The Other Arabia

shah # 72, thanks for the info, 10% is a lot . . . makes me wonder why some parts of the UAE like Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, even Fujairah, are still as poor as magpies? I guess the oil has been pre-sold to BigOil or ARAMCO or something?

Just wondered.

#73 by Paigham on April 21, 2003 6:20pm PT
``Thank you for expressing your feeling .I would never have guessed what you mentioned ``minorities can really make the world believe they are victims....`` ``
If Souza you are right ,do you think Minorities in Bangladesh, Kashmir (pundits) and few 5% in West Pakistan can be accused of doing that ???? ``

Although I find this discussion futile..still...

In India..I eat `saewainyaa` at the time of Eid with my muslim friends and they share `mithai` at diwali time.
Do minorities in Bangladesh and Pakistan celebrate their religious festivals along with muslims.?...they also get a public holiday for diwali, holi...Eid... Gurpoorab...don`t they? Like Indians they also have so many different festivals/freedom in their countries, don`t they? They also have every other song praising Allah/Khuda as well as Rama...like in India..

yes yes, we have a holiday for Diwali/Eid in Australia too..as you say the western countries are secular too but India pretends to be secualr.

And pundits? well ..isn`t it a worldwide propaganda that the muslims of the valley are the only ones suffering? When are the pundits allowed to be vicitms..??

All I want to say is..``India is a good secular country``.....if you feel there is no difference between India and these Islamic countries then I can`t change your opinion. Your wish..

[#74 by sadna]

Provided my html works you will see below a photo of snake gourd:



You have not seen N. Indian usage of Padaval. If this is Parwal that I know, I know it is used in N. India far and wide. Its seeds are hard and about a fifth of an inch. Bengalis call it Potol (-o- in the transliteration probably comes from their pronounciation of ``a`` as ``o``). Bengali also make a sweet out of it. For making sweet its inside is scooped out and stuffed with some sondesh type stuffing and veggie itself is cooked in syrup. One of the curries Bengalis make of Potol is called Aloo Potoler Dalna (Curried Potatoes and Parwal). See following link for a recipe:

http://www.cookinginindia.com/irasoi/apdalna.html

Lauki I thought was Dudhi. If I am right then it cannot be Zucchini. We Gujaratis do cook Dudhi in Chana Dal.

einsteinwallah, etc
Let me try to put an end to the suspense :). Snake gourd is called Padavalangya in Malayalam, so it may well be the same thing as Padaval in Gujarati and Hindi though I don`t remember to have seen any N.Indian usage of this veggie. Its a long hollow vegetable, sticks out of the bag if you buy it, or out of both sides of the sellers basket if you donot :). I`ve seen it cooked with mustard and grated coconut.

Ghiya is the same as lauki (the same as zucchini, i think), out of which kofta is made in the north (its put into daal too) and halwa in the south. btw, there is yet another S.Indian squash I believe, which is made into the N.Indian(Agra area speciality) sweet called peTha.

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re #59 and #70
Actually, UAE has 98 billion barrels of known oil reserves, about 10% of the total known reserves in the world. But I guess your question was about Dubai, not UAE.
regards

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veeresh:
Theek hai...will answer...
1. `Habibi` is sweetheart in Arabic and is used in most songs, like we say mere mehboob, mere boob...
2. Menu in an Iraqi eatery is quite similar to Irani cuisine, but not the kind we are accustomed to in India...they have these huge chicken-rice combos, invariably served with veggies and salad...also, our `saalan` is called `salona`, it is less greasy. (I am assuming this was a serious question...)
3. If the men are paying, then how can it be termed the going rate for them?
4. Oil wells? Nah, all`s well...

And regarding the tent joks, you can say what you want here...after all this is one big dysfunctional family :)

einsteinwallah:
Thanks for the links...but whoever would eat karela? And I though gheeya was also a sweet, I think an Agra or Indore speciality.

``I am familiar with neither ghiya nor snake gourd.``

How I envy you. . . :)

farzana

``believe me, the clubs are real happening places and I know people who party hard every night``


...so i`ve heard...;)

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#61 by Paigham on April 21, 2003 8:44am PT
``Muslims are more indian than neplese hindus or hindus from fiji trinidad or west indies or s.Africa .....if you dont believe that then we have big gap in perception of reality .``

Sure they are..definitely..anyday

Then still sometiems they go looking for their roots in Dubai or elsewhere?
Why do they feel more close to Arabics or Pakis, in the name of Islam, when ever it suits them?

Why do they glorify the invaders(who are actually responsible for the plight of current day India, over Babri etc)
Even muslims who are now in Pakistan were Indians once, so why do they think their ancestors are Ghazni, Ghauri and Babar..taimur..even name their missiles after these ``heroes`` (who made them `baagi` towards their own Indians by converting them). Did all the millions of Indian muslims come with these barbarians??

``There is no excuse for India to maltreat how so ever minor or how so less than west it may be b/c muslims of india are INDIA``

Paigaam.. the minorities in any country can really make the world believe they are the victims as they have an edge in such cases,.. if the minorities in India too keep on harping about just one thing...without ever thinking that the other party may be right..this is like `emotional blackmail`...
WEll..only recently they have been victims in the riots but what about all the other times..

Minorities can get away with anything..from creating terror.. to any kind of open or discreet rascism ...comments towards Hindus ....Maybe the majorities of India are the victims too ... but they can`t complain..
And a `majority` in India won`t hesitate to say anything good or bad to another majority, but the moment he says anything to a monority(even a normal small criticism/comment to improve the society)..there will be a big hue and cry..

I happen to listen to an Urdu program in Australia, broadcasted and prepared by an Indian muslim. Gosh, the things he says about India as if it is not his country. And the soft corner he has for Pakistan ...as if he really belongs to Paksitan. It was shocking for me to hear that because I always wanted to bellieve that Indian muslims are very much Indians and do not favour Pakistanis. I always wanted to believe that these newly- formed Hindu fanatics are wrong in what they say..
So I had called him to tell him that ``hey pakistani..don`t abuse Indian like this.``....but was further disappointed to know he is an Indian

Maybe, Urdu-speaking Paki people are his real audience but all this just prooves the kind of love he has for India. He always talks about Ghazni..and muslim brotherhood, Arabia, pakistan.. Karachi..lahore and nothing positive about India. Always whinging..``O where are our glorius mughal days gone.``.etc etc..

What is the big deal if Hindus are ruling now..India belonged to Hindus for thousands of years, only when Muslims came from outside they took over forcibly(became gentler sometime later)..so why is he whinging?? Why does he want muslim-raj again and again?? Don`t hindus have a right to rule as well?? Didn`t they feel bad when they lost power in their own land??
This radio-broadcaster also modifies and distorts the news stories so as to please Pakistanis, his listeners. If there is an achievement by India he will never broadcast it..but any small bad thing he exaggerates and highlights to please his muslim/paki/arabic freinds.
Maybe all Indian muslims are not like him, but those who are..should move to Pakistan.


And the situation of `blacks` cannot be comapred with that of muslims in India.
When blacks went to America, a new land of opportunity, they were badly discriminated against. Blacks were not the rascists.
But when muslims invaded India(an already flourishing civilisation) they were the aggressors, they were the rascists, the invaders..they created havoc..wanted to change or kill the kafirs. Muslims were not discriminated against.
So, if blacks were victims, Hindus have been victims too. Everyone is a victim..at one tiem or the other..some less some more.
And a punjabi or a gujarati( irrespective of his same religion).. can be victim in Tamilnaidu, a tamilian a victim in Bengal..a bengali in punjab..and the circle goes on.. and yet we all are one

So muslims have to stop thinking they are the victims always. For a change, try to analyse how others feel.

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Ansari:

On Gheeya. It seems Gheeya is also some kind of gourd but different famaily. In www.evergreenseeds.com/spongeluffa.html Hindi name Ghiya Tori was given. More research throws up name Jhinga Torai:

http://gmr.landfood.unimelb.edu.au/Plantnames/Sorting/Luf%66a.html

I am familiar with neither ghiya nor snake gourd.

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