The Msaharati
The residents of this strip of land might have invented the alfabet, but they will never be able to spell "noise ordinance." Noise pollution is part of life in this city and you have to adapt to it. Puncturing your eardrums with a Pencil would work, but then you wouldn't know how Haifa plans to top "Wawa". So instead you condition your body to not hear the regular dream interrupting noises like the dawn calls to prayer, the shrieking water pump that the neighbors forgot to turn off when they left the country in 1975, and little Nadine's Saturday morning piano lesson.
Seasonal noise events, like the entire population of Lebanon chanting "Barazil" or Israeli F-16's experimenting with bunker buster bombs, shock the system and break down your defense mechanism, which leaves you struggling again with an enemy you thought you had outsmarted.
A dude banging a drum and screaming his lungs out at 3 a.m. is one of these factors that aren't programmed into your night noise blocking system. That's the Msaharati. His message is "Wake up and Eat." A noble cause except he is the bar tender who pokes a passed-out drunkard to sell him one more drink.
The best part about the Msaharati is that he will come to your door the day after Ramadan to "wish you a happy holiday". No Shame whatsoever.
The Msaharati, a Ramadan tradition for karaoke bar rejects.
9 comments:
Jam,
First you trashed "Barazil" "Barazil".
Now you go after "Ya nayem wahed ed-Dayem"??
What kind of heretic are you?
At least these are yearly or 4-yearly events.
Now if the daily-nightly chanting guy could turn off his distorted 1950's speakers, or if we could ban idiotic political speech in the country (and on the blogs), we would get some very welcome golden silence. ;)
brilliant!!
Joseywales:
Jamal is a devine heretic.
:-)
Victoria, you know FOX news is not the only source of news. Muslims and muslim clerics have repeatedly denounced all terrorist acts. if you fail to hear them, that's your bias.
this century has witnessed great troubled times. and muslims/arabs, as you like to join them, do not take the monopoly. South Africa, germany, Klu Klux klan, ireland, Israel. who cried out for those?
history is biased, and is written by the stronger hand. passion of the christ stirred an outrage among jews. because of a movie that depicted what christians consider a historical fact. jews were upset of the way their ancestors, not a prophet, not a divinity, were portrayed. and you are wondering why Muslims, pointed out by the finger, oppressed and discriminated against , didn't tolerate religious attacks on their prophet! When jesus superstar was released it caused an upheaval in church. Dan brown's Da vinci code.
men are intolerant. poverty and hopelessness make you more prone to exploitation and emotional upheaval.
years of "western" exploitation of arabs and muslims have created pockets of poverty, oppression and instability where extremism has flourished.
stop pretending to be the designer of the free world, or the inventor of democracy, or the gatekeeper of freedoms. your talk and your letter (which are open in arrongance and closed minded) only increase the gap. and not all arabs are muslims, and not all muslims are arabs...here, you just learned something new today. your day was finally not a wasted day.
jamal: you are one patient dude!
maya@nyc, Don't waste your time. 'Victoria' is probably a computer program.
What kind of heretic are you?
My favourite kind. ;-)
amazing amazing post, and finally i can comment again! id missed it! i cant rmemeber my blog password so couldnt leave messages.
Muslim jihad discussions aside, thank you oh thank you jamal for this wonderful blog. I loved this post and other which i couldnt comment on. I too will be returning soon and about to enjoy many many sleepless nights, from things as simple as a car turning in the road...how does driving become such a cacophony in beirut? ive been collecting ear plugs on my travels.
miss you and see you soon! ya favorite heretic.
"occupation" stick to topic if you wish to continue posting here.
jamal,
what was off topic that i posted?
cant see it since you censored it.
but you stated:
A dude banging a drum and screaming his lungs out at 3 a.m. is one of these factors that aren't programmed into your night noise blocking system. That's the Msaharati. His message is "Wake up and Eat." A noble cause except he is the bar tender who pokes a passed-out drunkard to sell him one more drink.
and all i did was post how a Palestinian islamic thug was shot to death in lebanon for DOING just that, banging a drum at 3am calling for people to wake for your holiday.
if that is off topic...
censor away
Post a Comment