HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: masroor@human.ai.kyushu-u.ac.jp (Muhammad Masroor Ali)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh
Subject: Re: KulturSchock
Date: 18 Aug 92 03:43:56 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci. and Comm. Eng., Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka, Japan
    14:37:46 GMT
X-Bytes: 2095

Here are some KALCHAA SHOKKU experienced by a Bangladeshi in Japan,

1.After coming here, I was surprised to find that the students of 
this  too  industrious nation pass their class  lectures  in  two 
ways, sleeping and reading comics (manga). None of these is taken 
as a major offense. Especially the first one is almost 100% OK.

2.In any Japanese style restaurant, when you order a set meal and 
a whole egg is served with other dishes, better check before  you 
start peeling (taking it as a boiled one). There is a 99% percent 
probability that it is raw.

3.`Ichiji' means one-o-clock. So, when I heard the words `Ichiji' 
and  `Ame'  in  the  same sentence in  the  weather  forecast,  I 
understood  that it is going to rain from 1 p.m. It did not  rain 
at  1 p.m., and later on somebody told me that the other  meaning 
of ichiji is `for a while'.

4.If  you are doing home-stay in any Japanese family, always soap and
wash your body OUTSIDE the bathtub and never  pull 
the  plug of the bathtub when you are finished. The next  person, 
and the next next person, and the next ..., are going to use  the 
water.

5.Don't  pour your own drink (even it is simple orange juice)  by 
yourself in any social gathering. It is considered to be very bad 
manners. Allow others to do it, and remember to take care of  the 
person beside you, unless you want him to go back `half drunk'.


6.This not my shock. One fellow Nigerian/Tanzanian (I don't 
remember well) in our language class was to start his actual 
study at the  Kumamoto univeristy (in Kumamoto  city about 
100 km from Fukuoka). He told us, `I would better be 
careful when I write letters to my country'. ..... In his 
language Kuma means hot and moto means vagina.


Best wishes,

    Muhammad Masroor Ali
    Department of Computer Science and Communication Engineering
    Faculty of Engineering
    Kyushu University
    Fukuoka
    812 JAPAN

    Telephone number: (81)-(092)-641-1101 ext. 5398 [O]
                      (81)-(092)-632-0969           [R] 
    


    1988 batch BUET (EEE).
Xref: sparky soc.culture.bangladesh:4587 soc.culture.indian:28613 soc.culture.pakistan:13866
From: sarkar@grip.cis.upenn.edu (Nilanjan Sarkar)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: Re: Sexism in religion?
Date: 18 Aug 92 21:40:36 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.bangladesh
Organization: GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania

In article <1992Aug18.195833.17541@tamsun.tamu.edu> gagrawal@cs.tamu.edu (Gopal Agrawal) writes:
>In article <1992Aug18.153135.24940@cs.yale.edu> ahmed-shakil@CS.YALE.EDU (Shakil Waiz Ahmed) writes:
>>
>>In article <1992Aug18.070456.602@tamsun.tamu.edu>, gagrawal@cs.tamu.edu (Gopal Agrawal) writes:
>>

>
>You don't seem to be getting the point that Manoj has been trying 
>to get across. Lets try this once more. No one has a problem with 
>Islam permitting polygyny (under rare cases). But the problem arises
>when Islam says that other forms of polygamy (ie., polyandry) is 
>wrong. It is the prohibition of polyandry that is sexist and not 
        ---------------------------------------------------------
>the permission of polygyny itself. Its the double standard that's 
 ---------------------------------
>in question here. In one of my posts about Tibetian culture, I 


This is just to emphasize your point which many people have been
trying convey to Shakil. For some reasons, he is not answering the
question and diverting the discussion in such a direction where
whether the women can say no to polygyny becomes the most important
aspect. Hope this time he does not overlook your question.

Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh
From: dipen@heavax.gsfc.nasa.gov (DIPEN BHATTACHARYA DIPEN)
Subject: Re: on recent discussions -- I
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA/GSFC Laboratory For High Energy Astrophysics
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 17:38:00 GMT

To Ali Bhai: Thanks, but there are people on the net who could have done
a better job in doing a summary. There is always a contradiction between
the signified (the "meaning" itself) and the signifier (the translator
medium--in this case, writing). Hence, to an uninitiated reader (like me)
some written thoughts might not convey the meaning they purported to mean.
Then it is judicious to warn the author that her/his point is not hitting
home. Maybe that is the purpose of a summary. If taken as its face-value 
such summary will not do justice to anybody (including Shakil). :)

		As you said, behind all these logics and metaphors lie 
human factors---I hope your words and this discussion will help us in 
reflecting the basic humanity which reside in us all.

shubhechha, Dipen
From: hassan@cup.portal.com (hassan monu alam)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh
Subject: Re: soc.culture.bangladesh
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 18:02:03 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

I dont see you posting your messages on the religious boards. Granted
religion is a part of culture, should you not atleast post on the
religious boards. Or are you afraid nobody will listen?

Sri-Lanka and Indonesia have Hindus and Muslims, yet no postings
there? Why the special treatments for us? 

Also if Bahai is a world class religion, why not all the other groups?
Are they not worthy of Bahai?

Hassan
Xref: sparky soc.culture.bangladesh:4603 soc.culture.pakistan:13884 soc.culture.indian:28651
From: misra@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Boo!)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh
Subject: Re: Active conversion and the Bahai faith
Date: 13 Aug 92 16:35:19 GMT
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: matt.ksu.ksu.edu

hassan@cup.portal.com (hassan monu alam) writes:

>>So I am sorry if I gave the impression that  am trying
>>to convert anybody.

>We are even more sorry that we have to put up with your
>proselytizing.

	Just hit 'n'. You dont have to put up with anything.  
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan
From: nns3321@tamuts.tamu.edu (Nripendra Nath Sarker)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh
Subject: ficticious gods
Date: 21 Aug 92 15:44:59 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station



				- -
				0|0
				 -

			Fig. A ficticious god




Let's say there are n number of gods with n different religions existing
in this world. Therefore, there are n paradises and n hells. If you are a 
believer of a religion, you have chance (not sure) go to the paradise of
of your god to live with a bunch of beautiful women. But for sure 
the other (n-1) gods will drag you to their hells and a single god of 
yours can not protect you from (n-1) gods. So, every body us is going 
to hell after our death.

In fact, we are already living in hells fighting for the ficticious
Xref: sparky soc.culture.bangladesh:4454 soc.culture.indian:27992 soc.culture.pakistan:13614
From: hyder@cs.utexas.edu (Syed Irfan Hyder)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: Re: Contradictions in Quaran
Date: 13 Aug 1992 14:02:55 -0500
Organization: U Texas Dept of Computer Sciences, Austin TX
NNTP-Posting-Host: pageboy.cs.utexas.edu

In article <1992Aug13.055018.11397@tamsun.tamu.edu> gagrawal@cs.tamu.edu (Gopal Agrawal) writes:
>In article <l8icljINNb4j@pageboy.cs.utexas.edu>, hyder@cs.utexas.edu (Syed Irfan Hyder) writes:
>|> In article <1992Aug11.143915.11160@linus.mitre.org> m21757@mitre.org (G) writes:
:|: :
:|: :Was the above mentioned verse revealed for a particular time and for 
:|: :particular circumstances when women did not take part in financial 
:|: :transactions?  Does it still apply today, when many more women are fully 
:|: :aware of financial considerations?
:|: 
:|: Yes, it still applies today. The specific example you gave above does
:|: not in any way makes the verse obsolete. I think you have never gone
:|: into any book on  Islamic jurisprudence. Such issues as above are
:|: not the first time that have cropped up. There are thousands of such
:|: examples and you can find exposition of such cases in any standard
:|: text on Islamic jurisprudence. In fact, the science
:|: of "jurisprudence" is there for such cases. For instance, there is
:|: Quranic verse that explicitly prohibits pork. Now go to any standard
:|: text and see what "Islamic jurisprudence" says when one is dying of
:|: starvation and only thing available is pork. Read the principle.
:|: Your question will be answered.
:
:
:I am assuming that you mean to say that Islamic Jurisprudence does 
:allow pork under EXTREME conditions (starvation).  However, women 
:being aware of financial responsibilities is no longer a rarity. It 
:can no longer be classified as EXTREME.  

Please don't assume any thing. Neither I am any expert on
Islamic jurisprudence nor you are. It is for that reason
that I am recommending that please go to some standard
text. Whatever I have read (which doesn't make me an expert),
is enough to tell me that such questions have been tackled
in a very straightforward manner (but which is not enough to
enable me to explain).

Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan
From: ahmed-shakil@CS.YALE.EDU (Shakil Waiz Ahmed)
Subject: Re: Contradictions in Quaran
Organization: Yale University, Department of Computer Science
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 15:15:06 GMT


In article <1992Aug13.052249.9959@tamsun.tamu.edu>, gagrawal@cs.tamu.edu (Gopal Agrawal) writes:

> There are many tribes all over the world that have been practicing polyandry
> for centuries. They live just as fruitful lives as any other.  I know for sure 
> there are some in Zambia and some in the Polenesian Islands. It doesn't matter 
> to them who the biological father is.  Since the fathers are unaware who the 
> actual biological father is, all the husbands of the woman treat all her 
> children as if they were their own. And further, akin to Islam, it is polygamy 
> that is not permitted in these societies. So your logic that polyandry would 
> fail or cannot provide strong social structure is not true. 


I said polyandry cannot provide the social family structure understood
by Islam, a structure that Islam places great emphasis on.

-- Shakil
From: myadav@ruhets.rutgers.edu (Mahesh Yadav)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh
Subject: Re: Bangladesh and the Olympics?
Date: 14 Aug 92 23:10:09 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

~r test
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh
From: kazi@hercules.cis.udel.edu (Zunaid Kazi)
Subject: Re: Settle In A Foreign Country ?????
Organization: University of Delaware, Newark
Distribution: soc.culture.bangladesh
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 16:21:20 GMT

In article <MASROOR.92Aug17171222@human.ai.kyushu-u.ac.jp> masroor@human.ai.kyushu-u.ac.jp (Muhammad Masroor Ali) writes:
>    I am inviting opinions/discussions from the members of SCB (and others) 
>    on the following issue,
>
>
>        SETTLE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY AFTER FINISHING HIGHER STUDIES?

     [Some good stuff deleted]

>    I know, not everybody will agree with me about going back. `Well I 
>    would  like  to  go  back, but are  you  going  to  guarantee  any 
>    research/job  environment in Bangladesh?' But who will create  the 
>    environment? Do you expect to live in a country of milk and  honey 
>    and  wish  that  somebody else will take the toil  of  making  the 
>    ground in Bangladesh, so that you can simply come back and take  a 
>    big position? And what is the limit of doing research? What is the 
>    use  of  doing the big big inventions which is of no  use  for  my 
>    country?  Why  don't you do something small which can be  used  in 
>    Bangladesh? 

Very thought provoking questions. I would like to add some thoughts here.
I recall an earlier discussion on SCB where this convenient excuse was
brought up by someone to justify his remaining in the US of A. 

ie. My area is too specialized for me to be able to use my knowledge
    productively back home.

Obviously, if some one really had put in some thoughts to return to the
old country, he would have put more effort in his choice of area. A lot
of us would choose some esoteric branch of science for our metiers and
then serendipitiously realize that there's nothing for us back home. And,
I don't think excuse oft given, "This is really what I love to do", holds
any wanter. Those of us who roam the stratified regions of higher research,
are sufficiently intelligent enough to have more than one area that might
attract our interest. And, if we were really honest about returning we
should have chosen that niche where it would be possible to do some research
back home and do some good for the country. If I choose plasma mechanics,
or experimental particle physics as my profession and then say I want to
go back but there is nothing for me there, then I am being a hypocrite.


>    PLEASE POST YOUR  OPINION,

Yes, puhleeze!

>    Muhammad Masroor Ali
>    Department of Computer Science and Communication Engineering
>    Faculty of Engineering
>    Kyushu University
>    Fukuoka
>    812 JAPAN

= Zunaid Kazi
  kazi@cis.udel.edu

>    1988 batch BUET (EEE).

     1988 batch BUET (EEE).

Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.indian
From: yasin@laser.dev.cdx.mot.com (Yasin)
Subject: Re: Fourteenth of August MEANS NOTHING to SCI.
Organization: Motorola Codex, Canton, Massachusetts
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 13:48:04 GMT

In article <1992Aug15.013405.10792@umbc3.umbc.edu> cs461a09@umbc5.umbc.edu (cs461a09) writes:
>	Fourteenth of August MEANS NOTHING TO US Mr. YASIN
>	=================================================
>
>==========================================================================
>>Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.indian
>		^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^			 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>From: yasin@laser.dev.cdx.mot.com (Yasin)
>>Subject: Fourteenth of August
>
>To all my fellow Pakistanis a very happy
>
>	I N D E P E N D E N C E
>		D A Y
>
>Pakistan Zindabad,
>Pakistan Paindabad,
>======================================================================
>
>Mr. Yasin had posted this article in soc.culture.india.  I wonder what
>exactly is his intension.  I WILL LIKE TO INFORM HIM THAT I AM NOT
>PAKISTHANI FOR SURE and 14 August means NOTHING to me or to US here
>in soc.culture.indian.
>
>	I do not know if it means anything to soc.culture.bangladesh.
>
>Mr. Yasin I do not know if there are Pakisthanis in India.  If there are
>then in that case your posting will be OK.
>
>BHARAT Zindabad,
>
>AVINASH APTE
>

To all SCI's and SCB's

The above message was an honest mistake, I cannot post messages
from my node, so I post them as replies, unfortunately I replied
to the message which was addressing SCI & SCB.

Please do not make this a flame, I am sorry for any discomfort
it may have caused.


Regards,

Yasin.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh
From: ahmed-shakil@CS.YALE.EDU (Shakil Waiz Ahmed)
Subject: Re: Contradictions in Quaran
Organization: Yale University, Department of Computer Science
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 15:34:55 GMT


In article <1992Aug16.060804.7606@tamsun.tamu.edu>, gagrawal@cs.tamu.edu (Gopal Agrawal) writes:
> In article <1992Aug15.232600.21989@cs.yale.edu>, ahmed-shakil@CS.YALE.EDU (Shakil Waiz Ahmed) writes:
> |> 
> |> In article <86227@netnews.upenn.edu>, sarkar@grip.cis.upenn.edu
> |> (Nilanjan Sarkar) insults:
> 
> |> > Now the case in hand is very clear. Remove your mental block and read
> |> > this question - " a man can have more than one wife in some cases (those
> |> > cases may be very rare), but, no matter what, a woman *can not* have
> |> >                               --------------
> |> > more than one husband - is this sexist attitude ?" . 
> 
> 
> |> Alright, so now that we have that out of the way, let's apply the
> |> stupidity test.  A man A is happily married to a woman B.  He is
> |> wealthy, but kind-hearted, so when he finds a bunch of orphans who are
> |> in need, he decides to take them under his shelter.  But his wife B
> |> already is overworked with their own kids, so A decides to propose to
> |> C, because he needs her to take care of the orphans.  Of course, he
> |> first asks B for permission since it is required by Islam.  B grants
> |> him that permission.  So he proposes to C, but C doesn't think it
> |> is what she wants, so she says no.
> |> 
> |> Good, so let's begin by applying the stupidity test to B.  Has B been
> |> economically exploited?  Nope.  Has she been socially dominated?  She
> |> could have said yes or no, so obviously she has not.  So the stupidity
> |> test fails on B.
> |> 
> |> Let's continue on to C.  Has C been economically exploited?  Nope.
> |> Hmmmm, the stupidity test isn't looking too good, huh?  So our last
> |> test, was C socially dominated?  Given that she basically told A to
> |> get lost, I think not.  But now, what does that mean?  Could it be
> |> that the stupidity test has failed altogether????  Clearly, Webster's
> |> and the English language doesn't think it is sexist!
> 
> In the above case, there is no exploitation of anyone. But you still 
> failed to answer Mr. Nilanjan's question. What if the conditions were 
> such which required a woman to have more than one husband. Would 
> that be acceptable ?  

The allegation is that the Islamic law as it stands is sexist, and I
have shown very clearly above why it is not.  The question you ask is
irrelevant to whether the law is sexist or not.

-- Shakil
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan
From: sherwani@sol.cs.wmich.edu (Naveed Sherwani)
Subject: Re: Contradictions in Quaran
Summary: Life expectency of people who question Islam in Pakistan
Organization: Western Michigan Univ. Comp. Sci. Dept.
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 04:19:47 GMT

In article <16hi04INN1t6@quality.hal.COM>, sankar@hal.COM (Sankar Bandy) writes:
> In article <1992Aug13.214419.3588@sol.cs.wmich.edu> sherwani@sol.cs.wmich.edu (Naveed Sherwani) writes:
> >In article <1992Aug13.170346.3087@bernina.ethz.ch>, nadeem@igpho (Nadeem Malik) writes:
> >> Since just about everyone has given their opinion on this hot thread, I may
> >> as well add my ta-pence worth of comments:
> >> 
> .......... Stuff deleted ..............
> >
> >May we ask, what happens to females who don want to participate
> >in this ultimate society. Islam dos not apply to career oriented women
> >or does it ?
> >
> .........etc. etc.
> >
> >I like Islam for great things it achieved in terms of equality
> >of races, some rights of women, etc. but it scores rather low in 
> >equality of man vs. woman, as examplified above.
> >
> >I dont want to bash Islam too much, but at the same time we must
> >point out its weakenesses if we see any.
> >
> >regards,
> >
> >-Naveed
> 
> I have only one thing to say to your posting. JAWAB NAHIN !!
> 
> BTW, can you even make an educated guess (NO ILL INTENTIONS) as to approx.
> what % of people (in our generation) share your opinions in PAKISTAN and
> SINDH ? This is a serious question to you. THANKS.

> 
> >> Sankar

Liberalism died in Pakistan in late seventies. For some reason,
which I dont understand, Pakistan is increasingly becoming
conservative. When the whole world is waking up and joining
the global village, Pakistan is going back into a shell.

The life expectency of people who are somewhat liberal in 
Pakistan is very low. Liberal discussions can only happen in US
with relative safety of US law enforcement. Such discussions
would be considered foolish (life endangering) in Pakistan.
On a funny note, I have relatives  who tell their kids (my cousins), not
to listen to me, otherwise they TOO will go to hell.

I have met a small no. of liberal Pakistanis here in US, I have
met none in Pakistan. Back in 1978, in NED we used to have a solid group,
unfortunately, recent fundamentalism trends have crushed all liberal
movements.

Now Pakistan has no place for its liberal citizens. Freedom
of expression is limited by religious considerations and freedom
of thought is limited by vision which does not go beyond our national religion. 

regards,

-Naveed

Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.indian
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 21:43:52 -0400 
From: "Arun K. Gupta" <ag3l+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Contradictions in the Qu'ran


Nadeem Malik is correct in the statistics that (at least in 1971 or so)
there were more Hindu men with two or more wives than Muslim men with
two or more wives in India.

As far as polygamy and Hinduism go: the matter of fact is there is no
ONE Hindu code of law, there are several. I think some of them permit
polygamy (and some permit polyandry.)  The law codes followed have changed
with the era and circumstances. However, the majority follow a monogamous
code, (I think).

As I have said before, a good portion of the demand for a uniform civil
code is thinly veiled Muslim bashing. There *is* however a need to
reform the Muslim personal law in India.

-arun gupta
ag3L@andrew.cmu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.indian
From: cs461a09@umbc5.umbc.edu (cs461a09)
Subject: Fourteenth of August MEANS NOTHING to SCI.
Organization: University of Maryland Baltimore Campus, Academic Computing Services
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 01:34:05 GMT

	Fourteenth of August MEANS NOTHING TO US Mr. YASIN
	=================================================

==========================================================================
>Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.indian
		^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^			 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>From: yasin@laser.dev.cdx.mot.com (Yasin)
>Subject: Fourteenth of August

To all my fellow Pakistanis a very happy

	I N D E P E N D E N C E
		D A Y

Pakistan Zindabad,
Pakistan Paindabad,
======================================================================

Mr. Yasin had posted this article in soc.culture.india.  I wonder what
exactly is his intension.  I WILL LIKE TO INFORM HIM THAT I AM NOT
PAKISTHANI FOR SURE and 14 August means NOTHING to me or to US here
in soc.culture.indian.

	I do not know if it means anything to soc.culture.bangladesh.

Mr. Yasin I do not know if there are Pakisthanis in India.  If there are
then in that case your posting will be OK.

BHARAT Zindabad,

AVINASH APTE

Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan