10/11/12 off we go on a road trip "phiiir"

After spending a year or so in Bangalore I was itching to leave the metropolis and get to a more serene place, away from the hustle-bustle, colored air and the tring pring of the smart phone. It could have been anything from looking for wild animals in the reserve or enjoy the bliss of the tea plantation on top of the hill or the calmness of the sea on the shore. Each one of us wanted an option to retreat that helps them to disconnect from the routine and hence reconnect themselves. Life has been easier Alhumdulillah and I always wanted to explore places which fascinated me. I have always enjoyed the journey more than the destination and this time it was not any different. We all were very excited, more than what I am today writing this travelogue. By the way we were 9 of us and we booked a Purple Chevrolet Tavera for our road trip which we would like to call as "phiiiiiir" which would translate to "Once Again" in English.

Our route as seen by the blue line (click on the image for better view)

Day 1:

The Purple Chevrolet Tavera acted like the Nokia phone's snake game character moving aroung Bangalore and picking each one of us and all the necessary items which was required for a road trip. Our first stop was at Srirangapatna on the outskirt of Mysore which was once used to be the capital of Tipu Sultan. The mausoleum of Tipu Sultan, death place of Tip Sultan, "Sangama" the amalgamation of 3 rivers Kaveri River, Kabini River and Hemavati River, Big Mosque, palace of Tipu were the places of attraction. We covered the places quickly so as to get a peek of the famous Mysore palace. We reached at 7 PM, the palace was closed but we got the chance to see the lightnings of more than 96,000 lights which illuminated the palace for about an hour. While the bulbs glowed there was a narration going on which I think was of the history of how and what happened in palace but because of language barrier we had to just make use of our eyes (ears took rest). Night fell and we had to eat and sleep at some place but because this trip was completely a road trip finding such place was very difficult. Fortunately on driving some few kilometers we found a place near Gundlupet and you shouldn't be surprised when I say it was a bus stop. The plan was to stay very near to Bandipur forest reserve so as to reach there early morning for the Safari. At the bus stop we made our dinner, it was scary not beacuse of fear of ghosts or spirits but because it was highway and anyone could question us for our activities. Anyhow some kept eye on the road, some helped each other to cook food. An interesting phase went by and within an hour a delicious food was ready for us to devour. After the food we found a Masjid were we stretched our legs a bit, had rest till Fajr (morning prayer) and then left for Bandipur National Park.

Mausoleum of Tipu Sultan

The gateway to that Mausoleum

After the lightning show at Mysore Palace

Day 2:

Early mornig at Bandipur National Park. The place was very calm and quite with more monkeys than humans. We got the first surprise of our life when we got into the safari (a bus), surveyed the forest for an hour or so and did not even see a single tiger or lion. The only wild we saw was a hen or cow. It was shocker to us because we spent some 300 bucks for that 1 hour safari . When we demanded an explanation for that deception we were told that we were nothing but unfortunate. We gathered our hopes and energy and started to our trip again, this time on our way out of forest we did see some elephants and deers (smile came back). One lesson learnt if at all you go to Bandipur National Park don't pay for the safari just drive your vehicle through the forest you will be able to see more animals for free than you can see after paying Rs. 300. From there we started to climb the hills, our next destination  was Ooty. On the way we stopped at Masinagudi and we bought a rabbit, quails and a hen for the lunch. We knew that were to have a tiring time ahead before lunch and we were ready for that. The fortune of him who is sitting sits, it rises when he rises...it sleeps when he sleeps...it moves when he moves... Keeping these things in mind we kept twirling around the hair-pin bend of the hill. It took us some time after reaching Ooty to find a place where we could cook our food without a disturbance. Most of us never tasted a rabbit in his life, got a chance to have a taste, the quail was barbequed and rice boiled. No rest was taken after the lunch and we packed our things and went to see how Ooty looks. Ooty has been commercialized in recent times, a proper tourist place; fun parks, boating parks, tea planataions, etc. etc. We had fun while paddling the boat towards victory, watching handsome horses, shopping and collecting souveniors, eating carrots, cherries and chocolates. The temperature changed drastically when evening fell and we had to take out our warm clothes. All wrapped up we went downhill twirling again through the bends of the hill. It happened so that some chocolates tried to have fun inside the stomachs of some of us and as soon as we came to the plains, 3 of us had to puke. We decided to halt for some time so as to cook food and have dinner. This was fun because a hotel closed down at 11 PM and we took over them as soon as the left. All lights were off and we had to depend on the lights of our phone. Our food never tasted better because all were tired and hungry as wolf. After the dinner, the night was spent inside the moving car. All slept except the two drivers who took the command of the vehicle.

something to see at Bandipur National Park

Deers as seen from the roadside of Bandipur Nation Park

At Ooty Water Park

Day 3:

The next day, early morning we saw to the surprise of our eye, the beauties of the hills, the fog, dew on the grasses , waterfalls which were close and and far from us tempting us to stop and have a more detailed look at them. We couldn't but stop and basked in the glory of nature, really Allah is the greatest no one else but HE could have made such a thing. We were now headed to the best part of our trip, it was one of the places near Munnar where we got to see a football ground, a tree with a shade, a small stream flowing just by the side of the ground and we guessed that there must be a waterfall nearby. We stood there, ahead of us was the most beautiful scene which we could have only imagined in our dreams. We played football, bathe at the river, cried Azan, called for Namaz and prayed Zohar (afternoon prayer) and then left for other sight seeing in Munnar. The trip was nearing end as sun decided to set and we had a long route back to Bangalore. It was decided unanimously that we will cover the roads at night and will see what the next morning holds for us.

One of the better images taken

Just fooling around, the beauty of Allah (swt) can be seen behind us, as displayed by nature

The ground discovered and played upon by us

Something which shouldn't have happened

Should have been censored

Another nicely captured image

Day 4:

The owner of the car who was also driving it had already decided to take us back home. When we all opened our eyes at around 5 AM we were already nearer to Bangalore by 50 kms. We were surprised as, discussions and grumbling started but the driver cool as a cucumber didn't pay heed to us and we were moving nearer and nearer to Bangalore. When the patience crossed the limits it was then when we decided that whatever happens we won't let the mood spoil. "Let's go to any place in Bangalore itself", "Wonderla!" somebody cried out. "Nandi Hills!!!!" 2-3 shouted. For most of us it would have been the first time in Nandi Hills except for the driver which made us even more wanting to go to Nandi Hills so that we can irritate him since he has already started by not listening to us. Time for another hill, a small one this time; Nandi Hill is an ancient hill fortress famously known as the summer palace for Tipu Sultan. Nothing so extravagant about it but any place with friends is always a money to spend on. Even the monkeys belonging to the place become a piece to play with when friends are there to give you company.

On top of Nandi Hill

Just as the sun rose and we had breakfast. This image clearly shows how lively and how fresh we are even at the end of our journey

The illustrious tour would end so abruptly, I  would have never imagined. I imagined that we all would take rest and discuss about our journey but no that was not to happen, The Tavera dropped each one of us one by one to our house for us to take rest on our own. I came back home tired but full of vigor and many stories to tell. The trip was after all the first proper road trip of my life with all the things from cooking, eating, sleeping, having adventure all happening on the road without booking any room. Well what was ought to happen had happened and it took me a while to write it down. A couple of month passed without even publishing the stories to the world, I took my time, describing the journey by each day and here it is for you to read and enjoy (it wouldn't matter to you until you were a part of this)

2 things to remember:
1. You shouldn't visit Bandipur Reserve.... Our Rs. 300 per head got wasted. We expected lions, tigers and bears and what not but to our shock it was wild cat, hens, cows and all those animals which we could have seen without even going that far.
2. As we scrolled out of Bandipur Reserve there we saw a bamboo erected toll and a person standing in a policeman's uniform. The trucks and other small vehicles were let go without stopping them. But that as seen policeman stopped us and asked for Rs. 20 and send us off without giving us the required ticket or chalaan. Don't know what to say but we were very shocked to the injustice we faced and we vowed to tell this to the world.

The toll as it can been seen

All thanks to Allah who blessed us with this eventful and enjoyable journey without whom this wouldn't have been possible. HE made the journey easier, fed us and made us meet people who would help us.

Not all about our dreams

Blind People Dream

Who become blind after birth can see images in their dreams. People who are born blind do not see any images, but have dreams equally vivid involving their other senses of sound, smell, touch and emotion. It is hard for a seeing person to imagine, but the body need for sleep is so strong that it is able to handle virtually all physical situations to make it happen.

 

You Forget 90% of your Dreams

Within 5 minutes of waking, half of your dream if forgotten. Within 10, 90% is gone.
Curiously, Robert Louis Stevenson came up with the story of Doctor Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde whilst he was dreaming.

Everybody Dreams

 
Every human being dreams (except in cases of extreme psychological disorder) but men and women have different dreams and different physical reactions. Men tend to dream more about other men, while women tend to dream equally about men and women. In addition, both men and women experience sexually related physical reactions to their dreams regardless of whether the dream is sexual in nature; males experience *****ions and females experience increased vaginal blood flow.

Dreams Prevent Psychosis

In a recent sleep study, students who were awakened at the beginning of each dream, but still allowed their 8 hours of sleep, all experienced difficulty in concentration, irritability, hallucinations, and signs of psychosis after only 3 days. When finally allowed their REM sleep the student brains made up for lost time by greatly increasing the percentage of sleep spent in the REM stage

We Only Dream of What We Know

Our dreams are frequently full of strangers who play out certain parts - did you know that your mind is not inventing those faces - they are real faces of real people that you have seen during your life but may not know or remember? The evil killer in your latest dream may be the guy who pumped petrol in to your Dad car when you were just a little kid. We have all seen hundreds of thousands of faces through our lives, so we have an endless supply of characters for our brain to utilize during our dreams.

 

 

Not Everyone Dreams in Color

A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white. The remaining number dream in full color. People also tend to have common themes in dreams, which are situations relating to school, being chased, running slowly/in place, sexual experiences, falling, arriving too late, a person now alive being dead, teeth falling out, flying, failing an examination, or a car accident. It is unknown whether the impact of a dream relating to violence or death is more emotionally charged for a person who dreams in color than one who dreams in black and white.

Dreams are not about what they are about

 

If you dream about some particular subject it is not often that the dream is about that. Dreams speak in a deeply symbolic language. The unconscious mind tries to compare your dream to something else, which is similar. Its like writing a poem and saying that a group of ants were like machines that never stop. But you would never compare something to itself, for example: That beautiful sunset was like a beautiful sunset. So whatever symbol your dream picks on it is most unlikely to be a symbol for itself

Quitters have more vivid dreams

People who have smoked cigarettes for a long time who stop, have reported much more vivid dreams than they would normally experience. Additionally, according to the Journal of Abnormal Psychology: Among 293 smokers abstinent for between 1 and 4 weeks, 33% reported having at least 1 dream about smoking. In most dreams, subjects caught themselves smoking and felt strong negative emotions, such as panic and guilt. Dreams about smoking were the result of tobacco withdrawal, as 97% of subjects did not have them while smoking, and their occurrence was significantly related to the duration of abstinence. They were rated as more vivid than the usual dreams and were as common as most major tobacco withdrawal symptoms.

External Stimuli Invade our Dreams

This is called Dream Incorporation and it is the experience that most of us have had where a sound from reality is heard in our dream and incorporated in some way. A similar (though less external) example would be when you are physically thirsty and your mind incorporates that feeling in to your dream. My own experience of this includes repeatedly drinking a large glass of water in the dream which satisfies me, only to find the thirst returning shortly after - this thirst… drink¦ thirst¦ loop often recurs until I wake up and have a real drink. The famous painting above (Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening) by Salvador Dali, depicts this concept.

You are paralyzed while you sleep

Believe it or not, your body is virtually paralyzed during your sleep - most likely to prevent your body from acting out aspects of your dreams. According to the Wikipedia article on dreaming, Glands begin to secrete a hormone that helps induce sleep and neurons send signals to the spinal cord which cause the body to relax and later become essentially paralyzed.

 source - Internet

 

My first year in Mu Sigma

You might to want to read this first > My first two months in Mu-Sigma

There are two traffic signals on my way to Office. There's not a single day when my bus do not get stuck in the traffic jam, because of which the 15 minutes of journey often takes 40 minutes. So this was one particular day when sitting on the window seat I saw the signal, it was green and as if to please me the vehicles were moving smoothly but just as my bus came over the zebra line the signal turned red and lots of tut tut started to go around. Sitting near the window I started to look around to find something to interest me. There were people moving around in hurry to reach office on time. On one side of the road I saw some early employees of Big Bazar who were half heartedly opening their mega store. On other buses I could see people trying to pass their time by listening to the early morning radios. Smart phones have changed our life to a very well extent, games, musics, apps are enough to keep ourself occupied without even noticing who is sitting beside us. But then there was one person on the middle of the footpath towards the left side of the road. He was kind of short, in formals, a bag pack behind and holding some pamphlet in his hand. Nothing new in people distributing pamphlets to the commuters, but since I had nothing to do I tried to notice his activities. And for those 90 seconds I came to realise how different and difficult but very much similar his job is. He had to take desicions as quickly as he can like he has to decide where to stand so as to cover all the passers by. At one point I saw him to get to the edge of the footpath so that he can also cover those who were walking below the footpath. Many of them were refusing his pamphlet, but I could see him getting over the failure of rejection in a very quick time. I couldn't see what was there in the pamphlet but from the kind of energy he showed while distributing it one could easily be decieved there was something very important one needed to know and so he was trying hard to distribute it.

My first year experience in Mu Sigma is not less than the story of that person on the footpath at the signal. This was not a merry go round for me rather a roller coaster ride. I have seen the company growing with me (obviously with not the same pace :-P). In one of the article by Business Standard, India's analytics market will become $1.15 bn by 2015 and Mu Sigma features as the leading pure-play analytics organization. Excerpt from the article: Among the pure-play analytics vendors, Sequoia Capital and General Atlantic-invested Mu Sigma is said to be the biggest in this space. In another article which states - Decision Sciences Firm Mu Sigma Makes Inc. 5000 List of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies for Third Consecutive Year. I also saw Mu Sigma CEO Dhiraj Rajaram winning 2012 Gold Stevie Award for Executive of the Year while Mu Sigma Takes Bronze for Company of the Year.

The number of Offices in Bangalore have increased. Mu Sigma started with shifting some teams to one of the most illustrious Tech Park in Bangalore which is SEZ ITPL, Whitefield, the vision is to have a huge building to accomodate more than 5000 employees but that is future let's not go in there.

With Client count increasing, I saw the employee count being doubled in the 1st year of my stay. Mu Sigma covered more Colleges this time around(2012) in the recruitment process thereby making people more inquisitive about the company. The way I was recruited one year ago and the process fresher needs to follow now is very different. I will be unable to answer correctly if asked "what kind of questions one is asked in the interview ?" or "How many rounds of recruitment process are there?" It's very different now after just one year. Training courses have also changed. Freshers are taught new topics too. Mu Sigma believes in constant learning, renewing your knowledge from time to time and hence they have started providing courses to people who have spent some time in the company as well. Work process and solutions providing has also changed a bit. Many new technologies came in apart from the traditional MS Office and SAS.

Apart from work fun is the integral part of Mu Sigma. "Do the Math" is the tagline as all of you must be knowing by now. Math is the fun in Mu Sigma, as stated by one of the article in Deccan Herald. With most of the Mu Sigmans in their 20s, fun is bound to be there, either in Office or out of Office. We have come a long way of playing Dumbcharade, Pictionary among others to play Volleyball, Football, Uno, Zenga, Treasure Hunt, etc.; and the USP is we have involved CEO too in one of these events.

Life is sometimes tough in Mu Sigma. Margin of error is very low. As in every other company you are expected to perform. But here the things are different, it's all because of the mindset. Freshers come in here with a view that they do not have to do coding but ultimately they do have to put in their programming skills to work with data so as to get the required results as they would have wanted. Most of the freshers do not have their say with their likings on the work, they got to do what their managers tell them which is not wrong in a way, they get to learn but it's kind of tough because they may not like the work so it is a "make-break" thing for them. I am not saying that staying late is tough for Mu Sigmans but we definitely hate and would like to avoid it but since it occurs once in a while and that too because of our own issue, erros and negligence, it's a learning period for all of us. Team mates are always there for help and support, so toughness are smoothened out (Others may not be as lucky as me, they may have counterview to this point).

This is a journey this does not have an end, well it may have but when that will come I do not know. Let's hope for the best because Allah knows the best!!!

 

The benefits of Zikr of ALLAH

It really surprises me when people who doesn't know the meaning of Mashallah and Inshallah try to say that in public. My belief is if you don't know don't say it.
The other day I was walking down the street when I overheard soneone talking on the phone, "Mashallah, I will be there in 5 minutes"
FYI: the meaning of those two words are given below:
Mashallah = it is used as an expression of apprecia...

tion/thanks/respect, while at the same time serving as a reminder that all accomplishments are so achieved by the will of Allah. It is generally said upon hearing good news.
Inshallah = Inshallah means Allah willing. Nothing happens beyond the will of Allah. If he wills he can make anything happen from the splitting of the moon and river to raising if dead to even the fluttering of leaves.

But then I realised that there's no harm in doing that. ALLAH's zikr whenever you do and on whatever topic you do, you'll get rewarded.
So apologiges from myself......!
The more you say Allah's name the more benefited you will be...
"Verily, the Muslims (those who submit to Allah in Islam) men and women... (up to)... And the men and the women who remember Allah much with their hearts and tongues. Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a great reward (i.e., Jannah).'' (Quran - 33:35)

The difference between the one who makes Zikr and the one who does not is well explained in this Hadith. Abu Musa Al-Ash`ari (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet said, "The similitude of one who remembers his Lord and one who does not remember Him, is like that of the living and the dead.'' (Al-Bukhari and Muslim).

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah said, "He who recites after every prayer: Subhan Allah (Allah is free from imperfection) 33 times; Alhamdu lillah (praise be to Allah) 33 times; Allahu Akbar (Allah is Greatest) 33 times; and completes the hundred with: La ilaha illallahu, wahdahu la sharika lahu, lahul-mulku wa lahul-hamdu, wa Huwa `ala kulli shai'in Qadir (there is no true god except Allah. He is One and He has no partner with Him. His is the sovereignty and His is the praise, and He is Omnipotent), will have all his sins pardoned even if they may be as large as the foam on the surface of the sea.'' (Muslim).

So, next time you're waiting for a bus or walking to school, remember to think about the greatness of Allah. "And remember Allah much, that you may be successful.'' (62:10).

It's time for other sports to show their mettle. Don't just blame Cricket

So this Mr. Babumoshai from Bengal is a great fan of futbol. His favorite team is Mohun Bagan, he never misses their game but his son is totally opposite. Much to his hatred he likes Cricket, he has even enrolled himself in one of the clubs in Maidan. Babumoshai hates to see him in whites. He swears in the name of kali whenever he sees his son watching an IPL T20 match of his favorite team KKR while he has to call his friend on phone to get the score of the futbol match. He would say to his son, "Beta you are not letting me watch an el Classico of India - the great MOhun Bagan is playing against East Bengal today" Beta Moshai would smirk and reply "Elclassico? eh?" "Do you even know what glorious past we had in futbol? Your generation - the generation of Cricket has destroyed other sports in India"


This is what most of us feel here in India. When something goes wrong, we find some to put the blame unto, when something does not go right then also we find some to put the blame in. Rarely do we find mistakes in oursleves. It is like if some sports are not able to come up, you blame the other popular sports.

"Cricket is over!" - declared IOA President Suresh Kalmadi after India returned with three Olympic medals from Beijing in 2008. Like Kalmadi, many other sports officials as well as current and ex-sportspersons share this animosity for cricket, for the prime reason that it is the most followed game in India, whose popularity supersedes any other sport. But the question is, if other sports have been struggling to make their mark, why blame cricket for it?

People here are obssessed with Cricket for 3 years and 11 months while Olympics just deserve their 1 month hence critics also tend to say that we should not expect those shining medals with these kind of support.

Ha, yes ! Cricket is the root cause of all evils plaguing other sports in the country. Well someone who is just not infatuated by Sports in general but instead do love them with their hearts in and out would definitely say it is not cricket that is damaging other sports. It is our addiction to cricket that is damaging other sports. Indians largely are so addicted to cricket that they do not have the time or interest for other sports. The real problem is not the obsession with cricket but the ignorance of all other sports.

Now ask the Cricket lovers and they would say "Cricket is nowhere related in damaging other sports. We are praising it because we are winning it. Let other sports win something at highest level then they will get their reserved respect. Once other sports start to get top rank in the world list, people will also take interest in watching them. These kind of mentality are hard-wired into the minds of Indian. Cricket became popular after India won 1983 world cup. Similarly Tennis became popular after Leander Paes won bronze medal in Olympics and when he and Mahesh Bhupathi started winning major grand slams. Also, it may be observed that boxing and wrestling has gained decent popularity after Vijender Singh, Mary Kom and Sushilkumar won medals in recent Olympics. Take the case of Saina Nehwal, we didn't know who is she at the beginning when she joined badminton, but later when she continued to win more number of games, we all had a look at her and in Olympics everyone expected a gold from her. Take chess, for us Vishwanath Anand will be the winner always, everyone in India knows about him. Now about hockey, once upon a time we had lot of victories so we praised about it. Hockey became our national game post-Independence because we dominated the sport for decades with six consecutive Olympic Gold medals. But now we are debating that whether hockey should be our national game or not.

medallions in 2012 Olympic

Even the exagerrating numbers that millions of Indian are being passionate about Cricket one may wonder what about the remaing ones. Why not dip into them? Cricket did not become the reigning sport overnight. How does my love of cricket come in the way of progress of other games? Does it act as a negative catalyst for other sports or does it create a pitch in between the astro turf of Hockey or nail the nets for practice at the shooting arena? As a Cricket lover I respect the struggle of other sports and can assure them that Cricket have not caused them any problem. Just play your respective games at your respective arena and bring glory to the nation.

Let's get back to the 1980s, the decade that catapulted Indian cricket's arrival on the global stage. It was the sheer timing of events that elevated cricket to the top. It was perhaps a mere coincidence that the 1983 World Cup win coincided with the arrival of television and the decline of hockey. The Indian victory at the World Cup in 1983 just acted as a catalyst which pushed Cricket as the most popular sports in the modern era of India. Cricket, like any other sport in the country, is not unscathed by politics and corruption but despite all the odds, it has grown impressively.

The transit of viewership and shift in support has been phenomenal. We have started loving and appreciating other sports too.  I see this changing at this point in time but the change is subtle. There are numerous reasons to loathe the Indian cricket board but at the same time there are sufficient lessons for other sports bodies and federations in the country to learn from them on how to grow into a strong sports body. Hence, instead, we should encourage co existence of cricket with other sports and try to pull other sports up instead of pulling down a big institute of cricket. If we are hell bent on blaming Cricket for all the ills then we will never get out of the misery.

Hakuna Matata!!!!
Respond instead of reacting

I posted this article in Sportskeeda as well.

How patriotic are we? Is it moral?

Try remembering Independence Day and what do you recollect? Drums at school? Flag hoisting? Drill Display? National Anthem and sweets to eat? This is my own distinctive experience of what we call "Patriotism" and celebrating Independence Day and I suspect that many Indians experience something similar and acknowledge it in their own ways. Independence Day is one of those days (26th January and 2nd October are the others) for which we eagerly wait for to arrive. It comes and what do we do? Keep the answers to yourselves as of now. 

Is Our Patriotism Moral?

This the day when people imagine that people of all faith will unite and hoist the tricolor together. We are secular and we will show that to the world. But the 65th Independence Day is not being welcomed as it has always been. Patriotism is losing its definition over smaller things. Majority or minority, the word "Indian" is lost somewhere. The question to ask here, "Is our patriotism moral?" If an eye is to be believed then it's easy to assume that all is not well. But the moral problem for patriotism arises at a deeper level. Suppose the question is not about blatantly immoral means but simply about whether our country should flourish at the expense of matters which were for so long the strength? There remains the option of denying that morality has the universal, all-inclusive nature modern philosophers think it has. It may seem, then, that we must either accept modern universalist ethics and reject patriotism as a basic moral virtue or accept patriotism along with traditional localist morality.

I do not know what other religions says about patriotism but I would like to share what my religion says about it in Quran:

"Love for one's country, loyalty to it, desire to the community grow and prosper." Al Quraan says plenty about that.

"When people think highly of themselves and lowly of others, that's not patriotism."

"49:13. O mankind, indeed We created you from the male and the female, and made you into peoples and tribes , that you may know. Truly, the most noble of you in the sight of the God is the most righteous of you. Truly, the God is knowing, acquainted."

"49:10. But the faithful are brothers, so make settlement between your brothers and fear the God; perhaps you may receive mercy."

"49:11. O you who accept faith, let not people ridicule other people. Perhaps that they may be better than them and nor let women other women. Perhaps that they may be better than them. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by nicknames. Wretched is the name of profanity/disobedience after the faith, and whoever repents not, those, they are the unjust."

To quote from the writings of one of the famous poet, philosopher and politician, Allama Iqbal:

mazhab nahiñ sikhata apas meñ bair rakhna

hindi haiñ ham, vatan hai hindustañ hamara

or,

Religion does not teach us to bear ill-will among ourselves

We are of Hind, our homeland is Hindustan.

True patriotism is that stemming from religion and controlled in men's hearts by its teachings. Patriotism is not a commodity of verbosity imported - among others - and then translated literally and stuffed into minds without any refining or polishing processes.

Our Country needs us

You have done nothing for which you should be ashamed. I have done nothing. And for that I am ashamed. 

Our biggest problem as a nation is – we believe that all we are required to do as citizens of our country is to vote and then the government will do everything for us. For example if the team loses, sack the coach. If the same thing repeats itself, remove the skipper. This is what we have done and noticed all our lives, blamed the people in control and later penalized them. I find it almost nauseating. How about taking a dip in the muddy  water for once? How about taking the onus on ourselves? Long after you become old, your grandchildren will question you to which you would answer this, "I have long feared that my sins would return to visit me, and the cost is more than I can bear."

Behind our freedom

We say that we are born in free state without imperialism but have we taken time to think about that women who picks the oranges for you so that you can have a drink to cool yourself but she works for 7 days a week for meager wage, the shirt we wear were sewn under forced labor conditions by people working for 16 hours a day while being unable to send their children to school, the jewellery we show off in parties was made by the stones mined children as young as 7 working in dangerous condition for 6 days a week. Well it's nothing but natural to ignore all these questions. We don't really care neither do we have enough time for this.

Hide and seek

In a country obsessed with its IITs and IIMs it is just not hard, but impossible to nurture a breed of sportsmen who can win medals for us at the grandest stage of all. We are not short of talent and we have never been that way, we just need to realize that it takes a great deal of grooming to take that talent to its required performing level. And if we are still not willing to give up our traditional outlook and continue giving step child treatment to sports then it’s better to learn to keep our mouths shut and appreciate the efforts of people who go out there carrying the mantle of a nation. Another disgusting character of us comes out when we say our sportsmen are not consistent with their performance while we ourselves are not consistent while showing our support to them. We are a nation which will party with you in celebration but show its back when you’re down.

Rome was not built in a day

Rome was not built in a day.. drops will make an ocean.. All is not lost... People will connect not only in Facebook but also in real world. Just show them a result however small it is and they will connect. We have seen that when India won the World Cup Cricket 2011, people were all out on streets celebrating like anything. They will again come out, this time to change India for good, the water will take time to boil but before that it needs to have the fire. Just a small result and it will kindle the fire and you will see the change. All this while we were admitting defeat, it was moral slavery. It is nothing more than compromising with evil. Take a stand, let the chips fall where they may, at least you can go to bed at night in peace. You can tell your posterity that you rejected evil, and no matter what the cost, you rejected it, you would not consent. This takes much more inner fortitude than following the masses and being a state-owned serf. This requires one to be moral, to be strong, to be one who stands for that which is Right no matter what the consequences are. 

Think I am being melodramatic? Try telling your friends you refuse to participate in this evil. They will mock you and hate you for it. Why? They have no moral fortitude themselves. No matter what the cost, do Right. Do good. Fight for good, reject evil. Don't get caught up in the futile attempts to control the state. Reject it. Refuse Consent. Then, you will see change. At least in your life. And you can look in the mirror, and know you did more than 10 million voters. You said NO!

(inspired by  Is Our Patriotism Moral?)

What excuse do you have? (funny)

The headmaster entered the class with a slightly flushed and a hard ominous look in his eyes. He surveyed the class for a few minutes and asked, "Are you not ashamed to come and sit here after what you did yesterday?" Just as a special honor to them, he read out the names of a dozen or so that had attended the class. After that he read out the names of those that had kept away, and asked them to stand up on the benches. He felt the punishement was not severe and asked them to stand on their desks.

Then they were lectured. When it was over, they were asked to offer an explantion one by one. One said that he had an attack of headache so could not come. He was asked to bring medical certificate. The second said as he was coming someone told him to go back home. The headmaster replied that if he was going to listen to every loafer, he deserve to be flogged. The punishment was pronounced 10 days attendance cancelled, two rupees fine. The third said he had an attack of headache. The fourth said he had stomach ache. The fifth said his grandmother died suddenly when he was starting for school. The headmaster asked if he could bring a letter from his father. No. He had no father. Then, who was his guardian? His grandmother. But the grandmother was dead, was she not? No. It was another grandmother. The headmaster asked how many grandmothers a person could have. No answer. Could he bring a letter from his neighbours? No, he could not. None of his neighbours could read or write, because he lived in one of the most illeterate parts of the street. Then the headmaster offered to send the teacher to this illiterate part of the locality to ascertain from the boy's neighbour if the death of his grandmother was a fact. A pause, some perspiration and then the answer that the neighbours could  not possibly know anything, since the grandmother died in the village. The headmaster hit him on the knuckles with his cane, called him the street dog and pronounced the punishment 15 days' suspension.

(the above part has been extracted from a famous novel Swami and Friends written by one of the most acclaimed authors of India R. K. Narayan)

Because we need to look beyond the positive side of everything

Gone are the days when our parents used to say "Padhoge likhoge banage Nawab, kheloge kudoge banoge Kaharab (Studies will make you King, Sports will make you bad)". Sports are trending in our lives. Children in our country are encouraged to take any sports of their choice and parents are playing a very important role. But all these have started to happen just a Couple of years ago when names like Saina, Sania, Vijendra, Bindra started to come up. With more than a billion population this is not what a neutral guy would have expected. Any intellectual individual would expect India to have atleast 0.1 % of their population to be involved in sports and from that 0.001% to compete at international level. Leave out the individaul, any normal being with a very rare but common sense would say that with so many people living in India, more glory should be attached with the sports.

We Indians tend to become very happy with our smaller or little succes, if not happy then I would say complacent. Latest generations are taking things seriously. But this was not the case some few years ago. Who is to blame? Is it Parents? Yes! Why? you may have heard "Strike when the iron is hot" why? because then only you get the desire shape. Parents, leave out moulding them into shape, they try to put cold water and cool them off. If you could remember once in your childhood you asked your mother to buy you a notebook, she must have felt glad to spent that special Rs.10 on that notebook but for obvious reasons, but try to remember that cold look you got when you asked her to buy a racket, bat or ball or anything related to sports. Your parents must have said, "Complete your exams first", "Bring a good rank", "What will you do with that?","Oh, we have an old one of your elder brother, play with that", "Why do you want join that club? there're so many players, you won't get a chance", "I can't afford that", "Padhoge likhoge banage Nawab, kheloge kudoge banoge Kharab" and the list continues.

We Indians have always been about individuals. We are more concerned about Leanders and Sainas, or the Bindras or Vijenders, or the Sachins or Bhuttias. Rather than the sport or the main objective behind cheering for the athletes we want our little knowing brain to filter out some name so that we have someone to support. By doing so we have suppressed our expectations. We first check what is the athlete rank in the world, did he/she won any medal previously, if the answer is affirmative they get our full support and cheer if not then who cares. Rarely do we try get to know them or promote them. A great Humanist and ethicist once said, "Social acceptance is the first thing everyone asks for without even asking".

In such high level competitions which is not neck to neck but nose to nose, winners are decided based on fraction of difference. A single medal would call for celebrations and a sense of satisfaction is seen among the fans. Those who miss out are not known and hence forgotten before even coming into the picture, even though they were not less by any means. With over a billion people, it is needless to say that we can achieve far better heights only iff....

Cricket is blamed and made the scapegoat everytime when some sport is not being pulled up. My dear it is a vicious cycle, you do well - you get awards - you get money - you get good coaching, infrastructure - you do well. So one must say there is not only competition inside the sports but also in between two sports, which hogs more limelight. And yes our parents too think that way. "So no one plays hockey these days and who the hell watches it? C'mon ignore it take swimming. Badminton ? Oh! there is Saina Nehwal you won't get much chance to win, take Tennis, but wait Sania Mirza plays tennis, not much of a chance there also, TT? not much good coaching, Kabaddi? not enough money, football? not good team, cricket? so many players already waiting for their chance....and so they wait for all the signals to turn green which never happen and they decide "LET'S CHECK WHAT THE NEIGHBOURS HAVE DECIDED"

Hey! but wait parents are not the only one to blame, I told they do not strike when the iron is hot. Here the primary and secondary schools are also to be looked after. How many schools take sports seriously? Countries like USA, China and Australia are famous to have some schools which have created some teen sensation in many sports. In India we have never heard about any such schools. What to expect from a government who is known to have created only 7 IITs (and 9 new) and 6 IIMs (an 7 new) in the whole of India with a population of more than1.2 billion. Corrupt is the only adjective that describes them. Politicians who do not even know what "S" stands for in Sports are made Sports minister. Barely knowing the National Sports of our country they are invited to present some lakh of rupees to the winners of Olympics. The winners are congratualted and showered incentives and motivated, but what about the athletes or sportsperson who missed narrowly. They too worked hard, why were their efforts not appreciated. They had to go home demotivated. Former players work hard to restore the glory of their sports while government sleeps.

some of our stars

Sports channel showing quality sports with quality commentry and quality host are rare too. Whenever some celebrity try to promote some game it looks like that is the best game of India. There is not a single sports website which will give regular updates on all sports and Indian athletes. They try to block some website, cut the power but never do anything that would encourage or motivate the young generations by coming up with some good website website because majority of youngsters are netizen). We should appreciate to what Facebook has done which our so called Sports union could not do. Through Facebook the news reach quickly to our youngsters than by any other channel. People are getting interested to know what's happening around and so it is helping.

But why would we look onto the bright side ??? Why not remove the darkness altogether??? Why to believe in satatements like, "we are improving every day..... yes the rate is low but definitely we are improving...", "Before the olympics, how many knew about Deepika, Kashyap, Jwala, Jai bhagwan, Vijay Kumar, Thapa and many more...", "We came close of winning a medal", "He is young he is bound to improve next time", "Movies are bringing out the truth, things will now change"

The winners are not different from us. China know how to use their most powerful resourse that is Human Resource, it's high time we too start using it instead of just misusing it in studies.

(The fact that I am writing this article at the time Olympics goes on to prove that I am also an Indian)

The day I was appreciated for being late

My school logo...
Always felt proud to put it
on my shirt when I was
the Vice Captain of Yellow House

I was in Class 10. It was winter season and nobody likes to get up early in the morning and that too to go to school. But being obedient as I was, I never missed school. Our classes starts at 8 AM but before that we need to assemble for the prayer at 7.50 AM and all of us were supposed to reach school by 7.45 AM after which we were considered late and got caning from a very strict but inspiring teacher Mr. Philip (I remember his Maths classes even today). The prayer would end by 8 and caning would end by 8:07 AM. Everyone would be there in their classes by 8:10 AM.

Our first class was on Mathematics taken by Chakravorty Sir (again a very good and kind hearted teacher) which was followed by English (our Principal is used to take that subject). That day I woke up at 8 AM. Since I was not a fan of bunking classes, I hurried to dress up and dashed towards my school. St. Anthony's High School was just 2 kms away from my house. It took me only a few minutes to reach my destination and there I was standing outside with my heart pumping and mind full of nervousness whether to enter or not.

Fortunately there was no security guards present at the door who would have shouted me out if I had asked him and students had already got their beating from Philip Sir and were on their way to their classes. I ran up to the Principals office to ask his permission. He was quite surprised but he did allow me.

Chakravorty Sir didn't asked me anything about my being late. He carried on with his sums on the green board.

The next class when Principal came he gave a 10 minutes lecture on being late and punctuality and pointed me out by saying "See this boy, learn from him. Most of us would have bunked school after being 5-10 minutes late, but he came. We all should learn from his sincerity and dedication towards studies. He is sure to go much forward in his life with this kind of attitude."

All this while I was smiling and had a sense of pride in myself. My friends poked me and gave a hard elbow on my shoulders and back. They were angry beacuse 1) I was late, 2) I was not canned, 3) I got appreciated and 4) I was made the hero.

(All that was worth remembering!)

The story of a football

He came out of his house, kicked the football to the wall infront. Angry at his mother he shouted to himself, "Why does it happen to me all the time?"

"What happened to you boy?" asked a voice.

He got frightened and surprised by that strange voice. "Who is that? Who is talking to me?" he asked, wondering who that could that be when no one was to be seen around.

"It's me! see below, at your foot"

Surprised, he looked below to find it was the football who was talking to him, "What worries you? Why are you so sad?"

"Everyone, the teacher, my classmates, even my mother is my enemy, they dont like me?"

"Why? What did they do to offend you?"

"They just give me enough tasks, kick me around without even asking me what I want. They don't want me around. They just tell me to go away"

The football just laughed at it. Seeing this the boy sulked even more. The football said, "Boy, I know how you feel. Your situation is not much different from me. Well you know how all the people treat me. They all kick me around. Nobody wants me too. I know why they treat me like this. I am empty that is why. If only I was fill with stones, pebbles or irons they would not dare to kick me that way. I wish I could be treated with more respect, if only I was filled with something" The football started to cry.

The boy was listening to all this very attentively. All this time he was thinking that, the idea of football could really work for him. He was treated the same way as the football. The football was empty inside, and so was the boy. He was kicked around, if only he was fill up with something he thought. Well he couldn't fill himself with stones or rocks. God has given him brains, he could fill it up. But with what? Well there were lot of good things he thought. Knowledge was the best. He then prayed to God:

 - to accept things he could not change

 - to change things he could

 - and the knowledge to know the difference

 

He was a changed boy then. He understood why was he treated that way and he could tell the solution too. Afterall there is a difference between him and a football

Power of Namaz.

In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful 

The muezzin calls "Hayya ala s-salah, Hayya 'ala 'l-falah" meaning "come for Namaz (Salaah), come for success". People who diligently follow the command are indeed the ones fortunate enough to be considered for Allah's greatest gift.

Ironically there are many people who listens to the Adhaan (muezzin calls) and even understands it but won't obey it. They are the ones who would say that if they leave their work then they would lag behind, success won't come to them, however Allah openly says, come toward success while you come to Namaz but they remain deaf. A question linger in my mind, "Do they really want success or not?"

I have experienced many such success due to Namaz, because of which my belief and trust over ALLAH and 5 pillars of Islam have increased many folds. But I would like to share one of them which happened recently.

I am a Sportskeeda. Give me a media and I would search for a material on sports. Cricket and Football tops the list. So, one fine day the team which I was supporting was in the final and it was a close match going on. They needed some 20 runs from12 balls. The team's main batsmen got out in that over and that left them with 16 off 8 balls. The opposite team was on top. Now was my time, I couldn't stop myself. I knew that I was not playing, that doesn't mean that I can't play a part. I went inside my room, rolled my prayer mat, prayed to Almighty for that elusive victory. When I came back after shedding some drops of tear, the equation was 7 runs off 4 balls which was very much gettable and eventually they got that. My friends sitting near the TV started to explain me how the batsman was out but ran 2 runs since it was a no ball and then they hit some 4s. Life continued after that victory, people around me even asked me after looking at the happiness on my face "You're behaving as if you contributed to the victory". I couldn't help myself but give them a mild smile.

Well that was my story, I already knew what Namaz was capable of, just that I felt something great and my trust on its power grew many folds. 

PRAYER: A CRY OF THE INNER SOUL

PRAYER: THE ASCENSION FOR A BELIEVER

PRAYER: A PILLAR OF ISLAM

PRAYER IS LIKE A FORTRESS

PRAYER AS A WEAPON

PRAYER AS A REMINDER

PRAYER: THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS ESTABLISHING THE ISLAMIC SHARIAH AS A WHOLE

PRAYER AS AN EXPIATION OF SINS

PRAYER: THE FIRST QUESTION ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

SANCTITY OF THE MOSQUES

PRAYER: A DUTY KNOWN TO EVERY PROPHET OF ALLAH

PRAYER: AN EVERLASTING PRESCRIPTION FOR PURITY, CLEANSING OF SINS AND ENTERING PARADISE

PRAYER: A DUTY ON EVERYONE

O my Lord! Please, let our prayers have the honor of being offered in their true meaning and wisdom, and let them be regarded as an ascension (mi’raj) to you! Let our prayers be our joy, and the delight of our souls both in this world and the hereafter!

Amen!..

Can we paint our City Purple?

Dear Mamata Didi,

Well first I would like to congratulate you and all the people of Bengal on KKR winning IPL5. It's a moment for which we were all waiting since last 4 years. You would be feeling very happy as Kolkata after a long time will be in the news for good reasons. I hope that you may allow some kind of celebrations for achieving such a landmark (no Bandh please). Why not we start with painting the city purple?

Maam, for you nothing is impossible, your one word and SRK will be ready with Nerolac ordering his knights "Chalo kuchh paint karien" I assume that you won't have any problem with the color. It's noway close to "red". I can understand your likeness to green, but you know greenery is everywhere but purple is the new theme. It now defines victory. Your people will be glad with your new move. For people to remember you always, make sure you do Toofani/Manmaani always and there will no better time than now to do so some toofani and declare "Paint it purple".

You can start with the Writer's building (it looks dirty and need a new paint!)

And then you can try with Victoria Memorial, white seems out of picture now a days and purple is the new color in demand.
You can also do away with white and black at zebra crossing. Purple will do a lot good there also to grab people's attention.
Red has been there in traffic signals for more than a century (first traffic light was used in 1868, London) which is more than 37 years. You can do away with that too. Cars, Buses, trucks and other vehicles will see purple more often, green was always there in the signal plus you have an opportunity to get rid of red.

And since there is no such thing such as state color of Bengal, why not we start a trend by declaring purple as our state color so that other state will start to follow. We will design our own State flag (I can help)
Change is what you like Maam, "Poriborton" and "Poschim Bongo" is your favorite word and so "Purple" will fit in nicely. It too starts with "P"

I have made up my mind, I am turning to purple when I am painting my house next. And If possible the gates will have a golden hint in it.
I love to eat Eclairs (my favorite chocolate). It too has a purple and gold color wrapper.
Purple define rich, class, luxury, smoothness, quality, etc.. SRK and Knights did the right thing by shifting to purple from black. Take a hint from him (he is the brand ambassador of Bengal afterall) and say "chalo paint karein"

I am from Kolkata but I live in Bangalore these days, (what to do there is not much job opportunities for engineers like us in Kolkata) but I would be readily helpful in case you need any from me. 

Knights after their final victory, see how Manoj, Shukla and Das - the Bengali dudes are celebrating.
"Babu Moshai" hum aap sabke fan hai

Sincerely
Loyal KKR fan from Kolkata