Angle of Vision does count!

Please watch this video first :

TV England Presenter cries when she listens to Islamic Azan  (Adhaan - Call for Prayers)

Yesterday I shared this video from a friend's wall to mine (http://www.facebook.com/saalik.siddikki) on Facebook with the following caption:

" No words - No comment ! Just feelings that touch the chords of spirituality! "

Another Facebook friend immediately wrote the following comment :

" Only because of a white skin women?

Just imagine a black women, then you wont feel that "spiritual ".

I replied :

" My dear, Innamal Aamaal-u-Binniyyaat (Acts are based on intentions – a saying by the Prophet of Islam) - I said spiritual about Azaan, not about the woman. There is nothing spiritual in her. Spirituality has no relation with any complexion. You expressed your feelings, I really don't mind. But it shows how two people, with different states of mind, see the same things and react accordingly.

Anyway, thanks that you shared your emotions bluntly. I respect that.”

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I do not want to make any comment about why he misjudged my feelings and emotion. However, it is another good example of how a person looks at a glass half filled with water as half filled and the other as half empty.

The angle of vision does count!

Bill Gates Questioned

The power of words is an undeniable reality.  Negative or positive, emotional or taunting, encouraging or humiliating, simple or difficult - they do impact our states of mind.

A friend was experiencing disheartening situation due to some mishaps and not finding any way out of hyper tension.  Family and friends tried but failed to cheer him up.  He got himself confined first to his office room and then to his bedroom for two three days.  So, they left him alone to cope with the situation himself.


I called him on mobile phone and sent him a couple of SMSes without getting any reply and realized that he needed solitude.


Then, I got an SMS from an acquaintance and felt that it may play the trick on my friend.  I forwarded the SMS to him and to my surprise, his quick reply struck my mobile like a streak of lightning.  

He wrote: "Yaar (friend), thanx for sending me this SMS.  It has really done some magic on me.  I couldn't hold back my instant laughter and tell you what I'm now out of the dark cave of depressive mood.  I wanna see you tonight."  We had not met for the last more than a month.


Here is the SMS that may refreshen your mood too:


Quote -  A Patthaan wrote a letter to Bill Gates -  "Sir, I have some questions for you : 

1)  The letters in keyboard are not in order.  When will you release the correct version?  


2) There is a start button but no stop button.  Will you please do something about it?  


3)  We learnt MS Word.  When will you give us MS Sentence?  


4)  And finally sir, a very personal question.  Your name is Gates but you sell Windows.  Why? - Unquote

Sad Violin Melody - But deeply heart-touching.

Sufi Music (Sukun)

Fantastic Sufi Music - Touching the Chords of Heart and Soul

Corrupt Rulers - Eunuchs - Cowards

This is one of the top news headlines today :

“North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his son are in China to visit the school of senior Kim's father, Kim Il-sung, a source with knowledge of the secretive trip told Reuters on Saturday.”

Why is the trip kept so secret?  I have totally failed to under the mindset of these leaders.  Leaders?  No, no.  They are true hypocrites, eunuchs and cowards in the real sense of the words.

They are, in fact, psychopaths who slaughter the values of their societies.  They are fanatics and power-maniacs for creating and protecting dictatorial empires using the might of the State to keep their own people confined to fear and terror.

Their tallest claim is that they represent their people.  That is sheer nonsense.

No citizen of their States is allowed to travel abroad with his own freedom of will and desire and if they intend to visit a country, their movements are kept secret, shrouded in disgusting mystery.

And still they are part of today’s civilized world and do escape any punishment for their any wrongdoings, deception, corruption, misuse of authority and public money.

By the way, they are not alone in their elite class.  Leaders of some third world countries like Pakistan also have no exception.  

The first and top most difference between these two species is that the Western world lead by the arrogant and hegemonic sole super power America fully support the latter one for their own vested interests and is always in clash with the first one.

The second difference is that our leaders, sorry - let me correct, our rulers are provided maximum shelter under the umbrella of so called democracy.  Otherwise they are all the same, enjoying all the luxuries, even better, than the resident of the White House by all manners and means available to be exploited.  

Friendships Never Expire

An e-Mail From a Friend 


Hi, Two years ago, you wrote a verse in a poem (Ghazal) :

Shikasta paai say ghaayal tha, quaid ghar mei'n raha

Mai'n apni zaat kay andar magar safar mei'n raha

that meant something like this :

Due to injuries, I remained imprisoned in home

But, continued moving on the inner voyage within

Very honestly speaking, I could not understand the meanings of the verse at that time as I have no flair for poetry.  But, now that circumstances and perhaps fate have restricted and confined me to home imprisonment, I understand what you meant in the above verse.

Now I understand how difficult and almost second to impossible it would have been for you to combat with hypertension and depression particularly when your friends abandon you  for various reasons and your own family starts ignoring you for your blunders.

In spite of not being an internet maniac, I regularly visit your blog http://thinksucceeded.blogspot.com and derive truly invigorating energy to battle with my depression.  Also, now I realize the value and power of positive thinking that you have been preaching personally and in your writings.  

My dear, I sincerely regret my ignoring you in those times when you needed me most.  In fact, I was afraid that after losing everything in your business, you might ask me for some money which I was not in a position to lend to you.  But, that factor alone should not have changed my feelings about you.

The friend who took this photo is missing here but, the smile on these

faces captured his spiritual presence forever. Only they could feel it.

Friendship should be much above such a misdemeanor.  Your quote on one of your blogs "A friendship is like your extreme privacy where you don’t look around before changing your clothes with lights on or off" is true in the real sense of the phrase.

Hope you condone my ignorance.  I do admit that I missed your company in those times and I miss it more badly these days.

Look forward to spending some time with you soon.

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I wish and pray that God bless you with more positive energies, courage and ability to get out of this situation and move along the stream of life like before.

Would be with you very soon.

Take care!

Salman Khan of Khan Academy Speaks at GEL (Good Experience Live) Conference

History Says It Happens Like That Too !

Tolstoy was a great pacifist and was once lecturing on the need to be nonresistant and nonviolent towards all creatures. Someone in the audience responded by asking what should be done if one was attacked in the woods by a tiger. Tolstoy responded, "Do the best you can. It doesn't happen very often." Tolstoy was a great pacifist and was once lecturing on the need to be nonresistant and nonviolent towards all creatures. Someone in the audience responded by asking what should be done if one was attacked in the woods by a tiger. Tolstoy responded, "Do the best you can. It doesn't happen very often."

Sir Arthur Evans (July 8, 1851 – July 11, 1941), a British archaeologist most famous for unearthing the palace of Knossos on the island of Crete, was entertaining a group of friends on his 90th birthday. One of his guests mentioned that the Germans had destroyed Knossos. Evans was so devastated by this news that he only lived three days past that fateful evening. The sad irony lies in the fact that Evans' guest was misinformed. The Germans did not destroy the palace. On the contrary, precautions had been made by them to ensure that the ancient ruin suffered no damage whatsoever.

While in France, Benjamin Franklin often played chess with an elderly duchess. Once, after he put her king in check and taking it, she reprimanded him by saying, "We do not take kings so". "We do in America", Franklin responded matter-of-factly.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, enjoyed practical jokes. He is said to have once sent a telegram to twelve of his friends, all people of great significance and power. The telegram said: 'Flee at once, the secret is discovered'. Within 24 hours all twelve had left the country.

Hold your trump card.

A friend usually argues with his spouse of 25 year marriage that even after spending quarter of a century with him, she could not understand him.  It is an everyday scene and, very honestly speaking he now feels, his children may have started despising him for this nasty behaviour. His wife calls it male-nagging!

Now there are two aspects of this matter :

1.  My friend's argument over this misunderstanding factor is that it really hurts you deeply when a person whom you adore so much and who has spent  25 years with you, does not sometimes understand your thinking pattern, your behaviour, your habits, your intellectual level, your visions, your feelings, likes, dislikes and your states of mind under special circumstances.

And when it occurs frequently, it severely slaughters your faith, conviction and the feelings of oneness causing invisible cracks in relationship.

With this angle, it is certainly agonizing and painful and could result in undesirable situation with hypertension and depression as the case is with my friend these days.  He confided to me one day recently that he felt as if he was losing his sanity like a slow-poisoning effect.

He is becoming more and more irritant now and seems to be extremely sensitive to matters of no value and importance.

2.  Yesterday, we discussed the situation at length.  After listening to and tolerating his explosive outbursts, I told him that it is not possible for every person to completely understand even the dearest and most loved one and vice versa.  One can just try to expand the limits of understanding with the passage of time.

I told him to imagine as if marriage, like any other relationship, is a friendly game of playing cards.  What is the purpose of any game?  Merely to demonstrate your skills to the opponent by using legitimate tactics and following the set rules.  There are situations in certain games where just one card, the trump card, becomes the deciding factor of the game.  Before throwing down this trump card, all other players, one, two or three keep juggling with their imagination to guess just what that card is.  And the moment a player shows that trump card, the game comes to an end to be started again.

Unlike the Western societies, most of the marriages in our region last till the death of one life-partner.  In that case, the process of understanding each other continues till one partner leaves the table and joins the majority.  Now, if someone says that I completely understand my spouse and vice versa, then what is left in a relationship to explore, to discover and to satiate the curiosity.

You feel hungry, look around for meal, have it and the process ends with no more quest for more meal.  Yes, quest is the real thing in life.  People with positive thinking enjoys it more than the fulfillment of dreams and achievement of goals.

So, what I have derived is that being completely understood should not be the ultimate goal.

Life is a one-time game and you cannot show your trump card to restart another game.

Farah Hussain Opening Sialkot Killing Post by Zagham

A Brutal Mental Block !

Every writer has to encounter the so notorious writer's block during the process of his writing career.  The reasons could be different in each individual case.

Similarly, I am also facing an unmanageable block that I have termed as 'Brutal Mental Block' since I, along with the whole Pakistani nation and the rest of the world, watched the following video that first went on air 4 days after the unbelievable tortured killing of two young boys.

I really don't feel up to posting the video separately on each of my blogs.  You might already have watched it either on Pakistanitelevision channels or on Facebook or YouTube.

In case, that you missed it and simply want to know the depth and reality of my current state of mind, you can watch a low definition video on my following blog : 

http://the-editorials.blogspot.com/

Trying to compose myself and hope to be with you very soon.

Never Retire Before The Angel Arrives

While deleting unnecessary data from my hard disk, I noticed this photo of an old man that I took about two years ago and a stormy question started stirring up my relaxing thoughts.

‘Why most of the people retire much before their last breath?’

I’ve really failed to think up a cogent reason for someone’s calling himself or writing ‘retired’ with his name after completing his job tenure with his employer, be it a government department or a private organization.

I still recall when the father of one of my childhood chums received notification of his retirement; he clearly looked fatigued, exhausted and surrendered.  I personally felt a little saddened because of emotional attachment with my friend.  An air of gloom and murkiness could be sensed in the atmosphere that remained so for many days to come.

My friend’s father started appearing in the mosque to offer prayers while growing a semi-grey beard.  Anybody could notice that he was not the same person that people had known prior to his retirement.  He had retired from the post of a Section Officer implying that he was an educated person.  Yet, his post-retirement activities were quite limited.

Now, when I look back over a long span of the past, many faces of retired persons have started appearing on the screen of my memories and I can’t see any one of them trying to face the colossal change and doing something different from the common lot. 

I suppose there are very few retired personnel, particularly from civil services, who would prepare themselves to take some giant step while reaching such an important milestone of their journey of life.

Some time in July of 2008 I was giving driving lessons to my two daughters when we caught sight of the gentle and angel-looking old man in the above photo that carried a visible grace on his age-worn and wrinkled face. 

He was almost around 75, a little slow in his movements and used to drive up to that area every morning for landscape oil painting.  He always looked apt in his work fully concentrating in the job to achieve desired results.

I told my daughters that unlike other retired persons he was trying his level best not to retire before the last breath and that’s what life is all about, living an active life by keeping themselves busy in creative activities and not just trying to stay alive until the angel of death arrives.


Creative thinking is the essence of life.  I'm of the opinion that the day human mind ceases to think creatively would be the beginning of the process of the promised doomsday.

Why Not Edu-Mobile Revolution?

Pakistan is one of those countries where overall average users of mobile phones are on the higher side than many other nations.  Even minors like this boy have got their own mobile phone sets either very cheaper or very expensive depending on their social status.

My six year old nephew can play any game on a mobile 100 times faster than I can and I’m sure this is the case with every kid who has an access to any mobile in his family.  It doesn’t need any research work to confirm that the young kids learn, understand and play games much faster than us adults.

My point of concern is that why the mobile phone technologists, educators, programmers and social scientists can’t join in an international campaign to create something that would revolutionize the concept of learning basic things for young children through using mobile phone sets?

Basic mathematics, grammar rules, traffic rules, personal care and other matters of interest should be available on mobile phone sets so that the minor children, in particular, can improve their knowledge while playing easy games.

I’m sanguine this issue could not be ignored for long and some day someone will take up this challenge for the betterment of young children regardless of their cast, color, nationality or social status.

Blogging : A Passion or Addiction?

The best quote about blogging I have seen so far is : 
Blogging is hard because of the grind required to stay interesting and relevant. (Sufia Tippu)


It's really a question worth million words and clicks and yet not easy to answer with an appealing justification whether blogging is an addiction or a passion.


It is simply a futile exercise without being fueled with a passion.  Creating blog(s) merely to show your presence on internet or letting your friends and acquaintances know that you are also a part of the vast blogosphere does not make it worthwhile.  In this case it may end up either as abandoned or become  a nasty addiction difficult to get rid of.


Blogging could be for making  money or for personal and family musings.  


To me, it is almost impossible that blogging becomes addiction because staying interesting and relevant forever is not that easy a task.  It requires avid reading, observing your surroundings, practicing writing, thinking creatively and sparing time to remain connected with your audience or visitors who like you to keep communicating with them.  


All these activities do not amount to addiction.


So, if you are  already blogging, there is no need to preach you about how to blog and what to write.  Nevertheless, if you are thinking about creating a blog, then you have to be obsessed with a subject of your interest that could be shared with others.  You will have to do a lot net browsing, visiting blogs and keeping a fire kindled deep inside your own intellectual self.


The tone of your blog and the frequency of your posts would determine whether you have succeeded in achieving your goal of expressing your emotions and thoughts to others or not.

Peace of Mind

Yesterday, a friend yearned, with a long sigh of unfulfilled desires, for true peace of mind.  He went on to say 'we spent much time in obtaining higher academic degrees, worked hard to make careers, earned reasonably enough for the future of our families BUT, have ignored a lot as well on our way to a successful and gratifying life.  The most important thing that we did not take care of in this process is True Peace of Mind.'


I agreed to his point of view.  We, the current generations of the era of revolutionary technologies, have no time for deep thinking about how to have moments of true peace of mind.  We have overloaded our lives with unwanted matters like the store in the above photo.  Instead of discarding many junk items of no importance at all, we keep them stacked for no apparent reasons.


We do procrastinate in settling some issues that keep our minds engaged in placing scattered pieces of picture puzzles without any definite purpose.  We unconsciously indulge ourselves into activities that do not pay back to us in any way.  Such activities rather devour our moments of rejoice, family gathering, self talk, catharsis and peace of mind.


We are becoming complacent and lethargic in taking bold steps to creating even short segments of peaceful loneliness.  We feel helpless when it comes to sacrificing worthless relations, habits and actions.


Just one BIG bold step is all that we need towards attaining peace.  Stealing a few moments in total solitude and writing down all the futile chores may provide us some space to sneak into and enjoy a figment of peace.


At least I'm going to do that some time today.  I know it's an enormous challenge but then I have no other option except to prove that I'm bigger than my challenges and this one could not defeat me simply because I didn't want to win.  Failure is no option in this battle.


Wish you to achieve the same goal soon too!

No, It is not Frenzy, Anger or Revenge!

Beyond Jungle Law

I'm a big-mouth rebel of the prevailing system of this country.  I openly talk and write about bloody revolution that is destined to occur for cleansing the society.  My poetry is an open proof to verify my thoughts and emotions.  Here are a few verses for your perusal : 

Umeendei'n poochti hai'n wahshato'n ka raqs kub ho ga

Zamee'n par abb lahu ki baarisho'n ka raqs kub ho ga

TaRRaptay jism ibrat ki numaayesh mei'n sajei'n gay kub

Darakhto'n aur mundero'n par saro'n ka raqs kub ho ga

Abaaey raahbari paa kar jinho'n nay qaafilay lootay

Sar-e-shamsheer unn sub raahzano'n ka raqs kub ho ga

Sar-e-baazaar naachay ga koi majzoob-e-uryaan kub

Abaao'n, wardiyo'n aur pagRRiyo'n ka raqs kub ho ga ........

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I have repeatedly expressed my desire to be among the pioneer of the long-predicted bloody revolution.  Even then, whenever my spouse or daughters implore me to kill a lizard in the kitchen, I can't do so without an overwhelming emotion of provocative hatred and revenge.

I'm still in deep shock after watching a couple of young men brutally beating two teenage brothers (one of them is said to be a Haafiz-e-Quran) to death.  The manimal mob even hanged them before killing them and later humiliated their dead bodies.

And, to make it worse and a matter of shame for the whole nation, rather for the whole Ummah, it all happened in the presence of a huge crowd and police.  How many of them were observing fasting at the time of this inhumane and ruthless bloody act of unpardonable crime?  

The reason for my being still in shock, beside this filthiest crime, is that it happened last Sunday and no action was taken by the Inspector General of Punjab police, nor the Chief Minister, who feels so proud in being called 'Khaadim-e-Punjab', spoke a single word about it until the private television channels repeatedly played the covertly made video.

The pitiless murderers' claim that the victims robbed their house and killed a guy two days prior to this is yet to be proved in the courts.

I don't find adequate words to describe this incident.  What do you say?  Was it frenzy, madness, hatred, revenge or what?

I hate to link here the video.  Should you be interested in watching it, in case that you missed it on television, you can find it on You Tube by the title '2 brothers tortured o death'.

Power of Myopic View

Look at the Challenges with a Myopic View

Difficult situations and uncertain circumstances fuel our passions and obsession to fight back against all odds.  They dare us to discover our strengths and powers that sometimes even we ourselves are unaware of.  

The greater the challenges in life the bigger the opportunities we have to explore deep inside us to find out our weaponry to win the battle on various frontiers.

How you encounter challenges primarily depends on how you see them.  If you take challenging situations bigger than yourself, your chances of losing are brighter than your expectations.  On the contrary, if you look at the challenges with a myopic view, you feel yourself like a mighty Himalayan Man.  Thinking on these lines gives you repeated assurance that you can tackle the challenge so easily.  And, in reality, you overcome any difficult situations without much suffering of losses in any sense of the word.

  

If you are already among those who solve their problems with this approach, please tell others to follow it.  Otherwise, try this adventurous formula for yourself first and share your feelings and outcome of your endeavour with others for inspiration and motivation.

Obduracy of Positive Thinking

Pakistani flood victim Mohammed Nawaz hangs onto a moving raft as he is rescued by the Pakistan Navy August 10, 2010 in Sukkur, Pakistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

There are hundreds of photos, on internet and in print media these days, of Pakistan flood victims which may cause at least a sole tear roll down your beefy cheek.  


However, this one of some Muhammad Nawaz has immensely strengthened my belief in positive thinking that I have been preaching on http://thinksucceeded.blogspot.com for some time after having gone through nerve-shattering and sould-destroying circumstances.


When I write or talk about obduracy of positive thinking, I'm normally encountered with a big HOW?  Though I try my best to explain as convincingly as I can but this exceptional photo, by Paula Bronstein, is my surefire visible answer to every HOW!


The man is severely fatigued and seems to be out of breath for a moment but his strong grip on the rescuing ropes demonstrates his strong conviction in the power of obduracy of positive thinking, hope and assurance. The gushing floor waters certainly failed to weaken his belief in God's helping hand being extended to him in the shape of Pakistan Navy rescue workers.


I really regret why I didn't capture this great photo.

Outrageous Act of Violence - but WHY?

Pakistan police officer use a baton to control flood affected people who are trying to loot donated food from a bus at a roadside in Azakhel near Nowshera, Pakistan on Sunday, Aug. 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

This picture caused nausea to my younger daughter who is a student of BFA, Punjab University.  She was rather a bit annoyed with me for inviting her to my PC to see this disgusting scene.

As I wrote on Facebook, what option these people had when they caught sight of a van full of flood relief goods?  Please forget, for a moment, that both the security personnel and the old man are Muslims or Pakistanis. The only reality that counts here is that they are human beings and not from uncivilized and inaccessible jungles of Amazon or far flung African areas.

The police official may not have gone through the agony of pains that these people experienced after losing everything in floods and there is a definite possibility that they might have been deprived of any food, medicine and even sleep for days.  

Whoever deputed this security personnel should have briefed him about how to treat this people regardless of their indisciplined behaviour, for they deserve every word and act of sympathy, cooperation and reassurance that the whole nation is with them in these hard times of their life.

I'm still feel outrageous at such an inhumane behaviour even 24 hours after first seeing this photo.

The security officers / officials and aid workers must remain cool and composed in such volatile and sometimes uncontrollable situations and try their level best to calm down the crowds.

Another Step Forward

This blog is a step forward towards an unknown destiny.

As I have stated somewhere else that I got stuck up in the cul-de-sac of circumstances after 28th January, 2008, creating this blog is, in fact, a very giant and risky endeavour to find a definite way out of uncertainty and oblivion.


God has blessed every single person with some qualities that need to be explored and discovered.  I've discovered some of mine and am going to use them as the weapons of mass destruction to blast away the apparently invulnerable obstacles that might have existed in my mind only.  

I don't know why God has created our minds with the ability of creating huge fortresses of fear and pains to hinder us from achieving our goals or perhaps He wants us to find out our inner strengths, buried somewhere deep inside us, to overcome all the possible challenges of life.  


One thing is for sure that He does not like us to surrender to the negative forces, both individually and collectively. 


So, my friends, acquaintances and everyone else visiting this blog, please dive deep inside the ocean of your fathomless inner-self and discover the pearls and diamonds that God has placed here and there.


Life is a one time game and failure is not a choice for any damn reasons!