!ncredible !ndia One

Peace be upon you,

Guess what guys... I made it the India which I will now call !ncredible !ndia. We left Thursday Dec 18Th and got here on Saturday Dec 20th early in the morning. We spent 18hours traveling! It was excruciating, but the trip was amazing though.

I LOVE BRITISH AIRWAYS!!!

First of all, they had great food. They stared catering for minorities as well. They have three or four different types of meals. One for Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Vegans. Its amazing!

When I got to !ndia it reminded me soo much of Egypt. Almost everything is the same. My cousins are all great. They are a lot like zeeshan, loud... ridiculous jokes which don't make any sense, and constantly punching, pinching, and harassing each other.

So far i visited Abids, Charminar, Laad Bazar, and the surrounding areas of Hyderabad.

Abids... a big shopping area...


A really bad pic of the Charminar Tower thingy...


Recently my entire family took a road trip to Bangalore, Mysore, and Ooty. It was one of the best times of my life. The entire way there we had to sit desi style... 13 people packed into a van which is only supposed to sit 8 people. We couldn't find any decent food, washroom, hotels, place to sit, and on top of that it was cold in Ooty because its high in the mountains.But honestly it was one of the best times of my life.

MG Road in Bangalore ...

This is basically a big street with international stores and brand names.

Here is me holding a Cobra... and making out with it...



Tamil Nadu...


Well that's all for now...Ill try to update more frequently... my next post will be about strange and dangerous adventures in !ncredible !ndia.

~ Peace till next time...MoCo

Where the caravan camels roam Where they cut off your ear If they don't like your face

Peace be upon you,

I just started reading One Thousand and one nights. Iv got to say i expected magic and mystery and a sense of nostalgia but but this is beyond anything I ever expected. The sheer mystical aura of the stories just sucks you in. For the past three nights iv been reading this book nonstop. Some nights Iv been reading well past midnight unable to put the book down. Finally on the forth night I decided to take a break sick, not of the stories, but of the headaches i get in to more from the lack of sleep. This is a must read, not because of the magical mysterious medieval Arab world because the stories are from many different places not just the Arabian peninsula. But because the stories really do represent ... Ummm i dunno how exactly to describe it, but... i feel like they are a window into humanity... I honestly believe they are an essential piece of world culture... A story of human existence.

The translation Im reading is by Husain Haddawy. I think that a Native Arab translator can pick up on the nuances of the meaning much better then a translator who learned Arabic as a second language.

Also a throw back to one of the greatest films of all times...

=)

Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place
Where the caravan camels roam
Where they cut off your ear
If they don't like your face
It's barbaric, but hey, it's home

When the wind's from the east
And the sun's from the west
And the sand in the glass is right
Come on down
Stop on by
Hop a carpet and fly
To another Arabian night

Arabian nights
Like Arabian days
More often than not
Are hotter than hot
In a lot of good ways

Arabian nights
'Neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
Could fall and fall hard
Out there on the dunes

~ Peace till next time...MoCo

From the pen of... Ibn Zaydun

Peace be upon you,

From the pen of Ibn Zaydun...

God has sent showers upon the abandoned dwelling places of those we loved. He has woven upon them a striped, many colored garment of flowers, and raised among them a flower like a star. How many girls like images trailed their garments among such flowers, when life was fresh and time was at our service... How happy they were, those days that have passed, days of pleasure, when we lived with those who had black, flowing hair and white shoulders... Now say to Destiny whose favors have vanished - favors i have lamented as the nights have passed - how faintly its breeze has touched me in my evening. but for him who walks in the night the stars still shine: greetings to you, Cordoba, with love and longing.

Ahmed ibn Abd Allah ibn Zaydun, Diwan, ed. K. al - Bustani (Beirut, 1951).

Ibn Zaydun was born in 1003 in Cordoba, Andalus. His poems about his childhood, birthplace, and Wallada, a Umayyad princess, were very popular because of his personal and unique style.

~ Peace till next time...MoCo