrying daggers is not a good idea in our peaceful and secure beloved kingdom.

Have a good night. Please remember to lock all your doors and windows as this place is no longer secure.

Read more»»


I would like to introduce our pet Iguana Iguana to you.

Iguana is a very friendly iguana who lives with us at home. He or she doesn't bite, eats fruit and sometimes does funny things...which I may or may not tell you about.

Today it ventured outside into our very weird neighbourhood, sparking chaos and bringing traffic to a standstill.

Some boys came knocking on our front door saying that the "haywan" (animal) is terrorising the neighbourhood.

"What haywan?" asked my mum.
"Your dinasour!" screamed one of the boys.

"What dinasour?" wondered my mum.
"No, it's a crocodile," said another boy.

My sister then had to go outside and rescue our poor iguana from all the savages outside. I think it now needs therapy for the traumatic experience of coming face to face with those creatures.
Read more»»
Silly Bahraini Girl is a very Bahraini girl - albeit her Arabic is a bit funny ;)

I will not bore you with details here but Silly Bahraini Girl is on holiday and is so bored that she started seriously surfing the net, to see all that her Bahraini brothers and sisters are writing in Arabic.

So while surfing one of the sites, Silly Bahraini Girl stumbles on a post warning people from certain medicines which the post says are dangerous but would not elaborate more.

Does anyone know why the following medicines are "dangerous"?:

1. Conta-Flu
2. Antiflu
3. Nova-C-M
4. Coldact
5. Flustop
6. Flurest
7. Rhinomol
8. Pararhinol
9. Michaelon
10. Noflu
11. Coricidin D
12.Rhinogesic
13.Contact
14. Eskornade
15. Night and Day
16.Vegaskine Aduls Syrup
17. Sinutab
18.Rhinopront Syrup
19. Denoral
20.Coflin

Read more»»
What is this world coming to ?

Are we Arabs still so proud of our monumental achievements ?

Our oil is drying out, our industry (whatever is left of it after the thieving scheming officials across the region get their cut) is polluting the world and our recent contribution to civilisation can be summed up by the digit ZERO.

Our youth are lazy, our social values and principles are going down the drain and respect for law and order is at an all-time low.

Where have we gone wrong ?

Aren't we the people the Quran was revealed (transmitted, broadcast, beamed, SMSed) to ?

Aren't we the ones who were thriving in a Golden Age full of harems and merry Caliphs while Europeans were cocooned in what was known as the Dark Age ?

Aren't we the ones who were blessed by oil and enjoyed a boom and a boost in the 70s, making all our Arab brothers from Morocco to wherever the oil line was drawn go green with envy ?
And then what ? What happened ? What went wrong in this fairy tale penned by the biggest Satirist of all times ?

SILENCE. No words are coming to my silly mind to describe the doldrums this part of the corrupt hypocritical world is going through.

Let's review what happened:

For years people who wanted social and political reform, change and development were rounded up and left to rot in prison cells while the religious fanatics grew and infested the whole region.

The Wahabi stream was growing on mainland Arabia and the Shia fanatics in Qom were whipping up the masses to scream in one voice "Down Down America", while the losers were dying for denim jeans and anything with the stinky smell of Uncle Sam on it.

And all this time the voices of reason who had the vision to see beyond their nose tips were either bought off by governments or have decided to pack up and go into self-exile or have gone crazy or have flipped and changed direction or sent to jail.

Faced with being punished for speaking my mind or being rewarded for shutting up - you know what I would choose?

Yes, believe it or not I would shut up.

I am not Imam Hussain bin Ali who goes to Karbala knowing that he would get killed just to stand for his belief.

I will not even aspire to get close to that.

The age of men and sacrifice and standing to our principles has gone...and there is no turning back.

Let's muzzle free thought. Let us create a society built on fear and discrimination. Let us divide and rule.

And when it eventually comes tumbling down on our very heads: Let's cry out loud "wolf wolf".
Too late... and save the crocodile tears.
Read more»»