Dec 30, 2007
Posted by arif in Reviews | 3 comments
Me meeting my wife had involved a large number of coincidences to occur. A story that I will share someday. But that’s nothing compared to how my parents met and got married. Their marriage took place just within a day of their meeting! Imagine that. Well, that’s another story that I may share some other day.
Anyway, the narrator of The Danish Poet intriguingly begins by saying, “our chance to be born hinges on our parents meeting.” If you think about it, the meeting of our parents is dependent on a whole lot of circumstances that is not within our control. Hence we can’t be responsible for our parents. Therefore we can’t be responsible for the inherited charateristics that we have. So we shouldn’t be punished for mistakes that we do. Why? because they happened due to environmental circumstances (beyond our control) and because of our decision which has been heavily influenced by our genes & upbringing (again beyond our control).
Anyway, don’t bother your head with that and just Watch this beautiful animated short. It will make you smile, it will make you sniffle, it will make you almost jump from your seat to scream at your computer screen saying, “oh c’mon they were almost so close.” Have I given too much away. I think not. It’s only 15 minutes long, you can click here to view part 1 of The Danish Poet and once you’re done with that, you can click here to watch part 2. Enjoy and please do share your comments below. [wp_youtube]C3aZS9EyN94[/wp_youtube] Click here to Subscribe to Arif & Ali Blog for productivity tips, thought-provoking ideas, spiritual ponderings and occassional dose of fun.
Dec 26, 2007
Posted by arif in Spirituality | 4 comments
God is the ‘I’ of the Universe.
Ali mentioned this statement to me after hearing it in a seminar and is one of the more profound statements I’ve heard on God. God is the “I” of the universe. Wow. It’s had my head spinning for weeks since I’ve heard it. But to digest it completely, the context needs to be set. You have to realise who you are or more precisely, who you are not.
Who are you?
If you bumped into somebody who looks familiar at a coffee shop, you’re curiousity is just overtaking you and you’ve just got to ask him, “Buddy, you look really familiar, may I ask “Who are you?” ” How would he reply?
He would probably say, well my name is so and so, I currently work at this place and I have these people in my family etc. etc. Observe. The question asked was, “Who are you?” and the reply we usually give is, what my name is, this is where I work, this is who my family is. Dude, the question was on who YOU are. Sure we may be partially defined by our job, or who we are related with, but what if that changes? Tomorrow, what if you decide to change your name. You change your job (or business), and by getting a divorce (hypothetically speaking only) you can even change your family. But, have ‘you’ changed? You are still the same you. Aren’t you?
Who then, are you?
You are not your body.
I have heard Dr. Alidina, in one his speeches give a bit graphic yet effective example by standing in front of a crowd and saying, “Imagine my arm being chopped off. Now there are two distinct pieces of me. There’s me and there’s my arm, that would be lying on the ground. The arm would eventually disintegrate and dissolve into the earth. However the I in me has remained the same. Though I would be less by an arm, I still have the same thoughts, feelings, emotions, opinions I did before losing my arm. If I were to lose each limb, the same way “I” in me would still not change. ‘I’ am not my body.
‘You’ are not your body.”
The fascinating this is that…
You have a body, but you are not your body.
You have a name, but you are not your name.
You have a job, but you are not your job.
You have a family, but you are not your family.
You have thoughts, but you are not your thoughts. (Because ‘You’ can change your thoughts)
You have feelings & opinions, but you are not your feelings & opinions.
I do hope you’ve got that. Because, recognising Who you are not, is the first step of knowing who you are.
God is the I of the universe ~ Alfred R Orage
Just like we are so much more than just our jobs, or relationships, or our bodies, next time you’re out of the office, have a Look around. The world is alive. It’s continuously pulsating with a force. It can’t be seen but it’s there. We feel it. Right from the trees, to the ground, from the birds to the mosquitoes. It’s alive. Moving. Towards a certain purpose. But does the world know that? When a flower creates pollen, does it know it’s creating sustenance for millions of bees? Does it even know that it’s creating pollen? Does the bee know that each time it’s feeding itself it’s from flower to flower it’s helping in crosspolinating the flower? Does the Lyre bird know it’s making the most complex mimicking of sounds? Even that of a camera, a car alarm and a Chainsaw!
Gosh, there are million such examples. Next time you see anything in nature performing a certain function, ask yourself, “Does it know that it’s doing that?” (Eg. Does the tree know that it’s taking in Carbon Dioxide to produce Oxygen to support us Humans?) The answer is probably not. Then who’s the I who’s directing all this to happen? Could it be the universe is merely the body of God? Could it be that God is the I of that body? The I of the universe?
[Quran: Chapter 2, Verse 255] His knowledge extends over the heavens and the earth, and the preservation of them both tires Him not, and He is the Most High, the Great.
Dec 23, 2007
Posted by arif in GTD and Productivity, Reviews | 7 comments
I’ve recently upgraded to a Blackberry 8310 from a 8700. And when I did I sorely missed certain applications that I had installed in the earlier phone.
Concise Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus
I do most of my reading at home or at a cafe and I rarely am close to a dictionary then. But that’s when I need it the most. The Mobile Version of the Concise Oxford Dictionary has proved quite invaluable to me. It’s got a very good breadth of words and the quality of explanations is what you would expect from Oxford. Once you actually have this app you’ll be amazed the number of times you actually begin to use it. You see, you never really know when you are in a situation when you begin something to read & you come across a word you’ve not heard before. It could be when your reading the morning paper or flipping a magazine when waiting at the Dentist’s. Most of the time you can guess the meaning, but there are times you want to look it up. If there isn’t a dictionary around you, you just let it go. Having this application in your pocket never leaves you guessing what a particular word could mean. And that’s a learning opportunity one shouldn’t miss. Unfortunately like many Blackberry apps, it’s pricey. It retails at $40, but certainly worth it.
World Magic – World Time Software
Either when I have to call my aunt in UK or if I’m receiving a call from a client in New Jersey, this software saves me the mental workout of figuring what time (hence mood) would the person I’m speaking to be in. It has a very clean interface, which tells you the time of four different cities simultaneously. Not a bad app for $7.95.
Lygea Calculator
The default calculator installed in the Blackberries is quite lacking in usability and features. For eg Because of lack of the comma after the respective number of digits, I have often caught myself counting the number of digits on the calculator to see if the result is in tens of thousands or lakhs. And here enters Lygea Calulator that saves your head from needless number crunching. A very handy calculator, with a much more pleasing screen. It accepts 12 digits, (compared to 8 digits of the default Blackberry calculator), has the comma (number separator), great for working out interest calcluations and a host of other features.
Mobylo – MultiAlarm
Although the blackberry has a default Alarm Clock, I have found myself needing to set another alarm during the day quite often. Many times it’s early in the morning itself. For eg, once I’m up at 5:00 AM after I’ve finished my prayers I feel the need for another nap, but don’t want to be late for work, hence I need another alarm to wake me up at 7:00 Am. If I change the earlier alarm that I set from 5:00 to 7:00, I’m certain to forget to set it back at 5:00. Therefore, I use Mobylo – MultiAlarm. With Mobylo you can set five different Alarms, with different rules. So that, if I set a new Alarm I don’t have to lose the old one. Retailing at $29.99 is not exactly cheap, but you can download yourself a 30-day trial and see if you’re putting it to good use, in that period.
PocketDay
As David Allen from the GTD (Getting Things Done) World recommends I would just like to see my appointments and tasks for the day in one single screen. The default Blackberry Calendar Application does have the tasks and Appointments in one screen, when you select Agenda View. But the problem there is, each time I complete a task and I mark that task of as complete, it stays right there on the screen. It doesn’t hide the completed tasks nor does it distinguish betweeen completed and incomplete tasks.
Enters PocketDay. I love this app. When launched, Pocketday, would let you know your missed calls, emails, appointments, to-do’s, how’s your stock portfolio performing and if it’s gonna rain today or not, all in One single screen. I don’t need to know of all of the above, as long as, I get to see my appointments and tasks for the day in one single screen, Arif is a happy bunny. The downsides to this app are, it would make your blackberry slow. I use the Pocketday Personal edition, which is lighter hence faster than the Professional Edition, but still not upto par when it comes to speed.
QuranReader Pro
You can give it your best, but you can’t really be successful or effective without the Almighty’s help. And that’s were my last two apps come in. QuranReader Pro, is an excellent software for those of the likes of me. The Arabic font is displayed beautifully, and once you buy it for £14, you have the wide range of options of various translations by Pickthall, Yusuf Ali or (my favourite) M H Shakir. This application comes in most handy when attending a majlises or any religious seminar and the speaker gives reference to a particular verse. Since I’ve got this app, it doesn’t take too long for me to pull that out and see what context the verse was being referred to in. And also I’m currently trying to memorise the smaller chapters, having this in my pocket is good use of time when I’m waiting for someone.
PrayerTime Extra
Dad had a saying up on his wall which read,
“If you are too busy to pray, you are busier than God wants you to be.”
How beautifully put. Generally one does a fair idea when prayer time is, PrayerTime Extra helps to narrow it down to the exact minute. This application really proves its worth when travelling. All you need to do is select the city you are in and you get to know when to set your alarm for the morning prayers. Again with a very clean interface and also has alarms to alert you when it’s time to drop all your excuses and thank the Lord for His infinite blessings, though how little we deserve it. A Big Thank you to the wonderful brothers at GuidedWays Technologies for coding these last two essential applications. May Allah SWT reward you and your families immensely for your services.
Well there you have it, 7 applications that are a must-have for me. What about yourself? Is there anything here that you particularly fancy here? Or something better that you’ve come across? Do let me know. As always. Keep smiling :-)
Dec 18, 2007
Posted by arif in General | 12 comments
From all the email forwards I receive, I most look forward (pun not-intended) to the ones from Nahida Jumde co-founder of Jumde Arts Copy. Her email forwards are quite selective and it’s the really funny or thought-provoking that passes through her filter which then sends across. If interested, you can write to her by clicking here, she’d be pleased to add you to her mailing list.
Here’s a list of one-liners I received yesterday. You may have heard some of them, nonetheless you’ll still find gems in there. My personal favourites are highlighted in bold. Do let me know which you liked the most. Cheerio!
1. Regular naps prevents old age… especially if you take them while driving.
2. Having one child makes you a parent; having two makes you a referee.
3. Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right and the other is the husband!
4. They said we should all pay our taxes with a smile. I tried- but they wanted cash.
5. A child’s greatest period of growth is the month after you’ve purchased new school uniforms.
6. Don’t feel bad. A lot of people have no talent.
7. Don’t marry the person you want to live with, marry the one you cannot live without…but whatever you do, you’ll regret it later.
8. You can’t buy love… but you pay heavily for it.
9. True friends stab you in the front.
10. Forgiveness is giving up my right to hate you for hurting me.
11. Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
12. Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.
13. My wife and I always compromise. I admit I’m wrong and she agrees with me.
14. Those who can’t laugh at themselves leave the job to others.
15. Ladies first…… Pretty ladies sooner.
16. It doesn’t matter how often a married man changes his job, he still ends up with the same boss.
17. They call our language the mother tongue because the father seldom gets to speak.
18. Saving is the best thing…especially when your parents have done it for you.
19. Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something.
20. Real friends are the ones who survive transitions between address books .
Dec 4, 2007
Posted by arif in Spirituality | 10 comments
Quran: Chapter 57 (The Iron): Verse 23 So that you may not grieve for what has escaped you, nor be exultant at what He has given you; and Allah does not love any arrogant boaster.
It always bothered me. Why doesn’t God want us to be overly-happy? If happiness is a good thing, being overly happy would mean more of a good thing, wouldn’t it? Honestly, that’s all each and everyone of us is striving for anyway.
I can understand the first part of the verse. That we shouldn’t be overly obssessed in grief over something (even someone) that we’ve lost. That just leads to more stress, worry, anxiety and most of all it’s a plain waste of time. But if you’re overly happy leads to more endorphins, more adrenalin and a more positive, optimistic outlook on life.
Maybe Quran says that because:
Excessive happiness is like having a double-espersso, with piles of whipped cream drenched in hot-chocolate. It lead to an immediate all time high. But when the caffiene runs out, boy does the crash feel lousy. But I don’t think that’s the reason why God has advised against being ecstatic. Next time you’re going through a high, just observe yourself. One would think we become overly happy because circumstances around us have changed which now give us a higher quality of life, for eg winning a million dollars that would make you overly happy. However that has not been the case for me. Last couple of times when I was on a high, I realised, it was not because of circumstances but because of a super major achievement that I did. It was because I was so damn smart and intelligent, that my planning and strategy solved this major problem and it would not have happened if it weren’t for ME. It was the drunkenness of me, that was feeding my euphoria.
But how much of that is due to me really?
Even if I came up with a direction with which we should approach an issue, I did that because of the people, tools, circumstances that were around me. Even if it was some super ingenious solution that I had come up with, it was because of the training I received. And all of which (people, training, circumstances) I truly had no control over. If these were different, you can be sure my decision would be something else. Truly truly what do I have to be pleased about. If anything I should just be eternally grateful that this goodness that happened it was through me. It could very well be anybody else. Therefore gratefulness even if it’s excessive is a much more truer and apt expression.
Quran Chapter 3 (Family of Imran):Verse 145 and whoever desires the reward of this world, I shall give him of it, and whoever desires the reward of the hereafter I shall give him of it, and I will reward the grateful.
