What is sacred anymore?

The world is a strange place and it grows stranger with each passing day. All that was sacred about women, marriage and consensual sex are being dragged down to earth and being made passé... but it also reveals how casual things have become and how shallow we truly are (despite futile pretences otherwise).

Sanctity of Women: Judging on looks?

Hina Rabbani Khar

Those who have been paying attention to the news of late MUST know of the newly installed Pakistani foreign minister who is currently in India for a meeting with her Indian counterpart.

And she is not a topic of hot discussion, because she is a woman or that she is 34 years of age but more because she is quite the looker. An asset that has apparently won her instant fans in India. Otherwise sober newspapers have provided tabloid-like headlines with their story of the foreign minister's visit and some have even resorted to commenting on her dress sense.

“Pak puts on its best face,” screams out India's best selling english language newspaper The Times of India; the Mumbai Mirror tabloid chose to play good humour and headlined its story “Pak bomb lands in India”; The mass circulating Hindi paper Navbharat Times came out and said that India was “sweating over the model-like minister.”

The popular media, amidst general sentiments that the meeting of the two foreign ministers was “historic” and echoing the rhetoric and the usual promises made by either side that “the peace process must go on,” comments from both sides stressing that “dialogue was important,” and public statements on “renewed co-operation against terrorism,” were also able to interject that the Pak foreign minister “was spotted at the Delhi airport in a monotone outfit of blue – the colour of the season.”!

So much so that, in my mind, 'strictly' news reports on the visit looked like too deliberate an attempt to be professional when the writer would rather make a at least one more reference to the Pak foreign minister's looks, dress or dupatta style.

Some papers have already pointed out her choice of Roberto Cavalli sunglasses, Hermes handbag and her other “tasteful” fashion accessories!

Question is are people really taking her seriously and whether the youthful Pak minister can rise above the patronisation and prove her political acumen and insight is as sound as her fashion sense?

And speaking of gender pains...

Sanctity of Marriage: Gender pains?

Traditionally marriage has been an institution between a man and woman... as the times change, however, same sex partner marriages are becoming more open, especially in countries that now allow the practice.

Of course there are countries that do not do so, even though they have not outlawed homosexuality.

It appears that a groom in a recent wedding in Jakarta, Indonesia was actually a woman. The bride's same sex lover had posed as a man for her hand in marriage.

Incidentally the ruse was discovered at the marriage ceremony itself. Suspicions of the actual identity (but not the sex) of the groom began to first arise when 'Rio' arrived at the ceremony without any relatives and failed to show any documents – but the game was finally up when the groom's heavy voice suddenly changed into a feminine one.

Embarrassment (and face) in front of family and guests, gathered to read the Koran at the Islamic marriage ceremony, was averted by having the bride's former boyfriend, Kimon, sit-in for the 'not-so-groom' and marry her.

Questions is (actually, questions ARE) what sort of fool ex-boyfriend goes to a former girl-friend's wedding, to say nothing about what kind of marriage he can honestly expect if the bride is not into boys? (After all he did consent to the marriage.)

And speaking of consent...

Sanctity of Consensual Sex: What entitlements?

As consenting adults a man and a woman (not inebriated or out of their senses by anything other love or lust) may consummate their 'relationship' in any motel room – there is nothing to question or judge it really.

(Assuming, of course, that both consenting individuals are of age and single... any variation on these two criteria make things more complicated and open for harsher judgement.)

A twist on this is that an Australian civil servant is actually suing her employer for compensation for injuries sustained during a sex romp while on a business trip.

Now from what I understand they were two consenting adults who chose to engage in some hanky-panky in their motel room in the later evenings. Possibly some rough hanky-panky as one of the parties was injured in the act.

It should be noted that the injuries sustained were not from chains or whips, as might be initially imagined, but from a glass light fitting that came away from the wall!

Her solicitor has argued in court that “a woman injured while having sex in a motel room paid for by her employer deserves the same treatment as someone who had slipped in the shower or been bashed.”

She has claimed an entitlement to compensation because her injuries were caused "during the course of her employment", as she had been sent to a country town to stay the night ahead of a meeting early the next day.

Her counsel submitted that “lawful sexual activity was considered reasonable behaviour for a motel room.”

Needless to say she did not win, because the state reasoned that “having sex was not a "necessary activity" for a motel room, in the same way that "showering, bathing or sleeping" is.”

I guess there are some sacred truths that remain intact after all.

Taxi anyone?

The question may be. Why? The answer is pretty simple. Why Not?

The image below is a photoshopped image, I  just wanted to use it as it is a taxi image from Bangladesh and am assuming someone from my homeland worked on it. It's interesting. Click on the image below to go to the webpage and view other similar photoshop manipulations. All the images are from Bangladesh, and the idea and humour Bangladeshi!

Act of God or Smarts?

Hot on the heels of divine intervention and human stupidity there is another story of a California (naturally) man who attempted to fix a hernia in his stomach trying to cut it off with a six-inch butter knife.

Police were called in to intervene only to find the man naked and sprawled out on a lawn chair, with a butter knife protruding from his abdomen.

The man's wife, who had called the police, told them her husband was “sick and tired of waiting to get surgery for his rupture” and had thus decided to take matters into his own hands.

The 63-year-old California man has since been admitted into the Los Angeles County USC Medical Centre's psychiatric ward and is now recovering.

The police officer who had responded to the call was quoted in the local paper that "whether they have insurance or not is not a matter anymore, seeing that he is in the care of the county. Because of that, he will get the removal or repair of the hernia at taxpayers' expense."

One wonders whether the Lord works in mysterious ways or that the man was actually really not that stupid. Any guesses?

Jokes aside, obviously the man in question had to be pretty desperate to do what he did, and one cannot truly judge him without firsthand knowledge of the excruciating pain and/or extreme discomfort that he might have suffered before attempting the surgery himself.

He was of course a cautious man, since he opted to use a butter knife rather than anything sharper or more unwieldy, lest he lose his grip and the knife plummet further downward and damage (or seriously wound) a better cherished appendage.

Divine intervention and human stupidity

Every now and then I see a story in a newspaper that reminds me that God is as kind as man is stupid – and, thankfully, by that definition there is no limit to God's kindness as there isn't to man's ultimate stupidity.

According to a new item from southern California a motorcyclist rear-ended a minivan and was thrown through a window into the back seat. It would have been an amazing enough story that the unfortunate man had escaped unhurt.

However, the story grows more amazing because after the incident the driver of the minivan continued to complete his journey and pulled into his own driveway, about half a block away, completely unaware that he had a new backseat passenger.

The minivan driver only realised that he had a stowaway when saw the stunned motorcyclist in his back seat as he was preparing to return to the scene of the accident.

The accident occurred when the motorcyclist failed to stop in time behind the minivan as it slowed down to make a turn. The motorcycle crashed into the van, throwing the rider through the minivan’s rear window as the motorcycle itself skidding beneath the larger vehicle.

One wonders how it was possible for the minivan driver to at least not look back (even in the rear view mirror) when he or she heard the BANG as the motorcycle hit the vehicle, or the CRASH of shattered glass as the rider smashed through it.

The local newspaper that carried the story reported that no charges were filed in the case and that neither man required medical attention, other than that the motorcyclist had requested for some ice for one of his hands.

The motorcycle helmet took most of the impact in the crash, the real casualties were the motorcycle and the minivan' rear window both of which sustained severe damage. You think?

Amy Winehouse is dead

The news of Amy Winehouse's passing have millions of people mourning her death with eulogies and belated tributes.

I for one missed getting on the Winehouse bandwagon and will admit I don't know any of her work – I am sure I have heard it on the radio, but I did not know it was an Amy Winehouse number. I have never bought any of her music, or even compilations in which she featured.

Which in a indirect way also means I did NOT pay for her drug habits or any of her addictions. You can romanticise that Amy joined the 27 Club – which features great musicians that all died when they were 27 – but her death is all too real.

Jim Morrison, who incidentally is also a member of the 27 Club, once said “it's better to burn out than fade away.”

The statement is very rock-n'roll – oozing with bad boy charms, a very anti-establishment position. But even if I agree with it in spirit, I could probably not live it to the tee.

Sadly Amy Winehouse had lost the plot. She pushed herself to burn both sides of the candle – had she used her energy to write lyrics or compose music, she might have lived forever in her fans. Now the only person who will truly mourn her in two years time will probably still be her dealer.

I don't wish to talk ill of the dead (too late!), but all the eulogies and tributes be paid to her over the internet, words of appreciation that mean nothing to the person who it is for. Amy Winehouse is dead. Nothing can touch her anymore.

In way Amy Winehouse's passing symbolises something that I have always held dear... it is important to take the time to let people know that we care when they are around. Arguments with that pushes families apart, misunderstandings over silly ego trips that lead to the estrangement from a once old friend are all silly really considering the regret that we eventually suffer when it is too late to make amends.

Some people loved Amy Winehouse for sure for her talent, others derided her for her lifestyle. Today Amy Winehouse is dead because her lifestyle proved beyond her talent to recover. Another lost opportunity to make amends.

Following is a clip from a Amy Winehouse concert in Belgrade last month that I discovered on youtube. I found it pertinent because it reveals her decline, her vulnerability and her utter state of helplessness. She had lost the plot. She looked too weak and alone to fight it out with her own demons.



She may have taken the path to 'burn out,' but me fears that in this age of instant gratification she will all too soon also fade away.

Rest Amy Winehouse.