The leaves grow green

to worship the Sun

and turn yellow

to return to roots

But some buds

They never open

and No one cares about them

Farsi and English

Today, I had a lengthy conversation on Skype with my uncle and younger brother about poetry. Although I had pressed on realism but when I put my own pen on paper to doodle, I felt like poetry has its own ecosystem that do not match much with realism and each language has its own environments. Specially, Farsi has a strange strength in dragging one into a different arena that is more sweet and lively. When I put my English and Farsi together,  it becomes visible to me that each language personify different environments. English is a light and flexible language and is more fitted for describing things, events and analyzing them than expressing the inner-self that asks for a poetic language. 

I don't know....

I don't know, if there is magic

But I know, there is magic-square

I don't know, if there are fairies

But I know, "the fairy" my Dear

I don't know, if love overthrows life

But I know, it overthrows the lover

I don't know, if there is life after death

But I know, "my spirit" is with me forever

I don't know, if there is truth

But I know, "the truth" I adhere

What is the point?

What is Missing

Today, I did an experiment in updating my Diary. 

Dark Mirror

Your heart is deep and vast
When your eye balls run fast
And you don't blink
And you don't think

When your eyes are shut
Your words end by but
Then reality is a dark mirror
with twinkling fears it appear

Me and Stone

So, after 5 months, I dusted off my diary to write something in it and it is funny that I just dusted off to dedicate some broken lines to Goethe... Goethe says, "Enjoy when you can and endure when you must"... As I am not a hedonist so I do not buy the first part of Phrase, "Enjoy when you can"...but I definitely buy the second part of phrase, "Endure when you must" and for enduring one needs to be a like a stone... As I can't break the Goethe's quote so I will borrow it as whole to use his line in my lines,

Me to Stone;

Just wanted to be like a stone

What I get to be of flesh and bone?

Cold at heart and warm at face

Idle in rest, idle at race


Stone to Me;

Either a flower grows on you or rust

"enjoy when you can, endure when you must"

Don't you realize that you are a stone?

You rise from dust and you go in dust

Cool, 99% Problems are solved ;)

Paul Zak's experiments have "Proved" that Oxytocin is the morality molecule...Cool, Let's celebrate as 99% problems are solved...Occupy Wall Streets protesters should demand for regular doses of Oxytocin to 1% rich people so they become generous and share their wealth with rest....Let's distribute oxytocin sprays/injections in areas where Al-Qaida and Taliban are active so they stop killing and instead help to make the world a better place to live; No suicide attacks and all are happy (Sorry Pakistan, for losing strategic depth and sorry Saudi Arabia for losing external arms :(....Most importantly, the jails should be closed as now it is possible to make criminals useful citizen by giving them doses of Oxytocin at hospitals. What about Paul's 5% bastards? (who do not respond to Oxytocin) Well, may be a simple solution be to give them some sort of identification so people could easily identify them and become careful dealing with them (It is a biological prejudice)...Wow, there will be great cuts in defense budgets, downsizing in police departments and more money for health, education and job creation... I think, I am running of imaginations so let me find someone and hug, to increase my oxytocin level to suggest more expected changes ;)

This claim is like, someone claims that Testosterone is love molecule because when testosterone levels are high, individuals feel passionate about their partners or individuals highly tend to fall in love when testosterone levels are high... As male's body produces ten times more testosterone so they are ten times higher at risk of falling in love than than female...This is just absurd....

Click the link below to watch Paul Zak's talk,

Paul Zak: Trust, morality -- and oxytocin | Video on TED.com

Knowledge and wisdom

Have you ever wondered why Philosophy is love of wisdom instead of love of knowledge? Let me compare them and you will undesrtand, why? Knowledge increaeses fears. For example learning about diseases and their symptoms increase fear of diseases. Learning about fallibility of human experiences, reasoning and generalizations increase the fear of becoming wrong and makes one cynic. Learning about human impacts and limits of non- renewable reources increase fear of disastrous future. In short knowledge increase fear and it is the fear of losing that drive men for more knowledge in an effort to stop the losses. In other words men who learn knowledge live in state of fear and hope at same time.

OK, what about wisdom? Wisdom does not come from knowledge but from a thirst and an appetite for truth and of course knowledge is a tool for it. To elaborate it; the difference between a philosopher and a teacher is, a teacher teaches and a philosopher makes one thirsty. A thirsty seeks everywhere and enjoys on finding. So one gets knowledge from a teacher and become inspired from a philosopher.

How we know, whether we are seeking merely knowledge or wisdom? That is really simple, when one set goals, he is looking for knowledge and when one seeks because he can't live in dark, he is seeking wisdom. Of course, we all set goals but then have to face the fear linked to it, fear of not acheiving the goals or better to say, failure and even fear of setting wrong goals or fear of value; whether the goals really worth of our times and efforts?

We are moving towards age of intuition.

Whenever men wanted to step in a new or unwalked land, they have fancied about it. What men fancy may not match with reality but can't survive, if they aren't logical. Philosophers have used and called it thought experiment.
With the birth of classical Science, started the age of reason. A world quite predictable so long mythical traditions left the arena to give space for rapidly growing sciences. It was the time of dominance of "left hemisphere". Though both hispheres are connected and work side by side but the relationship were never have been of equal partners. Just as right handed people use dominantly left hemisphere and left handed people more of right hemisphere so is true about ages in human history. The period of reason or classical science was the period of left hemisphere but it seems and it seems very clear and strongly that we are heading towards age of intuition. So now we are heading towards dominance of right hemisphere.
Principle of uncertinty was one of the biggest challenge for scientists but now by having more in depth understanding of subatomic world, "chaos theory" and "entaglement" are taking root in the aciences. By rapid changes in technology, creativity is getting the biggest shares of market whether it is fictions, games, designs or movies. So unpreditictability is limiting the space for reason to make space for rapidly growing intuition.
The age of reason brought with it economical, social and political revolutions. The systems that have born out of these revolutions competed fiercely against each other. Two world wars and following cold war were bitter consequences of these competitions.
Now that we are entering into a new era, based on our historical experiences, the economical, social and political revolutions are expected. The Arab Spring, London riots, Occupy Wall Street movements and an overwhelming feeling of uneasiness over global economic melt down are preface of these revolutions. The most interesting thing about these new changes is that, unlike age of reason, they do not have intellectual backing. There is Marx nor the gang of Liberterian Philosophers to divide the world for their systems. There is two possibilities, either it is the nature of age of intuition to be anarchic and without any of its own system (unpredictable as it's nature is) or it is too young to have intellectual backing. Let see.......

Beyond persuasion

In ancient Greece, the difference between a sophist and a philosopher was;
a sophist was aimed to persuade and win debate while philosophers were aimed to go beyond persuasion to find truths. It was how sophists were distinguished from philosophers in ancinet Greece. The sophists were making money to teach the art of persuasion and rhetoric to people who were interested in politics and power.
Recently we have witnessed and are witnessing a widespread and global dissatisfaction with both ruling political system as well as economical systems. In fact these systems are winning systems of our time. Just hardly two decades earlier they were proudly declared the ultimate system for humanity and each nation had to evolve culturally and economically to become able to adopt them.Sooner the better. Even the nations were ranked based on their timing in adaptation of these systems and cultures are blamed for slow adaptation. In other words nations with poor culture were slow in adapting these systems. So sometimes "civilized nations" were feeling the need to help in civilizing nations that were inept and showing rigidity in adaptations. Of course sometimes doctors need to do surgery to help the patients. Well that was quite convincing and persuaded very well a lot of nations to westernize rather than to modernize.
Cambridge and Harvard as leading institutions of 'high cultures' were beating their chests for triumphant end of both sleepy spritual East and highly cynical Marxism. And then economical crises of US and Europe burst out of nowhere just to shock these leading institutions.
What they were doing all these years, busy to prove wrong Marxism (to win the debates) and to persuade world for liberterian system (politics and power).....it was all what ancient sophists were doing. Silently but with vigor we are seeing a lot of people are rereading Marx and are trying to prove that he was right (see still people tend and are interested in job of sophists to find reasons to prove who is right and who is wrong).
Isn't it time that these "highly civilized" and "elite scholars" wake up of their dreamful braggings and instead of insisting and wasting time for proving right and wrong think and look seriously to real problems? I think it is time to stop acting like sophists and lead like real philosophers. If you don't like the word philosophers then replace it by economists, political scientists and all those titles that one could brag louder with.

Love and lust

Love is a subject talked by all and yet undestood lest or better to say misunderstood the most. Love is the cornerstone of spirituality and intellectuality, doesn't matter the source . Buddhism, Christianity, Philosophy and others do not have much in common in terms of origin but none can stand without notion of love. So where lies the problem? Why it is lest understood? The reason is that emotions are blind and we think of love as formless and dimensionless feelings while it is not true. Were it true we wouldn't have the categories of liking, loving and falling in love. And we wouldn't have the division between lust and love. I want to make clarify here that lust is not just physical but also intellectual. Intellectual lust become integrated almost in all major industries through media and it has silently addicted people.

I was saying that emotions are blind. You can attach it to anything and it will stick well to it. I don't think that it needs an illustration but still one is good in case needed. Gambling for example is something irrational but if one invest emotions in it, it will stick very well. Animosity is another example. All know the consequences, doesn't matter how weak is the enemy, but investing emotions let you go to irreversible exteremes.

So just loving is not enough but knowing what to love is also very important. Now that it is somewhat clear let's categorize love so we distinguish it from others.

To me selfishness stand at one end and selflessness stands at other end. Selfishness is lust and selflessness is love. We are mostly confused because we are mostly lying somewhat in between. As much as one is close to selflessness that much one is clear that what he does and what he wants and as much as one is close to selfishness that much one think and act under urgencies, fear and immediate needs and benefits. Liking is not always lust but mostly it is. So going from liking to loving (in loving selflessness dominates but it is still fragile because selfishness is still there and fear is ready to take advantage of any developing circumstance) and to falling in love is a long process of character building in which one overcome fears and become a person who is daring enough to stand selflessly for what he understands clearly.

Only self stands to suffering

Whether you take the path of Buddha or a pathless way of Jiddu Krishnamurthi, there is no escape from suffering. Whether you engage actively in social life or choose an ascetic life style again suffering is there. If you are looking a way to escape from suffering, it is as you try to live without food or work without any break. This desire is basically foolish as it contradicts with an existing fact. A better desire is to build a capacity for absorbing suffering or foraking it easy to take ad it comes and that is nothing else as accepting it openly as part of life. Sufferings to spirit is as pain to body. Pain, though is unpleasant but is an alarm system to protect the body. Similarly suffering is an alarm system to spirit and your personality. But keep mind that anything that goes out of your control will control you. So responding to suffering when it is under control is key to it's acceptability. Self is a truth bigger than reality of body. It is the only healer of self so during suffering, looking outward for heals is just looking for immediate solutions while leaving the causes at place. Let the self grow from what it like to fall in love with them and it will grow strong enough to endure all suffering. It requires time and care. While going through process one needs to be careful that one can't fool the self. Self is the most cruel judge so while going from liking to loving one needs to consider the main factors; rationality, ethics and aesthetics.

گرعشق زبانی داشتی

این خموشی را نبین
که غوغایی است در کمین

مستی با نا گفتنی هایش
زخمی زده بسا شیرین

گر هیچ نگویی زحال دل
بسیارم گفت اخم جبین

گشتم همکلام ستارگان
که مهتابم ننگرد به زمین

حرفی زن که این قافله گذراست
بعد ما جماعت بیخبر است آن و این

گرعشق زبانی داشتی
بسیارت میگفت اسراررحزین

این خموشی را نبین
که غوغایی است در کمین

ما را جز شهود چیزی ناید پسند

چون او شنفت صدای این دردمند
سبکبال آمد تا رهایی ام دهد زبند

تا که خواستم حسابخواهی کنم
لبخندی بزد، گفتا نکن چون وچند

تو بگردی که یابی عالم وجود
ما را جز شهود چیزی ناید پسند

تماشایی بیش نیست این برو بیا
که تو را پیش ماست نشیمن بلند

ناله مکن، این حجاب باریک است
که کمی شنیدند وبسیار گفتند

آرام باش چون پیکر گل در دل شب
و با شبنم روحت به صبح بزن لبخند

۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔

بعد از 15 سال، من این شعر را ویراستار کردم، تا بتوانم بہ آن را بہ آھنگ تبدیل کنم

 شنفت صدای من

 گفت مراست بیش از سخن

 خواستم حسابخواهی کنم

خندید وگفت، نکن چون وچند 

 گردی تا یابی عالم جود

 جز شهود چیزی ناید پسند

تماشا است این برو بیا

 ترا زما نشیمن بلند

[Pre-Chorus]

ناله مکن

 حجاب باریک است

خندہ بزن

  دیدہ نزدیک است 

[Chorus]

آرام، آرام

لبخند بزن

آرام، آرام

 دلبند من

[Chorus]

آرام، آرام

مرا ببر

آرام، آرام

ای بے صبر

[Verse 2]

اله مکن

 حجاب باریک است

خندہ بزن

  دیدہ نزدیک است 

 گردی تا یابی عالم جود

 جز شهود چیزی ناید پسند

تماشا است این برو بیا

 ترا زما نشیمن بلند

[Pre-Chorus]

ناله مکن

 حجاب باریک است

 آرامشت شنیدند

 ناآرامی ھا ندیدند

After International Day of Protest…

In response to call of Hazara Democratic Party for an “International Day of Protest against Hazara Killings in Quetta, Pakistan, today (October 1st, 2011) Hazaras in New York, USA,… Sydney, Melbourne, Perth , Adelaide and other cities of Australia,…. , Toronto, Canada, Vienna, Austria,… Stockholm, Sweden,…. Istanbul, Turkey,…. Rome, Italy,…. Oslo, Norway,… Quetta and Islamabad cities of Pakistan took to streets to protest and have appealed to UN for action to stop massacre of Hazaras. Hazaras of Karachi in a press conference demanded for an international probe into Hazara killings in Quetta, Pakistan as the government is showing no interest for protecting its citizen.

Of course, it was a turning point for Hazaras to show solidarity with their brothers and sisters beyond the bounds of international borders and their ideological affiliations. After formation of the Hizb E Wahdat, when first time in their history, Hazaras practically showed their oneness, this was the second milestone event in history that Hazaras have showed their oneness. Hazaras showed that nothing can break their national identity, neither geographical borders nor ideological affiliations. For long, I was hearing the voices that were showing concerns about immigration of Hazaras. The main concern was the loss of identity and Hazaragi. Today’s protest was a practical answer to these concerns and Hazaras showed that history can drag them anywhere and ideologically they can be secular or conservative (Or what some like to joke as Babu/roshanfikar Or Akhond/Hozai )but they will always remain HAZARA….

I take this opportunity to appeal to Hazaras who are drawing lines based on their ideological differences that ……Please open your eyes and ears, watch and hear that Hazaras across the world wishing for oneness of you all and Please do not make your ideological differences an excuse to not extend a hand of brotherhood towards each other. If you are a conservative/religious stick to your ideology and if you are a secular, stick to your secularity but you both can’t refuse of being Hazara. I am sure you all stand on these two points,

- While I am ideologically conservative/secular but I am a Hazara
- When it comes to my national interests, I put aside my ideological affiliations and stand for my national interests….

Before ending, I want to thank from depth of my heart, all those Brothers and Sisters who came to streets and showed their solidarity…. And besides I want to give a message to my young brothers and sisters,
Laura Lopez, was the former Vice President of Coca Cola Company and she says, “Leadership is not a role. It doesn’t matter where you sit (in your organization), you could be a leader”…….. Extending her message, I would say, it doesn’t matter, what you do and where you are living, you could be a leader when you take action….So, please do not complain for lack of leadership as you are a leader. Just come forward……………

A good beginning doesn’t mean a happy ending (Terrible journey)

Waiting is stressful (boring, some may like) and to avoid stress, there is nothing more than getting busy (We don’t need a nod of Psychologists for this). When I looked to gaps between my flights, I got a little bit nervous (12 hours of waiting at Quaid E Azam airport, Karachi – Almost 4 hours of waiting at Heathrow Airport, London and 10 hours and 20 minutes at Washington Dulles Airport, originally I had to wait for 5 hours but because of “technical fault in Airplane, our flight delayed for more than 5 additional hours :( …. There is nothing more practical than reading a book at airports or airplane (esp, if you are sitting along with someone who forgets speaking during travels and even makes an angry look of *Shut Up* to polite request for giving a passage to go to washroom) and additional benefit is that books don’t run of charge. But there are two main problem with books, if it is boring, it will add to your boredom and if it is too much interesting, you will be absorbed that you may forget timing and may miss the plane (if it is too much interesting, it may not last to the end of journey), so I was in need of a book of medium grade in terms of flavor and size (easy to handle and yet last till end of travel)….It took me almost an hour to select a book….being happy that I will endure easily the long waiting hours my other only concern was weather. I was expecting that it would be hot at Karachi and Dubai and chilly at London and Binghamton and I do not like to have too much in my backpack (I had bad experiences at Past. Last year, when I wanted to go to Seattle, I checked weather on internet and it was saying that weather would be fair but when I came out of airport it was really chilly so I had no other choice other than buying a pair of coat. Karachi is quite opposite, I was expecting that being a coastal city, Karachi would have a fair weather but first time that I came in a domestic flight, it was so hot for me that I couldn’t bear it and I left the city as soon as I done with my exam). This time, Karachi had a really nice weather cloudy and breezy (because of monsoon) and there wasn’t any problem in waiting. I feared of spicy food and that was solved by homemade chicken sandwiches. The travel time from Dubai to Heathrow airport is 7;25 hours and from Heathrow airport to Dulles airport is 7;50 on tickets but it takes somewhat longer so I had planned to watch movies. I watched four movies, three Bollywood movies and one Hollywood movies so everything was fine, until I reached Dulles airport. It took 3 hours to pass through security and after passing through security I found that there is another problem and that was a technical problem in the hanger of airplane so I had to wait additional 7 hours. 7 hours would be easy, but the promises just killed us. The first announcement was that flight be as scheduled so at the time when we were mentally ready to go, another announcement for half an hour delay but then a series of announcements after each half an hour. I reach my apartment 2;00 in the morning instead of 7;30 pm (I didn’t mention that my luggage was also didn’t reach so I had to file a claim) and then I reached my apartment, I found that the new tenants had just moved in. I stayed the night with one of my old neighbors and next early morning my landlord rented me a one bedroom apartment (You can dispute my argument “A good beginning doesn’t mean a happy ending” by arguing that the end was nice as at the end you got saved of shared apartment).

A father’s lesson

I am not alone in believing that Philosophy is the work of the highly learned people. Actually it is a general belief that has roots since the inception of popular Philosophy in the ancient Greek times. What really puzzled me, just happened this morning (September 15th, 2011). My father was talking to my youngest brother who is an eighth grader (He is an intelligent and curious boy, always have some thoughtful questions for me. Besides, he got first position in his class. At least he is doing much much better than me in school. It never happened that I get first position in school until University),
“If animals got instinct so do I” reasoned my youngest brother
“Animals have instincts and a lower conscious to satisfy their instincts. Human also have instincts but on contrary have higher consciousness. With higher consciousness comes responsibility. If a dog steals a piece of meat to satisfy its hunger, no one would call it a thief. If a dog kills another dog in any case, no one is going to call it a murderer. It is because their consciousness is low enough to just satisfy their instincts. On other hand, if a human steals, kills, cheats or does anything wrong to satisfy his instincts, he would be called a thief, a murderer and cheater because he got a higher consciousness which makes him able to judge between wrong and right. Because of higher consciousness man is responsible for his actions. Keep in mind that with higher consciousness comes, responsibility and as much as your level of consciousness grows so is your responsibilities.”…My father was advising him…
I said to myself, wait a minute, this line of reasoning looks familiar to me. Isn’t he is talking like a Philosopher? Frankly, it was the most amazing piece of Philosophy I have ever heard and more than that, he was not a University Professor but a father who have not read any other book except Holy Quran. The only thing that he reads is newspapers (Sometimes magazines). What really surprised me that He was teaching EXISTENTIALIST Philosophy?
I am 100% sure; he doesn’t know anything of what we call Philosophy. What he has heard of Philosophy is that there were some highly wise persons by names of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle so you can hear him advising you, “Don’t take too much time in making decisions, you are not Plato” or “It is really simple, you don’t need to consult Socrates in figuring it out” or “Do you think of yourself as Aristotle that you pass judgments on others?” and phrases like these ones. It is just his reading loud his own thinking as he doesn’t know anything about Socrates, Plato and Aristotle other than their names.
I am saying all these because he never got a chance to attend school. The way he learned reading and writing is really interesting. In his youth time, he was working in a textile factory in Haiderabad city of Sindh Province. In the evenings, after work he was buying tea and cake for a shoemaker and in return he was teaching him to read and write. That is all of his schooling but he got a reading habit of reading every day, newspapers and occasionally some magazines. When I was young, he was reading me loud some of the interesting stories from magazines. I loved his accent and was feeling proud when I was making some corrections to some lengthy or hard to read words.
But this morning, he really impressed me. Frankly, if I had to explain a deep Philosophical question to an eighth grader, I would make it very difficult for him. I didn’t interrupt him (to inform him that, what he is explaining, known as existentialist philosophy among learned people). He was asking my youngest brother,
“Does a dog feel itself responsible if a man is in misery?”
“No, I don’t think so” replied my brother
“Does a man feel responsible if a dog is in misery?” My father put another question
“Definitely, he does” answered my brother
“See, the man got higher conscious, so he feels responsible while the dog has lower conscious so it doesn’t feel responsibility. Both man and dog have instincts but they satisfy their instincts differently just because they got different levels of consciousness. You go to school to raise the level of your consciousness. The higher is learned a man, the higher is his responsibilities”………
I was totally puzzled as I was witnessing in flesh and blood what I was always imagining of Socrates. He is not a learned man to the eyes of world but he holds more wisdom than a lot of learned people…….

The return

لو پھر ہم نے باندھ لی رخت سفر
جدھر سے آئے تھے, جائینگے ادھر

خوش ھے تھوڑی سی یہ، ھے مگر ملال بھی
کہ جان لی اور بھی محشر ھے قبل از محشر

مانا کہ غضب کی ھیں ساقی کی آنکھیں
ڈھونڈھتی ھے وہ کوئی بڑے سے بڑا سوداگر

دل تو بنئیے ھیں, اسکو سودے سے غرض
یہ نہ جانے اس سے بھی کوئی ھے بڑے غارتگر

جس طرح ھے ھاتھ خالی، کاش ھوتی دل بھی خالی
رب ھے ساتھ مگر ریال مانگے, کعبہ ھے جدھر

Years ago, I decided that I am going to leave the practice of writing poetry (It is thought that a poet needs someone worth to be the subject of his/her poetry....Hmmmm, I don't know whether that was the cause of my decision or not? Don't take it serious, it is just a joke:(.....) and gifted my younger brother (who likes poetry) dozens of pages of my English, Urdu and Persian poetry. Now I am feeling that in every person, there is a sleeping poet/poetess that once woken up, seldom sleeps again. So from time to time this Poet forces me to write some creepy Ghazals. As "The Argus" is my diary, so I am going to mess up some of its posts whenever this Poet harassed me :(

Things that we learn, by growing up…….

“We will remain as children in the eyes of elders”
I was sitting with one of my senior teachers that one of the friends came in and asked me for mediation in their issue. My teacher burst in laughter and while tapping on my shoulder said, “Hahaha, I never thought that you have grown up enough to resolve the issues!!!”. The puzzlement was evident in all his expressions. Frankly, I felt a little embarrassed. As my father used to say, “No matter, what you become and what others say about you, I always see you as a child”. That is a compliment as well as a warning (There is a famous saying….If you are the Alexander the great, it is not wise to go in wilderness without the company of an old man (an experienced person)…. An experienced person! Hmmm, that is an essential commodity that is shrinking, most probably because of the arrogance of our generation. Most of us think that our judgments are sufficient and in most cases better than those of experienced one (Well, I think that is just the matter of time. Realizations! Perhaps, some that we do not like make us to realize that basics of life are common to all generations). I think I have improved in this regard a little bit. Over years, I have learned that we grow together. I appreciate a lot of things now that I wasn’t able to see before.
“One never learn to relax without experiencing at first hand the pains of losses by rushing”
RELAXATION, I think, Psychologists and Yogis have defamed this term. We all learn to slow down over time by our experiences. Becoming relaxed in our responses and reactions are the pretext for the mental relaxation that Psychologists and Yogis preach and teach. I tend to rush into things and sometime to disappoint myself. By seeing the relaxed elders, I have learned that in a lot of things rushing ends in kinds of losses that can’t be repaired. Learning about people and building trusts can’t be done only with good intentions and sincerity. It requires time and timing. Sometimes early means too amateur and other times late means too late!!!.... In facing strange people, you may get mocked, get treated in uneasy ways and it is also possible to be insulted. These are all possible, if the people don’t know you well. So over time, I learned to listen more to myself than others. If I know that my intentions are good then it doesn’t matter if others question them (I know they are just showing their ignorance….in that case, I can only feel pity on them…or they just rushing…Well, in that case just showing their inexperience and that is what we must overlook to give them time to grow…Please, don’t get confused in pronouns …like, you, we, other, I, you, he, she, as we fit in all these pronouns (except gender one from time to time…)…. In short, I know better myself than other and I know very well, what my intentions are, so it is better to focus on means of delivering or expressing them (Most of the flaws are here so needed a constant attention to improve)…
“By opening ourselves we increase the free space for our activities”…
The other thing that I think, I have improved a little bit in is, “Opening Myself”. If I have the authority to expand my world then why suffer from running spaces? I was very reserved in talking about myself. Over time, I have learned that I am not different from rest of people, so there is no need to be embarrassed to accept “Who I am”. The positive sides are, “reflective learning”, “improving faster by accepting growth as a natural process”, “realizing that I am a not a born saint, great man and all sort of these “like titles” that make us to retreat into our shells”, “make others feel comfortable about us”, “not shocking others and disappointing ourselves by “Wikileaks” or “Mirzaleaks” and most importantly give us courage to face ourselves and others with “courageous honesty”…………
“Understanding is more important than learning”…….
I think, I have the legitimacy to give an “expert opinion” on this topic but perhaps it is not a good place for it (Opps! I can’t write articles within article) as I have to admit that I have learnt a lot of things without understanding them and later, I have unlearned them in order to understand them. Learning becomes a pleasant and very easy process once one starts understanding. I have not to give examples to our generation as they read almost every day in headlines of newspapers or watch analyses in the news channels about failure of “experts…those who have learned but haven’t understood” in economics, politics, managements and so on. Going across the disciplines and observing beyond the relevant fields, expand the horizon of understanding and this is a lesson that I have learned the hard way.
“Gold rushes do not last long”…….
I think, it didn’t take me long to realize that gold rushes do not last long. It is natural to get impressed by those who are blessed by being at “right place” at the “right time”. People gamble their lives, relations and so on for right place and right time but I have learnt that the “right person” and the “right people” are more important than “right place” and “right time” as gold rushes do not last long. Of course, it is counterintuitive but my personal experience says that gold rushes don’t last long but the people who you have to live with are “always” there or somewhere to be with you. My uncle used to say that “lucky is one who is surrounded by wise people”. We usually get impressed by a lot of things but what last long is the “wisdom” (Seems a line from Sadhu’s book ;)
“A baby learns walking by falling many times”….
Falling is painful but we realize over time that the pains we get by falling during our efforts never hurt but it really hurts to remain safe by choosing not to try. Once I decided to show some of my writings for an advice to an expert in literature. I was a little bit hesitating in doing so, so I went to a senior student in literature. I told him about my decision and then told him of my fear, “What if he turns down to look at them?”…… “What you lose then?” he asked me back. “Nothing” I replied. It took me some time to learn to reconcile with myself over pains of falling and not fearing them anymore….
I think, this is not going to end so why not to write the rest in another Post (Thanks Khudadad for the break :)….

How much fat makes one addicted?

When Uzbeks came to Delhi to pay a visit to the King Babur (who was also an Uzbek from Fergana Valley), they were served with rice and meat cooked in Central Asian style (Called “Pulawe”, originally Persian style of cooking rice but in Central Asia, the amount of fried fat added at the end is higher) in the King’s guest hall. The Uzbeks sat on the ground having their boots on and started eating with their hands. When they were eating, their hands were soaked in oil of rice that were dripping back in the dishes. After serving the meal, the Uzbek visited the king in his court. The king asked them, “Tell me if you have any trouble here in Delhi?”. One of the representative replied, “Everything is fine except the food.”….”What is wrong with the food?” inquired the king in puzzlement. “The rice doesn’t have enough oil in it”…..
Though South Asian consumes a lot of oil, sugar and spices in their food but they don’t use much fat or oil as compared to Central Asian people. The consumption of fat by Central Asians look amusing to South Asian people but it is also amusing that South Asian food is too greasy for Westerners. I found several times; my landowners are warning me of eating too much oily foods, while I was skimming the fatty or oily part of my food. Chinese are still more economical in using fat as compared to westerners. The main point is that people are becoming fat and sugar conscious but I think it is more related to fashion and culture than health. Everybody knows that there is no other alternative in the taste and flavor to that of fat (In fact no spice or anything else can match with fat, Fried foods or notoriously popular across the cultures), so it is natural to become addicted to fat. In cold places, people consume higher amount of fat so they are highly addicted to it and in hot places where people sweat a lot, people tends to use spices (and lesser fat) to balance the lost minerals.
Three food items were problematic but their inflation by industrial revolution gave them popular recognition and those are Fat, Sugar and Grains. These three food items are addictive and their addictions are more harmful than cigarettes (They are killing more people than wars and diseases caused by cigarette). They are more dangerous than cigarettes because cigarettes are condemned by culture but they are promoted by culture. The overconsumptions of Fat and Sugar in South Asian sweets were promoted by culture and now the whole region is addicted to it. The use of grains in Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food as bread and pasta were promoted by culture and now the whole region is addicted to the grains. Nobody can think of eating something without bread. It is an essential part of the food in these regions. You might get amused to see some people eating rice with bread. Similarly rice has become a dominant part of food in the Sino-Chinese region.
The reason that I brought all these things is my recent experiences of observing, the rapidly changing trends in eating in our part of world. Consuming Coke and other soft drinks were fashionable at times but seeing widespread use of green tea was a pleasant surprise for me. Similarly the replacement of dry fruits and fresh fruits to that of sweets, pastries and milk tea are another big surprise for me. Though this Eid was a sad Eid because of suicide attack on Hazaras of Quetta, yet increasing awareness gives some hope.