There is this application called "Post Secrets" on Facebook where users are allowed to post their secrets keeping their identity under cover, which obviously results in interesting secrets that one might have neva told otherwise.
This is how "Post Secrets" defines itself-->"Post Secret allows you to reveal your darkest secret to millions of other facebook users. Each secret can be a hope, regret, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, erotic desire, confession, or childhood humiliation."
Hmmmmmmm, Ok. Now here are some random secrets which i found intereseting the last time i peeped into "Post Secrets"--------->>>>>>>
"I have just eaten my pet hamster. He just looked so delicious, all plump n juicy.... I skinned him and fried him in the deep fat fryer. He was delicious... But now I miss him... Why did I eat my little buddy? WHYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!"
"I dont understand love. Its so confusing. I know my girlfriend loves me but I have no clue why. Shes so amazing, she can get so much better then me. But its been 7 months since we started going out, and i've never been happier. Ever since the day i met her i knew there was something about her, and i fell in love with her. I love her so much and i want to be with her forever."
"why do people believe in "the secret" the damn universe DOES NOT create our destiny. we do. if you want something to happen bad enough you'll do whatever it takes. the universe doesn't just say hey ya lets do it. no it doesn't work like that. so stop telling me that if i truely believe in the universe i'll be rewarded because it's all bullshit. never once has the "universe" done anything for me, i do it all on my own.....fucking "secret" "
"I HOPE TO BE GETTIGN MARRIED IN 1 AND 1/2. HE IS AMAZING."
"
"
"I'm fat because I eat. I eat because I'm alone. I'm alone because I'm fat."
"i like this guy... but don't know if he likes me... and... i have a boyfriend."
"i am so affriad of being hurt that i lied to protect myself cuz i saw something good in a guy and now i am sorry to say that my lie made my heart breake, but i guess thats what i get for not dating but seeing another guy only 3 weeks after i broke up with my babys dad after 2 years"
"he told me i was special.. obviously not special enough to leave his uglyass girlfriend."
"the longest relationship i've ever had was for about two months this past spring. the only reason it lasted was because i kept forgetting to dump him."
"i am so pissed off at my friend right now, i love her to death, but i wish she would see shit through my eyes and relieze that she isnt the best thing in this fucking world, and that there are people that are hurt by the acts she pulls, i love you to death though"
"One second I'm madly in love with him - the next I just want to get far, far away and never have to deal with him again. But I'm learning to ignore the second part!"
"i have a girlfriend. i'm a girl."
"i wish i had personal nuclear bombs to launch at those who spoil Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!!!!"
"I am in love with a guy from Minneota and that said thing is that I am married!!!"
"I collects books to look and feel smart...I don't actually read them, I look up the summsries on Wikipedia"
"I was never deployed to Iraq...the closest I came was Kuwait for 3 months. I want people to be interested in me, so I lie when they ask."
"I am totally, completely, and utterly in love with Edward Cullen. I don't even care that he's fictional; I want him for myself!"
"im 5'11, 160lbs and i don't think im fat.. why do people that weigh like 90 or 100 or 140 think they are fat? fuck its so annoying!"
"If I new "broken hearts" hurt this bad, I never would have got involved in the first place.."
"I just realized how much I hurt my best friend. I was so mean and selfish to her. She tried to help me and instead of showing my appreciation, I just blamed her and demanded more. And then even after she ended our friendship, I spread nasty rumors about her. It's no wonder she refuses to talk to me now. I wish I realized what a bitch I was sooner because she was the greatest friend I ever had. If I had the chance I would tell her how sorry I am and that I would do anything to have our friendship back. I know I don't deserve her friendship (I don't deserve any friends at all) but I would really like someone as kind and supportive as her back in my life."
"is it wrong to hav an affair with 2 guys at the same time? guys do it all the time!! so who said women cant??!?!"
"Why are the college kids telling the high school kids to get off Facebook? Why are the highschool kids telling the middle school kids to get off Facebook? Why are middle school kids telling the younger kids to get off Facebook? The only people not telling people to get off Facebook are people like myself that have finished college along time ago. This is a open Network open to everyone, sure it was made by a college student, but its open to everyone. So everyone just needs to shut the fuck up."
----------->>>>>Well, how crazy secrets can get. If u find any of them disgusting, Same pinch!! No back pinch.
I have gone through far more disgusting secrets which i've not posted here for reasons best known by me!! Reputation,u know!!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Crazy secrets.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
HOW TO GET SIX PACK ABS WORKOUT ROUTINE.
Well-well-Well. Every1 s goin crazy over 6 pack abs after SRK did it in OSO.Now,here is a workout routine u can try at home.
Wishing u atleast a 4 pack if not 6.
Warning:I'm not to blame for ne consequences(-ve that is ;) ), Even i'm goin for 1.
Advice:Girls keep away.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Moments to cherish.
(click the pic. to enlarge it)
As i begin the countdown to the Lbs days, these are some of the memories that will stay with me forever.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Five killer Apps. i cant do without.......
While most f u must be familiar with other apps. Audacity is a free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. I rip apart d favourite part of ne Mp3 to use it as my ringtone. Also got conversion functions. Rockzzzzzzzzzz.
To reach the download page for each f d above apps. click on d respective app. pic.
Chillll..... read full !
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Every 1 luvs Beckham........
England footballer David Beckham gets mobbed by a group of Chinese children during a promotional event in Beijing.
How cute.............
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The most spoken human name.
Ever wondered which is that single human name that has ever been uttered the most number f times?? I'm wondering, thats why i'm posting here.
Here are some possible candidates.........
*Mahatma Gandhi- Nah, v utter his name nly during our history classes, on our independence day nd these days after seeing Lage raho Munnabhai.
+Abraham lincoln-Same case wit him. The bloody Americans(not all) utter his name nly on occassions.
*David beckham-Yup, Thats a better suggestion. The crowd chants his name during plays, his fans utter his name, girls utter in their sleeps nd ofcourse when they r awake.
+Tom cruise- Hmmmmmmm, ya he is a superstar. But mostly people utter his name nly when he is in the news, for instance when another f his Mission impossible flicks make news or about to make some.
These r some f d names that come to my mind when i think of the title.
But the one name that comes out the winner for me is "Orkut",that addictive social networking site. Ya its actually the name of the guy who developed it, "Orkut buyukkokten" being his full name. He is a google employee, nd developed this site called orkut for his employer in his office free hours. Great!! hmmmm ya great. But does he deserve this much....... His name being uttered the most number of times ever(according to me , that is).
This social networking site has almost a crore users nd most f them talk about it with their freinds when they r offline as well, they do it everyday in the process uttering the name "Orkut". Its the most visible "Human name" on the internet with crores of webpages starting like this "orkut -..........................". Not to mention the crores f notification mails they send to their users wit the subject lukin like "orkut-............".
Ya there are other social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace,Friendster who has got way more users than what "Orkut" has got. But clearly they are not the name of any human. So that doesnt make ne difference here......
Now the ? is does the name "Orkut" deserve all this ?? Does a bit f Programming brilliance 4m Orkut deserve this much??.......... Mayb he shud change the name of his site......... nd pick a leaf out f sites like facebook. Or if he is so adamant on havin a human name, y not try sum f our above candidates....... mahathmagandhi.com or tomcruise.com would do great ;-)
Nd how abt hisam.com ;
*- Nd if u r wondering wht d above pic got 2 do wit this post, i'm lettin u know tht i have developed this buggy habit of searching the title of the post ("The most spoken human name." in this case) on google images and pick d most catchy image on d first result page and post it along wit the post topic. Ghosh!!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Monday, November 05, 2007
How to filter ur girlfriend mails??
If you hate seeing those mails( when i say mails these days, it obviously means gmails) 4m ur gf rite inside ur inbox wit her name and d subject line attracting one's attention, well here is a way out to filter those mails into a label. Now start learning how to...
Let’s say that your email address is ‘bolan@gmail.com’, basically everything sent to any of the following email addresses will be forwarded to your primary email.
* bolan@gmail.com * b.olan@gmail.com
* bo.lan@gmail.com * bol.an@gmail.com
* bolan@googlemail.com * b.olan@googlemail.com
* bo.lan@googlemail.com
…
…
* bola.n@googlemail.com
And that’s not all, you can place as many dots as you want, it can be even something like ‘b.o.l.a.n@gmail.com’ and you’ll still get it on ‘bolan@gmail.com’
Additionally, I just also found out that you can embed random text to your email ID using ‘+’ sign. That is to say ‘bolan+logabolan@gmail.com’ can be used as your email address, as well.
Ok I got it. Now what ?
Now what u can do is use the above naming covention 2 ur advantage ( mayb ur gf's as well)....
What u can do for instance is ask ur gf to mail u to the id- "bolan+bolathi@gmail.com" which will be forwarded to bolan@gmail.com (assuming u've understood the above naming convention for gmail).
Step 2 is "create a filter" (this link is availabe on the right side of search mail box inside ur gmail inbox), upon clicking u will have From:,To:,Subject:,Has the words:,Doesn't have:. now in our case we will hv to enter the email id "bolan+bolathi@gmail.com"(which is the email id u askd ur gf 2 mail to, Bola!!) in the to field. Click next step and check the first option "skip the inbox", then......... check the "apply label" nd choose a label if 1 already exist or else create a new 1(bolanteboli is my name for ur label ;)).
Now what this does is all those mails sent to d id "bolan+bolathi@gmail.com" skips the inbox and is forwarded to d label "bolanteboli".
Now u may ask y such hassles when u can directly filter mails coming 4m a particular id say bolathi@gmail.com.
Good question bola!!
Here is a better answer, what if u hv more than 1 girlfriend( which is not at all alien these days)?? u will have to create more than 1 filter, i.e 1 each filter for each gf's mail id (like 1 for bolathi@gmail.com,bolathi2@gmail.com,bolathi3@gmail.com....... bolathi19@gmail.com). well that depends on how many gfs u ultimately have.
So thats y i say the "bolan+bolathi@gmail.com" is the better hack( esecially if u hv multiple gfs). You can give the id "bolan+bolathi@gmail.com" to all ur gfs nd all those "junk" mails will b accumulated in d label bolanteboli.
Hope theres no confusion ;).........
This hack can be used to 1's advantage not only in d case of gfs but also in many other extra usefull cases. like if u r registering at a site nd u dont want their confirmation mails to appear inside ur inbox u can provide the site with a "+" id, say "bolan+site@gmail.com" nd create a filter for that.
Bottomline: Now please dont assume that i personally use this hack .......... ;)
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Five things i luv abt firefox.
Though i cant limit it to only 5, but if you ask for the best 5, this is how they will go........
+ Extensions- i jus luv em, its like adding more hands to your body, it may luk ugly but comes super useful. click here
for a list f my favourite extensions.
+The restore function- this feature is very handy, many a times i was forced to lose a ff session, no more a problem with the restore function. You get back all those tabs just as a u left it.
+ Bookmarks - Really easy to handle your bookmarks, the import nd export r handy. Things like the quick search r revolutionary.
+ Mutliple profiles- Though u can open only 1 profile @ a time. This feature is useful if u have different preferences or want a firefox profile f ur own if u hv more users on ur system.
+ Quick find- press "/" nd u can move to ne link on d page, This one may seem ordinary, but i juv luv it.
Yup thts d 5, but certainly not the only 5, these r d ones come 2 my mind @ dis moment.............
Hey make it 6 please, i left 1 feature that i probaly luv the most- "Undo closed tab". Uff how did i leave it out in the first place. nehow the greatest thing to have inside ur browser.......
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Is Airtel GPRS worth the monthly 250 bucks??
I used to wonder if Airtel Gprs was worth the monthly 250 Rupees. That was before i actually started using it, and for those of you who wants to know what i think of it now.............
here is a report card of sorts...........
+ I connect it to my system, browse as many hours as i like(3-4 hrs a day is d current trend) ..
+ I browse on d move 4m my 6233 (AKA opera mini(moreover orkut is now mobile friendly)).......
+I got a cool Gmail app. installed on my 6233, email was neva such fun nd easy.....( i dont even have to login everytime)
+Listen to internet radio stations (AkA Radio bee) on my 6233 ,though only recently into this stuff.
+Gtalk,yahoo messenger all on d move.....
+Ya d download speed is arnd 5-7kbps(considered very low these days), but i dont have any regrets as long as i can plugin my 6233 to my machine nd go dozing all night only to find out in d morning that it has dwned enuf and still dwning d queue 1 by 1 on my favourite downthemall extension in firefox.
+To top it all, the time limit is not ejjactly a month, it actaully extends beyond. i got a week extra this time around. But never stops before a month, neva!!
So after every month(@ d least) of gprs and a bandwidth of atleast 2 gb and a budget of 250 bucks. What do i actually think of this???
COME ON..............
THIS IS CHARITY IN THE NAME OF GPRS(at least in my case).............
Airtel Gprs Zindabad............... read full !
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Lukin fwd
Gmail is certainly d best email provider out der, no doubts regarding
there. I'm really lovin it there. I have a small world out there in my
inbox wit all those labels nd funky filters. Emailing was neva such
fun.
I'm so much involved wit it that i hav com up wit a blog that is
completely being published by a gmail accnt. Chk out
www.lukinfwd.blogspot.com
--
Hisam
Friday, October 12, 2007
As Allah waters HIS Creation,
As Allah waters HIS Creation,
May HE also sprinkle HIS wonderous blessings over you and your beloved ones.(Aameen)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Its a beautiful Safari...........................
The first thing that came to my mind when my firefox went down last week was "Apple Safari". I knew that everything Apple was cute and very graphical. But i needed a reason to down it and use it, and i got the only reason that a firefox user will get to shift to another browser, it went down. I downed Safari for windows(was d only Apple thing besodes itunes available for windows)and started using it, reminding myself that no matter how good it is going to be, i'm not going to stick with it ( i will have to go back to firefox, cos i knew it wasnt goin 2 b better than fox.). And here is what i found.....
+Yes the effects were eye catching(especially the load status of a page happening right behind the address bar) if not astounding.
+Yes the webpages certainly looked cuter.
+Yes the speed looked a bit better than fox, or was it just an illusion???
+Yes it posses some handy functions which firefox will give you eyes closed.
+Yes bookmarks look pretty neat.
But
-It doesnt shift tabs from the keyboard,infact almost noffin happens from the keyboard- no closing tabs either. Only thing that works is "Ctrl-T".
-No "undo closed tab"(besides it has got its close button on the left side of the tab)
-No status bar.
-Noffin like extensions in ffox(the biggest advantage ffox have over Safari, for that matter any browser).Addons available.
-You wont see your taskbar if its autohidden when safari is open.
-Obviously no multiple profiles.
-I think the Apple folks put all of The "Speed thing" into browsing, Downloads just dont happen( atleast in Airtel gprs).It once showed "1 day,9hrs..........." remaining for a 6mb down.Ghosh!! the downloads never were that bad in ffox even with my so called slow net(these days that is).
The list goes on and on as i step onto just the third day with it, meanwhile my ffox is up again after an xp repair. So happy to shift back..........
Safari is a sort of browser that you should have on your machine, so that you can show children how beautiful Flickr looks. Or just have a little bit of relief for yourself after a bit of power browsing with ffox. So its really handy if you have a Safari shortcut sitting on your desktop, you can get 1 here
Bottomline:Firefox if Firefox.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Che Guevara-40th anniversary.
By the time Ernesto Guevara, known to us as Che, was murdered in the jungles of Bolivia in October 1967, he was already a legend to my generation, not only in Latin America but also around the world.
Like so many epics, the story of the obscure Argentine doctor who abandoned his profession and his native land to pursue the emancipation of the poor of the earth began with a voyage. In 1956, along with Fidel Castro and a handful of others, he had crossed the Caribbean in the rickety yacht Granma on the mad mission of invading Cuba and overthrowing the dictator Fulgencio Batista. Landing in a hostile swamp, losing most of their contingent, the survivors fought their way to the Sierra Maestra. A bit over two years later, after a guerrilla campaign in which Guevara displayed such outrageous bravery and skill that he was named comandante, the insurgents entered Havana and launched what was to become the first and only victorious socialist revolution in the Americas. The images were thereafter invariably gigantic. Che the titan standing up to the Yanquis, the world's dominant power. Che the moral guru proclaiming that a New Man, no ego and all ferocious love for the other, had to be forcibly created out of the ruins of the old one. Che the romantic mysteriously leaving the revolution to continue, sick though he might be with asthma, the struggle against oppression and tyranny.
His execution in Vallegrande at the age of 39 only enhanced Guevara's mythical stature. That Christ-like figure laid out on a bed of death with his uncanny eyes almost about to open; those fearless last words ("Shoot, coward, you're only going to kill a man") that somebody invented or reported; the anonymous burial and the hacked-off hands, as if his killers feared him more after he was dead than when he had been alive: all of it is scalded into the mind and memory of those defiant times. He would resurrect, young people shouted in the late '60s; I can remember fervently proclaiming it in the streets of Santiago, Chile, while similar vows exploded across Latin America. !No lo vamos a olvidar! We won't let him be forgotten.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Quit Puffing.
My friends, do you want a reason? here is one(i know you have many) for the sake of it.
Moving...............
I dont read as much as i would like to, but whenever i did, i was lucky i found some very moving words........ here they go >>>
Mirrors never tell the truth,
They deceive your eyes and tell you lies.
Nothing is what meets your eye
For the truth is hidden deep inside,
Which is only seen by the loved one your heart desires.
Love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny.If he abandons that pursuit,it's because it wasn't true love.....
Food is almost as good as girls
Standing in a dark room,
I looked at her as she read,
With glowing eyes behind her specs,
Her iris moved gradually, from word to word,
And right to left without even looking up.
Reclined on the couch with a book in one hand,
She bit her nails off the other hand.
Her shadow painted a silhouette on the old stone wall,
And her streaks of hair glistened like the sun’s rays during fall,
It flowed down her shoulders and almost touched the floor.
Gently, with her finger she pushed her glasses up.
That slid down like an avalanche from the mountain top.
Turning around she reached for her tea cup,
And took a sip followed by a puff on the surface of the cup.
The vapour fogged her glasses as she took a sip,
But she closed her eyes as she enjoyed every bit.
I stood there gleaming without moving either side,
When a cold draft shook me off my feet,
That’s when she looked at me with a glint in her eyes.
And put the book away and rushed to my rescue.
She cupped my face caringly and looked towards the door.
Closing the door she walked back and slipped into the couch.
Started reading once again from the page where she’d left.
I jumped and glowed brightly.
My happiness knew no bound.
I just stretched high as though I could reach the sky.
Nobody could have stopped me,
Until and unless it was none other than me;
My face just shone brighter than ever.
I was blazing with joy from deep inside,
And I was literally melting as I knew there was no return.
I could almost feel myself melt and shrink really slow.
But I just couldn’t take my eyes off.
For I was imprisoned as her admirer,
And her admirer forever ever I’ll be.
Trying not to lift my gaze of her till eternity.
That’s when she again looked at me a lil worriedly.
And walked towards me unhurriedly and stood beside me.
Without looking else where she looked down upon me,
It seemed as though this moment would last for time without end,
Just then she reached for another candle that took the place of me.
It's been sometime since we shared a moment together.read full !
And it's been a while since we spoke to each other.
Our parallel lives have torn us apart,
Yet we're one in our thoughts.
Those were the days when we ruthlessly killed time,
While we spoke about everything under the wide open sky,
Learning about each other inside out;
Knowing on which day our next birthday would fall,
Planning surprises by wrapping gifts and writing cards.
And sometimes spending hours in arguments and fights,
That made us look stupid in each other's eyes.
We crawled into the depth of the night conversing in words.
Until the dawn seeped in to remind us,
We still have another day in our lives.
Let's get back to where we began.
When we never had to stare at our dials.
While making conversations or replying to messages.
Those days that had no deadlines to interfere.
Or, the worry about the next assignment
That needs to be completed.
Let's wile away time catching the dry leaves,
Which fall from tall tree tops.
Run along the brook side,
Chasing paper boats before they wreck down.
Tasting those refreshing drops of summer rain
With our tongues pointed out in the thin air.
Drawing faces on fogged window panes,
Erasing them with our sleeves and trying all over again.
If only we were to have the remote control,
We would live life like it were in the movies,
Pause time whenever we want,
And switch onto the rewind mode.
The true Indian identity.
The following writeup, authored by Mr Shashi Tharoor, portrays the idea of India so beautifully that I feel it is imperative for every Indian to go through it.
When India celebrated the 49th anniversary of its independence from British rule in 1996, its then prime minister, HD Deve Gowda, stood at the ramparts of Delhi’s 16th-century red fort and delivered the traditional Independence Day address to the nation in Hindi, India’s ‘national language’. Eight other prime ministers had done exactly the same thing 48 times before him, but what was unusual this time was that Deve Gowda, a southerner from the state of Karnataka, spoke to the country in a language of which he did not know a word. Tradition and politics required a speech in Hindi, so he gave one – the words having been written out for him in his native Kannada script, in which they, of course, made no sense.
Such an episode is almost inconceivable elsewhere, but it represents the best of the oddities that help make India India. Only in India could there be a country ruled by a man who does not understand its ‘national language’; only in India, for that matter, is there a ‘national language’ which half the population does not understand; and only in India could this particular solution have been found to enable the prime minister to address his people. One of Indian cinema’s finest ‘playback singers’, the Keralite K J Yesudas, sang his way to the top of the Hindi music charts with lyrics in that language written in the Malayalam script for him, but to see the same practice elevated to the prime ministerial address on Independence Day was a startling affirmation of Indian pluralism. For the simple fact is that we are all minorities in India. There has never been an archetypal Indian to stand alongside the archetypal Englishman or Frenchman. A typical Indian stepping off the train, let us say a Hindi-speaking Hindu male from Uttar Pradesh, may cherish the illusion he represents the ‘majority community’, an expression much favoured by the less industrious of our journalists. But he does not. As a Hindu, sure enough, he belongs to the faith adhered to by 82 per cent of the population. But a majority of the country does not speak Hindi. A majority does not hail from Uttar Pradesh, though you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise when you go there. And, if he were visiting, say, my home state of Kerala, he would be surprised to realise a majority there is not even male.
There has never been an archetypal Indian to stand alongside the archetypal Englishman or Frenchman.Worse, this archetypal Hindu male has only to mingle with the polyglot, multi-coloured crowds – and I am referring not to the colours of their clothes but to the colours of their skins – thronging any of India’s major railway stations to realise how much of a minority he really is. Even his Hinduism is no guarantee of his majorityhood, because his caste automatically puts him in a minority. If he is a Brahmin, 90 per cent of his fellow Indians are not. If he is a Yadav, or another ‘backward class’, 85 per cent of his fellow Indians are not. And so on.
If caste and language complicate the notion of Indian identity, ethnicity makes it worse. Most of the time, an Indian’s name immediately reveals where he is from or what her mother tongue is: when we introduce ourselves, we are advertising our origins.
Despite some intermarriage at the elite levels in our cities, Indians are still largely endogamous, and a Bengali is easily distinguished from a Punjabi. The difference this reflects is often more apparent than the elements of commonality. A Karnataka Brahmin shares his Hindu faith with a Bihari Kurmi, but they share little identity with each other in respect of their dress, customs, appearance, taste, language or even, these days, their political objectives. At the same time, a Tamil Hindu would feel he has much more in common with a Tamil Christian or a Tamil Muslim than with, say, a Haryanvi Jat, with whom he formally shares the Hindu religion. What makes India, then, a nation? What is an Indian’s identity?
When an Italian nation was created in the second half of the 19th century out of a mosaic of principalities and statelets, one Italian nationalist (Massimo Taparelli d’Azeglio) wrote ‘We have created Italy. Now all we need to do is to create Italians.’ It is striking that, a few decades later, no Indian nationalist succumbed to the temptation to express a similar thought. The prime exponent of modern Indian nationalism, Jawaharlal Nehru, would never have said ‘we have created India, now we have to create Indians’, because he believed that India and Indians had existed for millennia before he articulated their political aspirations in the 20th century.
many Indians have more in common with foreigners than with other Indians
Nonetheless, the India that was born in 1947 was in a very real sense a new creation: a state that made fellow citizens of the Ladakhi and the Laccadivian for the first time; a state that divided Punjabi from Punjabi for the first time; a state that asked a Keralite peasant to feel allegiance to a Kashmiri Pundit ruling in Delhi, also for the first time.
So, under Gandhi and Nehru, Indian nationalism became a rare animal indeed. It was not based on any of the conventional indices of national identity. Not language, since India’s constitution recognises 18 official languages, and there are 35 that are spoken by more than a million people each. Not ethnicity, since the ‘Indian’ accommodates a diversity of racial types in which many Indians have more in common with foreigners than with other Indians – Indian Punjabis and Bengalis, for instance, have more in common ethnically with Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, respectively, than with Poonawallahs or Bangaloreans. Not religion, since India is a secular pluralist state that is home to every religion known to mankind, with the possible exception of Shintoism. Not geography, since the natural geography of the subcontinent – the mountains and the sea – was hacked by the Partition of 1947. And not even territory, since, by law, anyone with one grandparent born in pre-partition India – outside the territorial boundaries of today’s state – is eligible for citizenship. Indian nationalism has therefore always been the nationalism of an idea.
It is the idea of an ever-ever land – emerging from an ancient civilisation, united by a shared history, sustained by pluralist democracy. India’s democracy imposes no narrow conformities on its citizens. The whole point of Indian pluralism is you can be many things and one thing: you can be a good Muslim, a good Keralite and a good Indian all at once. The Indian idea is the opposite of what Freudians call ‘the narcissism of minor differences’; in India we celebrate the commonality of major differences. If America is a melting-pot, then to me India is a thali, a selection of sumptuous dishes in different bowls. Each tastes different, and does not necessarily mix with the next, but they belong together on the same plate, and they complement each other in making the meal a satisfying repast.
So the idea of India, as Rabindranath Tagore and, more recently, Amartya Sen have insisted, is of one land embracing many. It is the idea that a nation may endure differences of caste, creed, colour, conviction, culture, cuisine, costume and custom, and still rally around a consensus. And that consensus is about the simple idea that in a democracy you don’t really need to agree – except on the ground rules of how you will disagree.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Hidden Windows XP Applications
To run any of these apps go to Start > Run and type the executable name (ie charmap).
WINDOWS XP HIDDEN APPS:
=========================================
1) Character Map = charmap.exe (very useful for finding unusual characters)
2) Disk Cleanup = cleanmgr.exe
3) Clipboard Viewer = clipbrd.exe (views contents of Windows clipboard)
4) Dr Watson = drwtsn32.exe (Troubleshooting tool)
5) DirectX diagnosis = dxdiag.exe (Diagnose & test DirectX, video & sound cards)
6) Private character editor = eudcedit.exe (allows creation or modification of characters)
7) IExpress Wizard = iexpress.exe (Create self-extracting / self-installing package)
8) Microsoft Synchronization Manager = mobsync.exe (appears to allow synchronization of files on the network for when working offline. Apparently undocumented).
9) Windows Media Player 5.1 = mplay32.exe (Retro version of Media Player, very basic).
10) ODBC Data Source Administrator = odbcad32.exe (something to do with databases)
11) Object Packager = packager.exe (to do with packaging objects for insertion in files, appears to have comprehensive help files).
12) System Monitor = perfmon.exe (very useful, highly configurable tool, tells you everything you ever wanted to know about any aspect of PC performance, for uber-geeks only )
13) Program Manager = progman.exe (Legacy Windows 3.x desktop shell).
14) Remote Access phone book = rasphone.exe (documentation is virtually non-existant).
15) Registry Editor = regedt32.exe [also regedit.exe] (for hacking the Windows Registry).
16) Network shared folder wizard = shrpubw.exe (creates shared folders on network).
17) File siganture verification tool = sigverif.exe
18) Volume Contro = sndvol32.exe (I've included this for those people that lose it from the System Notification area).
19) System Configuration Editor = sysedit.exe (modify System.ini & Win.ini just like in Win98! ).
20) Syskey = syskey.exe (Secures XP Account database - use with care, it's virtually undocumented but it appears to encrypt all passwords, I'm not sure of the full implications).
21) Microsoft Telnet Client = telnet.exe
22) Driver Verifier Manager = verifier.exe (seems to be a utility for monitoring the actions of drivers, might be useful for people having driver problems. Undocumented).
23) Windows for Workgroups Chat = winchat.exe (appears to be an old NT utility to allow chat sessions over a LAN, help files available).
24) System configuration = msconfig.exe (can use to control starup programs)
25) gpedit.msc used to manage group policies, and permissions[a very powerful tool if you know how to use it properly;-) ]
Givin back..........
If you are made the Prime Minister of India for a day, you will....
*Impose presidents rule in Maharashtra, and forcibly marry Priety Zinta.
*Go on an official tour to America and never come back.
*Announce an award of Rs. 1 crore for the next outgoing prime minister.
Cast your vote on this poll on the right side of this page and have ur say by clicking the comments link below.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Define Machine.
What a silly reason for nt blogging-EXAMS, Ghosh! Sorry,i know tht
sounds silly,but i cant help, thanx 2 our university,they hv lined up
a horrible schedule. Still i cant resist postin a hack, which i wil b
doin after my first xam(2moro).
Meanwhile,hv a think on d below
A machine can b defined as anything which reduces human effort.
Then wht abt d treadmills nd benchpresses bak @ d gym, they definitely
dont reduce human effort, do they??
Think macha,think.
(src:5.sum1)
--
Hisam
Monday, October 01, 2007
Stop a shutdown.
Ctrl+Alt+S >>>>>>>>>> Thats the shortcut button for my shutdown and i accidentally did just that(mistook it 4 d shortcut for an application), and i was forced to c my sys. go down with 3 or 4 apps open (with only one of em having the restore function(firefox)).
Once the system was up again, the first thing i did was to google "how to stop a shutdown". And it didnt take me long to find this:
"Let’s say that you need to cancel a shutdown in progress. Go to the computer in question, hit Windows Key + R then type command below:
shutdown -a
This will abort the shutdown, assuming there is a counter and it hasn’t reached zero yet! "
Here goes the Funda >> if you shutdown your sys. thru shutdown -s or shutdown -r it takes around 30 secs(its a pointer, and kills itself after 30 secs) to shutdown, so if u can beat that deadline by popping up the run function and hitting that command, then its fine. But if you shutdown ur sys. from the button, then what the sys. does is kill the pointer first giving you no time at all to do the "run command" thing.
But one thing that works to our advantage is that if you accidentally shuts down your system, you ought to have applications running( cos you werent ready to shutdown, it was by chance), so this will take the sys. more time( it will have to kill the running apps first), that gives us enuf time to do the "run command" thing.
Note:Systems with high RAM will take less time to shutdown, so atleast in this case its better to have less of that Primary memory, ;-).
Here is a better way to implement the "shutdown -a" command thing, i.e to create a shortcut for this command. Now to do this, right click on your desktop, select New>>Shortcut. Enter the following commands there "%windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -a" . Give a name of your choice and your shortcut is created. Now what you want to do is create a shortcut key for this shortcut, thats even simpler>> right click the shortcut, go to properties and enter your shortcut key (Mine is Ctrl+Alt+Z).
Now when you dont wanna actually shutdown when you accidentally did, all you wanna hit is "Ctrl+Alt+Z".
Hope this is of help to you, especially for em who are slow on the keyboard.
Where there is a Google, there is a Way. read full !
Saturday, September 29, 2007
How to hack an email id (part 1).
I have realised the hard way that there is no 1-2-3 step process in hacking. Its just the creativity factor that ultimately decides how successfull a hacker is, ofcourse a hacker is most successful if he is a great coder, but he needs to be creative at the same time.
I would also like to tell you that hacking someone's password is almost impossible without that person's own involvement unless you are soooooooo good that you can break into powerful servers like yahoo,hotmail ,Gmail(Impossible i guess).
Here i'm postin a trick that i guess is one of the easiest trick to hack a password and you dont need to code anything. This is done using a keylogger(Keystroke logging (often called keylogging) is a diagnostic tool used in software development that captures the user's keystrokes.). Yes it does exactly that, it saves every single character you hit on your keyboard when the keylogger is active.
What you need to do is install a keylogger on your system and then activate it (it is active if it shows on the system tray), then somehow convince your victim to logon to the account you want 2 hack from your system(i.e the system where u installed the keylogger) and if he does u r done. Open the log of your keylogger(i.e after ur victim has logged in nd more importantly logged out 4m ur view ;-) ) and there you will see all the keystrokes hit upon your keyboard after the keylogger became active, now you might find it hard to search out the password in that big mess of keystrokes, its kinda easy, just go on lukin for the username of your victim and just after that you will find the word you put all this hardwork ( if it was at all 4 u) for, thats the password. Confused?? just go and grab a Keylogger for a start and once you install it and start using it everyother thing will start fall in places( trust me, it will). if you got ne queries, jus comment me and leave ur contact there.
As far as the availability of the keyloggers are concerned, there are many on the net, here is one named perfect keylogger which i have personally tested, u can download it 4m here or there
There are many available out there, one particular keylogger i have heard but could not have my hand upon is Ghost keylogger. It presumably can be installed on the victims computer (of course the victim unaware) and it can send the keylogger log to a particular email address you specify. It has enuf features to hide itself from the victime( thts y its called ghost). I know where 2 dwn this keylogger from, but i dont know where the dollars they r askin for it will come ( ya p2p may work, but i'm too handicapped wit my gprs net connection.)
OR Wait, i Think i've just found a site that actually gives us a trial version f d Ghost keylogger ( i just googled "free ghost keylogger, after the above paragraph, thts y i stroked), i hvnt dwned it yet, so i dont hv ne reviews of it, besides reviews in that site suggect Trojan horse with d dwnload, so b careful, dwn @ ur own risk. anways i give u d link here, i mean its actually here ;-)
For all the ethical eyes frowning out @ me there, i tell u guys- hisam was just telling em how actually not to fall in the trap of keylogger hacking, though a bit twisted............. ;-)
How to make a folder invisible
Search for good hacking books for a cheap price by clicking here
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer
Leaving your computer in a hurry but you don’t want to log off? You can double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screen saver. To create a shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer: Right-click the desktop. Point to New, and then click Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following: rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation Click Next. Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it "Lock Workstation" or choose any name you like. Click Finish. You can also change the shortcut's icon. To change the icon: Right click the shortcut and then select Properties. Click the Shortcut tab, and then click the Change Icon button. In the Look for icons in this file text box, type: Shell32.dll. Click OK. Select one of the icons from the list and then click OK You could also give it a shortcut keystroke such CTRL+ALT+L. This would save you only one keystroke from the normal command, but it could be more convenient.
read full !Speedup ur firefox ( if its already fast)
Yes, firefox is already pretty damn fast but did you know that you can tweak it and improve the speed even more?
That's the beauty of this program being open source.
Here's what you do:
In the URL bar, type “about:config” and press enter. This will bring up the configuration “menu” where you can change the parameters of Firefox.
Note that these are what I’ve found to REALLY speed up my Firefox significantly - and these settings seem to be common among everybody else as well. But these settings are optimized for broadband connections - I mean with as much concurrent requests we’re going to open up with pipelining… lol… you’d better have a big connection.
Double Click on the following settins and put in the numbers below - for the true / false booleans - they’ll change when you double click.
Code:
browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs – true
network.http.max-connections – 48
network.http.max-connections-per-server – 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy – 8
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server – 4
network.http.pipelining – true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests – 100
network.http.proxy.pipelining – true
network.http.request.timeout – 300
One more thing… Right-click somewhere on that screen and add a NEW -> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0”. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. Since you’re broadband - it shouldn’t have to wait.
Now you should notice you’re loading pages MUCH faster now!
How to make a folder invisible.
I know that you know how to make a folder hidden, bu eva tried to make it invisible, no?? then here goes how..............
First step is to erase the name of ur folder, right click the folder and click rename, clear the old name and then hold the "Alt" key on ur keyboard and type in "255", press enter. See, theres no name for ur folder now (actually thts d ASCII value for 255 ;) ).
Now comes d second step , i.e 2 make ur folder invisible, as simple as the first one, right click d folder, go to properties and select customize, click the change icon button on the bottom, u will c lota icons now browse on untill u find a blank icon, select the icon, click ok and then click apply. Voila, ur folder has gone invisible!!
Now dont blame me if u cant find it (its there in d original position, its jus dat u cant c it ( thts y v call it invisible).
Spekin of invisibility............. heres how u can send an invisible scrap on orkut, just hit "[i]".............. as simple as that.
Please leave a comment if u find this hack useful, u c i dont get much comments here, so it will b nice of u.
hisam
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
t20 win nd its aftereffects..........
The nation is baskin in the joy of t20 wcup win nd rightly so cos i think for us to win another cup of this stature it will take another decade or 2. I'm not goin 2 go into detail of d performances of d players atleast in this post, i'm posting this because i was fascinated by the negative hype or masala news that the Indian media folks manage to come up with every indian cricket success( or for that matter even failure).
The 2 noteworthy news doin the rounds this time are
* Hockey players and officials feel they are being given stepmotherly treatment.
With d cricket board, state govts., sponsors, nd every other billionaire soul in d country competing to reward the players, i'm sure each player will end up with atleast 50-60 lakh, Not to mention players like Yuvraj, who was rewarded 1crore alone by the Bcci, and a porsche car ( cos he once mentioned to d bcci vice president lalit modi " MY favourite car is porsche 9211........").
Now compare the rewards given to the Asia cup winning Indian hockey team-
50000 Naya rupees to the whole team,
1000 rs for a goal and now hold ur breath.........
a fine of rs 2000 for every goal conceded.
Can u just believe that "a fine of rs 2000 for every goal conceded." ???
Now what if they concede more goals than they score( or even 3/4th of dey score), they would end bankrupt.........;).
Every hockey player mothers will start saying "Mera beta hockey khel kar barbaaaaaaaad ho gaya"
And all the other mothers will start saying "Tu jo bhi khar beta, bhagwan ke vasthe hockey math khel".
And to top it all cricket stole its winning emblem..
Chak de.............. oh chak de india................
No wonder v rnt playing hockey as well as v used 2. Winning the Asia cup was a real achievement under these torturous circumstances.
* Bcci officials and politicians taking the limelight during the welcome celebrations of d Indian cricket team in Mumbai is the other 1( They apparently pushed the whole Indian team except Dhoni to d second row in the stage).
Wonder what the fans must have felt like, i will put it in a sentence,
"The crowd came to c Shahrukh Khan in the movie and they showed em Gulshan Grower"
How unfair..................
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Price Of Imaan.
Several years ago an Imaam moved to London. He often took the bus from his home to the downtown area. Some weeks after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the same bus. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him twenty pence too much change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, you better give the twenty pence back. It would be wrong to keep it. Then he thought, oh forget it, it's only twenty pence. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company already gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a gift from Almighty Allah and keep quite. When his stop came, the Imaam paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the twenty pence back to the driver and said " Here, you gave me too much change."
The driver with a smile replied " Aren't you the new Imaam in this area? I have been thinking lately about going to worship at your mosque. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change." When the Imaam stepped off the bus, his knees became weak and soft. He had to grab the nearest light pole and held for support, and looked up to the heavens and cried "Oh Allah, I almost sold Islam for twenty pence!"
Remember, we may never see the impact our actions have on people.
Sometimes we are the only knowledge of Quran someone will read, or the only Islam a non-Muslim will see. What we need to provide, Insha Allah is an example for others to see. Be careful and be honest everyday, because you never know who is watching your actions and judging you as a Muslim.
Amazing Interview with a 14 years old new Muslimah !
The way she speaks is really impressive .. after my conversation with her .. I thought that I must tell her the fact that she is very mature .. please read her words .. and distribute it .. read the story now !
IslamWay.com:
Dear Sister .. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatu Allah sister , first of all .. Congratulations for accepting Islam
Sara:
wa alaikum assalam, thank-you
IslamWay.com:
Can you give us brief information about yourself ?
Sara:
My name is Sara, I am 14 years old and in high school. I live in the U.S.
IslamWay.com:
Welcome sister Sara .. I'm really amazed to see someone in your age searching for the truth .. let me admit that .. Can you tell us .. how did you know about Islam for the first time in your life ?
Sara:
Yes, the first time I heard about Islam was about 3 years ago, I was curious about God and religion and wanted to know what others believed. I started reading different materials and read about Islam. I was amazed by how much sense it made.
IslamWay.com:
Isn't it kind of strange to start reading about religions when you were 11 years old .. is there is any special thing that you have other than other kids around you ?
Sara -smiling-:
I suppose it is strange to read about religion at 11, most my friends didn't understand how I could be so interested in finding God. My family is Christian, and I have been raised in religion, so it seemed only natural for me to study religion thoroughly and decide on my own what the truth was.
IslamWay.com:
Did you read the Quran ?
Sara:
Not at that time, no.
IslamWay.com:
"A Muslim woman is oppressed and needs to be librated like the western women" .. do you have a comment about this ?
Sara:
It saddens me that so many people in the world today believe that Muslim women are oppressed. I believe that we are the most liberated women on earth! To follow the guidelines Allah has given us is the most liberating thing any woman can do.
IslamWay.com:
Well .. from what you see in the west .. are the women there librated ?
Sara:
No, most women in the west are oppressed. We are used as sex symbols. Most women wear outfits that barely cover them, they use their bodies to get attention. We are expected to have 'perfect' bodies by the media's standards, we are supposed to look and act a certain way, and we are expected to do whatever the media tells us to do, and that is to disrespect ourselves and Allah.
IslamWay.com:
So did you wear the hijab ?
Sara:
No I do not. I would like to very much, but my family is unaware that I converted to Islam, and I will wear the hijab after I tell them.
IslamWay.com:
You think that you will have problems with them after telling them ?
Sara:
I'm not sure. I supose I am allowing my fear to keep me from telling them.
IslamWay.com:
I see .. Just ask Allah to give your the power and the patience to take this step .. and I guess all Muslims who are reading this interview now will make du'a for you to ease things in sha Allah ..
IslamWay.com:
What is the thing you liked most in the Muslims community ?
Sara:
I admire the dedication Muslims have to Islam, there is an amazing peace and grace that Allah gives to those who serve him as completely as they can. To many it may seem hard to follow Allah's guidelines, but Allah gives every Muslim an amazing strength to help them. What I liked most about the Muslims I met was how friendly and caring they were.
IslamWay.com:
"Most of Muslims nowadays are not practicing Muslims .. " first of all .. what do you feel about that ? And is that why Islam is not spreading too fast ? And what would you say to a none pracitcing Muslim ?
Sara:
1) I firmly believe that the statement "Most Muslims nowadays are not practicing Muslims .. " is false. I do not believe you can truly be Muslim without being a 'practicing Muslim'. Islam isn't just a religion, it's a way of life. That's one of the many things I love about it.
2) Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world, I believe the reason for this is that people see the truth in it, and when they decide to live to serve Allah, they are given an amazing happiness and grace that others see and admire, that is what draws people to Islam.
3) Trust Allah, serve him completely, and he will give you the grace, peace, and happiness you need to be a 'practicing Muslim'.
IslamWay.com:
What is your future plans ? Your dreams ?
Sara:
I've always had a dream: To become a leader in our world and once again help establish peace and good relations between different people.
IslamWay.com :
Do you have any plans for learning arabic ?
Sara:
Yes. i LOVE languages. It's something that i enjoy very much, and my parents support my Arabic education, I will hopefully begin taking a language course this Fall. My dad lived in an Arabic speaking country for years, and so he would help me study.
IslamWay.com:
oh i see .. which country ?
Sara:
Sudan (in Africa)
IslamWay.com:
Can you tell us in details how did you revert to Islam ?
Sara:
I had originally heard about Islam about 3 years ago, my parents found out that I was reading about it and discouraged me from doing so, studying it much further. Then last Fall I started highschool at a new school that has a lot of Muslim students.
When I first started going there I remembered my studying and was curious about how they would act. My parents had told me Muslims were horrible mean, militant, abusive people. So I kind of expected them to be that way, I was wrong! The first couple of friends I made there were Muslims.
They were nice, friendly, caring people. I remember them talking about their God, and I was amazed by how much they loved Islam. I began very quickly began respect them, and quickly became very curious about their beliefs. A friend of mine asked them about Islam one day, and it turned into a several hour long conversation about Allah, and Islam, and daily life. I was suprised by how much sense it all made, and how happy they were. I began reading the Qur'an and looking for more information on the internet, and soon after I said the shahadah and converted to Islam. I'm still amazed by how happy and peacefull my life is. Allah has given me much strength in every day life. Inshallah my parents will see this.
IslamWay.com:
In sha Allah .. May Allah reward you sister for your time .. and may Allah keep you in the right path .. Amen .. As-salamu alaykum
Sara:
wa alaikum assalam, thank-you
--
~|firozOzman|~
"Riches does not mean having a great amount of property; real wealth is self-contentment." - Prophet Muhammad (Blessings and Peace be Upon Him).
read full !
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Ramadan for the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims
The ninth holy month of the Islamic calendar began yesterday for the majority of Muslim countries. Restaurants closed during the day, a ban on eating in public, while in the cities in war curfew are relaxed to allow families to gather after sunset.
Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) – For the majority of the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims, Ramadan the holy month of fasting, prayer and abstinence from sunrise to sunset, began yesterday. The first day of Islam’s sacred ninth month is determined by the new moon and this may vary from country to country: in Libya and Nigeria, for example it began on the 12 of September.
During the course of the month practising Muslims must abstain – from sunrise to sunset – from drinking, eating, smoking and sexual activities. In many nations, by law, offices reduce their working hours. Fasting (sawm) during these 30 days is the fourth of the five pillars of Islam. When the sun sets, fasting is broken (iftar). Tradition stands that a date is eaten, just as the Prophet did. Or in alternative a glass of water may be drunk.
In Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation in the world, the beginning of Ramadan was marked by a violent earthquake, with a death toll that so far counts 14 people. Radical Islamic groups in the archipelagos have already warned they will act against nightclubs and other "dens of vices" that disregard restricted opening hours for the month.
In southern Thailand, the army lifted a night curfew meant to pressure separatists in Muslim provinces, to allow families to move freely and gather for suhur, the last meal before dawn.
In Bangladesh the provisional government offered a 20% discount on rice throughout the country, while in Dhaka, it has opened up hundreds of low cost food outlets.
In the crowded Egyptian capital of Cairo, traffic surveillance has been increased to prevent pre-sunset jams and accidents, when its 18 million inhabitants rush home to their only meal of the day.
In Persian Gulf nations, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, restaurants are forbidden to open during the day for the entire month of Ramadan. In Kuwait those who eat during the day or encourage others to do so will be fined 356 euro or given a months detention. In Arabia, the cradle of Islam, over 1 million pilgrims are expected for the Umrah, the small pilgrimage to Mecca.
Afghanistan has also restricted restaurant opening times to the evening, while public offices will close by 1.00 in the afternoon. The Taliban have threatened to launch fresh attacks during the holy month on both the government and foreign forces.
In the Iraqi capital the night time curfew has been reduced, above all in the wake of the US forces claims that violence and attacks have “diminished”. Shorja market is a hive of activity with people stocking up on spices, tea, sugar and nuts. In Baghdad the Sunni community began Ramadan yesterday a day later than the Shiites.
In the West Bank and Gaza the rival governments of Hamas and Fatah agreed to begin Ramadan together yesterday, in an attempt to preserve at least the impression of unity during the holy month. In a goodwill gesture, the radical Islamic group in power in Gaza announced that it will free 80 prisoners, among them 25 members of Fatah.
Ramadan and its constraints.
RAMADAN commemorates the time of year during which the man who would be the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad bin Abdullah, peace be upon him, took his annual retreat into the hills behind Mecca to fast and meditate in a spiritual cleansing.
About three weeks into that seclusion in the year 610, Muhammad underwent the shattering experience that marked the commencement of the Revelation of the Holy Quran — the affirmation and seal of the great message of Abraham (Q3:95).
Ever since, Ramadan has been observed by Muslims as a month of dawn-to-dusk fasting, prayer and spiritual observance (Q2:184-185). The classical Arabic word for this abstinence is siyam or sawm. It refers to a condition of stillness, expressing an ideal tranquility of mind, heart and soul.
A mundane interpretation of the Fast says it is meant to remind Muslims of what it feels like to be poor and hungry. To some extent this is valid (though millions of Muslims would need no such reminder), but the Fast is much deeper. It seeks to cleanse the physical body by asserting the discipline of the will. As such, fasting is an exercise in transcendence.
Yet, Ramadan is not meant to be a sequestered, joyless time. The duties of life are not to be forgone; work continues by day, if at a gentler pace to allow for leaner fuel. By night, families are meant to commune at the Breaking of Fast, and married couples are encouraged to intimacy (Q2:187) — many Muslim cultures consider children conceived during the month of Ramadan to be doubly blessed.
Most of all, Ramadan is a time for the suspension of hostilities. The Quran is too knowing of human nature blithely to call for peace and goodwill, but for this one month, there was to be no warring. Instead, antagonists were to reflect on themselves in contemplation of who they are, what they are intended to do, how they are to do it, and above all, why (Q4:94).
Ramadan is a time of contemplation towards clarity; of the analysis of motives and deeds.
The 22nd or 23rd night of the month is known as Laylat Al-Qadr, the "Night of Power" marking what is believed to be the actual anniversary of the Revelation; of the conjoining of Heaven and Earth for the salvation of Man. At this time, those who have most diligently observed the Fast engage in night-long vigils of prayer and meditation, with their physical constitutions cleansed and their consciences clear and open to insight and epiphany.
A week or so later, with the sighting of the new moon, Ramadan ends in the most important festival of the Muslim year — a day or two spent in soulful memory of the departed, communal prayers, charitable acts and festive family gatherings.
Ramadan is, therefore, a crucial annual check in the cycle of life. Observed as it should be, each year includes a month in which humanity pauses for a stock-taking and "spring-cleaning" of the individual soul, and of the societies formed of them. In this noblest of months, there is no place for negative thoughts — except insofar as they can be seen for what they are, and pondered upon for realisation, repentance, and forgiveness.
For all these reasons, the simple sacrifice of food and drink never seems to be so great as to merit much fuss. Think of it as having an earlier breakfast and skipping lunch, no big deal.
But, as Bob Marley observed, "a hungry man is an angry man". A definite crabbiness does come with an empty belly — which is all the more reason to welcome the discipline of fasting as a reminder to not be such a grump about it. (Besides, Marley was referring to hunger caused by repression, corruption and bigotry, not a passing peckishness.)
In sum, though, the fundamental ethos of Ramadan is one of retreat. Some take this literally, opting to take their annual leave off work to ease back on the throttle and glide a loftier trajectory; perhaps even spending the month in the Holy Land at this very special time of year.
For most, the "retreat" has to be more internal than actual; furling the sails to rest on calmer, more reflective waters.
In search of those calmer waters, there are certain places that are best avoided during the fasting month. Pre-eminent among them are the "food courts" of shopping malls and the buka puasa buffets of hotels.
The final hour of the fasting day is perforce the longest and hardest, hypoglycaemia being what it is. Remaining calm, therefore, may be hardest of all when witnessing what happens in that hour in such places during Ramadan.
They fill to overflowing with Muslims sitting at tables with their dinners piled high before them congealing on their plates, ice melting in their tumblers, tea cooling in their cups, waiting in dry-mouthed and glazed-eyed anticipation for the call of the Azan, not to pray but to eat.
What’s worse, this never happens at any other time of year, when the call to prayer means exactly that.
True, it is proper to break one’s fast at the appointed time, but this was supposed to be done with a piece of bread or fruit and a drink of water prior to prayer, with a leisurely and hopefully convivial dinner to follow. This is a perfectly sound dietary regimen while fasting; gently restoring fodder to depleted alimentary systems.
Suddenly shoving a kilo of dates, rice, curry, satay, meat, vegetables, lobster thermidor and air bandung down a parched throat into an empty stomach, however, can play havoc with the system. Blood drains from the head to the gut to deal with the sudden engorgement, blood-sugar levels skyrocket, and the brain is left stuporous.
That the blessed hour of Maghrib throughout the holy month of Ramadan in this country is now associated with such public spectacles of preposterous gluttony — for an obsession with food to be the hallmark of the fasting month — is a riddle to be contemplated with detachment (Q42:37).
To all Muslims everywhere: Peace and Coolness be upon Thee. Enjoy the month. Selamat Berbuka Puasa. (Q5:93.)
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Ramadan....What is it?
taqwa." - Al Baqarah(2):183
scorching heat and dryness, especially the ground. From the same root
there is ramdaa, sunbaked sand, and the famous proverb: "Kal Mustajeer
minar Ramadaa binnar" - to jump out of the frying pan into the fire. And
in a hadith the Messenger of Allah (saas) said : "The prayer of repenters
is due when the young camel can feel the sun's heat early in the morning."
(Muslim)
"When Ramadan comes, the gates of Paardise are opened,
the gates of Hellfire are locked and devils are chained." [Bukhari]
Thus, the Ramadan is so called to indicate the heating sensation in the
stomach as a result of thirst. Others said it is so called because Ramadan
scorches out the sins burns the ground. Some said it is so called because
the hearts and souls are more readily receptive to the admonition and
remembrance of Allah during Ramadan, ad the sand and stones are receptive
to the sun's heat. The framers of this beautiful language may have been
inspired by Allah (SWT) in naming this month Ramadan. Otherwise, the
relation between the heat and its properties is miraculously similar to
that of Ramadan. While the heat represents the matter that helps shape,
form, and mold virtually every matter, from metal and plastics, to plants
and living cells-Ramadan undoubtedly helps a serious believe remold,
reshape, reform, and renew his physical and spiritual disposition and
behaviour.
FASTING:
Fasting, siyamm, has two meanings. Generally, siyaam or sawm, is derived
from the root sama, to retrain from normal things, such as eating,
drinking, and talking. If an individual refrains from these things, he is
considered saaim, the observer of fast. Al-Qur'an uses the word generally
when it revealed the conversation between the angel and Mary, the of Jesus,
as the angel instructed her "And if you do see any man say, "I have vowed
to remain silent for Allah". (Al-Qur'an 19:26)
The phrase "to remain silent," is the interpretation of the Arabic word
"sawm". The reason for this interpretation is that "sawm" cannot mean
fast, i.e. restraint from food, because Mary had just been told to eat from
the palm tree. This general meaning is common in the Arabic language.
In the Shari'ah (Islamic law) the "sawm" means and implies a specific act ,
which is, "to worship Allah, abstaining, with intention to please Him from
fast breakers, such as physical nourishment, food, drink, and sexual
intercourse a lustful discharge of semen from the period between the break
of dawn until sundown."
As this definition implies, the Islamic fasting is total abstinence from
any food, particles passing through the mouth or nose, as well as drinks of
any kind - water, milk, juice, etc. - along with abstinence from sexual
association during the day that commences from the break of dawn till
sunset.
Although the definition indicated restraining the stomach and private
parts, the tongue, eyes ears and other limbs are equally obligated to be
restrained if the faster want to gain the total rewards of fasting. This
is why the Messenger of Allah (saas) has been reported as saying in hadith
by Abu Hurairah: "He who does not desist from obscene language and acting
obscenely (during the period of fasting), Allah has no need that he didn't
eat or drink." (Bukhari, Muslim). In another hadith by abu Harairah (raa),
the Prophet (saas) said: "Fasting is not only from food and drink, fasting
is to refrain from obscene (acts). If someone verbally abuses you or acts
ignorantly toward you, say (to them) 'I am fasting; I am fasting.'"(Ibn
Khuzaoinah)
Indeed, these two reports imply fasting will not be complete until one
observes three elements:
1. Restraining the stomach and the private parts from the break of the
fast food and drinks.
2. Restraining the jawarih, the other body parts, which may render the
fast worthless despite the main factor of hunger and thirst; so the tongue,
for instance, must avoid backbiting, slander, and lies; the eyes should
avoid looking into things considered by the Lawgiver as unlawful; the ears
must stop from listening to conversation, words, songs, and lyrics that
spoil the spirit of fasting; and,
3. Restraining of the heart, and mind from indulging, themselves in
other things besides dhikir Allah (remembrance of Allah). read full !
