It’s an odd feeling, to see yourself – or my neighborhood, in this case – described by a stranger. In today’s edition of the English-language Malaysian newspaper The Star, their “State Side” columnist Foo Yee Ping takes a look at Flatbush.

Kosher meat is widely available. One tour agency arranges for travel on Emirates, Etihad, Kuwait, Qatar and Gulf airlines.

There is a mosque, too. And there is a “yeshivah” (Orthodox Jewish school), just a five-minute walk away.

Nearby, a sign outside a barbershop proclaims: “We speak English, Russian, Urdu and Yiddish.”

Welcome to Flatbush, a neighbourhood in Brooklyn presenting a New York City seldom seen on celluloid.

– No clash of cultures here, State Side with Foo Yee Ping

From my home here in far Western Flatbush, I hear both sabbath sirens and muezzin’s calls to prayers. But they’re coming from our neighbors in Kensington.

One of those interviewed in the article is Mohammad Razvi, who was one of the dozen or so candidates for our City Council seat earlier this year.