View the Art Gallery: Doodles, Cartoons, Sketches, Caricatures & more
I enjoy sketching & doodling. So I thought of adding them to the Blog. An Art Gallery page has been created that showcase the Art work. You can also view them below:
Feb 28, 2009
Feb 24, 2009
I Love these 3 Stories from Khalil Gibran’s ‘The Madman, His Parables and Poems’.
When my Sorrow was born
When my sorrow was born I nursed it with care, and watched over it with loving tenderness.
And my Sorrow grew like all living things, strong and beautiful and full of wondrous delights.
And we loved one another, my Sorrow and I, and we loved the world about us; for Sorrow had a kindly heart and mine was kindly with Sorrow.
And when we conversed, my Sorrow and I, our days were winged and our nights were girdled with dreams; for Sorrow had an eloquent tongue, and mine was eloquent with Sorrow.
And when we sang together, my Sorrow and I, our neighbors sat at their windows and listenend; for our songs were deep as the sea and our melodies were full of strange memories.
And when we walked together, my Sorrow and I, people gazed at us with gentle eyes and whispered in words of exceeding sweetness. And there were those who looked with envy upon us, for Sorrow was a noble thing and I was proud with Sorrow.
But my Sorrow died, like all living things, and alone I am left to muse and ponder.
And now when I speak my words fall heavily upon my ears.
And when I sing my songs my neighbours come not to listen.
And when I walk the streets no one looks at me.
Only in my sleep I hear voices saying in pity, “See, there lies the man whose Sorrow is dead.”
When my Joy was born
And when my joy was born I held it in my arms and stood on the house-top shouting, “Come ye, my neighbours, come and see, for Joy this day is born unto me. Come and behold this gladsome thing that laugheth in the sun.”
But none of my neighbours came to look upon my Joy, and great was my astonishment.
And every day for seven moons I proclaimed my Joy from the house-top — and yet no one heeded me. And my Joy and I were alone, unsought and unvisited.
Then my Joy grew pale and weary because no other heart but mine held its loveliness and no other lips kissed its lips.
Then my Joy died of isolation.
And now I only remember my dead Joy in remembering my dead Sorrow. But memory is an autumn leaf that murmurs in the wind and then is heard no more.
The Astronomer
In the shadow of the temple my friend and I saw a blind man sitting alone. And my friend said, “Behold the wisest man of our land.”
Then I left my friend and approached the blind man and greeted him. And we conversed.
After a while I said, “Forgive my question, but since when hast thou been blind?”
“From my birth,” he answered.
Said I, “And what path of wisdom followest thou?”
Said he, “I am an astronomer.”
Then he placed his hand upon his breast, saying, “I watch all these suns and moons and stars.”
You may read the complete short book here or hear it from this free audio book.
Feb 21, 2009
Keep track of Web Links that we find fascinating and Books that we’re currently engrossed with.
The Arif & Ali blog is now on Twitter and AllConsuming.net.
What’s Twitter?
Twitter is this wonderful service to help stay in touch with friends no matter where you are by sending status updates of what you were doing. So be it you’re visiting a websites (or a cafe) you can post a little update in twitter via your pc or your mobile phone on what you are up to. Me and Ali are now on twitter and will be mostly posting interesting links that we come across. Incase we mistakenly happen to do anything exciting, we’ll make a mention of that in Twitter too. To track our Twitter feed, it’s best done by downloading one of the Twitter Widgets available here. If you want to set up a twitter account you may do it here.
Books galore
We’ve always been into reading, but over the last twelve months or so, our library has exploded. We’re buying books ever so frequently and it’s truly great fun trying to keep our reading at the same pace, ofcourse it hardly happens. Thanks to the indepth review, comments and the ability to peek into the book itself at Amazon, we are able to get truly the best of the best of any subject that we are interested in. And once you’re following GTD, implementing what you read gets so much easier too. The subjects that we’re covered are as varied as the themes on this blog. Some of the topics have been:
Spirituality
Personal Development
Business
Economics
Fantasy Fiction
Political/Essays on the World and India specifically
Art
These books are REALLY good. I mean Really really good. Hence we were keen to share this with all those who are interested in similar subjects and reading about them. Some of the books that we like and recommend have been reviewed on this blog, but we are not able to do the same for so many others that are equally impactful. Therefore, those who’re interested what books we’ve been completing, you may keep track of them here. Anytime we’ve finished a new book, it’lll be uploaded onto that same link.
Ofcourse, both our Twitter Feed and Books at AllConsuming.net can also be tracked from this blog itself as you can in see the right hand side-bar.
Incase you have any recommendation looking at the books we’re covered, please post a comment, we’d love to hear from you.
Feb 19, 2009
War of Art (Book review): My most effective weapon against Procrastination.
There are just a handful of books that I can say have dramatically changed my life for the better. War of Art by Steven Pressfield sits way high on that list. It is an outstanding book, crafted to help you may hear your life’s purpose like never before and then soar away to living it.
All of us have whining nagging voice in our heads. You know that voice, it’s the one that says,
“Oh it’s so early, you’ve had a late night, get some rest you can always exercise later.”
“You? Start a business and take all that risk…c’mon you’ve got a family, don’t be foolish.”
“Want to be more spiritual? It’s such a noble goal but oh, the sacrifice, why don’t you wait till tomorrow…”
That’s not the voice in your head, but the voice of a real being, a living, breathing lifeform who’s sole purpose is to get you from achieving your life purpose. It is the voice of Resistance.
What is Resistance?
Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance. Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who doesn’t start a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.Any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity. Or, expressed another way, any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower. Any of these will elicit Resistance.
Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, fasify; seduce, bully cajole. It will assume any form, if that ‘s what it takes to deceive you. It will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine-millimeter in your face like a stuckup man. Resistance has no conscience. It will pledge anything to get a deal, then double-cross you as soon as your back is truned. If tyou take Rsistance at its word, you deserve everything you get. Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.
If you believe in God (and I do) you must declare Resistance evil, of it prevents us from achieving the life God intended when He endowed each of us with our own unique genius.
Steven Pressfield has recognised Resistance for what it is and described it so starkly, it’s as if he’s stripped the devil himself of all his hides and exposed the blood-thirsty rasping wolf that lay beneath.
So, once you’ve recognised Resistance, how do you get the better of it?
How do you stay strong and don’t get allured by it’s seductive sounds. The solution is really quite simple. Infact we’re acting out every single day at our jobs. It’s simply by becoming a pro, i.e. a professional at what we wish to do. And That’s what the second part of the book is dedicated to. What does it mean to turn pro?
Pro means treating our ambition, just the way we treat our jobs. How do we treat our jobs?
- We show up every day. We might do it only because we have to, to keep from getting fired. But we do it. We show up every day.
- We show up no matter what. In sickness and in health, come hell or high water, we stagger in to the factory. We might do it only so as not to let down our co-workers, or for other, less noble reasons. But we do it. We show up no matter what.
- We stay on the job all day. Our minds may wander, but our bodies remain at the wheel. We pick up the phone when it rings, we assist the customer when he seeks our help. We don’t go home till the whistle blows.
- We receive praise or blame in the real world…
This book is a must for everyone’s and anyone’s library. It’s quite short and not too wordy. I’ve picked it up several times and gives me a kick where I need it and when I need it most. And incase the book is difficult to get, the audio book is available for purchase here. It’s read out by Steven Pressfield himself, and in my view packs more of a punch than the book itself.
Feb 2, 2009
Muharram, Maryam, Mayhem – A personal update
It has been a little quiet at the Arif and Ali blog and there are a few reasons for that:
Muharram
Late December, Muharram began. It’s the beginning of the Islamic calendar and where the Islamic world remembers the sacrifice of great individual Imam Hussain ibn Ali Talib. His sacrifice was indeed immense. He and his family were brutally murdered and his women were subsequently paraded and then jailed in dungeons. But it’s not for what he sacrificed that he’s remembered. It’s why he did so. He stood up to the tyrants of the time and refused to give-in to his principles knowing the heavy price that he would have to pay for it. Muharram is generally a busy time. We attend religious lectures whose theme revolve around improving ourselves, be it in our character, our worship, faith etc. Which always end with a reminder of Imam Hussain’s sacrifice for his principles.
Maryam
As detailed in my last blog post, it’s in Muharram that I became a dad too. So if Muharram didn’t keep me busy enough, Maryam Fatima Vakil certainly did. You know, I was always highly fearful of being a father. The mere thought would place on me a burden of an immense responsibility. How can I give my baby the best in the world. Infact I know I can’t, but my princess (just like everybody feels for their little darlings) deserves no less. Anyhow, will worry about that some other day. Right now, little Maryam is chilling with her maternal grandparents at Mahuva, Gujrat. A sleepy little town where we originally hale from. While she is away, every little cry that harks upon my ears, I fell it’s Maryam who’s calling out for me. Whenever I come across a woman now, I wonder is this how Maryam will grow up to be? Her round face with large eyes keeps appearing in front of me again and again. It’s truly something else to be a father.
Mayhem
But the main reason for silence was not so much being preoccupied with Muharram commemorations nor my little bundle of joy. It was something else that was happening hundreds of miles away from Bangalore, that was giving me sleepless nights here. It was/is the Gaza crises.
Just like many of you, I too was deeply disturbed to say the least by the happenings at Gaza. From the moment the air strikes began, there was little else that I could put my mind to. Even though the cease-fire has come now, but at what cost? And for how long? I really wanted to do a blog post on Gaza, but was not sure what I wanted to convey. It would have been a rant against the Israeli aggression, the complicatedness of the situation and the weakness of Arif Vakil’s principles for doing nothing about it.
Anyway, let’s all pray that there is peace not only at Middle East, but in every nation, city, town and family. It’s little acts of selfishness, greed and injustice which left uncorrected that end up in fights and wars. Similarly it’s little acts of Love, Generosity, Kindness and Sacrifice that will lead us to our elusive World Peace. I’m sure if Hitler was guided as a child to Love, live in Peace, strive for Justice there wouldn’t have been World Wars nor the Holocaust. How swiftly time flies. We are truly in this world for a really short time indeed. There’s so much that needs to be done. To begin with, let’s re-sensitise our selves to the massive poverty around us. As a child I couldn’t bear to see a begger at the car with his hand outstreched. Now it’s so easy for me to dismiss him with a wave of a hand. (I personally do not encourage giving to beggars, there are better ways to help them, but it’s how thick-skinned that we can become is my point). Let us all be clear what are the principles that we stand for and lead our lives accordingly. If we stand for nothing, we’ll fall for anything. Let’s teach and then reteach all those in our cirucle of influence, beginning with our children that Love, Truth, Peace, Justice, Courage prevails over all the glitters around us. Most of us believe that our actions in this life will affect our life after this one. What reason have we then for not giving our best to bring about World Change? Is it required? is it Important? You bet it is. Together We Can make a difference. We Will. We Must.
