m.qaisar - 3 months

20/12/9 - qaisar's first pram, uk made
24/10/9 - dilip kumar expressions :)
4/12/9 - chinese look
9/12/9 - trying to look a debonair:)
13/11/9 - qaisar learns to smile
21/9/9 - qaisar just minutes after birth

mohamed qaisar, my boy was born on the morning of 21st september 2009, the day of eid-ul-fitr in india. it was a delightful coincidence and thought to be a holy omen by many. we had decided to name him qaisar even before he was born, not that we knew the sex of the baby, it's just that we had decided name of baby. only in case of girl, it would have been rumana. qaisar shares his name with julius caesar, since we can't use 'c' in the name due to various religious and social reasons. in the first 20 days or so after he was born, he suffered somewhat medium jaundice. he looked frail and yellow. his eyes didn't shine and his movements were not brisk. then we consulted dr.savaskar who properly treated his jaundice and then he started to gain weight. he turns 3months this 21st. doing well, and healthy, weighs approx 6.5 kg. here are some pics of qaisar with dates.

an idle afternoon with iphone

iphone is most certainly the best gadget i ever used. my wife insisted to buy one so did i on 14th april. i wasn't 'too' excited about the purchase; but i must say that this sleek device has taken me over. today i came back early from work. the first thing i wanted to do after coming was to test the rebel sim card with my wife's talkmobile sim card on iphone. all iphones are by default locked to operator o2 in the uk; like they are with at&n in the usa. and guess what; after a couple of failed attempts, it finally started working, with wifi connectivity. this will be used in india by my wife. i will be going with her to india in 2nd week of may for a week. after a heartful lunch; my wife slept sound and i took it easy; on my laptop and iphone. listening to ghazals on last.fm app which is one of the most wonderful apps. think iphone is worth it's money; it has easy to use interface and is extremely user friendly. it is one of those things which has ability to kill boredom quite efficiently. i would recommend strongly to invest in iphone, preferably 3g. i would be stopping at 8pm for maghrib prayer; then looks i will be sleeping early tonight, given i must go to office at 7am tomorrow. but before that i am now going to make myself a warm cup of tea....yes this is life :)

vignettes of recession - 1

my experience with recession had been only theoretical; until tonight. my wife insisted to eat outside and we went straight to our latest favourite 'mumbai buffet' near silent street. we started at about 8pm and streets in the town centre were deserted beyond belief; i was aware it was monday and people don't generally return to pubs and places immediately after weekend. but the thing that did upset me most was the scale of the impact global economic slowdown is having onthe local businesses. take for instance, there is a posh bar near st.nicholas street called 'tonic' where one would normally find handsome number of customers; but it was virtually empty save a couple of tables. after passing by 'tonic', another surprise, the only truly spanish 'tapas' restaurant - closed, locked, not sure if permanently or for only monday. 'pals' one of ipswich's top attractions for joy makers, was silent and bartenders looked amazingly at ease. i remember the hayday of nightlife when i first came to britain during june 2006; it was never so bad until late 2008 when tide turned against local businesses. finally when we entered mumbai buffet, guess what, we were the only customer they had. wow, 8:30pm and none but 1 pair of people !! i did a small mental calculation, if they would have 15 customers tonight; that wouldn't exceed 200£ mark. assuming they have golden figure of food industry, 100£ would be pure profit. if they had 3 waiters, 2 cooks, and a manager, everyone would end up getting peanuts !!! after an hour of dinner; only 3 other people made themselves comfortable at the restaurant, taking it to 5 people till 9:15pm. i constantly looked outside the window glass, a taxi driver waited (as though in anticipation) of customers from 'pals' and other pubs and bars for at least 30 minutes, a customer turned up, and the taxi was back at the same spot in 5 minutes. i remember there was a second taxi also waiting in the queue, but its driver would have thought his chances were bleak, he left without a customer. recession is hitting hard, hard enough to make it perceptible. businesses which were known to work have started to crumble under customers' new appetite to save money.

funniest novel ever

j.d.salinger has not yet sold the rights to make a movie of the classic 'the catcher in the rye'. so if you want to enjoy it; you have to read it- and movie could never convey same pure pleasure of reading it; and every time i do; i am transformed into the mind of holden caulfied; probably one of the most unheroic heroes in literature history. it is a kind of novel which sticks on mind for a long time and colours your communication style as long as it's fresh.

it begins like this...

"if you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where i was born, an what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that david copperfield kind of crap, but i don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. in the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if i told anything pretty personal about them. they're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. they're nice and all--i'm not saying that--but they're also touchy as hell. besides, i'm not going to tell you my whole goddam autobiography or anything."

love actually

no this is not about the 2003 romantic comedy. actually it is all about the most favourite word of english speaking indians and specially software fraternity. it is a very useful word. my roommate was talking to someone over the phone; i counted three scores of ‘actually’s in 10 minutes of his talk. i have a love-hate relationship with this word. i mostly use it when i am in panic. when something goes wrong and i get a call to explain something i am not sure, i almost involuntarily start with ‘actually’. the other day my manager called to inform about a havoc caused due to recent change in design. ‘actually that was done by mr.x, not me.’ ‘where is he now?’ ‘actually he is on leave’. and my manager put down the phone with a thud. i don’t particularly love to use this word when i am in control of my senses. the funny part is that i have heard people using this magic word at the start of every sentence…literally. a few days back; i overheard this girl who sits near me; she went like this,

‘actually we are going to paris this friday’
pause
‘actually if you should have told this before. we have bookings now.’
pause
‘actually………….uuh…….can i call you after one hour’
pause
‘actually i can’t promise anything now. actually we are group of 10 people naa..so it will be difficult actually.’

what was that? i don’t know. but it was getting funnier every passing second. the most devout users of this word are those who are new to telephonic conference calls. the hesitation and fear gives way to ‘actually’ after ‘actually’. we were taught in the behavioural training to use this word sparingly and never out of context. i almost died laughing once when i heard someone introducing herself as ‘actually my name is xxx. i am from xxx project.’ to put it in other terms it is as if saying ‘genuinely my name is xxx.’ who dare claim that your name is not xxx? we honestly believe you are xxx. the other most popular use of ‘actually’ is when we call some customer care or booking office. i have observed myself that 8 out of 10 times i start off the chat with ‘actually’. once my friend called some customer care and started with ‘actually’. i couldn’t control myself and started to laugh. he got so suspicious that he stopped talking and asked what was wrong with me. ‘i said nothing i remembered a bad joke i heard 10 years back’ i said. i am always on a hunt for some fun listening to people using this word.

there is no dispute that ‘actually’ is actually our comfort word. may be it gives some degree of confidence and may be sometimes an element authenticity to the talk. i am not sure why we can’t live without it. you love it or hate it; ‘actually’ enjoys a huge fan base and definitely it is one of our favourite words.

on god, belief and skepticism

first of all, i am not afraid to admit my religious thinking is influenced by islamic beliefs. but secondly, i have studied gist of all the world religions. thinking of god is perhaps one of man's most primitive acts.

----on one hand....

god exists; when i want to convince someone as a member of proselytising religion; my point would be; this universe may be an accident; the whole idea of life would be accident; but the very fact that as human beings; we are able to think about the supreme being, creator of everything, and in essence accept his supreme powers, and submit to his will, is, in fact a convincing start. it can't be a mere coincidental fabrication in every known culture and civilisation in history of mankind, that idea of god has evolved and persisted, essentially in the same central form. even polytheistic religions have an idea of one supreme god above all others.

other argument, which is not entirely convincing to me is, of final justice for man. given life is so unfair to literally all those who have lived; there must be a final and fair justice. religions having idea of afterlife would preach this argument; as all of them believe in concept of heaven and hell; in fact quran says in chapter zilzaal ' whoso does good an atom's weight will see it then (judgement day), and whoso does ill an atom's weight will see it'. that essentially encompasses this argument.

and finally among many verses in quran; one verse that overweighs all arguments is about creation of the universe. in chapter anbiyaa, it is said 'have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were of one piece, then we parted them, and we made every living thing of water?'. first part refers to the big bang theory, actually i didn't use 'alludes' because the words don't seem to allude, they refer, too clearly and directly to big bang. and second part is self explanatory; to just add; not a single living organism has been found of which water is not a constituent.

----and on the other.....

god does not exist; atheists like bertrand russells and richard dawkins of every age made their names for their anger towards believers of god. without filling up pages with their arguments; i can summarise their whole philosophy in a few words- 'unceasing human sufferings and sorrows- natural or social, is a proof enough that a merficul god must not exist'. russell says in one of his articles that one should go to the children’s ward in a hospital and see how merciful believers’ god is. while dawkin generally gets odd with human sufferings caused by belief in god; and hence he professes, god must not exist, else we won't have such un-ideal and imperfect world, as we know it; marred with wars, corrupt beliefs and sometimes hateful ideology.

regarding the argument of final justice of believers; atheists have got their own argument. russell asks; if you see rotten oranges in top layer of a box full of oranges, then there is a higher probability that whole box would have rotten oranges; than the opposite. sounds intelligent; but a bit verbose to me.

when i have my moments of doubt; the question which disturbs me most is; if god created us from nothing; why should he punish us in this life or afterlife if we fail to follow his command. why the experiment of creating; testing; punishing- for which we as humans, unfortunately don't seem ‘originally’ responsible; should convince a rational mind that it is an act of mercy in any way?

reflections of a tired mind

work, routine life, usual chores---ah, i have come a long way in life and yet it hurts in the same way it did 5 or 10 years before. like holden caulfield thought in 'the catcher in the rye', i sometimes think, i should just disappear as i cross the road, or board a train or simply vanish as i sleep. or better than all, i just want to lie in the darkest chamber of the great pyramid of egypt sleeping for centuries and centuries without a single feeling, feeling absolutely nothing. i don't really get these dark ideas all the time; it is just some days or nights when even i get scared of myself. when i am in such kind of mental colour; i almost always get the most frequent nightmare of my life, where i am totally unprepared for an upcoming examination and there is no more time left to study. i wake up in distress; and console myself saying - finally i've got a job and luckily no exams to write. but to be honest, as i grow up; these days are recurring more often than the past. i am not entirely certain why, but i have my own reasons which are inexplicably complicated. i am sure though, it is not entirely depression; because depression would essentially hamper some or all of my key abilities. which is not the case; only for the fact that at times i seem to be lost in the dream of lying peacefully in the darkest chamber of the pyramid....for centuries.....feeling nothing.

benjamin franklin's 13

i admire famous people- not only those who are virtuous and did great but even those who are famous for rather notorious reasons. though i don't encourage myself to follow the path of latter; i somehow feel that it requires a certain quality in a man to become famous. by famous i mean the kind shakespeare, george washington, netwon, jack the ripper, hitler etc were famous. it's no mean feat to find a place in the encyclopaedia brittanica or any respectable reference of world history.

i particularly admire benjamin franklin, perhaps second most famous polymath of all times, only superceded by good old talent of leornardo da vinci. i have a special view of respect for franklin because of his idealistic approach towards living and his flawless vision for a young nation. i haven't read him extensively but i want to mention 13 virtues he cultivated when he was a young lad; there is much in it to learn and teach to our children; wish if i could live by even a couple of them :)

1-temperance_eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2-silence_speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3-order_ let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4-resolution_resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5-frugality_make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6-industry_lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7-sincerity_use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8-justice_wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9-moderation_avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10-cleanliness_tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11-tranquillity_be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12-chastity_rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13-humility_imitate jesus and socrates (i entirely agree him on this point as there are better role models than socrates, jesus is surely worth it by all means)

why time travel is a myth

time travel is every man's dream; wishing to change something in the past; dreaming to twist the future as per our will or just travelling in the time for fun has been a constant theme of novels, stories and movies.

i have read various theories about why time travel 'is' possible and why it is 'not'. among all theories i read about why it is 'not' possible, i tend to believe stephen hawking's straight argument. he suggested that if time travel in to the future was possible, why aren't we able to travel to future yet? - and if travel in to the past is possible , then why people from future are and were never observed in our times? i believe that argument settles the time travel once for all. however- only excuse in this argument can be- man will invent way to travel back and forth in time in some time (centuries/ millenia) from now; but they 'may' develop a way to travel only 'some time' in the past that is still in future for us, and at the same time they may well have ability to go in to future as well. distant dream i reckon :)

man's 5 top inventions

some people believe the civilisation of lost city of atlantis was far more superior than today in their technological advancement. it is all conjecture; and perhaps a baby of man's urge to always find unusual in very usual matters. in the civilisation we know of; we have come a long long way from the times since babylonians irrigated their legendary gardens; since egyptians constructed massive pyramids in nile valley and since romans built the finest roads all over mediterranean region. after the romans fell; the west was thrown into abject dark ages marred with social breakdown and natural disasters like plagues. west hardly ever fully acknowledges feats of the east. china has a history of achievements that are equally important, if not superior than the west. even india has contributed immensely for the good of mathematics in ancient times. but after all; it had to be west that really shaped the way of life as we know today. if somebody contradicts that; i have a sympathy for the biased minds.

topic of what are our top inventions / achievements so far as evolving civilisation is very interesting and has been debated over nad over again. i have my own list; with increasing importance;

1-advanced Medicine_diseases once fatal are no longer same
2-fast transport_journeys of months covered in hours
3-telecommunication_dream of talking remotely has realised
4-computing_to complement our weaknesses and make things better

and

5-electricity_ invention of all inventions in the whole history of mankind.