The Thing About This Is...

First came across this phrase in a bollywood song from the film Bombay to Bangkok . The hilarity of bollywood is the songs that they come up with. So in a recent conversation about this to a friend I discovered that 'same same but different' is actually a common phrase used in places like Thailand and hence the adaptation into the song of the movie which is a cross cultural Indian-Thai production. Further research into the phrase led me to the Urban Dictionary which told me that the phrase is: Used a lot in Thailand, especially in attempts to sell something but can mean just about anything depending on what the user is trying to achieve. Q "Is this a real rolex?" A " Yes Sir, same same but different" and; Wiki told me that it is Tinglish (or Thainglish): The imperfect form of English produced by native Thai speakers due to language interference from the first language. Differences from native English include incorrect pronunciation , wrong wor...

If you like solving puzzles, you will enjoy this. Reminds me of the PS2 game, Practical Intelligence Quotient , of course PQ is much more aesthetically pleasing. Objective is to move the boxes to get to the exit. Visit link or play here: Am I blogging about games? :s

Addictive website that donates rice as you play their word game. For every question you get right it donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Programmes , five questions gets you 100 grains of rice. Currently the amount of rice donated is 7,536,669,470 grains, over seven billion, not sure how much that amounts to physically but you can keep a check of the totals here . The rice is paid for by the advertisers who appear at the bottom of the screen. Apparently if you see an advert x-many of times it will have a profound effect on you, you may (or will ) actually go out and buy their products. I don't think it works on me though but I do seem to be addicted to google -_- Despite the advertisers, it is actually a good way to enhance your vocabulary, it has a maximum of 50 levels of which I have mastered half. Here's the link: FreeRice On a little side note: "The United Nations estimates that the cost to end world hunger completely , along with diseases rela...

I never did get into Strictly Come Dancing when it was launched a few years back - but now I am a totally devoted fan (of two years). I like ballroom, although this isn't strictly ballroom but it has enough ballroom in it to keep me happy. I thought I'd share two of my favourite dances (I have many). I'm very partial to the Latin dances it seems... Here's Mark Ramprakrash, the Cricketer and Matt DiAngelo, the Eastender. The Argentine Tango The Paso Doble

This is hilarious and completely geniusesque!! Sadly, this may mostly appeal to mathematicians but even if you don't get the mathness of it, it is still a great tune! :) Enjoy! Update: After having listened to it quite a few times I have to say I find it rather romantic. Yes, romantic... Finite Simple Group (of Order Two) by The Klein Four Group The path of love is never smooth But mine's continuous for you You're the upper bound in the chains of my heart You're my Axiom of Choice, you know it's true But lately our relation's not so well-defined And I just can't function without you I'll prove my proposition and I'm sure you'll find We're a finite simple group of order two I'm losing my identity I'm getting tensor every day And without loss of generality I will assume that you feel the same way Since every time I see you, you just quotient out The faithful image that I map into But when we're...

This is my vain attempt in covering the politics of Bangladesh. I don't even have time for this blog never mind another. But, now that I have set it up it may give me the incentive to do something on it. I just need to figure out how to extend the days by a few hours; Bernad's watch would come in handy... 'Shomaj' means society in Bengali, 'Tomaj' is just a word that rhymes with 'Shomaj' to give it some emphasis, something that we do a lot in the Bengali (and other Southasian) language(s). This could also mean 'Society and etc.' which is what this blog is largely about, because politics isn't just restricted to the happenings of the parliament but society at large, our every action/thought is a political act. As Aristotle says, we are all political animals by definition... Do check it out, not much on it at the moment, but hopefully soon! ( Will try and not do a: http://www.bnpbd.com/ ) Link: shomaj tomaj

He's finished the deed, used all the food analogies (one could think of) and is now promoting it on the web space... I enjoyed most parts of the blog (story/journey), although there were times when I thought "{raised eyebrow motion} hmm...? " Some things didn't sit well with me (and some were not funny ), but all in all it did make me laugh. The food linkages were hilarious and very clever I thought. Here's a quote: "The cakes of the West are symbols of their hatred. The croissant is an Islamophobic crescent, referring to the Crusades. And the Victoria sponge is named after a Queen who ruled the British Empire which helped destroy the Caliphate! Even the Rich Tea biscuit is a veiled insult, a symbol of the rich exploiting the poor tea-pickers of the subcontinent." The final post, 'The End: Let this learn us all' was published today along with two other penultimate ones. The series is in 15 parts and it makes a good light hearted read, if a...

So I changed my blog's author name.

Taken from a friend's Facebook entry on Dr. Perween Hasan's publication, made earlier this year, on Muslim Architecture in Bangladesh . Dr. Perween Hasan, professor in the Department of Islamic History and Culture at Dhaka University , recently published her book Sultans and Mosques: The Early Muslim Architecture of Bangladesh (London: I.B.Tauris and Co Ltd). Though the book originated as her doctoral thesis and is fairly technical in nature, with architectural terms and plans not easily accessible to the layperson, it is on a subject that is inherently interesting to Bangladeshis. How can we not be interested in the mosques around us, not be curious about their origins and history, not wonder about the ideas and environment that shaped them ? What do they reveal about the arrival of Islam in the delta from north India and beyond, about its impact and spread, about our own evolution as a nation and state? Dr. Perween Hasan, by focusing her study on the independent Bengal Sult...

Great website for those who like to find out the origins of words - on how it came to be, where it came from and how the meanings of words have changed over time. I'm sure from this many would find how global languages are and how much we borrow from lands we would not have thought of. It would be great if we had this in other languages though...

Only a few days till Ramadan* and we begin the fast of 14-hours a day! Look forward to it. I also look forward to this initiative by Ebrahim College of a Grand Tarawih Congregation in Tower Hamlets. Set up for up to 3,000 congregates - this is the largest scale of Tarawih I have heard of... Click for larger image *Ramadan will fall on either 12th or 13th September this year according to the sighting of the moon. To find out more about moonsighting click here .

Funniest blog I have read in a while. It's like Adrian Mole meets Ed Hussain , the author of the (dire) book The Islamist . Although only a few entries I hope this would be a regular feed with a lot more to come from this blogger. Here is an excerpt from the blog: As a child I was always resentful I was born. Other children had been born too, and seemed to bear this with good grace, but for me, it seemed so unfair, especially with the parents I had. My father, a man, and my mother, a woman, were both from Pakistan. Ordinarily, a Pakistani man and a Pakistani woman having a baby is not a momentous event. Children are very common in that country. What was special about my parents were that they gave birth to me. This event took place in London, city of a Thousand Extremists, but more on that later, including the Dramatic Recruitment, and my Dramatic Escape, all highlighted in my new Book. Have i mentioned my Book yet? No? Ok. Growing up in London, it was clear that my faith, my dres...

A Level results were released today and like the 25 years before grades have risen and the UK is getting more A-E passes than ever. The girls again did better than the boys except in Languages and Further Maths. I remember when I got my results it was on my 18th Birthday! I felt my A Levels were reasonable, whilst ICT was easy as peas, Maths seemed impossible and Politics and English were so-so, but still challenging. Five years on I do think A Levels have gotten easier. The maths syllabus is now half of what I studied and an A-grade GCSE Maths is still not adequate to go on to A Levels Maths with, and A Level Maths, still, does not prepare you for degree level maths (unless you study further maths, which many do not as that means another maths A-Level on top). The stakes need to be higher. University is not for everyone. Entries to university is harder than ever with so many high pass rates. Whilst students achieve the grades they are still not guaranteed a place forcing them to take ...

I'm currently marking GCSE* Maths papers for Edexcel thinking what is the point, this child will only fail. Here in the UK, the GCSE Maths papers are categorised into three levels, Higher, Intermediate and Foundation. In the higher paper you can only get grades A*-C; intermediate, B-D and foundation D-G. A GCSE pass is considered C or above. The students that are entered for the foundation paper are those who the teachers feel will get no more than E or F. In most cases the student knows sitting this paper would only mean a worthless grade, if one at all. To sit the foundation paper it is to say to the student you have low potential, academically you are crap and oh yeah, you won't even get a pass grade, mwahahaha. What is the point when this child's failed GCSE Maths won't come to any use? Well, I am told the maths GCSE tiers are now changing, next year a Maths GCSE student will either be entered for the higher or foundation paper - where the you will be able to get a ...

Arnob again, song from his first album Chaina Bhabish

Westminster was buzzing today, the wait for Blair to arrive for his final Prime Minister ’s Questions at the House of Commons - the press took over all the green bits, the campaigne rs hijacked Parliament Square and there was I, walking in between the two. Of course, I didn't go inside the Commons, couldn’t get in even if I tried, people booked month s in advance for this show. I had to do with watching it on BBC News. Courteous, funny, not at all sentimental, Blair gave his final performance and a great one it was. Praised by his peers including Cameron, this was the best exit Blair could hope for. Tony hasn’t wasted any of his time, he will return to us as an envoy to the Middle East! Use his Northern Ireland tactics to solve the problems of the troubled gulf. Err, yeah...luck! After an hour of telly I made my way to the commons to join Air Sylhet for their ‘launch’…it was actually a PR-thing. They invited Khalid Mahmood MP to sit and chat and take pictures with them. The ne...

Brick Lane Circle presents 250 years of the Battle of Plassey Conference 24th June 2007 [11am - 5pm] London "23rd June 2007 will be the 250th year of the Battle of Plassey. This was a decisive day in 1757 when the British achieved victory in Bengal under Robert Clive. It was also the beginning of the British Indian Empire. The events organised by Brick Lane Circle (BLC) will consist of a Poetry Reading session on Saturday 23 June and a one day Conference on Sunday 24 June at the Whitechapel Idea Store followed by an East India Company Walk on Sunday 1 July. The Conference will bring together a number of scholars, researchers and members of the community where the context, impacts and the implications of the Battle of Plassey will be explored." Click to enlarge

Time Out recently did an article on how London would benefit from becoming "Islamic." London population is currently around seven million and growing, take on the Muslim population (1.5-2million) and round it up a little it will give you; every fifth person in London is Muslim. (How cool is that?) Well, it's nothing to boast about. [Overt] Islamophobia is on the rise and so are Muslim activists (or radicals would be the wider perception) and it just feeds into the "clash of civilisations" ideology that the media likes perpetrating. The comments from the article alone would make you want to wish the article was not written. I am always taken back as how racist people tend to be on online blogs. Mayor's Office On a lighter note, do think these pictures are rather pretty! Update: Debate on the subject with Michael Hodges (the author of the article) on MuslimCafe.tv [ Video: Londinstan - Is London's ...

There are six things wrong with my life: 1. I have one of those under-the-skin spots that will never come to a head but lurk in a red way for the next two years. 2. It is on my nose. 3. I have a there-year-old sister who may have peed somewhere in my room. 4. In fourteen days the summer hols will be over and then it will be back to Stalag 14 and Oberfuhrer Frau Simpson and her sadistic teachers. 5. I am very ugly and I need to go to an ugly home. 6. I went to a party dressed as a stuffed olive. An extract from Louise Rennison's, extremely funny teenage novel, 'Confessions of Georgia Nicolson: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging'. The book is in the process of being made into a film by Gurinder Chadha , who is currently casting for the lead role. Not sure how well it will do as film, as I don't think it can top the book, but after this article on Time Out thought it was worth a post.

I have a million (okay maybe a thousand) posts that are half done and are waiting to be published from my drafts folder. Need to get back to writing, the more practise the better, plus it helps me keep in tune in what I would ideally like as a career, research in Southasian history and politics. So here is a list of things you should be looking out for: Chinese Mathematics and Pythagoras' Theorem Hasina's visit to London Review of Samer Akkach talk on his book Islam, Modernity and the Enlightenment: A New Perspective and how he confused me and my attempts at ijtihading And much much more! Need to get a move on and quit one of the kuti jobs that I have...

“It has always been taken for granted mistakenly that the Musalmans are a minority, and of course we have got used to it for such a long time that these settled nations sometimes are very difficult to remove. The Musalmans are not a minority. The Musalmans are a nation by any definition.” Muhammad Ali Jinnah 27 th Session of the All-India Muslim League, Lahore 22 nd March 1940 I think there needs to be a re-analysis (or even an analysis) of what Jinnah thought constituted a nation. The religious men who fought for "Pakistan" wrote vicariously on what sort of Muslim nation they wanted or rather what was a Muslim nation, qawm . The qawm can be debated end on end, interpret as you like, is it the Muslim nationhood? A Muslim nation within another nation? the ummah itself? This was a serious political debate pre-Indian partition that the ulema of India were having but not Jinnah. Jinnah was not a "religious" man but he fought to preserve the rights of the Muslim min...

Pluralism works in Malaysia because Malaysia is a tolerant society says Professor Dato Dr Khoo Kay Kim Dr Khoo Kay Kim , who wrote the Rukunegara - the Malaysian pledge of allegiance, painted a very rosy picture of the tolerant Malaysian society at a seminar earlier this evening. Whilst we idealise a society should be tolerant of other faiths and groups events highlight the opposite. Malaysia has been through several major ethnic riots the biggest one being in 1969 , which gave rise to the Rukenegara (1970). The government of Malaysia is by far a fair one; it is known to suppress its Chinese minority and the ethnic tension in the country still poses a huge problem for the Malaysians, this was admitted by Prime Minister Badawi just last month . Integration Against this backdrop Dr Kim was still hopeful that Malaysia should be seen as an exemplar of a pluralistic state, and a Muslim one at that. The talk was a contradiction in many parts, he claimed the Malaysians mixed unlike the Bri...

A few quick updates on the Labour MP Candidate, Dr. Rupa Huq - Currently Rupa has been nominated for the British Sociological Association’s Philip Abrams memorial prize for her book Beyond Subculture. - Rupa has been short listed for the Labour MP candidacy . So far, four candidates for Labour MP candidacy have been short listed leaving two more vacancies to be filled. Both Rushnara Ali and Lutfur Rahman received 51% of the nomination votes and made it to the next round and since two female contenders were left, both Rupa Huq and Shiria Khatun made it through also to meet the 50% criteria. The next two contenders will be chosen on 24th April from the list below: Ayub Korom Ali Helal Abbas John Biggs David Edgar Abdul Asad Moti uzzaman Shirajul Islam The final six short-listers will then face a third round of votes on 26th April and the final list of Labour candidates will be revealed on 28th April. Candidates left to right: Ayub Korom Ali, - , - , - , Dr. Rupa Huq, -, John Biggs, -...

...sadly it happened. The all Indian cast and language production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream titled 'An Indian Dream' failed terribly to sprinkle its magic. With an intricate storyline of three sub-plots it makes Midsummer a fascinating watch. The play is very popular and a summer doesn't go by when this play is not on theatres across the country and the globe. However, this production by Tim Supple at the Roundhouse theatre did not live up to the expectations I had conjured up. This type of Shakespeare play I thought would have gone very well with an Indian setting with the element of magic, love and mysticism but it didn't really fit into that image very well because of the lack of technicalities that we were presented with, which were: The actors could not act The actors were inaudible The languages got frustrating especially when you didn't understand what was being said - even more frustrating for those who did not know the story li...

Film to provoke thought, inspire men and women and challenge the societal norms of Southasians... Dor means thread, thread that runs across society, thread that binds people, it has many metaphorical uses I'll let you find your own. The story is of two women, one grieving for her dead husband and the other in pursuit of freeing her husband at the hands of this bereaved widow. This involves friendship and betrayal between the two women. The film is kept simple. It makes subtle remarks on the life of a widowed woman, the veil, the baggage that women generally hold in society. It makes dialogue between both men and women so it speaks to audience in a fairer light. It gleams hope into women to think and act for themselves. It's a light-hearted but meaningful film. I recommend it - a good change from your typical Bolly which, Indian cinema is more popularly known for. The film stars Aysha Takia, Gul Panag and Shreyas Talpade, all of whom act very well. Talpade is also a good comed...

बोह्त कूल नही? किसी को मालुम है कि में बंगला कैसे लिख सकती हूँ?

It was quite a site seeing this today. Those Greenpeacers do like climbing and bannering. Wish I could get a picture on my mobli but alas I could not. (Because I have the most dysfunctional phone ever created.) Managed to find ONE pic on the internet. This comes after Blair's £20million trident project to develop nuclear weapons. Most of his party members have opposed the project, Blair now relies on the Tories for support...

The climate was controlled by the clouds The clouds were controlled by cosmic rays The cosmic rays were controlled by the sun It all comes down to the sun! Explains Channel 4 on why we are having this Climate Change . The documentary; The Great Climate Change Swindle sets out to disprove the current 'popular' theory that Climate Change is due to the rise of CO2 levels created by us humans. It makes a convincing (or rather entertaining) case that, climate change is a natural phenomena. The world's temperature has always risen and fallen and the current climate change is just carrying on this trend. The arguments goes, CO2 heats up the earth's atmosphere and hence the melting of the Arctic which will potentially give rise to sea levels, diminishing lands and countries. (This is just one of the causes of the rising CO2 levels others include extreme weather and endangering animals). From what I understand of CO2 is that, it traps heat and when in the atmosphere it naturall...

Err, yeah, like I'm going to talk about cricket ! But I am told it will be starting soon (tomorrow) thought I'd get into the spirit by displaying what I know best about it: Imran Khan... Come on Bangladesh! Woot! Woot!

This is worth a mention. Whilst it isn't hilariously funny, it's funny nonetheless. Imran (the director) will certainly go far as a filmmaker. Here is his blog Video:

Himal are on a mission to make South Asia, Southasia - an unifying force. I think I may even join in and start writing Southasia without the space. This is a map to accompany the word change, Southasia with south as its north axis. The world positioned this way looks waaay better (and different) than what we are used to - with the UK and North America on top. Let's look up to the Southerners for a change... Click for a lager image

More than just cricket...

I kid. No. It's a genre of music that I am not very fond of but give it a makeover and then maybe? Like this rendition of Neo's 'So sick of love songs' by Armeen Musa, listen: Armeen - So Sick.m... It's a more slowed down version of the popular RnB song. Reminds me a bit of Nora Jones - jazzy which, Armeen does very well.

Shahana at the launch of her début album The long awaited début album by Shahana Bazpeyi was finally released yesterday! Titled Notun Koreh Pabo Boleh , translated very badly means, To Have It Anew . The album is a remake of some of Rabindranath Tagore's classic songs, known as Rabindra Sangeets. The aim of the album is to bring a more contemporary sound to Rabindra Sangeets. Currently Bazpeyi thinks Rabindara Sangeets are too astute or too "lullaby-like". The idea behind the album is to re-introduce Rabindra Sangeet to the younger audience in a way they can relate to it. The album consists of ten songs, one of which is a duet with her husband, Arnob - both of whom studied at the Tagore college of Shantiniketan . Arnob composed most of the music on the album and he himself has plans to release a similar version of Rabindra Sangeets in the future ( listen to interview here ). The album is only available in Bangladesh and even then it's only available in Dhaka. So ...

and repeat. Sufi inspired gaana featured in Anwar, a Bollywood movie which I have not seen yet. But do like this song. Sang bootifully by Roop Kumar Rathod. Lyrics by Sayeed Quadri and Hasan Kamal.

Who would have thought ey? Well it is alleged. I am told Mr. Yunus' current role in politics is only to serve the American interest. This stems from the American's persistence in wanting to establish a military base in one of the deshi islands which was previously denied by the Awami League. Whilst I can believe the Americans most probably want a military base in the bay of Bengal, I'd be surprised they don't have already, they used to have one somewhere during the Pakistan era - my politics is poor, but Mr. Yunus' motive? Should I be swept in with this current conspiracy theory ? I was told this by a AL supporter who, like Hasina, made the issue of the Grameen 40% high-interest rate and that Mr. Yunnus was indeed a man 'who takes bribes, eats interests and is untrustworthy.' Well something like that. It was said in Bengali, can't do translations very well. The Grameen Bank's high-interest is a cause for concern and interest is just a concern for ...

Link Given to us by the University of Chicago, one of the best universities to carry out research on South Asia. It has stats, references, bibliographies, maps and tonnes of useful information for a budding researcher. It also has the British census records of India which is great, because it's laborious going to the British Library or SOAS locating the books (which is lengthy) and then searching for the stats tables. Although the stats (given in an Excel spreadsheet) don't exactly add up in some places and there isn't enough info to explain the various fields and terminologies. But I'm hoping that's just me who calculated it wrong and is a bit dumb to "get it." However, there is the 'book' option which enables you to read it online, so you have the accuracy . This got me excited a little. Kinda sad, but hey...well, Enjoy.

Henna, Massage, Fashion Show, Hair Cutting, Facials and all the other meaningful things you can think of. *shriek* Can't say I'm disappointed. Read about it in another blog

Shahana Bazpeyi on vocal Arnob on guitar A lovely duo they make!

pfffght! I think I might just go round conversing in Hindi to annoy people. After all I am a deshi expat who lives in London and so must be confused about my identity because it's all mish mash of Bollywood and English here so makes us cultureless by definition(!) Actually think I might do the cliché thing and quote a bit of the Quran: 049.013 YUSUFALI: O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).

OK, so I didn't write this article (below). But it would be super cool to be a science jounalist I think. Imperial actually offers science jounalism now and I am thinking maybe... Medieval Islamic tiling reveals mathematical savvy 19:00 22 February 2007 NewScientist.com Jeff Hecht Medieval Islamic designers used elaborate geometrical tiling patterns at least 500 years before Western mathematicians developed the concept. The geometric design, called "girih", was widely used to decorate Islamic buildings but the advanced mathematical concept within the patterns was not recognised, until now. Physicist Peter Lu at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, realised the 15th-century tiles formed so-called Penrose geometric patterns, when he spotted them on a visit to Uzbekistan. Scholars had thought the girih were created by drawing a zigzag network of lines with a straight edge and compass. But when Lu looked at them, he recognised the regular but non-repetitive pa...