Star War fans unite

Someone please give this as a gift to me.... :)

Nobel Peace Prize

The best news I heard on a Friday morning - IAEA and
Mohd ElBaradai wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
Subhanallah, deja vu or whatever you may say, but
while writing the previous post on Nobel Winners I had
wondered aloud that this man is the forerunner for the
peace prize.

I had wanted Hans Blix and Mohd ElBaradai to be the
joint winners

__________________________________
Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005
http://mail.yahoo.com

Flock time

Supposedly a new browser is on the verge - Flock. This could be the 5th browser for me. Avant Browser is my current one, but i have sort of grown over it.

For all those who have memory>=512 MB, try konfabulator.

Nobel prizes come in this week -stay tuned to this news.

Day one Ramadan - have to write about the first sajdah i did in taraweeh and what struck my head. surely on the weekend.

utter bakwaaas

guess which site needs such ads...... to promote nonsense in the name of Islam.

ww40

major higlight was the award i got from the upper management for getting a piece of hardware verified. it justified the concept of the DEs and that was impressive.

next we had our quarterly where i played a totally new game in my life called kickball. basically take a dodge ball, the baseball diamond, and play baseball till you are bored or the burgers are ready - whichever comes first. and then they complain how boring cricket is.......

saw serendipity and it is climbing the charts of the best romantic movie ever seen. why cant they make such movies in lareger number. reminded me of that statement in one of the profiles - if god brings you to it, He will bring you through it. (for those who know about this one, this is not a perfect world but "threw" and "through" are different)

india bistro is a new restaurant on forest and univ. gani happens to be a muslim from chennai and has a buffet all the time. chicken is halal and beef is not - for all those who are tread this path. no comments on this topic please, we have more to worry about and discuss. believe me you. all those who wish to join on our mindless blabber can join us here on friday evening.

scout master lost his temper and finally said a "no" for the first time. the mark of any great person is the ability to say "no" - rule no 1 in many self-help books. verified from the monk who sold his ferarri. if you can do that you realise very well that it is not necessary for you to be present in each and every decision/process/activity.

The first Muslim day was a great beginner. seriously people that audience was missing but i think this is what we expect on the first time. remember the international street fair 10 years ago and the one I was part of in 2003. but the bad part i did not get to listen to any of the lecturers. and since no one i know can give me a presay of what happened.....gloom gloom

upcoming for next week is the resolutions for ramadaan. tell me yours in the meantime.

saudi aramco world may/june 2005

page 3 last sentence: by the end of the evening, I felt torn between the freedoms I have in the United States and the feelings of companionship and love, the sense that life is all within one big family, that I had today in my homeland.

photo - deccan queen - the train i have travelled the most. really recommend the cheesetoast in their pantry wagon amidst the lush green khandala ghats

set theory

The NETI and AOTI sets now have an ever increasing intersection set, so much so that it may soon be possible to overlap completely. I am betting that this announcement will take place towards the end of the year. That also leaves the STAW team with a lower percentage of the NETI influence and its only a matter of time before a constancy will be reached, and it will remain there till end of time. Must say AOTI has been pretty fast.

oldie photos

my middle school - 135 years old - and going strong - vincenti dabitur


my high school.


my fifth grade class and the prize we had won then.

depression

i am such a depressed soul .... sigh. cannot write about this week sorry. too many things are occupying my mind today.

ab kya

bahut waqt se hindi me likhne ka awsar nahi mila. To socha ki yeh post hindi ke naam. aapa, bhai aur bhanjaa ne poora pichla hafta le liya. afsos ki OT ke saath apne iftaari nahi nibha saka. lekin khair. abhi abaab ammi ne bhi pune mein ek aur ghar dekh liya hai. inshallah unka sapna poora ho jaye. kitni ajeeb baat hai ki bachon ke sapne poore karte karte zindagi nikal jaati hai, lekin bachon ne bhi apne maa-baap ke khwaishon ko nahin bhoolna chahiye. abba ammi ne ek aur rishta dekha. maloom nahi unhone kya socha hai.

jaan booch kar MAS day trip ke liye mein nahi gaya. uske jagah par hum desert breeze par barbeque karne nikal gaye. chotte ko to mazaa aaya hi lekin lagta hai ki khargosh ke gosht se uska pate kharaab ho gaya tha.

shaadi ke baare mein aur sochne ka waqt mila tha. yahaan par bhi kitni ladkiyan hai, shaadi ke layaak. lekin kya yeh khaylee ek bahaar ki tasweer hai. unke dilon mein jhaakna itna aasaan nahi. meri yaadash itni zabardast nahi hai, lekin jo yaadein hai woh apne saathi hoten hai. agar unke baare mein aapas mein baat cheet nahi ki ja sakti hai to phir waise jeevan sathi ka kya phayda. meinay bhi kaafi mushkilon ko paar karkiya hai. lekin agar mere saath wala woh nahi samajh sake to phir ek doosra roop/mask humein chadaana padega. humare abba ammi ne humein trinamool/zameen aur waqt ke mayne mein kaafi tilawat di hai. ab unko bas aise thukraya to nahi jaata. batman ne jo rachel ko jawaab diya woh bahut dil par laga "It's not who you are underneath that matters. It's what you do that defines you". Matlab humein apne muskilon ko aise hi choor kar dena chahiye?

kaafi baar sochta hoon ki.. kaash, kaash.... nahi yeh kabhi aur ke liye. aap ko yeh sawaal mujhe pesh karna padega.

my bhanjaa wants it all

AWK (not the linux one) my bhanjaa was quite happy to run around, visit the masjid, see the other little children studying there and praying, climb up A mountain unassisted, grind my tennis racket on the courts, run in the desert breeze park and have a fun time on the whole. So much so that he has taken my 'rainbow' glass, alarm clock with him and actually created a tantrum since mamoo was not coming along. GEE :) :) :). he wanted to take my house along with him if he could. guess atleast one more person can tolerate me.

ww37

On the whole, quite unproductive. Actually i get a call suddenly from a 91 code and it beats me. There is my dad at the other end and he is trying his new cellphone to call my sis and me. It turns out that one of my cousins had visited my parents and brainwashed them about daari and elimination. As expected i must say.

Till now there has been only 2 supporters for keeping the small daari that i keep. So my parents all hyper about why daari is not a necessity before marriage and there is time after it as well, how daari goes against the indian mentality and etc etc. So the ultimate dilemma - if I keep a daari, Indian muslim girls cancel me out, and since yaadi yaadi yaah blah. Muahahaa, So I guess I should start looking in outer space. One thing for sure, I need to talk to that cousin soon.

Sometimes then it feels that an arranged marriage is more conditions and less personality. Subhanallah. And speaking of daari, you take one walk outside and you can see it for yourself. How brave are the hijabis who can face the crowd wearing something that is prescribed and not something that is the norm. salute-smiley.

Comic of the week is shown. Current book - the five caliphs.

learning from amrus

ok at the cub scout meeting, Alhamdulillah we have a new desi volunteer. As I introduced him to the pack, a Tiger blurts out " So are you a born Muslim?". So I guessed that his parents might have told him that he is superior since he was a born muslim.

Also why do these kids have to comment on everything? it beats me!!! Can they not hold everything for one hour? How are you to discipline them if they will not listen?

Randommness Unlimited

Candians say EH too often. What about aahs (those pregnant pauses)? any guesses or is this just some global phenomenon?

What about starting a Toastmaster at the Masjid? Dues are exhorbitant ($54 for year).

Anyone seen the movie Walk On Water? Its in hollywood right now though not on MVP. MUST SEE AS IT HAS DOME OF THE ROCK ON ITS COVER.

Have you observed that some forwards that you had received from one friend a year ago, traverse on more than one route and then arrive from another friend.

Why do small avoidable mistakes in life still create regret today?

Why do we establish imaginary levels of imaan for anyone, unless actually we have talked to them? "Presumed high imaan, until proven not!!!"

Why is life so difficult?

WW36

First and formeost WW36 != world war but WW36==work week 36.

To say the least it was a tough one at work and a peaceful one at home. The work part is giving me the creeps while i write over here. I have been battling some incomplete instructions and trying my best to understand why testcards work at one place and do not at another. Please make special special dua for me!!!

On the home front-> I think i made the day for an 8th grader. I dont know how she looks like and just know her name. She had wanted to thank me, but I was already out of the masjid by then. Actually her essay had actually gone like "I want to make masgids at all places and .... when I grow up I will donate all my money to masgids." Yeah it reminded me of the time when I wanted to find the cure to cancer and ended up becoming an engineer (of sorts)!! Alhumdulillah!! Subhanallah!!.

The hunt is on as usual and am trying to come with terms to reality. I did post smthng earlier about not lowering your standards Islamically, but more often than not I am trending to that. Either I start hunting with a magnifying glass for that elusive one or just give up and accept my desiness, and how I am confined to my fate. (Brings up vision of those ads on indian tv that dealt with bhaagya).

And please check out my coloring of the Chilli at the Chilis restaurant at Mill and Univ. Check for name=verychilli. hehehe

Bush has been vowing so much these days. He is not a just ruler and now will he have the ability to fulfill all these vows that he makes for publicity?

Had a great time out with OT. Virginia Tech won its opener and it was all because of our collective cheering in that Scottsdale restaurant/bar. Great to meet up with Fellow hokies and also to fly the VT flag in the ASU neighborhood.

It looks like we need to give an introduction to cub scouts to all parents that leave their children there, under the false presumption that it is a discipline boot camp, a reading club, a babysitter program, or a temporary hideout on a Saturday afternoon!!!!!

Happy Birthday to me !!!!

blog change status

One noble soul requested that I start posting a photo each time. My photo ---- !!!!! I did not want to start a horror or comic strip!!!!! Instead you may find some of my collectibles from over the years.

UPDATE CAMERA IS KAPUT TIME TO SAVE FOR ONE

dilemma

So as I was walking back I tried to analyze the confusion that was arising within me. I have not been long enough in my recent visits to Des to experience about Islamic revival if any. I have spent more time here involved with Islam than I ever was in Des. Then I started thinking backward to the point when the first muslims arrived here. there were no second generation muslims that time and competition was among themselves. Now when I look around I see a couple of first gens and hajaar gen 2s. And then I try to fit myself into one of these two groups. I am neither as old as the gen 1s and also dont walk the talk of gen2s. If i was a gen1 then you can see their fixed racial distinctions - an arab for an arab a desi for a desi. Then i look at gen2s - all that talk of leaving race behind appears crap - really a big ideology of waste talk. shake some salt and pepper here and there to create a mix breed, that gets lost in the yolk and the white. So where do I lie still goes unanswered........... Should i pave my way as a gen1/gen2/mix/[pure].

Next I thought of approaching the problem in a different way - I started comparing des ki dharti with videsh. and seriously whenever you talk about it boils down to a loss ov values on both sides. in the discussion never does parents arise. but deep down they tilt the balance for desh. my other friends dont have a problem returning back. I am a minority there and am a minority here. (yeah muslim nations not accepting muslims is a big paradox that I have to live with). Then to accomodate the imbalance towards desh, we try to add a variable on both sides called as Islam. Why a variable and not a constant? Thinking about it, islam in india & USA is not about Tableeghs running the place, and not about 'knowledgeable' sheikhs being present in every masjid in usa. so ultimately what you add on both sides is a variable and not constant. So the question still remains ................ swades, vides

Lastly you try to solve a problem for one person and there is another problem that is twisted a little and sent back to you. I confused (interpret helped) RN of decison making based on an expectation list. but then I went back to the one I created and the first question that would come would be: How do you compare her from there and her from here?

So whichever way you think at it, you are dancing to predecided tunes aka fate. you dont how the tune ends.......

why so tough

Is life moving? is it going forward or going backward? Coming back from the masjid, i was thinking about the one big question that NV answered way back - From here or from there? It is such a big jump, and requires some big decisions. There is so much here and so much there. M and D are there, DD is there and however far I run I will always be a desi at heart. Still when I joke I use hindi. I think in English though. I wanted to be a beacon of hope and a role model for the younger generations back home, and still there are so many faces here that also look up to me (I assume a lot here). D wanted me to go there and emulate RaM's model, but still they are scared of RaM's model and his decision to move away once and for all. You look back at the tough times that we went through as a family and how we stuck on with Allah and hope, I with determination and Ps with patience. Each time I boarded the plane the same questions would ring - will they join me, will I join them? At these trough points you look up in whose hands we are clay puppets, and hope that he moves us into something better.

Frankly I read the above paragraph and notice gibberish. So just posting this to get me started.

the umpteeenth return to bloggin

So now things are becoming more serious. Formally given up on AS now in the process of evaluating RY. Had a lot of soul thinking sessions, twhile walking up and down from the masjid. The number of decisions to be made dont end. The concurrency is not up and working as yet and thats driving me crazy. There is no progress on the other front and thats hitting me hard, and bungling up my thought process. Thats why you have calvin expecting aliens but none are to be seen.

Something somewhere still is troubling me. Dont know why, dont know why.