I'll be blogging indefinitely from Madame Ovary to track the progress of my training and raising funds for Kilimanjaro. Think of it as an extension of this blog, if you will. I hope to be posting here intermittently as well, but Madame Ovary was created with the sole intention of blogging about my health this year and climbing Kilimanjaro. 

Yesterday, I found this video floating around the interwebs. I implore you to watch it in its entirety, even if it means you’d run the risk of punching your computer screen.

While this video highlights the facts that most Israelis aren’t native to the land and that some naturalised Israeli citizens believe they have the divine right to occupy said land because they are God’s chosen people, I wouldn’t say that the question YouTube user DeppenWebber asks is fair.

Granted, an older Israeli woman had the gall to say,

“What I think that what you people don’t recognise the fact that that there is the hierarchy, and at the top of the hierarchy is the Jews and nation....it is not equal,” (9:58 onwards)

which I think is what should be the most shocking point of contestation with the occupation – not the response to someone’s one dimensional methodology of asking passersby where they’re from.

Note: I’m not sympathising with Israeli or Zionist actions. This is a mere observation.

You see, the question he asks is bordering on archaic in this day and age. It may prove his point that modern day Israelis really aren’t from Israel, but who's to say that anybody living in any country truly belongs there?

Here’s why. (Warning: personal anecdotal reference ahead)

I can't stand when people ask me where I'm from because it’s impossible to answer in a single breath. Yes, I have a Pakistani passport, but I've never lived there, nor would I ever want to. The sum total of the time I’ve spent in the motherland is probably shorter than a teenage boy's first encounter with ladyparts. I can’t even speak my mother tongue.

I grew up in the Middle East, and feel more 'Arab' than 'Pakistani.' I don’t associate with my culture, and I certainly do not condone most of Pakistan’s actions either culturally or politically.

I'm not considered Pakistani enough to most Pakistanis, and I'll never be ‘Arab’ despite having grown up in the Middle East. I was born in a country that constantly reminds me that I’ll never belong. Hell, even some of my closest friends like to point out the differences between my genetic composition and theirs’. My grandmother was Burmese, my grandfather Gujarati. My maternal great-grandmother had Afghani roots, but both my parents’ families eventually travelled to and settled in Pakistan after the partition.

So, where am I from? I have no fucking clue. How far back must one go in order to trace their ‘true’ heritage? Mitochondrial Eve, perhaps?

I dislike the question whether it’s asked to me, Zionists, or just some random man on the street. I dislike it because it implies that we have no choice in who we are as human beings, and that our identity predates us. What you choose to do with yourself and your identity defines who you are; not your circumstantial passport or place of birth. 

 This, I would imagine, is the actual point of the video; the idea that several people use their dictated identity to practice their 'God-given rights.' Several, but not all, Israelis use history to stake a claim on a piece of land. They go back to a two millennia old exodus to justify their right to be there. But if everyone used that excuse, we’d still be living in the age of vast empires built on nothing more than shaky foundations of greed.

Even though Israel is one of the very few nation-states in existence today, it is not so different from other countries in the sense that its inhabitants are struggling at the crux of two identities – their historical and their present.  

Fifteen years ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The bill, which defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman under Federal law, passed by a vote of 342-67 — an outcome that roughly reflected public opinion at the time. But, according to ThirdWay.org, over the past decade and a half, our society has undergone a seismic shift in how it recognizes and accepts the relationships of gay and lesbian couples. This report provides a snapshot of this dramatic transformation and illustrates the crystallizing consensus in favor of legal relationship recognition for gay and lesbian couples, extending all the way to marriage in many parts of the country. In 1996, DOMA was thought to have ended the debate on marriage. But it seems to have been only the beginning of a more profound shift in favor of gay and lesbian couples.

When I first joined Twitter in the summer of 2008, I didn't really see much point to the micro blogging site. The website had just been unblocked by our ever so moody ISPs just a few months prior and there were no more than a couple dozen users from the UAE, out of whom only a handful were active. The prospect of connecting with an international community never really struck me at that point in time and so I happily settled into a period of social doldrums. But by winter, the handful of active tweeps were buzzing about an upcoming Twestival in February for Charity: Water. Charity events were right up my alley, so I strapped on a pair of heels (never again) and decided to go. I met some fascinating people, and I took it in stride that I was one of the youngest in the community. After February, a few more people caught on and there was an actual sense of community.

In October 2009, UAE Tweets indexed a total of 8,000 users in the UAE. That was a huge deal. My follower count grew, and I got involved with some amazing projects. I was an active member of the real-life community, too. And that's a big thing for me.  At that point I had nothing but praise for Twitter. Following the events of the Arab Spring, I still had only good things to say. 

Then something happened. 

Three years down the line I've begun to regret spending far too much time on Twitter. Here's a list of some of them, right off the top of my head. Note the use of hashtags for the list. Clever eh? No?! Well, #screwyou.

#3 I think in 140 characters

Do you have any idea how difficult it had become to write my undergrad thesis on socio-political artistic expression in the Middle East after writing about the same in concise 140-character blurbs for three years? If you came to this blog through a link on Twitter, then you probably do. But I will admit, my followers had given me impressive leads, and for that, I thank them. 

I aced that by the way, thanks for asking. 

#2 Faceless brands, logos and marketing

Social media, with the popularity of home grown brands like Wild Peeta, piqued the interest of other companies here. It became a cost effective way of getting an in with the people who mattered. These 'gurus' began charging an arm and a leg to teach unsuspecting media folk of the dark ages what hashtags and trending topics were. No joke. 

Then, anybody who was a relative somebody, i.e. had more than 100 followers, on Twitter began to have their inboxes inundated with follow notifications of brands that they had no interest in. Tweeps in my timeline began to gravitate towards social media marketing as careers, which struck me as odd. I might be biased when I say this (no, I'm pretty sure I'm biased) but there's just something about marketing, advertising and PR that rubs me off the wrong way. Consumerism and excessiveness in this waste-driven society is just something I can't wrap my head around. 

#2a The Twitter Mob

Perfecting the art of draconian corporate witch-hunts became your claim to fame on Twitter. 

#1 Nobody sees past the social media dweeb

I'm in no means a social media guru, expert, maven, or whatever fancy add-on people slap on to give themselves an air of authority. I never was, and never will be.

Being in university and an incessant tweeter made me a prime target for post recession companies who were looking to hire social media cackle-heads for dirt cheap. (see #2)

You see, I gathered followers because I tweeted about what I felt strongly about: homosexuality, the Middle East, tame and sometimes misinformed socio-political commentary, music, and human rights. I wasn't necessarily good at Twitter, but I was myself; not a brand, not a faceless entity. People who had the same interests as I followed me over a period of time. I didn't use gimmicks like jumping on the trending topic bandwagon or bots. My followers grew organically, and not because I was some popular social media 'guru'. 

But suddenly, that's all I became. Social media. It wasn't my interest/ skills in writing, art, and politics. My degree in international relations meant nothing now that I was on Twitter because people can't get past the 'social media' label, and I'll be the first to admit that this is all my own doing. 

The Israeli government is constantly trying to undermine the Palestinians, and is building illegal settlements on land that is not theirs. Fact. Palestinians and other nationalities, 63 years after the creation of the state of Israel, have come to despise the Israeli government for their modern day apartheid. Fact. 

People from both sides, with their blind prejudices, believe that their lives and the lives of their own people are more important than the lives of others. With two very different people of different ideologies having so much in common, it's a shame that they don't get along. 

I was prompted to write this after a heated discussion about how supporting Israeli protestors fighting for social justice was offensive and cruel to one Palestinian friend of mine following a status message on Facebook: 

I loathe Charles Darwin and refuse to accept any of his theories, not because any religious doctrine commands me to believe otherwise, but because his proclamations about the survival of the fittest have given rise to the practice and experimentation of modern day eugenics. 

You aren't God's gift to mankind. Please stop acting like you are. 

It is bad enough that I have to deal with your incessant cackling and bitching every single God-damn day, where PMS suddenly becomes a scapegoat for your month long insecurities, temper tantrums and daily existential crises.

It's those double standards, bathed in a cesspool of your own ignorance that annoy me most. 

"I'm a feminist,"  she says. 

Really now?

Tell me, does your face, pickled with chemicals, your feet, practicing modern day chánzú in those stilettos, and your breasts, thrust against that double chin of yours that no over the counter beauty serum can remove really stand as a testament to feminism?

Has the decades-long struggle of women, often marginalised, who fought for suffrage, their right to work and not rear children the day they hit puberty mean anything to you?

Of course not, because to you, puberty dredges up painful memories of trying your best to hide those hormone induced pock marks all over your body. 

And you look at those, covered in a sheath of black or blue and say "Those poor oppressed women."

They are "bound." To what? Those magazines which tell you how to please your man? The same men who women, years ago, stood up to and said, "my sole purpose is not to serve you."? To that little black dress which clings for life to that perfect figure those very magazines say you're bereft of?

I weep for the future.

--

To clarify, I was not the awkward, flat chested pock marked girl in high school. I'm not bitter. Just disappointed that empowerment now comes in a particular shade of lipstick. 

03_Guybrush_Threepwood_(Monkey_Island)_-_Pirate_Shout_[audio_fidelity].mp3

(download)

Click here to download:

03_Guybrush_Threepwood_(Monkey_Island)_-_Pirate_Shout_[audio_fidelity].mp3 (7.54 MB)

"This track started out as an idea for a collab with OA and Abadoss where we came up with the idea of going for a rock-inspired Caribbean pirate track. The idea was to be heavy and melodic, and fragment the ideas from the original into something more cohesive for the genre. OA and Abadoss quickly fell off the track and I got the help of good friends to contribute recorder and a men's pirate chorus. The lyrics are taken verbatim from a musical scene in the game. The track is meant to be fun and heroic but still metal. I hope you enjoy this re-envisioning of a true video game classic."

Following the last post about intercultural musicial collaborations, I stumbled upon this one today.

Israeli musicians are showing solidarity with Arab protesters in the region and their struggle for freedom in the song Children of Liberty:

Shalom Salaam - Muslim and Jewish artists Mazzi and Sneakas try to bridge the cultural divide with this clever little rap.

My Benihana Experience

A few days back I posted about Benihana opening up at the Avenues and yesterday night I decided to pass by with Nat and try it out. The service wasn’t too bad for a restaurant that’s just been open for a few days and the staff were really friendly. The restaurant itself is made up of islands and bars with a grill in the middle of each one. You sit around the grill and the chef will come to your table and prepare the food right in front of you which makes things entertaining. It’s actually why I prefer sitting at the bar in Japanese restaurants in general, since you can talk to the chef and watch them put your dish together. The problem with my experience last night though was with the food, it was disappointing to say the least.

We ordered beef negimayaki for starters followed by an Orange Blossom maki and a Hibachi Chicken. The negimaki arrived looking good and was probably the best thing we had there even though I prefer Maki’s negimaki which has a richer teriyaki sauce. The Orange Blossom was very ordinary, wouldn’t order it again. Now the Hibachi chicken which is basically grilled chicken, that was the worst. The chicken was very chewy (I could swear it was undercooked if not raw) and tasted terrible. Even after I had the chef add some more teriyaki sauce in hopes of improving the taste it didn’t work. I tried to dip it into the sauces that came with the chicken but it was hard to figure out if they were actually making things worse or not. Nat only ate one piece of chicken and left the rest while I needed my protein since I’m on a strict diet and forced myself to eat my whole plate (I can do that) but the after taste was really bad. Even the rice and the veggies that came with it tasted bad AND were under cooked. Once we left I considered picking up a frozen yogurt from Pinkberry even though I hate frozen yogurts but I just needed something to get rid of the aftertaste. A few moments later we ended up at Chocolate Bar ordering the gooey chocolate cake (bye bye diet).

I shot the two videos above of the chef preparing our meal. Benihana are known for the live shows they perform when preparing your dish so I was expecting to see [This] but ended up with the above . Would I go back to Benihana? No I wouldn’t. Their sashimi and maki’s are pretty cheap (KD1.5 for 5 pieces of Salmon sashimi for example) but there are two other Japanese restaurants at the Avenues, Wasabi and Maki, and I would prefer either one of those to Benihana.

______________________________________________________

The above is a reproduction of Mark Makhoul's original post on Kuwaiti blog 2:48AM talking about what he thought of newly opened Kuwaiti restaurant Benihana.

The franchise holder of the restaurant then proceeded to issue a lawsuit against Mark, presumably with the intention of scaring him into taking down his post or perhaps agreeing to post something altogether more fawning. T

he company then faced a wave of public anger at its actions, choosing to ignore this, deleting negative comments from its Facebook page and blocking those who commented. Both Benihana Kuwait and the franchisor, Benihana of Tokyo, have consistently refused comment on this shameful little episode. This has already turned into a social media mismanagement case study that will run and run. They're a laughing stock.

Millions of people around the world have read the story: Fast Company, BoingBoing, TheNextWeb and others have posted it (let alone traditional news media around the world).

Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people have seen the story on Twitter. And it's not going to go away - bloggers around the region and beyond are posting copies of Mark's OP today - on blogs, Facebook and other social media platforms.

Already, this case is prominent when you Google Benihana - and it is, of course, on their Wikipedia entry. If you're looking for Benihana Kuwait, this nasty little story is all you get.

Surely these people realise that this is already game over - that if they don't reconsider their actions and act to stop this (and stopping it rests, as it always has, entirely in their hands) that they won't have a restaurant left at the end of the day? It is NOT going to go away. The case is due to have its first day in court on the 8th March.

I would URGE Benihana of Tokyo to finally act responsibly and rein in its idiotic licensee before the damage to the Benihana brand globally becomes irreperable. This will start to hurt other Benihana licensees who have had no part in this. All Benihana has to do is drop the case. For fun and larks, you can follow the hashtag #BenihanaKUW on Twitter. (HT Fake Plastic Souks)

 

 

I feel humiliated to belong to a state with no outlook for the future nor ambition, a state that is authoritarian if not despotic, in which there is neither science, nor reason, nor beauty, nor real culture. This state holds me back; and in this provincial, ruralised society I feel smothered, as I suffer at being governed by uneducated and ignorant leaders. As an intellectual, I feel neurotic. It is human and legitimate that I project this malaise onto my society, but the popular revolts are testimony that this malaise is just not an intellectual construction. 

- Hichem Djait, 1991