Bring your own Shisha

Rahella Khanom. Not a name which would mean anything to anyone. But if I were to tell you a story of a woman who believed a baby boy was possessed by evil spirits and decided to ‘cure’ it by giving it a good shake, it should raise a few eyebrows. But this is not a normal shake. It is shaking the baby as hard as you can repeatedly for a period of time. To quote the newspapers:

‘The injuries inflicted on the child over several weeks had caused one side of his brain to shrink. It was believed that the boy would have been screaming in agony for eight weeks because his injuries went untreated.’

The judge said: ‘You are a young lady who came from Bangladesh. You lived there in a rural community, adopting the customs and ways of the people there so that getting to know the ways of living in the West and in this country were not easy.’

Khanom was given an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after admitting one count of cruelty to a person under the age of 16. Which effectively means that she walked free from court.

There are a few things which bug me about what the Judge has said. Firstly, the judge has implied that it may be the cultural norm in Bangladesh to shake baby’s to death and given this woman had not become part of society in the UK, it was understandable that she would believe this is normal. And secondly that this woman has walked scott-free from court. Her defence have effectively insulted Bangladeshi mothers by saying that because this is the norm in BD, it is something which excuses Rahella Khanom. This woman should have been jailed and made an example of.  

I received an email from Zarah Hussain asking for an update to the link from my blog. So I thought I’d have a closer look at her work. Largely based on Geometric patterns, and specifically Islamic geometry, her work follows the traditions of the great Islamic artists such as the Damascan tile artists through to the Nasrid Dynasty of Spain, builders of the Al-Hambra. Symmetry and geometry have been a vital part of Islamic art and Zarah brings that tradition back to a modern audience. Well worth a look.

It’s been a very long time since I last posted. Largely work and family has been getting in the way (How inconsiderate!!)

Anyway, last weekend, we decided to venture out to Portobello Road market. A protracted journey via the tube led us to Notting Hill Gate and then a walk to the market (basically follow the crowds). Made famous by that (in)famous film ‘Notting Hill’, Portobello Road market is a lot more interesting than the film makes out.

We started at the Notting Hill end and finished up at the Westbourne Grove end which is a longish walk especially with a pushchair through Saturday afternoon crowds. It starts of with lots of Antique shops and stalls with Jewellery, plates, memorabilia (One stall had gas masks and tin hats!) and of course furniture. Then it rapidly becomes a food market, with some of the best deals I’ve seen yet. A box of Clementines for £1, Freshly baked Breton biscuits and my fave, a cornucopia of olives. Kalamata, Queen, Manazilla, Nicoise… you name it was there. And also they were stuffed with anything from the usual culprits like Pimento (not the nasty paste), feta, anchovies and also almonds. Heaven if you ask me!

Further down we get to the clothing part and the second hand shoe and boot stalls. Not my cup of tea but they were very busy. Also we came across Portobello Halal, which obviously is a butchers. However what fascinated me was that this place would do cuts of meat as per ‘English’ requirements. All you vegetarians please forgive me as I go into a little detail. These guys will cut you a lamb leg steak, which is an unheard of concept in normal Halal butchers. They will do beef steaks as per your choice, i.e. Sirloin, RibEye and they will do rabbit and game! Which leads me onto my purchase of veal. Veal you cannot find easily so I did check it was ethically raised. I enquired into obtaining other meats like venison and pheasant, and it was all possible with a bit of notice.

Amongst other things we picked up, well I picked up a doumbek, although mine is not as ornate as the one in that link and Wifey picked up an Egyptian antique water bottle which is taking pride of place next to our decorative shisha.

So all in all, a good day’s shopping. Next week we will most likely hit Borough Market near London Bridge to buy some cheese amongst other things. Time Out has a lot to answer for, especially given the hit that all this shopping is taking on my bank balance!

Sunday was a day for me and the kid in the park enjoying one of the first few days of Spring. I think I will be buying a slide for the garden soon.