My Birthday

Thanks to everyone who celebrated my birthday at Kabul restaurant with me tonight, and on Saturday at the Continental Midtown (umm...yea.)
And, thanks for all the Facebook wall messages. I didn't realize how good I would feel turning another year older!

I didn't realize how much I like Afghani food. I'm craving for more - to I'll give you all a heads up when I'm going to either Kabul or Ariana restaurants next.


Here's to another year of excitement :-)

Mongol

I watched 'Mongol' tonight. While the movie was long, with some noticeable 'holes' in the story..I still thought it was amazing..and I did come to appreciate the Mongolian culture. In fact, I guess I was quite unaware of the story of Genghis Khan. I certainly don't remember much from studying about him in grade school.




I googled more about him and the fierce Mongol empire, because now I was curious, especially of his last name 'Khan' that I know that many of my Muslim friends share. I found out that Mughals were the last powerful decsendants of the Mongols. At some point, the Mongols had invaded the Middle East, and had converted to Islam, and therefore the Mughals were also Muslim. The Mughals had also eventually invaded India. Incidentally the name 'Khan' comes from the Turkish word 'khagan', which means 'chief' or 'ruler'. It is now used widely as a last name in many south asian Muslim communities.

I wasn't much of a history buff in school. But sometimes a movie stirs up that curiosity, and makes you want to learn about it.