ma...

remember that post i had a few weeks before my trip home where i bitched (i do that a lot huh?) about having to get a london visa, etc? right.. well if i managed to express my rage with that situation, you might want to close your ears (or eyes) as i express my fury over this little morsel of absolute insanity i'm about to divulge.

[taking a deep breath; calming myself down; trying to prepare to write without using "fuck" too many times..]

you know what? fuck it. i am woman so hear me fucking roar.

let me share with you some fucking bullshit that came to my attention today. i went to see my immigration attorney because she got something in the mail from the powers that be (re: my green card) requesting additional information to verify the details of my parents. now, you all know how much i love my country. i love bangladesh like i love myself. but it turns out that when i was born, the details on my birth certificate failed to properly identify one absolutely crucial aspect of my birth. confused? yeah. me too. let's play a game shall we? let's play find the missing link..

now, my birth certificate lists several details about my birth and just for shits and grins i'll indulge you in the list of items:

1. serial #
2. # in register
3. date of birth
4. place of birth
5. name, if any
6. sex
7. name of father
8. name of grandfather
9. father's residence
10. religion of child's father
11. name of reporter of birth
12. when registered
13. remarks, if any
14. signature of officer in charge of register

let's see.. anybody notice something missing here? something crucial? someone crucial??? ummm... my MOTHER maybe??? my poor mother carried me in her womb for nine long ass months!!!! and it wasn't easy either. i weighed 7.5 lbs when i popped out one fine morning after hours of causing my mother tremendous labor pains. and do you know where on this historical document her name is listed? i'll tell you. it's on line # 11. yep.. waaaay down on the list. she's not reported as my mother, she's reported as the REPORTER OF BIRTH. like, fuck the fact that she did all the work, she's just the reporter. fuck the fact she carried me for nine months, gave birth to me, lost blood and sweat over me.. she's just the reporter of my birth. almost like just a witness, if you will.

they even identify my grandfather (rip) on the damn certificate and not my mother!

[blood boiling again for the fifth time today over the same thought]

it pains me to even think of the oppressively patriarchal nature of this little document that announced my arrival into the world. and the sad thing is that this piece of paper is currently the only thing holding up my green card. the fact that the imbeciles that (used to) run my country are incapable of recognizing the importance of including a line for "mother" on such an important document just makes me cringe in shame and disgust. and in my opinion all this shit basically stems from muslim law regarding property rights. nevermind the fact that as women, both my sister and i only get my father's property if his brothers are kind enough to pass it on. but when it comes to property rights in bangladesh, it's more important who my father and grandfather are than the queen who gave me life.

but anyway, it's not so much the fact that this is holding up my green card that makes me fucking tremble with disgust. it's the fact that the authorities back in the day didn't give a flying fuck about women. they refused to even acknowledge the fact that children have mothers and that birth certificates couldn't possibly be complete without there being a mother involved. what the fuck???

so now my parents have to find a document that properly identifies and designates the three most important people involved in the scenario of my birth. me, my mom and my dad.

i talked to my sister about this and she said the law has recently changed and that "mother's name" has now been added to all current and future birth certificates.

bangladesh fucking jindabad.