The Sha'ali lesson

PhD. student Al Sha'ali from the United Arab Emirates was detained with his wife and three children at Los Angeles International Airport by the US immigration officials for more than 26 hours. He was later released after the intervention of the UAE Embassy in the US. Anyway, the American administration was quick to cancel Sha'ali's residence visa. Sha'ali is a doctoral candidate in information technology at Claremont University in Los Angeles. [ UAE student falls victim to profiling ]

This story has been on the front-page of Newspapers; Gulf News says, "Arabs and Muslims are increasingly complaining of being singled out in western airports for racial profiling."

Such profiling happens when ignorant and incompetent set of people develop security systems in a first world nation such as the United States. To be prejudiced needs no intellectual capacity.

Sha'ali was discriminated and denied of basic human rights and dignity. Now that he is back in his country, Sha'ali should talk to a certain Madan Mohan Sharma, who was Jailed and fined for no fault of his. He would then be in a position to lead a great new awakening of a national conscience.

It is true, very true, that prejudices exist in a very crude form. Most of us have been through many such painful experiences due to various forms of prejudices: racist, sexist, class....

Having said that, it is quite easy to lay the blame on governments, regimes and the public sector. Even in the private sector and in personal lives we find that prejudices are a part of life. Sad.

What needs to be done is to educate millions and millions of people that ALL MEN AND WOMEN ARE EQUAL AND DESERVES RESPECT.

Discrimination is a crime. There is no innocence in a crime committed out of ignorance. Most cases of discrimination and lack of respect to the other person can be tracked back to sheer ignorance. That is why we need to educate people on how to be decent citizens.

Not just charity begins at home. Decency too begins at home.

Barbequed Indians Give a New Lease of Life to Others

Remember the 16 Indians who died after a camp swept through their labour camp two weeks ago? Well, the higher authorities of the land, have ordered that their death need not be a total waste of time and effort, and that those sacrifical lambs have given up their lives for the common good of their lot!

Reading such news at this time of the night makes my mind stretch in all directions. I am one of those people who get worked up, who cries while watching movies and who can get quite emotional and shed crocodile tears without any provocation!

What will happen to all the labourers living in camps which will be shut after they are found to be in violation of Bahrain's worker-friendly new labour camp rules?

What is the time-frame given for the PMs new orders to be executed?

Why did it take so many Indians to be BBQed before anything was done to improve the lot of those poor souls?

What is the punishment for violating Bahrain's new labour camp laws?

What are the new laws: any specifics on how many Indians can be crammed into a room now?

Ok.. I am being silly.. but I am finding Bahrain more and more outrageous by the day!

Prisoners in the land of the free

Better be careful if you are in the US and want to buy a ciggy lighter. You could be arrested for conspiring to detonate the nuclear arsenal the US has been piling up over the years.

America's attitude towards anyone with a Middle Eastern origin is not too shocking. In Chinua Achebe's wonderful piece of writing 'Things Fall Apart' -- there is a passage where African tribal men sit around eating and drinking, contemptuously referring to white men, comparing their white skin to lepers’ white skin.

One can understand the ignorance of the African tribals; they thought all white men are lepers! If America as a nation is as ignorant as the African tribals were 100 years ago... it is time to salvage their souls from the dark depths of ignorance.

UN should set up an Educational Aid programme to help the ignorant and ill-educated American population, which includes the President of the US.

Read more at Real Voice

Bahrain @ 24th place!!

Yey! We rank 24th among the world's most expensive cities!

Another reason for Bahrainis and their possessions (expats) to celebrate, I suppose!

Way too many ideas come to my head at times like this, making it impossible for me to refrain from using my colourful vocabulary, which an anonymous reader didn't like one bit. He/she wrote to me:

Dear Silly Bahraini Girl,

Assalaam alaikum,

Isn't it ironical that you being a Muslim and trying to talk about other's ettiquettes are not mindful of your own language. My humble advice is please please use decent language.

Jazaak Allah Khair,
a well wisherfr

To show my respect for this reader and many other who get insulted with my bursts of anger and insults... I will hold myself from commenting on my country's ranking in this survey!

Monkey Sees..Monkey Does!

Timeline:
UAE
Bahrain

Discovery of oil:
UAE: '58
Bahrain: '32

Independence:
UAE: December 2, 1971
Bahrain: August 15, 1971

Population:
UAE: 4,104,695
Bahrain: 707,357

Government:
UAE: Federation
Bahrain: Constitutional Monarchy

And then what? Everyone, I mean most of us, know that the UAE and Bahrain are two different places... until it comes to censorship and intimidating people.. looking down on their citizens and residents and treating them like children by banning them from accessing internet sites.

We've all heard about what is happening in the UAE. Bahrain, probably jealous of its neighbour's draconian Internet policies..it just following in its footsteps now.

You see.. It is always the case of Monkey Sees.. Monkey Does!

Now someone.. anyone.. just tell me how to download images from Google Earth and I am game guys.. Tell me what you want me to zoom into and how to get the images published, and your wish is my command!

Arabs..........

I have just returned from shopping for groceries. I walked into the building and a Canadian guy held the door for me, until I got into the elevator, laden with goods in both hands. He said hello, smiled, complimented me on what I was wearing, smiled again, asked me which floor.. pressed the button, held the door for me as I left and wished me a good day!


Minutes later, I returned to the car, this time with a trolley, to carry more things into the apartment. The Canadian guy wasn't there. An Arab was there, who walked into the building, slamming the door in my face, as I was pushing the heavy trolley across the garage to the door. I was two steps away. The trolley was heavy. I was hot and gasping. He got into the elevator and didn't even wait for me. Annoyed, I pushed and shoved the trolley around real fast and pressed the elevator again. The door opened. Fuck head was there. He probably was annoyed that I got in with him, because he wanted to spend whatever spare time he had in the lift to wank. The mother-fucker didn't even say SALAM or whatever those fucking Arabs should greet people with when they see them. Like, I look really Arab and Arabs recognise me from miles away. The bastard saw me struggling with my load and didn't even budge. I wasn't expecting him to carry my grocery and other shopping for me, but a little courtesy wouldn't have hurt him.

This building we live in here is the most upscale expensive condominum in this part of the country. All the people who live here are professionals, mainly doctors and lawyers. Mostly doctors. So this fucker must be a doctor. I really don't know how he deals with the patients everyday. I also don't know what picture does his rudeness and obnoxious behaviour project about Arabs here.

The only contact I have had with Arabs in this building.. other than the two Bahrainis we know.. has been with a Saudi dude... who thinks he is really cool. He is seen loitering around the building day and night. Please don't laugh. But ... hehe hehehe hehe ... he is here to accompany his sister, who is studying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Here you go! This is my rant of the day.. Hey.. I haven't been ranting and raving lately. I guess the growing number of Arabs here will give me the incentive to do what I used to do back home.