I think I am in love...

with the world, its history and its future. I am always amazed at the beauty that is nature and the variety and diversity that is history and the link we all share.

Imagine... when some guy named Hadrian was ruling the Mediterranean, some other guy named Kanishka was plying his trade down from the Khyber to the Bay... Along the way, there are places like Merv. Samarkand, Taxila, Gandhara, Peshawar, Mathura... Apparently, the 2nd Century was the happiest time on earth. Some day, as my Muslim brothers would say, Insha'Allah, god willing that is, I will go see it all.

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Summers are getting hotter in Vancouver

This shouldn't be a shock to anyone, but summers are getting a lot hotter here than it has been since I started living here. It used to be that in summer, it would be in low to mid 20s and reliably sunny between mid June to about mid August. Perhaps the sunshine stayed till September. Somewhere along the way, there would be rain as well. But that was 2+ decades ago. In the past few years, there has been many days where wildfire smoke dominated the skies and air. Rain is rarity now in the summer. And it has started to get hot. It is not unusual for days when the highs are over 30C. This is starting to cause homes to get very hot. Most apartment buildings in Vancouver are covered in glass. While it makes for great views, it also turns apartments into little ovens. My apartment faces West and it regularly goes over 30C by the end of the day. And it barely cools down overnight. The outside is a lot cooler in the evenings. A few years ago, we had something called a heat dome - ba...

A few thoughts on the current state of Canada and US relationships

It is easy to demonize the current US president for a myriad of reasons. Some have called him by the alleged tint of his skin (orange), some have called him a threat to democracy and used words like dictator, fascist etc. I am not going to delve into all that. He is, as far as I am concerned, the legitimate leader of a large country, duly elected by a majority of their voting population. What those people where thinking while voting for him in a majority, I question. But that is not the point of this post. I live in Canada. I am a citizen of the country. I get to vote for an MP in my riding federally. The party who elects the most MPs is usually invited to form government by the head of state or (now) his representative. Our democratic norms are pretty simple and straightforward. There are plenty of things to criticize our electoral system for and the governments that come as a result. Anyway, all of this to say, we in Canada do not get to vote for a foreign leader. But we d...

Happy Birthday Canada

I have celebrated more than 20 Canada Days in Canada. While this nation is far from perfect and we have so much further to go, there is hope. We are a nation, at 153, looking at the future with a mixed record: we have immense prosperity, peace, safety and a relatively good standard of living for most . We are welcoming to immigrants, refugees and guarantee people with a wide range of rights. We are a leader in respecting people's human rights and punch above our weight internationally. We are also a country that is in the midst of a reckoning right now. We have systemic racism, we are at war with the environment - we are actively digging things out of the ground to sell to the rest of the world. Climate change is ravaging our country - we have floods, fires and drought. Our past and present deeds towards indigenous people is shameful. We have a long way to go yet, but there is hope. In the midst of a pandemic, with social upheaval to correct past wrongs, or at least make amen...

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