Archive for May, 2007
May 22nd, 2007, 12:51 pm
After reading HijabMan’s intriguing post about a coffee pot lota and watching Ummah Film’s recent video about cleanliness in Islam, I felt compelled to tell the world about my special Argentine lota.
It’s nothing more than a water bottle.
“Che, slow down. What’s a lota?”
I’m glad you asked. Using HijabMan’s definition, it’s a vessel used to carry and pour water. But when you hear South Asian American Muslims use the term, it almost always refers to the watering thing used to wash your behind after you do number two. I say bodna when I’m around Bengalis because that’s our term for this magical vessel. Sadly, the term is falling into disuse amongst the Bengali American youth due to the Urdu/Hindi domination of Indian and Pakistani Muslims.
Back to the topic. I figured that since I buy bottled water nearly every week, I might as well make use of the empty containers to, for the lack of a better phrase, lavar mi trasero (to wash my behind). Besides, it’s such a great way to recycle.
I keep my lotas on the floor by the wastebasket in my room. And I say lotas because either the maid that comes by my host family’s home thrice a week throws them away when she cleans my room or I replace them about every week or two since I just have to make use of every bottle I have. Sometimes I keep them in my closet so the she can’t get a hold of them.
“Wait, why do you keep your lota in your room? Shouldn’t it be next to the toilet?”
Well, I just don’t feel comfortable enough with my host family to tell them not to throw any water bottles they find in the baño because I use them to wash my butt. Although I’m sure they would understand the concept of cleaning your behind with water since most Argentine households have bidets (including theirs), I would feel a bit awkward explaining that to my host mom, host brother, and maid. What am I supposed to do? Call all three of them to the living room for a “talk”? No gracias. Whenever I need my lota, I keep it hidden with my towel when I walk to the bathroom. Yeah, maybe I am a bit paranoid but whatever.
For those of you that just use toilet paper to clean yourself, I recommend complementing your cleaning procedure with water. You may think it’s crazy that most Muslims do this, but just take a look at the inside of your underwear and tell me what you see. I rest my case.
Posted in Argentina, Islam/Muslims, South Asians | 11 Comments | Trackback
May 18th, 2007, 11:58 pm
We’re all guilty of stereotyping.
Shortly after finishing jummah today at the ginormous masjid in Buenos Aires, I saw a bunch of unfamiliar, desi-looking bearded men dressed in thobes, but I didn’t think about stopping by to talk to them since they looked busy conversing with one another. However, an Argentine sister wanted to know where they were from, so I decided to say salaam and introduce myself. I found out they were from the Johannesburg, South Africa area and had been in Argentina for a few months, traveling from city to city, province to province to spread the message of Islam. It also turned out that they were fourth-generation South African Indians. Fascinating. They spoke English in some sort of pseudo-British accent which I barely understand at times. What was even cooler was that they had all been to Bangladesh.
When they told me they were members of Tablighi Jamaat, I was a bit intimidated. I heard that Tablighis were like a mix of Evangelical Christians and Mormon missionaries who travel and go door to door telling Muslims to convert to their brand of Islam, so I thought they were trying to recruit me or something. I mean, they don’t promote violence or anything, but the thought of Evangelical Muslims is a bit scary. Plus, their huge beards were intimidating as well. It’s weird how, as a well-educated, open-minded Muslim, I automatically assume that beardacious Muslim men are out there to judge and criticize others while thinking that only they have the keys to Paradise. Obviously, this isn’t always true.
At the end of the conversation, they asked me for my number and said that we should hang out sometime soon before they leave for South Africa in a week. I was like “Sure…” and said that we should meet up sometime during the weekdays. I headed out to have lunch with some friends, and then I realized I missed a great opportunity to have something interesting to blog about. And I felt a little guilty for having preconceived notions about them simply because they belonged a group I didn’t know much about. So I went back to the masjid to pray asr and found them there.
We took a cab to Recoleta, one of the ritzier Buenos Aires neighborhoods, to the offices of an airline so that they could make some changes to their tickets. (On a side note, the armed security guards that greeted us as we entered the building happened to be there a few minutes later. Coincidence? I think not.) Afterwards, I tried to help them find a currency exchange place, but we couldn’t find one that was open and had a good exchange rate from dollars to pesos. During this entire time, we talked about our families, our lives back home, and the importance of following Islam to lead a moral existence. Despite living different lives in entirely different countries, our love for Islam brought us together. Alhamdulillah.
What’s the moral of the story, kids? Never judge a man by his beard.
Posted in Argentina, Islam/Muslims, South Asians, Life | 9 Comments | Trackback
May 15th, 2007, 10:26 am
Last Monday marked the third-month anniversary of my glorious trip to Argentina. Whoa. That’s a whole summer break! Time is going by way too fast. Sigh. If things continue to be like this, seven months will go by before I know it.
While most of you are enjoying the warm spring weather up north, fall is well underway down in Argentina. I’m in the Southern Hemisphere, remember? It’s like Oppositeland here. The highs have been in the 60s/50s and the lows have been in the 50s/40s for the past two weeks. That doesn’t sound too cold, but when you factor in the humidity, it’s freezing without it actually being freezing. Okay, you know what I meant. I find it far more pleasant than the steaming hot weather that greeted me for the first few weeks of my stay.
Speaking of weather, I should learn Celsius. Fahrenheit is no good here. Or anywhere outside of the US.
Unfortunately, it looks like the vacation period of my study abroad is finally coming to an end. The last week two weeks have been pretty hectic. I’ve been swamped with hundreds of pages of reading. If they were in English, I could read them relatively quickly. Sometimes it takes me five to ten minutes to read a page. En serio. It’s really frustrating. I usually understand about 85% or more of what I read, but it just takes forever to go through everything simply because I’ve never had to read so much in Spanish, especially in such complicated language. Still, the situation I’ve gotten myself into is completely my fault. I would probably be fine if I had kept up with the readings. No, not probably. I would be.
Yes, I actually intend to study during study abroad.
I nearly lost my debit card last week. As I was about to leave my place for class on Thursday, I realized that it wasn’t in my wallet. I furiously searched my drawers and found nothing. Then I remembered I had used it withdraw cash from an ATM at a bank a few blocks away that Tuesday. Luckily, I had the receipt for my last transaction in my wallet. I used that and my passport to prove that the card was indeed mine. Phew. I doubt that whoever turned it in to the bank didn’t write down my number, but I think I’m gonna cancel my card just in case.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Argentina | 3 Comments | Trackback
May 11th, 2007, 08:56 pm
Not that I would have ever guessed this or anything, but the U.S. government has a severe shortage of intelligence agents familiar with the diverse languages of cultures of Muslims worldwide:
The U.S. government, in dire need of intelligence agents skilled in the languages and cultures of the Muslim world, is struggling to recruit from American ethnic communities grown wary of its policies.
Relations with many minority communities, first soured by a post-Sept. 11 crackdown on Muslim immigrants, have been further strained by uproars over the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, U.S. interrogation practices and President George W. Bush’s now-suspended domestic spying program, experts said.
I’m no expert, but I would say that America’s invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the anti-Muslim stances of important political figures, and the growing Islamophobia in the media also have something to do with this mistrust. Yeah, given the political situation, it’s hard to believe that you won’t be betraying your own people by working as an intelligence agent for the FBI and CIA.
Posted in Islam/Muslims, Politics | 3 Comments | Trackback
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