waqas

Crisis of the Niger Delta

2011-05-28T15:00:00.000+05:00

follow me!

2010-06-24T11:18:00.005+05:00

I have deserted this blog a long time ago majorly because I have been quite busy with a lot of things at work - actually I have been juggling with a number of different roles at my current job with Stratasoft, The Resource Group (TRG). After a long absence, I am now trying to manage my activities and spare time for family, personal development, my hobby and my blogging activities. My new blog is all about miniature & container gardening, tips on growing cacti, succulents and bonsai plants, and plant nurseries around the world. This blog is now online at http://www.thelovelyplants.com.

nothingness - reaffirmed

2006-10-27T11:31:00.000+05:00

"We should burn all libraries and allow to remain only that which everyone knows by heart. A beautiful age of the legend would then begin."

—Hugo Ball

86 years (and counting...) of 'nothingness'

2006-10-27T11:21:00.000+05:00

“No more painters, no more scribblers, no more musicians, no more sculptors, no more religions, no more royalists, no more radicals, no more imperialists, no more anarchists, no more socialists, no more communists, no more proletariat, no more democrats, no more republicans, no more bourgeois, no more aristocrats, no more arms, no more police, no more nations, an end at last to all this stupidity, nothing left, nothing at all, nothing, nothing.”

—Louis Aragon, “Manifesto of the Dada Movement,” 1920

Hope? Huh

2006-04-13T09:47:00.000+05:00

Don't give me hope; it disappoints, you know.

hasb-e-haal

2006-01-13T17:39:00.000+05:00

tum na-haq tukRey chun chun kar
daman may chupaye baethay ho
SHeeSHon ka maseeha koi nahi
kiya aas lagaye baethay ho

Faiz Ahmad Faiz

The Fall of Dhaka

2005-12-16T10:31:00.000+05:00

Instrument of Surrender Signed At Dhaka at 16:31 Hours (IST) On December 16, 1971

The Pakistan Eastern Command agrees to surrender all Pakistan Armed Force in Bangladesh to Lieu tenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora, General Officer Commanding in Chief of the Indian and Bangladesh forces in the Eastern Theatre. This surrender includes all Pakistan land, air and naval forces as also all para-military forces and civil armed forces. The forces will lay down their arms and surrender at the places where they are currently located to the nearest regular troops under the command of Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora.

The Pakistan Eastern Command shall come under the orders of Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora as soon as the Instrument has been signed. Disobedience of orders will be regarded as a breech of surrender terms and will be dealt with in accordance with the accepted laws and usages of war. The decision of Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora will be final, should any doubt arise as to the meaning or interpretation of the surrender terms.

Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora gives a solemn assurance that personnel who surrender shall be treated with dignity and respect that soldiers are entitled to in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention and guarantees safety and well-being of all Pakistan military and para-military forces who surrender. Protection will be provided to foreign nationals, ethnic minorities and personnel of West Pakistan origin by the forces under the command of Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora.

(Signatories)

1. Jagjit Singh Aurora
Lieutenant-General
General Officer Commanding in Chief
Indian and Bangladesh Forces in the Eastern Theatre

2. Abdullah Khan Niazi
Lieutenant-General
Martial Law Administrator
Zone Band Commander Eastern Command (Pakistan)

Cost of War in Iraq

2005-12-14T16:52:00.000+05:00

$204.4 billion The cost to the US of the war so far. The UK's bill up until March 2005 was £3.1 billion
2,339 Allied troops killed
98 UK troops killed
30,000 Estimated Iraqi civilian deaths
0 Number of WMDs found
8 per cent of Iraqi children suffering acute malnutrition
$35,819m World Bank estimated cost of reconstruction
53,470 Iraqi insurgents killed
67 per cent Iraqis who feel less secure because of occupation
$343 Average monthly salary for an Iraqi soldier. Average monthly salary for an American soldier in Iraq: $4,160.
7566 journalists killed in Iraq. Journalists killed during Vietnam war: 63
5 foreign civilians kidnapped per month
47 per cent Iraqis who never have enough electricity
20 casualties per month from unexploded mines
20 per cent Inflation rate 2005
25-40 per cent Estimated unemployment rate, Nov 2005
251 Foreigners kidnapped
70 per cent of Iraqi's whose sewage system rarely works
183,000 British and American troops are still in action in Iraq. There are 162,000 US troops and 8,000 British with 13,000 from other nations
90 Daily attacks by insurgents in Nov '05. In Jun '03: 8
82 per cent Iraqis who are "strongly opposed" to presence of coalition troops
15,955 US troops wounded in action

Talking to Myself

2005-11-01T08:47:00.000+05:00

Jaisay til may tayl hai, jyon chakmak mein aag,
Tayra saayeeN tujh mein hai, tu jaag sakay to jaag

(Kabir)

Earthquake 2005

2005-10-09T08:49:00.000+05:00

O Allah,

You are our Lord, and to you shall we return. Bestow upon us your mercy and releive this pain for we are weak and humble. Forgive us and guide us along the right path for we are transgressors lest we shall be the losers and the unlucky.

Ranjhay da KHiyaal

2005-08-24T09:40:00.000+05:00

Dil wich ranjhay da KHiyaal;
may nai jana khayRiaN day naal.

The beast lies within ourselves

2005-07-22T16:16:00.001+05:00

'Twas grief enough to think mankind
All hollow, servile, insincere;
But worse to trust to my own mind
And find the same corruption there.

(I Am the Only Being, Emily Brontë)
.............................................................................

Bura jo dekhan may CHala, bura na milya koi,
Jo mun khoja apna to mujh say bura na koi

(Kabir)

Enlightened Moderation?

2005-07-15T09:52:00.000+05:00

"I would like to explain the logic of the strategy of Enlightened Moderation and also elaborate further on the methodology for the Muslim World to execute its prong of the strategy. First of all we need to understand that the root cause of extremism and militancy lies in political injustice, denial and deprivation. " (Time for Enlightened Moderation, Parvez Musharraf)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NWFP Assembly passes Hasba Bill with majority vote. The government doubts the legitimacy of the bill and decides to to challenge it in Supreme Court.

An army man breaches his oath as a soldier, overthrows an elected government, dissolves assemblies, distorts the constitution and claims to be the legitimate public representative. Is it Enlightened Moderation?

Yellow Flower

2005-07-12T09:50:00.000+05:00

Rolling its blues against another blue,
the sea, and against the sky
some yellow flowers.

October is on its way.

And although
the sea may well be important, with its unfolding
myths, its purpose and its risings,
when the gold of a single
yellow plant
explodes
in the sand
your eyes
are bound to the soil.
They flee the wide sea and its heavings.

We are dust and to dust return.
In the end we're
neither air, nor fire, nor water,
just dirt,
neither more nor less, just dirt,
and maybe,
some yellow flowers.

Pablo Neruda

---------------------------------------------
Shall I be a yellow flower?
---------------------------------------------

Pablo Neruda, Biography

I 'm Andy Budd! Which Guru Are You?

2005-07-11T14:32:00.000+05:00

Save Whales - Greenpeace

2005-05-24T09:28:00.000+05:00

Dear friends,
Despite an international moratorium on whaling, 2137 whales will be hunted this year and the Japanese government is aggressively campaigning to lift the ban on commercial whaling.

Greenpeace is organizing a massive photo protest to not lift the ban. The idea is that your picture, along with thousands of other peoples, will be projected in front of the building where delegates from hundreds of governments meet on June 20 to decide if the whales live or die. The meeting will be in Ulsan, South Korea.

I just sent my picture to Greenpeace to add my voice to the No Whaling Virtual March and I’m calling on you to do the same. It just takes a minute and the more pictures we have, the better are the chances that whales will live. Go to: http://whales.greenpeace.org and follow the easy steps – do it NOW!

Thanks in advance and see you in South Korea! ;)

Duet: Ghalib & Sadequain

2005-05-06T17:42:00.000+05:00

Worn and wasted, I remained in worldly affairs;
But kept alive your thoughts in every breath

http://www.ghalib.org/

La isla bonita

2005-04-25T18:20:00.000+05:00

Last night I dreamt of San Pedro
Just like I'd never gone, I knew the song
A young girl with eyes like the desert
It all seems like yesterday, not far away

Tropical the island breeze
All of nature wild and free
This is where I long to be
La isla bonita
And when the samba played
The sun would set so high
Ring through my ears and sting my eyes
Your Spanish lullaby

I fell in love with San Pedro
Warm wind carried on the sea, he called to me
Te dijo te amo
I prayed that the days would last
They went so fast

Tropical the island breeze
All of nature wild and free
This is where I long to be
La isla bonita
And when the samba played
The sun would set so high
Ring through my ears and sting my eyes
Your Spanish lullaby

I want to be where the sun warms the sky
When it's time for siesta you can watch them go by
Beautiful faces, no cares in this world
Where a girl loves a boy, and a boy loves a girl

Last night I dreamt of San Pedro
It all seems like yesterday, not far away

Tropical the island breeze
All of nature wild and free
This is where I long to be
La isla bonita
And when the samba played
The sun would set so high
Ring through my ears and sting my eyes
Your Spanish lullaby

Tropical the island breeze
All of nature wild and free
This is where I long to be
La isla bonita
And when the samba played
The sun would set so high
Ring through my ears and sting my eyes
Your Spanish lullaby

La la la la la la la
Te dijo te amo
La la la la la la la
El dijo que te ama

* very beatiful composition sung by Madonna
** La isla bonita means The pretty island

Tayray Bin - Rabbi Shergill

2005-04-21T12:57:00.000+05:00

Tayra bin
koi hor nahio labhna
jo dayway
rooh nu sakoon
CHukkay jo naKHra mera

way may sare ghumm ke vekhia
amrika , roos, malaysia
kittey wi koi fark si
har kise di koi SHart si
koi maNgda mayra si sama
koi hunda soorat tay fida
koi maNgda mayri si wafa
na koi maNgda merian bala

Tayra bin
hor na kise
maNgni meriaN bala

Tayray bin
hor na kise
karni dhup vich chhan

jiven rukia
si tun zara
nahion bhulna
main sari umar
jiven akhia si akhan chura
"roveNga sanu yad kar"
hasia si main hasa ajeeb
(par) too nahi si hasia
dil vich tera jo raaz si
mainu too kyon ni dassia

Tayray bin
sanu eh raaz
kise hor nahion dasna

Tayray bin
peeRh da ilaaj
kis vaid kolon labhna

milia si ajj mainu
tera ik patra
likhia si jis 'te
too shayr waris shah da
par kay si os noo
hanjnu ik Duliya

akhan 'ch band si
eh raaz ajj khulia

Ki tayray bin
eh mere hanju
kise hor
nahio CHumna

Ki tere bin
eh mere hanjhu
miTTi wiCH rulna

Heer

2005-04-05T09:38:00.000+05:00

"Ni Mai menoon Kherian di gal naa aakh
Ranjhan mera, main Ranjhan di, Kherian noon koori jhak
Lok janey Heer kamli hoi, Heeray da wer chak"
--------------------------------------------------------
I know not but my Ranjha;
To whom I belong and who belongs to me.
Oh, poor folks!
They say: I am crazy,
But I am happy
Because he knows
Only he knows
What I am.

Shah Hussain
Painting: Chugtai

Mai ni mai!

2005-04-04T16:44:00.000+05:00

Mai ni kehnu akkhan dard vichore da haal
Sulan mar diwanee kiti, birhon pia saDay KHial
Dhuan dhukhe mere murshid wala, jan pholan tan lal
Jangal baylay phiran DhunDhendi, aje na payo lal
Kahe Hussain faqir nimana, Shah mile tan thivan nihal
---------------------------------------------------
To whom shall I narrate my story,
my story of separation;
of pain.
Pain which makes me mourn.

Drown in separation,
I roam in forests and pastures,
Searching for my beloved
Only a sight of whose,
Is enough to smother
My soul.

Shah Hussain
Painting: Ophelia by John Everest Millias

Pulse

2005-03-30T12:35:00.000+05:00

thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking thinking ... thinking ..thiniking ... thinking .. thinking .... thinking . thinking. thinking ............... rabba mayray hall da mehram too haiN

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

2005-03-23T12:15:00.000+05:00

Characters

Gregor Samsa - Man who supported his family but mysteriously turned into an insect one day.
Grete Samsa - The sister of the insect man who fed and took care of the insect.
Herr Samsa - The father of the insect who had to return to work when his son couldn’t.
Frau Samsa - The mother of the insect who had to return to work when her son couldn’t.

lodgers - Disrespectful people that rented rooms in the Samsa flat.
charwoman - Cleaning lady who first found Gregor dead.

The Story (predicament)

The story begins with Gregor waking up in bed and finding out that he’s just turned into an insect. Despite his state, Gregor feels that he can still go to work. However, he proves unable to do this when he finds he has so much trouble getting out of bed and opening the door. Furthermore, no one can understand him. Gregor’s employer who had come to Gregor’s house to fetch him to work, leaves in a very nervous state and Gregor worries about losing his job. His family, however, cannot believe that the bug is Gregor and shoves him back into his room when Gregor tries to step out badly bruising Gregor.

Gregor returns to his room and goes to sleep. The family is now faced with the problem of the lack of money since Gregor was the only member of the family that worked. Luckily, the father had saved some money which the family would be able to live off of for about a year. Also each member of the family got a job. Herr got a job at the bank, Frau got a job knitting lingerie, and Grete got a job as a store clerk.

In the meantime, the only person who enters the room is Grete who comes by and feeds Gregor twice a day. After time, the maid was fired and a charwoman was hired to do the cleaning. Also, the Samsa’s took up three lodgers to help pay the rent on the flat. These lodgers, however, did not know about Gregor. One night after dinner, Grete began playing the violin which lured Gregor out into the dining room.

The lodgers caught sight of him and Herr pushed them into their room out of sight of Gregor. The lodgers threatened to leave without paying. Gregor was pushed back into his own room. Early next morning, the charwoman came to clean and found Gregor dead in his room. She told the rest of the family.

Herr ordered the lodgers out of his house. The entire family then wrote letters to their employers requesting a day off to relax. They then took a train trip where the Samsa’s realized that it was about time that Grete got married.

---ATTENTION---

Follow the status quo. Stop thinking. Forget your identity. Social pressure, economic pressure, family pressure ... ridiculous social norms, values, traditions - fulfill them. Be happy otherwise become an insect and die away.

Open Your Mouth

2005-03-14T18:39:00.000+05:00

as soon as you open your mouth
someone takes advantage of you
shut your mouth
and someone takes advantage of you
get dressed
someone takes advantage of you
take your clothes off
someone takes advantage of you

you go out
someone takes advantage of you
you shut yourself up inside
and think hard about all the mistakes you’ve made
you die you are put in your coffin
you
are taken advantage of

Song Xiaoxian

The Road Less Traveled

2005-03-11T16:03:00.000+05:00

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Words don't die of cold

2005-03-04T18:45:00.000+05:00

Words don’t die of cold
they die from a lack of courage
Words often perish
because of humid weather

I once met
a word
that was like a bright red bird
in the swamp along the riverbank in my village
I brought it home
but as soon as we reached the wooden door-frame
it gave me
a strangely terrified look
and breathed its last

After that I started fearing words
If I ran into them I beat a hasty retreat
if I saw a hairy word dressed in brilliant colours
advancing towards me
I often simply shut my eyes

Slowly after a while
I started to enjoy this game
One day for no reason at all
I hit a beautiful word with a stone
while it hid
like a snake in a pile of chaff

I remember its lovely glittering eyes
down to this day

With the passage of time
my fear has decreased
When I encounter words today
we always end up asking after each other

Now I’ve come to know
many of their hiding-places
I’ve become familiar with
many of their varied colours
Now I know for instance
that the simplest words
are brown and beige
and the most destructive
are pale yellow and pink

Most often the words we save
for our saddest and heaviest moments
are the ones
that on the occasions meant for them
seem merely obscene

And what shall I do now
with the fact that I’ve found
perfectly useless words
that wear ugly colours
and lie discarded in the garbage
to be the most trustworthy
in my moments of danger

It happened just yesterday –
half a dozen healthy and attractive words
suddenly surrounded me
in a dark streetI lost my nerve –

For a while I stood before them
speechless
and drenched in sweat
Then I ran
I’d just lifted my foot in the air
when a tiny little word
bathed in blood
ran up to me out of nowhere panting
and said –‘Come, I’ll take you home’

Kedarnath Singh http://poetryinternational.org

Stephen Cohen speaks

2005-02-28T14:16:00.000+05:00

Lecture: Army and the Idea of Pakistan by Stephen Cohen
Lahore, February 26, 2005

The Pakistan Army must figure out a way to retreat from politics and allow politicians to govern the country so they can learn from their mistakes without fearing another military takeover. ..The dilemma for Pakistan at the moment is that the politicians are crippled and manipulated by the army and they are not ready to fill in once the army leaves...The recent peace process between India and Pakistan and Pakistan’s nuclear capability could play a crucial role in the army leaving the political scene for good.

Détente with India and nuclear deterrence could play an important role in the future for the army’s permanent withdrawal from politics...Since there were several “soft spots” within Pakistani society on which the US has an interest in working on, the superpower would maintain a close relationship with Pakistan even after the war on terror is over.

Education, especially higher and elementary education, the economy and rising sectarian tendencies are the factors which will remain troubling even after the war on terror is over and the US should associate itself with the cause of ironing out these spots in Pakistan in order to guarantee a stable region.

The US was not thinking about stripping Pakistan or India of their nuclear weapons on the pretext of proliferation. It would be a big mistake ... the consequences would be enormous as there would always be pieces which would float late and threaten the region’s security... The chances of Pakistan breaking up or Islamists taking over in the near future were low, but the chances of India and Pakistan slipping back into “confrontation mode” were high.

Disagreeing with most of what Cohen wrote in his book, Gen Durrani said that the role of the “three As” (Allah, Army and America) in Pakistan was greatly exaggerated. He said politicians were themselves to blame if they thought that the army had captured their political space. He disagreed with Cohen that the “founding fathers of Pakistan never envisioned an unending Indo-Pak animosity and never thought the nation would fall into the hands of the military”.

Organized by Pakistan Times

How to Live to be 200

2005-02-25T09:48:00.000+05:00

Listen. Do you want to live to be really old, to enjoy a grand, green, exuberant, boastful old age and to make yourself a nuisance to your whole neighborhood with your reminiscences?

Then cut out all this nonsense. Cut it out. Get up in the morning at a sensible hour. The time to get up is when you have to, not before. If your office opens at eleven, get up at ten-thirty. Take your chance on ozone. There isn't any such thing anyway. Or, if there is, you can buy a thermos bottle full for five cents, and put it on a shelf in your cupboard. If your work begins at seven in the morning, get up at ten minutes to, but don't be liar enough to say that you like it. It isn't exhilarating, and you know it.

Also, drop all that cold-bath nonsense. You never did it when you were a boy. Don't be a fool now. If you must take a bath (you don't really need to), take it warm. The pleasure of getting out of a cold bed and creeping into a hot bath beats a cold plunge to death. In any case, stop gassing about your tub and your shower, as if you were the only man who ever washed.
So much for that point.

Next, take the question of germs and bacilli. Don't be scared of them. That's all. That's the whole thing, and if you once get on to that you never need to worry again.
If you see a bacilli, walk right up to it, and look it in the eye. If one flies into your room, strike at it with your hat or with a towel. Hit it as hard as you can between the neck and the thorax. It will soon get sick of that.

But as a matter of fact, a bacilli is perfectly quiet and harmless if you are not afraid of it. Speak to it. Call out to it to lie down. It will understand. I had a bacilli once, called Fido, that would come and lie at my feet while I was working. I never knew a more affectionate companion, and when it was run over by an automobile, I buried it in the garden with genuine sorrow.

(I admit this is an exaggeration. I don't really remember its name: it may have been Robert.)

Understand that it is only a fad of modern medicine to say that cholera and typhoid and diphtheria are caused by bacilli and germs; nonsense. Cholera is caused by a frightful pain in the stomach, and diphtheria is caused by trying to cure a sore throat.

Now take the question of food.

Eat what you want. Eat lots of it. Yes, eat too much of it. Eat till you can just stagger across the room with it and prop it up against a sofa cushion. Eat everything that you like until you can't eat any more. The only test is, can you pay for it? If you can't pay for it, don't eat it. And listen don't worry as to whether your food contains starch, or albumen, or gluten, or nitrogen. If you are damn fool enough to want these things, go and buy them and eat all you want of them. Go to a laundry and get a bag of starch, and eat your fill of it. Eat it, and take a good long drink of glue after it, and a spoonful of Portland cement. That will gluten you, good and solid.

If you like nitrogen, go and get a druggist to give you a canful of it at the soda counter, and let you sip it with a straw. Only don't think that you can mix all these things up with your food. There isn't any nitrogen or phosphorus or albumen in ordinary things to eat. In any decent household all that sort of stuff is washed out in the kitchen sink before the food is put on the table.

And just one word about fresh air and exercise. Don't bother with either of them. Get your room full of good air, then shut up the windows and keep it. It will keep for years. Anyway, don't keep using your lungs all the time. Let them rest. As for exercise, if you have to take it, take it and put up with it. But as long as you have the price of a hack and can hire other people to play baseball for you and run races and do gymnastics when you sit in the shade and smoke and watch them great heavens, what more do you want?

Stephen Leacock

Rumi

2005-02-24T17:06:00.000+05:00

[I hope] you do not intend to be unkind to my heart, for if you do
Woe unto my heart! woe unto my heart!
woe unto my heart! woe unto my heart!

Maulana Jalal ud Din Rumi
http://www.khamush.com

Confusions

2005-02-24T13:27:00.000+05:00

Confused...lacking conviction, fickle, coward, indecisive
confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... confusions... oh God, help me please...confusions... confusions...

Here’s to the crazy ones!!!

2005-02-22T10:09:00.000+05:00

The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
Disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.

They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas
And see a work of art?

Or

Sit in silence and hear a song
That’s never been written?

Or

Gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones,we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
They can change the world, are the ones who do.

http://www.apple.com/thinkdifferent/

Ana 'l Haqq

2005-02-16T18:17:00.000+05:00

Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj known as al-Hallaj (the wool-carder), he was put to death in Baghdad for having uttered ana 'l haqq (I am the Truth):

I am He whom I love,
and He whom I love is I:

We are two spirits
dwelling in one body.

If thou seest me,
thou seest Him,

And if thou seest Him,
thou seest us both.

Al-Hallaj, Kitab al-Tawasin, in The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A Nicholson
http://wahiduddin.net/sufi_poetry.htm

Arthur Miller dies, February 10, 2005

2005-02-14T16:39:00.000+05:00

An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted. Arthur Miller

In the period immediately following the end of World War II, American theater was transformed by the work of playwright Arthur Miller. Profoundly influenced by the Depression and the war that immediately followed it, Miller tapped into a sense of dissatisfaction and unrest within the greater American psyche. His probing dramas proved to be both the conscience and redemption of the times, allowing people an honest view of the direction the country had taken.

More than any other playwright working today, Arthur Miller has dedicated himself to the investigation of the moral plight of the white American working class. With a sense of realism and a strong ear for the American vernacular, Miller has created characters whose voices are an important part of the American landscape. His insight into the psychology of desperation and his ability to create stories that express the deepest meanings of struggle, have made him one of the most highly regarded and widely performed American playwrights. In his eighty-fifth year, Miller remains an active and important part of American theater.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/miller_a.html

Afraid of life?

2005-02-11T18:17:00.000+05:00

Are you afraid of Life?
Life - that is You and I
or
you are scared of Man
Man - who is You and I
Man, the subject and the expression

Don't they scare you?

Man, who is but word
Of thousands of meanings.
And Life
Which is tied to Man

Doesn't it haunt you?

Are you afraid of the "unsaid"?
And shy of the moment,
That has not yet come
or
You are afraid of its ticking?
…
...
You know not,
But your lips, unspoken,
Will make your hands revolt.

They will lit up to become torches-
Manifestation of light,
And give tidings of the Dawn

Are you afraid of Light?
Light is You, Light is I.

Wake up and see,
Light has warded off
The evil spirits

Listen, this voice from the crowd
Voice, within you!
Voice – the sensation
Like the warmth of blood,
Like a sacred passion.

And

Lo, the Man's smiling
And the city, brimmed with joy.

Are you scared?

Translated from N. M. Rashid Read in Urdu

Painting by: A. G. Goreja

am I free?

2005-01-18T18:43:00.000+05:00

Man cannot attain freedom as long as he, like God, desires to be loved. The desire to be loved and the desire to be free are two arms of the cross on which man is crucified.

For the first time I realized why Buddha wanted to abandon his desires and become free from everything. In fact, man is imprisoned in abyss of his own wants; he can never be his own master as long as he has the slightest tinge of worldly desires in him.

But how can one be free from wants? How...?
Death before death? Denial of life in life? Complete escape before the salvation!
Freedom - Escape even from hope of salvation?

It is possible only when one is free from every belief or creed, when one is void of all cultural and racial identities. This is that state when one is neither a lover nor a beloved - indifferent from everything except death. Lover for death and nothing else.

Death - the ultimate reality. Death before death!

Is man always in search of a saviour? The saviour who can relieve him from all odds of life? Sometimes grief and silence suddenly engrave their marks on man's face. Is this the time to turn to intuition? And is the man lucky enough to find refuge in the soothing shelter of death?

Is this is the innate human desire to return to one's origin that keeps him restless despite of all sensory pleasures.

It is death - only death that relieves the burden of desires, wishes, expectations and hopes.

Raja Gidh by Bano Qudsia

Man and Superman

2004-12-29T16:45:00.000+05:00

Came upon the following lines in Bernard Shaw’s Man And Superman; how apt a comment on modern life! Amongst others, it speaks of our inability to distinguish virtues from vices.

“In this Palace of Lies a truth or two will not hurt you. Your friends are all the dullest dogs I know. They are not beautiful: they are only decorated. They are not clean: they are only shaved and starched. They are not dignified: they are only fashionably dressed. They are not educated: they are only college passmen. They are not religious: they are only pewrenters. They are not moral: they are only conventional. They are not virtuous: they are only cowardly. They are not even vicious: they are only “frail.” They are not artistic: they are only lascivious. They are not prosperous: they are only rich.

They are not loyal, they are only servile; not dutiful, only sheepish; not public spirited, only patriotic; not courageous, only quarrelsome; not determined, only obstinate; not masterful, only domineering; not self-controlled, only obtuse; not self-respecting, only vain; not kind, only sentimental; not social, only gregarious; not considerate, only polite; not intelligent, only opinionated; not progressive, only factious; not imaginative, only superstitious; not just, only vindictive; not generous, only propitiatory; not disciplined, only cowed; and not truthful at all: liars every one of them, to the very backbone of their souls.”

sent by Aysha Haroon

I am singing today

2004-12-28T15:32:00.000+05:00

Sabaq aisa, paRha diya.. too nay
Dil say sub kuchh bhoula diya too nay

Laakh daynay ka aik dayna hai
Dil ye be-moud'aa diya too nay

Bay-talab, jo mila, mila mujhko
Bay-GHaraz, jo diya, diya too nay

KahiN muSHtaaq se hijaab houa
KahiN parda uthha diya too nay

MiT gaye, dil se, naqsh-e-baatil sub
NaqSH apna jama diya too nay

Mujh gunehgaar ko jo bakhSH diya
To jahannum ko kya diya too nay

DaaGH ko, kon dena waala tha
Jo diya, aye KHuda diya too nay

Dagh Dehlvi
painting by Chughtai

Walls

2004-12-21T15:35:00.000+05:00

Walls made of wealth and principles are stronger than love and sincerity. Why?

A Letter to Incredulous Friends Around the World

2004-12-21T15:30:00.000+05:00

I'm sorry. I really am.

I know it must be impossible for you to understand the choice the American public made on November 2. It's almost impossible for me, too, and I've lived here all 46 years of my life. Why would Americans choose, by a margin of more than 3,500,000 votes, to return George W. Bush to office after all that he's done?

After he pulled out of the Kyoto Accords?
After he trashed the ABM Treaty?
After he ignored more than 40 warnings about the looming danger of an attack by Osama bin Laden?After he failed to capture bin Laden?
After he circulated false information about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and Saddam's alleged links to bin Laden?
After he bullied the United Nations with slurs of irrelevancy?
After he violated the U.N. Charter by launching the Iraq War?
After he bungled the occupation of Iraq and dishonored America with the Abu Ghraib scandal?
After he promised billions of dollars to fight AIDS overseas and chose to fight condom use instead?After the ranks of the uninsured at home rose to 45 million?
After he sided with the interests of huge corporations every step of the way?
After he was the first President to lose jobs in 70 years?
And after he redistributed wealth-to the top 1 percent of Americans?

Let me try to offer you an explanation, and then, perhaps, a ray or two of hope.

First, some brutal honesty: A large chunk of the public here doesn't give a damn about what anyone else around the world thinks about the United States. In fact, for many people here, it is a point of pride to ignore the wishes of the rest of the world. Bush played on this nativism by saying, "We don't need a permission slip from anyone" before defending the United States. In the post-9/11 era, this pitch was an especially effective one.

Deep in the psyche of the American mind is the myth of exceptionalism: that we, somehow, are the greatest country on Earth, a shining beacon on a hill, placed here by God himself. This is the American superiority complex, a profound affliction that distorts our perceptions and enables manipulative Presidents to give the marching orders.

Bush himself suffers from an aggravated case of this superiority complex. In fact, he has elevated it to national policy, a policy I call messianic militarism. He actually believes that God has placed him in the Oval Office. And he believes, as he put it earlier this year, "God is speaking through me." God evidently speaks the language of war.

An illustration: According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Bush told Palestinian negotiators, in that fleeting moment when he decided to involve himself in their issue, that God had told him to go to war against Afghanistan, and God had told him to go to war against Saddam Hussein, and now God was telling him to make peace between Israel and Palestine. (God must subsequently have told him to forget about it, because that's what Bush did.)

Another illustration: In his 2004 State of the Union address and in his acceptance speech at the Republican Convention, Bush used variations of the line: "We are delivering the gift of freedom to the people of Iraq. But it is not America's gift. It is the gift of God Almighty." Bush is delivering that gift by the bomb load right now.

Yet his invocation of the Almighty falls on receptive ears in the United States, one of the most fundamentalist countries in the world, as Noam Chomsky has noted. About 90 percent of the American public believe in God, and about 40 percent identify themselves as born-again Christian. Three quarters of the born-again Christians tend to vote Republican. This is Bush's base, and he and his political adviser, Karl Rove, did everything they could to expand that base and bring it to the polls on November 2.

That is why, in one of the debates, Bush signaled that he would appoint anti-abortion justices to the Supreme Court. That is why he came out for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and why Rove engineered referendums in eleven states on the issue. In each state, the referendum banning same-sex marriage won by a lopsided margin.

These issues are a great distraction from the everyday concerns of working people. But it was magic for Bush, persuading people to vote against their material interests. In Ohio, Bush prevailed in the county with the greatest unemployment, even though his policies helped to create that unemployment. He was the boss who threw the workers onto the street, but the workers voted for him anyway. Their unemployment represents the revenge of empire upon its own citizens, but they saluted the emperor nonetheless.

The churches played a huge role in driving their followers to the polls. Never in modern American history have the churches intervened so blatantly in an election.
When people weren't getting the message in church, they were fed it intravenously by Rupert Murdoch's Fox TV and talk radio. This diet of misinformation was not good for the brain: A majority of Bush supporters said they still felt the war against Iraq was part of the war on terror, even after all the evidence showing no link between bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

This is the geography of Bush's victory.

But despite all that, Bush won by only a small margin, with 55 million Americans voting to turn him out.

55 million Americans said no to the Iraq War.
55 million Americans said no to Abu Ghraib.
55 million Americans said no to Halliburton.
55 million Americans said yes to working with the rest of the world.

We are with you in your concern for human rights. We are with you in your concern for the environment. We are with you in opposing the Iraq War. We are with you in abiding by the U.N. Charter.

And people here on the progressive side are trying to translate these commitments into power. The broadly defined liberal and leftwing community in America was more impassioned, more determined, more organized, and more united than I've ever seen it before. People here know the stakes. And as citizens of the empire, almost all progressives felt an obligation to consider the harm that Bush was doing to you, the victims and subjects of the empire, and so they redoubled their efforts.

It was not enough, not this time.

But the coalition of forces-unionists, civil rights groups, environmentalists, activists of all stripes, from the old school and from the Internet-will not disintegrate. It will continue to cohere.
And there's another good sign: The alternative media here is stronger than ever before, with "Democracy Now" and "Air America" reaching tens of millions of Americans on the airwaves.
Plus, we can now exchange our messages on commondreams.org and buzzflash and Truthout and MoveOn, thus giving us the capacity not only to communicate but organize instantaneously.

Media activism is also at an all time high, with a new mass movement tugging at the trunks of the conglomerates. And a cultural insurrection is under way: from Michael Moore and John Sayles to Bruce Springsteen and Eminem and Margaret Cho and Jon Stewart.

We are finally getting our act together over here. We are finally getting our message out. And there is a seriousness of purpose, an urgency to regain power, that is amazing to behold.
No one is rolling over dead.

Like the Red Scare of the 1920s, like the McCarthy period of the 1950s, like the Nixon years and the Reagan years, this too will pass.

And so there will come a day when you and I alike can once again recite the line from Neruda, "America, I do not call your name without hope."

In peace and solidarity,
Matthew Rothschild
Editor,
The Progressive magazine
Madison, Wisconsin

Who am I? [kee janaN may kon]

2004-12-08T14:42:00.000+05:00

Bulla, ki jaana maen kaun.
Na maen moman vich maseetaan,
Na maen vich kufar diyan reetaan,
Na maen paakaan vich paleetaan,
Na maen moosa na pharaun.
Bulla, ki jaana maen kaun.
...
Avval aakhir aap nu jaana,
Na koi dooja hor pehchaana.
Maethon hor na koi siyaana
Bulla shauh khadda hai kaun.
Bulla, ki jaana maen kaun.

---------------------------
Who knows who I am!
I am not in the mosque of the believer,
Nor in false rites.
I am not in the pure or the impure.
Neither Moses nor Pharaoh.
Who knows who I am!

I am not in the vedas or holy books,
Not in drug or wine.
Not in the drunkards wasted intoxication,
Not in wakefulness or sleep.
Who knows who I am!

I am not in sorrow nor in joy,
Neither in clean nor unclean.
I am not water,
I am not earth,I am not fire,
I am not air.
Who knows who I am!

I cannot be unearthed in the mysteries of religion.
I was not born of Adam and Eve.
I am not the name I assume.
I am not in stillness, not in movement.
I only know myself.
I cannot know any other.
Who then, stands here?
Who knows who I am!

apnaorg.com

The Age of Aquarius

2004-11-29T15:29:00.000+05:00

When the Moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius

The age of Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius

Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelations
And the mind's true liberation

Aquarius
Aquarius

When the Moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius

The Age of Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquariu

(Lyrics of Aquarius by Hair)

Ayad Allawi

2004-11-19T18:19:00.000+05:00

Ayad Allawi, Do'nt you know how traitor are remembered in history?

Falluja

2004-11-12T19:05:00.000+05:00

A US soldier in Falluja, Iraq

Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
....
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown.
(The Man He Killed, Thomas Hardy)

Bahu

2004-11-08T09:57:00.000+05:00

"If God could be found by
Bathing in holy waters,
Frogs and fish would find
Him

If God were realized by cutting off your hair
Sheep and goats, which
Are shorn for their wool
Would realize Him too

If God were found
Through nightly vigils
Bats and owls would find
Him

If God would be found
Through celibacy
Castrated bulls should also
Discover Him

God is realized by those, O Bahu
Who are pure of heart,
noble of intent" (Bahu)

Translation: J. R. Puri, Kirpal Singh Khak

tell me

2004-11-05T13:01:00.000+05:00

Why there are so many IFs and BUTs in my life.

Ranjha

2004-11-03T13:20:00.000+05:00

Main wi jana dhok Ranjhan di, naal mayary koi challey
PairaN paindi, mintaN kardi, jaanaN tan peya ukkaley
NeeN wi Doonghi, Tilla purana, SHeehaN ney pattan malley
Ranjhan yaar tabeeb sadhendha, main taN dard awalley
Kahe Husain faqeer namana, saiN senhurray ghalley
(Shah Hussain)
-------------------------------------------------------------
will no one accompany me to that little hut of Ranjha?
Will no one listen to my supplications?
O people, I am going alone
The river is deep, the bridge is shaky
And fierce tigers haunt the little boat

O people, see these wounds on my soul;
my Ranjha, my messiah,
Only he knows the remedy

Will no one accompany me?

Rabba

2004-11-03T11:44:00.000+05:00

Rabba mayray haal da mehram too ...
(Shah Hussain)
-----------------------------------------------------
Only You know the mysteries of my heart;
Your name is the fabric of my existence

the game of scrabble

2004-11-01T14:26:00.000+05:00

Life is a game of scrabble
Scattered in vertical and horizontal meanings

Each word hides a character,
An incident or a situation
I keep thinking in thousand doubts
Thoughts and after thoughts

Sometimes, I find a clue
I set my tiles on the rack
But it is always too late

Time makes its move
And shuffles the board

I start all over again

charisma?

2004-11-01T13:50:00.000+05:00

Mystics say that a man has five lives.

1. Life before birth
2. Life in this world
3. Life between death and rebirth
4. Life after rebirth and accountability
5. Eternal Life

The first life is the forgotten spiritual time spent in the company of God. The Holy Quran mentions this period as,

When your Lord drew forth from the loins of the children of Adam their descendants, and made them testify concerning them selves: ‘Am I not your Lord?’. They said, ‘Yes, we do testify.’ This lest you should say on the Day of Judgment: ‘We were not aware of this.’
The Holy Quran: Surah Al A ’raaf, 272

The second is the earthly life. This is man's separation. Only a faint memory of his first life lingers in unconscious mind. This memory keeps him restless. He uses his logics, imagination, philosophies and meditation. But his knowledge is too limited to grasp anything. He is confused. Worldly life becomes an illusion. He abandons it. Body becomes a barrier. He breaks all connections with the outer world but his search remains fruitless. His endless search leads him nowhere.

His knowledge is based on the information that he gathers from TV channels, news, internet and books of philosophies - everything is useless. Loads of information gives nothing except confusion.

Soul is never satisfied, search never ends... Man is waiting for intuition, some charisma, some messiah.

What am I searching for, charisma?

a brain in spider's net

2004-10-31T14:51:00.000+05:00

I do not want to make friends.
I do not want to smile, I do not like jokes and parties. I do not want to socialize. I do not want to speak. I do not want to dine out. I do not want to make PR. I am not interested in chit chat. I do not like opinions. I do not like to impress anyone. I do not expect anything from anyone. I do not like to express.

Why people expect me to do all this, just to keep up IMAGE in the society? Why?

at war

2004-10-29T10:24:00.000+05:00

These are war days - war between body and soul. Body is selfish. It lives on physical realities. It demands comfort. It makes me human robot that works, eats, sleeps and finds pleasures like all other billions of human robots. Living routine life for no reason and vision.

Soul protests. It lives on supernatural. It is in search of something. What is that thing? I do not know. But something is missing. Soul wanders. It does not find anything from reasons, logics, philosphies, man made ideals, society, inventions and all third-rate information of magazines, TV channels, journals and books. The unfruitful search haunts my imagnation. The search never ends. The 'missing' part is still 'undiscovered'.

The rest is irrelevent - parties, food, jokes, fun - everything is irrelevant. Where is my soul? Should I join human robots and run after momentary pleasure - all these fake things? Getting money, status and luxuries is success? If it is success, is it worth acheving?

absurd, irrelevant, superfluous

2004-10-28T16:26:00.000+05:00

I cannot make affinity with the outer world. It is absurd. It is irrelevant. It is disgusting. I hate it. I hate mobile phones. I hate alarm clocks, computers, comic strips, traffic lights. I hate billboards. I hate dancing lights. I hate news, books, bulletins and magazines (cheap, useless infomration). I hate cricket, TV, air plane, shopping, gadgets, job, politics, automobiles, www, headphones... I hate them all.

These are irrelevant. What I have to do with them. I am divided in fragments and these absurd, superfluous things feed on these fragments.

What are success, desire, achivement, patriotism (all -isms), ambition.... lies, lies, lies, -sick mentality.

Where is man???

where is my soul?

2004-10-27T18:44:00.000+05:00

I am tired of this beast around me; I am looking for the real man.

confusions ... confusions ... confusions

2004-10-27T09:50:00.000+05:00

To be or not to be, --that is the question:-- Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
Hamlet (Act V, Scene I)

switched off

2004-10-25T18:44:00.000+05:00

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more; it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Macbeth (Act V, Scene 5)

Start

2004-09-23T17:05:00.000+05:00

This is the first post