Page 8 - Pakistan Link - July 2, 2021

P8 – PAKISTAN LINK – JULY 2, 2021 OPINION
n By Said Ahmed-Zaid Qur’an Recognized Importance of Animals, is indeed the female workers that
Idaho gather the pollen and make honey
in an extra stomach dedicated for
uring the long summer Insects. We Can Help Save Honeybee Colonies this purpose.
evenings, I like to spend The Qur’an is full of other ex-

Dtime in my garden watch- amples describing communities of
ing different insects and animals insects and animals, and it urges

foraging for their daily livelihood. us to study them and learn from
And bees are my favorite. I like them. I have watched a swarm of
to watch them relentlessly collect bees in the summer hover over a
nectar and water from dawn to beehive and create a ventilating ef-
sunset. I remember how they con- fect to cool the temperature inside
stantly visited the flowers of the the beehive. In the winter, the bees

lavender bushes we planted in our will move closer together to gener-

backyard years ago. Those bushes ate heat and warm the whole colony.
are now gone, and so are the bees. I was saddened to hear that

We have new flowering bushes in worker bees started disappearing
our garden, but lately, I have not in Florida in 2006 after abandoning

seen a single bee. their queen and hive. By June 2007,
I have always felt comfortable similar disappearances had been re-
around bees and I have never been ported in 35 states in a mysterious
afraid of them. As a child, I used to phenomenon termed colony col-

gently grab a bee from its side wings lapse disorder. The number of bees

with two fingers while it was sip- has continued to decline in recent
ping water from a fountain. I would years because of the introduction
examine it for a while as it wiggled of new pesticides and specific pests

from side to side, and eventually I’d from Europe.

release it. The good news is that scientists
My father was a beekeeper are now investigating how these in-
who developed this hobby due to dustrious insects live in the wild and
mere happenstance. In the mid- Eventually, they both made it safely taught himself how to become a whereas the fierce ones were located why they are more resilient than

1960s, he worked as a clerk at city to the house. beekeeper, and bought several com- farther away. the domesticated honeybees. In his
hall in the small town where I grew My father built a cylinder-type mercial beehives and the necessary These fascinating creatures book, “The Lives of Bees,” authority

up. With his meager salary being home from flexible plywood and equipment to extract the honey have been immortalized in Chap- Thomas Seely tells a captivating sto-

hardly enough to feed a family of dropped the hive in it. He made from the honeycombs without ter 16 of the Qur’an: “The Bees.” ry about how wild honeybees may

five children, he liked to go hunting small entrances for the bees on the hold the key to reversing the cata-

on weekends and brought back wild front disk and placed the beehive These fascinating creatures have been immortalized strophic die-off of the managed bee
rabbits, quail and other game. high above ground near the en- populations.

On one occasion, he took me trance of our house. The bees settled in Chapter 16 of the Qur’an: “The Bees.” Verse Seeley explains that bees in

hunting with him in a nearby for- in their new environment and got to 16:68 describes the dwellings of these insects in nature differ substantially from the
est. Hearing some buzzing in a tree, work. domesticated honeybees living un-
I pointed to a big black blob on top Several months later, my moth- mountains, rocks and trees. It is interesting that der human management. He argues
of a tree and asked what it was. He er noticed some drops of a viscous these creatures are addressed in this verse with that the toolkit of survival skills de-

looked up and told me that it was a fluid on the ground. She soon re- veloped by wild bees over 30 million
wild beehive. alized that it was raw honey over- Arabic female pronouns. Modern science teaches years can be adapted by beekeepers

The next day, my parents got up flowing from the unsealed edges of us that it is indeed the female workers that gather to generate new solutions for the
before dawn and drove to the forest the makeshift beehive. My father challenges faced by bees today.

on a motorcycle. When they ar- opened the container and discov- the pollen and make honey in an extra stomach Returning to nature may be the
rived at the location of the beehive, ered several layers of honeycombs. dedicated for this purpose key for saving our honeybees — for
they gently nudged the blob until it We feasted on the providential sub- the enrichment of their lives as well
dropped inside a basket, which they stance, which prompted my father as ours.
covered with a piece of cloth. To to teach himself about becoming a damaging them. At the height of Verse 16:68 describes the dwell- (Said Ahmed-Zaid is a Boise
this day, I am still trying to picture beekeeper. his enterprise, he was taking care of ings of these insects in mountains, State University engineering pro-
my mother riding behind my father We moved the following year nearly 80 beehives. Each hive had rocks and trees. It is interesting that fessor and the 2004 recipient of the
while holding a basket full of bees and took our bees with us to a its own personality and tempera- these creatures are addressed in this annual HP Award for Distinguished
with one hand and holding on to my new orchard with plenty of space ment. Beehives that were more doc- verse with Arabic female pronouns. Leadership in Human Rights. - Ida-
father for dear life with the other. and flowers. Eventually, my father ile were placed close to our house, Modern science teaches us that it ho Statesman)

I Had to Change My Arabic Name to Make It as an Actor, Now, I’m Reclaiming It
n By Fuad Ahmed
one asks me where I am from. No one asks
me how to pronounce my name. I am allowed
y name is Fuad Ahmed. I work to audition without explaining my existence
in the laboratory supply sales in- first. In interviews, I’m asked why I changed

Mdustry while trying to act on the my name. I’m very cavalier about the whole

side. I take a long lunch at my office job in thing. “This is show business. I’m a prod-

Mississauga and trek into uct and I need to sell myself.” I have zero
downtown Toronto for an regrets.
audition. The AC in my 1996 Then, the work dwindles and eventu-

Ford Taurus station wagon ally stops. I get close on big projects, but I
has decided to quit. I fight don’t book. My LA manager tells me to

traffic the whole way. It’s hot. be clean-shaven for auditions because I look

I’m sweaty. I arrive at the au- “terroristy” with facial hair. He tells me to not
dition, sign in and collect myself in the wait- play things so leading, so dominant, so alpha.
ing room. When I see breakdowns for romantic leads, I
The casting assistant walks in. “Fod ask if I can audition for them, but he tells me

Akhmed?” she asks. those roles are “going white” and casting
I smile, cringing internally. “Uh, it’s Fu- wants to see me for the supporting best friend
Ad ... F, U — “ instead.
“Right this way. Just down the hall.” “Do it with an accent,” he says. “It’ll be

I walk into the casting room. The director funny.” I do it. I hate myself. I don’t book. He
and producer are sitting at a table across from drops me.
a black backdrop. The assistant introduces me Something doesn’t feel right in my gut. I

to the director and producer and hands them ignore it. My Canadian agent, Shari Quallen-
my headshot. “This is Few-ad.” ducer talk over me. Their backs are turned the long. berg at AMI, supports me through this dry

Close enough. whole time. The assistant notices. How could What am I doing with my life? I’ve been spell. “I’m with you for the long haul,” she says.

“Hello! Thanks for seeing me.” I smile at anyone not notice? I want to throw up. I smile. at this for two years and risking my job at the I’m frustrated. I start doing theatre.

them. She smiles back at me. same time. I want to act. I don’t want my name My first major theatre gig is in the Pu-

They stare at me. They look at my head- “Thank you for coming in,” she says. to be an issue. I just want to walk into an audi- litzer-winning play Disgraced by Pakistani-

shot. They look at my name on my headshot. I smile. I try to thank the producer and tion room and act. American playwright Ayad Akhtar. I play the

Silence. Awkward silence. They look at each director. They ignore me. I leave. I change my name. role of Hussein Malik, an immigrant of Paki-

other, toss my headshot to the side and start I sit in my car. I’m shaking. I look at the My name is Gabe Grey. I am a success- stani heritage who changes his name to Abe
a conversation with each other. The assistant time. I have to fight rush hour traffic heading ful, full-time actor, working regularly in film Jensen to hide his Muslim heritage and fit into

watches this happen. She smiles at me and back to Mississauga. I’ll be late getting back to and TV. American culture.

tries to run the session. The director and pro- the office. HR will ask why I was away for so When I walk into an audition room, no NAME, P9

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