We talked for hours. She crossed her legs five times and three quarters, the last one she wasn’t sure she had to. Her pants were pressed neat, creases fading under new folds of a day’s milling about. Her shirt, a clean white, had two letters, R.S., sewn on its right sleeve, as if to remind her which side faces front because it had an oddly symmetrical collar. Her hand gestured for the bill and she was ready to leave. To go home where she clumsily strips down to her underpants as she lights a cigarette. She locks her room and starts writing on her computer. 

Are you there?

When the new year began I decided I should try to eat vegan at least for a month. I decided to do that mostly out of curiosity on how it'll effect me (I really like to try most people think its bad-that's how I discovered wonders of CS!), how hard it was in my country to get that kind of food, how the people around me will perceive it and also because I don't like what's happening to animals all around the world. When I was still in high school these things effected me so much, I could feel them suffer, but because it was too big of a burden for me I decided I should stuff those feelings along with others that made me cry and suffer with them in a place where I wouldn't be bothered with them. Of course in a while I put up my life on a right track, but I started feeling like I was numb, like I should let those feelings back. At first they were a really hard thing for me to deal with, but now I can control them. I know, I feel with people that are sufferening, but I try this energy to be focused and then channeled into helping in other ways and expressing these feelings through music. I really hope this helps anybody, I dont' know if it does-yet, but I hope it does. Well, but that's another topic to discuss, so now let's focus on my decision of being vegan. Here are the results:

Eating out: I've learned there are some restaurants where you can get really nice vegetarian foods and just a few with vegan foods. What I like about one restaurant is, that in a month I've been going there they expanded vegetarian foods. In most restaurants you have like one vegan dish and a few vegetarian ones, but you can get by.
What I missed is that if I go into smaller grocery shops you don't have many foods to choose from as well-mostly you can find foods with added milk, eggs and honey, the only few things you could choose from are: some fruits (like apples and bananas), bread, some crackers, different kinds of juices, other from that you can hardly get anything-it's like cheese, different kinds of yoghurts, sandwiches and snack all around you, but not for you.

Buying vegan foods: you can get bread everywhere, different kinds of flour and grains and nuts as well, that applies for fruit and vegetables as well, but getting soy milk, soy and other vegan products is a bit trickier-you can get them in big supermarkets and in specialized stores for that kind of food (i found 2 in our capital city), but the prices are still bit higher than they are for other foods.

Other people's opinion: I noticed that loads of people think that if you eat vegan you don't have much to choose from and they all think that eating vegan you don't get all the vitamins etc. that you get if you eat "normal". I learned that that's not true, I've also told them what I knew but some of them didn't want to listen to me at all (of course I didn't wont to bug them, its their opinion after all) and some even insisted that the way I'm eating is not healthy for me, that for sure it's ok if I'm only going to do it for a month to clean my body, but then I should eat normal. WHat is normal anyways?
THe most often discussion when you mention that you're eating vegan is-firstly we have to determine what that even means-was about how unnatural that was or about treating the animals. Most people agreed that the way people treat animals they kill for food isn't the right way and that many animals are really suffering.
Killing animals: I even discovered about cases around here where they don't treat animals the way they should be treated. We agreed that if the animals wouldn't get the aditives and be treated against their nature (pigs in Ihan don't get to sleep because they want them to think its always daytime, time to eat; chickens everywhere around here don't have even enough place to move so they can't stand on their own-and I can tell you this because we bought one chicken from a chicken farm to be "our pet" and when we got her she couldn't stand normal, she had too long "claws" and she wasn't able to jump on a stick for the longest time, she had really bad feathers and didn't look well, but since we got her she got better and now she's really healthy and looks really beautifull). I think every animal should be treated nice and be left to live freely and if a human being should kill to survive then it shouldn't kill with anger but should recommend that animal to higher powers and "kill her with respect". I know this sound awfull, but if one should kill he should do it because there couldn't be other choice for him to survive or at least if they grow their cattle for eating they should left them to live normal and when killed they should kill them with respect, if you know what I mean. And I'm not for killing, but this could be at least one step closer to not killing at all. Nobody deserves to die in horrible conditions and on force. That's just not right.

My family's reaction: At first my mother and brother didn't want to eat vegan and I didn't want to force them. I told them I'll eat vegan and they can eat whatever they want, but in the end we all got adjusted to eating vegan. And I'm really glad my father listened and now he's researching veganism and is all for it :)

How did I feel and how do I feel now: Putting my cold I got aside, ever since I started eating vegan I feel better. I set my mind with this goal and I achieved it. I have to say that the toughest wasn't the begining. Yes, it was though for me because I didn't know how many foods I could eat (I only thought of vegetables and fruit at the begining), but when I found out the variety of foods I could eat it wasn't that hard anymore. The thoughest time for me was the 3rd week of eating vegan, I had this thurst to eat honey, sweet things and cheese, but I got by. Now when I think of eating meat I feel sick, I really don't know why.
My digestive system at first had some problems with gas (hehe), but after that I felt so much better, no more that itching feeling on my skin, no more anxiety and that horrible feeling I'll have to go to the toillet for my diarrhea. Yes, now I'm free from it!
Since I want to know on what my body reacted that badly I'll slowly add foods on my menu to see what it is. I suspect milk and milk products.

WHat now: I'll keep my basic diet vegan, but when needed I'll also eat honey and use eggs for the desserts I'll make. This decision is because we have bees and chicken at home and we treat them real nice and I don't see a problem why I shouldn't use these products. From time to time I'll probably eat some cheese (but really rarely) but I decided I won't use milk and exclude as much milk products as I can from my diet. I also decided I'm not going to eat meat since I don't have any cravings for it anymore. So basically my diet is going to be vegetarian/vegan.

I'm really glad I tried this out it made me see some things more clearly as I saw them before.
At first it was though for my family because we weren't used on cooking whithout milk products and eggs, but now that they've seen how many great recipes one can make even with "just" vegan products it's much easier :)

Oh, and one thing ... Normal sausage costs you like and 1€ for 4 of them but for vegan sausages you have to pay for the same amount of them 5€! I won't be eating sausages, so I'm not complaining, but it's not fair! ;)

To all of you who don't know it or can't decide-try and you'll see if it suits you!

there was once a poem about a tree
but rhythm never captured the mystery

of a humble gourd they named sayote,
which strangles beams like an olden garrote

embracing the contours of a wire netting
only yielding at the sight of poles swinging

and then that playful banter
with the famed tree by Kilmer

is there really anything as lovely
as poetry made for the tree?

a fool may know the answer
while the poor man will have his supper

It tried to. I chased the kitten out of the room and in a fit of panic it saw the mirror on the wall and jumped at it. It thought the mirror was a window, an escape route.

Dear Lagosians, For the past few days, I have monitored the developments related to the public protest against the increase in the pump price of petrol. During that period, I have at the invitation of my colleagues in the Governor’s Forum responded to an invitation from the Presidency. My role since last Monday till date has been to find a ground of compromise that stabilizes the polity, protects our democracy and prevent any loss of lives.
Inspite of these efforts, we were not wholly successful in preventing the loss of the life of a young Nigerian, Ademola Aderinto who was sadly shot. I am truly saddened by that ugly development. While I condole with his family, I pledge the commitment of ourGovernment to bring the alleged perpetrator to justice.
I have decided to address you today in view of the very disquieting developments that occurred overnight especially the deployment of soldiers across Lagos. I have the highest respect for members of our military, especially because they have made a contract with all of us that they will willingly lay down their lives whenever it becomes necessary to do so, in order to protect us.

This covenant is instructive, because soldiers did not sign up to stop us from expressing our grievance about things that we are displeased about. It is not disputable that the citizens who have gathered in several parts of Lagos like Falomo, Ikorodu and Ojota to mention a few have largely conducted themselves peacefully, singing and dancing while they expressed their displeasure at the way that we have taken decisions that affect them.
That in my view should not offend those of us in Government. The majority of these people who represent diverse interests have not broken any law. If they have, it is my opinion that in a constitutional democracy, it is the police that has the responsibility for restoring law and order if civil protests threaten the breach of the peace. This is not justification for sending out soldiers to a gathering of unarmed citizens.

Every one of us, or at least majority of us who hold public offices danced and sang before these same people when we were seeking their votes. Why should we feel irritated when they sing and dance in protest against what we have done? For me this is not a matter for the military. The sooner we rethink and rescind this decision the better and stronger our democracy will be.

If anything, this is a most welcome transformation of our democracy in the sense that it provokes a discussion of economic policies and this inevitably may result in political debate.

I therefore urge the reconsideration of the decision to deploy soldiers and implore the President and Commander-in-Chief to direct their withdrawal from our streets, I must also emphasize that the rights of free speech and protest is not absolute.

They impose the duty not to break the law, breach the peace, endanger human life or destroy property whether public or private. They also impose the duty to respect the rights of others not to support our protest and indeed to support what we oppose.

At the end of the day, it is a contest of ideas in which the most persuasive will get the endorsement of the majority of the people we serve. I am convinced that our democracy is mature enough to accommodate this. We must do our best to ensure that it does.

God bless you all.
Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State
Monday, January 16, 2012

For the past three weeks our internet connection has been so erratic. And sometimes we haven't been able to connect at all. After calling the BSNL office to give a complaint , we got the usual response, that they would be coming to repair the line. And we waited and they never came. I thought maybe someone dug up the road again and the cables got damaged. After three frustrating weeks, we gave up, when a bulb flashed. We took a long stick and using it opened the little telephone box mounted outside on the wall near the garden. The door flew open and we found a little nest of wasps. They had built their nest around the telephone wire, this wire which is wound around balcony railings and roof tops and tree branches by linemen whose job includes some acrobatics and dangling upside down in midair trying to connect telephone wires. So the wasps who were the culprits. Its a strange little box, painted yellow with numbers in black painted on the lid, and inside is a kind of reel around which the telephone wire is wound. It must be special because it holds a certain appeal to animals. It seems like the perfect place to make a home. Before this when the inetrnet had stopped working and we were very frustrated at BSNL, we discovered that a big lizard had made the box its home and was chewing on the wire. And before the lizard, a little mouse used to live there, climbing up using the wire and the mouse's stay disrupted the internet so badly. I wonder which animal next. When the line man called to ask our address again, even though the telephone office is located five minutes away, I explained that some kind of 'hula' (an insect) had made a home inside.

In North Karnataka, one of the first few questions women ask you is if you eat Jolada rotti (a roti made from Sorghum), and when you say ofcourse you do, they ask you if make it at home. And if you don't know how to make one, you could be the biggest dunderhead in the world. It hold a place of pride among the people of North Karnataka. Parents narrate sorrows of their miserable children who are unable to eat their staple 'rotti' because they live abroad. And I agree. Anyone who has ever eaten this roti made of jowar (Sorghum) would find wheat very very inferior. Now I had always been told that making a jolada rotti, or jari ki roti as we call it is an unachievable task. My grandmother would say so, everyone would say so, but they would make it themselves. 

Jowar is a millet, and it is grown all over the world. It lacks gluten, that wonderful protein that wheat is blessed with, which makes it so pliable and gives rise to an amazing variety of desserts and wheat is used in so many packaged products. It is no wonder that wheat is considered the forbidden fruit, and it is said that wheat was giant sixed, luscious, juicy and had every attribute that a forbidden fruit must ncessarily possess. And wheat is hexaploid, so it could have been that big in some forgotten more than ancient era. (It is also a cause of weight gain in many many people.)

But it is precisely lack of gluten that makes jowar, and its millet companion like bajra, at once a manna for anyone allergic to wheat. Because of this unique property, it is impossible to roll out a roti from jowar. You can try all you like, but it is not possible. The dough itself does not hold like a malleable mass. Water merely acts as a temporary cohesive agent. No oil or fat can make it cohesive. There are folks who mix Sorghum flour with wheat and roll out the dough to make rotis. For purists like my grandmother it is blasphemy. So the only way to get a roti that is flat, lightweight and fine as a handkerchief is to hit the ball of dough, hit it with your hands, gently, firmly until it spreads out into a thin round which can only be cooked with water.

Anyone who has attempted to make it the first time would know how impossible it seems to spread out the dough without the flattened dough tearing, how much pressure should you use with your hands. The only way to make a dough out of Sorghum flour is to boil water and knead the dough for quite sometime in that hot water, and when you flatten it, you have to be skillful enough to transfer to a very hot flat pan and quickly sprinkle water to just about wet the entire surface of the roti without leaving any part dry.

In North Karnataka, one of the first few questions women ask you is if you eat Jolada rotti (a roti made from Sorghum), and when you say ofcourse you do, they ask you if make it at home. And if you don't know how to make one, you could be the biggest dunderhead in the world. It hold a place of pride among the people of North Karnataka. Parents narrate sorrows of their miserable children who are unable to eat their staple 'rotti' because they live abroad. And I agree. Anyone who has ever eaten this roti made of jowar (Sorghum) would find wheat very very inferior. Now I had always been told that making a jolada rotti, or jari ki roti as we call it is an unachievable task. My grandmother would say so, everyone would say so, but they would make it themselves. 

Jowar is a millet, and it is grown all over the world. It lacks gluten, that wonderful protein that wheat is blessed with, which makes it so pliable and gives rise to an amazing variety of desserts and wheat is used in so many packaged products. It is no wonder that wheat is considered the forbidden fruit, and it is said that wheat was giant sixed, luscious, juicy and had every attribute that a forbidden fruit must ncessarily possess. And wheat is hexaploid, so it could have been that big in some forgotten more than ancient era. (It is also a cause of weight gain in many many people.)

But it is precisely lack of gluten that makes jowar, and its millet companion like bajra, at once a manna for anyone allergic to wheat. Because of this unique property, it is impossible to roll out a roti from jowar. You can try all you like, but it is not possible. The dough itself does not hold like a malleable mass. Water merely acts as a temporary cohesive agent. No oil or fat can make it cohesive. There are folks who mix Sorghum flour with wheat and roll out the dough to make rotis. For purists like my grandmother it is blasphemy. So the only way to get a roti that is flat, lightweight and fine as a handkerchief is to hit the ball of dough, hit it with your hands, gently, firmly until it spreads out into a thin round which can only be cooked with water.

Anyone who has attempted to make it the first time would know how impossible it seems to spread out the dough without the flattened dough tearing, how much pressure should you use with your hands. The only way to make a dough out of Sorghum flour is to boil water and knead the dough for quite sometime in that hot water, and when you flatten it, you have to be skillful enough to transfer to a very hot flat pan and quickly sprinkle water to just about wet the entire surface of the roti without leaving any part dry.

Video realizado para la materia Politica a cargo del Prof. Pablo Croci, del Colegio Calasanz. Recorre en forma de ficcion, y videos de archivo y fotos, lo que fue el proceso de globalizacion en la Argentina. Integrantes de grupo (5ºA 2008) Christian Riccio - Lucas Edgar Diaz - Martin Bustos Ferre - Alejandro Gulisano - colaboracion actoral de Joaco Renna.

Edicion, Locucion y fotografias de Cristina Kirchner, a cargo de Julián Profeta.

JULIANPROFETA.COM.AR

Growing up, whenever we went to the fish market, esp in Karwar, my dad would always show us all the different fishes, and even though other people ate some of the more exotic looking ones like sting rays, sharks, crabs etc, we knew we didn't eat it because they weren't halal. Once, our neighbour, a Muslimfrom Kerala who spoke very confusing Hindi, brought us a delicious smelling pilau. My dad though refused, saying the mussels in there were ones we coudn't eat. I protested saying they were also Muslims, so it must be halal. But he didn't budge. We didn't eat it. There are many Muslims who consume crabs, snails, flatfishes, and others sea food, and I don't know, but I would like to trust my dad. He says that for centuries we haven't touched those because of certain rules, so how can we eat it now.

Bhatkal is a costal town in Karnataka, close to Mangalore. It is sometimes called a mini Dubai, jokingly, because of the overwhelming presence of imported products in markets. Bhatkal was only a short visit before going to Murudeshwar. Its a small town but it has palatial houses owing to family members who work in the Gulf countries. We visited a friend's home in Bhaktal, a Navayath Muslim. They speak a strange language. Its a mix of  Konkani,Arabic, maybe Kannada, and I don't know what else. The Navayath Muslims have an interesting history. When Arab traders would sail to the Indian coast, long before the advent of Islam, they married local women, who were Jains and settled there. After the spread of Islam, they brought the new religion with them and that is their origin. They don't cook after dusk and the kitchen is closed for the day after seven pm. This is all that I could find out. There are many Malabari Muslims and Beary Muslims who live in Bhatkal, and they have their different languages, but it all seems that they have a common love for everything Dubai.