Thursday Night Groceries

Hey Hey Hey!

As always, Thursday nights are grocery night in our home. This means I have to drive my mother first to a coffee shop for something warm to drink, then to the local East Indian grocers for the odd specialty food. While there, she never forgets to grab the dozen or so Urdu newspapers subsidized by our great government so that my mother can catch up on weekly stories. At night's end, we finish at Price Chopper for everything else.

Today wasn't anything out of the ordinary, except for the extra pressure my mother subtly adds to me with regards to marriage. She talks about other boys a few years older than me and frankly said that after the age of 28, an unmarried boy is looked at with suspicion in the East Indian community. According to her, something must be wrong with the lad if he's not hitched before the big 3-0.

That scares the HELL out of me! That means I have 6 years left TOPS!!! My mother actually made the point of saying she wants to live at LEAST 4 more years so that she can see me married, and see my brother finish post-secondary school. Gimminy Gillikers!

It made me think : What would she do should I bring home a non-Pakistani backround girl home and say that either (a) she's pregnant with my kid :P , (b) we're engaged, (c) I'm converting out of the religion, and (d) all of the above.

I imagine instant cardiac arrest and a guilt trip from beyond the grave that I would never be able to overcome!

With all that said, anybody up for a WICKED prank on my mom :P ?!?

The rencontre...

Went to the Scarborough Town Centre to kill some time as I was bored senseless at home. Coming out of the Coles I managed to spot an old high school classmate I hadn't seen in years! I'm certain she also saw me yet we both quickly went our separate ways! About two seconds later when I turned back, I found she was still looking as well! And the final result : I briskly ran for the hills!

I hate to say it, but I kinda liked this person while in high school and never had the intestinal fortitude to fathom meeting up outside of school. This, coupled with the parental threat of an @ss whupping should I ever be caught with a girl, probably led to my indifference. I think it's those same memories that nervously led me astray!

Shame, good ol' Pakistani Muslim shame. How I love to live in your realm!

A Googly during Tea...

Hey yaars,

Not much new to report as of now, just writing in order to keep the regularity of this blog in tact. It seems if I don't post in a few days, I tend to neglect the blog for a while, so I thought I'd post quickly....

Mario Lemieux retiring again - great career, enjoy your money in peace now!

Stephen Harper taking his kids to school - nice P.R. !

Pakistan drawing India in the 2nd test at Faisalabad - Poor Younis Khan!

Kobe dropping 81 on the Raptors - I think even I could drop 20 on them.

Google China is censored! Who would have thought!

I'll probably find something slightly amusing to talk about soon enough, ttyl!

The new face of Canada....

...for better or for worse!

Congrats to the new Rt. Honourable Stephen Harper, the Conservatives won fair and square. Though I have to admit, I don't see this government lasting more than a few months. And I'd be amazed if they last for more than two years.

I must admit that we do owe Mr. Harper a chance, and a slim minority government is enough of a checks and balance to ensure that he doesn't schedule weekly golf trips with good ol' Dubya. Though I respect him for winning, I don't necessarily like him. I still truly believe there's something to him that Canadians don't know (and this isn't coming from Liberal propoganda).

It's saddening that the Liberals lost yet it was inevitable. Re-electing a Liberal government would have only rewarded them for the numerous 'boondoggles' they've incurred over the past 12 years, surely leading to a few more scandals coming into the limelight. At the same time, I'm glad the have enough seats to still maintain a solid presence in Ottawa. I think it's only a matter of time before the Tories make a blunder (much like the Liberals have), and the Canadian public will once again fall head over heels for the Liberals once more. I think it's a good thing Mr. Martin resigned as leader, as his face would only serve as a reminder to the Canadian public of what was wrong with the party (be it fair or unjust), and fresh blood just might rejuvenate what I believe is truly Canada's party.

Good to see the NDP garner a few more seats as well. Mr. Layton needs what he can get. Now if only he shaved that moustache so that people didn't think he was an old used car salesman :P Seriously though, I like the NDP, and would genuinely have voted for them had my riding not been a Liberal stronghold.

Ultimatley this election showed my own true colours. At the onset, I was (as everyone else) tired of hearing about Liberal scandals and wanted change. Yet since I disagree heavily with Tory policy, was intent on voting NDP. That's until I realized what the Liberals have done over the past 12 years in power...

Yes, ultimately they will probably be remembered for the sponsorship scandal, but in the grand scheme of things, is $100 million that much to waste? Of course it was wrong, but the Gomery inquiry was just as expensive (if not moreso), and really told us nothing we already didn't know.

Will increased military spending (which I'm expecting), used to fight unjust wars abroad not be as unethical? Do tax cuts leading to higher user fees and a lower standard of living define 'responsible government'? And does "Standing Up for Canada" mean "Stepping On" it's less fortunate and downtrodden?

All politicians in power, be they in Canada or Timbuktu, are corrupt. The Liberals were just brazen and stupid enough to get caught. I just can't wait to see the Conservatives get off their high horse once they do something similarly stupid. And BTW, throughout this campaign, did everyone conveniently forget that Brian Mulroney was quite possibly the most corrupt PM of all time? It seemed duplicitous to say the least, for the Tories to ride the sponsorship scandal bandwagon to victory.

At the end of the day, as embarrassing as it may sound, I think I've rekindled my allegiance to the Liberal party. I think this election was a good wakeup call for them to clean their mess up, and come back swinging. Keep in mind that DESPITE all the mess, they STILL managed around 100 seats (I'm not sure of the exact numbers, they're still counting). With a new leader and a better campaign, I'm certain they win the next election (which will be soon).

And a quick reminder to any of my blog-ites that are gloating of a Conservative victory - Remember Joe Clark in '79? Neither do I!

Round 2 - Ring the Bell!

Hey yaars (and dushmun!),

Haven't posted in a few days, admittedly a bit busier than normal. Amused myself on Wednesday and Thursday stuffing envelopes, while today was spent waking up at 5 AM to drop the mom @ work, coming home at 6, and catching up on R&R the rest of the way.

It was good seeing many familiar faces at the Dome/Rogers Centre/Concrete Compound. Though I have to admit, I was just a tad more reserved than I usually am. I'm beginning to uncover some of the subtle acrimony I previously considered harmless and think I may have to be a little more careful with my choice of words. God forbid I end up as "that guy" who gets on everyone's nerves (though a part of me says that may have happened ages ago). Fret not though blog-ites, I'm sure this moment of deep and stimulating thought will be overshadowed by something silly I'll do the next time I'm seen in public, I'm just in one of those moods right now.

Before I forget, I'll give a big shout out to those who know me and have conveniently stumbled across the blog from out of nowhere. From now on I just may have to censor myself before publishing anything online, in fear of alienating or offending anyone. Of course, I'll still have my standard mother and brother stories to tell!

On to the good stuff. The 2nd Test between Pakistan and India just began about 20 minutes ago at Faisalabad. They're playing at the Iqbal Stadium, perhaps the only stadium in the world named after a poet! I've been trying to find links to watch a video stream of the match online, but to no avail. I guess I'll just watch the ball-by-ball text commentary in deep suspense.

For anyone interested, that dude waving the flag in the picture is Abdul Jalil, the "mascot" if you will, of the Pakistan cricket team. The Pakistan Cricket Board actually PAYS him money to support the team, along with accomodations and tickets to each match. He's somewhat of a well known commodity in the country, referred to as Chacha(Uncle) Cricket. He's usually the first person we look for when Pakistan is playing a match, and is often the easiest to spot, what with his standard green outfit.

Anyhows, I'm off to watch the match. For any of you out there, if you ever wanted to endear yourself to a Pakistani, just say the words "Pakistan Zindabad", and you'll be all set!

PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!

The Saturday Party Wrap Up

Hey again yaars!

You might have noticed that I have yet to mention my details of Saturday's events. There's good reason to, I had to gather my thoughts before I said something that might make me sound crazy (well, crazier than normal). Here's my recollection of events:



The day started of quite well. I made the decision to stay out of my mom's way by going out to a few malls with Zan (the brother). We kicked around the Scarborough Town Centre and Fairview Mall until about 6, when my mother phoned to let us know that we were to pick up food from the Pakistani grocer/restaurant at 7. We killed an hour in our car listening to our iPods individually. I hate that my brother is so quiet!

At 7 we hit Karchi Bazaar, where we went up to the restaurant section to pick up the biryani. The restauranteur said he hadn't received an order of any sort for food by anyone and said we should call our mother to check. Me and Zan - about to piss ourselves - quickly got on the phone, only to find that the guy was pulling our leg! The food was there and ready to be picked. It was about 7:20, and since our mother is all about panicking, she phones to ask where we are and what's taking so long (and you guys think that I'm neurotic!).



Arriving home we were welcomed by about 40 pairs of shoes in front of our door, and 20 hungry Pakistani-Canadians! I freak out, realizing I have left my room, computer, and drawers open for the picking. And in true desi fashion, I had a smattering of children and tweeners surrounding my beautiful computer! Later on when I asked why my mother she didn't make me room off limits, she responded by saying "I had no idea they even left the living room!". I felt so patronized!

As I previously mentioned, the children had halal pizza for dinner, and true to form - it was nasty. Of course we were lucky to have brought biryani, and my mom being my mom, she cooked about 4 side dishes to accompany it. Which begs the question : What was the point of ordering biryani and pizza when you were going to cook anyways?


Being the eldest male in the house, I basically had to play all-rounder, socializing with the auntie's, uncle's, children, and young-adults. It was obvious the uncles were a bit bored, until I managed to find a classic Noor Jehan tape from my dad's collection. (Noor Jehan was kinda like the Madonna of Pakistan from the 50s-80s, who actually had a good voice). The men were in awe at the performances my dad had collected over the years, a testament to the fact that us Rathore's love our bootlegging! Thankfully that film, and a few ashtrays, held them over for the night.

The aunties were, as always, content with gossipping amongst themselves. The young adult group ended up gabbing and watching the football game. Of course the kids managed to hog my own computer to the extent that I could barely fit into my own room!

Things seemed decent until about 9:00, when all hell broke loose. For starters, the kids ended up eating all of the desert, which was MEANT for the adults! I was REALLY looking forward to the rus malai, and got screwed over! That wasn't the first time it's happened either! Secondly, they managed to cut the power to my computer while it was on! And instead of calling me, an idiot 8-year old tried to turn it on himself by REPEATEDLY hitting the power button until he saw something. Since it takes about 5 seconds to see anything on screen, he MUST have hit it quite a bit, because once it was loading, it took WAYYYY too long. A startup which takes 3-5 minutes was still trying to load after 25 minutes! I promptly kicked the kids off, and went to work in attempts to save my computer. No worries though, the operation was successful. Not only did I fix the slowness (it needed defragmentation and error checking), I managed to get the kids off of the computer! And to top it off, I managed to get one of the mothers to yell at all the kids for being so rude all night!

The rest of the night went hunky-dory, culminating in one of the uncle's arguing that Pakistan could fight off an American invasion (this was all dependant on the U.S. fighting numerous battles around the world simultaneously). I still dont believe it, simply because of the logistics. Like Afghanistan, there could be a cunning and shrewd resistance, but the ending would be inevitable. Of course this is all hypothetical, there's no way the U.S. would be stupid enough to start a fight, seeing as Pakistan is the one country who can help find Osama!

OK OK, the tangent is done. The night ended about at that point with the war talk, and one final thing kinda irked me. When everyone left, as per custom, the host family sees them off at the door. My brother and myself did so, but my mother was in her room! To top it off, everyone kept complimenting one of my AUNTIES on hosting the party! I told my mom this, and she knew about this! She said she thought it would be weird socializing with men, and chose to stay in her room. I MIGHT have agreed with her at times, but many of the "men" have known my mother, and knew my father, from before even I was born. I hardly think a joke here or there would lead to the dreaded "evil eye". My mother is always so self-concious about her image as a widow. She never wants anyone to get the wrong impression about herself. OK, I guess I know where I get that from now....

That's the abbreviated extended version (if that makes any sense at all).

Where Nobody Wins!

Hey yaars,

It's a bit past midnight, and I'm watching the last day of the first test match between India and Pakistan. It is undoubtedly going to end in a draw, as there is only one day left, and the way things have been going, they couldn't complete this match if they were given 10 days.

Why am I stupid enough to watch? Virender Sehwag, and Indian batsman, has hit 250 runs not out, and I don't want to see him get 300 (300 runs in cricket by a batsman is much like a perfect game in baseball, VERY rare). And I KNOW that my Indian friends, colleagues, associates, etc. will rag me about this, despite neither team actually winning. Alas, my pride for the motherland keeps me awake.

Luckily it's still raining in Lahore, so play is delayed, if this keeps up they call of the days' play, and the Test match! I have never wished for rain as much as I have today!

We ROCKED 'em!

STEEEEEELERRRRRS!

I seem to have a knack for picking the hot team in the NFL whenever I get into it.

Back when I started waching football, I picked the Bills. Yes, they lost 5 Super Bowls, but it still takes a great team to get there that many times!

After the suffering of Buffalo, a few years later when in high school, I picked the New England Patriots. I bought a Drew Bledsoe jersey and saw them go to the Bowl to lose to the Packers. I casually supported them afterwards and ultimately they won with Brady at the helm (though everyone forgets that Drew took them to the first Super Bowl with an inspired performance in the AFC final that year!).

Now, at the behest of my brother, I throw my support towards the Steelers, and what happens? Not only do they JUST squeak into the playoffs, they knock out the offensive juggernaut that is the Cincinnati Bengals (Who dey? Who cares! They're golfing now!). And now they pull of a HUGE upset, knocking of the famous Colts, who were picked by everyone and their mothers to win it all.

I'm not saying the Steelers will win it all, but for once they weren't unfortunate enough to have bad breaks lead to blowing the game. Watching the game at Shoeless Joe's with Jamie was fun-dastic, with the 4th quarter being real fun to watch (especially seing the fat Steeler fan in front having mild heart attacks every few minutes).

Yes, of COURSE I feel a bit bad for Tony Dungy. I've always thought of him as a class act from his days in Tampa Bay when he built that crazy defence. At the same time, seeing the cocky Payton Manning lose once again, this time because of his "stupid drunk kicker", was poetic justice. If you have seen the post-game interviews, he STILL whined about his teams offensive line being a bit weak. This dude needs a pacifier. He should be lucky they blew the Polamalu INT call, cuz otherwise they would have had NO chance to come back. And since when is a QB allowed to send the punting unit back!

Anyhow, thought I'd rant a bit on football. The other game was kinda sucky as my NFC team (the Bears) lost to the Panthers. I'll admit, I like them because of their tough-as-nails defence, which obviously blew it today, but is still fun to watch. Plus, I have family in Chicago, so that might be the one real vague connection I have to an NFL city, so I'll take it. Oh, and it's always a good laugh when the brother and I joke about Conan's masturbating Bear and comparing it to the team!

That's it for now. Who would have thought a Roethlisberger figure would lead me into a fan base including the likes of Snoop Dogg, Seymour Butts, and G-Unit!!!

The Calm Before The Storm

Hey yaars,

Today is going to suck. TOTALLY SUCK!

Why you might ask? My mother, in her utmost wisdom, has decided to have a dinner party. Which would normally be fine, as it would be composed of uncles and aunties along with the odd child who was my age. SOMETIMES the odd young'un under 10 would pop by. Today for some wild reason, she's managed to not invite 1 or 2, but FOUR families to come into our small 3-bedroom apartment. And the kicker? TEN KIDS under 10 will be here!

I really tried arguing about this for mine and my brothers sanity, but to no prevail. The invites had already been sent and accepted, and there's nothing she could do. I MIGHT have been ok had I been consoled with the thought of classic dinner party cooking from my mother (she kicks it up a notch for guests), but she's lazy-ing out of it by ordering take-away. The kids she said, get pizza. I thought whoop-ee! Of course since one of the families is super-religious, It HAS to be HALAL pizza. Not just halal pizza (which our Pizza Pizza offers), but from a Muslim owner just to be sure it's halal.

I can't even watch any of the movies I've collected over the past few weeks as they're either too gory, swearing-full, or toilet-humour hilarious. And anything that doesn't fit into the above will be too boring for the kids.

I also have to clean out my room from anything that might be considered a toy for 5 to 8 years olds. Which means all of my McFarlane figures, my SpiderMan cushion, my autographed balls.....

Oh, and the kicker? I have to avoid using the computer and "take care" of the little ones so that they don't disturb their mothers!!!

Normally, when we're at other people's homes and these same families arrive, my brother and I manage to quietly go out to a local Tim Horton's/Dairy Queen/Coffee Time to kill some time. We can't today because that would be putting our possessions at mortal peril. I'm SOO keeping my iPod with me at all times!

Wish me luck, I don't think I'm going to be too happy today. I'm going out for some binge shopping. If you see me on the news for slapping a kid, you've all been warned :P

Dinner & A Movie

Hey yaars,

I finally managed to watch this film which had been sitting in my living room all week long. And boy I wasn't dissappointed!

It's true that they say the film is basically like Traffic but with oil instead of drugs. The film looks at how oil deals can affect the lives of those from the top of the top to the bottom of the barrel. I won't give too much away, but the end is quite touching, maybe moreso for me as the final words are said in URDU!!!! We're taking over!

All in all, it still is a great film, and totally deserving of an Oscar nomination. And NOT only because of the Pakistani characters!

Wednesday Eid Report!

Hey yaars!

Though not as ceremonious for us - since this wasn't "our" Eid - last night was decent. After picking up the mother from work and brother from school, we prepared ourselves to go to an Eid dinner party of Sunni Muslims. Sunni's are like the Catholics of Islam in that they are the mainstream sect which composes an overwhelming percentage of the religion.

Once again I donned the dress shirt and necktie to go out. Of course since it was US going, you knew something would go wrong!

Upon leaving, I had no clue where the apartment building was. My mother informed me that it was at McCowan and Sheppard, which seemed right so I drove my way there. And as always, we got lost, finding ourselves at Woodside Mall at Finch and McCowan.

My memory from the one time we went there had me thinking that the apartment was at MARKHAM and Sheppard, and I told my mother this. She refused to believe me and insisted we stop to phone them. Since it's a desi gathering, you just knew nobody would pick up there phone, and so it was true. After seeing my mother panic, I decided to lead from the front and go on to Markham Road. My panic-stricken mother almost had a coronary upon leaving the PARKING LOT as she thought I was driving too crazy (fyi, I wasn't!).

It turns out, I WAS RIGHT! As always, my mother totally messed up the directions. On the way, I could feel her inching to say "I knew you took the wrong turn" somewhere along the line, but my sense of direction prevailed (for once!). So a drive that should have taken about 15 minutes took 35!

Once there, I basically sat in a chair and watched a very old Indian movie, which was probably made before I was even a thought in my parents' minds. Dinner was once again Chinese, and I managed to get my fair share of Chinese Hakka for the next month! I didn't even bother going for the sweets as I personally saw the items in the plate being touched no less than 4 times by little kids with dirty hands!

We left around 10 (since it was a weekday), and since I still needed something sweet, drove to the local Wendy's for a frosty. It was there that my mother announced that the Chinese food we had ended up costing $35 for us. I HATE that we have to pay so that hosts don't have to cook. Meanwhile my mother is naive enough to cook her trademark dishes since "she's so good at it". Smart-ass Pakis :P

Another day in my glorious life!

The Tuesday Eid Report

(Eid Mubarak in Arabic)

What's crack-a-lackin' yaars?

Eid-ul-Adha was quite enjoyable yesterday. It ranks up there as one of the better baree Eids (big Eid). Despite the fact that I came in with low expectations, I left with good memories, and one that left me a bit ticked!

Quick note - For some reason they refer to this Eid as "Big Eid" while the previous one is "Little Eid". I have no idea why, especially since "Little Eid" involves fasting for a month and money gifts on the celebratory day whereas "Big Eid" involves no money, no fasting, and the slaying of a lamb. The beauty of religion I suppose!

On to the report. After falling asleep at around 4 am, my mother managed to wake me up at around 9, totally pissed and worried that we would be late for prayers. From what she's told me, you get more blessings from God the earlier you're there and the closer you are to the front. Which is all good and dandy, but why all the rush when our prayers will be ONE block away!

My mother was CONVINCED that if we left after 9:30 for 10 AM prayers, we would be late, as there would be too many people, too little parking, and problems. My brother being the dorkaramus he is, managed to get INTO the tub to bathe at 9:25! Luckily for the first time ever I was ready at my mom's scheduled time and got the rare chance for her to ream into him for being stupid. Of course after those 10 seconds she managed to group the lateness as both of our problems! The trials and tribulations of being the eldest!

We managed to leave our home at 9:45 to get to the place, which was the Banquet Hall/Basement of "Flipper's Fish House". It obviously didn't sound to enamouring. With my mother huffing and puffing, we managed to pull into the plaza at 9:50, with ample parking RIGHT in front of the restaurant. As we got into the banquet hall, we saw that it was HALF empty. And to top it off, prayers started 15 minutes LATE!!! I could have used the extra sleep!

Prayers were good though. For the first time since I can remember, my brother and myself managed to find family friends to sit with and pray, making the experience much more enjoyable as we actually talk a bit (if you've ever met my brother, you know he's not the talker I am, so chilling with him can at times be quite the silent movie). In the 30 minutes before prayers, we managed to have a little group around us, composed of people I actually have known since childhood! It was amazing, seeing as our normal, GTA community gatherings are so large, you seldom meet more than one or two familiar faces. It was completely heart-warming to share the experience with old friends.

The sermon by the speaker was - as much as I'd like to cut him some slack - lame. The gentleman had a bit of an English speaking problem, and went into a tedious, repetitive speech style that had us asleep within 10 minutes. Admittedly, his message afterwards WAS quite interesting, he just lulled us to sleep with his slow intro. And it seemed that his Urdu speech (which was interspersed after English paragraphs), was a completely different speech. He was MUCH more comfortable and elegant in his mother tongue - though I wish that his English was too.

So after prayers we gave celebratory hugs to family and friends we knew. After that, for some reason we were given "refereshment" paper bags, consisting of jalebi, 2 samosas, namak paray, and a juice box. It was quite fun avoiding meeting with my 1st cousin (who I don't exactly get along with) by drinking the juice box. It WAS Eid though, so I did dish out the love (I didn't want to rack up black marks with the Big Guy on EID!). Plus, the party was at OUR house for the first time!

We drove the 1 block home (don't ask, my mother didn't want to ruin her clothes with a 1 block walk), and upon reaching home saw that there was a lineup of guests waiting at the door. We opened up shop, chatted a bit in the living room, and the PLAN was for us younger folk to head out to Mandarin for some all-you-can eat lunch. Right when we are leaving, I made the bone-headed move of informing my mother of our departure. She manages to force us all back in, ensuring we eat some of her Pakistani appetizers, thus killing any chance of leaving. I mean, who goes to all-you-can eat after having appetizers?!? An hour later, after slyly killing our plans, she coyly asked "Why aren't you going now?". Not only do I HATE when my mother does stuff like that, I DESPISE when she manages to talk about the topic with her friends (who then gabbed about what dishes they love at Mandarin!).

The young guests (young as in under 30) managed to go inside and watch The 40 Year Old Virgin. I had alrady seen it so managed to get into my room and fall asleep on my bed (with dress shirt and necktie on!). By the time I awoke, all had left! Which is probably not the worst thing in the world, as I was too tired to answer the typical "auntie" questions. So I went back to bed, this time in p.j.'s and a blanket to warm up in! And hours later I awoke to a beautiful smell...

My brother brought home Chinese Hakka! My mother I think felt semi-bad over killing our lunch and sent my brother to get some Hakka Chow Mein from Lucky's. Though it wasn't Mandarin, I couldn't complain. Well I could, and did. My brother picked the spicy noodles! Though for those scoring, I've had worse (as you very well remember Jamie!).

The night was capped with the final of the inaugural Madden Bowl. And in true Naveed/Zan rivalry fashion, I managed to lose 12-7 to Zan, as he beat me with a SAFETY and field goal! I FINALLY managed to stop his run game, yet still lose as I can't throw for the life of me! GRRRRR!

That's the Eid report for Tuesday. Today is the Eid for a majority of Muslims in Canada, and we've been invited to a party of non-Ahmadi Muslims (if you didn't know, I'm of the Ahmadi Muslim denomination of Islam - my paternal grandfather a founding member). It is most definitely going to be strange explaining to old ignorant men why a "village sect" celebrated Eid a day early, but I'll try my best to represent (even though I have no clue either!). Oh, and if it didn't get any better, we're PAYING for dinner at their home. Somebody came up with the brilliant idea of buying Chinese and splitting the cost last month for little Eid and it seems we're doing it again. So So Wrong!!!

Talk to you l8er dawgs (and bitches :P )

Eid Mubarak (again) !

Hey yaars!

Today is Eid-Ul-Adha for me. Yes, Muslims celebrate 2 Eids. Eid-ul-Fitr is a celebration after a month of fasting, while Eid-ul-adha is best described as follows:

Eid-ul-Adha—the Festival of Sacrifice—is an occasion to remember and pay homage to the unselfish act of Prophet Abraham. Out of his impeccable devotion and obedience to the One God, Allah, Abraham once resolved to sacrifice his own son Ishmael and fulfill God’s will. But Ishmael was saved by Allah in the nick of time and replaced by a lamb. Eid-ul-Adha celebrates this great sacrifice and is a time for Muslims to look back upon the selflessness of Prophet Abraham.

The spirit of sacrifice is at the heart of this holiday of Eid-ul-Adha. However, it’s not simply an occasion to sacrifice a lamb, ram, goat or any other animal to commemorate Abraham’s sacrifice. The values of self-denial associated with a sacrifice form the rudiments of Eid-ul-Adha. This holiday is especially significant to the Muslims all over the world precisely because Eid-ul-Adha fosters the virtue of sacrifice or ‘qurbani’, which is central to the Islamic doctrines. The sacrifice on Eid-ul-Adha, however, does not have any expiating value. Rather, this Eid-ul-Adha sacrifice solely marks and honors Abraham’s act by sacrificing something living to Allah and thereby harps on the values of self-denial, ceding to the will of God and it is meant to be followed thus.

Usually my mother sends money to her brother back in Pakistan to pay for a lamb to be sacrificed, I have no clue as to this years plans. It is suppose to be a big deal there, where people will buy a lamb a month in advance, feed it, raise it, and then hire the local specialty butcher to slaughter it in the halal way (slitting it's throat and letting it bleed to death while saying a specific prayer). My mom and brother have been in Pakistan to see this and my brother still cringes at the memory of all the blood, whereas my mother says her and her sisters would look forward to watching it as girls! They REALLY didn't have entertatinment back then!

For my family, our plans are quite simple. Our prayers are at 10 - inside a restaurant's basement if you can beleive it - about two blocks from our home. The geniuses' that run our religious sect locally decided that each suburb should have it's own separate prayer location to prevent disasters like the previous Eid's, where we all go off into No-Man's Land and get stuck on the highways and then in the parking lots!

After prayers, my mother's inviting her best friend over for tea and halva puri, which is kind of like the equivalent of a pancake breakfast, but not really. Any of you non desi's will have to come over to try it sometime (as long as your arteries can take it!). Along with her best friend, she managed to invite a family whom I haven't seen in years, and tend to get a little annoyed at. They're the inquisitive type, who never stop asking questions and always manage to grind your gears to the point that you want to shoot yourself! Thank goodness my mother has planned to have the "children" (yound adults my age and my 17 year old brother) go to a restaurant to eat lunch. I'm hoping for the Mandarin buffet!

I'll leave it at that for now, I need some sleep for tomorrow. I'll have the full post-Eid wrap up for you all as soon as possible.

Quick notes before I go:
- I still am laughing at the witty analysis of this Eid being "Eid 2 : Back with a Vengeance"
- The correct plural form of the word is yaars, not ya'ars (I'll still forgive you :P )
- The Madden Bowl final : Carolina (Naveed) vs. Jacksonville (Zan)
(The Panthers have totalled 3 of the 4 wins I've had in all of our faux playoff games - I've lost 6 times to Zan, and he's already starting the psychological mindgames with me!)

No More NIKE!!!

Having worn the famous swoosh since the age of 10, I've slowly come to love the darn multinational imperialistic company for its kick-arse gear. Of course they've horribly dissappointed me now as I've come to read some horrible news...

Nike signs deal worth 1.97 bln rupees with Indian cricket team

BOMBAY (AFX) - Nike Inc has signed a deal worth 1.97 bln rupees to kit out the Indian cricket team after outbidding rivals Reebok and Adidas, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said.

The five-year contract, which starts from Jan 1, also gives Nike the rights to sell the BCCI's official merchandise at its retail outlets across the country. Nike's bid of 1.97 bln rupees topped Reebok's 1.19 bln rupees and Adidas's bid of 1.28 bln rupees, BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi said.

'The aim was to maximize the gains from the game for the benefit of the game,' Modi said.

No, that sound you just heard wasn't me passing out, but my jaw dropping at the sight of those monetary figures. Trying to take the positive out of it, I figured that the Pakistani team would manage to get a deal soon. Nope! We're stuck being outfitted by some no-name UK company called AJ Sports! To take the glass half full approach, I can now truly say that "the rival" just HAS to be evil, they now wear BLACK (as oppose to their traditional sky blue).

The first match starts next friday. Can't you just tell that I'm excited?

PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!

Madden Bowl I

Hey yaars!

Comme usuelle, I hope everything is good and gravy on your end (and I refer to ALL of you!). Fun times on my end are slowly starting to come to a close as Christmas holidays are almost spent up. Yes, of course I know the break wouldn't last forever but it was damn fun while it lasted.

The past few weeks I've been arduously training to conquer my brother at Madden. So far I've taken steps in the right direction. In 6 matchups over the past 24 hrs, I've managed to beat him twice! WooHoo! Surprisingly we've had way too many crazy moments to count. Him creaming my Cadillac Williams with the best hit ever probably tops the list. In the process of jumping over a defender he managed to soar at me, knock me out, and have me fumble the ball mid-air! Of course that led to the famous Tongan Tickle Grip:

Tongan Tickle Grip - A move invented by Naveed in the early 90's to pin my brother and keep him forcibly laughing until he gasps for air!

Murphy's Law At Work

Hey yaars!

Ever notice how whenever you're free and have nothing to do, NOBODY'S available!?! That's me right now, riding the pine doing absoultely squat. Well, I DID manage to beat my brother 24-21 at Madden a few minutes ago, but that shouldn't be the highlight of anybody's day! I guess it's on to chauffering him to and from work! Talk to you peeps in a bit!

And if anybody else is free and bored, give me a holla!

"So This is the New Year"

Hey yaars!

Happy belated New Year! My bad for waiting on posting - my hangover prevented me from doing so :P

Seriously though, I am sleeping WAY too much these days! I managed to have 7 hours worth of napping over the past 14 hours, and this is AFTER a whole night's sleep! My circadian rhythms are running amok and I can't say I'm liking it. Though it does give me ample time to write a decent post!

I know it's '06 but since everyone is doing it, I'll try and synopsize '05 : Naveed Style.

HIGHLIGHTS

Starting a blog
Even though this has gotten me in trouble on a few occasions, I have come to enjoy chronicling my life as I see it, and ensuring that my faithful readers manage to get a chuckle when reading up on how they're Pakistani-Canadian boy is doing.

Talking with girls/ladies/women/opposite sex/whatever you wanna call yourself
(believe it or not, to actually talk about things other than "hi", "how are you?" and "How 'bout that weather?" use to actually get me nervous - and sometimes they still do!)

Making Many New Buddies
The New Year will ascertain whether or not these people actually DO like me! I'd write down a list of people but fear I'd leave out a person or two who would end up killing me. I'll spread the love all around, and hope I don't get assassinated anytime soon.

Oh, and to quickly return the favour, I do have to give a quick shout-out to Courtney for giving me props on her blog. I probably started this blog on herr encouragement, hopefully it's maintained the prescribed level of excellence I try to attain (in other words, I hope it's still well-good).

Drinking
Who would have thunk it? After lots of thought I figured it would be one of the many wild things I'd do, in moderation. It was interesting to say the least, though I don't see myself further indulging. I guess being brought up in a home where "going crazy" is drinking 3 or 4 Coke cans probably means the boozing ain't for me. For interests' sake, here's what I managed to have this year (if anybody remembers anything else, please let me know!)

Beers - Molson Canadian, Moosehead, Stella Artois, Guinness, Rickard's

- a Zambooka (I still don't know what this is)
- a 649 (I thought it was some kinky thing when the waitress said it was ordered for me)
- Liquid Cocaine (I took it on 4 hrs sleep, 8 hrs of work, AND an empty stomach - never again!)
- Sprite and Vodka (I forget it's menu name)
- Rum and Coke (Thanks Cedric for introducing me to your drink of choice!)

I think I'll stick to Orange Pekoe and Pepsi Thank You Very Much!


The Blue Jays Season

Also known as my debut as a "captain". It was probably my most enjoyable season fro many reasons. I finally managed to do something other than the Toronto Star Season Pass window (though at times I did miss the odd customers there). Being perched atop my stack of FedEx boxes at the Inside Window was pretty good, and since Cedric nor Derek where no longer nearby to keep my company, I had to put it upon myself to make some new friends. Subsequently, I think the whole of Gate 9 recognizes my voice/face now!

So many hilarious moments to count, so little space to put it in, but here are my Blue Jays memories:

-Opening Day with no hassles

- "Running the bases" - though as I've said before, I was one of the THREE to actually NOT have done it, though I witnessed it and still laugh thinking about it!

- Gretzky's all-you-can-eat wings and the Wing King

- Astor's and the "bitch" waitress

- Me almost pissing myself after getting pulled over by a cop for an illegal left turn (and thanks to the shrewdness of placing the pretty girl up front, I avoided the ticket!)

- The "cold shoulder"

- Bowling night with the 360 degree spinaroonie bowling (if you have to ask, you missed it)

- MY cold shoulder (which I'm practicing on improving these days!)

- The Season-ending bash (which I've chronicled in October to the utmost detail)

My Birthday
Eventful for SO many reasons and ridiculously fun! That's usually the case when the next day requires 16 hours of sleep!




I'm positive there is much more to reflect on, I'm just not in the right mode to comment on it, I'll be back with some more thoughts soon enough!