The twilight Zone

Safriz is enjoying cricket world cup,and the rare English sunshine.
Not tanning though,don't need it

A few years back,when i was still sailing in the oceans,working with the merchant navy,i had an experience in which i caught a glimpse of how the world intelligence networks keep an eye on terrorists.Or something like that.
I was working with an Italian company,"Agip",and my ship was sailing only in the Mediterranean.A very close friend was sailing on a ship which was on a permanent route between western Europe and USA Atlantic coast.
Both of us were certified satellite and terrestrial communication equipment operators,and used to keep a navigation bridge watch for 8 hours in every 24 hours.With all the ship's communication equipment at our disposal,we were tempted to keep in touch.
We sent telex to each other via the INMARSAT satellite system,and then talked for some time on the ship's radio.We did this almost everyday.
Both of us practicing Muslims,naturally talked more about religion,and hence used a lot of Arabic words,and verses from Quran.We always enjoyed talking to each other.Mostly our chat comprised of the spiritual bit of our religion.
Someone out there got suspicious,and started to listen,and record our chats.We couldn't have avoided this,as we talked on the prescribed international radio frequencies.All radio operators know those frequencies,and can tune their equipment .
One day he sent me a long telex,in which he wrote a detailed description of a verse of the Holy Quran.He found it in a religious book,and shared it with me,and i enjoyed reading that.
Inmarsat satellite system has earth stations,and all their communication is monitored by at least one of these stations.The mentioned telex was sent via eik land earth station in Norway.
In the telex a verse "Allah ussamad" was used many times.I can't exactly translate it,but it means something like "Allah the The Self-Sufficient Master" .
In a few places,while typing,he missed the last "d",and so "ussamad" became "ussama".It was a typing error,and i didn't even notice that.
Both me and him were about to fly back home,for our vacations.I had three more weeks to go,and he had four.
The captain of my ship was a Canadian man,very nice and friendly guy.We were like friends.A few days after this telex,his behavior changed completely.He stopped talking to me,and always gave me a spooky gaze.It was strange,but then he was the captain,and i was about to go home,so i didn't bother much about it.
I disembarked at the port of Valencia in Spain.I had been there many times,but this time the Spaniards were different.They asked me many questions,checked all my documents,took my figure prints.Of course they didn't tell me why.I guessed there may have been a new law in their country .
I flew back home,and at Karachi airport,Pakistani intelligence people plucked me out of the line,and they too asked me a hell lot of questions.I asked them why,and they said that they have been instructed to do so by Islamabad.I was all clear,and went home.Soon i forgot about everything,and enjoyed my stay with my family and friends.
The other friend of mine,called me at my home,after a week,and told me his flight details,from Houston to Islamabad.
Since Islamabad is near my home,i went to the airport on the day of his arrival to receive him.His family and friends were there,too many of them .
We waited on the airport,until the last passenger walked out of the arrival lounge,but he was not there.On asking the airline,they told that he has been stopped on Houston airport by the Americans.No reason given.
All the family and friends were concerned,and no body had a clue about what went wrong.
I rang up my company's head office,as we worked with the same company,and they told me that there had been many inquiries from both side of the Atlantic about both of us.
My friend came back home the next day on another flight.Now the story opened.
Eik land earth station saw the word "ussama" in the telex,and repoted it to anti terrorism authorities,.They thought that we were talking about Usama Bin Laaden
Since the telex were to difficult to be understood by a non-Muslim,as many terminologies were used in it which were from Quran.All the communication appeared as some sort of code words to them
Somehow i was cleared,after the so called authorities contacted my company,the ship's captain,and Pakistani intelligence,but the Americans got suspicious about my friend.
As my friend told me,he was taken to an empty room,and a FBI or CIA dude interrogated him for some time,then showed him the telex,and asked him to explain it.
My friend explained the whole telex to him,word by word.Then the dude brought in a tape recorder,and played a tape of our radio conversation's recordings.Again the dude asked him many questions about it.
Inevitably,my friend was amazed by all that,so was i.
Long story short,since we knew what we were talking about,he was released the same day,but could fly the next day,due to availability of flights.
Guess what? we never talked on radio again,and never sent a telex to each other again.
When on ships,we never contacted each other again.Only when we were back home,we visited and talked to each other.

At 4 in the morning,i received a call from a long lost friend.He and his wife were at Manchester airport,and someone was supposed to be there for them,but did not turn up.
They had been to Pakistan to see friends and family.
On the way back to Britain,they could not get a flight for Newcastle,and so arranged a friend to pick them up from Manchester airport and drive them all the way to Newcastle.The so called friend went missing
They had a lot of luggage and did not want to travel on train.
Guess what,they asked me to give them a lift,and since i am a push over . I drove them all the way to Newcastle,starting at 5 in the morning.Just now i am back at my home in Preston.
A round trip of 350 miles,and 6 hours of driving.
Not bad for starting my day

World cup cricket is keeping me busy.I am a cricket fan.Although my home team Pakistan is out,i still enjoy watching some of my favorite teams.
Yesterday was one of the most thrilling matches i have seen for ages.
Between srilanka and England.After a long time,the three lions really woke up,and put up a fight.
Although england lost the game,but people in the stadium,and at homes must have enjoyed a lot.
England proved that they got some serious cricket talent.
England's innings was an adrenaline rush,and it was fun.

1.Braniac science abuse.
2.Top Gear
3.The gadget show
4.Click
5.Prison break
6.Blue Peter