And the Debate about Burkini Ban continues #burkiniban

I am waking up everyday to see my newsfeed full of articles and news about the French Burkini Ban. No wonder any news get amplified ample times by our Social Media before it reaching us as a breaking news. The ban was initially in Nice and now it has spread to  15 french cities .France is a big country and for now it is only 15 cities who banned it but this ban is expected to follow in further cities too and which is alarming.

Is Burkini really that important to be banned? At the end it is just a costume that some women chose to wear while they go swimming.Neither the number of those women is high nor is their anything  in that attire that a part of population should feel threatened from it.Burkini looks similar to a wetsuit that a surfer wears but a wetsuit is not problem but Burkini is. May be because it is majorly worn by Muslim women who thinks covering up is part of their religious obligation which could be an issue for the French Government to digest on scales of their version of secularity .

The above picture is depiction of recent stripping of Burkini Clad woman on a Nice beach versus the police in a Gulf country asking a woman to cover up. Aren’t they both the same in a way that you force a woman to cover or uncover ? Stripping a woman on a beach because her full covering is not acceptable to the people around , is ridiculous and shameful. You could just ask her to leave instead of asking her to take off  her clothes ?  Does it anyway sound like freedom or advocacy of women’s rights ? Is a woman not free to choose her clothes?  Should the government  tell their women what to wear?

The Burkini Ban is nothing but a policy to further divide people on basis of their choice  to wear clothes , another try to make a us vs them social divide. In a time where terrorism has struck high and governments of all countries should work to combat  terrorism  and Islamophobia , you are adding fuel to the fire with this Burkini Ban, you are justifying a part of population obsessed with Islamophobia that yes, you are right ! You need to be scared of women wearing a Burkini on a beach or swimming pool. In the name of secularism ,it is just oppression and curbing of basic human rights. I am sure there must be women out there who are not muslim and they do not like to show their skin too, covering up  is not only just muslim thing or cultural thing it is about individual rights and choices, how is anyone to decide if his/her choice is better than mine or vice versa.To each one his life, his choices. Let others live how they want to , not how you want them to,  based on your idea of living life .

Why it is alright to accept some old age clothing in name of fashion for example those gladiator shoes but if you see a woman wearing an abaya or head scarf, she looks to you from caves ? Because this is what Media has always portrayed , A woman letting go of her scarf as a sign of freedom ? I personally feel wearing a scarf was a sign of freedom for me, I chose to free myself from others  idea of how should I look, from those pressure of looking beautiful and acceptance in society and that competition of looking most beautiful in a party , I have broken free  from all such pressures and anxieties. Isn’t that freedom ? Yes , it is for me and it might not be for you, so please  everyone whenever the judgemental thoughts come to your mind , stop it right there and then , don’t let them play in your mind and disturb your inner peace.

Wish you all much Peace !

 

 

My Comic Life -19

Travel Diaries #Algiers

Recently I have been to this beautiful City of Algiers (Algeria), so a travel blog about the city is a sure thing .You will see more of such travel posts  from my summer break so wait for them . Algeria is a Nordic African Country  ,infact the biggest country in African Continent  by area. Algiers is its capital  city.Being on coastline (west of Bay of Mediterranean Sea )   it has typical mediterranean climate.The city can be said to be built upon rocks as it is on altitude 400 ms above sea level.

The first place I have been to was this Jardin d’essai (gardens of tests ) ,it has beautiful green trees aged more than 100 years .The place has park, zoo,  some ponds, and aninstitute for ecological studies.

The other place I visited was old town or downtown as it downhill alongside the coast. It has old french style architecture.The downtown is busy area with  old white buildings , cafeterias, and shops.

The next thing exciting was the port and beautiful view of city during the day and night.

Algeria has a  rich history starting from Ottoman Empire to French rule and its struggle of Independence from French which ended on July 5 1962, so you can say it is still a new Republic .Below is picture of Maqaam -E -Shaheed which is a  museum of History of Algerian Independence  and an iconic symbol of tribute to its martyrs .

and last and the most important, it has nice clean beaches with fewer people and some good halal food and lot of green mint tea and you can swim there with your burkinis or bikinis ( though not likely to find many ) as you like.

and yes since I was home with my in laws , I ate local home cooked meals that you don’t find in restaurants  for example below is called Shakshoukha. It is steamed fine pasta poured over with red sauce cooked in chicken topped with chickpeas,veggies and eggs in short yummy 😀

Some Algerian cakes that you have with your tea or  coffee.They were close to some Indian baked biscuits called Naan Khatai ( if any of you know ) .

So that was from my pictures, Hope you liked the city tour with me 🙂 More pictures of more places on my next visit .

Postcard from Warsaw

Sending you all a postcard from Warsaw.

(Wilanow Castle Warsaw Poland )

What if this existence is not real?

Often a thought

passes my mind

What if this existence

is not real?

This body, this breath

and touch  is nothing

but what I see in a dream.

And I will wake up

Somewhere as oblivious

as I am now of

where  I am sleeping.

A rich man waking up poor

And the poor will be rich.

Some will thank for

The dream is over

While others will cry

for their dream is wasted

in chasing a mirage.

Inspired by Rumi’s Masnawi , was reading his famous quote  while this poem happened in my mind .

This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief.

Welcome to the Age of Digital Anxieties

Recently read one of the article  from  Brain Pickings  called  We’re Breaking Up by Rebecca Solnit about Modern Non Communication and how it is changing our lives . My mind instantly found words to conform the behaviors  experienced everyday which I was communicating  through words like addictions , dependencies on internet and phone.Undoubtedly internet has changed our lives forever and there is no life imaginable without internet,without our Dear Phones held in our hands constantly .

Being a digital migrant and some of you might  be digital natives as well  there is constant surge of anxieties within us all the time, for example right now I have switched the tabs on my Chrome Window once  every 5 minute to check what’s happening elsewhere. I am always switching between my work laptop and phone. There is a constant anxiety to check Facebook or Whatsapp even if there is nothing really exciting happening .There is always this  feeling of  restlessness  to keep switching from what I am doing currently.  Is it  lack of focus and self control or boredom ?  Or is it FOMO , the fear of missing out on information ? My rate of getting  bored of whatever I am doing  is just ticking high with years passing by, I  always feel an urge to keep switching my focus , my concentration to something else of what I am doing in that moment.This need of doing many things at one time , this lack of interest in one thing as soon as you start it,  this lack of focus and attention of what a particular task deserves , it all annoys me in fact it bothers me. I want to be perfectly engrossed to what I am doing at that moment, that is how I was  but not any more .

So far , I have been consciously minding myself and learning to discard these impulses, constantly reminding myself of how should I behave but the reality is  the anxiety of Digital Age  do exist and the struggle is also real , it is just that nobody is talking about it much until it will be an epidemic.The fact that you cannot be really alone even when you want to is disturbing ,to shut down your brain of everything else except where you want to focus is getting difficult everyday. To introspect, to muse requires lot of self motivation and practice than ever.

I am trying to regulate the behavior by switching off my data for few hours on work , going for a walk without phone, doing something for an hour without technology like reading a book , cooking , they are helping me so far. Do let me know how you deal with this untalked anxiety of our Digital Era would be great to know.