Leaders

You will find two kinds of leaders in human history (and around!).

1. Who leads the people, and

2. Who gets led by the people.

(heard somewhere years ago - ab yaad nahi)

Memories

"I lost your picture"

"That's ok ! memories don't live inside pictures, they live in hearts. Pictures are just reminders".

Guidance

I believe every human is guided and nurtured individually.

Aik choti si kahani

Aur us makan ke bachhe hur raat apne baap ke ghar aane ka intizaar kerte aur phir use dekh ke khushi se pagal ho jaate.

Khauf

"Tumhe duniya main sub se ziyada kis cheez se khuaf aata hai?"
"Yaar bachon ki masumiat se bahut dur jaata hun"!!

On "Being Lost"

Lost Identity by~arioth

Lost Beauty by ~skulda

Thanks to Chai Anyone? for allowing to share these gems from her blog.

Art of taking Exam

Taking an exam is an art. It has nothing to do with your intelligence.

1. Know "what to study" and "what not to study." Know what the examiner is more likely to ask.

2. Do not give up your essentials from the everyday lifestyle (like gym or dinner with family) for the sake of exams, and do not study more than 6-8 hours a day, which is also in 3-4 divided sessions. Make a complete plan of sessions in advance for each day available till exam day, depending on the number of topics that need to be covered. Each day, one session should be dedicated to reviewing and revising the previously studied topics.

3. Keep more eye on graphs, tables, pictures, algorithms, and quick pearls, instead studying the full text.

4. Practice more MCQs (multiple choice questions) as available (if that is part of the exam).

5. Record a specific topic in your voice and listen to it as you sip chai.

6. Stop studying the afternoon of the day before the exam and take the rest easy.

7. Sleep very well before exam night.

8. Arrive early at the exam center with a good breakfast, available munch, and water during the exam.

9. Give social gossip calls to friends during break.

10. Do not worry about results once the exam is over, as actual life has nothing to do with the exam.

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Solomon Grundy

Jub main pehli jamat main tha to school main ye 'rhyme' mere course main shamil thi aur main ghar pe bare lahek lahek ke parha kerta. Ghar pe koi aur to interest nahi leta magar mere aik bare cousin nisar bhai mere saath ye nazam parhte aur aksar kehte - kiya sach baat kahi hai. Tub to mujhe samjh na aati thi magar aaj bachpun ki woh nazam insan ki 'umre-darazi' ki kiya khub kahani lugti hai.


Solomon Grundy,
Born on Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
That was the end
Of Solomon Grundy.


Larkpun khel main khoya
Jawani neend bhar soya
burhapa dekh ker roya
wahi qissa purana hai


* Regarding Solomon Grundy wikipedia says here .: Solomon Grundy means "Big King" - Man thinks he is immortal and can do any injustice but alas life is too short ! On simlar theme villain comic character was created, see here

Choice

He was sitting across from me in his elegant house and expensive furniture and, in between our conversation, doing his business deals over Bluetooth earpiece. I realized he couldn't see things beyond weather, car, business, and "Jo sirf aankhon se nazar aata hai." He can see the bricks but not the architecture. He can see the diagram but not the concept. I asked myself: "Would I like to have so much money but with that low IQ?" And I was clear in my answer: "NO."

(You have the same Q as I do, right? - how do these people make so much money?. The answer is probably in Hindu Mythology which says; Lakshmi Mata hamesha Ullu pe beth ker aati hai)

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Tongue

Jab tak zaban aap ke mun main hai woh aap ki ghulam hai. Jab khul gai, aap uske ghulam ho gaye - Hazrat Ali.

Shantaram

I liked this novel by Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram. I just found out that this novel will be a movie due to release in 2007. Shahrukh Khan is also in the film. Russell Crowe wanted to play the central role, but johnny depp is playing it now.

It's a massive novel of 900 pages. What took me is simple but profound lessons from life inscribed all over the book. It is written in a classic novel form as each character has its own life, psychology, and background, and they all interact in a very natural life. It's all about real life and real people on the streets of Bombay, and most are said to be valid from the author's life. It later takes you to Afghanistan during the Russian War era. It talks about gangs, weapons, drugs, politics of religion, war, Palestine, police brutality, etc., etc.

Just one example of a quote from a book: "We concentrate our laws, investigations, prosecutions, and punishments on how much crime is in the sin, rather than how much sin is in the crime"!

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Faiz on Dhaka

Negotiation

The whole material life is a negotiation, and the real trick is "to know what's going on in the other's mind" or, on the flip side, "to make sure the other side doesn't know what's going on in your mind."

Three basic principles of the above trick:

1. To know the level of your strengths and weaknesses compared to other people in the market OR what extra you can offer that no other can offer.

2. To know how desperate the other side is OR what is at stake for the other side.

3. To know how far you can stretch the other mind psychologically OR to know where is the breaking point.

A good negotiator is a master of creating certainty and uncertainty together and benefiting as much from others' offerings in that environment.

Good luck !!

(Addendum after many years: I have been working at the present job for now about 17 years. This post was written as advice while I was negotiating a contract before joining)

Driving

Life is a lot like driving. Sometimes you need to follow a dumpster truck with no end in sight. 

Shoe Size

"Put yourself in my shoes before you criticize me."

"I can try ! but the size of your shoes is too small to accommodate me"!

Crash

Discrimination is everywhere. It is not a question of white to black or black to white, rich to poor or poor to rich, Mississippi to Texas or Texas to Mississippi, native to outsider or outsider to native, gender to gender, straight to gay or gay to straight. In any form, it is all about insecurity at the bottom of psychology.

Woh paros ki do aurtain hameN subha se dhamkiaN de rahi thiN. Woh hamare kagzaat dekhna chahti thiN ke hum bahir se aaye haiN. Raat hui to woh hamare ghar ghus aaiN. Hum ne madad ke liye police ko phone kiya to unhon ne ye keh ke maazrat ker li ke ab unke paas bhejne ko mazeed force nahi. Shahyed poore shehar main aag lagi thi. Mujhe apne biwi bachhon ki fiqar thi. Wahan se jo bhage to maalum nahi ab peeche woh makan hai bhi ke nahi.

* (Post is named after the movie Crash)

aurat

Woh mumbai ke chopatty beach ke aik dhabe pe kaam kerta tha. Kurel jawan tha. Lambe gile baal aur hulki darhi us pe khub sajhti thi. samandar kinare aksar khule badan rehta. Lurkian dekhte hi fida ho jaatin. Paas hi nuns ka aik hostel tha jis main rehne waali nun students se aksar uska silsila chalta rehta.

Aik roz us hostel ki umer-zada mother us ke dhabe aai aur boli mere saath chaloge. Dil phenk aadmi tha. Baqol ghalib socha, muft haat aaye to bura kia hai, use dhabe ke pachware le aaya. Mother apne ghutnoN beth gai aur is ne patloon ki zip khol patloon neeche ker di. Ab mother ne is ke azue-tanasul ko jo daanton se nochna shuru kiya to is ki cheekh nikal gai. Mother ne use poori tarah cheel ke rukh diya. Ab is ki samjh aaya mother apni students ke saath hone waali harkatoN ki saza dene aayi hai. Jub mother chali gai to kehne laga: "Sala sex ke chakkar main aake bhool gaya nun hai to kiya huwa, aurat bunke intiqaam lene aai thi" !!

kamzor

Aur jub us ne apni kamzor awaz main aadhi raat ko mere kaan main aa ker kaha: "I don't know how to get out of this" - to usne mujhe aik baar phir kamzor ker diya.

Ugliness

If you are born or raised with it or when you live long with it - ugliness disappears.

Chalne do

Main us aurat ko bura kese keh sakta hun jis ne mujh se kaha: "apne bete ko god main na uthao, use chalne do" !

Kirne

Agar Shafiqur-Rehman apna afsana 'KirneN' na likhte to urdu adab main insaan ke lateef jazbaat ki aik teh hamesah kum rehti.

sitare

Sach bolo!! 

Kiya khule aasman ke neeche taron bhare badal ko dekh ker tumhe kuch nahi hota? Tumhe aesa nahi lugta tum kisi bohut bari kaainat ka hissa ho?

Power of unreasonable man

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore 'all progress' depends on the unreasonable man"!! -

George Bernard Shaw

Key to successful marriage

Is there a key to a guaranteed success of a long and happy marriage?

"No matter what" - commitment to having sexual intercourse at least two times per week.

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Roof

Agar ghar ki tutti chat (roof) ka shuru main bandobast ker liya jaaye to baad main bohut si qimti cheezain burbad hone se bach jaati hain !!

clap

You can tell a lot about a person by how he claps!

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Jesus

Aur Chicago ki Lakeshore drive ki fullerton exit ke aage us ke chote se apartment ki deewar pe 'yasu maseeh' aur 'saleeb' ka nishan laga rehta tha.

Log us se poochte: "tum to musalman ho phir ye kiun?"

Woh Jawab deta: "ye shaks dusre insaanon ke liye suli char gaya tha, main nahi char sakta - bus isi liye" !

Religious inspiration

If one person's religious inspiration becomes perspiration for another, you must question that inspiration.

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Dost

Ye itminan bhi kafi hai ke zindagi main aik dost aesa hai jis ke darwaaze pe, aadmi poora lut luta ker, sarak pe aake, paunchega to woh use usi khushdili se apne ghar jagah de dega.

Two thoughts

Two thoughts after one semi-sleep dream.

1. It was a dream; he was coming to touch me, and then he felt me, but that outer natural touch mingled in my dream. Now the Q? Did my brain sense someone coming to touch me? (Make sense? weird thought?)

2. As outer sensations of light, touch, smell, etc. mingle in our dreams' stories, I am thinking, does cosmic, magnetic, and all different unseen waves from the universe intermingle and mold our thought processes?

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2 things

Two things bring happiness to anyone's life:

1. If you have one person in life to whom you can be devout completely, share anything and vibrate with him without saying a word or even though he or she is 1000 miles away. You are double lucky if that person is your spouse.

2. You enjoy every moment of your work. (In my book, full-time stay-home moms and housewives are working women).

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