Friday, February 15, 2008

Making provision to leave

Am I buying huge quantities of baked beans and tinned sardines for an intrepid voyage into the unknown? Well no, not exactly.

I have today decided to start applying for other jobs. A friend of mine gave me some advice that I should make a list of reasons to stay and reasons to go. The problem with this is that the staying column would be embarrassingly minute.

The trouble with life here is that there are so many charlatans, liars and cheats, that it destroys faith. In Islam, we have something called, Iman. This is broadly translated as faith in Allah. This can go up and down, sometimes reflecting on God and other times perhaps when life is either too enjoyable or too awful, not remembering God to the same degree. Surprisingly despite living in the city of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) my iman has become very very low.


Why has this happened? Living here is difficult enough as it is. Everything is in Arabic, very few people actually speak English, so already there chance of communication is very limited. People here also are just plain weird. Nobody desires any form of social interaction. You might meet people in the Mosque (masjid), you greet each other, ask how you are, back and forth, and then ... nothing. They have a peculiar custom of inviting you to their house, but not actually meaning it. Fadl Fadl (Please Please) they might say as the try to usher you into their abode. However, if you actually say, "Yes I would love to come", they are completely lost. Because no-one EVER does that. Imagine giving an invitation to someone and horror of all horrors... they accept!!!!

Apart from the aloofness of the people. I have the unpleasant facet of whiteness. I am indeed, a white bloke. Or more accurately pink as are the English generally. With this pinkness comes a widely held opinion that whatever this pink man earns should be shared out amongst all and sundry. I actually fear going out of the house, due entirely to my rather soft heart and the fact that I am a sucker for a sob-story. Take one case as an example of many. One of neighbours, a Pakistani chap in his late 50's. He has lived here for 30 years or so. I see him often in the masjid.

He had invited me to his house for tea. I actually went. A bit later he wrote me a letter pleading for money as he was sick and unable to work. It was true he was sick, he had just had an operation on his leg and used a stick to walk. I gave him some money without hesitation.
A few days ago, he came to me again, and requested some money. The problem is he wanted a lot of money; Rs1500 to be exact. For what reason did he require this amount? He has recovered and is working...

He needed the money to bring his second wife over from Pakistan! Amazing. One of the criteria of taking a wife, let alone a second, is the ability to afford such an endeavor.
He then managed to catch a friend of mine who speaks Arabic, and Urdu for that matter, and said to him the following, "he can either give it me or lend it to me, it is okay". This was bizarre indeed and left both my friend and myself agog.

Bizarre is this life, bizarre!

No comments: