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Habibi, Habibi, Habibi ya nour el-ain, aah
Habibi, Habibi, Habibi ya nour el-ain
Ya sakin khayali
( This was the only Arabian song I knew before I started liking Arabs)
There is something fascinating about Arabs! I am talking about the Algerians, Moroccans & Tunisians who are from the former French colonies, who I meet on the streets. I absolutely love them.
I don't know whether this exact phrase will be the reason for my expulsion from France one day by some extreme right wing racists which I have seen on television. Well! I don't care, I am neither left or right, nor East or West, (yes, bottom or top! ) but just a normal human being who observes things.
First of all, I am fascinated by their enthusiasm to live and breed. I have hardly seen an Arabian woman with one kid, usually she is accompanied by a herd of kids, infants, babies, toddlers, teenagers, name it, you find a variety. I, myself who is already terrified, horrified at the very thought of maternity, rather the act of giving birth to a complete living being coming out of a vagina, must venerate these Arabian women who have courage to undergo that pain more than six or seven times in the name of whoever the God.
You are at the super market, Arab women do shopping with the kids hanging around her ( she is a true mother) and she opens packets of food inside the shop and feed them on the spot, some pain au chocolats, crumbs of baguettes, as if they would die of starvation before they go home. Sure, they make a mess inside the shop, but they don't care at all.
Then, there is this handicapped old Arab man on clutches who creeps inside the public library everyday asking for one euro for coffee. Tok, tok, tok , he walks on clutches across the hall, waking me up from day dreaming and he is never ashamed to trouble the others,no emotions. He stops at every one who is reading,writing,thinking or sleeping, just to ask one Euro for a coffee with his singing but annoying voice :
" Excusez-moi madame, pouvez vous me dépanner un euro pour le café?"
He seems to be having so many coffees everyday and I hope he won't die soon out of too much caffeine in his system! Some beggars, professionally trained ones, made you feel so bad by asking and giving the look " Don't you have one euro?" I myself have trained to answer " No, I don't " because I still don't have a fund for underprivileged. Or they approach you to ask " Do you have fire? " which I vehementely rejects "No, I don't smoke" . But, I feel bad because they are the only prople who talk to me willingly in this highly provincial city, so next time I should carry a lighter eventhough I don't smoke.
(Image courtesy of Sebastien Javelle)
Some Arabs cheat, like everyone else. The worst example is the Arabian student who "hired" me to correct her English papers! She called almost everyday, sent non-stop sms to see whether I correct her papers, forced me to rewrite her essays, asked to type them clearly according to her instructions & made a slave out of me. And then she comes, she pays half of the money for my corrections and never comes back to the scene again. Well, I can still remember the tingle in her black, green, grey mixed eyes, so determined to pass her exams and enter in to Army! How can I hate such enthusiasm for some euros? I stay like a dumb idiot believing she would pay me one day but as per historical records by my French house owner they never come back! His philosophy is Arabs are born to create you problems, and they will be happy when you are in trouble. I don't know the truth, still my bag has not been stolen away, perhaps in near future!
My Chinese friend's apartment had been robbed , robbed to the core, ruthlessly. So, instantly they made Arabs the scapegoats who are very popular for those acts. The fascinating thing about their robbery was the ruthlessness of it. They take all the valuable things, may be you have not thought it was valuable until you lost it but they have already measured everything perfectly. They suck up your souls, your energy your good humour and they survive.
Recently, just infront of my eyes, Arab hit a french man, then he stole the car & drove away, like in a film. It was shocking for me to see the quickness of his action, the hatred in his face. We could not do anything about it than just wait like ducks for Pompiers who come 30 mins later with their relaxed attitudes.
You discuss with many French natives, they hate Arabians and Arabians hate them back. It is a famous secret which is not revelaed because France seems to believe in "Fraternity". Both parties have typical stereo types. In their point of view Arabs are associated with stealing, drug trafficking, smuggling, killing, shooting, fighting and all the misdeeds in the whole universe!
Talk to a Arab, they will tell you instantly they hate France, such a racist country, criticise everything and yet they never leave France. It is like a love-hate relationship, they seem to hang on to France for the benefits. Let me think it in a literal way with some historical background. If France was a man ( Do you know French fuck & forget ? It is a cliché) , he went and fucked the "Arab" woman in the name of colonisation, he gave so many French kisses, fucked her so hard, promised to marry her but disappeared in a French style thinking everything is done & dusted. Disappointed, heart broken "Arab" woman is not so easy either. She travelled across Mediterranean to seek the revenge of this betrayal, now she breeds everywhere like the rats who run in Parisian streets till she ruins France in to bits and pieces. It is like you messed with me, now suffer!
Let me talk about their beauty. I am not talking about unshaven dirty beggars on shaggy clothes or gigantic Arab moms with enormous boobs, tummies and buttocks. It is about Arabian girls. I sometimes wonder how beautiful they look inside their veils. Their pink lips, full lips, eyes with long dark lashes covered with mascara, hairy eyebrows, rosy & butter coloured cheeks, that's all you see, but that is enough to appreciate their beauty. I wonder whether they are happy inside their veils. It is us who complain about women rights but they seem to be perfectly comfortable with it, having a sadistic pleasure of hiding their valuables, even in a fully liberated society . Of course, I get to see so modernized Arabian girls in the streets, with shorts and tube tops who colour their hair blond, who want to be French, at least from looks who talk with a rough French accent which drills my ears. These girls look so strong too, so much of life in them which again captivates me. I want to enter in to their heads and observe how they feel about the world.
(image @http://smritikozindagi.blogspot.fr/2011/12/beauty-under-scarf.html )
Another place is the open air Arabian market. Life is vibrating there at its best. In my drowsy & lethargic moods, when I think about the existence of human kind, the burden of life & contemplates on how Sisyphus carries that famous boulder uphill, I can see Arabian men carries so energetically vegetable sacks! They don't care about any absurdity of life, they need to survive somehow. One man sells cheap perfumes telling all the lies & manipulating, fruits & vegetables vendor so busy greeting, smiling, weighing the goods, calculating, customer service at its best unlike the lazy women in super market cashiers who are like half dead zombies, who greet "bonjour" in a monotonous way. Thay all greet me warmheartedly , Ashwalam allekum, Mademoiselle ( Gosh, I don't know how to pronounce it ) & I hear Inshallah, here & there. I am overwhelmed with rough arabain accents.Arabs have their own Arab customers.They buy couscous, various grains, colourful spices, dates, almonds , mint leaves in huge quantities to feed the whole community. They seem to prefer all Arabian products, nostalgic about their country like many immigrants.
(image @http://travelpost.noble-caledonia.co.uk/articles/arabian-delights)
I think French government should stop imposing French values to them because they don't seem to care at all as if they don't want to be civilised. It is like they are given Cheese to eat and Wine to drink and they vomit all. I can never see them as French.
Well, I can go & go on. May be I am so naive to talk about a different race just from outside observation. I always feel sorry for culprits! Morally sound saints bore me big time and there is no "fun" in them. This does not mean I justify crimes & all the thieves out there. But, there is a "beauty" in every nation which we never see or never bother to see or accept. You don't have to think deep to like People, We are all same, differently.
Conclusion : I love almonds, mint tea & camels = I love Arabs
I prefer absurd conclusions about life & people.
By Jahooli Devi
(Image courtesy of Sebastien Javelle)
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