Nice Thoughts.....

I came across a very nice email from my Yahoo Groups community. I would like to share with the readers. It is as follows:

Nice Thoughts.... .

1. If you want your dreams to come true, don't oversleep.

2. The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention.

3. Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.

4. The best vitamin for making friends .B1.

5. The 10 commandments are not multiple choice.

6. The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

7. Minds are like parachutes.. . they function only when open.

8. Ideas won't work unless YOU do.

9. One thing you can't recycle is wasted time.

10. One who lacks the courage to start has already finished.

11. The heaviest thing to carry is a grudge.

12. Don't learn safety rules by accident.

13. We lie the loudest when we lie to ourselves.

14. Jumping to conclusions can be bad exercise.

15. A turtle makes progress when it sticks its head out.

16. One thing you can give and still keep is your word.

17. A friend walks in when everyone else walks out.

AND FINALLY...

18. The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime!

Jihad: Its True Meaning and Purpose

Almost all famous world religions have the concept of holy war that needs to be waged against tyranny and injustice..

One of the most controversial word in today's world is "Jihad" which in general terms believed to be war by Islam against other religions.

This is terribly wrong. Please see below mail, which I received in my mail-box from yahoo groups, that exactly describes what Jihad is...

Jihad is one of the most misunderstood, and abused aspects of Islam. There are some Muslims who exploit and misuse this concept for their own political objectives. There are many non-Muslims who misunderstand it. There are some non-Muslims who misinterpret it to discredit Islam and Muslims.

Jihad: Its True Meaning and Purpose

Jihad: Its True Meaning and Purpose

Jihad is never a tool of waging war against the innocents; it's never a means of flexing muscles or bullying the weak and oppressed. Jihad in Islam is something unique, established to defend the divine message from being eliminated or hindered by its enemies.
Shedding more light on the true concept of Jihad, here is the statement made by Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi, president of the Fiqh Council ofNorth America, states:

Allah says, (And strive in His cause as ye ought to strive (with sincerity and under discipline). He has chosen you, and has imposed no difficulties on you in religion; it is the religion of your father Abraham. It is He (Allah) Who has named you Muslims, both before and in this (Revelation) ; that the Messenger may be a witness for you, and you be witnesses for mankind! So establish regular Prayer, give regular Charity, and hold fast to Allah! He is your Protector, the best to protect and the Best to help!) (Al-Hajj 22: 78)

Jihad is one of the most misunderstood, and abused aspects of Islam. There are some Muslims who exploit and misuse this concept for their own political objectives. There are many non-Muslims who misunderstand it. There are some non-Muslims who misinterpret it to discredit Islam and Muslims.

What is Jihad?

The word Jihad does not mean "Holy War".
It means "struggle" or "striving".
The word for war in the Qur'an is "Harb" or "Qital".

Jihad means serious and sincere struggle on the personal as well as on the social level.

It is a struggle to do good and to remove injustice, oppression and evil from the society. This struggle should be spiritual as well as social, economic and political.

Jihad is to work hard to do right things. In the Qur'an this word is used in its different forms 33 times. It often comes with other Qur'anic concepts such as faith, repentance, righteous deeds and migration.

Jihad is to protect one's faith and one's human rights.

Jihad is not a war always although it can take the form of war.

Islam is the religion of peace, but it does not mean that Islam accepts oppression. Islam teaches that one should do one's utmost to eliminate tension and conflict. Islam promotes non-violent means to bring change and reform.

Actually, Islam urges that one should eliminate evil through peaceful means without the use of force as much as possible. In Islamic history from the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) until now, Muslims most of the time resisted oppression and struggled for liberation in non-violent and peaceful manners.

Islam teaches proper ethics in the situation of war also. The war is permissible in Islam, but only when other peaceful means such as dialogue, negotiations and treaties fail. It is a last resort and should be avoided as much as possible. Its purpose is not to convert people by force, or to colonize people or to acquire land or wealth or for self-glory.

Its purpose is basically: defense of life, property, land, honor and freedom for oneself as well as defense of others from injustice and oppression.

The basic rules of war in Islam are:

1. Be strong so that your enemy fear you and should not attack you.
2. Do not begin the hostilities. Work for peace as much as possible.
3. Fight only those who fight, no collective punishment; non-combatants should not be harmed. Weapons of mass destruction should not be used.
4. Stop hostilities as soon as the other party is inclined to peace.
5. Observe the treaties and agreements as long as the enemy observes them.

Allah says very clearly: (Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not do aggression, for Allah loves not the aggressors.) (Al-Baqarah 2: 190)

(The prohibited month, for the prohibited month, and so for all things prohibited, there is the law of equality. If then any one transgresses the prohibition against you, transgress ye likewise against him. But fear Allah, and know that Allah is with those who restrain themselves.) (Al-Baqarah 2: 194)

Jihad is not terrorism:

It is to be emphasized that terrorism against the innocent civilians, whether through aggression or suicidal means, is under no circumstances permissible in Islam. Islam encourages the oppressed people to struggle for their liberation and it commands other Muslims to help those who are oppressed and suffering, but Islam does not allow, under any circumstance, terrorism against non-combatants and innocent people.

Terrorism is not Jihad, it is Fasad (mischief).

It is against the teachings of Islam. There are some people who use their twisted arguments to justify terrorism for their causes, but it has no justification:
Allah says: (When it is said to them: 'Make not mischief on the earth,' they say: 'Why, we only want to correct things.' Indeed they are the mischief doers, but they realize (it) not.) (Al-Baqarah 2: 11-12)

Islam wants to establish a world order where all human beings - Muslims and non-Muslims - can live with justice in peace, harmony and good will. It gives its followers full guidelines to find peace in their personal and social lives, but it also tells them how to extend the good will on the basis of human relations towards others. Muslims worked under these principles for centuries. People of many faiths lived with them and among them. Islamic societies were known for their tolerance, generosity and humanity.

In our modern society where we are living in a global village, where non-Muslims are living with Muslims in the Muslim countries and Muslims are living with non-Muslims in countries where non-Muslims constitute a majority, it is our duty to bring better understanding among ourselves, work for peace and justice for all people and cooperate with each other in matters of goodness and virtue in order to stop all terrorism, aggression and violence against the innocent people. This is our Jihad today.

AT LAST

If any one kills a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he killed the whole of humanity: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole humanity.

(Surah Al Maida, Chapter #5, Verse #32)

EID MUBARAK TO ALL MUSLIM BROTHERS & SISTERS

I wish you ALL a very happy and peaceful Eid.
May Allah accept your good deeds,
forgive your transgressions and ease
the suffering of all peoples around the globe.

Eid Mubarak

Quotes on Politics

1	Hot heads & cold hearts never solved anything	-Billy Graham
2	The spirit of democracy cannot be superimposed from the outside. It must come from within.	-Mahatma Gandhi
3	It is said that ‘power corrupts’, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible	-David Brin
4	All weakness tends to corrupt & impotence corrupts absolutely.	- Edgar z Freidenberg
5	The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.	- Milton Friedman
6	Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil, in its worst state, an intolerable one.	- Thomas Paine
7	Democracy means having the choice. Dictatorship means being given the choice.	- Jeannine Luczak
8	The most serious threat to democracy is the notion that it has already been achieved.	- Anonymous
9	Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty & happiness of the people whose manners are universally corrupt.	- Samuel Adams.
10	It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting.	- Tom Stoppard
11	Good example & education are the only weapons against narrow-mindedness be it communalism, casteism or partyism.	- C. Rajagopalchari
12	One can always win a war; but how does one conquer peace ?	- Michael Holmboe Meyer
13	Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional.	- Max Lucade
14	If it’s natural to kill, why do men have to go into training to learn how ?	- Joan Baez
15	We have guided missiles & misguided men.	- Martin Luther King Jr
16	Ring a ring of Uranium, Pocket full of Plutonium, Fission, we all fall down.	- Nuclear nursery rhyme
17	In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.	- Charles de Gaulle
18	Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people of other than your own come first	- Charles de Gaulle
19	Peace is not something you wish for, it’s something you make, something you are, something you give away.	- Robert Fulghum
20	When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.	- Jimi Hendrix
21	The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war.	– Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

Wise Thoughts

1. Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. – B.F. Skinner

2. When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world. – George Washington Carver

3. Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead. – Benjamin Franklin

4. It’s a beggar’s pride that he is not a thief. – Anonymous

5. No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow – Alice Walker

6. If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude – Amy Tan

7. To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world – Brandi Snyder

8. A worried person sees a problem, a concerned person solves it. – Harold Stevens

9. A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks – Charles Gordy

10. You are never really caught in a traffic jam. You are the traffic jam. – The Times of India

Dhoni has got the break – When will we get!

So MS Dhoni has finally opted out of playing the Sri Lanka series. He wants some rest and its true that there’s too much of cricket. Just after IPL it was Bangladesh series and immediately after that Asia cup was scheduled with hardly any time gap in between each tournament. This can take a toll on cricketers.

Actually not only cricketers but even the cricket fans in India also need a break. They are heavily bombarded with all forms of cricket one after the other. Indians love cricket but that don’t mean that fatigue will not set in. Cricket fans do need a break. Lucky Dhoni has got one, but no-one knows when we will get rest from cricket.

Rajasthan Royals Romps into the IPL Final

The first semi-final of IPL between Rajasthan Royals & Delhi Daredevils turned out to be totally one-sided affair. Delhi team lost without giving any kind of fight to Rajasthan team. Rajasthan Royals outclassed Daredevils in every department of the game. Shane Watson again showed his class with bat & a ball. He surely is a good contender for player of the tournament award.

Now it remains to be seen if Chennai team could provide a good fight to the mighty Mohali team in the 2nd semi-final of the tournament. Mohali is a very strong side with formidable batting and bowling combinations. So Dhoni & Co. will have to pull out something special in order to reach final. Till then Mohali remains favorite to make it to the final. If Mohali makes it to the final than the final will be a thriller as both the teams i.e. Rajasthan & Mohali are equally powerful teams.

LEONA LEWIS- BLEEDING LOVE

The song ‘Bleeding Love’ from the debut album ‘Spirit’ by Leona Lewis has already created ripples worldwide. It has been a blockbuster in UK, Australia, Ireland, US and France. The song is very excellent not only in terms of vocal quality but also in terms of lyrics and music. Actually everything about the song seems to be perfect. Leona Lewis, 23, is a very versatile singer and ‘Bleeding Love’ is the proof of this. Her soulful voice in the song is not only captivating in terms of emotions but it oozes a kind of sultriness at the same time which is really mesmerizing. Her powerful voice is quite impressive, no doubt she has the influences of the likes of Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and others. It’s a very good song on love and the rest of the album too, is very good. The way Leona Lewis is being well-received by the music-lovers across the world, the new lady has already achieved an instant stardom.

50 Best Workplaces in India

Great Place to Work Institute, the US-based Institute that ranks Best Workplaces globally, has came out recently with its list of top 50 Best Workplaces in India for the year 2008. The companies that secured top positions are:

1. RMSI PRIVATE LIMITED

2. MARRIOTT HOTEL, INDIA

3. GOOGLE INDIA PVT. LTD

4. AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES

5. CLASSIC STRIPES PVT. LTD

6. AMERICAN EXPRESS, INDIA

7. CADBURY INDIA LTD

8. NTPC LTD

9. GODREJ CONSUMER PRODUCTS LTD

10. HILTI INDIA PVT. LTD

11. SCOPE INTERNATIONAL

12. QUALCOMM INDIA

13. INTEL INDIA

14. MINDTREE CONSULTING

15. COMPUTER SCIENCES CORPORATION

16. FEDEX

17. ADITYA BIRLA MGT CORP LTD

18. JOHNSON & JOHNSON LTD

19. ADOBE INDIA

20. FORBES MARSHALL

21. INTERGLOBE ENTERPRISES

22. INTELENET GLOBAL SERVICES

23. AVIVA LIFE INSURANCE

24. BAJAJ CAPITAL

25. SIERRA ATLANTIC

Other companies that are included in the Top 50 list are:

Acclaris Business Solutions, Aditi Technologies, Ajuba Solutions, Ambuja Realty, Azure Knowledge Center, BMR Advisors, Cushman & Wakefield India, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Ernst & Young Global, Hardcastle Restaurants, Infineon Technologies, JM Financial Consultants, Kotak mahindra, M&M, Marico Ltd, Monsanto India, Network 18 Media, P&G, Perot Systems, Quintiles, SAP Labs, ST Micro Electronics, VCustomer, Wipro BPO and Zycus Infotech.

Bias against English-medium students in Gujarat

There is inherent bias against English-medium students in Gujarat’s education system. This has always been the case. First of all, answer sheets of English-medium students are checked by Gujarat-medium teachers who can never be expected to do justice to English-medium students. Such teachers have had always shown their biases towards Gujarati-medium students and as a result English-medium students had to content with low percentages. They never allowed English-medium students to top the merit list. Statistics of Board Exam results of Std. 10th and 12th are a testimony to this prejudice in the education system. The pass percentage of the English-medium students had always been higher than the Gujarati-medium students. Similarly much higher percentage of English-medium students scores distinction. These biases have even been reflected during Board Exams when Gujarati-medium Supervisors often treat English-medium students unfairly by taunting and making fun of them.

Such a prejudice of state’s education system has been there since long time and nobody ever cared to question this attitude. Even local media never reported these glaring facts. It is only this year that the Times of India brought out all this in news after the board results for std. 12th (science) were declared. Although this news was not surprising for me as I knew about such inherent biases against English-medium students all along. As an English-medium student, I have gone through all this. The only heartening fact is that now all these things are now in front of public and the biased attitude of state’s education system is uncovered for all to see.

But the chairman of GSHSEB, R.K Pathak had a strange explanation “The English-medium students are intelligent but do not strive hard enough, whereas Gujarati-medium students carry out in-depth study and work very hard.” To this I have only one thing to say that this man may be correct to some extent as most of the precious time of English-medium students is wasted in rectifying the errors in their textbooks and then making sense of all the rubbish thrown at them in the textbooks.

Erroneous School Textbooks in Gujarat

Errors in English medium school textbooks have so far been ignored by everybody in Gujarat. Usually it is common to see printing errors in textbooks which is to some extent understandable, but the kind of errors that the textbooks in Gujarat carry is unimaginable. They are replete with factual, spellings and grammatical errors. Not only that there are numerous conceptual errors, the language is also inappropriate. It seems like the textbooks are written by authors who are neither familiar with English nor with the subject they write about.

The Gujarat Education Board doesn’t seem like interested in providing decent education let alone quality education. If the Education board can’t provide decent textbook for English medium then they should allow the use of textbook published by well-known publication house like McMillan. Many English medium schools have been doing so since long. They don’t rely only on the textbooks of Gujarat Board - at least till primary level and I think this is the only way it should be. At least students get quality study material. But then parents lobby raise objection against such schools for additional burden on students. So where do one go !!!

It is really commendable that the Times of India has now started the campaign ‘Jaago Gujarat-Clean Up The Textbooks’. I hope the efforts of the Times of India will be fruitful. We can’t expect the change from the thick-skinned Gujarat education board, but at least this will help in creating awareness among parents.

George W Bush – a fool or a compulsive liar

George W Bush blaming the rising prosperity of Indian middle-class for spiraling global food prices proves that he is either a fool or a compulsive liar. Till now everybody knew him as a hypocrite, but he has now shown to the world that he is either a fool or a liar.

Being a president of a country he is not expected to be ignorant of the fact that an American consumes food five times as much as an Indian. By the way everyone in the world knows that the US consumes largest amount of everything- be it energy, fuel, food or metal. So if he doesn’t know this simple fact then he is the biggest fool in the world and if he knew it then instead of commenting on Indian food consumption he should have asked his fellow countrymen to consume less food in order to control food prices. Why doesn’t he make remark on his country’s consumption pattern? He won’t do this because he is selfish to the core. He indirectly wants India and China to restrict their food consumption and at the same time he is not ready to budge on the issue of bio-fuel which is one of the main reasons for rising food prices. Even several international experts have held bio-fuels for being responsible for usurping arable land and distorting world food prices. So Mr. Bush stop lying every now and then. It has now become your habit.

Indian Fantasy League is a flop show!

With the start of IPL the "Indian Fantasy league " -an internet based cricket game/contest started. But the website of IFL is very disappointing. The site doesn't open most of the time. The scores and points are not updated quickly and there are lot of errors there too. The site is so poorly managed that it cannot handle huge number of visitors. User cannot update their team players. After registering at the site I'm left really disenchanted. Its really worthless and total waste of time.

If the organiser of such a site can't handle large number of users then they should not have advertised it so much. This is a real fraud of a new kind. So users beware!

Sit Idle & Get Rewarded

The Sixth Pay commission’s recommendations could mean a hike in the salaries of government employees’ up to 52%. The hike in the pay and allowances for military and paramilitary forces is understandable and justified. But why should the idlers be rewarded?

Indian Bureaucracy is known for its inefficiency & corruption and therefore the hike in the salaries of such section of employees is totally unwarranted. Such a hike in salaries has to be linked to better performance & productivity. The government must take lessons from private sector, which is far more efficient because its salaries, perks and promotions are linked to productivity. The five-day work week for government employees should be discontinued and they should be asked to work six-days a week – just reducing the holidays is not enough.

The pay hike will bring about massive strain on the exchequer. The present recommendations, when implemented, are expected to cause an additional encumbrance of Rs. 20,000 crore. Such a misuse of tax-payers money is highly deplorable. Everyone knows that this is just an act to placate the massive vote bank among government employees. But the government doesn’t know that these same employees will not hesitate to go on strike if their gazetted holidays are reduced.

Darrell Hair brought back by ICC

Darrell Hair who was sacked from elite panel of umpires in November 2006 has been restored as a Test and an ODI umpire. ICC’s decision to bring him back is a bit surprising. Is ICC short of umpires? And nobody knows what are the reasons for bringing him back suddenly. Whatever it may be but it is not at all good news for Asian players. With complete backing from Australians, he is not likely to mend his ways. So we can expect more controversies in coming days.

As for Indian players it means that Harbhajan Singh, Srisanth and others will have to be on their toes. After the recent controversies during Australian tour now the Indian players will have to be extra cautious. I think ICC has taken this decision under Australian cricket board’s pressure as a ploy to put Asian players on the defensive. It will be really interesting as how BCCI and other Asian Cricket board would react.

ICL receiving step-motherly treatment by media.

Indian Cricket League’s second tournament of 20-20 cricket has begun but media seems to be not at all interested in reporting about it. Usually media get gung-ho about anything which is even remotely related to cricket but ICL seems to be completely ignored by the media – be it print or television. Print media is at all interested in publishing even scores of matches at are going on. They don’t have time or space for ICL while they have all the time and space for reporting even the auction process of IPL. Media devout their time showing meaningless promotion of IPL teams.

I wonder what could be the possible reason for this media behaviour. One possible reason that I could imagine is that IPL is associated with rich and famous people of the country while ICL is just concentrating on its work without going for big advert and publicity. Media is just feeding the publicity hungry people without giving importance to real work i.e matches are going on at ICL.

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