THE WEAPON

RULETA URBANA
The weapon


Quebec, Canada : This was definitely one of my favorite interviews, first beacuse the guy I was interviwing was smoking hot and second because he was very talented and interesting.
The sleeveless t-shirt he was wearing revealed his strong dark-skinned arms, and his cap shaded his eyes, but I could still see through his long eyelashes that framed the most captivaiting gaze. His brown eyes were enigmatic, challenging and had a touch of hypnotic tenderness. When I see my photos and videos of him, I don't see the same guy that I met, which drives me to the conclusion that what makes him so irresistible is his outstanding personality, the one he has been forging in a fight for life and happiness.
Imran is the result of his Pakistani father's desire to stay longer in the United Kingdom after his visa expired. Through his father's search for the nationality, he met a beautiful Welsh girl with with milky-white skin that contrasted with his own. Imran got his eyes from his father, which explains how he made her fall in love so quickly. The marriage did not last long, but long enough to create two small boys.
The two boys learned to cope with the consequences of divorce and from a very early age Imran and his brother found themselves going from one house to another, changing schools all the time and suffering racial discrimination for their different skin colour.
Imran's older brother always took care of him as well as he could, as a consequence of his mother's absence, and bad treat by their grandmother who do not accept having half Pakistani grandchildren.
One of the things for which Imran thanks his brother the most is for having taught him how to hit others in self defence and knock out teeth. That knowledge and attitude is what kept him alive during his life in the poor neighbohoods of Wales, where people count the days they survive drugs, alcohol and gangs.
Imran's refuge was always the music, where he found a distraction, and was through music his brain developed in a healthy enviroment, away from the insults of his grandmother.
It was music that brought Imran and his brother together.
When they were children, they put together some drums made of boxes, pans and sticks.
While one of them would look through the window to check that their grandmother was not coming home, the other would practice on their makeshift drums. They knew that she was always looking for any excuse to be mean to them.
The two brothers’ interest in music grew and they soon found themselves playing real drums in one of their neighbours’ garages. Suddenly they had a group of four playing rock covers. They were good, and local clubs began to ask them to play.
Imran was only 13 at that stage, and he was living a rock star life with his brother and friend who were over 20. The group did not last too long; two of the members died due to drug abuse. After that Imran’s brother stoped playing and Imran - being a teenager - decided that kind of life is not what he wanted.
Imran believed in happiness and knew he deserved it, so he decided to fight for it with the best weapon he had, creativity. During his life music had always transported him to other places in his mind and this time his music took him to a real different place in this world. Imran has since been on international stages as a hip-hop mc and beatboxer. His songs’ lyrics have a message of peace, and their beats are irresistible.
Now Imran works with kids at poor schools and in youth prisons teaching them music. He has great dreams; such as creating new kinds of music and dance. Imran won his own battle with creativity and talent and now he shares his experience with other people who are in the same situation he survived.
This Welshman of dark skin and magnetic personality has two special places in my heart, one for being so handsome and another for been so talented.

MONTEZUMA'S REVENGE

Moctezuma's Revenge
Urban Roulette

It was a beautiful day, the bright green of the Laval University gardens in Quebec, Canada reflected the light of the sun that gave us the perfect weather. Tom and I walked towards the supermarket to get something to eat and stop the crawling for food of our guts. We spent the whole morning working for the newspaper so it was time for a break. I left the supermarket with some Pringles chips while Tom got a six of Corona beer, Tom is a good looking journalist from the UK, he has sweet looking, (and green eyes very similar to the Shrek's cat) that make his personality still more interesting. He is tall and his body reflects the many hours that he spends playing professional Frisbee (yes, even for me this professional Frisbee game is pretty new). In our way back from the shop we saw the shadow of a huge tree in front of us where we sat to eat. Tom opened the beers and I opened the barbecue chips. While Tom was opening the beer he looked at me and said " I forgot to buy lemons", I smiled and answered; "Corona is not one of my favourite drinks but you can still drink it without lemon". He said: "but how are we going to disinfect the beer?," –"what are you talking about?" -"the lemon is to disinfect the rat's pee that the corona has, that is why it tastes good?" –"who told you that Tom?, how in heaven do you believe that an imported beer for which you have paid over 12 dollars is going to have rat's pee? –"Then, why does everybody use lemon?" –"gosh, lemon, salt and even tomato juice because it makes it taste yummy" –"so then we don't have to disinfect it?" –"Your are a real gringo Tom, I bet you tonight's dinner that your are not going to get diarrhoea for drinking a Corona without lemon." –"what's a gringo?". –" We call the Americans gringos in Mexico, actually all Latin-American countries call them that. It is said that during the war between Mexico and USA the Americans wore green uniforms and the Mexicans yelled them "green go home." But I have also heard that word in Brazil and they use it for any person that goes there from another country, so God knows what's the real story Mr. Tom".
During my trips I have discovered that there are unhealthy things that do not change from one country to another: McDonald's, Corona beer, politicians and flies.
Along with them, the already famous legend of Montezuma’s revenge. This is not the first time I have had this kind of conversation with people from another country, they believe Mexicans use the "fruit" in the beer as a disinfectant
I told Tom that the Americans visit Mexico carrying suitcases full of water bottles because they believe the antique Aztec emperor Montezuma takes revenge upon the tourists and they can get diarrhoea if they drink Mexican water. The gringos take over the Mexican beaches at spring break and drink Margaritas by the litre, beer by the yard and tequila as if there was no tomorrow. They also eat the hottest salsas, tacos and fajitas and compete to see who can keep the hottest chilli in their mouth for longest, and then, they say they get diarrhea because of the water? These gringos are really locos!
I think that if I show this British guy a Mezcal with worm inside he will run away from me! Who could send me a little Toloache, before Montezuma calls him?

*Mezcal is a liquor that comes with a cactus worm inside the bottle to give the liquor a salty taste.
*Toloache is a medical plant used by mexican wizards to keep a person by your side.
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Laura and Tom at Montreal