Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Opening the Bombay Doors

Published on 2011/08/02 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Sometimes it’s as incredulous as living inside a Bollywood film. Mandatory synchronized dances included. The chase scene. Bit of a relaxing, sideline story in the Shakespeare style that mimics the main storyline.

I’m talking about the curious mix-melange of everything going from the middle east to through the central Asia, into the south and all the way back. And then around the south east, back to north Africa and so on. I had been relaxing like an absolute villain off the Omani coast when I heard the blast that could not be ignored. Mumbai looked like 2008 all over again. Continue reading ‘Opening the Bombay Doors’

A Tale of Three Bin Ladens

Published on 2011/07/13 in Uncategorized. 6 Comments

A year of juggling school and two jobs and other first world problems, a short and phenomenal stopover in Montreal, and all of a sudden I was back in the old country: touching down at Dubai’s ever-growing airport. My dad picked me up at the arrivals lounge, and after telling me I had gained a fair bit of weight (breakfast in Montreal was chocolate croissants and cheese curds), he said with a wink, “So you hear they killed Osama?” all the while showing parenthetical quotes in the air with his fore and mid fingers. The gesture was surprising to me not just because it was a very western one but also since my dad was as always using his outdoor voice indoors and dozens of people had heard him; none of whom seemed to have any issue with what he had just uttered. Over the next few days I heard similar sentiments from: people at cafes I ran into randomly, my uncles, the gentleman who cleans my parents’ house, and my cousin’s hairdresser. Continue reading ‘A Tale of Three Bin Ladens’

“You’re not crazy and it’s not your fault”

Published on 2010/11/19 in the fuckin show and Uncategorized. 3 Comments

Derrick Jensen on coming to grips with this destructive culture

Deep ecology author Derrick Jensen won fame and notoriety with heavy works of non-fiction like Endgame, which compares western civilization to an abusive family where violence is a constant threat. He argues that we must bring down this culture by any means necessary. Since then, Jensen has published a searing exposé about zoos and captive animals with Karen Tweedy-Holmes called Thought to Exist in the Wild; Resistance to Empire, a collection of incendiary interviews with other activists; and What We Leave Behind, co-authored with Aric McBay – a heartbreaking polemic on the concepts of waste, life, and death.

Continue reading ‘“You’re not crazy and it’s not your fault”’