Pets

(An old Middle Eastern saying: Pet horse and dog argue with an angel of death if they come for their master, and they offer their own life to take away. They try their best for their Master's life)

- Copied from the Internet

I was hiking with my dog then; he was part Dalmatian, part Blue healer. It was the middle of the night, and I seemed to have had a heart attack while I was asleep. The sudden pain in my chest almost woke me up, and I entered that rem state as I stood over my body trying to get myself to twitch or something to wake up. In my dream I could feel my body temperature dropping and I was getting cold, my skin started to feel like stone. Suddenly my dog lifted up his head in my dream, cocked his head to the side, and then nudged his nose towards me. There was a ripple-like water where his nose touched, and suddenly, I felt my heart jolt, and it started beating again. The warmth returned to my skin, and I suddenly awoke from my dream. My dog was just sitting there like he was in my dream. Ever since then, I've had this strange ability to sense what animals are trying to say to people sometimes.

Too close

 

The Myth of Antigone - (pride will be punished by the blows of fate)

 Antigone 

By Sophocles 

After Polynices and his allies' bloody siege of Thebes, the city remained unconquered. Polynices and his brother Eteocles, however, are both dead, killed by each other, according to the curse of Oedipus, their father.

Outside the city gates, Antigone tells Ismene that Creon has ordered that Eteocles, who died defending the city, is to be buried with full honors, while the body of Polynices, the invader, is left to rot. Furthermore, Creon has declared that anyone attempting to bury Polynices shall be publicly stoned to death. Outraged, Antigone reveals to Ismene a secret plan to bury Polynices despite Creon's order. When Ismene timidly refuses to defy the king, Antigone angrily rejects her and goes off alone to bury her brother.

Creon discovers that someone has attempted to offer Polynices a ritual burial and demands that the guilty one be found and brought before him. When he learns that Antigone, his niece, has defied his order, Creon is furious. Antigone makes an impassioned argument, declaring Creon's order to be against the gods' laws. Enraged by Antigone's refusal to submit to his authority, Creon declares that she and her sister will be put to death.

Haemon, Creon's son, who is about to marry Antigone, advises his father to reconsider his decision. The father and son argue, Haemon accusing Creon of arrogance and Creon accusing Haemon of unmanly weakness in siding with a woman. Haemon leaves in anger, swearing never to return. Without admitting that Haemon may be right, Creon amends his pronouncement on the sisters: Ismene shall live, and Antigone will be sealed in a tomb to die of starvation rather than stoned to death by the city.

The blind prophet Tiresias warns Creon that the gods disapprove of his leaving Polynices unburied and will punish the king's impiety with the death of his own son. After rejecting Tiresias angrily, Creon reconsiders and decides to bury Polynices and free Antigone.

But Creon's change of heart comes too late. Antigone has hanged herself, and Haemon, in desperate agony, kills himself as well. On hearing the news of her son's death, Eurydice, the queen, also kills herself, cursing Creon.

Alone, in despair, Creon accepts responsibility for all the tragedy and prays for a quick death. The play ends with a somber warning from the chorus that pride will be punished by the blows of fate.

Mulaqat

 

Wisdom

 

Aesthetic

 

Old books

 

Husband wife eating from one plate

 This couple just arrived from Pakistan due to the deteriorating situation there. 

"Bhai! Business to bohat achha tha - kabhi nahi socha Pakistan chorain ge - magar - bachhon ke mustaqbil ka dar tha. Aakihr kaar halaat se haar ker idhar aa gaye'.

I saw this couple three times at community events in the last few months, and I was intrigued that they always ate from one plate.

"How long have you guys been married?"

"About 20 years."

"Interesting. I am pretty impressed that you both always eat from one plate".

"We had an arranged marriage. The first few months were a little rough for us in understanding each other. At one such moment, my grandmother gave this tip to try. This was the most amazing thing that has happened in our lives. Over time, all fights vanished, and our understanding and love grew day by day".

Detachment

 

A lesson from animal world

 

Mirror

 Mirrors can be very deceiving. The following picture is interesting as it can be described in both a positive and a negative way.

• Positive; No matter what you are, see yourself as an emperor of your life
• Negative; The Devil can't see his own narcissism 

Respect

 

Azra aur Murtaza ki kahani - Jaun Elia ki Zubani

 In one of his rare interviews, Jaun Elia mentioned a true story from Amroha, India. This account played an essential role in his personality formation.

In his neighborhood, a girl named Azra was engaged to a boy named Murtaza. Nikah was done, but rukhsati was pending. They were in immense, deep love with each other. One day, Murtaza died. When Azra learned about his death, she did not cry but went into isolation for months on the upper story of the house. Her food was served by servants and family there. She rarely came downstairs.

Woh mukkamal pathra gai

One day, out of the blue, she came downstairs in an extremely happy mood. She took out her favorite suit and put perfume and gajra on herself. Everyone was shocked and surprised and asked her what had happened. She said, "Murtaza came into my dream and said he would take me with him soon." Everybody thought she had gone crazy, but she died in a few days.

Jaun says this event enormously affected him and changed his outlook on love and life.

How you pick the right thing to change - 70/30 rule

While going to board a flight, this book caught my attention and was a great read for a four hours flight.

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

 In a way, I can see why people have problems choosing what needs fixing. In golf, for example, it is common wisdom that 70 percent of all shots take place within 100 yards of the pin. It’s called the short game, and it involves pitching, chipping, hitting out of sand traps, and putting. If you want to lower your score, focus on fixing your short game; it represents at least 70 percent of your score. Yet if you go to a golf course you’ll see very few people practicing their short game. They’re all at the driving range trying to hit their oversized drivers as far as they can. Statistically, it doesn’t make sense because over the course of 18 holes, they’ll only need their drivers fourteen times (at most) whereas they’ll pull out their short irons and putters at least 50 times. Athletically it doesn’t make sense either. The short game demands compact delicate small-muscle movements; it is much easier to master than the violent big-muscle movements of driving off the tee. Nor does it make sense competitively. 

Actually, the whole book is a great read to improve oneself.

Father and Son

 

Empty!!

Last summer, I took a solo train journey across Central Europe. I shut off my work phone and used my personal cell phone just for travel needs. I decided not to communicate with anyone for 10 days and purely indulge in travel. It was a meditation and pilgrimage to my inner. 

 One evening, while roaming Salzburg, Austria, as I came out of Mozart's home, I noticed this marvel at one corner of the city.

 

One of my fav - Poet: Mubarak Siddiqui

 

What matters in life

 

What will men never get about women?

 What will men never get about women?

(someone posted on Quora)

Until high school, I thought the most beautiful girls always preferred the stud—a handsome guy with great hair and a fit body, the one with blue eyes, the kind you see in teenage movies.

Then, my reality started to crack.

I saw hot girls with odd-looking guys. Strange-looking guys. Men with outdated sense of fashion, if any. Men who needed to see the barber quickly.

“What the hell is going on?”

Society teaches us money and looks get you ass. And in a way, they are. But having those things does not guarantee success with women.

You can look fit and fresh, have a good job or run your business, be well-spoken, and still not get the girl. Reality is too dynamic and unexpected to be bound by rules.

Your attitude, confidence, and approach to life matter much more.

When you’re happy, everybody wants a piece of that happiness.

In the past ten years, I have met all sorts of men. The ones who “made it” with women were guys who had a life and were happy about it. Guys who had good intentions for the people around them.

They weren’t caught up with the latest pickup technique.

They shared their good vibe. The laughs and humor. The sense of comfort and calmness around them. And they kicked ass.

For Agnostics

 

Jibran on Love

 

Murshid says!

 

Iqbal on uinverse

  اقبال ۔۔

‏اس کھیل میں تعیینِ مراتب ہے ضروری

‏شاطر کی عنایت سے تو فرزیں، میں پیادہ

‏بیچارہ پیادہ تو ہے اک مہرۂ ناچیز

‏فرزیں سے بھی پوشیدہ ہے شاطر کا ارادہ

Ustad says!! (Qamar Jalalvi)

 بے وجہ خَم نہیں ہے کمر میں میری قمر

میں جُھک کے ڈُھونڈتا ہُوں جوانی گئی کِدھر 

wow - never thought of it

What a metaphor!

 

 

Rumi says

 

Happiness from work

 

A bus driver

(Shared by a friend)

I was stuck on a crosstown bus some years ago in New York City during rush hour. Traffic was barely moving, and the bus was filled with cold, tired people who were deeply irritated with one another and with the world itself. 

Two men barked at each other about a shove that might or might not have been intentional. A pregnant woman got on, and nobody offered her a seat. Rage was in the air; no mercy would be found here.

But as the bus approached Seventh Avenue, the driver got on the intercom.

"Folks," he said, "I know you have had a rough day and are frustrated. I can’t do anything about the weather or traffic, but here is what I can do. 

As each of you gets off the bus, I will reach out my hand to you. As you walk by, drop your troubles into the palm of my hand, okay? 

Don’t take your problems home to your families tonight; just leave them with me. My route goes right by the Hudson River, and when I drive by there later, I will open the window and throw your troubles in the water."

It was as if a spell had lifted. Everyone burst out laughing. Faces gleamed with surprised delight. People pretending not to notice each other’s existence for the past hour were suddenly grinning at each other. Is this guy serious?

Oh, he was serious!

At the next stop, just as promised, the driver reached out his hand, palm up, and waited. One by one, all the exiting commuters placed their hand just above his and mimed the gesture of dropping something into his palm. 

Some people laughed, some teared up, but everyone did it. The driver repeated the same lovely ritual all the way to the river.

We live in a hard world, my friends. 

Sometimes, being a human being is extra difficult. You sometimes have a bad day, and sometimes, it lasts for several years. 

You struggle and fail. You lose jobs, money, friends, faith, and love. You witness horrible events unfolding in the news and become fearful and withdrawn. 

But what if you are the light? What if you are the very agent of illumination that a dark situation begs for?.

 This bus driver taught me that anyone can be the light at any moment. This guy wasn’t some big power player. He wasn’t a spiritual leader. He wasn’t some media-savvy influencer. 

He was a bus driver, one of society’s most invisible workers. But he possessed real power and used it beautifully for our benefit.

"No matter who you are, where you are, or how mundane or tough your situation may seem, you can illuminate your world. In fact, this is the only way the world will ever be illuminated, one bright act of grace at a time, all the way to the river.

Munir Niazi's wisdom

 

Pseudo-happiness

 

Cassie

Cassie was my patient. Cassie died after a year in hospice.

I was holding her hands when she breathed last. This is the moment I crave to have but pray not to have!! - as it is incredibly overwhelming.

I have been to such moments when my Nana, dadi, and father died.

But Cassie was young.

As I held Cassie's hand, she opened her eyes and looked at me but decided not to say a word. I neither had the courage nor knew what to say.

I have always wondered about the last few words in Tolostoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich."

He wanted to say that but was unable to bring it out. 

"Anyhow, why speak? I must act," he thought.

I guess it's better to avoid talking to have a peaceful death.

Evolution

 

Lahore vs Karachi

 On ongoing teasing between Lahore and Karachi

گو لہور میں ولادت اپنی جگہہ اہم ہے

 مگر کراچی میں زندگی “جینے” کا اپنا لطف ہے

Elites, Poor and sharing

(Shared by a professor of pharmacology in one of the Grand Rounds)

"One life lesson I learned from the pharma industry is that the proportion of price drop is independently associated with anything's use in life among the elite and poor.  Elites try to control things but fear sharing, and keep things at a high value so low-income people can't reach them. They are even afraid of sharing things among themselves. As soon as anything in life, like a drug, becomes generic, its price drops quickly. I found that people experiencing poverty are more intent to share and crave less material things. It's the most bizarre paradox of life. I don't mean that a person should stay poor, but there is a line where the human mind loses its tendency to connect with other humans and seek the welfare of other humans - and that's the biggest curve ball of life."

Historians

 The biggest tragedy of humanity is that all of its historians turned out to be lousy futurists. 

~anonymous

On "Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel"

 Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel has been a riveting yet hefty read.

 It may not be the best text on West vs. the Rest, but at least I did not see racist undertones while trying to understand his problematization of the oversimplified history.

He claims that he was looking for the answers to why history evolved differently on different continents over the last 13 thousand years. He apparently shunned the common racist response of some people/races to be superior to others. His thesis was that the answer had little to do with people and everything to do with their surroundings.

He/his argument/books did become quite controversial. He has been accused of having masked his biological determinism or historical racism in the garb of natural disposition and distribution of resources. However, biology has been used to explain a lot of other world dynamics: gender relations, patriarchy/matriarchy, sexuality, success, wealth, and cognition.

The "Jared Diamond is a racist" argument suggests that environmental, ecological, and geographical factors led to the West's colonization of the rest, ignoring the determinants of this. Diamond's argument is seen as racist, as it overlooks the terrible actions of Europeans and their unfavorable ideologies.

European descendants can find comfort in the thought that those before them weren't so bad after all while the Whites may find comfort in the thought of no longer having to deal with the horrors of invasion, slavery, and genocide.

But JD (though sometimes extends it too far) does not say any of that. He says that the different historical paths of different countries are not due to racial superiority but to environmental factors. He thinks geographical traits and the availability of plants and animals that can be tamed are two of the most important factors that determine how societies grow. He challenges the idea that racial differences alone are to blame for past events and stresses how important it is to understand these factors to fix world problems of inequality.

Listening

 

Old stuffs

 

Gaaon

 

Do people change?

 

Right man

 

Never stop dreaming

 

House Job

 I frequently get students from Pakistan to rotate with me. The following is a share from one of the students.

"Sir! A House Job in Pakistan can be a farce. It is full of skud work. It is more of a slavery. Learning entirely depends on the person himself. In some cases, you don't even get paid. One of the account section clerks held my last three months of salary, as I mistakenly shared that I am going to the USA as soon as I finish the House Job. 

My father is a physician who did his MBBS during Pakistan's golden days of medical education. Now, it's all expensive fees. Students start preparing for USMLE from day one. It's an investment, not an education, and a relatively easy way to get a USA visa.

My father saw me after the first three days of my house job. He asked how was it?

I furiously replied: Horrible!

He just mumbled: Hmmm.

I continued: 'Pehle din registrar ne kaha, mere rishtedaar ka le ja ker MRI kerwa do. Poora din lag gaya. Dusre din, aik aur senior ne apne kisi rishtdar ke bachhe ki circumsision kerwane bhijwa diya"

Father asked: "Did you learn anything?"

I replied: "Is main kiya lean kerne ka tha?"

Father said, "In medicine, your learning starts as you enter the hospital. It's like a leaning temple. You could have learned from MRI technicians about the essentials they look for before the procedure, how they determine different cuts, and how they process films - or a difference between a closed and open MRI - The next day, you could have learned how they determine the length of the foreskin for circumcision. It all depends on you."

From then on, I changed my approach. As I indulged at every step with a learning mindset, I felt I had become a different person and a better physician.

On Men, Women, Love, Lust, and Relationship

(Someone wrote on Quora)

 Whereas there will be a gap between the two sexual intercourses of the male...

He will jerk away from the female after the first mating.

And it is his nature to want to sleep.

Whereas the female nature is entirely opposite.

She is eager to hear those words from his mouth immediately after intercourse that will tickle her...

She doesn't know that a man cannot love after love

He may yearn for love after the war.

He basically plays the role of hunter?

Yes, in civilized society, this tendency is covered in beautiful clothes.

Hitler, the world's greatest dictator, used to kill five hundred men every day and write love songs with his head in his girlfriend's lap.

His cheeks would get wet while describing the past moments of separation from her.

Enraged by the carnage in the Kalinga war, Ashoka yearned for love...

He incorporated Buddhist philosophy into himself in this way

Today, Ashoka and Buddhist philosophy cannot be separated.

Even Napoleon Bonaparte used to take off his armor and immerse himself in love; he was so romantic and dedicated to his beloved.

At this time, no poet or even a man with an innocent heart can be so dedicated.

He will play for some ten minutes.

Which will not satisfy him in any way...

To get this satisfaction, he may be eager to change his partner.

Wherever social bonds are weak, this change occurs within about six months.

But these changes neither change the situation nor his mentality...

That means he fails to love in getting love.

If it becomes an outlet for the wildness of man

So he can love, he can receive, he can give...

This is one reason the female always leans towards the unruly male rather than the socially civilized one.

This is why spoiled guys get devoted girlfriends.

Let the boys get the tag of being socially civilized...

What a brilliant artist - Safdar Ali Soomro

Like all other people, I was introduced to Safdar Ali Soomro after his stolen paintings were found accidentally in a Pakistani drama. I was absolutely stunned by his talent. He deserves better.

Full story at https://www.arabnews.com/node/2571684/amp
 

 

Defiant!

 

Universe and us!

 

70-20-10

 

Destruction by words

 

Go with the flow (?)

 Sometimes, people around you make comments that stop you to ponder. 

Two days ago, while returning from a medical conference, my flight was delayed due to a storm while I was at the gate. The airline offered passengers the option of waiting or changing to other flights. I was intending to take the offer and fly the next day.

I asked one of the passengers (a professor at Mayo Clinic) beside me what we should do. He gave an interesting reply:

" When I was not that wise and used to go with the flow and whatever came my way, I made better choices in life. Since I started thinking of myself as intelligent, I made little progress. Life is a much higher phenomenon, and the human mind, with logic, usually fails against life's curve balls. I guess I will wait."

Chivas Regal Effect

 

Talking to women

 "ناراض عورت سے بحث نہ کریں آپ اپنا وقت ضائع کر رہے ہیں اور مطمئن عورت سے بحث نہ کریں آپ اس کا وقت ضائع کرتے جا رہے ہیں"

[انیس منصور |

Baap

مَیں اگر سو سال بھی جغرافیے میں فیل ہوتا رہوں

اور زندگی بھر اس سکول سے باہر نہ جا سکوں

تب بھی

مَیں اس سوال کے جواب میں

کہ دنیا کا سب سے اونچا پہاڑ کون سا ہے؟

بے شک و شبہہ یہی لکھوں گا: باپ

شاعر:؟

Original Persian below 

Professionals are amateurs!

 This is in response to an email in which I refused to do a podcast on the pretext that I had no experience.

Professionals are overrated – The Titanic was built by professionals. The Arc by amateurs!

Maths

The laws of nature are the mathematical thoughts of God. ~ anonymous 

bhaR main jaaye naukri bech khaii bandooq

 I have a colleague from Indore, India.

A couple of years ago, he quit his job and went on a world trip. He came back and started his job again. When I saw him, I asked, "What the point?"

He replied after taking a relaxing sip of his coffee: "Hamare Indore main aik kahawat mashoor hai:

bhaR main jaaye naukri bech khaii bandooq

Phir karainge naukri phir khareedain get bandooq

NDE

An academic who "died" for seven minutes has shared what he saw on 'the other side'. Speaking about the incident, the man, who's been deep into astrophysics PhD studies for 40 years plus, revealed a near-death experience due to a lung hemorrhage in March that resulted in a code blue - medical emergency call.

Through Reddit, he shared his story: "It took the doctors seven minutes to get my heart started again. During that time, I had a stroke due to the lack of oxygen in my brain." Upon gaining back consciousness after two days of a semi-conscious state, he posed the question: "What happened?"

'The actual correlation was something of challenging to comprehend but he got the hang of it eventually, reports the Mirror. His experience during those collapse moments extinguished his dread of death. He quipped: "I'm not scared of dying, not in the least. Afraid of what comes before, sure, but nature makes dying easy."

Further detailing his vision, he noted: "I saw a series of three oval ellipses, one at a time, just suspended in a black space. The ellipses were all upright, as though they were suspended by a string (but they weren't), and they all had a thickness to them, like a ring. On the inner and outer surfaces of the first ellipse, I saw mountains, streams, forests, and clouds.They were beautiful at first, but then they began to sour as their colors took on a yellow tinge. It faded away, and was replaced by a second ellipse that was a hot ring of iron, so hot that pieces of iron were slowly crumbling from it."

He remembered the smell of iron, which he later realized could be the scent of blood, suggesting that his physical surroundings influenced his visions. He continued: "I now take it that this is when I was in cardiac arrest. Suddenly the scene brightened to reveal the third ellipse that was covered with beautiful clouds that were light pink and blue, like from the most beautiful sunrise or sunset. That, I believe, is when my heart started beating again. When I regained consciousness, those three ellipses remained firmly fixed in my memory. When I was told days later about my cardiac arrest and stroke, it all began to make sense to me."

In an attempt to understand his visions, he explained how he had been studying German astronomer Johannes Kepler's Astronomica Nova and trying to comprehend how Kepler determined that the orbits of the planets are ellipses rather than circles. He believes that during his cardiac arrest, this concept was still on his mind, causing him to "latch onto that shape" subconsciously.

"That's all I saw. No tunnel of light or happy deceased family members welcoming me. I think that's dreaming, and dying reflect what happens to be most accessible in your mind during that time. Your mind tells you a story about it. I was never afraid during my ordeal, I was just a dispassionate observer. Amazingly, the only lasting effect of my seven minutes of code blue is a slightly diminished capacity of my short-term memory."

Full article here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/man-who-died-for-7-minutes-shares-insights-from-the-other-side/ar-BB1pGZF4?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=a56e7328a1174879957d701a71d4f436&ei=21

Agree

 

Mazboot aasaab

 Kehte hain:

"Agar aap restaurant main jaa ker akele khana kha sakte hain, ya cinema main jaa ker akele film dekh sakte hain to aap bohat masboot aasaab ke maalik hain - aur zindagi main bohat kuch akele ker sakte hain"

A remarkable quote

*My favourite quote to tease my atheist friends :)

 

preconceived notion

 Humans are strange. If we have a preconceived notion, we can't see self-evident things.

A month ago we had a mild storm in our city. We were unlucky to have a tree fall on the electricity grid. We, all in the neighborhood, thought it would take 4-5 days before power gets restored. Similar were the announcements from local city councilors and leaders.

Two days later, when I woke up, the TV screen was on with messages like Wifi=disabled, portal=off, etc.

I was sitting on the sofa in front of the TV screen, still thinking power was out, as my brain already believed that it would take at least a couple more days for power to be restored.

It took me 30 minutes to realize that if the TV screen is on with all such messages, my Wi-Fi signal on my iPhone is visible, then the power should be back. Indeed it was. 

Preconceived notions and beliefs turn human minds very blind to apparent things.

*

A diary of a recovered alcoholic

Shared by a close friend.

Four months back, my wife kicked me out of the house after she could not take my habit of binge alcohol drinking. I could not drive far and ended up in a low-level motel. My grown-up kids freaked out, and both came home to check on the situation. I'm not sure what I did at the motel under the influence of alcohol. I just recall doing inappropriate stuff, which could have taken my social prestige. As I recovered to soberness in a couple of days, I made the decision in my heart to quit alcohol cold turkey. I decided not to go to rehab as I didn't want anyone to know my closet's skeleton. The next three months were not easy. It was a roller-coaster. With the help of my wife, a lot of reading on addictions, exercise, good healthy nutrition, vitamins, and keeping myself occupied with work made me recover. 

Great, Right? - not entirely

I don't think I will ever touch alcohol again as now I fully understand the evils and price of alcoholism - but there is a caveat. I should say that there was something very unique in those moments when I was thoroughly messed up, taken over, and deep under the influence of alcohol, which made me happy! I was willing to give up anything for that part of psychological peace!! I can very much see why many people go back to alcohol again and again. There is something profound inside the core of alcoholism that makes you surrender yourself entirely to yourself!!! A sense of liberation and freedom from everything. Don't take me wrong. I am just sharing a truthful evaluation of myself. You may call it a diary of a (recovered) alcoholic.

I guess this is true for any addiction.

Ilm, Tarbiat, Tarze amal, aur danishmandi

 

Immigration

 ( A friend commented in a group discussion)

"Immigration is a painful process. Some of us who experience immigration respond to it with nostalgia and a desire to undo it. Nostalgic people wanna go back only if it becomes what they want it to be. Many respond to this pain by employing denial. There can be no normal/happy medium to it. Immigration is pathogenic; it’s a huge disconnect with the language that we are made of. The USA is the object of desire generated in the parent country and becomes meaningless when the desire is fulfilled. Ajeeeb o ghareeb beemari hai."

Dil!

 

A dark side of Ecosystem

 

Zameeni aur Aasmani

مُشکلیں زمینی تھیں 

 مسئلے زمانی تھے

اور جو صحیفے تھے 

 

 سارے آسمانی تھے

Yes Sir!

 Everything hangs on that one moment when you get asked: 

Are you ready to get this bestowed on you? 

And you reply with a full heart:

“Yes, Sir!”

A way to say Thank you

 I bumped into one of our senior hospital cardiac surgeons in a corridor of a building far from the cardiothoracic venue.

"Sir! What are you doing here?"

He responded, "I came to donate blood. Whenever something goes right, or something good happens in my life, I donate a pint of blood. It's my way of saying thank you to the All-mighty."

"Interesting. How often do you donate?"

"every 3 months on average."

"wow! What a unique way to be thankful".

Litmus test as being well-traveled

It is said that:

"Once you touch the threshold of at least 20 countries in at least five continents, consider yourself as well traveled."

Choosing Profession

 A sensible advice:

"Do what you like to do - and find someone to pay for it"!

Khayyam says

 از آبِ عدم تُخمِ مِرا کاشتہ اند

‏واز آتشِ غم روحِ مَن افراشتہ اند

سرگشتہ چو باد دمبدم گردِ جہان

‏تاخاکِ مَن از چہ جائی برداشتہ اند

‏ 

عدم کے پانی سے میرا بیج بویا گیا۔اور غم کی آگ سے میری رُوح بنائی گئی۔

‏ مَیں دُنیا مِیں ہَوا کی طرح سرگرداں پِھر رھا ھُوں۔معلوم نہیں کہ میری خاک کہاں سے لائی گئی ھے۔

‏(مطلب یہ کہ انسان کا خمیر معلوم نہیں کہ کس مٹی سے بنایا گیا ھے کہ اُسے ایکدم آرام نہیں۔چند روزہ زِندگی ھے اور وہ بھی غم مِیں گُزرتی ھے۔گویا آدمی غم و عدم کا مجموعہ ھے۔)

‏ (عُمر خیام)

On Science

 

Why?

 Why do so many educated and relatively successful people commit suicide?

Human psychology, emotions, and rationalizations are the hardest things to understand. I doubt any science explains it.

I was disturbed by this news:

"J. Michael Cline, the founder of movie ticket company Fandango, fell to his death from a New York City hotel Tuesday, a law enforcement official confirmed to CNN. The New York Police Department said that around 10 am on Tuesday, the 64-year-old was found with injuries indicating he fell from an elevated height from The Kimberly Hotel, a luxury boutique hotel in midtown Manhattan. Investigators believe he jumped from the 20th floor of the hotel. He was declared dead soon after by emergency medical services."

He was a Harvard MBA graduate who founded many companies.

Link: https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/18/business/fandango-founder-death/index.html

Monkeys vs Humans

 

The worst agony

 کہتے ہیں کہ کسی زبان میں وہ لفظ نہیں ہے جو اس سانحے کے بعد بننے والی کیفیت کو دیا جاتا ہے 

 

والدین ختم ہوجائیں تو یتیم  

 شوہر نہ رہیں تو بیوہ 

 اولاد نہ رہے تو کوئی لفظ ایسا نہیں جو اس حالت کو بیان کرے ۔ 

خدا کسی دشمن کو بھی اولاد کا غم نہ دے آمین  

Future? Humanoids?

 

Anger and the character

 

If I am not hungry.....

اگر میں بھوکا نہیں ہوں تو میرے پاس مارنے کی کوئی وجہ نہیں

ہے

2 Dollars

 I have a friend with whom I often hang out in the evening to have falooda, either burgers or tacos. We both are physicians, so every couple of weeks, we shut our phones and go somewhere in the city to vent, talk, discuss, and have our sanity intact.

He always tips 2 dollars above the recommended amount. Yesterday, I asked him, "WTH! We always give good, handsome tips, so why always top it with 2 dollars?"

He replied: "Never in human history has someone become poor by spending $2 extra. It may make another person's day. He may not get rich either, but giving someone a sense of feeling good is priceless."

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Sensible advice

 

One beautiful Shyr

 

Election 2024

We have a choice between the devil and dementia.