Friday, December 22, 2006

Jingle all the way!

Well I'm off! My train ticket is one of those cheap single ones whereby if you miss it, its gone for good! Despite paying close to thirty quid for it!
My Bag is sitting in the landing now and it's finally squeezed shut! I didn't realise i was carrying so much stuff! I went shopping last night and the city centre was packed....human traffic. The queue's as house of fraser were longer than anything i had ever seen before. The man in front of my was purchasing knee high ladies boots that would suit as young 20something. Judging by his age, i was guessing that it was for a younger girlfriend, second wife or daughter! When i heard the price of the shoes, i hoped for his sake they were for his daughter!
I hope to meet up with everchange whilst i am in town, that should be an interesting laugh.
I didn't meet my target in terms of my coursework (i'm halfway through my researching module essay) but i simply cannot concentrate anymore! I am taking charlotte william's sugar and spice (where she writes about being mixed race in north wales) so that i can read that for my culture and subjectivity essay...that should be a walk in the park. it does not help though that i have gotten the latest vanity fair issue, distracting!
It's so exciting to be going back home, i hope i enjoy it.
To everyone out there, i'll do the american thing and say happy holidays. See you at the other side of my hiatus!
x

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Merry Christmas (2)

Talking about A merry christmas, i got a christmas card yesterday. It came from my work collegue a muslim Britsh-Iranian chap who smokes and swears and all. He once told us a funny story of how shortly after the 7/7 issue, he got on the train with a rucksack and the whole carraige went silent! Funniest bit was when he reached into his bag to get something. The person closest to him, dived for cover! Now i have no way of verifying these stories for fact but they were funny at the time and taking into consideration the xnophobic society we live in, it isn't impossible! Hope all you sun readers out there are taking note!
Just a couple more days to go and i'll be home. Got the old trunk case out and have started sorting stuff i.e. i am taking this and not taking this! Anyone have any tips for what to take to Nigeria at christmas?
Have to sort out my last minute christmas shopping between today and tomorrow...i do hate being sucked into this commercialism that is now christmas....perhaps that is what the British love more than the religious aspect of things! Or am i wrong?

Monday, December 18, 2006

Merry Christmas Nigeria!

At least Nigerians never have to worry about christmas presents...we get one every year. Of course, you tend to get what you deserve as a present! In this case, it is the double whammy of Yaradua and Jonathan as the next Big men in Nigeria!! What does one do in circumstances like these? It is no use ranting on how dire it has all turned out because we all knew it was coming. As i read the paper this morning, i was seething with anger! I was so angry i was close to tears! As i walked through the university this morning (i have to clear my essays before i go home for christmas), i saw the graduation parade and amongst them...a host of Nigerians. Within the group, i spotted the boys that i have been told are jonathan's sons! As i saw them, everything slowed down and became dim. I suddenly imagined myself running madly towards them and hitting them for every pensioner that has died and all the other ills of the society. Of course, i didn't! I walked on still fuming into the library and got on with my work. This is what we do as Nigerians. The certain passivity that allows us (all of us) to watch on whilst our futures are continually ruined. Of course, it would be naive not to point out that the resident population have been numbed to such thoughts either by hunger, stupidity, both and more.
What is to become of us?

At least Nigerians never have to worry about christmas presents...we get one every year. Of course, you tend to get what you deserve as a present! In this case, it is the double whammy of Yaradua and Jonathan as the next Big men in Nigeria!! What does one do in circumstances like these? It is no use ranting on how dire it has all turned out because we all knew it was coming. As i read the paper this morning, i was seething with anger! I was so angry i was close to tears! As i walked through the university this morning (i have to clear my essays before i go home for christmas), i saw the graduation parade and amongst them...a host of Nigerians. Within the group, i spotted the boys that i have been told are jonathan's sons! As i saw them, everything slowed down and became dim. I suddenly imagined myself running madly towards them and hitting them for every pensioner that has died and all the other ills of the society. Of course, i didn't! I walked on still fuming into the library and got on with my work. This is what we do as Nigerians. The certain passivity that allows us (all of us) to watch on whilst our futures are continually ruined. Of course, it would be naive not to point out that the resident population have been numbed to such thoughts either by hunger, stupidity, both and more.

Friday, December 15, 2006

i left my heart in san francisco

Maybe because i am going home soon! I have been listening to Tony Benett's I left my heat in san francisco a whole lot lately....

The Migration Begins!!

My Brilliant family have asked me down for christmas i.e. they are paying for me to come down and i am positively elated!!!! Christmas honestly doesn't get better. The prospects of another cold, wet christmas was not exactly appealing.
The mass Migration has already begun. Friends started going at the start of the week and will keep leaving for Nigeria till the last week of the year. Amazing. I am totally looking forward to scoffing on Jollof rice and chicken and going out in Lagos and talking in Nigerian english and so on.....
I have started packing already although i now find myself in a dilenma. I need to find christmas presents fast. I bought an ipod for my brother who is about 28 so that seems ideal and a tommy hilfiger hold all for my sister who is about 27. But there is my brother who is 29 and another who is 33ish and then my darling mama....what do i get them?
I sent my mate vic to town today to get some facial scrubs and stuff for my sister i hope she likes it and then i went shopping for chocs as well....perhaps i am getting sucked into the consumerism that is christmas!!
My housemates are leaving as well...at least some of them. T the cockney chap went on tuesday to london (he once worked as a chef at the ivy actually...or something like that) and J.F is off to paris on tuesday (he is french). V is not sure when he goes back to london but S isn't going anywhere...he is welsh!
At this point i trully do not care what anyone gets up to...i just can't wait to go home.....i say in a sing-song voice!
I am not going to the christmas party at work this year and most think its because i think i am too posh! Tosh! It's bad enough that you have to see them for the 364 odd days of the year but at christmas as well? Pah
I wonder if British people think i hate christmas too just because i am not british? Food for thought? I don't care, i'm off to lagos...la dee da!!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

This lady is a tramp!! xx


I've wined and dined on mulligan stew on "Live at Talk of the Town" inserted: I have, I have And never wished for turkey I've hitched and hiked and drifted to From Maine to Alberquque Alas I missed the beaux arts ball And what is twice as sad I was never at a party Where they honoured Noel Coward on "Live at Talk of the Town": I was never at Barbra Streisands party - aaah And that make me bloody mad a ...(??) funny girl on "At The Pigalle": Alas I'm always known as being in the pie(??) I was never at Alma Cogans party A shame When she honoured Ringo Starr on "The Birthday Concert" & video "An Audience With Shirley Bassey": I was never at Hugh Grants party When he honoured the great divide - ouh His social circles move to fast for me My hobohemia is the place to be I get too hungry for dinner at eight I love the theatre but never come late I never bother with people I hate That's why this lady is a tramp I don't like crap games with barons and earls Won't go to Harlem in ermine and pearls Won't dish the dirt with the rest of those girls That's why this lady is a tramp I like the free fresh wind in my hair Life without care I'm broke... that's oke Hate California, it's cold and it's damp That's why this lady is a tramp I like the free fresh wind in my hair on "Live at Talk of the Town": I like the free fresh wind in my wig Life without care I'm broke... that's oke Hate California, it's cold and it's damp That's why this lady is a tramp And I love it Yes, I'm a tramp, and I love it And I wish that you will come in my way yeah I wish that you will come in my way yeah I wish that you will come in my way Yes, I'm a lady But a tramp (transcribed by Roman )

Big band!!!

I love big band!! I am sat at my desk (i know its bad english but i love colloquialisms) and i am listening to Micheal Buble do "I've got a crush on you". Earlier on today i had been listening to Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett and co do big numbers!! Even Little Micheal Buble doing a very spectacular cover of mack the knife. The thing is i like to imagine i am in some fancy lounge club somewhere with all the cool cats in town...martini in hand!! I even go as far as getting the live versions of this art pieces (loads of laughs), pathetic enh?
Song's now changed to Shirley Bassey doing "hey big spender", did you know she was part Nigerian and part Welsh....she used be from tiger bay (rather dodgy area) and still claims family from both places!
SIGH...On the other side of the spectrum, for christmas; I'm treating myself to swan lake which is in cardiff from the 22nd at the devine wales mill. centre with music by Tchaikovsky.....

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Indian, Young and Muslim!

A-A Khan is standing right in the middle of the street waving to me. He has asked me over to his house to conduct the interview as opposed to the coffee shop on campus I had previously suggested. He is lanky and visible on the street in his jeans and t-shirt more so for the fact that he is without an umbrella on this wet November morning. Unlike him I am huddled under my little umbrella trying to keep my ipod and man bag from getting wet. I try to asses his person as I walk up to him. Should I be cautious so as not to offend his religious sensibilities or am I being paranoid? I am unable to neither decipher this young man nor place him in any category whatsoever. Entering the house is welcoming considering the warmth as against the dampness of the showers outside. He offers me tea or coffee which I politely decline in embarrassment as I remember the gluttonous breakfast I had had some minutes before. His bedroom is busy but tidy with books that look like they have been read; his spanking new laptop is buzzing with msn windows and loads of DVD’s including the lord of the rings trilogy. I ask if he is a fan and he admits that he is. I also notice the prayer mat at the top of his cupboard and ask him why he has decided to come to university here, so far away from home. “Oh it’s funny because I was initially going to Edinburgh but by chance I noticed a map of this university and it had a mosque in it and then and there I changed my mind” he replied. “Of course I didn’t know how the U.K worked so I had to go on the barest information I had”. Fair enough, I thought. But very obviously his faith plays an important role in his life; perhaps this is typical of all Muslims? He tells me that One’s faith is from within; therefore there should be little or no interference in life’s activities. He points out that whilst some Muslims drink and do other things, others don’t. He admits that he goes to the university union, but only to listen to music, socialize and play pool; suggesting that religious interpretations are subject to perspective. I ask how he relaxes, if he does at all. He laughs to this and points to his DVD’s. “It is only because I currently live in a university town which is entirely boring in other aspects but back home I love to drive…fast”. He smiles as I bury my face in my notepad scribbling furiously. A speed demon and a Muslim at the same time? That will take some reconciling! Perhaps he has a point about religious perspective being subject to interpretation…and perhaps a little explaining. This leads me to ask about “back home” and he lights up to this. “Oh that’s everywhere” he replies. He goes on to explain that his family has always moved around from his native country of India to Dubai and so on. He asserts that he is Indian first with close ties to Afghanistan and celebrates this identity but admits a certain fondness for Dubai. “Dubai for me is a fascinating mix of east and west which is refreshing, I believe it has a beautiful multicultural future” he states. He had told me earlier that he worked in IT in Dubai before coming down to university and often shuttled between India and Dubai. His sisters still live there and work as models and event consultants. I glance quickly at the pictures of his family on the side table and can see why how it can be as his sisters are beautiful. I voice my difficulty in understanding how modeling works in the Middle East; when one considers the perceived representation of women in that part of the world. “there is a female bus driver in Sheffield” he says, “she still drives a bus till date and wears her hijab; it does not affect her work in anyway”! It turns out that his sisters are still cosmopolitan businesswomen who are successful despite the perceived constraint. I think back to a story from the BBC in 2005 which explored how women in Dubai were breaking the “patriarchal mould” of Middle East society with recent achievements. According to statistics, 65% of all university students in the UAE (United Arab Emirates where Dubai is situated) are female. 15% of the work force in the UAE is female; the irony is that the figure also considers expatriates; many of whom are men. However according to the BBC, it is generally considered to be inappropriate for women to speak to men they are neither married to nor related to in public amongst UAE nationals; although it is increasingly becoming acceptable. No doubt about it, things are changing in the Middle East; but these changes are in accordance with acceptable cultural references. I tax him on the possible interpretation of my findings as possibly sexist? “This is clearly not sexism” he replies. He insists that women are respected and maintains that conformation is about choice. I wonder if this choice is subject to conditioning, but I choose not to pursue it further.

Recently the BBC conducted a poll on young people around the world and from its samples, it was deducted that although most of the respondents see religion as a force of good, the greatest percentage thought terrorism was the most pertinent issue in the world and did not think that the American led ventures in the middle east would make the world safer. “So is there a certain animosity towards westernization then”? I ask my interviewee. “Like everything else in the world, westernization has its good and bad points” he replies. He goes on to explain his thoughts on the Bush war in the middle-east, stating his opposition to it. He points out that Bush (U.S president George W. Bush) was very adamant about his ideas on Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda but still the world is not a safer place. He believes that Islam is not the issue that needs to be sorted out but the surrounding factors around it. “If you threw a book away without reading it, you wouldn’t know what was in it, would you?” Food for thought! I decide to tax him on terrorism asking “taking into consideration 9/11 in New York and 7/7 in London, do you think Islam is doing enough to counter terrorism and in effect; does Islam need a revamp of sorts? He replies that Islam completely dissociates itself from extremism and points out that suicide for example is not a part of Islam “so how can these people represent a religion they do not practice”? He goes on to point out that as Islam is a way of life, the religion is not about it looking after people but people looking after it. He genuinely is baffled that assumptions are made on a culture through the actions of individuals.

I move on to easier subjects at this stage. Bollywood superstar, (The big B) Amitabh Bachnan is in the U.K to promote bollywood movies, something I am personally passionate about. There is also talk of the rapid increase in India’s status on the world stage, India is getting richer. I ask what all this means to A.A. “turns out my entire family are in the movies in one way or the other” he returns with a smile. He loves bollywood movies and the very concept surrounding its success, this is something I can understand! He is not sure what he will do next after his course here. He is young, Muslim and Indian and he is not going to let something trivial like identity boxes stop him from getting where he wants to be.



A.A Khan Is currently studying for a masters degree in wales.