Banged Up Abroad

As you know, I love to watch television. I’m actually surprised I have time to blog seeing how I watch so many programmes. One of my favourite programmes is Banged Up Abroad. It’s pretty self explanatory. It’s about people who get banged up abroad. Ok, that wasn’t funny. Let me try again. It’s about people who get jailed in foreign countries. In most cases, it’s drug related. I don’t get why people get involved with drug smuggling. Call me a chicken but there’s no way on Earth, I could ever get involved with things like that. I say this at the risk of causing controversy but I would rather be locked up in a British jail than any other jail. The reason for this is because in England we have human rights, the correct procedures are adhered and so on. In foreign jails, they have different laws and regulations. More importantly, there is a lot more abuse and punishment. I actually think I’m too cute for jail and wouldn’t like to be someone’s girlfriend whilst I’m locked up.

In one of the episodes, a couple from England took a one way trip to Amsterdam. Whilst they were there, they ran out of money and couldn’t get back home. Yes, you’ve read my mind, it’s a silly idea to go on holiday if you don’t have enough money. Anyway, in the pub, they got chatting to a guy who offered them a 2 week, all inclusive, all expenses paid holiday to Puerto Rico and then £5000 each on arrival back so they can go home. In return of this, they had to smuggle 3 kilos of cocaine each. After a little bit of hesitation, they decided to go through with it. I was watching it thinking “no, you silly people, DON’T DO IT!!!!”. They knew best and didn’t listen to me *sad face*

When they got to Puerto Rico, they had a lovely time there and on the day of departure, they were given the drugs to smuggle back to Amsterdam. These packets were sealed in some “special’ foil and placed in their suitcase. Off they went, nervous at check in, even more nervous through customs. Somehow, none of the metal detectors went off and they boarded the aeroplane. That seemed pretty smooth going until they found out that there would be an interconnecting flight to catch in Mexico. As they boarded the second flight, they were rumbled by airport staff re-checking their bags. GAME OVER!!!!! They were locked up for YEARSSSS. Upon serving their sentence, they were released and sent home to England.

Whilst watching it, I had no compassion for them at all. I don’t have any compassion for ANYONE on the show. You know what you are getting involved with and there’s a chance you will be punished for it, so shame on you. I’m not saying everyone should be a law abiding citizen because that’s never going to happen. But think twice before taking the laws into your own hands or thinking you are ABOVE the law. Is it really worth risking your freedom/sanity/family etc for some money? Different strokes for different folks!

End of the World 2012

Was the world really going to end today? Did anyone actually believe it? To be honest, it was quite amusing, yet very annoying, to see how this was a topic being discussed worldwide. Well fear not, because 21st December 2012 is almost over and I’m still blogging. I can assume we’re all going to be safe. Truth be told, I don’t know much about the story behind the world ending. All I know is that it had something to do with the Mayan calendar. I didn’t even know who the Mayans were until this ‘rumour’ was spread. Yeah I said it, a rumour. I’m sure they said the world was supposed to end in 2000. It didn’t end then so there’s no way I was going to believe it this time.

You all know that I love Twitter and I have to admit it was rather crazy last night with people thinking that they wouldn’t wake up in the morning. Like really people, you don’t believe it yourself but would take time to tweet about it. That’s how you know the world is going crazy. Mario Balotelli tweeted: “Breaking News: The end of the world has postponed until Liverpool win the Premier League. Well, looks like we’re all safe.”

It’s ironic how the world ending is supposed to be serious but people are making jokes about it. To be fair, it’s better than the tweets I thought I’d be seeing. Here are some more tweets I came across from non-famous people.

“It’s funny because after today’s over and nothing happens, they’re gunna pick a new day that’s gunna be the end of the world.”

“Mayan: End of the world is tomorrow. Jesus: No, my birthday Tuesday, Turn Up.”

“I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging or anything, but this is the sixth end of the world I’ve survived.”

A lot of rumours were spreading. Some people were saying that the world was supposed to end at 1am. In which country? There’s so many countries in the world, so many time zones. If you’re going to spread rumours, at least clarify the smaller details. Another rumour that I heard was that the world WASN’T going to end, instead we’d be in darkness for three days with no electricity. The most freaky thing happened this morning. We had a power cut in my house at 5.30am. The electricity hadn’t tripped. I looked outside the window and the street lights weren’t working, neither were the traffic lights. Before you start thinking, NO, I didn’t get scared but it was a major coincidence. Me and my mother had a right laugh about it. It was funny, until the electricity started working 15 minutes later.

We’ve survived. It’s nothing to worry about now. I wait to hear the next rumour that’s going to have the world going crazy.

Cultural differences

I was waiting in reception where they leave outdated magazines for clients to read. Have you ever noticed they are REALLY old, like a good 3 months or so old? I was reading this article entitled “I was arrested for wearing too much make up”. That was pretty extreme so of course I had to read it. PLEASE NOTE: I’m not quoting anything, neither am I trying to offend any countries/faiths/religion/views but am merely expressing my opinions. When I started reading it in more depth, there were four women telling their stories about how they were in trouble by the ‘morality police’ as they called it. The reasoning why they were in trouble is more than just wearing make up, it’s more about going against Islamic beliefs. I was really shocked reading it. It opened my eyes into different cultures, lifestyles and beliefs in different countries. I understand that different countries have different rules and beliefs but you’ll always get people who try to fight against it. That happens everywhere in the world.

I do believe the Islamic lifestyle receives a lot of bad publicity in different mediums, news, papers, radio, online. But maybe it’s nothing like that in reality. Maybe we’d know more if we weren’t so ignorant to topics like that. A lot of people believe what the media tells us. We’ll take it at face value without even trying to uncover the real truth. Topics such as the terrorist bombings and the war in the Middle East have shaped the way some people think. To be honest, you can’t really blame them. It’s up to each individual to research it more, if they want to. If not, they’ll continue to have the same views as the media wants them to have.

Reading the article made me think about the way religions and traditions are portrayed in the media. One of the first examples that popped into my head were arranged marriages. It is thought that people are forced into marrying someone that they do not know and are expected to stay in a marriage with a stranger forever. Being Indian, I can admit that used to happen a lot in the olden days and still happens now but very rarely. Nowadays, it’s more of an assisted marriage where parents will help their children find potential partners. They get to know one another. If they are happy together, they get married, if not, they get introduced to someone else. It’s like a dating game so at least everyone has a day, No one is forced to do anything against their will.

There’s quite a few examples I could give but the point that I’m trying to make is don’t believe everything you hear from the media. Do a little research about different people and I promise you’ll learn a lot. Remember ignorance isn’t always bliss!