TV Sunday!

It's a lazy Sunday afternoon and it has rained heavily at 5.30pm. It's 9pm now, but it's humid! I spent my entire afternoon watching documentaries! Wanted to do so many other things but was simply mesmerised by what's showing on TV. Heck. Just treat it as a breakaway from my plans for once in a long time! :p

Went for a run in the morning at almost 8.55 after having 2 bananas and a cup of fresh soy bean. Midway through the run, I felt really tired and wanted so much to stop. It could be due to the heat, but I already tried to run in shady areas. I slowed down my pace but could still feel my heartbeat thumping very fast. I was perspiring so much that it soaked my whole face! Well-aware of heat exhaustion, I was weary of body signs. Perspiration is supposed to cool off your body, so I was quite certain that it could not be heat exhaustion. Perhaps just a matter of raising my body temp too high from baseline since I had just woke up from slumber at 815 in the morning and my body was experiencing an increase of temperature one hour after that. Whatever it was, I was feeling quite tired.

My muscle spasms in my left shoulder occurred too. It was actually a bout of pain around my heart area at 1st, kind of like a spasm when your muscles are not receiving enough oxygen and then it spread up to the shoulder and upper back area over the left side. The spasms over my left shoulder was all too familiar as they occurred in the Judo days before, but the ones that's coming from the chest region? Mmm? I am just assuming that it's due to the fact that my body has not yet warmed up to the 'shocks' of a morning run.

The run lasted 1hour 3mins 48secs. Well, towards the end, it was not too bad. Managed to overcome the heat wave that overswept me and trudged on till the end. I was sooo wet from my perspiration that I could squeeze my dri-fit top! The sweat would just drip onto the floor! Reminiscent of those Judo days when we used to train in TCHS just in front of the hall for physical training and it's so humid and ventilation sucks totally there! ARGH! After training, my partner would love to shake her hair in front of us and 'sprinkled' her beads of sweat on us! Yucks! And the guys? needless to say, their shorts are perpetually dripping sweat!

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The 1st documentary I watched after lunch at 1pm on Discovery Channel was 'A World Without Fathers or Husbands', about this minority village in Yunnan area in China, where the families are matriarchal in nature. There are no marriages, and men would simply copulate with the women and thereafter, if she should get pregnant, he would give her some gifts and then go visit her occasionally. He's not responsible for her as he's not staying with her. Instead, he would be responsible for his sisters' children back at home. He would stay with his mother and siblings all his life and take care of his nieces and nephews if he should have. In a way, the role of 'uncle' replaces the role of 'father' in this village. This village was only discovered recently.

A darker side to this would be the occurrence of incest. Since fathers are not considered in this village, there have been cases before where there have been relationships between the father and daughter! Yikes! And between siblings too! But the former is not a sin, and henceforth not punishable. Whereas if it should occur between siblings, they would be forced to move away and be starved to death in the past. Right now, think it's not happening anymore. But discussions on sexual relationships are taboo in the family.

2-3pm: Discovery Travel and Living Channel. It was a food show with the host traveling to the Carribean, hopping around on different islands and countries such as Costa Rica, St Kitts, Trinidad, Guadeloupe and tasting the local food. Whoa! The food sure looks good man! With the influence of the French, Spanish, African, Indians and Chinese, it was a very colourful fusion that presented itself in the food in these various countries.

There was this dish that was really easy to prepare. While I can still remember the ingredients, I must note it down here. It's actually grilled lobster over charcoal and the butter that was used had the following mixed into it:
1) Lime skin
2) Pepper
3) Salt

After which there was a mango sauce being prepared to pour over it just before serving it:
1) Chopped mangoes into cubes
2) Lime juice
3) Coriander
4) Spring onion
5) Pepper

I so wanted to have a taste of the lobster as the host tasted it... Awww... it must have been good! Got to try it someday man!

3-5pm: Actually it should be from 330pm, as I did not want to watch it in the 1st place when I switched channels and found that 'No Borders' was playing. I have saw the trailers for this documentary and wanted to catch it, but missed it. I finally gave in as it did not harm to watch another one for just 30mins. But I did not know that it would turn out to be a 2-hr long docu!

It?s on National Geographic Channel and it follows the life of a young 8-year-old boy, Mir, in Afghanistan. The sceneries were stunning, and the landscape awe-inspiring. I was immediately reminded of my trip to Iran, and the kind of hospitality I received there. I miss my friends in Iran, and the time there...

Anyway, back to the docu, Mir and his family live in a cave near the Bamiyan Sculptures, which the Taliban actually blew down a few years back. The Bamiyans were huge towering Buddhist sculptures which were being carved into the rock face in the mountains. The docu showed the life of Mir and his family and also interviewed some of the relatives and friends.

Mir's father mentioned in one clip that the "boys in London have clothing, have a house, have shoes, have computers, have TV? Mir never has anything. But at least he has God." I have always wondered why would people cling on so tightly to their beliefs even when they barely had enough to survive? They would give themselves to their Almighty One and pray that everything would be well. I have visited so many developing countries and seen this being displayed. In certain docus like this one, it further demonstrates that this is the case. I suddenly came to a conclusion just now: Ironically, it's because of their predicament that all the more they need to believe in God. They simply do not have anything, but yet they do not blame God for their plight. Instead, they embrace him with even wider arms, believing that all they need is Him to stay by their side.

I just thought that in the modern society, some people would simply forsake God if something unfortunate happens to them. Or perhaps the faith would not be that strong. I have met an Iranian girl with whom I discussed this with on a train ride. Well, I can see it from the people's point of view. As in the case of Mir's father.

The Afghans used to be a peaceful people, with many different people making up the country. That is, until the invasion by Soviet Union in 1979. They fought a long and hard war and the Afghans won, managing to chase their occupiers out. However, peace has not returned ever since. The different tribes formed their own political groups with support from Iran, Pakistan, USA and Russia.

The Taliban was formed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Because they were Muslims, the Afghans welcomed them without knowing they were enemies in their own countries. The terror began when the Taliban took the country over and massacres of children and women occurred in huge numbers. They killed their fellow Muslims simply because the Afghans were Shi'a while the Taliban were Shiites. Many fled to the mountainous regions to hide from them and died from the cold in winter.

I just have this very little thought. If only the Russians did not even invade the country, the situation would be so different now. The same goes for so many other countries that were formerly colonized by the Europeans. The many civil wars and ethnic cleansing that had happened and are happening in Africa now is all due to the colonization by the Europeans many decades ago. They actually divided up the land of Africa into many different parts and allocated them to the different tribes. Favoritism towards some tribes were practiced and that leads to unequal treatment. After the Europeans moved out, the tribes fought among themselves to achieve what they felt would rightly belong to them. This actually forms the basis for the Rwanda genocide that occurred in 1994.

Enough said. Mir and his family actually lived in a cave by the mountains. Yes, they do not even own a proper shelter. Sigh. It goes to show how we take our daily needs for granted. However, after the docu has ended, it updated the viewer about the government actually moving them back to their original village where they came from before they escaped from the Taliban.

I just hope the best for Mir and so many of the other kids like him in Afghanistan. Education is really the only way for them to break out of this poverty cycle. The docu ended after showing Mir getting a job as a waiter in a restaurant. He hopes to bring back money and food for his family while his parents hope for a decent life for him in future with a proper education. It was heart-warming, especially with Mir always smiling in front of the TV and facing life as if there was nothing he could not stand up to. If u want a look at this perky young boy, check out http://www.ngcasia.com/. He's the poster face for the banner for 'No Borders' under 'Features'.

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This year marks the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII. Whatever the reason any war is fought for, the result is always the same: Both parties will suffer huge casualties and the commoners endured all the pain. Let the world remember the lessons in history and not repeat this kind of reckless behaviour.

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Today happens to be 11th Sept. It's already 4 years. Time flies. It was a dark day for the U.S. this day 4 years ago. Now, they have another very tough and immediate problem. Hurricane Katrina. I watched BBC news earlier at 1130am and it?s rather unbelievable that such an incident would hit America and cripple them. Mr Bushy Man better get his chores done soon and get his country back in shape. He's such a jinx for America. Only during his term does such unfortunate events occur. 9/11 incident, the war in Iraq, and now Hurricane Katrina. Time to step down, a-bush. Raaaa.....

Yeah, there goes my Sunday afternoon. All of it went into TV watching! At least I get to catch the docus I've been wanting to watch. And they're really good ones. :)