People in North America, the majority of them, either American or Canadian or the liches (the refugees!) or even most of the immigrants are isolated. They mostly don't know what the hell, really, is going on in the other parts of the world because their choices are limited to what the mainstream media feeds them. Look at the current Russia-Ukraine conflict. I bet none of these idiots who think they're supporting Ukrainians because 10% of the population of the Province of Alberta has Ukrainian background, didn't even know where Ukraine was(!) or what is the history of Russian Empire and the area! They are bombed constantly with bullshits of American media such as Concocted Nonsense Network (CNN) or Face-shit-book or other false ones!
With that being said I'd like to introduce Aziz Nesin, the late Turkish novelist and humorist, to the readers. Nesin, which by the way is his pseudonym, was very popular in Iran when I was young, in junior and Senior high. His short stories still is funnier than any clip you guys see on different social media. He kind of faded out of the society after the so-called Islamic Revolution, gradually at same time that many other form of art were banned! Why? Because he was a secular and he criticized Islam in his writings and for that he was tried a few times. This, rejection and banning by Islamic fanatics intensified when he translated the controversial book of the British author, Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses! I enjoyed hours and hours of reading his stories in my teenage years when there was no Internet and the TV didn't have much to show and there was no VCR or CD/VD Player, let alone digital format of movies in Ultra HD!
Nesin explains the situation of a guy who works hard and saves enough money to be able to have himself included in a bank's lottery, something which is not common here, in one of his stories. Some banks in countries, in that part of the world, have lotteries once in a while and the more money you have in your account, the higher your chance of winning something valuable like a car. The guy is in trouble after he deposits a big chunk of money because he doesn't have enough to eat(!) or do anything essential in his daily life! I don't remember much about the detail because I read it more than 25 years ago but he goes to the bank and angrily asks for his money! The banker tells him that if he takes all of his money out (which is what he wants) he wouldn't be qualified to be part of the draw. The guy who is so frustrated says that he doesn't care about the draw and wants all his money back! Upon receiving the money, he goes to a luxury hotel in the city and enjoys whatever available for a whole month!
This is a bit similar to my current situation! Not entirely! What happened is I went to a Toyota dealer yesterday to see if I can finance a new car. I have a Prius AWD-e in mind and that has been there(!) for over a year now. The guy told me that I should pay $2000 as down payment and wait between 6 and 8 months! I don't mind the wait but paying $2000 would be a bit of a problem now! I have that much and even more but I always intend to keep some cash in my accounts in case something comes up, unexpectedly. Beside it was $1000 down payment when I was in the dealership last year. He says it just is for the situation that the customer does not come to pick the vehicle up and it would be difficult for them to sell a car which is ordered specifically for a customer! I told the guy that I would think about it and would contact later. I was worried that my old Corolla halts(!) in the middle of the highway particularly now that it's Check Engine light is on again! Besides the crazy incontrollable price of gasoline has become a pain in the padded ass(!) but today I realized that the light is off while I was going back home, while it was on in the morning! It means it was a system malfunction. The interesting thing is I asked one of the service guys in the dealership about the light and he said I should check the gas cap(!) first and if it didn't go off after a week they charge $80 and up to look at the it!
The fact that I always keep a few thousand dollars in my accounts is not the only reason that I don't wanna pay that much for down payment. The deadline for depositing to RRSP was just passed a week ago and I had a contribution. Now not much is left. Plus I have other expenses coming up. In a nutshell my situation is quite similar to the Nesin's character in the story I just mention with this difference that I'm not that broke and I won't pull my money out of the bank!
(Photo: Aziz Nesin the late Turkish writer. Even in Secular Turkey he was not let free!)
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