A recent loss of life, the son of a friend disturbed me to the pits. He was 28, had been suffering from depression and eventually couldn't deal with it anymore. I am reluctant even get into what happened but it was mighty disturbing and had me by the hooks mentally and emotionally for the last few days.
How can somebody be so fed up? How can somebody be ready to give up? How can somebody else not see it, avoid it, stop it?
I can't wonder what the family would be going through when I as a bystander am so disturbed. I look at my kids, what could ever lead them to such a situation? What can I do now and keep doing to not let it reach there? Psychological diseases are difficult tackle, its not something you can just cure with a few pills. There is more to it, and definitely requires more patience. If it prolongs for too long, then it just becomes a reality one has to make peace with. But then, in that situation you make peace with something which actually needs more attention and continuous close monitoring.
Just had to write this one out to get this out of my system. Pray for the departed soul and for the family. Difficult times, these are whether we look with the macro lens or the micro lens. Our society is headed towards the end, I keep feeling this. We have just got it all so wrong.
Showing posts with label Thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thoughts. Show all posts
Maa!
Ma, Maa, Mom, Mother.
For some reason, I was just missing Mom today. I was watching, "Wake up, Sid!", yes I am a big Ranbir Kapoor fan. That scene, where Sid (Ranbir) is taking pictures of his neighbour and her son and he forgets to click as he watches the mother-son love through the lens which he was obviously was missing with her mom, reminded me of you, Maa!
Its been so many years it seems. We used to be so close, with my Baba away travelling on his sea voyages for 6 months, back for 2 months and then back again, was I your best friend? But then, I wasn't even there. But for me, you were always there.
Walking me to school, driving me to school, ensuring I got on the school van, you were there. You were there when I was a little baby, when I grew up into a boy, teens and then a young man. You know all my secrets, you know all my school and university crushes. You supported me in my downs, you celebrated my successes.
But was I there for you? Have I been there for me? I know, I wasn't.
Even with my lovely wife, my 2 lovely daughters, you will always be my favorite woman in my life. I am not naturally somebody who expresses a lot, but I am learning to do this, my daughters need me to be. They need to be told how beautiful they are, how amazing they are and how lucky I am to have them. They need assurance from a man, who better to give this than their Baba. I have to be that person so they don't look for this somewhere else.
You are a woman, did you need assurance, support, recognition when Baba was away? Sorry, I didn't know. I was too young. Do you need this now?
I am sorry, I wasn't the perfect son. Did I grow up too soon? Did I move away too soon? Get married too soon? Were you done with me? I was just being selfish, just thinking about myself. I went away too soon to run my own family and I didn't look back. Of course I visit on and off but is that quality time with you? Is that enough?
My heaven is beneath your feet. My success of life and hereafter in your prayers. Please don't forget me ever OK? Always keep me in your prayers.
Maa! I love you. Alhumdulillah!
For some reason, I was just missing Mom today. I was watching, "Wake up, Sid!", yes I am a big Ranbir Kapoor fan. That scene, where Sid (Ranbir) is taking pictures of his neighbour and her son and he forgets to click as he watches the mother-son love through the lens which he was obviously was missing with her mom, reminded me of you, Maa!
Its been so many years it seems. We used to be so close, with my Baba away travelling on his sea voyages for 6 months, back for 2 months and then back again, was I your best friend? But then, I wasn't even there. But for me, you were always there.
Walking me to school, driving me to school, ensuring I got on the school van, you were there. You were there when I was a little baby, when I grew up into a boy, teens and then a young man. You know all my secrets, you know all my school and university crushes. You supported me in my downs, you celebrated my successes.
But was I there for you? Have I been there for me? I know, I wasn't.
Even with my lovely wife, my 2 lovely daughters, you will always be my favorite woman in my life. I am not naturally somebody who expresses a lot, but I am learning to do this, my daughters need me to be. They need to be told how beautiful they are, how amazing they are and how lucky I am to have them. They need assurance from a man, who better to give this than their Baba. I have to be that person so they don't look for this somewhere else.
You are a woman, did you need assurance, support, recognition when Baba was away? Sorry, I didn't know. I was too young. Do you need this now?
I am sorry, I wasn't the perfect son. Did I grow up too soon? Did I move away too soon? Get married too soon? Were you done with me? I was just being selfish, just thinking about myself. I went away too soon to run my own family and I didn't look back. Of course I visit on and off but is that quality time with you? Is that enough?
My heaven is beneath your feet. My success of life and hereafter in your prayers. Please don't forget me ever OK? Always keep me in your prayers.
Maa! I love you. Alhumdulillah!
The Deathly Hallows
No pun intended with the title, Harry Potter fans. The inspiration for this post is a question that popped up somewhere, I can't remember now if it was a movie I was watching, a book I was reading or a podcast I was listening to.
What if life is a dream and death wakes us up?One can find inspiration in the oddest of places. A question of the above sort can do something similar but more from a "reflection" perspective and this question did make me think.
Religiously speaking or not and whether you believe in the day of judgement, life after death or not, think of the what if? You can deny a whole pile of Holy revelations and still stick to the theory that this life is pretty much it. Make of it what you can, how you can and then that's it, you are done.
On the other hand, think possibilities, what if it is not the end. What if this whole thing going around us, is a dream, a virtual reality or whatever you want to call, but something that is not real. Ever woken up with a sudden jolt, realizing, that what you were experiencing just before you woke up, wasn't real. What if life was exactly that?
All the effort we are spending here trying to make the best of life, would be in vain at the end. What have we done for life after death, which begins when we wake up from this life? Death is the only real truth and as that has come to every single human being ever born and will come to every human being that is alive or is yet to be born. Everybody will die. Just on that belief, there has to be more to come after death, a lot more as its a universal fact.
This world is cruel, unfair, unjust. Where the good path is more difficult to follow, the evil route easier. The evil ways result in prosperity in this world vs. the good path, which doesn't give that good a return on investment compared to the wrong ways. How can this be fair? There has to be a place where the equation is more fair. Where good gets good and bad gets bad. Right?
This just has to be a dream, good or bad, but this has to be just a dream. Death will wake us up, are you ready? Are you prepared?
Zahid ka Hasil-e-Eeman
Zahid is a common term used in many qawwali's, Urdu poetry and generally in the concept of bringing the "devotee" to religion, to love, to divine, in general the good guy. This usually when the poet calls himself the sinner, the bad guy in comparison.
A famous piece of poetry which Abida Parveen has sung from Raqs-e-Bismil goes something like...
"Zahid nay mera Hasil-e-Eeman nahi dekha... rukh par teri zulfon ko pareshan nahi dekha..."
Zahid hasn't seen the result of my faith, he hasn't seen how the confusion of the hair on your face. Indicating, that confusion, because of me itself is an achievement to my life of faith. The set of poetry that follows is further elaboration but that's not the point of my post.
On 3rd July, my cousin, Zahid Suleman Memon, was mugged. He resisted and the robbers shot him dead. He was the 3rd of 4 sons for my Khala (aunt). He was just 1 year out of Indus Valley School of Arts and was a budding Architect. He was a cyclist as well and generally a optimistic person. Most people in their social media tributes remembered him as somebody who was always smiling.
When I visited Pakistan this Eid, we visited Khala. The family was there and we tried to remember Zahid trying to help find closure for everybody involved. Needless to say, it was a difficult situation for everybody, shocking for me, devastating for the brothers, mother and father. Everybody trying to find peace in one way or another, a truly unfortunate incident which all of us will remember for times to come. At each happy and sad moment, we will remember Zahid.
I am a strong believer in everything happens for a reason. Everybody has a purpose in this life. When that purpose is served, he goes. During the time since I heard the news and all that has followed since then and as I sit here, writing this post, I was trying to find what purpose did Zahid's unfortunate passing away serve. I thought of naming this post, Zahid ka Hasil-e-Eemaan (Zahid's result of his Faith).
So what did Zahid's unforeseen death achieve?
My Khala summarized it well, treasure every moment. If you want to say I love you to somebody, don't wait till tomorrow, say it. If you have hurt somebody and you realize, don't wait till tomorrow to say sorry. Make up with family friends for life is too short and it surprises you.
My grandma used to say, "Samaan hay sau baras ka, pal kee khabar nahi" (We are collecting things we need for 100 years when we are not aware of what will happen the next second). So true is that. Zahid's death has made my brother realize priorities. He graduated in the same batch as Zahid, they were close. For me, I see both of them standing next to each other, it could have easily been him. But it was Zahid. I think my brother is talking like a different person since the event. He surely has re-thought his priorities in life, may Allah help him.
For me, I totally was shell-shocked when I heard it. I didn't know how to react. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to console, condole. I didn't know how to deal with it myself. I had to write something to find some closure. But an after-thought has made me realize, that I need to value the truly important things in life. Its natural to become materialistic in this material world. I am guilty of the same. Zahid's Hasil-e-Eeman for me is helping make me realize, there are more important things in life that I should prioritize first. There are lots of things that can go down in importance. Things which give me stress, make me forget and take me away from reality.
Such is the state of affairs. Death is the only truth, some go early, some go late. But all go. This all will end. Maybe soon, maybe later but it is inevitable. Why not spend time on something that is more worthwhile. Who knows, if tomorrow comes or not? What if tomorrow is worse than today? What if today is all there is?
In the daily rut of life, we forget. We take health, life for granted. When in reality, nothing is for granted. This is something that we have borrowed, we will need to return. We should make good use of life. The best use of life is to live for others. Zahid displayed this well. May Allah grant him the highest positions in Jannah, may Allah give his close family members, us, patience to deal with this sad reality. Aameen.
A famous piece of poetry which Abida Parveen has sung from Raqs-e-Bismil goes something like...
"Zahid nay mera Hasil-e-Eeman nahi dekha... rukh par teri zulfon ko pareshan nahi dekha..."
Zahid hasn't seen the result of my faith, he hasn't seen how the confusion of the hair on your face. Indicating, that confusion, because of me itself is an achievement to my life of faith. The set of poetry that follows is further elaboration but that's not the point of my post.
On 3rd July, my cousin, Zahid Suleman Memon, was mugged. He resisted and the robbers shot him dead. He was the 3rd of 4 sons for my Khala (aunt). He was just 1 year out of Indus Valley School of Arts and was a budding Architect. He was a cyclist as well and generally a optimistic person. Most people in their social media tributes remembered him as somebody who was always smiling.
When I visited Pakistan this Eid, we visited Khala. The family was there and we tried to remember Zahid trying to help find closure for everybody involved. Needless to say, it was a difficult situation for everybody, shocking for me, devastating for the brothers, mother and father. Everybody trying to find peace in one way or another, a truly unfortunate incident which all of us will remember for times to come. At each happy and sad moment, we will remember Zahid.
I am a strong believer in everything happens for a reason. Everybody has a purpose in this life. When that purpose is served, he goes. During the time since I heard the news and all that has followed since then and as I sit here, writing this post, I was trying to find what purpose did Zahid's unfortunate passing away serve. I thought of naming this post, Zahid ka Hasil-e-Eemaan (Zahid's result of his Faith).
So what did Zahid's unforeseen death achieve?
My Khala summarized it well, treasure every moment. If you want to say I love you to somebody, don't wait till tomorrow, say it. If you have hurt somebody and you realize, don't wait till tomorrow to say sorry. Make up with family friends for life is too short and it surprises you.
My grandma used to say, "Samaan hay sau baras ka, pal kee khabar nahi" (We are collecting things we need for 100 years when we are not aware of what will happen the next second). So true is that. Zahid's death has made my brother realize priorities. He graduated in the same batch as Zahid, they were close. For me, I see both of them standing next to each other, it could have easily been him. But it was Zahid. I think my brother is talking like a different person since the event. He surely has re-thought his priorities in life, may Allah help him.
For me, I totally was shell-shocked when I heard it. I didn't know how to react. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to console, condole. I didn't know how to deal with it myself. I had to write something to find some closure. But an after-thought has made me realize, that I need to value the truly important things in life. Its natural to become materialistic in this material world. I am guilty of the same. Zahid's Hasil-e-Eeman for me is helping make me realize, there are more important things in life that I should prioritize first. There are lots of things that can go down in importance. Things which give me stress, make me forget and take me away from reality.
Such is the state of affairs. Death is the only truth, some go early, some go late. But all go. This all will end. Maybe soon, maybe later but it is inevitable. Why not spend time on something that is more worthwhile. Who knows, if tomorrow comes or not? What if tomorrow is worse than today? What if today is all there is?
In the daily rut of life, we forget. We take health, life for granted. When in reality, nothing is for granted. This is something that we have borrowed, we will need to return. We should make good use of life. The best use of life is to live for others. Zahid displayed this well. May Allah grant him the highest positions in Jannah, may Allah give his close family members, us, patience to deal with this sad reality. Aameen.
Facebook killed my blog, NOT!
I started blogging in 2006. Facebook / Twitter hadn't become the fad yet. Having a natural craving for the spotlight, this was a good way to get my thoughts out and see what others felt about it. I made new friends in the blogosphere as I read their blogs and they returned the favour by tracking back, visiting. It was all good.
If I were a regular blogger as much as I would have liked since then, I wouldn't have needed my day job. At least that's how I see it now. Unfortunately, I am not. It is a graph of ups and downs, long hibernation periods with life taking over at times and now recently as I look at it, its the advent of social media and so called micro-blogging via Twitter and Facebook that has killed my blog.
I went to reflect on this a little bit and realized the true reason I blogged was an idea that crept into my mind and then I wanted to think it through. I think better when I write about it and that's that. Yes, there was a social spotlight craving in there somewhere, but the generation of content was very much exactly that. When you get into blogging, there is a set limit of words that builds up in your mind to make a decent blog post. This is not the case with micro-blogging. You fit the idea in 140 words or in any case, it would be small update to either of Social Media tycoon websites. So the idea of sitting down and jotting thoughts and producing a blog post is simply said, too time-consuming.
That's why I say, Facebook killed my blog. Having said that, I am not giving up here. I enjoy writing. I am not as good as the greatest bloggers or journalists around. I have not been trained to do this. English is not my mother tongue. But I like writing. Hence, I will continue. In short bursts at times, more regular at other times. The size of my posts will shorten at times, it will be longer at times. I don't care. I am just going to write until I feel satisfied.
Its my blog page after all. I can ramble all I want. Facebook, you can go and have a billion users, you can let me have my FB pages but, you will not kill my blog. I will survive.
If I were a regular blogger as much as I would have liked since then, I wouldn't have needed my day job. At least that's how I see it now. Unfortunately, I am not. It is a graph of ups and downs, long hibernation periods with life taking over at times and now recently as I look at it, its the advent of social media and so called micro-blogging via Twitter and Facebook that has killed my blog.
I went to reflect on this a little bit and realized the true reason I blogged was an idea that crept into my mind and then I wanted to think it through. I think better when I write about it and that's that. Yes, there was a social spotlight craving in there somewhere, but the generation of content was very much exactly that. When you get into blogging, there is a set limit of words that builds up in your mind to make a decent blog post. This is not the case with micro-blogging. You fit the idea in 140 words or in any case, it would be small update to either of Social Media tycoon websites. So the idea of sitting down and jotting thoughts and producing a blog post is simply said, too time-consuming.
That's why I say, Facebook killed my blog. Having said that, I am not giving up here. I enjoy writing. I am not as good as the greatest bloggers or journalists around. I have not been trained to do this. English is not my mother tongue. But I like writing. Hence, I will continue. In short bursts at times, more regular at other times. The size of my posts will shorten at times, it will be longer at times. I don't care. I am just going to write until I feel satisfied.
Its my blog page after all. I can ramble all I want. Facebook, you can go and have a billion users, you can let me have my FB pages but, you will not kill my blog. I will survive.
The Future of Air Travel
An interesting discussion led to me writing this post. As part of a strategic thinking workshop, we have been tasked with thinking about the future from a medium to long-term view focusing on the future of air travel. Working in the aviation industry and pretty decided on an aviation related career for life, this obviously is an interesting discussion.
The academic view and a SWOT analysis reflects the threat of technology. With video conferencing getting wider popularity and technology generally becoming more accessible and affordable, would businesses reduce business travel?
On the other hand, travel is becoming cheaper so would a larger population now travel compared to earlier? Would the existing one travel more than often?
Would the rich become richer and poor become poorer, directly leading to an interesting situation. The rich may own their own jets. The poor couldn't afford the cheapest ticket.
There is radicalization involved also. Tele-porting, "Beam me up Scottie!" are all possible. After all, so many things from Star Trek, have conceptualized and as a society we have proven that if we can think it, we can pretty much do it. How does the equation change with all of this?
This is at the moment, a continuous discussion, I intend to be part of as a discussion group, think-tank. I welcome views from my readers here also.
What do you think will shape the future of air travel? How?
The academic view and a SWOT analysis reflects the threat of technology. With video conferencing getting wider popularity and technology generally becoming more accessible and affordable, would businesses reduce business travel?
On the other hand, travel is becoming cheaper so would a larger population now travel compared to earlier? Would the existing one travel more than often?
Would the rich become richer and poor become poorer, directly leading to an interesting situation. The rich may own their own jets. The poor couldn't afford the cheapest ticket.
There is radicalization involved also. Tele-porting, "Beam me up Scottie!" are all possible. After all, so many things from Star Trek, have conceptualized and as a society we have proven that if we can think it, we can pretty much do it. How does the equation change with all of this?
This is at the moment, a continuous discussion, I intend to be part of as a discussion group, think-tank. I welcome views from my readers here also.
What do you think will shape the future of air travel? How?
Always On, Always Connected
There was a time when there was no Internet. When I was in school, having a computer was a big deal. Luckily, my grandfather found his retirement past time in computers and I was very close to him. So I got access to Commodore 64 when I was probably in Grade 2. Getting to it so early in my life pretty much defines who I am today. I think I would have been a different person altogether if it weren't for that early exposure to computers.
As we as a society graduated from larger and slower computers to smaller and faster computers, continuing with the Internet revolution of the 90's and as we now stand in 2013, I think its pretty unimaginable now to think of life without a computer and let me generalize it a bit and say technology. We can't live without technology anymore, we are simply too dependent.
Imagine time away from everything and not having your smart phone or tablet with you or not being connected via Internet. While the world and the distances between people still remain, physically and emotionally, we as a society have been now wired to being connected all the time via the Internet.
I mean, I remember the first few years on the Internet for me when connecting was a conscious task. Dialing in using a modem, putting in a password for dial-up networking, the noisy modem sound, indicating that I am now connecting to the world wide web. The mind would change state slowly with the sounds of the modem connecting from being in a much more solitary, secluded version of the world with physical connections only to almost a "wow" state of mind, in awe, virtually connected to everybody else, in the whole world. WOW!
Not anymore. Now with Wi-fi, 3G and what not that follows as technology develops, there is no conscious state of connecting anymore. It is assumed that we are always connected, always wired in. Always on.
I am not sure if it is good or bad but the natural reaction and flavor of this blog post is negative. All this should be unhealthy. We shouldn't be always connected, always on. It doesn't sound natural. But then, what is natural? We do something for too long, the next generation inherits it and the one after calls it "natural". For example, working on a computer is natural now and not having a computer in the house is unnatural for today's generation. I can assure you this wasn't the case when I was growing up and if we ask our fathers and grandfathers, they will tell you a completely different picture of the world.
So maybe I observe this because I can see the change happening and being Always On, Always Connected as a threat to the quality of life that we want to live. Tomorrow, as our children grow up and the next generation comes in, this would be the way of life and not being online, connected or "on" all the time would be a threat to the quality of life.
How society develops. We are an amazing race, look where we have come to now and just keep watching how and where we will go to next as a civilization. I observe and I share as I notice something. Only possible because I am too, Always On, Always Connected.
As we as a society graduated from larger and slower computers to smaller and faster computers, continuing with the Internet revolution of the 90's and as we now stand in 2013, I think its pretty unimaginable now to think of life without a computer and let me generalize it a bit and say technology. We can't live without technology anymore, we are simply too dependent.
Imagine time away from everything and not having your smart phone or tablet with you or not being connected via Internet. While the world and the distances between people still remain, physically and emotionally, we as a society have been now wired to being connected all the time via the Internet.
I mean, I remember the first few years on the Internet for me when connecting was a conscious task. Dialing in using a modem, putting in a password for dial-up networking, the noisy modem sound, indicating that I am now connecting to the world wide web. The mind would change state slowly with the sounds of the modem connecting from being in a much more solitary, secluded version of the world with physical connections only to almost a "wow" state of mind, in awe, virtually connected to everybody else, in the whole world. WOW!
Not anymore. Now with Wi-fi, 3G and what not that follows as technology develops, there is no conscious state of connecting anymore. It is assumed that we are always connected, always wired in. Always on.
I am not sure if it is good or bad but the natural reaction and flavor of this blog post is negative. All this should be unhealthy. We shouldn't be always connected, always on. It doesn't sound natural. But then, what is natural? We do something for too long, the next generation inherits it and the one after calls it "natural". For example, working on a computer is natural now and not having a computer in the house is unnatural for today's generation. I can assure you this wasn't the case when I was growing up and if we ask our fathers and grandfathers, they will tell you a completely different picture of the world.
So maybe I observe this because I can see the change happening and being Always On, Always Connected as a threat to the quality of life that we want to live. Tomorrow, as our children grow up and the next generation comes in, this would be the way of life and not being online, connected or "on" all the time would be a threat to the quality of life.
How society develops. We are an amazing race, look where we have come to now and just keep watching how and where we will go to next as a civilization. I observe and I share as I notice something. Only possible because I am too, Always On, Always Connected.
The Weekend Theory
I haven't published a theory for quite some time and though there have been lots in the making, I haven't come around to blog about it in recent times. Well let's change that situation with this blogpost.
By the way, most UTP theories are developed while sitting in the toilet especially in the mornings. The benefit of the iPad mini that I recently bought is that I can record thoughts as they come and then elaborate on them later. I would not disagree that lot of theories get flushed almost literally as well however some break it through.
I present to you a prediction of the future as I see it about weekends, which I not-so-creatively title "The Weekend Theory".
I can see us grow into a society which will have more than just 2 days of the weekend. I know in some places around the world, it is still one day weekends even now but by and large, majority of the world enjoys 2-day weekends currently.
However, my theory states that not too far in the future (maybe by 2025) we will have 3 day weekends and probably in a few more years (maybe by 2050), even 4 day weekends. I will obviously back this up with logic, no matter how illogical it is. A logic is a logic and I am a very logical person.
So I stand by this theory based on 2 supporting points.
Number 1, Automation
With more and more things getting automated, we have moved from doing things manually to using computers and now letting computers do pre-programmed things is quite the norm. My job involves convincing people that even a computer software like MS Excel is a manual situation and you need to graduate to system automation. So already I am helping change the world through more and more automation.
I have a strong feeling that this will develop so well soon that by 2025 approximately, we will simply not require to work 5 days a week. The machines will do it for us. Hence I could see us squeeze through another day into the weekend. First it will be unofficial, some companies will do it but soon it will become the norm. It would be basically managing the automation for the next 25 years and by 2050, this will improve so much that we will just need to manage the automation that manages the automation. This would give us the 4-day weekend with the 3 days being used to just program or rather pre-program and monitor the automation.
Number 2, Burn-Out
The number of hours we work whether we are physically at work or not, is just a big stretch already on us humans. We were not made to do this much work. However, in this day and age of competition, you do more just because you are expected to do more and this is never-ending. The risk is that if you stop working and stretching more, somebody else would and hence we would be left behind. Unless you decide for yourself what the limit is, this situation is pretty limitless. The more you do, the more you are expected to do. This means that we will burn-out eventually in fact I am sure we already do get phases of burn-out even now which leads to us being sick and "needing a vacation" or simply being unproductive on some days. These are clear signs of burn-out.
Anyway, my theory is that eventually, not too far in the future, human rights and labour laws will start protecting us where we simply can't work for more than 4 days a week hence need a longer weekend. Now, I am not sure it will be 3-day continuous weekend or would it be a 2-day weekend with a day off on Tuesday or Wednesday, middle of the week, basically to re-energize but 3 days off in a week will be required. It may also be an alternate day approach where you get Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday off or Monday, Wednesday and Friday off, the latter probably for Muslim countries. Something like that.
Working in UAE, I get Friday and Saturday off. It kind of links to the logic that if I wanted to take a break on a weekday and it could be only for one day, it would be a Sunday as my first choice, Thursday as my second and then Tuesday as my third. Either of Monday or Wednesday would be the 4th choice.
I think eventually the burn-out risk would be so high that we would need the working week to be only 3 days and hence get 4-days off. We will do everything but kill ourselves with possibly longer working hours on the 3 working days but then have 4 days off. Again this would probably work with 2-day weekends and then 2-day mid week breaks or all 4 together though I think the former may be more productive.
So there you have it, my theory about weekends and how they would evolve. In the coming years the material world will become closer to how the natural world runs i.e. automatically. Doesn't matter if it has artificially reached there with machines, systems and automation, it will still be very much on its own with just needing monitoring and pre-programming.
A Father & Son Relationship
I was blessed with a son in Oct'12. While already being a father to 2 daughters is an experience in itself, I realized being father to a son was different. Yes it was the same baby-upbringing and my wife does all of the normal baby-raising stuff that I stay away from usually, there was more to it on the psychological front. I just couldn't figure out what. Usually writing helps me think through such situations and so I thought in the process of writing a blog around it, I should be able to figure this out and maybe do a better job at it.
Usually, all psychological influences on people are linked to their own lives, to their own past. So I will start with evaluating myself. I am the eldest of my siblings and with a sister and brother that followed after me, I am the eldest "son" as well. I come from a Sindhi background and a culture where sons hold some sort of link to pride and dignity to the family name. There was a time when there were no celebrations if a girl was born to someone and the other extreme of celebrations when a son was born. So while I know I don’t support the theory, am I in denial? The deep-rooted upbringing that runs in my blood may be defining what kind of a father I am going to be. I asked myself this, and while trying to find some neutrality, I thought through my approach to life as a father to daughters, I looked through my older posts, specially the "Being Baba" category. I realized that this is not true at all. I have never been someone who wanted to have as many kids as possible just so I could have a son. Yes, I know people who have done this. I love my daughters no different than my son. Wait, that is a bit of jumping to conclusions, isn't it? Do I really?
Parking that thought there. Let me see what kind of a relationship I had with my dad, my Baba Saeein. Hmmm...
My Baba was in the navy, the commercial and not the military kind, for his life. The years when I was growing up, he was available in thought, in weekly or fortnightly or sometimes monthly phone calls for 6 months and then available in person for 2 full months. Obviously, no Facebook, email, Skype etc. at the time. This kind of life is what both of us, Baba and I, lived for the majority of our lives. Would this have had an impact on me, psychologically? This is not about whether this was right or wrong. Everybody earns their livelihood in different ways. This is what Allah had in plans for him and for me. This is more about, whether or not this impacted me psychologically and will it change how I will deal with fatherhood, being father to a son. So, in his absence, the day-to-day issues as a child were resolved with a more motherly solution, a more womanly approach. Did this make me less of a man? Did it make me more vulnerable? Would I be a different person if I had more of my Baba around then I had in my childhood? I think I probably would. But, what I am now is not bad either. A good mix.
Trying to look at the picture from the other side, my Baba must have had a difficult situation also. The only way he could have taken care of all of us was to be away from us, earn his livelihood. Yet, the non-tangible stuff, those can't be brought back. The physical hugs, forms of affection, the father-son talks, moments of joy and sorrow, lectures when coming home from the school fights, the lessons were missing. Peaks and troughs with the troughs lasting for 6 months and peaks of 2 months defined the father & son relationship in my life. For the 2 months, he was here, other than relaxing to be ready for the next 6 months of time away from home, he would have had to spend that extra effort to cash in on the time he had available to spend with his wife, his children, his parents etc. What a life? I don’t think I would choose such a life like my Baba. If given the choice, Not sure if he would chose it again as well. Life has a way of hitting people; decisions that follow define the life ahead.
We see western Hollywood movies and they talk about father/son fishing trips defining the time away from everybody else to be able to define the link between a mentor and a mentee, teacher and student, a leader and follower, a guide for the lost. I remember when I was in my early teens; my Baba did make an attempt on something similar. It wasn't fishing. It was the movies. I think he may have realized that I am not getting my access to some manly movies. I may be stuck in my video games, or books. Television was also very "Drama-Oriented". I should see a movie that only a man would enjoy. On a weekend, he said, let's go, we are going to do something special today. While I was asked to leave my Sega on the side, something I used to wait for all the week to get to, and get ready and go out. I hated going out from the very beginning. I am more of a homey person, the stay home kind. Do things at home. So, this was out of nowhere and my first reaction wasn't "really" excited. But anyway, during the car drive, I was curious and kept asking, where are we going? He wanted to keep the surprise hence didn't give in. However, the traffic was too much and the kid (me) was nagging relentlessly so he gave in. We are going to watch a movie on the big screen, Cinema! I think if it was any other kid in the world, he would have been thrilled. Unfortunately, I wasn't that kid. I actually felt deprived of my "Sega" weekend. I asked him, what movie? He said, "Empire Strikes Back". Now again, any other kid especially if he were a boy, should have been head over heels. The name says "Macho Man", all the way. Violence, fire, guns etc. Not me. I was trying to recall what my actual reaction was but I know it was bad enough to make my Baba turn the car around and go back home. Obviously, I think of it now and realize, how heart-broken he would have been. I am truly apologetic now in realization, but it doesn't matter. The moment was lost and stays lost. It never came again.
While, what's done is done, "I was a child, give me a break" is one approach I could take to what happened. I think about it and realize, that things were never the same after that. My Baba didn't really try as hard as he, or for that matter I also, would have liked, letting me be as I was and letting things remain as they were. He may have realized that I have crossed over to the other side. I have already become who I am supposed to be. My Dad may have realized that he is going to be a proud father of a geek, who likes to stay home, play video games, hit the books, the nerd.... basically a sissy. Our relationship may have become more distant than a 6-month trough in our physical nearness even when he was here for the 2 months. We may have changed statuses from a potential-to-be-close Father & Son to a more happy-to-be-distant Father & Son.
This post has gone sad, I am not sure if I will continue publishing this. Let me at least finish the thought though and decide at the end.
Obviously, things changed when he retired from the navy. He was no longer away for 6 months. He was there all day, available, accessible. However, I had grown up. He had grown older. However, he had to still support the family. I was still not done with my studies hence not quite ready to support the family. These were some tense times. He, stretching himself more than he had thought he would need to at that age of his life. Me, still figuring out how to deal with this Father & Son relationship while all this being very different from the first 18 years of my life. I am sure he was going through the same; it couldn't be the peaks and troughs anymore. It had to find its way towards more consistency, a straighter graph. None of us were used to this. I don't know about him, but for me, I can remember only this that it was probably the most difficult phase of my life.
Eventually with differences and arguments taking the forefront, we did eventually figure a way out of this. Obviously, regardless of what type of a Father & Son relationship it was, it was still a Father & Son relationship. I know we both wanted to make it work and hence we eventually did. I think we both realized that we have to make this work for all of us, everybody around us. Obviously, the trouble was, I was hitting the early grown-man age. That comes with its confused situations. Crossing over to the other side. There were just too many things happening in my life for my comfort, too many changes and I don't think I quite did it right. Looking back, I would have dealt with things very differently than how I did. Some regrets, mostly life lessons.
As I see it now, we had to artificially create the physical distances that we had been used to. My relationship with Baba right now is probably the best it has ever been. I am married with kids, living away from my parents in a different country altogether. We visit occasionally, twice a year. The irony of it, this is very similar to how Baba used to visit us when I was young. Is this the secret? Is it true, that the only way we could make this work was to go back to how life was in the wonder years for me? This is something for me to really think about. We had to re-create that same environment we had to be able to make this work or... maybe I just grew up. I learnt to deal with and build probably one of the most important relationship that a guy needs, the one with his dad.
I don't regret any of this. It is just the kind of life I was destined to have; I have a lot of good things in me because of how things happened. I think I grew up much quicker mentally than physically in the wonder years. I think I took more responsibility much earlier than others but I guess everybody feels that one way or another. Whatever happens to you in life makes you who you are. It was supposed to turn out exactly this way. I couldn't be thankful enough for the life I have now. No complaints whatsoever. So whatever happened in the past, had to happen. I had to go through the tough times to be who I am today.
As I look at myself now in my Baba's shoes now. A son of my own to bring up. Bring up in the way I want. I would have to be careful. I would have to be responsible. Depending on my actions, he could turn out to be completely different, something that I may not like too much. I can't give up anywhere along the way. So what, maybe he does not want to spend time with me at a particular time of his life. That doesn't mean I stop trying. Only when he grows up and realizes what he missed out, like I do now at times, would he regret and I don’t want him to regret. I don’t want me to regret.
Every dad wants to be the best dad to his children. In that pursuit, they try their best and that’s all that should be expected of them. Nothing more, nothing less. Every dad also wants their children to be the best children in the world. However, while they have complete control on their own potential, they don’t have that kind of control on their children's potential. All they could do is, try. Try to nourish it, try to be around, try to be accessible. I will be the best dad I could be and leave the rest to Allah. The only thing I don't want to have when I grow old is regret. Regret at old age is a killer. More dangerous than any old-age disease. There is no turning back the clock once the time passes. The only thing that remains is the regret. I fear that.
Here is to a great father and son relationship to all fathers and sons of the world. Cheers!!
Usually, all psychological influences on people are linked to their own lives, to their own past. So I will start with evaluating myself. I am the eldest of my siblings and with a sister and brother that followed after me, I am the eldest "son" as well. I come from a Sindhi background and a culture where sons hold some sort of link to pride and dignity to the family name. There was a time when there were no celebrations if a girl was born to someone and the other extreme of celebrations when a son was born. So while I know I don’t support the theory, am I in denial? The deep-rooted upbringing that runs in my blood may be defining what kind of a father I am going to be. I asked myself this, and while trying to find some neutrality, I thought through my approach to life as a father to daughters, I looked through my older posts, specially the "Being Baba" category. I realized that this is not true at all. I have never been someone who wanted to have as many kids as possible just so I could have a son. Yes, I know people who have done this. I love my daughters no different than my son. Wait, that is a bit of jumping to conclusions, isn't it? Do I really?
Parking that thought there. Let me see what kind of a relationship I had with my dad, my Baba Saeein. Hmmm...
My Baba was in the navy, the commercial and not the military kind, for his life. The years when I was growing up, he was available in thought, in weekly or fortnightly or sometimes monthly phone calls for 6 months and then available in person for 2 full months. Obviously, no Facebook, email, Skype etc. at the time. This kind of life is what both of us, Baba and I, lived for the majority of our lives. Would this have had an impact on me, psychologically? This is not about whether this was right or wrong. Everybody earns their livelihood in different ways. This is what Allah had in plans for him and for me. This is more about, whether or not this impacted me psychologically and will it change how I will deal with fatherhood, being father to a son. So, in his absence, the day-to-day issues as a child were resolved with a more motherly solution, a more womanly approach. Did this make me less of a man? Did it make me more vulnerable? Would I be a different person if I had more of my Baba around then I had in my childhood? I think I probably would. But, what I am now is not bad either. A good mix.
Trying to look at the picture from the other side, my Baba must have had a difficult situation also. The only way he could have taken care of all of us was to be away from us, earn his livelihood. Yet, the non-tangible stuff, those can't be brought back. The physical hugs, forms of affection, the father-son talks, moments of joy and sorrow, lectures when coming home from the school fights, the lessons were missing. Peaks and troughs with the troughs lasting for 6 months and peaks of 2 months defined the father & son relationship in my life. For the 2 months, he was here, other than relaxing to be ready for the next 6 months of time away from home, he would have had to spend that extra effort to cash in on the time he had available to spend with his wife, his children, his parents etc. What a life? I don’t think I would choose such a life like my Baba. If given the choice, Not sure if he would chose it again as well. Life has a way of hitting people; decisions that follow define the life ahead.
We see western Hollywood movies and they talk about father/son fishing trips defining the time away from everybody else to be able to define the link between a mentor and a mentee, teacher and student, a leader and follower, a guide for the lost. I remember when I was in my early teens; my Baba did make an attempt on something similar. It wasn't fishing. It was the movies. I think he may have realized that I am not getting my access to some manly movies. I may be stuck in my video games, or books. Television was also very "Drama-Oriented". I should see a movie that only a man would enjoy. On a weekend, he said, let's go, we are going to do something special today. While I was asked to leave my Sega on the side, something I used to wait for all the week to get to, and get ready and go out. I hated going out from the very beginning. I am more of a homey person, the stay home kind. Do things at home. So, this was out of nowhere and my first reaction wasn't "really" excited. But anyway, during the car drive, I was curious and kept asking, where are we going? He wanted to keep the surprise hence didn't give in. However, the traffic was too much and the kid (me) was nagging relentlessly so he gave in. We are going to watch a movie on the big screen, Cinema! I think if it was any other kid in the world, he would have been thrilled. Unfortunately, I wasn't that kid. I actually felt deprived of my "Sega" weekend. I asked him, what movie? He said, "Empire Strikes Back". Now again, any other kid especially if he were a boy, should have been head over heels. The name says "Macho Man", all the way. Violence, fire, guns etc. Not me. I was trying to recall what my actual reaction was but I know it was bad enough to make my Baba turn the car around and go back home. Obviously, I think of it now and realize, how heart-broken he would have been. I am truly apologetic now in realization, but it doesn't matter. The moment was lost and stays lost. It never came again.
While, what's done is done, "I was a child, give me a break" is one approach I could take to what happened. I think about it and realize, that things were never the same after that. My Baba didn't really try as hard as he, or for that matter I also, would have liked, letting me be as I was and letting things remain as they were. He may have realized that I have crossed over to the other side. I have already become who I am supposed to be. My Dad may have realized that he is going to be a proud father of a geek, who likes to stay home, play video games, hit the books, the nerd.... basically a sissy. Our relationship may have become more distant than a 6-month trough in our physical nearness even when he was here for the 2 months. We may have changed statuses from a potential-to-be-close Father & Son to a more happy-to-be-distant Father & Son.
This post has gone sad, I am not sure if I will continue publishing this. Let me at least finish the thought though and decide at the end.
Obviously, things changed when he retired from the navy. He was no longer away for 6 months. He was there all day, available, accessible. However, I had grown up. He had grown older. However, he had to still support the family. I was still not done with my studies hence not quite ready to support the family. These were some tense times. He, stretching himself more than he had thought he would need to at that age of his life. Me, still figuring out how to deal with this Father & Son relationship while all this being very different from the first 18 years of my life. I am sure he was going through the same; it couldn't be the peaks and troughs anymore. It had to find its way towards more consistency, a straighter graph. None of us were used to this. I don't know about him, but for me, I can remember only this that it was probably the most difficult phase of my life.
Eventually with differences and arguments taking the forefront, we did eventually figure a way out of this. Obviously, regardless of what type of a Father & Son relationship it was, it was still a Father & Son relationship. I know we both wanted to make it work and hence we eventually did. I think we both realized that we have to make this work for all of us, everybody around us. Obviously, the trouble was, I was hitting the early grown-man age. That comes with its confused situations. Crossing over to the other side. There were just too many things happening in my life for my comfort, too many changes and I don't think I quite did it right. Looking back, I would have dealt with things very differently than how I did. Some regrets, mostly life lessons.
As I see it now, we had to artificially create the physical distances that we had been used to. My relationship with Baba right now is probably the best it has ever been. I am married with kids, living away from my parents in a different country altogether. We visit occasionally, twice a year. The irony of it, this is very similar to how Baba used to visit us when I was young. Is this the secret? Is it true, that the only way we could make this work was to go back to how life was in the wonder years for me? This is something for me to really think about. We had to re-create that same environment we had to be able to make this work or... maybe I just grew up. I learnt to deal with and build probably one of the most important relationship that a guy needs, the one with his dad.
I don't regret any of this. It is just the kind of life I was destined to have; I have a lot of good things in me because of how things happened. I think I grew up much quicker mentally than physically in the wonder years. I think I took more responsibility much earlier than others but I guess everybody feels that one way or another. Whatever happens to you in life makes you who you are. It was supposed to turn out exactly this way. I couldn't be thankful enough for the life I have now. No complaints whatsoever. So whatever happened in the past, had to happen. I had to go through the tough times to be who I am today.
As I look at myself now in my Baba's shoes now. A son of my own to bring up. Bring up in the way I want. I would have to be careful. I would have to be responsible. Depending on my actions, he could turn out to be completely different, something that I may not like too much. I can't give up anywhere along the way. So what, maybe he does not want to spend time with me at a particular time of his life. That doesn't mean I stop trying. Only when he grows up and realizes what he missed out, like I do now at times, would he regret and I don’t want him to regret. I don’t want me to regret.
Every dad wants to be the best dad to his children. In that pursuit, they try their best and that’s all that should be expected of them. Nothing more, nothing less. Every dad also wants their children to be the best children in the world. However, while they have complete control on their own potential, they don’t have that kind of control on their children's potential. All they could do is, try. Try to nourish it, try to be around, try to be accessible. I will be the best dad I could be and leave the rest to Allah. The only thing I don't want to have when I grow old is regret. Regret at old age is a killer. More dangerous than any old-age disease. There is no turning back the clock once the time passes. The only thing that remains is the regret. I fear that.
Here is to a great father and son relationship to all fathers and sons of the world. Cheers!!
Soul's Destination
So thats how it falls out to be, doing quite ok, shouldn't complain. Things are pretty much in place as I would have liked it. However there is a sense of emptiness that prevails. A sense of purpose missing, a sense of belonging hollow. What is it, I ask myself, I think. Everything is so good and yet I feel this way. Strange are the ways. No matter how good we are, how settled so to say, we can never be content. For this soul was made for the heavens and that is where it will find its content, its satisfaction. That is where it originated from and that be its final destination.
The Woman behind the Great Man
There have been great men who have inspired me or have had a great impact in making the person I am today. I am very open in giving credit to where its due and have written about the great contribution my grandpa has made to my life on multiple occasions.
What I have not written about is the woman behind this great man. This post that I am going to write about is my grandma, my mother's mother and the woman behind the success of my grandpa, his soulmate.
I woke at 3:30am this morning and couldn't put myself back to sleep. I was a bit confused as to why that is so. The body is dead tired after a 14 hour day at work the day before, it just didn't make sense.
As I lay on my bed figuring out the disturbance, what I realized was that there was something bothering me. Enough to keep me up. After wasting about 15 minutes, I realized it was my grandma's illness. She has reached a very old age now and is passing through the toughest part of our lives, the fag end of it. Without going into details, she is in a lot of pain at the moment and I had tried to shut myself out from the thought but obviously it was bothering me enough subconsiously. Pray for her.
As soon as I realized the reason, I got thinking on my good times spent with her. Her thankless job of taking care of everybody. When I say everybody, it wasn't just her kids and grandkids. My grandma is from the generation who was taught the true basics of social behavior.
The human is a giver first before being a taker. Taking that simple life lesson and applying it in practice is the simple message that my grandma had to show us. When you see how it's done in front of you, you realize its possible and thats how it should be done. Obviously, in this age of competition, we forget the ethics at times in the effort of getting everything that we want. We think we deserve everything even if it means taking it away from somebody who may need it more, realistically speaking.
Raising 6 children, living through tough times most of her life, yet taking care of her children, her brother's children, the neighbour's children, her siblings, her generation above, her generation below. It would be difficult to count the people who can't get away without giving credit to her contribution to their life. She has made potential nobodies into great somebodies. I know people who would have ended up in orphanages if it weren't for her extended motherhood role.
My grandpa was a straightforward man. He would call a spade a spade and let the world know about it. Unfortunately, such people are not amongst the favourite list of most people and he had many of his career setbacks because of this overly honest attitude. He didn't ever call them setbacks but that is a different topic. The point I want to make is that the tough life that followed due to the decisions my grandpa made in life were just as tough for my grandma as well.
Bringing children through that and making them realize the goodness and life lessons from that is what my grandma did. She always taught them the lesson of keeping together as a family and building tolerance for each other's differences in opinions. This was more important than anything else that happens around you. At times, she didn't have as much as power or control as she would have liked to keep the children together but I know it was her will behind my grandpa's similar mission of driving togetherness. Being the head of the family he was able to influence some authority over the kids but unfortunately after his death the kids took over.
While I may become the bad guy in the family for saying this but some of her old age miseries may be related to how her kids dispersed into their own lives not being able to keep the family together. Something that she and my grandpa may have agreed to never let happen in their marriage vows without explicitly saying it. Distances between siblings has led to larger distances between their children, my cousins, and it would naturally continue to extend as further generations come through. It is kinda unfortunate that she had to see this in her life after working so hard to keep the family together by teaching all the basics right to everybody. Pretty sad that she had to see what she tried to build all through her life, simply fall apart or rather breakdown, in the end.
Sometimes we dont realize the role the woman has to play in society. A mother can make or break a whole society. We do pick up a lot of traits from our mothers and their teachings go into what we would teach our children and it would continue for generations to come.
As I see her suffer through the toughest of old age ailments, I wish for her speedy recovery and may Allah make her stronger in will, not that she is any shortness of it, and may He make it easier for her to return back to her normal self.
Salute and bow to a great woman.
What I have not written about is the woman behind this great man. This post that I am going to write about is my grandma, my mother's mother and the woman behind the success of my grandpa, his soulmate.
I woke at 3:30am this morning and couldn't put myself back to sleep. I was a bit confused as to why that is so. The body is dead tired after a 14 hour day at work the day before, it just didn't make sense.
As I lay on my bed figuring out the disturbance, what I realized was that there was something bothering me. Enough to keep me up. After wasting about 15 minutes, I realized it was my grandma's illness. She has reached a very old age now and is passing through the toughest part of our lives, the fag end of it. Without going into details, she is in a lot of pain at the moment and I had tried to shut myself out from the thought but obviously it was bothering me enough subconsiously. Pray for her.
As soon as I realized the reason, I got thinking on my good times spent with her. Her thankless job of taking care of everybody. When I say everybody, it wasn't just her kids and grandkids. My grandma is from the generation who was taught the true basics of social behavior.
The human is a giver first before being a taker. Taking that simple life lesson and applying it in practice is the simple message that my grandma had to show us. When you see how it's done in front of you, you realize its possible and thats how it should be done. Obviously, in this age of competition, we forget the ethics at times in the effort of getting everything that we want. We think we deserve everything even if it means taking it away from somebody who may need it more, realistically speaking.
Raising 6 children, living through tough times most of her life, yet taking care of her children, her brother's children, the neighbour's children, her siblings, her generation above, her generation below. It would be difficult to count the people who can't get away without giving credit to her contribution to their life. She has made potential nobodies into great somebodies. I know people who would have ended up in orphanages if it weren't for her extended motherhood role.
My grandpa was a straightforward man. He would call a spade a spade and let the world know about it. Unfortunately, such people are not amongst the favourite list of most people and he had many of his career setbacks because of this overly honest attitude. He didn't ever call them setbacks but that is a different topic. The point I want to make is that the tough life that followed due to the decisions my grandpa made in life were just as tough for my grandma as well.
Bringing children through that and making them realize the goodness and life lessons from that is what my grandma did. She always taught them the lesson of keeping together as a family and building tolerance for each other's differences in opinions. This was more important than anything else that happens around you. At times, she didn't have as much as power or control as she would have liked to keep the children together but I know it was her will behind my grandpa's similar mission of driving togetherness. Being the head of the family he was able to influence some authority over the kids but unfortunately after his death the kids took over.
While I may become the bad guy in the family for saying this but some of her old age miseries may be related to how her kids dispersed into their own lives not being able to keep the family together. Something that she and my grandpa may have agreed to never let happen in their marriage vows without explicitly saying it. Distances between siblings has led to larger distances between their children, my cousins, and it would naturally continue to extend as further generations come through. It is kinda unfortunate that she had to see this in her life after working so hard to keep the family together by teaching all the basics right to everybody. Pretty sad that she had to see what she tried to build all through her life, simply fall apart or rather breakdown, in the end.
Sometimes we dont realize the role the woman has to play in society. A mother can make or break a whole society. We do pick up a lot of traits from our mothers and their teachings go into what we would teach our children and it would continue for generations to come.
As I see her suffer through the toughest of old age ailments, I wish for her speedy recovery and may Allah make her stronger in will, not that she is any shortness of it, and may He make it easier for her to return back to her normal self.
Salute and bow to a great woman.
Mind Conditioning & Control
I saw this image in a recent article I read on WIRED. The article itself is worth reading but this picture is in itself replacing the thousand words that I wanted to write on this topic of mind conditioning and control.
Its more than recent that I was inclined to look beyond the obvious and realize how easy it is to control minds and condition them to think in a particular way. How we all have been victim to a very huge conspiracy of making us think the way we do today. For the not so cynical, even if there is no conspiracy, how unintentionally with the things we watch and read, we have now trained our mind to react in a particular way to events.
We also know that the brain has the virtually existent "mind" which better explained is a hardware-software kind of relationship. Brain is the hardware and mind is the software. The interesting part is that it is an intelligent software which learns and applies and then learns a bit more from the application. Repeat cycles of cause and effect since the time we are little, develop what is later better known as "instinct".
Lets take a little step backward and observe as I take you through a life-cycle. When you are born, your mind has only vague ideas of sounds as the human baby is able to learn on the sounds listened to after 6 months of conception. With eyes wide open, after being born, the child starts linking voices to images. The mother, the father, the music, and relies on soothing stuff. Anything abrupt is taken as a learning element of the mind, something not immediately liked.
As we grow older, we learn the basic rules of cause and effect, how good things done are treated with a golden star or a pat on the back and how bad things lead into punishment or standing in the corner type punishments. As we grow further, we get into school and yes TV, the avoidable-if-possible-but-impossible threat becomes more accessible to us as we grow up. If this is not closely monitored, the mind can easily develop in the not so ideal way as we would like to have it developed.
Depending on the environment, the culture, the country you are in, the mind gets trained under those circumstances. Hence a child growing up in a poor family gets to experience a different set of things compared to a child growing up in a rich family. A child growing up in the west will have a different type of experience than a child growing up in the east. Same thing would apply for a child growing in a developed country compared to a 3rd-world developing country. We are talking about the same brain and mind but the factors under which it learns is what defines how it will apply logic to various situations upcoming in life.
In fact people talk about character traits. I think these are linked to the mind as well and will depend on how the mind was trained. Talk about the people in the army, they get trained in situations repeatedly so that they could "instinctively" react. Talk about air force pilots, talk about doctors. You keep practicing, you keep experiencing life and your mind improves and conditions itself from all of what goes on around it or what it was put through, continuously learning and absorbing whether good or bad.
So the main thought is, what if somebody could control how a mind is conditioned. What if somebody could govern what kids read and learn in school? The educational curriculum. What if somebody could control what you see on TV, what you read in the news? What if somebody could control both, the "causes" and the "effects" and not either as we are led to believe? What if somebody could control what leads you to believe what is right or wrong? What if somebody could control what is right or wrong? What if wrong was supposed to be right and right was supposed to be wrong and we have been taught the basics incorrectly?
Think about it. Think about how many times your opinion was driven by something you saw or read and not by the pure creative thought of your mind. In fact, what is "pure" anyway? The "pure" that we think may have already been infiltrated with the "muddy", based on all the things we have been through.
This post was inspired by some self-realization on the above. The first thing is to accept the above does happen, it is not avoidable. Once you have crossed that then you would not let your first reaction to something, also called "instinct", drive your decision making. Always give it another thought, read another opinion, start neutral and build on to something. This will lead you to be more successful and more independent and do justification to your "individuality" in this world.
Not everybody is made to be a leader but everybody doesn't need to be a "blind" follower either. Have a pure self-created opinion and make your contribution to this world. If you lead, you need to have this. If you follow, make a self-aware and researched decision before going with somebody's opinion.
There are and will always be tough times ahead, that is the nature of this world. Be prepared for it.
The Required "Constant" of Life's Equation
If you speak to a mathematician or a physicist he would tell you that all research starts with a theory and they start building equations around it. The equation starts with a whole lot of variables for which they start putting in hypothetical approximate values to get results. They would keep doing these experiments with different values in those variables with each next result leading them closer to the desired result.
Of course it could also just fall over if they run out of patience or a series of results starts indicating they are on the wrong path and have to correct themselves. A breakthrough or Eureka as some people know it occurs when they are able to find a "Constant" in that equation. Take a complex equation with a lot of variables and after experiments and hit-and-trial if they find that one of the variables can be made into a constant, that's a major breakthrough.
Why you ask? Well the discovery of a constant means there is one less variable in that equation. That could exponentially reduce the number of times they would have to go further before they would eventually find the "answer". The "constant" reduces one level of complexity in the research, which gives a way for hope, a light at end of the tunnel. A reason to believe that there is an answer and all this effort is not in vain. It exists. It is just a matter of reaching there.
The constant gives a variable equation it's element of stability, the touch base with reality, the foot on the ground, the reason to go further, the element of belief. Hope.
Life is also full of variables. It is a series of linked events. Multiple crossroads of intertwined paths of fate. Every cause has an effect and every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Fate is nothing but a whole set of complex equations with lots of variables in it. Everybody in this world has multiple equations defining their fate. As the variables get filled in that equation based on their choices and actions, the effects or results lead into more equations, fill up the variables and life goes forward.
While the equations might have a lot of variables for which we have control on and it's we who define their final value, there are a lot of variables not in our control. Considering it is a cobweb of equations, some variables in your fate's equation will be finalized by someone else's choice or action in this world. Yet another set of variables is defined by The Unknown.
The "Unknown" is what some people call God, others who call it Nature. Some call it Karma. There could be heaps of names for it but to keep it simple it is The Unknown. The X-Factor. The variable that no one has control on. The variable that actually controls the whole set of these complex equations. This X-Factor is so powerful that it can override all variables that were actioned by you or someone else and amend the result to what it was supposed to be. It's like the result was set and the X-Factor will adjust itself after the equation has been fixed by the variables set by the choices made by you or others. The X-Factor is going to ensure that the result comes out what it's supposed to be regardless of the choices you or the dependent people make to set the equation variables.
If you are a believer in Fate then you would understand that the right side of the equation is pretty much decided. Your actions will be balanced by the X-Factor to obtain the set result as it's required. If you are not a believer in fate, and rather, you make your own luck, then know this that it is not all gloomy and you are not a puppet.
It may seem all gloomy at the moment but let me share with you a secret to controlling this X-Factor. Yes, there is a way. The X-Factor can be controlled or rather tilted in your favor to get the results that you desire. This means there is a force that you could influence so that the X-Factor starts working in your favor. It would balance itself with your variables so that the results are always favorable for you. Either they would be favorable immediately or they would indicate their favorableness to you in a later set of complex equations as the result might be making another variable in the future as a positive constant in another equation. This could lead to future equations tilting in your favor and all the way till the end of your life.
I hope you have realized the power of controlling or influencing this X-Factor. It's the solution for all your problems. So, how?
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind. The answer is in the sun and stars that work with such precision like clockwork. The answer is in the human body which works like a machine. the answer is in Your Faith. You can link it to your religion or not but it is in your Faith. What you believe in. If you can find one thing in your life that you have Blind Faith on. If you can find something that need not be explained or proven but you believe it is true with no questions asked, that is your answer.
Strengthen your Faith and you control your X-Factor. Strengthen your Faith and you have the key constant of your life's equation.
Of course it could also just fall over if they run out of patience or a series of results starts indicating they are on the wrong path and have to correct themselves. A breakthrough or Eureka as some people know it occurs when they are able to find a "Constant" in that equation. Take a complex equation with a lot of variables and after experiments and hit-and-trial if they find that one of the variables can be made into a constant, that's a major breakthrough.
Why you ask? Well the discovery of a constant means there is one less variable in that equation. That could exponentially reduce the number of times they would have to go further before they would eventually find the "answer". The "constant" reduces one level of complexity in the research, which gives a way for hope, a light at end of the tunnel. A reason to believe that there is an answer and all this effort is not in vain. It exists. It is just a matter of reaching there.
The constant gives a variable equation it's element of stability, the touch base with reality, the foot on the ground, the reason to go further, the element of belief. Hope.
Life is also full of variables. It is a series of linked events. Multiple crossroads of intertwined paths of fate. Every cause has an effect and every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Fate is nothing but a whole set of complex equations with lots of variables in it. Everybody in this world has multiple equations defining their fate. As the variables get filled in that equation based on their choices and actions, the effects or results lead into more equations, fill up the variables and life goes forward.
While the equations might have a lot of variables for which we have control on and it's we who define their final value, there are a lot of variables not in our control. Considering it is a cobweb of equations, some variables in your fate's equation will be finalized by someone else's choice or action in this world. Yet another set of variables is defined by The Unknown.
The "Unknown" is what some people call God, others who call it Nature. Some call it Karma. There could be heaps of names for it but to keep it simple it is The Unknown. The X-Factor. The variable that no one has control on. The variable that actually controls the whole set of these complex equations. This X-Factor is so powerful that it can override all variables that were actioned by you or someone else and amend the result to what it was supposed to be. It's like the result was set and the X-Factor will adjust itself after the equation has been fixed by the variables set by the choices made by you or others. The X-Factor is going to ensure that the result comes out what it's supposed to be regardless of the choices you or the dependent people make to set the equation variables.
If you are a believer in Fate then you would understand that the right side of the equation is pretty much decided. Your actions will be balanced by the X-Factor to obtain the set result as it's required. If you are not a believer in fate, and rather, you make your own luck, then know this that it is not all gloomy and you are not a puppet.
It may seem all gloomy at the moment but let me share with you a secret to controlling this X-Factor. Yes, there is a way. The X-Factor can be controlled or rather tilted in your favor to get the results that you desire. This means there is a force that you could influence so that the X-Factor starts working in your favor. It would balance itself with your variables so that the results are always favorable for you. Either they would be favorable immediately or they would indicate their favorableness to you in a later set of complex equations as the result might be making another variable in the future as a positive constant in another equation. This could lead to future equations tilting in your favor and all the way till the end of your life.
I hope you have realized the power of controlling or influencing this X-Factor. It's the solution for all your problems. So, how?
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind. The answer is in the sun and stars that work with such precision like clockwork. The answer is in the human body which works like a machine. the answer is in Your Faith. You can link it to your religion or not but it is in your Faith. What you believe in. If you can find one thing in your life that you have Blind Faith on. If you can find something that need not be explained or proven but you believe it is true with no questions asked, that is your answer.
Strengthen your Faith and you control your X-Factor. Strengthen your Faith and you have the key constant of your life's equation.
The Boiling Frog
Consider the story of the boiling frog. It may or may not be true, but the point it makes certainly is. Toss a frog into a pot of boiling water and it instinctively jumps out, self-protectively. Next, place the frog into a pot of cool water. Not surprisingly, it swims around, happily. Now heat the water up very gradually and what does the frog do? It acclimates to untenable circumstances — and slowly cooks. The frog doesn't notice what's happening to him, until it's too late.
I read the above from here and loved the metaphor.
The article was an eye-opener on how we make our lives stressful gradually without realizing what we are doing to ourselves. Without taking any of the credits away from the article, take control of the stove and decide on how much you want the water to boil and keep it cool. If you don't like the pot, jump into another pot but live life at the temperature that you want to live. Otherwise, you will end up being cooked before you die and in that process you would have not completed the task or fulfilled the reason that you were sent in this world for.
The stove knob should be in your hands and not in someone else's. This is your life after all. Take control.
I read the above from here and loved the metaphor.
The article was an eye-opener on how we make our lives stressful gradually without realizing what we are doing to ourselves. Without taking any of the credits away from the article, take control of the stove and decide on how much you want the water to boil and keep it cool. If you don't like the pot, jump into another pot but live life at the temperature that you want to live. Otherwise, you will end up being cooked before you die and in that process you would have not completed the task or fulfilled the reason that you were sent in this world for.
The stove knob should be in your hands and not in someone else's. This is your life after all. Take control.
Build vs Buy
In the world of real estate investments there is a decision making point that many investors go through. Should I build or should I buy. There is that other topic also of leasing vs buying but I will be focusing on the former one in this write-up.
So what is the thought process behind this. Building would require finding some land, which has potential value. 3 points... Location, Location, Location. The eye for seeing the future. In this piece of land, that I would buy, what would be around it. Infrastructure development. Tourism. Amenities availability. How far away or how much in the city? You find the spot and then you build on it. Put the values in the equation, re-value your money invested today and the cost of money going into the future when the "build" would complete. Keep this number with you.
Now move to the buy option. This is where you have a pre-built thing which you choose. How is it priced? Is it worth what they are asking for? How much renovation or modification would I need to do? Are there are any loans on it? Is the building used as leverage for some loan? Try to value all of that and match this number with the earlier "build" number.
Decision time. Now choose.
While it may be seem quick straight-forward, I can assure you its not. This particular equation is what many people today make their big buck or simply earn their livelihood around.
But my debate today is what if the values are exactly the same. Build vs buy is equal. What to do now?
This is where I present to you my quote of the day.
Example - Relationships.
After boring you with the theory above, I would like to apply the concept to life or to be more precise, relationships. No matter how much you spend on a relationship, you can't make it work. You can't buy love, you can't buy sincerity, dependence, care. Somethings just can't be bought.
One important element that I didn't mention in the theory above was how building is so much more fulfilling than buying. You go through the process of putting the pieces together. Brick by Brick, see a plan come together. You learn about people. You learn about yourself. You cherish the whole experience much much more. Its definitely more fulfilling to build something than just going and picking it off the shelf.
So building a relationship is something like that as well. Take a husband-wife relationship as a really good example. Two individuals relatively unknown to each other come together to form a team. Learn about each other's strengths. Learn about each other's weaknesses. Where would they contribute to make each other stronger. It's this bond that keeps building as they keep supporting each other and building this bridge between 2 families. Then come the kids. Test of patience. Test of sharing the love. That's when they realize, the more they share, the more it multiplies.
The bond keeps going stronger. They live their lives together for each other and then become inseparable. Nothing can change this until death do them apart. How is that possible? How can a bond be so strong that only when they can't breathe do they become separate from each other? These things can only be built.
Try that by buying a relationship. You know what I mean. Marrying for money over love. Doesn't last long, at least there wouldn't be any happily ever after phrases in that relationship. Its fun for a while, but then its either no relationship or just a compromise.
No matter what the build vs buy equation tilts towards, some things are better built than being bought. Make a note. Apply. Prosper.
So what is the thought process behind this. Building would require finding some land, which has potential value. 3 points... Location, Location, Location. The eye for seeing the future. In this piece of land, that I would buy, what would be around it. Infrastructure development. Tourism. Amenities availability. How far away or how much in the city? You find the spot and then you build on it. Put the values in the equation, re-value your money invested today and the cost of money going into the future when the "build" would complete. Keep this number with you.
Now move to the buy option. This is where you have a pre-built thing which you choose. How is it priced? Is it worth what they are asking for? How much renovation or modification would I need to do? Are there are any loans on it? Is the building used as leverage for some loan? Try to value all of that and match this number with the earlier "build" number.
Decision time. Now choose.
While it may be seem quick straight-forward, I can assure you its not. This particular equation is what many people today make their big buck or simply earn their livelihood around.
But my debate today is what if the values are exactly the same. Build vs buy is equal. What to do now?
This is where I present to you my quote of the day.
"Some things are better built than bought"
Example - Relationships.
After boring you with the theory above, I would like to apply the concept to life or to be more precise, relationships. No matter how much you spend on a relationship, you can't make it work. You can't buy love, you can't buy sincerity, dependence, care. Somethings just can't be bought.
One important element that I didn't mention in the theory above was how building is so much more fulfilling than buying. You go through the process of putting the pieces together. Brick by Brick, see a plan come together. You learn about people. You learn about yourself. You cherish the whole experience much much more. Its definitely more fulfilling to build something than just going and picking it off the shelf.
So building a relationship is something like that as well. Take a husband-wife relationship as a really good example. Two individuals relatively unknown to each other come together to form a team. Learn about each other's strengths. Learn about each other's weaknesses. Where would they contribute to make each other stronger. It's this bond that keeps building as they keep supporting each other and building this bridge between 2 families. Then come the kids. Test of patience. Test of sharing the love. That's when they realize, the more they share, the more it multiplies.
The bond keeps going stronger. They live their lives together for each other and then become inseparable. Nothing can change this until death do them apart. How is that possible? How can a bond be so strong that only when they can't breathe do they become separate from each other? These things can only be built.
Try that by buying a relationship. You know what I mean. Marrying for money over love. Doesn't last long, at least there wouldn't be any happily ever after phrases in that relationship. Its fun for a while, but then its either no relationship or just a compromise.
No matter what the build vs buy equation tilts towards, some things are better built than being bought. Make a note. Apply. Prosper.
Capitalism vs Volume Selling
OK the topic seems like an unrelated match-up. I somehow feel there is a link. Let's see if I can put my thoughts together. A few random thoughts have converged to how Volume Selling beat the concept of Capitalism through the recession.
First lets put both these in perspective. This is how I define and understand both.
Capitalism is the concept of a capital driven economy. People borrow money to spend on things they can't afford but they live a quality life and spend their whole life paying off their debt. The people who loan out this money and drive this concept are rich ones who earn from the debt and the interest. Governments can print money so people can take loans more easily bringing down interest rates but increasing inflation. The people who keep the cash make money from it by loaning it out more. All their electronic money converts to paper money and then goes back to being electronic money to loan out further.
Volume Selling is a business model where people earn money by having lower profit margins but selling a lot of it. For example, I have a product for which cost of making was $10 and I sell it for $40. So I make $30 for every sale I make. Somebody else sells the same product for $20. So he will have to sell 3 items for every 1 item I sell to match my profit. If this ratio remains, we are earning the same. The concept that he applied was, he needs to sell more to make more. That's Volume Selling, kind of. He would have a different marketing & sales strategy as compared to what I would have.
Now if he is somehow able to bring his cost of making down and come down to the same ratio. He could make the product for $5 and still sell for $20 and he reduces the ratio. Now he only needs to sell 2 items for every 1 item I sell.
That's the simple explanation of the two concepts. At least my simple explanation. They still look very irrelevant but let me try to put this in perspective now.
The recent recession has been the output of this crazy model of capitalism. People keep taking loans and loans from loans and leveraging further on intangible stuff. Everything in the air. Everything a big bubble. It had to burst. It did. Everybody heard it, everybody took the impact. But let's look further. Who came out the better on the other side?
Just observe the economies that have come out pretty strong from this recession. Let's take just the major 2 for an example. India & China. I wouldn't call them capitalist driven economies even though India might show a glimpse of that. Both countries are densely populated and they have put their workforce to action. At least the ones they could.
India relies on its booming IT industry initially driven by BPOs and Call Centres and now moving towards some entrepreneurial stuff as well. The business biggies are now tycoons heading into the world taking over companies with the cash they have at hand. Their agricultural products remain strong and they got a good cash base to look into the future. They got a lot of population working abroad in many different countries of the world actually running economies in some and a lot of that money now heading back to India in terms of investment, new ventures etc. So lets look at the irony here. Other countries are printing money which gets invested back home when people send money back and invest.
How are they so successful abroad? The answer is simple. Skilled talent for much less the cost as compared to the local labour. You can get 3 Indians on the same salary of 1 person if picked from the local market. I am talking western markets here.
So basically, I categorize this as Volume Selling as well. The Indian sells for much cheaper than a European for example. Companies are willing to get 3 Indians instead of 1 European and they end up paying the same. Compare that with the example above and it fits perfectly into the Volume Selling model.
China is the world famous place for cheap labour. They did the same as well. Now the world's goods are being made in China for much less the cost. Big companies realized that while they are trying to sell more then can still improve profits by reducing the cost of the making. Move the making to China. Take any line of business. Ideas may be generated in the developed markets but mass production comes down to China.
The advantage is that after years of just making something, some creativity comes in as well. Soon we'll see creativity and research oriented development generating from these economies. They are on the right track.
So while Capitalism promised the "good life" it all seems much short-term based right now with all that has happened. The countries who came out well drove their economies by selling more for less. People living in the capitalist model didn't care whether a car was worth $100,000 or $120,000 its all going on a loan anyway so my monthly payment doesn't get effected that much. On the other hand, the volume selling market was careful on each penny saved being a penny earned.
It seems like 2 random concepts but I think they are somehow linked. The link factor is how the booming economies came through the recession pretty good. There is much more to it I am sure. But this has some sort of link as well. Sometimes I wish, I had studied economics. I could understand and express much better on such topics. Anyway the thought has initiated, it will develop into something solid. It will make a lot more sense.
First lets put both these in perspective. This is how I define and understand both.
Capitalism is the concept of a capital driven economy. People borrow money to spend on things they can't afford but they live a quality life and spend their whole life paying off their debt. The people who loan out this money and drive this concept are rich ones who earn from the debt and the interest. Governments can print money so people can take loans more easily bringing down interest rates but increasing inflation. The people who keep the cash make money from it by loaning it out more. All their electronic money converts to paper money and then goes back to being electronic money to loan out further.
Volume Selling is a business model where people earn money by having lower profit margins but selling a lot of it. For example, I have a product for which cost of making was $10 and I sell it for $40. So I make $30 for every sale I make. Somebody else sells the same product for $20. So he will have to sell 3 items for every 1 item I sell to match my profit. If this ratio remains, we are earning the same. The concept that he applied was, he needs to sell more to make more. That's Volume Selling, kind of. He would have a different marketing & sales strategy as compared to what I would have.
Now if he is somehow able to bring his cost of making down and come down to the same ratio. He could make the product for $5 and still sell for $20 and he reduces the ratio. Now he only needs to sell 2 items for every 1 item I sell.
That's the simple explanation of the two concepts. At least my simple explanation. They still look very irrelevant but let me try to put this in perspective now.
The recent recession has been the output of this crazy model of capitalism. People keep taking loans and loans from loans and leveraging further on intangible stuff. Everything in the air. Everything a big bubble. It had to burst. It did. Everybody heard it, everybody took the impact. But let's look further. Who came out the better on the other side?
Just observe the economies that have come out pretty strong from this recession. Let's take just the major 2 for an example. India & China. I wouldn't call them capitalist driven economies even though India might show a glimpse of that. Both countries are densely populated and they have put their workforce to action. At least the ones they could.
India relies on its booming IT industry initially driven by BPOs and Call Centres and now moving towards some entrepreneurial stuff as well. The business biggies are now tycoons heading into the world taking over companies with the cash they have at hand. Their agricultural products remain strong and they got a good cash base to look into the future. They got a lot of population working abroad in many different countries of the world actually running economies in some and a lot of that money now heading back to India in terms of investment, new ventures etc. So lets look at the irony here. Other countries are printing money which gets invested back home when people send money back and invest.
How are they so successful abroad? The answer is simple. Skilled talent for much less the cost as compared to the local labour. You can get 3 Indians on the same salary of 1 person if picked from the local market. I am talking western markets here.
So basically, I categorize this as Volume Selling as well. The Indian sells for much cheaper than a European for example. Companies are willing to get 3 Indians instead of 1 European and they end up paying the same. Compare that with the example above and it fits perfectly into the Volume Selling model.
China is the world famous place for cheap labour. They did the same as well. Now the world's goods are being made in China for much less the cost. Big companies realized that while they are trying to sell more then can still improve profits by reducing the cost of the making. Move the making to China. Take any line of business. Ideas may be generated in the developed markets but mass production comes down to China.
The advantage is that after years of just making something, some creativity comes in as well. Soon we'll see creativity and research oriented development generating from these economies. They are on the right track.
So while Capitalism promised the "good life" it all seems much short-term based right now with all that has happened. The countries who came out well drove their economies by selling more for less. People living in the capitalist model didn't care whether a car was worth $100,000 or $120,000 its all going on a loan anyway so my monthly payment doesn't get effected that much. On the other hand, the volume selling market was careful on each penny saved being a penny earned.
It seems like 2 random concepts but I think they are somehow linked. The link factor is how the booming economies came through the recession pretty good. There is much more to it I am sure. But this has some sort of link as well. Sometimes I wish, I had studied economics. I could understand and express much better on such topics. Anyway the thought has initiated, it will develop into something solid. It will make a lot more sense.
Conspiracy Guaranteed
I have been always been interested in conspiracy theories. From the young age of watching such movies which brings the thrill and rush of blood and twists and turns has always enthralled me to the shocking realities of life today.
I never would've thought that it could come out of that TV box and into reality. Conspiracy theories are all around us and evidently making our lives thrilling. We have been brainwashed to believe what we see on TV and when looking at the big picture that the media is controlled by people who show us what they want to show us and we believe it, we should be labelled as quite stupid.
With the advent of media and its growth to Internet and social networking, the whole thing has just got out of hand. Watch the headlines on any news channel, pick up a newspaper, see a twitter feed, follow facebook for a while, all I see is something going wrong in Muslim countries in the fray. Why is it that out of the 192 countries in the world (number from members of United Nations) only majority Muslim countries make the news and that too for all the wrong reasons. Isn't there problems in countries like US/ UK/ European Countries/Far East? I can assure you there are bigger problems but the image of Muslim countries is what these people are after.
The only thing important enough is to keep mentioning it. Reminding ourselves about it. This is to ensure we don't get carried away with what we see and hear. If one keeps the big picture in mind, it is very easy to stay focused on the goal and task ahead.
This is a continued test of our faith. The conspirators will keep throwing things at us, hoping we will fail. Fall down, lose hope. I actually heard a very close family member who asked, why should I get close to Allah? People who are not close are more successful. I was surprised and yet not so surprised.
The meaning of success itself has been changed. The perception is different. Success is money, fame, happiness in life, contentment in life, things that I have, things that I want and I get... with my hard work, my efforts, my skill, my talent, my achievements due to my good work and my relationships and my contacts....
It all sounds...so right doesn't it?
Did you notice that the perception of success contains a lot of "I" who did it all by "himself" and limited to "This Life". This is exactly what they want us to think and they have been successful in their mission. Take God out of our lives and make us falsely believe that it is us who control our lives and success or failure is all due to our efforts and not God's will.
Observe a day an average person lives. How many times in the day does God or religion come in? Prayers are actually a diversion from the "life" that I am living. When the optimum way of living preached to us was life around prayers and remembrance of Allah and not the other way around. Where did that go? Oh right, that is not how successful people are made.
Riba (interest & interest on interest) has been categorized as the termite that keeps eating into you. It is the most hated element in the eyes of God, right up there with adultery, fornication, consuming alcohol, gambling. Every thing condemned by religion is the most popular thing to do these days.
Interest is now so common that its not even a point of discussion. It is understood to get money out of your money in the bank. It is understood that since you need the car, you ll go and get a car loan and pay interest. It is understood that with the continuously inflating value of property the only way possible to own a house is by taking a loan and pay interest. In this day and age of competition the best universities are so expensive that the only way to get into them and afford them is to take a student loan and pay on interest. It is just the "right" way and rather the only way possible to get all these worldly things.
Think out of the box. It is mentioned by Allah in the Quran that whoever asked for success in life, he was granted that. Whoever asked for success in life and the hereafter, he was granted that. So its all about asking for the right things isnt it? What are we asking in our prayers?
Increased wealth? Peace in the world? Fulfilling of responsibilites of family? Good fate of my daughter, my sister? Happiness in marriage? Job success? General Success in life?
While the above are OK to ask for also, where are the prayers for a Successful here-after? Even our prayers have now become focused with things that end with death. We have made the trade of the after-life which is going to last forever with these few 70 to 80 to 100 years.
When we pray, do we truly believe that it is going to happen since we are asking God? Do we have the blind faith that I will get what I want only if I ask The Right Source?
Everything happening around us is set with a master plan that the conspirators have made up. Their plan has been in motion since the day man was put into this world. They have gone stronger with time as indicated to us as well that it will happen. It is all happening as per the script already written and told to us. What the conspirators don't know that the plan doesn't get fulfilled at the end that they have planned. There is another Master Plan, a superset of their plan. This one by The Greatest Planner of all, Himself. There is going to be more and much more after that. But do we believe in that? Ask yourself, do you really believe there is life after death? Has your faith weakened? Is it just something that you read and you don't really believe in it?
The stage is being set my friends. As mentioned in the Holy Quran and told by Our Beloved Prophet (S.A.W). The signs of the end of times are showing. We are losing our grip on the world. Its time to repent and come back to the basics. Go back to the matrix. Get close to your faith. For the times are near when our Prophet (S.A.W) said, it would be the greatest test of our faiths and extremism will not prevail. A person who is one step behind will be better. It is better to be one step behind but don't let the passion die. The fire within has to be keep burning.
Then wait for the Azaan (call) and when it comes, say Labbaik and join the force. The force which will be a comeback, an "in-your-face" to all the conspiracies of the world. The force that will be an answer to all the questions that the conspirators pose on us today. Questions around corruption, terrorism. The answer will be given but not now. Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But only when the time comes. Just ensure you are ready and on the right side of the battlefield. Jihad (Holy War) is our destiny as that is also a form of prayer with death in the way of religion with the truest faith and no worldly reasons, is the key to heaven.
I never would've thought that it could come out of that TV box and into reality. Conspiracy theories are all around us and evidently making our lives thrilling. We have been brainwashed to believe what we see on TV and when looking at the big picture that the media is controlled by people who show us what they want to show us and we believe it, we should be labelled as quite stupid.
With the advent of media and its growth to Internet and social networking, the whole thing has just got out of hand. Watch the headlines on any news channel, pick up a newspaper, see a twitter feed, follow facebook for a while, all I see is something going wrong in Muslim countries in the fray. Why is it that out of the 192 countries in the world (number from members of United Nations) only majority Muslim countries make the news and that too for all the wrong reasons. Isn't there problems in countries like US/ UK/ European Countries/Far East? I can assure you there are bigger problems but the image of Muslim countries is what these people are after.
There is a conspiracy around it. There is an hidden agenda. We all know about it. We don't want to talk about it. Its understandable.
The only thing important enough is to keep mentioning it. Reminding ourselves about it. This is to ensure we don't get carried away with what we see and hear. If one keeps the big picture in mind, it is very easy to stay focused on the goal and task ahead.
This is a continued test of our faith. The conspirators will keep throwing things at us, hoping we will fail. Fall down, lose hope. I actually heard a very close family member who asked, why should I get close to Allah? People who are not close are more successful. I was surprised and yet not so surprised.
The meaning of success itself has been changed. The perception is different. Success is money, fame, happiness in life, contentment in life, things that I have, things that I want and I get... with my hard work, my efforts, my skill, my talent, my achievements due to my good work and my relationships and my contacts....
It all sounds...so right doesn't it?
Did you notice that the perception of success contains a lot of "I" who did it all by "himself" and limited to "This Life". This is exactly what they want us to think and they have been successful in their mission. Take God out of our lives and make us falsely believe that it is us who control our lives and success or failure is all due to our efforts and not God's will.
Observe a day an average person lives. How many times in the day does God or religion come in? Prayers are actually a diversion from the "life" that I am living. When the optimum way of living preached to us was life around prayers and remembrance of Allah and not the other way around. Where did that go? Oh right, that is not how successful people are made.
Riba (interest & interest on interest) has been categorized as the termite that keeps eating into you. It is the most hated element in the eyes of God, right up there with adultery, fornication, consuming alcohol, gambling. Every thing condemned by religion is the most popular thing to do these days.
Interest is now so common that its not even a point of discussion. It is understood to get money out of your money in the bank. It is understood that since you need the car, you ll go and get a car loan and pay interest. It is understood that with the continuously inflating value of property the only way possible to own a house is by taking a loan and pay interest. In this day and age of competition the best universities are so expensive that the only way to get into them and afford them is to take a student loan and pay on interest. It is just the "right" way and rather the only way possible to get all these worldly things.
Think out of the box. It is mentioned by Allah in the Quran that whoever asked for success in life, he was granted that. Whoever asked for success in life and the hereafter, he was granted that. So its all about asking for the right things isnt it? What are we asking in our prayers?
Increased wealth? Peace in the world? Fulfilling of responsibilites of family? Good fate of my daughter, my sister? Happiness in marriage? Job success? General Success in life?
While the above are OK to ask for also, where are the prayers for a Successful here-after? Even our prayers have now become focused with things that end with death. We have made the trade of the after-life which is going to last forever with these few 70 to 80 to 100 years.
When we pray, do we truly believe that it is going to happen since we are asking God? Do we have the blind faith that I will get what I want only if I ask The Right Source?
Its a conspiracy... every thing is a conspiracy... I am surprised at how everything has to be a conspiracy for us to come out of our routine life and take notice...
Everything happening around us is set with a master plan that the conspirators have made up. Their plan has been in motion since the day man was put into this world. They have gone stronger with time as indicated to us as well that it will happen. It is all happening as per the script already written and told to us. What the conspirators don't know that the plan doesn't get fulfilled at the end that they have planned. There is another Master Plan, a superset of their plan. This one by The Greatest Planner of all, Himself. There is going to be more and much more after that. But do we believe in that? Ask yourself, do you really believe there is life after death? Has your faith weakened? Is it just something that you read and you don't really believe in it?
Would you be doing the things that you do, would you be living your life the way you are doing now, if you truly truly believed in the fact that this life is the exam and the results are in the hereafter?
The stage is being set my friends. As mentioned in the Holy Quran and told by Our Beloved Prophet (S.A.W). The signs of the end of times are showing. We are losing our grip on the world. Its time to repent and come back to the basics. Go back to the matrix. Get close to your faith. For the times are near when our Prophet (S.A.W) said, it would be the greatest test of our faiths and extremism will not prevail. A person who is one step behind will be better. It is better to be one step behind but don't let the passion die. The fire within has to be keep burning.
Then wait for the Azaan (call) and when it comes, say Labbaik and join the force. The force which will be a comeback, an "in-your-face" to all the conspiracies of the world. The force that will be an answer to all the questions that the conspirators pose on us today. Questions around corruption, terrorism. The answer will be given but not now. Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But only when the time comes. Just ensure you are ready and on the right side of the battlefield. Jihad (Holy War) is our destiny as that is also a form of prayer with death in the way of religion with the truest faith and no worldly reasons, is the key to heaven.
The Reality of Me (The Human)
Actually, I decided to update this post a little more for more completeness. Just the poetry (that follows below) doesn't justify what led me to it. I was inspired by a good friend who brought to notice this first Ayat from Surah Al-Insaan.
Allah asks us...
The explanation of the above is basically towards the fact that we as humans can so easily flaunt ourselves with pride. With the small achievements in life, we feel, we are kings and in control of whatever we want to do. Pride (Ghuroor) is one of the most disastrous things that a human could develop. As that leads to other big sins and eventually away from Allah.
Allah reminds us by asking that question. There was a long time before Man when there was No Man. There were other creations like Jinn, Angels, maybe others we don't even know. However, in the infinite time that only Allah knows, man is not even worth mentionable.
So, then Man was built from sand, or clay to be more specific as mentioned in the Holy Quran, this Surah explains the reality of me (the human). Surah-e-Insaan further explains how what we are when we are born and we forget who we were as we grow up. Easily fooled that what we are doing is based on our own strengths and talent and not by Allah's will.
Lot of thought depth led from that single Ayat. I think that is the beauty of The Holy Quran. Every Ayat has so much too ponder over.
Got inspired and with inspiration comes out a little Shayari (poetry)...
Kabhi Kehta Hay Khaak ka Zarra hoon mein...
Kabhi Kehta Hay Dunya mein Ashraf-ul-Makhlooqaat...
Koi yeh mujhay bata dey "Kyon" aur "Kya" hoon mein...
Jo Uss nay chaha tha ... Woh tou na bana hoon mein...
Samajh kee baat yeh hay ~Umar... Mitti say bana hoon mein....
Aur Mitti hee mein ja mila hoon mein...
Translation
Some where He says I am a grain of sand [1]
Some where He says I am the highest of all His creations
Can somebody tell me "Why" and "What" I am
What He wanted... I have certainly not become...
The thing to understand ~Umar is... I have been made from Sand...
And I have gone and mixed with the Sand [2]
[1] - "Grain of Sand" - The smallest particle possible as in of minimal (close to zero) value in this world
[2] - "Mixed with Sand" is used in the context of getting Ruswa (disgraced, insulted, humiliated, defamed) in life
Allah asks us...
The explanation of the above is basically towards the fact that we as humans can so easily flaunt ourselves with pride. With the small achievements in life, we feel, we are kings and in control of whatever we want to do. Pride (Ghuroor) is one of the most disastrous things that a human could develop. As that leads to other big sins and eventually away from Allah.
Allah reminds us by asking that question. There was a long time before Man when there was No Man. There were other creations like Jinn, Angels, maybe others we don't even know. However, in the infinite time that only Allah knows, man is not even worth mentionable.
So, then Man was built from sand, or clay to be more specific as mentioned in the Holy Quran, this Surah explains the reality of me (the human). Surah-e-Insaan further explains how what we are when we are born and we forget who we were as we grow up. Easily fooled that what we are doing is based on our own strengths and talent and not by Allah's will.
Lot of thought depth led from that single Ayat. I think that is the beauty of The Holy Quran. Every Ayat has so much too ponder over.
Got inspired and with inspiration comes out a little Shayari (poetry)...
Kabhi Kehta Hay Khaak ka Zarra hoon mein...
Kabhi Kehta Hay Dunya mein Ashraf-ul-Makhlooqaat...
Koi yeh mujhay bata dey "Kyon" aur "Kya" hoon mein...
Jo Uss nay chaha tha ... Woh tou na bana hoon mein...
Samajh kee baat yeh hay ~Umar... Mitti say bana hoon mein....
Aur Mitti hee mein ja mila hoon mein...
Translation
Some where He says I am a grain of sand [1]
Some where He says I am the highest of all His creations
Can somebody tell me "Why" and "What" I am
What He wanted... I have certainly not become...
The thing to understand ~Umar is... I have been made from Sand...
And I have gone and mixed with the Sand [2]
[1] - "Grain of Sand" - The smallest particle possible as in of minimal (close to zero) value in this world
[2] - "Mixed with Sand" is used in the context of getting Ruswa (disgraced, insulted, humiliated, defamed) in life
Cynical Independence from the Cynical Expat
There are different types of inspiration I seek at different times. Sometimes it is religious, spiritual which I get from getting closer to God, Sufism. At other times, it is inspiration to do well at work. Strangely but true, that you need that as well to keep going. My family, my responsibilities and my plans for the future repeated to me and I get back on track. Then there is another form which is Patriotic inspiration.
With the devastating things happening in Pakistan in the recent past, I have been feeling distant from my roots. I wasn’t feeling the sense of ownership that I should feel. This is not a comfortable feeling for someone who has been brought up with feeling of “Shahadat” (martyrdom) deep in his veins. I have grown up watching the right things, listening to the right things, speaking to the right people to know that the ultimate death is martyrdom. Leave sacrificing my time, my material wealth, I wasn’t even feeling bad for seeing the floods in the country. I was simply feeling cut-off from the reality. I knew I needed to get back to my roots and do some thinking and planning. I can’t be called normal if I don’t stop this now as it would only get worse and eventually put me at a difficult distance to come back from.
With the planned annual leave available, I wanted to plan it in a way that I spent time in my homeland on the Independence Day celebrations. Find some inspiration to do something about the mess.
14th August 1947 was when Pakistan got independence. We became an independent state, in a position to plan out the future of the country in our own way. This year, 63 years down the line, we are not even close to our potential. I have been getting a series of strange confusing dreams and thoughts. Hopefully, they fit together and then they will be unveiled at the right time. But they were related to doing some good for the Muslim world, starting from my own country. Let’s see how these random thoughts come together and materialize if at all in the future.
There were many hurdles on achieving a simple trip, interestingly from different facets, family, work, personal interests. Just planning a trip to be there when the Pakistan Flag is the most selling item on the day had its hurdles.
Anyway, my will prevailed and we did land at Karachi on 13th August, all set for an enjoyable Independence Day the next day. The landing brought back the Goosebumps I always feel just by the thought that I am touching ground to my soil. My place. It is Home. I’ll be honest; I don’t have a permanent home in Pakistan. I lived in a rented place pretty much all my life when I was here and on my visits, I stay with relatives but nothing of my own. But, it is still home and you feel it every time you come back with the country welcoming you with open arms. I was happy to feel those Goosebumps; it confirmed to me that I still got love and attachment to my home soil. This was a great assurance for my perceived goals and the things I want to do.
However, as a true expatriate, I felt a sense of insecurity as soon as I stepped out of the Airport towards the car park. I watched my baggage with hawk eyes. I kept a special eye on the bag that had the valuables. I mean, it is just sad and strange to compare how I don’t do that at this stringent level in the different places I have visited recently around the world. In my home country, around my own people, I felt more insecure.
Insecurity is a psychological feeling. It is all in the head and completely dependent on the individual. The mind is tuned by the media and what we see in the news which becomes grapevine and spreads like wildfire. If me as a Pakistani, felt this way after coming back after long time, I don’t blame the people who have not been here at all to build a negative opinion about my country. The media does ensure to portray Pakistan as hell on earth.
Okay, so this is not an Ostrich approach. I am not in denial. There are genuine issues here, agreed. Political instability, economic concerns, poverty, education, security... but it is no different than many other places in the world. Many experts are saying that America is now the worst place to live in the world. Your savings are gone, you are down in debt, and the economy is on its way down. However that is not the image it has right now. Take India; while the economic boom is clearly evident from the media reports, there are other issues worse than Pakistan related to poverty, secular issues, religious issues etc. Take the Far East, Korea, Russia, and Europe, take any country. Every country has its own major challenges however if one spends some time on any major news channels for a day, the result at the end would be that that its all going wrong in Pakistan and every other place in the world is somehow “manageable”.
Let me tell you friends. The issues in Pakistan are no different than any other place and yes they are manageable as well. I have seen how people come together to help each other and every problem has a solution which is being put into action. The sad part is, it requires a natural calamity to bring us together. We still got our passions and energy within us. We need stimulus and that’s all. I’ll tell you when something can be labeled as “unmanageable”. When people don’t have the passion in them to stand up for something they believe in. I think, we as a nation are far off from that.
All people around the world know about the Pakistan Floods that initiated from North West and has trickled down the river Indus through Punjab and is currently in Sindh causing devastation to millions along the way. What the international media is not able to show is how independent social organizations, school children, college university students have come together to gather relief funds and have been able to take it to the regions for supporting the people there. There is some good stuff going on here and yet the world doesn’t see that. I ask, why? All the bad news, so called terrorism, devastation, plane crashes, economic situation become a highlight reel but the good stuff about the country is not shown. Anyway, there is no need to ponder over that, as we pretty much know already. The media is a huge propaganda and it’s on a different mission altogether. I won’t even go there. But I’ll tell you its no worries, we will prevail as we are meant to as a nation.
The cynic in me has been my worst enemy. I hate the cynic in me. I don’t trust anybody anymore. I ask why? It is just straight forward brainwash. I have never been robbed or put in a firing line or even had a near encounter with terror. Yet I feel fear and insecure. Am I the lucky one? I wouldn’t think so. I think the majority of the people here would say the same. However, the minority that has been through it and the media has shown it building a red, bold, circle around it to ensure fear is maintained would say, I wouldn’t know as I have not been through it. I am not trying to shy away from the truth but it is not as bad as it is pictured. If we could put a percentage to crime and the ratio of it with the population, I am sure that the number calculated would give us a place far away from the top in the list of countries. We are a peaceful nation and it’s a peaceful country. We are not the most peaceful/safest agreed because of a little confused minority but we are not the most terrorized country either as depicted. However, the media has brainwashed the world as well as us as Pakistanis to think that… and sigh… built the cynic in me.
I land in Karachi and my cheap phone comes out, my PDA stays in my bag until I am on the flight back to UAE in fear of getting robbed. I watch over my luggage, my family with eagle eyes. I am in constant lookout for any strange people around us. Is anybody following us? I don’t leave valuables in the car. I don’t trust people. I hate myself when I observe the cynic that has become a monster inside me.
On the morning of Independence Day, the cable TV went off. This is the time when I was trying to switch it on, looking for Patriotic inspiration dialogue, songs, and speeches. All stuff that could revive my sleeping patriotism. Seeing the cable just be switched off due to some technical issue, gave me the cynical thought that even this is planned as well. They are controlling the media and showing whatever they want the public to see. Why should the public see something that brings them together, lets just kill the cable. An off day at home, and people doing nothing but worrying about what’s going on around the city. It would have been great to listen to some inspirational stuff being shown around the channels and get the spirit of Patriotism back. On the other hand the people were left with thoughts of whether it is safe to go out? Is it safe to help the people? Aaaarrgh!! I hate the cynic that has created within us.
It is an internal war I am at, trying to find inspiration of turning my passion and love for my country into actions which definitely speak louder than this stupid blog post which does nothing other than me venting out my thoughts. Did it do any good for anybody? No. Just a blabber-post forgotten on the next day it was posted.
There are so many things that I want to do. It’s a big picture in front of me but to get there I need some grooming. I need to prepare for the responsibility in whatever way possible. I need maturity, I need knowledge. I need to build management qualities. I observe my life behind me and I see how I have experienced the right things to be ready for the big task that is coming up in the near future. I am sure if you review your past, my fellow countrymen, you might feel the same as well.
Enemies of my country!!! Stop me now while I am just a bud, just a kid, otherwise prepare to regret in the coming times. I plan to blossom and prove my worth and live my destiny. May Allah be with me. Aameen.
My Countrymen!!! Put it all together. Kill the cynic in you. Be the salesman. Be the ambassador. Be the leader. We are born to lead. Find the right inspiration. Put your passion to work.
With the devastating things happening in Pakistan in the recent past, I have been feeling distant from my roots. I wasn’t feeling the sense of ownership that I should feel. This is not a comfortable feeling for someone who has been brought up with feeling of “Shahadat” (martyrdom) deep in his veins. I have grown up watching the right things, listening to the right things, speaking to the right people to know that the ultimate death is martyrdom. Leave sacrificing my time, my material wealth, I wasn’t even feeling bad for seeing the floods in the country. I was simply feeling cut-off from the reality. I knew I needed to get back to my roots and do some thinking and planning. I can’t be called normal if I don’t stop this now as it would only get worse and eventually put me at a difficult distance to come back from.
With the planned annual leave available, I wanted to plan it in a way that I spent time in my homeland on the Independence Day celebrations. Find some inspiration to do something about the mess.
14th August 1947 was when Pakistan got independence. We became an independent state, in a position to plan out the future of the country in our own way. This year, 63 years down the line, we are not even close to our potential. I have been getting a series of strange confusing dreams and thoughts. Hopefully, they fit together and then they will be unveiled at the right time. But they were related to doing some good for the Muslim world, starting from my own country. Let’s see how these random thoughts come together and materialize if at all in the future.
There were many hurdles on achieving a simple trip, interestingly from different facets, family, work, personal interests. Just planning a trip to be there when the Pakistan Flag is the most selling item on the day had its hurdles.
Amazing, how the negative energy tries to fight anything positive that one wants to do.
Anyway, my will prevailed and we did land at Karachi on 13th August, all set for an enjoyable Independence Day the next day. The landing brought back the Goosebumps I always feel just by the thought that I am touching ground to my soil. My place. It is Home. I’ll be honest; I don’t have a permanent home in Pakistan. I lived in a rented place pretty much all my life when I was here and on my visits, I stay with relatives but nothing of my own. But, it is still home and you feel it every time you come back with the country welcoming you with open arms. I was happy to feel those Goosebumps; it confirmed to me that I still got love and attachment to my home soil. This was a great assurance for my perceived goals and the things I want to do.
However, as a true expatriate, I felt a sense of insecurity as soon as I stepped out of the Airport towards the car park. I watched my baggage with hawk eyes. I kept a special eye on the bag that had the valuables. I mean, it is just sad and strange to compare how I don’t do that at this stringent level in the different places I have visited recently around the world. In my home country, around my own people, I felt more insecure.
Insecurity is a psychological feeling. It is all in the head and completely dependent on the individual. The mind is tuned by the media and what we see in the news which becomes grapevine and spreads like wildfire. If me as a Pakistani, felt this way after coming back after long time, I don’t blame the people who have not been here at all to build a negative opinion about my country. The media does ensure to portray Pakistan as hell on earth.
Okay, so this is not an Ostrich approach. I am not in denial. There are genuine issues here, agreed. Political instability, economic concerns, poverty, education, security... but it is no different than many other places in the world. Many experts are saying that America is now the worst place to live in the world. Your savings are gone, you are down in debt, and the economy is on its way down. However that is not the image it has right now. Take India; while the economic boom is clearly evident from the media reports, there are other issues worse than Pakistan related to poverty, secular issues, religious issues etc. Take the Far East, Korea, Russia, and Europe, take any country. Every country has its own major challenges however if one spends some time on any major news channels for a day, the result at the end would be that that its all going wrong in Pakistan and every other place in the world is somehow “manageable”.
Let me tell you friends. The issues in Pakistan are no different than any other place and yes they are manageable as well. I have seen how people come together to help each other and every problem has a solution which is being put into action. The sad part is, it requires a natural calamity to bring us together. We still got our passions and energy within us. We need stimulus and that’s all. I’ll tell you when something can be labeled as “unmanageable”. When people don’t have the passion in them to stand up for something they believe in. I think, we as a nation are far off from that.
We are just a little disappointed and disheartened with the series of leaderships that we have had since independence but that doesn’t mean we are dead meat. We are just saving ourselves to put it all together when the time is right.
All people around the world know about the Pakistan Floods that initiated from North West and has trickled down the river Indus through Punjab and is currently in Sindh causing devastation to millions along the way. What the international media is not able to show is how independent social organizations, school children, college university students have come together to gather relief funds and have been able to take it to the regions for supporting the people there. There is some good stuff going on here and yet the world doesn’t see that. I ask, why? All the bad news, so called terrorism, devastation, plane crashes, economic situation become a highlight reel but the good stuff about the country is not shown. Anyway, there is no need to ponder over that, as we pretty much know already. The media is a huge propaganda and it’s on a different mission altogether. I won’t even go there. But I’ll tell you its no worries, we will prevail as we are meant to as a nation.
The cynic in me has been my worst enemy. I hate the cynic in me. I don’t trust anybody anymore. I ask why? It is just straight forward brainwash. I have never been robbed or put in a firing line or even had a near encounter with terror. Yet I feel fear and insecure. Am I the lucky one? I wouldn’t think so. I think the majority of the people here would say the same. However, the minority that has been through it and the media has shown it building a red, bold, circle around it to ensure fear is maintained would say, I wouldn’t know as I have not been through it. I am not trying to shy away from the truth but it is not as bad as it is pictured. If we could put a percentage to crime and the ratio of it with the population, I am sure that the number calculated would give us a place far away from the top in the list of countries. We are a peaceful nation and it’s a peaceful country. We are not the most peaceful/safest agreed because of a little confused minority but we are not the most terrorized country either as depicted. However, the media has brainwashed the world as well as us as Pakistanis to think that… and sigh… built the cynic in me.
I land in Karachi and my cheap phone comes out, my PDA stays in my bag until I am on the flight back to UAE in fear of getting robbed. I watch over my luggage, my family with eagle eyes. I am in constant lookout for any strange people around us. Is anybody following us? I don’t leave valuables in the car. I don’t trust people. I hate myself when I observe the cynic that has become a monster inside me.
On the morning of Independence Day, the cable TV went off. This is the time when I was trying to switch it on, looking for Patriotic inspiration dialogue, songs, and speeches. All stuff that could revive my sleeping patriotism. Seeing the cable just be switched off due to some technical issue, gave me the cynical thought that even this is planned as well. They are controlling the media and showing whatever they want the public to see. Why should the public see something that brings them together, lets just kill the cable. An off day at home, and people doing nothing but worrying about what’s going on around the city. It would have been great to listen to some inspirational stuff being shown around the channels and get the spirit of Patriotism back. On the other hand the people were left with thoughts of whether it is safe to go out? Is it safe to help the people? Aaaarrgh!! I hate the cynic that has created within us.
It is an internal war I am at, trying to find inspiration of turning my passion and love for my country into actions which definitely speak louder than this stupid blog post which does nothing other than me venting out my thoughts. Did it do any good for anybody? No. Just a blabber-post forgotten on the next day it was posted.
There are so many things that I want to do. It’s a big picture in front of me but to get there I need some grooming. I need to prepare for the responsibility in whatever way possible. I need maturity, I need knowledge. I need to build management qualities. I observe my life behind me and I see how I have experienced the right things to be ready for the big task that is coming up in the near future. I am sure if you review your past, my fellow countrymen, you might feel the same as well.
Enemies of my country!!! Stop me now while I am just a bud, just a kid, otherwise prepare to regret in the coming times. I plan to blossom and prove my worth and live my destiny. May Allah be with me. Aameen.
My Countrymen!!! Put it all together. Kill the cynic in you. Be the salesman. Be the ambassador. Be the leader. We are born to lead. Find the right inspiration. Put your passion to work.
This is not how it ends. This is how it begins.
Time Passes... We run...
There is one thing that is perpetually ongoing, never stopping, man on a mission, like there is lots to do and not enough..."Time". Its "Time" itself. Time passes as naturally as possible.
Not a second earlier and not a second later. Cruise Control with no breaks.
Time passes... we run... Considering there isn't enough time and there is so much to do and yet we can never beat the time. Its because of the attitude. Time is an expert at passing while we are experts at stopping and questioning things, learning things. Time has only one job at hand. Just keep passing. Mindlessly. No looking around. No losing focus. Just at a target and passing.
We will run, we will walk, we will sleep. We will slow down, we will quicken up. We will wait when its required. Time however will just pass at an exemplary consistency.
In this competition of "Time vs Us", where we keep chasing hoping we'll win some day is just stupid optimism. Time is destined to win this race cos it's been created to do what it is doing. Its pretty much the supreme expert in "passing" by. We got so many other things to do other than this.
At times you may feel that you are winning but that's just an illusion. You may feel that you can beat time but that's just what you feel. Its not how it is. Time knows, you ll give up the chase cos it takes effort for you to stay ahead of time. Time is a natural at this. Once you slow down, time will gain.
It doesn't have to move faster, just because you are temporarily ahead. It doesn't have to compete, it knows its gonna win. You may run all you want and at whatever speed you want. Eventually time will win cos in this game of life, slow and steady wins the race not the fast and furious. Time is as steady as its required.
Time passes... let it pass. Don't try to win, just make every moment count. Now that's where you are good at.
Not a second earlier and not a second later. Cruise Control with no breaks.
Time passes... we run... Considering there isn't enough time and there is so much to do and yet we can never beat the time. Its because of the attitude. Time is an expert at passing while we are experts at stopping and questioning things, learning things. Time has only one job at hand. Just keep passing. Mindlessly. No looking around. No losing focus. Just at a target and passing.
We will run, we will walk, we will sleep. We will slow down, we will quicken up. We will wait when its required. Time however will just pass at an exemplary consistency.
In this competition of "Time vs Us", where we keep chasing hoping we'll win some day is just stupid optimism. Time is destined to win this race cos it's been created to do what it is doing. Its pretty much the supreme expert in "passing" by. We got so many other things to do other than this.
At times you may feel that you are winning but that's just an illusion. You may feel that you can beat time but that's just what you feel. Its not how it is. Time knows, you ll give up the chase cos it takes effort for you to stay ahead of time. Time is a natural at this. Once you slow down, time will gain.
It doesn't have to move faster, just because you are temporarily ahead. It doesn't have to compete, it knows its gonna win. You may run all you want and at whatever speed you want. Eventually time will win cos in this game of life, slow and steady wins the race not the fast and furious. Time is as steady as its required.
Time passes... let it pass. Don't try to win, just make every moment count. Now that's where you are good at.
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