Libyan Diary Part Two

Dear friend
This is the part two of my writings based on my life in Libya
Hope you will enjoy reading it
Season’s greetings
Hello friend
Writing to you has become a pleasure and the pleasure seems to increase when there is a critical and creative feedback from your side. As I look through the window of my home in Libya I see the endless rows of olive trees. Libya is one of the leading nations which exports olive oil. I sometimes wonder how these people succeeded planting all these trees in the so – called desert land. To the East of the place I live is the Sahara desert (maybe some 1000 kms). It is one my plans to go for a desert ride and a camp fire. I heard that there are tourist packages from Tripoli. The program includes journey in a desert friendly vehicle (maybe a Range-rover), and night stay in the desert. The real fun and the reason why most people go to the desert safari is the cultural program that is organized at night which includes the rib- tickling 'belly dance'. I heard that the belly dancers are 'imported' from Egypt- the place where the dance form originated. It is a dance form where the pelvic area is the only part that takes an active part in the dancing. Gyrating the hips and legs are also part of this dance. It may sound easy but in reality it is difficult. There are also some rumours doing the rounds that there are plans to introduce belly-dancing in some of the five star hotels in Tripoli. To talk about the entertainment acts of this country – the only thing people do is to smoke cigarettes and the hookah. Even though these two activities may appear highly sexual and hence Freudian, this sums up the pleasure quotient of a Libyan. People engage themselves in discussions at cafes and hotels filling their lungs and the room with holy smoke. The only TV channel that this people blindly follow is Al-jazeera which was infamous for its connections with Osama. I really like watching that channel because of its quality programmes and their cute and sexy newsreaders. In Libya like any other Arabic countries, pornographic channels are easily available. The satellite which provides these channels is called Hotbird. In most of the homes they are against the idea of keeping a satellite dish because of this. There is also another satellite which is called Blue Nile that caters to the family audiences.
With my three and half a month experience of this place I have discovered one more entertainment activity of these people. Marriage and marriage and marriage. The reason why I typed the word three times is to show you, my dear friend the number of times these people get married. A man who is 50 years of age will at least have 3 wives. Now to you....this may appear very strange but in Libya the status of a man is measured in terms of his willingness and financial status to take wives. For a woman it is based on the number of offspring's she can produce. I have a friend who is very eager to get married. He is working in an oil company and is in his early 30's.In Libya for a man to get married he should possess a house , a car and 20,000 Libyan dinars.Because of this it is difficult for a man to get married. Somehow I think that this is a good custom which makes man really aware of the importance of a woman. I still don't understand why Islam is criticized for its anti-feminine stand. So my friend is searching for a bride and he sometimes comes to the college under the pretence of meeting me and looks at the girls in the campus. I hope that very soon he will get a bride and they both will live happily forever. Marriage ceremony as such in Libya is something which will extend for 2-3 days. The most interesting part of the marriage is the night time activity of taking the bride or the bridegroom around the city. As the procession of 10-12 cars move they make lot of noise by honking horns and singing songs...my dear friend I have never seen such vigour and happiness in my life. Most of the marriages happen in the month of December. The winter season according to Libyans is the right time for mating. There is a proverb in Arabic which when translated will be like this – 'In winter the young get married and the old goes to Mecca'.
Marriage feast include food items that will surely delight the taste buds in our tongue. Rice, Chicken shiva, Tamia, Shaberma and lots of fruits makes up the food-menu of a marriage. I want to tell two interesting things about marriage in Libya. I have a friend in Tripoli who is helping his father to run a coffee shop in Al-Fateh towers (something like Spencer plaza in Chennai). One day after having some refreshments from that shop, I quizzed him about his family and in a quite normal way asked him how may brothers and sisters he has got. I was taken aback when he replied that he has got 14 brothers and 6 sisters. Seeing the amazement on my face he added with a tinge of shyness – 'My father has got three wives'. After one week I heard from another friend that the size of a Libyan house is determined by the size of the family i.e. the number of wives and children who live in that house. For example when a person is getting married for the first time he will have a house with just the ground floor, then as he takes the second wife, he will construct one more floor for the new bride and a second floor if he going for the third one. One my favourite pastime here is to look for houses which have got the maximum number of floors. So far I have seen four. After a particular point, the wives will all come and live together in one floor with their daughters who have attained puberty. The male children are not supposed to see their own sisters. Some kind of method which prevents them from committing incest.
I am sure that by the time I write my next Libyan diary i.e. the third part I would have collected more information about the topic of marriage.
So here I am saying goodbye in English and I look ahead to meet you, amigo with some special topics like Arabic music and campus life (wow – that will be a must read for you all)
Bye
Prem