The ICSS BBQ, 2014

I'm not sure why I stopped writing about the ICSS BBQs - the last post was made way back in 2009. I've been to all of them except for one, and it's been interesting to see how each year had evolved from the last - the last few have been quiet, intimate affairs, and for some of us for the better.

We decided to throw open the doors again this year to celebrate the tenth year of ICSS - a pretty amazing feat in itself - and it was good to see the old faces and new all coming together to, well, stuff their faces. We were obviously out of practise hosting such a large event as the flow of meat dried up at times. But it was all worth it as always, and I like to think the guests were forgiving of us. I do think that we broke some kind of record with the sheer amount of cake we had though.

But otherwise we had the usual face painting, henna, cake decorating and bouncy castle slide as well as the not so typical in the form of Silkroad playing some live music. The sister school CWSS was also on duty providing some much needed help.

I guess all that was left to do is start the countdown for the next decade's anniversary. Good times until then.

WharfMA: Eid in the Wharf

Ah, another year and another Eid in the Wharf. Of course now that I'm proper Wharf Alumni I have no option but to attend the event - what would all me peers say if I didn't? Still it's scary exactly how quickly the year passes.

It was the usual drill of premingling, eventing and postmingling, and once again ICSS and CWSS were there to recruit (oh, and if anyone asks I have officially handed over recruiting to the younger volunteers), all with the ongoing promise of hot canopes to keep guests going. On that note, no, the food hadn't improved much.

And neither had timekeeping it seems - we were still sitting in the auditorium till way past 10pm. Not that we weren't thoroughly entertained though. The serious stuff was really good, with a quick summary of Takaful finance, an overview of the work being done by the seminal National Zakat Foundation by Iqbal Nasim and Kristiane Backer giving us a brief life story covering the needs for the more mature in the audience. For the rest of us, we had Aatif Nawaz and Nabil Abdul Rashid providing the laughs - I really liked Aatif myself (enough to put him up alongside Imran JK), although the audience in general seemed to prefer Nabil.

But all in all it was a decent night out and good to see faces old and new enjoying the show.

WharfMA: Eid in the Wharf

It's hard to believe that it's been a whopping three years since I last attended a WharfMA Eid in the Wharf event. Personally I had found that I had kinda grown out of the whole Muslim Professional Networking thing a couple of years ago - so it's quite ironic that I find myself in the thick of the scene working where I do now.

And if I'm honest I would have given this year a miss too. But this year the organisation I volunteer for, ICSS, decided to make a well organised push to recruit at the event. In other words tonight was more about work than socialising. Ahem.

Of course that didn't mean I wasn't going to enjoy the entertainment on offer. The WharfMA decided to take a distinctly arty yet eclectic turn this year, with a whole bunch of weird and wonderful artists performing alongside the more regular ones. First up was David J, a spoken word artist who may have even been my favourite performer of the night. This wasn't the flippant and rhetorical stuff I was expecting but actually multi-dimensional and entertaining on an obvious (ie funny) level.

Daniel Waples managed to stun the audience with his Hang Drum skills, and I was really impressed by the sound that he was able to create on his own. The next act was pretty much pure fan-service for the girls - Sound of Reason had popped over from Canada to do a few sets. Now I really don't like the whole Nasheed thing but these guys were more on the Outlandish side of the scale so I was able to enjoy it more than I would have otherwise. Well until the girls in the audience regressed to teenagers. No, I'm not hating. What was really ironic is how uninvolved the audience was otherwise - come on guys, are we so uptight that we can't even wave our arms in the air to a beat?

I have a theory about Islamic (or rather, brown) Comedy: that it doesn't exist. Aman Ali didn't disprove this idea, although there were two times that I did actually laugh out loud. Still the audience seemed to love it more than I did, so I will put it down to me being a grouch (either that or Muslims just don't get out much).

Otherwise the event flowed smoothly enough; Mohammed Ali hosted and engaged the audience well while the ancillary speakers did their part (although I do think that the majority of those twenty who were donating £1000 a piece didn't actually realise it. Hopefully I'm wrong). The food before and after was adequate enough, and there was plenty of time to mingle - sorry, I mean "network" - after the entertainment had finished.

We even managed to drum up a record level of interest in the schools, so in our eyes it was a massive success; but even aside from that it was a decent enough way to spend a Friday night too.

Food: ORA

Perhaps I just go to eat out more than I should, but I'm continually finding it more and more difficult to be impressed by places like these. Yes it was clean, yes it was lush, yes the food wasn't bad and yes the service was great. We ordered a la carte, and with the option of halal chicken, lamb, beef and duck we had quite a few options. I stuck to the prawns for starters, the green chicken curry for my main and sampled a range of lovely desserts (but stick to the Chocolate Cheesecake or Pineapple Pie) and all were quite good.

Thinking back, I have no idea why I wasn't as impressed as I should have been. I guess it was a mood thing, which might indicate exactly what was lacking in ORA. It was another ICSS even and so heavily subscribed; although the venue should have been commended for just accommodating such a big party it wasn't able to facilitate interaction in the way other places could. The place was quite noisy, open and lacked intimacy and once again a long thin table killed any chance of socialising. Perhaps it would have been better for a smaller group? Or perhaps these flaws are only tested with a big party such as the one tonight.

The bottom line was quite good though - after a 50% discount we ended up paying around £20 a head which was quite reasonable considering we got three courses and a drink. I wasn't left hungry either, so the portions were just right too.

It would be unfair for me to not recommend ORA, so I'm going give it the benefit of the doubt and put its lack of atmosphere down to how it wasn't able to contain larger parties. If you're going with friends then it might be a good place to eat; unfortunately I wasn't able to determine this this time around.

The ICSS BBQ, 2009

If there's one thing that's constant in the world of ICSS it's just how much better and better its annual end of term BBQ gets. 2009 was no different; we had more food, more people, and more things to do.

Firstly the regulars. Face painting, henna and the legendary bouncy castle are now no less than expected by those who arrive through the doors of The Froud. Of course we didn't disappoint, with all three constantly serving those up for self-decoration or a bit of bouncing.

New stuff included a Jujitsu demonstration (including the ass-kicking of some of our teachers by their students), an origami stand, cake decorating and a few other bits and bobs. Technology was used in full force with slideshows and videos being shown from our most recent Lambourne End visit, and the prize-giving and speeches were a bit too successful if the cramming of the foyer had anything to do with it.

Food gets its own paragraph. Although not as smooth as last year (there was an odd occasion or two where we had hungry looking kids waiting for a burger) everyone was fed happily and sufficiently. Burgers and sausages made the front line in our attack, with chicken taking the rear. For the first time ever we had run out of some stuff! On a less happy note I must admit being surprised at how choosy and unbashful some guests were when it came to grabbing some free nosh...

But I can't complain too much; the guests really are what makes an ICSS BBQ an ICSS BBQ. The numbers broke records yet again as the four-year-regulars bringing the bulk of the new people, with fancy Facebook and local media marketing (all of which goes way over my head) claiming the rest. Vibe was at an all time high, with smiles on everyone's faces and laughter constantly ringing throughout the whole building.

This alone made the whole thing worth it for the Trustees and Volunteers of ICSS, some of whom had been in the building from 9am all the way to 6pm once we had chucked the last guest out (I guess the BBQ can be a little too successful at times!).

It's the kinda thing you don't want to end - something which only ends due to the exhaustion of the people running the show. For some, some winding down was necessary to ease the edge of the high gained from running such an event, but even so I still feel a tingle of excitement while writing about this, the ICSS BBQ, 2009.

The ICSS BBQ, 2008

This is now the third time I'm writing about an ICSS BBQ and I find myself struggling to post anything original. I said last year about how we had improved on 2006, and the trend seems to have continued - 2008's really was awesome.

I think it comes down to the maturity of the event - the one thing I was impressed with was how we had all learned from previous mistakes and fixed them this time around. So for example we didn't try to cram in too much fun and games today - there was just the one activity going on at any one time. We also made sure that the volunteers and kids had been well fed before any external guests arrived. We had also managed to clear up in record time at the end.

All this made for a much smoother ride than the previous years. Everyone helping out (and there were quite a few) took their role and responsibility in their strides and we were never once chasing our tails. Food flowed faster than ever, with the maximum waiting time only being a couple of minutes - we once again seemed to hit the 300-350 mark of mouths fed so the fact not many went hungry is a sign that the cooking seems to have gotten better.

The main event this time around was a talk by a the local police-community engagement team - they spent fifteen minutes or so talking about what the job of the police is and why targeted stop and search was a good idea (I held my peace). They even brought a portable metal detector; the kids were more than eager to walk through it!

As usual, the best thing for us was the feedback. A large proportion of the guests were just dropping by, and didn't really have an association with ICSS before they had come; they now have an idea of who we are and what we're trying to achieve, many choosing to sign up as further volunteers. The rest had nothing to say but compliments and how impressed they were with how such a small organisation could host such an event.

I hoped/predicted last year that the annual ICSS BBQ would outgrow the organisation itself and become an event in its own right, and from what I saw today this almost seems to have been the case. Of course it's important for us as an organisation to leverage the popularity of the BBQ for the benefit of ICSS, but in the meantime I have to say that I'm pretty proud to be part of the team that owns such an occasion.

It's Like Riding A Bike

It's no big secret that I can't ride a bike. Well when I say I can't that's not entirely true, it's just that whenever I get on one I always end up hitting a tree. Even if I'm in a field there always seems to be a blummin' tree in my path and for some reason I can never quite manage to steer around it - it's like the bike becomes programmed to head to a Oak on autopilot or something.

This is all much to the dismay of the person who had lent me their two wheeled pride and joy; but then I don't feel guilty partly since I always inform them of what's going to inevitably occur but mainly because they were the ones saying how easy it all is. As I always explain to them, I guess I'm just more of a motor vehicle kinda guy.

Anyway, committing to an upcoming sponsored bike ride has prompted me to get back on the saddle and get to a level of reasonable competency. So, borrowing a friend's bike (with his son's helmet; Star Wars if you really need to know) I hit a nearby park for half an hour or so this morning to see how much damage I could inflict on the trees there.

And it all went quite well considering. Okay, I did hit some park railings at one point. And almost ran over a jogger. And perhaps glanced off a gardener's van. But they were all nothing major - in fact since most of the altercations happened in the same place I blame the track more than my (admittedly beginner's) skill. Once I avoided all the deceptive pits and dips I was lapping the park like a pro. I even changed gears a couple of times and everything. Woot.

In terms of fitness and effort, I still don't quite think I've underestimated this bike ride like some have been accusing me of, but I'm glad I've started practicing already. I did have the wobbles at times, and I do seem to have trouble keeping the steering straight while doing, well, anything else.

But here I am, legs feeling like jelly and my bum slightly sore. It was all worth it though, since there is something free, liberating and exhilarating about riding a bike - I'm glad that I've been forced to finally get on one!

An Unlazy Sunday

Sometimes you have such a perfectly synchronised day that you feel like you've wasted all others that week - that in fact the past six days were just all leading up to this one.

Today was such a day for me. It was partly typical - I started with an early long run with my neighbour (something we hadn't done since I returned from my travelling) followed by my teaching at ICSS (I was scheduled to come in today).

I left early in order to catch the top end of a family lunch we were having. I couldn't hang around though because I had to leave for South Woodford mosque: today also happened to be the date for the latest QMT Marriage Event thing. I had missed the last one and so made it a point to attend and as usual it was pretty good - with those of us leaving without any leads or interests not finding it a waste of time like we might have other events. The crowd also seems to be getting bigger, and I had known friends attending on both sides.

I had to yet again leave early in order to catch the tail end of a lunch party I had been invited to elsewhere. I arrived just in time, managing to catch dessert, and the next few hours were spent having various (semantic and otherwise) arguments regarding prejudice and racism. It was great and I think we could have gone on for much longer.

The evening was suffixed by an impromptu dinner out with yet another group of friends. It was very last minute (I missed the initial invitation) and I wasn't even going to go - but that I was locked out of my house meant I had to. I was glad I did since the day was made perfect by the final session of banter, food and hanging out.

And of course best of all is the feeling when you come home late on a Sunday, not having to worry about work the next day! Playboy lifestyle it might not be, but it's good enough for me.

The ICSS BBQ, 2007

Blimey, I'm knackered.

Take 2006's BBQ and then multiply it by ten. That pretty much sums up what happened today. We had the same brilliant food, the same range of stalls (this year face painting was joined by henna and cake decorating) and even the same bouncy castle. Some of the events had evolved - we had Police and Fire officers (with a real life fire engine!) come in to give demonstrations and the like.

What was strikingly different this time was the sheer weight of numbers turning up - estimates put it at around three hundred mouths to feed over the six hours in which we had officially opened shop. That's around one guest per minute (and admittedly we had struggled at some points in keeping up with them all!).

But such numbers brings with them an exponential rise in variety. Whereas for the previous years it would have been fair to say that guests were almost exclusively limited to friends and family of ICSS, this time with the magic of social networking and the Internet, the already traditionally open invite found it way to people we had never been able to reach before.

Families and children, professionals and students, religious leaders, television and media personalities, teachers from the sister supplementary schools, and various others from far and wide: they all made their way to the Froud Centre today. I met more new people today than I do in a month, pushing my ability to retain so much information about so many new faces. The only real bummer was the lack of time; between assisting with the event and, uh, eating my face off there just wasn't enough minutes to talk to all the interesting people who had attended at any real length. Still from the comments left in the guest book, it appears that all had had a pretty good time.

It was interesting behind the scenes too. This was my third time here (oh how time flies!), which means that, relatively, I'm a veteran of the whole experience. But there was an unprecedented number of BBQ virgins today, which is a testament to the changing face and growth of ICSS during the 2006/2007 academic year.

But this wasn't the logistical issue it could have been (or would have been if it was anywhere else). All the volunteers new and old were stepping up to the task, picking up the slack almost automatically when it was needed. When people needed well deserved breaks others jumped to cover them. When assistance was required to do a task, all did them without even being asked. I don't remember the last time I saw such a slick team working as one. The exhaustion on our faces would have been worrying if it wasn't so obvious how we felt about how worthwhile had been. It'll take a good few days to come down from it completely I think.

So yes, it's becoming a bit of a habit to come away from this annual event, stunned at how well it all actually went. I won't even set the challenge I did last time about making it even bigger and better next year; I've now no doubt that we will since that's just the way the ICSS BBQ seems to be going. In fact, I'd say that there's a small danger of it outgrowing ICSS itself and becoming one of the free volunteer based faith social events of each Summer to come.

Caving In

We’re fast approaching the end of the academic year, and that means the annual ICSS trip to Lambourne End to do all sorts of outdoor activities.

Since I've been before, I've done most of what the centre has to offer. However, they had just built an artificial caving system, and the idea of crawling around them seemed a bit too interesting for me to ignore, so I volunteered to take the kids who wanted to try them out.

In effect, the system was just a bunch of concrete pipes buried underground. The twist was that there were around four different size of pipe. I'm not sure of the precise diameters, but they ranged from allowing me to crawl pretty freely to... well let's just say quite small.

I'm usually quite good with outdoor stuff (the other activities Lambourne have include Ropes Over Water, Archery and the like and I was okay at those), but I have to admit that this was tough and, at some places, quite concerning. And that was only during the "easy" route consisting of the two largest size of pipes.

After completing that, we were asked if we wanted to carry on with the smaller pipes. We were pretty unanimous in declining the offer and as we got ready to depart the system properly were relieved that it was all over. Until one of the kids asked if we were sure we wanted to give up.

Of course that was enough to trigger doubt in most of our minds. How could we walk away not even having tried the smaller pipes? Well, we couldn't, and so five of us went back in.

The second smallest of the remaining pipes weren't that bad actually; I had to lie flat on my front and was able to shuffle along a few inches at a time. It was slow, but I had a method so wasn't too worried. The plan was to reach the cavity at the end of that pipe section and then take the escape hatch out. I was last in line to go through though and it was only when I got to the cavity that I realised the rest of the group had carried on, down the smallest of the available pipes. And that meant that I had to too - I couldn't bail out now!

Thinking back, this pipe was only a couple of inches wider than my hips. This meant that my shoulders couldn't fit, not squarely anyway, so there was no way I could crawl like I had been before. After asking the advice of the host (who had doubled back overground to the aforementioned escape hatch), I lied down on my back, one arm stretched out in front of me, and the other pointing downwards toward my feet. I don't even know how I travelled forward in that position (it may have involved rolling on my shoulders or something), but eventually I made it through to the other end.

It was both physically and mentally challenging, and so also really rewarding. Once you commit to tackling a pipe you couldn't bail out or give up. This meant that you had to really push and rely on yourself or risk spending a long time in a pipe on your jones; real mind over matter stuff. I really enjoyed it!

Food: Sakonis

An exclusively vegetarian restaurant? How absurd! Except the lack of meat didn't take anything away from what was a pretty good place to eat. Not only that, but for a Muslim it's great too since you don't have to worry about what you're actually eating.

The buffet was on which meant a) I ate well and b) I ate a range of things. All were adequate, with a few things especially standing out. The restaurant itself was okay - nothing spectacular but clean.

They always welcome our large group of post-ICSS teachers, and the buffet and a drink today came to a reasonable nine quid per head. All in all a winner... we'd probably come here more often if we didn't miss our meat so much!

Team Building

Since it's full term and school is off for a couple of weeks, the good folks at ICSS took all the volunteer teachers away on a team building event thingy. Or at least "team building" was the excuse we all told ourselves in order to have a bit of a social gathering. It turned out to be pretty fun, and for a select few of us, pretty wet too.

Lambourne End was the venue, a kind of farm-cum-outdoor centre seemingly built for corporate events of this type. All in all, we had around thirty people (some whom I'm certain I've not even seen at ICSS. Hmm), so the first thing to do was to split ourselves up into three groups, one of which were to be put through the watery assault course. Guess what group I was in?

It was the usual stuff that some of you may have seen already. We were greeted by a long and narrow pond with various ways of getting across it; rope bridges, rope swings, tires, wires, that sort of stuff. The idea was to use teamwork and mutual encouragement to get ourselves across each safely, although I must admit some of us might have enjoyed others failing (and so plunging into quite scummy water) a bit too much. I'm sure some of you will be delighted to know I completed the exercise completely dry.

After the morning's physical session was over, we settled down for a bit of lunch (mmm, Naan Kebab) and a pep talk by some of the more senior members about what ICSS is and how we're each doing a good job by volunteering. We're professional role models, apparently. Cough.

After that, we ended on a game of "Simon Says", a game I've not played since primary school. I was asked to be Simon, and I must confess that I found it a harder job than I thought, especially when the candidates were reduced to the few hard core people who seemed to be taking the game a bit too seriously (although I would have probably been the same had I been playing). After that, we had cake.

So yeh, a nice day of fun and games and an excuse for adult teacher types to act like children, and once again it makes me realise exactly how normally my own teachers must have acted behind the scenes. As for us, I'll never get over how immature we behave when the situation calls for it, but then if it means we come out a closer, more effective, group because of it, I don't think that there's any reason to complain either.

New Year's

2006 ended on a pretty high note for me - that dinner with university friends became dim sum today (yesterday?), after which I raced to have tea (or milk in my case) and cake with some family friends. But the highlight of the day had to be celebrating New Year's Eve with the school lot (and others) at Halaliano's.

I'm not a fan of Halaliano's. It's smoky, dark and sleazy and basically somewhere people (usually students) go to legitimise what others just stick to regular bars to do. But despite that, I've had a few genuinely good times there, mostly 'cos of the company I was with, but also because it's nice not to have to worry about sitting on somebody's spilt beer or have drunk ladies continually hit on you. Phnaar.

But anyway, now that the Halaliano rant is out of the way, let me tell you about New Year's. I believe it had originally been organised for 20-25 people but it had hit around double that on the day. It was a Muslim affair, and as is always expected with these kind of numbers the evening started out with the girls and boys on opposite ends of the room talking within themselves while eating their pizzas. It was pretty amusing in a "some things never change" kinda way. We even had some minor party injuries: shisha burns abound, and one dufus even slipped on the stairs. It's ok though - he only went away with a bruised wrist and ego.

Many people left before the ball even dropped - curfews kicked in for some, while others decided to ditch Halaliano's for the fireworks being held at the Victoria Embankment. To be honest, the whole thing was looking more and more like just another dinner party.

But, ironically, it was as the group became smaller and so more intimate, that the New Year's vibe also kicked in. The conversation (not without the inevitable Talk About Marriage; oh and by the way, we're all getting married this year) and personal jokes-cum-insults began to flow without effort - we even played a passable excuse for Truth or Dare at one point.

So yes. It was probably the two hours after midnight rather than the four before that I enjoyed the most, but the night as a whole flew by in the way good times usually do. My only real disappointment was how early the last of us eventually packed it all in - I'm no night owl but I a part of me wanted to party till dawn. Nevertheless it made a brilliant change to my usual New Year's Eve plans (which usually consist of being in bed by 12:15am), and definitely paves the way for future events.

Can't wait. Only 365 days left till the next one, eh?

Request For Feedback

With respect to Monday's Eid Show, for those who watched we'd appreciate if you could fill out this survey.

It's not long and shouldn't take you more than a minute to fill out (and if it does, then stop - I hate doing surveys too).

On The Box

First things first: to wear that red topi was NOT my decision. Just so that we're clear that that wasn't my fault.

Anyway. So it's the day after and I've finally have a chance to write about the whole television thing. Those I've spoken to before directly will have more of an insight, but for blog purposes I'll have to be a bit more... objective. Hopefully it will be enough to give you an idea of how the day went.

I'll start with me. In retrospect, and after egocentrically watching my own footage (something I would not have usually done except for some friends who missed it wanted to watch), I don't think I did that badly during the solo call in part. Don't get me wrong: it could have been so much better and definitely did not go as well then as it did in my head. I definitely want to work on my on screen presence; I wanted to go for "normal, casual" Shak, but something seemed to have been lost in translation. It's a bizarre effect, really it is and I hope it's not due to anything other than nerves. And do I really act that gay in real life?

Apart from the obvious, the most difficult part for me (and perhaps the others too) was being conscious of the guy in front of you telling you to stand up, the guy in your ear telling you to sit down, and your own brain telling you to ignore both seeing as neither really knew what they were doing.

And that's pretty much what my co-host Sofia and I decided to do for the close. Once we started "responsibly" filtering out the dodgy direction I think that we were much better off for it; it's better to play the fool on your own natural whim than have someone force you to do it. I guess that since we were all new at this we had placed a lot of faith in those running the station to lead the creative way, and sometimes we might have been led down the garden path 'cos of that.

Not to detract from the help we did receive - there were many good ideas coming in from the channel itself that the school lot alone wouldn't have come up with - but there were things that we were made to do that made us raise eyebrows in the days leading up to the show and that we should've trusted our own feelings on instead. You know, things like being made to wear a red felt topi (although at least I managed to "lose" it for most of my time on screen).

It was pretty hard work overall, but I'm not sure whether that was because of the medium itself or our particular set up yesterday. I suspect it was the latter; Unity/Itihad is clearly a channel less mature than its peers and there were plenty of avoidable mistakes made especially on the technical front. Still, as much as I'd like to blame the gremlins, the really good TV personalities can and do deal with all that all of the time, so it's not really an excuse.

The problems were not just of the unanticipated variety though. From my brief time doing radio and just general common sense, the TV studio was a shambles. Small and practical things like being able to see your producer AT ALL TIMES and having a teleprompt would have made things a lot easier. And the red "live" light that you would have expected to tell you which camera was on didn't exist. As some of you may have noticed.

At times backstage was much more interesting than the show itself. Creative differences, high running emotions and arguments galore were present more often than not, but as painful as that all was it somehow added to the whole "media dahling" feel of the thing. It was, like, totally drama, yaar. But on a more serious note, I do honestly believe that our biggest problem was that of a particular oversized ego than the lack of media experience of the channel or the schools.

Still, we did have fun. And it was a brilliant experience and one I'm so glad to have had been a part of. The bit that went on air was just the tip of the iceberg and the concentrated efforts made in the days beforehand was the kind that just makes you feel like you belong to something big and important.

I now see presenters (especially Asian ones) and the like in a totally new light. Whereas before I would describe them as rubbish, I now consider them let down. And on travelling to the office this morning I've come to realise just how boring real work is.

One To Watch

Live @ Eid, Unity TV, (SKY 825), 11am-2pm

A repeat, just in case you missed it. It should also have been (hopefully heavily) edited in order to actually make us look good...

Further Details

The show runs from 11am till 2pm, with yours truly scheduled in for 1230pm and then again for the close at 145pm. The channel is on SKY 825.

The number to dial in on is 020 7908 7290. Even if you're not around during the call in slots, do anyway and someone will hopefully take a message. Well, that's the plan anyway... And remember, you can email in as well on eid@unitychannel.tv.

Yikes.

Video Of The Day

Presenting the promo for the Eid Show tomorrow:



ACEBEST!

Coming To You Live From London

Well it was just a matter of time really. That's right, a bunch of guys and girls from ICSS and its two sister schools have been asked to create and host an Eid Show, due to be broadcast live on the telly. It's on one of those cheapo low bitrate, high channel number and magic background jobbies a la Vectone and the like, but we're all working very hard to put it together anyway. And yes, I'll be personally hosting a call-in competition during the latter half of the show.

I don't seem to be feeling the nerves at the moment, which is strange considering that this is going out to Europe to an apparent viewership of 100,000. Rehearsals have been going alright, but then this is live and further with children so anything could happen really. Finally I have realised my dream (see here, here and here).

I know that this will be terribly exciting for some you, so just in case you find it difficult to control yourself here are some humble requests:

• DO watch the show on SKY channel 825.
  
• DO get your younger kids and cousins to call in (number to come).
  
• DO continually e-mail us on eid@unitychannel.tv, starting NOW.
• DO NOT take the mickey out of us on air.
• DO take the mickey off air.
• DO tell those you know will be interested but won't get a chance to read this till Tuesday about the show.
  
• DO tell your friends and family to give us a look.
  
• DO contact the producers of the channel and tell them what a fantastic job you thought we all did.

So yes, please do watch and contribute tomorrow. The real driver for some parts (like the segment I'm hosting) depends heavily on people calling in, so if you see us struggling with that we'd appreciate it if you picked up the phone. And hey, you get to see me wearing JEANS with a KURTA. Oh dear!

A School Wedding

Most of today was spent in the celebrating of Shopna's marriage. I've known her for over a year now, since I became a teacher at ICSS; in fact this was the first ICSS wedding I was going to, and I thought that it was going to be interesting for that reason alone. Most of ICSS is perpetually single, so when one of us breaks free it really is something worth shouting about. And of course it goes without saying that it couldn't happen to a nicer bird. Erm, I mean girl.

I cant remember the last Sylheti wedding I went to, but this one at least was normal Asian fare. Actually, no, I take that back - today was quite efficiently done, with Shops arriving early (as in, you know, before the time written on the invitation), the groom not too late and the food being served at a decent hour. Talking of food, we were all well provided for: the starters and desserts (yes, that's plural) were especially yum. The venue it self was pretty nice too, even though it was a really a leisure centre during the day.

As I mentioned above, this was an ICSS wedding and so most of the school teachers were there. It was strange being part of a largish group (I think that there was twenty of us or so altogether) and yet belong to neither family or lifelong friends. It's like we were in social limbo - we didn't know anyone who wasn't school, and yet we were large enough to be an important part of the guest list. But perhaps I'm not explaining it properly or maybe it was just me; it certainly doesn't seem that unusual now that I've written it down.

Anyway, the hall was chucking us out before we realised what had happened. It went so fast, and yet I got back to my house by 7:30pm - pretty late considering that it was a lunch wedding (although admittedly we did make a pit-stop on the way home). I guess time flew as we all had fun.