UAE Censorship

Hey all you out there, does anyone know whats going on. Suddenly orkut is not blocked, flickr opened once so did stickam, Hi5 is not giving a blocked page but a network error page. Expatriates.com is working, craig's list is working. whats going on is our internet finally becoming an open domain. If anyone has any info do let me know.

Arise

Shall I ever forget that moment when,
Heavens first revealed itself to me.
Angelic eyes just looking my way,
Like two moonbeams in the dark to say
Arise! For thy true love has come to stay.

Hello

Hello Everyone,
I'm sorry I havent been posting, and I haven't been visiting other blogs or commenting. I'v been very busy the last few days with the Ramadan Blog. I am really enjoying working on it even though it is a one month project. You guys should check it out if you have not already done so.


Today I will leave you with some quotes to read:

"Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be dissapointed."~Anonymous

"Love comes to those who still hope even though they've been disappointed, to those who still believe even though they've been betrayed, to those who still love even though they've been hurt before."~ Anonymous

"Dreams are at once fruit & outcry against an atrophy of the senses."~Jim Morrison

"It's weird...you know the end of something great is coming, but you want to hold on, just for one more second...just so it can hurt a little more."~Anonymous

"People love others not for who they are but for how they make them feel"~Irwin Federman

Ramadan Blog

Hello Everyone,
As I mentioned day before yesterday that some of us were starting a Blog for Ramadan. Allhamdoulillah the blog has started and we have gained contributors from several countries reporting on their experiences of Ramadan. Its truly becoming a global blog with input from all over. If anyone of you would like to contribute to it let me know, otherwise please do visit and have a blast at the "online iftaar".

I do not think I'll be posting much on Pakistani Abysmal Ramblings for the month of Ramadan, so I'll catch you all at the Ramadan Kareem Blog.

http://ramadankareem.blogspot.com/

The Whispered Prayer of the Thankful

My God,
as Thou hast fed us through Thy gentleness
and nurtured us through Thy benefaction,
so also complete for us lavish favours,
repel from us detested acts of vengeance,
and of the shares of the two abodes,
give us their most elevated and their greatest,
both the immediate and the deferred!
To Thee belongs praise
for Thy good trial and the lavishness of Thy favours,
a praise
conforming to Thy good pleasure
and attracting Thy great goodness and magnanimity.
O All-mighty,
O All-generous!
By Thy mercy,
O Most Merciful of the merciful!

*This is Part 3 and final part of "The Whispered Prayer of the Thankful"- The Psalms of Islam- I had promised I'd post this so here it is.

Blog for Ramadan

Kaya suggested that some of us who can blog about Ramadan should so a separate blog or write about stuff on our blogs, initially I didnt think we should do a separate blog but I think that would be the best way to go about getting everyone on the platform. I was out of the city most of yesterday and today, just got in so I setup a basic blog for ramadan people send an email to destituterebel@gmail.com if you want to contribute to the blog so I can add you. Its a very good idea and we all will come out of it a little wiser.

http://ramadankareem.blogspot.com/

What to do with this blog ?

I started this blog almost 1 year ago, with a totally different idea in mind, the blog has evolved into something totally different then what I had planned and lately I haven't even been posting regular and origional content. I can't seem to decide what to do with it any more, My evil mind has at times thought of killing it on its 1st birthday, but then I don't think i'll do that. There are several reasons I won't do that, I am able to express whatever I want anonymously not having to care about who reads it. It keeps me busy when I'm bored. I'v somewhat come to know a lot of wonderful people, other bloggers who visit the blog and give their feedback and support on what I post (yes you all who are reading this). Even though I dont know who's who I feel some how connected to other bloggers. I don't know what I'll do but it definately won't be deleting the blog. Might change the look or something lets see.

The Whispered Prayer of the Thankful

My God,
my thanksgiving is small
before Thy great boons,
and my praise and news-spreading shrink
beside Thy generosity toward me!
Thy favours have wrapped me
in the robes of the lights of faith,
and the gentlenesses of Thy goodness have let down over me
delicate curtains of might!
Thy kindnesses
have collared me with collars not to be moved
and adorned me with neck-rings not to be broken!
Thy boons are abundant -
my tongue is too weak to count them!
Thy favours are many -
my understanding falls short of grasping them,
not to speak of exhausting them!
So how can I achieve thanksgiving?
For my thanking Thee requires thanksgiving.
Whenever I say, 'To Thee belongs praise!',
it becomes thereby incumbent upon me to say,
'To Thee belongs praise'!

*This is Part 2 of "The Whispered Prayer of the Thankful"- The Psalms of Islam
I'll Post the Third and last part in a couple of days.

Bush State of the Union Speech

Honest words from an honest man. Saw this on Adnan's blog. I wonder how they get this kind of quality on an edit, word for word lip movement is amazing. Watch and enjoy.

Tagged

I was tagged By Sidrah last night, so here goes

I am thinking about...
too many things to mention here.

I said...
light and there was light- lol didnt know what to say.

I want to...
Dance in the rain, Play in the snow.

I wish...
Does it matter?

I miss...
The good old days

I hear...
loud noises

I wonder...
If this is how life was supposed to be

I regret...
almost nothing

I am...
trapped in an endless cycle

I dance...
seldom

I sing...
a lot when I want to torture people lol

I cry...
without tears

I am not always...
honest with myself.

I write...
to be read.

I confuse...
Myself a lot.

I need...
a big bowl of ice cream, covered with cholocate sauce, and lots of nuts, I won't even mind fruit with it.

I should try...
Doing more of what I want to do

I finish...
this tag

and I tag (this is the hard part who to tag)
Opinionated in Jerzee (coz she loves tags and has been AWOL from the blogging scene)
Dr Bongi (coz she needs a break from her exams)
Kaya (coz she also has been slow in posting for some time, I figured this might help)
Clayfuture (someone new on my blog)
Boo (My only old friend thats a blogger, lol)

There done and with explanations too.

The Whispered Prayer of the Thankful

My God,

the uninterrupted flow of Thy graciousness
hast distracted me from thanking Thee!
The flood of Thy bounty has rendered me incapable
of counting Thy praises!
The succession of Thy kind acts has diverted me
from mentioning Thee in laudation!
The continuous rush of Thy benefits has thwarted me
from spreading the news of Thy gentle favours!
This is the station of him who
confesses to the lavishness of favours,
meets them with shortcomings,
and witnesses to his own disregard and negligence.
Thou art the Clement, the Compassionate,
the Good, the Generous,
who does not disappoint those who aim for Him,
nor cast out from His courtyard those who expect from Him!
In Thy yard are put down the saddlebags of the hopeful
and in Thy plain stand the hopes of the help-seekers!
So meet not our hopes by disappointing and disheartening
and clothe us not in the shirt of despair and despondency!

*Part 1 of "The Whispered Prayer of the Thankful"- The Psalms of Islam

Hudood Ordinance: Pleasing the mullahs or Scaring the west.

Once again a government that claims to be progressive and enlightened has bowed to pressure from the mullah and backed out of making ammendments to a controvercial hudood law that is blatantly biased against women, or have they ? I will not go into the details of the Law which most of my readers will know, this law was enacted by Gen. Zia and I feel it was enacted to split his opponents and consolidate his power, some clauses in the law have nothing to do with religion but the Mullahs claim that the law is the word of God and it should not be messed with.

it is being said that the Government bowed yesterday to demands from MMA the alliance of the Mullahs and tabled the ammendments - Indefinately. I do not feel that is the reason the government back out of the ammendemet. My theory is that General Musharraf wants to stay in control as long as he can and for that he needs the support of the great powers. This ammendment got a lot of exposure in western media and everyone was looking forward to it being ammended. But by not passing the law the government has tried to prove to the powers that be that the mullahs are strong in Pakistan with a wide backing, which is not true. I feel the government wants to show that the Mullahs are strong and thus only a milittary government can keep them on a tight leash. For Musharraf to stay as the ruler of the country he has to use whatever tricks he has up his sleeve to keep the west on his site, and gain their sympathy. This action of the governemnt does that for him.

Banking in UAE

Is it just me or is the banking scene messed up in the UAE. Please tell me what your experiences have been with banks in the UAE and if any of my readers is satisfied with a bank here please tell me which bank it is and all you UAE bankers out there, please explain how you guys do such great work.

I'v been here about 4 years and have changed as many banks in these 4 years. For a "booming economy" the banking sure is prehistoric. I mean come who ever heard of an online bank which does not have a toll free number, you have a problem you call our regular number hold for hours and you will be told that the issue will be dealt within 48 hours. after 48 hours you call again and hold for another couple of hours and you will be told "sorry about that, we dont see the problem in the system, why dont you fax us a complaint and we will respong within 48 hours". and the cycle goes on, and for doing that they charge another AED 10 to talk to you. I'm not kidding, you need a certified bank statement for anything sure they'll give it to you at the rate of AED 25 per page, yes per page, so a 6 months bank statement might cost you anything over AED 500. This is Higway robbery, and they don't tell you about any of these charges when you open the account, they say "free online bank statements", well if they are free why don't you certify them. You deposit cash into an ATM machine and it dissapears, happens, but to get the situation fixed you will have to call them a 100 times visit their brach several times and then you will get access to your funds. Your account relationship managers will stop responding to your calls once they realize that they have "misplaced" $50,000 in a branch to branch transfer and have no clue for 2 weeks where your money is.

I'm not kidding all of these problems are a norm, getting a checkbook issued can take weeks. There are charges for every freaking transaction. These are not just local banks, regional banks as well as huge multinationals all are eggs of the same basket. The banking system and how the banks deal with customers need to be changed in this country, even Pakistan has better well established banking and customer service.

Ben-Hur

Who has not heard of Ben-Hur? Probably everyone of us has seen the movie. It started off as a book, was made into a broadway show and then a silent movie was made at 3.9 million the most expensive movie of its time. But most of us have seen the movie version made in 1959 which won 11 oscars, 1999 saw a music version and now a live show of the epic is being planned for 22 september in France. The production will run for 5 nights and I'm sure it will be one of a kind. It is planned that the production will do a tour and I hope it comes somewhere near us so we can see Ben-Hur in real flesh and blood.

Source BBC : Ben-Hur rides again in Paris show

Tooth Paste

I'v used all brands and name for tooth paste, I'm usually never bothered what I use, I pickup whatever I can get my hands on or whatever someone has picked up for me. For the last 6, 7 days I'v been using a new paste, and everytime I use it I reminded me of something, some food, some taste. But in my laziness and haste I never bothered to see what it was, to check the brand or the flavor. Today I figured I should at least know what it was. Signal Apple Flavored. It was the granny smith taste that the paste was reminding me of. Good stuff, anything that can bring excitement and curiosity in my life I can stick too.

Lessons for Life- Khalil Jibran

I recently read "The Prophet" by Khalil Jibran a Lebanese American Poet philosopher, it is a short book of poetic essays which give lessons for life and situations, pearls of wisdom. A must read. Here is a passage from the book dealing with Joy and Sorrow.

On Joy & Sorrow

Then a woman said, "Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow."

And he answered:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

Light

Sometimes I dream that I'm swimming with dolphins when suddenly I'm seeing through their eyes, perceiving things I'v never been aware of. We're swimming through a shining sea of light, yet there is a sense of danger, lurking off from the darkness beyond. And in the logic of my dream, only the light can save us.

Narrated at the beginning on Oscar nominated IMAX Documentary "Dolphins".

Blue Boy and Pinkie

During my childhood I saw two portraits (reproductions) hanging on the walls of my house. They were supposedly very famous, but I always thought they were done by the same artist untill now. Today while browsing the internet I found out that they were done by different artists but have always been associated and confused as being done by the same artist. Today they hang together facing each other at the Huntington library.

The Blue Boy
The best known painting at the Huntington, Gainsborough's The Blue Boy, portrays Jonathan Buttall, the son of a successful hardware merchant, who was a close friend of the artist. The work was executed during Gainsborough's extended stay in Bath before he finally settled in London in 1774. The artist has dressed the young man in a costume dating from about 140 years before the portrait was painted. This type of costume was familiar through the portraits of the great Flemish painter, Anthony van Dyck (1559-1641), who was resident in England during the early 17th century. Gainsborough greatly admired the work of Van Dyck and seems to have conceived The Blue Boy as an act of homage to that master. Mr. Huntington purchased the painting along with Gainsborough's The Cottage Door and Reynolds's Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse from the Duke of Westminster.

Pinkie
Pinkie, facing The Blue Boy in the Main Gallery of the museum and often paired with it in popular esteem, is by Thomas Lawrence, one of the great portrait painters of his generation. It was painted about 25 years after Gainsborough's masterpiece and had no association with that work until they both were displayed in the Huntington in the late 1920s. Executed when the artist was only 25 and shortly after his election to the Royal Academy, Pinkie is an extraordinarily fresh and lively performance with the sitter standing on a hill, her dress blown by the wind. The movement of her dress in conjunction with her frank gaze gives a sense of immediacy to the composition and expresses the animation of the sitter. The young girl was the daughter of a wealthy plantation family in Jamaica, who came to England for her education. Called "Pinkie" by her grandmother who commissioned the portrait, she was only eleven when her likeness was taken. Sadly, Sarah died within a few months of the portrait's completion, probably of tuberculosis. Her younger brother Edward was the father of the poetess Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Pinkie was the last painting purchased by Mr. Huntington, who did not live to see it installed in the house.


Pictures and Information: Huntington Gallery

Weekend Change

Today was the first Thursday night in the UAE that it was not a holiday. The UAE government had earlier announced that that from the first week of september the weekend would switch to Friday and Saturday from the old Thursday & Friday weekend. Last weekend we had three holidays thursday, friday and saturday. Now its gonna be friday and saturday so no off tomorrow. Even though I saw a lot of weekend traffic on the roads I'm guessing people forgot.

My Idea of Love

Artwork: Rassouli

Fireworks

Last night was the second time in as many weeks that there were fireworks on th beach . Luckily I had my camera ready to take some pictures from my balcony.