pune tumchya saatthi

My Home: I stay somewhere to the right of the red bldg - dont want you to know the exact location else you can complain to my parents :)

My School: It is that big green patch and the "cross" shaped area beside it. 140 years old and still going on. Link . (Around that there are like 5-7 mosques).

My College: Personally i felt that they were money leeches - so wont elaborate further. Its disgusting to know why I was not valedictorian (But I am glad that UD was the chosen one). But their architecture was really good.

Report on Blankets/woolens distribution drive in Delhi

Just promoting my old organisation AID. Also using it to inspire myself.
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We had collected woolens / funds for blankets for distribution to the people affected by cold wave in Delhi. It was heartening to see a good response at such a short notice which enabled us to help those suffering due to severe cold wave gripping Delhi. Total collections were close to Rs.37,000 and with lots of in-kind woolens donations. The companies which participated in the drive : ST microelectronics (Rs.31,000 + woolens), IndusLogic (Woolens/Old blankets), Atrenta (Rs.5640 + woolens/blankets); HCL (woolens/blankets) Besides, there were some individual donations. Mayank pursued the drive at his end; in HCL. In ST, collection was facilitated by Arvinder, Archi, Ashish Korde, Ankita Arora & me. In IndusLogic, Alpana took the lead. In Atrenta, Shammi & Debamitro helped in the collections.

Hats off to the volunteers who went during the night for distribution.They include Arvinder, Anju Drolia (& her husband), Gunjan (& his mother), Prabhjot, Sanjeev Batra (& his wife), Ripudaman, Suman, Ratan & myself.

We are also indebted to our donors and well-wishers without whom we couldn't make this happen.

The volunteers went for distribution typically after midnight to ensure that only the really needy people benefit from this drive. Blankets were distributed to those homeless people who were asleep without any blanket/with just a thin sheet/torn blanket. The in-kind donations were sent to Goonj (another NGO we partnered with during Tsunami) for effective distribution.

The areas where the blankets were distributed include :- Nizamuddin, Nizamuddin Railway Station, Kirti Nagar, Patel Road, Naraina, Moti Nagar, Vishnu Garden, Tagore Garden, Mayapuri, Pusa Road, Pahar Ganj, Shanker Road, Saket, Nehru Place, Vasant Kunj, Vasant Vihar, Kalkaji , Sarita Vihar , Jasola, Shahdara, ISBT, Ghaziabad (near Vaishali & more),Noida
(Sector 3 & more)

Please note that above list only includes the areas where blankets were distributed. The list of total areas covered is quite comprehensive. We've few blankets left which we will distribute by Wednesday.

I also wish to allay the concerns of people who felt that the cold is receding and so distribution of blankets may not be useful. The fact is that we might feel warm sitting in sweaters and cozy blankets in our homes, but for those who sleep on cold,bare earth without a sweater -the winter is still very harsh. Our volunteers have seen people shivering and unable to sleep because of extreme cold & wind. If we caught cold while distributing for couple of hours, just imagine a person who stays in cold round-the-clock for the entire winter!

Regards,
(On behalf of AID Delhi Funds/Blankets/Woolens Collection/Distribution Team)

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Be the change you want to see in the world. - Gandhi
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2 more reasons why i like Google

[1] They can stand up to extortionists such as BellSouth and Verizon
[2] They realise the implications for complying to DoJ's wide open descriptions.

tyrst with destiny

So another MAS conference is coming up and soon there will be a flurry of emails flying around and then everyone will make excuses that they are so beeezy doing evereeeeething for the event that homework has gone in the thrash. But this story is not about bashing anyone up, so all those who felt that coming should leave.

This is about leadership and the resulting losses that come from it. The job of a leader is to complete his responsibilities, manage the duties to his deputies and the most important one is to inculcate new leaders. In many situations that I have witnessed, the leader just does the first two and neglects the third. I feel every leader should spend time to identify who can succeed him. For ex. in a committee, the treasurer identifies a prospective candidate, the secretary does that and so on. Take the indian cricket team, in which once Md. Azharudding departed, was facing a leadership vacuum.

Now comes the part of identifying people to lead. Most natural choice - look at home. But as with everything dont be so narrowminded. Also look out for your friends that need that break. Or that person who sits quietly at the back of the MSA halaqa. Get them involved. Dont put the blame that if he wants to do it he will come forward... baloooney. Ask. Some of us had the advantage that our parents were the builders of the community and that environment was made available to you. Most dont.

I have seen atleast one MSA collapse because of an effective leader, and another build up all from the hardwork of one leader who took the third part very seriously. The first I will not mention, but the second is the current MSA national vice president.

Return of the Roomy

So while we have one muslim being honored by the city of Tempe, I have the unofficial ignominy of being the most negative person. At this point I wanted to go online and find my negativity rating on some site but well... I have to pack up my stuff. I guess I am lucky to have such good people around me that help me always reflect on things that need improvement. Good that muharram is coming close, i can add being positive to the list of new year resolutions. Wait Chinese new year is close too. Probably i will add it there and then it wont be such a compelling resolution. anyways new year resolutions are made to be broken.....

MC and MS sent out mayday signals today. they are now counting their last days in the kitchen, before getting two extra helping hands each. Trrooop Salute karega --- trooop salute.

NS competed and finished the rock and roll 1/2 marathon. So in honor the flag will be hoisted at twice the mast. Quite inspirational to see someone improve so much in two years. Sort of draws me into getting back at the stuff I did in my younger days. too bad I gave that up to become a workaholic :)

Ok logging off. have to pick up my roomy, bambaii se aaya mera dost......dost ko...

and finally I need to go back to my previous entry "Truly enlightened people dont seek to be others- rather they seek to be superior to their former selves"

Untitled- unfiled

Normally I wanted to complete my other incomplete posts, but think that to be safe in town, let me say sorry to RN and BK. Since BK was running most of the show on the bkrn blog, I thought it would be nice to have RN posting something more on the other one. Unfortunately a suggestion resulted in supaari for my head. Actually double supaari. So before RN pulls the strings and wreaks havoc with BK (and dont know who else), this is the only apolegetic photo that i have.

Anda Bhurrjee

Book Review: The Monk who sold his Ferrari.
A very insightful book on how a workaholic gave up his millions to return to a simple life. So first thing before any of you jump and say - workholic =t1 let me say that t1 != millionaire. So this was not a story about me.

When you read the book, you think about all the aspects that Islam emphasizes us to do, but in the course of our regular lives, these things are just sent to the back burner. For example - Do you take time out for yourself in a day to exercise and to read. Yes I have this blogistan where everyone sits reading. but the author explicitly mentions - read a book that influences you. And read it DAILY. now is that mentioned in our sunnah somewhere?

How often is it that when we are told to give it our best, our mind gets distracted. I put in 10 hours at my job, but I also am distracted by the internet. Wouldn't it be better if i concentrated those 8 hours instead? This book talks about the Heart of a Rose. It asks you to stare at the rose starting at 5 minutes a day till you can concentrate on the rose for 20 minutes. Thinking of nothing else but the rose. Now where is that Ikhlas when we want it 5 times daily.

Then it talks about developing good habits and overcoming negativity. I actually tried one thing over Ramadan about developing a habit, and seriously if you do it for 21 days, it will change you. I wonder if nights of Qadr come after aprox 20 days for a purpose.

Chapter 9 is awesome and without a doubt why i will recommend this book.

Now I saw qualities of some people I know that were mentioned in this book:
"True life change is spontaneous - change happens from the time you decide from the deepest core of your being that you will raise your life to the highest level."
"Truly enlightened people dont seek to be others- rather they seek to be superior to their former selves"
"the quality of your life will come down to the quality of your contributions. A little bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you the roses!!!!"

So this was surely a good bargain at Rs 175 ~$4.

a bigger business

Goats in New York City?

That's right ... thousands of West Texas-raised goats and lambs go to theEast Coast every year to supply a growing ethnic population. The largestshipment will take place this week.

Most of the sheep and goats sold in San Angelo every year are purchased andshipped to New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania markets where they areslaughtered and eaten in celebration of ethnic religious holidays, saidBenny Cox, sheep sales manager for Producers Livestock Auction.

Cox said the firm's first sale of 2006 is the only one before the Muslim''Holiday of Sacrifice.'' He said for the last eight years, Muslim buyershave attended the sale and purchased animals for their customers. The buyersprefer young goats, he said.''

It takes 35 hours to truck the goats to the East Coast, and the Muslimcustomers require that the animals arrive alive. Being fresh is a bigfactor, so the goats are slaughtered on arrival with the head remaining onthe carcass,'' Cox said......

''The goat industry in the United States is one of the fastest-growingsegments in American agriculture,'' said Robert Swize, executive director ofthe American Boer Goat Association.(MORE)login: whocares(AT)Idont.com pwd: wassup

It remoins me of that article where modest clothing was finding an ever increasing market :))

king julian

See this guy dance with the volume muted. It was too funny to see this guy move.

For the explorative ones watch Turtles Can Fly. It deals with mines and an iraqi child that is affected by it.

Else watch SteamBoy....

weird links

Have you searched your full name in google? its a nice exercise that keeps you busy when you have the time.
Unfortunately, with the way google has expanded its search, lately the last few links that pop up are not exactly sites that are recommended. So i have all these links that refer to my publications, the last one contributes to a fall. T2 once you are done dealing with naseeb why dont u take this up with the google guys. you prob can then spend your summer in Palo Alto, CA!!!!

mixture

USC lost !!!! yay ..... all my 1182 folks i dont share your grief!!!

SS is back from india. last one to his house dont expect anything!!

intersting tidbit

If you come to the masjid and dont have time to pray Tahiyattul masjid and the necessary sunnah, you can combine the niyat to do both of them at the same time.

Also namaz was prohibited at the time of the sunrise, midday, and sunset because the pagans would worship the sun at that time. Also the rising and setting of the sun is between the horns of the devil.

Rocket Science

Now why cant some people learn!!
Before anyone else posts the funniest photos from yday, I already got my share of laughs from my sis, and now nothing else matters!!! :)

M&B - start

New series of mamoo-bhanjaa activities aka M&B.

Bhanjaa gets a 6 pound ball, the railings are pulled up and bhanjaa drops his first bowling ball onto the lane at 3:17pm (+/- a few seconds). And guess what he gets 9 down on his first try. Mamo gets a 10 pounder, the railings are still up and mama drops the ball for the umpteenth time and all that he manages are 6 pins... oh well, things can only improve from that point onwards...

10 days of DhulHijjah

http://www.islaam.com/Article.aspx?id=349

Another thing that i am trying to find is if Eid-us-Zoha is on the 10 day of Dhul Hijjah or on the day after Arafaah?
It does matter since the populous muslim countries celebrate it on the 10th day, but the mixture of usa have the above confusion.