ramadan kareem

i eat through the bad parts of apples. i often wonder why – i do not need to eat through the bad parts, as i am blessed with apples in abundance and could pick around the bad spots or simply toss imperfect apples altogether..... i ponder if it is perhaps some sort of testament to our common humanity – i am fortunate enough to have many apples and have the luxury of choosing, but have shared sky with those who are not... or i wonder whether it is because my eating apples is reflective of living life – we persevere through the rough patches, despite the occasional impulse to throw it all in the bin and give up.... or i ask whether maybe it is just simply because i love apples – even with their imperfections and their overripe soft spots [and no, this is not just because i have read 'zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' or because i know they have little sugar and lots of fiber – i have legitimately always loved apples (unlike other foodstuffs which i have had to convince myself to enjoy, such as olives, which i began eating because i thought it was sophisticated and cultured, but now genuinely appreciate.... however, given that false pretence of a beginning, can my appreciation be genuine? i'm not sure)]... for whatever reason, i eat through the bad spots on apples.*

i drove straight into a bad spot the other night... i was leaving a rather lavish party at the four seasons, and as i excited the glitter of the four seasons gates, i saw a collection of indian construction workers, waiting in the dusk. exhausted and dirty in their dark-blue coveralls, some with their heads still wrapped in the scarves they use to block out the sun, they were gathered in a variety of postures - standing, leaning, sitting, some half-lying on the ground - all quietly waiting for the bus that would transport them to the rather desolate part of town where the workers live. the sight was jarring - it somehow reminded me of an old photograph in a book about slavery - it brought surprising tears to my eyes and i inadvertently started to slow as if to stop and offer them a ride. but i didn't and i couldn't - there were too many and it would not be prudent or particularly safe for me to do so.... but it reminded me of one of the uglier aspects of this society - this country is built on the blood, sweat, & tears of a completely ill-treated cohort of subcontinent peoples. or rather men - subcontinent men, most of whom have families at home they see once every two years. the workers live in a world apart - there is a vibrant subculture in doha and across the gulf - but i find the blatant racism and degradation difficult. [and of course not all of doha's residents from the indian subcontinent fall into the underclass that support the city - i had iftar (the meal breaking the ramadan fast each day) at a bangladeshi friend's home yesterday; her family has been here over 20 years and her father is an accomplished scholar and is about to publish a book on doha.] and maybe these types of hierarchies of race / class / gender / religion exist in more subtle tones everywhere, but the starkness of the divisions here can be shocking. many of the more prominent families have even outsourced prison time - most have an indian on standby such that if, for example, one of the family's daughters gets in a car accident which causes a death [a crime which generally leads to imprisonment], the standby will be called to the scene, claim he was the driver and caused the death and will serve the prison sentence - to be compensated very handsomely upon his release.... madness.

a more amusing sort of madness was reported in the gulf times the other day. apparently, the hospital has become the new hot spot for illicit encounters between the sexes. women will feign illnesses and their boyfriends will come to the hospital wearing abeyas - thereby breezing into the women's section - and the couples will rendezvous in amid the medicines and the monitors.... apparently this trend was discovered when one of the abeya-clad alpha males in question forgot to get an abeya long enough to cover his shoes and / or wear his heels and was stopped by a nurse.

there have definitely been some good spots of late - i had my first meal in a ramadan tent (though tent is an insult to the opulent splendour of these creations).... endless juices, and food, and shisha and music. there was even a sufi guy who did the twirling meditation like a whirling dervish. very impressive - he spun for a good ten minutes - no spotting and no stopping - and then just walked off the stage....
which is to say the month of ramadan spin has become reality..... the day before ramadan, a few of the africans in class were trying to push qurans on everyone - including me. marouf asked if i had a quran for ramadan [he & mohamed somehow had a shopping bag full]. i told him i wasn't muslim, to which he replied curtly, "i can see that," but proceeded to try to convince me i needed one nonetheless. it was a little unclear whether they were giving or selling the qurans - which were actually quite lovely - and so i just let it go.... it's an interesting time - kind of continuous holiday - work hours are shorter, classes are shorter. nights are longer - all the shops are closed all day and then open from 7:30 pm - 1:00 am. the locals sleep most of the day & live it up at night.... heaven help you if you're trying to drive during the half hour before iftar - it is absolute mayhem on the roads - especially because everyone is hungry and short-tempered and rushing to get to whatever iftar they are going to.... iftar is the beginning of a night of feasting, shopping, strolling, making merry. which i suppose is in order after enduring a day of fasting (or, more accurately, sleeping).... qatar is fairly strict in observing ramadan - it is technically illegal to eat, drink (even water), chew gum, smoke, etc. in public during daylight - even for foreigners and non-muslims. i am respectful and do not eat or drink in front of anyone, but i keep a bottle of water in my car for after class and have a drawer full of powerbars at the office and sneak a lunch in every day.... all in all, it's definitely a quieter time.

things at the office are not so quiet though. the american attorney who brought me onboard has left the firm (and left the country for a month) - and left in the middle of the winding up of a multi-billion dollar petrochemical byproducts deal that has somehow fallen into my lap... it's a little overwhelming to find myself as the Arab Law Bureau point person for this deal (we are local counsel for the sponsors) and it will be a hectic time between now & financial close - inshallah the end of the month. but there's nothing like learning by doing, eh?

and i guess that's about the texture of things here at the moment. good spots, a few bad ones, but generally a pleasantly crisp week.


*please note that this does not apply to any other fruits. i especially abhor bad spots on bananas. but i see no problem with that - as boutros-boutros said in reference to the united nations year on tolerance, "we cannot tolerate the intolerable."