What’s the connection between the Arab culture and a disposable razor?

So the other day, I was working in my office, trying to ponder over why disposable razors are not a craze in India (we prefer system razors with spare cartridges refills), while in arab countries, they sell like hot cakes.

And then, like any other post-lunch-yawn-filled office hour, my train of thoughts led me to think about the way people behave in UAE in general and Dubai in particular, and compare it with the rest of the world. And I reached a dilemma. But we’ll get back to it later.

For now, the only word that comes in my mind when I think of the Arab culture is…

“Conservative”. Yeah, I know you had already guessed it.

The people here are proud of their culture. And they should be. Hell, I am, for my country’s culture.

But there seems to be a sense of unusual continuation. And there are contradictions. For example, it makes sense to wear white robes with heads covered when walking under the hot sun in desert areas. But if you have left the hot deserts for air-conditioned malls and camels for the BMWs and the Ferraris, why not adapt the attire too?

That’s for us to wonder and them to know.

Moreover, how much sense does it make for the ladies to wear all black then. Even in the desert in the first place. I visited Dubai museum. Couldn’t help but marvel at the commendable hard-work they have put into building a city from almost scratch. Extremely persevering people the arabs are, I must say.

But then you also see the traditional statues. You just can not miss the extreme slave-like appearances of the traditional arab women folk. The picture below shows a display in the Dubai museum:

You can see a man and a woman in the picture above. No, wait, you can’t. I ain’t a burqa-critic, but I would like to understand the reason behind this immense protection. It leaves me with two ideas:

• Either the arabs consider their women so precious that they don’t want to share them with the world.
• Or the arabs consider their women as slaves. Since the beginning.

I would like to believe the first one. Whatever may be the reason, UAE is not a honeymoon destination, for sure. Not even for the Indian Muslims. The culture shock is just too much to handle.

The Arabs are very closed about their culture. They would have banned tourism had it not brought money into their economy. The laws are different, the expectations are different and the living is different. Even in the age when the entire world is becoming a global village, the arabia stands tall with a separate Burj Khalifa.

Whether the arab culture is better or worse, I am not qualified enough to comment on. But yes, they are a conservative bunch of people. You can see them, but all hell would break loose if you touch them. Like the displays in the museums say.

And that brings me to my sweet little confusion. If the Arab people are this conservative, why is the disposable razor such a rage here, even among the ladies? In India, we are more used to the razors with a static handle and keep changing cartridges, while here people throw away the entire thing after using.

Not conservatism. After all the disposable razor advocates the ‘Use and Throw’ mode of life. For both men and women.

Does it say something about the hidden aspirations of the sanctuary of a civilization or am I just being a cynic?

That’s for me to wonder and them to know.

Alok K.

P.S. I didn’t have any intention of maligning any culture while posting this article.

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Google’s Project Glass: Are we ready for it?

Does anybody remember Alex James Murphy, the cyborg police officer of Detroit? Our very own RoboCop? Google’s augmented reality glass reminds me of him. Especially, when a virtual overlay map starts giving you directions on the road, you video talk to your boss on the go, you reply to emails in the middle of a meeting, you click pictures by blinking your eye while passing by a hill, you fill an empty plot with a virtual image of your dream house and what not, without any obtrusive headgear. As a matter of fact, you do so without holding a single device like those of smartphones and tabs in your hands.

 

  

It’s small piece of eyewear magically wrapped around your head to connect your real and virtual world; doesn’t sound like present like photo copier of Mission Impossible 4 Ghost Protocol. All my childhood fantasies seem to find a spectacle. Literally. Yes gentlemen, this is the future!

                                       

Project glass will be one of the biggest breakthroughs in the AR technology. Gone are the days when we talked about VR (virtual reality). The next decade would witness such breakthroughs one after another. From nanobots to flying cars to driverless automated vehicles, the future is all set for a fantastic cyber advancement. It would be interesting to watch the biggies competing over augmented reality technology. Who and What after Google, if project glass succeeds? We will definitely miss Steve Jobs in this war yet to happen.

The question hits, are we ready for the change? It does sound amazing to have an unobtrusive eyegear that will enable us to interact and digitally manipulate the information about the surrounding real world but do we really need such a gear? Forget hazards caused to eyes, there can be issues with the extreme nature of this project. What I mean is, it will definitely take over us inevitably with the projected exhaustive list of functions and as shown in the Project Glass Video released by Google. Are our brains programmed to handle this kind of information overload and multitasking all the time? The bigger question, are we ready to convert ourselves to cyborgs?

The tale is twisted from one side. Project glass is a way to what has been shown on celluloid since the dawn of VR technology. We have fantasized about it, so why can’t we have it?

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The Reluctant Fundamentalist

As I read the name out loud, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, I did realize that this book has something deep attached to it, an emotion unexpressed. Plus, the CROSSWORD Recommends sticker on it and a piece of information that it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2007, made me take the book to the cashier, and back to my pad.

Most of the scripts and storylines post 9/11 had a typical ink scent that made them cliché after a time.

Mohsin Hamid looks at it in an entirely refreshing way.

First, the writing style of the book is right from the author’s pen. The first person monologue intrigues you more than any multilingual dialogue would be able to.

The Pakistani stranger ,Changez ,talks to an American Tourist at a Lahore Café, unfolding his entire biography about the time spent in the States. How he graduated Princeton with the best of grades, was hired by a top notch company Underwood Samson, and how he fell into the rat trap of the world; how he gradually got in love with Erica, and what led further to a tragic end of a realistic love story.

The protagonist manipulates your moods well along a sine curve, by coming back from his story to the happenings in the café around him, and then back to the serious issues of his life. He opens up to us his honest foreign insight of an alien land.

The way Mohsin writes simply makes your lips curve upwards every now and then. You would certainly appreciate his detailed observations of things we overlook, and the textual elegance with which he puts everything into a richly decorated sentence.

The book looks at various facets through a new pair of eyes- relationships and their effect on us, competing with the never ending competition itself, the global turmoil post 9/11, politics, perceptions, changes, existing fundamentals, and the metamorphosis into an Islamic fundamentalist.

As crossword did, even I would recommend the book to you. Take time to read it. Cherish every sentence. I love the kind of books which gift you with sentences that linger in your mind. Another such recommendation from my side would be ‘The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch’.

P.S. I came across this interesting analysis of the naming pattern followed in the book.

Underwood Samson- Uncle Sam, United States ; reporting one side of the USA, the fast and moving life, nose to nose competition and its associated enjoyment.

And Erica- from America, the other side of the dime, the slow paced love life, the emotions, the need for spending time with your loved ones.

As we come round to the end of the book, we see loads of changes in Changez (obvious now?), which of course I won’t reveal here, but leave for you to find out.

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Of Belly Dances in Arabian Nights: The Dubai Desert Safari

That random summer placement procedure had once decided that I was going to do my summer internship in Dubai.
And some six months later, I was actually in a desert near Dubai, reclining back on a muslin cushion, watching live performance of a Belly Dancer, who was shaking her hips on wavy arabian tunes, while my friends were busy filling their memory cards with the images and videos.
I came back to my senses, and took out my faithful SONY H55.
It made a whirring sound as the lens opened its eyes. I could not take off my eyes from the belly dance, hence shot the video without even looking at the screen!
Here’s the youtube link to a 3 minute long recording. Pardon the occasional camera swings!

Okay, now that you have watched the climax of the desert safari, let’s begin from where it all began. Dubai’s weekends start from friday itself (that’s the norm in most islamic countries). We didn’t want to waste our first weekend, and hence decided to kick start the fun with a full fledged desert safari in the Hatta Oman desert near Dubai.
The dune bashing:
Banned in Australia, and ultra-addictive in the Middle east; that’s dune bashing for you. Having had the experience of drifting cars in nfs games (if it even counted as an experience), we started our desert safari with a Land Cruiser, literally drifting on the elusive edges of mighty dunes. Every time the cruiser took a sharp turn, we would be flung to our sides, and fine sand would dance noisily in front of the windows.
                  
The driver was an arabian guy who had warned us that in case we puked, we would be fined 500 dirhams (In Indian currency, that’s around Rs. 7000!!!). The arabian music blaring loudly in the SUV didn’t help either!
We didn’t puke. One doesn’t puke when ecstatic.
The Sand Surfing:
Now this was something I had never done in my life. Surfing on slippery sands is something one needs to experience to appreciate. It looks adventurous, but when you do it, it’s sheer fun!
All you need to do is to balance yourself on a rickety surfing-board which is slipping uncontrollably on fine sands. And yes, you may fall on your face if you don’t balance yourself good. Easy, ain’t it?

The quintessential camel ride:
Now this one was a disappointment. Three camels tied to one another, walking slowly for less than 5 minutes, and voila, your camel ride has ended.
We were left begging for more!

The calm evening on a calm dry desert:
Tired of everything, we spent the next half an hour just sitting on the fine sands, doing nothing. It feels strange when you do nothing. Arbit ideas come in your mind.
“What am I doing in this random desert near a random city in a random country!” I got reminded of India. This place is not very different. Same people, just different clothes and slightly accented voices. :D
Anyways, I captured some more pics.




 The Belly Dance!!!
While we were lazing around in the sands, this loud arabian music started coming from near the stage. Somebody said, “It has begun!!!”
We came down the dune and entered the ‘Majlis’. A large Square Kaleen was lying around which muslin cushions were kept. Some of us sat while the others checked things around. The loud arabian music faded to light beats.
The belly dancer came.
The next hour saw us watching the dance totally mesmerized, while she swung her hips and belly along the serpentine tunes of that arabian song; as if she was riding on waves.
“Waves of Sand. Sands of Time.”
Here are some pics of the performance. They are not NSFW, but parental advisory might be needed. ;)
 

All in all, this desert Safari was an amazing experience. I knew that Dubai would be fun. But the sands would be this interesting – I had no friggin’ idea!
Alok K.
April 7th, 2012
P.S. While waiting for the Land cruiser to take us back, we played with shadows. Can you see what we did with Dubai?

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