Listen to Zakir Hussain, people!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtRPB8xHP8M&feature=related

Islam and Science

I've learnt that Islam has all the answers. Science doesn't have all the answers.

Wizards . . . .

Wizards stay up late and never log off! :-)

Calligraphers . . . .

I’ve learnt that there’re people who earn their living by writing names (of invitees) on wedding cards. They’re calligraphers. They use special pens and ink.

Morgiana . . . .

I'm in love with Morgiana since I was very young! LOL Do you remember Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves?

Sticky Notes . . . .

Sticky Notes aren't working! I need a wife! :-)

CSR and Wren & Martin

We used to get Competition Success Review (CSR) – so I knew many things! And, my brother #1 used to teach me English from Wren & Martin.

The Doon School

I wanted to go to the Doon school instead I went to a blackboard jungle! We’re very poor – simply couldn’t afford it.

Jab we met . . . .

We met in a museum -- after a decade or so -- just like shy protagonists in some romantic movie or novel. But it wasn’t awkward. It’s beautiful and thrilling. She gave me a chewing gum. :-) And, called me hunchbacked! :-)

Deviant people . . . .

I have been a failure in my personal and professional life. But there’re more deviant people out there.

India -- my country . . . .

I’ve realized that I know very little about India – about my own country. The more I read about it – the more proud I feel.

Volatility . . . .

I live in such uncertainty and volatility.

Marriage . . . .

Marriage is good. Good food – if she turns out to be a good cook. And, good conversations -- if she turns out to be a good conversationalist.

The Old Man & His God by Sudha Murty

‘People often ask me how it is that so many interesting things happen only to me. To them I reply that in life’s journey we all meet strange people and undergo many experiences that touch us and sometimes even change us. If you have a sensitive mind and record your observations regularly, you will see your life too is a vast storehouse of stories.’

As she goes about her work with the villagers, slumdwellers and the common men and women of India Sudha Murty, writer, social worker and teacher, listens to them and records what they have to say. Their accounts of the struggles and hardships which they have at times overcome, and at other times been overwhelmed by, are put together in this book. A blind old man in a little Shiva temple offers the author shelter and peace in the midst of a storm and emerges as the most generous, unselfish soul she has ever met. A little stone bench under a banyan tree in a village in Karnataka is the perfect place for travellers to rest and forget their burdens for a while as they chat with the man sitting there patiently listening to them, a better counsellor than one can find anywhere in the city.

There are stories about people’s generosity—and selfishness—in times of natural disasters like the tsunami; women struggling to speak out in a world that refuses to listen to them and tales of young professionals trying to find their feet as they climb up the corporate ladder.

Told simply and directly from the heart, The Old Man and His God is a collection of snapshots of the varied facets of human nature and a mirror to the souls of the people of India.

The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk by Sudha Murty

Over the years, Sudha Murty has come across some fascinating people whose lives make for interesting stories and have astonishing lessons to reveal. Take Vishnu, who achieves every material success but never knows happiness; or Venkat, who talks so much that he has no time to listen. In other stories, a young girl goes on a train journey that changes her life forever; an impoverished village woman provides bathing water to hundreds of people in a drought-stricken area; a do-gooder ghost decides to teach a disconsolate young man Sanskrit; and in the title story, a woman in a flooded village in Odisha teaches the author a life lesson she will never forget.

Mahashweta by Sudha Murty

‘Anupama looked into the mirror and shivered with shock. A small white patch had now appeared on her arm.’

Anupama’s fairytale marriage to Anand falls apart when she discovers a white patch on her foot and learns that she has leukoderma. Abandoned by her uncaring in-laws and insensitive husband, she is forced to return to her father’s home in the village. The social stigma of a married woman living with her parents, her stepmother’s continual barbs and the ostracism that accompanies her skin condition force her to contemplate suicide. Determined to rebuild her life against all odds, Anupama goes to Bombay where she finds success, respect and the promise of an enduring friendship.

Mahashweta is an inspiring story of courage and resilience in a world marred by illusions and betrayals. This poignant tale offers hope and solace to the victims of the prejudices that govern society even today.

Ambivalence . . . .

The greatest conflicts are not between two people but between one person and himself. – Garth Brooks

Jonathan Livingston Seagull / Richard Bach

"Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight--how to get from shore to food and back again," writes author Richard Bach in this allegory about a unique bird named Jonathan Livingston Seagull. "For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight." Flight is indeed the metaphor that makes the story soar. Ultimately this is a fable about the importance of seeking a higher purpose in life, even if your flock, tribe, or neighborhood finds your ambition threatening. (At one point our beloved gull is even banished from his flock.) By not compromising his higher vision, Jonathan gets the ultimate payoff: transcendence. Ultimately, he learns the meaning of love and kindness.

The Bridge Across Forever / Richard Bach

If you've ever felt alone in a world of strangers, missing someone you've never met, you'll find a message from your love in The Bridge Across Forever / Richard Bach.

"I stood looking out the window at nothing, noise roaring in my head.

She's wrong. Of course she's wrong. The woman doesn't understand who I am or how I think.

Too bad, I thought.

Then I crumpled her letter and threw it away."

"What if we're soulmates, I thought while she sobbed. What if we're the ones we've been looking for our whole lives long. We've touched and we've shared this quick taste of what love on earth can be, and now, because of my fears, are we going to separate and never meet again? Will I go on the rest of my days looking for the one I've already found, and was too frightened to love?

"There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they're necessary to reach the places we've chosen to go."

Bestselling author Richard Bach explores the meaning of fate and soul mates in this modern-day fairytale based on his real-life relationship with actor Leslie Parrish. "This is a story about a knight who was dying, and the princess who saved his life," Bach writes in his opening greeting. "It's a story about beauty and beasts and spells and fortresses, about death-powers that seem and life-powers that are." Yes, it is all that, and more. On the earthly plane this is about the riveting love affair between two fully human people who are willing to explore time travel and other dimensions together even as they grapple with the earthly struggles of intimacy, commitment, smothering, and whose turn it is to cook.

Richard Bach

"A tiny change today brings us to a dramatically different tomorrow. There are grand rewards for those who pick the high hard roads, but those rewards are hidden by years. Every choice is made in the uncaring blind, no guarantees from the world around us."

"Character comes from following our highest sense of right, from trusting ideals without being sure they'll work. One challenge of our adventure on earth is to rise above dead systems -- wars, religions, nations, destructions -- to refuse to be a part of them, and express instead the highest selves we know how to be."

-- One / Richard Bach

World citizen

World citizen has a variety of similar meanings, often referring to a person who disapproves of traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_citizen
 

Survival International

 

Survival International is a human rights organisation formed in 1969 that campaigns for the rights of indigenous tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples, seeking to help them to determine their own future. Their campaigns generally focus on tribal peoples' fight to keep their ancestral lands, culture and their own way of living. Survival works for the people who they call "some of the most vulnerable on earth". A part of their mission is to educate people from misconceptions that help justify violations of human rights against indigenous people, and the risks that they face from the advancement of corporations, governments and also good intentions based on an idea of "development" that is forced upon them. Survival believes that in fact their alternative way of living is not lacking, they represent a model of sustainability in the environment that they are a part of and they possess a rich culture from which we could learn.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_International

 

http://www.survivalinternational.org/

Osho: My Mentor. My Guru.

There is no need to believe in anything — that is the fundamental of science. That is the scientific approach to reality: do not believe, inquire. The moment you believe, inquiry stops. Keep your mind open — neither believe nor disbelieve. Just remain alert and search and doubt everything until you come to a point which is indubitable — that's what truth is. You cannot doubt it. It is not a question of believing in it, it is a totally different phenomenon. It is so much a certainty, overwhelming you so much, that there is no way to doubt it.

Osho: My Mentor. My Guru.

Neither belief nor disbelief . . ."What I am saying is: neither belief nor disbelief is needed -- because you don't know, so how you believe? and you don't know, so how can you disbelieve? When belief and disbelief are both dropped, there is silence. When belief and disbelief have both disappeared, you are open to truth; then you don't have any prejudice, then your mind is no more projecting. Then you become receptive. Neither believe nor disbelieve. Just be watchful, receptive, open! -- and you will know."-- Walk without feet, Fly without wings and Think without mind / Osho

Osho: My Mentor. My Guru.

Question: Who are you? Answer: Whomsoever you think, because it depends on you. If you look at me with total emptiness, I will be different. If you look at me with ideas, those ideas will color me; if you come to me with a prejudice, then I will be different. I am just a mirror. Your own face will be reflected. There is a saying that if a monkey looks into the mirror he will not find an apostle looking at him through the mirror. Only a monkey will be looking through the mirror. So it depends on the way you look at me. I have disappeared completely so I cannot impose on you who I am. I have nothing to impose. There is just a nothingness, a mirror. Now you have complete freedom. If you really want to know who I am, you have to be as absolutely empty as I am. Then two mirrors will be facing each other, and only emptiness will be mirrored. Infinite emptiness will be mirrored: two mirrors facing each other. But if you have some idea, then you will see your own idea in me. -- Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic / Osho

I'm . . . .

I'm bored, broke and bewildered!

Anti-hero

anti-hero, principal character of a modern literary or dramatic work who lacks the attributes of the traditional protagonist or hero. The anti-hero's lack of courage, honesty, or grace, his weaknesses and confusion, often reflect modern man's ambivalence toward traditional moral and social virtues. Literary characters that can be considered anti-heroes are: Leopold Bloom in James Joyce's novel Ulysses (1922), Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman (1949), the bombardier Yossarian in Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22 (1961), and the protagonists of many of Philip Roth's and Kurt Vonnegut's novels.Read more: anti-hero — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/ent/A0804235.html#ixzz26kjvxUjB

Unsung hero

Camera-shy

http://dictionary.infoplease.com/camera-shy

Does this ring a bell, people? :-)

Teamwork

http://dictionary.infoplease.com/teamwork

Fishy eyes . . . .

Dull and expressionless -- of a schizophrenic!

Paging you -- BBM people! :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pager

Naiyer Masud

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naiyer_Masud

Ironical

http://dictionary.infoplease.com/ironical

How texting is putting the squeeze on academic writing

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2012/09/04/nl-texting-language-student-writing-905.html

Remote control . . . .

YouTube should come with a remote control! :-)

Like rabies . . . .

Poverty is like rabies. Don't glorify it.

Fatima Bhutto

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatima_Bhutto

http://fatimabhutto.com.pk/

Pakistan: Nation on the verge of a nervous breakdown / Fatima Bhutto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC6KdaLzjDY

I'm Archie!

Are you Veronica?

Are you Betty? :-)

Karma . . . .

In the ultimate analysis -- it's Karma, my friend! :-)

Like Larry King . . . .

I'm wearing suspenders like old-time! I'm sort of looking like Larry King! LOL

Reincarnation . . . .

Wish we'd the concept of reincarnation -- transmigration in Islam! I'd have started my life afresh! :-) And, would've married my girl! :-)

Cowrie

One thing that I'd never learn is money management!

People watching . . . .

I've this habit since childhood: I amuse myself by watching people. Passers-by -- their body language, mannerism etc. I'd love to seriously study Human Psychology. But my memory is warped and zapped. And, I read everything: even hoardings! :-)

Nobody is stranger . . . .

I believe that the world is an extended family! :-)

Gossippers . . . .

All girls by default are gossippers! LOL

Leanings . . . .

I think I've communistic leanings from the beginning.

Conscience . . . .

Our conscience is our (moral) compass.

A genuine concern . . . .

All of us should've a genuine concern for poor people. A genuine desire to help 'em.

Zapped . . . .

My memory is zapped!

Suspenders . . . .

I miss wearing suspenders! :( SULK! That's a talisman! It turns me into an egghead/geek/nerd!

A regretful incident . . . .

Couple of days back -- a mute person (he's probably deaf too) approached me near a theater -- he's pointing towards the movie poster -- and he'd already some money with him -- he wanted the rest to buy a ticket -- I didn't give him -- and since then I'm regretting. I'd have given him some money -- a ticket costs peanuts. He'd have enjoyed the movie (if he genuinely wanted to see it). My mind was so occupied at that time.

On the couch . . . .

I'm on the couch since ten years or so.