Monday, February 9, 2009

There - we're better than you blokes - na na na naa na

Mater hospital 2005 shortly after the birth of Maymunah. We were there trying to fix up some baby constipation problems. The nurse noticed that we had shaved the head. I thought it would be a nice opportunity to give an example of the Islamic way of welcoming the child to the world:

Me: You see what we do is shave the head on the seventh day, and give the weight of the hair in the silver away in charity.

Nurse: Oh really? Well in the Catholic tradition ...., we don't wait for a week, we wait for a WHOLE YEAR! AND we don't weigh the hair, we weigh the WHOLE BABY! AND what's more, we don't give the weight in silver away in charity, we give the weight in GOLD away in charity.

Me: Oh really.

I was silenced. This woman had really outgunned me, even though I was not trying to outgun her in the first place.

Only later I realised the ridiculousness.

Baby's weight at birth - typically 3-4kg.

Baby's weight at 1 year - typically 7 - 10kg.

THAT'S ABOUT $250,000 - $400,000 IN GOLD!!!!