Tamil, but close enough
. Keralites are really very close to us....they are part of the greater "Tamilakam" from the BC era.
Yup I remember it all.
You have to remember there is a certain prism that this forum comes through dominantly given:
a) defense/geopolitics oriented
b) named affiliation with one country
So certain things rise psychologically and get enshrined and favoured over other things that are suppressed, cast away and get sunk and not allowed (meaningfully) to resurface. Its not a level neutral playing field in the end...especially on some specific sensitive matters that are moulded+crystallized by a) and b) in concert....as interpreted and enforced by the higher-ups that run the place.
This takes toll on lot of certain identities and narratives (no matter how genuine and valid perspectives they can be), as everything seen through that prism by those that hold most weight here...and enough "bulk" membership that support it.
Hence you see lot of Indian members have left too, and likewise for your Arab community which was once lot more diverse here.
Agree with rest of your post. Well put.
My basic knowledge (by no means an expert) suspected the closeness of people of Kerala and Tamils just due to geography alone. If I am not wrong, Tamil Nadu is next door. May I ask, out of pure interest, what is the difference (if there are any other than the obvious one in the form of a different nationality) between Tamils of India and Tamils of Sri Lanka? Also where Tamils in India, albeit only sentimentally, somehow involved during the Sri Lankan civil war between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority?
Also the Sri Lankan Moors have always intrigued me due to the Arab link. Arab settlers in Sri Lanka are well documented and there are different theories about the Sri Lankan Moor and the degree of their Arab admixture (by now it is diluted and probably only limited to paternal lines/surnames/identity) but from what I know of they are mainly Tamils with Arab admixture, Arabic linguistic influences and obviously an adherence to Islam. Fascinating community, sadly I am yet to encounter a Sri Lankan Moor in person. Met a few Tamils in the West but they were Catholics and a friendly/peaceful bunch.
I know that I can google this but what is the main ethnicity of Goa? Do Tamils live there?
Well my friend, I am well aware of the dynamics of PDF and some of the agendas that are deliberately kept alive/pushed forward and that many of us are keyboard warriors and that you rarely engage in truly objective discussions for the sake of knowledge exchange etc. Of course we should not overreact but this is often the case in many threads. Given the volatility/complexity/feelings running high topics/nature of the internet, it is no surprise, really. You see it everywhere online to a degree at least.
Well, sadly the Arab community is hardly existing lol (active that is) and far from as diverse as it once was. I miss the discussions with say the many various Saudi Arabian users that we had here of various regional, sectarian, political etc. backgrounds, let alone other Arabs.
I see that brother
@Gomig-21 (rightly) prefers to stick to topics related to Egyptian defense related developments (from what I have seen so far after his return) rather than involve himself in the political topics or general topic. Whenever a thread is made about the Egyptian army or a new military deal, 90% of the posts are not technical in nature or geopolitical but "Arabs this and that", "How, I thought that Egypt is bankrupt", "incompetent something", "Israel something", "KSA/GCC funding something" and you know the usual drivel.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, I have seen 10-15 threads (I kid you not) based on largely distorted/ignorant drivel/half-truths about the upcoming collapse of KSA, GCC, the Arab world and what not.
You might remember something similar between 2013-17, when ISIS rule in KSA/Arab world was predicted, state collapses, bankruptcies, all-out wars and other ignorant drivel accompanied with the usual nonsense. It was during that period that 90% of the active/many knowldgeable/diverse bunch of Arab users left for good from PDF. From then on it has only gone in one direction but fair credit to certain moderators for reaching out to us and doing their best in terms of moderation. I don't envy their jobs, I must say.
I wrote this post rather quickly as usual and sorry for the length, this is a hallmark of mine at times on PDF for good and bad.
If you bother, take your time trying to reply to my questions, my brain is out of control and once you wrote Tamil, I needed a few curiosities answered.
Hallo bro
@ArabianEmpires&Caliphates, I also like to discuss a bit about coffee here. I am right now prefer tea more than coffee, but I like coffee which is sold in Coffee shop like Starbucks and local ones. But never drink it alone, always with friends or in some business meetings. Coffee is the best company for talking and discussing something with other people.
I see Indonesian members are growing but mostly they only talk defense and stuff related to Indonesia, you can see many people lurking in our defense thread. I also have seen many good Indonesian posters are active in Quora as well, it will increase our present here if somehow they can find this site, many of them I notice have good English and knowledge. You maybe can try to bring Arab community in Quora by making a question like " Have you heard about Pakistan Defense Forum or something like that.
Arabs in PDF are still exist, but Malay ethnic Malaysian and Japanese/South Korean are almost non existence here. Look like they are a bit not comfortable with Chinese members dominance here. I have tried to come to Youtube Channel with so many proud and nationalist Malay Malaysian commentator and asked many of them to join PDF but so far they are not interested.
Are you Saudi citizen or Denmark citizen bro ?
I have made a thread about basketball, maybe you can join there. Mostly discussing about FIBA Asia Cup Qualifying and 2023 FIBA World Cup that will be hosted by Indonesia/Philippine/Japan. I also played basketball in high school and university and it is my favorite sport but not following current NBA games. But I do follow Indonesia national team games and some time get a lot of fight in Youtube channel with Philippine fans since they also like to follow our team games and some time show superiority in their comment since their team is the best in our region
Thanks brother, yup this unprecedented event is effecting our life and our plan. I also hope you stay safe there in Europe since the infection rate is quite high there.
Ya, we hope we get blessed Eid and can achieve our plan and dream this year despite coronavirus outbreak. Amen.
I am actually not a big coffee or tea drinker myself (I mostly drink bottled mineral water without any gas) but I do enjoy a good cup of coffee in the morning or tea in the evening. I used to be but many years ago I started drinking mostly mineral water. It is the most healthy/natural option long-term actually. A bit "boring" but you get used to it being your main "drink".
I have never been a member of Quora and I am not very familiar with that platform. Most Arabs online have long ago moved to social media platforms. Twitter in particular is very popular but unfortunately there are many bots and lots of trolling/political nonsense due to ongoing events in the Arab world and much polarization. Facebook is very popular too. Reddit is popular among the diaspora etc. Traditional bulletin boards are still going strong (the most popular ones) but seem to gain fewer new members and mostly deal with specific topics and interests.
The Indonesian community on PDF seems to be growing or maybe that is just my assumption?
Well, I have noticed that. Not seen any Japanese, Korean, Malaysian (ethnic Malay) etc. users around here. In fact many Arab nationalities have never been active on PDF from what I know of too.
I am a citizen of Saudi Arabia as you know. EU citizenship too hence me having "legs in both camps" and family in both KSA/a few Arab countries and Europe/West.
I have to be honest with you here brother, the only real sport that involves KSA that I follow closely (as in watch most games) is football/soccer (national team and certain AFC Champions League games and big league games/derbies) and all the other sports are mostly with a half-closed eyes or through news, Youtube clips or checking results. When I was a small kid and had more time, I was following our athletics teams and occasionally basketball.
The problem with KSA/most of the Arab world/if not all of it, is that we are football obsessed/crazy and that football is our number 1 sport. All the other sports barely get any attention although KSA is doing well in traditional sports such as horse racing, falconry, sailing etc. Car racing too KSA is doing well in although that is obviously not a traditional sport. KSA hosted Dakar Rally earlier this year and has hosted Formula E and will host Formula 1 in the future also like Bahrain and UAE has been doing for years.
Many once (ancient sports) such as wrestling (which originates in the Arab world actually) etc. are barely in existence today on a professional level from what I know. Also due to the Sahwa period (last almost 40 years until last years under MBS and opening up on this front and many others - luckily) sport, other than football (where KSA is a traditional Asian football power house, only Japan has won 1 Asian Cup more than KSA and we have more final appearances than anyone else despite last 10 + barren years - club football - AFC Champions League we are doing well, Al-Hilal are the current Asian club football champions), many other sports were not given much coverage, support etc.
Anyway now many sports are receiving more focus, funding, more children engage in them. For instance women sports are growing quickly. Even a women's football league has been created. But once again (unfortunately/fortunately) most of the focus is on football but this is slowly changing somewhat from what I have seen and now other sports are becoming more and more popular such as handball, volleyball etc. Anyway parents in KSA, if their children will pursue sports, will not bee too happy, lol, in general, as that is considered a waste of talent/a waste by many for good and bad. Hence why many of our sportsmen being Afro-Arabs as they tend to come from somewhat poorer socioeconomic backgrounds.
Well, I wish Indonesia all the best in basketball and I will be cheering for Indonesia.
Thank you for your well-wishes and yes we can only focus on improving ourselves. It will be a very surreal Eid al-Fitr in many ways.
It seems that Indonesians are football fanatics as well.
BTW from my Indonesian friends, I have noticed that Indonesian are in particular fanatics/big fans of English Premier League football and teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool etc. I personally prefer Spanish club football which is the most popular league in KSA and Arab world. We hosted the Spanish Super Cup (Real Madrid, FC Barcelona Atlético de Madrid and Valencia took part - the 4 largest Spanish clubs) in Jeddah in January and it was a big success. Most popular teams are the two Spanish giants.
Off to bed I must go, fuel is running low my friend.